The nonlocal polymerization-driven diffusion model (NPDD) has been shown to predict high spatial frequency cut-off in photopolymers and to accurately predict higher order grating components. We propose an extension to the NPDD model to account for the temporal response associated with polymer chain growth. An exponential response function is proposed to describe transient effects during the polymerization process. The extended model is then solved using a finite element technique and the nature of grating evolution examined in the case when illumination is stopped prior to the saturation of the grating recording process. Based on independently determined refractive index measurements we determine the temporal evolution of the refractive index modulation and the resulting diffraction efficiency using rigorous coupled wave theory. Material parameters are then extracted based on fits to experimental data for nonlinear and both ideal and non-ideal kinetic models.


Limited information exists on the extent of genetic variability for freezing tolerance among perennial biotypes of annual bluegrass (Poa annua L.) that evolved under golf greens management. We characterized the freezing tolerance of 42 ecotypes collected across the United States and in Quebec using plants hardened to low temperatures during fall and winter. We subsequently analyzed cold-induced biochemical changes in a subset of ecotypes with varied levels of tolerance. There was a large variability among ecotypes for freezing tolerance expressed as the lethal temperature for 50% of the plants (LT 50 ) with values ranging from <-27.0 to -17.0°C. Variation was observed between ecotypes originating from the same region and even the same golf course. Ecotypes from Quebec—better insulated from extreme subfreezing temperatures by reliable and abundant snow cover—developed less freezing tolerance than those evolving under milder winter climates. Significant differences in the concentrations of specific amino acids and carbohydrates were observed among ecotypes. Only fructans of high molecular weight, however, were significantly correlated with freezing tolerance and accounted for as much as 50% of the LT 50 variance. A 26-kDa polypeptide that markedly accumulated in cold acclimated crowns was more abundant in plants from Quebec. Extensive genetic variability for freezing tolerance among perennial biotypes of annual bluegrass can thus be exploited to mitigate winter damage to golf greens.


This paper examines change in the lexicon of American Norwegian by investigating phonemic, semantic and lexical transfer from American English into the heritage Norwegian of the American Midwest. We observe these types of transfer when the semantic structure, phonemic structure, or both, are transferred from English to the heritage variety. Drawing on Matras' (2009) insight that languages converge as a result of the need to simplify the selection procedure, we expect lexical transfer (involving both semantic and phonemic structure) to be the most abundant of these three phenomena as it provides more convergence (simplification). Our findings support this hypothesis and corroborate those of Haugen (1953), showing that lexical transfer is the most common route of convergence in American Norwegian.


This paper investigates the flux density and radial force spatial harmonics in large salient pole synchronous hydro-generators. Vibration due to magnetic forces are mainly caused by low order harmonics in the airgap flux density distribution. The influence of winding layout and airgap length on the lowest order radial force component are analysed. Airgap flux density and radial force density distributions of three different generators are computed using finite element calculations. The flux density components that contributes to the lowest order force component, and the source for these harmonic components, are investigated. It is found that reducing the airgap length leads to a less than proportional increase in the lowest order radial force component. A rearrangement of the winding layout is found to be an effective method for reducing the lowest order radial force component.


Polytechnics in Nigeria have been faced with shrinking financial resources allocated to them by the government, coupled with the need to increase enrolment and a growing demand by students for digital facilities. To survive in the face of this economic downturn, Polytechnics are now opting to outsource Information Technology (IT) in their academic libraries as a cost effective option for the upgrade of IT infrastructure with a view to meeting the growing expectations of students and the job market that is in constant demand for technologically literate and capable workforce. Using extensive literature review, the paper carried out an historical overview and a detailed review of the pros and cons of IT outsourcing in higher education institutions. The paper further highlights critical considerations in the planning and implementation of IT outsourcing interventions in Nigerian Polytechnic libraries to serve as a guide to management and library staff.


A common freshwater cryptophyte, Cryptomonas pyrenoidifera , was cultivated in batch-cultures to analyze intraspecific variation in elemental stoichiometry along a broad gradient of pulsed phosphorus (P) enrichment during the early acclimation period and to determine the immediate homeostatic capacity of the nitrogen-to-phosphorus (N:P) ratio of this alga when nutrients are at saturating levels. Experimental results revealed that nitrogen (N) and P cell quotas significantly increased with increasing P concentration. However, despite the wide range of N:P ratios in the medium, Cryptomonas N:P ratios were highly stable at higher P-level treatments, indicating a highly conservative behavior and suggesting strict elemental homeostasis when nutrients are at saturating levels. The strictly homeostatic N:P ratio appears to be attributable to their high potential for a fast luxury consumption of both N and P after a brief and intense episode of increased resource availability and to physiological limits on their nutrient storage capacity. Most importantly, the N:P biomass ratio at nutrient saturating levels converged around 11:1, which was the observed ratio of maximum internal cell quotas for N and P (i.e. Q max , N : Q max , P ) under the prevailing experimental conditions. This value is particularly informative for C. pyrenoidifera because it represents cell storage quotients and may be a taxon-specific evolutionary optimum, providing a reference point to infer the grade of nutrient-limitation. The experimental data give ranges of variation in C. pyrenoidifera elemental composition permitting, among others, proper parameterization of cryptophyte stoichiometry models.


We model the diffusion of IT outsourcing via announcements about IT outsourcing deals. We estimate a lognormal diffusion curve to test whether IT outsourcing follows a pure diffusion process or there are contagion effects involved. The methodology permits us to study the consequences of outsourcing events, especially mega-deals with IT contract amounts that exceeded US$1 billion. Mega-deals act, we theorize, as precipitating events that create a strong basis for contagion effects and are likely to affect decision-making by other firms in an industry. Then, we evaluate the role of different communication channels in the diffusion process of IT outsourcing by testing for the fit of the mixed influence model at the industry level. This helps us to evaluate the consistency of evidence at two different levels of analysis. We also evaluate two flexible diffusion models: the Gompertz and Weibull models. Our results show that the diffusion patterns of IT outsourcing do not appear to be lognormal, suggesting that IT outsourcing does not follow a pure diffusion process. Instead, we find the presence of contagion effects in the diffusion of IT outsourcing. During periods of the most rapid outsourcing growth – the contagion periods – the actions of the large and more visible firms may provide exemplars for smaller firms, reducing their inhibitions about committing to IT outsourcing. We also find that the results of the mixed influence and the Weibull models, which provide the best fit for overall IT outsourcing diffusion patterns, are potentially indicative of the existence of spillovers that might drive the observed contagion effects at the industry level.


Though brand personality has been explored in the context of news media, the literature has yet to systematically examine differences in perceptions of news media brand personality among individuals with differing political ideologies. An analysis of 588 surveys where participants rated either mainstream ( n = 200), liberal ( n = 192), or conservative ( n = 196) news media brands across the dimensions of aggression, heroism, and warmth revealed that while political ideology has little impact on individuals' perceptions of news media brand personality with regard to mainstream media, significant associations were present for perceptions of liberal and conservative news media. Controlling for education, age, familiarity, and gender, more conservative participants tended to find conservative news outlets less aggressive and more heroic and find liberal outlets more aggressive and less heroic; the differences in these associations were statistically significant. For both liberal outlets and conservative outlets, greater familiarity tended to be associated with higher perceived heroism. Significant gender and race associations are noted in perceptions of warmth. Ramifications in the context of political communication and media management are discussed.


© ERS 2018. US examination of the chest wall and parietal pleura can reveal a number of pathologies and is useful in various clinical settings. Chest wall pathologies that are identifiable during US examination include haematomas, abscesses, rib abnormalities and lymph nodes. Additionally, useful information about pleural infection and neoplasia can be gathered using US. In addition to its diagnostic potential, US provides guidance for safe execution of percutaneous sampling and/or drainage of chest wall and pleural abnormalities.


Four interlaboratory tests were designed to evaluate the performance of match criteria for forensic comparisons of elemental composition of glass by μ-XRF, solution nebulization SN-ICP-MS, LA-ICP-OES and LA-ICP-MS. A total of 24 analysts in 18 laboratories participated in the tests. Glass specimens were selected to study the capabilities of the techniques to discriminate glass produced in the same manufacturing plant at different time intervals and to associate samples that originated from a single source. The assessment of the effectiveness of several match criteria included: confidence interval (±6s, ±5s, ±4s, ±3s, ±2s), modified confidence interval, t-test, range overlap, and Hotelling's T2. Error rates are reported for each of these criteria. Recommended match criteria were those found to produce the lowest combinations of type 1 and type 2 error rates. Performance of the studied match criteria was dependent on the homogeneity of the glass sources, the repeatability between analytical measurements, and the number of elements that were measured. The best results for μ-XRF data were obtained using spectral overlay followed by a ±3s confidence interval or range overlap. For ICP-based measurements, a wider match criterion, such as a modified confidence interval based on a fixed minimum relative standard deviation (±4s, >3–5% RSD), is recommended due to the inherent precision of those methods (typically <1–5% RSD) and the greater number of elements measured. Glass samples that were manufactured in different plants, or at the same plant weeks or months apart, were readily differentiated by elemental composition when analyzed by these sensitive methods.


In lieu of an abstract, below is the first paragraph of the paper. Facial recognition technology, or FRT, has the potential to provide numerous benefits, both to individual persons and to society as a whole. Among these benefits, convenience for everyday tasks and increased safety/ security are possible. However, the likely benefits that FRT can provide are overshadowed by one major weakness of the technology: the invasion of one's privacy. FRT intrudes on the lives of all people. This can potentially lead to false accusations and/or people altering their lifestyles. Because people never know when or where they are being watched, FRT prevents people from living their lives as solely their own. This article is available in The Review: A Journal of Undergraduate Student Research: http://fisherpub.sjfc.edu/ur/vol12/iss1/3 Under the Watchful Eye: The Highly Intrusive Nature of Facial Recognition Technology


Geographers and others have long since examined the distribution of paid work, childcare and housework within households and have more recently begun to explore the various effects of Internet use on everyday life and digital inequalities along lines of gender and other social markers. These lines of inquiry have so far remained largely separate and this paper brings them together by analysing the interrelations between the Internet and the gender division of household labour. Multi-group structural equation modelling is applied to dedicated survey data collected among heterosexual couples in Columbus (Ohio, USA). The results demonstrate that Internet use is gendered in many ways. Variations in Internet use are explained by a broader range of factors for women than for men, and an unequal division of domestic responsibilities within the household constrains women's Internet use but not men's. Overall, however, the relations between Internet use and the gender division of household labour are modest. The latter is related in different ways for women and men to the residential location, the household situation, the employment situation and gender-specific interactions among paid work, childcare and housework.


The posterior over Bayesian neural network (BNN) parameters is extremely high-dimensional and non-convex. For computational reasons, researchers approximate this posterior using inexpensive mini-batch methods such as mean-field variational inference or stochastic-gradient Markov chain Monte Carlo (SGMCMC). To investigate foundational questions in Bayesian deep learning, we instead use full-batch Hamiltonian Monte Carlo (HMC) on modern architectures. We show that (1) BNNs can achieve significant performance gains over standard training and deep ensembles; (2) a single long HMC chain can provide a comparable representation of the posterior to multiple shorter chains; (3) in contrast to recent studies, we find posterior tempering is not needed for near-optimal performance, with little evidence for a"cold posterior"effect, which we show is largely an artifact of data augmentation; (4) BMA performance is robust to the choice of prior scale, and relatively similar for diagonal Gaussian, mixture of Gaussian, and logistic priors; (5) Bayesian neural networks show surprisingly poor generalization under domain shift; (6) while cheaper alternatives such as deep ensembles and SGMCMC methods can provide good generalization, they provide distinct predictive distributions from HMC. Notably, deep ensemble predictive distributions are similarly close to HMC as standard SGLD, and closer than standard variational inference.


This paper seeks to help reconceptualize the spaces of local and regional economies by developing the idea of the 'compound economy'. It is set in the context of a growing body of work in geography that emphasizes the importance of culture as a factor shaping differentiated local and regional economic development and, correspondingly, as an important dynamic informing the ability of localities and regions to negotiate economic forces operating at national and supranational scales. Exploring both dominant and counter-hegemonic economic imaginaries as articulated in academic debates, we draw on the case study of Central Wales and demonstrate how these imaginaries are variously manifested in government policy discourse of the National Assembly for Wales and in the understandings and practices of business stakeholders in the region. Through comparing and contrasting these representations, we provide an empirical illustration of what, building on the work of Gibson-Graham and others, we term the 'compound economy', whose drivers, relations and logics are far more diverse and complex than mainstream and alternative models tend to suggest. We conclude by assessing the implications of the compound economy for both economic policy and geographical theory.


For performance evaluation of existing reinforced concrete members under irradiation conditions, a numerical code called "DEVICE" (Damage EValuation for Irradiated ConcretE), which takes into account the heat, moisture, and radiation transport coupled with cement hydration, is proposed. This code is composed of the established computational cement-based material (CCBM) model and the one-dimensional deterministic transport Sn code "ANISN". In the proposed model, temperature-dependent irradiation-induced expansion of aggregate minerals and resultant strength deterioration of concrete are introduced. Currently, the knowledge and modeling of irradiation-induced expansion of aggregate mineral is limited only for α-quartz. DEVICE was used for evaluating the strength distribution of the decommissioned plant Japan Power Demonstration Reactor (JPDR). Compressive strength distribution in a concrete biological shielding (CBS) wall of the JPDR was obtained by core sampling, and the compressive loading test results were compared with the calculation results. This comparison proved the practicality potential of DEVICE to predict the concrete strength distribution in a CBS. In addition, concrete strength change and its distribution in a CBS of an anonymous two-loop pressurized water reactor was simulated by DEVICE. The contributing factors for the change in the distribution of concrete strength at the inner surface of the CBS are discussed. Furthermore, the ways of integrity evaluation other than the existing allowable fast neutron fluence method are proposed and discussed as follows: 1) mineral composition-based allowable fast neutron fluence; 2) strength prediction at the inner surface based on the expansion of mineral composition of aggregates and the lower limit curve of the ratio of compressive strength of the specimen after irradiation (Fc) to that of the reference specimen (Fco) as a function of concrete expansion; and 3) direct numerical calculation for seismic performance by considering irradiation-induced volume expansion and degradation of concrete.


Female-led ventures that are market-expanding, export-oriented, and innovative contribute substantially to local and national economic development, as well as to the female entrepreneur's economic welfare. Female-led ventures also serve as models that can encourage other high-potential female entrepreneurs. The supply of high-potential entrepreneurial ventures is driven by individuals' entrepreneurial attitudes and institutional factors associated with a country's conditions for entrepreneurial expansion. A systematic assessment of those factors can show policymakers the strengths and weaknesses of the environment for high-potential female entrepreneurship.


In this work, long working distance fluorescence lifetime imaging is realized with stimulated emission in combination with electronic time delay control. Spatial coherence, as a result of stimulated emission, supports unattenuated fluorescence detection at extended distance, using low NA optics. An electronic time delayed trigger provides an advantageous way in adjusting the pulse separation and probing the fluorescence lifetime in the nanosecond ranges. The fluorescence lifetime of selected fluorophores is accurately determined through the pump-probe configuration. The characteristics and applications in fluorescence lifetime measurement of stimulated emission are investigated and summarized succinctly here.


Grounded theory is used to examine the role and application of both educator-led and student-led forums within a virtual learning environment (VLE) of a higher education institution (HEI). The study reports experiences and perceptions of academics in two faculties (business and technology) in the HEI who use both asynchronous VLE forums and social network sites (SNSs) such as Facebook. Interview data were transcribed, coded and analysed to identify emergent themes and patterns of commonality. Differences between faculties are identified, including those relating to the type, frequency and breadth of forum usage. The results suggest that students' voluntary use of SNSs as a complement to formal learning is culturally embedded in the HEI and constitutes a widely accepted 'integral' part of the learning experience. Such rapidly evolving usage could present future challenges for educators, not least because SNS-hosted learning materials and patterns of SNS use may be obscured from them. There are also challenges relating to educators' duty of care, surreptitious exchange of information (for example, assessment information) and unhelpful criticism of HEIs.


"In March [1892] Stanford and California had played the first college football game on the Pacific Coast in San Francisco ...The pregame activities included a noisy parade down streets bedecked with school colors. Tickets sold so fast that the Stanford student manager, future president Herbert Hoover, and his California counterpart, could not keep count of the gold and silver coins. When they finally totaled up the proceeds, they found that the revenues amounted to $30,000-a fair haul for a game that had to be temporarily postponed because no one had thought to bring a ball!"-from College Football: History, Spectacle, Controversy, Chapter Three In this comprehensive history of America's popular pastime, John Sayle Watterson shows how college football in more than one hundred years has evolved from a simple game played by college students into a lucrative, semiprofessional enterprise. With a historian's grasp of the context and a novelist's eye for the telling detail, Watterson presents a compelling portrait rich in anecdotes, colorful personalities, and troubling patterns. He tells how the infamous Yale-Princeton "fiasco" of 1881, in which Yale forced a 0-0 tie in a championship game by retaining possession of the ball for the entire game, eventually led to the first-down rule that would begin to transform Americanized rugby into American football. He describes the kicks and punches, gouged eyes, broken collarbones, and flagrant rule violations that nearly led to the sport's demise (including such excesses as a Yale player who wore a uniform soaked in blood from a slaughterhouse). And he explains the reforms of 1910, which gave official approval to a radical new tactic traditionalists were sure would doom the game as they knew it-the forward pass. As college football grew in the booming economy of the 1920s, Watterson explains, the flow of cash added fuel to an already explosive mix. Coaches like Knute Rockne became celebrities in their own right, with highly paid speaking engagements and product endorsements. At the same time, the emergence of the first professional teams led to inevitable scandals involving recruitment and subsidies for student-athletes. Revelations of illicit aid to athletes in the 1930s led to failed attempts at reform by the fledgling NCAA in the postwar "Sanity Code," intended to control abuses by permitting limited subsidies to college players but which actually paved the way for the "free ride" many players receive today. Watterson also explains how the growth of TV revenue led to college football programs' unprecedented prosperity, just as the rise of professional football seemed to relegate college teams to "minor league" status. He explores issues of gender and race, from the shocked reactions of spectators to the first female cheerleaders in the 1930s to their successful exploitation by Roone Arledge three decades later. He describes the role of African-American players, from the days when Southern schools demanded all-white teams (and Northern schools meekly complied); through the black armbands and protests of the 60s; to one of the game's few successful, if limited, reforms, as black athletes dominate the playing field while often being shortchanged in the classroom. Today, Watterson observes, colleges' insatiable hunger for revenues has led to an abuse-filled game nearly indistinguishable from the professional model of the NFL. After examining the standard solutions for reform, he offers proposals of his own, including greater involvement by faculty, trustees, and college presidents. Ultimately, however, Watterson concludes that the history of college football is one in which the rules of the game have changed, but those of human nature have not.


Objective: to comprehend the experience of nursing middle managers of an accredited public hospital, from Sao Paulo state, about the evidence-based management.
Method: case study and analysis of thematic content in the stages of unity of meaning, condensed meaning unity, interpretation of the underlying meaning, sub-theme and theme. Nine manager nurses participated. The data collection was done through a script with questions that, according to the convenience of the participants, were answered by electronic mail. The data were analyzed in the light of the theoretical reference of the managerial process in nursing and the evidence-based management.
Results: six themes were revealed: Evidence-based management and management process; Evidence-based management strengths; Evidence-based management challenges; the leader and the Evidence-based management; Hospital accreditation and evidence-based management and Experiences with the evidence-based management.
Conclusion: the scientific knowledge and the experiences in the work are sources of evidences that interfere, positively, in the quality and safety of the patient. Leadership training, planning, team empowerment and involvement are essential for the development of this practice. Strategies need to be discussed and implemented so that the management process is based on evidences.


Abstract Species of the didelphid marsupial genus Thylamys, commonly known as fat-tailed mouse opossums, are broadly distributed in the open habitats of central and southern South America. In this report we examine species limits in the genus and infer phylogenetic relationships among Thylamys species using both molecular phylogenetic and morphological methods. We assessed species limits using a broad geographic sample of DNA sequences from the mitochondrial gene cytochrome b in conjunction with morphological character analysis, and we inferred phylogenetic relationships among species using the cytochrome-b dataset in addition to sequences from the mitochondrial genes cytochrome c oxidase subunit II and NADH dehydrogenase 2 for a representative subset of individuals. Based on the results of these analyses, we recognize Xerodelphys (new subgenus) for T. karimii and T. velutinus, and we recognize seven valid species in the nominotypical subgenus. The latter includes T. macrurus, T. pusillus, and two monophyletic species groups: the Elegans Group (T. elegans, T. pallidior, T. tatei) and the Venustus Group (T. sponsorius, T. venustus). Analysis of cytochrome-b sequences additionally reveals deep phylogeographic structuring in three species (T. pallidior, T. pusillus, T. venustus), each of which contains two or three robustly supported allopatric haplogroups. The existence of undescribed Peruvian forms of the Elegans Group is also plausibly indicated. We provide morphological diagnoses of all species recognized as valid in this report, summarize information about geographic distributions, comment on previous misidentifications, and briefly consider historical-biogeographic scenarios with a focus on dispersal events across the Andes.


Exploit the Unified Communications (UC) platform s rich and open API set and create your own real-time communication solutions faster. Led by a team of UC programming experts, you ll get the code walkthroughs and pragmatic advice you need to seamlessly integrate enterprise IM, presence, VoIP, and conferencing into your applications now. Connect users exactly how and when they want and increase business agility Examine the architecture, design model, and scenarios for each API matching the right functionality to your needs Automate Office Communicator features sign-in, contacts, presence, conversations Use contextual collaboration to send and receive application-specific messages between clients Develop Windows Workflow applications that support both voice and IM Create and provision custom presence applications Build server-side applications that maximize throughput and enable multiparty conferencing Prepare your application for deployment Apply best practices for debugging and troubleshooting


This paper examines the development of ethnic and immigrant archives in the United States since the 1960s. It focuses on the dramatic evolution of "ethnic archiving"—the processes and objectives involved in documenting the immigrant and ethnic experience—and shows how cultural minorities evolved from an object or theme of archival collections to active participants in the creation, appraisal, description, and use of their own archives. A number of factors made this evolution possible: a new political context increasingly responsive to minority rights and cultural diversity, rising interest in social history, and the influence of postmodernist thought on archival theory. New digital technologies have also facilitated the expression and archiving of ethnic voices.


"Very impressive work. This book is valuable for beginning and intermediate technologists." Dwight Mamanteo, Technical Manager, BEA Systems"Provides explanations of Web services, tuning tips, and discussions on security that will likely be of benefit to developers as they create their Web services." Robert W. Husted, Member, Technical Staff, Requisite Software Build Web services infrastructure based on service-oriented architecture (SOA) Implement enterprise-class Web services using WebLogic and J2EE Complete lifecycle coverage with best practices: design, prototyping, development, testing, deployment, and managementReal-world enterprise Web services implementation with J2EE and WebLogicYou've seen plenty of theory about Web services. This book is about the reality: what it takes to successfully implement J2EE Web services with BEA WebLogic in complex enterprise environments. Anjali Anagol-Subbarao, one of the world's leading Web services experts, offers powerful insights for every stage of the Web services lifecycle: design, prototyping, development, testing, deployment, and management.Anagol-Subbarao draws on her experience architecting and building Web services infrastructure for HP's worldwide operations and takes on the challenges that face every enterprise implementer. She demonstrates how to design robust Web services that align with business processes, smoothly integrate with existing infrastructure, deliver superior performance and security, and can be managed effectively. Coverage includes Primers on WebLogic Workshop, WebLogic Server, WLI, and J2EE Web services technology Building effective service-oriented architectural (SOA) frameworks Translating designs into working code Designing for end-to-end security and tuning for high performance Testing Web services and deploying them to production environments Addressing the unique challenges associated with managing distributed Web services © Copyright Pearson Education. All rights reserved.


Several algorithms have been developed to help guide mobile robots in unknown environments. Various kinds of Bug algorithms are available and each one these algorithms has an advantage over the others under different circumstances. This paper introduces a new approach, the Diligent-Bug (D-Bug) algorithm, which is developed to enable a collision free navigation of robots in an unknown 2-dimensional environment. Static obstacles of arbitrary shapes have been considered to evaluate the developed algorithm. This algorithm also enables robots to avoid getting stuck in both local and global loops.


This article reviews recent literature on the usage and relevance of garlic and its bioactive components in controlling diabetes and diabetes-associated pathologies; and also updates recent patents on the subject. Antidiabetic effect of garlic is well documented even in ancient medical literature. Garlic and its active ingredients have been extensively studied for their antidiabetic efficacies in either experimentally induced or genetic animal models of diabetes. Human studies are also available where hypoglycemic effect of garlic was reported. The beneficial effects of garlic are mainly attributed to the presence of volatile sulfur compounds like alliin, allicin, diallyl disulfide, diallyl trisulfide, diallyl sulfide, S-allyl cysteine, ajoene and allyl mercaptan. Garlic and garlic extracts have been shown to be effective in reducing insulin resistance. Therefore, considering the importance of garlic in controlling diabetic complications, several preparations and food processes containing garlic have been patented. This review discusses some of the recent progresses made in this field and consolidates the results.


This revision is an update of a classic text that has been the standard electricity and magnetism text for close to 40 years. The fourth edition contains more worked examples, a new design and new problems. Vector Analysis, Electrostatistics, Solution of Electrostatic Problems, The Electrostatic Field in Dielectric Media, Microscopic Theory of Dielectrics, Electrostatic Energy, Electric Current, The Magnetic Field of Steady Currents, Magnetic Properties of Matter, Microscopic Theory of Magnetism, Electromagnetic Induction, Magnetic Energy, Slowly Varying Currents, Physics of Plasmas, Electromagnetic Properties of Superconductors, Maxwell's Equations, Propagation of Monochromatic, Monochromatic Waves in Bounded Regions, Dispersion and Oscillating Fields in Dispersive Media, The Emission of Radiation, Electrodynamics, The Special Theory of Relativity. Intended for those interested in learning the basics of standard electricity and magnetism.


The lift force of a rectangular semi-wing in stationary ground effect was computed based on the spanwise circulation distribution inferred from wake crossflow measurement and was compared with the direct force balance data at Re = 2.48 × 105. The lift calculated was found to be in good agreement with the force-balance measurement for ground distances h larger than 10% of the airfoil chord c. In close ground proximity (h/c ࣘ 10%), a large discrepancy however existed due to the appearance of a multiple vortex system consisting of a tip vortex, a co-rotating ground vortex, and a counter-rotating secondary vortex. The counter-rotating secondary vortex offset the vorticity of the tip vortex. By considering its contribution additive, the discrepancy observed between the lift forces computed and measured with the force balance in close ground proximity became marginal. The impact of ground effect on lift-induced drag was also discussed.


C-V2X is a technology introduced by 3gpp 4G standards and designed to allow vehicles to communicate with everything, i.e., other vehicles (V2V), pedestrians (V2P), infrastructure (V2I), and the cloud network (V2N). The technology uses cellular network infrastructure that is already providing service to UEs, with architectural enhancement. C-V2X defines two complementary transmission modes: Direct communication and Network-based communication. Direct communication, necessary for V2V and V2P, is based on the LTE device-to-device communication over the so-called PC5 interface and it can operate both under and out of the coverage of base stations. All other communication modes, instead, leverage the cellular network infrastructure (i.e., the LTE-Uu interface), and require a base station (i.e., an eNB) as inter mediator to communicate with an application server in the mobileoperator network or in the cloud network.V2X communication is intended to improve road and passenger safety, traffic efficiency and infotainment services. C-V2X technology enhances safety providing information even beyond the driver's line of sight to notify and warn drivers of possible hazards and of oncoming vehicles. Ultimately, this feature will play a vital role in supporting fully autonomous vehicle deployment. Road safety is one of the use cases in Intelligent Transport System (ITS) among warning applications (i.e, collision risk and others).In my thesis, I collaborated to develop a working first prototype of a collision avoidance application implementing intersection warning. The prototype is designed to operate considering vehicles and pedestrians (UEs), whose mobility is simulated using sumo, a well-established mobility simulator. The system relies on Cooperative Awareness Messages(CAMs), which are beacons sent by UEs and Decentralized Environment Notification Messages (DENMs), which are alerts sent by the application server. According to ETSI standards, cams are transmitted with a minimum frequency of 1hz and maximum of 10hz. In order to detect a potential crash accident, the prototype uses state-of-the-art algorithms based on the trajectory of UEs. The collision avoidance algorithm resides on an application server and it is run when, after receiving a cam, it is determined that the sender of the message is on a collision course with another node. The collision detection algorithm requires as input the position and speed (including heading) of the current vehicle, as well as the latest cam sent by each vehicle in the scenario. The collision avoidance algorithm can distinguish between cams sent by pedestrians and cams sent by vehicles. This gives us a double advantage. First, when the server receivesa cam from a vehicle, it looks for possible collisions with both cars and pedestrians, while on the contrary, with a message sent from a pedestrian, the algorithm skips the analysis for pedestrian-with-pedestrian collisions. The second advantage involves the possibility to set different parameters for the collision detection algorithm, according to the type of entity which sent the cam. This allows a better performance of the algorithm, in terms of false positives and false negatives. The experimental study features a realistic scenario including both human driver and autonomous vehicles in an urban environment and it tries to establish the effectiveness of the whole system in preventing collisions between vehicles and between vehicles and pedestrians.


BACKGROUND
Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) is the most common monogenic inherited kidney disease, affecting an estimated 600 000 individuals in Europe. The disease is characterized by age-dependent development of a multiple cysts in the kidneys, ultimately leading to end-stage renal failure and the need of renal replacement therapy in the majority of patients, typically by the fifth or sixth decade of life. The variable disease course, even within the same family, remains largely unexplained. Similarly, assessing disease severity and prognosis in an individual with ADPKD remains difficult. Epidemiological studies are limited due to the fragmentation of ADPKD research in Europe.

METHODS
The EuroCYST initiative aims: (i) to harmonize and develop common standards for ADPKD research by starting a collaborative effort to build a network of ADPKD reference centres across Europe and (ii) to establish a multicentric observational cohort of ADPKD patients. This cohort will be used to study factors influencing the rate of disease progression, disease modifiers, disease stage-specific morbidity and mortality, health economic issues and to identify predictive disease progression markers. Overall, 1100 patients will be enrolled in 14 study sites across Europe. Patients will be prospectively followed for at least 3 years. Eligible patients will not have participated in a pharmaceutical clinical trial 1 year before enrollment, have clinically proven ADPKD, an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) of 30 mL/min/1.73 m(2) and above, and be able to provide written informed consent. The baseline visit will include a physical examination and collection of blood, urine and DNA for biomarker and genetic studies. In addition, all participants will be asked to complete questionnaires detailing self-reported health status, quality of life, socioeconomic status, health-care use and reproductive planning. All subjects will undergo annual follow-up. A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan will be carried out at baseline, and patients are encouraged to undergo a second MRI at 3-year follow-up for qualitative and quantitative kidney and liver assessments.

CONCLUSIONS
The ADPKD reference centre network across Europe and the observational cohort study will enable European ADPKD researchers to gain insights into the natural history, heterogeneity and associated complications of the disease as well as how it affects the lives of patients across Europe.


Augmenting meting and solidification rates of latent heat storage unit (LHSU) is very much essential for its efficient operation. By the effective utilization of natural convection, rate of heat transfer can be enhanced and the conical shell is beneficent in this regard. Using fins further improves the charging and discharging rates. Hence, the current study is focused on analyzing melting and solidification characteristics of a conical shell and tube LHSU along with the effect of fin parameters viz., fin diameter and number of fins. Numerical analysis is chosen for this purpose and the performance is compared via melting/solidification times, energy stored, energy/exergy efficiencies. Initially, the performance of unfinned conical shell is compared with the cylindrical shell without fins and then the effect of fin parameters is presented. For melting process conical shell is found to be superior to cylindrical shell. 34.46% reduction in melting time is noted by using conical shell and rate of energy stored is also higher for conical shell. Increase in fin diameter caused an increase in melting time when 20 number of fins are used, whereas melting time got decreased with the increase in fin diameter when five number of fins are used. Hence, when a greater number of fins are used, lesser diameter is preferred for melting. For discharging process, conical shell took 60% more time than cylindrical shell. Even after using fins, solidification time is not drastically reduced in comparison with cylindrical shell.


Abstract Carbon (C) stocks for southeast Mexican forests for the years 1990–1991 were calculated by two different methods. The first method multiplied land area of each forest by C densities of phytomass, necromass, and soil‐organic matter. A digital map derived from Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) imagery provided forest areas. Carbon‐density values were obtained from ecological studies reported in the literature. The second method calculated C densities from climate‐based regression models for each forested pixel in the AVHRR cover map. A combination of the two methods was used to calculate C stocks because neither approach was suitable for all forests. Land area was estimated as 13 Mha for the tropical evergreen forest, 7 Mha for the tropical deciduous forest, and 7 Mha for the oak‐coniferous forest. Carbon stocks for tropical evergreen, tropical deciduous, and oak‐coniferous forests were 3.12, 1.30, and 0.92 PgC, respectively. The southeast forests contribute approximately 40% to tota...


Bone scaffolds are widely used as one of the main bone substitute materials. However, many bone scaffold microstructure topologies exist and it is still unclear which topology to use when designing scaffold for a specific application. The aim of the present study was to reveal the mechanism of the microstructure-driven performance of bone scaffold and thus to provide guideline on scaffold design. Finite element (FE) models of five TPMS (Diamond, Gyroid, Schwarz P, Fischer-Koch S and F-RD) and three traditional (Cube, FD-Cube and Octa) scaffolds were generated. The effective compressive and shear moduli of scaffolds were calculated from the mechanical analysis using the FE unit cell models with the periodic boundary condition. The scaffold permeability was calculated from the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis using the 4×4×4 FE models. It is revealed that the surface-to-volume ratio of the Fischer-Koch S-based scaffold is the highest among the scaffolds investigated. The mechanical analysis revealed that the bending deformation dominated structures (e.g., the Diamond, the Gyroid, the Schwarz P) have higher effective shear moduli. The stretching deformation dominated structures (e.g., the Schwarz P, the Cube) have higher effective compressive moduli. For all the scaffolds, when the same amount of change in scaffold porosity is made, the corresponding change in the scaffold relative shear modulus is larger than that in the relative compressive modulus. The CFD analysis revealed that the structures with the simple and straight pores (e.g., Cube) have higher permeability than the structures with the complex pores (e.g., Fischer-Koch S). The main contribution of the present study is that the relationship between scaffold properties and the underlying microstructure is systematically investigated and thus some guidelines on the design of bone scaffolds are provided, for example, in the scenario where a high surface-to-volume ratio is required, it is suggested to use the Fischer-Koch S based scaffold.


When a piece of malicious information becomes rampant in an information diffusion network, can we identify the source node that originally introduced the piece into the network and infer the time when it initiated this? Being able to do so is critical for curtailing the spread of malicious information, and reducing the potential losses incurred. This is a very challenging problem since typically only incomplete traces are observed and we need to unroll the incomplete traces into the past in order to pinpoint the source. In this paper, we tackle this problem by developing a two-stage framework, which first learns a continuous-time diffusion network model based on historical diffusion traces and then identifies the source of an incomplete diffusion trace by maximizing the likelihood of the trace under the learned model. Experiments on both large synthetic and real-world data show that our framework can effectively go back to the past, and pinpoint the source node and its initiation time significantly more accurately than previous state-of-the-arts.


The study analyses market perception about the performance of Pakistani commercial banks due to financial liberalisation and deregulation measures taken by the central bank over the last two decades. For this purpose, it uses Survey approach. To augment the results of Survey Based Approach, it employs Distribution Free Approach to measure relative cost inefficiencies of commercial banks. Out of 35 commercial banks, 15 banks have been chosen for analysis purpose. Key banking reforms remain helpful in correcting flaws in the banking sector of Pakistan. In particular, privatisation of banks, the deregulation and institutional strengthening measures and switching towards market-based monetary and credit management remain helpful in correcting the prevailing flaws. The cost inefficiency scores of banks also indicate that the efficiency of Pakistani banks have improved during 1990 to 2006. As regards group-wise efficiency estimates, foreign banks are found to be more efficient, followed by private banks, nationalised commercial banks, and privatised banks. The relative high cost inefficiency of privatised banks is most probably due to having remained under state owned structure during most of the period of the study. The financial liberalisation and the resultant competitive environment might be the key factors behind improvements in efficacy of banks.


Overexposure and underexposure of items in the bank are serious problems in operational computerized adaptive testing (CAT) systems. These exposure problems might result in item compromise, or point at a waste of investments. The exposure control problem can be viewed as a test assembly problem with multiple objectives. Information in the test has to be maximized, item compromise has to be minimized, and pool usage has to be optimized. In this paper, a multiple objectives method is developed to deal with both types of exposure problems. In this method, exposure control parameters based on observed exposure rates are implemented as weights for the information in the item selection procedure. The method does not need time consuming simulation studies, and it can be implemented conditional on ability level. The method is compared with Sympson Hetter method for exposure control, with the Progressive method and with alphastratified testing. The results show that the method is successful in dealing with both kinds of exposure problems.


We present the photometric calibration of the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). The ACS was installed in the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) in 2002 March. It comprises three cameras: the Wide Field Channel (WFC), optimized for deep near‐IR survey imaging programs; the High Resolution Channel (HRC), a high‐resolution imager that fully samples the HST point‐spread function (PSF) in the visible; and the Solar Blind Channel (SBC), a far‐UV imager. A significant amount of data has been collected to characterize the on‐orbit performance of the three channels. We give here an overview of the performance and calibration of the two CCD cameras (WFC and HRC) and a description of the best techniques for reducing ACS CCD data. The overall performance is as expected from prelaunch testing of the camera. Surprises were a better‐than‐predicted sensitivity in the visible and near‐IR for both the WFC and HRC and an unpredicted dip in the HRC UV response at ∼3200 Å. On‐orbit observations of spectrophotometric standard stars have been used to revise the prelaunch estimate of the instrument response curves to best match predicted and observed count rates. Synthetic photometry has been used to determine zero points for all filters in three magnitude systems and to derive interstellar extinction values for the ACS photometric systems. Due to the CCD internal scattering of long‐wavelength photons, the width of the PSF increases significantly in the near‐IR, and the aperture correction for photometry with near‐IR filters depends on the spectral energy distribution of the source. We provide a detailed recipe to correct for the latter effect. Transformations between the ACS photometric systems and the UBVRI and WFPC2 systems are presented. In general, two sets of transformations are available: one based on the observation of two star clusters; the other on synthetic photometry. We discuss the accuracy of these transformations and their sensitivity to details of the spectra being transformed. Initial signs of detector degradation due to the HST radiative environment are already visible. We discuss the impact on the data in terms of dark rate increase, charge transfer inefficiency, and "hot" pixel population.


Background: Despite the acknowledgement that chronic pain may be a problem for adults in rural settings, there is a lack of epidemiological investigations on its occurrence in rural South Africa. Objectives: To estimate the prevalence of chronic pain among adults in a rural community in South Africa and characterize the localization, severity, risk indicators and responses of pain sufferers. Methods: Cross-sectional analytical study using face-to-face interviews. Interviews elicited information on socio-demographic characteristics, general health status and presence of pain. Among those reporting pain, the duration, frequency, severity, activity limitation and impact was determined. Univariate statistics were used to describe the prevalence of chronic pain while bivariable χ2 tests and multivariable logistic regression models were used to assess the relationship of socio-demographic characteristics and reported health status with chronic pain. Results: A total of 394 adults were interviewed representing a response rate of 92.8%. Of these, 169 (42.9%; 95% CI: 37.4%-47.1%) reported suffering from chronic pain. The common sites were the back, knee, ankles, head and shoulders. The median pain score was 6 on a scale of 0-10 (IQR= 5-8) and the median number of sites of pain was 1 (IQR= 1-2). The type of pain slightly varied with age with younger adults reporting more back pain and headaches while older people reported more joint pain. Female gender (adjusted odds-ratio AOR= 2.2, 95% CI: 1.9-2.8) and being older than 50 years (AOR= 3.1, 95% CI:2.7-3.9) were identified as risk indicators for chronic pain in the sample. Respondents reported that they self-treated (88.3%); consulted with a doctor or nurse (74.3%); traditional-healer (24.5%) and spiritual-healer (4%). Most respondents (63.4%) reported only transient relief of their pain. Conclusions: Chronic pain is an important health problem in the surveyed community. Further comparative studies on the relationship with risk factors are needed meanwhile interventions targeting females and the elderly are recommended.


Cleaning wastewater and using it again for secondary purposes is a measure to address water scarcity in urban areas. However, upscaling of recycled water schemes is challenging, and little is known about the governance conditions which are required for this. This paper addresses this knowledge gap. Based on a review of governance literature we suggest that five governance conditions are necessary for a successful upscaling of recycled water schemes: (1) policy leadership, (2) policy coordination, (3) availability of financial resources, (4) awareness of a problem, and (5) the presence of a public forum. We applied these concepts in a case study on the upscaling of a recycled water scheme in Sabadell, Spain. We reviewed policy documents, conducted a set of 21 semi-structured interviews, and attended two policy meetings about the subject. Our results suggest that Sabadell meets the required conditions for upscaling reused water to a certain extent. However, a public forum is not well-developed. We discuss the implications of this and conclude with some suggestions for future research and some lessons for other cities that plan to upscale their recycled water schemes.


This paper examines the use of scientometric overlay mapping as a tool of "strategic intelligence" to aid the governing of emerging technologies. We develop an integrative synthesis of different overlay mapping techniques and associated perspectives on technological emergence across geographical, social, and cognitive spaces. To do so, we longitudinally analyze (with publication and patent data) three case studies of emerging technologies in the medical domain. These are RNA interference (RNAi), human papillomavirus (HPV) testing technologies for cervical cancer, and thiopurine methyltransferase (TPMT) genetic testing. Given the flexibility (i.e., adaptability to different sources of data) and granularity (i.e., applicability across multiple levels of data aggregation) of overlay mapping techniques, we argue that these techniques can favor the integration and comparison of results from different contexts and cases, thus potentially functioning as a platform for "distributed" strategic intelligence for analysts and decision makers.


Higher education institutions (HEIs), across the globe, have been increasingly applying staff performance appraisals (PA) to ensure good quality educational outcomes, and to meet the requirements of national and international quality assurance and academic accreditation organizations. Staff at the forefront of PA since they are affected either positively or negatively by the outcome of the process. PA models and the way the process is conducted have long been a controversial issue among both academics and administrators in HEIs. The core of the debate is that PA models and their implementations may not always be sufficiently comprehensive, transparent, and fair enough to accurately and realistically reflect staff performance. Focusing on English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers in an Omani private university, the present study is aimed to investigate EFL teachers' views and perceptions about PA and the implementation practices with a view of providing some recommendations that could help improve the process. Most previous relevant studies in the literature seem to have addressed PA from a theoretical perspective, and there seems to be a lack of empirical studies. In contrast, the present study attempted to explore the issue more empirically, and to this end, the study adopted an exploratory qualitative research methodology with semi-structured interviews being the main method of data collection.Ten EFL teachers took part in the investigation through face-to-face tape-recorded interviews. Results indicated dissatisfaction with the PA system and its implementation, suggesting a number of deficiencies. Participants also questioned the validity of the prime role given to students in the evaluation of teachers in the PA process as well as the lack of effective criteria and transparency in the choice of peer appraisers. Moreover, the lack of communication and training of both appraisers and appraisees were among the major issues reported by the participants. Implications for PA practices improvement and advancement were presented and discussed.


Background: Global budgets have been proposed as a way to control health care expenditures, but experience with them in the United States is limited. Global budgets for Maryland hospitals, the All-Payer Model, began in January 2014. Objectives: To evaluate the effect of hospital global budgets on health care utilization and expenditures. Research Design: Quantitative analyses used a difference-in-differences design modified for nonparallel baseline trends, comparing trend changes from a 3-year baseline period to the first 3 years after All-Payer Model implementation for Maryland and a matched comparison group. Subjects: Hospitals in Maryland and matched out-of-state comparison hospitals. Fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries residing in Maryland and comparison hospital market areas. Measures: Medicare claims were used to measure total Medicare expenditures; utilization and expenditures for hospital and nonhospital services; admissions for avoidable conditions; hospital readmissions; and emergency department visits. Qualitative data on implementation were collected through interviews with senior hospital staff, state officials, provider organization representatives, and payers, as well as focus groups of physicians and nurses. Results: Total Medicare and hospital service expenditures declined during the first 3 years, primarily because of reduced expenditures for outpatient hospital services. Nonhospital expenditures, including professional expenditures and postacute care expenditures, also declined. Inpatient admissions, including admissions for avoidable conditions, declined, but, there was no difference in the change in 30-day readmissions. Moreover, emergency department visits increased for Maryland relative to the comparison group. Conclusions: This study provides evidence that hospital global budgets as implemented in Maryland can reduce expenditures and unnecessary utilization without shifting costs to other parts of the health care system.


For five decades, Michael Frome has crisscrossed America in the cause of conservation. Writer, teacher, advocate, and activist, Frome is a captivating speaker who has inspired young and old in many settings and offended many others by taking a strong, courageous stand in defense of our nation's resources and against political expediency, entrenched bureaucracy, and corporate greed. Greenspeak is a collection of addresses made by Frome from 1963 to 2001 speeches that offer insight into virtually every major conservation issue of the second half of the twentieth century. As exciting as Frome's personal appearances, these talks encapsulate the American environmental movement over its most turbulent and productive era. In speaking out on threats to wildlife and wilderness, abuse and misuse of public parks and forests, and environmental damages caused by chemical poisons, Frome displays incisive knowledge of these issues. Further, he provides revealing closeups of key events and personalities shaping the allocation and use of natural resources in the last half of the twentieth century. In these talks, for which Frome has written context-setting introductions, he also makes a strong case for advocacy journalism, urging his own original profession to move away from passionless objectivity. Stimulating and thought-provoking, Greenspeak clearly shows that Frome remains a strong, unflinching voice for environmental stewardship and the protection of nature. As Americans risk forgetting the struggles of earlier environmentalists with each succeeding generation, Frome's words bring that past to light and point the way toward promoting tomorrow's environmental causes. The Author: Michael Frome, who began his career as a reporter for the Washington Post, has been a featured columnist in Field & Stream, the Los Angeles Times, and Defenders of Wildlife. He has served as a professor at the universities of Idaho and Vermont, Western Washington University, and Northland College. His books include Conscience of a Conservationist, Promised Land, and Strangers in High Places: The Story of the Great Smoky Mountains, all available from Tennessee. "


We introduce weighted regular tree grammars with storage as combination of (a) regular tree grammars with storage and (b) weighted tree automata over multioperator monoids. Each weighted regular tree grammar with storage generates a weighted tree language, which is a mapping from the set of trees to the multioperator monoid. We prove that, for multioperator monoids canonically associated to particular strong bi-monoids, the support of the generated weighted tree languages can be generated by (unweighted) regular tree grammars with storage. We characterize the class of all generated weighted tree languages by the composition of three basic concepts. Moreover, we prove results on the elimination of chain rules and of finite storage types, and we characterize weighted regular tree grammars with storage by a new weighted MSO-logic.


Abstract A mechanistic droplet deposition model has been developed to quantify the direct-contact heat transfer present in dispersed flow film boiling. Lagrangian subscale trajectory calculations utilizing realistic velocity and temperature distributions in the momentum boundary layer are used to determine the number of dispersed droplets able to achieve contact with the heated wall. Coupling the droplet deposition model with a physical direct-contact heat transfer coefficient model allows the total direct-contact heat transfer to be determined based upon the local vapor mass flux, wall superheat, and vapor superheat. Comparisons to the existing models highlight the more mechanistic nature of the proposed model.


The present study was attempted to examine the role of paternal and maternal parenting styles as predictor of students' academic achievement. Parental Authority Questionnaire (Buri, 1991) further translated in Urdu by (Babree, 1997) was used to collect the information from participants. Student's result of previous final Exam was taken as Academic Achievement. Sample of the present study was consist on the F.A/F.Sc students (N= 350) of final year. Simple linear regression analysis was applied to test the hypothesis. The result of the study showed that maternal and paternal authoritative style was a positive predictor of academic achievement of adolescent. While maternal and paternal authoritarian styles of parents was found to be a negative predictor of academic achievement. The results for permissive parenting style of both mother and father were nonsignificant. The present study provided an insight to the roles of parenting to academic achievement


An old and celebrated analogy says that writing programs is like proving theorems. This analogy has been productive in both directions, but in particular has demonstrated remarkable utility in driving progress in programming languages, for example leading towards a better understanding of concepts such as abstract data types and polymorphism. One of the best known instances of the analogy actually rises to the level of an isomorphism: between Gentzen's natural deduction and Church's lambda calculus. However, as has been recognized for a while, lambda calculus fails to capture some of the important features of modern programming languages. Notably, it does not have an inherent notion of evaluation order, needed to make sense of programs with side effects. Instead, the historical descendents of lambda calculus (languages like Lisp, ML, Haskell, etc.) impose evaluation order in an ad hoc way.
This thesis aims to give a fresh take on the proofs-as-programs analogy—one which better accounts for features of modern programming languages—by starting from a different logical foundation. Inspired by Andreoli's focusing proofs for linear logic, we explain how to axiomatize certain canonical forms of logical reasoning through a notion of pattern. Propositions come with an intrinsic polarity, based on whether they are defined by patterns of proof, or by patterns of refutation. Applying the analogy, we then obtain a programming language with built-in support for pattern-matching, in which evaluation order is explicitly reflected at the level of types—and hence can be controlled locally, rather than being an ad hoc, global policy decision. As we show, different forms of continuation-passing style (one of the historical tools for analyzing evaluation order) can be described in terms of different polarizations. This language provides an elegant, uniform account of both untyped and intrinsically-typed computation (incorporating ideas from infinitary proof theory), and additionally, can be provided an extrinsic type system to express and statically enforce more refined properties of programs. We conclude by using this framework to explore the theory of typing and subtyping for intersection and union types in the presence of effects, giving a simplified explanation of some of the unusual artifacts of existing systems.


Avant-garde theorist and architect Bernard Tschumi is equally well known for his writing and his practice. Architecture and Disjunction, which brings together Tschumi's essays from 1975 to 1990, is a lucid and provocative analysis of many of the key issues that have engaged architectural discourse over the past two decades -- from deconstructive theory to recent concerns with the notions of event and program.The essays develop different themes in contemporary theory as they relate to the actual making of architecture, attempting to realign the discipline with a new world culture characterized by both discontinuity and heterogeneity. Included are a number of seminal essays that incited broad attention when they first appeared in magazines and journals, as well as more recent and topical texts.Tschumi's discourse has always been considered radical and disturbing. He opposes modernist ideology and postmodern nostalgia since both impose restrictive criteria on what may be deemed "legitimate" cultural conditions. He argues for focusing on our immediate cultural situation, which is distinguished by a new postindustrial "unhomeliness" reflected in the ad hoc erection of buildings with multipurpose programs. The condition of New York and the chaos of Tokyo are thus perceived as legitimate urban forms.


Countries dependent upon exploitation of natural resources often suffer from the 'resource curse', characterised by poor economic growth, low living standards, corruption, and political authoritarianism. Civil society organisations have been campaigning for voluntary and legal transparency in natural resource sectors as a way to combat these issues. These efforts helped to establish the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), a voluntary global standard for disclosing company payments and government revenues. Yet a decade since EITI was established, it is unclear how transparency works for development, particularly for those living closest to resource extraction projects. This paper considers whether 'localising' the transparency agenda – ie making it more relevant to local communities directly affected by extractive industry operations – might increase its potential to deliver sustainable development and poverty alleviation objectives within resource-dependent countries. Five case studies compare two lower middle-income countries that are EITI compliant (Ghana and Nigeria), two middle-income countries that are EITI compliant (Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan), and a lower-income country that is considering EITI participation (Uganda). The report offers a set of recommendations for EITI stakeholders aimed at ensuring that information generated through the EITI and other transparency initiatives leads ultimately to positive social and economic change for local communities. This publication forms part of IIED's work to identify pathways towards inclusive and responsible mining.


This text is an exercise in learning from the voices of the communities living in Indian villages near urban areas. It is a concerned, primarily, with learning what these communities have to say on their well-being and livelihoods and is, therefore, an attempt to record and register as much as possible of what these communities say. The data and information provided have been written as a transliteration of the language they were originally spoken and presented in; the analysis is that of the editors. Agriculture in urban and peri-urban areas of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh plays an important role not only as a source of livelihood but also in supplying food grains, vegetables, pulses, milk, frutis and other agricultural produce to urban and peri-urban communities and markets. It constitutes a major source of income and livelihood both for those who own land in and around such areas and for those offering their labour for employment. The range of food grains, pulses, cereals, vegetables and milk produced by farmers in such areas are in part for self-consumption and in part for sale in the market. This helps not only in supplying esential commodities, but also in stabilizing prices and markets and in maintaining stocks. The study, then, looks at the relationship between agriculture and urban and peri-urban areas, and the phenomenon of industrialization/urbanization - particularly air pollution as perceived and viewed by the farmers. In presenting these perspectives, the farmers gave insights into some related issues such as the role of agriculture in their livelihoods, the nature of agricultural constraints, the impact of air pollution on health status and quality of life, and the support systems for addressing the problems of the farmers.


Serial transmission is normally used with modems and for non-networked communication between computers, terminals and other devices. Fast, secure, reliable and long distance communication is crucial to meet user requirement. Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter (UART) is widely used in serial data communication because of its advantages of high reliability, long distance and low cost. In this paper, we have presented the important modules of UART for reliable, efficient and secure data transmission. We have presented baud rate generator, also known as prescaler and asynchronous first in first out (FIFO) buffer for smooth data transmission. Simulation result and register transfer view of both modules are presented in this paper.


Shortening product development cycles and fully customisable products pose major challenges for production systems. These not only have to cope with an increased product diversity but also enable high throughputs and provide a high adaptability and robustness to process variations and unforeseen incidents. To overcome these challenges, deep Reinforcement Learning (RL) has been increasingly applied for the optimisation of production systems. Unlike other machine learning methods, deep RL operates on recently collected sensor-data in direct interaction with its environment and enables real-time responses to system changes. Although deep RL is already being deployed in production systems, a systematic review of the results has not yet been established. The main contribution of this paper is to provide researchers and practitioners an overview of applications and to motivate further implementations and research of deep RL supported production systems. Findings reveal that deep RL is applied in a variety of production domains, contributing to data-driven and flexible processes. In most applications, conventional methods were outperformed and implementation efforts or dependence on human experience were reduced. Nevertheless, future research must focus more on transferring the findings to real-world systems to analyse safety aspects and demonstrate reliability under prevailing conditions.


Objectives To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy (DA) of CT-myocardial perfusion imaging (CT-MPI) and a combined approach with CT angiography (CTA) for the detection of haemodynamically relevant coronary stenoses in patients with both suspected and known coronary artery disease. Design Prospective, non-randomised, diagnostic study. Setting Academic hospital-based study. Patients 65 patients (42 men age 70.4±9) with typical or atypical chest pain. Interventions CTA and CT-MPI with adenosine stress using a fast dual-source CT system. At subsequent invasive angiography, FFR measurement was performed in coronary arteries to define haemodynamic relevance of stenosis. Main outcome measures We tried to correlate haemodynamically relevant stenosis (FFR < 0.80) to a reduced myocardial blood flow (MBF) as assessed by CT-MPI and determined the DA of CT-MPI for the detection of haemodynamically relevant stenosis. Results Sensitivity and negative predictive value (NPV) of CTA alone were very high (100% respectively) for ruling out haemodynamically significant stenoses, specificity, Positive predictive value (PPV) and DA were low (43.8, 67.3 and 72%, respectively). CT-MPI showed a significant increase in specificity, PPV and DA for the detection of haemodynamically relevant stenoses (65.6, 74.4 and 81.5%, respectively) with persisting high sensitivity and NPV for ruling out haemodynamically relevant stenoses (97% and 95.5% respectively). The combination of CTA and CT-MPI showed no further increase in detection of haemodynamically significant stenosis compared with CT-MPI alone. Conclusions Our data suggest that CT-MPI permits the detection of haemodynamically relevant coronary artery stenoses with a moderate DA. CT may, therefore, allow the simultaneous assessment of both coronary morphology and function.


(ABSTRACT) The purpose of this study was to examine privilege in families and uncover the complexities of sibling relationships in adulthood. Through interviewing 13 adult siblings and 3 mothers from 4 families my goal was to gain a clearer picture of what privilege in families means. The sample consisted of a family with 3 sisters, a family with 3 brothers and sister, a family with 4 brothers, and a family with 2 brothers and sister. The adult siblings ranged in age from 30 to 60, with an average age of 42. The mothers ranged in age from 62 to 70, with an average age of 67. The study was guided by three theoretical frameworks: a life course, a phenomenological, and a feminist perspective. I conducted this study utilizing an integration of qualitative and feminist methodologies. I used a snowball sampling technique to recruit participants. Data were collected through the use of qualitative in-depth interviews. The interview guides were developed based on the research questions, the review of literature, and the theories guiding the study. I draw 5 conclusions from this study. First, there is a sense of devotion to family that is both expected and fulfilled by simply spending time together, being there for each other in times of need, and at times compromising personal needs or wants. Second, there is an overarching sense of justice that is discussed in everyday language, but at the same time referred to as " something we don't ever think about. " Third, descriptions of having a continuous bond among siblings is verbalized as " being the same but different " or just feeling " something in the air, " while at the same time mourning the absence of something that is " gone forever. " Fourth, interviewing multiple family members extends the understanding of the difficulty of taking different stories heard by each family member and fitting them together into a " family photo. " Finally, maintaining an awareness iii of what it is like to try to " speak for your family " has a different meaning when you also hold the knowledge that everyone else is doing the same thing-but different.


Abstract. The Qinghai Tibetan Plateau permafrost has been the largest permafrost region in middle-low latitude in the world for its high altitude. For the large area permafrost, especially surface deformation brought by it, have serious influence on the road engineering, road maintaining and regional economic development. Consequently, it is essential to monitor the surface deformation and study factors that influent it. We monitored an area named Wudaoliang from July 25, 2015 to June 1, 2016 and 15 Sentinel images were obtained during this time. The area we chose is about 35 kilometers long and 2 kilometers wide, and the national road 109 of China passes through the area. The traditional PS-INSAR (Persistent Scatterer Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar) method is not suitable because less historical images in the research area and leading to the number of PS (Persistent Scatterer) points is not enough to obtain accurate deformation results. Therefore, in this paper, we used another method which named QUASI-PSInSAR (QUASI Persistent Scatterer Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar) to acquire deformation for it has the advantage to weaken or eliminate the effects of spatial and temporal correlation, which has proved by other scholar. After processing 15 images in the SARproz software, we got the conclusions that, 1) the biggest deformation velocity in the whole area was about 127.9mm/year and about 109.3 mm/year in the road; 2) apparent deformation which have surface deformation more than 30mm/year was about 1.7Km in the road. Meanwhile, soil moisture(SM), Land surface temperature (LST) and surface water(SW), which are primary parameters of the land surface over the same time were reversed by using Sentinel data, Landsat data and ZY-3 data, respectively. After analyzing SM, LST , SW and deformation, we obtained that wet areas which had bigger SM, lower LST and more SW, had greater percentage of severe deformation than arid areas; besides, deformation pattern were different in arid areas and wet areas. During the research time, frost heaving firstly accounted for a large proportion both in the arid and wet areas with the decrease of downward radiation from July to December; after December, thaw settlement came into prominence with the increase downward radiation in the arid areas, while in the wet areas, surface put into diverse situations because of water transformation leading to severe deformation. In summary, soil moisture is an important factor that influences the surface deformation. This relationship between deformation process and soil moisture will be researched more in our further work.


Marine reserves are expected to benefit a wide range of species, but most models used to evaluate their effects assume that adults are sedentary, thereby potentially overestimating population persistence. Many nearshore marine organisms move within a home range as adults, and there is a need to understand the effects of this type of movement on reserve performance. We incorporated movement within a home range into a spatially explicit marine reserve model in order to assess the combined effects of adult and larval movement on persistence and yield in a general, strategic framework. We describe how the capacity of a population to persist decreased with increasing home range size in a manner that depended on whether the sedentary case was maintained by self persistence or network persistence. Self persistence declined gradually with increasing home range and larval dispersal distance, while network persistence decreased sharply to 0 above a threshold home range and was less dependent on larval dispersal distance. The maximum home range size protected by a reserve network increased with the fraction of coastline in reserves and decreasing exploitation rates outside reserves. Spillover due to movement within a home range contributed to yield moderately under certain conditions, although yield contributions were generally not as large as those from spillover due to larval dispersal. Our results indicate that, for species exhibiting home range behavior, persistence in a network of marine reserves may be more predictable than previously anticipated from models based solely on larval dispersal, in part due to better knowledge of home range sizes. Including movement within a home range can change persistence results significantly from those assuming that adults are sedentary; hence it is an important consideration in reserve design.


This book describes and analyses the Swedish legal rules and practices regarding jurisdiction, mutual legal assistance in criminal matters, extradition and the EU arrest warrant. The Swedish law and practice in international criminal law is particularly significant for two main reasons. It is a system which is both logical and coherent. It displays a considerable Germanic theoretical influence, but its sophistication is tempered by pragmatism, designed to facilitate "user-friendliness". Secondly, the Nordic countries, because of a common history, and shared language and cultural factors, have long had a very high and effective degree of cooperation in international criminal law matters. The experience of the Nordic cooperation has been an important inspiration for the legislative work of the EU in the field. To create a "European judicial space", based upon both harmonization and mutual recognition of decisions, the EU has produced a large number of instruments to improve judicial and prosecutorial cooperation in criminal matters. With the adoption of the Lisbon treaty, the pace of EU legislation in the field will increase. These EU instrument cannot work effectively unless they are integrated properly into the criminal law systems of the member states, and these systems in turn facilitate efficient cooperation. The European judicial space also requires a high degree of understanding of other systems and a high level of mutual trust. At a time when regionalization and globalization are leading to an increase in the number of offences with a transnational dimension, this book is designed to make the "best practices" of the Swedish system of international criminal law accessible to an English-speaking legal public of both practitioners and academics.


Abstract The present study was designed to gain insight into the protists and fungi that made up the microbiota in the past, fossilized in two different substrates: amber and sandstone. The amber, dated as Lower Cretaceous, was from Álava in northern Spain, while fossil-bearing sandstone rocks were collected from the Linnaeus terrace and Mount Fleming regions of Antarctica. When examining this type of inclusion in hard substrates, it first has to be established whether the microorganism is mummified or only partially mineralized. In the latter case, some of the organism's autofluorescence may be preserved. In our amber samples, light microscopy revealed a very well preserved microcenosis in what must have been a semiaquatic habitat comprised of several types of protozoa including Amoeba, Paramecium and Astasia (Euglena), Amebas limax and the colpodid ciliate Pseudoplatyophrya nana, as well as an abundant fossilized mycelium. The SEM-BSE procedure provided us with ultrastructural details of the fungi and protozoa, especially amoebae and flagellates. In the sandstone samples from Linnaeus terrace, it was possible to identify presumptive diatoms. Ultrastructural details were well-preserved in a fossil Trebouxia-type microalga from Mount Flemming, including the inner chloroplast area normally occupied by the pyrenoid. This fossilized microalga was shown by energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) to contain high Si levels in the pyrenoid zone, and high Fe levels in the area corresponding to the chloroplast periphery, peripheric cytoplasm and cell wall. In sandstone from Linnaeus Terrace, fossilized algae showed no central core containing Si, and the entire cell appeared to be completely filled with Al, K and Fe, with Fe most intensely observed within the algal wall. The present observations suggest that a well-preserved cell ultrastructure is the best criterion of biogenicity.


This paper considers an architecture referred to as Cascade Region Proposal Network (Cascade RPN) for improving the region-proposal quality and detection performance by systematically addressing the limitation of the conventional RPN that heuristically defines the anchors and aligns the features to the anchors. First, instead of using multiple anchors with predefined scales and aspect ratios, Cascade RPN relies on a single anchor per location and performs multi-stage refinement. Each stage is progressively more stringent in defining positive samples by starting out with an anchor-free metric followed by anchor-based metrics in the ensuing stages. Second, to attain alignment between the features and the anchors throughout the stages, adaptive convolution is proposed that takes the anchors in addition to the image features as its input and learns the sampled features guided by the anchors. A simple implementation of a two-stage Cascade RPN achieves 13.4 point AR higher than that of the conventional RPN, surpassing any existing region proposal methods. When adopting to Fast R-CNN and Faster R-CNN, Cascade RPN can improve the detection mAP by 3.1 and 3.5 points, respectively. The code will be made publicly available at https://github.com/thangvubk/Cascade-RPN.


Lowering pH of a microbiological medium from 7 to 4 decreased cadmium toxicity during naphthalene biodegradation by a Burkholderia sp. Cadmium speciation and cadmium accumulation in the system were studied to explain this effect. Cadmium speciation was determined by direct measurement and by geochemical modeling. Previous studies have implicated the monovalent hydroxylated cadmium (CdOH+) species in the effect of pH on cadmium toxicity. Modeling analysis predicted CdOH+ formation only at very low concentrations (≤0.0128 μM), while the measured concentration of divalent ionic cadmium (Cd2+) was at least three orders of magnitude greater, suggesting that Cd2+ is the more significant metal form. With respect to cadmium accumulation, cells contained in media adjusted to pH 4 accumulated only 2.76 ± 0.76 mg Cd/g cells, whereas cells in media adjusted to pH 7 accumulated 8.52 ± 0.71 mg Cd/g cells. These data suggest that cadmium toxicity is correlated with increased cadmium accumulation rather than the formation of CdOH+ as pH is increased. At low pH, the decrease in cadmium accumulation may be caused by increased competition between hydrogen and cadmium ions for binding sites on the cell surface or by an increase in metal efflux pump activity due to an increase in the proton gradient that drives the efflux pump.


Introduction: Recent research suggests that bariatric surgery may be associated with functional brain changes. Baseline functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) food motivation paradigms may reveal particular patterns of brain activation, which could indicate successful outcomes in weight and other behavioral outcomes following bariatric surgery. The aim of the present study was to determine if activation to food images during a baseline fMRI food motivation paradigm is associated with post-surgical laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB) outcomes. We hypothesized that areas previously implicated in food motivation and reward, as well as, cognitive control (inferior, middle, medial superior prefrontal cortex (PFC)) would be associated with changes in weight, hunger, cognitive restraint, and disinhibition. Methods: 18 participants viewed food and non-food pictures from a well-established food motivation paradigm during an fMRI scanning session prior to LAGB surgery. Weight and three factor eating questionnaire (TFEQ) scores on cognitive restraint, disinhibition, and hunger were assessed pre-surgery and three and six months post-surgery. fMRI data were analyzed using BrainVoyager QX statistical package. Results: Whole brain analyses, corrected for multiple comparisons, were performed to analyze the relationship between pre-surgical brain activation and subsequent weight loss. Increased activity in frontal regions associated with cognitive control (medial, middle, superior frontal iii gyrus), with the exception of inferior frontal gyrus, was associated with more weight loss following LAGB. Increased activity in posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) was also associated with greater weight loss post-LAGB. In contrast, decreased brain activity to food cues in frontal areas related to control (inferior, middle, medial, and superior frontal gyri) and increased activity in areas related to reward and motivation (PCC) at baseline was associated with greater improvement in hunger, cognitive restraint, and disinhibition following surgery. Discussion: This is the first study to use fMRI to predict LAGB outcomes. We found that neural activity in previously established regions associated with food motivation, visual attention, and higher order processing predict weight loss following bariatric surgery. These preliminary findings highlight the role of neural circuitry in the success and maintenance of weight loss and suggest a possible future use of fMRI in screening LAGB surgery candidates.


A phosphorus-based model of nutrient cycling has been developed and used in conjunction with a general circulation model to evaluate the roles of the dissolved and sinking particulate phases in the downward transport of organic matter in the ocean. If sinking particles dominate the downward transport and remineralize in accord with observations made primarily with sediment traps, we find in equatorial upwelling regions that particle fluxes and thermocline nutrient concentrations are higher than observed. These enhanced fluxes and concentrations are a result of what we term "nutrient trapping," a positive feedback whereby high upwelling produces high new production that results in remineralization and enhanced nutrient concentrations in the upwelling water, which further increases new production. Nutrient trapping in shallow upwelling zones can be eliminated by increasing the particle flux length scale, which suggests that if sinking particles dominate the downward transport of organic matter then the flux length scale is longer than observed. Even with a longer particle flux length scale, we find that nutrients are trapped in some deep convective regions of the southern ocean, where new production is predicted to be much higher than the observed primary production. In simulations where the downward transport of organic matter takes place primarily in a dissolved phase, nutrient trapping is completely eliminated, in both upwelling and convective regions. The models with dissolved organic matter also agree fairly well with nutrient transports in the north Atlantic Ocean calculated from observed nutrient and hydrographic data (Rintoul and Wunsch, 1991). Our results therefore support the dissolved organic nitrogen and carbon measurements made with the high-temperature combustion technique of Suzuki et al. (1985) and Sugimura and Suzuki (1988) and suggest that there exists an as-yet undiscovered pool of dissolved organic phosphorus in the ocean. We also use the various models to make an estimate of global new production of 2.9 to 3.6 mol C/m2/yr (12 to 15 Gt C/yr).


We report on the experimental demonstration of a new type of nanoelectromechanical resonator based on black phosphorus crystals. Facilitated by a highly efficient dry transfer technique, crystalline black phosphorus flakes are harnessed to enable drumhead resonators vibrating at high and very high frequencies (HF and VHF bands, up to ∼100 MHz). We investigate the resonant vibrational responses from the black phosphorus crystals by devising both electrical and optical excitation schemes, in addition to measuring the undriven thermomechanical motions in these suspended nanostructures. Flakes with thicknesses from ∼200 nm down to ∼20 nm clearly exhibit elastic characteristics transitioning from the plate to the membrane regime. Both frequency- and time-domain measurements of the nanomechanical resonances show that very thin black phosphorus crystals hold interesting potential for moveable and vibratory devices and for semiconductor transducers where high-speed mechanical motions could be coupled to the attractive electronic and optoelectronic properties of black phosphorus.


The purpose of the study is to develop a data envelopment analysis (DEA) model to estimate the relative scale efficiency of platinum-mining companies' environmental performance. South African platinum-mines were used to demonstrate the model, which uses environmental performance indicators as the input variables in order to generate mineral extraction and financial performances as the output variables. The input variables considered were greenhouse gas emissions, water usage and energy usage, while the output variables were platinum production, return on equity and return on assets. The contribution of the study is that a DEA model was developed that could identify relatively efficient companies that could act as benchmarks with regard to environmental issues in the mining sector. A further contribution is that the study concluded that platinum-mining companies tend not to achieve economies of scale, where the companies that are relatively larger in size tend to operate on a scale that is too large and companies that are physically relatively smaller in size tend to operate on a scale that is too small.


We propose an approach to multivariate nonparametric regression that generalizes reduced rank regression for linear models. An additive model is estimated for each dimension of a q-dimensional response, with a shared p-dimensional predictor variable. To control the complexity of the model, we employ a functional form of the Ky-Fan or nuclear norm, resulting in a set of function estimates that have low rank. Backfitting algorithms are derived and justified using a nonparametric form of the nuclear norm subdifferential. Oracle inequalities on excess risk are derived that exhibit the scaling behavior of the procedure in the high dimensional setting. The methods are illustrated on gene expression data.


A novel method for bioassay of large volumes of human urine samples using manganese dioxide coprecipitation for preconcentration was developed for rapid determination of (237)Np. (242)Pu was utilized as a nonisotopic tracer to monitor the chemical yield of (237)Np. A sequential injection extraction chromatographic (SI-EC) system coupled with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICPMS) was exploited to facilitate the rapid column separation and quantification. The analytical results demonstrated satisfactory performance of the MnO(2) coprecipitation as indicated by the high chemical yields close to 100% and high separation capacity of processing up to 5 L of human urine samples. The MnO(2) coprecipitation process is simple and straightforward in which a batch (8-12) of samples can be pretreated within 4 h (i.e., <0.5 h/sample). In connection with the automated column separation and ICPMS quantification, which takes less than 1.5 h in total, the overall analytical time was on average less than 2 h for each sample. The high effectiveness and sample throughput make the developed method well suited for urine bioassay of (237)Np in routine monitoring of occupationally internal radiation exposure and rapid analysis of neptunium contamination level for emergency preparedness.


Centralized databases are becoming bottleneck for organizations that are physically distributed and access data remotely. Data management is easy in centralized databases. However, it carries high communication cost and most importantly high response time. The concept of distributing the data over various locations is very attractive for such organizations. In such cases the database is fragmented into fragments and distributed to the locations where it is needed. This kind of distribution provides local control of data and the data access is also very fast in such databases. However, concurrency control, query optimization and data allocations are the factors that affect the response time and must be investigated prior to implementing distributed databases. This thesis makes the use of mixed method approach to meet its objective. In quantitative section, we performed an experiment to compare the response time of two databases; centralized and fragmented/distributed. The experiment was performed at Ericsson. A literature review was also done to find out other important response time related issues like query optimization, concurrency control and data allocation. The literature review revealed that these factors can further improve the response time in distributed environment. Results of the experiment showed a substantial decrease in the response time due to the fragmentation and distribution.