Inverse source identification based on acoustic measurements is essential for the investigation and understanding of sound fields generated by structural vibrations of various devices and machinery. Acoustic pressure measurements performed on a grid in the nearfield of a surface can be used to determine the vibration pattern of the surface at the frequency of interest. A general applicable method is the inverse frequency response function method (IFRF). The method is preferred, because it imposes no limitations on the shape of the measurement grid and the geometry of the source. Unfortunately, the inverse problem consists of solving an ill-conditioned system of equations, which can be only be performed by application of regularization (stabilization) techniques. Without these techniques the solution will be dominated by effects resulting from modeling errors and measurement noise.
The presentation investigates the physical nature of the ill-conditioned problem and explains how to deal with it. The quality of the approximated solution is mainly determined by the choice of a regularization parameter. This paper investigates the use of an L-curve plot for choosing the "optimal" parameter.
An illustration of the various steps in the acoustic source identification procedure will be given by means of a simulated experiment on the sound radiation of a rigid box covered by a flexible plate.


Real-world datasets exhibit imbalances of varying types and degrees. Several techniques based on re-weighting and margin adjustment of loss are often used to enhance the performance of neural networks, particularly on minority classes. In this work, we analyze the class-imbalanced learning problem by examining the loss landscape of neural networks trained with re-weighting and margin-based techniques. Specifically, we examine the spectral density of Hessian of class-wise loss, through which we observe that the network weights converge to a saddle point in the loss landscapes of minority classes. Following this observation, we also find that optimization methods designed to escape from saddle points can be effectively used to improve generalization on minority classes. We further theoretically and empirically demonstrate that Sharpness-Aware Minimization (SAM), a recent technique that encourages convergence to a flat minima, can be effectively used to escape saddle points for minority classes. Using SAM results in a 6.2\% increase in accuracy on the minority classes over the state-of-the-art Vector Scaling Loss, leading to an overall average increase of 4\% across imbalanced datasets. The code is available at: https://github.com/val-iisc/Saddle-LongTail.


This is the first state-of-the-art work on the process of democratisation in the wider European neighbourhood since the seminal events of 2004, with the EU's enlargement and the Orange, Rose and Cedar Revolutions beyond. Covering both the European CIS states and the Mediterranean Arab world, leading experts from these regions interpret the recent revolutions and prospects for further democratisation in the European neighbourhood. These analyses are accompanied by a comprehensive critique of the EU as promoter of democracy.


The French public powers have given for a long time a special attention to the dissemination of their national law. Not only in order to ensure the effectivity of the rule of law and the legal security, but also to assess in a certain manner the influence of the French law at the international level. Nevertheless, France has not waited the development of the new information technologies to take advantage of their extraordinary facilities as regards the better access to legal data. Thus, ever since 1960, university labs, in co-operation with the ministry of Justice, the services of the Prime-Minister and the supreme courts, established the first legal databases in the world.After the especially rich developments during these more than forty years, these public legal databases are ever since the object of an established and protected public service (for a long time in fact, as it is organised by a decree at least from 1984). This public service, as it results from the last decree of 2002, anticipated the application of the European Directive on the reuse of data of the public sector. This field is a very rich incubator of ideas for the public powers. In fact, with a view to make more accessible their funds, the producers and editors of official legal databases try to use the advanced new technologies at their best. The regime of this public service of dissemination of law on the Internet allows, by its particular functioning to initiate technological innovations often revolutionary, like, among others, the one which allows to propose an authenticated electronic official journal.The French version of this paper can be found at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1032194


Introduction: The reconstruction of the nipple-areola complex (NACRec) is the final stage of breast reconstruction; and tattooing the nipple-areola complex (NAC) is well established as effective, although not widespread among Brazilian plastic surgeons. We have shown a simple method of NACRec using skin flaps for the preparation of the papilla and immediate tattooing of the NAC, shortening the recovery of the patient and avoiding new surgeries. Methods: We performed a retrospective study of patients submitted to NACRec in our private clinic, from September 2015 to December 2016. We also searched the Medline database from 2004 to 2016 for reports of diseases associated with tattooing. Results: Twenty-six patients underwent 28 reconstructions of the nipple-areola complex, with a mean age of 48 years (ranging from 29 to 65 years), with no major complications, except for the irregularity in pigment absorption in eight reconstructions (28.5%). Conclusion: The use of tattooing techniques in the preparation of the nippleareola complex proved to be effective, with minimal morbidity, and easy to perform, with high patient satisfaction rates, despite the need for a future touch-up to obtain the ideal shade. ■ ABSTRACT


At variance, with most of the quantum chemistry software presently available, MOLCAS is a package that is specialized in multiconfigurational wave function theory (MC‐WFT) rather than density functional theory (DFT). Given the much higher algorithmic complexity of MC‐WFT versus DFT, an extraordinary effort needs to be made from the programming point of view to achieve state‐of‐the‐art performance for large‐scale calculations. In particular, a robust and efficient implementation of the Cholesky decomposition techniques for handling two‐electron integrals has been developed which is unique to MOLCAS. Together with this 'Cholesky infrastructure', a powerful and multilayer graphical and scripting user interface is available, which is an essential ingredient for the setup of MC‐WFT calculations. These two aspects of the MOLCAS software constitute the focus of the present report. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


We demonstrate a robust, compact and automated quantum key distribution system, based upon a one-way Mach-Zender interferometer, which is actively compensated for temporal drifts in the photon phase and polarization. The system gives a superior performance to passive compensation schemes with an average quantum bit error rate of 0.87% and a duty cycle of 99.6% for a continuous quantum key distribution session of 19 hours over a 20.3km installed telecom fibre. The results suggest that actively compensated QKD systems are suitable for practical applications.


Although orang-utans live solitary lives most of the time, they have a complex social structure and are characterized by extreme sexual dimorphism. However, whereas some adult male orang-utans develop full secondary sexual characteristics, such as cheek flanges, others may stay in an "arrested" unflanged condition for up to 20 years after reaching sexual maturity. The result is a marked bimaturism among adult males. Flanged males allow females to overlap with their home range and often tolerate the presence of unflanged males. However, wherever possible flanged males actively prevent unflanged males from copulating with females. Two competing hypotheses, previously untested, have been advanced to explain male reproductive behavior and bimaturism in orang-utans: (1) the "range-guardian" hypothesis, which asserts that the flanged males are postreproductive and defend a range in which they tolerate sexually active, unflanged male relatives; and (2) the "female choice" hypothesis, which asserts that flanged males tolerate unflanged males in their range because they rely on female preference to favor flanged males. We investigated these hypotheses and a third hypothesis that the two male morphs represent co-existing alternative male reproductive strategies ("sitting, calling, and waiting" for flanged males versus "going, searching, and finding" for unflanged males). Fecal samples were collected from a well-studied population in Indonesia, and eight human microsatellites were analyzed for 30 individuals that have been behaviorally monitored for up to 27 years. By carrying out paternity analysis on 11 offspring born over 15 years, we found that unflanged males fathered about half (6) of the offspring. Relatedness between successful unflanged males and resident dominant males was significantly lower than 0.5, and for some unflanged/flanged male pairs, relatedness values were negative, indicating that unflanged males are not offspring of the flanged males. Copyright 2002.


Three criteria are necessary for an event to be an emergency: (a) there must be an expectation of serious harm; (b) there must be an expectation that someone can do something to prevent or reduce that harm; and (c) there must be time pressure. Because emergencies are unique in having this set of criteria, standard moral principles, when applied to emergency situations, can require actions that are prohibited in other situations. This can give the impression that there are different moral principles at work in emergencies. This paper argues that this impression is illusory.


Starting from the orthorhombic magnetically ordered phase, we investigate the effects of uniaxial tensile and compressive stresses along a, b, and the diagonal a+b directions in BaFe${}_{2}$As${}_{2}$ and CaFe${}_{2}$As${}_{2}$ in the framework of ab initio density functional theory (DFT) and a phenomonological Ginzburg-Landau model. While---contrary to the application of hydrostatic or $c$-axis uniaxial pressure---both systems remain in the orthorhombic phase with a pressure-dependent nonzero magnetic moment, we observe a sign-changing jump in the orthorhombicity at a critical uniaxial pressure, accompanied by a reversal of the orbital occupancy and a switch between the ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic directions. Our Ginzburg-Landau analysis reveals that this behavior is a direct consequence of the competition between the intrinsic magneto-elastic coupling of the system and the applied compressive stress, which helps the system to overcome the energy barrier between the two possible magneto-elastic ground states. Our results shed light on the mechanisms involved in the detwinning process of an orthorhombic iron-pnictide crystal and on the changes in the magnetic properties of a system under uniaxial stress.


It is well documented that individuals do not spend the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits smoothly over the month after receipt. Rather, recipients spend a disproportionate share of benefits at the beginning of the benefit month. This has costs for recipients and stores. There is also evidence that other income streams, such as Social Security and paychecks, are not spent smoothly. The presence of these other income streams may bias estimates of the effects of this SNAP cycle on consumption for working SNAP beneficiaries and those who receive other government benefits. We use data from United States Department of Agriculture's National Household Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey to explore how the SNAP cycle is affected by accounting for these other income streams. We find suggestive evidence that the cycle is more pronounced for workers who are paid on a weekly or monthly basis, but little evidence that cycles in other income streams mitigate or exacerbate the SNAP cycle.


This survey article focuses on the physical layer for cognitive radio (CR) networks, namely the techniques to detect the presence/absence of licensed users in the different spectrum bands. The techniques presented in this article, including their advantages and disadvantages, are organized in a hierarchical fashion as follows: fundamental detection techniques (energy-based detection, matched filter, and cyclostationarity features), fundamental-detection-based techniques (waveform detection, radio identification, localoscillator leakage power), and alternative techniques that are typical of the image analysis domain (Hough and Wavelet transforms). Additionally, the main challenges associated to licensed user detection are described together with the various spectral dimensions where cognitive radio devices can find new spectrum opportunities.


Traditionally, the problem of defeating scepticism about the rationality of morality is that of showing that every morally required act is rationally required. Little or no direct attention has been paid to whether we must also show that it is rational for the agent to have and act from the morally appropriate motive, whatever that may be. This is not to say that philosophers have entirely ignored the issue of motives; a fair number—Kant and Aristotle come to mind—are concerned in part with the kind of motive agents ought to have and from which they ought to act. But the link to scepticism has not been clearly made. At issue is whether scepticism is fully defeated if we show that every morally required act is rationally required, even if we leave it possible that a fully rational person who performs the act just "goes through the motions" in doing so.


Pathogens adhere to the host cells during the first steps of infection through multivalent interactions which involve protein–glycan recognition. Multivalent interactions are also involved at different stages of immune response. Insights into these multivalent interactions generate a way to use suitable carbohydrate ligands that are attached to a basic scaffold consisting of e.g., dendrimer, polymer, nanoparticle, etc., with a suitable linker. Thus a multivalent architecture can be obtained with controllable spatial and topology parameters which can interfere with pathogen adhesion. Multivalent glycoconjugates bearing natural or unnatural carbohydrate antigen epitopes have also been used as carbohydrate based vaccines to stimulate an innate and adaptive immune response. Designing and synthesizing an efficient multivalent architecture with optimal ligand density and a suitable linker is a challenging task. This review presents a concise report on the endeavors to potentially use multi- and polyvalent glycoconjugates as vaccines as well as anti-infectious and anti-inflammatory drug candidates.


It is hard to overestimate the importance of the contribution made by Dame Frances Yates to the serious study of esotericism and the occult sciences. To her work can be attributed the contemporary understanding of the occult origins of much of Western scientific thinking, indeed of Western civilization itself. The Occult Philosophy of the Elizabethan Age was her last book, and in it she condensed many aspects of her wide learning to present a clear, penetrating, and, above all, accessible survey of the occult movements of the Renaissance, highlighting the work of John Dee, Giordano Bruno, and other key esoteric figures. The book is invaluable in illuminating the relationship between occultism and Renaissance thought, which in turn had a profound impact on the rise of science in the seventeenth century. Stunningly written and highly engaging, Yates' masterpiece is a must-read for anyone interested in the occult tradition.


Agricultural activities have been and remain key for sustained growth and pro-poor development in Ethiopia. However, the sector under utilizes its irrigation capacities as well as its abundant human resources. This paper aims at measuring the impact of public investment in small-scale irrigation and training for farmers on growth and agriculture-led development, on food security, and on poverty in Ethiopia. It is line with the current five year development strategy of the government and will give insights on the effect of selected targeted indicators. We use a dynamic Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model to capture the outcomes of public investment shocks. Public investment is modeled in such a way that it increases the supply of skilled agricultural labor and that of irrigated land by transforming unskilled labor and non irrigated land. Two types of technologies are utilized in agriculture to produce the same crop: a more productive technology that is intensive in skilled labor and irrigated land and a less productive technology that is intensive in unskilled labor and non-irrigated land. Households have the ability to increase their endowments in labor and land. Hence, the increase in skilled labor due to public investment in the form of short term training enables households to increase the share of skilled labor they detain while reducing the share of unskilled labor. The same applies for land. Finally, the model has a poverty module using a top-down approach where changes in the CGE model are imported in the household data. The CGE model is a PEP type model and is calibrated to a SAM of Ethiopia for the fiscal year 2005/06. The poverty module uses the 2005 Household Income and Expenditure Survey. This exercise showed that the Ethiopian government policy strategy regarding agriculture sector development has a great potential for reducing poverty and food insecurity. Simulation results show that investing in training and irrigation contributes to the effort towards achieving the MDGs. Exports expand and in particular export of cash crops that generate higher income at household and national levels. The results also show that an agriculture-led development is less likely to occur because of weak forward and backward production linkages between agriculture and manufacturing sectors where a great deal of manufacturing inputs are imported. The increment in public investment has a crowding-out effect that affects the expansion of manufacturing and services sectors which are highly intensive in private capital.


Benjamin Franklin Award Finalist for Parenting &Family Issues Approaching the risks for children on the Internet in a thought-provoking and intellectual manner, this study skillfully integrates contemporary news reports and disturbing legal cases to show how Facebook and other ready-made forums for information exchange are breaking down boundaries of privacy and facilitating a growing number of criminal convictions for cyberbullying, child pornography, hacking, and copyright infringement. Also included is a discussion of how the widespread use of camera phones, mobile tablets, and social media sites has given rise to a new and dangerous practice among teens: sexting. This reference provides parents with an authoritative lesson in cyberethics and practical instructions for instituting household internet policies, as well as school officials and communities with lessons on how to educate children about the responsible use of emerging mobile technologies.


Modern digital signature schemes can provide more guarantees than the standard notion of (strong) unforgeability, such as offering security even in the presence of maliciously generated keys, or requiring to know a message to produce a signature for it. The use of signature schemes that lack these properties has previously enabled attacks on real-world protocols. In this work we revisit several of these notions beyond unforgeability, establish relations among them, provide the first formal definition of non re-signability, and a transformation that can provide these properties for a given signature scheme in a provable and efficient way.Our results are not only relevant for established schemes: for example, the ongoing NIST PQC competition towards standardizing post-quantum signature schemes has six finalists in its third round. We perform an in-depth analysis of the candidates with respect to their security properties beyond unforgeability. We show that many of them do not yet offer these stronger guarantees, which implies that the security guarantees of these post-quantum schemes are not strictly stronger than, but instead incomparable to, classical signature schemes. We show how applying our transformation would efficiently solve this, paving the way for the standardized schemes to provide these additional guarantees and thereby making them harder to misuse.


The measured source or Huygens box antenna representation has become an increasing popular solution to create accurate computational models of measured source antennas for the numerical analysis of antenna placement on complex platforms such as satellites. The equivalent representation of the measured antenna is obtained through the equivalent current (EQC) or inverse source technique, which is a measurement post-processing method that represents the measured antenna in terms of equivalent electric and magnetic currents on a surface conformal to the antenna. This technique enables computation of complex antenna scenarios in which the source antenna is physically available but the computational details are unknown. This is often the case for space antenna testing in which antennas from different suppliers are integrated on a platform representing the complex scenario. In this paper, the validation of this technique in space antenna testing application is presented. The test object is a GNSS antenna mounted on a Sentinel satellite mock-up (both designed, manufactured and measured by RUAG SPACE) working at 1227 and 1575 GHz. Preliminary results of this validation activity have been previously presented. This paper reports on the full validation activity.


It is often argued that a very special sort of consciousness went into creating Islamic art, that Islamic art is very different from other forms of art, that Muslims are not allowed to portray human beings in their art, and that calligraphy is the supreme Islamic art form. Oliver Leaman challenges all of these ideas, and argues that they are misguided. Instead, he suggests that the criteria we should apply to Islamic art are identical to the criteria applicable to art in general, and that the attempt to put Islamic art into a special category is a result of orientalism. Leaman criticizes the influence of Sufism on Islamic aesthetics and contends that it is generally misleading regarding both the nature of Islam and artistic expression. He discusses issues arising in painting, calligraphy, architecture, gardens, literature, films, and music and pays close attention to the teachings of the Qur'an. In particular he asks what it would mean for the Qur'an to be a miraculous literary creation, and he analyzes two passages in the Qur'an-those of Yusuf and Zulaykha (Joseph and Zuleika) and King Sullayman (Solomon) and the Queen of Sheba. His arguments draw on examples from history, art, philosophy, theology, and the artefacts of the Islamic world, and raise a large number of difficulties in the accepted paradigms for analyzing Islamic art.


Purpose: To determine the performance characteristics of field-based
Downhill Mountain biking (DH) and to identify the best methods of assessment for DH type activity.

Methods: Twelve trained male cyclists of differing experience
levels (age 31.4 ± 9.8 yrs, mean ± s.d.), performed a single laboratory-based intermittent cycle test consisting of 12 all out efforts, separated by periods of passive
recovery ranging from 5 to 15 seconds and a continual incremental ramp test to exhaustion. Power output was recorded using a Polar S710 heart rate monitor and
power sensor kit and a Schoberer Rad Messetechnik (SRM) Powermeter systemduring each test. Additionally, seventeen national level trained, male downhill cyclists (age 27.1 ± 5.1 yrs) performed two timed field-based runs of a measured DH course. An SRM Powermeter was used to record power, cadence and speed. Heart rate was again recorded via a Polar S710 monitor.

Results: During intermittent tests significant differences (p<0.05) in power were found at 8 of the 12 efforts. A significant difference (p<0.001) was also found when power was averaged over all 12 intervals. Mean power was 556 ± 102 W and 446 ± 61 W for the SRM and S710 respectively. The 5710 underestimated power by an average of 23% with random errors of */ 24% when compared to the SRM. Random errors ranged from 36% to 141% with the median being 51%. Significant differences (p<0.001) were also found between the two systems during the incremental ramp tests. Mean power output was 189 ± 51 W and 212 ± 49 W for the SRM and S710 respectively. The 5710 overestimated power by an average of 11% over the SRM. Random errors ranged from 21% to 67% with the median being 13%. During field-testing peak power was 834 ± 129 W. Mean power (75 W) accounted for only 9% of peak values. Paradoxically, mean heart rate was 168 ± 9 beats.min-1, accounting for 89% of agepredicted maximum heart rate. Mean cadence (28 ± 20 revs.min -1) was significantly related to speed (r = 0.51; p<0.01). Power and cadence were not significantly related to run time or any other variable.

Conclusions: Results indicated there was little agreement between the two ergometer systems. The Polar S710 did not provide a valid measure of power during intermittent DH type cycling activity, nor did it provide a valid measure for scientific/elite use during continuous type cycling activity. Errors in the 5710 system were potentially influenced by chain vibration and sampling rates. Field results support the intermittent nature of DH Mountain biking. The poor relationships between power and cadence to run time suggest they are not essential pre-requisites to performance in DH and indicate the importance of riding dynamics to overall performance.

Keywords: Downhill, Mountain biking, power output


A generation of historians has been captivated by the notorious views on gender found in the mid-sixth century Secret History by the Byzantine historian Procopius of Caesarea. Yet the notable but subtler ways in which gender coloured Procopius' most significant work, the Wars, have received far less attention. This monograph examines how gender shaped the presentation of not only key personalities such as the seminal power-couples Theodora/ Justinian and Antonina/ Belisarius, but also the Persians, Vandals, Goths, Eastern Romans, and Italo-Romans, in both the Wars and the Secret History. By analysing the purpose and rationale behind Procopius' gendered depictions and ethnicizing worldview, this investigation unpicks his knotty agenda. Despite Procopius's reliance on classical antecedents, the gendered discourse that undergirds both texts under investigation must be understood within the broader context of contemporary political debates at a time when control of Italy and North Africa from Constantinople was contested.


A simple adsorption mechanism of the organochloride insecticide DDT and it's most common metabolites DDD and DDE in the interlaminar layer of montmorillonite mineral is discussed in this paper, based on the results of molecular modeling. A model of a simple fragment of the montmorillonite crystal with the interlaminar layer was created and used. The interlaminar layer contained water as a solvent and the ionic forms of sodium or calcium as exchangeable cations along with the molecules of DDT/DDD/DDE. The molecular interactions were simulated by force fields and the results of the simulation could be explained by the physical characteristics of the models which were studied with bioinformatics tools as well. Based on the observed mechanisms, the adsorption of DDT and it's metabolites in the interlaminar layer of montmorillonite is possible and it is partly responsible for the persistent nature of these insecticides.


Dogs represent a unique facet of the faunal assemblage at the Bridge River site (EeRl4), a prehistoric aggregated winter housepit village in southern British Columbia's Middle Fraser Canyon. As part of the Bridge River site investigation of emergent material wealth based status inequality of the hunter-gatherer-fisher economy, the 2008 and 2009 excavation of the village recovered the skeletal remains of domestic dogs within two distinct cache pit features in Housepit 24's Activity Area 3. The two dogs unearthed from these separate cache pits features show dichotomous roles for man's best friend; one, possibly as a prized companion, and the other as a food resource. This thesis focuses on the elements recovered from Feature 5 showing visible signs of trauma which include perimortem fractures, carnivore gnaw-marks, and cut-marks. The region's ethnographic record provides evidence of utilizing domestic dogs as a resource for food, clothing, hunting, packing, and trade. Evidence suggests that the contents of the Feature 5 cache pit resulted from a single event associated with feasting, and would represent a symbolic display of status. The use of dogs as a delicacy in the feasting apparatus is unique to the Bridge River village's archaeological record compared to the Keatley Creek site, where analyses concluded many of the dogs died of natural causes. The purpose of this thesis is to determine the depositional event that created the canid assemblage in Bridge River's Housepit 24; its sociocultural significance within the village; and its meaning within the broader context of the Canadian Plateau.


BACKGROUND
Postictal psychiatric events presenting as postictal psychotic events and postictal nonpsychotic events are known to occur following seizure clusters. Accordingly, patients undergoing prolonged video-electroencephalographic (EEG) monitoring studies may be at increased risk of experiencing postictal psychiatric event, as they often have flurries of seizures during these studies.

OBJECTIVES
To determine the annual incidence and clinical characteristics of postictal psychotic events and postictal nonpsychotic events in video-EEG monitoring studies in patients with partial seizure disorders and to identify potential pathogenic factors.

RESULTS
Thirteen patients met the criteria for a postictal psychiatric event during the 18-month study period, 10 presenting as postictal psychotic events and three as postictal nonpsychotic events. The annual incidence of postictal psychiatric events at our monitoring unit for 1988 was 7.8%, 6.4% presenting as postictal psychotic events and 1.4% as postictal nonpsychotic events. Seven patients had their first-ever postictal psychiatric event during the monitoring study. In 12 of the 13 patients, the postictal psychiatric events mimicked well-defined psychiatric entities of shorter duration (mean, 66.5 hours); they appeared 12 to 72 hours after the last seizure and remitted spontaneously or with the use of low-dose psychotropic medication. No significant differences in EEG, neuroradiologic, psychiatric, medical, or psychosocial data were found between the patients with postictal psychiatric events and a group of 13 age-matched control patients. Follow-up data of comparable duration were available in nine patients with postictal psychiatric events and nine controls. Psychiatric events were reported more frequently by patients with postictal psychiatric events than by control patients (P=.03). In three patients, postictal psychiatric events converted to interictal events.

CONCLUSION
These findings suggest that monitoring studies increase the risk for postictal psychiatric events, which neurologists need to be familiar with, as they represent important morbidity associated with these studies.


The devastating impact of armed violence around the world is well known. Conflict and armed violence close schools, paralyse neighbourhoods, burden health-care services, discourage investment, and make lives less secure. Spending on arms or arms races can divert vital funds from public services such as education and health-care, and when such spending takes place without transparency it can aggravate corruption. Individually and cumulatively, these impacts undermine sustainable development and internationally agreed targets such as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).


Orogenic pressure-temperature paths can only be deduced from metamorphic textures if they formed during a single metamorphic event, rather than recording the effects of two or more separate events. Erroneous tectonic models are likely to result if textures formed in several events are ascribed to one event. We illustrate this problem for the Arunta inlier in central Australia, which has been considered to be a good example of an isobarically cooled terrain. Rocks of the Anmatjira Range in the central Arunta inlier, which has been described in terms of isobaric cooling, actually record the effects of two low-pressure, granulite facies, metamorphic events of similar peak metamorphic grade, M 1 and M 2 , that are separated in time by a period of basin development and deposition of a succession of sedimentary rocks. Correlations of stratigraphic, structural fabric, and metamorphic texture data allow the effects of M 1 and M 2 to be distinguished. Without this fine control, the textures formed by superposition of M 1 upon M 2 , considered as a manifestation of one event, could easily be interpreted as indicating isobaric cooling, because the overprinting assemblages are of similar pressure but slightly lower temperature than the original assemblages. We call this apparent isobaric cooling; in fact, we now recognize textures reflecting decompression that formed immediately following the peaks of both M 1 and M 2 . It is now a matter for conjecture whether isobaric cooling is more apparent than real in other terrains for which it has been recorded.


Abstract. Volume mixing ratio (vmr) vertical profiles of hydrogen chloride (HCl) are retrieved from in situ measurements performed by a balloon-borne infrared tunable diode laser absorption spectrometer (SPIRALE) during two balloon flights in the tropics (Teresina, Brazil, 5.1° S–42.9° W) in June 2005 and June 2008. HCl vertical profiles obtained from 15 to 31 km are presented and analysed to estimate the contribution of very short-lived substances (VSLS) to total stratospheric chlorine. Both retrieved vertical profiles of HCl from these flights agree very well with each other, with estimated overall uncertainties of 6% on vmr between 23 and 31 km. Upper limits of HCl vmr as low as 20 pptv in June 2008 and 30 pptv in June 2005 are inferred in the upper part of the tropical tropopause layer (TTL). Backward trajectory calculations and such low amounts suggest that the air masses sampled correspond to typical background conditions, i.e. neither influenced by recent tropospheric nor stratospheric air. Taking into account the recently reported VSL source gas measurements obtained in similar conditions (Laube et al., 2008) and the main intermediate degradation product gas COCl2 (Fu et al., 2007), a total VSLS contribution of 85±40 pptv to stratospheric chlorine is inferred. This refines the WMO (2007) estimation of 50 to 100 pptv, which was not taking into account any HCl contribution. In addition, comparisons of HCl measurements between SPIRALE and the Aura MLS satellite instrument in the tropical lower and middle stratosphere lead to a very good agreement. The previous agreement between MLS-deduced upper stratospheric total chlorine content and modelled values including 100 pptv of VSLS (Froidevaux et al., 2006) is thus supported by our present result about the VSLS contribution.


The important effect of yoghurt on people's health caused increasing of many technological works and researches not only in our country but also all over the world.The environment in which yoghurt kept, may cause many sort of germs and contamination paths by the effects of some factors which are fairly similar to its own structure. These factors change the shelf-life of yoghurt and finally cause spoilage in yoghurt. In this context, it is known that the scientific works in this area which are aiming to minimize this spoilage effect, focus on the yogurt structure and packaging of yoghurt. The aim of this paper is to improve a smart polymer material which interacts with serum and changes color of the package by considering serum occurring within the shelf-life of yoghurt. PP based material will be used with the biological agencies like "kaoline" and "talc" and implemented mainly or superficial, the color change will be arised if the serum's PH increases. In practice, everyone can see the color changes with the window which will be placed on the label and the window will include the cautions according to the color levels.


In process and materials chemistry, digitalization with computational methods has been a long-time continuing process. The methodology based on numerical methods in reaction kinetics as well as for fluid phase thermodynamics applying equations of state has been well established. During the last two decades, however, multiphase technology based on the minimization of Gibbs free energy has made progress in such fields of process and materials chemistry, where the conventional methods have not been applicable. Recent advancements also include introduction of such new Gibbs'ian algorithms, which, in addition to complex equilibrium problems, facilitate modelling of time-dependent dynamic changes in multi-phase systems. Within the said period, VTT has been an active performer in the development of multiphase Gibbs'ian techniques. The research work performed at VTT has led to several new algorithms with practical industrial applications. The particular focus has been the development of the Constrained Gibbs Free energy minimization technique, where instead of material balances and stoichiometric relations derived thereof, also immaterial physical conditions are applied as constraints in the free energy minimizing calculation. In this report, the method of constrained Gibbs energy minimization for calculating chemical equilibria in arbitrary multiphase systems is derived using basic thermodynamic concepts. The method of Lagrange undetermined multipliers is introduced for a simple system of an ideal gas phase and a number of condensed phases, constrained by the number of moles of the system components. The use of additional constraints in the Gibbs energy minimization procedure is facilitated by applying the concept of generalised work-coefficients as the Lagrange multipliers of immaterial components in the system. The thus introduced method of immaterial constraints in Gibbs energy minimization is illustrated with a number of simple practical examples such as electrochemical Donnan equilibria applied for pulp suspensions, surface equilibria and systems constrained by reaction kinetics via the extent of chemical reactions. A few examples of non-equilibrium and parametric phase diagrams calculated with the immaterial constraints are also given. Finally, the applicability of the method for biochemical systems is shortly discussed.


Abstract The aim of this paper is to examine a complex pattern of mutual interdependence between Unified Growth Theory (subroutine) and the evolution of the entire field of economic growth theories (main routine) from a philosophical and methodological perspective. The analysis utilises the recently introduced concept of research routine (and respectively, subroutine) aimed at an explanation of the evolution of scientific research. The study identifies the influence of the subroutine (and its specific concept of demographic transition) on the core concepts of the main routine: human capital, population growth and learning. The results are based on network analyses of extensive bibliometric evidence from Scopus and the Web of Knowledge.


Purpose: With this thesis our aim is, with both a theoretical and empirical perspective, to investigate the relationship between companies' formal reward system and how they position themselves amongst their competitors. Method: Theories are used to design the test model, and are applied using a deductive approach. When modifying the test model, an inductive approach is applied. Conclusion: We have not found a relationship between reward systems and strategy within the Swedish clothing industry. Rather, the relationship is between how the participating companies reward and the business that they are in.


In this paper, we consider flow-based approaches to functional diagnosis. First, we contrast the existing approaches, pointing out the major limitations of each. Then, we choose one of them and extend it in order to overcome the identified limitations. Finally, we show how the proposed extension can be introduced into the other flow-based approaches.


This is an enchanting essay on aesthetics by one of the greatest Japanese novelists. Tanizaki's eye ranges over architecture, jade, food, toilets, and combines an acute sense of the use of space in buildings, as well as perfect descriptions of lacquerware under candlelight and women in the darkness of the house of pleasure. The result is a classic description of the collision between the shadows of traditional Japanese interiors and the dazzling light of the modern age.


Cooperative diversity is a technique where the diversity associated with spatially distributed users is exploited to overcome violent fading in wireless channels. In vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication systems, where fading is severe due to mobility of both transmitters and receivers, cooperative diversity is an acceptable technique to enhance the performance of high-rate communications. In this paper, we investigate a single-relay half-duplex system and deal with the performance of three time-division-multiple-access (TDMA) amplify-and-forward protocols over double-Rayleigh fading channels. In a mobile-to-mobile (M2M) communication system, the communication channel is often modeled as a cascaded Rayleigh fading channel. We determine pairwise error probability (PEP) for the studied protocols, then we investigate optimal power allocation for these cooperative protocols, where the optimality is determined in terms of minimizing the bit error rate (BER) of the system. Based on the relay position and modulation type, optimization of power allocated to source and relay results performance improvement up to 3dB for Protocols I and II, and up to 7dB for Protocol III.


Vertical ozone measurements were carried out in the urban environment of New Delhi, in three different seasons from 1989-1991. Air sampling was done synoptically at ground level, 23 m, 51 m, 57 m, 117 m and 153 m heights. A significant positive vertical gradient in the ozone concentration was observed at all sites. At any given time, ozone levels were lowest at the ground level and invariably increased with increasing distance from the ground. A� � . ... distinct seasonal variation in the vertical ozone profile was also observed'.' Ozone concentration was highest in summer at all heights. The peak in ozone concentration during the day, appeared. earlier at all heights in summers, in comparison to winter and spring. At the 51 m height in summers, the ozone concentration decreased rapidly during the late evening. Such vertical ozone stratification. may have severe implications for trees and residents of high rise buildings particularly in urban and industrial conglomerations which serve as the prime foci in the release of ozone forming substances. (


Takada et al. provide evidence for a new type of protein acylation. Using transfected mouse L cells expressing Wnt-3a or Wnt-5a, the authors show that the proteins are acylated by incorporation of radiolabeled palmitic acid. This was not surprising, because Wnt had previously been reported to be palmitoylated on Cys77. What was surprising was that the acylation of Wnt-3a was not diminished by mutation of the Cys to alanine. The acylation site in Wnt-3a was mapped to Ser209 using deletion and point mutation constructs. Mass spectrometry analysis showed that Ser209 was modified by the addition of the monounsaturated lipid palmitoleic acid (C16:1). Porcupine is a putative O-acyltransferase, and in Drosophila porcupine is required for Wnt (called Wingless) secretion. Reduction of porcupine by small interfering RNA decreased the secretion of Wnt-3a and promoted the retention of the endoplasmic reticulum. Furthermore, the S209A mutant of Wnt-3a was also not secreted from the cells and was retained in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). In the system used, Wnt-3a was predominantly in the ER because of the overexpression of the protein; therefore, to assess the effects of Ser209 acylation of transit through the biosynthetic pathway, the authors treated the cells with cycloheximide to block new protein synthesis. The functional consequences of acylation at Ser209 were assessed in a Xenopus development assay. Injection of embryos with Wnt-3a RNA causes ectopic axis formation; however, injection of the S209A mutant RNA did not cause any notable phenotype. These results open a new window into protein acylation with the addition of unsaturated lipids as modifiers of proteins (see Hausmann and Basler). R. Takada, Y. Satomi, T. Kurata, N. Ueno, S. Norioka, H. Kondoh, T. Takao, S. Takada, Monounsaturated fatty acid modification of Wnt protein: Its role in Wnt secretion. Dev. Cell 11, 791-801 (2006). [PubMed] G. Hausmann, K. Basler, Wnt lipid modifications: Not as saturated as we thought. Dev. Cell 11, 751-752 (2006). [PubMed]


Nowadays, buildings are increasingly seen as a pressing environmental problem. By their very nature, they affect and transform the land on which they are built by changing and destroying habitats and causing loss of biological diversity. On a macro level, buildings contribute to deforestation, natural resources depletion, the risk of global warming, stratospheric ozone depletion, overuse of water and acid rain by their enormous materials and energy consumption. In order to effectively improve the ecological performance of buildings, it is important to know in which life phase (the construction, the use, the refurbishment or the disposal) which environmental impacts occur and why. The aim of this work was to perform a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) on a set of buildings obtained from the BKI -the German "centre for construction costs"- to assess which life phases and elements require particular attention during the effort of reducing the environmental impacts in the building and construction sectors. The LCA method allows a holistic assessment, considering the whole life cycle of a building. This avoids problems in shifting from on phase to another.


Objective Osteoporosis and fractures are frequently encountered in patients with Crohn's disease. In order to prevent fractures, treatment with bone protecting drugs appears warranted early in the course of bone disease when bone loss is not yet prominent. We therefore aimed to demonstrate a beneficial effect on bone density of the bisphosphonate risedronate in osteopenic Crohn's disease patients. Methods This double-blind, placebo-controlled randomised trial of risedronate with calcium and vitamin D supplementation was performed in osteopenic Crohn's disease patients. Patients were treated for 2 years with follow-up after 3 and after every 6 months. Disease characteristics and activity and bone turnover markers were assessed at all visits; dual x-ray absorptiometry was performed at baseline, 12 and 24 months; radiographs of the spine at baseline and 24 months. Results Of 132 consenting patients, 131 were randomised (67 placebo and 64 risedronate). Patient characteristics were similar in both groups, although the risedronate group was slightly heavier (body mass index 24.3 vs 23.0 kg/m2). Bone mineral density at lumbar spine increased 0.04 g/cm2 on average in the risedronate group versus 0.01 g/cm2 in the placebo group (p=0.007). The mean increase in total hip bone mineral density was 0.03 versus 0.01 g/cm2, respectively (p=0.071). Fracture prevalence and incidence were similar. Change of T-scores and concentrations of bone turnover markers were consistent with a beneficial effect of risedronate when compared with placebo. The effect of risedronate was primarily demonstrated in the first 12 months of treatment. No serious unexpected suspected adverse events were observed. Conclusions A 24-month treatment course with risedronate 35 mg once weekly, concomitant with calcium and vitamin D supplementation, in osteopenic Crohn's disease patients improved bone density at lumbar spine. NTR 163 Dutch Trial Register.


A research study was conducted to determine public opinion in Alberta, a Canadian province, on the controversial topic of death hastening. Questions on the right to hastened death, end-of-life plans and end-of-life experiences were included in the Population Research Laboratory's annual 2010 health-care telephone survey, with 1203 adults providing results relatively representative of Albertans. Of all 1203, 72.6% said yes to the question: 'Should dying adults be able to request and get help from others to end their life early, in other words, this is a request for assisted suicide'? Among all who provided an answer, 36.8% indicated 'yes, every competent adult should have this right' and 40.6% indicated 'yes, but it should be allowed only in certain cases or situations'. Over 50% of respondents in all but one socio-demographic population sub-group (Religious-other) were supportive of the right to hastened death. However, multinomial regression analysis revealed that the experiences of deciding to euthanise a pet/animal and developing or planning to develop an advance directive predicted support, while self-reported religiosity predicted non-support. Finding majority public support for death hastening suggests that legalisation could potentially occur in the future; but with this policy first requiring a careful consideration of the model of assisted suicide or euthanasia that best protects people who are highly vulnerable to despair and suffering near the end of life.


Safety is a concern jeopardizing cycling sustainability. In Europe, more than 2.000 cyclists die every year in traffic accidents. Electrical bicycles amplify this concern because of their high speed and increasing prevalence. Previous studies, such as the naturalistic cycling study BikeSAFER, showed that interaction among cyclists and other road users (e.g., drivers, pedes-trians or other bicyclists) is crucial to cycling safety. As electrical bicycles become increasingly popular, other road users may need to recalibrate their expectations to maintain a safe inter-action with this new type of bicycle. However, the extent to which electrical bicycles fail to meet other road users' expectations because of their higher speed is yet to be confirmed. Furthermore, whether the growing number of electrical bicycles influences cycling behaviour and results in new safety challenges is still unknown.
The e-BikeSAFE project is currently collecting naturalistic cycling data in Gothenburg. Equipped bicycles in e-BikeSAFE presently record cyclist behaviour in real traffic from cameras, GPS, and kinematics sensors. This data will be used to 1) understand how bicyclists with electrical bicycles behave in traffic and 2) the extent to which safety critical situations (crash and near-crashes) are different for electrical bicycles compared to traditional ones. For this later analysis, data from BikeSAFE will be used as a reference. This paper explains how the naturalistic methodology was adapted to the electrical bicycles and shows how e-BikeSAFE data will be combined with existing data from BikeSAFE for safety analyses including cycling behaviour and accident causation.


This paper presents a study of discourse elements in spoken academic discourse – a lecture – and identifies their specificities. The study seeks to identify discourse elements in a wide body of research material; to study structural, functional and pragmatic features of discourse elements in terms of the implementation of the intentions of the speaker; to identify from the auditory analysis any prosodic features of discourse elements. Discourse elements are specifically defined from the point of view of their pragmatics: the intention of the speaker influences the language of the lecture and the way in which ideas are connected with words. The study on discourse elements included several stages. Research material consisted of audio recordings of Philology lectures to students studying English as a foreign language by three native speakers of English (General American standard of pronunciation), all of whom are professors at American colleges and universities. In total, 6 lectures were recorded; they formed a wide body of research material lasting 7 hours 33 minutes. This wide body of research material consisted of 2 306 linguistic facts, i.e. discourse elements in context. From these, 150 fragments containing various discourse elements were then chosen to form a narrow body of research material lasting 40 minutes. The phonetic research consisted of auditory analysis: dividing the fragments of discourses into syntagms; defining the boundaries of syntagms; specifying pitch movement, tone level and type of scale; using perceptual gradations of each prosodic feature, etc. Prosodic marking was carried out in accordance with the method of notation adopted at the Department of English Phonetics at Moscow State Teacher Training University (1997). Scaling enabled the classification and sorting of all the studied elements (discourse elements). The authors used the following types of scales: nominative, ordinal and interval. Structural analysis proved that discourse elements have different structure and may be one-word elements and predicative phrases S P incorporated into the structure of the academic discourse. All discourse elements can be divided into two large groups – connecting elements (connectors) and pragmatic elements. The results of the research show that the studied elements differ structurally and can perform various functions. The functions of the discourse elements, their structure, intentions of the speaker and also their position in the phrase determine their prosodic features.


The following work deals with a very controversial but nevertheless very important topic in the sustainable management of water as a natural resource: the value of water and the macroeconomics of water. Population growth, increasing demand, climate change and declining water supplies present a short- and medium-term outlook where water stress and shortages may keep arising. Water stress is a situation that arises "… when water demand is more important than the amount available for a specified period or when it is restricted by its low quality." This  in turn "… causes deterioration of resources fresh water in terms of quantity (aquifer overexploited, dry rivers, etc.) and quality (eutrophication, organic matter pollution, saline intrusion, etc.)." (UNEP, 2012) If global patterns continue, we can see that we are headed into an increasingly complex landscape where water mismanagement increasingly compromises water availability. Added to this we have the phenomenon of climate change, which is already having an impact on water systems and cycles globally. This is why we must change the ethnocentric approach of our current development model, where resources are exploited without regard for the future. This analysis will use another approach based on sustainable development, and will go beyond ideological approaches and economic or political agendas, to treat water management and the macroeconomics of water pragmatically. Life on the planet depends on our success to manage our water resources in an efficient, responsible and fair manner; this paper provides the general guidelines and practical recommendations to do so.


This article elucidates the role of personalism in Ngô Đình Diệm's relations with his principal anticommunist allies in Asia by considering the First Republic's involvement in the Asian Peoples' Anti-Communist League and Moral Re-Armament. These organizations provided crucial transnational platforms through which Ngô Đình Diệm secured support for his personalist vision. Shared beliefs about the spiritual and moral threat of communist materialism, and the spiritual revolution it demanded in response, undergirded Ngô Đình Diệm's anticommunist alliances in Asia. The First Republic's deep involvement in these regional organizations, which operated free from US influence, challenges prevailing conceptions of its engagement with Cold War Asia.


Abstract. The strength and macroscopic deformation mode (brittle vs. ductile) of rocks is generally related to the porosity and pressure conditions, with occasional considerations of strain rate. At high temperature, molten rocks abide by Maxwell's viscoelasticity and their deformation mode is generally defined by strain rate or reciprocally by comparing the relaxation timescale of the material (for a given condition) to the observation timescale – a dimensionless ratio known as the Deborah (De) number. Volcanic materials are extremely heterogeneous, with variable concentrations of crystals, glass–melt, and vesicles (of different sizes), and a complete description of the conditions leading to flow or rupture as a function of temperature, stress and strain rate (or timescale of observation) eludes us. Here, we examined the conditions which lead to the macroscopic failure of variably vesicular (0.09–0.35), crystal-rich (∼ 75 vol %), pristine and altered dome rocks (at ambient temperature) and lavas (at 900 °C) from Mt. Unzen volcano, Japan. We found that the strength of the dome rocks decreases with porosity and is commonly independent of strain rate; when comparing pristine and altered rocks, we found that the precipitation of secondary mineral phases in the original pore space caused minor strengthening. The strength of the lavas (at 900 °C) also decreases with porosity. Importantly, the results demonstrate that these dome rocks are weaker at ambient temperatures than when heated and deformed at 900 °C (for a given strain rate resulting in brittle behaviour). Thermal stressing (by heating and cooling a rock up to 900 °C at a rate of 4 °C min−1, before testing its strength at ambient temperature) was found not to affect the strength of rocks.In the magmatic state (900 °C), the rheology of the dome lavas is strongly strain rate dependent. Under conditions of low experimental strain rate (≤ 10−4 s−1), ductile deformation dominated (i.e. the material sustained substantial, pervasive deformation) and displayed a non-Newtonian shear thinning behaviour. In this regime, the apparent viscosities of the dome lavas were found to be essentially equivalent, independent of vesicularity, likely due to the lack of pore pressurisation and efficient pore collapse during shear. At high experimental strain rates ( ≥ 10−4 s−1) the lavas displayed an increasingly brittle response (i.e. deformation resulted in failure along localised faults); we observed an increase in strength and a decrease in strain to failure as a function of strain rate. To constrain the conditions leading to failure of the lavas, we analysed and compared the critical Deborah number at failure (Dec) of these lavas to that of pure melt (Demelt = 10−3–10−2; Webb and Dingwell, 1990). We found that the presence of crystals decreases Dec to between 6.6×10−4 and 1×10−4. The vesicularity (φ), which dictates the strength of lavas, further controls Dec following a linear trend. We discuss the implications of these findings for the case of magma ascent and lava dome structural stability.


The latest annual report from the National Cancer Registry, Ireland's main source of cancer information, suggests that, although the total number of cancers continues to rise, mainly due to the ageing of our population, there is some positive news. For men, the risk of developing cancer, which had been rising steadily since at least 1994, may now be plateauing. The risk of lung cancer continues to fall for men, due to a long-term fall in the number of men who are smokers, but is still increasing for women.
The report shows that about 37,000 new cancers or other tumours were registered annually in 2011-2013, of which about 30,000 were malignant (potentially fatal). Of this 30,000, 10,000 were non-melanoma cancers of the skin, which is the commonest cancer, but is rarely fatal. The risk of developing cancer was higher for men than for women, overall and for most cancer types. Almost 9,000 cancer deaths occurred in 2012, about the same as the number of deaths from cardiovascular disease. Lung cancer was the commonest cause of cancer death, about 20% of the total. The risk of dying of cancer was over 30% higher for men than for women.
As previously reported, survival from cancer continues to improve. Survival at five years following diagnosis improved from 57% to 61% for bowel cancer patients, from 80% to 82% for breast cancer and from 56% to 62% for cervical cancer, for patients diagnosed in 2008-2012 compared to those diagnosed in 2003-2007.
At the end of 2013 there were approximately 124,000 persons still alive whose cancer had been diagnosed over the previous 20 years (1994-2013). The most numerous cancer survivors were those who had been diagnosed with breast cancer (29,828), prostate cancer (28,432), bowel cancer (16,754) or melanoma of the skin (8,510).
Commenting on the figures, Dr Harry Comber, Interim Director of the National Cancer Registry, said "Cancer now accounts for 30% of all deaths in Ireland, and its prevention must be a high public health priority. The number of cancer cases is still increasing, but there has been no recent increase in cancer risk overall for men, or for the three most common cancers in men. However, the recent fall in female smoking has not yet made any impact on female cancer risk. Cancer risk in women continues to rise, and lung cancer has now overtaken colorectal cancer to become the second most common major cancer in women. The large, and growing, number of cancer survivors in our community will have major implications for cancer support services in the coming years".

Related news:

Cancer in Ireland 1994-2013: new report by National Cancer Registry

Related projects:

Cancer incidence, treatment and mortality surveillance


All of the protagonists in this collection of stories are starving. The world around them buzzes with the electric hum of modern society, a siren song that tempts these girls and women with the promise of love, opportunity, affluence, and dreams. Instead, they find themselves lost somehow, left behind, victims of circumstance, confused by dysfunctional families, and romanced by the media. They no longer know themselves, and stumble in their quest for happiness. They are lured into competitions with imaginary adversaries, and sometimes lose. The less control they have in their own lives, the more desperate they become, often going to great lengths to satisfy their hunger for love, acceptance, and security. A little girl wants nothing more than a normal, loving family in "Raylene," and when she tires of dreaming her life were different, she decides to do something about it.
The protagonist of "The Broken Lamp" is plagued by the desire to be free of her financial concerns, and loses herself in this desire to the point that her marriage is threatened. The pursuit of love, in "Management Material," leads a movie theater employee to find happiness, although not in the way she expected. Old friends attempt to rekindle their connection in "Common Ground," desperate to regain the closeness of their adolescence. "Daughter of the Moon" features a woman with a family secret that she has kept since childhood, a secret that she now must dig up if she ever wants to move forward. And, in "Falling," a woman longing for acceptance devises an unconventional plan to win the adoration that she has always yearned for. The characters in these stories occupy the same psychic state. They are wounded, fragile, idealistic, and painfully self-conscious.
Disillusionment with an impervious world serves only to resurrect repressed feelings, leaving the characters with a cognitive dissonance that they work tirelessly, if aimlessly and foolishly, to reconcile. Unable to satiate themselves, they cannot avoid feeding the darkest dreams that always lurk in the shadowy corners of consciousness.


Using longitudinal panel data from the Generations and Gender Surveys on 2,847 cohabiters from seven countries, we examine the role of marital attitudes in the transition from cohabitation to marriage and compare the strength of this association between Western and Eastern Europe. We expect a positive attitude towards marriage to increase the likelihood of cohabiters marrying. We also expect the association between personal attitudes and marriage formation to be weaker among cohabiters from Eastern Europe, due to stronger normative pressure to marry in contexts where cohabitation is less prevalent. In both Eastern and Western European countries, we find a clear positive association between favourable views on marriage among cohabiters and their entry into marriage. Contrary to our expectations, we find evidence that this association is weaker in Western Europe. We discuss this finding in light of the greater postponement of marriage among Western European cohabiters, even among those with a positive attitude towards marriage, as well as the potentially greater significance of life course events and transitions that influence their decision to marry more strongly than is the case for their Eastern European counterparts. This study extends the literature on the relationship trajectories of cohabiters by drawing attention to the normative context that may shape cohabiters' opportunities and constrain behavioural choice in the marriage formation process. Ultimately, it contributes to an understanding of the consequences of the societal diffusion of cohabitation in Europe.


Catalytic cycles can be investigated in detail in the gas phase in a step-by-step manner by tandem mass spectrometric experiments that allow for the mass-selection of each of the intermediates prior to the subsequent step. In the present article, we describe large crown ethers (dibenzo-24-crown-8 to dibenzo-30-crown-10) to mediate the E2-elimination of propene from crown ether-propylammonium complexes giving rise to NH4+/crown ether complexes. A back exchange of the ammonia against propyl amine completes the catalytic cycle. To the best of our knowledge, this reaction cycle represents the first example of organocatalysis in the gas-phase. In addition, the larger crown ethers significantly accelerate the H/D-exchange reaction of the five NH hydrogen atoms in singly protonated ethylenediamine as compared to the analogous smaller crown ether complexes. This effect, which is not observed for the propylammonium complexes, can be rationalized by a favorable pre-organization of the protonated ethylenediamine ion within the cavity of the crown ether through hydrogen bonding to both the ammonium and the amine groups. Within this complex, the H/D-exchange can proceed through an efficient "relay" mechanism. A comparison of the H/D-exchange behavior of ammonium complexes with differently sized crown ethers reveals a distinct reactivity pattern that strongly depends on the crown ether size. While 18-crown-6 acts as a non-covalent protective group suppressing the H/D-exchange almost completely, smaller and larger crown ethers exhibit higher exchange rates.


Guiding navigation in virtual environments (VEs) is a challenging task. A key issue in the navigation of a virtual environment is to be able to strike a balance between the user's need to explore the environment freely and the designer's need to ensure that the user experiences all the important events in the VE. This thesis reports on a study aimed at comparing the effectiveness of various navigation cues that are used to motivate users towards a specific target location. The results of this study indicate some significant differences in how users responded to the various cues.


The article discusses two works devoted to the women's education and upbringing, written in two different eras. Both books – the treaty by a Spanish secular humanist Juan Luis Vives (1492–1540) De institutione feminae christianae (Bruges 1524) dedicated to the Queen of England, Catherine of Aragon, wife of Henry VIII, and her daughter Mary Tudor, and reference guide for women by a Spanish Jesuit Jorge Loring (1921–2013) Para salvarte. Compendio de las verdades fundamentales de la religion catolica y normas para vivirlas (1st ed. 1952) – are advisory in nature. Both authors in a similar way define the role of women in a society. Formulating the recommendations for good Christian women, the authors resort to almost identical argumentation derived from the Bible and the writings of the Church Fathers. They use similar rhetorical devices which are tailored to the current circumstances. Both authors refer to the same authority and show the same examples. The analysis of both works aims to show the immutability of rhetorical practices in the field of advice literature devoted to women.


We examine how physical factors spanning climate and weather contributed to record warmth over the central and eastern United States in March 2012, when daily temperature anomalies at many locations exceeded 20°C. Over this region, approximately 1°C warming in March temperatures has occurred since 1901. This long-term regional warming is an order of magnitude smaller than temperature anomalies observed during the event, indicating that most of the extreme warmth must be explained by other factors. Several lines of evidence strongly implicate natural variations as the primary cause for the extreme event. The 2012 temperature anomalies had a close analog in an exceptionally warm U.S. March occurring over 100 years earlier, providing observational evidence that an extreme event similar to March 2012 could be produced through natural variability alone. Coupled model forecasts and simulations forced by observed sea surface temperatures (SSTs) show that forcing from anomalous SSTs increased the probability of extreme warm temperatures in March 2012 above that anticipated from the long-term warming trend. In addition, forcing associated with a strong Madden–Julian oscillation further increased the probability for extreme U.S. warmth and provided important additional predictive information on the timing and spatial pattern of temperature anomalies. The results indicate that the superposition of a strong natural variation similar to March 1910 on longterm warming of the magnitude observed would be sufficient to account for the record warm March 2012 U.S. temperatures. We conclude that the extreme warmth over the central and eastern United States in March 2012 resulted primarily from natural climate and weather variability— a substantial fraction of which was predictable.


ABSTRACT Aim: BRCA1 is important in maintaining genomic stability by error-free repair of DNA double strand breaks by homologous recombination. Lack of a functional BRCA1 gene results in genomic instability with characteristic gains and losses in DNA copy number variation (CNV) profiles in breast tumors. We previously developed and used this breast cancer BRCA1-like signature to identify patients that benefit from double strand break inducing chemotherapy. In the current study we set out to train an ovarian and ovarian + breast classifier for BRCA1-like tumor status. Methods: We used our own and public CNV profiles of human BRCA1 mutated and non-mutated primary breast and ovarian cancer. We trained logistic regression models for prediction of BRCA1-like status in breast and ovarian cancers separately and in both types combined. For this step we used the area under the curve (AUC) of the receiver operating characteristic curve to analyze predictive capacity. We identified regions of CNVs that associate with BRCA1 mutation status by comparing CNV profiles of BRCA1 mutated and non-mutated cancers within and between the two organs of origin. Results: CNV profiles contained significantly different regions of gains and losses, both within and between (combinations) of organ and mutation status. In a 10-fold double cross validation run, the organ-specific and organ-independent classifiers predicted BRCA1 status based on CNV profiles with a mean AUC (+/- standard error of the mean) of 0.81 (+/- 0.05) for breast and 0.74 (+/- 0.07) for ovarian and 0.83 (+/- 0.04) independent of organ. Organ dependent classifiers predicted worse on the other organ. Organ-independent differences between BRCA1 mutated and non-mutated CNVs were present on chromosomes 3 to 7, 9, 10-17, 20 and X. Conclusions: We identified specific CNVs, both gains and losses, associated with BRCA1 mutation status, that overlap in breast and ovarian cancer. We trained an ovarian and breast + ovarian BRCA1 classifier which we will further validate as predictive biomarker for double strand break inducing chemotherapy and Poly(ADP)Ribose Polymerase 1 inhibitor targeted therapy in randomized trials. Disclosure: P.M. Nederlof: named inventor on patent application for BRCA1 like breast cancer classifier; S. Linn: named inventor on patent application for BRCA1-like breast cancer classifier. All other authors have declared no conflicts of interest.


Both age and intensive exercise are generally considered critical risk factors for osteoarthritis. In this work, we intend to establish zebrafish models to assess the role of these two factors on cartilage homeostasis. We designed a swimming device for zebrafish intensive exercise. The body measurements, bone mineral density (BMD) and the histology of spinal cartilages of 4- and 12-month-old zebrafish, as well the 12-month-old zebrafish before and after a 2-week exercise were compared. Our results indicate that both age and exercise affect the body length and body weight, and the micro-computed tomography reveals that both age and exercise affect the spinal BMD. However, quantitative analysis of immunohistochemistry and histochemistry indicate that short-term intensive exercise does not affect the extracellular matrix (ECM) of spinal cartilage. On the other hand, the cartilage ECM significantly grew from 4 to 12 months of age with an increase in total chondrocytes. dUTP nick end labeling staining shows that the percentages of apoptotic cells significantly increase as the zebrafish grows, whereas the BrdU labeling shows that proliferative cells dramatically decrease from 4 to 12 months of age. A 30-day chase of BrdU labeling shows some retention of labeling in cells in 4-month-old spinal cartilage but not in cartilage from 12-month-old zebrafish. Taken together, our results suggest that zebrafish chondrocytes are actively turned over, and indicate that aging is a critical factor that alters cartilage homeostasis. Zebrafish vertebral cartilage may serve as a good model to study the maturation and homeostasis of articular cartilage.


The production of gaseous nitrogen compounds, particularly the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide, was investigated in a novel process for ammonium removal from wastewater. The process is based on the adsorption of ammonium on zeolite followed by bioregeneration. The zeolite serves the dual purpose of an ion exchanger and a physical carrier for nitrifying bacteria which bio-regenerate the ammonium saturated mineral. An analysis of the nitrifying population composition in the reactor fed with simulated secondary effluent (NH4+ = 50 mg/l) revealed that about half of the bacteria in the biofilm were common ammonium oxidizers Nitrosococcus mobilis and Nitrosomonas, while the other half were nitrite oxidizers. The amount of nitrogen losses, under different conditions, and the identification of the emitted gases (N2 or N2O) were investigated in two sets of experiments: (I) batch experiments using biomass originating from the ion exchange reactor with and without the addition of nitrite, and (II) continuous experiments using the ion exchange reactor with zeolite as the biomass carrier. In the batch experiments, nitrite and oxygen concentrations were determined as the major parameters responsible for the formation of gaseous nitrogen gas during ammonia oxidation by autotrophic bacteria. Continuous experiments showed that the major parameter significantly affecting nitrogen losses was the amount of ammonium adsorbed by the zeolite during the ion exchange phase. The amount of ammonium adsorbed determines the ammonium concentration during the initial period of bioregeneration, which in turn directly influences oxygen demand and the resulting concentrations of oxygen and nitrite. It was concluded that the formation of nitrogen gas compounds in the ion exchange/bioregeneration process can be eliminated by adjusting the operational regime to have a shorter adsorption phase resulting in smaller amounts of ammonium adsorbed per cycle.


ABSTRACT In a city there are hotspots that attract citizens, and most of the transportation arises when citizens move between their residence and primary destinations (i.e. hotspots). However, an ex ante evaluation of energy-efficient mobility and urban residential planning has seldom been conducted. Therefore, this paper proposes an ex ante evaluation method to quantify the impacts, in terms of CO2 emissions induced by intra-urban car mobility, of residential plans for various urban areas. The method is illustrated in a case study of a Swedish midsize city, which is presently preoccupied with urban planning of new residential areas in response to substantial population growth due to immigration. In general, CO2 emissions increase from the continued urban core area (CUCA), to the sub-polycentric area (SPA), to the edge urbanization area (EUA), where CO2 emission of EUA is twice that of the CUCA. The average travel distances also increase in the same pattern, though the relative increase is more than four times. Apartment buildings could be more effective in meeting residential needs and mitigating CO2 emissions than dispersed single-family houses.


In recent years, Charles Sanders Peirce has emerged, in the eyes of philosophers both in America and abroad, as one of America's major philosophical thinkers. His work has forced us back to philosophical reflection about those basic issues that inevitably confront us as human beings, especially in an age of science. Peirce's concern for experience, for what is actually encountered, means that his philosophy, even in its most technical aspects, forms a reflective commentary on actual life and on the world in which it is lived. In Charles S. Peirce: On Norms and Ideals, Potter argues that Peirce's doctrine of the normative sciences is essential to his pragmatism. No part of Peirce's philosophy is bolder than his attempt to establish esthetics, ethics, and logic as the three normative sciences and to argue for the priority of esthetics among the trio. Logic, Potter cites, is normative because it governs thought and aims at truth; ethics is normative because it analyzes the ends to which thought should be directed; esthetics is normative and fundamental because it considers what it means to be an end of something good in itself. This study shows that pierce took seriously the trinity of normative sciences and demonstrates that these categories apply both to the conduct of man and to the workings of the cosmos. Professor Potter combines sympathetic and informed exposition with straightforward criticism and he deals in a sensible manner with the gaps and inconsistencies in Peirce's thought. His study shows that Peirce was above all a cosmological and ontological thinker, one who combined science both as a method and as result with a conception of reasonable actions to form a comprehensive theory of reality. Peirce's pragmatism, although it has to do with action and the achievement of results, is not a glorification of action but rather a theory of the dynamic nature of things in which the ideal dimension of reality - laws, nature of things, tendencies, and ends - has genuine power for directing the cosmic order, including man, toward reasonable goals.


Reversible logic has presented itself as a prominent technology which plays an imperative role in Quantum Computing. Quantum Computing devices theoretically operate at ultra high speed and consume infinitesimally less power. Research done in this paper aims to utilize the idea of reversible logic to break the conventional speed-power trade-off, thereby getting a step closer to realize Quantum computing devices. To authenticate this research, various combinational and sequential circuits are implemented such as a 4-bit Ripple-carry Adder, (8bit X 8-bit) Wallace Tree Multiplier, and the Control Unit of an 8-bit GCD processor using Reversible gates. The power and speed parameters for the circuits have been indicated, and compared with their conventional non-reversible counterparts. The comparative statistical study proves that circuits employing Reversible logic thus are faster and power efficient. The designs presented in this paper were simulated using Xilinx 9.2 software. Key Terms Reversible logic, Quantum computing, high-speed, less power, speed-power trade-off, Ripple carry adder,


We have made it lawful for you to listen to music and singing. Take heed, however, lest listening thereto should cause you to overstep the bounds of propriety and dignity. Let your joy be the joy born of My Most Great Name, a Name that bringeth rapture to the heart, and filleth with ecstasy the minds of all who have drawn nigh unto God. We, verily, have made music as a ladder for your souls, a means whereby they may be lifted up unto the realm on high; make it not, therefore, as wings to self and passion. Truly, We are loath to see you numbered with the foolish. (The Kitáb-i-Aqdas, Paragraph 51) [2]


We present a computational Bayesian approach for Wiener diffusion models, which are prominent accounts of response time distributions in decision-making. We first develop a general closed-form analytic approximation to the response time distributions for one-dimensional diffusion processes, and derive the required Wiener diffusion as a special case. We use this result to undertake Bayesian modeling of benchmark data, using posterior sampling to draw inferences about the interesting psychological parameters. With the aid of the benchmark data, we show the Bayesian account has several advantages, including dealing naturally with the parameter variation needed to account for some key features of the data, and providing quantitative measures to guide decisions about model construction.


This study reflects that teacher education in Health and Physical Education (HPE) has long grappled with the challenge of how to disrupt pre-service teachers' (PSTs) established attitudes about HPE that may limit their capacity to positively engage with a diverse student population. This paper describes the development, validation and interpretation of the Stereotypical Attitudes in Health and Physical Education scale (SAHPE) for use in teacher education institutions. The scale was developed as a means of exploring the extent to which PSTs perpetuate or reject discriminatory attitudes and stereotypes that have been identified as having some historical and cultural acceptance in Health and Physical Education. It was designed as a tool to generate data that can be used by teacher educators with PSTs to better understand and problematise stereotypical attitudes that ultimately impact diversity and inclusion in HPE classrooms. This paper details the design process and pilot research that enabled validation of the scale for use by Australian teacher educators. For the purposes of validation, the SAHPE scale was administered to 109 pre-service teachers at one Australian university. Rasch modelling and confirmatory factor analysis using AMOS version 20.0 was employed to determine the measurement properties of the instrument and the construct validity of factors. Results from the study showed that a 17-item factor structure of the SAHPE is a valid and reliable predictor of a construct related to stereotypical attitudes. The discussion addresses the future application of the SAHPE as an instrument for teacher educators to use in efforts to enhance inclusion in HPE.


This Article considers how Fourth Amendment law should adapt to the global nature of Internet surveillance. It focuses on two types of problems not yet addressed by courts. First, the Supreme Court's decision in United States v. Verdugo-Urquidez prompts several puzzles about how the Fourth Amendment treats monitoring on a worldwide network where many lack Fourth Amendment rights. For example, can online contacts help create those rights? What if the government mistakenly believes that a target lacks Fourth Amendment rights? How does the law apply to monitoring of communications between those who have and those who lack Fourth Amendment rights? The second category of problems follows from different standards of reasonableness that apply outside the United States and at the international border. Does the border search exception apply to purely electronic transmission? And if reasonableness varies by location, is the relevant location the search, the seizure, or the physical person?This Article explores and answers these questions using equilibrium-adjustment, a method of applying the Fourth Amendment to technological changes to maintain the preexisting balance of constitutional protection. Fourth Amendment doctrine is heavily territorial: connections to the United States impact the scope or existence of constitutional protection. This Article aims to adapt existing principles for the transition from a domestic, physical environment to a global, networked world. It concludes that courts should reject online contacts as a basis for Fourth Amendment protection; allow monitoring when the government wrongly but reasonably believes that a target lacks Fourth Amendment rights; and limit monitoring between those who have and those who lack Fourth Amendment rights. It also contends that the border search exception should not apply to electronic transmission and that reasonableness should follow the location of data seizure. Taken together, the solutions offered in this Article provide a set of Fourth Amendment rules tailored to the reality of global computer networks.


Petrographic and electron microprobe analyses of native Au and a variety of sulfide minerals indicate a generally high but widely varying native Au fineness and a Cu-Fe sulfide host for most Ag in the Gunung Bijih Timur complex of Cu-Au skarn deposits, the Big Gossan and Dom Cu skarn deposits, and the Grasberg porphyry Cu-Au deposit. Native Au rims bornite in veins and forms inclusions in bornite and chalcopyrite in samples from Grasberg and from the Gunung Bijih Timur complex, as well as filling open space in quartz veins in the complex. Skarn and quartz veins in the Big Gossan area host native Au in association with pyrite, pyrrhotite, galena, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, and arsenopyrite.Native Au from the Gunung Bijih Timur complex has a wide but bimodal range of fineness: 920 to 990 and 340 to 820 (avg = 860). Native Au from Grasberg samples is < or = 930 fine (avg = 960). Fineness of Big Gossan Au ranges from 540 to 960 (avg = 830), although compositional ranges are small within most individual samples. Native Au from Grasberg falls into two groups with respect to Pd: Pd-bearing (< or = 3,500 ppm; avg = 1,800 ppm) and with no detectable Pd. Fire assay of Grasberg ore reveals trace but detectable (10 ppb < [Pd] < 500 ppb, avg = < or = 50 ppb) concentrations of Pd and no detectable Pt. Native Au from the Gunung Bijih Timur complex averages twice as much Cu as that from Grasberg (1.7 vs. 0.8 wt % Cu). Native Au from Big Gossan has uniformly low Cu contents (< or = 1,200 ppm Cu; avg = 300 ppm).Mass-balance calculations and analytical data indicate that the bulk of the Ag in the Gunung Bijih Timur complex is contained by bornite, indicating a partitioning of Ag into bornite, relative to native Au or a discrete Ag mineral. This is supported by the consistent positive correlation of Cu and Ag throughout the Gunung Bijih Timur complex, as well as in Grasberg and Dom. Ag-bearing galena occurs in the Big Gossan area, but is rare in the Grasberg, the Gunung Bijih Timur complex, and the Dom orebodies.The high fineness of native Au from the Gunung Bijih district represents the upper end of the reported range for porphyry- and skarn-type Cu-Au deposits but is similar to values reported elsewhere in Indonesia. The fineness of native Au in the Gunung Bijih Timur complex does not appear to be controlled by depth or distance from the local intrusive contact, mineral assemblage, or paragenetic relationship. The fineness of native Au from the Big Gossan area shows a positive correlation with elevation, suggestive of a lower temperature, more distal character than in the other skarns of the district. Differences in Pd contents may be related to acidity and redox conditions during native Au deposition.High Cu, high Pd, and low Ag compositions of Au grains in pan concentrates suggest a porphyry or Cu skarn source relative to a more distal source. Compositional characteristics identified in this study may have applications to exploration within the Ertsberg district and elsewhere.


Noting that the abundance of ASK1 (apoptosis signal-regulating kinase 1, which is activated in response to inflammatory cytokines and various stresses) increases after epithelial injury in rats, Osaka et al. investigated its involvement in the increase in regional hair growth stimulated by skin injury in mice. Wounds in mice lacking ASK1 (ASK1–/– mice) showed apparently normal re-epithelialization, but there was a marked delay in injury-induced hair regrowth. In contrast, hair follicle development in embryos and regrowth after plucking appeared normal. ASK1 is a mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinase (MAPKKK), and activation of its downstream targets c-Jun N-terminal kinase and p38 was reduced in ASK1–/– compared with wild-type mice, as was activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (the latter likely through an indirect route). A combination of microarray analysis and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) indicated that the expression of macrophage-specific markers, as well as that of macrophage-specific chemotactic and activating factors, was reduced in the wounded skin of ASK1–/– animals compared with that in wild-type mice. Immunohistochemical analysis confirmed that ASK1–/– mice exhibited decreased recruitment of macrophages to the wounded area. Intracutaneous transplantation of bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDMs) from either wild-type or ASK1–/– mice stimulated notable hair growth only in wild-type mice; intracutaneous transplantation of cytokine-activated BMDMs, however, stimulated marked hair growth in both wild-type and ASK1–/– mice. Thus, ASK1-dependent recruitment and activation of macrophages appears to play a critical role in promoting hair growth after injury. N. Osaka, T. Takahashi, S. Murakami, A. Matsuzawa, T. Noguchi, T. Fujiwara, H. Aburatani, K. Moriyama, K. Takeda, H. Ichijo, ASK1-dependent recruitment and activation of macrophages induce hair growth in skin wounds. J. Cell Biol. 176, 903-909 (2007). [Abstract] [Full Text]


Problem. The implementation of inclusive programs has met disapproval and concerns from many general educators regarding the presence of students with learning disabilities in their classes. The purpose therefore of this study was to survey junior high teachers in New Providence, Bahamas, to determine their attitudes toward teaching students with learning disabilities in general education classes; to investigate the type of instructional methodology used in general classes and to determine if instructional delivery is modified to assist students with learning disabilities; examine whether general educators collaborate with special educators when planning their instruction; and to identify if there are differences between educators' attitudes on the basis of age, gender, training, years of teaching experience, and teaching assignment. Method. Participants in this study included 122 teachers, both general and special education, from seven public junior high schools in New Providence, Bahamas. A survey instrument was used to collect the data in determining the attitudes of educators and to determine if general and special educators collaborated when planning instruction. Ten percent of lesson plans from the respondents were perused to ascertain if any and the type of modifications were made to instructional methodologies to assist students with learning disabilities in general education classes. The analysis of the data was done using descriptive statistics and analysis of variance. Results. Educators in New Providence, Bahamas, both general and special, do not support the inclusion of students with learning disabilities in general classes in current or ideal practices. Some modifications were made to assist students with learning disabilities, but on a small scale. In current practice, there is very little collaboration and minimal support for collaboration of general and special educators when planning instructional interventions. Finally, there was no significant difference in attitude on the basis of age, teaching experience, and teaching assignment However, difference was found regarding gender and training. Males were more favorable to inclusion than females. Additionally, educators who received special education training in three or more courses were more favorable to inclusion. Conclusion. Junior high public-school general and special educators of New Providence, Bahamas, do not support the inclusion of students with learning disabilities in inclusive classes currently or in an ideal practice. Hence, education officials are faced with a mammoth task of determining how to change the attitude of junior high educators if the inclusive program implemented is to be effective.


Pro-social punishment and exclusion are common means to elevate the level of cooperation among unrelated individuals. Indeed, it is worth pointing out that the combined use of these two strategies is quite common across human societies. However, it is still not known how a combined strategy where punishment and exclusion are switched can promote cooperation from the theoretical perspective. In this paper, we thus propose two different switching strategies, namely, peer switching that is based on peer punishment and peer exclusion, and pool switching that is based on pool punishment and pool exclusion. Individuals adopting the switching strategy will punish defectors when their numbers are below a threshold and exclude them otherwise. We study how the two switching strategies influence the evolutionary dynamics in the public goods game. We show that an intermediate value of the threshold leads to a stable coexistence of cooperators, defectors, and players adopting the switching strategy in a well-mixed population, and this regardless of whether the pool-based or the peer-based switching strategy is introduced. Moreover, we show that the pure exclusion strategy alone is able to evoke a limit cycle attractor in the evolutionary dynamics, such that cooperation can coexist with other strategies.


We propose a method to fuse posterior distributions learned from heterogeneous datasets. Our algorithm relies on a mean field assumption for both the fused model and the individual dataset posteriors and proceeds using a simple assign-and-average approach. The components of the dataset posteriors are assigned to the proposed global model components by solving a regularized variant of the assignment problem. The global components are then updated based on these assignments by their mean under a KL divergence. For exponential family variational distributions, our formulation leads to an efficient non-parametric algorithm for computing the fused model. Our algorithm is easy to describe and implement, efficient, and competitive with state-of-the-art on motion capture analysis, topic modeling, and federated learning of Bayesian neural networks.


Wild plants developing in areas without the desire or wills of human and known as weeds, that could be beneficial or not. The aim of the present study was to identify and record the weed species grown in the agricultural land in the regions of Valley of Leeyh, South of Taif area, which is located on the Eastern slopes of the Al-Sarawat Mountains with an altitude of 1700 m from sea level. Different weed species has been collected, processed by cleaning and identified from the surveyed area. The study was conducted between 2016 and 2017. The results showed that Cherepodiaceae had the highest number of weeds species followed by Uriticaceae and Malvaceae. The lowest weeds species count recorded in Cappaeaceae followed by Chenopodiaceae and Aizoaceae. The highest weeds count of agricultural crops recorded in Cucurbita pepo, Coriandrum sativum and Petroselinum annum. The lowest weed in Taif agricultural fields recorded in the Medicago sativa plantations followed by Capparis decidua and Zea mays. Dominant weeds species include Urtica dloica, Malva perviflore, Chenopodium valvaeia, Amaranthus vindi, Cynodon dactylon, Portulaca oleracea. This study has the potential in developing the valley south of Taif area for agricultural purposes. The findings of this study will be beneficial in suggesting suitable weed control recommendation in agricultural crop land of Taif area.


This issue of Applied Optics features eight papers in the areas of optical pattern recognition. They range from new algorithms for improved classification, rotation and scale invariant recognition to novel architectures and applications of optical correlation filters in information processing.