Abstract. Although China has surpassed the United States as the world's largest carbon dioxide emitter, in situ measurements of atmospheric CO2 have been sparse in China. This paper analyzes hourly CO2 and its correlation with CO at Miyun, a rural site near Beijing, over a period of 51 months (Dec 2004 through Feb 2009). The CO2-CO correlation analysis evaluated separately for each hour of the day provides useful information with statistical significance even in the growing season. We found that the intercept, representing the initial condition imposed by global distribution of CO2 with influence of photosynthesis and respiration, exhibits diurnal cycles differing by season. The background CO2 (CO2,b) derived from Miyun observations is comparable to CO2 observed at a Mongolian background station to the northwest. Annual growth of overall mean CO2 at Miyun is estimated at 2.7 ppm yr−1 while that of CO2,b is only 1.7 ppm yr−1 similar to the mean growth rate at northern mid-latitude background stations. This suggests a relatively faster increase in the regional CO2 sources in China than the global average, consistent with bottom-up studies of CO2 emissions. For air masses with trajectories through the northern China boundary layer, mean winter CO2/CO correlation slopes (dCO2/dCO) increased by 2.8 ± 0.9 ppmv/ppmv or 11% from 2005–2006 to 2007–2008, with CO2 increasing by 1.8 ppmv. The increase in dCO2/dCO indicates improvement in overall combustion efficiency over northern China after winter 2007, attributed to pollution reduction measures associated with the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The observed CO2/CO ratio at Miyun is 25% higher than the bottom-up CO2/CO emission ratio, suggesting a contribution of respired CO2 from urban residents as well as agricultural soils and livestock in the observations and uncertainty in the emission estimates.


Introduction and objectives Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of mortality worldwide and increased levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) are an important modifiable risk factor. Statins lower LDL-C levels and have been shown to reduce CVD risk. Despite the widespread availability of statins, many patients do not reach the lipid targets recommended by guidelines. We evaluated lipid goal attainment in statin-treated patients in South Africa and analysed variables contributing to poor goal attainment as part of the DYSlipidaemia International Study (DYSIS). Methods This cross-sectional, observational study enrolled 1 029 consecutive South African patients consulting officebased physicians. Patients were at least 45 years old, had to be treated with a stable dose of statins for at least three months and had been fasting for 12 hours. We evaluated lipid goal attainment and examined variables associated with residual dyslipidaemia [abnormal levels of LDL-C, highdensity lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and/or triglycerides (TG)]. Results We found that 50.3% of the patients overall did not achieve target LDL-C levels and 73.5% of patients were at very high cardiovascular risk. In addition, 33.7% had low levels of HDL-C, while 45.3% had elevated TG levels despite statin therapy. Asian and mixed-ancestry patients but not black (vs Caucasian ethnicity), as well as obese individuals in South Africa were more likely to still have dyslipidaemia involving all three lipid fractions. Conclusions We observed that many patients in South Africa experienced persistent dyslipidaemia despite statin treatment, supporting the concept that there is a need for more intensive statin therapy or the development of novel treatment strategies. Measures aimed at combating obesity and other lifestyle-related risk factors are also vital for effectively controlling dyslipidaemia and reducing the burden of CVD.


In this work, LM in three categories of students – motivated, unmotivated and overmotivated – was explored. Fifty graduate students, which were current and prospective school teachers and took the author's online psychology courses in 2012-2013, participated in the study. The research methodology included developing the rules of coding students' course work, designing the 100scale of LM for representing their individual as well as collective data, and collecting info about students' academic achievement in this course. According to the results, students' LM has two coexisting components – pragmatic (grade-oriented) and cognitive (knowledge-oriented). Three mentioned categories of students differ in quantity as well as quality of their LM. Further analysis showed that a) motivated students constituted a majority 74% of the population; they were rather pragmatically than cognitively oriented learners, b) unmotivated (problem) students, whose even pragmatic motivation was very low, represented 18.5% of the population, and c) overmotivated (enthusiastic) individuals that is, curious, and eager to get knowledge without being encouraged or rewarded, constituted the smallest part 7.5% of the total population. Considering these results in a wider socio-cultural context, the author suggests that prevalence of pragmatically motivated students among current and prospective school teachers, the shortage of enthusiastic learners and growth of problem learners can be possible significant causes affecting quality of the modern US primary school education.


Since the attacks of September 11, 2001, the 9/11 Commission, the Administration, and many others have supported much greater information sharing to protect national security. This article examines how to pursue information sharing programs - the sharing of personally identifiable information - consistent with privacy, overall security, and civil liberties. Part I of the article describes the support for increased information sharing. It then examines the Information Sharing Paradigm which depends on three key premises: (i) the threat has changed; (ii) the threat is significant, especially due to weapons of mass destruction; and (iii) progress in information technology offers the most effective response to the new threat. Taken together, these three premises support greatly expanded information sharing to fight terrorism. Observers may vary in how they assess the empirical truth of the three premises, but the three premises offer a helpful summary of the context for recent policy debates about information sharing. Part II draws on academic research and the author's experience in government to offer a due diligence checklist for assessing proposed programs of information sharing: 1. Will the proposed sharing tip off adversaries? (To the extent it does, no or less presumption favors information sharing.) 2. Ends/means rationality. Does the proposal improve security? Cost-effectively? 3. Is the proposal security theater? How much does it provide the appearance of security? 4. Are there novel aspects to the proposed surveillance and sharing? What risks, if any, accompany these novel aspects? 5. Are there relevant lessons from historical instances of abuse? What checks and balances would mitigate risks of such abuse? 6. Do fairness and anti-discrimination concerns reduce the desirability of the proposed program? 7. Are there ways that the proposed measure could make the security problems worse? 8. What are the ramifications internationally and with other stakeholders? 9. Are there additional, privacy-based harms from the proposed measure? 10. Will bad publicity undermine the program? There is a great urgency to adopt effective measures to fight terrorism and protect national security. In light of the urgency to take action, proponents of a new program can err on the side of optimism. They can conclude too readily that the program will improve security and have negligible side effects. In response, the due diligence checklist can provide important rigor in analyzing new proposals. There are characteristic ways that information sharing programs might go wrong. We should check for those problems before implementing such programs.


We measured black bear (Ursus americanus) reproduction and cub survival during 1994 – 1998, and 1995 – 1999, respectively, in the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests in Virginia to determine age-specific and overall cub production and cub survival. We observed females in estrus between 6 June and 22 August; the mean date of estrus was 17 July. Ages of primiparity ranged between 3 and 5 years with an average of 3.36 years (n=11, SE=0.15). Average litter size for 1995 – 1998 was 2.32 cubs/litter (SE=0.11, n=53) and 85.7% of available females ≥ age 4 (those not accompanied by cubs) reproduced in a given den season. We monitored 98 (48M:50F) black bear cubs equipped with expandable radio-collars (Higgins 1997) or radio transmitters implanted subcutaneously between 1995 and 1999 to estimate cub survival. Kaplan-Meier staggered entry analysis provided 306-day survival rates for 82 cubs. The survival estimates for males and females were 73% (0.49, 0.96) and 91% (0.80, 1.00), respectively. The overall 306-day survival rate for all cubs was 81% (0.67,0.94) using Kaplan-Meier and 76% (0.63, 0.92) using Heisey-Fuller (Mayfield) methods. We also evaluated the utility of radio transmitters implanted subcutaneously in 42 (21M:21F) wild black bear (Ursus americanus) cubs from 2 study areas in Virginia between 1996 and 1999 to monitor first year cub survival. More than 64% (27 of 42) of the implants fell out prematurely (2-198 days), and 16.6% (7 of 42) failed for unknown reasons. Less than 5% (2 of 42) of these cubs denned wearing failed implants, and 9.5% (4 of 42) experienced mortality less than 1


ABSTRACT "The Holy Roman Empire was neither Holy nor Roman, nor an Empire." For the historian, Voltaire's famous quip has three aspects: 1) What did Voltaire mean by it in 1756 when he wrote the line in his Essay on Customs? 2) How did contemporaries, including the Austrian Habsburgs, understand it? 3) Does the quote accurately describe the events the Philosophe is discussing (Charles IV of Bohemia and the Golden Bull of 1356)? Voltaire in fact exaggerates the weakness of the Empire in both 1356 and 1756, and uses an anachronistic standard to evaluate both: the quasi nation states of the 1750s. The three parts of the imperial title had changed in meaning during the four centuries after 1356. The jibe nonetheless reflects something of the thought of Voltaire and the French Enlightenment.


Designing effective defense against adversarial attacks is a crucial topic as deep neural networks have been proliferated rapidly in many security-critical domains such as malware detection and self-driving cars. Conventional defense methods, although shown to be promising, are largely limited by their single-source single-cost nature: The robustness promotion tends to plateau when the defenses are made increasingly stronger while the cost tends to amplify. In this paper, we study principles of designing multi-source and multi-cost schemes where defense performance is boosted from multiple defending components. Based on this motivation, we propose a multi-source and multi-cost defense scheme, Adversarially Trained Model Switching (AdvMS), that inherits advantages from two leading schemes: adversarial training and random model switching. We show that the multi-source nature of AdvMS mitigates the performance plateauing issue and the multi-cost nature enables improving robustness at a flexible and adjustable combination of costs over different factors which can better suit specific restrictions and needs in practice.


We present a simplified coupled mode theory (CMT), suited for high losses, to describe ultra-broadband THz generation through optical rectification (OR) of fs infrared pulses in waveguides. We derive a new expression that incorporates loss effects into the coherence length for OR. The simplified approach reproduces the results of a computationally rigorous integral CMT that must be used for broadband THz generation. With the new model we perform a parametric study to establish the optimal conditions for OR in symmetric, five-layer, metal/cladding/core structures with electro optic polymer cores. We find conversion efficiencies as high as 35 × 10⁻⁴ W⁻¹ and bandwidths up to 20 THz when pumping at 1900 nm. We find that low-loss-cladding layers enhance the efficiency for phase-matched structures, increase the interaction length, and improve the stability of the efficiency with respect to variations in waveguide parameters.


The Masters in Innovation, Creativity and Leadership (the MICL) is an innovative, radically interdisciplinary and highly successful programme that is offered as part of the portfolio of Management Masters courses at Cass Business School in the UK. In this paper, we argue that while the world is increasingly Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA), educational responses to this have been surprisingly limited. We note the parallel development of interest in interdisciplinary activity, particularly in relation to higher education, and then describe the MICL as an interdisciplinary management education programme developed against the background of an increasingly VUCA world. We describe the aims and structure of the MICL programme, as well as some of the methods employed to assist staff and students with adopting our interdisciplinary approach. Finally, we present some quantitative data on outcomes for students after completing the programme, as well as some qualitative data relating to the first cohort of students, that lead us to believe that the MICL programme provides a strong foundation on the basis of which students can survive and thrive in a world of increasingly dramatic change and complexity.


Buildings represent approximately 40% of global energy demand and heat loss induced by uncontrolled air leakage through the building fabric can represent up to one third of the heating load in a building. This leakage of air at ambient pressure levels, is known as air infiltration and can be measured by tracer gas means, however, the method is disruptive and invasive. Air infiltration models are a non-disruptive way to calculate predictive values for air infiltration in buildings. DOMVENT3D, is an infiltration model that predicts the infiltration rate from air permeability measurements quoted at 50 Pa. The model has been used to calculate the English housing stock infiltration rates, however, it has not been experimentally verified. The objective of this study is to compare DOMVENT3D's predictions with real measurements. Air permeability measurements using a blower door (50 Pa) and the Pulse method (4 Pa) were carried out in three domestic dwellings in Nottingham, U.K. DOMVENT3D was calibrated to predict infiltration from air permeability measurements taken at 4 Pa. This paper presents a comparison of results for both the blower door and pulse methods predicted values and real infiltration measurements. Initial results show discrepancies (from 34 to 107%) in the predictions between blower door and pulse methods and also with the real infiltration measurements. Nevertheless DOMVENT3D presented results close to the measurements. Further validation is needed before a final conclusion about the model is given.


ABSTRACT Schistochila gradsteinii Thouvenot sp. nov., is added to the five Schistochila Dumort. species formerly known in New Caledonia. The new species is distinctive by the lack of underleaves, bilobed leaves entire margined, with larger ventral lobes oblong-lanceolate to oblong-ovate, apiculate, dorsal lobes oblong-ovate, inserted on the dorsal surface of ventral lobes, the free margins not reaching the ventral margins, leaf cells with seemingly 3-layered trigones, stems with a conspicuous epidermis. It shares with the endemic S. vitreocincta (Herzog) X.L.He & Glenny some features distinctive from the rest of the genus. In addition, the occurrence of S. vitreocincta is clarified, the gynoecium of S. integerrima Steph. is newly described and a key to the New Caledonian species of Schistochila is provided.


Academic research has focused specifically on the enigmatic behavior of their discounts, known in the literature as the closed-end discount puzzle. The extant evidence suggests that closed-end funds are issued at a premia with respect to their net asset value, that discounts fluctuate widely over time and also across funds, and that closed-end fund prices converge to their net asset values when they are either liquidated or open-ended. Some of the theories that have been advanced attempting to explain the puzzle are efficient market based explanations and the Investor Sentiment Hypothesis. None of the theories, either individually or collectively, provide a sufficient explanation for the pricing of closed-end funds and, therefore, the enigma continues.


Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) are often used to learn transformations of graph data. While effective in practice, such approaches make predictions via numeric manipulations so their output cannot be easily explained symbolically. We pro-pose a new family of GNN-based transformations of graph data that can be trained effectively, but where all predictions can be explained symbolically as logical inferences in Datalog—a well-known rule-based formalism. In particular, we show how to encode an input knowledge graph into a graph with numeric feature vectors, process this graph using a GNN, and decode the result into an output knowledge graph. We use a new class of monotonic GNNs (MGNNs) to ensure that this process is equivalent to a round of application of a set of Datalog rules. We also show that, given an arbitrary MGNN, we can automatically extract rules that completely characterise the transformation. We evaluate our approach by applying it to classification tasks in knowledge graph completion.


We design a commitment contract for college students, "Study More Tomorrow," and conduct a randomized control trial testing a model of its demand. The contract commits students to attend peer tutoring if their midterm grade falls below a prespecified threshold. The contract carries a financial penalty for noncompliance, in contrast to other commitment devices for studying tested in the literature. We find demand for the contract, with take-up of 10% among students randomly assigned a contract offer. Contract demand is not higher among students randomly assigned to a lower contract price, plausibly because a lower contract price also means a lower commitment benefit of the contract. Students with the highest perceived utility for peer tutoring have greater demand for commitment, consistent with our model. Contrary to the model's predictions, we fail to find evidence of increased demand among presentbiased students or among those with higher self-reported tendency to procrastinate. Our results show that college students are willing to pay for study commitment devices. The sources of this demand do not align fully with behavioral theories, however. JEL Classification: D91; I21; I23


Two years ago Estonia's strategic national security and defence documents put forward
the idea of 'psychological defence' as a means to protect the values and cohesion of
Estonian society from subversive influences. The idea drew sharp criticism from some
sections of society for being inappropriate for a democratic state, even though the
intentions behind it were noble. The paper suggests that 'societal resilience' is a more
attractive and relevant concept in strategy making because it reflects the inherent
complexity of states, societies and their highly dynamic threat environments without
carrying negative and antagonistic connotations. It is argued that by focusing on the
constituent elements of 'societal resilience', e.g. human and social capital, Estonia can
better prepare for a wide range of security stressors than by pursuing 'psychological
defence'. In addition, 'societal resilience' offers a more appealing narrative for engaging the
non-governmental sector and civil society in national security affairs, and even for putting
them at the forefront of national security efforts (a 'whole-of-society approach'). The paper
also examines the practices for building 'military resilience' and their relevance to society at
large.


This paper presents a perception experiment which investigates (1) whether listeners are able to distinguish between authentic non-native accents and nonauthentic (imitated) accents and (2) whether they are able to identify the accents being produced. The results show that native-German-speaking listeners are able to identify (to name) imitated accents better than authentic non-native accents, probably due to the presence or absence of stereotypical patterns being used by the speakers. However, listeners were less able to judge the authenticity of the presented accents which probably can be related to the wide variation in the speakers' ability to imitate an accent.


Recent scholarship on intellectual property ("IP") law argues that doctrinal and theoretical sophistication in IP requires an understanding of "midlevel" principles, purportedly constitutive of IP's positive law. Proponents of this line of scholarship claim these principles serve as a bridge, connecting IP doctrine and practice with deeper foundational philosophical principles. They assert that such midlevel principles - the principles of proportionality, nonremoval, dignity, and efficiency, for instance - explain, predict, and justify IP cases. According to this scholarship, IP doctrine, case outcomes, and statutes are suffused with midlevel principles. In turn, the scholarship treats midlevel principles as consistent with broadly conflicting foundational accounts of property entitlement, from Lockean liberalism on the economic right, to Rawlsian egalitarianism on the left. The result is an account of IP law that unifies practice and the positive law with facially conflicting accounts of foundational property theories. This Essay argues that such claims to IP unification-however revolutionary-are untenable. Drawing from prominent IP cases, including cases addressing the patentability of DNA, this Essay demonstrates that midlevel principles are not rigorously embodied in the positive law of IP and therefore cannot serve to explain or predict case outcomes. Further, these midlevel principles conflict with important liberal "foundational" accounts of property, thereby calling into question the justificatory force such principles might hold. Moreover, contrary to Professor Robert P. Merges's view, different foundational principles, whether maximizing wealth, net aggregate value, or the position of the least well-off, will yield different substantive outcomes in IP cases. Accordingly, this Essay shows that any project conjoining this set of midlevel principles with maximizing distributive principles cannot be sustained. A sophisticated understanding of IP, its theory, and crucially its legal doctrine and practice, does not, and should not, include midlevel principles understood to be consistent with such variously competing foundations. Instead, this Essay acknowledges that courts deciding IP cases often invoke forward-looking foundational principles, whether aimed at utility or distributive justice.


Biological diversity encompasses the genetic diversity within each species, the range of species in a given ecosystem e.g. species diversity and the diversity of ecosystems across an entire region (Primack, 2000). At present 1 per cent of the world's described species are threatened with extinction. The most pervasive and overriding threat is habitat loss and degradation due to human activity such as agricultural practices and fishing, but also the development of human settlement and infrastructure. In Sweden 10 per cent of the regional plants and animals are threatened. The Swedish government has defined 15 environmental quality objectives based on five fundamental principles, one of them being the need to preserve the biological diversity. In addition to the national goals, county councils and municipalities formulate local objectives and implement the necessary strategies to obtain them based on expert knowledge. Little is however known to what extent expert opinions are supported by the inhabitants' attitudes towards and motives for conservation of the local biodiversity. The overall aim of the project was to investigate the public's attitudes towards biodiversity in Kristianstad municipality in South of Sweden . Kristianstad is characterised by a diversified nature. The region is well-known for its wetland areas, that has been suggested as Sweden's first candidate as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. The present paper focuses on people's environmental value orientation and the perceived importance of various motives for conservation of the local biodiversity as well as general attitudes towards conservation. The theoretical point of departure is Stern's et al. (1995) model, suggesting that our basic values guide the view of nature or environmental value orientation. These values are further proposed to act as filters for new information. Stern and Dietz (1994) put forward three different environmental value orientations, a biocentric (sometimes called biospheric) orientation, where nature is valued for its own sake, an egoistic orientation relating to the value of nature for oneself, and a social-altruistic orientation were nature is valued for its benefits for the human-being. These environmental value orientations have been further elaborated and empirically related to basic values by Schultz (2001) and Schultz and Zelezny (1999). In the present study it was hypothesised that people from various social backgrounds express different environmental value orientations. They therefore find various motives for conservation of the local biodiversity to be of differing importance, although they may express a similar general attitude towards biological diversity. Empirical data were obtained by focus group discussions as well as a questionnaire survey among 271 persons, living or working in the municipality of Kristianstad. In the focus groups discussions that included various groups of inhabitants, motives for conservation of the local biodiversity were identified. By means of factor analysis these motives were interpreted as motives related to the importance of biodiversity for human recreation and well-being, biodiversity as a resource for human survival and conservation of biodiversity for the nature's own best. The three environmental value orientations, as measured by Schultz's and colleagues' instrument, were to a similar degree expressed irrespective of the social background. People expressing differing environmental value orientation significantly differed in how they prioritised various motives for conservation of the local biodiveristy. Furthermore these motives did indepently predict the general attitude towards conservation of the local biodiversity. In conclusion it seems important to bring forward diverse motives addressing both people with egoistic, biospheric and social-altruistic environmental value orientation, in order to gain support for local objectives as well as strategies aiming at conservation of the local biodiversity.AcknowledgmentThe present paper is part of a larger project "Biodiversity in the public's mind" financed by FORMAS grant 21.5/2002 and carried out at Environmental Psychology Unit, Lund Institute of Technology, Sweden, with DSc Maria Johansson as project leader. DSc Marianne Lindstrom assisted the work. (Less)


A mathematical model for the calculation of thermal conductivity of nanofluids containing nanoparticles and nanotubes on the basis of statistical mechanics is presented. This appears to be the first such attempt published in the scientific literature. We focus on the influence of the liquid layer structure around nanoparticles as the reason for enhancement of the thermal conductivity of nanofluids. Analytical results of both the current analysis and statistical mechanics are compared with experimental data reported in the scientific literature, which show good agreement.


A unified view of metaheuristics This book provides a complete background on metaheuristics and shows readers how to design and implement efficient algorithms to solve complex optimization problems across a diverse range of applications, from networking and bioinformatics to engineering design, routing, and scheduling. It presents the main design questions for all families of metaheuristics and clearly illustrates how to implement the algorithms under a software framework to reuse both the design and code. Throughout the book, the key search components of metaheuristics are considered as a toolbox for: Designing efficient metaheuristics (e.g. local search, tabu search, simulated annealing, evolutionary algorithms, particle swarm optimization, scatter search, ant colonies, bee colonies, artificial immune systems) for optimization problems Designing efficient metaheuristics for multi-objective optimization problems Designing hybrid, parallel, and distributed metaheuristics Implementing metaheuristics on sequential and parallel machines Using many case studies and treating design and implementation independently, this book gives readers the skills necessary to solve large-scale optimization problems quickly and efficiently. It is a valuable reference for practicing engineers and researchers from diverse areas dealing with optimization or machine learning; and graduate students in computer science, operations research, control, engineering, business and management, and applied mathematics.


The design of a mechanical paddy dryer or any improvement of the dryer can
be successfully done by incorporating all significant variables concerned in its
operation through an optimization model. All constraints employed in the
optimization model should satisfy local requirements and suitabilities.
This study was conducted to determine the optimum parameters for the
operation of a mixed-flow paddy dryer followed by continuous in-bin aeration.
The aeration was provided to enhance the mixed-flow dryer operation. The
optimization study was done by incorporating the working parameters of each
operation in two separate empirical non-linear optimization models. The two
models were associated in such a way that the optimum results of the mixed-flow
drying were the inputs to the aeration stage, and vice versa. A computer simulation programme was used to obtain all pertinent
information of each operation prior to developing the optimization model. A
major modification was done to the mixed-flow drying simulation programme to
make it suitable for simulating paddy drying under local conditions so that it can
be used to evaluate the performance of an existing mixed-flow dryer. The
simulated results of this programme agreed reasonably well with the actual tests
conducted on the dryer.
The optimum result showed that only two passes of the dryer operation and
one period of the in-bin aeration were required for drying fresh wet paddy from
moisture content of 30.50 to about 16.00 percent dry basis. Different optimum
drying air temperature and airflow rate were obtained from each pass of the
drying. The values of 70.48 degree Celsius and 10.00 kglm2.min were
respectively the optimum drying air temperature and airflow rate of the first
drying pass. For the second pass, the optimum drying air temperature of 77.05
degree Celsius and airflow rate of 5 kg/m2.min were obtained. An optimum
aeration period of 32.31 hours with airflow rate of 0.77 m3/mt.min was required
following the first drying pass. The grain germination of 94.71 percent and dry
matter loss of 0.6 percent were the optimum grain quality criteria obtained from
the study. An average specific energy requirement of 5.13 ML/kg of water
removed at the net grain output capacity of 6.88 mt/hr were recorded for the
optimum conditions.


This article uses the project evaluation of the School-Aged Therapy Service for children with disabilities in Western Australia as an example of alternative ways to gather qualitative data from participants. The purpose of the evaluation was to pave the way for considerable and quick developmental operational change in order to stem the complaints from users of the service and to provide more effective service delivery. With this in mind the research team determined it was necessary to 'map' the current model of operation as there was inconsistency from the staff as to their understanding, and their ideal model of operation before presenting a new model to management. To facilitate the change process the researchers conducted a final focus group two months after the formal evaluation to map the staff's perceptions of how the proposed new model would work and the challenges the changes would produce. This article presents 'visual maps' that have been drawn by the staff to demonstrate that this technique provides rich, raw, timely, collaborative artefacts that are invaluable for organizations encouraging change.


Oxidative stress plays a vital role in the pathogenesis of many chronic and acute inflammatory diseases. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS) are two key mediators that are known to induce cellular and tissue oxidative stress. The generation of ROS and RNS is mediated by innate immune signaling processes. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a major inflammatory signal, is known to be a potent inducer of ROS/RNS. Thus, strategies that may block LPS-mediated generation of free radicals may hold promise in treating various inflammatory disease processes. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying LPS-mediated ROS/RNS production are not fully defined. Interleukin-1 Receptor associated kinase (IRAK-1), an intracellular kinase downstream of Toll-like Receptor 4 (TLR4) has been shown to contribute to the inflammatory cascade associated with LPS-TLR4 signaling pathway. However, its role in ROS production has not been defined. Therefore, we tested the hypothesis that IRAK-1 plays an important role in regulating ROS/RNS production. Both in vitro and in vivo studies were conducted to investigate the role of IRAK-1 in modulating free radicals as well as oxidative stress. In vitro studies demonstrate that IRAK-1 is a critical molecule involved in the induction of ROS/RNS. IRAK-1 deletion ablated free radical production following LPS challenge in a variety of cell types including macrophages, fibroblasts and microglia. Mechanistically, we observed that IRAK-1 is required for optimal expression and activity of NADPH oxidase subunits and iNOS. IRAK-1 deletion reduced LPS-triggered p47 membrane translocation, suppressed NOX-1 expression and protein levels as well as hampered Rac1 activation. On the other hand, IRAK-1 deletion sustained antioxidative enzyme activity and levels in IRAK-1 macrophages and fibroblasts. In terms of the in vivo physiological consequences, IRAK-1 mice exhibited attenuated lipid peroxidation in vital organs, attenuated histopathological lesions in liver and kidney, and reduced endotoxemia-associated mortality. Taken together, IRAK-1 may, at least in part, serve as an important therapeutic target in the treatment of various inflammatory disease processes.


As one of the chief representatives of French music in the early twentieth century, Nadia Boulanger is typically ignored in discussions of the reception of Gustav Mahler's music, which—like most studies of reception—focus primarily on press accounts and public events. Moreover, Boulanger is usually considered in the context of a broader French aversion, in the first half of the twentieth century, to Mahler's late-Romantic Austro-German idiom. But a range of documentary evidence concerning her attendance at the 1920 Mahler festival in Amsterdam, including previously unexamined correspondence as well as scores annotated in her hand, reveals that, motivated by a post-World War I spirit of internationalism, Boulanger contributed materially to the study and performance of Mahler. She encouraged audiences to consider his music's emotional power and analyzed it in a way that drew attention to its orchestration and the horizontal aspects of its construction. She also introduced such figures as Aaron Copland to Mahler's music, preparing him to approach it in a way that centered on the vocabulary of neo-classicism. Boulanger's engagement with Mahler not only contributes to our picture of the composer's reception, but also reveals the historiographical value of discourses that take place behind the scenes.


This paper intends to discuss Byron's "Sardanapalus" by focusing on the Hegelian master-slave dialectics. Written in 1821, "Sardanapalus" presents some trends about Lord Byron's creation of the Byronic Hero. The Byronic hero is emotional, dreamy, and impulsive. Sardanapalus, the Byronic hero, is the Assyrian King who possesses the complicated nature of both master and slave which is the focus of this article. There are encounters of masters and slaves that consciously and unconsciously take place in this dramatic verse. Sardanapalus' relationships to his mistress, his brother-in-law and the citizens involve a complex thesis and anti-thesis. Hegelian dialectics reflect the processes of recognition of consciousness through such thesis and anti-thesis. Bondage and lordship and dependency and independency are concepts that are within these processes. Hegel explains that the identity and role of the master and slave can be recognized when they are interacting. It means that the absolute situation in which one is alone cannot be appropriate for distinguishing. It attempts to explain how the master-slave patterns are recognized and defined, how the slaves and masters struggle internally and externally, and how they reach the recognition of the reality of their position and of self and how Sardanapalus as the Byronic hero acts. The focus of this article is on three master-slave patterns which are Sardanapalus-Myrrha, Sardanapalus-Salemenes and Sardanapalus-the citizens.


Centered on The Andrew Project (2010–13) by artist Shaan Syed, this article is a theoretical meditation on the politics and ethics of the name, drawing, the portrait, anonymity, and the signature, as these bear on a shared sense of loss and its impossible commemoration. I invoke the figure of the urban stranger and passerby to argue for an aesthetics and ethics of social anonymity that does not rely on or demand identification and that thereby remains open to the risk, surprise, and pleasure of shared existence. In doing so, I theorize intimacy as that which remains unnameable in the "commerce" of our everyday lives.


Abstract The Topeka shiner Notropis topeka is a federally endangered fish species that is estimated to occupy only 20% of its historic range. In Iowa Topeka shiners have been in decline for decades. Our goal was to determine the present distribution of Topeka shiners in the west-central portion of their range in Iowa and to characterize the extent of its decline. We compared the current distribution to distributions generated from earlier collections. We found Topeka shiners in six of 22 watersheds where they occurred historically. Status of Topeka shiners was judged to be stable in 27% of the watersheds, at risk in 45% of the watersheds, and possibly extirpated in 27% of the watersheds. None were classified as increasing. Based on comparison of the historical distribution with more recent ones, Topeka shiners in west-central Iowa showed a 27% decline a decade ago and currently exhibits a 73% decline in their distribution. The collective evidence from four of five other states in the species' range reveals similar declines. This study provides further information on the local distribution and extent of decline for this federally endangered species with a greatly reduced and fragmented overall distribution.


Rice (Oryza saliva L.) is one of the world's most important cereal crops. It plays a major role in human nutrition and its storage proteins have been thoroughly studied. Most of the research has concentrated on endosperm storage proteins. Embryo storage proteins have received only limited attention. Experiments were conducted to compare immunological relationships between the predominant endosperm globulins and those of the embryo. We examined the cellular and biochemical aspects of embryo storage proteins with light microscopy and transmission electron microscopy at three developmental stages. At 2 d after fertilization (DAF), embryos were globular in shape and were made up of actively dividing cells. These cells contained prominent vacuoles without any protein accumulation. At 6 DAF, the embryos had achieved distinct polarity, with cells at the basal region accumulating increasing amounts of starch and lipid. Moreover, these cells contained distinct types of vacuoles, most of which contained numerous dark-staining protein inclusions. At 16 DAF, the embryo cells were filled with lipid bodies and contained prominent vacuoles that had accumulated substantial amounts of protein deposits. Antibodies raised against purified rice endosperm α-globulin and against glutelin cross reacted with embryo proteins in Western blot analysis. However, the most abundant storage proteins of rice embryos did not react with these antibodies. Electron microscope immunocytochemistry revealed that proteins similar to α-globulins and glutelins were deposited within the vacuoles. As in endosperm tissue, the glutelins and the α-globulins were deposited within the same protein bodies. However, the embryo protein bodies were morphologically distinct from endosperm protein bodies. This study demonstrates the occurrence and localization of proteins similar to endosperm glutelins and globulins within the protein bodies of rice embryos.


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to determine how often forensic psychiatrists evaluated individuals with sadistic personality disorder; their views about the usefulness of the diagnosis; the frequency of certain childhood factors; and the sensitivity and specificity of the individual diagnostic criteria.

METHOD
A questionnaire to be answered anonymously was sent to all of the 1,390 members of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. Two hundred seventy-nine usable questionnaires were returned for data analysis.

RESULTS
Approximately 50% of the respondents had, at some time, evaluated in a forensic setting a subject who exhibited behavior that met the criteria for the disorder. Four percent of the cases seen in the preceding year by those respondents who had ever seen a case would have met the criteria for the disorder. Most of the forensic psychiatrists who had experience with the disorder believed that the diagnosis is useful for a variety of clinical and forensic purposes, but most also believed that the category has significant potential for being misused in legal settings. Almost all cases described by the respondents involved male patients, and there was frequently a history of childhood abuse and parental loss. The diagnostic criteria in these cases had high sensitivity and specificity.

CONCLUSIONS
In forensic settings the diagnosis of sadistic personality disorder is probably not rare. The results of this study suggest that the diagnosis has both descriptive and construct validity and that further study of the disorder with the DSM-III-R diagnostic criteria is needed.


Digital flood-inundation maps for a 2.75-mile reach of the Saddle River from 0.2 mile upstream from the Interstate 80 bridge in Rochelle Park to 1.5 miles downstream from the U.S. Route 46 bridge in Lodi, New Jersey, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP). The inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site at http://water. usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/, depict estimates of the areal extent and depth of flooding corresponding to selected water levels (stages) at the USGS streamgage at Saddle River at Lodi, New Jersey (station 01391500). Current conditions for estimating near real-time areas of inundation using USGS streamgage information may be obtained on the Internet at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?site_no=01391500. The National Weather Service (NWS) forecasts flood hydrographs at many places that are often collocated with USGS streamgages. NWS-forecasted peak-stage information may be used in conjunction with the maps developed in this study to show predicted areas of flood inundation. In this study, flood profiles were computed for the stream reach by means of a one-dimensional step-backwater model. The model was calibrated using the most current stagedischarge relations at the Saddle River at Lodi, New Jersey streamgage and documented high-water marks from recent floods. The hydraulic model was then used to determine 11 water-surface profiles for flood stages at the Saddle River streamgage at 1-ft intervals referenced to the streamgage datum, North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88), and ranging from bankfull, 0.5 ft below NWS Action Stage, to the extent of the stage-discharge rating, which is approximately 1 ft higher than the highest recorded water level at the streamgage. Action Stage is the stage which when reached by a rising stream the NWS or a partner needs to take some type of mitigation action in preparation for possible significant hydrologic activity. The simulated water-surface profiles were then combined with a geographic information system 3-meter (9.84-ft) digital elevation model (derived from Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data) in order to delineate the area flooded at each water level. The availability of these maps, along with Internet information regarding current stage from USGS streamgages and forecasted stream stages from the NWS, provide emergency management personnel and residents with information that is critical for flood response activities, such as evacuations and road closures, as well as for post-flood recovery efforts.


This paper introduces a compactification of the space of proper $p\times m$ transfer functions with a fixed McMillan degree $n$. Algebraically, this compactification has the structure of a projective variety and each point of this variety can be given an interpretation as a certain autoregressive system in the sense of Willems. It is shown that the pole placement map with dynamic compensators turns out to be a central projection from this compactification to the space of closed-loop polynomials. Using this geometric point of view, necessary and sufficient conditions are given when a strictly proper or proper system can be generically pole assigned by a complex dynamic compensator of McMillan degree $q$.


A patent grants a limited right to exclude others from practicing an invention within the United States, its territories and possessions. Much has been written about the limits of the patent grant and how to determine what the protected invention may be. At the same time, scholars have not systemically analyzed the geographic limitations of United States patents, a critical component of a patentee's limited right. A patent's geographical scope is not simple to discern. Commentators have neither analyzed the patent boundaries collectively nor delineated the scope of patent sovereignty on land, in the air and at sea. Technology has spread to every corner of the earth, bringing once hostile territory under the spell of deep water oil drilling, satellite communication systems, within the reach of mobile phone technology and beyond the scope of our current understanding of patent law. United States patents are only enforceable within the United States, which now extends from the International Space Station to the Outer Continental Shelf of the United States. As the limits of technology and geography increase, the delineation of the patent boundaries of the United States becomes increasingly important.


At the Maastricht meeting our Dutch hosts opened a window on their society and invited us to take a look at euthanasia practices in the Netherlands. As Maurice de Wachter intimates in his article, the hosts were candid in their descriptions and the guests frank in their evaluations. All the Dutch participants wanted us to understand their brand of euthanasia better, and most of them defended it against what they perceived as outsiders' skepticism or even hostility. Nonetheless, some of the Dutch expressed doubts and misgivings, just us as the British, American, and Canadian visitors were not of one mind. Not surprisingly, I was struck by the cultural specificity of the Dutch practices, which reminded me in turn of the cultural lenses I wore in viewing those practices. This does not mean, however, that the Dutch experience - or its thoughtful examination in Maastricht - is inapplicable to the United States as proposals to legalize "physician" aid-in-dying" are considered during the next few years. As long as we keep social, economic, and cultural differences in mind in drawing any specific lessons from one situation to the other, there is much to be learned. Moreover, as careful readers of Professor de Wachter's article doubtless perceive, behind the cultural specifics lie not only many similarities among the societies represented at the meeting but common (perhaps inevitable) ethical issues that inhere in any policy about the conditions and methods of dying in any society. Clarity about the Subject It is usual in discussions of the topic of active euthanasia to spend a great deal of time not merely defining one's terms but also lamenting the unwillingness or the apparent inability of others - particularly those with whom one does not agree - to make clear how they define the practices in question. I think it fair to say that the Dutch believe they have been much clearer on this subject than we in the United States have been. In large measure, this criticism seems well taken. In particular, the use of the phrase "physician aid-in-dying" by proponents of active euthanasia seems at best an evasion when what it meant is legalizing physician's taking steps to kill patients directly, swiftly, and painlessly. There are so many things - including simple companionship and love - that one might do to "aid" a dying person, that the phrase "aid-in-dying" cannot help but disguise more than it reveals. In contrast, the Dutch do not mince words: whatever one thinks of its morality or legality, what is done by physicians in Holland is certainly active euthanasia and nothing is gained by euphemisms. Yet the Dutch frankness turns out to be both adventitious and far from unclouded. The definition did not arise from a modern-day attempt to define acceptable medical practices but from a distinction drawn in the last century between ordinary murder and the less culpable situation in which the termination of a person's life (not necessarily - or even probably - by a physical occurred at his or her request. Thus, when the first case of physician-administered mercy killing arose recently, Dutch jurists, unlike their Anglo-American counterparts, began with a separate category of crime. When the Dutch courts (and medical association) turned that prohibition on its head by making it an acceptable rather than an unacceptable act, they perforce retained the characteristic that made it a separate category - namely, that the dead person had explicitly and seriously requested an end to life. It happens that this requirement (self-determination) is one of the two factors (the other being relief of suffering) that virtually always arise as justifications for euthanasia. Self-determination is clearly coincident with the importance given to autonomy in contemporary bioethical analysis, besides fitting well with Dutch attitudes about life generally. But it is part of the definition of euthanasia for arbitrary not inherent reasons, akin to the Dutch requirement that a second doctor confirm the decision to perform euthanasia. …


Guidance is almost non-existent as to suitable levels of UV lighting for reptiles and amphibians, or how to achieve satisfactory UV gradients using artificial lighting. The UV-Tool is a working document that seeks to address this problem, by considering the range of UV experienced by each species in the wild. The UV-Tool contains an editable and expanding database of the microhabitat requirements and basking behaviour of reptile and amphibian species, as derived from field studies, or inferred from observed behaviour in captivity. Since an animal's UV-B exposure is determined by its behaviour within its native microhabitat, estimation of its natural range of daily UV-B exposure is then possible. The current version of the UV-Tool assigns 254 species to each of four 'zones' of UV-B exposure (Ferguson zones) based upon UV-index measurements. Once the likely UV requirement of any species of reptile or amphibian is ascertained, the next step is to plan safe but effective UV gradients within the captive environment. To do this requires knowledge of the UV spectrum and output of the lamps to be used. The UV-Tool therefore includes test reports and UV-index gradient maps for commercially available UV-B lighting products, and a guide to selection of appropriate lamps for use in vivaria and in larger zoo enclosures. There are reports on 24 different products in the current version of the UV-Tool. This document has been compiled by members of the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquaria (BIAZA) Reptile and Amphibian Working Group (RAWG) with contributions from zookeepers and herpetologists from the UK and abroad. Further input is welcome and encouraged.


Warming climates have been widely recognized to advance spring vegetation phenology. However, the delayed responses of vegetation phenology to rising temperature and their mechanisms are poorly understood. Using satellite and climate data from 1982 to 2005, we reveal a latitude transition zone of greenup onset in vegetation communities that has diversely responded to warming temperature in North America. From 40°N northwards, a winter chilling requirement for vegetation dormancy release is far exceeded and the decrease in chilling days by warming winter temperature has little impact on thermal‐time requirements for greenup onset. Thus, warming spring temperature has constantly advanced greenup onset by 0.32 days/year. However, from 40°N southward, the shortened winter chilling days are insufficient for fulfilling vegetation chilling requirement, so that the thermal‐time requirement for greenup onset during spring increases gradually. Consequently, vegetation greenup onset changes progressively from an early trend (north region) to a later trend (south region) along the latitude transition zone from 40–31°N, where the switch occurs around 35°N. The greenup onset is delayed by 0.15 days/year below 31°N.


The nature and practice of sustainable development can be defined as the extremely complex and dynamic integration of economic development, maintenance of the natural environment, as well as the improvement of the social dimension. There are many issues related to an open system that traditional project management models cannot deal with, including non-linear interaction among elements and a high level of dynamic of unforeseen and unpredictable environment changes with no obvious solutions, while the system of systems (SoS) approach is able to address the multi-dimensional and multi-disciplinary nature of complexity. The Cu Lao Cham Biosphere Reserve (CBR) sustainability project in Vietnam is used as a case study to illustrate the application of the SoS framework to a sustainable development area. This paper provides an overall CBR picture by analysing five components of the SoS, consisting of constituent systems, external factors, governance body, constraints and feedback processes between the SoS and the governance body. Additionally, systems archetypes mentioned in the system dynamic model, the relationship among constituents, the level of influence of external factors on the SoS and feedback processes are identified. From analysing the system, the root causes that prevent the development of CBR sustainability project are found to be the conflicts between stakeholders' perspectives and the lack of alternative tools dealing specifically with complex issues. This paper provides a deep understanding of the complex relationship among elements of the project to support local planners in their decision-making processes. This paper also provides a demonstration of applying system concepts of SoS management framework into the field of maintaining the biosphere reserve, together with developing the local economy.


This study tests the sensitivity of a Lagrangian Stochastic footprint model to the turbulence statistics describing the flow field, with a focus on the within canopy processes. Representative profiles of the input velocity statistics are taken from a long-term dataset of turbulence measurements within and above a tall spruce canopy. Based on a wavelet tool, which allows a detailed analysis of coherent structures along the vertical profile, we characterize several typical states of coupling and decoupling between surface, canopy and atmosphere. For each coupling regime, three flux footprints using different sources for turbulence statistics are compared: the first based on conditionally-averaged measurements, the second on a simple numerical solution and the third on measurements taken from literature. The effects of profile smoothing and connecting measured canopy data to parametrized atmospheric surface layer profiles are considered. Significant differences between footprints based on modelled and measured profiles were found for exchange regimes with the lower section of the profiles decoupled from the atmospheric surface layer. As such cases are likely to occur for tall canopies with moderate density, our results suggest that the accuracy of Lagrangian Stochastic footprint modelling could be improved by using better turbulence profiles for different exchange regimes.


Many colleges and universities have adopted student ratings of instruction as one (often the most influential) measure of instructional effectiveness. Although some researchers claim student rating forms are multidimensional, reliable, valid, and uncontaminated by biasing variables, other researchers and many instructors continue to express concerns that the validity of summative evaluations based on student ratings are threatened by inappropriate data collection, analysis, and interpretation. The most commonly used validation design for student ratings is the multisection validity design. Because this validation design has high internal validity and has been used extensively, with many student rating forms under diverse conditions, it provides the most generalizable evidence for the validity of student ratings. However, researchers using this paradigm have reported widely divergent validity coefficients. Meta-analysis is a useful method of both integrating the findings of a large number of studies and investigating the potential moderating effect of study features. Thus, I conducted two meta-analyses of the multisection validity literature. In the first meta-analysis, I addressed the question. "What is the structure of instructional effectiveness (as judged by students) across student rating forms?" I concluded that the forms (at least those used in the multisection validity studies) measure general instructional skill. General instructional skill is a composite of three correlated factors, delivering instruction, facilitating interactions, and evaluating learning. In the second meta-analysis, I addressed three questions. The first question was, Are there significant and practically important interactions between moderator variables and the factor structure of student ratings? The second question was, What is the overall validity of student ratings as measures of instructional effectiveness? The third question was, To what extent is the multisection validity literature consistent, and if it is not consistent, to what extent do study features explain the variability in reported validity coefficients? The results indicate that there are few interactions between study features and the factor structure of student ratings. They also indicate that there is a medium correlation (.33) between student ratings and student learning. However, methodological and publication features, quality of evaluation features, student rating form features, achievement measure features, and explanatory features (student, instructor, course and institutional) moderate the validity of student ratings. The presence of these moderators suggests that the student ratings should not be "overinterpreted"; that is, that only crude judgements of instructional effectiveness (exceptional, adequate and unacceptable) should be made on the basis of student ratings.


Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors influencing e-procurement adoption in the United Nations (UN) system of organizations are examined.

Design/methodology/approach – This paper reports on an extended multi-method case study of e-procurement in the UN. A three stage methodology is adopted – a questionnaire survey of UN organizations, case studies of e-procurement issues in three UN organizations, and an interactive workshop with the heads of purchasing of UN organizations.

Findings – The paper finds that e-procurement is being used in the UN for transactions of routine, non-strategic purchases. UN development agencies are more likely to adopt e-procurement than humanitarian aid agencies as their operations are more predictable. The intention of the majority of UN organizations to adopt e-procurement within three years has been reversed following the workshop, which revealed that adoption of e-procurement would run counter to UN policies of supporting less developed nations, regions and organizations. A more cautious, "wait and see" approach has been taken rather than to unilaterally promote e-procurement across the UN system.

Research limitations/implications – This research focuses on the UN, yet could have implications for other complex systems of organizations such as the public sector, or multinational companies considering implementing e-procurement with suppliers in developing countries.

Practical implications – E-procurement needs to be considered in the context of other procurement policy objectives. What may be good e-procurement practice in a profit-making firm may be viewed as competing with broader policy objectives of not-for-profit organizations. The digital divide is a salient contextual factor for the UN, and brings about unforeseen issues regarding e-procurement adoption which may have resonance for other organisations.

Originality/value – Much research on e-procurement has been conducted in the private sector and this paper contributes to the small but growing number of studies of e-procurement in the context of the public and not-for-profit sectors by studying e-procurement in the UN.


In this paper, we deal with a novel data-driven learning method [sparse fuzzy inference systems (SparseFIS)] for Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy systems, extended by including rule weights. Our learning method consists of three phases: The first phase conducts a clustering process in the input/output feature space with iterative vector quantization and projects the obtained clusters onto 1-D axes to form the fuzzy sets (centers and widths) in the antecedent parts of the rules. Hereby, the number of clusters = rules is predefined and denotes a kind of upper bound on a reasonable granularity. The second phase optimizes the rule weights in the fuzzy systems with respect to least-squares error measure by applying a sparsity-constrained steepest descent-optimization procedure. Depending on the sparsity threshold, weights of many or a few rules can be forced toward 0, thereby, switching off (eliminating) some rules (rule selection). The third phase estimates the linear consequent parameters by a regularized sparsity-constrained-optimization procedure for each rule separately (local learning approach). Sparsity constraints are applied in order to force linear parameters to be 0, triggering a feature-selection mechanism per rule. Global feature selection is achieved whenever the linear parameters of some features in each rule are (near) 0. The method is evaluated, which is based on high-dimensional data from industrial processes and based on benchmark datasets from the Internet and compared with well-known batch-training methods, in terms of accuracy and complexity of the fuzzy systems.


Abstract The study aimed to estimate independent and combined associations of sedentary behaviour and physical activity with health related quality of life (HRQoL) in Myanmar and Vietnam. The cross-sectional sample included 3201 chronic disease patients (median age 51 years, Interquartile Range 25) systematically recruited from primary care facilities. Sedentary time and physical activity were assessed with the General Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPAQ). Overall, the study population engaged <4 hours (51.3%), 4 ≤ 8 hours (31.2%), and 8 or more hours a day (17.5%) sedentary time a day; 30.7% engaged in low physical activity 50% moderate and 23.6% high physical activity. In the final linear regression model, adjusted for relevant confounders, higher sedentary time (≥8 h) decreased summative HRQoL, HRQoL-Psychological, HRQoL-Physical and HRQoL-social, and moderate and/or high physical activity were associated with better summative HRQoL, HRQoL-Psychological, HRQoL-Physical, HRQoL-social, and better HRQol-environment. Combined regression analysis found that participants with both less than eight hour of sedentary time and moderate or high physical activity had a significantly higher summative HRQoL, HRQoL-Physical, HRQoL-Psychological, HRQoL-social, and HRQol-environment. Findings suggest an independent and combined association between moderate or high physical activity and low sedentary time with HRQoL among chronic disease patients in Myanmar and Vietnam.


The "edge polytope" of a finite graph G is the convex hull of the columns of its vertex-edge incidence matrix. We study extremal problems for this class of polytopes. For k =2, 3, 5 we determine the maximum number of vertices of k-neighborly edge polytopes up to a sublinear term. We also construct a family of edge polytopes with exponentially-many facets.


Abstract. In this work, we have studied the seasonal and inter-annual variability of the aerosol vertical distribution over Sahelian Africa for the years 2006, 2007 and 2008, characterizing the different kind of aerosols present in the atmosphere in terms of their optical properties observed by ground-based and satellite instruments, and their sources searched for by using trajectory analysis. This study combines data acquired by three ground-based micro lidar systems located in Banizoumbou (Niger), Cinzana (Mali) and M'Bour (Senegal) in the framework of the African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis (AMMA), by the AEROsol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) sun-photometers and by the space-based Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) onboard the CALIPSO satellite (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Observations). During winter, the lower levels air masses arriving in the Sahelian region come mainly from North, North-West and from the Atlantic area, while in the upper troposphere air flow generally originates from West Africa, crossing a region characterized by the presence of large biomass burning sources. The sites of Cinzana, Banizoumbou and M'Bour, along a transect of aerosol transport from East to West, are in fact under the influence of tropical biomass burning aerosol emission during the dry season, as revealed by the seasonal pattern of the aerosol optical properties, and by back-trajectory studies. Aerosol produced by biomass burning are observed mainly during the dry season and are confined in the upper layers of the atmosphere. This is particularly evident for 2006, which was characterized by a large presence of biomass burning aerosols in all the three sites. Biomass burning aerosol is also observed during spring when air masses originating from North and East Africa pass over sparse biomass burning sources, and during summer when biomass burning aerosol is transported from the southern part of the continent by the monsoon flow. During summer months, the entire Sahelian region is under the influence of Saharan dust aerosols: the air masses in low levels arrive from West Africa crossing the Sahara desert or from the Southern Hemisphere crossing the Guinea Gulf while in the upper layers air masses still originate from North, North-East. The maximum of the desert dust activity is observed in this period which is characterized by large AOD (above 0.2) and backscattering values. It also corresponds to a maximum in the extension of the aerosol vertical distribution (up to 6 km of altitude). In correspondence, a progressive cleaning up of the lowermost layers of the atmosphere is occurring, especially evident in the Banizoumbou and Cinzana sites. Summer is in fact characterized by extensive and fast convective phenomena. Lidar profiles show at times large dust events loading the atmosphere with aerosol from the ground up to 6 km of altitude. These events are characterized by large total attenuated backscattering values, and alternate with very clear profiles, sometimes separated by only a few hours, indicative of fast removal processes occurring, likely due to intense convective and rain activity. The inter-annual variability in the three year monitoring period is not very significant. An analysis of the aerosol transport pathways, aiming at detecting the main source regions, revealed that air originated from the Saharan desert is present all year long and it is observed in the lower levels of the atmosphere at the beginning and at the end of the year. In the central part of the year it extends upward and the lower levels are less affected by air masses from Saharan desert when the monsoon flow carries air from the Guinea Gulf and the Southern Hemisphere inland.


After the fall of the Suharto regime in 1988, public debates over the nature of history proliferated. While focusing on a number of key national events, most notably the 1965 coup and the killing of over half-a-million people, these debates have raised critical issues over the role or potential role of public history in contemporary Indonesian society. Questions of historical authority are paramount as Indonesian historians, public intellectuals and politicians struggle with a deeply entrenched historical paradigm and narratives of the old 'New Order' which continues to inform history in schools, cultural institutions, the media, literature, personal narratives, public rituals and the academy. This paradigm was based on an unquestioning acceptance of official accounts of the past. The demise of the New Order has left a historiographical vacuum which individuals and groups from a broad range of perspectives are trying to fill. Some, like Professor Azumardi Aza, are seeking to straddle the divide between professional and public history. Memory has emerged as a key issue in public debates, attempts have been made at reconciliation between the left and the right, though these faltered, and turf wars have broken out between historians and novelists such as Pramoedya Anata Toer. Women continue to remain relegated to a 'macabre footnote' in Indonesian public history. History in Indonesia is at a crossroads. One road could lead to a more democratic form of public or people's history; the other to a modified version of the New Order history.


Modification of existing oilfield infrastructure could deliver a cost-effective way to extend the economic life of depleted onshore oilfields. Naturally warm connate and injection water contained within these fields could be initially co-produced with remaining oil reserves and used to deliver clean, cheap, non-intermittent heating. The East Midlands Petroleum Province contains over 30 fields with a production history spanning 95 years, and we have chosen to examine the Welton field in detail. Well data for the Welton field have been analysed to ascertain extractable heat within both oil- and non-oil-bearing (water-bearing) strata within the field. Production rates were calculated to be 728 m3 d−1 oil and 854 m3 d−1 water. These values also include productivity of intervening largely water-bearing intervals. Target formation temperature at 1500 m was determined to be 52.5°C, allowing an extractable heat energy calculation to be undertaken for a range of temperature differentials. For a 30°C depletion in temperature, 1.6 MWt extractable heat is available within the Welton field alone. This equates to 14040 MWh of heat energy available for consumption by the domestic market or within commercial greenhouses.


This paper introduces a new heterogeneous streaming library called hetero Streams (hStreams). We show how a simple FIFO streaming model can be applied to heterogeneous systems that include manycore coprocessors and multicore CPUs. This model supports concurrency across nodes, among tasks within a node, and between data transfers and computation. We give examples for different approaches, show how the implementation can be layered, analyze overheads among layers, and apply those models to parallelize applications using simple, intuitive interfaces. We compare the features and versatility of hStreams, OpenMP, CUDA Streams and OmpSs. We show how the use of hStreams makes it easier for scientists to identify tasks and easily expose concurrency among them, and how it enables tuning experts and runtime systems to tailor execution for different heterogeneous targets. Practical application examples are taken from the field of numerical linear algebra, commercial structural simulation software, and a seismic processing application.


An important step in fingerprint recognition is the segmentation of the region of interest. In this paper, we present an enhanced approach for fingerprint segmentation based on the response of eight oriented Gabor filters. The performance of the algorithm has been evaluated in terms of decision error trade-off curves of an overall verification system. Experimental results demonstrate the robustness of the proposed method.


Gendered Media addresses the broad topic of gender and media, where 'gender' is not simply a shorthand for 'woman' but also embraces masculinitiy/ies, queer, lesbian and gay identities. Karen Ross provides the necessary historical context against which to read recent sex- and gender-based media phenomena such as Big Brother, Terminator, girls' use of mobile phones, women news editors, the Wonderbra generation, the Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin phenomena, and so on. The book is an overview of the various aspects of gender and media in one volume. The book provides introductory overviews to the various themes around women, men, sexuality and the ways in which these attributes are cross-cut by other demographics such as age, ethnicity and disability. In this way, the book genuinely tries to provide a broad introduction to the ways in which gender, in all its facets, engages with media, in one accessible volume.


PURPOSE
This work simulates radiation-induced acoustic waves to assess the feasibility of x-ray acoustic computed tomography (XACT) as a dosimeter. XACT exploits the phenomenon that acoustic waves with amplitude proportional to the dose deposited are induced following a radiation pulse. After detecting these acoustic waves with an ultrasound transducer, an image of the dose distribution can be reconstructed in realtime.

METHODS
Monte Carlo was used to simulate the dose distribution for monoenergetic 6 MeV photon and 9 MeV electron beams incident on a water tank. The dose distribution for a prostate patient planned with a photon 4-field box technique was calculated using clinical treatment planning software. All three dose distributions were converted into initial pressure distributions, and transportation of the induced acoustic waves was simulated using an open-source toolkit. Ideal transducers were placed around the circumference of the target to detect the acoustic waves, and a time reversal reconstruction algorithm was used to obtain an XACT image of the dose for each radiation pulse.

RESULTS
For the photon water tank relative dosimetry case, it was found that the normalized acoustic signal amplitude agreed with the normalized dose at depths from 0 cm to 10 cm, with an average percent difference of 0.5%. For the reconstructed in-plane dose distribution of an electron water tank irradiation, all pixels passed a 3%-3 mm 2D gamma test. The reconstructed prostate dose distribution closely resembled the plan, with 89% of pixels passing a 3%-3 mm 2D gamma test. For all situations, the amplitude of the induced acoustic waves ranged from 0.01 Pa to 1 Pa.

CONCLUSION
Based on the amplitude of the radiation-induced acoustic waves and accuracy of the reconstructed dose distributions, XACT is a feasible technique for dosimetry in both calibration and in vivo environments for photon and electron beams and merits further investigation. Funding from NSERC, CIHR and McGill University. SH acknowledges partial support by the CREATE Medical Physics Research Training Network grant of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (Grant number: 432290).


Objectives: Legg–Calvé–Perthes Disease (LCPD) is a juvenile hip disorder in which interruption to the blood supply of the femoral head causes osteonecrosis. Previous studies reported an association between attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and LCPD. This study aimed to assess the relationship between ADHD and LCPD disease in a tertiary hospital in Riyadh city, Saudi Arabia. Methods: This is a case–control study that included 50 case subjects (LCPD group) and 100 controls. Both groups underwent clinical assessment by the 5th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders criteria to diagnose ADHD and to compare the proportions in both groups. Results: The age range of the study population was 4–19 years. In the case group, we collected the data from 11 females and 39 males. The age ranged from 4 to 19 years (mean 9 years). While in the control group, we collected the data from 47 females and 53 males. The age range was 4–15 years (mean 8 years). In both groups, 34 children (22.7%) were diagnosed with ADHD, 15 (30%) in the case group and 19 (19%) in the control group. There was no significant difference in ADHD incidence between the case group and the control group (P = 0.1293, odds ratio = 1.827). LCPD has a significant male predominance (78%). Conclusions: We found that the prevalence of ADHD in LCPD is high (30%), which is comparable to the reported literature but as ADHD was higher than the reported literature in the control group (19%) the difference was statistically insignificant.


This report reviews the methods available for assessing the impacts of interactions between species and fisheries and their implications for marine fisheries management. A brief description of the various modelling approaches currently in existence is provided, highlighting in particular features of these models which have general relevance to the field of the ecosystem approach to fisheries (EAF). The report concentrates on the currently available models representative of general types such as bionergetic models, predator-prey models and minimally realistic models. Short descriptions are given of model parameters, assumptions and data requirements. Some of the advantages, disadvantages and limitations of each of the approaches in addressing questions pertaining to EAF are discussed. The report concludes with some recommendations for moving forward in the development of multi-species and ecosystem models and for the prudent use of the currently available models as tools for provision of scientific information on fisheries in an ecosystem context. Plagányi, É.E. Models for an ecosystem approach to fisheries. FAO Fisheries Technical Paper. No. 477. Rome, FAO. 2007. 108p.


The coupled-mode theory (CMT) for optical waveguides is reviewed, with emphasis on the analysis of coupled optical waveguides. A brief account of the recent development of the CMT for coupled optical waveguides is given. Issues raised in the debates of the 1980's on the merits and shortcomings of the conventional as well as the improved coupled-mode formulations are discussed. The conventional coupled-mode formulations are set up in a simple, intuitive way. The rigorous CMT is established on the basis of a linear superposition of the modes for individual waveguides. The cross-power terms appear logically as a result of modal nonorthogonality. The cross power is necessary for the self-consistency of the CMT for dissimilar waveguides. The nonorthogonal CMT, though more complicated, yields more-accurate results than the conventional orthogonal CMT for most practical applications. It also leads to the prediction of cross talk in directional couplers. The conventional orthogonal CMT is, however, reliably accurate for describing the power coupling between two weakly coupled, nearly identical waveguides. For dissimilar waveguides, a self-consistent orthogonal CMT can be derived by a redefinition of the coupling coefficients, and it predicts the coupling length and therefore the power exchange between the waveguides accurately if the two waveguides are far apart. Three typical coupler configurations—the uniform, the grating-assisted, and the tapered—are examined in detail. The accuracy, scope of validity, limitations, and extensions of the coupled-mode formulations are discussed in conjunction with each configuration. To verify the arguments in the discussions, comparisons with the exact analytical solutions and the rigorous numerical simulations are made.


In this work, parametric FE (Finite Element) modelling has been developed and used to study the deformation of soft materials with different embedded systems under indentation and more complex conditions. The deformation of a soft material with an embedded stiffer layer under cylindrical flat indenter was investigated through FE modelling. A practical approach in modelling embedded system is evaluated and presented. The FE results are correlated with an analytical solution for homogenous materials and results from a mathematical approach for embedded systems in a half space. The influence of auxeticity on the indentation stiffness ratio and the de-formation of the embedded system under different conditions (indenter size, thickness and embedment depth of the embedded layer) was established and key mechanisms of the Poisson's ratio effect are highlighted. The results show that the auxeticity of the matrix has a direct influence on the indentation stiffness of the system with an embedded layer. The enhancement of indentation resistance due to embedment increases, as the matrix Poisson's ratio is decreased to zero and to negative values. The indentation stiffness could be increased by over 30% with a thin inextensible shell on top of a negative Poisson's ratio matrix. The deformation of the embedded layer is found to be significantly influenced by the auxeticity of the matrix. Selected case studies show that the modelling approach developed is effective in simulating piezoelectrical sensors, and force sensitive resistor, as well as investigating the deformation and embedded auxetic meshes. A full scale parametric FE foot model is developed to simulate the deformation of the human foot under different conditions including soles with embedded shells and negative Poisson's ratio. The models used a full bone structure and effective embedded structure method to increase the modelling efficiency. A hexahedral dominated meshing scheme was applied on the surface of the foot bones and skin. An explicit solver (Abaqus/Explicit) was used to simulate the transient landing process. Navicular drop tests have been performed and the displacement of the Navicular bone is measured using a 3D image analysing system. The experimental results show a good agreement with the numerical models and published data. The detailed deformation of the Navicular bone and factors affecting the Navicular bone displacement and measurement is discussed. The stress level and rate of stress increase in the Metatarsals and the injury risk in the foot between forefoot strike (FS) and rearfoot (RS) is evaluated and discussed. A detailed full parametric FE foot model is developed and validated. The deformation and internal energy of the foot and stresses in the metatarsals are comparatively investigated. The results for forefoot strike tests showed an overall higher average stress level in the metatarsals during the entire landing cycle than that for rearfoot strike. The increased rate of the metatarsal stress from the 0.5 body weight (BW) to 2 BW load point is 30.76% for forefoot strike and 21.39% for rearfoot strike. The maximum rate of stress increase among the five metatarsals is observed on the 1st metatarsal in both landing modes. The results indicate that high stress level during forefoot landing phase may increase potential of metatarsal injuries. The FE was used to evaluate the effect of embedded shell and auxetic materials on the foot-shoe sole interaction influencing both the contact area and the pressure. The work suggests that application of the auxetic matrix with embedded shell can reinforce the indentation resistance without changing the elastic modulus of the material which can optimise the wearing experience as well as providing enough support for wearers. . Potential approaches of using auxetic structures and randomly distributed 2D inclusion embedded in a soft matrix for footwear application is discussed. The design and modelling of foot prosthetic, which resembles the human foot structure with a rigid structure embedded in soft matrix is also presented and discussed.


This paper applies time series analysis to distinguish between cyclical and demographic causes of the decline of the labor force participation rate. Some public discussions suggest that the decline of US unemployment from its 2009 peak of 10 percent to about 6 percent by mid-2014 grossly exaggerates recovery because most of the decline reflects the exit of discouraged workers from the labor force. This study finds instead that one-half to two-thirds of the decline in labor force participation by about 3 percentage points from late 2007 to early 2014 is attributable to aging of the population. Although about one-third is found attributable to the lagged influence of high, and especially long-term, unemployment, going forward the potential rebound in the participation rate from recovery is projected to be approximately offset by further aging of the population.


The precipitation of asphaltene, a polar fraction of crude oil, during oil production has unfavorable impacts on many parts of the petroleum industry. Within the upstream processes, asphaltene precipitation occurs in crude oil, forming solid deposits in the reservoir during enhanced oil recovery operations and natural depletion. This significantly influences the porosity and permeability of the reservoir, reducing the effectiveness of the recovery process. Precipitation and deposition in downstream processes causes noticeable increases in production costs. Therefore, it is essential to predict the amount of asphaltene precipitation based on pressure, temperature and liquid phase composition using a dependable, precise, and robust strategy. However, the experimental measurement techniques used to estimate amounts are expensive and time consuming, while the thermodynamic models available are also somewhat complex. The authors propose an innovative approach for the simple and prompt prediction of asphaltene precipitation, employing an artificial neural network. The results show that the predicted values were in agreement with the experimental data, with the maximum absolute error deviation for the proposed model no more than 2.46%. A comparison of the proposed model with previously presented models highlight the superiority of the model developed in this study.


Shelly carbonate sands proliferate in regions of the world where construction of offshore structures is in high demand. These structurally weak sands have high intra-granular voids and complex angular grain shapes. To improve the understanding of the mechanical properties of the material, a detailed morphological quantification is required. This paper presents a three-dimensional characterisation of the morphology of shelly carbonate sands based on analyses of X-ray computed tomography images. Two sands from the Persian Gulf with distinct grading were investigated. An adaptive watershed segmentation technique was developed to identify the individual grains for subsequent grain-scale analysis, which overcomes the challenges posed by the intricate microstructure of these sands. Non-invasive measurements of size, intra-granular void and various shape parameters were carried out, and statistical analyses were conducted, to characterise the grains. The results help to better understand the mechanisms of grain ...


Applying to Graduate School in Psychology provides prospective graduate students with the insider knowledge needed to bolster their confidence and gain a competitive edge. This comprehensive resource shares personal accounts from both peer and expert perspectives to fully illustrate the ins and outs of applying and preparing for the graduate school experience. As future professionals in psychology, readers will greatly benefit from the straightforward and personal guidance offered by the student and psychologist contributors.Potential applicants learn the commonalities and differences among diverse student experiences from a variety of academic institutions and programs. This student-to-student format offers familiarity and identification with those who have successfully enrolled in graduate programs across the country. Each chapter presents practical advice, key information, and encouragement, while describing the dos and don'ts of applying. In the psychologist-written essays, renowned professionals share their academic and career development stories and provide meaningful insight into the rewards and challenges of the field. The contributors' infectious passion for psychology will inspire readers to further their education and narrow down their program of choice.


Get the very best from the ingredients that you cook with everyday at home. It is perfect for home cooks, keen to ensure they choose the very best and get the best results. Learn how to buy, store, prepare, cook, preserve and eat over 2,500 ingredients. Plus you'll learn about the best seasonal ingredients and discover complementary flavour pairings. Over 250 classic recipes from making pesto to fruity jams, with easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions that you'll love making again and again. Written by a team of global culinary experts, "The Cook's Book of Ingredients" brings together their collective expertise to showcase key ingredients from around the world, from Italian and Indian to French and British.


© Arad Reisberg, 2007. All rights reserved. This book provides the first comprehensive law scholarship to focus solely on the subject of derivative actions, which is an important aspect of the current ever-expanding debate in the UK, and in other jurisdictions, about corporate governance. In particular it: (1) provides the first detailed and clear overview, commentary and theoretically informed explanation of the law governing derivative actions by revealing underlying principles, making it an essential resource for corporate law academics, law makers and practitioners; (2) uses these principles to suggest how the law should develop in the future; (3) provides the first, most comprehensive and detailed assessment of the new regime governing derivative actions under the new Companies Act 2006 including a commentary on all the new provisions of the Act on the subject; and (4) includes a comparative perspective to derivative actions in foreign jurisdictions focusing in particular on recent developments so as to compare and explain how the law might develop. The book attempts a fundamental rethink of the content of the derivative action and its objectives. Intertwining these objectives into a cohesive model of derivative actions, the book conceptualizes the derivative action mechanism and argues that action should be taken at three parallel levels: (1) conceptual (i.e., adoption of a new framework in the guise of the 'Functional and Focused Model' as set out in the book); (2) strategic (i.e., employment of appropriate incentives and fee rules which advance the premises behind the Model); and (3) maintaining doctrinal consistency (i.e., clarification of the interaction between the derivative action and other remedies available to shareholders.


This paper re-considers the notion of 'comparability' as it has been applied to the accounting standard harmonisation project and its implications for accounting practices that are emerging in China. Comparability is a concept that has been widely referred to within the accounting literature, but has remained largely unexplored. In order to encourage what Zeff (2007) described as "genuine comparability" we argue that the underlying economic substance of an event should be the focus of our accounting choices in order to enable appropriate comparisons. If we focus too heavily on regulatory standardisation that prescribes comparable techniques without considering the broader economic context in which these are applied, the accounting representations could mislead users. The techniques may distort representations of the underlying economic substance of business activities, which would hinder the level of a genuine comparability in global financial reporting. In order to explore this, given the unique legal status of land in China, we consider how it is classified and represented in Chinese financial reports. This example shows that there are still significant challenges that need to be overcome in order to implement IFRS in China and there are still substantial comparability problems for cross-border users.


Studies of the Roman convivium have traditionally focused on the literary, artistic, and architectural evidence of the event. As such, our understanding of Roman dining is biased toward an elite population that provides the bulk of such information. Missing from the discussion is a materials-based approach whereby the utensils of dining provide information on the mechanics of social meals. Here I present an analysis of 12 Roman table assemblages that identifies patterns of vessel groups to which I apply functional possibilities informed by literary and artistic evidence. The results of the analysis are contextualized using primary literary, artistic, and architectural evidence from which interpretations of dining behavior are offered. Two divergent traditions of dining are identified. One, which I call status dining, confirms the established model of Roman dining, which is centered on individual service so that status boundaries are maintained at the table. The other emphasizes group service through the use of shared vessels, introducing a new style of dining in the Roman world that I call convivial dining. The dining models are placed in their historical and social contexts, and an argument is made for the emergence of convivial dining as a response to a decreasing social identity among the Late Roman sub-elite after the third century and the growth of Christianity in the fourth century.


The continuous development of micro-electronics is changing the computer world. Small computers are becoming more powerful. The impacts are mainly to be found through the changing economy of computer use.

The new situation gives us the opportunity of widening the perspective in the analysis of costs. We can take into account a widened set of criteria such as the impact on organizational behavior, user psychology and broadened participation. The situation is therefore a challenge to scientists in many disciplines because these and other aspects formerly treated as secondary may now be entered into the economic analysis and could in fact be decisive for the final choice.

We will first highlight the development in some disciplines of technology and management sciences to point-out the most important changes related to our field. Then we will speculate more carefully about changes In organizational behavior.

Some of the most important organizational characteristics influenced by the choice of small or big computers can be summarized by the concept of "bureaucracy." We will discuss specialization, standardization, formalization and centralization separately. Flexibility is involved in all four of these parts. In fact, flexibility is what is lost if we get too much of the other four qualities.

Behind the actual decisions one will often find different perceptions of the relationships between technology and the managerial situation. We will dwell on a discussion of different approaches because it shows that the changes we find in our particular field of technology are not caused by simple intra-technical considerations. Rather, they result from very complex and non-transparent combinations of technological, economic, political and ideological factors.

It is essential that the full spectrum of issues be fully known to all parties involved in the evolution of a management system. Then the advent of small computers may give new life to management itself.