1)  The object of the experiment presented in this publication was a detailed comparison between progenies of the varieties Virginia and Sumatra of the collection of the Instituto Agronomico de Campinas. We intended to decide whether these strains were sufficiently heterogeneous to permit further selections or whether they were already so uniform as to allow a reduction in their number within our collection. 2)  A preliminary experiment in 1939/40 showed clearly that some of the 7 types introduced as Sumatra were less resistant than others, and the experiment was thus continued "with only four of them. 3)  The lay-out of the final experiment was such as to permit both a complete analysis of soil heterogeneity and of differences between the genetically different lines. Without confounding there were only 3 complete replications, but after confounding we may dispose of 8 degrees of freedom for replications. This method of decomposing the total variation was used in the analysis of the vegetative characters. 4)  The analysis of disease resistance could follow the same lines only the case of the infection of Sumatra by "spotted wilt" (2). There the main percentage of infected plants per plot was 60%, and the individual percentagens, without any further angular or other transformation, were used. In all other cases the number either of diseased or of not disease plants per plot was so small that these freguencies could only be compared with the corresponding Poisson distribuition. For this propose either a X2 test was carried out or a comparison was only made between the error of a Poisson distribuition and the error directly determined from the data. 5)  The blocks were reasonably homogeneous, soil heterogeneity causing only minor variation. 6)  The plant characters such as height of plant, number of leaves and their dimensions showed a variation which was statistically significant, but without any practical importance as the data on pg. 280 show. The mean height was found to be 187,5 cm for Sumatra and 168,5 cm for Virginia the mean leaf number per plant - 25,7 and 22,8 - respectively and the mean index length of leaf - 37,3 and 44,4 - respectively. 7)  All progenies within both varieties were equally little resistant against "spotted wilt", and soil heterogeneity caused a slight difference of resistance between the progenies of Virginia in Campinas. It is evident that the lines of Sumatra are more resistant than those of Virginia. 8)  Infection by mosaic virus and the virus of "streak" (necrose branca-couve), was slight and the different progenies were equally resistant. As a whole, Virginia seems more resistant than Sumatra. 9)  In short, there is a great homogeneity of the different lines of the varieties Sumatra and Virginia tested, and the prospect to their improvement by selection is negligible, both with regard to the vegetative characters studied or to disease resistance.


Abstract Previous reviews have highlighted parent–child connectedness and communication as important protective factors against adolescent substance use. However, these reviews focus on single substances such as alcohol. An integrative review of the literature was conducted to examine which elements of parent–child connectedness and substance-use specific communication are effective across adolescent alcohol, tobacco and drug use. Forty-two English language, peer reviewed articles were reviewed. Open communication occurs within the context of high connectedness between parents and their children. Conversations about health risks are associated with lower levels of substance use while more frequent conversations, those about parents' own use, permissive messages and consequences of use are associated with higher levels of use. There are disparities regarding conversations about use of each substance: alcohol and tobacco are easier topics of conversation while drug use is rarely discussed. Parental alcohol and tobacco use can influence the credibility of their communication with their child. Parents should be encouraged to have open, constructive, credible, two-sided conversations with their adolescents about substance use. Interventions to improve parents' communication skills around substance use, particularly drug use, should include the types of approaches and messages highlighted in this review, and, where possible, these interventions should include all family members.


This document describes a universal multimedia access system and its implementation details. In the context of this document, universal multimedia access means accessing multimedia content over ubiquitous computer networks, using different computing platforms. The computer networks involve both wired and wireless networks, and computing platforms involve wired PC, mobile PC and personal digital assistants (PDA). The system is built on a client/server architecture. Video data is H.263 coded and carried over RTP. The Java Media Framework is utilized and its capabilities are extended with special plug-ins when necessary.


In the United States, interscholastic sport coach development occurs at the national, regional, and local levels, through higher education institutions, coaching associations, governing bodies of sport, and coach developers. Although each coach development pathway employs similar instructional methods, delivery formats, and often seeks the same outcome (i.e., certification or degree), each is unique in how they educate interscholastic coaches. Research studies on coach development have examined how interscholastic coaches learn, what they need to know, and what they need to know how to do. Furthermore, research studies in sport coaching have examined the role of a coach developer in facilitating, mentoring, and guiding coach development activities. Therefore, guided by the literature on coach development, the role of the interscholastic sport administrator as a coach developer, and insight gleaned from an exploratory descriptive study on interscholastic sport coaches, this best practices paper offers three steps the interscholastic sport administrator can implement in practice to provide ongoing coach development.


Teacher facilitation of CSCL activities is widely recognized as one of the main factors affecting student learning outcomes in formal face-to-face settings. However, the orchestration load that such facilitation represents for the teacher, within the constraints of an authentic classroom, remains under-researched. This paper presents a novel method to estimate the cognitive load of teachers during facilitation of CSCL sessions, using mobile eye-tracking techniques. Throughout three studies of increasing authenticity, we demonstrate the feasibility of this approach, and extract insights about classroom usability challenges in CSCL practice: the increased load of class-level facilitation, or the real-time monitoring of students' progress. This new instrument in the CSCL researcher's toolkit can help focus our attention in critical, fine-grained classroom usability episodes, to make more informed design decisions.


Geophysical techniques are increasingly being used as tools for characterising the subsurface, and they are generally required to develop subsurface models that properly delineate the distribution of aquifers and aquitards, salt/freshwater interfaces, and geological structures that affect groundwater flow. In a study area covering 730 km 2 across the border between Germany and Denmark, a combination of an airborne electromagnetic survey (performed with the SkyTEM system), a high-resolution seismic survey and borehole logging has been used in an integrated mapping of important geological, physical and chemical features of the subsurface. The spacing between flight lines is 200–250 m which gives a total of about 3200 line km. About 38 km of seismic lines have been collected. Faults bordering a graben structure, buried tunnel valleys, glaciotectonic thrust complexes, marine clay units, and sand aquifers are all examples of geological structures mapped by the geophysical data that control groundwater flow and to some extent hydrochemistry. Additionally, the data provide an excellent picture of the salinity distribution in the area and thus provide important information on the salt/freshwater boundary and the chemical status of groundwater. Although the westernmost part of the study area along the North Sea coast is saturated with saline water and the TEM data therefore are strongly influenced by the increased electrical conductivity there, buried valleys and other geological elements are still revealed. The mapped salinity distribution indicates preferential flow paths through and along specific geological structures within the area. The effects of a future sea level rise on the groundwater system and groundwater chemistry are discussed with special emphasis on the importance of knowing the existence, distribution and geometry of the mapped geological elements, and their control on the groundwater salinity distribution is assessed.


When new information is presented to learners, it must be processed in a severely limited working memory. Learning reduces working memory limitations by enabling the use of schemas, stored in long-term memory, to process information more efficiently. Several instructional techniques have been designed to facilitate schema construction and automation by reducing working memory load. Recently, however, strong evidence has emerged that the effectiveness of these techniques depends very much on levels of learner expertise. Instructional techniques that are highly effective with inexperienced learners can lose their effectiveness and even have negative consequences when used with more experienced learners. We call this phenomenon the expertise reversal effect. In this article, we review the empirical literature on the interaction between instructional techniques and levels of learner experience that led to the identification of the expertise reversal effect.


THE MERE MENTION OF THE WORD "IMMIGRATION" IN PUBLIC DISCOURSE OFTEN RESULTS in technical and moral arguments about the presence of Mexican immigrants in U.S. society. Although Mexicans are not the only ones immigrating to the United States, in public discourse immigration is regarded as a "Mexican" problem. Despite a long history of Mexican immigration to the United States, and the contributions Mexican immigrants have made to the social and cultural fabric of American society, Mexican immigrants are portrayed in negative social roles and in threatening images. Fueling negative portrayals and public policy responses to Mexican immigrants is the general societal perception that Mexican immigrants threaten the distribution of valued resources. For example, news stories about undocumented Mexican immigrants seeking medical and educational services have been instrumental in prompting politicians to devise legislation that restricts their access to public-sector services (Marchevsky and Theoharis, 2008; Sanchez, 2007). The media's portrayal of Mexican immigrants as reluctant to assimilate into U.S. society, or to learn the English language, motivated California voters to approve Propositions 187 and 227 (Aguirre, 2002). Proposition 227 dismantled bilingual education in California so as to force Mexican immigrant children to learn English, while Proposition 187 barred Mexican immigrants from access to public assistance and social services. Unsurprisingly, both propositions fueled volatile nativist sentiments in California over who is entitled to reside in the state. Interestingly, these propositions were a catalyst for attacking diversity in the state's population, resulting in the passage of an anti-affirmative action initiative, Proposition 209. Transforming the issue of immigration into a moral crisis in U.S. has been a public preoccupation with media depictions of a swarm of Mexican immigrants who are robbing Americans of jobs and housing. The public's perception of Mexican immigrants as a threat to social behavior and civic values motivated the Hazelton, Pennsylvania, city council to pass a law that prevented Mexican immigrants from working and living within the city's limits. City ordinances and state initiatives that target Mexican immigrants represent a public policy designed to protect the quality of life enjoyed by Americans and to shield civil society from the threat of Mexican immigrants. Perhaps the most egregious example of this policy is Congress' decision to authorize the construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border; in effect, the built environment is used to separate Americans and Mexicans. The news media have undoubtedly been instrumental in constructing images that inform and shape perceptions and meanings in the public mind, and these images are often reflected in public policy responses to immigration. Moreover, the media influence the association between people's perceptions of social issues and their political evaluations of these issues (Domke, McCoy, and Torres, 1999). As a representative of the public's collective sentiments, the political state promotes public policy that reflects the public mind. Immigration Policy Barack Obama's election as president of the United States has revitalized the need for social change based on the common good. According to President Obama, "When I ran for president, I did so because I believed that ... it was possible for us to bring change to Washington." (1) In response to the president's call for change, advocates for immigration reform hope that he will promote a policy that is more responsive to people's needs, rather than an expression of bureaucratic efficiency in dealing with immigrants. Latino congressional leaders hope that President Obama will honor his campaign promise to put millions of undocumented immigrant workers on a "pathway to citizenship" during his first year in office (Wallsten, 2009a). However, given the rather large and complex problems the Obama administration faces--the banking crisis, escalating wars in the Middle East, global warming, and an emerging battle over health care reform--there may not be room on the president's agenda for immigration reform during his first year in office. …


Watercolour is such a rewarding medium for the artist that its well worth mastering it offers both portability and gorgeous, rich, mutable colours. This is the perfect introduction for anyone whos thought about painting in watercolour but isnt sure where to start. Unintimidating and accessible, it will help you to get the pictures in your head onto the page without losing anything in the translation.


A hierarchical open-pit mine production scheduling methodology linking the optimal strategic open pit mine plan to the optimal medium-term production schedule is presented. The main objective of this paper is to develop, implement, and verify a mathematical programming framework for the optimal medium-term open-pit mine production scheduling using Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP). The objective of the medium-term mine production schedule is to minimise operating costs, including waste rehabilitation, processing, mining, haulage, and rehandling costs. To verify the proposed hierarchical model, an iron ore case study is presented. The results are interpreted and analysed to verify the applicability of the model in terms of mining practice. The main contributions of the medium-term production scheduling optimisation model are: multiple destinations modelling including stockpiles, processing plants, and waste dumps; decision making on selection of routes/ramps to minimise the haulage costs; and modelling stockpiles using MILP.


An analysis of the relationship between the anatomic site of cutaneous melanoma, sun exposure, and phenotype was conducted in 355 women with histologically confirmed superficial-spreading melanoma and in 935 control subjects. The most frequent site for superficial-spreading melanoma was the leg. However, when major sun-related and phenotype risk factors were examined by site, risk ratios were lowest for melanomas that occurred on the leg. A history of frequent sunburns during elementary or high school, increased number of self-assessed large nevi, and blond hair were more strongly associated with melanoma sites other than the leg. Tumors on the trunk were more likely than tumors at other sites to be associated with histological evidence of a preexisting nevus. Results of this work indicate that associations between melanoma phenotypic factors may differ by anatomic site.


The advent of the exposome concept, the advancement of mobile technology, sensors, and the "internet of things" bring exciting opportunities to exposure science. Smartphone apps, wireless devices, the downsizing of monitoring technologies, along with lower costs for such equipment makes it possible for various aspects of exposure to be measured more easily and frequently. We discuss possibilities and lay out several criteria for using smart technologies for external exposome studies. Smart technologies are evolving quickly, and while they provide great promise for advancing exposure science, many are still in developmental stages and their use in epidemiology and risk studies must be carefully considered. The most useable technologies for exposure studies at this time relate to gathering exposure-factor data, such as location and activities. Development of some environmental sensors (e.g., for some air pollutants, noise, UV) is moving towards making the use of these more reliable and accessible to research studies. The possibility of accessing such an unprecedented amount of personal data also comes with various limitations and challenges, which are discussed. The advantage of improving the collection of long term exposure factor data is that this can be combined with more "traditional" measurement data to model exposures to numerous environmental factors.


This thesis is a study of US-Syrian relations, and the legacy of mistrust between the two
states. While there has been a recent growth in the study of Syria's domestic and regional
politics, its foreign policy in a global systemic context remains understudied within
mainstream International Relations (IR), Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA), and even Middle
Eastern studies, despite Syria's geo-political centrality in the region. The primary purpose
of the thesis is to analyse and understand the driving factors in US-Syrian relations, both the
continuities – distinctive in the context of the region's dynamic political landscape – and the
rarer instances of discontinuity. By analysing the causes and constituents of US-Syrian
relations, the thesis will also challenge a purely realist and power-political explanation that
has dominated the discourse on Middle Eastern foreign policy; without discarding the value
of alternative conceptual explanations, the thesis will argue that Syria's position towards the
US has been significantly (though not exclusively) influenced by a politically embedded set
of ideas and principles that have evolved from an anti-colonial Arab nationalist ideology.
Though recent constructivist debates have (rightly) brought the role of identity and social
structure back to the fore, ideological or value-laden motives are still at times treated
dismissively as an instrument of power politics (particularly in relation to Middle Eastern
regimes) or, conversely, as a sign of regime irrationality. The apparent methodological
impasse in credibly connecting ideational motives with foreign policy implementation and
the perceived incompatibility between ideas and pragmatic decision-making have prevented
a deeper and more sophisticated exploration of ideological influences within IR.
Thus the second aim of the thesis is to redress this imbalance by introducing a
methodological framework of analysis for studying ideology in foreign policy-making; this
will be operationalised by historically charting the development and influence of ideas on
Syria's position towards the US, drawing upon original archival material that has hitherto
not been utilised in existing literature on this subject. I argue that in Syria's case state
interests and security concerns are not dichotomous to ideational values; rather the two are
coterminous goals in Syrian foreign policy. In doing so the thesis employs historical
analysis and FPA methods to assess the significance of the following factors in influencing
Syria's ideology, and thereby its relations with the US: Syria's colonised past and
contemporary US interventionism in the region; the policies and ideology of Israel; and
finally the structure of the Syrian regime, and its connection to public opinion.


Mouse spleen cell-myeloma hybrids were produced that secreted monoclonal antibodies to SRBC of the IgG2a and IgG2b subclass. These homogeneous antibodies were used to examine the Fc receptors for mouse IgG2a and IgG2b on resident and thioglycollate-induced macrophages and on two continuous macrophage-like cell lines (J774.2 and FC-1). By cross-inhibition experiments, we have shown that all four of these cell types have separate receptors for aggregated IgG2a and IgG2b. Both receptors bind heterogeneous rabbit antibody complexed to antigen. Large amounts of soluble proteins do not inhibit the binding of antigen-antibody complexes to either receptor. The rosetting of IgG2a-coated SRBC, but not of IgG2b-coated SRBC, is inhibited by treating all four cell types with trypsin or cytochalasin and is decreased at 4°C. Both the IgG2a and IgG2b receptors will mediate phagocytosis in all four cell types. Mutants of the FC-1 cell line were obtained that can bind both IgG2a and IgG2b antibody-antigen complexes but phagocytize only through the IgG2b receptor. We conclude from these studies that naturally occurring complexes between antigen and mouse IgG2a and IgG2b antibodies are bound to mouse macrophages and phagocytized through functionally distinguishable Fc receptors. The use of homogeneous monoclonal antibodies facilitates such studies and avoids some of the ambiguities that arise when artificially aggregated immunoglobulins or heterogeneous antibodies are used.


The response of fruit ripening to vine water status was investigated in a hillside Cabernet franc vineyard in the North Coast region of California. Treatments were imposed by drip irrigation at 2 x the standard practice rate (continual) to maintain high water status, by withholding water before (early deficit) or after (late deficit) veraison, or by withholding water throughout most of the season (full deficit). Midday leaf water potential of continual vines decreased from approximately-0.3 MPa before bloom to -1.13 MPa at veraison and to -1.32 MPa at harvest. Leaf water potentials of early deficit and late deficit vines were approximately 0.3 MPa more negative than continual vines at veraison and harvest, respectively. After veraison, water status of early deficit vines recovered to the level of continual vines. These moderate differences in water status at different phenological stages altered fruit composition at harvest. The concentrations of phenolics in juice and dermal extracts and of anthocyanins in dermal extracts were increased by all treatments which withheld water. Malate concentrations were significantly lower in treatments which imposed low vine water status before veraison. Low vine water status after veraison increased proline concentration significantly. There were no treatment effects on the onset of veraison, the duration of ripening, juice pH, or potassium levels, and little difference in °Brix or titratable acidity. Thus, irrigation to obtain seasonal water deficits may offer a cultural control of winegrape composition without significant effects on the time required to reach maturity.


Virtual education is a concept which requires being debated for a long time, before being taken over or transformed according to your own principles or possibilities. The internet economy is strongly connected with its developing modalities. A society desiring to be developed must be initially educated, in order to understand the benefits of the new modality of social integration. The practical finality of the e-phenomenon in the educational field is the application of an eLearning system.


This department is for the publication of informal communications that are of interest because they are inlbrmative and stimulating, and for the discussion of controversial matters. The mandate of this JOURNAL is to disseminate information relating to leprosy in particular and also other mycobacterial diseases. Dissident comment or interpretation on published research is of course valid, but personality attacks on individuals would seem unnecessary. Political comments, valid or not, also are unwelcome. They might result in interference with the distribution of the JOURNAL and thus interfere with its prime purpose.


1. Gas—liquid-chromatographic methods were established to measure the concentrations of the main 17-oxosteroid conjugates in plasma and the urinary excretion of the main metabolites of these steroids in human subjects. These steroids were assayed in the urine of thirty-eight normal males and thirty-seven normal females and in the plasma of fifty-eight normal males and thirty-nine normal females; the data were used as controls for the further investigations of the amounts of these steroids in thirty-four patients with acute intermittent porphyria. 2. The seven patients examined in acute attack of this disease had significantly increased excretions of the urinary sulphate and/or glucuronide conjugates of dehydroepiandrosterone (3β-hydroxyandrost-5-en-17-one) and aetiocholanolone (3α-hydroxy-5β-androstan-17-one). There were increases in the concentration of dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate in the plasma of four patients (in an attack) in whom the plasma 17-oxosteroids were determined. Lesser increases in the plasma concentrations of several other 17-oxosteroid sulphates were observed but no consistent pattern was apparent. Similar abnormalities of urine and plasma 17-oxosteroids were observed in sixteen of the patients in remission. These increased excretions and increased plasma concentrations of certain 17-oxosteroid conjugates were associated with increased excretion of porphyrins and porphyrin precursors in the urine. 3. The urinary ratio of aetiocholanolone to androsterone (3α-hydroxy-5α-androstan-17-one) was significantly greater than normal in patients with acute intermittent porphyria. In one patient studied over several weeks in an attack the concentrations of δ-aminolaevulic acid and porphobilinogen in urine correlated significantly with the steroid ratio. 4. Dexamethasone treatment of one patient in an attack resulted in significant reductions in excretion of the individual 17-oxosteroids and of porphyrins and porphyrin precursors. This was accompanied by a noticeable improvement in his clinical condition. 5. A series of three C 18 , twelve C 19 and five C 21 steroids were given intraperitoneally to rats. Only dehydroepiandrosterone, 17-hydroxypregnenolone (3β-hydroxypreg-5-en-17-ol-20-one), androstenedione (androst-4-ene-3,17-dione), androstenediol (androst-4-ene-3β,17β-diol) and aetiocholanolone caused significant elevations of hepatic δ-aminolaevulic acid synthetase. Although dehydroepiandrosterone and its sulphate were active in this system, the acetate and glucuronide of this steroid were not. Elevations of δ-aminolaevulic acid synthetase activity caused by dehydroepiandrosterone could be abolished by the antibiotics cycloheximide and actinomycin D. 6. These observations suggest the involvement of the 17-oxosteroids, especially dehydroepiandrosterone and aetiocholanolone, in the pathogenesis and control of acute intermittent porphyria.


This research focused on struggling adolescent readers on Tier 2 or Tier 3 of Response to Intervention (RTI). The setting for this study was a rural 6-8 middle school in the southeastern United States. Seven sixth grade struggling readers on Tier 2 or Tier 3 of RTI who were enrolled in the reading remediation class scheduled during one of the students' elective periods participated in the study. Data sources included observations, semi-structured interviews, and artifacts such as progress reports, work samples, and RTI notes and progress monitoring data. Cross-case data analysis focused on the perceptions the participants had of their reading abilities and the instruction they were receiving. Findings revealed that struggling adolescent readers (a) had identified themselves as struggling readers, (b) wanted to become better readers, and (c) trusted their teachers to foster their literacy growth. However, the current implementation of the problem-solving model of RTI at this level did not promote positive reading identities for these students or their proficiency in reading.


Today's commercial building market can ill afford the renovation of buildings by industry professionals that use archaic methods and uniformed approaches that neglect to account for the building's energy consumption. This paper advances a comprehensive solution for minimizing energy consumption in existing small to medium-sized commercial buildings. Committed to increasing the number of advanced energy retrofits completed in the United States over the next 20 years, this research team has over the past two years developed an Integrated Design Roadmap for advanced energy retrofits designed to assist project teams and building owners in achieving deep energy savings in the renovation of existing buildings. The paper's content was produced as part of a research initiative of the Consortium for Building Energy Innovation (formerly the Energy Efficient Buildings Hub) and sponsored by the United States (US) Department of Energy since 2011. The Integrated Design (ID) Advanced Energy Retrofit (AER) Roadmap discussed in this paper contains a series of process documents of use to owners, project managers, financial investors, architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) professionals, as well as energy modeling and measurement consultants involved in the completion of an AER, with targeted savings of 50% energy use against its pre-retrofit baseline consumption. This paper will describe the preliminary research required in the design of the ID AER Roadmap, as well as the overall document suite. The ID AER Roadmap document suite includes an Overview brochure that introduces the principle ID concepts, as well as a Reference Manual that details these concepts, with the final component being a Project Team Guide of use to professionals in the building industry. The ID AER Roadmap document suite promotes the adoption of Integrated Design principles during the completion of an advanced energy retrofit. It identifies a set of seven process-based protocols key to the success of any AER, the details of which are described in this paper. The research which has served as a foundation for the Roadmap's development includes a national survey of advanced energy retrofits completed in the US since the year 2000, a series of interviews of leading professionals who practice Integrated Design, and direct engagement with members of the AEC industry to introduce the Roadmap to a larger market audience.


Chemical representations play an important role in helping learners to understand chemical contents. Thus, dealing with chemical representations is a necessity for learning chemistry, but at the same time, it presents a great challenge to learners. Due to this great challenge, it is not surprising that numerous national and international studies have shown that students have remarkable difficulties. Since most of the studies regarding chemical representations have focused on investigating high-school students' knowledge so far, little is known about university students' and especially student teachers' knowledge. The latter group is additionally challenged by the necessity of learning how to transform their own knowledge in order to teach chemical representations to their prospective students. Given this as a starting point, a paper-and-pencil test with 19 items in both semi-open and closed format was developed to investigate the extent of student teachers' knowledge of chemical representations. The present paper describes the design, validation, and psychometric analysis of this test instrument – the so-called Chemical Representations Inventory (CRI). The CRI includes a variety of chemical representations and chemical contents on both high-school and university level. Both classical test theory and Rasch modelling were used for the analysis. In addition, a qualitative analysis was performed, and factors which possibly influence the item difficulty were identified. Even though the CRI was originally developed for a sample of student teachers, it can also be used to measure chemistry students' knowledge on a basic level.


OBJECTIVE
To describe family physicians' perceived educational needs in computers and informatics.

DESIGN
Mailed survey.

SETTING
General or family practices in Canada.

PARTICIPANTS
Physicians (489 responded to a mailing sent to 2,500 physicians) who might attend sessions at the McGill Centre for CME. Two duplicate questionnaires were excluded from the analysis.

METHOD
Four domains were addressed: practice profile, clinical CME needs, professional CME needs, and preferred learning formats. Data were entered on dBASE IV; analyses were performed on SPSS.

MAIN FINDINGS
In the 487 questionnaires retained for analysis, "informatics and computers" was mentioned more than any other clinical diagnostic area, any other professional area, and all but three patient groups and service areas as a topic where improvement in knowledge and skills was needed in the coming year. Most physicians had no access to computer support for practice (62.6%); physicians caring for neonates, toddlers, or hospital inpatients were more likely to report some type of computer support.

CONCLUSIONS
Family physicians selected knowledge and skills for computers and informatics as an area for improvement in the coming year more frequently than they selected most traditional clinical CME topics. This educational need is particularly great in small towns and in settings where some computerized hospital data are already available.


This is the first almost complete hydrobiological monograph of a water-course in a low altitude Mediterranean coastal drainage basin. Through knowledge of the hydrological and physicochemical peculiarities as well as an analysis of the biocoenoses, an ecological zonation of the river is established. The Argens is only 114 km long; it rises from a large karstic spring at an altitude of 270 m. By all its general features (topography, hydrology, geology, climate) it represents a good example of a Mediterranean river. Eleven stations have been investigated. Fifteen physicochemical parameters and 174 species of organisms have been taken into account. The Argens carries relatively cool waters (summer temperatures seldom exceeding 20 °C) which are well oxygenated and strongly mineralized (high Ca contents and locally high chloride and sulphate contents). Five animal groups (planarians, Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, elmid Coleoptera, and Trichoptera), representative for the benthic community, have been used in describing the distribution of the species and the changes in population density along the water-course. The relative position occupied by the species in the Argens, agrees well with that in other European rivers or hydrographic networks. The longitudinal succession of related species manifests itself especially through different degrees of abundance; the zones of overlap are generally important, due to the low altitude of the drainage basin. Ecological affinities and relations between the 11 stations and 115 selected species have been determined by means of factor analysis (correspondence analysis). Six species clusters have been recognized. The authors outline a zonation for the river which corresponds roughly with the well-known system of longitudinal zonation of running water, viz.: a first cluster characterizes the crenon; a 2nd cluster corresponds to the initial sectors of the rhithral; the 3rd includes the eurythermon and lenitic species, corresponding to a boggy zone inserted in the upper reaches; the 4th cluster characterizes the metarhithron plus the hyporhithron; a 5th is a community transitional between rhithron and potamon; a 6th cluster may be identified as the epipotamon (including possibly the metapotamon too). Thus, despite the physiographic peculiarities of the Argens, relationships between its species clusters and the classical biocenotic zones, can be clearly demonstrated.


AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
To describe the nurses' experiences of performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation in intensive care units.

BACKGROUND
Research in the area of resuscitation is primarily concentrated on medical and biophysical aspects. The subjective experiences of those who perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation and their emotions are more seldom addressed.

DESIGN
Qualitative descriptive design.

METHODS
Qualitative semi-structured interviews were used (n = 8). Data were analysed with content analysis.

RESULTS
Three categories describe the experiences of nurses: training and precardiopulmonary resuscitation; chaos and order during cardiopulmonary resuscitation; and debriefing postcardiopulmonary resuscitation. The study results indicate that the health care staff find it necessary to practice cardiopulmonary resuscitation, as it provides them with a basic feeling of security when applying it in actual situations.

CONCLUSION
We argue that postcardiopulmonary resuscitation debriefing must be viewed in the light of its eigenvalue with a specific focus on the staff's experiences and emotions, and not only on the intention of identifying errors.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE
Debriefing is of the utmost importance for the nurses. Clinical leaders may make use of the findings of this study to introduce debriefing forums as a possible standard clinical procedure.


In many metallurgical operations, effective analysis of the processes can be very difficult with available technology. This is especially true if the analysis is to be performed on-line and in a harsh environment characterized by high temperatures, dust and liquid metal. Protection of the equipment requires both rugged encapsulation as well as elaborate sampling systems and exposure of the equipment to the hazardous environment must be minimised. Often this result in an increased level of service and maintenance requirements and, in the worst case, the maintenance cost might be so high that the equipment is not installed. Microwave technology is a versatile and powerful tool with many different applications in the scientific community. It is insensitive to dust and fume and, for several years, the technology has been tested at MEFOS and evaluated for different metallurgical processes. It has been applied to slag thickness measurement and slag composition in an induction furnace, 3D imaging of the burden surface in a charging model on pilot scale as well as raceway depth measurements in a Blast Furnace. The idea of using microwave technology for gas analysis in metallurgical processes has also been explored. However, despite its many advantages, microwave technology is still not employed extensively in the steel and metal industries.


Caravaggio's early production as a portrait painter is still the subject of research and a fount of enigmas. Despite the numerous citations in documents, only rarely have these been linked unequivocally to paintings known to date. This is also the case with the 'portrait of Farinaccio criminalist painted on a head-size canvas believed to be by Michelangelo from Caravaggio', that was listed in the 1638 inventory of the Marquis Giustiniani and with 'the speaker wearing a robe, painted by Caravaggio' on a head-size canvas, owned in 1652 by Caterina Campani, Onorio Longhi's wife.
The present multidisciplinary research examines the rediscovery of the portrait of Prospero Farinacci by Caravaggio. The painting, undisclosed until now, hides an underlying female portrait. The authors investigate both compositions from a technical, iconographical and critical point of view, supporting Caravaggio's attribution. The technical researches allow cross-validation in the brushwork and materials of the picture, compared to Caravaggio's early painting technique and style. The portrait of Maffeo Barberini, recently re-ascribed to Caravaggio, shows a significant similarity, while the underlying woman of the retrieved painting closely resembles the gipsy of the Louvre Fortune teller. In addition a newly introduced and advanced imaging technique (Ma-XRF) has detected on the male portrait the feature of the lawyer's robe, which supports the identification with Prospero Farinacci.
The intriguing topic of physiognomic accuracy versus stylizing tendency in Caravaggio's portraiture is considered with the aid of Giulio Mancini's observations.
Besides, the possible interpretation of the underlying figure as a religious subject sheds a light on the obscure activity of the young Caravaggio in Lorenzo Carli's workshop, recently brought to scholars' attention by new documents and hypotheses.


Good control over size and shapes of nanoparticles is key for their usage as basic building blocks in various applications. Nanocrystals are of immense interest because of their electronic, optical, and magnetic properties, which are dependent on size and morphology of the nanocrystals. Hence by controlling these parameters it is possible to tune these properties as well. In spite of significant progress in the area of crystallography and materials science the underlying growth mechanism of anisotropic nanocrystals has not been resolved to a satisfactory level. Proper understanding of growth and control mechanism is key for further improvement, which will open the door for applications in new areas.

Gold nanorods are examples for anisotropic nanocrystals which is a topic of research for many groups. Bottom-up , e.g., templating, electrochemical and top-down, e.g., photolithography are two methods for the synthesis of metal nanoparticles. One of the most widely used methods for the synthesis of anisotropic gold nanorods is surfactant assisted seed mediated growth from solution. Seed mediated growth is a wet chemical method is a cheap and easy process. While it offers several advantages over electrochemical processes, it suffers from low yield and the unpredictible morphology of the end product in many cases.

The objective of this thesis is to resolve the thermodynamics of the growth of Au nanoparticles and rods using cetyltrimethylammonium bromide as growth agent. To this end the surface energetics of a variety of different Au surfaces with and without surfactant are obtained using electronic structure calculations based on density functional theory. The results are discussed in the context of experimental observations. The growth of nanocrystals is not an equilibrium phenomena so its growth mechanism cannot be explained by pure thermodynamics alone. The present study provides basic thermodynamic parameters, which determine the driving forces and exact knowledge of which is a prerequisite for understanding the non-equilibrium growth process. Thereby the present work lays the ground for future studies that should address, for example, entropic and kinetic factors in order to get a comprehensive picture of nanocrystal and nanorod formation.


A systematic theoretical analysis is presented of rotational contributions to light scattering in a piezoelectric crystal with small birefringence. The influence of rotational contributions on the intensity of nonelastically scattered light in a LiTaO3 crystal—a trigonal system with 3m symmetry—is described. Rotation affects the optical signals that result from two quasi-transverse waves. Experimental confirmation of such rotational contributions employed a formalism based on looking for eigenvectors and eigenvalues of a so-called characteristic matrix, which is a function of the direction of acoustic-wave propagation and the elastic constants of the medium, in this case modified by the piezoelectric effect. All calculations were performed (for both the hypersonic and the ultrasonic acoustic ranges) for 514.5-nm light. Velocities of acoustic waves in the hypersonic region were calculated under elastic constants taken from 20.9 to 38.5 GHz. Hypersonic data appear more relevant for investigating the effect that consists in measuring the changes of photon frequency scattered on acoustical phonons lying at the beginning of the first Brillouin zone.


This book explores the concept of 'civil society', which over recent years has been revived and introduced into the institutional debate within the EU. Significantly, EU institutions themselves have made reference to civil society and, on an academic plane, it has been argued that the debate on the legitimacy of European governance should value the role of civil society organisations.


Objective This study aimed to assess US/UK adults' attitudes towards COVID-19 ventilator and vaccine allocation. Design Online survey including US and UK adults, sampled to be representative for sex, age, race, household income and employment. A total of 2580 participated (women=1289, age range=18 to 85 years, Black American=114, BAME=138). Interventions Participants were asked to allocate ventilators or vaccines in scenarios involving individuals or groups with different medical risk and additional risk factors. Results Participant race did not impact vaccine or ventilator allocation decisions in the USA, but did impact ventilator allocation attitudes in the UK (F(4,602)=6.95, p<0.001). When a racial minority or white patient had identical chances of survival, 14.8% allocated a ventilator to the minority patient (UK BAME participants: 24.4%) and 68.9% chose to toss a coin. When the racial minority patient had a 10% lower chance of survival, 12.4% participants allocated them the ventilator (UK BAME participants: 22.1%). For patients with identical risk of severe COVID-19, 43.6% allocated a vaccine to a minority patient, 7.2% chose a white patient and 49.2% chose a coin toss. When the racial minority patient had a 10% lower risk of severe COVID-19, 23.7% participants allocated the vaccine to the minority patient. Similar results were seen for obesity or male sex as additional risk factors. In both countries, responses on the Modern Racism Scale were strongly associated with attitudes toward race-based ventilator and vaccine allocations (p<0.0001). Conclusions Although living in countries with high racial inequality during a pandemic, most US and UK adults in our survey allocated ventilators and vaccines preferentially to those with the highest chance of survival or highest chance of severe illness. Race of recipient led to vaccine prioritisation in cases where risk of illness was similar.


Deriving from the gradient vector of a generative model of local features, Fisher vector coding (FVC) has been identified as an effective coding method for image classification. Most, if not all, FVC implementations employ the Gaussian mixture model (GMM) to characterize the generation process of local features. This choice has shown to be sufficient for traditional low dimensional local features, e.g., SIFT; and typically, good performance can be achieved with only a few hundred Gaussian distributions. However, the same number of Gaussians is insufficient to model the feature space spanned by higher dimensional local features, which have become popular recently. In order to improve the modeling capacity for high dimensional features, it turns out to be inefficient and computationally impractical to simply increase the number of Gaussians.

In this paper, we propose a model in which each local feature is drawn from a Gaussian distribution whose mean vector is sampled from a subspace. With certain approximation, this model can be converted to a sparse coding procedure and the learning/inference problems can be readily solved by standard sparse coding methods. By calculating the gradient vector of the proposed model, we derive a new fisher vector encoding strategy, termed Sparse Coding based Fisher Vector Coding (SCFVC). Moreover, we adopt the recently developed Deep Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) descriptor as a high dimensional local feature and implement image classification with the proposed SCFVC. Our experimental evaluations demonstrate that our method not only significantly outperforms the traditional GMM based Fisher vector encoding but also achieves the state-of-the-art performance in generic object recognition, indoor scene, and fine-grained image classification problems.


of a thesis at the University of Miami. Thesis supervised by Professor John W. Murphy. No. of pages in text. (92) An integrative analysis is presented of positivism, shared epistemology, and the final emerging alternative: community-based participatory action research (CBPAR). The analysis includes how each philosophy defines, views, and analyzes a community. While overcoming the drawbacks to adopting social indicator analyses to study social life, CBPAR provides a strategy that uses collaboration, empowerment, and participatory democracy to engage communities. As part of this investigation, other shared epistemologies such as symbolic interactionism, ethnomethodology, and previous community-based methods are considered. CBPAR studies have had significant impact on public policy, so much so that communities sometimes reject "improvements" that they have wanted or needed because a collaborative process was not pursued. Accordingly, as is discussed in this thesis, CBPAR researchers should be trained properly and provided with the resources and skills necessary to be successful at collaborating with communities, or research and planning will not be community-based. But as CBPAR gains respect and recognition, this approach to conducting social research, and creating and evaluating interventions, will no longer be an emerging alternative, but rather a way for all communities that have been marginalized or forgotten to be heard and change their current situations.


Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin to change society. This most influential of American novels struck a nerve with her audience, judging by the voluminous and continuous sales. Any twentieth-century reader of the novel, however, has a somewhat different task of interpreting the novel than did much of her immediate audience. We are no longer slave-holders. The majority of our society does not express its theology in nineteenth-century categories or language, and the concept of domesticity-the family and home- has changed significantly since Stowe's time. Therefore, any late twentieth- century reader must face the fact that eisegesis is an easy trap into which one can fall. One can read into the novel holding its author accountable to an unimaginable and unfair standard of postmodern themes and stylistics. Rather than judging Stowe and her novel by race and sex criteria of our times, we should rather see her and her writing within the scope of her immediate culture. I maintain that the task of interpretation is most successful if one follows a cultural model such as that put forth by Jane Tompkins or a new historicism approach followed by Gillian Brown. The new historicism approach requires that when interpreting one must consider the culture in question in its entirety. It rejects the idea of the autonomy of the text. Moreover, it recognizes that authors and cultures are complex, even contradictory. They are both "subversive" and "orthodox," and both of these "impulses" are to found within texts (Cadzow 535). Brown follows a similar approach to reach contradictory conclusions that Stowe is both racist and non-racist, patriarchal and anti-patriarchal (40-41,60). How can both be the case? It could be true if we remember the complexity of individuals who are involved in an all-inclusive web of social-political-emotional-spiritual dynamics within a society of people who have similar layers of entanglements. When considering fictional characters and their authors, readers too frequently compartmentalize them as though they are beings of a single dimension and somehow should be independent of the layers of cultural entanglements which are normally found within any society. Particularly in Stowe's work, the surrounding culture must be considered more fully. The clearer picture we have of her social context, the clearer we can be in interpreting her writing. The religious and social milieux are inseparable in Stowe's worldview. She sees "history" in a soteriological/apocalyptical sense.1 The events of her world have significance to her and her contemporaries beyond issues of conduct. They are signs of the times. History is ultimately in God's hands, and the players on the stage of history are accountable to God. Therefore, there is a sense of urgency with her. The local and national items on the agenda demand immediate attention and radical solutions. Slavery cannot exist within a Christian society. It cannot be reconciled with a civilized worldview. The inconsistency of it, justified by economic considerations somehow supposed to be beyond the scope of individual responsibility, is unacceptable to Stowe. To this end, she goes a step further and radically interjects female heroism into the traditional male spheres of economics and politics. Brown suggests, ". . . nineteenth-century American individualism takes on its peculiarly 'individualistic' properties as domesticity inflects it with values of interiority, privacy, and psychology" (1). Brown's position, in summary, demonstrates the relationship between domesticity and individualism: "What I am calling domestic individualism thus denotes a self- definition secured in and nearly synonymous with domesticity" (3). This relationship exists within the context of the "masculine" marketplace (2). If we read Stowe in this light, we feel her passion. Both male and female must work to end injustice; and females will often lead the way. Stowe's assertion that slavery violates the human dignity of Africans is coupled with a subtler premise that women are to be the active agents of change in correcting the evil of slavery. …


Precipitation forecasts provide both a crucial service for the general populace and a challenging forecasting problem due to the complex, multi-scale interactions required for precipitation formation. The Center for the Analysis and Prediction of Storms (CAPS) Storm Scale Ensemble Forecast (SSEF) system is a promising method of providing high-resolution forecasts of the intensity and uncertainty in precipitation forecasts. The SSEF incorporates multiple models with varied parameterization scheme combinations and produces forecasts every 4 km over the continental US. The SSEF precipitation forecasts exhibit significant negative biases and placement errors. In order to correct these issues, multiple machine learning algorithms have been applied to the SSEF precipitation forecasts to correct the forecasts using the NSSL National Mosaic and Multisensor QPE (NMQ) grid as verification. The 2010 SSEF was used for training. Two levels of post-processing are performed. In the first, probabilities of any precipitation are determined and used to find optimal thresholds for the precipitation areas. Then, three types of forecasts are produced in those areas. First, the probability of the 1-hour accumulated precipitation exceeding a threshold is predicted with random forests, logistic regression, and multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS). Second, deterministic forecasts based on a correction from the ensemble mean are made with linear regression, random forests, and MARS. Third, fixed probability interval forecasts are made with quantile regressions and quantile regression forests. Models are generated from points sampled from the western, central, and eastern sections of the domain. Verification statistics and case study results show improvements in the reliability and skill of the forecasts compared to the original ensemble while controlling for the over-prediction of the precipitation areas and without sacrificing smaller scale details from the model runs.


Introduction Determinants of hospitalization, intensive care unit (ICU) admission and death are still unclear for Covid-19 and only a few studies have adjusted for confounding for different clinical outcomes including all reported cases in a country in the analysis. We used routine surveillance data from Portugal to identify risk factors for COVID-19 outcomes, in order to support risk stratification, clinical and public health interventions, and to improve scenarios to plan health care resources. Methods We conducted a retrospective cohort study including 20,293 laboratory confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Portugal to 28 April 2020, electronically through the National Epidemic Surveillance System of the Directorate-General of Health(DGS). We calculated absolute risks, relative risks (RR) and adjusted relative risks (aRR) to identify demographic and clinical factors associated with hospitalization, admission to ICU and death using Poisson regressions. Results Increasing age after 60 years was the greatest determinant for all outcomes. Assuming 0-50 years as reference, being aged 80-89 years was the strongest determinant of hospital admission (aRR-5.7), 70-79 years for ICU(aRR-10.4) and >90 years for death(aRR-226.8) with an aRR of 112.7 in those 70-79 . Among comorbidites, Immunodeficiency, cardiac disease, kidney disease, and neurologic disease were independent risk factors for hospitalization (aRR 1.83, 1.79, 1.56, 1.82), for ICU these were cardiac, Immunodeficiency, kidney and lung disease (aRR 4.33, 2.76, 2.43, 2.04), and for death they were kidney, cardiac and chronic neurological disease (aRR: 2.9, 2.6, 2.0) Male gender was a risk factor for all outcomes. There were statistically significant differences for the 3 outcomes between regions. Discussion and Conclusions Older age stands out as the strongest risk factor for all outcomes specially for death as absolute is risk was small for those younger than 50. These findings have implications in terms of risk stratified public health measures that should prioritize protecting older people. Epidemiologic scenarios and clinical guidelines may consider the estimated risks, even though under-ascertainment of mild and asymptomatic cases should be considered in different age groups.


The combination of Reinforcement Learning (RL) with deep learning has led to a series of impressive feats, with many believing (deep) RL provides a path towards generally capable agents. However, the success of RL agents is often highly sensitive to design choices in the training process, which may require tedious and error-prone manual tuning. This makes it challenging to use RL for new problems and also limits its full potential. In many other areas of machine learning, AutoML has shown that it is possible to automate such design choices, and AutoML has also yielded promising initial results when applied to RL. However, Automated Reinforcement Learning (AutoRL) involves not only standard applications of AutoML but also includes additional challenges unique to RL, that naturally produce a different set of methods. As such, AutoRL has been emerging as an important area of research in RL, providing promise in a variety of applications from RNA design to playing games, such as Go. Given the diversity of methods and environments considered in RL, much of the research has been conducted in distinct subfields, ranging from meta-learning to evolution. In this survey, we seek to unify the field of AutoRL, provide a common taxonomy, discuss each area in detail and pose open problems of interest to researchers going forward.


Objective: Following the introduction and widespread use of central venous catheters (CVCs) in adults, these devices are being used with increasing frequency in the pediatric population. This review will focus on differences between adults and children regarding CVC use and its potential complications. Both mechanical and infectious complications will be discussed. Data Sources: Systematic review of the literature. Conclusions: CVC-related complications in pediatric patients are closely linked to age, body size, and age-related immune status. In older children, many complications are similar to those encountered in adult patients. Because of ongoing growth and body changes, a cutoff point beyond which children can be regarded as "young adults" is difficult to define; many of our recommendations are therefore age-related. More frequently than in adults, an implanted port may be the first choice in pediatric patients when long indwelling times are expected. The optimal site of insertion also depends on factors such as the patients' age as well as the need for sedation and analgesia during the insertion procedure. In contrast to guidelines in adult patients, we recommend that a radiograph always be made following CVC insertion to check the position of the catheter. Regarding prevention of infectious complications, we recommend full sterile barrier precautions during CVC insertion and strict protocols for catheter care. CVCs should be removed as soon as possible when they are no longer needed, but there is no place for elective CVC replacement on a routine basis. New developments such as the use of impregnated catheters might help reduce infection rates; however, additional research will be required to provide more evidence of benefit in the pediatric population.


Objective: To examine the safety and efficacy of emergency transradial primary percutaneous coronary intervention for ST-elevation myocardial infarction. Design: Single-centre observational study with prospective data collection. Setting: A regional cardiac centre, United Kingdom. Patients: 1051 consecutive patients admitted with ST-elevation myocardial infarction, without cardiogenic shock, between November 2004 and October 2008. Interventions: Percutaneous coronary interventions by radial and femoral access Main outcome measures: The primary outcome measures were procedural success, major vascular complication and failed initial access strategy. Secondary outcomes were in-hospital mortality and major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events, needle-to-balloon times, contrast volume used, radiation dose absorbed and time to discharge. Multiple regression analysis was used to adjust for potential differences between the groups. Results: 571 patients underwent radial access and 480 femoral. A variable preference for radial access was observed among the lead operators (between 21% and 90%). Procedural success was similar between the radial and femoral groups, but major vascular complications were more frequent at the site of femoral access (0% radial versus 1.9% femoral, p = 0.001). Failure of the initial access strategy was more frequent in the radial group (7.7% versus 0.6%, p<0.001). Adjustment for other procedural and clinical predictors did not alter these findings. Needle-to-balloon time, as a measure of procedural efficiency, was equal for radial and femoral groups. Conclusions: In the setting of acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction without cardiogenic shock, transradial primary angioplasty is safe, with comparable outcomes to a femoral approach and a lower risk of vascular complications.


This paper presents a corpus-based quantitative investigation of three connectives in Turkish. As in D-LTAG, we take discourse connectives as lexical anchors which select their two arguments in discourse. Connectives can be grouped in two classes as structural connectives and discourse adverbials. While structural connectives select both of their arguments structurally and through adjacency, adverbials retrieve their first argument in the preceding discourse like anaphoric expressions. The three different connectives selected in the study appeared to have structural, anaphoric and both structural and anaphoric properties. We delineate how these connectives behave differently in terms of the adjacency of their arguments, the span of their first arguments and their position within the clause. Our corpus-based quantitative analysis shows that there is a statistically significant difference between the structural connectives and the discourse adverbial in our data in terms of the variables selected.


Function identification is a fundamental challenge in reverse engineering and binary program analysis. For instance, binary rewriting and control flow integrity rely on accurate function detection and identification in binaries. Although many binary program analyses assume functions can be identified a priori, identifying functions in stripped binaries remains a challenge.

In this paper, we propose BYTEWEIGHT, a new automatic function identification algorithm. Our approach automatically learns key features for recognizing functions and can therefore easily be adapted to different platforms, new compilers, and new optimizations. We evaluated our tool against three well-known tools that feature function identification: IDA, BAP, and Dyninst. Our data set consists of 2,200 binaries created with three different compilers, with four different optimization levels, and across two different operating systems. In our experiments with 2,200 binaries, we found that BYTE-WEIGHT missed 44,621 functions in comparison with the 266,672 functions missed by the industry-leading tool IDA. Furthermore, while IDA misidentified 459,247 functions, BYTEWEIGHT misidentified only 43,992 functions.


Abstract A small resident population of peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus anatum) in the Big Bend region of Texas has suffered reproductive failures since 1990. To continue our assessment of the effects of environmental contaminants on the peregrine falcon, we collected representative avian prey species during 2001 at Mariscal Canyon, Big Bend National Park. The avian carcasses were analyzed for inorganic and organochlorine contaminants. Concentrations of Se and Hg were present at high levels (up to 11 and 2.2 µg/g dry weight, respectively) in some avian prey and could be implicated in reproductive failures of the peregrine falcon in Big Bend National Park. All other inorganic elements were below concentrations known to affect reproduction or to be associated with other deleterious effects in birds. Of all the organochlorines analyzed, only DDE and total PCBs were present above detection limits in all species, although at low concentrations. Our study provides further support to the hypothesis that contaminants in potential avian prey of the peregrine falcon in the Big Bend region are implicated in the productivity failures observed in this species since 1990.


The Flight Control System 20 (FCS20) is a compact, self-contained Guidance, Navigation, and Control system that has recently been developed to enable advanced autonomous behavior in a wide range of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). The FCS20 uses a floating point Digital Signal Processor (DSP) for high level serial processing, a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) for low level parallel processing, and GPS and Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) sensors. In addition to guidance, navigation, and control functions, the FCS20 is capable of supporting advanced algorithms such as automated reasoning, artificial vision, and multi-vehicle interaction. The unique contribution of this paper is that it gives a complete overview of the FCS20 GN&C system, including computing, communications, and information aspects. Computing aspects of the FCS20 include details about the design process, hardware components, and board configurations, and specifications. Communications aspects of the FCS20 include descriptions of internal and external dataflow.The information section describes the FCS20 Operating System (OS), the Support Vehicle Interface Library (SVIL) software, the navigation Extended Kalman Filter, and the neural network based adaptive controller. Finally, simulation-based results as well as actual flight test results that demonstrate the operation of the guidance, navigation, and control algorithms on a real Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) are presented.


Software is typically developed incrementally and released in stages. Planning these releases involves deciding which features of the system should be implemented for each release. This is a complex planning process involving numerous trade-offs-constraints and factors that often make decisions difficult. Since the success of a product depends on this plan, it is important to understand the trade-offs between different release plans in order to make an informed choice. We present STRATOS, a tool that simultaneously visualizes several software release plans. The visualization shows several attributes about each plan that are important to planners. Multiple plans are shown in a single layout to help planners find and understand the trade-offs between alternative plans. We evaluated our tool via a qualitative study and found that STRATOS enables a range of decision-making processes, helping participants decide on which plan is most optimal.


Tips, tricks, treats, and secrets revealed on the latest operating system from Microsoft: Windows 7 You already know the ups and downs of Windows Vista-now it's time to learn the ins and outs of Windows 7! Internationally recognized Windows experts, Microsoft insiders, and authors Paul Thurrott and Rafael Rivera cut through the hype to pull away the curtain and reveal useful information not found anywhere else. Regardless of your level of knowledge, you'll discover little-known facts on how things work, what's new and different, and how you can modify Windows 7 to meet your own specific needs. A witty, conversational tone tells you what you need to know to go from Windows user to Windows expert and doesn't waste time with basic computer topics while point-by-point comparisons demonstrate the difference between Windows 7 features and functionality to those in Windows XP and Vista. Windows 7 is the exciting update to Microsoft's operating system Authors are internationally known Windows experts and Microsoft insiders Exposes tips, tricks, and secrets on the new features and functionality of Windows 7 Reveals best practices for customizing the system to work for you Investigates the differences between Windows 7 and previous versions of Windows No need to whisper! Window 7 Secrets is the ultimate insider's guide to Microsoft's most exciting Windows version in years.


A survey of methane in groundwater was undertaken to document methane occurrence on the basis hydrogeologic setting within a glaciated 1,810-square-mile area of southcentral New York along the Pennsylvania border. Sixty-six wells were sampled during the summer of 2012. All wells were at least 1 mile from any known gas well (active, exploratory, or abandoned). Results indicate strong positive and negative associations between hydrogeologic settings and methane occurrence. The hydrogeologic setting classes are based on topographic position (valley and upland), confinement or non-confinement of groundwater by glacial deposits, well completion in fractured bedrock or sand and gravel, and hydrogeologic subcategories. Only domestic wells and similar purposed supply wells with well-construction and log information were selected for classification. Field waterquality characteristics (pH, specific conductance, dissolved oxygen, and temperature) were measured at each well, and samples were collected and analyzed for dissolved gases, including methane and short-chain hydrocarbons. Carbon and hydrogen isotopic ratios of methane were measured in 21 samples that had at least 0.3 milligram per liter (mg/L) of methane. Results of sampling indicate that occurrence of methane in groundwater of the region is common—greater than or equal to 0.001 mg/L in 78 percent of the groundwater samples. Concentrations of methane ranged over five orders of magnitude. Methane concentrations at which monitoring or mitigation are indicated (greater than or equal to 10 mg/L) were measured in 15 percent of the samples. Methane concentrations greater than 0.1 mg/L were associated with specific hydrogeologic settings. Wells completed in bedrock within valleys and under confined groundwater conditions were most closely associated with the highest methane concentrations. Fifty-seven percent of valley wells had greater than or equal to 0.1 mg/L of methane, whereas only 10 percent of upland wells equaled or exceeded that concentration. Isotopic signatures differed between these groups as well. Methane in valley wells was predominantly thermogenic in origin, likely as a result of close vertical proximity to underlying methane-bearing saline groundwater and brine and possibly as a result of enhanced bedrock fracture permeability beneath valleys that provides an avenue for upward gas migration. Isotopic signatures of methane from four upland well samples indicated a microbial origin (carbon-dioxide reduction) with one sample possibly altered by microbial methane oxidation. Water samples from wells in a valley setting that indicate a mix of thermogenic and microbial methane reflect the close proximity of regional groundwater flow and underlying saline water and brine in valley areas. The microbial methane is likely produced by bacteria that utilize carbon dioxide or formational organic matter in highly reducing environments within the subregional groundwater flow system. This characterization of groundwater methane shows the importance of subsurface information (hydrogeology, well construction) in understanding methane occurrence and provides an initial conceptual framework that can be utilized in investigation of stray gas in south-central New York.


Researchers in the southern USA have shown that the increased yield associated with narrow rows for late-planted determinant soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] is due mainly to a greater crop growth rate during vegetative and early reproductive stages which allows for an increase in the number of fertile nodes and increased number of pods per fertile node. The objective of this study was to determine if a a similar explanation is applicable to the narrow-row yield response reported with full-season narrow-row production of indeterminate soybean cultivars in the midwestern USA. To test this hypothesis field experiments were conducted in 1992 and 1993 on a Flanagan silty loam soil (fine, montmorillonitic, mesic, aquic, argiudoll, mollisol). Soybean was sown in row widths of 38, 76, and 114 cm and thinned to 450 000 plants per ha at V1 to V2. A linear decrease with increasing row width was observed for grain yield (3497, 3250, 2920 kg/ha), number of pods per plant (93, 89, 85), plant height (99, 96, 93 cm), number of branches per plant (3.3, 3.1, 2.9), and harvest index (33, 31, 30). Crop growth rate increased with decreasing row width until about R5 after which row width had no significant affect on crop growth rate. These results support our hypothesis that the yield increase noted for narrow-row indeterminate soybean production in the midwestern USA is due predominantly to beneficial effects experienced prior to the main grain-fill periods in a manner similar to that reported for late-planted narrow-row. determinate soybean production in the southern USA.


A series of amphiphilic terpolymers were prepared by sequentially copolymerizing maleic anhydride and ethyl vinyl ether, adding octyl-, dodecyl-, or naphthylamine, and then hydrolyzing the remaining anhydride units. Viscosity studies indicate that these amphiphilic systems form intramolecular associations in dilute and semidilute solutions at various values of pH and ionic strength. The dodecyl terpolymers show more pronounced hydrophobic associations than do the octyl analogs. Change in solution pH or addition of NaCl lowers significantly the viscosity of the polymer solutions, indicating more collapsed conformations. Fluorescence lifetimes increase with increasing hydrophobe content. The lifetime of the monomer emission decreases with increasing pH, demonstrating a more hydrated environment experienced by the probe within the polymer coil. I[sub E]/I[sub M] values of the terpolymers with low hydrophobe content decrease with increasing pH from 3 to 10 while the terpolymers with moderate hydrophobe content exhibit a maximum I[sub E]/I[sub M] in the same pH range. Systems with high hydrophobe content show little pH dependence. These results are interpreted in terms of the relative concentration of the chromophore in the hydrophobic domains as well as the change in the mobility of the naphthyl labels.


This paper presents a method for treating transmission network bottlenecks in a stochastic hydro-thermal scheduling model. The model is designed for long- and medium-term scheduling of hydro-thermal power system operation, where decisions are made for aggregated regional subsystems or areas. The aggregate area representation allows simulation of large hydro systems with a relatively high degree of detail, thus making the model well suited for comprehensive studies on a national and international scale.


Flagella of the unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii are nearly identical to cilia of mammalian cells and provide an excellent model to study ciliogenesis. These biflagellated cells have two actin genes: one encoding a conventional actin (IDA5) and the other encoding a divergent novel actin-like protein (NAP1). Previously, we described a role for actin in the regulation of flagella-building intraflagellar transport machinery. Here, we probe how actin redundancy contributes to this process using a nap1 mutant Chlamydomonas strain. Disruption of a single actin allows normal or slower incorporation but complete flagellar assembly. However, when we disrupt both actins using Latrunculin B (LatB) treatment on the nap1 mutant background, we find flagellar growth from newly synthesized limiting flagellar proteins is actin-dependent. Upon total actin disruption during flagellar assembly, transmission electron microscopy identified an accumulation of Golgi-adjacent vesicles, suggesting impaired vesicular trafficking may be the mechanism by which actin supports flagellar growth from new flagellar proteins. We also find there is a mislocalization of a key transition zone gating and ciliopathy protein, NPHP-4. Extended (2 hour) treatment with LatB, a condition under which NAP1 is upregulated, restores NPHP-4 localization. This suggests NAP1 can perform the functions of conventional actin at the transition zone. Our experiments demonstrate that each stage of flagellar biogenesis requires redundant actin function to varying degrees, with an absolute requirement for these actins in transport of Golgi-adjacent vesicles and flagellar incorporation of newly synthesized proteins.


ABSTRACT This study investigates the relationship between several indicators of ICT usage and digitalization and the relative demand for highly skilled workers. The data are based on two-digit industry-level information on seven European countries for the period 2001–2010. For manufacturing industries, static fixed-effects models show that the share of employees with internet broadband access, the diffusion of mobile internet access and the use of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems and automatic data exchange combined with electronic invoicing are all significantly and positively related to skill intensity in the industries observed. For service industries, only mobile internet usage intensity is significant. Specifically for manufacturing, a 10-point increase in the percentage of firms using ERP systems is associated with an increase in the share of highly skilled workers by 0.4 percentage points. These estimates indicate that the increase in ERP system usage during the period studied accounted for 30% of the increase in the share of workers with a tertiary degree across manufacturing industries and countries. The results are robust with respect to the estimation method and the potential endogeneity of ICT.


This study compared the U.K. Home Office formulation for physical developer (PD) against Oil Red O (ORO) and a modified formulation of physical developer (MPD) that uses Tween 20 instead of Synperonic-N for enhancing fingermarks. Three different donors deposited fingermarks on porous surfaces (white paper, leaflets, and cardboard), with aging periods varying from 7 to 28 days. None of the techniques that were tested provided enhancement of latent fingermarks on leaflets, whereas poor-quality enhancement was observed on cardboard. In contrast, all techniques were more successful on white paper surfaces. The results obtained on white paper suggested that PD and MPD performed similarly, with PD detecting 82.3% of the deposited fingermarks and MPD detecting 86.5% of the deposited fingermarks. PD yielded a higher percentage (38.5%) of fingermarks with fine ridge detail (i.e., those with grade 2 or above) than MPD (35.4%). ORO, however, yielded poor results, enhancing only 4.5% of latent fingermarks, but showed no ridge detail in any of the enhancements (i.e., only showed grade 1 enhancements.)


Rigorous validation of a simulation model of the toe-to-heel air-injection (THAI) process has been performed using results obtained from a 3D combustion-cell experiment on Athabasca oil sands. The numerical model includes a new kinetics formulation, based on the Athabasca thermal-cracking kinetics scheme proposed by Phillips et al. (1985). The kinetics model excludes low-temperature oxidation because THAI operates in a high- temperature oxidation mode. Excellent agreement was obtained between the predicted and experimental oil-production rate, and there was generally a good match obtained for other dynamic variables, including the residual coke profile, produced oxygen, and peak combustion temperature. The numerical model provides a fundamental platform for upscaling to field scale that will enable fine-scale details of the process to be captured. Simulations were performed under dry in-situ combustion (ISC) conditions at the high air-injection fluxes used in the experiment. Under these conditions, vertical-plane temperature profiles in the sandpack confirm that the combustion front is quasivertical and forward leaning in the direction of the heel of the horizontal producer well. The shape of the combustion front was predicted more accurately from horizontal-plane profiles, showing that there was no oxygen in regions ahead of the combustion front. Oil displacement occurs mainly by gravity drainage, but pressure drawdown into the horizontal producer well below the mobile-oil zone (MOZ) is also significant. Various zones that develop during the ISC process include a steam zone located in the upstream part of the MOZ. All of the mobilized oil is produced from the MOZ, which is composed of two distinct oil regions. The first part contains oil produced by thermal cracking of the heavy residue and vaporized lighter oil. The main bulk of the oil produced in THAI comes from the second region of the MOZ, containing banked original oil. The oil that is eventually produced is partially upgraded oil because the thermally upgraded and lighter oil fractions mixing with the original oil when they enter the horizontal producer well.


Background Previously reported results have demonstrated the efficacy of exposure and cognitive therapy in the treatment of chronic post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but have not shown one to be superior to the other. Aims To investigate whether treatment benefits and equivalence are maintained at 12-month follow-up in patients with chronic PTSD treated with either imaginai exposure or cognitive therapy. Method Twelve-month follow-up of a randomised clinical trial. Results Fifty-four subjects (87% of the sample) were available to follow-up. They did not significantly differ clinically from drop-outs. There was significant clinical improvement at 12 months compared with pre-treatment. However, 39% of those followed-up still met criteria for PTSD. There were no significant differences between the two treatments. Victims of crime displayed higher levels of symptoms at follow-up than victims of accidents. Conclusions Clinical benefits for exposure or cognitive therapy were maintained.


The paper also provides an overview and comparison of methodologies commonly employed in labour market research. It demonstrates the danger of evaluating programs using short-term longitudinal data. It concludes by identifying a need for more reliable and up-to-date data, particularly longitudinal data, to better understand the long-term effects of work incentive programs.By reviewing current Australian and international literature, this research has improved our understanding of the effects of various work incentives on labour supply for different sub-groups. Key findings include: - the benefit level is found to have a small negative impact (for both men and women) on exit rates and labour supply - in-work benefits schemes in the United States and United Kingdom have demonstrated positive results for sole parents, but are small or ambiguous for partnered men and women - women, particularly sole mothers, are most sensitive to financial incentives - education improves employment prospects and appears to increase job tenure, with women benefiting more than men from a higher level of education - the effects of training are more ambiguous, with on-the-job-training proving effective for young men with low levels of education, but workfare programs appear to reduce the probability of finding work for educated people - early results from Australian studies indicate workfare and work experience programs (particularly wage subsidies and brokered employment programs) are effective in reducing the duration of unemployment, and increasing the duration of employment.


The BRICKNER-DARROW DEBATE, between attorney Clarence Darrow and Rabbi BARNETT R. BRICKNER, took place on Thursday evening, 9 Feb. 1928, before a standing-room-only crowd at Cleveland's Masonic Auditorium. An estimated audience of 500,000 Greater Clevelanders listened to the 2-hour debate over radio station WHK. The CLEVELAND ADVERTISING CLUB, under the direction of president Wilbur Hyde, sponsored the debate on the subject "Is Man a Machine?" Darrow, the most famous criminal lawyer in America and a celebrated agnostic, argued the affirmative. Rabbi Brickner, the spiritual leader of Cleveland's ANSHE CHESED congregation, argued the negative. Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court Carrington T. Marshall moderated. Each participant spoke 3 times. Darrow, who opened the debate, held that man's physiological composition and functions were exactly like those of a machine and that other animal forms as well as plant life are machines, positing that animals are also capable of thought and reason. Brickner countered that it is the capability of thought and reason that differentiates man from machine and also noted that a machine does not have a soul, a point Darrow challenged, suggesting that no one knows whether animals have souls. The Plain Dealer, which reported the debate, chose 4 unofficial judges to select a winner. They included Maurice Bernon, former common pleas judge; Dr. William Reed Veazey, professor of chemistry at Case School of Applied Science; Charles W. Mears, advertising counselor; and John J. Sullivan, appellate judge. All four thought Brickner presented the stronger argument. Mayor JOHN D. MARSHALL called it a draw. Plain Dealer surveys of the audience both before and after the debate indicated a 4:1 ratio favoring Brickner. Rabbi Barnett R. Brickner Papers, WRHS. See also LAW, RELIGION.


Student advising is an integral part of the faculty student relationship. However, with the increasing enrollment of pre-nursing students 1 and the complexity of university requirements, advising requires more time and expertise. Further, many students need more flexibility because they are actively employed or balancing a family and education. In an effort to meet the diverse needs of students, our faculty has developed targeted group advising, an innovative method for advising students that remains student centered.


Presidents and CEOs play a critical role in leading their organizations through planned transformational change (PTC) and generally, do not do it very well. This may, in part, be a result of leaders not closely examining and challenging their thinking about PTC and their role in leading it. Leaders' mental models determine what and how they think about their organizations, employees, transformational change and what their leadership means and how their mental models determine their actions and behaviors in planning and implementing PTC. By examining and challenging their mental models, leaders may gain insights into alternative ways of leading and this reflection may result in action leading to greater effectiveness in their companies' ability to accomplish PTC. A methodology based on Chris Argyris' espoused theory and theory-in-use concepts can be used by external consultants to help leaders make their mental models explicit and open to their examination. This process allows leaders to challenge their mental models and to develop alternative actions and behaviors in effecting PTC. Research was conducted on four leaders of for-profit organizations. These companies varied in size, industry, and profitability. By conducting in-depth interviews with these leaders and their middle level managers, individual's mental models were analyzed and degrees of congruence between their espoused theories and their actual behaviors and actions were illuminated. It seems clear that mental models that stress a willingness to explore openly one's own thinking and behavior appears to result in leaders having greater choices of alternatives and selecting more appropriate strategies and actions in leading PTC. Little congruence seems to result in significantly reduced understanding leaders have about their actions and behaviors and leads to ineffective PTC.


With the increased planting of E. globulus monoculture plantations, concerns surround the impact these mass plantings will have on the soil environment and wider ecosystem. Soil and litter mites are the dominant saprophages of terrestrial ecosystems, contributing to decomposition processes through their comminution and grazing activities. Despite the importance of mites to decomposition processes, there have been no investigations to date of the litter and soil communities under these plantations within Australia. This study investigated the impact of Eucalyptus globulus subsp. globulus (Tasmanian blue gum) monoculture plantations on the diversity and abundance of the soil and litter acarine (mite) fauna. Mite communities under three 8 year-old E. globulus plantations sited on reclaimed pastureland were compared with an adjacent native E. marginata (jarrah) forest and a grazed pasture in the mediterranean-type region of southwest Western Australia. Sites were sampled in spring 1997 and new sites randomly selected in autumn 1998. Large seasonal variations in abundance and diversity were found between the sampling periods of spring 1997 and autumn 1998, influenced considerably by soil moisture. Species richness was consistently higher in both the soil and litter layers under native jarrah forest, with the E. globulus plantations intermediate in species richness between the native forest and grazed pasture. A total of 114 mite species/morphospecies was recognized; 16 Mesostigmata, 52 Prostigmata, 45 Oribatida (Cryptostigmata) and 1 Astigmata. Species diversity in the surface litter was higher under the native forest, reflecting the greater iii heterogeneity of the litter. Diversity in the underlying soil was similar for the native forest and E. globulus plantation, although there were considerable differences in species richness. Soil diversity in the pasture was very poor in comparison to the two forest systems, reflecting the absence of a litter layer and reduced niche dimensions. The monospecific E. globulus litter possibly reduced niche variety by simplifying the physical habitat and reducing the variety of resources available for the saprophagous fauna, of which the oribatid mites are a major component. Consequently, the number of families represented in the microphytophagous, phytophagous and predator functional groups under the E. globulus plantation may have been reduced. The most common oribatid families under the plantation were those often reported from disturbed habitats, Oppiidae and Tectocepheidae, and those common in many habitats, Oppiinae and Oppiellinae. An important management implication arising from this study is that these plantations would harbour a more diverse mite fauna if planted as a mixed tree stratum.


Media articles have promoted the view that cyclists are risk-takers who disregard traffic regulations, but little is known about the contribution of cyclist risk-taking behaviors to crashes. This study examines the role of traffic violations in the 6774 police-reported bicycle crashes in Queensland between January 2000 and December 2008. Of the 6328 crashes involving bicycles and motor vehicles, cyclists were deemed to be at fault in 44.4% of the incidents. When motorists were determined to be at-fault, 'failure to yield' violations accounted for three of the four most reported contributing factors. In crashes where the cyclist was at fault, attention and inexperience were the most frequent contributing factors. There were 67 collisions between bicycles and pedestrians, with the cyclist at fault in 65.7%. During the data period, 302 single-bicycle crashes were reported. The most frequent contributing factors were avoidance actions to miss another road user and inattention or negligence. Keywords Bicycle crashes, Traffic violations


Planar contact tunneling experiments have been performed on bulk superconducting tunneling junctions of YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7-δ in the temperature range 77 -295K. A clear depression in the conductance curves measured, attributed to the pseudogap, has been observed in temperatures above Tc (approx. 90K determined from dc resistivity measurements) before disappearing at T*=275K. The width of the pseudogap has been quantitatively measured as Dps, ave = 25.6meV from the differential conductance plots. These results agree with the current understanding of the phenomenology and nature of this pseudogap, namely: (I) the pseudogap value is relatively temperature-independent; (2) the superconducting gap and the pseudogap have the same d-wave nature; and (3) the superconducting gap evolves from the pseudogap.


Total Shoulder Arthroplasty is performed on patients to restore range of motion of the shoulder and decrease pain caused by osteoarthritis at the glenohumeral joint. The glenohumeral joint is a slightly unstable ball and socket joint, where muscles hold the humerus in contact with the glenoid, located on the scapula. Improper sizing or alignment of the implant can cause the surgery to fail to restore mobility to the shoulder or only restore mobility for a limited time. Additionally, placement of the glenoid implant on the scapula is complicated by the limited view available during surgery and the deformation of the glenoid caused by osteoarthritis. Implant designs must take into account the large amount of variability present in both intact and osteoarthritic joints. The purpose of this research is to provide a morphable glenoid representation for the scapula to assist with preoperative planning and implant design. CT scans of healthy and osteoarthritic glenoids were provided by Hershey Medical Center for this study. Principal component analysis and radial basis functions are used to represent a range of potential glenoid geometries, both with and without osteoarthritis. This parametric model can be used to guide the design and sizing of implants. This approach should be extensible to the modeling of other bony surfaces, which can improve both implant design and surgical procedure.Copyright © 2014 by ASME


Multi-mode embedded real-time systems exhibit a specific behavior for each mode and upon a mode-change request, the task-set and timing interfaces of the system need to be changed. Hierarchical Scheduling Framework (HSF) is a known technique to partition the CPU time into a number of hierarchically divided subsystems each consists of its own task set. We propose to implement a multi-mode system using a two-level HSF and provide a skeleton (framework) for an adaptive HSFs supporting multi-modes. Upon a mode-change request, the timing interface of each subsystem is changed, thus making the hierarchical scheduling adaptive in nature. We address the main goals for the implementation and describe the initial design details of the Multi-Mode Adaptive Hierarchical Scheduling Framework (MMAHSF) with the emphasis of doing minimal changes to the underlying kernel.


Face detection has primarily been a software-based effort. A hardware-based approach can provide significant speed-up over its software counterpart. Advances in transistor technol ogy have made it possible to produce larger and faster FPGAs at more affordable prices. Through VHDL and synthesis tools it is possible to rapidly develop a hardware-based so lution to face detection on an FPGA. This work analyzes and compares the performance of a feature-invariant face detection method implemented in software and an FPGA. The primary components of the face detec tor were a Bayesian classifier used to segment the image into skin and nonskin pixels, and a direct least square elliptical fitting technique to determine if the skin region's shape has elliptical characteristics similar to a face. The C++ implementation was benchmarked on several high performance workstations, while the VHDL implementation was synthesized for FPGAs from several Xilinx product lines. The face detector used to compare software and hardware performance had a modest correct detection rate of 48.6% and a false alarm rate of 29.7%. The elliptical-shape of the region was determined to be an inaccurate approach for filtering out non-face skin regions. The software-based face detector was capable of detecting faces within images of approximately 378x567 pixels or less at 20 frames per second on Pentium 4 and PentiumD systems. The FPGA-based implementation was capable of faster detection speeds; a speed up of 3.33 was seen on a Spartan 3 and 4.52 on a Virtex 4. The comparison shows that an FPGA-based face detector could provide a significant increase in computational speed.