The purpose of this study was to examine the contribution of the location-tracking information to the energy expenditure during the soccer-based intermittent sprint run. Twenty-four young healthy men participated in the present investigation (1st experiment: 14 men, 2nd experiment 10 men). In the 1st experiment, the sprint runs were 12 times of the 10 m (SS10), or 6 times of the 20 m (SS20), or td 3 times of the 40 m (SS40). In the 2nd experiment, the sprint runs 15 times of the 10 m (SS), or 15 times of the 10 m of the sprint run with change of direction for 90, 135, 180 degrees (CD90, CD135 and CD180). All course of the experiment, the expired gas was analyzed using the portable gas analyzer. The running index including speed, acceleration, distance, were calculated at 15 Hz interval based on the location-tracking information using the portable global positioning system. The intermittent run with the straight sprint run expended significantly larger calorie compared with that without the straight sprint (p < 0.001). The intermittent run with the changes of direction expended significantly larger calorie compared with that without the changes of direction (p < 0.05). A multiple stepwise re-gression analysis revealed that body weight, the acceleration and the change of direction were significant determinants of the energy expenditure and accounted for 75% of the total variance. These results indicate that the magnitude of the acceleration is significant predictor for the energy expenditure of the intermittent exercise.


Modern veterinary inputs are not always available and accessible and sometimes too expensive for the poor marginal farmers or pastoralists whereas Indigenous Knowledge Practices (IKPs) provide cheap, easy to use alternative to the resource poor farmers. This study therefore investigated the perceived effectiveness of IKPS of sheep and goat farmers among the Igbomina land. Multistage sampling procedure was employed to select two hundred and forty sheep and goat farmers. Data were summarised with frequency counts, percentages, mean and correlation coefficient. The mean age of the farmers was 50.8±10.1 years and majority (67%) were males. Results showed that the following IKPs were widely used by sheep and goat farmers in the study area:bark of Iroko (Milicia excelsa), /Tagiri (Adenopus breviflorus)/Unripe pawpaw for intestinal worms, Ground Tobacco leaves in water for tick infestation, Igi-Erin (Hunteria unbellata) /seeds of Iroko tree(Chlorophora excels)/Sand paper leaf (Ficus exasperata) and Palm oil for lice infestion, Sheabutter and salt, roast seeds of Iroko tree(Milicia excelsa)/effirin-Basil plant (Occimomum Basilicum.) for foot rot, ground alligator pepper for Orf, Igi Emi(Vitellariav paradoxa) for wound treatment, Palm oil for bloat treatment,Oloora (Rauvolfia vomitoria) bark andPalm oil for treating ingestion of poisonous plants, fermented ground maize and millet flour for sheep and goat pox, Jatropha curcas squeeze andPalm oil for treating retained placenta, Wood ash for broken horn, Onion solution and Charcoal mill fordiarrhea and dysentary among others. The levels of awareness, usage and effectiveness of the IKPs were high with a positive and significant relationship between effectiveness of IKPs and years of schooling (r= 0.217 0.05) and annual income(r = 0.67 0.01) while there is a negative and significant relationship with amountof savings(r = 0.19 0.05). It is recommended that extension should forward the IKPs to the various research organizations with samples for investigation and authentication. Also, extension should teach the poor marginal farmers or pastoralists how to identify the plants, and the best way to prepare and administer the preparations.


Species distribution modeling (SDM) is a booming area of research that has had an exponential increase in use and development in recent years. We performed a search of scientific literature and found 5,533 documents published from 1993 to 2018 using SDM, representing a global network of 4,329 collaborating institutions from 155 countries, with Brazil and Mexico being in the top 10 of the most prolific countries globally. National Autonomous University of Mexico, Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Kansas, and U.S. Geological Survey are the most prolific institutions worldwide. Latin American institutions (n = 556) participated in 1,000 (18% of global productivity) documents published in collaboration with 591 institutions outside Latin American countries, from which the National Autonomous University of Mexico, Federal University of Goiás, Institute of Ecology A.C., National Scientific and Technical Research Council in Argentina, University of São Paulo, and University of Brasilia were the most productive. From this body of literature, the most frequently modeled taxonomic groups were Chordata and Insecta, and the most common realms of application were conservation planning and management, climate change, species conservation, epidemiology, evolutionary biology, and biological invasions. From the 36 modeling methods identified to generate SDMs, MaxEnt is used in 73.5% of the papers, followed by Genetic Algorithm for Rule-Set Prediction (GARP) with 18.7%, and just 7.4% of the papers compared between 3 and 10 modeling methods. In Latin American countries, productivity in SDM research could be improved as the network of collaborations diversifies and connects with other productive countries (such as United Kingdom, China, Spain, Germany, Australia, and France). The scientific collaboration between Latin American countries should be increased, as the most prolific countries (Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, and Colombia) share less than 10% of its productivity. Some of the main challenges for SDM development in Latin America include bridging the gaps from (a) software use to research productivity and (b) translation to decision-making. To address these challenges, we propose to strengthen communities of practice where modelers, species experts, and decision-makers come together to discuss and develop SDM to shift and enhance current paradigms on how science and decision-making are linked.


In this thesis work an area located in Hungary was examined in order to localize the most promising site for geothermal water extraction for use in electricity production or in direct heat utilization systems. Hungary is located in the central part of the Pannonian Basin. The geological evolution of the basin was favorable for the formation of lowand medium-enthalpy geothermal reservoirs throughout the country. These resources are already used in the balneology and agriculture sector. The utilization of the natural hot water in district heating systems and for domestic hot water supply has been developing fast in the recent years, while electricity generation from geothermal water is still in research phase. A three-dimensional (3D) digital geological model of the area was created to support the localization of the best prospective site in the area of interest. For the model's construction, eighteen two-dimensional (2D) seismic sections were used as input data. The Petrel geological modeling software, which was developed by Schlumberger Co, was used for data processing. Three promising sites were designated in the studied area. Those sites were selected where the old deep and young shallower fractured zones cross each other by creating a locally extensional stress field. Due to the difficulties of the interpretation process the presence of the before mentioned requirements are very likely, but not certain, in the designated areas. Further exploration is crucial. A comparison made between the computer supported analysis and the manual interpretation of hard copies of the seismic sections revealed that computer aided interpretation process lead to the recognition of more detailed tectonic structures in a relatively shorter time interval.


In this entirely sophisticated and scholarly account of political culture, Arthur Asa Berger shows how the variety of cultural preferences creates the foundations of communication theory. Using the work of Aaron Wildavsky, the author shows how individualism, egalitarianism, collectivism, and fatalism form the basis of culture in complex societies. But more importantly, Berger breaks down the mechanical distinction between mass culture and elite culture, showing how they interpenetrate and crossover at the level of competitive and hierarchical frames. Agitpop, now in paperback, suggests that there is an ideological content to our popular culture, even though the creators no less than the consumers of that culture are either unaware or dimly aware that they are creating works with an ideological bent. The work takes up in quick order two examples from different areas of the hierarchical, individualist, egalitarian, and fatalist cultures. From football games to the Iran-Contra Hearings, from MTV to the Human Potential Movement, from Max Headroom to humor on the Jews, and from wrestling to The Terminator, Berger takes up his master themes with a deft touch of his own. Weaving in the work of scholars from Emile Durkheim to Aaron Wildavsky he manages to make each of the chapters very much his own. For those who know the earlier work of this author, the reader will be very much at home; for those new to Berger, the volume will be a joyous revelation. The final three chapters reveal a deeper aspect of Berger's work. His interpretation of the earlier materials in terms of the semiotics of power, of textual analysis, or deconstruction of the media, and finally, an analysis and self-analysis of the larger research agenda of which this work is pivotal, should make this book central to the theoretical construction of popular and political culture. For people working in communications theory, political culture, and the sociology of knowledge, this book is a must; for everyone else, it is a joy.


Many critical decisions require evaluation of accumulated previous information and/or newly acquired evidence. Although neural correlates of belief updating have been investigated, how these neural processes guide decisions involving Bayesian choice is less clear. Here, we used functional MRI to investigate neural activity during a Bayesian choice task involving two sources of information: base rate odds ('odds') and sample evidence ('evidence'). Thirty-seven healthy control individuals performed the Bayesian choice task in which they had to make probability judgements. Average functional MRI activity during the trials where choice was consistent with use of Odds, use of Evidence, and use of Both was compared. Decision-making consistent with odds, evidence and both each strongly activated the bilateral executive network encompassing the bilateral frontal, cingulate, posterior parietal and occipital cortices. The Evidence consistent, compared with Odds consistent, decisions showed greater activity in the bilateral middle and inferior frontal and right lateral occipital cortices. Decisions consistent with the use of Both strategies were associated with increased activity in the bilateral middle frontal and superior frontal cortices. These findings support the conclusion that both overlapping and distinct brain regions within the frontoparietal network underlie the incorporation of different types of information into a Bayesian decision.


Objective. —To compare overall rates of coronary artery bypass surgery (CABS) in several Canadian and US jurisdictions and to compare use by age and income groups in the two countries. Design. —Survey, using computerized hospital discharge abstracts. Setting. —All nonfederal hospitals in New York, California, Ontario, Manitoba, and British Columbia between 1983 and 1989. Patients. —All adult residents of the five jurisdictions who underwent CABS in a hospital in their jurisdiction. Results. —Between 1983 and 1989, the CABS rates were consistently highest in California and lowest in the Canadian jurisdictions. In 1989, the age-adjusted rate of CABS in California (112.5/100 000 adults) was 27% higher than in New York (88.4/100 000) and 80% higher than in the three Canadian provinces combined (62.4/100 000). The CABS rates increased for those aged 65 years and older and decreased for those aged 20 to 54 years in all five jurisdictions. In 1989, CABS rates were three times higher in California than in Canada for those aged 75 years and older, and the higher rates for those aged 65 years and older accounted for 75% of the overall difference in rates between California and Canada. In Canada, CABS rates for the nonelderly varied little by income of area of residence, but in New York and California, rates increased steadily with the income of area of residence. Conclusion. —Control over the supply of resources in Canada is associated with markedly lower CABS rates for the elderly than found in the United States. While overall rates are lower in Canada, the Canadian universal health insurance system reduces the influence of income on access to CABS found in the United States. However, even without universal health insurance, CABS rates for the nonelderly living in the poorest areas in California are similar to the rates for those living in the poorest parts of Canada. ( JAMA . 1993;269:1661-1666)


Many studies find that presentation of balanced information, offering competing positions, can promote polarization and thus increase preexisting social divisions. We offer two explanations for this apparently puzzling phenomenon. The first involves what we call asymmetric Bayesianism: the same information can have diametrically opposite effects if those who receive it have opposing antecedent convictions. Recipients whose beliefs are buttressed by the message, or a relevant part, rationally believe that it is true, while recipients whose beliefs are at odds with that message, or a relevant part, rationally believe that the message is false (and may reflect desperation). The second explanation is that the same information can activate radically different memories and associated convictions, thus producing polarized responses to that information, or what we call a memory boomerang. An understanding of these explanations reveals when balanced news will produce unbalanced views. The explanations also account for the potential influence of "surprising validators." Because such validators are credible to the relevant audience, they can reduce the likelihood of asymmetric Bayesianism, thus promoting agreement.


Field emission from as-grown carbon nanotube (CNTs) films often suffered from high threshold electric field, and low emission site density due to screening effects. These problems can be resolved by patterned growth of CNTs on lithographically prepared catalyst films. However, these approaches are expensive and not applicable for future emitting devices with large display areas. Here we show that as-grown CNTs films can have low emission threshold field and high emission density without using any lithography processes. We have reduced screening effects and work function of as-grown CNTs films and created the novel CNT matrices by addition of vapor- and/or liquid- phase deposition. Furthermore, these CNT matrices can continuous emit electrons for 40 hours without significant degradation. The fabrication of our CNT matrices is described as follows. First, CNT films were grown by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. These vertically-aligned multiwalled carbon nanotubes (VA-MWCNTs) are having typical length and diameter of 4 microns and 40 nm, respectively. Spacing between these CNTs is ~80 nm in average, leading to poor emission properties due to the screening effect. These as-grown samples were then subjected to the deposition of strontium titanate (SrTiO3) by pulsed-laser deposition to reduce both the work function and screening effect of CNTs. The emission properties of these coated samples can be further improved by fully filled the spaces between VA-MWCNTs by poly-methyl metha acrylate (PMMA). The field emission threshold electric field was decreased from 4.22 V/μm for as-grown VA-MWCNTs to 1.7 V/μm for SrTiO3 coated VA-MWCNTs. The addition filling with PMMA and mechanical polishing can further reduce the threshold to 0.78V/μm for the so called PMMA-STO-CNT matrices. Long term emission stability and emission site density were also enhanced.


Context: Rare report of bacterial isolation and drug resistance from farmed tilapia fishes in Thailand where high yield of tilapia fish products and export. Aims: 1) To isolated and identified of human pathogens in Tilapia fishes (Oreochromis niloticus) from seven aquacultures at Surat Thani, Thailand, including 4 of well-typed fish ponds, 2 of floating baskets and 1 of nursery fish pond 2) To determine water quality of each fish farm. Materials and Methods: The internal organs from 210 of fish samples were collected for pathogen isolation and identification, and then, tested for antibiotic susceptibility. All microbiological laboratory techniques were performed by Clinical and laboratory standards institute (CLSI) criteria. Water quality was evaluated and compared with standard of water quality criteria. Results and Discussion: The three of most bacterial isolations in Tilapia fish from well-typed fish ponds were Klebsiella pneumoniae, Edwardsiella tarda and coagulase negative Staphylococci. While, K. pneumoniae, Proteus mirabilis, and Streptococcus group D non enterococci were isolated from Tilapia fish, which feeding on river floating baskets. Therefore, only K. pneumoniae and C. albicans were isolated from fry in nursery fish pond. Penicillin and ampicillin resistance were occurred in K. pneumoniae and P. mirabilis. Water qualities of fish water farms were evaluated and almost of water parameters were to water standard quality, except ammonia and alkaline values were higher and lower than reference values, respectively. Conclusions: We were deduced that growing of pathogens in fishes, especially K. pneumoniae may relate to water environment. However, antibiotic resistance of isolated bacteria may concern as zoonotic pathogens.


1070-9932/14/$31.00©2014IEEE 64 Date of publication: 12 February 2014 necessary attribute of a mobile robot planning algorithm is the ability to accurately predict the consequences of robot actions to make informed decisions about where and how to drive. It is also important that such methods are efficient, as onboard computational resources are typically limited and fast planning rates are often required. In this article, we present several practical mobile robot motion planning algorithms for local and global search, developed with a common underlying trajectory generation framework for use in model-predictive control. These techniques all center on the idea of generating informed, feasible graphs at scales and resolutions that respect computational and temporal constraints of the application. Connectivity in these graphs is provided by a trajectory generator that searches in a parameterized space of robot inputs subject to an arbitrary predictive motion model. Local search graphs connect the currently observed state-to-states at or near the planning or perception horizon. Global search graphs repeatedly expand a precomputed trajectory library in a uniformly distributed state lattice to form a recombinant search space that respects differential constraints. In this article, we discuss the trajectory generation algorithm, methods for online or offline calibration of predictive motion models, sampling strategies for local search graphs that exploit global guidance and environmental information for real-time obstacle avoidance and navigation, and methods for efficient design of global search graphs with attention to optimality, feasibility, and computational complexity of heuristic search. The model-invariant nature of our approach to local and global motions planning has enabled a rapid and successful application of these techniques to a variety of platforms. Throughout the article, we also review experiments performed on planetary rovers, field robots, mobile manipulators, and autonomous automobiles and discuss future directions of the article.


This article describes how TV fans make strategic use of Twitter as a tool for activism to launch "Save Our Show" campaigns and highlights a shift toward a collaborative relationship between fan activists and producers in the context of these campaigns, shaped by deep transformations in the media ecosystem and viewing measurement techniques. Based on participant observation and qualitative content analysis, I explore the case of the Twitter campaign led by a fandom dedicated to FOX's science fiction television series Fringe (2008–13). In my examination, I argue that fans' expert understanding of Twitter's affordances and the audience measurement market are crucial for a series to achieve renewal. In parallel, I suggest that the power negotiation between fans and networks can be substituted by a direct cooperation that indirectly might benefit both creators' labor for the show and advertisers' investments. However, despite this scenario where fans enjoy a better position to influence networks' decisions, their labor on social media may be yet another device for self-commodification and exploitation.


This article argues that political instability and conflict in the Middle East and the larger Muslim world are caused by perceived marginalization and systematic injustice suffered by Muslim societies both at the domestic and international levels. In contrast to essentialist explanations of political instability in the Muslim world, the article calls for an institutionalist explanation, highlighting destabilizing effects of political marginalization especially in an increasingly globalized world. Exclusion of Muslim societies from international authority structures is a direct result of fragmentation of political authority and lack of democracy in the Muslim world. Western theories of International Relations are ill-fitted to explain the contribution of perceptions of civilizational injustice because they emerged within a statist and materialist paradigm. Muslim critics differ fundamentally from these approaches in that they see justice rather than order as the basis of a lasting world peace.


Abstract In recent years, China has again publicly revived its territorial claims over India's northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh. However, by insisting on these claims, China is making a settlement of the territorial issue virtually impossible and seriously misperceiving public opinion trends in India. China has failed to appreciate that if Arunachal is claimed to be the southern part of Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), India cannot accept Tibet to be within China. India's formal position on Tibet articulated in 1954 and 2003 is therefore a tentative and unilateral diplomatic offer that can only be sustained and the circle completed once China recognizes Arunachal as part of India.


The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of platelets rich fibrin and bone marrow on distal radial fracture healing in local breed dogs. Twenty four adult animals (males and females), mean aged 2.6 ±0.15 years, and the mean body weight 24.58 ±1.07 kg were used. The experimental animals were randomly divided into three equal groups. First group (Control group), transverse fracture was induced in the distal portion of radial bone and immobilized by Plaster of Paris, the fracture line didn't treated with any material. Second group (platelets rich fibrin group), the fracture line was surrounded by the platelets rich fibrin. Third group (bone marrow group), the fracture line was surrounded by autologous bone marrow. The radiographic results confirmed that the fracture healing was faster and superior in third group compared with first and second groups. The hematological results showed an increasing in concentration rates of alkaline phosphatase enzyme and calcium at the weeks that follows surgical operation. Depending on the serial rates of alkaline phosphatase, the third group and the second group are the better fractured bone healing than the first group. In conclusion, the results revealed that, the using of bone marrow and platelets rich fibrin improved and enhanced the healing of distal radial fracture.


Background Tidal expiratory flow limitation (EFLT) is frequently found in patients with COPD and can be detected by forced oscillations when within-breath reactance of a single-breath is ≥0.28 kPa·s·L−1. The present study explored the association of within-breath reactance measured over multiple breaths and EFLT with 6-minute walk distance (6MWD), exacerbations, and mortality. Methods In 425 patients, spirometry and forced oscillation technique measurements were obtained on eight occasions over 3 years. 6MWD was assessed at baseline and at the 3-year visit. Respiratory symptoms, exacerbations, and hospitalizations were recorded. A total of 5-year mortality statistics were retrieved retrospectively. We grouped patients according to the mean within-breath reactance (ΔXrs¯), measured over several breaths at baseline, calculated as mean inspiratory–mean expiratory reactance over the sampling period. In addition to the established threshold of EFLT, an upper limit of normal (ULN) was defined using the 97.5th percentile of ΔXrs¯, of the healthy controls in the study; 6MWDs were compared according to ΔXrs¯, as normal, ≥ ULN < EFLT, or ≥ EFLT. Annual exacerbation rates were analyzed using a negative binomial model in the three groups, supplemented by time to first exacerbation analysis, and dichotomizing patients at the ULN. Results In patients with COPD and baseline ΔXrs¯ below the ULN (0.09 kPa·s·L−1), 6MWD was stable. 6MWD declined significantly in patients with ΔXrs¯≥ULN. Worse lung function and more exacerbations were found in patients with COPD with ΔXrs¯≥ULN, and patients with ΔXrs¯≥ULN had shorter time to first exacerbation and hospitalization. A significantly higher mortality was found in patients with ΔXrs¯≥ULN and FEV1 >50%. Conclusion Patients with baseline ΔXrs¯≥ULN had a deterioration in exercise performance, more exacerbations, and greater hospitalizations, and, among those with moderate airway obstruction, a higher mortality. ΔXrs¯ is a novel independent marker of outcome in COPD.


Objective: This paper is to share the experience of developing approaches in measuring the quality of nursing documentation in residential aged care homes. Background: The quality of care depends on access to quality nursing documentation which ensures continuity and individuality of nursing care. Electronic nursing documentation systems are anticipated to increase caregivers' access to more accurate, adequate and up-to-date data. Evaluation of the quality of nursing documentation calls for quality research and valid instruments with comprehensive and universal criteria. A preliminary nursing documentation audit instrument has been developed for a research project aimed at evaluating the quality of electronic versus paper-based nursing documentation to determine the effect of electronic nursing documentation systems on the quality of nursing documentation in aged care homes. Methods: Three sources of information were reviewed to explore the approaches to measure the quality of nursing documentation: a comprehensive literature review, relevant Australian legal and professional requirements, and organisational nursing documentation practice. Results: Firstly, approaches suggested by the literature mainly focused on three elements of nursing documentation: nursing process, quality of recording, and completeness and comprehensiveness of information. Review of the nursing process measured the quality of nursing care as evidenced in the nursing records and focused on the content of the nursing records to see how nursing care was delivered in conformance with the five phases of the nursing process. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were applied for nursing process review: quantitative method examined the presence of each phase of nursing process; whereas qualitative method concerned the internal relationship between them. Quality of recording concerned the mechanical process of recording as its adherence to legal requirements. Completeness referred to the extent to which the items in a nursing document were filled in. Comprehensiveness referred to the scope of care evidenced in the nursing records against established coverage of care needs. Secondly, Australia's legal and professional guidelines and requirements for standards for nursing documentation were considered as an essential source to derive quality criteria for the documentation audit instrument. Nursing process, resident and family involvement and quality of recording are the focus of those requirements. Thirdly, review of partner organizational nursing documentation practice has found consistent requirements which confirmed the quality criteria derived from legal and professional guidelines. A preliminary nursing documentation audit instrument has been constructed with a list of questions against those quality criteria. An initial consultation with eight nurses has been undertaken for the content validity of the instrument. The instrument will be further tested for its feasibility, reliability, and validity through a pilot study and consultation with more nurses. Examples of the instrument questions were presented in the paper. Conclusion: A mixture of approaches that draws on published studies, local requirements and clinical experience has been used to develop an initial version of an audit instrument.


Posterior distribution approximation is a central task in Bayesian inference. Stochastic gradient Langevin dynamics (SGLD) and its extensions have been practically used and theoretically studied. While SGLD updates a single particle at a time, ensemble methods that update multiple particles simultaneously have been recently gathering attention. Compared with the naive parallelchain SGLD that updates multiple particles independently, ensemble methods update particles with their interactions. Thus, these methods are expected to be more particle-efficient than the naive parallel-chain SGLD because particles can be aware of other particles' behavior through their interactions. Although ensemble methods numerically demonstrated their superior performance, no theoretical guarantee exists to assure such particle-efficiency and it is unclear whether those ensemble methods are really superior to the naive parallel-chain SGLD in the non-asymptotic settings. To cope with this problem, we propose a novel ensemble method that uses a nonreversible Markov chain for the interaction, and we present a non-asymptotic theoretical analysis for our method. Our analysis shows that, for the first time, the interaction causes a faster convergence rate than the naive parallel-chain SGLD in the non-asymptotic setting if the discretization error is appropriately controlled. Numerical experiments show that we can control the discretization error by tuning the interaction appropriately.


Context. Young, massive stars have been found in the distant Galactic halo. Dynamical ejection from the Galactic disc has been suggested as the origin of these "run-away stars". The so-called hyper-velocity stars have been found to travel so fast that they are unbound to the Galaxy. Only a supermassive black hole (SMBH) appears to be able to accelerate the stars to such high velocities, which suggests that the Galactic centre is their place of origin. Aims. We revisit the run-away B star HD 271791 to determine its nature and origin. Methods. High-resolution optical echelle spectra are analysed using LTE model atmospheres. Based on proper-motion measurements, the 3D kinematic of the star is investigated by means of numerical experiments. Results. HD 271791 is found to be a massive (11 M� ), rapidly-rotating B-type star. Its chemical composition is found to be consistent with that of the sun. Its Galactic rest-frame velocity exceeds the Galactic escape velocity. Conclusions. According to its space velocity, HD 271791 qualifies as a hyper-velocity star. Its kinematic constrains the place of birth to the outer Galactic disc and rules out the Galactic centre. HD 271791 is also too young (<30 Myr) to have originated in the Galactic centre. This challenges the SMBH paradigm for the origin of hyper-velocity stars.


Reliability measures of SAIDI (system average interruption duration index) and SAIFI (system average frequency index) are well established industry standards used world wide. While both measures have their limitations, they give a broad indication of average reliability that allows comparison within networks and across networks world wide. No such industry standard indices exist for voltage sags. The main reason being that voltage sags are multi-dimensional, involving retained sag voltage, sag duration, number of phases effected, phase angle jumps and the time between successive sags. This paper proposes a new voltage sag index that is dimensionally the same as SAIFI having units of equivalent interruptions per year, allowing a direct comparison with SAIFI. The proposed new index called ldquoSag SAIFIrdquo has been designed to allow voltage sag comparisons between sites, within networks and across networks. In addition, Sag SAIFI provides a means to directly compare the customer impacts of voltage sags with reliability (interruptions) and can assist in optimising expenditures on networks to maximise customer benefits of both reliability and voltage sag performance in their aggregate.


We propose a novel electromagnetic analysis scheme for crossed nanophotonic structures. The developed scheme is based on the mathematical modeling with the local Fourier modal analysis and the generalized scattering-matrix method. The mathematical Bloch eigenmodes of two-port block and four-port intersection block structures are analyzed by the local Fourier modal analysis. The interconnections of two-port blocks and four-port intersection block are described by the generalized scattering-matrix method. This scheme provides the linear system theory of general crossed nanophotonic structures.


With convergence of the Internet and mobile telecommunications, mobile networks are taking more and more IP-based protocols onboard. Mobile networks are expected to evolve and become IP-based packet data networks with various fuctionalities supported by IP-based protocols. This thesis investigates IP protocols for mobility management an all-IP mobile network. The design principles of mobility management in packet data network are first explored by studying GPRS. It is realised that GPRS is only an emulated IP network and lacks of the flexibility of IP networks. Packet scheduling techniques for enhancing mobility management performance and its implementation in GPRS are also studied. Evolution of GPRS to an all-IP based network, in which IP protocols can be used for mobility management, is subsequently proposed. Mobility management protocols in IP networks can be segregated into inter-domain (or macro) mobility, intra-domain (or micro) mobility and mobile ad hoc networking. Mobile IP is a proposal by the IETF as a solution to support mobility of IP terminal. In addition, SIP has been extended by research community to support terminal mobility. Both Mobile IP and extended SIP are compared for their ability to support mobility. It is found that Mobile IP is more suitable for supporting terminal mobility. However, Mobile IP is not sufficient for supporting intra-domain and high-speed mobility. An optimised solution therefore consists of Mobile IP and a specialised intra-domain mobility scheme. Having identified the characteristics and design principles of various existing inti-a-domain mobility protocols, a novel protocol known as Mobility-Aware Routing Protocol, MARP, is proposed. It is compared to some existing protocols and is proven to be superior in term of better handoff support, flexibility in packet routing and scalability. Mobile ad hoc networks are expected to be integral part of all-IP mobile network. Interworking of ad hoc and infrastructure-backed mobile networks enables extension of wireless networks coverage and provision of Internet access to mobile node with relaying. Key issues related to such a hybrid networking topology, in the context of ad hoc IP routing protocol and mobility management protocol, are identified. Mechanisms that allow interworking of mobility protocols and ad hoc routing protocols are designed. Interworking of both protocols significantly increases capability of ad hoc mobile nodes to interact with fixed network elements, but is at the cost of high control overhead. Effective techniques for reducing control overhead in the hybrid network is subsequently proposed.


The moment for election reform inspired by the Supreme Court's decision in Bush v. Gore has come and gone. While some thought that election reformers could make lemons from lemonade from Bush v. Gore's equal protection holding, that possibility has not come to pass. Political factors have failed to respond well to the crisis in our election administration made obvious by the 2000 Florida voting fiasco.Part I of this Essay, looking at punch card litigation in the Sixth and Ninth Circuits, explains that though some lower court judges still may look to the Bush v. Gore precedent as a means to force states to undertake election reform, that effort has been stymied thus far through the en banc process in the federal appellate courts.Part II considers state and federal legislative and administrative responses to Bush v. Gore. Although vote counting technology has improved, states have made little progress otherwise in fixing their election administration problems. In fact, election administration reform has taken on an increasingly partisan direction. The debate over good election practices is taking place in the absence of good evidence, raising the possibility that some laws, most prominently new laws requiring voters to show identification at the polls, are being enacted for partisan advantage rather than to remedy any real problem.Part III returns to the failure of the courts in the wake of Bush v. Gore. It begins by noting that the rise in election litigation that this country witnessed after Bush v. Gore continues unabated. It then uses the Supreme Court's recent opinion in Purcell v. Gonzales to show that the Court has failed to learn the lessons of Bush v. Gore. The Court's decision to issue a quick opinion, its casual empiricism, and its discouraging of pre-election litigation demonstrate that all members of the Court - both liberal and conservative Justices - are insufficiently sensitive to the kind of trouble their election administration opinions may cause. Part III concludes with an examination of Judge Posner's troubling Seventh Circuit opinion in Crawford v. Marion County Election Board upholding Indiana's voter identification law against a dissent by Judge Evans.


Authentic law that have a perfect weight of evidence, have been a need for everyone in this recent life. Especially in doing a transaction with member of society, moreover in this globlalization era, that enable to do an interaction with someone else from abroad with no territorial border anymore. Moreover just the diversity of tribe, race, and religion are not an obstacle.
Being a demand recently is the existance of legal assurance guarantee of every transaction done by the member of society. Beside of that, also a truth and justice based on the prevail law.
In a state that most of population are moslem like Indonesia, the implementation of "Syariat Islam" become a yearned for and ambition for most moslems. But as a state based on Pancasila, where every religions are admitted and protected by state, so there is nothing more considered as superior one each others.
The civil law as a legal product is from Holland that a christians, are accepted by people of Indonesia with a concordance principle especially by moslem as long as compatible with the stipulations of "Syariat Islam' it self
Islam through the Holy Koran teach to human beings to revere truth, justice, and legal assurance. Islam also suggest to moslem to behave and act professionally in all fields, especially in relationship among human.
In something like this, there is compatibility between the Koran doctrine with is in the civil law code especially in relevance with the making of authentic certificate. With this authentic certificate is meant to get a legal assurance, truth, and justice.
Beside that, by the making of autenthic certificate, so problem in recording and entry be more guaranteed. It shows a profesionality in working.


The focus of this study is an examination of the school experiences of students with Acquired Brain Injury following their discharge from rehabilitation. The students, prior to returning to school were enrolled in a rehabilitation hospital school between the years 1990 and 1996 and the return to school experience is explored from the perspective of their parents. The study aims to ascertain what helped or hindered the students to participate in and develop their potential within the Irish educational system. The research participants were 31 parents whose children were discharge home between five and eleven years ago. The study is mainly qualitative in nature and used a postal self-administered questionnaire and semi-structured interview as research tools.

The main themes that emerged related to the extent of knowledge of the effects of Acquired Brain Injury among school personnel, the felt needs of these students are different to those of students show were born disabled, and the importance of parent advocacy, social contacts, supports in school and entitlement to an appropriate education. The study findings could have a potential usefulness in relation to Irish educational policy and practice. They could also have a potential significance to present discharge procedures from rehabilitation and to the facilitation of the students' reintegration into the Irish School System. In addition the findings have potential to influence the quality of education provided by the schools to which students who acquire and brain injury return.


We demonstrate a technique to evaluate the aerodynamic robustness of a given blade profile which it is exposed to stochastic geometrical variation. The technique is based on random fields, with geometrical deviations continuously defined over the entire structure, with a prescribed statistical distribution function and a given correlation between these deviations. Control points are defined on the blade surface to model the blade geometry disturbances. At each control point a stochastic deviation is defined, which acts in the normal direction of the blade. By modeling disturbances in the normal direction instead of in the separate Cartesian directions, we automatically reduce the number of stochastic variables by a factor two. The perturbation variables are transformed via Karhunen-Loeve eigenvalue decomposition, giving stochastically independent variables. The robustness is finally estimated by a Monte Carlo simulation, where computational fluid dynamic simulations are performed to evaluate the resulting change in blade performance for given geometrical perturbations.Copyright © 2010 by ASME


In this thesis we develop new theoretical and numerical results for matrix polynomials and polynomial eigenproblems. This includes the cases of standard and generalized eigenproblems.

Two chapters concern quadratic eigenproblems $(M\lambda^2+D\lambda+K)x=0$, where $M$, $D$ and $K$ enjoy special properties that are commonly encountered in modal analysis. We discuss this application in some detail, in particular the mathematics behind discrete dampers. We show how the physical intuition of a damper that gets stronger and stronger can be mathematically proved using matrix analysis. We then develop an algorithm for quadratic eigenvalue problems with low rank damping, which outperforms existing algorithm both in terms of speed and accuracy. The first part of our algorithm requires the solution of a generalized eigenproblem with semidefinite coefficient matrices. To solve this problem we develop a new algorithm based on an algorithm proposed by Wang and Zhao [SIAM J. Matrix Anal. Appl. 12-4 (1991), pp. 654--660]. The new algorithm computes all eigenvalues in a backward stable and symmetry preserving manner.
 The next two chapters are about equivalences of matrix polynomials. We show, for an algebraically closed field $\mathbb{F}$, that any matrix polynomial $P(\lambda)\in\mathbb{F}[\lambda]^{n\times m}$, $n\leq m$, can be
 reduced to triangular form,
 while preserving the degree and the finite and infinite elementary divisors.
We then show that the same result holds for real matrix polynomials if we replace ``triangular'' with ``quasi-triangular,'' that is, block-triangular with diagonal blocks of size $1\times 1$ and $2 \times 2$. The proofs are constructive in the sense that we build up triangular and quasi-triangular matrix polynomials starting the Smith form. In this sense we are solving structured inverse problems. In particular, our results imply that the necessary constraints that make list of elementary divisors admissible for a real square matrix polynomial of degree $\ell$ are also sufficient conditions. For the case of matrix polynomials with invertible leading coefficients, we show how triangular/quasi-triangular forms, as well as diagonal and Hessenberg forms, can be computed numerically.

Finally, we present a backward error analysis of the shift-and-invert Arnoldi algorithm for matrices. This algorithm is also of interest to polynomial eigenproblems with easily constructible monic linearizations. The analysis shows how errors from the linear system solves and orthonormalization process affect the Arnoldi recurrence. Residual bounds for linear systems and columnwise backward error bounds for QR factorizations come to play, so we discuss these in some detail. The main result is a set of backward error bounds that can be estimated cheaply. We also use our error analysis to define a sensible condition for ``breakdown,'' that is, a condition for when the Arnoldi iteration should be stopped.


This paper offers some insights on the European regulatory situation with respect to raw materials used in production of gene, cell and tissue therapy products, including advanced therapy medicinal products. By focusing on the existing EU and French rules, the purpose of this paper is to review the content and scope of the measures restricting their placing on the market and/or use, the legal implications and hence key challenges ahead. Also known under the specific term ' ancillary products ' in France, raw materials are subject to a fragmented regulatory environment that could indirectly hinder innovation in this rapidly evolving area. Taking account of contamination risk that could originate from such materials, the question as to whether it is necessary to assure their quality and safety by means of one or various regulatory instrument(s) does not arise. Nevertheless, it is vital that, in a sector as innovative as this one, an appropriate and more predictable regulatory regime applies in Europe, which requires undertaking a constructive work aimed at harmonising the rules in relation to production of and trade in raw materials intended to be used for advanced therapies while ensuring the EU objective of public health protection: a work already in progress.


Critic, poet, editor, chronicler of the "lost generation," and elder statesman of the Republic of Letters, Malcolm Cowley (1898-1989) was an eloquent witness to much of twentieth-century American literary and political life. These letters, the vast majority previously unpublished, provide an indelible self-portrait of Cowley and his time, and make possible a full appreciation of his long and varied career.Perhaps no other writer aided the careers of so many poets and novelists. Faulkner, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Kerouac, Tillie Olsen, and John Cheever are among the many authors Cowley knew and whose work he supported. A poet himself, Cowley enjoyed the company of writers and knew how to encourage, entertain, and when necessary scold them. At the center of his epistolary life were his friendships with Kenneth Burke, Allen Tate, Conrad Aiken, and Edmund Wilson. By turns serious and thoughtful, humorous and gossipy, Cowley's letters to these and other correspondents display his keen literary judgment and ability to navigate the world of publishing.The letters also illuminate Cowley's reluctance to speak out against Stalin and the Moscow Trials when he was on staff at "The New Republic--"and the consequences of his agonized evasions. His radical past would continue to haunt him into the Cold War era, as he became caught up in the notorious "Lowell Affair" and was summoned to testify in the Alger Hiss trials. Hans Bak supplies helpful notes and a preface that assesses Cowley's career, and Robert Cowley contributes a moving foreword about his father.


This study investigates the role of feedback in minimizing the psychological impact of a negative selection decision on job applicants. The method and findings of a laboratory experiment into subjects' reactions to rejection, combined with feedback on this decision as well as perceptions of procedural and distributive fairness, are discussed. Subjects participating in the experiment (N=119) were asked to complete two GMA tests and were told they had to belong to the 20% best performers to be invited for a selection interview. Upon completion, all subjects received a rejection message, supposedly based on their performance scores on the two tests. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of two feedback conditions: either a mere rejection message, or a rejection message including performance feedback. Analyses revealed that core self-evaluations and affective well-being of rejected subjects receiving performance feedback significantly decreased compared to that of subjects in the mere rejection message condition. Furthermore, it was found that procedural fairness perceptions interacted with feedback on subjects' core self-evaluations, while distributive fairness perceptions interacted with feedback on affective well-being. These findings raise the question whether performance feedback following a negative selection decision is as advantageous as generally assumed. Implications for giving feedback in rejection situations are discussed in the conclusion.


Stakeholder engagement and patient and public involvement (PPI) is now a key expectation within healthcare policy and in securing research funding and often needs to be evident throughout the research process. While systematic reviews and meta-analyses synthesise the best evidence for the content of behaviour change interventions, engaging stakeholders in a collaborative process of co-production could identify the best ways of implementing interventions. We developed the Dual Theoretical Synergy (DTS) Framework to work with stakeholders via expert events to identify the major systemic and psychosocial barriers and facilitators to implementing interventions in practice. The method uses facilitated group exercises to assess the acceptability of the design, content and proposed delivery mechanisms of an intervention to examine systemic, psychosocial and/or contextual barriers and facilitators to implementation, using the Theoretical Domains Framework and Normalisation Process Theory. Qualitative content analysis is used to record the key recurrent issues and to map similarities and differences in responses by domain to create a matrix of key barriers and facilitators to implementation of the candidate intervention. The matrix and a narrative summary are sent to participants for review and comment and to seek consensus on the interpretation of the data. The benefit of the method is in empowering stakeholders to think through and detail key ways of enhancing implementation of the candidate intervention, using standard theoretical constructs, and to engage in collaborative co-production of an intervention that is more likely to be adopted in the 'real world'.


Rho GTPases including Rac1, RhoA, and Cdc42 are molecular switches as for signal transduction. Cycling between the GTP-bound active state and GDPbound inactive state is tightly controlled by regulatory proteins. The exchange of GDP for GTP is catalysed by guanine nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs). Upon the activation of Rho GTPases through GEFs, downstream effector molecules are activated and thus trigger cellular responses such as actin cytoskeletal reorganisation, membrane ruffling, cell migration, and gene expression. Based on homology, there are three main families of Rho GEFs, Dbl family, Dock family, and def6/swap70 family. The large Dbl family is characterised through an invariable domain arrangement of an N-terminal catalytic dbl homology (DH) and a C-terminal regulatory pleckstrin homology (PH) domain whereas Dock family members lack the DH domain but instead contain a Dock homology region 2 (DHR2) domain. The def6/swap70 GEFs on the other hand contain an atypical and unique PH-DH like domain arrangement. Mammalian DEF6 and SWAP70 that exhibit a high similarity in their N-terminal ends containing a putative Ca2+ - binding EF hand are crucial mediators of signal transduction in T and B cells, respectively. Phylogenetic sequence analysis revealed that the atypical domain structure as well as the primary amino acid sequences of def6 and swap70 family members has been highly conserved in vertebrates and invertebrates. Whereas invertebrates have only one def6/swap70 gene, two genes have been identified in tetrapod species, and four to five genes have been identified in teleosts species. In zebrafish, five paralogous genes were identified: def6a, def6b, swap70a, swap70b and def6-like. Remarkably, the predicted secondary and tertiary structure of all def6/swap70 family members including the five proteins identified in zebrafish are very similar; most of them folding into a 'donut-shape' structure. The expression profile of the def6/swap70 genes during zebrafish development indicated that def6a and swap70a are expressed maternally as well as zygotically during early development whereas expression of the other three genes was restricted to later stages. Morpholino-mediated knockdown of swap70a using two different splice morpholinos resulted in a delay of zebrafish development likely to be due to impaired convergence and extension cell movements during gastrulation. In addition, development of brain, eyes, ears number of otoliths and tail formation was affected. Preliminary data using the AUG morpholino to target maternal and zygotic expression of swap70a indicate a more severe phenotype and high mortality of the morphants. Co-injection of GFP-tagged swap70a mRNA in low dose resulted in a partial rescue of the splice morpholinomediated phenotype. Over-expression of GFP-swap70a in high dose however, resulted also in developmental defects in eyes, number of otoliths and tail formation. The observed phenotype of swap70a morphants described here is reminiscent of the phenotype of def6a morphants that was shown to be downstream of Wnt5b in the non-canonical Wnt/PCP signalling pathway (Goudevenou et al. in preparation) regulating convergence extension cell movement during gastrulation. It is therefore tempting to speculate that swap70a has a similar role acting either in conjunction with or in parallel to def6a in the non-canonical Wnt signalling pathway.


Over the coming decades, our cities likely face an array of associated problems, including: rising temperature, water shortages, food scarcity and increased storminess with concomitant flooding, wind damage and coastal erosion. Less favorable aspects include contribution of gardens and gardening to green house gas emission, misuse of fertilizers and pesticides and introduction of alien plant species Effective environmental planning, including urban greening, can assist greatly in improving the quality of the urban environment and the livelihoods of the people who live in urban areas. There is need to plant trees that provide multiple benefits, particularly in house compounds for providing edible pods, flowers, fruits, leaves etc. As a result of impacts associated with urban infrastructure, arborists and urban landscape managers perform remedial management actions to make urban soils more suitable plant-growing environments, remedial soil management actions include irrigation, aeration, radial trenching, mulching, and fertilization, all of which further alter the physical, chemical and biological properties and thus the nitrogen status of urban soils. In urban environments human alter these soilforming factors by impacts associated with urban infrastructure. The aim is to improve our quality of life in an increasingly densely populated, fast-living world. People have to find back to natural and green open spaces that become more and more important for our personal development, wellbeing and recreation due to increasing urbanization. In the present study fresh weight and dry weight of Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br. experimented and the results were analyzed.


Systems of cascaded circular apertures may be built to focus electromagnetic waves if the difference (d) between the Fresnel numbers of any two apertures pertaining to two points (A and B) is an even number. With a point source at A, the spherical incident wave will be focused to B. In general, the irradiance at B (principal focus) is roughly proportional to (n±1)2 where n is the number of apertures; the plus sign is used when the Fresnel numbers are odd integers, and minus when even. A system of a few apertures with d = 0 can focus waves over a wide range of frequencies, though the actual irradiance at the principal focus is a function of frequency. A condition to maximize the irradiance at the principal focus has been found. Theoretically such systems have been analyzed by the boundary-diffraction-wave theory generalized by Miyamoto and Wolf. Analytical expressions for the diffraction wave amplitude have been obtained for axial and off-axial points. when the iteration method of Fox and Li is also applicable, the two theoretical results agree very well with each other. Experimental data obtained agree well with the theoretical results.


Mode I crack growth along some grain boundaries of copper embrittled by solute segregation shows strong anisotropy. For instance, growth along the direction on the symmetrical tilt boundary has been reported to occur by intergranular brittle fracture, whereas growth along the opposite sense occurs in a ductile manner. In this paper, we simulate such crack configurations using molecular dynamics (embedded atom method [EAM]) in 3-dimensional perfect bicrystalline samples of pure copper of the aforementioned orientation at room temperature. In both cases the response is ductile, crack opening taking place by dislocation emission from the crack tip. The critical stress intensity factors (SIFs) for dislocation emission have been calculated by matching the displacement fields of the atoms in the tip neighbourhood with the continuum elastic fields. They are of the same order of magnitude for both growth senses despite the different morphology of their respective blunted crack tips and of the patterns of dislocations constituting their plastic zones. Thus, it seems that, in agreement with published results of continuum crystalline plasticity for the same problem, the plastic anisotropy associated with the different orientation of the slip systems with respect to the crack cannot in this case explain the experimental behaviour observed with solute embrittled bicrystals.


Abstract. Satellite observations show that the Arctic sea ice melt season
is getting longer. This lengthening has important implications for the Arctic
Ocean's radiation budget, marine ecology and accessibility. Here we assess
how passive microwave satellite observations of the melt season can be used
for climate model evaluation. By using the Community Earth System Model Large
Ensemble (CESM LE), we evaluate the effect of multiple possible definitions
of melt onset, freeze onset and melt season length on comparisons with
passive microwave satellite data, while taking into account the impacts of
internal variability. We find that within the CESM LE, melt onset shows a
higher sensitivity to definition choices than freeze onset, while freeze
onset is more greatly impacted by internal variability. The CESM LE
accurately simulates that the trend in freeze onset largely drives the
observed pan-Arctic trend in melt season length. Under RCP8.5 forcing, the
CESM LE projects that freeze onset dates will continue to shift later,
leading to a pan-Arctic average melt season length of 7–9 months by the end
of the 21st century. However, none of the available model definitions produce
trends in the pan-Arctic melt season length as large as seen in passive
microwave observations. This suggests a model bias, which might be a factor
in the generally underestimated response of sea ice loss to global warming in
the CESM LE. Overall, our results show that the choice of model melt season
definition is highly dependent on the question posed, and none of the
definitions exactly match the physics underlying the passive microwave
observations.


A molecularly imprinted xerogel (MIX) for fentanyl was successfully prepared on the inner surface of a copper tube by sol–gel technology. Primarily, the tube was treated by self-assembly monolayers of 3-(mercaptopropyl) trimethoxysilane and then [3-(2,3-epoxypropoxy)-propyl]-trimethoxysilane was employed as a precursor for imprinting the template molecule in acidic conditions. During the sol–gel process influential parameters including volume and concentration of fentanyl were carefully investigated to obtain the most efficient and appropriate xerogel. In parallel, a non-imprinted xerogel (NIX) was synthesized in the absence of fentanyl. The extraction efficiencies achieved from MIX and NIX, showed some degree of selectivity for the MIX coating. Donepezil was used to estimate the selectivity of the imprinted xerogel with respect to the template molecule. The ratio of MIX/NIX, as a criterion of selectivity, was about 2.5 and 1.1 for fentanyl and donepezil, respectively. The linearity of the analyte was in the range of 5–5000 μg L−1. LOD was found to be 3 μg L−1 and the inter- and intra-day RSD% of 5.5 and 6.5 (n = 5) were obtained. The developed method was conveniently applied to plasma and urine samples spiked with the analyte, while the relative recovery percentages for the spiked samples were up to 85%.


Abstract. We applied the positive matrix factorization model to two large data sets collected during two intensive measurement campaigns (summer 2011 and winter 2012) at a sub-urban site in Beirut, Lebanon, in order to identify NMHC (non-methane hydrocarbons) sources and quantify their contribution to ambient levels. Six factors were identified in winter and five factors in summer. PMF-resolved source profiles were consistent with source profiles established by near-field measurements. The major sources were traffic-related emissions (combustion and gasoline evaporation) in winter and in summer accounting for 51 and 74 wt %, respectively, in agreement with the national emission inventory. The gasoline evaporation related to traffic source had a significant contribution regardless of the season (22 wt % in winter and 30 wt % in summer). The NMHC emissions from road transport are estimated from observations and PMF results, and compared to local and global emission inventories. The PMF analysis finds reasonable differences on emission rates, of 20–39 % higher than the national road transport inventory. However, global inventories (ACCMIP, EDGAR, MACCity) underestimate the emissions up to a factor of 10 for the transportation sector. When combining emission inventory to our results, there is strong evidence that control measures in Lebanon should be targeted on mitigating the NMHC emissions from the traffic-related sources. From a global perspective, an assessment of VOC (volatile organic compounds) anthropogenic emission inventories for the Middle East region as a whole seems necessary as these emissions could be much higher than expected at least from the road transport sector.


A classic optimization problem in network routing is to minimize C + D, where C is the maximum edge congestion and D is the maximum path length (also known as dilation). The problem of computing the optimal C* + D* is NP-complete even when either C* or D* is a small constant. We study routing games in general networks where each player i selfishly selects a path that minimizes Ci + Di the sum of congestion and dilation of the player's path. We first show that there are instances of this game without Nash equilibria. We then turn to the related quality of routing (QoR) games which always have Nash equilibria. QoR games represent networks with a small number of service classes where paths in different classes do not interfere with each other (with frequency or time division multiplexing). QoR games have O(log4 n) price of anarchy when either C* or D* is a constant. Thus, Nash equilibria of QoR games give poly-log approximations to hard optimization problems.


Large-scale language models often learn behaviors that are misaligned with user expectations. Generated text may contain offensive or toxic language, contain significant repetition, or be of a different sentiment than desired by the user. We consider the task of unlearning these misalignments by fine-tuning the language model on signals of what not to do. We introduce Quantized Reward Konditioning (Quark), an algorithm for optimizing a reward function that quantifies an (un)wanted property, while not straying too far from the original model. Quark alternates between (i) collecting samples with the current language model, (ii) sorting them into quantiles based on reward, with each quantile identified by a reward token prepended to the language model's input, and (iii) using a standard language modeling loss on samples from each quantile conditioned on its reward token, while remaining nearby the original language model via a KL-divergence penalty. By conditioning on a high-reward token at generation time, the model generates text that exhibits less of the unwanted property. For unlearning toxicity, negative sentiment, and repetition, our experiments show that Quark outperforms both strong baselines and state-of-the-art reinforcement learning methods like PPO (Schulman et al. 2017), while relying only on standard language modeling primitives.


Studies have repeatedly shown that users are increasingly concerned about their privacy when they go online. In response to both public interest and regulatory pressures, privacy policies have become almost ubiquitous. An estimated 77% of websites now post a privacy policy. These policies differ greatly from site to site, and often address issues that are different from those that users care about. They are in most cases the users' only source of information.This paper evaluates the usability of online privacy policies, as well as the practice of posting them. We analyze 64 current privacy policies, their accessibility, writing, content and evolution over time. We examine how well these policies meet user needs and how they can be improved. We determine that significant changes need to be made to current practice to meet regulatory and usability requirements.


ABSTRACT The first-year university experience is inherently linked to student satisfaction, retention and academic success. A sense of academic preparedness can enhance the first-year transition experience. Subjects designed to assist students to transition to university can improve the transition experience; however, there is very limited evidence of their successful implementation in Australia. An interdisciplinary credit-bearing subject underpinned by the Learning by Doing Approach and the Theory of Self-efficacy, was developed and implemented in an Australian university. Students' baseline (pre-test) and follow-up (post-test) survey responses on their self-perceived levels of knowledge and confidence in academic skills were compared to test for significant differences. Students reported greater knowledge and confidence with regards to the academic skills required for university. The subject's highly scaffolded nature ensured students actively engaged in individual and collaborative activities that allowed them to learn as they constructed knowledge. As students learnt new skills in a supportive learning environment, they incorporated these skills into their learning and utilised them in their other subjects, which increased their confidence and self-efficacy. Similar interdisciplinary credit-bearing transition subjects may be beneficial in other universities to help support students transitioning to university. Longitudinal research is required to determine the effectiveness on academic outcomes and retention.


While the ecological importance of vegetated marsh edge habitats for many estuarine- dependent nekton is well documented, less is known about nekton use of the non-vegetated, water edge adjacent to marsh habitats and how physical variation of these habitats affects habitat use. The effects of morphological variation of these edge habitats on nekton communities were studied in Barataria Bay, Louisiana, USA. Monthly seining in fall 2003 (September, October, November) and spring 2004 (March, April, May) was conducted at 75 marsh edge study sites <10 m from the water-vegetation interface. Morphological variation in edge habitats (i.e. elevation, slope, irregularity) was quantified concurrent with nekton sampling at each sample site. Nekton assemblages were analyzed seasonally as different community assemblages were present in fall and spring, although consistent patterns emerged. Tem- perature and salinity were the dominant factors influencing nekton assemblages. Edge habitats with shallower slopes and greater marsh inundation supported more organisms and more resident species; in contrast, edges with steeper slopes supported more diverse and species-rich assemblages, possibly providing greater niche availability due to larger water depth gradients and increased edge irregular- ity, particularly when the adjacent marsh is not flooded. Use of the gently sloped sites by organisms probably reflects increased access to the marsh when flooded, and may provide shallow water refuge for many smaller species. Non-vegetated marsh edge provides valuable habitat for species, and the physical variation that exists within this habitat helps support a high species diversity.


Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection leads to several potentially life-threatening hepatic diseases. Similarly, dysregulated, chronic TGF-β signaling can also result in liver damage by extracellular matrix proteins whose accumulation has been implicated in several liver diseases. Lee et al. have uncovered a link between HBV infection and the potentiation of TGF-β signaling. The HBV protein X (pX) is required for HBV replication and stimulates transcription through viral and cellular promoters. Transfectin of pX into cells treated with TGF-β, activin, or bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2), resulted in greatly increased Smad-dependent transcription, in vitro and in vivo. pX associated with Smad4 constitutively, and with Smad3 in a TGF-β-dependent manner, and expression of pX resulted in great increases of Smad3 and Smad4 transport into the nucleus. pX also associated with TFIIB, a component of the basal transcription complex, and stabilized the interaction of Smad3 and Smad4 with TFIIB. pX also relieved the E1A-dependent interference of Smad3-p300 interactions which resulted in increased transcription. Thus, because TGF-β has an established role in chronic hepatitis and cirrhosis, these data suggest that pX potentiates TGF-β-directed pathogenesis and may explain how HBV causes such delibitating liver diseases. These studies also reveal pX as a possible target for drug therapy to lessen disease symptoms caused by HBV. D. K. Lee, S. H. Park, Y. Yi, S.-G. Choi, C. Lee, W. T. Parks, H. S. Cho, M. P. de Caestecker, Y. Shaul, A. B. Roberts, S.-J. Kim, The hepatitis B virus encoded oncoprotein pX amplifies TGF-β family signaling through direct interaction with Smad4: potential mechanism of hepatitis B virus-induced liver fibrosis. Genes Dev. 15, 455-466 (2001). [Abstract] [Full Text]


The diversity of fishes on coral reefs is influenced by the evolution of feeding innovations. For instance, the evolution of an intramandibular jaw joint has aided shifts to corallivory in Chaetodon butterflyfishes following their Miocene colonization of coral reefs. Today, over half of all Chaetodon species consume coral, easily the largest concentration of corallivores in any reef fish family. In contrast with Chaetodon, other chaetodontids, including the long-jawed bannerfishes, remain less intimately associated with coral and mainly consume other invertebrate prey. Here, we test (i) if intramandibular joint (IMJ) evolution in Chaetodon has accelerated feeding morphological diversification, and (ii) if cranial and post-cranial traits were affected similarly. We measured 19 cranial functional morphological traits, gut length and body elongation for 33 Indo-Pacific species. Comparisons of Brownian motion rate parameters revealed that cranial diversification was about four times slower in Chaetodon butterflyfishes with the IMJ than in other chaetodontids. However, the rate of gut length evolution was significantly faster in Chaetodon, with no group-differences for body elongation. The contrasting patterns of cranial and post-cranial morphological evolution stress the importance of comprehensive datasets in ecomorphology. The IMJ appears to enhance coral feeding ability in Chaetodon and represents a design breakthrough that facilitates this trophic strategy. Meanwhile, variation in gut anatomy probably reflects diversity in how coral tissues are procured and assimilated. Bannerfishes, by contrast, retain a relatively unspecialized gut for processing invertebrate prey, but have evolved some of the most extreme cranial mechanical innovations among bony fishes for procuring elusive prey.


Many recent data center servers are built with NUMA (Non-Uniform Memory Access) characteristics. Accessing remote memory generally takes longer time than accessing local memory. There are a lot of research works that discuss the performance improvement of NUMA multi-core systems. However, rare research work considers reducing the energy cost of NUMA multi-core systems. This work studies reducing energy cost of multi-threaded programs on NUMA architectures using DVFS (Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling) adjustment strategy. We consider three factors of the multi-threaded programs which influence the energy saved by our DVFS adjustment strategy. These three factors are: (1) the memory access intensity of parallel programs; (2) the proportion of remote memory access; (3) the ratio between remote and local memory access latency. In addition, we propose two DVFS adjustment strategies to save the energy cost of multi-threaded programs. The energy-saving effect of these two DVFS adjustment strategies is influenced by these three factors. Two DVFS adjustment strategies can save maximally 20% and 39.2% of total energy when considering one factor and 33.3%, 48.1% of total energy when considering two factors, respectively.


The search for greener, less-polluting energy supplies has dominated discussions of U.S. climate change strategy, but we often overlook cheaper and faster greenhouse gas emissions reductions achievable through energy efficiency and conservation. In this Article, I outline a decade-long 'greening demand' agenda to reduce the amount of energy consumed in the United States. The federal government should aim to reduce U.S. energy consumption by 15% by 2016 and 20% by 2020 to achieve needed reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. While the United States has achieved notable efficiency gains since the 1970s, several market failures and other barriers continue to serve as obstacles to energy savings. These include principal-agent divergence, high implicit discount rates used in decision making on efficiency upgrades, and outmoded forms of utility regulation. I demonstrate how a greening demand agenda, centered on price signals, performance standards, informational tools, and changes in utility regulation, can be used to overcome these barriers. Many of the challenges are technical and scientific, but law will play a central role in structuring incentives and shaping national markets for efficiency innovations. I conclude with some thoughts on the technical and political feasibility of greening demand.


Background: Collaterals may sustain penumbra prior to recanalisation yet the influence of baseline collateral flow on infarct growth following endovascular therapy remains unknown. Methods: Consecutive patients underwent serial diffusion and perfusion MRI before and after endovascular therapy for acute cerebral ischaemia. We assessed the relationship between MRI diffusion and perfusion lesion indices, angiographic collateral grade and infarct growth. Tmax perfusion lesion maps were generated and diffusion–perfusion mismatch regions were divided into Tmax ⩾4 s (severe delay) and Tmax ⩾2 but <4 s (mild delay). Results: Among 44 patients, collateral grade was poor in 7 (15.9%), intermediate in 20 (45.5%) and good in 17 (38.6%) patients. Although diffusion–perfusion mismatch volume was not different depending on the collateral grade, patients with good collaterals had larger areas of milder perfusion delay than those with poor collaterals (p = 0.005). Among 32 patients who underwent day 3–5 post-treatment MRIs, the degree of pretreatment collateral circulation (r = −0.476, p = 0.006) and volume of diffusion–perfusion mismatch (r = 0.371, p = 0.037) were correlated with infarct growth. Greatest infarct growth occurred in patients with both non-recanalisation and poor collaterals. Multiple regression analysis revealed that pretreatment collateral grade was independently associated with infarct growth. Conclusion: Our data suggest that angiographic collateral grade and penumbral volume interactively shape tissue fate in patients undergoing endovascular recanalisation therapy. These angiographic and MRI parameters provide complementary information about residual blood flow that may help guide treatment decision making in acute cerebral ischaemia.


This paper examines the House of European History (HEH), a museum opening its doors in Brussels early 2017. It was initiated by the European Parliament to stimulate the emergence of European identity, just like national historical museums were founded all over Europe in the 19th century to develop national identity and thus contribute to national consolidation. Still today, history is seen as the malleable raw material out of which contemporary identity can be constructed. Yet, the Academic Project Team (APT), which developed the permanent exhibition, chose to replace the concept of identity with memory, stressing its potential to offer a more differentiated historical narrative. Analyzing the museological, political and historiographical aspects of the museum, I discuss whether the HEH can become the place for conflicting views and debate that the APT aspires it to be, or whether it will end up disseminating a new master narrative for the EU.


Background: In recent years, massive open online courses (MOOCs) have steadily gained popularity. It appears, however, that MOOC learners are concentrated mostly in the affluent English-speaking countries. MOOCs' free-of-cost, easy accessibility should make them obviously attractive to participants from low-and-middle-income countries (LMIC). The reason why LMIC enrollments in MOOCs are so low is therefore unclear. In the year 2014, the first MOOC was launched from Pakistan. We administered a survey to the enrollees of this MOOC to explore concerns, fears, and limitations that might be deterring the LMIC audience from participating in MOOCs. Methods: The MOOC was a three-week course on bioinformatics that covered current concepts and techniques employed in the area of computer-based drug design. More than 230 participants enrolled for this course. At the end of the course, to examine the MOOC experience from their perspective, we invited the participants to take an online survey. Results: Fifty-four participants, mostly from Pakistan, completed the survey. The participants reported satisfaction with the course, and felt that the course participation was an enriching experience. Although they appeared eager to explore MOOC learning, we found that the learners from LMICs may not be completely comfortable with various aspects of online learning. Conclusion: Our results indicate that there is a definite market for MOOCs in LMICs. Computer accessibility and literacy must be enhanced in the LMICs to allow the citizens of these regions to feel comfortable with e-learning. Moreover, LMIC nations acknowledge their own unique learning cultures and experiences when they produce and share their MOOC offerings with the world.


The physical aging process progresses every day--and so does our understanding of it. "Physical Dimensions of Aging, Second Edition, " will keep students and professionals up to date on the outcomes of the latest research studies and their implications for the elderly in the real world. Physical aging affects us cognitively, psychologically, socially, and spiritually. The book discusses how people age physically and how this aging affects other dimensions of life.The second edition of "Physical Dimensions of Aging" has been updated to integrate research findings on physical aging from more than 100 different journals in myriad fields, creating interdisciplinary coverage on the topic. It provides students and professionals with what they need to know about physical aging in order to conduct clinical research and to work with clients and patients. In doing so, it retains its landmark status as the definitive reference on aging.Moreover, "Physical Dimensions of Aging, Second Edition, " focuses less on explaining the measurement techniques and research design and more on the outcome of the studies and their practical implications for everyday living. This approach will enable professionals and students to do the following: -Understand the physical aging process and its effects on other dimensions of life.-Apply the latest research in working with adults and the elderly.-Become more effective in their professions.The structure of this new edition is more conducive to learning and features the following: -Chapter objectives-Key terms-Sidebars of capsule research studies-Testimonials, vignettes, and other tidbits that tie the research information to the real world-Review questions to assist students in synthesizing and remembering the information-Short lists of recommended reading for those who want to pursue the topic in more detail-A glossary at the end of the bookThis second edition is organized into five parts. Part I provides an introduction to aging, to the field of gerontology, and to the research process for studying individual differences. Part II describes the physical changes in structure, capacity, and endurance. Part III overviews the factors related to motor coordination, motor control, and skill learning for older adults. Part IV addresses physical-psychosocial relationships, including health, exercise, and cognitive function as well as health-related expectations of quality of life for older adults. Part V highlights physical performance and achievement especially to showcase the results from consistent effort and hard work of physically elite older adults as inspiration for others.At a time when many people are telling older adults what they can't do, professionals should be telling them what they can do. "Physical Dimensions of Aging, Second Edition, " will equip professionals to do so.


The Task Parallel Library (TPL) is a library for .NET that makes it easy to take advantage of potential parallelism in a program. The library relies heavily on generics and delegate expressions to provide custom control structures expressing structured parallelism such as map-reduce in user programs. The library implementation is built around the notion of a task as a finite CPU-bound computation. To capture the ubiquitous apply-to-all pattern the library also introduces the novel concept of a replicable task. Tasks and replicable tasks are assigned to threads using work stealing techniques, but unlike traditional implementations based on the THE protocol, the library uses a novel data structure called a 'duplicating queue'. A surprising feature of duplicating queues is that they have sequentially inconsistent behavior on architectures with weak memory models, but capture this non-determinism in a benign way by sometimes duplicating elements. TPL ships as part of the Microsoft Parallel Extensions for the .NET framework 4.0, and forms the foundation of Parallel LINQ queries (however, note that the productized TPL library may differ in significant ways from the basic design described in this article).


Over twenty years ago, in a small Israeli town, a desperate mother told a remarkable lie. She told her friends and family that her newborn child had died. That lie became the catalyst for the unfolding truth of the adoption of that same baby—Michael —who is, in fact, very much alive and now twenty-two years old. He also has Down syndrome. When Kathryn Hulings adopted Michael as an infant, she could not have known that he would save her life when she became gravely ill and was left forever physically compromised. Her story delights in how Michael's life and hers, while both marked by difference and challenge, are forever intertwined in celebration and laughter. With candor and a sense of humor, Life With a Superhero wraps itself around the raucous joy of Michael's existence with his four older siblings who play hard and love big; how Kathryn and her husband, Jim, utilize unconventional techniques in raising kids; the romance between Michael and his fiancee, Casey; the power of dance in Michael's life as an equalizing and enthralling force; the staggering potential and creativity of those who are differently-abled; and the mind-blowing politics of how Kathryn navigated school systems and societal attitudes that at times fought to keep Michael excluded from the lives of kids deemed "normal." No other books about the parenting experience outline what to do when, say, a child runs across the roof of a tri-level house pretending he can fly, or shows up in a 7th grade social studies class dressed like Spiderman, or calls 911 when his girlfriend breaks his heart. But, as Michael's mom, Kathryn has been trying to figure how to be a mother in just such circumstances—sometimes with success, sometimes with dismal failure—for over two decades.


Abstract. The Whisper instrument yields two data sets: (i) the electron density determined via the relaxation sounder, and (ii) the spectrum of natural plasma emissions in the frequency band 2–80 kHz. Both data sets allow for the three-dimensional exploration of the magnetosphere by the Cluster mission. The total electron density can be derived unambiguously by the sounder in most magnetospheric regions, provided it is in the range of 0.25 to 80 cm-3 . The natural emissions already observed by earlier spacecraft are fairly well measured by the Whisper instrument, thanks to the digital technology which largely overcomes the limited telemetry allocation. The natural emissions are usually related to the plasma frequency, as identified by the sounder, and the combination of an active sounding operation and a passive survey operation provides a time resolution for the total density determination of 2.2 s in normal telemetry mode and 0.3 s in burst mode telemetry, respectively. Recorded on board the four spacecraft, the Whisper density data set forms a reference for other techniques measuring the electron population. We give examples of Whisper density data used to derive the vector gradient, and estimate the drift velocity of density structures. Wave observations are also of crucial interest for studying small-scale structures, as demonstrated in an example in the fore-shock region. Early results from the Whisper instrument are very encouraging, and demonstrate that the four-point Cluster measurements indeed bring a unique and completely novel view of the regions explored. Key words. Space plasma physics (instruments and techniques; discontinuities, general or miscellaneous)


Hippocampal atrophy rate—measured using automated techniques applied to structural MRI scans—is considered a sensitive marker of disease progression in Alzheimer's disease, frequently used as an outcome measure in clinical trials. Using publicly accessible data from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), we examined 1‐year hippocampal atrophy rates generated by each of five automated or semiautomated hippocampal segmentation algorithms in patients with Alzheimer's disease, subjects with mild cognitive impairment, or elderly controls. We analyzed MRI data from 398 and 62 subjects available at baseline and at 1 year at MRI field strengths of 1.5 T and 3 T, respectively. We observed a high rate of hippocampal segmentation failures across all algorithms and diagnostic categories, with only 50.8% of subjects at 1.5 T and 58.1% of subjects at 3 T passing stringent segmentation quality control. We also found that all algorithms identified several subjects (between 2.94% and 48.68%) across all diagnostic categories showing increases in hippocampal volume over 1 year. For any given algorithm, hippocampal "growth" could not entirely be explained by excluding patients with flawed hippocampal segmentations, scan–rescan variability, or MRI field strength. Furthermore, different algorithms did not uniformly identify the same subjects as hippocampal "growers," and showed very poor concordance in estimates of magnitude of hippocampal volume change over time (intraclass correlation coefficient 0.319 at 1.5 T and 0.149 at 3 T). This precluded a meaningful analysis of whether hippocampal "growth" represents a true biological phenomenon. Taken together, our findings suggest that longitudinal hippocampal volume change should be interpreted with considerable caution as a biomarker. Hum Brain Mapp 38:2875–2896, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


We study the connectivity and capacity of finite area ad hoc wireless networks, with an increasing number of nodes (dense networks). We find that the properties of the network strongly depend on the shape of the attenuation function. For power law attenuation functions, connectivity scales, and the available rate per node is known to decrease like 1//spl radic/n. On the contrary, if the attenuation function does not have a singularity at the origin and is uniformly bounded, we obtain bounds on the percolation domain for large node densities, which show that either the network becomes disconnected, or the available rate per node decreases like 1/n.


The use of reconstituted milk may significantly increase the possibility of cheese manufacture and limited irregular milk supplies for cheese making plants. Data collecting and analyzing revealed that there are cheese technologies with cheddaring and cheese curd stretching accompanied by partial replacement of natural milk by reconstituted. Therefore, the aim of this research is to develop the technology of cheese with cheddaring and curd stretching made from reconstituted milk as the main raw material. A comparative study of physicochemical characteristics of five dry milk powder samples obtained from different producers and natural milk has been carried out. The choice of reconstituted skimmed milk as the raw material is explained; its quality is assessed and the process parameters of milk reconstitution are chosen. It is recommended to combine holding of reconstituted skimmed milk and milk ripening. Cheddaring is known to be a fairly time-consuming process, the use of starter cultures during reconstituted milk ripening can intensify this process. The process of milk ripening has been carried out at 16 °C for 10 h using the manufacturer's recommended dosages of starter cultures. The best results have been obtained when Lyofast MOT 092EE is used. Milk ripening is found to be a very important operation for the production of cheese with cheddaring and cheese curd stretching made from reconstituted milk.


CARBON AND BORON NITRIDE NANOTUBE FABRICATED SUPERCAPACITORS Derek Christian Demuth Old Dominion University, 2016 Director: Dr. Gon Namkoong The fabrication of supercapacitor devices consisting of boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) has great theoretical capabilities of high specific capacitance, energy density, and power density. Various methods of dispersion and deposition are utilized to optimize such supercapacitors with BNNTs and CNTs, and also to produce devices with only CNTs to use as a benchmark. In addition to capacitance measurements, BNNTs that were exposed to nitric acid were compared to fabricated devices without acid exposure. Dispersion has been accomplished through the trial of many solvents and surfactants for both CNTs and BNNTs. Deposition techniques that are utilized rely heavily on vacuum filtration and spray deposition techniques. The resultants of fabrication have been tested with capacitance voltage measurements and transmission electron microscopic images are used to analyze solutions. The highest specific capacitance was found in a fabricated device without including BNNTs, as a device fabricated from CNTs as the electrode, a polymer electrolyte, a dielectric separator of nafion, and foil contacts, had a specific capacitance of 0.51 mF/g. This device also had 0.13 Wh/kg for energy density, and 3.02 kW/kg for power density. However, despite this measurement of highest specific capacitance achieved without using BNNTs, a device made of only CNTs, BNNTs, foil contacts, and electrolyte, had the highest energy density of 0.15 Wh/kg and power density of 4.29 kW/kg. This device also had one of the highest measured specific capacitances of 0.27 mF/g. The CNTs and BNNTs were chosen to be used together because of costs and availability and their ideal structures for use as an electrode and a separator, respectively. Both materials have lattice structures that can be rolled into tubes to create bonds and also strengthen the material between walls. The porous structures also allow an electrolyte to seep into the pores to promote charge separation. Carbon is an ideal electrode and boron nitride has high dielectric properties suited for a capacitor separator. The devices showed consistent capacitance characteristics with higher power density than energy density. The techniques used for fabrication, measurement, and further optimization are mentioned throughout this paper. Cleaning BNNTs in nitric acid proved to promote better physical and electrical properties for the resultant solutions and devices.


In a policy climate where various actors claim to have solutions for the enduring challenges of teacher education, policy deliberations sideline certain voices and omit important perspectives. This special issue brings together scholars who attend to the voices, perspectives, and issues overlooked by teacher education policy debates dominated by market logic and accountability pressures. It highlights debates surrounding teacher performance assessments, teacher candidate selection, value-added assessments, as well as teacher preparation for linguistically diverse learners. The introduction to the special issue explores different dimensions of the relationship between research and practice urging teacher educators to become more proactive in policy debates.