Abstract Climate change during the late Quaternary has been implicated as the cause of both massive range shifts and extinction events. We combined molecular marker data and previously published fossil data to reconstruct the late Quaternary history of a grassland-dependent species, the black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes), and to determine whether populations from Pleistocene refugia in the Columbia Basin, eastern Beringia, and Great Plains persisted into the Holocene and Recent eras. Using DNA extracted from 97 museum specimens of extirpated populations, we amplified 309 bp of the mtDNA control region, and 8 microsatellite markers from the nuclear genome. Overall haplotype diversity from 309 base pairs (bp) of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region was low (5 haplotypes, nucleotide diversity = 0.001 ± 0.001 SD) and was contained within a single phylogenetic clade. The star phylogeny and unimodal mismatch distribution indicated that a rapid range expansion from a single Pleistocene refugium occurred. Microsatellite data corroborated this genetic pattern: populations from the mixed grasslands of the Great Plains had significantly higher expected heterozygosity and allelic richness than populations to the west (HE = 0.66 versus 0.41, AR = 4.3 versus 2.7, respectively), and 𝜰, a measure of relative population size, was substantially greater in the east than west (2.4 versus 0.7). We infer from these data that black-footed ferrets rapidly colonized western ecoregions in a stepwise fashion from the Great Plains to the intermountain regions of the Rocky Mountains and the Colorado Plateau after the last ice age. It appears that glacial retreat and global warming caused both range expansion and localized extinction in this North American mustelid species.


Recently, global food security has become a hot issue by the public in national as well as out of the country. Aquacultural output will need to be increased several fold in order to meet the rising demands for fish in coming years as the increasing of mankind population. The intensity and capacity of production is expected to increase using biotechnology approach. One of the advances biotechnologies that expected to be a powerful approach for aquaculture development is transgenic technique. This technique has been applied to several commercially valuable species. This review describes various techniques of gene transfer, persistence and expression of transferred gene, application and future aspect of gene transfer research in aquaculture.


The Council of Trent (1545--1563), the Catholic Church's attempt to put its house in order in response to the Protestant Reformation, has long been praised and blamed for things it never did. Now, in this first full one-volume history in modern times, John W. O'Malley brings to life the volatile issues that pushed several Holy Roman emperors, kings and queens of France, and five popes--and all of Europe with them--repeatedly to the brink of disaster. During the council's eighteen years, war and threat of war among the key players, as well as the Ottoman Turks' onslaught against Christendom, turned the council into a perilous enterprise. Its leaders declined to make a pronouncement on war against infidels, but Trent's most glaring and ironic silence was on the authority of the papacy itself. The popes, who reigned as Italian monarchs while serving as pastors, did everything in their power to keep papal reform out of the council's hands--and their power was considerable. O'Malley shows how the council pursued its contentious parallel agenda of reforming the Church while simultaneously asserting Catholic doctrine. Like What Happened at Vatican II, O'Malley's Trent: What Happened at the Council strips mythology from historical truth while providing a clear, concise, and fascinating account of a pivotal episode in Church history. In celebration of the 450th anniversary of the council's closing, it sets the record straight about the much misunderstood failures and achievements of this critical moment in European history.


Eduardo Kac's work represents a turning point. What it questions is our current attitudes to creativity, taking that word in its most fundamental sense. -Edward Lucie-Smith, author of Visual Arts in the 20th Century His works introduce a vital new meaning into what had been known as the creative process while at the same time investing the notion of the artist-inventor with an original social and ethical responsibility. -Frank Popper, author of Origins and Development of Kinetic Art Kac's radical approach to the creation and presentation of the body as a wet host for artificial memory and 'site-specific' work raises a variety of important questions that range from the status of memory in digital culture to the ethical dilemmas we are facing in the age of bioengineering and tracking technology. -Christiane Paul, Whitney Museum of Art For nearly two decades Eduardo Kac has been at the cutting edge of media art, first inventing early online artworks for the web and continuously developing new art forms that involve telecommunications and robotics as a new platform for art. Interest in telepresence, also known as telerobotics, exploded in the 1990s, and remains an important development in media art. Since that time, Kac has increasingly moved into the fields of biology and biotechnology. Telepresence and Bio Art is the first book to document the evolution of bio art and the aesthetic development of Kac, the creator of the artist's gene as well as the controversial glow-in-the-dark, genetically engineered rabbit Alba. Kac covers a broad range of topics within media art, including telecommunications media, interactive systems and the Internet, telematicsand robotics, and the contact between electronic art and biotechnology. Addressing emerging and complex topics, this book will be essential reading for anyone interested in contemporary art.


In recent years, there have been increasing requests in the field of translation studies to develop software facilitating the analysis of corpora. One of the specialized tools in that regard are Localization Tools. Briefly explaining, Localization Tools are applications developed to facilitate the process of altering software products and web services for marketing to people who speak different languages. While it has a long history and an established ground in translation market in most parts of the globe, the Iranian translators and translation market still seem to be unaware or unfamiliar with Localization Tools. In order to provide a preview on the perception and adoption of Localization Tools by Iranian translators, the present survey was carried out among 224 last-year undergraduate Iranian students of English translation at 10 different universities across the country. The study revealed a very low level of adoption and a very high level of willingness to get familiar with and learn about Localization Tools by Iranian translators.


This study investigates how Korean adults interpret and identify the referent of a null subject in a narrative text, given different types of topic continuity and person features. We have found that the first-person feature was most accessible in the weak topicality condition in resolving the null subjects, and that the target sentences ending with the first-person modal suffix '-lay' were read and responded to faster, and interpreted more correctly than other types of stimuli involving a third-person modal ('-tay') and a person-neutral modal ('-e'). Furthermore, of the two first-person-specific featured types, the null subjects in the topically weak contexts were processed significantly better than those in the topically strong conditions. It was argued that anaphoric dependency would be formed more discursively than morpho-syntactically in the strong discourse continuity contexts involving no extra processing load due to the shift among multiple eligible candidates. It was also argued that, in the absence of discourse topic assigned strongly to more than one eligible referent in advance, morpho-syntactic cues involved in verb modality are likely to become prominent in the mind of the processor. It is concluded that these main findings support a constraint-based approach, but not the Centering-inspired work.


One of the important potentials of multiprocessor systems is the ability to speed the completion of a computation by concurrently processing independent portions of the job. In this paper we consider the static scheduling of computations for a system containing two indentical processors. The object is to complete the computation in the minimum amount of time. A computation is assumed to be specified as a partially ordered set of tasks and the execution time for each task. A solution for the two-machine case with preemptive scheduling is presented.


Drawing on a global database of media articles, we quantitatively assess perceptions of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in different countries and regions. We find that the BRI is generally positively received. All regions as a whole, except South Asia, have a positive perception of the BRI, but there are marked differences at the country level, with some countries in all regions having very negative views. Interestingly, there is no significant difference in perceptions of the BRI between countries that officially participate in the BRI and those that do not. We also use our dataset of media articles to identify the topics that are most frequently associated with the BRI. The most common topics are trade and investment. Finally, we use regression analysis to identify how the frequency with which these topics are discussed in the news affects the perceptions of the BRI in different countries. We find that the more frequently trade is mentioned in the media, the more negative a country's perception of the BRI tends to be. On the other hand, while investment under the BRI seems also to attract attention in the media, it is not statistically relevant for countries' perceptions of the BRI.


Software developers require information to understand the characteristics of systems, such as complexity and maintainability. In order to further understand and determine characteristics of object-oriented (OO) systems, this paper describes research that identifies attributes that are valuable in determining the difficulty in implementing changes during maintenance, as well as the possible effects that such changes may produce. A set of metrics are proposed to quantify and measure these attributes. The proposed complexity metrics are used to determine the difficulty in implementing changes through the measurement of method complexity, method diversity, and complexity density. The paper establishes impact metrics to determine the potential effects of making changes to a class and dependence metrics that are used to measure the potential effects on a given class resulting from changes in other classes. The case study shows that the proposed metrics provide additional information not sufficiently provided by the related existing OO metrics. The metrics are also found to be useful in the investigation of large systems, correlating with project outcomes.


The need for reforming the delivery of healthcare services to accommodate the needs of modern societies is being experienced on a global scale. Government expenditure for the healthcare domain is increasing on a yearly basis (Bergamo, 2015). Population figures are growing with a reported increase of one billion people within the next 15 years, reaching 8.5 billion in 2030 (UN, 2015). Such a rapid increase in population is placing pressure on existing resources for healthcare (Keehan et al., 2015), thereby stressing the need for healthcare services to be reformed. Within the rapid rates of population growth, the fastest growing segment in the European population is the over 65 age group (Coale and Hoover, 2015), a group which utilises three to five times more healthcare services than their younger counterparts. Additionally, disease growth is on the increase as population rates incline. Despite the major progress in reducing death rates from various diseases, dramatic changes in global diseases have occurred whereby diseases have shifted to more lifestyle-related diseases (e.g. obesity, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, type 2 diabetes and heart disease). Issues such as expenditure, population and disease growth enhance the need to reform the delivery of healthcare services. It is recognised that Information Systems (IS) is a critical success factor in the achievement of health care reform goals (Heeks, 2006) as the general use of IS globally is a powerful driver for change across the healthcare industry. Advantages of successfully implementing IS within the healthcare domain are reported in literature. These include reduced time to diagnosis, improved access for patients to care, quality of life and patient satisfaction, enhanced healthcare provider decision making, increased accuracy in medical treatment and cost-savings (Bergamo, 2015). Hospital Information Systems (HIS) were the main and earliest use of IS in healthcare (Reichertz, 1975). Prior to 1960, electronic computers were not in general use in hospitals (Austin and Greene, 1978). From these early days HIS were defined as systems for "transmitting data among various personnel in different support units of the hospital" which ultimately seeks to "integrate all elements of information processing related to patient care into one system with a shared database" (Barnett and Zielstorff, 1974, p. 158). This definition of HIS has been used as a guide to defining the various eHealth technologies which subsequently emerged. However, since the 1970s HIS have evolved by incorporating other types of eHealth technologies, e.g. electronic medical records or electronic health records (EHR), electronic clinical decision support systems (CDSS), which has resulted in the varying definitions we observe in literature today. Building from this, the objective of this paper is to define and characterise the landscape of eHealth technologies from an Information Systems (IS) perspective. The next section defines and characterises the concept of electronic Health (eHealth). Yvonne O'Connor University College Cork, Ireland


Just as errors in sequential programs can lead to security exploits, errors in concurrent programs can lead to concurrency attacks. Questions such as whether these attacks are feasible and what characteristics they have remain largely unknown. In this paper, we present a preliminary study of concurrency attacks and the security implications of real world concurrency errors. Our study yields several interesting findings. For instance, we observe that the exploitability of a concurrency error depends on the duration of the timing window within which the error may occur. We further observe that attackers can increase this window through carefully crafted inputs. We also find that four out of five commonly used sequential defenses become unsafe when applied to concurrent programs. Based on our findings, we propose new defense directions and fixes to existing defenses.


Diffusion MRI is a well established imaging modality providing a powerful way to non-invasively probe the structure of the white matter. Despite the potential of the technique, the intrinsic long scan times of these sequences have hampered their use in clinical practice. For this reason, a wide variety of methods have been proposed to shorten acquisition times. [...] We here review a recent work where we propose to further exploit the versatility of compressed sensing and convex optimization with the aim to characterize the fiber orientation distribution sparsity more optimally. We re-formulate the spherical deconvolution problem as a constrained l0 minimization.


Given the increasing popularity of crowdsourced fundraisers, understanding how characteristics of funding initiatives and donors influence donations has critical real-world implications. Across two studies, we identified potential situational factors most conducive to successful crowdsourcing while also determining whether individual differences in various personality factors predicted differing levels of donation. Participants in Study 1 (MAge = 19.99; 309 women, 75 men) viewed descriptions that manipulated donation type (organizer donation, anonymous donation, no donation) and type of fundraiser (self-organized, other-organized), and reported their willingness to donate to an individual's medical treatment and completed inventories assessing Big Five personality traits. In Study 2 participants (MAge = 20.22; 322 women, 102 men) viewed vignettes describing fundraisers for an individual's vacation fun and completed inventories assessing participantslevels of narcissism using the Pathological Narcissism Inventory. Higher agreeableness in men predicted heightened donation interest, regardless of type of cause, particularly when someone else has already donated (Study 1). Unexpectedly, narcissistic men and women both reported heightened donation interest (Study 2). We frame these findings through a framework assessing the adaptive utility of altruism as a function of personality in modern donation contexts.


ABSTRACT Assembly of viral replicase complexes of eukaryotic positive-strand RNA viruses is a regulated process: multiple viral and host components must be assembled on intracellular membranes and ordered into quaternary complexes capable of synthesizing viral RNAs. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying this process are poorly understood. In this study, we used a model virus, Red clover necrotic mosaic virus (RCNMV), whose replicase complex can be detected readily as the 480-kDa functional protein complex. We found that host heat shock proteins Hsp70 and Hsp90 are required for RCNMV RNA replication and that they interact with p27, a virus-encoded component of the 480-kDa replicase complex, on the endoplasmic reticulum membrane. Using a cell-free viral translation/replication system in combination with specific inhibitors of Hsp70 and Hsp90, we found that inhibition of p27-Hsp70 interaction inhibits the formation of the 480-kDa complex but instead induces the accumulation of large complexes that are nonfunctional in viral RNA synthesis. In contrast, inhibition of p27-Hsp90 interaction did not induce such large complexes but rendered p27 incapable of binding to a specific viral RNA element, which is a critical step for the assembly of the 480-kDa replicase complex and viral RNA replication. Together, our results suggest that Hsp70 and Hsp90 regulate different steps in the assembly of the RCNMV replicase complex.


Using Mathematics Student Worksheet (LKS) which is made by teachers before hasn't been effective to help students in learning process. Therefore, the mathematics LKS needs to be developed to help students to find the concept themselves. Sequence and series material is important in mathematics at Vocational High School (SMK), and yet students still find difficulty to understand it. The aim of this development is to produce mathematics LKS based on contextual approach which is valid, practical and effective. This development research uses a formative evaluation model by Tjeerd Plomp. The subject of the research is the second year students of SMKN 6 Padang. Validation is done by experts / lecturers. The practicality of LKS is seen from the observation of the implementation of learning, practicality questionnaires, and interviews conducted with students and teachers. Effectiveness is seen from the results of activities and student learning outcomes.


This article describes a program developed to support Irish academic librarians writing for publication. While writing support programs for faculty are well established, this is the first formal writing program specifically for librarians in Ireland or the United Kingdom. The program comprises three elements: a one-day workshop, an optional peerfeedback day, and an academic writing blog. The one-day workshop focuses on the craft of writing, identifying appropriate publishing outlets, knowing audience and purpose, and developing the confidence to "put work out there." Participants are encouraged to attend a peer-feedback day to give and receive feedback on their work. The value of looking outside the literature of librarianship for publishing opportunities and for collaboration with colleagues is stressed. The benefits of writing support programs are identified and some American models are described. Guidelines for establishing writing support programs are offered.


When effort is observable to peers, students may act to avoid social penalties by conforming to prevailing norms. To test for such behavior, we conducted an experiment in which 11th grade students were offered complimentary access to an online SAT preparatory course. Signup sheets differed randomly across students (within classrooms) only in the extent to which they emphasized that the decision to enroll would be kept private from classmates. In non-honors classes, the signup rate was 11 percentage points lower when decisions to enroll were public rather than private. Sign up in honors classes was unaffected. To further isolate the role of peer pressure we examine students taking the same number of honors classes. The timing of our visits to each school will find some of these students in one of their honors classes and others in one of their non-honors classes; which they happen to be sitting in when we arrive to conduct our experiment should be (and, empirically, is) uncorrelated with student characteristics. When offered the course in a non-honors class, these students were 25 percentage points less likely to sign up if the decision was public rather than private. But if they were offered the course in one of their honors classes, they were 25 percentage points more likely to sign up when the decision was public. Thus, students are highly responsive to who their peers are and what the prevailing norm is when they make decisions.


Robotics is an engineering discipline that has much to offer astronomy. Although its application to planetary science is broadly appreciated, its potential for astronomy is not so widely known, We present a brief outline of some of the benefits of using robots in space-based astronomy. We hope to engage the astronomy community in demonstrating the capabilities of robotics and how this type of technology can be deployed to maximize the scientific return from space-based astronomy missions. We consider in particular the role of the European Robotic Arm (ERA) mounted on the International Space Station (ISS) in the proposed XEUS (X-ray Evolving Universe Spectroscopy) mission. We also consider other potential areas in which robotics can enhance astronomical technology. We submit that robotics will become increasingly important for astronomy as an observational discipline for future generations of astronomy platforms in space.


This paper seeks to test the Firm Technology Adoption Model (F-TAM) using data from a developing country context. The data for this current study were purposively collected from four hundred (400) SMEs in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. We used partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) for our data analysis. Data revealed that, whereas employee factors can lead to firm adoption, firm factors of adoption do not lead to firm adoption if societal factors, characteristics of the innovation, and employee factors do not moderate the relationship between firm factors and firm adoption. Data also reveals that societal factors do not lead to firm adoption if employee factors do not mediate it. The theoretical contribution of this study is that it challenges the dominant idea in most of the earlier models that firm adoption of innovation will be realized, without reference to factors at other levels of adoption. This positioning of the F-TAM model is a significant departure from earlier models. For industry practitioners, these findings illustrate the essence of putting a premium on recruiting technologically savvy employees if the firm intends to adopt digital technologies.


Internet gambling offers unique features that may facilitate the development or exacerbation of gambling disorders. Higher rates of disordered gambling have been found amongst Internet than with land-based gamblers; however little research has explored whether Internet disordered gamblers are a distinct subgroup. The current study compared problem with non-problem and at-risk Internet gamblers to understand further why some Internet gamblers experience gambling-related harms, using an online survey with a sample of 2799 Australian Internet gamblers. Problem gambling respondents were younger, less educated, had higher household debt, lost more money and gambled on a greater number of activities, and were more likely to use drugs while gambling than non-problem and at-risk gamblers. Problem gamblers had more irrational beliefs about gambling, were more likely to believe the harms of gambling to outweigh the benefits, that gambling is morally wrong and that all types of gambling should be illegal. For problem gamblers, Internet gambling poses unique problems related to electronic payment and constant availability, leading to disrupted sleeping and eating patterns. However, a significant proportion of Internet problem gambling respondents also had problems related to terrestrial gambling, highlighting the importance of considering overall gambling involvement when examining subgroups of gamblers. It is argued that policy makers should consider carefully how features of Internet gambling contribute to gambling disorders requiring the implementation of evidence-based responsible gambling strategies.


To present the decision maker's (DM) preferences in multicriteria decision problems as a partially ordered set is an effective method to catch the DM's purpose and avoid misleading results. Since our paper is focused on minimal path problems, we regard the ordered set of edges (E,=). Minimal paths are defined in repect to power-ordered sets which provides an essential tool to solve such problems. An algorithm to detect minimal paths on a multicriteria minimal path problem is presented


Upland rice bran is an abundant and valuable antioxidant by-product of rice milling. This study compares the content of γ-oryzanol, γ-tocopherol, and phytochemicals in rice bran oil from 4 varieties of upland rice; Dok-kham (DK), Dok-kha (D), Khem-ngen (KN), and Nang-dam (ND); with that of a conventional variety, Khao Dowk Mali 105 (MA). The extraction was done by shaking rice bran in ethanol in 250 ml flask with a rice bran to a solvent ratio of 1:5 (w/v) at 200 rpm (0.447g) and 30 °C in the dark for 30 min. The antioxidant capacity of the extracted oil was evaluated by several methods; DPPH, ferric reducing ability power, and ABTS·+ assays. The colour of upland rice bran oil was dark from its phenolic and flavonoid contents. The highest contents of γ-oryzanol and γ-tocopherol were found in the bran oil from KN. The highest phytochemical content was found in the bran oil from DK. DK provided the highest antioxidant activity among the varieties mentioned. The neuroprotective and neuritogenic effects of rice bran extracts were also evaluated. D and KN extracts were the best two neuroprotective and neuritogenic extracts because they had the highest contents of γ-oryzanol and colour pigments. Thus Thai rice bran oil has the potential to be an excellent food supplement product due to its high antioxidant contents.


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: The paper will examine the intersection between Sangh Parivar activities, Christianity, and indigenous religions in relation to the state of Nagaland. I will argue that the discourse of 'religion and culture' is used strategically by Sangh Parivar activists to assimilate disparate tribal groups and to envision a Hindu nation. In particular, I will show how Sangh activists attempt to encapsulate Christianity within the larger territorial and civilisational space of Hindutva (Hinduness). In this process, the idea of Hindutva is visualised as a nationalist concept, not a theocratic or religious one (Cohen 2002: 26). I will argue that the boundaries between Hindutva as cultural nationalism and its religious underpinnings are usefully maintained in the context of Nagaland because they allow Sangh activists to reconstitute the limits of Christianity and incorporate it into Hindu civilisation on their own terms.


General Abner Doubleday (1819--1893) is best known as the man who "invented" baseball, but his admirable service on behalf of the Union earned him a reputation as a solid commander and patriot. He saw action at Fort Sumter where he aimed the first gun fired against the rebellion; at Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville, where he lead the First and later the Third Divisions of the First Corps of the Army of the Potomac; and finally at Gettysburg, where he commanded the entire First Corps after the death of General Reynolds early in the morning of the first day. Facing powerful assaults from Confederates, the outnumbered First Corps fought, under Doubleday's calm leadership, a valiant holding action that culminated in high casualties, but gave General Meade the crucial time he needed to reinforce the battlefield. Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, originally commissioned as part of the landmark Campaigns of the Civil War series, provides stern judgements of Generals Meade and Howard; astute insights into other generals such as Hooker, Reynolds, and Sickle; and penetrating, minute-by-minute analyses by a leading participant of these two pivotal battles. Although the fierce resistance by the First Corps during the bloody late afternoon of July 1 never received its due praise, Doubleday's account of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg stands as a passionate, uncompromising tribute.


Abstract This paper presents empirical evidence on the validity of the Linder hypothesis in the case of Croatia. According to the Linder hypothesis, one of the new theories of international trade, countries with a similar level of income per capita should trade more. In order to investigate the trade pattern of Croatia's international trade, a panel regression model is formulated including 184 Croatia's import partner countries in the period from 2000 to 2016. The Linder effect was displayed and calculated using the Linder variable expressed as an absolute difference between GDP per capita of the importing and the exporting country. The cross-country panel regression model is estimated using Pooled OLS, Fixed and Random effects models. Results of the analysis have shown that the validity of the Linder hypothesis for Croatia cannot be accepted. Instead, the structure of Croatia's trade is in line with the gravity model of international trade.


Recognizing the mechanisms of speciation and the limits of species is essential to understand the origin of biodiversity and how to conserve it. The general aims of my investigations during my doctoral studies were two-fold: to study evolutionary patterns and processes, and to provide specific and superspecific taxonomic classifications that try to reflect evolutionary history. I have focused my research on anurans in their biodiversity hotspot, the American Tropics. I have used morphological, behavioral (mating calls), and genetic (DNA sequences) characters to study species boundaries between frogs of the genus Pristimantis and the family Centrolenidae (glassfrogs). The results show that the exclusive use of single lines of evidence or the application of arbitrary thresholds impair and bias our ability to recognize new species and limit the possibility to understand evolutionary processes. Only an integrative approach combining every source of evidence provides the necessary feedback to discover all species and test their identity by comparing independent sets of data. This approach further allows identifying those species that probably represent stable comparative units (well supported species hypotheses) and to flag taxa that require further assessment. Phylogenetic reconstructions based on seven nuclear and mitochondrial genes for about 100 species of glassfrogs revealed that previous hypotheses of relationships were mislead by rampant convergent evolution at the phenotypic level. None of the previously suggested classifications fit with the reconstructed evolutionary history. Consequently, we proposed a new classification consistent with this phylogeny. I also studied the tempo and mode of diversification among glassfrogs. Based on sequences from ten genes in 87 species, I estimated species divergence times, age-range correlation between sister species, and reconstructed ancestral areas and dispersal/vicariance events. The results revealed a complex model of diversification where geographical isolation seems to be the dominant scenario for speciation and only clades of altitudinal generalists have been able to spread across the Neotropical rainforests.


The pilumnid crab Pilumnus reticulatus Stimpson, 1860 is known to range from the Caribbean Sea to Argentina (Atlantic). It has also been recorded from the Pacific coast of Panama. Larvae of Pilumnus reticulatus from females collected in the mouth of the Rio de la Plata were reared in the laboratory from zoea I to megalopa. A reappraisal of larval characters is made by comparing the results of this present study with the previous descriptions of Montu et al. (1989) and with those from other Pilumnus species: P. dasypodus, P. sayi, P. vespertilio, P. hirtellus, P. kempi, P. scabriusculus and P. minutus .


Description: Skeletal injury operations are in general of high complexity and require extreme accuracy. That is why it seems practical that prior to a surgical intervention a geometric and mechanic model is prepared, which can be used to simulate various operational solutions. We present here a computerized system, which we call MedEdit, that helps the surgeon to plan the operation and with the use of a Finite Element Analysis (FEA) program the effects of the modifications can be measured or compared. Extensive work is done on the navigation module (MedNav) which helps the surgeon in the operating theatre to find the exact positions and angles during the insertion of implants.


Until now, philosophical debate about human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research has largely been limited to its ethical dimensions and implications. Although the importance and urgency of these ethical debates should not be underestimated, the almost undivided attention that mainstream and feminist philosophers have paid to the ethical dimensions of hESC research suggests that the only philosophically interesting questions and concerns about it are by and large ethical in nature. My argument goes some distance to challenge the assumption that ethical considerations alone must be foregrounded in philosophical discussions about hESC research by introducing a critical stance on the epistemological and ontological assumptions that underlie and condition it. A central aim of the paper is to show how Foucault's insights into knowledge-power, taken in combination with Hacking's claims about styles of reasoning, can make these assumptions evident, as well as cast light on their potentially deleterious implications for disabled people. Arguing in this way also enables me to draw out constitutive effects of research on stem cells, that is, to indicate how the discursive practices surrounding research on stem cells, as well as the technology itself, contribute to the constitution of impairment.


A significant effect of year on maize nutritive value has been reported in many studies; however, the direct effect of year on both nutritive values and fermentation traits of maize silage has not been directly investigated. During a 7-year period (2006–2012), we investigated the following variables of 597 maize silages commercially produced in bunker silos on farms in the Czech Republic: dry-matter content (DM), crude protein (CP), starch, amylase-treated neutral detergent fibre (aNDF), acid detergent fibre (ADF) and net energy lactation (NEL), as well as fermentation traits such as pH, contents of lactic acid (LA), acetic acid (AA), butyric acid (BA) and the ratio between LA and volatile fatty acids. The effect of year and DM explained 16 and 30% of the variability in nutritive and fermentation traits respectively. Although a common silage DM content was used for each year, the climatic effect of year significantly changed almost all tested variables, but particularly aNDF, ADF, starch, AA and BA. The year contribution to trait variability effect was as much as two times higher for fermentation traits (12·6%) as for nutritive value (6·1%). Temperature–precipitation relationships associated with achieved maize yield were considered as factors explaining the year effect. Temperature and precipitation averaged over the full vegetation period had low relevance to nutritive and fermentation traits. This study reveals the importance of year-to-year variation in silage nutritive value and fermentation, which could be useful for understanding the contribution of year to these changes in both field experiments and national assessments.


Beginning with the simple question, 'Why did audiences grow silent?' "Listening in Paris" gives a spectator's-eye view of opera and concert life from the Old Regime to the Romantic era, describing the transformation in musical experience from social event to profound aesthetic encounter. James H. Johnson recreates the experience of audiences during these rich decades with brio and wit. Woven into the narrative is an analysis of the political, musical, and aesthetic factors that produced more engaged listening. Johnson shows the gradual pacification of audiences from loud and unruly listeners to the attentive public we know today. Drawing from a wide range of sources - novels, memoirs, police files, personal correspondence, newspaper reviews, architectural plans, and the like - Johnson brings the performances to life: the hubbub of eighteenth-century opera, the exuberance of Revolutionary audiences, Napoleon's musical authoritarianism, the bourgeoisie's polite consideration. He singles out the music of Gluck, Haydn, Rossini, and Beethoven as especially important in forging new ways of hearing. This book's theoretical edge will appeal to cultural and intellectual historians in many fields and periods.


Goal 11 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) sets out to make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable by 2030. Together with the New Urban Agenda adopted at the Habitat III conference in Quito in 2016, SDG 11 is the latest emanation of the thickening layer of international normative guidance on questions of sustainable development and urban governance. This chapter argues that Goal 11 of the SDGs is a clear expression of the urban turn, as it were, in global governance. The contribution contextualizes the setting in which SDG 11 is inserted as well as the aspirations of Goal 11. The chapter also unearths the inherent contradictions of SDG 11 since not all of its sub-goals will be attainable at the same time and without negatively impacting on some of the other SDGs. For instance, the notions of 'safety' and 'inclusiveness' might well conflict with each other. The chapter concludes with a critical view on some of the general implementation risks and challenges associated with SDG 11.


Some years ago, flame methods of spectrochemical analysis were very popular. In recent years atomic absorption in flames has been extensively applied to the analysis of both industrial and geologic materials. Now the application of electrically heated tubes for evaporation and atomization of samples promises to provide the basis for even greater sensitivity and accuracy. In the furnace, we have an inert, nonturbulent, slow moving atmosphere with a controllable uniform temperature. The gas stream in the furnace is at a lower temperature than the walls. This tends to force suspended particles to the center where they evaporate and pass on into the light beam. It also tends to minimize or eliminate memory effects and matrix effects. The operation of the furnace is described and results are given for the analysis of samples containing diverse matrix elements.


South Africa's world revered democratic transition lies more than a decade in the past, a period long enough to evaluate past achievements and challenges. The study reported here provides a snapshot like view of poverty in a South African township. The results are based on a household survey using questionnaires. Two poverty lines (lower and upper bound) developed by Statistics South Africa were used to measure poverty in the area; R322 per capita per month as the "lower-bound" poverty line and R593 per person per month as the "upper-bound" poverty line. Of the sampled households, 50% where found to be poor using the lower bound poverty line, and 77% when using the upper bound poverty line. On average, poor households have an income shortage of 56% of their poverty line when using the lower bound poverty line. From a policy perspective, developing an economy involves efforts that seek to improve the economic wellbeing and quality of life of all its inhabitants. A considerable number of people in the area fail to have a decent standard of living. Information provided through the study is at the household level and aims at highlighting poverty trends among urban residents in South Africa.


A review with 61 refs. Microorganisms in aggregates such as flocs, film, and sludge do not only display biochem. and biol., but also phys. and physico-chem. properties. Among these are mech. stability, binding of water, diffusion, sorption, mass transport and optical properties, and friction resistance. These properties are chiefly caused by the extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) which fill the space between the cells and account for a considerable proportion of the org. carbon content of biofilms. The EPS consist not only of polysaccharides but also of considerable amts. of protein; nucleic acids and lipids are also found in the EPS. Above all, the EPS form the morphol. and internal structure of biofilms, including surface pores and channels. The EPS provide a matrix which allows the cells to maintain their position for a much longer period of time compared to the planktonic mode. This facilitates the formation of synergistic microconsortia of different species which can perform orchestrated degrdn. processes. Mech. stability of biofilms includes aspects such as sloughing of the biomass in biofilm reactors, resulting in possibly adverse effects to the process. On the other hand, when biofilms have to be removed as biofouling layers, it is the cohesive and adhesive forces which have to be overcome. Three types of weak interactions have to be considered, viz. hydrogen bonds, electrostatic interactions, and van der Waals interactions. As EPS contain many groups capable of different forms of these interactions, the binding force between macromols. is multiplied by the no. of interacting groups, which increases the overall binding force by several orders of magnitude. Interactions between extracellular enzymes and polysaccharides are known which stabilize the enzymes and possibly enhance their activity.


Right now Britney Spears is the most popular southerner in the world. She has enjoyed chart success like almost no other artist from this most fertile of musical regions: her first album went twelve times platinum, and her second release sold 1.3 million copies during its first week. By now it's gone nine times platinum, and it stayed on the Billboard charts for more than forty weeks. The Louisiana native has appeared in concerts from England to Japan; her second album topped the charts in the United States, Canada, Japan, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, France, Greece, Belgium, Sweden, and Norway; and her face has charmed us at grocery story check-outs on the covers of Elle, Cosmopolitan, People and Teen People, YM, Glamour, Forbes, GQ, TV Guide, Us Weekly, Rolling Stone, Allure, and innumerable teen magazines. She appeared in the 2001 Super Bowl halftime show, cohosted the 2001 American Music Awards, had her own television special from Hawaii, and last year made over $200 million. According to one survey of the Web's most used portals, her name was typed in more than 133 million times, making her the most searched-for celebrity on the Internet. Whether we like her music or not, any figure who can inspire criticism spanning from semi-literate rages, like "britney is a fat ugly puke!" to high-toned discourse, like "feminist and Lacanian theory allows us to see [Britney's] entrance into the Symbolic and the problems thereof," demands our attention. There's no escaping this daughter of Dixie. Skeptics might doubt her claims to the region. After all, she lived part of her life in Orlando and, even more damning, spent some formative years in New York City. Yet both Britney's fans and detractors assume she's met the residency requirement. "I'm convinced she's an inbred hick," writes one Britney-hater on an Internet chat site, while another declares, "Well, what can you expect from her parents? (in a southern Hick accent) `Gosh golly, ma dawters so a purrrty (Isa bees fangkin' cousin Henry for the inbred genes) ... HYuk Hyuk! *snort*!'" "Britney Spears," writes one who intends to succinctly dismiss the whole matter, "herself is from Louisiana, she is a hillbilly." Admirers swiftly counter such criticisms with an equally powerful southern icon: "i'm glad to see," one male writes gallantly, "that some people still see her as the angelic, southern belle she is." The popular biographies aimed at her fans join the chorus, paying homage to what one calls Britney's "sweet Southern Miss" image. Britney herself pledges fealty to her southern heritage by telling the world "I'm just a Louisiana girl" and by liberally sprinkling her autobiography with "y'all." Thus, for those who post on the innumerable Britney Spears message boards, for the authors of popular biographies, and for Britney herself, the South is a central part of understanding just what the Britney Spears phenomenon is about. We cannot fully appreciate her hold on American popular culture without acknowledging her skill at playing upon a national fascination with southern white femininity. A native of Kentwood, Louisiana, Britney Spears was born on December 2, 1981. Her hometown, which sits in Tangipahoa Parish clutching the Mississippi border, boasts roughly 2,500 residents. Britney began performing as a very young girl, winning an appearance on "Star Search" in 1990, appearing off-Broadway in 1991, and snagging the Miss Talent, USA crown in 1992. The following year she began a two-year stint on the newly revived "Mickey Mouse Club." When the Disney Channel canceled the show, she returned to Kentwood anticipating living like other teenagers. Bitten by the show-biz bug, however, she remembers that she "wasn't happy just hanging around at home. I wanted to see the world and make music and do all these wonderful things?" She returned to New York City and swiftly landed a recording contract in 1996 with Jive records. Her first album and first single--"Baby One More Time"--stunned the music world by becoming the first album-single combination to both reach number one in their first week of release. …


This paper assesses the development and potential of forums in progressing sustainable development within Britain. The example of Cardigan Bay Forum is used to assess how one Forum's approach has contributed to sustainable management and development outcomes. The proliferation of forums is visible in all organisational activities and initiatives. However, their presence raises certain questions as to their role and overall value in resource management debates. Who should a forum represent? What should forums achieve? How should success of a forum be measured? In many ways these questions have not been fully considered in the literature, and with the increasing proliferation of forums generally, there is an inherent danger that they serve as nothing more than talking shops, duplicating existing statutory organisational networks and information whilst reducing strategic and complex issues to localised interests and problems. Cardigan Bay Forum has endorsed the principles of sustainable development in its activities; moving unsteadily from a talking and information service to an organisation with a more pro-active and potentially management based role. This progression provides important lessons and perhaps a model for wider application in forum evaluation. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. and ERP Environment


Aim I tested the hypothesis that Uniola paniculata populations are divided into eastern and western lineages, with the southern tip of Florida possibly acting as the primary geographic break, as is the case in co-distributed animal taxa.

Results I found four cpDNA haplotypes and two major lineages: eastern (Atlantic Coast) and western (Gulf Coast). The eastern lineage is ancestral to the western lineage, and the phylogeographic break separating the two occurs at the southern tip of Florida.

Main conclusions The phylogeographic analysis suggests that U. paniculata populations survived the last glacial maximum (LGM) in refugia in southern Florida (including the Keys) and the Bahamas, and possibly in other locations, including Cuba, Texas and the Gulf Coast of Mexico. Following the LGM, a combination of vicariance and dispersal explains the current distribution of haplotypes into an eastern and western lineage. There are seven populations that contain a haplotype that is not in its native range; at least five of these populations are very likely explained by human-mediated transplantation. The phylogeographical pattern observed in U. paniculata is concordant with co-distributed animal taxa that experience a maritime discontinuity at the southern tip of Florida.


The Bankruptcy of insurance companies compared to companies in other industries can have a more devastating impact on the customers of this industry and on society as a whole; because the insurance company's bankruptcy is equal to the risk of the economic presence of the insurer and third parties. Severe outcomes of insurance company's bankruptcy have made financial monitoring institutions to design systems for evaluation and supervision of insurance companies' solvency in order to reduce bankruptcy risk of these companies. Inappropriate design of these systems may transmit incorrect signals to the insurance companies, lawmakers, and insurers and would have irreversible effects.  Thus, the current research aims at prioritizing different solvency monitoring systems of Iran Insurance Company using Analytic Network Process (ANP).  This is an applied research in terms of purpose, and it is descriptive - analytical research in terms of data collection method. The identified indexes for evaluation and monitoring the insurance companies' solvency include the quantitative computational aspects, flexibility, and qualitative aspects. Following data collection using the network analysis software, which was used for advanced hierarchy analysis and DEMATEL, which was used for ranking qualitative, quantitative aspects, and flexibility, it is concluded that the quantitative computational index has the highest impact, and the qualitative index has the lowest impact on the solvency of Iran Insurance Company.


G. Attaran-Fariman, M.F. de Salas, A.P. Negri and C.J.S. Bolch. 2007. Morphology and phylogeny of Gymnodinium trapeziforme sp. nov. (Dinophyceae): a new dinoflagellate from the southeast coast of Iran that forms microreticulate resting cysts. Phycologia 46: 644–656. DOI: 10.2216/07-05.1 A new gymnodinioid dinoflagellate, Gymnodinium trapeziforme sp. nov. is described from laboratory cultures established by germination of microreticulate resting cysts collected along the southeast coast of Iran bordering the northern Oman Sea. The vegetative cells are small, biconical to ovoid, with a horseshoe-shaped apical groove that encircles the apex in an anticlockwise direction. Cells have a large tear-shaped nucleus positioned in the right side of the cell that extends from the epicone to the hypocone. Cells of G. trapeziforme can be clearly differentiated from the three other microreticulate cyst-forming gymnodinioids, Gymnodinium catenatum, Gymnodinium nolleri, and Gymnodinium microreticulatum by the shape and position of the nucleus. Cultures established from resting cysts do not produce detectable saxitoxin. The resting cysts of G. trapeziforme are unique in being cubic-trapezoidal in shape with a cyst wall colour that is pale purple-brown, most similar in colour to cysts of G. microreticulatum Bolch & Hallegraeff. Comparisons of partial large subunit ribosomal RNA gene sequences demonstrate that G. trapeziforme is allied with, but distinct from (> 12.4% sequence divergence) the other microreticulate cyst-forming gymnodinioid species.


The recent proliferation of wearable self-tracking devices intended to regulate and measure the body has brought contingent questions of controlling, accessing and interpreting personal data. Given a socio-technical context in which individuals are no longer the most authoritative source on data about themselves, wearable self-tracking technologies reflect the simultaneous commodification and knowledge-making that occurs between data and bodies. In this article, we look specifically at wearable, self-tracking devices in order to set up an analytical comparison with a key historical predecessor, the weight scale. By taking two distinct cases of self-tracking – wearables and the weight scale – we can situate current discourses of big data within a historical framing of self-measurement and human subjectivity. While the advertising promises of both the weight scale and the wearable device emphasize self-knowledge and control through external measurement, the use of wearable data by multiple agents and institutions results in a lack of control over data by the user. In the production of self-knowledge, the wearable device is also making the user known to others, in a range of ways that can be both skewed and inaccurate. We look at the tensions surrounding these devices for questions of agency, practices of the body, and the use of wearable data by courtrooms and data science to enforce particular kinds of social and individual discipline.


It has been suggested that child L1 learners overuse the definite article in indefinite contexts due to maturational/pragmatic factors such as egocentricity and an inability to differentiate common ground contexts from speaker beliefs-only contexts (Maratsos 1976; Schaeffer & Matthewson 2005). Knowledge of semantic features such as specificity and definiteness is also implicated in L1 learners' (in)correct article use (Ionin et al. 2004; 2009). In the context of child bilingualism, on the other hand, difficulties in acquisition of articles are expected to be doubled when one of the languages of the child does not have a corresponding article system. To address these issues and to identify parallels between monolingual and bilingual language acquisition, we examine the use of English articles by a Serbo-Croatian-English simultaneous bilingual child and two monolingual English-speaking children. The results reveal qualitative and quantitative differences between monolingual and bilingual children's use of English articles, possibly due to the influence of Serbo-Croatian (an article-less language). The findings suggest that in simultaneous child bilingualism, cross-linguistic transfer overrides maturational/pragmatic or semantic factors that are tied to incorrect article use (cf. Zdorenko & Paradis 2008).


Abstract. Erosion on roadcuts is a concern due to the potential of causing environmental degradation, which has significant economic costs. It is therefore critical to understand the relationship between roadcut characteristics and soil erosion for designing roadcuts that are less vulnerable to erosion and to help road rehabilitation works. This study investigated the characteristics (i.e. gradient, length, percentage of vegetation cover and soil texture) of degraded (i.e. with rills) and non-degraded roadcuts (i.e. without rills) and explored the relationship of the roadcut characteristics with the dimensions (widths and depths) of the rills. Degraded roadcuts were steep (52.21°), long (10.70 m) and had a low percentage of vegetation cover (24.12) when compared to non-degraded roadcuts which had a gradient of 28.24°, length of 6.38 m and 91.7% of vegetation cover. Moreover, the gradient and percentage of vegetation cover of the roadcut significantly determine the rill dimensions. The widths and depths of the rills increase with the increase in slope gradient and decrease with an increase in percentage of vegetation cover. Moreover, the widths and depths of the rills decreased downslope of the roadcuts. Based on these results, re-vegetation of roadcuts as well as construction of gentle gradients could minimise rill erosion and hence the negative on-site and off-site effects.


In this paper, we propose a modeling tool named Queueing Colored Petri nets (QCPN) for performance evaluation and scheduling for wafer fabrication. The main idea of this tool is to combine colored timed Petri nets with the queueing systems, and it aims to make simulation over the model more efficient. Due to the wide acceptance of priority rules in the wafer manufacturing industry, we also proposed a mechanism to realize priority rules in the QCPN models. Since it is known that no single rule can dominate in any circumstance, we proposed a genetic algorithm (GA) to search for the optimal combination of a number of priority rules based on the status and performance measures of the fab. Our approach can be considered as taking the advantage of the lot execution sequence generated by priority rules to guide the search. This approach can reduce the solution space and help us find the good solution more quickly. In addition, the QCPN-based GA scheduler can greatly reduce the computation time so that this GA scheduler can meet the need for a rapidly changing environment. Note to Practitioners-Performance evaluation and scheduling are two functions required by fab managers and engineers. This paper proposed a tool which consists of a simulator and a scheduler. By connecting to the Manufacturing Execution System (MES) and providing the scheduling rules, we can see how the fab runs virtually with the simulator. General information such as throughput and average cycle time and specific information like lot activity history can be obtained. This can be used for decision making, delivery prediction, bottleneck seeking, and testing of newly developed heurisitcs. The implementation cost is only on data communication between the MES and the simulator and the incorporation of rule modules. The scheduler, which takes the simulator as the performance evaluation module, can generate the suitable scheduling rule based on the current fab status, preference of performance criteria, and rule candidates. There is almost no extra cost after the simulator is connected to the MES. The scheduler can be easily made faster by common parallelization techniques.


This paper investigates the relationship between rate-distortion theory and efficient content-based data retrieval from high-dimensional databases. We consider database design as the encoding of a data object sequence, and retrieval from the database as the decoding of the sequence using side information (i.e., the query) available only at the decoder. We show that, in this setting, the optimal asymptotic tradeoff between the search time R/sub s/ (bits per data object read from the storage device) and the expected search accuracy D/sub s/ (relevance of the retrieved data set) is given by the Wyner-Ziv solution with a side-information-dependent distortion measure. Moreover, the data indexing and retrieval problem is, in general, inseparable from the data compression problem. Data items selected by the search procedure, which can be stored in the disk with a limited total rate of R/sub r/ /spl ges/ R/sub s/, need to be presented at a prescribed expected reconstruction quality D/sub r/. This is, hence, a problem of scalable source coding or successive refinement, albeit with differing layer distortion measures to quantify search and reconstruction quality, respectively. We derive a single-letter characterization of all achievable quadruples {R/sub s/,R/sub r/,D/sub s/,D/sub r/}, and prove conditions for "successive refinability" without rate loss. Finally, we show that the special case D/sub s/=D/sub r/=0 is nontrivial and of practical interest in this context, as it can impose "acceptable" search and reconstruction qualities for each individual data item and for the entire query space with high probability, in contradistinction with standard average distortion requirements. The region of achievable {R/sub s/,R/sub r/} is obtained by adapting Rimoldi's characterization to a new regular scalable coding problem.


The role played by the composite analogue of the log likelihood ratio in hypothesis testing and in setting confidence regions is not as prominent as it is in the canonical likelihood setting, since its asymptotic distribution depends on the unknown parameter. Approximate pivots based on the composite log likelihood ratio can be derived by using asymptotic arguments. However, the actual distribution of such pivots may differ considerably from the asymptotic reference, leading to tests and confidence regions whose levels are distant from the nominal ones. The use of bootstrap rather than asymptotic distributions in the composite likelihood framework is explored. Prepivoted tests and confidence sets based on a suitable statistic turn out to be accurate and computationally appealing inferential tools.


Objectives: There is scarce knowledge regarding the influence of a natural mediotrusive contact on mandibular and cervical muscular activity. The purpose of this study was to analyze the EMG activity of the anterior temporalis (AT) and sternocleidomastoid (SCM) muscles during awake grinding in healthy subjects with or without a natural mediotrusive occlusal contact. Method: Fifteen subjects with natural mediotrusive occlusal contact (Group 1) and 15 subjects without natural mediotrusive occlusal contact (Group 2) participated. Bilateral surface EMG activity of AT and SCM muscles was recorded during unilateral eccentric or concentric tooth grinding tasks. EMG activity was normalized against the activity recorded during maximal voluntary clenching in intercuspal position (IP) for AT muscles and during maximal intentional isometric head-neck rotation to each side, for SCM muscles. Results: EMG activity of AT and SCM muscles showed no statistical difference between groups. EMG activity of AT muscle was higher in the working side (WS) than in the non-WS (NWS) in Group 1 during concentric grinding (0.492 vs 0.331, p = 0.047), whereas no difference was observed in Group 2. EMG activity of SCM was similar between working and NWSs in both groups and tasks. Asymmetry indexes (AIs) were not significantly different between groups. Discussion: These findings in healthy subjects support the assumption that during awake tooth grinding, central nerve control predominates over peripheral inputs, and reinforce the idea of a functional link between the motor-neuron pools that control jaw and neck muscles.


Author(s): Hoffman, IM; Goldman, CA; Murphy, S; Frick, NA; Leventis, G; Schwartz, LC | Abstract: The average cost to utilities to save a kilowatt-hour (kWh) in the United States is 2.5 cents, according to the most comprehensive assessment to date of the cost performance of energy efficiency programs funded by electricity customers. These costs are similar to those documented earlier.Cost-effective efficiency programs help ensure electricity system reliability at the most affordable cost as part of utility planning and implementation activities for resource adequacy.Building on prior studies, Berkeley Lab analyzed the cost performance of 8,790 electricity efficiency programs between 2009 and 2015 for 116 investor-owned utilities and other program administrators in 41 states. The Berkeley Lab database includes programs representing about three-quarters of total spending on electricity efficiency programs in the United States.


In-depth longitudinal case studies have the tremendous potential of answering the long-standing question of ultimate attainment in second language (L2) acquisition (Hyltenstam & Abrahamsson 2003). However, there are very few such studies, particularly focusing on tense, aspect, mood/modality (TAM) with the notable exception of the longitudinal case study of Patty, a Chinese adult immigrant learner of English (Lardiere 2007). This chapter focuses on the post-puberty L2 acquisition of French in an instructed setting of Billy, an anglophone learner. Qualitative analyses of written data elicited over a three year period will allow us to address the following research questions: (a) can an instructed learner build a native-like TAM system?; (b) where does present indicative and subjunctive alternation fit in the learner's TAM system?; (c) is the instructed setting of a foreign language classroom sufficient to achieve ultimate attainment (Billy has never been abroad in a French-speaking country)? Findings show that Billy consistently marks tense and contrasts various temporalities, suggesting that his L2 acquisition of French is successful, but with a task effect betraying a not yet complete acquisition of subtle temporal distinctions.


Water resources is a crucial environmental good for the function of the human societies and the ecosystems. Moreover, water is an important input for the economy and an indispensable factor for economic growth. Especially in regions that are facing water scarcity, the adoption of water management policies and approaches fostering the sustainable use of resources while promoting economic growth becomes an emerging issue. The Mediterranean region is one of the most vulnerable regions regarding the availability of water resources due to climate change and human activities. The Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus offers an integrated approach analyzing the synergies and trade-offs between the different sectors in order to maximize the efficiency of using the resources, whereas adapting optimum policies and institutional arrangements. The Mediterranean is a region where we observe a large spectrum of issues emanating from water pollution and natural resource degradation to water scarcity, large amounts of food loss and waste and increasing demand for energy and food. Agricultural practices, urban development, demand management for water, and protection of ecosystems, particularly aquatic ecosystems, are areas of particular intervention available to the decision-makers in enhancing availability of water for the various water using sectors. In this context, the current policy note paper aims to address a major issue: how can the implementation of the WEF Nexus support the economic growth in the Mediterranean? Based on the outcome of an experts and stakeholders regional workshop, this paper presents the current status, including the opportunities and the practices of applying the WEF Nexus in the Mediterranean and draws specific recommendations for the way forward. Regarding the later, the strengthening of WEF Nexus in the Mediterranean requires a set of interventions to strengthen the institutional capacities, to enhance the finance mechanisms, to support the intra-regional dialogue as well, to enhance data collection and management, as well as to implement economic instruments and integrated economic approaches to measure the impact of Nexus into economy and employment.


The influence of variability of atmospheric parameters on short- and long-term changes of spectral UV irradiance measured at the Sonnblick observatory (47.03° N, 12.57° E, 3106 m) during the period from 1994 to 2006 is studied. Measurements were performed with the Brewer #093 single-monochromator spectrophotometer and with a Bentham DM 150 spectroradiometer (double-monochromator). The influence of ozone, albedo, snowline and clouds on UV variability is evaluated for each parameter separately using 10-year climatology. It is found that the effect of total ozone on short-term variability of UV irradiance at 305 nm can be more than 200% and on average more than 50%. Clouds can cause variability of 150% or more and on average 35%. Variability caused by albedo reaches a maximum of 32% in April (6% on average). In summer and autumn, total ozone and clouds strongly influence the variability of UV radiation, whereas in winter and spring ozone has the more pronounced effect. A decrease in snowline height from 3000 m to 800 m a.s.l. enhances the UV irradiance by a factor of 1.24 for clear sky conditions and by a factor of 1.7 for 8/8 cloud cover. Long-term trends are investigated for the time period from 1994 to 2006 based on clear-sky measurements, using the non-parametric Mann-Kendall trend test. Significant downward trends (99% confidence level) are found for solar zenith angle 55° at wavelengths from 305 nm to 324 nm and erythemally weighted irradiance according to CIE, which are caused by an increase in sunshine duration during periods of high total column ozone. Significant trends (90% confidence level) were also found for other combinations of wavelength and SZA.


Forty-nine compounds were tested in vitro for fungicidal activity against hyphae of the fish-pathogenic Oomycete fungus, Aphanomyces invadans. These comprised: (a) chemicals with previous reported activity against Oomycete fungi; (b) chemicals in use in Asia to treat ulcerative disease outbreaks; (c) commercial biocides and fungicides; (d) natural products with potential antimicrobial activity; and (e) surfactants tested separately and in combination with some of the above treatments. No compounds tested proved as effective as malachite green, but some low-toxicity natural compounds and particular surfactants showed potential for further studies. Some compounds that are currently in use in Asian aquaculture were shown to have no effect on A. invadans hyphae at recommended treatment rates. A range of compounds that demonstrated activity against the mycelium were selected for further testing in a zoospore motility assay. Lower treatment concentrations were required to inhibit zoospore motility than were required to inhibit hyphal growth. Zoospore activity ceased within 1 h of exposure to 2.5 parts per million (p.p.m.) coconut diethanol- amide; 1.25 p.p.m. propolis + 0.5 p.p.m. 13/6.5; 5 p.p.m. neem (Azadirachta siamensis) seed extract + 0.01 p.p.m. OP10; 20 p.p.m. tea tree (Melaleuca alternifloria) oil; and 25 p.p.m. D-limonene + 0.05 p.p.m. E-Z-MulseTM. The treated spores were shown to be non-viable in culture medium. Selected compounds were further tested for ability to inhibit zoospore production by A. invadans mycelium over a 72-h period. In toxicity trials, silver barb, Barbodes gonionotus (Bleeker), exposed to 2.5 p.p.m. coconut diethanolamide; 2.5 p.p.m. OP10; 0.5 p.p.m. E-Z-MulseTM; 20 p.p.m. neem seed extract + 0.5 p.p.m. OP10; and 5 p.p.m. D-limonene + 0.5 p.p.m. E-Z-MulseTM suffered no mortalities and no obvious behavioural changes. Similarly, rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss (Walbaum), exposed to 25 p.p.m. propolis + 1 p.p.m. OP10; 10 p.p.m. neem seed extract + 0.01 p.p.m. 13/6.5; and 10 p.p.m. D-limonene + 0.01 p.p.m. OP10 suffered no mortalities and no obvious behavioural changes.


Many problems can occur during childbirth which may lead to instant or future
morbidity and even mortality. Therefore the computer-based simulation of the
mechanisms and biomechanics of human childbirth is becoming an increasingly
important area of study, to avoid potential trauma to the baby and the mother
throughout, and immediately following, the childbirth process. Computer-based
numerical methods, such as the Finite Element Method, have become more
widespread to simulate biological phenomena over the last two decades or so.
One of the important aspects of such methods is them being able to accurately
model the underlying physics and biomechanics of biological processes. In the
case of the childbirth process, an important role is played by the fetal head and
its motion as it is being born. The most important manifestations of the head's
motion are described as the cardinal movements. Being able to model the cardinal
movements in a computer-based model of the human childbirth process is compulsory as they occur in almost every normal delivery. Many existing simulations
use reverse-engineered approaches to model the cardinal movements by imposing
pre-defined trajectories that approximate a real childbirth. These approaches lack
physical accuracy and are unable to extend the simulation to unseen scenarios
where for example the childbirth process does not develop normally. To create
a simulation software capable of simulating realistic, including unseen, scenarios,
and which does not make any pre-simulation assumptions about the cardinal
movements, a physical and forward-engineered approach in which the motions of
the head are determined by the underlying physics, is required.
This thesis presents a simulation system where the physical behaviour of the
fetal head is modelled during the second stage of childbirth. Accurate models
of the fetal head and trunk, the maternal uterine cervix, bony pelvis and pelvic
floor muscles, were created. Some of these are considered to be rigid bodies in
the simulation (fetal head, trunk and maternal bony pelvis), whereas others are
considered to be deformable (maternal uterine cervix and pelvic floor muscles.
The Finite Element Method (FEM) is used to model the deformable tissues by
implementing the Total Lagrangian Explicit Dynamics (TLED) approach on the
GPU. The combined TLED/contact mechanics method was first tested on simple hyperelastic objects. Following successful validation, the interaction between the
fetal head and the deformable tissues was evaluated using a projection based
contact method in conjunction with TLED.
Several experiments had to be done to find the required set of factors contributing
to the occurrence of the cardinal movements. These steps are reported
in the thesis as well as the results of the final experiments which do exhibit the
key cardinal movements of a normal childbirth process, marking the successful,
and key, contribution of this thesis.
The GPU based acceleration allows running the simulation in near real-time,
which makes it possible to create interactive simulations for training purposes
of trainee obstetricians and midwives. The simulation system presented in this
work is also the first step towards a fully patient specific system that would allow
clinicians to diagnose and/or predict adverse scenarios of childbirth based on the
MRI scans of real pregnancies prior to labour.


Producers or consumers faced with an increase in taxes are usually able to shift parts of it to other levels in the value chain. We examine who are actually bearing the burden of increased taxes on natural gas in the EU-area - consumers or exporters. Strategic trade policy and cross-border consumer tax shifting are of particular interest, as the EU-area increasingly is a net importer of gas. Traditional tax incidence theory presumes spot markets. Natural gas in the EU-area, however, is to a large extent regulated by incomplete long-term contracts. Still, spot market forces could be indicative for tax shifting, by determining the ex post bargaining power in contract renegotiations. By examining tax shifting in gas sales data we test whether this is the case. To investigate tax incidence, we estimate natural gas demand elasticities for the household sector in EU countries as well as a reduced form import equation. We test whether gas import prices, which are predominantly determined by long-term contracts, have been influenced by end-user tax shifts.


The primary purpose of this article is to obtain from the general relativity form of the energy-momentum principle certain new consequences which are needed for later work that the author has in mind. In addition, it is the intention to give at the same time a somewhat comprehensive and coherent treatment of the principle and its consequences, which it is hoped will increase the confidence and facility of physicists in the use of this important part of the general theory of relativity. In carrying out the investigation, it has seemed desirable for English readers, to take Eddington's "Mathematical Theory of Relativity" as a starting point, and this has incidentally led to a new form of deduction for certain consequences of the energy-momentum principle that were already known.

After presenting the energy-momentum principle in the form discovered by Einstein and showing its application to the case of the conservation of energy in an isolated system, an important expression is derived which gives the total densities of energy and momentum in the form of a divergence. This expression is equivalent to one previously obtained by Einstein but on account of the starting point adopted is derived and expressed in terms of the quantities gμν and gαμν instead of the gμν and gαμν. Following this, the limiting values at large distances from an isolated material system are obtained for the quantities gαβ∂L/∂gγαβ and gα4∂L/∂gγα4. These values, which have considerable use, have not previously received explicit expression. This is followed by a deduction from our present starting point of Einstein's famous relation U=m between the energy and gravitational producing mass of an isolated system. An important expression is then obtained which gives the energy of a quasi-static isolated system in the form of an integral which has to be extended only over the portion of space actually occupied by matter or radiation. This expression has not previously received a satisfactory derivation. The result is used to obtain an expression for the energy of a spherical distribution of a perfect fluid, and it is then shown that this expression, in the case of a sphere of ordinary material, approaches in a sufficiently weak field to the classical expression for energy including the potential gravitational energy. This result is not only intrinsically useful, but also shows for a particular case that a higher order of approximation to the general relativity value for total energy is obtained by including the classical gravitational energy than by going at once to flat space-time as is often done. Finally, a general consideration is given to the problem of determining the conditions imposed on those changes from one static state to another which could occur in a non-isolated system forming part of a larger static system, without changing the distribution of matter and radiation outside the boundary and without contravening the energy-momentum principle as applied to the system as a whole.


The aim of a burden calculation in the blast furnace process is to compute the amounts of burden materials to be charged for obtaining desired hot-metal and slag composition. Burden calculations are normally based on trial-and-error instead of optimisation. In this study, the use of an optimisation model for a typical blast furnace operation is presented. The yield factors of some components, such as Mn, Si, S, P and V, used in the model have been determined. The more common distribution coefficients have also been studied. Both the yield factor and distribution coefficient values were generally good and showed stable behaviour for repeated periods under similar operational conditions. In this study, the model was found to be an excellent tool for determining burden material amounts and hot-metal and slag compositions for a blast furnace under steady and normal operation conditions. Using an optimising burden calculation model is time efficient, because it demands only 1 calculation procedure instead of a couple calculations as in the case with a trial-and-error method.


The homodimer formed by the protein S100A9 induces inflammation through Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), playing critical roles in both healthy and pathological innate immune responses. The molecular mechanism by which S100A9 activates TLR4 remains unknown. Previously, the interaction between purified S100A9 and TLR4 was shown to depend on Zn2+; however, the Zn2+ binding site(s) on S100A9 were not identified. Here, we investigated the role of Zn2+ binding in the pro-inflammatory activity of S100A9. We found that the S100A9 homodimer was prone to reversible, Zn2+-dependent aggregation in vitro. Using a combination of site-directed mutagenesis and Isothermal Titration Calorimetry (ITC), we identified multiple residues that contribute to Zn2+ binding in S100A9. We then used mutagenesis to construct a version of S100A9 with no detectable Zn2+ binding by either ITC or Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry. This protein did not exhibit aggregation upon addition of saturating Zn2+. Further, despite the lack of Zn2+-binding, this protein was capable of activating TLR4 in a cell-based functional assay. We then modified the functional assay so the Zn2+ concentration was exceedingly low relative to the concentration of S100A9 added. Again, S100A9 was able to activate TLR4. This reveals that, despite the ability of S100A9 to bind Zn2+, S100A9 does not require Zn2+ to activate TLR4. Our work represents an important step in clarifying the nature of the interaction between S100A9 and TLR4.


We formulate type-based primitive functions for distributed processing of complex data structures. These primitives are derived directly from the type definitions of the data structures, and they naturally lead to distributed implementations. Our main results are: 1) a distribution model to support efficient aggregate operations over complex data structures. The model is simple yet general, and easy to implement. 2) A parallel functional programming environment assembled from readily available hardware and software systems. Functional programs execute in parallel and exhibit good speedup in this environment if they use the proposed type-based primitives.


Systematic comparison of methods for relation extraction (RE) is difficult because many experiments in the field are not described precisely enough to be completely reproducible and many papers fail to report ablation studies that would highlight the relative contributions of their various combined techniques. In this work, we build a unifying framework for RE, applying this on three highly used datasets (from the general, biomedical and clinical domains) with the ability to be extendable to new datasets. By performing a systematic exploration of modeling, pre-processing and training methodologies, we find that choices of preprocessing are a large contributor performance and that omission of such information can further hinder fair comparison. Other insights from our exploration allow us to provide recommendations for future research in this area.


This in vitro biomechanical study reports on a new implant, called an intravertebral expandable pillar (IVEP). The implant is aimed at restoring the height and strength of collapsed vertebra after fracture in an osteoporotic patient. The hypothesis is that the IVEP can effectively restore the body height of the compressed vertebra and provide proper stiffness for the collapsed vertebra. Although the reported complication rate of percutaneous vertebroplasty by injection of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) is low, the sequelae are severe; other potential adverse effects of PMMA injection into the vertebral body include thermal necrosis of the surrounding tissue caused by a high polymerization temperature, and lack of long-term biocompatibility. We test the mechanical properties before and after fracture of 14 human cadaver lumbar vertebrae by a material testing system. The fractured vertebra was implanted with the IVEP, and its mechanical properties tested. The vertebral body height at each stage was evaluated by a digital caliper and radiographic films. After IVEP implantation, the vertebral body height restoration rate was 97.8%. The vertebral body height lost 12.7% after the same loading to create fracture. The vertebra lost half of its strength after compressed fracture, while IVEP implantation restored 86.4% of intact vertebra strength. The stiffness of intact vertebrae was significantly greater than that of untreated vertebrae after fracture and fractured vertebrae with IVEP treatment, while the stiffness of fractured vertebrae after IVEP treatment was significantly greater than that of untreated vertebrae after fracture. The bipedicularly implanted IVEP restores the initial height and strength of the vertebral body following an induced compression fracture, and could be used by a minimally invasive procedure to treat lumbar vertebra compression factures and avoid the disadvantage of using bone cement in vertebroplasty or kyphoplasty.


A 'Behavioural Insights' movement has entered the global policy scene. Drawing from the behavioural sciences, this movement has been pushing novel forms of policy analysis and design, particularly promoting the use of 'nudges' and field experiments. Despite Behavioural Insights' apparent popularity, its contribution to state and society has been appraised divergently. Some see a promise of radical evidence-based government, others a looming manipulative technocracy, and again others a trivial fad. In light of the puzzle posed by these clashing appraisals, this study has explored Behavioural Insights from up close. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Dutch government, it asks what Behavioural Insights experts actually do, how they are professionalizing and how they 'see'. The result is a rich account of the emerging 'behavioural state', with a sharper understanding of its varieties, tensions and ambiguities.


There exists an immense potential for the utilization of robotic airships as low speed, low altitude aerial vehicles in exploration, monitoring, and transportation tasks. This article discusses Project AURORA - Autonomous Unmanned Remote mOnitoring Robotic Airship which focuses on the development of the control, navigation, sensing, and inference technologies required for substantially autonomous robotic airships. Our target application areas include the use of robotic airships for environmental, biodiversity, and climate research and monitoring. Based on typical mission requirements, we present arguments that favor airships over airplanes and helicopters as the ideal platforms for such missions. We outline the overall system architecture of the AURORA robotic airship, discuss its main subsystems, and mention the research and development issues involved.


The Catalogue of Life, created by Species 2000 and the Integrated Taxonomic Information System, has the ambitious aim of creating a uniform and validated index of the world's known species for use as a practical tool in inventorying and monitoring biodiversity worldwide. This is achieved by accessing an array of taxonomic databases created and made available by individual, project and institutional custodians through taxonomic and biodiversity initiatives. A standard data set is delivered for every known species, drawn from Species 2000 contributing databases. Data are provided to the Species 2000 Philippine office, compiled annually and published in CD-ROM format. Species 2000 also includes the Species Locator Service, which gives a responsible opinion as to the actual species currently recognized by taxonomists and their accepted names, and the Name Service that assists users in checking the spelling and original publication details for a wider range of names, including species not yet incorporated in the Species Locator Service. The Species Locator Service is available as the Dynamic Checklist, which is used to search for the scientific name of an organism online, and the Annual Checklist, which is a stable index produced once a year and is available on CD-ROM and online. Catalogue of Life currently covers more than 272 000 species and 32 000 infraspecies, with 181 000 synonyms. It has 217 000 common names, 87 000 references and 20 contributing databases that encompass all known animals, plants, fungi and microorganisms.


Once again, America is getting tough on welfare. Democrats and Republicans at both the national and state levels seem to have agreed that paying public funds to the poor-particularly to single mothers and their children-perpetuates dependency and undermines self-sufficiency and the work ethic. In this book Joel Handler, a national expert on welfare, points out the fallacies in the current proposals for welfare reform, arguing that they merely recycle old remedies that have not worked. He analyzes the prejudice that has historically existed against "the undeserving poor" and shows that the stereotype of the inner-city woman of color who has children in order to stay on welfare is untrue. Most welfare mothers are in the labor market, says Handler; however, the work that is available to them is most often low-wage, part-time employment with no benefits. Efforts to move large numbers of welfare recipients to full-time employment are not likely to be successful, especially since most of the welfare programs for single mothers are at the state and local levels, and these governments are reluctant to spend the extra money needed to institute work or other reform programs. Handler suggests that national reform efforts should focus less on welfare and blaming the victim and more on increasing labor markets and reducing poverty through legislation that promotes, for example, the Earned Income Tax Credit and universal health care benefits. Welfare reform, by itself, does nothing to improve the job market, and unless there are more jobs paying more income, we will have done nothing to lessen poverty or reduce welfare.


Travel time distributions are often used to characterize catchment discharge behavior, catchment vulnerability to pollution and pollutant loads from catchments to downstream waters. However, these distributions vary with time because they are a function of rainfall and evapotranspiration. It is important to account for these variations when the time scale of interest is smaller than the typical time‐scale over which average travel time distributions can be derived. Recent studies have suggested that subsurface mixing controls how rainfall and evapotranspiration affect the variability in travel time distributions of discharge. To quantify this relation between subsurface mixing and dynamics of travel time distributions, we propose a new transformation of travel time that yields transformed travel time distributions, which we call Storage Outflow Probability (STOP) functions. STOP functions quantify the probability for water parcels in storage to leave a catchment via discharge or evapotranspiration. We show that this is equal to quantifying mixing within a catchment. Compared to the similar Age function introduced by Botter et al. (2011), we show that STOP functions are more constant in time, have a clearer physical meaning and are easier to parameterize. Catchment‐scale STOP functions can be approximated by a two‐parameter beta distribution. One parameter quantifies the catchment preference for discharging young water; the other parameter quantifies the preference for discharging old water from storage. Because of this simple parameterization, the STOP function is an innovative tool to explore the effects of catchment mixing behavior, seasonality and climate change on travel time distributions and the related catchment vulnerability to pollution spreading.


The paper is an attempt to classify the process of information systems development in different ways. The main perspective is that information systems should support business activities in organizations. The development process is illustrated by our V-model, ISAC-model and SIV-model. We have experience of applications of these models from Swedish industry. At the end a three-dimensional classicfication in function analysis, object analysis and event analysis is presented as a base for comparisons of information systems development methodologies.The paper was presented at the following scientific conferences:1. First International Conference on Advanced Information Systems Engineering, CAiSE'89, 9-11 May 1989, Swedish Institute for Systems Development - SISU, Kista, Stockholm, Sweden2. First International Conference on Information Systems Development - ISD 1988 - Current Trends in Information Systems Development Methodologies, 27-30 June, Paraszyno, Technical University of Gdanskoland together with University of Gdansk, PolandThe article was prepublished as V-report 4801, The Institue for Business Process Devolpment (Institute V) at Stockholm School of Economics (1 July 1988).


© 2016, A.A. Balkema Publishers. All rights reserved. The development of a self-healing concrete aimed at improving the durability of concrete structures has been the focus of Materials for Life (M4L), a 3 year research project conducted by the universities of Cardiff, Bath and Cambridge. This interdisciplinary research has culminated in the UK's first site trial of self-healing concrete on the A465 Heads of the Valleys section two project in South Wales hosted by one of the main industrial sponsors Costain Group Plc. The trial, which follows on from a series of small-scale laboratory experiments, comprises a number of concrete wall panels which contain combinations of the self-healing techniques studied during the project. These techniques include (i) encapsulation of healing agents led by Cambridge University, (ii) healing via bacterial action led by Bath University, and (iii) the use of shape memory polymer (SMP) based systems for crack closure and delivery of healing agents through vascular flow networks by Cardiff University. This paper presents the design, methodology and initial results of the site trial. The degree of self-healing is quantified via visual measurements of the crack aperture. An insight is offered into which of the combinations of techniques has shown the most promise for a selfhealing concrete solution for use within the construction industry. At a later stage of the project the regain in mechanical load and stiffness after damage and the reduction in permeability compared to that of the damaged concrete will also be assessed.


Migrants and foreign visitors from outside the European Union who access NHS healthcare will have to pay an additional 50% on top of the cost of their treatment, under new plans tabled by the UK government.

The move is part of a package of measures being introduced over the next two years to incentivise the NHS in England to work harder to charge more effectively and consistently, as part of a crackdown on so called "health tourism."

Under existing rules, migrants and overseas visitors from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) can access NHS care without paying upfront immediately or soon after their arrival in the United Kingdom and are required to pay the full cost after they have been treated. But many NHS trusts recover only a fraction of the money they are owed, which has prompted the government to introduce the new …


Objectives To examine the extent of multiplicity of data in trial reports and to assess the impact of multiplicity on meta-analysis results. Design Empirical study on a cohort of Cochrane systematic reviews. Data sources All Cochrane systematic reviews published from issue 3 in 2006 to issue 2 in 2007 that presented a result as a standardised mean difference (SMD). We retrieved trial reports contributing to the first SMD result in each review, and downloaded review protocols. We used these SMDs to identify a specific outcome for each meta-analysis from its protocol. Review methods Reviews were eligible if SMD results were based on two to ten randomised trials and if protocols described the outcome. We excluded reviews if they only presented results of subgroup analyses. Based on review protocols and index outcomes, two observers independently extracted the data necessary to calculate SMDs from the original trial reports for any intervention group, time point, or outcome measure compatible with the protocol. From the extracted data, we used Monte Carlo simulations to calculate all possible SMDs for every meta-analysis. Results We identified 19 eligible meta-analyses (including 83 trials). Published review protocols often lacked information about which data to choose. Twenty-four (29%) trials reported data for multiple intervention groups, 30 (36%) reported data for multiple time points, and 29 (35%) reported the index outcome measured on multiple scales. In 18 meta-analyses, we found multiplicity of data in at least one trial report; the median difference between the smallest and largest SMD results within a meta-analysis was 0.40 standard deviation units (range 0.04 to 0.91). Conclusions Multiplicity of data can affect the findings of systematic reviews and meta-analyses. To reduce the risk of bias, reviews and meta-analyses should comply with prespecified protocols that clearly identify time points, intervention groups, and scales of interest.


There are about 17 Lkh ponds covering 3 lakh acres in rural Bangladesh. A survey of 297 ponds in Mymensingh district revealed that a vast majority of the owners did not practice scientific fish culture due to multiplicity of ownership, lack of resources, unavailability of improved fish fries. Consequently fish output per acre was very low. Production of fresh water fish can, therefore, be increased to a considerable extent by ensuring scientific utilization of existing fish ponds.