This study uses life-cycle assessment (LCA) methodology to quantify life-cycle energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, solid waste generation and water use for delivering drinking water to consumer households in the United States. Three systems were considered in this analysis: 1) single-use disposable bottled water (500ml) sold in 24-packs, 2) Home and office delivery bottled water, 3) municipal tap water. For both the HOD and municipal tap systems, drinking water is served in a reusable drinking vessel (bottle or cup) that is periodically washed in a residential dishwasher. Variants of each system were constructed to represent a range of possible real-world scenarios using factors such as bottle type (virgin PET, rPET), water type (natural source, municipal source), distribution (regional, national, overseas), end-of-life treatment (landfill disposal, recycling), type of reusable drinking vessel (steel bottle, glass cup) and frequency of washing the reusable vessel. With respect to life-cycle energy, solid waste, greenhouse gas emission and water use, the municipal tap systems outperform both HOD and single-use bottled systems. Single-use bottled systems consume 11-31 times more energy than tap systems. Production of plastic bottles is responsible for over 70% of the energy use of regional bottled systems, while with national and overseas distribution, transportation begins to dominate. Tap and HOD system energy use is dominated by residential washing of the reusable drinking vessel. Greenhouse gas emissions generally correlate with energy use. HOD systems consume 8-18% of energy relative to single-use systems, while municipal tap systems use 35-55% of HOD lifecycle energy. For solid waste, single-use systems perform the worst, followed by the HOD and municipal tap systems respectively. End-of-life treatment of bottles dictates single-use systems solid waste profile. From an environmental perspective, municipal tap water is the preferred drinking water system. Strategies to reduce the impact of bottled water may include bans at the organizational level (city governments, universities, and restaurants), education and outreach to encourage consumers to choose tap water and the expansion of state bottle bills to improve recovery of empty bottles. Results of this study can be used to inform consumers and legislators of the impacts of their choices with regard to drinking water.


One of the most important product specifications in design of materials for different applications is to closely match desired mechanical properties of the target. The soft tissue could be very elastic such as blood vessels and skin, whereas others are soft and non-elastic such as fat tissue. Soft human tissue has a diverse structural component that give them the different feel, texture, shape, and mechanical properties. Poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) as hydrophobic polymer has outstanding features such as very good physico-mechanical properties, nontoxicity and biocompatibility, and high swelling properties which makes them favorable for biomaterial and biomedical applications. By physically crosslinking PVA, one can eliminate residual amount of toxic crosslinking agent compared to chemically crosslinking. Moreover, by adding fillers (particle or fibers) to PVA and making PVA based blends, desirable mechanical properties can be achieved which, consequently can mimic the different human tissue texture and properties. Different naturally based fillers such as chitosan, micro crystalline cellulose (MCC), and cotton fibers were added to improve the mechanical properties. Also, PVA was blended with xanthan gum and sorbitol to improve the elasticity of the material.


This paper describes our system created for the SemEval-2018 Task 1: Affect in Tweets (AIT-2018). We participated in both the regression and the ordinal classification subtasks for emotion intensity detection in English, Arabic, and Spanish. For the regression subtask we use the AffectiveTweets system with added features using various word embeddings, lexicons, and LDA. For the ordinal classification we additionally use our Brainy system with features using parse tree, POS tags, and morphological features. The most beneficial features apart from word and character n-grams include word embeddings, POS count and morphological features.


Planning locomotion trajectories for legged microrobots is challenging because of their complex morphology, high frequency passive dynamics, and discontinuous contact interactions with their environment. Consequently, such research is often driven by time-consuming experimental methods. As an alternative, we present a framework for systematically modeling, planning, and controlling legged microrobots. We develop a three-dimensional dynamic model of a 1.5 gram quadrupedal microrobot with complexity (e.g., number of degrees of freedom) similar to larger-scale legged robots. We then adapt a recently developed variational contact-implicit trajectory optimization method to generate feasible whole-body locomotion plans for this microrobot, and we demonstrate that these plans can be tracked with simple joint-space controllers. We plan and execute periodic gaits at multiple stride frequencies and on various surfaces. These gaits achieve high per-cycle velocities, including a maximum of 10.87 mm/cycle, which is 15% faster than previously measured velocities for this microrobot. Furthermore, we plan and execute a vertical jump of 9.96 mm, which is 78% of the microrobot's center-of-mass height. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first end-to-end demonstration of planning and tracking whole-body dynamic locomotion on a millimeter-scale legged microrobot.


Traumatic stress often causes long-term pathological changes. To elucidate the molecular basis of these stress-induced changes, Meshorer et al. analyzed the regulation of expression of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) splice variants at cholinergic synapses in the central nervous system. They saw a change from the dominant membrane-bound AChE-S form to the rare soluble AChE-R form. This switch could be triggered by various stresses, occurred very rapidly, and could last for many weeks. E. Meshorer, C. Erb, R. Gazit, L. Pavlovsky, D. Kaufer, A. Friedman, D. Glick, N. Ben-Arie, H. Soreq, Alternative splicing and neuritic mRNA translocation under long-term neuronal hypersensitivity. Science 295, 508-512 (2002). [Abstract] [Full Text]


Video sharing has been an increasingly popular application in online social networks (OSNs). However, its sustainable development is severely hindered by the intrinsic limit of the client/server architecture deployed in current OSN video systems, which is not only costly in terms of server bandwidth and storage but also not scalable with the soaring amount of users and video content . The peer-assisted Video-onDemand (VoD) technique, in which participating peers assist the server in delivering video content has been proposed recently. Unfortunately, videos can only be disseminated through friends in OSNs. Therefore, current VoD works that explore clustering nodes with similar interests or close location for high performance are suboptimal, if not entirely inapplicable, in OSNs. Based on our long-term real-world measurement of over 1,000,000 users and 2,500 videos on Facebook, we propose SocialTube, a novel peer-assisted video sharing system that explores social relationship, interest similarity, and physical location between peers in OSNs.


Abstract Teacher commitment is a key factor for explaining how and why teachers care about their students' learning and well-being, and it is a well-known fact that teachers invest emotionally in their work and their students. The purpose of the article is to contribute to the conceptual underpinning of commitment in relation to the teacher-student relationship and to suggest a conceptual model based on empirical material. Eight teachers were selected for interview, all of whom had been in the profession since 1993 and had reported high commitment throughout their careers. The content of the teachers' accounts were analysed, with attention to how commitment to students manifested itself in their stories. The analysis resulted in a model consisting of four temporally related components of teacher commitment to students: moral, action/motivational, knowledge/self-confidence and reward/self-esteem. Understanding teacher commitment is important for preventing teacher attrition. Rather than applying general measures to boost commitment, this model provides conceptual bases for addressing deficits in particular components of teacher commitment.


This empirical study is based on interviews with 26 grandchildren of Nazi perpetrators, followers and Wehrmacht soldiers and examines how they remember their Nazi family histories and the Holocaust and the Third Reich more generally. Most studies of this 'third generation' are framed in the terms of purely constructivist theories of collective (Halbwachs [1925] 1992) or communicative and cultural memory (Assmann 1999) and thus cannot take account of present but unrecognized aspects of the past. In contrast, this thesis draws on the traumatic realism of Dominick LaCapra and others to examine questions concerning the memory and representation of extreme events and makes use of the psychoanalytic notions of working-through and acting-out/mourning and melancholia. It does so to distinguish between what is remembered and what remains dissociated, marginalized and excluded in the grandchildren's accounts of their Nazi family pasts. It furthermore draws on this non-binary distinction to acknowledge the two interrelated dimensions that remembering the National Socialist past entails in 'the double "post" of the postmodern and the post-Holocaust' (Santner 1990: 18): 1) coming to terms with the absence of essential, unfractured and stable identities, i.e. with what Eric Santner and Dominick LaCapra term structural trauma and 2) mourning the suffering caused by the Nazis and countless ordinary Germans, i.e. what both theorists refer to as historical trauma. This study explores how these two dimensions intersect in the generation of the grandchildren to find that the structural dimension has been receding into the background since German unification. This implies that the cultural and official memory of the Holocaust is increasingly either used for the purposes of national identity building, and thus in a redemptive way, or rejected because it is considered to obstruct a return to an essential and pure national identity. In drawing on recent theories of shame, this thesis argues that efforts of 'coming to terms' with the NS past can only be 'successful' if working-through structural trauma is part of the process.


The present study explores the relationship between perceived organizational support and health support from supervisors and workmates, and 'safety citizenship behaviour' (SCB) in offshore employees. It is hypothesised that high levels of support reflecting care in the organization about employee well-being will lead to more positive safety behaviour in the workforce. Data were collected from 703 offshore workers on 18 UKCS installations (35% response rate) using a cross-sectional questionnaire design. Scales measuring perceptions of organizational support, supervisor support for health, workmates support for health and SCB were found to have good psychometric properties and were used as the basis for further analysis. The results indicate that high levels of support at both an organizational and supervisor level reflecting care and concern for the well-being of workers leads to a reciprocal relationship in terms of increased SCB. This shows that appropriate social exchanges within an organization may lead to unanticipated benefits in terms of employee safety behaviours that go beyond normal compliance. In this study, general support from the organization and specific support from the supervisor in relation to health issues appear have an impact on safety performance outcomes such as intervening to assist work colleagues and reporting dangers.


OBJECTIVES
This study examined the association between unwanted sexual activity during childhood and risky behaviors among a sample of predominantly African American and Hispanic men.

METHODS
Data were obtained from baseline interviews completed by 2676 men enrolled in a multisite HIV prevention trial.

RESULTS
Approximately 25% of the men reported unwanted or uninvited sexual activity before 13 years of age, with Hispanic men more likely than African American men to report unwanted sexual activity during childhood. Men with a history of unwanted sexual activity during childhood were more likely to report unwanted sexual activity since age 13, the buying and selling of sex, problems with alcohol, and drug use. Men who reported unwanted sexual activity during childhood also reported a significantly greater frequency of unprotected sexual acts and more partners.

CONCLUSIONS
Among men at high risk for HIV infection, unwanted sexual activity during childhood is more widespread than previously described and can increase the risk of participating in harmful health practices during adulthood, including risky sexual behaviors.


Governance of Arctic Shipping: Balancing Rights and Interests of Arctic States and User States examines potential cooperative mechanisms for balancing rights and interests of Arctic States and user States in light of experiences with Southeast Asian cooperative mechanisms.


This study was carried out to evaluate the environmental application of modified and non-modified carbon nanofiber through the experiment removal of zinc from water. Results of the study showed that raw (non-modified) CNFs have very poor efficiency in removing zinc from water by conventional adsorption mechanism. However, when CNFs was modified with carboxylic group, a significant improvement in the zinc removal efficiency was observed. Five independent variables including pH, CNFs dosage, contact time, agitation speed and initial concentration were carried out to determine the influence of these parameters on the adsorption capacity of the zinc from water. Results of the study showed that, 97 % of zinc was removed by using COOH-CNFs at pH 7, 150 rpm, and 2 hours. These high removal efficiencies were likely attributed to the strong affinity of zinc to the physical and chemical properties of the CNFs. For results analysis, adsorption isotherms have been used in order to study the kinetics of the adsorption behavior and to determine the adsorption capacity of the absorbents.


Background : Chemotherapy-induced nausea (CIN) in the anticipatory and acute phase is the most common side effect in cancer therapy. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of ginger capsules on the alleviation of this problem. Methods : This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial was performed on 80 women with breast cancer between August till December 2009 in Imam Khomeini Hospital, Tehran, Iran. These patients underwent one-day chemotherapy regime and suffering from chemotherapy-induced nausea. After obtaining written consent, samples were randomly assigned into intervention and control groups. Two groups were matched based on the age and emetic effects of chemotherapy drugs used. The intervention group received ginger capsules (250 mg, orally) four times a day (1 gr/d) and the same samples from the placebo group received starch capsules (250 mg, orally) for three days before to three days after chemotherapy. To measure the effect of capsules a three-part questionnaire was used, so the samples filled every night out these tools. After collecting the information, the gathered data were analyzed by statistical tests like Fisher's exact, Kruskal-Wallis and Chi-square using version 8 of STATA software. Results : The mean ± SD of age in the intervention and placebo groups were 41.8 ± 8.4 and 45.1 ± 10 years, respectively. Results indicated that the severity and number of nausea in the anticipatory phase were significantly lower in the ginger group compared with placebo group (P=0.0008, P=0.0007, respectively). Also, the intensity (P=0.0001) and number (P=0.0001) of nausea in the acute phase were significantly lower in the ginger group. On the other hand, taking ginger capsules compared with placebo did not result in any major complications. Conclusion : Consuming ginger root powder capsules (1 gr/d) from three days before chemotherapy till three days after it in combination with the standard anti-emetic regimen can help to reduce the anticipatory and acute nausea.


Noise is indispensible to key cellular activities, including gene expression coordination and probabilistic differentiation. Stochastic models, such as the chemical master equation (CME), are essential to model noise in the levels of cellular components. In the CME framework, each state is associated with the molecular counts of all component species, and specifies the probability for the system to have that set of molecular counts. Analytic solutions to the CME are rarely known but can bring exciting benefits. For instance, simulations of biochemical reaction networks that are multiscale in time can be sped up tremendously by incorporating analytic solutions of the slow time-scale dynamics. Analytic solutions also enable the design of stationary distributions with properties such as the modality of the distribution, the mean expression level, and the level of noise. One way to derive the analytic steady state response of a biochemical reaction network was recently proposed by (Mélykúti et al. 2014). The paper recursively glues simple state spaces together, for which we have analytic solutions, at one or two states. In this work, we explore the benefits and limitations of the gluing technique proposed by Mélykúti et al., and introduce recursive algorithms that use the technique to solve for the analytic steady state response of stochastic biochemical reaction networks. We give formal characterizations of the set of reaction networks whose state spaces can be obtained by carrying out single-point gluing of paths, cycles or both sequentially. We find that the dimension of the state space of a reaction network equals the maximum number of linearly independent reactions in the system. We then characterize the complete set of stochastic biochemical reaction networks that have elementary reactions and two-dimensional state spaces. As an example, we propose a recursive algorithm that uses the gluing technique to solve for the steady state response of a mass-conserving system with two connected monomolecular reversible reactions. Even though the gluing technique can only construct finite state spaces, we find that, by taking the size of a finite state space to infinity, the steady state response can converge to the analytic solution on the resulting infinite state space. Finally, we illustrate the aforementioned ideas with the example of two interconnected transcriptional components, which was first studied by (Ghaemi and Del Vecchio 2012).


This concise guide provides instruction for foreign legal practitioners or advanced LLM students on the basics of the U.S. legal system and the process of legal reasoning, using substantive topics in U.S. law as example. Using an innovative learning process, you'll be exposed to legal concepts in your system and language, and those same concepts in the U.S. legal system. This engaging book will help you develop confidence in the use of terms and concepts that are frequently used in the U.S. legal system. You'll find expert guidance on topics like summarizing key U.S. legal decisions, researching case law online, appealing judgments, and preparing case summaries for a client or partner. The guide addresses each concept using plain English language and, where appropriate, giving examples of concepts in practice to strengthen the reader's understanding. Narrowing the Gap also provides special focus on contracts, torts, and trade law. In these areas, you'll find an outline of the law in the U.S., as well as central concepts of relevance to that area of law today. In addition, the book illustrates the pitfalls that a foreign legal practitioner can encounter when working in these areas of U.S. law to help them approach these cases with a cautious eye to detail. Finally, you'll find valuable information on how you can further your knowledge of U.S. law by studying law in the United States, and also a specialized legal English dictionary of terms and phrases that are most commonly used in the three substantive areas and in the procedural practice area of law. If you're a foreign legal practitioner or advanced LLM student looking to strengthen your discussion and negotiation skills using legal English concepts common in the United States, this guide is your perfect desk reference to refer to on key concepts that you face on a regular basis.


Due to the frequent occurrence of electric vehicles safety accidents caused by battery system failures, in order to ensure the normal operation of the vehicle, it is crucial to do fault diagnosis of the electric vehicle lithium battery. This paper presents a fault diagnosis method for lithium batteries based on optimal variational modal decomposition and dimensionless feature parameters for identifying faulty batteries. The method firstly preprocesses the voltage signal of lithium battery by optimal variable mode decomposition to obtain the high and low frequency components of the signal, and reconstructs the high and low frequency components. Then the dimensionless feature parameters are extracted according to the reconstructed signal and feature reduction of the dimensionless feature parameters is carried out by a local linear embedding algorithm. Finally, a local outlier factor algorithm is used to detect faulty batteries. After verified by the operation data before the real electric vehicles thermal runaway failure, this method can detect the faulty battery timely and accurately.


Immigration is a highly polarized issue in the United States, and negative attitudes toward immigrants are common. Yet, almost all Americans are descended from people who originated outside the United States. Can this common history overcome the intense polarization that migration policy elicits? In this paper, we draw from recent studies showing that perspective taking decreases prejudice toward out-groups to investigate whether priming Americans on their own immigration history induces more support for immigrants and immigration. We test this hypothesis with three separate survey experiments conducted over the past two years. Our findings show that priming family history - a light touch intervention - generates small but consistent inclusionary effects on attitudes toward immigrants and immigration policy. These effects are immediate, and occur even among partisan subgroups and Americans who approve of President Trump. Furthermore, we provide evidence that increased empathy for immigrants constitutes the mechanism driving these effects. Our consistent results contribute to growing experimental literature on prejudice reduction and migration by suggesting an important role for empathy in shifting attitudes toward immigration.


After liberating itself from French colonial rule in one of the twentieth century's most brutal wars of independence, Algeria became a standard-bearer for the non-aligned movement. By the 1990s, however, its revolutionary political model had collapsed, degenerating into a savage conflict between the military and Islamist guerillas that killed some 200,000 citizens. In this lucid and gripping account, Martin Evans and John Phillips explore Algeria's recent and very bloody history, demonstrating how the high hopes of independence turned into anger as young Algerians grew increasingly alienated. Unemployed, frustrated by the corrupt military regime, and excluded by the West, the post-independence generation needed new heroes, and some found them in Osama bin Laden and the rising Islamist movement. Evans and Phillips trace the complex roots of this alienation, arguing that Algeria's predicament--political instability, pressing economic and social problems, bad governance, a disenfranchised youth--is emblematic of an arc of insecurity stretching from Morocco to Indonesia. Looking back at the pre-colonial and colonial periods, they place Algeria's complex present into historical context, demonstrating how successive governments have manipulated the past for their own ends. The result is a fractured society with a complicated and bitter relationship with the Western powers--and an increasing tendency to export terrorism to France, America, and beyond.


Abstract. A high-resolution differential mobility analyzer (DMA), specially designed for (i) the measurement of ion mobility spectra, and (ii) the generation of a continuous stream of monomobile ions, has been developed and tested. The apparatus consists of two parallel-plate electrodes between which an electric field is applied. The test ion stream flows into the instrument through a narrow rectangular slit made in one of the electrodes, and migrates toward the other electrode driven by the applied field, while being transported by a stream of clean air which flows parallel to the plates at Reynolds number between 2×104 and 9×104 in laminar flow conditions. The collector electrode contains also a narrow slit through which ions of the desired mobility are withdrawn out of DMA. The classified ion current is measured with a high-sensitivity electrometer having a noise level around 0.1 fA. The theory behind the DMA operation is first discussed, focusing on the special case of parallel-plate geometry. Some generic results showing the stability and repeatability of the measurements and the resolving power of the instrument are presented next. The last part of the paper deals with the application of the apparatus to the study of the effect of humidity and aging time on the mobility spectra of air ions generated by a low-activity 241Am source.


This paper aims to develop a quantitative model of company performance from an inventory perspective for truck manufacturers. With the inventory performance as a new dimension, fourteen indicators are identified to form a conceptual framework for truck manufacturers to measure their company performance. Accordingly, techniques of the fuzzy logic and the analytic network process (ANP) are used to generate the quantitative model, considering the interdependency between the indicators and the uncertainty arising from human qualitative judgments. A case study is conducted in nine truck manufacturers, with time series data from the fiscal year 2004 to 2015. The ranking result out of the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) is used as a validation, which proves the higher accuracy of the model developed.


Despite the existence of long term remotely sensed datasets, change detection methods are limited and often remain an obstacle to the effective use of time series approaches in remote sensing applications to Land Change Science. This paper establishes some simple statistical tests to be applied to NDVI-derived time series of remotely sensed data products. Specifically, the methods determine the statistical significance of three separate metrics of the persistence of vegetation cover or changes within a landscape by comparison to various forms of "benchmarks"; directional persistence (changes in sign relative to some fixed reference value), relative directional persistence (changes in sign relative to the preceding value), and massive persistence (changes in magnitude relative to the preceding value). Null hypotheses are developed on the basis of serially independent, normally distributed random variables. Critical values are established theoretically through consideration of the numeric properties of those variables, application of extensive Monte Carlo simulations, and parallels to random walk processes. Monthly pixel-level NDVI values for the state of Florida are analyzed over 25 years, illustrating the techniques' abilities to identify areas and/or times of significant change, and facilitate a more detailed understanding of this landscape. The potential power and utility of such techniques is diverse within the area of remote sensing studies and Land Change Science, especially in the context of global change.


It is pointed out that a theoretical relation exists between the distribution of energy in the image of an edge (edge trace) and the distribution in the image of a line (line spread-function). Experimental data are presented in support of this relation and the method of determining these distributions experimentally is outlined. It is also pointed out that, since the spot diagram of a lens represents the point spread-function, the line spread-function, needed for the foregoing procedure, can be found by mechanical summation of this diagram. An example is given to show that the edge trace of the finished lens can be thus predicted from the spot diagram.


To focus on the research issues surrounding collaborative behavior in multiple mobile-robotic systems, a great amount of low-level infrastructure is required. To facilitate our on-going research into multi-robot systems, we have developed RAVE, a software framework that provides a Real And Virtual Environment for running and managing multiple heterogeneous mobilerobot systems. This framework simplifies the implementation and development of collaborative robotic systems by providing the following capabilities: the ability to run systems off-line in simulation, user-interfaces for observing and commanding simulated and real robots, transparent transference of simulated robot programs to real robots, the ability to have simulated robots interact with real robots, and the ability to place virtual sensors on real robots to augment or experiment with their performance.


The Planck High Frequency Instrument (HFI) spectral response was determined through a series of ground based tests conducted with the HFI focal plane in a cryogenic environment prior to launch. The main goal of the spectral transmission tests is to measure the relative spectral response (including the level of out-of-band signal rejection) of all HFI detectors to a known source of electromagnetic radiation individually. This was determined by measuring the interferometric output of all detection channels for radiation propagated through a continuously scanned polarizing Fourier transform spectrometer. As there is no on-board spectrometer within HFI, the ground-based spectral response experiments provide the definitive data set for the relative spectral calibration of the HFI. Knowledge of the relative variations in the spectral response between HFI detectors allows for a more thorough analysis of the HFI data. The spectral response of the HFI is used in Planck component separation and data analysis, this includes extraction of CO emission observed within Planck bands, dust emission, Sunyaev Zeldovich sources, and intensity to polarization leakage. The HFI spectral response data have also been used to provide unit conversion and colour correction analysis tools. While previous papers have already described the pre-flight experiments conducted on the Planck HFI, this paper focuses on the analysis of the pre-flight spectral response measurements and the derivation of data products, e.g. band-average spectra, unit conversion coefficients, and colour correction coefficients, all with related uncertainties. Verifications of the HFI spectral response data are provided through comparisons with HFI flight data. This validation includes use of HFI Zodiacal emission observations to demonstrate out-of-band spectral signal rejection better than 108. The accuracy of the HFI relative spectral response data is verified through comparison of complementary bandpass based and flight-data based unit conversion coefficients and colour correction coefficients. These coefficients include those based upon HFI observations of CO, dust, and Sunyaev-Zeldovich emission. General agreement is observed between the ground-based spectral characterization of HFI and corresponding in-flight observations, within the quoted uncertainty of each; explanations are provided for any discrepancies.


Low-luminosity AGNs (LLAGNs) are a very important class of sources since they occupy a significant fraction of local galaxies. Their spectra differ significantly from the canonical luminous AGNs, most notably by the absence of the ``big blue bump''. In the present paper, taking a typical LLAGN--NGC4258--as an example, we investigate the origin of their spectral emission. The observational data of NGC4258 is extremely abundant, including water maser emission, putting very strict constraints to its theoretical models. The infrared (IR) spectrum is well described by a steep power-law form $f_{\nu}\propto \nu^{-1.4}$, and may extend to the optical/UV band. Up until now there is no model which can explain such a steep spectrum, and we here propose a coupled jet plus accretion disk model for NGC4258. The accretion disk is composed of an inner ADAF (or radiatively inefficient accretion flow) and an outer standard thin disk. A shock occurs when the accretion flow is ejected out of the ADAF to form the jet near the black hole, accelerating the electrons into a power-law energy distribution. The synchrotron and self-Comptonized emission from these electrons greatly dominates over the underlying accretion disk and can well explain the spectrum ranging from IR to X-ray bands. The further propagation of the shocked gas in the jet can explain the flat radio spectrum of NGC4258. Several predictions of our model are presented for testing against future observations, and we briefly discuss the application of the model to other LLAGNs.


Lack of sufficient early warning from drought monitoring and prediction tools that rely heavily on precipitation and soil moisture has prompted the need for development of new drought metrics that can account for evaporative dynamics and interactions between the land surface-atmosphere interface. Previous studies have shown that using anomalies in actual evapotranspiration (ET) estimated from satellite imagery can provide some drought early warning during the growing season, but there are a number of limitations to satellite monitoring that encourage more research on easily accessible and real-time (or forecasted) evaporative demand (E0) drought tools. The focus of this study is the development of a novel drought metric that relies only physically based E0 driven by temperature, wind speed, solar radiation, and humidity, which can all be obtained from gridded weather data and dynamical forecast model output. An evaluation of several gridded data products was first carried out using the Nevada Climate-ecohydrological Assessment Network (NevCAN) in a remote part of the Great Basin to investigate biases and deficiencies that are inherent to regions with sparse observations. It was determined that the University of Idaho Gridded Meteorological Data (METDATA) was most suitable to drive a new drought index, the Evaporative Demand Drought Index (EDDI). EDDI was computed over CONUS for the period of 1979-2013 and compared against other commonly used drought indices. During rapid onset drought, or flash drought (i.e., 2011-2012 in the Midwest) EDDI was found to lead other indicators by as much as 1-3 months. Given that E0 contains no precipitation input, the potential exists to improve seasonal drought predictions, which currently suffer from a lack of skillful precipitation forecasts. Skill of seasonal E0 anomaly forecasts were


Cavity expansion theory plays an important role in many geotechnical engineering problems, including the cone penetration test (CPT). One of the challenges of interpreting CPT data is the delineation of interfaces between soil layers and the identification of distinct thin layers, a process which relies on an in-depth understanding of the relationship between penetrometer readings and soil properties. In this paper, analytical cavity expansion solutions in two concentric regions of soil are applied to the interpretation of CPT data, with a specific focus on the layered effects during penetration. The solutions provide a large-strain analysis of cavity expansion in two concentric regions for dilatant elastic-perfectly plastic material. The analysis of CPT data in two-layered soils highlights the effect of respective soil properties (strength, stiffness) on CPT measurements within the influence zones around the two-soil interface. Results show good comparisons with numerical results and elastic solutions. A simple superposition method of the two-layered analytical approach is applied to the analysis of penetration in multilayered soils. A good comparison with field data and numerical results is obtained. It is illustrated that the proposed parameters effectively capture the influence of respective soil properties in the thin-layer analysis. It is also shown that results based on this analysis have better agreement with numerical results compared with elastic solutions.


There is much tension between the conception of the press as a private enterprise subject to the logic of the market and the press as an instrument of democracy. One of the broken promises of democracy is the failure of the market in guaranteeing a vigorous political debate. The European Court of Human Rights has ascribed to the press the vital role of Public Watchdog, making it incumbent on it to bring fulfilment to the public's right to know. The subject of this study is 'freedom within the press', the nature and limits of the protection afforded to the journalistic imparting process, which has been a neglected area of research. How are journalists to carry out the fiduciary duty of the press when the situation within the media is like an 'iron cage', reflected in the vast power asymmetry between the press as a corporate actor with immense power to shape public opinion and the Public Watchdog composed of individual journalists whose professional freedoms are wholly dependant on corporate contexts. The analysis draws strength from the classical defenders of freedom of speech, Milton and Mill, to show that at the dawn of the 21st century, an almost insurmountable obstacle is inherent in the intertwined alliance between big business and public authorities resulting in the widespread phenomena of self-censorship within the media. Instead of enlightening the public and inspiring the individual the press may be conducing to an inert public and individual cowardice antithetical to the objectives of human dignity and democracy. The core of the problem is that prima facie the infringement of freedom within the media is not exercised on legal premises and cannot therefore be solved within the legal framework. The operation of the press in society is conditioned by three types of regulation, legal regulation, market regulation and self-regulation. Legal regulation does not adequately presuppose the impact of the latter as it is based on the assumption that press freedom is mainly a negative liberty. The book explores the affirmative side of Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which is one of the most advanced forms of any kind of international legal processes, in guaranteeing press freedom that is not merely illusory but practical and effective so that the press can live up to its positive requirements. Convention jurisprudence has not only influenced domestic courts of the Contracting Parties but also the legislators of the Member States. In an era of globalization dominant media operators wield such power in their own domestic markets to impede national regulators in resorting to interventionist media policies to secure journalistic freedoms. The Convention jurisprudence represents a kind of European ius commune, which is here set in context of an analysis reflecting the problems and values at issue and offering recommendations to close the gap between a situation threatening democratic ideals and public-spirited journalism permeating all aspects of society. (Less)


BACKGROUND
The impact of the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) at the population level is unclear. We explored PCV13's effect in reducing invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD)-related morbidity and mortality, and whether serotype-specific changes were attributable to vaccination or expected as a part of natural, cyclical variations.

METHODS
This was a Danish nationwide population-based cohort study based on the linkage of laboratory surveillance data and the Danish Civil Registration System. Changes in IPD incidence and mortality during baseline (2000-2007), 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) (2008-2010), and PCV13 (2011-2013) periods were estimated. Predicted incidences of serotypes were estimated controlling for cyclical trends from historical patterns observed during the past 20 years.

RESULTS
We observed a 21% reduction (95% confidence interval [CI], 17%-25%) in IPD incidence in the total population after PCV13's introduction, and a 71% reduction (95% CI, 62%-79%) in children aged <2 years, considered as the vaccine effectiveness. We estimated a 28% reduction (95% CI, 18%-37%) in IPD-related 30-day mortality, from 3.4 deaths (95% CI, 3.2-3.6) per 100 000 population in the pre-PCV period to 2.4 (95% CI, 2.2-2.7) in the PCV13 period. The decline in mortality was observed across all age groups but was mainly related to mortality reductions in the nonvaccinated population. For serotypes 1 and 3, there were no significant changes in incidence beyond what would be expected from natural cyclical patterns. Serotype 19A significantly increased following PCV7's introduction, but the incidence declined toward baseline in 2012.

CONCLUSIONS
PCV13 has brought greater benefits than we had expected in our setting. We observed a further decline on IPD incidence shortly after the shift from PCV7 to PCV13 in the national immunization program. This decline was accompanied by a substantial population-level decline in pneumococcal-related mortality of nearly 30% among nonvaccinated persons.


ten miał najsłabiej rozwiniętą strukturę porowatą. próbki Abstract: One of the parameters which enables the evaluation of carbonaceous material is the thermal effect of wetting. The value of the heat of wetting provides information about the surface energy and the texture of the materials immersed in the wetting liquid. Knowledge of the heat of wetting of the carbonaceous materials is used to rese- arch their sorption properties, to characterize the structure and to determine the surface area. A method of me-108 asuring the wetting of the carbonaceous materials as one of the methods to evaluate the carbonaceous materials was proposed. On the basis of research which was conducted, one determined the heat of wetting black coal from the Brzeszcze mine by methyl alcohol and lignites from the Turów and Bełchatów mine. One of activated carbons furnished by the Gryfskand company (WD-extra) was selected for the purpose of the comparison. The enthalpy of immersion was calculated on the basis of the results, the surface of the carbonaceous materials that were studied. It was revealed that the energetic effects of wetting depend both upon the microporous structure and the chemical nature of the adsorbent. The greatest heat of wetting calculated per 1g of the carbonaceous material, which has the most developed surface area and micropore volume, was obtained for the activated carbon. However, the heat of wetting does not increase proportionally to the surface area. The study revealed that the thermal effects of wetting for fossil coal decreases with the increasing of the surface area. The linear relationship was obtained for the three samples which were studied. The highest thermal effects (∆T) and heat of wetting (Q) among the fossil coals was determined for the lignite from the Bełchatów mine, even though this coal had the least-developed porous structure. One may discern a clear influence of the swelling process upon the measured thermal effects on the basis of this sample.


The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980, as amended, provides natural resource trustees authority for recovering compensatory damages from responsible parties for injuries to natural resources. The preferred basis for measuring the dollar value of damages is the cost of restoration, and monies recovered from responsible parties can only be used to restore, replace, or acquire equivalent resources. However, as specified in CERCLA, monies cannot be spent on any type of recovery action until a plan for that purpose is developed and adopted by the trustees. Whatever the procedures used in building such a plan, key elements, including the range of recovery actions, site characterization considerations, and evaluation criteria, must be addressed. The entire restoration planning process can be facilitated if resource managers become familiar with these elements early in the planning process.


Assessments of scientists' research records through citations are becoming increasingly important in management and in bibliometric research, but the databases available may contain errors that reduce the reliability of assessments. We investigated this by profiling our personal records in five databases: Scopus, Web of Knowledge, Web of Science, the Cited Reference Search within Web of Science, and the freeware Publish or Perish followed by correction in CleanPoP. We documented disparities between the results and our CVs, noting implications for bibliometric analyses from our perspective as conservation biologists. No database provided a complete, accurate record for anyone. Sometimes publications were out of range or missing, especially if they were books and book chapters. Other errors included mistakes in the order of authors or year of publication, as well as misattribution of publications. The Hirsch index (h) was robust across databases, but other metrics were more volatile. Nevertheless, all metrics except median citations/paper gave high correlations of 0.78 or greater for the rank order of authors across databases. Profiling researchers' records without knowledge of their CVs will likely result in inaccurate assessments. Reliance on one database compounds the problem if the database does not encompass the researcher's full output, especially books and book chapters. Coverage may be particularly important for conservation biologists, who sometimes publish material of local relevance in local journals not abstracted in some of the databases. Administrators and researchers seeking citation profiles should query multiple databases to obtain a more complete picture of research output and cross check against a full CV when possible. It may be unjustified to assume that discrepancies between database and CV indicate mistakes made by the researcher — verification from the original publication is necessary. Furthermore, citations are but one of many measures available for assessing the quality, use or impact of research, and their sole use, irrespective of possible errors, may be misleading.


Recently profiled in the "New York Times" Magazine. Dean Radin is perhaps the most respected parapsychology authority in the country. An articulate, engaging communicator, Radin wields impeccable credentials, a healthy skepticism and a meticulous scientific method to put "psi" phenomona like telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition and mind-over-matter abilities to the hard test of science. His unprecedented manifesto makes a startingly persuasive case for the truth of psychic phenomena -- and places us on the cusp of what may well be the next great paradigm shift.


This thesis describes the use of heterobimetallic alkyne complexes for use in an efficient
stereoselective variant of the Pauson–Khand reaction. Unlike previous protocols found in
the literature the source of chiral control upon cyclisation arises solely from the
inherently chiral CoMoC2 core of these complexes and not from an external source.
The inherently chiral Co(CO)3MoCp(CO)2- and desymmetrised Co2(CO)5(PPh3)–alkyne
complexes were utilised as efficient chiral auxiliaries for nucleophilic additions to remote
centres of complexed propargylic aldehydes to form secondary propargyl alcohols with a
degree of diastereocontrol.
A new procedure for the preparation of Co(CO)3MoCp(CO)2–alkyne complexes has also
been addressed in which an adaptation of previously known methodology was devised for
rapid and robust synthesis negating specialist techniques and procedures.
The diastereoselective complexation of Co2(CO)7(PPh3) with a range of chiral alkynols
has also been demonstrated with the view to bring about a stereoselective catalytic PK
reaction procedure.
Chapter 1 [is] an overview to the uses of dicobalt–alkyne complexes in the literature and
developments in this field
Chapter 2 highlights our research into the use of heterobimetallic-alkyne complexes for
use in organic synthesis.
Chapter 3 provides experimental data for our studies.


The same natural water sources which enabled people to settle the island of Thera in the 8th century BC, are still visible today on the hill of Mesa Vouno. An extensive infrastructure for the exploitation of rainwaters was established in the city of Ancient Thera on Mesa Vouno, which is striking for the quality of its construction as well as the inventiveness of its builders. Rainwater followed the course that was prescribed for its storage from the flat rooftops to underground cisterns. The water on the roof of the temple of Apollo Karneios followed a comparable route, the study of which answered many questions regarding a false – as it turned out – reconstruction of the temple plan. The above study is completed by the production of an axonometric visual reconstruction of the temple.


The authors propose, in the first step of this paper, a unified description of machines operating with three reservoirs: refrigerating machines, heat pumps, thermotransformers, using a finite time thermodynamic approach. The incidence on the COP definitions is presented. A sensitivity study is made: performance coefficient function of variables and parameters. The calculation for each machine type is conducted for two possible cases: endoreversible machine (without internal entropy creation) and endo et exo irreversible machine (with entropy creation). The influence of the heat transfer law type is enlightened. In the second step of this paper, we propose an optimisation of performance coefficient for each type of machine with finite time constraints on the total conductance of the system.


A detailed understanding of the behavior of exploits and malicious software is necessary to obtain a comprehensive overview of vulnerabilities in operating systems or client applications, and to develop protection techniques and tools. To this end, a lot of research has been done in the last few years on binary analysis techniques to efficiently and precisely analyze code. Most of the common analysis frameworks are based on software emulators since such tools offer a fine-grained control over the execution of a given program. Naturally, this leads to an arms race where the attackers are constantly searching for new methods to detect such analysis frameworks in order to successfully evade analysis.
 In this paper, we focus on two aspects. As a first contribution, we introduce several novel mechanisms by which an attacker can delude an emulator. In contrast to existing detection approaches that perform a dedicated test on the environment and combine the test with an explicit conditional branch, our detection mechanisms introduce code sequences that have an implicitly different behavior on a native machine when compared to an emulator. Such differences in behavior are caused by the side-effects of the particular operations and imperfections in the emulation process that cannot be mitigated easily. Motivated by these findings, we introduce a novel approach to generate execution traces. We propose to utilize the processor itself to generate such traces. Mores precisely, we propose to use a hardware feature called branch tracing available on commodity x86 processors in which the log of all branches taken during code execution is generated directly by the processor. Effectively, the logging is thus performed at the lowest level possible. We evaluate the practical viability of this approach.


This paper investigates climate policy integration and coherence in land use policies in Brazil. Unlike other policy analyses a key aim is to assess "internal policy coherence" in the climate change domain, or the extent to which positive and negative interactions between mitigation and adaptation are taken into account in policy formulation. The paper is based on a systematic content analysis of major federal level climate change and land use policies. The results indicate a stronger focus on climate change mitigation compared to adaptation in all land uses. Integrated approaches that consider mutually supportive mitigation and adaptation actions are called for in key climate change policies, but so far such linkages remain largely unexplored in sectoral policies. While some progress in this regard occurred in the agricultural sector, this has not translated into actual policy actions that are of use to small-scale producers. In the forest domain the focus remains almost exclusively on climate change mitigation. Three main recommendations are drawn. First, more knowledge about locally specific climate change impacts, resilience, capacity and measures for climate change adaptation is needed in order to increase the opportunities to pursue mutually beneficial approaches to climate change mitigation, adaptation and development , in particular in the forestry sector. Second, policy makers need to address more explicitly potential trade-offs between mitigation and adaptation in both policy formulation and implementation. Third, policy action on how to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes and avoid trade-offs between mitigation and adaptation needs to be operationalised into concrete policy objectives within sectoral policies and into practices that apply not just to agriculture and livestock systems, but to forested landscapes as well. (Resume d'auteur)


Bioethanol is a renewable fuel that can be produced from tapioca starch via fermentation pathway. This substrate must be reduced either by enzymatic or acidic hydrolysis. As the hydrolysis of tapioca starch employing immobilised glucoamylase enzyme increase reusability of the enzyme, the process catalysed by the glucoamylase immobilised on/in mesostructured cellular foam silica (MCF-9.2T-3D) was optimised. Effects of temperature, pH of acetate buffer, and agitation speed were studied using response surface methodology based-on central composite design. The saccharification results were analyzed using Design-Expert®6.0.6 software. The model is validated by the F-test for analysis of variance (ANOVA) where p is 0.001. The ANOVA indicated that the acetate buffer pH and agitation speed were not significant, while temperature of hydrolysis showed significant effect. The optimum condition was found at 70⁰C, 4.6, and 140 rpm. The glucose yield at this optimum condition was 2.06 mg/ml, which was equivalent to 68.05% dextrose value.


Following a request from the European Commission, the EFSA Panel on Nutrition, Novel Foods and Food Allergens (NDA) was asked to deliver an opinion on selenium-enriched biomass of Yarrowia lipolytica as a novel food (NF) pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2015/2283. The NF is the dried and heatkilled selenium-enriched biomass of Y. lipolytica. This yeast species is widespread in nature, can be found in the environment and in foods, and was attributed the qualified presumption of safety (QPS) status for production purposes in 2018, including food and feed products based on biomass of the yeast. The production process, fermentation in the presence of sodium selenite, includes a heat-killing step of the yeast, resulting in the absence of viable Y. lipolytica in the NF. The maximum total selenium content in the NF is 200 lg Se/g, mainly present as organic selenium compounds. The applicant proposed to use the NF as a food supplement. The target population proposed by the applicant is the general population from 3 years of age onwards, with maximum proposed use levels of 0.2 g/day for children from 3 to 9 years of age and 1 g/day thereafter. The Panel considers that the yeast biomass is not of safety concern at the proposed use levels. The Panel also considers that the selenium provided by the NF is as safe as selenium from other dietary sources. However, the Panel notes that, at the use levels proposed by the applicant, the intake of the NF could, in combination with a background diet high in selenium, lead to total selenium intakes exceeding the UL for selenium in all target population groups, except for children from 7 to 9 years. Furthermore, the Panel considers that newly emerging data warrant a reassessment of the UL for selenium. © 2020 European Food Safety Authority. EFSA Journal published by John Wiley and Sons Ltd on behalf of European Food Safety Authority.


In the world wide increasing trend of restructured power system, open access in transmission system and competition in generation and distribution have introduced a frequently occurring problem of congestion. To establish a proficient price-based congestion management procedure, the nodal pricing strategy is found to be appropriate. From congestion management point of view, the optimal nodal prices are comprised of two basic components. First component is locational marginal price, that is marginal cost of generation to supply load and transmission losses both. Second component is nodal congestion price (NCP), that is the charges to maintain network security. Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm based neural network (LMANN) for estimating NCPs in spot power market by dividing the whole power system into various congestion zones is presented. Euclidian distance based clustering technique has been applied for feature selection before employing LMANN. The purpose of using artificial neural network (ANN) based approach for NCP estimation in spot power market is to exploit the tolerance for any missing or partially corrupted data to achieve tractability, robustness and very fast solution. The proposed ANN method also handles the congestion price volatility by taking continuously varying load and constrained transmission into account. The information provided by the proposed method regarding the formation of different congestion zones and the severity of congestion within a zone instructs both the market participants as well as independent system operator in making effective decisions. The proposed method has been examined for an RTS 24-bus system and is found to be quite promising.


In a market in which sellers compete by posting mechanisms, we study how the properties of the meeting technology affect the mechanism that sellers select. In general, sellers have incentive to use mechanisms that are socially efficient. In our environment, sellers achieve this by posting an auction with a reserve price equal to their own valuation, along with a transfer that is paid by (or to) all buyers with whom the seller meets. However, we define a novel condition on meeting technologies, which we call "invariance," and show that the transfer is equal to zero if and only if the meeting technology satisfies this condition.


The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of using a computer algebra system (CAS) on undergraduate students' spatial visualization skills in a calculus course. This study was designed on experimental method. The "one group pretest-posttest design" of method was taken as the research model. The participants were 41 sophomore students and 26 of which were female and 15 of which were male studying at an undergraduate program in the department of mathematics in the west Anatolia region of Turkey. In order to determine students' spatial ability, The Purdue Spatial Visualization Test: Visualization of Rotation (PSVT-R) was used as the pre-test and post-test. This test was developed so as to consist of 30 multiple choice items and include the skills of mental rotation of object. The results of the study showed that using CAS in a calculus course had a positive effect on developing students' spatial visualization abilities. Additionally, the result of the study showed that spatial visualization skills can be a predictor for success in a calculus course.


A computational study has been carried out to investigate smoldering ignition and propagation in polyurethane foam. The one-dimensional, transient, governing equations for smoldering combustion in a porous fuel are solved accounting for improved solid-phase chemical kinetics. A systematic methodology for the determination of solid-phase kinetics suitable for numerical models has been developed and applied to the simulation of smoldering combustion. This methodology consists in the correlation of a mathematical representation of a reaction mechanism with data from previous thermogravimetric experiments. Genetic-algorithm and trail-and-error techniques are used as the optimization procedure. The corresponding kinetic parameters for two different mechanisms of polyurethane foam smoldering kinetics are quantified: a previously proposed 3-step mechanism and a new 5-step mechanism. These kinetic mechanisms are used to model one-dimensional smoldering combustion, numerically solving for the solid-phase and gas-phase conservation equations in microgravity with a forced flow of oxidizer gas. The results from previously conducted microgravity experiments with flexible polyurethane foam are used for calibration and testing of the model predictive capabilities. Both forward and opposed smoldering configurations are examined. The model describes well both opposed and forward propagation. Specifically, the model predicts the reaction-front thermal and species structure, the onset of smoldering ignition, and the propagation rate. The model results reproduce the most important features of the smolder process and represent a significant step forward in smoldering combustion modeling.


Objective: To evaluate the prevalence of therapeutic noncompliance in diabetes and arterial hypertension in Galician community pharmacies (FC), identifying the factors associated with patients' non-adherence and perception of their treatment. Methods: A cross-sectional, descriptive, randomized study conducted in August and September 2016 among adult patients receiving treatment with hypoglycemic and/or antihypertensive drugs for at least two months with the same treatment regimen. Noncompliance was assessed with the administration of three questionnaires: Batalla, Haynes-Sacket y Morisky-Green, in one page of data collection that included the three questionnaires, as well as the demographic data of each patient. Results: 31 community pharmacies participated in 27 pharmacies and collected 1,588 (sample size: 1,537) valid questionnaires: 778 (49.0%) females and 810 (51.0%) males, aged 67.6±11.1 years on average. The number of non-compliant patients at least in one of the three tests was 1,245 (78.4%). The average noncompliance was 42.6%. Treatment perception was negative for 35.6% of patients. 51.0% of patients ignore the complications of their illness, 33.1% forget to take their medication, and 29.5% do not believe their prescribed medications are suitable. Conclusions: Noncompliance with the therapeutic guidelines for diabetic and hypertension medication in Galicia is high and affects nearly half the patient population. Poor knowledge of the disease, lower level of education, multiple medication, pensioner age (elderly) and negative perception of medications seem to correlate with a higher prevalence of treatment noncompliance.


'The time has come to recognize that denials of individuals' rights on the ground only that they are women are human rights violations, and to require state practices that expose women to degradation, indignity, and oppression on account of their sex to be independently defined, condemned, compensated, and, preferably, prevented. The purpose of changing ubiquitous state practice may appear ambitious, but it is not too ambitious
for the needs of our time.'1 '[This Protocol] reaffirms the principle of promoting gender equality as enshrined in the Constitutive Act of the African Union as well as the New Partnership for Africa's Development, relevant Declarations, Resolutions and Decisions, which underline the commitment of the African States to ensure the full participation of African women as equal partners in Africa's development.'2
'The substantive realisation of equality is a precondition for transformative change in South Africa. Yet, inequality is still the biggest challenge facing development and transformation in post-apartheid South Africa.'3


In medical history of different nations, there are numerous documents concerning cancer. The present study is an investigation in ancient books to determine the part that medicine of Iran has played in the recognition of cancer. In all 31 Iranian medical and 5 Islamic medicine books mostly from 8 to 18 cent. A.D. have been examined.
The findings showed that cancer in ancient medical books of Iran has been categorized under "swellings" and classified as "solid tumor" and "cold swelling". Like other diseases, the etiology of cancer has been related to four humours. Also the role of nutrition in cancer development has not been neglected. Concerning clinical manifestations, it has been discussed that cancer in early stages lacks clinical manifestations but with its development gradually its symptoms and signs appear. Cancer was found to be more common in women and the most common organs involved indicated as breast and uterus in women and pharynx, larynx, gut and genitalia in men. Cancer was known to be more common in cold geographical areas and outbreak was reported in autumn. To differentiate cancer from other swellings, it has been recommended that all swellings must be viewed using clinical and physical examination including examination of hardness of the mass, the adhesiveness of the mass to the affected area, pain, degree of the development of swelling, the degree of heat of the mass when it is touched, the color of the mass, peripheral vessels and those branched out, the inflammation, and sensation or lack of sensation in the affected area. Concerning the prognosis of cancer, there was an agreement on its poor prognosis but some factors were considered important. Concerning the treatment of cancer, it was believed that although there is no complete cure for cancer, the treatment of cancer (medical management, surgery, diet) should be considered in its early stages. The findings from this study indicate that in ancient Iranian medical books cancer has been thoroughly investigated from different perspectives that still have maintained their scientific merits.


Financial statement manipulation has been well-rounded analyzed in both finance and accounting literature as it is important to determine whether firms could affect both performance and accounting standards. The purpose of this study is to examine cases of financial reporting manipulations which were subject to published enforcement actions by the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), Securities Class Action Clearinghouse (SCAC), Accounting and Auditing Enforcement Releases (AAERs) and General Accounting Office (GAO) between 1996 and 2014 for reasons of alleged financial misstatements in the USA. Therefore, this study will provide to examine the relationship between bank performance and financial statement manipulations in the accounting standards. More importantly, although financial misconduct such as financial reporting manipulation is an emerging topic of great importance, a comprehensive literature review of the subject has yet to be carried out in terms of accounting standards. In this context, this study focuses on financial reporting manipulation within the context of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). This study is contributed to the literature by examining the impact of financial reporting manipulation within the same or different systems of accounting standards on bank financial reporting. Findings suggest that banks that manipulate financial statements increase their operating profitability and productivity as a measure of financial performance used in the IFRS.


We investigate the geometrical structure of probabilistic generative dimensionality reduction models using the tools of Riemannian geometry. We explicitly define a distribution over the natural metric given by the models. We provide the necessary algorithms to compute expected metric tensors where the distribution over mappings is given by a Gaussian process. We treat the corresponding latent variable model as a Riemannian manifold and we use the expectation of the metric under the Gaussian process prior to define interpolating paths and measure distance between latent points. We show how distances that respect the expected metric lead to more appropriate generation of new data.


This thesis deals with the study of ideal lattices over number fields. Let K be a number field, which is assumed to be CM or totally real. An ideal lattice over K is a pair (I,b), where I is a fractional ideal of K and b : I × I → R is a symmetric positive definite bilinear form such that b(x, y) = Tr(αxy) for a totally positive α ∈ K ⊗ R. The ideal lattice defined previously will be denoted by (I,α). In the first part, we will focus on constructing modular lattices over number fields. In particular the case of cyclotomic fields will be treated more carefully. A modular lattice is a lattice which is similar to its dual lattice. H.-G. Quebbemann introduced this notion in 1995 and in 1997, and he also defined a notion of analytic extremality for these lattices. It seemed promising to look for ideal lattices which were modular. This investigation led to the introduction of Arakelov modular lattices. This notion has turned out to be very interesting. If K = Q(ζn ) is a cvclotomic field, then the set of levels l for which there exists an Arakelov modular lattice of level l over Q(ζn ) is explicitly given in this thesis. Moreover, assume that K is a CM field, and that we are given an Arakelov modular lattice (I,α) of level l over K. Under an assumption on K (which is satisfied for cyclotomic fields), we describe a way to compute all the Arakelov modular lattices of level l over K. In the second part of this thesis, a construction is introduced which enables us to associate a totally real field K' to a given CM-field K. This field K' has the following property : if (I,α) is an ideal lattice over K. where I is an ambiguous ideal, then there exists an ideal lattice over K' isometric (as a lattice) to (I,α). This leads to the construction of several classic lattices over totally real fields. It also enables us to bound the Euclidean minimum of the field K' with respect to that of the field K.


Background The practise of catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation (AF) is increasing rapidly and is recommended as the treatment of choice in many patient subgroups. At present, the efficacy of this procedure has been assessed by means of electrocardiographic recording, intermittent Holter monitoring and evaluation of patient symptoms. We sought to evaluate the true efficacy of this procedure in patients with sophisticated permanent pacemakers capable of continuous long-term cardiac rhythm monitoring. Methods Twenty-five patients (aged 63.7 (9.4), 20 men), seven with persistent AF and 18 with prolonged paroxysmal AF, underwent a mean of 1.7 AF ablation procedures. All the patients had previously been implanted with a pacemaker or atrial defibrillator device. Data were downloaded from the device Holter before catheter ablation and at 2, 4, 6 and 8 months postprocedure(s). The primary outcome measure was AF burden. The secondary outcomes were patient symptom and quality-of-life measures. Results Initial AF burden was 43.8 (35.5)%. After catheter ablation(s), this was significantly reduced at 2 months to 23.8 (35.4)% (p=0.023), at 4 months to 21.4 (34.1)% (p=0.008), at 6 months to 14.5 (28.1)% (p=0.002) and at 8 months to 15.0 (29.4%) (p=0.003). Only nine (36%) of 25 patients demonstrated no recurrence of arrhythmia during follow-up completion, consistent with a long-term cure. Quality-of-life indices showed significant improvement after ablation. Conclusions Catheter ablation for AF significantly improves patient symptoms and reduces AF burden after long-term beat-to-beat monitoring by implanted cardiac pacemaker and defibrillator devices. However, AF recurrence is common after these procedures.


PURPOSE
Overexpression of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) has been associated with aggressive tumor phenotypes, chemotherapy, and radiation resistance, as well as poor survival in preclinical and clinical models. The EGFR inhibitor gefitinib potentiates chemotherapy and radiation tumor cytotoxicity in preclinical models, including pancreatic and colorectal cancer. We initiated two phase I trials assessing the combination of gefitinib, capecitabine, and radiation in patients with localized pancreatic and rectal cancer.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Patients with pathologically confirmed adenocarcinoma of the pancreas and rectum were eligible. Pretreatment staging included computed tomography, endoscopic ultrasound, and surgical evaluation. Patients received 50.4 Gy of external-beam radiation therapy to the tumor in 28 fractions. Capecitabine and gefitinib were administered throughout the radiation course. Following completion, patients were restaged and considered for resection. Primary end points included determination of dose-limiting toxicity (DLT) and a phase II dose; secondary end points included determination of non-DLTs and preliminary radiographic and pathologic response rates.

RESULTS
Ten patients were entered in the pancreatic study and six in the rectal study. DLT was seen in six of 10 patients in the pancreatic study and two of six patients in the rectal study. The primary DLT in both studies was diarrhea. Two patients developed arterial thrombi.

CONCLUSION
The combination of gefitinib, capecitabine, and radiation in pancreatic and rectal cancer patients resulted in significant toxicity. A recommended phase II dose was not determined in either of our studies. Further investigation with this combination should be approached with caution.


Root water content (RWC) is a vital component in water flux in soil–plant–atmosphere continuum. Knowledge of RWC helps to better understand the root function and the soil–root interaction and improves water cycle modeling. However, due to the lack of appropriate methods, field monitoring of RWC is seriously constrained. In this study, we used ground-penetrating radar (GPR), a common geophysical technique, to characterize RWC of coarse roots noninvasively. An automatic GPR data processing framework was proposed to (1) identify hyperbolic root reflections and locate roots in GPR images and (2) extract waveform parameters from the reflected wave of identified roots. These waveform parameters were then used to establish an empirical model and a semiempirical model to determine RWC. We validated the developed models using GPR root data at three antenna center frequencies (500 MHz, 900 MHz, and 2 GHz) that were produced from simulation experiments (with RWC ranging from 70% to 150%) and field experiments in sandy soils (with RWC ranging from 66% to 144%). Our results show that both the empirical and the semiempirical models achieved a good performance in estimating RWC with similar accuracy, i.e., the prediction error [root-mean-square error (RMSE)] was less than 8% for the simulation data and 12% for the field data. For both models, the accuracy of RWC estimation was the highest when applied to 2-GHz data. This study renders a new opportunity to determine RWC under field conditions that enhances the application of GPR for root study and the understanding and modeling of ecohydrology in the rhizosphere.


A pilot study was carried out on soil from the Niger Delta region of Southern Nigeria, contaminated with kerosene by 10% artificial simulation to determine the attendant effect associated with the soil physicochemical properties and microbiological composition. Biodegradation of the contaminant using soil microbes biostimulated with a blend of animal wastes and the kinetics of such process was also investigated. Soil parameters such as pH, electrical conductivity, total organic carbon and matter, total nitrogen and phosphorus, texture, heavy metals(Cd, Pb, Ni, V and Cr) and total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) were characterized using standard analytical methods. Trend in growth phase of soil heterotrophic and hydrocarbon utilizing microbes were investigated. Kerosene contamination was seen to affect certain soil properties as a reduction in pH, conductivity, total phosphorus and heterotrophic microbial population was observed, while an increase in the concentration of heavy metals such as Nickel, Vanadium and Chromium were recorded. Other soil properties were unaffected by the impact of kerosene. The rate of microbial degradation was found to be dependent on pH and nutrient source. Effective degradation and increased microbial growth occurred between between pH 6.0 and 9.5 but recorded reduced microbial growth and biodegradation rate at much higher pH, thereby defining a suitable pH condition for the process. The method was found to be very effective and efficient as an impressive 82.24% remediation efficiency was achieved on the sixth week. Kinetic evaluation of the biodegradation process shows that the degradation pattern followed first order with a rate constant of 0.034dail. A determination of the biodegradation isotherm Kd gave negative value of unity showing the opposing trend between the concentration of the contaminant in the soil (Cs) and the concentration degraded by the microbes (Cd); which explains that as Cs is decreasing with time, Cd is increasing.


Nowadays, consumers demand high quality food products with an extended shelf-life without chemical additives. Edible coatings (EC) containing natural compounds are a promising preservation technology for raw seafood without compromising fresh-like appeal and nutritional content. The aim of this work was to evaluate the effect of Thunnus obesus skin gelatin-based EC containing Codium spp. or Fucus vesiculosus extracts on raw tuna preservation. Three gelatin-based EC (gelatin (5 %) + glycerol (25 %); gelatin (5 %) + Codium spp. (1 %) + glycerol (25 %); gelatin (5 %) + Fucus vesiculosus (1 %) + glycerol (25 %)) were applied directly on the surface of tuna fillets. Functional properties of gelatin and gelatin-based EC containing seaweed extracts were also studied. The gelatin was extracted by an acid-swelling process in the presence/absence of pepsin, followed by subsequent heating/refrigeration, after a pre-treatment with NaOH. The type of acid, temperature and concentration of NaOH greatly influence the process yield. The higher extraction yield was achieved using acetic acid in the presence of pepsin by subsequent refrigeration, especially when skins were previously treated with NaOH (0.2 M). Tuna quality was assessed over 12 days of storage at 4 ± 1 °C in terms of chemical and microbial indices. Results showed that tuna skin gelatin-based EC avoids tuna deterioration. Microbial growth, assessed by total viable counts, and total volatile basic nitrogen were maintained below the maximum limits recommended, contrarily to the control. Additionally, the use of EC increased the stability of red colour during storage.


Anthropogenic stressors such as climate change, increased fire frequency, and pollution drive shifts in ecosystem function and resilience. Scientists generally rely on biological indicators of these stressors to signal that ecosystem conditions have been altered. However, these biological indicators are not always capable of being directly related to ecosystem components that provide benefits to humans and/or can be used to evaluate the cost-benefit of a change in health of the component (ecosystem services). Therefore, we developed the STEPS (STressor - Ecological Production function - final ecosystem Services) Framework to link changes in a biological indicator of a stressor to final ecosystem services. The STEPS framework produces "chains" of ecological components that explore the breadth of impacts resulting from the change of a stressor. Chains are comprised of the biological indicator, the ecological production function (EPF; which uses ecological components to link the biological indicator to a final ecosystem service), and the user group who directly uses, appreciates, or values the component. The framework uses a qualitative score (High, Medium, Low) to describe the Strength of Science (SOS) for the relationship between each component in the EPF. We tested the STEPS Framework within a workshop setting using the exceedance of critical loads of air pollution as a model stressor and the Final Ecosystem Goods and Services Classification System (FEGS-CS) to describe final ecosystem services. We identified chains for four modes of ecological response to deposition: aquatic acidification, aquatic eutrophication, terrestrial acidification, and terrestrial eutrophication. The workshop participants identified 183 unique EPFs linking a change in a biological indicator to a FEGS; and when accounting for the multiple beneficiaries, we ended with 1104 chains. The SOS scores were effective in identifying chains with the highest confidence ranking as well as those where more research is needed. The STEPS framework could be adapted to any system in which a stressor is modifying a biological component. The results of the analysis can be used by the social science community to apply valuation measures to multiple or selected chains, providing a comprehensive analysis of the effects of anthropogenic stressors on measures of human well-being.


The 23 papers which form the proceedingsof a symposium on species and speciation were delivered by biologists, ecologists, palaeontologists and palaeo-anthropologists and address problems such as how species can be recognised by systematists, mating systems, population structures, life histories and development related to speciation. The emphasis is on the living and extinct plants and animals of southern Africa.


Hurricane Andrew caused damage to more than 780 sq. km of bottomland hardwood and cypress-tupelo forests in the Atchafalaya Basin of Louisiana in August 1992. Trees in bottomland hardwood sites were examined, in early May 1994, for signs and symptoms of wood decay fungi, and for insect damage, ostensibly present before the hurricane, which may have predisposed trees to windthrow or breaks in the bole or top. Three sites with severe wind damage and three sites with minor wind damage were studied along the path of the hurricane. Surveying for wood decay fungi and insects on trees, and evaluating damage to crowns, stems, and roots was done on 25-m diameter point-sample plots. Evidence of wood decay fungi and insects, or the damage they cause, was rare at all sites, in part because of flooding during the evaluation, so that predisposition to wind damage by these agents was not established. Crown damage rating classes and d.b.h. classes were positively correlated for sites with severe wind damage indicating that larger diameter trees were more susceptible to wind damage than smaller diameter trees. Chinese tallow, swamp cottonwood, pumpkin ash, American sycamore, and swamp dogwood showed greater wind damage on sites with severe wind damage than other species.


Three behavioural mutants of A. tumefaciens C58C1 (mot-l, mot-12 and fla-15) generated by transposon (Tn5) mutagenesis were studied. Analysis was initially at the molecular level, as a cosmid, pDUB1900, from a representative genomic library of C58C1 had been isolated that complemented the mutants. A region of 8624 nucleotides to which the Tn5 insertion sites of the three mutants had been mapped was sequenced completely in both directions. The comparison of this sequence with sequence databases and other computer analyses revealed six flagellar gene homologues (flgI,flgH,fliP,flaA,flaB,flaC), three open reading frames (ORFA, B and C) with no significant sequence identity to any open reading frames in the databases and the partial sequence of the flagellar gene homologue flgG. Computer analysis also showed that theflgH,flgI andfliP homologues, and ORFs A, B and C, could form the downstream region of a larger operon involved in chemotactic and motility functions. However putative transcription signals were also found within the operon. A new mutant (MANl) was created in the last gene (fliP) of the putative operon to investigate the function of possible transcription signals in the open reading frame immediately upstream of it (ORFC). The mot-12 mutant phenotype of fully synthesised but paralysed flagella is brought about by the insertion of Tn5 in ORFC. ORFC contains a possible promoter for fliP. The Tn5 insertion in ORFC should have polar effects upon the expression of fliP, unless the putative promoter can cause expression of fliP. The MANl mutant had a flagella-less phenotype. FliP in other bacteria is required early in the synthesis of flagella and the null phenotype is/7a-. Thus for flagella to be present in mot-12 suggests fliP must have a promoter. The ORFC sequence is highly conserved in R. meliloti and the overall regulation of these flagellar gene homologues may be as an operon with other regulatory signals. Evidence from other operons (including motility operons) with multiple transcription signals is discussed. The flaABC homologues were multiple copies of the gene encoding the flagellin protein of the flagellum. The mot-l phenotype of severely truncated filaments was caused by a Tn5 insertion in flaA. Analysis of the sequence showed flaABC to each have transcription signals that could lead to separate transcription. Transcription analysis by Northern blotting showed flaA to be transcribed monocistronically. Flagella were isolated from A. twnefaciens and the flagellins separated by SDS-PAGE. The migrated distances (relative to those of markers) was not as predicted from the nucleotide sequence. This anomaly could be caused by unequivalent binding of SDS or post-translational modification of FlaA. The A. tumefaciens flagellar genes were most similar to those of R. meliloti. However A. tumefaciens flagella do not exhibit the characteristic cross-hatching of the complex flagella of R. meliloti. This study also showed A. tumefaciens flagella not to be dependent on divalent cations for subunit associations unlike R. meliloti. These properties of A. tumefaciens flagella were similar to those of R. leguminosarum.The open reading frames found were isolated, radiolabelled and used as probesagainst Southern blots containing chromosomal DNA from a variety of soil bacteria, and cosmids known to contain motility genes in R. meliloti. Hybridisation revealed homologous DNA sequences in a number of these bacteria. All the A. tumefaciens open reading frames hybridised to homologous DNA in R. meliloti and are found in the same order in both species. This suggests that there are similarities at the molecular level in motility and chemotaxis functions between R. meliloti and A. tumefaciens as well as in the patterns of chemotaxis and motility observed previously.


Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text. Background: DNA hypomethylation at the F2RL3 (F2R like thrombin or trypsin receptor 3) locus has been associated with both smoking and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease; whether these smoking-related associations form a pathway to disease is unknown. F2RL3 encodes protease-activated receptor 4, a potent thrombin receptor expressed on platelets. Given the role of thrombin in platelet activation and the role of thrombus formation in myocardial infarction, alterations to this biological pathway could be important for ischemic cardiovascular disease. Methods: We conducted multiple independent experiments to assess whether DNA hypomethylation at F2RL3 in response to smoking is associated with risk of myocardial infarction via changes to platelet reactivity. Using cohort data (N=3205), we explored the relationship between smoking, DNA hypomethylation at F2RL3, and myocardial infarction. We compared platelet reactivity in individuals with low versus high DNA methylation at F2RL3 (N=41). We used an in vitro model to explore the biological response of F2RL3 to cigarette smoke extract. Finally, a series of reporter constructs were used to investigate how differential methylation could impact F2RL3 gene expression. Results: Observationally, DNA methylation at F2RL3 mediated an estimated 34% of the smoking effect on increased risk of myocardial infarction. An association between methylation group (low/high) and platelet reactivity was observed in response to PAR4 (protease-activated receptor 4) stimulation. In cells, cigarette smoke extract exposure was associated with a 4.9% to 9.3% reduction in DNA methylation at F2RL3 and a corresponding 1.7-(95% CI, 1.2–2.4, P=0.04) fold increase in F2RL3 mRNA. Results from reporter assays suggest the exon 2 region of F2RL3 may help control gene expression. Conclusions: Smoking-induced epigenetic DNA hypomethylation at F2RL3 appears to increase PAR4 expression with potential downstream consequences for platelet reactivity. Combined evidence here not only identifies F2RL3 DNA methylation as a possible contributory pathway from smoking to cardiovascular disease risk but from any feature potentially influencing F2RL3 regulation in a similar manner.


We investigate the effects of pitch-angle scattering on the efficiency of particle heating and acceleration by MHD turbulence using phenomenological estimates and simulations of non-relativistic test particles interacting with strong, subsonic MHD turbulence. We include an imposed pitch-angle scattering rate, which is meant to approximate the effects of high-frequency plasma waves and/or velocity space instabilities. We focus on plasma parameters similar to those found in the near-Earth solar wind, though most of our results are more broadly applicable. An important control parameter is the size of the particle mean free path λmfp relative to the scale of the turbulent fluctuations L. For small scattering rates, particles interact quasi-resonantly with turbulent fluctuations in magnetic field strength. Scattering increases the long-term efficiency of this resonant heating by factors of a few times 10, but the distribution function does not develop a significant non-thermal power-law tail. For higher scattering rates, the interaction between particles and turbulent fluctuations becomes non-resonant, governed by particles heating and cooling adiabatically as they encounter turbulent density fluctuations. Rapid pitch-angle scattering can produce a power-law tail in the proton distribution function, but this requires fine-tuning of parameters. Moreover, in the near-Earth solar wind, a significant power-law tail cannot develop by this mechanism because the particle acceleration timescales are longer than the adiabatic cooling timescale set by the expansion of the solar wind. Our results thus imply that MHD-scale turbulent fluctuations are unlikely to be the origin of the v−5 tail in the proton distribution function observed in the solar wind.


Abstract Submesoscale fronts with large horizontal buoyancy gradients and $O(1)$ Rossby numbers are common in the upper ocean. These fronts are associated with large vertical transport and are hotspots for biological activity. Submesoscale fronts are susceptible to symmetric instability (SI) – a form of stratified inertial instability which can occur when the potential vorticity is of the opposite sign to the Coriolis parameter. Here, we use a weakly nonlinear stability analysis to study SI in an idealised frontal zone with a uniform horizontal buoyancy gradient in thermal wind balance. We find that the structure and energetics of SI strongly depend on the front strength, defined as the ratio of the horizontal buoyancy gradient to the square of the Coriolis frequency. Vertically bounded non-hydrostatic SI modes can grow by extracting potential or kinetic energy from the balanced front and the relative importance of these energy reservoirs depends on the front strength and vertical stratification. We describe two limiting behaviours as 'slantwise convection' and 'slantwise inertial instability' where the largest energy source is the buoyancy flux and geostrophic shear production, respectively. The growing linear SI modes eventually break down through a secondary shear instability, and in the process transport considerable geostrophic momentum. The resulting breakdown of thermal wind balance generates vertically sheared inertial oscillations and we estimate the amplitude of these oscillations from the stability analysis. We finally discuss broader implications of these results in the context of current parameterisations of SI.


Two common ways of measuring the potential for glutamine synthesis in a tissue are the rates of formation of γ-glutamylhydroxamate either by synthesis from glutamate (the glutamylhydroxamate synthetase reaction) or by transfer from glutamine (the glutamyltransferase reaction); it has not been established, however, that either reaction is a specific measure of glutamine synthetase. By differential extraction of glutamylhydroxamate synthetase and glutamyltransferase activities from water homogenates of several rat tissues I obtained an extract, rich in glutamylhydroxamate synthetase activity but nearly devoid of glutamyltransferase activity, and a fraction, solubilized by deoxycholate from the pellet, which contained virtually no glutamylhydroxamate synthetase activity but most of the original glutamyltransferase activity. Synthesis of glutamine, quantitatively similar to the γ-glutamylhydroxamate formed by glutamylhydroxamate synthetase, is catalysed in the water extract but not in the particulate fraction. γ-Glutamylhydroxamate formation by glutamylhydroxamate synthetase and glutamyltransferase shows discrepant substrate and metal specificities and can be differentially inhibited by l-methionine sulphoximine, phosphate and adenine nucleotides. The concordance between the formation of glutamine and γ-glutamylhydroxamate by glutamylhydroxamate synthetase but not by glutamyltransferase and the different solubilities of the glutamylhydroxamate synthetase and glutamyltransferase enzyme activities demonstrate that these two activities are not inextricably associated; they therefore cannot be catalysed exclusively by the same protein.


To date there has been no identified academic research of Hoshin Kanri in the West and the purpose of this thesis is to clarify the Hoshin Kanri process within the context of Western practice highlighting issues and identifying potential areas for future research. A review of the literature suggests that Hoshin Kanri links an organisation's strategy with its operations on a day to day basis, the thesis therefore discusses Hoshin Kanri within the theory of strategic management contributing to knowledge and understanding not only of Hoshin Kanri but of strategic management. The methodology adopted was an in depth single case study design utilising a tracer approach thus extending knowledge of a research method upon which other researchers can draw. The case study of Nissan Yamato Engineering Ltd. explores the Hoshin Kanri process within a Japanese owned company operating within a Western context held to be an exemplar of practice. A conceptual model of Hoshin Kanri is proposed, and the research suggests that emphasis in the West upon issues of culture and empowerment has obscured the need for organisational arrangements which integrate strategic concerns with day to day management at an operational level.