The lab on a chip is of great value in the analytical chemistry, biology and pharmacy. So that it is very important to study the formation and control of droplet in chips. The fluid flowing under the condition of dynamic liquid film is researched innovatively in this paper. Its inspiration is derived from bionics (fish skin, etc.), which has a broad application prospect in reducing the resistance in water and weakening the heat transfer. Dynamic liquid film refers to the dynamic thin liquid layer with the hydrophilic property on the surface of wall under the pressure of outside fluid flow. The insolubility between liquid film and fluid creates a relatively stable flowing environment. In this paper, the formation and influencing factors of the droplet in the microfluidic chip are studied by the Lattice Boltzmann method (LBM), and the flow and heat transfer characteristics of fluid in microchannel is studied with microfluidic chip as the carrier under the condition of insoluble dynamic liquid film existing on the wall surface. LBM has certain advantages in boundary processing, parallel operation and tracing phase interface automatically. Using SC model of LBM (for two component flow), the process of formation and movement of the droplet in microfluidic chip are simulated numerically after verified by Laplace's law. The result shows that the hydrophobic characteristics between the discrete phase and the wall surface and increased flow rate of the continuous phase will decrease the droplets' volume and increase the producing frequency. In addition, the fluid flow in the microchannel is simulated under the condition of insoluble dynamic liquid film on the wall surface. The simulation result shows that when the fluid flow rate increases, the friction loss decreases and the heat transfer capacity decreases with the existence of the liquid film. The lower the dissolution trend between fluid and liquid film is, the greater the variation trend of fluid parameters will be. By comparing the results of experiment and simulation, the consistent results are obtained.


Optimal and Robust Scheduling for Networked Control Systems tackles the problem of integrating system componentscontrollers, sensors, and actuatorsin a networked control system. It is common practice in industry to solve such problems heuristically, because the few theoretical results available are not comprehensive and cannot be readily applied by practitioners. This book offers a solution to the deterministic scheduling problem that is based on rigorous control theoretical tools but also addresses practical implementation issues. Helping to bridge the gap between control theory and computer science, it suggests that the consideration of communication constraints at the design stage will significantly improve the performance of the control system. Technical Results, Design Techniques, and Practical Applications The book brings together well-known measures for robust performance as well as fast stochastic algorithms to assist designers in selecting the best network configuration and guaranteeing the speed of offline optimization. The authors propose a unifying framework for modelling NCSs with time-triggered communication and present technical results. They also introduce design techniques, including for the codesign of a controller and communication sequence and for the robust design of a communication sequence for a given controller. Case studies explore the use of the FlexRay TDMA and time-triggered control area network (CAN) protocols in an automotive control system. Practical Solutions to Your Time-Triggered Communication Problems This unique book develops ready-to-use engineering tools for large-scale control system integration with a focus on robustness and performance. It emphasizes techniques that are directly applicable to time-triggered communication problems in the automotive industry and in avionics, robotics, and automated manufacturing.


It is now accepted that there is a link between obesity and several diseases such as cardiovascular disease (CVD), diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and atherosclerosis with the common initiating factor in pathogenesis being a state of low grade, chronic inflammation. This state, characterised by elevated levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as interleukin (IL) 6, leads to sustained activation of inflammatory signalling pathways such as the Janus kinase/signal transducers and activators of transcription (JAK/STAT) pathway and subsequently pathogenesis. Suppressor of cytokine signalling (SOCS) 3 is inducible by several stimuli including IL6 and 3'-5'-cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP), and via these routes has been demonstrated to terminate IL6 signalling thus quenching JAK/STAT signalling and an inflammatory response.

While SOCS3 was primarily characterised as a competitive inhibitor of intracellular signalling, it also functions as specificity factor for an elongin-cullin-SOCS (ECS)-type E3 ubiquitin ligase. In this role, it has been demonstrated to direct ubiquitin-mediated proteasomal degradation of several substrates and lysosomal routing. However, the full spectrum of SOCS3-dependently ubiquitinated substrates is unknown. Given that JAK/STAT signalling is critical in the development of chronic inflammatory disorders, delineating the role of SOCS3 as an E3 ligase might be therapeutically beneficial. However, given the broad range of SOCS3 stimuli, the availability of certain SOCS3 substrates might be conditional on the route of SOCS3 induction. Using a global proteomics approach, this study aimed to identify SOCS3-dependently ubiquitinated substrates in response to cAMP and thus elaborate on the already well-established role of cAMP in inflammation.

Differentially stable isotope labelling of amino acids in cell culture (SILAC)-labelled, tandem affinity purified ubiquitinomes of wild type (WT) murine embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) and SOCS3-/- MEFs, each expressing epitope-tagged forms of ubiquitin, were compared using mass spectrometry (MS) following cAMP-mediated SOCS3 induction. Using this approach, proteins modified by SOCS3 with the epitope-tagged form of ubiquitin should be enriched in WT MEFs but not SOCS3-/- MEFs.

MaxQuant analysis of raw mass spectromeric data identified several candidate SOCS3 substrates. Of these, SOCS3 was found to interact with PTRF/cavin-1, a regulator of caveolae formation and stability. Other substrates were tested but with limited success. Co-immunoprecipitation studies showed that SOCS3 could precipitate cavin-1 however the interaction was reduced following the inhibition of protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs) using sodium orthovanadate and hydrogen peroxide. This was surprising since all known SOCS3 substrates are tyrosine-phosphorylated prior to interacting with SOCS3 via its Src-homology (SH) 2 domain. Consistent with this finding, SOCS3 did not interact with known cavin-1 tyrosine-phosphorylated peptides spotted on a peptide array. However, a full-length cavin-1 peptide array spotted with non-tyrosine-phosphorylated peptides showed specific interactions at multiple sites. It is proposed that this interaction might influence the localisation and stability of either protein.

While SOCS3 was demonstrated to impact cavin-1 ubiquitination, the mechanism by which it does so or the functional consequence is still not clear. Immunoprecipitation of cavin-1 following the introduction of SOCS3 was accompanied by a shift in the polyubiquitin signal from a high molecular weight, seen with cavin-1 alone, to a low molecular weight. Furthermore, an enhanced K48-polyubiquitin signal was detectable in this low molecular weight fraction, which was focused around the molecular weight of cavin-1. It is not known if this ubiquitin signal is SOCS3-dependent.

In conclusion, the project has identified and validated a novel substrate of SOCS3. However, the mechanism by which SOCS3 regulates cavin-1 ubiquitination or the biological function of the interaction is currently unknown.


The caudal cranium of the South American sabertooth Thylacosmilus atrox (Thylacosmilidae, Sparassodonta, Metatheria) is described in detail, with emphasis on the constitution of the walls of the middle ear, cranial vasculature, and major nerve pathways. With the aid of micro-CT scanning of the holotype and paratype, we have established that five cranial elements (squamosal, alisphenoid, exoccipital, petrosal, and ectotympanic) and their various outgrowths participate in the tympanic floor and roof of this species. Thylacosmilus possessed a U-shaped ectotympanic that was evidently situated on the medial margin of the external acoustic meatus. The bulla itself is exclusively composed of the tympanic process of the exoccipital and rostral and caudal tympanic processes of the squamosal. Contrary to previous reports, neither the alisphenoid nor the petrosal participate in the actual tympanic floor, although they do contribute to the roof. In these regards Thylacosmilus is distinctly different from other borhyaenoids, in which the tympanic floor was largely membranous (e.g., Borhyaena) and lacked an enlarged ectotympanic (e.g., Paraborhyaena). In some respects Thylacosmilus is more similar to hathliacynids than to borhyaenoids, in that the former also possessed large caudal outgrowths of the squamosal and exoccipital that were clearly tympanic processes rather than simply attachment sites for muscles. However, hathliacynids also exhibited a large alisphenoid tympanic process, a floor component that is absent in Thylacosmilus. Habitual head posture was inferred on the basis of inner ear features. Large paratympanic spaces invade all of the elements participating in bounding the middle ear, another distinctive difference of Thylacosmilus compared to other sparassodonts. Arterial and venous vascular organization is relatively conservative in this species, although some vascular trackways could not have been securely identified without the availability of CT scanning. The anatomical correlates of the internal carotid in relation to other basicranial structures, the absence of a functional arteria diploetica magna, and the network for venous return from the endocranium agree with conditions in other sparassodonts.


Nowhere in the world – not even in Northern Ireland – was Orangeism more popular than it was in Canada. When the Orange Order reached its peak in the 1920s, 60 per cent of the world's Orangemen lived in Canada and Newfoundland. Toronto was so Orange in complexion that it was known as 'the Belfast of the North America'. This collection of essays places Canadian Orangeism in its international context, examines the Order's impact on ethnic and imperial politics in Canada, discusses Orange influences on Canadian Confederation, and analyses the reasons for the Order's decline in the second half of the twentieth century.


Haze occurs frequently in many cities, and becomes the authors' great common concern. A distributed real-time monitoring system for atmospheric particles has been designed, implemented and tested. The proposed system consists of a front-end data wireless acquisition network, an embedded web server system, a central server and remote monitoring terminals. The front-end data-acquisition network is made up of mobile data-acquisition nodes distributed in atmospheric particle monitoring areas which collect atmospheric particle data periodically. The data is transmitted by Jennet wireless network and sent to the Internet through the embedded web servers attached to the coordinator nodes via the serial ports. Only a common Internet browser is required for a remote user to check the atmospheric particle data. The central server is responsible for storing the pollution data for further usage of pollution analysis, evaluation and early warning. In this study, the PM1.0, PM2.5 and PM10 particle data were successfully collected, transmitted and checked by the monitoring system in Lanzhou, China. The results show that the designed system can meet the needs of functional requirements of atmospheric particle monitoring.


THE ROLE AND REGULATION OF QUINOL OXIDASE IN RHIZOBIUM ETLI Zachary Lunak, B.S., M.S. Marquette University, 2015 Aerobic bacteria typically respire by delivering electrons to oxygen via cytochrome c oxidases. In addition, many bacteria can respire by transferring electrons to oxygen via quinol oxidases. Exactly why bacteria contain quinol oxidases when they already have cytochrome c oxidases is unclear. In particular, the Cyo quinol oxidase, encoded by cyoABCD, is widespread among the dominant bacterial groups but its specific role is unknown. Rhizobium etli CFN42 provides an aerobic respiratory model in which Cyo can be directly compared to cytochrome c oxidases within the same organism. Mutants of the terminal oxidases in R. etli were constructed and their ability to grow in different physiological conditions was examined. The cyo mutant had noticable growth defects in low oxygen, low pH and low iron conditions. Furthermore, the cyo gene in the wild type was significantly up-regulated in these conditions. Conversely, in slow-growth conditions, such as stationary growth or growth in certain carbon sources, cyo was significantly down-regulated. A respiratory mutant, in which Cyo is the only viable terminal oxidase, had clear phenotypic defects in these conditions due to the regulation of cyo. Examination of the 5' promoter region of cyo revealed multiple DNA binding sites for the transcription factor, ActR of the ActSR 2-component system. An actSR mutant was constructed and had significantly lower levels of cyo expression in all physiological conditions tested. The results suggest Cyo is important for growth and adaptation to low oxygen conditions, low pH, and low iron conditions in R. etli. Having an oxidase that enables the bacterium to aerobically respire in these conditions is of great benefit for bacteria, in particular soil bacteria that have to frequently adjust to adverse environmental conditions. Interestingly, each of these conditions would theoretically lead to higher quinol:quinone ratios in the cell. The activity of the transcriptional activator of cyo, ActSR, has been linked to the redox state of quinone in other bacteria, where quinone has been shown to inhibit ActSR activity. Altogether, the results indicate that the quinol:quinone ratio in the cell may be an important cue for Cyo utilization and expression.


When I was born, in 1949, teachers in Sweden were not allowed to teach religion if they did not belong to the Swedish Lutheran Church.1 The name of the subject in school was 'Christianity' and religious education was also mainly about Christianity. Religion was in fact seen as a guarantee for security and stability. The society at that time, about fifty years ago, had changed from an agricultural society to an industrial one. This required a disciplined, specialized and rational worker. But during the last fifty years the economy and working life have gone through extensive changes. Nowadays only about 15% are employed in the manufacturing industry in Sweden and there is an increasing demand for a reflective, enterprising human being with power of initiative and personal accountability. As a logical consequence the society sometimes designates as a 'K-society' with knowledge, competence, competition, communication and creativity in focus (all words in Swedish being spelled with'k' as the first letter)


Preterm birth (PTB) is one of the leading causes of neonatal morbidities and mortalities. Limited methods are available to physicians for mitigating PTB, thus posing an urgent need to develop effective methods for its prevention. In prior research, a benchtop electronic uterine control device (EUCD) was developed for tocolysis through injection of current pulses. However, the benchtop version is wall tethered and constrains patients to hospitals, i.e., it is unsuitable for deployment in outpatient or home settings. This paper focuses on the development of a mechatronics-based, low-cost, battery-powered, portable, and reproducible EUCD, which is suitable for use in home and clinical environments. The developed mechatronic version is validated for electrical performance with resistive load-tests, which indicate that the mechatronic device can generate current pulses similar to the existing benchtop EUCD. Furthermore, the signals generated from the device are evaluated for repeatability using coefficient of variation (CV) analysis and the results indicate that the mechatronic version can produce repeatable frequency (1–100Hz), amplitude (1–17mA), and pulse width (1–120ms) modulated current signals. An internet of medical things (IoMT) methodology is discussed to enable seamless transition of the developed device from a clinical environment to a home-based setting for remote use by the patients.


A critical examination of translational medicine, when private risk is transferred to the public sector and university research teams become tech startups for global investors.

 A global shift has secretly transformed science and medicine. Starting in 2003, biomedical research in the West has been reshaped by the emergence of translational science and medicine?the idea that the aim of research is to translate findings as quickly as possible into medical products. In The Market in Mind, Mark Dennis Robinson charts this shift, arguing that the new research paradigm has turned university research teams into small biotechnology startups and their industry partners into early-stage investment firms. There is also a larger, surprising consequence from this shift: according to Robinson, translational science and medicine enable biopharmaceutical firms, as part of a broader financial strategy, to outsource the riskiest parts of research to nonprofit universities. Robinson examines the implications of this new configuration. What happens, for example, when universities absorb unknown levels of risk? Robinson argues that in the years since the global financial crisis translational science and medicine has brought about ?the financialization of health.?

 Robinson explores such topics as shareholder anxiety and industry retreat from Alzheimer's and depression research; how laboratory research is understood as health innovation even when there is no product; the emergence of investor networking events as crucial for viewing science in a market context; and the place of patients in research decisions. Although translational medicine justifies itself by the goal of relieving patients' suffering, Robinson finds patients' voices largely marginalized in translational neuroscience.


An acetic acid prepared skull of the Upper Permian Karroo cynodont Procynosuchus delaharpeae Broom is described and an attempt is made to interpret its anatomy in functional terms. The dentition is adapted for an insectivorous habit with an incipient form of tooth occlusion between specific upper and lower postcanines. A specialized form of tooth replacement ensures that the posterior postcanine teeth remain functional for as long a period as possible. The adductor jaw musculature shows a masseter-like muscle between the zygomatic arch and the lateral surface of the angular bone, in addition to the large temporalis muscle which has invaded the lateral face of the coronoid process. The possibility of a monotreme-like detrahens muscle rather than a reptilian depressor mandibuli being present for jaw opening is suggested. The quadrate is moveable. The anatomy of the internal nares indicates that an arrangement of Jacobson's organ and associated nerves, blood vessels and glands comparable to that of monotremes was present. Interpretations of the various foramina of the snout are presented. Fleshy lips were probably present but the skin over the dorsal surface of the snout was tightly applied. The venous system of the head involves reduction of the vena capitis lateralis and the development of emissary veins comparable in general to those of mammals. The brain is comparable in size and relative development of its parts to that of living primitive mammals. There was incipient development of a monotreme-like membranous anterior lamina of the prootic. The stapes had a mechanical role associated with the moveable quadrate, in addition to its sound conducting role. It may have been capable of transmitting low frequency sound from the lower jaw as well as higher frequency sound from a tympanic membrane. The more advanced, Triassic cynodonts form a monophyletic group, of which Procynosuchus is the sister-group. The archaic but highly specialized Dvinia is the sister-group of all other known cynodonts.


The aim of this article is to provide first insights on how Consumer Psychology could enhance operational book marketing through book design in particular. After highlighting the current German book market and its highly competitive and fast transforming market situation, the article summarizes recent findings from the field of Consumer Psychology relevant for the book market. To focus lies in the book design which has a large influence on the buyer's decision making. Three facets of consumer psychological book design (text design, book body and cover design) will be object of the research. Research form Consumer Psychology aim on optimization of stimulus design in order to achieve better information perception, processing and memorization gain better customer awareness and increase the likelihood of a positive buying decision. Overall, especially such a highly competitive market as the book market has a lot to gain from applying findings from the field of Consumer Psychology.


INTRODUCTION Peer-review practices in scholarly publishing are changing. Digital publishing mechanisms allow for open peer review, a peer review process that discloses author and reviewer identities to one another. This model of peer review is increasingly implemented in scholarly publishing. In science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines, open peer review is implemented in journal publishing processes, and, in the humanities and social sciences, it is often coupled with new scholarship practices, such as the digital humanities. This article reports findings from an exploratory study on peer-review and publishing practices in Library and Information Science (LIS), focusing on LIS's relationships with open peer review. METHODS Editors of LIS journals were surveyed regarding journal peer review and publishing practices. RESULTS This article reports the general "pulse" of attitudes and conversations regarding open peer review and discusses its challenges in LIS. Results show an ideological split between traditionally-published journals and open access and association-affiliated journals. Open access and association-affiliated journal editors are more likely to consider investigating open peer review. DISCUSSION The LIS community of journal editors, authors, reviewers, and readers need to discuss open peer review as well as experiment with it. Experiments with open peer review in scholarly LIS publishing will inform our praxis as librarians.


SUMMARY

Simulations of earthquake rupture on the southern San Andreas Fault (SAF) reveal large amplifications in the San Gabriel and Los Angeles Basins (SGB and LAB) apparently associated with long-range path effects. Geometrically similar excitation patterns can be recognized repeatedly in different SAF simulations (e.g. Love wave-like energy with predominant period around 4 s, channelled southwestwardly from the SGB into LAB), yet the amplitudes with which these distinctive wavefield patterns are excited change, depending upon source details (slip distribution, direction and velocity of rupture). We describe a method for rapid calculation of the sensitivity of such predicted wavefield features to perturbations of the source kinematics, using a time-reversed (adjoint) wavefield simulation. The calculations are analogous to those done in adjoint tomography, and the same time-reversed calculation also yields path-sensitivity kernels that give further insight into the excitation mechanism. For rupture on the southernmost 300 km of SAF, LAB excitation is greatest for slip concentrated between the northern Coachella Valley and the transverse ranges, propagating to the NE and with rupture velocities between 3250 and 3500 m s–1 along that fault segment; that is, within or slightly above the velocity range (between Rayleigh and S velocities) that is energetically precluded in the limit of a sharp rupture front, highlighting the potential value of imposing physical constraints (such as from spontaneous rupture models) on source parametrizations. LAB excitation is weak for rupture to the SW and for ruptures in either direction located north of the transverse transverse ranges, whereas Ventura Basin (VTB) is preferentially excited by NE ruptures situated north of the transverse ranges. Path kernels show that LAB excitation is mediated by surface waves deflected by the velocity contrast along the southern margin of the transverse ranges, having most of their energy in basement rock until they impinge on the eastern edge of SGB, through which they are then funnelled into LAB. VTB amplification is enhanced by a similar waveguide effect.


As broadband multimedia services and wireless services become popular, it is believed that ATM is widely accepted as a backbone network. In a small cell radius structure, handover occurs more frequently as the mobile base station moves. Therefore, it is necessary to have high-speed handover control. To support network mobility, we introduce a new optimum handover scheme using the overlayered tree structure based on the virtual connection tree (VCT) for handover involving several call connections. The handover delay could be then reduced. We describe ATM signaling capabilities supporting this scheme and present UNI/NNI protocol extensions. According to simulation results of the static and proposed adaptive VCT schemes in the case of a mobile network, the proposed scheme has a smaller handover delay compared with conventional schemes.


Spectra of ionized Zr, Nb, and Mo have been observed in sliding spark discharges at peak currents up to 4000 A on the 10.7 m normal and grazing incidence spectrographs at NBS. From these observations the group of 4s24p4–4s4p5 transitions in Zr vii, Nb viii, and Mo ix have been identified and measured. The energy parameters obtained from least-squares fits to the resultant energy levels are compared with Hartree-Fock calculations.


Accurate and representative core data should be used as the ground truth in formation evaluation, reservoir surveillance, and other relevant geoscience applications because the measurements are more direct than estimations from other petrophysical measurements such as logs. To ensure accuracy and representativeness, the rock and fluid samples should represent the reservoir; test conditions, test equipment, and test procedures need to be fit for purpose. In addition, the core analysis program should satisfy clearly defined objectives, which, unfortunately, is not generally applied in the industry. In this paper, we discussed general core analysis data quality assurance and control, with emphasis on carbonate core analysis when applicable. We started with recommended workflows for coring and coring fluid selection, conducting routine and fit-for-purpose special core analysis tests, and core analysis fluid selection and preparation. We then provided some tips and potential pitfalls useful to know in core analysis data quality assurance and control, including core sample screening and selection, criteria used in core sample cleaning and drying, and potential issues related to test conditions and procedures. We also illustrated applications of quality-controlled core data in formation evaluation and reservoir surveillance.


A modern and concise treatment of the solid state electronic devices that are fundamental to electronic systems and information technology is provided in this book. The main devices that comprise semiconductor integrated circuits are covered in a clear manner accessible to the wide range of scientific and engineering disciplines that are impacted by this technology. Catering to a wider audience is becoming increasingly important as the field of electronic materials and devices becomes more interdisciplinary, with applications in biology, chemistry and electro-mechanical devices (to name a few) becoming more prevalent. Updated and state-of-the-art advancements are included along with emerging trends in electronic devices and their applications. In addition, an appendix containing the relevant physical background will be included to assist readers from different disciplines and provide a review for those more familiar with the area. Readers of this book can expect to derive a solid foundation for understanding modern electronic devices and also be prepared for future developments and advancements in this far-reaching area of science and technology.


The main objective of this study is to provide a descriptive account of the nature and way of Mark Twain's handling of humor and satire used in his novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884). The study also aims to shed light on whether Twain intended his novel to be humorous, or the humor was unconscious and unrealistic. The researcher sheds light on some major characters and scenes that exhibit the different types of humor and satire. The novel is a classic work of humor that becomes blended with satire, in which Twain became skeptic and agnostic and turned against mankind for its inhumanity. The story arouses humor in different means such as lies, deceptions, machinations of plot, prevarications of Huck and Tom, and through the superstitious beliefs of the primitive character, Jim. The study found out that the novel is a masterpiece of fun, farce and satire. The humor borders on farce; it is low and realistic. The researcher concluded that the novel is doubtlessly picaresque, farcical, comical and satirical. The chief characteristic of its humor is that it is American; the blend of different dialects, the misspellings; creating humor presupposed the correct knowledge of the spellings by the reader. This feeling creates a kind of humor that is pathetic. The frauds and the deceptions used in the incidents, the anecdotes, angularities, and the eccentricities of the characters portrayed have further enhanced the comic effect in the novel. With these traits is juxtaposed Twain's biting satire, and his work is the first of its kind.


FOR TEACHERS OF SINGING effectively to train and nurture the gospel music singer, teachers not only must understand voice production as it relates generally to Contemporary Commercial Music (CCM) pedagogy and repertoire, but they also must understand specifically gospel music and its associated styles. This article, based on a review of the literature, presents the many gospel musical styles and categorizes them within four broad performance styles. A BRIEF HISTORY OF GOSPEL MUSIC The era of "Gospel Music," a specific type of American black sacred music, began in the late nineteenth century. Its musical roots can be found in spirituals, work songs, slave songs, white Pentecostal hymns, and evangelistic congregational songs from the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries.1 Gospel music also has evolved by integrating musical ideas and expressions from genres such as blues, jazz, rock, soul, classical, and country.2 Thomas A. Dorsey, regarded by many as "The Father of Gospel Music," even though he was not the first to compose gospel songs, infused white evangelistic hymns and black gospel songs with various musical elements and performance practices of secular blues and jazz.3 It was the tradition of the slaves to create songs that told stories about their living conditions, with "endurance of trials of this life with the reward of life after death" as the dominant theme.4 Marietta Miller writes that in the texts of some spirituals, the circumstances of slaves' struggles are correlated with the bondage and strife of the original children of Israel. Referencing the familiar spiritual, "Go Down Moses," Miller says the slaves believed that God would once again send down Moses to tell the pharaohs of the slave system to let God's people go.5 After the emancipation of the slaves, many blacks had a strong desire to achieve greater educational and economic independence. They migrated from rural settings to large industrialized cities such as Chicago, St. Louis, and Philadelphia to pursue this dream. As a result, the lyrics and tone of newly composed and arranged black sacred music began to reflect the challenges accompanying this new lifestyle.6 Miller notes that gospel songs often use scriptural references from the Bible to address contemporary issues and reflect the songwriter's personal experience with Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. The gospel song message is that of the "Good News" and tells its audiences that even in sorrow and despair, there will always be hope for them as long as they have Christ in their lives. This message differs dramatically with the often negative message of the blues. The transition from slave songs and spirituals to twentieth century gospel songs began with composers such as Charles Tindley, Lucie Campbell, and Dr. Isaac Watts. They took traditional songs and "gospelized" them both lyrically and musically by applying African American music aesthetics, including flatted notes, altered rhythmic pulses, and pentatonic scales. According to gospel music scholar Dr. Horace Clarence Boyer, Charles Tindley used pentatonic scales for many of his melodies and left space within his melodic lines and harmonic structures for the interpolation of flatted thirds and sevenths. Tindley also left space within his compositions for the improvisation of text and rhythm.7 Thomas Dorsey further developed this practice by increasingly merging elements used in blues performance with the performance of black sacred music. The musical form, the use of textual interpolation, rhythmic variation of text and melody, and the overall expressive quality found in the performance of blues, was insinuated into sacred music by 1939.8 Dr. Ray Allen summarized gospel music as being "distinctly African-American" in its incorporations of "the melismatic moans of the spiritual, the driving music and instrumentation of sanctified music, the syncopated licks and 'bent' notes of jazz and blues, and the ecstatic emotionalism of southern preaching. …


We carry out a maximum-likelihood kinematic analysis of a sample of 1170 blue horizontal-branch (BHB) stars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey presented by Sirko and coworkers. Monte Carlo simulations and resampling show that the results are robust to distance and velocity errors at least as large as the errors they estimated. The best-fit velocities of the Sun (circular) and halo (rotational) are 245.9 ± 13.5 km s-1 and 23.8 ± 20.1 km s-1 but are strongly covariant, so that v⊙ - vhalo = 222.1 ± 7.7 km s-1. If one adopts standard values for the local standard of rest and solar motion, then the halo scarcely rotates. The velocity ellipsoid inferred for our sample is much more isotropic [(σr,σθ,σϕ) = (101.4 ± 2.8, 97.7 ± 16.4, 107.4 ± 16.6) km s-1] than that of halo stars in the solar neighborhood, in agreement with a recent study of the distant halo by Sommer-Larsen and coworkers. The line-of-sight velocity distribution of the entire sample, corrected for the Sun's motion, is accurately Gaussian with a dispersion of 101.6 ± 3.0 km s-1.


Civil aviation is vital to the economic development of Pacific Island Countries (PICs), and the regulation of its safety and security has been identified by Australia and New Zealand as important to protect the Pacific region from unlawful acts, including from terrorism. Since 9/11, the Australian government has supported initiatives such as the Pacific Aviation Safety Office (PASO) to guard against the threat of terrorism. This has involved increasing compliance of PICs with international civil aviation safety and security standards. Although terrorism remains a security concern for Australia, it is no longer the primary national security concern, and as countries such as Australia and New Zealand reflect on their ongoing commitment to PASO, it is important to recognise that in addition to its contribution to counter-terrorism efforts PASO has the potential to contribute to economic development in the Pacific region by enhancing the ability of the region's civil aviation system to support increased trade and tourism. PICs rely heavily on air transport links to gain access to international trade and tourism markets; however, access depends upon their ability to meet international civil aviation safety and security standards, which they cannot do independently. Key Words: Pacific region; Pacific Aviation Safety Office (PASO); Civil aviation; Safety; Security; Tourism; Economic development; International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Introduction This article will consider the importance of civil aviation, and its regulation, to Pacific Island Countries (PICs) and their neighbours, Australia and New Zealand. It examines the role of trade and tourism in Pacific Island economies, and the concurrent role of civil aviation in facilitating access to trade and tourism routes. Access to these routes depends on the ability of PICs to comply with international civil aviation safety and security standards, which they are unable to do without ongoing assistance. The needs of countries within the Pacific region are great, but the potential for economic development that the situation presents, as outlined below, is considerable. Pacific civil aviation has encountered many challenges in recent decades. In particular the aviation sector has been unable to sustain technological development because of a chronic lack of local expertise and lack of training facilities. This situation is unlikely to change in the near future2. Many Pacific airlines are in poor condition, and the Pacific civil aviation system generally needs support in the areas of infrastructure, training, and safety and security oversight3. PICs have small export bases; however, tourism provides great potential for economic development for many countries in the region4. In order to realise this potential, investment in both Pacific air transport systems and domestic infrastructure is required. Many PICs have inherited the infrastructural legacy of their colonisers, and therefore have similar production structures, political institutions, and administrative bodies to those that were established to administer to the needs of colonial powers5. Much of this infrastructure was basic and neglected during colonial rule67. Fundamental to infrastructure development is the continuation of foreign aid, as well as to ensure that security in the region is attained and maintained, and to develop the region's human resource base in the area of civil aviation safety and security oversight8. The Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) identifies economic growth as the single most important aid objective for the Asia-Pacific region during the next 10 years. Infrastructure development and promoting trade are two of four strategies listed for achieving this goal9. In its work toward Millennium Development Goal 8, which is to 'develop a global partnership for development', AusAID lists trade-related infrastructure as a focus area, and states that funding for transport is necessary in order to facilitate trade because it promotes more efficient movement of goods and people10. …


Scavenging, a result of a temporary pulse of resources, occurs in virtually all ecosystems containing carnivores, and is an important energy transfer pathway that can impact ecosystem structure and function, and this ecological significance has largely been considered from a terrestrial standpoint; however, little is known about the role of scavenging in shaping the behavioral ecology of marine species, specifically apex predators. Here we present findings from multiple opportunistic observations of white sharks scavenging on whale carcasses in False Bay, South Africa. Observations of white sharks scavenging over successive days provided evidence of strategic and selective scavenging by this species. Moreover, extended daily observations permitted recordings of unique social, aggregative, and feeding behaviors. We further compare these data against observations of natural predation by sharks on seals in the study area. We discuss these data in relation to environmental conditions, shark social interactions, migration patterns, whale biology, and behaviorally-mediated trophic cascades. While the appearance of a whale carcass is largely a stochastic event, we propose that white shark scavenging on whales may represent an underestimated, yet significant component to the overall foraging ecology of this species, especially as individuals attain sexual maturity.


User interests are usually dynamic in the real world, which poses both theoretical and practical challenges for learning accurate preferences from rich behavior data. Among existing user behavior modeling solutions, attention networks are widely adopted for its effectiveness and relative simplic-ity. Despite being extensively studied, existing attentions still suffer from two limitations: i) conventional attentions mainly take into account the spatial correlation between user behaviors, regard-less the distance between those behaviors in the continuous time space; and ii) these attentions mostly provide a dense and undistinguished distribution over all past behaviors then attentively encode them into the output latent representations. This is however not suitable in practical scenar-ios where a user's future actions are relevant to a small subset of her/his historical behaviors. In this paper, we propose a novel attention network, named self-modulating attention , that models the complex and non-linearly evolving dynamic user preferences. We empirically demonstrate the effectiveness of our method on top-N sequential recommendation tasks, and the results on three large-scale real-world datasets show that our model can achieve state-of-the-art performance.


Using in-depth analysis of film, TV, news and online productions, Understanding Media Production shows how media theory helps aspiring producers understand good practice in media production.

With detailed contemporary examples, including Pirates of The Caribbean, Game of Thrones, Love Island and PewDiePie's 'letsplay' videos, Dwyer highlights similarities and differences in the production strategies and styles used for a wide range of media products. The book tracks the evolution of these entertainment formats and the emergence of the media businesses which produce them. Chapters describe the key production practices associated with each format, including single and multi-camera filming, news reporting, three-point lighting and gameplay animation. They also explain the development of the production roles associated with these content forms; directors, producers, reporters, correspondents etc. The book goes on to explain how media businesses have used new technologies and production innovations to reduce costs and increase profits, resulting in dramatic changes to established production practices and roles.

By comparing media production across media industries, in the UK and US, and illustrating the links between economic, socio-political and cultural influences on production, Understanding Media Production opens up a constructive debate between media practitioners and theorists about key questions of creativity and innovation in production.


In this paper channel estimation is achieved through the use of two novel algorithms incorporating the various advantages of Barker codes. Comparisons between the delay estimation percentage error of the Least Linear Minimum Mean Square Error (LMMSE) conventional channel estimation technique with the two newly proposed techniques takes place. The first proposed algorithm embeds a Barker code to the transmitted wavelet orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (WOFDM) data block and uses the correlation between that Barker code and the received signal in order to accurately estimate the channel delay at the receiving end. The second suggested algorithm uses multi-rate Barker codes to generate a WOFDM training sequence. The difference in peak positions of the auto correlation of the transmitted and received sequences is used to estimate the delay introduced by the channel. These comparisons are performed with four different wavelet filters which are used in the WOFDM modulation. The simulation and results show case the advantages of using each of the new techniques versus the conventional LMMSE method.


Increasing the amount of cycling in our communities has many positive benefits. However, the perception of cycling as a dangerous form of transport may hinder desired increase. To address this issue, the State Cycle Unit, Queensland Transport, has undertaken a comprehensive analysis of bicycle crash data from 1994-1999, in order to obtain a better understanding of the causes and extent of cycling crashes. Findings suggest that angle crashes represent a high number of incidents involving cyclists. Contrary to accepted wisdom, mid-block accidents were also highly represented. Further analysis of these crashes revealed a variety of causes, such as driveway incidents, car door openings, and unsafe distances for overtaking. These findings have various practical implications. Specifically, strategic educational campaigns targeting the problem areas identified would assist in enhancing community awareness of the issues encountered by cyclists. Cyclist safety can also be improved through the development and implementation of engineering countermeasures. However the physical and temporal data available for this analysis limit the cost-effectiveness and suitability of countermeasure selection. It is not until further detailed data is available on cyclist exposure patterns and behaviour and on traffic environments (traffic speed, volume and composition) that the key factors leading to crashes can be determined and appropriate specific countermeasures implemented with some confidence. Through appropriate and visible education, engineering, and enforcement it is hoped that the broader community will be encouraged to cycle, making it an integral and viable part of the wider transport system. (a) For the covering entry of this conference, please see IRRD abstract no. E202589.


What factors affect health care delivery in the developing world? Anecdotal evidence of lives cut tragically short and the loss of productivity due to avoidable diseases is an area of salient concern in global health and international development. This working paper looks at factual evidence to describe the main challenges facing health care delivery in developing countries, including absenteeism, corruption, informal payments, and mismanagement. The author concludes that good governance is important in ensuring effective health care delivery, and that returns to investments in health are low where governance issues are not addressed.


This article explores the complex relationships among two different types of critique, the socio-temporal zone known as "everyday life" and the moment of the encounter by those who are encountering art works. It proceeds with a close study of the phenomenology of Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Mikel Dufrenne, and tests their key concepts against generalized contemporary art practices that question a model of the traditional aesthetic experience by suggesting the possibility that within the expanse of postmodernity such a paradigm has shifted, (although it is not completely irretrievable). The paper argues that this shift has been achieved by remobilizing readymade objects and banal customs within spaces otherwise reserved for extraordinary experience. Thus, it also considers the problem of authoritative experience and Jurgen Habermas' extension of the Husserlian Lebenswelt in order to map out the urgencies of our current cultural sphere.


Mercury (Hg) contamination is widespread in remote areas of the northeastern United States. Forested uplands have accumulated a large reservoir of Hg in soil from decades of elevated anthropogenic deposition that can be released episodically to stream water during high flows. The objective of this study was to evaluate spatial and temporal variations in stream water Hg species and organic matter fractions over a range of hydrologic conditions in three forested upland watersheds (United States). Mercury and organic matter concentrations increased with discharge at all three sites; however, the partitioning of Hg fractions (dissolved versus particulate) differed among sites and seasons. Associated with increased discharge, flow paths shifted from mineral soil under base flow to upper soil horizons. As flow paths shifted, greater concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) richer in aromatic substances were flushed from upper soil horizons to stream water. The hydrophobic organic matter associated with humic material from upper soils appears to have had a greater capacity to bind Hg. Because of the strong correlation between Hg and DOC, we hypothesize that there was a concurrent shift in the source of Hg with DOC from lower mineral soil to upper soil horizons. Our study suggests that stream discharge is an effective predictor of dissolved total Hg flux.


A case of juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML, previously referred to as JCML) in a neonate with Noonan syndrome (NS) is described. The boy presented with bilateral congenital hydrothoraces, nonimmune hydrops, dysmorphic facies, persistent thrombocytopenia, and leukocytosis. The diagnosis of JMML was made on bone marrow cell culture studies. Review of the literature reveals an unusual preponderance of hematologic malignancies, in particular JMML, among patients with NS. Of 40 NS patients admitted to the authors' institution during a 10-year period, there were 4 (10%) with evidence of a monocytic proliferation, which resolved spontaneously. The authors postulate that patients with NS may have an increased incidence of myeloproliferative disorders, which in most cases appears to be benign but may be preleukemic or even lethal.


This document is one of a set of documents that together describe all
aspects of the Internet Printing Protocol (IPP). IPP is an
application-level protocol that can be used for distributed printing
on the Internet. There are multiple parts to IPP, but the primary
architectural components are the Model, the Protocol, and an interface
to Directory Services. This document provides a statement of the
requirements for notifications as an optional part of an IPP Service.
This memo provides information for the Internet community.


textabstractBibliometric mapping of science is concerned with quantitative methods for visually representing scientific literature based on bibliographic data. Since the first pioneering efforts in the 1970s, a large number of methods and techniques for bibliometric mapping have been proposed and tested. Although this has not resulted in a single generally accepted methodological standard, it did result in a limited set of commonly used methods and techniques.

In this thesis, a new methodology for bibliometric mapping is presented. It is argued that some well-known methods and techniques for bibliometric mapping have serious shortcomings. For instance, the mathematical justification of a number of commonly used normalization methods is criticized, and popular multidimensional-scaling-based approaches for constructing bibliometric maps are shown to suffer from artifacts, especially when working with larger data sets.

The methodology introduced in this thesis aims to provide improved methods and techniques for bibliometric mapping. The thesis contains an extensive mathematical analysis of normalization methods, indicating that the so-called association strength measure has the most satisfactory mathematical properties. The thesis also introduces the VOS technique for constructing bibliometric maps, where VOS stands for visualization of similarities. Compared with well-known multidimensional-scaling-based approaches, the VOS technique is shown to produce more satisfactory maps. In addition to the VOS mapping technique, the thesis also presents the VOS clustering technique. Together, these two techniques provide a unified framework for mapping and clustering. Finally, the VOSviewer software for constructing, displaying, and exploring bibliometric maps is introduced.


─Abstract ─ Organizations are arenas where discourses are built and implicated. One of the discourses used in the organizations is the "family" discourse which is realized as "we are a family". Such an approach aims to construct a meaning that contains not just only pragmatist and rational relations in an organization, but also an illusion of an intense emotional experience. Nature of such a discourse is paradoxical. As an intentional constructed entity organization lacks basic characteristics of a family such as kinship, family bonding and intimate relationships. Therefore, the main assumption of the study is that such a family discourse helps hiding the contradictions and the socio-political structure of the organizations that emerge from the nature-of-organization. Accordingly, the definition of family concept is examined within disciplines of psychology/ sociology and the reality of the family discourse is compared with a critical perspective. This study aims to demonstrate hidden motives that lie beneath the organizational discourses employed by the executives in order to manipulate and manage employees. Such recognition would help to prevent the abuse of organizational power under the name of management.


Abstract: The present study tests the hypothesis that ventilation with 100% O2 during recovery from asphyxia leads to greater disturbance in brain function, as measured by dopamine metabolism, than does ventilation with 21% oxygen. This hypothesis was tested using mechanically ventilated, anesthetized newborn piglets as an animal model. Cortical oxygen pressure was measured by the oxygen‐dependent quenching of phosphorescence, striatal blood flow by laser Doppler, and the extracellular levels of dopamine and its metabolites by in vivo microdialysis. After establishment of a baseline, both the fraction of inspired oxygen (FiO2) and the ventilator rate were reduced in a stepwise fashion every 20 min over a 1‐h period. For the subsequent 2‐h recovery, the animals were randomized to breathing 21 or 100% oxygen. It was observed that during asphyxia cortical oxygen pressure decreased from 36 to 7 torr, extracellular dopamine increased 8,300%, and dihydroxyphenylacetic acid and homovanillic acid decreased by 65 and 60%, respectively, compared with controls. During reoxygenation after asphyxia, cortical oxygen pressure was significantly higher in the piglets ventilated with 100% oxygen than in those ventilated with 21% oxygen (19 vs. 11 torr). During the first hour of reoxygenation, extracellular dopamine levels decreased to ∼200% of control in the 21% oxygen group, whereas these levels were still much higher in the 100% oxygen group (∼500% of control). After ∼2 h of reoxygenation, there was a secondary increase in extracellular dopamine to ∼750 and ∼3,000% of baseline for the animals ventilated with 21 and 100%, respectively. It is concluded that although 100% FiO2 after asphyxia increases cortical oxygenation compared with 21% FiO2, it also results in poorer recovery in dopamine metabolism and higher secondary release of striatal dopamine. The resulting increased extracellular levels of dopamine may exacerbate posthypoxic cerebral injury.


Globalization is not merely inevitable western cultural conquest. The assumption that the juggernaut of western hegemonic domination will continue until the world is consumed is a common one, but not an accurate one. That accuracy is compromised by a number of related misconceptions about the nature of globalization. Some of these have to do with an attachment to dichotomy in a world too complex for dualism. Some of them are related to assumptions about the nature of trade, of trends, of inevitability, and of statistical prediction that turn out not to be accurate—and by extension misconceptions about the unidirectionality of cultural exchange. Most are related to misconceptions about the nature of culture—particularly in oversimplifying, and making strange assumptions about, nonwestern cultures. Cultures change over time, with generations and historical forces—today's cultural changes make up tomorrow's cohesive culture. Cultures die not when they change to reflect the new attitudes and lifestyles of the peoples who live in them, but when they stagnate and become static, preserved only in museums, artifacts and books, and not in the everyday lives of the people themselves. Finally, phenomena do reach a saturation point, from biological populations to the motion of catamarans to absorption of cultural values, and these can be observed using methods of nonlinear dynamics. This project considers common misconceptions about globalization and culture, and uses concepts from nonlinear dynamics to expose the nature of the movement and saturation points of cultural globalization.


"This paper argues, from the perspective of legal pluralism, that both private and public properties are voracious. In recent western developments, they each expand by trying to 'eating the other up'. Western property theory promotes this dualistic game of voracious property types. In exporting this game world wide through privatization, international agreements and regulations many other more balanced approaches to property, which fall between the public/private divide, are being consumed as well (as in kin group corporate property, cultural property etc.) Such a dualistic model of property limits our understanding of the ways in which the property rights of different claimants are interdependent. This interdependence arises not only from legal institutions that mediate property rights, but also from social institutions that determine and distribute rights, and how these legal and social institutions interface. The three-tiered model presented in this paper ideological, legal, and social reveals the systemic nature of property rights. Issues concerning 'new' forms of intellectual property, as well as the management of natural resources, highlight the limitations of the ideological approach to property rights, which largely ignores the legal and social relationships embedded in these forms of property. This paper explores the implications of such voracious property for biodiversity. " Author's Abstract


Tracking the ball is critical for video-based analysis of team sports. However, it is difficult, especially in low-resolution images, due to the small size of the ball, its speed that creates motion blur, and its often being occluded by players. In this paper, we propose a generic and principled approach to modeling the interaction between the ball and the players while also imposing appropriate physical constraints on the ball's trajectory. We show that our approach, formulated in terms of a Mixed Integer Program, is more robust and more accurate than several state-of-the-art approaches on real-life volleyball, basketball, and soccer sequences.


This thesis is an examination of the practice of physiotherapy, an exploration of the context within which the profession of physiotherapy developed and an identification of the theoretical frameworks within which it is practised. The experiences of physiotherapists and nurses working in particular settings at a specific point in the development of the profession provided a starting point for the study. Physiotherapy, a profession openly dependent for a significant part of its history on medicine for its practice and knowledge base, is contextualised with reference to the development of a medical hegemony, the changing role of women in society, and the development of specialisms within physiotherapy.A methodological framework was developed through the use of a naturalistic design which places the researcher within the study and legitimises personal perspectives. Knowledge of the field prior to the study, fieldwork observations, and findings from two sets of interviews generated the data which provided the framework for an exploration of the theoretical base for the practice of physiotherapy.The thesis concludes by examining the components of context and theory which are fundamental to the practice of theory, and places them within a new framework. This new framework or paradigm is based on a re-evaluation of the concept of holism and goes back to the origins of this model which developed amidst the chaos of post-Boer was South Africa. The meaning of holism has been changed to make it nearer the concept of summative dualism which fits well with key concepts of balance, harmony and homeostasis. True holism is about movement and change and this is proposed as an appropriate model on which to base a paradigm for physiotherapy.


Context of a hyperlink or link context is defined as the terms that appear in the text around a hyperlink within a Web page. Link contexts have been applied to a variety of Web information retrieval and categorization tasks. Topical or focused Web crawlers have a special reliance on link contexts. These crawlers automatically navigate the hyperlinked structure of the Web while using link contexts to predict the benefit of following the corresponding hyperlinks with respect to some initiating topic or theme. Using topical crawlers that are guided by a support vector machine, we investigate the effects of various definitions of link contexts on the crawling performance. We find that a crawler that exploits words both in the immediate vicinity of a hyperlink as well as the entire parent page performs significantly better than a crawler that depends on just one of those cues. Also, we find that a crawler that uses the tag tree hierarchy within Web pages provides effective coverage. We analyze our results along various dimensions such as link context quality, topic difficulty, length of crawl, training data, and topic domain. The study was done using multiple crawls over 100 topics covering millions of pages allowing us to derive statistically strong results.


The oxidative behaviour of fluoxetine was studied at a glassy carbon electrode in various buffer systems and at different pH using cyclic, differential pulse and square wave voltammetry. A new square wave voltammetric method suitable for the quality control of fluoxetine in commercial formulations has been developed using a borate pH 9 buffer solution as supporting electrolyte. Under optimized conditions, a linear response was obtained in the range 10 to 16 μM with a detection limit of 1.0 μM. Validation parameters such as sensitivity, precision and accuracy were evaluated. The proposed method was successfully applied to the determination of fluoxetine in pharmaceutical formulations. The results were statistically compared with those obtained by the reference high-performance liquid chromatographic method. No significant differences were found between the methods.


We have updated the isotopically invariant Dunham fit of O2 with newly reported literature transitions to derive (1) the energy levels, partition sums, band-by-band molecular constants, and RKR potentials for the X(3)Σg(-), a(1)Δg, and b(1)Σg(+) states of the six O2 isotopologues: (16)O(16)O, (16)O(17)O, (16)O(18)O, (17)O(17)O, (17)O(18)O, and (18)O(18)O; (2) Franck-Condon factors for their a(1)Δg-X(3)Σg(-), b(1)Σg(+)-X(3)Σg(-), and a(1)Δg-b(1)Σg(+) band systems. This new spectroscopic parameterization characterizes all known transitions within and between the X(3)Σg(-), a(1)Δg, and b(1)Σg(+) states within experimental uncertainty and can be used for accurate predictions of as yet unmeasured transitions. All of these results are necessary to provide a consistent linelist of all transitions which will be reported in a followup paper.


Lightweight extrusion profiles with reinforcement elements are promising news in the domain of lightweight construction. The machining of them suffers from several problems: Aside from the question of choosing a suitable tool, feed rate, and milling strategy, an excessive rise in temperature could lead to stress and even a distortion due to the differing thermal expansion of the reinforcement material and the surrounding matrix material. A simulation of the milling process could, in addition to force and collision calculations, recognize this case before manufacturing. For certain milling applications like seal surfaces, a certain roughness of the manufactured surface is necessary. In many other cases, a smooth surface of very high quality is desirable. Available simulation systems usually completely lack the simulation of dynamic effects, which have a great effect on the final surface quality, and therefore are not able to predict the resulting surface quality. In this paper simulation methods are presented that are capable of simulating the dynamic behavior of the tool in the milling process and the resulting flank and ground surface structures. Additionally, a fast temperature simulation for heterogeneous workpieces with reinforcement elements, which is based on the finite difference method and cellular automata, is introduced.


Abstract Models for question answering, dialogue agents, and summarization often interpret the meaning of a sentence in a rich context and use that meaning in a new context. Taking excerpts of text can be problematic, as key pieces may not be explicit in a local window. We isolate and define the problem of sentence decontextualization: taking a sentence together with its context and rewriting it to be interpretable out of context, while preserving its meaning. We describe an annotation procedure, collect data on the Wikipedia corpus, and use the data to train models to automatically decontextualize sentences. We present preliminary studies that show the value of sentence decontextualization in a user-facing task, and as preprocessing for systems that perform document understanding. We argue that decontextualization is an important subtask in many downstream applications, and that the definitions and resources provided can benefit tasks that operate on sentences that occur in a richer context.


The role that inflammation plays on the vasculature has become fundamental in our understanding of the different steps underlying the development of coronary heart disease (CHD).1 Immunological-related inflammatory processes accompany all stages of atherosclerosis development, from the early formation of lesions in the arteries to the rupture of the atherosclerotic plaques, which leads to dramatic consequences such as myocardial infarction and stroke. In this light, the search of markers of inflammation that could help to predict and even to treat cardiovascular diseases has been the subject of intense investigation.

C reactive protein (CRP, so named because it was originally found to react with the C-polysaccharide of the bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae ) is a plasma protein produced mainly by the liver. As part of the acute-phase response proteins, CRP production is rapidly induced in response to infections and other inflammatory conditions and its expression is triggered by cytokines such as interleukin-6 (IL-6), which is released in the blood by macrophages.2 The best characterised biological function of CRP is the clearance of necrotic or apoptotic cells which occur by the binding to phosphocoline residues present on the surface of damaged cells and the activation of the complement system. These features have made CRP a useful systemic marker for inflammation and tissue damage in routine clinical measurements.

What placed CRP at the centre of cardiovascular research were the initial observations that a small rise in the baseline level of CRP concentration correlated significantly with increased risk of future cardiovascular events. In addition to this, the presence of CRP in atherosclerotic plaques3 and its …


Nitrogen (N) is an important nutrient as it often limits productivity but in excess can impair water quality. Most studies on watershed N cycling have occurred in upland forested catchments where snowmelt dominates N export; fewer studies have focused on low‐relief watersheds that lack snow. We examined watershed N cycling in three adjacent, low‐relief watersheds in the Upper Coastal Plain of the southeastern United States to better understand the role of hydrological flow paths and biological transformations of N at the watershed scale. Groundwater was the dominant source of nitrified N to stream water in two of the three watersheds, while atmospheric deposition comprised 28% of stream water nitrate in one watershed. The greater atmospheric contribution may have been due to the larger stream channel area relative to total watershed area or the dominance of shallow subsurface flow paths contributing to stream flow in this watershed. There was a positive relationship between temperature and stream water ammonium concentrations and a negative relationship between temperature and stream water nitrate concentrations in each watershed suggesting that N cycling processes (i.e., nitrification and denitrification) varied seasonally. However, there were no clear patterns in the importance of denitrification in different water pools possibly because a variety of factors (i.e., assimilatory uptake, dissimilatory uptake, and mixing) affected nitrate concentrations. Together, these results highlight the hydrological and biological controls on N cycling in low‐gradient watersheds and variability in N delivery flow paths among adjacent watersheds with similar physical characteristics.


Current Russian drug policy is punitive toward people who use drugs. Moreover, criminal justice in Russia is driven by strong organizational incentives to increase performance indicators of police such as clearance rate. Taken together, these might lead to the use of extrajudicial and illegal police practices, as documented by several qualitative studies. In this article, we explore quantitative evidence of such practices, namely, weight anomalies of the seized heroin that result from minimum threshold amounts established by the law. We find significant discontinuities in the weight distribution of seized heroin near minimum threshold amounts. Placebo tests rule out alternative explanations of the discontinuity and show that the most likely source of the revealed discontinuities is police manipulations with seized heroin.


The two defining moments of Western coalfield labour relations have been massacres: Wyoming's Rock Springs Massacre of 1885 and Colorado's Ludlow Massacre of 1914. But it wasn't just the company guns that were responsible for the deaths of 28 Chinese coal miners and 13 women and children. It was the result of racial tensions and the economics of the coal industry itself. David A Wolff places these deadly conflicts and strikes in the context of the Western coal industry from its inception in 1868 to the age of maturity in the early twentieth century. The result is the first book-length study of the emergence of coalfield labour relations and a general overview of the role of coal mining in the American West. Wolff examines the coal companies and the owners' initial motivations for investment and how these motivations changed over time. He documents the move from speculation to stability in the commodities market, and how this was reflected in the development of companies and company towns. The book also examines the workers and their workplaces: how the miners and labourers struggled to maintain mining as a craft and how the workforce changed, ethnically and racially, eventually leading to the emergence of a strong national union. Wolff shines light on the business of coal mining detailing the market and economic forces that influenced companies and deeply affected the lives of the workers.


The Turkish land registration and cadastre works were carried out in analog format until 1985. After that, the cadastre works have been performed in a digital environment, while the land registries continued to be sustained in analog format. The subsequent developments in geographical information system technologies and increasing user demands suggested the need to combine land registry and cadastre data in an information system framework at the beginning of the 1990s. The need was addressed a decade later with the Turkish Land Registry and Cadastre Information System (TAKBS) project. During the implementation of the TAKBS project, a lot of experience and knowledge have been gained. This paper introduces the background of the project along with a summary of the current Turkish cadastral system, outlines the aims, scope and constitution process of the TAKBS, and concludes with the experiences gained during the project implementation. Key words:


Comparing several groups of populations based on replicated data is one of the main concerns in statistical analysis. A specific type of data, time series data, such as waves of earthquakes present difficulties because of the correlations amongst the data. Spectral analysis solves this problem somewhat because the discrete Fourier transform transforms the data to near independence under general conditions.The goal of our research is to develop general, user friendly, statistical methods to compare group spectral density functions. To accomplish this, we consider two main problems: How can we construct an estimation function from replicated time series for each group and what method can be used to compare the estimated functions? For the first part, we present smooth estimates of spectral densities from time series data obtained from replication across subjects (units) (Wahba 1990; Guo et al. 2003). We assume that each spectral density is in some reproducing kernel Hilbert space and apply penalized least squares methods to estimate spectral density in smoothing spline ANOVA. For the second part, we consider confidence intervals to determine the frequencies where the spectrum of one spectral density may differ from another. These confidence intervals are the independent simultaneous confidence interval and the bootstrapping confidence interval (Babu et al. 1983; Olshen et al. 1989). Finally, as an application, we consider the replicated time series data that consist of shear (S) waves of 8 earthquakes and 8 explosions (Shumway & Stoffer 2006).


Icewine is a sweet dessert wine fermented from the juice of grapes naturally frozen on the vine. The production of Icewine faces many challenges such as sluggish fermentation, which often yields wines with low ethanol, and an accumulation of high concentration of volatile acidity, mainly in the form of acetic acid. This project investigated three new yeast strains as novel starter cultures for Icewine fermentation with particular emphasis on reducing acetic acid production: a naturally occurring strain of S. bayanus/S. pastorianus isolated from Icewine grapes, and two hybrids between S. cerevisiae and S. bayanus, AWRI 1571 and AWRI 1572. These strains were evaluated for sugar consumption patterns and metabolic production of ethanol, glycerol and acetic acid, and were compared to the performance ofa standard commercial wine yeast KI-VI116. The ITS rONA region of the two A WRI crosses was also analyzed during fermentations to assess their genomic stability. Icewine fermentations were performed in sterile filtered juice, in the absence of indigenous microflora, and also in unfiltered juice in order to mirror commercial wine making practices. The hybrid A WRI 1572 was found to be a promising candidate as a novel starter culture for Icewine production. It produced 10.3 % v/v of ethanol in sterile Riesling Icewine fermentations and 11.2 % v/v in the unfiltered ones within a reasonable fermentation time (39 days). Its acetic acid production per gram sugar consumed was approximately 30% lower in comparison with commercial wine yeast K I-V 1116 under both sterile filtered and unfiltered fermentations. The natural isolate S. bayanus/S. pastorianus and AWRI 1571 did not appear to be suitable for commercial Icewine production. They reached the target ethanol concentration of approximately 10 % v/v in 39 day fermentations and also produced less acetic acid as a function of both time and sugar consumed in sterile fermentations compared to KI-V1116. However, in unfiltered fermentations, both of them failed to produce the target concentration of ethanol and accumulated high concentration of acetic acid. Both A WRI crosses displayed higher loss of or reduced copies in ITS rDNA region from the S. bayanus parent compared to the S. cerevisiae parent; however, these genomic losses could not be related to the metabolic profile.


The first English-language biography of the de facto ruler of the late Ottoman Empire and architect of the Armenian GenocideTalaat Pasha (1874-1921) led the triumvirate that ruled the late Ottoman Empire during World War I and is arguably the father of modern Turkey. He was also the architect of the Armenian Genocide, which would result in the systematic extermination of more than a million people, and which set the stage for a century that would witness atrocities on a scale never imagined. Here is the first biography in English of the revolutionary figure who not only prepared the way for Ataturk and the founding of the republic in 1923, but who shaped the modern world as well.In this explosive book, Hans-Lukas Kieser provides a mesmerizing portrait of a man who maintained power through a potent blend of the new Turkish ethno-nationalism, the political Islam of former Sultan Abdulhamid II, and a readiness to employ radical "solutions" and violence. From Talaat's role in the Young Turk Revolution of 1908 to his exile from Turkey and assassination--a sensation in Weimar Germany-Kieser restores the Ottoman drama to the heart of world events. He shows how Talaat wielded far more power than previously realized, making him the de facto ruler of the empire. He brings wartime Istanbul vividly to life as a thriving diplomatic hub, and reveals how Talaat's cataclysmic actions would reverberate across the twentieth century.In this major work of scholarship, Kieser tells the story of the brilliant and merciless politician who stood at the twilight of empire and the dawn of the age of genocide.


This article claims that statutory drafting errors undermine the basic tenet of the textualist theory of statutory interpretation, which is that statutory text is the law that courts must follow. Courts should, the article suggests, be permitted to depart from statutory text in appropriate cases. The article claims that background principles of law can and do play a critical role in helping courts identify cases in which such departures are appropriate. The article begins by examining a curious error in a very well-known statute, the basic federal venue statute. The statute permits plaintiffs in federal civil cases to lay venue in "a judicial district where any defendant resides, if all defendants reside in the same state." 28 U.S.C. Section 1391(a)(1), (b)(1). It would seem obvious that, to lay venue based on this provision, a plaintiff must bring suit in some judicial district in the state in which all defendants reside. In fact, however, the article shows that, in some cases in which all defendants reside in the same state, this provision permits a plaintiff to lay venue in some other state. This perverse result was surely never intended by the statute's drafters; it is a drafting error. The article uses this error as the jumping-off point for a discussion of the implications that such errors have for theories of statutory interpretation. Such errors, the article claims, undermine the textualist theory of interpretation by forcing textualists to choose between two unappealing alternatives: either the textualists must endorse unacceptably foolish results, or they must abandon their fundamental belief that statutory text is the law. This flaw in the textualist theory does not, however, mean that courts must employ the full license permitted by the intentionalist theory of interpretation, which the textualists rightly criticize. Courts need a method that helps them to determine when departure from statutory text is appropriate. The article proposes that courts make this determination by looking to background principles of law. In the case of the venue statute, the relevant background principle is that venue doctrines exist to ensure that cases are tried in convenient forums. The startling incongruity between this principle and the venue statute (if interpreted literally) demonstrates the need for a departure from the literal statutory text. The article suggests that this technique of "contextualism," defined as "interpreting statutes in the context provided by the judicially discoverable background principles of the relevant area of law," can serve as a generally useful guide to the interpretation of statutes.


It is commonly accepted that the major control on long-term eustasy is variation in sea-floor spreading rate. The middle Cretaceous sea-level highstand, in particular, has been correlated with a postulated pulse of rapid spreading in the Pacific basin. This inferred event took place during the Cretaceous normal superchron (CNS) and has also been used as evidence for the existence of superplumes from the deep mantle, giving a causative link between core-mantle interactions and the record of sea-level change. There are reasons, however, to question the foundation upon which this linkage is based. Recent studies of marine geochemistry show no evidence for large hydrothermal fluxes during middle Cretaceous time that require major increases in oceanic spreading rates. Plate reorganizations in the Pacific during the CNS show evidence of ridge jumps, indicating that more of the sea floor of this age may be preserved than has been presumed. Improvements in the Mesozoic time scale indicate that the CNS was longer than previously assumed, reducing the need for rapid spreading rates in the Pacific basin. Middle Cretaceous rapid plate generation rates are not needed to explain the history of sea-level change. Long-term eustasy can easily be accounted for by supercontinent breakup, variations in the distribution of crust consumed at subduction zones, and other effects. Because the inferred pulse of spreading was, in part, used to argue for the existence of a superplume, the basis for this hypothesis is diminished. The phenomena attributed to deep mantle plumes can be accounted for by plate tectonic forces and plate reorganization. Hence, we question the basis and need for the Cretaceous pulse of rapid sea-floor spreading.


This Article connects two growing categories of academic literature and policy reform: arguments for treating young adults in the criminal justice system more leniently than older adults because of evidence showing brain development and maturation continue until the mid-twenties; and arguments calling for reducing mass incarceration and identifying various mechanisms to do so. These categories overlap, but research has not previously built in depth connections between the two.
Connecting the two bodies of literature helps identify and strengthen arguments for reform. First, changing charging, detention, and sentencing practices for young adults is one important tool to reduce mass incarceration. Young adults commit a disproportionate number of crimes. Because so many offenders are young adults, treating young adults less severely could have significant impacts on the number of individuals incarcerated.
Second, focusing on young adults responds to retributive arguments in defense of existing sentencing policies, especially for violent offenses. The mass incarceration literature shows that sentences for violent offenses explain much, if not most, of recent decades' prison growth. Young adult violent offenders deserve punishment, but their youth mitigates their culpability and thus offers a response to retributive calls for long sentences.
Third, considering mass incarceration can add both urgency and new ideas to the growing debate about reforming sentencing of young adults. Such reforms have thus far been tentative, following well-grounded desires to test different alternative interventions for young adults. The mass incarceration literature adds an important consideration – the status quo demands prompt and far-reaching reform – and new ideas, such as prosecutorial charging guidelines that encompass defendants' age.


The recent development of efficient electrostatic ReCyclone r © systems allows their application to biomass boilers for strict legal limit compliance. The purpose of this paper is to present a model to predict in a more realistic way the collection efficiency of a gas cyclone with an electrostatic enhanced recirculation system. These systems consist in an optimized reverse-flow cyclone (collector) combined with partial recirculation of un-captured particles via a straight-through cyclone (concentrator). A DC electric field is applied to the concentrator to enhance particle recirculation to the cyclone collector, leading to very high collection efficiencies. To model the system, a computer program (PACyc) was recently developed. The model, starts by estimating the collection efficiency of a system without agglomeration, building what is referred as the baseline grade-efficiency curve. To build this baseline curve, the PACyc model relies on previously published models to predict collection efficiency either for isolated cyclones, or for cyclones with mechanical/electrostatic recirculation. After solving the particle trajectory in a turbulent flow field inside the cyclone, and by employing a fixed set of parameters, PACyc determines if a collision/agglomeration occurs. The result of this procedure is an altered grade-efficiency curve after agglomeration (a composite curve), since the initial particles will have a dynamic behavior inside the cyclone as a newly formed agglomerate. The calculated efficiency will significantly increase above theoretical predictions without agglomeration, and this can be observed in various experimental results, usually referred as "hook-like" gradeefficiency curves. Some experimental results obtained in biomass boilers burning wood and coke are presented, together with the corresponding PACyc predictions on grade and global collection efficiencies.


This article examines lower-income Canadians' protests around the personal income tax aspects of Canadian war finance during the Second World War. It describes criticisms of the 1942 amendments to the Income War Tax Act and the means by which lower-income Canadians registered their concerns, through absenteeism, labour organization, and participation in public debate, drawing on their resources as voters (through political parties) and as prospective contributors to war savings campaigns. The finance minister and others took these protests seriously as a threat to war finance and the stabilization program. Consequently, the Department of Finance and the Department of National Revenue, together with the Wartime Information Board, responded vigorously to the protests, through various public relations campaigns and through a series of amendments to the tax statute. These responses to tax protest contributed to the process, normally seen as driven by either macroeconomics or social security ideology, or both, that led to Canada's Family Allowance Act, a landmark in the evolution of the Canadian welfare state. By pointing to the influence of tax protest by smaller income tax payers on the decision to expand the welfare state, the story told here shows how the communitarian public opinion of the war years was also shaped in part by self-interested pocketbook politics.


Quietists aim to bring something to rest, to move it from activity to quiescence. This essay depicts and advocates a quietism of political interest, which is to say a divorce of political action from interest in the outcome of such action. Its principal interlocutor is Pascal, whose 1657 letter to Périer argues, on theological and epistemological grounds, for exactly such a separation. The essay argues that a quietism of political interest has several advantages over ordinary consequentialist political advocacy and action, the most important among which is that the former can acknowledge that in a complex political system we are ordinarily unable to predict the results of enacting what we advocate, while the latter must occlude that fact. Quietists of political interest must replace concern with outcome by something else as a motive or cause for political advocacy and action; and while there are many possibilities here, in the West the only lively form of such quietism has been Christian-theological, in which political advocacy and action are, ideal-typically and sometimes actually, undertaken under the threefold assumption that: (1) advocacy of a political proposal assumes that justice in the political sphere is not attainable but must nonetheless be sought; (2) advocacy of a political proposal assumes that while Christian advocates can act unjustly, they cannot suffer injustice; and (3) advocacy of a political proposal proceeds always without concern for the outcome.


This article investigates the effects of geometric parameters on a turbulent asymmetrical heat transfer in vertical channels with radiation and blowing from a wall. Hydrodynamic behaviour and heat transfer results are obtained by the solution of the complete Navier–Stokes and energy equations using a control volume finite element method. In this paper, commercial codes were used to solve the equations. The equations involved were numerically solved with three turbulent models including Spalart-Allmaras, R-N-G k-e with 'standard wall function' wall nearby model, R-N-G k-e with 'enhanced wall treatment' wall nearby model and 'ray tracing' radiation techniques. Turbulent flow with 'low Reynolds Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model' and radiation with 'discrete transfer radiation method' was modelled. The results were compared with experimental data and appropriate methods were selected for turbulent modelling. The problems of different Grashof number, Reynolds number, radiation parameters and Prandtl number were solved and the effects of geometric parameters on the fluid flow, radiation-convection-blowing heat transfer and the total efficiency were determined.Copyright © 2015 by ASME


This Article focuses on a 1998 New York law that required physicians and other health officials to report individuals who test positive for HIV, AIDS, or other HIV-related illnesses to the municipal health commissioner. As New York has the highest rate of reported AIDS cases, the Article notes that the state's decision to enact this law could have significant influence on other states. It begins by describing the partner notification system laws in the United States, and then presents arguments for and against partner notification. The Article ultimately argues for a modified version of the New York law. This refined system would call for a unique identifier system that would focus on valuable factors such as risk behavior, instead of name reporting, with the ultimate goal of effective implementation and patient privacy.


This paper estimates flexible child health production functions to investigate whether better water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) practices make nutrition intake more productive for children aged 6-24 months. Using cohort data, with detailed information on nutrition intake and WASH investments, and a control function approach to account for endogeneity of inputs, we show that better WASH increases the productivity of protein and calories in the formation of child health using as proxies child height and weight. We also uncover heterogeneity in the productivity of these inputs by child gender: nutritional intake is found to be more productive for boys, and WASH investments more productive for girls. Further analysis indicates that this is not driven by differential parental investments by child gender. Although the study sample are children born in the early 1980s they faced similar nutritional and WASH conditions as those faced by children currently living in poor households in low-income settings. JEL Codes: I12, I15, O15, O18, Q53


Atmospheric NH3 plays a vital role not only in the environmental ecosystem but also in atmosphere chemistry. To further understand the effects of NH3 on the formation of haze pollution in Beijing, ambient NH3 and related species were measured and simulated at high resolutions during the wintertime Air Pollution and Human Health‐Beijing (APHH‐Beijing) campaign in 2016. We found that the total NHx (gaseous NH3+particle NH4+) was mostly in excess of the SO42−‐NO3−‐NH4+‐water equilibrium system during our campaign. This NHx excess made medium aerosol acidity, with the median pH value being 3.6 and 4.5 for polluted and nonpolluted conditions, respectively, and enhanced the formation of particle phase nitrate. Our analysis suggests that NH4NO3 is the most important factor driving the increasing of aerosol water content with NO3− controlling the prior pollution stage and NH4+ the most polluted stage. Increased formation of NH4NO3 under excess NHx, especially during the nighttime, may trigger the decreasing of aerosol deliquescence relative humidity even down to less than 50% and hence lead to hygroscopic growth even under RH conditions lower than 50% and the wet aerosol particles become better medium for rapid heterogeneous reactions. A further increase of RH promotes the positive feedback "aerosol water content‐heterogeneous reactions" and ultimately leads to the formation of severe haze. Modeling results by Nested Air Quality Prediction Monitor System (NAQPMS) show the control of 20% NH3 emission may affect 5–11% of particulate matter PM2.5 formation under current emissions conditions in the North China Plain.


The most powerful marketing, service, and information-distribution tool a library has today is its Web site, but providing Web content in many languages is complex. Before allocating scarce technical and financial resources, it is valuable to learn about writing systems, types of writing, how computers render and represent writing systems, and to study potential problem areas and their possible solutions. The accepted Web standard for presenting languages is Unicode and a full understanding of its history and the coding tools it provides is essential to making appropriate decisions for specific multilingual and internationalization projects. Actual coding examples, as well as a sampling of existing multilingual library services, also serve to illuminate the path of implementation.


Chemical fertilizers play a significant role in increasing plant production; however, they may have a negative impact on soil fertility and cause environmental degradation in cases of excessive use. In addition, the highest levels in chemical fertilizer use have already been reached, and further yield increases do not seem possible. Due to their negative impact on soils and the environment, alternatives to chemical fertilizers are needed. Today, biological alternatives are yielding promising outcomes. Biological nitrogen fixation may constitute a significant alternative in organic farming. Therefore, in the present study, the effects of single, dual, and triple combinations of phosphorus-solubilizing [Bacillus megaterium var. phosphaticum (M-13)] and nitrogen-fixing bacteria [Stenotrophomonas maltophilia (82) and Ralstonia pickettii (73)] treatments were compared with chemical fertilizer and control treatments with regard to wheat efficiency parameters. The efficiency parameters of the triple bacteria inoculation (73 + 82 + M-13) treatment were close to those of chemical fertilizers: up to 94.3% of the nitrogen uptake efficiency, 94.1% of the nitrogen translocation efficiency, 85.9% of the nitrogen use efficiency, 91.9% of the agronomic efficiency, and 91.7% of the water use efficiency of chemical fertilizers were reached. In terms of efficiency, the triple combination (73 + 82) was followed by the nitrogen-fixing dual bacteria treatment. Therefore, the triple bacteria combination may be recommended as an alternative fertilization method in organic wheat farming.


Many non-native plants in the US have become problematic invaders of native and managed ecosystems, but a new generation of invasive species may be at our doorstep. Here, we review trends in the horticultural trade and invasion patterns of previously introduced species and show that novel species introductions from emerging horticultural trade partners are likely to rapidly increase invasion risk. At the same time, climate change and water restrictions are increasing demand for new types of species adapted to warm and dry environments. This confluence of forces could expose the US to a range of new invasive species, including many from tropical and semiarid Africa as well as the Middle East. Risk assessment strategies have proven successful elsewhere at identifying and preventing invasions, although some modifications are needed to address emerging threats. Now is the time to implement horticulture import screening measures to prevent this new wave of plant invasions.


In this study, porous silicon (PS) samples were prepared on n-type silicon (100) wafers by electrochemical etching method, varying the current density from 20 to 100mA/cm2 and keeping constant HF concentration (10%) and etching time of 15min. Then, Ag thin films, which have 10, 50 and 100nm film thicknesses, were deposited on PS layers by using thermal evaporation to investigate the influence of Ag film thickness on structural and optical properties of PS. The structural and optical properties of PS and Ag deposited PS layers have been investigated by XRD, FE-SEM, Raman and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. FE-SEM XRD and Raman analyzes indicate that average pore size and porosity of PS layers increase with the increasing current density. Further, Ag nanoparticles have embedded in pore channel. PL measurement reveals that higher porosity of PS would be better to form the Ag–PS nano-composite material leading to stronger PL band. The PL spectra of PS and Ag–PS samples indicate that PL bands show blue shift with increasing current density and film thickness. Consequently, it has been found that the structural and optical properties of PS depend on current density and Ag film thickness individually.