Process mining has been successfully applied in the healthcare domain and has helped to uncover various insights for improving healthcare processes. While the benefits of process mining are widely acknowledged, many people rightfully have concerns about irresponsible uses of personal data. Healthcare information systems contain highly sensitive information and healthcare regulations often require protection of data privacy. The need to comply with strict privacy requirements may result in a decreased data utility for analysis. Until recently, data privacy issues did not get much attention in the process mining community; however, several privacy-preserving data transformation techniques have been proposed in the data mining community. Many similarities between data mining and process mining exist, but there are key differences that make privacy-preserving data mining techniques unsuitable to anonymise process data (without adaptations). In this article, we analyse data privacy and utility requirements for healthcare process data and assess the suitability of privacy-preserving data transformation methods to anonymise healthcare data. We demonstrate how some of these anonymisation methods affect various process mining results using three publicly available healthcare event logs. We describe a framework for privacy-preserving process mining that can support healthcare process mining analyses. We also advocate the recording of privacy metadata to capture information about privacy-preserving transformations performed on an event log.


We examine wage competition in a model where identical workers choose the number of jobs to apply for and identical firms simultaneously post a wage. The Nash equilibrium of this game exhibits the following properties: (i) an equilibrium where workers apply for just one job exhibits unemployment and absence of wage dispersion; (ii) an equilibrium where workers apply for two or for more (but not for all) jobs always exhibits wage dispersion and, typically, unemployment; (iii) the equilibrium wage distribution with a higher vacancy-to-unemployment ratio first-order stochastically dominates the wage distribution with a lower level of labor market tightness; (iv) the average wage is non-monotonic in the number of applications; (v) the equilibrium number of applications is non-monotonic in the vacancy-to-unemployment ratio; (vi) a minimum wage increase can be welfare improving because it compresses the wage distribution and reduces the congestion effects cause! d by the socially excessive number of applications; and (vii) the only way to obtain efficiency is to impose a mandatory wage that eliminates wage dispersion altogether.


Alan Palmer's essay, "Attributions of Madness in Ian McEwan's Enduring Love," amply demonstrates how productive his cognitive approach to narrative can be. His focus on aspectuality and on intermental and intramental thinking leads to many sharp insights into Joe Rose's relationships with Jed Parry and with Clarissa Mellon, and, thus, into McEwan's novel. In addition, Alan's effort to link the cognitive analysis to rhetorical theory's concerns with ethical and aesthetic judgments is not only theoretically sound but also provocative. I find it salutary that Alan talks candidly about his own affective responses to the novel ("I found myself getting angry at Clarissa" [306]) and that he is willing to find fault with McEwan, since that move breaks with the still common assumption that the task of criticism is to explain the writer's success: "the question to ask can be simply put: Does Joe do enough wrong [to justify Clarissa's mistrust of him]? On balance, I would say: no. A more nuanced question is this one: Does McEwan miscalculate in trying to set up a context within which Clarissa's mistrust of Joe can be understood and even forgiven? I would say: yes" (307). Even as I admire Alan's essay, I find that I disagree with his concluding judgments about Clarissa and McEwan's treatment of her character. In my view, McEwan handles the difficult task of making Clarissa's responses to Jed and to Joe both plausible and sympathetic, and, thus, I make a positive ethical judgment of her and a positive aesthetic judgment of McEwan's handling of this element of the novel. But my high regard for Alan's analysis leads me to one kind of response rather than another. Rather than simply trying to demonstrate that the novel contains more evidence to support my judgments than it does to support Alan's, I also want to delve beneath our interpretive disagreement by exploring two other questions. (1) What is it about Alan's cognitive and my version of the rhetorical approach that would lead Alan and me to disagree as we do? (2) What are the particular elements in McEwan's design of the novel that contribute to this disagreement? In posing the first question, I do not mean to imply that our different theoretical commitments inevitably lead us to our different judgments. Neither Alan's cognitive approach nor my rhetorical one wholly determines its practitioners' conclusions. Both approaches still regard interpretation as an art that can be performed more and less skillfully on any given occasion. Nevertheless, I do want to suggest that because our theoretical commitments influence our respective conceptions of McEwan's novel, they also play a significant role in Alan's finding fault with McEwan's representation of Clarissa and my finding that representation to be successful. This suggestion also means that, although I accept Alan's point that "we are all cognitivists" (292) in the sense that the findings of cognitive narratology are highly relevant to rhetorical theory, I do not see that acceptance as entailing the methodological consequence that rhetorical reading must start with cognitive analysis. Indeed, I shall try to show that our interpretive disagreement arises in part because we start in different places. Before proceeding to demonstrate this point, I need to lay out more clearly the basic principles of my rhetorical approach. The rhetorical definition of narrative emphasizes narrative as a communicative act and highlights the roles of tellers, audiences, and purposes: somebody telling somebody else on some occasion and for some purposes that something happened. I also regard narrative as a multi-layered communication, one that typically engages the audience's intellect, emotions, ethical values, and aesthetic sensibilities. Consequently, I am interested in the experience of reading literary narrative and in the ways that authors use textual (and sometimes intertextual) phenomena to guide their audiences to respond to the communication in one way (or one set of ways) rather than another. …


In this paper we discuss the mechanism of a recommender system recommending papers for an evolving web-based learning system. Our system is unique in three aspects. The first is that our learning environment can evolve based on the system's observance of learners and their behaviors. Therefore, the fittest papers will survive the natural selections by learners: papers liked by learners will survive. The second is that we introduce a pedagogically layered similarity between items that have been read by learners and candidate items for recommendation, which is different and desirable, since we argue that papers that match a learner's interest might not be pedagogically suitable for him/her. The third significance is that we propose to annotate each paper with temporal sequences of learners' learning behaviors. By doing it, we can maintain the objectivity as well as integrity of the papers. In addition the accumulated sequences of learners can play a key role for a deeper understanding of their knowledge levels/states, which, in turn, provide 'just-in-time' recommendations to support and encourage e-learning.


Community musicians move in and between many diverse settings. They can be found facilitating local music activities in a wide range of community contexts. As skilled facilitators, there is an emphasis on active participation, sensitivity to context, equality of opportunity, and a commitment to diversity. From a historical heritage that includes community arts and cultural community development, the concept of cultural democracy, a sharing of values among cultural groups, rather than the democratization of culture, that attempts to establish cultural equality while preserving domination, has been a political touchstone for community musicians. As a call for both action and appropriate intervention, cultural democracy promotes a system of support and respect for the many cultures and communities across the world whilst attempting to give "voice" to those that have been historically excluded from the public domain. With no claim of superiority or special status, cultural democracy advocates that people need to create culture rather than having culture made for them.
The aim of this paper is to assess the importance of cultural democracy in community music today and to re-situate its political imperative as a contemporary expression relevant to international practice. Working across three research strategies, historical, case study, and philosophical, the place of the political in community music emerges twofold: (1) through the negotiation between those that take part in community musicking and those who just might, and (2) a challenge to individuals, organizations, and institutions that have a hand in arbitrating funding for music, music teaching, and musical resources. Folding back through the historical traces of community music practice, I suggest that the notion of cultural democracy remains its most pressing political attribute. Driven by a response to situate injustices and wrongs, community music as a political force comes by way of an unexpected event that shatters our horizon of expectations. Those that work in community music do not profess that it is perfect or a solution to all things problematic to participatory music making. Why? Because their actions are not in the name of horizons of perfectibility and foreseeable ideals, but rather, they are in response to the urgency of friendship and hospitality. The implications of this research is to remind those working in community music of their inheritances and to open music educators to the question of responsibility before themselves and towards the others with whom they share musical discourse.


Written by leading coffee technology specialists in consultation with some of the world's biggest coffee manufacturers, the second edition of the successful "Espresso Coffee" will once again comprehensively cover the current status of the chemistry and technology of espresso coffee. It comprehensively covers topics such as agronomy, green coffee processing, roasting/grinding, packaging, percolating and decaffeination techniques. It provides a comprehensive resource for those interested in the fundamental notions of coffee quality; with a point of reference given in the form of a detailed bibliography to provide direction to the wider literature. Chapters include: Quality of espresso coffee; The plant; The raw bean; Roasting; Grinding; Packaging; Percolation; The cup; and Physiology.


Background: Several studies have shown that traditional standardised aphasia tests may not be sensitive enough to adequately assess linguistic deficits and recovery patterns in persons with aphasia. As a result, both functional and structural methods for the analysis of connected language samples from people with aphasia have been devised (see Armstrong, 2000; Prins & Bastiaanse, 2004). Aims: The present article focuses on our attempt to provide a comprehensive, multi-level procedure for both structural and functional analysis of narrative discourse produced by speakers with brain damage. Accordingly, we will describe a method for analysis of connected language samples elicited on single picture and cartoon story description tasks. This method has proven sensitive in the assessment of language deficits in many neurogenic populations. Methods & Procedures: A comprehensive description of the language production system, a thorough discussion of the different approaches to discourse analysis in persons with aphasia, and the procedure for the analysis of narrative discourse are detailed. The characteristics of the eliciting stimuli, the procedures for their administration and the transcription of the language samples are carefully explained. The analysis focuses on four main aspects of linguistic processing: productivity, lexical and grammatical processing, narrative organisation, and informativeness. To further illustrate the analytic procedure, two case reports and an appendix with the analysis of a narrative sample are provided. Outcomes & Results: We will provide direct evidence of the usefulness of the multi-level procedure for discourse analysis for assessing changes in discourse performance of two persons with fluent aphasia, with different aetiologies, that were not captured by traditional standardised aphasia tests. Conclusions: The method of analysis presented in this paper has strong grounds in linguistic and psychological theories of linguistic structure and functioning. It also has the advantage of being both quantitative and functional as it captures selective aspects of linguistic processing, and can provide relevant information about the person's communicative and informative skills.


Topological relationships present some important information for describing the relative position of objects. From a mathematical point of view, topological relationships are invariant at different scales. However, in practice, they may be changed for diverse reasons, such as the limitation of digital devices. These different topological relationships concerning the same objets can cause inconsistencies when answering to queries in am ultidatabase environment. In this paper, a constraint model for analyzing the possible changes of topological relationships in spatial datasets at different scales is presented. With development of the Internet, people have more opportunities to use various spatial datasets at different scales. This work can be applied to analyze the inconsistencies o fi nteroperations among different spatial datasets in this environment. In spite of the studies focusing on spatial datasets, the result also agrees with Euzenat's work about granularity analysis on temporal relationship (Euzenat 1993, and 1995).


Central nervous system (CNS) lipid accumulation, inflammation and resistance to adipo-regulatory hormones, such as insulin and leptin, are implicated in the pathogenesis of diet-induced obesity (DIO). Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPAR α, δ, γ) are nuclear transcription factors that act as environmental fatty acid sensors and regulate genes involved in lipid metabolism and inflammation in response to dietary and endogenous fatty acid ligands. All three PPAR isoforms are expressed in the CNS at different levels. Recent evidence suggests that activation of CNS PPARα and/or PPARγ may contribute to weight gain and obesity. PPARδ is the most abundant isoform in the CNS and is enriched in the hypothalamus, a region of the brain involved in energy homeostasis regulation. Because in peripheral tissues, expression of PPARδ increases lipid oxidative genes and opposes inflammation, we hypothesized that CNS PPARδ protects against the development of DIO. Indeed, genetic neuronal deletion using Nes-Cre loxP technology led to elevated fat mass and decreased lean mass on low-fat diet (LFD), accompanied by leptin resistance and hypothalamic inflammation. Impaired regulation of neuropeptide expression, as well as uncoupling protein 2, and abnormal responses to a metabolic challenge, such as fasting, also occur in the absence of neuronal PPARδ. Consistent with our hypothesis, KO mice gain significantly more fat mass on a high-fat diet (HFD), yet are surprisingly resistant to diet-induced elevations in CNS inflammation and lipid accumulation. We detected evidence of upregulation of PPARγ and target genes of both PPARα and PPARγ, as well as genes of fatty acid oxidation. Thus, our data reveal a previously underappreciated role for neuronal PPARδ in the regulation of body composition, feeding responses, and in the regulation of hypothalamic gene expression.


Because of the health risks associated with unhealthy eating and overweight, it is important to better understand the motives underlying (un)healthy food choice. Explicit measures, such as questionnaires and focus groups, are suboptimal because they only tap into that specific part of the motive that people are conscious of and they are highly susceptible to socially desirable responding. Therefore, the aim of this thesis was to establish the potential of implicit markers to (1) predict choice and (2) gain insight into the decision-making processes underlying food choice. To this end, we evaluated markers of cognitive processing (reaction times), visual attention (eye-tracking) and central (brain activation) processing. To determine the potential of brain activation we synthesized results from previous studies with a meta-analysis. Hunger modulated the response to food pictures in reward regions and energy content modulated the response both in reward regions and the visual cortex. To investigate which brain regions respond to preferred products and to what extent everyday food choices can be predicted with brain activation, we performed an fMRI study in which subjects chose between two alternatives of the same product, but with different packaging. Traditional mass-univariate analysis could detect small package-induced differences in product preference and the novel multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) could predict realistic low-involvement consumer choices from functional MRI data (61% accuracy). Prior research has shown that consumer choice can be influenced by manipulating visual characteristics, but it was unknown whether this was due to increased initial (first fixation) or sustained (fixation duration) attention. In our eye-tracking study we showed that manipulating the location of the first fixation did not influence consumer choice. To gain more insight into the neural processes underlying self-control in weight-concerned women, we performed a combined functional MRI/eye-tracking study. An assumption in self-control theory is that if someone with the long-term goal to limit intake is exposed to a food choice that threatens the accomplishment of this goal, this results in internal conflict. In contrast to this assumption, we found that choices requiring self-control induced no conflict, as demonstrated by lower reaction times, fixation durations, number of gaze switches between snacks, and lower activation of the anterior cingulate cortex. When subjects had to either accept or reject a single high or low energy food we found that choices concerning high energy snacks elicited stronger activation in reward-related brain regions. Highly tasty high energy snacks were more difficult to resist and, accordingly, activation in inhibitory areas was modulated negatively by tastiness. More successful self-controllers showed increased activation in the supplementary motor area during food choices. To conclude, fMRI and eye tracking measures can differentiate between more and less preferred products, and fMRI in conjunction with MVPA can be used to predict choice. Moreover, reaction times, eye tracking measures, and fMRI are valuable tools that give insight into the processes underlying food choice, like self-control, especially when multiple measures are combined.


Generative adversarial networks (GAN) are a powerful subclass of generative models. Despite a very rich research activity leading to numerous interesting GAN algorithms, it is still very hard to assess which algorithm(s) perform better than others. We conduct a neutral, multi-faceted large-scale empirical study on state-of-the art models and evaluation measures. We find that most models can reach similar scores with enough hyperparameter optimization and random restarts. This suggests that improvements can arise from a higher computational budget and tuning more than fundamental algorithmic changes. To overcome some limitations of the current metrics, we also propose several data sets on which precision and recall can be computed. Our experimental results suggest that future GAN research should be based on more systematic and objective evaluation procedures. Finally, we did not find evidence that any of the tested algorithms consistently outperforms the non-saturating GAN introduced in \cite{goodfellow2014generative}.


From June 1995 to August 2002 we assessed green turtle (Chelonia mydas) population structure and survival, and identified human impacts at Bahía de los Angeles, a large bay that was once the site of the greatest sea turtle harvest rates in the Gulf of California, Mexico. Turtles were captured live with entanglement nets and mortality was quantified through stranding surveys and flipper tag recoveries. A total of 14,820 netting hours (617·5 d) resulted in 255 captures of 200 green turtles. Straight-carapace length and mass ranged from 46·0–100·0 cm (mean=74·3±0·7 cm) and 14·5–145·0 kg (mean=61·5±1·7 kg), respectively. The size–frequency distribution remained stable during all years and among all capture locations. Anthropogenic-derived injuries ranging from missing flippers to boat propeller scars were present in 4% of captured turtles. Remains of 18 turtles were found at dumpsites, nine stranded turtles were encountered in the study area, and flipper tags from seven turtles were recovered. Survival was estimated at 0·58 for juveniles and 0·97 for adults using a joint live-recapture and dead-recovery model (Burnham model). Low survival among juveniles, declining annual catch per unit effort, and the presence of butchered carcasses indicated human activities continue to impact green turtles at this foraging area.


Examines the steps involved in restructuring the corporate sector. Large-scale corporate restructuring made necessary by a financial crisis is one of the most daunting challenges faced by economic policymakers. The government is forced to take a leading role, even if indirectly, because of the need to prioritize policy goals, address market failures, reform the legal and tax systems, and deal with the resistance of powerful interest groups.


How should agents bid in repeated sequential auctions when they are budget constrained? A motivating example is that of sponsored search auctions, where advertisers bid in a sequence of generalized second price (GSP) auctions. These auctions, specifically in the context of sponsored search, have many idiosyncratic features that distinguish them from other models of sequential auctions: First, each bidder competes in a large number of auctions, where each auction is worth very little. Second, the total bidder population is often large, which means it is unrealistic to assume that the bidders could possibly optimize their strategy by modeling specific opponents. Third, the presence of a virtually unlimited supply of these auctions means bidders are necessarily expense constrained. Motivated by these three factors, we first frame the generic problem as a discounted Markov Decision Process for which the environment is independent and identically distributed over time. We also allow the agents to receive income to augment their budget at a constant rate. We first provide a structural characterization of the associated value function and the optimal bidding strategy, which specifies the extent to which agents underbid from their true valuation due to long term budget constraints. We then provide an explicit characterization of the optimal bid shading factor in the limiting regime where the discount rate tends to zero, by identifying the limit of the value function in terms of the solution to a differential equation that can be solved efficiently. Finally, we proved the existence of Mean Field Equilibria for both the repeated second price and GSP auctions with a large number of bidders.


Abstract. The interaction of NO2 with TiO2 solid films was studied under UV irradiation using a low pressure flow reactor (1–10 Torr) combined with a modulated molecular beam mass spectrometer for monitoring of the gaseous species involved. The NO2 to TiO2 reactive uptake coefficient was measured from the kinetics of NO2 loss on TiO2 coated Pyrex rods as a function of NO2 concentration, irradiance intensity (JNO2 = 0.002–0.012 s−1), relative humidity (RH = 0.06–69 %), temperature (T = 275–320 K) and partial pressure of oxygen (0.001–3 Torr). TiO2 surface deactivation upon exposure to NO2 was observed. The initial uptake coefficient of NO2 on illuminated TiO2 surface (with 90 ppb of NO2 and JNO2≅0.006 s−1) was found to be γ0 = (1.2±0.4) ×10−4 (calculated using BET surface area) under dry conditions at T = 300 K. The steady state uptake, γ, was several tens of times lower than the initial one, independent of relative humidity, and was found to decrease in the presence of molecular oxygen. In addition, it was shown that γ is not linearly dependent on the photon flux and seems to level off under atmospheric conditions. Finally, the following expression for γ was derived, γ = 2.3×10−3 exp(−1910/T)/(1 + P0.36) (where P is O2 pressure in Torr), and recommended for atmospheric applications (for any RH, near 90 ppb of NO2 and JNO2 = 0.006 s−1).


Interferon-γ promotes the activation of macrophages by facilitating chromatin remodeling of proinflammatory genes. When macrophages are exposed to Toll-like receptor (TLR) ligands, such as lipopolysaccharide (LPS, also known as endotoxin), they become activated and produce proinflammatory cytokines, including interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF). Subsequent exposure to TLR ligands triggers negative feedback mechanisms that inhibit äthe production of IL-6 and TNF. This decreased sensitivity of cells that have been exposed previously to microbial products, which is termed endotoxin tolerance, helps to prevent tissue damage that is associated with excess inflammation. The proinflammatory cytokine interferon-γ (IFN-γ) activates macrophages and enhances their responses to TLR ligands. In addition, IFN-γ reverses endotoxin tolerance; however, the mechanism involved is unknown. Chen and Ivashkiv hypothesized that IFN-γ might function by interfering with the defects in TLR signaling that occur during tolerance. They showed that, as expected, pretreatment of human monocyte–derived macrophages with IFN-γ blocked the inhibitory effect of repeated exposure to LPS on IL-6 and TNF production. However, IFN-γ did not alter upstream TLR signaling defects, such as diminished mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) activation or defective TLR adaptor molecule assembly, in tolerized cells. Instead, the effects of IFN-γ were observed at the level of gene transcription. The abundances of IL6 and TNF mRNAs were increased in IFN-γ–treated tolerized cells compared with those in untreated tolerized cells, which was associated with restoration of the binding of the transcription factors NF-κB p65 and C/EBPβ to the IL6 and TNF promoters. In addition, IFN-γ increased chromatin accessibility at the IL6 promoter by enhancing the LPS-induced recruitment of the nucleosome-remodeling protein Brg1. Together, these data suggest an alternative mechanism by which IFN-γ promotes the activation of macrophages, which involves transcriptional control. J. Chen, L. B. Ivashkiv, IFN-γ abrogates endotoxin tolerance by facilitating Toll-like receptor-induced chromatin remodeling. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 107, 19438–19443 (2010). [Abstract] [Full Text]


Background We hypothesized C1q binding de novo donor-specific antibody (DSA) after heart transplant (HT) is a higher risk for development of coronary artery vasculopathy (CAV) in children. Methods A retrospective analysis of 127 pediatric HT recipients transplanted between January 2005 and December 2014 was used to determine complement (C1q)-binding de novo DSA on the outcomes of HT and the ability of the C1q assay to predict CAV development. Results Of 127 patients, 59 (46.4%) developed de novo DSA, 37 of those had C1q+ DSA. There was no difference in baseline characteristics except patients who developed C1q+ DSA more often received a donor heart from a female compared with C1q− DSA group (P = 0.034). The DSA median fluorescent intensity (MFI) value of 7000 or greater had 80% sensitivity and 80% specificity (C statistics 0.89, P <0.05) for predicting positive C1q binding. Multivariate analyses identified C1q binding DSA as an independent risk for CAV with a hazard ratio (HR) of 3.25 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.33-7.93; P = 0.0095). In multivariable Cox proportional hazard models, the covariates associated with graft loss included: C1q+ DSA (HR, 3.2; 95% CI, 1.34-7.86; P < 0.009), pre-HT renal insufficiency (HR, 11.3; 95% CI, 3.71-34.29; P < 0.0001), and pre-HT ventilator support (HR, 3.3; 95% CI, 1.39-7.81; P = 0.007). Conclusions The DSA strength in MFI correlates with positive C1q-binding activity and hence functional capabilities of DSA. Close monitoring of DSA strength in MFI and function (C1q assay) may be useful for identifying pediatric HT recipient at risk for development of CAV.


The thesis is focused on in-network distributed and real-time routing algorithms for multihop sensor networks. The work aims mathematically derived algorithms which are based on the convex optimization theory and which are capable of computing an exact optimal solution e.g. in terms of the energy consumption. The work consists of three parts. The first part is focused on centralized algorithms for real-time routing in sensor networks. Two routing algorithms are developed in this chapter. The first algorithm addresses problem with continuous data streams with a real-time constraints on communication delay. The second algorithm addresses problem, where the real-time data are send in messages with transmission periods significantly bigger than one hop communication delay. The both algorithms are based on a minimum-cost multi-commodity network flow model and use a network replication to include the real-time constraints. Solved by Linear Programming, they exhibit a very good performance, as is shown in our experiments. Surprisingly, the performance does not degrade even in the presence of an integral flow constraint, which makes the problems NP hard. The second part of this work is focused on in-network distributed energy optimal routing algorithms for non-real-time data flow. Three distributed routing algorithms are mathematically derived in this part: Two Loops Distributed Routing Algorithm (TLDRA), One Loop Distributed Routing Algorithm with Incremental flow update (OLDRAi) and One Loop Distributed Routing Algorithm with Optimal flow update (OLDRAo). The algorithms are based on the proximal-point method and the dual decomposition of convex optimization problem. The algorithms compute an exact energy optimal routing in the network without any central node or the knowledge about the whole network structure, using only peer-to-peer communication between neighboring nodes. In contrast to other works in this area, the presented approach is not limited to strictly convex objective functions and it handles linear objective functions too. Proofs of the algorithms convergence are presented. The third part of this work is focused on distributed routing algorithm for real-time data streams. The algorithm is based on the OLDRAo algorithm and on the routing algorithm for continuous data streams with real-time constraints from the two previous parts. The behaviors of all presented algorithms have been evaluated on benchmarks for energy optimal routing in multi-hop sensor networks, using Matlab. 4 On Distributed and Real-Time Routing in Sensor Networks


Birds fly, cells crawl and bacteria swim. Each of these individuals has their own propulsion mechanism leading to a persistent motion, hence they all belong to the class referred to as propelled particle systems. Propelled particles in large number typically exhibit impressive self-organization processes such as the flocking motion of birds, the coherent motion of cell colonies and the swarming of bacteria. The emergence of collective motion in these non-equilibrium systems constitutes a ubiquitous phenomenon in nature—and perhaps one of the most fascinating. One reason for this might be the emergence of highly dynamic, coherently moving spatial patterns such as clusters, swirls or waves, and the fact that the patterns commonly extend over length scales much larger than the size of the individuals. To elucidate the physical principles underlying the collective motion of these particles, numerous theoretical studies have been devoted to model propelled particle systems by approaching the problem on all levels of description. These range from particle-based simulations to kinetic theory and hydrodynamic models. However, these models were typically inspired by the idea of universality and tended to analyze the generic non-equilibrium phenomena in propelled particle systems, thereby obscuring a one-to-one relation to experimental studies.
This thesis focusses on theoretical modeling approaches for propelled particle systems that are either in qualitative or quantitative agreement with recent observations and mea- surements in experimental propelled particle systems. Two experimental systems are specifically considered: The actin gliding assay, where molecular motors, immobilized on a substrate, propel actin filaments, and the polar vibrated disk assay, where disk-like gran- ular particles with a built-in polar asymmetry are driven by vertical vibrations. By means of various theoretical tools including rule-based automaton models, numerical solution of Newtonian equations of motion, and kinetic theory, the following central new findings and insights within the field of propelled particle systems were discovered:
Anomalously strong curvature fluctuations of single actin filaments moving in the glid- ing assay arise from two different interactions with the molecular motors. The motors either "Push" or "Hold" locally, giving rise to persistent movement or localized jams, which, in turn, lead to pronounced curvature kinks. Interestingly, both excitation and relaxation of curvature originates from these interactions, and it is shown that the impact of thermal fluctuations on the curvature distribution is negligible compared to these active fluctua- tions.
At high densities, filaments in the gliding assay form beautiful patterns of coherent motion such as clusters, swirls and waves. These patterns were shown to be triggered by local "ferromagnetic"-like alignment interactions between the filaments. In the later stages of pattern formation, hydrodynamic interactions become relevant. Coherently moving clus- ters induce a back-flow in the overlying fluid, mediating a 'repulsive' cluster–cluster or cluster–boundary interaction.
With the addition of crosslinking molecules to the gliding assay at high filament densities, an absorbing state comprised of open and closed rings can form. The assembly dynamics is fully understood in terms of a competition between merging events of filaments and filament growth that freezes the curvature. Specifically, by means of an appropriate particle-based model, the statistical properties of the system, such as the characteristics of the ring radii distribution and the ratio of open to closed rings as a function of the system's noise level, was qualitatively reproduced.
The vibrated polar disk assay has a size of only about 20 particle diameters —a fact which precludes definitive conclusions on the nature of the underlying phase transition to a polarized state of coherent motion. By means of a microscopic model, the experimental single particle motion, the details of binary collisions and the collective dynamics in the confined geometry were quantitatively reproduced. Specifically, we matched all properties of the persistent random walk such as average speed, amplitude and spectrum of orien- tational and velocity fluctuations. Agreement between the characteristics of the collisions described by the model and those measured in the experiment, were verified by comparing the probability distributions for collision extension and time. Finally, collective properties were studied and likened by considering the average polarization within some restricted area, again confirming a very good agreement between model and experiment. The quan- titive match of all details of the experimental dynamics allowed us to use our models to scale up the vibrated polar disk assay in-silico, proving that a long-range polar ordered state would develop in the vibrated disk assay in the absence of boundaries.
Moreover, a generic automaton model for propelled particles was employed to analyze the onset of collective motion in time. The central finding is that collective motion close to the transition is induced by nucleation of a cluster of sufficiently large mass, and not by a wide-spread coarsening process of polarized domains.
In particle-conserving, propelled particle systems wave-like patterns generically emerge close to the phase boundary. Considering kinetic theory, there are clear indications that wave-like patterns cannot exist in the absence of particle conservation.
Moreover, kinetic theory for propelled particle systems is found to be restricted to weak aligning systems, whereby post-collision angles are only slightly reduced with respect to pre-collision orientations. This conclusion was obtained by extending kinetic theory for propelled particle systems with respect to significant qualitative features of collisions ob- served in experimental propelled particle systems. Since kinetic theory predicts disorder for regimes in which real (experimental) systems exhibit order, the inherent restrictions of kinetic theory to weak aligning systems could be elucidated.
Furthermore, using a set of Newtonian equations of motion for propelled, dissipative col- loids, we found that near the phase boundary, the microscopic states from which collective motion develops are not free of orientational correlations, i.e. the assumption of molecular chaos that is commonly applied in kinetic theory is not valid for propelled particle sys- tems at the onset of collective motion. Most importantly, the ensuing correlations at the onset are —for the aforementioned system— a qualitative prerequisite for kinetic theory to predict a phase transition to collective motion at all. This conclusion was made pos- sible by quantitatively connecting the details of the microscopic collision process with the mesoscopic kinetic description, in turn allowing for a quantitative test of the predictions of kinetic theory. If the aforementioned correlations are implemented into the kinetic ap- proach, the prediction of kinetic theory for the phase boundary quantitatively coincides with the one obtained from the underlying microscopic Newtonian particle dynamics in the regime of low packing fractions.
Finally, an appropriate particle-based model for propelled particle systems at large packing fractions was analyzed in detail. Upon characterizing the degree of bond orienta- tional and translational order, the following generic states were identified: An unpolarized active crystal state with long-ranged orientational and translational order, and a polycrys- talline state, which coherently flows and is composed of hexagonal domains. It was shown that the underlying ordering transitions are defect–mediated.
Most of the results of this thesis exemplify the importance of a one-to-one comparison between theoretical models and experimental studies in order to advance our understanding of propelled particle systems. Rather than adopting a generic approach, the central goal of this thesis is to develop both a bottom-up modeling framework as well as an experiment- specific one. This formulation advances our understanding of the physics of two specific experimental propelled particle systems and hopefully will serve as a starting point for investigations of the dynamics in other active systems such as moving cells and bacteria.


We demonstrate the growth of graphene films on nickel substrates by chemical vapour deposition using acetylene at temperatures as low as 750 degrees celsius, opening a viable route for its scalable production. Raman spectroscopy was used to confirm defect-free mono and multilayer graphene at and above this temperature, and of defective graphene at lower temperatures. Atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy performed directly on the films give an indication of graphene flake size, morphology and also the topography on substrate. An unexpected dependence of graphene thickness on precursor dwell time is reported. This together with low temperature growth suggests deficiencies in existing growth models and hints at a more complicated growth mechanism.


A hydrothermal method was applied in the synthesis of mesoporous silicates containing silicotungstic acid (STA). The synthesis procedures were developed by modification of procedures previously applied in the synthesis of MCM-41 and SBA-15. The synthesized catalysts were named MCM-41-S and SBA-15-S based on MCM-41 and SBA-15. Their activities were investigated in ethyl acetate production, which was selected as the model reaction. The results indicated that the activity of SBA-15-S catalysts increased with increasing STA in the catalyst. Reaction experiments were also conducted in identical conditions in the presence of catalysts recovered after the reaction. The results indicated that sustainable activity could be achieved in the presence of these spent catalysts with activity losses around 10%. Evaluation of characterization analyses conducted with fresh and spent catalysts showed that the activity loss of SBA-15-S catalysts had merely been due to STA leaching, whereas deformation of pore structure had occurred in MCM-41-S catalysts.


Cloud computing providers have recently begun offering container instances, which provide an efficient route to application deployment within a lightweight, isolated and well-defined execution environment. Cloud providers currently offer Container Service Platforms (CSPs), which support the flexible orchestration of containerised applications. Existing CSP frameworks do not offer any form of intelligent resource scheduling: applications are usually scheduled individually, rather than taking a holistic view of all registered applications and available resources in the cloud. This can result in increased execution times for applications, resource wastage through underutilized container-instances, and a reduction in the number of applications that can be deployed, given the available resources. This paper presents a cloud-based Container Management Service (CMS) framework, which offers increased deployment density, scalability and resource efficiency for containerised applications. CMS extends the state-of-the-art by providing additional functionalities for orchestrating containerised applications by joint optimisation of sets of containerised applications and resource pool on the cloud. We evaluate CMS on a cloud-based CSP i.e., Amazon EC2 Container Management Service (ECS) and conducted extensive experiments using sets of CPU and Memory intensive containerised applications against the direct deployment strategy of Amazon ECS. The results show that CMS achieves up to 25% higher cluster utilisation and up to 2.5 times faster execution times.


In this paper we present the real-time verification and analysis tool RAVEN. RAVEN is developed for verifying timed systems on various levels of abstraction. It integrates a real-time model checker for real-time specifications, it offers algorithms for analyzing critical delay times, for inspecting data values and event occurrences and for detecting dead-locks and live-locks. The counter example generator provides helpful information for error recovering by printing system execution paths (failing a given specification) to the integrated wave-form browser. All included algorithms are based on a common data structure enabling a compact representation and possibilities for acceleration. By some examples we show that our approach outperforms some state-of-the-art verification tools.


This article examines possible modifications of Iran's IR-40 (Arak) heavy-water reactor that would limit its plutonium production without compromising its usefulness for civilian purposes. The proposed modifications only involve the fuel composition, avoid changes to the fuel and core geometry, and therefore have the advantage of minimizing the overall complexity and cost of conversion as well as shortening the time period required to implement these modifications. The suggested changes would significantly reduce the reactor's production of plutonium from 7–9 kilograms to less than 1 kilogram per year. The article also examines key safety parameters, medical isotope production rates, and uranium resource requirements for all modifications considered. The analysis is relevant beyond the case of Iran's Arak reactor and may provide some future guidance for converting other heavy-water reactors that continue to operate today.


Between 1978 and 1992 the number of juvenile offenders aged under 17 in England
and Wales who were removed from home under sentence and sent to institutions such
as detention centres, borstals, youth custody institutions or residential Community
Homes with Education fell from 14,000 to 1,800. This thesis documents how this
significant decarceration came about, and why it has been given little attention in the
criminological literature, placing it in context of developments in juvenile justice
legislation and practice between 1965 and 1996 and theories of policy change. It
suggests that the key development was the funding of charity and voluntary sector
organisations to provide Intensive Intermediate Treatment programmes to juvenile
courts as an alternative to custody, and the development of a small group of
practitioners willing to act as campaigning advocates for young offenders in court.
Interviews with key politicians, civil servants, academics and practitioners from this
period are used to explore these trends in more detail, and consideration is given to
the respective roles of the Home Office and the Department of Health and Social
Security and the tensions between them over responsibility for young offenders. The
development is then situated within theories and examples of decarceration,
deinstitutionalization, abolitionism and reductionism, drawing on attempts to close
institutions or to reduce institutionalization in the fields of youth justice, mental health
and learning difficulties in the UK and other countries. Alternative explanations of
what happened in juvenile justice in England and Wales are considered and
challenged. Conclusions are then drawn as to the conditions that are necessary for any
decarceration strategy to be successful and sustainable.


Monoclinic BiVO(4) crystals with preferentially exposed (040) facets were hydrothermally synthesized by using a trace amount of TiCl(3) as the directing agent; this function was confirmed by X-ray diffraction patterns (XRD) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The effects of the directing agent TiCl(3) and the pH values applied during synthesis have been studied, and the optimized BiVO(4) sample with highly exposed (040) facet could be obtained by using 1.2 at.% of TiCl(3) as the directing agent at a pH value of 2. Some complementary techniques were also applied to exclude the effects of the structural and physical property changes, such as surface area and hydrophilicity. The photocatalytic activity of oxygen evolution on BiVO(4) is found to be proportionally correlated with the exposed surfaces of the (040) facet. It is assumed that the active sites with a BiV(4) structure on the exposed (040) facet is assigned to be responsible for the high activity of O(2) evolution.


The present work proposes the application of machine learning techniques to predict the final grades (FGs) of students based on their historical performance of grades. The proposal was applied to the historical academic information available for students enrolled in the computer engineering degree at an Ecuadorian university. One of the aims of the university's strategic plan is the development of a quality education that is intimately linked with sustainable development goals (SDGs). The application of technology in teaching–learning processes (Technology-enhanced learning) must become a key element to achieve the objective of academic quality and, as a consequence, enhance or benefit the common good. Today, both virtual and face-to-face educational models promote the application of information and communication technologies (ICT) in both teaching–learning processes and academic management processes. This implementation has generated an overload of data that needs to be processed properly in order to transform it into valuable information useful for all those involved in the field of education. Predicting a student's performance from their historical grades is one of the most popular applications of educational data mining and, therefore, it has become a valuable source of information that has been used for different purposes. Nevertheless, several studies related to the prediction of academic grades have been developed exclusively for the benefit of teachers and educational administrators. Little or nothing has been done to show the results of the prediction of the grades to the students. Consequently, there is very little research related to solutions that help students make decisions based on their own historical grades. This paper proposes a methodology in which the process of data collection and pre-processing is initially carried out, and then in a second stage, the grouping of students with similar patterns of academic performance was carried out. In the next phase, based on the identified patterns, the most appropriate supervised learning algorithm was selected, and then the experimental process was carried out. Finally, the results were presented and analyzed. The results showed the effectiveness of machine learning techniques to predict the performance of students.


Canada is on the threshold of a major new phase in the development of its Arctic resources. The Prudhoe Bay discovery triggered a boom in northern petroleum exploration that is just getting into high gear this year. Mining activity also has greatly expanded in the last few years with some 73 active exploration programs underway and several large new mines just coming into production. The size of these ventures is indicated by ore reserves of two lead-zinc mines to the value of 900 million dollars at Pine Point in southern Northwest Territories, and 1.2 billion dollars at the Anvil property in the southern Yukon Territory. Other properties with very large reserves are currently under development.Approximately 465,000 sq. miles of the 1.5 million square miles of Canada north of the 60th parallel are underlain by sedimentary rocks. A volumetric estimate of petroleum potential on the basis of rather scanty evidence is made at 54 billion barrels. With the current activity in the area it should be possible to improve this estimate considerably in the next 2 or 3 years. The two most promising areas are the Arctic Coastal Plains containing large volumes of young sedimentary rock and large structures, hydrocarbon traps. The Interior Plains of the mainland Franklinian miogeosyncline indicate lesser potential.


Compared to other breweries, Brasserie du Cardinal achieves low specific energy consumption without applying "new" technologies like cogeneration or mechanical vapour recompression (MVR). MVR has been advocated for most types of breweries [1]. This case study shows how pinch technology (PT) helps in assessing the actual opportunity for an MVR system to be applied and highlights the corresponding need for extended heat recovery (HR). The study was carried out at Laboratoire d'energetique industrielle (LENI) as a personal project for a postgraduate course in energy. In the following, the emphasis is on the heat requirements of the processes, while the steam production and distribution system, the cooling needs, the space heating and other general needs of the plant are not considered.


This paper addresses a method to determine firing angles of an unguided ground to ground Multiple Launched Rocket System (MLRS). Six-degree of freedom trajectory simulation is used in prior to reveal all firing ranges of each firing angle and possible scenarios can be categorized. Some firing range can be achieved by two different firing angles while the others can be achieved by only one firing angle. By having prior knowledge of the firing ranges versus the firing angles, and by employing iterative binary search algorithm and six-degree of freedom trajectory calculation, the method to automatically and iteratively search for a firing angle corresponded to a specified firing range is formed. The method is tested with short range and medium range unguided ground to ground rockets at various firing condition. The results are presented and discussed.


While the fishery production reaches its pick and runs to its decline, the aquaculture comes out as an alternative to reduce the pressure over the marine stock of fish. The coastal aquaculture led by the shrimp farming is rapidly expanding in the developing countries, and not less expressive are the initiatives to develop the rural aquaculture. Besides that the consolidation of the new paradigm of sustainable development, the aquaculture needs to be investigated regarding its sustainability. In this sense, having the systemic method as theoretical foundation, indicators are proposed to evaluate the sustainability of a project being carried out in the Castanhao reservoir, in Jaguaribara-CE, called Curupati-Peixe Project, that cultivates Nile Tilapia in net-ponds. The sustainability dimensions evaluated are economic-social, technological and environmental, that are considered here as subsystems. Theses indicators showed that the pisciculture project of Curupati-Peixe had a median level of sustainability, being the social dimension the one that contributed more to the observed performance.


We study several classes of interactive assistants from the points of view of decision theory and computational complexity. We first introduce a special class of POMDPs called hidden-goal MDPs (HGMDPs), which formalize the problem of interactively assisting an agent whose goal is hidden and whose actions are observable. In spite of its restricted nature, we show that optimal action selection in finite horizon HGMDPs is PSPACE-complete even in domains with deterministic dynamics. We then introduce a more restricted model called helper action MDPs (HAMDPs), where the assistant's action is accepted by the agent when it is helpful, and can be easily ignored by the agent otherwise. We show classes of HAMDPs that are complete for PSPACE and NP along with a polynomial time class. Furthermore, we show that for general HAMDPs a simple myopic policy achieves a regret, compared to an omniscient assistant, that is bounded by the entropy of the initial goal distribution. A variation of this policy is also shown to achieve worst-case regret that is logarithmic in the number of goals for any goal distribution.


Distributed Hash Table (DHT) systems are the basics for routing protocols in peer-to-peer network, suitable for flat design (non-hierarchical systems) ensuring evenly distributed file storage. But a well structured and hierarchical system providing for scalability, fault tolerance and to cater adequately for web cashing and multicast resource control in Internet applications in mobile environment is the use of distributed sloppy hash table (DSHT). In our work we will be working on how a well structured overlay application that will perform better in terms of scalability, lookup time and ease of use. We will focus on the application of real time usage with the incorporation of ISP (internet service provider) based partitioning for DSHTs. The sloppy hash DHT is employed to take advantageous use of low round trip times. The ISP bash DSHT yields some additional benefits to regular DHTs. These benefits include the use of pointers to reference keys in particular layers, thereby avoiding data replication at nodes for bandwidth utilization. Also, effective use of spillover in concentric rings is employed for load balancing and the phenomenon of distance optimization by the introduction of geographical proximity.


The main purpose of this study was to explore the challenges facing the Executive
Agencies in delivering their services. The study was carried out using a case study
methodology. Four EAs which are Drilling and Dam Construction Agency (DDCA),
Tanzania Public Service College (TPSC), Tanzania Food and Drugs Agency (TFDA)
and Tanzania Meteorology Agency (TMA) took part in study where Management,
Employees and Customers were the participants during data gathering.
The findings revealed that, most of the EAs are semi autonomous in such a way that,
they depend on fund support from the government. Also they lack capital which causes
them to operate in poor working environment and equipments. The findings also
indicated that, EAs are working with non professionals and non skilled people which
have led them to perform below expectations. In the other hand, the findings pointed
out that, EAs operate in high cost to earn capital. From the findings, it was suggested
that, government should assist the EAs to have capital for buying modern equipments
which are expensive and other facilities which will contribute to improving the service
delivered to the public.
The study concluded that, many services require customer to participate in creating the
service product. EAs need to be customer focused as is the main objective of
introducing them. It ends by recommending on capacity building to the EAs to increase
effectiveness and efficiency of the services offered.


During the development to overt nephropathy, diabetic patients go through several characteristic stages of renal disease, moving from normo- to micro- to macroalbuminuria. Microalbuminuria is defined as a urinary albumin excretion between 20 and 200 μg/min; values <20 μg/min are designated as normoalbuminuria, and values >200 μg/min are designated as macroalbuminuria. Only with macroalbuminuria does the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) fall consistently. The decisive intermediary endpoints are postponement or prevention of micro/macroalbuminuria and reduction or prevention of the fall in GFR (stronger endpoint), with postponement of end-stage renal disease as a final end-point. Good metabolic control can prevent or postpone the development of microalbuminuria, the earliest sign of diabetic renal disease. The ideal realistic therapeutic window may be an HbA1c value between 7 and 8.5% (mean reference value 5.5%). Thus, efforts should aimed at implementing the best possible control before the onset of microalbuminuria, with the other important aim of minimizing hypoglycemic side effects. In patients with microalbuminuria, blood pressure gradually increases, and early antihypertensive treatment becomes crucial. Good glycemic control (with the same glycemic goal as above) may be difficult to achieve in some of these patients, but it is still important. With overt nephropathy, defined as clinical proteinuria, a relentless decline in GFR is inflicted, unless patients are carefully treated with antihypertensive agents, often in combination therapy. Good metabolic control is still strongly warranted because patients with high HbA1c progress much more rapidly. The natural history of the rate of fall in GFR may be reduced from 12 to 3 ml · min−1 · year−1, but genetic factors may be involved; the ACE-genotype DD seems to progress more rapidly during treatment. Protein restriction is also of some interest. Early screening is recommended in all guidelines, with emphasis on testing for albuminuria, including microalbuminuria, along with careful control of glycemia and blood pressure.


Objective To compare the effect of heated, humidified, high-flow nasal cannula (HHHFNC) and nasal continuous positive airways pressure (NCPAP) on lung function and mechanics in preterm infants with respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) at the same level of retropharyngeal pressure (Prp). Design Randomised crossover trial. Setting Neonatal intensive care unit, Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy. Patients 20 preterm infants (gestational age: 31±1 wks) with mild-moderate RDS requiring non-invasive respiratory support within 96 h after birth. Interventions Infants were exposed to a randomised sequence of NCPAP and HHHFNC at different settings (2, 4 and 6 cmH2O for NCPAP and 2, 4, 6 L/min for HHHFNC) to enable comparison at the same level of Prp. Main outcome measures Tidal volume by respiratory inductance plethysmography, pleural pressure estimated by oesophageal pressure, and gas exchange were evaluated at each setting and used to compute breathing pattern parameters, lung mechanics and work of breathing (WOB). Results A poor linear regression between flow and Prp was found during HHHFNC (Prp=0.3+0.7*flow; r2=0.37). Only in 15 out of 20 infants it was possible to compare HHHFNC and NCPAP at a Prp of 2 and 4 cmH2O. No statistically significant differences were found in breathing pattern, gas exchange, lung mechanics and total WOB. Resistive WOB in the upper airways was slightly but significantly higher during HHHFNC (0.65 (0.49;1.09) vs 1.57 (0.85;2.09) cmH2O median (IQR)). Conclusions Despite differing mechanisms for generating positive airway pressure, when compared at the same Prp, NCPAP and HHHFNC provide similar effects on all the outcomes explored.


The 2003 invasion of Iraq was undertaken to dismantle a regime that had longthreatened its own population and regional peace, as well as to establish astable, democratic state in the heart of the Middle East. This Adelphi looksat the legacy of that intervention. It analyses the evolution of the insurgency,the descent into civil war and the 'surge' as a counter-insurgency strategy andexamines US and Iraqi efforts to reconstruct the state's military and civiliancapacity. This book seeks to answer three questions that are central to thecountry's future. Will it continue to suffer high levels of violence or even slideback into a vicious civil war? Will Iraq continue on a democratic path, asexemplified by the three competitive national elections held since 2005? Anddoes the new Iraq pose a threat to its neighbours?


Intellectual property infringements rank among the top economic crimes, even though there are mechanisms in place to prevent their occurrence. One such mechanism are nondisclosure agreements, which, however, have been reported to fail in practice. This article argues that this may be overcome by strengthening employees' concept learning. In an experiment, we investigated whether extended nondisclosure agreements, which provide the employee with detailed explanations and examples, lead to better recognition of trade secrets as compared to a standard nondisclosure agreement or no agreement at all. It was found that the extended nondisclosure agreement indeed increased participants' ability to judge what falls under the trade secret law, whereas the standard nondisclosure agreement showed no such effect. Furthermore, the effects of the factors 'Involvement', 'Specificity', 'Publicity', and 'Purpose' on the identification of trade secrets could be proven experimentally. Employees' judgments of whether an information represents a trade secret seem to rely on general cognitive processes. From this follows that concept learning could be integrated into systematic approaches for protecting intellectual property.


The discovery of slow slip events (SSEs) at subduction margins in the last two decades has changed our understanding of how stress is released at subduction zones. Fault slip is now viewed as a continuum of different slip modes between regular earthquakes and aseismic creep, and an appreciation of seismic hazard can only be realised by understanding the full spectrum of slip. SSEs may have the potential to trigger destructive earthquakes and tsunami on faults nearby, but whether this is possible and why SSEs occur at all are two of the most important questions in earthquake seismology today. Laboratory and numerical models suggest that slow slip can be spontaneously generated under conditions of very low effective stresses, facilitated by high pore fluid pressure, but it has also been suggested that variations in frictional behaviour, potentially caused by very heterogeneous fault zone lithology, may be required to promote slow slip.

Testing these hypotheses is difficult as it requires resolving rock properties at a high resolution many km below the seabed sometimes in km’s of water, where drilling is technically challenging and expensive. Traditional geophysical methods like travel-time tomography cannot provide fine-scale enough velocity models to probe the rock properties in fault zones specifically. In the last decade, however, computational power has improved to the point where 3D full-waveform inversion (FWI) methods make it possible to use the full wavefield rather than just travel times to produce seismic velocity models with a resolution an order of magnitude better than conventional models. Although the hydrocarbon industry have demonstrated many successful examples of 3D FWI the method requires extremely high density arrays of instruments, very different to the 2D transect data collection style which is still commonly employed at subduction zones.

 The north Hikurangi subduction zone, New Zealand is special, as it hosts the world’s most well characterised shallow SSEs (<2 km to 15 km below the seabed).  This makes it an ideal location to collect 3D data optimally for FWI to resolve rock properties in the slow slip zone. In 2017-2018 an unprecedentedly large 3D experiment including 3D multi-channel seismic reflection, 99 ocean bottom seismometers and 194 onshore seismometers was conducted along the north Hikurangi margin in an 100 km x 15 km area, with an average 2 km instrument spacing. In addition, IODP Expeditions 372 and 375 collected logging-while drilling and core data, and deployed two bore-hole observatories to target slow slip in the same area. In this presentation I will introduce you to this world class 3D dataset and preliminary results, which will enable high resolution 3D models of physical properties to be made to bring slow slip processes into focus.


Given the context of transitions related to rapid urbanization, the roles that rural economies and societies will have to play (particularly smallholder farmers and other rural producers) in creating sustainable and inclusive food systems, in generating employment and incomes and in contributing to more balanced, equitable and mutually reinforcing patterns of rural-urban development in Africa require the attention of analysts, policymakers and development programmes in the years ahead. Addressing challenges related to a bulging population of young people will be particularly important in any work on the rural-urban nexus, in which youth migration plays critical roles. This is borne out by an analysis of evidence from sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere, which stresses the importance of increasing productivity and incomes among rural people, particularly smallholders, during processes of economic and social transformation. Emerging trends and opportunities – such as the increasing demand for food and the changing nature of that demand as consumer preferences evolve, urbanization, demographic patterns that mean young people are an increasingly important proportion of the overall population, and more integrated food value chains – all point to the importance of ensuring key rural dynamics are taken into account in developing rural-urban linkages. Taking account of these dynamics will mean addressing key rural-urban inequalities and connectivity gaps, developing more integrated and inclusive links within food systems and agricultural value chains, testing spatial and territorial approaches to development that provide valuable tools to integrate the rural dimension into debates surrounding urbanization, the promotion of a more sustainable urbanization, and building decent employment in food value chains. Nonetheless, the review of evidence in this paper suggests that, while urbanization potentially opens up opportunities for inclusive rural and structural transformation, this can only be achieved when suitable policies and investments are put in place to adequately address the particular needs of often-neglected rural people who play critical roles in food systems.


Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA), a complex communication system based on a digital technology, is mainly used by public safety services. As the TETRA technology is included in a category of industrial goods called complex products and systems (CoPS), this communication system is the candidate CoPS example. In all business contexts, complex information technologies or information systems bring productivity gains for the organization only when the target group uses the system in the way it is supposed to be used. The underlying study investigates the factors influencing the acceptance of the TETRA technology on the end-user level. The theoretical model is based on Davis' (1989) Technology Acceptance Model. A qualitative pre-study was followed by a broad empirical assessment in quantitative terms (295 data sets). Results confirm the original TAM core constructs. When an already implemented system is examined, the behavioral intention component need not be taken into consideration in the TAM. The specific extension of the traditional TAM is especially valuable, as this study proves the high significance of the influence of perceived system interoperability. Moreover, peer group influence and competitive pressure have a significant influence on the user's attitude towards the use of TETRA technology. Social influences - except the influence from supervisors - play an important role in accepting mandated TETRA technology. The overall model provides valuable theoretical input for further technology acceptance studies and offers a better insight into the CoPS setting. (author's abstract)


Although there is general understanding on the importance of supply chain integration (SCI), little is known regarding SCI operational issues and their impact on supplier commercial relationships and order fulfilment in public hospitals. In response, this thesis investigates the critical operational factors influencing the supply chain integration and their impact on supplier commercial relationships and order fulfilment in New Zealand public hospitals. This study explores critical SCI issues using the process-based management theory (approach) proposed by Lambert (2004, 2008). A new construct of focused SCI and a theoretical model have been developed for this study. A survey research approach was used to collect data. The results of empirical study are based on the responses from a survey with purchasing and supply personnel in public hospitals. This research tested eighteen hypotheses using multiple regression analysis. The results of this thesis support sixteen hypotheses proposed in the theoretical model and two hypotheses are not supported. The major findings of this research are that SCI operational issues in the hospitals, supplier commercial relationships, and focused SCI have positive influence on order fulfilment. Barriers to SCI (one of the operational issues) have negative influence on supplier commercial relationships, focused SCI, and order fulfilment. The results for two hypotheses not supported in this thesis show that organisation environmental forces (suppliers or customers have initiated integration effort) do not have significant influence on focused SCI (integrated service functions, following national procurement policies and procedures). Also, organisation environmental forces do not have significant influence on supplier commercial relationships (reliable suppliers and good process integration between suppliers, customers and the DHB). The results of the rejected hypotheses indicate that integration initiated by suppliers or customers do not have impact on the organisation's focused supply chain integration and supplier commercial relationships. Most of the critical barriers of supply chain integration identified in this study are consistent with the findings of Fawcett and Magnan (2001) and Fawcett, Magnan, and McCarter (2008). However, Fawcett and Magnan (2001) and Fawcett et al. (2008) found inappropriate information systems as the key barrier to effective SCI, whereas, this research identified lack of willingness to share information as the key barrier to effective SCI in the public hospitals. Overall, this research provides significant contributions to the SCI, supplier commercial relationships, and order fulfilment literature and the practices of SCI in New Zealand public hospitals. This research also contributes to theoretical and practical knowledge by providing a new model for enhancing SCI in an organisation. The model can help researchers and managers to focus on important SCI, supplier commercial relationships, and order fulfilment factors. The critical SCI operational factors…


In order to develop systems capable of modeling artificial life, we need to identify, which systems can produce complex behavior. We present a novel classification method applicable to any class of deterministic discrete space and time dynamical systems. The method distinguishes between different asymptotic behaviors of a system's average computation time before entering a loop. When applied to elementary cellular automata, we obtain classification results, which correlate very well with Wolfram's manual classification. Further, we use it to classify 2D cellular automata to show that our technique can easily be applied to more complex models of computation. We believe this classification method can help to develop systems, in which complex structures emerge.


In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, glucose repression of SUC2 transcription requires the SSN6-TUP1 repressor complex. It has been proposed that the DNA-binding protein MIG1 secures SSN6-TUP1 to the SUC2 promoter. Here we show that a mig1 deletion does not cause nearly as dramatic a loss of repression as ssn6: glucose-grown mig1 mutants display 20-fold lower SUC2 expression than ssn6 mutants. Thus, repression by SSN6-TUP1 is not mediated solely by MIG1, but also involves MIG1-independent mechanisms. We report that mig1 partially restores SUC2 expression in mutants lacking the SNF1 protein kinase and show that mig1 is allelic to ssn1, a mutation selected as a suppressor of snf1. Other SSN genes identified in this selection were therefore candidates for a role in repression of SUC2. We show that mig1 acts synergistically with ssn2 through ssn5, ssn7, and ssn8 to relieve glucose repression of SUC2 and to suppress the requirement for SNF1. These findings indicate that the SSN proteins contribute to repression of SUC2, and the pleiotropic phenotypes of the ssn mutants suggest global roles in repression. Finally, the regulated SUC2 expression observed in snf1 mig1 mutants indicates that signals regarding glucose availability can be transmitted independently of the SNF1 protein kinase.


Non-state and sub-national actors (e.g. cities, regions and companies) are increasingly taking action to address biodiversity loss. They set up standards and commitments, provide funding, create and disseminate information, and execute projects on the ground. As part of the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) decided to implement the 'Sharm El-Sheikh to Beijing Action Agenda for Nature and People'. While there is general support for a voluntary commitment process, the question now is how the Action agenda should look like, what form voluntary commitments for biodiversity should take and if and how the action agenda could become a meaningful pillar in the post-2020 global biodiversity framework. A recent study by the authors reveals the actual depth and breadth of biodiversity governance beyond the CBD. This contribution argues that lessons learned from the ongoing climate change action agenda should urgently be taken into account when further developing the biodiversity action agenda.


Wireless networks in industrial process control enable new system architectures and designs. However, wireless control systems can be severely affected by the imperfections of the communication links. This thesis proposes new methods to handle such imperfections by adding additional components in the control loop, or by adapting sampling intervals and control actions.First, the predictive outage compensator is proposed. It is a filter which is implemented at the receiver side of networked control systems. There it generates predicted samples when data are lost, based on past data. The implementation complexity of the predictive outage compensator is analyzed. Simulation and experimental results show that it can considerably improve the closed-loop control performance under communication losses.The thesis continues with presenting an algorithm for controlling multiple processes on a shared communication network, using adaptive sampling intervals. The methodology is based on model predictive control, where the controller jointly decides the optimal control signal to be applied as well as the optimal time to wait before taking the next sample. The approach guarantees conflict-free network transmissions for all controlled processes. Simulation results show that the presented control law reduces the required amount of communication, while maintaining control performance.The third contribution of the thesis is an event-triggered model predictive controller for use over a wireless link. The controller uses open-loop optimal control, re-computed and communicated only when the system behavior deviates enough from a prediction. Simulations underline the methods ability to significantly reduce computation and communication effort, while guaranteeing a desired level of system performance.The thesis is concluded by an experimental validation of wireless control for a physical lab process. A hybrid model predictive controller is used, connected to the physical system through a wireless medium. The results reflect the advantages and challenges in wireless control.


The Dual Organellar GenoMe Annotator (DOGMA) automates the annotation of organellar (plant chloroplast and animal mitochondrial) genomes. It is a Web-based package that allows the use of BLAST searches against a custom database, and conservation of basepairing in the secondary structure of animal mitochondrial tRNAs to identify and annotate genes. DOGMA provides a graphical user interface for viewing and editing annotations. Annotations are stored on our password-protected server to enable repeated sessions of working on the same genome. Finished annotations can be extracted for direct submission to GenBank.


AB: Multiple cores from different locations in the North Atlantic were recovered during IODP Expeditions 303/306. We have investigated the biomarker distributions of identified Heinrich layers (HL) and ambient glacial/interglacial samples from Site U1305, located in the Labrador Sea in proximity to the former major iceberg discharge pathway derived via the Hudson Strait from the Laurentide-Ice-Shield (LIS).A unique association of a multitude of "petrogenic" compounds such as benzohopanes, D-ring monoaromatic 8,14-secohopanes, rearranged diasterenes, mono- and triaromatic steranes, isorenieratene-derivatives as well as characteristic pristane/ n - C 17 and pristane/phytane ratios ideally allows to distinguish organic matter from HL compared to adjacent samples. They therefore are regarded and can be used as organic-geochemical tracers not only for the occurrence of Heinrich Events of the last glacial cycle but also for older Heinrich-like events.We present a biomarker based high resolution record of such events during a time interval from about 320-460 kyr at Site U1313 (MIS 10-12) and an extended record (MIS 8-16) of Heinrich-type events from Site U1308, i.e. from positions near the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and distal to the LIS.In addition, the HL-specific biomarker association provides circumstantial evidence to derive from a relatively immature, Paleozoic marine rock deposited under occasional photic zone anoxic conditions, that is today located on the Laurentide/Canadian shield. Reinvestigation of available geologic and organic-geochemical data allowed narrowing down this assumed source to an Ordovician oil shale close to Hudson Strait, that indeed bears a striking resemblance in terms of biomarker distributions when compared to the specific association of compounds from samples of Heinrich Events.


The β-ketoester structural motif continues to intrigue chemists with its electrophilic and nucleophilic sites. Proven to be a valuable tool within organic synthesis, natural product, and medicinal chemistry, reports on chiral β-ketoester molecular skeletons display a steady increase. With the reignition of organocatalysis in the past decade, asymmetric methods available for the synthesis of this structural unit has significantly expanded, making it one of the most exploited substrates for organocatalytic transformations. This review provides comprehensive information on the plethora of organocatalysts used in stereoselective organocatalyzed construction of β-ketoester-containing compounds.


This paper seeks to widen the conceptual lens of school choice debate and analysis to account for multiple, intersecting economies, cultures, and infrastructures of daily life. Preliminary findings are presented in the case of primary school enrolment in the north of England city of Newcastle upon Tyne. The national context is one in which public service delivery has been influenced by the language of 'choice', notably a parent's 'right to choose' a school other than that nearest to their child's home, and 'responsibility' to exercise choice as self-determined consumer-citizens. At the metropolitan level this translates as market-led competitive enrolment and a tendency for more children to travel longer distances to school and for there to be greater variation in journey length, as some parents are able to use superior transport and personnel as leverage in their quest for a better choice of state school. Findings are presented from a multi-method pilot study combining daily diary, resource audit, and biographic analysis for a sample of 18 families drawn from two case study schools. One school (Town) attracts pupils from an area of low-income population, to which most children journey on foot; the other school (Woodland) attracts pupils from further away, situated within a largely middle-class area, to which most children are driven in their parent's car. The findings show how the market model assumes and rewards a particular mode of choice-making which fails to recognise that some parents seek less instrumentally for their child to be happy. Discussion combines theory, empirical findings, and critical analysis to expose the subtle inequities of school choice in relation to neo-liberal thinking.


Higher education needs sustainable forms of funding to operate effectively. As Government financial support to public universities are declining due to limited government funds, most of the state universities in the world are looking at ways to develop alternate revenue streams. An increasingly important and largely underdeveloped financial source is philanthropy. Philanthropy is associated with the action usually manifested by giving for socially useful purposes. In the context of defining the action of giving to higher education, philanthropy is about giving towards institutions that provide benefits of education. Thus, contemporary Universities need to compete with other societal organisations, e.g., Health, Welfare, as well as private contributions for a share of the tax dollars.
This study examines the factors influencing philanthropic fundraising success in higher education organisations to gain an understanding of donors' giving decisions and their perceptions of giving. This understanding is important in the consideration and planning for a successful philanthropic fundraising program at two public universities, one in Malaysia, and one in Australia. In doing so, the study moves beyond the understanding of 'benevolence' in the society and explores the similarity and differences of 'giving behaviours', and the reasons for giving in a contemporary cross-cultural context, Australia and Malaysia.
The study adopted a Qualitative Research Approach, and used a mixed method research design, particularly case study method. The study utilised the survey-questionnaire, interviews, and document analysis as the data gathering tools. A total of 220 Donors-Alumni respondents completed a survey questionnaire, and 35 participants including University Representatives, a Malaysian Government Official, and Donors-Alumni participated in the interview sessions.
This study is unique as it considered the institutional philanthropy of public universities in two different national contexts, namely, Australia and Malaysia. The study's findings suggest that philanthropy is a source of funding that is presently underdeveloped in Malaysian public universities, but is relatively more prevalent in Australia. The study suggests four main findings in the area of philanthropy, namely, the role of culture (including religion and the need to recognise the local milieu), governance (including policy framework, transparency, resources, ethics), the need for alignment of goals and University Mission (including identifying donor's needs and aspirations), the role of University Profile (such as University Reputation, Branding, Achievements), and the role of government policies in the promotion of private financial support to universities.
Not surprisingly, a number of differences in donors' giving behaviour across both countries also arose, particularly, the donors' demographic and socio-economic characteristics and their motivations for giving. The study's findings confirmed that race, religion, custom and tradition are prominent elements in the Malaysian culture of giving while the Australian giving culture seems to be influenced more by "causes for support" and not so much on donor's background characteristics. To ensure fundraising success, the institutional philanthropy framework must have the most impact on the institutions' prospective donors. The study's findings also confirmed that Government participation is important to stimulate giving through effective policy that would attract giving and to encourage a philanthropy culture to support their Public Universities.
This study will be of interest to researchers and practitioners of Institutional Advancement, particularly, Malaysian public universities' Leaders and Development Officers involved in the planning and implementation of fundraising from philanthropic approaches. So far no academic study was found to have investigated this issue in Malaysia. Similarly, Australian Universities Advancement can benefit from this study as they consider enhancement and improvement in their fundraising efforts.
More generally, the study will allow public university stakeholders, namely, the Government, to plan policy and mechanisms to support philanthropic culture of giving to public higher education institutions in both countries and, Alumni and philanthropists passionate about educational causes to gain a better understanding of the importance of their philanthropic support to the success of universities.


Abstract Despite complex interlinkages, insights into the multifaceted relationship between environmental risks and poverty can be gained through an analysis of different risks across space, time and scale within a single context using consistent methods. Combining geo-spatial data on eight environmental risks and household survey data from 2010–2014 for the case study of Vietnam, this paper shows: (i) at the district level, the incidence of poverty is higher in high risk areas, (ii) at the household level, poorer households face higher environmental risks, (iii) for some risks the relationship with household-level consumption varies between rural and urban areas, and (iv) environmental risks explain consumption differences between households, but less so changes over time. While altogether these analyses cannot establish a causal relationship between environmental risks and poverty, they do indicate that Vietnam's poor are disproportionally exposed. Given growing pressures due to climate change, addressing such risks should be a focus of poverty reduction efforts.


Chlorophylls (Chls) are the most abundant plant pigments on Earth. Chls are located in the membrane of thylakoids where they constitute the two photosystems (PSII and PSI) of terrestrial plants, responsible for both light absorption and transduction of chemical energy via photosynthesis. The high efficiency of photosystems in terms of light absorp tion correlates with the need to protect themselves against absorption of excess light, a process that leads to the so-called photoinhibition. Dynamic photoinhibition consists of the downregulation of photosynthesis quantum yield and a series of photo-protective mechanisms aimed to reduce the amount of light reaching the chloroplast and/or to coun-teract the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) that can be grouped in: (i) the first line of chloroplast defence: non-photochemical quenching (NPQ), that is, the dissipation of excess excitation light as heat, a process that takes place in the external antennae of PSII and in which other pigments, that is carotenoids, are directly involved; (ii) the second line of defence: enzymatic antioxidant and antioxidant molecules that scavenge the gener- ated ROS; alternative electron transport (cyclic electron transport, pseudo-cyclic electron flow, chlororespiration and water-water cycle) can efficiently prevent the over-reduction of electron flow, and reduced ferredoxin (Fd) plays a key role in this context.


In 2006, young people were flocking to MySpace, discovering the joys of watching videos of cute animals on YouTube, and playing online games. Not many of them were watching network news on television; they got most of their information online. So when NBC and MIT launched iCue, an interactive learning venture that combined social networking, online video, and gaming in one multimedia educational site, it was perfectly in tune with the times. iCue was a surefire way for NBC to reach younger viewers and for MIT to test innovative educational methods in the real world. But iCue was a failure: it never developed an audience and was canceled as if it were a sitcom with bad ratings. In The More We Know, Eric Klopfer and Jason Haas, both part of the MIT development team, describe the rise and fall of iCue and what it can teach us about new media, old media, education, and the challenges of innovating in educational media. Klopfer and Haas show that iCue was hampered by, among other things, an educational establishment focused on "teaching to the test," television producers uncomfortable with participatory media, and confusion about the market. But this is not just a cautionary tale; sometimes more can be learned from an interesting failure than a string of successes. Today's educational technology visionaries (iPads for everyone!) might keep this lesson in mind.


The International Maritime Organization's initial strategy on reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from ships stipulates that the international shipping sector should assess the impacts on states prior to adoption of the mitigation measures included in the strategy. This assessment should be undertaken as a matter of urgency, and disproportionately negative impacts should be assessed and addressed as appropriate. This paper aims to contribute to this discussion by reviewing the state-of-the-art research on the economic impacts of greenhouse gas mitigation measures on states, using model-based analysis. Specifically, the paper: (i) identifies four areas of economic impacts and their relationships, (ii) compiles the latest findings on the estimated magnitudes of these impacts, and (iii) presents relevant modeling approaches along with best practices for selecting and applying these approaches in impact assessments. The paper concludes that introducing greenhouse gas mitigation measures, such as carbon prices applied to bunker fuels in the range of 10 to 50 USD/ton of carbon dioxide, might increase maritime transport costs by 0.4 percent to 16 percent. However, this would only marginally increase the import prices of goods (by less than 1 percent). For transport choices, the increased cost of maritime transport induced by greenhouse gas mitigation measures might only slightly reduce the share of maritime transport, by 0.16 percent globally. Furthermore, a global carbon tax applied to all transport modes might stimulate a shift toward maritime transport from all other modes. The impacts of a carbon price in the range of 10 to 90 USD/ton of carbon dioxide on national economies are expected to be modest (-0.002 percent to -1 percent of GDP).


Aims: To explore and inform current water immersion recovery practice of high performance athletes; and to compare recovery interventions of 5 minutes cold water immersion, warm water immersion and passive rest, in trained subjects, following intense exercise replicating the demands of game-sports. Methods: Study 1: In a repeated measures design, a measurement approach for use in the evaluation of water immersion efficacy was piloted. The within-day and between-day reliability of surface electromyelography (sEMG), particularly functional wavelet analysis, was evaluated in human lower limb muscles. Functional wavelet analysis provides the opportunity to measure neuromuscular function at the greatest level of detail by differentiating the relative intensity of low and high frequency motor unit recruitment. On 2 consecutive days (Trial 1 & Trial 2), 12 participants performed 3x5 second isometric 80% maximal voluntary contractions (MVC) on a Biodex® dynamometer in each of 150 ankle plantarflexion, 200 knee extension and 200 knee flexion. sEMG was obtained from the medial gastrocnemius (MG), vastis medialis (VM), vastis lateralis (VL) and biceps femoris (BF) muscles. Joint position and force production were controlled. Electrodes remained in situ during each trial. Electrodes were removed upon completion of Trial 1 and replaced in the same position the next day for Trial 2. Simultaneous sEMG metrics for intervals of consistent force production were compared between contractions in Trial 1 and Trial 2 (between-day) and contractions within Trial 2 (within-day). Study 2: 11 trained participants completed the 90 minute Loughborough Intermittent Shuttle Test (LIST). Five minutes of COLD water immersion (8.8 ± 0.30C), WARM water immersion (35.1 ± 1.80C) and REST were compared in a repeated measures randomised cross over design. Recovery was evaluated at 2, 4 and 24 hours post exercise using circulating markers of muscle damage, muscle dynamometry, drop jump and repeated single leg hop performance tests and perceived recovery. Study 3: Current water immersion practice of high performance athletes, practice implications stemming from this study's findings, and the rationale were explored. In a purposive, theoretical sampling approach of expert consultation, 8 professionals advising internationally competing athletes on water immersion recovery practice were provided with a research brief of this project in advance of a scribed, semi-structured interview. Participants were of Sports Coach, Strength & Conditioning Coach and Sports Physiotherapist professions with a minimum of 5 years' experience working with internationally competing athletes; and differed in international location and sporting disciplines.


Crowdsourcing is the latest research rage—Kickstarter to raise funding, screen savers that number-crunch, and games to find patterns in data—but most efforts have been confined to the virtual lab of the Internet. In a new twist, researchers have now crowdsourced their experiments by connecting players of a video game to an actual biochemistry lab. The game, called EteRNA, allows players to remotely carry out real experiments to verify their predictions of how RNA molecules fold. The first big result: a study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , bearing the names of more than 37,000 authors—only 10 of them professional scientists.


Deflation has had a bad rap, largely based on the experience of the 1930's when deflation was synonymous with depression. Recent experience with declining prices in Japan and China together with the concern over deflation in Europe and the United States has led to renewed attention to the topic of deflation. In this paper we focus our attention on the deflation experience of the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany in the late nineteenth century during a period characterized by low deflation, rapid productivity growth, positive output growth, and where many nations had a credible nominal anchor based on gold: circumstances which have resonance with the world of today. We identify aggregate supply, aggregate demand, and money supply shocks using a structural panel vector autoregression. We then use historical decompositions to investigate the impact that these structural shocks had on output and prices. Our findings are that the deflation of the late nineteenth century reflected both positive aggregate supply shocks and negative money supply shocks. However, the negative money supply shocks had little effect on output. This we posit is because the aggregate supply curve was very steep in the short run during this period. This contrasts greatly with the deflation experience during the Great Depression. Thus our empirical evidence suggests that deflation in the nineteenth century was primarily good.