PURPOSE
Clinical use of deformable image registration algorithms (DRA) requires a thorough preliminary study of their capacity and performance. To rigorously quantify the registrations, images showing deformation of precise amplitude must be used. Deformations representative of the average anatomical variations possibly encountered during radiation treatments were used for DRA evaluation.

METHODS
A three-dimensional anthropomorphic phantom representing the main pelvic structures (prostate, bladder, rectum, femoral heads) was created. Three types of deformation were studied: translation (prostate), volume variation (bladder) and deformation of contours without volume change (prostate). The design of the phantom allows a precise knowledge of deformation amplitudes. Each pairs of initial and deformed images were scanned on both CT and CBCT. This way an image database offering the same images on both modalities was available for intra and intermodality validation. The algorithm validated was an open-source software (Elastix) that offers a large control of the registration parameters.

RESULTS
Deformation of 5 mm on the contour, translation of 0.5, 1, 2 cm and volume variation of 50, 100, 200 ml were scanned on both modalities. Registration with basic Mutual information metric succeed between 98% and 71%, these results representing the fraction of the deformation registered with success on its initial image. The worst cases were observed when a CT is registered onto a CBCT. By combining the Mutual information registration metric with manually delineated points (corresponding point metric) the worst cases (71 to 79%) were greaty improved (88 to 96%).

CONCLUSION
By optimizing the deformation parameters in a controlled setting (i.e. an anthropomorphic phantom) we could achieve better DRA efficiency. Combining multiple registration metric lead to registration of superior quality. Deformable vector field shows that many areas free from actual deformation were altered during registration which indicate that deformation parameters optimized to improve registration of organ contours are not well suited for dose deformation.


As many information technology projects continue to fail, the requirement to establish a Project Management Office (PMO) has gained rapid acceptance in large organizations including Tanzanian banking sector. This paper is an effort to explore the influence of Project Management Office (PMO) on IT projects success in the Tanzanian banking sector using National Microfinance Bank (NMB PLC) as case study. Research approach used was exploratory study and methods for data collection were through semi-structured interviews and questionnaires which were administered to 30 respondents to both IT staffs and project managers from PMO department. Data analysis adapted Seidel Noticing, Collecting and Thinking Model. The study found out that, PMO has greater influence on IT project success, there is a mixture of IT project management practices within the bank depending on the nature of the IT project, and perceived IT project success not only based on meeting the triple constraints (time, cost, scope) but also when stated deliverables in terms of set objectives are achieved such as banking operations improvement. This study recommends that, PMO should provide project management training to IT staffs to improve project management knowledge which may increase IT projects success.


Introduction In historical research into the Hungarian Civil Revolution and War of Independence of 1848, there has so far been no interpretation of liberal tendencies in the different Church communities. Marxist historians tended to emphasise the role of the Churches in supporting feudal counter-revolutionary movements. The aims of this presentation are to deal with the liberal changes in the various Churches in 1848 and to summarise the attitude of liberal clergymen in Hungary to politics at that time. Before the Revolution in 1848, the position of the Catholic Church in Hungary was not independent of secular politics. The state, as elsewhere in Europe, intervened quite strongly in Church affairs. For the Protestant and Orthodox Churches, freedom of religion was guaranteed by law, but they were also subject to the state's right of supervision. On the other hand, the different denominations themselves sought state support against the increasing worldliness. Indifference to religion was becoming increasingly more popular amongst the educated population. This new challenge provoked fundamentally different responses within the Churches. There were those who wanted liberal reforms that would help to solve this crisis, while others insisted on adherence to the traditional way of religious life. (1) In 1848, Hungary was part of the Habsburg Empire in Europe and had its own liberal government from 11 April, when the Monarch sanctioned the new civil laws in Parliament. As a consequence of the changes, the tithe (decima), the tax that had been paid to the Church for centuries, was abolished and a total equality of rights was ensured for the Catholic, Lutheran, Calvinist, Unitarian and Orthodox Churches. (2) In their sermons delivered at the urging of the state authorities in the spring of 1848, clergymen welcomed the changes and offered support to the state. The new laws were explained to the illiterate population not only by Catholic priests, but also by Calvinist ministers. Menyhert Egri Szabo, a Calvinist minister, preached in the town of Nagykoros as follows: "Civil freedom does not mean unruliness, confusion, or disorder; much rather, it means law and responsibility." God "could not have wanted to restrict our rights and our freedom; on the contrary, he wished to ensure them." (3) On the whole, in the spring of 1848, the different tendencies to change within the Churches were beginning to become clear. In all church communities, the possibility of a democratic transformation seemed to be a crucial point. Alajos Pramer, a Catholic priest in the diocese of Kassa, influenced by Lamennais, expressed his wish to abolish the chapters and to establish a new democratic Presbyterian system. Numerous Catholic priests insisted on the abolition of celibacy and on the creation of a democratic Church government. The main point was to achieve change in the Church government in such a way that it would resemble the manner in which the liberal secular society worked. (4) Similar movements started in other Hungarian denominations, too. On 7 May 1848, Laszlo Miho, a Calvinist minister, made his inaugural speech in Kecskemet, in which he did not deny that it was primarily required of a Calvinist minister that he should "follow the age of progress with his whole cast of mind and build up a good relationship with the new mode of thinking and ideology". (5) The Orthodox dioceses were not exceptions. In the spring of 1849, during the appointment of the new Episcopal representative of the episcopate of Arad, a majority of the participating priests decided against the wishes of the conservative Church leaders, and Stefan Chirilescu, parish priest in Talpas, was elected deputy bishop in a democratic way. (6) The Hungarian Jewry also showed signs of internal diversity. Rabbi Ignac Einhorn, leader of the Jewish Reform Church Community in Pest, fought for reforms such as equal rights for Jewish and non-Jewish people, services in the Hungarian language, and reforms of Jewish religious ceremonies (services on Sundays instead of Saturdays, playing the organ in the synagogue, etc. …


Fatty acid composition, marbling score and melting point data collected between 1994 and 1996 were analysed. The data were from the adipose tissue of 764 Angus, Belgian Blue, Hereford, Jersey, Limousin, South Devon and Wagyu crossbred cattle slaughtered after lot-feeding at 500 days of age. The aim was to investigate sire-breed differences and to estimate heritability and genetic and phenotypic correlations. Significant breed differences were found: Jersey crosses had the highest marbling score and Belgian Blue crosses had the lowest. Limousin crosses had the highest melting point and Jersey crosses the lowest. South Devon crosses had the highest proportion of stearate and Jersey crosses the lowest. Desaturation indices in C16 and C18 fatty acids were highest in Jersey crosses and lowest in Limousin and South Devon crosses. In contrast, there were no breed differences in the proportions of palmitate, oleate, total saturated, total mono-unsaturated fatty acids and elongation index. Heritability estimates of individual fatty acids and their summations, melting point and marbling were low to moderately low (0.05 to 0.27). Strong genetic correlations of melting point and desaturation index in C16 fatty acids (-0.93), melting point and stearate (0.62), marbling and stearate (-0.71) and marbling and desaturation index in C18 fatty acids (0.62) were observed. Phenotypic correlation were generally low. The results imply that fatty acids in the adipose tissue of lot-fed cattle have a moderately low heritability, hence genetic progress might be slow.


River Nile represents the most important source of freshwater in Egypt. There are several factors lead to the water pollution in the River Nile System (main stream Nile, drains and canals). The water quality of River Nile was good despite high organic loads discharged from some of the drains and industrial activities. These were harmful both to human and stream ecosystem health. A biological approach to monitoring water quality incorporates use of stream organisms themselves as a basis for pollution detection. Fish and aquatic insects considered as bio-indicators of pollutant effects and help to investigate possible environmental problems. One of the recent biochemical techniques for detecting DNA damage as a result of DNA single strand breaks, alkali-labile sites, and cross-linking is the alkaline (pH>13) single cell gel SCG assay. In this study the comet assay measure the DNA damage in various stages of the mosquito Culex pipiens collected from two different polluted water streams (Nikla and Elmansoreyh). The DNA damage measured in 3 rd , 4 th larval instars, pupa, male and female adults. It is clear from the results obtained in this study that the genotoxicity of water pollution of two different polluted water streams (Nikla and Elmansoreyh) in C. pipiens was high in larval and pupal stages and this study affirmed the appropriateness of the comet assay as a sensitive tool for environmental monitoring. Additionally, it can be proposed that C. pipiens is a strong aquatic bioindicator of genotoxicity.


The industrial application of the Diels–Alder reaction for the atom-efficient synthesis of (hetero)cyclic compounds constitutes an important challenge. Safety and purity concerns, related to the instability of the polymerization prone diene and/or dienophile, limit the scalability of the production capacity of Diels–Alder products in a batch mode. To tackle these problems, the use of a high-pressure continuous microreactor process was considered. In order to increase the yields and the selectivity towards the endo-isomer, commercially available zeolites were used as a heterogeneous catalyst in a microscale packed bed reactor. As a result, a high conversion (≥95%) and endo-selectivity (89 : 11) were reached for the reaction of cyclopentadiene and methyl acrylate, using a 1 : 1 stoichiometry. A throughput of 0.87 g h−1 during at least 7 h was reached, corresponding to a 3.5 times higher catalytic productivity and a 14 times higher production of Diels–Alder adducts in comparison to the heterogeneous lab-scale batch process. Catalyst deactivation was hardly observed within this time frame. Moreover, complete regeneration of the zeolite was demonstrated using a straightforward calcination procedure.


This study forms part of the author's longstanding research regarding social, educational and professional mobility observed in Argentina across three generations, associated with the factor of Education and with the greater flow of immigrants in the last century. This research encompasses various smaller studies. Here we mention one, a French-Argentine comparative study in which we worked with PhD s from different institutions and different social science PhD programs. Our objective was: a) to analyze what factors (quantitative) and what reasons (qualitative) positively and negatively impacted professional pathways (career mobility); b) to observe the level of educational mobility present in families with PhD s, taking the issue from different paradigms (reproductionist/interactionist): University of elites? University of the masses? The methodology was both quantitative and qualitative, using semi-structured surveys (which included open-ended statements so respondents could expand); the hierarchical evocation technique and interviews. Results: a) we observed the intergenerational educational mobility of PhD s (quantitative-descriptive level); b) we understood some of the "reasons" and "sense" that underlie said mobility and that have either acted as driving forces or have not acted as driving forces of social and cultural-educational promotion (qualitative level). c) We found similar levels of intergenerational educational mobility for PhD s in France and Argentina (graduates of various PhD programs). This result is interesting in the face of well-held myths of educational "hypo mobility" , intergenerational drops in mobility, stagnation, a lack of educational/cultural promotion under "plafond" effects, or a saturation of degree holders, above all in developed countries. From the point of view of identity, this high level of intergenerational educational mobility impacted national, institutional and micro individual identity; three planes in sustained interaction using the author's theory: The Three Dimensional Spiral of Sense ((2015 a and b).


Organization as a system of behavior included input, process and output. A collection of people, facilities and infrastructure could be used as input for further processing. Form and the process can be the interaction of people involved in the organization. The form of output was a result of cooperation in implementing something to achieved the same goal. The general purpose of operation can not function when not translated into specific objectives. Its not easy to measure achievement objectives for organizations that do not produce tangible outputs such as in the College of Economics Totalwin Semarang engaged in the business of education services. In such organizations, faculty and staff input is a factor that perform a process in order to create good output. One of the problems still faced by the existing College of Economics Totalwin Semarang until now was "Why do some lecturers work better than other lecturer?" One of the tasks Management College of Economics Totalwin Semarang was to identify the causes of things that could happen. Source of effectiveness of lecturers include motivation, ability, knowledge, skills, attitudes and stress. The differences are influenced by the motivation of work and that can lead to different performance of each faculty. The problem in this study were 1). Work motivation could affect on the performance of lecturers STIE Totalwin Semarang. 2). Which was the factor of work motivation could dominant affected the lecturer performance in STIE  Totalwin Semarang The sample in this study was 31 lecturer in STIE Totalwin Semarang. Analysis tools used test validity and reliability, multiple correlation analysis and multiple linear regression. The results of this analysis showed r 0.3440 table from 4:12 to 9 points table (variable) has a positive value and valid


The purpose of this descriptive study was to apply 2nd order confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural relationship models to identify the digital competency components essential to undergraduate students in Thai higher education institutions. The sample comprised 1,126 specialists in Information Technology, Computer Technology, Computer Education, Computer Science, and Computer Engineering working in public higher education instructions throughout the country. The selection was the result of multi-stage random sampling from 76 public higher education instructions that offer undergraduate education. The instrument was a questionnaire form on essential digital competency components for undergraduate students in higher education institutions. The question items employed a 7-point Likert scale and showed Cronbach's alpha values for the content validity and reliability at a range of.93-.97 per domain and .87-.99 per component. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics for general data and 2nd Order CFA analysis. The findings revealed that from 24 observed variables, there were 7 competency components.: 1) Fundamental of digital ; 2) Accessing digital information; 3) Using digital information; 4) Creating digital information and media; 5) Communicating digital information; 6) Managing digital information; and 7) Evaluating digital information. The discovery from this study was substantially constructive for Thai higher education institutions as it could be used to design an essential digital competency framework of the 21st century.


Abstract. We study the synoptic and mesoscale characteristics of a snowfall event over the Bolivian Altiplano in August 2013 that caused severe damage to people, infrastructure and livestock. This event was associated with a cold front episode following the eastern slope of the Andes-Amazon interface and a cut-off low pressure system (COL) over the Pacific Ocean. Large scale analyses suggest a two-stage mechanism: The first phase consisted of a strong cold surge to the east of the Andes inducing low level blocking of southward moisture transport over the SW Amazon basin due to post-frontal high-pressure up to 500 hPa synchronized to a Rossby wave train. The second stage was initiated by the displacement of 500 hPa anticyclone over the Andes due to a Rossby wave passage and a subsequent increase in north-easterly moisture transport, while another cold front along the eastern Andes provided additional lifting. We analyse an analog event (July 2010) to confirm the influence of these large-scale features on snow formation. We conduct a mesoscale analysis using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF-ARW) model. For this purpose, we perform a series of high-resolution numerical experiments that include sensitivity studies where we apply orographic and lake Titicaca temperature modifications. We compare our findings to MODIS snow cover estimates and in-situ measurements. The control simulation is able to capture the snow cover spatial distribution and sheds light over several aspects of the snowfall dynamics. In our WRF simulations, daytime snowfall mainly occurs around complex orography whereas nocturnal snowfall is concentrated over the plateau due to a combination of nocturnal winds and complex orography inside the plateau. The sensitivity experiments indicate the importance of the lake and mountain for thermal wind circulation affecting the spatial distribution of snowfall by shifting the position of the convergence zones. The influence of the lake's thermal effect is not evident around the regions surrounding the lake.


The paper focuses on handling schedule risks. For each schedule activity, a statistical distribution of its duration is to be defined. Therefore, a research was undertaken to develop a method to assist planners in determining activity duration distribution parameters according to risk level. A triangular distribution was assumed, and its parameters estimated on the basis of three input values (the most likely, pessimistic and optimistic durations). In contrast to the Program Evaluation and Review Technique, the approach proposed in the paper assumes that these input values should be evaluated independently of the particular project's conditions and could be derived from the planner's database of past experience. For the risk evaluation, the AHP was adopted. The proposed risk model – considering the diversity of activity types – was based on evaluating and weighting the particular project's characteristics and expected conditions. This approach, combined with simulation technique, is argued to improve project planning and evaluation of risk mitigation alternatives.


In order to study the effect of the angle of wedged indenters during nanoindentation, indenters with half vertex angles of 60°, 70° and 80° are used for the simulations of nanoindentation on FCC aluminum (Al) bulk material by the multiscale quasicontinuum method (QC). The load-displacement responses, the strain energy-displacement responses, and hardness of Al bulk material are obtained. Besides, atomic configurations for each loading situation are presented. We analyze the drop points in the load-displacement responses, which correspond to the changes of microstructure in the bulk material. From the atom images, the generation of partial dislocations as well as the nucleation and the emission of perfect dislocations have been observed with wedged indenters of half vertex angles of 60° and 70°, but not 80°. The stacking faults move beneath the indenter along the direction [ 1 1 ¯ 0 ] . The microstructures of residual displacements are also discussed. In addition, hardness of the Al bulk material is different in simulations with wedged indenters of half vertex angles of 60° and 70°, and critical hardness in the simulation with the 70° indenter is bigger than that with the 60° indenter. The size effect of hardness in plastic wedged nanoindentation is observed. There are fewer abrupt drops in the strain energy-displacement response than in the load-displacement response, and the abrupt drops in strain energy-displacement response reflect the nucleation of perfect dislocations or extended dislocations rather than partial dislocations. The wedged indenter with half vertex angle of 70° is recommended for investigating dislocations during nanoindentation.


Teachers are the most important school-specific factor in student learning. Yet, little evidence exists linking teacher professional development programs and the strategies or activities that comprise them to student achievement. In this paper, we examine a fellowship model for professional development designed and implemented by Leading Educators, a national nonprofit organization that aims to bridge research and practice to improve instructional quality and accelerate learning across school systems. During the 2015-16 and 2016-17 school years, Leading Educators conducted its fellowship program for two cohorts of teachers and school leaders to provide these educators ongoing, collaborative, job-embedded professional development and to improve student achievement. Relying on quasi-experimental methods, we find that a school's participation in the fellowship program significantly increased student proficiency rates in English language arts and math on state achievement exams. Student achievement benefitted from a more sustained duration of participation in the fellowship program, varied depending on the share of a school's educators who participated in the fellowship, and differed based on whether fellows independently selected into the program or were appointed to participate by their school leaders. Taken together, findings from this paper should inform professional learning organizations, schools, and policymakers on the design, implementation, and impact of educator professional development.


In critique of the current growth process being experienced in India and China where inequalities have increased dramatically despite extraordinarily high growth rates, this paper argues that an increase in inequality is built into the dynamics of the system through the non-using up of their "labour reserves". Labour reserves continue to remain non-exhausted because at the rate of growth of labour productivity, which arises as a consequence of the shift in demand towards products that entail the use of technology with higher labour productivity, the rate of growth of labour demand does not adequately exceed the rate of growth of labour supply. The shift in demand itself arises from a shift in income distribution away from wages to surplus. Therefore, any growth strategy for India and China, if it is to address their social needs, must be one capable of rapidly absorbing their labour reserves. In this context, the author re-emphasizes the need for a growth strategy stimulated by an expansion of agriculture, which, in turn, must be based on nonexpropriation of the peasantry from land. JEL Classification O 30; O 40; J 20


This paper is concerned with the role of unconscionability in the doctrine of penalties. It argues that unconscionability, although clearly a requirement in the Australian doctrine of penalties, is un elusive concept that has given rise to much confusion. This is because of the general uncertainty of the doctrine, ambiguity in the meaning of the term 'unconscionahility' and uncertainty as to whether unconscionability is a separate requirement in determining whether a liquidated damages provision is a penalty. This paper argues that if unconscionahility is to continue us a requirement in judicial determination of penalties, the courts should maintain a robust and relatively narrow notion of unconscionability. This is because the very purpose of liquidated damages clauses is to avoid uncertainty and litigation and to minimise the likelihood and costs of disputes. Ironically, the continued uncertainty surrounding the concept of 'unconscionability', and therefore the doctrine of penalties as a whole - means that 1iquidated damages c1auses actually perpetuate, rather than avoid, these problems


Abstract This paper is a contribution to research on the expression of expert advice-giving (e.g., Heritage and Sefi 1992; Silverman et al. 1992). We present a linguistic analysis of the ways in which the identity of the fictional expert advisor Lucy emerges in an Internet advice column run by professional health educators as part of a university health service. In discourse-analytical close readings of 280 question–answer records, we identify and discuss seven recurring strategies (the advisor's name, self-reference and use of address terms; expert information-giving; giving options and making readers think; the choice of vocabulary; offering opinions; the use of empathy; the display of humor), which together contribute to Lucy's voice as an expert advice-giver if the readers repeatedly access the question–answer exchanges. This emerging identity is in line with the site's mission to provide information designed to facilitate independent and responsible decision processes and corresponds to an ideal of nondirectiveness, as also identified in the literature on other advisory settings (He 1994; Sarangi and Clarke 2002; Vehviläinen 2003). The constructed identity of Lucy thus makes 'Lucy Answers' an attractive site to (re)turn to for advice and complements the other services provided by the health educators.


Aim: This study investigated the effect of antiepileptic drug monotherapy on cognitive functions in pediatric epilepsy patients.
Methods: 98 recently diagnosed epilepsy patients aged 6-16 years were included. All patients underwent routine laboratory tests, electroencephalography, brain magnetic resonance imaging, and intelligence testing. The patients were treated with valproic acid (VA), carbamazepine (CBZ), oxcarbazepine (OXC), or levetiracetam (LEV). The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-R) was applied three times, before, six months and 12 months after the start of antiepileptic therapy.
Results: No significant difference was determined among the mean verbal, performance and total intelligence scores of patients using a single antiepileptic drug at baseline, after six or 12 months.
Conclusion:  We conclude that the type of antiepileptic drug using has no adverse effects on cognitive functions.


The extinction spectra of aqueous sulfuric acid aerosols fully covering the mid-IR to visible regions from 750 to 23,000 cm(-1) (13.9-0.4 microm) have been measured in the laboratory with a Fourier-transform spectrometer. Both large and small aerosol particles with compositions of approximately 60-70-wt. % H(2)SO(4) were generated and their spectra recorded at 230 and 294 K. The spectra were fitted to a model incorporating room-temperature refractive-index data [Appl. Opt. 14, 208 (1975)] and Mie theory calculations to characterize the composition and size distributions of the aerosol samples.


This thesis examines the production and reception of discourses concerning religion in fictional broadcasting. It argues that the representation of religion in fictional broadcasting is a neglected area in the sociology of mass media and that this neglect contributes to a lack of understanding regarding the importance of religious identity. Production was investigated through interviewing broadcasters who were responsible for some of the most frequently mentioned programmes in the focus group interviews. A smaller number of broadcasters who were involved with religious broadcasting were also interviewed, with the intention of exploring the broadcasting ethos in relation to religion. Broadcasters confirmed that a secular ethos dominated but they also identified a number of constraints, which affected decisions to include or exclude religion from programmes. The elision of ethnicity with religion was also evident and much of this was related to broadcasting policy in relation to cultural diversity, which emphasised race as the most important factor. The relationship between religion and broadcasting since the start of broadcasting was examined through an analysis of letters and articles in The Radio Times and The Listener. This analysis demonstrated the increasingly secular attitudes on the part of both audiences and producers. It also provided an historical contextualisation for the contemporary part of the research. Academic arguments concerning secularization generally and its relationship to broadcasting, specifically, were examined. Although there are debates about the legitimacy of the secularization thesis, within academe, this study suggests that within broadcasting the argument has been won and religion is seen as far less relevant that race, gender or disability. The conclusion of the study is that representations of religion should be taken more seriously by academics and broadcasters because they do have an effect on attitudes that affect social inclusion and exclusion. Whilst this is problematic for Christians and Sikhs the findings of this study suggest that it is particularly problematic for Muslims.


Prehistoric Amerindian society in the Caribbean has appealed to us ever since Columbus set foot on the Bahamas. In this archaeological study, Sebastiaan Knippenberg touches upon a single but important aspect of this society: inter-village exchange. Contrary to the impersonal and purely economic trade relationships in our Western society, exchange relationships in small-scale societies are embedded in many more aspects, than economy alone, and therefore are regarded as very important - crucial for the well-being of small local communities. A very fruitful approach in unraveling these prehistoric exchange relationships within the Caribbean, and in particular among the Lesser Antilles, has been the study of the manufacture and distribution of stone tools and other stone objects. They represent one of the few important non-perishable materials in the region's archaeological record. Three specific scarce rock varieties, all originating from single islands, including Antigua and St. Martin, play a central role in this study. The indigenous populations used these three materials for totally different purposes during the Ceramic Age (500 BC - AD 1492). By carefully looking at the manufacture process, the places of manufacture, and the distribution of these materials among the different islands of the northern Antilles, Sebastiaan Knippenberg has demonstrated that inter-island traffic and inter-island exchange formed a recurrent and important feature of Ceramic Age society. From his data he further argues that exchange played a different role through time in the Antilles. During the Early Ceramic Age it was particularly intended for maintaining cohesion among a society, which was exploring and settling a new environment. In later times, it became a platform by which local headman were displaying their power in their whish to gain regional leadership


In 2000 a Review of Current Marine Observations in relation to present and future needs was undertaken by the Inter-Agency Committee for Marine Science and Technology (IACMST). The Marine Environmental Change Network (MECN) was initiated in 2002 as a direct response to the recommendations of the report. A key part of the current phase of the MECN is to ensure that information from the network is provided to policy makers and other end-users to enable them to produce more accurate assessments of ecosystem state and gain a clearer understanding of factors influencing change in marine ecosystems.
The MECN holds workshops on an annual basis, bringing together partners maintaining time-series and long-term datasets as well as end-users interested in outputs from the network. It was decided that the first workshop of the MECN continuation phase should consist of an evaluation of the time series and data sets maintained by partners in the MECN with regard to their 'fit for purpose' for answering key science questions and informing policy development. This report is based on the outcomes of the workshop.
Section one of the report contains a brief introduction to monitoring, time series and long-term datasets. The various terms are defined and the need for MECN type data to complement compliance monitoring programmes is discussed. Outlines are also given of initiatives such as the United Kingdom Marine Monitoring and Assessment Strategy (UKMMAS) and Oceans 2025.
Section two contains detailed information for each of the MECN time series / long-term datasets including information on scientific outputs and current objectives. This information is mainly based on the presentations given at the workshop and therefore follows a format whereby the following headings are addressed: Origin of time series including original objectives; current objectives; policy relevance; products (advice, publications, science and society).
Section three consists of comments made by the review panel concerning all the time series and the network. Needs or issues highlighted by the panel with regard to the future of long-term datasets and time-series in the UK are shown along with advice and potential solutions where offered. The recommendations are divided into 4 categories; 'The MECN and end-user requirements'; 'Procedures & protocols'; 'Securing data series' and 'Future developments'.
Ever since marine environmental protection issues really came to the fore in the 1960s, it has been recognised that there is a requirement for a suitable evidence base on environmental change in order to support policy and management for UK waters. Section four gives a brief summary of the development of marine policy in the UK along with comments on the availability and necessity of long-term marine observations for the implementation of this policy. Policy relating to three main areas is discussed; Marine Conservation (protecting biodiversity and marine ecosystems); Marine Pollution and Fisheries. The conclusion of this section is that there has always been a specific requirement for information on long-term change in marine ecosystems around the UK in order to address concerns over pollution, fishing and general conservation. It is now imperative that this need is addressed in order for the UK to be able to fulfil its policy commitments and manage marine ecosystems in the light of climate change and other factors.


The latest assessment by the American Hospital Association (AHA) reveals that there are 126,000 vacancies for registered nurses (RN) in hospitals alone. AHA terms the shortage the "most critical manpower problem facing hospitals across America." Community colleges play a key role in educating nurses: 60 percent of all U.S.-educated RNs who entered the field in 2000 received their education at the associate degree in nursing (ADN) level, and 79 percent of ADN recipients graduated from community colleges. Research into the problems and prospects of the nursing profession and the role of community colleges in nursing education reveals the following:


Technology advancements in microwave systems demand for high performance electronic devices. This leads to the creation and development of new microwave filter topologies to achieve better selection and control of response. Ring based filter Topologies become immediately attractive options as they offer dual resonance in their response which will ensure high selectivity and physical compactness of the filter. However, in some cases, the ring filters do not come with complete mathematical synthesis, making them difficult to design and to be generalized at higher order. This thesis introduces a single mode ring resonator, fed via one of the resonator's quarter-wavelength coupled-line for simplification, with less control parameters. A global synthesis is developed to fix the transmission zeros and experiments are conducted to prove the validity of the synthesis and subsequently can be generalized for higher-order filters. To prove this concept, higher-order filters were realized by cascading the single mode ring to form multiple cells and additional coupled-lines were introduced in the structure to create additional poles. The global synthesis of the single mode ring was applied to demonstrate the flexibility of the single mode ring topology and its synthesis. Higher-order filters of up to 5th-order were implemented in the range of 1 GHz to 2 GHz to give a different range of fractional bandwidth between 10% - 26%. Further advancement on the application of single mode ring topology is presented in this thesis for reconfigurable filter application. By manipulating the electrical length of the ring lines using external tunable elements, the electrical length of the ring was varied, hence, shifting the frequency response to a desired position. The reconfigurable filter with its tunable scheme synthesis was developed to control the frequency response at arbitrary center frequency. Based on this reconfigurable concept and its synthesis, two reconfigurable designs were achieved using two different techniques. The first technique made use of lumped capacitors and was successfully reconfigured from 2 GHz to 984.4 MHz; while miniaturisation achieved up to 71% as compared to the conventional filter designed directly at 1 GHz. The second design made use of varactor-diodes and shifted the resonance frequency from 1.10 GHz to 1.38 GHz, spreading over 280 MHz frequency range to give 25% tuning range with fractional bandwidth below 9%. All the filters were realized using microstrip technology. The simulated and measured results are then presented and compared to demonstrate the excellent performance of the proposed filters.


Despite the high levels of metropolitan-area segregation that Latinos experience, there is a lack of research examining the effects of segregation on Latino socioeconomic outcomes and whether those effects differ from the negative effects documented for African Americans. We find that segregation is consistently associated with lower levels of educational attainment and labor market success for both African American and Latino young adults compared with whites, with associations of similar magnitudes for both groups. One mechanism through which segregation may influence outcomes is the difference in the levels of neighborhood human capital to which whites, Latinos, and African Americans are exposed. We find that higher levels of segregation are associated with lower black and Latino neighborhood exposure to residents with college degrees, relative to whites. We also find support for other commonly discussed mechanisms, such as exposure to neighborhood violent crime and the relative proficiency of the closest public school.


RESEARCH OBJECTIVE
To estimate the effects of smoking bans on neonatal health outcomes and maternal smoking behavior during pregnancy.

DATA SOURCES
Restricted-use 1991-2009 Natality Detail Files, a Clean Air Dates Table Report, and the Tax Burden of Tobacco.

STUDY DESIGN
A quasi-experimental study using difference-in-differences estimation based on legislative history of smoking restrictions or bans by type/place/county/state level. Dependent variables included average monthly percentage of healthy neonates, of term neonates born with low and very low birth weight, of premature births, of maternal smokers, and average number of cigarettes smoked daily during pregnancy. The analyses were restricted to singleton births and those that occurred in the same county as mother's county of residence.

DATA COLLECTION/EXTRACTION METHODS
The data from three data sources were combined using Federal Information Processing Standard codes.

PRINCIPAL FINDINGS
Results of the overall and stratified by maternal smoking status, educational level, and age regression analyses suggested no appreciable effect of smoking bans on neonatal health. Smoking bans had also no effect on maternal smoking behavior.

CONCLUSION
While there are health benefits to the general population from smoking bans, their effects on neonatal health outcomes and maternal smoking during pregnancy seem to be limited.


Bioeconomies need sustainable technologies and strategies for biomass processing. One of the best ways to do that is to consider biorefineries as a practical way to achieve real developments in the industry for integral production of energy, food, feed and chemicals under an ideal dream of replacing today's crude-oil and basically using the accessible biomass in the world as much as possible. Additionally, the existent biofuel facilities are constantly adding new processing lines without integral design strategies, and possibly repeating the past design and implementation errors in refineries based on crude-oil. In recent years, more as a fashion or tendency, these processing lines from biofuels industry have been integrated in a system called "biorefinery" and many sectors have supported this idea through policies to incentivize the development of the bio-based economies adopting this concept. The design of biorefineries is presented as a relevant topic due to the multiple processing paths that could be available to obtain a set of desirable products. However, after many scientific efforts in design through well validated methodologies the biorefineries currently are not working properly or are more close to a conventional standalone biomass processing. Some big facilities already implemented today as biorefineries are closed or working just as standalone process (biofuels plant), but not through a promising multiproduct biorefinery configuration for which the resulting design was developed. In this work, 13 biorefineries were analysed including 4 industrial cases that were implemented after specific design and different industrial plants that use different raw materials of renewable origin. To achieve this, different strategic cases were considered: raw materials with inherent logistics restrictions, technical, economic, environmental assessments together with social considerations and finally market restrictions. As a result, and based on different case studies (where these process engineering strategies where applied through conceptual design using Aspen Plus and Potential Environmental Impacts) the positive and negative lessons are discussed in detail. The main result is an overall learning from different cases of study for future design, analysis and implementation of new biorefineries with a real sustainability and avoiding a repetition of the same evolution that risky and controversial crude-oil refineries had. * Corresponding author Cardona-Alzate, C. A., et al. Sustainable Biorefineries: What was Learned ... Year 2020 Volume 8, Issue 1, pp 88-117 89 Journal of Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems


Introduction: One of the stages of women's lives is the climacteric, a period often accompanied by emotional and physical signs and emotional, which may negatively influence the quality of life. Among the typical climacteric symptoms are sleep disorders, often overlooked by professionals who assist the woman. Objective: Identifying factors related to sleep disorders in cliamcteric women, in the city of Cajazeiras, Paraiba, Brazil. Method: A cross-sectional survey conducted in the city of Cajazeiras, with 411 women 40-60 years old, belonging to the Family Health Units in the urban area, included in the sample after reading and signing the Informed Consent. Data were collected through interviews with structured questionnaire and analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). The exposure variables were: meals/day, sedentary lifestyle, smoking, alcohol consumption, overweight/obesity, hypertension and diabetes, which were dichotomized to enable the calculation of the odds ratio ( OR ) with CI 95% and p < 0.05. The research project was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the State University of Paraiba, Protocol 0462.0.133.000-11. Results: The average age of the study population was 49.73 (± 5.799). The average number of years studied was 7.72 (± 4.76). Regarding per capita income, the average was 0739 (± 0.811). The sleep complaints prevailed in 65.5% (n = 269). By the findings, it was realized that the variables associated with sleep disorders were: alcoholism [ p = 0.014; OR : 1845 (CI 1085-3139)]; presence of illnesses [ p = 0.004; OR : 1796 (CI 1185-2725)] and hypertension [p = 0.005; OR : 1827 (CI 1164-2868). Conclusion: The high prevalence of sleep disorders, the unfavorable socio-demographic conditions and morbid factors found confirm the strong impact of menopause on women's lives. We realize the need to investigate other risk factors for sleep disorders, associated with socio-demographic data and intrinsic factors, regarding climacteric.


Tree community dynamics was analyzed with basis on the data from the continuous inventory in an area of 64 ha of the Gama gallery forest at the Fazenda Agua Limpa, DF. The inventory consisted of 151 permanent (10 x 20 m) plots located systematically along ten transects placed every 100 m at right angles to the Gama stream. All individuals with diameter at breast height (DBH) equal or greater than 10 cm were mapped in the plots, tagged and measured in 1985, 1988, 1991, 1994, 1999 and 2004. The periodic annual increment (PAI) for the community during the 19 years period (1985-2004) was0.22 cm yr1, with coefficients of variation ranging from 84% to 143%. The trend of increment in diameter was characterized by the increase of the increments with the increasing diameter classes up to 52 cm of DBH. The mean annual mortality rate was 2.87% while the recruitment was 2.08%, resulting in a decrease in the density during the 19 years period. The half-life was 24.13 years from 1985 to 2004. The community was dynamic with 92% of all species either suffering mortality or gaining recruits or both but, 83% of total of species found in the forest occurred in all the analyzed periods. Mortality was high but recruitment was also intense leading to a high turnover typical of an environment under strong border effect such as the gallery forests, which are narrow strips of tropical forests surrounded by savanna. These results suggest a very dynamic but stable community.


The use of technology in the classroom may have positive and negative effects on learning. The purpose of this investigation was twofold: to identify the effect technology is having on the pharmacy learning environment; and, to assess students' use of technology during class time for non-academic purposes. This study included a national cross-sectional survey as well as a single, college-specific survey. The national survey had a faculty response rate of 71.2%. Of the responders, approximately 61% identified significant problems related to students' use of technology in the pharmacy learning environment. Cell phones were a recognized concern and more than 90% of programs have chosen to restrict cell phone use in the classroom. The single college survey examining technology use during class for non-academic purposes had a student response rate of 87% and faculty response rate of 100%. Students and faculty members disagreed regarding the negative effects of technology use during class for non-academic purposes. Notably, 16% of students acknowledged their in-class use of technology for non-academic purposes had been disruptive to their learning, as compared to 95.7% of faculty. According to students, common reasons for off-task technology use included checking e-mail/text messages (75.1%), lack of engagement (58.1%), multitasking (56.2%), and accessing social media sites (33%). Faculty and students were asked about enforcement of technology policy. More faculty than students supported policy enforcement by faculty (65.2% versus 22.8%, respectively; p<0.001) as well as policy enforcement by students (78.3% versus 31.9%, respectively; p<0.001). Overall, technology use during class for non-academic purposes was common. Many schools and colleges of pharmacy are developing approaches to address these evolving issues by revising their technology use policies.

Type: Original Research


Can different types of greenery improve the perceived value, safety, prestige, coziness, and aesthetics of multistory residential buildings? To find the answer, two studies were carried out. In Study 1, participants filled in questionnaires designed to measure the perceived value, safety, prestige, coziness, and aesthetics of a building. Every questionnaire was accompanied with one of four images of the same residential building, the only difference between them was the type of greenery present near the building. Participants were asked to evaluate the building in the image by filling in the questionnaire. A convenience sample of 238 university students (mean age 20, SD = 2) participated in the experiment. Study 2 was an internet-based survey in which participants were presented with four images of a residential building and were asked to identify the most cozy, most expensive, most prestigious, most safe, and most aesthetic building. The pictures were the same as in Study 1. A snowball sample of 356 respondents (mean age 30, SD = 11) participated in the survey. The results indicate that buildings with sophisticated greenery and plain grass greenery are perceived most favorably, while unkempt and chaotic greenery were found to be associated with worse overall perceptions and decreased perceived value of residential property. When creating green spaces near residential buildings, we recommend considering plain grass greenery as it is the most cost-effective solution and has a positive effect on the perceptions of residential property and its value.


We present a geophysical method to synchronize deep ice-core records by combination of radio-echo sounding and numerical modeling ofelectromagnetic reflections. Most continuous internal reflection horizons are known to form isochrones and can be followed over large distances. With an ice core at either end of the profile, the reflection horizons present time markers that are used to synchronize the ice-core records. Electrical properties along an ice core serve as input to a numerical model which simulates the propagation of electromagnetic waves in the ice and reproduces the reflection characteristics of the radar profile near the ice core. The depth of origin of reflections are identified in two steps: firstly, pronounced series of reflections are used to calibrate the electromagnetic wave speed; secondly, individual peaks in conductivity in the input record are removed, thus also removing the correspondingreflections in the synthetic radargram. Our numerical modeling approach improves the accuracy with which the reflector origins are identified compared to the usual method where reflector traveltimes (respective depths) and ice-core profiles are merely compared. A pilot study at the EPICA drilling site in Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica, shows that it is possible to locate the origin of internal reflections with an accuracy of 0.5 m in a depth of 2000 m and more. The method imposes little constrains on the input records, making it applicable to a number of drilling sites. Both, dielectric profiling and electrical conductivity measurements can be used as electrical input. Moreover, as the method also calibrates the wave speed, only a coarse density profile is required. Application to the deep-drilling locations in Antarctica will improve the relative synchronization and will help to answer the question of phase relation of climate changes observed in the ice-core records at different locations.


The Student Teacher Literacy Project provided training for university student teachers completing their clinical experiences in inclusionary classrooms, Grades 1 through 5. Twenty-one student teachers received eight, two-hour training sessions over a 15 week period. The participants indicated the training sessions sharpened teaching strategies for promoting literacy when connected to a literature-based program. The program was aligned to the state/district curriculum mandates. The benefits of training, resources, and technology exchanges assisted them in assessment procedures, learning centers, portfolio implementation, and inter-disciplinary experiences. They stated a desire for additional training in assessment (for portfolios and determining individual reading levels) and classroom library development. All trainees stated more skill acquisition for use in the inclusionary classroom and felt better prepared for professional employment. Various philosophies have swept the elementary grades for influencing the way children should be taught to read and write (Willis, 1995). In fact, "national attention has been focused on the problem of teaching elementary students to read" (Curriculum Update, 2000, p.2). One author (Soundy, 1997, p. 153) notes when instructors know quality children' s literature and are familiar with significant children's books the "creation of rich literacy environments helps all participants become part of a reading community." Further, children's books and activities that are used can foster literacy development (Baumann, Hooten & White, 1999) and enhance abilities (Barclay, Benelli, and Schoon, 1999). It is also recognized that this approach to teaching "can improve the academic performance of learning disabled students" as it "respects a student's individuality and makes literature an experience rather than a learning tool" (Fuhler, 1993, p. 1). Thus, student teachers need to know how to be instrumental in implementing effective classroom practices that help learners be successful readers and writers. Purpose of the Study The Student Teacher Literacy Project (funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Education Higher Education Initiative) provided literacy training and resources for student teachers to increase support services for children with literacy needs in inclusionary settings. A partnership between Bloomsburg University and Berwick Area Elementary Schools (with 21 cooperating teachers from the five elementary schools) was developed because the school district had adopted the literature-based approach (after pilot testing the reading program the previous academic year) and because of the increase of children needing adapted support services in reading and writing. The purpose of this study was to evaluate eight, two-hour training sessions over a period of 15 weeks for 21 student teachers during their clinical experiences in inclusionary settings. This partnership was unique as student teachers acquired: (1) an increased knowledge base about implementing various reading/writing strategies to a broad spectrum of students according to state standards and district curriculum mandates; (2) a vernacular about ways to promote literacy through "chunking," graphic organizers," literacy portfolios," technology usage,"and "flex grouping" while connecting it to children's literature, and (3) an increased knowledge about assessment techniques for each individual child including teacher developed rubrics and other performance-based means of measurement. Methodology This study investigated student teachers' skills and knowledge base for teaching reading in inclusionary settings before and after training intervention during their clinical experiences. The population for the study was twenty-one student teachers from Bloomsburg University, Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania. As elementary majors, the population consisted of 16 females and 5 males. The student teachers were seniors completing their academic program. …


Aims. A new type of analysis of the narrowband dm-spikes in solar radio radiation is introduced to look for magnetoacoustic waves in their sources. Methods. The Fourier and wavelet methods were used. For the first time, the tadpole structures in the wavelet spectra of this radio emission were searched for. Results. Fifteen groups of the narrowband dm-spikes, observed during solar flares, were selected and analyzed by the Fourier and wavelet analysis methods. We found that the mean Fourier spectra of these spikes in frequency space are the powerlaws with a powerlaw index in the range −1. 2– −1.8. Furthermore, their wavelet spectra based on time series reveal tadpoles at some frequencies, which indicates the presence of magnetoacoustic waves. These waves are interpreted as propagating through a source of the narrowband dm-spikes. It is proposed that the spikes are generated by driven coalescence and fragmentation processes in turbulent reconnection outflow. This interpretation is supported by a simultaneous observation of drifting pulsating structures (DPSs) and spikes. Finally, modeling of the magnetoacoustic waves and tadpoles in the Harris current sheet supports this interpretation.


Title of Dissertation: EUCATING URBAN INDIGENOUS STUDENTS IN TAIWAN: SIX TEACHERS' PERSPECTIVES. Hui-Min Chou, Doctor of Philosophy, 2005 Dissertation directed By: Jeremy N. Price, Associate Professor, Curriculum and Instruction A substantial literature supports the thesis that teachers' beliefs and attitudes strongly influence their perception and behaviors in the classroom (Byrnes, Kiger, & Manning, 1997;Clark & Peterson, 1986; Cross, 1993; Dillingham & Johnson, 1973; Kagan, 1992; Lewis, 1990; Nespor, 1987; Tabachnick & Zeichner, 1984; Villegas, 1992). While some believe that the macro-context is the most salient factor of urban indigenous students' education, other researchers point to teachers' perspectives about indigenous students as significant to student's success and hence an important topic of study (Tatto, 1996). This qualitative study examines six teachers' perspectives of indigenous students and reveals factors that potentially impede or promote the success of indigenous students in Taiwanese urban schools. Much of this study relies upon periodic semi-structured interviews and classroom observations. From the cross-case discussion and analysis of six teachers' perspectives of teaching indigenous students, we learn that there is a need in the educational field for a reshaped perspective of indigenous students, along with changes in curriculum, instructional methods, and practices and policies. It requires teachers who have (1) direct experiences with and thorough knowledge about the cultural values, learning styles, historical legacies, and contribution of different ethnic groups; (2) the courage to stop blaming the victims of school failure and to admit that something is seriously wrong with existing educational systems; (3) the will to confront prevailing educational canons and convictions, and to rethink traditional assumptions of cultural neutrality in teaching and learning; and (4) the skills to act productively in translating knowledge and sensitivity about cultural diversity into pedagogical practices. Hopefully, then, schooling experiences like those of indigenous teachers will be historical memories, not everyday occurrences, and their children will have more successful stories to tell about their school experiences. EDUCATING URBAN INDIGENOUS STUDENTS IN TAIWAN: SIX TEACHERS' PERSPECTIVES


The provision of safe and universal water supply in an equitable and efficient manner is extremely important for urban water reform programs currently being carried out in developing countries. The sector reform not only requires a significant amount of working capital, but also people9s willingness to pay for the improved infrastructure. This paper serves two purposes – first, it explains the meaning of 'full-cost of water services' in urban areas and attempts to provide a framework to value economic and environmental externalities for the urban water supply and use through a case study of India9s capital city – Delhi. The second part uses contingent valuation method to establish people9s willingness to pay from a survey of 1,100 households for water supply with better quality and reliability. Policy implications are subsequently discussed, keeping in mind cost of provision of water supplies. Also included is the assessment of the cost of unreliable supply (coping cost), which otherwise households are spending in the absence of a reliable supply. The paper shows several instances of reciprocal externality wherein the residents themselves absorb the cost of over-extraction, in terms of declining water tables, and cost of salinity in terms of decentralised treatment cost.


ABSTRACT
Introduction. During 1998-2007, TB and HIV cases in Bali had shown a significant increase respectively. In general, both of these diseases are chronic diseases that need long term treatment, and together they could worsen the patients' condition. To prevent the double burden of those patients, we need to know HIV infection prevalence among TB cases in Bali.
Method. One thousand of TB cases diagnosed at TB health services unit (UPK) at primary health centers (puskesmas) and public hospitals in Bali, in September-November 2008, were given information and their blood samples were taken for HIV tests. Samples were chosen proportionally according to the number of TB cases registered in each UPK. Five milliliters of blood sample was taken from each eligible patient by laboratory staff or nurse at the UPK for HIV tests which were conducted at Bali Health Laboratory. HIV test used in this study were the two types of rapid test in accordance with WHO standard.
Discussion. Thirty nine out of 1,000 blood samples were found HIV positive. The highest HIV prevalence among TB cases was in the Buleleng District (11.5%) and followed by Denpasar City (5.1%). This prevalence showed a different figure from the HIV/AIDS cases in VCT clinics registered at Bali Provincial Health Agency, where the highest prevalence found in Denpasar, followed by Buleleng and Badung. If we compare, the difference in figure between Badung and Buleleng, might be due to the difference in routes of HIV transmission. In Buleleng, most of the cases (90%) were sexually transmitted, while in Badung 48% transmission were through injecting drug users. The IDUs seek health services at private health centers and rarely utilize public/government services such as puskesmas and hospitals.
Conclusion. The HIV prevalence among TB patients in Bali was 3.9%. The characteristics of the patients showed that they are mostly male, aged between 31-40 years old, have junior high school-university education, divorce or single in marital status, work in private sector, and newly infected extra pulmonary TB/AFB(-) patients. HIV positive cases were not found in all districts, mostly found in Buleleng (11.5%) followed by Denpasar (5.1%), Tabanan (1.8%), Karangasem (1.7%) and Jembrana (1.4%). The proportion of the case detection was high in hospitals, but the spread of the cases at puskesmas was high as well.


Activation of a naïve T cell is a highly energetic event, which requires an increase in metabolism. Upon stimulation, T cells increase in size, rapidly proliferate and differentiate, all of which lead to a high demand for energetic and biosynthetic precursors. Even though amino acids are the basic building blocks of protein biosynthesis, the role of amino acid metabolism in this process has not been well characterized. We have found that glutamine in particular is required for both proliferative as well as effector function. We have evidence that glutamine regulates ERK signaling and that ERK in turn may also regulate glutamine transport. These data indicate that glutamine may play a significant role in T cell signaling and that a better understanding of glutamine utilization in T cells may reveal novel targets for immunomodulatory and/or anti-leukemia therapy.


Rainfed agriculture in the dry regions is affected by water shortages. Our earlier research showed that the deficiencies not only of major nutrients but also those of sulfur (S) and micronutrients are holding back the potential of agricultural production systems. The objectives of this article are to discuss the efficacy of soil testing to diagnose nutrient deficiencies using 28,270 diverse soil samples collected from farmers' fields in the semi-arid tropical (SAT) regions of India and to confirm the efficacy of the soil test-based balanced nutrient management in enhancing productivity of a range of crops in on-farm farmer participatory trials under rainfed conditions. Results of a large numbers of on-farm trials demonstrated that soil testing is indeed an effective tool for on-farm fertility management, a prerequisite for sustainably enhancing the productivity in rainfed areas in the SAT regions of India. The need to strengthen the soil-testing infrastructure in the country is emphasized.


A mathematical model of branching canal network has been developed based on solving the integrated form of Saint Venant equations which describing steady and unsteady, uniform and non-uniform flow. The model simulates canal filling, operating, and draining phases, bulk lateral outflow or inflow into the section being modelled, and control structure scheduling (gate-stroking). The model has three water control options: (1) operator decision control in which the model user decides on what inflows and control structure settings should be implemented; (2) program generates system inflow and the control structure settings which achieve predetermined flow depths; and (3) program generates system inflow and the control structure settings which deliver a specified discharge to the lower reach. The program is menu driven, includes a built-in 'help' explanations that can be called at any point in the simulation process. It traps data entry errors and has a graphical display of input and simulation status. Interactive simulation is provided to enable the user to pause simulation and critically examine the simulation status.


Politicians focus on trade deficits and surpluses between countries and threaten trade wars and retaliatory actions, but the conventional international trade statistics used by many commentators are inaccurate. World exports and imports do not balance, but asymmetries are also found in the balance of trade statistics between countries and regions and these discrepancies can be very large in emerging markets. The 'Rotterdam effect' distorts the measurement of trade flows and balances where goods are recorded as imports into one country, which subsequently re-exports them to third countries without taking note of the country of origin. The Apple 'Made in China' question, or the existence of global value chains where much trade is in intermediate inputs, indicates that conventional trade statistics involve double-counting and misallocated trade balances.


The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the Akhism with the special reference to its economic aspects. Akhism was effectively functioning from the end of the Seljuk to the late Ottoman period. Akhism, with some modifications, played an important role in the establishment of an effective economic and social structure, by bringing together socio-economic factors such as ethics, production and trade. Then, Akhism succeeded in creating an effective and reliable network of relationships between citizen and state, rich and poor, producer and consumer and labor and capital. Akhism also established the working and corporate principles based on morality and social justice. Akhiis is an Arabic word which is defined as a "brother" (Akca, 2004, 356). In another source it is stated that this word is derived from Aki which means in Turkish language bravery, heroism and generosity (Bayram, 1991, 131). The brotherhood culture prevalent in Akhism has also been effective in the formation of social order and spreading of tolerance and understanding in the society. Akhism institution and tradition has been influential in economical, financial, social and cultural aspects of life. In the past and even today it has been dominant in organizing craftsmen and artists and in integrating them in a definite system and order.


Saccharides act important roles in many biological processes as recognition
molecules, signalling molecules and adhesion molecules. However, due to the
complexity and diversity of oligosaccharides the direct synthetic approaches cannot
fully meet the demands for all of the pure and well-defined oligosaccharides being
studied in glycobiology. The efficient synthesis of glycomimetics, glycopolymers,
offers an attractive route to solve this problem. Thus, the synthesis and application of
glycopolymers of various architectures has been extensively investigated.
Meanwhile, In order to explore the mechanism of the lectin-carbohydrate
interactions and to get a better understanding of the structure-function relationship of
oligosaccharides, the assays employed in studies of lectin-carbohydrate interactions
become much more sophisticated and accurate with fast development of various
analytical approaches.
In this work, well-defined glycopolymers were prepared by the combination of
CCTP and CuAAC click reactions. Alkyne-containing polymer scaffolds were
synthesised by CCTP, followed by post-modification of the clickable polymer
scaffolds with sugar azides. Moreover, a library of well-defined synthetic
glycopolymers featuring the same macromolecular properties (architecture,
polydispersity, valency, polarity, etc.) with difference only in the densities of
different sugars (mannose, galactose and glucose) were employed to investigate the
influence of different pendant epitopes on the interactions with a model lectin Con A
by the traditional methods. Additionally, two powerful modern detection techniques QCM-D and SPR were also exploited to investigate the interactions of the lectin Con
A, PNA, or DC-SIGN with a series of different glycopolymers.
The diversities of binding properties contributed by different clustering parameters
can make it possible to define the structures of the multivalent ligands and densities
of binding epitopes for specific functions in the lectin-carbohydrate interactions.
These conclusions can be employed as the springboard to develop new
glycopolymeric drugs and therapeutic agents and to assess the mechanisms by which
they work.


Recess appointments of judges present three major constitutional questions. First, may a recess appointment be made if the vacancy existed prior to the recess? Second, may a recess appointment be made during a recess in the midst of a Senate session? Third, may recess appointments be made to fill vacancies on Article III courts? This article, which was first presented at the Jurocracy and Distrust conference at Cardozo Law School, concludes that the best answer to each of these three questions is yes. It traces the practice of recess appointments to fill vacancies that existed prior to the recess back to the presidency of James Madison, and suggests that it may date back even further to the presidencies of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. It argues against attempts to limit the recess appointment power to intersession recesses. Finally, it argues that recess appointments to Article III courts are not only rooted in longstanding historical practice, but that by stepping back from our legal culture's fixation on judges, and considering other federal offices whose terms and conditions are set by the constitution, we can see that construing Article III's good behavior requirement together with Article II's recess appointment provision is not a matter of deciding which one is somehow more specific than the other, nor of choosing which of conflicting provisions reflects the more important value, but rather presents the unexceptional task of construing a provision establishing the term of an office with a provision for filling that office on an interim basis.


With the advent of mobile computing, location-based services have recently gained popularity. Many applications use the location provenance of users, i.e., the chronological history of the users' location for purposes ranging from access control, authentication, information sharing, and evaluation of policies. However, location provenance is subject to tampering and collusion attacks by malicious users. In this paper, we examine the secure location provenance problem. We introduce a witness-endorsed scheme for generating collusion-resistant location proofs. We also describe two efficient and privacy-preserving schemes for protecting the integrity of the chronological order of location proofs. These schemes, based on hash chains and Bloom filters respectively, allow users to prove the order of any arbitrary subsequence of their location history to auditors. Finally, we present experimental results from our proof-of-concept implementation on the Android platform and show that our schemes are practical in today's mobile devices.


The scope of geomedicine is briefly discussed. An interest in geomedical problems has existed in Norway since the last century, involving goitre in dry inland regions (I deficiency), and osteomalaci in cattle (P deficiency). Geographical variations in precipitation chemistry (including Mg, Na, Cl, Br, I and Se) are summarized. Deficiencies can be remedied by changes in fertilization and foddering. Areas with strong naturally poisoned soils and plants occur (involving Pb, Cu, Ni, Zn and Cd). Cases of industrial pollution are known at Odda (Zn, Pb, Cd, Hg, Cu, As, Se and F), Røros (Cu), Kongsberg (Hg), Evje (Ni), Modum (As), and aluminium factories (F). Regional geochemical maps based on systematic sampling of forest soils are being produced (Oppland, Buskerud, Nord-Trøndelag), plus stream sediment geochemical prospecting maps which will also be valuable in geomedicine. A large project on the effects of acid precipitation is nearly completed. Norwegian research councils and a cancer organisation have started geomedical projects (e.g. analysis of human blood serum; the relationship between soil conditions and the chemical composition of small-grain and other plant foods). Cooperation between the Scandinavian countries in geomedicine has already begun. World-wide contacts between scientists are desirable in such a multi-disciplinary subject.


Abstract. Long-term measurements from satellites and surface stations have demonstrated a decreasing trend of tropospheric carbon monoxide (CO) in the Northern Hemisphere over the past decade. Likely explanations for this decrease include changes in anthropogenic, fires, and/or biogenic emissions or changes in the primary chemical sink hydroxyl radical (OH). Using remotely sensed CO measurements from the Measurement of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT) satellite instrument, in situ methyl chloroform (MCF) measurements from the World Data Centre for Greenhouse Gases (WDCGG) and the adjoint of the GEOS-Chem model, we estimate the change in global CO emissions from 2001 to 2015. We show that the loss rate of MCF varied by 0.2 % in the past 15 years, indicating that changes in global OH distributions do not explain the recent decrease in CO. Our two-step inversion approach for estimating CO emissions is intended to mitigate the effect of bias errors in the MOPITT data as well as model errors in transport and chemistry, which are the primary factors contributing to the uncertainties when quantifying CO emissions using these remotely sensed data. Our results confirm that the decreasing trend of tropospheric CO in the Northern Hemisphere is due to decreasing CO emissions from anthropogenic and biomass burning sources. In particular, we find decreasing CO emissions from the United States and China in the past 15 years, and unchanged anthropogenic CO emissions from Europe since 2008. We find decreasing trends of biomass burning CO emissions from boreal North America, boreal Asia and South America, but little change over Africa. In contrast to prior results, we find that a positive trend in CO emissions is likely for India and southeast Asia.


This dissertation presents a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) design methodology that can be used to shorten the FPGA design-and-debug cycle, especially as gate counts increase to many millions. Core-based incremental placement algorithms, in conjunction with fast interactive routing, are investigated to reduce the design processing time by distinguishing the changes between design iterations and reprocessing only the changed blocks without affecting the remaining part of the design. Different from other incremental placement algorithms, this tool provides the function not only to handle small modifications; it can also incrementally place a large design from scratch at a rapid rate. Incremental approaches are inherently greedy techniques, but when combined with a background refinement thread, the incremental approach offers the instant gratification that designers expect, while preserving the fidelity attained through batch-oriented programs. An incremental FPGA design tool has been developed, based on the incremental placement algorithm and its background refiner. Design applications with logical gate sizes varying from tens of thousands to approximately one million are built to evaluate the execution of the algorithms and the design tool. The results show that this incremental design tool is two orders of magnitude faster than the competing approaches such as the Xilinx M3 tools without sacrificing much quality. The tool presented places designs at the speed of 700,000 system gates per second. The fast processing speed and user-interactive property make the incremental design tool potentially useful for prototype developing, system debugging and modular testing in million-gate FPGA designs.


Pick up where certification exams leave off. With this practical, in-depth guide to the entire network infrastructure, you'll learn how to deal with real Cisco networks, rather than the hypothetical situations presented on exams like the CCNA. Network Warrior takes you step by step through the world of routers, switches, firewalls, and other technologies based on the author's extensive field experience. You'll find new content for MPLS, IPv6, VoIP, and wireless in this completely revised second edition, along with examples of Cisco Nexus 5000 and 7000 switches throughout. Topics include: An in-depth view of routers and routing ●


Lambda systems, with a metastable state in addition to the ground state, naturally occur in many atomic systems. Atomic lambda systems offer many potential applications in quantum information processing including single photon transistors and quantum memories [26][14][5][30]. In superconducting qubits, ladder type systems are most common, useful lambda systems, however, have remained elusive. An effective lambda system was created, formed from the Jaynes-Cummings dressed states of a superconducting qubitcavity system. Using two-photon driving, the system can be controlled as a conventional lambda system. The performance of the device is characterized to determine the suitability of it for various applications, including the single photon regime. A model was developed to investigate the effects of detuned two-photon drive. This model restricts the cavity-qubit system to only the three levels that are used in the lambda system. In the time domain, the drives interfere. Only when the drives are detuned by the same amount in opposite directions do they not interfere and the coupler invokes the transistion it is driving. In this experiment, a 3D transmon was placed in a superconducting aluminum cavity with a decay rate κ = 0.25MHz. Qubit characterization demonstrate that the transmon has T1 = 17μs and T2 = 35μs. From this, the decay rate of the qubit was calculated to be =62.5Hz, indicating the system has κ Γ, which is necessary to form an effective lambda system. Using the two drives, it was shown that the detuning of the two-photon driving is linear. Holding one of these drives constant in frequency and drive power, it was demonstrated that the detuned frequency of the second drive changes quadratically with its drive amplitude. Suitability of the system to the single photon regime was investigated by using the two detuned drives: a strong, continuous wave drive, and a weaker, pulsed drive. Decreasing the pulsed drive amplitude, it was shown that the metastable state can be populated a pulse of only 3700 photons, suggesting with better signal isolation, and quantum-noise-limited signal amplification, the single photon regime may be achieved.


The voltage-gated potassium channel Kv1.2 impacts membrane potential and therefore excitability of neurons. Expression of Kv1.2 at the plasma membrane (PM) is critical for channel function, and altering Kv1.2 at the PM is one way to affect membrane excitability. Such is the case in the cerebellum, a portion of the brain with dense Kv1.2 expression, where modulation of Kv1.2 at the PM can impact electrical activity of neurons and ultimately cerebellumdependent learning. Modulation of Kv1.2 at the PM can occur through endocytic trafficking of the channel; however mechanisms behind this process in the brain remain to be defined. The goal of this dissertation was to identify and characterize modalities endogenous to the brain that influence the presence of Kv1.2 at the neuronal plasma membrane. Mass spectrometry (MS) was used to first identify interacting proteins and post-translational modifications (PTM) of Kv1.2 from cerebellar tissue, and the roles of these interactions and modifications on Kv1.2 function were evaluated in two studies: The first study investigated Trim32, a protein enzyme that catalyzes ubiquitylation, a PTM involved in protein degradation, but also in nondegradative events such as endocytic trafficking. Trim32 was demonstrated to associate and localize with Kv1.2 in cerebellar neurons by MS, immunoblotting (IB), and immunofluorescence (IF), and also demonstrated the ability to ubiquitylate Kv1.2 in vitro through purified recombinant proteins. Utilizing cultured cells through a combination of mutagenesis, biochemistry, and quantitative MS, a working model of Kv1.2 modulation was developed in which Trim32 influences Kv1.2 surface expression by two mechanisms that both involve cross-talk of ubiquitylation and phosphorylation sites of Kv1.2. The second study investigated WNK1, a chloride-sensitive kinase which regulates cellular homeostasis. Using MS, IB, and IF, WNK1 was demonstrated to associate and localize with Kv1.2 in the cerebellum, and a combination of mutagenesis and pharmacology in both wild-type and WNK1-knockout cultured cells produced a working model whereby WNK1 modulates surface Kv1.2. Activation of the downstream target SPAK kinase, also identified by MS to associate with Kv1.2 in the brain, by WNK1 was additionally found to influence the manner of WNK1 modulation of Kv1.2. In addition to providing new models of Kv1.2 modulation in the brain, these studies propose novel biological roles for Trim32 and WNK1 that may ultimately impact neuronal excitability.


Propolis is a gummy, resinous substance made by bees from the buds and exudates of plants. The antibacterial activity of propolis has been widely studied and is known to vary according to its geographical origin, the type of surrounding flora, the collecting bee species, the mode of its collection and even the season in which it is collected. Unfortunately, these observations have not been corroborated experimentally.

 To compare the antibacterial activities of ethanolic extracts of propolis collected in the summer and autumn on the growth of Streptococcus mutans ATCC 25175.

 Propolis samples were collected in the summer and autumn and labeled "A" or "B" by an individual who was not directly involved in the study. Then, 5% ethanolic extracts of propolis were prepared for each sample. S. mutans was plated onto brain heart infusion agar plates into which wells were formed, and the plates were divided into four groups to test the antibacterial effectiveness of both the extracts and the positive (0.12% chlorhexidine digluconate) and negative (96% ethanol) controls.

 Inhibition halos of 26.4±2.6 and 18.2±1.8 mm were observed for the autumn and summer propolis extracts, respectively, while those of the negative and positive controls were 0 and 13 mm, respectively. These differences were statistically analyzed using Student's t-test.

 The significantly higher growth of S. mutans in the extracts made from propolis collected in autumn than that grown on extracts collected in summer indicates that the season in which propolis is collected does indeed influence its antibacterial activity.


In this project we have investigated the possibilities to make a system based on the concept algebra described in [3], [4] and [5]. The concept algebra is used for ontology specification and knowledge representation. It is a distributive lattice extended with attribution operations. One of the main ideas in this work is to use Birkhoff's representation theorem, so we represent distributive lattices using its dual representation: the partial order of join irreducibles. We show how to construct a concept algebra satisfying a given set of equations. The universal/initial algebra is usually too big to be useful even in its dual representation, so it is important to use a smaller one from the set of possible solutions. Here the most important contribution seems to be the idea of inserting terms in the lattice. For this to make sense we introduced the concept of the most disjoint lattice with respect to a given set of inserted terms, that is the smallest lattice where the inserted terms preserve their value compared to the value in the initial algebra/lattice. The database is the dual representation of this most disjoint lattice. We develop algorithms to construct and make queries to the database. A Lattice Structured Database i


Mastering the continuously increasing amount of software requires identification of more efficient strategies for software verification. Currently, fault coverage is only indirectly addressed, e.g. by code coverage. The idea as presented in this paper is to get a better understanding of fault coverage by a systematic classification of software fault types, derivation of footprints of verification tools regarding coverage of such fault types, and recording of required effort. A number of issues regarding fault identification and classification are discussed in this context.


Landscape heritage of the Romanian Carpathians is emphasized through protection activities, but in the same time it represents an important pool of resources suitable to the numerous forms of tourism. Conservation is in line with sustainable tourism and its alternatives, ecotourism. The present study aimed on analyzes several features of the Carpathian prot ected heritage and how activities function through environmentally friendly tourism. Results showed a great diversity of understanding and implementation of ecotourism in the Carpathian Mountains, with numerous actions of organization, but also with a series of measures that are absolutely necessary for the proper functioning of this tourism alternative. The study provides several models to estimate some characteristics of ecotourism resources, which provide returns for consumer satisfaction as well as improve the management of protected areas.


Given a natural language statement, how to verify its veracity against a large-scale textual knowledge source like Wikipedia? Most existing neural models make predictions without giving clues about which part of a false claim goes wrong. In this paper, we propose LOREN, an approach for interpretable fact verification. We decompose the verification of the whole claim at phrase-level, where the veracity of the phrases serves as explanations and can be aggregated into the final verdict according to logical rules. The key insight of LOREN is to represent claim phrase veracity as three-valued latent variables, which are regularized by aggregation logical rules. The final claim verification is based on all latent variables. Thus, LOREN enjoys the additional benefit of interpretability --- it is easy to explain how it reaches certain results with claim phrase veracity. Experiments on a public fact verification benchmark show that LOREN is competitive against previous approaches while enjoying the merit of faithful and accurate interpretability. The resources of LOREN are available at: https://github.com/jiangjiechen/LOREN.


Policy instruments for implementing the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation and the enhancement of forest carbon stocks (REDD+) mechanism operate within an orchestra of policy mixes that affect the forest and other land sectors. How will policymakers choose between the myriad of options for distributing REDD+ benefits, and be able to evaluate its potential effectiveness, efficiency and equity (3Es)? This is a pressing issue given the results-based aspect of REDD+. We present here a three-element assessment framework for evaluating the outcomes and performance of REDD+ benefit sharing mechanisms, using the criteria of effectiveness, efficiency and equity: (1) the structures (objective and policies) of a REDD+ benefit sharing mechanism; (2) the broader institutional and policy contexts underlying forest governance; (3) outcomes of REDD+ including emission reductions, ecosystem service provision and poverty alleviation. A strength of the assessment framework is its flexible design to incorporate indicators relevant to different contexts; this helps to generate a shared working understanding of what is to be evaluated in the different REDD+ benefit sharing mechanisms (BSMs) across complex socio-political contexts. In applying the framework to case studies, the assessment highlights trade-offs among the 3Es, and the need to better manage access to information, monitoring and evaluation, consideration of local perceptions of equity and inclusive decisionmaking processes. The framework does not aim to simplify complexity, but rather serves to identify actionable ways forward towards a more efficient, effective and equitable implementation and re-evaluation of REDD+ BSMs as part of reflexive policymaking. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment


The user ratings in recommendation systems are usually in the form of ordinal discrete values. To give more accurate prediction of such rating data, maximum margin matrix factorization (M3F) was proposed. Existing M3F algorithms, however, either have massive computational cost or require expensive model selection procedures to determine the number of latent factors (i.e. the rank of the matrix to be recovered), making them less practical for large scale data sets. To address these two challenges, in this paper, we formulate M3F with a known number of latent factors as the Riemannian optimization problem on a fixed-rank matrix manifold and present a block-wise nonlinear Riemannian conjugate gradient method to solve it efficiently. We then apply a simple and efficient active subspace search scheme to automatically detect the number of latent factors. Empirical studies on both synthetic data sets and large real-world data sets demonstrate the superior efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed method.


one of the raw material for making ethanol that bitter cassava, with the high toxicity of cyanide found in bitter cassava tubers causes underutilized as a material to be consumed. Therefore, bitter cassava has a tremendous opportunity to be processed into bioethanol because besides not consumed by the public has the starch content of not less than with ordinary cassava. This background research done on the Utilization of Cassava Bitter As Raw Materials In Making Bioethanol Fermentation Using Saccharomyces Cerevisiae. Making bioethanol using sulfuric acid hydrolysis process, followed by a fermentation process using Saccharomyces Cerevisiae and distillation process using reactor bioethanol. After the distillation process, carried out dehydration with calcium oxide to maximize ethanol yield. Acquisition of ethanol is as follows : in the tank 1A, 2A, and 3A respectively producing ethanol by 35%, 45%, and 48% while in the tank 1B, 2B, and 3B respectively 36%, 44%, and 49%.


The degassing of magmatic volatiles during eruptions beneath ice sheets and glaciers, as recorded by the dissolved volatile content quenched in volcanic rocks, could provide powerful new constraints on former ice thicknesses in volcanic areas. As volcanic rocks are readily dateable using radiometric methods, subglacial volcanoes may therefore provide crucial information on Quaternary palaeo-environmental fluctuations. The use of a degassing-based reconstruction technique would be particularly valuable when studying deposits that were erupted entirely subglacially and therefore lack other diagnostic indicators of ice thickness such as subglacial-subaerial transitions. In order for magma degassing to potentially record palaeo-ice thicknesses a number of factors need to be considered[1,2], which include whether non-equilibrium degassing may have occurred, whether samples have undergone post-eruption hydration, are strongly compositionally heterogeneous, or have moved post-quenching, whether the quenching pressure reflected loading by rock, ice or meltwater, and whether pressure may have deviated significantly from glaciostatic due to meltwater drainage. Degassing during individual eruptions may be considerably more complex than anticipated[2], making interpretation of results challenging. Examples from both rhyolitic and basaltic eruptions in Iceland and elsewhere will be used to illustrate these important factors. The analytical techniques used to measure volatile concentrations need to improve on the common practise of using infra-red spectroscopy alone to determine H2O contents in one part of a sample. Multiple analyses are required to quantify the degree of heterogeneity within samples and techniques such as manometry, ion microprobe or electron microprobe are required to analyse other species (CO2, S, F, Cl). CO2 is particularly important as only trace amounts, beneath the detection limits of commonly-used analytical techniques (30 ppm), strongly affect the solubility-pressure relationships of water in silicate melts[1]. Measurement of the initial volatile contents of magmas, as recorded in melt inclusions, is also needed to provide full insight into the degassing path from the chamber to the surface. More evidence for non-glaciostatic pressures and abrupt changes in pressure during subglacial eruptions needs to be gathered from detailed measurements of volatile concentrations and combined with geological evidence for changes in subglacial meltwater drainage. Studies of deposits with good secondary constraints on ice thickness (from direct observations of recent eruptions or other geological evidence for ancient eruptions) are also required in order to assess the reliability of using volatile degassing to reconstruct palaeo-ice thicknesses. We are beginning to gain limited understanding of the behaviour of magmatic volatiles during subglacial eruptions, and to realise their potential for palaeo-environmental reconstructions. However, there remain many substantial and fundamental gaps in our knowledge that must be addressed in future research. [1] Tuffen, H., Owen, J., Denton, J. S. (2010) Magma degassing during subglacial eruptions and its use to reconstruct palaeo-ice thicknesses. Earth Science Reviews, in press. [2] Owen, J., Tuffen, H., McGarvie, D. W., Pinkerton, H., Wilson, L. The use of magmatic water to reconstruct palaeo-ice thicknesses during subglacial rhyolitic eruptions. Poster presentation, this session.