Energy use and energy technology play critical roles in the U.S. economy and modern society. The Department of Energy (DOE) conducts civilian energy research and development (R&D) programs for the purpose of identifying promising technologies that promote energy security, energy efficiency, and renewable energy use. DOE-sponsored research ranges from basic investigation of phenomena all the way through development of applied technology in partnership with industry. DOE`s research programs are conducted in support of national strategic energy objectives, however austere financial times have dictated that R&D programs be measured in terms of cost vs. benefit. In some cases it is difficult to measure the return on investment for the basic {open_quotes}curiosity-driven{close_quotes} research, however many applied technology development programs have resulted in measurable commercial successes. The DOE has published summaries of their most successful applied technology energy R&D programs. In this paper, we will discuss five examples from the Building Technologies area of the DOE Energy Efficiency program. Each story will describe the technology, discuss the level of federal funding, and discuss the returns in terms of energy savings, cost savings, or national economic impacts.


In 2010/11, the influenza season in England was marked by a relative increase in impact on the population compared to that seen during the 2009/10 pandemic, with the same influenza subtype, A(H1N1)pdm09, circulating. The peaks in critical care bed occupancy in both seasons coincided with peaks in influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 activity, but onset of influenza in 2010/11 additionally coincided with notably cold weather, a comparatively smaller peak in influenza B activity and increased reports of bacterial co-infection. A bigger impact on critical care services was seen across all regions in England in 2010/11, with, compared to 2009/10, a notable age shift in critical care admissions from children to young adults. The peak of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) activity did not coincide with critical care admissions, and regression analysis suggested only a small proportion of critical care bed days might be attributed to the virus in either season. Differences in antiviral policy and improved overall vaccine uptake in 2010/11 with an influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 strain containing vaccine between seasons are unlikely to explain the change in impact observed between the two seasons. The reasons behind the relative high level of severe disease in the 2010/11 winter are likely to have resulted from a combination of factors, including an age shift in infection, accumulation of susceptible individuals through waning immunity, new susceptible individuals from new births and cold weather. The importance of further development of severe influenza disease surveillance schemes for future seasons is reinforced.


The components of soil CO2 efflux are affected by many soil properties including temperature, moisture, microbial abundance and activity, and other soil physical and chemical properties. Changes in these factors can result in high spatial and temporal variability of total soil CO2 efflux. Low molecular weight organic acids (LMWOAs), dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and dissolved organic nitrogen (DON), microbial biomass and activity were measured to evaluate the impact of intercropping switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) in a loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) plantation. Surface soil samples (0-15 cm) were collected on the bed (PSG-B), interbed (PSG-I) and edge (PSG-E) of pine-switchgrass intercropped treatments, as well as pine only (P-B) and switchgrass only (SG-I) treatments. Differences in most soil properties and processes of intercropped treatments were sporadic and most did not show clear trends. However, significant correlations between DOC, soil temperature, oxalic and acetic acids and soil CO2 efflux were present. In an multiple regression model these factors explained 57% of the variance in total soil CO2 efflux. Therefore we think that LMWOAs, as a labile component of DOC, are influencing total CO2 efflux because they are being consumed by microbial community, increasing heterotrophic respiration and as a result overall total CO2 efflux. The amount and distribution of labile C controls microbial community dynamics, heterotrophic respiration as well as the stabilization of soil C.


As the sectional crisis gripped the United States, the rancor increasingly spread to the halls of Congress. Preston Brooks's frenzied assault on Charles Sumner was perhaps the most notorious evidence of the dangerous divide between proslavery Democrats and the new antislavery Republican Party. But as disunion loomed, rifts within the majority Democratic Party were every bit as consequential. And nowhere was the fracture more apparent than in the raging debates between Illinois's Stephen Douglas and Mississippi's Jefferson Davis. As leaders of the Democrats' northern and southern factions before the Civil War, their passionate conflict of words and ideas has been overshadowed by their opposition to Abraham Lincoln. But here, weaving together biography and political history, Michael E. Woods restores Davis and Douglas's fatefully entwined lives and careers to the center of the Civil War era.
Operating on personal, partisan, and national levels, Woods traces the deep roots of Democrats' internal strife, with fault lines drawn around fundamental questions of property rights and majority rule. Neither belief in white supremacy nor expansionist zeal could reconcile Douglas and Davis's factions as their constituents formed their own lines in the proverbial soil of westward expansion. The first major reinterpretation of the Democratic Party's internal schism in more than a generation, Arguing until Doomsday shows how two leading antebellum politicians ultimately shattered their party and hastened the coming of the Civil War.


This thesis conducts an exploratory study of Open Source Software (OSS) from various perspectives in order to discover and demonstrate fertile research areas in OSS that can benefit from the public archives of OSS projects. It follows a horizontal research method which combines theoretical model building with empirical data analysis. On the theoretical side, it classifies existing quantitative OSS studies and categorizes the public archives. It defines the concept of an OSS project by delineating its four critical components--community, methodology, products, and services. It specifies the roles in OSS communities, examines the speed, cost, and quality of OSS development, and reveals the impacts of programming languages on software projects. Most importantly, it originates a new approach to OSS adoption research which comprises strategic level study of OSS adoption and an assessment framework for OSS projects. A rich set of propositions are formulated for future study. On the empirical side, it analyzes summary statistics of 48,331 OSS projects and more detailed attributes of 1,907 projects which use Python as one of their programming languages. It depicts the portraits of OSS projects in general, and Python projects in specific. Caveats, for pitfalls and weaknesses of OSS projects discovered from the analysis, such as small development teams and competing projects, are announced with suggestions for improvements. Inspiring original ideas into a burgeoning research domain, this thesis contributes to both comprehension and practice of OSS.


Now into the second half of our term as editors in chief, we have seen some clear trends in Interactions. This issue continues four of them: designing with artificial intelligence (AI) and with natural organisms, and for bodies and diverse communities. Three features focus on the presentation of AI in agents' speech (Charles Hannon), conversation (Petter Bae Brandtzaeg and Asbjørn Følstad), and visualization (Valentin Schwind, Katrin Wolf, and Niels Henze). The Interaction Technologies forum examines a more general concern about AI leading to an interaction singularity. A day in a WAAG Institute lab continues the trend on biodesign with bugs and diverse organisms. Lian Loke and Thecla Schiphorst expand on the designing-for-bodies trend with a feature on how to attend to our bodies in support of design work. Roles for bodily adornment are considered in What Are You Reading and Young Suk Lee's Demo Hour project (one of four from TEI'18). Anna Weisling and Anna Xambó's Demo Hour project presents the body as a resource for media co-creation, whereas How Was It Made's Project Telepathy interfaces directly with it. Consuming Tech considers the impact of screen light on our bodies. Ps and Qs focuses on designing for diverse bodies, which is also one focus of the cover story by Sue Fletcher-Watson, Hanne De Jaegher, Jelle van Dijk, Chris Frauenberger, Maurice Magnée, and Juan Ye. HCI's boundaries are also pushed, with Wendy March (What Are You Reading?) provoked by a past diary into reflecting on contemporary practices, Anna Weisling and Anna Xambó bringing media co-creation within the scope of HCI, EXIT and Kazuhiro Jo's Demo Hour project physicalizing the digital, and Leon McCarthy looking anew at fake news. The cover story on diversity computing explores how to embrace differences rather than eliminate them, without falling back on normative frameworks. The Sustainability in (Inter)action forum (Oliver Bates, Vanessa Thomas, Christian Remy, Adrian Friday, Lisa Nathan, Mike Hazas, and Samuel Mann) argues for extending the sustainable design agenda to a wide range of social justice activism. Jodi Forlizzi's Abracadabra also pushes at the boundaries of HCI to argue for stakeholder-centered rather than simple user-centered design. This is not new territory, but like much of the boundary-crossing work in this issue, it steps into an HCI hinterland being tentatively explored that has not yet been annexed. A similar situation holds for Greg Nudelman's Business of UX forum article, which invigorates HCI's relationship with lean practices. In the Health Matters forum, Lauren Wilcox addresses a true frontier between childhood and adulthood where consent and involvement remain an issue for adolescents' digital involvement in their own healthcare. Many past annexations, or at least federations, have not endured, as Jonathan Grudin's retrospective feature communicates. At the same time, there is hope for new trends such as biodesign, where Waag's bioscience lab has adopted many established HCI practices. As some disciplines retreat from HCI, others nudge closer. In Grudin's analyses, conferences have not built the best bridges, but Community Square celebrates the expansion of SIGCHI conferences on many fronts. José Abdelnour-Nocera and Nimmi Rangaswamy's Blog@IX reports how, with sensitivity, conferences can be used to bridge established HCI territories and new ones. Affordable technologies can also have an enabling role here, as demonstrated in Neha Kumar and Aditya Vishwanath's Next Billion forum article. In contrast, Charles Hannon's feature shows how new AI technologies can hinder diversity, and Leon McCarthy draws attention to social media as a perfect medium for fake news. Similarly, the activism advocated in the Sustainability in (Inter)action forum is not straightforward—momentum and alliances can both be hard to maintain. HCI boundaries of influence, interest, and competence are ever shifting, but all trends are means to ends, not ends in and of themselves. HCI trends that don't support HCI ends will be short-lived. HCI's aim remains to improve the breadth and depth of humans' relationships with digital technologies. Any bridge is worth a try, and all hinterlands are worth exploring.


The threatened northern brush-tailed phascogale (Phascogale pirata) is one of the most poorly known mammals in Australia. While the few available records indicate a decline in its distribution and abundance, it has not previously been subject to intensive targeted survey. Here, we trialled a specifically tailored methodology for detection of P. pirata, with the aim of informing ongoing survey and monitoring of this species. We deployed 50 motion-sensor cameras (spaced closely together in a grid 500 × 1000 m) on Melville Island (Northern Territory, Australia), between June 2018 and May 2019. Cameras were baited and secured to trees ~3 m above the ground on a bracket facing the trunk. We selected for large (>30 cm diameter at breast height [DBH]) trunks of the dominant tree species (Eucalyptus miniata, E. tetrodonta and Corymbia nesophila). We detected P. pirata 16 times on eight cameras over the duration of the study, finding that detection was most likely on large (DBH >41.5 cm) E. tetrodonta trees during the wet season. Our results indicate that survey effort for this species should be seasonally targeted and focussed on large trees. However, the efficacy of additional methods (nest boxes, Elliott traps) and a comparison between detections on arboreal versus ground-based cameras requires further investigation. We highlight the importance of conducting additional work on this species, as little is known about its ecology, population trends and threats, making it difficult to assess its conservation status. Without more targeted work, P. pirata is at risk of slipping into extinction unnoticed.


Microbial biofilms causing elevated resistance to both most anti-microbial drugs and the host defense systems, which often results in persistent and difficult-to-treat infections. The discovery of anti-infective agents which are active against planktonic and biofilm microorganisms are therefore urgently required to deal with these biofilm-mediated infections.

Plants are a rich source of new molecules with pharmacological properties for the development of new drugs. Indonesia is one of the countries which has a very diverse flora and a rich tradition in the use of medicinal plants. Since several Indonesian medicinal plants contain anti-microbial compounds it was considered conceivable that they might also be a source of new anti-biofilm compounds. The research present in this thesis has been focused on the screening and identification of Indonesian medicinal plant extracts and essential oils for their anti-microbial and anti-biofilm activity towards P. aeruginosa PAO1, Staphylococcus aureus Cowan I, and Candida albicans ATCC 10231. Preparative thin layer chromatography along with GC-MS and 1H-NMR elucidation were used to isolate and identify the active compound, and the result revealed that massoia lactone, the active compound of massoia oil, displayed potent activity against microbial biofilms in vitro and therefore has potential therapeutic implication for biofilm-associated microbial infections.


Deconstruction and the Possibility of Justice has a place in the chain of readings/rewritings (in Dworkin's sense) that constitute the field of recent and emerging Australian work in Law and Literature and Critical Legal Studies. At the same time it is a book that is marked by an extraordinary difference to the Australian work. Perhaps in this case differance (in Derrida's sense) would be the better term since there is within the chapters of the book a constant deferral of the business of deconstruction in favour of the assertion of the possibility of justice in abstract theoretical terms. The theme of the difference of deconstruction in the United States context is one that is constantly reiterated in the book from the moment of Derrida's reference to the development of critical legal studies and deconstruction "in such an interesting way in this country" (p.9) in the first chapter in the book, through Samuel Weber's reference to Derrida's statement that the United States is "that historical space" which is "the most sensitive, receptive or responsive space of all to the themes and effects of deconstruction" (p.232), to Hillis Miller's comment on the conflation in critical legal studies of "reader-response theory" with "deconstruction" (something that is evident in Fred Dallmayr's chapter in the book) and his statement that "Deconstruction in America" is not the same thing as deconstruction elsewhere (p.306). This journal article is available in Law Text Culture: http://ro.uow.edu.au/ltc/vol1/iss1/13 DECONSTRUCTION AND THE POSSIBILITY OF JUSTICE: CRITICAL AND CULTURAL DIFFERENCE


This study examines historical variations in flood frequency and magnitude in the Yorkshire Ouse basin, northern England, over the last 900 years. The causes of temporal and spatial variations in flooding are evaluated through investigation o f climatic and land-use controls. Documentary evidence o f flooding and climate suggests that a series of large floods between 1263 and 1360 were associated with climatic deterioration from the Medieval Optimum. A shift to generally milder conditions between 1361 and 1549 resulted in no floods being documented in the Ouse basin The frequency o f large magnitude floods increased dramatically between 1550 and 1680, as a result o f low temperatures, increased surface wetness, more frequent snowfall and a southward shift of prevailing storm tracks over middle latitudes, associated with the onset of the "Little Ice Age'. In contrast, during a wanner phase of the Little Ice Age, between 1681 and 1763, the frequency of localised summer flooding increased in the Ouse basin due to more frequent high intensity, short duration convective storms. Extensive lowland flooding became more common between 1764 and 1799 due to an increase in heavy rainfall, followed by a 50-year period characterised by relatively moderate flood frequencies and magnitudes. The later half of the nineteenth century experienced high flood frequencies and magnitudes, particularly in the 1870s and early-1880s, coinciding with high rainfall totals and a high incidence of cyclonic flood generation. Gauged flood and climate data, and land-use records indicate that the period between 1900 and 1916 was characterised by very low flood frequencies and magnitudes, associated with low rainfall, warm temperatures, and an increase in westerly flood generation. Between 1916 and 1943 there were marked variations in flood magnitude between the rural northern rivers and southern industrialised rivers. Magnitudes generally increased on northern rivers, whilst on some southern tributaries of the Ouse, flood magnitudes declined as a result of widespread channel improvement and flood defence schemes. Around 1944 a marked and sustained increase in flood frequency on northern rivers was associated with an increase in the incidence of heavy daily rainfall, greater westerly flood generation and large-scale upland and lowland drainage. Very low flood frequencies and magnitudes between 1969'and 1977 resulted from extremely low rainfall totals. Whereas the most recent period, between 1978 and 1996 has experienced some of the highest flood frequencies and magnitudes on record, associated with an increase in the frequency of floods generated under cyclonic and south-westerly synoptic situations, and a number of land-use changes promoting more rapid runoff including, large increases in upland livestock numbers, an increase in the area under winter-cereals and the cumulative effects of moorland gripping.


Networks have become increasingly relevant to everyday life as human society has become increasingly connected. Attaining a basic understanding of networks has thus become a necessary form of literacy for people (and for youths in particular). At the NetSci 2014 conference, we initiated a year-long process to develop an educational resource that concisely summarizes essential concepts about networks that can be used by anyone of school age or older. The process involved several brainstorming sessions on one key question: "What should every person living in the 21st century know about networks by the time he/she finishes secondary education?" Different sessions reached diverse participants, which included professional researchers in network science, educators, and high-school students. The generated ideas were connected by the students to construct a concept network. We examined community structure in the concept network to group ideas into a set of important themes, which we refined through discussion into seven essential concepts. The students played a major role in this development process by providing insights and perspectives that were often unrecognized by researchers and educators. The final result, "Network Literacy: Essential Concepts and Core Ideas", is now available as a booklet in several different languages from this http URL .


In the The Split-Level Fellowship, Wesley Baker analysed the role of individual members in the Church. He gave a name to a tragic phenomenon with which Church leaders are familiar. Although true of society in general it is especially true of the church. Baker called the difference between the committed few and the uninvolved many, Factor Beta. This reality triggers the question: Why are the majority of Christians in the world not missionally involved through personal witness and which factors consequently influence personal witness and missional involvement? This article explains how the range of personal witness and missional involvement found in local churches are rooted in certain fundamental factors and conditions which are mutually influencing each other and ultimately contribute towards forming a certain paradigm. This paradigm acts as the basis from which certain behavioural patterns (witness) will manifest. The factors influencing witness are either described as accelerators or decelerators and their relativity and mutual relationships are considered. Factors acting as decelerators can severely hamper or even annul witness, while accelerators on the other hand, can have an immensely positive effect to enlarge the transformational influence of witness. In conclusion a transformational model is developed through which paradigms can be influenced and eventually changed. This model fulfils a diagnostic and remedial function and will support local churches to enlarge the individual and corporate missional involvement of believers.


In trinitarian theology, the problematic place of the Holy Spirit in the taxonomy of the immanent Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) does not seem to correspond to what is revealed in the economy (Father, Holy Spirit and Son). Because of this pneumatological problem, some theologians have abandoned the traditional trinitarian taxonomy. This approach, however, does not provide a finally convincing answer that is consistent with both the biblical witness and the theological tradition. In this article, I argue that Hans Urs von Balthasar's theology of the trinitarian inversion and reversion does provide a convincing answer to the trinitarian taxonomy problem. After supporting my thesis by first referencing the traditional trinitarian taxonomy offered in Augustine's de Trinitate and then examining the possibility of abandoning the taxonomy given by Jurgen Moltmann and Leonardo Boff, I will offer von Balthasar's solution as the most compelling trinitarian taxonomy, especially in light of the ecumenical dialogue between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches.


Interleukin-7 (IL-7) is an essential cyto-kineforT-celldevelopmentandhomeosta- sis. It is well established that IL-7 pro-motesthetranscriptionaldown-regulation of IL7RA , leading to decreased IL-7R (cid:1) surface expression. However, it is currently unknown whether IL-7 regulates the intracellular trafficking and early turn-over of its receptor on ligand binding. Here, we show that, in steady-state T cells, IL-7R (cid:1) is slowly internalized and degraded while a significant fraction recycles back to the surface. On IL-7 stimulation, there is rapid IL-7R (cid:1) endocytosis via clathrin-coated pits, decreased receptor recycling, and accelerated lysosome and proteasome-dependent degradation. In accordance, the half-life of IL-7R (cid:1) decreases from 24 hours to approximately 3 hours after IL-7 treatment. Interestingly, we further demonstrate that clathrin-dependent endocytosis is necessary for efficient IL-7 signal transduction. In turn, pretreatment of T cells with JAK3 or pan-JAK inhibitors suggests that IL-7R (cid:1) degradation depends on the activation of the IL-7 signaling effector JAK3. Overall, our findings indicate that IL-7 triggers rapid IL-7R (cid:1) endocytosis, which is required for However, the actual dynamics of IL-7R (cid:1) internalization and the regulation of trafficking mechanisms by IL-7 remain to be eluci-dated. In the present study, we show that IL-7 induces rapid clathrin-dependent IL-7R (cid:1) internalization in human T cells. More-over, our results suggest that IL-7–induced signaling is dependent on IL-7R (cid:1) internalization and that subsequent receptor degradation relies on JAK3 activity and is mediated by both proteasomes and lysosomes. Our study explores, for the first time, the mechanisms


Fossil data are ambiguous regarding the evolutionary origin of contemporary desert bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis subspecies). To address this uncertainty, we conducted phylogeographic and population genetic analyses on bighorn sheep subspecies found in southwestern North America. We analyzed 515 base pairs of mtDNA control region sequence and 39 microsatellites in 804 individuals from 58 locations. Phylogenetic analyses revealed 2 highly divergent clades concordant with Sierra Nevada (O. c. sierrae) and Rocky Mountain (O. c. canadensis) bighorn and showed that these 2 subspecies both diverged from desert bighorn prior to or during the Illinoian glaciation (∼315–94 thousand years ago [kya]). Desert bighorn comprised several more recently diverged haplogroups concordant with the putative Nelson (O. c. nelsoni), Mexican (O. c. mexicana), and Peninsular (O. c. cremnobates) subspecies. Corresponding estimates of effective splitting times (∼17–3 kya), and haplogroup ages (∼85–72 kya) placed the most likely timeframe for divergence among desert bighorn subspecies somewhere within the last glacial maximum. Median-joining haplotype network and Bayesian skyline analyses both indicated that desert bighorn collectively comprised a historically large and haplotype-diverse population, which subsequently lost much of its diversity through demographic decline. Using microsatellite data, discriminant analysis of principle components (DAPC) and Bayesian clustering analyses both indicated genetic structure concordant with the geographic distribution of 3 desert subspecies. Likewise, microsatellite and mitochondrial-based FST comparisons revealed significant fixation indices among the desert bighorn genetic clusters. We conclude these desert subspecies represent ancient lineages likely descended from separate Pleistocene refugial populations and should therefore be managed as distinct taxa to preserve maximal biodiversity.


Providing an adequate amount of safe drinking water is one of the most fundamental responsibilities of a government, yet it cannot be assumed that all countries or local administrations have achieved this goal. The task is influenced by the quantity and quality of water at its source and by the technology available to process it. In communities relying on surface-water intake, the goal is closely related to the condition of discharged wastewater that becomes part of the freshwater resource base. This water quality frequently depends on the amount of available public finance and on the desire of government to install or purchase water-treatment facilities that will upgrade the water to the desired standard. In a broad sense, the situation may be viewed as a policy decision in which there is a trade-off among economic development, environmental concerns, and budgetary decisions. The People's Republic of China must contend with water shortages as it tries to attain an adequate supply of safe drinking water for its burgeoning populace (Hou 1991). As a result of the eighth five-year plan (1991-1995), it is expected that good water quality will become a national goal in the near future; yet there is little indication that the central government will make environmental spending a priority. The challenge to achieve good water has been met with limited success. Urban areas have become focal points of great concern because of their large, rapidly growing populations and because of the interest of the government in attracting foreign investment. Shanghai, the largest city in China, is the case study for examining a municipal effort to provide safe drinking water; the problems are associated with wastewater discharge, water intake, and treatment facilities, as well as governmental efforts to improve the overall quality of water available to the residents of Shanghai. The extent of the concern is exemplified by parents who teach their children from infancy not to drink water directly from faucets. All water for human consumption is boiled. The perception of dangerous water is well founded, because many illnesses and diseases can be linked directly to poor water quality. Shanghai is a global-scale metropolis with a population of 12.5 million people and a position of prominence in commercial activity and industrial output in China. The old city forms the core of an area known administratively as Shanghai Proper, which is situated primarily on the western bank of the Huangpu River [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 1 OMITTED]. The Huangpu drains an area of approximately 24,000 square kilometers and has a volume that exceeds 10 billion cubic meters annually (Duan ca. 1989, 1-7). This channeled tributary discharges into the Yangtze River near its mouth as it flows into the East China Sea. Shanghai Proper is a densely constructed area of residential and other urban uses that must utilize an aging infrastructure; yet it is considered the most attractive part of the city. Surrounding the inner city are ten counties that provide high-value agricultural commodities. Portions of these counties are rapidly developing urban concentrations that will place increasing demands on water resources. FRESHWATER SUPPLY Shanghai has always relied for its water supply on the Huangpu and its main tributary, Suzhou Creek, as well as on some canals. Although the Huangpu River will continue to provide virtually all of the water used in Shanghai, the quality of water from this source is usually below desired standards. Some water used to be pumped from wells as a supplement to the river water, but the practice was discontinued in the mid-1960s because it contributed directly to subsidence of land and related landuse problems (Shanghai Hydrogeologic Team 1976; Smil 1993). The annual natural recharge of groundwater was inadequate to maintain the historical hydrologic balance. Hydrologists measured the extent of this sinking land to be as much as 2. …


Antibiotic-associated diarrhea (AAD) is a common complication of antibiotic use. There is growing interest in probiotics for the treatment of AAD and Clostridium difficile infection because of the wide availability of probiotics. The aim of this multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial was to assess the efficacy of probiotic Lactobacillus (Lacidofil® cap) for the prevention of AAD in adults. From September 2008 to November 2009, a total of 214 patients with respiratory tract infection who had begun receiving antibiotics were randomized to receive Lactobacillus (Lacidofil® cap) or placebo for 14 days. Patients recorded bowel frequency and stool consistency daily for 14 days. The primary outcome was the proportion of patients who developed AAD within 14 days of enrollment. AAD developed in 4 (3.9%) of 103 patients in the Lactobacillus group and in 8 (7.2%) of 111 patients in the placebo group (P=0.44). However, the Lactobacillus group showed lower change in bowel frequency and consistency (50/103, 48.5%) than the placebo group (35/111, 31.5%) (P=0.01). Although the Lacidofil® cap does not reduce the rate of occurrence of AAD in adult patients with respiratory tract infection who have taken antibiotics, the Lactobacillus group maintains their bowel habits to a greater extent than the placebo group.


Global climate change may increase sea level as much as 1m over the next century and in some stretches and also augmented the frequency and severity of storms. Hundreds of thousands of square kilometers of coastal wetlands and other lowlands could be submerged. Beaches could move back as much as a few hundred meters and protective structures may lives, agriculture, livestock, buildings and infrastructures. Saltwater would advance landward into aquifers and up estuaries threatening water supplies, ecosystems and agriculture in some areas. Some nations are partic vulnerable to sea level rise, some areas could be dangerously threatened. Examples include India, Bangladesh and other areas economically dependent on fisheries or sensitive to chan habitats. As a result of present population growth and development coastal areas worldwide are under rising pressure. In addition augmented exploitation of non purposes and values of coastal zones in man areas are becoming more and more susceptible to sea level rise and other impacts of climate change. Even a minute rise in sea level could have unfavorable effects. So the sustainable coastal zone manage coastal zone management are described in the present attempt.


Technical analysis is a hot topic for investors right now and offers powerful, objective tools for picking stocks and making money--but most explanations of the subject simply confuse investors instead of enlightening them. In this clear, practical book, Barron's columnist Michael Kahn introduces technical analysis in simple English. Kahn explains exactly how technical analysis works, then teaches you how to read charts and translate what they tell you into real buy and sell decisions. The fully updated Second Edition contains many new examples reflecting major market changes since the First Edition: 9/11, equities bear markets, commodities bull markets, changing interest rates, and more. Step by step, Kahn illuminates the basic theory of technical analysis, demystifies its jargon, outlines its core techniques, and shows how to use it to complement (not replace) the reader's current approach to stock selection. He explains trendlines, chart patterns, and corrections; reveals what makes a stock look promising; and helps to assess potential risk and reward.


Abstract. The Grit scale is a popular measure of achievement-striving behavior. Consisting of two subscales, Consistency of Interests (CI) and Perseverance of Effort (PE), this scale has been repeatedly demonstrated to have high reliability and validity. At the same time, an increasing number of studies explicitly report a low correlation between the subscales and distinct patterns of associations with external measures that each subscale forms. We explored whether there is psychometric evidence that a substantive single grit construct underlies the scale. To answer this question, we investigated the scale structure in a more robust framework than the classical test theory and factor analyses could previously provide. The Russian version of the Grit scale was developed and implemented on a representative sample of high school students ( n = 2,269), and different models of item response theory (IRT), both unidimensional and multidimensional, were compared to find the best fitting model. The results confirmed that the subscales reflect related but independent constructs rather than the whole grit construct. The psychometric properties of the subscales were analyzed with the two-dimensional Partial Credit Model. Both subscales of the Russian version of the Grit scale are unidimensional, have good psychometric properties, and can be used to estimate respondents' ability.


Purpose

Although mediation has increased considerably in popularity and usage, it lacks a coherent framework and evidence base to illuminate the conditions under which different types of mediation strategies are most effective. This has resulted in a wide array of strategies and tactics being offered to mediators, with little sense of which may work best under different conditions. This paper aims to further develop a contingency model of adaptive mediation.

Design/methodology/approach

The current paper extends previous research on adaptive mediation by presenting findings from focus group and survey research with experienced mediators that help to further develop and specify a new adaptive model of mediation.

Findings

The findings support the utility of a contingency model of adaptive mediation based on the four fundamental dimensions of mediation situations (conflict intensity, situational constraints, cooperative vs competitive disputant relationships and overt vs covert issues and processes) for better understanding and predicting changes in mediator strategies independent of mediator style preferences.

Research limitations/implications

The present studies reflect the behavioral tactics experienced mediators recommend when facing the four distinct challenges to mediation. Research has yet to determine whether the sets of tactics recommended would actually be more successfully used in mediations presenting the four challenges. Subsequent research should assess the relative effects of the use of the different behavioral strategies under these conditions.

Originality/value

The program of research described and extended in this paper is an attempt to develop an integrative model of adaptive mediation, which can ultimately enhance the critical link between mediation research on the one hand and mediation practice on the other.


Educational design research provides opportunities for both the theoretical understanding and practical explanations of teaching. In educational design research, mathematics teachers' learning is essential. However, research shows that little consideration is given to teachers and the participation of teachers throughout the entire design process as well as in continued learning. With this in mind, an educational teacher-focused design research was used to explore the challenges teachers face and the opportunities teachers are given when they participate as actors in all the phases of educational design research - designing, teaching, and refining theoretical concepts within the teaching. In this study, the mathematics focus of the design research was generalizations in patterns with Design Principles as the theoretical frame. The results show that the participation of teachers in all the phases of a design process is central for the teachers' learning. Moreover, challenges that the teachers encounter in the classroom provide opportunities and consequences for the continued design process and lead to changes in the teachers' understanding of generalizations. The results also indicate that functional thinking and linear equations contributed to both the teachers' and students' learning about generalizations in patterns.


Objective: To investigate whether development of smokeless tobacco products (SLT) is intended to target current smokers. Methods: This study analysed internal tobacco industry documents to describe research related to the smokeless tobacco market. Relevant documents included those detailing the development and targeting of SLT products with a particular emphasis on moist snuff. Results: Cigarette and SLT manufacturers recognised that shifting demographics of SLT users, as well as indoor smoking restrictions, health concerns and reduced social acceptability of smoking could impact the growth of the SLT market. Manufacturers developed new SLT products to target cigarette smokers promoting dual cigarette and SLT use. Conclusions: Heavy marketing of new SLT products may encourage dual use and result in unknown public health effects. SLT products have been designed to augment cigarette use and offset regulatory strategies such as clean indoor air laws. In the United States, the SLT strategy may provide cigarette companies with a diversified range of products under the prospect of federal regulation. These products may pose significant challenges to efforts by federal agencies to reduce harm caused by tobacco use.


Unlike traditional inverters, multicell inverters have the following advantages: lower switching frequency, high number of output levels, and less voltage constraints on the insulated-gate bipolar transistors. Significant performances are provided with this structure which is constituted with flying capacitors. This paper deals with a predictive and direct control applied to the multicell inverter for an original application of this converter: a three-phase active filter. To take advantage of the capabilities of the multicell converter in terms of redundant control states, a voltage control method of flying capacitor is added, based on the use of a switching table. Flying capacitor voltages are kept on a fixed interval, and precise voltage sensors are not necessary. The association of predictive control and voltage balancing increases considerably the bandwidth of the active filter.


In this case report, we present a case of a likely paradoxical embolism in a young patient with no significant risk factor for coronary artery disease that initially presented with shortness of breath and bilateral calf pain that was found to have a deep vein thrombosis. There was a development of a pulmonary embolism that we believed due to right ventricular strain resulted in an embolus crossing into the arterial system via an intracardiac shunt causing a myocardial infarction via a distal occlusion of the right coronary artery. Patient was treated with full dose anticoagulation and a patent foramen ovale (PFO) closure was recommended. J Med Cases. 2017;8(11):365-367 doi: https://doi.org/10.14740/jmc2933w


In many fields of research, so-called 'multiblock' data are collected, i.e., data containing multivariate observations that are nested within higher-level research units (e.g., inhabitants of different countries). Each higher-level unit (e.g., country) then corresponds to a 'data block'. For such data, it may be interesting to investigate the extent to which the correlation structure of the variables differs between the data blocks. More specifically, when capturing the correlation structure by means of component analysis, one may want to explore which components are common across all data blocks and which components differ across the data blocks. This paper presents a common and cluster-specific simultaneous component method which clusters the data blocks according to their correlation structure and allows for common and cluster-specific components. Model estimation and model selection procedures are described and simulation results validate their performance. Also, the method is applied to data from cross-cultural values research to illustrate its empirical value.


The interactions of n-hexane, benzene, chloroform, and tetrahydrofuran with dried (amorphous) chromia (I) and chromia heated at 1073 K (crystalline) (II), both obtained from a colloidal dispersion, and a commercially available chromia (III) were studied by inverse gas chromatography (IGC) under finite surface coverage conditions. The isotherms, in the temperature range 383 – 423 K, were used to estimate the surface area, the adsorption energy distribution, the isosteric heat of adsorption, and the spreading pressure on the surfaces of the solids. The uniformly reduced adsorption ability of the heated chromia was attributed to the dehydroxylation of the surface at the higher temperatures. Both solids showed an increased affinity toward chloroform molecules, as a result of strong acid-base interaction.


A study of blood perfusion mapping was performed with a remote opto-physiological imaging (OPI) system coupling a sensitive CMOS camera and a custom-built resonant cavity light emitting diode (RCLED) ringlight. The setup is suitable for the remote assessment of blood perfusion in tissue over a wide range of anatomical locations. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the reliability and stability of the OPI system when measuring a cardiovascular variable of clinical interest, in this case, heart rate. To this end, the non-contact and contact photoplethysmographic (PPG) signals obtained from the OPI system and conventional PPG sensor were recorded simultaneously from each of 12 subjects before and after 5-min of cycling exercise. The time-frequency representation (TFR) method was used to visualize the time-dependent behavior of the signal frequency. The physiological parameters derived from the images captured by the OPI system exhibit comparable functional characteristics to those taken from conventional contact PPG pulse waveform measurements in both the time and frequency domains. Finally and more importantly, a previously developed opto-physiological model was employed to provide a 3-D representation of blood perfusion in human tissue which could provide a new insight into clinical assessment and diagnosis of circulatory pathology in various tissue segments.


This paper explores different options for establishing the matrix language in Russian-Estonian code-switching. First, the notions of matrix and embedded language are introduced, followed by a short overview of the Russian-Estonian bilingual situation in Estonia. The Matrix Language Frame model (Myers-Scotton 1993, 1997, 2002) is introduced in the third part of the paper, where the corporal data are described as well. A possible application of the Matrix Language Frame model to the Russian-Estonian code-switching data is presented in part four. It is argued that in most cases the matrix language is clearly definable. However, there are instances which can be best described as "congruent lexicalisation" (Muysken 2000).


A Thesis Submitted to the Department of Environmental Science, College of Science, Kwame Nkrumah University Of
Science and Technology, in partial fulfilment of the
requirements for the award of Master of Science Degree In
Environmental Science, June-2012


This article examines the issues of the need and opportunities for informal (thoughtful, reasonable, creative) application of the criminal law. The problem is closely related to the legal discussion on the limits of discretion of the judge in the interpretation and application of laws. The author expresses the opinion that despite the fact that the influence of legal positivism on criminal justice is stronger than on civil one, but even in a criminal case the judge does not have to be completely restrained by the letter of law. The paper justifies the need for an informal application of the criminal law, discusses the legal doctrines that allow it to do so. Beyond doubt, the compliance with the letter of law is a desirable standard in criminal justice. Nullum crimen nulla poena sine lege (no crime and punishment without law) principle is a fundamental basis of criminal law, which protects citizens from arbitrary prosecution and brings clarity to what is a crime in society and what legal consequences are foreseen to the offender. However, the need for informal application of the criminal law actually exists. The main objective reason for informal justice is eternal incompleteness of law, limited opportunities of written rules, diversity of life, which never fits into dry definitions. Even the criminal law always risks falling behind changing realities, not to respond in time to changes, misunderstand them, create uncertainty and conflicts of values. The subjective reason for informal application of criminal law is surplus, clarity and consistency strapped legislation, which often produces irrational, abstract and limitless definitions of particular crimes. These definitions later become the means to formulate excess criminal charges for minor infringements and artificially criminalize relations regulated by other branches of law (tax, administrative, civil, etc.). So, the need of informal application of the criminal law is primarily related with the need to avoid artificial criminalization and absurd criminal convictions. The author distinguishes the following working legal instruments allowing informally apply the criminal law: 1) expansive and narrowing interpretation of criminal law; 2) the concept of dangerousness of criminal act; 3) the general legal principle of proportionality and the principle of criminal law as a last resort (lat. ultima ratio); 4) the maxim of human rights protection. The paper illustrates the effectiveness of these concepts with concrete examples of court practice.


Many shared-memory parallel systems use lock-based synchronization mechanisms to provide mutual exclusion or reader-writer access to memory locations. Software locks are inefficient either in memory usage, lock transfer time, or both. Proposed hardware locking mechanisms are either too specific (for example, requiring static assignment of threads to cores and vice-versa), support a limited number of concurrent locks, require tag values to be associated with every memory location, rely on the low latencies of single-chip multicore designs or are slow in adversarial cases such as suspended threads in a lock queue. Additionally, few proposals cover reader-writer locks and their associated fairness issues. In this paper we introduce the Lock Control Unit (LCU) which is an acceleration mechanism collocated with each core to explicitly handle fast reader-writer locking. By associating a unique thread-id to each lock request we decouple the hardware lock from the requestor core. This provides correct and efficient execution in the presence of thread migration. By making the LCU logic autonomous from the core, it seamlessly handles thread preemption. Our design offers richer semantics than previous proposals, such as try lock support while providing direct core-to-core transfers. We evaluate our proposal with micro benchmarks, a fine-grain Software Transactional Memory system and programs from the Parsec and Splash parallel benchmark suites. The lock transfer time decreases in up to 30\% when compared to previous hardware proposals. Transactional Memory systems limited by reader-locking congestion boost up to 3x while still preserving graceful fairness and starvation freedom properties. Finally, commonly used applications achieve speedups up to a 7% when compared to software models.


Empire, since publication of the book by the same name, by Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri has generated almost an obsession for revisionist social theorists. In this literature, the idea and history of empire is structurally dialectical - the ongoing interaction between imperialist colonizers and subordinated indigenous or subaltern populations and cultures connected with the colonized space. Included in this literature are two recent works that present a curious view of American Empire, and its relatively early and key history of removal of Eastern Native nations to west of the Mississippi. The curiosity in the book by Sean Wilentz, and an article more focused on law by Paul Frymer, is that the exceptional histories of removal they report includes the voice of none of the removed populations, the subalterns by which the imperialists are in part constructed. In this review the record is simply being documented as necessary to recover the subalterns assumed by the histories because they were there, and had to be there, in the history of subordination. Contrasting the stunted reasoning of the federal government with Cherokee resistance and subsequent denouement links removal's significant contribution to the legitimation campaign supporting slavery and Dred Scott, and in material terms, contributed to the inevitability of the secession and the Civil War.


Abstract On-the-fly diagnostics of the number of particles per iteration cycle in iterated-source Monte Carlo computation, which output diagnostic measures for a given spatial resolution of binning cells as iteration cycles progress, have been studied using relative entropy and chi-square distance. A source ratio vector is defined whose components are the ratio of the sources of adjacent iteration cycles at the individual binning cells. This enables one to define a problem-independent reference vector based on the integral equation representation of the static eigenvalue problem of particle multiplication. These vectors are normalized so that they represent discrete probability distribution. The relative entropy of the source ratio vector and the weighted difference between the relative entropy and the chi-square distance of the source ratio vector, all with respect to the reference vector, have been shown to be effective measures of particle population. Numerical examples presented include the initial core of a pressurized water reactor (PWR), the vault of PWR fresh fuel bundles, and the Whitesides' keff-of-the-world problem.


ABSTRACT Critical decolonial assessments of International Political Economy (IPE) curricula have found a continued dominance of Euro-Western perspectives. However, these critical assessments have often been of specific programs or courses. In this article, we open the canvas wider in our quantitative assessment of privilege and marginalization, by conducting an analysis of IPE curricula from universities from around the world as well as of one of the most widely used introductory textbooks in the field. We find that scholars based outside of the Euro-West are marginal, while those based in the Euro-West continue to be dominant – in all the assessed course offerings. We also find that female voices are marginal, in all locations. Knowledge production systems privilege Euro-Western male voices and perspectives, furthering a process of systemic cognitive and epistemic injustices. Building upon our analysis of teaching and learning content, this article critically reflects on the implications of when IPE meets policy, and offers avenues for the policy engagement to avoid the same processes of privileging and marginalizing, and thereby better situating policy making to avoid repeating failures resulting from the identified entrenched biases.


Installation project that addresses the interface between architecture and ceramics. In this and its companion piece, 'House for
an Art Lover', an installation at Blackwell, de Waal aimed to interpret particular spaces rather than reproduce solitary 'exhibition'
pieces. De Waal's research aim lies at the interface between architecture and ceramics: the interpretation of specific spaces rather than
reproducing solitary 'exhibition' pieces. This interest emerges from a concern to extend the interpretation of crafts and
architecture, an area that has been little theorised.
Two interconnecting projects extended this. Arcanum: Mapping Eighteenth Century Ceramics at the National Museum and
Gallery of Wales arose from the Museum's concern to reinterpret its major collection of 18th century European porcelain. The
exhibition (June 2005-September 2005) included examples of normative exhibition practice, some radical new displays of the
historic porcelain coupled with two installation pieces of de Waal's own work made in response to the research. This project was
developed further by an intervention House for an Art Lover at Blackwell, an Arts and Crafts mansion designed by Baillie Scott
(September 2005-January 2006). This project explored how ceramics could be used as a sculptural medium to interrogate
architectural spaces.
The idea that an environment could work as a resource for practice in a similar way to an historic collection is proving influential.
The methodology of these projects has been cited in the Arts Council museumaker project that brings museums and artists
together. The discovery of correspondences between 18th century poetics of display and installation was influential in rethinking
the display of other museum collections.
The dissemination of both projects was considerable through publications, seminars and reviews. For Arcanum a bi-lingual
catalogue was published. An international seminar was given. An interview was recorded by the National Electronic and Video
Archive of the Crafts (NEVAC), available online. For House for an Art Lover a catalogue designed by Pentagram with
photographs by Graham Murrell was published. Two museums, MIMA, and the Lakelands Art Trust also purchased work from
the exhibition.


This paper examines the various factors that have shaped, and continue to mould, the contemporary nuclear environment of the People's Republic of China. First and foremost, the discussion confronts, and attempts to clarify, some persistent obstacles that confound analyses of China's nuclear posture, while specifically, it addresses those indigenous and external dynamics that determine, constrain and threaten China's nuclear capabilities and its likely posture. It emerges that China's nuclear posture is most credible at a regional level, particularly in northeast Asia. However, such credibility has come under scrutiny because the United States recently decided to hasten the development of Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) within the northeast Asian theatre. The possible deployment of BMD, combined with other political factors, suggests that the time is ripe to reassess nuclear, missile and BMD strategies in the region.


We investigate the effect of supersonic relative velocities between baryons and dark matter, recently shown to arise generically at high redshift, on baryonic acoustic oscillation (BAO) measurements at low redshift. The amplitude of the relative velocity effect at low redshift is model-dependent, but can be parameterized by using an unknown bias. We find that if unaccounted, the relative velocity effect can shift the BAO peak position and bias estimates of the dark energy equation-of-state due to its non-smooth, out-of-phase oscillation structure around the BAO scale. Fortunately, the relative velocity effect can be easily modeled in constraining cosmological parameters without substantially inflating the error budget. We also demonstrate that the presence of the relative velocity effect gives rise to a unique signature in the galaxy bispectrum, which can be utilized to isolate this effect. Future dark energy surveys can accurately measure the relative velocity effect and subtract it from the power spectrum analysis to constrain dark energy models with high precision.


We present a Rare Earth Elements (REE) record determined on the EPICA ice core drilled at Dronning Maud Land (EDML) in the Atlantic sector of the East Antarctic Plateau. The record covers the transition from the last glacial stage (LGS) to the early Holocene (26 600–7500 yr BP) at decadal to centennial resolution. Additionally, samples from potential source areas (PSAs) for Antarctic dust were analyzed for their REE characteristics. The dust provenance is discussed by comparing the REE fingerprints in the ice core and the PSA samples. We find a shift in variability in REE composition at ~15 000 yr BP in the ice core samples. Before 15 000 yr BP, the dust composition is very uniform and its provenance was most certainly dominated by a South American source. After 15 000 yr BP, multiple sources such as Australia and New Zealand become relatively more important, although South America remains the major dust source. A similar change in the dust characteristics was observed in the EPICA Dome C ice core at around ~15 000 yr BP, accompanied by a shift in the REE composition, thus suggesting a change of atmospheric circulation in the Southern Hemisphere.


Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), encompassing Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, has multifactorial aetiology with complex interactions between genetic and environmental factors. Over 150 genetic loci are associated with IBD. The genetic contribution of the majority of those loci towards explained heritability is low. Recent studies have reported an increasing spectrum of human monogenic diseases that can present with IBD-like intestinal inflammation. A substantial proportion of patients with those genetic defects present with very early onset of intestinal inflammation. The 40 monogenic defects with IBD-like pathology selected in this review can be grouped into defects in intestinal epithelial barrier and stress response, immunodeficiencies affecting granulocyte and phagocyte activity, hyper- and autoinflammatory disorders as well as defects with disturbed T and B lymphocyte selection and activation. In addition, there are defects in immune regulation affecting regulatory T cell activity and interleukin (IL)-10 signalling. Related to the variable penetrance of the IBD-like phenotype, there is a likely role for modifier genes and gene–environment interactions. Treatment options in this heterogeneous group of disorders range from anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive therapy to blockade of tumour necrosis factor α and IL-1β, surgery, haematopoietic stem cell transplantation or gene therapy. Understanding of prototypic monogenic 'orphan' diseases cannot only provide treatment options for the affected patients but also inform on immunological mechanisms and complement the functional understanding of the pathogenesis of IBD.


This research was aimed to investigate the effect of Islamic work ethics to the employee Satisfaction on Waroeng Steak & Shake in Surabaya. This study used questionnaires in primary data collection and quantitative approaches. Experiments were done using simple linear regression, where the dependent variable (Y) is the employee work satisfaction and the independent variable (X) is Islamic work ethics. The research sample were taken by census. The research sample was 33 employees working in Waroeng Steak & Shake Surabaya. Based on the findings, it obtained simple linear regression equation : Y = 0,929 + 0,684X. The magnitude of the influence of Islamic work ethics to the employees work satisfaction on Waroeng Steak & Shake in Surabaya is the R2 value of 0,423 (42,3%). The result show that employee work satisfaction on Waroeng Steak & Shake in Surabaya significantly affect by Islamic work ethics.


Objective: This paper seeks to answer the questions: "Does a history of sexual abuse predict risky sexual behavior for females? If so, by what mechanisms does this correlation occur?" Method: A literature review was conducted to identify research articles that investigated the correlation between sexual abuse and sexual behavior. Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health (CINAHL), Medline and PsychInfo databases were searched. Medline and CINAHL databases were searched using the terms "sexual abuse" and "risky sexual behaviors." PsychInfo was searched using the terms "sexual abuse," "risky sexual behaviors," and "risk taking behaviors." Studies examined multiple or single incidents of abuse and both childhood and adult victimization. Only abstracts published in English from 1997 and later were considered. Ultimately, 12 articles were reviewed and discussed. Results: There is a correlation between child and adolescent sexual abuse and risky sexual behaviors but the mechanisms by which this correlation exists are not fully understood. The mechanisms may be dependent on the interplay of pre-victimization, victimization, and post-victimization factors. Implications: This review indicates that it is important to conduct more prospective studies with various samples and sample sizes in order to clarify the mechanisms by which a victim of sexual abuse is at an increased risk for becoming involved in risky sexual behaviors. This journal article is available in Journal of Student Nursing Research: http://repository.upenn.edu/josnr/vol1/iss1/3 Vol 1, Iss 1, 2007 Journal of Student Nursing Research 12 Erin McAndrew, BSN Anne M. Teitelman PhD, CRNP A Review of the Literature Regarding a History of Sexual Abuse as a Risk Factor for Risky Sexual Behavior in Females


A generalized form of spectral representation theory is developed and used with the ABCD formulation of the Huygens–Fresnel integral for studying optical wave propagation through a random medium in the presence of any complex paraxial optical system that can be characterized by an ABCD ray matrix. Formal expressions are developed for the basic optical field moments and various related second-order statistical quantities in terms of three fundamental moments of the first- and second-order complex phase perturbations. Special propagation environments include line-of-sight propagation, single-pass propagation through arbitrary ABCD optical systems, and double-pass propagation through the same random medium in the presence of an ABCD optical system. For illustrative purposes the method is used in the development of expressions for the mean and the normalized variance of the irradiance associated with the Fourier-transform-plane geometry of a lens and the enhanced backscatter effect (EBS) associated with irradiance and phase fluctuations of a reflected Gaussian-beam wave from a Gaussian mirror. The EBS analysis accounts for both finite size and finite focal length of the mirror.


The main subjects of this keynote are protein kinase CK2 and human leukocyte elastase (HLE), two biomedically important enzymes and pharmacologically attractive targets.
CK2 - more precisely its catalytic subunit CK2alpha - is a member of the superfamily of eukaryotic protein kinases. Its antiapoptotic activity is exploited by tumour cells in order to escape cell death. The indeno[1,2-b]indole scaffold, a flat annulated 4-ring system, is a relatively novel lead structure for the development of ATP-competitive CK2 inhibitors. Complex structures of CK2alpha and a number of indeno[1,2-b]indole-type compounds had been predicted previously. In such an in silico model the inhibitor sticks in the ATP cavity in an apparently plausible way, namely such that its hydrophobic side is directed inwards while its hydrophilic side has access to the solvent. However, when we determined the first co-crystal of CK2alpha with an indeno[1,2-b]indole-type inhibitor, we realized to our surprise that the orientation of the inhibitor was reversed: the "hydrophobic-out/oxygen-out" binding mode that we discovered is determined by hydrogen bonds of the inhibitor to a hidden and conserved water molecule. This molecular arrangement requires an inhibitor orientation in which hydrophobic substitutents are at the outer surface which opens the possibility for further modifications.
The second target enzyme, human leukocyte elastase (HLE), is a chymotrypsin-type serine protease which is produced by neutrophilic granulocytes, the most abundant cells of the innate immune system [therefore the synonym "human neutrophil elastase" (HNE)]. The activity of HLE must be strictly controlled to avoid proteolytic damage of the connective tissue which is a particular problem in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and other inflammatory diseases. Naturally, HLE is downregulated by alpha1-antitrypsin, a serpin-type protease inhibitor, which is likewise produced by neutrophils. Synthetic HLE inhibitors are useful in cases of inbalance of the natural HLE control system. Typically, HLE inhibibitors block the S1 pocket of the enzyme, the most critical of several substrate binding cavities. The S1 pocket recognizes the side chain of the substrate directly N-terminal of the peptide bond to be hydrolyzed. In our study we co-crystallized HLE with a 1,3-thiazolidine-2,4-dione derivative with antibacterial activity that had been observed to inhibit HLE as well. In the complex structure the inhibitor is bound to the S2' site, i.e. at a region responsible for harbouring residues at the C-terminal side of the scissile peptide bond. In addition, the inhibitor seems to induce a dimerization of the enzyme by which the access to the active site region is prohibited.


A milestone of modern cosmology was the prediction and serendipitous discovery of the cosmic microwave background (CMB), the radiation leftover after decoupling from matter in the early evolutionary stages of the Universe. A prediction of the standard hot Big-Bang model is the linear increase with redshift of the black-body temperature of the CMB (TCMB). This radiation excites the rotational levels of some interstellar molecules, including carbon monoxide (CO), which can serve as cosmic thermometers. Using three new and two previously reported CO absorption-line systems detected in quasar spectra during a systematic survey carried out using VLT/UVES, we constrain the evolution of TCMB to z ∼ 3. Combining our precise measurements with previous constraints, we obtain TCMB(z) = (2.725 ± 0.002) × (1 + z) 1−β K with β = −0.007 ± 0.027, a more than two-fold improvement in precision. The measurements are consistent with the standard (i.e. adiabatic, β = 0) Big-Bang model and provide a strong constraint on the effective equation of state of decaying dark energy (i.e. weff = −0.996 ± 0.025).


This paper compares different methods of subword indexing and their performance on the English and German domain-specific document collection of the Cross-language Evaluation Forum (CLEF). Four major methods to index sub-words are investigated and compared to indexing stems:
1) sequences of vowels and consonants, 2) a dictionary-based approach for decompounding, 3) overlapping character n-grams, and 4) Knuth's algorithm for hyphenation. The performance and effects of sub-word extraction on search time and index size and time are reported for English and German retrieval experiments. The main results are: For English, indexing sub-words does not outperform the baseline
using standard retrieval on stemmed word forms (–8% mean average precision (MAP), – 11% geometric MAP (GMAP), +1% relevant and retrieved documents (rel ret) for the best
experiment). For German, with the exception of n-grams, all methods for indexing sub-words achieve a higher performance than the stemming baseline. The best performing sub-word
indexing methods are to use consonant-vowelconsonant sequences and index them together with word stems (+17% MAP, +37% GMAP, +14% rel ret compared to the baseline), or to
index syllable-like sub-words obtained from the hyphenation algorithm together with stems (+9% MAP, +23% GMAP, +11% rel ret).


Comparisons of the genetic maps of Escherichia coli K-12 and Salmonella typhimurium LT2 suggest that the size and organization of bacterial chromosomes are highly conserved. Employing pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, we have estimated the extent of variation in genome size among 14 natural isolates of E. coli. The BlnI and NotI restriction fragment patterns were highly variable among isolates, and genome sizes ranged from 4,660 to 5,300 kb, which is several hundred kilobases larger than the variation detected between enteric species. Genome size differences increase with the evolutionary genetic distance between lineages of E. coli, and there are differences in genome size among the major subgroups of E. coli. In general, the genomes of natural isolates are larger than those of laboratory strains, largely because of the fact that laboratory strains were derived from the subgroup of E. coli with the smallest genomes.


This paper investigates an especially value-laden product category: sex-oriented technologies. Reviewing four systems encountered through qualitative fieldwork at an adult entertainment trade show, we examine how designers make claims for distribution of agency in their systems, and the consequent technical choices. In the face of diverse configurations of systems, users, and designers, we suggest that designers treat their practice less as an expression of enduring or user-specific 'values,' and more as a series of decisions about the ethical distribution of control and responsibility within systems.


New SHRIMP U-Pb data from dioritic to granodioritic synmineral intrusions associated with the Jebel Ohier porphyry copper deposit (mineral inventory, including NI43-101-compliant total inferred and indicated resources, of 593 million tonnes [Mt] at 0.33% Cu and 0.05 ppm Au, for 1.953 Mt of contained Cu and 933,600 oz of Au at 0.15% Cu cutoff) in the Red Sea Hills of northeastern Sudan have bracketed the age of mineralization to ca. 816 to 812 Ma. This age range, as well as constraints from new and existing lithogeochemical data, is consistent with the deposit's formation from a productive parental magma source during the early stages in the evolution of an intra-Mozambique Ocean island arc. The Jebel Ohier porphyry copper deposit bears many similarities to well-documented Phanerozoic analogues elsewhere in terms of (1) the mapped style and zonation of hydrothermal alteration (i.e., proximal K-silicate–dominated, to sericitic, to distal propylitic alteration), (2) the occurrence of intense Cu-bearing A- and B-type vein stockwork, as well as sulfide-only C-type veins, anhydrite veins, and younger, peripheral D-type veins, and (3) the geochemical fingerprint of the associated porphyry, which is akin to those of ore-related Tertiary porphyries in the Escondida area in northern Chile. The multiphase intrusion hosting the Jebel Ohier porphyry copper deposit has been intruded by several generations of mafic to felsic postmineralization dikes and voluminous plutons, with a peak in magmatic activity coinciding with the suturing of the Gebeit terrane at ca. 724 Ma. In spite of, or perhaps because of, the occurrence of extensive postmineralization magmatism, and regardless of subsequent deformation, regional metamorphism, uplift, and erosion, the deposit has remained remarkably intact. The discovery of a relatively ancient, yet well-preserved porphyry copper deposit in the Neoproterozoic Arabian-Nubian Shield has major implications for the exploration potential of this resource-rich geologic terrain.


This chapter examines the key legal issues arising from the preliminary reference procedure in competition law. It first considers references to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), focusing on Article 267 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) giving the Court jurisdiction to render preliminary rulings concerning the interpretation of the Treaty, and the validity and interpretation of acts of the institutions, bodies, offices, or agencies of the European Union. It then explains the role of a 'court or tribunal' in making a reference, as well as the issue of inadmissible references and mandatory references. Finally, it discusses the preliminary reference procedure, including the procedure before the referring court, and the order for reference, special requests, interventions, submission of written and oral observations, and the effect of a ruling.


Windstorms cause most of the damage to houses, worldwide. The roof is subjected to the largest wind loads and is usually the most vulnerable part of the house. However, data on the transfer of wind loads within the roof structure is scarce. Such data is required for the application of structural reliability analysis and for development of building codes. The fluctuating nature and variable distribution of wind loads, combined with the change from linear to non-linear structural behaviour as the loads increase, can pose challenges for calculating structural response. This is also required for developing the performance based design of structures and for understanding wind load transfer within the roof structure and the effect of progressive failure on the sharing and redistribution of loads. Most vulnerability models do not accurately incorporate the structural behaviour of the houses during windstorms, which may produce unreliable estimates of damage. These vulnerability models have mainly focused on the wind loads acting on the connection tributary area and the strength of the connections.

This research study analysed the transmission of wind loads within a commonly used roof structural system of contemporary houses obtained from a survey in the cyclonic region of Australia. The distribution of wind pressure on the roof of such a typical house was determined using a wind tunnel model. The wind loads on selected roof fixings were further analysed to obtain the wind load data in terms of probabilistic parameters. The strength capacities of the roofing connection were also determined in terms of probabilistic parameters using available test data. The structural response of a roof was studied by testing sub-assemblies of the roof applying point and line loads and measuring the reactions at batten-to-truss connections and the deflections at selected locations in a range of conditions and damage states to simulated loads. The results were also compared with analytical solutions. The variation of reactions with increasing load was discussed in terms of a reaction coefficient. The coefficients were assessed for loads in the linear and non-linear states of roofing components/connections. The study integrated the wind loading and structural information on transfer of wind load effects through the structure to determine the loads and vulnerability of batten-to-truss connections. These outputs were compared with the results obtained from conventional methods for calculating load on connections and vulnerability assessments.

The study found that loads on the batten-to-truss connection of these contemporary houses are influenced by the flexibility of the battens and cladding, and the directional stiffness characteristics of the cladding, as is the redistribution of batten-to-truss connection loads following failure of the cladding fastener and batten-to-truss connections. As a result estimates based on application of pressures to connection tributary area, which is the normal design practice, can lead to underestimation of the connection loads. The study shows that a larger tributary area should be considered to obtain the batten-to-truss connection loads on these structural systems. Furthermore, the study shows that estimates of the vulnerability of a batten-to-truss connection based on the incorporation of load distribution effects in the reliability analysis are greater than those obtained from the methods used in current practice. Hence, the study suggests that load sharing effects must be incorporated when determining the vulnerability of connections. The vulnerability estimates on cladding fixings and truss-to-wall connections were also determined and the results show that the cladding fixings are the most vulnerable and then batten-to-truss connections and truss-to-wall connections respectively.

A main outcome of the thesis is the establishment of an improved procedure for analysing the variation of the connection loads with time taking account of the spatial and temporal variation in wind pressures and the structural response characteristics of the roof system, which is a necessary first step in the assessment of their vulnerability. These outcomes make a significant contribution to understanding the wind loading distribution and developing vulnerability functions for houses to windstorms. The results can also be used to assess the system reliability for a well defined limit state and hence can contribute significantly to performance based evaluation of masonry block houses in cyclonic regions. The results could also be used as a basis to study adaptation measures and for the development of software models for assessing building vulnerability to windstorms.


I initially started to look at Chinese landscape painting when it was suggested
that my paintings looked and felt vaguely similar to traditional Chinese
painting. The more I looked and read about these images the more I felt
myself drawn to them. Apart from the obviously impressive painterly
qualities I was impressed by the self-evident belief in the relevance of their
painting not only on a cultural level but as a means to self discovery and
enlightenment. These paintings meant something to both artist and viewer and
the contemplation and understanding of nature (landscape) were a key to this
understanding. For a long time I had been bemoaning the fact that landscape
in art today seemed to be dismissed as a 19th century irrelevancy when it most
definitely was not to me. Here was a chance to look at a time when the
landscape was of utmost importance to the wellbeing of a culture, to
understand what it was that made this the case, and to see if what I myself was
obtaining from the landscape had any precedent and ultimately, I suppose, any
relevance to the late 20th century.
Having said this, I myself have serious problems with the vast majority of
today's landscape painting which seems not to be about the land but rather an
idea of what the land might be or mean. There is no serious involvement with
the land itself which is neatly packaged away as 'a construct of the mind'.
Chinese art, especially of the Sung period, seemed at least to be
acknowledging that something could be learnt from interaction with the land.
This is how I felt myself to be relating to the land; I needed physically to be in
it in order to experience it.
I have decided to concentrate on several works from the Northern and
Southern Sung periods. I have limited myself to these six as they seem to me
to be representative of the general style of this time. In an essay of this length
it seems preferable to concentrate in some depth on the main styles of painting
rather than to skim over many of them, while including the transitional
paintings, those reviving previous styles and those individualists working in
isolation from mainstream culture.
I intend to provide a brief background to the Sung period in its historical
context while drawing attention to the cultural relevance of landscape painting
at this time.


Epilepsy is associated with an increased prevalence of mental health disorders compared with general population. Psychiatric comorbidity in epilepsy is a non-negligible issue in pursuit of high life quality in patients with epilepsy. This review mainly discussed the clinical characters; diagnose approaches, and predisposing factors of schizophrenia-like psychosis in epilepsy (SLPE), which is one of the most severe comorbidity in epilepsy. Furthermore, a disconnection hypothesis underlying both schizophrenia and SLPE is proposed by accumulating evidences of abnormal large-scale brain networks in these two disorders. With the development of clinical technologies, this review also suggested more resting-state and cognition-related brain networks studies should be conducted in the upcoming future.


Understory Vegetation Response to Mechanical Mastication of Pinon and Juniper Woodlands Jordan A. Bybee Department of Plant and Wildlife Sciences, BYU Master of Science Pinon and juniper encroachment and infilling can alter ecosystem processes and decrease resilience and resistance in sagebrush grasslands. Land managers employ a variety of techniques to eliminate these trees and mitigate their negative effects. Mechanical mastication or shredding is an increasingly popular method of removing these trees in Utah. It is a versatile treatment that can reduce canopy fuels, increase infiltration, and reduced sediment loss. We compared vegetation cover for annual and perennial vegetation functional groups on shredded and adjacent unshredded areas across a range of sites. Our approach was to categorize sites by ecological site type (encroachment or tree) and subplots by treatment (untreated, shredded, and shredded-seeded) and initial tree cover. Mixed model analysis of covariance and the Tukey-Kramer test were used to determine significant differences among ecological site type and treatment combinations for each 5% increment of untreated or initial tree cover. Shrub cover was unaffected by treatment and decreased with increasing tree cover. In general, perennial herbaceous understory cover increased after shredding to equal or exceed initial encroachment and infilling levels. This held true for both ecological site types and treatments, even at high pretreatment tree cover percentages. Cheatgrass also increased in cover after tree shredding although this trend was dampened in the seeded treatments indicating some suppression of cheatgrass by seeding. Shredding when there is high cover of perennial herbaceous plants and shrubs or seeding in conjunction with shredding where initial tree cover exceeds 35-40% will help discourage dominance by weeds.


OBJECTIVE—Intentional weight loss is recommended for those with type 2 diabetes, but the strategies patients attempt and their effectiveness for weight management are unknown. In this investigation we describe intentional weight loss strategies used and those related to BMI in a diverse sample of overweight participants with type 2 diabetes at enrollment in the Look AHEAD (Action for Health in Diabetes) clinical trial. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS—This was a cross-sectional study of baseline weight loss strategies, including self-weighing frequency, eating patterns, and weight control practices, reported in 3,063 women and 2,082 men aged 45–74 years with BMI ≥25 kg/m2. RESULTS—Less than half (41.4%) of participants self-weighed ≥1/week. Participants ate breakfast 6.0 ± 1.8 days/week, ate 5.0 ± 3.1 meals/snacks per day, and ate 1.9 ± 2.7 fast food meals/week. The three most common weight control practices (increasing fruits and vegetables, cutting out sweets, and eating less high-carbohydrate foods) were reported by ∼60% of participants for ≥20 weeks over the previous year. Adjusted models showed that self-weighing less than once per week (B = 0.83), more fast food meals consumed per week (B = 0.14), and fewer breakfast meals consumed per week (B = −0.19) were associated (P < 0.05) with a higher BMI (R2 = 0.24). CONCLUSIONS—Regular self-weighing and breakfast consumption, along with infrequent consumption of fast food, were related to lower BMI in the Look AHEAD study population.


The aim of this study has been to identify the issues which affect the introduction and effective implementation of interactive video and to relate the results to the introduction and implementation of educational multimedia. The research methodology adopted has involved a mixture of quantitative and qualitative methods. Data has been collected by questionnaire, case studies, and semi-structured interviews. The case studies report on five secondary schools involved in the Employment Department Managing Flexible Learning Programme (MFL), providing a record of the activities relating to the introduction of interactive video in the schools over a six month period. The questionnaire was designed to obtain feedback from a sample of schools involved in a range of interactive video projects. In-depth semi-structured interviews with educational consultants involved in working with schools to introduce interactive video were also used.The literature review investigates research on teaching and learning, managing educational innovation, parent (earlier) technologies and interactive video.The issues identified from this study are classified against appropriate headings and associated with areas of responsibility.The issues are categorized under the following three headings: educational issues which are not exclusive to the use of technology; general issues which relate to educational technology; issues which relate specifically to multimedia programmes; and the following four areas of responsibility: management in developing an institutional strategy; management of the introduction and implementation process; teachers in terms of their role in the learning process; educationalists and designers in the development of appropriate material. This study has identified that the management of the implementation process is the most significant area for consideration and that institutional strategy will not be realised if the process is not managed effectively.Educational multimedia presents issues at a strategic level in terms of immediate and long term resourcing. However, provided that the technical infrastructure is adequate it was found that the major issues were associated with managing educational innovation in general.


For displacement convex functionals in the probability space equipped with the Monge-Kantorovich metric we prove the equivalence between the gradient and functional type Lojasiewicz inequalities. In a second part, we specialise these inequalities to some classical geodesically convex functionals. For the Boltzmann entropy, we obtain the equivalence between logarithmic Sobolev and Talagrand's inequalities. On the other hand, the non-linear entropy and the Gagliardo-Nirenberg inequality provide a Talagrand inequality which seems to be a new equivalence. Our method allows also to recover some results on the asymptotic behaviour of the associated gradient flows.


Nonuniform flow in the transition region where a circular duct is coupled to a large chamber has been modeled to lowest order by numerical solution of the Helmholtz equation describing the acoustic field. The associated end effects are described as a complex acoustic impedance Zend, which plays an important role in the Greenspan acoustic viscometer [Gillis et al., Rev. Sci. Instrum. 67, 1850–1857 (1996)]. The effects of geometry on the end effects, including the effects of chamfering sharp edges, have been calculated for a variety of orifice geometries and tested experimentally with Greenspan viscometers. A new formalism for modeling end effects by numerical solution of the coupled PDEs for the viscous and acoustic fields will also be described. The formalism can be extended to calculate entrance effects in other geometries, including thermoacoustic stacks. [Work supported by the Office of Naval Research.]


The recognition that innovation occurs in networks of heterogeneous actors and requires broad systemic support beyond knowledge brokering has resulted in a changing landscape of the intermediary domain in an increasingly market-driven agricultural sector in developing countries. This paper presents findings of an explorative case study that looked at 22 organisations identified as fulfilling an intermediary role in the Kenyan agricultural sector. The results show that these organisations fulfill functions that are not limited to distribution of knowledge and putting it into use. The functions also include fostering integration and interaction among the diverse actors engaged in innovation networks and working on technological, organisational and institutional innovation. Further, the study identified various organisational arrangements of innovation intermediaries with some organisations fulfilling a specialised innovation brokering role, even as other intermediaries take on brokering as a side activity, while still substantively contributing to the innovation process. Based on these findings we identify a typology of 4 innovation intermediation arrangements, including technology brokers, systemic brokers, enterprise development support and input access support. The results indicate that innovation brokering is a pervasive task in supporting innovation and will require policy support to embed it in innovation support arrangements. The paper is not normative about these arrangements.


Expatriates are one type of international skilled labour migration. This text will focus on conceptualising and defining categories of expatriates for research purposes. A closer examination requires a definition that reflects theoretical definitions, but also takes into account the local delimitation and even the self-concept of the immigrants themselves. In this text, these perspectives are laid out side by side. Our conceptualisation is comprised of four basic attributes that refer to the centre of personal life (life strategies), the temporary aspect of residence, professional or working skills, and the motivation to migrate. At the local level, the Brno Expat Centre (BEC) operating in the South Moravian Region, is monopolistically involved in the definition of expatriates on a practical scale. The processes of globalisationand trans-nationalisation have led to the diversification of forms of labour migration, which, together with interdisciplinarity, has resulted in a considerable ambiguity of terms and concepts. Thus, for research purposes, one must bear in mind that despite the uniform designation, we are dealing with a very diversified phenomenon. If expatriates are distinguished from skilled migrants, we usually emphasise the undefined length of their stay as opposed to permanent residence and the very important self-concept of expatriates. Brno has become one of the most important places of concentration of expats in the Czech Republic. From the pre-research of the Indian expats case, it shows that the different transnational strategies are very diverse. For further research, it is important to explore the social and demographic characteristics of expats, and we need qualitative research that focuses on the structural conditions of the life of expats and the self-evaluation of expats themselves, considering ethno-cultural factors and gender. Their family members also cannot be ignored.


Recombinant human GH (rhGH) has been in use for 30 years, and over that time its safety and efficacy in children and adults has been subject to considerable scrutiny. In 2001, a statement from the GH Research Society (GRS) concluded that 'for approved indications, GH is safe'; however, the statement highlighted a number of areas for on-going surveillance of long-term safety, including cancer risk, impact on glucose homeostasis, and use of high dose pharmacological rhGH treatment. Over the intervening years, there have been a number of publications addressing the safety of rhGH with regard to mortality, cancer and cardiovascular risk, and the need for long-term surveillance of the increasing number of adults who were treated with rhGH in childhood. Against this backdrop of interest in safety, the European Society of Paediatric Endocrinology (ESPE), the GRS, and the Pediatric Endocrine Society (PES) convened a meeting to reappraise the safety of rhGH. The ouput of the meeting is a concise position statement.


Objective: To establish the effectiveness of eccentric exercise as a treatment intervention for lateral epicondylitis. Data sources: ProQuest, Medline via EBSCO, AMED, Scopus, Web of Science, CINAHL. Review methods: A systematic review was undertaken to identify randomized and controlled clinical trials incorporating eccentric exercise as a treatment for patients diagnosed with lateral epicondylitis. Studies were included if: they incorporated eccentric exercise, either in isolation or as part of a multimodal treatment protocol; they assessed at least one functional or disability outcome measure; and the patients had undergone diagnostic testing. The methodological quality of each study was assessed using the Modified Cochrane Musculoskeletal Injuries Group score sheet. Results: Twelve studies met the inclusion criteria. Three were deemed 'high' quality, seven were 'medium' quality, and two were 'low' quality. Eight of the studies were randomized trials investigating a total of 334 subjects. Following treatment, all groups inclusive of eccentric exercise reported decreased pain and improved function and grip strength from baseline. Seven studies reported improvements in pain, function, and/or grip strength for therapy treatments inclusive of eccentric exercise when compared with those excluding eccentric exercise. Only one low-quality study investigated the isolated effects of eccentric exercise for treating lateral epicondylitis and found no significant improvements in pain when compared with other treatments. Conclusion: The majority of consistent findings support the inclusion of eccentric exercise as part of a multimodal therapy programme for improved outcomes in patients with lateral epicondylitis.


In recent years, CCAMLR member states undertook substantial efforts to designate marine protected areas (MPAs) in the Southern Ocean. While MPA planning for six domains is underway, for three domains CCAMLR member states were asked to take the lead in MPA planning. At the CCAMLR meeting in 2012, the Commission welcomed the offer of Germany to take the lead in developing a Weddell Sea MPA for consideration in 2014. Subsequently, the German Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection tasked the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) to compile and analyse scientific data for identifying potential conservation areas and measures in the Weddell Sea. The work under this project started mid-April 2013. Here, in our first conceptual outline, we (i) present the principal target area of our evaluation study aiming at a Weddell Sea MPA, (ii) give a systematic overview of our preliminary data retrieval accompanied by an invitation to all experts from within and outside CCAMLR to contribute relevant information and data sets and (iii) set out the project timeline in detail, i. a. to highlight an international expert workshop on the planning of a Weddell Sea MPA in 2014.


Robots find application in contexts as diverse as retail, factory work and elderly care. In a social context, it is important that robots can communicate with humans and adapt their behaviour to a changing environment. We raised the question whether we can adapt a robot's gesture behaviour based on the effectiveness of its communication towards humans. We developed a system that made use of an interactive evolutionary algorithm to develop gestures for a virtual robot. In addition, we investigated if and how interactive evolutionary algorithms can be suitable for the development of gestures for robots. In the experiment we performed (N=16), we found indications that it may well be possible to develop gestures that can be interpreted by other people this way. Additionally, a majority of participants indicated to perceive improvements in the gestures over successive generations of the evolutionary algorithm. However, improvements of the system are necessary, as well as more experiments to confirm the results. To investigate whether gestures that are based on the interaction of multiple people with the system are easier to interpret than gestures developed by an individual, we propose an experiment in which gestures are developed by multiple people by means of a transmission chain experiment.