Due to the convergence of computer communication and telecommunication technology,
data traffic exceeds the telephony traffic. Thus, existing connection oriented and circuit
switched network will need to be upgraded toward optical packet switched network.
Optical packet switching has characteristics like high speed, data rate/data format
transparency and configurable. Wavelength Division Multiplexing is the technology of
combining a number of wavelengths in a single fiber. It is a tremendous trend to harness
larger bandwidth for enormous delivery. WDM optical devices for multiplexing and
switching in simple configuration are now available at a reasonable cost. It is a very
appealing solution for development of optical packet switching.
The issue of contention arises when two or more packets contend for the same output
port in a switch with the same wavelength, which results to packet loss. The packet loss
probability is addressed as the most inevitable and significant measurable performance
parameter with QoS provisioning that is dominated by wavelength contention in optical packet switches. In electronic domain packet switched network, the contention is
resolved by store and forward technique using the available electronic random access
memory (RAM). Due to the immaturity of optical memory storage technology, there is
no available ready-to-use optical random access memory.
In order to overcome this bottleneck, several approaches have been adopted to resolve
the contention problem from three domains: time, space and wavelength as stated: fiber
delay line (time), deflection routing (space) and wavelength conversion (wavelength).
Consequently, contention resolution in wavelength domain has attracted considerable
interest among the optical communications community instead of implementing optical
buffering and deflection routing that have been studied previously.
This thesis proposes a bufferless, single stage, non-blocking fully connected optical
packet switch for synchronous optical packet switching network, followed by a
prioritized scheduling algorithm in association with hybrid contention resolution
schemes. This iterative prioritized scheduling comprises of a set of preemptive selective
policies for contention resolution. It is a hybrid technique that integrates wavelength
conversion with feedback mechanism realized by fiber delay lines (FDL).
By means of simulation, the proposed scheme has been investigated and compared with
the conventional baseline scheme. A sensitive description of the satisfied packet loss
probability and average packet delay as a function of main design parameters such as
switch size, number of wavelengths, traffic load, degree of conversion and number of
fiber delay lines have been carried out with significant improvement.Simulation results proved that the proposed scheme is an efficient approach in resolving
packet contention with less complexity in execution. Relatively, number of wavelength,
traffic load and degree of conversion has significant impact to packet loss ratio. The
implementation of fiber delay lines results on average packet delay. Simulation results
demonstrated that the switch size mildly affect the performance parameter.
Respectively, packet loss ratio below 10-10 is obtained via simulation by the means of
wavelength conversion without conventional buffering delay. The packet loss ratio is
further reduced with the method as aforementioned with the insertion of fiber delay lines
where PLR below 10-13 is achieved, which is much lower than the benchmark value.
Furthermore, the obtained simulation results show that by classifying packet priority, the
proposed scheduling scheme and architecture are able to offer differentiated class of
service.


Approaches for evaluating salinity management benefits are generalized and extended to incorporate consideration of desalination and long-term changes in salinity concentration and water use patterns. Previous research indicates urban users incur the vast majority of salinity-related damages in affected regions, suggesting municipalities may benefit by considering mitigating actions independent of agriculture. However, previous studies have included no consideration of desalination. Earlier studies have also considered stepped increases in salinity, assuming a single future concentration when estimating the long-term benefits of salinity reduction, an approach inconsistent with the incremental nature of these increases. Long-term changes in water use patterns (urban vs. agricultural), when considered at all, have often been treated in the same stepwise fashion. For this analysis, a suitable region is selected and the benefits of a hypothetical salinity management program are estimated using the approach described. These results are then compared with those obtained through the use of several previous methods. Findings suggest that consideration of desalination and incremental variations in salinity and water use patterns can substantially lower the estimated benefits of regional salinity management programs.


Hot on the heels of the 3rd edition of Andy Field's award-winning Discovering Statistics Using SPSS comes this brand new version for students using SAS(R). Andy has teamed up with a co-author, Jeremy Miles, to adapt the book with all the most up-to-date commands and programming language from SAS(R) 9.2. If you're using SAS(R), this is the only book on statistics that you will need! The book provides a comprehensive collection of statistical methods, tests and procedures, covering everything you're likely to need to know for your course, all presented in Andy's accessible and humourous writing style. Suitable for those new to statistics as well as students on intermediate and more advanced courses, the book walks students through from basic to advanced level concepts, all the while reinforcing knowledge through the use of SAS(R). A 'cast of characters' supports the learning process throughout the book, from providing tips on how to enter data in SAS(R) properly to testing knowledge covered in chapters interactively, and 'real world' and invented examples illustrate the concepts and make the techniques come alive. The book's companion website (see link above) provides students with a wide range of invented and real published research datasets. Lecturers can find multiple choice questions and PowerPoint slides for each chapter to support their teaching.


This report describes research which involved the design modification, modeling and control of automatic steering and braking systems for an urban electric vehicle. The vehicle is equipped with four-wheel independent drive, four-wheel independent braking and four-wheel steering. Control algorithms were developed for steering and braking. Simulation results show the feasibility of the algorithms.


CONTEXT
The generalizability of currently available estimates of survival after radical prostatectomy is theoretically limited.

OBJECTIVE
To obtain generalizable estimates of survival after radical prostatectomy.

DESIGN
A population-based retrospective cohort study.

SETTING
Nine regions of the United States.

PATIENTS
Patients who were diagnosed with prostate cancer between 1983 and 1987 and underwent radical prostatectomy and lymph node dissection.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Proportional hazards models incorporating geographical region, age, race, pathological stage, lymph node involvement, and tumor grade to identify independent correlates of disease-specific and overall survival and life table analyses to estimate 10-year survival distributions.

RESULTS
A total of 3626 patients with a mean age of 65 years were included in the study; 92.6% were white, 54.2% had moderate-grade cancer, 60.4% had no extension beyond the prostate, and 91.2% had no lymph node involvement. Using San Francisco-Oakland, Calif, as a reference region, no other region was significantly associated with a risk of disease-specific or overall mortality. Older age and black race were independently associated with worse overall but not disease-specific survival. Higher grade, extension beyond the prostate, and lymph node involvement were independently associated with worse disease-specific and overall survival. Estimates of 10-year disease-specific survival ranged from 75% to 97% for patients with well-differentiated and moderately differentiated cancers and from 60% to 86% for patients with poorly differentiated cancers.

CONCLUSIONS
Neither disease-specific nor overall survival varied by region, suggesting geographically uniform assessments of risk in patient selection for radical prostatectomy. Across regions, overall survival varied by patient and prostate cancer characteristics while disease-specific survival varied substantially by prostate cancer but not patient characteristics. The present analyses provide the most generalizable current estimates of survival after radical prostatectomy.


This paper presents an approach to solve the SLAM problem in the stochastic map framework based on the concept of the relative map. The idea consists in introducing a map state, which only contains quantities invariant under translation and rotation. This is the only way in order to have a decoupling between the robot motion and the landmark estimation and therefore not to rely the landmark estimation on the unmodeled error sources of the robot motion. The approach is general and can be applied for several kind of landmark. However, only the case of point landmark is considered here. For this special case, the structure of the proposed filter is deeply examined and a comparison with the joint vehicle-landmark approach (absolute map filter) is carried out theoretically and through accurate simulations. The main result shown about this new approach is the map convergence in large environment even when the odometry is affected by undetected systematic errors or by large or unmodeled non-systematic errors.


ABSTRACT Hansen, J.M.; Aagaard, T., and Kuijpers, A., 2015. Sea-level forcing by synchronization of 56- and 74-year oscillations with the Moon's nodal tide on the northwest European Shelf (eastern North Sea to central Baltic Sea). The North Sea and Baltic Sea long-term records reveal a strong correlation (0.997) between sea-level changes and the sum of identified harmonic oscillations, corresponding to the lunar nodal period and four multiples of it. We developed a transparent method for iterative least residual sine regression that is capable of identifying harmonic sea-level oscillations, e.g., gravitational sea-level effects of the lunar nodal oscillation. Three relatively large harmonic sea-level oscillations with period lengths of 18.6 (18.6), 60.5 (55.8), and 76.1 (74.4) years correspond well to factors 1, 3, and 4 of the 18.6-year lunar nodal period (multiple periods in parentheses). The sum of these oscillations leaves small residuals that can be resolved into two further, statistically less significant oscillations with apparent period lengths of 28.1 (27.9) and 111.1 (111.7) years, corresponding to factors 1½ and 6 of the lunar nodal period. Periods and amplitudes expose strong entrainment, i.e. phase synchronization at rational ratios of the identified oscillations' periods as well as amplitude locking at reciprocal rational ratios of 1/2, 1/3, and 2/3 of the three largest oscillations. On top of the region's general sea-level rise (1.18 mm/y), strong quasi-oscillations occur when the two largest oscillations are in phase. Thus, a large quasi-oscillation commenced in 1971 adding a 40-year sea-level rise of 1.0–1.2 mm/y to the region's general sea-level rise. If our theory is correct, the ongoing quasi-oscillation should culminate in 2011, and the suggestion may be tested after completion of the ongoing 18.6-year nodal oscillation, i.e. in 2020–21. A purely mathematical extension of the oscillation parameters identified by the applied method suggests that the sum of harmonic oscillations produces 223-year pulses of quasi-oscillations, which can be divided into 158-year periods (e.g., 1747–1905 and after 1970) with large oscillations (60–65 mm), followed by 65-year periods (e.g., 1905–70) with much smaller oscillations (2–16 mm).


This article examines wallpaper use in Canada from the beginning of cylinder printing in 1860 to 1935. Statistics reveal that the value of wallpaper within Canada grew steadily during this period, before declining precipitously during the 1930s. Canada's four major factories achieved dominance in their home market by producing low-to-middle grade wallpaper at affordable prices. This paper documents this achievement and explores its significance, centering on a key compilation of primary and secondary sources. From this compilation, costs and patterns of trade are extracted in order to show Canadian development against the backdrop of wallpaper history. Partial comparison to Canada's chief competitor and trading partner, the United States, is made through analysis of per capita production and consumption figures. This article is grounded in recent scholarship from Europe which suggests that wallpaper can be viewed as an object of use over and above its more familiar role as a minor art-historical artifact.


ABSTRACT Interferon (IFN) mediates its antiviral effects by inducing a number of responsive genes, including the double-stranded RNA (dsRNA)-dependent protein kinase, PKR. Here we report that inducible overexpression of functional PKR in murine fibroblasts sensitized cells to apoptosis induced by influenza virus, while in contrast, cells expressing a dominant-negative variant of PKR were completely resistant. We determined that the mechanism of influenza virus-induced apoptosis involved death signaling through FADD/caspase-8 activation, while other viruses such as vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) and Sindbis virus (SNV) did not significantly provoke PKR-mediated apoptosis but did induce cytolysis of fibroblasts via activation of caspase-9. Significantly, treatment with IFN-α/β greatly sensitized the fibroblasts to FADD-dependent apoptosis in response to dsRNA treatment or influenza virus infection but completely protected the cells against VSV and SNV replication in the absence of any cellular destruction. The mechanism by which IFN increases the cells' susceptibility to lysis by dsRNA or certain virus infection is by priming cells to FADD-dependent apoptosis, possibly by regulating the activity of the death-induced signaling complex (DISC). Conversely, IFN is also able to prevent the replication of viruses such as VSV that avoid triggering FADD-mediated DISC activity, by noncytopathic mechanisms, thus preventing destruction of the cell.


A novel scaffold inhibiting wild type and drug resistant variants of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 reverse transcriptase (HIV-1RT) has been identified in a library consisting of 1040 fragments. The fragments were significantly different from already known non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs), as indicated by a Tversky similarity analysis. A screening strategy involving SPR biosensor-based interaction analysis and enzyme inhibition was used. Primary biosensor-based screening, using short concentration series, was followed by analysis of nevirapine competition and enzyme inhibition, thus identifying inhibitory fragments binding to the non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) binding site. Ten hits were discovered, and their affinities and resistance profiles were evaluated with wild type and three drug resistant enzyme variants (K103N, Y181C, and L100I). One fragment exhibited submillimolar K(D) and IC(50) values against all four tested enzyme variants. A substructure comparison between the fragment and 826 structurally diverse published NNRTIs confirmed that the scaffold was novel. The fragment is a bromoindanone with a ligand efficiency of 0.42 kcal/mol(-1).


Risk transfer can be an economically favorable way of handling security and privacy issues, but choosing this option indiscriminately and without proper knowledge is a risk in itself. This report provides an overview of knowledge gaps related to cyber-insurance as a risk management strategy. These are grouped into three high-level topics; cyber-insurance products, understanding and measuring risk and estimation of consequences. The topics are further divided into 11 knowledge areas with recommendations for further research. The work is based on a study of academic literature and other written materials, such as various reports and newspaper articles. There is a clear lack of empirical data on cyber-insurance, and in particular qualitative studies aiming to understand and describe needs, obstacles and processes relevant for cyber-insurance. We recommend a stronger emphasis on research related to topics that are specific to cyber-insurance, covering decision models for buyers of insurance, barriers for information sharing, impact of cyber-insurance on security, and business models for insurers.


: In this paper, the effect of the wind turbine blade pitch fault and fault detection method based on support vector machine algorithm based on electrical and mechanical signals have been modeled and studied. Dynamic model of permanent magnet synchronous generator and wind turbine under both aerodynamic asymmetry and normal conditions modes have been modelled in Simulink, FAST and TurbSim environment. The aerodynamic asymmetry has been simulated by adjusting the pitch of one blade different from the other pitch blades. . The simulation results recorded in the time-domain and then transformed into the frequency-domain by using the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). This results shows when the blade failure occurred, the amplitude of excitation frequency 1p is appeared in electric signals and with more intensity in mechanic signals. For fault detection, first the time-domain and frequency-domain parameters of signals extracted, and then, the sensitivity of this parameters in healthy and faulty conditions obtained by using Distance Evaluation Criteria (DEC). The result of DEC considered as a variable input in SVM. This process implemented for the number of 60 winds Turbulence for healthy and faulty turbines. Simulation results confirmed that the proposed approach to be able to identifying the healthy condition from aerodynamic asymmetry fault in wind turbine and this proposed approach is effective and efficient for blade fault detection.


Purpose: Cardiac injury is a major cause of death in cancer survivors, and biomarkers for it are detectable only after tissue injury has occurred. Extracellular vesicles (EV) remove toxic biomolecules from tissues and can be detected in the blood. Here, we evaluate the potential of using circulating EVs as early diagnostic markers for long-term cardiac injury. Experimental Design: Using a mouse model of doxorubicin (DOX)-induced cardiac injury, we quantified serum EVs, analyzed proteomes, measured oxidized protein levels in serum EVs released after DOX treatment, and investigated the alteration of EV content. Results: Treatment with DOX caused a significant increase in circulating EVs (DOX_EV) compared with saline-treated controls. DOX_EVs exhibited a higher level of 4-hydroxynonenal adducted proteins, a lipid peroxidation product linked to DOX-induced cardiotoxicity. Proteomic profiling of DOX_EVs revealed the distinctive presence of brain/heart, muscle, and liver isoforms of glycogen phosphorylase (GP), and their origins were verified to be heart, skeletal muscle, and liver, respectively. The presence of brain/heart GP (PYGB) in DOX_EVs correlated with a reduction of PYGB in heart, but not brain tissues. Manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) overexpression, as well as pretreatment with cardioprotective agents and MnSOD mimetics, resulted in a reduction of EV-associated PYGB in mice treated with DOX. Kinetic studies indicated that EVs containing PYGB were released prior to the rise of cardiac troponin in the blood after DOX treatment, suggesting that PYGB is an early indicator of cardiac injury. Conclusions: EVs containing PYGB are an early and sensitive biomarker of cardiac injury. Clin Cancer Res; 24(7); 1644–53. ©2017 AACR. See related commentary by Zhu and Gius, p. 1516


This Technical Support Document (TSD) describes the process and methodology for the development of the Advanced Energy Design Guide for Small Office Buildings (AEDG-SO), a design guidance document intended to provide recommendations for achieving 30% energy savings in small office buildings over levels contained in ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-1999, Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings. The AEDG-SO is the first in a series of guides being developed by a partnership of organizations, including the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc. (ASHRAE), the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA), the New Buildings Institute (NBI), and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Each of the guides in the AEDG series will provide recommendations and user-friendly design assistance to designers, developers and owners of small commercial buildings that will encourage steady progress towards net-zero energy buildings. The guides will provide prescriptive recommendation packages that are capable of reaching the energy savings target for each climate zone in order to ease the burden of the design and construction of energy-efficient small commercial buildings The AEDG-SO was developed by an ASHRAE Special Project committee (SP-102) made up of representatives of each of the partnermore » organizations in eight months. This TSD describes the charge given to the committee in developing the office guide and outlines the schedule of the development effort. The project committee developed two prototype office buildings (5,000 ft2 frame building and 20,000 ft2 two-story mass building) to represent the class of small office buildings and performed an energy simulation scoping study to determine the preliminary levels of efficiency necessary to meet the energy savings target. The simulation approach used by the project committee is documented in this TSD along with the characteristics of the prototype buildings. The prototype buildings were simulated in the same climate zones used by the prevailing energy codes and standards to evaluate energy savings. Prescriptive packages of recommendations presented in the guide by climate zone include enhanced envelope technologies, lighting and day lighting technologies and HVAC and SWH technologies. The report also documents the modeling assumptions used in the simulations for both the baseline and advanced buildings. Final efficiency recommendations for each climate zone are included, along with the results of the energy simulations indicating an average energy savings over all buildings and climates of approximately 38%.« less


Organizational routines are ubiquitous stores of knowledge in organizations. Although routines enable consistent performance on tasks over time, routines might hinder adaptability by promoting inertia and rigidity. In this dissertation, I develop how routines could facilitateadaptation in organizations and foster successful performance on novel tasks. I argue that teams are changed in the process of using routines. I develop and test theory arguing that routines can facilitate the development of transactive memory systems (TMS), collective systems forencoding, storing, and sharing knowledge. I propose that routines provide a structure within which team members can learn about one another's skills. Thus, routines can build a team's TMS, which can improve performance on novel tasks. I use a mixed-methods design to both develop and to test theory. In Study 1, I performed 30 semi-structured interviews with United States Marine Corps officers. Based on interview findings, I hypothesize that teams that useroutines will develop stronger transactive memory systems than teams that do not. Consequently, I hypothesize that teams that use routines will perform better on novel tasks due to the TMS they have developed. In Study 2, I developed a laboratory study in the cybersecurity context to test the hypotheses. Two hundred and thirteen participants in 71 teams were randomly assigned to perform a task with a routine or without a routine, and then perform a novel task. Results provide evidence to support the hypotheses.


As population increases that need more food production and other activities like industrialization, power generation etc for which scarce water should be economically utilized. Irrigation is the key input in crop production. Full benefit of crop production technologies such as high yielding varieties, fertilizer use and multiple cropping and plant protection measures can be derived only when adequate supply of water is assured. The irrigation infrastructure that is the backbone of the irrigated areas is in considerable need of modernization and a new paradigm for operations and maintenance. The Irrigated Agriculture Modernization and Water-Bodies Restoration and Management (IAMWARM) project has been formulated converging the roles of all the line departments. The project aims to improve the service delivery and productivity of irrigated agriculture with effective integrated water resources management in a sub-basin framework in Tamil Nadu with the many broad objectives. A study was contemplated to understand the economic impact of irrigation intervention and scope to improve it in Sivagangai district. The main objectives of the study were (i) to assess the impact of water bodies restoration in the study area on water level in open wells, (ii) to assess the impact of water bodies restoration in the study area on water level in bore wells and (iii) to assess the impact of the project on the yield and income. 225 farmers were selected for the study following at five stage sampling procedure, in which random sampling was followed in the last three stages. Impact on groundwater level was 22.84 per cent increase in the open well and 25.06 per cent increase in the bore well. Paddy yield has increased by 5.23 per cent and it was 3.50 per cent for chillies. Net benefit realized by the entire sample respondents by participating in the IAMWARM project was . 2,60,236. Difference in paddy yield between project villages and non project villages was 839.50 Kg./ha in the vaigai system fed tank area. It was 41.68 kg./ha for cotton. Net gain received by the sample respondents for cotton in the project village over non project village was . 1,87,826. In the rainfed tank irrigated farms, difference in paddy yield between project villages and non project villages was 452.30 Kg./ha. It was 41.68 kg./ha for chillies. Net gain received by the sample farmers in the project village over non project village was . 66,214. IAMWARM project had good impact in terms of groundwater recharge, yield and income at arm level. ————————————————————


The rise of social networking sites have led to changes in the nature of our social relationships, as well as how we present and perceive ourselves. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship among the following in adults: use of a highly popular social networking site—Facebook, empathy, and narcissism. The findings indicated that some Facebook activities, such as chatting, were linked to aspects of empathic concern, such as higher levels of Perspective Taking in males. The Photo feature in Facebook was also linked to better ability to place themselves in fictional situations. For only the females, viewing videos was associated with the extent to which they could identify with someone's distress. The data also indicated that certain aspects of Facebook use, such as the photo feature, were linked to narcissism. However, the overall pattern of findings suggests that social media is primarily a tool for staying connected, than for self-promotion.


This paper is intended primarily for those governments in Latin America that have public rental housing. Although there is currently not a great deal of public rental housing in the region, it is one of the most affordable housing solutions for the low-income populations in some Latin American and Caribbean countries. Still, the governments that own public housing face a number of problems owing to the fiscal and administrative burden it represents.


Z is a formal specification language combining typed set theory, predicate calculus, and a schema calculus. This paper describes an extension of Z that allows transformation and reasoning rules to be written in a Z-like notation. This gives a high-level, declarative, way of specifying transformations of Z terms, which makes it easier to build new Z manipulation tools. We describe the syntax and semantics of these rules, plus some example reasoning engines that use sets of rules to manipulate Z terms. The utility of these rules is demonstrated by discussing two sets of rules. One set defines expansion of Z schema expressions. The other set is used by the ZLive animator to preprocess Z expressions into a form more suitable for animation.


The enigmatic and richly illustrative tarot deck reveals a host of strange and iconic mages, such as The Tower, The Wheel of Fortune, The Hanged Man and The Fool: over which loom the terrifying figures of Death and The Devil. The 21 numbered playing cards of tarot have always exerted strong fascination, way beyond their original purpose, and the multiple resonances of the deck are ubiquitous. From T. S. Eliot and his 'wicked pack of cards' in 'The Waste Land' to the psychic divination of Solitaire in Ian Fleming's 'Live and Let Die'; and from the satanic novels of Dennis Wheatley to the deck's adoption by New Age practitioners, the cards have in modern times become inseparably connected to the occult. They are now viewed as arguably the foremost medium of prophesying and foretelling. Yet, as the author shows, originally the tarot were used as recreational playing cards by the Italian nobility in the Renaissance. It was only much later, in the 18th and 19th centuries, that the deck became associated with esotericism before evolving finally into a diagnostic tool for mind, body and spirit. This is the first book to explore the remarkably varied ways in which tarot has influenced culture. Tracing the changing patterns of the deck's use, from game to mysterious oracular device, Helen Farley examines tarot's emergence in 15th century Milan and discusses its later associations with astrology, kabbalah and the Age of Aquarius.


Forecasting number of outpatient visits is pre-eminent for patient planning, medical resource utilization and overall management of health care system to a certain extent. Aim of forecasting the outpatient visits can also be seemed in terms of individual care. In addition, accurate prediction of outpatient visits in hospitals can play a significant role in health insurance plans and for deciding reimbursement system. As such, main challenge in healthcare simulation is to produce a realistic model that must utilize efficient techniques for managing complex time series data and should be capable of generating forecasted value with almost negligible error. We proposed forecasting model based on fuzzy time series that rectifies the existing imperfections and overcome the drawbacks of previous approaches. Novice concept introduced to eliminate the inadequacies by way of defining the universe of discourse on historical data. Model also endeavors to pontificate the issue of improving forecasting accuracy through the new idea of event discretization function. This was quite encouraging as it highlights the impact of trend & seasonal components by yielding dynamic change of values from time t to t+1. This fuzzy computing time series model is designed by joint consideration of three key points (1) Event discretization of time series data (2) Frequency density based partitioning (3) Creation of Fuzzy logical relationships in optimized way. Subsequently, performance of the proposed model is demonstrated and compared with some of the pre-existing forecasting methods on same outpatient data. In general, findings of the study are interesting and superior in terms of least Average Forecasting Error Rate (AFER) and Mean Square Error (MSE) values.


In the present century, ecosystems across the globe will be subject to profound changes in climate. Forests are expected to be particularly sensitive to such change as the long life span of trees limits the potential for rapid adaptation. In order to preserve commercial viability and the essential ecosystem services provided by forests, there has been much interest in strategies for managing the adaptation of trees to their climatic environment. Climate Matching has emerged as one such strategy, whereby climate models are used to identify provenances – tree populations at a particular locality - with seed expected to be well adapted to the future conditions of a particular planting site. Debate continues about the feasibility and merit of this and other approaches, but it has yet to be demonstrated that the underlying assumptions of Climate Matching are valid for focal European tree species. Furthermore, a potentially major omission thus far has been consideration of how the Climate Matching strategy might influence associated organisms. Given the widely demonstrated bottom-up effects of foundation species genotype that have emerged from the field of community genetics, it is possible that planting seed of non-local provenance could effect forest organisms such as insect herbivores. In this thesis, I investigate the underlying assumptions of Climate Matching and its community level consequences using a model system of cynipid oak galls on Quercus petraea.
Following a general introduction to Climate Matching and the study system, in Chapter 2 I use data from a provenance trial of Q. petraea in France to explore a central assumption of the Climate Matching strategy: that provenances of focal tree species show climate associated variation in adaptive phenotypic traits. In Chapter 3, I explore correlations between these phenotypic traits and the abundance, diversity, and community composition of an associated guild of specialist gall-inducing herbivores. Tree phenological traits in particular showed strong patterns of adaptation to climatic gradients, and influenced the abundance and community structure of galling species. However, as the response to non-local tree provenances was not strongly negative, it was considered unlikely that mixed planting of local and Climate Matched provenances would have sever impact on the gallwasp community.
Having assessed the bottom-up effects of provenance phenotypic variation on the galling community, my ultimate aim is to extend analysis to include associated hymenopteran inquilines and parasitoids. However, interpretation of effects at this level is hindered by taxonomic uncertainty, with a growing appreciation that morpho-taxa may not represent independently evolving lineages (i.e. 'true' species). In Chapters 4 & 5 I therefore develop approaches for addressing taxonomic uncertainty with this ultimate aim in mind. In Chapter 4, I apply a DNA barcoding approach to parasitoid and inquiline specimens reared from the provenance trial, and compare taxa based on barcodes with those based on morphology to identify points of taxonomic uncertainty. I also investigate the extent to which networks based on morphological and molecular taxa support contrasting conclusions of network properties. In Chapter 5 I explore the potential for molecular based resolution of species level taxonomic error in a challenging group of parasitoids: the genus Cecidostiba. Beginning with a framework of single locus DNA barcoding, I use data from multiple nuclear loci to reveal the existence of cryptic species.
Finally, in Chapter 6 I explore the practicalities of Climate Matching in light of my empirical results, and suggest fruitful avenues for further research.


Malnutrition, though uncommon in developed countries, continues to be a major health burden in developing countries. Malnutrition, consisting of protein-energy malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies, is globally the most important risk factor for morbidity and mortality. Particularly, hundreds of millions of pregnant women and young children are affected by malnutrition. Forty five percent of all deaths in children fewer than 5 years of age are attributed to under nutrition. In 2012, it was estimated that 26% of the world's children were stunted and about 3% were severely wasted. In the past decade, discourse about the challenge of malnutrition has increased substantially at both national and international levels. Definition, prevalence, causes and challenges associated with reducing malnutrition (undernutrition) in children, pregnant women and the elderly will be covered briefly in this review. Emphasis of this review is on prevalence and prevention of malnutrition in pregnant women and children. *Corresponding Author: Yasmin Neggers, Department of Human Nutrition, The University of Alabama, Box 870311, Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487-0311, Tel: 205-348-4706; E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com


[Excerpt] Why should academic institutions or their faculty care about the end of mandatory retirement for tenured faculty, which became effective in January 1994? From the perspective of an individual tenured faculty member who wants to continue her career beyond age seventy, the elimination is a welcome event. In the past, faculty members who wanted to remain active after reaching seventy had to negotiate their status with institutions that were under no legal obligation to allow them to continue. Now, however, tenured faculty members have the legal right to continue indefinitely in their tenured appointments. From the point of view of an academic institution, the elimination imposes two types of costs. First, to the extent that some faculty members at an institution postpone their retirements, the flow of new faculty into an institution will diminish. Fewer new hires means fewer faculty with fresh perspectives and ideas. Fewer new hires also reduces an institution's ability to diversify its faculty along gender, racial, and ethnic lines. And fewer new hires can make it difficult for an institution to shift faculty re-sources into exciting new areas of inquiry. Second, retirements generate funds for salary increases for continuing faculty, because most full professors are replaced by lower-paid assistant professors. The difference between the salary of a retiring full professor and that of his replacement can be distributed to other faculty members in the form of salary increases. Postponement of retirements at an institution reduces the amount of such funds available in a year, and the institution must either make up the difference with other funds or reduce the salary increase that it provides for its faculty.


This book aims to expand the international discourse by: Calling attention to a broader range of knowledge that has commercial potential in developing countries. Bringing an economic dimension into the discussion of traditional knowledge, where legal analysis has thus far been at the forefront. Bringing out the incentives for and concerns of poor people-which may be different from those of corporate research, Northern nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), or already successful entertainment stars. Demonstrating that the best answer is sometimes a commercial one, for example, providing musicians basic training in small business management or reform of regulations that burden small businesses, rather than obtaining formal patent or copyright protection. Calling attention to the many income-earning (rather than the income-using) dimensions of culture-to dispel the notion that culture and commerce are necessarily in opposition. Bringing out instances in which more or less standard legal approaches have been effective as an antidote to the general sense of conflict between traditional knowledge and normal legal conceptions so as to identify the problems in which legal innovation-beyond diligent application-is really needed. Imbuing into the discourse a sense of the legal and commercial tasks needed to solve a developmental problem-away from "knowledge" as an isolated legal issue.


The feasibility of a bench-scale system for removal and recovery of phosphorus (P) as struvite from CO2-rich wastewater was tested. A continuous 12 L reactor system combining a fluidized seedbed and aeration for pH increase was developed and tested using synthetic feed. For a 100 mL min(-1) influent rate, an aeration and recycle rate combination of 7 L min(-1) and 700 mL min(-1) was sufficient for increasing and maintaining the reactor pH from 6.7 to between 7.6 and 8.0. Significant P removal was achieved in 6 h runs without a seedbed (91-92%), while neither the struvite nor sand seedbeds improved P removal (91-96%). Struvite was recovered in all runs, with additional calcium (Ca) precipitation in the seedbed runs. Reactor operation was possible for an extended period of time, up to 46 h without any major adjustment during long-term run. The average P removal was 88%, and precipitate collected after 24 h was found to be mainly struvite, while the final precipitate had a Ca: total phosphorus molar ratio of 0.56 and also contained calcite. This study has demonstrated the technical feasibility of an aerated crystallization reactor system for chemical-free struvite removal and recovery from CO2-rich wastewater such as stored livestock manure.


Interior of the main terminal building, view where one leaves for the gates; The lead member of the design team, the New York firm of Kohn Pedersen Fox, considered two historical regional influences when they designed the new terminal: the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright, and the importance of aviation and flight to the region. They envisioned a crystalline structure symbolizing flight - and that vision became a reality. Some 27,000 square feet of glass dominate the 350-foot-wide lobby with its 50-foot ceiling and arching walls. When looked at from the air, the terminal itself looks like a giant aircraft poised for flight. Within the main Gateway concourse, a unique 13,000 square foot work of art has been created on the floor with multicolored terrazzo tiles depicting the history of the region from a geological and sociological perspective. Created by Oregon artist and sculptor Robert E. Calvo, the woven pattern in the center of the design serves as a metaphor for the region, which was created out of the influences of many divergent events. Since its opening, the BNIA terminal has expanded both the east and west concourse facility. These expansions have increased the total number of gates from 15 to 25. Source: Buffalo Niagara International Airport [website]; http://www.buffaloairport.com/about_bnia/ (accessed 12/2/2007)


Abstract Since its original description, the theraphosid spider genus Crassicrus Reichling & West, 1996 has not been revised and no new species have been described. While reviewing material deposited in the Mexican National Collection of Arachnids (National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico City) and the American Museum of Natural History (New York, USA), we encountered specimens corresponding to four new species of Crassicrus from Mexico. In this revision, we include a redescription of the genus and its type species, C. lamanai Reichling & West, 1996, and describe four new species: C. bidxigui, C. tochtli, C. cocona, and C. yumkimil. Species habitat data are provided, as well as identification keys for males and females. In addition, new keels on the male embolus were identified and are described. In the Theraphosinae, the presence of one retrolateral keel has been reported, but in Crassicrus, there are two or three retrolateral keels, and a new taxonomical nomenclature for these keels is proposed. The genus Crassicrus is recorded from Mexico for the first time, increasing the number of known theraphine genera in the country to 16.


Brian Leiter* I. INTRODUCTION In its 1923 decision in Frye u. United States,l the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia set out what was, for seventy years, the most influential test for the admissibility of scientific evidence in federal court. In Frye, the question was whether the results of a lie detector test were admissible on behalf of the defense. The Court of Appeals agreed with the trial court that such evidence was inadmissible, famously holding, that scientific evidence "must be sufficiently established to have gained general acceptance in the particular field in which it belongs."2 In 1993, the United States Supreme Court ended Frye's reign of influence with its decision in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc.3 Holding that Federal Rule of Evidence 702,4 governing the admissibility of scientific evidence, did not codify Frye's "general acceptance" test,5 the Court went on to say that the key question was whether any proffered piece of evidence constituted "scientific knowledge" within the meaning of the Rule.' The Court then enumerated a nonexclusive list of factors for courts to consider in assessing whether proffered evidence constitutes "scientific knowledge": for example, whether the theory on which the evidence is based is "falsifiable" (in Karl Popper's sense);' whether "the theory or technique has been subjected to peer review"; and whether the theory enjoys "general acceptance."' Since Daubert, trial judges must now weigh a complex set of philosophical and methodological factors in deciding upon the admissibility of proffered scientific evidence, rather than falling back upon the simple proxy of "general acceptance." The Supreme Court's repudiation of Frye as the exclusive test for admissibility of scientific evidence has already generated substantial scholarly literature.9 From a philosophical standpoint, the most interesting recent discussion has been Heidi Feldman's argument that Daubert's rejection of Frye and its broadening of the criteria for admissibility serve to bring the Federal Rules of Evidence more in line with what Feldman dubs "revised empiricist" philosophy of science, and thus with actual scientific practice.lo Feldman commends this move toward a "more scientific approach to admissibility,"" especially because its consequence will be, according to Feldman, a greater recognition of scientific uncertainty, especially in the area of mass tort litigation.l2 In this Article, I take issue with Professor Feldman's argument. For even if "revised empiricist" philosophy of science were the dominant, or even the correct, philosophy of science, there would be no reason to think admissibility standards ought to conform to it: Feldman seems to confuse the philosopher's question, "What is the best account of scientific method?" with the lawyer's question, "What is the best criterion for judges to use in deciding the admissibility of scientific evidence?" Yet the philosopher can provide the lawyer with good epistemological reasons for keeping these questions separate-reasons that Feldman ignores or downplays. Philosophy of science and the rules of evidence are both concerned with "epistemic norms": norms for how scientists should form beliefs in the former case; norms for how juries should form beliefs about disputed matters of fact in the latter case. A central theme of contemporary "naturalized" epistemology has been the need to tailor our normative advice about belief formation to the realities of how epistemic processes-processes for the acquisition of knowledge-work, whether they involve individual mechanisms (e.g. perception) or social mechanisms (e.g. trials).l3 In particular, norms for belief formation must be sensitive to the epistemic limits of would-be knowers: that is, the handicaps-intellectual, cognitive, temporal, material-that all real knowers operate under. If scientific knowers differ, as of course they do, from the "knowers" that comprise juries and that sit on the bench, then it should be surprising, from the perspective of naturalized epistemology, that the same norms for belief-formation should apply to both groups. …


We constructed a type of sensor by depositing a solgel layer within the interior holes of a silica-structured fiber and, subsequently, coating this with an acid-responsive porphyrin. Protonation of the porphyrin by an acidic gas (HCl in this case), is detected by a large change in the visible spectrum. Compared to previous work on a liquid-core sensor in a structured optical fiber, the signal-to-noise ratio of this gas sensor shows a reduced signal strength, but the detection rate is increased about fortyfold.


Abstract:  Many fishing methods and gear types used in coral reefs cause physical damage to the reef substratum. Only recently have monofilament fishing lines been recognized as a cause of coral damage and death. We assessed the extent of damage caused by monofilament fishing lines to the cauliflower coral ( Pocillopora meandrina) colonies in fished and adjacent unfished zones at seven sites in the main Hawaiian islands. We examined coral colonies for the presence or absence of fishing line and for the degree of damage (dead, no live coral surface; damaged, some dead coral surface; or intact, no dead coral surface) in nine 25‐m2 grids. The mean proportion of colonies entangled with fishing lines in fished zones ranged from 0.18 to 0.44. The mean proportion of dead or damaged colonies was higher in fished than adjacent unfished zones, and there was a positive linear relationship between the proportion of colonies entangled with fishing lines and the proportion of dead or damaged colonies. These results indicate that monofilament fishing lines have a negative impact on the health and survival of P. meandrina colonies. Because tourism and related recreational fishing activities are expanding rapidly in many tropical states and nations, we recommend that the degrading effects of fishing lines on corals be considered in the design and management of tourism development.


For those concerned with the sustainability of today's land development patterns, there looms an unfortunate yet eye-opening reality: presently, if a developer wants to develop a project similar to classic American communities such as Charleston, Savannah, Key West, or Alexandria, in most jurisdictions, doing so would be illegal under existing zoning codes. Similarly, if a developer sought to develop a neighborhood with a traditional corner store or a classic American main street where the shopkeeper lived about her shop, many existing zoning codes would legally prohibit such a result. The stark reality is that, in most jurisdictions within the United States, traditional town and neighborhood planning techniques are illegal because many of today's conventional zoning codes either prevent their use expressly or by effect. And, even worse, this is not a recent phenomenon but rather the result of an outdated zoning scheme that dates back to the early 1900s. A zoning system that, as this article will show, has now outlived much of its original purpose and usefulness. Fortunately, a growing group of land planners and attorneys have developed a comprehensive legal response to this unsustainable reality - a response whose leading purpose is to legalize the use traditional planning techniques in our regions, communities, neighborhoods, and streets. Known as the SmartCode and developed by leading town planner Andres Duany, this response is not simply an abstract theory or proposal, but rather an actual regulatory document that can be adopted by local jurisdictions to enable the legal use of traditional planning techniques. At its core, the SmartCode is "a fundamentally different vision of how cities should be coded" as it codifies many of the traditional planning techniques that today are advocated by the New Urbanism movement - techniques such as mixing uses, utilizing interconnected street networks, and designing compact, walkable, and environmentally-sustainable communities. This article will analyze the format of the SmartCode and, since the SmartCode is a model code that must be legally customized for local jurisdictions, the article will further explain the legal steps that communities must take in order to implement the SmartCode as a zoning option. While doing so, the article will also examine how the strict Euclidean structure of today's conventional zoning codes has necessitated the creation of the SmartCode in order to allow communities to legally utilize traditional town and neighborhood planning techniques.


The study assessed the quality of stream water of the watershed within the Community-Based Forest Management (CBFM) Project in Cienda, Gabas, Baybay, Leyte, Philippines. Results showed that, on the average, streamflow velocity was 0.30m/sec, streamflow volume 0.32m3/sec, turbidity 2.96 ntu and the associated sediments 16.0 mg/ L. Odor and taste were unobjectionable. pH ranged from 7.50 to 7.0 while total hardness from 7.84 to 15.16 mg/L. The average nitrite (NO2) content was 11.115mg/L while nitrate (NO3) was 1.05 mg/L. The concentration of nutrients was also very low. Phosphorous (P) ranged only from 2.20 to 4.46 mg/kg or parts per million (ppm) while potassium (K) ranged from 3.71 to 3.90 ppm. Sodium (Na), calcium (Ca), and magnesium (Mg) concentrations were also very low. Heavy metals were detected but also at low concentrations.


Obesity is a preventable cause of morbidity and mortality and affects over one-third of the American adult population. Eating rate and ghrelin concentrations are two variables that may play a role in obesity. An ancillary study of female college students examined the differences in eating rate (grams/second) and fasting plasma ghrelin concentrations (pg/mL) between weight status categories (normal weight body mass index (BMI) = 18.5-24.9 kg/m 2 , overweight BMI = 25-29.9 kg/m 2 and obese BMI ≥ 30 kg/m 2 ). Anthropometrics, clinical (blood pressure), and biochemical (glucose and ghrelin) data were assessed. Dietary information was obtained from three non-consecutive 24-hour recalls using the multiple pass method in conjunction with the Nutrition Data System for Research. Physical activity was assessed using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire Short Form. Primary outcomes were assessed using a one-way analysis of variance. Mean age, BMI and waist circumference for the 78 participants were 18.8±0.9 years, 27.9±5.5 kg/m 2 , and 87.4±13.9 inches, respectively. Mean eating rate and ghrelin concentrations were 0.26±0.13 grams (gms)/second and 216.2±269.9 pg/mL, respectively. Mean energy intake, food intake and physical activity were 1,731.9±507.1 kcals, 6,365.2±2,590.5 gms, and 2,542.6±2,107.5 MET-minutes/week, respectively. Mean energy density was 1.25±0.3 kcal/gm. There were no differences (p=0.49) in eating rate across weight status categories. Ghrelin concentrations were significantly different between overweight and obese groups; 217.1±106.6 vs. 150.1±77.4 pg/mL (p<0.05). Future studies in the college-aged population are warranted to determine the nature of these relationships in providing a basis for future studies in targets for weight maintenance and energy homeostasis.


OBJECTIVE
The aims of this study were to (1) determine recognition of and self-reported concern regarding alcohol poisoning symptoms versus other alcohol-related behaviors among students turning 21 years old, (2) assess the frequency of helping behavior among students in situations where peers display alcohol poisoning symptoms, (3) assess sources from which students seek help, and (4) consider reasons why students report reluctance to seek help.

METHOD
Students (N = 306; 50% male) completed a Web-based self-report assessment during the week before their 21 st birthday focusing on drinking behavior, alcohol-related consequences, concern for symptoms of alcohol poisoning, and observations of and experience with helping behavior.

RESULTS
Results indicated most students report having helped another student with symptoms of alcohol poisoning and show concern about the symptoms. Students most often seek help from other students and parents. When students do not help their peers, it is most often because of the perception that help is not needed. Heavier drinkers report a greater likelihood to help a peer showing symptoms of alcohol poisoning.

CONCLUSIONS
Prevention professionals should incorporate students, friends, and parents in interventions that provide knowledge and helping strategies for alcohol poisoning symptoms. In addition, prevention efforts regarding alcohol poisoning should focus on heavy drinkers, as they are most likely to be in situations requiring help. Finally, administrators implementing medical amnesty policies should couple those policies with educational strategies aimed at recognition of alcohol poisoning symptoms.


This study concerns the gravity-driven two-dimensional laminar flow of a thin layer of fluid down a wavy inclined surface. Three mathematical models describing the unsteady two-dimensional flow evolution are presented and contrasted. The first is a shallow-water model, while the other two are integral-boundarylayer models representing non-hydrostatic approximations to the two-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations, which are valid for thin fluid layers. Various tests and simulations were conducted in order to assess the performance of the models. First, the instability threshold for the flat bottom case associated with each model was analytically determined and compared with the theoretical prediction based on the Navier-Stokes equations. Also for the flat bottom case, comparisons in neutral stability curves were made with existing experimental data. In addition, comparisons between two-dimensional numerical solutions of the full Navier-Stokes equations, obtained using the CFX software package, with simulations from the models were also investigated for a wavy bottom case. The wavy surface considered in this study corresponds to that of a sinusoidal profile. The emerging interfacial wave structure along with the combined effect of bottom topography and surface tension are discussed. Finally, critical Reynolds number predictions for cases including bottom topography are compared to existing experimental data.


This manual deals with the practical implementation of a routine data collection programme. This programme is developed through a top-down approach, from the identification of the objectives down to the practical recording and management of data obtained from the fishery. The issues are dealt with through both detailed discussion and by using simple examples. These examples are mostly based on situations in tropical fisheries and, in particular, experience has been drawn from developing a data collection programme in Viet Nam. The main questions addressed in the manual are which fisheries data to collect, where and when to collect them. Only data collected from commercial marine capture fisheries are considered (data from freshwater fisheries, cultured fish and experimental fisheries are excluded). The methodologies used are mainly appropriate for a tropical developing country with many small (artisanal) vessels and a few large (industrial) vessels. The methodology is the "sample-based approach" - the manual does not deal with a methodology that assumes complete enumeration. The data collection methodology presented attempts to utilize whatever information can be obtained in practice in a developing country.


Background The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), the first WHO treaty, entered into force in 2005. In April 2015, a seven-member independent expert group (EG) was established by a decision of the FCTC Conference of the Parties to assess the impact of the Treaty in its first decade. One component of the EG's methodology was to gather evidence on WHO FCTC impact from Parties themselves. This paper presents findings from 12 country missions on how the FCTC impacted progress on tobacco control. Methods Between November 2015 and May 2016, EG members conducted missions in 12 countries representing each of the six WHO regions and the four World Bank economic development levels. In each country, the EG interviewed a broad range of stakeholders to assess the extent to which the FCTC had contributed to tobacco control. The primary objective was to assess whether tobacco control measures would have been developed or passed, or implemented at all, or as quickly, if there had been no FCTC. Through this counterfactual inquiry, the EG sought to determine the FCTC's causal role. Conclusion The FCTC was reported to have made contributions along the entire policy/regulation process: the development of a measure, building legislative and political support for a measure and its implementation. These stakeholder perspectives support the conclusion that the FCTC has played a pivotal role in accelerating and strengthening the implementation of tobacco control measures, although tobacco industry interference continues to be a significant obstacle to further advancement.


Critics claim that Supreme Court nominees have become more evasive in recent decades and that Senate confirmation hearings lack real substance. Conducting a line-by-line analysis of the confirmation hearing of every nominee since 1955--an original dataset of nearly 11,000 questions and answers from testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee--Dion Farganis and Justin Wedeking discover that nominees are far more forthcoming than generally assumed. Applying an original scoring system to assess each nominee's testimony based on the same criteria, they show that some of the earliest nominees were actually less willing to answer questions than their contemporary counterparts. Factors such as changes in the political culture of Congress and the 1981 introduction of televised coverage of the hearings have created the impression that nominee candour is in decline. Further, senators' votes are driven more by party and ideology than by a nominee's responsiveness to their questions. Moreover, changes in the confirmation process intersect with increasing levels of party polarisation as well as constituents' more informed awareness and opinions of recent Supreme Court nominees.


Introduction - Intra-hospital or hospital infections are caused by organisms acquired during hospitalization of the patient and clinically manifest from 48 to 72 hours after their administration. Disinfection procedures, type and quantity of used disinfectant is directly related to the effects of their use.
Objective – The aim of this study was to review of the use of antiseptics and disinfectants in selected hospitals in Republic of Macedonia over five years period, to make analysis of the amount of antiseptics and disinfectants consumed annually on each department in hospitals, to analyze of the total amount of consumed antiseptics and disinfectants in selected hospitals for five years and to compare the results to the microbiological data conducted periodically in each department in hospitals in Strumica, Ohrid, Veles, Stip and Kavadarci for five years.
Materials and Methods - Data from the annual reports collected from hospitals in Strumica, Ohrid, Veles, Stip and Kavadarci over five years were used. Data from annual reports for disinfectants and antiseptics (Bactosal, Ecosal, Dezintal, Betadine, Hydrogen peroxide, Formaldehyde, Ethanol) used on the selected departments for gynecology, surgery and transfusion were collected. Data from annual reports collected from public health centers in Strumica, Ohrid, Veles, Stip and Kavadarci over five years were used. Routine testing period for microbiological controls in hospitals was 15 days.
Results - The results indicate a significant reduction of contamination with conditionally pathogenic bacteria when disinfection is conducted according to the standardized procedures controlled by the IHI times established in each hospital from 2012. The number of conditionally pathogenic bacteria detected is reduced starting from 2012. The reduction of the quantity of disinfectant used is also noted from 2012.
Conclusions - In general disinfectants and antiseptics are used optimally and correctly according to the needs of the hospitals investigated. The amount of disinfectants and antiseptics consumed comparing with the microbiological data indicates their rational utilization starting from 2012. Use of disinfectants according to the standardized procedures established by the IHI times allows current daily care for patients and staff in the hospitals investigated. The processed data from public health centers in Strumica, Ohrid, Veles, Stip and Kavadarci confirm the above and point out the precautions to be taken when conditionally pathogenic bacteria have been detected. It is pointed out the role of IHI times in the hospitals, as well as the role of hospital pharmacists. We would like to suggest the implementation of disinfection process validation as standardization measure as well as more often routine microbiological controls in the hospitals.


This book aims to investigate the way in which personality rights are protected in China through a comparative and cross-cultural lens drawing on perspectives from Europe and elsewhere in the world. Currently, the question whether or not to incorporate a special law on personal rights – the right to life, the right to health, and the rights to reputation and privacy – into a future Chinese Civil Code is heatedly debated in the Chinese legal community. The essential topics that are addressed in this book include general issues of personality rights, personality rights in Constitutional law, personality rights in private law, the legislative development of personality rights in China, case studies of the right to privacy, personality rights in the mass media and the internet, competition law aspects of the right of publicity, the protection of patients' personal information, and personality rights in the family context. The book offers a broad investigation of personality rights protection in both China and Europe and provides the first substantive comparison of the Chinese and European regimes. The project is conceived as a joint effort on the part of a carefully chosen team of Chinese and European academics, working closely together. The team consists of both senior scholars and young researchers led by well-known experts in the field of comparative tort law.


We present a simulation/experimental study to evaluate and optimize the focusing capabilities of a phased array prototype when excited by multiple-frequency components. A multiple-focus multiple-frequency pattern synthesis algorithm for phased arrays has been developed and tested using linear simulations in Matlab. The algorithm maintains the precise phase relationship between the frequency components at each focal spot to achieve a desirable therapeutic outcome. Preliminary simulations indicate that the focal region can be shaped based on the alignment and phase of multiple-frequency components. The pattern synthesis algorithm is experimentally validated with a 3.5 MHz, 64-element prototype designed for small-animal and superficial therapeutic HIFU applications (Imasonic, Inc) which has a 52% fractional bandwidth, allowing for therapeutic output in the frequency range of 2.7-4.6 MHz. Validation with hydrophone measurements at the focal locations showed that there is in increase in harmonic generation at the focal point with the frequency mixed patterns when compared to a conventional single frequency excitation pattern. This increased non-linearity, will allow for increased thermal absorption at the focal point, thus allowing for larger treatment volumes with the same total power or reduced treatment time per shot when compared to the single frequency case. Ex vivo experiments with fresh porcine liver were conducted to study the effect of multiple-frequency patterns when compared with conventional single frequency patterns during lesion formation. The lesion size was increased for the multiple-frequency patterns when compared the single frequency pattern at normalized power with respect to each other. In conclusion, wideband piezocomposite array transducers, together with multi-channel arbitrary waveform generators are enabling technologies which allow for complex, multiple-focus, multiple-frequency HIFU patterns. These patterns can enhanced the focal gain with proper phase alignment. Furthermore, multiple frequency patterns have been shown to be able to increase the harmonic generation at the focal spot, thus improving local absorption. Our early results with ex vivo porcine liver indicate that multiple frequency excitation can enhance the therapeutic gain at the focal points.


Article I of the American Constitution vests all legislative powers granted therein to a Congress which consists of two chambers: a Senate composed of two Senators from each state elected, after 1913, by the people in statewide elections, and a House of Representatives. (1) The Article specifies three rules regarding the elective process of members to the House. Section 2 provides that the number of representatives to be elected from each state shall be apportioned by Congress to the states on a population basis and that the representatives shall be chosen by the people of the several states. Section 4 states that times, places and manner of holding elections for representatives "shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof, but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations ..." (2) The Framers were not unaware of the difficulties attendant to drafting an equitable election law and believed that under the concept of federalism and inherent differences in national and state interests, a discretionary power ought to reside in one or the other legislative bodies. (3) Alexander Hamilton, in The Federalist, saw the need for compromise on who would have the constitutional authority to regulate elections: It will, I presume, be readily conceded that there are only three ways in which this power [regulating the right to vote] could have been reasonably modified and disposed: that it must either have been lodged entirely in the national legislatures, or wholly in the state legislatures, or primarily in the latter and ultimately in the former. The last mode has, with reason, been preferred by the Convention ... but they have reserved to the national authority a right to interpose, whenever extraordinary circumstances might render that interpretation necessary to its safety. (4) Although the Framers of the Constitution considered the right of the people to vote one of the fundamental articles of a republican form of government, no other singular constitutional term has engendered a higher political furor or created more disparate U.S. Supreme Court decisions than the controversies that surround the right to vote. (5) Legal commentators and political scientists for decades have inveighed against perceived voting abuses in apportionment cases as unconstitutional artifices enacted by state legislatures to dilute the voting strength of other political groups to protect an incumbency or advantageously affect the election of favored candidates. A historical review of the Supreme Court's response to the controversy and restatement of current law on the subject present a perplexing study of one of the most fundamental and seemingly inviolate rights of the people in a democratic government. (6) The controversy is centered generally on one of the structural principles of the Constitution, the doctrine of separation of powers. In its most dogmatic form, the doctrine is based on the notion of three distinct functions of government that ought to be exercised respectively by three separate branches of government, which should be equal and mutually independent. (7) Montesquieu joined the notion to the idea of a "mixed constitution" of "checks and balances;" it being desirable, the celebrated political philosopher said, to divide the powers of government, first, in order to keep to a minimum the powers lodged in any single organ of government; and secondly, in order to be able to oppose organ to organ. (8) Historically, the legislative and the executive branches of government under the Constitution were the political branches with whose exercise of constitutional and political powers granted to them, the judiciary would not interfere. It was not within the province of the Courts to inquire into the policies underlying action taken by the political branches in the exercise of their constitutionally conceded powers. (9) In 1803 in Marbury v. …


A newly discovered ammonite faunule from the Padern region of the southern Corbieres in southern France includes representatives of typical northwest European Upper Turonian species Subprionocyclus cf. neptuni (Geinitz, 1850) and Lewesiceras cf. woodi Wright 1979, tethyan/ northwestern Pacific species Phyllopachyceras cf. ezoense (Yokoyama, 1890), Anagaudryceras involvulum (Stoliczka, 1865) and, Desmoceras ( Pseudouhligella ) sp., together with Coilopoceras inflatum Cobban and Hook, 1980, a species previously known only from New Mexico in the United States, where it is regarded as Middle Turonian. The faunule occurs above one with Romaniceras ( R .) mexicanum Jones, 1938 and Coilopoceras springeri Hyatt, 1903, also originally described from New Mexico and northern Mexico, and recently described from the Uchaux massif in Vaucluse in southern France. The records suggest that the base of the Upper Turonian may be drawn at different, higher level in the United States Western Interior than in Europe. The coming together of these mixed faunal elements may be a result of high sea levels, and changing oceanic circulation patterns.


Abstract Research shows that minority populations underutilize counseling services and have high dropout rates (Hser Evans Huang & Anglin 2004; King & Canada 2004). Additionally counselor behavior is directly related to treatment outcomes (Okiishi et al. 2006; Okiishi Lambert Nielson & Ogles 2003). That is counselors with good rapport building skills have better client outcomes. This study explored the relationship between client race and counselor behavior. The study participants were 5 student case managers/counselors and 10 clients at a substance abuse intensive outpatient program. In an attempt to control extraneous variables all counselors selected were Caucasian. Three counselors were males and two were females. All clients selected were males two Caucasian and two African American. Data was collected by accessing archived counseling sessions recorded as part of the program's clinical service. Counselor use of reflective listening skills was coded by two independent raters using the Motivational Interviewing Skills Code (MISC) 2.0 (Miller Moyers Ernst & Amrhein 2003). A paired-sample t test was used to analyze the differences in group means. The results showed that counselors used more reflective listening behaviors with Caucasian clients versus African American clients.


Background & Objectives: Elevated apolipoprotein B-100 and decreased Plasma HDL due to hypertriglyceridemia are common abnormalities in insulin-resistant subjects that increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of 8 weeks progressive aerobic exercise (AE) on blood glucose, lipid and lipoprotein profile, and aerobic power in adults with type 2 diabetes. Methods: Twenty nine women with type 2 diabetes (mean age 43.4 ± 1.7 years and blood glucose range of 150 to 230 mg/dl ) were divided into a control (n=14) and exercise (n=15) groups. Exercise group participated in an aerobic training program 3 times per week for 8 weeks. The intensity of aerobic exercise was 60–75% of HR max. The control subjects were asked not to alter their physical activity patterns. All subjects underwent anthropometric, lipid profile and aerobic power evaluation, at the baseline and 48 hours after last session training. Following a 12 h overnight fasting, a venous blood sample was drawn for the analysis of total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), high density lipoprotein (HDL), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), and (apoB100). Paired t test and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) were used to analyze the data. Results: Significant improvement was observed in FBS, aerobic power, percent body fat, (Apo) B-100 and triglycerides ( p < 0.05) for the exercise compared with the control group after training. No significant difference was observed in TC, LDL and HDL between two groups. Conclusion: According to our findings moderate intensity physical exercise can be effective in preventing the atherosclerosis via significant improvement in blood sugar, cardiovascular endurance, Apo B-100 and triglyceride in patients with type 2 diabetes.


Although skin disease and musculoskeletal disorders are believed to be common among nursing home workers, to date there have been no coordinated international studies of these occupational issues. Therefore, it was considered appropriate to conduct one of the first cross-cultural investigations of occupational dermatology and ergonomic complaints among nursing home workers in Australia, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan using a standardised methodology. This thesis documents a 4-year investigation of skin disease and musculoskeletal disorders conducted among 465 nursing home staff in Australia, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. Skin diseases were diagnosed by specialist physicians during medical examinations, while information on musculoskeletal disorders was collected by means of a self-reported questionnaire. There were major differences in both the location and type of skin disease between the 4 groups. Overall, the Australian group suffered a generally higher prevalence of skin disease than in the other three countries investigated, most likely due to their significantly higher rate of sun-induced skin damage. The high prevalence of cutaneous fungal disease seen within the Taiwanese subjects most probably arose from the comparatively higher temperature and relative humidity of Taiwan. Other potentially important skin disease risk factors included previous skin disease and a history of allergy, both of which are consistent with current knowledge. Although musculoskeletal disorders were found to be most prevalent among the Japanese nursing home staff at almost all body sites, the reasons for this are not clear. It may have related to a generally higher musculoskeletal rate, or a higher degree of self-reporting on their questionnaires. Individual MSD risk factors included moving patients, washing patients, working as an assistant nurse and daily alcohol consumption. Interestingly, MSD was found to be a co-factor for current skin disease. Overall, this study indicated that certain occupational health issues consistently affect nursing home staff in the 4 countries, but the prevalence and rank order varies from nation to nation. It was also shown that nursing home work incurs a reasonable degree of risk and that skin disease and musculoskeletal disorders are important occupational issues within these facilities.


The paper is an edited version of a public address at the opening of the Theology Faculty of the Stellenbosch University on the 3rd February 2008. It deals with the confessional language used by the church to describe the work and effects of the Holy Scriptures in the church. Arguing that such an approach is not completely unknown in the Reformed tradition, where for example Bavinck and Berkouwer made contributions of this nature, the paper provides a brief overview of some of the popular descriptions (which could be called speech-acts in contemporary language) of the role of Scripture in the life of faith. Reflecting on such descriptions, a brief discussion is focused on the question what the implications could be for so-called responsible hermeneutics in the life of the church.


The following guide is meant to act as a starting point for your research and is not inclusive of all resources available. As always you are responsible for the quality of resources used.


It is well known that the peak of black body radiation depends on the adopted description, whether as a function of frequency or wavelength. This paper is a pedagogical exposition of how to write and estimate Planck's distribution spectrum on two distinct spectrograph scales. We show that the emitted power of the Black Body maximum is unique and does not coincide with the peak measured whether in frequency or wavelength. We then make a generalization with other distribution functions in order to further clarify the apparent issue.


Readers quickly become motivated to learn C++ with popular author Diane Zak's distinctive emphasis on the importance of C++ programming skills in business today. AN INTRODUCTION TO PROGRAMMING WITH C++, 7E distinguishes itself from all other C++ instructional books with its unique, reader-focused approach. Memorable new examples demonstrate concepts in action while a wealth of hands-on unique exercises allow readers to apply concepts as they progress. The book's visually-driven presentation clarifies concepts with useful IPO charts, flowcharts and code examples throughout. New videos and PDF files for each chapter demonstrate how readers can complete exercises using various compilers. Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 is also available with the book as an optional bundle. Trust AN INTRODUCTION TO PROGRAMMING WITH C++, 7E to stay engaged and enthusiastic about mastering the skills of C++ today.


The present study focuses on climate change and water resources. Its objectives are: (i) to understand the perceptions of climate change by water managers responsible for the French Water Development and Management Schemes (SAGEs); and (ii) to determine whether or not these managers consider this phenomenon in their management of water resources. The analysis is mainly based on interviewees' spatio-temporal evaluation of these two environmental issues. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 49 people in France. The interviews were transcribed and analysed both manually and via a computer-assisted content analysis. The results show that for water, the major problem is 'quality', an issue that is known (i.e. defined by its social, spatial and temporal dimensions), whereas for climate change, this is defined by global warming, drought, or extreme events which are not regularly perceived or locally situated. This indicates that water managers recognize the existence of both issues and the relationships between them. However, because these problems are perceived at different temporal and spatial scales, it seems that these managers find it difficult to incorporate measures into their day-to-day decision-making that take into account the effects of climate change.


Suppose two people commit the same crime and are sentenced to equal terms in the same prison facility. I argue that they have identical punishments in name only. One may experience incarceration as challenging but tolerable while the other is thoroughly tormented by it. Even though people vary substantially in their experiences of punishment, our sentencing laws pay little attention to such differences.I make two central claims: First, a successful justification of punishment must take account of offenders' subjective experiences when assessing punishment severity. Second, we have certain obligations to consider actual or anticipated punishment experience at sentencing, at least when we can do so in a cost-effective, administrable manner. Though it may seem impossible or prohibitively expensive to take punishment experience into account, we should not accept this excuse too quickly. In civil litigation, we often make assessments of emotional distress. Even if we cannot calibrate the punishments of individual offenders, we could enact broad policies that are better at taking punishment experience into account than those we have now.I do not argue that more sensitive offenders should receive shorter prison sentences than less sensitive offenders who commit crimes of equal blameworthiness. I do, however, argue that when they are given equal prison terms, more sensitive offenders receive harsher punishments than less sensitive offenders and that it is a mistake to believe that both kinds of offenders receive punishments proportional to their desert.


Deep neural networks can approximate functions on different types of data, from images to graphs, with varied underlying structure. This underlying structure can be viewed as the geometry of the data manifold. By extending recent advances in the theoretical understanding of neural networks, we study how a randomly initialized neural network with piece-wise linear activation splits the data manifold into regions where the neural network behaves as a linear function. We derive bounds on the density of boundary of linear regions and the distance to these boundaries on the data manifold. This leads to insights into the expressivity of randomly initialized deep neural networks on non-Euclidean data sets. We empirically corroborate our theoretical results using a toy supervised learning problem. Our experiments demonstrate that number of linear regions varies across manifolds and the results hold with changing neural network architectures. We further demonstrate how the complexity of linear regions is different on the low dimensional manifold of images as compared to the Euclidean space, using the MetFaces dataset.


The Royal Library as a national library aims to ensure the long-term preservation of all Belgian publications. The law on legal deposit will soon be extended to digital publications. To ensure the long-term preservation of this new kind of collection, it is necessary to work out a preservation plan, covering both the content of the publications and their metadata. The formats of files and metadata are constantly evolving. What is considered long-term sustainability today may not be so in a few years. To anticipate this evolution and to be at the heart of what is happening in this field, the Royal Library positions itself as a proactive actor, discussing with stakeholders such as publishers, and with the various associations which develop standards for digital publishing.

The preservation function of the Royal Library of Belgium concerns the Belgian publications and is not extended to its international scientific collection. However, the transition from paper to electronic resources gives an opportunity to investigate the necessity of long-term access and the preservation of the acquired collection. This includes an analysis of the existing solutions and the current collection. Furthermore an acquisition charter is developed for potentially interesting publications.


The aim of this thesis is to examine the nature of the changes that took place within paper conservation, a section of the practice/occupation of material conservation, in the United Kingdom during the period from 1975 to 2005.

In the 1970s, conservation emerged as a distinct practice within the museum sector from two sources: semi-skilled cleaners and movers of art objects, and the traditional restorers of cultural objects. From then until the end of the century, it continued to grow and mature. The nature of this growth and the changes that took place within it will be modelled with the objective of enabling future changes within conservation to be evaluated.

The evaluation of conservation in this manner will determine its definition as an industry. The changes will be assessed by highlighting their effect on one section of conservation practice, namely paper conservation. This practice concentrates on the conservation of cultural material created using paper, including such categories of artefacts as watercolours, fine art prints, drawings, ephemera, archival materials, books and all paper-based sculpture.

During the period between 1970 and 2000, paper conservation developed from being a fledgling practice to becoming an accepted standard within the museum sector. In becoming so, it placed great emphasis on professionalism. This provided paper conservation with a template for change, a process through which it could develop and grow. Paper conservation embraced this process as a means of providing a set of standards to which it could adhere, but also as a means of garnering greater acceptability for its approach within the wider museum sector. Issues relating to the development of a profession and professionalism will be further explored as part of the literature review. Organisational change was also considered to have a relevance to the development of paper conservation, and this, too, will be explored within the literature review.

Steps to professionalise conservation and subsequent changes in the wider museum sector were seen to have had the most impact on the structure of conservation. They may also have had relevance for the practice itself. Paper conservation was successful in having its occupational aims accepted throughout the museum sector, and this has further implications for those interested in researching by occupations of the professionalisation process. An understanding of the nature of this change, and how paper conservation reached its goal of acceptance for its values, is indispensable for those involved in decision-making within conservation today, and in the future.

The thesis is based on an analysis of documents from the period directly relating to change within the field of conservation. It also includes interviews with personnel who were practising conservators, the providers of conservation education, and officers of the different agencies representing conservation.

Research questions were formed from this analysis, and multiple case studies were undertaken to analyse these questions.


The rapidly growing world population and increasingly dense settlements demand ever-larger and more complex buildings from today's engineers. In comparison to this technological progress, a building's equipment for emergency evacuation has been hardly developed further. This work presents a concept for a building evacuation system based on mobile devices. Furthermore, various algorithms for route planning with mobile devices and for indoor localization of mobile devices are addressed.


PURPOSE
We evaluate the agreement between self-reported physician diagnosed prostatitis and pain questions from the National Institutes of Health Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index (CPSI).

MATERIALS AND METHODS
A randomly selected cohort of white men 47 to 90 years old from Olmsted County, Minnesota completed a study questionnaire on a history of physician diagnosed prostatitis in the preceding 2 years, including the CPSI questions. The medical records were also reviewed for physician diagnosis of chronic prostatitis during the preceding 10 years.

RESULTS
Of 1,543 men 27 (1.7%) reported a physician diagnosis of prostatitis in the preceding 2 years. There were strong associations between self-reported prostatitis and pain at the tip of the penis (OR 6.3, 95% CI 1.4, 28.5), ejaculatory (5.9, CI 1.3, 26.6) and testicular (3.6, 1.2, 10.8) pain. The chance corrected agreement between self-reported prostatitis and pain symptoms was low at 0.01 (pubic pain) to 0.07 (pain at the tip of the penis, ejaculatory pain and testicular pain). Agreement in positive responses was also low at 3.7% (perineal pain) to 8% (pain at the tip of the penis, ejaculatory pain and testicular pain). The predictive value of the modified total CPSI score for prostatitis was 0.67, which was better than chance (0.5). Associations based on medical record ascertainment of prostatitis during followup were weak, and the area under the curve was 0.57, which was no better than chance.

CONCLUSIONS
These findings demonstrate low agreement between CPSI-like pain measures and self-reported physician diagnosed prostatitis. The stronger associations between pain symptoms and self-reported diagnosed prostatitis, and the moderate predictive ability of the modified total CPSI score measures for self-reported prostatitis compared to medical record ascertainment demonstrate the sensitivity of the CPSI to prevalent symptoms. Thus, the tool may be best used to evaluate the severity of current symptoms rather than to assess the presence or absence of prostatitis.


Received: October 2016, Accepted: December 2016 Background: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is resistant to most antibiotics and is an important pathogen of nosocomial infections. The prevalence of community (CA-MRSA) and hospital acquired methicillin-resistant S. aureus (HA-MRSA) infection is increased. In this study we investigated the frequency of MRSA colonization and its antibiotic susceptibility in students of Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Iran. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we evaluated 200 nursing, midwifery and paramedical students. Nasal swabs were taken from all cases and were cultured on a blood medium agar. Methicillin resistance was confirmed using Oxacillin and cefoxcitin disks. Inducible clinadamycin resistance was identified using D-zone test. Demographic and specific information were collected by questionnaire. Data were analyzed by chi-square test. Results: Among 200 studied cases, the frequency of nasal carriers for S. aureus was 5%. Six (60%) out of 10 S. aureus isolates were MRSA strains. Fifty percent of MRSA and 25% of methicillinsusceptible S. aureus (MSSA) were resistant to clindamycin. Four out of 6 strains of MRSA and 1 of the MSSA strains were resistant to erythromycin and D test was positive in 50% of cases. Conclusions: Nasal carriers of the resistant strains of S. aureus are always a serious threat to themselves and others. The rate of MRSA colonization, especially clindamycin-resistant strains, was high among studied cases, emphesizing the need for screening S. aureus.


This thesis is concerned with enabling e-commerce applications in decentralized environments, P2P networks in particular. The work goes along the following two dimensions: P2P reputation systems design and building P2P e-commerce services and applications. Enabling any kind of commerce has as the very first precondition providing appropriate assurance mechanisms that reduce or eliminate opportunistic behavior of the involved parties. Traditional forms of such mechanisms, such as contractual agreements monitored by enforcement institutions, are not always viable in an online world, particularly in global decentralized communities such as P2P networks. Under such circumstances, reputation systems as informal social mechanisms for encouraging trustworthy behavior appear to be the only remaining alternative. Their key presumption is that the participants of an online community are engaged in repeated interactions and that collecting, processing, and disseminating information about their past doings is informative of their future behavior and as such will influence it. In the first part of the thesis we deal with the problem of P2P reputation systems design. We start with giving a formal problem definition and statement. Then we analyze approaches appeared so far in the literature, provide a classification of the possible solutions and, upon analyzing the main properties of the identified classes, we come up with the conclusion that the class of so called probabilistic estimation techniques is particularly promising in P2P settings. We then proceed to define two probabilistic reputation systems. One is based on the binary (honest-dishonest) feedback and is concerned simply with separating cheating and honest peers according to an appropriate criterion. The other one, based on the well-known maximum likelihood estimation, is more general in the sense that it can cover any form of feedback, not only the binary one and that it can output probability distributions over the set of possible behaviors of the peers. The main properties of the method are low implementation overhead, clean decision making in the context of trust and good detection of peer misbehavior. We show this by carrying out a comprehensive comparison of the method to the other identified classes. Once the issue of trust is properly addressed one can consider equipping P2P networks with e-commerce services such as appropriate trading mechanisms suitable for P2P implementation and providing infrastructure for handling payments and exchanges of the traded goods etc. This is the subject of the second part of the thesis. We analyze an approach to safe exchanges of bundles of digital goods for money in which the exchange partners are better off at the end of the exchange than at any point before and provide an algorithm to find an appropriate schedule of deliveries of the goods and money that takes into account the trustworthiness of the exchange partners. Finally, we propose a double auctioning mechanism amenable to implementation in P2P networks. The mechanism exhibits good economic properties such as fast discovery of the equilibrium price and efficient trading. These properties are, however, dependent on the existence of a suitable underlying P2P reputation system.


In 1977 and 1978, silver gulls on Carnac I., near Perth, W.A., bred continuously from March to November, with laying peaks in April, June and August-September. Many pairs laid several times during the year, showing complex patterns of replacement and post-refractory clutches. This prolonged breeding appears to have resulted from sustained predation pressure in an environment with few climatic or food constraints. Intra-clutch egg variation and seasonal changes in clutch and egg sizes followed the patterns common among gulls. Egg sizes in clutches laid by the same individual were very similar, irrespective of time of year.