1. 1. A blade-element approach is used to analyse the mechanics of the drag-based pectoral fin power stroke in an Angelfish in steady forward, rectilinear progression.

2. 2. Flow reversal occurs at the base of the fin at the beginning and at the end of the power stroke. Values for the rate of increase and decrease in the relative velocity of the blade-elements increase distally, as do such values for hydrodynamical angle of attack. At the beginning and end of the power stroke, negative angles occur at the base of the fin.

3. 3. The outermost 40% of the fin produces over 80% of the total thrust produced during the power stroke, and doe8 over 80% of the total work. Small amounts of reversed thrust are produced at the base of the fin during the early and late parts of the stroke.

4. 4. The total amount of energy required during a cycle to drag the body and inactive fins through the water is calculated to be approximately 2.8 × 10−6 J and the total energy produced by the fins over the cycle (ignoring the recovery stroke) which is associated with producing the hydrodynamic thrust force, is about 1.0 × 10−5 J; which gives a propulsive efficiency of about 0.26.

5. 5. The energy required to move the mass of a pectoral fin during the power stroke is calculated to be approximately 2.6 × 10−7 J. Taking this into account reduces the value of the propulsive efficiency by about 4% to about 0.25. The total energy needed to accelerate and decelerate the added mass associated with the fin is calculated and added to the energy required to produce the hydrodynamic thrust force and the energy required to move the mass of the fins; giving a final propulsive efficiency of 0.18.


As a result of political changes in South Africa in 1994, the Government of National
Unity proposed that the higher education system should be reorganised to address
past inequities. Subsequent investigations into restructuring the higher education
system resulted in a wave of mergers across the sector. The literature on corporate
and education mergers is consistent regarding the pivotal role of `people issues\'
during transformation and its contribution to the success of mergers.
Since staff are considered the cornerstone of higher education institutions and
essential to their continued existence (Fielden 1998), using a descriptive survey, this
study investigated staff perceptions of a recent merger between two regional
technikons in South Africa. A survey of various employee issues was conducted at
the newly merged institution, to investigate communication and participation;
motivation; job satisfaction and loyalty. Within the context of education, staff
perceptions on the impact of the merger on quality and standards of education
were also investigated. The current study is also documented as a case study, since
this was one of the first mergers implemented in the South African higher education
landscape. The results in this study demonstrated that poor communication, a lack
of participative decision-making, minimal staff involvement and insufficient
extrinsic motivation contributed to decreased job satisfaction and employee loyalty.
In accordance with the literature, it is likely that these perceptions were reported as
a result of perceived poor merger management and conflict between the merging
entities. However, significant positive factors identified in the study include
intrinsically motivated staff and a consensus in support of merger objectives and
educational benefits. These positive factors provide a substantial basis on which the
newly merged institution can build a new foundation to ensure that the regional
merger under discussion is indeed a successful merger in South African higher
education. South African Journal of Higher Education Vol. 21 (3) 2007: pp.485-502


Remote sensing, which is based on a reflected electromagnetic spectrum, offers a wide range of research methods. It allows for the identification of plant properties, e.g., chlorophyll, but a registered signal not only comes from green parts but also from dry shoots, soil, and other objects located next to the plants. It is, thus, important to identify the most applicable remote-acquired indices for chlorophyll detection in polar regions, which play a primary role in global monitoring systems but consist of areas with high and low accessibility. This study focuses on an analysis of in situ-acquired hyperspectral properties, which was verified by simultaneously measuring the chlorophyll concentration in three representative arctic plant species, i.e., the prostrate deciduous shrub Salix polaris, the herb Bistorta vivipara, and the prostrate semievergreen shrub Dryas octopetala. This study was conducted at the high Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, Norway. Of the 23 analyzed candidate vegetation and chlorophyll indices, the following showed the best statistical correlations with the optical measurements of chlorophyll concentration: Vogelmann red edge index 1, 2, 3 (VOG 1, 2, 3), Zarco-Tejada and Miller index (ZMI), modified normalized difference vegetation index 705 (mNDVI 705), modified normalized difference index (mND), red edge normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI 705), and Gitelson and Merzlyak index 2 (GM 2). An assessment of the results from this analysis indicates that S. polaris and B. vivipara were in good health, while the health status of D. octopetala was reduced. This is consistent with other studies from the same area. There were also differences between study sites, probably as a result of local variation in environmental conditions. All these indices may be extracted from future satellite missions like EnMAP (Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program) and FLEX (Fluorescence Explorer), thus, enabling the efficient monitoring of vegetation condition in vast and inaccessible polar areas.


Judicial review of bureaucratic decision making is simultaneously ubiquitous and contestable. The ubiquity of judicial review of the legality of administrative actions has two foundations. First, democratic governance presumes that officials are the servants of the people, and for that normative proposition to be true, "the people" must be able to hold officials accountable for their actions. But, judicial review is not the only accountability mechanism available. Its ubiquity requires, therefore, a second factual predicate - the incapacity of other accountability mechanisms to ensure that officials serve rather than rule. No functioning democracy worthy of the name has found the primary alternative accountability mechanisms, political or managerial control, adequate to the task of sustaining democratic accountability. For this reason "democracy" and the "rule of law" have become inextricably linked, with judicial review as the keystone of the legal accountability system. Notwithstanding its prominent place in modern democratic governance, judicial review of administrative action remains continuously contestable. Complaints of the incompetence, impertinence or irrelevance of judicial review are at least as common as praise of judicial review's efficacy. The reasons for judicial review's contestability are the mirror image of the reasons for it's ubiquity. Judicial review of administrative action simultaneously supports other accountability mechanisms that bolster democratic governance and undermines them. The institution of judicial review of administrative action is, indeed, rife with paradox. It supports democratic governance by making officials accountable to unelected judges. It protects individual rights while simultaneously ensuring state control. It legitimizes expert, bureaucratic administrative judgment by subjecting that judgment to review by bodies who often have limited knowledge of either the technical data upon which administrative action is premised or the concrete situations within which particular bureaucracies must function. The puzzle of judicial review of administrative action, therefore, is just this: how can such a necessary feature of modern democratic governance be accommodated to the demands of both effective administration and democracy itself? My approach to this puzzle is to view judicial review of administrative action as part of a broader question of governmental design in modern democracies, that is, how to make administration simultaneously managerially effective and politically responsive. But, this is a design problem that can only be managed, not solved. For, it entails maintaining an appropriate balance among competing forms of accountability in states committed to democracy, but constrained by the demands of efficacy and by the brute facts of social, political and economic complexity.


Abstract We exploit increases in postpartum length of stay generated by legislative changes in the late 1990s to identify the impact of greater hospital care on the health of newborns. Using all births in California over the 1995–2000 period, two-stage least-square estimates show that increased treatment intensity had a modest impact on readmission probabilities for the average newborn. Allowing the treatment effect to vary by two objective measures of medical need demonstrates that the law had large impacts for those with the greatest likelihood of a readmission. The results suggest that the returns to average and marginal patients vary considerably in this context.


Livestock diversity provides genetic alternatives that facilitate sustainable agricultural development. Despite this, animal genetic resources (AnGR) are being depleted at alarming rates. Subsidises available to production systems based on imported breeds are of several orders of magnitude greater than the costs of local breed conservation. Economic arguments for the conservation and sustainable use of threatened AnGR can be an effective means of establishing support for the development of appropriate enabling environments. Despite the importance of the economics of AnGR conservation, the subject has received limited attention. Reasons include: methodological difficulties inherent in valuing genetic resources; limited knowledge about appropriate analytical techniques; and lack of data regarding local breeds. As recent advances in economic valuation have eased methodological/analytical constraints, the issue of data availability has become critical. Data related to livestock keepers' preferences for different genetic resource attributes and the value placed on these across species, breeds and production systems are needed. Based on a study of a local pig breed in Mexico, this paper shows how the use of rural appraisal methods, in conjunction with recently developed analytical techniques, are capable of providing the data required for understanding the type and costs of interventions necessary to promote the conservation and sustainable use of AnGR.


A striking cross-linguistic generalisation about the semantics of determiners is that they never express non-conservative relations. To account for this one might hypothesise that the mechanisms underlying human language acquisition are unsuited to non-conservative determiner meanings. We present experimental evidence that 4- and 5-year-olds fail to learn a novel non-conservative determiner but succeed in learning a comparable conservative determiner, consistent with the learnability hypothesis.


Continuous psychophysics is a newly developed technique that allows rapid estimation of visual thresholds by asking subjects to track a moving object, then deriving the integration window underlying tracking behavior (Bonnen, Burge, Yates, Pillow, & Cormack, 2015). Leveraging the continuous flow of stimuli and responses, continuous psychophysics allows for estimation of psychophysical thresholds in as little as 1 min. To date this technique has been applied only to tracking visual objects, where it has been used to measure localization thresholds. Here we adapt the technique to visual motion discrimination, by displaying a drifting grating that changes direction on a binary random walk and asking participants to continuously report drift direction by alternate key press. This technique replicates and confirms well-known findings of the motion-perception system. It also proves particularly valuable in demonstrating induced motion, reinforcing evidence for the existence of antagonistic surround fields. At low contrasts, the surround summates with the center, rather than opposing it, again consistent with existing evidence on classical techniques. The user-friendliness and efficiency of the method may lend it to clinical and developmental work.


Full-Duplex (FD) is an emerging technology that allows the communication device to use the same frequency to simultaneously transmit and receive. The cancellation of the high power Self-Interference (SI) is the main challenge in FD systems. Hybrid SI mitigation and cancellation schemes in propagation, analog, and digital domains, have to be used in order to mitigate the SI. Antenna selection (AS) can be employed to select the best antenna, or set of antennas, that guarantees jointly the maximization of the desired signal, and the minimization of SI. In this paper, we aim to experimentally enable FD transmission in an indoor femto base-station (BS) with antenna selection. Receive antenna selection is combined with cross-polarization and antennas conditional placement in order to achieve the required SI cancellation. Half-duplex (HD) Uplink (UL) user-equipments (UE) are used to measure the effect of downlink (DL) SI on the UL reception at the FD BS receiver. Different scenarios are experimented in the testbed such as, changing the number of antennas, the type of isolation (vertical/horizontal), and the type of antennas (Omnidirectional/directional). Three AS criteria are used, and the performance of the system is evaluated in terms of bit-error-rate, sum-rate, residual SI, and FD/HD sum-rate enhancement ratio. The measurement results show that the proposed hybrid solution is feasible to enable FD transmission in the considered scenario.


We introduce a method that can register challenging images from specular and poorly textured 3D environments, on which previous approaches fail. We assume that a small set of reference images of the environment and a partial 3D model are available. Like previous approaches, we register the input images by aligning them with one of the reference images using the 3D information. However, these approaches typically rely on the pixel intensities for the alignment, which is prone to fail in presence of specularities or in absence of texture. Our main contribution is an efficient novel local descriptor that we use to describe each image location. We show that we can rely on this descriptor in place of the intensities to significantly improve the alignment robustness at a minor increase of the computational cost, and we analyze the reasons behind the success of our descriptor.


IntroductionRenal diseases commonly present to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH). There has not been a comprehensive analysis of the number of renal cases managed. We set out to analyze comprehensively the renal cases seen at KATH to describe the trends a decade.MethodsA retrospective study was conducted from January 2006 to December 2016. We collected secondary data from the records on the wards, outpatient clinics and hemodialysis unit from the KATH annual reports. Trends in renal cases were then plotted. ResultsRenal outpatient clinics started in 2007. There were an average of 65,273 medical out patients seen yearly with renal conditions accounting for 5,397 (8.3%). Renal clinic patients increased by 271% from 710 in 2007 to 1927 in 2016.The average yearly medical admission was 6,880 patients of which renal admissions accounted for 276 (4.0%).  The average position of renal admissions was 6th (range 2nd-10th) of total medical admissions. The average annual mortality rate of renal admissions was 32.7%. The average mortality of general medical cases was 23.8% annually.Hemodialysis services commenced in 2006. Patients on haemodialysis have increased by 50 times from 8 in 2006 to 407 in 2016. Hemodialysis session also increased by 38.8 times from 59 in 2006 to 2350 in 2016. The average number of patients on hemodialysis per year was 211.5.ConclusionRenal disease is a common condition in KATH associated with significant morbidity and mortality. A concerted effort is needed to enhance the diagnosis and management of renal diseases in Ghana.


Recognition and perception based mobile applications, such as image recognition, are on the rise. These applications recognize the user's surroundings and augment it with information and/or media. These applications are latency-sensitive. They have a soft-realtime nature - late results are potentially meaningless. On the one hand, given the compute-intensive nature of the tasks performed by such applications, execution is typically offloaded to the cloud. On the other hand, offloading such applications to the cloud incurs network latency, which can increase the user-perceived latency. Consequently, edge computing has been proposed to let devices offload intensive tasks to edge servers instead of the cloud, to reduce latency. In this paper, we propose a different model for using edge servers. We propose to use the edge as a specialized cache for recognition applications and formulate the expected latency for such a cache. We show that using an edge server like a typical web cache, for recognition applications, can lead to higher latencies. We propose Cachier, a system that uses the caching model along with novel optimizations to minimize latency by adaptively balancing load between the edge and the cloud, by leveraging spatiotemporal locality of requests, using offline analysis of applications, and online estimates of network conditions. We evaluate Cachier for image-recognition applications and show that our techniques yield 3x speedup in responsiveness, and perform accurately over a range of operating conditions. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work that models edge servers as caches for compute-intensive recognition applications, and Cachier is the first system that uses this model to minimize latency for these applications.


— Ad-hoc low-power wireless networks are an exciting research direction in sensing and pervasive computing. Prior security work in this area has focused primarily on denial of communication at the routing or medium access control levels. This paper explores resource depletion attacks at the routing protocol layer, which permanently disable networks by quickly draining nodes' battery power. These "Vampire" attacks are not specific to any specific protocol, but rather rely on the properties of many popular classes of routing protocols. We find that all examined protocols are susceptible to Vampire attacks, which are devastating, difficult to detect, and are easy to carry out using as few as one malicious insider sending only protocol compliant messages. In the worst case, a single Vampire can increase network-wide energy usage by a factor of O (N), where N in the number of network nodes. We discuss methods to mitigate these types of attacks, including a new proof-of-concept protocol that provably bounds the damage caused by Vampires during the packet forwarding phase.


This paper investigates factors influencing the intraspecific variability of incubation periods in Avocets Recurvirostra avosetta. The length of the incubation period of 278 clutches ranged from 19 to 34 days with an average of 23.1 days. Incubation period was influenced by clutch size. There was a seasonal decrease in incubation period resulting in a difference of 1.7 days between the earliest and the latest clutches. The seasonal trend could not be explained by ambient temperature. No relationships could be found between incubation period and colony size, nest density, or habitat. There were significant positive correlations between incubation period and bill , length and foot length of the neonates. The possibility that incubation period is influenced by a trade-off between egg and chick mortality rates and embryonic and chick growth rates is discussed.


Although hippocampal grid cells are thought to be crucial for spatial navigation, their computational purpose remains disputed. Recently, they were proposed to represent spatial transitions and to convey this knowledge downstream to place cells. However, a single scale of transitions is insufficient to plan long goal-directed sequences in behaviorally acceptable time. Here, a scale-space data structure is suggested to optimally accelerate retrievals from transition systems, called Transition Scale-Space (TSS). Remaining exclusively on an algorithmic level, the scale increment is proved to be ideally for biologically plausible receptive fields. It is then argued that temporal buffering is necessary to learn the scale-space online. Next, two modes for retrieval of sequences from the TSS are presented, namely top-down and bottom-up. The two modes are evaluated in symbolic simulations, i.e., without biologically plausible spiking neurons. Additionally, a TSS is used for short-cut discovery in a simulated Morris water maze. Finally, the presented results are discussed in depth with respect to biological plausibility, and several testable predictions derived. Moreover, relations to other grid cell models, multi-resolution path planning, and scale-space theory are highlighted. Summarized, reward-free transition encoding is shown here, in a theoretical model, to be compatible with the observed discretization along the dorso-ventral axis of medial Entorhinal Cortex (MEC). Because the theoretical model generalizes beyond navigation, the TSS is suggested to be a general-purpose cortical data structure for fast retrieval of sequences and relational knowledge.


While a great deal is known about the changing hormonal environment and the structural development of the mammary gland from pregnancy to lactation, very little is known about the molecular mechanisms governing differentiation of the mammary epithelium into a milk-secreting phenotype. It is important to acknowledge the diversity among the mammary glands of different species in order to better understand applications in human health and the dairy industry. In this study, we examined global protein expression during two states of differentiation in mammary epithelial cells from two species: in vitro proliferating and differentiated MAC-T cells (a bovine immortal cell-line), and primary mammary epithelial cells isolated from pregnant and lactating mice. When comparing the lists of proteins that differed in abundance in the two experiments, we observed many similarities in proteins related to structural dynamics and mRNA processing within these two mammary epithelial cell types. Intriguingly, we observed several differences in the regulation of metabolic proteins, highlighting the distinct pathways by which different species probably metabolize energy and synthesize milk components. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS


This paper introduces a method for synthesis of optical thin-film coatings aimed at both simplicity and versatility. Implementation of the method in a computer program allows the designer to build a multilayer interactively by successive construction of special four-layer modules. Each added module effects an exact transformation at a single wavelength from an initial point in the complex reflectance plane to a desired target point. The computational algorithm is practical for use on a small computer yet yields good results without the need for starting designs. Several synthesis examples are presented.


Every year in the United States, hundreds of thousands of patients fall in hospitals, with 30-50% resulting in serious injury (Joint Commission [JC], 2015). Injured patients require additional treatment and sometimes prolonged hospital stays. A patient fall with injury costs over $30,000 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2016) and may add up to 6.3 days to the hospital stay (JC, 2015). Falls with serious injury are consistently among the Top 10 sentinel events reported to The Joint Commission's Sentinel Event database (JC, 2015). The most common contributing factors pertaining to falls include inadequate nursing assessment, communication failures, lack of adherence to protocols and safety practices, deficiencies in the physical environment, inadequate staff education, insufficient patient supervision, unsafe staffing ratios, and/or lack of healthcare leadership. The purpose of this project was to study the trends relating to patient falls and falls risk prevention on two medical-surgical units at a large metropolitan hospital. The project looked closely at inpatient falls from the perspective of both nurses and patients.


The objective of research was to know the growth and production of onion  after giving of ameliorant and nitrogene fertilizer . The research was done in experimentation area Faculty of Agroteknologi Universitas Riau, Rimbo Panjang village, subdistric Tambang, Kampar from March to May 2015. The research was using the Randomized Block Design Factorial with two factors. The first factor amelioran with five levels namely control (A0), dolomite 1,5 ton/ha (A1), calcite 2 ton/ha, oil palm bunch ash 5 ton/ha (A3) and  rice husk ash 15 ton/ha (A4).  The second factor  of nitrogene fertilizer with three levels namely control (N0), urea fertilizer 500 kg/ha (N1) and ZA fertilizer 1095 kg/ha (N2). Parameter observed were plant height, total of leaves, total tuber, rim tuber, fresh weight tuber per plot and dry weight tuber per plot. The result of the research showed that the ameliorant application was significant of rim tuber, fresh weight tuber/plot, and reasonable save tuber weight/plot, but not significant wet the plant height, total of leaves, total tuber. Nitrogene fertilizer showed significant on fresh weight tuber per plot, and dry weight per plot, but not significant the plant height, total of leaves, rim tuber, total tuber. The interaction between ameliorant and nitrogene fertilizer showed that no significant for all parameters. showed significant on fresh weight tuber per plot and dry weight tuber per plot, but no significant the plant height, total of leaves, rim tuber, total tuber. Keyword : Onion , peat soil, ameliorant and nitrogene fertilizer .


PURPOSE
Muscle strengthening is commonly based on the use of isoinertial loading, whereas variable resistances such as pneumatic loading may be implemented to optimize training stimulus. The purpose of the current study was to determine the effect of the ratio between pneumatic and isoinertial resistance on the force-velocity relationship during ballistic movements.

METHODS
A total of 15 participants performed 2 concentric repetitions of ballistic bench-press movements with intention to throw the bar at 30%, 45%, 60%, 75%, and 90% of the maximal concentric repetition with 5 resistance ratios including 100%, 75%, 50%, 25%, or 0% of pneumatic resistance, the additional load being isoinertial. Force-, velocity-, and power-time patterns were assessed and averaged over the concentric phase to determine the force-velocity and power-velocity relationships for each resistance ratio.

RESULTS
Each 25% increase in the pneumatic part in the resistance ratio elicited higher movement velocity (+0.11 ± 0.03 m/s from 0% to 80% of the concentric phase) associated with lower force levels (-43.6 ± 15.2 N). Increased isoinertial part in the resistance ratio resulted in higher velocity toward the end of the movement (+0.23 ± 0.01 m/s from 90% to 100%).

CONCLUSIONS
The findings show that the resistance ratio could be modulated to develop the acceleration phase and force toward the end of the concentric phase (pneumatic-oriented resistance). Inversely, isoinertial-oriented resistance should be used to develop maximal force and maximal power. Resistance modality could, therefore, be considered an innovative variable to modulate the training stimulus according to athletic purposes.


In the backdrop of liberalization and private participation in the Indian mutual fund industry, the challenge to survive and retain investor confidence has been a prime are of concern for fund managers. For small investors who do not have the time or the expertise to take direct investment decision in equities successfully, the alternative is to invest in mutual funds. The performance of the mutual fund products become more complex in context of accommodating both return and risk measurements while giving due importance to investment objectives. In this paper, an attempt has been made to study the performance of selected schemes of mutual funds based on risk-return relationship models and measures. A total of 23 schemes offered by six private sector mutual funds and three public sector mutual funds have been studied over the time period April 1996 to March 2009 (13 years). The analysis has been made on the basis of mean return, beta risk, coefficient of determination, Sharpe ratio, Treynor ratio and Jensen Alpha. The overall analysis finds Franklin Templeton and UTI being the best performers and Birla SunLife, HDFC and LIC mutual funds showing poor below-average performance when measured against the risk-return relationship models.


Background: Patients with COPD have had a lower tendency to quit smoking compared to patients with coronary heart disease (CHD). We wanted to investigate if this is still true in a Norwegian population. Methods: Our data came from the fifth and sixth Tromsø surveys, which took place in 2001–2002 and 2007–2008. The predictors of smoking cessation were evaluated in a cohort of 4,497 participants who had stated their smoking status in both surveys. Results: Of the 4,497 subjects in the cohort, 1,150 (25.6%) reported daily smoking in Tromsø 5. In Tromsø 6, 428 had quit (37.2%). A new diagnosis of obstructive lung disease (asthma or COPD) and CHD were both associated with increased quitting rates, 50.6% ( P = 0.01) and 52.1% ( P = 0.02), respectively. In multivariable logistic regression analysis with smoking cessation as outcome, the odds ratios (ORs) of a new diagnosis of obstructive lung disease and of CHD were 1.7 (1.1–2.7) and 1.7 (1.0–2.9), respectively. Male sex had an OR of 1.4 (1.1–1.8) compared to women in the multivariable model, whereas the ORs of an educational length of 13–16 years and  17 years compared to shorter education were 1.6 (1.1–2.2) and 2.5 (1.5–4.1), respectively. Conclusion: The general trend of smoking cessation in the population was confirmed. Increased rates of smoking cessation were associated with a new diagnosis of heart or lung disease, and obstructive lung disease was just as strongly linked to smoking cessation as was CHD. This should encourage the pursuit of early diagnosis of


An Innovative Semi-submersible platform Optimization Program (ISOP) has been developed to solve the multiobjective optimization problem for semi-submersible platforms (SEMI). Three types of SEMIs, including semisubmersible floating production unit (SEMI FPU), heave and vortex induced motion (VIM) suppressed semisubmersible (HVS) and semi-submersible floating drilling unit (SEMI FDU) are selected for case studies. The hydrodynamic performances of three types of semi-submersible platforms are analyzed by using panel method and Morison's equation. In order to improve the computing efficiency, the hydrodynamic performances for different hull forms during optimization process are estimated by the surrogate models, which are built by artificial neural network prediction method and Inverse Multi-Quadric (IMQ) radial basis function (RBF). The accuracy of surrogate models is ensured by performing leave-one-out cross validation (LOOCV). The most probable maximum (MPM) heave motion and total weight, representing the safety and economy, respectively, are chosen as the two objectives for optimization. The transverse metacentric height, the MPM surge motion, and the most probable minimum (MPMin) airgap are selected as constraints. Based on surrogate models, multi-objective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO) is employed to search for the Pareto-optimal solutions. A Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) tool is adopted to validate the proposed model for the prediction of the motion responses. By comparing the obtained Pareto-optimal solutions with the initial design using simple panel method plus Morison's equation, it is confirmed that the MPM heave motions for SEMI FPU, HVS and SEMI FDU can be suppressed by up to 12.68%, 11.92%, and 14.96%, respectively, and the total weights can be reduced by up to 12.16%, 13.00%, and 24.91%, respectively. Through the detailed analyses of optimization results, the most efficient design strategies for semi-submersible platforms are discussed and proposed.


The automotive industry is investigating advanced light-weight materials in an effort to increase the fuel efficiency of vehicles. High-strength steels, aluminum and magnesium alloys, and carbon fiber and polymer composites are of interest to automobile manufacturers around the globe. One of the major problems facing the widespread implementation of such materials, especially aluminum and magnesium alloys, is their unique corrosion susceptibility. Not only is the corrosion performance of aluminum and magnesium alloys different from steel that is typically used in automobile manufacturing, but when used in combined, mixed-material systems, galvanic corrosion becomes a significant concern. The United States Department of Energy, in conjunction with Ford Motor Company, General Motors, and Fiat-Chrysler of America, has established standards that will be enacted to increase the corporate average fuel economy, or fleet-wide average fuel economy, of vehicles to be sold in the United States. This standard is intended to inspire automobile manufacturers to increase the fuel efficiency of vehicles weighing less than 8,500 lbs. The Materials Technology Subprogram of the Vehicle Technologies Office is responsible for the investigation into new advanced materials that will enable technologies to increase fuel efficiency. The United States Automotive Materials Partnership, LLC. has been established with funding from the Department of Energy in ii order to design a magnesium-intensive front-end substructure. The first phase of the project resulted in a 44.5% weight reduction and parts-count reduction from 110 to 47. Now in its third phase, the Partnership has enlisted The Ohio State University in an effort to create a magnesium-intensive front-end demonstration structure, consisting of advanced high-strength steels, aluminum alloys, and magnesium alloys of interest to the original equipment manufacturers participating in the project. The work performed in this thesis has contributed by investigating a case study of an AZ31 cleaning procedure for the MagPASS® conversion coating. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy was enlisted to analyze organic compounds on the surface of AZ31 magnesium alloy sheet metal that were interfering with pretreatment uptake. Polymerization of the organic compounds occurred during a warm-forming procedure, causing them to undergo a structural transformation that rendered the cleaning procedure ineffective. The hydrogen embrittlement of hardened-steel rivets coupled to Mg panels was then studied. Considering their close proximity to magnesium alloys, which generate copious hydrogen during corrosion, it was proposed these rivets (RC 47) could potentially experience degradation of mechanical properties. A unique slow-strain-rate hoop-stress-test was designed in an effort to elucidate changes in mechanical properties of the rivets after hydrogen charging. Unfortunately, the non-ideal geometry of the rivets made hydrogen charging ineffectual, and the hoop-stress-test results were inconclusive.


In this paper, a new flicker contribution tracing method has been proposed to determine the individual flicker contributions of multiple-electric-arc-furnace (EAF) loads to the flicker measured at the point of common coupling (PCC). The proposed method decouples the flicker contribution of the interconnected electricity system from the individual contributions of the loads connected to the measured PCC, using the individual current variations of the loads, and the estimated short-circuit system impedance. It has been shown that the individual flicker contributions of the loads are mainly caused by the variation of their reactive current components. Since the computational complexity of the proposed method is low, it is appropriate for online applications. The algorithm can easily be embedded on a power quality analyzer, which can be employed as a flicker contribution meter. Field data collected at a PCC supplying multi-EAF plants have been used to verify the validity of the proposed method in a successful manner.


Filial Children and Ageing Parents is an anthropological study of the politics and practice of intergenerational relations among Chinese Singaporeans. Contrary to idealized notions of solid Chinese/Asian family values, this paper attempts to unfold the strains and challenges of intergenerational family relations in everyday life. In particular, it examines the issue of filial obligations between children and aged parents.


The PHE landfill modelling system (LMS) is a linked suite of models developed for the assessment of doses from the disposal of low level radioactive waste to landfill sites. The system builds on the experience gained in using the individual models incorporated into the system, in assessments of landfill sites in the UK. The component models of the system simulate the key processes in the various media responsible for the transport of radioactivity from a landfill site to the biosphere and the subsequent doses to humans. This report describes each of the component models of the LMS and their verification and validation, discusses their operation together as an integrated system and outlines various options for further developing and improving the system. 1 Now with EDEN Nuclear and Environment 2 Now with the Nuclear Decommissioning Agency


The effect of the endogenous cannabinoid anandamide on K+ currents activated by the ATP-sensitive potassium (KATP) channel opener cromakalim was investigated in follicle-enclosed Xenopus oocytes using the two-electrode voltage-clamp technique. Anandamide (1–90 μM) reversibly inhibited cromakalim-induced K+ currents, with an IC50 value of 8.1 ± 2 μM. Inhibition was noncompetitive and independent of membrane potential. Coapplication of anandamide with the cannabinoid type 1 (CB1) receptor antagonist N-(piperidin-1-yl)-5-(4-chlorophenyl)-1-(2,4-dichlorophenyl)-4-methyl-1H-pyrazole-3-carboximide hydrochloride (SR 141716A) (1 μM), the CB2 receptor antagonist N-[(1S)endo-1,3,3-trimethyl bicyclo heptan-2-yl]-5-(4-chloro-3-methylphenyl)-1-(4-methylbenzyl)-pyrazole-3-carboxamide (SR144528) (1 μM), or pertussis toxin (5 μg/ml) did not alter the inhibitory effect of anandamide, suggesting that known cannabinoid receptors are not involved in anandamide inhibition of K+ currents. Similarly, neither the amidohydrolase inhibitor phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride (0.2 mM) nor the cyclooxygenase inhibitor indomethacin (5 μM) affected anandamide inhibition of K+ currents, suggesting that the effects of anandamide are not mediated by its metabolic products. In radioligand binding studies, anandamide inhibited the specific binding of the KATP ligand [3H]glibenclamide in the oocyte microsomal fractions, with an IC50 value of 6.3 ± 0.4 μM. Gonadotropin-induced oocyte maturation and the cromakalim-acceleration of progesterone-induced oocyte maturation were significantly inhibited in the presence of 10 μM anandamide. Collectively, these results indicate that cromakalim-activated K+ currents in follicular cells of Xenopus oocytes are modulated by anandamide via a cannabinoid receptor-independent mechanism and that the inhibition of these channels by anandamide alters the responsiveness of oocytes to gonadotropin and progesterone.


This paper constructs a model with two structural equations: the Government budget constraint and a linear version of Cagan's portfolio balance equation. The model contains a continuum of equilibria with "sunspot equilibria." Closed forms for the solutions are found. Even though there is a continuum of equilibria, the model is overidentified econometrically, so that the model restricts time series data on price levels and currency stocks. We describe how the free parameters of the model can be estimated, including some parameters that serve to index particular members of the continuum of equilibria. The sunspot equilibria hold out some promise of explaining anomalies in the observed behavior of inflation and real balances during hyperinflations.


Aims and objectives of the study : The aim of this study was to establish an effective scoring method for evaluation of functional outcomes and to measure the changes in functional ability among Parkinson patients. Objectives of this study were to evaluate the effectiveness of outcome measurement of Goal Attainment Scaling in Parkinson patients with gait abnormalities and also to establish a standardized method to detect the changes in function of the patients. Methodology: The design of the study was a prospective quasi experimental study. This study conducted for three months in a home based physiotherapy care for Parkinson's patients with gait abnormalities. Twenty Parkinson patients were participated in this study. The therapeutic goals of individual were established in consultation with the patients and their care givers. The weightage for the importance of each goal was determined and entered into a tabulator and baseline GAS scores calculated along with Dynamic Gait index scores and Timed Up and Go Scores. At the appointed review date the levels achieved was determined by the patients and the team. Results: The Goal Attainment Scores for the patients before and after treatment for 3 months were statistically analysed with TUG and DGI scores and they showed a significant improvement in their functional status, which is evident from the unpaired t test with p value 0.0001. Conclusion: The study reinforced the importance of Goal Attainment Scaling as a versatile tool to be used to evaluate the changes in function as rehabilitation of Parkinson patients in addition to providing a quantitative measure of the service outcomes.


The Affect of Difference is a collection of essays offering a new perspective on the history of race and racial ideologies in modern East Asia. Contributors approach this subject through the exploration of everyday culture from a range of academic disciplines, each working to show how race was made visible and present as a potential means of identification. By analyzing artifacts from diverse media including travelogues, records of speech, photographs, radio broadcasts, surgical techniques, tattoos, anthropometric postcards, fiction, the popular press, film and soundtracks-an archive that chronicles the quotidian experiences of the colonized-their essays shed light on the politics of inclusion and exclusion that underpinned Japanese empire. One way this volume sets itself apart is in its use of affect as a key analytical category. Colonial politics depended heavily on the sentiments and moods aroused by media representations of race, and authorities promoted strategies that included the colonized as imperial subjects while simultaneously excluding them on the basis of "natural" differences. Chapters demonstrate how this dynamic operated by showing the close attention of empire to intimate matters including language, dress, sexuality, family, and hygiene. The focus on affect elucidates the representational logic of both imperialist and racist discourses by providing a way to talk about inequalities that are not clear cut, to show gradations of power or shifts in definitions of normality that are otherwise difficult to discern, and to present a finely grained perspective on everyday life under racist empire. It also alerts us to the subtle, often unseen ways in which imperial or racist affects may operate beyond the reach of our methodologies. Taken together, the essays in this volume bring the case of Japanese empire into comparative proximity with other imperial situations and contribute to a deeper, more sophisticated understanding of the role that race has played in East Asian empire.


We propose a robust 2D meshing algorithm, TriWild, to generate curved triangles reproducing smooth feature curves, leading to coarse meshes designed to match the simulation requirements necessary by applications and avoiding the geometrical errors introduced by linear meshes. The robustness and effectiveness of our technique are demonstrated by batch processing an SVG collection of 20k images, and by comparing our results against state of the art linear and curvilinear meshing algorithms. We demonstrate for our algorithm the practical utility of computing diffusion curves, fluid simulations, elastic deformations, and shape inflation on complex 2D geometries.


Phase assemblage and strength are essential engineering properties of hybrid blends of cement and siliceous fly ash (FA). This study presents a kinetic and thermodynamic model for evaluating reaction level, phase assemblage of reaction products and strength progress of hybrid blends of cement-fly ash with various water/binder ratios and FA/binder ratios. First, the reaction level of cement and glass phase of FA are determined using a kinetic model that considers the cement hydration, the glass-phase reaction of FA and the dilution effect of fly ash. The crystalline phase of FA is assumed to be inert. Moreover, the reaction level of binders and concrete mixtures are used as input data for a thermodynamic model. Second, the phase assemblages of hydrating binary blends are determined using GEM-Selektor (Gibbs energy minimization). The mass conservation of the reactants and products of hybrid blends with fly ash are considered in thermodynamic model. Finally, by using calculation results of calcium silicate hydrate (CSH) content from GEMS, the strength progress of composite concrete is determined. The correlation coefficient between prediction and experiments for the C–S–H-based model is 0.98. The analysis results clarified that the use of fly ash in concrete with a low water/binder ratio is a suitable option.


The architects of the post-World War II international economic order considered the free convertibility of currencies for current account purposes one of the fundamental prerequisites of multilateral trade and thus of economic growth. While the Bretton Woods system started operating in 1946, the Western European countries only formally established currency convertibility in December 1958. So far, analytical studies of the return to convertibility are scarce. The few studies that exist generally treat convertibility as a technical, monetary issue, even a simple formality. The prevailing view is that, because of its trade-facilitating characteristic, convertibility was a widely accepted and uncontroversial economic policy objective shared by the Western European countries. This assumption follows from the belief that the Bretton Woods period was characterized by an international consensus on the benefits and desirability of international trade and long-term economic growth. The collective move to convertibility is regarded as proof of this consensus and of the willingness to cooperate to achieve common goals. Therefore, most accounts consist of historical narratives of Western Europe's path to convertibility rather than analyses of the development within the context of national policy aims. The comparison of Britain, France and the Federal Republic of Germany shows that convertibility was a far more complex, even controversial issue than has so far been argued in the literature. This thesis analyzes the national policy on convertibility in each country, respectively, by comparing the importance of convertibility for trade, macroeconomic policy, foreign policy and economic adjustment. Economic and political considerations played a crucial role in each country's policy on convertibility. The comparative analysis of the three leading countries' national economic policy on convertibility reveals a fundamental divergence in general long-term policy orientations in the three countries, challenging the widely accepted idea of a post-war consensus among Western European countries on the long-term policy objectives. The collective return to convertibility represented a very versatile tool, which the key countries employed to fulfill different, often incompatible, objectives. The national economic and political circumstances, which determined French, British and German policy on convertibility explain why the return to convertibility occurred in December 1958 and why the key countries coordinated their efforts. In particular, the establishment of convertibility was intricately linked to national policies on European integration. As a vehicle for national economic policy the return to convertibility provides important new insights into the formation of national exchange rate policy and international monetary cooperation in the 1950s.


Abstract The rift basins of Thailand exhibit remarkable diversity of fault displacement patterns, fault length–displacement characteristics and mapped fault patterns during late rift, and post-rift, stages. These patterns reflect influences by: (1) zones of strength anisotropy in the pre-rift basement; (2) syn-rift fault patterns on post-rift faults; (3) spatial stress deflection, commonly related to irregularities in major fault profiles, and the basement–sediment interface; (4) temporal stress rotation, usually related to changes in the regional plate setting; and (5) varying strength properties (strain hardening or softening) of fault zones during their life. These influences created strongly segmented boundary faults, and long, low-displacement post-rift fault trends. The former are commonly strongly over-displaced, while the latter can be strongly under-displaced with respect to their length compared with typical length:displacement distributions. Seismic interpretation of multi-rift fault patterns requires 3D data to identify the complexities, otherwise the linkage pattern between deeper and shallower faults, and the changing fault strike-directions with depth, may be incorrectly mapped. Incorrect identification of fault patterns as breached relay structures may also arise. Oblique extension, the influence of pre-existing trends and stress rotation in multi-phase rifts provides a more comprehensive explanation for the observed features than the strike-slip interpretation of previous studies.


Adult Schistocerca were tethered and allowed to walk on a styrofoam ball. Animals with both neck connectives cut could still walk. Therefore no descending fibres from the head ganglia are necessary to initiate walking. The roles of the brain and suboesophageal ganglion (so. g.) in walking were examined with the use of extracellular microstimulation to evoke behaviour. Pulses lasting 0.1 ms were delivered to the neck or circumoesophageal (co.) connectives through a glass microelectrode fine enough to be used to record from single fibres. The calculated first approximation maximum area of current spread was a sphere 1.5 μm in diameter. Double-recording experiments indicated that usually one to three and maximally seven fibres were stimulated. The evoked behaviour was videotaped. Walking, jumping, struggling or grooming was evoked from different electrode positions. The effects were reproducible at each position while some behaviours were reproducible from animal to animal. These latter were grouped together as being evoked by the same 'locus'. At seven loci, termed 'subroutine' loci, only specific movements were evoked in a resting animal. When the animal was active these movements were incorporated into the ongoing behaviour, e. g. a lifting of the prothoracic leg could be used as part of a swing in walking or as a grooming movement. Seventy-three loci evoking walking were derived from 163 stimulating positions. Ten loci were common to both connectives, 37 were found only in the co. connective and 26 only in the neck connective. The optimal stimulus parameters for most positions in the co. connective were single 200-400 ms trains at 20-50 Hz. At most neck connective positions several such trains to continual stimulation were required to evoke walking. Increasing the stimulus frequency above the optimum produced abnormal movements or struggling. There was no evidence that the behaviour type evoked depended on stimulus frequency. The 73 loci evoked different types of walking or turning. They differed in direction, speed, step size, positioning of the legs relative to the body and individual movements. Some loci evoked walking starting with stance or with swing of specific legs; other loci evoked walking combined with extra movements of the antennae, palps or individual legs. Thus, parameters of leg movement, of coordination and of coupling between the sides (as in turning), even the phase of the local pattern generators, can be determined by influence from the head ganglia. The effectiveness of stimulation at each locus depended on the behavioural context at the time of stimulation, e. g. most loci were ineffective in evoking their type of walking if the animal was already walking or otherwise active. Therefore, I describe the function of each locus as 'recommending' its specific type of walking. These 'recommendations' may also suppress other behaviours: stimulation at some walking positions immediately stopped ongoing flight. Experiments where lesions were combined with microstimulation suggested that both the brain and the so. g. contribute recommendations initiating and determining the type of walking. The brain may be more concerned with initiating walking while the so. g. is involved with both initiation and maintenance. Furthermore, the so.g. plays a unique role in mixing information from both brain and so. g. halves and distributing it to both sides of the body. I suggest that walking is normally initiated by many fibres acting in consensus, sending their recommendations for specific walking types to the local pattern generators. The type of walking output (speed, direction, form) is determined by the 'across-fibre pattern' of all the inputs to the pattern generators. The many fibres acting in consensus give the system the ability to match walking output to a large variety of inputs, therefore providing the flexibility required of any model purporting to explain this enormously adaptable behaviour.


After over twenty years of experiences with rebuilding the values of democracy and democratic organizations in Poland, the time has come to undertake scholarly reflection on the past of the democracy as an ideological project and social practice in the era of real socialism. During the first decade of the second post-war period, the model of people's democracy and then until 1956 the model of social democracy was realized. The two models were typical examples of pseudo-democratic solutions that had a facade character of totalitarian and authoritarian political regimes. There were, indeed, various democratic institutions e.g. representative institutions, but political competition was impossible. Only political entities that were penetrated by the members of the government took part in the elections and the society could not choose between alternative programmes. There was also no rule of rotation in the government. Parliamentary and local elections served only as the reinforcement of the position of the ruling elite in the country. Thus, Poland's negative experiences confirm the necessity of continuous concern for maintaining the proper state of democracy that is possible to achieve only through its real practicing and ensuring firm social and economic fundaments.


As a follow-up on two earlier studies, this report confirms the so-called billboard effect on demand that occurs when online travel agents (OTAs) include a particular hotel in their listings. Even though many guests book directly with the hotel brand, this study's findings are similar to those of earlier studies which showed that being listed on an OTA site increased reservations through the hotel brand's site. The findings in the report presented here underscored consumers' reliance on websites when researching and booking their rooms, although non-direct channels still have some influence in lodging purchase decisions. In determining which web-based marketing efforts produce the best results, hotel operators should make sure their online presence is easy to find, is attractive, and stands up to the competition. To better understand changes in consumer online behavior this report revisits aspects of the billboard effect through use of publicly available data sources. Contrary to research suggesting that the billboard effect is dead, this study's results show that reports of its demise may have been exaggerated. CENTER FOR HOSPITALITY RESEARCH


The Cambodian rice industry has recently experienced fast upgrading. This is evident in the increasing amount of milled rice exports to international markets. This study aims at examining how and what factors have affected the upgrading of the Cambodian rice industry by applying the concept of value chain governance and examining the role of institutional support, especially that of government. Primary interviews and questionnaire surveys involved 119 respondents, including rice millers, exporters and other key industry stakeholders while a wide range of secondary data sources were consulted. The study reveals that two major factors affected the upgrading: (1) value chain governance, which refers to the power relations among actors, and (2) institutional supports, including government actions on policy and directives and its, facilitation of access to finance, market development and capacity building of exporters. The success of the upgrading can be seen as an example of public-private collaboration.


The research work presented in this dissertation is based on two direct and wide band gap semiconductors: ZnO and GaN. On the first part of the dissertation, the synthesis of ZnO nanorod array via the low temperature solution growth method on flexible In2O3-PET and rigid ITO-glass substrates were discussed. The analysis of the morphology, crystal quality, and optical property of ZnO nanorods synthesized with the solution growth process were investigated. Due to the high surface-to-volume ratio of ZnO nanorod, to alleviate the some of the drawbacks such as carrier mobility and thickness dilemma of organic solar cells, ZnO nanorod array were integrated into organic solar cells. In this ZnO nanorod array integrated bulk heterojunction organic solar cells, ZnO nanorods play an important role in rapid collecting and transporting charge carriers. Power conversion efficiency (η) of 1.8% is achieved in our ZnO nanorods integrated bulk heterojunction organic solar cells on flexible In2O3-PET substrates. On the second part of the dissertation, Aluminum gallium nitride/gallium nitride high electron mobility transistors (AlGaN/GaN HEMTs) were fabricated. RoundHEMT technology, which greatly simplifies the microelectronic fabrication process compared to traditional open fingers HEMT, was employed. Device testing and characterization under both room temperature and high temperature up to 300 °C were performed. The results show that the device can operate even at 300 °C with minimal degradation. Moreover, we propose a simple and novel spectroscopic photo I-V method of diagnosing the homogeneity of electrically-active defect distribution in the large area AlGaN/GaN HEMT epi structure grown on 6" silicon wafers.


Background Apelin is the endogenous ligand of the angiotensin-like receptor. The expression of apelin–APJ (apelin receptor) signaling is associated with the development of portal hypertension (PH) and contributes toward the formation of Porto systemic collaterals and splanchnic neovascularization in PH. Aims We aimed to study the relationship between apelin and portal hemodynamics in cirrhotic patients. Patients and methods Thus study included 60 cirrhotic patients from Menoufia University Hospitals (Egypt) and 20 healthy volunteers as a control group. Participants underwent a physical examination and laboratory investigations [complete blood count, urea, creatinine, alanine transaminase, aspartate transaminase (AST), serum albumin, bilirubin, international normalized ratio, hepatitis C virus antibody, hepatitis B virus antigen, hepatitis C virus PCR, alpha feto protein (AFP), and serum level of apelin]. Abdominal ultrasonographic studies of portal vein diameter, splenic size, and portal hemodynamics were carried out for all participants. Child–Pugh score, model for end-stage liver disease score, and AST/platelet (PLT) index were calculated for all participants. Results Serum apelin was highly significantly elevated in cirrhotics than in controls, with a P value of 0.001. Serum apelin was significantly correlated to some laboratory parameters in cirrhotics such as PLT count, alanine transaminase, AST, γ-glutamyl transferase, and bilirubin, with P value less than 0.05. There was a positive correlation between serum apelin level and the degree of liver fibrosis estimated by the AST/PLT index. Serum apelin was significantly correlated to portal vein diameter and portal flow velocity, with a P value less than 0.05, and highly significantly correlated to splenomegaly, with a P value of 0.001. The optimal cut-off point of serum apelin for the prediction of PH in cirrhotics is 2550 ng/dl, with a sensitivity of 89%, a specificity of 65%, and an accuracy of 81%. Conclusion Serum apelin is elevated in patients with cirrhosis and PH, and a positive correlation is found between serum apelin and the degree of hepatic fibrosis. Measurement of serum apelin represents a rapid, noninvasive method for the prediction of PH in cirrhotics and can assess the degree of hepatic fibrosis.


LCLS is presently operating with a third copper photocathode in the original rf gun, with a quantum efficiency (QE) of {approx}1 x 10{sup -4} and projected emittance {gamma}{var_epsilon}{sub x,y} = 0.45 {micro}m at 250 pC bunch charge. The spare LCLS gun is installed in the SLAC Accelerator Structure Test Area (ASTA), fully processed to high rf power. As part of a wider photocathode R and D program, a UV laser system and additional gun diagnostics are being installed at ASTA to measure QE, QE lifetime, and electron beam emittance under a variety of operating conditions. The near-term goals are to test and verify the spare photocathode production/installation sequence, including transfer from the final holding chamber to the rf gun. Mid- and longer-term goals include development of a rigorous understanding of plasma and laser-assisted surface conditioning and investigation of new, high-QE photocathode materials. In parallel, an x-ray photoemission spectroscopy station is nearing completion, to analyze Cu photocathode surface chemistry. In this paper we review the status and anticipated operating parameters of ASTA and the spectroscopy test chamber.


Many automated processes such as auto-piloting rely on a good semantic segmentation as a critical component. To speed up performance, it is common to downsample the input frame. However, this comes at the cost of missed small objects and reduced accuracy at semantic boundaries. To address this problem, we propose a new content-adaptive downsampling technique that learns to favor sampling locations near semantic boundaries of target classes. Cost-performance analysis shows that our method consistently outperforms the uniform sampling improving balance between accuracy and computational efficiency. Our adaptive sampling gives segmentation with better quality of boundaries and more reliable support for smaller-size objects.


Almost from birth, children are immersed in a technologically rich world yet they often enter preschools that offer little to no use of technology. Preschool learning is tied to more traditional forms of reading and writing; this may be inconsistent with the ways children are learning at home and will learn in elementary school. Despite growing interest in creating learning environments that better mirror the technological experiences of the home, there is a significant gap in current research about how learning is affected in preschool environments designed with multiple forms of technology. This qualitative single case study was designed to explore children's preferred uses of technology for learning in a Montessori preschool. The study was supported by the New London Group's theory of multiliteracies and the model of the Montessori method. Data were collected using pre and post teacher interviews, observations, and student generated video and audio recordings of learning activities. Data were coded to form preliminary categories, and open coding was used to generate themes. The findings revealed that children preferred to use technology to express ideas, to write stories, and to visually document and share their learning experiences with others. When technology was made readily available for learning, children became confident, independent, and responsible users. The inclusion of technology also increased learning and encouraged children to socially interact through new media. Implications for social change include the implementation of learning tools that are more closely aligned with those used in future schooling which may result in higher achievement.


The manual design of adaptive controllers for robotic systems that face unpredictable environmental changes is often challenging. There is thus a growing interest in the development of automatic design tools to assist control engineers. One of the most common approaches in this domain is the evolutionary synthesis of Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), which allows the automatic design of control systems with little or no human intervention. The performance of evolved neural controllers, however, critically depends on the choice of a suitable genetic representation, i.e., a description of the ANN on which the evolutionary search can operate effectively. In this thesis, I propose an alternative to existing representations for neural controllers based on an extension of Analog Genetic Encoding (AGE), an abstraction of the regulatory networks that control the expression of genes in biological organisms. The proposed approach unites three characteristics that have separately been considered advantageous, but have so far not been aggregated into a single representation: (1) it can be used to effectively synthesize the topology, weights, and numerical parameters of arbitrary networks; (2) it permits the use of heterogeneous ANN models that feature multiple types of signals; and (3) it facilitates the evolution of modular controllers. The results of a series of experiments demonstrate the advantages of these characteristics: (i) neural architectures synthesized with the proposed method display a performance competitive to the best hand-designed networks and networks synthesized with other representations; (ii) in tasks that feature an unpredictable changing environment, controllers with a heterogeneous ANN model outperform controllers with conventional, homogeneous ANN models; and (iii) in tasks that feature multiple modular sub-problems, the proposed representation allows the automatic decomposition of the problem, leading to a substantial improvement in the performance of the evolved controllers. In summary, the proposed representation in combination with a heterogeneous ANN model and an evolutionary algorithm represents a promising method for the automatic synthesis of adaptive control systems for robots.


We present a detailed analytical self-consistent theory based on wave kinetic equations that describes generation spectrum and output power of a Raman fiber laser (RFL). It is shown both theoretically and experimentally that the quasi-degenerate four-wave mixing (FWM) between different longitudinal modes is the main broadening mechanism in the one-stage RFL at high powers. The shape and power dependence of the intracavity Stokes wave spectrum are in excellent quantitative agreement with predictions of the theory. FWM-induced stochasticity of the amplitude and the phase of each of the ∼106 longitudinal modes generated in the RFL cavity is an example of a light-wave turbulence in a fiber.


A novel noise measurement method for mixers which exploits mixer noise figure variation with LO power is reported. The method allows for the first time high noise figures, e.g. at the maximum conversion gain point of millimetre wave mixers, to be found. With the technique proposed, noise figures as high as 20 dB can be accurately measured. The suggested method and its advantage over the conventional hot/cold noise measurement are demonstrated for a 65 GHz millimetre-wave GaAs MMIC down converter. For the mixer under test, the measured noise figures obtained were 9.3 dB with 7 dBm LO power and 15.1 dB with 13 dBm LO power, and the respective conversion gains were –1 dB (low noise point) and +3 dB (maximum conversion gain point).


Written by Arduino expert Jeremy Blum, this unique book uses the popular Arduino microcontroller platform as an instrument to teach you about topics in electrical engineering, programming, and human-computer interaction. Whether you're a budding hobbyist or an engineer, you'll benefit from the perfectly paced lessons that walk you through useful, artistic, and educational exercises that gradually get more advanced. In addition to specific projects, the book shares best practices in programming and design that you can apply to your own projects. Code snippets and schematics will serve as a useful reference for future projects even after you've mastered all the topics in the book.


Thesis submitted by Jinrui Pan for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the University of Manchester, and entitled, ?Time and Risk Preferences: Theoretical Models and Applications.? Date of submission 2014.This thesis makes contributions to two important areas of behavioural economics, namely individual decision making over time and under risk.Following the Introduction, Chapter 2 presents a new discounting function for analysing intertemporal choice. Liminal discounting, the model developed here, generalises exponential discounting in a parsimonious way. It allows for well-known departures, whilst maintaining its elegance and tractability. It also can be seen as an extension of quasi-hyperbolic discounting to continuous time. A liminal discounter has a constant rate of time preference before and after some threshold time; the liminal point. A preference foundation is provided, showing that the liminal point is derived endogenously from behaviour.Chapter 3 proposes an axiomatic model featuring a differential treatment of attitudes towards risk and time. Such distinction has been strongly suggested by experimental research when studying intertemporal choice, since the future is inherently risky. In the proposed model, non-linear probability distortions are incorporated into a dynamic model with discounted utility. Time is captured by a general discounting function independent of probabilities and outcomes. Utility of outcomes is captured by standard vNM utility independent of time. A two-parameter probability weighting function captures intertemporal probabilistic risk attitudes, with one parameter being constant over time, the other being time-dependent. An index of optimism is derived that depends on both parameters, which allows to model the observed high risk tolerance for delayed lotteries. Further, a preference foundation is provided. Interestingly, the model allows behaviour to be consistent with discounted expected utility, when risk is sufficiently distant from the present.


Aim: Metabolic syndrome (MetS) and hypothyroidism are well established forerunners of atherogenic cardiovascular disease. Considerable overlap occurs in the pathogenic mechanisms of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease by metabolic syndrome and hypothyroidism. Insulin resistance has been studied as the basic pathogenic mechanism in metabolic syndrome.[1] This cross sectional study intended to assess thyroid function in patients with metabolic syndrome and to investigate the association between hypothyroidism and metabolic syndrome. Materials and Methods: One hundred patients with metabolic syndrome who fulfilled the National Cholesterol Education Program- Adult Treatment Panel (NCEP-ATP) III criteria [ 3 out of 5 criteria positive namely blood pressure ≥ 130/85 mm hg or on antihypertensive medications, fasting plasma glucose > 100 mg/dl or on anti-diabetic medications, fasting triglycerides > 150 mg/dl, high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) < 40 mg/dl in males and < 50 mg/dl in females, waist circumference > 102 cms in men and 88 cms in women] were included in the study group.[2] Fifty patients who had no features of metabolic syndrome (0 out of 5 criteria for metabolic syndrome) were included in the control group. Patients with liver disorders, renal disorders, congestive cardiac failure, pregnant women, patients on oral contraceptive pills, statins and other medications that alter thyroid functions and lipid levels and those who are under treatment for any thyroid related disorder were excluded from the study. Acutely ill patients were excluded taking into account sick euthyroid syndrome. Patients were subjected to anthropometry, evaluation of vital parameters, lipid and thyroid profile along with other routine laboratory parameters. Students t-test, Chi square test and linear regression, multiple logistic regression models were used for statistical analysis. P value < 0.05 was considered significant. Results: Of the 100 patients in study group, 55 were females (55%) and 45 were males (45%). Of the 50 persons in control group, 26 (52%) were females and 24 (48%) were males. The baseline characteristics of two groups are depicted in. The two groups were similar with respect to age and sex distribution. However, body mass index, waist circumference, mean systolic pressure, diastolic pressure, fasting blood sugar, total cholesterol, LDL-C, triglycerides and TSH were significantly higher in study group compared to control group. HDL-C was significantly lower in study group.


An office worker and an aristocratic young lady become unlikely friends as they work together for women's right to vote. A thrilling story of secret meetings, police oppression and social upheaval, as well as an accurate account of the Suffragette movement in the years before the First World War. Republished to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the death of suffragette martyr Emily Davison.


Severe, localized corrosion of titanium-alloy femoral stems has been reported for specific designs of hip prostheses intended for fixation using acrylic cement. The purpose of the present study was to examine the possibility that corrosion might also occur when titanium-alloy stems are inserted without cement, but the body of the stem is modular in design. Fourteen (7 primary and 7 revision) cementless, modular-body, titanium-6% aluminum-4% vanadium alloy femoral stems of similar design were removed at revision surgery after 2 to 108 months in situ. The reason for removal was unexplained pain (4), femoral or acetabular loosening (4), infection (3), recurrent dislocation (2), or component malposition (1). The devices and, in selected cases, tissue from the joint psuedocapsule were studied with the use of light and scanning electron microscopy. Fretting corrosion products were characterized using energy dispersive x-ray analysis, selected area diffraction, and micro-Raman spectroscopy. Damage at the modular body connections was absent in 3 stems, mild in 6, moderate in 4, and severe in 1. The surface damage was characterized predominately by fretting scars and by pitting and etching. Thick deposits of mixed titanium oxides were found adherent to the stem at the sites of corrosion and as 0.01 to 200 micrometer particles within histiocytes and multinucleated giant cells in the joint pseudocapsule. Fretting corrosion at the modular-body junctions of titanium-alloy femoral stems can generate solid degradation products, adding to the particulate burden of the periprosthetic tissues and potentially accelerating bearing-surface wear by a third-body mechanism. Both of these features can potentiate the development and progression of osteolysis. In addition, fretting corrosion can increase the potential for structural failure of the device. These findings stress the importance of the design of modular junctions to minimize corrosion and the generation of corrosion products.


There are several problems around the globe related to water scarcity, energy shortages, deforestation and loss of fertile land, and food security. Climate change is making environmental and social issues arise. Issues such as, changes in the agricultural landscape, increasing population (9 billion is the expected population for 2040), rising food borne illnesses, scarcity of drinking water, and more crop failure due to plant pathogens and insect pests, among other factors make this study specially significant. Vertical farming could be a potencial solution to some of these problems.
Due to these problems the present thesis analyzed vertical farming as a possible solution for the future of food production. The study has used lettuce as an example of what vertical farming could offer. The analysis was focused on the productivity of the vertical farm, the location within the state of Indiana, the water used, the carbon footprint, and the energy needed to run the vertical farm with 100% supplemental LEDs.
The analysis of the data was done using ArcGIS software, and data from the Indianamap website, to create a model that was able to determine the most suitable locations within the State of Indiana. Once the location was determined the author estimated the amount of electrical energy needed to grow lettuce indoors, using LEDs. As well as the energy analysis, the author focused on the water footprint and carbon footprint of the hypothetical vertical farm.
The findings of this thesis are both encouraging and discouraging but they also form a starting point for further research. These results are based on the assumptions, limitations and delimitations of this study. The most suitable locations in the State of Indiana to locate a vertical farm, under the parameters used, are Anderson, Brazil, Columbia city, Connersville, Gary, Mishawaka, and Terre Haute. The use of energy just for lighting is around 133million kWh, which is the equivalent to 12,326 American households of four during a year, the water footprint is 33 times less than conventional crops, which is around 237l H2O/kg of lettuce produced. Although the purpose of this thesis was not to generate a comparison of vertical farm to conventional open field agriculture, important data that could form the foundation for such comparison were generated. These data include the carbon footprint that is 56,258 tones of CO2 per year, which are the emissions made by approximate 3,200 Americans during a year, and the productivity of this vertical farm of 10 story vertical farm and dimensions of 100mx100m with stacked drums would be around 8,482 tones of lettuce /year, enough to satisfy the daily needs of fresh vegetables of more than 100,000 people if only were eating lettuce.
Some of the recommendations for further research are to include social implications into the analysis, as well as a cost benefit economic analysis of vertical farming methods versus conventional open field to determine the economical feasibility of vertical farms, as well as a detailed comparison of methods between vertical farming and conventional farming.


Although different approaches for the reduction of NOx species have been widely investigated in the literature, there are a number of drawbacks to the current industrial processes. In addition, increasingly stringent legislation ensures continued interest in improving these methods. An opportunity to utilise the H2 produced during biomass gasification to treat the subsequent exhaust emissions was identified and a number of novel catalyst systems were prepared and explored in a variety of different deNOx processes, and their performance compared to typical 'standard' catalysts. Measurements conducted on a pilot scale gasifier confirmed the presence of between 10 – 17 % H2, depending on the conditions in the gasifier, and validated the approach of this work. An experimental set–up consisting of a 15 mm i.d. stainless steel reactor housed within an electric furnace was constructed and commissioned, and an analytical method for the detection of eight potential deNOx reaction species was developed utilising a Quadrupole Mass Spectrometer (QMS). All of the catalysts explored in this study (o.d. = 14 mm, length = 10 mm) were prepared through impregnation of supplied samples of cordierite substrate monoliths coated with a γ–Al2O3 washcoat. Results of catalytic studies make up the bulk of this thesis, and two such processes were explored: (a) Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) – Pt/Al2O3 has already been widely explored for this process and Ag/Al2O3 was also prepared as a potential novel material. Although the Ag/Al2O3 catalyst displayed some conversion of NO at higher temperatures (e.g. 17 – 21 % at ≥ 350 ᵒC), apparent selectivity to the formation of N2 was poor (e.g. 40 – 41 %). (b) NOx Storage and Reduction (NSR) – Ba/Pt/Al2O3 is considered the standard catalyst for this process and was compared to two novel materials: Ba/Ag/Al2O3 and K/Ag/Al2O3. With respect to the standard catalyst, the novel systems demonstrated comparable, and in some cases improved performance depending on the NSR conditions at 400 ᵒC. Ba/Ag/Al2O3 demonstrated a capacity to store 11 – 15 % of the supplied NO and subsequently reduce 6 – 77 % of the stored species to N2. K/Ag/Al2O3 demonstrated a capacity to store 23 – 72 % of the supplied NO and subsequently reduce 60 – 92 % of the stored species to N2.


Recognition of oceanic crust in Archean greenstone belts has
remained a controversial and unresolved issue, with implications
for understanding early Earth geodynamics. In the search for early
Archean oceanic crust, we present a multi-pronged approach to test
for the presence of an ophiolite-type sequence preserved in the Paleoarchean
Barberton greenstone belt (BGB) of South Africa. New field
observations are combined with detrital U-Pb zircon geochronology
and geochemistry on fresh drill-core material from the Kromberg
type-section sequence of mafic-ultramafic rocks in the 3.56–3.33 Ga
Onverwacht Group of the BGB. Trace element geochemistry indicates
that the Kromberg metabasalts were derived from the primitive
mantle. The e Nd values and Nd model ages of the metabasalts
record a depleted Archean mantle source similar to CHUR (chondritic
uniform reservoir) with no continental (tonalite-trondhjemitegranodiorite
[TTG]) crustal contamination. U-Pb geochronology by
laser ablation–inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry on
detrital zircons from an uppermost chert unit indicate a homogeneous
age distribution and a gabbroic source in the greenstone belt,
in direct contrast to zircons from felsic conglomerates structurally
underlying the Kromberg sequence. Collectively, the new data and
field observations indicate that the 3.33 Ga Kromberg mafic-ultramafic
sequence formed in a juvenile oceanic setting and represents
a remnant of tectonically accreted oceanic crust. The identification
of oceanic crust preserved as dismembered allochthons in the BGB
suggests that horizontal plate tectonic processes were operating on
the Archean Earth as early as Mesoarchean times.


Data science libraries, frameworks, modules, and toolkits are great for doing data science, but they're also a good way to dive into the discipline without actually understanding data science. In this book, you'll learn how many of the most fundamental data science tools and algorithms work by implementing them from scratch. If you have an aptitude for mathematics and some programming skills, author Joel Grus will help you get comfortable with the math and statistics at the core of data science, and with hacking skills you need to get started as a data scientist. Today's messy glut of data holds answers to questions no one's even thought to ask. This book provides you with the know-how to dig those answers out.


Two factors–the increase in international investment and the increase in international investment agreements–have together led to a growth in the number and severity of treaty-based disputes between host states and individual investors. An increasing number of such disputes are being settled through international arbitration. However, the large amounts of some resulting arbitration awards, the cost to host countries of the arbitral process, and the constraints imposed thereby on the ability of governments to regulate enterprises in their territories have raised questions as to whether means other than arbitration and litigation can be found to resolve treaty-based, investorState disputes. In short, is there a better way than international arbitration to resolve at least some investor-State disputes? The purpose of this Article is to explore alternative methods for settling such conflicts. IS THERE A BETTER WAY? ALTERNATIVE METHODS OF TREATY-BASED, INVESTOR-STATE DISPUTE RESOLUTION


Extracting meaning out of biological sequences such as DNA, RNA, and strings of amino acids is a task that traditionally requires a large amount of expert knowledge. Breakthroughs and advancements of these subjects are slow due to the computational intractability inherent in biological sequences. If it were possible to lower or remove the high level of expertise needed to solve important problems in biology it might be possible to increase the pace of biological breakthroughs. As a small step in this direction this thesis focuses on the challenge of sub-cellular protein localization. It is possible to totally remove the need for any biological understanding by viewing the problem of Sub-cellular protein localization as a Natural Language Processing task. This method requires no hand engineered features and performs at a character level granularity. Modifications are made to an existing deep convolution network which was designed to perform a range of Natural Language Processing tasks such as Sentiment Analysis and Topic Classification. While this model does not achieve state of the art performance it is competitive with respect to other models evaluated in this Thesis. These findings are encouraging for a few reasons. First it is shown that a totally biologically naive method performs competitively with other hand engineered methods. Lastly it is hoped that the current intense research focus on Natural Language processing in the field of deep learning will greatly increase the viability of the method contained in this thesis in coming years.


The spectral evolution and transitional behavior of the odd harmonic windows in a broadly tuned electrooptic Solc filter are described theoretically and demonstrated experimentally. We show how the fundamental and all the odd harmonic passbands split and eventually merge in pairs with nearest neighbors to become even harmonics of the fundamental λf as the principal pass wavelength λp is tuned from λp = λf to λp ≫λf.


The present dissertation is intended to be the first systematic investigation of the
illusionistic pergola considered within the framework of the intellectual culture and the
garden culture of early modern Rome. The subject is the fresco or mosaic decoration
featuring a pergola – a depicted trelliswork covered with plants and peopled with birds –
in the loggias, porticoes, and garden pavilions of villas and palaces in Rome and its environs. These pictorial fictions have survived in sufficient numbers to constitute a decorative trend, and moreover, appear in clusters at specific periods, which can be partly explained by means of the cultural factors predominant at the time. The dissertation discusses these pergolas in relation to antiquarian culture, the collecting of plants and birds, the study of natural history, garden furnishings and the art of treillage, thereby contextualizing them within the culture of early modern Rome.
The dissertation assembles the first corpus of illusionistic pergolas in the period
1500-1620, updating a much earlier general corpus of 1967 by Borsch-Supan, and
distinguishes three distinct periods of the proliferation of these pictorial fictions in Rome and its environs: the first period (1517-1520), the second period (1550-1580), and the third period (1600-1620). Important cultural issues relevant to each period are identified,and proposed as the frameworks for study. These include the reference to the antique and to the vernacular, mediation between indoors and outdoors, the tension between art and craft and the ambiguity of the pseudo-architectural, semantic and aesthetic cross reference between architecture and garden, and the reflection of the intellectual culture.
On examination, the illusionistic pergolas are revealed to be a nexus of interrelationships between built structure, ornamented surface, garden and landscape, as
well as multivalent embodiments of emerging ideas and sensibilities concerning the
experience of architectural space and nature. By taking into account the middle ground of architecture and garden, the study explores the multivalence of ephemeral garden
furnishings and their fictive counterparts, opening up a new perspective on the sites
examined, and attempts to see a resonance of the tradition in modern times.


Advertisers seek to maximize profits by investing in advertising. We propose a "cost-per-incremental-action" (CPIA) pricing model which incorporates the causal contribution of advertising in order to achieve the advertisers' objectives such as profit maximization. CPIA pricing aligns marketplace incentives among all participants to help advertisers achieve their objectives via ad effectiveness and, by doing so, eliminates the adverse behaviors resulting from the misaligned incentives of commonly used pricing models. CPIA pricing can be implemented by adapting cost-per-action (CPA) bidding by either the ad platform or advertiser's bidding agent. We discuss CPIA pricing in the context of several examples, including recent empirical studies measuring the causal effects of advertising within the context of existing pricing models.


The article considers recruiting via the internet as an organizational innovation in Russian companies. Using data from a survey of employers and RLMS-HSE, we measured the scale of internet-use by employers for recruiting and by employees for the job search, and the factors influencing them. In general, the characteristics of employees and workplaces were in line with one another. Amid companies, internet use was more common in the retail sector, among privately owned and financially successful firms. The internet was more actively used by workers with higher or specialized education from big cities. Internet search complements other search channels and has become the second most popular channel after searching for work through relatives and friends.

https://foresight-journal.hse.ru/data/2018/01/09/1160679192/3-Roschin et al -33-43.pdf


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this paper is to review the current data on the coexistence of non-recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) and vascular variations.

METHODS
A systematic literature search was conducted on MEDLINE for case reports, original articles and reviews regarding the presence of non-RLN and coexisting vascular variants.

RESULTS
From the literature search, 104 cases of non-RLN with confirmed vascular variants were reported. More specifically, 97.7% (n=101) of cases involved a right and 2.3% (n=3) a left non-RLN. The most common concurrent vascular variant reported with a right non-RLN was an aberrant right subclavian artery (97%; n=98). One case report (0.9%) of an intrathyroidal right common carotid artery was noted and 2 cases (1.9%) were associated with normal vascular anatomy. Furthermore, all 3 cases of a left non-RLN were associated with a right aortic arch, while 2 of them were also accompanied with situs inversus.

CONCLUSIONS
The presence of vascular variations of the great vessels must prompt the surgeon to search for a non-RLN. Intraoperative neuromonitoring increases the detection rate of non-RLN. Further research is required to determine anatomic landmarks for the perioperative identification of a non-RLN, allowing its protection from potential injury.


Purpose: To determine whether recombinant human leukemia inhibitory factor (rhuLIF, AM424, emfilermin) can prevent or ameliorate the development of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) after treatment with carboplatin (AUC 6) and paclitaxel (175 mg/m2 over 3 hours). Experimental Design: Randomized double-blind placebo-controlled phase II clinical trial. Eligible patients had solid tumors for which treatment with carboplatin/paclitaxel was appropriate. The primary end point was a standardized composite peripheral nerve electrophysiology (CPNE) score, based on nerve velocities and amplitudes, measured at baseline and after four cycles of chemotherapy. Secondary efficacy end points included CPNE score at last cycle and at exit evaluation, vibration perception threshold, H-reflex latency, symptom scores, and quantitative assessment of neurologic signs. Study drug was given s.c. daily for 7 days starting the day before chemotherapy. Patients were randomized to receive low-dose rhuLIF (2 μg/kg), high-dose rhuLIF (4 μg/kg), or placebo. Results: Patients (n = 117) were randomized across seven neurology test centers. Thirty-six patients received low dose rhuLIF (2 μg/kg), 39 received high dose rhuLIF (4 μg/kg) and 42 received placebo. rhuLIF was well tolerated with 95% compliance and no adverse effects on quality of life. No differences between groups in CPNE or any of the individual neurologic testing variables were observed between baseline and cycle 4 or by the secondary efficacy variables. Conclusions: rhuLIF is not effective in preventing CIPN caused by carboplatin and paclitaxel. CPNE is a reliable and valid tool that was sensitive to the onset and progression of CIPN.


A micrometeorological application of an electrical low pressure impactor (ELPI) for the measurement of size-resolved particle fluxes between the surface and the atmosphere is proposed. Particles are introduced into the system for a very short time period through an inlet valve and analyzed in distinct size bins with the ELPI instrument for several seconds. Together with sonic anemometer measurements, size-resolved deposition velocities can be derived employing disjunct eddy covariance (DEC). Laboratory experiments studying ELPI instrument response indicate that a sampling interval of 0.3 s and a measurement interval of at least 5 s yield particle concentration data comparable to continuous sampling, and suitable for DEC. Calculations and Monte-Carlo simulations show that the finite length of the average period as well as Poisson and instrumental noise frequently introduce uncertainties in deposition velocities which may be an order of magnitude larger than the measurement value. In first field measurements with a prototype system, the measured fluxes were often below the detection limit as defined by the measurement uncertainties. At high particle concentrations, the DEC measurements could potentially extend current measurement capabilities to cover submicron particles fluxes in several size classes simultaneously.


Ever since Justice Lewis Powell's concurring opinion in Bakke made diversity in higher education a constitutionally acceptable rationale for affirmative action programs in 1978, the diversity rationale has received vehement criticism from across the ideological spectrum. Critics on the right have argued that efforts to attain diversity will necessarily lead to lower quality results, as "less meritorious" applicants are selected in place of people with ostensibly stronger qualifications. Critics on the left have charged that diversity is a "subterfuge" and an empty formulation. On the diversity rationale's legitimacy, then, it would seem that there is precious little diversity of thought. In particular, prominent scholars and jurists have frequently cast doubt on the diversity rationale's empirical foundations, claiming that it is a mere hypothesis, and an implausible, unsupported one at that. This critique has made its way into the pages of the United States Reports, and it threatens the foundations upon which affirmative action rests.

To assess the diversity rationale, we conduct an empirical study of student-run law reviews. Over the past several decades, many leading law reviews have implemented diversity policies for selecting editors. We investigate whether the citations to articles that a given law review publishes change after the adoption of a diversity policy. Using a dataset of the citations to the nearly 13,000 articles published by leading law reviews in over a 60-year period, we find that law reviews that adopt diversity policies see the median citations to their volumes increase by roughly 23 percent in the five years after adoption. In addition to exploring the effect of diversity policies on median citations, we also explore the effect of diversity policies on mean citations. When doing so, our estimates are consistently positive, but they are largely not statistically significant at conventional levels.

These findings have implications well beyond the law review setting. If diverse groups of student editors perform better than non-diverse groups, it lends credibility to the idea that diverse student bodies, diverse faculties, diverse teams of attorneys, and diverse teams of employees generally would all perform better. We thus view these results as empirically supporting the much-derided diversity rationale—support that could prove critical as the continued viability of affirmative action today confronts numerous threats.