The fading memory filter has been proposed as a substitute for the Kalman filter when model errors exist because it discounts old data, thereby, compensating for the influence of model errors. For model errors in the form of completely unknown inputs, this paper presents computational examples for which the asymptotic error of all fading memory filters will be greater than the Kalman error. This contradicts the assumption that, when the Kalman filter is no longer optimal, there exists a fading memory filter which will achieve lower mean squared error. An explanation for this error behavior and a discussion of its implications are included.


The main objective of this paper is to choose an appropriate test statistic for research methodology. Specifically, this article tries to explore the concept of statistical hypothesis test, derivation of the test statistic and its role on research methodology. It also try to show the basic formulating and testing of hypothesis using test statistic since choosing appropriate test statistic is the most important tool of research. To test a hypothesis various statistical test like Z-test, Student's t-test, F test (like ANOVA), Chi square test were identified. In testing the mean of a population or comparing the means from two continuous populations, the z-test and t-test were used, while the F test is used for comparing more than two means and equality of variance. The chi-square test was used for testing independence, goodness of fit and population variance of single sample in categorical data. Therefore, choosing an appropriate test statistic gives valid results about hypothesis testing.


A Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) is a compact sequence of characters that identifies an abstract or physical resource. This specification defines the generic URI syntax and a process for resolving URI references that might be in relative form, along with guidelines and security considerations for the use of URIs on the Internet. The URI syntax defines a grammar that is a superset of all valid URIs, allowing an implementation to parse the common components of a URI reference without knowing the scheme-specific requirements of every possible identifier. This specification does not define a generative grammar for URIs; that task is performed by the individual specifications of each URI scheme. RFC 3986 URI Generic Syntax January 2005


Recent reviews on the use of experience-based food insecurity scales in the Indian context suggested the addition of "how often" related items to food insecurity modules to avoid overestimation of food insecurity, especially in underprivileged communities. Following this recommendation, we adapted the 8-item Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES), an official tool for measuring access to food within the Sustainable Development Goals (target 2.1), and assessed its validity and reliability in socially-backward communities in the Indian context. The polytomous Rasch model was successfully applied and soundly integrated within the probabilistic methodology already in use for the FIES, allowing the computation of comparable prevalence of food insecurity at different levels of severity and related measures of uncertainty. Data from the SWABHIMAAN programme survey, which collected information on food insecurity from mothers of children under two years of age in three Indian states (Bihar, Odisha, and Chhattisgarh), was used for analysis. Results suggest that the proposed adapted version of the FIES can be considered as a proper tool for measuring food insecurity in underprivileged communities, since it satisfies requirements of internal and external validity and reliability. Individual determinants and protective factors of food insecurity were also investigated within this methodological framework and results suggest that education, economic wealth, and homestead kitchen garden can act as a buffer against food insecurity, while the number of pregnancies seems to exacerbate a situation of food insecurity.


In respiratory medicine, several quantitative measurement tools exist that assist the clinicians in their diagnosis. The main issue with these traditional techniques is that they lack sensitivity to detect changes and that the variation between different measurements is very high. The result is that the development of respiratory drugs is the most expensive of all drug development. This limits innovation, resulting in an unmet need for sensitive quantifiable outcome parameters in pharmacological development and clinical respiratory practice. In this thesis, functional respiratory imaging (FRI) is proposed as a tool to tackle these issues. FRI is a workflow where patient specific medical images are combined with computational fluid dynamics in order to give patient specific local information of anatomy and functionality in the respiratory system. A robust high throughput automation system is designed in order get a workflow that is of a high quality, consistent and fast. This makes it possible to apply this technology on large datasets as typically seen in clinical trials. FRI is performed on 486 unique geometries of patients with various pathologies such as asthma, chronic obstructive lung disease, sleep apnea and cystic fibrosis. This thesis shows that FRI can have an added value in multiple research domains. The high sensitivity and specificity of FRI make it very well suited as a tool to make decisions early in the development process of a device or drug. Furthermore, FRI also seems to be an interesting technology to gain better insight in rare diseases and can possibly be useful in personalized medicine.


It is wellknown that the majority of South African learners achieve extremely poorly in mathematics. Many claim that one of the causes of this poor attainment is teachers' weak knowledge of mathematics, and propose that improving teachers' mathematical knowledge would improve learner attainment. However, the evidence-base for this proposed solution is currently relatively weak. We report on a quasi-experimental study examining the learning gains of Grade 10 learners from five secondary schools in the Johannesburg area whose teachers participated in a year-long professional development course aimed at improving the teachers' knowledge of mathematics for teaching. Statistical analyses of pre- and post-test results show that the intervention group of learners (N = 586) taught by teachers who had participated in the professional development (N = 14) outperformed a matched control group of learners (N = 217) taught by teachers in the same schools (N = 7). An effect size of =0.17 for the intervention group is equivalent to two months' additional progress. While the learning gains are small, they are statistically significant. These findings provide empirical support for claims that attending to teachers' mathematical knowledge can impact learners' attainment. Suggestions are made regarding the form and substance of such professional development.


Wood is an abundant and renewable natural resource. Its use is promoted as a way to reduce the carbon footprint in building construction. Wood structures are degraded by their environment due to weathering. This review is a meta-analysis of the main factors of degradation that belong to this phenomenon. The impact of irradiation, the role of water, oxygen, temperature, and colonization by fungi are explained. To protect against these factors, the use of coatings is the most common solution. Since currently the trend is to maintain the grain and the natural color of the wood, the use of transparent coatings is favored. This review presents the main technologies used in clear wood coatings. The durability of this protection against weathering is approached. The whole of knowledge gathered has made it possible to begin a discussion on the multifactorial aspect of wood weathering. Schemes were created to synthesize the synergistic and antagonistic effects between the degradation factors.


ABSTRACT This exploratory study questions whether Master of Public Administration programs prepare future public administrators to how gender plays out in negotiations that occur in organizations. Negotiated Order and Second-Generation Bias perspectives provide the theoretical basis to understand that negotiations in organizations may privilege masculine practices. In light of this gender leaning, the classroom is a necessary incubator for understanding gender differences in negotiation. Curricula and survey response data retrieved from NASPAA accredited MPA programs suggest that gender in negotiation is not being addressed in the MPA classroom. Public managers must negotiate for scarce organizational resources including salary, promotion, and other workplace capital. Recognizing that gender in negotiation remains hidden under the shadow of second-generation bias is the first step to the success of future public administrators. We must begin to educate our future public managers with a distinctive negotiation skillset as they navigate the 21st century workplace.


This report sprovides an in depth examination of the views and attitudes of young women. While there has been much research on young people in general, rarely is this disaggregated by gender or has it had a specific focus on young women. Within the context of local and global changes over the past 30-40 years, and an agenda of participation and inclusion, this report asks how have young women fared and have equality issues been addressed. A feminist approach was adopted in the various steps of the research process, which consisted of: a literature review and discussions with young women; 7 focus groups with 48 young women; consultations with young women about the themes and format of interviews; 43 in-depth interviews with young women. The findings are presented in chapters relating to different aspects of the women's lives.


Abstract Evangelicals garner much attention in polling and public opinion research, yet measuring white evangelicals remains elusive, even opaque. This paper provides practical guidance to researchers who want to measure or analyze evangelicals. In the social sciences, many have adopted a detailed religious affiliation approach that categorizes evangelicals based on the religious tradition of the denominations to which they belong. Others have used a simpler self-identification scheme, which asks respondents if they consider themselves "born-again or evangelical". While the affiliation and self-identification schemes are predominant, a practical examination of these approaches has been absent. Using several waves of the General Social Survey and the Cooperative Congressional Election Study, we compare them. We find almost no statistical differences between the two measurements in prominent demographic, political, or religious factors. Thus, we suggest that for most a simple question about broad religious affiliation followed by a born-again or evangelical self-identification question will suffice.


This paper compares and contrasts the United States federal Empowerment Zone and European Union Objective 2 programs that geographically target economic revitalization incentives. Since 1989, both programs have designated predominately industrial or urban areas as being distressed and worthy of government incentives in three separate rounds. The paper uses a probit econometric model to comparatively evaluate the characteristics of the areas that were targeted. The paper finds that while the programs were fashioned for different reasons and thus had different goals, the programs on both continents initially targeted very distressed areas. However, consistent with the fears of critics of spatial targeting, subsequent rounds of designation greatly expanded the programs, and in most cases, lead to less precise targeting. (*)We gratefully acknowledge financial and research support from the International Center for Economic Research (ICER), Turin, Italy. We appreciate the superb research assistance provided by Lia Maglioni and thank Jon Gant and George Tita for data help. JEL Classification Codes: O1, R5, C23


Objectives: To investigate social functioning and mental wellbeing in 13-15 year-old adolescents in Iran and Finland, in order to explore potential cultural and gender-based differences during early adolescence. Methods: One thousand and one (1001) adolescents from Iran and 2205 adolescents from Finland (age range 13-15 years) filled in a questionnaire consisting of the following scales: the Mini Direct and Indirect Aggression Scale (Mini-DIA), the Self-Efficacy Questionnaire for Children (SEQ-C), the School Burnout Inventory (SBI), and the Multidimensional Scale for Perceived Social Support Assessment (MSPSSA). Results: Iranian boys scored highest on Aggression, Victimization, and School Burnout, and lowest on Social Support, Academic Self-Efficacy, and Interpersonal Self-Efficacy. The Finnish boys scored highest on Interpersonal Self-Efficacy and Emotional Self-Efficacy, and lowest on School Burnout and Victimization. Finnish girls had the highest scores on Social Support and Academic Self-Efficacy, but the lowest on Aggression and Emotional Self- Efficacy. The Iranian girls did not have any highest or lowest scores in this sample. Conclusion: Clear differences due to culture and gender were found. It appears that Iranian boys, despite their higher societal status than girls, experience their school environment as more stressful than Iranian girls do, and than Finnish boys do as well. The findings are discussed.


The toxicokinetics of salicylazosulfapyridine (SASP) and its metabolites were investigated in male and female B6C3F1 mice either following single intravenous (5 mg/kg) or oral (67.5, 675, 1350, and 2700 mg/kg) doses, or following three consecutive daily oral doses (675, 1350, and 2700 mg/kg). Plasma concentrations of SASP and its metabolites were quantified by HPLC. Upon intravenous administration, SASP rapidly disappeared from blood with a mean residence time of 0.45-0.78 hr. The only metabolite of SASP found in plasma after an intravenous dose was sulfapyridine (SP). In both sexes, the absolute oral bioavailability of SASP ranged between 16.6-18.2% at a dose of 67.5 mg/kg, and between 2.6-8.7% at doses of 675-2700 mg/kg. Following oral administration of SASP, both SP and AcSP were identified in plasma. The area under the plasma concentration-time curves (AUC) of SP at all four oral doses were approximately 21- to 32-fold or 5- to 25-fold greater than those of SASP in male or female mice, respectively. The acetylated form of SP and AcSP, produced AUC values higher than SASP but much less than SP. Multiple oral doses with SASP did not alter the temporal patterns of SASP absorption and elimination in comparison to a single dose. However, SP accumulated in both sexes following multiple oral doses. A gender-dependent difference in toxicokinetic profiles for SASP and SP was also observed. Female mice displayed a higher Cmax of SASP and SP than did male mice. Although the volume of distribution of SASP was similar in both sexes, the systemic clearance of SASP in males was about twice that observed in females.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


The Galapagos Islands are a "living laboratory" for the study of evolution, environmental change, and conflicts between nature and society. Free of human predators for almost all its history, these islands have developed some of the most unique life forms on the planet, adapted to their harsh surroundings and living in ecological isolation. It was not until Charles Darwin's famous visit in 1835, which helped inspire the theory of evolution that this Archipelago began to receive international recognition. The Galapagos Archipelago encompasses 11 large and 200 small islands totaling approximately 8,010 sq. km. This series will focus on the entire island archipelago, and it will emphasize the study and documentation of human-environment interactions on the four inhabited islands in the Galapagos: Isabela, Santa Cruz, San Cristobal, and Floreana. Together they constitute a well-defined "natural laboratory" for the study of human-environment interactions as they vary in fundamentally important ways.


Abstract. In densely built urban areas such as Hong Kong, the positive effect of urban trees is to help maintain high environmental and social sustainability for the city while unmanaged trees lead to negative effects such as accidents, outbreaks of pests and diseases. The public awareness of urban tree population has been increasing and preserving all the benefits offered by trees, a continuous monitoring concept would be required. In this work, an efficient 3D map system for tree inventory in Hong Kong is presented to the based on automated tree detection from publicly available Google street view (GSV) panorama images. First, Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) based object detector and classifier – YOLOv3 with pretrained model is adopted to learn GSV images to detect tree objects. GSV depth image has been utilized to decode depth values of each GSV panorama image and will provide accurate information to calculate the tree geographic position. A "field of view" filter was designed to remove duplicated tree detection within the overlapped areas followed by spatial clustering applied to further increase the tree localization accuracy. The average distance between the detected trees and ground truth data was achieved within 3 meters for selected roads used for the experiment. Second, a 3D Map platform prototype for facilitating the urban tree monitoring and management was developed. Currently, there is no true 3D platform for interpreting the results of tree records in Hong Kong city areas. With the help of webGL technology, contemporary browsers are able to show 3D buildings, terrain and other scene components together with the obtained tree records in an open source 3D GIS platform, the level of visualization is enhanced as all the detected trees are placed on the 3D digital terrain model. Consequently, it is easy for end-users to know the actual position of the trees and their distribution.


Charles William Kelsey (1877-1975) trained in England and emigrated to Montreal in 1922. His stained glass designs can be found in England, Australia, the United States and in over sixty-eight churches in Canada. This thesis focuses on his war memorial windows commissioned between 1921 and 1956. Forty-two windows were studied: ten memorials for World War I, twenty-two memorials for World War II and ten memorials for both World Wars. Research is divided into three main areas: how Kelsey developed his reputation as a stained glass artist in Canada, the influences of the English stained glass revival of the late nineteenth century that are found in his designs and the choice of themes incorporated into his war memorial windows. Since his main patrons were the Anglican and United Churches, these windows also provide examples of the prevailing taste in religious memorials and demonstrate the variety of accepted and recognized symbols and subjects for war memorial windows.


"And this is the right one of the two Cavities of the heart. If blood was to be "purified" in these cavities, it must pass to the left cavity where the "soul" is generated, but there are no passages between the two cavities. The mass of the heart here is dull and has no visible apertures, as some people wrongly thought. In fact, there are no invisible openings suitable for the passage of blood, either as Galen wrongly thought. The cavities of the heart in this region are sealed and its mass is thick. Therefore, if is necessary that blood to be "purified" it has to pass through the "ARTERIAL VEIN" to the lungs where it penetrates into its mass, mixes with air, and the better part of it is "purified". It then passes into the "VENOUS ARTERY" to reach the left cavity of the heart."


Lower fertility can translate into a more male-biased sex ratio if son preference is persistent and technology for sex-selection is easily accessible. This paper investigates whether financial incentives can overcome this trade-off in the context of an Indian scheme, Devirupak, that seeks to decrease both fertility and the sex ratio at birth. First, I construct a model where the effects of incentives are determined by the strength of son preference, the cost of children, and the cost of sex-selection, relative to the size of incentives. Second, I create a woman-year panel dataset from retrospective birth histories and use variation in the composition of pre-existing children as well as the state and the year of program implementation to estimate its causal effect. Devirupak successfully lowers the number of children by 1 percent, but mainly through a 2 percent decrease in the number of daughters. Faced with a choice between a son and only daughters, couples choose a son despite lower monetary benefits, and thus the sex ratio at birth unintentionally increases. A subsidy worth 10 months of average household consumption expenditure is insufficient to induce parents to give up sons entirely. Instead, Devirupak increases the proportion of one-boy couples by 5 percent. The proportion of one-girl couples increases only among the lowest socioeconomic status groups.


Despite the greater average duration of spontaneous sentences relative to matched fluently read sentences, it is difficult to identify the physical basis for determining whether an utterance is spontaneous or read. The present experiment compared judgments of spontaneity with judgments of duration for the same speech samples. The test material comprised 25 sentence pairs in which one sentence was spoken spontaneously and one sentence was read, both produced by the same speaker. On each trial, subjects identified the sentence of the pair that was spoken spontaneously, and the sentence that was longer in duration; tests were blocked by judgment type. The greater the absolute duration difference was between the two sentences, the better subjects performed on the duration judgment. The physical differences in duration did not predict the spontaneity judgment, nor did the duration judgment correlate with the spontaneity judgment. The results suggest that physical duration alone is not an effective attribute un...


We investigate the 2-domination number for grid graphs, that is the size of a smallest set $D$ of vertices of the grid such that each vertex of the grid belongs to $D$ or has at least two neighbours in $D$. We give a closed formula giving the 2-domination number of any $n \!\times\! m$ grid, hereby confirming the results found by Lu and Xu, and Shaheen et al. for $n \leq 4$ and slightly correct the value of Shaheen et al. for $n = 5$. The proof relies on some dynamic programming algorithms, using transfer matrices in (min,+)-algebra. We also apply the method to solve the Roman domination problem on grid graphs.


In this article, we explore the ethical issues related to the reporting of suspected abuse or neglect in research involving children. Ethical dilemmas related to reporting child maltreatment are often complex because the rights of children and their adult caregivers may conflict and determinations of abuse or neglect are socially constructed judgments that depend on particular circumstances. We argue that when reporting is legally mandated, investigators must follow the law and report their suspicions to Child Protective Services. When reporting is not legally mandated, investigators still have an ethical obligation to report to help prevent additional maltreatment and allow children to obtain access to services needed to recover from abuse or neglect. We also argue that investigators should include plans and procedures in the research protocol for making reports and training research staff in recognising evidence of child abuse or neglect. Although investigators should report evidence of abuse or neglect that is discovered incidentally, they have no mandate to actively search for such evidence when it is not related to the study's objectives. Investigators should also inform parents and children about their obligations to report suspected abuse or neglect.


Taking advantage of the unprecedented combination of sensitivity and angular resolution afforded by the Herschel Space Observatory at far-infrared and submillimetre wavelengths, we aim to characterize the physical properties of cold dust within nearby galaxies, as well as the associated uncertainties, namely the robustness of the parameters we derive using different modified blackbody models. For a pilot subsample of the KINGFISH (Key Insights on Nearby Galaxies: A Far-Infrared Survey with Herschel) key programme, we perform two-temperature fits of the Spitzer and Herschel photometric data (from 24 to 500 μm), with a warm and a cold component, both globally and in each resolution element. We compare the results obtained from different analysis strategies. At global scale, we observe a range of values of the modified blackbody fit parameters β_c (0.8–2.5) and T_c (19.1–25.1 K). We compute maps of our modelling parameters with β_c fixed or treated as a free parameter to test the robustness of the temperature and dust surface density maps we deduce. When the emissivity is fixed, we observe steeper temperature gradients as a function of radius than when it is allowed to vary. When the emissivity is fitted as a free parameter, barred galaxies tend to have uniform fitted emissivities. Gathering the parameters obtained in each resolution element in a T_c–β_c diagram underlines an anticorrelation between the two parameters. It remains difficult to assess whether the dominant effect is the physics of dust grains, noise, or mixing along the line of sight and in the beam. We finally observe in both cases that the dust column density peaks in central regions of galaxies and bar-ends (coinciding with molecular gas density enhancements usually found in these locations). We also quantify how the total dust mass varies with our assumptions about the emissivity index as well as the influence of the wavelength coverage used in the fits. We show that modified blackbody fits using a shallow emissivity (β < 2.0) lead to significantly lower dust masses compared to the β < 2.0 case, with dust masses lower by up to 50 per cent if β_c = 1.5, for instance. The working resolution affects our total dust mass estimates: masses increase from global fits to spatially resolved fits.


New knowledge is constantly created in the organisation, yet most do not realise the benefit of this new knowledge. Indeed, knowledge integration has been one of the key failures for Knowledge Management (KM) practice. In this paper, we propose a model of knowledge integration which encapsulates current thinking on the subject. We then use a case study to highlight some of the challenges experienced by organisations in their attempts to integrate knowledge. The upshot of our proposal is that integration of knowledge should be aligned to a wider KM philosophy and culture in the organisation instead of being regarded as a single and disparate activity within the KM process.


This study was conducted to assess the service quality of university education from the perspective of the immediate beneficiaries of the service. Students as the immediate beneficiaries of university education have key expectations of what constitutes quality in the context of universities as service organisations. Within that framework, this study examined the claims of other researchers on issues of quality in university education. The issues reviewed revolved around the concept of quality, university education in the global context, quality in service delivery, university education as a service, quality assurance practices in university education and the parameters for measuring quality. The study also examined studies on quality within the context of Ghanaian public universities and students perception of service quality. Available studies reviewed showed that quality in university education has been defined and measured with insignificant regard for students' concept of quality. Most of the studies reviewed conceptualise quality in university education in terms of meeting the standards and requirements set by the accreditation authorities. The studies showed tha t students' opinion about the quality of services provided by universities which in the end determines the employability and socioeconomic fitness of graduates for the world of work is ignored. This paper therefore examines the issues of quality from a mul ti-stakeholder concept and brings attention to the key variables on which quality in university education should revolve.


Diesel engine manufacturers strive towards further efficiency improvements. Thus, reducing in-cylinder heat losses is becoming increasingly important. Understanding how location, thermal insulation, and engine operating conditions affect the heat transfer to the combustion chamber walls is fundamental for the future reduction of in-cylinder heat losses. This study investigates the effect of a 1mm-thick plasma-sprayed yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) coating on a piston. Such a coated piston and a similar steel piston are compared to each other based on experimental data for the heat release, the heat transfer rate to the oil in the piston cooling gallery, the local instantaneous surface temperature, and the local instantaneous surface heat flux. The surface temperature was measured for different crank angle positions using phosphor thermometry. The fuel was chosen to be n-heptane to facilitate surface temperature measurements during non-skip-fire, thermally stabilized operating conditions. Assuming one-dimensional heat transfer inside each piston, the local instantaneous surface heat flux was calculated using the heat transfer rate to the oil in the piston cooling gallery and the surface temperature measurements. The results from this study show that the surface temperature variation is similar for both pistons. The instantaneous heat flux during combustion is however significantly greater for the steel piston than the coated piston. The heat release analysis also indicates that combustion is slower for the piston with the yttria-stabilized zirconia coating. (Less)


Eighty percent of persons with dementia live at home, and the family members caring for them are often overwhelmed by the enormous responsibility and the complexities of care. This book is designed to support the caregivers and help them understand the needs and feelings of the person for whom they are caring. A central focus is the goal of sustaining a loving family relationship between the caregiver and the patient. Developed from a training program for professionals and family caregivers, this book teaches the basics of dementia care while emphasizing communication, understanding and acceptance, and personal growth through the caregiving experience. The result is a guide that integrates the practicalities of caregiving with the human emotions that accompany it.


A large proportion of information systems research is concerned with developing and testing models pertaining to complex cognition, behaviors, and outcomes of individuals, teams, organizations, and other social systems that are involved in the development, implementation, and utilization of information technology. Given the complexity of these social and behavioral phenomena, heterogeneity is likely to exist in the samples used in IS studies. While researchers now routinely address observed heterogeneity by introducing moderators, a priori groupings, and contextual factors in their research models, they have not examined how unobserved heterogeneity may affect their findings. We describe why unobserved heterogeneity threatens different types of validity and use simulations to demonstrate that unobserved heterogeneity biases parameter estimates, thereby leading to Type I and Type II errors. We also review different methods that can be used to uncover unobserved heterogeneity in structural equation models. While methods to uncover unobserved heterogeneity in covariance-based structural equation models (CB-SEM) are relatively advanced, the methods for partial least squares (PLS) path models are limited and have relied on an extension of mixture regression--finite mixture partial least squares (FIMIX-PLS) and distance measure-based methods--that have mismatches with some characteristics of PLS path modeling. We propose a new method--prediction-oriented segmentation (PLSPOS)--to overcome the limitations of FIMIX-PLS and other distance measure-based methods and conduct extensive simulations to evaluate the ability of PLS-POS and FIMIX-PLS to discover unobserved heterogeneity in both structural and measurement models. Our results show that both PLS-POS and FIMIX-PLS perform well in discovering unobserved heterogeneity in structural paths when the measures are reflective and that PLS-POS also performs well in discovering unobserved heterogeneity in formative measures. We propose an unobserved heterogeneity discovery (UHD) process that researchers can apply to (1) avert validity threats by uncovering unobserved heterogeneity and (2) elaborate on theory by turning unobserved heterogeneity into observed heterogeneity, thereby expanding theory through the integration of new moderator or contextual variables.


Soil water retention curves (SWRCs) are usually obtained on the assumption small water menisci spread in the surface of particles yielding contact angles near zero degrees. While this is true at high water contents, where pores are filled by water or a film of water covers the particles, it is less likely for drier states, where the adhesion of water menisci to the surface of the particles is controlled by the nature of the particle surface (chemistry and surface roughness) and the presence of organic matter. Here, we investigate hysteretic effects in the relation between water content and soil particle wettability versus suction for model samples following drying and wetting paths. A comparison is done for a model material (mixture of sand and clay) with and without water repellent substances, being the samples with water repellent substances in a subcritical water repellent state (contact angles <90°). Wettability was manipulated by treatment with organic acids that mimic the chemistry of natural water repellent substances. Suction was measured directly with a high suction tensiometer and wettability via contact angles by the sessile drop method. The results revealed lower water retention and greater contact angles for the subcritical water repellent samples, following both drying and wetting paths. Hysteresis was present in the relation between the contact angles and suction for the subcritical water repellent samples.


The fundamental limitations in the performance of chirped grating lenses on planar optical waveguides caused by diffraction and by fabrication tolerances have been analyzed based on the generalized coupled mode theory (GCMT). The two most crucial lens parameters that affect the performance have been identified as the minimum grating periodicity and the maximum coupling coefficient. They have a strong effect on both the higher orders of diffraction and the phase distortions that eventually reduce the efficiency, enlarge the spot size and restirct the angular field of view. Both etched and deposited linear and curved grating lenses have been fabricated and evaluated on single-mode glass waveguides. Their measured performance is in good agreement with the predictions of the GCMT. High throughput efficiency (in excess of 80 percent) combined with very large angle of view (larger than 0.1 rad), as well as the performance limitations caused by diffraction have been demonstrated experimentally.


Swedish newspapers and media sites write that secondhand shopping is a growing consumption trend in today's society. People's consumer behavior affect their choice of purchasing brands and products, where secondhand shopping is a choice.The aim with this study is to explore and analyze college-aged Generation Y's consumer behavior and attitudes towards subcultures and brand community in secondhand shopping. To conduct the research, we have used a qualitative method with a hermeneutic approach.The research was performed by using a model we called the Modified Identity Prism, which has been constructed and defined by us, based on Kaprefer's (1997) Brand Identity Prism. With help of the Modified Identity Prism's different facets, we have been able to understand and interpret Generation Y's consumer behavior and the drivers for their opinions and attitudes toward secondhand shopping.The study shows that even though secondhand shopping is a growing consumption trend in the society, the majority of our respondents do not purchase products and brands secondhand. Empirical findings show that different factors affect consumer behavior in different ways, where consumers' self-identity and the relationship to surroundings are significant key factors influencing consumer behavior. Furthermore, findings show that our interviewed students, overall, have negative attitudes to secondhand products.We have taken practical and social implications to consideration in our study. Our study contributes to a deeper understanding of college-aged Generation Y's consumer behavior to secondhand shopping. Moreover, results of the study aims to be used as guidelines for companies with focus on secondhand consumption.


Computational power and quantum chemical methods have improved immensely since computers were first applied to the study of reactivity, but the de novo prediction of chemical reactions has remained challenging. We show that complex reactions can be efficiently and autonomously predicted using chemical activation imposed by simple geometrical constraints. Our approach is demonstrated on realistic and challenging chemistry, such as a triple cyclization cascade involved in the total synthesis of a natural product and several oxidative addition reactions of complex drug-like molecules. Notably and in contrast with traditional hand-guided computational chemistry calculations, our method requires minimal human involvement and no prior knowledge of products or mechanisms. Imposed activation can be a transformational tool to screen for chemical reactivity and mechanisms as well as to study byproduct formation and decomposition.


Codes of conduct covering employment conditions of southern producers have gained popularity over the past decade. In African horticulture employers now face a plethora of codes coming from supermarkets, importers, exporters and trade associations. Women constitute the majority of workers in African export horticulture. However, men are often in permanent employment, whereas women tend to work in temporary and insecure jobs. This report provides an in-depth assessment of gender and ethical trade in South African fruit, Kenyan flowers and Zambian flowers and vegetables. It examines the gendered needs and rights of workers, as articulated by workers themselves, and how these could best be addressed by codes of conduct. The research paid particular attention to vulnerable groups such as women and seasonal, casual and migrant workers, who typically face a different set of constraints and opportunities in employment. This paper discusses the nature of employment and working conditions found in the subsectors, and the varying perspectives of workers and employers toward these conditions. It summarises key gender issues in employment and outlines how they relate to codes. It explores the benefits of "participatory social auditing" for assessing workplace issues, especially gender issues. It describes the value of a local multi-stakeholder approach to code implementation and the extent to which stakeholders in South Africa, Kenya and Zambia have embraced the process thus far. Finally it identifies policy recommendations for best practice in code implementation.


Lake Chad, located in the middle of the African Sahel belt, underwent dramatic decreases in the 1970s and 1980s leaving less than ten percent of its 1960s surface water extent as open water. In this paper, we present an extended record (dry seasons 1988–2016) of the total surface water area of the lake (including both open water and flooded vegetation) derived using Land Surface Temperature (LST) data (dry seasons 2000–2016) from the NASA Terra MODIS sensor and EUMETSAT Meteosat-based LST measurements (dry seasons 1988–2001) from an earlier study. We also examine the total surface water area for Lake Chad using radar data (dry seasons 2015–2016) from the ESA Sentinel-1a mission. For the limited number of radar data sets available to us (18 data sets), we find on average a close match between the estimates from these data and the corresponding estimates from LST, though we find spatial differences in the estimates using the two types of data. We use these spatial differences to adjust the record (dry seasons 2000–2016) from MODIS LST. Then we use the adjusted record to remove the bias of the existing LST record (dry seasons 1988–2001) derived from Meteosat measurements and combine the two records. From this composite, extended record, we plot the total surface water area of the lake for the dry seasons of 1988–1989 through 2016–2017. We find for the dry seasons of 1988–1989 to 2016–2017 that the maximum total surface water area of the lake was approximately 16,800 sq. km (February and May, 2000), the minimum total surface water area of the lake was approximately 6400 sq. km (November, 1990), and the average was approximately 12,700 sq. km. Further, we find the total surface water area of the lake to be highly variable during this period, with an average rate of increase of approximately 143 km2 per year.


The book covers the basic aspects of linear single loop feedback control theory. Explanations of the mathematical concepts used in classical control such as root loci, frequency response and stability methods are explained by making use of MATLAB plots but omitting the detailed mathematics found in many textbooks. There is a chapter on PID control and two chapters provide brief coverage of state variable methods. The approach adopted allows more time to be devoted to controller design by different methods, to compare the results and also to examine the effects of plant parameter variations.

This free eBook can be read in combination with and in some cases instead of the following textbooks:

Modern Control Engineering, by Katsuhiko Ogata
Control Systems Engineering 6th edition, by Norman S Nise
Modern Control Engineering 4th edition, by Katsuhiko Ogata
Basic Control Systems Engineering 1st edition, by Paul H Lewis & Chang Yang
Principles of Control Engineering 1st edition, by Fred White
Modern Control Engineering 1st edition, by P N Paraskevopoulos


A major problem being faced by human society is that the global temperature is believed to be rising due to human activity that releases carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, i.e., global warming. The major culprit is thought to be fossil fuel burning, which is releasing increasing amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The problem of increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide can be addressed a number of ways. One of these is forestry and forest management. This paper examines a number of current issues related to mitigating the global warming problem through forestry. First, the overall carbon cycle is described, and the potential impact of forests on the buildup of atmospheric carbon is examined. A major focus is the means by which forests and forest management can contribute to the sequestration of carbon. The potential role of forests and forestry in sequestrating carbon to reduce the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is now well recognized. A number of alternative approaches to utilizing forestry and forest management for carbon sequestration are examined. These include forest protection; the management of forests for carbon for joint products, i.e., the management of forests to generate both carbon and timber as products; the establishment of plantation forests dedicated to carbon sequestration; and increased production of wood products. Replacing other materials with wood will sequester carbon while reducing energy requirements, thereby reducing carbon emissions. Studies examining the costs of carbon sequestration using forestry are also discussed. The recent Kyoto Protocol (K.P.) explicitly recognizes certain forestry activities as "certifiable" for sequestration credits. But some definitions and aspects of carbon sequestration through forestry were left incomplete or inadequately defined by the Protocol. Furthermore, the KP has changed due to the recent withdrawal of the US for the Protocol (although not from the Kyoto Process). Nevertheless, further clarification is necessary to understand the full potential and set of opportunities from forestry both within the framework of the Protocol and more generally. Alternative types of vehicles for sequestration credits are discussed below,m both within and outside the context of the KP , and their advantages and disadvantages in terms of periods covered and liability are also examined. Finally, some ongoing real-world activities utilizing forestry specifically to sequester carbon are discussed.


The phylogenetic affinities of the neotropical Goeldi's monkey (Callimico goeldii) have long been a matter of debate. Whereas most morphological evidence appears to place Callimico in a sister group position relative to the Callitrichidae, genetic studies place C. goeldii within the Callitrichidae and suggest that it is more closely related to marmosets than to tamarins. The present study presents the first radiographic analysis comparing the secondary limb bone ossification of newborn C. goeldii with representatives of the marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) and tamarins (Saguinus oedipus). The state of secondary ossification of the epiphysis and short bones is classified into three different ontogenetic stages. Our results reveal that in terms of the number of ossification centers, C. goeldii is significantly closer to C. jacchus than to S. oedipus. This is the first morphological study to support the findings of molecular studies, and the results suggest that C. goeldii is more closely related to marmosets than to tamarins. Am. J. Primatol. 69:1–14, 2007. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Abstract. The two Global Ozone Monitoring Instrument (GOME-2) sensors operated in tandem are flying onboard EUMETSAT's (European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites) MetOp-A and MetOp-B satellites, launched in October 2006 and September 2012 respectively. This paper presents the operational GOME-2/MetOp-A (GOME-2A) and GOME-2/MetOp-B (GOME-2B) total ozone products provided by the EUMETSAT Satellite Application Facility on Ozone and Atmospheric Chemistry Monitoring (O3M-SAF). These products are generated using the latest version of the GOME Data Processor (GDP version 4.7). The enhancements in GDP 4.7, including the application of Brion–Daumont–Malicet ozone absorption cross sections, are presented here. On a global scale, GOME-2B has the same high accuracy as the corresponding GOME-2A products. There is an excellent agreement between the ozone total columns from the two sensors, with GOME-2B values slightly lower with a mean difference of only 0.55±0.29%. First global validation results for 6 months of GOME-2B total ozone using ground-based measurements show that on average the GOME-2B total ozone data obtained with GDP 4.7 are slightly higher than, both, Dobson observations by about 2.0±1.0% and Brewer observations by about 1.0±0.8%. It is concluded that the total ozone columns (TOCs) provided by GOME-2A and GOME-2B are consistent and may be used simultaneously without introducing systematic effects, which has been illustrated for the Antarctic ozone hole on 18 October 2013. GOME-2A total ozone data have been used operationally in the Copernicus atmospheric service project MACC-II (Monitoring Atmospheric Composition and Climate – Interim Implementation) near-real-time (NRT) system since October 2013. The magnitude of the bias correction needed for assimilating GOME-2A ozone is reduced (to about −6 DU in the global mean) when the GOME-2 ozone retrieval algorithm changed to GDP 4.7.


President Bush's November 2001 military order authorizing suspected terrorists' trial by military commissions provoked immediate controversy that has continued to the present day. The Administration has failed to provide a compelling rationale for commission use while fueling the dispute by adopting judicial shortcuts unjustified by either historic practice or accepted legal principles. Supplemental governing directives have proven a mixed lot. Some provided enhanced fairness while others authorized greater departure from accepted due process standards. Virtually all seemed based on policy decisions rather than any higher law. Despite this plethora of regulations, proceedings to date seem largely ad-libbed. Eligibility for trial, the right to choice of counsel, and other benefits accorded the accused depend on nationality, mocking the concept of equal protection. The accused have been seriously disadvantaged in terms of resources, availability of witnesses, and access to evidence, while most of the charges levied are problematic as violations of the law of war. Rules implementing the Military Commissions Act of 2006, itself a reaction to the Supreme Court's Hamdan v. Rumsfeld decision, are a considerable improvement over the tribunals' initial conceptualization. But remaining critical defects, including the likelihood of convictions based on coerced testimony, will preclude trials from meriting approbation as "full and fair." Any convictions will thus be irreparably tainted, and many of the same problems would now follow a shift to either courts-martial or proposed national security courts. If the goal is to incapacitate identified enemies from carrying out further violence against U.S. interests, then a straightforward preventive detention regime fully compliant with the customary law of war would be a much sounder approach. For those defendants it is desired to stigmatize with a criminal conviction, justifying actual penal incarceration or even potentially execution, trials in regular federal courts are the best option.


Straw can become an important contributor to the biomass feedstocks of Europe and North America. In Norway, between 12 and 17% of a national target to increase the renewable energy share by 14 TWh can be sustainably met by mobilizing straw feedstocks. However, straw must compete in an energy market with a vast availability of forest‐based woody biomass, and a clean electrical energy pool, 95% of which is derived from hydropower. The performance of seven local straw supply chains was monitored over a period of 3 years to estimate straw yields, supply costs, operating costs of the heating plants, and to synthesiz experiences on supply solutions. Storage facilities for bales constituted the largest single cost in the supply chain. Square bales were both more economical to use and required considerably less plant management time, making them more preferable than round bales for small‐scale utilization. The total cost of straw firing averaged out in the range of 36–42 € MWh−1, which is 40–46% of the current cost of electric heating (∼90 € MWh−1). The positive economic outcome provides a good incentive to roll out many more similar plants although heat pumps could be expected to reduce the margin in some applications. WIREs Energy Environ 2014, 3:400–407. doi: 10.1002/wene.107


The paper is a study of a rather recent regional interstate formation in Asia, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Its background and progress is highlighted. With all indications, the organisation has caught the attention of researchers and will continue to occupy the agenda of the 21st century international politics. Bearing in mind the size and weight of its membership within the area it spans, the organisation is set to be a powerhouse to reckon with beyond its regional borders. After its structure is described, what the organisation implies for Russian and Chinese interests is taken up. The Organisation has significant implications for the Central Asian States and the neighboring countries. As an institutional actor in the global game, its regional and global implications are highlighted.


'Kouun is "good luck" in Japanese, and one year my family had none of it.' Just when Summer thinks nothing else can possibly go wrong, an emergency whisks her parents away to Japan, right before harvest season. But the mortgage has to be paid, and so Summer's grandparents are going to help with harvest instead - taking Summer, her little brother Jaz and their dog Thunder with them. Obaachan and Jiichan are...well, they're old fashioned, and demanding. Between helping Obaachan cook for the workers, covering for her when her back pain worsens, and worrying about her little brother, who can't seem to make any friends, Summer has her hands full. Then one of the boys who Summer has known forever starts paying extra attention to her. But what begins as a welcome distraction from the hard work soon turns into a mess of its own...and once again Summer ends up disappointing Obaachan. But that's the thing about luck - bad luck can always get worse. And when that happens, Summer has to figure out how to change it and save her family, even if it means further displeasing Obaachan. Surely kouun is coming soon...?


A common learning task for a spiking neuron is to map a spatio–temporal input pattern to a target output spike train. There is no prescribed method for selection of the target output spike train. However, the precise spiking pattern of the target output spike train (output encoding) can affect the learning performance of the spiking neuron. Therefore, systematic methods of finding the optimum spiking pattern for a target output spike train that can be learned by spiking neurons are needed. Here, a method is proposed to adaptively adjust an initial suboptimal output encoding during different learning epochs to find the optimal output encoding. A time varying value of a local event called a spike trace is used to calculate the amount of a required adjustment. The remote supervised method (ReSuMe) learning algorithm is used to train the weights, and the proposed method is used for finding optimized output encoding (optimized desired spikes). Experimental results show that optimizing the output encoding during the learning phase increases the accuracy. The proposed method was applied to find optimized output encoding in classification tasks and the results revealed improvements up to 16.5% in accuracy compared to when using the non-adapted method. It also increases the accuracy in a classification task from 90% to 100%.


Gabor analysis is a method for analyzing signals through the use of a set of basic building blocks. The building blocks consists of a certain function (the window) that is shifted in time and frequency. The Gabor expansion of a signal contains information on the behavior of the signal in certain frequency bands at certain times. Gabor theory can be formulated for both functions on the real line and for discrete signals of nite length. The two theories are largely the same because many aspects come from the same underlying theory of locally compact Abelian groups. The two types of Gabor systems can also be related by sampling and periodization. This thesis extends on this theory by showing new results for window construction. It also provides a discussion of the problems associated to discrete Gabor bases. The sampling and periodization connection is handy because it allows Gabor systems on the real line to be well approximated by nite and discrete Gabor frames. This method of approximation is especially attractive because e cient numerical methods exists for doing computations with nite, discrete Gabor systems. This thesis presents new algorithms for the e cient computation of nite, discrete Gabor coe cients. Reconstruction of a signal from its Gabor coe cients is done by the use of a so-called dual window. This thesis presents a number of iterative algorithms to compute dual and self-dual windows. The Linear Time Frequency Toolbox is a Matlab/Octave/C toolbox for doing basic discrete time/frequency and Gabor analysis. It is intended to be both an educational and a computational tool. The toolbox was developed as part of this Ph.D. project to provide a solid foundation for the eld of computational Gabor analysis.


A two-dimensional mathematical model was developed to predict the dynamic response of a moored, floating platform mounting a tidal turbine in current and waves. The model calculates heave, pitch, and surge response to collinear waves and current. Waves may be single frequency or a random sea with a specified spectrum. The mooring consists of a fixed anchor, heavy chain (forming a catenary), a lightweightelasticline,andamooringballtetheredtotheplatform.Theequationsof motion and mooring equations are solved using a marching solution approach implemented usingMATLAB.Themodel was appliedto a 10.7-m twin-hulled platform used to deploy a 0.86-m shrouded, in-line horizontal axis turbine. Added mass and damping coefficients were obtained empirically using a 1/9 scale physical model in tank experiments. Full-scale tests were used to specify drag coefficients for the turbine and platform. The computer model was then used to calculate full-scale mooring loads, turbine forces, and platform motion in preparation for a full-scale test of the tidal turbine in Muskeget Channel, Massachusetts, which runs north-south between Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket Island. During the field experiments, wave, current, and platform motion were recorded. The field measurements were used to compute response amplitude operators (RAOs), essentially normalized amplitudes or frequency responses for heave, pitch, and surge. The measured RAOs were compared with those calculated using the model. The very good agreement indicates that the model can serve as a useful design tool for larger test and com


The response to the Haiti earthquake in 2010 highlighted the use of rented portable toilets in emergency context. To be effective, a WASH response must be provided as a package of 3 components: water, sanitation and hygiene. Water is addressed, among other items, by ready to use treatment plants; hygiene is addressed by pre-positioned NFI kits and promotion material such as posters, leaflets…The sanitation part of the package is less well equipped in terms of kits: there are the ready-to-use squatting slabs as a starting point but a latrine is comprised of a pit, a slab and a superstructure. Pit latrines and defecation trenches can be used only in areas where it is possible to dig. In areas where it is not possible to dig (urban settings, flood prone areas…), other solutions must be employed: among them, portable latrines such as the ones rented by Catholic Relief Service and operated by Action Contre la Faim in Port-au-Prince where found to be an expensive but however a good solution. It would be a temptation to include them in contingency stocks but this is not really possible due to the volume and logistic involved. Rather, it is preferable to have standing agreements with rental companies in various parts of the world where such items may be needed. In case of emergency, the rental company will ship the needed toilet within few days.


Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is the most common epithelial malignancy in the oral cavity and constitutes more than 90% of oral malignancies. OSCC is a complex malignancy where environmental factors, viral infections and genetic alterations most likely interact, and thus give rise to the malignant condition. Epidemiological investigations have shown that heavy tobacco smoking, high alcohol consumption and human papilloma virus infection are the major risk factors for OSCC development. These factors interact with specific genes important for normal cellular development and genetic alterations may finally lead to a malignant phenotype. Genetic mutations accumulated over time are needed for an oral cancer to develop and several molecular genetic changes have been associated with the development of OSCC. The most important genetic alterations associated with the condition are tumour suppressor genes, oncogenes, epigenetic changes, genomic instability, mitochondrial mutations, microRNAs and loss of heterozygosity.

Key Concepts:

Oral cancer is caused by extrinsic and/or intrinsic factors.

Loss of heterozygosity is an important event in oral carcinogenesis.

Mutated p53 is a common event in OSCC.

Telomere length is maintained in some OSCC.

mtDNA is involved in OSCC.

Epigenetic changes seem to be an early event in oral carcinogenesis.

miRNA may be aberrant in OSCC.

Keywords:

oral cancer;
molecular genetics;
tumour suppressor gene;
epigenetic;
loss of heterozygosity;
miRNA;
microsatellite instability;
telomerase;
oncogene;
mtDNA mutation


Assessing turnover rates of dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP), precursor of the climate‐active gas dimethylsulfide (DMS), under different environmental conditions is fundamental to accurately modeling the marine sulfur cycle. Current gas chromatographic methods only provide net results of all processes acting on the different sulfur pools and are unable to measure fluxes, leaving room for speculation on the controlling factors and magnitudes of turnover processes. Here we present a new method in which stable isotope additions (D2O or NaH13CO3) are used to follow the in vivo production of DMSP. Incorporation of deuterium or 13C into DMSP was monitored using a proton‐reaction‐transfer mass spectrometer (PTR‐MS). A growth model was developed to calculate specific DMSP synthesis rates from the progress in mass ratio of labeled versus nonlabeled DMSP over time. Instead of measuring the amount of incorporated isotope, our method uses ratios of molecule masses. This approach has the advantage that the effect of the isotope addition on the change in mass ratio is amplified by the number of positions the label can occupy within the molecule. Application of the method was demonstrated in cultures of the ubiquitous DMSP producer Emiliania huxleyi and further developed for use in short‐time incubation studies with water from the Sargasso Sea during July 2004. Very low specific synthesis rates between 0.05 and 0.2 d−1 could be measured. The method is the first to measure in vivo DMSP production rates. It is relatively easy to apply, highly sensitive, and may also be applicable to other biogenic compounds.


Ever since Congress decided in 1789 to confer jurisdiction on lower federal courts over matters that the state courts could also hear, the nation has faced the problem of how to allocate decision-making authority between the two court systems. Central to this body of concurrency law, the federal Anti-Injunction Act of 1793 (AIA) was enacted to limit the power of the federal courts to enjoin state court proceedings. Justice Felix Frankfurter decisively shaped our understanding of those limits, concluding in Toucey v. New York Life Insurance Company that the statute absolutely barred any such injunction. Much of the law of federal–state concurrency has been predicated on Toucey's account. In this Article, we offer a new account of the AIA that challenges prior interpretations. Rather than a flat ban on injunctive relief, we show that the AIA was drafted against the backdrop of eighteenth century practice to restrict "original" federal equitable interference in ongoing state court proceedings but to leave the federal courts free to grant "ancillary" relief in the nature of an injunction, to protect federal jurisdiction and to effectuate federal decrees. It was this ancillary power that gave rise to the exceptions that Toucey decried and Congress restored in its 1948 codification. We draw on our new account of the 1793 and 1948 versions of the Act to address current problems of jurisdictional overlap. Among other things, we raise new questions about the much-maligned Rooker-Feldman doctrine; offer a new statutory substitute for the judge-made doctrine of equitable restraint; and suggest new ways to harmonize such abstention doctrines as Burford and Colorado River. Curiously, answers to these (and other) puzzles were hiding in the careful decision of the 1793 drafters to restrict only the issuance of "writs of injunction" and otherwise to leave federal equitable power intact.


Abstract The semi-Lagrangian methodology is described for a hierarchy of applications (passive advection, forced advection, and coupled sets of equations) of increasing complexity, in one, two, and three dimensions. Attention is focused on its accuracy, stability, and efficiency properties. Recent developments in applying semi-Lagrangian methods to 2D and 3D atmospheric flows in both Cartesian and spherical geometries are then reviewed. Finally, the current status of development is summarized, followed by a short discussion of future perspectives.


We present the early UV and optical light curve of Type IIP supernova (SN) 2010aq at z = 0.0862, and compare it to analytical models for thermal emission following SN shock breakout in a red supergiant star. SN 2010aq was discovered in joint monitoring between the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) Time Domain Survey (TDS) in the NUV and the Pan-STARRS1 Medium Deep Survey (PS1 MDS) in the g, r, i, and z bands. The GALEX and Pan-STARRS1 observations detect the SN less than 1 day after the shock breakout, measure a diluted blackbody temperature of 31, 000 ± 6000 K 1 day later, and follow the rise in the UV/optical light curve over the next 2 days caused by the expansion and cooling of the SN ejecta. The high signal-to-noise ratio of the simultaneous UV and optical photometry allows us to fit for a progenitor star radius of 700 ± 200R☉, the size of a red supergiant star. An excess in UV emission two weeks after shock breakout compared with SNe well fitted by model atmosphere-code synthetic spectra with solar metallicity is best explained by suppressed line blanketing due to a lower metallicity progenitor star in SN 2010aq. Continued monitoring of PS1 MDS fields by the GALEX TDS will increase the sample of early UV detections of Type II SNe by an order of magnitude and probe the diversity of SN progenitor star properties.


Two vaccines together are better than one alone Polio is proving difficult to eradicate. Making the choice between administering a live attenuated vaccine orally (Sabin) or an inactivated vaccine (Salk) by injection has been highly controversial. Patients prefer the Sabin vaccine, but it requires many doses to offer immunity. Jafari et al. tested the two vaccines together in northern India. The injected vaccine significantly reduced virus shedding and boosted intestinal mucosal immunity in children already given the oral vaccine. Thus, using both vaccines could help speed the eventual global demise of polio. Science, this issue p. 922 Controversy over vaccine choice for polio eradication can be reconciled by effective combined use. Inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV) is efficacious against paralytic disease, but its effect on mucosal immunity is debated. We assessed the efficacy of IPV in boosting mucosal immunity. Participants received IPV, bivalent 1 and 3 oral poliovirus vaccine (bOPV), or no vaccine. A bOPV challenge was administered 4 weeks later, and excretion was assessed 3, 7, and 14 days later. Nine hundred and fifty-four participants completed the study. Any fecal shedding of poliovirus type 1 was 8.8, 9.1, and 13.5% in the IPV group and 14.4, 24.1, and 52.4% in the control group by 6- to 11-month, 5-year, and 10-year groups, respectively (IPV versus control: Fisher's exact test P < 0.001). IPV reduced excretion for poliovirus types 1 and 3 between 38.9 and 74.2% and 52.8 and 75.7%, respectively. Thus, IPV in OPV-vaccinated individuals boosts intestinal mucosal immunity.


The purpose of this project was to develop a seasonally based newsletter template for egardenseed.com's customers to have access to in store and online. After many discussions with the owner, Jessica Boian decided that a newsletter would be a great marketing addition to the company. The newsletter template was created after research was done on existing newsletter designs and contents. The newsletter template was constructed using ideas from egardenseed.com and outside sources. If the template should be used, egardenseed.com will have the opportunity to incorporate their products, advice, and expertise into marketing and educational materials that can be shared with the public.


Snail shell powder a material of animal origin was used as a biodegradable filler and incorporated into  low density polyethylene LDPE resins to produce green composites of LDPE. The range of added snail shell powder of particle size of 83µm at varying percentages of 0 2 6 and 10 was added into LDPE. The composites were produced using injection moulding machine. Its effects on the mechanical properties of the polymer composites were tested which include the tensile strength percentage elongation at break flexural strength and hardness. The surface morphology of the polymer composites was analysed via optical microscropy. The results showed that the filler had positive impacts on the mechanical properties of the polymer by increment in tensile strength from 128.29MPa to 137.56 MPa flexural strength from 120.34 MPa to 145.76MPa and hardness from 43kN to 74kN. While the percentage elongation at break decreased from 200.16 to 168.34. Thus snail shell powder was found to show great reinforcing properties in the prepared composites and can be used to improve some mechanical properties of polymers since it is organic cheap available  eco-friendly and biodegradable material.


Allergic rhinoconjunctivitis (ARC) is a very common clinical entitiy effecting 20-30% of the population, with multiple allergies accompanying the situation as high as 54%. Being a type I hypersensitivity reaction to allergens, the symptoms of rhinitis and conjunctivitis mostly overlap, sharing common etiopathogenic properties. Allergic rhinitis is an inflammation of the nasal mucosa caused by an immune reaction mediated by immunoglobulin (Ig) E antibodies. Clinically, it is characterized by sneezing, rhinorrhea, nasal obstruction, and itching of the nasal membranes, pharynx, and soft palate. Allergic rhinitis is the most prominent of allergic diseases and is accompanied by bronchial asthma and especially ocular symptoms.


Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained cardiac arrhythmia, affecting 3–5% of the population aged between 65 and 75 years and increasing to 8% for those over 80 years of age.1–4 The major cause of serious disability and death in patients with AF is embolic stroke. The annual stroke rate varies from 2% to more than 20% depending on the age and comorbidity of the population studied.1 Most ischaemic strokes associated with AF originate in the atria, and transoesophageal echocardiographic (TOE) studies suggest that the vast majority (>90%) of all thrombi related to stroke in patients with AF originate in the left atrial appendage (LAA).5

Current UK National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines recommend oral anticoagulants as the mainstay of therapy to reduce stroke risk in AF.6 Adjusted-dose warfarin reduces stroke by approximately 60% and death by approximately 25% compared with no antithrombotic treatment.7 However, warfarin therapy is markedly underused in patients with AF for several reasons, including compliance issues, contraindications, the need for regular international normalised ratio (INR) measurements, the narrow therapeutic window and also a fear of bleeding complications.8–13 In practice, the estimated number of patients with AF adequately receiving anticoagulant therapy is less than 50%,14 and may be still lower in developing countries where the management of anticoagulation is often problematical.15

More recently dedicated percutaneous devices designed to occlude the LAA have been introduced. The hypothesis for their use is that occlusion of the LAA may prevent thrombus formation in the appendage and thus reduce the risk of thromboembolic stroke. Initial registry data and randomised studies of these devices have shown encouraging results as an alternative to warfarin therapy for selected patients. In this paper we will review the currently available LAA occlusion devices and the evidence …


On request from the Norwegian Environment Agency a pilot study of atmospheric deposition of PAH around industrial enterprises in Norway has been carried out. The participation was voluntary and 10 industries located at 10 different sites financed their own participation. The survey is based on analysis of samples of naturally growing moss collected around the enterprises during the summer of 2015. In addition, passive air samplers for collection of volatile PAH were placed around 6 of the participating enterprises. Generally, the PAH level determined in moss collected around industrial sites were considerably higher than the PAH level found in moss collected at background sites. The levels of PAHs found in the air samples was low and often at the same level as found at the closest background site, for all out of two sites, i.e. Sunndal and Kristiansand. There is no clear indication that the industry is the only source to the levels of PAHs in moss. Hence, results from this pilot study, illustrates that moss and air samples together provide a more comprehensive information regarding the spatial distribution of PAH around the industrial sites. NORWEGIAN TITLE Målinger av PAH i luft og mose rundt norske industrier 2015.


In 2002 the student finance system in Norway went through a major restructuring. The changes included an increase in student support and an introduction of progression‐dependent grants. Using two student welfare surveys conducted in 1998 and 2005, the paper analyses the effect of the changes on the students. The analysis compares the risk of study delays, the students' weekly working hours, and the students' concerns about student loan repayments before and after the changes among different groups of students. Contrary to the intended policy goals, the findings indicate no decline in study delays. However, the findings reveal an increase in the amount of time students spend in paid employment. This may indicate that students respond to short‐term economic incentives. Furthermore, the findings suggest increased social differences in the students' concern for the student loan repayment after the changes.


Congress has on several occasions delegated its power of eminent domain to entities outside the federal government -- public and private corporations, interstate compact agencies, state and local governments, and even individuals. The constitutionality of such delegation, and of the exercise of such power by even private delegates, is today beyond dispute. However, among delegates with both federal and private characteristics, there is some subjectivity to deciding which to list in a report limited to "nonfederal entities." For delegatees of federal eminent domain power listed here, delegations since 1920 have primarily been to Amtrak, hydroelectric facilities (for dams and reservoirs), and entities engaged in the movement of electricity, gas, and petroleum (the last one expired), and for interstate bridges.


Fiscal crises have cascaded across much of the developing world with devastating results, from Mexico to Indonesia, Russia and Argentina. The extreme volatility in contemporary political economic fortunes seems to mock our best efforts to understand the forces that drive development in the world economy. David Harvey is the single most important geographer writing today and a leading social theorist of our age, offering a comprehensive critique of contemporary capitalism. In this fascinating book, he shows the way forward for just such an understanding, enlarging on the key themes in his recent work: the deve4lopment of neo-liberalism, the spread of inequalities across the globe, and 'space' as a key theoretical concept. Both a major declaration of a new research programme and a concise introduction to David Harvey's central concerns, this book will be essential reading for scholars and students across the humanities and social sciences.


In Each Wild Idea, Geoffrey Batchen explores a wide range of photographic subjects, from the timing of the medium's invention to the various implications of cyberculture. Along the way, he reflects on contemporary art photography, the role of the vernacular in photography's history, and the Australianness of Australian photography.The essays all focus on a consideration of specific photographs -- from a humble combination of baby photos and bronzed booties to a masterwork by Alfred Stieglitz. Although Batchen views each photograph within the context of broader social and political forces, he also engages its own distinctive formal attributes. In short, he sees photography as something that is simultaneously material and cultural. In an effort to evoke the lived experience of history, he frequently relies on sheer description as the mode of analysis, insisting that we look right at -- rather than beyond -- the photograph being discussed. A constant theme throughout the book is the question of photography's past, present, and future identity.


The increased use of geogrids in highway pavement sub-base layer reinforcement applications has resulted in a need to better understand the soil–geogrid interface properties for the use in analysis and design. For this purpose, a series of laboratory large scale pullout tests was carried out with three different aperture size geogrid samples randomly sampled from a single manufacturer. It was found that geogrids are unique in their pullout performance within pavement sub-base layer structure based on their aperture sizes. Analysis indicates a strong relationship between pullout performance and geogrid aperture size of geogrids at moderate normal stress levels. Such findings aid in selection of appropriate geogrid types for subgrade and sub-base interface reinforcement purposes. Further experimental analysis was conducted to investigate the wide-width tensile test performance for the same samples used in the pullout tests in this study.


This paper shows that the use of performance pay schemes has risen substantially across Europe from fewer than one-fifth in 2000 up to one-third in 2015, using data from the European Working Conditions Survey and the Structure of Earnings Survey enriched with external contextual data. This increase has been partly driven by technological change and increased openness to trade, particularly through a rising use of bonuses or shares linked directly to firm performance. Institutional factors such as employment protection legislation and collective pay agreement coverage also play an important role. Performance pay may contribute to wage inequality through two channels: (a) workers receiving it generally already have higher earnings and work in high-skilled jobs; and (b) compared to other similar workers in similar positions, those receiving performance pay earn 7 to 9 per cent more. The increase in inequality is not a given, however, as strong employee representation is associated with a more equal distribution of these wage gains.


A capacitor is a device used to store electrical charge and electrical energy. It consists of at least two electrical conductors separated by a distance. (Note that such electrical conductors are sometimes referred to as "electrodes," but more correctly, they are "capacitor plates.") The space between capacitors may simply be a vacuum, and, in that case, a capacitor is then known as a "vacuum capacitor." However, the space is usually filled with an insulating material known as a dielectric. (You will learn more about dielectrics in the sections on dielectrics later in this chapter.) The amount of storage in a capacitor is determined by a property called capacitance, which you will learn more about a bit later in this section.


The theory of arbitrage-free valuation for interest rate-dependent instruments is now well-developed. One of the most powerful (and popular) approaches is provided by the Heath-Jarrow-Morton (HJM) framework. In this article, the same principles are applied to what is one of the most important classes of fixed-income instruments as far as ordinary investors are concerned: bank deposits. Janosi, Jarrow, and Zullo first develop a basic theoretical model to bring deposits into the HJM framework. They then take the model to the data and show that it is quite successful in explaining the behavior of deposits for a single large bank and for the banking system as a whole. The model is also useful in estimating durations and average lives for different classes of deposits without fixed maturities.


A difficult topic to impart to students is the location of an electron within an atom. One possible way of introducing the concept of the electron probability density in an elementary classroom is by use of a Spirograph geometric ruler. Upon scrutinizing the generated patterns, it can be seen that they have areas that are notably dense and others that are almost bare. This probability density can be likened to that of the electron. The suggested activity was carried out with a group of 14-year-old students that had no prior knowledge of atomic structure. The gaps in the pattern and its color intensity gradient were commented on by the students. The students (N = 86) were given a post-test to evaluate their understanding. As the results show, 83% of the students' grades were satisfactory. The present research suggests that the Spirograph activity is suitable for the primary introduction of the concept of probability density in an elementary classroom.


The genera of molds that most often cause allergic symptoms are Alternaria, Aspergillus, Cladosporium and Penicillium. The most frequently implicated genera in children are Cladosporium in Nordic countries, and Alternaria in the Mediterranean region and North America. Although the prevalence of sensitization to commercial fungal extracts is approximately 3% in epidemiologic studies, the sensitization rate may increase up to 80% in selected patients, particularly in those with asthma. Alternaria has been increasingly recognized as a risk factor for the development and persistence of asthma, asthma severity, and potentially fatal asthma exacerbations. Additionally, mold allergy could result in a more severe course of asthma or rhinoconjunctivitis. Presently, the diagnosis and allergen immunotherapy of mold allergy is hindered by the poor quality of most of the commercially available extracts. There are only a few randomized double-blind placebo-controlled studies that have evaluated the efficacy of immunotherapy with Alternaria extracts against mold allergy in patients with respiratory allergic diseases (rhinitis and asthma). Current reviews demonstrate that the clinical efficacy of immunotherapy with fungal extracts has been shown in actively treated patients in at least 4 controlled trials, with two fungal species including Alternaria alternata and Cladosporium herbarum.


Research on 2D materials has been booming since the experimental discovery of graphene. As one of the key enablers in 2D materials development, a mature synthesis route to form 2D materials is the way to push those new materials forward from the lab to practical applications. Insight into the exfoliation process is undoubtedly helpful to develop and establish a mature fabrication route. As a member of the family of 2D materials, metal oxide nanosheets include more than 30 compounds, and they show advantages in several applications, such as thin film growth and the design of functional devices. This thesis reports results from exfoliation studies on layered metal oxides and the formation of their Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) films.
In situ experiments showed that the exfoliation of layered titanates occurs within seconds, and that the mechanism is different from the prevalent theory of exfoliation. A study of the exfoliation process under surfactant deficient conditions shows that it is possible to selectively remove nanosheets from the suspension that are of small size and defective. The formation of titanium oxide LB films was investigated to understand the formation process of metal oxide nanosheet layers at liquid-air interfaces (LAI). The results show that at short exfoliation time the nanosheet concentration at the LAI is higher than after long exfoliation time, even though the nanosheet concentration in the bulk of the solution increases with time. These findings can help to reduce the fabrication time of metal oxide nanosheets and their LB films significantly.
A study on the influence of LB parameters on the coverage of LB films shows that the coverage is not determined by the nanosheet concentration, but only by the surface pressure during depositions. In combination with the study of the exfoliation process under surfactant deficient conditions, a step exfoliation process has been established to ensure the fabrication of high quality nanosheet films. Moreover, a protocol has been established to fabricate potassium calcium niobate (KCNO) crystals and calcium niobate (CNO) nanosheets with different sizes. The influence of CNO nanosheet size on properties of PZT films was studied by using CNO nanosheets as seed layers.


The EU-Service-Directive will lead to big challenges for public administrations. The administrations have to offer a point of single contact supporting the customer. This point of single contacts needs an overview of the administrational processes to perform his task. As processes from different organizations and organizational units are relevant for the EU-Service-Directive they can only be captured by using a distributed approach. The contribution of this paper is to present a domain specific distributed modeling method which allows a fast, efficient, and consistent capturing of the information needed for the point of single contact..


Type 1 diabetes mellitus is a result of autoimmune destruction of pancreatic insulin producing β-cells and so far it can be cured only by insulin injection, by pancreas transplantation, or by pancreatic islet cells' transplantation. The methods are, however, imperfect and have a lot of disadvantages. Therefore new solutions are needed. The best one would be the use of differentiated mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). In the present study, we investigated the potential of the bone marrow-derived MSCs line for in vitro differentiation into insulin producing cells (IPSs). We applied an 18-day protocol to differentiate MSCs. Differentiating cells formed cell clusters some of which resembled pancreatic islet-like cells. Using dithizone we confirmed the presence of insulin in the cells. What is more, the expression of proinsulin C-peptide in differentiated IPCs was analyzed by flow cytometry. For the first time, we investigated the influence of growth factors' concentration on IPCs differentiation efficiency. We have found that an increase in the concentration of growth factors up to 60 ng/mL of β-FGF/EGF and 30 ng/mL of activin A/β-cellulin increases the percentage of IPCs. Further increase of growth factors does not show any increase of the percentage of differentiated cells. Our findings suggest that the presented protocol can be adapted for differentiation of insulin producing cells from stem cells.


Introduction: Autologous iliac bone harvesting is associated with significant drawbacks and low fusion rates are noted in conditions such as osteoporosis. Bone Marrow Aspirate (BMA) is relatively inexpensive and contains mononuclear cells which can be utilised.
Aim: To document the efficacy of concentrated Bone Marrow Mononuclear Cells (BM-MNC) in bone fusion and compare fusion rates with autologous Iliac Crest Bone Graft (ICBG) alone versus combined ICBG and BM-MNC.
Materials and Methods: This prospective, non randomised study included study group and age matched control group (of previously operated craniovertebral junction anomalies) with 15 patients in each group. Combined autologous ICBG+BM-MNC (study group) was compared with autologous ICBG alone (control group). The BMA was processed in stem-cell laboratory to procure mononuclear cells. Morcelised graft pieces mixed with BM-MNC were applied over fusion site after instrumentation. Patients were assessed for fusion and neurological outcome. Qualitative data analysis was done using Fisher exact test.
Results: Mean age, surgical procedures and complications were similar in both groups. Average duration for procurement of cells was 98 minutes. Average of 40.6 million cells were utilised. Higher fusion rates were noted in the study group both at three and six months which, however, was not statistically significant (p-value 0.06 and 0.26 respectively).
Conclusion: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study of its kind to utilise concentrated mononuclear cells combined with iliac graft which lead to higher proportion of fusion and was effective in all surgical procedures. It seems economical and might be suitable for patients who cannot afford expensive graft substitutes and with conditions like osteoporosis. Further prospective studies in larger numbers are needed to confirm these findings.


Depressive symptoms are common among patients with diabetes and may have a significant impact on self-management and health outcomes. The prevalence of both depression and diabetes varies by race. We examined whether race is also an effect modifier in the association between mental health rated "not good" and diabetes using the national Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data from 2002 to 2005. We found that the prevalence of diabetes among Native American respondents was almost double that among Whites. Respondents with at least two weeks of mental health rated "not good" are significantly higher among diabetic patients than among non-diabetic patients. Native Americans (NAs) with at least two weeks of mental health rated "not good" were more likely to have diabetes. This association is stronger in NAs than in Whites. Future research should focus on a better understanding of the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying this plausible association between poor mental health and diabetes.


Recently, network function virtualization (NFV) has been proposed to solve the dilemma faced by traditional networks and to improve network performance through hardware and software decoupling. The deployment of the service function chain (SFC) is a key technology that affects the performance of virtual network function (VNF). The key issue in the deployment of SFCs is proposing effective algorithms to achieve efficient use of resources. In this article, we propose an SFC deployment optimization (SFCDO) algorithm based on a breadth-first search (BFS). The algorithm first uses a BFS-based algorithm to find the shortest path between the source node and the destination node. Then, based on the shortest path, the path with the fewest hops is preferentially chosen to implement the SFC deployment. Finally, we compare the performances with the greedy and simulated annealing (G-SA) algorithm. The experiment results show that the proposed algorithm is optimized in terms of end-to-end delay and bandwidth resource consumption. In addition, we also consider the load rate of the nodes to achieve network load balancing.


The present thesis addresses the role of maternal interpretations of infant facial expressions in the development of emotions. Emotion theories explain emotionality in terms of implicitly intra-individual processes resulting in serious conceptual and empirical limitations. In contrast, social constructionist theories reflect the inherently socio-cognitive nature of emotions and propose inter-individual processes to explain emotional development. Using the hitherto neglected perspective of interactional others, a social theory is developed which rejects the Cartesian dualism inherent in current theories of emotional development by assigning a central place to the perspective of caregivers in the development of emotions. An observational cross-sectional study examining the effect of age and context on mothers' perceptions of their infants was conducted. Twelve normal, primiparous, white, English, middle class mothers, aged between 25 and 35, were filmed interacting at home with their infants (aged 4-6 months (range 4;l-6;3), 7-9 months (range 7;0-9;l), and 10-12 months (range 10;1-11;3)). Mothers were asked to select and describe infant acts they found meaningful in a face to face play, a prohibitive, and a toy play condition. Facial expressions were coded using a standardised coding frame. Maternal interpretations of infant behaviour were collected and analysed. Two further experiments assessed differences between mothers' and observers' selections and interpretations of infant behaviour. Mothers' selections of infant facial expressions differed between age groups and situations. As infants got older, mothers selected fewer positive expressions in face to face play, more negative expressions in the prohibitive episode and more positive expressions in toy play. Differences in maternal interpretations, reflecting situational and age related specificity, were also found. While mothers perceived emotions and intentionality in infants of all ages, mothers of the oldest infants accompanied these attributions with descriptions of cognitive and communicative skills. A relationship between selected facial expressions and attributions of emotion states was found to be dependent on situational context. Mothers also differed from observers in both the number of meaningful acts they selected and the types of interpretations they made, demonstrating the divergence in perspective between caretakers as knowledgable participants in interaction and external observers. This thesis demonstrates the dynamics of caregivers' perceptions in expressive interaction and discusses the implications of these perceptions for understanding the process of emotional development.


Abstract The present study aims to develop a mechanistic understanding of the thermal-hydraulic processes in a vapor explosion, which may occur in nuclear power plants during a hypothetical severe accident, involving interactions of high-temperature corium melt and volatile coolant. Dynamics of the hot liquid (melt) droplet and the volatile liquid (coolant) were investigated in the Micro-Interactions in Steam Explosion Experiments (MISTEE) facility by performing well-controlled, externally triggered, single-droplet experiments, using a high-speed visualization system with synchronized digital cinematography and continuous X-ray radiography, called Simultaneous High-speed Acquisition of X-ray Radiography and Photography (SHARP). After an elaborate image processing, the SHARP images depict the evolution of both melt material (dispersal) and coolant (bubble dynamics) and their microscale interactions. The analysis of the data shows a deficiency in using the bubble dynamics alone to provide a consistent explanation of the energetic behavior. In contrast, the SHARP data reveal a correlation between the droplet's dynamics in the bubble's first cycle and the energetics of the subsequent explosive evaporation in the bubble's second cycle. The finding provides a basis to suggest that a so-called melt-droplet preconditioning, i.e., deformation/prefragmentation of a hot melt droplet immediately following the pressure trigger, is instrumental to the subsequent coolant entrainment, evaporation, and energetics of the resulting vapor explosion.


In this paper we show how video recordings of lectures can be enhanced through "social editing", a special sort of "human computation". We record lectures using six cameras arranged to produce a panoramic view (360 degrees) of the classroom. After recording, viewers can replay the lectures on a computer and can navigate through them tilting and zooming a virtual camera. All user interactions are recorded by the system, and are later used to decide which views should be stored and their zoom level. The result is an automatically edited video as a result of the social navigation of the first few initial viewers of the lecture.