Advancements in mobile technology and computing have fostered the collection of a large number of civic datasets that capture the pulse of urban life. Furthermore, the open government and data initiative has led many local authorities to make these datasets pub- licly available, hoping to drive innovation that will further improve the quality of life for the city-dwellers. In this paper, we develop a novel application that utilizes crime data to provide safe urban nav- igation. Specifically, using crime data from Chicago and Philadel- phia we develop a risk model for their street urban network which allows us to estimate the relative probability of a crime on any road segment. Given such model we define two variants of the SAFEPATHS problem where the goal is to find a short and low-risk path between a source and a destination locations. Since both the length and the risk of the path are equally important but cannot be combined into a single objective, we approach the urban-navigation problem as a biobjective shortest path problem. Our algorithms aim to output a small set of paths that provide tradeoffs between dis- tance and safety. Our experiments demonstrate the efficacy of our algorithms and their practical applicability.


Gaussian signal is produced by ordinary random vibration controllers to test the products in the laboratory, while the field data is usually non-Gaussian. Two methodologies are presented in this paper for shaker simulation of wind-induced non-Gaussian vibration. The first methodology synthesizes the non-Gaussian signal offline and replicates it on the shaker in the Time Waveform Replication (TWR) mode. A new synthesis method is used to model the non-Gaussian signal as a Gaussian signal multiplied by an amplitude modulation function (AMF). A case study is presented to show that the synthesized non-Gaussian signal has the same power spectral density (PSD), probability density function (PDF), and loading cycle distribution (LCD) as the field data. The second methodology derives a damage equivalent Gaussian signal from the non-Gaussian signal based on the fatigue damage spectrum (FDS) and the extreme response spectrum (ERS) and reproduces it on the shaker in the closed-loop frequency domain control mode. The PSD level and the duration time of the derived Gaussian signal can be manipulated for accelerated testing purpose. A case study is presented to show that the derived PSD matches the damage potential of the non-Gaussian environment for both fatigue and peak response.


Econometrics has become such an obvious, objective - almost natural - tool that economists often forget that it has a history of its own, a complex and sometimes problematic history. Two works - Morgan (1990) and Qin (1993) - constitute the Received View of the history of econometrics. Basing our analysis on Leo Corry's methodological (and historiographical) framework of image and body of knowledge, the main purpose of this dissertation is to provide a critical account of the Received View. Our main criticism is that historians of econometrics have a particular image of knowledge that stems from within econometrics itself, generating a problem of reflexivity. This means that historians of econometrics would evaluate econometrics and its history from an econometrician point of view, determining very specific criteria of what should be considered as "true", what should be studied or what should be the questions that the scientific community should ask. This reflexive vision has conducted the Received View to write an internalist and funnel-shaped version of the History of Econometrics, presenting it as a lineal process progressing towards the best possible solution: Structural Econometrics and Haavelmo's Probability Approach in Econometrics (1944). The present work suggests that a new history of econometrics is needed. A new history that would overcome the reflexivity problem yielding a certainly messier and convoluted but also richer vision of econometrics' evolution, rather than the lineal path towards progress presented by the Received View.


Wizard-of-Oz (WoZ) is a flexible, efficient and cost-economic method to the design and evaluation of interaction systems, particularly such of natural dialogue and smart systems. However, the literature review in the beginning of this research indicated that researchers struggled to implement WoZ and be able to gain reliable and valid experimental results in terms of system facilitation consistency; and WoZ has been criticised for a lack of systematic assessment of influence variables, especially when it was used to study new emerging information and communication technologies. Hence, this research aimed to understand and improve the reliability and validity of WoZ.

The research consisted of a series of empirical studies to incrementally deepen the understanding of influence variables. The main body of research comprised studies investigating (1) the impact of schema as WoZ study guidelines, (2) the impact of control panel in system facilitation, (3) the variables affecting evaluator's interpretation of schema, control panel and subject activity, and (4) the differences in multiple evaluators' system facilitation.

The results indicated that neither rigorous nor general schemas supported highly reliable system facilitation; rather, schemas should be accordingly proposed on the base of predictable or unpredictable user interactions. Also the results revealed the hidden relationships between control panel and system facilitation through identifying the control panel influence factors such like layouts and functions and their connections with system facilitation. Additionally, despite the difficulty of synchronising evaluators' individual expertise and experiences was admitted, the research findings suggested practical measurements to address the individual differences at acceptable levels through applying additional assistance and constraints to evaluator's system facilitation judgement and execution. And the results also provided secondary understanding towards smart system design for domestic communication and the development of WoZ system.


Human populations have continued their unrelenting expansion into the wildland-urban interface and in locales which are prone to wildfire the risk of secondary hazards associated with wildfires such as debris flows and flooding are increasing. While the implications of wildfire for the transport of sediment and surface runoff within burned areas are not agreed upon in consensus many researchers believe an important currently understudied aspect is the level of connectivity within the landscape. Connectivity refers to the extent to which water and sediment are or have the potential to be transferred within or between landscape compartments. The current study is designed to quantitatively capture transported sediment assessing the level of (dis)connectivity within a recently burned basin. Two surveys were conducted on 28-30 September 2008 (baseline topography pre-rainfall conditions) and 18-21 December 2008 (topography three days after 52mm of rainfall over a period of 22 hours) with the aid of a terrestrial laser scanner. Point clouds from the scanning sessions were used to produce 1 cm resolution DTM capturing pre- and post-rainfall topography. D-8 hydrologic networks were generated in Arc Map and used for the delineation of seven rill-gully threads (RGTs). The seven RGTs were analyzed for their pattern of deposition and erosion and their upslope contributing area sediment input. Sediment transport was found to not be consistent for each of the RGTs and large depositional areas warranted labeling the RGTs as disconnective. We also concluded that hollows are a significant component for the connectivity of burned basins based on their importance for the routing and storage of dry ravel.


he once again raises new questions. In his essay, Huntington asserts that civilizations are real and important and predicts that "conflict between civiliza tions will supplant ideological and other forms of conflict as the dominant global form of conflict." He further argues that institutions for cooperation will be more likely to develop within civilizations, and conflicts will most often arise between groups in different civilizations. These strike me as interesting but dubious propositions. Huntingtons classification of contem porary civilizations is questionable. He identifies "seven or eight major civiliza tions" in the contemporary world: Western (which includes both European and North American variants), Confucian, Japanese, Islamic, Hindu, Slavic-Orthodox, Latin American "and possibly African." This is a strange list. If civilization is defined by common objective elements such as language, his tory, religion, customs and institutions and, subjectively, by identification, and if it is the broadest collectivity with which persons intensely identify, why distin guish "Latin American" from "Western" civilization? Like North America, Latin America is a continent settled by Euro peans who brought with them European languages and a European version of Judeo-Christian religion, law, literature and gender roles. The Indian component in Latin American culture is more important in some countries (Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador and Peru) than in North America. But the African influ ence is more important in the United States than in all but a few Latin Ameri can countries (Brazil, Belize and Cuba). Both North and South America are


Librarians at Rice and Purdue Universities created novel assignments to teach students important information literacy skills. The assignments required the students to use a third-party web site, PageFlakes and NetVibes, respectively, to create a dynamically updated portal to information they needed for their research and class projects. The use of off-the-shelf web 2.0 technology to enable students to discover the latest information in their subject areas of interest provides an engaging, hands-on environment with immediate feedback on the quality of their searching. The authors provide a basic introduction to the use of the 'portal' web site. Then, the results of using this technique, for graduate students in physics in one case and junior/senior level undergraduates in the other, are analyzed, and recommendations for the integration of this type of assignment in other courses are given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]


Polymerase gamma, which replicates and repairs mitochondrial DNA, requires the Pol gamma B subunit for processivity. We determined the crystal structure of mouse Pol gamma B, a core component of the mitochondrial replication machinery. Pol gamma B shows high similarity to glycyl-tRNA synthetase and dimerizes through an unusual intermolecular four-helix bundle. A human Pol gamma B mutant lacking the four-helix bundle failed to dimerize in solution or to stimulate the catalytic subunit Pol gamma A, but retained the ability to bind with Pol gamma A to a primer-template construct, indicating that the functional holoenzyme contains two Pol gamma B molecules. Other mutants retained stimulatory activity but lost the ability to bind folded ssDNA. These results suggest that the Pol gamma B dimer contains distinct sites for Pol gamma A binding, dimerization, and DNA binding.


The 18th International Symposium on Integrated Ferroelectrics (ISIF 2006) was held on April 23–27, 2006 at the Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort and Spa in Honolulu, Hawaii. After being held in Korea (2004) and China (2005), the conference returned to the United States of America. The flagship resort, featuring spectacular acres of tropical beauty and splendor in the heart of Waikiki, created an atmosphere that was warm, comfortable, and inviting for the attendees to share their research work and interests in integrated ferroelectrics and related fields. ISIF has become an important annual event where a diverse group of personnel, from industries and academia, present and exchange their research results and obtain up-to-date information on the fundamentals of ferroelectrics, piezoelectrics, dielectrics, pyroelectrics, multiferroic, and related materials at various length scales, processing of devices and characterization, simulation and modeling of devices. It also provides an invaluable forum to network and build bridges among various communities. ISIF 2006 clearly lived up to these expectations, with 290 attendees from 15 countries. Additionally, 375 technical papers including 3 plenary, 50 invited, 101 oral (contributed), and 221 posters were presented. The technical sessions covered a very broad range of topics:


AN ANALYSIS OF ATTITUDES AND PRACTICES OF SOUTHERN BAPTIST PASTORS TOWARD PREMARITAL EDUCATION John Kevin Coffee The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2012 Chairperson: Dr. Larry J. Purcell The purpose of this study was to analyze the attitudes and practices of Southern Baptist pastors in four Midwestern states toward premarital education. The researcher utilized a multi-stage sampling procedure to randomly select 1070 churches in Missouri, Tennessee, Illinois, and Kentucky. A research tool was created to record demographic information about the research participants and also to record the attitudes and practices of the sample toward premarital education. A content analysis was conducted which identified the top 11 recommendations from the literature base for premarital education curricular content areas. The curricular content components reportedly present in the practices of the sample were compared against the curricular content areas in the literature base. Finally, the researcher investigated the relationship between the presence of certain curricular content components of present in the practices of the sample and certain demographic characteristics of the sample.


Introduction. Part I: Here Comes the Sun: Shedding Some Light on PV Systems. Chapter 1: The Photovoltaic Revolution. Chapter 2: Checking Out Common Components and Systems. Chapter 3: Powering through Electricity Basics. Chapter 4: Warming Up to the Solar Resource. Chapter 5: Properly Selecting a Site for a PV System. Part II: Digging into Complete System Details. Chapter 6: PV Modules: From Sand to Electricity. Chapter 7: The Basics of Batteries. Chapter 8: Keeping Current and Voltage in Check: Charge Controllers. Chapter 9: Inverters: AC (From) DC. Chapter 10: Staying Secure: Wiring and Safety Components. Part III: Sizing a PV System. Chapter 11: Sizing a Grid-Direct System. Chapter 12: Sizing a Battery-Based System. Chapter 13: Sizing Conductors, Conduit, and Safety Components. Part IV: Installing a PV System. Chapter 14: The Permitting Process. Chapter 15: Staying Safe Anytime You Work on a PV System. Chapter 16: Assembling the Mechanical Parts. Chapter 17: Integrating the Electrical Elements. Chapter 18: Commissioning, Inspecting, and Maintaining a PV System. Part V: The Part of Tens. Chapter 19: Ten Ways to Avoid Common Code Mistakes. Chapter 20: Ten Ways to Maximize Energy Production for Your Clients. Index.


Recent work using Texas closed claim data finds that physicians are rarely required to use personal assets in medical malpractice settlements even when plaintiffs secure judgments above the physician's insurance limits. In equilibrium, this should lead physicians to purchase less insurance. Qualitative research on the behavior of plaintiffs suggests that there is a norm under which plaintiffs agree not to pursue personal assets as long as defendants are not grossly underinsured. This norm operates as a soft constraint on physicians. All other things equal, while physicians want to lower their coverage, they do not want to violate the norm and trigger an attack on their personal assets. This constraint should be less effective when physicians have other ways to shield their assets, such as through large personal bankruptcy exemptions like those available in Texas. Settlement data from the National Practitioner Data Bank indicate that settlements in Texas are abnormally low, just as they are in other jurisdictions with unlimited homestead exemptions in bankruptcy. Consistent with theory, we find that more generous exemptions are also associated with lower insurance prices and lower levels of insurance coverage. These results suggest that the large "haircuts" and low insurance limits observed in the Texas data may be driven by Texas's generous bankruptcy provisions. At a minimum, Texas is not generally representative of other jurisdictions. This weakens the case for extrapolating conclusions from Texas data to other jurisdictions.


ABSTRACTWe measured water-soluble organic nitrogen (WSON) in snow pit samples, which were collected at the Murodo-Daira snowfield near the summit of Mt. Tateyama, central Japan in 2008, 2009, and 2011. The concentrations of WSON ranged from 12.8 to 96.7 ng g–1, which were significantly lower than those reported in continental wet deposition samples from the Asian continent. WSON may be largely diluted in the snow samples during snowing processes over the high mountains. We found that WSON significantly correlated with nss-Ca2+ and water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC). Concentrations of WSON are likely controlled by the intensity of Asian dust events. Contributions of WSON to water soluble total nitrogen (WSTN) in snow pit sequence was found to be 15 ± 10%, which is lower than those (63–91%) of reference dust materials collected in China. Mass concentration ratio of WSOC/WSON was on average 23.7, which is significantly higher than the C/N weight ratio (5.6) calculated from the Redfield ratio. This result suggests that WSOC is largely produced by secondary photochemical oxidation of anthropogenic volatile organic compounds during the transport from East Asia to the high mountain areas in Japan. On the other hand, WSON may be contributed from Asian dusts from arid areas in China whereas water-soluble inorganic nitrogen may be derived from pollution sources.


The Grenville and Caledonian orogens, fundamental to building Laurentia and Baltica, intersect in northern Scotland. The Precambrian Glenelg Inlier, within the Scottish Caledonides, preserves a record of Grenvillian, Knoydartian and Caledonian orogenesis. Based on new mapping and re-interpretation of previous mapping, we present a structural model for the evolution of the Glenelg Inlier. The inlier can be divided into Western Glenelg gneiss comprising orthogneiss with no record of Grenville-age metamorphism, and Eastern Glenelg gneiss with ortho- and paragneiss, affected by Grenvillian eclogite-facies metamorphism. The basement gneisses and their original cover of psammitic, Neoproterozoic Morar Group (Moine) rocks were deformed by three generations of major ductile folds (F1–F3). In medium-strain areas F2 and F3 folds are broadly coaxial and both face to the west; in higher strain areas F2 and F3 folds are oblique to each other. By restoring post-F1 folds and late faults, the Glenelg gneiss inliers are seen to form the core of a major recumbent SSE-facing F1 isoclinal fold nappe – the Proto-Moine Nappe. The upper limb of this nappe is a thick, right-way-up sequence of moderately strained Morar Group rocks whereas the lower, inverted limb comprises intensely deformed, migmatitic Morar Group rocks. Within the constraints of published geochronology, the Proto-Moine Nappe is likely Pre-Caledonian and may have originated during the early Neoproterozoic Knoydartian Orogeny.


In the last 25 years, a vast empirical literature has seriously challenged many assumptions on which the standard microeconomic approach is based. Inspired by this evidence, behavioural economics suggests that a research program that integrates the economic, psychological and neuroscientific literature can provide a theory of human decision-making with stronger descriptive, predictive and normative power. This interdisciplinary approach does not necessarily imply abandoning the neoclassical modelling tools and losing analytical tractability. As an example, the evolution of the economic theory on intertemporal choice is presented, showing that some standard economic assumptions can be viewed as special cases in which self-control and dynamic consistency are always guaranteed.


Purpose: The paper's aim is to analyze the business and production activities of an enterprise on researching and analyzing financial situation and factors affecting financial indices. On this basis, the article gives a panoramic view of the current financial situation and offers effective solutions to manage finances. Design/Methodology/Approach: In this article we have conducted a survey and analyzed the reality of the financial situation of TISCO in the period of 2016-2018. On that basis, the authors proposed an effective financial management solution for TISCO. Findings: On the basis of analyzing the advantages of an enterprise financial factor analysis methods the paper took advantage of the strengths of the existing method combined with testing analysis, descriptive statistics and charts to assess the current situation and give general and specific overview of the financial situation of large Vietnamese enterprises such as TISCO. The paper suggests a solution for the corporate restructuring of TISCO. Practical implications: Based on the methods of financial factor analysis combined with descriptive statistical analysis the article has been applied to analyze and assess the actual financial situation in large enterprises in Vietnam and make recommendations on corporate financial management to help businesses operate more effectively. Originality/Value: The authors have conducted research and applied the analysis of the financial reality of a large enterprise that is now in a period of great loss. This article gives an accurate, honest and objective assessment of the reality of TISCO making effective recommendations on corporate financial management.


he Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array (SCUBA) Half-Degree Extragalactic Survey (SHADES) is a major new blank-field extragalactic submillimetre (submm) survey currently underway at the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT). Ultimately, SHADES aims to cover half a square degree at 450 and 850m to a 4 depth of ~= 8mJy at 850m. Two fields are being observed, the Subaru/XMM-Newton Deep Field (SXDF) (02h18m- 05) and the Lockman Hole East (10h52m+ 57). The survey has three main aims: (i) to investigate the population of high-redshift submm galaxies and the cosmic history of massive dust-enshrouded star formation activity; (ii) to investigate the clustering properties of submm-selected galaxies in order to determine whether these objects could be progenitors of present-day massive ellipticals; and (iii) to investigate the fraction of submm-selected sources that harbour active galactic nuclei. To achieve these aims requires that the submm data be combined with co-spatial information spanning the radio-to-X-ray frequency range. Accordingly, SHADES has been designed to benefit from ultra-deep radio imaging obtained with the Very Large Array (VLA), deep mid-infrared observations from the Spitzer Space Telescope, submm mapping by the Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimetre Telescope (BLAST), deep near-infrared imaging with the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope, deep optical imaging with the Subaru Telescope and deep X-ray observations with the XMM-Newton observatory. It is expected that the resulting extensive multiwavelength data set will provide complete photometric redshift information accurate to as well as detailed spectral energy distributions for the vast majority of the submm-selected sources. In this paper, the first of a series on SHADES, we present an overview of the motivation for the survey, describe the SHADES survey strategy, provide a detailed description of the primary data-analysis pipeline and demonstrate the superiority of our adopted matched-filter source-extraction technique over, for example, Emerson-II style methods. We also report on the progress of the survey. As of 2004 February, 720arcmin2 had been mapped with SCUBA (about 40 per cent of the anticipated final total area) to a median 1 depth of 2.2mJy per beam at 850m (25mJy per beam at 450m), and the source-extraction routines give a source density of 650 +/- 50 sources deg-2 > 3 at 850m. Although uncorrected for Eddington bias, this source density is more than sufficient for providing enough sources to answer the science goals of SHADES, once half a square degree is observed. A refined reanalysis of the original 8-mJy survey Lockman hole data was carried out in order to evaluate the new data-reduction pipeline. Of the 17 most secure sources in the original sample, 12 have been reconfirmed, including 10 of the 11 for which radio identifications were previously secured.


Sleep and wake-up scheduling of sensor nodes is an efficient solution to prolong the network lifetime. However, existing scheduling algorithms may significantly decrease the number of active nodes so that the network may be intermittently-connected. In such networks, traditional geographic routing protocols are inappropriate to obtain low latency routes due to route discovery and data forwarding latency. In this paper, we propose a novel \emph{multi-candidate greedy routing} (MGR) scheme that makes the best effort to find minimum latency routes in the sensor networks. In MGR, each source node sends an RREQ to a set of first wake-up forwarder candidates and selects a route with minimum estimated delivery latency based on their replies. Moreover, to cope with the unreliability of wireless links, we introduce an add-on algorithm for MGR, called \emph{multilevel of link quality requirement-based packet forwarding} (MLRPF), which helps to increase the energy efficiency of MGR while still guaranteeing a low delivery latency. Simulation results demonstrate that MLRPF increases the routing performance of MGR significantly compared with PRRxDistance \cite{7}, DGF \cite{3}, and ODML \cite{2} in terms of packet delivery latency and energy efficiency.


South Louisiana's geographic complex is a product of two discrete ingredients: one natural and the other cultural, or human. Relief, soils, landforms, rocks, vegetation, climate, and other natural qualities and agencies are traditionally well studied and self-evident. Cultural elements-demography, ethnicity, economy, learned skills, acculturation and assimilation, cultural adaptation and heritage, and historical and evolutionary change-are not observed easily. Even so, they are often the foundation for the coastal zone's importance as a productive environment because exploitation patterns cannot be explained by land characteristics alone. Many factors complicate the interpretation of land use, including people's tastes, desires, and traditions. Because they are vague, less fixed, intangible, and difficult to study, cultural phenomena are often disregarded. There were definite cultural practices and customs that helped to formulate the Barataria-Terrebonne region's land-use ethics and patterns of economic and resource development. The cultural diversity displayed within the basin spawned cultural concepts that are rooted in each group's settlement philosophy and were incorporated into their land-use ethic. Distinct attitudes toward the regional resource base evolved with time, along with material elements that assisted the population to harmonize with their environment. The relationship between culture elements evolved into a distinct human imprint on the land and are now a part of the area's cultural ecology and ethno-history. These issues are discussed in this paper.


In the artistic life of Toulouse-Lautrec-brief yet exceptionally rich in innovative ideas and techniques- the female figure reigns supreme. Rarely has an artist simultaneously mythicised and de-mythicised the image of Woman with such obsessive desire, such passionate fantasy, such rapture and disillusion - and yet at the same time with such sensitivity, perspicacity, clarity and sincerity. Lautrec painted Woman in countless different compositions, but always with her truth as the unfaltering guide.


BACKGROUND
Bipolar disorder has been associated with cognitive decline, but confirmatory evidence from a community-derived sample of older people is lacking.

AIMS
To investigate the 13-year risk of dementia and death in older adults with bipolar disorder.

METHOD
Cohort study of 37 768 men aged 65-85 years. Dementia (primary) and death (secondary), as recorded by electronic record linkage, were the outcomes of interest.

RESULTS
Bipolar disorder was associated with increased adjusted hazard ratio (HR) of dementia (HR = 2.30, 95% CI 1.80-2.94). The risk of dementia was greatest among those with <5 years of history of bipolar disorder or who had had illness onset after 70 years of age. Bipolar disorder was also associated with increased mortality (HR = 1.51, 95% CI 1.28-1.77). Competing risk regression showed that bipolar disorder was associated with increased hazard of death by suicide, accidents, pneumonia or influenza, and diseases of the liver and digestive system.

CONCLUSIONS
Bipolar disorder in later life is associated with increased risk of dementia and premature death.


Fabrication of heterostructures is considered as one of the effective strategies to improve photocatalytic performance for organic pollutant degradation and hydrogen production under solar light irradiation. Here, Bi2S3/ZnO heterostructures with a flower-like architecture have been successfully synthesized by a facile in situ generation method. The as-synthesized Bi2S3/ZnO heterostructures showed enhanced visible-light absorption and charge separation efficiency of photoinduced electron–hole pairs. This heterojunction exhibits 3 fold enhancement in organic pollutant degradation and 2.7 fold enhancement in photocatalytic hydrogen generation under visible irradiation compared to rod-shaped Bi2S3. The high current gain (ca. 8.79) and low photocorrosion in photoelectrochemical water splitting reveal the superior photocatalytic activity of the heterojunction under visible light. The superior photocatalytic activities are attributed to the synergetic effects of ZnO nanoparticles and rod-shaped Bi2S3 in the Bi2S3/ZnO heterostructures, which result in fast separation and slow recombination of photoinduced electron–hole pairs. The reusability and stability of the photocatalysts has been checked by recycling experiments. X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy reveal that the structure and morphology of the heterostructures remain unchanged after photocatalytic cycling tests. The visible light active catalysts have potential for efficient solar light harvesting and overall water splitting. This work demonstrates the potential use of heterostructures as a highly efficient photocatalyst for dye degradation and hydrogen production under visible light irradiation.


Habitat fragmentation associated with suburbanization can have negative consequences on population persistence through the reduction of dispersal and concomitant gene flow. Using nine polymorphic microsatellite loci, I assessed the effects of forest fragmentation and water quality on the genetic structure of a vernal pool-breeding amphibian, the wood frog ( Lithobates sylvaticus), across 20 ponds in an unfragmented, forested landscape and 45 ponds in a fragmented landscape. Analyses were performed at the broad-scale of the study area and at a fine-scale, with spatially independent clusters of ponds selected within each landscape. Bayesian clustering approaches and AMOVA identified little population structure at the scale of the study area. At the fine-scale analysis, however, BARRIER and maps of genetic divergence identified barriers associated primarily with roads and suburban development in the fragmented landscape, and with large bodies of water and elevation in the unfragmented landscape. Tests of isolation by distance and Mantel tests of road effects and genetic differentiation (FST) were significant in only one of the three clusters in the fragmented landscape. Spatial autocorrelation and calculation of mean parent-offspring dispersal distances indicated restricted dispersal in a different cluster of pools in the fragmented landscape. Lastly, using the program GESTE, I tested the potential effects of water quality and hydroperiod on the observed genetic patterns and found that pH had a significant effect on structuring in the fragmented landscape, with higher pH resulting in increased genetic differentiation. The results of this study indicate that wood frog populations are well connected across the landscape of southeastern New Hampshire. However, I detected fine-scale population structuring associated with roads and other fragmenting features of suburbanization. Though inconsistent over clusters, this suggests that increased fragmentation might negatively impact wood frog populations in the future.


Administrations of mega cities face multiple challenges including informal settlements and air and water pollution control. Adequate mega city management requires a wellfunctioning spatial data infrastructure (SDI). The objective of this article is to evaluate the results of a comprehensive internet search concerning the use of spatial information technology in currently existing mega cities. The search starts from a nationwide view on the execution and the progress status of SDIs in the home countries of mega cities and zooms in to the specific aspects of spatial data management in the metropolitan areas of special interest. We conclude that current SDI development in mega cities covers the whole range from first stage conceptual ideas up to an almost complete operational SDI availability.


The authors of this paper investigated the thermal properties and optical properties of typical nonsilica glasses, including viscosity, surface tension, thermal conductivity, transmission, linear and nonlinear refractive index, and fiber attenuation in order to judge the feasibility of using nonsilica glasses as the background material of holey fibers (HFs). Novel techniques were presented to fabricate the nonsilica glass microstructured fiber preforms. Examples of fabricated nonsilica glass HFs with various promising optical applications were finally exhibited.


The transmission of electrons through an insulating single cylindrically shaped glass capillary of macroscopic dimensions has been investigated for electron energies from 300 to 1000 eV using a high-resolution electrostatic parallel-plate analyzer (spectrometer). The transmitted intensity decreased with increasing sample tilt angle relative to the beam direction, and had two regions: direct, where there is no interaction of the beam with the inner capillary wall, and indirect, where it does interact. From the full-width-at-half-maximum of the angular distributions, the indirect region was found to reveal a further two distinct areas of characteristics versus tilt angle with respect to elasticity/inelasticity of transmitted electrons. Electron transmission for the case of no tilt of the sample was found to be time dependent, due to charge-up of the capillary inner surface. The new results are compared with previous experimental data obtained using a 10× lower resolution spectrometer.


Background: Caring for traumatised populations may have adverse mental health outcomes for care givers. We investigated the prevalence of compassion fatigue, secondary traumatic stress, compassion satisfaction and burnout in maternity healthcare professionals providing care to bereaved parents who experienced a stillbirth or neonatal death. Possible protective factors such as age, experience, job stress, social support and previous history of trauma were explored. Method: A correlational, non-experimental, descriptive design was employed. All members of the Queensland Maternity and Neonatal Clinical Network (SMNCN) were invited to complete an online survey. The fi nal sample of 201 participants gave suffi cient power for subsequent statistical analyses. Results: Around a third (30.3%) reported moderate compassion fatigue and high secondary traumatic stress (32.3%), whereas 40% of participants reported high levels of compassion satisfaction. Around half (50.7%) reported moderate levels of burnout, and the majority (90%) reported high levels of job stress. Social support moderated compassion fatigue when job stress was high. High levels of social support elevated the satisfaction gained from caring for bereaved parents in participants who had low job stress. Conclusions: Maternity health professionals who have high levels of job stress but high social support are less susceptible to develop symptoms of compassion fatigue and more likely to report compassion satisfaction than carers with low social support. The moderating effects of social support on job stress warrant further investigation. Strategies to monitor and enhance the emotional well-being of maternity staff should be implemented to retain staff and provide better care for bereaved parents.


Background Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers diagnosed during pregnancy. Pregnancy-associated breast cancer (PABC) is defined as breast cancer diagnosed during pregnancy or within 12 months of delivery. Nowadays PABC can be safely diagnosed, staged, and treated during pregnancy with good outcomes for both the mother and the fetus. Recent studies suggest that prognosis of women diagnosed during postpartum seems to be worse. In order to gain a better understanding of the PABC, we reviewed our centre's experience. Patients and methods We assessed the clinicopathological parameters, evolution, and outcome of patients treated in the Fundación Instituto Valenciano de Oncología of Valencia, Spain, from October 1990 to October 2013, and compared the results of patients diagnosed during pregnancy (group 'A') and patients diagnosed within one year of delivery (group 'B'). Of 12,000 cases of breast cancer registered in our database, 35 cases of PABC were identified. We included 11 patients in group 'A' and 24 in group 'B'. Results In our group the median age was 35 years (range 29–42), of which ten (28%) patients had family history (first grade) of breast cancer, four patients were BRCA 1 mutation carriers. Axillary node compromise was found in 19 patients (53.5%), 24 patients were stage II or III at diagnosis (68.5%), 22 (62.8%) were ER positive, and nine (25.7%) were HER-2 positive. In group A (n = 11), five patients diagnosed before 18th week decided that a therapeutic abortion be performed before treatment, two patients were treated during pregnancy, one with chemotherapy without treatment associated complications during delivery. Four women diagnosed after 28th week decided to delay the treatment until delivery. After a follow up of 172 months, the relapse free survival (RFS) was 69% at five years and 45% at ten years. Overall survival (OS) at five years was 90.8% and 74.2% at ten years for all patients. For group 'A' OS was higher with 90% at five years versus 80% in group 'B'. The differences between the groups were not statistically significant p = 0.368. Conclusion In our experience, there is a higher OS in patients diagnosed during pregnancy suggesting a better prognosis for this group of women but the difference between the groups is not statistically significant. Our study is limited because of our small sample.


SYNOPSIS: Trade associations should play an integral role in defining and defending the legitimacy and jurisdiction of a profession. In addition, they should provide a field upon which individuals can rise above the confines of their organizations and grow their professional leadership capacities. Evidence in the literature suggests that U.S. accounting conformed to this pattern under the auspices of the American Institute for Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). However, various recent events have transpired that reduce the confidence that this continues to be the case. Using network analysis on longitudinal data from 1997 to 2013, this paper documents an increasingly fragmented and isolated leadership structure. This finding suggests the reduced influence of the AICPA. Surprisingly, this decline has not been offset by the stronger influences of the large international firms. Implications for the profession are discussed.


In its 1963 ruling Gideon v. Wainwright, the Supreme Court declared the right to a lawyer "fundamental and essential" to fairness in the criminal courts and held that lawyers must be provided for people who could not afford them so that every person "stands equal before the law." In later decisions, the Court ruled that a poor person facing any loss of liberty must have a lawyer "so that the accused may know precisely what he is doing, so that he is fully aware of the prospect of going to jail or prison, and so that he is treated fairly by the prosecution." This Essay argues that fifty years later, this right has not been realized. The U.S. criminal system is not truly adversarial because prosecutors possess broad, unchecked power and therefore determine results in criminal cases with little or no input from the defense. Governments have failed to adequately fund defense systems, many judges tolerate or welcome inadequate representation, and the Supreme Court has refused to require competent representation, instead adopting a standard of "effective counsel" that hides and perpetuates deficient representation. In this system, poverty, not justice, dictates outcomes.


Seed dormancy and seed longevity are the most important survival traits in the soil seed bank. Both traits are induced during seed maturation and evolved to assure seed survival during environmental conditions that cannot support the regular course of life. Seed dormancy is related to the timing of germination while seed longevity is involved in retaining germination ability that is gradually lost as a result of aging. The work presented in this thesis aims to identify genetic factors that regulate seed dormancy and seed longevity by generating and exploiting genetic variation.The exploitation of natural variation that is present in six recombinant inbred line populations for seed longevity revealed nine quantitative trait loci (QTLs) named Germination Ability After Storage (GAAS). Comparison between GAAS loci and seed dormancy Delay Of Germination (DOG) QTLs earlier established in the same populations led to the identification of collocating loci for which the allele effects were negatively correlated. The QTL effects of the GAAS loci and their colocation with the DOGs were validated in near isogenic lines (NILs). To our knowledge this is the first time that such a negative correlation between dormancy and longevity was reported, deep seed dormancy correlating with low seed longevity and vice versa. Detailed analysis on the collocating GAAS5 and DOG1 loci revealed that the DOG1-Cape Verde Islands (Cvi) allele both reduces seed longevity and increases seed dormancy. The three strongest GAAS loci have been submitted to proteome analyses to reveal molecular mechanisms as well as genetic factors that are involved in seed aging. During aging, dry seed proteomes are markedly changed in a genotype specific manner, implying that different mechanisms are involved in seed longevity conferred by the three NILs. The shared pathways revealed the importance of seed reserves (seed storage proteins, SSPs), antioxidant systems notably vitamin E, as well as the protection and maintenance of the translation machinery, and energy related pathways in seed longevity. The SSPs cruciferins and napins, the small ribosomal subunit RPS12C, and the NADP-dependent malic enzyme1 (NADP-ME1) were confirmed to significantly affect seed longevity by T-DNA knock-out mutants.The investigations on the negative correlation between seed dormancy and seed longevity were continued by fine-mapping the DOG2/GAAS1 locus. Genetic analyses showed that DOG2 and GAAS1 were likely two independent loci due to the differences in genetic behavior of DOG2 (maternal) and GAAS1 (co-dominant). The fine-mapping of DOG2 resulted in a 85 Kb-region containing 27 genes. Ethyl methanesulfonate-induced mutagenesis in the dormant NILDOG6-Shakdara background revealed six novel seed dormancy modifier mutants (sdm1 to sdm6). Sdm1 and sdm3-6 showed reduced seed longevity as a pleiotropic effect of the mutated seed dormancy gene. Mutants sdm2 and sdm4 exhibited abnormal seed mucilage. Mapping populations were generated and phenotyped in order to identify the underlying sdm genes by a mapping-by-sequencing approach. This work provides new insights in the seed dormancy/longevity relation and genes and processes involved.


Due to the European electricity market liberalization and the appearance of other renewable electricity producers, an increase of installed peak power capacity is relevant to provide larger amount of electricity in a shorter turbine duration. When the discharge increase is not too large, it is frequently efficient to place an orifice at the entrance of the existing surge tank. Actually, the surge tank modifications have to be designed case-by-case. The introduction of head losses helps to manage maximum and minimum water level following the management of downstream discharge control and transient events. It allows to keep the same safety level. The placed orifice should commonly produce asymmetric losses. It is important to note that target head losses are evaluated with a unidimensional numerical model which performs transient simulation for relevant flow directions in the whole water way system and hydropower plant. A previous study performed by the authors focused on the effects of sharp-edged orifice parameters. This research carries out the analysis of corresponding elliptical orifices to tested sharp-edged orifices. The goal is to evaluate the head loss modification in both directions due to the shape change.


Er^(3+)-doped Na2O-WO3-TeO2 glass consistent with standard ion-exchange technology has been fabricated and characterized. The measured absorption and emission spectra of the glass were analyzed by the Judd-Ofelt and McCumber theories. The intensity parameters are ?2 = 7.01*10^(-20) cm2, ?4 = 1.80*10^(-20) cm2, ?6 = 1.03*10^(-20) cm2. The maximum emission cross-section is 0.91*10^(-20) cm2 at 1.533 ?m, and a broad 1.5-?m emission spectrum of 65-nm full width at half-maximum (FWHM) is demonstrated. Glass transition temperature, crystallization onset temperature, density, refractive index are also reported for reference in the design and modelling of the ion-exchange process.


Up until the global economic crisis at the end of the 2000s an eclectic approach to fiscal policy seemed to have emerged from the long-standing debates that there had been about it. This largely ruled out using fiscal policy to fine tune the economy. Instead macro policy in advanced economies focused on monetary policy within a framework of inflation targeting. In the depths of the recession, however, and with interest rates approaching a zero lower bound, fiscal policy was dramatically resurrected and a broad global consensus formed around fiscal stimulus. The consensus did not last long and sharp disagreements soon re-emerged, in particular with respect to the speed and nature of fiscal consolidation. Why did these changes in the approach to fiscal policy happen and were they appropriate? Does the available empirical evidence allow us to form conclusions about the impact of fiscal policy or is it still a matter of 'on the one hand…but on the other'? And how might fiscal policy evolve in the light of recent experience? This article examines these questions.


Although these two Surahs of the Qur'an are separate entities and are written in the Mushaf also under separate names, yet they are so deeply related mutually and their contents so closely resemble each other's that they have been designated by a common name Mu'awwidhatayn (the two Surahs in which refuge with Allah has been sought). Imam Baihaqi in Dala'il an-Nubuwwat has written that these Surahs were revealed together, that is why the combined name of both is Mu'awwidhatayn. We are writing the same one Introduction to both, for they discuss and deal with just the same matters and topics. However, they will be explained and commented on separately below.


Machine Learning Workflows (MLWfs) have become essential and a disruptive approach in problem-solving over several industries. However, the development process of MLWfs may be complicated, hard to achieve, time-consuming, and error-prone. To handle this problem, in this paper, we introduce machine learning workflow management (MLWfM) as a technique to aid the development and reuse of MLWfs and their components through three aspects: representation, execution, and creation. More precisely, we discuss our approach to structure the MLWfs' components and their metadata to aid retrieval and reuse of components in new MLWfs. Also, we consider the execution of these components within a tool. The hybrid knowledge representation, called Hyperknowledge, frames our methodology, supporting the three MLWfM's aspects. To validate our approach, we show a practical use case in the Oil & Gas industry.


We present a new algorithm for simulating large-scale crowds at interactive rates based on the Principle of Least Effort. Our approach uses an optimization method to compute a biomechanically energy-efficient, collision-free trajectory that minimizes the amount of effort for each heterogeneous agent in a large crowd. Moreover, the algorithm can automatically generate many emergent phenomena such as lane formation, crowd compression, edge and wake effects ant others. We compare the results from our simulations to data collected from prior studies in pedestrian and crowd dynamics, and provide visual comparisons with real-world video. In practice, our approach can interactively simulate large crowds with thousands of agents on a desktop PC and naturally generates a diverse set of emergent behaviors.


Introduction: The human population is ageing. A centenarian is an individual who has reached the age of at least 100 years. Longevity has been associated with long-lived families and their related genetic material but genes are not the entire story. The study aimed to briefly explore the life stories and perceptions of key variables contributing to their longevity of eight centenarians. Materials and Method: While the present study involves qualitative characteristics, we have attempted to support these aspects with quantitative data. In four towns of Samsun city, northern Turkey, interviews were conducted with eight centenarian participants. These individuals were identified from a population consisting of 200,000 people residing within the countryside or in mountainous regions. The visits were conducted in their homes, between the dates of October 2016 and December 2016. Results: We found the ratio of centenarian as 0.4/10,000 people for target towns of Samsun. The mean age of the participants was 101.8 years, and all of them are women. Yogurt consumption was found to be quite frequent among our participants. A number of our participants also thought that religious rituals, such as worship and prayer, were effective for living a long-life and they advised such practices to younger generations. the most common problems consisted of hypertension and musculoskeletal system diseases. Conclusion: Individuals who reach the age of 100 years or more generally feel youthful and healthy. The common secret our participants provided for reaching advanced age is a natural diet, avoiding bad habits and living in a peaceful environment.


This article examines the link between Vietnam's adoption of the Doi Moi (renovation) policy and transformations in its China policy in the late 1980s and early 1990s as a case study of the domestic–foreign policy nexus. The article argues that during this period, changes in Vietnam's foreign policy in general and its China policy in particular originated first and foremost from the Vietnamese Communist Party's (VCP) domestic agenda of promoting economic reform and protecting the regime's survival. As the VCP considered hostile relations with China as detrimental to both its economic reform and regime security, it strived to mend relations with China as quickly as possible. Against this backdrop, Vietnam made a number of important concessions to China regarding the Cambodian issue in order to accelerate the normalization process, which eventually concluded in late 1991.


On 23 March 2020, the United Kingdom (UK) government introduced new measures aimed at reducing the spread of coronavirus (Covid-19). These measures directed the closure of non-essential businesses and venues, prohibited all public gatherings of more than two people and required everyone to stay at home except for very limited purposes. The rationale behind the measures was clear: Stay Home, Stay Safe, Save Lives. Within days of the lockdown coming into force, reports emerged within the media that services supporting victims of gender-based violence (GBV) were facing an unprecedented increase in demand for assistance, indicating that cases of abuse were on the rise. Although GBV is not caused by lockdown measures, evidence indicates that they may increase the incidence rate and/or the severity of GBV in households where it is already being perpetrated. These findings are in line with existing research which demonstrates that natural disasters, disease and other forms of conflict leave citizens (particularly women and girls) vulnerable to GBV. Preventing and responding to GBV in times of humanitarian crises is a vital but challenging endeavour. Whilst support services struggle to secure adequate resources and capacity, restrictions on leaving the house mean that victims face barriers to reporting abuse and seeking help. Within this context, this article will analyse the impact of Covid-19 on the ability of victims of GBV to access justice. The first part of this article will explore the role of GBV organisations in the UK, the impact of humanitarian crises on reported rates of GBV, and how GBV can be mitigated during the Covid-19 outbreak. The second part of the article examines the effectiveness of the response to the crisis from government and public sector agencies including Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunal Service (HMCTS), the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and the police. The third and final part of the article presents the findings of a UK wide study conducted by the authors into the impact of Covid-19 on GBV organisations and victims. Throughout the article, recommendations are made as to the ways in which GBV organisations could be more effectively supported to ensure justice for victims at this critical time.


As is the case for most avian species, there is considerable variation in the egg size of Continental Black-tailed Godwits Limosa l. limosa breeding in The Netherlands. It is interesting that egg size has costs and benefits yet varies considerably at the population level. To better understand this variation in egg size, we tested its relationship to a suite of individual and environmental factors. We found that egg size can decrease up to 2.8% throughout a breeding season and that egg size increases with clutch size by 1.4% with each additional egg in the clutch. Female body mass and body size explained 5% of the total variation in egg size observed across the population. Furthermore, females wintering south of the Sahara laid 3% smaller eggs than those wintering north of the Sahara. We also found that egg size increases with age, which may indicate age-related differences in the endogenous and/or exogenous conditions of females. The variation in egg size was, however, mostly the result of consistent differences among individuals across years (repeatability = 0.60). A comparison of daughters with mothers suggested that most of this individual repeatability reflects heritable variation (heritability = 0.64). The actual individual traits that underlie this heritable variation among individuals remain mostly undetermined. Smaller eggs did have a slightly lower chance of hatching, but we found no relationship between egg size and chick survival. Finally, nest and chick survival were strongly correlated with lay date. Thus, in Black-tailed Godwits, lay date may actually reflect a female's endogenous and/or exogenous condition at the moment of egg-laying. This finding may be general across birds, since food supplementation experiments usually result in advanced laying and larger clutch sizes rather than in larger eggs.


Problem statement: The relationship between "Architecture" and "Architectural Conservation" based on interconnected common foundations, is a traditional issue. The problem of the present research, formed around a triple relationship among "Architecture", "Technology" and "Architectural Conservation" parallel to technological evolution, has resulted in ambiguities in the architect's role in the modern triple relationship, which has not yet been resolved in the developing societies. Research objective: The purpose of this study is to investigate the architect's role in architectural conservation following the technological evolution from traditional to advanced in Western developed societies to attract the attention of developing societies to this issue. Research method: This paper was written by a combination of historical and causal methods that are the qualitative approach's subsets. Conclusion: "Architectural Conservation", after challenges that have had by pure attention to the artistic or technical aspects of "Architectural Technology" as well as the neglect of social values, nowadays, has chosen a middle ground that considers both dimensions and social values, affected by cultureoriented paradigm. The connection of "architecture", "technology" and "architectural conservation" to each other and society as a rule derived from the culture-oriented paradigm, has made the presence of the architect in architectural conservation inevitable in terms of covering architectural dimension in this triple relationship on the one hand and establishing a connection between this triple and the society's culture on the other hand. Besides, considering the architect's ability to establish a suitable interaction with the experts of "Technology" and "Architectural Conservation" and create a favorable balance between these two domains, it is the architect's responsibility to take on the leadership of this relationship as a professional duty.


Seagrass beds are an important ecosystem on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica. At Cahuita National Park (CNP) a seagrass bed at Perezoso has been monitored continually since 1999 within the CARICOMP program. Thalassia testudinum is the dominant seagrass species, in some cases mixed with Syringodium filiforme. The results from the 2009 to 2015 monitoring period are presented here, and contrasted with data before 2009. Total (above and below ground tissue) mean biomass of T. testudinum was higher (1 255.4 ± 146.0 gm-2) than biomass before 2009, with an increasing tendency. However, productivity (1.5±0.59 gm-2d-1) and turnover rate (4.3 ± 1.22 %d-1) were lower than previous monitoring periods. In this period, mean leaf area diminished considerably (4.9 ± 2.30 m2), but leaf area index (LAI) increased (1.9 ± 0.80 m2leafm-2) in comparison to prior monitoring. Productivity, density, turnover rate, LAI and biomass showed intra-annual variations; while mean biomass of T. testudinum did not vary significantly among years. No correlations were found between water salinity, temperature and clarity with seagrass measurements. However, most seagrass parameters were strongly correlated with precipitation. These results highlight the effect of external environmental agents acting on the ecosystem. CNP presents a long-term stable seagrass meadow. However, there are indirect signals, such as high biomass and above-ground biomass proportion, along with low productivity and LAI, which point to a nutrient increment in Perezoso's seagrass bed. To continue protecting this seagrass bed, it is necessary to improve monitoring methods, and seagrass beds should be included in national conservation policies and monitoring programs.


Abstract : Group, product line, and program managers are faced with allocating resources to projects. Should all resources be dedicated to meet near-term deliverables? Or should some be siphoned off to build software assets that may improve quality, flexibility, and reduce cost and time-to-market of future products in the product line? These managers also have to determine which assets to buy or build. The choices are many, ranging from reusable code components to design models to application generators, and each has a different risk and cash flow profile. This report introduces an approach that will help managers make these allocation decisions. The report outlines a planning and communication tool for analyzing investments in software assets for product lines. Although the report is not a guidebook, the concepts, criteria, and investment modeling techniques will be useful in making and justifying proposals for funding. The concepts are drawn from the fields of microeconomics, corporate finance, marketing, R&D technology management, and software reuse.


This short paper develops variational continual learning (VCL), a simple but general framework for continual learning that fuses online variational inference (VI) and recent advances in Monte Carlo VI for neural networks. The framework can successfully train both deep discriminative models and deep generative models in complex continual learning settings where existing tasks evolve over time and entirely new tasks emerge. Experimental results show that variational continual learning outperforms state-of-the-art continual learning methods on a variety of tasks, avoiding catastrophic forgetting in a fully automatic way.1


Background Since 2001, San Francisco has experienced a sustained syphilis epidemic that has been nearly exclusively limited to men who have sex with men. We examined the characteristics associated with changes in the syphilis epidemic in San Francisco. Methods All primary and secondary (P&S) syphilis cases reported to the San Francisco Department of Public Health between 2001 and 2011 were examined using joinpoint analysis to identify periods within the broader epidemic. Characteristics of the index cases were compared across the periods using &khgr;2 statistics and t tests. Results Three distinct periods were identified, an acute increase, decline, and then period of resurgence. In the most recent period of resurgence, compared with earlier periods, patients with P&S syphilis were more likely to have a prior syphilis infection, were older, were more likely to meet partners online, and were more likely to have a partner from outside San Francisco. Conclusions In an analysis of 11 years of P&S syphilis data, several factors were associated with declines or resurgences. Innovative prevention measures are needed to reduce syphilis morbidity among men who have sex with men.


Transposition tables are a powerful tool in search domains for avoiding duplicate effort and for guiding node expansions. Traditionally, however, they have only been applicable when the current state is exactly the same as a previously explored state. We consider a generalized transposition table, whereby a similarity metric that exploits local structure is used to compare the current state with a neighbourhood of previously seen states. We illustrate this concept and forward pruning based on function approximation in the domain of Skat, and show that we can achieve speedups of 16+ over standard methods.


Individuals are living longer than they ever have before with average life expectancy at birth estimated at 79 years of age in the United States. A greater proportion of individuals are living to advanced ages of 85 or more and the ratio of individuals 65 and over to individuals of younger age groups is shrinking. Disparities in life expectancy across genders and races are pronounced. Financial challenges of sustaining the older population are substantial in most developed and many developing countries. In the United States in particular, employer-based pension programs are diminishing. Furthermore, Social Security will begin taking in less money than it pays out as early as 2023, and the debate over its future in part entails discussions of equitable distribution of resources for the young in need and the old. Living longer is associated with a greater number of chronic health conditions—over two-thirds of Medicare beneficiaries in the United States have two or more chronic health conditions that require complex self-management regimes partnered with informal and formal care services from family caregivers and institutional long-term services and supports. Caregiver burden and stress is high as are quality care deficiencies in residential long-term care settings. The balance of honoring individuals' autonomous wishes and providing person-centered care that also addresses the practicalities of safety is an ever-present quandary. Furthermore, complex decisions regarding end-of-life care and treatments plague the medical and social realms, as more money is spent at the end of life than at any other point and individuals' wishes for less invasive treatment are often not accommodated. Yet, despite these challenges of later life, a large percentage of older individuals are giving financial support, time, and energy to younger generations, who are increasingly strained by economic hardship, the pressures on dual earner parents, and the problems faced by single parenthood. Older individuals' engagement in society and the help they provide others runs counter to stereotypes that render them helpless and lonely. Overall, the ethical challenges faced by society due to the aging of the population are considerable. Difficult decisions that must be addressed include the sustainability of programs, resources, and social justice in care, as well as how to marshal the resources, talents, and wisdom that older people provide.


I study the effect of inventor mobility on knowledge creation and make two significant departures from prior literature. In contrast to prior studies based on large patent datasets or surveys, I use employment, travel and demographic data for 1315 inventors at an emerging market R&D center of a Fortune 50 multinational. Also, the prior literature has focused on how mobility helps inventors access distant knowledge. In contrast I hypothesize that mobility could additionally help inventors secure resources centralized at a distant location. To test this and to account for endogeneity and selection, I consider inventors who could not travel because they got married/had children and match them to similar inventors without such constraints. I find that not being to travel leads to lower patenting over the next two years. I also find support for the resource seeking hypothesis - travel to the headquarters leads to higher patenting, however travel to non-headquarter R&D locations in Europe and Asia does not have the same effect. Given the centralization of resources at the headquarters for the MNC that I study, I argue that in this context mobility of inventors is related to securing resources for knowledge creation.


3001. Dodykhudoeva, L. R. ETHNO-CULTURAL HERITAGE OF THE PEOPLES OF WEST PAMIR. Collegium Antropologicum. 2004, 28(Suppl I): 147-159. The paper presents a study on the West Pamir communities (Badakhshan, Tajikistan) based on language data of the Pamir languages ofEast-Iranian origin. At present, the ethnic groups of the West Pamir: Shughni, Rushani, Bartangi, Roshorvi, Khufi, Ishkashimi and Wakhi are communities of the Ismaili Shia Islam faith. The underlying concept of the paper is that ethnic and cultural key-concepts take place in the origin of the traditional beliefs and rituals and can be reliably reconstructed from the vocabulary of a particular community. Pamir languages vocabulary of the Pamir ethnic communities that uses East and West Iranian culturally significant terms may serve as a basis for understanding the genesis ofPamir Ismailism, its particular way of absorbing external cultures, and its present specific form. The purely linguistic criteria, like temporal dimension (linguistic chronology), and geographic dispersion and mobility, are believed to be critical for linking etymology to broader socio-cultural development context of the Pamir communities socio-historical and cultural life. Contemporary social and linguistic dynamics in the relations between nation, religion and language in Tajikistan needs systematic research, and reasonable interpretation.


Representing the identity of a smell We still don't know how odors retain their identities over a range of concentrations. Working in mice, Bolding and Franks simultaneously recorded spiking activity from neurons in the olfactory bulb and piriform cortex, two important brain regions for olfaction. Odor information was transformed from a representation that was highly concentration dependent in the olfactory bulb to a representation that was largely concentration invariant in the piriform cortex. The underlying mechanism involves a "winner-takes-all" lateral inhibition. In the collateral network of the piriform cortex, the principal cells responded promptly to output from the olfactory bulb, and recurrent inhibition curtailed the intensity dependence of the signal. Science, this issue p. eaat6904 Feedback inhibition mediates the suppression of concentration-dependent sustained activity in the olfactory cortex. INTRODUCTION Objects can appear remarkably stable despite the often fickle cues they provide to our senses. For instance, a foraging mouse can identify and locate a piece of cheese several meters away entirely by smell, even though the concentration of airborne "cheese" molecules varies steeply over this distance. How the brain maintains perceptual stability across such widely ranging stimulus intensities remains a fundamental, unanswered question. The response properties of olfactory sensory neurons in the mouse's nose may provide part of the answer. With each sniff, inhaled odorant molecules activate subsets of sensory neurons that each express a single type of odorant receptor. At low concentrations, when only a few odorant molecules are present, only those cells that express the most sensitive receptors for that particular odorant will be activated. However, many cells that express lower-affinity receptors will also be activated at higher concentrations, potentially degrading the odor representation. Crucially, the sensory neurons that express high-affinity receptors will always be activated earliest in the sniff, regardless of concentration. Could the mouse's brain exploit this temporal structure to maintain stable odor representations despite changing odorant concentrations? RATIONALE To test this idea, we simultaneously recorded spiking activity from olfactory bulb (OB) mitral cells, which receive input from the olfactory sensory neurons, and from their cortical targets, principal neurons (PNs) in the piriform cortex (PCx), where odor identity is encoded. PNs form extensive, long-range "recurrent" excitatory synapses with each other in addition to forming excitatory synapses on PCx inhibitory interneurons. We hypothesized that this architecture enables the earliest activated—and therefore most selective—PCx PNs to rapidly inhibit less selective PCx PNs, helping to maintain stimulus specificity across odorant concentrations. We directly tested this idea by selectively expressing tetanus toxin in PCx PNs, blocking their ability to excite other PCx neurons but leaving them responsive to OB inputs. RESULTS In control mice, OB responses to different odors were more correlated and were more sensitive to differences in odor concentration than responses in PCx. Individual OB neurons fired bursts of action potentials, with odor-specific latencies and prolonged responses that were strongly concentration-dependent. By contrast, PCx PNs were briefly excited immediately after inhalation and then rapidly truncated by strong and sustained suppression. To identify the source of this suppression, we recorded from feedforward and feedback inhibitory interneurons in PCx. Feedforward interneurons, which are excited exclusively by OB inputs, exhibited little odor-evoked activity. By contrast, feedback interneurons, which are excited by PCx PNs but not by OB, showed robust and sustained spiking that mirrored PN suppression, indicating that PCx itself controls the timing and strength of its own suppression. We eliminated this intracortical communication by silencing recurrent excitatory synapses in PCx with tetanus toxin. This amplified and prolonged PCx PN responses, rendered their responses steeply concentration-dependent, and abolished the ability to stably predict odor identity across concentrations from PCx spiking activity. DISCUSSION The PCx cells that respond earliest after inhalation represent the most odorant-specific and concentration-invariant features of the odor. The extensive, long-range recurrent circuitry broadcasts their activation across PCx, recruiting strong, sustained global inhibition that then suppresses subsequent cortical activity. Recurrent circuitry therefore effectively amplifies the impact of the earliest arriving OB inputs and discounts the impact of less-selective inputs that arrive later. Thus, the recurrent circuitry in the PCx acts as a precisely timed gate to ensure that only the most salient information is relayed further into the brain to guide the mouse's behavior. Whenever a mouse inhales, volatile molecules activate odorant receptors in the nose, evoking sequences of activity in the olfactory bulb. Bulb cells driven by the most specific receptors, which therefore best represent the odor stimulus (cheese), will always respond earliest. When this information is relayed to piriform cortex, activated principal neurons (red cells) recruit inhibitory neurons (green cells) that then suppress cortical responses to subsequent, less-specific olfactory bulb input (such as garlic, shoe, or flower), preserving the identity of the stimulus. ILLUSTRATION BY JULIA KUHL Animals rely on olfaction to find food, attract mates, and avoid predators. To support these behaviors, they must be able to identify odors across different odorant concentrations. The neural circuit operations that implement this concentration invariance remain unclear. We found that despite concentration-dependence in the olfactory bulb (OB), representations of odor identity were preserved downstream, in the piriform cortex (PCx). The OB cells responding earliest after inhalation drove robust responses in sparse subsets of PCx neurons. Recurrent collateral connections broadcast their activation across the PCx, recruiting global feedback inhibition that rapidly truncated and suppressed cortical activity for the remainder of the sniff, discounting the impact of slower, concentration-dependent OB inputs. Eliminating recurrent collateral output amplified PCx odor responses rendered the cortex steeply concentration-dependent and abolished concentration-invariant identity decoding.


Galaxy clusters mainly grow through mergers with other clusters and groups. Major mergers give rise to cluster-wide traveling shocks, which can be detected at radio wavelengths as relics: elongated, diffuse synchrotron emitting areas located at the periphery of merging clusters. The 'Sausage' cluster hosts an extraordinary Mpc-wide relic, which enables us to study to study particle acceleration and the effects of shocks on cluster galaxies. We derive shock properties and the magnetic field structure for the relic. Our results indicate that particles are shock-accelerated, but turbulent re-acceleration or unusually efficient transport of particles in the downstream area are important effects. We demonstrate the feasibility of high-frequency observations of radio relics, by presenting a 16 GHz detection of the 'Sausage' relic. Halpha mapping of the cluster provides the first direct test as to whether the shock drives or prohibits star formation. We find numerous galaxies in close proximity to the radio relic which are extremely massive, metal-rich, star-forming with evidence for gas mass loss though outflows. We speculate that the complex interaction between the merger, the shock wave and gas is a fundamental driver in the evolution of cluster galaxies from gas rich spirals to gas-poor ellipticals.


Background: Implantology has now penetrated and become a significant part of mainstream dentistry and is here to stay. Although a number of cost-effective implant system being available in India, implant practice requires in-depth acquaintance and skillful competence. It is the need of the hour that a more structured clinical training including some patient treatment be taught in the undergraduate curriculum. The purpose of the present study was to assess the awareness of implants among interns from various colleges across Ahmedabad city and changes in perception of undergraduates toward implantology over 3 years. Materials and Methods: A questionnaire-based survey was conducted among interns from various dental colleges across Ahmedabad city in 2013 and 2016 to assess the changing trends in knowledge and attitude toward implantology. Results: A total of 600 questionnaires were distributed, 300 each in 2013 and 2016. Nearly 74%–75% of interns were aware about the implant procedure in both the phases of the study. Approximately 80% admitted their inability to perform implant procedure independently due to lack of professional training. Around 50% agreed to introduce and include implantology as a separate subject in BDS. curriculum. Conclusion: The present study suggests that there is a very minimal change in the perceptions and knowledge of dental interns toward implantology over 3 years due to minimal exposure to implant dentistry throughout their BDS. They were not satisfied by the lack of knowledge and welcomed the suggestion of introducing implantology as a separate subject in the BDS curriculum.


Carotenoids have been shown to be important integumentary coloring agents in many birds and fishes. The role of carotenoids as a prominent integumentary coloring agent of the dewlap has been noted in many Anoline lizards, but the role of carotenoids as a social signal has not been considered. Here, I investigated some proximate causes of male and female dewlap color, and found that males and females differed in pterin pigment concentrations but not in carotenoid concentrations. I also found that sexes differed in UV as well as long wavelength reflectance, and that carotenoid-based UV color correlated positively with body condition. I then used a visually-based color detection model that incorporates knowledge about UV vision to simulate and describe the conspicuousness of dewlap colors as conspecific lizards should see it, under different
forest light environments. Two sets of behavior experiments were performed to test assumptions about signal spectral variability, signal honesty and signal use. One set of
experiments investigated a potential role for UV (a carotenoid-based dewlap color) to be used as a visual signal in contests for females. I quantified natural dewlap coloration, and paired males into size-matched dyads that naturally differed in UV reflectance. Males that won male-male contests, and copulated with females, had lower UV reflectance than males that lost contests. I then manipulated the UV component in dewlap colors, and I investigated whether the manipulation changed the contest outcome. While manipulations had no effect on contest outcomes, the underlying natural colors still correlated with contest success. A final set of experiments investigated the dual contributions of nutritional stress and carotenoid access on male dewlap color. I found that carotenoid availability altered UV and long wavelength reflectance, and that UV amplitude decreased with nutritional stress. These results summarily suggest that dewlap color is a signal used to communicate information about the senders' phenotypic quality to the receiver, and that dewlap color (including ultraviolet wavelengths) is highly visible in some light environments. Furthermore ultraviolet aspects of dewlap color among males correlates with contest success. Finally, dewlap color is at least partially influenced by availability of carotenoids during adulthood, and can convey information about an individuals' health.


Ceftaroline fosamil, the prodrug of the active metabolite, ceftaroline, is a new, broad-spectrum cephalosporin recently approved in the USA for the treatment of acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections (ABSSSIs) and community-acquired bacterial pneumonia (CABP). Ceftaroline has potent in vitro activity against Gram-positive organisms, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pneumoniae, as well as common Gram-negative organisms. The high affinity of ceftaroline for penicillin-binding proteins is responsible for the potent activity observed against clinically relevant pathogens. With respect to the treatment of CABP, the activity of ceftaroline against pathogens such as S. pneumoniae, S. aureus, Haemophilus influenzae and Moraxella catarrhalis demonstrates coverage across a broad range of pathogens typically encountered in clinical practice. Ceftaroline is also very active against common pathogens seen in ABSSSIs such as S. aureus (methicillin-susceptible S. aureus and methicillin-resistant S. aureus) and Streptococcus pyogenes. Ceftaroline exhibits a dose-proportional pharmacokinetic profile, similar to other renally excreted cephalosporins, and has a well-tolerated safety profile consistent with the cephalosporin class. Ceftaroline fosamil is compatible via Y-site administration with many other commonly administered parenteral drugs.


There are a large number of different approaches to vehicle tracking currently available. In this report we look at different problems faced when tracking vehicles, such as background subtraction and vehicle recognition, and look at possible solutions to these. We present a layered approach to vehicle tracking, which includes the use of background subtraction based on a statistical colour model, shape approximation using contour creation algorithms, and two dimensional object recognition using colour histograms and geometric moments. We improve on the standard statistical RGB background removal model by adding a second pass HSV shadow removal filter and demonstrate that this provides cleaner background segmentation that other approaches including optical flow. We improve on prior research into simple vehicle tracking solutions by combining object recognition based on both colour histograms and geometric moments, and demonstrate the robust nature of our solution through a number of example scenarios.


Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are major players in development aid today. It is widely believed they represent civil society and that, for example, the UN and the World Bank would be strengthened if NGOs were given a larger influence over policy formulation and development. As one can hardly speak of an NGO community, the issue of representation is far from easily solved. NGOs often compete for visibility, clients and influence, and representation leaves a lot to be desired. Hence, governments' and inter-governmental institutions' reluctance to accept immediately NGOs as partners, may be necessary for NGOs to become representative and, paradoxically, for strengthening civil society as well.


Background: Mobiles have become one of the most indispensable accessories of profession and social life. The mobiles make life easier, but they pose a number of new hazards also. Objectives: The principle aim of this study was to evaluate the microbial contamination of mobile phones belonging to dentists in College of Dentistry in Baghdad University. Materials and Methods: 35 dentists (20 female and 15 male) were enrolled in this study. Sampling was taken from each participant's mobile by using moist sterile swab impregnated by normal saline for microbial analyses. Results: The findings of this study revealed that the growth of microorganisms has found in all samples taken from the mobile phones of dentists. The most common microorganisms detected were Staphylococcus epidermidis, Micrococcus spp., Candida albicans and Aspergillus niger. On the other hand, there was no significant difference (P>0.05) in the microorganisms isolated and their percentage frequency of occurrence between mobile phones for male and female. Concussions: The current results indicated that mobile phones can serve as a vector for crosstransmission of community-acquired pathogenic organisms for human.


OBJECTIVE
Centralized exchanges of scientific materials existed by the late nineteenth century, but they did not include medical publications. North American medical leaders therefore formed an association of institutions to run their own exchange: the Medical Library Association (MLA). After providing background to the exchange concept and the importance of institutional members for MLA, this article examines archival MLA correspondence to consider the role of its Exchange in the association's professional development before the 1950s.

RESULTS
MLA's membership policy admitted only libraries open to the medical profession with a large number of volumes. But the correspondence of the MLA Executive Committee reveals that the committee constantly adjusted the definition of library membership: personal, public, sectarian, commercial, allied science, and the then-termed "colored" medical school libraries all were denied membership.

CONCLUSION
Study of these decisions, using commercial and sectarian libraries as a focus, uncovers the primary justification for membership exclusions: a goal of operating a scientific exchange. Also, it shows that in this way, MLA shadowed policies and actions of the American Medical Association. Finally, the study suggests that the medical profession enforced its policies of exclusion through MLA, despite a proclaimed altruistic sharing of medical literature.


In this paper a high-level strategic conceptual assessment on the extent of compliance of the three main Software Development Lifecycles (SDLCs) STD, RUP, and MSF-CMMI, with three of the main CMMI schemes (SW, DEV, and SVC) is reported. While that the SDLCs theme is a permanent and shared topic in information systems and software engineering research, however, the compliance of SDLCs with IT standards has been few explored. Our research goal is to establish an initial high-level strategic assessment on how the most usual SDLCs satisfy three of the main CMMI schemes. Compliance analysis is based on: (i) previous results reported in literature, (ii) a comparison of the CMMI specific goals of each process area versus the generic SDLCs core workflows descriptions, and (iii) joint academic and research expertise in SW standards from authors. This paper contributes an initial assessment which should be considered from a strategic view due to the coarse unit of analysis. A finer grain analysis in the level of SLDCs' workflows and activities versus CMMI's specific practices and typical work products is suggested.


One of the most widely researched areas in operating systems is filesystem design, implementation, and performance. Almost all of the research involves reporting performance numbers gathered from a variety of different benchmarks. The problem with such results is that existing filesystem benchmarks are inadequate, suffering from problems ranging from not scaling with advancing technology to not measuring the filesystem. A new approach to filesystem benchmarking is presented here. This methodology is designed both to help system designers understand and improve existing systems and to help users decide which filesystem to buy or run. For usability, the benchmark is separated into two parts: a suite of micro-benchmarks, which is actually run on the filesystem, and a workload characterizer. The results from the two separate parts can be combined to predict the performance of the filesystem on the workload. The purpose for this separation of functionality is two-fold. First, many system designers would like their filesystem to perform well under diverse workloads: by characterizing the workload independently, the designers can better understand what is required of the filesystem. The micro-benchmarks tell the designer what needs to be improved while the workload characterizer tells the designer whether that improvement will affect filesystem performance under that workload. This separation also helps users trying to decide which system to run or buy, who may not be able to run their workload on all systems under consideration, and therefore need this separation. The implementation of this methodology does not suffer from many of the problems seen in existing benchmarks: it scales with technology, it is tightly specified, and it helps system designers. This benchmark's only drawbacks are that it does not accurately predict the performance of a filesystem on a workload, thus limiting its applicability: it is useful to system designers, but not for users trying to decide which system to buy. The belief is that the general approach will work, given additional time to manipulate the prediction algorithm.


Effects of non-adjacent flanking elements on crowding of letter stimuli were examined in experiments manipulating the number of flanking elements and the deployment of spatial attention. To this end, identification accuracy of single letters was compared with identification of letter targets surrounded by two, four, or six flanking elements placed symmetrically left and right of the target. Target stimuli were presented left or right of a central fixation, and appeared either unilaterally or with an equivalent number of characters in the contralateral visual field (bilateral presentation). Experiment 1A tested letter targets with random letter flankers, and Experiments 1B and 2 tested letter targets with Xs as flanking stimuli. The results revealed a number of flankers effect that extended beyond standard two-flanker crowding. Flanker interference was stronger with random letter flankers compared with homogeneous Xs, and performance was systematically better under unilateral presentation conditions compared with bilateral presentation. Furthermore, the difference between the zero-flanker and two-flanker conditions was significantly greater under bilateral presentation, whereas the difference between two-flankers and four-flankers did not differ across unilateral and bilateral presentation. The complete pattern of results can be captured by the independent contributions of excessive feature integration and deployment of spatial attention to letter-in-string visibility.


In reinforced concrete shear walls subjected to seismic loads the flexural, web shear and sliding shear mechanisms are activated. The measurements obtained from the tests of 11 wall specimens with aspect ratio 1.0 and 1.5 are used in order to set up analytical models that predict the deformations associated with each mechanism and the corresponding strength. The quantity and arrangement of the reinforcement of the specimens were chosen to ensure a flexural type of failure. It was observed during the tests that the web shear deformation increased until maximum strength was achieved. After the point of maximum strength, web shear deformations decreased, while sliding shear deformations along the base main flexural crack increased. Together with the previously noted web shear and sliding shear deformations, flexural deformations were also measured. The relationships proposed for the description of the strength and the deformation characteristics of these mechanisms derived from appropriately modified existing models along with new ones. The analytically calculated quantities are compared with the experimental measurements and a good match is noted. It is concluded that in shear walls with low aspect ratio sliding shear deformations appear at the base plastic hinge, even in the case where the flexural behavior initially prevails the response. Neglecting of such shear deformations results in underestimating shear forces at the base of other vertical structural elements.


Based on the popular 101 Youth Netball Drills titles, this is a practical training manual for netball coaches, packed with drills, coaching tips and advice for building a netball club. This invaluable resource will help you plan effective training sessions, prepare teams for matches and guide you through planning tournaments and holiday courses. With more and more players being attracted back to netball, this excellent guide explains the different requirements of teaching netball to various age ranges and abilities, and shares tried and tested solutions for successful training and coaching. Includes new and revised drills, accompanied by full instructions and diagrams, to cover the essential skills of the game: - warming up - passing and catching - attacking and defending - shooting - game scenarios - warming down


Engineering professors, like those of the natural sciences, usually teach by breaking the subject matter into parts, that is, courses and activities that are logically abstract from each other. While together comprising a coherent whole, those individual parts too easily foster abstractionism, the view that such subjects as calculus, fluid mechanics, engineering design, and engineering ethics "really are" separable from one another. Such a view militates against a Christian perspective of engineering, technology, and reality in general by replacing the organic wholeness of life before the face of God with the compartmentalization that is characteristic of modern science and naturalism. This paper makes the claim that engineering education—and certainly Christian engineering education—ought to be characterized by wholeness, a quality of integrality whereby the individual courses and activities are organically connected to each other and to the central mission of the educational institution. That claim is first grounded in a number of basic philosophical and theological principles and then fleshed out by the description of two examples. The first example describes a design project included in a sophomore/junior level course in fluid mechanics in which groups of three to five students design a water supply system for a village within a developing country. The second example describes a design problem—the seasonal storage of thermal energy—that may be used in a number of different ways in a senior level course in heat transfer.


When building and construction markets are analysed it is often at the project level, with markets defined by sector or structure type, procurement method or contract, size, complexity or other characteristic. Projects within a defined market are then grouped together to establish its importance, detached housing for example, or high-rise commercial. A distinction can be made, however, between a market made up of similar types of projects and the market for a single project. Such a market is created by a client as they go through the procurement process. This paper introduces the idea that procurement of a project creates a identifiable, though temporary, market for goods and services, and that such a market has distinctive characteristics that make it both interesting, as a source of testable hypotheses and further research, and important in developing our understanding of the industry and its dynamics. The research the paper reports on shows that the idea of project procurement as a mechanism for creating a market can utilise the elements of industry structure and competitive analysis that have traditionally been applied at the firm level. The paper concludes that this allows a new perspective on issues such as collusion, ruinous competition and cost uncertainty associated with the typical single price, sealed bid auction used for procurement in the building and construction industry.


This paper presents the first suspension-based real-time locking protocols for clustered schedulers. Such schedulers pose challenges from a locking perspective because they exhibit aspects of both partitioned and global scheduling, which seem to necessitate fundamentally different means for bounding priority inversions. A new mechanism to bound such inversions, termed priority donation, is presented and used to derive protocols for mutual exclusion, reader-writer exclusion, and k-exclusion. Each protocol has asymptotically optimal blocking bounds under certain analysis assumptions. The latter two protocols are also the first of their kind for the special cases of global and partitioned scheduling.


An authoritative collection of research papers and surveys, Emerging Wireless Networks: Concepts, Techniques, and Applications explores recent developments in next-generation wireless networks (NGWNs) and mobile broadband networks technologies,including 4G (LTE, WiMAX), 3G (UMTS, HSPA), WiFi, mobile ad hoc networks, mesh networks, and wireless sensor networks. Focusing on improving the performance of wireless networks and provisioning better quality of service and quality of experience for users, it reports on the standards of different emerging wireless networks, applications, and service frameworks. The book begins by appraising the management challenges in emerging wireless networks. It examines the state-of-the-art in mobility management for IP-based mobile networks, at both the network and link layers. Proposing an integrated network architecture design for NGWNsincluding wireless local, metropolitan, and wide area networksit analyzes WLAN/3G network convergence and advanced mobility features based on the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) architecture. It highlights the challenges and issues related to mobile virtual private networks, and also: Examines the emerging mobile broadband wireless standards such as IEEE 802.16 and LTE Introduces a mechanism that provides service continuity to end-users in self-organizing IP Multimedia Subsystem environments Considers the challenges, solutions, and services of vehicular communication networks Unveils a new transmission paradigm (network coding) to improve the performance of the transmission control protocol. The book presents a novel distributed scheme based on the stochastic optimization formulation of the network selection problem for heterogeneous wireless networks by using cognitive radio networks concepts. Describing the issues and schemes for network selection and congestion avoidance in multi-access networks, it supplies you with a clear perspective of where the technology is headed and where future opportunities might be found for mobile broadband technologies.