The study of phytochemical compounds of plants grown in different regions can reveal their biological potentials for the identification and discovery of effective drugs. This study was conducted to investigate the total phenolic and flavonoid content of twenty Iranian medicinal plants. The plants were gathered from Chaharmahal va Bakhtyari and their aerial parts were used for extraction by maceration using ethanol 70 %. To determine total phenolic and flavonoid content of the extracts, the Folin-Ciocalteu method and the aluminum chloride colorimetric method were used respectively. Stachys inflate and Euphorbia szovitsii Fisch. & C.A. Mey . with 87.458 and 72.9644 mg GAE/g had the highest total phenolic content. Also, Urtica dioica (81.4945 mg RUT/g) and Satureja bachtiarica (41.5445 mg GAE /g) had the highest flavonoid content among the investigated plants. According to the result, all plants have different values of phenolic compounds. However, S. inflate, E. szovitsii, U. dioica and S. bachtiarica due to high values of phenolic and flavonoid contents can be considered as a potent resource of natural products for discovering antioxidant and anti-inflammatory drugs.


Abstract In this paper, a finite element (FE) code for modelling of pressure driven axisymmetric consolidation of composite material from commingled yarns is presented. The proposed model is developed on the basis of a two phase continuum model incorporated in an FE framework. The applicability of the code to axisymmetric geometries is demonstrated by analysis of the consolidation, i.e. resin infiltration and fibre bundle network deformation, of a GF/PP pressure vessel. In this numerical example, two different sets of processing conditions are presented. Based on these analysis results conclusions on the process ability of the investigated vessel configuration and manufacturing scheme are drawn and processing recommendations are given.


Development and Evaluation of a Clinical Management Protocol for Homebound Congestive Heart Patients by Matthew Kaspar MSN, Thomas Jefferson University, 2011 BSN, Thomas Jefferson University, 2009 MEd, University of Phoenix, 2004 BS, The Ohio State University, 2000 Project Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Nursing Practice Walden University February 2016 Abstract With more than 700,000 new diagnoses annually, congestive heart failure (CHF) is a chronic condition that affects the chambers of the heart. When not managed correctly, the disease rapidly progresses to substantial fluid volume overload that impacts activities of daily living and the overall quality of life. The financial implications for poor CHF management cost a mean annual medical expenditure of $33,427 per patient per year.With more than 700,000 new diagnoses annually, congestive heart failure (CHF) is a chronic condition that affects the chambers of the heart. When not managed correctly, the disease rapidly progresses to substantial fluid volume overload that impacts activities of daily living and the overall quality of life. The financial implications for poor CHF management cost a mean annual medical expenditure of $33,427 per patient per year. The need for a diagnostic and prognostic at-home protocol is needed in the medical community, as there is currently no such tool on the market. Donabedian's framework was used to guide the formulation and interpretation of this research. The purpose of this project was to design a CHF protocol using evidence-based research for clinicians making home visits to homebound patients with a primary diagnosis of CHF with an individualized protocol focusing on disease management, in home support system, knowledge base and financial factors for homebound patients. The protocol was released through a snowballing campaign to clinicians who work with CHF, transitional care, or homecare who then evaluated the protocol on its perceived efficacy if integrated into practice. Findings were analyzed using simple descriptive statistics by 32 nurses and other health care professionals who responded work in home care, cardiology, medical surgical nursing hospitalists, or skilled nursing facilities. Thirty-one of the 32 respondents deemed the protocol useful and stated a clinical need of protocol as evidenced by completed the AGREE II Questionnaire. The findings demonstrate that the CHF Practice Protocol provides clinicians with an evidence-based guidance to manage homebound patients with CHF on a small scale. Development and Evaluation of a Heart Failure Tool for Homebound Patients by Matthew Kaspar MSN, Thomas Jefferson University, 2011 BSN, Thomas Jefferson University, 2009 MEd, University of Phoenix, 2004 BS, The Ohio State University, 2000 Project Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Nursing Practice Walden University February 2016


Mary Anning (1799-1847) was one of the pioneers of the emerging science of geology - the first woman palaeontologist to make important discoveries. When she was just 12, she discovered the first whole ichthyosaurus skeleton; later, aged 22, she found the first whole skeleton of a plesiosaurus, and this find gained her international fame. She was unusual then - as she would be now - in being a woman geologist, and she was also a curiosity in being both provincial and lower class when science was dominated by upper class London gentlemen. During her lifetime she won the respect of contemporary scientists, receiving an annuity from the British Association for the Advancement of Science during the last decade of her life. Upon her death, Dickens wrote 'the carpenter's daughter has won a name for herself, and deserved to win it'. After her death, however, scientists wrote her out of their books, crediting instead the naturalists who had bought her specimens with her discoveries. It was inconceivable to them that an uneducated woman had produced such astonishing work. In this new book Patricia Pierce rescues the now little-known life of this extraordinary woman from undeserved obscurity to reveal her full and fascinating life.


PROBLEM/CONDITION
At the end of 2009, an estimated 1,148,200 persons aged ≥13 years were living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in the United States. Despite the recent decreases in HIV infection attributed to injection drug use, 8% of new HIV infections in 2010 occurred among injecting drug users (IDUs).

REPORTING PERIOD
June-December 2009.

DESCRIPTION OF SYSTEM
The National HIV Behavioral Surveillance System (NHBS) collects HIV prevalence and risk behavior data in selected metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) from three populations at high risk for HIV infection: men who have sex with men, IDUs, and heterosexual adults at increased risk for HIV infection. Data for NHBS are collected in rotating cycles. For the 2009 NHBS cycle, IDUs were recruited in 20 participating MSAs using respondent-driven sampling, a peer-referral sampling method. Participants were eligible if they were aged ≥18 years, lived in a participating MSA, were able to complete a behavioral survey in English or Spanish, and reported that they had injected drugs during the past 12 months. Consenting participants completed an interviewer-administered (face-to-face), anonymous standardized questionnaire about HIV-associated behaviors, and all participants were offered anonymous HIV testing. Analysis of 2009 NHBS data represents the first large assessment of HIV prevalence among IDUs in the United States in >10 years.

RESULTS
This report summarizes two separate analyses using unweighted data from 10,200 eligible IDUs in 20 MSAs from the second collection cycle of NHBS in 2009. Both an HIV infection analysis and a behavioral analysis were conducted. Different denominators were used in each analysis because of the order and type of exclusion criteria applied. For the HIV infection analysis, of the 10,200 eligible participants, 10,090 had a valid HIV test result, of whom 906 (9%) tested positive for HIV (range: 2%-19% by MSA). When 509 participants who reported receiving a previous positive HIV test result were excluded from this analysis, 4% (397 of 9,581 participants) tested HIV-positive. For the behavioral analysis, because knowledge of HIV status might influence risk behaviors, 548 participants who reported a previous HIV-positive test result were excluded from the 10,200 eligible participants. All subsequent analyses were conducted for the remaining 9,652 participants. The most commonly injected drugs during the past 12 months among these participants were heroin (90%), speedball (heroin and cocaine combined) (58%), and cocaine or crack (49%). Large percentages of participants reported receptive sharing of syringes (35%); receptive sharing of other injection equipment, such as cookers, cotton, or water (58%); and receptive sharing of syringes to divide drugs (35%). Many participants reported having unprotected sex with opposite-sex partners during the past 12 months: 70% of men and 73% of women had unprotected vaginal sex, and 25% of men and 21% of women had unprotected anal sex. A combination of unsafe injection- and sex-related behaviors during the past 12 months was commonly reported; 41% of participants who reported unprotected vaginal sex with one or more opposite-sex partners, and 53% of participants who reported unprotected anal sex with one or more opposite-sex partners also reported receptive sharing of syringes. More women than men reported having sex in exchange for money or drugs (31% and 18%, respectively). Among men, 10% had oral or anal sex with one or more male partners during the past 12 months. Many participants (74%) reported noninjection drug use during the past 12 months, and 41% reported binge drinking during the past 30 days. A large percentage of participants (74%) had ever been tested for hepatitis C, 41% had received a hepatitis C virus infection diagnosis, and 29% had received a vaccination against hepatitis A virus, hepatitis B virus, or both. Most (88%) had been tested for HIV during their lifetime, and 49% had been tested during the past 12 months. Approximately half of participants received free HIV prevention materials during the past 12 months, including condoms (50%) and sterile syringes (44%) and other injection equipment (41%). One third of participants had been in an alcohol or a drug treatment program, and 21% had participated in an individual- or a group-level HIV behavioral intervention.

INTERPRETATION
IDUs in the United States continue to engage in sexual and drug-use behaviors that increase their risk for HIV infection. The large percentage of participants in this study who reported engaging in both unprotected sex and receptive sharing of syringes supports the need for HIV prevention programs to address both injection and sex-related risk behaviors among IDUs. Although most participants had been tested for HIV infection previously, less than half had been tested in the past year as recommended by CDC. In addition, many participants had not been vaccinated against hepatitis A and B as recommended by CDC. Although all participants had injected drugs during the past year, only a small percentage had recently participated in an alcohol or a drug treatment program or in a behavioral intervention, suggesting an unmet need for drug treatment and HIV prevention services.

PUBLIC HEALTH ACTION
To reduce the number of HIV infections among IDUs, additional efforts are needed to decrease the number of persons who engage in behaviors that increase their risk for HIV infection and to increase their access to HIV testing, alcohol and drug treatment, and other HIV prevention programs. The National HIV/AIDS Strategy for the United States delineates a coordinated response to reduce HIV incidence and HIV-related health disparities among IDUs and other disproportionately affected groups. CDC's high-impact HIV prevention approach provides an essential step toward achieving these goals by using combinations of scientifically proven, cost-effective, and scalable interventions among populations at greatest risk. NHBS data can be used to monitor progress toward the national strategy goals and to guide national and local planning efforts to maximize the impact of HIV prevention programs.


Abstract. Non-adiabatic motion of plasma sheet protons causes pitch-angle scattering and isotropic precipitation to the ionosphere, which forms the proton auroral oval. This mechanism related to current sheet scattering (CSS) provides a specific energy–latitude dispersion pattern near the equatorward boundary of proton isotropic precipitation (isotropy boundary, IB), with precipitation sharply decreasing at higher (lower) latitude for protons with lower (higher) energy. However, this boundary maps to the inner magnetosphere, where wave-induced scattering may provide different dispersion patterns as recently demonstrated by Liang et al. (2014). Motivated by the potential usage of the IBs for the magnetotail monitoring as well as by the need to better understand the mechanisms forming the proton IB, we investigate statistically the details of particle flux patterns near the proton IB using NOAA-POES polar spacecraft observations made during September 2009. By comparing precipitated-to-trapped flux ratio (J0/J90) at >30 and >80 keV proton energies, we found a relatively small number of simple CSS-type dispersion events (only 31 %). The clear reversed (wave-induced) dispersion patterns were very rare (5 %). The most frequent pattern had nearly coinciding IBs at two energies (63 %). The structured precipitation with multiple IBs was very frequent (60 %), that is, with two or more significant J0/J90 dropouts. The average latitudinal width of multiple IB structures was about 1°. Investigation of dozens of paired auroral zone crossings of POES satellites showed that the IB pattern is stable on a timescale of less than 2 min (a few proton bounce periods) but can evolve on a longer (several minutes) scale, suggesting temporal changes in some mesoscale structures in the equatorial magnetosphere. We discuss the possible role of CSS-related and wave-induced mechanisms and their possible coupling to interpret the emerging complicated patterns of proton isotropy boundaries.


Interpolative reasoning does not only help reduce the complexity of fuzzy models but also makes inference in sparse rule-based systems possible. This paper presents an interpolative reasoning method by means of scale and move transformations. It can be used to interpolate fuzzy rules involving complex polygon, Gaussian or other bell-shaped fuzzy membership functions. The method works by first constructing a new inference rule via manipulating two given adjacent rules, and then by using scale and move transformations to convert the intermediate inference results into the final derived conclusions. This method has three advantages thanks to the proposed transformations: 1) it can handle interpolation of multiple antecedent variables with simple computation; 2) it guarantees the uniqueness as well as normality and convexity of the resulting interpolated fuzzy sets; and 3) it suggests a variety of definitions for representative values, providing a degree of freedom to meet different requirements. Comparative experimental studies are provided to demonstrate the potential of this method


Changes in the microbiome in response to environmental influences can affect the overall health. Critical illness is considered one of the major environmental factors that can potentially influence the normal gut homeostasis. It is associated with pathophysiological effects causing damage to the intestinal microbiome. Alteration of intestinal microbial composition during critical illness may subsequently compromise the integrity of the intestinal epithelial barrier and intestinal mucosa absorptive function. Many factors can impact the microbiome of critically ill patients including ischemia, hypoxia and hypotension along with the iatrogenic effects of therapeutic agents and the lack of enteral feeds. Factors related to disease state and medication are inevitable and they are part of the intensive care unit (ICU) exposure. However, a nutritional intervention targeting gut microbiota might have the potential to improve clinical outcomes in the critically ill population given the extensive vascular and lymphatic links between the intestines and other organs. Although nutrition is considered an integral part of the treatment plan of critically ill patients, still the role of nutritional intervention is restricted to improve nitrogen balance. What is dismissed is whether the nutrients we provide are adequate and how they are processed and utilised by the host and the microbiota. Therefore, the goal of nutrition therapy during critical illness should be extended to provide good quality feeds with balanced macronutrient content to feed up the entire body including the microbiota and host cells. The main aim of this review is to examine the current literature on the effect of critical illness on the gut microbiome and to highlight the role of nutrition as a factor affecting the intestinal microbiome-host relationship during critical illness.


The intermodulation of signal frequencies, or moire, is an effect generally encountered in situations in which periodic or quasi-periodic structures are superimposed. Most familiar are the striking low-frequency patterns achieved by the multiplicative superposition of two structures. In other situations, the intermodulation of signal frequencies may be caused by nonlinear distortions of an input signal. This can be a desired feature in measuring applications or a noise source in transmission or display. Effects of nonlinear transfer characteristics on input signals consisting of more than one frequency are shown. The dependence of resulting moire frequencies on the nonlinearity is evaluated, and common nonlinearities are compared by simulating a moire topography experiment.


A major flooding event that occurred during October–November 2012 caused major changes in the Kowie River hydromorphology and aquatic communities. The aim of our study was to identify the environmental variables that structure riverine benthic diatom communities at upstream and downstream locations 25 km apart on the Kowie River, South Africa. This was undertaken using tiles as artificial substrates so that we could study how the communities developed after the flood disturbance. The diatom community structure was assessed over a 28-day period following a flood event in October 2012. The Mann Whitney test indicated that there was a statistically significant difference (p < 0.05) in total dissolved solids, salinity, pH and oxygen reduction potential between the two sites. In total, 58 diatom species belonging to 30 genera were identified over the 28-day study. Achnanthidium minutissimum, Fragilaria biceps, F. ulna var. acus, Pinnularia borealis and P. acrosphaeria were the most numerically  dominant on Day 7 and were considered as early colonisers, while on Day 28, Achnathidium minutissimum, F. capucina, Craticula buderi, C. vixnegligenda, Diploneis subovalis and Gomphonema venusta , the late colonisers, were dominant. The species richness increased from 13 (upstream location) on Day 7 to 22 (both locations) by Day 21. A redundancy analysis showed that total suspended solids, salinity, resistivity, pH and oxygen reduction potential were the most significant physico-chemical variables explaining diatom composition. The results from this relatively small-scale tile experiment indicate the complexity of freshwater benthic diatom community structure and development. Keywords : water flow, total dissolved solids, Fragilaria sp., tile substrate, resistivity


With the increasing complexity of Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), System-On-a-Chip (SoC) design seems to be the current chip design paradigm. Unlike ASICs, SoCs are a potpourri of diverse components, including general-purpose or special-purpose processors. Designing and testing these designs require a new methodology that supports system level modeling and hardware-software co-design. The Hardware Description Languages (HDLs) available today cannot meet this challenge. SystemC is a new modeling language based on C++. Models written in SystemC are executable and do not dictate either hardware or software implementation. The model written in SystemC can be synthesized to hardware using the CoCentric SystemC Compiler (CCSC). Thus, the combination of SystemC and CCSC has the potential to be a powerful SoC design technique. This thesis examines the usefulness of SystemC and CCSC to model and synthesize a GSM system. The encoders and decoders used in the GSM system are complex and represent challenging problems in the real world. The modeling methodology using SystemC is considered and the synthesis issues with CCSC are detailed. Simulation results using real sound samples and synthesis results are presented. Areas for future work are then outlined.


Sequential photographs from aircraft and satellites provide a source of data for studying dynamic features of coastal waters. Procedures for detecting features in sequential photos follow two approaches; (1) application of sequential signatures, (2) simple comparative analysis. For quantitative analyses images of two or more frames must have proper registration and comparable tones, i.e. tones free of photographic variance from film processing, varying exposure and solar illumination. After a normalization correction for variance is determined through use of density control points, density of successive frames is measured with a microdensitometer, the correction is a.pplied and tonal differences determined. Such differences relate to the time character of a feature and to causal processes. Application of correction values and numerical differencing is best accomplished in a digital or computerized densitometer. However, corrections and differencing can also be accomplished graphically from line traces or plots of an objective densitometer. Application of the procedures is demonstrated by analyses of tonal patterns of suspended sediment concentration in an estuary.


Dibenzo[a,e]pentalene (DBP) is a low-bandgap organic semiconductor. A versatile synthetic route to DBPs substituted with aryl or alkyl groups in the 5,10-positions and electron-donating or -accepting functionalities in the 2,7-positions is described. Six donor- or acceptor-functionalized DBP derivatives were synthesized that show amphoteric redox behavior and band gaps around 2 eV. Through choice of the 2,7-substituents, the HOMO/LUMO energy levels and band gaps can be adjusted within a range of up to 0.6 eV. In the solid state, the DBP derivatives assume herringbone-type packing structures.


Conclusions Proliferation of nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) weapons is increasingly perceived by members of the North Atlantic Alliance as a political and military threat that could undermine NATO's ability to conduct essential defense missions, both in protecting Alliance territory and populations and in out-of-area regional conflicts. * Alliance progress in addressing the NBC challenge is impressive. Allies have agreed on an assessment of the risks, and on the security implications of, and the military requirements to meet, the growing threat. Allies have identified a set of capabilities--in such areas as intelligence, active and passive defenses, and command and control--needed to give NATO the ability to project power and conduct operations in an NBC environment. * The success of the NATO initiative to counter the proliferation threat, however, will only be assured when allies make national and collective commitments to field the necessary military capabilities and embed the threat in the Alliance defense planning process. To succeed, Alliance leaders will also need to rethink existing positions on nuclear deterrence and on the need for wide-area missile defenses. * NATO's ability to respond effectively to the NBC and missile threat may well be the key indicator of the Alliance's ability to adapt to the new security environment and the most important stimulus for force planning and defense analysis in the decades ahead. Acquiring the capabilities to deter and defend against the proliferation threat is essential to the future credibility of the Alliance. Proliferation Challenges are Dynamic During the Cold War, proliferation was associated almost exclusively with nuclear weapons--viewed by the Alliance as an important political problem, but not central to NATO security. By the time of the Brussel's Summit in January 1994, this view had changed fundamentally. Mounting evidence--from post-Desert Storm Iraq, from North Korea and from Iran and Libya--demonstrated that potential adversaries in regions of vital interest were determined to acquire NBC weapons and missiles as political and military tools to advance very aggressive, and in most cases, anti-western agendas. In the eyes of proliferant states, possession of NBC weapons would not only add to their regional stature, but would also offer an asymmetrical counter to the West's superiority in conventional forces. Longer-range delivery systems would optimize the political effect of brandishing NBC and, thereby, add to the value of these weapons in deterring outside intervention. Previous Alliance efforts undertaken after the Gulf War were now considered insufficient to the emerging threat, especially in the field of defense measures. As a first step to remedy the perceived inadequacies, NATO leaders at the Brussels Summit directed the preparation of an "overall policy framework." A comprehensive approach across the spectrum of political and military measures was considered essential. Prevention of proliferation would remain the primary goal, although NATO leaders had concluded that a determined proliferant could likely succeed. Traditional methods had not worked with states like Iraq and North Korea, who violated arms control commitments without detection and manipulated export controls to gain access to sensitive technologies and materials. As a result, Alliance members would need to be prepared militarily to protect their populations and forces against the proliferation threat. To conduct an assessment of the threat and the appropriate response, NATO established two expert groups. The first, the Senior Political-Military Group on Proliferation (SGP), was tasked to develop the broad policy framework. The second, the Senior Defence Group on Proliferation (DGP), was charged with examining the implications of proliferation for defense planning, identifying allied capabilities to protect against the threat and recommending additional capabilities that might be required. …


The study is to analyze the concentration of particulate pollutants level and its monitoring, there fore suggesting controlling measures of particulate pollution at Virudhunagar in Tamilnadu. This work summarized the results of a series of comprehensive studies on particulate matter carried out in study area from 2010 to 2011. The air quality has been categorized into four broad categories based on an Exceedence Factor (EF) of measured concentration of pollutants. It could be seen from the categorization, that all the study sites were violating the standards, although, with varying magnitude. The concentration of particulate matter PM10 and PM2.5 was statistically analyzed and higher concentration of pollutants observed during the months of April and May. Overall high concentration of particulates observed during summer at site 2. There is no considerable variation of concentration of particulates was observed at site 3 during all the three seasons. In the available receptor models, chemical mass balance(CMB) method was utilized for this study. This modeling involves quantitative assessment of source contributions to the measured ambient samples based on the degree to which source profiles can be combined to produce ambient concentrations. Particulate samples collected from all the three locations were subjected to chemical speciation. The composition of the data was analyzed and divided into three categories to correlate with the sources. Sources identified as major contributors to particulate pollution were fugitive dust on roads and construction sites, vehicular exhaust, biomass burning at residential and road side trash. The monitoring and analysis results were utilized to strengthen the need for a faster and effective pollution control action plan for the study area. Keyword: PM10, CMB, Virudhunagar, Particulate matter, Exceedence factor, Critical pollution


This article examines the change in the mix of income and benefits that older adults receive as they age, with a focus on older women. The study is a cross-national comparison of five OECD countries using the Luxemburg Income Study database. We investigate the change of private income and social benefits following synthetic cohorts for two decades. These results reveal that older women rely heavily on socially provided benefits for a majority of their income, and these benefits are primarily responsible for whether older women find themselves in poverty or not. Older men and women in countries with relatively generous (or well targeted) social retirement and social transfer benefits have lower levels of poverty. Housing appears to be a particularly important factor. Older homeowners are less likely to be in poverty than renters. As the value of homes and homeownership increase, housing will become an especially important source of support in old age.


This study addresses the question of how strategy actors instil strategic behaviour in everyday strategic activity despite their physical absence. To do this, I draw on ecological psychology and introduce the concept of bundled affordances, multiple spatiotemporally distinct yet co-performing action possibilities offered to strategists in single strategic events. Through an in-depth qualitative study of three affiliated banks, I illustrate that affordances can be usefully bundled when familiar features of material objects are placed in the everyday perceptual field of strategists. The study further suggests that when corporate interests and individual goals are effectively entangled into affordance bundles, they not only motivate individuals to behave strategically but also make those actions intuitive rather than open-ended action possibilities, instructive rather than interpretive, and readily identifiable in events rather than in information about the properties of material objects.


We survey the recent literature studying the effects of globalization on inequality in Latin America. Our focus is on research emerging from the late 2000s onward, with an emphasis on empirical work considering new mechanisms, studying new dimensions of inequality, and developing new methodologies to capture the many facets of globalizations relationship to inequality. After summarizing both design-based and quantitative work in this area, we propose directions for future work. Our overarching recommendation is that researchers develop unifying frameworks to help synthesize the results of individual studies that focus on distinct aspects of globalizations relationship to inequality.


Using data on individuals born 1946 to 1972 from the Norwegian Generations and Gender Survey (N = 7,587) we examine differentials in the number and incidence of co-residential relationships by gender and socioeconomic status. Regarding number of relationships, we found that women and younger respondents more often than men and older respondents reported having had two or more unions. 10% of the men and 5% of the women had no union experience by age 35. Controlling for relevant characteristics, our multivariate results showed that high income men experienced fewer unions than lower income men. Having a low income increased the odds of remaining single among men, whereas there was a positive association between tertiary education and remaining unpartnered among women.


OF DOCTORAL DISSERTATION Author Name of the dissertation Date of manuscript Date of the dissertation Monograph Article dissertation (summary + original articles)


In the last two years, polled opinion on immigration has shifted; whereas earlier surveys indicated that most Australians thought the migrant intake too high, surveys taken after the 1998 election and 1999 referendum point to a public which is more evenly divided. This paper sets out the evidence for this shift and defends its validity; it points to possible reasons for the change; and it explores the relationship between policy-making and public opinion on immigration, pursuing the implications for opponents of immigration who seek to base their case for lower population growth on opinion-poll data.


Forensic analysis of past failures is valuable to improve our understanding of levee behavior. In this article a new systematic approach of forensic analysis for levee failures is proposed and applied to the Breitenhagen levee breach that occurred along the river Saale in Germany in 2013. The purpose of this study is to identify the cause of the breach based on the proposed approach, even though limited data is available. Based on the information prior, during and after the breach of the levee, a slope stability model is developed for the entire event. First, results from this model are obtained based on the expected values of the uncertain parameters and the best estimates of the situation. Uncertainty of the model is included in the calculation subsequently by defining possible failure scenarios. The most likely failure scenarios are derived from the data and included into the model so that it is possible to eliminate or validate all possible causes by means of a sensitivity calculation. It is concluded that the levee breach is likely caused by locally weak soil conditions, unexpected high water pressures due to a connection between a pond and the aquifer and unexpected saturation of the levee. These conditions are associated with the occurrence of a previous breach at this location.


This study proposes a quest-based contextualization (QBC) process, which transforms part of a traditional lecture into a well-defined questing structure. The goal is to create a learning experience by using a systematic game-based questing approach. The QBC procedure is a set of sequential tasks defined by the game designer to reflect the instructional objectives of the course. It is formed as an interaction perspective from which a game system can be materialized, and which aims to improve the quality of the game flow and the user experience in a game-based learning environment.

We claim that a game-based contextualization process can be used to restructure a traditional lecture in terms of educational quests. In particular, it was hypothesized that the design of such a quest-line should be constructed as a questing structure based on the chain of events, which are extracted from lecture notes. In the formulation of this design, the key events were discussed in an interview with an expert (i.e. content specialist) from a target field. This interview was transcribed, and further analyzed using an iterative qualitative approach as an interpretive analysis technique where an inductive proposition is considered for contextualization of data. This research used a thematic analysis methodology to explore the situations, which are suitable for questing and might be expandable into categories. Furthermore, questable points from the data were captured and situational elements and conversational key points were rigorously categorized. After building the initial mapping, we conducted a second interview with the same area expert to refine our preliminary findings.

To evaluate our approach from the game design perspective, we sought advice from a small group of game design experts and practitioners who are recognized knowledgeable individuals in educational game development. Based on the opinion of four game design experts, the questing structure was revised and several game elements, such as extra battles, puzzles, and achievements, were added to support the elements of fun. Three of the experts argued that the proposed questing structure was highly educational, while the fourth claimed that such an improvement was partially important. These findings, while preliminary, suggested that a well-defined questing structure should be useful to improve the quality of a game-based learning environment.


The massive proliferation of wireless infrastructures with complementary characteristics prompts the bandwidth aggregation for Concurrent Multipath Transfer (CMT) over heterogeneous access networks. Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) is the standard transport-layer solution to enable CMT in multihomed communication environments. However, delivering high-quality streaming video with the existing CMT solutions still remains problematic due to the stringent quality of service (QoS) requirements and path asymmetry in heterogeneous wireless networks. In this paper, we advance the state of the art by introducing video distortion into the decision process of multipath data transfer. The proposed distortion-aware concurrent multipath transfer (CMT-DA) solution includes three phases: 1) per-path status estimation and congestion control; 2) quality-optimal video flow rate allocation; 3) delay and loss controlled data retransmission. The term `flow rate allocation' indicates dynamically picking appropriate access networks and assigning the transmission rates. We analytically formulate the data distribution over multiple communication paths to minimize the end-to-end video distortion and derive the solution based on the utility maximization theory. The performance of the proposed CMT-DA is evaluated through extensive semi-physical emulations in Exata involving H.264 video streaming. Experimental results show that CMT-DA outperforms the reference schemes in terms of video peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR), goodput, and inter-packet delay.


In this paper, a novel approach for 3-D Shape description and retrieval based on the theory of ellipsoidal harmonics is presented. Four novel descriptors are introduced: the surface ellipsoidal harmonics descriptor, which concerns 3-D objects that are described as polygonal surfaces; the volumetric ellipsoidal harmonics descriptor, which is applicable to volumetric 3-D objects; the generalized ellipsoidal harmonics descriptor that is applied to any local 3-D object descriptors; and, finally, the combined ellipsoidal-spherical harmonics descriptor, which leads to a compact and powerful descriptor that inherits the advantages of both approaches: the rotation invariance properties of the spherical harmonics and the directional information enclosed in ellipsoidal harmonics. Experimental results performed using well-known 3-D object databases prove the retrieval efficiency of the proposed approach.


»Subjektivierung von Arbeit und Etablierten-Außenseiter-Figurationen«. This paper deals with the unintended consequences of new management strategies, i.e. the internalisation of markets and the subjectivation of work, on social relations in the workplace. Through the example of two organizational case studies from care services and public transport, it is shown that these managerial strategies foster social fragmentation; specifically, the emergence of established-outsider figurations in the workplace. The paper highlights third parties as an important intervening actor in established-outsider figurations at the organizational level. Third parties, e.g. works councils or line managers, may support established or outsider groups, or play a crucial role in reducing power ratios within figurations. Moreover, the paper explores preconditions of a drag effect of habitus through the example of established-outsider figurations in internal marketisation at the organizational level. Social reciprocity between management and outsider groups may prove a vital precondition of habitual change in outsider groups, thereby adapting to new work-related demands. To conclude, potential future avenues of research are outlined.


Three-dimensional building model is one of the major components of a cyber-city and is vital for the realization of 3D GIS applications. In the last decade, the airborne laser scanning (ALS) data is widely used for 3D building model reconstruction and object extraction. Instead, based on 3D roof structural lines, this paper presents a novel algorithm for automatic roof models reconstruction. A line-based roof model reconstruction algorithm, called TIN-Merging and Reshaping (TMR), is proposed. The roof structural line, such as edges, eaves and ridges, can be measured manually from aerial stereo-pair, derived by feature line matching or inferred from ALS data. The originality of the TMR algorithm for 3D roof modelling is to perform geometric analysis and topology reconstruction among those unstructured lines and then reshapes the roof-type using elevation information from the 3D structural lines. For topology reconstruction, a line constrained Delaunay Triangulation algorithm is adopted where the input structural lines act as constraint and their vertex act as input points. Thus, the constructed TINs will not across the structural lines. Later at the stage of Merging, the shared edge between two TINs will be check if the original structural line exists. If not, those two TINs will be merged into a polygon. Iterative checking and merging of any two neighboured TINs/Polygons will result in roof polygons on the horizontal plane. Finally, at the Reshaping stage any two structural lines with fixed height will be used to adjust a planar function for the whole roof polygon. In case ALS data exist, the Reshaping stage can be simplified by adjusting the point cloud within the roof polygon. The proposed scheme reduces the complexity of 3D roof modelling and makes the modelling process easier. Five test datasets provided by ISPRS WG III/4 located at downtown Toronto, Canada and Vaihingen, Germany are used for experiment. The test sites cover high rise buildings and residential area with diverse roof type. For performance evaluation, the adopted roof structural lines are manually measured from the provided stereo-pair. Experimental results indicate a nearly 100% success rate for topology reconstruction was achieved provided that the 3D structural lines can be enclosed as polygons. On the other hand, the success rate at the Reshaping stage is dependent on the complexity of the rooftop structure. Thus, a visual inspection and semi-automatic adjustment of roof-type is suggested and implemented to complete the roof modelling. The results demonstrate that the proposed scheme is robust and reliable with a high degree of completeness, correctness, and quality, even when a group of connected buildings with multiple layers and mixed roof types is processed.


From the Publisher:
The period 2000--2002 will witness the single greatest change in global economic and business conditions ever-the realignment from traditional corporate structure to Internet-leveraged styles of brand-owning, customer-focused companies. This realignment is occurring now, even as you read these words.
In MetaCapitalism: The E-Business Revolution and the Design of 21st-Century Companies and Markets, Grady Means and David Schneider-two of today's most influential and innovative global strategists-gather and make sense of the many changes the e-business revolution has fostered. Case histories and examples, from major corporations like Cisco Systems and major industries like the automobile industry, reveal how market leaders today are accelerating economic growth and value creation by capitalizing on the following:

Global expansion of market access Better leverage of capital Significant advances in operating efficiency Improvements in the efficiency of capital markets Dramatic unleashing of human potential and capital

It isn't a question of if your company will transform to an e-business model-it's a question of when. By 2002, virtually every major company in every sector will, by necessity, transform from a conventional to an e-business model. MetaCapitalism sets out the strategies and impacts of this fundamental change and introduces the new concepts that will become a natural part of the business lexicon in the near future.
In this new era of outsourcing and diminishing physical capital base, how will companies be valued by the markets? Can "brand-owning" companies-as opposed to manufacturers-maintain sufficient controls and systems to guarantee that their network partners are well integrated with each other and the marketplace? How will "value-added communities"-both horizontal and vertical-support brand owners in dramatically reducing costs, increasing quality, and responding rapidly to customer demand and market shifts?
MetaCapitalism answers all these questions and more, backed by the trusted experience and leadership-and market-driving innovation-that have always characterized the PricewaterhouseCoopers team. This thought-provoking book presents a template for success in the rapidly developing world of business-to-business e-business-a world which tomorrow's leaders must begin to understand and master today.


The Southern Ontario Seismic Network (SOSN) consists of eleven three-component short-period seismic stations, located mainly in the Toronto-Hamilton-Niagara area of Ontario, Canada. The network has been in operation by the University of Western Ontario (UWO) for Ontario Power Generation (OPG) since 1991 with the purpose of obtaining information on the seismicity and seismic hazards of a region of southern Ontario in which a number of nuclear power stations are located. Over the past decade, an average of more than ten local earthquakes per year in the western Lake Ontario area was detected by the SOSN. Most of the events were in the 2–3 magnitude ( M N ) range. The largest events during this time took place in the surrounding regions—Pymatuning, northwestern Pennsylvania (285 km southwest from Toronto, just south of Lake Erie, 25 September 1998, M N 5.4), northern Ontario/Quebec border (325 km north of Toronto, 1 January 2000, M N 5.2), Ashtabula, Ohio (262 km southwest of Toronto, 26 January 2001, M N 4.4), and Au Sable Forks, New York (436 km east of Toronto, 20 April 2002, M N 5.1). The largest earthquake ( M N 3.8) in the western Lake Ontario region during the past ten years occurred on 26 November 1999 in Lake Ontario, 16 km southeast of the town of Pickering, which lies just east of Toronto. The estimated location uncertainty (±2 km) is significantly better than that which was possible before 1991. The focal depths, though poorly constrained for most events, are shown to lie in the 3–15 km range, well within the Grenvillian rocks of the Precambrian Shield. The new seismicity map shows that a definite pattern is emerging in the SOSN data set in Lake Ontario, one which is significantly different from the past historical earthquake patterns obtained when the instrumental coverage was poor. Most events occur in scattered clusters in the western part of Lake Ontario and the northwestern corner of New York State. The area of seismicity does not extend significantly to the north of western Lake Ontario and appears to end to the west rather abruptly along a 30 km small fault line running from south of Hamilton in a north-northeasterly direction to Burlington, Ontario. Although the area of seismicity coincides with a region of linear magnetic anomaly trends (suggesting a strong structural fabric in the basement rocks), the correlation of seismicity of the new SOSN data set with magnetic lineaments is still unclear. The cause of the seismicity is speculated to be related to water flows along various fissures below the lake. It is known from induced seismicity studies of reservoirs that the presence of fluids can cause earthquakes by changing the pore pressure and reducing the friction along any faults which may be present. From seismic reflection studies, dipping structures and shear zones have been imaged to extend southeastward under Lake Ontario. This may explain why most of the earthquakes are occurring under the lake or southeast of the lake.


Because of an annual tax subsidy that well exceeds $100 billion, most private healthcare expenses in the United States today are covered by employer-sponsored insurance. Like other important employee-welfare benefits, employer-sponsored health insurance is regulated by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) - a landmark federal statute whose primary objective was the protection of private-sector retirement savings. A rich scholarly literature has developed which addresses the effects of federal tax and regulatory policy on the structure and performance of our healthcare industry. Within legal academia, however, one issue in particular has engendered much debate: to what extent has ERISA - because of the manner in which its preemption and civil enforcement provisions have been interpreted - created a system in which employees and their beneficiaries receive insufficient protection? Broadly speaking, commentators divide into two camps. One group believes that the status quo is grossly unjust and sadly ironic. In their view, legislation intended to protect employees and their beneficiaries against fiduciary misdeeds is habitually used as a shield by such fiduciaries against liability for negligence and even deliberate wrongdoing. The other group believes that the status quo is the fair result of a sensible legislative compromise. They argue that the current system adequately protects employees and their beneficiaries while, at the same time, maximizing the overall level and quality of welfare benefits offered by employers. This paper addresses one of the most hotly contested questions in that debate: what civil remedies should be available in litigation against a welfare plan and its fiduciaries when a litigant has been injured by the wrongful handling of her benefits claim? Its modest goal is to illustrate that the decade-long conflict that has raged over this question is nothing more than an age-old consequentialist battle over liability rules which, for several often misunderstood reasons, is not amenable to simplistic legislative or judicial resolution.


The Unsteady Vortex-Lattice Method provides a medium-fidelity tool for the prediction of non-stationary aerodynamic loads in low-speed, but high-Reynolds-number, attached flow. Despite a proven track record in applications where free-wake modelling is critical, other models based on potential-flow theory, such as the Doublet Lattice and thin-aerofoil approximation, have been favoured in fixed-wing aircraft aeroelasticity and flight dynamics. This dissertation presents how the Unsteady Vortex-Lattice Method can be re-engineered as an enhanced alternative to those techniques for diverse situations that arise in flexible-aircraft dynamics. A historical review of the methodology is included, with latest developments and practical applications. Different formulations of the aerodynamic equations are outlined, and they are integrated with a nonlinear beam model for the full description of the dynamics of a free-flying flexible vehicle, which furnishes a geometrically-nonlinear description of both structure and aerodynamics. Nonlinear time-marching captures large wing excursions and wake roll-up, and the linearisation of the equations lends itself to a seamless, monolithic state-space assembly, particularly convenient for stability analysis. The aerodynamic model and the unified framework for the simulation of high-aspect-ratio planes are exhaustively verified by comparing them to lower- and higher-fidelity approaches. Numerical studies emphasising scenarios where the Unsteady Vortex-Lattice Method can provide an advantage over other state-of-the-art tools are presented. Examples of this comprise unsteady aerodynamics in vehicles with coupled aeroelasticity and flight dynamics, and in lifting surfaces undergoing complex kinematics, large deformations, or in-plane motions. Geometric nonlinearities are shown to play an instrumental, and often counter-intuitive, role in the aircraft dynamics. The Unsteady Vortex-Lattice Method is unveiled as a remarkable tool that can successfully incorporate them in the unsteady aerodynamics modelling.


This paper centers on tonal representation of Chinese Wenzhou dialect. Tonal behaviors in Wenzhou indicate that tone is on an independent tier to the segment. Also, because of the complex of register and contour, Chinese tones have been represented with a structure of two dimensions, i.e. register and contour. However, these representations present an insolvable dilemma when analyzing the tonal behavior of Wenzhou dialect. Noticing that tone sandhi in Wenzhou is totally blind to register, we will propose that register is not an underlying feature for Wenzhou tone. We will further suggest that it is the initial consonant that carries the feature of register. This paper will conclude that the tonal representation of Wenzhou dialect has only one level, the tonal contour is formed by concatenation of level tones, and initial consonants carry the burden of meaning distinction that "tonal register" is supposed to carry.


Possibilistic logic is a well-known framework for dealing with uncertainty and reasoning under inconsistent knowledge bases. Standard possibilistic logic expressions are propositional logic formulas associated with positive real degrees belonging to [0,1]. However, in practice it may be difficult for an expert to provide exact degrees associated with formulas of a knowledge base.

This paper proposes a flexible representation of uncertain information where the weights associated with formulas are in the form of intervals. We first study a framework for reasoning with interval-based possibilistic knowledge bases by extending main concepts of possibilistic logic such as the ones of necessity and possibility measures. We then provide a characterization of an interval-based possibilistic logic base by means of a concept of compatible standard possibilistic logic bases. We show that interval-based possibilistic logic extends possibilistic logic in the case where all intervals are singletons. Lastly, we provide computational complexity results of deriving plausible conclusions from interval-based possibilistic bases and we show that the flexibility in representing uncertain information is handled without extra computational costs.


Recent Developments in Biologically Inspired Computing is necessary reading for undergraduate and graduate students, and researchers interested in knowing the most recent advances in problem-solving techniques inspired by nature. This book covers the most relevant areas in computational intelligence, including evolutionary algorithms, artificial neural networks, artificial immune systems and swarm systems. It also brings together novel and philosophical trends in the exciting fields of artificial life and robotics. This book has the advantage of covering a large number of computational approaches, presenting the state-of-the-art before entering into the details of specific extensions and new developments. Pseudocodes, flow charts and examples of applications are provided of the new approaches presented.


In the frame of the European COST 296 project (Mitigation of Ionospheric Effects on Radio Systems, MIERS) investigations of the climate of the upper atmosphere have been carried out during the last four years to obtain new information on the upper atmosphere. Mainly its ionospheric part has been analysed as the ionosphere most essential for the propagation of radio waves. Due to collaboration between different European partners many new results have been derived in the fields of long-term trends of different ionospheric and related atmospheric parameters, the investigations of different types of atmospheric waves and their impact on the ionosphere, the variability of the ionosphere, and the investigation of some space weather effects on the ionosphere.


A dynamic asset-allocation model is specified in probabilistic terms as a combination of return distributions resulting from multiple pairs of dynamic models and portfolio strategies based on momentum patterns in US industry returns. The nonlinear state space representation of the model allows efficient and robust simulation-based Bayesian inference using a novel non-linear filter. Combination weights can be cross-correlated and correlated over time using feedback mechanisms. Diagnostic analysis gives insight into model and strategy misspecification. Empirical results show that a smaller flexible model-strategy combination performs better in terms of expected return and risk than a larger basic model-strategy combination. Dynamic patterns in combination weights and diagnostic learning provide useful signals for improved modeling and policy, in particular, from a risk-management perspective.


By how much does an extension of unemployment benefits affect macroeconomic outcomes such as unemployment? Answering this question is challenging because U.S. law extends benefits for states experiencing high unemployment. We use data revisions to decompose the variation in the duration of benefits into the part coming from actual differences in economic conditions and the part coming from measurement error in the real-time data used to determine benefit extensions. Using only the variation coming from measurement error, we find that benefit extensions have a limited influence on state-level macroeconomic outcomes. We use our estimates to quantify the effects of the increase in the duration of benefits during the Great Recession and find that they increased the unemployment rate by at most 0.3 percentage point.


The stupendous utilization of the web and its entrepreneurial inclination is growing the prevalence to enhance cyber threats occurrence. The absolute identification of virtual-harassment plays a critical role in safeguarding computer systems. Assessment of safety concerns when recognizing a convergence between internet-security and network equipment is vital. To construct a robust infrastructure, the requisite of a cyber-safety methodology is integral. For example, if efficacious cyber-threat takes place then it significantly enhances the power usage of the database and solely impacts its hardware elements. This article provides a glimpse into a DOS intrusion and its stronger links between CPU utilization and absorbed resources, which is one of the most critical admonitions and intimidate features of the machine. DOS threat loads the network with congestion by implementing perilous data that will disrupt the machine by incorporating an estimated excessive energy usage imbibed by a Processor. According to the elevated mechanism, the identification of the SYN flood intrusion is addressed, which is the utmost prevalent DOS attack. In this methodology, this prominent attack is identified by incorporating Wireshark tools. The surveilling and sorting online flood vulnerabilities like SYN by extending a precise intrusion detection model for the safeguarding of data as well as cybersecurity to make the structure sustainable is implemented.


Lung cancer is a one of the most prevalent and deadly cancers in United States. Experimental evidence support that cancer cells do exhibit higher glycolytic rates than normal cells. To exploit this unique cancer-dependent ATP generation phenomenon, we hypothesize that exposure of cancer cells to organic inhibitors of glycolysis would negatively impact their survival and alter their growth and viability resulting from the vast decrease in their essential glycolytic ATP production; no negative consequences will be seen on normal lung cells. The human lung fibroblast cell line MRC-5 and the human lung alveolar epithelial cancer cell line A549 were used in this study as models for normal lung and lung cancer respectively. Using standard methods, both cell lines were maintained and exposed to honey and D-glucose reagents at concentration levels ranging from 31.3-2,000 µg/ml in 96 well plates in quadruplets and experiments repeated at least three times using MTT (3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazolyl-2)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide), and cell counting (T4 Cellometer; automated cell counting system) assays as well as phase-contrast photo-imaging. Our results indicate that exposure of both cell lines to these organics lead to concentration dependent cell destruction/cell survival depending on the cell line exposed. Honey and D-glucose showed statistically significant (p<0.05) differential negative effects on the A549 line in comparison to its unexposed control as well as to their effects on the MRC-5 cell line. These findings show a promising role for honey and D-glucose as biotherapeutic metabolites of interest for selective management of cancerous cells.


Different capacity allocation regimes have a strong impact on the economics of offshore wind farms and on interconnectors in offshore grids. Integrating offshore generation in offshore grids is currently a subject of discussion for different regions, e.g. the North Sea. A novel question is how the interconnector capacity should be allocated for wind generation and for international power trading. The main difficulty arises from the stochastic nature of wind generation: in a case with radial connections to the national coast, the wind park owner has the possibility of aggregating the offshore wind park with onshore installations to reduce balancing demand. This is not necessarily the case if the interconnector capacity is sold through implicit or explicit auctions. Different design options are discussed and quantified for a number of examples based on Danish, Dutch, German and Norwegian power markets. It is concluded that treating offshore generation as a single price zone within the interconnector reduces the wind operator's ability to pool it with other generation. Furthermore, a single offshore price zone between two markets will always receive the lower spot market price of the neighbouring zones, although its generation flows only to the high-price market. Granting the high-price market income for wind generation as the opposite design option reduces congestion rents. Otherwise, compensation measures through support schemes or different balancing responsibilities may be discussed. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


This chapter describes the application of the Metaphor Identification Procedure (Pragglejaz Group 2007) to a corpus of Dutch texts. It explains how this method can be used for identifying metaphorically used words in natural discourse, and how it works for Dutch. Although the original method has been developed on the basis of the English language, it is also applicable to languages other than English. What has to be kept in mind when applying it to other languages, however, is that some language-specific features and tools have to be explicated in more detail. This chapter illustrates MIP in relation to Dutch, and describes Dutch language tools, as well as lexico-grammatical features relevant to the identification of metaphorically used words.


Many studies on air pollution have been done on mortality, morbidity and hospital admissions. Little has been done on air pollution and selected air pollution-related morbidities. This research tried to fill this gap. In this research, I study the effect of air pollution on the number of total patients per 100K inhabitants on the 21 Swedish counties. I selected 4 air pollutants mainly: sulphur oxides, particulate matter 2.5μg/m3, particulate matter 10μg/m3 and total suspended particulate; and 11 diseases that are commonly known to be caused by air pollution on the epidemiological scientific literatures. The study is a panel data over the period 2005-2016 across Swedish counties. I use information of annual concentrations of the air pollutants at a county level. I incorporated socio-economic control variables for estimating the health effect of air pollution and employed the fixed effect static estimation model.

It is observed that air pollution, specifically PM2.5 and TSP have a linear positive effect on the number of patients per 100K inhabitants in all the Swedish counties. Number of personnel per 100K inhabitants and population density are found to have positive and negative associations with the number of patients respectively. The results suggested a 1% increase in PM2.5 and TSP leads to a 0.113% and 0.177% increases in the number of patients per 100K inhabitants respectively. When breaking down all the selected disease, then SOx is positively associated with PHD, PM2.5 is positively associated with OFHD, GU and DU, and TSP is positively associated with PHD, OFHD, DAAC, OUDCS and DRS. The cost estimation indicated that the average annual per capita cost due to PM2.5 and TSP is SEK 18 558 and 18 594 respectively. The direct cost due to PM2.5 and TSP is around 0.11% of the Swedish GDP and indirect costs accounted for 0.10% of the Swedish GDP.
The overall results of this thesis suggest that it is time to initiate policies that will encourage a further reduction in the emissions of PM2.5 and TSP. It is also required that the awareness of people to air pollution to be elevated so that people would have to improve their avoidance behavior which in turn could lead to a better health outcomes.

Keywords: panel data, fixed effect model, health production function, SOx, PM2.5, TSP, patients per 100K inhabitants, direct costs and indirect costs.


This presentation highlights the work of a project which has seen the formation of a university-wide community of learning technologists (cf. Conole, Ingraham & Cook, 2003) aiming to enhance institutional practice through professional accreditation as Certified Members of the Association for Learning Technology (CMALT).

Building on the work of an institutional initiative at a north of England HEI aimed at encouraging academics to explore innovative approaches to the technological enhancement of teaching and learning, learning technology advisors (LTAs) are helping to embed best practice emerging from a series of innovative university-sponsored teaching and learning interventions.

As a CMALT Assessor and an academic at the institution, the Project Lead encouraged LTAs from across the institution to form a community of practice (Wenger, 2007) based around peer-mentoring processes underpinned by a self-peer-tutor approach (McConnell, 2006). Dedicated to supporting all members of the community in becoming CMALT Holders, an eportfolio system has provided a central focal point for LTAs to develop drafts of statements addressing the core areas and their specialist option, and to present the supporting evidence against each of the key criteria to be met.

The peer mentoring approach has helped to (i) ensure a snowballing of the rate of development of CMALT portfolios within the community, (ii) encourage colleagues in related roles to join the community and begin developing their own CMALT portfolios, and (iii) accelerate dissemination of best practice emerging from the evaluation of innovative approaches developed around the institution, facilitating extension into other disciplines.

Embracing the opportunity for LTAs to reflect on their professional practice, while formalising recognition of work which has supported academic-led teaching and learning initiatives, this ongoing project has benefitted:

• LTAs – by achieving professional recognition as CMALT Holders
• Schools – by empowering LTAs to embed innovative TEL practices in their Schools
• Students – by extending best practice in TEL emerging from projects in other Schools
• University – by enhancing the profile of the institution through significant increases in LTAs achieving professional recognition and engaging in dissemination activities.

The project is making a significant contribution to the implementation of the institutional Teaching and Learning Strategy, directly addressing an aim for all academic-related colleagues to be high-achieving, reflective people, at the forefront of their fields, and active in appropriate professional practice.

Delegates attending this session will hear from a panel comprised of core members of the community, including the Project Lead and three LTAs.


The genomic neighborhood of a gene influences its activity, a behavior that is attributable in part to domain-scale regulation, in which regions of hundreds or thousands of kilobases known as domains are regulated as a unit. Previous studies using genomics assays such as chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP)-seq and chromatin conformation capture (3C)-based assays have identified many types of regulatory domains. However, due to the difficulty of integrating genomics data sets, the relationships among these domain types are poorly understood. Semi-automated genome annotation (SAGA) algorithms facilitate human interpretation of heterogeneous collections of genomics data by simultaneously partitioning the human genome and assigning labels to the resulting genomic segments. However, existing SAGA methods can incorporate only data sets that can be expressed as a one-dimensional vector over the genome and therefore cannot integrate inherently pairwise chromatin conformation data. We developed a new computational method, called graph-based regularization (GBR), for expressing a pairwise prior that encourages certain pairs of genomic loci to receive the same label in a genome annotation. We used GBR to exploit chromatin conformation information during genome annotation by encouraging positions that are close in 3D to occupy the same type of domain. Using this approach, we produced a comprehensive model of chromatin domains in eight human cell types, thereby revealing the relationships among known domain types. Through this model, we identified clusters of tightly-regulated genes expressed in only a small number of cell types, which we term "specific expression domains." We additionally found that a subset of domain boundaries marked by promoters and CTCF motifs are consistent between cell types even when domain activity changes. Finally, we showed that GBR can be used for the seemingly unrelated task of transferring information from well-studied cell types to less well characterized cell types during genome annotation, making it possible to produce high-quality annotations of the hundreds of cell types with limited available data.


An intensification of the labor force migration is among the main features of globalization and internationalization. According to the great growth of total number of international migrants, governmental regulation of labor force migration became the one of the most important problems nowadays. In the last several years governmental regulation of labor force migration faced many changes and upgrades. In almost all leading countries the work and residence permits for foreign worker are indispensable. Also there are many barriers for foreigners in job achieving, such as giving preferences to local and into-EU workers, necessity to prove your qualification level for getting a work permit. In Ukraine it is also necessary to make some correctives in governmental regulation of labor force migration and to develop governmental programs inspiring national enterprises to use local workers and to stimulate the progress of national scientists and brainpower. Also the aim of governmental is a minimization of bad effects of immigration. The possible way of the salvation of this problem is an implementation of the migrant''s certificate.


The article is devoted to the analysis of negative effects of the oil and gas industry on the environment in the northern region. It is noted that the prevalence of extractive industries in the structure of the regional economy ensures high living standards but affects the environment. The authors provide socioeconomic characteristics of regions depending on the industry prevailing in the structure of the gross regional product. The paper provides an analysis of the current state and structure of the regional economy of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Region - Ugra. It analyses flow data of some enterprises that have a negative effect on the regional environment and provides characteristics of changes in the volume and structure of pollutant emissions resulting from economic activities of enterprises in key economic sectors of the region. The paper demonstrates the changes in regional investments in fixed assets allocated to protecting the environment and rational use of natural resources. The conclusions are drawn about the need for environmental monitoring and implementation of a targeted policy of regional authorities to preserve the rich natural and resource potential of Ugra.


In order to evaluate the effect of agricultural crops, such as kenaf (Hibiscus Cannabinus L.), corn (Zea Mays), and barley (Hordeum vulgare ), in the removal of Cr and Pb from soil irrigated with wastewater, an experimental pot was conducted at Green House of University of Technology. Three levels of water were used for irrigation included tap water (control) (T1), 50% of wastewater+50% of tap water (50%WW) (T2) and 100% wastewater (100%WW) (T3). The obtained results, indicated that kenaf, and barley have been an effective plant in removal of Cr and Pb due to its high removal efficiency. Maximum values of removal efficiency were recorded in August 2015 for the (100%WW) and found 85.59%, 82.77, 93.27% of Pb and 85.67, 93.85, 87.24% of Cr for corn, kenaf and barley, respectively. Minimum removal efficiencies recorded at (50%WW) treatment for Pb were (5.66, 4.48, 0.99% ) and at control treatment for Cr were ( 0.99, 1.51, 2.37%) for Cr in May 2015 for corn, kenaf and barley, respectively. From the results obtained, kenaf, and barley were effective in removal of Cr and Pb due to its high removal efficiencies.


This thesis deals with the general problem of robot motion planning and control. It proposes the hypothesis that it should be possible to create a generic software framework capable of dealing with all robot motion planning and control problems, independent of of the robot being used, the task being solved, the workspace obstacles or the algorithms employed. The thesis work then consisted of identifying the requirements and creating a design and implementation of such a framework. This report motivates and documents the entire process. The framework developed was tested on two di erent robot arms under varying conditions. The testing method and results are also presented. The thesis concludes that the proposed hypothesis is indeed valid.


Background— Hypertension control is an important and modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease. The overall rate of hypertension control among patients followed in cardiology clinics, as well as clinician variability in control rates, is unknown. Methods and Results— We conducted a retrospective cohort study of patients with hypertension (n=5979) routinely followed in a cardiology clinic (n=47 physicians). Overall, 30.3% of patients with hypertension had suboptimal control (blood pressure [BP] ≥140/90 mm Hg) at the end of a 13-month follow-up period. Patient-level factors associated with control were younger age, male sex, white ethnicity, having a primary care provider at Duke, private insurance, Medicare/Medicaid, and comorbid diagnoses of heart failure or coronary artery disease. Unadjusted rates of suboptimal BP control among clinicians' clinic patient panels ranged from 16% to 44%. Even after adjusting for patient factors, patients' odds of BP control varied 6-fold, depending on their treating clinician. Using a patient's average BP rather than their most recent BP did not result in significant changes in provider performance. In chart reviews (n=300), clinicians failed to document a plan to address hypertension in 38% of patients with elevated BP in the clinic. Conclusions— Up to one-third of patients followed routinely by cardiologists in clinic have suboptimally controlled BP, with wide variability in performance across individual clinicians. This variability, alongside evidence that elevated BP is often not acted on during clinic visits, demonstrates a potential opportunity for quality improvement.


Lewbel (1997) has ingeniously shown that linear instrumental variables estimators for the errors-in-variables model can be constructed using functions of the dependent variable, proxy, and perfectly measured regressors as instruments. He proves consistency for the estimator and then asserts that "standard limiting distribution theory for TSLS can now be applied." In this note I assume that "standard theory" is given by White (1982), the source of the standard errors used by Professor Lewbel in his empirical application. I show that when White's formulas are applied to Lewbel's instruments, they give an inefficient estimator, an incorrect asymptotic covariance matrix, and an inconsistent covariance matrix estimator. These results stem from a subtle violation of the familiar instrumental variable orthogonality condition. Specifically, only one of Lewbel's instruments can be measured from an arbitrary origin and satisfy the orthogonality condition; the remaining instruments satisfy orthogonality only if measured as deviations from their population means. The substitution of sample means therefore generates a nonstandard asymptotic covariance matrix of the type described by Newey and McFadden (1994) in their discussion of 'plug-in' estimators. I apply the theory for such estimators to Lewbel's instruments to obtain an efficient estimator, the correct asymptotic covariance matrix, and a consistent covariance matrix estimator.


A readout circuit on glass substrate for touch panel application has been designed and fabricated in a 3- low temperature poly-silicon (LTPS) technology. In this work, the switch-capacitor (SC) technique is applied to amplify the small voltage difference from capacitance change due to the touch event on panel. In addition, the corrected double-sampling (CDS) technique is also employed to reduce the offset originated from LTPS process variation. The minimum detectable voltage difference of the proposed circuit is 40 mV. To further identify the different touch area during touch events, a 4-bit analog-to-digital converter is used to converter the output of readout circuit into 4-bit digital codes.


The flipped classroom is at the confluence of multiple digital technologies.  These include technologies for: (i) the creation and sharing of reusable, and possibly open educational resources; (ii) the delivery and consumption of those resources on multiple platforms, possibly adapted for or augmented by learners; and (iii) the monitoring and analysis of usage, progress and achievement.   However, unlike online learning, the flipped classroom is set within a matrix of face-to-face contact and personal engagement. There is a level of continuity and discontinuity in these technologies. Those who have been involved in education for some years will be aware of research including intelligent teaching systems almost as old as computers; lecture augmentation and video capture in Classroom2000/eClass since the early 1990s (Abowd, 1999); and m-learning almost as far back.  Crucially the ubiquity and low-cost of web delivery led to high-level institutional push towards digital delivery since the mid to late 1990s, sadly driven less by pedagogic goals, than financial considerations – albeit the latter usually misguided. So, while the term 'flipped classroom' is new, both the underlying idea and much of the supporting technology are very familiar. However, there clearly is a difference in the last few years, both in terms of fully online learning, notably the MOOC revolution, and flipped classroom practice.  This is due in part to the speed and availability of video editing and web delivery (the YouTube effect); in part the ubiquity of devices able to deliver online resources; and in part the changing expectations and skills of students being brought up with social media (UCL, 2008). In order to study these changing styles of learning, the author delivered a small MOOC in 2013 and then reused the video materials as part of flipped teaching at his university in late 2014 and early 2015.  The latter also enabled him to try for himself a new universal media player developed by Talis, which enables a more consistent user experience and provides detailed usage analytics ('micro level' in Buckingham Shum's (2012) terms) One of the main lessons was about diversity (hence the title).  Some of the literature on the flipped classroom (e.g. Schell, 2012) suggests a quite uniform pedagogic style for each class, albeit differing between advocates. However, the experience of the author was far more mixed depending on the type of material and workload of the students.  In one class the face-to-face time was all 'chalk and talk', but the pre-class video materials enabled students with different backgrounds to come to a similar level.  Others were fully flipped with the 'information delivery' in videos and the class used for discussion, and others somewhere between. As suggested by others (e.g. Long, 2011), fine-grain learning analytics, which were available from Talis Player, were also critical, giving a sense of control ("have they done what I asked?"), and allowing targeted feedback ("I can see most of you have only read the first few pages of this, feel free to skip the middle, but please read the last section too"). While the latter is of clear pedagogic value. it is perhaps the former, control, which is most significant in terms of academic motivation and well-being, a pre-condition to technology adoption and sustainability.


Empirical studies of acquisitions consistently find that public company bidders often overpay for targets, imposing significant losses on bidder shareholders. Numerous studies have connected bidder overpayment with managerial agency costs and behavioral biases that reflect management self-interest. For purposes of corporate law, these concerns implicate the behavior of fiduciaries—the officers and directors of the acquiring entity—and raise questions about whether those fiduciaries are fulfilling their duty of loyalty. To address comparable sell-side concerns, the Delaware courts developed an intermediate standard of review known as enhanced scrutiny. There has been little exploration, however, of whether the rationales for applying enhanced scrutiny to the actions of sell-side fiduciaries extend to comparable fiduciaries on the buy-side.
This Article addresses this long-neglected question. Drawing upon the history of Delaware jurisprudence on enhanced scrutiny, it argues that enhanced scrutiny should extend to the decisions of buy-side fiduciaries. The Article also recognizes that, although doctrinally coherent, applying enhanced scrutiny to buy-side decisions would open the door to well-documented stockholder litigation pathologies that have undermined the effectiveness of enhanced scrutiny for sell-side decisions. To address these pathologies, the Delaware courts have recently encouraged the use of fully informed stockholder votes on the sell-side to lessen litigation risk. This Article reasons that a primary argument in favor of extending enhanced scrutiny to buy-side decisions rests not on the ability of the litigation itself to generate superior outcomes, but rather as an inducement to more frequent buy-side votes. This argument builds on recent empirical literature which finds that stockholder voting can provide an important counterbalance against the self-interest and biases that lead to bidder overpayment.


Information systems (IS) are being used to fulfill users' purposes. These purposes can include both the help for job tasks as well as fun and entertainment for the individual in his private life. Prior IS adoption research primarily focused on these purposes and observed their impact on individuals' attitudes. With the increasing diffusion of mobile IS, such as tablet computers and smartphones, for communicating and gathering data independently of an individual's location, an additional theoretical construct gathers importance for the IS adoption process; how fast this purpose is transferred to the user based on the individual's perception. In order to observe the importance of the purpose transfer as well as its impact for an individual's attitude toward using mobile IS, we conducted an empirical study with 97 mobile IS users. The results show that individuals' attitude towards mobile IS is not only driven by the actual purpose in terms of hedonism and utilitarism but also by how fast the purpose is transferred to the individual. The results also reveal a dominant role of purpose transfer for the shaping of different antecedents for attitude in a way that those users who perceive a fast transfer of the aimed purpose both perceive mobile IS as more useful and enjoyable to use. Based on the results of our study, implications for future research on the adoption of mobile IS and the focal role of purpose transfer are provided.


An ultrasonics diffraction tomography method is discussed that images cylindrical inhomogeneous fluid targets located in a fluid environment. This method is based on an exact model of the interaction between a compressional plane wave and the target (multiple scattering is not neglected). First the theoretical background is summarized. Then numerical simulations illustrate the behavior of the imaging procedure. These simulations are conducted under conditions close to those of experiments that we perform concurrently. Emphasis is put on the retrieval of large but weakly refractive two-layer circular shells, into which can be inserted a high-speed core. The influence of the conditions of the image formation and the discrepancy between images derived from exact scattered pressures and Born's approximated ones are especially investigated. Finally, procedures of reconstruction of the target's sound velocity and attenuation are presented and discussed using synthetically generated data.


Social casino gaming, which simulates gambling games on social platforms, has become increasingly popular and is rapidly merging with the gambling industry. Advertisements for social casino games, however, are not bound by the same regulations as real money gambling, despite their similarities. We performed a content analysis of a sample of 115 unique social casino gaming advertisements captured by young adults during their regular Internet use. The results showed that the advertisement imagery typically featured images likely to appeal to young adults, such as bright colors, character images of young adults, cartoon animal characters, gambling and sporting activities, references to popular culture, and references to Las Vegas. Latent and manifest message themes included glamorization of gambling, winning, normalization of gambling, play for free, and a general encouragement to play. Notably, nearly 90 percent of the advertisements contained no responsible or problem gambling language, despite the gambling-like content. As young people are receptive of messages that encourage gambling, we recommend that gaming companies recognize the potential harms of advertisements and embrace corporate social responsibility standards. This includes adding warning messages to advertisements for gambling-themed games and ensuring that marketing messages do not encourage excessive gambling.


What is the level of voter–elite congruence in Europe and how is it affected by institutions? This article presents a different conceptualisation and new data to comparative research on congruence between voters and their representatives in 15 European countries. The originality of this work is mainly in its use of the most appropriate cross-national data for the conceptualisation of congruence as a 'many-to-many' relationship, using for the first time a survey of representatives to replace expert and public opinion on legislators' attitudes. The study's results show that congruence in European countries is relatively high in terms of left–right positions and, surprisingly, even higher regarding the question of EU integration. However, while we find enough evidence to link ideological congruence to mostly electoral institutions, it seems the same factors have no relation to the European unification dimension of congruence. This indicates the different nature of congruence in both the ideological and EU integration dimensions. Additionally, the present study found congruence to be higher for the group of voters rather than non-voters, and also higher for voters interested in politics as well as voters with a university degree.


Infection with the liver fluke Opisthorchis viverrini (Digenea) (Poirier, 1886) causes bile duct injury and periductal fibrosis by chronic overproduction of inflammatory-mediators and eventually results in cholangiocarcinoma development. While extensive research works have been done on O. viverrini infection-associated changes of bile ducts and periductal fibrosis, little attention was paid on morphological and biochemical changes of the bile canaliculi (BC), the origin of bile flow. We aimed to investigate the morphological and functional alterations of BC in the liver of hamsters infected with O. viverrini at one and three months post-infection. Ultrastructural changes of BC showed dilatation of BC and significant reduction of the density of microvilli as early as at one month post-infection. Immunohistochemistry revealed that CD10, a BC marker, expression was reduced early as one month post-infection. The mRNA expression of the genes encoding molecules related to bile secretion including bile acid uptake transporters (slc10a1 and slco1a1), bile acid dependent (abcb11) and independent (abcc2) bile flow and bile acid biosynthesis (cyp7a1 and cyp27a1) were significantly decreased at one month post-infection in association with the reduction of bile volume. In contrast, the expression of the mRNA of bile acid regulatory genes (fxr and shp-1) was significantly increased. These changes essentially persisted up to three months post-infection. In conclusion, O. viverrini infection induces morphological and functional changes of BC in association with the decrease of bile volume.


We introduce Procgen Benchmark, a suite of 16 procedurally generated game-like environments designed to benchmark both sample efficiency and generalization in reinforcement learning. We believe that the community will benefit from increased access to high quality training environments, and we provide detailed experimental protocols for using this benchmark. We empirically demonstrate that diverse environment distributions are essential to adequately train and evaluate RL agents, thereby motivating the extensive use of procedural content generation. We then use this benchmark to investigate the effects of scaling model size, finding that larger models significantly improve both sample efficiency and generalization.


In this paper, we propose a neural motion planner for learning to drive autonomously in complex urban scenarios that include traffic-light handling, yielding, and interactions with multiple road-users. Towards this goal, we design a holistic model that takes as input raw LIDAR data and a HD map and produces interpretable intermediate representations in the form of 3D detections and their future trajectories, as well as a cost volume defining the goodness of each position that the self-driving car can take within the planning horizon. We then sample a set of diverse physically possible trajectories and choose the one with the minimum learned cost. Importantly, our cost volume is able to naturally capture multi-modality. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach in real-world driving data captured in several cities in North America. Our experiments show that the learned cost volume can generate safer planning than all the baselines.


This study investigates the potential use of hyperspectral and thermal remote sensing for the early pre-visual detection and quantification of plant stress caused by oil pollution. Further, it examines the potential for these techniques to discriminate between oil pollution and two typically encountered plant stresses of waterlogging and water deficit. Results show that oil pollution, waterlogging and water deficit significantly decreased the physiological functions of plants and can result in pre-visual changes in spectral and thermal responses. Various spectral indices such as (R755-R716)/(R755+R716) and R800/R6O6 were efficient for the early detection of oil-induced stress in maize (up to 10 days earlier) and bean (up to 4 days earlier), respectively. These indices and other simple ratios of reflectance such as R673/R545 were also sensitive in the early detection (up to 6 days earlier) of stress symptoms caused by waterlogging in bean. The canopy absolute temperature and thermal index (IG) were good indicators of oil related stress in bean, but were insensitive to waterlogging. Absolute leaf temperature had minimal potential for detecting oil pollution in maize. While the spectral indices lacked ability for the early detection of stress caused by water deficit at the leaf scale in both maize and bean, absolute temperature was effective in this regard irrespective of scale of measurement. Results show that by combining spectral and thermal information, oil pollution can be discriminated from waterlogging or water deficit treatment. This study concludes that hyperspectral and thermal remote sensing have the potential to detect and quantify plant stress caused by oil pollution and it is possible to discriminate between this and other common stresses. However, further work is needed to refine and operationalise the approach, and the problems and challenges associated with this are presented and discussed.


Regions with a significant percentage of nonseismically designed buildings and reduced urban planning are particularly vulnerable to natural hazards. In this context, the project 'Improved Tools for Disaster Risk Mitigation in Algeria' (ITERATE) aims at seismic risk mitigation in Algeria. Past earthquakes in North Algeria caused extensive damages, e.g. the El Asnam 1980 moment magnitude (Mw) 7.1 and Boumerdes 2003 Mw 6.8 earthquakes. This paper will address a number of proposed developments and considerations made towards a further improvement of the component of seismic hazard. In specific, an updated earthquake catalog (until year 2018) is compiled, and new conversion equations to moment magnitude are introduced. Furthermore, a network-based method for the estimation of the spatial and temporal distribution of the minimum magnitude of completeness is applied. We found relatively large values for Mc, due to the sparse network, and a nonlinear trend between Mw and body wave (mb) or local magnitude (ML), which are the most common scales reported in the region. Lastly, the resulting b-value of the Gutenberg-Richter distribution is sensitive to the declustering method. Keywords—Conversion equation, magnitude of completeness, seismic events, seismic hazard.


N(2-Thiophenyl)-1-(2-hydoxyphenyl)Imine (NTPHPI) was used as a proper complexing agent for the preconcentration by cloud point extraction followed by atomic absorption spectrometric to determine of Ni 2+ , Cu 2+ and Co 2+ ions in real samples. NTPHPI and Triton X-114 were used as hydrophobic ligand and non-ionic surfactant respectively and the pH of 8 was chosen as optimum. Under the optimized experimental conditions, the selective preconcentration and determination of low concentration of Ni 2+ , Cu 2+ and Co 2+ ions as 1, 5 and 6 ng mL -1 can be made respectively. The proposed method was successfully applied to the preconcentration and low-level determination of the cited ions in different water, chocolate and honey samples.


Thinking and research in respect of accounting and finance over the past three decades have been dominated by a methodology that is primarily based on the predictability of accounting data and its relationship to certain phenomena. The magnitude of change in business makes the future unpredictable. Analysts and managers are confronting an entirely new business environment in which traditional approaches are no longer valid. A systems approach provides a new way of looking at financial analysis. The purpose of this study is to focus on the present, on the ability to cope and the capacity to change in a changing environment. The ability to create an own future is being seen as more important than the art of predicting the future. This paper describes an empirically tested dynamic balance model to establish whether entities are able to adapt, survive and prosper.


The corneal electroretinogram (ERG) was used to investigate the spectral sensitivities of cones in 12 dichromatic squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus) whose color-vision capacities were established in behavioral tests. Three different varieties of dichromacy were represented among these animals. A flicker-photometric procedure was used in which the ERG response to a rapidly flickering monochromatic test light was compared with the response elicited by a similarly flickering reference light. The spectral-sensitivity functions obtained by the use of this technique are similar to previous estimates of cone spectral sensitivity in dichromatic squirrel monkeys derived from direct microspectrophotometric measurements.


Microtone music is made up of intervals not found in the Western equal-tempered 12-tone scale. This paper describes an attempt to analyze blues vocals originated in US during the early twentieth century and to then represent the vocal line electronically based on this analysis. We have used recordings from the famous blues singer Robert Johnson from 1936 and 1937 and have measured the frequency of his vocal line to determine the difference between the result and the 12-tone scale. By doing so we have obtained the musical notation in microtones. We were then able to re-create the vocals by using a digital sound generator in an attempt to produce a precise replica of the original vocal line. Our final goal is to explore how microtonal singing may evoke ethnic sounding music and corresponding emotional responses in listeners. In addition, we aim to open up the field of synthesized vocal music such as "Hatsune-Miku" towards the worldwide ethnic music beyond the Western 12-tone music.