This is an advance summary of a forthcoming article in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Planetary Science. Please check back later for the full article.

 A magnetosphere is formed by the interaction between the magnetic field of a planet and the high-speed solar wind. Those planets with a magnetosphere have an intrinsic magnetic field such as Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn. Mars, especially, has no global magnetosphere, but evidence shows that a paleo-magnetosphere existed billions of years ago and was dampened then due to some reasons such as the change of internal activity. A magnetosphere is very important for the habitable environment of a planet because it provides the foremost and only protection for the planet from the energetic solar wind radiation.
 The majority of planets with a magnetosphere in our solar system have been studied for decades except for Uranus and Neptune, which are known as ice giant planets. This is because they are too far away from us (about 19 AU from the Sun), which means they are very difficult to directly detect. Compared to many other space detections to other planets, for example, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and some of their moons, the only single fly-by measurement was made by the Voyager 2 spacecraft in the 1980s. The data it sent back to us showed that Uranus has a very unusual magnetosphere, which indicated that Uranus has a very large obliquity, which means its rotational axis is about 97.9° away from the north direction, with a relative rapid (17.24 hours) daily rotation. Besides, the magnetic axis is tilted 59° away from its rotational axis, and the magnetic dipole of the planet is off center, shifting 1/3 radii of Uranus toward its geometric south pole. Due to these special geometric and magnetic structures, Uranus has an extremely dynamic and asymmetric magnetosphere.
 Some remote observations revealed that the aurora emission from the surface of Uranus distributed at low latitude locations, which has rarely happened on other planets. Meanwhile, it indicated that solar wind plays a significant impact on the surface of Uranus even if the distance from the Sun is much farther than that of many other planets. A recent study, using numerical simulation, showed that Uranus has a "Switch-like" magnetosphere that allows its global magnetosphere to open and close periodically with the planetary rotation.
 In this article, we will review the historic studies of Uranus's magnetosphere and then summarize the current progress in this field. Specifically, we will discuss the Voyager 2 spacecraft measurement, the ground-based and space-based observations such as Hubble Space Telescope, and the cutting-edge numerical simulations on it. We believe that the current progress provides important scientific context to boost future ice giant detection.


The Dictionary of the Social Sciences is a comprehensive reference work with over 1700 entries ranging from fifty to five hundred words covering topics such as anthropology, sociology, economics, political science, cultural studies, human and cultural geography, and Marxism. The Dictionary is aimed at students and scholars who need ready access to defined terms in a social science outside of their immediate area of expertise, for example an economist needing information regarding a political science term. The question 'What are the social sciences?' is one to which no final answer can be given, since - like other groupings of scientific and academic fields - the social sciences differ in their scope from one generation to another. There are also within-generation differences: witness the continuing controversies over whether history should be considered as one of the social sciences or as a humanistic discipline; whether geography is an independent social science or a synthetic discipline that draws upon both the social sciences and the earth sciences; whether law is a social science or a body of professional and philosophical knowledge; whether psychology belongs with the social or the natural sciences; and whether psychiatry is a social science or a branch of medicine. While the proposed dictionary will reflect the contemporary concerns of the editors, entries will certainly represent social anthropology, economics, political sciences, sociology, and statistical methodologies. The Dictinary will necessary avoid a thorough overview of these disciplines - the criteria for inclusion will limit entries to those topics in each area that will be of interest to trans-disciplinary users. A thematically organized bibliography will also be included.


Previous research on unemployment insurance (UI) has focused on the costs of the program, in terms of the distorting effects of generous UI benefits on worker and firm behavior. For assessing the optimal size of an unemployment insurance program, however, it is also important to gauge the benefits of increased UI generosity, in terms of smoothing consumption across periods of joblessness. I do so through a reduced form approach which directly measures the effect of legislated variations in UI benefits on consumption changes among individuals becoming unemployed. I use annual observations on food consumption expenditures for 1968-1987 from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, matched to information on the UI benefits for which unemployed persons were eligible in each state and year. I estimate that a 10 percentage point increase in the UI replacement rate leads to a consumption fall upon unemployment which is 2.7% smaller. Over this period, the average fall in consumption for the unemployed was 7%; my results imply that, in the absence of unemployment insurance, this fall would have been over three times as large. I also find that the positive effect of UI only extends for one period, smoothing consumption during initial job loss but having no permanent effect on consumption levels; that individuals who anticipate layoff see a smaller consumption smoothing effect; and that UI appears to somewhat crowd out other forms of public consumption insurance. Despite the substantial estimated consumption smoothing effect, however, my results imply that the optimal UI benefit level is within the range of current replacement rates only at fairly high levels of risk aversion.


Abstract. To determine the impact of dynamic and aerosol processes on marine low clouds, we examine the seasonal impact of updraft speed w and cloud
condensation nuclei concentration at 0.43 % supersaturation (NCCN0.43%) on the cloud droplet number
concentration (NC) of low-level clouds over the western North Atlantic Ocean. Aerosol and cloud properties were measured with
instruments on board the NASA LaRC Falcon HU-25 during the ACTIVATE (Aerosol Cloud meTeorology Interactions oVer the western ATlantic Experiment)
mission in summer (August) and winter (February–March) 2020. The data are grouped into different NCCN0.43% loadings, and the
density functions of NC and w near the cloud bases are compared. For low updrafts (w < 1.3 m s−1), NC in
winter is mainly limited by the updraft speed and in summer additionally by aerosols. At larger updrafts (w > 3 m s−1),
NC is impacted by the aerosol population, while at clean marine conditions cloud nucleation is aerosol-limited, and for high
NCCN0.43% it is influenced by aerosols and updraft. The aerosol size distribution in winter shows a bimodal distribution in
clean marine environments, which transforms to a unimodal distribution in high NCCN0.43% due to chemical and physical aerosol
processes, whereas unimodal distributions prevail in summer, with a significant difference in their aerosol concentration and composition. The
increase of NCCN0.43% is accompanied with an increase of organic aerosol and sulfate compounds in both seasons. We demonstrate
that NC can be explained by cloud condensation nuclei activation through upwards processed air masses with varying fractions of
activated aerosols. The activation highly depends on w and thus supersaturation between the different seasons, while the aerosol size distribution
additionally affects NC within a season. Our results quantify the seasonal influence of w and NCCN0.43%
on NC and can be used to improve the representation of low marine clouds in models.


In high criticality crisis scenarios, such as disaster management, ad hoc wireless networks are quickly assembled in the field to support decision makers through situational awareness using messaging-, voice-, and video-based applications. These applications cannot afford the luxury of stalling or failing due to overwhelming bandwidth demand on these networks as this could contribute to overall mission failure. This paper describes an approach for satisfying application-specific Quality of Service (QoS) expectations operating on ad hoc wireless networks where available bandwidth fluctuates. The proposed algorithm, D-Q-RAM (Distributed QoS Resource Allocation Model) incorporates a distributed optimization heuristic that results in near optimal adaptation without the need to know, estimate, or predict available bandwidth at any moment in time.


Fishing is a profitable source of livelihood
for the people of Lakshadweep where traditional
methods of capture are still in vogue to a great
extent. The traditional fishing methods and
fishery of Lakshadweep consisting of 27 small
islands of which only ten are inhabited have
been briefly described by Hornell (1910),
Ayyangar (1922), Ellis (1924), Mathew and
Ramachandran (1956), Jones and Kumaran
(1959), Varghese (1974), and Koya et. a/.
(1956). The exploited resources have been
dealt with by Silas et.al. (1986) and Kumaran
and Gopakumar (1986). Even though 603
species of fishes are known from the Lakshadweep
(Jones and Kumaran, 1980), only about
thirty species contribute to the commercial
fishery. Fish landings in some of the islands
were not even sufficient for local consumption
before 1958. The, efforts made during the past two
and half decades to exploit the tuna resources
by using pole and line has started paying good
dividends. The remarkable increase in the
landings of tunas especially skipjack is responsible
for the present prosperity of some of the
islands like Minicoy, Agatti, Kavaratti and Bitra.
Though the islands have only an area of about
32 sq. km. the lagoons, reefs and submerged
banks extending over an area of 42,000 sq. km.
is endowed with several commercially important
fishes. With the limited land area and a high
density of population, the possibilities for
developing other industries is limited, but the
sea offers good scope for the progress of the
islands. The vast difference in the estimates
of fisheries potential of the Laccadive Sea which
is reportedly of the order of 90,000 tones
(Jones and Banerji, 1973) and the present
annual landings (5,524 tonnes in 1986) indicates
that further intensive exploitation is called for
in the region.


In this paper, we consider the variational regularization of manifold-valued data in the inverse problems setting. In particular, we consider total variation and total generalized variation regularization for manifold-valued data with indirect measurement operators. We provide results on the well-posedness and present algorithms for a numerical realization of these models in the manifold setup. Further, we provide experimental results for synthetic and real data to show the potential of the proposed schemes for applications.


Background: Foetal and neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia (FNAIT) is estimated to occur at an incidence of 1:1-2000 live borns, while maternal immunisation against HLA class I is a common finding during pregnancy and after delivery. Whether anti-HLA antibodies can cause FNAIT in some cases is debateable. Aim: This study aims to give a background to FNAIT, and to describe cases of suspected or anticipated FNAIT referred to the thrombocyte and leukocyte laboratory at Karolinska University Hospital, with a focus on cases that could be due to antiHLA class I antibodies. In an experimental part, anti-HLA class I antibody specificities in selected cases were analysed and the expression of HLA class I antigens on adult and umbilical cord blood platelets was determined. Results: Out of 260 patients referred from January 2007 until March 2012, alloantibodies were detected in 43%, and anti-HLA class I antibodies were most common. 35 patients were diagnosed with FNAIT with HPA incompatibilities between the parents and detectable antibodies. Sera from 23 anti-HLA class I immunised mothers were analysed further, and most of them had antibodies reactive with several specificities. The most common specificities were of the HLA-B type, against rare alleles. Flow cytometry analysis of HLA-A,B,C and HLA-B,C on platelets indicated that platelets from neonates had a higher HLA-A expression and lower HLA-BC expression. Conclusion: FNAIT is rare, and is probably even more rarely caused by HLA class I immunisation, although it remains a possibility. Maternal anti-HLA class I antibodies have been shown to be associated with complications related to pregnancy, and it is not clear how the presence of these antibodies affects the foetus. In cases of suspected HLA alloimmunisation, most of the mothers had broadly reacting antibodies. The expression of HLA class I on platelets seems to be different in adult and umbilical cord blood.


We present a continuous-wave pumped fiber optical parametric amplifier and wavelength converter in 1 km of highly nonlinear dispersion-shifted fiber. The reduced pump requirements of the fiber allowed a low-signal-loss configuration in which respective net gains and wavelength-conversion efficiencies of up to 8.6 dB and 5.9 dB were obtained with only 89 mW of pump power. These values were increased to 19.5 dB and 17.3 dB, respectively, when a counterpropagating 680-mW pump was used to assist the parametric process through Raman amplification. Raman assistance in highly nonlinear fiber further promotes parametric amplification and wavelength conversion as a viable technology for the future.


We provide a non-iterative channel impulse response (CIR) estimation algorithm for communication systems which utilize a periodically transmitted training sequence within a continuous stream of information symbols. The non-iterative channel estimate is an approximation to the Best Linear Unbiased Estimate (BLUE) of the CIR, achieving almost similar performance, with much lower complexity. We first provide a formulation of the received data and correlation processing with the adjacent symbol correlation taken into account, and we then present the connections of the correlation based CIR estimation scheme to the ordinary least squares CIR estimation, and the approximate BLUE CIR estimation. Simulation results are provided to demonstrate the performance of the novel algorithms for 8-VSB ATSC Digital TV system.


This article presents the Radial Base Functions (RBFs) as a functional interpolation method for implicit surface reconstruction from points cloud.  These methods allow not only to improve inaccuracies resulting from scanners, but also possible discontinuities that occur in the point clouds.  The complexity of three-dimensional objects makes reconstruction difficult since devices such as scanners do not always faithfully reproduce the objects, which can lead to information gaps or an incomplete reconstruction. Interpolation methods based on RBFs allow to correct these errors.  Three-dimensional surface reconstruction has wide applications in biomedical engineering, in the design of industrial parts, among others.  With the algorithm, we developed we have been able to make reconstructions of both explicit and implicit functions, in two and three dimensions.Keywords:  Radial Basis Functions, Three-dimensional reconstruction, Interpolation Methods.


In recent years, a technique known as Full-Matrix Capture (FMC) has gained some headway in the NDE community for phased array applications. It's important to understand that FMC is the method that the instrumentation acquires the ultrasonic signals, but further post-processing is required in software to create a meaningful image for a particular application. Having a flexible software interface, small form factor, excellent signal-to-noise ratio per acquisition channel on a 64/64 or 128/128 phased array module with FMC capability proves beneficial in both industrial implementation and in further investigation of post-processing techniques. This paper will provide an example of imaging with a 5MHz linear phased array transducer with 128 elements using FMC and a popular post-processing algorithm known as Total-Focus Method (TFM).


The article details experimental work to evaluate tool wear, cutting forces/torque and associated hole quality/accuracy following single-shot drilling of twin layer CFRP/AA7010 stacks. A full factorial experiment was initially planned involving variation in cutting speed (60 and 120 m/min), feed rate (0.15 and 0.30 mm/rev) and drill tip geometry (double cone and flat point drills). While flank wear for the flat point drills did not exceed 40 µm even after 120 holes irrespective of operating conditions, the double cone geometry suffered catastrophic failure after only four holes at the lowest parameter combination. Therefore, the remaining tests involving the double cone drill at higher operating parameters were subsequently halted. Feed rate had a significant influence on torque in both the CFRP and Al layers, although thrust force and torque generally remained stable over the test duration. Hole diameter was typically up to 34 µm above the nominal value of 6.38 mm with corresponding out of roundness of <60 µm. Burrs were prevalent at hole exit in all tests, with an average height of ∼120 µm when drilling at the highest cutting speed–feed rate parameter combination. Similarly, the delamination factor at hole entry increased by up to 23% when operating at the higher feed rate level.


The complex interplay between bacterium and plant that results in nodulation of legumes--and thus the facility for the symbiosis to fix nitrogen--depends on the Nod factors, lipo-chitooligosaccharides of a variety of distinctive specificities. Limpens et al. (see the Perspective by Cullimore and Dénarié) have now identified two genes of the legume Medicago trunculata that encode putative receptors for the Nod factors. In M. trunculata, the receptors that regulate bacterial entry into the plant root-hair cells seem to be more selective than the receptors that regulate the earlier responses of root-hair curling. The LYK genes identified here function in the process of bacterial entry and subsequent growth of the infection thread. E. Limpens, C. Franken, P. Smit, J. Willemse, T. Bisseling, R. Geurts, LysM domain receptor kinases regulating rhizobial Nod factor-induced infection. Science 302, 630-633 (2003). [Abstract] [Full Text] J. Cullimore, J. Dénarié, How legumes select their sweet talking symbionts. Science 302, 575-578 (2003). [Abstract] [Full Text]


Author(s): Schaan, E; Ferraro, S; Spergel, DN | Abstract: © 2018 American Physical Society. Gravitational lensing deflects the paths of cosmic infrared background (CIB) photons, leaving a measurable imprint on CIB maps. The resulting statistical anisotropy can be used to reconstruct the matter distribution out to the redshifts of CIB sources. To this end, we generalize the cosmic microwave background (CMB) lensing quadratic estimator to any weakly non-Gaussian source field, by deriving the optimal lensing weights. We point out the additional noise and bias caused by the non-Gaussianity and the "self-lensing" of the source field. We propose methods to reduce, subtract, or model these non-Gaussianities. We show that CIB lensing should be detectable with Planck data and detectable at high significance for future CMB experiments like CCAT-Prime. The CIB thus constitutes a new source image for lensing studies, providing constraints on the amplitude of structure at intermediate redshifts between galaxies and the CMB. CIB lensing measurements will also give valuable information on the star-formation history in the Universe, constraining CIB halo models beyond the CIB power spectrum. By laying out a detailed treatment of lens reconstruction from a weakly non-Gaussian source field, this work constitutes a stepping stone toward lens reconstruction from continuum or line intensity mapping data, such as the Lyman-alpha emission, absorption, and the 21 cm radiation.


Infrared and Ultraviolet spectra of the trivalent and tetravalent compounds of phosphorus and arsenic have been described. Among the trivalent compounds triphenyl, ortho, meta and para tri-tolyl phosphines and triphenyl, meta and para tolyl arsines have been studied. These phosphines have been reacted with alkyl halides with increasing chain from methyl to n-butyl and taking the halides as bromide or lodid, thus givin a series of onium compounds. Finally the tetrahalocobaltates of these onium compounds have been prepared.

It has been found from the study that a relation exists between vibrational spectra and the structure of these compounds and it is possible to find the oxidation state and arrangement of the various groups in these compounds through the study of their vibrational spectra. In most of the cases the findings of the present study are complimentary with the X-ray structure data. The results also find their confirmation from the ultraviolet spectra.

Lone pair interaction gives a band system in the infrared as well as ultraviolet region. Thusin the former fegion the (k) and (I) modes do not absorb separately, the out-of-plane C-H of the umbrella vibration mode (I), the out-of-plane ring deformation mode (Y) and the transition in the ultraviolet are all one single band. The formation of onium compounds brings in fine structure or spoitting of bands in these regions. These changes nave been related to the formal positive charge on the central atom which attracts the electronic density of the rings thereby creating polarizability, on them. Consequently all the vibrations are intensified and sometimes new bands apper and splittings are noted.

Emphasis has been placed on the band position as well as the intensity and for this purpose integrated intensity of each band has been calculated and various useful correlations have been obrained between the intensity and the effect of various groups attached to the central atom.

The spectra in certain regions are very sensitive to hybridization. Thus mode (O) occurring at 1305_+ 10 cm01 in the phosphines and arsines is shifted to higher wavelengths on forming quaternary compounds. The same is shifted further on forming the tetrahalocobaltates. This diagnostic band has been detected only through the determination of the integrated intensity.

The (n) mode similarly gains in intensity in onium compounds. This band is not sensitive to the charge and honce it has been suggested to be due to a certain amount of distortion or twisting of the rings with respect to one another.

The intensity of mode (m) is also quite high in the onium compounds. This is a charge sensitive mode and the gain in intensity has been related in terms of the indeuced polarizability in the ring. For similar reasons mode (k) in the p-tolyl onium compounds is quite intense. This enhancement in intensity can be safely used as a test of qua-termination of the p-tolyl phosphines or arsines.

Certain X-sensitive modes are also seen and two distinct classes have been identified one is the mass sensitive and the other is charge sensitive. The mass sensitive vibrations change their position from phosphorus to arsenic due to the effect of mass whereas the charge sensitive modes are noted by shift from phosphine or arsine to their onium compounds mode (q) absorbs in ph3p at 1090 cm-1 and in phosphonium it absorbs at 1112 cm1. The same band occurs in Ph3As at 1075 cm-1 and in arsonium compounds at 1087 cm-1.

In the tolyl derivatives of these elements it has been noted that the spectra usually resemble those of disubstituted benzenes having a methyl group attached in the ortho, meta and para position. Thus in the para position there is a slight enhancement in the intensity of the bands which are now well resolved. In the tri-m-tolyl derivatives steric over-crowiding starts playing it role since the intensity in the trivalent and the tetravalent states are not very much different. This is further magnified in the ortho tolyl phosphorus compounds.

In the infrared region the alkyl chain attached to the central atom effects the vibrations due to the benzene ring. It has been interpreted in terms of an increase of formal positive charge on the central atom through the positive inductive effect of the alkyls. Thus for quite a few modes very regular and gradual variation has been noted with an increase in the alkyl chain length.

A greater enhancement in the intensity of various absorption has been noted from the lodide to the bromide. It is suggested that as the electro negativity of the anion is increased, the formal positive and hance the polarizability of the aromatic ring is increased. This gives rise to higher values of the intensity and sometimes slight shifts in the band positions. The effect was further studied by extending the present studies to the bulky and more electronegative anions like the tetrahalocoblatate anion. It has been found that there is a further rise in intensity which is about five to eight times higher than that of the lodides.

Arsines as a class have lower intensities. This has been related to the greater ionic radius and lower electrone-gativity of the arsenic atom compared with phosphorus.

The ultraviolet spectra of these compounds have also been recorded in methanol solutions and a mixture of methanol and acetic acid. Two definite band systems have been noted one due to transition and the other due to charge transfer. The charge transfer band disappears in acetic acid solution. The fine structure which is due to transition of the benzene ring is noted only in the onium compounds where the formal positive charge on the central atom attracts the electronic charge density. In cases where there is a repulsion due to the lone pair the fine structure is absent. The cobaltite have the same spectra as those of their parent onium compounds and differ in having higher intensities and also in an additional band at 350mu . This last band is related to the cobaltate anion.


ABSTRACT This interview began in Hamburg and Berlin and continued virtually, as an active email exchange, between November 2017 and April 2018. Our conversation was sparked by the recent and ongoing turn to the right in global politics. It departs from exploring 'affective modes of inquiry', which our interview partners have applied in recent articles. We then move on to discuss the events of Brexit in the UK and the return of the far right to German Parliament in 2017, as well as recent terms such as 'techlash' and 'fake news'. Against this background, we tackle the core concern of this special issue by asking for the locations of affect in the concepts of 'affective resonance' and '(atmo)spheres'. Finally, we ponder the potential of 'affective counterpolitics' and the challenges this brings for an academic engagement with realpolitik.


Advances in technology allow for new modes of access to both secular and religious information. Historically, some religious groups seem to have been eager to accept technological developments, while others have done so reluctantly. Nevertheless, the sustainability of a religious tradition depends on the ability of its believers to continually access information in an evolving world. Modern technology has occasioned broader religious information landscapes than ever before, to the extent that religion can seemingly be practiced using entirely online tools. Is this possibility borne out in reality? Through a synthesis of the nature and historical development of Zen Buddhism and Roman Catholicism, this study identifies some aspects inherent in each tradition that have influenced each one's religious information landscape. It then explores the extent to which each religion can be practiced without an in-person faith community. These findings suggest an opportunity for further investigation into the information behavior of technology-enabled believers as a means of better understanding the future of religious experience.


Family 1 UDP-glucuronosyltransferases (UGTs) (UGT1A) are encoded by a locus that predicts the existence of at least nine individual proteins. The different proteins are generated by exon-sharing, which results in the production of a family of proteins that contain identical, 245-amino acid, carboxyl-terminal domains and an amino-terminal region of approximately 280 amino acids. The diversity of the UGT1A locus suggests the existence of complex regulation, most likely designed to account for the variable and specific glucuronidation requirements. However, the tissue-specific and extrahepatic regulation of the complete UGT1A locus has not been defined to date. In this study, quantitative duplex reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction was used to analyze UGT1A RNA expression in 16 hepatic, four biliary, and two gastric human tissue specimens. UGT1A3 and UGT1A6 were found to be expressed in the three tissues, whereas UGT1A5 and UGT1A8 were not expressed. Hepatocellular and biliary tissue expressed UGT1A1 and UGT1A4 but hepatocellular tissue uniquely expressed UGT1A9, whereas biliary tissue expressed UGT1A10. In contrast to hepatocellular tissue, gastric tissue expressed UGT1A7 in addition to UGT1A10. The expression of UGT1A9 in hepatic tissue, UGT1A7 in gastric tissue, and UGT1A10 in biliary and gastric tissue provides evidence for the selective regulation of the UGT1A locus in hepatic and extrahepatic tissues. The newly identified UGT1A7 and UGT1A10 transcripts were cloned and found to be 95.86% identical. Sequence analysis confirmed two proteins with divergent amino termini of 285 residues and identical carboxyl termini of 245 residues. This study provides evidence for hepatic and extrahepatic regulation of the human UGT1A locus and identifies two novel extrahepatic transcripts of the UGT1A family.


Traditionally, qualitative data collection has focused on observation, interviews, and document or artifact review. Building on earlier work on concept mapping in the social sciences, the authors describe its use in an exploratory pilot study on the perceptions of four Canadians who worked abroad on a criminal justice reform project. Drawing on this study, the authors argue that traditional definitions of concept mapping should be expanded to include more flexible approaches to the collection of graphic representations of experience. In this way, user-generated maps can assist participants to better frame their experience and can help qualitative researchers in the design and development of additional data collection strategies. Whether one calls these data collection tools concept maps or mind maps, for a generation of visually oriented social science researchers they offer a graphic and participant-centric means to ground data within theory.


Article 28A(1)(13) of the Protocol to the Statute of the African Court of Justice and Human Rights lists 'Illicit exploitation of natural resources' as a criminal offense within the Court's jurisdiction. In conjunction with the new mandate of the African Court, which includes the exercise of jurisdiction over corporations for the first time in an international treaty, the prohibition of "illicit exploitation of natural resources" creates an offense with especially sharp teeth, for business people, their corporations, military actors and politicians. The crime constitutes an important innovation in international law, since it offers a distinct legal basis for prosecution of a wider array of acts covered by the war crime of pillage. Nonetheless, it also comes with a set of major limitations, not the least of which is its great vagueness. This chapter offers a critical doctrinal overview of the seven sub-offenses that fall within the wider banner of this new crime of Illicit Exploitation, simultaneously pointing to a range of interpretative possibilities that might accord with recent thinking about the relationship between law and resource predation.


Abstract Analysis of the Upper Cretaceous-Tertiary fill of the Great Valley forearc basin of California reveals a complicated history of subsidence partitioned in time and space. Western, oceanward parts of the basin record subsidence, then uplift, in apparent response to the angle and rate of descent of the underlying subducting plate. Specifically, uplift in the forearc basin corresponds to the onset of the Laramide orogeny and inferred low angles of subduction. In contrast, eastern, arcward parts of the basin display subsidence histories suggestive of thermal contraction and compatible with continentward migration of Sierran arc magmatism in the Late Cretaceous. These results imply that subsidence histories of forearc basins are likely to be much more complicated and less predictable than those of rifted continental margins and foreland basins, where single subsidence mechanisms predominate and time-varying subduction is not an underlying controlling factor.


Statutory regulation will enable practitioners of herbal medicine to become a significant contributor to empowering the nation's health. Herbal medicine's central ethos ? it is healing ecology ? enables the individual to take responsibility and provides tools to actively engage in a healing process. Phytotherapy ? use of medicinal plants as a part of healing regime can bring radical change to patient's expectations and the way the medical community operates. Health as an active state of physical, emotional, mental and social well-being, must be viewed in the light of interdependence with all communities of life on Earth.


This article examines the cost-effectiveness of providing permanent supported housing to homeless people with mental illness. Through the use of billing records and frequency of use charts, researchers were able to map the service usage of a cohort of 268 homeless individuals from both urban and rural communities. The results suggest that significant cost savings can be achieved by establishing supportive housing programs from the homeless rather than forcing them to rely on emergency services. Data from this study can inform policy changes at both the State and Federal level. It can also provide for the introduction of common themes of money and cost-effectiveness which all of the stakeholders in the service funding debate can use. Further recommendations and uses for the data are described and discussed.


We present a novel language adaptable spell checking system that detects spelling errors and suggests context-sensitive corrections in real-time. We show that our system can be extended to new languages with minimal language-specific processing. Available literature majorly discusses spell checkers for English but there are no publicly available systems that can be extended to work for other languages out of the box. Most of the systems do not work in real-time. We explain the process of generating a language's word dictionary and n-gram probability dictionaries using Wikipedia-articles data and manually curated video subtitles. We present the results of generating a list of suggestions for a misspelled word. We also propose three approaches to create noisy channel datasets of real-world typographic errors. Finally, we show the effectiveness of language adaptability of our proposed system by extending it to 24 languages.


Broad in scope, Out of Place: Artists, Pedagogy, and Purpose presents an overview of the different paths taken by artists and artist collectives as they navigate their way from formative experiences into pedagogy. Focusing on the realms in- and outside the academy (the places and persons involved in post-secondary education) and the multiple forms and functions of pedagogy (practices of learning and instruction), the contributions in this volume engage individual and collective artistic practices as they adapt to meet the factors and historical conditions of the people and communities they serve through solidarity, equity, and creativity. With this critically, historicist approach in mind, the contributions in Out of Place historicize, study, critique, revise, reframe, and question the academy, its operations and exclusions. The extensive range of contributions, emphasizing community-oriented projects both inside and outside the United States, is grouped into three overarching categories: artists who work in academic institutions but whose social and pedagogical engagement extends beyond the walls of the academy; artists who engage in pedagogical initiatives or forms of institutional critique that were established outside of an art school or university setting; and artist–scholars who are doing transformative and inter/transdisciplinary work within their respective institutions. Collectives and projects represented in Out of Place comprise Art Practical, Axis Lab, BFAMFAPhD, Beta-Local, Black Lunch Table Project, The Black School, The Center for Undisciplined Research, Devening Projects, ds4si, Elsewhere, Ghana ThinkTank, Gudskul, The Icebox Project Space, Las Hermanas Iglesias, The Laundromat Project, Occupy Museums, Peebls, PlantBot Genetics, Queer Conversations on Culture and the Arts, Related Tactics, Side by Side, 'sindikit, Sustainable Native Communities Collaborative, and Tiger Strikes Asteriod.


All-optical deflection and spatial filtering have been used to theoretically model pulse shortening and shaping. Good agreement is obtained with the experimental results of other authors. Pulses with a shortening coefficient of the order of 10, and special forms such as super-Gaussian, triangular-like, and pairs of pulses with an adjustable peak-to-peak ratio are obtained. >


The region south of South Africa is unique for studying the development of thermohaline circulations. We observe strong bottom currents, such as North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) and Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) that meet south west off South Africa and flow eastward through the Transkei Basin into the Indic. Due to their high sedimentary freight, they are the most important source for the Transkei Basin infill. The analysis of this infill gives evidence for strong bottom current activity in this region since at least late Eocene times. Newly collected high resolution seismic reflection data reveal recurrent changes in AABW and NADW flow paths and strengths that can be directly linked to large scale events, such as the opening of the Drake Passage for deep water or the closure of the Isthmus of Panama. Additionally, we observe two large sediment drifts in the basins centre which mirror stable deep sea current conditions over a long period of time. We analysed the Transkei Basin infill and produced a depositional model for the past 90 Ma. Consequentially, we reconstructed the bottom current development south of South Africa since late Eocene times.


Highly concentrated banking system risks and the cumulative effect due to their accumulation act as a driver for improving the macro-prudential policy implemented by central banks. For this reason, an effectively and comprehensively assessed systemic risk in the banking system is declared an express condition for the early detection of its production sources and blocking of potential spreading channels, reducing the possible implementation. In light of this, the article develops an approach to the aggregated systemic risk assessment and interpretation of its results. The proposed approach is based on the considered influence exerted by financial risks of systemically important banks on the destabilized banking system and interconnections between banks in the context of the possible crisis impulse spreading. The following steps should be accomplished to form an aggregated systemic risk indicator in the banking system. Firstly, the differentiation of systemically important banks by the degree of their systemic importance; secondly, an integral assessment of the bank operation riskiness within certain bank groups; thirdly, the cumulative composition of the corresponding integral indicators, taking into account their weighting coefficients based on two criteria, namely values of the systemic importance indicator differentiating the bank groups, and the correlation of their risks. Interpreting the quantitative measurement results with regard to the systemic risk in the banking system is followed by the recommendations below: the systemic risk grading into high, medium and low levels and the respective definition of the threshold aggregated systemic risk indicator value which informs about the possible systemic crisis when approached; justification of the selected supervision regime types (strengthened, moderate or weakened) for systemically important banks, depending on the riskiness level specific for their operation and the systemic importance degree. The developed approach to measuring the systemic risk by means of constructing an aggregated indicator and interpreting the obtained results was being tested considering the financial risk indicators of the systemically important banks in Ukraine during 2009–2018.


Improving Intrusion Prevention, Deteetion and Response Tar ik Mohamed Abdel-Kader Ibrahim BMath (Hons) In the face of a wide range of attacks. Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) and other Internet security tools represent potentially valuable safeguards to identify and combat the problems facing online systems. However, despite the fact that a variety o f commercial and open source solutions are available across a range of operating systems and network platforms, it is notable that the deployment of IDS is often markedly less than other well-known network security countermeasures and other tools may often be used in an ineffective manner. This thesis considers the challenges that users may face while using IDS, by conducting a webbased questionnaire to assess these challenges. The challenges that are used in the questionnaire were gathered from the well-established literature. The participants responses varies between being with or against selecting them as challenges but all the listed challenges approved that they are consider problems in the IDS field. The aim of the research is to propose a novel set of Human Computer Interaction-Security (HCI-S) usability criteria based on the findings of the web-based questionnaire. Moreover, these criteria were inspired from previous literature in the field of HCI. The novelty of the criteria is that they focus on the security aspects. The new criteria were promising when they were applied to Norton 360, a well known Internet security suite. Testing the alerts issued by security software was the initial step before testing other security software. Hence, a set o f security software were selected and some alerts were triggered as a result of performing a penetration test conducted within a test-bed environment using the network scanner Nmap. The findings reveal that four of the HCI-S usability criteria were not ful ly addressed by all of these security software. Another aim of this thesis is to consider the development of a prototype to address the HCI-S usability criteria that seem to be overlooked in the existing security solutions. The thesis conducts a practical user trial and the findings are promising and attempt to find a proper solution to solve this problem. For instance, to take advantage o f previous security decisions, it would be desirable for a system to consider the user's previous decisions on similar alerts, and modify alerts accordingly to account for the user's previous behaviour. Moreover, in order to give users a level o f fiexibility, it is important to enable them to make informed decisions, and to be able to recover from them i f needed. It is important to address the proposed criteria that enable users to confirm / recover the impact of their decision, maintain an awareness of system status all the time, and to offer responses that match users' expectations. The outcome of the current study is a set of a proposed 16 HCI-S usability criteria that can be used to design and to assess security alerts issued by any Internet security suite. These criteria are not equally important and they vary between high, medium and low.


Fact finding in judicial proceedings is a dynamic process. This collection of papers considers whether computational methods or other formal logical methods developed in disciplines such as artificial intelligence, decision theory, and probability theory can facilitate the study and management of dynamic evidentiary and inferential processes in litigation. The papers gathered here have several epicenters, including (i) the dynamics of judicial proof, (ii) the relationship between artificial intelligence or formal analysis and "common sense," (iii) the logic of factual inference, including (a) the relationship between causality and inference and (b) the relationship between language and factual inference, (iv) the logic of discovery, including the role of abduction and serendipity in the process of investigation and proof of factual matters, and (v) the relationship between decision and inference.


Taking tissue engineering applications into clinical trials requires the development of efficient and safe protocols incorporated with effective 3-dimensional cell culturing and differentiation systems in order to develop transplantable tissues that may offer a life-line for patients in the future. Cord blood, which is perhaps the most abundant world stem cell source, has shown previously practical and ethical advantages over other stem cells sources in many research and clinical applications including regenerative medicine. We previously developed a three-step protocol for isolation, expansion and sequential neuronal differentiation of cord blood pluripotent stem cells (characterized with our unique triple immunocytochemisty scheme for Oct-4, Sox-2 and Nanog) in defined serum-free culturing conditions. In this study we incorporated this protocol with 3-dimensional culturing systems which produced artificial neuronal tissues expressing Nestin, NF-200, TUJ1, PSD-95 and NeuN. We showed that cord blood pluripotent stem cells are a potential and promising candidate for future neural tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.


The main aim of this thesis is strongly interdisciplinary: it involves and presumes a knowledge on Neurophysiology, to understand the mechanisms that undergo the studied phenomena, a knowledge and experience on Electronics, necessary during the hardware experimental set-up to acquire neuronal data, on Informatics and programming to write the code necessary to control the behaviours of the subjects during experiments and the visual presentation of stimuli. At last, neuronal and statistical models should be well known to help in interpreting data.
The project started with an accurate bibliographic research: until now the mechanism of perception of heading (or direction of motion) are still poorly known. The main interest is to understand how the integration of visual information relative to our motion with eye position information happens.
To investigate the cortical response to visual stimuli in motion and the integration with eye position, we decided to study an animal model, using Optic Flow expansion and contraction as visual stimuli.
In the first chapter of the thesis, the basic aims of the research project are presented, together with the reasons why it's interesting and important to study perception of motion. Moreover, this chapter describes the methods my research group thought to be more adequate to contribute to scientific community and underlines my personal contribute to the project.
The second chapter presents an overview on useful knowledge to follow the main part of the thesis: it starts with a brief introduction on central nervous system, on cortical functions, then it presents more deeply associations areas, which are the main target of our study. Furthermore, it tries to explain why studies on animal models are necessary to understand mechanism at a cellular level, that could not be addressed on any other way. In the second part of the chapter, basics on electrophysiology and cellular communication are presented, together with traditional neuronal data analysis methods.
The third chapter is intended to be a helpful resource for future works in the laboratory: it presents the hardware used for experimental sessions, how to control animal behaviour during the experiments by means of C routines and a software, and how to present visual stimuli on a screen.
The forth chapter is the main core of the research project and the thesis. In the methods, experimental paradigms, visual stimuli and data analysis are presented. In the results, cellular response of area PEc to visual stimuli in motion combined with different eye positions are shown. In brief, this study led to the identification of different cellular behaviour in relation to focus of expansion (the direction of motion given by the optic flow pattern) and eye position. The originality and importance of the results are pointed out in the conclusions: this is the first study aimed to investigate perception of motion in this particular cortical area. In the last paragraph, a neuronal network model is presented: the aim is simulating cellular pre-saccadic and post-saccadic response of neuron in area PEc, during eye movement tasks.
The same data presented in chapter four, are further analysed in chapter fifth. The analysis started from the observation of the neuronal responses during 1s time period in which the visual stimulation was the same. It was clear that cells activities showed oscillations in time, that had been neglected by the previous analysis based on mean firing frequency. Results distinguished two cellular behaviour by their response characteristics: some neurons showed oscillations that changed depending on eye and optic flow position, while others kept the same oscillations characteristics independent of the stimulus.
The last chapter discusses the results of the research project, comments the originality and interdisciplinary of the study and proposes some future developments.


Existing stereoscopic imaging algorithms can create static stereoscopic images with perceived depth control function to ensure a compelling 3D viewing experience without visual discomfort. However, current algorithms do not normally support standard Cinematic Storytelling techniques. These techniques, such as object movement, camera motion, and zooming, can result in dynamic scene depth change within and between a series of frames (shots) in stereoscopic cinematography. In this study, we empirically evaluate the following three types of stereoscopic imaging approaches that aim to address this problem. (1) Real-Eye Configuration: set camera separation equal to the nominal human eye interpupillary distance. The perceived depth on the display is identical to the scene depth without any distortion. (2) Mapping Algorithm: map the scene depth to a predefined range on the display to avoid excessive perceived depth. A new method that dynamically adjusts the depth mapping from scene space to display space is presented in addition to an existing fixed depth mapping method. (3) Depth of Field Simulation: apply Depth of Field (DOF) blur effect to stereoscopic images. Only objects that are inside the DOF are viewed in full sharpness. Objects that are far away from the focus plane are blurred. We performed a human-based trial using the ITU-R BT.500-11 Recommendation to compare the depth quality of stereoscopic video sequences generated by the above-mentioned imaging methods. Our results indicate that viewers' practical 3D viewing volumes are different for individual stereoscopic displays and viewers can cope with much larger perceived depth range in viewing stereoscopic cinematography in comparison to static stereoscopic images. Our new dynamic depth mapping method does have an advantage over the fixed depth mapping method in controlling stereo depth perception. The DOF blur effect does not provide the expected improvement for perceived depth quality control in 3D cinematography. We anticipate the results will be of particular interest to 3D filmmaking and real time computer games.


In Covenant House: Journey of a Faith-Based Charity, Peter Wosh provides us with a modern historical review of one of the most famous, and infamous, faith-based social service agencies. Covenant House is the creation of Bruce Ritter, a Franciscan friar who witnessed the growth of youth runaways in New York and established a network of local as well as national and international semifranchised agencies to help them. The case study of Covenant House contains almost everything for which a nonprofit scholar can ask: the formation of a successful nonprofit organization (NPO), an analysis of growth, charismatic leadership, expansion, crisis and demise of the founder, rebirth, and recovery. Of the many cases I have read throughout the years, this one is by far the most extensive and carefully crafted.


The excellent preservation of the acritarchs, their great abundance, diversity and good stratigraphic control permit establishment of a detailed Middle and Late Cambrian acritarch biozonation. A total of 56 palynomorph species form the basis of 10 local acritarch assemblage zones. Assemblage zones I-II occur in the lower and middle parts of the Member C of the Mila Formation and suggest Early-mid Middle Cambrian; assemblages zones III-IV appears in the upper part of the Member C of the Mila Formation and the lower part of Ilebeyk Formation and encompass latest Middle and earliest Late Cambrian; acritarch assemblage zones V-IX occur in the middle and upper parts of the Ilebeyk Formation and characterize Late Cambrian; finally, acritarch assemblage zone X appears in the basal part of the Zardkuh Formation and proves to have an early Tremadocian age. Amongst the Late Cambrian acritarch assemblages of Laurentia only the two cosmopolitan species of Timofeevia phosphoritica and Vulcanisphaera turbata are shared with coeval strata in the High Zagros Mountains. Iranian acritarch assemblages show a marked Gondwanan paleobiogeographical affinity, share a high proportion of taxa with typical Baltican and North Africa– Gondwanan assemblages, and are different from known Laurentian microphytoplankton suites. These results are in general agreement with paleogeographical models that place Avalonia, Baltica, and the North African part of Gondwana, at relatively high southern paleolatitudes, whereas Laurentia occupies a sub-equatorial position. Four new acritarch species, namely Leiosphaeridia iranense, Navifusa reticulata, Ooidium zagrosensis, and Veryhachium ilebeykensis are described.


This paper presents a method for solving nonlinear system of equations via double direction approach. We consider the first direction to be steepest descent direction while the other direction is the proposed CG direction. Derivative-free line search is used to obtain the step length αk. The global convergence of the proposed algorithm is established under suitable conditions. Numerical results show that the proposed method is efficient for large scale problems.


Sun's Java Studio Creator (formerly Project Rave) offers you a remarkably productive visual environment for building, integrating, and delivering business-critical applications. Direct from Sun, Java™Studio Creator Field Guide is your definitive guide to Java Studio Creator. Leading Java platform instructors and consultants Gail and Paul Anderson help you use Java Studio Creator to simplify and accelerate your entire development process.One step at a time, the Andersons walk you through Mastering Java Studio Creator's interface and workflow Simplifying Web development with JavaServer™ Faces components, validators, and data converters Controlling Web application page flow with the Page Navigation editor Building Creator projects with JavaBeans™ components Accessing Web services using XML-based open standards: a case study using Google Web Service APIs Using databases and data-aware components--including detailed coverage of new JDBC™ RowSets Customizing applications: localization, internationalization, and custom validation Debugging with Creator's built-in debuggerWith Java Studio Creator and this book, you'll spend less time on application "plumbing"--leaving more time for the high-value tasks you really care about. Simply put, you'll get more done, faster...and have more fun doing it.


Locating timely, useful information during crises and mass emergencies is critical for those forced to make potentially life-altering decisions. As the use of Twitter to broadcast useful information during such situations becomes more widespread, the problem of finding it becomes more difficult. We describe an approach toward improving the recall in the sampling of Twitter communications that can lead to greater situational awareness during crisis situations. First, we create a lexicon of crisis-related terms that frequently appear in relevant messages posted during different types of crisis situations. Next, we demonstrate how we use the lexicon to automatically identify new terms that describe a given crisis. Finally, we explain how to efficiently query Twitter to extract crisis-related messages during emergency events. In our experiments, using a crisis lexicon leads to substantial improvements in terms of recall when added to a set of crisis-specific keywords manually chosen by experts; it also helps to preserve the original distribution of message types.


Local similarity computation between two sequences permits detecting all the relevant alignments present between subsequences thereof. A well-known dynamic programming algorithm works in time O(mn), m and n being the lengths of the subsequences. The algorithm is rather slow when applied over many sequence pairs. In this paper we present the first bit-parallel computation of the score matrix, for a simplified choice of scores. If the computer word has w bits, then the resulting algorithm works in O(mn log min(m, n, w)/w) time, achieving up to 8-fold speedups in practice. Some DNA comparison applications use precisely the simplified scores we handle, and thus our algorithm is directly applicable. In others, our method could be used as a raw filter to discard most of the strings, so the classical algorithm can be focused only on the substring pairs that can yield relevant results.


Robotics for agriculture and forestry can be considered a very recent application of one of the most ancient and important sectors, where the latest and most advanced innovations have been brought. Over the years, thanks to continous improvement in mechanization and automation, crop output has extremely increased, enabling a large growth in population and enhancing the quality of life around the world. Better living conditions, as a consequence, are leading to a higher demand for agriculture and forestry output. Precision agriculture defined as the correct management of crops for increasing its productivity and maximizing harvest, is considered the answer to this issue. As a matter of fact, thanks to the development of portable sensors and more accessible aerial platforms, the collection of data is allowing a vast development in this field. This thesis adresses in general robotics for agriculture in the form of a solution to be applied in order to improve robot mobility, in particular automated path planning in vineyards, by proposing a method to classify different parcels which make up the vineyard and to assign a precise task to the terrestrial unmanned robot. The first part discusses how to generate a canopy segmentation from the mask obtained by processing images taken from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The developed algorithm is based on multiple steps: a first clustering of the mask is performed to identify each vine row, then a Least Squares regression is applied in order to be used in the following clustering step to detect each parcel which composes the map. Finally a recombination of the vine rows is carried out for the purpose of avoiding the problem of missing plants and defective rows. The second part focuses its attention on the development of a path planning algorithm that can be integrated in every environment: it combines the A* search algorithm and path smoothing by exploiting the Gradient Descent algorithm. The last part adresses the issue of applying the path planning in order to cover the desired parcel with the cooperation of both path planning and clustering.


Economic agents are not always rational or farsighted and can make decisions according to simple behavioral rules that vary according to situation and can be studied using the tools of evolutionary game theory. Furthermore, such behavioral rules are themselves subject to evolutionary forces. Paying particular attention to the work of young researchers, this essay surveys the progress made over the last decade towards understanding these phenomena, and discusses open research topics of importance to economics and the broader social sciences.


Recent studies suggest that histamine H2‐receptor antagonists may be useful in the treatment of urticaria. This study was conducted to determine whether famotidine, a H2 antagonist, is effective in the treatment of acute urticaria and compare its effect with that of the H1 antagonist diphenhydramine. In this prospective, double‐blind, controlled trial, 25 patients with urticaria of less than 72 h duration were randomized to receive a single dose of either famotidine 20 mg i.m. or diphenhydramine 50 mg i.m. Prior to treatment and 30 min after treatment, patients rated pruritus and sedation using visual analogue scales, while physicians evaluated intensity of urticaria and percentage of body surface area involved by urticaria. Famotidine was found to reduce pruritus associated with acute urticaria, intensity of urticaria, and body surface area affected by urticaria without causing sedation. Famotidine was comparable to diphenhydramine in efficacy; however, there was a (nonsignificant) trend for diphenhydramine to be more effective than famotidine in the treatment of pruritus, and for famotidine to be more effective in the reduction of surface area of involvement. It is concluded that famotidine merits further investigation as a potential medication for treatment of urticaria.


BACKGROUND
NHS Stop Smoking Services (SSSs) provide free at the point of use treatment for smokers who would like to stop. Since their inception in 1999 they have evolved to offer a variety of support options. Given the changes that have happened in the provision of services and the ongoing need for evidence on effectiveness, the Evaluating Long-term Outcomes for NHS Stop Smoking Services (ELONS) study was commissioned.

OBJECTIVES
The main aim of the study was to explore the factors that determine longer-term abstinence from smoking following intervention by SSSs. There were also a number of additional objectives.

DESIGN
The ELONS study was an observational study with two main stages: secondary analysis of routine data collected by SSSs and a prospective cohort study of service clients. The prospective study had additional elements on client satisfaction, well-being and longer-term nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) use.

SETTING
The setting for the study was SSSs in England. For the secondary analysis, routine data from 49 services were obtained. For the prospective study and its added elements, nine services were involved. The target population was clients of these services.

PARTICIPANTS
There were 202,804 cases included in secondary analysis and 3075 in the prospective study.

INTERVENTIONS
A combination of behavioural support and stop smoking medication delivered by SSS practitioners.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Abstinence from smoking at 4 and 52 weeks after setting a quit date, validated by a carbon monoxide (CO) breath test.

RESULTS
Just over 4 in 10 smokers (41%) recruited to the prospective study were biochemically validated as abstinent from smoking at 4 weeks (which was broadly comparable with findings from the secondary analysis of routine service data, where self-reported 4-week quit rates were 48%, falling to 34% when biochemical validation had occurred). At the 1-year follow-up, 8% of prospective study clients were CO validated as abstinent from smoking. Clients who received specialist one-to-one behavioural support were twice as likely to have remained abstinent than those who were seen by a general practitioner (GP) practice and pharmacy providers [odds ratio (OR) 2.3, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.2 to 4.6]. Clients who received group behavioural support (either closed or rolling groups) were three times more likely to stop smoking than those who were seen by a GP practice or pharmacy providers (OR 3.4, 95% CI 1.7 to 6.7). Satisfaction with services was high and well-being at baseline was found to be a predictor of abstinence from smoking at longer-term follow-up. Continued use of NRT at 1 year was rare, but no evidence of harm from longer-term use was identified from the data collected.

CONCLUSIONS
Stop Smoking Services in England are effective in helping smokers to move away from tobacco use. Using the 52-week CO-validated quit rate of 8% found in this study, we estimate that in the year 2012-13 the services supported 36,249 clients to become non-smokers for the remainder of their lives. This is a substantial figure and provides one indicator of the ongoing value of the treatment that the services provide. The study raises a number of issues for future research including (1) examining the role of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) in smoking cessation for service clients [this study did not look at e-cigarette use (except briefly in the longer-term NRT study) but this is a priority for future studies]; (2) more detailed comparisons of rolling groups with other forms of behavioural support; (3) further exploration of the role of practitioner knowledge, skills and use of effective behaviour change techniques in supporting service clients to stop smoking; (4) surveillance of the impact of structural and funding changes on the future development and sustainability of SSSs; and (5) more detailed analysis of well-being over time between those who successfully stop smoking and those who relapse. Further research on longer-term use of non-combustible nicotine products that measures a wider array of biomarkers of smoking-related harm such as lung function tests or carcinogen metabolites.

FUNDING
The National Institute for Health Research Health Technology Assessment programme. The UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies provided funding for the longer-term NRT study.


BACKGROUND
Flavonoids are polyphenolic compounds of plant origin with antioxidant effects. Flavonoids inhibit LDL oxidation and reduce thrombotic tendency in vitro. Little is known about how cocoa powder and dark chocolate, rich sources of polyphenols, affect these cardiovascular disease risk factors.

OBJECTIVE
We evaluated the effects of a diet high in cocoa powder and dark chocolate (CP-DC diet) on LDL oxidative susceptibility, serum total antioxidant capacity, and urinary prostaglandin concentrations.

DESIGN
We conducted a randomized, 2-period, crossover study in 23 healthy subjects fed 2 diets: an average American diet (AAD) controlled for fiber, caffeine, and theobromine and an AAD supplemented with 22 g cocoa powder and 16 g dark chocolate (CP-DC diet), providing approximately 466 mg procyanidins/d.

RESULTS
LDL oxidation lag time was approximately 8% greater (P = 0.01) after the CP-DC diet than after the AAD. Serum total antioxidant capacity measured by oxygen radical absorbance capacity was approximately 4% greater (P = 0.04) after the CP-DC diet than after the AAD and was positively correlated with LDL oxidation lag time (r = 0.32, P = 0.03). HDL cholesterol was 4% greater after the CP-DC diet (P = 0.02) than after the AAD; however, LDL-HDL ratios were not significantly different. Twenty-four-hour urinary excretion of thromboxane B(2) and 6-keto-prostaglandin F(1)(alpha) and the ratio of the 2 compounds were not significantly different between the 2 diets.

CONCLUSION
Cocoa powder and dark chocolate may favorably affect cardiovascular disease risk status by modestly reducing LDL oxidation susceptibility, increasing serum total antioxidant capacity and HDL-cholesterol concentrations, and not adversely affecting prostaglandins.


Around the world there is a paradigm shift occurring, one that is moving away from traditional centralised wastewater infrastructure towards decentralised wastewater system options. In Western Australia (WA) the development of decentralised systems has been slow. However significant steps have been made towards making decentralisation a reality, with several innovative technologies based on natural biological processes being trialed, such as constructed wetlands. The WA State Government is investing research in practical case studies that will assess the viability of decentralised wastewater schemes, within WA urban villages. The research is to be conducted over three years starting with two decentralised greywater systems, progressing in the final year (2008) with research into combined wastewater systems. The first case study site, Bridgewater Lifestyle Village (BWLV) located in Erskine south of Perth, will encompass 380 individual greywater systems that are centrally managed with the treated greywater used to irrigate the gardens of each home. The second site, Timbers Edge Residential Resort (TERV) located in Dawesville also south of Perth, will encompass 260 homes connected to one centrally managed greywater treatment system, with the treated greywater being used to irrigate the estates public open space. Both of these sites are located in a high population growth corridor adjacent to the Peel Harvey Estuary; are within close proximity to RAMSAR5 protected wetlands; and experience high water table levels. In order to meet environmental and public health concerns, innovative solutions would be required. Each site employs a wastewater treatment and recycling system that mimics natural processes. This paper will introduce two types of subsurface constructed wetlands that are either operating or will be operating in the near future at the two case study sites. The first system discussed is the evapotranspiration trenches at BWLV. These are a low maintenance biological system consisting of a plastic lined gravel-filled trench planted with various hardy aquatic plants and will be placed in home sites where the groundwater table is higher than 50cm. The second system at TERV is known as the Biofilter system and consists of a series of concrete chambers planted with wetland plants. This paper will then discuss how these systems recycle the water locally to reduce water demand; what the residents' responsibilities are and how different management arrangements can effectively manage and operate these systems.


The objective of this study was to identify and develop DNA markers that can be used for sex diagnosis in the ostrich (Struthio camelus) using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology. DNA was isolated from 15 male and 15 female, year old, crossbred ostriches. Two bulked DNA samples were prepared by grouping sexes. Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis was used to screen 1400 arbitrary 10-mer primers for polymorphic markers between the bulks. Potential W-linked markers generated with the female bulked DNA sample were confirmed by individual screening of the 30 samples. Five W-linked RAPD markers, UBC388431, UBC4111300, UBC656,120, UBC793687, and OPL 1 7750 were identified by primers UBC388, UBC411, UBC656, UBC793, and OPL-17. Four RAPD markers were chosen for sequence analysis after further screening using 15 male and 12 female, 14-mo-old, birds sexed at slaughter. The sequence data were used to design pairs of specific primers, 18-24 bp, for PCR amplification of individual genomic DNA from 71 birds of varying age (33 males and 38 females). Primers generated reliable female specific sequence characterized amplified regions (SCARS). Four SCARS, ST793677, ST793665, ST4111245, and ST6561023, were developed, which can be used for sex identification in the ostrich. Cross amplification tests were done using male and female genomic DNA from turkeys, domestic animals (cattle, pigs, sheep, horses, and mink), and human. The PCR primers did not generate the sex specific markers in these species, which indicated that the W-linked markers amplified from ostrich genome may be species specific markers. These results demonstrate that RAPD analysis using bulked DNA samples provides an efficient means for the detection of W-chromosome markers in avian species. The SCARS developed can be used for identifying sex in immature ostriches.


When commitment is lacking, intertemporal trade is facilitated with the use of exchange media — interpreted broadly to include monetary and collateral assets. We study the properties of a model commonly used to motivate monetary exchange, extended to include a physical asset whose expected short-run return is subject to a news shock, but whose expected long-run return is stable. The nondisclosure of news enhances the asset's property as an exchange medium, and generally improves social welfare. When a nondisclosure policy is infeasible, the framework admits a role for government debt, including fiat money. When lump-sum taxation is not permitted, fiat money may still improve welfare — but only if its circulation is supported by a cash-in-advance constraint.


This thesis revisits the problem of five year survivability predictions for breast cancer using machine learning tools. This work is distinguishable from the past experiments based on the size of the training data, the unbalanced distribution of data in minority and majority classes, and modified data cleaning procedures. These experiments are also based on the principles of TIDY data and reproducible research. In order to fine-tune the predictions, a set of experiments were run using naive Bayes, decision trees, and logistic regression. Of particular interest were strategies to improve the recall level for the minority class, as the cost of misclassification is prohibitive. One of The main contributions of this work is that logistic regression with the proper predictors and class weight gives the highest precision/recall level for the minority class. In regression modeling with large number of predictors, correlation among predictors is quite common, and the estimated model coefficients might not be very reliable. In these situations, the Variance Inflation Factor (VIF) and the Generalized Variance Inflation Factor (GVIF) are used to overcome the correlation problem. Our experiments are based on the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database for the problem of survivability prediction. Some of the specific contributions of this thesis are: 1. detailed process for data cleaning and binary classification of 338,596 breast cancer patients. 2. computational approach for omitting predictors and categorical predictors based on VIF and GVIF. 3. various applications of Synthetic Minority Over-sampling Techniques (SMOTE) to increase precision and recall. 4. An application of Edited Nearest Neighbor to obtain the highest F1-measure. In addition, this work provides precise algorithms and codes for determining class membership and execution of competing methods. These codes can facilitate the reproduction and extension of


It has become commonplace among intellectual property scholars and policy makers concerned with promoting innovation to dispute the reasonableness of laws that protect intellectual property. By and large, legal scholars explore the question of whether the grant of intellectual property rights adequately (or at all) encourages innovators by looking mostly at output: the intellectual property granted and cases litigated concerning that intellectual property. Scholars ask, for example, are the grants of rights too broad or too frequently granted? With patents, they ask whether patent thickets exist and, if so, do they hamper innovation rather than encourage it? With copyright and trademarks, they ask whether the digital medium alters how copyright and trademarks should be protected given the relative freedom with which digital data flows and free-riding and user-generated creation is more likely? By analyzing particular statutory provisions or cases for their reasonable implications on the issue, legal scholars mobilize economic theories of rational actors or moral theories about owning the fruits of labor to identify the problematic or acceptable bases for the legal rules. But rarely do we ask the people who are innovating – inventing, writing, developing, commercializing and possibly getting paid for their work (whether or not through intellectual property royalties) – whether the ability to protect their innovations through intellectual property law played any part in their endeavor, and if so, what part law played in promoting innovation. We rarely ask whether intellectual property law works in practice as we imagine it does in theory. My project, which has culminated in a pilot study of nearly 30 face-to-face interviews, explores the germination, harvesting and commercializing of art and science by and between creators and innovators, on the one hand, and their business managers or lawyers, on the other. These creative and innovative practices are being investigated in contexts in which intellectual property, were it sought, would play a role in the individual's welfare or organization's vitality. I intend this qualitative empirical study to lead to an understanding of whether and how the public discourse on intellectual property law (the central incentive story about public goods and monopolies) connects with intellectual property creation and distribution on the ground.Too few studies of intellectual property look at the actual practices of invention (creation and discovery) and its commercialization to understand the relationships among daily work practices, organizational structure, perceptions of and the formal application (or not) of intellectual property law. Most legal scholarship, if it is empirical, takes filed and litigated cases as data to analyze the scope and success of intellectual property claims. This project, by contrast, investigates creative culture and innovation outside the limited arena where formal doctrinal intellectual property law is applied or contested. Through face-to-face interviews and document collection, this project develops a richer account of the various ways intellectual property law is manifest (or not) in creative and innovation culture. This project seeks to identify the diverse explanations and justifications of the how and why of creative and innovative activity – beyond the dominant incentive story of IP – in order to better understand the activities' ties to (or disconnections with) United States intellectual property law. The primary data from this project comes from nearly 30 semi-structured interviews with artists, scientists and intellectual property professionals, each ranging from one to two hours in length. The artists and scientists include: engineers, laboratory and theoretical scientists, writers involved in print or on-line media, web-designers, filmmakers and videographers, musicians, sculptors, painters, jewelry designers, craftspeople and architects. Some have sought intellectual property protections, others have not. The lawyers are both in-house and firm lawyers whose expertise is intellectual property. The other intellectual property professionals are predominantly licensing professionals or managers who assist in the maintenance of a client's work or business, including (if relevant) their intellectual property portfolio. I have been working with a semi-structured interview protocol that covers central issues but leaves room for individual variation: a series of open-ended questions that are designed to elicit descriptions, explanations and stories from the interviewees on the relationship between the art and innovations in which they are involved and intellectual property law. I am also collecting workplace documents from the interviewees that are used in the development and harvesting of intellectual property, as well as contracts or agreements where IP had not been otherwise secured. The interviews are on-going. Those completed have been taped and transcribed and are currently being read, analyzed and coded. The interview transcripts will become a substantial database of language used to describe creative and innovative processes and to describe the origins and methods of creating and maintaining intellectual property on the ground. To analyze the transcripts, codes are developed deductively from preliminary findings and inductively from the emergent language, repetitions, narrative structure and conceptual themes contained in the interviews. In my analysis, I intend to treat each the interview as a text and to evaluate its structural features as a story of law-in-action and of innovation culture. In conducting an inductive, qualitative analysis of these transcripts, I hope to arrive at a systematic understanding of popular legal consciousness regarding intellectual property as well as a "thick description" of the origins and output of creative and inventive processes that may (or may not) become intellectual property. My intention is to draw from this database of language about intellectual property and invention evidence of the culturally circulating schema, memes, interpretations and understandings of intellectual property law. As a student of literature (I have a Ph.D. in comparative literature) and a scholar of law, I believe that the stories people tell and the language they use to describe their work involving art and science are of import in and of themselves. First, stories are political insofar as they are justificatory units for status quo or change. Second, language is constitutive insofar as the repeated use of words and phrases reify concepts, categories and expectations that structure relationships in our communities. For example, were this project to unearth a variety of explanations for resorting to intellectual property in the fields of arts and sciences (or reasons not to), the dominant story justifying intellectual property protection in formal legal discourse (the incentive story) might be proven less dominant in these informal settings. Further analysis could then attempt to draw connections between the variety of justifications for intellectual property protection (or a lack thereof) in specific arts and science contexts and the efficacy of proposed reforms for intellectual property law to help it achieve its stated goals.Moreover, inasmuch as the analysis of the transcripts together with any documentation also reveals preferences acted upon by the interviewees through their descriptions of their work and its concrete output, the project may also be able to explore connections or disconnects between popular consciousness and self-reported behavior. This study is therefore intended to both access perceptions and commonly circulating explanations of intellectual property law and track the behaviors of and processes that produced and commercialized the art or science for those who are in the business of making or harnessing creativity and invention, whether or not through legal means. Analysis of the interviews and documents will help compare what the interviewees say about creative and innovative processes and what they actually do (their behavior, process, their output, and their means of making a living). This project will therefore begin to map more systematically the relationship between the incentive story of intellectual property law and the innovation process. This project is part of an intended larger study of 150 interviews. I have applied for funding to pursue this larger project over the next three years. The funding application is substantially the paper I submitted for this conference. But this summer I intend to write up the preliminary findings of the first 30 interviews (of which 20 have been completed as of this writing). And it is the write up these preliminary interviews (the pilot study), combined with the overall structure of the empirical project, that I hope to present at the Fifth Annual Conference on Empirical Legal Studies at Yale in November.


We use factor analysis followed by cluster analysis to identify different innovation strategies or
methods that European public sector agencies use to innovate. The methodology identifies three
methods. The first, used by 30.4% of the responding agencies, consists of a policy driven approach to
innovation, with innovation implemented in response to mandated changes in the agency budget, new
laws or regulations, new policy priorities, or the mandated introduction of new services. The second
method, used by 34.3% of the agencies, is characterised by a 'bottom up' approach to innovation and
is the opposite of the policy driven approach. Bottom up innovators have active management support
for innovation and have implemented several policies to encourage the development of innovative
ideas and tests of their efficacy. The third method, external knowledge innovators, is used by 35.3%
of the agencies. These agencies report high levels of barriers to innovation and seek to overcome
them by drawing on sources outside of the agency for assistance with developing an innovation.
The effect of each innovation method on outcomes was analysed using descriptive analyses and
regression techniques. The results show significantly poorer outcomes for policy driven innovators
than for the other two innovation methods. A significantly lower percentage of policy driven innovators
report each of five benefits from service innovations and four benefits from process/organisational
innovations. For almost all benefits from innovation, the poorer performance of policy driven
innovators remains after controlling for the effect of agency size, geographic area of responsibility
(local, regional, national), the use of innovation groups and training to support innovation, and national
per capita income. The exception is improved user satisfaction from innovative services, for which
there is no significant difference between policy driven innovators and the other two innovation
methods.


The purpose of this thesis is to focus on one of the main characteristics of Annie Ernaux's works, namely the blurring of boundaries between self and others. Basing my approach on Rimbaud's famous Je est un autre ("I is another person") as well as on Foucault's definition of transgression as a blurring of boundaries, I examine the various levels of transgression at work in Ernaux. My methodology includes a study of thematic and stylistic features, narrative strategies and identity, intextextuality, paratext and reader-response. My corpus includes not only Ernaux's works of fiction, semi-fiction or autobiography, but also various critical or journalistic pieces as well as interviews, including an unpublished interview with the writer. The structure of my thesis reflects the blurring of boundaries between the private and the public spheres in Ernaux's works. Starting with the divisions at work within the first person (chapter 1), I then examine a semi-private sphere- the world of characters inspired by real life and by fiction - in chapter 2. The last three chapters explore more public areas: reader-responses (chapter 3), the interactions between the first person and the critics ( chapter 4 ), and finally the potential of journaux- diaries as well as journalistic writings- in Ernaux ( chapter 5).In conclusion, I argue that the narrative voice in Ernaux is not only transpersonal, but also transgressive and trans-generic, and that the acts of reading and writing lie at the heart of the links between je (I) and les autres ( others).


Bosminids are ubiquitous and abundant crustacean herbivores in freshwater ecosystems. They are among the best preserved zooplankters in limnological sediments, making them ideal paleolimnological indicators of ecosystem change. Moreover, their egg banks make possible the study of paleogenetics and resurrection ecology. A major limitation to these comparative disciplines is that the relatedness and identities of compared bosminid specimens or subfossils is often uncertain. We aimed to remedy this by developing the first robust molecular phylogeny of the group and inferring patterns of morphological evolution. We used sequence alignments of five nuclear rDNA genes (partial 18S rDNA, internal transcribed spacer 1 [ITS‐1], 5.8S, ITS‐2, and partial 28S rDNA) and one mitochondrial gene (partial 16S rDNA) from representative Holarctic species from all of the proposed subgenera and genera. No evidence of within‐individual sequence variation in the gene regions analyzed was found for the genus Bosmina and the genus Eubosmina. Our nuclear and mitochondrial genetic results revealed a robust phylogeny and were congruent with morphological changes. Competing morphological schemes of bosminid systematics were reconciled by reassigning several species to different subgenera, resurrecting the genus Eubosmina, erecting a new subgenus, and revising the character coding systems that created paraphyletic groups. The results provide an evolutionary framework with diagnostic genetic and morphologic characters for studies of bosminid paleolimnology and paleogenetics.


Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever (DHF) is a disease caused by virus through Aedesaegypti mosquitoes as the vector. The disease is spreading across the world andendanger and threaten human life. Measures in controlling the vector using the commonlarvaside "abate" are in adequate and less affective. The objectives of the research is tofind out larvaside extracted from three kinds of ascidian. The each ascidians (Polycarpaaurata, Didemnum molle and Rophalaea crassa) were extracted with ethanol, and thecrude extracts were subjected to larvasidal test by dissolving in water containing thelarvae. The remarkable extract activity was partition in ethyl acetate, hexane andbuthanol. The results show that extract of Polycarpa aurata has the highest activity. Theactivity of fractions show that ethyl acetate at 100 ppm reveals the highest mortality oflarvae 100% in 8 hours, followed by hexane fraction (12 hours) then buthanol fraction (18hours). All the fractions (Ethyl acetate, Hexane and Buthanol) could totality kill the larvaewithin 24 hours which is comparable to the abate.


Foraminifera of the Suborders Textulariina and Miliolina and the Superfamily
Nodosariacea are recorded from samples of all known Tasmanian marine Oligo-Miocene
sections. Thirteen species of agglutinated foraminifera are identified specifically
and one category is left in open nomenclature. Thirty species of porcellanous
foraminifera (including CrenuZostomina banksi n. gen., n. sp.) are recorded and there
are eight open categories. The Nodosariacea is represented by 63 identified species
(including Lagena tasmaniae n. sp.) and 10 categories in open nomenclature.
Information on each species includes original citation, synonymy of Australian
identifications, remarks where necessary and occurrence and age in Tasmania. All
identified forms are figured.


This article describes the appearance of a solidarity economy movement in different national and continental contexts, stressing the diversity of practices within civil society at local and international level. Emerging in the last decades, these initiatives, which are both political and economic in nature, have extended and renewed the social economy, thereby offering a concrete alternative at a time of capitalist crisis. As such, the movement cannot be overlooked in the quest for a new economic model and public action.


The private health care industry is facing uncertainty and change as a result of the market inquiry being undertaken by the Competition Commission into the private health care industry, the introduction of the National Health Insurance and the possibility of fee regulation. This study seeks to determine the extent to which activity-based costing is used within the operations of private health care facilities in South Africa. A structured online questionnaire was used to collect the primary data; it was completed by 32 private health care facilities and three hospital groups. This study found that the level of activity-based costing adoption at a health care facility level increased from 1.2% in 1994 to 31% in 2013. The increase in the level of activity-based costing adoption indicates that the private health care facilities are willing to adopt and use innovative management tools and techniques to face their current challenges.


HIV produces a relentless, progressive and ultimately fatal immunodeficiency syndrome in the vast majority of infected untreated patients.
The immunodeficiency that develops during HIV infection is a continuum, but the disease conveniently falls into several discrete clinical phases. Adding the results of simple blood tests to a clinical assessment allows the treating clinician to make a remarkably accurate assessment of the immediate risk of opportunistic disease, and initiate preventive and antiviral therapy accordingly.
Understanding the natural history of HIV-infected people allows a clinician to delay therapy when the risk of disease is low, and initiate prevention and antiviral therapy when that risk starts to rise.
Despite limited African prospective evidence, it seems that the progression of immunodeficiency is very similar here to developed countries. The range of opportunistic illnesses is significantly different, though, probably reflecting the difference in profiles of diseases in different regions.


The effect of coal char on the decomposition of rice straw derived tar was investigated in a two-stage fixed bed reactor. The reactor was divided into a pyrolysis zone (upper part) and a volatile-char contacting zone (lower part). Rice straw was pyrolysed at different temperatures in the upper part. Coal char, prepared by the pyrolysis of Indonesian coal at either 600 °C (char600) or 800 °C (char800), was located in the lower part. Volatiles from the rice straw (upper part) were produced and then came in contact with the coal char at the lower part under the N2 (pyrolysis) or steam/N2 (steam reforming) gas flow. Under pyrolysis, both char600 and char800 exhibited a catalytic effect on the thermal tar decomposition. The coal chars also played a significant catalytic activity on the decomposition of the heavy aromatic hydrocarbons that were generated at a high pyrolysis temperature. In the presence of steam, char600 also exhibited a catalytic role in tar steam reforming, while char800 did not reveal any such significant catalytic activity because of the predominant coke/carbon formation.


In light of the failed negotiations with Greece, Jan Krahnen argues that an effective reform agenda for Greece can only be designed by the elected government. Fundamental reforms will take time to take full effect and euro area member states will, in the meantime, have to offer Greece a basic level of economic security. Krahnen demands that policy makers and the professional public involved view the Greek crisis as an opportunity to take the next necessary steps to formulate a reform agenda for the European Monetary Union. A community of supranational and non-party researchers and intellectuals could take the initiative and in a structured process develop a trustworthy and realistic concept that drafts the next big step towards a political union of Europe, including elements of a fiscal union.


Diffuse nitrate (N) loss from agriculture is degrading surface and groundwater quality throughout Europe, leaving waterbodies at risk of not reaching targets set by the Water Framework Directive (WFD). Although a wide range of mitigation methods to reduce diffuse N loss have been identified, their appropriateness and effectiveness is not fully understood, especially at the catchment scale where a wide range of environmental and agricultural conditions exist. Suitable assessment methods are required to quantify the impact of mitigation and provide confirmation of their effectiveness. This study aimed to investigate the applicability of measurement and nutrient budgets for the evaluation of mitigation effectiveness at the field, farm and catchment scale; nutrient budgets represent an alternative approach where long transit times delay observable responses to mitigation in measurement. Investigations focused on two catchments in SW England, Milborne St Andrew (MSA) and Empool / Eagle Lodge (EMEL). Soil surface budgets were calculated for a total of 84 fields and farmgate surpluses / efficiency for 34 farms between 2005 and 2008. Soil mineral nitrogen (SMN) and porous pot (PP) sampling was undertaken in 115 and 57 fields respectively, and groundwater / stream water monitored at 171 sites. Sampling was carried out in 2007 and 2008, and a range of mitigation methods adopted on farm in 2008. Comparing results before and after mitigation, measurement approaches displayed contradictory responses – SMN significantly decreased, PP leached load and concentration significantly increased, and groundwater responses varied between sites. Results suggest an overriding sensitivity to environmental condition and the need for longer timescales especially at the catchment scale. Nutrient budgets at the field and farm scale tended to return lower surpluses post mitigation with 79% / 77% farms improving their farmgate surplus / efficiency. However only in EMEL were improvements in field or farm scale surpluses significant, a result of modest mitigation induced change and sensitivity to economic and environmental drivers. Comparing measurement and budget approaches, budgets were more responsive to changes in nutrient management in the short term and offered higher levels of farmer accountability. However long term measurements are required to provide confirmation that improvements in nutrient budgets transpire in water quality. As such a combined approach is suggested. With direct links to economic benefits likely to aid farmer engagement, and providing more complete representations of mitigation response and feedback, the use of farm scale budgets / efficiency over field scale budgets is advocated.