The gulf in living standards is widening between cities and rural areas of developing countries that have large rural populations. Legacy as well as emergent factors contribute to this trend. An old urban bias from colonial and post-independence times was supplanted by a newer metropolitan bias as global investments began to arrive on these shores. More poorly served by social and physical investments, individuals in rural areas are less well prepared to compete for the better positions. Trends in the technology of manufacturing processes are worsening the prospects for rural youth. Citizenship bonds between the urban rich and the poor in rural areas are fraying as widening differences in lifestyles and aspirations, overlaid on existing inequalities, are cleaving societies into disparate segments of space-age rich and stone-age poor residents. Managing their vastly unequal situations within a common framework of policies and laws is making the tasks of a development state more difficult. This paper examines the forces giving rise to urban-rural inequality and presents the need for institutional and policy reforms.


Would legal education be improved by integrating the first-year legal writing course with an upper-level clinical course? That was the core question posed to a diverse panel at the 2007 Annual Section Program on Legal Writing, Reasoning and Research. The basic idea is deceptively simple and attractive: first-year students would develop their analytic, research, and writing skills by working on live issues from real cases in a law school clinic. First-year students would benefit from seeing legal issues in full context, interacting with more advanced students and clinical faculty, and knowing that their law school colleagues and the clients were relying on them for timely, sound advice. The clinic's work could be advanced by having more research help, and upper-level students could improve their own planning and communication skills in the process of supervising the first-year students. Despite these apparent virtues, I'm not convinced an integration is a good idea, but it is a very provocative one. . . . In a nutshell, my concern about integration is the effect on students' legal reasoning skills.


This symposium essay takes an initial look at the concept of "essential health benefits," a critical yet often-overlooked part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act ("PPACA"). For the first time, through the requirement that all individual and small group health insurance policies cover "essential health benefits," the federal government will take an active role in regulating the substance of health insurance. PPACA does not define "essential health benefits" by statute, but instead grants authority to the Secretary of Health & Human Services to determine which benefits must be provided. Unfortunately, the statutory language provides very little guidance regarding how to meaningfully distinguish between services that ought to be considered essential and those that ought not. Most troubling is the fact that the statute gives the Secretary no concrete basis on which to exclude benefits from the definition of essential. To further complicate matters, the Secretary's decisions will come with significant fiscal implications for the federal government given the relationship between premiums and the cost of the newly-created premium tax credits. And while PPACA claims to retain a role for the states in regulating the substance of health insurance, this essay suggests that this power is largely illusory.


Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory neurological disease of the Central Nervous System (CNS), characterized by demyelination and activation of microglia. Mitochondrial mutations and dysfunctions in microglial cells are thought to contribute to the detrimental effects of neuroinflammation seen in MS. The Somatic Nuclear Transfer (SCNT) technology offers a more practical mode of therapy in MS, this method would attempt to dilute and/or progressively replace the mutated and activated microglia with cloned Olfactory Ensheathing Cells (OEC) with remyelinating and scavenging properties which would attempt to limit the progression of MS. Applying SCNTderived Embryonic Stem (ES) cells based therapy by cloning Olfactory Ensheathing Cells (OEC), engineered with an autologous nuclear component of the recipient OEC with a healthy donor oocyte. The inner cell mass of the subsequently developed blastocyst would be the source to generate the radial microglia to be used for cell therapy in MS. The novel proposed transcribrial route device offers a painless mode of cell transplantation to the brain. This mode of generating cloned glia and its transplantation to the brain is expected to replace the mutated and activated microglia of the patients with MS and use the regenerative and remyelinating and scavenging properties of the OEC's, as has been seen in clinical trials in patients with spinal cord injuries. The use of SCNT to develop isogenic ES cellbased therapies for the prevention and treatment of MS associated with mtDNA mutations may open a new avenue of designer's targeted cell therapy unique for the patients with MS. The proposed "transcribrial device" to access the brain can be an advantageous route of delivery of cloned cells to the brain.


Abstract. We present "Met.3D", a new open-source tool for the interactive three-dimensional (3-D) visualization of numerical ensemble weather predictions. The tool has been developed to support weather forecasting during aircraft-based atmospheric field campaigns; however, it is applicable to further forecasting, research and teaching activities. Our work approaches challenging topics related to the visual analysis of numerical atmospheric model output – 3-D visualization, ensemble visualization and how both can be used in a meaningful way suited to weather forecasting. Met.3D builds a bridge from proven 2-D visualization methods commonly used in meteorology to 3-D visualization by combining both visualization types in a 3-D context. We address the issue of spatial perception in the 3-D view and present approaches to using the ensemble to allow the user to assess forecast uncertainty. Interactivity is key to our approach. Met.3D uses modern graphics technology to achieve interactive visualization on standard consumer hardware. The tool supports forecast data from the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) and can operate directly on ECMWF hybrid sigma-pressure level grids. We describe the employed visualization algorithms, and analyse the impact of the ECMWF grid topology on computing 3-D ensemble statistical quantities. Our techniques are demonstrated with examples from the T-NAWDEX-Falcon 2012 (THORPEX – North Atlantic Waveguide and Downstream Impact Experiment) campaign.


Abstract. An extreme-rainfall-producing mesoscale convective system (MCS) associated with the Changma front in southeastern South Korea was investigated using observational data. This event recorded historic rainfall and led to devastating flash floods and landslides in the Busan metropolitan area on 7 July 2009. The aim of the present study is to analyse the influences for the synoptic and mesoscale environment, and the reasons that the quasi-stationary MCS causes extreme rainfall. Synoptic and mesoscale analyses indicate that the MCS and heavy rainfall occurred in association with a stationary front which resembled a warm front in structure. A strong southwesterly low-level jet (LLJ) transported warm and humid air and supplied the moisture toward the front, and the air rose upwards above the frontal surface. As the moist air was conditionally unstable, repeated upstream initiation of deep convection by back-building occurred at the coastline, while old cells moved downstream parallel to the convective line with training effect. Because the motion of convective cells nearly opposed the backward propagation, the system as a whole moved slowly. The back-building behaviour was linked to the convectively generated cold pool and its outflow boundary, which played a role in the propagation and maintenance of the rainfall system. As a result, the quasi-stationary MCS caused a prolonged duration of heavy rainfall, leading to extreme rainfall over the Busan metropolitan area.


OF DISSERTATION SODIUM HYDROXIDE PRETREATMENT OF CORN STOVER AND SUBSEQUENT ENZYMATIC HYDROLYSIS: AN INVESTIGATION OF YIELDS, KINETIC MODELING AND GLUCOSE RECOVERY Many aspects associated with conversion of lignocellulose to biofuels and other valuable products have been investigated to develop the most effective processes for biorefineries. The goal of this research was to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the lignocellulose conversion process by achieving a more basic understanding of pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis at high solids, including kinetic modeling and separation and recovery of glucose. Effects of NaOH pretreatment conditions on saccharide yields from enzymatic hydrolysis were characterized in lowand high-solids systems. Factors associated with pretreatment and hydrolysis were investigated, including duration of pretreatment at different temperatures and NaOH loadings, as well as different solids and enzyme loadings. Under relatively mild pretreatment conditions, corn stover composition was essentially equivalent for all time and temperature combinations; however, components were likely affected by pretreatment, as differences in subsequent cellulose conversions were observed. Flushing the hydrolyzate and reusing the substrate was also studied as a method for inhibitor mitigation while increasing overall glucose yields. Flushing the PCS throughout the hydrolysis reaction eliminated the need to wash the pretreated biomass prior to enzymatic hydrolysis when supplementing with low doses of enzyme, thus reducing the amount of process water required. The robustness of an established kinetic model was examined for heterogeneous hydrolysis reactions in high-solids systems. Michaelis-Menten kinetics is the traditional approach to modeling enzymatic hydrolysis; however, high-solids reactions violate the main underlying assumption of the equation: that the reaction is homogeneous in nature. The ability to accurately predict product yields from enzymatic hydrolysis in high-solids systems will aid in optimizing the conversion process. Molecularly-imprinted materials were studied for use in both bulk adsorption and in column chromatography separations. Glucose-imprinted materials selectively adsorbed glucose compared xylose by nearly 4:1. Non-imprinted materials were neither selective in the type of sugar adsorbed, nor were they capable of adsorbing sugar at as high a capacity as the glucose-imprinted materials. Liquid chromatography with imprinted materials was not a suitable means for separating glucose from solution under the conditions investigated; however, many factors impact the effectiveness of such a separation process and warrant further investigation.


Security research has constituted, over the pas few years, a strong priority for Community policies in the field of scientific research, industry, and justice and home affairs. Community efforts in this domain have been channelled, over the period 2002-2006, through the 6 Framework programme (FP6) and the Preparatory action on security research (PASR). FP6 has sustained, within its various thematic priorities, a series of projects and programmes dealing with technological developments in the field of security. The PASR is a targeted initiative of the European Commission aiming at developing contacts and partnerships between the actors of the European security industry, the public actors, and research bodies. PASR activities, in this respect, have mainly focused on technological development and the networking of actors, in anticipation for the thematic programme on security now established under FP7. The analysis of the contents of research being conducted under the FP6 and PASR is very revealing in this respect: it highlights the fact that this research is mainly oriented towards technological development as such, and unquestioningly takes security as a norm and a fundamental value. In this regard, and despite the odd exception, European security research does not include in its scope the effects that increasingly sophisticated technologies of control and surveillance can have on individual freedom and rights, particularly with regard privacy and the protection of personal data. It does not address the necessary limits to security. The point, then, is to envisage the modalities through which a reflection on the ethical, legal, political and social implications of security technologies can be strengthen and further integrated in European security research.


Computer scientists have consistently searched for ways to optimize and improve Java performance utilizing a variety of methods. Methods including the just-in-time compilation, the garbage collection system, and adaptive optimizing have increased Java performance by reclaiming unneeded memory and optimizing areas of frequently executed code. Although many people have repeatedly improved the performance of their Java programs by modifying the code to make it more concise and efficient, Java performance can be upgraded without touching the original code at all. Adding additional RAM and computer cores can increase Java performance, along with reconfiguring VM and storage allocations, upgrading solid-state disks and using distinct disks for various types of files. This paper will cover how we can make Java performance even more efficient without changing the code of the Java program. After running these programs, we will experiment to find the most efficient methods and changes that can be made to the computer to maximize the Java performance. Without the need to change a single bit of code, we can optimize the Java performance in computers without going through every line of the Java program and figuring out which sections of the program should be modified to increase its efficiency. Thus, the user has the benefit of not having to understand how the program works to optimize the Java performance.


Food adulteration in Bangladesh is rampant and an increasingly serious concern for its residents. Several studies including those of the Directorate General of Health Services reveal that hundreds of people are getting killed every year eating adulterated foodstuffs and no one seems to have any real concern about such a life-threatening wrongful act. Food adulteration is criminally prohibited, but the wrongdoers care little about this proscription simply because of the continued apathy of the governmental agencies concerned and implicit acceptance or insensible ignorance of consumers. However, the current fragmented legal and regulatory regime for food safety in Bangladesh falls short of international standards. This article demonstrates that the Government of Bangladesh is obliged to prevent food adulteration and to punish perpetrators under its international as well as constitutional obligations. It is also submitted that effective regulation of such an endemic malfeasance entails weakening the offenders by adopting international standards and educating the consumers at the same time.


A single abnormally pigmented leucistic fish was collected from commercial fish catch
from off Bay of Bengal, east coast of India. Using morphometric and DNA barcoding analysis,
the fish species was identified as narrow barred Spanish mackerel (Scomberomorus
commerson). The standard length of the fish was 130 cm and weight was 1600 g.
Mitochondrial COI gene sequence search of the leucistic fish specimen showed more
similarity towards the species Scomberomorus commerson in the scombroid fish group. This
is the first report confirm the species narrow barred Spanish mackerel with leucism from the
region and is probably caused by random genetic alterations.


The protection of indigenous peoples and minority languages, as well as the guarantee of outreach to disadvantaged groups, can be considered using the language of human rights – specifically, group human rights. Liberalism is the view that individuals' freedoms ought to be protected against the competing interests of other entities. From a liberal point of view, a number of challenges to the idea of group rights present themselves. Against these, I will argue that it makes more sense for a coherent liberalism to incorporate group rights than to deny them. I aim to achieve this in two main argumentative steps: by establishing the link between groups, identity and human dignity, and by borrowing the phrase 'standard threat to human dignity' (Donnelly 2013: 49) to identify groups that can bear group rights – whose protection is necessary to safeguard the dignity that, arguably, is the very thing that provides the foundation for any human rights claims in the first place. In Part 1, I set out the liberal view. In Part 2, I make my first main argumentative move by identifying a powerful relation between groups and human dignity through the idea of identity. In Part 3, I examine the objection that, even accepting the value of certain groups, group rights can be reduced to individual rights, or that group rights pose too great a danger to individuals and their liberties to go any further with the idea. I respond that, were liberalism to accept either of these objections, it would leave important work undone. In Part 4, once the possibility of group rights has been established, I examine their place in relation to other rights. The important question is not the ontological 'what is a group?' but the normative question, 'what kind of group has the moral weight to be entitled to group rights?' I make my second main argumentative move by suggesting a 'standard threat to human dignity' (Donnelly 2013: 49) condition that answers the normative question: what is at stake is the protection of the groups that, as established in Part 2, are an indispensable part of the identity and human dignity that grounds human rights claims in the first place. This discussion leads to an answer to the more basic question about the moral status of groups. In Part 5, I conclude that it makes more sense for a coherent liberalism to incorporate group rights than to deny them.


The garden city is often presented as a low-density, unsustainable and space-consuming archetype of suburbanization (Duany, Roberts, & Tallen, 2014; Hall, 2014; Safdie & Kohn, 1997). It has been deliberately also misused by property developers for gated communities (Le Goix, 2003; Webster, 2001). But these projects have little in common with the original concept of garden cities. We argue that the original garden city, as a theory (Howard, 1898) and as experiments (Letchworth and Welwyn Garden Cities), is a precedent that can be used in a sustainable approach that addresses a range of issues and concerns, such as housing, governance, the economy, mobility, the community, agriculture, energy and health. The recent Wolfson Economics Prize (2014) and the many new garden cities and suburbs projects currently planned in the UK have demonstrated the resurgence of this model in the planning world, both in terms of theory and practice. In this paper, we explore its potential in the light of environmental challenges. We therefore suggest that as a model, it can in particular underpin the evolution of suburbs in an era of energy transition, since these areas require an ecosystemic rather than sectoral approach to design.


The constantly increasing production of a large variety of portable consumer electronic devices and the urgent request of replacement of polluting, internal combustion cars with more efficient, controlled emissions vehicles, such as hybrid or electric vehicles require the development of new reliable and safe power sources. Furthermore the continuous decrease of the oil resources and the growing concern on the climate changes call for a larger use of green, alternative energy sources, such as solar and wind. But wind does not blow on command and the sun does not always shine thus, this discontinuity in operation leads to the need of suitable storage systems to efficiently run renewable energy plants. It is evident that a new energy economy has to emerge, and it must be based on a cheap and sustainable energy supply. Lithium ion batteries, due to their high-energy efficiency, appear as ideal candidates. Although these batteries are well established commercial products, further research and development is required to improve their performance to meet the market requirements. In particular, enhancement in safety, cost, and energy density are needed. A big portion of the R&D studies are nowadays devoted to the search for optimal materials both for the electrodes and the electrolyte of the battery: as far as the electrolyte is concerned, the main goal is to replace the liquid electrolyte with a solid one. The passage to a solid configuration gives concrete promise of increasing cell safety and reliability and, at the same time, of offering modularity in design and ease of handling. Behind the optimization of existing batteries a big effort in this field is the transformation of current batteries into a light, flexible, portable device. If integrated structures containing the three essential components (electrodes, spacer, and electrolyte) of the electrochemical cells can be made mechanically flexible, it would enable these to be embedded into various functional devices in a wide range of innovative products such as smart cards, displays, and implantable medical devices. In the fabrication of such a device the exploitation of cellulose as a flexible material and at the same time the exploitation of the papermaking and printing techniques for the development of paper electrodes and electrolytes and, in a future, of the full paper battery, is under consideration. This will also open the way to a reinvestment of the paper technologies in a high tech field such as the Lithium based batteries. Paper industry, as a matter of fact, is in Europe an important manufacturing industry but the economic change together with the development of electronics highly threaten the role and the surviving of such an activity. In this context grows the urgent need for higher value-added paper products and the conversion of the traditional paper industry. Introducing paper into new products with more profitable markets is crucial. The research work of the present thesis has been developed in collaboration with the "Centre Technique du Papier "(CTP) in Grenoble (Fr). The work has been focused on the use of cellulose in the form of handsheet or microfibrils for the production of innovative electrolyte membranes to be used in Li-based batteries. Two research lines have been followed: 1- Development of composite membranes based on cellulose microfibrils and a polymeric matrix obtained by photopolymerisation of reactive oligomers. 2- Development of multilayered membranes made of cellulose handsheet and polymeric layers obtained by photopolymerisation of reactive oligomers. Both the research lines adopt the photopolymerisation process for developing the membranes. In particular using multifunctional monomers, highly cross-linked polymer membranes are obtained which can be successfully used as gel or solid polymer electrolytes. The process is fast, low cost and versatile. In fact a fully cured polymer is obtained in seconds at room temperature irradiating a proper mixture of reactive molecules and photoinitiator


Pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) represent an alternative hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) source for treating hematopoietic disease. The limited engraftment of human PSC-derived (hPSC-derived) multipotent progenitor cells (MPP) has hampered the clinical application of these cells and suggests that MPP require additional cues for definitive hematopoiesis. We hypothesized that the presence of a vascular niche that produces Notch ligands jagged-1 (JAG1) and delta-like ligand-4 (DLL4) drives definitive hematopoiesis. We differentiated hes2 human embryonic stem cells (hESC) and Macaca nemestrina-induced PSC (iPSC) line-7 with cytokines in the presence or absence of endothelial cells (ECs) that express JAG1 and DLL4. Cells cocultured with ECs generated substantially more CD34+CD45+ hematopoietic progenitors compared with cells cocultured without ECs or with ECs lacking JAG1 or DLL4. EC-induced cells exhibited Notch activation and expressed HSC-specific Notch targets RUNX1 and GATA2. EC-induced PSC-MPP engrafted at a markedly higher level in NOD/SCID/IL-2 receptor γ chain-null (NSG) mice compared with cytokine-induced cells, and low-dose chemotherapy-based selection further increased engraftment. Long-term engraftment and the myeloid-to-lymphoid ratio achieved with vascular niche induction were similar to levels achieved for cord blood-derived MPP and up to 20-fold higher than those achieved with hPSC-derived MPP engraftment. Our findings indicate that endothelial Notch ligands promote PSC-definitive hematopoiesis and production of long-term engrafting CD34+ cells, suggesting these ligands are critical for HSC emergence.


Karstic spring discharge is related to the hydraulic head recession through a power function with an exponent <1. In the literature, analytical solutions are available for exponential and non-exponential models based on a set of restrictive physical and mathematical assumptions. The models search for a holistic and deductive solution without basic physical and practical interpretations, simple logical inferences leading to mathematical analytical or empirical formulations. In this paper, an inductive, logical, practical, and instead of holistic modeling, physically plausible piecewise solutions are proposed with detailed inferences and interpretations. In the proposed methodology, the discharge and hydraulic head records are decomposed first into a set of verbal classes and, subsequently, physical meaning for each class is explained leading to simple general but empirical models. For this purpose, Wakula and St. Marks River (Florida) hydrograph records are used for the general solution sinkhole discharge and hydraulic head variations. The solution methodology presented in this paper does not make any distinction between relatively small or large sinkhole heads. The calibration and verification of the methodology is shown with a comparison of the available record values to partial power models. Finally, it is concluded that the proposed methodology is reliable and can be applied to hydraulic head availability with discharge records in any part of the world for karstic aquifer


Abstract. Real-time mass spectra of the non-refractory species in submicron aerosol particles were recorded in a tropical rainforest in the central Amazon Basin during the wet season from February to March 2008, as a part of the Amazonian Aerosol Characterization Experiment (AMAZE-08). Organic material accounted on average for more than 80% of the non-refractory submicron particle mass concentrations during the period of measurements. There was insufficient ammonium to neutralize sulfate. In this acidic, isoprene-rich, HO2-dominant environment, positive-matrix factorization of the time series of particle mass spectra identified four statistical factors to account for the 99% of the variance in the signal intensities of the organic constituents. The first factor was identified as associated with regional and local pollution and labeled "HOA" for its hydrocarbon-like characteristics. A second factor was associated with long-range transport and labeled "OOA-1" for its oxygenated characteristics. A third factor, labeled "OOA-2," was implicated as associated with the reactive uptake of isoprene oxidation products, especially of epoxydiols to acidic haze, fog, or cloud droplets. A fourth factor, labeled "OOA-3," was consistent with an association with the fresh production of secondary organic material (SOM) by the mechanism of gas-phase oxidation of biogenic volatile organic precursors followed by gas-to-particle conversion of the oxidation products. The suffixes 1, 2, and 3 on the OOA labels signify ordinal ranking with respect to the extent of oxidation represented by the factor. The process of aqueous-phase oxidation of water-soluble products of gas-phase photochemistry might also have been associated to some extent with the OOA-2 factor. The campaign-average factor loadings had a ratio of 1.4:1 for OOA-2 : OOA-3, suggesting the comparable importance of particle-phase compared to gas-phase pathways for the production of SOM during the study period.


Solar-driven reforming of plastics offers a simple and low-energy means to turn waste into H2. Here, we report the efficient photoreforming of three commonly produced polymers – polylactic acid, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polyurethane – using inexpensive CdS/CdOx quantum dots in alkaline aqueous solution. This process operates under ambient temperature and pressure, generates pure H2 and converts the waste polymer into organic products such as formate, acetate and pyruvate. We further validate the real-world applicability of the system by converting a PET water bottle into H2. This is the first demonstration of visible light-driven, noble metal-free photoreforming of plastic.


Analysis of total ozone data measured at Taipei and Chengkung in Taiwan, suggests that the spatial variation of column ozone over Taiwan is negligible. Further analysis of the ozone sonding data over Taipei indicates that the seasonal variation of total ozone is strongly correlated to the change of stratospheric ozone and has a typical pattern of spring maximum and winter minimum. The tropospheric ozone occupies about 16% of the total column ozone, and has maximum levels in spring and summer. Intrusions of stratospheric ozone and meridional ozone transport by the Hadley circulation have resulted in higher ozone levels in the upper and mid-troposphere in spring. Photochemical ozone production in the boundary layer is crucial to the summer maximum. Column ozone below 2km height occupies about 3% of the total column and 18.6% of the troposphere ozone, which can be enhanced to 36% in July. Comparing this study's data with estimates from satellite data by Fishman et al. (1990), we note that there were changes of –3.3 %, -8.2 % and 34 % in the total, stratospheric and tropospheric ozone, respectively, from 1979-1987 to 1994 –1999. The tropospheric ozone-increasing trend is most noteworthy.


While the transfer of "best practices" by MNCs is frequently regarded as contributing towards convergence, recent research has noted important changes in these processes, that is the diversity of the HR transfer process. While there is extensive literature on direct HRM transfers (forward diffusion) from a MNC BQ to a subsidiary, there is little on what happens when BRM transfers are mediated by a regional level. MNC regionalisation has been noted in the international business research (e.g. Perlmutter, Bartlett & Ghoshal 1989, Rugman, 2000, 2005, Schuh 2007). Authors have identified that MNCs are regionalising their business rather than operating at a country level or global level (Rugman 2002, Schuh 2007). However, how regionalisation makes impacts on HRM transfer has yet to be explored in IHRM research. Further, there has been a shortage of studies of HRM transfers in developing countries.
This thesis seeks to chart some of the diversity in the transfer process. It is based on a study of a Swiss MNC, with a focus on the subsidiary in Sri Lanka and the regional HQ in India. The study outlines the changes in HR transfer that took place following regionalisation in the mid-1990s, specifically the thesis examines the impact of the introduction of a regional level, whereby HRM practice transfers to the overseas subsidiary are mediated by a regional headquarters (HQs).
The thesis devised a combined model of direct and mediated HRM transfers, developed from Liu's model (2004). The Research Hypotheses (RHs) in the thesis viere concerned with the elements of cultural and institutional distances between the countries where Swiss Co, SwissCo SL and SAR HQs were located, MNC company level factors (subsidiary's strategic role, MNC structure and organizational culture compatibility), practice level factors (HRM innovation and knowledge characteristics), HRM transfer mechanisms (direct and indirect), employee implementation and internalisation, and reverse transfer.
The thesis derived a set of research hypotheses (RHs) from the combination model and examined their support in the SwissCo case study before the MNC introduced regionalisation (direct transfers) and after the process (direct and mediated transfers). The thesis found support for some RHs, partial support for some, mixed support for some and limited support for others. The support found for some of the RHs varied by period. The thesis found strong support for the RHs that cultural distance and incompatible organizational cultures formed significant barriers to HRM transfer. Strong support was also found RH that HRM transfer Is easier where subsidiaries and employees perceived an HRM transfer to be of benefit to them. The thesis makes a contribution to the development of knowledge and theory on HRM transfers, especially for HRM transfer to a subsidiary taking place when a regional layer is present.


Collaboration requires agents to align their goals on the fly. Underlying the human ability to align goals with other agents is their ability to predict the intentions of others and actively update their own plans. We propose hierarchical predictive planning (HPP), a model-based reinforcement learning method for decentralized multiagent rendezvous. Starting with pretrained, single-agent point to point navigation policies and using noisy, high-dimensional sensor inputs like lidar, we first learn via self-supervision motion predictions of all agents on the team. Next, HPP uses the prediction models to propose and evaluate navigation subgoals for completing the rendezvous task without explicit communication among agents. We evaluate HPP in a suite of unseen environments, with increasing complexity and numbers of obstacles. We show that HPP outperforms alternative reinforcement learning, path planning, and heuristic-based baselines on challenging, unseen environments. Experiments in the real world demonstrate successful transfer of the prediction models from sim to real world without any additional fine-tuning. Altogether, HPP removes the need for a centralized operator in multiagent systems by combining model-based RL and inference methods, enabling agents to dynamically align plans.


The food industry is bound to face some challenges in the future, one of them being in finding ways to feed a growing population set to reach up to 9 billion people by 2050 while maintaining food quality, in the meads of resource limitations and sustainable use of them. In this outlook, minimizing mineral deficits in human diet should help prevent health diseases, which are present majorly in developing countries but also in developed ones. Food industries may acquire a participating role in this problematic by producing functional foods. Calcium is one of the most abundant minerals in human organisms. It performs both structural and signaling functions, and its deficits are associated with the development of osteoporosis and similar pathologies. Following this matter, the use of foliar applications in order to increase the amount of minerals in the edible part of plants, will result in unprocessed foods with additional value, allowing the production of functional foods. From May to August of 2018, in one orchard located in the west region of Portugal, a biofortification itinerary was implemented. It was applied a total of seven foliar applications. The first two with two different products, calcium chloride and calcium nitrate, with three different concentrations each, and the other five applications used only calcium chloride, in higher concentrations.


The purpose of this study was to investigate the psycho-social attributes of university athletes. These psychosocial attributes included, the influence of significant others, reasons for specializing in specific sport, motives for participation and players' retirement prospects. Questionnaires were administered to 674 players drawn from 21 universities which participated during the 3 rd edition of Kenya interuniversity championships held from 17-21 December, 2011 in Nairobi, Kenya. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, i.e. frequencies and percentages. Results indicated that the university athletes had late entry into sports, 90.1% joined sport due to enjoyment, their continued participation was due to success 92.8%, greatest influence to participate in sport came from themselves 97.6% and 83.1% will be engaged in recreational sport after retirement from competitive sport. The study recommends that universities sports personnel rethink, design and implement talent identification and nurturing programmes. Coaches and lecturers should guide university athletes further their education alongside participating in intercollegiate sport so that they can have alternative career choices upon retirement. Further studies need to be conducted to unearth the personal, psychological, technical and tactical attributes of university athletes.


To find out the effect of the manure (plant residues) in the growth and yield of potatoes in calcareous soil conducted filed experiment has been in a field located in physical education areas–Baghdad University- Jadiriyah campus in fall season in 2015-2016 in a LoamySand soil, the study included  two factors the first factor includes four  sources of manure O0(without adding) O1(paulty) O2(wheat straw) O3(palm fronds) with volume is 30 Tan h-1 and the second factor includes the application of three levels of the chemical fertilizer M0(without application) M1(120 kg N +60 kg P+200 kg K) M2(240 kg N+120 kg P+400 kg K) layed out in a  (RCBD) with three replication, manures and the phosphate fertilizer are added before two weeks of planting.The seeds of potatoes class are plantal (Desiree) in 22 September 2016, by adding the nitrogen and the potassium fertilizer in three equal times in 21,45,70 days after planting. At the maturity stage are measurementsof plant height, number of  main stems and the maturity stage reaped of the vegetative parts and calculated the dry weight of the shoot on 22January 2016 tubers are taken off and measure the total yield of tubers. The results show a superiority of the treatment of poultry of out was performed other than the treatments of wheat straw and palm fronds as indicators of plant height 68.00cm, the number of main stems 3.63 stem plant-1and the dry weight of shoot 7.04 Ton h-1and the total yield of tubers is 49.94 Ton h- Wheat straw treatment has given lower values in the studied indicators measuring treatment of poultry and palm fronds its gave plant heights of 57.40 cm and a number of main stems 2.50 stem plant-1,the dry weight of shoot 5.70 Ton h-1 and the total yield of tubers is 40.92 Ton h-1The treatment of the mineral fertilizer M2which has thesuperiority in studied  indicators Measuring this paperwork M0 and M1 given plant height 69.37 cm and the number of main stems 3.80 stem plant-1and the dry weight of shoot7.04 Ton h-1 and the total yield of tubers is 50.09 Ton h-1.Intergration of organic fertilizer and mineral fertilizer application M2O1has given plant  height 75.40 cm and the number of main stems 4.60 stem plant-1and the dry weight of shoot7.32Ton h-1 and 57.22 Ton h-1 the total yield of tubers.


1. Summary The Western Ghats (Sahayadri Hills) of India also known as is identified as one of the richest regions in terms of biodiversity and it is often referred to as a "biodiversity hotspot"(Daniels, 2003). The Western Ghats is the source of 38 east flowing and 37 west flowing river systems. The ecosystem has experienced tumultuous changes due to river valley and other developmental projects in the last 60 years. Inventorying and monitoring the biodiversity and ecology of river basins would help in the formulation and implementation of appropriate conservation and management strategies in the Western Ghats. This report documents the biodiversity and ecological significance of the flood plains of Kali river basin Nearly 45 endemic to Western Ghats and 73 endemic plants to both Western Ghats and Sri Lanka were recorded from the study area. Plants such as Aristalochia indica, Arundinella metzii, Canthium parviflorum, Smithia hirsuta, Flacourtia Montana, Geissaspis cristata, Crotalaria lutescens. Rhynchospora wightiana, Trees such as Artocarpus heterophyllus, Artocarpus hirsute, Caryota urens, Garcinia indica, Holigarna arnotiana, Hopea ponga, Hydnocarpus laurifolia, Ixora brachiata, Lagerstroemia microcarapa, Litsea laevigata, Mammea suriga, Mangifera indica, Memecylon talbotianum, Myristica malabarica, Polyalthia fragrans etc., are endemic to Western Ghats. Many of the plants such as Hemidesmus indicus, Cassia fistula, Pongamia pinnata, Nothopodytes nimmoniana, Embelia ribes, Rauvolfia serpentina etc., are medicinal plants. The water quality of the streams in the Kali flood plain region is in pristine condition. The Salinity level decreases gradually from the downstream to upstream in these streams. In terms of organic pollution the stream water quality was found to be good for the whole stretch. The total dissolved solids increases during the November month; it may be attributed by the excess water discharged from the paddy field during the cultivation. The phosphate and nitrate levels are recorded in very meager level. The freshwater zone of these streams supports unique stream flora and fauna, among which most are endemic odonates to Western Ghats like Euphaea fraseri, Euphaea dispar. The existing water quality also supports lot of unique aquatic organisms ranging diatoms, aquatic insects, reptiles and birds. Among the 20 species of anurans recorded, nearly 45% are endemic to the Western Ghats. The place records the presence of once thought to be extinct species of frog (Philautus cf.leucorhinus) while one of the recorded species of frog belongs to vulnerable (Philautus tuberohumerus) and three belong to near threatened category (Ramanella montana, Clinotarsus curtipes, Sylvirana temporalis ). 50 birds belonging to 13 different orders and 31 different families were recorded from the study area. One of the near threatened birds which is endemic to Western Ghats – the Malabar pied hornbill (Anthracoceros coronatus) was observed in the region. Indian peafowl (Pavo Cristatus) which belongs to the Scheduled I of protected animals according to the Wild life protection act 1972 was observed in the region. Six major dams across the river, a nuclear power plant and the paper and sugar industries on its bank have already caused tremendous loss of the biodiversity in the region. Any further development be it a hydro electricity project or any thermal power plant in the district is likely to cause a lot of damage to the left over biodiversity as well as it will harm the fish production capacity of the region. A large scale removal of mangroves in swampy area (74.18767° N, 14.88362° E) is noticed near Hankon jog within 100 meters from the flow of river. This activity is a violation of CRZ 1991 (amended in 2001) as the region falls within the prohibited activities. As per the Clause (d) of sub-rule (3) of Rule 5 of the Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986, rules 5(3)(d) of the environment (protection) rules, 1986 and also CRZ 1991, the coastal stretches of seas, bays, estuaries, creeks, rivers and backwaters which are influenced by tidal action (in the landward side) upto 500 metres from the High Tide Line (HTL) and the land between the Low Tide Line (LTL) and the HTL are mandated as Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ). CRZ 1991 (amended in 2001) prohibits land reclamation, bunding or disturbing the natural course of sea water or dumping of ash or any wastes from thermal power stations. This study re-affirms 'hottest hotspot' status of the Western Ghats, a repository of biological wealth of rare kind, both in its aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems and indicates strongly the need for adoption of holistic eco-system management for conservation of particularly the rare and endemic fauna of the Western Ghats. The premium should be on conservation of the remaining evergreen and semi-evergreen forests, which are vital for the perenniality of streams and sustenance of biodiversity. Through appropriate management there still exists a chance to restore the lost natural evergreen to semi-evergreen forests. Considering the ecological significance and rich biodiversity, entire district be declared as an Eco-sensitive region as per sub section (1) with clause (v) of sub section (2) of section 3 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 (29 of 1986) and clause (d) of sub rule (3) of rule 5 of the Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986 in concurrence with the provisions of the Indian Forests Act, 1927 (16 of 1927) and Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 (69 of 1980) the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 (53 of 1972) and also Biological diversity act 2002.


One of the major trends in the design of exascale architectures is the use of multicore nodes enhanced with GPU accelerators. Exploiting all resources of a hybrid accelerators-based node at their maximum potential is thus a fundamental step towards exascale computing. In this article, we present the design of a highly efficient QR factorization for such a node. Our method is in three steps. The first step consists of expressing the QR factorization as a sequence of tasks of well chosen granularity that will aim at being executed on a CPU core or a GPU. We show that we can efficiently adapt high-level algorithms from the literature that were initially designed for homogeneous multicore architectures. The second step consists of designing the kernels that implement each individual task. We use CPU kernels from previous work and present new kernels for GPUs that complement kernels already available in the MAGMA library. We show the impact on performance of these GPU kernels. In particular, we present the benefits of new hybrid CPU/GPU kernels. The last step consists of scheduling these tasks on the computational units. We present two alternative approaches, respectively based on static and dynamic scheduling. In the case of static scheduling, we exploit the a priori knowledge of the schedule to perform successive optimizations leading to very high performance. We, however, highlight the lack of portability of this approach and its limitations to relatively simple algorithms on relatively homogeneous nodes. Alternatively, by relying on an efficient runtime system, Star PU, in charge of ensuring data availability and coherency, we can schedule more complex algorithms on complex heterogeneous nodes with much higher productivity. In this latter case, we show that we can achieve high performance in a portable way thanks to a fine interaction between the application and the runtime system. We demonstrate that the obtained performance is very close to the theoretical upper bounds that we obtained using Linear Programming.


Since humans migrated from Africa and dispersed throughout the world, they have found countless ways and reasons to reconnect with each other. In this entertaining book, Nayan Chanda follows the exploits of traders, preachers, adventurers, and warriors throughout history as they have shaped and reshaped the world. For Chanda, globalization is a process of ever-growing interconnectedness and interdependence that began thousands of years ago and continues to this day with increasing speed and ease. In the end, globalization--from the lone adventurer carving out a new trade route to the expanding ambitions of great empires--is the product of myriad aspirations and apprehensions that define just about every aspect of our lives: what we eat, wear, ride, or possess is the product of thousands of years of human endeavor and suffering across the globe. Chanda reviews and illustrates the economic and technological forces at play in globalization today and concludes with a thought-provoking discussion of how we can and should embrace an inevitably global world.


Background: Sanativo is an over-the-counter Brazilian product derived from Amazon rainforest plant extract that is purported to improve the healing of skin wounds. Two experimental studies have shown accelerated closure of nonsplinted excisional wounds in rat models. However, these models allow for significant contraction of the wound and do not approximate healing in the tight skin of humans. Methods: Full-thickness excisional wounds were created on the dorsal skin of mice and were splinted with silicone rings, a model that forces the wound to heal by granulation and reepithelialization. Sanativo or a control solution was applied either daily or every other day to the wounds. Photographs were taken every other day, and the degree of reepithelialization of the wounds was determined. Results: With both daily and every-other-day applications, Sanativo delayed reepithelialization of the wounds. Average time to complete healing was faster with control solution versus Sanativo in the daily application group (9.4 versus 15.2 days; p < 0.0001) and the every-other-day application group (11 versus 13 days; p = 0.017). The size of visible scar at the last time point of the study was not significantly different between the groups, and no differences were found on histologic examination. Conclusions: Sanativo wound healing compound delayed wound reepithelialization in a mouse splinted excisional wound model that approximates human wound healing. The size of visible scar after complete healing was not improved with the application of Sanativo. These results should cast doubt on claims that this product can improve wound healing in humans.


Aim
During the Late Pleistocene (c. 126–10 ka), modern humans (Homo sapiens) expanded their geographical range across Eurasia and eventually colonized the Americas. Although the routes by which they migrated have been intensively analysed, the dynamics of their realized climatic niche are still largely unknown. We assess temporal changes in the climatic niche of modern humans, the geographical distribution of their climatic niche and whether niche dynamics correlate with the magnitude of climate change and cultural advances, between 46 and 11 ka.

Location
Palaearctic.

Methods
Using the radiocarbon dated archaeological record and spatial palaeoclimatic simulations, we quantify different parameters of the realized climatic niche of modern humans (niche overlap, niche breadth and climatic marginality) between consecutive 1000–2000 year intervals. Moreover, using climate envelope models, we map the potential distributions of modern humans for each time interval and identify the regions that remained more climatically suitable and stable for modern humans through time.

Results
Between 46 and 22 ka the climatic niche of modern humans expanded, including periods of intense growth in niche breadth at 40 and 30 ka. Changes in seasonal water availability and technological innovations partly correlate with dynamics in niche parameters. We document a persistent climatically suitable mid-latitude belt in south Siberia linking western Europe to the Far East that may have facilitated human migration, and a potential climatic refugium in Beringia.

Main conclusions
The climatic niche of modern humans changed across the Late Pleistocene, as the result of both climatic and cultural changes. These populations of hunter-gatherers occupied novel climatic conditions but also remained in previously occupied areas under changing climates during the settlement of the Palaearctic. Our approach can provide clues as to where early modern humans may have overlapped in geographical and environmental space with Neanderthals or Denisovans, as evidenced by their contribution to the genetic heritage of some current populations.


A simple approach for mobile robots to exploit multipath fading in order to improve received radio signal strength (RSS), is presented. The strategy is to sample the RSS at discrete points, without deviating too far from the desired position. We first solve the problem of how many samples are needed for given communications performance and how they should be spaced. Second, we propose a circular and a grid trajectory for sampling and give lower bounds on how many samples they will yield. Third, we estimate the parameters of our strategy from measurements. Finally we demonstrate the validity of our analysis through experiments.


An analysis of the notion of proceduralism shows that it is given two very different meanings in the literature. We establish a sufficient condition for these two meanings to become coherent with one another, based on a pragmatic approach to the notion of acceptability. We then argue that, if this sufficient condition is accepted, then any proceduralist attempt at overcoming welfarism must involve a method based on the formation of preferences.


We investigate the implications of providing loan officers with a nonlinear compensation structure that rewards loan volume and penalizes poor performance. Using a unique data set provided by a large international commercial bank, we examine the main activities that loan officers perform: loan prospecting, screening, and monitoring. We find that when loan officers are at risk of losing their bonuses, they increase prospecting and monitoring. We further show that loan officers adjust their behavior more toward the end of the month when bonus payments are approaching. These effects are more pronounced for loan officers with longer tenures at the bank.


Organisations that are affected by supply chain risks will - if no risk-adjusting measures are available - experience more supply malfunctions or other adverse consequences. The paper at hand paper delivers a systematic review of the existing literature, featuring in-depth analysis and cognition on the ever-expanding supply chain risk management (SCRM) topic. The findings reveal that there is a lack of empirical evidence for the relational linkage between SCRM and performance. However, 'top' 24 antecedents for effective SCRM and various SCRM risk sources classified into supply-side, demand-side, external, and internal risks have been identified. The results of these useful insights allow for an identification of gaps to foster further investigations that will offer an advanced understanding of SCRM and its effect on performance. Hence, we contribute to the SCRM research stream by synthesising the highly fragmented and inconsistent literature that currently exists.


Fibre-reinforced composites have many outstanding advantages that attract commercial industries to use them such as, automotive industry, aerospace industry, marine industry, wind turbines, and sports goods. Fibre-reinforced composites characterised as a high strength/stiffness to weight ratio comparing with natural metals resulting in very lightweight structures which in turn reduce fuel consumed by aircraft, for instance. They also provide an excellent resistance to, corrosion, fatigue stress, impact force and chemical attack. The main concern in use of these materials is the complexity of damages that are taken place in different scale lengths starting from micro-scale level. With the development of computer power, however, the door is opened to enhance concepts such as a multi-scale analysis that can bridge microscale to macro-scale. The new tools provide excellent substitutes of the costly and time-consuming experimental tests. In this thesis, Discrete Element Method (DEM) is developed for micromechanical modelling of fibre-reinforced composites. In Chapter 2, a new method is proposed for generating random fibre distribution. Unlike prior methods that have proposed, this method can be used to generate a high fibre volume fraction with any inter-fibres distance. The new method is then applied throughout the thesis. In Chapter 3, a Representative Volume Element (RVE) containing fibres distributed randomly subjected to uniaxial transverse tension is studied. The DEM is showed to a genuine tool to investigate damage propagation in fibre-reinforced composites. Chapter 4 is dedicated to determining the elastic properties of the fibrereinforced composite using DEM. The results are then compared with selected analytical methods, namely Voigt and Mori-Tanaka methods, other numerical method such as Finite Element Method (FEM), and experimental results. The methodology developed in previous chapters are then adopted in Chapter 5 to study the failure of fibre-reinforced composite under uniaxial compression, transverse shear and biaxial transverse loads. Results are compared with experiments and analytical method such as Hashin and Puck models.


In this letter, we numerically demonstrate a hybrid-core microstructure fiber for low-loss terahertz guidance. Finite element method with circular perfectly matched layer boundary condition is applied to characterize the guiding properties. It is shown that by using a triangular-core inside a square lattice microstructure exhibits ultra-low effective material loss (EML) of 0.169 dB/cm and low confinement loss of 0.087 dB/cm at the operating frequency of 0.75 THz. We also discuss how other guiding properties including power fraction, single mode propagation and dispersion vary with changing of core diameter and operating frequencies. This low-loss microstructure fiber can be effectively used in numerous applications in the THz regime. Full Text: PDF References J. J. Bai, J. N. Li, H. Zhang, H. Fang, S. J. Chang, "A porous terahertz fiber with randomly distributed air holes", Appl. Phys. B 103, 2 (2011). CrossRef S. Atakaramians, S. Afshar, B. M. Fischer, D. Abbott, T. M. Monro, "Porous fibers: a novel approach to low loss THz waveguides", Opt. Express 16, 12 (2008). CrossRef K. Wang, D. M. Mittleman, "Metal wires for terahertz wave guiding", Nature 432, 7015 (2004). CrossRef R. Islam, G. K. M. Hasanuzzaman, M. S. Habib, S. Rana, M. A. G. Khan, "Low-loss rotated porous core hexagonal single-mode fiber in THz regime", Opt. Fiber Technol. 24, (2015). CrossRef M. I. Hasan, S. M. A. Razzak, G. K. M. Hasanuzzaman, M. S.Habib, "Ultra-Low Material Loss and Dispersion Flattened Fiber for THz Transmission", IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett. 26, 23 (2014). CrossRef S. F. Kaijage, Z. Ouyang, X. Jin, "Porous-Core Photonic Crystal Fiber for Low Loss Terahertz Wave Guiding", IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett. 25, 15 (2013). CrossRef M. R. Hasan, M. A. Islam, A. A. Rifat, "A single mode porous-core square lattice photonic crystal fiber for THz wave propagation", J. Eur. Opt. Soc. Rapid Publ. 12, 1 (2016). CrossRef M. R. Hasan, M. A. Islam, M. S. Anower, S. M. A. Razzak, "Low-loss and bend-insensitive terahertz fiber using a rhombic-shaped core", Appl. Opt. 55, 30 (2016). CrossRef S. Ali et al. "Ultra-low loss THz waveguide with flat EML and near zero flat dispersion properties", in 9th Int. Conf. on Elect. and Comp. Eng., IEEE, (2016). CrossRef K. Nielsen, H. K. Rasmussen, A. J. Adam, P. C. Planken, O. Bang, P. U. Jepsen, "Bendable, low-loss Topas fibers for the terahertz frequency range", Opt. Express 17, 10 (2009). CrossRef A. W. Snyder, J. D. Love, Optical waveguide theory (London, Chapman & Hall 1983). DirectLink L. Vincetti, A. Polemi, in Antennas and Propagation Society International Symposium, IEEE (2009) G. P. Agrawal, Nonlinear fiber optics (Boston, Academic Press 1989). CrossRef B. S. Williams, "Terahertz quantum-cascade lasers", Nat. Photon. 1, 9 (2007). CrossRef H. W. Hubers et al. "Terahertz quantum cascade laser as local oscillator in a heterodyne receiver", Opt. Express 13, 15 (2005). CrossRef


Today man's mind is under attack by all the leading schools of philosophy. We are told that we cannot trust our senses, that logic is arbitrary, that concepts have no basis in reality. Ayn Rand opposes that torrent of nihilism, and she provides the alternative in this eloquent presentation of the essential nature - and power - of man's conceptual faculty. She offers a startlingly original solution to the problem that brought about the collapse of modern philosophy: the problem of universals. This brilliantly argued, superbly written work, together with a remarkable essay by philosophy professor Leonard Peikoff, is vital reading for all those who seek to discover that human beings can and should live by the guidance of reason.


Let H = be a hypergraph, where G = (V, E) is a complete undirected graph and S is a set of not necessarily disjoint clusters Si ⊆ V. The Clustered Spanning Tree problem is to find a spanning tree of G which satisifes that each cluster induces a subtree, when it exists. We provide an efficient and unique algorithm which finds a feasible solution tree for H when it exists, or states that no feasible solution exists. The paper also uses special structures of the intersection graph of H to construct a feasible solution more efficiently. For cases when the hypergraph does not have a feasible solution tree, we consider adding vertices to exactly one cluster in order to gain feasibility. We characterize when such addition can gain feasibility, find the appropriate cluster and a possible set of vertices to be added.


Surgical treatment of chronic subdural hematoma can give dramatic recovery and the patient and his relatives see the surgeon as a 'miracle' worker. This euphoria can suddenly give way to anguish whenever recurrence occurs. Many methods of surgical care have arisen in the bid to avoid the despair of recurrence. The objectives of the study were to evaluate the Glasgow outcome scores and recurrence in wide dural window and incision of inner membrane in chronic subdural hematoma surgeries. It was a prospective study on patients with chronic subdural hematoma managed in our centers from 2009 to 2015. Patients were resuscitated with Advance Trauma Life Support protocols in accident and emergency. Brain Computerized tomography scan was used to make diagnosis. The hematoma was evacuated using large burr hole for liquefied types and craniotomy for those with solid components. The dural/outer membrane incision was widened and the inner membrane incised. On discharge, patients were followed up for three months. Data were collected using proforma and analyzed using Environmental Performance Index info 7 software. There were 55 patients. Males were forty six. The mean age was 56.6 years. The most common etiology was road traffic accident. The favorable outcome was 94.54%. The Glasgow Coma Scores (GCS) prior to surgery affected the outcome. There was no recurrence. The use of wide dural opening and incision of the inner membrane was not associated with any recurrence and complications were few. It is recommended as a suitable treatment option for patients with chronic subdural hematoma


While sorting is an important procedure in computer science, the argsort operator - which takes as input a vector and returns its sorting permutation - has a discrete image and thus zero gradients almost everywhere. This prohibits end-to-end, gradient-based learning of models that rely on the argsort operator. A natural way to overcome this problem is to replace the argsort operator with a continuous relaxation. Recent work has shown a number of ways to do this, but the relaxations proposed so far are computationally complex. In this work we propose a simple continuous relaxation for the argsort operator which has the following qualities: it can be implemented in three lines of code, achieves state-of-the-art performance, is easy to reason about mathematically - substantially simplifying proofs - and is faster than competing approaches. We open source the code to reproduce all of the experiments and results.


A contact strip shape of a high speed train pantograph system was optimized with CFD to increase the aerodynamic performance and stability of contact force, and the results were validated by a wind tunnel test. For design of the optimal contact strip shape, a Kriging model and genetic algorithm were used to ensure the global search of the optimal point and reduce the computational cost. To enhance the performance and robustness of the contact strip for high speed pantograph, the drag coefficient and the fluctuation of the lift coefficient along the angle of attack were selected as design objectives. Aerodynamic forces were measured by a load cell and HWA (Hot Wire Anemometer) was used to measure the Strouhal number of wake flow. PIV (Particle Image Velocimetry) was adopted to visualize the flow fields. The optimized contact strip shape was shown a lower drag with smaller fluctuation of vertical lift force than the general shaped contact strip. And the acoustic noise source strength of the optimized contact strip was also reduced. Finally, the reduction amount of drag and noise was assessed when the optimized contact strip was applied to three dimensional pantograph system.


Received: April 18, 2019 Accepted: May 11, 2019 Published: May 31, 2019 Volume: 2 Issue: 3 DOI: 10.32996/ijllt.2019.2.3.18 Effective communication requires social and cultural norms in addition to linguistic competence. This study explores the challenges that people who studied English in Burundi face when communicating in English. It, also, seeks to determine the causes of these challenges. To this end, people who often participate in meetings, conferences, or workshops where the working language is English were identified and given a questionnaire made of open-ended and multiple-choice questions. Results indicate that respondents do not know which elements of the language are essential for communication. They consider that the linguistic competence alone is enough for being able to communicate. For example, learners consider that being able to pronounce correctly the language and knowing the technical terms may be enough for them to communicate their ideas. It is also found out that the causes of this lack of effective communication may lie in the inadequate teaching methods adopted in Burundi. KEYWORDS


We describe here the isolation and characterization of a B-type DNA polymerase (PolB) from the archaeon Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum DeltaH. Uniquely, the catalytic domains of M. thermoautotrophicum PolB are encoded from two different genes, a feature that has not been observed as yet in other polymerases. The two genes were cloned, and the proteins were overexpressed in Escherichia coli and purified individually and as a complex. We demonstrate that both polypeptides are needed to form the active polymerase. Similar to other polymerases constituting the B-type family, PolB possesses both polymerase and 3'-5' exonuclease activities. We found that a homolog of replication protein A from M. thermoautotrophicum inhibits the PolB activity. The inhibition of DNA synthesis by replication protein A from M. thermoautotrophicum can be relieved by the addition of M. thermoautotrophicum homologs of replication factor C and proliferating cell nuclear antigen. The possible roles of PolB in M. thermoautotrophicum replication are discussed.


Abstract. Striking spatial patterns in stable isotope ratios (isoscapes) and elemental ratios (stoichioscapes) of seagrass leaves and the water column nutrients indicate general P-limitation of both water column and benthic primary productivity on the Bermuda Platform, and they highlight the role of the Bermuda Islands as a source of N and P. We found consistent differences among the four seagrass species (Syringodium filiforme, Thalassia testudinum, Halodule sp. and Halophila decipiens) in the N, P, δ13C and δ15N of leaf tissues. The δ15N of seagrass leaves was especially variable, with values from −10.1 to 8.8 ‰, greatly expanding the reported range of values for all seagrass species globally. Spatial patterns from both the water column and the seagrass leaves indicated that P availability was higher near shore, and δ15N values suggest this was likely a result of human waste disposal. Spatially contiguous areas of extremely depleted seagrass 15N suggest unique N sources and cycling compared to other seagrass-dominated environments. Seagrass N : P values were not as far from the stoichiometric balance between N and P availability as in the water column, and there were no strong relationships between the water column N : P and the seagrass N : P. Such isoscapes and stoichioscapes provide valuable ecogeochemical tools to infer ecosystem processes as well as provide information that can inform food web and animal movement studies.


Title of Dissertation: ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE OF LISTERIA MONOCYTOGENES AND ENTEROCOCCUS FAECIUM FROM FOOD AND ANIMAL SOURCES Yifan Zhang, Doctor of Philosophy, 2005 Dissertation directed by: Professor Jianghong Meng Department of Nutrition and Food Science The widespread use of antimicrobials in human and veterinary medicine, as well as in animal production has accelerated the development of drug resistance in a variety of pathogenic bacteria. Listeria monocytogenes and Entercoccus faecium are important Gram-positive pathogens of food safety and public health concern. But their mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance are relatively less clear than those in Gram-negative pathogens. L. monocytogenes (n=167) recovered from deli meats, conventional and organic chicken, and conventional and organic fresh produce samples were characterized by serogrouping, DNA fingerprinting and antimicrobial susceptibility testing. The isolates belonged to five different serogroups. Percentages of resistance to ciprofloxacin, tetracycline, sulfonamide, and nalidixic acid were 1.8%, 9%, 73%, and 100%, respectively. The identification of potential serotype 4b from all food categories, especially from organic chicken products, raised a public health concern, because serotype 4b has been the number one serotype associated with clinical isolates. Multiresistant L. monocytogenes strains were recovered from the food supply, including organic food products, suggesting our food supply may serve as the reservoir for multiresistant L. monocytogenes and the resistance genes. The PFGE and serogroup data also suggest the diverse sources of contamination. E. faecium isolates (n=34), including 33 from seven poultry farms and one from an outpatient in Michigan, were studied by characterizing the quinupristin-dalfopristin (Q/D) resistant plasmids that carried vatE. Hybridization following restriction endonuclease digestion identified five different plasmid types. The vatE-carrying plasmid from the human isolate showed nearly identical hybridization patterns, following restriction endonuclease digestion, to a vatE carrying plasmid from an E. faecium recovered from a chicken farm. This study showed that a heterogeneous group of plasmids harbour vatE in a heterogeneous population of E. faecium . Some of the plasmids were obtained by E. faecium capable of infecting humans. Q/D resistant E. faecium (n=28) with the MICs (minimal inhibitory concentrations) = 32 μg/ml were characterized by gene identification, conjugation, transformation, and in vitro transposon mutagenesis. vatE and ermB are responsible for high streptogramin resistance in most E. faecium isolates from poultry products but that the mechanisms of Q/D resistance among E. faecium isolates from poultry farms remain largely uncharacterized. ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE OF LISTERIA MONOCYTOGENES AND ENTEROCOCCUS FAECIUM FROM FOOD AND ANIMAL SOURCES


Introduction Bladder cancer is the most common malignancy in elderly people and most bladder cancers are transitional cell carcinomas (TCC). Bladder pathology is usually investigated visually by cystoscopy and this technique can represent different conditions ranging from simple inflammation to flat CIS. However, biopsies must be taken from the suspected area to obtain diagnostic information. This is a relatively high cost procedure in terms of both time and money and is associated with discomfort for the patient and increased morbidity. Materials and Methods Electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), a minimally invasive screening technique, can be used to separate malignant areas from non-malignant areas in the urinary bladder. The feasibility of adapting this technique to screen bladder cancer, and abnormalities during cystoscopy has been explored and compared with histopathological evaluation of urinary bladder lesions. Both ex vivo and in vivo studies were carried out in this study. Results The impedance data were evaluated in both malignant and benign groups and a significant difference between these two groups was revealed. In all measurements, the impedivity of malignant bladder tissue was significantly higher than the benign tissue, especially at lower frequencies (p<0.001) Conclusion This technique can be a complimentary method for cystoscopy, biopsy, and histopathological evaluation of the bladder abnormalities.


Cut-off importance sampling (CIS) is introduced as a means of sampling individual trees for the purpose of estimating bole volume. The novel feature of this variant of importance sampling is the establishment on the bole of a cut-off height, He, above which sampling is precluded. An estimator of bole volume between predetermined heights Hi and Hu > Hc is proposed, and its design-based bias and mean square error are derived. In an application of CIS as the second stage of a two-stage sample to estimate aggregate bole volume, the gain in precision realized from CIS more than offset its bias when compared to the precision of importance sampling when He = HJJ.


This paper describes the total design of Responsive Multithreaded (RMT) Processor, which is a system LSI that integrates almost all functions for parallel/distributed real-time control. Concretely, RMT Processor integrates an 8-way multithreaded processor (RMT Processing Unit) for real-time processing, real-time communication (Responsive Link II), computer peripherals (DDR SDRAM I/Fs, DMAC, PCI64, USB2.0, IEEE1394, etc.), and control peripherals (PWM Generators, Pulse Counters, etc.). RMT PU can execute eight prioritized threads simultaneously using the finegrained multithreading mechanism (RMT architecture). RMT PU introduces the priority of real-time systems into the processing unit, so that it can guarantee the execution of the prioritized threads according to the priority. Responsive Link II has a lot of unique features including separation of hard real-time communication (event link) and soft real-time communication (data link), the packet overtaking function with 256 level priority at each node, individual routing according to the type of the link and the packet priority, the packet accelerating/decelerating function by replacing the packet priority at each node, etc., so that Responsive Link II can realize real-time communication. RMT Processor can execute such tasks and communications prioritized by the real-time scheduler, overtaking and/or arbitrating them by hardware, to realize real-time communication and processing. As RMT Processor also realizes both high performance and low power, large scale parallel/distributed real-time systems can be designed by using RMT Processors.


This text was co-funded with FEDER funds by the Operational Competitiveness Programme – COMPETE and national funds by FCT – Fundacao para a Ciencia e
Tecnologia within the project Photography, Modern Architecture and the "School of Oporto": Interpretations Around Teofilo Rego Archive (PTDC/ ATP-AQI/4805/2012 -
FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-028054)


We introduce an idea of producing an optical lattice relied on the Talbot effect. Our alternative scheme is based on the interference of light behind a diffraction grating in the near-field regime. We demonstrate 1D and 2D optical lattices with the simulations and experiments. This Talbot optical lattice can be broadly used from quantum simulations to quantum information. The Talbot effect is usually used in lensless optical systems, therefore it provides small aberrations.


We study the case of a three-user broadcast erasure channel with multiple unicast traffic sessions, where feedback from the users is fed back to the transmitter in the form of positive acknowledgment (ACK)/negative acknowledgment (NACK) messages. The capacity region of this system has been recently derived and two capacity-achieving coding algorithms employing intersession linear network coding have been proposed. Since these algorithms suffer from large computational complexity and decoding delay, our aim, in this paper, is to design a coding algorithm with reduced computational complexity and a low decoding delay that achieves a comparable rate region to the former algorithms. We exclusively consider algorithms that require no knowledge of channel statistics, only perform XOR operations among the packets, and allow for instantaneous decoding by any receiver that successfully receives a packet. We present such an algorithm, named IXOR, which operates on a specially constructed network of virtual queues and, through intelligent packet combining, achieves the capacity under a general condition, which is satisfied in the following settings: spatially independent identically distributed erasure channels with arbitrary values of erasure probability; and spatially independent erasure channels where the maximum erasure probability does not exceed 8/9.


Many market observers point to the very high fraction of earnings retained (or low dividend payout ratio) among companies today as a sign that future earnings growth will be well above historical norms. This view is sometimes interpreted as an extension of the work of Miller and Modigliani. They proved that, given certain assumptions about market efficiency, dividend policy should not matter to the value of a firm. Extending this concept intertemporally, and to the market as a whole, as many do, whenever market-wide dividend payout ratios are low, higher reinvestment of earnings should lead to faster future aggregate growth. However, in the real world, many complications exist that could confound the expected inverse relationship between current payouts and future earnings growth. For instance, dividends might signals managers' private information about future earnings prospects, with low payout ratios indicating fear that the current earnings may not be sustainable. Alternatively, earnings might be retained for the purpose of "empire-building," which itself can negatively impact future earnings growth. We test whether dividend policy, as we observe in the payout ratio of the market portfolio, forecasts future aggregate earnings growth. This is, in a sense, one test of whether dividend policy "matters." The historical evidence strongly suggests that expected future earnings growth is fastest when current payout ratios are high and slowest when payout ratios are low. This relationship is not subsumed by other factors such as simple mean reversion in earnings. Our evidence contradicts the views of many who believe that substantial reinvestment of retained earnings will fuel faster future earnings growth. Rather, it is fully consistent with anecdotal tales about managers signaling their earnings expectations through dividends, or engaging in inefficient empire building, at times; either of these phenomena will conform with a positive link between payout ratios and subsequent earnings growth. Our findings offer a challenge to optimistic market observers who see recent low dividend payouts as a sign of high future earnings growth to come. These observers may prove to be correct, but history provides scant support for their thesis. This challenge is potentially all the more serious, as recent stock prices, relative to earnings, dividends and book values, rely heavily upon this expectation of superior future real earnings growth.


In the last hours of the 1916 Easter Rising, 20-year old Charlie Saurin came face to face with his Commander-in-Chief, Patrick Pearse. In a final gamble, Pearse had a desperate plan to save the collapsing rebellion. It required the sacrifice of Saurin and his comrades. The Scrap is the true story of the rising, from first-hand evidence, as seen by one rebel unit - F Company, 2nd Battalion - following them from the first skirmish in Fairview to the inferno of the GPO. Told in the context of some of the major events of that week, the story of F Company brings alive the excitement, the humour, the horror and the contradictions of that decisive moment in the creation of the Irish state.


Abstract Light‐induced activation of biomolecules by uncaging of photolabile protection groups has found many applications for triggering biochemical reactions with minimal perturbations directly within cells. Such an approach might also offer unique advantages for solid‐state NMR experiments on membrane proteins for initiating reactions within or at the membrane directly within the closed MAS rotor. Herein, we demonstrate that the integral membrane protein E. coli diacylglycerol kinase (DgkA), which catalyzes the phosphorylation of diacylglycerol, can be controlled by light under MAS‐NMR conditions. Uncaging of NPE‐ATP or of lipid substrate NPE‐DOG by in situ illumination triggers its enzymatic activity, which can be monitored by real‐time 31P‐MAS NMR. This proof‐of‐concept illustrates that combining MAS‐NMR with uncaging strategies and illumination methods offers new possibilities for controlling biochemical reactions at or within lipid bilayers.


Winner of the 2010 Hayek Book Prize given by the Manhattan Institute "Money, Markets and Sovereignty is a surprisingly easy read, given the complicated issues covered. In it, Mr. Steil and Mr. Hinds consistently challenge today's statist nostrums."-Doug Bandow, The Washington Times In this keenly argued book, Benn Steil and Manuel Hinds offer the most powerful defense of economic liberalism since F. A. Hayek published The Road to Serfdom more than sixty years ago. The authors present a fascinating intellectual history of monetary nationalism from the ancient world to the present and explore why, in its modern incarnation, it represents the single greatest threat to globalization. Steil and Hinds describe the current state of international economic relations as both unusual and precarious. Eras of economic protectionism have historically coincided with monetary nationalism, while eras of liberal trade have been accompanied by a universal monetary standard. But today, the authors show, an unprecedentedly liberal global trade regime operates side by side with the most extreme doctrine of monetary nationalism ever contrived-a situation bound to trigger periodic crises. Steil and Hinds call for a revival of the political and economic thinking that underlay earlier great periods of globalization, thinking that is increasingly under threat by more recent ideas about what sovereignty means.


While it is obvious that the level of democracy will affect the quality of governance, we show that an electoral democracy should not be expected to have an improved level of governance when compared with an outright authoritarian regime. We use the term 'electoral democracy' to refer to where relatively free and fair elections are held (where opposition parties stand some chance of winning government) but the institutions of a liberal society (like freedom of the press) are not in place. Given this, we consider what level of democracy is necessary before we can expect it to have a positive effect upon governance. We employ a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to construct a new governance indicator. Using the data from over one hundred countries and advanced panel data analysis for the period 1996-2012, our results confirm that political freedom and civil rights influence the level of governance, but this effect is found to be nonlinear. Governance is typically higher in dictatorships than in countries that are partially democratized (electoral democracies). However, once past a threshold, democratic practices assist good governance. Furthermore, it is found that democracy substantially strengthens levels of governance only within the top-half of the conditional distribution.


From 1985 the Chinese government adopted a proactive policy of engaging with Myanmar and encouraged its people to do the same. China has thus played a major role in Myanmar's recent evolution, especially with respect to the number of its citizens and former citizens living in the country and working to transform its economy. A long, porous border unites Myanmar and China and serves as "back door" to both countries. It is through this land border that Myanmar and China face one another. This contrasts with Western countries that have tended to view both China and Myanmar from the vantage of the sea. From state investment in billion dollar projects to the small shop owners in every village and town in northern Myanmar, the Chinese have entangled themselves in all levels of the Myanmar economy. Ethnic Chinese living in Myanmar are well aware that they are permanent outsiders in Myanmar society, even if their families have lived there for generations. The dichotomy persists between "Chinese" and "locals" and is reinforced through discriminatory laws, media and popular culture. The long-term situation of the Chinese in Myanmar remains profoundly unclear. Many of them appear to have determined that Myanmar will continue to be part of their plans, but that they are also seeking to remain mobile, able to seize new opportunities where they emerge.


Congress recently enacted amendments to the Bankruptcy Code that possess the overarching theme of cracking down on debtors due to the increasing rate at which individuals have been filing for bankruptcy. Taking into account the correlation between the overall rise in consumer credit card debt and the rate of individual bankruptcy filings, the author nevertheless hypothesizes that not all credit card debt is troubling. Instead, the author proposes that the catalyst driving individual bankruptcy rates higher than ever is the level of bad credit - or credit extended to individuals even though there is a reasonable likelihood that the individual will be forced to default. While the author recognizes the need to hold individuals accountable for the debt they incur, he contends that bankruptcy reform should be targeted towards those creditors who are partly, if not chiefly, responsible for causing a debtor to default, given creditors' competitive advantage in determining the repayment capacity of individuals. To this end, the author explores the idea of imposing private liability on consumer lenders who bear primary responsibility for a debtor's financial default through a contract defense to collection, or possibly an affirmative cause of action in tort. Possible consequences of this proposal, such as a reduction in lending activity, are considered and addressed.


Based on a close exponential relationship between mean ablation-season temperature and winter precipitation at the equilibrium-line altitude (ELA) of 10 Norwegian glaciers, three equations are derived. The first equation enables calculation of the minimum altitude of areas climatically suited for glacier formation, and is termed the altitude of instantaneous glacierization (AIG). Equation (2) is derived based on the 'principle of terrain adaptation', enabling quantification of the glacial buildup sensitivity (GBS) in presently non-glaciated areas. The theoretical climatic temperature-precipitation ELA (CTP-ELA) in presently non-glaciated areas is calculated in equation three by combining GBS with terrain altitude. Mass-balance records from four modern glaciers (Ålfotbreen, Nigardsbreen, Storbreen and GrÅsubreen) situated in maritime to continental climate regimes in southern Norway are used to test these equations. Correlation between AIG and net balance measurements (bn) yielded correlation coefficients of r=-0.80 to r=-0.84. Calculated AIGs correspond well with observed ELAs on Ålfotbreen, Nigardsbreen and GrÅsubreen, while it deviates from the observed ELA on Storbreen; the latter is probably due to leeward accumulation of wind-blown snow on this cirque glacier. Based on this approach, regional representative climatic ELAs can be calculated for non-glaciated areas with instrumental records of ablation-season temperature and winter precipitation.


Electricity is a quite recent energy (150 years old) that has developed very much as it allows a flexible use through converters (electrical machines and power electronics). At the beginning, the main use was for lighting and metro. Now, electricity is a major energy for developed countries: 17.7% of the world final energy consumption and 22% for the ECD countries (IEA, 2013a; b, Figure 1), and an economic growth is always linked to an electric consumption growth. Electricity has improved our daily life: washer, dryer, dishwasher, microwaves, internet, TV, air-conditioning, and so on. Humans have become very dependent on electricity consumptions. Nevertheless, electricity is a specific product in the sense that it is a nonmaterial energy, and thus it can only be stored through a costly transformation. Electricity can be classified as a tertiary or secondary energy produced from thermal, potential, hydro (see Volume 5, Chapter XX), wind hces137, or solar energy. For a thermal plant, the primary energy (coal, gas, or uranium) is converted into mechanical energy (secondary energy) by a turbine and is transmitted to the generator to be converted into electricity (tertiary energy). As electricity is difficult to store, it needs an infrastructure to be delivered to consumers: the electrical grid that makes the link between power plants and the consumers through transformers and overhead or cabled lines. At the beginning of the twentieth century, all countries made the choice of the alternating current technology as it allowed—thanks to a key device (the transformer) transmission of high power at high voltages to reduce losses. In the context of emissions reduction (CO2, NOx, etc.), objectives have been given for cleaner energies and the use of more efficient ones. In Europe, there are the "20–20–20" targets: 20% reduction for CO2 emissions, 20% reduction in energy consumption, and 20% increase in efficiency by 2020 (see Volume 6, Chapter XX). To reach these policy goals, electricity is an appropriate vector: it is a flexible energy that can be produced from renewable or CO2-free sources, electrical converters have high efficiency (80–90% for an electric motor) and are bidirectional what makes energy recovery possible for applications such as breaking (trains, vehicles, etc.). Transportation (cars, autobuses, and trucks) is often considered a major contributor to local pollution. Then, constraints for CO2 emissions reduction are more and more severe, especially in Europe. Automakers and their suppliers have optimized their engines with innovations such as start&stop starter/generator, kinetic energy recovery ystems, hybrid systems, and full battery electric vehicles (EVs) and plugin hybrid vehicles. For the two last cases, the energy stored in the batteries will totally or partially come from the electric grid.


July 22, 2016. A Florida state court dismisses a three-count information against a sole defendant in "a Miami money-laundering case that is being closely watched around the world." The defendant, a dealer of the virtual currency bitcoin, is free to go. He is also free to continue engaging in the sale of bitcoin. This "victory for bitcoin users" was the first state court case to address Bitcoin in the context of the money services business and anti-money laundering statutes. And on every front, the court got it wrong — while the world was watching. Federal and state prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, and the Bitcoin community paid careful attention to the case. And although the opinion is not binding, it must be given its "proper regard." The Little Case That Could has effectively become the Little Case That Shouldn't.
Two avenues must be pursued to correct the problems with the Espinoza court's findings. First, a Florida appellate court must overturn the decision on appeal. Second, the legal and financial communities must, as the Southern District of New York already has, disregard the Espinoza court's ineffective reasoning as they continue to develop the law of Bitcoin. Because while this Florida state case awaits appeal, and is not binding on any court, it remains persuasive authority in an area of law where few cases have directly analyzed the character of Bitcoin. As the law is in a constant state of growth, a trial court order opining on this topic has the possibility to cause damage. What exactly did the court do — and decline to do — when it dismissed the charges against Espinoza? And why is this state court dismissal of these charges against a sole defendant so potentially troubling across the world? To answer these questions, we first must turn to the currency (or is it?) at the center of the case: bitcoin.
Part I of this article seeks to explain in largely non-technical terms the design of the Bitcoin network. Part II explains the guidance and administrative rulings provided by the United States Department of the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network in relation to the issues in the Espinoza case. Additionally, Part II surveys different approaches taken by state legislatures and regulators in seeking to address decentralized virtual currencies, including bitcoin. Careful attention is paid to how the terms "monetary value" and "virtual currency" are defined, and how those definitions have been interpreted. Part II further explores the differences in the way the respective laws and guidelines treat different members of the Bitcoin ecosystem. Part III analyzes the Espinoza case, taking a critical look at the reasoning behind the dismissal of the criminal information, and suggests that the court's holdings are analytically unsound. Finally, we argue that the Espinoza case must not be allowed to stand and needs to be reversed on appeal.


The spectral sensitivity of human vision has been measured in the near infra-red, in two areas of the dark adapted eye: the central fovea (cones) to 1000 mμ, and a peripheral area, in which the responses are primarily caused by rods, to 1050 mμ. In both cases the estimates of spectral sensitivity are based upon determinations of the visual thresholds for radiation passing through a series of infra-red filters. By successive approximation, sensitivity functions were chosen which were consistent with the observed thresholds.The spectral sensitivity of the fovea determined in this way is consistent with previous measurements of Goodeve on the unfixated eye. At wave-lengths beyond 800 mμ the periphery becomes appreciably more sensitive than the fovea. This tendency increases at longer wave-lengths, so that at the longest wave-lengths studied, the radiation appeared colorless at the threshold and stimulated only rods.Lengthening the exposure time increases the sensitivity of the peripheral retina relative to the fovea. Our measurements involved exposures of 1 second and fields subtending a visual angle of 1 degree. With shorter exposures or smaller fields the fovea is favored, so that under such circumstances the fovea may become more sensitive than the periphery well into the infra-red.At 1050 mμ the sensitivity of the peripheral retina is only 3×10−13 times its maximum value at 505 mμ. A computation shows that by 1150 or 1200 mμ radiation should be more readily felt as heat by the skin than seen as light by the eye.


We use neutron dark-field imaging to visualize and interpret the response of bulk magnetic domain walls to static and dynamic magnetic excitations in (110)-Goss textured iron silicon high-permeability steel alloy. We investigate the domain-wall motion under the influence of an external alternating sinusoidal magnetic field. In particular, we perform scans combining varying levels of dc(offset) (0-30 A/m), oscillation amplitude A(ac) (0-1500 A/m), and frequency f(ac) ((0-200 Hz). By increasing amplitude A(ac) while maintaining constant values of dc(offset) and f(ac), we record the transition from a frozen domain-wall structure to a mobile one. Vice versa, increasing f(ac) while keeping A(ac) and dc(offset) constant led to the reverse transition from a mobile domain-wall structure into a frozen one. We show that varying both A(ac) and f(ac) shifts the position of the transition region. Furthermore, we demonstrate that higher frequencies require higher oscillation amplitudes to overcome the freezing phenomena. The fundamental determination and understanding of the frequency-induced freezing process in high-permeability steel alloys is of high interest to the further development of descriptive models for bulk macromagnetic phenomena. Likewise, the efficiency of transformers can be improved based on our results, since these alloys are used as transformer core material.