The political hypocrisy and personal horrors of one of the most repressive anti-abortion regimes in history came to the world's attention soon after the fall of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. Photographs of orphans with vacant eyes, sad faces, and wasted bodies circled the globe, as did alarming maternal mortality statistics and heart-breaking details of a devastating infant AIDS epidemic. Gail Kligman's chilling ethnography - of the state and of the politics of reproduction - is the first in-depth examination of this extreme case of political intervention into the most intimate aspects of everyday life. Ceausescu's reproductive policies, among which the banning of abortion was central, affected the physical and emotional well-being not only of individual men, women, children, and families but also of society as a whole. Sexuality, intimacy, and fertility control were fraught with fear, which permeated daily life and took a heavy moral toll as lying and dissimulation transformed both individuals and the state. This powerful study is based on moving interviews with women and physicians as well as on documentary and archival material. In addition to discussing the social implications and human costs of restrictive reproductive legislation, Kligman explores the means by which reproductive issues become embedded in national and international agendas. She concludes with a review of the lessons the rest of the world can learn from Romania's tragic experience.


Cerebral hypoperfusion is associated with cognitive decline in ageing, mild cognitive impairment, vascular type dementia, and Alzheimer's disease. The mechanisms leading to such neurological impairments are still uncertain. Although several mechanisms have been proposed as contributing factors leading to neuronal injury, glutamate excitotoxicity seems to be the relevant one. Recently, it was found that -lactam antibiotics such as ceftriaxone show a neuroprotective effect by upregulation of glutamate transporter and reduction of glutamate excitotoxicity. To study the contribution of glutamate excitotoxicity and the effects of ceftriaxone on spatial learning and memory in chronic cerebral hypoperfusion, we conducted experiments in rats subjected to permanent bilateral common carotid artery occlusion. Ceftriaxone (200 mg/kg) was injected daily in rats for 5 days after the onset of the arterial ligation. A Morris water maze was used to assess learning and memory two months after arterial ligation. Hippocampal histology and glutamate transporter 1 (GLT-1) expression were also studied. Results showed that ceftriaxone improved learning and memory performance. Consistently, the histological study showed an increase hippocampal CA1 and CA3 neuronal numbers in the ceftriaxone-treated group compared with the vehicle-treated group. Although not statistically significant, the GLT-1 protein level in the hippocampus was 86% higher than the sham group. We conclude that ceftriaxone treatment can attenuate neuronal injury and improve spatial learning and memory after chronic cerebral hypoperfusion and that glutamate excitotoxicity may play an important role in the pathophysiology of chronic cerebral hypoperfusion.


Objective of establishing an organization of both business and non-business is to achieve optimal results. In an effort to realize the achievement of organizational goals is necessary efforts that can provide added value for companies in the face of increasing competition situation. Thus the company is expected to be more clever in determining marketing strategies in order to compete and survival of the company remain intact. Companies are required to always be sensitive to environmental changes that occur, in general, the change was divided into two parts, namely changes in internal and external environment company. On the other hand, consumers are increasingly selective in making the buying process of a product. On the other hand the company is always claimed to be more creative and to use every opportunity to further advance and develop. To overcome this there should be new breakthroughs in the business world, so as to support in achieving the success of a product being offered. With the increasingly keen competition also requires companies to continuously improve the quality and quantity of products produced for the more perfect and attractive, in order to compete in the market and to satisfy its customers. Factors relating to the purchase of a consumer that is composed of cultural, social, personal and psychological. From some of the psychological factor is the factor that comes from within the individual and consumer consideration in making a purchase. In the research emphasis on psychological factors because, although factors outside the individual (external) can influence consumer behavior, but at least the basic factors that affect consumer behavior from the individual's own self. Psychological factors are factors that are strong enough to influence and motivate a consumer to perform certain actions at some point in this case is the purchasing decisions for products, where consumer psiklogis factors which include: motivation, knowledge, beliefs and attitudes. An understanding of consumer behavior, particularly regarding the psychological factors become very important in the effort to improve corporate competitiveness kemamampuan. If the owner of the company's customers are able to understand the psychological factors, then it will have an impact on long-term benefits are far greater than its competitors. Understanding of these consumer aspects will provide the basis for preparation of the marketing strategy of our times and the future. In determining the purchase decision for a product so here the role of psychological factors provide a major role in the decision. Psychological factors are internal factors that give consumers a boost about what action should be done by consumers, including the selection of futsal. Futsal is a sport that is becoming the trend carried out by the community and is one of the favorite sport, in this case because in Indonesia is still the sort of football sport recently introduced. As a kind of sport that includes a new football then the community itself many who want to try or do these kinds of sports. Futsal is itself a kind of sport of football that does not require a vast place and can be done in a closed room, with the fact that the society evaluate the sport is more effective than the type of sport that other football. On the other side of this sport
can be done at any time without any consideration of weather factors, lighting and other factors that may affect such as sports soccer field. Thus there are several advantages of this type of sport compared to other sports. Futsal is a game of football played by two teams, each consisting of five persons. There are similarities between futsal with the football field, where the purpose of this game is to put the ball kegawang opponent. Futsal for the first time, played in Montevideo Uruguay in 1930, and now one of the many sports that are popular in Indonesia. The development of sport is also an option for students, employees and society in general. So was the case in Malang, the development of this sport is growing rapidly and it is evidenced by the number of facilities or futsal field located in the city. Until the year 2009 there were eight futsal field with a variety of facilities offered. Various places futsal field services provider in Malang is offering a variety of facilities or advantages in addition to that, the manager also offers additional facilities that aim to attract the interests of the users of these facilities futsal field. Additional facilities are in the form of discounts or rebates on certain times and a draw a variety of prizes will be given to the consumer. In addition, when viewed from the number of visitors especially the students can know the increase in users of the facility. These results can prove that the manager of futsal field in Malang able to deliver the best to customers so that they remain faithful to use the facilities offered. The consideration of student selection as an object of research is the city of Malang is one city in East Java education so that the number of students residing in the city of Malang is constantly increasing. In addition, based on data in Table 2 shows that the increase of the number of UMM students who use the facilities in Malang futsal field. Based on the fact that it will make it easier for researchers in the process of gathering research data related to the selection of sports futsal. Based on this background, the researcher is interested in doing research with the title "The Influence of Psychological Factors on Decision Making Futsal Sports Venue Selection (Students Study at University of Malang)


This paper describes a method for making description of complicated scenes including different-sized objects (some objects may have textures on their surfaces) by using stereo with resolution control. In such scenes, some objects may occlude other objects and, thus, surfaces of the occluded objects can be observed as some small surfaces. In case of observing the scenes in a low resolution, the boundaries of small surfaces may not be extracted. In a high resolution, a surface boundary can be fragmented into small pieces if the surface has textures on it and if the brightnesses of some parts of the texture near the boundary are similar to the brightness of the other side of surface separated by the boundary. Thus, it is difficult to obtain scene descriptions by associating object boundaries in single resolution observation because stable boundaries may not be obtained. We propose a method of describing complicated object scenes, in which boundaries of each surface are followed while the resolution of stereo cameras in the observations is selected depending on the complexity near the following boundary in order to obtain stable ones. The description of the object surfaces are constructed from only those stable boundaries. We proved that our method is applicable by some experiments of real scenes.


IMPORTANCE
Muscle-related statin intolerance is reported by 5% to 20% of patients.

OBJECTIVE
To identify patients with muscle symptoms confirmed by statin rechallenge and compare lipid-lowering efficacy for 2 nonstatin therapies, ezetimibe and evolocumab.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS
Two-stage randomized clinical trial including 511 adult patients with uncontrolled low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels and history of intolerance to 2 or more statins enrolled in 2013 and 2014 globally. Phase A used a 24-week crossover procedure with atorvastatin or placebo to identify patients having symptoms only with atorvastatin but not placebo. In phase B, after a 2-week washout, patients were randomized to ezetimibe or evolocumab for 24 weeks.

INTERVENTIONS
Phase A: atorvastatin (20 mg) vs placebo. Phase B: randomization 2:1 to subcutaneous evolocumab (420 mg monthly) or oral ezetimibe (10 mg daily).

MAIN OUTCOME AND MEASURES
Coprimary end points were the mean percent change in LDL-C level from baseline to the mean of weeks 22 and 24 levels and from baseline to week 24 levels.

RESULTS
Of the 491 patients who entered phase A (mean age, 60.7 [SD, 10.2] years; 246 women [50.1%]; 170 with coronary heart disease [34.6%]; entry mean LDL-C level, 212.3 [SD, 67.9] mg/dL), muscle symptoms occurred in 209 of 491 (42.6%) while taking atorvastatin but not while taking placebo. Of these, 199 entered phase B, along with 19 who proceeded directly to phase B for elevated creatine kinase (N = 218, with 73 randomized to ezetimibe and 145 to evolocumab; entry mean LDL-C level, 219.9 [SD, 72] mg/dL). For the mean of weeks 22 and 24, LDL-C level with ezetimibe was 183.0 mg/dL; mean percent LDL-C change, -16.7% (95% CI, -20.5% to -12.9%), absolute change, -31.0 mg/dL and with evolocumab was 103.6 mg/dL; mean percent change, -54.5% (95% CI, -57.2% to -51.8%); absolute change, -106.8 mg/dL (P < .001). LDL-C level at week 24 with ezetimibe was 181.5 mg/dL; mean percent change, -16.7% (95% CI, -20.8% to -12.5%); absolute change, -31.2 mg/dL and with evolocumab was 104.1 mg/dL; mean percent change, -52.8% (95% CI, -55.8% to -49.8%); absolute change, -102.9 mg/dL (P < .001). For the mean of weeks 22 and 24, between-group difference in LDL-C was -37.8%; absolute difference, -75.8 mg/dL. For week 24, between-group difference in LDL-C was -36.1%; absolute difference, -71.7 mg/dL. Muscle symptoms were reported in 28.8% of ezetimibe-treated patients and 20.7% of evolocumab-treated patients (log-rank P = .17). Active study drug was stopped for muscle symptoms in 5 of 73 ezetimibe-treated patients (6.8%) and 1 of 145 evolocumab-treated patients (0.7%).

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE
Among patients with statin intolerance related to muscle-related adverse effects, the use of evolocumab compared with ezetimibe resulted in a significantly greater reduction in LDL-C levels after 24 weeks. Further studies are needed to assess long-term efficacy and safety.

TRIAL REGISTRATION
clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT01984424.


Everyone needs good neighbours – developing a Hospice Neighbours Scheme Introduction This is an innovative, volunteer-led scheme created to help people (and their families) who are coming to the end of their lives with practical everyday tasks as well as support in the last days of life. Aims To provide practical support to these people, this can include collecting prescriptions, taking the dog for a walk or simply providing companionship. Hospice Neighbours will enable support earlier in diagnosis, no matter what this is. It will be more proactive way of working, relieving pressure in the earlier stages of illness which will help make later stages easier. This will ease demands on both hospice services and other care agencies. Methods employed so far have been to: ▶ Recruit, train and develop teams of neighbours ▶ Recruit a volunteer coordinator responsible for assessing patient's needs and matching them to a neighbour. ▶ Record all neighbour activity and obtain feedback from the service users. Results so far Some requests for someone to help with: Walking, to help regain their confidence post chemotherapy treatment. A Hospice Neighbour now visits fortnightly to provide companionship. Gardening, which due to illness he is no longer able to tend. A Hospice Neighbour visited regularly to help with shopping and to keep the garden tidy. Daily tasks as cancer affected his right arm. A Hospice Neighbour visited weekly to help with cleaning and writing letters. Discussion and conclusion Early indication from the pilot areas is that the scheme has potential to make a significant difference to patients and families in local communities. As it became an integral part of hospice community service it will helped to extend choice for those who would prefer to stay at home.


Various studies have been conducted to estimate the ability of coating materials to suppress the carbonation process in concrete. The typical method for determining the effect is to use an accelerated carbonation test of concrete specimens with various coating materials. After the accelerated carbonation test, the neutralization depth is usually determined by using phenolphthalein. In our study, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was also performed besides using the phenolphthalein method in order to evaluate the carbonation suppressive performance more quantitatively. Next, in order to develop a method for the evaluation of the suppressive effect that is quicker than the accelerated carbonation test, we developed a box method that we could apply to evaluate the carbon dioxide (CO2) permeability of a variety of coating materials. The main results obtained can be summarized as follows: 1) It is well known that a parabolic law can be obtained between carbonation periods and neutralization depth values determined by the phenolphthalein method. It has been confirmed that such a parabolic law can also be obtained between carbonation periods and the total amounts of CaCO3 formed in the specimens. The coefficients of the neutralization rate obtained from both of the parabolic relations reasonably correspond to each other. 2) The box method can quickly evaluate the carbon dioxide permeability and is useful for predicting the effect that coating materials have on the suppression of the carbonation process in concrete.


In an attempt to develop a systematic series of wave spectra covering a variety of spectral shapes observed in the ocean, this paper presents a newly developed series of wave spectra which involves six parameters. In the development of the six-parameter wave spectra, the spectra are decomposed into two parts. Each part is expressed by a mathematical formula with three parameters, and the total spectrum is expressed by the combination of two sets of three-parameter spectra. Results of analysis have shown that the six-parameter wave spectra thus derived appear to represent almost all stages of development of a sea during a storm. Then, from the statistical analysis of 800 spectra observed at the North Atlantic Ocean, the values of the six-parameters are expressed in terms of significant wave height so that a family of spectra for a desired sea severity can be generated.


Post-translational modifications of the consensus motif Y1-S2-P3-T4-S5-P6-S7 of the C-terminal domain (CTD) of RNA polymerase II are since last decade known as the "CTD code". These modifications are dynamic and specific for each phase of the transcriptional cycle. Increased phosphorylation levels of Y1 during the productive elongation prevents binding of termination factors, and stimulates recruitment of elongation factors. However, there is no structural information on how the phosphotyrosine modified CTD is recognized by these elongation factors. To investigate phosphotyrosine recognition, we employed integrative approach to structural biology–namely combination of solution nuclear magnetic resonance, small angle X-ray scattering, mass spectrometry and X-ray crystallography, supported by functional studies with point/multiple mutations. We will present the structural data for phosphotyrosine recognition within the CTD by the elongation factor, which help to decipher how this important CTD modification mark is read out by transcription factors.


Collective pension systems are based on the principle of solidarity across and within generations. Using methods from experimental economics we elicit preferences for solidarity of different age cohorts towards the same and other age cohorts for a representative sample of the Dutch population. In addition, we use survey methods to measure stated inter- and intra-generational altruism and solidarity attitudes with respect to the Dutch pension system. Finally, we analyze how revealed solidarity preferences are related to demographic and socio-economic characteristics of participants by linking the experimental and survey data to administrative data of the Dutch population maintained by Statistics Netherlands (CBS).

In our study, participants made decisions in a 'solidarity game' where real money was at stake. They had to decide how they would share money with another participant in case they received the money while the other participant did not. We found that participants were willing to share about 40% of the money received. This shows that participants on average had a strong preference for (ex-ante) solidarity. However, the results also show large heterogeneity as well as a bias in favor of the age group that a participant belongs to. A significant percentage of young participants were prepared

to share substantially more with other young participants than with other age groups. Likewise, a large percentage of old participants were prepared to share substantially more with other old participants than with other age groups. We also find that beliefs about what others will give (i.e. anticipated reciprocity) correlate strongly with solidarity preferences: participants who expect more when in need show more solidarity towards others who are likewise in need. Remarkably, participants were rather pessimistic about the solidarity of others within and across age groups in the sense that they expected others to give substantially less than they themselves would actually do. Finally, a number of demographic and socio-economic characteristics (gender, education, marital status, political involvement) of our participants are statistically significantly related to the elicited solidarity preferences.

In the survey, participants of all age categories indicated that they believe that solidarity between the young and the old is under pressure. We also see clear differences between young and old participants regarding the preferred pension system. While old participants favor a collective system over an individual system, for young participants the reverse holds. Opinions on the Dutch pension system correlate to some extent with the elicited solidarity preferences. Overall, however, the correlation between survey and experimental measures is relatively weak. This indicates that pension policymakers should take into account that stated preferences on solidarity do not necessarily reflect the true solidarity preferences of individuals.


Traditionally, women have turned to fashion magazines to know what is trending, how they should dress and what beauty tips they should try. However, in this generation, print magazines as a whole are becoming less relevant due to blogs, YouTube, smartphone apps, social media and other digital sources. "The web has made it possible for ordinary consumers to reach a mass audience" (Mcquarrie, Miller, & Phillips, 2013); thus fashion influence is no longer coming only from advertisers and models with unrealistic features, it reflects the tastes of ordinary people. Through a literature review and content analysis, this research demonstrates how the evolution of fashion journalism from print to online media is creating a more diverse marketplace in which young women are making their fashion choices. Degree Type Open Access Senior Honors Thesis Department English Language and Literature First Advisor Carol Schlagheck


Sexy Web Design is an easy-to-follow guide that reveals the secrets of how to build your own breathtaking web interfaces from scratch. You'll be guided through the entire process of creating a gorgeous, usable web site by applying the timeless principles of user-centered design. Even if you're short on design skills, with this book you'll be creating your own stunning web sites in no time at all. Throughout, the focus is on simple and practical techniques that anyone can use - you don't need to have gone to art school or have artistic flair to create stunning designs using the methods outlined in this book. The book's full-color layout and large format (8" x 10") make Sexy Web Design a pleasure to read. Master key web interface design principles Design amazing web interfaces from scratch Create beautiful, yet functional, web sites Unleash your artistic talents And much more Who should read this book? Whether you're completely new to web design, a seasoned pro looking for inspiration, or a developer wanting to improve your sites' aesthetics, there's something for everyone here. How? Because instead of trying to cover every possible area of creating a web site, we've focused purely on the design stage; that is, everything that happens before a single line of code is written. However, great design is more than just aesthetics. Long before we open our graphics program of choice, we'll be conducting research, dealing with clients, responding to briefs, sketching out sitemaps, planning information architecture, moving from doodles to diagrams, exploring different ways of interactivity, and building upon design traditions. But ultimately, you'll be finding out how to create web sites that look drop-dead gorgeous.


The traditional tutoring method of the academic thesis is controlled by a set of prearranged meetings between a single instructor and one or two students. In such a setting, dialogue and directives upon the subject matter is carried out, to a great extent, in isolation. In the traditional approach instructors appear as a "master" who knows what is required from the students to reach a typical academic thesis. The modernized manuals and writings that prescribe the tutoring activities added two instructive dimensions to the traditional approach, namely, psychological and institutional dimensions (see, e.g., Frenckner 1986; Hagman 1994; Cook 1980). The objective was to change the traditional tutoring method. The inclusion of these dimensions helped the pedagogical view of tutoring to be theoretically improved. However, observation of the current tutoring practices shows that inclusions of these instructive dimensions could not substantially support that tutoring in accounting be shifted from the traditional framework. The purpose of this study has been to reflect on the practice of group tutoring (PGT) designed to increase social interaction and reduce the problem of isolation embodied in the current approach of tutoring. A phenomenological view point is applied to approach, to observe, and to conceptualize social engagement in the practice of group tutoring in the field of accounting. Some of the findings are that the approach of group tutoring helps the increase of knowledge interaction, facilitates social relationship and dialogue among the students and teachers, improve the students' performance beyond their individual capabilities, and enhances students' and teachers' engagement in searching after practical accounting knowledge related to the basis of the community of professional accountants.


Preface. Introduction. Intellectual frameworks, interdisciplinary discourses and interrelationships. Recordkeeping, ethical and legal discourses. 1. The recordkeeping-ethics-law nexus and recordkeeping regulatory models 1.1 Law, ethics and regulation. 1.2 Recordkeeping regulatory models. 1.2.1 The warrant and juridical models. 1.2.2 Comparative aspects: the juridical and warrant models as implementation models. 1.3 Implementing regulatory models for recordkeeping regimes in specific organisational contexts. 1.3.1 Regulatory environment. 1.3.2 Categorising and identifying regulatory sources. 1.3.3 Records retention. 2. Identity, trust, evidence and the recordkeeping nexus. 2.1 Identity and trust in communities of common interest. 2.1.1 The nature of community. 2.1.2 Community, identity and value systems. 2.1.3 Communities of common interest. 2.1.4 Communities as boundaries. 2.1.5 Trust and communities of common interest. 2.2 Trustworthy records: diplomatics, Italian archival science and the records continuum model. 2.2.1 A trustworthy record. 2.2.2 Documentary form and trustworthy records in diplomatics and archival science. 2.2.3 Electronic documents and trustworthy records. 2.3 Rules of evidence and trustworthy records. 2.3.1 Documentary evidence within the common law system. 2.4 Record reliability and authenticity and the principles of evidence. 2.4.1 Documentary exceptions to hearsay and record reliability. 2.4.2 The best evidence rule and record integrity. 2.4.3 Evidence legislation and record trustworthiness. 2.4.4 Record as process and evidence law. 3. Legal and social relationships and the recordkeeping nexus. 3.1 Legal and social relationships: jurisprudential and ethical dimensions. 3.1.1 A legal relationship as a jurisprudential concept. 3.1.2 An ethical dimension of a legal relationship. 3.1.3 Trust and social relationships. 3.2 Legal relationships and the law of obligations. 3.2.1 Roman laworigin of the law of obligations. 3.2.2 Origin of the law of obligations in common law. 3.2.3 Civil law obligations and its common law counterpart. 3.2.4 Characteristics of a legal relationship. 3.3 Recordkeeping theory and legal relationships. 3.3.1 Diplomatics and archival science: the document as witness to social relationships. 3.3.2 The juridical act as a legal relationship in diplomatics. 3.3.3 Recordkeeping and the jurisprudential concept of a legal relationship. 3.3.4 'Business' transaction as a legal relationship. 3.3.5 The records continuum and the jurisprudential concept of a legal relationship. 3.4 Legal and social relationships and current recordkeeping concepts. 3.4.1 Record as object, process and as a right-duty 'thing' relationship. 4. Recordkeeping participants: legal and ethical responsibilities. 4.1 The act-circumstances-motivation-intentionality in law, ethics and recordkeeping. 4.1.1 The act-circumstances-motivation-intentionality in common law systems. 4.1.2 Moral action and intention: the recordkeeping dimension. 4.2 Moral actors, agents and legal persons. 4.2.1 Legal agents-persons. 4.2.2 Moral agents. 4.3 Legal and moral accountability. 4.3.1 Autonomy and character. 4.3.2 Moral character and moral agency. 4.3.3 Voluntary and involuntary actions. 4.4 Recordkeeping participants: legal persons and moral agents. 4.4.1 Recordkeeping professional responsibilities. 4.4.2 'Business' participants' responsibilities. 4.4.3 Business participants as legal persons and moral agents in recordkeeping processes. 4.5 Recordkeeping research projects: identifying the responsibilities of recordkeeping participants. 4.5.1 InterPARES 1 and recordkeeping responsibilities. 4.5.2 The Monash Recordkeeping Metadata Project: the concept of mandate and recordkeeping responsibilities. 4.6 The records continuum, diplomatics and recordkeeping participants: an extended regulatory model. 4.6.1 'Identity' elements in recordkeeping and related


This study provides an account of how a rhetoric of bioterrorism developed and investigates its consequences. Currently, two competing ways of talking about bioterror, the skeptical and the paranoid, have been obscured because biosecurity researchers infrequently consider how particular historical and imagined events come to be defined as examples of bioterrorism. These rhetorical styles and their associated attitudes responded to a recurring problem in the history of biothreats – that there is rarely enough evidence to give clear accounts of the presence and origin of particular threats. As a result, conjectures become part of a unified history of bioterror, washing out the actual complexity of describing these rare events. The ease with which events of the late twentieth century are reimagined in the terms of the twenty-first century war on terror as well as the propensity for furious legislative and media response to the threat of bioterror allows real and imagined bioterror to capture a special place in the popular imagination. Bioterror taps into a problematic narrative that has structured the United States' relationship with biological weapons since the 1960's. To make visible these competing attitudes, this dissertation considers how acts of defining operate as rhetorical processes and how this process became exploitable in the specific case of biological terrorism. To that end, three major cases are considered: (1) President Richard Nixon intervened in a public, political debate about the dangers of biological weapons testing though an act of redefinition by which he renamed the US bioweapon program from "weapons development" to "defensive research" and successfully shifted from a rhetoric of offense to a rhetoric of defense with lasting consequences; (2) Biodefense experts in the 1990's redefined a nationally obscure salmonella outbreak in the 1980's as the first bioterror attack on American soil; (3) Following the 2001 anthrax mailings, the FBI defined a government scientist as an object of suspicion, Othering him to the point of suicide.


Control applications over wireless sensor networks (WSNs) require timely, reliable, and energy efficient communications. Cross-layer interaction is an essential design paradigm to exploit the complex interaction among the layers of the protocol stack and reach a maximum efficiency. Such a design approach is challenging because reliability and latency of delivered packets and energy are at odds, and resource constrained nodes support only simple algorithms. In this paper, the TREnD protocol is introduced for control applications over WSNs in industrial environments. It is a cross-layer protocol that embraces efficiently routing algorithm, MAC, data aggregation, duty cycling, and radio power control. The protocol parameters are adapted by an optimization problem, whose objective function is the network energy consumption, and the constraints are the reliability and latency of the packets. TREnD uses a simple algorithm that allows the network to meet the reliability and latency required by the control application while minimizing for energy consumption. TREnD is implemented on a test-bed and compared to some existing protocols. Experimental results show good performance in terms of reliability, latency, low duty cycle, and load balancing for both static and time-varying scenarios.


In Canada, there are no native catfish west of the continental divide and until recently, the list of extant exotic catfishes in British Columbia only included introduced Black Bullhead ( Ameiurus melas ) and Brown Bullhead ( Ameiurus nebulosus ). We report that a single Yellow Bullhead ( Ameiurus natalis ) was collected from Silvermere Lake in the Lower Fraser River drainage. This represents the first record of the Yellow Bullhead in western Canada, and its introduction likely was accidental with a shipment of Largemouth Bass ( Micropterus salmoides ) rather than dispersal from Washington. Warm, eutrophic, weedy habitat in the Fraser Delta provides ample habitat for Yellow Bullheads and other exotic fishes. A Blue-eyed Panaque ( Panaque suttonorum ), a loricariid catfish found in 1995 in Shawnigan Lake, Vancouver Island, probably represents a single, illegally released aquarium fish, as does a large Silver Pacu ( Piaractus cf. P. brachypomus ), which was found in Green Lake on Vancouver Island in 2004.


The standard cosmological model, known as the ΛCDM model, is the simplest model that accurately describes a variety of aspects of the Universe, including the cosmic microwave background (CMB), large scale structure, and accelerated expansion. Independent observational data, including data from the CMB, baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO), and supernovae type Ia (SNe Ia) provide significant statistical support for the ΛCDM model. Despite this support the Hubble expansion rate determined from these observations is inconsistent with direct measurements, presenting a tension of over 4σ. In this examination we attempt to alleviate this tension by looking at an important assumption of the ΛCDM model, the assumption that the energy densities of the different cosmic fluid components evolve independently. To test this we consider pairwise interactions between dark sector cosmic fluid components by introducing terms which allow for energy exchange between components to the right hand side of the Friedmann fluid equations. Making use of Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods we find that energy exchange between cold dark matter (CDM) and dark energy can correct for the discrepancy between CMB measurements of the Hubble expansion rate and direct measurements, but that adding the BAO measurements to the analysis prevents this tension from being fully alleviated. Our findings suggest dark sector cosmic fluid interactions are a strong candidate for physics beyond ΛCDM and warrant additional research.


Antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) are synthetic bioactive compounds used as therapeutic agents in clinical trials. They act by binding to complementary sequences of the targeted nucleic acids in cells. Assessing the efficiency of ASO delivery to cells or tissues and the stability of these compounds in different biological systems is important. To answer these questions, we developed a new, quick and reliable method to determine the concentrations of different types of ASOs in treated cells. Ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry was used for the first time for the separation and determination of the studied compounds in total RNA extracts. To develop a method with the highest possible sensitivity, a central composite design was used to comprehensively optimize the MS parameters. Moreover, the effects of the type and concentration of the ion pair reagent on sensitivity were also examined. Finally, a mobile phase containing methanol, hexafluoroisopropanol and N,N-dimethylbutylamine was selected. The optimized method allowed good linearity, accuracy, precision and sensitivity of ASO detection. Next, these compounds were delivered into cells via transfection at a concentration of 25 nM or 125 nM in 1 mL of cell culture medium. After 48 hours, total RNA was isolated from the treated cells and analyzed with the use of the newly developed method. For the cells treated with a higher concentration of ASO composed of phosphorothioate 2'-O-methyl RNA units, the concentration in solution was 0.96 ± 0.06 μM, while in the case of shorter ASO composed of locked nucleic acid units, it was 0.72 ± 0.06 μM in the total RNA extract.


—vector space model (VSM) is widely used for representing text documents in data mining and information retrieval (IR) systems. However, this technique poses some challenges such as high dimensional space and semantic loss representation. Therefore, latent semantic indexing (LSI) proposed to reduce the feature dimensions and to generate semantic rich features that represent conceptual term-document associations. In particular, LSI successfully implemented in search engines and text classification tasks. In this paper, we propose a novel approach to enhance the standard LSI method based on cosine measures instead of words occurrences to form LSI term-by-document matrix. We empirically evaluated the performance using an Arabic medical data collection that contains 800 documents with 47,222 unique words. A testing set contains five medical keywords used to evaluate the quality of the top-20 retrieved documents using different singular values (i.e. different number of dimensions). The results shows that the performance of the proposed method outperforms the standard LSI.


This paper demonstrates how adding nominal wage rigidity to a standard sticky price model can create a mechanism by which increases in government spending cause increases in consumption. The increase in output arising from government purchases puts upward pressure on the price level. At a fixed short-run nominal wage, this bids down the real wage, which leads producers to increase labor demand. Increased labor demand allows households to both finance the tax bill associated with the government spending as well as increase their own consumption. Our approach does not rely upon existing ingredients for generating large fiscal multipliers, such as the zero lower bound, borrowing constrained households or an interaction between consumption and government purchases in the utility function.


The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between a U.S. private equity index and the gross domestic product (GDP) growth rates of eight major world economies: the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Japan, Germany, France, Canada, and Australia. Analysis reduces the dataset down to two explanatory components that best explain the variation in the data. Two methods of analysis have been performed to establish the robustness of the relationship between the U.S. private equity index and the reduced components representing the GDP growth rates of major economies.


The aim of the study was molecular detection of C. neoformans that isolated from 150 (88 female and 62 male) clinical samples (sputum samples) from pulmonary patients in Baghdad. The diagnoses of Cryptococcus neoformans in samples was done by using direct microscopic examination, culture media and PCR Technology. Microscopic examination and cultured revealed that 65 out of 150 (43.33 %) samples were positive and the others samples were Negative. Results of the genetic diagnosis looking for the fungi causing cryptococcosis using primers specific for ITS gene which were specially designed for this study revealed that 6 (4 %) of sputum samples were positive. In this study used the PCR technology due to the present of high specificity and sensitivity for the diagnosis of C. neoformans added to that which is cheaper and faster than the conventional methods currently used in hospital and laboratories.


Yeasts are ubiquitous microbes found in virtually all environments. Many yeast species can ferment sugar into ethanol and CO2, and humans have taken advantage of these characteristics to produce fermented beverages for thousands of years. As a naturally abundant source of fermentable sugar, honey has had a central role in such fermentations since Neolithic times. However, as beverage fermentation has become industrialized, the processes have been streamlined, including the narrow and almost exclusive usage of yeasts in the genus Saccharomyces for fermentation. We set out to identify wild honey- or honey bee-related yeasts that can be used in honey fermentation. Here, we isolated two strains of Torulaspora delbrueckii from the gut of a locally collected honey bee. Both strains were able to ferment honey sugar into mead but failed to metabolize more than a modest amount of wort sugar in trial beer fermentations. Further, the meads fermented by the T. delbrueckii strains displayed better sensory characteristics than mead fermented by a champagne yeast. The combination of T. delbrueckii and champagne yeast strains was also able to rapidly ferment honey at an industrial scale. Thus, wild yeasts represent a largely untapped reservoir for the introduction of desirable sensory characteristics in fermented beverages such as mead.


Global health gains can be achieved through strengthening health systems to identify and address implementation challenges in low- and middle-income countries. Participatory research, that promotes
joint problem and solution finding between communities and different health systems actors, supports policy implementation analysis at all levels. Within the neglected tropical disease programmes
in Liberia and Nigeria, we applied participatory action research (PAR) to address programmatic and
health system bottlenecks with health systems strengthening embedded. This paper shares learning
from 20 interviews with co-researchers, from national and sub-national levels and academic researchers who worked collaboratively to understand challenges, co-create solutions and advocate for policy
change. Through analysis and reflections of existing PAR principles, we inductively identified five
additional guiding principles for quality, ethical standards and ongoing learning within PAR projects
that aim to strengthen health systems. (1) Recognize communities as units of identity and define
stakeholder participation to ensure equitable engagement of all actors; (2) enable flexible action planning that builds on existing structures whilst providing opportunities for embedding change; (3) address health systems and research power differentials that can impede co-production of knowledge
and solution development; (4) embed relational practices that lead to new political forms of participation and inquiry within health systems and (5) develop structures for ongoing learning at multiple levels of the health system. PAR can strengthen health systems by connecting and co-creating potentially
sustainable solutions to implementation challenges. Additional research to explore how these five
additional principles can support the attainment of quality and ethical standards within implementation research using a PAR framework for health systems strengthening is needed.


Ultrasonic force microscopy (UFM) is an atomic force microscopy (AFM)-related technique originally introduced to study the surface elastic properties of stiff materials. We report elastic images of heterogeneous nanostructures with a lateral resolution of the order of a few nanometres. One of the main intentions of this paper is not only to show the capability of UFM to allow one to image surface elastic properties of stiff materials but also to show that UFM can be applied to relatively soft materials with reproducible and interpretable results. The samples presented were chosen over a wide range of stiffness values (with Young's modulus E = 0.1-400 GPa): very stiff silicon carbide fibres embedded in a mullite matrix, less stiff carbon fibres embedded in an epoxy matrix and relatively compliant rubber inclusions in a polymethylmethacrylate matrix. A discussion of the conditions required to obtain unambiguous data is also provided. Results obtained using the more traditional force modulation mode are also presented and compared with the UFM images of the same samples.


A study of the American decisions relating to the statute of frauds from the standpoint of the Conflict of Laws reveals the fact that there exists the greatest divergence of opinion with respect to contracts falling within the fourth and seventeenth sections of the original English statute of frauds. It is the purpose of this article to consider the problems that have been raised in connection with these cases, and to suggest a solution. Of the contracts falling within the fourth section of the statute of frauds those presented to the courts involving the Conflict of Laws have been generally contracts not to be performed within a year, contracts of guaranty, and contracts relating to land. ENGLISH LAw-The leading case on the subject, Leroux v. Brown, 1


We propose a novel problem to simplify weighted graphs by pruning least important edges from them. Simplified graphs can be used to improve visualization of a network, to extract its main structure, or as a pre-processing step for other data mining algorithms. We define a graph connectivity function based on the best paths between all pairs of nodes. Given the number of edges to be pruned, the problem is then to select a subset of edges that best maintains the overall graph connectivity. Our model is applicable to a wide range of settings, including probabilistic graphs, flow graphs and distance graphs, since the path quality function that is used to find best paths can be defined by the user. We analyze the problem, and give lower bounds for the effect of individual edge removal in the case where the path quality function has a natural recursive property. We then propose a range of algorithms and report on experimental results on real networks derived from public biological databases. The results show that a large fraction of edges can be removed quite fast and with minimal effect on the overall graph connectivity. A rough semantic analysis of the removed edges indicates that few important edges were removed, and that the proposed approach could be a valuable tool in aiding users to view or explore weighted graphs.


Abstract. Understanding the impact of service outages caused by natural or man-made disasters in utility services is a key part of decision-making in response and recovery efforts. Large-scale outages in the last 15 years, from the 2003 northeast blackout to Hurricane Maria devastating Puerto Rico in 2017, highlighted the importance of tight couplings within and across various utilities. The brittleness of these tight couplings results in long delays in restoring large-scale outages. Such cross-infrastructure effects can make analysis for decision makers and responders far more complex. To facilitate recovery, decision makers need to use specialized Decision Support Systems (DSS) that allow simulation of various alternative enablement options along with their impact on society. In this article, we describe our geo-simulation engine and datasets used for outage modelling. First, we detail our efforts in correcting and completing Electric Power (EP) network for the western US. Next, we explain the architecture and initial implementation of the platform-independent, open-source geospatial simulation engine that we are in the process of developing. Using this engine, we can consider the amount of commodity at the transmission source (power plants) and sinks (substations) and set thresholds at sinks to trigger and simulate outages. For instance, a threshold can be set to trigger an outage at substation level if the available commodity amount drops below 80 % of the demand. Future additions include cross-infrastructure and enablement consequence analysis to provide a complete and transparent DSS to study outages on multiple interrelating infrastructures through scenario-based evaluation criteria.


10 Organismal development is a complex process, involving a vast number of molecular constituents interacting on 11 multiple spatio-temporal scales in the formation of intricate body structures. Despite this complexity, develop12 ment is remarkably reproducible and displays tolerance to both genetic and environmental perturbations. This 13 robustness implies the existence of hidden simplicities in developmental programs. Here, using the Drosophila 14 wing as a model system, we develop a new quantitative strategy that enables a robust description of biologically 15 salient phenotypic variation. Analyzing natural phenotypic variation across a highly outbred population, and var16 iation generated by weak perturbations in genetic and environmental conditions, we observe a highly constrained 17 set of wing phenotypes. Remarkably, the phenotypic variants can be described by a single integrated mode that 18 corresponds to a non-intuitive combination of structural variations across the wing. This work demonstrates the 19 presence of constraints that funnel environmental inputs and genetic variation into phenotypes stretched along a 20 single axis in morphological space. Our results provide quantitative insights into the nature of robustness in 21 complex forms while yet accommodating the potential for evolutionary variations. Methodologically, we introduce 22 a general strategy for finding such invariances in other developmental contexts. 23


Sites of topoisomerase I and II cleavage across large portions of the adenovirus type 5 genome were mapped by using the drugs camptothecin and VM26, respectively. These drugs prolong the half-lives of the covalent DNA-protein intermediates in which the DNA is transiently cleaved, and so treatment with protein denaturants after exposure to the drugs leads to DNA strand scission at the site of topoisomerase cleavage. Strong topoisomerase II cleavage sites occurred in clusters throughout the regions examined, including both transcribed regions and transcriptional control regions. The efficiency of topoisomerase II cleavage increased as the rate of adenovirus DNA replication increased and then decreased with the decreasing rate of replication late in the infection cycle. The increase was not dependent on expression of the E1A gene, whose products activate transcription of the early viral genes. Positions of topoisomerase II cleavage sites did not vary during the infection. Topoisomerase I cleavage sites were also found throughout the examined regions, with the strongest sites occurring near the ends of the transcription units. Topoisomerase I cleavage in the E1 region occurred much more frequently than topoisomerase II cleavage, was not dependent on E1A gene expression, and remained at a similar level from the early viral phase into the late viral phase. Treatment of infected cells with either drug prevented efficient replication of adenovirus DNA. Inhibition of topoisomerase I activity led to an immediate cessation of adenovirus DNA replication, while inhibition of topoisomerase II blocked replication only after completion of approximately one additional round.


India is an important frontier for economic growth, investments, and development. The service sector, like the manufacturing industry, in India is booming. Following the trend of their western counterparts, service organizations in India are implementing enterprise-level information and communication technologies (ICTs) to support service processes. In this paper, we used socio-technical systems theory to develop hypotheses about the effects of ICTs on the five job characteristics, i.e., skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback, in the job characteristics model (JCM) in a service organization (a bank) in India. We also tested the entire JCM that relates job characteristics to job satisfaction and job performance via various mediators and moderators. In a 32-month longitudinal field study of 1743 employees, we gathered one wave of data before an ICT implementation and two waves after the implementation. We found that, although the ICT enriched employees' job characteristics, employees reported significantly lower job satisfaction and job performance. To understand this puzzling finding, we conducted a qualitative study and identified four contextual forces that contribute to these results and hinder successful implementation of ICTs in the service sector in India and, possibly, other developing countries: environmental barriers, learning difficulty, culture shock, and employee valuation.


Voting Advice Applications (VAAs) represent popular election campaign tools in many countries, enabling voters to discover which party or candidate provides the best match with their political preferences. This article examines the effects of design choices on these tools by focusing on the response scale that is used to measure the policy positions of parties and voters. We analyze the impact of scale length on the advice generated by these tools using user data from a VAA developed for the 2014 Dutch local elections. We transform the original 101-point scale into several alternative scale formats and determine if this leads to a different voting recommendation. We also examine the suitability of alternative scales for creating spatial models, which are often employed by VAAs. We show that the response scale has a potentially profound impact on the resulting advice (with voters receiving different VAA outcomes depending on the scale length), except for voters with an extremist response style. The findings have practical implications for the design of these tools: outcomes should be presented as a preference list, rather than focusing on the "best match."


Over the past two years the teaching of Personal Property Law has undergone a major transformation. At this point in time, after the end of the two year transitional period of the Personal Property Securities Act 2009 (Cth) ('PPSA') it is clear that the traditional common law principles now need to be examined in the context of a statute based approach. The PPSA has made significant inroads into the way personal property is dealt with in commercial transactions. Not only has the PPSA impacted on various types of security agreements such as mortgages, charges and pledges, but it also reaches into areas such as leases, liens and bailments. Probably the most important effect the PPSA has had on the way property ownership is perceived is the way it has disenfranchised the concept of nemo dat quod non habet, where personal property securities are involved. The dilemma for educators teaching in the area of * BA, LLB(Hons), MA, GDLegPrac, PhD, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, Bond University. ** BEcon, JD(Hons), LLM, Senior Teaching Fellow, Faculty of Law, Bond University. The authors wish to thank their research assistant, Marryum Kahloon, for her attention to detail and her invaluable contribution to the final version of this article. 2 Curtin Law and Taxation Review personal property transactions is to make sense of these ground breaking developments in a way students can understand. The challenge is to do so in a way that familiarises students with the traditional common law concepts, while teaching them the ground rules and intricacies of the PPSA as they apply to personal property. This article examines the challenges in teaching new statute-based law in relation to existing common law principles, and proposes a two-step approach: Firstly, it recommends a contextual teaching approach and secondly, it advocates a practice-based or experiential learning approach for educators.


NIU, DONG. Interface reactions during processing of chemical vapor deposited yttrium oxide high-k dielectrics. (Under the direction of Dr. Gregory N. Parsons) High dielectric constant (high-k) insulators are important for advanced MOS devices to limit gate leakage and increase gate capacitance. Reactions between high-k's and the substrate during deposition or post-deposition processing lead to an increase in the equivalent oxide thickness, and the mechanisms that control the changes need to be well understood. We investigate yttrium-based high-k dielectrics formed by oxygen plasma assisted CVD on Si(100), using two different yttrium diketonate precursors. Characterization techniques include IR, XPS, TEM, EELS, AES, and IV and CV electrical analysis. During deposition and post-deposition anneals a thin Y-O-Si (silicate)/SiO2 structure due to intermixing of Y, O and Si and substrate oxidation is formed at the interface, between the Y2O3 and silicon. The extent of the intermixing depends on substrate surface preparation, process conditions, and annealing conditions. As-deposited Y2O3 films show evidence for O-H bond due to water absorption. With insitu deposited Si capping layers, water pickup is significantly reduced, and interfacial SiO2 layer after annealing is less than 5 A. Analysis of reaction mechanisms suggests that Si diffusion is attributed to silicate formation, and water absorption, catalytic dissociation of residual O2, and O2 plasma may account for SiO2 formation. Nitridation of chemical vapor deposited yttrium oxide using N2 plasma during deposition and post-deposition treatments is investigated. The use of N2 instead of O2 during deposition minimizes the substrate oxidation. Similar activation energies for postdeposition anneals of O2 and N2 films indicate substrate oxidation processes are likely the same. Bulk properties including chemical bonding, concentration and distribution of N are also studied for as-deposited and annealed films. INTERFACE REACTIONS DURING PROCESSING OF CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITED YTTRIUM OXIDE HIGH-K DIELECTRICS


The IARC convened a Working Group of experts in December 1997 to evaluate the cancer-preventive potential of carotenoids and to compile the second volume of the IARC Handbooks of Cancer Prevention. In observational epidemiological studies, beta-carotene is associated with reduced risks for cancer at many but not all sites. It is unclear, however, to what extent beta-carotene itself is responsible for the decreased risks observed. Three large, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trials indicate, however, that, in substantial doses, supplementation with beta-carotene not only does not prevent lung cancer but may actually increase the risk among individuals initially at high risk of lung cancer. These trials do not provide clear evidence concerning cancers at other specific sites. Thus, the Working Group considered that there is evidence suggesting a lack of cancer-preventive activity for beta-carotene when it is used as a supplement at high doses. At usual dietary levels of beta-carotene, the evidence for cancer-preventive activity was considered inadequate. However, there is sufficient evidence that beta-carotene has cancer-preventive activity in experimental animals, based on models of skin carcinogenesis in mice and buccal pouch carcinogenesis in hamsters. The observational epidemiological data on alpha-carotene, lycopene, and lutein are much less extensive than those for beta-carotene. For canthaxanthin, there are no published data regarding associations with cancer risk. These carotenoids have not been studied in human trials for cancer prevention. In animal models, there is sufficient evidence for canthaxanthin and limited evidence for alpha-carotene, lycopene, and lutein of cancer-preventive activity. Pending further research, supplemental beta-carotene, canthaxanthin, alpha-carotene, lutein, and lycopene should not be recommended for cancer prevention in the general population.


For the past two years the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), together with some other national organizations, has conducted research on the future prospects of the international natural gas trade. Soviet research institutes have also taken an active part in this program. Moreover, the Working Consulting Group of the President of the Soviet Academy of Sciences on Long-Term Energy Forecasting (the leading Soviet organization participating in the research) has prepared a "shadow project" that addresses the problem on the international natural gas market over the next 30-40 years.

Natural gas has long been viewed as a source of energy capable of reducing the dependence of industrialized nations on oil imports. In the early 1980s, global energy studies confirmed the versatility and economic viability of this resource, and economic assessments showed that only natural gas can compete with oil, when long-distance interregional gas transportation as LNG or by pipeline becomes practicable.

The worsening ecological situation called into question the prospects for wide-scale coal applications, and the continuing opposition toward nuclear energy enhanced interest in natural gas as an ecologically clean fuel.

At the same time, it became clear that the high cost of natural gas transportation and distribution substantially weakens its competitiveness, even at a high price. Under these conditions only a limited number of suppliers possessing large gas resources at low production costs can enter the world natural gas market. These suppliers include countries in the Middle East (Iran, Qatar, etc.); some countries in North Africa (Algeria, Nigeria); Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Brunei, Thailand, etc.); the US neighbors -- Mexico and Canada; and two European countries -- Norway and the USSR.

The international natural gas trade was originally expected to expand on a larger scale in the near future. Today, however. the prevailing expectation is that of moderate growth for the next decade. This can be ascribed to virtually stable energy demand in industrialized capitalist countries, which reduces the scope for the development of natural gas, nuclear energy, and the coal industry. Developing countries, in which further growth in energy consumption is expected, do not have the necessary infrastructure for natural gas utilization. On the other hand, the recent twofold drop in oil prices will have a strong influence on natural gas prices and will impede the expansion of gas utilization, despite its obvious advantages from an ecological point of view. Here one should also mention security of supplies from individual regions, which is an issue of particular concern for Western countries. This factor plays an increasing role in planning interregional pipeline gas transportation. That is why region% with an unstable political climate may have limited access to the markets of industrialized capitalist countries. All these issues should be taken into account in modeling the international natural gas market.

The world gas market in this Working Paper is divided into three large regions (local markets) and several large gas suppliers, some of which have a possibility of entering all three markets with large volumes of gas supplies. Thus, the problem acquires global significance. We focus on evaluating the dependence of marginal natural gas prices on gas consumption volumes on the basis of detailed energy forecasts for the regions and large energy consumers. Three scenarios of the world natural gas market with respect to various hypotheses of price growth in competitive energy sources (notably oil) have been considered. With the help of the dynamic model for the international natural gas market, levels of industrial development within the regions and volumes of gas imports, as well as expected natural gas prices in the case of balance between supply and demand in local markets, have been determined. An assessment has been made of the overall effect derived from the world natural gas trade for gas consumers and suppliers.

Throughout the research the Working Consulting Group has constantly maintained contacts with IIASA to coordinate and verify initial data and scenarios for computing. As for the rest, both studies are quite independent research efforts made on a similar data base. Specific features of each of the studies allow us to regard the latter as mutually complementary.


This article investigates the nature of the conversation around austerity on Twitter during the 2015 general election in the UK. Specifically, it explores the kinds of messages referring to austerity, as well as the kinds of accounts involved (whether they referred to a private or public role on Twitter and in society) and their affiliation to politically or non-politically oriented organizations/bodies. The search on Twitter concerning the austerity topic (for the 39-day time period from 3 March to 8 May 2015) resulted in 16,015 tweets, which generally referred to austerity, and 11,146 tweets, which contained at least one relevant hashtag. While austerity was rarely mentioned by mainstream media accounts in the Twittersphere, this topic was widely discussed during the election campaign by private users. This could be seen as a limitation of agenda setting, since there is no correlation between the agenda set by the media on Twitter and the public discussion about it. However, we found a relationship between the offline mainstream media agenda and the discussion led by private users on Twitter, thus confirming, to some extent, the validity of intra-agenda setting. In fact, offline media events (talk shows, news articles and question times) seemed to trigger peaks in tweet-based discussions or mentions about austerity, showing that the agenda set by the offline media influenced the discussion in the Twittersphere. Finally, we found that, while austerity has clear implications for citizens' daily life, it seems to be more of an "elitist" topic, mainly addressed by those who are already politically oriented and well informed on the topic.


Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to investigate how a wide range of measures of tolerance, considered from social and institutional perspective relate to growth in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. Design/methodology/approach - – The empirical framework is based on a growth regression equation with a specification that is common in the growth literature. The estimation includes the generalized least squares, fixed and random effects methods. The empirical analysis is based on cross-country data from a sample of countries from the OECD. Findings - – The findings on social measures of tolerance provide strong support that OECD countries are tolerant toward migrants and women's participation in economic activities and national policy making. The findings also provide evidence that political rights, civil liberties and rule of law as indicators of institutional tolerance, are strongly associated with growth. Practical implications - – The findings presented here from OECD countries lead to the conclusion that tolerance matters for the prosperity of nations. The findings of this study have policy implications beyond the OECD countries and particularly relevant to the developing economies. Originality/value - – This paper makes a new empirical contribution to the tolerance literature.


This paper presents an integrated study of petrology, geochronology, and geochemical and Sr–Nd–Hf isotopic compositions for the Jishishan medium- and fine-grained diorites and the Bamishan gabbroic and quartz dioritic dykes from the eastern Qilian orogen, to address their petrogenesis and the lithospheric evolution of the Qilian orogen. Laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry U–Pb zircon analyses show that they formed at c. 472–432 Ma. Geochemical and isotopic data suggest that the Jishishan diorites were derived from amphibole-bearing garnet-facies lithospheric mantle metasomatized by slab-derived fluids, whereas the Bamishan gabbroic dyke was derived from phlogopite-bearing garnet-facies lithospheric mantle enriched by sediment-derived melts. The Bamishan quartz dioritic dykes are high-potassic calc-alkaline and were predominantly derived from mafic lower crust. Based on available data, we suggest that the Jishishan diorites were generated during northward subduction of the South Qilian oceanic slab, whereas the Bamishan mafic–intermediate dykes formed in a post-collisional setting related to slab break-off. Moreover, we propose an integrated model for the Early Paleozoic tectonomagmatic evolution of the eastern Central Qilian, in which fluid-induced mantle metasomatism and melting characterized the oceanic subduction stage, whereas melting of varied sources (including subducted oceanic crust and overlying sediments, sediment melt-modified lithospheric mantle and the continental crust) was involved at the post-collisional stage. Supplementary material: Analytical methods, whole-rock geochemical and Sr–Nd isotopic compositions and zircon U–Pb and Lu–Hf isotopic data are available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3975447


A decision about the treatment of pediatric AIDS in South Africa whether optimal or palliative care is needed before the case load expends. As of July 1991 there were 838 AIDS cases in South Africa and 20 cases have been seen in the Universities of Cape Town and Stellenbosch Pediatrics Departments. Treatment of pediatric AIDS is prohibitively expensive. These children have averaged 9 months of age with an average survival time of 3 months for the 35% who have died. The 20 have accounted for 42 hospital admissions averaging 26 days long compared to 5 days for general patients and costing R6500 each compared to R750 for general patients. Drug costs average R373 per admission compared to R31 for general patients. 2 potentially effective treatments are AZT and iv immune globulin (IVIG) costing R4880 and R7200 respectively per year per child. It is evident that optimal treatment of children with AIDS will have a severe impact on funds available for pediatric hospitalization. Arguments for minimal palliative care of pediatric AIDS cases include the scarcity of resources poor prognosis and poor drug compliance and follow-up. On the other hand many children with AIDS are from minority groups and risk being denied equitable treatment. There is a desperate need to identify subgroups of children who would benefit from aggressive care and also to establish alternative primary and home care for more seriously affected childhood AIDS cases.


I compiled literature observations of abundances of invertebrate zooplankters associated with marine snow aggregates in the euphotic zone. Abundances, normalized with ambient concentrations of colonizers, scale with equivalent aggregate radius raised to power 2.27. Different taxonomic groups showed different affinities for aggregates and copepods and crustacean nauplii were the dominant groups on aggregates. The encounter volumes (volume searched to find one aggregate) are substantial, e.g., >1 liter for a 1‐cm aggregate, suggesting that some zooplankters actively search for aggregates. The scaling of the enrichment of invertebrates in aggregates over ambient water with aggregate radius (r) was significantly different from that of bacteria, —r−0.73 and _r−2.25, respectively, and for aggregates larger than 0.1 cm radius, invertebrates were one to several orders of magnitude more enriched than bacteria. Tentative estimates of the remineralization and degradation rates of aggregates due to the activity of invertebrate colonizers suggest that aggregate carbon is turned over within one to a few days. This is similar to or faster than turnover rates due to microorganisms. It is also estimated that between 20 and 70% of aggregate carbon is degraded by invertebrate colonizers before a sinking aggregate leaves a 50‐ m‐deep euphotic zone. Thus, the majority of aggregated material may be degraded within the euphotic zone due to the combined activity of colonizing invertebrates, other grazers, and microorganisms.


Our Open Access (OA) Pathfinder, a collaboration between the University of Northumbria and the University of Sunderland, aimed to develop and share tools and best practice to enable HEIs with limited external resources to effectively and creatively respond to the challenges and opportunities presented by OA. To achieve this we identified four discrete project objectives and a methodology which emphasised engagement locally and with the other HEI's that comprised the wider programme.

Importantly, the wider context of this focus was our recognition of the global movement towards open research and an impact agenda which demonstrates and rewards value for money from public investment. Subsequently, throughout our project activity we aimed to explore and develop extensible models, policies and procedures which go beyond OA compliance to engage with and shape these wider debates.

Throughout the programme we disseminated our preliminary findings and ongoing thinking via our project blog (http://oapathfinder.wordpress.com) as well as fora including conferences and workshops.

By the end of the two year programme, our project had successfully delivered against the four objectives and in so doing demonstrated tangible impact. Crucially, for each aspect of our project further work is needed to refine and develop solutions and practice to meet the challenges and opportunities presented by OA. We believe that against a background of a rapidly evolving policy and funding landscape JISC are uniquely positioned to facilitate a community of practice to play a pivotal role in making this happen.


OF DISSERTATION EVALUATING RETENTION TO HIV MEDICAL CARE AND ITS IMPACT ON THE HEALTH OUTCOMES OF INDIVIDUALS LIVING WITH HUMAN IMMUNODEFICIENCY VIRUS In the last few years, engagement in medical care among individuals living with HIV has become a major priority among HIV medical providers and public health researchers. Engagement in medical care is an important concept as it involves the process of linking newly diagnosed individuals into medical care and retaining those individuals in care throughout the course of their infection. Although there have been major advances in the management of HIV, like the advent of Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy, morbidity and mortality due to HIV cannot be fully reduced if the individual does not optimally retain in care. Retention in HIV medical care has become an emerging topic in HIV research, but there still remains a scarce amount of research on how to properly define retention, understand its predictors, and how it impacts HIV outcomes. The purpose of this dissertation was to evaluate retention in HIV medical care among individuals diagnosed with HIV and seeking care at an urban infectious disease clinic in Kentucky. The three specific aims of this dissertation were to: (1) compare methods in measuring retention in HIV medical care; (2) determine the predictors of poor retention in care and assess the effect of non-HIV related comorbidities have on retention over time; and (3) determine the impact early retention to medical care has on time to viral load suppression and rebound among individuals initiating Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy. A retrospective cohort study was conducted employing a medical chart review, and patients who sought HIV care at the Bluegrass Care Clinic between January 1st 2003 and May 1st 2011 were eligible for the study. There were 1,358 patients included in the study and these individuals were followed until December 31st, 2011. The results suggested that individuals living with HIV should seek care at least once every six months (visit constancy) and that only 48.6% of the study population obtained optimal retention over time. Over time the rate of retention decreased among the study sample and those with optimal retention were more likely to suppress their viral loads compared to poor retainers.


From the Publisher:
How do you select the right programming language for the right job? Austin and Chancogne provide students with a collection of four tutorials that cover concepts in modern engineering computations, and engineering programming in Ansi C, Matlab Version 5, and Java 1.1. The text gives practical guidance on selecting the best programming language for a project through a large number of working examples. With the help of these examples, students will learn how to design, write, and execute engineering programs using these programming languages. By incorporating Ansi C, Matlab, and Java into one text, students will quickly learn the strengths and weaknesses of each language. They'll do this with the help of the 56 case study programs and 115 programming exercises integrated throughout the book. A small suite of basic engineering problems is also implemented in each of the three programming languages. The four tutorials featured in the book include:
*Modern Engineering Computations - covers hardware components in a simple computer, operating systems, networks (including the Internet and World Wide Web), and an overview of programming languages.
*C Tutorial - teaches students how to write multi-function C programs. Topics include basic data types, operators and expressions, program control, functions, dynamic memory allocation, and input/output.
*Matlab - shows students how to solve simple matrix programs with simple graphics. This tutorial also demonstrates how MATLAB programs can be much shorter than equivalent implementations in C or Java.
*Java - explains how Java got started, about object-oriented program design, and how to write Java programs withplatform-independent graphical user interfaces that can operate across the Internet.


This study presents a novel tracking control scheme for an underwater vehicle-manipulator system (UVMS) where the proposed controller is not only used to track the prescribed sub-region but also allows the use of the self-motion to perform various sub-tasks (i.e. drag minimisation, obstacle avoidance and manipulability) because of the kinematically redundant system. In the proposed control scheme, the desired primary task of the UVMS is specified as two sub-regions that are assigned for the vehicle and end-effector. Despite the parametric uncertainty associated with the underwater dynamic model, the controller ensures the sub-task tracking without affecting the sub-region and attitude tracking control objective. The Lyapunov-type approach is utilised to design the controller and an extension to an adaptive-robust control scheme with multiple sub-regions and sub-task objectives is also performed to illustrate the flexibility of the approach. The presence of variable ocean currents creates hydrodynamic forces and moments that are not well known or predictable, even though they are bounded. Therefore the control task of tracking a prescribed sub-region trajectory is challenging because of these additive bounded disturbances. Furthermore, multiple sub-task criteria that are formulated using a weighted-sum approach are added to the control objective. Simulation results are presented to demonstrate the performance of the proposed control law.


We have used data obtained with the Fine Guidance Sensors on the Hubble Space Telescope to derive precise astrometric parallaxes for four classical novae: V603 Aql, DQ Her, GK Per, and RR Pic. All four objects exceeded the Eddington limit at visual maximum. Re-examination of the original light curve data for V603 Aql and GK Per has led us to conclude that their visual maxima were slightly brighter than commonly assumed. With known distances, we examine the various maximum magnitude–rate of decline relationships that have been established for classical novae. We find that these four objects show a similar level of scatter about these relationships as seen in larger samples of novae whose distances were determined using indirect techniques. We also examine the nebular expansion parallax method and find that it fails for three of the four objects. In each case it was possible to find an explanation for the failure of that technique to give precise distance estimates. DQ Her appears to suffer from an anomalously high extinction when compared to field stars on its sight line. We suggest that this is likely due to local material, which may also be the source of the IRAS detections of this object.


ABSTRACT We compared seed mass, seed morphology, and long-term germination phenology of three monocarpic (M) and three polycarpic (P) Apiaceae species of the herbaceous layer of the Eastern Deciduous Forest. Seeds (mericarps) of the six species differed considerably in mass, shape, and ornamentation. Mean seed masses were ranked Cryptotaenia canadensis (M) < Thaspium barbinode (P) < Sanicula canadensis (M) < S. gregaria (P) < Osmorhiza claytonii (P) < S. trifoliata (M). Germination peaks occurred in the first or second spring following sowing. Germination of a few seeds was delayed until the sixth year. Regardless of seed mass or morphology, each species has the potential to form a (modified) Type III or (modified) Type IV persistent soil seed bank. Occurrence of a germination peak in the first or in the second year following seed maturity was related to time of dispersal in autumn and to type of seed dormancy.


Extraction of streets from Google earth imagery is a hot research topic. The main purpose of this paper is to create a method to extract streets information from satellite image automatically. It is exceedingly difficult to achieve, because every road has different characters and there are a lot of noises (e.g. shadow, building, and vehicle) in the image. By using generic color model and the image analysis techniques, we build up the automatic road extraction system. It extracted road successfully from mid-size city image with a very high extraction rate. Some interesting discoveries and unique creative solution are proposed in this paper.


On one hand, we investigated the decay rates of meson decays from the basic computations of the Feynman diagrams. Under this approach, we derived analytically expressions for the square amplitudes of leptonic and semileptonic decays and finally used them to determine the analytical and numerical results for the decay rates. With decay rates results at our disposal, we determined the branching ratios of leptonic and semileptonic decays separately within the standard model (SM) compared our results to the latest theoretical and experimental results. On the other hand, we focused on the effective Lagrangian (EL) under weak interaction from a general approach and used it in our calculation of differential decay rates of mesons. Thereafter, we calculated the total decay rates via integration with respect to. In addition, using the total decay rates results, the branching ratios and the contributions from the new physics (NP) operators were investigated resulting in some phenomenologies of physics beyond the SM.


This paper studies how institutional factors and systemic risks (driven by macroeconomic conditions) prevalent in emerging economies may impact market discipline among banks (traditionally understood as market responses to bank fundamentals). First, we discuss how certain institutional features of emerging economies (underdeveloped capital markets, pervasive government ownership of banks, greater guarantees, inadequate disclosure and transparency) may affect market responses to bank risk. Second, using the recent Argentine crisis as an illustration, we argue that systemic risks may exert an overwhelming impact on market behavior, overshadowing the link between the latter and bank fundamentals. Thus, market discipline, while missing in the traditional sense, may be indeed quite robust once systemic risks are factored in. We conclude that in emerging economies the analysis of market discipline should take into account the importance of institutional and systemic factors.


The education finance reforms encouraged by state court rulings over the past 25 years have led to increased state aid and educational spending in poorer school districts. This empirical study addresses whether these new resources were capitalized into the housing values and residential rents within those districts. Estimations based on district‐level census data indicate that the new educational expenditures generated by the court mandates substantially increased median housing values and residential rents. This Tiebout response implies that court‐mandated finance reforms increased the perceived quality of the poorer school districts in reform states. However, the existence and magnitude of this response also implies that these reforms had unintended distributional consequences. For example, these results indicate that for some the redistributive impact of education finance reform may have been sharply attenuated by the increased cost of residing in the districts that received new educational resources.


Shortage of irrigation water at critical growth stages of maize is limiting its production worldwide. Breeding drought-tolerant cultivars is one possible solution while identification of potential genotypes is crucial for genetic improvement. To assess genetic variation for seedling-stage drought tolerance, we tested 40 inbred lines in a completely randomized design under glasshouse conditions. From these, two contrasting inbred lines were used to develop six basic generations (P 1 , P 2 , F 1 , F 2 , BC 1 F 1 , BC 2 F 2 ). These populations were then evaluated in a triplicated factorial randomized complete block design under non-stressed and drought-stressed conditions. For statistical analyses, a nested block design was employed to ignore the replication effects. Significant differences ( p ≤0.01) were recorded among the genotypes for investigated seedling-traits. Absolute values of fresh root length, fresh root weight, and dry root weight lead to select two genotypes, one tolerant (WFTMS) and one susceptible (Q66). Estimates of heritability, genetic advance, and genotypic correlation coefficients were higher and significant for most of the seedling-traits. Generation variance analysis revealed additive gene action. Narrow-sense heritability [F 2 ≥ 65; F ∞ ≥ 79] revealed the same results. Generation mean analysis signified additive genetic effects in the inheritance of cob girth, non-additive for plant height, grains per ear row and grain yield per plant, and environmental for ear leaf area, cob length, grain rows per ear, biomass per plant, and 100-grain weight under drought-stressed conditions. For conferring drought-tolerance in maize, breeders can adopt the recombinant breeding strategy to pyramid the desirable genes.


Scotland was overwhelmed with injured servicemen and their families during the wars of the 1640s. Centralized attempts to help support war veterans and, later, their families were ambitious but continued to rely upon local church sessions to collect, distribute and monitor charitable payments. Using local parish-based manuscript material, this article shows how this system proved remarkably successful in providing financial support with one striking caveat: Unlike similar schemes in England and some areas of the continent, Scottish authorities only intended payments to injured servicemen and their families as a form of supplementary relief rather than permanent pensions. Moreover, despite local calls for further financial support, the central government made no effort to wrestle away the management of charitable activity from the parish setting. Veterans and their families continued to rely on informal support from family, friends and neighbours within a remarkably local charitable context. Such networks draw attention to the limited aims of official support in the seventeenth century and the necessity for it to co-exist with, and co-opt, a variety of less formal measures of charitable help.


RNA interference (RNAi) is an evolutionarily conserved, sequence-specific gene silencing pathway found in eukaryotes, in which 21-nucleotide, small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) guide destruction of a corresponding target mRNA. RNAi is a natural mechanism for both genome surveillance and gene regulation. Moreover, siRNAs can be transfected into cultured mammalian cells, causing the sequence-specific 'knock down' of an mRNA. My work in the Zamore lab has centered around the Drosophila in vitro system and cultured mammalian cells to study the RNA interference (RNAi) pathway. small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) are incorporated into the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC), which culminates in the cleavage of a complementary target mRNA. Previous work proved that certain structural features of siRNAs are essential for RNAi in flies, including the requirement for 5´ phosphates and 3´ hydroxyl groups. In cultured mammalian cells, the requirement for a 5´ phosphate also holds true, but we found no evidence to support the necessity for 3´ hydroxyls in either system. In addition, siRNAs can act as single strands entering the pathway downstream of double-stranded siRNAs, both of which are competent in directing the cleavage of its cognate mRNA at a single site.

While these key features are a requirement for functional siRNAs, alone they do not determine the efficiency to which an siRNA can enter the RISC. In fact, both strands of an siRNA can enter RISC to a different degree as determined by the stabilities of the 5´ ends of the siRNA strand, a phenomenon termed 'functional asymmetry'. This characteristic is also reflected in another class of small RNAs involved in gene silencing known as microRNAs (miRNAs), which are processed from long hairpin RNA structures into mature, single-stranded non-coding RNAs. The asymmetric loading of siRNAs suggests that miRNAs are initially generated from siRNA-like duplexes cleaved from the stem of the hairpins. The strand whose 5´ end is less tightly paired will be processed into the mature miRNA, while the other strand is destroyed. By applying the rules of siRNA asymmetry it is possible to predict which side of the stem will be processed into the mature miRNA, a finding verified experimentally by our lab and others. This discovery also has additional implications in designing highly effective siRNAs and in reducing siRNA off-target effects.

We used these results to design siRNAs that target the single nucleotide polymorphism in superoxide dismutase that causes the familial form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), but leave the wild-type mRNA intact and functional. Our experiments have helped define the 'rules' for creating SNP-specific siRNAs. In particular, we found that only siRNAs with a purine:purine mismatch to the allele not intended for destruction show good discrimination. The placement of the mismatch in a tiled set of siRNAs shows that mismatches located in the 5´ region of the siRNA, a region shown to be responsible for siRNA binding, can not…


When writing about cinema does Deleuze have a conception of cinema spectatorship? In New Philosophy for New Media, Mark Hansen argues that Deleuze does have a conception of cinema spectatorship but that the subjectivity central to that spectatorship is weak and impoverished. This article argues against Hansen's reductive interpretation of Deleuze. In doing so, it relies on the three syntheses of time developed in Difference and Repetition alongside an elaboration of Deleuze's notion of a 'cinematographic Cogito'. In this way, the article offers a way of understanding the processes of cinema spectatorship from a Deleuzian perspective.


The paper evaluates the empirical effect of labor market institutions on foreign direct investment (FDI) decisions. To that aim, a firm-level dataset is used, that describes French firms' expansion strategies abroad over the 1992-2002 period. Following Head and Mayer (2004b), the determinants of individual FDI decisions are estimated by implementing a discrete choice model on all possible foreign locations. The estimated equation is derived from a partialequilibrium model combining elements of the new economic geography literature and the labor market literature. We find that labor market institutions do impact French firms' location decisions. Our overall results suggest that labor market rigidity puts a brake on the host country's attractiveness. More detailed analysis shows that the estimated effects depend on the sample of countries considered as potential locations. French firms are found to be much more sensitive to the design of labor market institutions when FDI decisions take place within the set of industrialized OECD countries.


Interpretation or construction is central to the operation of contract law. Despite the fundamental role it plays, there have been limited attempts to explain construction in holistic terms. This important book aims to fill that gap by offering a systematic exposition of the iterative process. It also goes further, suggesting practical solutions to disputes regarding questions of interpretation. The book argues that construction is not simply about establishing what words mean; it is a process through which objective intention is inferred from the choice of words in a contract. The interpretive process involves four steps: formulate the question of interpretation in dispute; explore competing answers to the question; analyse the admissible material supporting each interpretation; and weigh and balance the competing considerations. By so doing, the book offers a simple yet sophisticated framework for interpreting/constructing contracts.


Primary peritoneal tumors are rarely encountered and their management is usually challenging for the clinicians. Especially when the patients with advanced peritoneal malignancy present as surgical emergencies, usually with symptoms of obstruction, perforation or gross space-occupying lesions, the on-call surgical team has to weigh the pros and cons of urgent versus delayed treatment and plans a safe and simultaneously oncologically beneficial therapeutic approach. Herein, we present a case of a Caucasian man who was referred as suspected complicated appendicitis by his primary care physician, with the final diagnosis being benign multicystic mesothelioma. We describe the challenges of the clinical decision making for the emergency general surgeon and relevant diagnostic and therapeutic pitfalls, which can be potentially minimized by early liaison with tertiary units specializing in the treatment of disseminated peritoneal malignancy.


Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum) stem pulp is widely consumed in Nigeria as a snack mainly for sugar content and is believed to possess some remedy against infectious diseases. This study therefore quantitatively evaluated the nutritional and chemical composition of the sugarcane stem pulp with a view to validating this claim. The results of proximate composition indicate relatively high amount of moisture (71.91 ± 0.05%) and a low level of dry matter (28.09%) consisting of carbohydrate (58.55 ± 0.04 g/100 g), fibre (29.88 g/100 g), ash (6.69 g/100 g) and some mineral elements, implying an active role in nutrient supplementation. Generous amounts of phytochemical compounds such as alkaloids (8.07 ± 0.04  µg/100 g), saponins (5.57 ± 0.01 µg/100 g) and flavonoids (1.52 ± 0.02 µg/100 g); and mineral elements including magnesium (1.596 mg/100 g), potassium (0.639 mg/100 g), calcium (0.318 mg/100 g) and others in trace amounts were also  obtained. .Antimicrobial results revealed that the sugarcane extract showed the highest growth inhibition against Staphylococcus aureus (8.67 - 24.00 mm) among the bacterial isolates and C. albicans (6.00 – 14.00 mm) for the fungal isolates studied. Data from the study suggest that sugarcane stem pulp could be suitable for use in rehydration and as a functional food plant. Also, the plant possesses some antimicrobial qualities which could be beneficial to both pharmaceutical and food industries.

 Key words: Saccharum officinarum, sugarcane, proximate analysis, mineral, phytochemical, antimicrobial.


The deterioration in electrical equipment, is normal and its process begins as soon as the equipment is installed. Failure to inspect may cause faults. A failure in these devices can represent from thousands of dollars in losses of production to loss of lives, therfore, it is our responsibility as engineers to develop and apply techniques that ensure their optimal operation. There are several maintenance techniques, including condition monitoring which uses vibration and electrical data from motors/generators to diagnose faults. The objective of this work is to develop a computational model of an induction motor based on the winding function technique to model electrical and mechanical faults. This is the first step in order to proceed with a most comprehensive project about condition monitoring of induction machines under fault based on signal processing analysis.Keywords: faults, induction machines, winding function


Low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy has been employed to analyze the formation of quantum well states (QWS) in two-dimensional gold islands, containing between 50 and 200 atoms, on MgO thin films. The energy position and symmetry of the eigenstates are revealed from conductance spectroscopy and imaging. The majority of the QWS originates from overlapping Au 6p orbitals in the individual atoms and is unoccupied. Their characteristic is already reproduced with simple particle-in-a-box models that account for the symmetry of the islands (rectangular, triangular, or linear). However, better agreement is achieved when considering the true atomic structure of the aggregates via a density functional tight-binding approach. Based on a statistically relevant number of single-island data, we have established a correlation between the island geometry and the gap between the highest-occupied and the lowest-unoccupied molecular orbital in the finite-sized islands. The linear eccentricity is identified as a suitable descriptor for this relationship, as it combines information on both island size and island shape. Finally, the depth of the confinement potential is determined from the spatial extension of QWS beyond the physical boundaries of the Au islands. Our paper demonstrates how electron quantization effects can be analyzed in detail in metal nanostructures. The results may help elucidating the interplay between electronic and chemical properties of oxide-supported clusters as used in heterogeneous catalysis.