Although roughly 40% of pharmaceuticals being developed are poorly water-soluble, this major class of drugs still lacks a formulation strategy capable of producing high loads, fast release kinetics, and low energy input. The development of such innovative biocompatible materials has been a major focus of pharmaceutical materials research. In this work, we develop a novel bottom-up approach for producing and formulating nanocrystals of poorly water-soluble active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) using core-shell composite hydrogel beads. We show that the API dissolution profile can be modulated by accurately controlling crystal size and loading and shell thickness. Organic phase nanoemulsions stabilized by polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and containing a model hydrophobic API (fenofibrate) are embedded in the alginate hydrogel matrix and subsequently act as crystallization reactors. Controlled evaporation of this composite material produces coreshell structured alginate-PVA hydrogels with drug nanocrystals ranging from 500 nm to 650 nm embedded within the core. Adjustable loading of API nanocrystals up to 83% by weight is achieved. Our drug nanocrystalformulated hydrogels exhibit improved solubility and dissolution rates comparable to commercial dissolution. We also demonstrate that the drug release patterns of the fenofibrate nanocrystals contained in the core can be modulated by altering the thickness of PVA shell of the composite hydrogels. The thickness of the polymer shell of the composite hydrogels can be engineered either by varying the volume fraction of organic phase or by changing the overall core-shell particle size. Thus, these composite materials offer a 'designer' drug delivery system by offering a controlled dissolution rate and lag time. Overall, our approach enables a novel means of simultaneous controlled crystallization and formulation of poorly soluble drugs that circumvents energy intensive top-down processes in traditional manufacturing.


The NYSE Group, Inc., the parent of the New York Stock Exchange, Inc. ("NYSE"), and Euronext NV ("Euronext"), are planning to merge, creating the first trans-Atlantic linkup of stock and derivatives markets. At least three reasons for a merger between the NYSE and Euronext have been put forward. First, is the idea that investors will be able to buy stocks in the U.S. and Europe, thus making it more attractive and cheaper for them to buy foreign shares. The NYSE and other U.S. exchanges have been losing listings, and especially IPOs to European exchanges and merging with a European exchange may be a way to recapture the fees and trading profits from these listings. A second justification for the NYSE-Euronext merger is that it will give the NYSE a derivatives platform. When two exchanges combine, they can cut staff and share technology. A third reason that has been asserted for the creation of a global exchange by the NYSE is that the NYSE and Euronext will be able to operate from a common trading platform. Despite the several sound reasons for a trans-national merger between exchanges, stock exchanges cannot compete as ordinary business enterprises because of the manner in which they are regulated and because they function as self-regulatory organizations. Unless such regulation is significantly changed, the effort by exchanges to become global companies will be impeded. This paper will discuss the impediments to the creation of a global exchange posed by the U.S. federal securities laws and how these laws could be changed to permit the possible synergies of a combination between the NYSE and a foreign exchange to be better achieved.


A host of state and federal laws limit the civil rights of individuals with criminal records in a wide variety of settings. This Article describes statutory limitations in eight areas: ability to obtain employment, eligibility for public housing, eligibility for public assistance and food stamps, eligibility for student loans, access to records for non-criminal justice purposes, voting rights, drivers' license privileges, and rights to be foster and adoptive parents. (1) These restrictions each have a significant impact on the lives of people with criminal records; together they create a formidable set of barriers to their ability to reenter and participate in society. The number of people with histories of arrest or conviction in the United States subject to limitations on their civil rights--often for the rest of their lives--is large and growing. (2) More than 600,000 people are released from state and federal prisons every year, a population equal to that of Baltimore or Boston. (3) The United States Department of Justice ("DOJ") estimates that nearly seven million people are under criminal justice supervision, incarcerated in state and federal prisons and local jails, on probation, or on parole. (4) Tens of millions more have a criminal history record on file with state or federal governments. (5) This means that about twenty-five percent of the nation's adult population lives a substantial portion of their lives with a criminal record. (6) Incarceration rates are significantly higher for young men of color. (7) DOJ found that eleven percent of all African-American males in their twenties and early thirties are in prison or jail, compared to four percent of Hispanics and 1.5 percent of whites. (8) Indeed, 560,000 young African-American men constitute more than a quarter of the nation's entire incarcerated population. (9) African-Americans are at least seven times more likely than whites, and two times more likely than Hispanics, to be incarcerated. (10) Government can and should have legitimate concerns about protecting the public safety from people who might do the public harm and about allowing employers and others to disqualify those whose criminal records demonstrate their unsuitability. At the same time, government also has an obligation to ensure fairness and opportunity for people who were arrested but never convicted or, if convicted, satisfied or are complying with their sentences, so they can obtain employment, housing, food, and other necessities of life. I. ABILITY TO OBTAIN EMPLOYMENT Legal standards for employment of people with criminal records are predominately created by state laws. While there is no explicit federal law, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") has ruled that employment policies excluding people based upon arrests of convictions unrelated to the job sought may violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 because of their disproportionate impact on minorities, who are arrested and convicted at a significantly higher rate than their percentage in the population. (11) Under the EEOC's Title VII guidelines, employers may not exclude people based upon arrests that did not lead to conviction unless there is a business justification. (12) A "business justification" must show that the applicant engaged in the conduct for which he or she was arrested, and that the conduct is both job-related and fairly recent. The EEOC guidance requires employers to give applicants a chance to explain their arrest records before they are disqualified from employment. (13) Similarly, the EEOC has stated that an employer only may exclude a person because of a criminal conviction if there is a business necessity. (14) To establish business necessity, the employer must consider: 1) the nature and gravity of the offense(s); 2) the time that has elapsed since the conviction and/or completion of the sentence; and 3) the nature of the job held or sought. …


Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) functions as a pluripotent cytokine involved in broad-spectrum pathophysiological events in association with inflammation and immune responses. Several reports, including ours, have suggested that MIF is also involved in tumorigenesis; however, its precise role has not been fully investigated. We examined the effectiveness of anti-MIF antibodies on tumor growth and tumor-associated angiogenesis using murine colon cancer cell line, colon 26. We observed a significant inhibition of growth of tumors embedded on the back of BALB/c mice by treatment with anti-MIF antibodies. Next, we implanted a Millipore chamber filled with colon cancer cells in the subcutaneous fascia of the flanks of mice and then treated them with anti-MIF antibodies. We found that angiogenesis was markedly suppressed within the region of the subcutaneous fascia that was in contact with the chamber. To further assess the role of MIF in tumorigenesis, we established MIF transgenic mice, which demonstrated that tumor growth and the associated angiogenesis were significantly enhanced in comparison with control mice.


Abstract Background: Smoking is the strongest environmental risk factor for reduced pulmonary function. The genetic component of various pulmonary traits has also been demonstrated, and at least 26 loci have been reproducibly associated with either FEV1 (forced expiratory volume in 1 second) or FEV1/FVC (FEV1/forced vital capacity). Although the main effects of smoking and genetic loci are well established, the question of potential gene-by-smoking interaction effect remains unanswered. The aim of the present study was to assess, using a genetic risk score approach, whether the effect of these 26 loci on pulmonary function is influenced by smoking. Methods: We evaluated the interaction between smoking exposure, considered as either ever vs never or pack-years, and a 26-single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) genetic risk score in relation to FEV1 or FEV1/FVC in 50 047 participants of European ancestry from the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) and SpiroMeta consortia. Results: We identified an interaction (βint = –0.036, 95% confidence interval, –0.040 to –0.032, P = 0.00057) between an unweighted 26 SNP genetic risk score and smoking status (ever/never) on the FEV1/FVC ratio. In interpreting this interaction, we showed that the genetic risk of falling below the FEV1/FVC threshold used to diagnose chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is higher among ever smokers than among never smokers. A replication analysis in two independent datasets, although not statistically significant, showed a similar trend in the interaction effect. Conclusions: This study highlights the benefit of using genetic risk scores for identifying interactions missed when studying individual SNPs and shows, for the first time, that persons with the highest genetic risk for low FEV1/FVC may be more susceptible to the deleterious effects of smoking.


The RNA polymerase gene of human coronavirus (HCV) 229E encodes a large polyprotein that contains domains with motifs characteristic of both papain-like cysteine proteinases and proteinases with homology to the 3C proteinase of picornaviruses. In this study, we have, first, expressed the putative HCV 229E 3C-like proteinase domain as part of a beta-galactosidase fusion protein in Escherichia coli and have shown that the expressed protein has proteolytic activity. The substitution of one amino acid within the predicted proteinase domain (His-3006-->Asp-3006) abolishes, or at least significantly reduces, this activity. Amino-terminal sequence analysis of a purified, 34-kDa cleavage product shows that the bacterial fusion protein is cleaved at the dipeptide Gln-2965-Ala-2966, which is the predicted amino-terminal end of the putative 3C-like proteinase domain. Second, we have confirmed the proteolytic activity of a bacterially expressed polypeptide with the amino acid sequence of the predicted HCV 229E 3C-like proteinase by trans cleavage of an in vitro translated polypeptide encoded within open reading frame 1b of the RNA polymerase gene. Finally, using fusion protein-specific antiserum, we have identified a 34-kDa, 3C-like proteinase polypeptide in HCV 229E-infected MRC-5 cells. This polypeptide can be detected as early as 3 to 5 h postinfection but is present in the infected cell in very low amounts. These data contribute to the characterization of the 3C-like proteinase activity of HCV 229E.


Four different classroom observation instruments—from the Service Delivery Indicators, the Stallings Observation System, the Classroom Assessment Scoring System, and the Teach classroom observation instrument—were implemented in about 100 schools across four regions of Tanzania. The research design is such that various combinations of tools were administered to various combinations of teachers, so these data can be used to explore the commonalities and differences in the behaviors and practices captured by each tool, the internal properties of the tools (for example, how stable they are across enumerators, or how various indicators relate to one another), and how variables collected by the various tools compare to each other. Analysis shows that inter-rater reliability can be low, especially for some of the subjective ratings; principal components analysis suggests that lower-level constructs do not map neatly to predetermined higher-level ones and suggest that the data have only a few dimensions. Measures collected during teacher observations are associated with student test scores, but patterns differ for teachers with lower versus higher subject content knowledge.


Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) on a microchip has drawn considerable attention in recent years. Although a microchip can have must fast heating and cooling rate, the delicacy in its structure makes the PCR experiment difficult and cracks often occurs particularly for the thin membrane type of PCR chips. Electrothermal modeling of PCR chips is presented using commercial MEMS software tool IntelliSuiteTM, with the aim of identifying the problems encountered in experiment and finding an optimum chip structure. Heating characteristics of four different heater designs have been compared, so have the PCR chambers with fixed frame and with suspended frame. The thermal stress analysis has shown that the structure and heater design can make significant difference in heating characteristics and in reducing the failure of PCR chips. The computer simulation has confirmed what has been found in experiment the reason of membrane cracks. Improvement in PCR chip design has been proposed.


This study seeks to explore transnational communication among migrants of the Irish diaspora through an examination of the Orange Order's networks. It draws upon rare local and district records and press accounts to explain the migratory links and social worlds of Orange emigrants from Ulster. The substance of the study echoes the findings of Canadian historians who have much richer records than exist in the public domain in Britain. It demonstrates how Orangemen in Ireland came to recognise the diasporic dimension of their movement, and how members used the Order to negotiate some of the pathways of migration that were an important feature of their lives, and in the lives of the working class more generally. The essay generally seeks to demonstrate that the Orange Order acted as a network of friendship, camaraderie and support for emigrants and immigrants in the British World in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.


Recently, relaxation approaches have been successfully used for MAP inference on NLP problems. In this work we show how to extend the relaxation approach to marginal inference used in conditional likelihood training, posterior decoding, confidence estimation, and other tasks. We evaluate our approach for the case of second-order dependency parsing and observe a tenfold increase in parsing speed, with no loss in accuracy, by performing inference over a small subset of the full factor graph. We also contribute a bound on the error of the marginal probabilities by a sub-graph with respect to the full graph. Finally, while only evaluated with BP in this paper, our approach is general enough to be applied with any marginal inference method in the inner loop.


Variable gas diffusion cell geometries were tested for the extraction of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) from a microfluidic (tens to hundreds of microliters) seawater sample. With a focus on optimization of diffusion cell geometry, we compare five unique diffusion cell designs. Using 3-D printing technology to streamline the prototyping and testing process, we were able to conceive, design, fabricate, and thoroughly evaluate each design over the course of about one month. In total, 1043 DIC measurements were carried out in 109 experiments for the five working manifolds. We find that a small diameter, cylindrical diffusion cell design offers several advantages over its planar counterparts and a larger diameter cylindrical cell, most notably the ability to increase the ratio of the exchange membrane's contact surface area to solution volume (the "aspect ratio") without sacrificing channel integrity. Multiple designs approached short-term repeatability of <1%, but only the cylindrical diffusion cell design allowed for <0.2% repeatability using less than 200  $\mu \text{L}$  of sample.


The interaction between yucca plants and yucca moths has been one of the focal model systems investigated in the study of pollination mutualism and coevolution, especially in terms of understanding the prevention of overexploitation by mutualist partners. Yuccas have the ability to assess the number of eggs placed by pollinators into their ovaries, and can preferentially abort those flowers that would have many moth larvae consuming yucca seeds. Previous phylogenetic research identified a rapid radiation of moth species that corresponded with shifts in the interaction with their host plants. These shifts led to the evolution of moth species that circumvent the egg detection method used by yuccas to limit seed damage. In particular, some pollinator species deposit their eggs so that they are undetectable by the plants, whereas other species are 'cheaters' that have lost the ability to pollinate, yet deposit eggs into developing fruit rather than flowers. The evolution of these new species happened so quickly that the phylogeny of the moths has remained unresolved despite repeated attempts with standard Sanger sequencing of mtDNA loci and AFLP marker generation. Here, we use extensive analyses of RAD‐seq data to determine the phylogenetic relationships among yucca moth species. The results provide a robust phylogenetic framework that identifies the evolutionary relationships among shifts in egg‐laying strategies, as well as determining the closest pollinating relatives to the cheater species. Based on the obtained phylogeny, a shift in egg‐laying strategy that avoided the overexploitation regulatory mechanism used by yucca plants was a precursor for the evolution of two species with cheating behaviour.


Background. Incongruence of standardised patient (SP) portrayals is worsened when SPs are given basic scenarios and too little background information on short notice. Consequently, SPs are confronted with questions they find difficult to answer owing to a lack of insight, internalisation and association with the role. Objective . To determine whether training in characterisation enhances the congruence of SP portrayals. Methods . SP encounters were recorded, after which the participating SPs and students reflected on the congruence of the SPs' performances. The researchers analysed the videorecordings and reflections for incongruent behaviours. The findings were triangulated and themes of incongruency were established. The intervention comprised training of SPs in the creation of subtext (the story behind the story), characterisation, and linking to and making use of emotion memory, with the aim of rectifying the observed incongruent behaviours. Pretraining activities were repeated with Cohort 2 students. Results . Two themes depicting congruence, i.e. internalisation of character and congruence of verbal and non-verbal communication, were identified. Post-training outcomes revealed an improvement in all subthemes. Applicable and real emotions, complementing verbal and non-verbal cues, gestures and appropriate use of voice and facial expression, led to believable/congruent role play and improved communication on various levels. Conclusion . The post-training outcomes showed clear improvement regarding the congruence of SP portrayals. The changes can be contributed to SP training focused on 3D character development by creating subtext, providing basic clinical information, emotion memory, acting skills and managing energy levels, and not focusing on the scenario alone.


The advent of second-generation intelligent computer tutors raises an important instructional design question: when should tutorial advice be presented in problem solving? This paper examines four feedback conditions in the ACT Programming Tutor. Three versions offer the student different levels of control over error feedback and correction: (a) immediate feedback and immediate error correction; (b) immediate error flagging and student control of error correction; (c) feedback on demand and student control of error correction. A fourth, No-tutor condition offers no stepby-step problem solving support. The immediate feedback group with greatest tutor control of problem solving yielded the most efficient learning. These students completed the tutor problems fastest, and the three tutor-supported groups performed equivalently on tests. Questionnaires revealed little student preference among the four conditions. These results suggest that students will need explicit guidance to benefit from learning opportunities that arise when they have greater control over tutorial assistance.


Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) are ubiquitous in modern 2D interfaces due to their ability to scale to different resolutions. However, despite the success of deep learning-based models applied to rasterized images, the problem of vector graphics representation learning and generation remains largely unexplored. In this work, we propose a novel hierarchical generative network, called DeepSVG, for complex SVG icons generation and interpolation. Our architecture effectively disentangles high-level shapes from the low-level commands that encode the shape itself. The network directly predicts a set of shapes in a non-autoregressive fashion. We introduce the task of complex SVG icons generation by releasing a new large-scale dataset along with an open-source library for SVG manipulation. We demonstrate that our network learns to accurately reconstruct diverse vector graphics, and can serve as a powerful animation tool by performing interpolations and other latent space operations. Our code is available at this https URL.


Many cell types have the ability to move themselves by crawling on extra-cellular matrices. Although cell motility is governed by actin and myosin filament assembly, the pattern of the movement follows the physical properties of the network ensemble average. The first step of motility, cell spreading on matrix substrates, involves a transition from round cells in suspension to polarized cells on substrates. Here we show that the spreading dynamics on 2D surfaces can be described as a hydrodynamic process. In particular, we show that the transition from isotropic spreading at early time to anisotropic spreading is reminiscent of the fingering instability observed in many spreading fluids. During cell spreading, the main driving force is the polymerization of actin filaments that push the membrane forward. From the equilibrium between the membrane force and the cytoskeleton, we derive a first order expression of the polymerization stress that reproduces the observed behavior. Our model also allows an interpretation of the effects of pharmacological agents altering the polymerization of actin. In particular we describe the influence of Cytochalasin D on the nucleation of the fingering instability.


In the literature on endogenous growth, the link between capital markets development and economic growth has received much attention. Although there are many studies regarding this aspect, approaches on emergent ex-communist countries' economies, especially for Romania, are very few comparatively to the general cases. Our paper examines the correlation between capital market development and economic growth in Romania using a regression function and VAR models. The results show that the capital market development is positively correlated with economic growth, with feed-back effect, but the strongest link is from economic growth to capital market, suggesting that financial development follows economic growth, economic growth determining financial institutions to change and develop.


BACKGROUND: Infantile hemangioma is the most common benign tumor in infancy and occurs most often in the cervicofacial region. Its course can be divided into 3 phases with frequent spontaneous regression. However, residual sequelae or anatomical structure deformities can occur. An early and definitive surgical approach aiming at good aesthetic results and anatomical preservation is indicated in such cases because of the localization of the nasal hemangiomas and their capacity to disfigure. This study analyzed the results of the definitive surgical approach for proliferative nasal hemangiomas according to an objective evaluation. METHODS: From 1997 to 2009, 20 patients suffering from nasal hemangiomas in the proliferative phase were treated surgically. The lesions were analysed according to the area affected and type of treatment. Complication rates and the need for additional procedures were analyzed. The aesthetic results were evaluated by independent evaluators. RESULTS: The lesions were localized in the tip of the nose in 50% of patients, dorsal area in 20%, all subunits in 15%, paranasal areas in 10%, and alar area in 5%. Resection was total and subtotal in 60% and 40% of the patients, respectively. The mean follow-up period was 42.6 months. The mean number of surgical procedures per patient was 1.3 ± 0.7. No significant complications were observed. The results were positively evaluated with respect to the reduction of lesion volume and improved face shape, corroborating the proposed approach. CONCLUSIONS: Definitive surgical treatment is a safe and effective alternative for the management of nasal hemangiomas and has low complication rates.


The centerpiece of The Case of Mistress Mary Hampson is the autobiographical narrative of a 17th-century woman in an abusive and violent marriage. Composed at a time when marital disharmony was in vogue with readers and publishers, it stands out from comparable works, usually single broadsheets. In her own words, Mary recounts various dramatic and stressful episodes from her decades-long marriage to Robert Hampson and her strategies for dealing with it. The harrowing tale contains scenes of physical abuse, mob violence, abandonment, flight, and destitution. It also shows moments of personal courage and interventions on the author's behalf by friends and strangers, some of whom are subject to severe reprisals. Mary wrote her story to come to terms with her situation, to justify her actions, and to cast herself in a virtuous light. The accompanying discussion of her life, drawn from other sources, provides chilling evidence of the vulnerability of seventeenth-century women and the flawed legal mechanisms that were supposed to protect them. Readers are also invited to consider in what ways the self-portrait is accurate and what elements of it may be considered fabrication. Malay's archival efforts have thus rescued a compelling and complicated voice from the past.


IZA DP No. 14718 SEPTEMBER 2021 Air Pollution Affects Decision-Making: Evidence from the Ballot Box* Does poor air quality affect decision-making? We study this question based on elections, in which millions of people decide on the same issue on the same day in different locations. We use county-level data from 64 federal and state elections in Germany over a nineteenyear period and exploit plausibly exogenous variation in ambient air pollution within counties across election dates. Our results show that a high concentration of particulate matter (PM10) on an election day significantly affects voting behavior. An increase in the concentration of PM10 by 10μg/m3 – around two within-county standard deviations – reduces the vote share of the incumbent by 2 percentage points and increases the vote share of the established opposition by 2.8 percentage points. These are strong effects, equivalent to 4% and 7% of the respective mean vote shares. We generalize these findings by documenting similar effects with data from a weekly opinion poll and a large-scale panel survey. We provide further evidence that emotions are a likely mechanism: the survey data show that poor air quality leads to greater anxiety and unhappiness, which may reduce the support for the political status quo. JEL Classification: D70, D72, D91, Q53


This paper describes a new admissible tree search algorithm called Iterative Threshold Search (ITS). ITS can be viewed as a much-simpliied version of MA* 1], and a generalized version of MREC 12]. We also present the following results: 1. Every node generated by ITS is also generated by IDA*, even if ITS is given no more memory than IDA*. In addition, there are trees on which ITS generates O(N) nodes in comparison to O(N log N) nodes generated by IDA*, where N is the number of nodes eligible for generation by A*. 2. Experimental tests show that if the node-generation time is high (as in most practical problems), ITS can provide signiicant savings in both number of node generations and running time. Our experimental results also suggest that in the average case both IDA* and ITS are asymptotically optimal on the traveling salesman problem.


Background The free fibula flap is the standard of care in mandibular reconstruction; however, procedural nuances continue to optimize results. More accurate and efficient osteotomies for graft insetting can be envisioned, which address the difficulty in obtaining a perfect match between the cut ends of the fibula and the mandible and the subsequent giving up of maximal bone contact. We propose a method of complementary offset osteotomies. The angled cuts were virtually planned using three-dimensional computed tomographic images. Optimal offset cuts maximized surface area contact and facilitated intraoperative repositioning in the setting of additional native bone margin requirement. Methods Using previously described protocols, three-dimensional virtual reconstructions of the facial skeleton and the fibula (average, series of five) were used to simulate osteotomies at 25, 30, 45, 60, 75, and 90 degrees to the long axis of the fibula. Complementary osteotomies were then simulated at the mandibular body just distal to the first molar in simulated free fibula reconstructions. Total area of apposing surfaces was calculated using computer-aided design. The results from the 25-, 30-, 45-, 60-, and 75-degree cuts were compared with the conventional 90-degree cut. Resin-based mandibular osteotomy guides and a complementary fibula jig were manufactured using computer-aided design. Two representative clinical cases were presented to illustrate proof of principle and benefits. Results The total surface area of apposing fibula and mandible surfaces in a conventional 90-degree cut was 103.8 ± 2.05 mm2. Decreasing this angle to 75, 60, 45, 30, and 25 degrees yielded increased surface areas of 0.86%, 10.3%, 35.3%, 136.7%, and 194.3%, respectively. Cuts of 25 degrees also allowed for adequate bony contact in the setting of additional margin requirements up to 2.77 cm. Complementary 45-degree cuts provided excellent bone-to-bone contact in a free fibula reconstruction using resin guides and a jig. This angle also facilitated access of the saw to the distal mandible. Conclusions Virtual surgical planning is an increasingly recognized technology for optimizing surgical outcomes and minimizing operative time. We present a technique that takes advantage of the precision complementary osteotomies that this technology affords. By creating offset cuts, we can maximize bony contact and ensure adequate contact should additional margins or intraoperative adjustments be required. This flexibility maximizes the precision of premanufactured cutting guides, mitigates the constraints of sometimes unpredictable intraoperative environments, and maximizes bony contact.


We examined the fate of larval fish assemblages after the East Australian Current (EAC) had separated from the coast and larval fish were advected eastward along the Tasman Front. There was no difference in the assemblages at four stations as the EAC meandered from the continental shelf to 220 km eastward. At a fifth station, we sampled a submesoscale, frontal eddy that had formed at the EAC separation zone 11 d earlier and had entrained shelf water. Zooplankton biomass was greater within the eddy compared to the adjacent shelf. The larval fish assemblage in the eddy was significantly different from all other stations. There was an order of magnitude greater abundance of three species characteristic of the shelf: sardine (Sardinops sagax; Clupeidae), blue mackerel (Scomber australasicus; Scombridae), and yellowtail scad (Trachurus novaezelandiae; Carangidae), which were also significantly larger than larvae from a station on the adjacent shelf. In particular, S. sagax in the eddy were ∼ 5 mm longer and ∼ 10 d older, although growth rates were similar. Larval retention in the eddy was inferred from the co‐occurrence of small and large larvae of all three species compared to the adjacent shelf. The EAC is only 20–30 km from the inner‐shelf water, where frontal eddies may facilitate three stages of successful recruitment: entrainment, enrichment, and retention. Frontal eddies off southeastern Australia entrain preconditioned shelf water, move slower than the mean flow of the EAC, decreasing transport rates, and may sustain planktonic communities through eddy uplift. These eddies are frequent and short‐lived (2 to 4 weeks), and we suspect they are of fisheries importance as their duration is sufficient for fish larvae to complete their early life history and, presumably, recruit back to the coast.


Throughout the centuries a number of truly remarkable women emerged to awe the world. One of these is a charismatic warrior queen of antiquity, Zenobia, last ruler of the once wealthy and exotic city-state of Palmyra in Syria, that flourished in the late Roman Empire of the third century AD. She rose to power upon the death of her husband Odenathus, a client-king of Rome, when she acted as regent for their son Vaballathus2 born in 260 AD. The queen was just and capable, a patron of artists and philosophers, learned, strong-willed and dynamic, and reputed to be one of the great beauties of history. She fought alongside her troops and astounded the ancient world by carving out a large territory beyond Palmyra, even subjugating Egypt, before being overthrown by the formidable Emperor Aurelian who came to power in 270 AD. At his triumph in Rome, Aurelian displayed the Palmyrene queen weighed down by gold chains and jewels, but so great was his respect for her that according to one tradition he settled her in Rome where she lived out the rest of her life.


The utilisation of information and communications technologies (ICTs) in Egypt has irrevocably changed the nature of the traditional Egyptian public sphere. One can see the Egyptian online society as a multiplicity of networks. These networks have developed, transformed and expanded over time, operating across all areas of life. Nonetheless, in essence they are sociopolitical and cultural in origin. This trend changed the way audiences consumed news, with traditional media – especially independent and opposition – started to utilise ICTs to access online information to develop their media content to escape government control. Several media organisations also started to expand their presence online so that, as well as providing news content, they also provided them with a "space" to interact amongst themselves and with media organisations. Audiences started to provide detailed descriptions of Egyptian street politics, posting multimedia material, generating public interest and reinforcing citizen power hence democratic capacity.


BACKGROUND
Drilling is a well-known mechanical operation performed for fixing fracture at required locations in bone. The process may produce mechanical and thermal alterations in the structure of the bone and surrounding tissues leading to irreversible damage known as osteonecrosis.

OBJECTIVE
The main purpose of this study was to measure the level of biological damage in bone when a drill assisted by low and high levels of vibrations is penetrated into bone tissue.

METHODS
Histopathology examination of sections of bones has been performed after drilling the bone using a range of vibrational frequency and rotational speed imposed on the drill with and without supply of saline for cooling.

RESULTS
Cell damage in bone was caused by the combined effect of drill speed and frequency of vibrations. Histopathology examination revealed more damage to bone cells when a frequency higher than 20 kHz was used in the absence of cooling. Cooling the drilling region helped minimize cell damage more at a shallow depth of drilling compared to deep drilling in the cortex of cortical bone. The contribution of cooling in minimizing cell damage was higher with a lower drill speed and frequency compared to a higher drill speed and frequency.

CONCLUSION
Vibrational drilling using a lower drill speed and frequency below 25 kHz in the presence of cooling was found to be favorable for safe and efficient drilling in bone.


The exponential rate of increase in freeway traffic is expanding the need for accurate and realistic methods to model and predict traffic flow. Traffic modeling and simulation facilitate an examination of both microscopic and macroscopic views of traffic flows and are therefore considered one of the most important analytical tools in traffic engineering. This report presents a cellular automata model for traffic flow simulation and prediction (CATS). Cellular automata models quantize complex behavior into simple individual components. In this model, the freeway being simulated is discretized into homogeneous cells of equal length, and time is discretized into timesteps of equal duration. The CATS model allows users to define locations within the road topology where volume and density data will be calculated so that the model results can be compared to observed highway data.


The present work deals with the study of some peculiarities of an epistolary discourse in fiction on the basis of argumentative logic and the forms of dialogism. The problem of relationship among dialogism, polyphony and intertextuality are also discussed. Although many conference sand works focuse on this problem quite a few books have been written about the relationship among these three phenomenons. Existence of a discourse depends on these phenomenons. The work discusses the novel 'La Vagabonde' – by Colette. The novel is characterized by a number of noticeable peculiarities of style. Narration is given in the first person. The appearance of the different genre of discourse – epistle is in the third part of the novel. But it is not given in a perfect way. Narrator that is cited as prototype of the author gives quotations from her letter. To know the answers of the addressee is possible by reading the letters of Renée Néré.


"Decortication" does not distinguish between removing all cerebral cortex, including three-layered allocortex or just six-layered neocortex. Functional decortication, by spreading depression, reversibly suppresses only neocortex, leaving minimal intentionality. Removal of all forebrain structures except a hypothalamic "island" blocks all intentional behaviors, leaving only tropisms. To what extent do Merker's examples retain allocortex, and how might such residues affect his interpretations?


[BOOK ABSTRACT]
Steven Berkoff has been variously described as controversial, thrilling, electric and dynamic. A Renaissance man of the theatre, he is known equally for his writing, directing and acting.

Collecting together nineteen one-act plays, this volume presents never-before-published material. Abusive, shocking and endlessly surprising, these sharply written pieces showcase Berkoff's trademark controversy, black humour and dramatic dialectics.

Themes that haunt much of his work are present: his luxurious verbosity; his counterpoint of crude street-patter and elegiac proclamation; sex wars; class wars; dislocation and abandonment of love in a thankless and unyielding world. The selection of plays allows the performer and reader to experience Berkoff's fluid anarchic poetry at its most profane within the complete and pithy structure of the one-act play.

Established plays such as The Biblical Tales (which enjoyed success in their 2010 run at the New End Theatre, Hampstead) stand alongside previously unpublished material, giving the range of Berkoff's work full expression, from his established thematic concerns to his new and unseen work.

Perfect for student and amateur performances, this volume contains a full introduction by Geoffrey Colman, Head of Acting at the Central School of Speech and Drama. - See more at: http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/steven-berkoff-one-act-plays-9781408182482/#sthash.YWuUTDVl.dpuf


The place-based approach is at the forefront of the current European cohesion policy reform. The Smart Specialisation Strategy (S3) boosts economic development through research and innovation. It is built on place-based areas showing higher potential for growth. Although S3 is deeply rooted in the uniqueness of the place, its implementa‐ tion is still far from being clearly spatial-led. The research programme MAPS-LED (Multidisciplinary Approach to Plan Smart specialisation strategies for Local Econom‐ ic Development), financed by RISE-Horizon 2020, aims at filling this gap. This chapter discusses a novel concept developed with the aim to incorporate a spatial component in the innovative urban clusters, e.g. the urban pattern as cognitive infrastructure for S3 . The preliminary findings from the case study of Kendall Square, a former brownfield located in Cambridge (MA), in close proximity with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, led to conclude that it is essential to complement S3 implementation with spatial interventions in the built environment to create a physical ecosystem supportive of innovation, including: shared facilities and private small businesses facilitating interaction; public services and facilities that allow preserving uniqueness of the place and inclusiveness. Furthermore, the spatial pattern has to be supportive of a walkable and dense environment.


This paper tests the hypothesis that compulsory school attendance laws, which typically require school attendance until a specified birthday, induce a relationship between the years of schooling and age at school entry. Variation in school start age created by children's date of birth provides a natural experiment for estimation of the effect of age at school entry. Because no large data set contains information on both age at school entry and educational attainment, we use an Instrumental Variables (IV) estimator with data derived from the 1960 and 1980 Censuses to test the age-at-entry/compulsory schooling model. In most IV applications, the two covariance matrices that form the estimator are constructed from the same sample. We use a method of moments framework to discuss IV estimators that combine moments from different data sets. In our application, quarter of birth dummies are the instrumental variables used to link the 1960 Census, from which age at school entry can be derived for one cohort of students, to the 1980 Census, which contains educational attainment for the same cohort of students. The results suggest that roughly 10 percent of students were constrained to stay in school by compulsory schooling laws.


Mimi Winick, "Scholarly Enchantment" (pp. 187–226)
 This essay describes the "scholarly enchantment" of pioneering women writers who combined academic research and occultism in fin-de-siècle Britain. It focuses on Jessie L. Weston's From Ritual to Romance (1920), a study infamous for interpreting medieval romances as coded records of an ancient fertility cult. Through a reception history and formal analysis of Weston's monograph, the essay identifies a set of shared characteristics that made both emerging humanities fields and occultism especially appealing to women, including a standard of coherence, a comparative methodology, and a tactic of conjecture. The same attributes constitute formal sources of enchantment in humanistic scholarship of the period that promised to reveal "real" spiritual meanings behind art and artifacts. In this sense, Weston does not analyze medieval romances as works of the human imagination, but claims to decode them to reveal spiritual facts. The essay goes on to show how the gendered appeal of these practices first fueled their popularity and then was eventually exploited to consolidate the masculine authority of professional, disenchanted literary scholarship. Ultimately, though a product of the early twentieth century, From Ritual to Romance helps us recognize not only unfamiliar disciplinary histories, but also Victorian-era narratives about religion other than secularization. In works such as Weston's, modernization is not defined by a decline of religion in the world but by a process of spiritual intensification leading to a "New Age" of women's prominence.


The theme developed in the paper is that what makes a leading case is not immediately apparent or able to be captured in a short definition. The crucial questions are how and why a case is seen to be or to have been particularly influential in settling an area of the law. Exploring these questions necessarily involves viewing the case in its historical context. Economic and behavioral implications and impacts should also be kept in mind.The paper draws on empirical research involving retired judges, experienced lawyers, and judges' clerks and on specialist essays by senior academic lawyers produced for the 50th anniversary conference of the Court of Appeal in 2008. The research results show how much room there is for differing assessments of significance. The second half of the paper discusses a range of appeal cases explaining how and why the Court focused on particular matters of significance in deciding the cases.


Abstract Children presenting for liver resection form a challenging population with co-morbidities that require adequate preoperative assessment and planning to improve postoperative outcomes. With the development of new surgical equipment and techniques, the anaesthestist is in a precarious position in which a delicate balance is needed between delivering organ-protective anaesthesia and providing haemodynamic stability that will allow for optimal surgical results. This review will highlight some of these aspects.


Current processor allocation techniques for highly parallel systems are typically restricted to contiguous allocation strategies for which performance suffers significantly due to the inherent problem of fragmentation. As a result, message-passing systems have yet to achieve the high utilization levels exhibited by traditional vector supercomputers. We are investigating processor allocation algorithms which lift the restriction on contiguity of processors in order to address the problem of fragmentation. Three noncontiguous processor allocation strategies-paging allocation, random allocation, and the Multiple Buddy Strategy (MBS)-are proposed and studied in this paper. Simulations compare the performance of the noncontiguous strategies with that of several well-known contiguous algorithms. We show that noncontiguous allocation algorithms perform better overall than the contiguous ones, even when message-passing contention is considered. We also present the results of experiments on an Intel Paragon XP/S-15 with 208 nodes that show noncontiguous allocation is feasible with current technologies.


Don't fear the griever Because of a lack of words, action and tools, the people around a griever tend to disappear. In Norway, grief is often an individual and lonely experience. Approaching grievers can feel risky and intimidating; the fear of making things worse tends to push people away. We have created an alternative present showing new ways of approaching people in mourning. We have designed a fictitious chain of events, in Norwegian society, that spans from 2011 to today. Through this project, we want to contribute to a broader conversation about how we cope with grief, and explore new ways of using design to discuss what this discipline can offer. Our main ambition for this project is to visualize and reflect on the implications design has on social and cultural relations.


Nationalism is seldom an independent variable, but rather a form through which a variety of responses, aspirations and interests are expressed. Its force is not internal but depends on the intensity of sentiment of various social groups. That is why self-conscious nationalist politicians never get very far unless they can harness the aspirations of the masses for a better life..... the focus on professional nationalists artificially narrows the meaning of politics. Peasants, workers and traders are seldom motivated by an abstract desire for nationhood. More often than not they relate to national and other communal appeals as a means of realizing some other objective. (1) The Wind of Change is blowing through Africa, and whether we like it or not this growth of national consciousness is a political fact. We must all accept it as a fact; our national policies must take account of it. (2) INTRODUCTION This article is about the most dominant theme of twentieth century African history namely, decolonization/national liberation. "The wind of change" (3) alluded to above by British Prime Minister Macmillan concerns this process. This article is an attempt to reconstruct the narrative of this political development through the specific instance of Ghana (the then Gold Coast). However, while Ghana is the article's specific historical-empirical case study, the world-historical context will remain throughout as its sociohistorical unit of analysis. The politics, history, and sociology of decolonization/national liberation will be situated in a more general framework called socionationalism. Unless otherwise stated, socionationalism will be used throughout not as an esoteric concept but rather a mosaic of intersecting factors and processes (local, national, regional and global; political, social, economic and moral) that evolved mutually and ultimately shaped the relationship between on one hand, the demands for social justice and equity and on the pursuit of purely 'nationalist' objectives--so to speak. The organizational and mobilizational ability of the ilk of nationalist intellectuals who came to prominence in the struggle against colonialism and the demand for self-rule was crucial but limited in terms of what they could actually achieve politically. It is true that iconic leaders like Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Nnamdi Azikiwe (popularly known as "Zik") of Nigeria, Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, and Amilcar Cabral of Guinea Bissau (formerly Portuguese Guinea) to name just a few, possessed extraordinary abilities to mobilize, among other things, the decolonization movement because of their bilingual heritage in the colonial world inter alia. But equally important is the fact that the masses proved to be vital in making the decolonization movement what it became. In one respect, there is no elite without a mass; the presence of one presupposes the presence of the other. The popular struggles will be personified here by the critical masses (to be defined shortly). Their role as a vital completing component is indispensable if any explanation of the process of decolonization is to be complete and, therefore, a comprehensive analysis of decolonization must account for the instrumental role played by the critical masses in the eventual fall of formal colonialism. Their role has been lost in the struggle between the anticolonial elite and the metropolis for the control of both the political and historical narrative of national liberation and/or decolonization. Over the years, two extremes have emerged as dominant narratives of African nationalism each of which has privileged the singular historical and political vitality of its agency. The first strand, commonly referred to in the literature and political circles as national liberation or 'push-out,' has tended to privilege the role of the bilingual anti-colonial intelligentsia. Conversely, the second strand, the metropolitan-internationalist or decolonization or 'pull-out' (also intellectually and politically eclectic), has also had a tendency to emphasize the foresight, planning, fortitude and moral vision of colonial policy makers in preparing African colonies for political freedom or self-rule. …


During three-hundred-year history of the market economy, the main sources of wealth creation have changed from the natural resources (mainly land and relatively unskilled labor with the exception of the master craftsman), tangible material assets (buildings, machinery and equipment, funds) to intangible assets (knowledge and information of all types) that may be contained in the people, organizations, or physical resources. In the later period of the twentieth century, science has acquired the features of direct production force. The term direct implies that unlike the relationship which existed between science and production in the IXX century, where scientific advances was incorporated through the physical labor in the tools, which, in turn, created new value through the physical labor, the relationship between science and production has become all direct, immediate, because the scientific advances allowed the funds to be produced with less labor and allowed funds itself to become "smarter" and as such to require less human intervention and human physical labor in the final production process. As a result, the need for physical labor continuously declined with time, and the application of labor is moved from direct production to processes of preparing and organizing production. Also, a large part of today's knowledge that is used in production is not embodied in machinery, and the effects of this are immense.


South Africa is viewed as a water-stressed country with an average annual rainfall of 500 mm and any climatic change could have adverse impacts on water resources of the country. The potential impacts of climate change on water resources and surface hydrology for Africa and Southern Africa have received considerable attention from hydrologists during the past decade. Very little research has been conducted on the future impact of climate change on groundwater resources in South Africa. Climate change can affect groundwater levels, recharge and groundwater contribution to baseflow. To assess these impacts a climate change vulnerability index was developed. This vulnerability-index method is known as the DART index. The parameters considered in the DART method are as follows: depth to water-level change, aquifer type (storativity), recharge and transmissivity. The DART index is used as a regional screening tool to identify areas that could experience possible changes in their groundwater resources as a result of climate change. The current DART index does not account for adaptation and migration occurrences.


Many commercial and open-source network simulators are available; however, most of them are not suited for novices in college and school education or learning. Moreover, although Ethernet has recently become much more important, simulators that can be used for this purpose is rare because most simulators suited for education and learning are designed for IP communication. The author developed a simple CLI-based Ethernet simulator that can display contents of Ethernet packets to send or to receive in terminals and contents of MAC address tables in switches in "real time", and used the simulator in a university class for learning computer networks. The simulator, which is in public domain, is written in Python and, thus, runs on Windows, Macintosh, Linux, and other operating systems. The use of this simulator was evaluated based on a report assignment. The evaluation result shows that the average score of the reports written by using the simulator was much better, although it is not statistically significant because the number of students is small. The simulator seems to be effective to learn behaviors of Ethernet-based networks.


With the advent of portable technological devices such as mobile phones and tablets, online learning environments have become widespread at schools. This, in turn, has resulted in the emergence of a new learning environment: flipped classrooms. The flipped classroom could be defined as a modern learning environment where teaching content is presented to students through online sources outside the school. The present study examined the impact of digital citizenship instruction through the flipped classroom model on various variables such as learning performance, self-regulated learning, self-directed learning, and information literacy. The study employed a quasi-experimental research design in which pre-tests and post-tests were applied to both research and control groups. The participants were 59 teacher candidates who were freshman undergraduates at Bozok University. During a five-week implementation process, research group students performed certain activities related to digital citizenship while the control group learned digital citizenship via traditional methods. The results showed that the flipped classroom model had a significant effect on only learning performance. No difference were observed between research and control groups in terms of self-regulated learning, self-directed learning, and information literacy variables.


Lighthill's formulation of the aerodynamic sound problem (Lighthill, Proc. R. Soc. Lond. A 211, 564 (1952)) is here considered as fundamental to the sound generated by real turbulent jets. For convenience, the aerodynamic sound integral is recast, via Michalke & Fuchs [J.Fluid Mech. 70, 179 (1975)), into a form involving the pressure fluctuations. It is first conjectured that the large-scale coherent structures in the turbulent jet, whose existence is now well recognized, would be responsible for the spectrally dependent highly oriented radiation patterns in the aerodynamic sound field. Accordingly, only contributions that arise from the coherent structures are retained in the aerodynamic sound integral. The neglected fine-grained turbulence as far as the sound field is concerned is thought otherwise to contribute to the broadband, nearly isotropic radiation. The present source description follows Mankbadi & Liu [Phil.Trans. R. Soc. Lond. A 298, 541 (1981)), but suitably modified to include an ensemble of n = 0 axisymmetric and n = 1 spiral modes in the relevant Strouhal number range. The coherent structures interact with the mean flow and the finegrained turbulence as an ensemble through energy exchanges dictated by rates according to their individual spectral characteristics. Because such coherent structures are relatively 'weak' in a real, developing turbulent jet, their mutual interactions are neglected as a first approximation. The sound sources, in a stationary coordinate system and evaluated at the appropriate retarded time, give rise to an equivalent streamwise distribution of line radiators after performance of the azimuthal and radial integrations in the aerodynamic sound integral. The streamwise oscillation of the equivalent sources is determined by an axial interference function strongly influenced by the wavenumber of each individual mode whereas the streamwise growth and decay of the source envelope is determined primarily by the coherent structure amplitude whose spectral dependence is also strong. The streamwise net imbalance of the source contribution, reflected by the axial integration in the aerodynamic sound integral, gives rise to the far sound field. It is found that in general, the radiation is primarily in the direction of the jet exhaust; the radiation patterns of the n = 0 modes resembling those of longitudinal quadrupoles and those of the n = 1 modes resembling those of lateral quadrupoles. However, the n = 0 modes tend to peak at Strouhal numbers less than those of the n = 1 modes. The superposition gives a directional-spectral behaviour that strikingly resembles that of observations: lower frequency sound radiates preferentially in the forward direction and as the frequency increases, the peak radiation moves towards the lateral directions; it is also found that contributions to the high-frequency sound come from coherent structures that peak nearer the nozzle lip, whereas contributions to the low-frequency sound come from such structures that peak further downstream in the jet. The calculated spectral shapes are narrower than observations by typically a deficit of 4—7 dB per octave on both the high and low frequency sides and this is most likely attributable to the nearly isotropic radiation caused by the broad-band fine-grained turbulence whose direct contribution to the sound field is not accounted for. For the same reason, the calculated aerodynamic sound field has a large deficit compared with observations in the vicinity of the 90- degree region. The dominant contributions to the radiation come from the so-called shear noise in the forward arc, whereas both the shear and self-noise of the coherent structures become equally insignificant to the same order in the 90-degree region. Although the source distribution within the jet is calculated for an identically incompressible fluid, it is used in a limited sense to study the effect of jet exit velocity on the peak radiation frequency in the forward direction: it is found that the peak value of fd/a0, where f is the frequency, d the jet nozzle diameter and a0 the ambient sound speed, take on a value of about 0.30 independently of the jet velocity and this compares favourably with an observational value of about 0.20. In general, the angular distribution of the peak frequency due to coherent structures radiation compared favourably with observations. Compressibility effects that somewhat limit the amplification of coherent structures, as well as the effects of higher azimuthal modes whose radiation would peak at higher frequencies and larger lateral directions, warrant further study in the light of the present considerations. The present work, however, has already shown that the consequences of Lighthill's formulation of the aerodynamic sound problem agree with major features of observations and that this is brought about by taking into account as sources the growing and decaying largescale coherent eddies whose development within the turbulent jet and whose radiational properties are all strongly dependent upon their spectral contents.


In this paper, we develop a novel online algorithm based on the Sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) samplers framework for posterior inference in Dirichlet Process Mixtures (DPM) (DelMoral et al., 2006). Our method generalizes many sequential importance sampling approaches. It provides a computationally efficient improvement to particle filtering that is less prone to getting stuck in isolated modes. The proposed method is a particular SMC sampler that enables us to design sophisticated clustering update schemes, such as updating past trajectories of the particles in light of recent observations, and still ensures convergence to the true DPM target distribution asymptotically. Performance has been evaluated in a Bayesian Infinite Gaussian mixture density estimation problem and it is shown that the proposed algorithm outperforms conventional Monte Carlo approaches in terms of estimation variance and average log-marginal likelihood.


Objective Various studies of the usefulness of fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) in occupational settings remain inconclusive. The objective was to investigate the determinants of increased FeNO in bakery workers. Methods A cross-sectional study of 424 supermarket bakery workers used a questionnaire and serum specific IgE to wheat, rye and α-amylase. FeNO during the work shift were assessed using a hand-held portable sampling device (NIOX MINO). Results The median FeNO was 15 ppb, in atopics 21 ppb and current smokers 12 ppb. Increased FeNO was strongly associated with IgE to wheat independent of smoking and atopy status. In the multivariate model, IgE to wheat, current smoking, atopy and age were significantly associated with FeNO. Stratified analysis in a subgroup of atopic non-smokers demonstrated the strongest relationship between FeNO and various clinical endpoint such as wheat (OR=9.43) or rye (OR=11.76) sensitisation, work-related allergic rhinitis (OR=8.13) or asthma (OR=5.44), and probable baker's asthma (OR=6.72). Conclusions Sensitisation to cereal flour allergens rather than asthma symptoms is a major determinant of elevated FeNO among bakers. This relationship is modified by atopy and current smoking status.


Abstract DNA barcoding with the mitochondrial COI gene reveals distinct haplotype subgroups within the monophyletic and parthenogenetic nematode species, Mesocriconema xenoplax. Biological attributes of these haplotype groups (HG) have not been explored. An analysis of M. xenoplax from 40 North American sites representing both native plant communities and agroecosystems was conducted to identify possible subgroup associations with ecological, physiological, or geographic factors. A dataset of 132 M. xenoplax specimens was used to generate sequences of a 712 bp region of the cytochrome oxidase subunit I gene. Maximum-likelihood and Bayesian phylogenies recognized seven COI HG (≥99/0.99 posterior probability/bootstrap value). Species delimitation metrics largely supported the genetic integrity of the HG. Discriminant function analysis of HG morphological traits identified stylet length, total body length, and stylet knob width as the strongest distinguishing features among the seven groups, with stylet length as the strongest single distinguishing morphological feature. Multivariate analysis identified land cover, ecoregion, and maximum temperature as predictors of 53.6% of the total variation (P = 0.001). Within land cover, HG categorized under "herbaceous," "woody wetlands," and "deciduous forest" were distinct in DAPC and RDA analyses and were significantly different (analysis of molecular variance P = 0.001). These results provide empirical evidence for molecular, morphological, and ecological differentiation associated with HG within the monophyletic clade that represents the species Mesocriconema xenoplax.


Hypoxia (low dissolved oxygen [DO]) and CO2-induced acidification are important aquatic stressors that are exacerbated by anthropogenic nutrient inputs and are expected to increase in severity with increasing atmospheric CO2 and higher global temperatures. Understanding how species respond to changes in DO and pH is critical to predicting how climate change will affect estuarine ecosystems, including the extreme shallow margins of these systems, where factors such as respiration, photosynthesis, and tides create daily fluctuations of DO and pH, and strong correlations between the 2 stressors. To determine how acidification affects the sensitivity to hypoxia of 2 im portant forage fishes, the silversides Menidia menidia and M. beryllina, we recorded opercula ventilation rates, aquatic surface respiration (ASR, where fish breathe in the oxygenated surface layer during hypoxic events), and mortality as we lowered either DO or both DO and pH simultaneously. Fish subjected to low DO and low pH in the laboratory performed ASR and died at higher DO concentrations than fish subjected only to hypoxia. Additionally, fish beat their opercula slower, which may have contributed to the differences in ASR and mortality that we saw. These results indicate acidification can increase mortality under hypoxia not only directly but also indirectly by increasing vulnerability to predation during increased use of ASR.


ABSTRACT The activities of iron-oxidizing and reducing microorganisms impact the fate of arsenic in groundwater. Phylogenetic information cannot exclusively be used to infer the potential for iron oxidation or reduction in aquifers. Therefore, we complemented a previous cultivation-independent microbial community survey covering 22 arsenic contaminated drinking water wells in Bangladesh, with the characterization of enrichments of microaerophilic iron oxidizers and anaerobic iron reducers, conducted on the same water samples. All investigated samples revealed a potential for microbial iron oxidation and reduction. Microbial communities were phylogenetically diverse within and between enrichments as was also observed in the previous cultivation-independent analysis of the water samples from which these enrichments were derived. Enrichment uncovered a larger diversity in iron-cycling microorganisms than previously indicated. The iron-reducing enrichments revealed the presence of several 16S ribosomal RNA (16S rRNA) gene sequences most closely related to Acetobacterium, Clostridium, Bacillus, Rhizobiales, Desulfovibrio, Bacteroides, and Spirochaetes, in addition to well-known dissimilatory iron-reducing Geobacter and Geothrix species. Although a large diversity of Geobacteraceae was observed, they comprised only a small part of the iron-reducing consortia. Iron-oxidizing gradient tube enrichments were dominated by Comamonadaceae and Rhodocyclaceae instead of Gallionellaceae. Forty-five percent of these enrichments also revealed the presence of the gene encoding arsenite oxidase, which converts arsenite to less toxic and less mobile arsenate. Their potential for ferric (oxyhydr)oxides precipitation and arsenic immobilization makes these iron-oxidizing enrichments of interest for rational bioaugmentation of arsenite contaminated groundwater.


This paper considers the application of multiple interest rate analysis to a model of the production of commodities by means of commodities. A polynomial, for the characteristic equation of the augmented input-output matrix, is used in defining the rate of profits in such a model. Only one root is found to be economically meaningful. No non-trivial application of multiple interest rate analysis is found in the analysis of the choice of technique. On the other hand, multiple interest rate analysis can be used in defining Net Present Value in an approximate model, in which techniques are represented as finite series of dated labor inputs. The product of the quantity of the first labor input and the composite interest rate approaches, in the limit, the difference between the labor commanded by and the labor embodied in final output in the full model.


The distribution and characteristics of MC252 oil:sand aggregates, termed surface residue balls (SRBs), were measured on the supratidal beach environment of oil‐impacted Fourchon Beach in Louisiana (USA). Probability distributions of 4 variables, surface coverage (%), size of SRBs (mm2 of projected area), mass of SRBs per m2 (g/m2), and concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and n‐alkanes in the SRBs (mg of crude oil component per kg of SRB) were determined using parametric and nonparametric statistical techniques. Surface coverage of SRBs, an operational remedial standard for the beach surface, was a gamma‐distributed variable ranging from 0.01% to 8.1%. The SRB sizes had a mean of 90.7 mm2 but fit no probability distribution, and a nonparametric ranking was used to describe the size distributions. Concentrations of total PAHs ranged from 2.5 mg/kg to 126 mg/kg of SRB. Individual PAH concentration distributions, consisting primarily of alkylated phenanthrenes, dibenzothiophenes, and chrysenes, did not consistently fit a parametric distribution. Surface coverage was correlated with an oil mass per unit area but with a substantial error at lower coverage (i.e., <2%). These data provide probabilistic risk assessors with the ability to specify uncertainty in PAH concentration, exposure frequency, and ingestion rate, based on SRB characteristics for the dominant oil form on beaches along the US Gulf Coast. Environ Toxicol Chem 2014;33:1544–1551. © 2014 SETAC


This thesis delves into the nature and effects of financial and monetary policy design. It comprises three chapters, each of which studies this topic from a different perspective and with a focus on different frictions.
The first chapter derives theoretically the optimal monetary policy for a small open economy characterized by the incompleteness of the domestic financial market. In the model, a tight relationship between the consumption of different agents and the aggregate debtto-GDP ratio emerges in equilibrium. Optimal monetary policy is the result of a tradeoff between the stabilization of this ratio (risk-sharing) and the traditional policy objectives of price and output gap stabilization. Quantitative simulations suggest that price and output stabilization dominate debt-to-GDP stabilization in the optimal policy rule. Unlike the case of a closed economy, the policy objective of improving on risk-sharing is excessively costly from the point of view of the policymaker when the economy is open.
The second chapter studies theoretical issues related to the unsecured consumer credit market, normally characterized by incompleteness and poor protection of property rights. The chapter describes a theoretical mechanism by which the interest rate to a given borrower is affected by the default choices of other agents. Individual agents ignore the effect of their own default choices on aggregate credit conditions, and thus the volume of unsecured credit in a decentralized market will be generally inefficient. The chapter employs simulations of the model to conclude that recently observed credit booms in Latin America may be inefficient.
The third chapter analyzes empirically the relationship between information sharing and credit outcomes in the unsecured consumer credit market, focusing on the potential expost disciplinary effect and the ex-ante informational hold-up of long-lived negative information about borrowers. The chapter exploits a natural experiment in Colombia created by Law 1266/2008, whereby detailed information about past defaults that were exogenously "sufficiently old" was erased from Private Credit Bureaus (in what follows, PCB). Using a Differences-in-Differences (DD) specification, it is found that after old negative information is erased, there is a significant increase in the size and maturity of new loans, no significant changes in interest rates, and an increase in subsequent default rates for the treatment group, relative to the control group. Overall, these results are consistent with both ex-post disciplinary effects, and ex-ante information hold-up from long-lived negative information in PCB. Specifically, consistent with the hold-up theories, the chapter finds that most of the increase in the value of loans comes from outside banks. In addition, consistent with the disciplinary role of information sharing, the chapter finds evidence of a relative increase in the frequency of default for new loans after negative information is erased.


Abstract. Shadows are ubiquitous in high-resolution images, especially in urban regions where there are more serious shadow occlusions. In order to improve the detection effect of shadows, this paper analyzes the characteristics and properties of shadows in orthophotos, and proposes an orthophoto shadow detection method under artificial shadow. Firstly, the shadow modeling tool is used to calculate the shadow regions (i.e. artificial shadow) caused by the building obstructing the sun's rays. Secondly, the relaxation matching algorithm is extended by the position and the shape of the shadow polygon as characteristic constraints. The relaxation matching algorithm is extended by the position and shape as shadow polygon's characteristic constraints. Thirdly, the feature constraint value is calculated which between the shadow polygons of the two images. The correlation coefficient is used to obtain the initial probability value of each shadow polygon in the orthophoto. Finally, the optimal solution is obtained by continuous correction and iteration of the initial probability value. The method performs an overall matching of the two images and obtains the position of the shadow regions of the buildings in the orthophoto image. Experiment shows that this method reduces the mismatch rate and improves the matching accuracy. This method can detect shadow regions of buildings in orthophoto quickly and efficiently.


Objective: To assess the prevalence of metabolic syndrome, and its effect on cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in patients with established coronary disease and to explore the inter-relationships between metabolic syndrome, diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular risk. Methods: The presence of metabolic syndrome was determined in 8397 patients with stable coronary disease from the European Trial on Reduction of Cardiac Events with Perindopril in Stable Coronary Artery Disease, with mean follow-up of 4.2 years. Metabolic syndrome was defined using a modified version of the National Cholesterol Education Programme criteria. Results: Metabolic syndrome was present in 1964/8397 (23.4%) of the population and significantly predicted outcome; relative risk (RR) of cardiovascular mortality  =  1.82 (95% CI 1.40 to 2.39); and fatal and non-fatal myocardial infarction RR = 1.50 (95% CI 1.24 to 1.80). The association with adverse outcomes remained significant after adjustment, RR of cardiovascular mortality after adjustment for conventional risks and diabetes  =  1.39 (95% CI 1.03 to 1.86). In comparison with normal weight subjects without diabetes or metabolic syndrome, normal weight dysmetabolic subjects (with either diabetes or metabolic syndrome) were at substantially increased risk of cardiovascular death (RR = 4.05 (95% CI 2.38 to 6.89)). The relative risks of cardiovascular death for overweight and obese patients with dysmetabolic status were nominally lower (RR = 3.01 (95% CI 1.94 to 4.69) and RR = 2.35 (95% CI 1.50 to 3.68), respectively). Conclusions: Metabolic syndrome is associated with adverse cardiovascular outcome, independently of its associations with diabetes and obesity. A metabolic profile should form part of the risk assessment in all patients with coronary disease, not just those who are obese.


Freshwater algae belong to numerous evolutionary lineages and the flora of any aquatic system has many species from some or all of these lineages. These algae have a range in morphology from single cells, flagellates, colonies and unbranched or branched filaments. They inhabit flowing and still waters in the regions where they can be attached (periphyton) or free-floating (phytoplankton). In terms of biogeography, some algae are generalists having a cosmopolitan distribution; others are specialists either restricted to a particular habitat or geographic region and a third category are invaders from either marine or other freshwater habitats. Typically, the physiology of the alga will determine to which category an alga belongs. Freshwater algae may be distributed by wind, terrestrial and aquatic animals, and humans either intentionally or unintentionally. Our understanding of the biogeography of freshwater algae is somewhat limited and further research is needed.

Key Concepts:

Freshwater algae are diverse in their evolutionary relationships, their morphology (shape and size) and habitats they occupy.

Freshwater algae can be 'generalists' having a more cosmopolitan distribution, 'specialists' being restricted either in geography or habitat or 'invaders' from either the marine system or from freshwater typically outside their historic range.

Generalists tend to be able to tolerate a broad range in physical and chemical environments.

Specialists tend to have more specific physiological requirements or are not as readily dispersed.

Invaders from the marine system are able to survive in moderately low salinity environments.

The invasiveness of some freshwater algae has been attributed to nutrient pollution and potential climate change.

Freshwater algae can be dispersed via animals (aquatic and terrestrial), water, wind and human vectors such as ship ballast and fishing waders.

Keywords:

algae;
biogeography;
cyanobacteria;
lakes;
periphyton;
phytoplankton;
streams


Habitability for planets orbiting active stars has been questioned. Especially, planets in the Habitable Zone (HZ) of M-stars, like our closest star Proxima Centauri, experience temporal high-ultraviolet (UV) radiation. The high fraction of M-stars (75%) within the solar neighborhood, the high occurrence rate of rocky planets around M-stars, and the favorable contrast ratio between the star and a potentially habitable rocky planet, makes such planets interesting targets for upcoming observations. During M-star flares, the UV flux on a HZ planet can increase by up to two orders of magnitude. High UV radiation is harmful to life and can cause cell and DNA damage. Common UV protection methods (e.g. living underground, or underwater) would make a biosphere harder to detect. However, photoprotective biofluorescence, "up-shifting" UV to longer, safer wavelengths (a proposed UV protection mechanism for some corals), would increase the detectability of biota and even uncover normally hidden biospheres during a flare. Such biofluorescence could be observable as a "temporal biosignature" for planets around UV-active stars. We model temporal biofluorescence as a biosignature for an exoplanet biosphere exposed to such conditions, based on planets in M-star HZs. We use fluorescing coral proteins to model biofluorescence, comparing observable spectra, and colors, to vegetation and fluorescent minerals. Our planetary models assume a present-day Earth atmosphere and explore the effect of varying cloud coverage and land:ocean fractions. UV flare-induced biofluorescence could be remotely detectable, comparable in strength to vegetation on Earth. On planets in the HZ of M-stars, biofluorescence could be a temporary biosignature, distinguishable from fluorescing minerals and vegetation.


The proposed decision by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reduce biofuel mandates that can be met by ethanol to about 13 billion gallons is predicated in part on a finding that consumption of ethanol is largely limited to the amount that can be consumed in E10, a blended fuel containing 10 percent ethanol. One way to increase ethanol consumption beyond E10 levels is with E85, which contains up to 83 percent ethanol. Historical consumption of E85 provides a poor predictor of the level of possible consumption because the price of E85 has never been low enough to save owners of flex vehicles money. We use a new model of E85 demand to estimate the feasibility and cost of meeting higher ethanol mandate levels than those proposed by EPA. Our model shows that if existing E85 stations could sell as much E85 as demanded by consumers, and if E85 were priced at fuel-cost parity with E10, then ethanol consumption in E85 would be 1.65 billion gallons. If E85 were priced to generate a 20 percent reduction in fuel costs to consumers, then ethanol consumption would increase by 3.6 billion gallons per year. These calculations assume no growth in the number of flex vehicles above the level that existed on January 1, 2013. However, it is not realistic to assume that existing E85 stations could sell unlimited amounts of the fuel. Imposing an upper limit on monthly E85 sales of 45,000 gallons per station reduces ethanol-in-E85 consumption levels to 700 million gallons per year at parity prices, and 900 million gallons per year at a price that results in a 20 percent reduction in fuel costs. The large gap between how much E85 would be demanded by consumers and what can realistically be sold by existing stations shows that both price and the number of gasoline stations selling E85 constrain consumption. We show the impact of adding E85 sales outlets in urban areas where flex vehicles are concentrated by calculating the different combinations of new sales outlets and E85 retail prices needed to achieve a ethanol consumption targets beyond E10. An additional ethanol consumption target of 800 million gallons could be achieved with an E85 retail price of $2.32 per gallon and no new stations. If 500 new stations were added, then the required retail price increases to $2.71 per gallon. These results demonstrate that meeting a 14.4 billion gallon ethanol mandate is feasible in 2014 with no new stations, modestly lower E85 prices, and judicious use of available carryover RINs (Renewable Identification Numbers). Meeting a two billion gallon increase in consumption would require installing at least 3,000 new stations. At a cost of $130,000 per station, this would require a one-time investment of $390 million, or about 20 cents per gallon of increased ethanol consumption in one year. With 3,000 additional stations, the retail price of E85 would have to be discounted to $2.10 per gallon to generate two billion gallons of additional ethanol consumption. With a total of 3,500 new stations, the required E85 retail price increases to $2.60 per gallon. The large impact that adding new stations has on the retail price of E85 given a level of E85 sales gives EPA a powerful tool to incentivize investment in new stations that can facilitate meeting expanded ethanol consumption targets. Any gap that arises between the wholesale price of ethanol needed to support a lower retail E85 price and the cost of producing and transporting ethanol would be closed by the price of RINs. RIN prices also indicate the cost that owners of oil refineries bear to meet biofuel mandates. Thus, there exists an inverse relationship between the cost of compliance with mandates and the number of new E85 stations. This means that owners of oil refineries who bear the costs of complying with mandates can reduce their compliance costs by investing in new E85 stations. If EPA were to set the 2014 ethanol mandate at 14.4 billion gallons and the mandate was met by 13 billion gallons of ethanol in E10, 800 million gallons of ethanol in E85, and 600 million banked RINs, then the RIN price that would cover the gap between the required $2.32 per gallon price of E85 and the cost of producing and transporting ethanol would be 69 cents per RIN. With 500 additional stations, the RIN price would drop to 18 cents. This drop in RIN price represents more than a $7 billion drop in the total value of RINs that would be used for compliance in 2014. In this scenario, the cost of adding the additional stations would be $65 million. This dramatic decrease in the total cost of RINs from adding new E85 stations is what gives EPA the tool they need to incentivize the investments that would facilitate expanded ethanol mandates. EPA's proposed rule would reduce mandated volumes of biofuels in part, because of "supply concerns associated with the blendwall." We demonstrate in this paper that the important supply concern associated with the E10 blendwall pertains to the supply of stations that sell E85, not the supply of the biofuel. The lack of stations that sell the fuel results in a lack of demand for ethanol, not a lack of supply. EPA's justification for reducing ethanol mandates means that mandates will not be increased beyond E10 levels until the number of stations that sell E85 increases sufficiently. Our results demonstrate that the number of stations that sell E85 will not increase until EPA sets ethanol mandates beyond E10 levels. If increased mandates wait for the stations to be built, mandates will never increase. Our results showing that 800 million gallons of ethanol can be consumed as E85 in 2014, even with no additional investment in E85 stations can provide one way out of this policy dilemma. Combining this additional consumption of ethanol in E85 with consumption of ethanol in E10 and available banked RINs would facilitate meeting a 14.4 billion gallon mandate in 2014. Adopting a 14.4 billion gallon ethanol mandate would send a clear signal that EPA is not locked into keeping ethanol mandates below E10 levels. It would also increase RIN prices enough to incentivize investments in new E85 stations, which would give EPA the freedom to move the ethanol mandate to 15 billion gallons in 2015. Our results show that it will take at least 3,000 additional stations selling E85 to achieve a 15 billion gallon mandate without use of carryover RINs. If all 3,000 stations needed an additional tank for E85, then it will involve a one-time investment cost of approximately $390 million, or about 20 cents for each gallon of ethanol sold in E85. Because this investment cost is far below what compliance costs would be without the investment, owners of oil refineries would have a strong incentive to make the investment.


Fortran continues to be the premier language used in scientific and engineering computing since its introduction in the 1950s. Fortran 2003 is the latest standard version and has many excellent modern features that assist programmers in writing efficient, portable and maintainable programs that are useful for everything from hard science to text processing. The Fortran 2003 Handbook is the definitive and comprehensive guide to Fortran 2003, the latest standard version of Fortran. This all-inclusive volume offers a reader-friendly, easy-to-follow and informal description of Fortran 2003, and has been developed to provide not only a readable explanation of features, but also some rationale for the inclusion of features and their use. Experienced Fortran 95 programmers will be able to use this volume to assimilate quickly those features in Fortran 2003 that are not in Fortran 95 (Fortran 2003 contains all of the features of Fortran 95). Features and benefits: The complete syntax of Fortran 2003 is supplied. Each of the intrinsic standard procedures is described in detail. There is a complete listing of the new, obsolescent, and deleted features. Numerous examples are given throughout, providing insights into intended uses and interactions of the features. IEEE module procedures are covered thoroughly. Chapters begin with a summary of the main terms and concepts described. Models provide the reader with insight into the language. Key Topics: Fortran Concepts and Terms Language Elements and Source Form Data Types Block Constructs and Execution Control I/O Processing and Editing Interoperability with C Standard Intrinsic Procedures This highly versatile and authoritative handbook is intended for anyone who wants a comprehensive survey of Fortran 2003, including those familiar with programming language concepts but unfamiliar with Fortran. It offers a practical description of Fortran 2003 for professionals developing sophisticated application and commercial software in Fortran, as well as developers of Fortran compilers. All authors have been heavily involved in the development of Fortran standards. They have served on national and international Fortran standard development committees, and include a chair, convenors and editors of the Fortran 90, 95, and 2003 standards. In addition, Walt Brainerd is the owner of The Fortran Company, Tucson, AZ, USA.


Abstract An Azusa Pacific University Reference Librarian describes the logistical, cultural, and spiritual aspects of a library building journey to Ethiopia which brought the means for a successful implementation of a new small academic library to hundreds of university students in the African country. Discusses the positive impact of the Christian global community on the university's global distributed learning programs, the academic program in Ethiopia included well-attended Organizational Leadership courses through the university's Operation Impact Program supported by the new library. Recommended Citation Shimazu Yee, Evelyn (2007) "The Beginnings of a Small Ethiopian, Organizational Leadership Library Collaborative," The Christian Librarian: Vol. 50 : Iss. 1 , Article 7. Available at: https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/tcl/vol50/iss1/7  Download


Every day millions of users are connected through online social networks, generating a rich trove of data that allows us to study the mechanisms behind human interactions. Triadic closure has been treated as the major mechanism for creating social links: if Alice follows Bob and Bob follows Charlie, Alice will follow Charlie. Here we present an analysis of longitudinal micro-blogging data, revealing a more nuanced view of the strategies employed by users when expanding their social circles. While the network structure affects the spread of information among users, the network is in turn shaped by this communication activity. This suggests a link creation mechanism whereby Alice is more likely to follow Charlie after seeing many messages by Charlie. We characterize users with a set of parameters associated with different link creation strategies, estimated by a Maximum-Likelihood approach. Triadic closure does have a strong effect on link formation, but shortcuts based on traffic are another key factor in interpreting network evolution. However, individual strategies for following other users are highly heterogeneous. Link creation behaviors can be summarized by classifying users in different categories with distinct structural and behavioral characteristics. Users who are popular, active, and influential tend to create traffic-based shortcuts, making the information diffusion process more efficient in the network.


Veterans residing in underserved rural areas face many barriers to accessing high-quality rehabilitation services. This article describes the benefits and challenges of using technology for delivery of rehabilitation services to rural Veterans using TeleHOME, an innovative tele-rehabilitation program. TeleHOME enables rehabilitation providers to remotely assess the Veteran's functional abilities and needs in his or her own home where these tasks must be performed. This technology increases the ability of all team members to contribute to interdisciplinary care, but also requires greater levels of team integration. One month after the completion of the TeleHOME project, we met with clinicians to discuss their perceptions of whether and how use of the technology affected interdisciplinary care processes, and what approaches were used to meet team-based goals. TeleHOME can improve access to rehabilitation services for rural Veterans, but will also bring about novel integrative care processes that may improve the effectiveness of such services. Recommendations to overcome challenges to optimize the implementation and delivery of TeleHOME services as well as to better inform clinicians working with rural Veterans are discussed.


During an EC-funded research carried out in the Mediterranean Sea deep-water fish (600-4000 m) were collected in the Balearic Sea as well as the western and eastern Ionian Sea. Caelorhynchusmediterraneus is a new record for the Balearic Sea, Cyclothone braueri, Hygophum benoiti, Paralepis speciosa, Chalinura mediterranea, Coryphaenoides guentheri, C. mediterraneus, Lepidion lepidion and Cataetyx laticeps for the western Ionian Sea, and Polyacanthonotus rissoanus, C. guentheri, C. mediterraneus, L. lepidion and C. laticeps for the eastern Ionian Sea. The bathymetric distribution of other species has been updated. Species richness decreased with depth in the three surveyed areas, showing a significant shift below 1500 m. At depths greater than 1000 m macrourid and morid species were dominant except in the Balearic Sea, where Alepocephalus rostratus was found to be very abundant as deep as 1500 m. At depths greater than 1500 m the dominant species were Bathypterois mediterraneus, C. mediterranea and C. guentheri . The results of this research confirm the scarcity of deep fish fauna in the Mediterranean compared to the Atlantic. For the greatest depths are concerned, the faunistic difference between the western and eastern Mediterranean seems to be most probably due to a lesser number of investigations on the eastern side rather than any real paucity of ichthyofauna.


The focus of this research was to develop interconnect-centric physical design tools for 3D technologies. A new routing model for the SOP structure was developed which incorporated the 3D structure and formalized the resource structure that facilitated the development of the global routing tool. The challenge of this work was to intelligently convert the 3D SOP routing problem into a set of 2D problems which could be solved efficiently. On the lines of MCM, the global routing problem was divided into a number of phases namely, coarse pin distribution, net distribution, detailed pin distribution, topology generation, layer assignment, channel assignment and local routing. The novelty in this paradigm is due to the feed-through vias needed by the nets which traverse through multiple placement layers. To gain further improvements in performance, optical routing was proposed and a cost analysis study was done. The areas for the placement of waveguides were efficiently determined, which reduced delays and maximized utilization. The global router developed was integrated into a simulated-annealing based floorplanner to investigate trade-offs of various objectives. Since power-supply noise suppression is of paramount importance in SOP, a model was developed for the SOP power-supply network. Decap allocation, and insertions were also integrated into the framework. The challenges in this work were to integrate computationally intensive analysis tools with a floorplanning that works to its best efficency provided the evaluation of the cost functions is rapid. Trajectory-based approaches were used to sample representative data points for congestion analysis and interpolate the the congestion metric during the optimization schedule. Efficient algorithms were also proposed for 3D clock routing, which acheived equal skews under uniform and worst thermal profiles. Other objectives such as wirelength, through-vias, and power were also handled.


In this paper, a correlation based fingerprint image segmentation technique is presented. Segmented is a useful image processing tool generally used in Machine vision applications in the Pattern Recognition and classification that leads to the separation of area of interest (AOI) from an image based on some image parameters like gray levels. In this proposed method, direction based segmentation is presented without computing and use of any directional field whose effectiveness has been evaluated for several finger print images (databases like FVC2002, FVC2000).