An established Open Source Software community (Apache Cocoon) was explored using an online questionnaire about demographic data and individual and group-related factors. Individual factors encompassed forms of contributions, motivation, expertise and knowledge. Role structures, expectations towards other members, trust and collaboration issues were analysed at group level. More than 60% of the developer community completed this questionnaire. Results provide a valuable basis for deeper understanding of knowledge sharing, collaboration and innovation processes in distributed work groups


This book is concerned with the eighteenth-century typographer, printer, industrialist and Enlightenment figure, John Baskerville (1707-75). Baskerville was a Birmingham inventor, entrepreneur and artist with a worldwide reputation who made eighteenth-century Birmingham a city without typographic equal, by changing the course of type design. Baskerville not only designed one of the world's most historically important typefaces, he also experimented with casting and setting type, improved the construction of the printing-press, developed a new kind of paper and refined the quality of printing inks. His typographic experiments put him ahead of his time, had an international impact and did much to enhance the printing and publishing industries of his day. Yet despite his importance, fame and influence many aspects of Baskerville's work and life remain unexplored and his contribution to the arts, industry, culture and society of the Enlightenment are largely unrecognized. Moreover, recent scholarly research in archaeology, art and design, history, literary studies and typography, is leading to a fundamental reassessment of many aspects of Baskerville's life and impact, including his birthplace, his work as an industrialist, the networks which sustained him and the reception of his printing in Britain and overseas. The last major, but publication of Baskerville dates from 1975. Now, forty years on, the time is ripe for a new book. This interdisciplinary approach provides an original contribution to printing history, eighteenth-century studies and the dissemination of ideas.


This paper presents an estimation of the quantity of carbon fixed in trees in a one hectare (ha) plot at the Cerro Pelado-Gamboa Hydrology Tropical Observatory, which is located in the province of Colon, Panama. The estimation of carbon fixed in trees may provide significant information on carbon flux due to water circulation, which may ultimately enable evaluation of the carbon cycle. All trees larger than 10 cm diameter at breast height (DBH) in the plot were investigated. Carbon fixed within these trees was estimated using a parameterized formula. Tree biomass estimations for the plot were 97.21 Mg ha-1. We identified a rare arboreal pear species (Euphorbiaceous) with higher carbon density than other trees in the plot. The presence of this apparently unique species may be due to specific soil characteristics. The method was evaluated by comparing the results with a second study performed in 2011, which resulted in an estimate of net new carbon (biomass) increment (NNCI), which gives 3.88 Mg ha-1 year-1. In general, the estimation of the biomass and associated carbon content found in this investigation are useful comparative data for economic evaluation of tropical forests in terms of capacity to capture carbon.


Throughout history, royal dynasties have dominated countries and empires around the world. Kings, queens, emperors, chiefs, pharaohs, czars - whatever title they ruled by, monarchs have shaped institutions, rituals, and cultures in every time period and every corner of the globe. The concept of monarchy originated in prehistoric times and evolved over centuries right up to the present. Efforts to overthrow monarchies or evade their rule - such as the American, French, Chinese, and Russian revolutions - are considered turning points in world history. Even today, many countries retain their monarchies, although in vastly reduced form with little political power. One cannot understand human history and government without understanding monarchs and monarchies. This fully-illustrated encyclopedia provides the first complete survey of all the major rulers and ruling families of the world, past and present. No other reference work approaches the topic with the same sense of magnitude or connection to historical context. Arranged in A-Z format for ease of access, World Monarchies and Dynasties includes information on major monarchs and dynasties from ancient time to the present. This set: includes overviews of reigns and successions, genealogical charts, and dynastic timelines; addresses concepts, problems, and theories of monarchy; provides background and information for further research; highlights important places, structures, symbols, events, and legends related to particular monarchs and dynasties; includes a master bibliography and multiple indexes.


Feed-forward neural networks in conjunction with back-propagation are an effective tool to automate the classification of biomedical signals. Most of the neural network research to date has been done with a view to accelerate learning speed. In the medical context, however, generalisation may be more important than learning speed. With the brain stem auditory evoked potential classification task described in this study, the authors found that parameter values that gave fastest learning could result in poor generalisation. In order to achieve maximum generalisation, it was necessary to fine tune the neural net for gain, momentum, batch size, and hidden layer size. Although this maximization could be time consuming, especially with larger training sets, the authors' results suggest that fine tuning parameters can have important clinical consequences, which justifies the time involved. In the authors' case, fine tuning parameters for high generalisation had the additional effect of reducing false negative classifications, with only a small sacrifice in learning speed.<<ETX>>


The last major study of sales performance variance explained by salespeople attributes was by Churchill et al. (1985). They examined the effect of role, skills, motivation, personal factors, aptitude, and organizational/environmental factors on sales performance—factors that have dominated the sales performance area. About the same time, Weitz, Sujan, and Sujan (1986) introduced the concepts of salespeople's knowledge structures. Considerable work on the relationship of the elements of knowledge structures and performance can be found in the literature. In this research note, we determine the degree to which sales performance can be explained by knowledge structure variables, a heretofore unexplored area. If knowledge structure variables explain more variance than traditional variables, then this paper would be a call to further research in this area. In examining this research question in a retail context, we find that knowledge structure variables explain 50.2 percent of the variance in sales performance. We also find that variance explained by knowledge structures is significantly different based on gender. The impact of knowledge structures on performance was higher for men than for women. The models using education demonstrated smaller differences.


ICTs are frequently looked to as a missing link between traditional bureaucracy and the modernization of public administration and service delivery. Through the empirical research in the Thai public sector, we find that there is a fundamental gap between the design and normative goal of ICTs and their real world implementation. The structures of power are frequently retained or even reinforced by those who hold budgetary administrative, and authoritative roles and consequently get to make decisions about the development and use of ICTs to facilitate their administrative and managerial goals. While on a discursive level ICTs in Thailand have been projected to counter traditional practices and streamline governance as part of a broader administrative reform since the 2000s, we find that the practice is far different. Situating our work in the theoretical traditions of organization studies and computer supported collaborative work, we discuss how the Thai computerization projects add a valuable case to the vast literature on technology adoption. We also use the case to illustrate the value of this literature in growing work on governance and technology adoption within ICTD circles.


Business and IT alignment is increasingly acknowledged as a key for organisational performance. However, alignment research lack to mechanisms that enable for on-going process with multi-level effects. Multi-level learning allows on-going effectiveness through development of the organisation and improved quality of business and IT strategies. In particular, exploration and exploitation enable effective process of alignment across dynamic multi-level of learning. Hence, this paper proposes a conceptual framework that links multi-level learning and business-IT strategy through the concept of exploration and exploitation, which considers short-term and long-term alignment together to address the challenges of strategic alignment faced in sustaining organisational performance.


A novel, solid freeform fabrication method has been developed for the manufacture of ceramic-based components in an environmentally friendly fashion. The method is based on the extrusion of ceramic slurries using water as the binding media. Aluminum oxide (Al2O3) is currently being used as the part material and solids loading as high as 60 vol. % has been achieved. This paper describes a novel manufacturing machine that has been developed for the extrusion of high solids loading ceramic slurries. A critical component of the machine is the deposition system, which consists of a syringe, a plunger, a ram actuated by a motor that forces the plunger down to extrude material, and a load cell to measure the extrusion force. An empirical, dynamic model of the ceramic extrusion process, where the input is the commanded ram velocity and the output is the extrusion force, is developed. Several experiments are conducted and curve fitting techniques are utilized to construct the dynamic model. The results demonstrate that the ceramic extrusion process has a very slow dynamic response, as compared to other non-compressible fluids such as water. A substantial amount of variation exists in the ceramic extrusion process, most notably in the transient dynamics, and a constant ram velocity may either produce a relatively constant steady-state extrusion force or it may cause the extrusion force to steadily increase until the ram motor skips. The ceramic extrusion process is also subjected to significant disturbances such as air bubble release, which causes a dramatic decrease in the extrusion force, and nozzle clogging, which causes the extrusion force to slowly increase until the clog is released or the ram motor skips.


Lack of global health knowledge places immigrants at risk of iatrogenic morbidity. Although global health education programs have grown in popularity, measurable impact is lacking. We previously surveyed 363 physicians in training across 15 programs in four countries in 2004 regarding basic parasite knowledge and recognition of Strongyloides risk through a theoretical case scenario. In 2005, the University of Minnesota implemented a formal global health training program (GHP). In 2009, the identical survey was repeated. Strongyloidiasis recognition increased from 11.1% (19/171) in 2004 to 39.4% (50/127) in 2009 (P < 0.001). Trainees participating in formal didactic and interactive curriculum had superior recognition (77% versus 29%; P < 0.001). In a multivariate model of GHP training activities, participation in an American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene-accredited global health certificate course increased recognition (odds ratio = 9.5, 95% confidence interval = 2.5-36, P = 0.001), whereas participation in international electives alone did not (P = 0.9). A formal GHP curriculum was associated with improved knowledge regarding common parasitic infections and the risk of iatrogenic morbidity and mortality due to strongyloidiasis.


The Proterozoic Vazante zinc silicate district in Minas Gerais, Brazil, hosts world-class hypogene willemite deposits in dolomitic rocks interbedded with siliciclastic rocks deposited in subtidal to supratidal environments. Willemite ore bodies are structurally controlled along regional NE-trending structures which are interpreted as being active during the Neoproterozoic Brasiliano orogeny. The hydrothermal alteration is characterized by an early stage of Fe-dolomite, which replaced the host dolomitic rocks, followed by precipitation of minor sphalerite and then hematite and willemite. Elements commonly enriched in the zinc ore include As, Ba, Be, Bi, Cd, Co, Fe, Ge, In, Mo, Ni, Sb, Se, U, V and W. Mineralogical, fluid inclusion and isotopic data indicates that mixing of S-poor metalliferous saline fluids with meteoric water favored the formation of willemite ore. Carbonaceous phyllites from the underlying thick siliciclastic sequence show evidence of early enrichment in zinc (and ore-related metals) and remobilization, respectively, prior to and during the Brasiliano orogenic event. This unit is interpreted as a possible source of ore-related elements. It is proposed that during the Brasiliano orogeny, hot (T > 170 °C) saline fluids (>15 wt % eq. NaCl) leached metals from siliciclastic source rocks and precipitated willemite ore in the overlying dolomitic sequence along structures that favored mixing with oxidizing meteoric water.


Demands on high-quality layer structured two-dimensional (2D) thin films such as pnictogen chalcogenides and transition metal dichalcogenides are growing due to the findings of exotic physical properties and potentials for device applications. However, the difficulties in controlling epitaxial growth and the unclear understanding of van der Waals epitaxy (vdWE) for a 2D chalcogenide film on a three-dimensional (3D) substrate have been major obstacles for the further advances of 2D materials. Here, we exploit the spontaneous vdWE of a high-quality 2D chalcogenide (Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3) film by the chalcogen-driven surface reconstruction of a conventional 3D sapphire substrate. It is verified that the in situ formation of a pseudomorphic Te atomic monolayer on the surface of sapphire, which results in a dangling bond-free surface, allows the spontaneous vdWE of 2D chalcogenide film. Since this route uses the natural surface reconstruction of sapphire with chalcogen under vacuum condition, it can be scalable and easily utilized for the developments of various 2D chalcogenide vdWE films through conventional thin-film fabrication technologies.


Multi-variant program execution is an application of n-version programming, in which several slightly different instances of the same program are executed in lockstep on a multiprocessor. These variants are created in such a way that they behave identically under "normal" operation and diverge when "out of specification" events occur, which may be indicative of attacks. This paper assess the effectiveness of different code variation techniques to address different classes of vulnerabilities. In choosing a variant or combination of variants, security demands need to be balanced against runtime overhead. Our study indicates that a good combination of variations when running two variants is to choose one of instruction set randomization, system call number randomization, and register randomization, and use that together with library entry point randomization. Running more variants simultaneously makes it exponentially more difficult to take over the system.


The reorganized and newly revised "Children's Exercise Physiology, Second Edition, " presents the most up-to-date research, methodology, and approaches related to children's physiologic responses to exercise. The book examines not only the current major issues that separate children from adults, but also the underlying mechanisms of these differences. Readers will learn what makes children different from adults physiologically--such as size, biochemical differences, neuromuscular differences, and lack of sexual and hormonal maturation--and the reasons for these differences. Those involved with young athletes, disease management, and health promotion will gain valuable insight into the physiologic determinants of exercise performance. Children's exercise physiology is a fast-moving field. In the eight years since the first edition of this book was published, much new information has surfaced. This streamlined new edition contains 13 instead of 15 chapters, an introduction, and updated features: -Chapter objectives, discussion questions and research directions, and a glossary of terms promote learning.-A reorganized table of contents improves the flow from chapter to chapter.-A new final chapter covers the role of the central nervous system.Also included is in-depth discussion of the determinants of aerobic fitness and VO2 kinetics and the significance of maximal aerobic power in children. With improved chapters on thermoregulation and metabolic and endocrinologic responses to exercise, you can be confident you're getting the latest information with "Children's Exercise Physiology, Second Edition."


It is our predicament that we live in a finite world, and yet we behave as if it were infinite. Steady exponential material growth with no limits on resource consumption and population is the dominant conceptual model used by today's decision makers. This is an approximation of reality that is no longer accurate and started to break down. The World3 model, originally developed in the 1970s, includes many rather detailed aspects of human society and its interaction with a resourcelimited planet. However, World3 is a rather complex model. Therefore it is valuable for pedagogical reasons to show how similar behavior can be also realized with models that are much simpler. This paper presents a series of world models, starting with very simple exponential growth and predator-prey systems, then investigates a minimal human-nature model, Handy, and ends with a brief account of the World3 model. For the first time, a simple human-nature interaction model is made available in Modelica that distinguishes between dynamics of Elite and Commoner social groups. It is shown that Handy can reproduce rather complex behavior with a very simple model structure, as compared to that of world models like World3.


This paper is a history of the first gender reckoning in U.S. economics, which began in the early 1970s. Based on hitherto closed archives of the American Economic Association (AEA), we reconstruct the historical context that led to the establishment of the Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession (CSWEP) in order to unpack its successes and failures, the enthusiasm it generated, and the resistance it encountered. We first show that then (as now), the birth of CSWEP was tied to larger social concerns: the feminist and civil rights movements, growing public awareness of issues surrounding discrimination and inequality, and the shifting legal context that drew many scientific societies and institutions toward such a reckoning. The economics profession was a late comer in responding to these changes.

The narrative then turns to how economists' particular approach to understanding social phenomena influenced views within the profession regarding gender disparities. Economists both study and experience discrimination, which led economists to view the status of women in the profession through the lens of economic analysis. The final section reflects on changes during the 1980s that saw the normalization of gender topics in economics as well as witnessed a fragmentation among economists interested in furthering the status of women. In conclusion, we emphasize how much CSWEP has contributed to the professionalization of economics at large through wielding theoretical and empirical tools.


With a narrative that will entertain art lovers of all ages, this new board book is a fun way to introduce young children to fine art. The sleepy trees, golden haystacks, and juicy fruits of In the Garden with Van Gogh will delight little ones. Playful rhyming texts accompany the artists timeless paintings in this little masterpiece.


We present the discovery of KELT-22Ab, a hot Jupiter from the KELT-South survey. KELT-22Ab transits the moderately bright (V ∼ 11.1) Sun-like G2V star TYC 7518-468-1. The planet has an orbital period of days, a radius of , and a relatively large mass of . The star has , , K, (cgs), and [m/H] = ; thus other than its slightly super-solar metallicity, it appears to be a near-solar twin. Surprisingly, KELT-22A exhibits kinematics and a Galactic orbit that are somewhat atypical for thin-disk stars. Nevertheless, the star is rotating rapidly for its estimated age, and shows evidence of chromospheric activity. Imaging reveals a slightly fainter companion to KELT-22A that is likely bound, with a projected separation of 6″ (∼1400 au). In addition to the orbital motion caused by the transiting planet, we detect a possible linear trend in the radial velocity of KELT-22A, suggesting the presence of another relatively nearby body that is perhaps non-stellar. KELT-22Ab is highly irradiated (as a consequence of the small semimajor axis of ), and is mildly inflated. At such small separations, tidal forces become significant. The configuration of this system is optimal for measuring the rate of tidal dissipation within the host star. Our models predict that, due to tidal forces, the semimajor axis is decreasing rapidly, and KELT-22Ab is predicted to spiral into the star within the next Gyr.


Aims ABO incompatible renal transplantation has been reported as a successful form of renal replacement therapy in children and adults. Antibody removal is required with options of B lymphocyte depletion with splenectomy, plasma exchange, double filtration plasmapheresis or immunoadsorption. Methods To report the successful outcome of ABO incompatible renal transplantation using quadruple immunosuppression (basiliximab at days 0 and 4, mycophenolate mofetil and tacrolimus from one week pretransplantation and corticosteroids) with only B lymphocyte depletion (intravenous rituximab 375 mg/m2 at one month pretransplantation). A 14-year-old young man received a living related renal transplantation from his mother for end-stage renal failure (ESRF) on haemodialysis for steroid resistant nephrotic syndrome due to focal and segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) who had a living related renal transplant from his father 18 months previously, which had failed due to a vascular event. Results The recipient and donor (mother) blood groups were A and B Rhesus positive, respectively, with anti-B titres of one in four rising to one in eight pretransplantation. His renal transplant was performed successfully without further antibody removal or surgical complications and immediate renal allograft function. Three months posttransplant his renal function has stabilised with a plasma creatinine of 114μmol/l giving an estimated glomerular filtration rate of 62 ml/min/1.73 m2. He does not have clinical evidence of recurrent FSGS posttransplantation (normal serum albumin levels without albuminuria) with negative anti-B titres and donor specific antibodies and no evidence of EBV, BK or CMV viraemia (having required oral valganciclovir as CMV mismatch). He had a normal transplant renal biopsy at ten days post-transplant without evidence of acute rejection and one focal segmental sclerotic lesion seen on protocol biopsy at three months. Conclusion In view of the reported success of ABO incompatible renal transplantation, clinicians must consider this option in ESRF patients whose parents have been excluded as living donors in view of ABO blood group incompatibility.


At present, 170 million people are infected with Hepatitis C Virus, which is about
3 % of the world population. Currently available treatment is successful in only 50
% of treated patients. Further development of the treatment strategies requires a
profound quantitative understanding of the viral lifecycle. This remains a major
challenge, however, by combining the experimental and modeling approaches it has
become possible to understand it quantitatively.
In this thesis, we develop a mathematical model to investigate the intracellular dynamics
of HCV replication. In this model, two processes, the translation of viral
proteins and the replication of viral genomes are considered. This model is established
by using ordinary differential equations. The established model is then
calibrated by using the time course data representing the viral plus-, minus-strand
RNA and the polyprotein dynamics and the steady state data reflecting the ratios
among the plus-, minus-strand RNA and the non-structural proteins. Subsequently,
the model is validated using the independent measurements highlighting the replication
deficient and synthesis inhibited HCV RNA dynamics. Furthermore, the model
is used to analyze the observed difference in HCV RNA replication in the clonal
Huh-7 cell lines. We demonstrate that this difference can be explained by the differential
expression of the cellular host factor which involves in the replication of
viral genomes. Using the model, a role of replication vesicles with respect to viral
dynamics is analyzed. A sensitivity analysis is performed on the model parameters
to reveal the crucial steps in the viral replication. This analysis shows that the processes
in the replication vesicles are the most crucial for HCV replication. Finally,
an identifiability analysis is performed to check whether the model parameters are sufficiently estimated from the measured data.


ABSTRACT Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) is the first and rate-limiting enzyme in the kynurenine pathway of tryptophan catabolism and has been implicated in neurotoxicity and suppression of the antiviral T-cell response in HIV encephalitis (HIVE). Here we show that the Toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3) ligand poly(I:C) (PIC) induces the expression of IDO in human astrocytes. PIC was less potent than gamma interferon (IFN-γ) but more potent than IFN-β in inducing IDO. PIC induction of IDO was mediated in part by IFN-β but not IFN-γ, and both NF-κB and interferon regulatory factor 3 (IRF3) were required. PIC also upregulated TLR3, thereby augmenting the primary (IFN-β) and secondary (IDO and viperin) response genes upon subsequent stimulation with PIC. In HIVE, the transcripts for TLR3, IFN-β, IDO, and viperin were increased and IDO immunoreactivity was detected in reactive astrocytes as well as macrophages and microglia. PIC caused suppression of intracellular replication of human immunodeficiency virus pseudotyped with vesicular stomatitis virus G protein and human cytomegalovirus in a manner dependent on IRF3 and IDO. The involvement of IDO was demonstrated by partial but significant reversal of the PIC-mediated antiviral effect by IDO RNA interference and/or tryptophan supplementation. Importantly, the cytokine interleukin-1 abolished IFN-γ-induced IDO enzyme activity in a nitric oxide-dependent manner without suppressing protein expression. Our results demonstrate that IDO is an innate antiviral protein induced by double-stranded RNA and suggest a therapeutic utility for PIC in human viral infections. They also show that IDO activity can be dissociated from protein expression, indicating that the local central nervous system cytokine and nitric oxide environment determines IDO function.


This study was designed to isolate and characterize endophytic and rhizospheric bacteria associated with the halophyte plant Sesuvium verrucosum , grown under extreme salinity soil in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The plant growth promotion activities of isolated bacterial were evaluated in vitro . A total of 19 salt tolerant endophytic and rhizospheric bacterial isolates were obtained and grouped into six according to genetic similarity based on RAPD data. These six isolates were identified by amplification and partial sequences of 16S rDNA as Enterobacter cancerogenus,Vibrio cholerae , Bacillus subtilis , Escherichia coli and two Enterobacter sp. Isolates were then grown until exponential growth phase to evaluate the atmospheric nitrogen fixation, phosphate solubilization, and production of phytohormones such as indole-3-acetic acid, as well as 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) deaminase activity. While, All of the six strains were negative for ACC deaminaseactivity, two isolates showed Nitrogen fixation activity, three isolates produce the plant hormone (Indole acetic acid) and two isolates have the activity of solubiliztion of organic phosphate. Among the six isolates, the isolate (R3) from the soil around the roots is able to perform the three previous growth promoting possibilities together and it is ideal for use in promoting the growth of plants under the high salinity conditions. This isolate is candidate to prepare a friendly biofertelizer that can be used for the improvement of the crops performance under salinity conditions. Int J Appl Sci Biotechnol, Vol 3(3): 552-560


Global energy demand will continue to increase over the coming decades driven by economic development and population growth. In terms of final energy use, electricity is the fastest growing source of energy [1] and the electrification of the world's energy consumption mix is expected to increase significantly from 17% in 2010 to 30% in 2050 [2]. Over the period from 2012 to 2050, a 123-150% increase in electricity demand is forecast and a substantial level of investment in electricity generation is required to meet increasing demand in the coming decades. The corresponding investment capital required during the same period is estimated to be US$19 to US$26 trillion.

The electricity generation industry is a supporting pillar of economic development that has to meet social, economic and environmental goals in the regions it operates [3]. The transformation and development of the industry under such multi-dimensional goals, however, have proved to be an immense challenge. Creating a balance between energy security, equity and environmental objectives shapes the sustainability of the electricity supply system. Nonetheless, pursuing each of those objectives individually may result in a failure to achieve the others, ultimately leading to an energy trilemma. In many economies, the power generation sector has continually experienced a transition towards liberalized markets to promote economic efficiency via the introduction of competitive forces. In fact, in the sector, the efforts to meet the equity objective of the energy trilemma have commenced since the late 1980s to deliver low-cost energy to consumers and maximise social welfare. Following deregulation, a different allocation of responsibilities between government and private sectors has caused public spending in electricity generation to decline. Demand-driven price signals in wholesale and contract electricity markets drive private investments in power generation. Public policies, however, shape the mix of generation technology to ensure sustainability of the system via the achievement of environmental and security goals. Opening the sector to competition has resulted in the internalisation of investment risk in the decision-making process [4]. In addition to expected investment return, private investors make choices based upon the exposure of different generation technologies to various sources of financial and business uncertainty including, but not limited to, regulations, economic factors, input and output prices, and the volume of sales.

This thesis focuses on the effect of public policy uncertainty and relative interactions on large-scale electricity generation investments. From a diverse and extensive set of public policies affecting the sector, this study concentrates on energy and climate policy instruments aiming to achieve environmentally cleaner electrical energy while upholding the security of supply and economic efficiency. This choice is not arbitrary, noticing that the electricity generation sector, globally, is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions (25% of total anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions [5]). The fifth assessment report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [5] recognises that the power sector plays a crucial role in achieving mitigation targets. Although jurisdictions around the world have implemented policies to promote the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, such policies have been subject to significant changes, primarily due to the global disagreement over mechanisms to curb emissions. The frequent changes in the design and implementation of regulations are inhibiting efficient investments in the electricity generation sector.

This thesis develops a decision-making framework for investments in the electricity generation sector that accounts for the effect of energy and climate policy uncertainty and their interactions, while taking the perspective of a private investor. It aims to investigate how continuing energy policy uncertainty and correlations may affect the choice and timing of investments. As such, this thesis makes its contribution in three broad steps: (1) the development of an investment decision-making model for individual investments to evaluate the effect of significant policy changes, (2) a study of the effect of political cycles and the integration of subjective information as represented by experts' views within the model developed in step (1), and, (3) a portfolio analysis to expand the modelling framework for use in long-term strategic planning in corporate energy entities where the specific characteristics of the electricity generation sector along with policy interactions are recognised. Although, the viewpoint adopted concerns private investments, the framework developed can provide insights to policy makers regarding the effect of political uncertainty and policy interactions on energy investment decisions and the desired mix of energy technologies.

This research employs a real options analysis method to develop the investment decision-making model in step (1) and (2). In contrast to the conventional investment decision-making approaches, such as the levelised cost and discounted cash flow methods used in the sector, real options methodology allows for the investigation of optimal investment timing and exercising managerial flexibilities under uncertainty. An American-style option valuation method is used for this purpose that employs a numerical dynamic programming method to solve the individual investment decisionmaking model. The real options method developed in the first two steps is integrated with a portfolio optimization framework in step (3) that views the power generation investment problem from a portfolio perspective. To demonstrate the application of the model, case studies are developed based on the relatively recent actual energy policy outcomes in Australian context. In particular, this thesis is very topical as the case studies focus on the recent changes in carbon pricing mechanism and renewable portfolio law in Australia, with further consideration over their correlation.

The results of the modelling suggest that political uncertainty after the implementation of carbon pricing is detrimental to the achievement of policy objectives. Investors may defer their investment in less carbon intensive technologies. However, this effect can be mitigated by implementing higher expected carbon prices. Although political uncertainty with respect to greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation policy may delay investments in environmentally cleaner assets, expectations over the reinstatement of carbon pricing reduce the amount of option premium to defer those decisions. The results of modelling in step (3) show how a co-existing and relatively stable renewable portfolio standard mechanism may negate the effects of carbon pricing uncertainty.

Although an adequate flow of investment capital to the energy sector may be available [6] and various energy policies may exist to promote the sustainability of the energy mix, the findings of this research, however, suggest that uncertainty over the future of those policies and their resulting interactions may substantially erode the triple objectives of a sustainable energy system. The most effective remedy for this issue is commonly espoused by various stakeholders - eliminate uncertainty in policies. Nevertheless, global disagreements and opposing political agendas have proved that such an ideal solution does not exist. By modelling investor's strategic behaviour and risk management practices, this research provides insight on the way that the impact of policy uncertainty on investment can be dampened in order to expedite the achievement of a sustainable energy system.


This volume is a special issue with contributions that stem from the collaborations of the 2018 AESOP PhD workshop, held 5-8 July at Tjaro island, Sweden. The overarching aim of the workshop was to establish inclusive spaces for dialogue and collaboration between PhD students across countries and continents on issues that pertained to the AESOP's 2018 congress theme "Making space for hope". Furthermore the PhD students got the chance to learn from the invited mentors with long experience from the academic planning field. The theme drew from a recognition of the severe challenges facing the world at present, for example, challenges coupled with the climate crisis, growing social inequalities, rapid population growth in urban regions and de-population trends in peripheral regions.


Background
There is growing interest in and recognition of the need to use scientific evidence to inform policymaking. However, many of the existing studies on the use of research evidence (URE) have been largely qualitative, and the majority of existing quantitative measures are underdeveloped or were tested in regional or context-dependent settings. We are unaware of any quantitative measures of URE with national policymakers in the US.

Aims and objectives
Explore how to measure URE quantitatively by validating a measure of congressional staff's attitudes and behaviors regarding URE, the Legislative Use of Research Survey (LURS), and by discussing the lessons learned through administering the survey.

Methods
A 68-item survey was administered to 80 congressional staff to measure their reported research use, value of research, interactions with researchers, general information sources, and research information sources. Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted on each of these five scales. We then trimmed the number of items, based on a combination of poor factor loadings and theoretical rationale, and ran the analyses on the trimmed subscales.

Findings
We substantially improved our model fits for each scale over the original models and all items had acceptable factor loadings with our trimmed 35-item survey. We also describe the unique set of challenges and lessons learned from surveying congressional staff.

Discussion and conclusions
This work contributes to the transdisciplinary field of URE by offering a tool for studying the mechanisms that can bridge research and policy and shedding light into best practices for measuring URE with national policymakers in the US.


. We extend the mimetic cosmology to models containing gauge invariant p -forms. The 0-form case reproduces the well-known results of the mimetic dark matter, the 1-form corresponds to the gauge field mimetic model while the 2-form model is the Hodge dual of the 0-form model in 4 spacetime dimensions. We study the cosmological applications of the new gauge field mimetic model and show that it generates an energy density component which mimics the roles of spatial curvature. In the presence of the Maxwell term, the model also supports the flat, open and closed de Sitter-like cosmological backgrounds while the spatial geometry is flat for all three cases. We perform the cosmological perturbations analysis and show that the model is stable in the case of open de Sitter-like solution while it suffers from ghost instabilities in the case of the closed de Sitter-like solution.


We consider contracts to purchase assets by means of streams of payments over time, with the asset as security. These give the purchaser an option not present if all payment is made up front, the option of stopping payments and delivering the asset in satisfaction of the remaining debt. We argue that the value inherent in such options explains the attractions of asset-backed leans, employee stock options plans and MBOs.


Nowadays, tourism has become a very important industry in the international economy. Information and communication technologies are in constant development; they progress worldwide and across sectors. Their applications in tourism and tourist resources is rapidly increasing, reaching new, innovative and sometimes amazing results in terms of effectiveness, productivity, quality, and customer satisfaction. Exploring the interaction between technologies and tourism is difficult and challenging. Specifically, using virtual world technologies as a new means of information for potential tourists is a big challenge where the actual methods, goals and needs still need to be exactly identified. This paper aims at analyzing why and how virtual worlds can become an important platform for tourism-oriented areas to promote a destination in general, and their local heritage and tourist added-value services in particular. The document will also introduce the design of the first prototypes and the validation results of the four specific technologies tested at the Virtual Travel Use Case (Soundscape generation, Multilinguality, Video streaming and Path and Camera Planning). Finally, the contribution to the MPEG-V standard will also be detailed in the paper.


Administrative data represents the future sourcing status quo for government social sector agencies, increasingly replacing more expensive, labour-intensive and less timely survey collection.
But an administrative data model brings challenges, based in the inescapable fact that such data has been collected by a different organisation, for a different purpose.  The resultant cost to unpack undesirable qualities in the data can be significant and absorb inordinate levels of energy better spent deriving actionable insights.  If the administrative data is integrated with other data, these costs are multiplied.
New Zealand' national statistical agency has developed a new style of data governance framework that includes a steady state model (SSM) for mapping data flow. As innovation, the SSM offers an effective way to articulate administrative data issues, supporting improved supplier-user coordination.  As such it can potentially reduce data handling costs, bolstering the value proposition for administrative data generally.
By providing a means of reflecting user organisation data lifecycle perspectives within the supplier' business process environment, the SSM opens an engagement channel that bridges what can otherwise represent insurmountable communication barriers. And since both user and supplier are able to maintain their native frame of reference, the resulting engagement fosters collaboration while facilitating what is more likely to represent a mutually amenable outcome.


What has always fascinated me is an historical account that ends triumphantly but whose start-to-finish is riddled with reversals and hostile obstacles and haunted by anguishing circumstances. The history of "humanities in medical educa tion-the past ten years" in the United States is just such a story. In the last ten years there has been a continually wider acceptance of humanities in United States medical schools, i.e., a growing number of schools introducing the humanities, a growth in the quality and scope of programs being offered, and a greater acceptance of the humanities as an integral part of the medical curriculum. I propose to unfold the history of this growth, and I hope I am able to render it as captivating as it deserves to be told.


Deep in a homogeneous medium that both scatters and absorbs photons, such as a cloud, the ocean, or a thick planetary atmosphere, the radiance decreases exponentially with depth, while the angular dependence of the radiance and polarization is independent of depth. In this diffusion region, the asymptotic radiance and polarization are also independent of the incident distribution of radiation at the upper surface of the medium. An exact expression is derived for the asymptotic radiance and polarization for Rayleigh scattering. The approximate expression for the asymptotic radiance derived from the scalar theory is shown to be in error by as much as 16.4%. An exact expression is also derived for the relation between the diffusion exponent k and the single scattering albedo. A method is developed for the numerical calculation of the asymptotic radiance and polarization for any scattering matrix. Results are given for scattering from the haze L and cloud C3 distributions for a wide range of single scattering albedos. When the absorption is large, the polarization in the diffusion region approaches the values obtained for single scattered photons, while the radiance approaches the value calculated from the expression: phase function divided by (1 + kμ), where μ is the cosine of the zenith angle. The asymptotic distribution of the radiation is of interest since it depends only on the inherent optical properties of the medium. It is, however, difficult to observe when the absorption is large because of the very low radiance values in the diffusion region.


Supporting youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the transition to adulthood is challenging. This article provides a description of how Project SEARCH, a model transition program for youth with disabilities, was used to help youth with ASD gain competitive employment. This article includes two case studies and a thorough description of the additional supports provided to increase successful employment on graduation from high school. Key Project SEARCH program components include setting a goal for employment, providing successive intensive internships in a community business, and assuring collaboration between school and adult services staff. Supports specific to students with ASD include providing intensive instruction in social, communication, and job skills; visual supports; and work routine and structure. These supports are described in the provided case studies.


Relays can improve wireless links by providing an extra path to the direct path which together form a virtual multiple antenna system. Network Coded-Distributive Antenna System (NC-DAS) and Plain-Distributive Antenna System (P-DAS) are examples of realizations of such scenario. Although the asymptotic diversity gain for both the schemes is comparable, the network coded scheme can further take advantage of the redundancy and the extra dimension provided by the relay link. This extra signal dimension can be very useful when multilevel modulation is employed as it gives the possibility for a better spread of the modulation signal points within the augmented signal space. This article presents a simple and effective Constellation Selection (CS) scheme for all the three links within the NC-DAS system. This selection procedure improves the bit error probability in both AWGN and Rayleigh fading channels. Two different detections schemes are considered in the paper. Joint detection where the both users are decoded simultaneously and detection with successive cancelation where the strongest user is detected first followed by cancelation and maximum ratio combining. Analytical expressions for the error probability supported by simulation results are presented. The obtained results show that constellation selection provides good performance gain as compared to the case of same constellation.


The enclosed Article is the first comprehensive synthesis of two decades of empirical research on medical malpractice settlement. The portrait that emerges from this synthesis is both more reassuring and more complex than popular portrayals. Although the fit is not perfect, the merits generally drive the settlement process. Weak claims consistently fare the worst, toss-ups cases do better, and strong cases have the most success. Prior scholarship on malpractice outcomes has understated the strength of this correlation because it has focused principally on the impact of negligence on the settlement rates and has largely ignored the importance of settlement amount. The studies examining the relationship between settlement rate and case quality have invited mixed reactions because they have found a correlation that, while strong, leaves room for improvement. In 10-20 percent of the weakest cases, the plaintiff receives a settlement payment. In a similar fraction of the strongest cases, the plaintiff recovers nothing. Yet, settlement rates, standing alone, paint a misleading picture. Equally important is the relationship between the strength of the plaintiff's case and the size of the payment received in settlement. As long as the payments received by the plaintiffs in weak and toss-up cases are appropriately discounted to reflect case quality, then settlement of the case is fully consistent with fair treatment of the defendant. For that reason, settlement rate data inherently overstates the prevalence of error. Settlement size must be considered as well. In malpractice litigation, the amount paid to settle a case is routinely adjusted to match the strength of the plaintiff's case. Although only a few studies have collected this data, they show that payments in weak and toss-up cases are heavily discounted. In fact, the data on settlement size suggest that defendants are able to extract an even deeper discount than is warranted by the merits. The ability of insurance companies to extract this discount suggests that malpractice defendants enjoy a systematic advantage in bargaining power. Although the source of this asymmetry has yet to be determined, the studies justify several interesting hypotheses.


Current DNA sequencing technology enables inexpensive sequencing of the exome or the protein-coding regions of the genome. The primary goal of the analyses of exome data is to identify sequence variants, such as single nucleotide variations (SNVs), that will help elucidate the genetic causes of common polygenic diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and chronic pancreatitis. Exome data analysis presents several challenges. These challenges include the large number of SNVs compared to the relatively small sample size, the rarity of many of the SNVs, and potential interactions among SNVs on their effect on disease.

In this work, I develop, implement, and evaluate a new multivariate biomarker ranking algorithm called Bayesian averaged probabilistic rules (BAPR) that has several novel characteristics. It (1) learns probabilistic rule models from data, (2) performs Bayesian model averaging to rank biomarkers like SNVs, and (3) incorporates biological knowledge as structure priors of biomarkers. The BAPR algorithm was evaluated on several exome datasets with both synthetic outcomes and real outcomes, and using a range of variant deleteriousness scores as structure priors. The quality of SNV rankings was evaluated with biomarker recovery plots, area under the Receiver Operating Characteristic curves, and evidence of biological validity as supported by the literature.

The BAPR algorithm performed statistically significantly better in identifying previously known disease-associated SNVs and biologically meaningful SNVs when compared to chi-square and random forests. BAPR with uniform and expected number of predictors priors performed better than priors that were derived from variant deleteriousness scores. Also, combining several variant deleteriousness scores performed at least as well as the best performing single deleteriousness score. The variant deleteriousness scores have sparse coverage and typically scores are available only for a small proportion of SNVs that are measured in an exome dataset. The encouraging results obtained with these scores suggests that as coverage of the scores increases the performance of algorithms like BAPR that incorporate them will also improve.


This paper carries out an empirical assessment of the relationship between social capital and labour productivity in small and medium enterprises in Italy. By means of structural equations models, the analysis investigates the effect of different aspects of the multifaceted concept of social capital. The bonding social capital of strong family ties and the bridging social capital shaped by informal ties connecting friends and acquaintances are proved to exert a negative effect on labour productivity, the economic performance, and human development. On the contrary, the linking social capital of voluntary organizations positively influences such outcomes.


This paper compares legislation on clinical research conducted on patients subject to coercion in the Scandinavian countries and the UK, examines it from a human rights perspective, and problematizes the Danish legal model as the only one PROHIBITION ON RESEARCH INVOLVING PSYCHIATRIC PATIENTS SUBJECT TO COERCION employing a total ban on this kind of research. Reference is made to the consequences to evidence-based psychiatric care improvements and international ethical principle state-ments generally entitling psychiatric patients to treatment under similar ethical and scientific conditions as patients with other illnesses, given the absolute premise that the patient does not object to research participation and always retains the right to withdraw.


Climate change will require species to adapt to new conditions or follow preferred climates to higher latitudes or elevations, but many dispersal‐limited freshwater species may be unable to move due to barriers imposed by watershed boundaries. In addition, invasive nonnative species may expand into new regions under future climate conditions and contribute to the decline of native species. We evaluated future distributions for the threatened European crayfish fauna in response to climate change, watershed boundaries, and the spread of invasive crayfishes, which transmit the crayfish plague, a lethal disease for native European crayfishes. We used climate projections from general circulation models and statistical models based on Mahalanobis distance to predict climate‐suitable regions for native and invasive crayfishes in the middle and at the end of the 21st century. We identified these suitable regions as accessible or inaccessible on the basis of major watershed boundaries and present occurrences and evaluated potential future overlap with 3 invasive North American crayfishes. Climate‐suitable areas decreased for native crayfishes by 19% to 72%, and the majority of future suitable areas for most of these species were inaccessible relative to native and current distributions. Overlap with invasive crayfish plague‐transmitting species was predicted to increase. Some native crayfish species (e.g., noble crayfish [Astacus astacus]) had no future refugia that were unsuitable for the modeled nonnative species. Our results emphasize the importance of preventing additional introductions and spread of invasive crayfishes in Europe to minimize interactions between the multiple stressors of climate change and invasive species, while suggesting candidate regions for the debatable management option of assisted colonization.


Muscle potentials in insect flight muscles decrease in amplitude and increase in duration with decreasing temperature. Amplitudes fall to zero at distinct temperatures, which are characteristic for different species. Chill-coma temperature is thus denned here as the critical temperature below which flight muscles cannot be activated. Chill-coma temperatures were 2°C in the species of butterflies measured and −2 to 0°C in the moths. In the species of Hymenoptera, Coleoptera and Diptera measured, chill-coma temperatures ranged from 3 to 14°C. The rate of decline of muscle potential amplitudes with decreasing temperature was different for different species. Rates were smaller over most of the temperature range for species that warm up from low environmental temperatures to reach thoracic temperatures necessary for flight. Amplitudes decreased faster at higher thoracic temperatures in species that start shivering only at higher ambient temperatures. Temperature has a similar effect on durations of muscle potentials in different species. Between 25 and 15°C, durations increased by 100% in all species. The results suggest that cold-adaptation is not strongly related to chill-coma temperature but is strongly related to the rate of decline of muscle potential amplitudes.


The region is back in town. Galloping urbanization has pushed beyond historical notions of metropolitanism. City-regions have experienced, in Edward Soja's terms, "an epochal shift in the nature of the city and the urbanization process, marking the beginning of the end of the modern metropolis as we knew it."

Governing Cities Through Regions broadens and deepens our understanding of metropolitan governance through an innovative comparative project that engages with Anglo-American, French, and German literatures on the subject of regional governance. It expands the comparative angle from issues of economic competiveness and social cohesion to topical and relevant fields such as housing and transportation, and it expands comparative work on municipal governance to the regional scale.

With contributions from established and emerging international scholars of urban and regional governance, the volume covers conceptual topics and case studies that contrast the experience of a range of Canadian metropolitan regions with a strong selection of European regions. It starts from assumptions of limited conversion among regions across the Atlantic but is keenly aware of the remarkable differences in urban regions' path dependencies in which the larger processes of globalization and neo-liberalization are situated and materialized.


Background: Interventions to reduce socio-economic inequalities in injury incidence should be tailored to specific priority areas that may be identified by descriptive studies. We aimed to provide an overview of existing socio-economic inequalities in injury incidence in the Netherlands and to assess the potential influence of methodological choices on the relationships found. Methods: Self-reported medically treated injuries (all injuries versus fractures) were derived from a survey among a random sample of 59 063 persons. Injuries resulting in hospital admissions (all injuries versus fractures) were derived from a prospective cohort study of 18 810 participants, linked to the National Hospital Discharge Register for a follow-up period of 7 years. Logistic regression was used to calculate the odds ratios of self-reported medically treated injuries and fractures by level of education, occupation and income, and of hospital-admitted injuries by level of education and occupation. Results: Socio-economic inequalities in injury incidence in the Netherlands were dependent on the indicator of non-fatal injury incidence, indicator of socio-economic status (SES) and studied cause of injury. In the majority of specific relations analyzed, injury risks were not or only moderately elevated in lower SES-classes. Analyses focusing on injury with higher severity levels (admitted injuries and/or admitted fractures) revealed the steepest SES gradient with odds ratios of injury of 1.5 or more of the lowest socio-economic (educational) groups compared to persons with higher SES (education). In hospital admitted traffic injuries, we found the most striking difference with a threefold higher risk in the lowest educational groups. Conclusion: Future descriptive research into socio-economic differences in injury incidence should include all three core indicators of SES and separate analyses on the more severe injuries should be conducted.


In "The Persian Expedition", Xenophon, a young Athenian noble who sought his destiny abroad, provides an enthralling eyewitness account of the attempt by a Greek mercenary army - the Ten Thousand - to help Prince Cyrus overthrow his brother and take the Persian throne. When the Greeks were then betrayed by their Persian employers, they were forced to march home through hundreds of miles of difficult terrain - adrift in a hostile country and under constant attack from the unforgiving Persians and warlike tribes. In this outstanding description of endurance and individual bravery, Xenophon, one of those chosen to lead the retreating army, provides a vivid narrative of the campaign and its aftermath, and his account remains one of the best pictures we have of Greeks confronting a 'barbarian' world.


PURPOSE
The primary objective of this phase I trial was to determine the feasibility of administering a combination of paclitaxel, cisplatin, and doxorubicin with or without granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) in patients with advanced endometrial and other gynecologic cancers.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Patients were chemotherapy-naive. Doxorubicin was administered as a brief infusion, paclitaxel for 3 hours, and cisplatin for 60 minutes. Treatments were repeated every 3 weeks. For most dose levels, the cisplatin and doxorubicin were fixed at 60 mg/m(2) and 45 mg/m(2), whereas the paclitaxel was escalated in successive cohorts from 90 to 250 mg/m(2). Patients who had received previous radiotherapy to the whole pelvis were escalated separately from those who had not.

RESULTS
Eighty patients received 320 cycles of therapy. When G-CSF was not used, myelosuppression prevented escalation beyond the starting dose for patients with or without previous pelvic radiotherapy. When G-CSF was added, neurotoxicity became dose-limiting for both groups. Ten patients were removed from the study for asymptomatic declines in ejection fraction, but no symptomatic congestive heart failure was observed. Major antitumor responses occurred in 46% of patients (six of 13) with measurable endometrial carcinoma and 50% of patients (eight of 16) with measurable cervical carcinoma.

CONCLUSION
The combination of paclitaxel, doxorubicin, and cisplatin at relevant single-agent doses is active and feasible with the addition of G-CSF. A regimen of cisplatin 60 mg/m(2), doxorubicin 45 mg/m(2), and paclitaxel 160 mg/m(2) with G-CSF support is recommended for further testing.


Explains the theory behind basic computer vision and provides a bridge from the theory to practical implementation using the industry standard OpenCV librariesComputer Vision is a rapidly expanding area and it is becoming progressively easier for developers to make use of this field due to the ready availability of high quality libraries (such as OpenCV 2). This text is intended to facilitate the practical use of computer vision with the goal being to bridge the gap between the theory and the practical implementation of computer vision. The book will explain how to use the relevant OpenCV library routines and will be accompanied by a full working program including the code snippets from the text. This textbook is a heavily illustrated, practical introduction to an exciting field, the applications of which are becoming almost ubiquitous. We are now surrounded by cameras, for example cameras on computers & tablets/ cameras built into our mobile phones/ cameras in games consoles; cameras imaging difficult modalities (such as ultrasound, X-ray, MRI) in hospitals, and surveillance cameras. This book is concerned with helping the next generation of computer developers to make use of all these images in order to develop systems which are more intuitive and interact with us in more intelligent ways.Explains the theory behind basic computer vision and provides a bridge from the theory to practical implementation using the industry standard OpenCV librariesOffers an introduction to computer vision, with enough theory to make clear how the various algorithms work but with an emphasis on practical programming issuesProvides enough material for a one semester course in computer vision at senior undergraduate and Masters levelsIncludes the basics of cameras and images and image processing to remove noise, before moving on to topics such as image histogramming; binary imaging; video processing to detect and model moving objects; geometric operations & camera models; edge detection; features detection; recognition in imagesContains a large number of vision application problems to provide students with the opportunity to solve real problems. Images or videos for these problems are provided in the resources associated with this book which include an enhanced eBook


ABSTRACT Oliveira, J.F.; Scarelli, F .; Manzolli, R.P.; Portz, L.; Barboza, E.G. 2020 Geomorphological responses due to storm wave events at Praia da Barra, Garopaba – Santa Catarina State, Southern Brazil. In: Malvárez, G. and Navas, F. (eds.), Global Coastal Issues of 2020. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 95, pp. 474-478. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. This work presents a beach morphodynamics analysis for Praia da Barra, located in the municipality of Garopaba, Santa Catarina State, Brazil. Praia da Barra has sectors with a natural beach/dune system and sectors where the foredune is completely anthropized. In 2017, during autumn and winter, eight storm wave events reached the study area, resulting in a coastline retreat and infrastructure damages at the site and along the southern Brazilian coastal zone. This work applied two methodologies to study the impacts of storm waves at the study area, 1) Four photogrammetric surveys using UAV high-resolution Orthophoto and DEMs for monitoring geomorphological changes at the site, before and after storm wave events in 2017; and 2) wave simulation using the SMC-Brazil platform to assess wave and current patterns from three main wave directions scenarios. The authors integrated the results from both methodologies to understand the behavior of Praia da Barra's beach/dune system when attacked by storm wave events. The authors identified erosive hot spots at Praia da Barra that are concentrated at the central sector of the beach, which presents more anthropization. While the northern and southern sectors present a vegetated and well-developed foredune system, they also presented a higher resilience against the storm events that hit Praia da Barra during the autumn and winter seasons of 2017.


Over the past twenty years regulation has gained an unprecedented place in European countries. In effect, the rise of regulation has been accompanied by the rise of a new type of institutions, namely independent regulatory agencies. Western scholars use a lot of terms in defining this type of institutions, i. e. QUANGO (quasi-autonomous non governmental organization), NDPB (non-departmental public body), EGO (extra-governmental organization), NGO (non-governmental organization), QAO (quasi-autonomous organizations), SAO (semi-autonomous organization). But the most frequent term is IRA (independent regulatory agency). They define this type of institutions as public organization with regulatory powers that are neither elected by the people, nor directly managed by elected officials. M. Thatcher reveals certain requirements for inclusion as an IRA. First, the agency has its own powers and responsibilities given under public law; second, it is organizationally separated from the institutions of executive power; and finally, it is neither directly elected nor managed by elected officials. Additionally, they implement quasi-legislative and quasijudicial functions. There are such institutions in Lithuania, too. For example, the Competition Council, the Communications Regulatory Authority, the Securities Commission of the Republic of Lithuania, the National Health Board, etc. Scientists, politicians, and public servants entitle them as institutions accountable to the Parliament or President. The authors of this article try to answer to some questions. First, what is regulation and what is an independent regulatory agency? Second, why regulatory agencies must be insulated from political influence? Third, how is it possible to define the organizational form of such institutions in Lithuania? Fourth, what is the exact place of such institutions in the system of public administration bodies of Lithuania?


We propose a flexible convex relaxation for the phase retrieval problem that operates in the natural domain of the signal. Therefore, we avoid the prohibitive computational cost associated with "lifting" and semidefinite programming (SDP) in methods such as PhaseLift and compete with recently developed non-convex techniques for phase retrieval. We relax the quadratic equations for phaseless measurements to inequality constraints each of which representing a symmetric "slab". Through a simple convex program, our proposed estimator finds an extreme point of the intersection of these slabs that is best aligned with a given anchor vector. We characterize geometric conditions that certify success of the proposed estimator. Furthermore, using classic results in statistical learning theory, we show that for random measurements the geometric certificates hold with high probability at an optimal sample complexity. Phase transition of our estimator is evaluated through simulations. Our numerical experiments also suggest that the proposed method can solve phase retrieval problems with coded diffraction measurements as well.


A recently introduced latent feature learning technique for time varying dynamic phenomena analysis is the so called Slow Feature Analysis (SFA). SFA is a deterministic component analysis technique for multi-dimensional sequences that by minimizing the variance of the first order time derivative approximation of the input signal finds uncorrelated projections that extract slowly-varying features ordered by their temporal consistency and constancy. In this paper, we propose a number of extensions in both the deterministic and the probabilistic SFA optimization frameworks. In particular, we derive a novel deterministic SFA algorithm that is able to identify linear projections that extract the common slowest varying features of two or more sequences. In addition, we propose an Expectation Maximization (EM) algorithm to perform inference in a probabilistic formulation of SFA and similarly extend it in order to handle two and more time varying data sequences. Moreover, we demonstrate that the probabilistic SFA (EMSFA) algorithm that discovers the common slowest varying latent space of multiple sequences can be combined with dynamic time warping techniques for robust sequence time alignment. The proposed SFA algorithms were applied for facial behavior analysis demonstrating their usefulness and appropriateness for this task.


In federated learning, multiple client devices jointly learn a machine learning model: each client device maintains a local model for its local training dataset, while a master device maintains a global model via aggregating the local models from the client devices. The machine learning community recently proposed several federated learning methods that were claimed to be robust against Byzantine failures (e.g., system failures, adversarial manipulations) of certain client devices. In this work, we perform the first systematic study on local model poisoning attacks to federated learning. We assume an attacker has compromised some client devices, and the attacker manipulates the local model parameters on the compromised client devices during the learning process such that the global model has a large testing error rate. We formulate our attacks as optimization problems and apply our attacks to four recent Byzantine-robust federated learning methods. Our empirical results on four real-world datasets show that our attacks can substantially increase the error rates of the models learnt by the federated learning methods that were claimed to be robust against Byzantine failures of some client devices. We generalize two defenses for data poisoning attacks to defend against our local model poisoning attacks. Our evaluation results show that one defense can effectively defend against our attacks in some cases, but the defenses are not effective enough in other cases, highlighting the need for new defenses against our local model poisoning attacks to federated learning.


Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) is widely used in large-scale data storage and processing. HDFS uses MapReduce programming model for parallel processing. The work presented in this paper proposes a novel Hadoop plugin to process image files with MapReduce model. The plugin introduces image related I/O formats and novel classes for creating records from input files. HDFS is especially designed to work with small number of large size files. Therefore, the proposed technique is based on merging multiple small size files into one large file to prevent the performance loss stemming from working with large number of small size files. In that way, each task becomes capable of processing multiple images in a single run cycle. The effectiveness of the proposed technique is proven by an application scenario for face detection on distributed image files.


The paper shows how prolonged price inertia can arise in a macroeconomic system in which there are temporary price rigidities as well as production lags in the use of intermediate goods. In this context, changes in product demand -- generated, say, by changes in the money supply -- have long-lasting price and quantity effects. Specifically, a temporary demand shift generates `persistence' in price-quantity decisions, in the sense that the price-quantity effects of this shift persist for long after the shift has disappeared. A permanent demand shift generates `sluggishness' in price-quantity decisions, in the sense that the full price effects of the shift take a long time to appear and that meanwhile quantity effects are present.


Handwashing (HW) is a long established method to prevent disease transmission. Ensuring effectiveness of current HW methods is essential for optimal HW and enhanced disease prevention. The objectives of this research were to 1) conduct a survey of soap type and volume in food service establishments in Washington County, Arkansas; 2) investigate how soap type impacts HW behavior; and 3) determine the difference in microbial reduction between foaming (F) and liquid (L) handsoap. For Objective 1, food service establishments in Washington County, AR were selected based on exclusion criteria and random number generations, and handsoap samples were collected to determine soap type and average volume. For Objective 2, 12 volunteers applied 1.0 g of Glo GermTM (GG) to their hands and washed their hands, and then hands were swabbed in three locations to recover remaining GG. Swabs were eluted and absorbance was measured at OD370nm to quantify remaining GG using a standard curve. For Objective 3, hands of 24 volunteers were inoculated with approximately 10 CFU Escherichia coli C3000 or 10 PFU MS2 bacteriophage. Following completion of a standard HW protocol, microorganisms were recovered using a glove juice method, and culture assays were completed to determine microorganisms remaining. For the Washington County soap survey, the average volume of F and L handsoap was 0.64 ± 0.21 mL and 1.19 ± 0.46 mL, respectively. For Objective 2, no significant difference in behavior was determined in terms of GG remaining, HW time in the baseline HW and post GG HW, and baseline handrinsing time and post GG handrinse. Average time for the baseline handwash was (F) 11.17 ± 3.93 s and (L) 13.83 ± 7.30 s, and for the post GG handwash was (F) 13.33 ± 6.22 s and (L) 14.25 ± 7.70 s. For Objective 3, no significant difference in efficacy of F and L in overall removal of E. coli and MS2 combined occurred (p=0.56). However, F handsoap did remove significantly less MS2 when compared to E. coli (p=0.0008). This research indicates that use of foaming soap in food service may need to be reevaluated for control of foodborne viruses.


Cloud feedback—the change in top‐of‐atmosphere radiative flux resulting from the cloud response to warming—constitutes by far the largest source of uncertainty in the climate response to CO2 forcing simulated by global climate models (GCMs). We review the main mechanisms for cloud feedbacks, and discuss their representation in climate models and the sources of intermodel spread. Global‐mean cloud feedback in GCMs results from three main effects: (1) rising free‐tropospheric clouds (a positive longwave effect); (2) decreasing tropical low cloud amount (a positive shortwave [SW] effect); (3) increasing high‐latitude low cloud optical depth (a negative SW effect). These cloud responses simulated by GCMs are qualitatively supported by theory, high‐resolution modeling, and observations. Rising high clouds are consistent with the fixed anvil temperature (FAT) hypothesis, whereby enhanced upper‐tropospheric radiative cooling causes anvil cloud tops to remain at a nearly fixed temperature as the atmosphere warms. Tropical low cloud amount decreases are driven by a delicate balance between the effects of vertical turbulent fluxes, radiative cooling, large‐scale subsidence, and lower‐tropospheric stability on the boundary‐layer moisture budget. High‐latitude low cloud optical depth increases are dominated by phase changes in mixed‐phase clouds. The causes of intermodel spread in cloud feedback are discussed, focusing particularly on the role of unresolved parameterized processes such as cloud microphysics, turbulence, and convection. WIREs Clim Change 2017, 8:e465. doi: 10.1002/wcc.465


The application of uni-directional composites in aeroelastic tailoring has long been established due to their highly directional properties. However, the use of woven, bi-directional textile composite in this area is practically nil due to their lower strength and stiffness, although this class of material is generally cheaper and more conforming. Therefore, the current work presents a new prospect for this type of material in the aeroelastic tailoring of aircraft wings.
The aeroelastic flutter and divergence behaviour of rectangular, woven glass/epoxy cantilevered plates with varying amount of bending and torsion stiffness coupling is investigated in subsonic flow. To do so, a range of tailored plate configurations with various stacking sequence having 6-plies thickness were considered. The ply orientation was varied from -450 to 450 to provide the widest range of negative and positive bend-twist coupling. Test plates without stiffness coupling were first constructed and subjected to static and dynamic testing in order to characterize the elastic and dynamic behaviour of the plate. Secondly, tailored configurations with varying stiffness coupling were fabricated and tested for flutter in wind tunnel tests. Numerical analyses were also conducted using MSc.Nastran structural analysis in conjunction with ZAERO's flutter program to verify the mechanical and dynamic properties as well as predict the occurrence of flutter and divergence.
Results from the extensive experimental and computational works had successfully shown that flutter speed can be optimized by tailoring the woven composite laminates. It was found that the torsional stiffness and bend-twist coupling play a major role in the aeroelastic behaviour of the woven laminate as compared to the bending stiffness. The bend-twist flutter that occurred was dominated by the torsion mode, thus explained the significant effect it has on the flutter speed. The numerical calculations predicted a 37% improvement whereas the experimental results are more understated at 29%. This improvement is remarkable considering that the configurations are symmetric. Both agreed well in terms of the optimized configuration that gave the maximum flutter speed. The flutter frequency and flutter mode shape was shown to be highly dependent on the coupled structural modes. In addition, divergence occurred when the plate-like wing is swept forward.


The UK government is to launch a major clinical trial of the novel cholesterol lowering drug inclisiran later this year and aims to make it available to NHS patients from 2021.

Inclisiran, an investigational treatment taken by injection twice a year, is a cholesterol lowering therapy in the small interfering RNA (siRNA) class. It has not yet been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration or the European Medicines Agency but is expected to be filed for approval later this year as a preventive add-on treatment to statins for patients who already have a cardiovascular disease diagnosis.

Results of a phase III study of inclisiran involving patients who had elevated LDL cholesterol concentrations despite taking the maximum …


Consider a model for optimal timing of a policy measure which changes the emission rate, e.g. trading off the cost of reduction against the time-additive aggregate of environmental damage, the disutility from the pollutant stock the infrastructure contributes to. Intuitively, the optimal timing for an infinitesimal pollution source should reasonably not depend on its historical contribution to the stock, as this is negligible. Dropping the size assumption, we show how to reduce the minimisation problem to one not depending on the history of , under linear evolution and suitable linearity or additivity conditions on the damage functional. We employ a functional analysis framework which allows for delay equations, non-Markovian driving noise, a choice between discrete and continuous time, and a menu of integral concepts covering stochastic calculi less frequently used in resource and environmental economics. Examples are given under the common (Markovian Itô) stochastic analysis framework.


Objective
To investigate the chemical constituent from the roots of Gentiana straminea.

Methods
The constituents were separated by microporous resin,silica gel,Sephadex LH-20 and preparative column chromatography and their structures were elucidated by NMR and MS spectral methods.

Results
Twelve chemical constituents were isolated from the roots of Gentiana straminea and their structures were identified as daucosterol( 1),β-sitosterol( 2),ursolic acid( 3),sweroside( 4),swertiamarin( 5),gentiopicroside( 6),6'-O-acetyl-gentiopicroside( 7),6'-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-sweroside( 8),protocatech uic aldehyde( 9),protocatechuic acid( 10),methyl gallate( 11) and dibutyl phthalate( 12).

Conclusion
The compounds 8,9,10,11 and 12 are obtained from this plant for the first time.


Abstract. Methane emissions from natural wetlands and rice paddies constitute a large proportion of atmospheric methane, but the magnitude and year-to-year variation of these methane sources are still unpredictable. Here we describe and evaluate the integration of a methane biogeochemical model (CLM4Me; Riley et al., 2011) into the Community Land Model 4.0 (CLM4CN) in order to better explain spatial and temporal variations in methane emissions. We test new functions for soil pH and redox potential that impact microbial methane production in soils. We also constrain aerenchyma in plants in always-inundated areas in order to better represent wetland vegetation. Satellite inundated fraction is explicitly prescribed in the model, because there are large differences between simulated fractional inundation and satellite observations, and thus we do not use CLM4-simulated hydrology to predict inundated areas. A rice paddy module is also incorporated into the model, where the fraction of land used for rice production is explicitly prescribed. The model is evaluated at the site level with vegetation cover and water table prescribed from measurements. Explicit site level evaluations of simulated methane emissions are quite different than evaluating the grid-cell averaged emissions against available measurements. Using a baseline set of parameter values, our model-estimated average global wetland emissions for the period 1993–2004 were 256 Tg CH4 yr−1 (including the soil sink) and rice paddy emissions in the year 2000 were 42 Tg CH4 yr−1. Tropical wetlands contributed 201 Tg CH4 yr−1, or 78% of the global wetland flux. Northern latitude (>50 N) systems contributed 12 Tg CH4 yr−1. However, sensitivity studies show a large range (150–346 Tg CH4 yr−1) in predicted global methane emissions (excluding emissions from rice paddies). The large range is sensitive to (1) the amount of methane transported through aerenchyma, (2) soil pH (±100 Tg CH4 yr−1), and (3) redox inhibition (±45 Tg CH4 yr−1). Results are sensitive to biases in the CLMCN and to errors in the satellite inundation fraction. In particular, the high latitude methane emission estimate may be biased low due to both underestimates in the high-latitude inundated area captured by satellites and unrealistically low high-latitude productivity and soil carbon predicted by CLM4.


We propose a new abstraction refinement procedure based on machine learning to improve the performance of nonlinear constraint solving algorithms on large-scale problems. The proposed approach decomposes the original set of constraints into smaller subsets, and uses learning algorithms to propose sequences of abstractions that take the form of conjunctions of classifiers. The core procedure is a refinement loop that keeps improving the learned results based on counterexamples that are obtained from partial constraints that are easy to solve. Experiments show that the proposed techniques significantly improved the performance of state-of-the-art constraint solvers on many challenging benchmarks. The mechanism is capable of producing intermediate symbolic abstractions that are also important for many applications and for understanding the internal structures of hard constraint solving problems.


The two central theses are (a) the category moved by stylistic fronting (SF) functions as a pure expletive in its derived position, which is [Spec, IP]; (b) what is moved under SF is only the phonological feature matrix of a category. The theory accounts for most of the properties of SF: why it applies only when there is a subject gap; why it affects almost any category, head or phrase; the locality conditions; and the crosslinguistic variation. SF belongs to Narrow Syntax, not the phonological component. Although the features moved by SF are invisible at LF, the specifier position created by SF is visible and is used by other categories that are visible at LF but invisible at PF.


Operational amplifier (op amp) oscillators can be used to accurately measure resistive and capacitive sensors. Oscillator design can be simplified by using the procedure discussed in this application note. The derivation of the design equations provides a method to select the passive components and determine the influence of each component on the frequency of oscillation. The procedure will be demonstrated by analyzing two state-variable RC op-amp oscillator circuits.


Social practice theories help to challenge the often hidden paradigms, worldviews, and values at the basis of many unsustainable practices. Discourses and their boundaries define what is seen as possible, as well as the range of issues and their solutions. By exploring the connections between practices and discourses, Minna Kanerva develops a conceptual approach enabling purposive change in unsustainable social practices. Radical transformation towards new meatways is arguably necessary, yet complex psychological, ideological, and power-related mechanisms currently inhibit change.


Most animals select nest sites non-randomly, reflecting benefits of specific locations or incubation conditions for offspring viability as well as risks or costs to the reproducing adult. If few or no available nest sites offer suitable conditions, we expect animals to make the best of a bad lot, by selecting nest sites that provide the best conditions available. In tropical north-western Australia, freshwater crocodiles (Crocodylus johnstoni: Crocodylidae) in a large artificial lake (Lake Argyle) experience this challenge: the types of nest sites used by this species in other parts of its range (moist, shaded sandy soils, far from the water's edge) are scarce. Measurements of 89 crocodile nests and 89 test holes (abandoned attempts at nesting) at Lake Argyle, and 28 nests on the nearby Ord River, show that most areas along the lakeshore are too steep and rocky for nesting. Crocodiles at the lake therefore are forced to nest at sites that are sun-exposed, in dry gravelly substrates, and close to the water's edge. Comparisons of test holes and actual nests within such areas show that nesting crocodiles actively select sites that are less rocky, are suitable hydrically, and that provide stable thermal regimes.Those hydric and thermal attributes allow successful development of the offspring.The ability of freshwater crocodiles in Lake Argyle to flexibly modify their nest-site selection criteria, under severe constraints enforced by this open rocky landscape, are critical to the species' success in exploiting the opportunity created by the dam's construction.


Elevated concentrations of carbon dioxide and tropospheric ozone pose important threats to the abundance, diversity, and composition of forest arthropod communities. In turn, modification of arthropod communities may alter forest health, productivity, and ecosystem services. We studied the independent and interactive effects of elevated CO2 (eCO2) and elevated O3 (eO3) on the abundance, species richness, and community composition of herbivorous arthropods in stands of trembling aspen and paper birch at the Aspen Free Air CO2 Enrichment (FACE) site in northern Wisconsin, USA. We conducted timed, visual surveys of canopy arthropods during each of the summers of 2005, 2006, and 2007. We examined 26 983 arthropods on aspen and 8344 arthropods on birch across the fumigation treatments. Elevated CO2 and eO3 had species‐specific and temporally variable (i.e. idiosyncratic) effects on aspen and birch arthropod abundance and species richness. Weak, idiosyncratic effects of eCO2 and eO3 on herbivorous arthropod abundance and species richness did not significantly alter aspen arthropod community composition but occasionally altered birch insect community composition. Few interactive effects of CO2 and O3 were observed. Growing evidence suggests that the effects of eCO2 and eO3 on communities of insects are difficult to predict because responses are generally weak and species‐ and time‐specific. Although studies to date suggest that impacts of future atmospheres on insect community metrics are likely to be minimal, the possibility remains that effects on particularly important or susceptible species may cascade to alter trophic interactions and, ultimately, ecosystem processes.


The banking services have been dynamic during the last decade due to the advent of the Internet in banking sector. One of the most vital challenges of the Internet as a service delivery channel is providing and maintaining service quality. Service quality is an input of customer trust which becomes satisfaction and lead to loyalty as an output. Customer loyalty is a concern of any organizations as well as banking sectors. The purpose of this research was to gain better understanding of the impact of the Internet on customer loyalty in Malaysian banks. Four research questions have been formulated to achieve the
purpose. Based on detailed literature review, a frame of reference was developed which helped to answer research questions and guide to data collection. A quantitative research approach was used to get better understanding of this issue. Empirical data were collected through questionnaires with the research questions and the frame of reference. Finally, in the last chapter findings and conclusions were drawn by answering research questions. In
the research it was found that all the banks interviewed seem to have the same description, motivation and an underlining objective of customer loyalty and the Internet
has affected from two different directions which are made up of both positive and negatives sides on customer loyalty creation by theses banks. The Internet has become more powerful media of providing bank services. Banks use the Internet as a new distribution channel for their products and services. The Internet facilitates home banking services which is becoming more popular in recent time. Another most important finding of this study, from both banks, is service quality which form an integral part of loyalty creation.


The pragmatist tradition in philosophy has left a sound legacy in many contemporary research fields. John Dewey's continuist and emergentist approach to the nature-or-nurture problem in relation to the individual human mind has been regained lately in evolutionist psychology and related disciplines. For Dewey, language plays a fundamental role in creating and maintaining this continuity between the individual mind and the social and physical environment humans inhabit. The present article will focus on a few contemporary lines of research that identify language as the 'glue' that bonds each individual to one another and to society, with a decisive impact on the development of one's own mind.


This article argues for an aesthetic approach to resisting oppression based on judgments of bodily unattractiveness. Philosophical theories have often suggested that appropriate aesthetic judgments should converge on sets of objects consensually found to be beautiful or ugly. The convergence of judgments about human bodies, however, is a significant source of injustice, because people judged to be unattractive pay substantial social and economic penalties in domains such as education, employment and criminal justice. The injustice is compounded by the interaction between standards of attractiveness and gender, race, disability, and gender identity.
I argue that we should actively work to reduce our participation in standard aesthetic practices that involve attractiveness judgments. This does not mean refusing engagement with the embodiment of others; ignoring someone's embodiment is often a way of dehumanizing them. Instead, I advocate a form of practice, aesthetic exploration, that involves seeking out positive experiences of the unique aesthetic affordances of all bodies, regardless of whether they are attractive in the standard sense. I argue that there are good ethical reasons to cultivate aesthetic exploration, and that it is psychologically plausible that doing so would help to alleviate the social injustice attending judgments of attractiveness.


Empirical examinations of the "social amplification of risk" framework are rare, partly because of the difficulties in predicting when conditions likely to result in amplification effects will occur. This means that it is difficult to examine changes in risk perception that are contemporaneous with increases and/or decreases in social or media discussion of the risks associated with a particular risk event. However, the collection of attitude data before, during, and after the increased reporting of the risks of genetically modified food in the United Kingdom (spring 1999) has demonstrated that people's risk perceptions do increase and decrease in line with what might be expected upon examination of the amplification and attenuation mechanisms integral to the framework. Perceptions of benefit, however, appeared to be permanently depressed by negative reporting about genetically modified food. Trust in regulatory institutions with responsibility for protecting the public was not affected. It was concluded that the social amplification of risk framework is a useful framework for beginning to explain the potential impact on risk perceptions of a risk event, particularly if that risk event is presented to the public as a new hazard occurring in a crisis context.


The adoption of the euro in January 2011 topped off Estonia's integration policy. In the opinion of Estonian politicians, this country has never been so secure and stable in its history. Tallinn sees the introduction of the euro primarily in the political context as an entrenchment of the Estonian presence in Europe. The process of establishing increasingly close relations with Western European countries, which the country has consistently implemented since it restored independence in 1991, has been aimed at severing itself its Soviet past and at a gradual reduction of the gap existing between Estonia and the best-developed European economies. The Estonian government also prioritises the enhancement of co-operation as part of the EU and NATO as well as its principled fulfilment of the country's undertakings. It sees these as important elements for building the country's international prestige.


ABSTRACTIt would be convenient if we could achieve multi-component (organic and inorganic species) analysis using just one quartz fiber filter (QFF) as an aerosol collection medium. In general, QFF have been used for analyzing carbonaceous materials in aerosols. This study shows a nondestructive, rapid, and simple method using EDXRF (Energy Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence spectrometry) that has secondary targets and three-dimensional polarization optics for analyzing inorganic multi-elements in aerosols collected on QFFs. Multi-element analysis can be achieved by using EDXRF coupled with fundamental parameter (FP) quantification, as speed of up to 900 s (15 min) per sample. The EDXRF-FP method shows good repeatability, with generally less than 5% variation when measuring each analyzed element. While the elemental concentrations in the blank QFFs in any lots examined in this study could be considered to be lower than the actual samples, the blank level of Ni cannot be ignored. The EDXRF-FP results for each element of the aerosols collected on QFF agreed well with ICP-MS and ICP-AES results. The temporal variations of the selected elements in aerosols obtained by EDXRF-FP showed very good agreement with those obtained by ICP-MS and AES, and thus this method is suitable for elucidating day-to-day variations of multi-elements in aerosols.