Innovations in cancer care requiring intensive support, and improved cancer patient survival in and out of critical care, have led to greater numbers of cancer patients than ever accessing critical care. Of these, however, a fair proportion will die. Current research points to around one in six patients dying in general critical care units and even higher numbers for cancer patients. End-of-life care (EOLC) for critically ill patients is problematic and rarely addressed beyond satisfaction or chart review studies, while palliative care is an established domain in cancer. It is not known whether dying, critically ill cancer patients experience good EOLC. In the context of a cancer critical care unit, this thesis explores the provision of EOLC for cancer patients in a critical care unit. Exploring measures for comfort care and palliative principles of care helped identify what is important for patients and families, and what those measures meant for all participants. The diagnosis of cancer and how it impacts on EOLC provision for critically ill cancer patients was also explored from the perspective of patients, families, doctors and nurses. A Heideggerian phenomenological interview approach was undertaken, in order to gain personal experiences. Families of those patients who died after decisions to forgo life-sustaining treatment (DFLSTs) were interviewed. Patients who have experienced critical care were also interviewed, since patients' views about EOL care provision are very rarely explored. Doctors and nurses also contribute their vision for, and experiences of, EOL care in a cancer critical care unit. Thirty one interviews with 37 participants were carried out. Cancer prognosis together with critical illness prognosis contributed to difficulties in deciding to move to, and enact EOLC. The nursing voice in DFLSTs was minimal and their role in EOLC depended on experience and confidence. Achieving a good death was possible through caring activities that made best use of technology to prevent prolonged dying. EOLC was an emotive experience. Decision-making and EOLC could be difficult to separate out which, in turn, affects prospects for EOLC. A continuum of dying in cancer critical illness is presented with different participants' experiences along that continuum. Three main themes included: Dual Prognostication; The Meaning of Decision-Making; and Care Practices at EOL: Choreographing a Good Death with two organising themes: Thinking the Unthinkable and Involvement in Care. These themes outlined the essence of moving along a continuum toward patients' deaths and the impact that had on opportunities for care and a good death. Nurses could use the care of patients dying in critical care as an opportunity to develop specialist knowledge and lead in care, but this requires mastery and reconciliation of both technology and EOLC. This work builds on Seymour's (2001) theory of a negotiated and natural death related to achieving a good death in critical care. Trajectories of dying, part of Seymour's (2001) theory, are extrapolated on with reference to Glaser and Strauss (1965) and Lofland (1978)'s theories on dying trajectories. Nursing theory is developed through examination of Falk Rafael's (1996) and Locsin's (1998) theories of empowered caring. Implications and propositions are presented for nursing and wider practice around EOL care for critically ill cancer patients.


We have developed and tested a novel method, based on LIDAR, of measuring the height and profile of the meso- spheric sodium layer using a continuous wave laser. It is more ecient than classical LIDAR as the laser is on for 50% of the time, and so can in principle be used during laser guide star adaptive optics observations. It also has significant advantages over direct imaging techniques because it does not require a second telescope, is almost independent of the atmospheric conditions, and avoids triangulation problems in determining the height. In the long term, regular monitoring using this method would allow a valuable database of sodium layer profiles, heights, and return flux measurements to be built up which would enable observatory sta astronomers to schedule observations optimally. In this paper we describe the original experiment carried out using the ALFA laser guide star system at Calar Alto Observatory in Spain. We validate the method by comparing the LIDAR results with those obtained from simultaneous imaging from an auxiliary telescope. Models are presented of a similar system to be implemented in the Very Large Telescope Laser Guide Star Facility, which will enable the initial focus setting for the adaptive optics systems to be determined with an accuracy of less than 200 m on a timescale of 1 min.


Six wear-resistant {30wt.%Cr, 2.5 to 5.0wt.%C} - containing cobalt-based alloyswere cast and tested in oxidation by air at 1000, 1100 and 1200°C. The fractions of chromium carbides are especially high and graphite is present but only in the carbon-richest versions, in small quantities. Chromia always exists on the oxidized surfaces, but scales of other oxides, CoO and CoCr2O4, also appeared. Carbides have disappeared from surface over a depth increasing with the alloyÂ's carbon content and with temperature. The carbide- free depths are higher and the chromiumcontents on surface are lower for these cobalt alloys than previously observed for similar nickel alloys with the same Cr and C contents. The quantities of chromiumand of carbon lost by the oxidized hard cobalt alloys are especially high. All the results show that the behaviours of these cobalt alloys in high temperature oxidation are worse than for the analogous nickel alloys: not really chromiaforming behaviour, faster oxidation, even catastrophic in some cases. The bulk microstructures were either not changed by the high temperature exposures, or onlymoderately at 1200°C. The hardness of the cobalt alloys is lowered by the exposures to high temperature but remains above the hardness of the similar hard nickel base alloys.


We perform calculations of our one-dimensional, two-zone disk model to study the long-term evolution of the circumstellar disk. In particular, we adopt published photoevaporation prescriptions and examine whether the photoevaporative loss alone, coupled with a range of initial angular momenta of the protostellar cloud, can explain the observed decline of the frequency of optically thick dusty disks with increasing age. In the parameter space we explore, disks have accreting and/or non-accreting transitional phases lasting for ≲ 20% of their lifetime, which is in reasonable agreement with observed statistics. Assuming that photoevaporation controls disk clearing, we find that the initial angular momentum distribution of clouds needs to be weighted in favor of slowly rotating protostellar cloud cores. Again, assuming inner disk dispersal by photoevaporation, we conjecture that this skewed angular momentum distribution is a result of fragmentation into binary or multiple stellar systems in rapidly rotating cores. Accreting and non-accreting transitional disks show different evolutionary paths on the plane, which possibly explains the different observed properties between the two populations. However, we further find that scaling the photoevaporation rates downward by a factor of 10 makes it difficult to clear the disks on the observed timescales, showing that the precise value of the photoevaporative loss is crucial to setting the clearing times. While our results apply only to pure photoevaporative loss (plus disk accretion), there may be implications for models in which planets clear disks preferentially at radii of the order of 10 AU.


This paper highlights that some processing issues, which typically are systematic in nature, could cause random effects due to marginality issues. High aspect ratio structures, such as contacts and via challenges are exacerbated due to high density, increased critical area, and detection limitations. Process complexity, defect free mask production, and wafer handling issues also add to the challenge of ramping yields quickly.


180 miles of cliff top, beach and cove around the magnificent Welsh coast, The Pembrokeshire Coast Path (Llwybr Arfordir Sir Benfro) is the 186-mile National Trail around Wales's magnificent southern headland. Winding around the coast from St Dogmaels to Amroth, it clings to soaring cliff tops, seeks out fabulous sweeping beaches like Marloes Sands and Freshwater West, visits lovely towns like St David's and Tenby, castles at Manorbier and Pembroke, and is rich in wildlife from teeming seabird colonies to the rare chough. It is now part of the Welsh Coast Path, fully open in 2012. Whether you're a long-distance walker or a holiday stroller, this is the only book you need.


Fadogia cienkowskii is a shrub used in folklore medicine. Evaluations of the leaves were carried out to determine the macroscopic, microscopic, chemomicroscopic, physicochemical and phytochemical profiles using standard methods. The macroscopic examination revealed fresh leaves are green, odourless with a bitter taste. The leaf is oblong-elliptic in shape and sub-acute at apex; rounded at the base with entire margin. Microscopic examination indicated the presence of calcium oxalate crystals, starch grains, xylem, phloem, trichomes, epidermal cells, collenchyma cells, paracytic stomata and reticulate vessels. Chemomicroscopic characters present are lignin, starch, cellulose, mucilage and calcium oxalate crystals. The physicochemical evaluation indicated 4.6% moisture content, 1.4% total ash value, 0.8% acid insoluble ash value, 0.4% water soluble ash value, 7.8% water soluble extractive value and 9.0% alcohol soluble extractive value. The phytochemical evaluation revealed the presence of tannins (17.6%), saponins (1%), glycosides (2.5%), alkaloids (3.3%), steroids (1.1%), terpenoids (6.6%), phenols (8.8%), flavonoids (17.7%) and the absence of hydrogen cyanide. This study is useful in pharmacognostic standardization of this plant. The parameters laid down will be useful and suitable for compilation of a monograph and help in identifying this plant in its crude form and prevent it from adulteration and ensure its therapeutic efficacy.

 Key words: Fadogia cienkowskii, pharmacognostic, phytochemical, physicochemical, macroscopic, microscopic, chemomicroscopic.


eScholarship provides open access, scholarly publishing services to the University of California and delivers a dynamic research platform to scholars worldwide. Abstract: This report presents an evaluation of the first transit-based smart parking project in the U.S. at the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) District station in Oakland, California. The report begins with a review of the smart parking literature; next the smart parking field test is described including its capital, operational, and maintenance costs; then the results of the participant survey analysis are presented; and finally lessons learned from the institutional, user, and operational perspective are documented. Some key changes in participant travel behavior include increases in BART mode share, reductions in drive alone modal share, decreased average commute time, and an overall reduction in total vehicle miles of travel. Key lessons learned include that it would have been beneficial to anticipate additional time for project scoping and permitting, and fixed wayfinding signs were beneficial in both directing vehicles from the highway to the smart parking lot and addressing resident concerns about increased traffic. Additionally, the majority of participants continued to use the service when fees were implemented. However, the CMSs were not widely employed in users' decision-making processes in this application. Finally, the wireless counting system worked well, with the exception of the in-ground sensors, which were prone to miscounts.


The partial differential equations (PDEs) for two-dimensional incompressible convection in a strong vertical magnetic field have a codimension-three bifurcation when the parameters are chosen so that the bifurcations to steady and oscillatory convection coincide and the limit of narrow rolls is taken. The third-order set of ordinary differential equations (ODEs) that govern the behaviour of the PDEs near this bifurcation are derived using perturbation theory. These ODEs are the normal form of the codimension-three bifurcation; as such, they prove to be an excellent predictor of the behaviour of the PDEs. This is the first time that a detailed comparison has been made between the chaotic behaviour of a set of PDEs and that of the corresponding set of model ODEs, in a parameter regime where the ODEs are expected to provide accurate approximations to solutions of the PDEs. Most significantly, the transition from periodic orbits to a chaotic Lorenz attractor predicted by the ODEs is recovered in the PDEs, making this one of the few situations in which the nature of chaotic oscillations observed numerically in PDEs can be established firmly. Including correction terms obtained from the perturbation calculation enables the ODEs to track accurately the bifurcations in the PDEs over an appreciable range of parameter values. Numerical calculations suggest that the T-point (where there are heteroclinic connections between a saddle point and a pair of saddle-foci), which is associated with the transition from a Lorenz attractor to a quasi-attractor in the normal form, is also found in the PDEs. Further numerical simulations of the PDEs with square rolls confirm the existence of chaotic oscillations associated with a heteroclinic connection between a pair of saddle-foci.


Pressure ulcers are a localized area between a bony prominence and an external surface. This condition has been recognised for at least 5000 years and its incidence has been on the rise due to an increasing geriatric population. while the cost of managing pressure ulcers has also been on the rise, overburdening health care delivery systems worldwide, especially more so in developing nations. Currently pressure ulcers are seen as a preventable entity, therefore prevention s management of established pressure ulcers has progressed over the past 50 years and todays practice consists of serial wound dressings with debridement if required. surgical procedur associated mortality and morbidity associated with pressure ulcers, but literature still reports complications in long standing cases such as acute sepsis, heterotopic ossi malignant transformation and the development of osteomyelitis of the underlying bone. This review article aims to outline the mechanism of development, presentation, aetiology, diagnosis, prevention and management, both non ulcers.


Multiple input multiple output (MIMO) systems have influenced nearly any mobile communication standard. However, in many cases the theoretically possible potential can't be reached since of the proximity of transmitter and receiver side antenna arrays. The phenomena called correlation affects the channel capacity and the link BER (biterror rate). Therefore in this paper receiver-side antennas correlation and its modelling are investigated. Together with the appropriate signal processing (e. g. singular values decomposition), the effect of receiver-side antennas correlation is studied. Our results show that under the effect of correlation not necessarily all layers might be used for the data transmission since the weighting of the stronger layer within the MIMO system becomes even more stronger. Simulation results are shown to underline these effects and the benefits of using appropriate power distribution strategies.


In collaboration with the World Energy Council (WEC), IIASA conducted a five-year study of long-term global and regional energy perspectives. Using IIASA's integrated modeling framework, the study explores a broad range of energy developments and their consequences, such as the likely financing needs and environmental impacts. This paper summarizes the main features and findings of the study focusing on implications of global perspectives for Euroasian regions. One of the important results of the study is the need for further energy integration in Eurasia to achieve both goals of supplying the energy services needed for economic development and reducing the adverse impacts on the environment at all scales. Clean fossil fuels would continue to be an important sources of these energy services and would lead to further decarbonization of energy. This, however, requires the emergence of large interconnected energy grids in Eurasia and implies a drastic energy geo-political shift. Such developments could dramatically improve the match between demand and supply for hydrocarbons (oil and gas) and in the long-term promote even further integration of Europe and Asia. e.g., through gas and electricity networks. Such ambitious Eurasian energy grids would bring large economic benefits to gas (and energy) exporting regions and would enable healthier economic development throughout the region by the provision of cleaner and more flexible energy forms to most of the citizens. Financing would be a challenging problem but only probably during the initial phases of the long-term construction of Eurasian energy grids. After a few successes private financing is likely to be attracted because of the high potential economic benefits. A possible, but very speculative initial financing scheme is proposed in the paper involving global carbon dioxide trading permits. Should the Kyoto emissions reduction agreement be implemented, Russian federation is likely to acquire a large "emission bubble" by 2010. Tentative estimates made at IIASA indicate that the "bubble" might be as large as 300 MtC annually for the territory of the former Soviet Union (mostly Russia and Ukraine) during the first two decades of the next century. (For a more detailed discussion of specific numbers for Russia and Ukraine, see paper by Victor, Nakicenovic and Victor, also presented at the Snowmass Workshop.) The paper calls for further analysis of new Eurasian energy grids and possible financing mechanism that would lead to lower carbon intensities in Asia as well as lower adverse environmental impacts at all scales.


California pistachio growers have long relied on a single female ('Kerman') and single male ('Peters') cultivar. Despite their benefits, these cultivars present important production and marketing concerns. To evaluate new varieties for the pistachio industry, we conducted the first randomized and replicated pistachio variety trials in the San Joaquin Valley, where most U.S. pistachios are grown. After more than a decade of scientific evaluation, several varieties new to California (such as 'Kalehghouchi') or the world (such as 'Golden Hills') demonstrated commercial potential for the California pistachio industry and would complement the production characteristics of 'Kerman'.


Abstract. Tropical cyclones have devastating impacts on the environment, economies,
and societies and may intensify in the coming decades due to climate
change. Stable water isotopes serve as tracers of the hydrological cycle, as
isotope fractionation processes leave distinct precipitation isotopic
signatures. Here we present a record of daily precipitation isotope
measurements from March 2014 to October 2015 for Metropolitan Manila, a
first-of-a-kind dataset for the Philippines and Southeast Asia. We show that
precipitation isotopic variation at our study site is closely related to
tropical cyclones. The most negative shift in δ18O values
(−13.84 ‰) leading to a clear isotopic signal was
caused by Typhoon Rammasun, which directly hit Metropolitan Manila. The
average δ18O value of precipitation associated with tropical
cyclones is −10.24 ‰, whereas the mean isotopic value
for rainfall associated with non-cyclone events is −5.29 ‰. Further, the closer the storm track is to the sampling
site, the more negative the isotopic values are, indicating that in situ isotope
measurements can provide a direct linkage between isotopes and typhoon
activities in the Philippines.


Nowadays, people use the radio channels and phone lines to inform the department about the traffic information. These information are fed and retrieved by the radio channels to distribute all over the city. Our system completely focuses on customers, our employees, growth, innovation and efficiency. All of these elements will drive us towards success and show us as one company that can perform and give value for money. Today, Mobiles are the most easily available communication devices.Traffic control system can be automated by using the mobile based system. Every user in the system will have to register in this application. There are four types of users in this application. Traffic police after login will set the location of the signal and once its set then the data captured from their will be set in the server which will be thrown to normal users. Traffic police will have an user interface where they can punch in the current status of the traffic at that location. Similarly, all different location will set their own status and based on that the results will be shown to user. Car entry module is accessible to traffic police as well as regional police to enter the data of criminal vehicles and stolen vehicles which get stored in centralized server. So they get an option to fed in the data of car and their car number. Every toll and parking area will be using a web based system which will help them to enter the data of vehicle which is passing on from that junction. After entering the vehicle number, it will automatically check in the server whether the vehicle is clean or its involved in some or the other criminal activity. Based on it the result will be displayed on the users screen and if its really criminally involved vehicle then a provision to the user is provided that they can push a message to the concern police department. User traffic view module will facilitate the user to retrieve the data from the server and will display the live and current status of the traffic at different location.


Objective. Local inflammation plays a prominent role in osteoarthritis (OA). This could be reflected in the presence of elevated soluble inflammatory markers. We conducted analyses to assess the association of inflammatory markers with radiographic OA of the hands and knees in a large community-based cohort. Methods. The Framingham Offspring cohort consists of the adult children of the original cohort and their spouses. In 1998–2001 these subjects provided blood specimens that were tested for 17 markers of systemic inflammation. In 2002–2005 these subjects had radiographs of both knees and hands. Each hand and knee joint was assigned a Kellgren and Lawrence (KL) score (0–4). We used logistic regression with generalized estimating equations and adjustment for age, sex, and body mass index to examine the association between each inflammatory marker and the presence of radiographic OA (ROA = KL grade ≥ 2) in any joint. We also constructed models for hand joints and knee joints alone. Results. Radiographs and measures of inflammation were done for 1235 subjects (56% women, mean age 65 yrs). Of that group, 729 subjects (59%) had ROA in ≥ 1 hand or knee joint: 179 (14.3%) had knee OA, and 694 (56.2%) had hand OA. There were no significant associations between any marker of inflammation and ROA. Conclusion. In this large sample, in which OA was carefully assessed and multiple markers measured, we found no evidence of an association between any inflammatory marker and the presence of radiographic OA.


Objectives: Evaluate trends in method of access (percutaneous cannulation vs open cannulation) for pediatric extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and determine the effects of cannulation method on morbidity and mortality. Design: Retrospective cohort study. Setting and Subjects: The Extracorporeal Life Support Organization's registry was queried for pediatric patients on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for respiratory failure from 2007 to 2015. Inverventions: None. Measurements and Main Results: Of 3,501 patients identified, 77.2% underwent open cannulation, with the frequency of open cannulation decreasing over the study period from approximately 80% to 70% (p < 0.001). Percutaneous cannulation patients were more commonly male (24.2% vs 21.5%; p = 0.01), older (average 7.6 vs 4.5 yr; p < 0.001), and heavier (average 33.0 vs 20.2 kg; p < 0.001). Subset analysis of patients on venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation revealed higher rates of mechanical complications due to blood clots (28.9% vs 22.6%; p = 0.003) or cannula problems (18.9% vs 12.7%; p < 0.001), cannula site bleeding (25.3% vs 20.2%; p = 0.01) and increased rates of cannula site repair in the open cannulation cohort. Limb related complications were not significantly different on subset analysis for venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation patients stratified by access site. Logistic regression analysis revealed that method of access was not associated with a difference in mortality. Conclusions: The proportion of pediatric patients undergoing percutaneous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation cannulation is increasing. Mechanical and physiologic complications occur with both methods of cannulation, but percutaneous cannulation appears safe in this cohort. Further analysis is needed to evaluate long-term outcomes with this technique.


Abstract Purpose Cotyledonoid dissecting leiomyoma is a leiomyoma variant exhibiting unusual growth patterns. We aimed to demonstrate this, as well as to point out another feature that has not been previously reported. Case Report A congested, multinodular myomectomy specimen was resected. Histologically, smooth muscle fascicles with marked vascularity and extensive hydropic degeneration were detected. A total of 2 mitoses per 10 high power fields were counted, and the Ki-67 index was of 2–3%. We encountered atypical bizarre cells that have not been previously reported. Coagulative necrosis was not present. The patient was alive and well 36 months after surgery, with no evidence of recurrence. Conclusions Albeit the gross aggressive appearance, cotyledonoid dissecting leiomyomas are benign in nature. To this day, atypical cells have not been reported in this type of tumor. Despite the presence of symplastic features, cotyledonoid dissecting leiomyomas are clinically benign entities. Surgeons and pathologists should be acquainted with this variant.


Interactive student response systems (SRSs) are becoming popular as many instructors at the tertiary level education institutions adopt the systems to transform traditional passive lectures into interactive classes. Despite the popularity and numerous benefits of SRSs, there is conflicting evidence regarding the current levels of perceptions and actual performances before and after use the systems. We believe the inconsistent result stems from the differences between the level of expectation and the level of actual perceptions after they use the systems. Students' beliefs and attitudes are key perceptions toward the information technology (i.e., SRSs) usage. However, these perceptions may change over time as they gain direct experience with the technology. In this study, therefore, we test students' expectations and perceptions of the technology and provide a comparative result from a longitudinal perspective. More specifically, in this study, we examine students' perceptional differences in terms of well-known technology acceptance constructs such as perceived usefulness, ease of use, enjoyment, and intention to use the systems before and after they actually use the systems. The results confirm that there are differences between the levels of expectations and actually perceptions of cognitive beliefs across three-stage of experience. However, there are no differences of students' perceptions between initial usage and second-time usage. In other words, the very first direct experience of students will become a salient determinant of their perception of cognitive beliefs and behavioral intention, but the second experience does not provide the same level of impact as much the first one does. We believe that the result of the study will provide solid understanding of the gap between the levels of expectations and actual perceptions of a technology before and after usage, which will explain the inconsistent results related to the SRSs. Limitations and future directions are discussed.


The present paper is concerned with the formal and functional development of the analytic past, i.e. l-participle + auxiliary 'to be', in North Slavic (including Slovene) and Balkan Slavic. While in the former languages, the analytic past has developed into a narrative preterit, it is generally assumed to have kept its perfect semantics and additionally have acquired renarrative and evidential functions in Balkan Slavic. These functions are related to the omission of the auxiliary in the 3rd person. The variation in the usage of the auxiliary, in turn, is interpreted as underlying distinct morphological paradigms – perfect and renarrative – and hence as indicating a different path of development than observed for the rest of Slavic. Upon closer inspection, however, the development of these forms might have proceeded less differently in both language groups than traditionally assumed. This is suggested by the 'auxiliary variation' in colloquial Serbian and western Serbian dialects. Exhibiting functional similarities with both, Serbian is located at the junction between North and Balkan Slavic.


Different basils (Ocimum sp.) and cultivars (28 in 2009 and 32 in 2010) were evaluated for susceptibility to basil downy mildew (Peronospora belbahrii) at the Rutgers Agricultural Research and Extension Center near Bridgeton in southern New Jersey. At the end of each growing season, seed was collected from individual plants and stored for potential downy mildew pathogen detection using real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis. Most of the basil cultivars and breeding lines were showing symptoms of basil downy mildew infection at the time of seed collection before the first frost near the end of the production season. Symptoms of basil downy mildew were present on 25 of the 28 (89%) basil lines evaluated in 2009 and 26 of 32 (81%) basil lines tested in 2010 at the time of seed harvest, with sporulation evident on the abaxial surface of infected leaves. Real-time PCR analysis of seed collected from various infected plants detected P. belbahrii on seed of 14 of 25 (56%) basil lines tested in 2009 and 8 of 32 (25%) tested in 2010. Importantly, P. belbahrii was not only detected on seed of sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum) phenotypes but also on seed of 'Spice' basil (Ocimum americanum) in 2009 and 'Sweet Dani Lemon Basil' basil (Ocimum citriodorum), 'Holy Red and Green' basil [Ocimum tenuiflorum (form. sanctum)], 'Lime' basil (O. americanum), and again on 'Spice' basil in 2010 where no symptoms (i.e., no chlorosis or sporulation) were present on the leaves when seed were collected. This work demonstrates that basil seed, regardless of basil species and whether symptoms are visible on foliage of the basil plant or the plant is immune or resistant to downy mildew, can test positive for the presence of P. belbahrii using a real-time PCR assay following exposure of plants to the pathogen during the natural development of downy mildew under field conditions.


Legacy information systems are an ever-present factor in
modern-day business. This paper produces a summary of some
of the approaches available that would be most beneficial to
Rolls-Royce. It is noted that the approaches are not necessarily
mutually exclusive, and elements can sometimes be combined to
produce the best approach in a given situation.
It is concluded that only a few of the approaches outlined have
elements that are valid and should be considered in the case of
PIMS and related databases in Rolls-Royce. As a result of the
conclusions reached during the analysis of options, Rolls-Royce
is considering combining elements from several of the various
approaches. This solution is designed to satisfy as many
requirements of the user population as possible, whilst
streamlining the costs required to maintain the database.
Rolls-Royce now intends to cost out the implementation of the
chosen solution.


Purpose
Currently, the hype surrounding digitalization proclaims that the way in which companies create and capture value will change dramatically. Companies that adjust their business models to embrace digital technologies will need different skill sets and competences. Current research tends to focus on the impact of digital technologies on corporations or more generally the labor market, but the authors lack detailed insights into how companies perceive this development to influence their needs regarding employee qualifications. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to explore how companies perceive the impact of digital technologies on the education and training needs of current and future employees.

Design/methodology/approach
This study draws on eight case studies from the food industry. It focuses on one occupation certified within the German "dual system" of vocational education and training (VET), the machine and plant operator with focus on food technology.

Findings
The findings suggest that the impact of different digital technologies on employees' job positions, working tasks and training needs is carefully considered in decisions regarding the implementation of digital technologies. Despite some company-specific contingencies, the perceived implications for VET needs are largely similar across the sample.

Originality/value
This study draws attention to the importance of reviewing VET needs in relation to the decision of implementing digital technologies.


Introduction: Smoking is one of the global health challenges and a risk factor for death in developed and developing countries.The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of smoking and factors affecting attitude and behavior towards smoking among high school students in Bandar Abbas, Iran. Methods: A descriptive-analytical design (cross-sectional study) was conducted to investigate 2029 high school students who were selected through a multi-stage cluster sampling method. Data were collected using the researcher made questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive and analytical statistics such as frequency, percentage, Chi-square and t-test. Results: The mean age of students was 16±1.34years. In total, 23.2 of the subjects reported that they had never smoked in their lifetime and 8.56 of them reported smoking in the past 30 days as regular smokers. The multivariate analysis by logistic regression shows that smoking by mother (OR= 20.3 and 28.8 for male and female student respectfully), father (OR= 2.52 and 2.43 for male and female student respectively), a close friend of smoker (OR= 4.3 and 7.0 for male and female student respectively) and a smoker at home (OR= 3.5 and 2.2 for male and female student respectively) are associated with smoking. Smoking in adolescents was not significantly associated with factors such as father's occupation, mother's occupation, father's education, mother's education, family size and family economic status. Conclusion: Although, smoking among high school students in Bandar Abbas, compared with other researches inside and outside the country remains a relatively mild, however, issues such as having more friends, feeling the charm, smoking mother and father, a friend of smoker and the smoker in the home are main significant factors related to smoking. Therefore, effective smoking prevention programs should focus on strengthening life skills, internal communication, and external factors such as family members, teachers, and school counselors.


Following Andersen's (1986, 1991) study of untutored anglophone learners of Spanish, aspectual features have been at the centre of hypotheses on the development of past verbal morphology in language acquisition. The Primacy of Aspect Hypothesis claims that the association of any verb category (Aktionsart) with any aspect (perfective or imperfective) constitutes the endpoint of acquisition. However, its predictions rely on the observation of a limited number of untutored learners at the early stages of their acquisition, and have yet to be confirmed in other settings. The aim of the present thesis is to evaluate the explanatory power of the PAH in respect of the acquisition of French past tenses, an aspect of the language which constitutes a serious stumbling block for foreign learners, even those at the highest levels of proficiency (Coppieters 1987). The present research applies the PAH to the production of 61 anglophone 'advanced learners' (as defined in Bartning 1997) in a tutored environment. In so doing, it tests concurrent explanations, including the influence of the input, the influence of chunking, and the hypothesis of cyclic development. Finally, it discusses the cotextual and contextual factors that still provoke what Anderson (1991) terms "non-native glitches" at the final stage, as predicted by the PAH. The first part of the thesis provides the theoretical background to the corpus analysis. It opens with a diachronic presentation of the French past tense system focusing on present areas of competition and developments that emphasize the complexity of the system to be acquired. The concepts of time, grammatical aspect and lexical aspect (Aktionsart) are introduced and discussed in the second chapter, and a distinctive formal representation of the French past tenses is offered in the third chapter. The second part of the thesis is devoted to a corpus analysis. The data gathering procedures and the choice of tasks (oral and written film narratives based on Modern Times, cloze tests and acceptability judgement tests) are described and justified in the research methodology chapter. The research design was shaped by previous studies and consequently allows comparison with these. The second chapter is devoted to the narratives analysis and the third to the grammatical tasks. This section closes with a summary of discoveries and a comparison with previous results. The conclusion addresses the initial research questions in the light of both theory and practice. It shows that the PAH fails to account for the complex phenomenon of past tense development in the acquisitional settings under study, as it adopts a local (the verb phrase) and linear (steady progression towards native usage) approach. It is thus suggested that past tense acquisition rather follows a pendular development as learners reformulate their learning hypotheses and become increasingly able to shift from local to global cues and so to integrate the influence of cotext and context in their tense choice.


Abstract:The ability of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to provide basic food to its citizens and inhabitants and thus ensure food security has been hampered by a host of physiological factors and resource constraints. Some of the periodic social upheavals and violence are linked to the food crisis facing the country, and the traditional notions of self-reliance and self-sufficiency are inadequate solutions. In the Jordanian context, agriculture would not provide food security and, on the contrary, would make the process prohibitive and unsustainable in the long run.


We live in the era of selfies as making photos of oneself and sharing these in social media has become extremely popular if not even a norm. The perceiving and experiencing subject is in the foreground. This is also valid in the field of literature, which has been democratized as anyone can make a book and anyone can write a book, as seen by the boom of biographies of all kinds. The My-series published by the Estonian publishing company Petrone Print illustrates these tendencies. The publishing company was founded in 2007 by Epp Petrone who had moved back to Estonia from the United States. Her My America was the first book in the series. In this series of books authors describe their lives and activities in one country or city. The series has a firm position in the Estonian literary field: the books are constantly in top ten lists and are in high demand in libraries. Taking the My-series as an example, the article maps tendencies in contemporary Estonian literature. The subject-centeredness is one of the characteristics of contemporary literature as the amount of books concentrating on one's life experiences is quite noteworthy. The exact genre of this type of literature is ambiguous, which is another characteristic of contemporary literature. I would define the My-series books as 'literary selfies' as the person portrays him/herself setting the world in the background. Another issue discussed in connection with the series is migration. The demographic situation in Europe has changed and continues to change; various nationalities can be found in the world metropolises, and the shift from the monocultural and monolingual world to the multicultural and multilingual one is obvious. Therefore, more and more people have a 'hyphenated identity'; consequently, one's national identity may not be as clear as before. Over the last decade, a large number of Estonians have left their homeland and settled down in other countries, an aspect illustrated by the My-series.


A growing number of species have been transported and introduced by humans to new locations and have established self-sustaining wild populations beyond their natural range limits. Many of these species go on to have significant environmental or economic impacts. However, not all species transported and introduced to new locations succeed in establishing wild populations, and of the established species only some become widespread and abundant. What factors underlie this variation in invasion success? Here, we review progress that has been made in identifying factors underpinning invasion success from studies of bird introductions. We review what is known about the introduction, establishment, and spread of introduced bird species, focusing on comparative studies that use historical records to test hypotheses about what factors determine success at different stages in the invasion process. We close with suggestions for future research.


This paper investigates the evolution of the Chinese land regime in the past three decades and focuses on one question: why has the land use reform succeeded in the urban area, but not in the rural area? Through asking this question, it presents a holistic view of Chinese land reform, rather than the conventional "rural land rights conflict" picture. This paper argues that the so-called rural land problem is the consequence of China's partial land use reform. In 1988, the Chinese central government chose to conduct land use reform sequentially: first urban and then rural. It was a pragmatic move because it would provoke much less resistance. It also made local governments in China the biggest beneficiary and supporter of the partial reform. However, a beneficiary of partial reform does not necessarily support further reform because of the excessive rents available between the market of urban real estate and the government-controlled system of rural land development and transfer. On the other hand, Chinese farmers and other relevant groups have no voice or power in the political process of the reform, which makes it difficult for the central government to achieve an agenda that balances the interests of all relevant parties. Nevertheless, Chinese farmers have challenged the existing system by forming a huge small-property market to claim their interests in rural land, which counteracts the goals of the central and local governments and has led to adaptive policy changes. This case study of Chinese land reform proposes that we should pierce the structure of government to understand the evolution of property rights.


With increasing knowledge of the role that genetics play in the development and treatment of nicotine dependence, it is expected that in the future smoking cessation treatment will be able to be tailored to a smoker's genetic profile. Despite anticipated benefits such as improved quit rates, concerns have been raised about the impact of genetic testing results on perceived control over smoking, motivation to quit, and treatment seeking behaviour. One potential mediator of such outcomes are causal attributions, the causal explanations people form for behaviours and events, which evidence suggests can be altered by genetic testing feedback. The purpose of the current study was to perform a comprehensive assessment of causal attributions for current smoking and to examine the associations between these attributions and variables expected to predict future smoking cessation behaviour. Two structural equation models were tested that represented a series of hypotheses regarding how causal attributions influence intentions to quit smoking and intentions to seek smoking cessation treatment, via beliefs about perceived control over smoking and perceived effectiveness of treatment. Causal attributions were represented by causal types (biological, psychological, social, and stress) in one model and by causal dimensions (locus of causality, stability, internal control, and external control) in a second model; both models were otherwise identical. Participants were 418 current daily smokers in Ontario, Canada, that had previously participated in the Ontario Health Study. Overall, participants most frequently attributed their smoking to habit, addiction, and/or stress, while attributions to genetics were among the least frequent. Additionally, knowledge that genetics play a role in Causal Attributions for Smoking v determining level of addiction to nicotine was not pervasive. Study findings supported the hypothesized model in which causal dimensions directly predicted level of perceived control over smoking (personal or via treatment), which in turn predicted perceived effectiveness of pharmacological and psychosocial smoking cessation treatments, intentions to quit smoking, and intentions to seek cessation treatment. Results failed to find similar associations with causal types. Current findings can be applied to future research on the effects of providing genetic testing feedback to smokers in clinical settings, and may have wider applicability to other health threats. Causal Attributions for Smoking vi


A bilingual collection of 25 newly translated odes by the century's greatest Spanish-language poet, each accompanied by a pair of exquisite pencil drawings. From bread and soap to a bed and a box of tea, the "odes to common things" collected here conjure up the essence of their subjects clearly and wondrously. 50 b&w illustrations.


Abstract. We have extensively analysed the interdependence between cloud optical depth, droplet effective radius, liquid water path (LWP) and geometric thickness for stratiform warm clouds using ground-based observations. In particular, this analysis uses cloud optical depths retrieved from untapped solar background signals that are previously unwanted and need to be removed in most lidar applications. Combining these new optical depth retrievals with radar and microwave observations at the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility in Oklahoma during 2005–2007, we have found that LWP and geometric thickness increase and follow a power-law relationship with cloud optical depth regardless of the presence of drizzle; LWP and geometric thickness in drizzling clouds can be generally 20–40% and at least 10% higher than those in non-drizzling clouds, respectively. In contrast, droplet effective radius shows a negative correlation with optical depth in drizzling clouds and a positive correlation in non-drizzling clouds, where, for large optical depths, it asymptotes to 10 μm. This asymptotic behaviour in non-drizzling clouds is found in both the droplet effective radius and optical depth, making it possible to use simple thresholds of optical depth, droplet size, or a combination of these two variables for drizzle delineation. This paper demonstrates a new way to enhance ground-based cloud observations and drizzle delineations using existing lidar networks.


The challenge to embed sustainability in the formal curriculum has been troublesome for accounting academics. This study investigates sustainability in the accounting curriculum at a regional university in New Zealand. Sustainability practices are becoming an important issue given that many business activity problems have arisen over the years, unsustainable practices have resulted in societal and environmental damages. There has been an increasing recognition of the need for sustainability teaching in tertiary education. Education plays an important role in equipping graduates with the relevant sustainability skills to make informed decisions towards a more sustainable world. There is a need to examine how students respond to the teaching of sustainability in their courses. This will allow education providers to find out how student perceive sustainability education, and make changes to improve the teaching of sustainability. Literatures have claimed that students have positive attitudes towards sustainability; however, this does not mean that students are familiar with the concept of sustainability. There are business students who seem to perceive the study of sustainability to be less important when compared to other subjects. There still seems to be a shortage of research done on how students perceive sustainability. This paper contributes to the discussion needed to understand what sustainability skills are required by managers and how tertiary education programs in accounting may need to incorporate sustainability. The role of accounting schools in leading and managing change towards sustainability must be further informed.


The Bill of Rights makes provision for limited socio-economic rights (second generation human rights) and 'green rights' (third generation human rights) such as trade union freedom (s 23 of the Constitution), the right to housing (s 26), the right to health care, food, water and social security (s 27), children's rights (s 28), the right to education (s 29) and the right to a clean environment (s 24). Besides making provision for these human rights, the Constitution also makes provision for the establishment of state institutions supporting constitutional democracy, of which the most important is the South African Human Rights Commission (ss 181 and 184). The Constitution has been in operation since May 1996. At this stage, it is important to take stock and measure our success in the implementation of these socio-economic rights. This assessment is important in more ways than one, especially in the light of the fact that many lawyers argued strongly against the inclusion of the second and third generations of human rights in a Bill of Rights. The argument was that these rights are not enforceable in a court of law; that they would create unnecessary expectations of food, shelter, health and the like; and that a clear distinction should be made between first generation and other rights, as well as the relationships of these rights to one another.


A nonlinear control system comprising a network of networks is taught by the use of a two-phase learning procedure realized through novel training techniques and an adaptive critic design. The neural network controller is trained algebraically, offline, by the observation that its gradients must equal corresponding linear gain matrices at chosen operating points. Online learning by a dual heuristic adaptive critic architecture optimizes performance incrementally over time by accounting for plant dynamics and nonlinear effects that are revealed during large, coupled motions. The method is implemented to control the six-degree-of-freedom simulation of a business jet aircraft over its full operating envelope. The result is a controller that improves its performance while unexpected conditions, such as unmodeled dynamics, parameter variations, and control failures, are experienced for the first time.


The existing body of knowledge attributes to informal land transactions in sub-Saharan African cities observed problems in city neighbourhoods. However, the dearth of
empirically insightful studies of how this eventuates continues to leave a vacuum in terms of practical solutions. But it is commonly held that bureaucratic intervention offers a way out. Substantial resources, often backed by donor agencies, are therefore being spent in revamping bureaux and governmental bodies in a bid to solving the problems. This thesis sets as its central aim to identify and establish the costs to agents of the real
causes of the problems. It also aims to assess the economic impact of formal policy measures on agents and recommends feasible approaches to market regulations. To
address the objectives insights from property rights, transactions costs and public choice economics are brought to bear. Based on a survey of market participants of sampled informal neighbourhoods in Accra, the capital city of Ghana, it employs regression and discriminant analyses to analyse the data generated. In the process helpful insights are gained. It has been possible to put some figures to the extent of costs that lead agents to
operate in ways that eventually translate into the problems commonly witnessed. The study finds that actual costs to market participants of government activities are too high to be of any benefit. These costs mainly derive from rent-seeking behaviour which extensive bureaucratic intervention of transactions in urban residential lands bring about. On the basis of the results of the regression analysis, arguments implying inefficiency of informal land markets, specifically relating to the arbitrary nature of prices, are refuted. The futility of the use of compulsory purchase powers to create residential neighbourhoods also emerges from the results of the discriminant analysis. Similarly, efficiency' enhancing bureaucratic interventions in the informal market lead to the
diversion of real resources into wasteful rent-seeking expenditures. The sum of these wasteful diversions of resources explains a great deal of the haphazard developments that have come to characterise many neighbourhoods of cities in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Market led regulation emerges as the needed focus of future land policy and management strategy. But to work the study calls for the removal of unwarranted market
interventions extant at the present moment and the reorganisation of bureaux to be responsible in ways that would induce them to operate efficiently.


Alstonia angustifolia were applied in traditional medicine to cure malaria disease and remittent fever. The aim of this study is to evaluate the potential antibacterial properties of A. angustifolia leaf extract under in vitro condition. The leaf extract was tested on various Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria to evaluate the inhibition pattern using disc diffusion assay, minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimal bactericidal concentration (MBC) technique. Disk diffusion assay showed that S. aureus, S. epidermidis, S. saprophyticus, B. cereus and B. subtilis were susceptible to the extract while K. pneumonia, P. aeruginosa, S. typhi, A. baumannii and E. coli were resistant. The lowest MIC values were 6.25 mg/ml, 12.5 mg/ml for S. aureus and B. subtilis respectively, at 24 h and 48 h of incubation period. The MBC value for S. aureus, B. subtilis and B. cereus showed no different, within 24 h and 48 h, however the other values had raised. The plant has potential to be commercialized in pharmaceutical and other industries.


This work encompasses characterisation of defects and dosimetric studies of novel tailor made doped SiO2 fibres. Present studies have been carried out seeking to improve upon the thermoluminescence (TL) yield of commercially produced small diameter telecommunication optical fibres. Using the modified chemical vapour deposition (MCVD) process, the optical fibres have been fabricated to a range of dopant concentrations of nominal value 6- 8- and 10 wt%. In this study, three different types of optical fibres have been utilised, made using the same doped preform. The doped fibres are cylindrical fibres (CF), flat fibres (FF) and photonic crystal fibres (PCF). It should be noted that the process of fibre drawing has been found to produce defect centres, influencing characteristics of optical fibre and TL response. To seek support of this, an X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) study of a Ge doped SiO2 fibres sample has been undertaken to determine the oxidation state of Ge. Results from this have confirmed the efficiency of the surface analysis technique, leading to understanding of the Ge structure. Following on from this, facilities supporting characterization of the fibres are outlined, including an ion beam facility used for Particle Induced X-ray
Emission (PIXE)/Rutherford Back Scattering (RBS) analysis to localize and determine the concentration of Ge dopants. Building upon these characterisations, thermoluminescence studies were carried out. For the first of the experiment, undoped flat fibres were used, comparison of response being made with that of conventional TLD-100 and commercial Ge-doped silica fibres. The undoped flat fibres provide competitive TL yield to that of TLD-100, being some 100 times that of the Ge-doped fibres. Pt-coated flat fibres have then been used to increase the photoelectron production and hence local dose deposition, obtaining significant increase in dose sensitivity over that of undoped flat fibres. Using 250 kVp X-ray beams, the TL yield reveals a progressive linear increase in dose for Pt thicknesses from 20 nm up to 80 nm. Finally, to illustrate the potential of novel tailor-made doped SiO2 optical fibres, the dosimetric characteristics that have been investigated include, dose response, glow curves and energy dependence. Taking TLD-100 as a benchmark, results are presented for Ge-doped, Ge-B-doped and Ge-Br-doped optical fibres. The dose response of doped silica fibres was found to be linear over the range 2 cGy up to 50 Gy, also showing good dosimetric response for low photon energies. Additional investigation of the same doped SiO2 optical fibres have been conducted for measurement of TL yield from the high linear energy transfer (LET) radiation offered by a liquid 223Ra alpha particle source.


Family scale vegetable production should be enhanced in rural areas in order to prevent vitamin A deficiencies. A soil-less water-use-efficient 'Ebb-and-Flood' production system, developed for areas with limited water resources, was compared with two conventional soil irrigation systems, using Amaranthus hypochondriatus L., locally known as Imbuya. The soil-grown plants were flood- and drip irrigated once every week, using nutrient solutions at two electrical conductivity (EC) levels of 1.80 mS cm−1 and 3.60 mS cm−1. The same volumes of nutrient solution were applied to these soil-irrigated plots as was used in the preceding week by the soil-less 'Ebb-and-Flood' system. With the soil-less 'Ebb-and-Flood' system, plants were fertigated five times per day and the containers were randomly allocated between the soil-grown field plots. Leaf yield as well as water use efficiency was highest when the high EC nutrient solution was drip irrigated. As part of the drip treatment, the dripper lines were covered with white plastic soil mulch to limit soil moisture losses. Due to rain before transplanting, the field-grown drip- and flood-irrigated treatments received extra water from the soil. In spite of this, the 'Ebb-and-Flood' system out yielded the flood treatment, when the nutrient solution with an EC of 3.60 mS cm−1 was used, probably due to insufficient root aeration in the flooded soil or due to better water uptake by the 'Ebb-and-Flood' system under saline conditions.


The famous geological research ship Glomar Challenger was a radically new instrument that revolutionized earth science in the same sense that the cyclotron revolutionized nuclear physics, and its deep-sea drilling voyages, conducted from 1968 through 1983, were some of the great scientific adventures of our time. Beginning with the vessel's first cruises, which lent support to the idea of continental drift, the Challenger played a key part in the widely publicized plate-tectonics revolution and its challenge to more conventional theories.Originally published in 1992.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.


The long economic lifetime and development lead-time of many electric infrastructure investments requires that utility resource planning consider potential costs and risks over a lengthy time horizon. One long-term -- and potentially far-reaching -- risk currently facing the electricity industry is the uncertain cost of future carbon dioxide (CO2) regulations. Recognizing the importance of this issue, many utilities (sometimes spurred by state regulatory requirements) are beginning to actively assess carbon regulatory risk within their resource planning processes, and to evaluate options for mitigating that risk. However, given the relatively recent emergence of this issue and the rapidly changing political landscape, methods and assumptions used to analyze carbon regulatory risk, and the impact of this analysis on the selection of a preferred resource portfolio, vary considerably across utilities. In this study, we examine the treatment of carbon regulatory risk in utility resource planning, through a comparison of the most-recent resource plans filed by fifteen investor-owned and publicly-owned utilities in the Western U.S. Together, these utilities account for approximately 60percent of retail electricity sales in the West, and cover nine of eleven Western states. This report has two related elements. First, we compare and assess utilities' approaches to addressing key analytical issues that arise when considering the risk of future carbon regulations. Second, we summarize the composition and carbon intensity of the preferred resource portfolios selected by these fifteen utilities and compare them to potential CO2 emission benchmark levels.


The Lower Cretaceous Britannia Sandstone Formation is located below overpressured Sola Formation shales (c. 2800 psi overpressure) and above Jurassic reservoirs (up to 5700 psi overpressure) and represents a pressure regression, recording overpressure values ranging from approximately 100 psi in Block 15/30 (in the extensional Outer Moray Firth/Central North Sea basin) up to a maximum of approximately 1600 psi in Block 22/4. The Britannia Sandstone has an anomalously low overpressure when compared with deeper Cretaceous (Valhall) and Jurassic reservoir overpressures locally, and further afield in the Central North Sea at similar depths. The pore pressures in the Sola Formation shales have been estimated using conventional porosity/sonic-based prediction methods, indicating strong overpressure disequilibrium between the Sola Formation shales and the Britannia Sandstones, both in the Britannia Field area and in the laterally age-equivalent sands to the west referred to as the Kopervik Fairway (the Aptian sands of the South Halibut Basin, forming the reservoirs of the Blake, Captain and Goldeneye fields). Burial curve modelling indicates that it is likely that the Sola Formation shales have overpressured for the last 4 Ma, and likely much longer, suggesting an early history of pressure build up (now preserved in the Sola Formation shales and deeper, Jurassic reservoirs and associated sediments). The adjacent Britannia Sandstone Formation therefore lost fluid and pressure due to local availability of a fluid conduit. Resulting active fluid flow, driven by overpressure differences in the Britannia Sandstone Formation, has created a hydrodynamically tilted hydrocarbon–water contact with lateral flow from east to west. Well evidence indicates vertical flow from shallower reservoirs into the stratigraphically deeper, main Britannia reservoir. The fluid escape could be either laterally via the Kopervik Fairway and/or vertically through the Upper Cretaceous Chalk facilitated by fractures/faulting.


Research on managed futures performance continues to debate the impact of survivor bias on the performance of the commodity trading advisor (CTA). In an article in the previous issue, the actual performance of survivor and non-survivor samples was analyzed. The empirical evidence suggests that survival is associated with performance, but that performance is not necessarily associated with survival. As a result, ignoring survival issues in the selection of managed futures programs may result in reduced performance. In this follow-up article, the actual models of survival potential are discussed and presented.


Cloud businesses need comprehensive visibility on hardware and software components, their utilization and their configuration. In addition, they need to integrate such information with their asset management systems and publicly available information such as hardware specifications. In this paper, we present an approach for cloud management and monitoring based on a semantic layer that unifies different interfaces and representations, and makes all relevant information accessible from a single point. We show a proof-of-concept based on OpenStack and Linked Data technologies and evaluate it in terms of overhead, query execution times, and effectiveness in the data gathering phase. Our findings indicate that a semantics-based approach is indeed feasible and advantageous for providing uniform access across different cloud environments and levels.


Just two years after the Balakot tragedy, which had sent a wave of deep shock and sorrow throughout the ranks and files of the Mujahideen, uncertainty prevailed over. Yet the dismayed and dejected faces with tearful eyes had a gleam of hope as to the revival of the Muslims' glory. They sought a divine inspiration intuitively brushing aside the state of dejection of deprivation.

These were the days when a son was born to Shaikh Asad Ali Siddiqui. He was named Muhammad Qasim, while the record shows he was named Khurshid Hussain. And the coming days proved that this very child, on growing young, emerged as a great Islamic scholar of outstanding merit.

He was not only a great scholar, a Mujahid and an orator he was simultaneously an interpreter, a Mufti and an expert in Hadith. His writings was very neat and the speech eloquent and most impressive.

Although he died at 49, what he did sprawls over almost a century of work that a man of his calibre doing the same job could successfully accomplish in his short life span.

Maulana Nanotavi rose to eminence like a sun the dazzling light of which made the whole of the Indian subcontinent through his erudition and scholarship in the face of unwholesome conditions that prevailed at that critical juncture.

Indeed Maulana Nanotavi's meritorious services rendered for the service of Islam prompted me to make research on this great religious scholar under Prof. Dr Abdur Rashid. All the chapters listed above describe the Maulana's personality: his birth, early life and academic background, a few lines on his contemporaries and the accomplishments made in his lifetime in the prime of his youth.

I would like to express my gratitude to Prof. Dr Abdur Rashid of Karachi University for his continued moral support and assistance to make my most cherished dream come true. I should also like to express my thanks to all those who extended a helping hand to me in this respect.


Avian influenza virus poses risks to both bird and human population. In primary strain, mutation increases the infectiousness of avian influenza. A mathematical model of Avian Influenza for both human and bird population is formulated. We have computed the basic reproduction number and for both human and bird population respectively and we prove that the model is locally and globally asymptotically stable for disease-free equilibrium point when and . We also prove that the unique endemic equilibrium point is globally asymptotically stable in bird population when . Extensive numerical simulations and sensitivity analysis for various parameters of the model are carried out. The effect of Vaccination and Quarantined class with Recovered class are critically analyzed.


2,2,N-Trimethyl-N-phenyl-2H-azirin-3-amine (1a) was prepared by successive treatment of 2,N-dimethyl-N-phenylpropanamide (18) with phosgene, triethylamine, and sodium azide. Reaction of 1a in THF solution with boron trifluoride gave 2-amino-1,3,3-trimethyl-3H-indolium tetrafluoroborate (19) in high yield.T he latter reacted with acetic anhydride in pyridine to give a mixture of N-(2,3-dihydro-1,3,3-trimethylindol-2-yliden)acetamide (22) and 2,3-dihydro- 1,3,3-trimethylindol-2-one (21).On hydrolysis with aqueous HCl, 22 was converted to 21.T he molecular structures of 19 and 22 were established by X-ray crystal structure determination.


SILK is an expressive Semantic Web rule language and system equipped with scalable reactive higher-order defaults. We present one of its latest novel features: a graphical user interface (GUI) for knowledge entry, query answering, and justification browsing that supports user specification and understanding of advanced courteous prioritized defeasible reasoning. We illustrate the use of the GUI in an example from college-level biology of modeling and reasoning about hierarchically-structured causal processes with interfering multiple causes.


Background: Chronic periodontitis is a common cause of poor oral health globally. Those at higher risk of this preventable and easily treatable condition need to be identified so that efforts can be taken to decrease disease burden and subsequent consequences. Aims: The aims of the study were (1) To compare the prevalence of chronic periodontitis among individuals with and without type 2 diabetes, aged 35–65 years from a rural block in Vellore, Tamil Nadu and (2) to assess risk factors for chronic periodontitis among individuals with diabetes. Settings and Design: A cross-sectional study was done in nine villages of Kaniyambadi block, Vellore, between October 2015 and July 2016 among participants aged 35–65 years of a previous cross-sectional survey which had identified individuals with and without type 2 diabetes. Materials and Methods: Chronic periodontitis was assessed using the Community Periodontal Index and Treatment Needs index. Oral hygiene was assessed clinically using the Simplified Oral Hygiene Index. Diabetes was defined as on medication for type 2 diabetes or detected to have fasting blood glucose ≥126 mg/dl (in a previous survey). Statistical Analysis: Chi-square test and odds ratios (adjusted using logistic regression) were used to study risk factors for periodontitis among those with diabetes. Results: Prevalence of chronic periodontitis was 45.9% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 40.88%–50.9%) among 98 individuals with diabetes and 35.6% (95% CI: 30.91–40.29%) among 104 individuals without diabetes. Poor oral hygiene (odds ratio: 8.33, 95% CI: 3.33–25.00), low socioeconomic status (odds ratio: 3.19, 95% CI: 1.00–10.12), and smoking (odds ratio: 3.51, 95% CI: 1.17–10.51) were associated with periodontitis among diabetics. Conclusions: Individuals with type 2 diabetes have a higher prevalence of periodontitis. As poor oral hygiene is a strong risk factor for periodontitis, there is a need for targeted education regarding dental hygiene to reduce this preventable condition.


High Strength Concrete (HSC) has become a viable alternative to lower strength concrete. However, its utilisation is increasing faster than the development of suitable design recommendations. This is because limited and diverse investigations have been carried out concerning engineering properties and structural behaviour of HSC. The experimental investigation and theoretical considerations described in this thesis have been undertaken as an attempt to start to remedy this problem. As part of the investigation into the structural behaviour of HSC beams, a series of 18 different concrete mixes were tested in order to optimise HSC mixes using local aggregates. The effect o f different factors such as w/c ratios, silica fume and superplasticizer dosages on compressive strength and splitting tensile strengths in the range of 80 to 120 N/mm2 (MPa) were studied. Additionally, new mathematical expressions were developed to replace some of the currently used relationships concerning HSC as a material, for a wide range of concrete mixes. The second part of this investigation concerned the structural behaviour o f singly reinforced HSC beams in flexure. A total of 13 beams were manufactured using selected concrete mixes obtained from the first part o f the investigation, i.e., 80, 100 and 120 MPa respectively. The size of the beam specimens was determined in order to make the beam fail in flexure, and also to be sufficiently large to simulate a real structural element of HSC. There were three beams in each of four groups, with the exception of group two which had four. For each group of beams the tensile reinforcement ratios were 1.03%, 1.42%, 1.94%, and 4.04% respectively. The test variables were thus the concrete strength and the longitudinal reinforcement ratio. The third part of this investigation concerned the structural behaviour o f doubly reinforced HSC beams in flexure. Four beams were cast and tested using the same criteria of the singly reinforced beams. The variables considered were tensile and compressive reinforcement ratios. All beams in flexure were tested in a closed-loop testing machine under incrementally increased loading. Based on experimental evaluations and analytical considerations, the results are presented in terms of load-deflection characteristics, moment-rotation relationship, flexural strength capacity o f high strength reinforced concrete (HSRC) beams, sectional ductility, crack patterns and surface crack width. Further, theoretical analyses were undertaken to idealise the nature of the concrete stress block developed in HSRC beams from elastic to ultimate load condition. In other words, proper idealisations of stress blocks were suggested in order to calculate the ultimate flexural capacity of HSRC members in good accuracy with experimental data obtained. The proposed equations have demonstrated rigorous outcomes on the flexural design of HSRC beams, providing a means of determining the internal forces in the context of compatibility of strains and equilibrium conditions of concrete. Additionally, the existing code of practice recommendations (BS 8110) were critically examined at ultimate strength capacity for HSRC beams having concrete strengths far beyond the limits normally considered in the code. The fourth part of this investigation concerned the shear capacity of HSRC beams. A total of 23 reinforced concrete beams, with and without shear reinforcement, were tested to determine their diagonal cracking and ultimate shear capacities. In beams without web reinforcement the shear span/ depth ratio was kept constant at 2 whilst concrete strength and flexural reinforcement ratio were varied. The concrete strength was varied from 40 to about 120 MPa while the steel reinforcement ratios were 1.94%, 2.92% and 4.04%. In beams with web reinforcement the variables were the same as beams without web reinforcement but in addition the a/d ratio was varied as 1.5, 1.75,2 and 2.6. One series of beams were cast with a preformed smooth inclined crack in order to remove aggregate interlock capacity. The effect o f different parameters on shear capacity, IV structural behaviour in terms of load-deflection response, shear contribution carried by different mechanisms and shear ductility of HSRC beams were studied. In addition, an evaluation of some existing expressions from codes of practice used in calculating the shear stress were carried out to determine their applicability to HSRC beams. From this, new design equations have been developed to predict the ultimate shear stress of HSRC beams.


A variety of triggers can induce common pediatric allergic diseases which include asthma, allergic rhinitis, atopic dermatitis, food allergy, and anaphylaxis. Allergy testing serves to confirm an allergic trigger suspected on the basis of history. Tests for allergen-specific immunoglobulin E (IgE) are performed by in vitro assays or skin tests. The tests are excellent for identifying a sensitized state in which allergen-specific IgE is present, and may identify triggers to be eliminated and help guide immunotherapy treatment. However, a positive test result does not always equate with clinical allergy. Newer enzymatic assays based on anti-IgE antibodies have supplanted the radioallergosorbent test (RAST). This clinical report focuses on allergen-specific IgE testing, emphasizing that the medical history and knowledge of disease characteristics are crucial for rational test selection and interpretation. Pediatrics 2012;129:193–197


OBJECTIVE
The objective of our study was to compare dose-length product (DLP)-based estimates of effective dose with organ dose-based calculations using tissue-weighting factors from publication 103 of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) or dual-energy CT protocols.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Using scanner- and energy-dependent organ dose coefficients, we calculated effective doses for CT examinations of the head, chest, coronary arteries, liver, and abdomen and pelvis using routine clinical single- or dual-energy protocols and tissue-weighting factors published in 1991 in ICRP publication 60 and in 2007 in ICRP publication 103. Effective doses were also generated from the respective DLPs using published conversion coefficients that depend only on body region. For each examination type, the same volume CT dose index was used for single- and dual-energy scans.

RESULTS
Effective doses calculated for CT examinations using organ dose estimates and ICRP 103 tissue-weighting factors differed relative to ICRP 60 values by -39% (-0.5 mSv, head), 14% (1 mSv, chest), 36% (4 mSv, coronary artery), 4% (0.6 mSv, liver), and -7% (-1 mSv, abdomen and pelvis). DLP-based estimates of effective dose, which were derived using ICRP 60-based conversion coefficients, were less than organ dose-based estimates for ICRP 60 by 4% (head), 23% (chest), 37% (coronary artery), 12% (liver), and 19% (abdomen and pelvis) and for ICRP 103 by -34% (head), 37% (chest), 74% (coronary artery), 16% (liver), and 12% (abdomen and pelvis). All results were energy independent.

CONCLUSION
These differences in estimates of effective dose suggest the need to reassess DLP to E conversion coefficients when adopting ICRP 103, particularly for scans over the breast. For the evaluated scanner, DLP to E conversion coefficients were energy independent, but ICRP 60-based conversion coefficients underestimated effective dose relative to organ dose-based calculations.


The curve time series framework provides a convenient vehicle to accommodate some nonstationary features into a stationary setup. We propose a new method to identify the dimensionality of curve time series based on the dynamical dependence across different curves. The practical implementation of our method boils down to an eigenanalysis of a finite-dimensional matrix. Furthermore, the determination of the dimensionality is equivalent to the identification of the nonzero eigenvalues of the matrix, which we carry out in terms of some bootstrap tests. Asymptotic properties of the proposed method are investigated. In particular, our estimators for zero-eigenvalues enjoy the fast convergence rate n while the estimators for nonzero eigenvalues converge at the standard √n-rate. The proposed methodology is illustrated with both simulated and real data sets.


RAPD and phenotypic analysis were conducted to assess clonal stability of ha- zelnuts generated from axillary buds cultured in vitro for long-term. The nuts produced on in vitro-propagated plants were indistinguishable from those of donor plants. With the exception of rare horizontal (plagiotropic) growth, all in vitro-propagated plants exhibited phenotypes similar to those of donor plants. RAPD analysis did not reveal any somaclonal variation between donor plants from which in vitro cultures were initiated and micropropagated plants (6-year cultures), and no somaclonal variation was detected among in vitro-propagated plants. However, polymorphism (15.6%) was detected between the parent plant and its in vitro-propagated progenies (from seedlings). These results show a good discriminatory power of RAPD to detect polymorphism between samples where it is expected, and it can be effectively used for genetic assessment of micropropa- gated hazelnut. No evidence of genetic or epigenetic changes was observed in long-term cultured hazelnut, and thus long-term in vitro culture of hazelnut does not seem to limit its clonal propagation.


Annular gas migration through micro-annuli in cement, or casing vent flow, is a common issue over the life of a well. This results from poor cement jobs or porous cement that cannot successfully prevent gas flow from creating channels while curing. Remediating this through traditional practices of perf and squeeze or section milling is often expensive and unreliable. This paper will demonstrate a new way to create gas tight seals in casing annuli, minimizing the chance a well will experience casing vent flow by overcoming the limitations of cement in gas environments. This solution can be implemented at any stage of the well but is most effective when utilized as part of the original well construction.


Programming languages exist to enable programmers to develop software effectively. But how efficiently programmers can write software depends on the usability of the languages and tools that they develop with. The aim of this workshop is to discuss methods, metrics and techniques for evaluating the usability of languages and language tools. The supposed benefits of such languages and tools cover a large space, including making programs easier to read, write, and maintain; allowing programmers to write more flexible and powerful programs; and restricting programs to make them more safe and secure. We plan to gather the intersection of researchers in the programming language, programming tool, and human-computer interaction communities to share their research and discuss the future of evaluation and usability of programming languages and tools. We are also interested in the input of other members of the programming research community working on related areas, such as refactoring, design patterns, program analysis, program comprehension, software visualization, end-user programming, and other programming language paradigms.


Author(s): Reed, Aaron | Advisor(s): Wardrip-Fruin, Noah; Mateas, Michael | Abstract: Stories in released games are still based largely on static and predetermined structures, despite decades of academic work to make them more dynamic. Making game narratives more playable is an important step in the evolution of games and playable media as culturally relevant art forms. In the same way interactive systems help students learn about complicated subjects like physics in a more intuitive and immediate way than static texts, more dynamic interactive stories open up new ways of understanding people and situations. Such dreams remain mostly unrealized in released and playable games.In this dissertation I will describe a number of design and technical solutions to the problem of creating more expressive and dynamic storygames, informed by a practice-based approach to game production. I will first define a framework for the analysis of games, including especially the terms storygame (a playable system with units of narrative where the understanding of the interconnectedness between story and system is crucial) and the notion of narrative logics (the set of processes that define how player input affects the next unit of story presented by the system). I will exercise this framework on an existing and well-known storygame genre, the adventure game, and use it to make a number of claims about the mechanics and dynamics of narratives in this genre that are borne out by an analysis of how contemporary games adopting some of its aesthetics succeed and fail. I will then describe three emerging storygame modes that are still in the process of being defined, developing a critical framework for each informed by close readings and historical analysis, and considering what design and technical innovations are required to fully realize the new mode's potential. These three modes I discuss are sculptural fiction (which shifts the focus from navigating to building a structure of narrative nodes), social simulation (games that explore the possibility space created by a set of simulated characters and rules for social interaction), and collaborative storygames (in which the lexia are generated at least in part by the participants during play). Each theoretical chapter is paired with a case study of one or several fully completed and released games I have created or co-created in that mode, to see how these design ideas were realized and technical advancements implemented in practice. I will conclude each section with applied advice for game makers hoping to work in these new spaces, and new technological developments that will help storygames continue to evolve and prosper.


This paper studies gender differences in the extent to which social preferences affect workers' shirking decisions. Using exogenous variation in work absence induced by a randomized field experiment that increased treated workers' absence, we find that also non-treated workers increased their absence as a response. Furthermore, we find that male workers react more strongly to decreased monitoring, but no significant gender difference in the extent to which workers are influenced by peers. However, our results suggest significant heterogeneity in the degree of influence that male and female workers exert on each other: conditional on the potential exposure to same-sex co-workers, men are only affected by their male peers, and women are only affected by their female peers.


This thesis aims to contribute to the exploration and understanding of the development of the symphony and symphonic thinking in Polish music in the second half of the twentieth century. This was a period when Polish composers, such as Lutoslawski, Grecki and Penderecki, among others, contributed profoundly into the symphonic repertoire, not only in the Polish context but worldwide. To understand the changes and developments of the genre after 1956 in Poland, it is necessary to discuss the evolution of the symphony, as well as its role and functions, both in general and in Polish music. Therefore, Chapter One deals briefly with the history and theory of the genre, from its beginnings in the eighteenth century, through its transformations in the period of Romanticism, marked by the appearance of the concert overture and the symphonic poem until its developments in the twentieth century. Chapter Two examines the symphonic tradition in Poland from its appearance on the Polish musical scene until the middle of the 1950s in the context of trends pointed out in Chapter One. The year 1956, when the first International Festival of Contemporary Music 'Warsaw Autumn' was held, provides a significant caesura, as it was then that Polish music entered its avant-garde period. Chapter Three, which is the most extended, explores the transformation of the symphony and symphonic principles in the years of the musical avant-garde, which was a time of great artistic ferment in Polish music, bringing many interesting reinterpretations of symphonic features. The symphony as a genre was almost entirely neglected, particularly in the first years of musical avant-garde (1956-65), and the elements of symphonic thinking appeared in other orchestral works. Therefore, a considerable amount of space will be devoted to discussing the symphonic music of the period, besides symphonies as such. The avant-garde period is given special attention as the innovations made by Polish composers, both in symphonic form and, even more, in musical language and techniques (particularly sonorism), hugely influenced the later development of symphonic music in Poland. Chapter Four, concluding the thesis, is devoted to the trends which spread over the country from the middle of the 1970s, opening the post-avant-garde era, with its recreation of the large-scale symphony, as well as the symphonic poem, referring back to the late-Romantic traditions on the one hand and aiming to synthesise the experiences of the whole century on the other. The indicated trends and functions of the symphony in this period link back to the categories marked in Chapter One. A short Postscript gives some information on symphonic activity in Poland following the death of Lutoslawski in 1994.


This is the unlikely history of a centuries old church located at the heart of England's capital city. Founded in the early-18th century by a Greek Archbishop from Alexandria in Egypt, the church was aided by the nascent Russian Empire of Tsar Peter the Great and joined by Englishmen finding in it the Apostolic faith. The church later became a spiritual home for those who escaped the upheavals following World War II or who sought economic opportunities in the West after the fall of communism in Russia. For much of this time the parish was a focal point for Anglican-Orthodox relations and Orthodox missionary endeavours from Japan to the Americas. This is a history of the Orthodox Church in the West, of the Russian emigration to Europe, and of major world events through the prism of a particular local community. The book calls on stories from an array of persons, from archbishops to members of Parliament and imperial diplomats to post-war refugees. Their lives and the constantly changing mosaic of global political and economic realities provide the background for the struggle to create and sustain the London church through time.


Low hardness and wear resistance of aluminum alloys limit their use in practical application to automotive parts. Formation of hard aluminum nitride (AlN) layer on the surface can prolong the life time of aluminum automotive parts. Plasma nitriding was selected in the present study to form AlN layer on aluminum alloys. This processing is an environmental friendly method because of its low gas and energy consumption. Normal plasma nitriding requires long processing time to successfully form AlN layer. For advancing this surface treatment, refining microstructure and micro-alloying processes are proposed to activate the formation of AlN by plasma nitriding. Bulk Mechanical Alloying is used not only to make grain-size refinement but also to carry out micro alloying with addition of 1 mass%Ti. The formation rate of AlN layer is improved from 4:2 � 10 � 5 mm/s to 20:8 � 10 � 5 mm/s by microstructure refining. In particular, since the co-formed TiN with AlN works as a template in the initial state nitriding, the micro-alloyed aluminum can be nitrided even without pre-sputtering.


Because the industrial processing extracts materials from natural resources and abandoned emissions back to nature, the regional economic influence form the coupling relationship with system and environment system. Coupling coordination degree model is used in this paper to establish evaluation system, taking the actual area of the economic environment after the coupling of data into system and analyzing the spatial pattern of industrial structure in China. Relevant conclusions are drawn to provide the basis for the future department policy related. Coupling refers to the collaborative phenomenon that two or more systems or exercise through interacts and mutual influence between each other. Coupling term originally is derived from physics. From the perspective of synergetics, the key to make the system from disorder to order system is system synergy between internal order parameter; it drives system, the characteristics and law of phase transition. The coupling is the measure of this synergy. Coupling analysis can be divided into two steps: first, to evaluate the state of each subsystem; second, the calculation and evaluation of coupling. How to realize the regional sustainable development between economic system and ecological environment system is always a focus of economics at home and abroad. Within the past century global economy demand rapid growth, from a global perspective on these issues research increase gradually, even involves the economic impact on Antarctica. Since China's reform and opening up, China's rapid economic growth, but also led to the decrease of the quality of the environment at the same time, frequent occurrence of environmental pollution. Parts in order to priority to the development of the economy, there is no ecological environment problems caused by economic development may make reasonable forecast evaluation, leading to a series of environmental problems, the result will hinder economic industry health and sustainable development. Because of China's regional economic structure gradually towards the metropolis group of industrial agglomeration area and population as the core of diversified structure, economy and environment of the coupling coordination also gradually show the pattern of complicated and varied. The spatial pattern characteristics are cannot be reflected by the provincial level analysis. To detailed analysis of China's regional economic development and environmental pollution spatial pattern characteristics of coupling, coupling in this paper, through the establishment of China's regional unit economic environment evaluation index system, to the economic development of China's 31 provincial units and coupling of environmental pollution and the coordination degree of spatial pattern and difference analysis, and from the Angle of industry structure and the types of the spatial pattern of structure analysis.


We propose a new white matter atlas creation method that learns a model of the common white matter structures present in a group of subjects. We demonstrate that our atlas creation method, which is based on group spectral clustering of tractography, discovers structures corresponding to expected white matter anatomy such as the corpus callosum, uncinate fasciculus, cingulum bundles, arcuate fasciculus, and corona radiata. The white matter clusters are augmented with expert anatomical labels and stored in a new type of atlas that we call a high-dimensional white matter atlas. We then show how to perform automatic segmentation of tractography from novel subjects by extending the spectral clustering solution, stored in the atlas, using the Nystrom method. We present results regarding the stability of our method and parameter choices. Finally we give results from an atlas creation and automatic segmentation experiment. We demonstrate that our automatic tractography segmentation identifies corresponding white matter regions across hemispheres and across subjects, enabling group comparison of white matter anatomy.


We present the first imaging circular polarimetry of the Orion Molecular Cloud, OMC-1. The observations, taken in the J, H, Kn and nbL bands, reveal a complex pattern of circular polarization. Globally, there is a background circular polarization of the order of ±2 per cent in the Kn band, conforming to the typical quadrupolar patterns that have been observed in other outflow sources. Overlying this pattern are regions of relatively high degrees of circular polarization to the east and west of the source IRc2, with degrees as high as +17 per cent in the Kn band, the highest circular polarization yet measured for any young stellar object. No circular polarization is seen in the J band, indicating that the circular polarization detected at longer wavelengths originates from within OMC-1 and not from scattering off the foreground ionization front associated with the M42 nebula.

We demonstrate a correlation between these patches of high circular polarization and regions of enhanced linear polarization, and argue that these observations are best explained using a model that incorporates scattering of radiation off oblate grains, which have been aligned by the local magnetic field. Modelling of the ellipticity (the ratio of circular to linear polarization) suggests that the grains are composed of silicate and/or organic refractory material, and that grains larger than are typically found in the interstellar medium are needed. The lower, background, circular polarization is produced by scattering off randomly oriented grains in the outflow cavities, the grain alignment being destroyed by the passage of shocks.

We put forward a morphological model for OMC-1 which has the regions of high polarization separate from, but near to, the main outflow region. Those regions exhibiting high polarization must somehow have a direct view of the illuminating source of the nebula.

Implications of this work to the origins of life are briefly discussed.


The paper aims to develop a more systematic approach to the problem of model structure identification for continuous time (physically based) mathematical models with discrete observations. An introduction to the model structure identification problem is first presented. The approach to this problem is the application of a modified version of the extended Kalman filter, originally defined in [23]. This filter is tested using artificial data. The results obtained lead to a further discussion of the filter's stability properties and also to a metaphor for model structures. Further study of the numerical properties of the algorithm reveal that its stability can be improved. An alternative algorithm, the so called recursive prediction error algorithm, is modified to a Kalman-like algorithm in continuous-discrete formulation. This algorithm is also tested using artificial data. The RPE-type of filter has better stability properties and appears to be very robust to initial conditions. Its applicability to environmental case studies is set out through the application of the filter to a familiar case study. Applications of this type of filter is valuable for validation/verification of environmental and/or economical models that include a set of ordinary differential equations.