PURPOSE
This study aimed to assess the effect of non-thermal plasma on the shear bond strength of resin cements to polyetherketoneketone (PEKK) in comparison to other surface treatment methods.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Eighty PEKK discs were subjected to different surface treatments: (1) Untreated (UT); (2) Non-thermal plasma (NTP); (3) Sandblasting with 50 µm Al2O3 particles (SB); and (4) Sandblasting + Non-thermal plasma (SB+NTP). After each surface treatment, the contact angle was measured. Surface conditioning with Visio.Link was applied in all groups after pre-treatment. RelyX Unicem resin cement was bonded onto the PEKK specimens. After fabrication of the specimens, half of each group (n=10) was initially tested, while the other half was subjected to thermocycling (5℃ to 55℃ at 10,000 cycles). Shear bond strength (SBS) testing was performed using a universal testing machine, and failure modes were assessed using stereomicroscopy. The SBS results were analyzed statistically using one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey's post hoc test. Independent t-test was used to examine the effect of thermocycling (P<.05).

RESULTS
The highest SBS values with or without thermocycling were observed with PEKK specimens that were treated with SB+NTP followed by the SB group. The lowest SBS results were observed in the UT groups.

CONCLUSION
The shear bond strength between PEKK and resin cements was improved using non-thermal plasma treatment in combination with sandblasting.


The contemporary emphasis on public participation in policy making derives both from concerns to increase the legitimacy of public decision making and to develop more dialogic forms of governance, and from more 'bottom-up' action intended to ensure that the voices of those excluded from policy making are heard. This has resulted in diverse forms of participative practice, including forums in which social movement organizations meet officials, and forums initiated by officials to which 'the public' are invited. This article examines four case studies of participation, studied as part of research conducted in the ESRC Democracy and Participation programme. It focuses on a micro-level analysis of the dynamics of exchanges within such forums to question the capacity of such forums to generate alternative discourses within which policy problems can be defined and addressed.


In today's competitive world nobody can afford to neglect the need and importance of recent technologies and innovations happening all around. Today besides possessing good qualifications in hand still a lot of youths are facing unemployment. The reason behind if thought properly, is that majority of them are not able to present themselves in a desirable manner. And the worst thing happening because of this is that a lot of misfits are being found at different profession, who had compromised to curb their unemployment. No doubt education is termed as one of the basic requirements on which great nations are built. It is also stated as an investment that takes its time to pay dividends and can generate the highest returns when compared to any other avenues, where resources can be committed. In developing countries, where a large population lives at subsistence levels, primary education is a major tool for enriching human capital. Now the question arises, has education been able to justify its functional nature and if the educators are equipping their students and future citizens of country with this indispensable skill of self expression in proper way? In this regard, computer studies or ICT (information and communication technologies) becomes immensely important as "diverse set of technological tools and resources are used to communicate, create, disseminate, store, and manage information."As a remedy for this problem in many countries language teachers have been using technological aids for many years, some of which have been around since the beginning of the 20th century. These include:  Radio   Television(terrestrial)  Language lab  Computer & internet  Satellite television  Mobile phone/personal digital assistant(PDA)     All of these devices and media can present sound and most of them can also present video. Sound is indispensable because teaching a language without offering the learner the opportunity of hearing native speaker's voices is unthinkable. Video offers additional opportunities for enhancing the learner's experience, ranging from presenting a "talking head" so that the learner can see how lip movements and gestures relate to the spoken language, to films on life and culture in the target language country (Hill 1999).Also extensive trend of using Language labs by foreign educators had proved that language can best be taught to students by following basic laws of linguistics through language laboratories. As such labs were initially perceived as a solution to the problem of teaching a language to a large number of learners in a short time, and undoubtedly were a worthwhile invention but in our Indian context it somehow failed specifically in small towns. The main reasons for the lab's failure to achieve expected outcomes, however, were:  Lack of proper training for teachers wishing to use it,  Lack of imagination in devising activities other than drills. Nowadays the language lab is no longer seen as the panacea, but rather as one of the many technological aids that the language teacher can choose to use to enhance teaching and learning. But still its awareness among common people is very less. Therefore through this paper my intention is to present the condition of language laboratories in Srinagar, the summer capital of J&K state and its impact on developing various linguistic skills like Intonation which somehow ultimately affects the achievement & retention levels of the child.


Involvement is an important psychological construct for understanding consumers' underlying purchase decision process and those factors that shape product perceptions. In order to better understand consumer purchase behavior for low and high priced pork cuts, a series of field interviews at a variety of food retailers were conducted with actual pork shoppers using the New Involvement Profile (NIP) developed by Jain and Srinivasan (1990). In addition to responses to a series of questions designed to assess consumers' involvement when purchasing pork, informational elements including socio-demographic information and pork attributes (e.g., origin, advertisement, on sale) were also included in the analysis. Key results from the study show individuals with high risk factors were significantly less likely to purchase high price cuts of pork. However this factor was mitigated by high price cuts on sale. Advertising is found to engage consumers with specific factors including those individuals who place a symbolic value on pork. Similar results are found for certain individuals based upon the type of store in which shopping took place. Results from our study may help companies to develop specific strategies to target high and low involved consumer segments. For instance, focusing on particular labeling schemes to increase consumers' trust in meat producers could be used to target high involved shoppers. Additionally, based upon the empirical evidence this would have an added benefit by supporting the purchase of higher priced cuts of pork.


Typical features of hereditary vitamin D-dependent (pseudovitamin D-deficient) rickets were observed beginning at ages 20 and 5 months in a brother and sister. Both had calcium malabsorption correctable with high doses of 25-hydroxyvitamin D. During periods of hypocalcemia they both manifested secondary hyperparathyroidism with hypophosphatemia and high serum concentrations of endogenously produced 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D. In each, normalization of serum calcium concentration and resolution of osteomalacia were obtained with continuous administration of high doses of ergocalciferol or high doses of 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol. Chemical features of vitamin D deficiency were corrected in the presence of high circulating concentrations of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D2, produced endogenously, or of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3, administered by mouth. Serum concentrations of 25-hydroxyvitamin D2, 25-hydroxyvitamin D3, 24,25-dihydroxyvitamin D, and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D were normal in five first degree relatives. We conclude that in these five first degree relatives. We conclude that in these siblings, rickets and osteomalacia resulted from a hereditary decreased sensitivity to 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D at the intestine and perhaps other vitamin D target tissues.


The Gene X pert MTB/RIF assay is a novel integrated diagnostic device for the diagnosis of tuberculosis and rapid detection of RIF resistance in clinical specimens. We determined the performance of the MTB/RIF assay for rapid diagnosis of tuberculosis and detection of rifampin resistance in smear-positive and smear-negative pulmonary specimens obtained from possible tuberculosis patients. Study is performed in the centre of Chest & Pulmonary Diseases at Erbil city (Iraq) between November 2013 and May 2015. Three hundred fourteen Sputum samples were obtained from TB suspects. All samples were tested on Gene X pert for MTB/RIF detection after AFB microscopy. 50(15.9%) sputum samples were AFB smear positive and 263 (83.7%) were negative. In MTB/RIF assay 111 (35.3%) were MTB positive and 203 (64.6%) were negative. The MTB/RIF assay also detected 14 RIF-resistant specimen and 97 RIF-susceptible specimens, and the results were confirmed by drug susceptibility testing. We concluded that the MTB/RIF test is a simple method, and routine staff with minimal training can use the system. It helps to avoid injudicious use of anti-tuberculosis drug.).


Like most woody plants, grapevine is classically improved through vegetative methods or conventional breeding. Despite significant progress in genetic engineering, some cultivars of Vitis vinifera are recalcitrant to transformation. This study investigated factors involved in the response of V. vinifera to transformation by Agrobacterium . Embryogenic cultures of several V. vinifera cultivars (Portan, Danuta, Shiraz, and Chardonnay) were established on four solid media (GS1CA, C1P, C1+P, and C1A10) differing in mineral compounds, plant growth regulator type and level, and gelling agent. Embryogenic callus was cocultured with Agrobacterium tumefaciens (EHA105, AGL0, AGL1, LBA4404), Agrobacterium vitis (K252), or Agrobacterium rhizogenes (A4) strains carrying the pBINm-gfp5-ER binary plasmid. It was shown that Agrobacterium strain, culture medium used for maintenance of embryogenic callus, and grapevine genotype play an important role in transformation efficiency. The supervirulent EHA105 A. tumefaciens and the wide host range A4 A. rhizogenes strains showed increased transformation efficiency compared to the widely used LBA4404 A. tumefaciens strain or the limited host range K252 A. vitis strain. Experiments showed that in order to produce highly competent embryogenic tissues, it was necessary to replace 2,4-D (2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid) with NOA (s-naphthoxyacetic acid) before the coculture with Agrobacterium . A transformation method suitable for several cultivars of V. vinifera is described.

Acknowledgments: This work was supported in part by the Ministere des Affaires Etrangeres Francais, the Australian Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation, and the Cooperative Research Centre for Viticulture. The authors give a special thanks to Tricia Franks and Paul Boss for their input.


A manual offering information on the most important laws and treaties approved by Congress in more than 200 years since the first session in 1789. Each Congress is covered in a separate chapter introduced by a historical essay setting the actions of the legislators in the context of their times.


Aim of this research is to classify fetal hypoxia using machine learning approach based on Cardiotocography (CTG) data and patient's previous complications records. Classification method is very popular in analysing new born baby's health in critical cases. CTG data had been used by obstetricians for analysing fetal well-being during pregnancy complications which provides fetus information in detail. CTG data consist of fetal heart rate (FHR) signals from mothers abdomen in the form of continuous electronic time varying pattern. CTG data provides information about FHR which is used for prior prediction and diagnosis of long term embryo impairment. In this study high dimensional CTG data is used to classify fetal hypoxia having attributes like FHR and uterine contraction (UC) in normal and pathological terms. CTG data has been taken from UCI machine learning repository consist of 1832 instances and 21 attributes used in this study out of which 8 are continuous and 13 are discrete. Research follows stacked generalised ensemble approach consist of 6 machine learning classifiers (Artificial Neural Network (ANN), Support Vector Machine (SVM), Random Forest (RF), C4.5 Decision Tree Classier (J48), Simple Logistics (SL), Adaptive Boosting (AdaBoost)) for CTG data classification. Robustness of the model has been evaluated by 10-fold cross validation technique with accuracy, sensitivity and specificity as evaluation features for model. F-measure, ROC (receiver operation characteristics) and Kappa Statistics also used as tools to study test performance. We also compared Model Testing Time for each individual model with accuracy to find out which model performs best. Highest accuracy of 98.79 % provided by Stacking 2 (SL+C4.5(J48)+RF) model. If experienced obstetricians are not available this research will help physicians in prior detection and diagnosis of fetal hypoxia.


Lobopodians, a paraphyletic group of rare but morphologically diverse Palaeozoic vermiform animals bearing metameric appendages, are key to the origin of extant panarthropods. First discovered in 1983 on Mount Stephen (Yoho National Park, British Columbia), the Cambrian (Wuliuan) Burgess Shale lobopodian nicknamed 'Collins' monster' is formally described as Collinsovermis monstruosus gen. et sp. nov. A formal systematic treatment of the comparable and poorly known lobopodian Acinocricus stichus from Utah is also provided. The body of Collinsovermis is plump and compact but shows the diagnostic suspension‐feeding characters of luolishaniid lobopodians. It possesses 14 contiguous pairs of lobopods, lacking space between them. The 6 anterior pairs are elongate, adorned with about 20 pairs of long and slightly curved ventral spinules arranged in a chevron‐like pattern. These appendages terminate in a pair of thin claws and their dorsal surfaces are covered in minute spines or setae. The 8 posterior lobopod pairs, which attach to a truncated body termination, are stout and smooth, each terminated by a single strong recurved claw. Each somite bears a pair of dorsal spines; somites 4 and posteriad bear an additional median spine. The spines on somites 1–3 are much shorter than the spines on the remaining somites. The head is short, bears a terminal mouth and a pair of antenniform outgrowths, and is covered by an oblong sclerite. Collinsovermis, plus Collinsium and Acinocricus, are found to comprise a sub‐group of stout luolishaniid lobopodians with remarkably long spinules on the front lobopods, interpreted here as a clade (Teratopodidae fam. nov.) This clade is distinct from both the comparatively slenderer Luolishania and a sub‐group composed of Facivermis and Ovatiovermis lacking body sclerites. Luolishaniids were mostly sessile forerunners of arthropods that had coupled efficient suspension‐feeding devices and, as in Collinsovermis, strong defensive or deterrent features.


BARBARA GELLER AND MELISSA P. DELBELLO (Eos.): Bipolar Disorder in Childhood and Early Adolescence. Guilford Press, New York, 2003, 342 pp., $36.00, ISBN 1-57230-837-0. There has been substantial controversy in the mental health field about the existence and diagnostic boundary of childhood (i.e., early-onset) bipolar disorder. Although it is now accepted that symptoms of mania can be manifested in children and adolescents (see National Institute of Mental Health Research Roundtable on Prepubertal Bipolar Disorder, 2001, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 40, 871-878), many questions remain about the diagnosis, natural history, neurobiology, and treatment of early-onset bipolar disorder. The book Bipolar Disorder in Childhood and Early Adolescence is an edited collection of 15 chapters that address these questions as well as a range of other aspects of early-onset bipolar disorder. The authors of the chapters are established scientists whose work in this area is recognized as "state of the art." The first 4 chapters of the book address the diagnosis and phenomenology of bipolar disorder in children and adolescents. In chapter 1, Peter Lewinsohn and his colleagues describe the epidemiology, clinical characteristics, and longitudinal course of early adolescent bipolar disorder. Chapter 2, by Barbara Geller and her colleagues, discusses a recently developed diagnostic instrument for pediatrie bipolar research and presents data that help to clarify the diagnostic boundary between attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and early-onset bipolar disorder. In chapter 3, Sandra Dejong and Jean Frazier review phenomenological characteristics, diagnostic issues, and pharmacological treatments for children and adolescents with co-occurring pervasive developmental disorders and early-onset bipolar disorder. Chapter 4, by Demitri Papolos, examines the common comorbidities (e.g., ADHD, conduct disorder, substance use disorder) associated with early-onset bipolar disorder. In chapter 5, Kiki Chang and Hans Steiner review studies about offspring of parents with bipolar disorder and describe early manifestations of bipolar disorder in children. The second section of this book discusses the genetic, biological, and neurological causes and correlates of early-onset bipolar disorder. Chapter 6, by Nuri Farber and John Newcomer, examines how problems in brain maturation and development might lead to abnormalities in neuronal functioning that underlie symptoms of bipolar disorder. In chapter 7, Melissa DelBello and Robert Kowatch review data from neuroimaging studies (e.g., computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, single-photon emission computed tomography) and conclude that children and adolescents with bipolar disorder exhibit frontal-subcortical brain abnormalities. In chapter 8, Robinder Bhangoo and her colleagues discuss the physiological correlates of emotion that are especially relevant to early-onset bipolar disorder. Chapter 9, by Ohel Soto and Tanya Murphy, uses the example of pediatrie autoimmune neuropsychiatrie disorders associated with streptococcus (PANDAS) to explain how immune system dysfunction can produce psychiatric symptoms, including mania and depression. In chapter 10, Uma Rao discusses EEG sleep pattern disruptions underlying bipolar disorder and suggests possible mechanisms (e.g., circadian dysregulation) related to these disruptions. …


Rehabilitation for recovering the nerve motor system of patients with neuromuscular damage, such as those due to spinal cord injury and spasm, has been based on extremely labour intensive physiotherapy procedures. A potential solution for helping patients to expedite their recovery from neurological disorders and improve their ability in performing activities of daily living would be by using mechatronic-assistive devices that can be controlled by the patients themselves. The inclusion of modern input devices such as Head Mouse or brain-computer interface technology with neurological stimulation to help neural modulation has been advocated by others in the related research community. This paper introduces a power-assisted exoskeleton prototype system for producing elbow flexion-extension motion by using a Head Mouse as an input of control commands by the patient. Experiments were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness (Position, Velocity, Acceleration, and Torque) of the exoskeleton. Results demonstrate that the device would be a useful rehabilitation tool for patients with neuromuscular disorder.


Phenomena in caring science are often complex and laden with meanings. Empirical research with the aim of capturing lived experiences is one way of revealing the complexity. Sometimes, however, results from empirical research need to be further discussed. One way is to further abstract the result and/or philosophically examine it. This has previously been performed and presented in scientific journals and doctoral theses, contributing to a greater understanding of phenomena in caring science. Although the intentions in many of these publications are laudable, the lack of methodological descriptions as well as a theoretical and systematic foundation can contribute to an ambiguity concerning how the results have emerged during the analysis. The aim of this paper is to describe the methodological support for the further abstraction of and/or philosophical examination of empirical findings. When trying to systematize the support procedures, we have used a reflective lifeworld research (RLR) approach. Based on the assumptions in RLR, this article will present methodological support for a theoretical examination that can include two stages. In the first stage, data from several (two or more) empirical results on an essential level are synthesized into a general structure. Sometimes the analysis ends with the general structure, but sometimes there is a need to proceed further. The second stage can then be a philosophical examination, in which the general structure is discussed in relation to a philosophical text, theory, or concept. It is important that the theories are brought in as the final stage after the completion of the analysis. Core dimensions of the described methodological support are, in accordance with RLR, openness, bridling, and reflection. The methodological support cannot be understood as fixed stages, but rather as a guiding light in the search for further meanings.


In this presentation we deal with the frame of the relationship between Modernity and Tradition in the Spanish Culture (low and high; poetry, cinema, mass media) in the first half of XXth Century. Spain as a peripherical country was put under tension in the own process of social and cultural modernization. When an avant-garde artist like Rafael Barradas (1890-1929) was painting his urban landscapes in Madrid 1919 –under the influence of Futurism-, sheeps were around the Atocha railway station (as we can see at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid). Meanwhile, in rural Andalusia, a poet like Rogelio Buendia (1891-1969) was writing in his provincial poems about Bessemer furnaces that were contaminating the ideal landscape sung before by the symbolist poet –and Nobel Prize in Literature- Juan Ramon Jimenez. This kind of contradictions marks the way toward Modernization of the cultural, social and political landscape in Spain. We will also consider the inter-war period, between the first avant-garde "ultraismo" (1918-1922) and the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), and how this movement enters in a crisis in the Thirties: Great Depression, II Spanish Republic and Civil War. In fact, Literary Francoism is about a return to the ideological traditional symbolist canon, as opposed to modern world, machines and urban life, considered as a foreign influence that have to be purified. All of this, with a strong support of new cultural institutions, media (we consider Federico Garcia Lorca´s poems in the "new country"'s mass media) and educational system. We'll be also talking about: Spanish Civil War as a car crash, the Spanish Anarchist Utopia and Catholic iconography (churches and department stores as spaces of political and cultural iconoclastic fight), the rise and fall of the Falangist Project in Spain, through cinema and popular culture, and high poetry as well, etc.


This research was conducted in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja of Nigeria and aimed at discovering areas of support needs required by TB patients from Treatment Supporters (TS), from the perspectives of TB patients, as compared to what the managers of TB program consider as ideal support. Here, qualitative design using Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), In-depth Interview (IDI) and Key Informant Interview (KII) were used. From the study, TB patients expressed their support needs while on treatment as follows: (1) monitoring and supervision of daily drug in-take, (2) motivational support to take the drugs as expected, (3) provision of support for feeding (when there is no food or means of eating), and (4) support for provision of transportation cost to visit TB clinic when the need arises. The study thus revealed that left on their own, TB patients may not be committed to taking their drugs and complete their treatment regimen, if any of these supports is lacking while on treatment. Patients with Treatment Supporters who were offered these supports, tend to complete their treatment regimen and not likely to default.

 Key words: Tuberculosis, TB patients, supports needs.


We develop a high dimensional nonparametric classification method named sparse additive machine (SAM), which can be viewed as a functional version of support vector machine (SVM) combined with sparse additive modeling. the SAM is related to multiple kernel learning (MKL), but is computationally more efficient and amenable to theoretical analysis. In terms of computation, we develop an efficient accelerated proximal gradient descent algorithm which is also scalable to large datasets with a provable O(1/k2) convergence rate, where k is the number of iterations. In terms of theory, we provide the oracle properties of the SAM under asymptotic frameworks. Empirical results on both synthetic and real data are reported to back up our theory.


Six short G-rich intergenic regions in the maxicircle of Leishmania tarentolae are conserved in location and polarity in two other kinetoplastid species. We show here that G-rich region 6 (G6) represents a pan-edited cryptogene which contains at least two domains edited independently in a 3'-to-5' manner connected by short unedited regions. In the completely edited RNA, 117 uridines are added at 49 sites and 32 uridines are deleted at 13 sites, creating a translated 85-amino-acid polypeptide. Similar polypeptides are probably encoded by pan-edited G6 transcripts in two other species. The G6 polypeptide has significant sequence similarity to the family of S12 ribosomal proteins. A minicircle-encoded gRNA overlaps 12 editing sites in G6 mRNA, and chimeric gRNA/mRNA molecules were shown to exist, in agreement with the transesterification model for editing.


We study the stability of covers of simplicial complexes. Given a map $f:Y\to X$ that satisfies almost all of the local conditions of being a cover, is it close to being a genuine cover of $X$? Complexes $X$ for which this holds are called cover-stable. We show that this is equivalent to $X$ being a cosystolic expander with respect to non-abelian coefficients. This gives a new combinatorial-topological interpretation to cosystolic expansion which is a well studied notion of high dimensional expansion. As an example, we show that the $2$-dimensional spherical building $A_{3}(\mathbb{F}_q)$ is cover-stable. We view this work as a possibly first example of "topological property testing", where one is interested in studying stability of a topological notion that is naturally defined by local conditions.


The four-volume set LNCS 8925, 8926, 8927, and 8928 comprises the thoroughly refereed post-workshop proceedings of the Workshops that took place in conjunction with the 13th European Conference on Computer Vision, ECCV 2014, held in Zurich, Switzerland, in September 2014. The 203 workshop papers were carefully reviewed and selected for inclusion in the proceedings. They where presented at workshops with the following themes: where computer vision meets art; computer vision in vehicle technology; spontaneous facial behavior analysis; consumer depth cameras for computer vision; "chalearn" looking at people: pose, recovery, action/interaction, gesture recognition; video event categorization, tagging and retrieval towards big data; computer vision with local binary pattern variants; visual object tracking challenge; computer vision + ontology applies cross-disciplinary technologies; visual perception of affordance and functional visual primitives for scene analysis; graphical models in computer vision; light fields for computer vision; computer vision for road scene understanding and autonomous driving; soft biometrics; transferring and adapting source knowledge in computer vision; surveillance and re-identification; color and photometry in computer vision; assistive computer vision and robotics; computer vision problems in plant phenotyping; and non-rigid shape analysis and deformable image alignment. Additionally, a panel discussion on video segmentation is included


How does sentiment flow through hyperlink networks? Earlier work on hyperlink networks has focused on the structure of the network, often modeling posts as nodes in a directed graph in which edges represent hyperlinks. At the same time, sentiment analysis has largely focused on classifying texts in isolation. Here we analyze a large hyperlinked network of mass media and weblog posts to determine how sentiment features of a post affect the sentiment of connected posts and the structure of the network itself. We explore the phenomena of sentiment flow through experiments on a graph containing nearly 8 million nodes and 15 million edges. Our analysis indicates that (1) nodes are strongly influenced by their immediate neighbors, (2) deep cascades lead complex but predictable lives, (3) shallow cascades tend to be objective, and (4) sentiment becomes more polarized as depth increases.


This volume is an outgrowth of an international conference in honor of Toshikazu Sunada on the occasion of his sixtieth birthday. The conference took place at Nagoya University, Japan, in 2007. Sunada's research covers a wide spectrum of spectral analysis, including interactions among geometry, number theory, dynamical systems, probability theory and mathematical physics. Readers will find papers on trace formulae, isospectral problems, zeta functions, quantum ergodicity, random waves, discrete geometric analysis, value distribution, and semiclassical analysis. This volume also contains an article that presents an overview of Sunada's work in mathematics up to the age of sixty.


Several strategic planning approaches have been proposed for dealing with future uncertainties in the urban water infrastructure sector. We identify three well established perspectives that address uncertainties in strategic decisions: an adaptive perspective, focusing on an incremental adaptation of existing structures as a reaction to unforeseen developments, a modeling perspective, focusing on an improved characterization of future context conditions and a managerial perspective, focusing on increasing the flexibility of the infrastructure organization. Despite their virtues, these approaches have definite weaknesses in their approach to uncertainty: they often consider a restricted scope of alternatives, they face substantial difficulties in predicting context conditions over time periods of decades and often consider objectives and tradeoffs only implicitly. We elaborate and illustrate with a case study a fourth perspective that may compensate for these specific weaknesses and complement the established strategic planning approaches. This perspective is based on a discursive, qualitative assessment of key elements in the strategic planning process among a selected set of local stakeholders and decision makers. We maintain that this approach leads to a more explicit and reflexive treatment of future uncertainty, conflicting objectives and a broadening of the considered alternatives and therefore to a more robust decision-making process.


Macroalgae assemblages have been used as a quality element for the assessment of the Ecological Status Classes (ESC) of coastal water bodies for the implementation of the European Water Framework Directive (WFD, 2000/60/EC). To assess the suitability of this quality element in Algiers coasts, seven sampling sites with five (5) replications covering a wide range of anthropogenic pressures were studied during spring and summer 2015. Coverage data of macroalgae in each sampling site were analyzed on species, i.e., structural (species number, nMDS, clustering, K-dominance and Simper analysis on Bray–Curtis similarity) and on Ecological Status Groups, i.e., functional (nMDS, clustering, K-dominance, Ecological Evaluation Index/EEI-c) biological levels. Key water variables (temperature, salinity and pH) along with the anthropogenic stress index MALUSI were also estimated. The obtained results revealed a significant effect of anthropogenic stress in the macroalgal assemblages. The structural analysis showed: (1) species richness of 86 taxa in total, (2) dominance of Cystoseira amentacea var. stricta (late-successional) associated by Lithophyllum incrustans, and Jania rubens in non-impacted sites and of Ulva rigida, Ulva intestinalis and Caulerpa cylindracea (opportunistic) species in impacted sites, and (3) record a higher proportion of low abundance of species in polluted communities than in less polluted communities. The functional analysis showed: (1) classification of sites based on multivariate and K-dominance analyses in four groups, three in agreement with water degradation, and one for low salinity influence, (2) classification of sites into "Bad", "High", "Moderate" and "Good" ESC's by EEI-c index, (3) a strong non-linear relationship (R²=0.85) of EEI-c index with MALUSI index. Therefore, to implement a national monitoring program within the scope WFD in Algeria coasts, the EEI-c index will be a suitable tool.


This book is an accessible collection of case study scenarios ideal for physiology and pharmacology revision for pharmacy, medical, biomedical science, clinical science and healthcare students. Clearly structured and organized by major organ system, the book emphasises ways in which key signs and symptoms of disease inform diagnosis and the choice of treatment, together with the relevant pharmacological mechanisms. Each chapter has a clinical focus and includes clear learning outcomes, key points and model answers with detailed explanations designed to enhance students' understanding of the physiology and pharmacology underpinning each case study scenario. 50 topics are covered and the cases presented include an extensive range of psychological, neurological, endocrine, cardiovascular, respiratory, renal, gastrointestinal and reproductive disorders, their symptoms, complications and usual treatment along with the actions and uses of some widely- used drugs.* An essential revision text designed to help students apply their theoretical knowledge to real-life cases* Realistic case studies focusing on commonly occurring conditions and diseases* Model answers throughout* Learning outcomes provided at the beginning of each chapter* Key learning points presented in the cases follow each model answer* Helps students to understand the relevance and clinical implications of the topics studied in physiology and pharmacology courses* Reinforces major concepts and definitions* Includes a glossary with a full list of drugs and disorders to support the text


Three multilingual immigrant South Asian Muslim families who have children with autism were interviewed to ascertain their beliefs about autism. Data were drawn from interviews and conversations recorded during 17 months of ethnographic fieldwork in homes and community. Results indicate that families understood the task of raising a child with autism in religious terms. In keeping with the precepts of Islam, their overarching goal was to raise their children as normally as possible, incorporating them into ordinary social, linguistic, and religious practices at home and in the community. Parents strongly contested experts' understandings of autism, which they believed undermined rather than promoted their children's development. Findings have implications for multicultural teacher education and enhancing home, community, and school collaboration.


Each year, latest state of the art technologies and algorithms arise that claim and prove to-shine their predecessors. One such algorithm is the Colour-based Retina Key-point (CREAK) descriptor, which is based on the FAST Retina Key-point (FREAK) descriptor with the included functionality of considering colour information in its Key-point description. This paper explores the implementation of CREAK in a "real-time" visual odometry application by means of a comparative study of the more well-known FREAK algorithm. Although FREAK achieved more accurate odometry when key-points were abundant, this proved to be too computationally expensive. CREAK on the other hand outperformed FREAK when key-points are scarce due to its lack of false-positive matches.


ABSTRACT The COVID-19 global crisis and the "stay-home" response taken by most governments has starkly exposed the dependence of formal economies on the invisible and unpaid care labor of women – a dependence that has intensified during the pandemic as public childcare provision and schools are shut and parents work from home. This article focuses specifically on the childcare and income support provided by grandparents in the United Kingdom and South Africa. In undertaking this comparative analysis the study demonstrates the universality of intergenerational interdependence and the contextual specificity of grandparental childcare and income provision, as well as the differential impacts of suspending, or risking, such supports during the pandemic. Grandparents within and across households make substantial contributions to economic, social, and affective lives, and the study argues for greater recognition of these crucial contributions and the development of a more intersectional understanding of the provision of care work. HIGHLIGHTS COVID-19 has highlighted grandparents' key contributions to society as part of intergenerational support. In the UK, suspension of grandparents' informal childcare exposed gaps in formal childcare provision. In South Africa, grandparents maintained caregiving roles in multigenerational households, despite health risks. Grandparents' contributions must be recognized, reevaluated, and reprioritized in government recovery planning.


Diabetes Mellitus is a condition that reduces the body's ability to maintain normal blood
glucose levels. Maintaining the correct blood glucose level is important as it provides different
parts of the body with energy to function properly. Because of this, diabetics must be able to
know what the levels are, so they can control them with supplements or other treatments.
At present, people with diabetes must monitor their blood glucose levels using invasive
techniques like needles and pin-prick devices sometimes up to three or four times a day,
depending on the severity of their condition. Because of the pain and inconvenience of testing
using this method, sufferers don't always test themselves as often as they should.
A non-invasive, in vivo system of monitoring blood glucose levels is the vision of this
investigation. Being non-invasive would make the task of measuring blood sugar painless. In
vivo, in a clinical testing sense means constantly monitoring. This is in contrast to the in vitro
method commonly used today where blood is extracted with the needle or pin-prick and
analysed. As much a problem as pain for the diabetic is the inconvenience of having to stop
what they are doing and test themselves. A solution could be a device which constantly
monitors without being prompted by the user. An in vivo system has advantages as it could be
used in the future to provide a closed-loop insulin delivery system (i.e an artificial pancreas),
and it can provide alarms for hypoglycaemic (low glucose) and hyperglycaemic (too much
glucose) attacks.
There have been some studies into using near-infrared light to measure the glucose levels, but
as yet this method is not accurate enough for clinical applications. This project will investigate
the method and determine if there are any ways to improve the quality of signals or similar
alternatives.


We have characterized the conformational ensembles of polyglutamine peptides of various lengths (ranging from to ), both with and without the presence of a C-terminal polyproline hexapeptide. For this, we used state-of-the-art molecular dynamics simulations combined with a novel statistical analysis to characterize the various properties of the backbone dihedral angles and secondary structural motifs of the glutamine residues. For (i.e., just above the pathological length for Huntington's disease), the equilibrium conformations of the monomer consist primarily of disordered, compact structures with non-negligible -helical and turn content. We also observed a relatively small population of extended structures suitable for forming aggregates including - and -strands, and - and -hairpins. Most importantly, for we find that there exists a long-range correlation (ranging for at least residues) among the backbone dihedral angles of the Q residues. For polyglutamine peptides below the pathological length, the population of the extended strands and hairpins is considerably smaller, and the correlations are short-range (at most residues apart). Adding a C-terminal hexaproline to suppresses both the population of these rare motifs and the long-range correlation of the dihedral angles. We argue that the long-range correlation of the polyglutamine homopeptide, along with the presence of these rare motifs, could be responsible for its aggregation phenomena.


The past four decades have witnessed an explosive growth in the field of networkbased facility location modeling. This is not at all surprising since location policy is one of the most profitable areas of applied systems analysis in regional science and ample theoretical and applied challenges are offered. Location-allocation models seek the location of facilities and/or services (e.g., schools, hospitals, and warehouses) so as to optimize one or several objectives generally related to the efficiency of the system or to the allocation of resources. This paper concerns the location of facilities or services in discrete space or networks, that are related to the public sector, such as emergency services (ambulances, fire stations, and police units), school systems and postal facilities. The paper is structured as follows: first, we will focus on public facility location models that use some type of coverage criterion, with special emphasis in emergency services. The second section will examine models based on the P-Median problem and some of the issues faced by planners when implementing this formulation in real world locational decisions. Finally, the last section will examine new trends in public sector facility location modeling.


An especially timely work, the book is an introduction to the theory of p-adic L-functions originated by Kubota and Leopoldt in 1964 as p-adic analogues of the classical L-functions of Dirichlet. Professor Iwasawa reviews the classical results on Dirichlet's L-functions and sketches a proof for some of them. Next he defines generalized Bernoulli numbers and discusses some of their fundamental properties. Continuing, he defines p-adic L-functions, proves their existence and uniqueness, and treats p-adic logarithms and p-adic regulators. He proves a formula of Leopoldt for the values of p-adic L-functions at s=1. The formula was announced in 1964, but a proof has never before been published. Finally, he discusses some applications, especially the strong relationship with cyclotomic fields.


The autonomous navigation of a spacecraft during descent and landing using a computer vision system has been recognized as a key to the feasibility of interplanetary missions. One possible approach for navigation is to compute an elevation model and high level description of the planetary body during orbit, and use this information jointly with real-time dynamic range estimation and tracking to navigate the spacecraft. The authors describe a vision system that is used to navigate the spacecraft during descent. The final goal is to position a roving vehicle on a selected landing site and position it on its trajectory. The methods studied should be applicable to the landing phase and later on also in the autonomous motion of the rover on the surface.<<ETX>>


Background: Human brucellosis is a zoonotic disease caused by Brucella melitensis, Brucella abortus, and Brucella suis. Brucella causes a chronic disease, which subverts the immune defense system of their hosts. In this study, the prevalence of an important Brucella virulence determinant, prpA, which can modulate immune response, was determined in human isolates. Methods: Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay was standardized and applied to 37 isolates obtained from patient's specimens. Primers for prpA gene were designed and evaluated using bioinformatic tools. DNA sequencing was performed for further verification. Results: In the 37 Brucella isolates (31 Brucella melitensis and 6 Brucella abortus), 32 (86.4%) carried prpA gene. Conclusion: Presence of prpA gene in most isolates indicates the high prevalence of this gene among Iranian isolates and emphasizes its role in pathogenicity of this organism.


Although increasing attention has been paid to the use of dental care by HIV patients, the existing studies do not use probability samples, and no accurate population estimates of use can be made from this work. The intent of the present study was to establish accurate population estimates of the use of dental services by patients under medical care. The study, part of the HIV Cost and Services Utilization Study (HCSUS), created a representative national probability sample, the first of its kind, of HIV-infected adults in medical care. Both bivariate and logistic regressions were conducted, with use of dental care in the preceding 6 months as the dependent variable and demographic, social, behavioral, and disease characteristics as independent variables. Forty-two percent of the sample had seen a dental health professional in the preceding 6 months. The bivariate logits for use of dental care show that African-Americans, those whose exposure to HIV was caused by hemophilia or blood transfusions, persons with less education, and those who were employed were less likely to use dental care (p < 0.05). Sixty-five percent of those with a usual source of care had used dental care in the preceding 6 months. Use was greatest among those obtaining dental care from an AIDS clinic (74%) and lowest among those without a usual source of dental care (12%). We conclude that, in spite of the high rate of oral disease in persons with HIV, many do not use dental care regularly, and that use varies by patient characteristics and availability of a regular source of dental care.


Coordination of macro-economic development and employment is an essential issue for China's social development, which largely depends on economic expansion, as well as integration into the global market to create jobs. Through the literature review and empirical test, this paper analyses the relationship between macro-economic policy and employment, and discusses the impact of real exchange rate and foreign trade on employment. The research indicates that a stable and competitive exchange rate policy plays an indispensable role in employment promotion, more effective than monetary and fiscal policies, while the export growth also plays a positive role in employment promotion.


One of the most serious causes of degradation of concrete is the alkalisilica reaction. Amorphous silicates present in certain aggregates react with the alkaline pore solution of the concrete to form a gel, which absorbs water and swells, leading to the expansion of the concrete. It is known that the deleterious effects of ASR can be suppressed by the incorporation of supplementary cementitious materials in the concrete, but the mechanisms operating are not clear. In this article, we study a model system of amorphous silica plates in simulated pore solutions by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), to demonstrate that aluminum in solution can directly suppress the dissolution of amorphous silica under the highly alkaline conditions found in concrete. XPS shows that aluminum species are incorporated into the framework of the silica structure. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and atomic force microscope (AFM) images confirmed the reduction in dissolution of silica in solutions containing aluminum.


The spectral hole burning effects and gain dynamics of all-optical gain clamped multichannel erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) are modeled. The two-level laser model is used to write the propagation and rate equations of the inhomogeneous laser medium. The governing equations are an uncountable system of partial differential equations (PDEs). After some mathematical manipulations, averaging over the fiber length and introducing an approximation method, the system of PDEs is converted to a finite system of ordinary differential equations (ODEs). The gain dynamics and hole burning of an all-optical stabilized multiwavelength EDFA and the transient response of an optical fiber inverter are analyzed by the solution of the system of ODEs. Theoretical results are in good agreement with the published experimental result.


Background: Chronic daily headache (CDH) results in significant distress and a substantial impact on the quality of life. Due to its nature of refractoriness to conservative management, exploring other modalities seems worthwhile. Invasive nerve stimulation, though promising, has seen complication rates in plenty. The goal of the present study was to assess the efficacy of noninvasive neuromodulation of supraorbital and occipital nerves (SON and ON) using hybrid pulsed radiofrequency device (Stimpod NMS460) in patients of CDH. Methods: Thirty patients suffering from CDH were enrolled in this randomized double-blind sham-controlled trial and randomly allocated to two groups of 15 patients each. SON and ON stimulations were given using the device Stimpod NMS460 thrice a week for 3 weeks. Follow-up visits were scheduled at 6 and 12 weeks of therapy. Pain relief was measured using numerical rating scale score. The overall change in quality of life (measured by Short Form-12 Health Survey) and associated complications were also noted. Results: Successful stimulation (50% or greater decrease in pain intensity) was seen in 66.67% patients; inadequate response in 33.3% in the intervention group. The 50% responder rate in sham control group was 13.3%; remaining 86.6% showed an inadequate response. This response remained sustained up to 12 weeks of follow-up. Similar changes were observed in the quality of life of patients. No adverse effect was documented during the study period. Conclusion: Noninvasive neuromodulation may serve as a safer and cost-effective treatment option in CDH refractory to conservative management.


A novel electro-colorimetric gas sensing technique based on the catalytic metal nanoparticles decorated metal oxide nanostructures integrated with multiple quantum wells (MQWs) has been proposed. The working principle has been demonstrated by the sensing device derived from the composite consisting of In0.15Ga0.85N/GaN MQWs and Pt-functionalized In2O3 nanopushpins for the detection of hydrogen gas. The pronounced changes in emission as well as Raman scattering spectra of InGaN/GaN MQWs under different target gas concentrations clearly illustrate the feasibility of our newly designed composites for the derivative of contact-free, simple and highly sensitive gas sensors with optical detection


This project develops and demonstrates a megawatt (MW)-scale Energy Storage System that employs compressed air as the storage medium. An isothermal compressed air energy storage (ICAESTM) system rated for 1 MW or more will be demonstrated in a full-scale prototype unit. Breakthrough cost-effectiveness will be achieved through the use of proprietary methods for isothermal gas cycling and staged gas expansion implemented using industrially mature, readily-available components.The ICAES approach uses an electrically driven mechanical system to raise air to high pressure for storage in low-cost pressure vessels, pipeline, or lined-rock cavern (LRC). This air is later expanded through the same mechanical system to drive the electric motor as a generator. The approach incorporates two key efficiency-enhancing innovations: (1) isothermal (constant temperature) gas cycling, which is achieved by mixing liquid with air (via spray or foam) to exchange heat with air undergoing compression or expansion; and (2) a novel, staged gas-expansion scheme that allows the drivetrain to operate at constant power while still allowing the stored gas to work over its entire pressure range. The ICAES system will be scalable, non-toxic, and cost-effective, making it suitable for firming renewables and for other grid applications.


Generalization is a central challenge for the deployment of reinforcement learning (RL) systems in the real world. In this paper, we show that the sequential structure of the RL problem necessitates new approaches to generalization beyond the well-studied techniques used in supervised learning. While supervised learning methods can generalize effectively without explicitly accounting for epistemic uncertainty, we show that, perhaps surprisingly, this is not the case in RL. We show that generalization to unseen test conditions from a limited number of training conditions induces implicit partial observability, effectively turning even fully-observed MDPs into POMDPs. Informed by this observation, we recast the problem of generalization in RL as solving the induced partially observed Markov decision process, which we call the epistemic POMDP. We demonstrate the failure modes of algorithms that do not appropriately handle this partial observability, and suggest a simple ensemble-based technique for approximately solving the partially observed problem. Empirically, we demonstrate that our simple algorithm derived from the epistemic POMDP achieves significant gains in generalization over current methods on the Procgen benchmark suite.


Maconachie et al. (2009) in their work "Descending the energy ladder? Oil price shocks and domestic fuel choices in Kano, Nigeria" show that cooking fuel consumption in Kano city (Northern Nigeria) is biased in favour of the traditional fuelwood (i.e. the northern population are descending the energy ladder, not ascending it, as might be expected). This finding prompted the present wider exploration of cooking fuel supply and consumption at the national scale, in order to understand the spatial patterns of fossil fuel distribution and consumption in the country, with a view to examining whether there are any spatial patterns of such inequalities amongst households across the 36 states of Nigeria (and Abuja the capital city). Spatial analysis of the distribution and consumption of cooking fuel was conducted using Geographical Information Systems (GIS). The results show that fossil fuel supply is precarious in the country. The majority of the northern states are deprived of sufficient fossil fuel, and this is closely correlated with their dependence on traditional fuels (fuelwood), leading to considerable pressure on the region's scarce vegetation resources.


Significant research efforts have been devoted in recent years to the development of displacement-based seismic design methodologies, recognizing the shortcomings of traditional, code-specified force-based design procedures. Recent advances in direct displacement-based seismic design of columns rely on the estimates of yield curvature for the determination of seismic design forces to satisfy the specified seismic performance levels. This paper presents simple expressions for estimating the effective yield curvature for normal- and high-strength circular reinforced concrete (RC) columns based on moment-curvature analyses of a large number of column sections. Such expressions can be programmed into the spreadsheet format and can be used for the displacement-based design of RC columns. Influence of different parameters on the effective yield curvature has also been quantified. Effective yield curvature is presented in terms of the gross diameter of the section and the yield strain of the longitudinal reinforcement together with three modification factors that take into account the effects of the compressive strength of concrete, the axial load ratio and the quantity of longitudinal reinforcement.


The paper intended to study managerial impediments which may hinder effective managerial practices by IT managers and their co-workers. The managerial drivers included: rules, initiatives, emotions, immediate action and integrity. This paper described the drivers of managerial practices by managers in information technology departments. The findings on Perception of IT managers and administrators towards the drivers of managerial practices by IT managers put a lot of emphasis on immediate action with regards to emergencies and driver of rules ( lack of commitment) to explain the impediments faced by IT managers. Purpose: This research sought to find out if IT managers were facing challenges resulting from administration and management practices. This research was carried out to investigate on the impediments facing IT managers. The study involved effective drivers of management adopted from Sabourin (2009) experiential leadership model, with managerial drivers of; rules, initiatives, integrity, immediate action and emotions to better identify key obstacles that face information technology managers and their management practices. Methodology: A mixed method of qualitative (focus group discussion) and quantitative (a survey with a questionnaire) approaches was applied to this study. These involved group discussion of IT technicians and administrators in the selected organizations in a Canadian province. The total number of surveyed managers was 149. Findings: With regards to the drivers of management practices, it was established that the driver of immediate action holds the highest consideration towards managerial practices by IT managers. This driver had, a frequency recorded 131, mean of 3.1897, median of 3.200 and standard deviation of 0.75874. The driver of rules was after analysis found to have a frequency of 132, a mean of 2.5773, median of 2.500 and standard deviation of 0.72983. The driver of emotions had a frequency of 131, mean of 2.5530, median of 2.400 and standard deviation of 0.71773. The driver of integrity had a frequency of 130, mean of 2.6969, median of 2.600 and standard deviation of 0.70603. The driver of initiatives had a frequency of 130; mean score of 2.8923, median of 2.800 and standard deviation of 0.80602. The summary of the report has been presents in table 2. Conclusion: This study focused on the challenges experienced by IT managers and co-workers as they execute their management practices. Taken as a whole, our findings suggest that, there are some impediments associated with drivers of Emotions, immediate action, Rules and initiatives as well as integrity. Even if these obstacles are in multiple levels to develop and promote IT management practices, it is imperative to study with more depth obstacles faced by IT managers in order to better understand how the obstacles they face represent an impediment to the development of their competencies and effective performance in IT. Keywords: Managerial drivers, managerial practices, Information technology (IT), Information management


Social media platforms are widely lauded as bastions for entrepreneurial self-actualisation and creative autonomy, offering an answer to historically exclusive and hierarchical creative industries as routes to employability and success. Social media influencers are envied by audiences as having achieved 'the good life', one in which they are able to 'do what they love' for a living (Duffy 2017). Despite this ostensive accessibility and relatability, today's high-profile influencer culture continues to be shaped by 'preexisting gendered and racial scripts and their attendant grammars of exclusion' as Sarah Banet-Weiser (2012) argued in the early days of socially mediated entrepreneurship (p. 89; see also Bishop, 2017). In Western contexts only a narrow subset of white, cis-gender, and heterosexual YouTubers, Instagrammers, TikTokers, and Twitch streamers tend to achieve visibility as social media star-creators, and celebratory discourses of diversity and fairness mask problematic structures that exclude marginalized identities from opportunities to attain success. A key aim of this panel is thus to draw attention to marginalized creator communities and subjectivities, including women, non-white, and queer creators, all of whom face higher barriers to entry and success. More broadly, by taking seriously both the practices and discourses of social media influencers, the panellists aim to challenge popular denigrations of influencers as vapid, frivolous, or eager to freeload. We locate such critiques in longstanding dismissals of feminized cultural production (Levine, 2013) and argue, instead, that we need to take seriously the role of influencers in various social, economic, and political configurations.


We propose a new, completely iterative traversal algorithm for ray tracing bounding volume hierarchies that is based on storing a parent pointer with each node, and on using simple state logic to infer which node to traverse next. Though our traversal algorithm does re-visit internal nodes, it intersects each visited node only once, and in general performs exactly the same ray-box tests and ray-primitive intersection tests---and in exactly the same order---as a traditional stack-based variant. The proposed algorithm can be used for computer architectures that need to minimize the use of local memory for processing rays or those that need to minimize the data transport such as distributed multi-CPU architectures.


: Epizootic lymphangitis (EL) has deleterious effect on both welfare and health of the horses and mules so that it has a serious negative impact on the livelihoods of cart-horse owners/drivers in the affected parts of Ethiopia. Unfortunately, antifungal drugs for the treatment of epizootic lymphangitis are costly and mostly unavailable in such areas. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of xanthium stramorium leaf extract (XSLE) on the growth of the mycelial form of histoplasma capsulatum var farciminosum which has been reported to have a strong antifungal activity in previous studies, in vitro. Histoplasma capsulatum var farciminosum was isolated from a horse with a cutaneous form of EL. Agar dilution assay was performed to evaluate the anti HCF activity of XSLE and measure the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). Ketoconazol was used as a positive control. Xanthium stramorium extract inhibited the growth of HCF at concentrations of 0.068 mg/ml. The result indicates that XSLE can potentially be used for the treatment of EL provided that convenient methods of preparation, dose and route of administration are established through rigorous in vitro trials.


The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect upon the self evaluations of adolescents of their exposure to the positive self evaluations of other persons. Three hypotheses were explored by the study. The experimenter hypothesized first that changes in adolescents' self evaluations would follow the adolescents' exposure to positive self evaluations of others. Furthermore, it was hypothesized that both the age (position in the life span) and sex of the persons to whose self evaluations the adolescents were exposed would affect the amount of change recorded in the adolescents' self evaluations. The experimental subjects, 45 girls and 45 boys, were randomly selected from the seventh grade population of Asheboro Junior High School, Asheboro, North Carolina, and were assigned at random to one of six experimental groups: adolescent-same sex, adolescent-opposite sex, adult-same sex, adult-opposite sex, old person-same sex, old person-opposite sex. Due to the unavailability of a sufficient number of seventh grade students at Asheboro Junior High School to serve as a control group, 45 girls and 45 boys were selected for this purpose from North Asheboro Junior High School, a similar junior high school located in the same community. Rubin's Self Esteem Scale, the self evaluation measure used in this study, was administered to the control group on two occasions, which were separated by a two-week Interval. No treatment was received by control group subjects during the period between the two administrations of the test.


Although it is a well-established scientific fact, evolution remains a controversial subject in the United States, and especially the issue of teaching evolution or creationism in public schools. An argument that appears to be increasingly popular among creationists is based on a postmodernist notion that science is simply one among many different but equal "ways of knowing," and that its ascendancy over other methods is due to conflicts between social power structures rather than any objective superiority. Several creationist writers have argued that science's exclusive reliance on natural causes (so called "methodological naturalism") is an a priori assumption, or an arbitrary preference, and therefore that both it and religion are equally valid epistemologies. In addition, they argue that the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses of the First Amendment prohibit government from endorsing or granting "preferences" to science over supernaturalism. This article is a response to these theories. In Part I, I argue that science is an objectively superior means of knowing, and that methodological naturalism is not an a priori assumption, but both an a posteriori preference and one that is necessary for any valid epistemology. I also reject the argument that naturalism or "humanism" are "religions" or that science requires a "leap of faith." In Part II, I address whether the First Amendment requires the government to remain "neutral" between supernatural and naturalistic worldviews. I conclude with some general observations on the conflict between science and supernaturalism.


Abstract The long-range goal of the Z-Pinch IFE program is to produce an economically-attractive power plant using high-yield z-pinch-driven targets (~3GJ) with low rep-rate per chamber (~0.1 Hz). The present mainline choice for a Z-Pinch IFE power plant uses an LTD (Linear Transformer Driver) repetitive pulsed power driver, a Recyclable Transmission Line (RTL), a dynamic hohlraum z-pinch-driven target, and a thick-liquid wall chamber. The RTL connects the pulsed power driver directly to the z-pinch-driven target, and is made from frozen coolant or a material that is easily separable from the coolant (such as carbon steel). The RTL is destroyed by the fusion explosion, but the RTL materials are recycled, and a new RTL is inserted on each shot. A development path for Z-Pinch IFE has been created that complements and leverages the NNSA DP ICF program. Funding by a U.S. Congressional initiative of $4M for FY04 through NNSA DP is supporting assessment and initial research on (1) RTLs, (2) repetitive pulsed power drivers, (3) shock mitigation [because of the high yield targets], (4) planning for a proof-of-principle full RTL cycle demonstration [with a 1 MA, 1 MV, 100 ns, 0.1 Hz driver], (5) IFE target studies for multi-GJ yield targets, and (6) z-pinch IFE power plant engineering and technology development. Initial results from all areas of this research are discussed.


Long-term measurements of particle number size distribution (PNSD) produce a very large number of observations and their analysis requires an efficient approach in order to produce results in the least possible time and with maximum accuracy. Clustering techniques are a family of sophisticated methods that have been recently employed to analyse PNSD data; however, very little information is available comparing the performance of different clustering techniques on PNSD data. This study aims to apply several clustering techniques (i.e. K means, PAM, CLARA and SOM) to PNSD data, in order to identify and apply the optimum technique to PNSD data measured at 25 sites across Brisbane, Australia. A new method, based on the Generalised Additive Model (GAM) with a basis of penalised B-splines, was proposed to parameterise the PNSD data and the temporal weight of each cluster was also estimated using the GAM. In addition, each cluster was associated with its possible source based on the results of this parameterisation, together with the characteristics of each cluster. The performances of four clustering techniques were compared using the Dunn index and Silhouette width validation values and the K means technique was found to have the highest performance, with five clusters being the optimum. Therefore, five clusters were found within the data using the K means technique. The diurnal occurrence of each cluster was used together with other air quality parameters, temporal trends and the physical properties of each cluster, in order to attribute each cluster to its source and origin. The five clusters were attributed to three major sources and origins, including regional background particles, photochemically induced nucleated particles and vehicle generated particles. Overall, clustering was found to be an effective technique for attributing each particle size spectrum to its source and the GAM was suitable to parameterise the PNSD data. These two techniques can help researchers immensely in analysing PNSD data for characterisation and source apportionment purposes.


Fresh shale samples taken from a well-known outcrop section of the Silurian Vila Maria Formation, located on the northeastern margin of the Paraná Basin (Três Barras Farm, Goiás State, central-western Brazil), have been analysed for both palynological and radiometric age determinations. The rocks yielded a fairly diverse, age-definitive cryptospore assemblage, and the same samples proved suitable for Rb–Sr analysis, despite Silurian sedimentary rocks being rarely suited to radiometric dating techniques. This study thus introduces an alternative, independent method for estimating the minimum depositional age of the Vila Maria Formation. The Rb–Sr age value has been calculated via an isochron diagram that yields 435.9±7.8 Ma. Accordingly, the latter value is interpreted as the minimum depositional age of the analysed Vila Maria strata, implying their deposition during Llandovery times. This concurs with the palynological results, which indicate an age no older than Early Silurian and, more particularly, favour an Early to Middle Llandovery (Rhuddanian–Early Aeronian) attribution.


This paper presents a theory of self-regulation by a firm or an industry acting collectively in the context of private and public politics. In private politics an activist identifies a social issue, makes a demand on the firm, and threatens a harmful campaign. The firm self-regulates to forestall the campaign or reduce the campaign intensity. Self-regulation is decreasing in the campaign cost and the residual harm to the firm of conceding to a campaign. The activist moderates its demand to increase the forestalling self-regulation, which can lead the firm to incur a campaign. The public politics threat is that a legislature imposes more stringent regulation on the firm. The firm self-regulates to the boundary of the gridlock interval, which negates the power of an agenda-setter and forestalls public politics. Private politics, however, can lead the firm to self-regulate to the interior of the gridlock interval. The firm lobbies to reduce the cost of its self-regulation, and self-regulation and lobbying are substitutes. The activist increases the saliency of the issue to the constituents of pivotal legislators, which increases the cost of lobbying, causing the firm to self-regulate more and lobby less.


The design and flight results of a multimode satellite instrument are described. The prime mission is to produce imagery of the earth's auroral activity with a selectable 30-A spectral window in the vacuum ultraviolet spectrum ranging from ~1100 to 1900 A. This instrument, known as AIM (auroral/ionospheric mapper), also functions as a photometer operable at preselected wavelengths with the same spectral window or as a spectrometer scanning the full spectral range. As a part of the AIM sensor there are two fixed wavelength photometers, one at 3914 A and the other at 6300 A, each with a 10-A spectral window. The mechanical, optical, photometric, and electrical design criteria and selections are presented.


In light of global remotely sensed data, the igneous crust of the Moon can no longer be viewed as a simple, globally stratified cumulus structure, composed of a flotation upper crust of anorthosite underlain by progressively more mafic rocks and a residual-melt (KREEP) sandwich horizon near the base of the lower crust. Instead, global geochemical information derived from Clementine multispectral data and Lunar Prospector gamma-ray data reveals at least three distinct provinces whose geochemistry and petrologic history make them geologically unique: (1) the Procellarum KREEP Terrane (PKT), (2) the Feldspathic High-lands Terrane (FHT), and (3) the South Pole-Aitken Terrane (SPAT). The PKT is a mafic province, coincident with the largely resurfaced area in the Procellarum-Imbrium region whose petrogenesis relates to the early differentiation of the Moon. Here, some 40% of the Th in the Moon's crust is concentrated into a region that constitutes only about 10% of the crustal volume. This concentration of Th (average ∼5 ppm), and by implication the other heat producing elements, U and K, led to a fundamentally different thermal and igneous evolution within this region compared to other parts of the lunar crust. Lower-crustal materials within the PKT likely interacted with underlying mantle materials to produce hybrid magmatism, leading to the magnesian suite of lunar rocks and possibly KREEP basalt. Although rare in the Apollo sample collection, widespread mare volcanic rocks having substantial Th enrichment are indicated by the remote data and may reflect further interaction between enriched crustal residues and mantle sources. The FHT is characterized by a central anorthositic region that constitutes the remnant of an anorthositic craton resulting from early lunar differentiation. Basin impacts into this region do not excavate significantly more mafic material, suggesting a thickness of tens of kilometers of anorthositic crust. The feldspathic lunar meteorites may represent samples from the anorthositic central region of the FHT. Ejecta from deep-penetrating basin impacts outside of the central anorthositic region, however, indicate an increasingly mafic composition with depth. The SPAT, a mafic anomaly of great magnitude, may include material of the upper mantle as well as lower crust; thus it is designated a separate terrane. Whether the SPA basin impact simply uncovered lower crust such as we infer for the FHT remains to be determined.


The binding of frizzled (Fzd) receptors by their Wnt ligands results in the inhibition of ß-catenin degradation, and subsequent transcription of ß-catenin/LEF inducible genes. The ß-catenin pathway is known to be involved in development, tumorigenesis and stem cell self-renewal. In humans, the FZD9 gene lies in the region of chromosome 7q11.23 deleted in the neurodevelopmental disorder, Williams-Beuren Syndrome (WBS). Fzd9 -/- mice show no obvious features of WBS, but reveal a role for Fzd9 in lymphoid development and maturation. Fzd9 -/- mice show pronounced splenomegaly, thymic atrophy, and lymphadenopathy with age, with accumulation of plasma cells in lymph nodes. There is a depletion of developing B cells in the bone marrow (BM), particularly in the pre-B stage where immunoglobulin heavy chains are expressed and the cells are undergoing clonal expansion prior to light chain rearrangement. The pre-B defect is partially intrinsic to the hematopoietic system; as in competitive BM reconstitution studies, Fzd9 -/- derived BM exhibits defective B cell development when implanted into a wild-type host. Mature B cells are present in normal numbers in lymph node and spleen. These findings suggest a role for Fzd9 signaling in lymphoid development, particularly at points where B cells undergo self-renewal prior to further differentiation. Mouse Wnt receptor gene Fzd5 is essential for yolk sac and placental angiogenesis.


Forged in the aftermath of World War II, the transatlantic partnership between Europe and the United States has proven successful and resilient over the past half-century. The international environment changed radically with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, but its impact has only gradually manifested itself. The shock of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, has shed light upon the developments in the relationship between Europe and the United States over the past decade. While Washington has been quick in reacting to new challenges, both in practice and in its definition of strategy, differences in perceptions and capabilities contain the seeds of a potential transatlantic rift. Nothing could be more dangerous for both sides. Europe and the United States have a common duty to nurture their relationship, which requires a serious debate about perceptions, values, methods, and capabilities. Distinct Perceptions While the end of the Cold War was a major victory for the West, it ushered in a period of adjustment and evolution that diminished the centrality of Europe for the United States. The disappearance of an existential threat, the reduced strategic importance of the European theater, and the increasing US focus on other priorities removed some of the glue from EU-US relations. This picture was compounded by other developments: the inability of Europe to tackle the Balkan crises without US assistance, the gap between the two partners in economic growth through the 1990s, and Europe's preoccupation with its own internal development. It is a tribute to leaders on both sides of the Atlantic that relations remained strong despite these growing gaps; the Transatlantic Declaration of 1990 and the New Transatlantic Agenda of 1995 were intelligent steps toward a reinvention of the partnership after the end of the Cold War. In Europe, the immediate impact of the September 11 attacks was to trigger a fresh wave of emotional solidarity with the United States. "We are all Americans," proclaimed Le Monde on the day following the attacks. Indeed, Europeans felt that the attack had been an attack on values they shared with the United States. Now, over a year later, the relationship looks considerably less rosy. A hard look at the facts reveals a more critical tone, a more complex mix of emotions, and some degree of exasperation in Europe--even from those who consider themselves staunch Atlanticists. In part, this is simply a normal effect of the passage of time, which has allowed political debate to resume just as bipartisan solidarity within the United States has inevitably eroded. More fundamentally, however, this friction reflects a new set of tensions between the two sides, fueled by differences in perceptions, priorities, and responses to the terrorist attacks. Clearly, US perceptions of the world have been transformed. Where geography and military power once provided comfort and security, today there is an enduring sense of vulnerability and exposure. "Homeland security"--a phrase and concept alien before September 11--is now the overriding value in US policy with far-reaching consequences for changes in US domestic, economic, defense, and foreign policy initiatives. In contrast, for the rest of the world--horrified spectators rather than direct victims of the attacks--September 11 was an iconic event, a brutal wake-up call to the dangers from a "mega-terror" that combines fanaticism with immense destructive power. For citizens of London, Paris, and Madrid, the deadly novelty of the Al Qaeda attacks lay in the appalling degree of death and destruction wrought, not in the fact that innocent civilians had been targeted on home soil without warning. For most Europeans today, the most important recent change in the security environment is the removal of the Soviet threat and not the emergence of a terrorist threat, which is the natural focus in the United States. There is further disparity between the perceptions of the actual nature of this new terrorist threat. …


A review of recent developments related to soil hydraulic property estimation using remote sensing is presented. Several soil hydraulic parameter estimation techniques using proximal‐, air‐, or satellite‐based remotely sensed soil moisture, land surface temperature, and/or evapotranspiration time series have evolved over the past decades. In particular, microwave remote sensing of near‐surface soil moisture has played a key role in this respect. Inverse modeling, regression techniques, data assimilation methods by utilizing soil–vegetation–atmosphere transfer models, genetic algorithm based optimization, and uncertainty quantification using ensemble based approaches under synthetic and field conditions have been developed and adapted over these years. In this context multiple approaches for estimating effective soil hydraulic parameters at different spatial scales (e.g., point to remote sensing footprints) by various scaling methods are also summarized. Methods reviewed include traditional bottom‐up approaches, such as homogenization of local scale properties up to footprint scale, as well as newer top‐down approaches, such as use of inverse modeling of remotely sensed soil moisture or temperature using genetic algorithms, Markov Chain Monte Carlo simulations with data assimilation, and multi‐scale Bayesian neural networks. While new remote sensing platforms provide powerful tools and techniques for noninvasive soil hydraulic property estimation of the vadose zone at multiple scales, current limitations including vision for future developments are also summarized.


In the illustrious and richly documented history of American jazz, no figure has been more controversial than the jazz critic. Jazz critics can be revered or reviled - often both - but they should not be ignored. And while the tradition of jazz has been covered from seemingly every angle, nobody has ever turned the pen back on itself to chronicle the many writers who have helped define how we listen to and how we understand jazz. That is, of course, until now. In "Blowin' Hot and Cool", John Gennari provides a definitive history of jazz criticism from the 1920s to the present. The music itself is prominent in his account, as are the musicians - from Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington to Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Roscoe Mitchell, and beyond. But the work takes its shape from fascinating stories of the tradition's key critics - Leonard Feather, Martin Williams, Whitney Balliett, Dan Morgenstern, Gary Giddins, and Stanley Crouch, among many others. Gennari is the first to show the many ways these critics have mediated the relationship between the musicians and the audience - not merely as writers, but in many cases as producers, broadcasters, concert organizers, and public intellectuals as well. For Gennari, the jazz tradition is not so much a collection of recordings and performances as it is a rancorous debate - the dissonant noise clamoring in response to the sounds of jazz. Against the backdrop of racial strife, class and gender issues, war, and protest that has defined the past seventy-five years in America, "Blowin' Hot and Cool" brings to the fore jazz's most vital critics and the role they have played not only in defining the history of jazz but also in shaping jazz's significance in American culture and life.


Vergence eye movements are essential to daily life. When driving down a highway a person typically looks between the speedometer and the road signs. This form of eye movement initiates a vergence response. Vergence is composed of convergence (inward) and divergence (outward) eye movements. Convergence movements are a combination of dual controllers, described as feedforward and feedback components. The feedforward component is a pulse of energy released by burst cells in the initial stage of the eye movement. Feedback is a series of steady periodic pulses released by tonic cells to fixate the eyes onto the target. However, divergence eye movements have not been studied extensively in the past This study will examine the neuro-control strategy used to mediate divergence eye movements (looking from near to far), when given different initial positions for the eyes to begin moving from. Preliminary data using independent component analysis (ICA) shows the divergence system contains an initial pulse, similar to the burst cells found to initiate convergence movements, when the movement began with a large initial bias (target very close to the subject). In responses beginning at a target located further away from the subject and continuing to move farther away, there is no noticeable pulse based on ICA. Demonstrated in this study is the dynamics of divergence movements at different initial conditions.


In this study, we have studied the effects of patients' characteristics on the use of an online patient portal. We have created an explanatory model to illustrate the relationship between the patient-portal use and the patients' demographic and health characteristics. The study is conducted on a large dataset of 1 million patient records, provided by a leading national healthcare provider. Our results indicate, that a unit increase in health problems increases the odds of using the patient portal by 31.1%. Moreover, a single visit to an emergency department decreases the odds of using a patient portal by 7.1%, while a visit to an urgent care center decreases the odds of portal use by 9.2%. We also found that female patients are 58% more likely to use the patient portal as compared to the male patients. The study has practical implications for health care providers, patients and portal developers.


The nature of the linkage of education and training systems to the labour market is often claimed to crucially affect labour market integration in modern economies. More specifically, most current comparative research assumes a more strongly qualification-based allocation in training systems allowing for early occupational specialization as compared to more experience-based allocation mechanisms where such arrangements are absent. Building on this basic idea, the paper develops a set of institutional predictions about consequences for patterns of labour market entry in these systems. This framework is then applied in exploratory analyses for twelve member states of the European Union. From these, three distinct patterns of early labour market experiences empirically emerge: first, a non-experience based pattern for those continental European countries with extensive vocational training systems, second, a strongly experience-based allocation pattern in those Northern European countries lacking such systems, and, finally, a particular and theoretically unexpected pattern among the group of Southern European countries. While the first contrast appears broadly consistent with current institutionalist arguments about the impact of interlinked training systems and labour markets, the explanation for the peculiarity of Southern Europe needs both further investigation and additional conceptual tools


Marine predator populations are crucial to the structure and functioning of ecosystems. Like many predator taxa, pinnipeds face an increasingly complex array of natural and anthropogenic threats. Understanding the relationship between at-sea processes and trends in abundance at land-based monitoring sites requires robust estimates of at-sea distribution, often on multi-region scales. Such an understanding is critical for effective conservation management, but estimates are often limited in spatial extent by spatial coverage of animal-borne tracking data. Grey (Halichoerus grypus) and harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) are sympatric predators in North Atlantic shelf seas. The United Kingdom (UK) and Ireland represents an important population centre for both species, and Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) are designated for their monitoring and protection. Here we use an extensive high-resolution GPS tracking dataset, unprecedented in both size (114 grey and 239 harbour seals) and spatial coverage, to model habitat preference and generate at-sea distribution estimates for the entire UK and Ireland populations of both species. We found regional differences in environmental drivers of distribution for both species which likely relate to regional variation in diet and population trends. Moreover, we provide SAC-specific estimates of at-sea distribution for use in marine spatial planning, demonstrating that hotspots of at-sea density in UK and Ireland-wide maps cannot always be apportioned to the nearest SAC. We show that for grey seals, colonial capital breeders, there is a mismatch between SACs (where impacts are likely to be detected) and areas where impacts are most likely to occur (at sea). We highlight an urgent need for further research to elucidate the links between at-sea distribution during the foraging season and population trends observed in SACs. More generally, we highlight that the potential for such a disconnect needs to be considered when designating and managing protected sites, particularly for species that aggregate to breed and exhibit partial migration (e.g. grey seals), or spatial variation in migration strategies. We demonstrate the use of strategic tracking efforts to predict distribution across multiple regions, but caution that such efforts should be mindful of the potential for differences in species-environment relationships despite similar accessible habitats.


In June 2015, Sudan President Omar al-Bashir attended the African Union (AU) Summit hosted in South Africa.
In 2009 and 2010 the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued warrants of arrest for President Al-Bashir following his indictment for crimes against humanity and genocide committed in Darfur, Sudan between 2003 and 2005. Because of South Africa's accession to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in November 2000, this makes the country a state party to the court.


This text details how sport can help students learn fair play, leadership and "followship" skills and self-responsibility in addition to becoming competent players. It shows physical educators how to implement effective sport education programmes within their physical education classes to achieve these goals. The author explains his sport education model and provides school-tested plans for applying the model to specific sports and activities. Part 1 describes the sport education model and the curriculum and instructional methods used to implement it. Part 2 presents examples of how the model has been used effectively in school settings. Part 3 explains models of evaluation and assessment. A chapter in this section shows how the sport education model can be used to develop an "Olympic" curriculum that incorporates the global education, multicultural education and personal development goals of "Olympism" and provides a unifying theme for the sport education proramme.


Abstract. The paper investigates immersive videography and its application in close-range photogrammetry. Immersive video involves the capture of a live-action scene that presents a 360° field of view. It is recorded simultaneously by multiple cameras or microlenses, where the principal point of each camera is offset from the rotating axis of the device. This issue causes problems when stitching together individual frames of video separated from particular cameras, however there are ways to overcome it and applying immersive cameras in photogrammetry provides a new potential. The paper presents two applications of immersive video in photogrammetry. At first, the creation of a low-cost mobile mapping system based on Ladybug®3 and GPS device is discussed. The amount of panoramas is much too high for photogrammetric purposes as the base line between spherical panoramas is around 1 metre. More than 92 000 panoramas were recorded in one Polish region of Czarny Dunajec and the measurements from panoramas enable the user to measure the area of outdoors (adverting structures) and billboards. A new law is being created in order to limit the number of illegal advertising structures in the Polish landscape and immersive video recorded in a short period of time is a candidate for economical and flexible measurements off-site. The second approach is a generation of 3d video-based reconstructions of heritage sites based on immersive video (structure from immersive video). A mobile camera mounted on a tripod dolly was used to record the interior scene and immersive video, separated into thousands of still panoramas, was converted from video into 3d objects using Agisoft Photoscan Professional. The findings from these experiments demonstrated that immersive photogrammetry seems to be a flexible and prompt method of 3d modelling and provides promising features for mobile mapping systems.


Abstract. Pulsating aurora (PsA) is a diffuse type of aurora with different structures switching on and off with a period of a few seconds. It is often associated with energetic electron precipitation (>10 keV) resulting in the interaction between magnetospheric electrons and electromagnetic waves in the magnetosphere. Recent studies categorize pulsating aurora into three different types – amorphous pulsating aurora (APA), patchy pulsating aurora (PPA), and patchy aurora (PA) – based on the spatial extent of pulsations and structural stability. Differences in precipitation energies of electrons associated with these types of pulsating aurora have been suggested. In this study, we further examine these three types of pulsating aurora using electron density measurements from the European Incoherent Scatter (EISCAT) VHF/UHF radar experiments and Kilpisjärvi Atmospheric Imaging Receiver Array (KAIRA) cosmic noise absorption (CNA) measurements. Based on ground-based all-sky camera images over the Fennoscandian region, we identified a total of 92 PsA events in the years between 2010 and 2020 with simultaneous EISCAT experiments. Among these events, 39, 35, and 18 were APA, PPA, and PA types with a collective duration of 58, 43, and 21 h, respectively. We found that, below 100 km, electron density enhancements during PPAs and PAs are significantly higher than during APA. However, there are no appreciable electron density differences between PPA and APA above 100 km, while PA showed weaker ionization. The altitude of the maximum electron density also showed considerable differences among the three types, centered around 110, 105, and 105 km for APA, PPA, and PA, respectively. The KAIRA CNA values also showed higher values on average during PPA (0.33 dB) compared to PA (0.23 dB) and especially APA (0.17 dB). In general, this suggests that the precipitating electrons responsible for APA have a lower energy range compared to PPA and PA types. Among the three categories, the magnitude of the maximum electron density shows higher values at lower altitudes and in the late magnetic local time (MLT) sector (after 5 MLT) during PPA than during PA or APA. We also found significant ionization down to 70 km during PPA and PA, which corresponds to ∼200 keV of precipitating electrons.


Although lateral carbon (C) export from terrestrial to aquatic systems is known to be an important component in landscape C balances, most existing global studies are lacking empirical data on the soil C export. In this study, the concentration, character, and export of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) were studied during 2 years in two hemiboreal headwater streams draining catchments with different soil characteristics (mineral versus peat soils). The streams exposed surprisingly similar strong air temperature controls on the temporal variability in DOC concentration in spite of draining such different catchments. The temporal variability in DOC character (determined by absorbance metrics, specific ultraviolet absorbance 254 (SUVA254) as a proxy for aromaticity and a254/a365 ratio as a proxy for mean molecular weight) was more complex but related to stream discharge. While the two streams showed similar ranges and patterns in SUVA254, we found a significant difference in median a254/a354, suggesting differences in the DOC character. Both streams responded similarly to hydrological changes with higher a254/a365 at higher discharge, although with rather small differences in a254/a365 between base flow and high flow (<0.3). The DOC exports (9.6–25.2 g C m−2 yr−1) were among the highest reported so far for Scandinavia and displayed large interannual and intraannual variability mainly driven by irregular precipitation/discharge patterns. Our results show that air temperature and discharge affect the temporal variability in DOC quantity and character in different ways. This will have implications for the design of representative sampling programs, which in turn will affect the reliability of future estimates of landscape C budgets.