Background Neoangiogenesis occurring in inflamed articular synovium in early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is characterized by enhanced vascular permeability that allows nanoparticle agents, including liposomes, to deliver encapsulated drugs to arthritic joints and subsequently improve therapeutic efficacy and reduce adverse effects. However, the targeting distribution of liposomes in arthritic joints during RA has not been quantitatively demonstrated. We performed this study to evaluate the targeting distribution of PEGylated doxorubicin liposomes in the arthritic joints of collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) rats by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Material/Methods Two doxorubicin formulations were administered to CIA rats via tail intravenous injection at a single dose (50 mg/m2). CIA rats were sacrificed and the tissues of the inflamed ankle joints were collected. The content of doxorubicin in the arthritic joints was analyzed by a validated and reproducible HPLC method. A two-way ANOVA for 2×5 factorial design was used for statistical analysis. Results The developed HPLC method was sensitive, precise, and reproducible. The method was successfully applied to quantify doxorubicin content in arthritic tissues. At each time point (6, 12, 24, 48, and 72 h), doxorubicin content in the arthritic joints of the doxorubicin liposome group (DOX-LIP group) was higher than in the free doxorubicin group (DOX group) (P<0.05). In the DOX-LIP group, doxorubicin levels in the arthritic joints increased gradually and significantly in the interval of 6–72 h post-administration. Conclusions PEGylated doxorubicin liposomes were targeted to, accumulated, and retained in the arthritic joints of CIA rats. The present study indicates that liposome encapsulation increases the therapeutic efficacy of antirheumatic drugs, presenting a promising therapeutic strategy for RA.


In this engaging introduction to the New Testament, Professor Dale B. Martin presents a historical study of the origins of Christianity by analyzing the literature of the earliest Christian movements. Focusing mainly on the New Testament, he also considers nonbiblical Christian writings of the era. Martin begins by making a powerful case for the study of the New Testament. He next sets the Greco-Roman world in historical context and explains the place of Judaism within it. In the discussion of each New Testament book that follows, the author addresses theological themes, then emphasizes the significance of the writings as ancient literature and as sources for historical study. Throughout the volume, Martin introduces various early Christian groups and highlights the surprising variations among their versions of Christianity.


Shoot, root, and callus induction were examined in the North American lily Lilium michiganense in response to treatment with four auxin-type plant growth regulators (PGR). Seed from controlled crosses were aseptically excised from slightly immature capsules and cultured in vitro on Murashige and Skoog basal medium and vitamins with 30 gL -1 sucrose, 7.0 gL -1 agar, and a pH = 5.7. Seed were maintained at 20 8C with a 14-h photoperiod. After 5.0 to 5.5 months, leaves and roots were removed from seedlings, the bulbs transversely sectioned, then the bulb sections cultured cut-surface down on the identical medium supplemented with 0.0, 1.0, 2.0, 4.0, or 8.0 mM dicamba, picloram, K-NAA, or 2,4-D. Morphogenetic response was tabulated 4 months after treatment. Shoot formation was promoted by treatment with dicamba, picloram, and K-NAA in comparison with the control (2.5 shoots/explant). Shoot formation varied significantly in response to individual dicamba, picloram, and 2,4-D concentrations. A maximumof7.9shoots perexplantwaspromotedby4.0 mMK-NAA and1.0 mMdicamba, respectively. Root and callus formation also varied significantly between PGR treat- ments. Root formation was inhibited by dicamba, picloram, and 2,4-D treatments in comparison with the control (100% rooting); callus formation was promoted by dicamba, picloram, and K-NAA treatments in comparison with the control (15% callusing).


Books on climate change are coming out at an increasing rate, and in my mind we cannot get enough of them. I see climate change as the problem that trumps all others for the next few decades. Indeed, predicted warming increases will exacerbate most of our other major problems such as HIV/AIDS, pandemics, malnutrition, income inequality within and between nations, gender inequality and so on. So we should be glad to see an eminent sociologist, Anthony Giddens, authoring a book on global warming; sociologists have neglected the topic. As the first by a major sociological theorist, Bill Clinton's blurb correctly calls it a "landmark study."


On July 4, 1845, Henry David Thoreau moved into the cabin he had built on the shore of Walden Pond, thus beginning the most famous experiment in simple living in American history. On the 150th anniversary of that event, Houghton Mifflin, successor to Thoreau's original publisher, is proud to publish a new edition of Walden, annotated by the distinguished Thoreau scholar Walter Harding and illustrated with Thoreau's own drawings. Even those who have read Walden many times will find much that is new in this edition, and those reading the book for the first time will discover why it has changed the lives of generations of readers.


We investigate the piecewise-stationary combinatorial semi-bandit problem. Compared to the original combinatorial semi-bandit problem, our setting assumes the reward distributions of base arms may change in a piecewise-stationary manner at unknown time steps. We propose an algorithm, GLR-CUCB, which incorporates an efficient combinatorial semi-bandit algorithm, CUCB, with an almost parameter-free change-point detector, the Generalized Likelihood Ratio Test (GLRT). Our analysis shows that the regret of GLR-CUCB is upper bounded by O(√NKT log T), where N is the number of piecewise-stationary segments, K is the number of base arms, and T is the number of time steps. As a complement, we also derive a nearly matching regret lower bound on the order of Ω(√NKT), for both piecewise-stationary multi-armed bandits and combinatorial semi-bandits, using information-theoretic techniques and judiciously constructed piecewise-stationary bandit instances. Our lower bound is tighter than the best available regret lower bound, which is Ω(√T). Numerical experiments on both synthetic and real-world datasets demonstrate the superiority of GLR-CUCB compared to other state-of-the-art algorithms.


Abstract : In today's business environment, multiple organizations routinely work collaboratively in pursuit of a single mission. These separate efforts result in process and programmatic complexity that is difficult to manage effectively. Mission success in these complex settings demands a collaborative management approach that effectively coordinates task execution and decision-making activities among all participating groups. Managing for mission success requires establishing and maintaining a reasonable degree of confidence that a mission's objectives will be successfully achieved. Confidence at the mission level requires establishing and maintaining a corresponding level of confidence in the people, processes, and technologies used to achieve a mission. The Software Engineering Institute (SEI) is currently developing the Mission-Oriented Success Analysis and Improvement Criteria (MOSAIC) a suite of advanced, risk-based analysis methods for assessing complex, distributed programs, processes, and information-technology systems. With SEI MOSAIC methods, management can establish and maintain confidence in success throughout the life cycle and help provide assurance at the mission, system, and program levels. This technical note provides an executive overview of the concepts and foundations of SEI MOSAIC.


This study was carried out to investigate the use of agricultural information sources and services by farmers for improve productivity in Kwara state, Nigeria. The objectives of the study was to determine the information sources and services available to farmers in Kwara State and assess the purpose for which farmers in kwara state utilize available information sources and services. The study adopted the survey design in a population of 55,522 farmers from whom 447 were sampled in six local government areas, which were made up of two from each of the three senatorial districts in the State. Questionnaire and interviews were used to generate data, which were descriptively analysed to answer the research questions. The results showed that the information sources and service mostly used by the farmers included relations, fellow farmers, town criers, television, mobile phones, film shows, radio, etc. The need for information made the farmers to use it for crop and animal production; pests, diseases and weed control; fishing; disaster control and mitigation, fertilizer procurement and application; post-harvest technology; sourcing for labour; agricultural credit; etc. The study therefore recommended that Kwara State Government should train extension workers on how to use information communication technology such as mobile phone on how to subscribe for agricultural information and also there is a need to extend agricultural extension services to all the local government areas through established centers where farmers can obtain required information on agricultural productivity, marketing of farm produce and post harvest technology to increase their productivity.


Islam, Liberalism, and Human Rights, by Katerina Dalacoura. London and New York: LB. Tauris, 1999. viii + 209 pages. Bibl. to p. 231. Index to p. 238. $19.95 paper. Reviewed by Susan Waltz For more than a decade, there has been an intellectual debate about the compatibility of Islam and human rights. For students of Islam and Arabo-Muslim traditions, the debate turns around the political interpretation and application of Islamic law, and, notably, the legal doctrines that were developed by jurists in the early centuries after the Prophet Muhammad's death. Arguments may likewise be located within a larger debate between cultural relativism (Hegelian communitarianism) and universalism (Kantian cosmopolitanism). From either perspective, the debate is a highly charged one, and discussion is complicated by the fact that neither "Islam" nor "human rights" is invariably defined. Human rights is alternatively viewed as a philosophical concept, a legally-defined concept, and a 20th century political project and political construct. Islam is variously represented as doctrine and as political practice. Those who expound the tenets of Islam may have in mind their own direct (but inevitably selective) reading of sacred texts, an established tradition of Islamic law, or political doctrine extending from the writings of Islamic scholars; alternatively, they may refer to social and political practices prevalent in Arab society, or Islaminfluenced practices common across the full span of predominantly Muslim societies. Proponents of various positions do not necessarily accept the same premises, approaches, or definitions. It is therefore not surprising that many arguments end up at cross purpose, in a deafening dialogue of the deaf. Into this mayhem, Katerina Dalacoura has bravely stepped. She has assembled a thoughtful and cogent inquiry that separates and analyzes elements of this deeply entangled argument. Dalacoura sets out to determine if there is, in the first instance, an inherent logical conflict between Islam as a religion and the value of human rights (used interchangeably with the term "liberalism"). Are the two concerns mutually exclusive? In two complex chapters, she reviews contemporary and philosophically contending approaches to both human rights and Islam. She asks if Islam and human rights can be compatible and concludes with what is arguably the most significant contribution of the book: an intellectual argument for decoupling liberalism and secularism in the study of Middle Eastern politics. Dalacoura contests the commonly accepted, but infrequently inspected assertion that in Islam, religion and politics are one. The fact of doctrinal difference creates space for differing political representations of Islamic principles, including those compatible with international human rights standards. …


All accredited institutions in the United States that are involved in distance learning initiatives need to be concerned about how their programs and courses will be viewed by accreditation organizations. A review of the policies of several major accreditation associations and professional groups, national, regional and specialized, yields similar results when issues of distance learning are concerned. These requirements are reviewed. Virtually all accreditors require evidence of regular assessment processes. Alternative methods for conducting these assessments are proposed.


This article examines the experience of doing advocacy for Roma rights as expressed by activists themselves. Grounded in the case of Romania, the study draws from examples of discrimination, self-interrogation and identity shifts, contextual alliances, and wider European funding processes. The stories shared by Romanian activists reveal discursive practices of disillusion and success. Disappointment emerged in connection to typically large-scale fissures in social, cultural, political, and economic systems, while optimism and drive were evident primarily at a micro level, in the lives of individual people, and in hyperlocalized action. This is not bad news for intervention given that incremental change still counts; yet, the vision of activism and the funding system need to be mindful of such reality and to adjust accordingly.


Cities in the US have become home to an increasing concentration of poor households, disproportionately composed of racial and ethnic minorities. In the US, poor and minority populations are overrepresented in public housing, mostly located in central cities. Racial and ethnic minorities in American public housing are, for the most part, composed of native-born households whereas in Europe they are more likely to be foreign-born. After a description of this concentration of poor and minority populations in public housing, we examine the effect of public housing on neighbourhood poverty rates in central cities. We construct a longitudinal database (1950-90) for four large cities-Boston, Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia—and examine the relationship between the location of public housing and changes in neighbourhood poverty rates. We find that in each city, one or more of the variables relating to the existence of public housing is significantly related to increases in neighbourhood poverty rates in succeeding decades.


In this paper, the influence of the bulk temperature (BT) of Polycarbonate (PC) on the occurrence and growth of Laser-induced Periodic Surface Structures (LIPSS) is studied. Ultrashort UV laser pulses with various laser peak fluence levels F0 and various numbers of overscans (NOS) were applied on the surface of pre-heated Polycarbonate at different bulk temperatures. Increased BT leads to a stronger absorption of laser energy by the Polycarbonate. For NOS<1000 High Spatial Frequency LIPSS (HSFL), Low Spatial Frequency LIPSS perpendicular (LSFL-I) and parallel (LSFL-II) to the laser polarization were only observed on the rim of the ablated tracks on the surface but not in the center of the tracks. For NOS≥1000, it was found that when pre-heating the polymer to a BT close its glass transition temperature (Tg), the laser fluence to achieve similar LIPSS as when processed at room temperature decreases by a factor of two. LSFL types I and II were obtained on PC at a BT close to Tg and their periods and amplitudes were similar to typical values found in the literature. To the best of the author's knowledge, it is the first time both LSFL types developed simultaneously and consistently on the same sample under equal laser processing parameters. The evolution of LIPSS from HSFL, over LSFL-II to LSFL I, is described, depending on laser peak fluence levels, number of pulses processing the spot and bulk temperature.


About the book:
The adoption by companies of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policies is routinely characterised as voluntary. But if CSR is self-governance by business, it is self-governance that has received a firm push from external social and market forces, from forces of social accountability. Law is also playing a more significant role than the image of CSR suggests, and this legal accountability - the focus of the book - is set to increase. Legal intervention should not, however, be seen as making social accountability redundant. Wider ethical standards and social and market forces are also necessary to make legal regulation effective. Law is being brought into play in innovative and indirect ways. The initiative lies as much with private organizations as with the state. At the same time governments are using social and market forces to foster CSR. In the context of corporate social responsibility, a new, multi-faceted, corporate accountability is emerging.


Aerosol‐cloud interactions (ACI) represent a significant source of forcing uncertainty in global climate models (GCMs). Estimates of radiative forcing due to ACI in Fifth Assessment Report range from −0.5 to −2.5 W m−2. A portion of this uncertainty is related to the first indirect, or Twomey, effect whereby aerosols act as nuclei for cloud droplets to condense upon. At constant liquid water content this increases the number of cloud droplets (Nd) and thus increases the cloud albedo. In this study we use remote‐sensing estimates of Nd within stratocumulus regions in combination with state‐of‐the‐art aerosol reanalysis from Modern‐Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications version 2 (MERRA2) to diagnose how aerosols affect Nd. As in previous studies, Nd is related to sulfate mass through a power law relationship. The slope of the log‐log relationship between Nd and SO4 in maritime stratocumulus is found to be 0.31, which is similar to the range of 0.2–0.8 from previous in situ studies and remote‐sensing studies in the pristine Southern Ocean. Using preindustrial emissions models, the change in Nd between preindustrial and present day is estimated. Nd is inferred to have more than tripled in some regions. Cloud properties from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) are used to estimate the radiative forcing due to this change in Nd. The Twomey effect operating in isolation is estimated to create a radiative forcing of −0.97 ± 0.23 W m−2 relative to the preindustrial era.


On September 18th., 1971 while looking for nests of the Brown sugar ant C. maculatus on the slopes of the Twelve Apostles three fully grown butterfly larvae were found in the first nest encountered. The larvae together with about fifteen ants, large and small workers, were kept in a plaster of paris nest. The larvae pupated at the end of September and were removed from the nest and kept in larger containers. One specimen was kept on moist cotton wool and the other two on moist garden soil.


Employing peripheral blood leucocytes as the model of the study, we proved how ketotifen blocks the inhibiting effect that the antigen induces over the adenyl cyclase activity in asthmatic individuals with sensitization to Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus. The strength of the Ketotifen effect is comparable to that produced on beta-receptor stimulation by isoproterenol. On the other hand, we found that within the same age range, the activity of adenyl cyclase in asthmatic individuals is comparable to healthy individuals, although the response is not the same to isoporoterenol which is greater in the control group. This is probably due to the diminished number of beta-receptors in asthmatic individuals as compared to healthy ones.


Introduction Niacinamide, also known as nicotinamide, is a water-soluble amide of nicotinic acid. Niacinamide is one of two principal forms of the B-complex vitamin, B3. Niacin was first isolated from rice bran in 1911. Niacinamide, the amide of niacin, was later isolated in 1934 by Warburg and Christian when coenzyme II, NADP, was extracted from horse erythrocytes. While niacinamide and niacin have identical vitamin activities (i.e., they both prevent development of the vitamin B3-deficiency condition, pellagra), they have very different pharmacological activities.


The book helps readers to understand the fundamentals of water purification processes. Chapters in the book cover industrial purification techniques, while also exploring the future scope and current challenges in this field.

Key Features

- Seven chapters arranged and structured in a clear, coherent manner for understanding the broad topics.

- Covers basic water purification techniques for safe drinking water

- Covers defluoridation techniques

- Explains the parameters affecting photocatalytic degradation of substituted benzoic acids.

- Includes a case study for seasonal variations in pond water

- Covers the role of nanotechnology in wastewater treatment

- Covers the impact of water mismanagement on the environment with suggestions for preventive measures for sustainable water utilization

This reference informs advanced readers (sustainable development professionals, post-graduate and research scholars) interested in water treatment processes. It also serves as a resource for courses in environmental chemistry, waste management and sustainability.


We develop a pseudo-metric analogue of bisimulation for generalized semiMarkov processes. The kernel of this pseudo-metric corresponds to bisimulation; thus we have extended bisimulation for continuous-time probabilistic processes to a much broader class of distributions than exponential distributions. This pseudo-metric gives a useful handle on approximate reasoning in the presence of numerical information - such as probabilities and time - in the model. We give a fixed point characterization of the pseudo-metric. This makes available coinductive reasoning principles for reasoning about distances. We demonstrate that our approach is insensitive to potentially ad hoc articulations of distance by showing that it is intrinsic to an underlying uniformity. We provide a logical characterization of this uniformity using a real-valued modal logic. We show that several quantitative properties of interest are continuous with respect to the pseudo-metric. Thus, if two processes are metrically close, then observable quantitative properties of interest are indeed close.


Recirculation and pulse-phase methods of measuring the range, based on a two-wave injection laser, are proposed for precision laser rangefinder systems. The radiator of the rangefinder consists of a laser diode with an asymmetric quantum-size heterostructure that generates probe radiation at two different wavelengths, depending on the pump current. The system makes it possible to obtain information on the propagation rate of radiation in the medium along the observation line and to take into account its value when calculating the range from the optical delay, and this enhances the distance-measuring accuracy.


Utilization of unskilled birth attendants' (UBA) services by women in Mbirikani division of Kajiado County was studied. The study described the proportion of women who utilized UBA services, determined factors that influenced the utilization, established the levels of awareness and acceptance of the 2007 RH policy action on TBAs and suggested ways to engage UBAs in RH. 328 women, 15 TBAs and 3 key informants were sampled in the cross sectional study. Questionnaires and interviews were used to collect data. TBAs' activities over four weeks were recorded. The study area was selected purposively. Mbirikani Division was clustered into four sub-locations from which women were selected by simple random sampling. Purposive sampling of TBAs and key informants was employed. Data was analyzed by Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and presented in charts, graphs and tables. Statistical tests and qualitative inference were used to interpret the results. 84.1% (276) of women utilized the services at least once. Utilization of UBA services was highest during delivery at 68%, was 49% for antenatal care (ANC) and 53% for postnatal care (PNC). TBAs offered ANC, delivery, PNC and family planning (FP) services. Utilization of UBA services at least once was higher among uneducated women, those who lived more than 1 hour from a health facility, had more than six children and were aged 35-49 years, Odds ratio (OR) 10.46, 4.21, 3.25 and 2.69 respectively. Women's education, distance to the health facility and age were significantly associated to ANC, delivery and PNC services. The number of children was associated with delivery and PNC services' utilization, marital status with ANC services while income level with PNC services, p values 0.05) both with negative correlation. 20% of women and 73% of TBAs were aware of RH policy on TBAs, 62% and 67% rejected the policy respectively. Allowing UBAs to distribute health care supplies and drugs, assist in delivery preparedness, refer and assist women with house chores were some of the suggested ways to utilize UBAs. Majority of women were utilizing UBA services despite policy actions in RH, largely due to low literacy levels and cultural influence. The study recommended sensitization and promotion of skilled RH services among women and TBAs; campaigning against negative culture, improve literacy levels among women and insecurity from wild life. Safe utilization of UBAs and how best to eliminate the barriers in poor rural settings should be carried out.


Adapting web pages to cultural preferences has been shown to improve communication effectiveness. However, the lack of a set of research-based web design guidelines or best practices renders the creation of culturally tailored versions of a website a time-consuming, costly task which is rarely undertaken by designers. This research aims to develop guidelines for cross-cultural web design to overcome these issues. The authors' prior work has provided empirical data showing significant cultural differences in the usage of design web attributes. These are used to determine a relationship between design attributes, cultural factors, and HCI factors. The result is a synthesis of culturally specific design attributes and published theories of culture to create a set of website design guidelines. The development process involved five steps: evaluation of the usage of design elements between cultures, identification of prominent design elements, organisation of cultural factors, organisation of HCI factors, and finally development the cross-cultural design guidelines. It is hoped that these evidence and research based guidelines will ultimately enhance website usability for users from different cultural backgrounds.


ABSTRACT The influences of state government have been curiously absent from most studies of collaboration among cities. Extant research on city collaboration which promotes on climate and environmental sustainability issues focuses primarily on local-level institutions, politics, and processes. Thus, the role of states to constrain or facilitate collaboration among local governments needs to be more fully accounted for. Building on transaction cost and institutional collective action theory and drawing on data from a national survey of US cities, we investigate the influences of city-level factors together with the hierarchical effects of state rules and policies on the extent to which mechanisms for interlocal collaboration are employed in pursuing climate protection and renewable energy development goals. The results confirm predictions that multilevel intergovernmental forces influence the extent to which cities collaborate. These results have both theoretical and practical implications for understanding interlocal collaborations.


SUMMARY 1. In this review, we first summarize how hydrologic connectivity has been studied for riverine fish capable of moving long distances, and then identify research opportunities that have clear conservation significance. Migratory species, such as anadromous salmonids, are good model organisms for understanding ecological connectivity in rivers because the spatial scale over which movements occur among freshwater habitats is large enough to be easily observed with available techniques; they are often economically or culturally valuable with habitats that can be easily fragmented by human activities; and they integrate landscape conditions from multiple surrounding catchment(s) with in-river conditions. Studies have focussed on three themes: (i) relatively stable connections (connections controlled by processes that act over broad spatio-temporal scales >1000 km 2 and >100 years); (ii) dynamic connections (connections controlled by processes acting over fine to moderate spatio-temporal scales1–1000 km 2 and <1–100 years); and (iii) anthropogenic influences on hydrologic connectivity, including actions that disrupt or enhance natural connections experienced by fish. 2. We outline eight challenges to understanding the role of connectivity in riverine fish ecology, organized under three foci: (i) addressing the constraints of river structure; (ii) embracing temporal complexity in hydrologic connectivity; and (iii) managing connectivity for riverine fishes. Challenges include the spatial structure of stream networks, the force and direction of flow, scale-dependence of connectivity, shifting boundaries, complexity of behaviour and life histories and quantifying anthropogenic influence on connectivity and aligning management goals. As we discuss each challenge, we summarize relevant approaches in the literature and provide additional suggestions for improving research and management of connectivity for riverine fishes. 3. Specifically, we suggest that rapid advances are possible in the following arenas: (i) incorporating network structure and river discharge into analyses; (ii) increasing explicit consideration of temporal complexity and fish behaviour in the scope of analyses; and (iii) parsing degrees of human and natural influences on connectivity and defining acceptable alterations. Multiscale analyses are most likely to identify dominant patterns of connections and disconnections, and the appropriate scale at which to focus conservation activities.


This article examines how Dominican musicians, festival organizers, and their audiences negotiate two rather slippery concepts: the complex of creole/creolization/creolite  ; and the question of borders and (im)mobilities, in other words who moves where and how. Music provides sites and sounds in which creole possibilities and mobilities of various kinds are explored, challenged, and rethought. I illustrate these ideas with reference to two types of expressly creole, Dominican popular music (cadence-lypso and bouyon) and their central role in Dominica's World Creole Music Festival. Both genres find artists reflecting on what it means to perform creole music and how such performances might facilitate new mobilities. The World Creole Music Festival stages these genres as part of an attempt to generate global creole solidarities. The significant challenges confronting this endeavor suggest that a reevaluation of what creole can mean in Dominica and a better understanding of how these meanings are embedded in contemporary mobilities can yield new insights not only into the production and staging of Caribbean genres, but also into the nature of the creole itself.


The purpose of the study was to assess the practices of instructional supervision in supplementing teaching-learning process in secondary schools of Qersa and Omo Nada woreda of Jimma zone. It particularly treats issues of how instructional supervision is practiced in improving the holistic teaching learning process, how instructional supervisors render professional support to teachers to enhance classroom instruction, and what challenges are there in practicing instructional supervision in think of promoting the provision of quality education. To accomplish this purpose, the study employed a descriptive survey method, which is supplemented by quantitative and qualitative research method to enrich data. The study was carried out in two secondary schools of the two woreda which comprises -58 teachers, 31 internal school supervisors (2 principals 2 vice principals, 12 department heads and 15 senior teachers) and 2 woreda supervisors who included in the study purposively.  Questionnaire and interview was the main instrument utilized during data collection. Descriptive statistics like frequency, percentage for part and narration for qualitative were employed to analyze the data. Finally, the results of the study revealed that the practices of instructional supervision in supplementing holistic teaching learning in the woreda were ineffective and suffered with many challenges like lack of adequate knowledge among supervisors, shortage of resources for support, low top management attention and the like. Therefore, it is recommended that the woreda would  be able to enhance the supervisory activities in considering its importance in assuring quality education by arranging training, improving resource allocation for supervision work and give due attention for the issue in order to alleviate the problem.


A well-designed, easy-to-navigate website is useless if no one can find it. If your company is going to succeed in the web economy, optimizing your site for search engine visibility is essential. In this book, four of the most noted experts in the field of search engine optimization (SEO) provide you with proven guidelines and cutting-edge techniques for planning and executing a comprehensive SEO strategy. The authors clearly explain SEO fundamentals, while correcting many common misconceptions. If you are new to SEO, you'll get a complete and thorough SEO education, as well as an array of effective tactics, from basic to advanced. Seasoned practitioners will find this book useful as a complete reference to SEO best practices. Explore the underlying theory behind SEO and how search engines work Learn the steps you need to prepare for, execute, and evaluate SEO initiatives Examine a number of advanced strategies and tactics Understand the intricacies involved in managing complex SEO projects Learn what's necessary to build a competent SEO team with defined roles Glimpse the future of search and what lies ahead for the SEO industry


Radio frequency (RF) induced low pressure plasma has significant impact on enhancement of the germination of seeds and growth patterns of the plants comes from irradiated seeds. For this consequence present study is performed on Basella alba seeds which is a very familiar vegetable After plasma irradiation, the results shows that the germination rate of treated seeds are more than untreated seeds. Result shows for two experiments the germination rate increase 10% and 20% respectively for plasma irradiated seeds. Also the growth patterns and sustainability rate of treated seeds are vigorous. These outcomes will be beneficial to farmer's economy and also vegetable consumers.


IMPLEMENTATION OF AUTOMATIC DATA ACQUISITION USING IMPULSE TECHNIQUES REQUIRES THE DEVELOPMENT OF A MECHANICAL DEVICE TO SET AN INSTRUMENT PACKAGE ON THE PAVEMENT, DELIVER AN IMPULSE OF ENERGY, AND RETRIEVE THE INSTRUMENT PACKAGE. THIS IS TO BE ACCOMPLISHED AUTOMATICALLY WITH THE VEHICLE PROCEEDING DOWN THE THE HIGHWAY. THIS REPORT DESCRIBES DEVELOPMENTS TOWARD AN IMPROVED SYSTEM FOR ACCOMPLISHING THE DESIRED RESULTS. THE SYSTEM EMPLOYS A CLEATED BELT SUPPORTED BY DUAL WHEELS IN THE CONFIGURATION OF A V-BELT WHICH CARRIES THE INSTRUMENTS. A PNEUMATIC HAMMER WHICH DELIVERS AN IMPULSE OF ENERGY TO THE PAVEMENT AND ITS SUPPORTING LINKAGE IS ALSO DESCRIBED. A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF PREVIOUS REPORTS ON IMPULSE TECHNIQUES OF PAVEMENT TESTING IS INCLUDED. /FHWA/


Seed desiccation and germination have great potential for oxidative stress. Glutathione, one of the most abundant antioxidants in plant cells, is a crucial to the plant's defense mechanisms. To better understand glutathione's responses during these two stages, we examined its dynamics in wildtype Arabidopsis seeds and in a transgenic line containing an antisense glutathione reductase2 (anGR2) cDNA insert. Seeds from the two genotypes were compared morphologically. Glutathione levels in maturing and germinating seeds were measured by HPLC, and GR activity by native PAGE. Cytosolic glutathione was measured in situ by confocal laser scanning microscopy. Stress in the form of natural and accelerated ageing, and germination at high and low temperature and at low water potential was applied to both WT and anGR2 seeds to test vigor. Results show similar glutathione levels and GR activity (except during late imbibition) in WT and anGR2. In both genotypes, GSH/GSSG ratio increased and GR activity decreased during seed maturation. During imbibition, the glutathione pool becomes very reduced (<1% GSSG) and in WT seeds, GSH levels increase mostly by GSSG recycling. Cytosolic GSH in embryonic epidermal cells was estimated to be 1.1-1.6 mM. AnGR2 seeds aged faster, and were less tolerant of heat and drought stress than WT. Accumulation of glutathione during maturation indicated that glutathione is a major antioxidant in the seed during storage. Changes in GSH levels during imbibition coincided with ROS production during radicle protrusion. Under stress conditions, anGR2 seeds showed lower vigor, indicating perturbations in the ROS scavenging systems particularly GR2.


Invertebrates account for more than 89% of all extant organisms in the marine environment, represented by over 174,600 species (recorded to date). Such diversity is mirrored in (or more likely increased by) the microbial symbionts associated with this group and in the marine natural products (or MNPs) that they produce. Since the early 1950s over 20,000 MNPs have been discovered, including compounds produced by symbiotic bacteria, and the chemical diversity of compounds produced from marine sources has led to them being referred to as "blue gold" in the search for new drugs. For example, 80% of novel antibiotics stemming from the marine environment have come from Actinomycetes, many of which can be found associated with marine sponges, and compounds with anti-tumorigenic and anti-diabetic potential have also been isolated from marine symbionts. In fact, it has been estimated that marine sources formed the basis of over 50% of FDA-approved drugs between 1981 and 2002. In this review, we explore the diversity of marine microbial symbionts by examining their use as the producers of novel pharmaceutical actives, together with a discussion of the opportunities and constraints offered by "blue gold" drug discovery.


It is well established that those women who under go full antenatal care check-up and give birth in a medical institution or whose delivery is attended by trained paramedical persons promotes child survival and reduces maternal mortality . In the light of the above, an attempt is made in this paper to relate the socio-economic and demographic characteristics of the currently married Schedule Tribes' women in eight districts of Chhatisgarh with factors associated with antenatal and postnatal care. Data for this study were taken from District Level Household Survey on Reproductive and Child Health (DLHSRCH 2002), a representative sample of 1569 Scheduled Tribes' currently married women aged 15-44, residing in eight districts of Chhatisgarh. Adjusted ef fects (odds ratios) analysis has been used to find out the ef fects of antenatal and post-natal care on institutional delivery in Chhatisgarh. It is observed that majority of the Scheduled Trib s' women, about 84 percent, have a low standard of living. Also, 74 per cent of the Scheduled Tribes' women are illiterate. The finding of the adjusted ef f cts (odds ratio) shows that giving birth in the medical institution for the Scheduled Tribes' women who received full antenatal check up is 2.5 times higher than those women who did not receive any antenatal check-up. It suggests that majority of the currently married Scheduled Tribe women have low standard of living there is a need to improve their economic standard so that they can fulfill their basic needs.


Hot-wire chemical vapor deposition is a promising technique for deposition of thin amorphous, polycrystalline, and epitaxial silicon films for photovoltaic applications. Fundamental questions remain, however, about the gas-phase and surface-kinetic processes involved. To this end, the nature of the wire decomposition process has been studied in detail by use of mass spectrometry. Atomic silicon was the predominant radical formed for wire temperatures above 1500 K, and catalysis was evident for SiH3 production with the use of a new wire. Aged wires appear to produce radicals by a non-catalyzed route and chemical analysis of these wires reveal large quantities of silicon at the surface, consistent with the presence of a silicide layer. This study is the first of its kind to correlate radical desorption kinetics with filament aging for the hot-wire chemical vapor deposition technique.

Threshold ionization mass spectrometry revealed large quantities of the SiH2 radical, attributed to heterogeneous pyrolysis on the walls of the reactor. At dilute (1%) silane pressures of up to 2 Torr, a negligible amount of ions and silicon agglomerates (Si2, Si2H, Si2H6) were detected. Density functional theory calculations reveal an energetically favorable route for the reaction of Si and SiH4, producing Si2H2 and H2. The trace amounts of Si2H2 observed experimentally, however, may suggest that an intermediate spin state transition involved in this reaction is slow under the hot-wire conditions used. Monte Carlo simulations of the hot-wire reactor suggest SiH3 is the predominant growth species under conditions leading to amorphous and polycrystalline growth. The flux of atomic hydrogen, rather than the identity of the precursor, appears to be the more important factor in governing the amorphous-to-microcrystalline transition that occurs upon hydrogen-dilution. Two-dimensional Monte Carlo simulations were used to model a hot-wire reactor for the first time, showing that filament arrays can be used to improve film growth uniformity. Under conditions where agglomerate formation does not occur, continuum simulations predict a maximum growth rate of 10 nm/s for dilute (1%) silane conditions and a rate of 50 nm/s for pure silane.

Hot-wire chemical vapor deposition was used to deposit silicon nitride films with indices of refraction from 1.8-2.5 and hydrogen content from 9-18 atomic %. By tuning the SiH4/NH3 flow ratio, films in which the hydrogen was predominantly bound to N or Si could be produced, each of which reveal different hydrogen release kinetics. Platinum-diffused silicon samples, capped by a hydrogenated silicon nitride layer revealed, upon annealing at 700oC, platinum-hydrogen complexes with a bulk concentration of 1014 cm-3. This constitutes the first direct evidence for bulk silicon passivation by hydrogen release from a silicon nitride layer and hydrogen complex formation. Photovoltaic cells employing a hot-wire nitride layer were found to have comparable electrical properties to those using plasma nitride layers.

Finally, a method for in situ generation of SiH4 by atomic hydrogen etching was evaluated. Using a cooled crystalline silicon target in an H/H2 ambient produced negligible etching, while a cooled amorphous silicon film target was etched at a rate of up to 14 nm/min. In the latter case, net deposition at 0.6 nm/min onto a heated Ge(100) substrate resulted. A method for more efficient etching of crystalline silicon materials was proposed.


The Gulf of California is known worldwide for its high and exclusive biological diversity, both terrestrial and marine, framed in a region of great scenic beauty. This beauty is shaped by coastal plains, cliffs, bays and lagoons, islands and islets, and its narrow but deep sea. During the twentieth century, this area was affected by increased human activity along the coastal strip, development and growth of industrial and artisanal fishing, agroindustrial development along the coastal plains and deltas of the main rivers, and urban and tourism growth. All of these factors endanger or threaten part of this great biological richness. Although during the 1995-2000 administration, the Mexican Environmental Program incorporated the Gulf of California as a priority area of marine resources and coastal ecosystems, according to an analysis in the recent National Development Plan, for a long time developmental strategies and policies in Mexico underestimated important aspects. Since 1997, the Mexican Environmental Ministry has promoted the execution of several environmental planning instruments in the gulf region. On 2001 and 2008, the Environmental Program emphasized that the ecological ordinance, in its modality or scale, must be the basis of sustainable development, determining the density and intensity of activities and ways of land use, as well as the areas to be preserved and restored. As part of these efforts, the first Marine Ecological Ordinance was developed in Mexico (2007), in the Gulf of California region. The main purpose of this planning process is to propose a holistic strategy for the region in a 1: 250 000 scale, and local models for territorial ecological ordinances that would regulate and encourage land use and productive activities in the areas of interest. These models would be under a productive-diversification outline with specific guidelines for the management of natural resources. Their perspective would be one of compatibility between the use, conservation, and protection of natural resources and an increase in the local population quality of life to achieve a sustainable use of the territory natural resources in this complex and important area.


A serious challenge when finding influential actors in real-world social networks is the lack of knowledge about the structure of the underlying network. Current state-of-the-art methods rely on hand-crafted sampling algorithms; these methods sample nodes and their neighbours in a carefully constructed order and choose opinion leaders from this discovered network to maximize influence spread in the (unknown) complete network. In this work, we propose a reinforcement learning framework for network discovery that automatically learns useful node and graph representations that encode important structural properties of the network. At training time, the method identifies portions of the network such that the nodes selected from this sampled subgraph can effectively influence nodes in the complete network. The realization of such transferable network structure based adaptable policies is attributed to the meticulous design of the framework that encodes relevant node and graph signatures driven by an appropriate reward scheme. We experiment with real-world social networks from four different domains and show that the policies learned by our RL agent provide a 10-36% improvement over the current state-of-the-art method.


Over the last two decades, nanophotonics, including plasmonics and metamaterials, have promised compelling opportunities for exotic control over light-matter interactions. The strong chiral light-matter interaction is a representative example. Three-dimensional (3D) chirality has existed naturally only in organic molecules and bio-organisms, but a negligible chiroptic effect was attained with these naturally occurring materials because of their small absorption cross sections. However, inspired by biological chirality, nanophotonic chiral materials have greatly expanded the design space of accessible chiroptic effects (e.g., pushing the chiral light-matter interaction to an exceptional regime, such as a broad-band circular polarizer, negative refractive index, and sensitive chiral sensing). Nevertheless, it is still a challenge to achieve precisely defined and dynamically reconfigurable chiral morphologies that further increase the chiroptic effect. Biological systems continue to inspire approaches to the design and synthesis of precisely defined 3D nanostructures. In particular, a living organism can program the evolutionary pathway of highly complexed 3D chiral morphology precisely from the molecular scale to the macroscopic scale while simultaneously enabling dynamic reconfiguration of their chirality. What if we could harness the power of biological selectivity and evolutionary capability in synthesizing chiral plasmonic materials? We envisioned that platform technology mimicking biological principles would enable control of 3D chiral structures for effective plasmonic interactions with polarized light and further impart the concept of time-dependent evolution (3D + 1D = 4D) to bring about responsive and dynamic changes in chiral plasmonics. In this Account, we review our efforts to develop the biomolecule-based synthesis of 3D chiral plasmonic materials and share the vision that as in biological systems, chirality can be programmed at the molecular level and hierarchically transferred at multiple scales to develop macroscopic chirality. Accompanied by a biomimetic time-dependent chirality of singular plasmonic nanometals, we also summarize recent achievements in the chemistry and nanophotonics communities pursuing 4D plasmonics that are closely related to our research. The biomimetic and bioinspired approaches discussed in this Account will provide new synthetic insights into implementing chiral nanomaterials and extend the range of accessible nanophotonic design. We hope that the molecular encoding approach will be useful to achieve dynamic light-matter interactions at unprecedented dimensions, time scales, and chirality.


In his lifetime Joseph Haydn enjoyed huge popularity throughout Europe. As a composer of symphonies, quartets, masses, and oratorios he was readily acknowledged by Mozart, Beethoven, and others as a commanding figure. He is one of the founding fathers of classical music, yet only in the last 50 years have his works become available in reliable editions, and much biographical detail has come to light at the same time. Meanwhile, his music is more popular today than it has been at any time since his death.

Published to coincide with the 200th anniversary of Haydn's death, this detailed, scholarly, and lively Companion draws together a wealth of biographical detail and expert analysis for the the first time in an accessible, engaging format. It covers Haydn's life and times, and his music, including its performance and reception.

The Companion focuses on the period of Haydn's life (1732-1809), but extends forward to the end of the 20th century, to cover Haydn's reputation in the 19th century, attempts at complete editions, and modern scholarship. Selected feature entries cover such topics as Haydn's life and personality, major genres in which he worked, performance practice, dissemination, and the Enlightenment. The A-Z text is complemented by a full list of Haydn's works, family trees, a map, and a list of first lines.


A large part of Australia's broad acre irrigation industry, which includes cotton, is farmed on heavy clay Vertosols. Recent changes in nematicide chemical availability, changes in rotations and the observation of the reniform nematode in central Queensland has highlighted that we need to improve our understanding of nematodes in these soils. We undertook preliminary investigations into distribution by depth under a cotton-cotton and cotton-maize rotation as well as vertical movement experiments in microcosms to better understand nematode distribution and movement in heavy clay soils. Analysis revealed that field populations decreased with soil sample depth, but there were also differences between rotations. In microcosm experiments, vertical movement of nematodes in these heavy clay soils was restricted, even in the presence of plant roots and moisture, both of which were hypothesised to improve nematode migration. The results imply that crop rotation currently remains a plausible option for nematode control, and that we still have a lot to learn about the ecology of nematode populations in Vertosols.


Two unforgettable characters, Jack Ernest Stokes, known as Blinking Jack, and his wife, Ruby Pitt Woodrow Stokes, tell the story of their years together. Jack was forty and Ruby only twenty when they were married. For twenty-five years they lived together, man and wife, until Ruby died of lung cancer.


In the past 20 years, over 50 water indices have been developed to characterize human-water systems within the frameworks of water scarcity, water poverty, water vulnerability, and water security. This study compares existing water indices in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to better understand which parameters (or lack thereof) contribute to the usefulness of water indices. Drawing on knowledge about human-water interactions in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, this exploration of indices at the parameter level highlights missing parameters, inadequate consideration of complex relationships between parameters, and inconsistencies in index nomenclature and units. This study reveals both the benefits and shortcomings of water indices and provides recommendations for researchers and water managers to consider when selecting indices to assess and support their water policy goals.


To say that Albert Grass was no business man might seem self-evident in hindsight, as his list of achievements amount to no more than pitching one ill-fated scheme after the next. But the visionary founder of the Coney Island Amateur Psychoanalytic Society always believed it was only a matter of time before psychoanalysis would set fire to the popular imagination, that he would spearhead this movement and ride the tide of its success. And in fact he was correct: Freud's theories did find their way into popular culture. Unfortunately, each of his ventures was followed quite rapidly by a competitor's similar plan that succeeded where he had failed.His most ambitious idea was undoubtedly to launch a new Dreamland amusement park at Coney Island in the early 1930s. It was to be a great Freudian theme park that explicated Freud's theories of dream formation. Although it seems that Depression-era Brooklyn was not ready for a fiftyfoot-high Libido in the shape of a prepubescent girl, it was only a few years later Salvador Dali would open his Dream of Venus pavilion at the 1939 World's Fair, with topless "liquid ladies" surfacing from the depths of the Spaniard's unconscious. Similarly Grass's dream journal presented in the form of a comic book Adventures of a Dreamer failed to find a publisher in the late 1930s. Little more than ten years later in 1952, Jack Kirby of Captain America fame would publish the series The Strange World of Your Dreams in which reader-submitted dreams that were turned into comics. And in 1955 EC Comics launched another series titled, People Searching for Peace of Mind Through Psychoanalysis.Until a year ago, nothing was known about Grass's activities after the outbreak of World War II. However a small trove of papers uncovered last year in Los Angeles bears the unmistakable imprint of Grass's hand. They are plans for what appears to be a roadside attraction, a structure in the form of a curvaceous young woman that would house a refreshment stand and an office for psychoanalytic sessions. Grass's notes indicated that he had selected a site located at 1250 North Main Street, which in 1943 was not far from downtown Los Angeles. It was a vacant lot surrounded by small factories that remains empty to this day. This essay contains some preliminary reflections on the discovery of these papers.Coming from the amusement park industry in Coney Island, it is not surprising that Grass would have been attracted to the Programmatic architecture that flourished in Southern California in the 1930s and 40s. Programmatic buildings take on the shape of fanciful objects, a hot dog stand in the shape of a giant puppy dog, or an ice-cream parlor in the shape of a cone. The Brown Derby and Graumann's Chinese Theater in Los Angeles are two of the most famous and enduring examples of this vernacular geme.The starting point for Grass's architectural vision was clearly the Libido (Fig. 1 ) that was to have been the centerpiece of his Dreamland amusement park. However ten years later in Los Angeles his concept had changed. Although this structure is more modest in scale, more importantly, the little girl in the original design has grown up. Now she is quite unashamedly a naked woman with full breasts and a contemporary 1940s hairstyle. Though this design might seem quite shocking today, set in a strip mall in the rapidly expanding Los Angeles of the 1 940s it would not have been any more strange or overtly erotic than, for example, the thirty-foot-high lady's leg advertising Sanderson's Stockings at 1 171 1 West Olympic Boulevard that was erected in 1948. …


Stochastic Modeling of Reversible Biochemical Reaction-Diffusion Systems and High-Resolution Shock-Capturing Methods for Fluid Interfaces Mauricio J Del Razo Sarmina Co-Chairs of the Supervisory Committee: Professor Randall J. LeVeque Department of Applied Mathematics Professor Hong Qian Department of Applied Mathematics My thesis contains two parts, both of which are motivated by biological problems. One is on stochastic reaction-diffusion for biochemical systems and the other on shock-capturing methods for fluid interfaces. In both parts, conservation laws are key to determine the dynamics and effective numerical methods. The first part is motivated by the need for quantitative mathematical models for cellscale biological systems. Such a mathematical description must be inherently stochastic where the chancy reaction process is mediated by diffusion encounter. Diffusion-influenced reaction theory describes this coupling between diffusion and reaction. We apply this theory to theoretical and numerical kinetic Monte Carlo studies of the robustness of fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) theory, a widely used experimental method to determine chemical rate constants and diffusion coefficients of stochastic reaction-diffusion systems. We found that current FCS theory can produce significant errors at cell-scales. In addition, we developed a framework to understand diffusion-influenced reaction theory from a stochastic perspective. For irreversible bimolecular reactions, the theory is derived by introducing absorbing boundary conditions to overdamped Brownian motion theory. This provides a clear stochastic interpretation that describes the probability distribution dynamics and the stochastic sample trajectories. However, the stochastic interpretation is not clear for reversible reactions modeled with a back-reaction boundary condition. In order to address this, we developed a discrete stochastic model that conserves probability and recovers the classical equations in the continuous limit. In the case of reversible reactions, it recovers the back-reaction boundary condition and provides an accurate stochastic interpretation. We also explore extensions of this model and its relation to nonequilibrium stochastic processes as well as extensions into volume reactivity using coupled-diffusion processes. The second part was inspired by a collaboration with experimentalists at Seattle's Veterans Administration (VA) Hospital, who are studying the underlying biological mechanisms behind blast-induced traumatic brain injury (TBI). To better understand the effect of shock waves on the brain, we have investigated an in vitro model in which blood-brain barrier endothelial cells are grown in fluid-filled transwell vessels, placed inside a shock tube and exposed to shocks. As it is difficult to experimentally measure the forces inside the transwell, we developed a computational model of the experimental setup to measure them. First, we implemented a one-dimensional model using Euler equations coupled with a Tammann equation of state (EOS) to model the different materials and interfaces within the experimental setup. From this model, we learned that we can neglect very thin interfaces in our computations. Using this result, we implemented a three-dimensional wave propagation framework modeled with two-dimensional axisymmetric Euler equations and a Tammann EOS. In order to solve these equations, we used high-resolution conservative methods and implemented new Riemann solvers into the Clawpack software in a mixed Eulerian/Lagrangian frame of reference. We found that pressures can fall below vapor pressure due to the interaction of reflecting and diffracting shock waves, suggesting that cavitation bubbles could be a damage mechanism. We also show extensions of this model that allow the implementation of mapped grids and adaptive mesh refinement. A las ráıces de mi familia: Magrande, Bishara ( ) y Abi, a sus más recientes miembros, Eĺıas Nayi y Bruno Leandro, y a mi madre que nos


Earliest arrival flows capture the essence of evacuation planning. Given a network with capacities and transit times on the arcs, a subset of source nodes with supplies and a sink node, the task is to send the given supplies from the sources to the sink "as quickly as possible". The latter requirement is made more precise by the earliest arrival property which requires that the total amount of flow that has arrived at the sink is maximal for all points in time simultaneously. It is a classical result from the 1970s that, for the special case of a single source node, earliest arrival flows do exist and can be computed by essentially applying the successive shortest path algorithm for min-cost flow computations. While it has previously been observed that an earliest arrival flow still exists for multiple sources, the problem of computing one efficiently has been open for many years. We present an exact algorithm for this problem whose running time is strongly polynomial in the input plus output size of the problem


Not all of the causes of genetic immunodeficiencies have been worked out. In cases in which B cells are lacking in the periphery, the Btk protein kinase signaling pathway is suspect, as it has turned out to be critical for B cell activation and development. Minegishi et al. have characterized the defect in a patient that had normal Btk. The mutation responsible in this case was the BLNK adaptor protein, which coordinates signaling from the B cell antigen receptor by binding to various kinases, lipases, and adaptors. Pappu et al. generated mice deficient in BLNK and report that these mice have the same defect--a block in the development of immature B cells from the pro-B to the pre-B stage that effectively prevents maturation of B cells and antibody production. Pappu, R., Cheng, A.M., Li, B., Gong, Q., Chiu, C., Griffin, N., White, M., Sleckman, B.P., and Chan, A.C. (1999) Requirement for B cell linker protein (BLNK) in B cell development. Science 286: 1949-1954. [Abstract] [Full Text] Minegishi, Y., Rohrer, J., Coustan-Smith, E., Lederman, H.M., Pappu, R., Campana, D., Chan, A.C., and Conley, M.E. (1999) An essential role for BLNK in human B cell development. Science 286: 1954-1957. [Abstract] [Full Text]


In-service teachers are often lack sufficient teaching experience (Block et al, 2010) which leads to being psychologically unprepared to confront many challenges in teaching. Providing ample experiences for Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) students in a pedagogical setting parallel to that which they will one day teach (Kirk & Macdonald, 2001; Lave & Wenger, 1991) is imperative. The purpose of this study was to investigate the psychosocial dynamics of a course specifically-designed around Self-Efficacy Theory (Bandura, 1977) to improve PETE students' self-efficacy and teaching ability. Additional goals were to investigate how these factors affect pre-service teachers' self-efficacy and to discover how males' and females' perceptions of teaching during these clinical teaching experiences. Twenty-seven PETE majors enrolled in "Teaching Educational Games" taught nine lessons they constructed to elementary-aged children from the home school community over a period of nine weeks. Subjects completed the Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale (Tschannen, et al, 2011) prior to and after their clinical teaching experiences. Repeated measures ANOVA found a significant difference (.006, when p < .01) over time in subjects' overall self-efficacy. Cross-case analyses of lesson plan reflections, course evaluations, and individual interviews with six randomly-selected subjects (males N = 3, females, N = 3) found that "performance accomplishments" and "vicarious experiences" played a significant role in improving subjects' self-efficacy while "verbal persuasions" did not. Subjects' self-efficacy of "student engagement", "classroom management" and use of "instructional strategies" improved as a result of "hands-on teaching". Subjects believed that "matching teacher-student gender" was an effective method for managing misbehavior. Findings are valuable for developing PETE courses designed to improve self-efficacy, yet future research is needed on pre-service teachers' perceptions gender and teaching.


Objective To investigate a new wide bone-anchored hearing implant considering initial stability, stability over time, implant loss, and skin reaction. Study Design Consecutive, prospective case series. Setting Tertiary referral center. Patients Twenty adult patients were enrolled. All operations were 1-stage, single-incision technique with subcutaneous reduction. Intervention(s) Measurement of implant stability. Main Outcome Measure(s) Implant stability quotient (ISQ) values were recorded using resonance frequency analysis at the time of implantation and at 10 days, 6 weeks, 6 months, and 1 year after surgery. Skin and soft tissue reactions according to Holgers grading system. Results Implant stability quotient measurements revealed a significant increase in ISQ during the first 10 days after operation, and the ISQ values continued to rise throughout the 1-year observation period. No implants were lost. Skin and soft tissue reactions were rare and minor, as no reaction was seen in 93% of the follow-up examinations and no grade 4 reactions occurred. Conclusion The new wide implant showed good stability at surgery. Osseointegration was fast, and implant stability increased throughout the 1-year observation period. No implants were lost. Skin and soft tissue reactions were rare and minor.


This textbook carefully develops the main ideas and techniques of statistical and thermal physics and is intended for upper-level undergraduate courses. The authors each have more than thirty years' experience in teaching, curriculum development, and research in statistical and computational physics. Statistical and Thermal Physics begins with a qualitative discussion of the relation between the macroscopic and microscopic worlds and incorporates computer simulations throughout the book to provide concrete examples of important conceptual ideas. Unlike many contemporary texts on thermal physics, this book presents thermodynamic reasoning as an independent way of thinking about macroscopic systems. Probability concepts and techniques are introduced, including topics that are useful for understanding how probability and statistics are used. Magnetism and the Ising model are considered in greater depth than in most undergraduate texts, and ideal quantum gases are treated within a uniform framework. Advanced chapters on fluids and critical phenomena are appropriate for motivated undergraduates and beginning graduate students.Integrates Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics simulations as well as other numerical techniques throughout the text Provides self-contained introductions to thermodynamics and statistical mechanics Discusses probability concepts and methods in detail Contains ideas and methods from contemporary research Includes advanced chapters that provide a natural bridge to graduate study Features more than 400 problems Programs are open source and available in an executable cross-platform format Solutions manual (available only to teachers)


BACKGROUND
American Indians (AI) have some of the highest smoking rates in the United States. The Muscogee Nation of Oklahoma developed a culturally targeted program called "Second Wind" based on the American Cancer Society's FreshStart smoking cessation program, but it has not been formally tested.

METHODS
We conducted six focus groups of AI adult smokers at the Haskell Health Center (Lawrence, Kansas). Focus groups assessed beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors related to smoking cessation, as well as participants' perceptions of the "Second Wind" curriculum's appropriateness and feasibility for this diverse group. Focus groups were audiotaped, transcribed, coded, and analyzed for content themes. Participants were 41 AI adults (63% female), 21-67 years of age. Participants smoked an average of 13 cigarettes per day, half had made a quit attempt in the past year, and 63% were daily smokers. For pharmacotherapy, most preferred the nicotine patch.

RESULTS
Focus group responses were categorized into three major themes: traditional tobacco use, quitting and quit attempts, and the "Second Wind" program. Those who reported that traditional tobacco use is important were less inclined to use tobacco recreationally. Second Wind modifications suggested by participants included increasing use of AI imagery and addressing the meaning of tobacco to AI cultures.

CONCLUSIONS
American Indian smokers are unique because of their traditional use of tobacco. Our participants felt that smoking cessation can be accomplished without discouraging traditional use of tobacco. We suggest ways to improve the "Second Wind" curriculum so that it is targeted for a heterogeneous group of AI smokers.


The reproduction of the shrub Adolphia infesta was studied in a population included in a Mexican agricultural landscape with small, cultivated plots and fragments of natural habitat. Adolphia infesta had reproductive traits consistent with those known for its tribe Colletieae, including small zoophilous flowers exposed to both xenogamous, geitonogamous and visitor-facilitated intrafloral pollination, with selfing being at least partially hindered by self-incompatibility. Visual and olfactory cues, together with easily accessible rewards (nectar and pollen), explain the diversity (68 species of 29 families) of insects attracted to the flowers. However, only a small subset can be considered potential pollinators (honeybee and three muscoid flies). In late floral development, pedicel bending brings the developing fruit to an upright position, which might later optimise explosive seed dispersal. The finding of this trait in A. infesta makes fruit erection a synapomorphy of the Adolphia – Discaria – Kentrothamnus clade of the tribe Colletieae. At the study site, A. infesta played a significant role as food source for the local anthophilous insect community, and through its flower visitors, the plant was indirectly connected to 11 other plant species. Knowledge derived from community studies should be applied in conservation initiatives directed at enhancing farmers' appreciation of extant local biodiversity.


Recent prevalence estimates indicate that in 2015 almost half a billion people—about 6.8% of the world's population—had disabling hearing loss and that prevalence numbers will further increase. The World Health Organization (WHO) currently estimates that at least 34 million children under the age of 15 have disabling hearing loss. Based on a 2012 WHO report, approximately 7.5 million of these children were under the age of 5 years. This review article focuses on the importance of high-quality newborn and infant hearing screening (NIHS) programs as one strategy to ameliorate disabling hearing loss as a global health problem. Two WHO resolutions regarding the prevention of deafness and hearing loss have been adopted urging member states to implement screening programs for early identification of ear diseases and hearing loss in babies and young children. The effectiveness of these programs depends on factors such as governmental mandates and guidance; presence of a national committee with involvement of professionals, industries, and stakeholders; central oversight of hearing screening; clear definition of target parameters; presence of tracking systems with bi-directional data transfer from screening devices to screening centers; accessibility of pediatric audiological services and rehabilitation programs; using telemedicine where connectivity is available; and the opportunity for case discussions in professional excellence circles with boards of experts. There is a lack of such programs in middle- and low-income countries, but even in high-income countries there is potential for improvement. Facing the still growing burden of disabling hearing loss around the world, there is a need to invest in national, high-quality NIHS programs.


Thirty-eight papers published in the Journal of Geoscience Education ( JGE) from 1989 through 2003 explicitly use or recommend the use of spreadsheets as part of classroom or field exercises, projects, or entire courses. Many of the papers include the spreadsheets, and some include the equations. The papers demonstrate how spreadsheets allow students to explore a subject through problem-oriented, interactive, and quantitative exercises. We provide an annotated bibliography and classify the 38 JGE papers by spreadsheet use, mathematics skill area, and geologic subdiscipline. Our discussion of five selected articles — abundance of elements in the Earth's crust; directional properties of inclined strata; U-shaped valleys scoured by mountain glaciers; the Laplace Equation for groundwater flow; the location of our solar system within the Milky Way galaxy — demonstrates the huge breadth of topics in the earth science curriculum. The 38 papers collectively, and the five examples individually, make the point that spreadsheets developed for geoscience education can provide context for principles taught in courses of other disciplines, including mathematics. Our classification by mathematics skill area follows the content standards of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (USA) and may prove useful for educators seeking problems for skills-based assessment.


Abstract Seismic data with reliable amplitude and phase can significantly impact drilling programs by providing valuable descriptions of the reservoir and overburden, especially for complicated or subtle plays. Processing steps such as velocity tomography and amplitude-preserving migration are critical for producing high-quality seismic images, but equally important are surface-related premigration processing steps that can significantly alter seismic amplitude and phase information, such as deconvolution. During land dynamite seismic acquisition, source and receiver responses are affected by surface conditions and inhomogeneous weathering layers. For example, even with the exact charge size, the response from each shot can vary greatly as the medium around the charge changes. Receiver recordings are affected similarly by near-surface conditions. An improper correction or a lack of correction for near-surface anomalies during seismic preprocessing will reduce the subsurface resolution and negatively bias ...


This study gives an outline of modern theory of classification and regression trees (CART) and shows the advantages of CART applications in finance. Practical issues regarding CART applications and core implementation are presented. The second part of the work is mainly concentrated on DAX30 market simulation results and shows how a CART-based business application can perform on stock market as well as what supplementary results can be got using CART as a forecasting system. In this realm comparison of technical and fundamental approaches is performed. Finally, information ageing effect in the context of learning sample construction is analyzed.


BACKGROUND
Diabetic cardiomyopathy, a distinctive complication of diabetes mellitus, has been correlated with the presence of intracellular lipid deposits. However, the intricate molecular mechanisms governing the aberrant accumulation of lipid droplets within cardiomyocytes remain to be comprehensively elucidated.

METHODS
Both obese diabetic (db/db) mice and HL-1 cells treated with 200 μmol/L palmitate and 200 μmol/L oleate were used to simulate type 2 diabetes conditions. Transmission electron microscopy is employed to assess the size and quantity of lipid droplets in the mouse hearts. Transcriptomics analysis was utilized to interrogate mRNA levels. Lipidomics and ubiquitinomics were employed to explore the lipid composition alterations and proteins participating in ubiquitin-mediated degradation in mice. Clinical data were collected from patients with diabetes-associated cardiomyopathy and healthy controls. Western blot analysis was conducted to assess the levels of proteins linked to lipid metabolism, and the biotin-switch assay was employed to quantify protein cysteine S-sulfhydration levels.

RESULTS
The administration of H2 S donor, NaHS, effectively restored hydrogen sulfide levels in both the cardiac tissue and plasma of db/db mice (+7%, P < 0.001; +5%, P < 0.001). Both db/db mice (+210%, P < 0.001) and diabetic patients (+83%, P = 0.22, n = 5) exhibit elevated plasma triglyceride levels. Treatment with GYY4137 effectively lowers triglyceride levels in db/db mice (-43%, P = 0.007). The expression of cystathionine gamma-lyase and HMG-CoA reductase degradation protein 1 (SYVN1) was decreased in db/db mice compared with the wild-type mice (cystathionine gamma-lyase: -31%, P = 0.0240; SYVN1: -35%, P = 0.01), and NaHS-treated mice (SYVN1: -31%, P = 0.03). Conversely, the expression of sterol regulatory element-binding protein 1 (SREBP1) was elevated (+91%, P = 0.007; +51%, P = 0.03 compared with control and NaHS-treated mice, respectively), along with diacylglycerol O-acyltransferase 1 (DGAT1) (+95%, P = 0.001; +35%, P = 0.02) and 1-acylglycerol-3-phosphate O-acyltransferase 3 (AGPAT3) (+88%, P = 0.01; +22%, P = 0.32). Exogenous H2 S led to a reduction in lipid droplet formation (-48%, P < 0.001), restoration of SYVN1 expression, modification of SYVN1's S-sulfhydration status and enhancement of SREBP1 ubiquitination. Overexpression of SYVN1 mutated at Cys115 decreased SREBP1 ubiquitination and increased the number of lipid droplets.

CONCLUSIONS
Exogenous H2 S enhances ubiquitin-proteasome degradation of SREBP1 and reduces its nuclear translocation by modulating SYVN1's cysteine S-sulfhydration. This pathway limits lipid droplet buildup in cardiac myocytes, ameliorating diabetic cardiomyopathy.


The research aims to (1)figure out the implementation system of rubber plantation extension, (2) farmers' perception toward the importance of the role of extension in rubber plantation. Purposive Sampling method was the sampling technique that was used in this research which in accordance to the number of farmers that are actively involved in farmer group that consist of 45 farmers and 5 extension workers, Scale of Likert Summated Rating (LSR) was used as the tool of data analysis. The result showed the extension implementation activities in Gunung Toar Subdistrict Kuantan Singingi Regency have been going quite well if it is observed from the elements of extension that affecting it, that consists of agricultural extension workers; extension target; extension method; extension media; extenison material; extension period; extension site. Farmers' perception toward the importance of the role of extension in rubber plantation in Gunung Toar Subdistrict Kuantan Singingi Regency was chategorized as "quite important" with the score of 2.80, it can be seen from the variable; (a) Education, information/innovation dissemination whichwere chategorized as "quite important" with the score of 3.17 and 2.68; (b) Facilitiation, Monitoring and evaluaton were chategorized as "less important" with the score of 2.53 and 2.00; (c) Consultation, Supervision/developmentwere included as "quite important" with the score of 3.15 and 3.29. Keywords: Perception, Farmers of Rubber, Extension Role, Rubber Plantation


During the past few years, hedge fund beta replication strategies have become more common. At the same time, questions about the relevance, performance, and applicability of these strategies have been raised in response to the rapidly shifting landscape in the hedge fund industry. We present a review of the growing beta replication industry with particular emphasis on the ASG Global Alternatives Fund. We discuss the motivation for its existence and the logic of its absolute and relative performance over time and across different market environments. We also explain why these strategies are complements to, and not substitutes for, direct investments in hedge funds, and provide examples of their value-added in investors' portfolios.


A study was conducted to assess long-term effect of ground water for irrigation at Chirirbandar upazila, 25 kilometers eastern from Dinajpur district in from February to April in 2006. All the waters were analyzed and classified into different categories for their suitability as irrigation, drinking and industrial usage. The chemical analyses were included pH, EC, TDS, Ca, Mg, Na, K, Fe, Cu, Mn, Zn, B, As, SO4, P, HCO3 and Cl. The SAR, SSP, RSC and HT were calculated for the research. The pH (6.55 to 7.75) showed slightly acidic to slightly alkaline. The TDS was rated as 'fresh water', EC and SAR were 'medium' (C2 ) class and 'low alkali hazard' (SI) class which jointly expressed as C3S1. The study was found that SSP was in 'excellent' category. Waters were free from RSC and belonged to 'suitable' category for irrigation. The waters were classified as 'hard' and 'very hard' based on hardness (HT). It was found that both Fe and Mn content of all samples were not having problem for industrial usage. Boron was identified as 'suitable' for drinking consumption and sulphate was 'suitable' for drinking and industrial usage. The relationship of pH vs. EC, pH vs. TDS, EC vs. TDS, EC vs. HT, TDS vs. HT, SAR vs. SSP, SAR vs. RSC, and SSP vs. RSC indicated significant positive correlation. Among the quality determining factors SSP and SAR were highly correlated where correlation coefficient was 0.964.


In this paper, we demonstrate the use of wireless acoustic communications through the human body, in-vivo. The acoustic communications signals are intended to be used for fixed in-vivo biomedical devices. In-vivo biomedical devices include, for example, pacemakers, but more importantly, neural implants. The use of acoustic communications for neural implants represents a significant improvement as wired and wireless RF communications cannot be utilised. The acoustic communications channel comprises of a piezoelectric transducer as the transmitter, a section of the human body as the transmission medium, and a second piezoelectric transducer as the receiver. In this initial work, a forearm was used as the transmission medium. Communicating acoustically through the human body was successfully achieved. We present results showing the performance of the acoustic communications channel. The frequency response, transfer function and transient response (at resonance) of the communications channel were measured. Due to the frequency response of the communications channel, phase shift keying was chosen as the digital modulation method. Sample communications signals are included. For comparison, amplitude shift keying results are also shown. The results suggest that a data rate of over 10kbps could be achieved with the configuration used.


Global change is impacting forests worldwide, threatening biodiversity and ecosystem services including climate regulation. Understanding how forests respond is critical to forest conservation and climate protection. This review describes an international network of 59 long‐term forest dynamics research sites (CTFS‐ForestGEO) useful for characterizing forest responses to global change. Within very large plots (median size 25 ha), all stems ≥1 cm diameter are identified to species, mapped, and regularly recensused according to standardized protocols. CTFS‐ForestGEO spans 25°S–61°N latitude, is generally representative of the range of bioclimatic, edaphic, and topographic conditions experienced by forests worldwide, and is the only forest monitoring network that applies a standardized protocol to each of the world's major forest biomes. Supplementary standardized measurements at subsets of the sites provide additional information on plants, animals, and ecosystem and environmental variables. CTFS‐ForestGEO sites are experiencing multifaceted anthropogenic global change pressures including warming (average 0.61 °C), changes in precipitation (up to ±30% change), atmospheric deposition of nitrogen and sulfur compounds (up to 3.8 g N m−2 yr−1 and 3.1 g S m−2 yr−1), and forest fragmentation in the surrounding landscape (up to 88% reduced tree cover within 5 km). The broad suite of measurements made at CTFS‐ForestGEO sites makes it possible to investigate the complex ways in which global change is impacting forest dynamics. Ongoing research across the CTFS‐ForestGEO network is yielding insights into how and why the forests are changing, and continued monitoring will provide vital contributions to understanding worldwide forest diversity and dynamics in an era of global change.


Current patterns of production and consumption need to change and they need to do so radically. For this shift sustainability-oriented product-services are highly potential contributors. Product-services have been described as a market proposition that extends the functionality of a product beyond the traditional view by inclusion of additional services into the product-service system. From a producer perspective this opens up for a differentiation from competitors and thereby for strategic market opportunities. For the customer this means the possibility to be released from responsibilities linked to asset ownership, more differentiated options and increased function availability .For society at large it means the possibility to gain sustainability achievements. However, the market adoption of product-services or functional products brings with it significant challenges. The demand side is still hesitant to ownerless consumption and the supply side faces economical and company culture-related challenges. The challenges also include customer-related challenges and the development of product-services will require joint efforts of a number of actors along the value chain, actors that traditionally have been outside the buyer-seller relationship. Product-services need to be developed on a case-by-case basis and involve the users perspective from initial need phase until end-of-life in a collaborative process that is not practice today. This paper explores the strategic position of a procurer in this development. It aims at providing guidelines for procurement processes on how to successively and systematically utilize its potential as drivers for sustainability-oriented product-service solutions. Three procurement cases are studied for which a movement from a traditional product-oriented process to a functional-oriented process was the selection criteria. These cases were used to gain a deepened understanding of drivers and barriers for function-oriented procurement processes. A template for sustainable product development is used as a base for the development. The result from the cases is used to adapt the guidelines to current procurement processes and to meet the procurers where they are today.


Person-centered medicine (PCM) is a programmatic global initiative led by the International College of Person-Centered Medicine. It has recently emerged in Latin America. It requires the use of scientific research as an instrument to generate the best clinical evidence, and humanism as the essence of medicine to help mankind. It is focused on not only combatting disease but also promoting the display of healthy human being potentials towards achieving well-being and comprehensive growth. Although the humanism of medicine in Latin America has been a distinctive characteristic of its practice, now, there is a worrying decline in its impact on healthcare. This article summarizes the Latin American perspective from four countries. Needs and experiences are compared and responses that arise in view of the dehumanizing influence of technology and health management as a consumption good are described.


– The aim of this paper is to make clear important points of disaster volunteer from expe-rience of volunteer activity after East Japan Great Earthquake 2011. After the earthquake, young researchers in Japan Society of Information Society (JSIS) made a volunteer team to support a suf-fered local town in Tohoku area. As a member of this team, I report and analyze our volunteer activity. With other actors, we make horizontal relationship which fits well for information society. From this experience, I draw important instruction for disaster volunteer activity in general.


For uncertainty quantification in many practical engineering problems, the stochastic finite element method (SFEM) may be computationally challenging. In SFEM, the size of the algebraic linear system grows rapidly with the spatial mesh resolution and the order of the stochastic dimension. In this paper, we describe a non-overlapping domain decomposition method, namely the iterative substructuring method to tackle the large-scale linear system arising in the SFEM. The SFEM is based on domain decomposition in the geometric space and a polynomial chaos expansion in the probabilistic space. In particular, a two-level scalable preconditioner is proposed for the iterative solver of the interface problem for the stochastic systems. The preconditioner is equipped with a coarse problem which globally connects the subdomains both in the geometric and probabilistic spaces via their corner nodes. This coarse problem propagates the information quickly across the subdomains leading to a scalable preconditioner. For numerical illustrations, a two-dimensional stochastic elliptic partial differential equation (SPDE) with spatially varying non-Gaussian random coefficients is considered. The numerical scalability of the the preconditioner is investigated with respect to the mesh size, subdomain size, fixed problem size per subdomain and order of polynomial chaos expansion. The numerical experiments are performed on a Linux cluster using MPI and PETSc parallel libraries.


ABSTRACT This research enhances the understanding of consumer behaviour and customer experience in the context of town centres. First, it defines town centre customer experience (TCCE) as a multifaceted journey that combines interactions with a diverse range of public and private organisations, including retailers and social and community elements; this results in a unique experience co-created with the consumer across a series of functional and experiential touchpoints. Second, combining qualitative and quantitative insights, this research reveals a series of specific functional and experiential TCCE touchpoints, which underpin the consumer internal response (motivation to visit) and outward behaviour (desire to stay and revisit intentions) in the town centre. In addition to enhancing town centre and customer experience knowledge, these findings offer important new insights to those managing town centres and seeking to retain customer loyalty in the high street. Above all, these findings can help identify the touchpoints that need to be reinforced and/or improved to differentiate a town from its competing centres and to create tailored marketing strategies. Taken together, such initiatives have the potential to positively impact the revitalisation of the high street and the town centre economy.


Raju et al. used a yeast two-hybrid screen for proteins binding to Xenopus Smad1 and identified SANE (Smad1 antagonistic effector), a novel protein with sequence similarity to nuclear envelope proteins. SANE bound to type I bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) receptors, as well as to Smad1, and inhibited BMP signaling. BMPs, members of the transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) family, help regulate bone formation, neural cell fate determination, and embryonic patterning during development. BMPs bind to a receptor complex containing type I and type II receptors, which leads to phosphorylation of Smads1 and 5 and Smad translocation to the nucleus. The authors used Western analysis of Smad1 immunoprecipitates to confirm that SANE interacted with Smad1 in Xenopus embryos and to show that Smad1 did not bind to a SANE mutant lacking the COOH-terminus. SANE also bound to Smad5. SANE mRNA injected into Xenopus embryos specifically blocked BMP signaling, whereas the SANE mutant that did not bind Smad1 did not. SANE also blocked BMP-stimulated osteoblastic differentiation in cultured mouse C2C12 cells. SANE reduced Smad1 phosphorylation in embryos derived from fertilized eggs injected with BMP-4 mRNA and inhibited BMP-4-dependent nuclear translocation of Smad1 in NIH 3T3 cells. Western analysis of SANE immunoprecipitates indicated that SANE also bound to BMP type I receptors; unlike SANE binding to Smad1, this interaction did not require the SANE COOH-terminus. These data suggest that SANE is an inhibitor of BMP signaling with a novel mechanism that involves interaction with both the BMP receptor and pathway-specific Smads. G. P. Raju, N. Dimova, P. S. Klein, H.-C. Huang, SANE, a novel LEM domain protein, regulates bone morphogenetic protein signaling through interaction with Smad1. J. Biol. Chem. 278, 428-437 (2003). [Abstract] [Full Text]


With the rapid growth of digital wireless communication in recent years, the need for high
speed mobile data transmission has increased. New modulation techniques are being
implemented to keep with the desire more communication capacity. Processing power has
increased to a point where orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) has become
feasible and economical. Since many wireless communication systems being developed use
OFDM, it is a worthwhile research topic. Some examples of applications using OFDM
include Digital subscriber line (DSL), Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB), High definition
television (HDTV) broadcasting, IEEE 802.11 (wireless networking standard).OFDM is a
strong candidate and has been suggested or standardized in high speed communication
systems.
This thesis analyzes the factor that affects the OFDM performance. The performance
of OFDM was assessed by using computer simulations performed using Matlab.it was
simulated under Additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel conditions for different
modulation schemes like binary phase shift keying (BPSK), Quadrature phase shift keying
(QPSK), 16-Quadrature amplitude modulation (16-QAM), 64-Quadrature amplitude
modulation (64-QAM) which are used in wireless LAN for achieving high data rates.
One key component in OFDM based systems is inverse fast Fourier transform/fast
Fourier transform (IFFT/FFT) computation, which performs the efficient
modulation/demodulation. This block consumes large resources in terms of computational
power.this thesis analyzes, different IFFT/FFT implementation on performance of OFDM
communication system. Here 64-point IFFT/ FFT is used. FFT is a complex function whose
computational accuracy, hardware size and processing speed depend on the type of arithmetic
format used to implement it. Due to non-linearity of FFT its computational accuracy is not
easy to calculate theoretically. The simulation carried out here, measure the effects of fixed
point FFT on the performance of OFDM. Comparison has been made between bit error rate
of OFDM using fixed point IFFT/FFT and a floating point IFFT/FFT. Simulation tests were
made for different integer part lengths, fractional part lengths by limiting the input word
lengths to 16 bits and found the suitable combination of integer part lengths and fractional
part lengths which can achieve the best bit error rate (BER) performance with respect to
floating point performance. Extensive computer simulations show that fixed point
computation provides very near result as floating point if the delay parameter is suitably
selected.


Deep Gaussian Processes (DGPs) are hierarchical generalizations of Gaussian Processes that combine well calibrated uncertainty estimates with the high flexibility of multilayer models. One of the biggest challenges with these models is that exact inference is intractable. The current state-of-the-art inference method, Variational Inference (VI), employs a Gaussian approximation to the posterior distribution. This can be a potentially poor unimodal approximation of the generally multimodal posterior. In this work, we provide evidence for the non-Gaussian nature of the posterior and we apply the Stochastic Gradient Hamiltonian Monte Carlo method to generate samples. To efficiently optimize the hyperparameters, we introduce the Moving Window MCEM algorithm. This results in significantly better predictions at a lower computational cost than its VI counterpart. Thus our method establishes a new state-of-the-art for inference in DGPs.


BY March 1986 the dollar had fallen about 25 percent from its peak level in February 1985.1 According to the model of Stephen Marris, perpetuation of the rates prevailing last March would leave the U.S. trade deficit well above $100 billion until 1989, when it would start to increase again.2 A further decline in the dollar will thus be necessary to produce a sustainable current account. My own estimate is that the dollar must fall another 10 percent or so to reach what I term "fundamental equilibrium."3 While it is important that the dollar complete its realignment, it is also important that it avoid overshooting, for too low a value would renew inflationary pressure in the United States and increase pressures on employment and the tradable goods industries in other industrial countries. In my view the way to pursue the goal of completing the realignment while avoiding overshooting is by prompt introduction of a system of target zones for the major currencies. In the first section of this paper I outline such a system. In the second section I describe eight factors that lead me to favor this approach. In the final section I examine the relevance of prospects for the U.S. fiscal deficit to the advisability of adopting a target zone approach to currency management.