The Systeme d'Acquisition des Connaissances Deontique (SACD), part of the Acquisition des Connaissances et Analyse de Textes project, which can generate a knowledge base from the logical structure of regulatory texts, is described. SACD can be used by domain specialists who know the text, characteristics and the intricacies of the legislation, or by knowledge engineers who know SACD and can modify the grammars. SACD performs all syntactic text processing and automatically manipulates the knowledge structures. The specialist interprets all semantic knowledge and performs any tasks requiring domain experience. The knowledge engineer adapts SACD's knowledge structures when the system behaves inaccurately. The logical context of regulatory texts is reviewed, and the text analysis, knowledge base operation, and knowledge base adaptation procedures of SACD are discussed.<<ETX>>


A performance evaluation of a horizontal axially viewed inductively coupled plasma (ICP) for optical emission spectrometry is presented. The main contribution of this work is the elucidation of the sources of analytical performance differences using practical diagnostics in the comparison of axial and conven tional radial viewing of the ICP. Figures of merit such as detection limit, background equivalent concen tration, precision, and dynamic range are compared for both viewing arrangements. The detection limit improvements, with axial viewing, known from previous work in the literature, are shown to be understood in the context of the signal-to-background-ratio relative-standard-deviation-of-the-background (SBR RSDB) theory. The usefulness of the SBR-RSDB approach as a diagnostic tool for understanding the detection limit improvement and identifying performance differences is demonstrated. This approach can be further utilized for quality control and quality assurance of instrument performance and detection limit results. Other characteristic differences between axial and radial viewing are presented including matrix effects on line signals and the magnitudes of spectral interferences from OH bands. An overall improve ment factor of five in detection power was observed when using axial viewing compared with radial view ing.


In the past, one of the students of our school and a graduate of a historically disadvantaged university approached the school about two months before the full-time programme started. He wanted to know what to read in advance, in order to be on a par with his counterparts from 'white' faculties. Eventually he excelled as a student and is now practising as a partner in a major firm.


Sir John Franklin's ships departed from Greenhithe port in Great Britain (1845) with the aim of discovering the Northwest Passage in what is now Canada. During their journey, both ships got stuck in ice near King William Island and eventually sank. Over time, searches were held in order to find both wrecks. More recently, under the Conservative Government of Stephen Harper (2006–2015) there was renewed interest regarding what is now referred to as Franklin's lost expedition. Searches resumed and narratives were formed regarding the importance of this expedition for Canadian identity. This article is embedded in a sociocultural perspective and will examine the role that cultural heritage can play in the geopolitics of the Arctic while highlighting the process of 'patrimonialization' that the Franklin's lost expedition has undergone during Harper's term in office. Based on discourse analysis, it brings out the main narratives that surrounded the modern searches of Franklin's wrecks which are related to history, national historic sites, mystery, diversity, importance of Inuit knowledge and information gathering. This article demonstrates that these narratives were intended to form a new Canadian northern identity and to assert Canada's sovereignty over the Arctic.


Handbag Designer 101 is the bible for handbag designers or women who aspire to make their own bags. Included in the book are instructions for creating the fifteen essential bag styles-clutch, hobo, tote, and more-made simple with easy-to-follow how-to illustrations, suggested difficulty levels, and color photography. Advice from famous bag designers and today's hottest indie designers accompany each pattern.Also included is the inside scoop on turning your handbag hobby into a successful business. From designing, to making, to marketing, Handbag Designer 101 teaches you everything you need to know.


This paper develops a novel and effective bootstrap method for simulating asymptotic critical values for tests of equal forecast accuracy and encompassing among many nested models. The bootstrap, which combines elements of fixed regressor and wild bootstrap methods, is simple to use. We first derive the asymptotic distributions of tests of equal forecast accuracy and encompassing applied to forecasts from multiple models that nest the benchmark model – that is, reality check tests applied to nested models. We then prove the validity of the bootstrap for these tests. Monte Carlo experiments indicate that our proposed bootstrap has better finite-sample size and power than other methods designed for comparison of non-nested models. We conclude with empirical applications to multiple-model forecasts of commodity prices and GDP growth.


The widespread use of nano materials leads to more interest in the methods used to obtain these materials. In this study, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were synthesized using the extract obtained from the green shells of artemisia absinthium in the case of waste. Reaction solution color change and UV-vis spectra confirmed reduction of silver ions to generate silver atoms. During the synthesis process, functional groups that participated in the reduction and were responsible for the reduction were examined by FTIR (Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy) analysis. SEM-EDX analyzes showed that AgNPs had a global appearance and had a large silver element composition. The XRD results showed a 14.58 nm Crystalline size and the TGA-DTA analysis showed the degradation temperatures of AgNPs. These nanoparticles have been shown to show effective anti-microbial activity of the AgNPs on the gram positive Staphylococcus aureus, gram negative Escherichia coli and Candida albicans yeast. As a resultThe silver nanoparticles (AgNP) showed relatively higher antibacterial activity.


Enterprise Architecture (EA) management has proven to be an efficient instrument to align business and IT from a holistic perspective. Many organizations have established a permanent EA management function responsible for modeling, analyzing, and defining the current and future EA state as well as the roadmap. Similar as in software development, EA management initiatives face challenges that delay results, complicate the collaboration, and deteriorate the overall work quality. While in software development, agile principles and values reflected in tangible methods like Scrum and Extreme Programming are increasingly adopted by organizations, there is little known whether these practices have already made their way into EA management. Based on three research questions, this paper sheds light on the status-quo of agile principles applied to EA management. We present results of an online survey among 105 industry experts working for more than 10 industry sectors across 22 different countries.


Abstract Prior to the advent of widespread bioturbation during Cambro–Ordovician times, microbial mats may have covered large expanses of the continental shelf. Evidence of matgrounds in shallow-marine settings is provided by abundant wrinkle structures in Lower Cambrian strata of the Great Basin, United States. Wrinkle structures from the Lower Cambrian Harkless Formation commonly co-occur with a distinctive assemblage of invertebrate fossils, providing evidence for the possibility of selective metazoan colonization of matground substrates. Molds of linguliform brachiopods are abundant on many wrinkle surfaces. The agglutinated problematicum, Volborthella tenuis, also is found on wrinkle surfaces and in laminations beneath wrinkle-structure surfaces. Bedding-parallel trace fossils, such as Planolites, Diplichnites, and Taphrhelminthopsis, commonly crosscut wrinkle structures, while vertically oriented trace fossils are absent. Microbial mats containing layered microbial communities would have considerably compressed stratified redox zones beneath the sediment-water interface in marine-shelf settings. Sulfidic and anoxic conditions within and beneath microbial mats would have precluded habitation by many metazoans, while those that adapted to such conditions may have found matgrounds a unique, though temporally fleeting, ecological niche. The distinctive, low-diversity fossil assemblage found in association with the wrinkle structures in the Great Basin suggests that some early animals may have been adapted to hypoxic and sulfidic conditions found in matground substrates, while others may have been physiologically excluded from these environments.


Publication productivity, as measured by the number of papers, has been regarded as one of the main indicators of reputation of countries and institutions. Nevertheless, the relationship among research publications, economic growth and World Wide Web in ASEAN countries is still unclear. The main intention of this study was to identify publication productivity among ASEAN and the world's top ten countries in the last 16 years (1996-2011). This study also aimed at finding the relationship among publication, gross domestic product (GDP) and internet usage. Furthermore, the publication trend in the 10 first Malaysian universities was evaluated for the same periods. Scopus database was used to find the overall documents, overall citations, citations per document and international collaboration from 1996 to 2011for each country. The World Bank database (World Data Bank) was used to collect the data for GDP and the number of internet users. Moreover, to evaluate 10 top Malaysian universities, the number of published articles, conferences, reviews, and letters for the same periods was collected. The results of this study showed significant differences among ASEAN and top 10 countries regarding publication productivity. Moreover, a positive and significant relationship was observed between indices, GDP and internet usage for these countries. Surprisingly, international collaboration had a significant and negative relationship with economic growth. Malaysia had fewer citations per document (7.64) and international collaboration (36.9%) among ASEAN countries. In conclusion, international collaboration between academic institutes and researchers is influenced by economic growth and access to internet in the countries. Furthermore, publication trends in ASEAN countries are promising. However, policy makers and science managers should try to find different ways to increase the quality of the research publication and to raise citation per document.


Abstract. There is growing recognition of strong periglacial control on bedrock erosion in mountain landscapes, including the shaping of low-relief surfaces at high elevations (summit flats). But, as yet, the hypothesis that frost action was crucial to the assumed Late Cenozoic rise in erosion rates remains compelling and untested. Here we present a landscape evolution model incorporating two key periglacial processes – regolith production via frost cracking and sediment transport via frost creep – which together are harnessed to variations in temperature and the evolving thickness of sediment cover. Our computational experiments time-integrate the contribution of frost action to shaping mountain topography over million-year timescales, with the primary and highly reproducible outcome being the development of flattish or gently convex summit flats. A simple scaling of temperature to marine δ18O records spanning the past 14 Myr indicates that the highest summit flats in mid- to high-latitude mountains may have formed via frost action prior to the Quaternary. We suggest that deep cooling in the Quaternary accelerated mechanical weathering globally by significantly expanding the area subject to frost. Further, the inclusion of subglacial erosion alongside periglacial processes in our computational experiments points to alpine glaciers increasing the long-term efficiency of frost-driven erosion by steepening hillslopes.


Anthropogenic pollution in Africa is dominated by diffuse and inefficient combustion sources, as electricity access is low and motorcycles and outdated cars proliferate. These sources are missing, out-of-date, or misrepresented in state-of-the-science emission inventories. We address these deficiencies with a detailed inventory of Diffuse and Inefficient Combustion Emissions in Africa (DICE-Africa) for 2006 and 2013. Fuelwood for energy is the largest emission source in DICE-Africa, but grows from 2006 to 2013 at a slower rate than charcoal production and use, and gasoline and diesel for motorcycles, cars, and generators. Only kerosene use and gas flaring decline. Increase in emissions from 2006 to 2013 in this work is consistent with trends in satellite observations of formaldehyde and NO2, but much slower than the explosive growth projected with a fuel consumption model. Seasonal biomass burning is considered a large pollution source in Africa, but we estimate comparable emissions of black carbon and higher emissions of nonmethane volatile organic compounds from DICE-Africa. Nitrogen oxide (NOx ≡ NO + NO2) emissions are much lower than from biomass burning. We use GEOS-Chem to estimate that the largest contribution of DICE-Africa to annual mean surface fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is >5 μg m-3 in populous Nigeria.


Book synopsis: The Handbook of Parenting brings together in a single volume much of the theoretical and empirical knowledge and aspects of professional activity within the broadly defined field of parenting. Contributions are presented from an internationally renowned group of scholars known for their work in a range of disciplines, including child and family psychology, education and family studies, providing an accessible map of the major debates in theory, research and practice in this important and exciting field.

The material is presented comprehensively. It encompasses essential policy and professional issues in all the main areas of current concern from parenting in culturally divergent settings, to parenting children with special needs in areas of physical, mental, social and educational functioning, to looking at ways in which the wider community and technological advances may be able to provide parenting support.

Published in a single-volume format, this handbook will prove an invaluable and essential resource. Academics, researchers, practitioners and advanced students in a host of disciplines will gain from its breadth, wealth of information and enormous insight into the principal issues related to parenting theory and practice in the 21st century. The distinctive contribution of this handbook is to present a vast body of research and other information in a manner that is usable by practitioners in a wide range of child and parental support activities.


Summary: Trichomes of an Oscillatoria sp. suspended in soft agar in Petri dishes showed active movement away from areas where gaseous exchange had been prevented by placing glass coverslips on the surface. This clearance response occurred only in the light and it was related to gradients of inorganic carbon that formed in the agar layer. In plates incubated in the dark trichomes accumulated in the central areas below glass coverslips but the substance eliciting this response could not be identified. Gradients of diffusible substances were established within lawns of cyanobacteria suspended in soft agar and it was demonstrated that trichomes of Oscillatoria sp. moved towards CO2. HCO3 and O2 in light-dependent chemotactic reactions. No chemotaxis occurred in response to these substances in the dark. The chemotactic responses were detected after 2 h but became increasingly distinct up to 8 h. The chemotactically active concentration of CO2 was greater than the atmospheric concentration since trichomes moved from air towards a source of CO2. Using diffusivity coefficients it was calculated that trichomes of Oscillatoria sp. accumulated at a CO2 partial pressure of 0.02 bar (equivalent to 0.83 mM). With O2 as the chemoattractant the value was 0.35 bar (14.56 mM). These results are discussed with reference to the roles of inorganic carbon and O2 in cyanobacterial metabolism and it is concluded that chemotactic behaviour may be important in movements within the photic zone of sediment environments.


An early practice of Neo-Ancient modern concepts can be traced back to the thought and writings of Raffaele Fabretti (1618-1700), an erudite antiquarian, historian and magistrate in charge for Ancient Ruins of Rome and the Secret Archives of the Vatican. Fabretti, cultural adviser of several Popes, is considered an inspired founder both of Arcadia Movement and of Roman Archeology. His student and biographer Gio.Ba. Crescimbeni was the first curator of Arcadia and two of his students initiated the first archeological studies at the University of Sapienza in Rome. According to Fabretti, reviving the Ancient could be achieved through a multiple international interdisciplinary action: 1) scientific studies of mathematics, astronomy and naturalistic measurement; 2) comparative cultural, anthropological, historical and antiquarian studies; 3) hydraulic engineering and urban re-planning the Baroque Development of the City of Rome; 4) bucolic poetical arcadian academy reviving the ancient utopias of Classic Greece and Rome, about the harmony between mankind and its environment; 5) re-elaborating global proposals to governments, to comply technological and public investments with an ethical human development. "Decoding Neo Ancient (DNA)" has therefore been defined by Giorgio Fabretti, historical anthropologist, descendant and living curator of the Raffaele Fabretti Foundation, as "The interdisciplinary scientifical and historical studies of the ancient projections into the present and the future, decoding historical cyclic cultural patterns along naturalistic evolutionary lines, critical of human self-referential and technological excesses." The object of such "Decoding Neo Ancient" (DNA) has also become the finality of an International Foundation based in Rome, with extensions in Greece and Great Britain since recent years. Many Neo Ancient decoding researches and analysis have been published by the DNA Foundation Members in half a century of intense activism and experimenting. Here we quote the studies of Piero Meogrossi on the reviving "Forma Urbis" of Ancient Rome, or of Giorgio Fabretti on the comeback of Ancient Frugivorism, or of the 'Theory of All' the historical recurrences. They will be systematically collected in the archivist work in progress of the Foundation. On March the 6th, 2015, in the urban site of the "Raffaele Fabretti" Foundation in Rome, Via Nicola Salvi 68, the Neo Ancient comparative method of Fabretti, of re-proposing the Ancient Aqueducts as a Baroque Key to continue Roman Greatness, was again illustrated to the audience. Updating Raffaele Fabretti method, his descendant Giorgio Fabretti announced to all the many participants the constitution of a new operative foundation entitled "DNA - Decoding Neo Ancient", and proposed to the meeting the following practical application of the "Decoding Ancient Rome Now" method to the central archeological area of Rome. Today is impossible to decode the central archeological area of Rome because Mussolini did build an enormous motorway that cuts and covers the five central squares: the 5 Forums, the pulsing heart of Ancient Rome. Being hyper provincial, Mussolini conceived the ancient ruins as a scenery for military parades together with Hitler. His interpretation of the show road of a New Roman Empire was so tragically powerful and unrealistic, that was used to seduce the Italians into waging a lost war against Soviet Union, France, Albania, Greece, Egypt, English and American "plutocratic empires", all at the same time, without even having proper shoes for his soldiers. Defeat and unprecedented national humiliation followed. The relics of that wrong Fascist Neo Ancient was the "Way on the Forums", a sort of vain imitation of the Champs Elysee in Paris. The crucial difference was that the "Way on the Forums" buried alive true visible unique remains of Ancient Rome, now protected as Unesco World Heritage. Therefore, supported by the "Raffaele Fabretti" Foundation, it has been illustrated a plan in the spirit of Unesco, for a minimal restore of the central archeological area between the Colosseum and Venice Square, to make it decodable by the visitors in its Neo Ancient conception. The 7 Archeological Transitional Sceneries will be - walking from the Colosseum to Venice Square: 1) From the Domus Aurea Oriental Palace straight into the Flavian Amphitheatre, and vice versa; a passage across two different conception of Civilization: from Nero' aesthetic despotism to the Flavian manipulating modern mass society. 2) The Ancient Velia Hill as a frame of the Colosseum Sacred Valley and the Renaissance Garden of 15th Century restored Villa Rivaldi, a precious antiquary of renaissance rediscoveries of Imperial Rome. 3) The Templum of Peace, a large Forum cornered by the original Map of Ancient Rome and by the hugest medieval Conti's Tower: a true transitional scenery from Ancient to Medieval Rome. 4) The Transitorium Nerva Forum, that a monumental corridor linking the Suburra popular neighborhood, still crowded and alive today, to the Ancient Public Squares: a meditative passage across a regenerated ancient site into a silent monumental area. 5) The Forum of Augustus, seen from the balcony of Alessandrina Way as a scenery for public screening of virtual reconstructions of the ancient site in time, under the renaissance balcony of the Cavaliers of Malta. 6) The huge Trajan Forum overseen by the spectacular gallery of the Trajan Markets, the mist ancient shopping mall, under the towering medieval Tower of Militias: a true square and stage to show the Ancient Stone Movie encoded in the Trajan Column. 7) The Cesarean Forum under the towering Senatorial Curia, bordering the Republican Forum, to decode the historical passage from the Agrarian Republican Rome to the Military Imperial Rome. 7 archeological passages of Ages to decode now the Ancient Greatness of Rome, a cultural ability of encoding the Spirit of Ages into a stratified syncretic Present; a decoding readable 'ever new' Ancient. It will then finally still be possible from all directions, a pedestrian and electric cycle crossing of the seven separated archeological (Domus Aurea and Colosseum Valley, Velia Hill and 5 Forums) environments, between the Colosseum and Venice Square, along two paths, being the left on the gardens facing the Curia, and the right on Corrado Ricci square and the Alessandrina Way facing the Augustus Forum. To conclude:containment of Mental or Ideological Social Fantasies through Scientific Historical Naturalistic Links to DNA, is a peculiar duty of a Decoding Neo Ancient, as long as it allows drawing stochastic lines of action from the Past to the Future. A Neo Ancient attitude to decode what can be preserved and what can be mutated, is a practical insurance for Progress to pass the natural selection as the fittest one. Cultural adaptive human skills are like steam engines. They are powerful as long as a self-regulating feedback Watt valve is applied to let out steam in excess, and to avoid imploding effects. Otherwise miscalculation of the side effects of human environmental manipulations, can promote apparently new successes that cause explosions and self-destructions. It happens when the New ignores the Ancient, where it comes from. That is the case when a compromising New Ancient can instead be respectful of longer lasting laws of nature, and avoid painful compensations. Decoding Neo Ancient is after all a stochastic rebalancing function in non-linear thermodynamic human environments. The more is the technological activism, the more it needs to be moderated by encoding Neo Ancient. That is why "DNA Foundation", announced on March the 6th 2015, will be a 'Futuristic tool from the Past': "Futuristic Ancient" is its paradoxical realistic definition.


The DigiLab is a research and enterprise lab in assemblage, based at the London College of Communication, University of the Arts, London. I will focus on the lab's conception phase has lead up to the physical and virtual construction of its studio and website. A sample of online case studies namely — lab, centre, network and hub were studied including; Hyper Island, SiDE, Method Design Lab, Helen Hamlyn Centre (Royal College of Art), Liquid Jungle Lab, IP Business Centre (British Library), Information Environments (London College of Communication), Imagination Lancaster (Lancaster University), the Centre for Fashion Enterprise (London College of Fashion), Charisma (Open University) and CSISP (Goldsmiths University). This paper will question — how are the activities that assemble 'lab life' in the digital sphere (media and design) constituted through online and offline materialities of the creative studio?

Six key terms from Bruno Latour's and Steven Woolgar's theoretical frame were borrowed from Lab Life (1979) as a way to reflect on the textual, audio and visual content of the websites. Running alongside the initial manual content audits, was an automatic web scraper, which used a bot to crawl the websites' content to highlight orphaned/ghost content. I will argue that the working practices of research and enterprise is an interrelation of online and offline inscriptions that assemble studio practice in design and sociological research environments. This is brought to bear through a combination of STS and design (in particular, IA - Information Architecture) contexts, methods and theory.


The 19th and 20th centuries saw a transformation in contraceptive technologies and their take up. This led to a sexual revolution, which witnessed a rise in premarital sex and out-of-wedlock births, and a decline in marriage. The impact of contraception on married and single life is analyzed here both theoretically and quantitatively. The analysis is conducted using a model where people search for partners. Upon finding one, they can choose between abstinence, marriage, and a premarital sexual relationship. The model is confronted with some stylized facts about premarital sex and marriage over the course of the 20th century. Some economic history is also presented.


The study is planned to develop novel PLGA based nanoparticle delivery system of 5'Fluorouracil to tre at colorectal cancer. pH sensitive polymer, Eudragit S 100 and PLGA were used to design the dosage form to target colonic region. Emulsion droplet coalescence method was employed to formulate nanoparticles. These nanoparticles were further characterized for their size, morphology, zeta potential, drug entrapment, Particle Size analysis, cytotoxicity study, in vitro release study and kinetic analysis. Formulation F2 proved to be better and showed 72.89 ± 1.41 drug entrapment with ideal particle size of 132.57nm ± 12.62. In vitro release of F2 formulation showed a lag phase for 4 hrs (pH 1.2 and pH 6.8). Initially, there was a burst release of 17.22% at 7 th hr and further there was a controlled release up to 78.23% for 24 hrs. In vitro kinetic study indicated that the formulations followed first order release pattern and anomalous transport kinetics, i.e. a combined mechanism of pure diffusion and Case II transport. For biological evaluation, HT29 (Human colorectal Adenocarcinoma) cell lines were selected and anti'tumoral efficacy was analyzed using MTT (3' [4, 5'dimethylthiazol'2'yl]'2, 5'diphenyltetrazoliu m bromide) assay. Results showed that 80% of cell lysis took place. Formulation F2 was a promising formulation to target colon cancer cells.


One of the possible causes of dilated cardiomyopathy is considered to be a sequel to myocarditis. Two mechanisms have been proposed in the process of progression of myocarditis into dilated cardiomyopathy: one is a persistent viral infection, and the other is an autoimmune myocardial injury. To clarify the possible part played by the autoimmune mechanism in the process, using an animal model, we investigated whether autoimmune myocarditis, exclusively not related to viral infection, might develop into dilated cardiomyopathy. Experimental autoimmune myocarditis was elicited in Lewis rats by immunization with cardiac myosin fraction. Rats of the control group were immunized with ovalbumin. The clinical course was observed over 4 months. Six rats from the myosin-immunized group died during the acute phase and the healing phase, and all those rats had severe myocarditis. All rats that survived until the end of the study showed enlarged and discolored hearts. Aneurysmal changes were observed in the right ventricle during thoracotomy. The ratio of heart weight to body weight of the myosin-immunized group was significantly higher than that of the control group (3.36 +/- 0.49 versus 2.69 +/- 0.06 g/kg, respectively; P < .005). The lengths of the anterior interventricular fissure and the posterior interventricular fissure of the hearts of the myosin-immunized group were significantly longer than those of the control group. The external diameter of the left ventricle of the myosin-immunized group was also significantly larger than that of the control group. Diffuse myocardial muscle loss and replacement fibrosis were the prominent histological findings of the rats of the myosin-immunized group.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


This research finds evidence of noisy chaotic properties in the returns of four Dow Jones indices, based on three tests of non-linearity and chaos. The study uses an average of 24,815 data points to correctly simulate chaos in financial time-series. The data consists of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (29,229 observations); Dow Jones Transportation Average (29,121 observations); Dow Jones Utility Average (21,150 observations) and the Dow Jones Composite Average (19,906 observations). The a) Brock, Dechert, and Scheinkman (BDS) test indicates that most of the Dow Jones indices are not iid series, except for the filtered residuals from the GARCH of the Dow Jones Utility Average. The b) rescaled range analysis shows that after scrambling the data, all Hurst exponents are above 0.5, and a trend-reinforcing property, which helps in the conclusion of having a chaotic process. Lastly, the c) correlation dimension analysis complements the initial findings and concludes the presence of a high dimensional noisy chaotic structure in the four Dow Jones indices.


ABSTRACT Investigations within the Silverton caldera, in southwestern Colorado,used a combination of traditional geological mapping, alteration-assemblage mapping, and aqueous geochemical sampling that showed a relationship between geological and hydrologic features that may be used to better understand the provenance and evolution of the water. Veins containing fluorite, huebnerite, and elevated molybdenum concentrations are temporally and perhaps genetically associated with the emplacement of high-silica rhyolite intrusions. Both the rhyolites and the fluorite-bearing veins produce waters containing elevated concentrations of F−, K and Be. The identification of water samples with elevated F/Cl molar ratios (> 10) has also aided in the location of water draining F-rich sources, even after these waters have been diluted substantially. These unique aqueous geochemical signatures can be used to relate water chemistry to key geological features and mineralized source areas. Two examples that illustrate this relationship are: (1) surface-water samples containing elevated F− concentrations (> 1.8 mg/l) that closely bracket the extent of several small high-silica rhyolite intrusions; and (2) water samples containing elevated concentrations of F− (> 1.8 mg/l) that spatially relate to mines or areas that contain late-stage fluorite/huebnerite veins. In two additional cases, the existence of high F− concentrations in water can be used to: (1) infer interaction of the water with mine waste derived from systems known to contain the fluorite/huebnerite association; and (2) relate changes in water quality over time at a high elevation mine tunnel to plugging of a lower elevation mine tunnel and the subsequent rise of the water table into mineralized areas containing fluorite/huebnerite veining. Thus, the unique geochemical signature of the water produced from fluorite veins indicates the location of high-silica rhyolites, mines, and mine waste containing the veins. Existence of high F− concentrations along with K and Be in water in combination with other geological evidence may be used to better understand the provenance of the water.


Abstract I defend a how-possibly argument for Kantian (or Kant*-ian) transcendental idealism, drawing on concepts from David Chalmers, Nick Bostrom, and the cyberpunk subgenre of science fiction. If we are artificial intelligences living in a virtual reality instantiated on a giant computer, then the fundamental structure of reality might be very different than we suppose. Indeed, since computation does not require spatial properties, spatiality might not be a feature of things as they are in themselves but instead only the way that things necessarily appear to us. It might seem unlikely that we are living in a virtual reality instantiated on a non-spatial computer. However, understanding this possibility can help us appreciate the merits of transcendental idealism in general, as well as transcendental idealism's underappreciated skeptical consequences.


Cutset conditioning and clique-tree propagation are two popular methods for performing exact probabilistic inference in Bayesian belief networks. Cutset conditioning is based on decomposition of a subset of network nodes, whereas clique-tree propagation depends on aggregation of nodes. We describe a means to combine cutset conditioning and clique- tree propagation in an approach called aggregation after decomposition (AD). We discuss the application of the AD method in the Pathfinder system, a medical expert system that offers assistance with diagnosis in hematopathology.


This study is affiliated with the ideology of integration of political participation and media, so in this connection it is seen there is popularity gained by social networks sites in modern age, and users of these sites are increasing day by day, they are engaged in Youtube, Twitter, Whatsapp, Facebook and other SNS. They always believe this is appropriate platform to proceed or local political activities of daily life. This research shows that youth are frequently sharing, posting, and interesting discussion on various political uses frequently. They preview it is a great platform to support and active their political leaders as well as political parties. It is also said in this research SNS is cheapest and Low-Paid platform to proceed information and youth are taking responsibility to gain proper advantage of these networks. In this research quantitative approach has been adopted and results are measured through SPSS-23 version. 39 items are used in questionnaire to accumulate or assemble the meaningful information of integration of media and Political Participation of youth in Khairpur district, Sindh Pakistan. It is shown different parliamentarian, Government officials and youth are using such networks they consider that are sources of their power to be influential in their consistency. Furthermore, it is seen in Khairpur. Facebook, and Youtube has a strong effect in political participation whereas, youth are not much awared how to use other social sites in this noble cause.


The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) sets global standards for sustainability reporting, relying on best practices for reporting on a range of economic, environmental, and social impacts. This is the IDBs fifth GRI annex, prepared as a supplement to the IDB Sustainability Report. The annex reports on both corporate and operational topics using standardized indicators. The following material topics are included in the annex: active ownership, anticorruption and ethics, biodiversity, climate resilience, employment and labor relations, energy, engagement and coordination, feedback mechanisms, financial inclusion, gender equality and diversity, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, health and safety, human rights, indirect economic impacts, market presence, material use, monitoring and evaluation, responsible portfolio, supply chain management, training and education, waste, and water.


As an introduction to the four papers published in the 2017 issue of Hungarian Cultural Studies, this paper summarizes the specificities of comparative literary studies in the Central and Eastern European context, as examined by a research group affiliated with the Institute of Literary Studies, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and various other universities throughout Hungary. The topics and thoughts expressed in these studies were originally explored during a conference session held at the AILC Vienna Congress in 2016. While Central and Eastern Europe's participation in the world of comparative studies has formed a core element for both the research group's interest and the Vienna session, this field has been expanded to discuss Central and Eastern European literatures within the context of international comparative studies as well as the migration (emigration) of these literatures. After presenting the four papers included in the 2017 issue of Hungarian Cultural Studies , the Guest Editors provide a brief preview of the next four papers to be published in the journal's 2018 issue.


A celebration of the last great era of the cinematic sex siren - a time when the cultural revolution resulted in unprecedented liberation in the treatment of nudity on screen.The Sixties and Seventies was an era when actresses were not ashamed to be associated with the tag of 'Sex Goddess' or 'Sex Siren' and were not embarrassed to exploit their beauty and bodily charms to enhance their career. Sex Sirens centres around a select number of actresses who capitalised on their natural beauty during this era. They range from cinematic legends to some whose names are barely known by the general public. Each chapter focuses on one actress with a biography, commentary and complete filmography. With an introduction by Roger Moore. Features full colour photos, rare international movie poster artwork and magazine covers. Actresses featured include Sophia Loren, Raquel Welch, Brigitte Bardot, Elizabeth Taylor, Ursula Andress and Gina Lollobrigida.


Introduction: Attracting donors and increase their satisfaction for regular donation of blood transfusion are the most important goals of the organization (the blood transfusion organization of Iran). In this study, quality, perceived value, and expectations on the satisfaction level of blood donors in Rasht blood donors were studied. Methods: In this study, the purpose and terms are descriptive survey research. The research instrument was a standard questionnaire. The population of this study included 384, the number of samples and sampling of blood donor transfusion in the center of Rasht were available. Data analysis using software SPSS18 and PLS indicators and descriptive and inferential statistics were used. Results: The results showed that service quality has an impact on the value perceived by donors. Service quality has an impact on increasing donor satisfaction. Perceived value affects blood donors to increase their satisfaction. Conclusion: With attention to customers, the service quality and perceived value affect the level of donor satisfaction, we expected that employees have more responsibility and are ready to service the customers and so the time of doing the customer application should be shorter and appearance of regular employees should be justified. Amenities such as chairs and reception furniture should be appropriate. The referring to customer complaints should be addressed. Staff should have the necessary capabilities that customers feel good about the organization.


Abstract. Simulating the radiative impacts of aerosols located above liquid water clouds presents a significant challenge. In particular, absorbing aerosols, such as smoke, may have significant impact in such situations and even change the sign of net radiative forcing. It is not possible to reliably obtain information on such overlap events from existing passive satellite sensors. However, the CALIOP instrument onboard NASA's CALIPSO satellite allows us to examine these events with unprecedented accuracy. Using four years of collocated CALIPSO 5 km Aerosol and Cloud Layer Version 3 Products (June 2006–May 2010), we quantify, for the first time, the characteristics of overlapping aerosol and water cloud layers globally. We investigate seasonal variability in these characteristics over six latitude bands to understand the hemispheric differences when all aerosol types are included in the analysis (the AAO case). We also investigate frequency of smoke aerosol-cloud overlap (the SAO case). Globally, the frequency is highest during the JJA months in the AAO case, while for the SAO case, it is highest in the SON months. The seasonal mean overlap frequency can regionally exceed 20% in the AAO case and 10% in the SAO case. In about 5–10% cases the vertical distance between aerosol and cloud layers is less than 100 m, while about in 45–60% cases it less than a kilometer in the annual means for different latitudinal bands. In about 70–80% cases, aerosol layers are less than a kilometer thick, while in about 18–22% cases they are 1–2 km thick. The frequency of aerosol layers 2–3 km thick is about 4–5% in the tropical belts during overlap events. Over the regions where high aerosol loadings are present, the overlap frequency can be up to 50% higher when quality criteria on aerosol/cloud feature detection are relaxed. Over the polar regions, more than 50% of the overlapping aerosol layers have optical thickness less than 0.02, but the contribution from the relatively optically thicker aerosol layers increases towards the equatorial regions in both hemispheres. The results suggest that the frequency of occurrence of overlap events is far from being negligible globally.


of a dissertation at the University of Miami. Dissertation supervised by Professors Maria M. Llabre and Neil Schneiderman. No. of pages in text. (53) It is now well established that pronounced differences exist in prevalence of abdominal obesity across gender and ethnicity. Hispanic/Latinos, in particular, have been shown to have markedly distinct prevalence when compared to other ethnic populations around the world. Various organizations have highlighted the need to examine whether overall abdominal obesity cut points are appropriate for the use in this ethnic minority, particular highlighting the need of research among Hispanic/Latino residing in Western countries. This study used data from the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL), the largest study of Hispanic/Latinos in the US, to: (1) establish optimal definitions for abdominal obesity among Hispanic/Latino adults, (2) determine the level of agreement between the presence of the metabolic syndrome diagnosed by the current Joint Interim Statement (IJS) definition and an updated definition with optimal abdominal obesity cut points, and (3) examine the association between the presence of the metabolic syndrome, diagnosed by both the IJS and our updated definition, and coronary heart disease (CHD). The sample was comprised of 16,289 individuals (59.94% female). Our results indicate than among US Hispanic/Latino adults, waist circumference cut points of >102 cm in men and >97 cm in women provide optimal discrimination for cardiovascular risk as judged by the presence of CHD. When using these cut points to create an updated metabolic syndrome definition among women, we found disagreement between our updated definition and the current IJS criteria for metabolic syndrome. The prevalence of the metabolic syndrome was overestimated by about 5% points among women based on IJS criteria when compared to our updated definition. Further, we determined that the performance of our updated metabolic syndrome definition as predictor of CHD was comparable to that of the IJS definition. In this paper, we provide for the first time an empirically-derived definition of abdominal obesity for use among Hispanic/Latino adults in the US. Future reports should examine our recommended waist circumference definition cut points and the performance of our updated metabolic syndrome definition as a predictor of cardiovascular risk among US Hispanic/Latinos in prospective designs.


How rapidly will child undernutrition respond to income growth? This study explores that question using household survey data from 12 countries. In addition, data on the undernutrition rates since the 1970s available from a cross-section of countries are employed in this investigation. Both forms of analysis yield similar results. Income increases at household and national levels imply similar rates of reduction in undernutrition. Using these estimates and better-than-historical income growth rates, we find that the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving the levels of child underweight by 2015 is unlikely to be met through income growth alone. What is needed is a balanced strategy of income growth and investment in more direct interventions to accelerate reductions in undernutrition.


In this paper, the FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) implementation of self interference cancellation technique based on an adaptive LMS (Least Mean Square) algorithm is presented. By using the FPGA Virtex@6 HW module, the field data measured through a RF repeater is adopted to improve a signal quality and to reduce oscillation of the system due to the feedback interference signal coming from transmit antenna of a WCDMA radio repeater. As a result, the proposed module, which was simulated by Xilinx System Generator, a high efficiency and achievs the a similar performance in comparison with the implementation result. Because of FPGA implementation, the designed technique offers more flexibility than existing methods.


This paper presents and compares a variety of approaches that have been developed to guide the decision-making process in learning design. Together with the companion Learning Design Rashomon II (Prieto et al. , 2013 ), devoted to existing tools to support the same process, it aims to provide a view on relevant research results in this field. The common thread followed in these two contributions is inspired by Kurosawa'1s Rashomon film, which takes multiple perspectives on the same action. Similarly, in this paper, Rashomon I, a lesson on "Healthy Eating" is analysed according to five different approaches, while the Rashomon II paper is used to exemplify the affordances of different tools. For this reason, this paper does not follow the conventional structure of research papers (research question, method, results and discussion), but rather it moves from an introduction providing the rationale for the paper, to a description of the five different approaches to learning design (the 4SPPIces Model, the 4Ts, the e-Design Template, the Design Principles Database and the Design Narrative) and then to a discussion of their similarities and differences to inform the choice of potential users. Keywords: learning design approaches; pedagogical planning; inquiry learning (Published: 16 September 2013) Citation: Research in Learning Technology Supplement 2013, 21 : 20224 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/rlt.v21i0.20224


Civil society organisations (CSOs) have asserted their claim for participation in regional governance in Southeast Asia through multiple forums held since the late-1990s. The two most enduring are the ASEAN People's Assembly (APA), organised by ASEAN-ISIS and held seven times from 2000 to 2009, and the ASEAN Civil Society Conference (ACSC), organised by the Solidarity for Asian People's Advocacy network and held nine times from 2005 to the present. Through comparative analysis of the boundaries of CSO participation in these two events, this article explains why the APA was superseded by the ACSC, and it highlights states' growing intrusions into the ACSC. It argues that states' expanding repertoire of tactics to direct the ACSC has seen the structure of CSO participation in this event recast, challenging the view of the ACSC as an independent space for advocacy and indicating the hollowness of ASEAN's commitments to creating a 'people-oriented' Association.


Being a referee for a journal article is an important yet daunting task. It is especially worrisome for someone who has little reviewing experience. It is important to remember is that it is an honor and perhaps a duty, but not a burden. Someone considers you to be an expert in the subject and it is with that mindset that you should approach the task. Each part of the review process has its own difficulties:• Grammar and Language: How much of this do you need to do? Does poor grasp of the English language warrant rejection. Is it effective or excessively verbose?• Science: Is this project novel? How do you determine that? How similar can it be to other previously published manuscripts?• References: Are the proper studies referenced? How much does this affect the review?• Methods: How do you determine if the methods are sound? How much can you suggest without trying to be a collaborator?• Results: Are graphs and tables being utilized wisely? Are there an excessive number of them?All of these issues are important part of the review process and need to be considered. But how do you weight them in your final recommendation and communicate them to the authors and editors? This panel of senor medical physics, which has extensive experience in refereeing, will help guide the audience through the entire review process. These experts will share their experiences and methods to help new referees best prepare for the opportunity of reviewing manuscripts.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Learn the role of the referee and what is expected of them. 2. Learn how to perform a review. 3. Learn how to communicate a review with authors and editors.


The present study has been carried out with the following objectives: i) To investigate the attributes of source parameters of local and regional earthquakes; ii) To estimate, as accurately as possible, M0, fc, Δσ and their standard errors to infer their relationship with source size; iii) To quantify high-frequency earthquake ground motion and to study the source scaling. This work is based on observational data of micro, small and moderate -earthquakes for three selected seismic sequences, namely Parkfield (CA, USA), Maule (Chile) and Ferrara (Italy).
For the Parkfield seismic sequence (CA), a data set of 757 (42 clusters) repeating micro-earthquakes (0 ≤ MW ≤ 2), collected using borehole High Resolution Seismic Network (HRSN), have been analyzed and interpreted. We used the coda methodology to compute spectral ratios to obtain accurate values of fc , Δσ, and M0 for three target clusters (San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Hawaii) of our data. We also performed a general regression on peak ground velocities to obtain reliable seismic spectra of all earthquakes.
For the Maule seismic sequence, a data set of 172 aftershocks of the 2010 MW 8.8 earthquake (3.7 ≤ MW ≤ 6.2), recorded by more than 100 temporary broadband stations, have been analyzed and interpreted to quantify high-frequency earthquake ground motion in this subduction zone. We completely calibrated the excitation and attenuation of the ground motion in Central Chile.
For the Ferrara sequence, we calculated moment tensor solutions for 20 events from MW 5.63 (the largest main event occurred on May 20 2012), down to MW 3.2 by a 1-D velocity model for the crust beneath the Pianura Padana, using all the geophysical and geological information available for the area. The PADANIA model allowed a numerical study on the characteristics of the ground motion in the thick sediments of the flood plain.


The shallow subtidal to intertidal sandy mudflats of an unusual, 6 km 2 , alternating tidal lagoon–brackish lake (Lake Onoke, New Zealand) has a remarkably consistent foraminiferal fauna dominated (>80%) by Miliammina fusca . During intervals when the gravel barrier across its mouth is closed, the salinity in the lake declines and the level may rise to 1 m above the extreme astronomical tide level (EHWS) of the sea outside. A transect of samples through and above the salt marsh on the edge of Lake Onoke identifies three elevation-related foraminiferal zones: M. fusca (up to mid tide level, MSL); M. fusca-Trochamminita salsa (MSL to mean high water level, MHW); and T. salsa-Haplophragmoides wilberti (MHW to 1 m above EHWS). This is the first record of foraminiferal faunas living above EHWS in New Zealand. Foraminiferal faunas in Holocene sediment cores indicate that a much larger, ancestral Lake Onoke (~20 km 2 ) was created 4000–3000 cal yr BP, presumably by the growth of a gravel barrier across the previously open mouth to the sea. During the late Holocene, river sand prograded southwards into ancestral Lake Onoke creating swampy alluvial flats that separate modern Lake Onoke from its freshwater counterpart, Lake Wairarapa. Foraminiferal faunas indicate the early Holocene (6500-4000 cal yr BP) presence of an elongate (30 km-long), mostly intertidal embayment extending up the lower Wairarapa Valley beneath present-day Lakes Onoke and Wairarapa. Foraminifera-based elevation estimates suggest that during the early Holocene, this embayment subsided at a rate of about 1–2 mm per yr, sufficient to accommodate the accumulating mud and retain an extensive area (>20 km 2 ) of tidal flats. A slowing rate of subsidence accompanied by eustatic sea-level fall probably account for late Holocene aggradation.


Abstract. A valid assessment of selective aerobic degradation on organic matter (OM) and its impact on OM-based proxies is vital to produce accurate environmental reconstructions. However, most studies investigating these effects suffer from inherent environmental heterogeneities. In this study, we used surface samples collected along two meter-scale transects and one longer transect in the northeastern Arabian Sea to constrain initial OM heterogeneity, in order to evaluate selective aerobic degradation on temperature, productivity and alteration indices at the sediment-water interface. All of the studied alteration indices, the higher plant alkane index, alcohol preservation index, and diol oxidation index, demonstrated that they are sensitive indicators for changes in the oxygen regime. Several export production indices, a cholesterol-based stanol/stenol index and dinoflagellate lipid- and cyst-based ratios, showed significant (more than 20%) change only over the lateral oxygen gradients. Therefore, these compounds do not exclusively reflect surface water productivity, but are significantly altered after deposition. Two of the proxies, glycerol dibiphytanyl glycerol tetraether-based TEX86 sea surface temperature indices and indices based on phytol, phytane and pristane, did not show any trends related to oxygen. Nevertheless, unrealistic sea surface temperatures were obtained after application of the TEX86, TEX86L, and TEX86H proxies. The phytol-based ratios were likely affected by the sedimentary production of pristane. Our results demonstrate the selective impact of aerobic organic matter degradation on the lipid and palynomorph composition of surface sediments along a short lateral oxygen gradient and suggest that some of the investigated proxies may be useful tracers of changing redox conditions at the sediment-water interface.


This study explains the theory of the service trade and service industry economic growth briefly, and makes relevant reasonable assumptions, and applies econometric methods to carry out case study. The selected data includes economic growth data of service industry and import and export data of service trade, and the time node is from 1985 to 2006. The econometric methods used include co-integration theory and Granger causality relationship test, and the results of co-integration analysis shows that the variable value of each group is non-stationary, but they are all a single whole sequence. The results of cointegration test show that there has a long-term stable equilibrium relationship between variables. From a long-term perspective, encouraging measures should be taken for the export of service trade, thus widening the economic growth of the service industry. The results of Granger causality test show that, from the policy we should give full play to the role of service trade export, and encourage imports to promote the economic growth of the service industry; For the economic growth of service industry, service trade import sometimes has lag effect, focusing on the future, the policy formulation shall be prudent. The import and export of service trade influence each other, and one-way causal relationship exists between the two in different period. Finally, this study puts forward the development path of service trade and service economy, and the cooperation of three can improve current situation of ChinaÂ's service trade, promoting the international competitiveness in the end.


Continuous sample drop flow microextraction (CSDFME) combined with gas chromatography-electron-capture detection (GC-ECD) has been developed as a high preconcentration technique for the determination of chlorophenols (CPs) in environmental water samples. In this method, a few microliters of organic solvent (11.0 μL chlorobenzene) is transferred to the bottom of a conical test tube. Then 10.0 mL of aqueous solution transforms into fine droplets while passing through the organic solvent. At this stage, CPs are extracted into the organic solvent. Under the optimum conditions, enrichment factors and extraction recoveries are in the range of 630–1770 and 31.5–88.5, respectively. The calibration graphs are linear in the range of 0.01–300 μg L−1 and limits of detection (LODs) are in the range of 0.005–0.50 μg L−1. The relative standard deviations (RSDs, for 100 μg L−1 of MCPs, 50 μg L−1 of DCPs, 2.00 μg L−1 of TCPs, 1.00 μg L−1 of TeCPs and PCP in water) with and without using an internal standard are in the range of 0.9–5.5% (n = 7) and 1.2–6.4% (n = 7), respectively. The relative recoveries of well, tap and river water samples which have been spiked with different levels of CPs are in the range of 90.6–104.2%.


The Variations/FRBR project aims to contribute to a community understanding of what it means to implement FRBR. Serving as a concrete test-bed for the FRBR conceptual model, a goal of the V/FRBR project is to provide the community with FRBR-compliant data formats and encodings promoting interoperability and exchange of FRBR data between systems and institutions. The first outcome of this goal was a FRBR-compliant XML format developed and released by the project team. Encouraged by recent efforts towards creating library legacy metadata which are Semantic Web-compliant, the V/FRBR project has completed an RDF binding of the V/FRBR data model that will serve to further formal interoperability among all FRBR-based Application Profiles. This article discusses the steps taken towards creating a Semantic Web-compliant, interoperable data model that implements the FRBR conceptual model and can be used in both a generic and a music-specific environment.


In terrestrial television transmission multiple paths of various lengths can occur between the transmitter and the receiver. Such paths occur because of reflections from objects outside the direct transmission path. The multipath signals arriving at the receiver are all detected along with the intended signal causing time displaced replicas called 'ghosts' to appear on the television picture. With an increasing number of people living within built up areas, ghosting is becoming commonplace and therefore deghosting is becoming increasingly important.

This thesis uses a deterministic time domain approach to deghosting, resulting in a simple solution to the problem of removing ghosts. A new video detector is presented which reduces the synchronous detector local oscillator phase error, caused by any practical size of ghost, to a lower level than has ever previously been achieved. From the new detector, dispersion of the video signal is minimised and a known closed-form time domain description of the individual ghost components within the detected video is subsequently obtained.

Developed from mathematical descriptions of the detected video, a new specific deghoster filter structure is presented which is capable of removing both inphase (I) and also the phase quadrature (Q) induced ghost signals derived from the VSB operation. The new deghoster filter requires much less hardware than any previous deghoster which is capable of removing both I and Q ghost components.

A new channel identification algorithm was also required and written which is based upon simple correlation techniques to find the delay and complex amplitude characteristics of individual ghosts. The result of the channel identification is then passed to the new I and Q deghoster filter for ghost cancellation.

Generated from the research work performed for this thesis, five papers have been published.
D


State per capita incomes became more disperse during the contraction phase of the Great Depression, and less disperse during the recovery phase. We investigate the effects of spatial dependence, industrial composition, bank failures and fiscal policies on state income growth during each phase. We find that industrial composition and spatial interdependencies contributed to negative state income growth during the contraction, whereas New Deal spending contributed to positive state income growth during the recovery phase. We find no evidence that differences in bank failure rates or state government expenditures contributed to variation in state income growth rates. JEL classification numbers: N12, N92, R11, R12


This thesis presents theoretical studies of the nonlinear optical properties of p-type semiconductors. Chapter 2 is concerned with the intensity dependence of the complex dielectric constant of p-type germanium for light with a wavelength in the 9-11 µm region. The nonlinear absorption is described by the imaginary part of the complex dielectric constant, and the nonlinear dispersive properties are described by the intensity dependence of the real part of the dielectric constant. Chapter 3 deals with the saturation characteristics of practically all Groups IV and III-V p-type semiconductors and includes a discussion of the systematic dependence of the saturation intensity on the material parameters. Chapters 4 and 5 are concerned with several "pump-and-probe" experiments. Here, the transmission of a low-intensity light beam (probe) can be altered by the presence of a high-intensity laser (pump). In these chapters the modulation of the probe transmission is analyzed as a function of the intensity of the pump laser. Chapter 6 treats the intensity dependence of the conductivity of p-Ge for light with a wavelength of 10.6 µm. In Chapter 2, we present a theory of the saturation of heavy- to light-hole band transitions in p-type germanium by high-intensity light with a wavelength near 10 µm. The free-hole distribution function is modified by the high-intensity light, which leads to an intensity dependence in the absorption coefficient and the index of refraction. The absorption coefficient is found to decrease with intensity in a manner closely approximated by an inhomogeneously broadened two-level model. For temperatures and hole concentrations where hole-phonon dominates hole-impurity and hole-hole scattering, the saturation intensity is independent of the hole concentration. For larger hole densities, the saturation intensity is found to increase monotonically with increasing hole concentration. We calculate the saturation intensity as a function of excitation wavelength and temperature for p-Ge. The saturation intensity is found to increase with increasing photon energy and temperature. The calculated results for the absorption saturation are compared with the available experimental data and good agreement is found. In addition to the nonlinear absorption, there exist laser-induced changes in the index of refraction resulting from the saturation of the intervalence-band transitions. Calculations of the intensity dependence of the real part of the dielectric constant are performed for room temperature and for light with a wavelength of 10.6 µm. The index of refraction is found to increase monotonically with increasing intensity. In Chapter 3, we present the results of the theory describing the saturation behavior of most p-type semiconductors with the diamond or zincblende crystal structure by high-intensity CO 2 light. For materials with large spin-orbit splittings as compared to the excitation wavelength (as for Ge), the dominant absorption mechanism is direct intervalence-band transitions where a free hole in the heavy-hole band absorbs a photon and makes a transition to the light-hole band. For materials with small spin-orbit splittings as compared to the excitation wavelength (as for Si), direct intervalence-band transitions are allowed between the heavy-hole and light-hole, heavy-hole and split-off, and light-hole and split-off hole bands. In each material, values of the saturation intensity are reported as a function of the photon energy and temperature. In Chapter 4, we present a theory to describe the enhanced transmission of a weak tunable probe laser with a wavelength near 3 µm in the presence of a high-intensity saturating beam with a wavelength near 10 µm in p-Ge. The mechanism responsible for the increasing transmission of the probe laser is the depletion of holes in the heavy-hole band by the saturating beam. Room temperature values of the absorption coefficient of the probe are predicted as a function of the intensity of the pump beam. In Chapter 5, we present a theory of the absorption lineshape of a low-intensity probe laser which is tuned in the vicinity of a high-intensity pump laser with a wavelength of 10.6 µm. Values for the absorption coefficient of the probe are calculated at room temperature as a function of the intensity of the pump laser. We find the probe absorption can be divided into two contributions: one being due to the depletion of holes in the resonant region of the heavy-hole band by the saturable pump, and the other being due to a coupling of the pump and probe beams which allow the pump photons to be scattered into the probe and vice versa. The calculated results for the composite lineshape of the probe are compared with the experimental data and good agreement is found. In Chapter 6, we show how the modification of the free hole distribution function by the saturating beam leads to a change in the conductivity of p-Ge. The photoconductive response is calculated as a function of the doping level, temperature and light intensity.


Knowledge of fertilizer required for (Hevea brasilieinsis) latex timber clones (LTC) is necessary to evaluate how fertilizer levels influence the growth and yield performance of young rubber under micro-environmental conditions. This will enable rubber industry to meet the increasing global demand of natural rubber. This study aims at evaluating the influence of fertilizer rates currently recommended by Rubber Industry Smallholders Development Authority (RISDA 1) for rubber growers in Malaysia. It is a compound fertilizer with the following composition (N10.7, P 16.6, K 9.5, Mg 2.4). This study identifies the fertilizer level that could be used in planning nutritional program for latex timber clones (LTC) Hevea brasiliensis at immature stage. Factorial experimental design (with two factors) was used to study forty five seedlings from three selected rubber clones planted in polybag on two different soil series (Munchong and Holyrood) each. These rubber clones (RRIM 2001, RRIM 2025 and RRIM 3001) were collected from Malaysia Rubber Board and planted in 15 x 33 cm polybags size filled with 15 kg soil. The seedlings, planted on two soils, Munchong and Holyrood (classified as Ultisols and Oxisol soils) are placed under rain shelter. The treatments consist of four fertilizer rates and a control. F1 0 g/plant (Control), F2 (78 g/plant), F3 (156 g/plant), F4 (234 g/plant) and F5 (312 g/plant) are used as treatments for each clone. Data on physiological and morphological traits such as plant height, girth size, and chlorophyll content were collected for one year. Roots image analysis for root length, root volume, average diameter and surface area were measured using WinRHIZO root scanning machine.
 Foliar analysis was conducted to determine nutrient acquisition of these clones. Plant growth parameters showed that, RRIM 3001 and RRIM 2001 clones significantly responded to fertilizer rates in terms of plant girth size. In the case of RRIM 3001 increased girth size on both soils was seen when fertilizer reached maximum level of 224 g/plant. This showed that clone RRIM 3001 performed best followed by RRIM2001 and RRIM 2025. Considering the importance of girth size in rubber cultivation, fertilizer rate 224 g/plant could be recommended as optimum level for plant growth in nursery program. Foliar analysis showed that different clones require different nutrient concentrations. The clones significantly responded to increasing N, P, K and Mg. It can be deduced from the study that RRIM 3001 judiciously utilized nutrient followed by RRIM 2001. Although, all the clones except RRIM 2001 may require more P concentration when planted on both soils in order to meet its nutritional requirement. The root analysis showed that fertilizer had significant influence on the root morphological traits. It was observed that RRIM 3001 significantly responded based on all the root morphological traits measured except root surface area and root length on both soil followed by RRIM 2025. It can be concluded that RRIM 3001 had performed best in root morphological traits compared to other clones. Fertilizer recommendation by RISDA could be adopted because it facilitate root growth which help nutrients uptakes. With thorough monitoring and measurement of plants growth performance, nutrient concentration and root growth, it can be concluded that fertilizer recommendation should be based on the genetic background, soil type in a given area and other growing factors. The seedlings of latex timber clones (LTC) RRIM 3001 could be recommended on Munchong and Holyrood soil with balanced fertilizer recommendation. From this study, fertilizer rate 224 g/plant could be recommended as optimum level. However, further trial (field) needs to be to be carried on RRIM 2001, RRIM 2025 and RRIM 3001 to validate the output of this study. Finally, fertilizer rates recommended by RISDA could be adopted in nursery practices with continuous evaluation so as to meet the growth and nutritional needs of Hevea for both new and existing clones. This will help the industry to successfully raise advanced planting materials of natural rubber.


The concept of the sun protection factor was originally proposed by the Austrian scientist Franz Greiter and subsequently adopted by many regulatory authorities and the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries. It is popularly interpreted as how much longer skin covered with sunscreen takes to burn compared with unprotected skin.1 This interpretation can encourage users to prolong their sun exposure accordingly, yet there is ample evidence that the numerical measure of protection indicated on the product pack is generally higher than achieved in practice.2 This mismatch between expectation and realisation may be one contributing factor to why use of sunscreens has been reported to be a risk factor in melanoma.3 I suggest that the role of sunscreens as a preventive measure against sunburn, and presumably skin cancer, would be strengthened if a qualitative rather than quantitative measure of photoprotection was used.

#### Summary points

If sunscreens were applied appropriately, to prevent sunburn there would be no need for sun protection factors higher than 15

People who use high factor sunscreens get sunburnt because of inadequate application

Numerical indicators of sun protection on sunscreen packaging can cause more confusion than clarity

Qualitative measures of labelling sunscreens are proposed that focus more on protection than on encouraging prolonged exposure to sunlight

The sun protection factor is defined as the ratio of the least amount of ultraviolet energy required to produce a minimal erythema on skin protected by sunscreen to the amount of energy required to produce the same erythema on unprotected skin.4 Ten years ago most commercially available sunscreen products …


Extracted from text ... IMIESA MARCH 2006 - 51
LEGISLATION
"All things flow" and are ever changing is what the Greek
philosopher Heraclitus wrote in the fifth century BC.
This truth is currently applicable to local government legislation
in South Africa and more specifically to the field of municipal
procurement of goods and services.
Drastic new changes are prescribed in terms of two sets of
legislation:
? the Municipal Supply Chain Management Regulations of 30 May
2005 that were published by the Minister of Finance with the
concurrence of the Minister of Provincial and Local Government,
in terms of Chapter 11 of the MFMA ..


Experiential marketing is increasingly getting companies' attention as a strategy to interact with consumers and engage them to better convey their brand image and positioning. However, its effects are still unclear both at the aggregate and individual levels. This paper addresses this topic and presents a field experiment investigating the effects of experiential marketing on brand image in retailing. Two similar consumer electronics stores with different strategies – traditional vs. experiential – constitute the setting in which a field experiment has been run. Two similar samples of consumers took part in our study by visiting one of these two stores, and answering a questionnaire before and after the visit with the primary goal to investigate the brand image and its changes due to the shopping visit. Brand image was measured as the overall brand attitude – via four items – and five specific desired brand claims that the company wanted to convey to consumers. Findings show that engaged consumers through the multisensory and interactive event arranged in the experiential store register higher levels of both brand attitude and all brand claims than those visiting the traditional store, and that the increase in both the dependent variables after the visit of the experiential store is higher than the increase in the traditional store. Thus, experiential stores are not only able to entertain consumers, but they are also able to educate them, by conveying them a set of brand claims more effectively than the traditional store.

 Key words: Events, experiential marketing, field experiment, brand management, brand image, multisensoriality.


The sensory recruitment account of working memory (WM) assumes that the short-term retention of visual or tactile stimuli is implemented by cortical areas that are also responsible for the perceptual processing of these stimuli. Focal attention supports the short-term retention of sensory information, but it is unknown whether attention can also be flexibly shifted between visual and tactile WM representations. This study explored such inter-modal attention shifts in a task that required memory for simultaneously presented tactile and visual stimuli. A set of bilateral tactile and visual sample stimuli was followed after a retention period by a set of test stimuli. In different blocks, participants were instructed to memorize all stimuli on either the left or the right side. An auditory retro-cue, presented 500 ms after the sample sets, signalled whether the tactile or visual stimuli were relevant for the upcoming memory test. To study how these cues affect tactile and visual short-term storage, we measured the visual contralateral delay activity (CDA component) of the event-related potential (ERP) and its tactile counterpart (tCDA) that are elicited over modality-specific visual and somatosensory cortex. Scalp current density transforms were used to minimize volume-conduction, and to simultaneously measure these components over somatosensory and visual regions of interest (ROIs). A significant ROI x cued modality interaction demonstrated that visual and tactile WM was affected by the cued task-relevance of these sensory modalities. The tCDA component over somatosensory scalp regions was present only when touch was cued. The CDA over visual cortex was present in both cueing conditions, but was larger when vision was cued. Our results suggest that tactile and visual stimuli are stored separately in modality-specific memory systems. We conclude that retro-cues elicit inter-modal attention shifts that selectively activate information in the currently task-relevant modality. Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2015.


XML has become a primary data model to wrap heterogeneous data sources using views. However, as is commonly known, views and thus also such XML views suffer from the view update problem. In this paper, we characterize the search space of all potential correct update mappings in the context of the source data also being XML. This is achieved by proposing the notion of a source and of a clean source for a given XML view element. Further, we introduce the clean source theory to determine whether a given view update mapping is correct. This now serves as a solid theoretical foundation for developing practical algorithms towards update translatability checking. We also provide a concrete case study that applies this theory to assess the translatability of XML view updates with different update types.


This paper explains how half a billion hours of service data for pressure safety valves (PSVs) can be analysed and presented to allow optimisation of maintenance intervals and manage the inspection of PSVs. The large amount of data creates challenges, but also opportunities for an enhanced methodology expandable to other equipment types.
 A methodology has been developed that uniquely combines qualitative and quantitative analysis. The latter ensures that the risk from PSV failure is determined and below set criteria. The drawback with this criterion alone would be that it is based on average data from a large set of PSVs and the average may not be applicable everywhere especially if failures are not random, but have an underlying, potentially unknown, cause. Therefore, each PSV is also qualitatively assessed. To bridge the gap between individual PSVs and "large sets", groups of PSVs are also identified in the methodology and data for them is collated and used within the whole group; the careful analysis required to define the groups, which must have similar properties, or performance, is described. This multi-layered assessment gains the most information possible from the data. The key part of the process is also to present this data for review and analysis, and this is achieved through a digital, cloud-based interactive dashboard.
 The analysis has shown that maintenance intervals can be reduced significantly, but simultaneously risk reduced by concentrating effort on the worst-performing PSVs. Not least, a dashboard presentation of the risk-based inspection (RBI) showing the calculated inspection interval, changes to the intervals and failures allows a clear picture to be developed of PSV performance. Maintenance planning also becomes easier and information required for deferral assessments is available in seconds rather than hours. The analysis shows where poorer performance can occur, this is often applicable across different assets. The way in which the approach can be expanded to other equipment types will be described.
 The novel approach in the assessment is the multi-layered combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis and the presentation of a large amount of data through the cloud to be used by maintenance teams, technical authorities and operators. It also shows the benefits of collecting half a billion service hours of data and that this need not be an onerous task.


A mechanical molecular spring isolator (MMSI) is proposed for the purpose of isolating the low-frequency vibration of a heavy payload. The MMSI is a passive vibration isolation technique mimicking molecular spring isolator characteristics of high-static-low-dynamic stiffness (HSLDS). An MMSI consists of a piston-cylinder container filled with the liquid and some hydraulic spring accumulators. The piston would support a lump of mass and be subjected to a specific external vibration excitation force. Those accumulators can get intercommunication by the liquid to produce the transformation from high static stiffness to low dynamic stiffness. The stiffness model of the MMSI with several identical accumulators is established based on the hydrostatic law. After that, some parameters that significantly influence the stiffness characteristics are studied. Results show that the stiffness property of this kind of MMSI demonstrates a piecewise linearity of three segments. It applies the averaging method to acquire amplitude-frequency and phase-frequency relationships of the piecewise linear vibration isolation system. An inevitable jump phenomenon may occur when the exciting force reaches the critical value. The vibration isolation performance is evaluated by energy transmissibility. Finally, an experimental prototype was designed to carry out quasi-static and dynamic experiments to verify the stiffness model and the dynamic properties as an HSLDS vibration isolator.


Abstract In order to clarify key engineering issues and to enhance key R&D activities for D-T fusion blankets, many design activities on innovative liquid blanket systems are on going as collaboration studies in Japan. Recently an improved long-life Flibe blanket has been proposed, and the self-cooled Li/V blanket design has started. For Flibe systems, much progress has been made on tritium permeation barrier, energy conversion system, free surface designs, and thermofluid loop experiments. For Li/V systems, evaluation studies have proceeded on Be-free nuclear properties and allowable crack fraction on multilayered MHD insulation coatings.


Volume 2 of James Tobin's Essays in Economics brings together twenty papers published between 1940 and 1972. These cover macroeconomics, particularly the theory of the relationship between unemployment and inflation and the dilemma their connection poses for policy; consumption function, which is also related to macroeconomic theory and to the theory of individual behavior; consumer theory and statistical method applied to the problem of rationing; and the development and application of econometric methods suitable for the empirical analysis of consumer behavior.James Tobin received the Nobel Prize in 1981 and is Sterling Professor of Economics at Yale. Essays in Economics, Volume 1: Macroeconomics and Volume 3: Theory and Policy are both available from The MIT Press.


In spite of the considerable progress made in recent years toward the understanding of the chemistry and biological function of the cobalt-containing B12 group of compounds, much of the information still is more descriptive than definitive in nature. In general terms, it is known that the free vitamin forms can function as methyl group carriers and that the 5'-deoxyadenosyl or coenzyme forms serve as hydrogen carriers; but the mechanism of these processes is not understood in detail. More systematic studies of the pure chemistry of these complex molecules containing a carbon-cobalt covalent bond are needed before the biochemist can interpret many of his observations on the enzyme-catalyzed reactions. Even in relatively simple solutions it is difficult to ascertain the state of oxidation of several of the vitamin forms, and these problems are compounded when the reactive thiol compounds and complex proteins of the biological systems also are present. For example, both vitamin B12r (the Co2+ form) and corresponding analogs are known to disproportionate in solution to B12s (Co1+) and B12a (Co3+) under a variety of mild conditions (12, 57). This means that in the biological systems it is exceedingly difficult to ascertain the chemical nature of many B12 intermediates and reaction products. The role of the protein moiety of the various B12-linked enzymes in the catalytic processes is little known as is, also, the mode of binding of the B12 derivative to the protein. These types of questions perhaps can be answered eventually by the crystallographers, whose art is becoming increasingly sophisticated. Note added after preparation of manuscript. In contrast to the values given in Table 4 for the molecular weights of the two dissimilar protein moieties of glycerol dehydrase, a recent report (57a), gives a value of 188,000 for the molecular weight of a stable, catalytically inactive complex of 1 mole of hydroxocobalamin and 1 mole of the apoenzyme complex of glycerol dehydrase. The latter is presumed to contain one equivalent of each of the two dissimilar protein subunits. The original estimate of 240,000 as the molecular weight of the unstable sulfhydryl protein moiety (39) was undoubtedly made on partially aggregated material.


Although credit is given to Sir William Gull for highlighting the clinical picture of subarachnoid hemorrhage in 1859, we discuss a case presented by Mr. Egerton A. Jennings, Fellow of the Linnaean Society, published 23 years earlier in the 1836 edition of the Transactions of the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association. This case, probably the first reported in the English language of a basilar aneurysm rupture, is of medico-historical interest. Jennings provided a remarkably accurate and detailed description of the patient, who experienced coma as a result of the severity of subarachnoid hemorrhage. The detailed clinical observations on initial assessment and the description of the patient's deterioration to the time of death are a succinct representation of the natural history of this disease. The author's discussion provides evidence of a philosophy committed to medical education and progress at the time based on principles of rational observation, meticulous clinical acumen, insight into experimental physiology, and the awareness of ethical boundaries. In provincial 1836 England, similar to most of Europe, cerebral localization was elementary. Nonetheless, this case report highlights the attempt at linking structure to function by means of observation on the effects of lesioning. It provides evidence of an established thought process already in progress in England in the 19th century. It is characteristic that this thought process came from a surgical practitioner. The cultivation of practical observation in British surgical culture would allow the late 19th century surgeon scientists to match the contributions of British neurologists with landmark steps in the development and establishment of neurosurgery.


Purpose of reviewCardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of mortality in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and modifying cardiovascular risk through lifestyle intervention and pharmacologic therapy is paramount. This review focuses on recent advances in treatment of classical (traditional) cardiovascular risk factors and highlights the impact of novel risk factors, including sleep disorders, socioeconomic status and chronic psychological stress on CVD in T2DM. Recent findingsObesity is a substantial cardiovascular risk factor, and recently, large trials of lifestyle and surgical (e.g. gastric bypass) interventions impact on CVD in overweight and obese patients have been reported. Lifestyle intervention including low calorie diet and exercise reduced individual cardiovascular risk factors but did not decrease the rate of long-term cardiovascular events. Bariatric surgery was beneficial in reducing cardiovascular risk factors and long-term cardiovascular events. Sleep insufficiency, poor sleep quality and obstructive sleep apnoea lead to higher CVD and further research is needed to characterize the benefit of treating sleep disorders on long-term cardiovascular events in T2DM. Lastly, socioeconomic status and chronic psychological stress independently have a major impact on increasing CVD in T2DM, and public health policies to reduce this burden will be important to address over the coming decade. SummaryCVD in T2DM is multifactorial and requires a multifaceted approach in reducing known cardiovascular risks at the individual patient level through lifestyle, pharmacotherapy and surgical interventions and at the societal level through public health policies that support reduction in classical and novel cardiovascular risk factors.


Real estate opportunity funds are one of the fastest-growing segments of the real estate investment industry, similar in some basic respects to other private equity and alternative investment asset classes that seek high returns by taking on more risk in highly illiquid private investments. Opportunity funds rely heavily on the skill and expertise of the fund managers, prompting a question as to whether subsequent real estate opportunity funds launched by the same manager display persistent performance. Despite strong evidence of persistence, such relative performance appears to be mean-reverting or even reversing over longer periods between fund launches. There is less persistence in returns net of management fees, suggesting that successful managers can effectively charge higher fees on subsequent funds.


Recent work in theoretical syntax has revealed the strong explanatory power of the notions of economy, competition, and optimization. Building grammars entirely upon these elements, Optimality Theory syntax provides a theory of universal grammar with a formally precise and strongly restricted theory of universal typology: cross-linguistic variation arises exclusively from the conflict among universal principles.Beginning with a general introduction to Optimality Theory syntax, this volume provides a comprehensive overview of the state of the art, as represented by the work of the leading developers of the theory. The broad range of topics treated includes morphosyntax (case, inflection, voice, and cliticization), the syntax of reference (control, anaphora, and pronominalization), the gammar of clauses (complementizers and their absence), and grammatical and discourse effects in word order. Among the theoretical themes running throughout are the interplay between faithfulness and markedness, and various questions of typology and of inventory. Contributors: Peter Ackema, Judith Aissen, Eric Bakovic, Joan Bresnan, Hye-Won Choi, Joao Costa, Jane Grimshaw, Edward Keer, Geraldine Legendre, Gereon Muller, Ad Neeleman, Vieri Samek-Lodovici, Peter Sells, Margaret Speas, Sten Vikner, Colin Wilson, Ellen Woolford.


The central original contribution to knowledge proposed by this thesis is the setting forth of a conceptualisation of ethical theory specifically in relation to design, with a focus on visual communication design. Building on earlier work by design theorist Clive Dilnot in the area of design ethics and on philosopher Giorgio Agambens formulation of the philosophical concept of potentiality, a way of thinking about the relationship between design and ethics is proposed which concludes that design is in fact always inherently ethical. However, this conception of ethical design purposefully leaves questions of the qualification of good and bad unresolved, stating only that the ethical is the prerequisite condition in which both good and bad become possibilities. Designs significantly unethical capability to suppress and anaesthetise individuals ethical experience is highlighted through a proposal of a process of an/aesth/ethics. Observation of the relationship between design and ethics in the real world through a series of interviews demonstrates something of the complexity of designs relationship with ethics and the diverse range of positions, beliefs, attitudes and paradoxes abounding within the design profession when it comes to addressing the question of good design practice. Six sites of ethics within contemporary design discourse are introduced and discussed. The ethicality of design practices in relation to these sites are then analysed through the lens of the proposed ethical framework: identifying strengths, weaknesses and potentials within these observed strategies. The way of thinking about ethical design proposed here demonstrates potential in contributing to designers ability to critically consider the ethicality of their own practices. From this foundation they may be better equipped to begin addressing the question of the qualification of the goodness of design. In conclusion, proposals are made for how this framework could be practically developed and used to support and encourage ethical design in the real world.


Seismic reflection profiling in the southern Lachlan fold belt, Australia, indicates geometrically complex mid- to lower crustal detachments possibly associated with crustal thickening by tectonic underplating of collided microplates and/or oceanic plateaus. Low-angle detachments either intersect or sole into the crust-mantle boundary, forming a crustal-stacking wedge typical of lithospheric- or A-type subduction. Upper crustal reflections show that major, moderately to steeply dipping reverse faults exposed at the surface flatten with depth and have listric form. The chevron-folded quartz-rich turbidite sequence of the Lachlan fold belt is therefore allochthonous with respect to the lower crust. Like the northern Appalachian maritimes, the Lachlan fold belt has a composite crust with diverse lower crustal blocks overlain by allochthonous, imbricated terranes of the surface rocks.


Systemic risk in the banking sector is usually associated with long periods of economic downturn and very large social costs. On one hand, shocks coming from correlated exposures towards the real economy may induce correlation in banks' default probabilities thereby increasing the likelihood for systemic tail events like the 2008 Great Financial Crisis. On the other hand, financial contagion also plays an important role in generating large-scale market failures, amplifying the initial shocks coming from the real economy. To study the sources of these rare phenomena, we propose a new definition of systemic risk (ie the probability of a large number of banks going into distress simultaneously) and thus we develop a multilayer microstructural model to study empirically the determinants of systemic risk. The model is then calibrated on the most comprehensive granular dataset for the euro-area banking sector, capturing roughly 96% or €23.2 trillion of euro-area banks' total assets over the period 2014–2018. The outputs of the model decompose and quantify the sources of systemic risk showing that correlated economic shocks, financial contagion mechanisms, and their interaction are the main sources of systemic events. The results obtained with the simulation engine resemble common market-based systemic risk indicators and empirically corroborate findings from existing literature. This framework gives regulators and central bankers a tool to study systemic risk and its developments, pointing out that systemic events and banks' idiosyncratic defaults have different drivers, hence implying different policy responses.


A guided-mode scattering matrix approach to photonic crystal integrated devices, based on the expansion of the electromagnetic field in Wannier functions is presented and its applicability to large-scale photonic circuits is demonstrated. In particular, we design two components typically used in wavelength division multi/demultiplexing applications, namely, a directional coupler and a Mach-Zehnder interferometer, and we analyze the transmission spectra as a function of the coupler length and/or delay line length, respectively. These examples demonstrate that by cascading basic functional elements, large-scale circuits can be accurately described and efficiently designed with minimal numerical effort.