Flows of mixed fluids in pipes are frequently encountered in several areas of
engineering, such as chemical, petroleum and nuclear. Two key parameters
characterising such flows are the local volume fraction distribution and the axial
velocity distribution of the dispersed phase. In order to achieve a further
understanding of the flow properties, vector velocities are important too. A common
intrusive method that is used for acquiring these parameters is the local conductivity
probe. The reason is that conductivity probes are more accurate than other measuring
techniques, such as ERT (Electrical Resistance Tomography) systems, and are
therefore used for the calibration and validation of ERT systems. Also the
measurements from conductivity probes show a more representative distribution of
volume fraction and velocity of the dispersed phase than other non intrusive methods.
They are also useful for validating data produced by CFD (Computed Fluid
Dynamics) simulations.
In this thesis, research has been done on designing probes, and improving the
related signal processing algorithms, and several experiments have been run in
multiphase loops for measuring the local volume fraction and velocity of the
dispersed phase in vertical and inclined pipes and in swirling flows. All these attempts
have recognised an extra problem that is not negligible when using local conductance
probes. This problem is the interaction between the probe and the bubble. It is known
that local probes alter the true value of the bubble's vector velocity due to the fact that
bubbles are slowed down by the probe.
A number of experiments were performed and a comparison between ERT and
local conductivity probes was made. Both techniques gave velocity distributions of
the dispersed phase which do not agree, showing that ERT is unable to accurately
measure the gas velocity and volume fraction profiles.
Furthermore the current thesis presents results from dual sensor and four
sensor local conductivity probes in steady vertical and inclined air-water and oil-water
flows and in steady swirling flows, and a proposed new design for fabricating a rotary
index dual sensor probe with a new algorithm for the signal processing scheme is
given. This new type of conductivity probe has a relatively small frontal area that
reduces the bubble-probe interaction hence the probe's effect on the dispersed phase
is less that of other types of probe.


By Artificial Democratic Life we mean the design and deployment of artificial (digital) infrastructures aimed at enhancing or improving social democratic life. Artificial Life, as a discipline and as a community, has much to contribute to the contemporary challenge of redesigning democracy in the network era, in understanding and designing democracy as a form of life: one that evolves into increasingly higher complexity and diversity while preserving homeostatic invariants and designing the infrastructures capable to resiliently enhance it. We identify some opportunities and specific challenges that can be faced using Alife simulation techniques and conceptual resources.


Introduction: Peritonitis is a severe complication of peritoneal dialysis (PD) due to associated morbidity and mortality. Although Bacillus cereus is mostly considered as a contaminant, its role as a causative agent in a few cases of PD peritonitis has been documented. Peritonitis due to B. cereus has been associated with high rates of catheter removal and resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics. Case presentation: A case of relapsing peritonitis caused by B. cereus in a 69-year-old man with end-stage renal disease on continuous ambulatory PD for 3 years is described. B. cereus was recovered from the patient's peritoneal fluid and was identified by phenotypic and molecular methods. The patient was treated, according to the susceptibility test, with tobramycin for 14 days. Cultures became sterile and the patient was discharged from hospital. Three days after discharge, the patient reported recurrence of abdominal pain and a new antibiotic regimen based on the previous culture results was initiated consisting of vancomycin and ciprofloxacin. The presence of B. cereus in the peritoneal fluid was confirmed, whereas repeated cultures for the next 15 days were positive. All B. cereus isolates produced biofilm. On day 16, the PD catheter was removed and the patient was transferred to haemodialysis. A review of previously reported cases is also presented. Conclusion: Since peritonitis is the most common cause of transition to haemodialysis, isolation of B. cereus from PD patients, even though rare, should not be considered as a contaminant. An appropriate antibiotic regimen and, whenever necessary, catheter removal should be applied.


The DELOS network of excellence is a European initiative that has been funded by the European Commission under its fifth and sixth framework programs. It has played a significant role in the formation of an active digital libraries research community, the formulation of a vision for the future of the field, and in fostering collaborative research in the direction of this vision. In this paper, we take into account the recommendations of several activities that were initiated by DELOS and outline the DELOS vision for digital libraries. Furthermore, we discuss the current research agenda of the network and the main directions of technical work that it follows.


The sorption potential of the As (V) ion from aqueous solution has been studied using the water fern Salvinia natans as a scavenging candidate for aquatic arsenic. Sodium arsenate was used to prepare the stock solution of As (V). The diluted stocks with nutrient as sample solutions with As-free pond water were kept in different Perspex cells of a multiple chamber and for each concentration a varying amount of dry mass of the plants were nourished under adequate lighting for supporting the growth of the plants. The samples were drawn from each chamber at 24 h intervals up to 5 days and for each sample the residual As (V) was estimated by the silver diethyl dithio carbonate (SDDC) method.

Test results indicate that the plant could effectively uptake As (V) between 0.25 and 2 mg l−1 to the extent of 74.8 to 54%, respectively, after 120 h contact time for a plant mass of 20 g l−1 at neutral pH. The experimental data were fitted well to both Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms. The effect of pH and biomass quantities on sorption rate have been also investigated along with some metabolic parameters.


H.R. 25 would replace federal taxes with a 23 percent tax-inclusive (30 percent tax-exclusive) sales tax on private consumption, household interest payments, and government spending, and give households payments to offset taxes on consumption up to the poverty line. This paper shows that even if there were no avoidance or evasion, setting the rate at 23 percent (tax-inclusive) would reduce revenues by $7 trillion relative to current law. The required tax rate to hold the government and revenue constant would be 31 percent tax-inclusive (44 percent tax-exclusive) if there were no evasion or avoidance and much higher under less optimistic assumptions. [© Brookings Institution]


Most methods for the design and analysis of reinforced concrete slabs for punching are based on experiments on slab-column connections, reflecting the situation in building slabs. Slab-column connections with unbalanced moments have also been studied in the past. Experiments indicate that the accuracy of models for asymmetrically loaded slabs is lower than for symmetrically loaded slabs. In this paper, the difference in accuracy between test predictions for symmetrically and asymmetrically loaded slabs is tackled. A plastic model, the Extended Strip Model, is proposed. The results of maximum loads according to this model are compared to experimental results of symmetrically and asymmetrically loaded slabs. The comparison between the proposed Extended Strip Model and the experimental results shows that the model has a consistent performance for both symmetrically and asymmetrically loaded slabs. Moreover, the model has as an advantage that it combines the failure modes of flexure, shear and punching. The proposed model can be used for the analysis of slabs. In particular, it can be used for the assessment of existing slab bridges subjected to concentrated live loads.


Nanotechnology has revolutionized many fields and applications, such as medical diagnosis and treatment, water purification, and environmental protection. There is an art behind the synthesis of nanomaterials and their use in our daily lives. The Art of Nanomaterials takes the reader on a fascinating historical journey to learn how artistic inventiveness has influenced scientific innovation, from ancient Egyptian paintings to modern uses in healthcare and engineering.

Through 6 chapters, readers will be able to appreciate the history and significance of nanomaterials in modern technology, their role in medicine, environmental protection, and their relationship with water. It serves as a quick and simple reference for anyone who has a scientific background in natural sciences, or otherwise, who is interested in nanomaterials.


This work examines whether the size, as well as the composition, of legislative coalitions is an additional factor that affects the incidence of protests against national governments in Latin America. Based on aggregate data for 18 democracies from 1980 to 2014, the analysis reveals that the relationship between the size of legislative coalitions in the lower house of national assemblies and the odds of antigovernment protests is U-shaped. Specifically, the odds of antigovernment protests occurring decrease until the president has a coalition comprising 50–55 percent of the national assembly; once this threshold is passed, the odds of protests taking place increase as the coalition grows. This result holds after controlling for the party composition of the governing coalition and other factors previously linked to the occurrence of antigovernment protests. The evidence thus indicates that both minority and supermajority scenarios can be socially destabilizing for Latin American democracies.


Traffic congestion is a daily occurrence in urban highway networks worldwide. It is not possible, however, for society to build its way out of congestion; rather, smarter roads and vehicles are needed. While the development of a smarter transportation system is underway, full implementation is years or decades from now. Yet, some of the sensing technology needed for smarter vehicles is already widely deployed in the form of smart phones. This thesis develops a novel method for recognizing traffic congestion using an artificially intelligent heuristic that could be implemented in a smart phone application or embedded system. Its goal is to provide intelligent feedback to a driver or autonomous vehicle control system to counteract stop-and-go traffic, a defining feature of urban highway congestion. Evaluation of the method indicates that a specific condition during stop-and-go traffic can be recognized accurately. A driver or control system acting upon feedback provided by the artificially intelligent system can improve traffic flow on the roadway by 1% to 3.5% over the course of the test duration.


Background Cardiomyopathies are heterogeneous diseases with clinical presentations varying from asymptomatic to life‐threatening events, including severe heart failure and sudden cardiac death. The role of underlying genetic and disease‐modulating factors in children and adolescents is relatively unknown. In this prospective study, in‐depth phenotypic and genetic characterization of pediatric patients with primary cardiomyopathy and their first‐degree family members (FMs) was performed. Outcome was assessed to identify clinical risk factors. Methods and Results Sixty index patients with primary cardiomyopathy (median age: 7.8 years) and 124 FMs were enrolled in the RIKADA (Risk Stratification in Children and Adolescents with Primary Cardiomyopathy) study. Family screening included cardiac workup and genetic testing. Using cardiologic screening, we identified 17 FMs with cardiomyopathies and 30 FMs with suspected cardiomyopathies. Adverse events appeared in 32% of index patients and were more common in those with lower body surface area (P=0.019), increased NT‐proBNP (N‐terminal pro–brain natriuretic peptide; P<0.001), and left ventricular dysfunction (P<0.001) and dilatation (P=0.005). The worst prognosis was observed in dilated and restrictive cardiomyopathies. Genetic variants of interest were detected in patients (79%) and FMs (67%). In all 15 families with at least 1 FM with cardiomyopathy, we found a variant of interest in the index patient. Increased number of variants of interest per patient was associated with adverse events (P=0.021). Late gadolinium enhancement was related to positive genotypes in patients (P=0.041). Conclusions Lower body surface area, increased NT‐proBNP, left ventricular dysfunction or dilatation, late gadolinium enhancement, and increased number of variants of interest were associated with adverse outcome and should be considered for risk assessment in pediatric primary cardiomyopathies. Clinical Trial Registration URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/. Unique identifier: NCT03572569.


Abstract. Multispectral Lidar System can emit simultaneous laser pulses at the different wavelengths. The reflected multispectral energy is captured through a receiver of the sensor, and the return signal together with the position and orientation information of sensor is recorded. These recorded data are solved with GNSS/IMU data for further post-processing, forming high density multispectral 3D point clouds. As the first commercial multispectral airborne Lidar sensor, Optech Titan system is capable of collecting point clouds data from all three channels at 532nm visible (Green), at 1064 nm near infrared (NIR) and at 1550nm intermediate infrared (IR). It has become a new source of data for 3D land cover classification. The paper presents an Object Based Image Analysis (OBIA) approach to only use multispectral Lidar point clouds datasets for 3D land cover classification. The approach consists of three steps. Firstly, multispectral intensity images are segmented into image objects on the basis of multi-resolution segmentation integrating different scale parameters. Secondly, intensity objects are classified into nine categories by using the customized features of classification indexes and a combination the multispectral reflectance with the vertical distribution of object features. Finally, accuracy assessment is conducted via comparing random reference samples points from google imagery tiles with the classification results. The classification results show higher overall accuracy for most of the land cover types. Over 90% of overall accuracy is achieved via using multispectral Lidar point clouds for 3D land cover classification.


This article begins by making the case for engaging issues of race and cultural difference in user experience (UX) design on the basis of several widely held premises about the relationship between technology, culture, and ideology. It then draws from a case study of user engagement and cross-cultural negotiation around YouTube videos about East Asian blepharoplasty to develop a Culturally Reflexive Framework (CRF) for user experience and user interface (UI) design. CRF can be used in a variety of UX and UI design contexts—both as a way of teaching students how to engage in reflexive design, as well as a tool for UX practitioners. By presenting CRF, the author shows how being attuned to the dynamics of race in the U.S.—keeping in mind that race in UX is a global issue that is shaped by transnational migration and flows of information, products, and capital more generally—can help us to be more conscientious and reflexive in matters of complex social issues in UX design.


This study investigated the cellular mechanism(s) that underlying contractile dysfunction in the streptozotocin-induced (type 1) diabetic cardiomyopathy compared to age-matched control heart. Human and animal studies have shown that diabetes mellitus can be associated with altered cardiac function that is independent of vascular complications. The effects of
increased extracellular (hyperosmotic) osmolarity on the contractility of ventricular myocytes in STZ-treated rat were also investigated compared to control. Diabetes was induced in male Wistar rats by a single i.p. injection of STZ (60mg kg', body weight) which, resulted in an experimental model of type I diabetes that was characterised by hyperglycaemia,
hypoinsulinaemia, hyperosmolarity, glucosuria and decreased in heart and body weights.
Total calcium and magnesium contents , but not sodium, were significantly (P<0.05) increased in the STZ-induced diabetic heart compared to age-matched controls. Contraction was measured in electrically stimulated single ventricular cardiomyocyte using a video-edge detector and results showed that the amplitude of contraction as a percentage of resting cell length (RCL) was significantly (P<0.01) increased in STZ-induced diabetic myocytes (6.8 ± 0.5 %, n30) as compared to age-matched control (4.1 ± 1.04 %, n=27) following 2 and 10 months of STZ-treatment. Moreover, afler 2 months of STZ-treatment the tpk contmaion was significantly (P<0.01) longer in diabetic myocytes (164.1 ± 7.4, n= 30) as compared to agematched controls myocytes (132.3 ± 5.9, n= 28). However, after 10 months of STZ-treatment tpk contmaion (134.2 ± 4.6, n=37) appeared to be normalize towards controls (133.1 ± 5.5, n=35). lit contrast, t12 relaxation was not significantly altered at 2 months of STZ-treatment (60.6 ± 4.1, n=30 Vs. 70.6 ± 5.6, n=28) compared to age-matched control, respectively, but became significantly shorter in STZ-diabetic (55.3 ± 2.7, n37, Vs. 85.1 ± 7.1, n=30) rat myocytes compared to age-matched control, respectively.
Superfusion of myocytes with HT (high osmolarity) caused alterations in both the amplitude and time course of shortening in myocytes from STZ-treated and age-matched control rats. Resting cell length was significantly decreased on exposure to HT and returned towards normal upon wash. Amplitude of shortening was significantly reduced in myocytes from STZ-treated and age-matched control rats after either 1 or 5 min HT. However, the differences in basal contractility and in the response to HT were not significantly altered by STZ treatment. Mean tpk shortening was significantly increased in myocytes from STZ-treated rats compared to controls in NT and was significantly increased in myocytes from STZtreated rats after either 1 or 5 min HT. Mean t'/, relaxation was significantly increased in myocytes from STZ-treated compared to age-matched control rats after either I or 5 min HT.
The magnitude of the increases in tpk contraction, and t,4 relaxation were not significantly different between STZ and control myocytes. The results show that changes in contraction upon exposure to HT were not altered by diabetes. Since contraction is ultimately dependent on cytosolic Ca 2 , it was relevant to measure free intracellular Ca 2 concentrations ([Ca2']) using the fluorescent dye fura-2. Intracellular Ca2 ([Ca2i) transients were measured in cells superfused with normal tyrode (NT, 300 mmol/kg) and then hyperosmotic (HT, 440 mmol/kg) at 35-36 0C. Shrinking significantly increased Ca 2 transient both in control and STZ-treated myocytes. Time to peak (tpk) Ca2 transient was (70.8 ms) in STZ-treated myocyte as compared to (44.6 ms) agematched control. Shrinking increased fractional SR Ca 2 release, assessed by the application
of caffeine. However, the effect of raised extracellular osmolarity on contractility and [Ca 2 ]1 were not altered by chronic hyperglycaemia found in STZ-treated rats.
This study also investigated morphological changes in the heart to determine whether progressive ultrastructure defects might underlying the contractile dysfunction observed in diabetic myocytes. The ultrastructure studies were performed in papillary or ventricular muscle from heart at 4 or 8 months of STZ-treatment compared to age-matched controls. The
electron microscopy results of cardiac muscle showed that the ultrastructure of cardiac muscle, especially associated with contraction, were not greatly altered after STZ-treatment. Sarcomere lengths were not significantly different in papillary or ventricular muscle at 4 or 8 months after STZ-treatment compared to age-matched control. Hence, our data support the
evidence that morphological defects in contractile myofilament and associated structures cannot explain contractile dysfunctions seen in ventricular myocytes from STZ-treated animals.
In conclusion the amplitude of contraction in diabetic myocytes was more pronounced compared to age-matched control. It is suggested that basal Ca 2 in the diabetic heart coupled with increases in Ca2+ influx through Na+/C 2a± -e xchanger, overcompensate for the reduction in trigger Ca2 through voltage sensitive Ca 2 channels, leading to an increase amplitude of contraction and increase myofilaments sensitivity in the diabetic heart. The significant reduction in the rate of C2 uptake into the SR and Ca 2 efflux through Na/Ca 2texchanger result in longer decays of Ca 2 transient during diastole in the diabetic heart.


Agriculture is the single largest sector and dominating driving force for growth and development of Pakistan's economy. Its share in GDP is 24% and employs 48.4% of the total work force of the country. It also provides raw materials for the agro-based industries and adds sustainability to Pakistan's export earnings. At present the average yields of various crops are low as compared to their potential yields and also to those of the advanced countries. The research advancements made in the field of agriculture indicate that the available technologies have much potential, which is not being properly exploited by the farmers. The research studies indicate that lack of proper dissemination of agricultural technologies among the farmers is still of one of the major causes for their non-adoption by the farmers. For the effective dissemination of agricultural technologies among the farmers, many extension approaches have been implemented from time to time. At present three main approaches are working in the country: public sector extension approach (PSEA), participatory extension approach (PEA) and commodity specialized extension approach (CSEA) for the guidance and education of the farmers, but still the extension's role does not appear to be much effective. However, each approach has some strengths, which may be used by other approaches for the improvement of extension work. Keeping in view this situation, the present study was planned to analyze these three approaches in the context of technology dissemination and its utilization by the farmers.
For this purpose the data were collected from 360 respondents taken from the farmers of the three selected approaches by selecting an equal sample of 120 respondents each, from 10 randomly selected villages of tehsil Chak Jhumra of Faisalabad district in which the three approaches are simultaneously in operation. A comparison of the three selected approaches was made against the selected parameters like sustainability, farmers' participation, women participation, linkages development, knowledge gain, technology utilization, diversification, competence of extension field staff (EFS), effectiveness of extension messages, effective use of extension methods, responsiveness to various categories of rural people, organization of target groups, responsiveness to national policies and goals and overall perception of the farmers regarding these approaches. The collected data were analysed by using frequency distributions, weighted scores, analysis of variance, standard variation and LSD values. The Chi-square was also used for computing relationship between the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents and some dependent variables like farmers' participation, knowledge gain and technology utilization.
The results indicated that PSEA was a better approach than PEA and CSEA with regard to the introduction of sustainable agricultural practices among the farmers. PEA had provided more opportunities to the farmers for their participation in extension programme development than the PSEA and CSEA. PSEA and CSEA had absolutely provided no opportunity for women participation at any stage of extension programme development whereas the women were given opportunities for their participation in PEA. PSEA had developed more linkages with various categories of farmers and agricultural allied agencies than those of PEA and CSEA. PEA was the approach that had covered all the diversified areas whereas rest of the two approaches were not putting sufficient efforts in providing coverage. PEA was a better approach than the other two approaches (PSEA and CSEA). PSEA was ranked at the top with regard to the knowledge gain regarding crop production and protection practices by the farmers, whereas PEA and CSEA were rated as 2nd and 3rd respectively. As regards the technology utilization by the farmers PSEA, PEA and CSEA were rated 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively. PSEA got the highest score among the selected approaches with regard to competence of extension field staff. The extension messages were well prepared in PSEA than those of PEA and CSEA. PEA was responsive to more categories of rural people as compared to the other two approaches (PSEA and CSEA). The EFS of PSEA used the extension methods more effectively than those of PEA and CSEA. The EFS of PEA was more serious in organizing the target groups among the rural communities than the other two approaches (PSEA and CSEA). According to the overall perceptions of the farmers, the PEA was a better approach followed by the PSEA and CSEA


The allocation of disposable income between consumers' expenditure and saving dominates GDP in accounting for the scale of demand for broad money (M4), in the qualitative sense of explaining seasonal variations without resort to an implausible extraneous cycle in tastes for holding money, as well as in conventional statistical terms. Both the rates of return on alternative assets and the own-rate on CDs, the highest yielding component of M4, have plausible and well-determined effects on money demand in both the short and long run. The CD rate has markedly greater explanatory power than bank deposit rate, and its non-cointegration with the bond rate accounts for the long-run influence of interest rates. The effect of inflation is identified by its persistence in the error-correction model as an opportunity cost, important for small-scale participants who faced negative pre-tax real returns on deposits during more than half the sample, and not as a manifestation of money illusion.


We have built a system for acquiring and displaying high quality graphical models of objects that are impossible to scan with traditional scanners. Our system can acquire highly specular and fuzzy materials, such as fur and feathers. The hardware set-up consists of a turntable, two plasma displays, an array of cameras, and a rotating array of directional lights. We use multi-background matting techniques to acquire alpha mattes of the object from multiple viewpoints. The alpha mattes are used to construct an opacity hull. The opacity hull is a new shape representation, defined as the visual hull of the object with view-dependent opacity. It enables visualization of complex object silhouettes and seamless blending of objects into new environments. Our system also supports relighting of objects with arbitrary appearance using surface reflectance fields, a purely image-based appearance representation. Our system is the first to acquire and render surface reflectance fields under varying illumination from arbitrary viewpoints. We have built three generations of digitizers with increasing sophistication. In this paper, we present our results from digitizing hundreds of models.


We consider the capacity planning of telecommunications networks with linear investment costs and uncertain future traffic demands. Transmission capacities must be large enough to meet, with a high quality of service (QoS), the range of possible demands, after adequate routings of the traffic on the created network. We use the robust optimization methodology to balance the need for a given QoS with the cost of investment. Our model assumes that the traffic for each individual demand fluctuates in an interval around a nominal value. We use a refined version of affine decision rules based on a concept of demand proximity to model the routings as affine functions of the demand realizations. We then give a probabilistic analysis assuming the random variables follow a triangular distribution. Finally, we perform numerical experiments on network instances from Survivable fixed telecommunication Network Design Library (SNDlib) and measure the quality of the solutions by simulation. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. NETWORKS, Vol. 62(4), 255–272 2013


The Upper Tekezē–Atbara river sub-basin, part of the Nile Basin, is characterized by high temporal and spatial variability of rainfall and streamflow. In spite of its importance for sustainable water use and food security, the changing patterns of streamflow and its association with climate change is not well understood. This study aims to improve the understanding of the linkages between rainfall and streamflow trends and identify possible drivers of streamflow variabilities in the basin. Trend analyses and changepoint detections of rainfall and streamflow were analysed using Mann–Kendall and Pettitt tests, respectively, using data records for 21 rainfall and 9 streamflow stations. The nature of changes and linkages between rainfall and streamflow were carefully examined for monthly, seasonal and annual flows, as well as indicators of hydrologic alteration (IHA). The trend and change-point analyses found that 19 of the tested 21 rainfall stations did not show statistically significant changes. In contrast, trend analyses on the streamflow showed both significant increasing and decreasing patterns. A decreasing trend in the dry season (October to February), short season (March to May), main rainy season (June to September) and annual totals is dominant in six out of the nine stations. Only one out of nine gauging stations experienced significant increasing flow in the dry and short rainy seasons, attributed to the construction of Tekezē hydropower dam upstream this station in 2009. Overall, streamflow trends and change-point timings were found to be inconsistent among the stations. Changes in streamflow without significant change in rainfall suggests factors other than rainfall drive the change. Most likely the observed changes in streamflow regimes could be due to changes in catchment characteristics of the basin. Further studies are needed to verify and quantify the hydrological changes shown in statistical tests by identifying the physical mechanisms behind those changes. The findings from this study are useful as a prerequisite for studying the effects of catchment management dynamics on the hydrological variabilities in the basin.


The advent of cloud computing promises to provide computational resources to customers like public utilities such as water and electricity. To deal with dynamically fluctuating resource demands, market-driven resource allocation has been proposed and recently implemented by public Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) providers like Amazon EC2. In this environment, cloud resources are offered in distinct types of virtual machines (VMs) and the cloud provider runs an auction-based market for each VM type with the goal of achieving maximum revenue over time. However, as demand for each type of VMs can fluctuate over time, it is necessary to adjust the capacity allocated to each VM type to match the demand in order to maximize total revenue while minimizing the energy cost. In this paper, we consider the case of a single cloud provider and address the question how to best match customer demand in terms of both supply and price in order to maximize the providers revenue and customer satisfactions while minimizing energy cost. In particular, we model this problem as a constrained discrete-time optimal control problem and use Model Predictive Control (MPC) to find its solution. Simulation studies using real cloud workloads indicate that under dynamic workload conditions, our proposed solution achieves higher net income than static allocation strategies and minimizes the average request waiting time.


Although there are many motives for farming, the achievement of a worthwhile financial return, coupled with a good standard of living, ranks high among them. This implies the need for sound business organisation - the more so as holdings become larger, more specialised and more capital intensive. The present book offers a comprehensive treatment of farm business organisation and control. Although designed primarily as an intermediate text for students in universities and agricultural colleges, it is of interest and value to all those concerned with farm business, including business advisers, land agents, accountants and bank managers. The book's wide coverage is made possible by a mainly non-mathematical presentation coupled with a liberal use of examples drawn from farming practice. The book is divided into four parts: the organisation of resources, the organisation of enterprises, the combination of enterprises and the control of resources and enterprises. The overtaking theme is that, in order to make the most economic use of the resources at his disposal, the farmer has to decide what resources to use, how to organise their use within individual enterprises and how to combine the enterprises into an integrated farming system. Lastly, if these efforts are not to be largely wasted, he must initiate the keeping of suitable records to provide both planning data and a system of checks and controls when his plans are put into practice.


Mathematical Morphology is a theory that studies the decomposition of lattice operators in terms of some families of elementary lattice operators. When the lattices considered have a sup-generating family, the elementary operators can be characterized by structuring functions. The representation of structuring functions by neighborhood graphs is a powerful model for the construction of image operators. This model, that is a conceptual improvement of the one proposed by Vincent, permits a natural polymorphic extension of classical softwares for image processing by Mathematical Morphology. These systems constitute a complete framework for implementations of connected filters, that are one of the most modern and powerful approaches for image segmentation, and of operators that extract information from populations of objects in images. In this paper, besides presenting the formulation of the model, we present the polymorphic extension of a system for morphological image processing and some applications of it in image analysis.


Introduction Coleus forskohlii is a botanical that has been used since ancient times in Hindu and Ayurvedic traditional medicine. The root portion of the plant has been traditionally used for medicinal purposes and contains the active constituent, forskolin. Forskolin was named after the Finnish botanist, Forskal. Historically, it has been used to treat hypertension, congestive heart failure, eczema, colic, respiratory disorders, painful urination, insomnia, and convulsions. Clinical studies of the plant and the forskolin constituent support these traditional uses, but also indicate it may have therapeutic benefit in asthma, angina, psoriasis, and prevention of cancer metastases.


In this article, I present my stance as an English as a second language (ESL) practitioner resulting from empirical observations of the development of eportfolio reflective projects by five groups of approximately 10-20 intermediate-level language learners in an online learning community during five iterations of the same course (February 2018-June 2020). I provide an insight into the experiences of ESL students with their first eportfolios as a capstone project based on ongoing observations grounded on theoretical concepts of the affective domain and a more ecological aspect of constructivism. The first four groups of 10-20 students completed their program of studies in a blended format – three days onsite and two online. The fifth group with 20 students, however, due to COVID-19, was thrust into learning entirely at a distance prior to the completion of their second module. In each cohort, students were aware of the remaining modules in their program of studies and waited in anticipation – and some form of trepidation – for their reflective project. The capstone eportfolio project was the fifth and final module in a five-month program of studies where students chose a platform for their projects (technology) and populated the pages with learning episodes (pedagogy) experienced in the previous four modules. These eportfolio projects, developed by the students individually and in collaboration with their peers, fostered engagement and feedback interaction at various stages. While developing their reflective projects, students learned to leverage eportfolio technology to enhance the achievement of their goals as well as eportfolio pedagogy to articulate the attainment of competencies. Since evidence of core competencies in each language skill ability is a program requirement, modules preceding the creation of eportfolios necessitate tasks that foster learner awareness related to language skills, abilities, and attitudes. Although students eventually understand what the competencies are, they often grapple with how they are attained, and why they are required. As reflective projects grounded on academic rigour and underpinned by theoretical principles, these eportfolios espouse self-awareness and deeper learning. As such, they foster student agency and empower creators to articulate their experiences as they reflect on the learning to date. My observations of five groups of language learners developing their first eporfolio as a capstone project may help inform the field of online pedagogy and also contribute toward a better understanding of eportfolios as reflective projects in blended and online learning communities.


article i nfo This paper is concerned with the urban wage premium and addresses two central issues about which the field has not yet reached a consensus: first, the extent to which sorting of high ability individuals into urban areas ex- plains the urban wage premium and second, whether workers receive this wage premium immediately, or throughfasterwagegrowthovertime.Usingalargepanelofworker-leveldatafromBritain,we firstdemonstrate the existence of an urban premium for wage levels, which increases in city size. We next provide evidence of a city size premium on wage growth, but show that this effect is driven purely by the increase in wage that occurs in the first year that a worker moves to a larger location. Controlling for sorting on the basis of unobservables we find no evidence of an urban wage growth premium. Experience in cities does have some impact on wage growth, however. Specifically, we show that workers who have at some point worked in a city experience faster wage growth than those who have never worked in a city.


This paper examines the impact of social capital on the quality of ideas generated by individuals at work. Two dimensions of social capital are investigated—the degree (i.e. size) of individuals' networks of ideation relations, and the structural holes (i.e. gaps between nodes) of those relations. Previous research has presented different and even conflicting empirical results concerning the effect of structural holes on innovation activities, and has not dealt specifically with the ideation phase of the innovation process. By drawing upon an idea database from a Swedish company that has worked systematically with idea management for an extensive period, this study investigates the interrelationship between social capital and ideation. The empirical study reveals that the larger the size of an individual's ego network, the higher is this individual's innovative performance in terms of high-quality ideas, whereas the larger the number of structural holes in an ego network, the lower is the quality of ideas generated by the individual in question. These findings support the conclusion that social capital, in terms of individuals' relationships with fellow employees within firms, has a positive influence on idea-generating behavior. Moreover, the results reveal that the presence of structural holes is negative for ideation performance, thus providing important new input to the recent debate on the interrelationship between structural holes and innovation in general.


In order to investigate the effects of seed priming by salicylic acid (SA) and Paclobutrazol (Pa) on parsley, as a medicinal plant, under drought stress, a factorial experiment, based on completely randomized design with four replications, was performed at the Research Greenhouse and Laboratory of Department of Horticulture, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili. Experimental treatments included five levels of priming (seed priming by 100 and 200 mg/L concentrations of SA and 100 and 200 mg/L of Pa and control (no priming)) and three levels of drought stress (25, 50 and 100% of field capacity (FC) moisture content). Results showed that seed priming had significant effect on plant height, shoot and root dry weight, proline content, stomatal conductance and potassium content of parsley (p≤0.05). Seed priming by 100 and 200 mg/L SA increased plant dry weight by 14 and 8%, respectively, as compared to control. Seed priming by 100 and 200 mg/L Pa reduced plant dry weight by 1 and 11%, respectively, as compared to control plants. Drought stress decreased all vegetative growth traits of parsley. But, proline and soluble protein contents of leaves were increased. Maximum proline content of leaves (2.4 μg/g fresh weight) was for 25% field capacity moisture content and the lowest proline content (1.06 μg/g fresh weight) was observed for 100% field capacity moisture content. Seed priming by salicylic acid, having positive effect on growth and physiological traits, led to higher resistance against drought stress, as compared to Paclobutrazol.


Whilst recent neuroimaging studies have identified a series of different brain regions as being involved in empathy, it remains unclear concerning the activation consistence of these brain regions and their specific functional roles. Using MKDA, a whole-brain based quantitative meta-analysis of recent fMRI studies of empathy was performed. This analysis identified the dACC-aMCC-SMA and bilateral anterior insula as being consistently activated in empathy. Hypothesizing that what are here termed affective–perceptual and cognitive–evaluative forms of empathy might be characterized by different activity patterns, the neural activations in these forms of empathy were compared. The dorsal aMCC was demonstrated to be recruited more frequently in the cognitive–evaluative form of empathy, whilst the right anterior insula was found to be involved in the affective–perceptual form of empathy only. The left anterior insula was active in both forms of empathy. It was concluded that the dACC-aMCC-SMA and bilateral insula can be


Background

COVID-19 is associated with a novel multi-system inflammatory syndrome that shares some characteristics with Kawasaki's Disease. The syndrome manifestation is delayed relative to COVID-19 onset, with a spectrum of clinical severity. Clinical signs may include persistent fever, gastrointestinal symptoms, cardiac inflammation and/or shock.
Case Presentation:

We measured 59 inflammatory and endothelial injury plasma analytes in an adolescent girl that presented with malaise, fever, cough, strawberry tongue and jaundice. Her COVID-19 status was positive with detection of 2 SARS-CoV-2 viral genes using polymerase chain reaction. She was treated with intravenous immunoglobulin prior to blood draw, but our plasma measurements suggested a unique analyte expression pattern associated with inflammation, endothelial injury and microvascular glycocalyx degradation.
Conclusions

COVID-19 is associated with a multi-system inflammatory syndrome and a unique inflammatory and endothelial injury signature. Analyte markers of inflammation and endothelium injury might serve as putative biomarkers and/or be investigated further as potential therapeutic targets.


Background Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) assessment by ECG voltage or image based mass volume is commonly used in clinical practice and research. Our previous study of LVH regression after AVR for AS demonstrated a more complete regression in ECG voltage than in LV mass, thus indicated that ECG and Echo could be quantifying different aspects of LVH. In this study, we used gene expression profiling to examine whether different molecular pathways are involved in LV hypertrophy defined by ECG voltage or Echo LV mass. Material and Methods We studied 17 patients with aortic stenosis, aged 73±8.5 years with 12 males. Gene expression profiling of LV myocardium biopsy during AVR was carried out using Stanford Human Exonic Evidence Based Oligonucleotide (HEEBO) array. Using ECG QRS voltage cut-off 3.0 mv, 8 patients had LVH (ECG-LVH) and 9 had not (ECG-Norm ). Using Echo LV mass index 125 g/m2 for man and 105 g/m2 for woman, 9 cases had LVH (Echo-LVH) and 8 had not (Echo-Norm). The gene expression profiling comparisons were carried out between ECG-LVH vs. ECG-Norm as well as Echo-LVH vs. Echo-Norm, respectively, by parametric permutative (permutation times=1000) t-test using the p-value cut-off 0.01. Further gene functional annotation clusters were performed using Database for Annotation, Visualisation and Integrated Discovery (DAVID, NIH) and pathway analysed by GeneSpring GX10. Results There are 163 genes significantly differentially expressed (DEGs) between ECG-LVH and ECG-Norm. Among which, 81 genes were up-regulated and 82 genes down-regulated in ECG-LVH. Between Echo-LVH and Echo-Norm, 256 DEGs were identified, of which 141 genes were up and 115 genes were down regulated in Echo-LVH. The Direct Interaction Network of 163 DEGs in ECG-LVH revealed several connected island hubs with genes of HGF, CDK5RAP2, FYN (up-regulated) and IL6, PTBP2 and IRF1 (down-regulated). Of 257 DEGs in Echo-LVH, there were more abundant island-like connexions. The hubs of the connexion include PTEN, GNL3, AREG, ADAM17 and PPP1CA (up-regulated) and DCTN6, TWIST1 and ITGAM (down regulated). Further data mining and analysis of the two DEGs lists using DAVID and the Significantly Enriched Core Pathways analysis has demonstrated that the DEGs of ECG-LVH and ECHO-LVH have similar regulation directions in pathways/annotation clustering, including transcription regulation, nucleotide binding, zinc finger, focal adhesion. In addition, ECG-LVH has down regulation in wounding healing/inflammatory/cytokines pathway indicating a lower interstitial fibrosis activity compared with ECG-Norm; In Echo-LVH, mitochondrial protein importing, metalloprotease/ECM remodelling and cell division pathways were up-regulated compared to Echo-Norm. Conclusions Cardiac hypertrophy diagnosed by ECG voltage or Echo muscle mass share many common molecular pathways that have been implicated in LVH. The unique pathways associated with ECG voltage based LVH imply a predominant hypertrophy of myocytes; in contrast, Echo mass based LVH involves the unique pathways of myocardial energy and ECM remodelling. The convergence and divergence of underlying molecular pathways between ECG based and Echo based LVH suggest the two methods may provide complimentary clinical value in the assessment of LVH and its response to treatment.


The acoustic front end that converts the signal waveform into a parsimonious representation is a critical component of a speech recognizer. Traditionally, this front end conversion process has relied on the short time spectral analysis framework in which power spectra of speech segments, on the order of 10 ms, are successively and independently estimated, via all‐pole modeling or bank of filters. In this paper, several key considerations in front end design are elaborated, ranging from the computational structure to the associated dissimilarity measures, in the context of prevalent short time spectral representations and the strengths as well as weaknesses of various speech analysis models are discussed, with an attempt to point out possible ways to improve the existing methods. It is further suggested how auditory modeling may help enhance the robustness of a speech recognizer by providing perceptually reliable measurements of speech.


Fisheries pedagogy frequently uses outdated instructional models, even though newer approaches, such as multimodal and active instruction, may result in better educational outcomes. We discuss a variety of innovative instructional approaches for fisheries classes, including multimodal learning via music videos, student karaoke videos, and active learning via video observations of naturally behaving animals. Questionnaire responses from both undergraduate and graduate classes indicated that the various multimodal and active learning approaches generally improved students' attitudes toward class and studying; however, their impact on learning and retention is unknown. We also explore additional aspects of student-centered learning including e-portfolios, digital storytelling, and interactive, web-linked lab notebooks. Finally, viewing fisheries education in a broad sense, we describe experiences with a web-based information platform, www.troutnut.com, that serves as a stream ecology outreach site for both t...


High school exit exams are meant to standardize the quality of public high schools and to ensure that students graduate with a set of basic skills and knowledge. Evidence suggests that a common perverse effect of exit exams is an increase in dropout for students who have difficulty passing tests, with a larger effect on minority students. To mitigate this, some states offer alternative, non-tested pathways to graduation for students who have failed their exit exams. This study investigates the post-secondary effects of an alternative high school graduation program. Compared to similar students who fail to complete high school, those students who take the alternative pathway have better post-secondary outcomes in both education and employment. Compared to similar students who retake exit exams to graduate, those who eventually graduate through an alternative project-based pathway have lower college enrollment, but similar employment outcomes.


Librarians champion the value of openness in scholarship and have been powerful advocates for the sharing of research data. College and university administrators have recently joined in the push for data sharing due to funding mandates. However, the researchers who create and control the data usually determine whether and how data is shared, so it is worthwhile to look at what they are incentivized to do. The current scholarly publishing landscape in addition to the promotion and tenure process creates a "prisoner's dilemma" for researchers as they decide whether to share data. This is consistent with the observation that researchers in general are eager for others to share data, but reluctant to do so themselves. If librarians encourage researchers to share data and promote openness without simultaneously addressing the academic incentive structure, those who are intrinsically motivated to share data will be selected against via the promotion and tenure process. This will cause those who do not share to be disproportionately recruited into the senior ranks of academia. To mitigate the risk of this unintended consequence, librarians must advocate for a change in incentives alongside the call for greater openness. Highly cited datasets must be given similar weight to highly cited articles in promotion and tenure decisions in order for researchers to reap the rewards of their sharing. Librarians can help by facilitating data citation to track the impact of datasets and working to persuade administrators of the value of rewarding data sharing in tenure and promotion.


There is increasing interest in using computing applications towards the socio-economic development of the poor. However, because poverty commonly correlates with illiteracy, researchers have identified various usability challenges that low-literate users may encounter in interacting with traditional text-based UIs. To counter such problems, researchers have proposed non-textual UIs for these users. However, most current work focuses exclusively on illiteracy (the inability to read) per se, with little recognition to other problems or the overall context in which a user is situated.

In this paper we suggest that the inability to read is only one of several possible concerns that prevent useful interaction of existing computing (PC and mobile phone) UIs by low-literate users. Through our ethnographic and usability studies with 400 low-literate, low-income subjects across India, the Philippines and South Africa, we find a host of nuanced issues which mediate how a user interacts with computing technologies. Such issues include: cognitive difficulties, collaboration, cultural etiquette, experience and exposure, intimidation, mediation, motivation, pricing, power relations, social standing, and others. We observe that these factors can have far-reaching influence on the design of UIs as well as services for low-literate populations.


At its heart, the Eucharist is a sacrament of communion, bringing us closer to God and to our brothers and sisters in the Body of Christ. If we live the fruits of the Eucharist in our daily lives, we will fi ll our families and our communities with the life-giving qualities that the Liturgy brings: hospitality, concern for the poor and vulnerable, self-off ering, and thanksgiving. An ancient saying in the Church reads "lex orandi, lex credendi," meaning that the law of prayer is the law of faith. More loosely: as we pray, so we believe. To that we might add lex vivendi, meaning that as we pray, so we believe, and so we live. In the third edition of the Roman Missal, the bishops and translators took great care to ensure that the prayers accurately and fully refl ect the mysteries of our faith. Th us, the words that we pray in each liturgical celebration help to form and strengthen our understanding of the faith. However, if the eff ects of the Liturgy stop at the doors of the church, we have not made our prayer and our faith part of our law of living. Th e Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) teaches that the Eucharist helps us to grow in union with Christ, avoid sin, increase in charity, strengthen communion with our brothers and sisters, and recognize Christ in the poorest and most vulnerable members of society (see CCC, nos. 1391-1397). But what does that mean in daily life?


The Large-scale Biosphere–Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA) is a multinational, interdisciplinary research program led by Brazil. Ecological studies in LBA focus on how tropical forest conversion, regrowth, and selective logging influence carbon storage, nutrient dynamics, trace gas fluxes, and the prospect for sustainable land use in the Amazon region. Early results from ecological studies within LBA emphasize the variability within the vast Amazon region and the profound effects that land-use and landcover changes are having on that landscape. The predominant land cover of the Amazon region is evergreen forest; nonetheless, LBA studies have observed strong seasonal patterns in gross primary production, ecosystem respiration, and net ecosystem exchange, as well as phenology and tree growth. The seasonal patterns vary spatially and interannually and evidence suggests that these patterns are driven not only by variations in weather but also by innate biological rhythms of the forest species. Rapid rates of deforestation have marked the forests of the Amazon region over the past three decades. Evidence from ground-based surveys and remote sensing show that substantial areas of forest are being degraded by logging activities and through the collapse of forest edges. Because forest edges and logged forests are susceptible to fire, positive feedback cycles of forest degradation may be initiated by land-use-change events. LBA studies indicate that cleared lands in the Amazon, once released from cultivation or pasture usage, regenerate biomass rapidly. However, the pace of biomass accumulation is dependent upon past land use and the depletion of nutrients by unsustainable land-management practices. The challenge for ongoing research within LBA is to integrate the recognition of diverse patterns and processes into general models for prediction of regional ecosystem function.


In order to fully harness the outstanding mechanical properties of carbon nanotubes (CNT) as fiber reinforcements, it is essential to understand the nature of load transfer in the fiber matrix interfacial region of CNT-based composites. With controlled experimentation on nanoscale interfaces far off, molecular dynamics (MD) is evolving as the primary method to model these systems and processes. While MD is capable of simulating atomistic behavior in a deterministic manner, the extremely small length and time scales modeled by MD necessitate multiscale approaches. To study the atomic scale interface effects on composite behavior, we herein develop a hierarchical multiscale methodology linking molecular dynamics and the finite element method through atomically informed cohesive zone model parameters to represent interfaces. Motivated by the successful application of pullout tests in conventional composites, we simulate fiber pullout tests of carbon nanotubes in a given matrix using MD. The results of the pullout simulations are then used to evaluate cohesive zone model parameters. These cohesive zone models (CZM) are then used in a finite element setting to study the macroscopic mechanical response of the composites. Thus, the method suggested explicitly accounts for the behavior of nanoscale interfaces existing between the matrix and CNT. The developed methodology is used to study the effect of interface strength on stiffness of the CNT-based composite.


I propose, by way of definition that creativity is the reaction of the human spirit to the variety of its experiences; a reaction expressed through forms and structures (which may be tonal, verbal, written, visual or physical).... Significantly the creative fruit is both determined by, and is as unique as, the intensity of the experiences and the quality of the response. --Mari Evans (1) Introduction Indianapolis, a city of approximately 365,000 in 1930, was home to nearly 45,000 African Americans who lived, worked, worshipped, and learned in a close-knit segregated community. For these citizens, it was a city of contradictions. Members of the Ku Klux Klan dominated positions of power in city and state government, (2) racial tension was high, and neighborhoods, parks, businesses, and schools were segregated. Yet a spirit of hope and optimism prevailed in the African American community. Indianapolis poet Mari Evans wrote, "Black folk were firmly convinced that with hard work and a 'good' disposition the future was theirs for the taking." (3) As was the case in many other Northern cities, the growing African American community in Indianapolis was a result, in part, of the "Great Migration," which Peretti defined as "both the physical movement of blacks from plantations to Northern cities after 1900 and the intellectual and cultural adventurousness to which this movement gave rise." He proposed that the Great Migration "profoundly altered the values, daily goals, and self-expression of blacks." (4) Music was an integral part of the lives of many African Americans--in their homes, schools, and churches. Centrally located with ready access to train and air travel, Indianapolis was a frequent stop for vaudeville acts, traveling shows, and nationally famous musicians and bands. The city offered a particularly rich musical environment for those who were interested, and many were interested. Musicians who have since distinguished themselves in the field of jazz, such as David Baker, Erroll Grandy, Slide Hampton, Freddie Hubbard, J.J. Johnson, Virgil Jones, Wes Montgomery, Larry Ridley, Melvin Rhyne, and Jimmy Spaulding, are among those whose early musical development took place in Indianapolis. What variety of experiences coalesced for these young African Americans in Indianapolis in the 1930s and 1940s and came to creative fruition through the form and structure of jazz? How did they acquire the necessary technical skills and musical knowledge? What factors contributed to their early musical development? Methodology Interviews were conducted with ten African American jazz musicians who developed musically in Indianapolis in the 1930s and 1940s. Previous research studies; transcripts of interviews; biographies of musicians; primary sources such as public records and archives from city government and public schools; and ethnographic, sociological, and historical writings provided data which complemented and corroborated information from the interviews and also supplied contextual information. Themes To illuminate the events and practices contributing to the development of young African American jazz musicians in Indianapolis in the 1930s and 1940s, the results of this investigation have been categorized into three overarching themes: formal music education, informal music education, and the contributing political, social, and cultural environment. Formal music study through the public schools, as well as private instruction by individuals and institutions, provided young players with technical skills and a strong musical knowledge base. Informal music education, which occurred through exposure to musical families, participation in jam sessions and big bands, and access to radio, recordings, and live performances, offered a highly charged creative environment for experimentation. The social, political, and cultural conditions that existed in Indianapolis for young African Americans supported the growth of jazz and jazz musicians. …


The literature about workplace health initiatives generally stresses the mutual benefits of these programmes for employers and employees. This is also the case for HIV Counselling and Testing (HCT) workplace initiatives in sub-Saharan Africa. This article aims to critically analyse the worksite as a beneficial HIV testing place, questioning if the workplace – as a place characterized by its authority and dependency relationships – enables employees to freely consent to and participate in HIV testing. It questions which types of power occur in health worksite programmes in Sub-Saharan Africa, examining disciplinary power , pastoral power and managerial / neoliberal power. This study is based on a qualitative survey conducted over a period of 12 months (between November 2011 and May 2013) among 30 large private companies in Côte d'Ivoire (HIV prevalence 3.2% in 2015). This article argues that private companies still represent a constraining "apparatus," which enables the use of disciplinary and pastoral power, specifically by medical staff upon low skilled employees. However, worksite HCT programmes can also give the employees (generally more skilled) the opportunity to increase the « techniques of the self » with regard to their own health via the normalization of HIV testing and the pressure of their colleagues' social control. The example of the HIV/AIDS workplace programmes in Côte d'Ivoire illustrates the deep ambivalence of workplace health programmes, between public health opportunities and human rights risks.


G2LM|LIC Working Paper No. 67 | June 2022 Childcare, Labor Supply, and Business Development: Experimental Evidence from Uganda* In a field experiment in Uganda, mothers of young children are randomly offered a childcare subsidy, an equivalent cash grant, both or nothing. Childcare leads to a 44 percent increase in household income, which is at least as large as the impact of the cash grant and driven by an increase in mothers' business revenues and fathers' wage earnings. The childcare subsidy also improves child development while the cash grant does not. Overall, our findings demonstrate that childcare subsidies can be an effective policy to simultaneously promote child development and reduce poverty in a low-income context. JEL Classification: I25, I38, J13, J22


Some cancer therapies may be a double-edged sword, blocking pathways that mediate tumor growth and those mediating immune recognition. Immune cells can limit tumor growth by recognizing and destroying cancer cells. Natural killer (NK) cells and cytolytic T cells are activated through the receptor NKG2D (NK group 2, member D) by major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I–related chain A and B proteins and UL16-binding proteins (MICA/B and ULBP, respectively). The abundance of these membrane-associated NKG2D ligands is increased on the cell surface upon infection or oncogenic transformation. Vantourout et al. found that common anticancer therapies that inhibit the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) or the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway in tumor cells also decreased the surface abundance of these NKG2D ligands, which could result in loss of immune targeting of these cells. Exposure of skin cells to ultraviolet B radiation (UVB) activates EGFR signaling, and exposure of cultured human primary and HaCat keratinocytes to UVB increased the amount of MICA, MICB, and ULBP2 at the cell surface. Although UVB can cause DNA damage, other DNA-damaging agents did not increase the abundance of MICA mRNA in HaCat cells, indicating that the induction of MICA was independent of pathways involved in responding to DNA damage. Treating HaCat cultures with AG1478 (a tyrosine kinase inhibitor with selectivity for EGFR) blocked UVB-induced MICA expression; in contrast, adding EGF to HaCat cells, but not to EGFR-deficient HCT116 cells, induced MICA expression. Therapeutically used EGFR inhibitors or inhibitors of MAPK signaling prevented the EGF-stimulated increase in the cell surface abundance of NKG2D ligands. EGF stabilized MICA and MICB mRNAs in HaCat cells and induced the nuclear exclusion of AUF1, an mRNA decay factor. Overexpression of AUF1 in HaCat cells decreased the cell surface abundance of NKG2D ligands. In panels of primary breast cancer cell lines and patient tumors, the expression of NKG2D ligand-coding genes inversely correlated with that of the gene encoding AUF1 but positively correlated with that of EGFR. Primary peripheral blood mononuclear cells had increased surface abundance of markers of NK cell activation when cocultured with HaCat cells that were pretreated with EGF compared with those that were untreated, and an antibody against NGK2D prevented this effect. The findings show that some cancer therapies may be a double-edged sword by blocking pathways that mediate tumor growth and immune recognition. P. Vantourout, C. Willcox, A. Turner, C. M. Swanson, Y. Haque, O. Sobolev, A. Grigoriadis, A. Tutt, A. Hayday, Immunological visibility: Posttranscriptional regulation of human NKG2D ligands by the EGF receptor pathway. Sci. Transl. Med. 6, 231ra49 (2014). [PubMed]


This study examined whether emotion moderates the degree to which framed messages influences colorectal cancer (CRC) screening intentions and self-efficacy for screening. Previous research has demonstrated that loss-framed messages are more effective than gain-framed messages in motivating detection behaviors such as screening. However, overall effects of framing in the context of health messages have been small and heterogeneous, highlighting the pressing need to identify moderators of framed message effectiveness. We paired a standard framing manipulation with an "affective booster" to increase anticipated and anticipatory emotions associated with the framed messages in a 2 × 2 (gain-loss by affective booster-no booster). The loss-framed message was paired with a complementary affective booster intended to facilitate worry and regret; the gain-framed message was paired with a complementary booster intended to facilitate relief. Consistent with previous research, we found that loss-framed messages were more effective in increasing intentions to screen for CRC (Î2 = -.38, t = -2.19, p = .03, d = 0.55). The inclusion of the affective booster had no overall effect on intentions to screen (Î2 = -.06, t = -0.39, p = .70, d = 0.10). However, we found a significant interaction (Î2 = .48, t = 2.13, p = .04, d = 0.53), such that among individuals who received gain-framed messages (but not loss-framed messages), the affective booster increased message persuasiveness. A similar pattern of results was uncovered with respect to self-efficacy for screening, where an affective booster increased self-efficacy among the gain-frame message recipients, bringing their self-efficacy in line with those who had received the loss-framed message. This study indicates that in the presence of affective boosters, loss-framed messages may lose their advantage over gain-framed messages in motivating detection behaviors.


Dewar flasks have been proposed as containers for relatively long-term (25 days) storage of perishable scientific samples or other perishable objects at a temperature of –175 °C. The refrigeration would be maintained through slow boiling of liquid nitrogen (LN2). For the purposes of the application for which these containers were proposed, (1) the neck openings of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) Dewar flasks are too small for most NASA samples; (2) the round shapes of the COTS containers give rise to unacceptably low efficiency of packing in rectangular cargo compartments; and (3) the COTS containers include metal structures that are too thermally conductive, such that they cannot, without exceeding size and weight limits, hold enough LN2 for the required long-term-storage. In comparison with COTS Dewar flasks, the proposed containers would be rectangular, yet would satisfy the long-term storage requirement without exceeding size and weight limits; would have larger neck openings; and would have greater sample volumes, leading to a packing efficiency of about double the sample volume as a fraction of total volume. The proposed containers would be made partly of aerospace-type composite materials and would include vacuum walls, multilayer insulation, and aerogel insulation. This work was done by Warren P. Ruemmele of Johnson Space Center; John Manry, Kristin Stafford, and Grant Bue of Lockheed Martin Corp.; George R. Rowland, Jr., and John Krejci of Hernandez Engineering; and Bent Evernden of Rothe Joint Venture, L.P. For further information, contact the Johnson Commercial Technology Office at (281) 4833809. MSC-23761-1 Wider-Opening Dewar Flasks for Cryogenic Storage Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas


Shannon's sampling theory and its variants provide effective solutions to the problem of reconstructing a signal from its samples in some "shift-invariant" space, which may or may not be bandlimited. In this paper, we present some further justification for this type of representation, while addressing the issue of the specification of the best reconstruction space. We consider a realistic setting where a multidimensional signal is prefiltered prior to sampling, and the samples are corrupted by additive noise. We adopt a variational approach to the reconstruction problem and minimize a data fidelity term subject to a Tikhonov-like (continuous domain) L2 -regularization to obtain the continuous-space solution. We present theoretical justification for the minimization of this cost functional and show that the globally minimal continuous-space solution belongs to a shift-invariant space generated by a function (generalized B-spline) that is generally not bandlimited. When the sampling is ideal, we recover some of the classical smoothing spline estimators. The optimal reconstruction space is characterized by a condition that links the generating function to the regularization operator and implies the existence of a B-spline-like basis. To make the scheme practical, we specify the generating functions corresponding to the most popular families of regularization operators (derivatives, iterated Laplacian), as well as a new, generalized one that leads to a new brand of Matern splines. We conclude the paper by proposing a stochastic interpretation of the reconstruction algorithm and establishing an equivalence with the minimax and minimum mean square error (MMSE/Wiener) solutions of the generalized sampling problem.


[1] Bedrock river incision occurs only during floods large enough to mobilize sediment and overcome substrate detachment thresholds. New data relating channel steepness and erosion rate provide the opportunity to evaluate the role of thresholds and discharge variability in landscape evolution. We augment an extensive erosion rate data set in the San Gabriel Mountains, California, with analysis of streamflow records and observations of channel width and sediment cover to evaluate the importance of climate and erosion thresholds on incision rates. We find the relationship between channel steepness and erosion rate in the San Gabriel Mountains can be explained using a simple stochastic-threshold incision model where the distribution of large floods follows an inverse power law, suggesting that details of incision mechanics, sediment effects, width adjustment, and debris flows do not significantly influence the steady state relationship between steepness and erosion rate. Using parameters tuned to this case, we vary climate parameters to explore a range of behavior for the steepness-erosion relationship. Erosion is enhanced by both increases in mean runoff and discharge variability. We explore the implications of an empirical relationship between mean runoff and variability to test whether dry, variable climates can erode more efficiently than wet, stable climates. For channels with high thresholds or low steepness, modeled erosion rate peaks at a mean runoff of 200–400 mm/yr. For much of the parameter space tested, erosion rates are predicted to be insensitive to increases in runoff above ∼500 mm/yr, with important implications for the hypothesized influence of climate on tectonics.


Giant earthquake and tsunami widely disturbed ionospheric plasma via acoustic gravity waves. During the M 9.0 2011 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku earthquake, the ionospheric disturbances were generated by co-seismic epicentral ground/sea surface motion, Rayleigh-wave traveling, and tsunami-wave traveling. In addition, seismo-tsunamigenic ionospheric hole, widely sudden depression of ionospheric total electron content, was observed. The ionospheric hole gradually disappeared within roughly a few tens minutes.


Introduction: The current study aimed at investigating the existence of the cross state-dependent learning between morphine and scopolamine (SCO) in mice by passive avoidance method, pointing to the role of CA1 area. Methods: The effects of pre-training SCO (0.75, 1.5, and 3 μg, Intra-CA1), or morphine (1, 3, and 6 mg/kg, intraperitoneal (i.p.) was evaluated on the retrieval of passive avoidance learning using step-down task in mice (n=10). Then, the effect of pretest administration of morphine (1.5, 3, and 6 mg/kg, i.p.) was examined on passive avoidance retrieval impairment induced by pre-training SCO (3 μg/mice, Intra-CA1). Next, the effect of pretest Intra-CA1 injection of scopolamine (0.75, 1.5, and 3 μg/mice) was evaluated on morphine (6 mg/kg, i.p.) pre-training deficits in this task in mice. Results: The pre-training Intra-CA1 injection of scopolamine (1.5 and 3 μg/mouse), or morphine (3 and 6 mg/kg, i.p.) impaired the avoidance memory retrieval when it was tested 24 hours later. Pretest injection of both drugs improved its pre-training impairing effects on mice memory. Moreover, the amnesia induced by the pre-training injections of scopolamine (3 μg/mice) was restored significantly (P<0.01) by pretest injections of morphine (3 and 6 mg/kg, i.p.). Similarly, pretest injection of scopolamine (3 μg/mice) restored amnesia induced by the pre-training injections of morphine (6 mg/kg, i.p.), significantly (P<0.01). Conclusion: The current study findings indicated a cross state-dependent learning between SCO and morphine at CA1 level. Therefore, it seems that muscarinic and opioid receptors may act reciprocally on modulation of passive avoidance memory retrieval, at the level of dorsal hippocampus, in mice.


Historical records suggest that the political extremes—at both the "left" and the "right"—substantially endorsed conspiracy beliefs about other-minded groups. The present contribution empirically tests whether extreme political ideologies, at either side of the political spectrum, are positively associated with an increased tendency to believe in conspiracy theories. Four studies conducted in the United States and the Netherlands revealed a quadratic relationship between strength of political ideology and conspiracy beliefs about various political issues. Moreover, participants' belief in simple political solutions to societal problems mediated conspiracy beliefs among both left- and right-wing extremists. Finally, the effects described here were not attributable to general attitude extremity. Our conclusion is that political extremism and conspiracy beliefs are strongly associated due to a highly structured thinking style that is aimed at making sense of societal events.


Henry VII was never in serious danger of losing his throne to either a rebellion or a conspiracy. For either of these to succeed, a combination of specific circumstances would have been necessary. First, those seeking the throne needed to be credible and viable alternatives to him. Second, Henry VII had to be isolated and there needed to be enough domestic support for an invasion to ensure that it did not look like a self-interested act of political speculation by either foreign powers or isolated English malcontents. Third, foreign powers possessed of the requisite military and financial muscle had to be prepared to support an invasion. These circumstances never fully materialised.


Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) was introduced in 1995 by Russell Eberhart and James Kennedy (Eberhart & Kennedy, 1995). PSO is a biologically-inspired technique based around the study of collective behaviour in decentralized and self-organized animal society systems. The systems are typically made up from a population of candidates (particles) interacting with one another within their environment (swarm) to solve a given problem. Because of its efficiency and simplicity, PSO has been successfully applied as an optimizer in many applications such as function optimization, artificial neural network training, fuzzy system control. However, despite recent research and development, there is an opportunity to find the most effective methods for parameter optimization and feature selection tasks. This chapter deals with the problem of feature (variable) and parameter optimization for neural network models, utilising a proposed Quantum–inspired PSO (QiPSO) method. In this method the features of the model are represented probabilistically as a quantum bit (qubit) vector and the model parameter values as real numbers. The principles of quantum superposition and quantum probability are used to accelerate the search for an optimal set of features, that combined through co-evolution with a set of optimised parameter values, will result in a more accurate computational neural network model. The method has been applied to the problem of feature and parameter optimization in Evolving Spiking Neural Network (ESNN) for classification. A swarm of particles is used to find the most accurate classification model for a given classification task. The QiPSO will be integrated within ESNN where features and parameters are simultaneously and more efficiently optimized. A hybrid particle structure is required for the qubit and real number data types. In addition, an improved search strategy has been introduced to find the most relevant and eliminate the irrelevant features on a synthetic dataset. The method is tested on a benchmark classification problem. The proposed method results in the design of faster and more accurate neural network classification models than the ones optimised through the use of standard evolutionary optimization algorithms.


The French administrative judiciary invented without fault administrative responsibility theory and the basis of its provisions in addition to laying its rules in order to achieve justice for those affected by the legitimate actions issued by the public administration. This study deals with this theory, especially in the Jordanian legal system, and the extent to which the Jordanian judiciary applies this theory in a way that would compensate the victim fairly. In this study, we discussed the concept of this theory in the Jordanian legislation, its authorities and the judiciary specialized in considering it. As well as illustrating the legal texts that deal with it because the judiciary in Jordan is still reluctant in applying this theory save for the cases where there are legislative texts that require the compensation of the victim for these legitimate administrative behaviors. Finally, illustrating the legislative and judicial applications of this theory in an analytical and objective manner based on the legislations and jurisprudences found in Jordan.


This paper reviews the existing legal and regulatory framework for renewable energy projects in Nigeria. The paper further examines the key provisions of various extant legislations and policies on renewable energy existing in Nigeria, and highlights the key policy thrust in these legislative instruments. The paper also looks into the various challenges confronting the development of renewable energy project so far. With a view to developing the legal and regulatory environment, the author examines the United States Legal and regulatory environment in order to draw invaluable lessons from such examination for the benefit of the legal environment in Nigeria. This concludes with significant recommendations from such study which, it is hoped, should be taken seriously by the Nigerian government and the relevant regulatory authorities with a view to strengthening the rising potential of Nigeria as a Renewable Energy (RE) hub of Africa in the very near future.


Praise Page for Windows Forms Programming in Visual Basic .NET"This is the .NET WinForms book to have. If you have been looking for a good Windows Forms book for your bookshelf, here it is. Windows Forms Programming in Visual Basic .NET covers everything from 'Hello World' to multithreading the user interface. Sells and Gehtland definitely understand Windows Forms and VB and are able to bring many new .NET techniques and concepts to the VB masses." i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ -Darrin Bishop, Senior Technical Specialist"Not only does Sells do a great job of breaking down all the quintessential components that anyone developing a Windows Forms application should know, but he also covers the critical pieces of functionality, like multi-threaded programming and resource management, which every Windows Forms developer should incorporate into his or her applications." i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ -Colin Bowern, Senior Consultant, Microsoft Corporation"With its excellent content, this book is easily an important component for any Visual Basic .NET developer's toolbox." i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ -Amit Kalani, coauthor of MCAD/MCSD Developing and i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ Implementing Windows®-based Applications with i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ Microsoft Visual C#™ .NET and Microsoft Visual Studio®.NET i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ Exam Cram 2 (Exam Cram 70-316)"If you are a VB.NET developer-or one coming from a 'classic' VB background-and you want a no-nonsense guide to the key elements of WinForms development, this book is for you. In-depth practical experience shines through each chapter." i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ -Martin Naughton, Independent Freelance Software Consultant"If you're planning on using the .NET Framework, this book is an invaluable resource. Chris dives straight into the heart of what makes the Windows Forms Framework tick. He has a real talent for striking the proper balance between showing you the theory behind the software and demonstrating coding techniques that will make you instantly productive." i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ -From the Foreword by Ted Pattison, VB .NET Guru and author of i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ Building Applications and Components with Visual Basic .NET"This book contains consistent and detailed hands-on examples about Windows Forms. Whether you are new to programming in .NET or already experienced, Chris Sells gives you the thorough grounding you need to write Windows Forms applications." i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ -Erick Sgarbi, Software Engineer"This is a great book for programmers who need to get work done with WinForms, and don't have time to read a 1,200-page tome. Unlike many of the other WinForms books out there, it goes beyond the available Microsoft documentation and gives you critical tips and tricks you won't find in the manuals. Chris really knows his stuff when it comes to WinForms programming and lays out in-depth information clearly and logically. His actual working experience with WinForms is obvious throughout the book, which has the information you need to know if you want to get beyond simple demos and write serious WinForms applications. The chapter on Web deployment is worth the price of admission just by itself. I'd definitely recommend this title to anyone who is serious about WinForms development." i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ i¾ -Henry Stapp, Software Development Lead, Youbet.com, Inc."If you are just beginning to use WinForms, or even if you are already an experienced hand, you will find this book an antidote for confusion and a friendly companion on the road to writing modern applications."-Alan Cooper, Father of Visual BasicWindows Forms Programming in Visual Basic .NET is the ultimate guide to using the Microsoft .NET forms package. Readers will learn how to build applications that take full advantage of both the rich user interface features of the Microsoft Windows operating system and the deployment features traditionally associated with HTML-based applications.Authors Chris Sells and Justin Gehtland draw upon their WinForms research and programming experience to go beyond the Windows Forms documentation to give you a clear picture of exactly how Visual Basic .NET programmers can use WinForms. Readers will gain an understanding of the rationale behind aspects of WinForms design and learn how to avoid or solve common problems. Throughout the book, detailed illustrations of WinForms user interface features and working code samples demonstrate best practices. All code has been tested with Visual Studio .NET 1.1 and is available at www.sellsbrothers.com, where readers will also find updates to the book.This book focuses on the topics developers need to know in order to build real-world applications, including: Form layout Multiple top-level and non-rectangular windows Classes outside the System.Windows.Forms namespace, including System.Drawing and System.Security Custom drawing Hosting and building controls Design-time integration of controls and components Data binding Multithreaded user interfaces Deploying WinForms controls and applications over the Web Moving from Visual Basic 6Well-written and easy to navigate, Windows Forms Programming in Visual Basic .NET is the tutorial for Windows programmers who are serious about mastering Windows Forms.


In 2002, Guatemala created twenty-two Escuela Normales Bilingue Interculturales (ENBIs), one for each ethnic and indigenous groups in Guatemala. These schools grew out of a Peace Accords (1996) that ended a 36-year violent period in Guatemala, marked by acts of genocide. The violence began in 1960 between Guatemala military and guerilla groups fighting for land reform. From 1978 to 1984, Guatemala entered a series of military-run governments, the height of acts of genocide. The 1996 Peace Accords were signed as a means to establish human rights to devastated communities, predominantly indigenous, rural civilians. One of the tenets of the Agreement to Identity and Indigenous Rights (1995) was to establish an education reform that included indigenous cultures, knowledge and languages in the curriculum, including the recruiting and training of indigenous teachers. The creation of the ENBI system of 2002, or teacher training institutions, was a means to begin to address the tenets of the Agreement (1995) and Peace Accords (1996).

This qualitative study began in 2014 and examined an ENBI in the Western Highlands of Guatemala. Through participant observation and interviews, this study explored curricular practices in classrooms and school sponsored events. Through a curriculum of urgency and a commitment to an indigenous-centered curriculum, this ENBI in the Western Highlands teaches their predominantly indigenous student body pride for their cultural community. While the school maintains a commitment to a bilingual and intercultural curriculum, two changes are beginning to shift the ways in which ENBIs operate. The 2014 academic school year marked the last year students graduated with a primary school teaching certificate from "normal" schools, including ENBIs. This year also introduced the Duolingo language software as part of a new partnership with Guatemalan technology entrepreneur, Luis von Ahn, and the Guatemala Ministry of Education. Duolingo is set to be part of the English language curriculum at 97 schools, including the ENBI for this study. These two changes become a challenge to the commitment of recruiting and training indigenous teachers as well as disrupts the commitment to include and teach indigenous languages.


Lumbar puncture (LP) acceptability is a problem at Arthur Davison Hospital, Ndola Central and Kitwe Central Hospitals, evident by a growing trend of lumbar puncture refusals over a four year period (2003-2006). Obtaining Cerebral Spinal Fluid by LP for microscopic examination is essential in the diagnosis of Central Nervous System infections and inflammatory conditions such as meningitis. The study aimed at determining attitudes and determinants of LP acceptability among caregivers at three tertiary hospitals in Zambia. An explorative study design was conducted at three health care facilities; Arthur Davison Children's Hospital, Kitwe and Ndola Central Hospitals from November, 2008 to April 2009. Some of the variables in the study were attitudes towards lumbar puncture, knowledge of lumbar puncture and educational level. A total of 584 caregivers were recruited through purposive sampling. The sample size was calculated using EPI INFO version 6 at 95 percent confidence level. Data was collected using structured interview schedules and analysed using SPSS 11.6 and EPI INFO software packages. The majority, (93.5 %) of the respondents had negative attitudes towards LP. They would not accept LP to be performed on themselves, neither would they recommend a patient to undergo LP for fear that they or their patient would die. There was no significant association between education level and advising a patient to undergo LP, (p = 0.642). 66 % of the respondents revealed that they would not accept LP because the outcome of LP is death. The study also revealed that majority, (56 %) of the respondents lacked knowledge on LP hence this influenced decision making. It is recommended that the Ministry of Health should rigorously disseminate information to members of the public on the importance of this diagnostic procedure through the


We study triggering processes in triaxial compression experiments under a constant displacement rate on sandstone and granite samples using spatially located acoustic emission events and their focal mechanisms. We present strong evidence that event-event triggering plays an important role in the presence of large-scale or macrocopic imperfections, while such triggering is basically absent if no significant imperfections are present. In the former case, we recover all established empirical relations of aftershock seismicity including the Gutenberg-Richter relation, a modified version of the Omori-Utsu relation and the productivity relation-despite the fact that the activity is dominated by compaction-type events and triggering cascades have a swarmlike topology. For the Gutenberg-Richter relations, we find that the b value is smaller for triggered events compared to background events. Moreover, we show that triggered acoustic emission events have a focal mechanism much more similar to their associated trigger than expected by chance.


The neuroscientist Alan Berthoz experimented on Russian astronauts in space to answer these questions: how does weightlessness affect motion? how are motion and three-dimensional space perceived? In this book, the author describes how human beings on earth perceive and control bodily movement. Reviewing a wealth of research in neuro-physiology and experimental psychology, he argues for a rethinking of the traditional separation between action and perception, and for the division of perception into five senses. In Berthoz's view, perception and cognition are inherently predictive, functioning to allow us to anticipate the consequences of current or potential actions. The brain acts like a simulator that is constantly inventing models to project onto the changing world, models that are corrected by steady, minute feedback from the world. We move in the direction we are looking, anticipate the trajectory of a falling ball, recover when we stumble, and continually update our own physical position, all thanks to this sense of movement. This interpretation of perception and action allows Berthoz, in this work, to focus on psychological phenomena largely ignored in standard texts: proprioception and kinaesthesia, the mechanisms that maintain balance and co-ordinate actions, and basic perceptual and memory processes involved in navigation.


This thesis presents the design, development and testing of a new film cooling hole geometry, the converging slot-hole or console. Both the thermal and aerodynamic performance were measured, using the adiabatic effectiveness and heat transfer coefficient, and aerodynamic loss respectively, to quantify performance. Comparative measurements were made, by testing conventional film cooling hole shapes in parallel with the console experiments. The CFD code, Fluent, was used to predict the performance of the initial design concept before it was manufactured.
Initial performance measurements in incompressible flow were performed in a low speed wind tunnel at an engine representative Reynolds number based on mainstream flow and hole diameter. For these experiments, the coolant to mainstream density ratio was
approximately unity, and the cooling performance was measured over a flat plate. The console was tested in parallel with cylindrical holes, a slot and fan-shaped holes, all of which had equal throat area per unit width. The heat transfer performance was measured at
steady state using thermochromic liquid crystals sprayed onto a flat plate heater. The aerodynamic performance of the holes was measured by traversing the boundary layer 50 cylindrical hole diameters downstream of the injection location with a pitot probe.
Engine representative measurements of the console performance were made in a transonic annular cascade that simulates the three-dimensional flow in the gas turbine. The Reynolds and Mach numbers were representative of engine conditions, and the coolant flow was made aerodynamically and thermodynamically similar to engine conditions by matching both the momentum flux and density ratios. This was achieved by using a heavy foreign gas with the composition of 30.2% SF6 and 69.8% Ar by weight, which simulates the coolant to mainstream density ratio of 1.78, and has a ratio of specific heats of 1.4. The performance of a nozzle guide vane with rows of fan-shaped holes was compared with an NGV with a film cooling configuration designed with rows of consoles replacing rows of fan-shaped holes. The heat transfer performance was measured using a modified step
change transient liquid crystal technique. The aerodynamic performance was measured
using a four hole probe traverse downstream of the NGV.
The heat transfer performance of the console was found to be similar to or slightly lower
than the performance of fan-shaped holes. The most significant benefit of the console was
found to be the aerodynamic performance, with a loss due to film cooling of only 20% of
the loss due to film cooling of the rows of fan-shaped holes measured at engine
representative conditions.


There is much we do not understand about the "location" of innovation: the confluence, for a particular innovation, of the technology associated with the innovation, the innovating firm's size and organizational structure, and the financial contracting that supports the innovation. This Essay suggests that these three indicia are simultaneously determined and discusses the interaction among them through four examples of innovative activity whose location is characterized by tradeoffs between pursuing the activity in an established company; in a smaller, earlier stage company; or some combination of the two. It first considers the dilemma faced by an established company in deciding whether to keep an employee's innovation or allow the employee to pursue the innovation through a startup. It next takes up a very different relationship between an established company and an earlier stage company: the development by the smaller company of a "disruptive" innovation that displaces the industry's dominant companies. The Essay then considers an established company's instrumental use of the startup market to outsource development of a particular innovation to a technology race. Finally, the Essay examines a form of innovation located between an established and earlier stage company: the pattern of joint ventures between large pharmaceutical companies and smaller biotechnology companies.