From the Publisher:
Master numerical methods using MATLAB, today's leading software for problem solving
This complete guide to numerical methods in chemical engineering is the first to take full advantage of MATLAB's powerful calculation environment. Every chapter contains several examples using general MATLAB functions that implement the method and can also be applied to many other problems in the same category.
The authors begin by introducing the solution of nonlinear equations using several standard approaches, including methods of successive substitution and linear interpolation; the Wegstein method, the Newton-Raphson method; the Eigenvalue method; and synthetic division algorithms. With these fundamentals in hand, they move on to simultaneous linear algebraic equations, covering matrix and vector operations; Cramer's rule; Gauss methods; the Jacobi method; and the characteristic-value problem. Additional coverage includes:
Finite difference methods, and interpolation of equally and unequally spaced points
Numerical differentiation and integration, including differentiation by backward, forward, and central finite differences; Newton-Cotes formulas; and the Gauss Quadrature
Two detailed chapters on ordinary and partial differential equations
Linear and nonlinear regression analyses, including least squares, estimated vector of parameters, method of steepest descent, Gauss-Newton method, Marquardt Method, Newton Method, and multiple nonlinear regression
The numerical methods covered here represent virtually all of those commonly used by practicing chemical engineers. The focus on MATLAB enables readers to accomplish more, with less complexity, than was possiblewith traditional FORTRAN. For those unfamiliar with MATLAB, a brief introduction is provided as an Appendix.
The accompanying CD-ROM contains MATLAB 5.0 (and higher) source code for more than 60 examples, methods, and function scripts covered in the book. These programs are compatible with all three operating systems: Windows(r), MacOS(r), and UNIX(r).


DuctTake is a system designed to enable practical compositing of multiple takes of a scene into a single video. Current industry solutions are based around object segmentation, a hard problem that requires extensive manual input and cleanup, making compositing an expensive part of the film‐making process. Our method instead composites shots together by finding optimal spatiotemporal seams using motion‐compensated 3D graph cuts through the video volume. We describe in detail the required components, decisions, and new techniques that together make a usable, interactive tool for compositing HD video, paying special attention to running time and performance of each section. We validate our approach by presenting a wide variety of examples and by comparing result quality and creation time to composites made by professional artists using current state‐of‐the‐art tools.


We address the problem of feature selection in a kernel space to select the most discriminative and informative features for classification and data analysis. This is a difficult problem because the dimension of a kernel space may be infinite. In the past, little work has been done on feature selection in a kernel space. To solve this problem, we derive a basis set in the kernel space as a first step for feature selection. Using the basis set, we then extend the margin-based feature selection algorithms that are proven effective even when many features are dependent. The selected features form a subspace of the kernel space, in which different state-of-the-art classification algorithms can be applied for classification. We conduct extensive experiments over real and simulated data to compare our proposed method with four baseline algorithms. Both theoretical analysis and experimental results validate the effectiveness of our proposed method.


K-8 science education in California (as in many other parts of the country) is in a state of crisis. K-8 students in California spend too little time studying science, many of their teachers are not well prepared in the subject, and the support system for science instruction has deteriorated. A proliferation of overly detailed standards and poorly conceived assessments has trivialized science education. And all these problems are likely to intensify: an ongoing fiscal crisis in the state threatens further cutbacks, teacher and administrator layoffs, and less money for professional development. A convocation held on April 29-30, 2009, sought to confront the crisis in California science education, particularly at the kindergarten through eighth grade level. The convocation, summarized in this volume, brought together key stakeholders in the science education system to enable and facilitate an exploration of ways to more effectively, efficiently, and collectively support, sustain, and communicate across the state concerning promising research and practices in K-8 science education and how such programs can be nurtured by communities of stakeholders.


n order to reduce estrus synchronization cost, utilization of residual progesterone (P4) in the used controlled internal drug release (CIDR) device upon sanitization can be possible. Two datasets were compiled from 8 and 7 research articles involving 3434 (2653 heifers + 771 lactating cows + 10 ovariectomized cows) and 7301 cattle (3879 heifers + 3422 lactating cows) to evaluate blood P4 concentration and conception rate, respectively, in response to repeatedly used CIDR devices after sanitization via autoclaving and disinfection. As the number of CIDR usages increased, blood P4 concentration decreased linearly (y = -0.484X + 3.135, R2 = 0.99, P < 0.001). Blood P4 concentration (1.52 vs. 2.20 ng/mL; P < 0.002) and conception rate (40.76 vs. 32.96%, P < 0.05) for lactating cows were lower than those for heifers. The sanitization method did not affect blood P4 concentration, but reused CIDR device subjected to disinfection was associated with reduced conception rate. In summary, depending upon the initial P4 load (1.38-1.90 g), the CIDR device could be used twice in lactating cows and four times in heifers after autoclaving to achieve target blood P4 concentrations.


CONTEXT
The clinical benefit of glucose-insulin-potassium (GIK) infusion in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) is unclear. While some smaller trials suggest benefit, in the CREATE-ECLA trial, GIK infusion had no effect on 30-day mortality in 20,201 patients.

OBJECTIVES
To determine the association between GIK infusion therapy and 30-day and 6-month outcomes in patients with STEMI.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS
Primary analysis of the OASIS-6 GIK randomized controlled trial of 2748 patients with acute STEMI; prespecified analyses of the combined trial data from the OASIS-6 GIK and CREATE-ECLA GIK trial populations of 22,943 patients with acute STEMI; subgroup analysis on the timing of initiation of GIK infusion therapy and outcomes; and post hoc analyses exploring whether GIK infusion may cause early harm by increasing glucose and potassium levels and net fluid gain.

INTERVENTION
High-dose GIK solution consisting of 25% glucose, 50 U/L of regular insulin, and 80 mEq/L of potassium infused at 1.5 mL/kg per hour for 24 hours.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Mortality rates at 30 days and 6 months in the OASIS-6 GIK trial and rates of death, heart failure, and the composite of death or heart failure at 3 and 30 days in the combined OASIS-6 GIK and CREATE-ECLA GIK trial populations.

RESULTS
At 6 months, 148 (10.8%) GIK infusion patients and 143 (10.4%) control patients died in the OASIS-6 trial (hazard ratio [HR], 1.04; 95% CI, 0.83-1.31; P = .72); 153 (11.1%) GIK patients and 185 (13.5%) control patients had heart failure (HR, 0.83; 95% CI, 0.67-1.02; P = .08); and 240 (17.5%) GIK patients and 264 (19.2%) control patients had a composite of death or heart failure (HR, 0.91; 95% CI, 0.76-1.08; P = .27). In the prespecified analyses of the combined trial data, there were 712 deaths (6.2%) in the GIK group and 632 deaths (5.5%) in the control group at 3 days (HR, 1.13; 95% CI, 1.02-1.26; P = .03). This difference disappeared by 30 days, with 1108 deaths (9.7%) in the GIK group and 1068 (9.3%) in the control group (HR, 1.04; 95% CI, 0.96-1.13; P = .33). GIK therapy increased levels of glucose, potassium, and net fluid gain postinfusion, all 3 of which predicted death after adjusting for multiple confounders. Adjusting for glucose, potassium, and net fluid gain eliminated the apparent increase in mortality at 3 days observed with GIK infusion, suggesting a direct association with these factors. Administration of GIK infusion within 4 hours of symptom onset yielded no benefit compared with later initiation.

CONCLUSIONS
Infusion of GIK provided no benefit and may cause early harm following STEMI. Avoidance of infusion-related hyperglycemia, hyperkalemia, and net fluid gain may be advisable in future studies of metabolic modulation in patients with STEMI.

TRIAL REGISTRATION
clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00064428.


This study introduces a cointegration test based on an asymmetric exponential smooth transition autoregressive (AESTAR) error correction model (ECM). The proposed model based on the unit root test by Sollis (2009) employs a wild bootstrap to test for cointegration. The test has time-varying and asymmetric adjustments and is robust to heteroskedastic variances such as stochastic volatility. A Monte Carlo simulation provides evidence that the proposed test has appropriate sizes and sufficient power under stochastic volatility. The model is applied to the relationship between the oil price and economic activity, demonstrating that the proposed test supports the presence of the error correction term. This contrasts with conventional tests, which do not support this term. The empirical results indicate the usefulness of the proposed test.


This article asks questions about the ontology of child culture. It aims to position the concept of child culture at the forefront of theoretical research without creating a 'true' or singular definition of the concept. It is rather a conceptual exploration of partial consistencies of child culture in and through practices. The focus of the analyses is on five institutional cultural practices created for children: two children's museums, a science centre, a theme park and an amusement park. A cross-analysis of these practices provides the empirical material for proposing the notion of 'child culture multiple'.


Author(s): Gottscho, Mark William | Advisor(s): Gupta, Puneet | Abstract: The memory system presents many problems in computer architecture and system design. An important challenge is worsening hardware variability that is caused by nanometer-scale manufacturing difficulties. Variability particularly affects memory circuits and systems – which are essential in all aspects of computing – by degrading their reliability and energy efficiency. To address this challenge, this dissertation proposes Opportunistic Memory Systems in Presence of Hardware Variability. It describes a suite of techniques to opportunistically exploit memory variability for energy savings and cope with memory errors when they inevitably occur.In Part 1, three complementary projects are described that exploit memory variability for improved energy efficiency. First, ViPZonE and DPCS study how to save energy in off-chip DRAM main memory and on-chip SRAM caches, respectively, without significantly impacting performance or manufacturing cost. ViPZonE is a novel extension to the virtual memory subsystem in Linux that leverages power variation-aware physical address zoning for energy savings. The kernel intelligently allocates lower-power physical memory (when available) to tasks that access data frequently to save overall energy. Meanwhile, DPCS is a simple and low-overhead method to perform Dynamic Power/Capacity Scaling of SRAM-based caches. The key idea is that certain memory cells fail to retain data at a given low supply voltage; when full cache capacity is not needed, the voltage is opportunistically reduced and any failing cache blocks are disabled dynamically. The third project in Part 1 is X-Mem: a new extensible memory characterization tool. It is used in a series of case studies on a cloud server, including one where the potential benefits of variation-aware DRAM latency tuning are evaluated.Part 2 of the dissertation focuses on ways to opportunistically cope with memory errors whenever they occur. First, the Performability project studies the impact of corrected errors in memory on the performance of applications. The measurements and models can help improve the availability and performance consistency of cloud server infrastructure. Second, the novel idea of Software-Defined Error-Correcting Codes (SDECCs) is proposed. SDECC opportunistically copes with detected-but-uncorrectable errors in main memory by combining concepts from coding theory with an architecture that allows for heuristic recovery. SDECC leverages available side information about the contents of data in memory to essentially increase the strength of ECC without introducing significant hardware overheads. Finally, a methodology is proposed to achieve Virtualization-Free Fault Tolerance (ViFFTo) for embedded scratchpad memories. ViFFTo guards against both hard and soft faults at minimal cost and is suitable for future IoT devices.Together, the six projects in this dissertation comprise a complementary suite of methods for opportunistically exploiting hardware variability for energy savings, while reducing the impact of errors that will inevitably occur. Opportunistic Memory Systems can significantly improve the energy efficiency and reliability of current and future computing systems. There remain several promising directions for future work.


In mining operations the evaluation of the stability condition of the excavated front are critic to ensure a safe and correct planning of the subsequent activities. The procedure currently used to this aim has some shortcomings: safety for the geologist, completeness of data collection and objective documentation of the results. In the last decade it has been shown that the geostructural parameters necessary to the stability analysis can be derived from high resolution digital surface models (DSM) of rock faces. With the objective to overcome the limitation of the traditional survey and to minimize data capture times, so reducing delays on mining site operations, a photogrammetric system to generate high resolution DSM of tunnels has been realized. A fast, effective and complete data capture method has been developed and the orientation and restitution phases have been largely automated. The survey operations take no more than required to the traditional ones; no additional topographic measurements other than those available are required. To make the data processing fast and economic our Structure from Motion procedure has been slightly modified to adapt to the peculiar block geometry while, the DSM of the tunnel is created using automatic image correlation techniques. The geomechanical data are sampled on the DSM, by using the acquired images in a GUI and a segmentation procedure to select discontinuity planes. To allow an easier and faster identification of relevant features of the surface of the tunnel, using again an automatic procedure, an orthophoto of the tunnel is produced. A case study where a tunnel section of ca. 130 m has been surveyed is presented.


As awareness and concern about global warming increases, Canada's federal and provincial governments have responded with policies and programs designed to curb greenhouse gas emissions. However, the Constitution of Canada does not specify which level of government has the requisite power to enact the statutes and regulations needed to effectively deal with this pervasive issue. This article explores the constitutionality of a federal program aimed at lowering emissions across the country and concludes that such a program is within the power of the federal government, notwithstanding the fact that it is also within the power of the provincial governments. The author reasons that the emissions reduction program currently being proposed by the federal government is within its legislative power because its complex administrative procedure ultimately culminates in the requisite prohibition and penalty and has a valid criminal purpose. The article concludes by canvassing other possible heads of power under which the federal government could enact such legislation and by exhorting the federal and provincial governments to co-operate in order to stave off a potentially confusing patchwork of overlapping regulations.


The INTERGROWTH‐21st Project has in its mandate to develop prescriptive standards for fetal, neonatal and preterm post‐neonatal growth. The project comprises three components: the Fetal Growth Longitudinal Study (FGLS), the Preterm Postnatal Follow‐up Study (PPFS), and the Newborn Cross‐Sectional Study (NCSS). We consider here the statistical aspects of the three components as they relate to the construction of these standards, in particular the sample size, and outline the principles that will guide the planned main analyses.


This article outlines the development of a new scale to measure adolescent self-esteem. The new scale addresses weaknesses in existing measures that have failed to consider the growth of the consumer society in the Western world and the impact of this on the formation of adolescent self-esteem. The development of this scale includes extensive qualitative research with over 100 high school pupils, which led to a series of quantitative data collection and analysis processes to develop the scale. In the final stage, data were collected from 889 pupils and analyzed to confirm the validity and reliability of the new measure. The result of this work is a 21-item self-esteem scale comprising of four distinct, yet interrelated factors: self-evaluation, social ability, social comparison effects, and notably, brand ownership. The findings provide an updated and upgraded measure of self-esteem that takes into consideration the specific audience of adolescents living in a consumer culture. The scale development process demonstrates that when considering the formation of self-esteem, the influence of the use and possession of commercial brands is as relevant as the traditional factors/components such as academic achievement or sporting prowess.


Oil and gas continue to be widely used worldwide as energy resources, because new sources of safe energy have not yet been well developed. These conditions have motivated researchers in the area of oil and gas production to investigate new approaches to the application of optimization methods to maximize gas or oil production rates and to minimize production costs. This PhD research investigates production optimization of conventional and unconventional reservoirs by considering compositional and black-oil reservoir fluid properties and presents economic evaluation in terms of a net present value (NPV) formulation. In general, unconventional reservoirs are characterized by large volumes that are difficult to develop since the permeability is low (<0.1 mD). A new approach to NPV calculation is introduced in which NPV is taken as the maximum cumulative NPV and not always the value at the end of the simulation. The maximum cumulative NPV has correlation with optimum field operation time using current production and/or injection strategy. The proposed method provides an advantage in determining when a new production strategy and/or management decision should be applied after the optimum field operation time is reached. Three new approaches related to oil and gas production performance will be presented in this thesis: (i) a cyclic shut-in strategy for liquid-loading gas wells, (ii) production optimization using an integrated model from subsurface to surface facilities, which is then linked to an economic analysis, and (iii) an optimal injection strategy for oil reservoirs when water and gas injection are available. A framework for decision support tools, based on available software, is implemented and a derivative-free optimization method, the Nelder-Mead Simplex, is applied. A cyclic shut-in strategy for liquid-loading gas wells in unconventional gas reservoirs has been studied. An unconventional reservoir is a potential future energy resource offered by new methods of exploration and production. One of the characteristics of an unconventional gas reservoir is low permeability, in which a gas well producing reservoir fluids usually experiences a liquid-loading condition during production. This condition is caused by accumulation of liquid at the bottom of the well, where an increasing liquid column in the well results in hydrostatic back-pressure to the reservoir, destabilizing the multiphase flow in the well, decreasing the gas production rate, and finally killing the well. A cyclic shut-in strategy is introduced to reduce the loss of gas production by increasing the reservoir pressure and gas production thereby will able to push the liquid column up to the surface. The simulation results show consistently that ultimate recovery increases, for both vertical and horizontal fractured wells. An integrated field model and optimization may play an important role during production because an integrated model may produce comprehensive operational recommendations. An integrated field model combined with optimization presents many technological challenges in terms efficient algorithms to couple models, as well as models with optimization, and sufficient hardware capability to run the complex model. A benchmark case which consists of three different reservoirs that are linked to a surface facility model has been developed. The surface process model interacts with the three reservoir models through the distribution of available produced gas for reinjection into the three reservoirs. The reservoir and surface process variables are optimized in terms of maximizing asset value. The integrated model and corresponding optimization results provide a benchmark that contributes to academic and industrial knowledge on the potential value of joint optimization of the upstream and downstream parts of the production chain. The benchmark should be valuable as a tool for assessing future alternative methods for production chain optimization. An optimal injection strategy for miscible water alternating gas injection is presented as a mixed-integer non-linear problem formulation. A heuristic approach is chosen to solve the problem. The injection strategies include gas injection, water injection, WAG, and a combination of the above injection strategies. The injection strategies are optimized to find the best injection strategy for a particular reservoir. The optimization was conducted for two production strategies: artificial lift and natural flow. The study concluded that a gas-water injection strategy with long-time gas injection and artificial lift was the best scenario for the example used in this study. The artificial lift economic value was significantly better than natural flow optimization scenarios, with an NPV increase of 8 - 31%. Moreover, the injection optimization method presented in this study should have significance potential for other miscible oil reservoirs.


This study compared strategy use and beliefs about language learning, and the relationship between beliefs and use reported by 428 monolingual Korean and 420 bilingual Korean-Chinese university students. This study also examined the influence of background variables (e.g., gender, self-rated English proficiency, and academic major) on learners' beliefs and strategy use. Data was collected using three questionnaires, the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL), the Beliefs about Language Learning Inventory (BALLI), and the Individual Background Questionnaire (IBQ). Data were analyzed using descriptive analyses, principal-component analyses, factor analyses, Pearson r correlation analyses, multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), and the Scheffe post-hoc test. Monolinguals reported using compensation strategies most, followed by cognitive, metacognitive, memory, social/practical practice, and affective strategies. Bilinguals preferred to use cognitive strategies most, followed by metacognitive and affective, compensation, memory, social, and independent practice strategies. Students from both groups reported low use of social and memory strategies. Despite a less favorable formal English education environment in the Korean-Chinese community and fewer English learning experiences, bilingual Korean-Chinese reported higher use of learning strategies, which indicates bilinguals' superior language learning abilities. Students from both groups had strong instrumental motivation for learning English. Bilinguals held stronger beliefs about the importance of formal learning and felt less fear of speaking English with native English speakers. Significant correlations between strategy and belief variables indicated differences in the impact of beliefs on strategy use for both groups. The result of the MANOVA revealed that bilingual humanities or engineering majors used more strategies and held stronger beliefs about formal learning. Proficiency level was positively correlated with strategy use for both groups. No gender effect on strategy use and beliefs was found. The assumption that differences in the learning experiences of the participants from two distinct geographical and socio-educational learning settings would influence the findings of this study was upheld.


Communities in most states are under pressure to reduce the amount of solid waste going into landfills. Many are making efforts to encourage their citizens to practice backyard composting. A logit regression analysis was conducted to identify factors associated with backyard composting of yard and food wastes in a case study area. Sample data were obtained through a September 1997 telephone survey of 865 households residing in single-family dwellings in Knox County, Tennessee. Findings indicate that a number of variables reflecting complementary behavior, attitudes, knowledge, and peer influence were significantly related to composting behavior. Policy implications of these findings are outlined.


In this work we ask the following basic question: assume the vertices of an expander graph are labelled by 0,1. What "test" functions f : { 0,1}t → {0,1} cannot distinguish t independent samples from those obtained by a random walk? The expander hitting property due to Ajtai, Komlos and Szemeredi (STOC 1987) is captured by the AND test function, whereas the fundamental expander Chernoff bound due to Gillman (SICOMP 1998), Heally (Computational Complexity 2008) is about test functions indicating whether the weight is close to the mean. In fact, it is known that all threshold functions are fooled by a random walk (Kipnis and Varadhan, Communications in Mathematical Physics 1986). Recently, it was shown that even the highly sensitive PARITY function is fooled by a random walk Ta-Shma (STOC 2017). We focus on balanced labels. Our first main result is proving that all symmetric functions are fooled by a random walk. Put differently, we prove a central limit theorem (CLT) for expander random walks with respect to the total variation distance, significantly strengthening the classic CLT for Markov Chains that is established with respect to the Kolmogorov distance (Kipnis and Varadhan, Communications in Mathematical Physics 1986). Our approach significantly deviates from prior works. We first study how well a Fourier character χS is fooled by a random walk as a function of S. Then, given a test function f, we expand f in the Fourier basis and combine the above with known results on the Fourier spectrum of f. We also proceed further and consider general test functions - not necessarily symmetric. As our approach is Fourier analytic, it is general enough to analyze such versatile test functions. For our second result, we prove that random walks on sufficiently good expander graphs fool tests functions computed by AC0 circuits, read-once branching programs, and functions with bounded query complexity.


A molar element ratio analysis based on whole-rock, multi-element geochemical data for regional lag talus composite samples is evaluated as an exploratory method for iron oxide–copper–gold mineralization (IOCG) in hyperarid settings. This study is focused in the now hyperarid Mantoverde area, III Región of northern Chile (latitude 26°01′ to 26°53′S), and comprises the Andean Coastal Cordillera and Central Valley. The area contains numerous structurally controlled iron oxide-Cu-(Au) prospects and deposits hosted by calc-alkaline volcanic and plutonic rocks of Jurassic–Cretaceous age. Comparison with data for outcrop samples indicates that lag talus composite samples reflect the composition of bedrock in terms of major and selected trace elements. As with outcrop samples, zirconium is the most conserved element in the talus samples, and is therefore used as common denominator in different molar ratios. A molar element ratio analysis using geochemical data from talus composite samples indicates that rocks associated with mineralization have been K-enriched and Na-depleted. Consequently, gradients in the K/Al and Na/Al molar ratios are useful targeting parameters. Similarly, a lithogeochemical alteration index, recently defined by the authors, quantifies the degree of hydrothermal alteration of host rocks and can be used to both target potential anomalous sectors (strongly altered rocks) and delimit barren areas. It is evident that lag talus composite samples constitute a reliable and effective sampling medium in regional exploration programmes for IOCG deposits in hyperarid settings.


Cardiovascular disease and diabetes are leading causes of death in the U.S. Both are nutrition-related diseases and can be mitigated by managing or decreasing the consumption of sugar, sodium, fat, and saturated fat. The purpose of this Master's Thesis is to determine how design can help grocery shoppers gain more clarity about the sugar, sodium, fat, and saturated fat in their food purchases, encourage healthier food purchasing behaviors, and decrease the risk of disease. Design research methods were utilized to learn how consumers think about nutrition while making food purchases. Results revealed that research participants consider themselves to be health conscious, but that their actual food purchasing behaviors are not as healthy as they think they should be. The solution is to show consumers the average amounts of sugar, sodium, fat, and saturated fat in their purchases and compare those numbers to the amounts recommended by health professionals. This information helps consumers contextualize the nutrition in their purchases, identify specific problem areas, and modify their purchasing behaviors to become more healthy.


Fusarium root rot, Fusarium solani f. sp. pisi, causes dark lesions and rots on the root- and foot region of peas. This paper provides a literature review, results from methodological development of resistance assessment, and results from resistance assessments. The main questions in this study were:
What method can be used to evaluate resistance against fusarium root rot in peas?
What is the level of resistance in a selection of cultivars?
The literature review aimed to cover the principles of fusarium root rot biology, mechanisms for pea resistance and the interplay between fusarium root rot and pea plant.
The virulence of 16 different isolates of Fusarium solani isolated from pea was assessed by measuring the symptoms on pea plants after inoculation. One of the most virulent isolates originated from a Scanian pea field, and was chosen for the following resistance assessments.
Two inoculation methods were evaluated by using them separately in the virulence assessment; soaking the seeds in spore solution for 24 h, and using the same method with addition of spore solution in the pots 4-5 days after sowing. There were no significant differences between the methods, and to just use the seed soaking method was chosen in the resistance assessments.
In the first resistance assessment, different spore batches were used for different groups of the included 41 accessions. This was due to difficulties with producing enough inoculum. A standard cultivar was incorporated in all accession groups. The standard cultivar provided the information that comparisons between spore batches wasn't adoptable, but it was possible to see which cultivars that were significantly more or less resistant than the standard cultivar.
In the second resistance assessment the same spore batch was used for all 44 accessions but without replicates. The accessions were ranked according to level of resistance.
Lesion length was found to be a superior measurement of resistance compared to using disease index in both resistance assessments, and is recommended for future high quality phenotyping.
Fourteen accessions were analysed with molecular markers for fusarium root rot resistance. The results of the marker study did not correlate with the results in the resistance assessments.


Information security policies are rules and regulations that assist employees to handle information confidentially, sensitively and privately but understanding the factors which influence employees to comply with this policies are crucial. This study uses a systematic literature review and meta-analysis to identify the key factors and sub factors that influence employee decision to comply with information security policies. Our research approach investigated 508 articles which focused on information security policies and influences on employees, after elimination duplicates and research with no empirical results we identified 22 unique articles. Three major dependent factors or variables were identified from the 22 unique studies investigated, these dependent variables were (1) employees' actual compliance, (2) employees' attitude towards compliance and (3) employees intention to comply. The significant contribution of this meta-analysis was the revelation that actual compliance was strongly influenced by intention to comply, perceived legitimacy and self-efficacy.


Conventional methods of disinfecting sewage are all highly sensitive to variations in the effluent quality upstream of the disinfection stage. Microfiltration was tested as a tertiary treatment downstream of biofiltration, simulating very poor biofilter efficiency, to test the limits of the microfiltration process. Despite the poor quality of the secondary effluent (COD between 100 and 400 mgO 2 /l, BOD 5 between 30 and 150 mgO 2 /l and suspended solid concentrations between 15 and 90 mg/l), the microfiltration process (filtration level : 0.2 µm) eliminated all faecal germs and tenia and ascaris eggs. The total elimination of free amoeba cysts still needs to be confirmed. With the COD and BOD 5 reduced by an average of 60 and 70% respectively, the effluent quality is equivalent to level e after microfiltration (COD: 90 mgO 2 /l and BOD 5 = 30 mgO 2 /l on samples averaged over 24 hours). Turbidity, measured instead of suspended solids at outlet from the microfilter, was 99 % eliminated. The colour remained between 50 and 150 mg Pt.Co/l. Under the operating conditions applied, the minimum filtration cycle was 72 hours for a minimum permeate flow of 80 1/h/m2 of membrane. When microfiltration process was used to treat a secondary effluent of good quality (COD between 14 and 40 mg/l; turbidity between 1.4 and 5.1 NTU) the germ elimination remained the same; the COD removal (31 % average elimination) allowed us to get an effluent with an average COD concentration of 24 mgO 2 /l. The filtration cycle was much longer (300 hours).


In this paper, we provide a methodology for computing the probability distribution of sojourn times for a wide class of Markov chains. Our methodology consists in writing out linear systems and matrix equations for generating functions involving relations with entrance times. We apply the developed methodology to some classes of random walks with bounded integer-valued jumps.


Several attack models exist today that attempt to describe cyber-attacks to varying degrees of granularity. Fast and effective decision-making during cyber-attacks is often vital, especially during incidents in which reputation, finance and physical damage can have a crippling effect on people and organisations. Such attacks can render an organisation paralysed, and it may cease to function, we refer to such an incident as a "System Failure". In this paper we propose a novel conceptual model to help analysts make pragmatic decisions during a System Failure. Our model distils the essence of attacks and provides an easy-to-remember framework intended to help analysts ask relevant questions at the right time, irrespective of what data is available to them. Using abstraction-based reasoning our model allows enterprises to achieve "some" situational awareness during a System Failure, but more importantly, enable them to act upon their understanding and to justify their decisions. Abstraction drives the reasoning process making the approach relevant today and in the future, unlike several existing models that become deprecated over time (as attacks evolve). In the future, it will be necessary to trial the model in exercises to assess its value.


According to the WHO-European region Tallin-Charter, Stewardship (S) is on the health agenda of many European countries and in particular of those involved in the devolution of powers, as is the case of Italy. Many observers agree that, in such cases, both the configuration and the application of state authority in the health sector should be realigned so as to achieve desired policy objectives.We present an experience of what could be meant by S in practice, applied to the field of planning preventive interventions.The Italian National Preventive Plan 2010-2012 is a comprehensive Plan dealing with many areas of prevention. For all these areas, the main health objectives, the specific regional goals and the intervention - called "central" actions- that the Ministry of Health (MoH) is in charge of carrying out in order to support regional preventive programs, are stated in this Plan. In order to carry out its task, the MoH has referred to the model of stewardship and has reconsidered its role. Therefore, the MoH has matched the sub-functions of S according to the model outlined by Travis et al, and the prior actions that have been proposed by local and national governments, as the main aspects of how to deal with the governance of prevention. Overall, we experienced that the S framework is a suitable and helpful tool to tackle what the challenge of national planning, in the scenario of devolution, is. In doing so, we have learnt some practical lessons about the running of the system and about how to plan according to stewardship, in particular.Among these, given that the steward's most specific responsibility in planning is to assure stewardship, a sound capacity building is needed as a cornerstone in evolving the culture of the NHS. Furthermore, in order to put this effectively into practice, the Steward must be able to measure S functions, and putting in practice a S model needs international comparison and cultural growth....


We have examined the operation of 670 nm (Al/sub y/Ga/sub 1-y/)InP/GaInP quantum well lasers with different aluminium compositions (y=0.3, 0.4, and 0.5) in the barrier/waveguide layer so as to vary the optical confinement factor and hence the threshold gain requirement. Lasers with y=0.3 have the lowest threshold current over the range 200-400 K despite having the narrowest barrier band gap of the three structures. The measured intensity of spontaneous emission due to transitions in the well increases linearly with temperature between 280-400 K, whilst that from the barrier increases exponentially. An Arrhenius treatment of the emission from the barrier gives an activation energy of 198 meV/spl plusmn/25 meV which is in excellent agreement with the value predicted from the energy band diagram. When the experimental temperature dependence of the well and barrier contributions are removed from the measured threshold current, the remaining excess current has an activation energy of around 320 meV which is in excellent agreement with the value for thermally activated loss of electrons via the X conduction band minima. Since the X gap is insensitive to composition there is no increase in this leakage current when y is reduced so the overall effect is for the current to go down due to the reduced gain requirement per well.


Erythropoietin is a hypoxia-induced hormone that is a major regulator of normal erythropoiesis. Over the last decade, the production of recombinant human erythropoietin has revolutionized the treatment of anemia associated with chronic renal failure, and has led to a greater understanding of anemia pathophysiology and to the elucidation of the interactions of erythropoietin, iron, and erythropoiesis. Anemia has been shown to be independently associated with increased mortality and disease progression. Potential survival benefits associated with correction of anemia have expanded considerably the indications of erythropoietin use in various patient populations and are leading to consideration of earlier, more aggressive treatment of mild to moderate anemia. The results of such treatment are promising in a variety of new clinical settings, including anemia associated with congestive heart failure. Furthermore, the erythropoietin receptor is widely distributed in the cardiovascular system, including endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells and cardiomyocytes and preclinical studies have established erythropoietin to be a pleiotropic cytokine with anti-apoptotic activity and tissue-protective actions in the cardiovascular system, beyond correction of hemoglobin levels. Despite some potential adverse effects, such as hypertension, and the occurrence of erythropoietin resistance, early studies in heart failure patients with anemia suggest that erythropoietin therapy is safe and effective in reducing left ventricular hypertrophy, enhancing exercise performance and increasing ejection fraction. Anemia is found in about one-third of all cases of congestive heart failure (CHF). The most likely common cause is chronic renal insufficiency, which is present in about half of all CHF cases. However, anemia can occur in CHF without renal insufficiency and is likely to be due to excessive cytokine production. The anemia itself can worsen cardiac function, both because it causes cardiac stress through tachycardia and increased stroke volume, and because it can cause a reduced renal blood flow and fluid retention, adding further stress to the heart. Long-standing anemia of any cause can cause left ventricular hypertrophy, which can lead to cardiac cell death through apoptosis and worsen CHF. Therefore, a vicious circle, cardio-renal anemia syndrome, is set up wherein CHF causes anemia, and the anemia causes more CHF and both damage the kidneys worsening the anemia and the CHF further and increasing mortality. There is now evidence that early correction of the CHF anemia with subcutaneous erythropoietin and intravenous iron improves shortness of breath and fatigue, cardiac function, renal function and exercise capacity, reducing the need for hospitalization and improving quality of life. In the present review we discuss the data on current clinical use of erythropoietin in cardiovascular disease, with the main focus on the treatment of congestive heart failure, and summarize the advances and progress made in the understanding of the hematopoietic and pleiotropic effects of erythropoietin in the cardiovascular system.


This study examines ethnic and gender differences in open-ended immediate responses to an online prompt provided by a nationwide sample of 1,559 individuals in the days following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. These responses were used to predict longitudinal outcomes over the following 2 years. Results show that African Americans and women responded with more emotions (e.g., sadness, sympathy) than did Whites and men. African Americans and women also endorsed violent retaliation less often than did their White, male counterparts. Responding with sadness and sympathy and endorsing violent retaliation were, in turn, associated with higher distress and posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms over time. Results reveal considerable ethnic and gender differences in immediate responses to traumatic events that have long-term mental health consequences.


Background. The clinical presentation of type 1 diabetes in children can be acute or insidious, and symptoms may be subtle and frequently misinterpreted. Presentation with diabetic keto-acidosis (DKA) may be associated with significant morbidity and mortality in the paediatric population. This study set out to determine the characteristics of children presenting to the paediatric endocrine service at Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital (IALCH) with DKA at the time of diagnosis, and to determine the frequency of missed diagnoses in the previous month. Methods. A retrospective study was done at IALCH, the paediatric tertiary referral centre for KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The study sample included all children with an initial diagnosis of type 1 diabetes between January 2008 and June 2010. Children presenting with DKA were compared with those who presented without DKA. Results. During the period under review, 63 children presented with type 1 diabetes. Of these, 44 (69.8%) had DKA at the time of diagnosis. The median duration of symptoms preceding diagnosis in the DKA group was 2 weeks, versus 4 weeks in the non-DKA group ( p =0.002). There was no significant difference between the groups when ethnicity, gender and age at presentation were compared. Of 42 patients who presented to healthcare facilities in the month preceding diagnosis, 27 (64.3%) were misdiagnosed. Conclusion. Patients who presented with DKA had a shorter duration of symptoms than the non-DKA group. Ethnicity had no effect on characteristics at presentation. There was an unacceptable rate of missed diagnoses of type 1 diabetes in both the private and public sectors.


Pose graph optimization is a non-convex optimization problem encountered in many areas of robotics perception. Its convergence to an accurate solution is conditioned by two factors: the non-linearity of the cost function in use and the initial configuration of the pose variables. In this letter, we present HiPE, a novel hierarchical algorithm for pose graph initialization. Our approach exploits a coarse-grained graph that encodes an abstract representation of the problem geometry. We construct this graph by combining maximum likelihood estimates coming from local regions of the input. By leveraging the sparsity of this representation, we can initialize the pose graph in a non-linear fashion, without computational overhead compared to existing methods. The resulting initial guess can effectively bootstrap the fine-grained optimization that is used to obtain the final solution. In addition, we perform an empirical analysis on the impact of different cost functions on the final estimate. Our experimental evaluation shows that the usage of HiPE leads to a more efficient and robust optimization process, comparing favorably with state-of-the-art methods.


Outraged citizens staged a grass-roots tax revolt in the late 1970s that forced lawmakers to cut taxes, reversed the prevailing orthodoxy about taxes in intellectual circles, elected dozens of state and federal anti-tax lawmakers, and helped catapult Ronald Reagan into the White House. The resulting 1980s tax cuts touched off the longest peacetime economic boom in American history and led other nations to trim taxes and spending. Meet the grass-roots rebels of the 1990s: The private property rights movement. Like the early tax rebels, these activists were often strangers to politics until the government disrupted their lives. Their cause promises to have similarly dramatic results. Indeed, the property rights revolt already is changing the political calculus in Washington. There are more than 500 active property rights groups across the country, with a total of some 2 million members. They have helped thwart the environmental agenda in Congress and several federal agencies, successfully pushed legislation in a more than a dozen state legislatures, helped elect at least a score of state and federal lawmakers, and won key cases in the courts, including two landmark U.S. Supreme Court cases. Like supply-side economics, the movement has touched off a paradigm shift in the way many view property rights. All of these accomplishments from a movement that didn't exist five years ago. STALLED PLOWS, DASHED HOPES If the property rights revolt succeeds, vast areas of federal regulation would have to be reexamined. Why? Because courts and legislatures are increasingly requiring compensation for government rules that reduce property values. Federal regulators would be forced--often for the first time--to weigh the costs and benefits of regulation. Many rules would not pass the test. The property rights movement would touch off the biggest reduction in government regulation in more than a century. "This is the unfinished business of the Reagan Revolution," says James C. Miller III, head of the Office of Management and Budget under President Reagan. In 1989, President Bush's "no net loss of the nation's remaining wetlands" pledge produced an arbitrary and confusing set of wetlands regulations--creating, in effect, a national zoning law. Wetland regulation, originally designed to protect swamps, became so broadly defined that, with a few computer keystrokes, almost 75 million acres of private land suddenly became wetlands. Bush's most important environmental campaign promise fueled a massive regulatory expansion. It soon stalled plows in farmer's fields, idled home builders on small plots, and snatched away the dreams of people who bought land decades before hoping only to build their modest homes. ON THE RETREAT Wetlands regulations sparked a national grass-roots movement against a broad array of environmental and other government-imposed land-use restrictions. Within a few years, environmentalists faced a full-scale revolt against many of the laws and regulations they cherish. Even today, with environmental guru Al Gore a heartbeat away from the presidency, the environmental movement is having trouble raising money, hanging on to members, and winning in the legislative arena. To be sure, the environmental grip on federal legislation remains secure--there is little danger at present of any major environmental programs being repealed or dramatically scaled back. However, on most significant pieces of environmental legislation up for reauthorization this Congress, the greens have been unable to expand their agenda for federal control of privately owned land and resources. The National Resources Defense Council's Erik Olson, in a now-infamous March 4, 1994 memo with six of the most influential environmental lobbyists in Washington, recommended all but killing the ambitious environmental legislative agenda for 1994. If environmental bills are debated, he said, they could be amended in ways the environmentalists would dislike. …


The recording of ground motions is a fundamental part of both seismology and earthquake engineering. The current state-of-the-art 24-bit continuously recording seismic station is described, with particular attention to the frequency range and dynamic range of the seismic sensors typically installed. An alternative method of recording the strong-motions would be to deploy a velocity sensor rather than an accelerometer. This instrument has the required ability to measure the strongest earth motions, with enhanced long period sensitivity.

An existing strong motion velocity sensor from Japan was tested for potential use in US seismic networks. It was found to be incapable of recording strong motions typically observed in the near source of even moderate earthquakes. The instrument was widely deployed near the M8.3 Sept 2003 Tokachi-Oki earthquake. The dataset corroborated our laboratory observations of low velocity saturations. The dataset also served to show all inertial sensors are equally sensitive to tilting, which is widespread in large earthquakes. High rate GPS data is also recorded during the event. Co-locating high-rate GPS with strong motion sensors is suggested to be currently the optimal method by which the complete and unambiguous deformation field at a station can be recorded.

A new application of the modern seismic station is to locate them inside structures. A test station on the 9th floor of Millikan Library is analysed. The continuous data-stream facilitates analysis of the building response to ambient weather, forced vibration tests, and small earthquakes that have occurred during its lifetime. The structure's natural frequencies are shown to be sensitive not only to earthquake excitation, but rainfall, temperature and wind. This has important implications on structural health monitoring, which assumes the natural frequencies of a structure do not vary significantly unless there is structural damage.

Moderate to small earthquakes are now regularly recorded by dense, high dynamic range networks. This enhanced recording of the earthquake and its aftershock sequences makes possible the development of a Green's Function deconvolution approach for determining rupture parameters.


Precipitation estimates from the satellite-based Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) instrumentation play a key role in flood analysis and water resource management across many regions of the world where rain gauge data are sparsely available. Previous studies have produced conflicting results regarding the accuracy of satellite-derived precipitation products, and several authors have called for further examination of their utility, specifically across the Himalaya Mountains region of southern Asia. In this study, daily precipitation estimates generated by TRMM were compared to daily precipitation measurements from a rain gauge network across the country of Nepal. TRMM data were statistically analyzed to quantify their representation of the gauge data during the four precipitation-defined seasons of Nepal. A detailed case study was assembled for the TRMM grid cell characterized by the greatest precipitation gauge density to develop a deeper understanding of local precipitation variability that the coarse resolution TRMM product cannot capture. The results illustrate that TRMM performs relatively well across all seasons, though the performance of TRMM during frozen precipitation events is not clear. In general, TRMM underestimates daily precipitation during the monsoon and pre-monsoon seasons, and overestimates during the winter and post-monsoon season. The case study analysis revealed a threshold for TRMM bias of 10-20mm of daily precipitation, overestimating lighter precipitation events while underestimating heavier precipitation events. Still, TRMM data compare favorably to gauge data, which contributes to the confidence with which they and other satellite-derived data products are used.


Physical models of transtensional deformation indicate the formation of folds for a range of plate divergence angles from 0° to 30°. Folds are upright and fold axial planes are vertical for all angles of oblique divergence. The transtensional fold hinges are initiated parallel to the direction of the maximum horizontal infinitesimal extension and rotate with the maximum horizontal finite extension toward parallelism with the oblique movement direction (not the shear-zone boundary). Large amounts of hinge-parallel extension occur during fold formation and material lines are observed to rotate through the fold hinges during progressive deformation. The transtensional folding experiments reinforce the pitfalls of assuming a simple coincidence between geological structures and strain or stress. For the 22° and 30° obliquely divergent experiments, the observed fold axial planes are not perpendicular to the maximum contraction direction (S 3 ) or the inferred maximum compressive stress direction (σ 1 ). Consequently, one must be cautious in making interpretations of principal strain directions, and especially principal stress directions, based on the orientations of folds formed in transtension.


ABSTRACT In Critical Discourse Studies (CDS) and in other linguistics oriented scholarly journals we now see more research which draws upon multimodality as part of carrying out analyses of how texts make meaning, in order to draw out the ideologies which they carry. However, much of multimodality is itself based closely on one theory of language called Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL). And despite calls from some scholars there has been no real interrogation of the concepts and models drawn from this theory as regards how suitable they are both for analyzing different forms of communication and for answering concrete research questions of the nature asked in CDS. In this paper we assess the core principles, taken from SFL into multimodality. Using examples we consider which are more or less suitable for the kinds of work we do in CDS. We make a case that SFL has a narrow notion of 'texts' and a weak notion of context. We show how we can address such problems to deal with what we call the 'materiality' of multimodal communication.


We measured denitrification in permeable sediments in a sealed flume tank with environmentally representative fluid flow and solute transport behavior using novel measurements. Numerical flow and reactive transport models representing the flume experiments were implemented to provide mechanistic insight into the coupled hydrodynamic and biogeochemical processes. There was broad agreement between the model results and experimental data. The model showed that the coupling between nitrification and denitrification was relatively weak in comparison to that in cohesive sediments. This was due to the direct advective transport between anoxic pore water and the overlying water column, and little interaction between the mostly oxic advective region and the underlying anoxic region. Denitrification was therefore mainly fueled by nitrate supplied from the water column. This suggests that the capacity of permeable sediments with nonmigratory ripples to remove bioavailable nitrogen from coastal ecosystems is lower than that of cohesive sediments. We conclude that while experimental measurements provide a good starting point for constraining key parameters, reactive transport models with realistic kinetic and transport parameters provide critical insight into biogeochemical processes in permeable sediment that are difficult to experimentally evaluate.


In this paper, multiscale finite element methods (MsFEMs) and domain decomposition techniques are developed for a class of nonlinear elliptic problems with high-contrast coefficients. In the process, existing work on linear problems (Y. Efendiev, J. Galvis, R. Lazarov, S. Margenov and J. Ren, Robust two-level domain decomposition preconditioners for high-contrast anisotropic flows in multiscale media. Submitted.; Y. Efendiev, J. Galvis and X. Wu, J. Comput. Phys. 230 (2011) 937-955; J. Galvis and Y. Efendiev, SIAM Multiscale Model. Simul. 8 (2010) 1461-1483.) is extended to treat a class of nonlinear elliptic operators. The proposed method requires the solutions of (small dimension and local) nonlinear eigenvalue problems in order to systematically enrich the coarse solution space. Convergence of the method is shown to relate to the dimension of the coarse space (due to the enrichment procedure) as well as the coarse mesh size. In addition, it is shown that the coarse mesh spaces can be effectively used in two-level domain decomposition preconditioners. A number of numerical results are presented to complement the analysis.


Motivated by recent advances in direct statistical simulation (DSS) of astrophysical phenomena such as out-of-equilibrium jets, we perform a direct numerical simulation (DNS) of the helical magnetorotational instability (HMRI) under the generalised quasilinear approximation (GQL). This approximation generalises the quasilinear approximation (QL) to include the self-consistent interaction of large-scale modes, interpolating between fully nonlinear DNS and QL DNS whilst still remaining formally linear in the small scales. In this paper we address whether GQL can more accurately describe low-order statistics of axisymmetric HMRI when compared with QL by performing DNS under various degrees of GQL approximation. We utilise various diagnostics, such as energy spectra in addition to first and second cumulants, for calculations performed for a range of Reynolds and Hartmann numbers (describing rotation and imposed magnetic field strength respectively). We find that GQL performs significantly better than QL in describing the statistics of the HMRI even when relatively few large-scale modes are kept in the formalism. We conclude that DSS based on GQL (GCE2) will be significantly more accurate than that based on QL (CE2).


The effects of carbohydrate ingestion on prolonged exercise performance have been extensively studied. Particularly, many studies have paid specific attention to the effect of carbohydrate ingestion on time to fatigue, the effect on the respiratory exchange ratio (RER), the effect that the time at which the carbohydrate is ingested may have on performance, and the optimal amount of carbohydrate to be ingested. In addition, the effect of different types of carbohydrate and the influence of exercise intensity has been studied, including the influence on hepatic glycogenolysis and on ratings of perceived exertion (RPE)
The most important findings have been that there is a beneficial effect from ingestion of carbohydrate during prolonged exercise due to prevention of hypoglycaemia, the provision of blood glucose for oxidation late in exercise, and that there is a hepatic glycogen sparing effect as a result ingesting carbohydrate. Importantly, the majority of carbohydrate types are oxidised at similar rates when ingested singularly. However, a mixture of specific carbohydrates ingested together are oxidised at a much higher rate.
Despite the volume of research in this area, some questions remain unclear, specifically information pertaining to feedforward control mechanisms in the brain that integrate exercise performance on the basis of feedback from different body organs, and the role that carbohydrate ingestion may have on this control, including the effect of body carbohydrate reserves.


With a maternal mortality rate of 276 deaths per 100,000 live births, Pakistan is one of the countries with a large share in the percentage of world's maternal mortality. As an intervention for the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) 4 and 5, the World Health Organization (WHO) strongly suggests that skilled care before, during, and after childbirth can save the lives of women and newborn babies. One of the interventions to ensure care to mothers and babies by skilled care providers is the capacity building training of Community Midwives (CMWs) aiming to improve their midwifery competency. One such training intervention was organized in Hyderabad, in the Sindh Province of Pakistan. Forty two CMWs who had graduated from ten districts across Sindh participated in the training; they were divided into 3 cohorts. The training aimed to review the midwifery knowledge and skills of CMWs; introduce them to evidence-based midwifery practices and the concept of respectful maternity care; strengthen their financial management skills, to enable them establish and sustain their birth centers independently; and, most importantly to provide hands on practice under the mentorship of clinicians. 36 Journal of Asian Midwives (JAM), Vol. 2, Iss. 2 [2015] Published by eCommons@AKU, 2015 The training started with a pre-training assessment, to assess the participants' previous knowledge and skills along with a learning needs assessment to facilitate self -directed learning. At the end of 5 weeks, a post training assessment was conducted to analyze the outcomes of this training. The post-assessment showed an increase in CMWs' knowledge and skills, and they shared that the training had made them more competent and confident. This training was a significant effort to enhance CMWs' development, as it was the first of its kind in the country. Through this training, the CMWs were able to review the important midwifery concepts and skills. Moreover, the CMWs recommended internship in the community with a mentor, after their graduation, and inclusion of management of birthing centers through coverage of entrepreneurial skills in the curriculum.


The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 (AODA) impacts the way persons with disabilities are able to access goods and services in Ontario. With more than 3 million people living with disabilities in Ontario, it is essential to enact the legislation to create equity. The AODA equates "obtainable" with "accessible" without recognizing the stark contrast between having access to something and being able to keep informed because the content is created with persons with disabilities in mind. This paper focuses on the effectiveness of the AODA's website compliance standards under the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) as required by Ontario Regulation 191/11, section 14 (O. Reg. 191/11s.14). Through an examination of the compliance requirements in comparison to the "Five E" Approach to Policy Analysis it is apparent that the AODA does not create equity or equality, but rather is a tool for the Ontario Government to demonstrate that it is moving toward making Ontario accessible for persons with disabilities. The "Five E" Approach to Policy Analysis of the AODA demonstrates that O. Reg. 191/11 s.14 does not have the proper mechanisms in place to ensure equity in Ontario with regards to websites and internet usage. It is hoped that this study will increase awareness about the discrepancy between what is written in the AODA and the type of accessibility needed for persons with disabilities in Ontario so the Government can move forward towards true equity.
 FUNCTIONAL ACCESSIBILITY ON THE WEB Kramer v


We re-examine the standard view that capital taxes are too low when capital is mobile across tax jurisdictions. We do so by emphasising a previously neglected implication of non-cooperative capital tax setting in a world with national currencies. Namely, capital taxes also affect foreign seignorage. This horizontal externality may lead, ceteris paribus, to too high national capital taxes, and may more than o set the usual effects of tax competition. In this case, and contrary to conventional wisdom, national capital taxes will be too high. Conditions under which the latter is indeed the case are derived and discussed.


The fundamental role of the visual system is to guide behavior in natural environments. To optimize information transmission, many animals have evolved a non-homogeneous retina and serially sample visual scenes by saccadic eye movements. Such eye movements, however, introduce high-speed retinal motion and decouple external and internal reference frames. Until now, these processes have only been studied with unnatural stimuli, eye movement behavior, and tasks. These experiments confound retinotopic and geotopic coordinate systems and may probe a non-representative functional range. Here we develop a real-time, gaze-contingent display with precise spatiotemporal control over high-definition natural movies. In an active condition, human observers freely watched nature documentaries and indicated the location of periodic narrow-band contrast increments relative to their gaze position. In a passive condition under central fixation, the same retinal input was replayed to each observer by updating the video's screen position. Comparison of visual sensitivity between conditions revealed three mechanisms that the visual system has adapted to compensate for peri-saccadic vision changes. Under natural conditions we show that reduced visual sensitivity during eye movements can be explained simply by the high retinal speed during a saccade without recourse to an extra-retinal mechanism of active suppression; we give evidence for enhanced sensitivity immediately after an eye movement indicative of visual receptive fields remapping in anticipation of forthcoming spatial structure; and we demonstrate that perceptual decisions can be made in world rather than retinal coordinates.


In patches of co-occurring species in natural plant communities, there is a finely poised balance between species in the ways in which they respond to prevailing moisture and temperature regimes. However, environmental change scenarios, in which temperature, moisture and ultraviolet-B radiation are suggested to increase, may favour one of the species. The imbalance is likely to occur at the levels of interactions between patches of the different species and at the shoot level when neighbouring shoots belong to different species. We increased temperature and UV-B in a two-way factorial experiment and increased water supply independently in two subarctic mire communities dominated by the mosses Sphagnum fuscum and Dicranum elongatum. The effects of simulated increase in UV-B were studied using two separate radiation systems, i.e. a square wave system and a modulated system. When precipitation was enhanced, both species showed an increase in growth but this was not sustained beyond 5 mm per day. S. fuscum showed a 50 greater response to enhanced precipitation than did D. elongatum, as would be expected from their habitat preferences. Under ambient temperature, S. fuscum grew 67 faster than D. elongatum and this relative difference in response was maintained after one year under a temperature enhancement. The response by species over the winter period was moderated by their neighbours. S. fuscum growth was enhanced when it grew next to D. elongatum whereas D. elongatum grew better with neighbours of its own species. Increased temperature and UV-B radiation did not affect the interaction between the species. Although a balance was maintained between the two species over the short duration of the experiment, potential was shown for an imbalance to occur over longer periods and particularly if winter warming and precipitation are greater than those in summer. During the peak growing season 20 increased UV-B over ambient had a negative effect on S. fuscum under increased temperature but there were no overall seasonal effects on either species, irrespective of method of UV supplementation. (Less)


This work investigates the potential of experiments on peridotite melting to provide quantitative estimates of the temperature and pressure at which basaltic melts were formed. As the primary chemical signal is systematically obscured by crystal fractionation, the first part of this study is devoted to the analysis of the main differentiation trends in the basaltic series from the major geodynamic sites: mid-ocean ridges, hot spots (both intraplate and near the ridge axis), continental floods, and orogenic boundaries. Two main sorts of primary magmas can be identified: (1) the parent magmas of mid-ocean ridge, continental flood, and orogenic tholeiites which are poor in Ti and Fe, rich in Al and, to a lesser extent, Na and (2) the parent magmas of within-plate ocean island basalts (OIB) which have the opposite characteristics. The importance of plagioclase during postmelting fractionation increases in the following order: OIB, island arc tholeiites (IAT), low-Ti continental flood basalts (CFB), high-Ti CFB, and mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORB) corresponding to differentiation pressure decreasing from >10 to ∼5 kbar. Ocean islands that formed near ridge axis have parent magmas and differentiation conditions intermediate between those of MORB and within-plate OIB. Along-ridge variations in TiO2 and Na2O contents in MORB are ascribed to mantle heterogeneities and suggest pervasive infiltration of an OIB component. The chemical compositions of synthetic melts in equilibrium with peridotite have been fitted not as a function of the degree of melting, which is neither available from the sandwich experiments nor independent of the fertility of the source, but as a function of temperature (mean error, 40°C) and pressure (mean error, 2.7 kbar). Although fractionation of multimineral assemblages cannot be accounted for with precision, the effect of individual minerals, plagioclase, clinopyroxene, and olivine can be calculated. Assuming that primary melts are in equilibrium with a mantle olvine Fo90–92, it is suggested that MORB segregated from their mantle source at ∼15 ± 5 kbar. Shield-stage ocean island basalts (Hawaii, Gough, Reunion) and Solomon Island picrites segregated at 20–30 kbar, whereas even greater depths are suggested for Tahiti lavas. The estimated thickness of the molten layer from which the lavas evolve depends on the degree of melting assumed. It is ∼50 km under the ridges, and 20 km or even less at the base of the lithosphere under intraplate volcanoes.


The characteristics of hydrocarbon resource base qualitative and quantitative degrade are reflected in the increase of the share of small and medium−sized deposits, as well as hard−to−recover reserves. This makes the need to update the approaches to the implementation of the geological prospecting programmes. The geological exploration performance differs in oil−producing regions of the Russian Federation due to a number of various factors. The subject matter of the study is the assessment of the strength of these factors in various working, geological, infrastructure and economic conditions to determine the effectiveness of the existing economic model of the recovery of hydrocarbon resource base, as well as to develop the author's suggestions. The hypothesis of the study proposes to change the economic, as well as financial and tax mechanisms of government regulation of the geological exploration, carried out by small oil producing companies on license areas with one or several fields in order to stimulate the development of hydrocarbon resource base. The method of the study is the correlation analysis of the impact of various factors on geological exploration on mineral resource base recovery. It is carried out utilizing K. Mohn model and the statistical data of three subjects of the Russian Federation (the Republic of Tatarstan, Khanty−Mansiysk Autonomous District and Tomsk region). The results of the study can be applied in the tax and financial legislation, as well as in the management of oil and gas industry in the field of geological exploration. On the basis of the conducted analysis and international experience, the author suggests to introduce reasonable tax incentives and the mechanism of public private partnership in the realization of geological prospecting programmes with the aim to support small oil producing companies at the initial stage of the development of a field.


Die behoefte aan suksesvolle rolmodelle vir skoolleiers in die sukkelende Suid-Afrikaanse onderrigstelsel dien as begronding van en motivering vir hierdie studie. In hierdie navorsing is waarderende onderhoude met ses onderwysers en sewe leerders van die Christelike en Nasionale Sekondere Meisieskool Oranje gevoer om 'n profiel van Emme-Lancia Veronique Faro - 'n buitengewone voormalige hoofmeisie van die skool - saam te stel. Sewe positiewe temas is uit die onderhoude geidentifiseer wat gesamentlik die positiewe kern van haar leierskap en termyn as hoofmeisie van die skool verteenwoordig. Hierdie temas word aangebied as haar nalatenskap aan huidige en toekomstige skoolleiers.
Emme-Lancia Veronique Faro : a positive profile of an extraordinary head girl of Oranje Secondary School for Girls as a role model
There is a growing crisis in the South African education system. Bloch (2009:17) describes this grim situation as follows:
There is no shortage of evidence showing how badly the South African education system is performing. International comparisons evaluating literacy, numeracy and science ability clearly show that South African children are not getting it. [...] There is no doubt that is something that needs to be put to rights. Education is the key to growing the skills required in a cut-throat competitive world - the skill to design, plan and implement the changes we need to go forward as a great nation.
One of his suggestions for improvement is to identify successful learners as role models for other learners, "to act as an anchor in making decisions about what is possible in life and how to go about achieving it, especially in terms of what might be required educationally speaking" (Bloch 2009:164). According to Northouse (2012:30) charismatic leaders serve as strong role models for the values they desire others to adopt. This type of learner shows competence in every aspect of leadership, so others trust their decisions. They also articulate clear goals and strong values, communicate high expectations for followers and show confidence to meet these expectations.
The aim of this study is to study the attributes of such a charismatic leader and to compose a profile of excellent leadership.
The study is embedded in the theoretical framework of leadership studies. The attributes of an excellent learner leader are identified and compared with those identified in current leadership literature, with specific reference to the work of Northouse (2012).
The methodological framework for the study was provided by the 4D cycle of Appreciative Inquiry (AI): Discovery, followed by Dream, Design and Destiny. Cooperrider, Whitney and Stavros (2008:xxviii) summarise these four phases as follows:
The process is dynamic and interactive. It builds on imagination and flexibility for its success. It starts with Discovery. At this stage, the "best of what is" in a system is identified as the positive core. The second stage is Dream. This stage teaches a visioning process to suggest "what might be". The third stage is Design. The Design [phase] outlines the steps to create the ideal system for an organization. It builds on the positive core and the envisioned results of the first two stages. It allows for coconstructing the ideal design, "how it can be". The final stage is termed Destiny. The Destiny [phase] covers the implementation and model for sustaining an appreciative learning environment, "what will be".
An AI is started by identifying the change agenda and the choice of the affirmative topic (Whitney and Trosten-Bloom 2010:6, 7). In the case of this study the change agenda was to compile a profile of an excellent school leader, Emme-Lancia Veronique Faro, head girl of Oranje Secondary School for Girls in Bloemfontein, South Africa. Cooperrider et al. (2008:xv) describe this introductory step as follows: "AI begins by identifying what is positive and connecting to it in ways that heighten energy, vision, and action for change."
During the Discovery phase of this AI appreciative interviews were conducted with six teachers and seven current and previous learners who were closely involved with Faro when she was a learner at the school. The following questions were asked as part of this phase:
What is your first or fondest memory of Emme-Lancia?
Tell me about an occasion where she meant a lot to you.
Tell me about one of her speeches that made an impression on you.
What makes her a good leader?
What is the one thing that would describe her - without which she simply would not be Emme-Lancia?
The following question was asked as part of the second or Dream phase:
What would you wish future head girls could learn from her?
The responses were recorded and coded to identify the attributes of Faro's leadership and to compile a profile of her positive core. This profile is presented here as a framework for development and change. This might inspire others to use her profile to design a personal framework for development (the third phase of AI). In the process it is possible that her profile and legacy might become other learner leader's destination (Crous, De Bruyn, Roodt, Van Vuuren, Schoeman and Stuart 2006:4) (the fourth and final phase of AI).
The following themes were identified from the interviews and were presented as the attributes of an excellent learner leader:
She embraces who she is and possesses inner peace and acceptance - self-confidence.
Purposeful, principled, commitment and perseverance - integrity.
Sincere, friendly serving and support of everyone she leads and who follows her - sociality.
Inspiring speeches, tact, wisdom, sincerity and diplomacy - charisma.
Enthusiasm, passion, zeal and spontaneity - determination.
Religious conviction and values as a functional spiritual basis.
Love for and commitment to the school as an organisation and its ethos/traditions.
It was possible to link these attributes to those presented by Northouse (2012:22-33) in his descriptions of the traits of excellent leaders. The selection of Faro as the subject of this investigation is therefore validated. She is a young lady who was seemingly effortlessly able to conquer the hearts and minds of one of the most tradition-bound schools for girls in the country. She did groundbreaking work with her principled application of discipline and with the persevering manner in which she strove to realise her stated mission and objectives. She knew almost every learner in the school's name and smiled while conversing with them. She was a friend of all the learners, but even her best friends knew that she was incorruptible in enforcing the school's rules.
The girls and teachers of the school were inspired by her moving speeches and they would cry while she was delivering them. They were - and still are - proud of the determined manner in which she accepted and executed the ambassadorship of the school. She supported the teachers when they needed that, but likewise reprimanded them if necessary. She was and is a role model par excellence.


Abstract The ELM coils in ITER are used to provide control of Edge localized Modes (ELMs). These coils are located on the outboard side of ITER between the shield modules and vacuum vessel (VV) and are subject to high radiation levels. Detailed three-dimensional (3-D) models of the toroidal and poloidal legs of the ELM coils and manifolds, as well as homogenized first wall, shield, and VV components were created for the MCNP code. Neutronics calculations were performed to determine a variety of radiation damage parameters for the ELM coils as well as the VV located behind them. The results presented here include fast neutron fluence, insulator dose rate, He production, Cu dpa, and nuclear heating. VV heating and dpa are also presented. These results are being used to guide the evolving design of the ELM coils including thermal stress and thermal hydraulic analyses.


Mixed-race Asian Americans have long been a part of the visual culture of Asian Americans, yet, like the wider culture, in Asian American studies the figure of the mixed-race Asian American is rarely recognized or acknowledged. This absence is notable given the field's sustained interest in representations of Asian interracial romantic relationships in both print and visual media. The simplest explanation would be that mixed-race Asian Americans are difficult to recognize visually as Asian. This explanation locates the source of under-representation in the bodies of mixed-race Asian Americans and their failure to signal race correctly. Within that causal logic, some bodies push viewers to categorize those bodies incorrectly as monoracial or as confoundingly ambiguous. Since race is a social fiction, however, it does not simply exist in specific bodies waiting to be read. Instead, the ambiguity of mixed-race Asian representations resides in the exchange between the viewer and the viewed.
 The study of visual representations of mixed-race Asians intervenes in this racial narrative. While the visual apprehension of race may appear to bypass culture, the study of representations of mixed-race Asians makes apparent the ways in which the visual is constantly mediated by cultural codes. Race appears to exist on the surface of the body for the viewer to scan. On the contrary, the features that signal racial difference are socially determined, and people are trained to prioritize those features as they enter into culture. Representations of mixed-race Asians often fall outside common racial coding, slowing the process of assigning racial meaning to fetishized features. These bumps in the road open up a space for scholars to denaturalize visual racialization and to begin to unravel the cultural codes that inform readings of racial categories. Rather than looking for a solution to the problem of mixed-race Asian representations, scholars writing on mixed-race Asian Americans focus on visual representations to trouble racial categories and to question what it means to look—or not look—Asian. By tracking the shifting racialized reading of images of mixed-race figures such as Hollywood star Merle Oberon across time and genre, it becomes apparent how cultural context rather than mixed-race bodies shapes the visual apprehension of racial difference.


Notch receptor-ligand interactions are a highly conserved mechanism, originally described in developmental studies using Drosophilae, that regulate inter-cell communication and dictate, in part, vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) fate in response to mechanical stimuli. VSMC differentiation is a crucial developmental process regulating angiogenesis and vasculogenesis, with phenotypic modulation of SMC a key factor in vascular pathology. It has been previously shown that cyclic strain decreases the proliferation of VSMC'S in vitr-u. Tnus, citaraci-erizauon of &e mechani~rils~ "~i ir~l i iirligi ~ b i fk~e~l i iai i~i -~ state of VSMC is of critical importance in determining the cell fate response of these cells to various mechanical stimuli. We investigated the role of Notch 1 and 3 receptor signaling in controlling vascular SMC differentiation in vitro, and established a role for cyclic strain induced changes in Notch in mediating this response. The expression of smouth muscle cell specific a-atin, calponin, myosin and smoothdin was examined by immunocytochemistry, Western blot analysis and quantitative real time PCR in human vascular SMC cultured under static conditions following over-expression of constitutively active Notch 1 and 3 receptors. The effect of equibiaxial cyclic strain (10% 24 h) on the expression of Notch receptors and SMC differentiation was subsequently determined using a Flexercell Tension Plus Unit. Over-expression of constitutively active Notch intracellular receptors (Notch 1 IC and 3 IC) resulted in a significant downregulation of a-actin, calponin, myosin and smoothelin expression, an effect that was significantly attenuated following inhibition of Notch mediated CBF- 1/RBP-Jk dependent signaling by co+xpressia of RPMS-T-I. Cells cultured under conditions of defined equibiaxial cyclic strain (10% strain, 60 cycles/min, 24 h) exhibited a significant reduction in Notch 1 and 3 IC expression, concomitant with a significant increase in smooth muscle cell a-actin, calponin, myosin and smoothelin expression. Moreover, this cyclic strain-induced increase in SMC differentiation marker expression was further enhanced following inhibition of CBF-1/RBP-Jk dependent signaling with RPMS-1. These findings suggest that Notch receptors modulate vascular SMC phenotype in vitro and cyclic strain enhances SMC differentiation in part through inhibition of Notch receptor expression. The Notch signaling pathway may therefore represent a novel mechanism for targeting vascular disorders in which SMC phenotypic diversity occurs in vivo.


Income per-capita is a measure of economic well-being. Through its effect on economic development, it can indirectly affect sustainable development. Hence, it is essential to study the determinants of Income per-capita Level. Recently, corruption level has played an influential role in determining income per-capita.  However, theoretically and empirically its effect is still debatable. Besides the traditional determinants of income per-capita, the effect of corruption on Income per-capita level is examined in a sample of developing countries between1996-2013. There is a potential endogeneity problem that arises from the two way relationship between corruption and income per capita levels which threatens internal validity. Accordingly, an instrumental variable (IV) in a two stage least squares (2SLS) estimation is conducted. The results indicate its presence. Furthermore, the results show that corruption is a significant determinant of income per-capita level in developing countries. Policy implications to promote governance which in turn affect sustainable development are also given. Keywords: Income per-capita, corruption, IV estimation and developing countries. JEL: H8, O1


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to use dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI to ascertain the relation between intervertebral disk degeneration and lumbar vertebral marrow blood perfusion.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS
We recruited 25 patients (50 vertebral bodies) who underwent dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI of the lumbar spine. The peak signal enhancement of each vertebral body was calculated from the time signal after curve fitting of a pharmacokinetic model. We controlled for other variables that might have affected blood perfusion by assessing two vertebral bodies in each patient. The 25 patients were divided into three groups. In group 1, one of the vertebral bodies (L1 or L3) evaluated was between two adjacent normal disks and the other was between two adjacent degenerated disks. In group 2, each of the two vertebral bodies evaluated was between two normal disks. In group 3 each of the two vertebral bodies evaluated was between two degenerated disks.

RESULTS
Without normalization by minimization of other variables, there were no statistically significant differences in original peak enhancement values among groups 1, 2, and 3 (p = 0.179). After normalization, the peak enhancement in group 1 (0.846 +/- 0.060) was significantly lower than that in group 2 (0.988 +/- 0.047) (p = 0.003) or group 3 (0.973 +/- 0.081) (p = 0.008).

CONCLUSION
After normalization, lumbar vertebral marrow perfusion correlated well with intervertebral disk degeneration evaluated with dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI. Blood perfusion was 14% less in the vertebral body marrow between two degenerated disks than in vertebral marrow between two normal disks.


The paper discusses two topics that frequently surface in conversations about the Fourth Industrial Revolution ( 4IR ): the threat of labor displacement due to automation and the growth of alternative employment arrangements. Using the "task approach" to review recent research on the "future of work" in the Philippines, the paper argues that predictions not informed by the task intensity of jobs are less compelling. The "job polarization" thesis is also examined and the observation made that changes in the occupational distribution of employment seem to be more closely associated with a structural transformation explanation. In the second part, the "gig economy" is discussed in the broader context of work arrangements that have emerged and disrupted the standard employment relationship. The limitations of household-based labor force surveys as a source of data on gig activity are noted. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of 4IR challenges in terms of human resource development, unemployment protection, and the reform of labor laws.  JEL codes: J20, J24, J41, J48, J88, K31, O33


Given the ABA's recent decision to permit law schools to offer a bar exam preparation course for credit, schools now have an enhanced opportunity to increase the percentage of their students who pass the profession's all-important licensing exam. For many law schools, an effective means of taking advantage of this opportunity could be a for-credit course focusing exclusively on the written portions of the bar exam and targeting primarily those students whose law school grades place them at the greatest risk of failing the exam. Offering a for-credit course on only the written portions of the exam, in lieu of a comprehensive bar exam preparation course, taps a strength of law schools - teaching the skills of legal reading, analysis and writing. It also leaves to the omnipresent commercial preparation courses what they best provide and what law schools are disinclined or ill-equipped to provide: comprehensive outlines and rote lecturing on substantive law, and practice multiple-choice questions from the Multistate Bar Exam. Providing a for-credit course specifically on writing for the bar exam makes particular sense at schools whose graduates take the bar exam mostly in jurisdictions that place greater scoring weight on the written portions of the exam, and at schools whose graduates tend to perform better on the multiple choice questions than on the written ones. Both of these factors hold true at the school where I teach, the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, which offers a two-credit bar writing course. Through invitation letters and a priority enrollment procedure, the law school ensures the course includes a large percentage of students whose academic performance places them at higher risk of failing the bar exam. In the course, students write answers to several practice essays and a performance test under test-taking conditions and receive extensive feedback through various means. Initial lay statistical analysis suggests the course has had a positive impact on the law school's bar passage rate.


This paper investigates the dynamic effects of price promotions in a retail setting through the use of a large-scale field experiment varying the promotion depths of 170 products across 17 categories in 10 supermarkets of a major retailer in Chile. In the intervention phase of the experiment, treated customers were exposed to deep discounts (approximately 30%), whereas control customers were exposed to shallow discounts (approximately 10%). In the subsequent measurement phase, the promotion schedule held discount levels constant across groups. We find that treated customers were 22.4% more likely to buy promoted items than their control counterparts, despite facing the same promotional deals. Strikingly, the magnitude of the dynamic effects of price promotions (when promotional depths are equal across conditions) is 61% of the promotional effects induced by offering shallow vs. deep discounts during the intervention phase. The result is robust to other concurrent dynamic forces, including consumer stockpiling behavior and state dependence. We use the experimental variation and historical promotional activities to inform a demand-side model in which consumers search for deals, and a supply-side model in which firms compete for those consumers. We find that small manufacturers can benefit from heightened promotion sensitivity by using promotions to induce future consideration. However, when unit margins are high, heightened promotion sensitivity leads to fierce competition, making all firms worse off.


An empirical regularity in the price-promotion behavior of retailers of homogenous goods is explained theoretically. Based on this, a model is proposed for price competition in a market for a homogenous good with many asymmetrically positioned retailers. Asymmetry in this context refers to firms having potentially dissimilar loyal and switcher customer numbers that shape their pricing behavior in on-line markets. Incomplete information on the size of these segments results in distinguishable clusters of indistinguishable firms. To analyze these markets, a static game of price competition is developed and solved in an asymmetric oligopoly with numerous clusters of firms. The firms with the smallest ratio of switcher segment size to loyal segment size engage in fierce price competition, whereas the members of all other groups price their goods at reservation price points with no price promotions. This observation is a unique contribution and challenges the perception that all firms in markets for homogenous goods adopt mixed pricing strategies.


Background/Aims: Serious gastrointestinal (GI) pathologies are common in older adults compared to young adults (≤40 years). Data on the diagnostic yield (DY) of colonoscopy in young adults with lower GI symptoms are lacking. We aimed to evaluate the overall DY of colonoscopy; and the DY stratified by the presence or absence of bright red blood per rectum (BRBPR) in young adults ≤40 years. Methods: We reviewed diagnostic colonoscopies performed in young adults by 18 gastroenterologists at 2 different institutions from October 2016 to April 2019. Patients with familial colorectal cancer (CRC) syndromes were excluded. DY was calculated based on the proportion of abnormal colonoscopy defined as having inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), microscopic colitis (MC), advanced adenoma, or CRC. Results: We included 454 patients, mean (SD) age was 31 (3) years, 162 (36%) were males and mean (SD) BMI was 30 (8.5). BRBPR was the indication for colonoscopy in 194 (43%) patients, 260 (57%) patients had colonoscopy for other lower GI symptoms (abdominal pain, chronic diarrhea, constipation) but without BRBPR. Overall DY of colonoscopy in young adults with lower GI symptoms was 15%; IBD was seen in 43 (10%) patients, MC 10 (2%), and advanced neoplasia/CRC 20 (4%). Overall DY in patients with BRBPR was significantly higher than in patients without BRBPR (22 vs. 11%, p = 0.001). The DY for IBD was also higher in young adults with BRBPR versus without BRBPR (15 vs. 6%, p = 0.003). The DY of patients with both BRBPR and abdominal pain was 34%, for BRBPR and diarrhea was 40%, and for all 3 symptoms of BRBPR, diarrhea, and abdominal pain was 52%. Conclusions: Significant proportion of young adults with BRBPR have abnormal pathology (22%) justifying evaluation by colonoscopy. For other lower GI symptoms without BRBPR, the necessity of endoscopic evaluation should be determined clinically on a case-to-case basis due to the low overall DY.