Before, "High-Reliable Ship" was studied, and at that time the term "High-Reliable" might give the marine engineers such imagination that the marine propulsion system was operating without break down and free from maintenance. However, in order to obtain and keep the reliability of marine power plant, it has been very cleared how important it is to reconstruct the method for design and maintainance on the power generator plant for marine propulsion. For example, the electric propulsion system is one of the typical plants realized through new design method which has been appeared recently in the world.The object of this paper is to propose a unified power plant and then to analyze it through the k-out-of-n system method. Here the power generator plant is unified and it provides the necessary power for ship navigation, that is the propulsion power, necessity power for operating subsystems and crew life on board.First, the concept of a k-out-of-n system method is presented and then using it, necessary results for analyzing the new power plant are introduced theoretically. Next, the obtained results are applied to the new power plant using the data which can be obtained from the field of the marine power plant. Finally, the analytical method based on the k-out-of-n system is shown to be extremely useful one by illustrating the results, and a new power plant proposed newly is very effective from the viewpoint of reliability.


Quasars (Quasi Stellar Objects, abbreviated as QSOs) are still nowadays, close to half a century after their discovery, objects which are not completely understood. In this brief review a description of the pending problems, inconsistencies and caveats in the QSO's research is presented. The standard paradigm model based on the existence of very massive black holes that are responsible for the QSO's huge luminosities, re-sulting from to their cosmological redshifts, leaves many facts without explanation. There are several obser-vations which lack a clear explanation, for instance: the absence of bright QSOs at low redshifts, a mysteri-ous evolution not properly understood; the inconsistencies of the absorption lines, such as the different structure of the clouds along the QSO's line of sight and their tangential directions; the spatial correlation between QSOs and galaxies; and many others.


Choice models today are ubiquitous across a range of applications in operations and marketing. Real-world implementations of many of these models face the formidable stumbling block of simply identifying the "right" model of choice to use. Because models of choice are inherently high-dimensional objects, the typical approach to dealing with this problem is positing, a priori, a parametric model that one believes adequately captures choice behavior. This approach can be substantially suboptimal in scenarios where one cares about using the choice model learned to make fine-grained predictions; one must contend with the risks of mis-specification and overfitting/underfitting. Thus motivated, we visit the following problem: For a "generic" model of consumer choice namely, distributions over preference lists and a limited amount of data on how consumers actually make decisions such as marginal information about these distributions, how may one predict revenues from offering a particular assortment of choices? An outcome of our investigation is a nonparametric approach in which the data automatically select the right choice model for revenue predictions. The approach is practical. Using a data set consisting of automobile sales transaction data from a major U.S. automaker, our method demonstrates a 20% improvement in prediction accuracy over state-of-the-art benchmark models; this improvement can translate into a 10% increase in revenues from optimizing the offer set. We also address a number of theoretical issues, among them a qualitative examination of the choice models implicitly learned by the approach. We believe that this paper takes a step toward "automating" the crucial task of choice model selection.

This paper was accepted by Yossi Aviv, operations management.


DataMod 2020 aims to bring together practitioners and researchers from academia, industry and research institutions interested in the combined application of computational modelling methods with data-driven techniques from the areas of knowledge management, data mining and machine learning. Modelling methodologies of interest include automata, agents, Petri nets, process algebras and rewriting systems. Application domains include social systems, ecology, biology, medicine, smart cities, governance, security, education, software engineering, and any other field that deals with complex systems and large amounts of data. Papers can present research results in any of the themes of interest for the symposium as well as application experiences, tools and promising preliminary ideas. Papers dealing with synergistic approaches that integrate modelling and knowledge management/discovery or that exploit knowledge management/discovery to develop/syntesise system models are especially welcome.


The enormous computing power available today has resulted in the acceptance of information technology into a wide range of applications, the identification or creation of numerous problem areas, and the considerable tasks of finding problem solutions. Using computers for handling the current data manipulation tasks which characterise modern information processing requires considerably more sophisticated hardware and software technologies. Yet the development of more 'enhanced' packages frequently requires hundreds of man-years. Similarly, computer hardware design has become so complicated that only by using existing computers is it possible to develop newer machines. The common characteristic of such data manipulation tasks is that much larger amounts of information in evermore complex arrangements are being handled at greater speeds. Instead of being 'concrete' or 'black and white', issues at the higher levels of information processing can appear blurred - there may be much less precision because situations, perspectives and circumstances can vary. Most current packages focus on specific task areas, but the modern information processing environment actually requires a broader range of functions that cooperate in integrating and relating information handling activities in a manner far beyond that normally offered. It would seem that a fresh approach is required to examine all of the constituent problems. This report describes the research work carried out during such a consideration, and details the specification and development of a suggested method for enhancing information systems by specifying a multimedia information environment. This thesis develops a statement of the perceived problems, using extensive references to the current state of information system technologies. Examples are given of how some current systems approach the multiple tasks of processing and sharing data and applications. The discussion then moves to consider further what the underlying objectives of information handling - and a suitable integration architecture - should perhaps be, and shows how some current systems do not really meet these aims, although they incorporate certain of the essential fundamentals that contribute towards more enhanced information handling. The discussion provides the basis for the specification and construction of complete, integrated Information Environment applications. The environments are used to describe not only the jobs which the user wishes to carry out, but also the circumstances under which the job is being performed. The architecture uses a new geometric data structure to facilitate manipulation of the working data, relationships, and the environment description. The manipulation is carried out spatially, and this allows the user to work using a geometric representation of the data components, thus supporting the abstract nature of some information handling tasks.


This monograph reviews evidence on probable impacts of climate change on agricultural production and food security in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) up to year 2100, based on the IPCC climate projections (though discussing some of their limitations) and the best impact estimates available. Key concepts and methods are analyzed and discussed, and also past trends regarding agricultural output, food consumption, undernourishment and malnutrition, as well as other (non-climate) factors affecting food security: population growth, urbanization, economic development and income distribution. Some crosscutting climatic issues are reviewed: sea-level rise, El Nino, and the Amazon forest. Finally, estimates of the impact of climate change on agriculture are discussed based on two main approaches: Ricardian Models and Integrated Assessment Models; expected impacts on undernourishment are also analyzed. Conclusion: even strong climate change may involve only a small (positive or negative) overall impact on expected agricultural production of 2100 or any time before. Several Latin American subregions would actually benefit from climate change, especially the plains around the River Plate and the high-altitude Andean plateaux. The number of people at risk of hunger would become small or vanishing well before 2100, for the region and practically all its countries. Even in the worst cases, like Haiti, Central America or Bolivia, economic access to food would be greatly enhanced, with undernourishment expected to affect a small percentage of people by the late 21st Century. The study discusses several policy options to minimize negative impacts (and enhance positive impacts) of climate change on agriculture and food security in the LAC region.


There is limited information available on the maturation of child and adolescent athletes, considering that maturation is a factor that can affect performance. This study evaluates the anthropometry of 115 male Venezuelan swimmers (aged 7-17), at differing stages of biological maturity. The procedures employed adhere to International Society for the Advancement of Kinanthropometry guidelines. Tanner's stages of genital maturation (G1-5) were used to subdivide the sample into the three categories posited by Nicoletti, prepuberty (G1), initial puberty (G2-3) and advanced puberty (G4-5).. Forward stepwise discriminant analysis was performed, using increase in hit rate as the selection criterion. A total of 35 variables were evaluated, from which stretch stature, triceps skinfold, subscapular skinfold, calf girth, relaxed arm girth, body mass, forearm length and thigh length were selected. This set produced a high aggregate hit rate (87%) of original grouped cases. Two linear discriminant functions (LDF1 and LDF2) emerged: LDF1 is capable of discriminating between prepuberty and advanced puberty and consists of stretch stature, body mass, forearm length, thigh length, relaxed arm circumference and calf circumference. LDF2 differentiates initial puberty from the other groups. This second set of discriminant variables comprises triceps skinfold and calf circumference. Confidence intervals demonstrate that two variables for body size, two for subcutaneous fatness, two for skeletal robustness and two for relative muscularity suffice to guide coaches when placing young swimmers into categories that best approximate the variability of maturation. Only triceps and subscapular skinfolds exhibited overlapping intervals in the three categories.


Shinto as one of traditional beliefs of Japanese people unconsciously gives much influence in the cultural activities of Japanese people. Therefore, the authors had examined the existence of Shinto in Shogatsu by distributing questionnaires to the 20 respondents of Osaka University students.  The article clarifies t he intensity level and purpose of Japanese people in carrying out Shogatsu, in relation to the Shinto as a traditional belief of Japanese people.  By use of the library research, analytical descriptive, and questionnaire method, it can be concluded that the majority of Japanese people do the activity of Shogatsu as a custom or tradition, without understanding the real purpose of Shogatsu. Actually, Shogatsu is highly associated to Shinto elements in it.


In my paper I shall argue that Western medicine has passed through epistemological and paradigmatic shifts from Bedside Medicine to Hospital Medicine to Laboratory Medicine. The singular act of post-mortem dissection differentiated Hospital Medicine from Bedside Medicine and established its unquestionable authority over Indian medical knowledge systems. In Āyurvedic knowledge, there is no single conception of the body, but a dominant one – a bodily frame – through which dosa-s, dhātu-s and mala-s flow. On their behalf, Āyurvedics were caught within a two-edged sword. First, since antiquity treatment of a disease could be efficiently resolved by tri-dos a theory and marman-s, without having any modern anatomical knowledge. Second, to establish Āyurveda as a valid and eternally "modern" repository of knowledge, learning modern anatomy became mandatory for high caste Āyurvedics to usurp it from the lower-caste practitioners. Consequently, a shift from traditional philosophy of tri-doṣa theory to "modern" notion of organ localization of disease occurred. It reconstituted the philosophical matrix of Āyurveda through this "modernization' of Āyurvedic knowledge of anatomy.


We used integrated hydrogeophysical inversion of time‐lapse, proximal ground penetrating radar (GPR) data to remotely infer the unsaturated soil hydraulic properties of a laboratory sand during an infiltration event. The inversion procedure involved full‐waveform modeling of the radar signal and one‐dimensional, vertical flow modeling. We combined the radar model with HYDRUS‐1D. The radar system was set up using standard, handheld vector network analyzer technology. Significant effects of water dynamics were observed on the time‐lapse radar data. The estimated hydraulic parameters were relatively consistent with direct characterization of undisturbed sand samples. Significant differences were particularly observed for the saturated hydraulic conductivity, which was underestimated by two orders of magnitude. Nevertheless, the use of soil hydraulic parameters derived from reference measurements failed to correctly predict water dynamics, whereas GPR‐based predictions captured some of the major features of time domain reflectometry measurements and better agreed with visual observations. These results suggest that the proposed method is promising for noninvasive, effective hydraulic characterization of the shallow subsurface and hence, monitoring of water dynamics at the field scale.


Audio captioning is the novel task of general audio content description using free text. It is an intermodal translation task (not speech-to-text), where a system accepts as an input an audio signal and outputs the textual description (i.e. the caption) of that signal. In this paper we present Clotho, a dataset for audio captioning consisting of 4981 audio samples of 15 to 30 seconds duration and 24 905 captions of eight to 20 words length, and a baseline method to provide initial results. Clotho is built with focus on audio content and caption diversity, and the splits of the data are not hampering the training or evaluation of methods. All sounds are from the Freesound platform, and captions are crowdsourced using Amazon Mechanical Turk and annotators from English speaking countries. Unique words, named entities, and speech transcription are removed with post-processing. Clotho is freely available online 1.


This thesis describes an array of eight multi-cell drift chambers, of novel design, user! in the (g-2) Muon Storage Ring at CKUN. The array detected decay electrons traversing an inhomogeneous magnetic field ranging from 14.75 kG to 4 kG over the lengh of the chambers. Data analysis aimed to reconstruct the circulating muon beam profile and determine the decay electron energies. Results from the (g-2) experiment are outlined. The development of drift chambers, the principle of operation and their future uses are discussed. The design considerations and operating parameters of the (g-2) chambers are explained. A gas mixture of argon-methane (90:10) was used in the chambers. The computerized data acquisition system developed at CERN is described in detail. It incorporated a new Drift Time Digitizer system. The data were analysed to produce chamber drift velocity calibrations. Electric equipotential plots were derived to enable the computation of theoretical drift velocities. The existence of variable drift velocities throughout the drift spaces was revealed. Particles traversing the chambers near the cell boundaries were observed to produce recorded drift times at both adjacent sense wires. Analysis of the data in these dual detection regions produced better estimates of the drift velocities which were in good agreement with the theoretical values. An experimental scanning system is outlined which would provide accurate drift velocity calibrations in such complex fields. The performance of the drift chamber array is evaluated and the principles of the track reconstruction outlined. The analysis produced underestimates of the radius of curvature of the circulating muons and the decay electron energies. It is demonstrated that low spatial resolutions due to inaccuracies in the drift velocity calibrations produced such errors. Improvements to the drift chamber design and operating parameters are suggested that would increase the attainable spatial resolution.


http://www.gamejournal.it/3_zhang/ ABSTRACT Sleeping Dogs is an open-world role-playing game developed by United Front Games, a Canadian Studio based in Vancouver, in conjunction with Square Enix London Studios and released by Square Enix in 2012. The game features the city of Hong Kong and the society of Chinese Triads. While the game itself is mainly a representation of post-colonial Hong Kong targeting a transnational audience entrenched in similar gameplay mechanics of the genre, the native Hong Kong players react to these reconstructions of Hong Kong through their own gameplay and unique interpretations. The virtual city is not a static representation but a congruence of vigorous interactions between the originally designed space and gamic actions of the players. This paper seeks to explore the spatial and bodily practices of Sleeping Dogs players in the virtual terrain of Hong Kong through the lens of Lefebvre's spatial theory.


The main objective of this paper is to verify test methodologies for assessment high dynamic range (HDR) video. To achieve this, a next generation HDR monitor by Dolby Laboratories was used to display professionally produced HDR content, including some scenes from recently released movies. Two complementary approaches for subjective assessment of HDR video were then designed and carried out at the EBU and EPFL premises. Results obtained from both evaluations were highly correlated which show they offer a good degree of reliability and reproducibility in different situations. Analysis of the scores in both cases also show good confidence intervals for each point under test. Finally, they could demonstrate that an increase in terms of quality of experience can be expected from the conventional level of 100 nits to HDR/high brightness at 4'000 nits, with intermediate improvements at 400 and 1'000 nits.


The public order police units of the South African Police Service have undergone many changes in the last 15 years. Under the apartheid government, the units started off as the Riot Units, and in 1992 became the Internal Stability Division. In 1996 the units were reorganised as Public Order Police Units, and in 2002 they were transformed to become the Area Crime Combating Units. In 2006 they underwent yet another restructuring, and they now operate under the name of Crime Combating Units. Each of these changes has meant different chains of command as well as different training and deployment structures, which has affected the skills and capacity of the units. Some of the changes, particularly the most recent one in which the manpower of the units has been severely reduced at a time when crowd control incidents are on the increase, have not been to the benefit of the units or to public order policing.


On the strength of a double Nobel prize winning experiment (Super)Kamiokande and an extremely successful long baseline neutrino programme, the third generation Water Cherenkov detector, Hyper-Kamiokande, is being developed by an international collaboration as a leading worldwide experiment based in Japan. The Hyper-Kamiokande detector will be hosted in the Tochibora mine, about 295 km away from the J-PARC proton accelerator research complex in Tokai, Japan. The currently existing accelerator will be steadily upgraded to reach a MW beam by the start of the experiment. A suite of near detectors will be vital to constrain the beam for neutrino oscillation measurements. A new cavern will be excavated at the Tochibora mine to host the detector. The experiment will be the largest underground water Cherenkov detector in the world and will be instrumented with new technology photosensors, faster and with higher quantum efficiency than the ones in Super-Kamiokande. The science that will be developed will be able to shape the future theoretical framework and generations of experiments. Hyper-Kamiokande will be able to measure with the highest precision the leptonic CP violation that could explain the baryon asymmetry in the Universe. The experiment also has a demonstrated excellent capability to search for proton decay, providing a significant improvement in discovery sensitivity over current searches for the proton lifetime. The atmospheric neutrinos will allow to determine the neutrino mass ordering and, together with the beam, able to precisely test the three-flavour neutrino oscillation paradigm and search for new phenomena. A strong astrophysical programme will be carried out at the experiment that will also allow to measure precisely solar neutrino oscillation.


The Oslo and Paris Commissions (OSPAR) decision 98/3 prohibits the dumping of man-made structures (MMS) offshore. However, there are regions of the world where MMS are recognized as providing an ecological and societal benefit through the provision of ecosystem goods and services. This review provides a commentary on our current understanding of the ecological influence of man-made structures, the consequences of their decommissioning and recognizes that our knowledge is far from complete. It is known that a diverse and complex ecosystem of attached organisms develops on submerged structures which supports a localized food web that could not exist without them. However, our lack of detailed information makes modelling of system response to decommissioning very tentative. Ideally, we should use the best possible scientific information to reach a consensus as to whether the blanket removal of MMS (excepting derogations) is the most environmentally supportable option. The evidence available to-date shows both benefits and some risk in leaving MMS in place and this needs to be examined without preconception. On the UKCS, MMS as artificial habitats are not considered under the Habitats Directive, irrespective of the value or rarity of the species present. We conclude that a more comprehensive regulatory process, together with the recognition of the ecology associated with man-made structures, would allow science to play a role in the decision-making rather than supporting a blanket policy ignoring ecological context.


The hydrothermal system architecture related to the formation of the contemporaneous Au-bearing Horne and Quemont volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) deposits was visualized by employing kriging methods to map whole-rock oxygen isotope compositions, zones of silica addition and loss, and water contents in two- and three-dimension. Zones of alteration were mapped in three-dimensions in the vicinity of the steeply dipping Horne deposit, to depths of as much as 2 km. In all, nearly 300 samples were analyzed for oxygen isotopes and supplemented by previously published whole-rock analyses. Contents of SiO2, H2O, MgO, Al2O3, and S from chemical analyses of nearly 5,000 samples within the two- and three-dimensional study regions were used separately, and in combination with the oxygen isotope data, for modeling and hydrothermal mapping purposes.

The Horne and Quemont deposits formed within a similar time frame, but in different magmatic-hydrothermal systems, distinguished by their mapped hydrothermal architecture. The Quemont deposit appears to be centered on the Powell pluton, which intruded late into an apparent volcanic-filled, rift-graben structure. Although structural complexities are apparent, we infer mineralizing high-temperature upflow in the footwall of the Quemont deposit to have emanated from a reaction zone above the Powell pluton (and its precursors), beneath a zone of extensive silicification. Faulting on the Andesite fault and Horne Creek faults, plus erosion, has removed evidence of the upflow zone in the hydrothermal system of the Horne deposit.

Areas of silicification correspond, in general, with isotopic evidence of lower temperature alteration. Such alteration east of the Quemont deposit signaled the waning of hydrothermal activity. The suggested cooling, for the most part, promoted the precipitation of silica. In the case of the Horne deposit, mixing of metalliferous hydrothermal fluid with cold seawater in the permeable footwall rocks, in an apparently relatively stratigraphically stable and long-lived hydrothermal system, evidently led to marked footwall silicification. The silicified footwall may have contributed to an increased efficiency of sulfide precipitation in the Horne deposit. Continued intrusion and some post-VMS hydrothermal activity is recorded in the hanging-wall section to the Horne deposit. Our data suggest that deposition of the 10 million ounces (Moz) of Au within the Horne deposit was syngenetic, and not the product of subsequent hydrothermal activity.


The so-called Baby Doe Rules, which are federal laws defining "medical neglect" of newborns for states receiving federal funds for child abuse programs, remain controversial twenty five years after they were enacted. To explore their contemporary significance, Georgia State University's College of Law, in partnership with Emory University's Center for Ethics, hosted a law review symposium in February 2009 on "The 25th Anniversary of the Baby Doe Rules: Perspectives from the Fields of Law, Health Care, Ethics, and Disability Policy." Nationally prominent professionals with expertise in neonatal medicine and decision-making in these diverse, interdisciplinary fields spent the day engaged in challenging debate and thoughtful reflection on these federal rules. This Foreword provides a roadmap to the speakers' essays and an introduction to the complex issues in medicine, bioethics, law, and disability policy that the Baby Doe Rules continue to raise. After twenty-five years, the Baby Doe Rules have not resolved how decisions about appropriate treatment for seriously ill and extremely premature infants should be made, nor have they forged a societal consensus over the standards for decision-making. While the Rules may not be openly used to guide decision-making in much of clinical practice today, they continue to reflect the underlying ethical and societal tensions that prompted their enactment in the first place and that still need to be resolved.


Organic semiconductors can be easily combined with other molecular building blocks in order to fabricate multifunctional devices, in which each component conveys a specific (opto)electronic function. We have fabricated photoswitchable hybrid thin-film transistors based on an active bi-component material, consisting of an n-type fullerene derivative and a photochromic diarylethene that possesses light-tunable energy levels. The devices can be gated in two independent ways by either using an electrical stimulus via the application of a voltage to the gate electrode or an optical stimulus causing interconversion of the diarylethene molecules between their two isomers. Fine control over the device output current is achieved by engineering the diarylethenes' LUMO that can act as an intra-gap state controlled by a distinct wavelength in the UV or in the visible range. Importantly, the devices based on a mixed diarylethene/fullerene active layer preserve the high mobility of the pristine semiconductor.


High school dropout, or early school withdrawal, is a complex problem that can result from factors in all life domains. Specific factors commonly cited throughout literature in association with early school withdrawal include socioeconomic status, school mobility, and grade retention among others. There is also evidence suggesting that the factors influencing the decision to drop out of school for African American and Hispanic students may differ from the factors that influence White students. Research is conflicting as to specific gender differences among high school dropouts and with regard to the factors that influence such a decision between males and females. This study examined differences in self-reported reasons for prematurely withdrawing from school between minority status (African American and Hispanic) and non-minority status (White) students, as well as between males and females. An additional focus of this study was on school mobility and grade retention as they relate to minority status and impact high school dropout. Results indicate no significant results with regard to: minority status and high school dropout, minority status and factors related to high school dropout, school mobility and minority status, grade retention and minority status, or gender and factors related to high school dropout. However, as hypothesized, within this sample of high school dropouts, there was a significantly higher proportion of males, students who have experienced school mobility and students who have been retained. These findings support much of the research which suggests that males tend to drop out of school at a higher rate than females and that both school mobility and grade retention are plausible predictors of high school dropout. However, no support was provided for minority status as being a significant factor.


Archaeologists and historians have sought to understand the architecture of the early church using methods common to their respective fields of inquiry. This has included an approach to architecture which classifies buildings according to type and style. Limitations of both method and evidence has led some scholars to conclude that there was no Christian architecture before A.D. 200. This present study intends to broaden the understanding of architecture beyond mere tectonics and realise its significance as a boundary of place with a view toward examining the foundations of early Christian architecture. Boundary and place are primary components of the cosmos within Judaism. The Hebrews came to understand the world according to a concept of holiness manifested as a scheme of circular boundaries ascending into the presence of God, located within the Temple. As an outgrowth of Judaism, the early Church held similar views of place and boundary which gave them an affinity for the Temple. By understanding architecture as a boundary of place we can connect the sacred places and boundaries of the Jews from Creation to the Land and Temple. The Church proclaimed Jesus as God incarnate and Himself the Temple transformed. The traditional view has been that the synagogue was the connecting link between the Church and the Temple, but the origins and role of the synagogue are now doubted. The predominance of the house in the life and ministry of Jesus combined with its prevalence in the NT and the early Christian writers indicates that the Christians understood sacred place in terms of their domestic reality. The house provided not only a strong ligature connecting Church and Temple, it was also an archetype for the Church's sacred place and developing architectural boundaries.


Cauwels and Sornette present a novel methodology to determine the fundamental value of firms in the social networking sector, motivated by recent realized IPOs and by reports that suggest sky-high valuations of firms such as Facebook, Groupon, LinkedIn Corp., Pandora Media, Inc., Twitter, and Zynga. The authors' valuation of these firms is based on two assumptions:1) revenues and profits of a social networking firm are inherently linked to its user base through a direct channel that has no equivalent in other sectors, and 2) the growth in the number of users can be calibrated with standard logistic growth models, which allows for reliable extrapolations of the size of the business at long time horizons. Cauwels and Sornette illustrate the methodology with a detailed analysis of Facebook, one of the biggest of the social media giants. A clear signature of a change of regime, occurring in 2010 in the growth of the number of users, is observed. The change of regime is a move from a pure exponential behavior (a paradigm for unlimited growth) to a logistic function with asymptotic plateau (a paradigm for growth in competition). The authors consider three different scenarios: a base case, high-growth, and extreme-growth scenario. Using a discount factor of 5%, a profit margin of 29% and $3.50 of revenues per user per year yields a value of Facebook of $15.3 billion in the base case scenario, $20.2 billion in the high-growth scenario, and $32.9 billion in the extreme-growth scenario. According to the authors' methodology, this implies that Facebook needs to increase its profit per user before the IPO by a factor of 3 to 6 in the base case scenario, 2.5 to 5 in the high-growth scenario, and 1.5 to 3 in the extreme-growth scenario in order to meet the current, widespread high expectations. To prove the wider applicability of their methodology, the analysis is repeated for Groupon, the well-known deal-of-the-day website, that went public in November 2011.The results are in line with the Facebook analysis. Customer growth will plateau. By not taking this fundamental property of the growth process into consideration, estimates of the Facebook IPO are wildly overpriced.


Dry mixed-conifer forests are widespread in the interior Pacific Northwest, but their historical fire regimes are poorly characterized, in particular the relative mix of low- and high-severity fire. We reconstructed a multi-century history of fire from tree rings in dry mixed-conifer forests in central Oregon. These forests are dominated by ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Lawson & C. Lawson), Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco), and grand fir (Abies grandis (Douglas ex D. Don) Lindl.). Across four, 30-plot grids of ∼800 ha covering a mosaic of dry mixed-conifer forest types, we sampled 4065 trees for evidence of both high- and low-severity fire. From 1650 to ∼1900, all four sites sustained frequent, often extensive, low-severity fires that sometimes included small patches of severe fire (50–150 ha during 18%–28% of fire years). Fire intervals were similar among sites and also among forest types within sites (mean intervals of 14–32 years). To characterize the continuous nature of the variation in fire severity, we computed a plot-based index that captures the relative occurrence of low- and high-severity fire. Our work contributes to the growing understanding of variation in past fire regimes in the complex and dynamic forests of North America's Interior West.


The human immune system is a multi-talented composition of a variety of interacting elements trying to protect the host from any kind of disease. Much research has been done to elucidate a key event of this complex defense strategy, which is the activation of T cells resulting from the formation of a temporary synapse between a T cell and an antigen presenting cell. During this intercellular contact the T cell obtains pathogen-related information in order to initiate specific steps for averting the disease.
In the presented work, we introduce a novel, bio-functional substrate system simulating the antigen presenting cell's surface. The engineered platform provides defined micro- and nano-scaled presentation of crucial proteins as well as control over substrate compliance. This system enables the possibility to investigate T cell activation and synapse formation under controlled conditions. It could be demonstrated that T cells show activation-related behavior when interacting with such substrates; they adhere, polarize and start to release signaling molecules. These events prove that the substrates can substitute for the antigen presenting cell and are able to modulate the activation process of T cells. It was shown that T cells are sensitive to a surface density of 90–140 stimulating molecules per μm2, but only if presented over the entire cell-surface contact area. An adhesive background consisting of proteins which support the adhesion process significantly decrease this threshold value. These insights contribute to a deeper understanding of the complex process of T cell activation and support the development of novel therapies employing the body's own defense system to control diseases.


Engineering students often struggle with developing physical, tangible understandings of the theories they learn in the classroom. Additionally, they often struggle when faced with messy, non-idealized, real-world systems as opposed to the idealized geometries and assemblies frequently encountered within classrooms and textbooks. As such, they also rarely have the opportunity to learn how experimental design and theoretical modeling work together to understand practical systems. To address these shortcomings, a low-cost solar water heater design project was developed and integrated concurrently between a mechanical engineering heat transfer course and a thermal systems laboratory course. The low-cost constraint reinforced physical understanding of heat transfer concepts and ensured messy, non-ideal designs to which theoretical modeling could not be neatly applied. A heat transfer concept inventory to assess student learning showed minimal gains in student understanding while a self-report attitude survey administered to the students demonstrated that they perceived the design project to be a valuable and enjoyable learning experience. Students failed, however, to understand the complementary nature of experimentation and theoretical modeling. Improved coordination between the two classes was needed to fully realize this benefit, and will be implemented in the future.


A multispectral or hyperspectral sensor captures images of high spectral resolution by dividing the light spectrum into many narrow bands. With the advent of affordable and flexible sensors, the modality is constantly widening its range of applications. This necessitates novel tools that allow general and intuitive analysis of the image data. In this work, a software framework is presented that bundles interactive visualization techniques with powerful analysis capabilities and is accessible through efficient computation and an intuitive user interface. Towards this goal, several algorithmic solutions to open problems are presented in the fields of edge detection, clustering, supervised segmentation and visualization of hyperspectral images. In edge detection, the structure of a scene can be extracted by finding discontinuities between image regions. The high dimensionality of hyperspectral data poses specific challenges for this task. A solution is proposed based on a data-driven pseudometric. The pseudometric is computed through a fast manifold learning technique and outperforms established metrics and similarity measures in several edge detection scenarios. Another approach to scene understanding in the hyperspectral or a derived feature space is data clustering. Through pixel-cluster assignment, a global segmentation of an image is obtained based on reflectance effects and materials in the scene. An established mode-seeking method provides high-quality clustering results, but is slow to compute in the hyperspectral domain. Two methods of speedup are proposed that allow computations for interactive use. A further method is proposed that finds clusters in a learned topological representation of the data manifold. Experimental results demonstrate a quick and accurate clustering of the image data without any assumptions or prior knowledge, and that the proposed methods are applicable for the extraction of material prototypes and for fuzzy clustering of reflectance effects. For supervised image analysis, an algorithm for seed-based segmentation is introduced to the hyperspectral domain. Specific segmentations can be quickly obtained by giving cues about regions to be included in or excluded from a segment. The proposed method builds on established similarity measures and the proposed data-driven pseudometric. A new benchmark is introduced to assess its performance. The aforementioned analysis methods are then combined with capable visualization techniques. A method for non-linear false-color visualization is proposed that distinguishes captured spectra in the spatial layout of the image. This facilitates the finding of relationships between objects and materials in the scene. Additionally, a visualization for the spectral distribution of an image is proposed. Raw data exploration becomes more feasible through manipulation of this plot and its link to traditional displays. The combination of false-color coding, spectral distribution plots, and traditional visualization enables a new workflow in manual hyperspectral image analysis.


Background: The purpose of this study was to examine the association between health belief model (HBM) constructs and a modified version of diet quality index in Iranian adolescents. Methods: One thousand and fifty five adolescents aged 13-15 years old completed this cross-sectional study. Participants were selected from secondary schools in Shiraz, one of the megacities of Iran, using stratified random sampling. A modified version of revised children's diet quality index (M-RCDQI), was calculated for each adolescents and its association with the model construct was assessed using linear regression. Results: Mean M-RCDQI score was 58.91±8.58 out of the total of 90 points. Among the M-RCDQI components, the worse scores were obtained by dairy intake, dietary fiber and vegetables in which less than 20% of the students reached maximum score. Among HBM constructs, cues to action (B=0.194, p=0.003) and self-efficacy (B=0.04, p=0.007) had positive, significant association with adolescents' diet quality. Also there was a positive, significant association between cues to action and fruits consumption (B=0.026, P=0.026), and a negative significant association was seen between cues to action and total fat intake (B=-0.629, p=0.021). Furthermore, self-efficacy had a direct significant association with dairy intake. Conclusion: M-RCDQI could be a suitable tool for assessment of diet quality index and it is recommended for use in further studies in similar populations. Cues to action and self-efficacy would both be effective mediators in improvement of nutritional behavior among adolescents.


AbstractThe mass media convey dominant values and attitudes through stories and myths that they circulate within a specific culture. As a narrative form, news coverage places events into social reality by retelling them within the framework of known stories or myths. Events acquire meanings and reactions by the ways in which these stories are told. In Israeli society, the Holocaust is a historical event that plays a prominent role in shaping national and cultural identity. An analysis of Israeli press coverage of terrorist attacks on Israel reveals that the Israeli press uses these events to convey the basic myth of the Holocaust and the revival of the Jewish state. Using Barthes' theories of narrative analysis, a composite story is constructed to illustrate the workings of this process. In this story the Jews, formerly helpless victims of Nazi aggression, are saved by Israeli soldiers as proof of the revival of the Jewish people in the state of Israel. The findings of the study suggest that the myth of the Holocaust may be used as a framework by the Israeli press in more serious emergency situations, such as war. At the same time, the study suggests that the analysis of news as narrative provides a means of understanding how terrorist events are reported by the press in other countries and in other media as well. (Mass Communication)


Many purchases of differentiated goods are repeated, giving sellers the opportunity to engage in price discrimination based upon the shopper's previous behavior by either offering loyalty discounts to repeat buyers or introductory rates to new customers. Recent theoretical work suggests that loyalty discounts are likely to be implemented when customer preferences are not stationary and sellers can pre-commit to prices for repeat buyers, but otherwise repeat buyers can be expected to pay the same or more than new buyers. This paper reports the results of a series of controlled laboratory experiments designed to empirically test the impact of these factors on pricing strategies, seller profit and total cost to consumers. Absent price pre-commitments, sellers in the lab engage in poaching when it is optimal to do so, but the ability to pre-commit leads to prices being relatively more favorable to loyal customers. Customer poaching increases seller profit and increases total consumer costs in the case of stable consumer preferences without price pre-commitment.


Unmanned Aerial Systems are very promising in monitoring applications. Their flexibility, ease of operation and relative low-cost construction make them the best candidates for monitoring activity in precision farming, where prompt management reactions to plant disease, lack of plants nutrients and environmental changes are the focal point to farm efficiency and productivity. In this paper, we show the results of an analysis of monitoring performances and cost estimation of multirotor Unmanned Aerial Systems applied to crop monitoring tasks in paddy fields. The analysis takes into account the Italian regulatory prescriptions and the investigation of two different kind of commercial sensors.


Cannabinoid expression is an important genetically determined feature of cannabis that presents clinical and legal implications for patients seeking cannabinoid specific therapies like Cannabidiol (CBD). Cannabinoid, terpenoid, and flavonoid marker assisted selection can accelerate breeding efforts by offering genetic tools to select for desired traits at an early stage in growth. To this end, multiple models for chemotype inheritance have been described suggesting a complex picture for chemical phenotype determination. Here we explore the potential role of copy number variation of THCA Synthase using phased single molecule sequencing and demonstrate that copy number and sequence variation of this gene is common and suggests a more nuanced view of chemotype prediction.


This study examined the choice of place of care by expectant mothers in a Local Government in Anambra State and factors that influence such choices in order to identify factors that militate against health -seeking behavior among the group and proffer solution. The study population was 82 pregnant women in a Primary Health Center in the State. Purposive sampling technique was adopted in the selection of the respondents. Three research questions and four null hypotheses guided the study. The instrument used for data collection was structured questionnaire. Face and content validity of tool was ascertained by Experts while correlation coefficient of 0.83 was established through a pilot study. Demographic information was also obtained for the study. With SPSS version 20, descriptive analysis was done to answer the research questions while Chi-square test was adopted in testing the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The result showed that the choice of place of care had significant correlation with level of education (r = 0.306, p 0.05) and income (r = 0.207, p >0.05) of the respondents. This calls for free education programme for women by the Government to boost educational level among the group as well as organized programme for adolescent girls on the importance of health - seeking behavior in pregnancy.


This article is prompted by a recent Chinese criminal provision governing the impartiality of arbitration. The goals of the article fare to critically examine the new criminal statute created by the provision and to put forward some proposals for reform, which could be employed to resolve the tension that exists between arbitrator impartiality and deference to arbitration. Although the new provision appears to eliminate the abuse of arbitral power, it may raise more questions than it resolves. This article explores the problems and undertakes a comparative analysis of the corresponding U.S. provision, as well as an analysis of some cultural and traditional elements influencing the new criminal statute in China. Ultimately it will be argued that the concerns can be addressed by finetuning the rule in order to keep a balance between the previous two conflicting values. Borrowing from U.S. experience, a mechanism of judicial interpretation is proposed that could well suit China's needs because the benefits of arbitration can be retained without sacrificing the impartiality of arbitration.


We study employers' perceptions of the value of postsecondary degrees using a field experiment. We randomly assign the sector and selectivity of institutions to fictitious resumes and apply to real vacancy postings for business and health jobs on a large online job board. We find that a business bachelor's degree from a for-profit "online" institution is 22 percent less likely to receive a callback than one from a non-selective public institution. In applications to health jobs, we find that for-profit credentials receive fewer callbacks unless the job requires an external quality indicator such as an occupational license.


State-feedback model predictive control (MPC) of discrete-time linear periodic systems with possibly time-dependent state and control input dimension is considered. States and inputs are subject to hard, mixed, polytopic constraints. It is described how discrete-time linear systems, both time-invariant and periodic, with multirate or multiplexed control inputs can be modeled as such periodic systems. This makes linear periodic systems with possibly time-dependent dimensions a unified, coherent and succinct state-space modeling framework for a large variety of control problem for linear plants, periodic or non. In this paper it is shown how important theoretical results for state-feedback MPC of constrained linear time-invariant (LTI) systems are conceptually equivalent to what is required for linear periodic systems. Specifically the determination of (maximum) periodic controlled and positively invariant sets and the solution of reverse periodic discrete-time algebraic Riccati equations are considered indispensable. A general definition, and a method for the determination, of maximum periodic controlled and positively invariant sets are proposed here. Thus least-restrictive, strongly feasible MPC problems resulting in infinite-horizon optimal state-feedback control laws are designed. The proposed methods are applied to a multirate twin-actuator nano-positioning system.


Single cell RNA-seq (scRNA-seq) has emerged as a transformative tool to discover and define cellular phenotypes. While computational scRNA-seq methods are currently well suited for experiments representing a single condition, technology, or species, analyzing multiple datasets simultaneously raises new challenges. In particular, traditional analytical workflows struggle to align subpopulations that are present across datasets, limiting the possibility for integrated or comparative analysis. Here, we introduce a new computational strategy for scRNA-seq alignment, utilizing common sources of variation to identify shared subpopulations between datasets as part of our R toolkit Seurat. We demonstrate our approach by aligning scRNA-seq datasets of PBMCs under resting and stimulated conditions, hematopoietic progenitors sequenced across two profiling technologies, and pancreatic cell 'atlases' generated from human and mouse islets. In each case, we learn distinct or transitional cell states jointly across datasets, and can identify subpopulations that could not be detected by analyzing datasets independently. We anticipate that these methods will serve not only to correct for batch or technology-dependent effects, but also to facilitate general comparisons of scRNA-seq datasets, potentially deepening our understanding of how distinct cell states respond to perturbation, disease, and evolution. Availability Installation instructions, documentation, and tutorials are available at http://www.satijalab.org/seurat


Life on earth spans a size range of around 21 orders of magnitude across species and can span a range of more than 6 orders of magnitude within species of animal. The effect of size on physiology is, therefore, enormous and is typically expressed by how physiological phenomena scale with mass(b). When b ≠ 1 a trait does not vary in direct proportion to mass and is said to scale allometrically. The study of allometric scaling goes back to at least the time of Galileo Galilei, and published scaling relationships are now available for hundreds of traits. Here, the methods of scaling analysis are reviewed, using examples for a range of traits with an emphasis on those related to metabolism in animals. Where necessary, new relationships have been generated from published data using modern phylogenetically informed techniques. During recent decades one of the most controversial scaling relationships has been that between metabolic rate and body mass and a number of explanations have been proposed for the scaling of this trait. Examples of these mechanistic explanations for metabolic scaling are reviewed, and suggestions made for comparing between them. Finally, the conceptual links between metabolic scaling and ecological patterns are examined, emphasizing the distinction between (1) the hypothesis that size- and temperature-dependent variation among species and individuals in metabolic rate influences ecological processes at levels of organization from individuals to the biosphere and (2) mechanistic explanations for metabolic rate that may explain the size- and temperature-dependence of this trait.


With the development in hard drive and permanent magnet industry, higher satu‐ ration magnetization (Ms) or magnetic induction (Bs) material is on high demand. According to the Slater-Pauling curve, the highest Bs value is ~2.45 T, which be‐ longs to FeCo alloy. However, in 1972, Kim and Takahashi [1] announced that the new material Fe-N thin film exhibited an increase in the Bs value of 18%. From then on, tons of research works [2, 3, 4] had been dedicated in this area with conclusions on both sides, achieving either high Bs or low Bs. Among those works, the Bs values were obtained from the measurement of the thin film magnetic moment and its vol‐ ume, which might cause a considerable amount of error depending on the accuracy of the film thickness and area measurement. Other concerns also include the uncer‐ tainty of Ms value due to the subtraction of Fe underlayer. Indeed, a direct meas‐ urement of Bs is the key to clarify the discrepancies between these results. Here, we are presenting the method of polarized neutron reflectometry (PNR) to measure the Bs of the partially ordered Fe16N2 thin film. PNR allows the interface magnetism study, [5] the absolute magnetization determination and magnetic depth profile in single thin films, [6, 7, 8, 9] and complicated superlattice structures. [10, 11] In the following scenarios, different partially ordered Fe16N2 thin films are fabricated and are measured using PNR subsequently. Their Bs values are obtained using the fit‐ ting results of nuclear scattering length density (NSLD) and magnetic scattering length density (MSLD). Also, a PNR application on FeN thin film will also help us to understand the switching picture of the FeN thin film with external applied field.


Newly generated neurons incorporated into neural circuits in the dentate gyrus of the adult brain have been postulated to play a role in learning and memory. Noting that not all newly generated neurons survive and that their survival depends on experience, Tashiro et al. used a retrovirus-mediated single-cell gene knockout technique to eliminate N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR)-mediated synaptic input from individual identifiable neurons and see whether their survival depended on incoming synaptic activity. Retroviral vectors expressing Cre recombinase fused to green fluorescent protein (GFP) were injected into the dentate gyrus of floxed NR1 mice, so that newly generated neurons in which the NR1 subunit of the NMDAR was disrupted (NR1KO neurons) were also labeled with GFP. Although NR1KO neurons resembled new wild-type neurons morphologically, and electron microscopy revealed synapses onto their dendritic spines, they failed to generate NMDAR-mediated currents and were resistant to the toxic effects of high concentrations of NMDA. A decrease in the density of both NR1KO and wild-type new neurons occurred in the weeks after viral injection; this decrease was greater for the NR1KO neurons, a difference that resulted from increased neuronal death 2 to 3 weeks after their "birth." Injection of an NMDAR antagonist during this critical period led to an increase in NR1KO neuron survival, suggesting that survival was competitively regulated. Thus, the authors conclude that the survival of new neurons (and their incorporation into neural circuits) depends on synaptic input, providing a potential mechanism for them to contribute to learning and memory. A. Tashiro, V. M. Sandler, N. Toni, C. Zhao, F. H. Gage, NMDA-receptor-mediated, cell-specific integration of new neurons in adult dentate gyrus. Nature 442, 929-933 (2006). [PubMed]


T cell Ig and mucin domain (Tim) 3 is a surface molecule expressed throughout the immune system that can mediate both stimulatory and inhibitory effects. Previous studies have provided evidence that Tim-3 functions to enforce CD8 T cell exhaustion, a dysfunctional state associated with chronic stimulation. In contrast, the role of Tim-3 in the regulation of CD8 T cell responses to acute and transient stimulation remains undefined. To address this knowledge gap, we examined how Tim-3 affects CD8 T cell responses to acute Listeria monocytogenes infection. Analysis of wild-type (WT) mice infected with L. monocytogenes revealed that Tim-3 was transiently expressed by activated CD8 T cells and was associated primarily with acquisition of an effector phenotype. Comparison of responses to L. monocytogenes by WT and Tim-3 knockout (KO) mice showed that the absence of Tim-3 significantly reduced the magnitudes of both primary and secondary CD8 T cell responses, which correlated with decreased IFN-γ production and degranulation by Tim-3 KO cells stimulated with peptide Ag ex vivo. To address the T cell–intrinsic role of Tim-3, we analyzed responses to L. monocytogenes infection by WT and Tim-3 KO TCR-transgenic CD8 T cells following adoptive transfer into a shared WT host. In this setting, the accumulation of CD8 T cells and the generation of cytokine-producing cells were significantly reduced by the lack of Tim-3, demonstrating that this molecule has a direct effect on CD8 T cell function. Combined, our results suggest that Tim-3 can mediate a stimulatory effect on CD8 T cell responses to an acute infection.


Aims
Current atrial fibrillation (AF) guidelines discourage antiplatelet (AP) monotherapy as alternative to anticoagulants (ACs). Why AP only is still used is largely unknown.

Methods and results
Factors associated with AP monotherapy prescription were analysed in GARFIELD-AF, a registry of patients with newly diagnosed (≤6 weeks) AF and ≥1 investigator-determined stroke risk factor. We analysed 51 270 patients from 35 countries enrolled into five sequential cohorts between 2010 and 2016. Overall, 20.7% of patients received AP monotherapy, 52.1% AC monotherapy, and 14.1% AP + AC. Most AP monotherapy (82.5%) and AC monotherapy (86.8%) patients were CHA2DS2-VASc ≥2. Compared with patients on AC monotherapy, AP monotherapy patients were frequently Chinese (vs. Caucasian, odds ratio 2.73) and more likely to have persistent AF (1.32), history of coronary artery disease (2.41) or other vascular disease (1.67), bleeding (2.11), or dementia (1.81). The odds for AP monotherapy increased with 5 years of age increments for patients ≥75 years (1.24) but decreased with age increments for patients 55-75 years (0.86). Antiplatelet monotherapy patients were less likely to have paroxysmal (0.67) or permanent AF (0.57), history of embolism (0.56), or alcohol use (0.90). With each cohort, AP monotherapy declined (P<0.0001), especially non-indicated use. AP + AC and no antithrombotic therapy were unchanged. However, even in 2015 and 2016, about 50% of AP-treated patients had no indication except AF (71% were CHA2DS2-VASc ≥2).

Conclusion
Prescribing AP monotherapy in newly diagnosed AF has declined, but even nowadays a substantial proportion of AP-treated patients with AF have no indication for AP.

Clinical Trial Registration
URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT01090362.


Nanoparticulate metal-oxide catalysts are among the most prevalent systems for alkaline water oxidation. However, comparisons of the electrochemical performance of these materials have been challenging due to the different methods of attachment, catalyst loadings, and electrochemical test conditions reported in the literature. Herein, we have leveraged a conventional drop-casting method that allows for the successful adhesion of a wide range of nanoparticulate catalysts to glassy-carbon electrode surfaces. We have applied this adhesion method to prepare catalyst films from 16 crystalline metal-oxide nanoparticles with a constant loading of 0.8 mg cm−2, and evaluated the resulting nanoparticulate films for the oxygen evolution reaction under conditions relevant to an integrated solar fuels device. In general, the activities of the adhered nanoparticulate films are similar to those of thin-film catalysts prepared by electrodeposition or sputtering, achieving 10 mA cm−2 current densities per geometric area at overpotentials of ∼0.35–0.5 V.


In this chapter, we examine control configurations in French gerondif clauses in which the referential properties of the implicit subject argument (PRO) have to be determined by contextual (linguistic and extra-linguistic) factors. We compare the control facts with parallel Norwegian translations. As a Germanic language, Norwegian does not have equivalent gerondif constructions, hence leaving it to the translator to resolve the control facts left unspecified in the French original. Traditionally, it is held that the implicit subject of the gerondif has to be the same as the subject of the matrix clause. It will be shown that this generalisation does not hold. In fact, PRO may have an explicit controller that is either a subject, an object or a prepositional complement of the matrix. The controller may also have an arbitrary reference. As a result, the resolution of PRO in the traditional sense will be regulated by control theory and discussed with respect to obligatory and non-obligatory control contrasts (OC vs. NOC) in generative settings. The data is taken from the Oslo Multilingual Corpus (OMC). This database enables us to compare parallel texts from Norwegian, English, German and French. We focus here primarily on Norwegian translations of French originals.


Crop intensification is often thought to increase greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but studies in which crop management is optimized to exploit crop yield potential are rare. We conducted a field study in eastern Nebraska, USA to quantify GHG emissions, changes in soil organic carbon (SOC) and the net global warming potential (GWP) in four irrigated systems: continuous maize with recommended best management practices (CC‐rec) or intensive management (CC‐int) and maize–soybean rotation with recommended (CS‐rec) or intensive management (CS‐int). Grain yields of maize and soybean were generally within 80–100% of the estimated site yield potential. Large soil surface carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes were mostly associated with rapid crop growth, high temperature and high soil water content. Within each crop rotation, soil CO2 efflux under intensive management was not consistently higher than with recommended management. Owing to differences in residue inputs, SOC increased in the two continuous maize systems, but decreased in CS‐rec or remained unchanged in CS‐int. N2O emission peaks were mainly associated with high temperature and high soil water content resulting from rainfall or irrigation events, but less clearly related to soil NO3‐N levels. N2O fluxes in intensively managed systems were only occasionally greater than those measured in the CC‐rec and CS‐rec systems. Fertilizer‐induced N2O emissions ranged from 1.9% to 3.5% in 2003, from 0.8% to 1.5% in 2004 and from 0.4% to 0.5% in 2005, with no consistent differences among the four systems. All four cropping systems where net sources of GHG. However, due to increased soil C sequestration continuous maize systems had lower GWP than maize–soybean systems and intensive management did not cause a significant increase in GWP. Converting maize grain to ethanol in the two continuous maize systems resulted in a net reduction in life cycle GHG emissions of maize ethanol relative to petrol‐based gasoline by 33–38%. Our study provided evidence that net GHG emissions from agricultural systems can be kept low when management is optimized toward better exploitation of the yield potential. Major components for this included (i) choosing the right combination of adopted varieties, planting date and plant population to maximize crop biomass productivity, (ii) tactical water and nitrogen (N) management decisions that contributed to high N use efficiency and avoided extreme N2O emissions, and (iii) a deep tillage and residue management approach that favored the build‐up of soil organic matter from large amounts of crop residues returned.


The local properties of the electron energy distribution function are investigated in the electron-cyclotron wave driven toroidal device TORPEX (Fasoli et al 2006 Phys. Plasmas 13 055902). The electron energy distribution function is measured by means of a time-resolved electrostatic energy analyser. The measurements indicate that electrons are accelerated to different energies at the electron-cyclotron and upper-hybrid resonances. Electrons from the upper-hybrid resonance have higher energies and can be described by a secondary maxwellian energy distribution function. The electron energy distribution function is found to be invariant with respect to experimental parameters such as the neutral gas pressure, the magnetic field configuration and the injected microwave power. The implications for a correct modelling of the particle source term for TORPEX plasmas are discussed.


Nonspecific orbital inflammation (NSOI), or orbital pseudo tumor, represents a set of benign inflammatory diseases that affect the orbital area. It is considered a differential diagnosis of a variety of orbital injuries and it can also be interpreted as exclusion diagnosis. The majority of the cases are unilateral without gender predilection.


In this fourth edition of the best-known critical study of Hemingway's work Carlos Baker has completely revised the two opening chapters, which deal with the young Hemingway's career in Paris, and has incorporated material uncovered after the publication of his book Ernest Hemingway: A Life Story. Professor Baker has also written two new chapters in which he discusses Hemingway's two posthumously published books, A Movable Feast and Islands in the Stream. CONTENTS: Introduction. I. The Slopes of Montparnasse. II. The Making of Americans. III. The Way It Was. IV. The Wastelanders. V. The Mountain and the Plain. VI. The First Forty-Five Stories. VII. The Spanish Earth. VIII. The Green Hills of Africa. IX. Depression at Key West. X. The Spanish Tragedy. XI. The River and the Trees. XII. The Ancient Mariner. XIII. The Death of the Lion. XIV. Looking Backward. XV. Islands in the Stream.


In this chapter, we focus on the relationship between fibers' mechanical properties and yarns' ones by studying their relative behavior and the relationship between single and bundle cotton fibers (respectively, dispositions 1 and 2). For this purpose, three different types of cotton fibers were studied. These cottons were chosen from a list of 12 cottons covering a large panel of varieties and physical properties (maturity, fineness, micro - naire, length, tenacity, etc.). Classifications per length classes and linear densities were done in order to have more precision and knowledge of cotton fiber behavior. Modeling the creep behavior of single and bundle fibers will help exploring data for the bijective relationship between the two dispositions. Properties evaluated will include elongation, single fibers and bundle tenacities, work of rupture, and so on. Quality of bundle fibers will be a good tool in predicting spinning performances and thus yarn quality.


BACKGROUND
The success of the full implementation of a new guideline may depend on the observed discrepancy between daily medical practice developed before the release of the guideline and new treatment recommendations issued by the guideline.

AIM
To assess whether the initiation of statin treatment for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease in an elderly population was in agreement with guidelines.

METHODS
Data were obtained from the Rotterdam Study, a prospective population-based cohort study consisting of 7983 subjects aged>or=55 years. In the period 1992-1999, all patients starting statins for primary prevention were selected. Treatment eligibility was established according to Dutch guidelines based on considerations of cost effectiveness (1998) and European guidelines based on clinical effectiveness (1998 and 2003).

RESULTS
Only 5.7% [95% confidence interval (CI) 3.1, 8.3] of the 299 subjects starting statins for primary prevention met the eligibility criteria of the Dutch guidelines. Most patients (92.0%, 95% CI 88.9, 95.1) met the criteria of the 2003 European guidelines. Patients who did not meet any eligibility criteria were female and had one or less cardiovascular risk factor, except for two patients with total cholesterol levels<5 mmol l-1 prior to start of statin therapy.

CONCLUSIONS
The use of statins was in agreement with the most recent European guidelines in over 90% of elderly patients who started statins for primary prevention, but in only 6% of these patients according to the Dutch guidelines. As long as existing guidelines are as discrepant as they are now, variation in agreement between physicians' prescribing and guideline recommendations is unavoidable.


A cross sectional study on Eimeria and Cryptosporidium infections in small ruminants at ELFORA export abattoir was conducted from October 2005 to February 2006. In this study, attempts were made to determine the prevalence and intensity of Eimeria and Cryptosporidium infections in sheep and goats. Moreover, potential risk factors associated with the infections and the species of Eimeria and Cryptosporidium incriminated in the infections were identified. A total of 384 fecal samples were collected and examined by flotation technique using Sheather's sugar solution to detect the oocysts of Eimeria and Cryptosporiudium species. For Cryptosporidium infection, fecal samples were also examined under a microscope using modified Kinyoun acid-fast staining technique. Measurement of oocysts to identify the species involved in the infections and determination of oocysts per gram of faeces (OPG) was also conducted. Out of the 384 fecal samples examined, 59.6% of Eimeria infection was recorded. Statistically significant variation (P 0.05) observed in the mean OPG values of Eimeria between the 2 age groups of the study animals.


Hydroacoustic surveys have proven valuable for estimating reser- voir forage fish abundance but are more challenging for adult predators such as striped bass Morone saxatilis. Difficulties in assessing striped bass in reservoirs in- clude their low density and the inability to distinguish species with hydroacoustic data alone. Despite these difficulties, mobile hydroacoustic surveys have poten- tial to provide useful data for management because of the large sample volume compared to traditional methods such as gill netting and the ability to target specific areas where striped bass are aggregated. Hydroacoustic estimates of res- ervoir striped bass have been made using mobile surveys, with data analysis using a threshold for target strength in order to focus on striped bass-sized targets, and auxiliary sampling with nets to obtain species composition. We provide recom- mendations regarding survey design, based in part on simulations that provide insight on the level of effort that would be required to achieve reasonable esti- mates of abundance. Future surveys may be able to incorporate telemetry or other sonar techniques such as side-scan or multibeam in order to focus survey efforts on productive habitats (within lake and vertically). However, species apportion- ment will likely remain the main source of error, and we see no hydroacoustic system on the horizon that will identify fish by species at the spatial and temporal scale required for most reservoir surveys. In situations where species composi- tion can be reliably assessed using traditional gears, abundance estimates from hydroacoustic methods should be useful to fishery managers interested in de- veloping harvest regulations, assessing survival of stocked juveniles, identifying seasonal aggregations, and examining predator-prey balance.


This article presents the results of a longitudinal study on the perceptions of a Web-enhanced learning environment by a group of beginning-level students of Italian. A Website was specially designed and implemented as a complement to the existing syllabus, in order to enhance interactivity, variety, and authenticity of materials and tasks, as well as flexibility and learner control. The aim of the study is to ascertain whether the introduction of computing technology can promote learners' positive attitudes, as suggested in much of the current literature on Computer-Assisted Language Learning. Quantitative and qualitative data collected from a variety of sources confirm that the introduction of computing technology can contribute to learners' positive perceptions of the opportunities offered by their learning environment. However, a few drawbacks are also identified which suggest that the introduction of Web-enhanced learning in itself cannot be expected to promote and sustain learners' positive attitudes and motivation in the long term, and that more research is needed to explore effective ways of using Web-based materials, particularly at introductory levels of competence in the target language.


The main objectives of this paper are to evaluate the impact of water use efficiency improvement on water value and to estimate the potential of water cost reductions in durum wheat production in Central Tunisia. Results show that significant inefficiencies exist in the sample of farms under investigation. The effects of technical efficiency on marginal values of water applied for irrigation could shift the marginal value of the water curve upwards, thereby raising water value. By operating at full water economic efficiency levels, the sampled farms would be able to reduce their water costs of wheat production by about 42%. Technical efficiency and allocative efficiency levels account respectively for 61% and 39% of the total water cost reductions. Results of the Tobit model estimation indicate a positive effect of farm size, irrigation sources, membership in water users association, pesticide application, and irrigation scheduling on the economic water efficiency. This suggests that there is a potential to improve production efficiency through enhancement of extension services to the small size farmers, and further encouragement of farmers to adhere to the water users' associations.


I. INTRODUCTION II. THE LACEY ACT AMENDMENTS A. The History of the Lacey Act B. The 2008 Amendments C. "Prohibited Acts" Under the 2008 Amendments D. The Labeling Requirement and the Import Declaration E. Penalties and Sanctions III. ILLEGAL LOGGING--A GLOBAL PROBLEM A. What is Illegal Logging and Why Was the Lacey Act Amended? B. Environmental Protection Impacts: Deforestation and Conservation C. The Role of Organized Crime and Government Corruption D. The Impact of Illegal Logging on U.S. Industry E. Past International Efforts to Combat Illegal Logging IV. ANALYSIS A. The Need for a De Minimis Exception B. The Future of Compliance C. An International Agreement to Address Illegal Logging V. CONCLUSION I. INTRODUCTION The issue of the illegal logging trade has stayed quietly out of the public eye for the past several years. (1) Forests have become crowded out of public consciousness by bigger, more immediate global issues, such as the economy, terrorism, and global-warming. (2) When a little known United States law called the Lacey Act was amended in 2008 to address illegal logging, few outside the logging industry took note. (3) That changed in August 2011, when the famous Gibson Guitar company was raided for the second time by federal agents for "fraudulently labeled" ebony that was illegally exported from India. (4) When the United States amended the Lacey Act, it became the first country to adopt a law making it illegal to import plants or plant products that are acquired in violation of another country's laws. (5) The amended law aims to control the demand side of the illegal timber trade, and as the United States is one of the largest consumers of wood and wood products in the world, (6) it follows that it fuels demand for illegal timber. In 2006, the estimated value of U.S. consumption of potentially illegally-sourced timber was $3.8 billion. (7) By closing off the largest market for timber, the Lacey Act Amendments are expected to have a substantial effect on the illegal logging trade. (8) For domestic and foreign industries, the raid on Gibson Guitar brings into focus the potentially over-burdensome compliance costs that the Lacey Act Amendments carry with them. (9) As other countries consider adopting similar laws to the Lacey Act, questions concerning the overall global effectiveness of laws like the Lacey Act are raised. First, these laws only target the demand-side of the illegal logging equation, without touching the supply-side factors that make illegal logging profitable. (10) Second, a patchwork of such laws in all major import countries would create huge compliance burdens for the companies making legal imports. (11) In Part II, this Comment describes the Lacey Act and how the 2008 Amendments modified the pre-existing statute. Part III discusses the illegal logging trade and the reasons behind amending the Lacey Act, including the environmental impacts and organized crime, as well as the impacts of illegal logging on the United States' domestic industry and prior international efforts to stop illegal logging. Part IV analyzes some of the implementation issues within the Lacey Act Amendments, specifically the lack of a de minimis exception provision in the statute, as well as the inadequacies inherent in the model of Lacey Act as a solution for ultimately stamping out illegal logging. Part IV also examines steps that the international community should take as a part of a multilateral agreement that fully addresses the problem of illegal logging. II. THE LACEY ACT AMENDMENTS A. The History of the Lacey Act The Lacey Act of 1900 represents one of the United States' earliest attempts at wildlife protection and targeted trafficking in '"illegal' wildlife, fish, and plants. …


: The polarized antiquark distributions in the proton can be measured by studying spin asymmetries in vector boson production in longitudinally polarized proton–proton collisions. The STAR and PHENIX experiments at BNL RHIC have reported first observations of single spin asymmetries in W± production most recently. We compute the QCD corrections to single and double spin asymmetries, taking account of the leptonic decay of the W± boson and of restrictions on the kinematical acceptance of the detectors. The QCD corrections have only a small impact on the asymmetries, such that a reliable extraction of the polarized antiquark distributions can be envisaged once more precise measurements are made. Abstract The polarized antiquark distributions in the proton can be measured by studying spin asymmetries in vector boson production in longitudinally polarized proton-proton collisions. The STAR and PHENIX experiments at BNL RHIC have reported first observations of single spin asymmetries in W ± -production most recently. We compute the QCD corrections to single and double spin asymmetries, taking account of the leptonic decay of the W ± boson and of restrictions on the kinematical acceptance of the detectors. The QCD corrections have only a small impact on the asymmetries, such that a reliable extraction of the polarized antiquark distributions can be envisaged once more precise measurements are made.


Object tracking and 3D reconstruction are often performed together, with tracking used as input for reconstruction. However, the obtained reconstructions also provide useful information for improving tracking. We propose a novel method that closes this loop, first tracking to reconstruct, and then reconstructing to track. Our approach, MOTSFusion (Multi-Object Tracking, Segmentation and dynamic object Fusion), exploits the 3D motion extracted from dynamic object reconstructions to track objects through long periods of complete occlusion and to recover missing detections. Our approach first builds up short tracklets using 2D optical flow, and then fuses these into dynamic 3D object reconstructions. The precise 3D object motion of these reconstructions is used to merge tracklets through occlusion into long-term tracks, and to locate objects when detections are missing. On KITTI, our reconstruction-based tracking reduces the number of ID switches of the initial tracklets by more than 50%, and outperforms all previous approaches for both bounding box and segmentation tracking. Code available: https://github.com/tobiasfshr/MOTSFusion.


In spite of advances in technologies for working with data, analysts still spend an inordinate amount of time diagnosing data quality issues and manipulating data into a usable form. This process of 'data wrangling' often constitutes the most tedious and time-consuming aspect of analysis. Though data cleaning and integration arelongstanding issues in the database community, relatively little research has explored how interactive visualization can advance the state of the art. In this article, we review the challenges and opportunities associated with addressing data quality issues. We argue that analysts might more effectively wrangle data through new interactive systems that integrate data verification, transformation, and visualization. We identify a number of outstanding research questions, including how appropriate visual encodings can facilitate apprehension of missing data, discrepant values, and uncertainty; how interactive visualizations might facilitate data transform specification; and how recorded provenance and social interaction might enable wider reuse, verification, and modification of data transformations.


SUMMARY The viability of commercial potato production is influenced by spatial and temporal variability in soils and agroclimate, and the availability of water resources where supplementary irrigation is required. Soil characteristics and agroclimatic conditions greatly influence the cultivar choice, agronomic husbandry practices and the economics of production. Using the latest (UKCP09) scenarios of climate change for the UK, the present paper describes a methodology using pedo-climatic functions and a geographical information system (GIS) to model and map current and future land suitability for potato production in England and Wales. The outputs identify regions where rainfed production is likely to become limiting and where future irrigated production would be constrained due to shortages in water availability. The results suggest that by the 2050s, the area of land that is currently well or moderately suited for rainfed production would decline by 88 and 74%, respectively, under the 'most likely' climate projections for the low emissions scenario and by 95 and 86%, respectively, for the high emissions scenario, owing to increased likelihood of dry conditions. In many areas, rainfed production would become increasingly risky. However, with supplementary irrigation, c. 0·85 of the total arable land in central and eastern England would remain suitable for production, although most of this is in catchments where water resources are already over-licensed and/or over-abstracted; the expansion of irrigated cropping is thus likely to be constrained by water availability. The increase in the volume of water required due to the switch from rainfed- to irrigated-potato cropping is likely to be much greater than the incremental increase in water demand solely on irrigated potatoes. The implications of climate change on the potato industry, the adaptation options and responses available, and the uncertainty associated with the land suitability projections, are discussed.


"I was born in an earth lodge by the mouth of the Knife River, in what is now North Dakota, three years after the smallpox winter." So begins the story of "Waheenee," a Hidatsa Indian woman, born in 1839 amid a devastated tribe.In 1906 Gilbert L. Wilson first visited the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation and began to study the remnants of the Hidatsa tribe. He returned in 1908, sponsored by the American Museum of Natural History, and for every summer of the next ten years he worked among the Hidatsas, making notes of all he saw. One of his chief informants was Waheenee-wea, or Buffalo-Bird Woman, who told him this, her life story.


Introduction: Nowadays, the evidencebased training is taken into consideration with the aim of serious, clear and logical use of the most common evidence for decision making in medical education. Evidence-based training is an effective method in students' education and understanding the teachers and students views in the context of this new approach will encourage the development of applications. The aim of this study was to describe the experiences and perceptions of Medical Educators and Students about Evidence-based training. Materials & methods: This qualitative study was conducted in Tabriz University of Medical Sciences in 2012. Five students and 13 educators were selected by purposive sampling and their experiences and viewpoints were identified until achieving data saturation. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyze data. Findings: Three main themes categorized in this research including "educational interventions", "educator's experiences" and "learning conditions". "Evidence of teaching and learning", "research in education", "attitude and personal beliefs", "professional knowledge and experience", "conditions of students" and "educational environment conditions" were considered as subthemes in evidence-based training. Discussion & Conclusion: According to the participants' experiences and perception, evidence-based training is based on educational interventions, educator's experiences and learning conditions. In order to improve medical students' learning, medical education based on personal beliefs should change to training based on the best evidence. Keywords; Medical Education, EvidenceBased training, Qualitative Study, Content


The thesis aims at tracking of an object using visual and audio information simultaneously. Presently such kind of systems have limited use in traffic monitoring, security surveillance systems, spying and espionage etc. After substantial literature review it was found that Audio-Visual fusion is one of the techniques yet to be explored for object tracking due to the difficulty involved in synchronizing both the modalities viz audio and video. The advantage of such a system is that it is more robust in challenging environments. The aim is to overcome the shortcomings that are found in standalone audio and video techniques. In environments where low lighting conditions are found, the video techniques fail to track the object since the installed cameras don't receive the proper images but the audio tracking assists in such cases. Similarly, we might have situations in which there is a lot of background noise, room reverberations or any combination of the above factors. In such a situation, audio tracking fails but video tracking works robustly. In this thesis, a colour based tracking approach using particle filter has been implemented by entering the gray scale indices of the red, green and blue planes of the object's image into the system as the input. Then an audio source localization method based on Simplex Optimization is implemented. This approach is based on capturing the sound signals from a scene by a set of microphones and then locating the source location by using time delay estimation techniques and simplex optimization. Then an attempt to fuse the information obtained from both modes has been studied.


Background Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is a major cause of chronic kidney disease (CKD). There are no effective treatments to prevent or reverse the progression of DN. A preliminary study showed that Tripterygium glycosides from Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F (TwHF) with valsartan decrease proteinuria in patients with DN. Objectives The objective of the present study is to investigate the efficacy and safety of Tripterygium glycosides from TwHF, a traditional Chinese medicine, for the treatment of DN. Methods and Analysis. This is a prospective, single-center randomized controlled trial. Seventy participants diagnosed with DN were recruited and randomized 1 : 1 to two groups: (1) angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) combined with TwHF and (2) ARB-only. The treatment period is 48 weeks. The primary endpoint is 24 h proteinuria decreased level (reduction of 30% vs. baseline) after 48 weeks of treatment. The secondary endpoints are (1) all-cause and cardiovascular-related mortality, (2) development of ESRD (serum creatinine > 530.4 μmol/L or estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) < 15 mL/min/1.73 m2), (3) the need for renal replacement therapy, and (4) increased serum creatinine (2-fold higher than the baseline value or ≥442 μmol/L, with confirmation of the initial results after 4 weeks). A health economics analysis will be carried out. Discussion. A meta-analysis of RCTs carried out in patients with stage 4 (Mogensen classification) diabetic CKD showed that TwHF combined with an ARB was more effective than an ARB alone when considering 24 h proteinuria and serum albumin, but with an increase in adverse event (AE) frequency of 8%. This is a prospective clinical trial that may provide information on a safe and effective novel method for the treatment of DN, especially for patients with macroproteinuria. Ethics and Dissemination. The protocol is approved by the ethics committee of Beijing Hospital (2016BJYYEC-059-02). The results will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications and international conferences. This trial is registered with ChiCTR-IOR-17010623.


Background: The concepts of evidence-based medicine are penneating all specialties, including family practice. This article describes a curriculum to teach residents the principles and practices of information mastery, a derivation of evidence-based medicine that is more relevant to family physicians. Methods: The curriculum is a 2-year longitudinal experience consisting mainly of didactic presentations and demonstrations in the first year followed by small-group sessions in the second year. Residents are taught the concepts of the previously described approach of information mastery and the application of these concepts to the variety of information resources available to them. Specifically, residents are taught how to find, evaluate, and apply information available from original research literature, review articles, meta-analyses, translation (controlled-circulation) journals, continuing education lectures, experts and colleagues, pharmaceutical representatives, and clinical experience. Results: Using a before-after design at two institutions, the curriculum improved residents' attitudes, confidence regarding the medical literature, their perceptions of their ability to evaluate the published literature, and their use of information sources. Conclusions: Offering a structured curriculum to family practice residents creates dynamic, confident, and independent clinicians skilled in the art of information mastery.


The goal of this study was to assess changes in the life skill development of elementary school students participating in a 1-year school garden program. The Life Skills Inventory included statements for six constructs of life skills including teamwork, self-understanding, leadership, decision making skills, communication skills, and volunteerism. The students were divided into two treatment groups, an experimental group that participated in the garden program and a control group that did not participate in the school garden program. Students in the control group had signifi cantly higher overall life skills scores on the pretest compared to students participating in the garden program but the scores were no longer signifi cantly different between the groups on the posttest scores at the end of the program. In addition, there were no signifi cant differences in the control group's pretest scores compared to their posttest scores. However, the students in the experimental group did signifi cantly increase their overall life skills scores by 1.5 points after participating in the garden program. Two internal life skill scales were positively infl uenced by the garden program; "working with groups" and "self understanding."


It has been suggested that eliminating coal production subsidies could substantially reduce global carbon emissions. This paper finds otherwise. Using a dynamic model of the international coal market, the paper investigates the consequences of subsidy elimination in a model incorporating sector specific capital constraints. In the short-run, following elimination of subsidies, producers with excess capacity divert domestic production into the export market, softening price increases. Over time, low cost exporters gain market share from the swing supplier, which further attenuates the market response to subsidy elimination. Given this market structure, production subsidy elimination in Europe and Japan may reduce world steam coal demand by as little as 0.5%, and global CO2 emissions by only 0.2


In this study, the growth and behaviour of chemolithotrophic organisms in the presence of both ferrous and tetrathionate ions was investigated. Given the impact of chemolithotrophic metabolic activity upon the chemistry and leaching of mineral sulfide systems, investigations were conducted to determine the effects of solution variables on substrate utilisation.

A set of eight organisms, capable of oxidising ferrous ions or reduced sulfur compounds, were adapted to ferrous or tetrathionate ions. These cell lines were cultured in media containing 2.5 mM of tetrathionate, with either high or low concentrations of ferrous ions present. Sb.xthermosulfidooxidans and M. hakonensis grew in a diauxic growth pattern utilising ferrous ions preferentially, irrespective of adaptive history or ferrous concentration. At. ferrooxidans, Sb. acidophilus, Sb.xsibiricus, Sb. thermotolerans, A.xbrierleyi and S. metallicus exhibited simultaneous substrate utilisation and a single phase of growth under at least one of the four conditions tested. Preferential utilisation of tetrathionate was not observed under any of the four conditions tested. Planktonic cell numbers were not consistently proportional to the total quantity of the reduced substrate(s) oxidised.

Reduced sulfur species were detected during batch culture growth of At. caldus on tetrathionate. Formation of elemental sulfur, thiosulfate, sulfite, penta- and hexathionate were consistent with the enzymatic hydrolysis of tetrathionate and subsequent chemical reactions. Growth yields were comparatively low with an average value of 3.53 g(dry wt.) mol(S4O6)-1. However, a significant quantity of reduced organic material was detected dissolved in solution. Yield data obtained from this study was compared with other reports and analysed using a thermodynamic framework derived from studies of heterotrophic growth. This analysis indicated that the conserved substrate had a sulfur(IV) atom oxidised to sulfur(VI).

The addition of nitrate significantly modified substrate oxidation patterns in a growth medium containing ferrous and tetrathionate ions. Ferrous ion oxidation processes were inhibited to a greater extent than tetrathionate utilisation. Tetrathionate-adapted cultures of Sb. acidophilus and Sb. sibiricus demonstrated preferential oxidation of tetrathionate at nitrate concentrations of 20–40 mM. Iron-adapted cultures of M.xhakonensis preferentially oxidised ferrous ions in the presence of nitrate at all concentrations where growth was observed. Responses of other test species varied, depending on the nitrate concentration and adaptive history of the organism.

Nitrate was added to control the redox potential of the solution in cultures bioleaching chalcopyrite. Redox potentials were not controlled at 30 and 45 °C. Copper extraction was equal to, or less than that seen in cultures without nitrate present. The addition of nitrate to cultures at 60 °C maintained the redox potential between 430–460 mV (Ag/AgCl). Copper extraction in these systems was increased compared with cultures where nitrate was absent.