Piezoacoustic drop-on-demand (DOD) inkjet printing is widely applied in high-end digital printing due to its unprecedented precision and reproducibility. Micron-sized droplets of a wide range of chemical compositions can be deposited; however, the stability of piezoacoustic DOD inkjet printing can sometimes be compromised through the stochastic entrainment of bubbles within the ink channel. Here, bubble nucleation, translation, and growth are studied in an experimental silicon-based printhead with a glass nozzle plate using high-speed imaging that is triggered by changes in the ink-channel acoustics. It is found that impurities in the ink can trigger bubble nucleation upon their interaction with the oscillating meniscus. Cavitation inception on a dirt particle during the rarefaction pressure wave is identified as a second mechanism for bubble formation. The acoustic driving pressure within the ink channel, and its change upon bubble nucleation, are obtained from a fit of a Rayleigh-Plesset-type bubble-dynamics equation to the measured time-resolved radial dynamics of the bubble. The measured decrease in channel resonance frequency after bubble entrainment results in a 24% increased ink-jet length. The nucleated bubbles translate toward the ink-channel walls due to acoustic radiation forces and ink streaming. The convective ink flow is characterized using high-speed particle-tracking velocimetry. The vortical flow near the oscillating meniscus is shown to trap the impurities, thereby increasing the particle-to-meniscus interaction probability and, correspondingly, the bubble-entrainment probability.


One of the central questions facing South African agricultural and rural policy makers is whether poor rural households would take opportunities afforded to them through increased public expenditures in these areas. This study spotlights the rural livestock sub-sector in the poor semi-arid areas of the Limpopo province and investigates the factors behind the decision by households to keep livestock and also the rationale to keep given herd sizes. It tests the central hypothesis that poor households would invest in livestock when there are opportunities for them to do so in the form of infrastructure and other support services. The study finds that these poor households indeed do respond positively in cases where there are such opportunities by investing in livestock. These findings illuminate the need for deliberate investments aimed at promoting agricultural (particularly livestock) growth, and thereby creating opportunities for sustainable livelihoods in these areas.


Long-term observations of in situ crack formation and closure in shrink-swell soils are rare, but important to understanding hydrology in shrink-swell soils. To analyze spatial and temporal variability of crack development in a Vertisol with gilgai, soil cracks were measured on a 100-m 2 area of Laewest clay (fine, smectitic, hyperthermic Typic Hapludert) with native tallgrass vegetation on 42 dates from 1989 to 1998. Our objectives were to (i) report the distribution of Vertisol cracking across gilgai microtopography; (ii) estimate crack depth as a function of crack width considering gilgai; (iii) investigate the relationship of surface cracking and soil moisture considering gilgai and hysteresis. All surface cracks were mapped on scaled diagrams with width categorized, and some crack depth measured. Gravimetric soil moisture corresponding to crack measurements was measured on 18 dates, and on an additional 32 dates without crack measurements. Drying, wetting, and uniform soil moisture conditions were classified from the difference in soil moisture from 10- to 25-cm depths. Microtopography was quantified using a digital elevation model. Results showed that crack area density was greatest on microhighs and microslopes, though microlows had the largest cracking potential. The linear correlation between crack depth and width was moderately strong (r 2 = 0.5), and not affected significantly by gilgai and hysteresis. However, taking hysteresis into account improved the linear regression models of crack area density versus soil moisture (up to r 2 = 0.69) on both microhighs and microlows. Antecedent soil moisture seemed to impact in situ crack area density. Further field studies are recommended.


Some environmental policies focus on emissions intensity rather than total emissions, or they try to mitigate the regulatory impact on the final product market. To analyze the effects of these policies, or to evaluate the distributional effects of any regulation on consumers and producers, output must be incorporated explicitly into an economic model of abatement, separately from the emissions variable. This provides two options. Traditionally, total emissions and output are the independently controlled variables, leaving emissions intensity as endogenously determined. Alternatively, one can make emissions intensity and output the control variables, leaving total emissions as the endogenously determined variable. One is the dual of the other and the problems are equivalent, but the latter method offers more transparency for examining intensity-based policies. This note shows how the intensity-based model fits into the traditional context.


Triploidy could prevent escaped farm salmon breeding in the wild, while also improving nutrient quality within farmed fillets. Despite these potential advantages, triploid Atlantic salmon have not been widely used in aquaculture, and their reproductive function has yet to be fully evaluated. Here, we compare reproductive function and fillet composition between triploid and diploid farm salmon under standard aquaculture rearing conditions. We show that female triploids are sterile and do not develop gonads. By contrast, males produce large numbers of motile spermatozoa capable of fertilizing wild salmon eggs. However, compared with diploids, reproductive development and survival rates of eggs fertilized by triploid males were significantly reduced, with less than 1% of eggs sired by triploid males reaching late-eyed stages of development. Analyses of fillets showed that total lipid and fatty acid quantities were significantly lower in triploid than in diploid Atlantic salmon fillets. However, when fatty acids were normalized to total lipid content, triploid fillets had significantly higher relative levels of important omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids. Our results show that: (i) escaped triploid farm salmon are very unlikely to reproduce in the wild and (ii) if able to match diploid fillet lipid content, triploid farm salmon could achieve better fillet quality in terms of essential fatty acids.


Standard deviations and market-betas based on winsorized rates of return predict their own future realizations better than equivalents based on unwinsorized rates of returns. A good prescription is to winsorize rates of return around plus and minus 10- 15%, especially for samples of all CRSP stocks. There is no meaningful predictive gain using stocks' own means and standard deviations and/or contemporaneous market rates of return; and eliminating or zeroing returns rather than winsorizing them. Winsorizing is better than not winsorizing. This note then investigates two simple research questions using treated returns: 1. Winsorized log-volatility estimates perform much better than unwinsorized log- volatility estimates in forecasting, and they add marginal predictive power to option-implied volatility forecasts. 2. Annual average stock return predictions with past averages can be very sensitive to winsorization choices (including not winsorizing, which is also implicit in common monthly rates of returns). This evidence suggests that the seemingly second-order innocuous choice of where to winsorize (or not) can unfortunately have important inference consequences.


Research suggests that palliative care is poorly understood and often associated with imminent death (Canny, 2002). This, in turn, can negatively impact upon the transition to palliative care services. The aims of this three phase, multi-method study were to: (1) examine and compare the attitudes of health professionals toward palliative care; (2) examine and compare the attitudes and personal constructs of four key participant groups including patients receiving palliative care services, people living with cancer and the carers of both of these groups; and (3) to examine potential strategies for changing attitudes through education. Phase One involved a detailed assessment of health professionals' attitudes toward, and understanding of, palliative care by means of a postal survey (182/700) and a small number of one-to-one interviews (n=5). Attitudes toward palliative care, as measured by the Health Professional Attitude Questionnaire (HPAQ), were explained by a number of key factors including: (1) knowledge of palliative care services; (2) relationship with the patient and family; and (3) personal reflection on mortality. Thematic analysis of the qualitative data further illuminated and developed this factorial model. Phase Two utilised one-to-one semi-structured interviews (n=30) and a battery of quantitative measures (n=75) to identify and compare attitudes toward, and experiences of, palliative care amongst patients receiving palliative care services (n=15), people living with cancer (n=25) and the carers of both of these groups (n=35). Repertory grids (n=12) were also used to explore and compare participants' constructs of palliative care. Thematic analysis of the interview data revealed four key themes and associated subthemes that described patients' and carers' attitudes toward palliative care. Within each theme, different perspectives were adopted by each of the participant groups and these were explored and quantified by means of the repertory grid analysis. The findings from Phases One and Two were then used to inform the development of two health professional and patient interventions for Phase
Three that aimed to: (1) provide information about palliative care services; (2) utilise the patient 'voice' and story; (3) focus on the health promoting benefits of palliative care; and (4) demystify hospice, palliative care and the dying process. The study adds to the relatively small pool of evidence in this area and the use of the repertory grid technique, in particular, offers an interesting psychological tool for investigating palliative care research and practice.


Non-independence of characters is a real phenomenon in phylogenetic data matrices, even though phylogenetic reconstruction algorithms generally assume character independence. In morphological datasets, the problem results in characters that cannot be applied to certain terminal taxa, with this inapplicability treated as "missing data" in a popular method of character coding. However, this treatment is known to create spurious tree length estimates on certain topologies, potentially leading to erroneous results in phylogenetic searches. Here we present a single-character algorithm for ancestral states reconstruction in datasets that have been coded using reductive coding. The algorithm uses up to four traversals on a tree to resolve final ancestral states – which are required in full before a tree can be scored. The algorithm employs explicit criteria for the resolution of ambiguity in applicable/inapplicable dichotomies and the optimization of missing data. We score trees following a previously published procedure that minimizes homoplasy over all characters. Our analysis of published datasets shows that, compared to traditional methods, our new method identifies different trees as "optimal"; as such, correcting for inapplicable data may significantly alter the outcome of tree searches.


Safely deploying machine learning models to the real world is often a challenging process. Models trained with data obtained from a specific geographic location tend to fail when queried with data obtained elsewhere, agents trained in a simulation can struggle to adapt when deployed in the real world or novel environments, and neural networks that are fit to a subset of the population might carry some selection bias into their decision process. In this work, we describe the problem of data shift from a novel information-theoretic perspective by (i) identifying and describing the different sources of error, (ii) comparing some of the most promising objectives explored in the recent domain generalization, and fair classification literature. From our theoretical analysis and empirical evaluation, we conclude that the model selection procedure needs to be guided by careful considerations regarding the observed data, the factors used for correction, and the structure of the data-generating process.


An ectopic pregnancy implanted between the leaves of the broad ligament is a challenge to diagnose and manage. It can be found in almost any week of pregnancy, and it can present with a great spectrum of symptoms. This makes it necessary for the clinician to keep a high level of alertness and suspicion for this uncommon diagnosis and to be prepared when treating any ectopic pregnancy with poor response to medical treatment. The broad ligament surrounds a number of ana-tomical structures, structures necessary to be preserved when removing the ectopic pregnancy. This can be a challenge for the surgeon, especially when the patient presents with severe symptoms and the pregnancy is advanced. In these cases, even hysterectomies have been reported, a severe operation especially when the patient is young and without having completed her family planning. Finally, in the last three decades with the increasing widespread of laparoscopy and the added experience, there is a growing effort to manage these ectopic pregnancies with minimally invasive procedures, offering the patient a faster recovery, minimum blood loss, and lower surgical morbidity.


Cuba's first republican era (1902–1959) is principally understood in terms of its failures and discontinuities, typically depicted as an illegitimate period in the nation's history, its first three decades and the overthrow of Machado at best a prologue to the "real" revolution of 1959. State of Ambiguity brings together scholars from North America, Cuba, and Spain to challenge this narrative, presenting republican Cuba instead as a time of meaningful engagement—socially, politically, and symbolically. Addressing a wide range of topics—civic clubs and folkloric societies, science, public health and agrarian policies, popular culture, national memory, and the intersection of race and labor—the contributors explore how a broad spectrum of Cubans embraced a political and civic culture of national self-realization. Together, the essays in State of Ambiguity recast the first republic as a time of deep continuity in processes of liberal state- and nation-building that were periodically disrupted—but also reinvigorated—by foreign intervention and profound uncertainty.

Contributors . Imilcy Balboa Navarro, Alejandra Bronfman, Maikel Farinas Borrego, Reinaldo Funes Monzote, Marial Iglesias Utset, Steven Palmer, Jose Antonio Piqueras Arenas, Ricardo Quiza Moreno, Amparo Sanchez Cobos, Rebecca J. Scott, Robert Whitney


By the hundreds of millions we show up, stand in line, turn on, and tune in to watch, mesmerised, as athletes perform. And yet this experience, so widely craved and intensely felt, we commonly dismiss as 'only a game'. A book that looks beyond the usual explanations of why sport fascinates, "In Praise of Athletic Beauty" also strives for a language that can frame - even enhance - the pleasure we take in watching athletic events. The vicarious thrill, anxiety release, competitive spirit: in place of these traditional answers to the mystery of sports' allure, Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht proposes a more powerful and provocative alternative. The fascination with watching sports, he argues, is probably the most popular and potent contemporary form of aesthetic experience - in the classic, very literal sense of this concept. In exploring this idea, Gumbrecht develops a lucid reflection on the pleasures of sports spectatorship and the nature of athletic beauty. Where we might readily pronounce certain athletic moves and plays 'beautiful', this book gives us the means to explore, understand, and enjoy even more acutely the aesthetic experience that our words-in-passing barely suggest. With a new perspective on the appreciation of - and, indeed, a new tone of praising - sports, Gumbrecht also offers a new way of narrating the history of athletics and a fresh vocabulary for analysing various sports. Exploring athletic beauty, this book makes us understand the widespread passion sport inspires as an untamed form of aesthetic fascination.


The location and estimated magnitude of a recent surface rupturing earthquake along the eastern part of the Kango Fault traversing the southern Cape Fold Belt, South Africa, is reported here, as well as the minimum recurrence interval and maximum slip rate. These palaeoseismic data are derived from analysis of the mapped logs of an 82 m long, 5 m deep trench excavated across the fault, supported by 12 optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dates.

The tectonic event that formed the observed 2.0 ± 0.06 m free-standing fault scarp at the trench site had a moment magnitude estimated between 6.97 ± 0.01 M and 7.18 ± 0.01 M. According to the recently established Environmental Scale of Intensity, the rupture was devastating (ESI Io = XI). It would have been accompanied by strong ground shaking felt across most of South Africa by the ancestors of the indigenous people groups who experienced the well-known 6.3 M Ceres-Tulbagh event of 29 September 1969 (currently South Africa's largest and most damaging earthquake). This latter strike-slip event occurred along the western end of the same Ceres-Kango-Baviaanskloof-Coega (CKBC) fault system, but was not accompanied by significant surface deformation. In contrast, the Kango 'Toorwater' earthquake reported here displaced the land surface vertically, by over 2 m in places. While the fault scarp extends laterally for at least 84 km, from near the town of De Rust, east of Oudtshoorn, towards the start of the Baviaanskloof in the Eastern Cape, it is unlikely the entire surface rupture length originated during only the most recent event.

The palaeoseismic data reported here have contributed to a seismic source characterization model used to update the existing seismotectonic model for South Africa, first established in the mid-1990's, and revised at various intervals since. The presence of a potentially active, capable, seismogenic structure within a low-seismicity intraplate stable cratonic region suggests that the current 5.3 to 6.3 M m max for the south and south eastern Cape must be reviewed, should these data be included in a revised Probabilistic Sesimic Hazard Assessment (PSHA) for critical structures in the region.


Birth weight, a simple measure of birth outcome, has a key role in assessing infant health. A primary determinant of birth weight is a well grown, efficient placenta. Placental weight ratio (PWR) reflects the growth of the baby and placenta and is calculated by dividing the placental weight by fetal weight and is a proven useful health indicator. Preeclampsia (PE) is defined as new-onset hypertension and proteinuria during pregnancy and it is a major cause of maternal and fetal death worldwide. PE is associated with large placentae and small-for-gestational-age (SGA) infants; the PWR is expected to be increased in this condition. Another condition known to increase risk in pregnancy is type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). T2DM is associated with large placentae and large-for-gestational-age (LGA) infants; the PWR is expected to be decreased. There is a paucity of information regarding the placental weight ratio when both PE and T2DM are present, particularly in American Indians (AI) and Hispanics, two groups known to be at increased risk for T2DM. We hypothesize that AI and Hispanic mothers with PE and dysglycemia (T2DM, gestational diabetes), will have larger placentae and infants and PWR will be decreased. We report data from samples collected in an ongoing study of the effects of dysglycemia on PE. Our findings demonstrate no significant differences in PWR between dysglycemic pregnancies and dysglycemic pregnancies with accompanying PE (p=0.29). This observation suggests that using the PWR to assess infant health outcome provides no additional benefit when applied to dysglycemic pregnancies with PE.


Maurice Ralph Hilleman developed vaccines at the Merck Institute of Therapeutic Research in West Point, Pennsylvania, during the twentieth century. Over the course of his career at Merck, Hilleman created over forty vaccines, making him one of the most prolific developers of vaccine in the twentieth century. Of the fourteen vaccines commonly given to children in the US by 2015, Hilleman was responsible for eight of them. Hilleman's most widely used vaccine was his measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine. Hilleman's MMR vaccine prevented many diseases and also rubella in millions of children and pregnant women. Rubella in pregnant women often led to congenital rubella syndrome in the fetus [2], causing severe malformations.


This study examines the mutual intelligibility between all 225 pairs of 15 Chinese dialects, in two main branches, i.e., six Mandarin dialects and nine non-Mandarin (Southern) dialects. The dialects (often distinct languages by western standards) differ in the richness of their lexical tone inventories, ranging between four (in most Mandarin dialects) to as many as nine (in Guangzhou/Cantonese). Judgment (how well do listeners think they understand the speaker?) and functional (how well do speakers actually understand the speaker?) intelligibility tests were used. A methodological question was whether (fast and efficient) judgment testing may serve as a viable substitute for (laborious) functional intelligibility testing. Dialect fragments were also monotonized in order to estimate the importance of pitch variation for intelligibility in tone languages. Also, a large number of objective linguistic distance measures were collected, either copied from the literature or computed by the author on existing language resources. A systematic attempt is made to determine how well the judgment and functional intelligibility scores can be predicted from each other and from (combinations of) objective linguistics distance measures.

Mutual intelligibility testing affords a single dimension along which the degree of difference between language varieties can be expressed. The hypothesis is tested that the agglomeration trees generated from mutual intelligibility scores correlate strongly with linguistic taxonomies expressing family relationships among languages and dialects.

This study should be of interest to linguists, more specifically dialectologists, dialectometrists and phoneticians.


Fish production in Vietnam increased rapidly from 420 000 t in 1981 to 1 130 680 t in 1998. Likewise, there was an expansion in the number of motorized fishing boats from 29 584 units with an average horsepower (HP) of 19.8 boat-1 in 1981 to 71 800 units with an average HP of 26.2 in 1998. In 1995, fish production was valued at VN$2 475 billion (US$0.02 billion at 1 US$ = 11 041 VN$; source: oanda. com). However 93% of the total fishing boats in Vietnam have engine capacity of less than 84 HP, thus fishing operations are still small scale and fishing grounds are limited to the coastal waters. The infrastructure facilities for fishing operations and post-harvest are still minimal. Fisheries contribute 3% of the gross domestic product (GDP) in Vietnam. In 1990, the GDP of fisheries was VN$1 281 billion and reached VN$6 664 billion (US$0.60 billion) in 1995. Fisheries labor in Vietnam includes labor for aquaculture, processing, fishery services and fishing. Fisheries labor increased from 1 860 000 persons to 3 030 000 giving a relative increase of 63% from 1990 to 1995. The average level of fish consumption in Vietnam is estimated at 13.5 kgâ•–capita-1. In 1980, there were 28 021 motorized fishing boats that steadily increased to 71 800 in 1998. Likewise, the average engine capacity per boat increased from 19.8 HP in 1980 to 26.2 HP in 1998. The types of fishing gear that provide substantive catch in Vietnam are the trawl, purse seine, gillnet, long line, hand line, lift net and stick-held falling net. The fishing grounds in Vietnam can be classified into: (a) North: trawl, gillnet, lift net, purse seine, hook and line fishery; (b) Central: purse seine, lift net, gillnet, trawl fishery; and (c) South: trawl, purse seine, gillnet and line fishery. In terms of fish catch and net profit contribution the most important are the trawl and purse seine fisheries. Fish production in the Southern provinces is more developed compared to the northern and central provinces. Most of the commercial scale fishing vessels bring trash fish or by-catch to the shore for fish sauce or fish powder processing. Only trawlers that fish offshore and thus stay at sea for several days discard the trash fish. An attempt to estimate the maximum sustainable yield (MSY) of the coastal fishery resources in Vietnam was made. Using the Schaefer and Fox Models, it was found that MSY is equal to 976 378 t and 1 006 850 t respectively, as against the annual catch of 1 130 660 t, implying biological over-fishing. Thus, the total fish catch in the traditional fishing areas of Vietnam is beyond the sustainable limit of 582 000 t. The Government of Vietnam has therefore developed policies and plans to reduce the fishing pressure on the coastal waters and pursue development of offshore fisheries.


1. The effect of low-frequency stimulation of the renal nerves on renal function and renin release has been investigated. The experiments were performed in unilaterally nephrectomized, anaesthetized cats in which the nerves to the remaining kidney were sectioned. 2. When stimulation frequency was adjusted to reduce renal blood flow by approximately 15% for 15 min, glomerular filtration rate was hardly affected. The ratio sodium clearance/glomerular filtration rate was significantly reduced and plasma renin activity was significantly increased. 3. When the renal nerves were similarly stimulated in the presence of the beta-adrenergic receptor blocking agent, propranolol, the glomerular filtration rate was significantly reduced and the rise in plasma renin activity was significantly inhibited. The reduction of sodium clearance/glomerular filtration rate was as great as in the control animals. 4. The results are consistent with the view that the maintenance of glomerular filtration rate, during renal nerve stimulation which reduced renal blood flow, may be mediated by the local generation of angiotensin. The results also suggest that angiotensin does not play an important role in the sodium retention associated with increased renal nerve activity.


Writes of Passage explores the interplay between a system of "othering" which travelers bring to a place, and the "real" geographical difference they discover upon arrival. Exposing the tensions between the imaginary and real, Duncan and Gregory and a team of leading internationa contributors focus primarily upon travelers from the 18th and 19th Centuries to pin down the imaginary within the context of imperial power. The contributors focus on travel to three main regions: Africa, South Asia, and Europe - wit the European examples being drawn from Britain, France and Greece.


This guest column suggests that we should follow Hannah Arendt in resisting the urge to expound doctrines or systems and, instead, should disclose the processes of our thought as they are "in motion." While we should not hesitate to express judgments, our aim in intellectual work should be to occasion (and experience) surprise. Like Arendt, we should candidly express "the bliss of thought" as we think and write. On this basis, the political arena can become "a space for self–analysis and (by analogy with psychoanalysis) continuous rebirth." And it is only on this basis, Kristeva argues, that reconstruction, after a century of unprecedented destruction, be accomplished without our succumbing to nostalgia. Efforts at reconstruction must be undertaken, as Arendt undertook them, "in light of the history of nihilism" and "in the name of sheer survival." Kristeva joins Arendt in advising against a return to foundationalism while at the same time urging the development of a kind of "re-foundationalism." Kristeva concludes by showing how, in these attitudes, Arendt s thinking was—despite her notorious dismissal of psychoanalysis—in tune with those of Freud.


Most genetically determined differences between individuals, including (but not limited to) susceptibility to specific diseases, depend on functional variation at multiple genes (loci). The frequency of these variants (alleles) in the general population varies from common to rare. The contribution of most common alleles, each in isolation, to disease risk is weak. Most uncommon and rare alleles have not been studied to date and some may have strong effects on disease risk even if they contribute to disease cause each in a small subset of cases. This mixture of strong and weak effects by common and rare alleles is referred to as allelic architecture. Defining the allelic architecture of each disease will be the first step towards using an individual's genetic profile to individualise the molecular diagnosis within a group of cases that all bear the same clinical diagnostic label.

Key Concepts:

Most diseases and other human traits have statistically significant familial clustering, indicating the involvement of genetic susceptibility.

Genetic susceptibility to most diseases is determined by a large number of gene variants (loci).

Disease-associated variants may change the sequence of the protein product, or the control of its transcription, RNA stability or translational efficiency.

Most known loci have a weak genetic association with the disease or trait.

A genetic association may be weak because of weak biology, or because the associated allele is merely an imperfect marker for an untested rare allele with strong effect.

The discovery, among low-frequency alleles, of those that have the strongest effects, is the next frontier in the genetics of complex traits and the greatest promise to personalised medicine.

Keywords:

complex trait;
missing heritability;
allele frequency;
relative risk;
nonsynonymous;
genetic marker;
linkage disequilibrium;
allelic architecture;
genome-wide


The electronic conductivity and thermodynamic stability of mixed n-type and p-type doped SrTiO3 have been investigated at anodic solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) conditions using density functional theory (DFT) calculations. In particular, constrained ab initio thermodynamic calculations have been performed to evaluate the phase stability and reducibility of various Nb- and Ga-doped SrTiO3 at synthesized and anodic SOFC conditions. The density of states (DOS) of these materials was analyzed to study the effects of n -a ndp-doping on the electronic conductivity. In agreement with experimental observations, we find that the transformation from 20% Nb-doped Sr-deficient SrTiO3 to a non-Sr-deficient phase occurs at high temperature and low oxygen partial pressure, which leads to a significant improvement in electronic conductivity. A mixed ionic/electronic conductor is obtained when doping 20% Nb-doped SrTiO3 with small amounts of Ga (10%) in a reducing environment and high temperature. Doping with higher concentrations of Ga, e.g., 20%, diminishes the electronic conductivity of the material. These findings suggest that independent of the specific dopant, mixed ionic/electronic conductivity can be obtained in perovskite oxides under reducing conditions and high temperatures by doping the B-site with small amounts of both n-type and p-type dopants.


The German Federal Constitutional Court has issued its long-awaited judgment in the Gauweiler Case. The Court ruled that the policy decision on the Outright Monetary Transactions programme (OMT programme) does not manifestly exceed the competences attributed to the European Central Bank (ECB) and does not manifestly violate the prohibition of monetary financing of the budget, if interpreted in accordance with the preliminary ruling of the European Court of Justice (Court). This article surveys the Court's decision and offers a critical commentary on this important case.


Bilinguals have the unique ability to translate words between their languages. Although translation is a seemingly deliberate and conscious process, recent research has shown that first language (L1) translation equivalents can be automatically and quickly activated during second language (L2) word reading. Automatic translation activation strongly supports the idea of non-selective lexical access. This thesis investigates L1 (Chinese) translation activation during L2 (English) word reading in Chinese-English bilinguals, mainly through using the hidden translation repetition paradigm. In a series of behavioural and electrophysiological experiments using carefully selected stimuli, English words were subliminally or visibly presented to Chinese-English bilinguals in an attempt to seek the source of automatic translation activation (phonology: segment and/or tone, and/or orthography) and to explore to what extent translation activation is automatic. In contrast to previous studies, the behavioural investigations revealed that automatic translation only occurs for target words, which were visible to bilinguals, but not for the invisible masked primes. In addition, in the electrophysiological study, the event-related brain potentials and event-related brain oscillations provided evidence for the dominant role of Chinese segmental (consonants and vowels) activation during English word reading. Possible interpretations for these new findings are provided. Theoretical and methodological implications of the present thesis are also discussed.


Louisiana sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) is produced mainly on heavy-textured soils that offer less than ideal conditions for growth and function of the root system. Cultural practices that improve the soil environment could benefit sugarcane production by increasing root growth and reducing the incidence of ratoon decline. The objective of our research was to determine the effect of gypsum and composted, municipal-biosolids application on root growth, crop yields, and leaf nutrient concentrations of sugarcane grown on a silty clay loam soil. Gypsum mixed into the rows at 2.24, 4.48, and 8.96 Mg ha -1 did not affect (P > 0.05) root growth or cane and sugar yields. Likewise, both subsoil- and within-row applied compost at a rate of 44.8 Mg ha -1 did not affect cane or sugar yields compared with the control. Gypsum increased Ca, S, Mn, and Zn leaf concentrations, but had no effect on N, P, K, Mg, Cu, and Fe concentrations. Subsoil and within-row compost increased leaf S concentration; within-row compost increased leaf K; and subsoil compost increased leaf Zn, but reduced leaf Mn compared with the control. Compost application did not increase Mn, Cu, Fe, or Zn concentrations in sugarcane leaf tissue beyond acceptable limits. Within-row applied compost reduced (P < 0.05) root surface area compared with the control, and reduced sugar yields compared with the subsoil compost treatment. This suggests that, at the compost rate used in our study, subsoil rather than within-row application of compost, is the preferred practice for sugarcane grown on this soil.


As device geometries shrink and customer demands for more stringent zero-defect imagers increases, epitaxy growth is becoming an increasingly critical procedure in microelectronic processing. Therefore, the defects manifested by the epi growth are also an important concern. More specifically, epitaxial layer stacking faults can be detrimental to device performance and, in the case of image sensor devices, they have been shown to cause bright pixels and bright columns in the dark field. Assisting the Image Sensor Solutions Division of Eastman Kodak Company, the ability to screen and monitor incoming silicon has been accomplished and assessed using an unpatterned wafer particle inspection system, the Tencor 6220 Surfscan. A technique has been developed to review and characterize the defects mapped by the Tencor 6220. Initial evaluations show that 29% of the light scattering defects are stacking faults on incoming silicon. Dialogue has improved with the vendors to better align incoming silicon qualification processes with the customer requirements. Incoming silicon qualification procedures have been improved and optimized to reduce any potential yield loss due to incoming silicon defects and stacking faults.


The joined wing concept is an unconventional airplane configuration, known since the mid-twenties of the last century. It has several possible advantages, like reduction of the induced drag and weight due to the closed wing concept. The inverted joined wing variant is its rarely considered version, with the front wing being situated above the aft wing. The following paper presents a performance prediction of the recently optimized configuration of this airplane. Flight characteristics obtained numerically were comparedwith the performance of two classical configuration airplanes of similar category. Their computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models were created basing on available documentation, photographs and some inverse engineering methods. The analysis included simulations performed for a scale of 3-meter wingspan inverted joined wing demonstrator and also for real-scale manned airplanes. Therefore, the results of CFD calculations allowed us to assess the competitiveness of the presented concept, as compared to the most technologically advanced airplanes designed and manufactured to date. At the end of the paper, the areas where the inverted joined wing is better than conventional airplane were predicted and new research possibilities were described.


Multinucleated giant cells are common for some chronic inflammatory processes in the lung. These cells are formed by fusion of macrophages, but how the process relates to the kinetics of alveolar macrophage generation is not clear. This study investigated the influence of 2450 MHz microwave irradiation on alveolar macrophage kinetics and formation of multinucleated giant cells after whole body irradiation of rats. The range of electromagnetic radiation was selected as 2450 MHz microwaves at a power density of 5-15 mW/cm2. A group of experimental animals was divided in four subgroups that received 2, 8, 13 and 22 irradiation treatments of two hours each. The animals were killed on experimental days 1, 8, 16, and 30. Free lung cell population was obtained by bronchoalveolar lavage. Cell response to the selected irradiation level was followed quantitatively, qualitatively and morphologically using standard laboratory methods. Total cell number retrieved by lavage slightly decreased in treated animals showing time- and dose-dependence. Cell viability did not significantly change in the irradiated animal group (G2) as compared with the control group (G1). Multinucleated cells significantly increased (p < 0.01) in treated animals. The elevation of the number of nuclei per cell was time- and dose-dependent. Macrophages with two nucleoli were more common in animals treated twice or eight times. Polynucleation, that is three and more nucleoli in a single cell, was frequently observed after 13 or 22 treatments. Binucleation and multinucleation of alveolar macrophages were sensitive time- and dose-dependent morphological indicators of pulmonary stress.


Many consumers have had the experience of entering discount membership clubs to make a few purchases, only to leave with enough pasta to outlast a nuclear winter. We suggest that the presence of membership fees can lead consumers to infer a "fees -> savings" link, spurring them to increase their spending independent of the actual savings afforded by such clubs. Using both field data and studies in which we created our own membership clubs, we show that 1) fees serve as a signal of price discounts, such that stores that charge fees are perceived as offering better deals for identical items; 2) the presence of fees can increase consumer spending and overall store profitability; and 3) the presence of fees can drive choice of retail outlets, such that stores with membership fees are more popular even when they offer the same goods at the same prices as stores without fees.


This paper examines asset allocation dynamics of hedge funds through conducting optimal change point test on an asset class factor model. Based on the average F-test and the Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC), we find that more dynamic hedge funds exhibit significantly better quality than less dynamic funds, signaled by lower return volatility, stricter share restrictions, and high water mark provision. In particular, a higher degree of dynamics is shown to be associated with better risk-adjusted performance at the individual fund level. We find that the degree of a fund's dynamics is closely related to share restrictions. However, the outperformance of highly dynamic funds is robust even after controlling for share restrictions. Subperiod analysis suggests that the superiority of asset allocation dynamics is mostly driven by performance during earlier time periods before the peak of the technology bubble. Fund flow analysis suggests that abnormal returns in the hedge fund industry are diminishing as capital flows in and arbitrage opportunities are not infinitely exploitable.


The Russian religious artefacts - icons, liturgical utensils, veils, vestments and books and objects of private piety, held in museums and church or monastery collections in the Balkans and Eastern Mediterranean constitute a body of valuable art objects, and important material evidences related to the historical development of the relations between Russia and large region of South-Eastern Europe. This piety objects comes continually to the region for a long period through official, unofficial and private donations, or by pilgrimage and trade. Applying the cultural transfer approach in combination with the recent theoretically challenging openings of art history into visual studies and social anthropology RICONTRANS studies them not simply as religious or artistic artefacts, but as mediums of cultural transfer and political and ideological influence, which interacted with and were appropriated by receiving societies. Their transfer and reception is a significant and poorly studied component of the larger cultural process of transformation of the artistic language and visual culture in the region and its transition from medieval to modern idioms. In this dynamic transfer, piety, propaganda and visual culture appear intertwined in historically unexplored and theoretically provoking ways.


Quantum processors rely on classical electronic controllers to manipulate and read out the state of quantum bits (qubits). As the performance of the quantum processor improves, nonidealities in the classical controller can become the performance bottleneck for the whole quantum computer. To prevent such limitation, this paper presents a systematic study of the impact of the classical electrical signals on the qubit fidelity. All operations, i.e., single-qubit rotations, two-qubit gates, and readout, are considered, in the presence of errors in the control electronics, such as static, dynamic, systematic, and random errors. Although the presented study could be extended to any qubit technology, it currently focuses on single-electron spin qubits, because of several advantages, such as purely electrical control and long coherence times, and for their potential for large-scale integration. As a result of this study, detailed electrical specifications for the classical control electronics for a given qubit fidelity can be derived. We also discuss how qubit fidelity is affected by the limited performance of the general-purpose room-temperature equipment typically employed to control the few qubits available today. Ultimately, we show that tailor-made electronic controllers can achieve significantly lower power, cost, and size, as required to support the scaling up of quantum computers.


The Tasmanian Aquaculture and Fisheries Institute and the Victorian Department of
Natural Resources and Environment conducted a two day joint workshop in October
1999 to examine underwater visual census techniques for the assessment of
population structure and biodiversity in temperate coastal marine protected areas.
The proposed outcome of the workshop was to establish a consensus on the most
appropriate methodologies to use and to standardise methodologies across the
temperate Australian states. The workshop goals included determining the types and
magnitude of biotic change we want to detect, examining UVC techniques currently
in use worldwide, and exploring alternative techniques.
A clear outcome from the workshop was that as the current round of MPAs are
being developed from a biodiversity perspective, most managers felt that monitoring
should be related to this. Because biodiversity is such a broad concept, monitoring
should also be broadly based, involving sampling at a range of scales from
seascapes, through communities, to populations of individual species. Gary Davis
outlined how such a broadly based monitoring program was developed in the
Californian Channel Islands.
The availability of funding was identified as a major limiting factor in establishing
broadly based monitoring programs, and it was clear that funding will be
predominantly a state responsibility and be related to individual MPA management.
To give an indication of what can be achieved within the current Australian funding
network, Hugh Sweatman discussed the types of monitoring being conducted on the
GBR with moderate funding, and Graham Edgar discussed monitoring on a
shoestring budget in Tasmanian MPAs. Managers will have to accept that existing
resources are limited and monitoring programs need to be targetted and have clear
and achievable goals. To achieve these goals we need good experimental design, and
Mick Keough discussed ways of achieving this with MPAs. One of the most critical
points in this design is in determining the effect size that we consider significant.

The discussion on this subject, including the types of change as well as magnitude,
ranged widely from habitats to individual species. Although there was no overall
consensus, it was considered at the species level, a 100% change in abundance and a
20% change in mean size might be significant in many cases.
Representatives from individual states and the Commonwealth indicated that
monitoring in temperate MPAs was currently limited, with the exception of
Tasmania and a program currently being developed in Victoria. This lack of
monitoring is in part related to the lack of MPAs in many areas as yet, and partly due
to funding restrictions. Current monitoring programs are focused on visual census of
reef communities for practical purposes although many managers indicated that
broader monitoring was desired, including other habitats, and species.
A discussion aimed at developing a consensus on appropriate visual census
methodology accepted that the current techniques in use in the Tasmanian and
Victorian studies were valid, and that with sufficient replication of sites, would
detect the types and magnitude of changes that were of interest to managers. This
methodology is restricted to shallow reefs however, and many of the managers
present were interested in exploring and developing methodologies over a wider
range of habitat types and species, with some questioning the value of adopting a
standard methodology between states. It was evident that if a standard and broadly
based methodology is to be developed, a series of workshops will be needed, each
examining clearly defined habitats, species and techniques.


In this research, a laboratory platform which has 2 degrees of freedom (DOF), the Twin
Rotor MIMO System (TRMS), is investigated. Although, the TRMS does not fly, it has
a striking similarity with a helicopter, such as system nonlinearities and cross-coupled
modes. Therefore, the TRMS can be perceived as an unconventional and complex "air
vehicle" that poses formidable challenges in modelling, control design and analysis and
implementation. These issues are the subject of this work.
The linear models for 1 and 2 DOFs are obtained via system identification techniques.
Such a black-box modelling approach yields input-output models with neither a priori
defined model structure nor specific parameter settings reflecting any physical
attributes. Further, a nonlinear model using Radial Basis Function networks is obtained.
Such a high fidelity nonlinear model is often required for nonlinear system simulation
studies and is commonly employed in the aerospace industry. Modelling exercises were
conducted that included rigid as well as flexible modes of the system. The approach
presented here is shown to be suitable for modelling complex new generation air
vehicles.
Modelling of the TRMS revealed the presence of resonant system modes which are
responsible for inducing unwanted vibrations. In this research, open-loop, closed-loop
and combined open and closed-loop control strategies are investigated to address this
problem. Initially, open-loop control techniques based on "input shaping control" are
employed. Digital filters are then developed to shape the command signals such that the
resonance modes are not overly excited. The effectiveness of this concept is then
demonstrated on the TRMS rig for both 1 and 2 DOF motion, with a significant
reduction in vibration.
The linear model for the 1 DOF (SISO) TRMS was found to have the non-minimum
phase characteristics and have 4 states with only pitch angle output. This behaviour
imposes certain limitations on the type of control topologies one can ado·pt. The LQG
approach, which has an elegant structure with an embedded Kalman filter to estimate
the unmeasured states, is adopted in this study.
The identified linear model is employed in the design of a feedback LQG compensator
for the TRMS with 1 DOF. This is shown to have good tracking capability but requires.
high control effort and has inadequate authority over residual vibration of the system.
These problems are resolved by further augmenting the system with a command path
prefilter. The combined feedforward and feedback compensator satisfies the
performance objectives and obeys the constraint on the actuator. Finally, 1 DOF
controller is implemented on the laboratory platform.


The majority of lizard clades are ancestrally and predominantly diurnal.
The only major taxon in which most species are nocturnal is the Gekkota (geckos
and pygopodids). As ectothermic thermoregulators, lizard metabolic rates are
highly temperature dependent, and diurnal lizards therefore demonstrate higher metabolic
rates than nocturnal ones. Furthermore, exposure to solar radiation is thought
to reduce ectothermic longevity by increasing both metabolic costs and the rate of
accumulating harmful mutations through UV radiation (UVC specifically). In being nocturnal, ectothermic species may reduce their intrinsic mortality rates and thus
live longer. To test this hypothesis, we collected literature data on the maximum longevities of 740 lizard
species, of which 185 are geckos. We examined whether geckos live longer than
other lizards, and whether activity time affects gecko longevity. While geckos
live relatively long for lizards of their size, their activity time was found to be unrelated to
longevity, contradicting our predictions. We suggest that diurnal
species may have evolved higher resistance to UV radiation via thicker, more
keratinized skin. Elevated metabolic rates do not automatically equate with
faster aging. Mortality through extrinsic causes (e.g., predation) may impose
much stronger selective pressures than intrinsic causes.


How do organizations that make significant physical, emotional, and intellectual demands foster commitment and loyalty from voluntary participants? Greedy institution theory (Coser 1974) answers this question by identifying structural elements that foster participants' undivided commitment to "greedy" groups, those in which participants' involvement interferes with and takes precedence over their involvement in other social spheres. In this article, I argue for the expansion of greedy institution theory to include frames and framing processes as "greedy" organizational tools that work on the microinteractional level. Using data from an ethnographic study of an intensive program that prepares low-income students of color to attend elite boarding high schools, I show how the organization's "family" frame mobilized participants and encouraged interpretations and interactions that helped students persist in the program and remain committed to the organization. I argue that turning our attention to frames and framing processes will increase our understanding of the tools organizations use on a microinteractional level to build and repair participants' loyalty and commitment.


In this paper, we propose the octave deep plane-sweeping network (OctDPSNet). OctDPSNet is a novel learning-based plane-sweeping stereo, which drastically reduces the required GPU memory and computation time while achieving a state-of-the-art depth estimation accuracy. Inspired by octave convolution, we divide image features into high and low spatial frequency features, and two cost volumes are generated from these using our proposed plane-sweeping module. To reduce spatial redundancy, the resolution of the cost volume from the low spatial frequency features is set to half that of the high spatial frequency features, which enables the memory consumption and computational cost to be reduced. After refinement, the two cost volumes are integrated into a final cost volume through our proposed pixel-wise "squeeze-and-excitation" based attention mechanism, and the depth maps are estimated from the final cost volume. We evaluate the proposed model on five datasets: SUN3D, RGB-D SLAM, MVS, Scenes11, and ETH3D. Our model outperforms previous methods on five datasets while drastically reducing the memory consumption and computational cost. Our source code is available at https://github.com/matsuren/octDPSNet.


Heavy criticism has been directed against using peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) as a full reference quality metric for digitally processed images and video, since many studies have shown a weak correlation between subjective quality scores and the respective PSNR values. In this paper, we show that the low performance of PSNR is often related to a content dependent systematic shift of PSNR values. In scenarios with fixed content and distortion types that are typical for visual communications applications, PSNR may perform closely as well, or in some cases even better than the more complex objective quality models known from the literature. Therefore, the use of PSNR may be justified for comparative quality assessment with fixed content.


This study begins a research program that examines how IT professionals cope with the threat of professional obsolescence. In answering this question, this study draws on theories of occupational stress, in particular the theory of conservation of resources (Hobfoll 2002; Hobfoll and Freedy 1993), to relate the threat of professional obsolescence with IT professionals' coping strategies and their subsequent intentions to turnover and turnaway. Results from a sample of IT professionals are consistent with the theory of conservation of resources in that the threat of professional obsolescence is negatively related to direct action coping and is positively related to emotion focused coping. Extending the theory, we find that direct action coping is negatively related to turnaway intentions as hypothesized but contrary to hypothesis, emotion focused coping is positively related to turnover intentions. We conclude this study with the discussion of these results and propose future research directions.


Abstract This article presents an extension of Iannis Xenakis's Dynamic Stochastic Synthesis (DSS) called Diffusion Dynamic Stochastic Synthesis (DDSS). This extension solves a diffusion equation whose solutions can be used to map particle positions to amplitude values of several breakpoints in a waveform, following traditional concepts of DSS by directly shaping the waveform of a sound. One significant difference between DSS and DDSS is that the latter includes a drift in the Brownian trajectories that each breakpoint experiences through time. Diffusion Dynamic Stochastic Synthesis can also be used in other ways, such as to control the amplitude values of an oscillator bank using additive synthesis, shaping in this case the spectrum, not the waveform. This second modality goes against Xenakis's original desire to depart from classical Fourier synthesis. The results of spectral analyses of the DDSS waveform approach, implemented using the software environment Max, are discussed and compared with the results of a simplified version of DSS to which, despite the similarity in the overall form of the frequency spectrum, noticeable differences are found. In addition to the Max implementation of the basic DDSS algorithm, a MIDI-controlled synthesizer is also presented here. With DDSS we introduce a real physical process, in this case diffusion, into traditional stochastic synthesis. This sort of sonification can suggest models of sound synthesis that are more complex and grounded in physical concepts.


Dental caries remains a severe oral health problem in children and its impact in terms of pain, impairment of function, and oral health-related quality of life of the population is high, especially the disadvantaged individuals and communities. Despite the widespread use of fluoride dentifrice, preschool children, compared to the other age groups, still show a high number of untreated caries lesions. Minimal and noninvasive approaches for the management of dental caries are preferred currently, in lieu of the conventional approaches. Though not new, silver diamine fluoride (SDF) had recently gained attention by clinicians globally due to its effectiveness in arresting the progression of carious lesions. Silver diamine fluoride allows a more conservative tooth preparation as it has been shown to arrest remaining decay, remineralize, and harden leathery dentin leading to the dark color change. Silver diamine fluoride is applied directly to carious lesions to arrest and prevent dental caries. Since the management of dental caries with SDF is noninvasive and much comfortably performed, it can be a favorable means to treat dental caries in children. The present review is an insight into the use of SDF in pediatric dentistry and its clinical significance based on the published literature.


This opening article introduces the reader to current topics in research on language and thought in monolingual speakers and second language (L2) learners, with particular attention to the domain of motion. The article also delineates the rationale that underlies the special issue at hand, and provides a contextualisation of the individual contributions. It is argued that the centrality of motion in everyday human life, in combination with the vast cross-linguistic variation in motion construal, makes motion events a suitable topic for SLA research, both in terms of ecological validity and learnability challenge. The pedagogical aspects of this line of research are discussed in terms of, first, whether it is desirable to include the acquisition of language-specific thought patterns in curricular goals, and second, whether the knowledge about language specificity in thought can be used in teaching as a means to facilitate learning.


This interview is part of a longer conversation that independent researcher Mayssun Soukarieh conducted with Rosemary Sayigh in Beirut during the summer of 2008. Sayigh, an anthropologist, oral historian, and researcher, was born in Birmingham in the United Kingdom and moved to Beirut in 1953, where she married the Palestinian economist Yusif Sayigh. She earned her master9s degree from the American University of Beirut (AUB) in 1970 and was awarded a PhD from Hull University in Yorkshire in 1994. Since coming to Beirut fifty-six years ago, Sayigh has dedicated her life to writing and advocating for the Palestinians in Lebanon and elsewhere. She is the author of two groundbreaking books: Palestinians: From Peasants to Revolutionaries; A People9s History (Zed Books, 1979) and Too Many Enemies: The Palestinian Experience in Lebanon (Zed Books, 1993). Although these conversations focused on Sayigh9s scholarly work rather than her personal history, it became clear that the two are inextricably linked.


The use of primary effects in planning is an effective approach to reducing search. The underlying idea of this approach is to select certain "important" effects among the effects of each operator and to use an operator only for achieving its important effects. In the past, there has been little analysis of planning with primary effects and few experimental results We provide empirical and analytical results on the use of primary effects First, we experimentally demonstrate that the use of primary effects may lead to an exponential reduction of the planning time. Second, we analytically ex plain the experimental results and identify the factors that influence the efficiency of planning with primary effects. Third we describe an application of our analysis to predicting the performance of a planner for a given selection of primary effects.


We present a novel variant of the RANSAC algorithm that is much more efficient, in particular when dealing with problems with low inlier ratios. Our algorithm assumes that there exists some grouping in the data, based on which we introduce a new binomial mixture model rather than the simple binomial model as used in RANSAC. We prove that in the new model it is more efficient to sample data from a smaller numbers of groups and groups with more tentative correspondences, which leads to a new sampling procedure that uses progressive numbers of groups. We demonstrate our algorithm on two classical geometric vision problems: wide-baseline matching and camera resectioning. The experiments show that the algorithm serves as a general framework that works well with three possible grouping strategies investigated in this paper, including a novel optical flow based clustering approach. The results show that our algorithm is able to achieve a significant performance gain compared to the standard RANSAC and PROSAC.


Naturally, the common people don't want war ... but after all it is the leaders of a country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country.


A household survey on the financial drivers of woodlot production was conducted in the Lake Tana watershed of Amhara State, Ethiopia. Analysis of smallholder Eucalyptus globulus Labill. production reveals that converting uneroded over eroded croplands leads to significantly higher financial returns. Returns were also significantly higher for rotation intervals closer to the optimal economic rotation and for higher planting densities. Most woodlots had positive financial returns. The presence of negative financial returns for some households demonstrates that positive ecological externalities, a lack of economies of scale and/or myopic behavior are potentially important factors in land use decision-making. Wood utilization decisions were shown to impact the potential financial returns of households. Smallholders� activities demonstrate that eucalyptus is an imperfect substitute for agricultural production on surplus cropland. A third of respondents indicated they had intentionally chosen to convert uneroded croplands to achieve higher returns. Smallholders faced constraints in bargaining over price and access to markets. Future land use policies should address marketing constraints and unsustainable land use activities. Harvesting soil from natural forests and the conversion of productive surplus cropland to woodlot production both present long-term sustainability challenges. This study demonstrates the importance of considering economic and social incentives when creating land use policies for smallholder's woodlot production


This article explores human rights politics in the transition from dictatorship to democracy in Argentina. Its ethnographic focus is the phenomenon of families of victims associations, usually led by moth ers, that first emerged to protest against mass disappearance under the military dictatorship. Democracy has also produced new families of vic tims associations protesting against different forms of state abuse and/or neglect. They represent one face of the widespread protest against a 'culture of impunity' experienced as ongoing insecurity and injustice. Private grief is made an emotional resource for collective action in the form of 'political mourning'. The media, street demonstrations, and liti gation are used to try to make the state accountable. State management of this public suffering has sought to determine legitimate victimhood based on a paradigm of innocence. The political mourning of victims and survivors charts the social margins of citizenship in the reduced, not expanded, neo-liberal democratic state in Argentina.


This report seeks to analyse labour market trends of residents within Belfast City Council's (BCC) economy. This report outlines headline labour market trends, the structure and type of resident employment within BCC, the nature of worklessness, gender dynamics, demographic labour market trends and an analysis of spare capacity within the BCC resident labour market. Spare capacity in Belfast City Council's labour market


It has been pointed out that the Galactic satellites all have a common mass around 107 M☉ within 300 pc (M0.3), while they span almost four orders of magnitude in luminosity. It is argued that this may reflect a specific scale for galaxy formation or a scale for dark matter clustering. Here we use numerical simulations coupled with a semianalytical model for galaxy formation, to predict the central mass and luminosity of galactic satellites in the Λ cold dark matter (CDM) model. We show that this common mass scale can be explained within the CDM scenario when the physics of galaxy formation is taken into account. The narrow range of M0.3 comes from the narrow distribution of circular velocities at the time of accretion (peaking around 20 km s−1) for satellites able to form stars and not tight correlation between halo concentration and circular velocity. The wide range of satellite luminosities is due to a combination of the mass at time of accretion and the broad distribution of accretion redshifts for a given mass. This causes the satellites' baryonic content to be suppressed by photoionization to very different extents. Our results favor the argument that the common mass M0.3 reflects a specific scale (circular velocity ∼20 km s−1) for star formation.


This study was conducted to compare static and dynamic stretching on lower extremities of Adama Science and Technology University GC Cup players. A total of 32 participants were involved for this particular study. Subjects were selected based on the sport they are participating, which is more specifically useful for football players. Randomly 2 members were taken as a one group from the total population. From each group, one subject was performing the static stretching and the other subject was performing the dynamic stretching as part of the warm-up. A paired t-test its level of significance set at 0.05 alpha, was used to compare the static and dynamic stretching groups to realize the lower extremities of players. As the result of paired sample test analysis, the p-value is less than 0.05 which is possible to say the group do have in reality differ [t(-7.50), df = 15 and p=.0001). Essentially, as the result of the study players' vertical jump performance after the two stretching warming ups was significantly different. In conclusion, dynamic stretching had a positive impact on lower extremity muscle performance and had the potential to be more effective as a warm-up when compared to static stretching.


Student loan debt is an issue facing the United States of America today. More and more people are enrolling themselves into college, hoping that a college degree would increase their chances of employment and improve their standard of living. However, the rise in demand for tertiary education has an effect on the amount of student loan debt accumulated in America. A hike in college tuition fees has caused a rise in default rate among student borrowers. More borrowers are entering repayment plans because they are not able to make their monthly loan payments. This phenomenon has altered borrowers' decision on homeownership, and their efforts in wealth accumulation and retirement savings (Elliott & Lewis, 2015). Students' financial standing and credit scores are negatively affected when their student loans go into default. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze how student debt affects student borrowers and the U.S. economy as consumer behavior changes. The U.S. government should subsidize higher education and decrease the interest rate on student loans to reduce the severity of the problem.


The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has stated that what was considered state-of-the-art pollution control a century ago is no longer valid today. Designers of new sewer systems must identify the problems inherited from old design concepts and try to use new technology to revisit and upgrade traditional urban drainage management. Separate sewer systems are currently used in all new developments. They are more prevalent than combined sewer systems, the use of which is limited due to numerous environmental regulations. However, the narrow streets commonly found in the UK, Europe and other densely populated areas, are usually occupied by a complex network of infrastructure services, making providing space to place a traditional separate sewer system is therefore challenging. This research presents an innovative design for manholes, created to overcome the challenges associated with the installation of separate sewer systems in narrow streets. The proposed manhole combines two traditional manholes into one structure with two separate chambers, allowing storm flow and foul flow to pass through the same manhole without mixing. The structural performance and hydraulic properties of the new design have been tested using mathematical modelling, finite element (FE) and computational fluid dynamic modelling (CFD), validated by experimental testing. The results have been compared with the performance of conventional manholes. Testing of the new manhole when buried in soil revealed high stability and resistance under applied traffic loads. With regards to the hydraulic performance of the new manhole, the head loss coefficient and pattern of shockwaves were studied for both manholes (new and conventional), under the same conditions, using independent, dimensionless parameters for each manhole. The new manhole generates higher head losses, about twice the head loss generated in a conventional manhole. Four shockwaves were identified in the storm chamber of the new manhole, the locations and characteristics of these also determined. The new manhole required a new configuration to setup the two pipes in one trench, the storm pipe over the sanitary pipe. The behaviours of these two flexible pipes were tested using a 3D finite element (FE) model, validated against experimental data from a laboratory investigation. A modified Drucker–Prager soil constitutive model was used to simulate elasto-plastic soil behaviour. The results show that this approach, using a large-diameter flexible pipe set above a small-diameter flexible pipe, mitigates the strain on the smaller pipe and decreases the total deflection of both pipes and the soil. These results led to further development of the Iowa Formula so that is can calculate the deflections of two flexible pipes set in one trench. The Improved Iowa formula was tested and compared with the experimental results. The use of the new system promises to reduce construction costs, footprint and construction time. The storage capacity and retention time increased by 280% and 200%, respectively. This new system is an attempt to improve the concept of the design of traditional sewer systems which have been in use for approximately one hundred years. The new system design can be used to install a new separate sewer system or used to separate existing combined sewer systems.


Canada's reputation as a global champion of human rights has been tarnished by the revelation of the enduring colonial impact and social and economic disparities endured by Indigenous peoples within Canada. While Canada has a strong legal framework for Indigenous rights, its significant and enduring policy and implementation failures are increasingly recognised by both domestic and international bodies. This article addresses Canada's shifting yet fledgling progress towards the harmonisation of Canadian domestic law and the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The pathway to reconciliation and sustainable development for Canada is discussed as rights-based resource governance in contrast to Canada's current imposition of extractive imperialism in both Canada and Latin America.


The research into the history of polar exploration is mainly focused on the evolution of science and its institutionalisation. Social conditions of the members of German polar expeditions have not been the subject of scholarly research . In the official records of the expeditions one can rarely find references to social factors. Such comments were often deliberately avoided.My PhD-Project is based on sources such as unpublished logbooks, diaries and letters. The dissertation also considers the question of how social conditions contributed to the success or failure of an expedition - or if they were not that crucial at all. References to foreign expeditions shall supply additional material for comparative studies.The poster deals only with one aspect of this dissertation with: the Deutsche Gronlandexpedition Alfred Wegener 1929/31. 1930 three bases were established: Weststation Eismitte Oststation. The mission of this expedition was to execute a huge geophysical program:- to collect meteorological data for one yearand- to record the influence of the ice of the interior of Greenland on the meteorology of the North Atlantic.The main source of this investigation are the diaries written by J. Georgi, E. Sorge and F. Loewe. These three men remained in Eismitte in a cave of perpetual snow through the winter.Because of several problems the base Eismitte was technically very poorly equipped and suffered from the lack of necessary scientific instruments and equipment. The same was true for the provisions.According to the diaries the social live of the three scientists was basically harmonious although the conditions of the hibernation were extremely bad. The import of vermin, the insufficient food supply and the low fuel rations were, however, kept under control.


A computational model is developed to analyze the unsteady flow of blood through stenosed tapered narrow arteries, treating blood as a two-fluid model with the suspension of all the erythrocytes in the core region as Herschel-Bulkley fluid and the plasma in the peripheral layer as Newtonian fluid. The finite difference method is employed to solve the resulting system of nonlinear partial differential equations. The effects of stenosis height, peripheral layer thickness, yield stress, viscosity ratio, angle of tapering and power law index on the velocity, wall shear stress, flow rate and the longitudinal impedance are analyzed. It is found that the velocity and flow rate increase with the increase of the peripheral layer thickness and decrease with the increase of the angle of tapering and depth of the stenosis. It is observed that the flow rate decreases nonlinearly with the increase of the viscosity ratio and yield stress. The estimates of the increase in the longitudinal impedance to flow are considerably lower for the two-fluid Herschel-Bulkley model compared with those of the single-fluid Herschel-Bulkley model. Hence, it is concluded that the presence of the peripheral layer helps in the functioning of the diseased arterial system.


David Rusk, former Mayor of Albuquerque, New Mexico, has observed that "bad neighborhoods defeat good programs". This paper identifies the underlying causes of bad neighbourhoods along with their costs to local residents and residents throughout the region. It is a critical essay that traces recent patterns of uneven metropolitan development, the social forces generating these patterns, their many costs and potential remedies. It demonstrates how the interrelated processes of sprawl, concentration of poverty and racial segregation shape the opportunity structure facing diverse segments of the nation's urban and metropolitan population. In so doing, it draws on recent scholarly literature from various disciplines, government data and documents, research institute reports and the mass media. Topics addressed include income and wealth disparities, employment opportunities, housing patterns, access to health care and exposure to crime. While recognising the role of individual choice and human capital, the paper focuses on public policy decisions and related private-sector activities in determining how place and race shape the opportunity structure of metropolitan areas. Finally, the paper explores various policy options to sever the linkages among place, race and privilege in the nation's urban communities.


ABSTRACTThe filtration of airborne nanoparticles is becoming an important issue as they are produced in large quantities from material synthesis and combustion emission. Current international standards dealing with efficiency test for filters and filter media focus on measurement of the minimum efficiency at the most penetrating particle size. The available knowledge and instruments provide a solid base for development of test methods to determine the effectiveness of filtration media for airborne nanoparticles down to a single-digit nanometer range.
An inter-laboratory evaluation is performed under the Technical Committee 195 of European Committee for Standardization (CEN/TC195) for the development of the methodology to determine effectiveness of filtration media for airborne particles in the 3–500 nm range. Statistical analysis of the results was performed according to ISO 5725-2 in order to evaluate the test procedure and sensitivity analysis was carried out to identify the factors that could possibly affect the test results.
Inter-laboratory analysis revealed some deviation among the experimental results. The statistical analysis showed a less than 20% deviation. This deviation could be attributed to the difference among the experimental setups used by the laboratories. The sensitivity analyses did not indicate a strong influence by the temperature, relative humidity, flow distribution, challenging particle concentration, or particle density on the filtration efficiency in the parameter ranges used in the inter-laboratory test. However, the charging status of the filter affected the filtration efficiency.


A confocal fluorescence spectroscopy system is instrumented to study depth-resolved autofluorescence in biological tissue. The system provides the capability of optical sectioning with the maximal detectiondepth up to 120 m in the examined tissue samples. It was found that the topmost keratinizing epithelial layer produces strong fluorescence similar to collagen. The fluorescence signal from epithelial tissue between the keratinizing layer and stroma can be well resolved. The study results show that depth-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy has the potential to provide more accurate information for the diagnosis of tissue pathology.


Experimental difficulties encountered in the determination of spectral sensitivity functions (Sλ) of photoelectric detectors make it desirable to have independent checks on a measured Sλ. A multifilter method is described which allows not only a check on a given Sλ, but also makes it possible to determine Sλ directly and independently of any previous measurements. The filters employed in the method have to satisfy the condition that their spectral transmittance functions form a set of linearly independent functions over the spectral range considered. The practical importance of the method and ways of checking its precision are discussed, using a numerical example which involves 14 linearly independent filters forming a 14×14 matrix of spectral transmittances for the spectral range 390 to 670 mμ.


Type 1A diabetes (T1D) is believed to be caused by immune-mediated destruction of �-cells, but the immunological basis for T1D remains controversial. Microbial diversity promotes the maturation and activation of certain immune subsets, including CD161 bright CD8 + mucosal associated invariant T (MAIT) cells, and alterations in gut mucosal responses have been reported in type 1 diabetics (T1Ds). We analyzed T cell populations in peripheral blood leukocytes from juvenile T1Ds and healthy controls. We found that proportion and absolute number of MAIT cells were similar between T1Ds and controls. Furthermore, while MAIT cell proportions increased with age among healthy controls, this trend was not observed among long-standing T1Ds. Additionally, the CD27- MAIT cell subset is significantly increased in T1Ds and positively correlated with HbA1c levels. However, after T1Ds are stratified by age, the younger group has significantly increased proportions of CD27- MAIT cells compared to age-matched controls, and this proportional increase appears to be independent of HbA1c levels. Finally, we analyzed function of the CD27- MAIT cells and observed that IL-17A production is increased in CD27- compared to CD27 + MAIT cells. Overall, our data reveal disparate MAIT cell dynamics between T1Ds and controls, as well as signs of increased MAIT cell activation in T1Ds. These changes may be linked to hyperglycemia and increased mucosal challenge among T1Ds.


Much of social welfare education in Australia is built upon the tried and tested knowledge bases developed within American and British approaches to social work and welfare provision. The experience of those two countries has dominated the theoretical frameworks for practice intervention and indeed, the analysis of social problems and societal responses to them. Australian experience has tended to play a supplementary role in that differences in context have altered or modified aspects of these overseas approaches, or some peculiar aspect of case experience has led to variations in response. The review and development of educational programs for social welfare work has raised questions about these traditional foundations. Australia, both in total and its regions, has unique characteristics in its history, geography, and political development and a clearer understanding of them appears to be emerging. The formulation and administration of welfare state provision now has a substantial history, as does the practice of various professional groups in aiming to assist people's capacities for social functioning and overcome social problems. This emergent culture of social provision is substantial and rich enough now to provide the grounding from which more specific theoretical propositions ought to be guiding social welfare practice. One of the impediments to this in the past has been the lack of a substantial body of literature and research in Australian practice. But this is changing, although, even the growth of Australian material still remains in danger of being swamped by the ever-increasing amount from overseas. Another impediment also has been the relatively small size of the social welfare and social work education sector. This too is changing and there are signs that the greater size of the sector could be mirrored by greater collaboration in future developments. One of the important components of social welfare education in Australia has been the two year courses leading to an Associate Diploma. In general, these developed around the early seventies in response to the need to qualify experienced welfare workers and provide a broader educational base than was catered for by in-service training. The circumstances of the eighties has seen considerable change in this area. Social welfare agencies now are not faced with dramatic growth or rapid expansion of activities. In general, no longer are they employing large numbers of unqualified people. At the same time, people have entered social welfare courses as a means of career change or for numbers of women, of a return to the work-force. Consequently, the nature of these courses has had to change to accommodate a different population. And a process of review and change has presented both the opportunity and the question about the fundamental character of an Australian social welfare course.


The effect of using external vertical fins in Phase
Change Materials (PCM) modules to improve the
natural convection coefficient in water is studied in
this paper.
The use of PCM in a water tank working with a solar
system is able to store a lot of energy, but it is
necessary to transfer this energy to the water during
demand.
Optimization of the natural convection to the water
is of great importance for the heat transfer. External
fins increase the heat transfer surface and the heat
transfer coefficient changes.
Experimental work was carried out to determine
natural convection heat transfer coefficients for
PCM modules with two different external vertical fin
geometries. Results were presented as a
temperature variation over time of the PCM and the
water, and the heat transfer coefficient as a function
of the temperature difference for different fins.
These results were used to validate a simulation
code to determine the behaviour of the system
using finned PCM modules. The results prove the
technical potential of external fins for heat storage
systems using PCM.
The experimental results were used to determine
different correlations for Nusselt number as a
function of different dimensionless numbers.


Plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) or electric vehicle (EV) has the potential to facilitate the energy and environmental aspects of personal transportation, but face a hurdle of access to charging system. The charging infrastructure has its own complexities when it is compared with petrol stations because of the involvement of the different charging alternatives. As a result, the topic related to optimisation of PHEV/EV charging infrastructure has attracted the attention of researchers from different communities in the past few years. Recently introduced smart grid technology has brought new challenges and opportunities for the development of electric vehicle infrastructure facilities. This paper is a review of different computational approaches and techniques used for the optimisation of charging infrastructure for electric vehicles.


Geographic Information System (GIS) has now become an economically feasible reality. Technological progress allowed GIS capability at a very low cost. This progress greatly contributed to a tremendous growth of GIS technology and its wide acceptance. Only a few years ago government agencies and large organizations utilizing expensive mainframes were almost the exclusive users. Today GIS technology is affordable by any size of organization and is radically effecting practice of planning and decision making. This paper will describe Intera Kenting's experience with a low cost GIS implementation on an UNIX workstation.


Because disease diagnosis and prognosis affect the decisions that patients make when creating advance directives, an understanding of one's diagnosis is important for successful advance care planning. Yet often there exists a wide disparity between physician and patient understanding of the patient's disease, making the goal of shared decision-making difficult to achieve. This study examined the extent to which patients with advanced cancer agree with their physicians regarding their cancer diagnoses prior to engaging in advance care planning and explored variables that might correlate with the degree of patient-physician concordance. 150 patients with a diagnosis of cancer and life expectancy of 1-2 years or less completed a questionnaire on their diagnosis before they engaged in creation of an advanced directive. The physician-designated diagnosis was identified for each patient via chart-review. Patient-physician agreement on diagnosis was coded and concordance rates were expressed in percentages. The majority of patients (62.2%) were in exact concordance with their physicians regarding their diagnosis; 24.3% were in partial agreement, with the patient missing part of the diagnosis; 9.5% were in partial agreement, with the physician missing part of the patient-reported diagnosis; and only 4.1% did not agree with their physicians on diagnosis. No correlation was found between patient-physician concordance rates and age, education level, or comfort with computers; nor was a higher degrees of concordance correlated with having received radiation therapy, which might have been expected due to the greater number of hospital visits and opportunities for reinforcement of information.


In this paper we present three Swarm Intelligence algorithms which we evaluate on the complex foraging task domain. Each of the algorithms draws inspiration from biologic bee foraging/nest-site selection behavior. The main focus will be on the third algorithm, namely STIGMERGIC LANDMARK FORAGING which is a novel hybrid approach. It combines the high performance of bee-inspired navigation with ant-inspired recruitment. More precisely, navigation is based on Path Integration which results in vectors indicating the distance and direction to a destination. Recruitment only occurs at key locations (i.e., landmarks) inside of the environment. Each landmark contains a collection of vectors with which visiting agents can find their way to a certain goal or to another landmark in an unknown environment. Each vector represents a local segment of a global route. In contrast to ant-inspired recruitment, no attracting or repelling pheromone is used to indicate where to go and how worthwhile a route is in comparison to other routes. Instead, each vector in a landmark has a certain strength indicating how worthwhile it is. In analogy to ant-inspired recruitment, vector strength can be reinforced by visiting agents. Moreover, vector strength decays over time. In the end, this results in optimal routes to destinations. STIGMERGIC LANDMARK FORAGING proves to be very efficient in terms of building and adapting solutions.


This application for PhD by publication is the culmination of a series of investigations concerning the development of a conceptual model of student satisfaction with their higher education (HE) experience. The five core papers that sequentially contributed to knowledge are presented within this application, together with their supporting papers. In particular, the investigations focussed on what were the main determinants of student satisfaction utilising critical incident technique (CIT). New determinants of quality within higher education were identified as a result, namely motivation, praise/reward, social inclusion, usefulness, value for money and fellow student behaviour. The resultant research papers have made an original contribution to knowledge in the area of quality in HE.
The rationale for using CIT to gather and analyse data was to investigate its effectiveness in triangulating with existing methods used in HE to measure student satisfaction. The CIT research was triggered by previous research that had developed and tested a student satisfaction questionnaire. CIT is used to gather data that is defined as 'rich'. It is ideal when researching new areas. The questionnaire was based on the work of Sasser et al (1978) who proposed that service delivery consisted of a 'bundle' of goods and services, which incorporated distinct elements (the facilitating goods, the sensual service and the psychological service). The CIT survey instrument subsequently adopted, built upon the seminal work by Flanagan (1954) who developed it to assess the psychological impact (on pilots) when learning to fly. Both survey instruments were used to identify the determinants of quality in higher education from a student's point of view and ultimately what was considered "critically critical" (Edvardsson & Nilsson-Wittel, 2004).
An evaluation of teaching quality was carried out as part of this series during the mid-2000 era, and a comparison made of some of the existing measurement methods used at the time, such as student feedback questionnaires and peer review practices. A review of the potential use of mystery students in higher education was also carried out. This particular study highlighted the lack of confidence (by teaching personnel) in the existing methods for evaluating teaching quality as well as some mistrust of the concept of using mystery students in a classroom setting.
A multi-method approach was chosen for this series of studies, because of the merits in using both quantitative and qualitative studies to generate data. Using such an approach provided a sequential method of analysing and presenting the data for this cross-sectional study. The initial student satisfaction questionnaire was a quantitative instrument and gathered data on importance and satisfaction ratings (using a five-point Likert scale) which were further analysed used quadrant analysis.
The CIT survey was largely qualitative in nature and gathered written narratives from students about their positive and negative experiences; the resulting data used interpretive thematic analysis to identify key themes and any resulting patterns that could be coded quantitatively for input into the statistical software package SPSS. Each piece of research was underpinned by the existing literature at the time; this has inevitably progressed since then. CIT has been widely used in the service sector and additional determinants of quality within higher education have been identified within the current literature. A number of papers presented with this application have generated academic discussion in the field and these are evidenced by the number of citations for the applicant's work. Moreover, the applicant's additional supplementary papers also appended for background information have also been cited within the academic literature.
The findings can be applied to teaching practice and within policy documents that support front-line teaching (and other) personnel in higher education.


The paper makes an attempt to resolve two conceptual mingling: (a) the mingling of the two interpretations of the concept of orderedness applied in statistical thermodynamics and in symmetrology, and (b) the mingling of two interpretations of evolution applied in global and local processes. In conclusion, it formulates a new interpretation on the relation of the emergence of new material qualities in selforganizing processes on the one hand, and the evolution of the universe, on the other. The process of evolution is a sequence of emergence of new material qualities by self-organization processes, which happen in negligible small segments of the universe. Although thermodynamics looks at the universe as a closed (isolated) system, this holds for its outside boundaries only, while the universe has many subsystems inside, which are not isolated (closed), since they are in a permanent exchange of matter, energy, etc. with their environment (with the rest of the universe) through their open boundaries. Any ";;emergence";; takes place, i.e., all new qualities come into being just in these small open segments of the universe. The conditions to apply the second law of thermodynamics are not present here. Therefore, global evolution of the universe is the consequence of local symmetry decreases, local decreases of orderedness, and possible local decreases of entropy.


Assessing the discriminative power of rating systems is an important question to banks and to regulators. In this article we analyze the Cumulative Accuracy Profile (CAP) and the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) which are both commonly used in practice. We give a test-theoretic interpretation for the concavity of the CAP and the ROC curve and demonstrate how this observation can be used for more efficiently exploiting the informational contents of accounting ratios. Furthermore, we show that two popular summary statistics of these concepts, namely the Accuracy Ratio and the area below the ROC curve, contain the same information and analyze the statistical properties of these measures. We show in detail how to identify accounting ratios with high discriminative power, how to calculate confidence intervals for the area below the ROC curve, and how to test if two rating models validated on the same data set are different. All concepts are illustrated by applications to real data.