Constructing the genomic median of several given genomes is crucial in developing evolutionary trees, since the genomic median provides an estimate for the ordering of the genes in a common ancestor of the given genomes. This is due to the fact that the content of DNA molecules is often similar, but the difference is mainly in the order in which the genes appear in various genomes. The mutations that affect this ordering are called genome rearrangements, and many structural differences between genomes can be studied using genome rearrangements. In this thesis our main focus is on applying combinatorial optimization techniques to genomic median problems, with particular emphasis on the breakpoint distance as a measure of the difference between two genomes. We will study different variations of the breakpoint median problem from signed to unsigned, unichromosomal to multichromosomal, and linear to circular to mixed. We show how these median problems can be formulated in terms of problems in combinatorial optimization, and take advantage of well-known combinatorial optimization techniques and apply these powerful methods to study various median problems. Some of these median problems are polynomial and many are NP-hard. We find efficient algorithms and approximation methods for median problems based on well-known combinatorial optimization structures. The focus is on algorithmic and combinatorial aspects of genomic medians, and how they can be utilized to obtain optimal median solutions. Dedicated to my mother and father, and to my husband.


Monoxenic cultures of burrowing nematode populations extracted from banana roots from Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and Costa Rica were established on carrot discs. Cultures of Radopholus spp. were also obtained from Florida, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, and Ivory Coast. The aggressiveness (defined as reproductive fitness and root necrosis) of these populations was evaluated by inoculating banana plants (Musa AAA, cv. Grande Naine) with 200 nematodes/plant. Banana plants produced by tissue culture were grown in 0.4-liter styrofoam cups, containing a 1:1 mix of a coarse and a fine sand, at ca. 27 degrees C and 80% RH. Banana plants were acclimated and allowed to grow for 4 weeks prior to inoculation. Plant height, fresh shoot and root weights, root necrosis, and nematode population densities were determined 8 weeks after inoculation. Burrowing-nematode populations varied in aggressiveness, and their reproductive fitness was generally related to damage reported in the field. Plant height and fresh shoot and root weight did not reflect damage caused by nematodes under our experimental conditions. Necrosis of primary roots was closely related to the reproductive fitness of the nematode populations. Variation in aggressiveness among nematode populations followed a similar trend in the two susceptible hosts tested, Grande Naine and Pisang mas. All nematode populations had a low reproductive factor (Rf </=2.5) in the resistant host except for the Ivory Coast population which had a moderate reproductive factor (Rf </= 5) on Pisang Jari Buaya. This is the first report of a burrowing nematode population parasitizing this important source of resistance to R. similis.


Ozone was incorporated into an ultrafiltration system to produce higher quality reclaimed water from domestic laundry wastewater. Characteristics of the wastewater for initial washing waste were 488~2,847 mg/L COD, 62~674 mg/L MBAS, and 38~857 mg/L SS. The wastewater was contacted with ozone in a 10L storage tank and circulated through the membrane module for inner pressurized cross-flow filtration. The concentrate was returned back to the contact tank. The membrane used in this experiment was hollow fiber polysulfone UF membrane with MWCO 5,000 and 10,000. It has an effective filtration area of 0.06m2. The experiment was carried out in two phases with either continuous or intermittent ozone injection. For intermittent ozone injection, the mode of injection interval was changed to 5 min./5 min. and 5 min./10 min. for injection/idling. Ozone was dosed at the concentration of 1.5 mg/L. The permeate quality of UF (MWCO 5,000) was 57 mg/L as COD and 5 mg/L as MBAS at continuous ozone injection with removal of 95% in COD and 96.9% in MBAS. Using UF with MWCO 10,000, it was 93.7% and 95.5% of COD and MBAS, respectively. And using intermittent ozone injection, the removal efficiency was 93% in COD and 93.5% in MBAS without any deterioration in COD and MBAS removal. It could reduce the treatment cost. Using ozone injection, fouling of the membrane was also controlled by increasing organic degradation. The flux of UF (MWCO 5,000 and 10,000) was 0.13 and 0.20 m/d for 3 hour filtration (TMP 40≈45 kPa) without ozone injection. It was increased to 0.18 and 0.24m/d by ozone injection. The reclaimed water quality could be estimated well enough to reuse for rinsing purposes.


Conventional wisdom holds that climate change poses a global public goods problem, thus requiring a global solution that reduces greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions worldwide through some form of centralized target setting and burden‐sharing arrangement among countries. Yet, the 2015 Paris Agreement has essentially given up on this approach, on which the 1997 Kyoto Protocol was based, and now relies on policies that are adopted unilaterally and voluntarily by individual countries. Since ambitious climate policies are very unlikely to be enacted and effectively implemented without strong public support, research is beginning to explore how strong public support is for unilateral climate policy and what its determinants are. Recent research has developed useful survey instruments to gauge public support for unilateral climate policy. Results from surveys and survey‐embedded experiments show that when respondents are confronted with cost implications and free‐riding problems associated with unilateral climate policy, public support tends to drop to some extent, but still remains quite high. Current research thus shows that people are—the hitherto strong global public goods framing of climate policy notwithstanding—surprisingly nonreciprocal in their climate policy preferences. Preferences concerning climate policy tend to be driven primarily by a range of personal predispositions and cost considerations, which existing research has already explored quite extensively, rather than by considerations of what other countries do. WIREs Clim Change 2017, 8:e484. doi: 10.1002/wcc.484


Abstract Three parallel algorithms for classical molecular dynamics are presented. The first assigns each processor a fixed subset of atoms; the second assigns each a fixed subset of inter-atomic forces to compute; the third assigns each a fixed spatial region. The algorithms are suitable for molecular dynamics models which can be difficult to parallelize efficiently—those with short-range forces where the neighbors of each atom change rapidly. They can be implemented on any distributed-memory parallel machine which allows for message-passing of data between independently executing processors. The algorithms are tested on a standard Lennard-Jones benchmark problem for system sizes ranging from 500 to 100,000,000 atoms on several parallel supercomputers--the nCUBE 2, Intel iPSC/860 and Paragon, and Cray T3D. Comparing the results to the fastest reported vectorized Cray Y-MP and C90 algorithm shows that the current generation of parallel machines is competitive with conventional vector supercomputers even for small problems. For large problems, the spatial algorithm achieves parallel efficiencies of 90% and a 1840-node Intel Paragon performs up to 165 faster than a single Cray C9O processor. Trade-offs between the three algorithms and guidelines for adapting them to more complex molecular dynamics simulations are also discussed.


This thesis establishes groundwork for producing an aesthetic language for theatre technology by creating and testing a model for looking at theatre technologies in a critical manner. This model has several functions: Firstly it identifies theatre technology as something which can have a specific or a psycho-plastic scenographic effect. Through processes of re-invigoration and diversification the model allows a device to be regarded in its own context while historiologically allowing for precedent technologies to be acknowledged and compared. Lastly, because the model is ouroboric, self-consuming, it accounts for theatre technologies to be able to interpolate (and be interpolated by) other technologies whilst maintaining its own aesthetic integrity. This allows a critic to treat technology as a text rather than as a medium, and therefore enables it to be closely "read" as a text of the stage affording the technology a content of its own. Through problematising this model against theories of media and remediation, the thesis observes that the common critical position in theatre and performance studies is to treat theatre technology merely as a theatrical technē -a tool or craft of the art. The arguments presented in the thesis reposition theatre technology from the position of craft to a position of art -as alētheia, an artistic truth revealed through poiētic means. In the repositioning of attitudes towards technology, and by identifying theatre technologies as separate alētheuein, this thesis is then able to investigate theatre technologies aesthetically. Examining the contexts of technologies through the ouroboric model, and then critically studying their content, usage and meaning textually, this thesis is able to take a theatrical technological effect and begin to identify its affect. It posits that technology as an art in its own right can be aesthetically criticised and awarded meaning of equal weight to other elements of performance and theatre art.


This paper argues that it is scientific realists who should be most concerned about the issue of Platonism and anti‐Platonism in mathematics. If one is merely interested in accounting for the practice of pure mathematics, it is unlikely that a story about the ontology of mathematical theories will be essential to such an account. The question of mathematical ontology comes to the fore, however, once one considers our scientific theories. Given that those theories include amongst their laws assertions that imply the existence of mathematical objects, scientific realism, when construed as a claim about the truth or approximate truth of our scientific theories, implies mathematical Platonism. However, a standard argument for scientific realism, the 'no miracles' argument, falls short of establishing mathematical Platonism. As a result, this argument cannot establish scientific realism as it is usually defined, but only some weaker position. Scientific 'realists' should therefore either redefine their position as a claim about the existence of unobservable physical objects, or alternatively look for an argument for their position that does establish mathematical Platonism.


The carbonium ion has been suggested to be the intermediate in superacid-promoted reactions (SbF(5)-HF) such as hydrogen-deuterium exchange and in the electrophilic C-H cleavage into hydrogen and the carbenium ion. In this study, the superacid-promoted C-H cleavage into hydrogen and the carbenium ion was studied using density functional theory (B3LYP and M062X) and ab initio methods (MP2 and CCSD). The calculations suggest that the superacid-promoted C-H cleavage proceeds via a concerted transition state leading to hydrogen (H(2)) and the carbenium ion without the formation of the elusive carbonium ion. The reactivity for the superacid-promoted C-H cleavage decreases upon going from isobutane (tertiary) > propane (secondary) > isobutane (primary) > propane (primary) > ethane >> methane.


Using an anti-racist Marxist lens, issues of social exclusion and settlement are broadly highlighted taking into account racism in an industry that is most commonly noted for its ease of entry for immigrant professionals. This study attempts to build on previous studies of Toronto's taxi industry (Hathiyani, 2006; Abraham, Sundar, & Whitmore, 2008) to focus specifically on racism. This research paper examines the extent to which 'everyday racism' is both a by-product of and a critical ingredient in perpetuating structural racism, using Toronto's taxi industry as a case study. Drawing on interviews from 18 fulltime taxi drivers who identified as racialized groups and were born outside of Canada, it describes the familiar tensions associated with experiencing and responding to instances of racism in a precarious industry. In the absence of an association, anti-discrimination or workplace rights to protect the driver against racial abuse and harassment, drivers are forced to negotiate their responses on an individualized basis. Drivers linked everyday racism to both class position and structural racism within the industry. These findings strongly demonstrated inadequate policies to protect drivers from everyday racism in the workplace as a result of both structural racism and a neo-liberal climate. This warrants further inquiry as Toronto's taxi industry is a major employer of racialized, immigrant men.


BACKGROUND: It is important to know the causes of death of intellectually disabled (ID) persons, but there have been few reports about them in Japan. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The numbers of deaths due to the diseases of the large classification of the ICD10 (Chapters 1-14) in 2005 in 5-year age categories were obtained from the vital statistics of Japan (excluding Chapters 15-22; i.e., external causes, etc.). The numbers of persons in 2005 in 5-year age categories were obtained from the census of Japan. Based on these data, the general mortality rates of the diseases were calculated. The numbers of ID persons in 5- and 10- year age categories in 2005 were obtained from the report of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare of the Japanese Government. Multiplying the general mortality rates by the numbers of ID persons, and summing these products, the expected number of each of the diseases in the ID population was obtained. The expected percentage of each of the diseases in the ID population was calculated and compared with the data previously reported by Souma et al on 72 ID persons who died in a facility for ID persons from 2001 to 2010 on an age-adjusted basis. RESULTS: (1) In 2005 in Japan, the percentage of those who were 65 years of age or older (seniors) in the general population was 20.1%. In contrast, the total number of ID persons was 406,800, and that of seniors was 15,300 (only 3.8%). (2) Since the expected percentage of deaths due to cancer in the ID population was 37.8%, the expected number in the 72 ID persons was 27.25. However, the reported number was 10. The difference between these 2 numbers (27.25 vs 10) was significant (p < 0.01, chi-square test). Since the expected percentage of diseases of the respiratory system in the ID population was 14.3%, its expected number in the 72 ID persons was 10.3. However, the reported number was 31. The difference between these two numbers (10.3 vs 31) was also significant (p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The percentage of deaths due to cancer among ID persons was significantly low, and that of respiratory system diseases was significantly high, which was similar to findings in western countries. It is possible that some ID persons also have physical disabilities that make the risk of aspiration pneumonia higher, lead to premature death and, as a result, may make the percentage of cancer deaths relatively low.


Recently, new methods of dispute resolution in matters of family law—such as arbitration, mediation, and conciliation—have created new forms of legal culture that affect minority communities throughout the world. There are now multiple ways of obtaining restitution through nontraditional alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanisms. For some, the emergence of ADRs can be understood as part of a broader liberal response to the challenges presented by the settlement of migrant communities in Western liberal democracies. Questions of rights are framed as "multicultural challenges" that give rise to important issues relating to power, authority, agency, and choice. Underpinning these debates are questions about the doctrine and practice of secularism, citizenship, belonging, and identity. Gender and Justice in Family Law Disputes offers insights into how women's autonomy and personal decision-making capabilities are expressed via multiple formal and nonformal dispute-resolution mechanisms, and as part of their social and legal lived realities. It analyzes the specific ways in which both mediation and religious arbitration take shape in contemporary and comparative family law across jurisdictions. Demarcating lines between contemporary family mediation and new forms of religious arbitration, Bano illuminates the complexities of these processes across multiple national contexts.


For a body consisting of a fineness-ratio-3 ogival nose tangent to a cylindrical afterbody 7.3 diameters long, pitot-pressure distributions in the flow field, pressure distributions over the body, and downwash distributions along a line through the vortex centers have been measured for angles of attack to 20 degrees. The Reynolds numbers, based on body diameter, were 0.15 x 10 to the 6th power and 0.44 x 10 to the 6th power. Comparisons of computed and measured vortex paths and downwash distributions are made. (author).


The cloud has become a widely used term in academia and the industry. Education has not remained unaware of this trend, and several educational solutions based on cloud technologies are already in place, especially for software as a service cloud. However, an evaluation of the educational potential of infrastructure and platform clouds has not been explored yet. An evaluation of which type of cloud would be the most beneficial for students to learn, depending on the technical knowledge required for its usage, is missing. Here, the first systematic evaluation of different types of cloud technologies in an advanced course on network overlays with 84 students and four professors is presented. This evaluation tries to answer the question whether cloud technologies (and which specific type of cloud) can be useful in educational scenarios for computer science students by focusing students in the actual tasks at hand. This study demonstrates that platform clouds are valued by both students and professors to achieve the course objectives and that clouds offer a significant improvement over the previous situation in labs where much effort was devoted to setting up the software necessary for course activities. These results most strongly apply to courses in which students interact with resources that are non-self-contained (e.g., network nodes, databases, mechanical equipment, or the cloud itself), but could also apply to other science disciplines that involve programming or performing virtual experiments.


We report on the first year of Fermi γ-ray observations of pulsed high-energy emission from the old PSR J2043 + 2740. The study of the γ-ray efficiency of such old pulsars gives us an insight into the evolution of pulsars' ability to emit in γ rays as they age. The γ-ray light curve of this pulsar above 0.1 GeV is clearly defined by two sharp peaks, 0.353 ± 0.035 periods apart. We have combined the γ-ray profile characteristics of PSR J2043 + 2740 with the geometrical properties of the pulsar's radio emission, derived from radio-polarization data, and constrained the pulsar-beam geometry in the framework of a two-pole caustic (TPC) and an outer gap (OG) model. The ranges of magnetic inclination and viewing angle were determined to be {α, ζ} ∼ {52°–57°, 61°–68°} for the TPC model, and {α, ζ} ∼ {62°–73°, 74°–81°} and {α, ζ} ∼ {72°–83°, 60°–75°} for the OG model. Based on this geometry, we assess possible birth locations for this pulsar and derive a likely proper motion, sufficiently high to be measurable with VLBI. At a characteristic age of 1.2 Myr, PSR J2043 + 2740 is the third oldest of all discovered, non-recycled, γ-ray pulsars: it is twice as old as the next oldest, PSR J0357 + 32, and younger only than the recently discovered PSR J1836 + 5925 and PSR J2055 + 25, both of which are at least five and ten times less energetic, respectively.


The caudal lumbar and lumbosacral spine of 13 dogs with pain or neurologic deficits were evaluated using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Spin echo T1, proton density, and T2 weighted and gradient echo T2* imaging sequences were utilized. MRI permitted direct, multiplanar, tomographic visualization of the spine facilitating evaluation of all components of degenerative caudal lumbar and lumbosacral stenosis. Abnormalities detected included intervertebral disc degeneration, intervertebral disc protrusion involving both the vertebral canal and intervertebral foramina, articular process osteophytosis, articular process fracture, nerve root impingement by spondylosis deformans, and the presence of low signal material within the vertebral canal of 2 dogs with recurrent pain following previous spinal surgery. In all 7 dogs treated surgically, MRI findings were consistent with surgical findings.


Current professional education generally includes theoretical content regarding reflection and reflective practice and a number of models of professional behaviour based around holism, caring and therapeutic use of self. These aspects run as a theme through curricula for theoretical and practice based learning, assessment and personal development.
As a doctoral student I was interested in these concepts, in particular the relationship between how professionalism was taught and the reality of practice. I took as my focus hospital based adult nursing from 1945 -1955 and specifically explored the discourses around nurse education and the ways in which 'good' nursing were described and talked about. This research into the history of nurse education is used here as a case study to argue that the discourses present within nursing continue to exert a powerful influence on the behaviour and practice of nurses. A number of gendered discourses around obedience, loyalty and vocation make up an image of the 'good nurse' which has its origins in the 19th century but can still be identified today. However the traditional discourse is mediated in current practice with more contemporary discourses in which nurses are required not only to care 'for' patients but to demonstrate their caring 'about' (Swanson 1981) through cultivating reflective practice (Johns 2004) and the use of emotional labour (James 1989).
Whilst the research which underpins this discussion was conducted with nurses, the tensions it reveals have application across all professional education. Current policy in health and education sectors simultaneously espouses a 'customer' led ethos, a business model of operation and evidence based practice. It may be argued that within this climate discourses around emotional engagement, reflection and continuous self improvement encourage people to see themselves as 'not good enough' and are thus a controlling rather than liberating force.
In order to address these issues firstly the research will be outlined and the findings presented. This will be followed by a discussion examining the implications for current professional practice.


"Dazzling songs hanging in the void": Yang Lian's A few years ago, in response to the first complete translation into Chinese of Pound's Pisan Cantos, Yang suggested that it was only in Chinese that Pound's poem finally found its full realization, that confined to Western language and phonetic script Pound was hampered from achieving the timelessness to which he or at least his poem aspired. Yang initiates this provocative claim by dissenting from the specific rendering of one of Pound's lines, so it is not a matter of this particular translation improving the original but the idea of the transmigration of the Cantos into the specific poetic characteristics of Chinese that fulfills the realization of Pound's poem, that is, its impulse toward spatial form, abstraction, and the suspension of time. This claim has a number of interesting implications given the special place of China and Chinese in Pound's poem, not least that it appears to contradict a number of Pound's own assumptions about the Chinese written language as a medium for poetry. If we turn this argument around on Yang's own epic effort in Yi (pronounced "ee"), this might suggest that the transmigration of Yang's poem into English is inevitably a descent into time and its entanglement in the specificities of the present. Indeed, one can be assured that Western readers and reviewers of Yi have already found it impossible to resist the habit of instantly contextualizing the poem in terms of the Cultural Revolution, dissident and exile literature, or this or that (Western) modernist style or movement. The blurb on the back cover makes the obligatory mention that Yang's "work was banned in China in 1983, and he has since lived in exile," although this is both biographically and bibliographically obfuscating. Unless we are talking in existential terms, Yang was in no sense an exile until the traumatic events of June 1989, at which time he happened to be in New Zealand, and despite intermittent campaigns against liberalization throughout the 1980s that targeted many poets, Yang published a number of volumes in mainland China throughout the decade and, after a hiatus of some years following 1989, had his collected works published in Shanghai in 1998. However, my point is not that such contextualization is mere error, since I am simply reiterating a platitude about the inevitable fate of any translation. Yet it is worth resisting the urge to too hastily assimilate the translation to our desirable ideas of the other. The fate of Yi's descent into time will be determined by its translation's readers, and this translation is bound to pose some difficulties for its intended English-language readership. Yang Lian initially came to public attention in China as one of the young poets who first challenged the strictures of Maoist literature at the very end of the 1970s and became known as the Menglong (Misty or Obscure) poets. In 1983 Yang published a well-known manifesto entitled "Tradition and Us," which in the midst of the new mania for all things Western advocated the recovery of Chinese works, which until recently had been almost as taboo as foreign bourgeois texts. Yang's call was not a reaction against modernism but an insistence that the past cannot be simply cut off, as Maoism tended to insist, but must be brought into the contemporary. Tradition, properly speaking, exists in the present as a creative, even radical transformation of what has been inherited; otherwise we are merely talking about the "past." In the 1980s Yang was often identified with the so-called "roots seeking" literature (xungen wenxue) that tended to explore archaic, often non-Han indigenous traditions, sometimes as alternatives to the thoroughly desacralized existence of contemporary China and sometimes as explorations into the repressed roots of cultural violence and cruelty. Much of Yang's poetry of the early 1980s uses mythological materials from the more exotic frontiers of the Chinese empire as vehicles for expressing the release of the psychological and emotional repressions of contemporary China. …


Postmodern American Poetry: A Norton Anthology galvanized attention on its publication in 1994, making "the avant-garde accessible" (Chicago Tribune) and filling "an enormous gap in the publication annals of contemporary poetry" (Marjorie Perloff). Now, two decades later, Paul Hoover returns to suggest what postmodernism means in the twenty-first century. This revised and expanded edition features 114 poets, 557 poems, and 15 poetics essays, addressing important recent movements such as Newlipo, conceptual poetry, and Flarf. Bringing together foundational postmodern poets like Charles Olson, Denise Levertov, and Allen Ginsberg with new voices like Christian Bok, Kenneth Goldsmith, and Katie Degentesh, this edition of Postmodern American Poetry is the essential collection for a new generation of readers.


Introduction: The transradial
coronary angiography has several benefits such as the reducetion in access
site complications especially in fully anticoagulated patients. The presence of
arterial anomalies in upper limb arteries has an important role in procedural
success. Methods: retrograde
transarterial sheath injection was done in patients with transradial coronary angiography. Arterial anomalies in the upper limb evaluated. Cannulation time,
the time of catheter passage to ascending aorta, and Angiographic time, were also
meseared. Results: in 2011, 165
consecutive patients were studied, 116 (70.3%) male, age 56.7 ± 11.1 years.
With 96.6% success rate in procedure, totally 59 anomolies were observed in 44
patients (26.7%). Radial artery by itself had ?25 anomalies (15.1%). The most frequent anomaly was abnormal origin of
radial artery in 14 patients (8.5%) followed by tortuosities in 10 ulnar (6%). 9
brachial (5.4%), 7 radial (4/2%), 5 subclavian (3%) and 3 brachiocephalic arteries
(1.8%). There also were 4 loops in ulnar artery (2.4%) and one in radial and
brachinl arteries (each 0.6%). Other anomalies include 4 patients (2.4%), except
cannulation time (p = 0.97), there were associations between anomalies and each
of other times (p = 0.001) and contrast volume (p = 0.009). Anomalies didn't
have any effect on procedural success rate and just in one patient with
sulclavian loop procedure changed to femoral approach (p = 0.19).


Pipe materials technology and market needs have combined to advance developments in material savings while enhancing pipe properties. Increasing PVC pipe material design stresses from 10 to 32 MPa and the corresponding reduction in wall thicknesses and safety factors is described and includes a consideration of the concepts of strength and toughness as applied to design criteria for PVC-U, PVC-M and PVC-O pressure pipes. Starting with the stringent requirements of modified pipes for the mining industry, these developments clearly demonstrate the versatility and durability of PVC.


The concepts of 'place' and 'identity' are increasingly being used to understand the relations between people and physical environments. This research utilised 'place' and 'identity' to examine how people negotiate environmental conditions such as vibration and noise within their talk around 'place' and 'identity'. For the study context, living alongside railways was chosen as an 'ordinary' and 'everyday' physical feature within residential settings and also due to potential upcoming changes to the UK rail network such as new lines and increases in rail freight traffic. Ten qualitative interviews were generated with twelve residents living alongside the West Coast Main Line (WCML) railway in the North of England. Participants were recruited from the Defra-funded study 'NANR209: Human Response to Vibration in Residential Environments' (Defra, 2011). Using a discursive psychological approach, railways were portrayed as an insignificant aspect of 'place' in relation to the wider contexts of finding somewhere to live. Through the 'lived ideologies' of 'the rural idyll' and 'a peaceful and quiet place' that emerged within participants' talk, railways could be considered as 'disruptive'. Participants drew upon interpretative repertoires of adaptation to convey railways as initially 'disruptive' and as something 'you get used to' over time. Participants positioned themselves as being immune to the 'disruption' in that they no longer noticed the railways presence. Living alongside railways was presented as 'commonplace', which enabled participants to manage their identities of place and justify their continued residence within the context of 'disruption'. 'Place' and 'identity' offer a way to examine how people make sense of living in places of 'disruption'. Future research on how people make sense of continued residence alongside railways, particularly the role of adaptational repertoires, could assist in policy development.


This article presents the author's original research of a reception study of religious films amongst Shona peoples in the Gora and Chikara villages, which are located in the Mashonaland West Province of Zimbabwe. The two central questions of the author's study are: First, in what ways might pre-existing Shona images of Jesus shape Shona responses to and interpretations of Jesus as he is portrayed in The Jesus Film (1979) and in indigenous, short, Jesus films in Zimbabwe today? Secondly, how might the viewing of these films affect these images of Jesus? This article addresses how indigenous, short Jesus films in Zimbabwe have manifested different representations of Jesus from the pervasive European image of Jesus that is perpetuated by The Jesus Film. This research is particularly relevant to current trends in media and technology, as the indigenous, short Jesus films are being distributed via mobile phones in Zimbabwe.


This paper presents the design and development of a comprehensive digital protection scheme for applications in 25 KV a.c railway traction system. The scheme provides distance protection, detection of wrong phase coupling both in the lagging and leading directions, high set instantaneous trip and PT fuse failure. Provision is also made to include fault location and disturbance recording. The digital relaying scheme has been tried on two types of hardware platforms, one with PC/AT based hardware and the other with a custom designed standalone 16-bit microcontroller based card. Compared to the existing scheme, the operating time is around one cycle and the relaying algorithm has been optimised to minimise the number of computations. The prototype has been rigorously tested in the laboratory using a specially designed PC based relay test bench and the results are highly satisfactory.


Relatively few consumers are conscious of the waste generated in the course of producing the goods that they consume, although most are aware of the amount of waste they dispose of. This article reports on a small-scale survey (N = 28) among stakeholders aimed at developing adequate communication of preconsumer waste footprints of consumer goods in the context of the circular economy. Life cycle assessment (LCA) practitioners and consumers assessed five methodological details of an approach for calculating and communicating a product waste footprint (PWF). Most of the respondents expressed that the guidelines described in the proposed PWF methodology are good enough for the purposes of differentiating waste and byproducts, and defining which material flow shall be accounted for. Some LCA practitioners declared that the proposed streamlined method may not be adequate for conveying the environmental significance of waste types. The respondents also expressed that the PWF concept would be primarily useful and/or needed for consumers and government, and in the contexts of improving environmental awareness of consumers, environmental policy making, visualizing waste flows in a circular economy, and improving resource efficiency in industry, and less useful/needed in a business-to-business context. The PWF has been successfully used by diverse stakeholder groups in Sweden mostly to promote sustainable production and consumption across society. A notable example is the 'invisible waste' (#invisiblewaste) campaign of the Swedish Waste Management Association (Avfall Sverige). The concerns of the LCA experts have therefore not held true. The symbolic power and parsimony of the PWF concept appears to be effective in sensitizing consumers towards waste issues so that circular economy strategies beyond recycling are possible to be fully realized.


The 8th International Comparison of Absolute Gravimeters (ICAG2009) took place at the headquarters of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) from September to October 2009. It was the first ICAG organized as a key comparison in the framework of the CIPM Mutual Recognition Arrangement of the International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM MRA) (CIPM 1999). ICAG2009 was composed of a Key Comparison (KC) as defined by the CIPM MRA, organized by the Consultative Committee for Mass and Related Quantities (CCM) and designated as CCM.G-K1. Participating gravimeters and their operators came from national metrology institutes (NMIs) or their designated institutes (DIs) as defined by the CIPM MRA. A Pilot Study (PS) was run in parallel in order to include gravimeters and their operators from other institutes which, while not signatories of the CIPM MRA, nevertheless play important roles in international gravimetry measurements. The aim of the CIPM MRA is to have international acceptance of the measurement capabilities of the participating institutes in various fields of metrology. The results of CCM.G-K1 thus constitute an accurate and consistent gravity reference traceable to the SI (International System of Units), which can be used as the global basis for geodetic, geophysical and metrological observations of gravity. The measurements performed afterwards by the KC participants can be referred to the international metrological reference, i.e. they are SI-traceable. The ICAG2009 was complemented by a number of associated measurements: the Relative Gravity Campaign (RGC2009), high-precision levelling and an accurate gravity survey in support of the BIPM watt balance project. The major measurements took place at the BIPM between July and October 2009. Altogether 24 institutes with 22 absolute gravimeters (one of the 22 AGs was ultimately withdrawn) and nine relative gravimeters participated in the ICAG/RGC campaign. This paper is focused on the absolute gravity campaign. We review the history of the ICAGs and present the organization, data processing and the final results of the ICAG2009. After almost thirty years of hosting eight successive ICAGs, the CIPM decided to transfer the responsibility for piloting the future ICAGs to NMIs, although maintaining a supervisory role through its Consultative Committee for Mass and Related Quantities.


Indigenous vegetables have historically played an important role in farming and consumption systems in Nigeria. Vegetable production like any other farming activity requires the use of inputs as efficiently as possible to optimize production. To identify the sources of efficiency among indigenous vegetable farmers, the stochastic frontier production function which incorporates a model for the technical efficiency effect was employed. Data from 100 indigenous vegetable (waterleaf) producers were obtained through two-stage sampling procedure with the aid of questionnaire. Using the maximum likelihood estimation analysis, asymptotic parameter estimates were evaluated to describe efficiency sources. Results revealed that the average resource use efficiency is 0.81 (81%) leaving an inefficiency gap of 0.19 (19%), indicating that about 19% higher production could be achieved using the same input mix. Land, labour, waterleaf cuttings were evaluated and identified as the most critical efficiency sources. Age, access to credit facilities, and market were identified as the most important explainers of inefficiency. To derive the benefits of economies of scale, indigenous waterleaf producers should increase their farm sizes devoted to waterleaf cultivation either by land consolidation or acquiring new farm plots.


Information privacy issues have plagued the world of electronic media since its inception. This research focused mainly on factors that increase or decrease perceived patient control over personal health information (CTL) in the presence o f context-specific concerns. Control agency theory was used for the paper's theoretical contributions. Personal and proxy control agencies acted as the independent variables, and contextspecific concerns for information privacy (CFIP) were used as the moderator between proxy control agency, healthcare provider, and CTL. Demographic data and three control variables—the desire for information control, privacy experience, and trust propensity— were also included in the model to gauge the contribution to CTL from external factors. Only personal control agency and desire for information control were found to impact CTL.


Health information systems contain usability issues that cause use errors, which may pose a risk to patient safety. The aim of this study was to identify what kind of usability issues in information systems cause use errors that lead to patient safety incidents. Patient safety incidents reported into an incident reporting system in a Finnish hospital district during the year 2014 (n=2500) were analyzed from the perspectives of usability and use errors. An inductive content analysis was carried out in order to gather information about the usability issues that may have led to a use error, thus causing patient safety incidents. The results showed that the main usability issues are the distribution of information into multiple views, identification problems with the selected patient, and basic daily tasks' reliance on users' memory. The results show that the relationship between usability, use errors, and patient safety should be understood and considered in the health information system design.


ABSTRACT The European Union (EU) is widely regarded as a powerful actor in the establishment and maintenance of many global regulatory regimes. It actively engages in the promotion of labour standards beyond its borders, including through supporting the International Labour Organization (ILO). This contribution assesses EU influence in drafting one of the most important ILO standards in recent years: the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) (2006). Through analysis of official ILO records from the entire six-year period of negotiation and tracing the role of the EU during the negotiations of five vital parts of the convention (structure, simplified amendment procedure, inspection and enforcement, scope and social security), it challenges the view in the literature that the EU significantly influenced the final content of the convention. Delays in establishing a cohesive EU position, the strong tripartite ethos within the ILO and limitations imposed by rules-based standard setting are identified as the primary explanations.


This paper, presented at the ISA annual Convention in New Orleans, aims at deconstructing the "genocide debate" by identifying why scholars from various fields (law, political science, sociology) and practitioners seem to argue about genocide, despite the fact that they are in fact talking about different things.In relation to law, the paper argues that establishing that a genocide occurred does not trigger a legal duty to intervene, despite popular belief. The Genocide Convention is extremely vague on this point and the ICJ in its Genocide decision in 2007 only found Serbia responsible for not preventing the genocide in Srebrenica in light of its special relationship to the Bosnian Serbs, thus not recognising a general duty to prevent. Moreover, the paper argues that in fact, genocide is not fit to be part of international criminal law, because it introduces motive in a crime which is essentially the same as crimes against humanity from a criminal law perspective (same intent to commit the same acts).In relation to other social sciences, the paper argues that sociologists should abandon the legal prison that is the definition of genocide in the genocide convention and not try to change it. They must make their own definition that better covers the socio-political and collective dimensions of genocide.Finally, in relation to activists, the paper suggests that it is morally unconvincing to single out genocide as a "worse" crime, and that they should insist on all mass atrocities as being "bad" in order to obtain public support for their activities. Moreover, in light of the absence of a legal duty to intervene linked to genocide, they should be lobbying, if that is what they want, for a duty to prevent that covers all mass atrocities, not just genocide, the criminal definition of which is in any case ill-adapted for an evaluation outside a court of law, before or during the commission of the acts.


The development of high temperature heat exchangers will play a vital part in the success of High Temperature Nuclear Reactors (HTRs). Manufacturing such heat exchangers from metals is becoming increasingly difficult as the operating temperatures keep rising. Above lOOO·C most metals loose their strength and have high creep rates, while certain ceramic materials (including graphite, in the absence of oxygen) are able to operate at these temperatures. _. A literature study was done in order to identify the major problems regarding the use of graphite for heat exchanger construction as well as to investigate to what extent graphite has been used for heat exchanger construction in the past. Following from the literature survey, it was decided to design and manufacture a Printed Circuit Heat Exchanger (pCBE) from isotropic graphite to gain experience regarding the use of graphite as a heat exchanger material. This heat exchanger was then tested in order to learn about the operation of a graphite heat exchanger and to determine its effectiveness. A model of the heat exchanger was also constructed in order to determine what the performance of such a heat exchanger should theoretically be. It was found that the single greatest hurdle standing in the way of graphite being used as a heat exchanger material is its high gas permeability. This causes mixing between the two fluid streams as well as leakages to the environment, which have a negative effect on the heat exchanger's heat transfer capability. The methods used to establish a seal between the consecutive plates of the PCBE are also affected by the permeability of the graphite. Coatings on the surface of the graphite might be able to reduce its permeability and can also inhibit the high temperature degradation of graphite in the presence of oxygen. Manufacturing very small flow channels for the PCBE is limited by the availability of small enough end mills. Alternative manufucturing techniques is needed to economically construct a graphite PCBE. It was also found that the heat transfer effectiveness of the heat exchanger is influenced negatively by heat losses to the environment through the outer surface ofthe heat exchanger. Effective insulation around the heat exchanger or a graphite material :vith higher heat conductivity perpendic~ar to the flow direction might solve this problem. This study concluded that if diffusion bonding techniques, effective coatings and a graphite material with increased heat conductivity perpendicular to the flow direction are used, manufacturing a printed circuit heat exchanger from graphite is feasible.


Karl Marx (1818-1883) is arguably the most famous political philosopher of all time, but he was also one of the great foreign correspondents of the nineteenth century. During his eleven years writing for the "New York Tribune" (their collaboration began in 1852), Marx tackled an abundance of topics, from issues of class and the state to world affairs. Particularly moving pieces highlight social inequality and starvation in Britain, while others explore his groundbreaking views on the slave and opium trades - Marx believed Western powers relied on these and would stop at nothing to protect their interests. Above all, Marx's fresh perspective on nineteenth-century events encouraged his readers to think, and his writing is surprisingly relevant today.


High loads and bearing life requirements make journal bearings the preferred choice for use in high power, planetary gearboxes in jet engines. With the planet gears rotating about their own axis and orbiting around the sun gear, centrifugal forces generated by both motions interact with each and generate complex kinematic conditions. This paper presents a literature and state-of-the-art knowledge review to identify existing work performed on cases similar to external journal bearing oil flow. In order to numerically investigate external journal bearing oil flow, an approach to decompose an actual journal bearing into simplified models is proposed. Preliminary modeling considerations are discussed. The findings and conclusions are used to create a three dimensional (3D), two-component computational fluid dynamic (CFD) sector model with rotationally periodic boundaries of the most simplistic approximation of an actual journal bearing: a non-orbiting representation, rotating about its own axis, with a circumferentially constant, i.e. concentric, lubricating gap. In order to track the phase interface between the oil and the air, the Volume of Fluid (VoF) method is used. External journal bearing oil flow is simulated with a number of different mesh densities. Two different operating temperatures, representing low and high viscosity oil, are used to assess the effect on the external flow field behaviour. In order to achieve the future objective of creating a design tool for routine use, key areas are identified in which further progress is required.


The principle of equivariance to symmetry transformations enables a theoretically grounded approach to neural network architecture design. Equivariant networks have shown excellent performance and data efficiency on vision and medical imaging problems that exhibit symmetries. Here we show how this principle can be extended beyond global symmetries to local gauge transformations. This enables the development of a very general class of convolutional neural networks on manifolds that depend only on the intrinsic geometry, and which includes many popular methods from equivariant and geometric deep learning. We implement gauge equivariant CNNs for signals defined on the surface of the icosahedron, which provides a reasonable approximation of the sphere. By choosing to work with this very regular manifold, we are able to implement the gauge equivariant convolution using a single conv2d call, making it a highly scalable and practical alternative to Spherical CNNs. Using this method, we demonstrate substantial improvements over previous methods on the task of segmenting omnidirectional images and global climate patterns.


Selection on spore dispersal mechanisms in mosses is thought to shape the transformation of the sporophyte. The majority of extant mosses develop a sporangium that dehisces through the loss of an operculum, and regulates spore release through the movement of articulate teeth, the peristome, lining the capsule mouth. Such complexity was acquired by the Mesozoic Era, but was lost in some groups during subsequent diversification events, challenging the resolution of the affinities for taxa with reduced architectures. The Funariaceae are a cosmopolitan and diverse lineage of mostly annual mosses, and exhibit variable sporophyte complexities, spanning from long, exerted, operculate capsules with two rings of well‐developed teeth, to capsules immersed among maternal leaves, lacking a differentiated line of dehiscence (i.e., inoperculate) and without peristomes. The family underwent a rapid diversification, and the relationships of taxa with reduced sporophytes remain ambiguous. Here, we infer the relationships of five taxa with highly reduced sporophytes based on 648 nuclear loci (exons complemented by their flanking regions), based on inferences from concatenated data and concordance analysis of single gene trees. Physcomitrellopsis is resolved as nested within one clade of Entosthodon. Physcomitrella s. l., is resolved as a polyphyletic assemblage and, along with its putative relative Aphanorrhegma, nested within Physcomitrium. We propose a new monophyletic delineation of Physcomitrium, which accommodates species of Physcomitrella and Aphanorrhegma. The monophyly of Physcomitrium s. l. is supported by a small plurality of exons, but a majority of trees inferred from exons and their adjacent non‐coding regions.


OBJECTIVE
To develop and evaluate a rapid and accurate assay involving PCR amplification and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry of nucleic acid extracts from whole blood samples for the detection of Dirofilaria immitis infection in dogs.

SAMPLE
Whole blood nucleic acid extracts from 29 dogs experimentally infected with D immitis (and in which circulating D immitis antigen was detected) and 10 uninfected dogs.

PROCEDURES
16 of the 29 whole blood samples from infected dogs were examined at the time of collection for circulating microfilaria. Nucleic acids were extracted from all whole blood specimens and underwent PCR amplification with 12 PCR primer pairs designed to detect a wide range of pathogens (including the Wolbachia endosymbiont of D immitis) and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry.

RESULTS
On the basis of assay results, heartworm infection was detected in 13 of 13 antigen-positive dogs of unknown microfilaria status, 11 of 11 antigen-positive dogs with circulating microfilaria, 0 of 3 antigen-positive dogs tested at 3 months after larval infection, 0 of 2 antigen-positive dogs with occult infections, and 0 of 10 uninfected dogs.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE
With the assay under investigation, it was possible to identify D immitis infection in dogs with circulating microfilaria via detection of the obligate Wolbachia endosymbiont of D immitis. It was not possible to identify dogs with occult infections, which suggested that circulating microfilaria must be present to detect infection with this assay, although further studies would be required to verify that finding.


Summary form only given. Adaptiveness is one of the target functions of research on autonomous robotic systems. However, the adaptiveness realized in the robotic research so far is quite limited and specific to sample problems and systems configurations. On the other hand, all the animals from primitive ones to insects or mammals have commonly the adaptiveness to behave in an unexpected environment. Such adaptive behaviors are the intelligent sensory-motor functions, and most essential and indispensable ones for animals to survive. It must be effective to consult biological systems to find the general design principle to realize the adaptiveness in artificial systems as well as robotic systems. However, the secret of the mechanism to realize the adaptiveness in animals is not yet thoroughly revealed even in biology as well as brain science and neurophysiology. Such an adaptive function is considered to emerge from the interaction of the body, brain, and environment, which is caused by a subject to act or move. We call the intelligence for generating adaptive motor function mobiligence. The mobiligence project started from 2005, which was accepted as a five-year program of Scientific Research on Priority Areas of Grant-in-Aid Scientific Research from the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). The present program is designed to investigate the mechanisms of mobiligence by collaborative research in biology and engineering from systematic and synthetic (constructive) approach. In this talk, the abstract of the program is introduced in contrast to adaptive behaviors achieved in the robotic research so far.


Empowerment Zones, Neighborhood Change and Owner Occupied Housing This paper examines the effects of a generous, spatially-targeted economic development policy (the federal Empowerment Zone program) on local neighborhood characteristics and on the neighborhood quality of life, taking into account the interactions amongst the policy, changes in neighborhood demographics and neighborhood housing stock. Urban economic theory posits that housing prices in a small area should increase as quality of life increases, because people will be more willing to pay to live in the area, but these changes in prices and quality of life will also affect the demographics of the population through sorting and the housing stock through reinvestment. Using census block-group-level data, we examine how housing prices respond to the Empowerment Zone policy intervention. Changes in the other dimensions of neighborhood quality (demographics and housing stock characteristics) will also help determine the total, or full effect on housing values of the policy intervention. This paper estimates these direct and indirect effects in a simultaneous equations setting, compares indirect and full effects, and examines the robustness of the effects to alternate estimation strategies. We find strong evidence for substantively large and highly significant direct price effects, while results suggest that the indirect effects are substantively small or even negative. JEL Classification: R0, R21, R31, R38, R58


Recent data suggest an active role for chloride-bearing alkali carbonatitic melts in the formation and evolution of kimberlites, whereas experiments indicate that chlorides could be responsible for liquid immiscibility during melting of carbonated mantle rocks. This study considers melting trends in kimberlite-related chloride- carbonate-silicate systems at a pressure of 5.5 GPa.The direction of these trends largely depends on the chlorine concentration in the system. All trends start with a Cl-rich carbonatitic liquid coexisting with crystalline phases. Melting of a peridotite-carbonate-chloride system containing 4.4 wt % Cl results in a gradual transition from a carbonatitic melt (5-7 wt % SiO2, MgO/CaO= 0.5-0.6, ~2 wt%Cl) at 1000-1100 oC through a Cl-rich carbonate-silicate melt (12-15 wt % SiO2, MgO/CaO =0.6, and up to 14 wt % Cl) at 1360-1400 oC towards a Cl-bearing ultrabasic carbonate- silicate melt (UCSM), i.e. kimberlite-like (26-29 wt % SiO2, MgO/CaO=1.5-2.8, and 6-4 wt % Cl), at 1500-1600 oC.This trend results from the specific behavior of chlorides, which are found to be stable crystalline phases up to about 300 oC above the solidus. In addition, the trend touches a miscibility gap at about 1450 oC, although immiscibility does not significantly influence the melt evolution. In contrast, the melting trend of a peridotite system with about 1.3 wt%Cl does not intersect the miscibility gap and proceeds from a carbonatitic melt (~5 wt % SiO2, MgO/CaO= 0.4-0.5, ~2wt % Cl) at 1100-1150 oC toward the UCSM (~25 wt % SiO2, MgO/CaO= 1.7-1.8, and 0.6-1•0 wt % Cl) at 1500- 1600 oC. Chloride-carbonate-silicate systems containing 17 wt % Cl show an abrupt transition from the chloride-carbonate liquid toward the UCSM because of the immiscibility gap between carbonate- silicate and chloride-carbonate melts. Melting relations in all studied chloride-carbonate-silicate systems are exclusively regulated by peritectic reactions between the silicate phases and carbonate constituents (mostly CaCO3) of the melts. Chlorides decrease the solidus temperatures of carbonated peridotites, but do not reduce the temperature interval for the transition from carbonate- to silicate-dominated melts. The experimental results suggest that Cl-rich carbonatite liquids preserved in diamonds and the Cl-rich kimberlites of the Udachnaya-East kimberlite pipe (Yakutia) could represent a linked system of chloride-rich liquids that evolved over a wide temperature interval during incipient melting and evolution of kimberlite magma from a carbonated mantle source containing 3-4 wt % Cl.


Finding and selecting the appropriate personnel in work organizations has always been a problem. Companies need to exploit the potential of their employees to take advantage of their knowledge, connections and contacts, to engage in new projects and jobs or to move them to other positions. In doing their jobs employees establish contacts within the company and the business environment. Until the advent of the Internet, communication was carried out in a conventional manner and business did not allow to simply follow the links and communication between employees and their relationships with the business environment. Today, as part of e-business, employees communicate with each other, send and receive messages, simply put, create a social network. The analysis of these networks provides a wealth of information that can be used to promote business, find employeeswho represent the nodes of communication, but also provides a wealth of information on employees or those who are interested in the right jobs, who use social networks to post information about themselves. This paper explored the possibility of obtaining information relevant to the selection of internal human resources based on an analysis of corporate online social networks. Research methods are taken from the field of graph theory and social network analysis (SNA), whereas in addition to quantitative parameters of nodes also additional dimensions of data filtering are considered. This approach is called the extended SNA. In addition to demonstrating and explaining, the extended SNA has developed an application that simulates the communication between employees within a corporation, for the analysis and detection of suitable employees, and visualizes the results in the form of a graph.


Abstract Background: Epistaxis is a common condition that can be associated with significant morbidity, and it places a considerable burden on our healthcare system. This national audit of management sought to assess current practice against newly created consensus recommendations and to expand our current evidence base. Methods: The management of epistaxis patients who met the inclusion criteria, at 113 registered sites across the UK, was compared with audit standards during a 30-day window. Data were further utilised for explorative analysis. Results: Data for 1826 cases were uploaded to the database, representing 94 per cent of all cases that met the inclusion criteria at participating sites. Sixty-two per cent of patients were successfully treated by ENT clinicians within 24 hours. The 30-day recurrent presentation rate across the dataset was 13.9 per cent. Significant event analysis revealed an all-cause 30-day mortality rate of 3.4 per cent. Conclusion: Audit findings demonstrate a varying alignment with consensus guidance, with explorative analysis countering some previously well-established tenets of management.


Legal Architecture addresses how the environment of the trial can be seen as a physical expression of our relationship with ideals of justice. It provides an alternative account of the trial, which charts the troubled history of notions of due process and participation. In contrast to visions of judicial space as neutral, Linda Mulcahy argues that understanding the factors that determine the internal design of the courthouse and courtroom are crucial to a broader and more nuanced understanding of the trial. Partitioning of the courtroom into zones and the restriction of movement within it are the result of turf wars about who can legitimately participate in the legal arena and call the judiciary to account. The gradual containment of the public, the increasing amount of space allocated to advocates, and the creation of dedicated space for journalists and the jury, all have complex histories that deserve attention. But these issues are not only of historical significance. Across jurisdictions, questions are now being asked about the internal configurations of the courthouse and courtroom, and whether standard designs meet the needs of modern participatory democracies: including questions about the presence and design of the modern dock; the ways in which new technologies threaten to change the dynamics of the trial and lead to the dematerialization of our primary site of adversarial practice; and the extent to which courthouses are designed in ways which realise their professed status as public spaces. This fascinating and original reflection on legal architecture will be of interest to socio-legal or critical scholars working in the field of legal geography, legal history, criminology, legal systems, legal method, evidence, human rights and architecture.


Spatially and seasonally distributed information on transpiration (T) fluxes is limited in the tropics. Here, we applied a coupled isotope mass balance model to separate water fluxes of T and evapotranspiration (ET) from precipitation (P). The mean annual T was estimated at a resolution of 100 m for Costa Rica (51,100 km2) and a partitioning of monthly T and evaporation (E) for the 2370‐km2 San Carlos catchment. The dominant flux in the forest ecosystems was T with a mean annual T of 1086 mm that ranged from 700 mm in Tropical Montane Very Humid Forest to 1400 mm in Subtropical and Tropical Low Montane Rainforests. We estimated an average 85% of ET was T, which is concurrent with expectations for forested tropical regions, but varied according to model parameterization and data sources. A model comparison exercise showed a range of mean annual T estimates from 988 to 1465 mm and a range of T/P from 0.35 to 0.5 with temperature and relative humidity exhibiting the highest impact on the model results. Across Costa Rica, we estimated an average loss of precipitation by T of 38% (1085 mm), whereas interception (I) constitutes 10% (230 mm) and direct evaporation (E) only 7% (192 mm). Similarly, the results at the catchment scale indicated that monthly T contributes 76% (85‐mm monthly average) to total ET and E corresponds to 24% (24‐mm monthly average). The T rates exhibited an opposite seasonality to rainfall with highest T over the drier months from December to April with a peak in March (101–144 mm) and the minimum T in September (53–71 mm). Around 17% (79–130 mm) of precipitation over the catchment area is lost to T, both E (10–35 mm) and I (15–38 mm) correspond to 5%. Despite the inherent uncertainties of the data assumptions and simplifications, including data interpolation errors, the coupled isotope mass balance model showed in comparison to other global products reasonable water partitioning for different ecosystems in Costa Rica and the San Carlos catchment area. These results can help to evaluate the impact of land cover conversion on the hydrological cycle in Costa Rica, and the simple isotope‐based model could be transferred to different biomes of the tropics.


Background
There is significant need for trials evaluating the long-term effectiveness of a rigorous program of perioperative behavioral therapy with pelvic floor muscle training (BPMT) in women undergoing transvaginal reconstructive surgery for prolapse.

Objective
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of perioperative BPMT on health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and sexual function following vaginal surgery for pelvic organ prolapse (POP) and stress urinary incontinence (SUI).

Design
This study is a secondary report of a 2 × 2 factorial randomized controlled trial.

Setting
This study was a multicenter trial.

Participants
Participants were adult women with stage 2-4 POP and SUI.

Intervention
Perioperative BPMT versus usual care and sacrospinous ligament fixation (SSLF) versus uterosacral ligament suspension (ULS) were provided.

Measurements
Participants undergoing transvaginal surgery (SSLF or ULS for POP and a midurethral sling for SUI) received usual care or five perioperative BPMT visits. The primary outcome was change in body image and in Pelvic Floor Impact Questionnaire (PFIQ) short-form subscale, 36-item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36), Pelvic Organ Prolapse-Urinary Incontinence Sexual Questionnaire short form (PISQ-12), Patient Global Impression of Improvement (PGII), and Brink scores.

Results
The 374 participants were randomized to BPMT (n = 186) and usual care (n = 188). Outcomes were available for 137 (74%) of BPMT participants and 146 (78%) of the usual care participants at 24 months. There were no statistically significant differences between groups in PFIQ, SF-36, PGII, PISQ-12, or body image scale measures.

Limitations
The clinicians providing BPMT had variable expertise. Findings might not apply to vaginal prolapse procedures without slings or abdominal apical prolapse procedures.

Conclusions
Perioperative BPMT performed as an adjunct to vaginal surgery for POP and SUI provided no additional improvement in QOL or sexual function compared with usual care.


Seventh-day Adventists and the Civil Rights Movement is the first in-depth study of the denomination's participation in civil rights politics. It considers the extent to which the denomination's theology influenced how its members responded. This book explores why a brave few Adventists became social and political activists, and why a majority of the faithful eschewed the movement. Samuel G. London, Jr., provides a clear, yet critical understanding of the history and theology of the Seventh-day Adventist Church while highlighting the contributions of its members to political reform. Community awareness, the example of early Adventist pioneers, liberationist interpretations of the Bible, as well as various intellectual and theological justifications motivated the civil rights activities of some Adventists. For those who participated in the civil rights movement, these factors superseded the conservative ideology and theology that came to dominate the church after the passing of its founders. Covering the end of the 1800s through the 1970s, the book discusses how Christian fundamentalism, the curse of Ham, the philosophy of Booker T. Washington, pragmatism, the aversion to ecumenism and the Social Gospel, belief in the separation of church and state, and American individualism converged to impact Adventist sociopolitical thought.


Background & aim: Stachys pilifera Benth (Lamiaceae) is used in traditional medicine to treat a variety of diseases. Despite some reports on the antitumor effects of some species of this genus, anticancer activity of Stachys pilifera has not been yet reported. In the present study, the researchers examined the cytotoxic effect and cell death mechanisms of methanolic extract of Stachys pilifera and its alkaloid and terpenoid fractions on the HT-29 colorectal cell line. Methods: In the present study, HT-29 cells were cultivated and afterwards incubated in the methanolic extract of Stachys pilifera and its fractions at various concentrations for 24 hours. Cell viability was measured by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. The effects of the extract and the tests performed on cell death mechanisms such as fragmentation of DNA and apoptosis were performed by flow cytometry. Cisplatin was used as the positive control. The collected data was analyzed by ANOVA and Tukey test. Results: The results of IC50 of methanolic extract, alkaloid, tropenoid, and cisplatin on HT-29 cells after 24 hours were 612.8, 46.4, 46.8 and 4.06 μg / ml, respectively. The results indicated that the inhibition of cell proliferation was dose-dependent. The methanolic extracts of Stachys and cisplatin resulted in DNA fragmentation. The results of apoptosis test revealed that the highest percentage of apoptosis was observed in cisplatin (30.8%) and methanolic extracts (23.2%) than the control (untreated) group (P <0.05). Conclusion: These findings provide a basis for the therapeutic potential of S. pilfera in the treatment of colon cancer.


In order to utilize peer-to-peer (P2P) networks in legal content distribution to benefit the legal content providers, copyright protection needs to be enhanced. In this paper, a fingerprint generation and embedding method is proposed for complex P2P file sharing networks. In this method, wavelet and principal component analysis (PCA) techniques are used for fingerprint generation. First, the wavelet technique obtains a low-frequency representation of the test image (or source file, which is assumed to be one I frame of a video with a DVD quality) and PCA finds the features of the representation. Then, a set of fingerprint matrices can be created based on a proposed algorithm. Finally, each matrix combines with the low-frequency representative to become a unique fingerprinted matrix. The fingerprinted matrix is not only much smaller than the original image in size but also contains the most important information. Without this information, the quality of the reconstructed image will be very poor. Thus, the fingerprinted file is more suitable for distribution in P2P networks, because, in the distribution stage, the uniquely fingerprinted matrix will only be dispensed by the source host and leave the rest for P2P networks to handle. On the other hand, among other frames of the same video which are not decomposed, some will be embedded with sharable fingerprints. The relationship between unique fingerprint and sharable fingerprint and the purpose of using it will be discussed in the paper. Our result indicates that the proposed fingerprint has shown strong robustness against common attacks such as Gaussian noise, median filter, and lossy compression.


Abstract Background: The search for new vessels in pathological tendons is a relatively new field. In spite of a rapid growth in research and clinical experience, there is still poor agreement in the musculoskeletal community regarding the significance and measurement of so called "neovascularisation". Any relationship between vascularity, tendon healing, degeneration and pain is not yet clear, as it has been considered as a normal physiological adaptation to loading yet also seen in chronic painful Achilles tendons. An expression of the degree of "neovascularisation" could potentially have significance if the amount of neovascularisation could be related to the degree of symptoms or dysfunction caused by the pathology in the tendon. Objectives: This review examines the potential variables that can affect the quantification of the Doppler signal in Achilles and patellar tendinopathy under three perspectives. Firstly, the variables that arise from the actual technology that allows the capturing of the Doppler signal from intra-tendinous microvasculature flow, secondly by an awareness of known and highly likely physiological factors that may alter the rate of flow and thirdly by an exploration describing the actual methods and qualities of acquiring quantitative data of the microvascular flow with Doppler. Methods: A literature search was conducted across AMED, CINAHL, Google Scholar, SPORTDiscus, MEDLINE and NCBI (PubMed) for studies related to the qualitative or quantitative measure of the Doppler signal in relation to a clinical outcome of Achilles or patellar tendinopathy. Parameters regarding machine settings and examination conditions were extracted to identify the utilisation of important factors and consistency with a narrative analysis. Discussion: Many of these influential factors have never been controlled for in previous studies and the methods have been unreliable and poorly reported. There is a need for international agreement on a standardised protocol in the assessment of the microvascularity of tendons, which could then help determine if the quantification of "neovascularisation" is a reliable and clinically relevant finding.


We place observational constraints on slow-variation single-field inflationary models by carrying out the cosmological Monte Carlo simulation with the recent data of Planck combined with the WMAP large-angle polarization, baryon acoustic oscillations, and ACT/SPT temperature data. Our analysis covers a wide variety of models with second-order equations of motion-- including potential-driven slow-roll inflation, non-minimally coupled models, running kinetic couplings, Brans-Dicke theories, potential-driven Galileon inflation, field-derivative couplings to the Einstein tensor, and k-inflation. In the presence of running kinetic exponential couplings, covariant Galileon terms, and field-derivative couplings, the tensor-to-scalar ratio of the self-coupling potential gets smaller relative to that in standard slow-roll inflation, but the models lie outside the 68 % CL observational contour. We also show that k-inflation models can be tightly constrained by adding the bounds from the scalar non-Gaussianities. The small-field inflationary models with asymptotic flat Einstein-frame potentials in the regime phi >> M_{pl} generally fit the data very well. These include the models such as Kahler-moduli inflation, non-minimally coupled Higgs inflation, and inflation in Brans-Dicke theories in the presence of the potential V(phi)=3M^2 (phi-M_{pl})^2/4 with the Brans-Dicke parameter omega_{BD}


'I'he accurate rreasurement of bed shear stress has been extremely difficult due to its changing values until white propunded a theory which would give constant shear along the bed of a flume. In this investigation a flume has been designed according to White's theory and by two separate methods proven to give constant shearing force along the bed. The first method applied the Hydrogen Bubble Technique to obtain accurate values of velocity thus allowing the velocity profile to be plotted and the momentum at the various test sections to be calculated. The use of a 16 mm Beaulieu movie camera allowed the exact velocity profiles created by the hydrogen bubbles to be recorded whilst an analysing projector gave the means of calculating the exact velocities at the various test sections. Simultaneously Preston's technique of measuring skin friction using Pitot tubes was applied. Twc banks of open ended water manometer were used for recording the static and velocity head pressure drop along the flume. This tvpe of manometer eliminated air locks in the tubes and was found to be sufficiently accurate. Readings of pressure and velocity were taken for various types and diameters of bed material both natural sands and glass spheres and the results tabulated. Graphs of particle Reynolds Number against bed shear stress were plotted and gave a linear relationship which dropped off at high values of Reynolds number. It was found that bed movement occurred instantaneously along the bed of the flume once critical velocity had been reached. On completion of this test a roof curve inappropriate to the bed material was used and then the test repeated. The bed shearing stress was now no longer constant and yet bed movement started instantaneously along the bed of the flume, showing that there are more parameters than critical shear stress to bed movement. It is concluded from the two separate methods applied that the bed shear stress is constant along the bed of the flume.


All photographs are historical photographs. Whether they existed for seconds or millennia before the shutter clicks, the objects in the frame all have a history. Without knowing that history, photographs can become dead objects, untethered in time and space. The author uses contemporary photographs of Tulare County and archival and contemporary photographs of F Ranch in Point Reyes to show how the history of a landscape is revealed.


Much current research on digital libraries focuses on named entityextraction and transformation into structured information. Examples include entities like events, people, and places, and attributes like birth date or latitude. This video demonstration illustrates the potential for finding relationships among entities extracted from 50,000 news segments from CMUs Informedia Digital Video Library. A visual query language is used to specify relationships among entities. Data populate the query structure, which becomes an interface for exploration that gives continuous feedback in the form of visualizations of summary statistics. The target user is a data analyst familiar with the domain from which the entities come, but not a computer scientist.


The δ2 glutamate receptor (GluRδ2; GluD2), which is predominantly expressed on postsynaptic sites at parallel fiber (PF)–Purkinje cell synapses in the cerebellum, plays two crucial roles in the cerebellum: the formation of PF synapses and the regulation of long-term depression (LTD), a form of synaptic plasticity underlying motor learning. Although the induction of LTD and motor learning absolutely require signaling via the cytoplasmic C-terminal domain of GluD2, the mechanisms by which GluD2 regulates PF synaptogenesis have remained unclear. Here, we examined the role of the extracellular N-terminal domain (NTD) of GluD2 on PF synaptogenesis by injecting Sindbis virus carrying wild-type (GluD2wt) or mutant GluD2 into the subarachnoid supracerebellar space of GluD2-null mice. Remarkably, the expression of GluD2wt, but not of a mutant GluD2 lacking the NTD (GluD2ΔNTD), rapidly induced PF synapse formation and rescued gross motor dyscoordination in adult GluD2-null mice just 1 d after injection. In addition, although the kainate receptor GluR6 (GluK2) did not induce PF synaptogenesis, a chimeric GluK2 that contained the NTD of GluD2 (GluD2NTD–GluK2) did. Similarly, GluD2wt and GluD2NTD–GluK2, but not GluD2ΔNTD, induced synaptogenesis in heterologous cells in vitro. In contrast, LTD was restored in GluD2-null Purkinje cells expressing a mutant GluD2 lacking the NTD. These results indicate that the NTD of GluD2 is necessary and sufficient for the function of GluD2 in the regulation of PF–Purkinje cell synaptogenesis. Furthermore, our results suggest that GluD2 differently regulates PF synaptogenesis and cerebellar LTD through the extracellular NTD and the cytoplasmic C-terminal end, respectively.


This thesis investigates three areas of the theory of graph homomorphisms: cores of graphs, the homomorphism order, and quantum homomorphisms. A core of a graph X is a vertex minimal subgraph to which X admits a homomorphism. Hahn and Tardif have shown that, for vertex transitive graphs, the size of the core must divide the size of the graph. This motivates the following question: when can the vertex set of a vertex transitive graph be partitioned into sets which each induce a copy of its core? We show that normal Cayley graphs and vertex transitive graphs with cores half their size always admit such partitions. We also show that the vertex sets of vertex transitive graphs with cores less than half their size do not, in general, have such partitions. Next we examine the restriction of the homomorphism order of graphs to line graphs. Our main focus is in comparing this restriction to the whole order. The primary tool we use in our investigation is that, as a consequence of Vizing's theorem, this partial order can be partitioned into intervals which can then be studied independently. We denote the line graph of X by L(X). We show that for all n ≥ 2, for any line graph Y strictly greater than the complete graph Kn, there exists a line graph X sitting strictly between Kn and Y . In contrast, we prove that there does not exist any connected line graph which sits strictly between L(Kn) and Kn, for n odd. We refer to this property as being "n-maximal", and we show that any such line graph must be a core and the line graph of a regular graph of degree n. Finally, we introduce quantum homomorphisms as a generalization of, and framework for, quantum colorings. Using quantum homomorphisms, we are able to define several other quantum parameters in addition to the previously defined quantum chromatic number. We also define two other parameters, projective rank and projective packing number, which satisfy a reciprocal relationship similar to that of fractional chromatic number and independence number, and are closely related to quantum homomorphisms. Using the projective packing number, we show that there exists a quantum homomorphism from X to Y if and only if the quantum independence number of a certain product graph achieves |V (X)|. This parallels a well known classical result, and allows us to construct examples of graphs whose independence and quantum independence numbers differ. Most importantly, we show that if there exists a quantum homomorphism from a graph X to a graph Y , then θ(X) ≤ θ(Y ), where θ denotes the Lovasz theta function of the complement. We prove similar monotonicity results for projective rank and the projective packing number of the complement, as well as for two variants of θ. These immediately imply that all of these parameters lie between the quantum clique and quantum chromatic numbers, in particular yielding a quantum analog of the well known "sandwich theorem". We also briefly investigate the quantum homomorphism order of graphs.


The synthesis of methyl (2S,4R)-4-(benzyloxy)-N-(2,2-dimethyl-2H-azirin-3-yl)prolinate (10), a novel 2H-azirin-3-amine ('3-amino-2H-azirine'), is described (Scheme 1). The reaction of methyl (2S,4R)-N-(2- methylpropanoyl)-4-(benzyloxy)prolinate (7) with Lawesson reagent gave methyl (2S,4R)-4-(benzyloxy)-N-[2-(methylthio)propanoyl]prolinate (8) and consecutive treatment with COCl2, 1,4-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]octane (DABCO), and NaN3 led to 10. The use of 10 as a building block of the dipeptide Aib-Hyp (Aib = 2- aminoisobutyric acid, Hyp = (2S,4R)-4-hydroxyproline) is demonstrated by the syntheses of several model peptides (Scheme 2 and Table). The benzyl protecting group of the 4-OH function in Hyp in the model peptides has been removed in good yields.


Bottom trawling causes chronic and widespread disturbance to the seabed in shallow shelf seas and could lead to changes in the trophic structure and function of benthic communities, with important implications for the processing of primary production and the wider functioning of the marine ecosystem. We studied the effects of bottom trawling on the trophic structure of infaunal and epifaunal benthic communities in 2 regions (Silver Pit and Hills) of the central North Sea. Within each region, we quantified long-term (over 5 yr) differences in trawling disturbance at a series of sites (using sightings data from fishery protection flights), and related this to differences in the biomass and trophic structure of the benthic community. There were 27- and 10-fold differences in levels of beam trawl disturbance among the Silver Pit and Hills sites respectively, and we estimated that the frequency with which the entire area of the sites was trawled ranged from 0.2 to 6.5 times yr -1 in the Silver Pit and 0.2 to 2.3 times yr -1 in the Hills. The impacts of fishing were most pronounced in the Sil- ver Pit region, where the range of trawling disturbance was greater. Infaunal and epifaunal biomass decreased significantly with trawling disturbance. Within the infauna, there were highly significant decreases in the biomass of bivalves and spatangoids (burrowing sea-urchins) but no significant change in polychaetes. Relationships between trophic level (estimated using nitrogen stable isotope composition, δ 15 N) and body mass (as log2 size classes) were rarely significant, implying that the larger individuals in this community did not consistently prey on the smaller ones. For epifauna, the relationships were significant, but the slopes or intercepts of the fitted linear regressions were not significantly related to trawling disturbance. Moreover, mean δ 15 N of the sampled infaunal and epi- faunal communities were remarkably consistent across sites and not significantly related to trawling disturbance. Our results suggest that chronic trawling disturbance led to dramatic reductions in the biomass of infauna and epifauna, but these reductions were not reflected in changes to the mean trophic level of the community, or the relationships between the trophic levels of different sizes of epifauna. The trophic structure of intensively trawled benthic invertebrate communities may be a robust feature of this marine ecosystem, thus ensuring the efficient processing of production within those animals that have sufficiently high intrinsic rates of population increase to withstand the levels of mortality imposed by trawling.


We consider an exactly solvable Hamiltonian for bosons in one-dimension interacting through zero-range attractive forces, and construct a complete basis of its A-particle eigenstates. The structure of the single-particle spectral function in the removal domain is investigated, by taking the overlap of the A-particle ground state with the various excited states of the (A-1) system. In particular we study the contribution to the spectral function of the different break-up channels in the A-1 continuum, and compare the results to general statements available in the literature. It is shown that the asymptotic behavior in coordinate space does not agree with conventional assumptions. The relation to recent (e,e{sup '}p) experiments at large values of missing energy and momentum is pointed out.


Communication overhead is a major bottleneck hampering the scalability of distributed machine learning systems. Recently, there has been a surge of interest in using gradient compression to improve the communication efficiency of distributed neural network training. Using 1-bit quantization, signSGD with majority vote achieves a 32x reduction on communication cost. However, its convergence is based on unrealistic assumptions and can diverge in practice. In this paper, we propose a general distributed compressed SGD with Nesterov's momentum. We consider two-way compression, which compresses the gradients both to and from workers. Convergence analysis on nonconvex problems for general gradient compressors is provided. By partitioning the gradient into blocks, a blockwise compressor is introduced such that each gradient block is compressed and transmitted in 1-bit format with a scaling factor, leading to a nearly 32x reduction on communication. Experimental results show that the proposed method converges as fast as full-precision distributed momentum SGD and achieves the same testing accuracy. In particular, on distributed ResNet training with 7 workers on the ImageNet, the proposed algorithm achieves the same testing accuracy as momentum SGD using full-precision gradients, but with $46\%$ less wall clock time.


Realization of the need to maintain a safe, serviceable network of highways in the US has led to the development of a systematic, consistent procedure for managing resources necessary to maintain pavements. Pavement management systems (PMS) help set priorities, allocate resources, measure performance and study costs of maintaining and rehabilitating the nation's highways. A PMS provides an approach for maximizing benefits and minimizing costs. Evaluating a number of alternative solutions to a specific set of conditions, the PMS helps obtain an optimal solution to pavement management problems. The PMS furnishes an information data base, sets up performance models and estimates life cycle costs. A PMS identifies the consequences of insufficient funding and the budgetary backlog of projects, and provides a documentable engineering basis for selecting projects. A great deal of planning and data gathering is necessary to drive the system. The PMS challenge is to quantify information to provide recommendations necessary to maintain an acceptable level of service. Increased resources may reduce the time required to set up a workable PMS, but a workable and debugged plan must be developed.


Unilateral refusals to license intellectual property rights are almost never antitrust violations, as is true of most unilateral refusals to deal. Concerted refusals to deal are treated more harshly under the antitrust laws because they can facilitate collusion or, in the case of technology, keep superior products or processes off the market. In its en banc Princo decision a divided Federal Circuit debated whether Congress had protected concerted refusals to license from claims of patent misuse. The majority rejected the dissent's argument that Congress had no such intent and then went on to hold that an alleged concerted refusal to license was not misuse. This conclusion is troublesome because in its Independent Ink decision the Supreme Court virtually equated the scope of antitrust liability with the scope of misuse as defined by §271(d). Broad legality for concerted refusals to license patents, and unused patents in particular, has serious implications for competition and innovation. A concerted refusal to license a factory or other productive asset can facilitate collusion by denying resources to rivals unless they can find alternative sources of supply. A concerted refusal to license an unused patent can go much further. Not only does it deny rivals that particular technology but it also prevents them from developing any technology independently that would infringe one or more of that patent's claims. Of course, not every concerted refusal to license should be unlawful per se. In antitrust, they are appropriately covered by the ancillary restraints doctrine. Naked agreements not to license are unlawful per se, while refusals reasonably necessary to further joint research or production would be unlawful only if market power and anticompetitive effects were proven. By contrast, reading §271(d) of the Patent Act to authorize all concerted refusals is likely to harm both competition and the incentive to innovate.


BACKGROUND: the long latency auditory evoked potentials (LLAEP) provide objective data about the function of hearing cortical structures. AIM: to characterize the maturation of the central hearing system in normally hearing children. METHOD: record of LLAEP of fifty-six subjects with hearing tresholds within normal limits, of both genders, being 46 children and 10 adults. With the availability of two recording channels, one was directed to register the LLAEP and the other, to record the artifact generated by ocular movement, aiming at its control. The potentials were recorded with subjects in an alert state, through electrodes positioned in Cz (active) and A2 (reference), and the ocular movements, through electrodes in the left supra and infra-orbital positions; the ground electrode was placed in A1. The morphology and the values of latency and of amplitude for components P1, N1 and P2, according to age, were analyzed. In order to verify the reproducibility of the recorded potentials, a double blind study was carried out, by introducing the analysis of another evaluator. RESULTS: the double blind study did not present statistically significant differences between the analyses. With the increase in age there was an improvement in the morphology and a decrease in the latency values of components P1, N1 and P2. Also there was a decrease in the amplitude of component P1 and no variation in the amplitude values was observed for components N1 and P2. No statistically significant difference was observed between genders. CONCLUSION: the maturational process of the central hearing system occurs gradually, being the greatest changes observed when comparing children and adults.


Use of farm-saved seed without treating encourage accumulation of seed borne pathogens which lead to outbreak and spread of diseases that result in poor emergence, crop stand, vigour, and reduction in yield. This study sought to determine the effect of seed treatment on viability and vigour. Seed samples of wheat varieties NjoroII, Robin and Eagle10 were treated with Murtano super (20% Lindane and 26% Thiram), Seedplus (10% Imidacloprid, 10% Metalaxyl, and 10% Carbendazim), Monceren 125 DS (Imidacloprid 233g/L, Pencycuron 50g/L, Thiram 107g/L.), Rootgard, (Trichoderma spp., Bacillus spp., Pseudomonas spp., Aspergillus spp., Chaetomium spp., Esherichia spp., Azorobacter spp.), Achook (azadiractin 0.15%EC), Score 250 EC (Difenoconazole 250g/L) and Thunder (Imidacloprid 100g/L and Betacyfluthrin 45g/L). Untreated seeds were used as control. Germination was carried out on paper towel in the laboratory and on sterilized soil in the green house. Murtano super improved germination of NjoroII by 0.5%, Seedplus improved germination of Robin by 3.5% while Monceren improved germination of Eagle10 by 4%. Score and thunder suppressed germination of NjoroII, Robin and Eagle10 by more than 50%, 30% and 20% respectively. All the treatments reduced seedling infections significantly. Seedplus, Murtano super and Achook significantly improved vigour indices of NjoroII, Robin and Eagle10 respectively. Seed treatments control seed borne diseases but some suppress germination and vigour. It is necessary to enhance farmers' awareness on the importance of seed treatment in order to improve germination, emergence and vigour and to prevent crop losses.


The authors present in the article the historic-cultural analysis of the most important public administration narratives and problematically define their future projections. Having done cultural public administration analysis, they define the cultural epoch, in which public administration now develops, and call it as post-post-modernism. The return to Weberian model under new conditions, as the intermediary, connecting stage from New Public Management to values based New Governance, is characteristic to the present situation. This Neo-Weberian model implies in itself not only more clear principles, but also more practical elements (components), which may lead to more concrete implementation methods, the lack of which is felt under the search for New Governance, but not for New Public Management. In the end of the article the authors argue for the positive evaluation of New Governance, because its social dimensions are not overcome, and according to the authors opinion, it is necessary to return to them back as well.


The present article has the following objectives: firstly, to present the major benefits of the basic baskets in order to understand prioritization, in the area of an obligatory insurance, and affirm the difficulty in implementing these types of initiatives. Secondly, to show that the approval and implementation of a basic basket fundamentally depends on the active participation of the affected, and thus, the capacity of the government to transform them into supporters of the project. Thirdly, point out that the principles on which the prioritization mechanism is based and the objectives proposed for the basket both make up significant factors in achieving this support.