The challenge of 21 century is to meet the food, fuel and fiber requirement of an increasing world population on a sustainable basis. Moreover, drought conditions, increasing demands of freshwater for agriculture and industrial sector has forced the farming community to pump more and more groundwater which is of marginal quality. This marginal quality water can be successfully used to increase agricultural productivity by preventing soil degradation if suitable management approaches are coupled with proper amendments. Therefore, a field study was conducted to manage the deleterious effects of brackish water for the sustainable production of cotton and wheat crops. The treatments tested were; T1: Control [Brackish Water (BW)], T2: BW + Gypsum application @ 100% on the basis of RSC of water, T3: BW + H2SO4 @ 50% application on the basis of RSC of water, T4: BW + Poultry manure @ 10 t. ha, T5: BW+ Press mud @ 10 t. ha. A non-saline field (ECe = 2.34 dS m, pHs = 8.15 and SAR = 8.58) was selected, leveled, and prepared. The experimental design was RCBD with four repeats. Cotton-wheat cropping system was followed. Brackish water was used {EC = 1.17 dS m, SAR = 6.75 and RSC = 5.30 me L} for irrigation. Data regarding different physiological and yield parameters were recorded at maturity. Pooled data analysis of three years showed that continuous use of brackish water significantly reduces the yield of cotton and wheat crops. However, the negative effects of brackish water were counteracted by all applied amendments while chemical amendments were more efficient in ameliorating the detrimental effects of brackish water. Maximum seed cotton yield (2.50 t. ha) for cotton and grain yield (4.32 t. ha) for wheat was recorded in T2: BW + Gypsum application @ 100% on the basis of RSC of water followed by T3: BW + H2SO4 @ 50% application on the basis of RSC of water. Soil analysis data showed that ECe, pHs and SAR were considerably improved with all the applied amendments as compared to control.


Here, we describe methods for combining impedance spectroscopy measurements with electrical simulation to reveal transepithelial barrier function and tissue structure of human intestinal epithelium cultured inside an organ-on-chip microfluidic culture device. When performing impedance spectroscopy measurements, electrical simulation enabled normalization of cell layer resistance of epithelium cultured statically in a gut-on-a-chip, which enabled determination of transepithelial electrical resistance (TEER) values that can be compared across device platforms. During culture under dynamic flow, the formation of intestinal villi was accompanied by characteristic changes in impedance spectra both measured experimentally and verified with simulation, and we demonstrate that changes in cell layer capacitance may serve as measures of villi differentiation. This method for combining impedance spectroscopy with simulation can be adapted to better monitor cell layer characteristics within any organ-on-chip in vitro and to enable direct quantitative TEER comparisons between organ-on-chip platforms which should help to advance research on organ function.


Background and Objective: The main aim of each teaching approach is to increase the level of learner's knowledge and attitudes. So, the traditional teaching methods like giving lecture which are common nowadays can't alone fulfill our students need.   Current study aimed to compare peer education on nursing students' knowledge and attitudes of Shahid Sadoughi University toward electroconvulsive therapy.   Material and Methods: Participants included 60 nursing students were randomly divided in to three groups as fallow: educational lectures, observers live electroconvulsive, observers of movies. Data were collected using knowledge and attitude questionnaire . Data were analyzed by spss 18.   Results: U� fallowing learning about the differences between the three groups was significant (Pvalue=0.006).The difference between the methods of teaching speech live and observing, the difference was statistically significant (Pvalue=0.023). Between speech and observing the way by the movie was also a significant difference (Pvalue=0.011). but between two ways of living and observing the movie was not significant (Pvalue=1). Between the three groups after the training, there was no statistically significant differences (Pvalue = 0.25).   Conclusion: This study showed teach increased knowledge but it doesn�t effect on attitudes


With XML becomes a de-facto standard for exchanging and presenting information, efficient and accurate classification for the various XML documents has become a focus of data mining and search engine. Based on the theoretical analysis of principal component analysis (PCA), a new automatic classification method which is based on representation of edge set and all paths is presented. Theoretical analysis and experimental results show that the automatic classification method of XMLbased in terms of PCA can work well for XML documents.


In the fall of 2006, President Gene Nichol of the College of William & Mary decided that the college - a public institution - should no longer display a cross on the altar table of the college's Wren Chapel. He ordered the cross moved to a back room, from which it could be returned to the altar table during Christian worship. This decision sparked an outcry from many Christian conservatives, who asserted that President Nichol was undermining the college's historical legacy. After a period of campus furor, a special Committee proposed and the President accepted a compromise - the cross was returned to the side wall of the chapel, in a display case marked with a historical notation. The controversy over the display of the Wren Chapel Cross provides a rich opportunity to explore the extent to which state-controlled institutions of higher learning can respond to the religious needs of students or commemorate the religious heritage of the institution. The paper briefly traces the history of the College from its original charter by the English Crown its present day public status. The paper also develops the relevant history of the Wren Chapel and the controversial cross. The paper argues that the competing arguments in this dispute over how the cross "injured" students represent far too thin a framework for exploring the relevant questions. Instead, the paper argues, the only possible justifications for a public college manifesting a religious voice are theories of accommodation and acknowledgment of religion. The theory of accommodation can support the provision of a chapel for student worship, but cannot justify the central placement of a cross in the chapel as a default configuration. The paper breaks down the theory of acknowledgment into three separate strands - acknowledgment as an accurate rendering of history, acknowledgment as an expression of reverence, and acknowledgment as a response to secular elements of present culture. The paper unpacks the three theories, and tests the dueling claims about the placement of the Wren Chapel cross against each. The lessons to be drawn from this controversy should be illuminating for all public universities in their consideration of religious displays on campus.


The sustainable End-of-Life Vehicle (ELV) management has emerged as a competitive subject for producers to respond to environmental and economic challenges. There are several ELV strategies such as reuse and remanufacturing which enable companies to reduce environmental impacts and optimize the product life cycle. The selection of the best compromise ELVs management strategy improves the sustainability performance of companies. This study aims at proposing an integrated Fuzzy Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (FMCDM) to evaluate the sustainable ELV strategies with respect to the user's preference orders. Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) is used to determine the relative weights of the assessment sustainable criteria and the extension of the Fuzzy Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (FTOPSIS) is applied to investigate the ELV strategies. The findings indicate the usefulness of the proposed model in evaluating sustainable ELV strategies with human linguistic terms and how it simplifies the decisionmaking process.


We study regression and classification in a setting where the learning algorithm is allowed to access only a limited number of attributes per example, known as the limited attribute observation model. In this well-studied model, we provide the first lower bounds giving a limit on the precision attainable by any algorithm for several variants of regression, notably linear regression with the absolute loss and the squared loss, as well as for classification with the hinge loss. We complement these lower bounds with a general purpose algorithm that gives an upper bound on the achievable precision limit in the setting of learning with missing data.


Disk drive spindle motors require accurate speed control and highly efficient drive controllers. Small-volume and high-efficiency converters are of particular interest for portable data storage applications. Quasi-resonant voltage controllers are described in this paper and the experimental results are presented. In contrast to the conventional pulsewidth-modulated voltage controller, this technique reduces the switching loss and enables the controller to operate at very high frequencies. Three types of resonant converters are built and tested for the application. A comparison of performance in terms of losses and voltage regulation is given.


An assessment of tidal energy and the environmental response to extraction at a site in the Pentland Firth by Matthew C. Easton _________________________________________________ Shelf tidal streams are accelerated by coastal features, such as headlands and islands. In the search for sustainable forms of electricity generation, such locations may become attractive for tidal stream power. For many prospective sites, however, little is known about the intricacies of the local tidal dynamics: knowledge which is crucial to understanding the resource and the potential environmental consequences of its extraction. This thesis explores tidal stream energy in the Pentland Firth (Scotland, UK). This channel contains some of the most promising tidal stream energy sites in the world and is set to become host to the first large-scale arrays of tidal stream turbines, but its detailed characteristics were previously unknown. A hydrodynamic model was used to investigate the complex tidal dynamics of the Pentland Firth. This demonstrated, for the first time, the hydrodynamic mechanisms driving the exceptionally fast tidal currents through this channel. The model was then refined at a key site within the Pentland Firth, the Inner Sound. The results provided insight into complex flow characteristics, such as displacement and misalignment of peak flood and ebb tides, which must be considered when contemplating the exploitation of this energy resource. Tidal stream turbines were simulated in the hydrodynamic model. Artificial energy extraction was parameterised at the sub-grid-scale via added seabed drag. Turbine drag of varying magnitude was represented by a novel analytical model based on published characteristics of horizontal axis turbines. This new formulation reflects the non-linear dynamics of tidal turbine operation. Using the new turbine model, arrays of turbines were simulated within the Inner Sound. Complex interactions between the dynamics of energy extraction and flow required individual turbines to be parameterised in-concert with all other turbines in the array. This required extra effort, but offered enhanced insight into the behaviour of turbine arrays. Accounting for nonlinear turbine dynamics at high current speeds limited the magnitude of peak energy dissipation. Tidal stream velocities decreased both upstream and downstream of the extraction zone and were accelerated around it. At peak energy extraction, changes in tidal velocity were detectable several kilometres from the array, but were confined to the shallow waters of the Inner Sound and its environs. Implications for array modelling are discussed in the context of environmental impact assessments.


Ca, a "signal for death and life", is closely involved in the regulation of numerous important cellular events. Ca carries out its function through its binding to Ca-receptors or Ca-binding proteins. The EF-hand protein, with a helix-loop-helix Ca-binding motif, constitutes one of the largest protein families. To facilitate our understanding of the role of Ca in biological systems (denoted as "calciomics") using genomic information, an improved pattern search method (http://www.chemistry.gsu.edu/faculty/Yang/Calciomics.htm) for the identification of EF-hand and EF-like Ca-binding proteins was developed. This fast and robust method allows us to analyze putative EF-hand proteins at the genomewide level and further visualize the evolutionary scenario of the EF-hand protein family. This prediction method further enables us to locate a putative viral EFhand Ca-binding motif within the rubella virus nonstructural protease that cleaves the nonstructural protein precursor into two active replicase components. A novel grafting approach has been used to probe the metal-binding properties of this motif by engineering the predicted 12-residue Ca-coordinating loop into a non-Ca-binding scaffold protein, CD2 domain 1. Structural and conformational studies were further performed on a purified, bacterially-expressed NS protease minimal metal-binding domain spanning the EF-hand Ca-binding motif. It was revealed that Ca binding induced local conformational changes and increased thermal stability. Furthermore, functional studies were carried out using RUB infectious cDNA clone and replicon constructs. Our studies have shown that the Ca binding loop played a structural role in the NS protease and was specifically required for optimal stability under physiological conditions. In addition, we have predicted and characterized a calmodulin-binding domain in the gap junction proteins connexin43 and connexin44. Peptides encompassing the CaM binding motifs were synthesized and their ability to bind CaM was determined using various biophysical approaches. Transient expression in HeLa cells of two mutant Cx43-EYFP constructs without the putative CaM-binding site eliminated the Ca-dependent inhibition of gap junction permeability. These results provide the first direct evidence that CaM binds to a specific region of the ubiquitous gap junction protein Cx43 and Cx44 in a Ca-dependent manner, providing a molecular basis for the well-characterized Ca-dependent inhibition of Cx43-containing gap junctions.


1. The Kuntscher method of intramedullary reaming and nail fixation was applied to thirty-five cases of non-union of the lower extremity, twenty femurs and fifteen tibias. A bone graft was generally not used. 2. Most of the patients were allowed to bear weight and to exercise the joints within a few days of the operation. Additional measures such as pre-operative surgery for infection or distraction of shortening were used in some cases. 3. The pseudarthrosis healed in all cases, even when infection was present. The nails were generally not removed until after healing had occurred. 4. It is concluded that the Kuntscher method gives remarkably rapid consolidation and restoration of function even in difficult cases of non-union of shaft fracture, particularly of the femur.


In an Anatolian village forgotten both by God and the government, the muhtar has been elected leader for the sixteenth successive year. When he staggers to bed that night, drunk on raki and his own well-deserved success, the village is prosperous. But when he is woken by his wife the next evening he discovers that Nuri, the barber, has disappeared without a trace in the dead of night, and the community begins to fracture.

In a nameless town far, far away, Nuri walks into a barbershop as if from a dream, not knowing how he has arrived. Try as he might, he cannot grasp the strands of his memory. The facts of his past life shift and evade him, and as other customers come and go, they too struggle to recall how they got there…

Blurring the lines of reality to terrific effect, Shadowless is both a compelling mystery and an enduring evocation of displacement from one of the finest, most exciting voices in Turkish literature today.


The first year university experience is inherently linked to student retention and success. First year students are often unprepared for the academic requirements of university, which can result in stress, poor student outcomes and low student retention rates. Although there is considerable literature on the challenges students face when transitioning to university, there is limited research on successful interdisciplinary for-credit transition subjects that support students, particularly in Australia. An interdisciplinary for-credit transition subject for first year university students was designed, implemented and evaluated to determine students' perceptions of its effectiveness in preparing them for the academic demands of university. Thematic analysis of 36 qualitative interviews with students was conducted. Students reported having gained knowledge and confidence in the essential academic skills required for university and therefore felt more prepared. Implementing similar subjects in other settings may provide a strategy to support students' transition to university.


We present the first example of a natural distribution on instances of an NP-complete problem, with the following properties. With high probability a random formula from this distribution (a) is unsatisfiable, (b) has a short proof that can be found easily, and (c) does not have a short (general) resolution proof. This happens already for a very low clause/variable density ratio of = logn (n is the number of variables). This is the first example of such a natural distribution for which general resolution proofs are not the best way for proving unsatisfiability of random instances. Our result gives hope that efficient proof methods might be found for random 3-CNFs with small clause density (significantly less than pn).


Objectives To systematically summarize the randomized trial evidence regarding the relative effectiveness of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) in patients with depression in receipt of disability benefits in comparison to those not receiving disability benefits. Data Sources All relevant RCTs from a database of randomized controlled and comparative studies examining the effects of psychotherapy for adult depression (http://www.evidencebasedpsychotherapies.org), electronic databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, PSYCINFO, AMED, CINAHL and CENTRAL) to June 2011, and bibliographies of all relevant articles. Study Eligibility Criteria, Participants and Intervention Adult patients with major depression, randomly assigned to CBT versus minimal/no treatment or care-as-usual. Study Appraisal and Synthesis Methods Three teams of reviewers, independently and in duplicate, completed title and abstract screening, full text review and data extraction. We performed an individual patient data meta-analysis to summarize data. Results Of 92 eligible trials, 70 provided author contact information; of these 56 (80%) were successfully contacted to establish if they captured receipt of benefits as a baseline characteristic; 8 recorded benefit status, and 3 enrolled some patients in receipt of benefits, of which 2 provided individual patient data. Including both patients receiving and not receiving disability benefits, 2 trials (227 patients) suggested a possible reduction in depression with CBT, as measured by the Beck Depression Inventory, mean difference [MD] (95% confidence interval [CI]) = −2.61 (−5.28, 0.07), p = 0.06; minimally important difference of 5. The effect appeared larger, though not significantly, in those in receipt of benefits (34 patients) versus not receiving benefits (193 patients); MD (95% CI) = −4.46 (−12.21, 3.30), p = 0.26. Conclusions Our data does not support the hypothesis that CBT has smaller effects in depressed patients receiving disability benefits versus other patients. Given that the confidence interval is wide, a decreased effect is still possible, though if the difference exists, it is likely to be small.


The submission (four volumes and a CD) includes a Portfolio and a Commentary. The portfolio containes eight pieces, Solitudo, Argumentum, Recordatio, Illuminatio, Transfiguratio, Ludus Aetemus, Mens Sana in Corpore Sano, Monstrum Horrendum.The commentary is divided in the following seven chapters: introduction, the Latin words of the pieces' titles, the relationship between the Latin words/letters of the words and the melodic material, the influences on the piece's conception, the influences on the conception of the form and and gestures, the influences on the scenery, performance and lighting and conclusion.The CD contains a live recording of two pieces mentioned before: Solitudo and Argumentum. On the whole, the portfolio and the commentary are a contribution to the Arts' World and provides the aesthetic and conceptual thoughts involved in the musical creation of these specific pieces. However, a paragraph of Carl Jung's book - Modern Man in Search of a Soul - was always kept in my mind and will be in the future: "I do not forget that my voice is but one voice, my experience a mere drop in the sea, my knowledge no greater than the visual field in a microscope, my mind's eye a mirror that reflects a small corner of the world, and my ideas - a subjective confession."


Mining newspaper files and the deep archives and journalistic expertise of the Newseum, an interactive museum of news located in Washington, D.C., "Outrage, Passion and Uncommon Sense "examines decisive issues and events in U.S. history through the nation's editorial pages. Approximately fifty editorials are reprinted here on topics ranging from suffrage and race to war and politics--even Christmas--with probing analysis by Gartner. "Editorials are the soul of the newspaper," Gartner says in the book's introduction. "Maybe the heart and the soul. And, on a good newspaper that knows and understands and loves its hometown, or its home country, the editorial is the heart and the soul of the town, or the nation, as well." Readers will also see a visual account of the era through two-color illustrations, showcasing editorial cartoons, photographs and typographic details from period newspapers. "Outrage, Passion and Uncommon Sense" is a vital, significant collection that portrays the undeniable influence one editorial can have on this country in some of its most difficult times.


Enabled by ICTs, the open provision of educational resources (OER), for consultation, use and re-modifcation by communities of users for non-commercial purposes, is associated with a movement that emerged in the early 2000s and which has its roots on liberal education and on the principle of justice located in transfer of non material goods. Following the uptake of many institutional projects ranging from lecture podcasts, curricular materials and free online courses - both complementing and challenging the legitimacy of archives that reside in other public culture domains, as learning resources - international NGOs, funding and educational policy bodies, have been working towards standardizing the ways in which these resources are created and shared. Combining notions of mediation with cultural political economy and the philosophy of education, this paper aims to introduce a critique of the open access/content movement in education, leading to three core paradoxes: a) a novel strand of techno-legal and cultural determinism surrounding the education commons b) the simultaneous circumvention and endorsement of institutional authorities in education; c) and the concurrent questioning and privileging of a market-driven education economy.


Community-based conservation (CBC) encompasses several core principles, including: involving communities in decision-making; devolving control over resource management; developing community institutions for management; incorporating traditional or local knowledge; legitimizing community property rights; linking environment and development objectives; and providing incentives for conservation. In 2013- 2014, the study was done to assess how perceptions of the egg and nest destruction of Sarus crane might have changed over time. There were sustained high levels of support for conservation and positive perceptions of conservational activities on community. The Indian Sarus Crane (Grus antigone antigone), the world's tallest flying bird and a globally 'Vulnerable' species as per IUCN Red List of Threatened Species is the only resident breeding crane in India. The breeding biology of Sarus Crane was studied for two breeding (2013-2014) season in Lucknow District, Uttar Pradesh. Seven pairs were studied during study period at three sites. During the study nesting success in PGI and Mahona was 100% each and in Nagar Chaungwa was 50%. Continuous monitoring of study sites improved the nesting and breeding success of Sarus crane in the study sites.


In a controlled double-blind study practolol, a new cardioselective beta-blocking drug, was given to 15 patients with angina pectoris, and compared with propranolol 80 mg. q.d.s. The dose of practolol ranged from 200 to 600 mg.b.d. and was decided by initial open titration in individual patients. Though practolol did not influence the incidence of angina or glyceryl trinitrate consumption, it increased the duration of exercise possible in exercise tests and reduced the amount of ischaemic S—T depression in the radiocardiogram during exercise. Propranolol reduced the incidence of angina and, in the exercise tests, increased the amount and duration of exercise but did not affect the degree of S—T depression. Unlike propranolol, practolol did not produce any adverse effects on bronchial smooth muscle. Hence it is concluded that practolol is an effective drug in treating angina, and in the dosage used is of potential value in patients with asthmatic bronchitis and angina. It should, however, be used cautiously in anginal patients with heart failure.


As crowd-centric applications have attracted a lot of attention, this work exploits the crowdsourcing technologies to collect and share user experience of WiFi hotspots in an urban area. To address the trust issue, we incorporate an endorsement network into the system, where users can endorse others based on the reviews submitted by themselves. With the incentive endorsement network, our system can quantify the trustworthiness of data publishers to make the system more trustful. We have implemented our design as a mobile application for mobile devices to demonstrate how our system guides people to connect to WiFi hotspots and how the endorsement network works with the crowdsourced WiFi sensing system.


Reconstructs the entrepreneurial journey of John D. Rockefeller, founder of Standard Oil and one of the most famous business figures in history. Traces his early career as a retailer in Cleveland through his decision to enter the oil industry in the early 1860s to his creation of Standard Oil. Pays particular attention to the critical decades of the 1870s and 1880s when Standard Oil and the larger oil business were growing at white-hot speed. Told through the words of both scholars and first-hand participants, examines Rockefeller's (controversial) strategy for securing and maintaining Standard Oil's market dominance, his organizational innovations within the company, and his responses to a myriad of competitive threats. Also, provides a close look at Rockefeller's life outside his office, including his role as a husband and father. Closes with a contemporary analysis of the ethics of Rockefeller's actions. Learning Objective: To encourage students to analyze the life, career, and legacy of John D. Rockefeller.


The first collection of seminal writings on a movement that is rapidly changing the face of American politics, The Libertarian Reader links some of the most fertile minds of our time to a centuries-old commitment to freedom, self-determination, and opposition to intrusive government. A movement that today counts among its supporters Steve Forbes, Nat Hentoff, and P. J. O'Rourke, libertarianism joins a continuous thread of political reason running throughout history. In The Libertarian Reader, David Boaz has gathered the writers and works that represent the building blocks of libertarianism. These individuals have spoken out for the basic freedoms that have made possible the flowering of spiritual, moral, and economic life. For all independent thinkers, this unique sourcebook will stand as a classic reference for years to come, and a reminder that libertarianism is one of our oldest and most venerable American traditions.


Reduction in herbicide usage without compromising yields can lead to less environmental harm and lower production costs. Field trials were conducted to appraise the efficacy of reduced doses (25, 50, and 75% of the label dose) of a post emergence sulfonylurea herbicide [Atlantis 3.6WG (iodo+mesosulfuron)] to control weeds in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) fields of Punjab, Pakistan. Below-labeled-doses were quite effective in suppressing total weed density (72-95%) and biomass (8394%), and wheat grain yield was increased by 22 to 48% over the weedy control, while label dose of iodo+mesosulfuron improved yield by 53%. Iodo+mesosulfuron at 25 and 50% of the label dose inhibited grass weeds by 43 to 64%, albeit their biomass was suppressed by > 80% over control. Wheat yields for reduced herbicide doses (50 and 75%) were not different with label dose. Economic analysis revealed that the maximum marginal rate of return was recorded for 50% of the label herbicide dose and was followed by that observed for 25% of the label dose. Reduced doses of herbicide can be an effective tool in minimizing herbicide inputs and lowering production costs in wheat production without compromising yields.


Background Work addiction is a significant public health problem with a growing prevalence. The Work Addiction Risk Test (WART) is the gold standard questionnaire to detect workaholism. Objective The main objective of this study was to validate the French version of the WART. Methods Questionnaires were proposed to voluntary French workers using the WittyFit software. There were no exclusion criteria. The questionnaire was administered anonymously for initial validity testing and readministered one week later for test-retest reliability. We also assessed the workers' sociodemographic characteristics, as well as other measurements for external validity, such as stress, well-being, and coaddictions to tobacco, alcohol, and cannabis. Several psychometric properties of the French-WART were explored: acceptability, reliability (internal consistency [Cronbach alpha coefficient] and reproducibility [Lin concordance coefficient]), construct validity (correlation coefficients and principal component analysis), and external validity (correlation coefficients). Results Among the 1580 workers using WittyFit, 187 (11.83%) agreed to complete the WART questionnaire. Of those, 128 completed the test-retest survey (68.4%). Acceptability found that all respondents had fully completed the questionnaire, with few floor or ceiling effects. Reliability was very good with a Cronbach alpha coefficient at .90 (internal consistency) and Lin concordance coefficient at .90 (95% CI .87-.94] with a difference on the retest of .04 (SD 4.9) (95% CI −9.6 to 9.7) (reproducibility). We identified three main dimensions (construct validity). Relationships between WART and stress and well-being confirmed its external validity. Conclusions The French version of the WART is a valid and reliable instrument to assess work addiction with satisfactory psychometric properties. Used in occupational medicine, this tool would allow the diagnosis of work addiction and can be easily implemented in current practice.


4 mg. %. The latter suggests an intravascular haemolysis of nearly all the mistyped blood which was transfused, with release into the circulation of 80 g. of haemoglobin.5 7 The potential danger of renal impairment from this degree of intravascular haemolysis has been recognized.8'0 In this case of haemolytic reaction treated with mannitol the danger of renal failure was averted though anticipated.-I am, etc.,


Abstract This article introduces this collection, which focuses on the economic and political rise of the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) and its implications for global agrarian transformation. These emerging economies are undergoing profound changes as key sites of the production, circulation, and consumption of agricultural commodities; hosts to abundant cheap labour and natural resources; and home to growing numbers of both poor but also, increasingly, affluent consumers. Separately and together these countries are shaping international development agendas both as partners in, and potential alternatives to, the development paradigms promoted by the established hubs of global capital in the North Atlantic and by dominant international financial institutions. Collectively, the findings show the significance of BRICS countries in reshaping agro-food systems at the national and regional level, and their global significance. As they export their own farming and production systems across different contexts, though, the outcomes are contingent and success is not assured. At the same time, BRICS may represent a continuation rather than an alternative to the development paradigms of the Global North.


The magnitude and dynamics of soil gaseous fluxes play critical roles in the global gas balance; yet, these processes are not captured at sufficient temporal resolution by standard methods based on periodic sampling and surface chamber measurements. A novel method for continuous measurement of soil surface gas fluxes based on subsurface CO2 and O2 concentration gradient measurements was developed. We tested the gradient‐based method under steady‐ and transient‐state soil water content and temperature conditions and compared results with a state‐of‐the‐art surface chamber CO2 flux system. The new aspects of the method include fast‐response sensors installed in the soil profile providing continuous record of concentration gradients coupled with concurrent estimates of water content‐dependent gaseous diffusion coefficient enabling calculation of surface gaseous fluxes. Low‐cost infrared sensors were used for CO2 concentration measurements, and galvanic cells for O2 measurements. An imposed CO2 concentration gradient in a dry soil column resulted in a quasilinear CO2 concentration profile and surface CO2 flux in agreement with chamber‐measured fluxes. A series of continuous concentration measurements under variable water content conditions and wetting events showed agreement with surface chamber measurements. Within several days of surface wetting, soil CO2 concentrations attained 10 mL L−1, one order of magnitude higher than ambient concentrations, whereas O2 concentrations decreased. The gradient‐based approach minimizes soil surface perturbations and provides insights into subsurface soil CO2 and O2 dynamics and the distribution and magnitude of soil respiration processes as related to soil environmental factors. The subsurface gradient‐based measurement system represents an order‐of‐magnitude reduction in cost compared with research‐grade surface chamber devices.


This book deals with knowledge management with an emphasis on knowledge risk, i.e., a general trend of knowledge value getting shorter and becoming temporary. The shortening of knowledge value lifespan will have a profound impact on companies' employment policies, and employees' strategies for gaining knowledge. How to manage knowledge selection, including personnel management, will be the key to survival for companies, when corporate competency shifts from stable business contacts to the quality of their offers, and when the value of knowledge, which is the foundation of products and services, is becoming more and more short-lived. Work-sharing and human resource derivatives are thus proposed as new concepts in order to deal with knowledge selection risk.


Our intent with this Technology Review is to present a framework that helps educators make their own critical comparison of Maple, Mathematica, and Matlab as candidate computational productivity tools for use in their instructional programs. This is an alternative to our providing a critical comparison of our own, as would be conventional in a review. In the first installment, we provided a common set of talking points—concrete, understandable, existing applications as well as an idealized "paradigmatic" example—around which to build this framework. We also defined a particular subset of issues that undergraduate science and engineering educators face regarding computational technology. In this issue, we conclude this framework-building strategy by defining a compact, common feature set in which we can finally describe in some comparable detail how Maple, Mathematica, and Matlab work.


Given the increased prominence of a border poll in Ireland, particularly following the outcome of the Brexit referendum, this paper provides an initial assessment of some of the issues that are likely to become central in any debate on this issue. We examine the relative income and growth position of Northern Ireland within a UK and Irish regional framework over time. We further compare, and contrast, in detail aspects of the structure of both economies on the island of Ireland in the areas of educational attainment, trade orientation and the role of Foreign Direct Investment. The paper goes on to analyse other relevant issues, such as the relative strength and weaknesses of the healthcare systems and the factors determining the potential economic cost of Irish unification. The objective of the research is to initiate an evidence-based approach to the question of a border poll and to provide an initial indication of the breadth of detail and analysis required for any debate to proceed in a meaningful manner.


The aim of this work is to analyze the development of Green Economy in the Emilia-Romagna Region. Sustainability and efficiency are seen as springs of development to be pushed overall in a period of global economic crisis. Starting from the distinction of Green Production and Green Products, the authors have investigated the evolution of the sector in the last years, in particular analyzing the number of enterprises and products with environmental certifications and their economic performance. A special focus have been made regarding the production of Renewable Energy Sources and the EU objectives. Furthermore it has been explored the Agri-food sector, underlining its relationship with the environment and the threats given by Climate Change, and on the other side the opportunities linked to agro-energies and organic productions. The authors have made some on field interviews to operators and firms of different sector in order to better understand their perspective regarding Green Economy markets. Additionally to underline some strategic guidelines to be followed by governments to better implement structural changes to raise efficiency and to further green the economical production


With growing populations, economic pressures, and the need for sustainable practices, many urban regions are rapidly densifying developments in the vertical built dimension with mid- and high-rise buildings. The location of these buildings can be projected based on key factors that are attractive to urban planners, developers, and potential buyers. Current research in this area includes various modelling approaches, such as cellular automata and agent-based modelling, but the results are mostly linked to raster grids as the smallest spatial units that operate in two spatial dimensions. Therefore, the objective of this research is to develop a geospatial model that operates on irregular spatial tessellations to model mid- and high-rise buildings in three spatial dimensions (3D). The proposed model is based on the integration of GIS, fuzzy multi-criteria evaluation (MCE), and 3D GIS-based procedural modelling. Part of the City of Surrey, within the Metro Vancouver Region, Canada, has been used to present the simulations of the generated 3D building objects. The proposed 3D modelling approach was developed using ESRI's CityEngine software and the Computer Generated Architecture (CGA) language.


This dissertation documents, analyzes and interprets the state of knowledge of the global Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) implementation process. Based on a comprehensive assessment of global implementation reports and the scientific discourse of two decades general problems of implementation and specific constraints to the process in developing countries are identified. Moreover, present IWRM trajectories and recommendations towards improvements of implementation and operationalization are derived from scientific and practitioner's experience. Hence, the principal contribution of this dissertation in this basic problem analysis is a detailed clarification of the problem statement of IWRM implementation in developing countries and the provision of guiding principles for improvements.
Identified solution approaches are further conceptualized methodologically by applying the theoreti- cal concept of institutional fit and interplay. In the following, this dissertation asserts that problems of institutional fit and interplay need to be solved interdependently with due regard to specific opera- tional constraints of local contexts in developing countries in order to successfully implement IWRM at an operational management level, i.e. operationalization of IWRM. Hence, this dissertation compares different policy instruments to achieve this based on an actor-centered incentive approach. It is argued that improvements require a mix of policies with specific instruments to enhance institutional fit and interplay suitable for context-specific operational constraints. This dissertation exposes that traditional command and control approaches for IWRM operationalization are insufficient and complementary instruments are necessary to address the prevailing implementation gaps. The instrument of Payments for Hydrological Ecosystem Services (PHES) is identified as a potentially suitable policy instrument because it combines several beneficial characteristics of communication / diffusion and economic instruments with characteristics of collaborative agreements. Applying the concept of institutional fit and interplay in the context of operational constraints of developing countries to identify suitable policy instruments for improved IWRM operationalization, as done in this dissertation, is a particularly novel approach.
In order to assess the potential contributions of PHES schemes to the operationalization of IWRM, the concept of ecosystem services and their valuation as its theoretical basis, are examined concerning the solutions it provides to address the governance challenges of institutional fit and interplay. In this context, hydrological ecosystems services and the their valuation are addressed specifically. Thus, this dissertation contributes to understanding how the application and valuation process of hydrological ecosystem services inherently define spatial relationships between potential service providers and beneficiaries based on functional ecosystem linkages. Subsequently, it is illustrated how the concept can positively influence the identification of appropriate context-specific scales for operational IWRM as a result of fit and interplay interdependence. Additionally, a cross-sectoral and cross-jurisdictional integration effect of the concept is acknowledged. The concept of hydrological ecosystem services has not yet been considered in relation to problems of fit and interplay in IWRM implementation as presented in this work. Hence, this dissertation provides additional insights in this regard.
In a further theoretical analysis, this dissertation documents, analyzes and interprets the state of knowledge of the economic conceptualization of the PHES instrument. It brings forward supporting arguments for a less market-based and therefore a stronger multi-faceted incentive-based interpretation of PHES. Based on a broad meta-analysis of global and regional PES scheme assessments, the principal characteristics of the instrument and its implementation are identified. A comprehensive instrument characterization of this kind is a further significant contribution of this dissertation which has not been done yet to a similar extent. The characterization and instrument assessment provides important insights with regard to the typical roles of different actors and the provision of incentives for behavioral change towards IWRM. Moreover, it contributes to understanding how the instrument can potentially address institutional challenges of IWRM operationalization in the context of general operational constraints. However, locally user-(co-)financed PHES schemes as a particular type were identified as especially conducive to engaging stakeholders and to promoting public participation.
Finally, the role of the PHES instrument in the context of a national IWRM process is assessed based on an empirical example taken from Nicaragua. This dissertation provides a comprehensive documentation of the national IWRM process in Nicaragua and its principal implementation gaps. The generalization of implementation gaps and specifically operational constraints made before can be confirmed for the Nicaraguan IWRM process. Moreover, the shortcomings of a formal top-down implementation approach based on command and control instruments alone are highlighted as well. Further valuable findings can be derived from this dissertation for other developing countries with a similar IWRM process through the analysis of contributions of locally user-(co-)financed PHES schemes to solve the problems of institutional fit and interplay in Nicaragua. Additionally, this dissertation reveals how the PHES instrument fits into an existing policy mix in Nicaragua and how it interacts with traditional regulations.
Hence, this work provides guidance on how to improve context-specific fit and horizontal interplay at the operational level of IWRM as well as on how to complement the primarily top-down directed IWRM implementation from bottom-up. Hence, this dissertation documents that the PHES instrument is more than a tool to finance nature conservation. Indeed, it shows that the implementation and execution process of PHES schemes fulfills several other tasks which are essential for the operationalization of IWRM.


Aim  The scale dependence of many ecological patterns and processes implies that general inference is reliant on obtaining scale-response curves over a large range of grains. Although environmental correlates of richness have been widely studied, comparisons among groups have usually been applied at single grains. Moreover, the relevance of environment–richness associations to fine-grain assemblages has remained surprisingly unclear. We present a first global cross-scale assessment of environment–richness associations for birds, mammals and amphibians from 2000 km down to c. 20 km.

Location  World-wide.

Methods  We performed an extensive survey of the literature for well-sampled terrestrial vertebrate inventories over clearly defined small extents. Coarser grain richness was estimated from the intersection of extent-of-occurrence range maps with concentric equal-distance circles around fine-grain assemblage location centroids. General linear and simultaneous autoregressive models were used to relate richness at the different grains to environmental correlates.

Results  The ability of environmental variables to explain species richness decreases markedly toward finer grains and is lowest for fine-grained assemblages. A prominent transition in importance occurs between productivity and temperature at increased grains, which is consistent with the role of energy affecting regional, but not local, richness. Variation in fine-grained predictability across groups is associated with their purported grain of space use, i.e. highest for amphibians and narrow-ranged and small-bodied species.

Main conclusions  We extend the global documentation of environment–richness associations to fine-grained assemblages. The relationship between fine-grained predictability of a group and its ecological characteristics lends empirical support to the idea that variation in species fine-grained space use may scale up to explain coarse-grained diversity patterns. Our study exposes a dramatic and taxonomically variable scale dependence of environment–richness associations and suggests that environmental correlates of richness may hold limited information at the level of communities.


Inspired by the correlation between the propulsion efficiency of a flapping foil propeller and stability of the wake behind it (which leads to the optimal Strouhal number for propulsion), we numerically simulated a heaving/pitching foil in energy harvesting regime, and investigated the relation between wake stability and the energy harvesting efficiency. The base flow is computed using a Navier–Stokes algorithm and the stability analysis is performed via the Orr–Sommerfeld equation. The wake is found to be convectively unstable and the frequency of the most unstable mode fw is determined. The case when fw ~ f coincides with maximum energy harvesting efficiency of the system (f is the frequency of foil oscillation), suggesting that flow energy extraction is closely related to efficient evolution of the wake. This occurs at a frequency of f ~ 0.15 (f is normalized by the chord length and the flow speed), under the constraint that there is significant vortex shedding from the leading edge at sufficiently large effective angles of attack. Indeed, this 'foil–wake resonance' is usually associated with multi-vortex shedding from the leading edge. Furthermore, detailed examination of energy extractions from the heaving and the pitching motions indicates that near the optimal performance point the average energy extraction from the pitching motion is close to zero. This suggests the feasibility of achieving high-efficient energy harvesting through a simple fully passive system we proposed earlier in which no activation is needed.


The first part of the paper includes an overview of genus Aplocnemus and a discussion of the related subgenera; as a result one of them is placed in synonymy: Holcopleura Schilsky, 1894 = Aplocnemus (Aplocnemus) Stephens, 1830. The second part deals with the 16 Aplocnemus species found to live in Greece. Out of these, 9 are fully discussed, with descriptions and drawings of dissected structures (median lobe, tegmen, last sternite). The remaining 7 have been already – and rather recently – considered and illustrated in previous papers: for them only new taxonomic and/or distributional information are herewith supplied. One new taxon is described: Aplocnemus henrici sp. n from northern Greece and Bulgaria. 9 new synonymies, at species level, are proposed: A. macedonicus Pic, 1922 = A. (Aplocnemus) basalis (Küster, 1849); A. pristocerus Kiesenwetter, 1859 = A. (Aplocnemus) caelatus (Brullé, 1832); A. brevissimus Pic, 1908 = A. (Aplocnemus) quercicola Mulsant and Rey, 1968; A. kiesenwetteri Schilsky, 1897 = A. (Aplocnemus) rufipes Miller, 1862; A. turcicus Schilsky, 1897 = A. (Aplocnemus) reitteri Schilsky, 1894; A. cribripennis Pic, 1921 = A. (Aplocnemus) serratus (Brullé, 1832); A. latior Pic, 1908, A. thessalicus Pic, 1908 and A. atricornis Pic, 1921 = A. (Diplambe) abietum Kiesenwetter, 1859.


The present work examines the microstructure and texture evolution in a Ni-30wt.%Fe austenitic model alloy deformed in torsion at 1000 °C, with a particular emphasis on the orientation dependence of the substructure characteristics within the deformed original grains. Texture of these grains was principally consistent with that expected for simple shear and comprised the main A, B and C components. The deformation substructure within the main texture component grains was characterised by "organised" arrays of parallel microbands with systematically alternating misorientations, locally accompanied by micro-shear bands within the C grains. With increasing strain, the mean subgrain size gradually decreased and the mean misorientation angle concurrently increased towards the saturation. The stored deformation energy within the main texture component grains was principally consistent with the respective Taylor factor values. The microband boundaries corresponded to the expected single slip {111} plane for the A oriented grains while these boundaries for the C oriented grains represented a variety of planes even for a single grain.


We consider an optimal control problem described by a second order elliptic boundary value problem, jointly nonlinear in the state and control, with control and state constraints, where the state constraints and cost functionals involve also the state gradient. Since this problem may have no classical solutions, it is also formulated in the relaxed form. The classical problem is discretized by using a finite element method for state approximation, while the controls are approximated by elementwise constant, or linear, or multilinear, controls. Various necessary conditions for optimality are given for the classical and the relaxed problem, in the continuous and the discrete case. We then study the behavior in the limit of discrete optimality, and of discrete extremality and admissibility. Next, we apply a penalized gradient projection method to each discrete problem, and also a progressively refining version of this method to the continuous classical problem. We prove that accumulation points of sequences generated by the first method are extremal for the discrete problem, and that strong classical (resp. relaxed) accumulation points of sequences of discrete controls generated by the second method are admissible and weakly extremal classical (resp. relaxed) for the continuous classical (resp. relaxed) problem. Finally, numerical examples are given.


Eliminating bad patents is supposed to be a good thing, and so federal law allows any interested party to challenge a patent's validity almost any time. But the law goes a step further than merely conferring broad challenge rights. It also makes them nearly impossible to contract away. Instead, federal law voids any agreement not to challenge a patent. While a contract ordinarily signifies a final resolution of all issues covered by its terms, no such peace exists in patent licensing. This inalienability of patent challenge rights comes at a cost, a cost borne by many patent licensees and their downstream customers. Patent holders quite rationally increase the royalties licensees must pay to offset their costs if the patent is challenged: litigation costs and loss of royalties if the patent is invalidated. Licensees, it follows, might seek a lower price by agreeing not to challenge the licensed patent, but the law will not allow them to do so. The result is royalty inflation; the policy favoring elimination of bad patents costs every licensee by providing an inalienable challenge right that might never be exercised. This cost is a tax of sorts, what this article calls the "patent challenge tax." In addition to inflated royalties, the tax causes trickle-down costs to consumers and disincentives to create and license patented technology.This article develops an economic model that dissects the components of the patent challenge tax, examines each component's consequences, and informs the effectiveness of various strategies that might be used to reduce the tax.Part I of this article explains the policy at the core of the model: no patent license is ever final, allowing any licensee to sue to void the license at any time. Part II introduces and explores the patent challenge tax and its role in royalty inflation, and Appendix I fully derives the model. Part III analyzes a variety of licensing signal strategies, and considers each strategy's effectiveness, legality, and practicality. The article concludes by highlighting some of the broader policy issues associated with the tax and its components.


In the improvement of design criteria for the layer of cover blocks on rubble mound breakwaters important advance has been made in recent years (l), (2), (3). Still, some points seem to require further study, among them the effect of the specific weights of block material and fluid on the stability of the cover. In this respect the magnitude of the fluid accelerations involved, of which little information is available may be of some importance. For evaluation of the acceleratic as well as for other purposes, a roughly approximate mathematic description of the motion of the water rushing up and down the breakwater front may be of some use. This motion certainly is neither steady nor uniform. Visual and photographic observation through the glass panel a wave channel seems to indicate, however, that unsteadiness the more important characteristic of the motion during the up and downrush proper. It seems reasonable, therefore, to att€ a first approximation to a description of the motion by neglecting, to a certain extent, its non-uniformity. Necessarily, the same time also the requirement of continuity must be partly disregarded. In the following a mathematical model based on this point of view is presented for consideration. It is believed that by means of this model values of displacements, velocity and accelerations can be calculated, which may reasonably be considered as useful, although quite rough, approximations t< the actual values. For a few particular cases, experimental evidence is reported. The model has reference only to the up- and downrush proper, that is, to the motion of the water above some limit level, at or somewhat below the Still Water Line (referred t< hereafter as the StflL). The motion below this level, where tl downrush meets the oncoming next wave, could hardly be conee of as being uniform.


In recent decades, a striking number of countries have suffered from consecutive disasters: events whose impacts overlap both spatially and temporally, while recovery is still under way. The risk of consecutive disasters will increase due to growing exposure, the interconnectedness of human society, and the increased frequency and intensity of nontectonic hazard. This paper provides an overview of the different types of consecutive disasters, their causes, and impacts. The impacts can be distinctly different from disasters occurring in isolation (both spatially and temporally) from other disasters, noting that full isolation never occurs. We use existing empirical disaster databases to show the global probabilistic occurrence for selected hazard types. Current state‐of‐the art risk assessment models and their outputs do not allow for a thorough representation and analysis of consecutive disasters. This is mainly due to the many challenges that are introduced by addressing and combining hazards of different nature, and accounting for their interactions and dynamics. Disaster risk management needs to be more holistic and codesigned between researchers, policy makers, first responders, and companies.


Communication often takes place in reverberant spaces making it harder for listeners to understand speech. In such difficult environments, listeners would benefit from being able to locate the sound source. In noisy or reverberant environments hearing-aid wearers often complain that their aids do not sufficiently help to understand speech or to localise a sound source. Simple amplification does not fully resolve the problem and sometimes makes it worse. Recent improvements in hearing aids, such as compression and filtering, can significantly alter the Interaural Time Difference (ITD) and the Inter-aural Level Difference (ILD) cues. Digital signal processing also tends to restrict the availability of fine structure cues, thereby forcing the listener to rely on envelope and level cues. The effect of digital signal processing on localisation, as felt by hearing aid wearers in different listening environments, is not well investigated. In this thesis, we aimed to investigate the effect of reverberation on localisation performance of normal hearing and hearing impaired listeners, and to determine the effects that hearing aids have on localisation cues. Three sets of experiments were conducted: in the first set (n=22 normal hearing listeners) results showed that the participants' sound localisation ability in simulated reverberant environments is not significantly different from performance in a real reverberation chamber. In the second set of four experiments (n=16 normal hearing listeners), sound localisation ability was tested by introducing simulated reverberation and varying signal onset/offset times of different stimuli – i.e. speech, high-pass speech, low-pass speech, pink noise, 4 kHz pure tone, and 500 Hz pure tone. In the third set of experiments (n=28 bilateral Siemens Prisma 2 Pro hearing aid users) we investigated aided and unaided localisation ability of hearing impaired listeners in anechoic and simulated reverberant environments. Participants were seated in the middle of 21 loudspeakers that were arranged in a frontal horizontal arc (180°) in an anechoic chamber. Simulated reverberation was presented from four corner-speakers. We also performed physical measurements of ITDs and ILDs using a KEMAR simulator. Normal hearing listeners were not significantly affected in their ability to localise speech and pink noise stimuli in reverberation, however reverberation did have a significant effect on localising a 500 Hz pure tone. Hearing impaired listeners performed consistently worse in all simulated reverberant conditions. However, performance for speech stimuli was only significantly worse in the aided conditions. Unaided hearing impaired listeners showed decreased performance in simulated reverberation, specifically, when sounds came from lateral directions. Moreover, low-pass pink noise was most affected by simulated reverberation both in aided and unaided conditions, indicating that reverberation mainly affects ITD cues. Hearing impaired listeners performed significantly worse in all conditions when using their hearing aids. Physical measurements and psychoacoustic experiments consistently indicated that amplification mainly affected the ILD cues. We concluded that reverberation destroys the fine structure ITD cues in sound signals to some extent, thereby reducing localisation performance of hearing impaired listeners for low frequency stimuli. Furthermore we found that hearing aid compression affects ILD cues, which impairs the ability of hearing impaired listener to localise a sound source. Aided sound localisation could be improved for bilateral hearing aid users, if the aids would synchronize compression between both sides.


Kahneman and Tversky's Prospect Theory posits that people do not perceive outcomes as final states of wealth or welfare, but rather as gains or losses in relation to some reference point. People are generally loss averse, meaning that the disutility generated by a loss is greater than the utility produced by a commensurate gain. Loss aversion is related to psychological phenomena such as the status quo and omission biases, the endowment effect, and escalation of commitment. Law, Psychology, and Morality: The Role of Loss Aversion systematically analyzes the complex relationships between loss aversion and the law weaving together insights from cognitive and social psychology, neuropsychology, behavioral economics, experimental legal studies, economic analysis of law, normative ethics, moral psychology, and comparative law. It discusses diverse legal issues in private and public law, national and international law, and substantive and procedural law. Eyal Zamir provides an overview of the psychological studies of loss aversion to examine its effect on human behavior in the contexts of particular interest to the law, while discussing the impact of the law on people's behavior through the framing of the choices they encounter. The book further highlights an intriguing compatibility between loss aversion and fundamental features of the law and various legal doctrines, while theorizing about the causes of this compatibility by drawing on insights from the economic analysis of law and evolutionary psychology. The book points to the correlation between loss aversion, deontological and commonsense morality, and the law, while proposing many normative implications. Available in OSO: http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/oso/public/content/law/9780199972050/toc.html


Picking up the debate on cultural relativism of human rights, this paper traces the Indian tradition of human rights, which is found to be fully supportive of the idea of human rights. The state in the Indian tradition did not, however, acquire or wield the kind of monopoly of power in the secular sphere of society as it did in the West. Consequently, in the Indian tradition the state was not perceived as the sole violator of human rights, though it may have ignored or connived in their violation. For this reason the Indian tradition does not construct the idea of human rights as freedom from state only but as an idea of a society in which each and every individual is entitled to be so placed as to be able to attain its best in life. The state is required not only to keep off the individual but also to facilitate the realization of its best. The state is perceived not an adversary but a facilitator of the interests of the individual. The two must, therefore, work together towards the realization of those interests. In case the state fails to perform its role the individual must have


A system for mechanical suspension and vibration isolation of a machine or instrument is based on the use of Kevlar (or equivalent aromatic polyamide) cord held in variable tension between the machine or instrument and a surrounding frame. The basic concept of such a tensioned-cord suspension system (including one in which the cords are made of aromatic polyamide fibers) is not new by itself; what is new here is the additional provision for adjusting the tension during operation to optimize vibration- isolation properties. In the original application for which this system was conceived, the objective is to suspend a reciprocating cryocooler aboard a space shuttle and to prevent both (1) transmission of launch vibrations to the cryocooler and (2) transmission of vibrations from the cryocooler to samples in a chamber cooled by the cryocooler. The basic mechanical principle of this system can also be expected to be applicable to a variety of other systems in which there are requirements for cord suspension and vibration isolation. The reciprocating cryocooler of the original application is a generally axisymmetric object, and the surrounding frame is a generally axisymmetric object with windows (see figure). Two cords are threaded into a spoke-like pattern between attachment rings on the cryocooler, holes in the cage, and cord-tension- adjusting assemblies. Initially, the cord tensions are adjusted to at least the level necessary to suspend the cryocooler against gravitation. Accelerometers for measuring vibrations are mounted (1) on the cold tip of the cryocooler and (2) adjacent to the cage, on a structure that supports the cage. During operation, a technician observes the accelerometer outputs on an oscilloscope while manually adjusting the cord tensions in an effort to minimize the amount of vibration transmitted to and/or from the cryocooler. A contemplated future version of the system would include a microprocessor-based control subsystem that would include cord-tension actuators. This control subsystem would continually adjust the cord tension in response to accelerometer feedback to optimize vibration-isolation properties as required for various operating conditions. The control system could also adjust cord tensions (including setting the two cords to different tensions) to suppress resonances. Other future enhancements could include optimizing the cord material, thickness, and braid; optimizing the spoke patterns; and adding longitudinal cords for applications in which longitudinal stiffness and vibration suppression are required.


Funda Ustek-Spilda and Oguz Alyanak address the "melancholy of lost hope" that has set in for many following the recent constitutional referendum in Turkey. Ustek-Spilda and Alyanak note how the recent unfolding events in Turkey can easily turn into a retreat into hopelessness. But they encourage reflexive engagement with this hopelessness instead. "Losing hope in hope itself risks leaving us to wallow in apathy," they write. They argue that, even in the best of times, hope is insufficient to sustain democracy, for democracy thrives, not just on hope, but on participation. They note there are pockets of opposition and resistance that are even now operating in the wake of the referendum. For the authors, these are not just democratic practices undertaken in hope for a different future, but are themselves a "practicing of hope for democracy."


The compilation of this history was not a self-imposed task. In an unguarded moment back in 1962, I accepted the commission at the request of the Executive Committee. Special Publication No. 2, A history of the New Mexico Geological Society, was announced as being in preparation in the list of Society publications in the 15th guidebook (1964).I cannot refrain from noting that this is by far the shortest span of history I have attempted to cover. Over many years of teaching historical geology, paleontology, and stratigraphy, the minerals, rocks, and fossils involved go back more than a billion years. Man's inquiries about these materials -- the history of geology --started with the Greeks several centuries B. C. In my searching for early records of minerals in New Mexico, I have gone back to Spanish explorations of 1540 --more than four centuries ago. In checking early discoveries of fossils in New Mexico, I found that written records began in 1841. In assembling the history of New Mexico earthquakes, I have gone back 113 years to 1855 (Northrop, 1947, p. 1268). The shortest span of history hitherto attempted has been that of the University of New Mexico Department of Geology, which began with Clarence Luther Herrick 71 years ago in 1897 (Northrop, 1966). Now we are considering a Society that is just 21 years old!


The Dharmasutras are the four surviving works of the ancient Indian expert tradition on the subject of dharma, or the rules of behaviour a community recognizes as binding on its members. Written in a pithy and aphoristic style and representing the culmination of a long tradition of scholarship, the Dharmasutras record intense disputes and divergent views on such subjects as the education of the young and their rites of passage, ritual procedures and religious ceremonies, marriage and marital rights and obligations, dietary restrictions, the right professions for and the proper interaction between different social groups, sins and their expiations, institutions for the pursuit of holiness, king and the administration of justice, crimes and punishments, death and ancestral rites. In short, these unique documents give us a glimpse of how people, especially Brahmin males, were ideally expected to live their lives within an ordered and hierarchically arranged society. In this first English translation of the Dharmasutras for over a century, Patrick Olivelle uses the same lucid and elegant style as in his award-winning translation of the Upanisads and incorporates the most recent scholarship on ancient Indian law, society, and religion. Complex material is helpfully organized, making this the ideal edition for the non-specialist as well as for students of Indian society and religion.


This paper identifies the contributing factors that caused changes in U.S. agricultural export markets in the 1970s and 1980s and suggests key policy areas that must be addressed to improve these markets in the future. Historical analysis on the shifts in the U.S. export markets from 1970 to 1985 points out how macroeconomic policies and conditions influenced those changes. Total world grain trade and the U.S. share are essential components of the change in U.S. export levels. Variations in both components had significant impacts on U.S. agricultural exports. Using recent FAPRI projections, a declining dollar and lower commodity prices are expected to assist in a recovery of U.S. export values. Three key policy areas are identified in which progress will need to be made for the greatest market development to take place: improving economic development and income growth rates in developing countries, reducing the debt service problems of developing countries, and reducing the domestic and trade policy barriers in both developed and developing countries. Aggressive and competitive marketing strategies are recommended, including use of bilateral agreements, market intelligence, and product discrimination, where possible.


Citrus waste is a promising potential feedstock for anaerobic digestion, yet the presence of inhibitors such as d-limonene is known to limit the process. Effluent recirculation has been proven to increase methane yield in a semi-continuous process for recalcitrant material, but it has never been applied to toxic materials. This study was aimed to investigate the effect of recirculation on biogas production from citrus waste as toxic feedstock in two-stage anaerobic digestion. The first digestion was carried out in a stirred tank reactor (STR). The effluent from the first-stage was filtered using a rotary drum filter to separate the solid and the liquid phase. The solid phase, rich in hydrophobic D-limonene, was discarded, and the liquid phase containing less D-limonene was fed into the second digester in an up-flow anaerobic sludge bed (UASB) reactor. A high organic loading rate (OLR 5 g VS/(L·day)) of citrus waste was fed into the first-stage reactor every day. The effluent of the first-stage was then fed into the second-stage reactor. This experiment was run for 120 days. A reactor configuration without recirculation was used as control. The result shows that the reactor with effluent recirculation produced a higher methane yield (160–203 NmL/g·VS) compared to that without recirculation (66–113 NmL/g·VS). More stable performance was also observed in the reactor with recirculation as shown by the pH of 5–6, while without recirculation the pH dropped to the range of 3.7–4.7. The VS reduction for the reactor with recirculation was 33–35% higher than that of the control without recirculation. Recirculation might affect the hydrolysis-acidogenesis process by regulating pH in the first-stage and removing most of the D-limonene content from the substrate through filtration.


The ability to directly record human face-to-face interactions increasingly enables the development of detailed data-driven models for the spread of directly transmitted infectious diseases at the scale of individuals. Complete coverage of the contacts occurring in a population is however generally unattainable, due for instance to limited participation rates or experimental constraints in spatial coverage. Here, we study the impact of spatially constrained sampling on our ability to estimate the epidemic risk in a population using such detailed data-driven models. The epidemic risk is quantified by the epidemic threshold of the SIRS model for the propagation of communicable diseases, i.e. the critical value of disease transmissibility above which the disease turns endemic. We verify for both synthetic and empirical data of human interactions that the use of incomplete data sets due to spatial sampling leads to the underestimation of the epidemic risk. The bias is however smaller than the one obtained by uniformly sampling the same fraction of contacts: it depends non-linearly on the fraction of contacts that are recorded, and becomes negligible if this fraction is large enough. Moreover, it depends on the interplay between the timescales of population and spreading dynamics.


Objectives. Find the answer to the question ?What are the qualities of a ?good? municipal strategy of socio-economic development??. Methods. In order to reach a consensus about the quality of municipal strategy it was proposed to use the Contest of the urban strategies, which was held in the cities in Russia with population over 100.000 people. The contest resulted in division of the participants in 3 groups: winners: Orsk, Samara, Cherepovets; finalists: Vologda, Irkutsk, Kaliningrad, Novoshakhtinsk; semifinalists: Bryansk, Krasnoyarsk, Sochi, Tambov, Ulan-Ude. The contest created three sources to define a good strategy: feedback from the jury; analysis of strategies of the winners; feedback from mayors of the finalist cities. Results. 1. Analysis of the feedback from the jury gives us the following list of successful strategy characteristics: Frequently occurring: ? Existence of monitoring system and established implementation mechanism ? Ambitiousness correlative with the city scale and implementation mechanism ? Existence of title projects Less frequently occurring: Involvement of the head of the city and the whole community; Human-oriented; Focus on specific projects etc. 2. The content of all the strategies was coded with the special code developed by Leontiev?s Center to formalize the comparison of the leading and outsiders strategies. Common features of leading strategies: -ambitiousness -complexity (big number of declared and elaborated routes) -active use of title projects -attention to economical diversification issues -usage of institutional and constitutional economic support -special attention to educational and cultural development -special attention to implementation via mechanisms of civil autonomy and effectiveness of local authorities 3. Leading cities mayors stated that a good strategy is the one which is: Cooperative ? a strategy elaborated collectively leading to consolidation of local community and key authorities; Independent ? a strategy elaborated by the local community with no governmental influence, irrespective; Deliberative - a strategy elaborated by the local community considering its own interests; Ambitious - a strategy elaborated to reveal the potential of local resources and inspired by enthusiasm of locals; Realistic ? a strategy based on adequate situation analysis and establishing achievable goals and purposes; Realizable ? a strategy provided with an elaborated mechanism of implementation; when goals and purposes are being ambitious but provided with clear instruments of resource mobilization, performance control and results overview; Stable ? a strategy that does not change dramatically despite radical changes or possible power shifts. The prevalent opinion in Russia in 2014 is: a good municipal strategy is supposed to be ambitious, provided with an elaborated mechanism of implementation and monitoring, focusing on title projects, developed under control of city head in cooperation with key participants of urban development which is clear and approved by local community.


This project aims to develop standards to predict vermillion border shape and appearance-i.e. the outline of the vermillion border and the fullness of lips, based on assessment of an individual dental pattern using a combination of three methods: morphological, cephalometric and GMM. This study tests a hypothesis that the skeletal and dental pattern in antero-posterior and vertical dimensions and the upper and the lower incisor inclinations can predict the morphology of the soft tissue of the lips. This hypothesis was examined by analysing retrospective facial data, which consists of two-dimensional, pre-orthodontic treatment photographs and cephalograms of individuals of four malocclusion classes: Class I, Class II: divisions 1 and 2, and Class III from two sample populations: 56 Scottish and 56 Jordanians, aged 11-14 years. All the Scottish participants had been recipients of treatment at the Dental Hospital at the University of Dundee, and the Jordanian sample were selected from the Orthodontic archive held by Jordan University Hospital. The results reveal that a cephalogram analysis offers a statistically significant correlation differing from one type of malocclusion to another, in addition, analysis of cephalograms showing the value of angles and linear dimensions differed from one type of malocclusion to another. Photographic analysis using GMM afforded a statistically reliable correlation between naso-labial traits, and particularly between the vermillion border outline and malocclusion patterns. Due to their shared ancestry (Caucasian), both Jordanian and Scottish populations showed the same morphological trends for the lips, for example: long lower facial height, a deep philtrum, V-shaped Cupid's bow, thin upper vermillion border. GMM results suggest that vermillion border variation could be computed, at least when distinguishing between malocclusion classes from the same ethnic group. Morphological, GMM, and cephalograms analyses confirmed that the shape and diversity in the vermillion


The scopes of three synthetic methods reported for the preparation of an array of 3-pyrazolecarboxylates featuring substituents on position 4 were investigated. The first one is based on the potassium permanganate oxidation of methylpyrazoles. The second starts with the condensation between DMF dimethylacetal and ethyl pyruvate and is followed by the addition of hydrazine hydrochloride. The last one makes use of the cycloaddition of diazomethane on acrylate esters followed by a bromine-based oxidative rearrangement into 4-substituted 3-pyrazole esters.


Working at home is often claimed to adversely affect employees' career progress, presumably because supervisors are inclined to negatively evaluate the performance of employees whose activities are not available to frequent observation. However, such claims are usually based on studies of supervisors' attitudes, not on direct evidence of the achievements of employees who work at home. This research examines the impact of working at home on career outcomes, by comparing a variety of measures of achievement by professional employees who work at home with those of similar employees who do not. The findings contradict the common argument that working at home is associated with career costs. The implications for further research and practice are discussed.


This paper is based on interviews with ten women who emigrated from southern Ireland to Britain in the 1930s. I discuss some of the issues involved in interviewing very elderly women about events that happened almost seventy years ago. The interviews were framed by the interpersonal dynamics between me - a woman in her thirties who left Ireland in the 1990s - and these women - approaching ninety who left Ireland in the 1930s. These ten women told me very personal stories of emigration but there are, nonetheless, common themes that point to some of the wider social and economic contexts of Irish emigration. Clothes were used as a metaphor for movement, transition and autonomy but also poverty, dependency and location.


Hong Kong school music education has a very short history of about 50 years, beginning in 1945 immediately after the Second World War. It gradually evolved from practically no provision of music lessons to a well-structured system under the British administration until 1997 when sovereignty over Hong Kong was returned to China.
This historical research aims to study and evaluate the development of the music education system, from which the music curriculum was organised and implemented. The causes and effects of government education and arts policies relating to the development of music in primary and secondary schools have been studied and evaluated. They have indirectly affected the supply and quality of music teachers, as well as the design and implementation of the music curriculum. Issues related to Hong Kong's political, social, economic, and cultural aspects have been identified and anlaysed so as to formulate a background for an understanding of how the enterprise of school music education in Hong Kong has developed.
The research has gone through two phases. In the first phase, it aimed to find out any direct influence of British Government education policies upon school music education in Hong Kong. Literature such as British education acts, reports and colonial correspondence was analysed and interviews with key figures in the education field in Hong Kong were conducted. However, evidence from the two countries has shown no direct influence of the British administration on the development of school music education in Hong Kong. The research then, in its second phase, re-focused the approach by studying the local development of school music education. In this phase, apart from analysing reading material from government reports, reference books/journals on education and music education, music syllabuses as well as curriculum support material, three questionnaire surveys were conducted carried out to solicit views and opinions from frontline teachers, music inspectors and other professionals. In addition, interviews with government officials in Hong Kong and China have provided the researcher with a deeper insight into the development of school music education in Hong Kong.
The research findings are that since the inclusion of Music as a subject in the school curriculum by British expatriates, the music education system and curriculum content in Hong Kong have been modelled on Western practice with no explicit education policies from the government. Furthermore, the inadequate allocation of human and financial resources for quality school music education has meant that school music education has developed under difficult circumstances. There has also been insufficient expertise in the education field to guide the design of the school music curriculum to meet local needs. As a result, a lot of out-dated curriculum content has been retained.
Finally, as a result of a non-active attitude towards music in schools, parents and the community have provided inadequate fertilization for an artistic environment in which music learning might have flourished.


Purpose: The aim of this study was evaluate the effect of gingival margin design (scalloped vs. straight cut at gingival zenith vs. straight cut 2mm above gingival zenith) on the retention of thermoformed aligners. Retention of aligners is a critical requirement for efficient tooth movement. Methods: Two thermoform aligner materials were used, Invisacryl A and Invisacryl C, in 0.040 mil (1mm) thickness. Six aligner designs were fabricated for each of the two aligner materials (12 total aligner designs). Aligner designs are scalloped, straight cut at gingival zenith (0mm), and straight cut 2mm above gingival zenith on a model with attachments. These designs were tested with and without attachments. Three aligners were made for each of the 12 aligner designs for a total of 36 aligners. A Universal Testing Machine was used to pull each aligner off of a Kilgore dentoform in a direction perpendicular to the occlusal plane. The force needed to pull each aligner off of the dentoform was recorded as the retentive force of the aligner. A one way ANOVA with a Post Hoc Bonferroni test was completed on the average pull off force for each of the 12 aligner groups. Results: Of the 66 comparisons made 57 had significant differences when comparing each aligner group's average retentive pull off force. The highest retentive force was Invisacryl A, 2mm straight margin, with attachments while the lowest retentive force was Invisacryl C, scalloped with attachments. Conclusions: Invisacryl A material showed increased retention when compared to Invisacryl C material of the same aligner margin and attachment design. Straight line gingival margins (0 and 2mm) showed and increased retention when compared to scalloped margins for Invisacryl A and Invisacryl C with attachments. Aligners with attachments and scalloped margins had significantly less retention than aligners of the same material type with scalloped margins and no attachments. The 2mm straight gingival margin design had the highest retentive forces when compared to aligners of the same material and attachment type.


ABSTRACT The Okavango region is currently part of a transboundary project extending to three neighboring countries—Angola, Namibia, and Botswana. This article discusses the unequal trajectory and present conditions for such cross-border cooperation, with a particular focus on Angola. Angola's disadvantageous position is above all due to the lasting effects of war that adversely hindered the development of structures and resources to engage in such joint programs. The central argument is that the inequalities pose particular challenges to the country to accompany the pace of the neighboring countries. The article looks at the fragilities focusing on institutional resources, Angolan policy background, existing dedicated institutions, and human resources, as they are major concerns for post-war reconstruction. On the other hand, it poses questions regarding resilience effects on local level livelihoods and on the future environmental management of the Okavango. This article is based on a literature and documental review and on data from fieldwork where local communities have to rely more heavily on the available natural resources in absence of others.


The ability to model, forecast, and analyze the behaviors of other agents has applications in many diverse contexts. For example, behavioral models can be used in multi-player games to forecast an opponent's next move, in economics to forecast a merger decision by a CEO, or in international politics to predict the behavior of a rival state or group. Such models can facilitate formulation of effective mitigating responses and provide a foundation for decision-support technologies.
Behavioral modeling is a computationally challenging problem—real world data sets can contain on the order of 1030,000 possible behaviors in any given situation. This work presents several scalable frameworks for modeling and forecasting agent behavior, particularly in the realm of international security dynamics. A probabilistic logic formalism for modeling and forecasting behavior is described, as well as distributed algorithms for efficient reasoning in this framework. To further cope with the scale of this problem, forecasting methods are also introduced that operate directly on time series data, rather than an intermediate behavioral model, to forecast actions and situations at some time in the future. Agent behavior can be adaptive, and in rare circumstances can deviate from the statistically "normal" past behavior. A system is also presented that can forecast when and how such behavioral changes will occur. These forecasting techniques, as well as any arbitrary time series forecasting approach, can be classified by a general axiomatic framework for forecasting in temporal databases.
The knowledge gained from behavioral models and forecasts can be employed by decision-makers to develop effective response policies. An efficient framework is provided for identifying the optimal changes to the state of the world to elicit desired behaviors from another agent, balancing cost with likelihood of success. These modeling and analysis tools have also been incorporated into a prototype decision-support system and used in several case studies of real-world international security situations.


Economic expansion in Euroland has decelerated considerably after mid-2000 as a consequence of the weakening of growth in the world economy, the tightening of monetary policy by the European Central Bank as well as the burden imposed by higher oil prices. While the upswing in the euro area has come to an end, there is no reason to dramatize the current situation. It has to be kept in mind that economy-wide capacity utilization has already risen to its normal level, and it is not likely that real GDP will fall below potential output. The government budget of euro-area countries showed a surplus in 2000 for the first time since the 1960s. This year and next year the euro-area budget will change into a deficit also because taxes had been cut in a number of countries. It has to be criticized that consolidation efforts have ceased; in particular Germany, France, and Italy are still far away from a balanced budget. There is a risk that these countries will not meet their targets; the stability and growth programs are somewhat unrealistic because governments expect that higher trend growth than in the past will solve the problem. Many observers have urged the ECB to follow the example of the Fed and cut interest rates in order to prevent a sharp drop in economic activity. But in our view the ECB neither should nor will alter its course. First of all the current stance of monetary policy is not restrictive; according to the Taylor rule, short-term interest rates are even too low. Moreover, the growth of M3 will not fall below the reference value. Finally, the projections presented by the ECB last December do not justify a cut in interest rates. In the medium run, the expansion of the money stock is the most important factor for inflation, while in the short run inflation is also influenced by other factors. These considerations underlie the P-star model in which the development of inflation depends on the liquidity overhang, defined as price gap, as well as on cost factors. This model can explain the past movements of inflation quite well. As regards the inflation forecast it is important to note that the price gap has closed due to a rise in the price level and the slower increase in M3 in the past months. Consequently, we expect that the increase in consumer prices will gradually slow in 2001 and 2002. Recently, the Irish government has been criticized by the Council of European finance ministers for its fiscal policy. This came as a surprise in view of the excellent situation of public finances in Ireland. The critique aimed at the loosening of fiscal policy which would aggravate the bottlenecks in the economy. But it is also questionable whether a fiscal contraction in Ireland would be the appropriate response. All in all, the only way to cool down the economy seems to be an acceleration of wage growth and inflation and the implied real appreciation of the Irish pound.