Abstract Sparks, M and Coetzee, B. The use of heart rates and graded maximal test values to determine rugby union game intensities. J Strength Cond Res 27(2): 507–513, 2013—The aim of this study was to determine the intensities of university rugby union games using heart rates and graded maximal test values. Twenty-one rugby players performed a standard incremental maximal oxygen uptake (V[Combining Dot Above]O2max) test to the point of exhaustion in the weeks between 3 rugby matches. The heart rates that corresponded to the first and second ventilatory thresholds were used to classify the heart rates into low-, moderate-, and high-intensity zones. The heart rates recorded through heart rate telemetry during the matches were then categorized into the different zones. The average heart rates for the different intensity zones as well the percentages of the maximum heart rate (HRmax) were as follows: low, 141–152 b·min−1 (76.2–82.0% HRmax); moderate, 153–169 b·min−1 (82.7–91.4% HRmax); and high, 170–182 b·min−1 (91.9–100% HRmax). The percentages of time players spent in the different intensity zones were as follows: 22.8% for the low-intensity, 33.6% for the moderate-intensity, and 43.6% for the high-intensity zones. The dependant t-test revealed significant differences (p < 0.05) between the low- and high-intensity zones for the second halves, between the low- and moderate- as well as between the low- and high-intensity zones for the matches overall. To conclude, the results of the study showed that the above-mentioned method can be used to determine the intensities of university rugby union games. It also revealed that university rugby games are categorized by significantly more high-intensity activities than was previously reported by other rugby match analyzing–related studies. Thus, sport scientists and conditioning coaches should concentrate more on high-intensity activities for longer periods during training sessions.


A previous paper [1] describes the key features of an innovative gate valve design that was developed to overcome seat leakage problems, high maintenance costs as well as issues identified in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Generic Letters 89-10, 95-07 and 96-05 with conventional gate valves [2,3,4]. The earlier paper was published within a year after the new design valves were installed at the Pilgrim Nuclear Plant – the plant that took the initiative to form a teaming arrangement as described in [1] which facilitated this innovative development. The current paper documents the successful performance history of 22 years at the Pilgrim plant, as well as performance history at several other nuclear power plants where these valves have been installed for many years in containment isolation service that requires operation under pipe rupture conditions and require tight shut-off in both Pressurized Water Reactors (PWRs) and Boiling Water Reactors (BWRs). The performance history of the new valve has shown to provide significant performance advantage by eliminating the chronic leakage problems and high maintenance costs in these critical service applications. This paper includes a summary of the design, analysis and separate effects testing described in detail in the earlier paper. Flow loop testing was performed on these valves under normal plant operation, various thermal binding and pressure locking scenarios, and accident/pipe rupture conditions. The valve was designed, analyzed and tested to satisfy the requirements of ANSI B16.41 [9]; it also satisfies the requirements of ASME QME 1-2012 [10]. The results of the long-term performance history including any degradation observed and its root cause are summarized in the paper.


We develop robust methods that allow the specification, control, and transition of a multi-legged robot's stepping pattern, its 'gait', during active locomotion over natural terrain. Resulting gaits emerge through the introduction of controllers that impose appropriately placed repellors within the space of gaits, the torus of relative leg phases, thereby mitigating against dangerous patterns of leg timing. Moreover, these repellors are organized with respect to a natural cellular decomposition of gait space and result in limit cycles with associated basins that are well characterized by these cells, thus conferring a symbolic character upon the overall behavioral repertoire. These ideas are particularly applicable to four- and six-legged robots, for which a large variety of interesting and useful (and, in many cases, familiar) gaits exist, and whose tradeoffs between speed and reliability motivate the desire for transitioning between them during active locomotion. We provide an empirical instance of this gait regulation scheme by application to a climbing hexapod, whose 'physical layer' sensor-feedback control requires adequate grasp of a climbing surface but whose closed-loop control perturbs the robot from its desired gait. We document how the regulation scheme secures the desired gait and permits operator selection of different gaits as required during active climbing on challenging surfaces.


We report a detailed, combined experimental and computational study on the fundamental B–H and P–H bond activation steps involved in the dehydrocoupling/dehydropolymerization of primary and secondary phosphine–boranes, H3B$PPhR0H (R 1⁄4 Ph, H), using [RhCp*(PMe3)Me(ClCH2Cl)][BAr4], to either form polyphosphino-boranes [H2B$PPhH]n (Mn 15 000 g mol , PDI 1⁄4 2.2) or the linear diboraphosphine H3B$PPh2BH2$PPh2H. A likely polymer-growth pathway of reversible chain transfer step-growth is suggested for H3B$PPhH2. Using secondary phosphine–boranes as model substrates a combined synthesis, structural (X-ray crystallography), labelling and computational approach reveals: initial bond activation pathways (B–H activation precedes P–H activation); key intermediates (phosphido-boranes, a-B-agostic base-stabilized boryls); and a catalytic route to the primary diboraphosphine (H3B$PPhHBH2$PPhH2). It is also shown that by changing the substituent at phosphorus (Ph or Cy versus Bu) different final products result (phosphido-borane or base stabilized phosphino-borane respectively). These studies provide detailed insight into the pathways that are operating during dehydropolymerization.


One-on-one supervision in Germany is not always the counselling of a professional in the helping professions by a supervisor from a similar field. It can also be – due to its adaptation to modern work contexts – a counselling format for a professional in a managerial position, not unlike business coaching. In some cases, these two aspects converge. In this article I will – based on two excerpts from a transcript – describe how two of the ubiquitous communicative tasks in one-on-one supervision ('establishing the need for counseling, establishing the counselor as authority' and 'presenting the problem') are tackled in light of this convergence and show that supervision is a conversation between experts who create a specific supervisor-supervisee relationship.


The field relations and megascopic character of three types of stromatolites, and the bioherms, occurring in the lower half of what is herein defined as the Nash Formation, are described and illustrated. The Nash Formation is part of a succession of metasediments occurring in the Precambrian complex of the Medicine Bow Mts. It is believed to be not less than 1.7 b.y. old. Field studies support the conclusion that the stromatolites and bioherms are organo-sedimentary features.


There have been a wide variety of approaches applied to forecasting earthquakes (Turcotte 1991; Kanamori 2003). These approaches can be divided into two general classes. The first is based on empirical observations of precursory changes. Examples include precursory seismic activity, precursory ground motions, and many others. The second approach is based on statistical patterns of seismicity. Neither approach has been able to provide reliable short-term forecasts (days to months) on a consistent basis.

Although short-term predictions are not available, longer-term seismic-hazard assessments can be made. A large fraction of all earthquakes occur in the vicinity of plate boundaries, although some do occur in plate interiors. It is also possible to assess the long-term probability of having an earthquake of a specified magnitude in a specified region. These assessments are primarily based on the hypothesis that future earthquakes will occur in regions where past, typically large, earthquakes have occurred (Kossobokov et al. 2000). As we will discuss, a more promising approach is to begin with the hypothesis that the rate of occurrence of small earthquakes in a region can be analyzed to assess the probability of occurrence of much larger earthquakes.

The Regional Earthquake Likelihood Models (RELM) forecast described in this paper is primarily based on the pattern informatics (PI) method (Rundle et al. 2002, 2003; Tiampo et al. 2002a, 2000c). This method identifies regions of strongly correlated fluctuations in seismic activity. These regions are the locations where subsequent large earthquakes have been shown to occur, therefore indicating a strong association with the high stress preceding the main shock. The fluctuations in seismicity rate revealed in a PI map may be related to the preparation process for large earthquakes. Seismic quiescence and seismic activation (Bowman et al. 1998; Wyss and Habermann 1988), which are revealed by …


Gain expertise in tracking project issues and managing them efficiently using JIRA About This BookCustomize JIRA for a variety of applications such as software project management, Agile tracking, and test management with the help of sample data to get you startedDeploy big JIRA instances by planning the installations for EnterpriseA comprehensive guide on JIRA with an easy-to-learn structure to help you become the go-to person for JIRA in your organizationWho This Book Is ForIf you are a JIRA administrator managing small-to-medium JIRA instances and want to learn how to manage enterprise-scale instances, then this book will help you expand your knowledge and equip you with advanced skills. Prior understanding of JIRA core concepts is required.What You Will Learn Plan the installation and upgrade of your JIRA instance Configure issue type schemes, create customized workflows, modify permission schemes, and change notification schemes Customize JIRA for test management, helpdesk, and requirement management Deploy JIRA for Agile tracking using the Scrum and Kanban techniques Manage users and groups and integrate them with LDAP for single sign-on Develop JIRA add-ons to extend JIRA's functionality Migrate data from external systems using CSV import Generate reports directly from the JIRA database and to use custom JavaScript and CSS In DetailJIRA is an issue-tracking tool from Atlassian and has gained immense popularity in recent years due to its ease of use and, at the same time, its customization abilities and finely grained control over various functions. JIRA offers functionalities for creating tasks and assigning them to users and many useful add-ons can be added such as JIRA Agile for Agile tracking and Groovy scripts, a powerful tool for administering customizations for customizations.This book explains how to master the key functionalities of JIRA and its customizations and add-ons, and is packed with real-world examples and use cases. You will first learn how to plan JIRA installation. Next, you will be given a brief refresher of fundamental concepts and learn about customizations in detail. Next, this book will take you through add-on development to extend JIRA functionality. Finally, this book will explore best practices and troubleshooting, to help you find out what went wrong and how to fix it.


Due to daylight variability, a design cannot be thoroughly assessed using single-moment simulations, which is why we need dynamic performance metrics like Daylight Autonomy and Useful Daylight Illuminance. Going one step further, the annual variation in performance (condensed to a percentage by DA and UDI) is also valuable information, as is the ability to link this data to spatial visualizations and renderings. The challenge, therefore, is to provide the information necessary to early design decision-making in a manageable form, while retaining both the continuity of annual data. This paper introduces a simplification method based on splitting the year into weather averaged periods, which are simulated using Perez's ASRC-CIE sky model while sun penetration data is provided at greater resolution. The graphical output, in "Temporal Map" format, is shown to be visually and numerically comparable to reference case maps created using detailed illuminance data generated by Daysim.


Introduction. Part I: Introduction to the Microsoft Office 2008 Suite. Chapter 1: Overview from 10,000 Feet. Chapter 2: A Sweet Suite: Introducing the Office 2008 Applications. Chapter 3: Common Knowledge: Things That Work the Same in All Office Applications. Part II: Mastering Microsoft Word. Chapter 4: Getting to Know Microsoft Word. Chapter 5: Processing Documents with Word. Chapter 6: Refining and Editing Documents with Word. Chapter 7: Going for the Designer Look: Using Templates and Other Design Elements. Chapter 8: This and That: Advanced and Collaboration Features. Part III: Powerful Presentations with Microsoft PowerPoint. Chapter 9: Getting to Know Microsoft PowerPoint. Chapter 10: Creating Slide Shows. Chapter 11: Making Your Slide Shows Sing. Chapter 12: Presentation Mastery. Part IV: Crunching Data with Microsoft's Most Excellent Excel. Chapter 13: Getting to Know Microsoft Excel. Chapter 14: Crunching Numbers (and Data) with Excel. Chapter 15: Enhancing and Printing Your Excel Spreadsheets. Chapter 16: Advanced Spreadsheeting. Part V: Microsoft Entourage: Miraculous Manager of Most Things. Chapter 17: Getting to Know Entourage. Chapter 18: Entourage Online. Chapter 19: Managing Your Affairs with Entourage. Chapter 20: Getting Advanced with Entourage. Part VI: The Part of Tens. Chapter 21: Ten Things in Office 2008 That Didn't Fit Elsewhere. Chapter 22: Ten Timesaving Shortcuts and Tips for Enhanced Productivity. Chapter 23: Ten Ways to Customize Office. Index.


EDITORS' NOTES (Debra D. Bragg, Elisabeth A. Barnett). 1. Creating Access and Success: Academic Pathways Reaching Underserved Students (Debra D. Bragg, Eunyoung Kim, Elisabeth A. Barnett) The fifty states differ in the degree to which they support various academic pathways that improve opportunities for underserved students to matriculate into college. This chapter discusses results of a fifty-state study conducted through the Academic Pathways to Access and Student Success initiative, and identifies curricular approaches that increase opportunities for underserved students to attend college. 2. Historically Underserved Students: What We Know, What We Still Need to Know (Denise Green) Community colleges educate many underserved students, including minority, first-generation, and low-income students. This chapter discusses what we know about these students, how they have fared in college transitions, how educational pipeline and deficit models have helped or hindered their progress, and what community college educators should seek to understand about diverse student populations. 3. Local Pathways and Statewide Policies Aligning Standards and Curricula (Andrea Conklin Bueschel, Andrea Venezia) This chapter describes examples of local pathways and statewide policies that align community college standards and curricula with those at high schools and four-year colleges and universities. 4. Florida's Dual Enrollment Initiative: How State Policy Influences Community Colleges' Service to Underrepresented Youth (Erika Hunt, Charles E. Carroll) This chapter describes Florida's Accelerated Mechanism Program, identifies challenges that have resulted from shifting intentions behind state dual enrollment policies, and shows how changing state policy has influenced strategies used by one college to successfully enroll underserved students and support their transition to college. 5. Middle and Early College High Schools-Providing Multilevel Support and Accelerated Learning (Terry Born) Middle and early college high schools offer underserved students the opportunity to simultaneously engage in high school and college classes, with the goal of completing both a high school diploma and an associate degree within five years. This chapter describes student support services at two middle and early college high schools. 6. Achieving the Baccalaureate Through the Community College (Deborah L. Floyd) This chapter presents the different ways in which community colleges participate in baccalaureate education, and debunks myths surrounding the controversial community college baccalaureate degree. 7. The Role of Career and Technical Education in Facilitating Student Transitions to Postsecondary Education (Donna E. Dare) This chapter describes four models of career and technical education programs that integrate rigorous academic preparation to facilitate student transition to the community college. 8. How Students Benefit from High-Tech, High-Wage Career Pathways (Meg Draeger) This chapter describes how the Miami Valley Tech Prep Consortium in Dayton, Ohio, is working to involve a wider range of students in Tech Prep pathways that bridge high school and college. 9. Arizona's Teacher Education Initiative: Aligning High School and College Curricula (Cheri St. Arnauld) The state of Arizona is proactively developing strong partnerships and working relationships to ensure that future teachers in the state will be ready for the rigorous expectations of the profession. These partnerships have created teacher education pathways that link high schools, community colleges, and public universities. 10. Academic Pathways and Increased Opportunities for Underserved Students: Crosscutting Themes and Lessons Learned (Elisabeth A. Barnett, Debra D. Bragg) This chapter emphasizes crosscutting themes that emerge throughout the volume, paying particular attention to lessons learned about practice and policy. Creating multiple pathways that span different levels of the P-16 system is essential if educators and policymakers are to create a greater number of opportunities for underserved students to access and succeed in college. INDEX.


We present an algorithm to maintain the connected components of a graph that arrives as an infinite stream of edges. We formalize the algorithm on X-stream, a new parallel theoretical computational model for infinite streams. Connectivity-related queries, including component spanning trees, are supported with some latency, returning the state of the graph at the time of the query. Because an infinite stream may eventually exceed the storage limits of any number of finite-memory processors, we assume an aging command or daemon where "uninteresting" edges are removed when the system nears capacity. Following an aging command the system will block queries until its data structures are repaired, but edges will continue to be accepted from the stream, never dropped. The algorithm will not fail unless a model-specific constant fraction of the aggregate memory across all processors is full. In normal operation, it will not fail unless aggregate memory is completely full.
 Unlike previous theoretical streaming models designed for finite graphs that assume a single shared memory machine or require arbitrary-size intemediate files, X-stream distributes a graph over a ring network of finite-memory processors. Though the model is synchronous and reminiscent of systolic algorithms, our implementation uses an asynchronous message-passing system. We argue the correctness of our X-stream connected components algorithm, and give preliminary experimental results on synthetic and real graph streams.


The development of the casino industry in Macao and Singapore has been attracting substantial interest from both the academic sector and overseas casino operators. Extending from earlier academic efforts to account for the rise of casino capitalism, this article aims to examine the emergence, evolution and dimensions of casino governance with regard to these two jurisdictions. The article compares and contrasts the salient features of casino governance in Macao and Singapore in terms of the recruitment and management of casino staff, casino-society relations, crime control, casino-junkets relations and casino-government interactions. Casino governance in Macao has performed better in managing casino staff harmoniously, dealing with employees' unions and society skilfully, and maintaining partnerships with the Macao government. However, in terms of crime control and relationships with junkets, casino governance in Singapore has developed a stronger regulatory capacity than that in Macao.


Quotient inductive-inductive types (QIITs) generalise inductive types in two ways: a QIIT can have more than one sort and the later sorts can be indexed over the previous ones. In addition, equality constructors are also allowed. We work in a setting with uniqueness of identity proofs, hence we use the term QIIT instead of higher inductive-inductive type. An example of a QIIT is the well-typed (intrinsic) syntax of type theory quotiented by conversion. In this paper first we specify finitary QIITs using a domain-specific type theory which we call the theory of signatures. The syntax of the theory of signatures is given by a QIIT as well. Then, using this syntax we show that all specified QIITs exist and they have a dependent elimination principle. We also show that algebras of a signature form a category with families (CwF) and use the internal language of this CwF to show that dependent elimination is equivalent to initiality.


Since the 2011 revolution we are witnessing a powerful growth of urban activism in Egypt, especially in Cairo. This paper will examine conditions for the emergence of this particular form of activism at the political, social and territorial levels. These conditions include the opening of the scope of activism, the diversification and 'pluralisation' of civil society, and the urban roots of the revolutionary moment. A typology will be established according to the interests pursued by the stakeholders, that can be divided into three main categories: general organizations for human rights working towards improving the city's living conditions; individuals and/or organizations whose actions relate to a long-term struggle for the 'right to the city'; individuals and/or organizations whose actions aim to protect the living environment and the common good. This paper will show that Egyptian urban activists are the authors of changes that are already visible on the urban scene.


Abstract. Hydrological droughts are one of the most damaging disasters in terms of economic loss in central Vietnam and other regions of South-east Asia, severely affecting agricultural production and drinking water supply. Their increasing frequency and severity can be attributed to extended dry spells and increasing water abstractions for e.g. irrigation and hydropower development to meet the demand of dynamic socioeconomic development. Based on hydro-climatic data for the period from 1980 to 2013 and reservoir operation data, the impacts of recent hydropower development and other alterations of the hydrological network on downstream streamflow and drought risk were assessed for a mesoscale basin of steep topography in central Vietnam, the Vu Gia Thu Bon (VGTB) River basin. The Just Another Modelling System (JAMS)/J2000 was calibrated for the VGTB River basin to simulate reservoir inflow and the naturalized discharge time series for the downstream gauging stations. The HEC-ResSim reservoir operation model simulated reservoir outflow from eight major hydropower stations as well as the reconstructed streamflow for the main river branches Vu Gia and Thu Bon. Drought duration, severity, and frequency were analysed for different timescales for the naturalized and reconstructed streamflow by applying the daily varying threshold method. Efficiency statistics for both models show good results. A strong impact of reservoir operation on downstream discharge at the daily, monthly, seasonal, and annual scales was detected for four discharge stations relevant for downstream water allocation. We found a stronger hydrological drought risk for the Vu Gia river supplying water to the city of Da Nang and large irrigation systems especially in the dry season. We conclude that the calibrated model set-up provides a valuable tool to quantify the different origins of drought to support cross-sectorial water management and planning in a suitable way to be transferred to similar river basins.


The combination of low cost clusters and multicore processors lowers the barrier for accessing massive amounts of computing power. As computational sciences advance, the use of in silico simulations to complement in vivo experiments promises parallel programming a bright future in multiple scientific fields. It is therefore increasingly important to develop tools helping developers to write efficient and bug-free parallel applications. This thesis focuses on performance prediction and advanced testing tools for distributed memory message-passing parallel applications. The tools have been implemented within the Dynamic Parallel Schedules (DPS) parallelization framework. They have also been partly adapted to applications written using the Message Passing Interface (MPI) standard. The first part presents a parallel application simulator which has been integrated into the DPS framework. We identified a small set of processing and networking parameters that characterize the hardware platform on which the application is running. After parameterizing the hardware platform, the running time of parallel applications can be predicted using direct execution without requiring any change to the application source code. We propose a partial direct execution technique that reduces the execution time and memory consumption of the simulation. Using partial direct execution, the simulation is no longer tied to the platform to be simulated. Simulations may thus run on a desktop computer rather than on the target parallel machine. The proposed parameterization of the application and of the hardware properties enable using the simulator to study the sensitivity of a parallel application to various operating conditions such as the data subdivision granularity, the adopted parallelization strategy and the underlying hardware platform properties. The proposed simulator helps developers identifying the factors having the largest impact on their application's performance, and determining the most suitable cluster hardware configuration. Speed should not come at the expense of correctness. Since improving parallelization efficiency often requires loosening synchronizations or implementing more complex communication patterns, developers need to ensure that their changes do not introduce potential message races or deadlocks. Deadlocks and message races are common sources of problems in parallel applications and stem from the fact that the delivery of messages from different sources is not deterministically ordered. This non-determinism makes such synchronization errors hard to reproduce and debug. The second part of the thesis presents methods for uncovering potential deadlocks and message races by taking advantage of the flow graph structures and checkpointing capabilities of DPS. We developed a debugger for DPS applications that displays an instantaneous graphical view of the global computation state and is able to control the ordering of message delivery in order to explicitly test specific orderings. The number of possible orderings explodes when the number of messages sent by the application increases. Manual testing can only cover a tiny fraction of possible executions. Therefore, we use the simulator's ability to control the execution of a parallel application, in order to automatically detect deadlocks and message races. A first method for reducing the number of orderings to be tested relies on a partial-order reduction of the search space and on the decomposition of the application execution into independently testable subparts. This method relies on a static analysis of an execution trace of the application, and can therefore only be applied to parallel applications that produce a fixed set of messages, i.e. applications producing the same messages for all delivery orderings. In order to overcome this limitation, we propose an approach relying on the dynamic construction of a state graph expressing possible executions. Both methods reduce the testing costs by several orders of magnitude, and can be combined to further improve the results. Nevertheless, testing durations may remain prohibitive for longer running applications. We therefore also define algorithms generating subsets of possible orderings that are likely to reveal erroneous executions. In the recent years, the MPI standard has emerged as the de facto standard for writing message-passing parallel applications. The final part of this thesis therefore focuses on adapting the aforementioned parallel application testing concepts to MPI applications. We first describe the extension of our work on visualizing the execution of parallel applications. We then discuss the limits and the benefits of using partial-order execution graphs to describe MPI application executions, and show that our dynamic message-passing state graph construction approach can be successfully applied.


A "gain-of-function" toxic property of mutant Cu-Zn superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) is involved in the pathogenesis of some familial cases of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Expression of a mutant form of the human SOD1 gene in mice causes a degeneration of motor neurons, leading to progressive muscle weakness and hindlimb paralysis. Transgenic mice overexpressing a mutant human SOD1 gene (G93A-SOD1) were used to examine the mitochondrial involvement in familial ALS. We observed a decrease in mitochondrial respiration in brain and spinal cord of the G93A-SOD1 mice. This decrease was significant only at the last step of the respiratory chain (complex IV), and it was not observed in transgenic wild-type SOD1 and nontransgenic mice. Interestingly, this decrease was evident even at a very early age in mice, long before any clinical symptoms arose. The effect seemed to be CNS specific, because no decrease was observed in liver mitochondria. Differences in complex IV respiration between brain mitochondria of G93A-SOD1 and control mice were abolished when reduced cytochrome c was used as an electron donor, pinpointing the defect to cytochrome c. Submitochondrial studies showed that cytochrome c in the brain of G93A-SOD1 mice had a reduced association with the inner mitochondrial membrane (IMM). Brain mitochondrial lipids, including cardiolipin, had increased peroxidation in G93A-SOD1 mice. These results suggest a mechanism by which mutant SOD1 can disrupt the association of cytochrome c with the IMM, thereby priming an apoptotic program.


Religious language in psychotherapy has been the occasion of much controversy. On the one hand there are those who argue vigorously for its presence in therapy while others argue just as strongly for its exclusion. This paper will explore the role of religion in therapy from a cultural anthropological perspective. We will assert that religion is, like ethnicity, a social phenomenon. The religious client has the right to have his or her religion respected, validated, affirmed and resourced in the process of healing. Failure on the part of the therapist to validate the religious tradition of the client may undermine the therapeutic alliance, diminish the client's willingness to disclose deeper issues of significance, increase absenteeism, and lead to generalized resistance. This paper will explore concrete ways in which the therapist can appropriately address religious issues and create a psychotherapeutic culture in which clients feel freedom to use religious language.


Today online newspapers are putting a lot of resources into their news sites without profiting from them. They have to find ways to gain from them in order to keep them going. Lately there has been a move from print to multimedia, i.e. news is only a part among other services at the news sites and is presented as audio and video as well. We have conducted interviews at nine local newspapers in Sweden about their current situation and future plans. We have also used a cooperative scenario building technique aiming at finding new online services that could be profitable with both newspaper management and end users. The objective of this paper is to describe the current situation for these newspapers and to discuss possible new future services. Examples of services from the workshops are e.g. advertisement on demand and intermediary services.


In the 1950s two groups of public intellectuals, organized around ECLAC, in Santiago, Chile, and ISEB, in Rio de Janeiro, pioneered the thinking on Latin American societies and on its industrialization from a nationalist standpoint. ECLAC mainly criticized the law of comparative advantage; ISEB focused on the class coalition behind the proposed national-developmentalist strategy. The idea of a national bourgeoisie was key to this interpretation. Yet, the Cuban revolution and the following military coups in the South Cone made room for criticism of these ideas by the Marxist dependency interpretation which soon was divided in three: the overexploitation, the national-dependency contradiction, and the associated dependency interpretation. The later ignored the ambiguous and contradictory character of the Latin-American bourgeoisie asserted by the national-dependent interpretation,turned dominant in the region, contributed to the loss of the idea ofnation by the Brazilian intellectuals, and represented an obstacleto the definition of a national-development strategy.


Abstract The purpose of this study is to determine the eff ect of teaching by utilizing cartoons on student success in the Turkish language courses in primary school secondary level students. Working group of the study consists of 54 students studying in primary state school in Sakarya province Hendek district. In the study, the 'Rule and Concept Test on Sound Knowledge' was used with Cronbach α value of .72. Mann Whitney U Test and Wilcoxon Test were used in analysis of the data. Moreover, an interview was conducted with the experimental group students. The QSR NVivo 7 program and content analysis were used in analysis of qualitative data. In the research, it is determined that teaching students with caricatures increases the Turkish language success; helps motivate them in the course; and increases participation, compared to the traditional method. Some suggestions are proposed on the use of cartoons in Turkish language grammar. Key Words Turkish Grammar Instruction, Cartoons. Language grammar courses explain the prevailing rules of his/her language to students. The main goal of the grammar rules is to provide individuals eff ective and efficient oral/written expression activities. According Sagir (2002), the greatest deficiency in the language teaching is the lack of methods. A language grammar education teaches via concrete examples by performing comparisons via combining the form with the function, not with a method emphasizing the form. Rather than abstract design and concepts, the topics should be explained by utilizing entities and concepts which students have perceived through their sensory organs. Students enter through the mental thinking process via visual elements in cartoons. Grammar course describes a student the dominant rules of the language arrangement that he/she uses. The main objective of the modern language teaching of the 21st century is to combine a strategic viewpoint, which would make learning language enjoyable, in theory and practice; to off er the ways of learning strategy that would lead students to think; and in this manner, to teach more much things about language (Gogus, 1978; Grenfell, 2000; Riegel, Pellat & Roul, 1994). Recently, linguistics theories and psycholinguistics studies put forth different approaches regarding language learning, and consequently, the concepts of context & text; and the concepts of function & form came into prominence (Nunan, 1998). The objective of language teaching in line with the modern developments is to raise subconscious structures of students to conscious level; to take them to usage area; and to transmit the operation system of language to students (Demirel & Sahinel, 2006). According to the cognitive learning approach, learning is realized by individuals' experience of cognitive processes such as perception, recalling, and thinking (Cuceloglu, 1991). Studies on learning indicate the fact that individuals can record images and words in their memories and in case of necessity, they can recall them in image and/or word forms. However, learning from texts and visual learning are seen diff erent from each other. Humans can keep images in their memories for a short time and can create schemas for long term memory, by using them in diff erent ways (Farah, 1988 quote; Akyol, 2006) Caricatures are visual images as well (Acikgoz, 2008; Delp & Jones, 1996). Learning is based on the abstraction process performed via experience obtained from concrete materials (Egan, 1988). Cartoons, which are consisted of abstract visual symbols, attract and keep interest on the topic as being abstract representatives of the reality (Cilenti, 1984; Demirel, 2004; Fisher, 1995; Gairns & Redman, 1986; Hesapcioglu, 1992; Orlich, Harder, Callahan & Gibson, 2001; Robb, 2003). They help to teach events, facts and objects in a simple and explanatory manner. Cartoons, which present visual learning possibility to students, provide observation and discussion possibility to them (Greenberg, 2002; Keogh & Naylor, 1999; Kucukahmet, 1997; Roesky & Kennepohl, 2008; Sewell, 2002), and develop their critical thinking skills (Hakam, 2009; Chin & Teou, 2009; Ozden, 1997; Song, Heo, Kmumenaker & Tippins, 2008; Thomas, 2004). …


[1] In July–August 1997, a hydrographic/Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP)/tracer section was occupied along 52°W in the North Atlantic as part of the World Ocean Circulation Experiment Hydrographic Program. Underway and lowered ADCP (LADCP) data have been used to reference geostrophic velocities calculated from the hydrographic data; additional (small) velocity adjustments provided by an inverse model, constraining mass and silicate transports in 17 neutral density layers, yield the absolute zonal velocity field for 52°W. We find a vigorous circulation throughout the entire section, with an unusually strong Gulf Stream (169 Sv) and southern Deep Western Boundary Current (DWBC; 64 Sv) at the time of the cruise. At the northern boundary, on the west side of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, we find the westward flowing Labrador Current (8.6 Sv), whose continuity from the Labrador Sea, east of our section, has been disputed. Directly to the south we identify the slopewater current (12.5 Sv eastward) and northern DWBC (12.5 Sv westward). Strong departures from strictly zonal flow in the interior, which are found in the LADCP data, make it difficult to diagnose the circulation there. Isolated deep property extrema in the southern portion, associated with alternating bands of eastward and westward flow, are consistent with the idea that the rough topography of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, directly east of our section, causes enhanced mixing of Antarctic Bottom Water properties into overlying waters with distinctly different properties. We calculate heat and freshwater fluxes crossing 52°W that exceed estimates based on air-sea exchanges by a factor of 1.7.


High-End London based fashion SME working environments are radically different from those that were used to formulate theoretical models explaining technology adoption. Such models are reviewed and attempts at their adaptation to a fashion context are discussed. Finally adaptations are proposed for the specific context of High-End SMEs and tested against initial results of a survey of the viewpoints on technology, its usage and the general practices of such businesses. Early results indicate High-End fashion SMEs may be motivated more strongly by cost and perceived usefulness than by social considerations around technology.


Multi Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) have seen an unparalleled increasing adoption in the last decade. Although their flexibility as transport technology and their effectiveness for traffic engineering are well recognized, VPNs are difficult to set up and manage, due to the complexity of configurations, to the number of involved protocols, and to the limited control and predictability of network behaviors. On the other hand, Software-Defined Networking (SDN) is a consolidated, yet still emerging paradigm by which the control plane logic of a network device is implemented by an arbitrarily programmed software that runs outside the device itself. We conjugate the effectiveness of traditional VPNs with the programmability of SDN, proposing a novel and improved realization of MPLS VPNs based on SDN. With our approach, provisioning and setup of VPNs are accomplished by using a simple and flexible configuration language. Management and troubleshooting are facilitated because only a minimal set of technologies (notably, just MPLS) is retained. Control and predictability of network behaviors are enhanced by the centralized coordination enforced by the SDN controller. Besides illustrating our proposed approach and specifying the configuration language, we describe a prototype implementation of a controller and the outcome of tests we conducted in several configuration scenarios.


This paper examines the VaRs of daily stock market returns before and after the introduction of stock index futures contract trading in China from a statistical perspective. VaRs, in this paper, are estimated with peaks over threshold (POT) method fitting the tails of data distributions well. The key empirical results show that the VaRs of daily returns before stock index futures are greater than those after the stock index futures at the same significance levels. The market risk of Chinese stock market decreased after the introduction of stock index futures.


The paper aims to understand how the public perceives river water quality and related risks and behaviour. Using the stratified semi-purposive sampling process, the study explores the perception of people residing along the river Yamuna in India. The method applied involved a structured questionnaire survey of 2706 respondents and four focused group discussions with people residing within two kilometres of the river bank. Non-parametric tests such as Kruskal Wallis, Mann Whitney U-test and One-Sample Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test were used to analyse the data. The findings suggest that the majority of the respondents formulate their perceptions using non-scientific methods like sensorial and heuristics. Perception on sources of pollution is shaped by personal experiences and people do not perceive diffused sources of pollution that affect river water quality. Respondents attributed the pollution in the river to anthropogenic activities and their risk perception was found to be linked to their direct dependence on the river for their daily needs. The paper suggests behavioural change strategies to focus on social, governance, and technological drivers.


This paper presents the gravitational-wave measurement of the Hubble constant (H 0) using the detections from the first and second observing runs of the Advanced LIGO and Virgo detector network. The presence of the transient electromagnetic counterpart of the binary neutron star GW170817 led to the first standard-siren measurement of H 0. Here we additionally use binary black hole detections in conjunction with galaxy catalogs and report a joint measurement. Our updated measurement is H 0 = 69−8+16 km s−1 Mpc−1 (68.3% of the highest density posterior interval with a flat-in-log prior) which is an improvement by a factor of 1.04 (about 4%) over the GW170817-only value of 69−8+17 km s−1 Mpc−1. A significant additional contribution currently comes from GW170814, a loud and well-localized detection from a part of the sky thoroughly covered by the Dark Energy Survey. With numerous detections anticipated over the upcoming years, an exhaustive understanding of other systematic effects are also going to become increasingly important. These results establish the path to cosmology using gravitational-wave observations with and without transient electromagnetic counterparts.


Recently, one of the effective methods for the removal of heavy metals and water purification is the use of algae and especially diatoms. In this study, diatoms Nitzschia palea) were cultured in F2 medium and after purification was exposed to various concentrations (25-10 ppm) of chromium VI for 14 days and chromium absorption was measured by atomic absorption. The maximum and minimum absorbance at 5 ppm and 10 ppm were observed respectively. Diatoms absorbed chromium at a concentration of 2 ppm and higher absorption at a concentration of 5 ppm, but with increasing concentrations up to 10, absorption decreased. Diatoms have the ability to exchange cations of some elements other than hexavalent chromium since chromium six has a very low exchange in diatoms. Diatoms are not able to perform anion exchange, but with sufficient activation, they are used as anionic converters. The results of ANOVA-Oneway showed that the effect of the date on chromium absorption was significant.


This article explores the vast body of English language works on Hinduism published since 1981 by Voice of India—an influential right-wing Hindu publishing house headquartered in New Delhi, but contributed to by Indians at "home" and in diasporic communities, as well as Europeans and North Americans. Focus on the construction of the Hindu "Self" and the non-Hindu "Other" shows the manner in which European thought, primarily represented by the contributions of colonial-era British and German indologists, but bolstered by evangelicals, Utilitarians and Arabo-Islamicists from the same era, has become an important feature of postcolonial forms of Hinduism. In particular, the influence of fin de siècle German indologist Paul Deussen, mediated by such colonial-era Hindu thinkers as Swami Dayananda, Swami Vivekananda, Sri Aurobindo Ghose and Mahatma Gandhi, not only defines Voice of India's theology, but leads to the construction of a Hindu Self that is the personification of "Aryan godliness" and a non-Hindu Other that is essentialized as a "Semitic Demon." Although closely associated with and often serving the political initiatives of the Sangh Parivar, the authors of this theology have been kept at arm's length by the organization for reasons of political expediency. Both the growing network of contributors to and consumers of this view, and its periodic use by the Sangh Parivar, insure that it represents a significant development in the ideology of Hindutva.


Science fiction literature has long dreamed of extravagant utopias and dreaded nightmarish dystopias. Authors from the birth of the genre to more current times find the erosion of empathy to be the downfall of either extreme form of society. On the one hand, George Orwell's tyrannical climate of Nineteen Eighty-Four (1961) may seem worlds away from the hedonistic faux-paradise of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World (1932) or the fallen society of Margaret Atwood's attempted-utopia turned dystopia in Oryx and Crake (2004). However, whether a fictional world is allowed to go too far into utopian dreams through drug use, hyper-sexualization and the like, or whether it is all repressed into a dark authoritarian regime, members of each societal type undergo a loss of empathy which eventually becomes the downfall of civilization. It is notable as well that in both novels where science progresses rapidly without the check of ethics, and in literature where androids or modified human beings become too advanced for mankind to keep in the confines of a lawful society, it is the lack of empathy that causes death, destruction, and/or social disconnection and psychopathy. Though the pleasurable aspects of utopian classics and the unpleasant facets of dystopian books appear at first to be polar opposites, they indeed both reflect a society that is losing its sense of empathy and which is collapsing.


The Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA) elicits both love and hate, but decision time is here. Two states have enacted UCITA, several others are considering it, and UCITA choice-of-law clauses are already beginning to appear in software license agreements and other computer information contracts. This article focuses on how UCITA affects a pivotal issue: enforceability of contract clauses that exclude consequential damages. Losses from software development gone awry often far exceed the customer's investment and the developer's return. Under the Uniform Commercial Code, questions remains about the enforceability in certains circumstances of sequential damages exclusions. UCITA answers these questions by providing that such exclusions survive the failure of essential purpose of a limited remedy, so long as the agreement expressly provides that the exclusion is independent of the agreed remedy. Does UCITA honor or depart from U.S. commercial law's longstanding focus on the parties' bargain in fact? Only a close comparison of UCITA with existing law can reveal its true philosophical and practical effects.


Voltage sensor domains comprise four transmembrane segments (S1 to S4) and are responsible for sensing changes in membrane potential and controlling gating of the pore domain (S5 and S6) in voltage-gated ion channels. Sasaki et al. (see the Perspective by Miller) have identified a protein consisting primarily of a voltage-sensor domain (VSD) that appears to mediate voltage-gated proton currents. The proton currents exhibit pH-dependent gating and are sensitive to zinc ion concentrations, features that are characteristic of voltage-gated proton channels. M. Sasaki, M. Takagi, Y. Okamura, A voltage sensor-domain protein is a voltage-gated proton channel. Science 312, 589-592 (2006). [Abstract] [Full Text] C. Miller, Lonely voltage sensor seeks protons for permeation. Science 312, 534-535 (2006). [Summary] [Full Text]


NOTE: This teaching activity showcase is one of two during the 1:00pm-2:30pm session. A' It will be presented within that session from 1:00pm to 1:40pm.BRIEF SESSION DESCRIPTION:Flipgrid is an online social media platform that is ideal for sharing brief video statements with peers. This session explores how to leverage the Flipgrid platform to promote studentsA¢â'¬â"¢ understandings of diverse academic content through a brief showcase of student examples.A' Participants will be guided to consider how they might use the Flipgrid platform as a tool for enhancing social exchanges and enriching studentsA¢â'¬â"¢ understandings of essential course content. Participants will be able to describe how to create their own Flipgrid platform and create Flipgrid posts.A' _______________________________________________________________FULL ABSTRACT:Flipgrid is an online social media platform that is ideal for sharing brief video statements with peers. Recognized as one of the top A¢â'¬A"tech toolsA¢â'¬Â in 2018, the Flipgrid platform allows educators to create class forums accessible by students through password-protected, sharable links. This session will provide an overview of how I am currently using the platform as a forum for enhancing studentsA¢â'¬â"¢ knowledge of essential social studies themes. As part of my course, students completed five A¢â'¬A"Flipgrid Challenges.A¢â'¬Â Each challenge prompts students to reflect on their community and then find an example of the focus social studies theme. For example, the first challenge required participants to go to a favorite spot in their community and describe the location using essential vocabulary, such as relative location, absolute location, human-made features, physical features, and natural features. Another challenge prompted students to use their understandings of economics concepts to highlight the production of either a good or a service. By encouraging the students to use essential social studies themes to video snapshots of places within their own communities, essential aspects of geography, economics, and history hold more meaning for all participants. As part of this demonstration, I will provide an overview of the Flipgrid platform. I will also share (with student consent) a few of the challenges that my students completed as part of their coursework. I will discuss how this experience enriched the content explored within our face-to-face class sessions. Finally, I will share alternative ways educators may use Flipgrid to enhance and extend studentsA¢â'¬â"¢ content-specific understandings.


Elliott and Müller (2006) considered the problem of testing for general types of parameter variations, including infrequent breaks. They developed a framework that yields optimal tests, in the sense that they nearly attain some local Gaussian power envelop. The main ingredient in their setup is that the variance of the process generating the changes in the parameters must go to zero at a fast rate. They recommended the so-called qL̂L test, a partial sums type test based on the residuals obtained from the restricted model. We show that for breaks that are very small, its power is indeed higher than other tests, including the popular sup-Wald (SW) test. However, the differences are very minor. When the magnitude of change is moderate to large, the power of the test is very low in the context of a regression with lagged dependent variables or when a correction is applied to account for serial correlation in the errors. In many cases, the power goes to zero as the magnitude of change increases. The power of the SW test does not show this non-monotonicity and its power is far superior to the qL̂L test when the break is not very small. We claim that the optimality of the qL̂L test does not come from the properties of the test statistics but the criterion adopted, which is not useful to analyze structural change tests. Instead, we use fixed-break size asymptotic approximations to assess the relative efficiency or power of the two tests. When doing so, it is shown that the SW test indeed dominates the qL̂L test and, in many cases, the latter has zero relative asymptotic efficiency.


Root anatomy is an important determinant of root metabolic costs, soil exploration, and soil resource capture. Root anatomy varies substantially within and among plant species. RootSlice is a multicellular functional-structural model of root anatomy developed to facilitate the analysis and understanding of root anatomical phenotypes. RootSlice can capture phenotypically accurate root anatomy in three dimensions of different root classes and developmental zones, of both monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous species. Several case studies are presented illustrating the capabilities of the model. For maize nodal roots, the model illustrated the role of vacuole expansion in cell elongation; and confirmed the individual and synergistic role of increasing root cortical aerenchyma and reducing the number of cortical cell files in reducing root metabolic costs. Integration of RootSlice for different root zones as the temporal properties of the nodal roots in the whole-plant and soil model OpenSimRoot/maize enabled the multiscale evaluation of root anatomical phenotypes, highlighting the role of aerenchyma formation in enhancing the utility of cortical cell files for improving plant performance over varying soil nitrogen supply. Such integrative in silico approaches present avenues for exploring the fitness landscape of root anatomical phenotypes. Summary statement Root anatomy remains an underutilized target for crop breeding. RootSlice, a multicellular functional-structural model of root anatomy, simulates the costs and benefits of diverse root anatomical phenotypes to estimate their utility for plant fitness in unfavorable soil environments.


The Australian fauna has endured numerous extinctions and declines in recent history. In particular, Australian mammals have experienced disproportionately more extinctions than their overseas counterparts, with many other species now only persisting on offshore islands after disappearing from their former mainland habitats.
Once widespread throughout south-eastern Australia, the eastern quoll (Dasyurus viverrinus) is now considered extinct on the mainland, with the last confirmed sighting in Sydney in 1 963 . By contrast, eastern quoll populations in Tasmania were, until recently, presumed to be relatively stable and secure. However, spotlighting survey results suggest that the species may now be undergoing rapid and continuing decline.
The aim of the current study was to further investigate this suspected decline, by measuring long-term changes in eastern quoll populations at a number of sites across Tasmania, and identifying factors that could have contributed to any observed population changes.
Eastern quoll populations were surveyed using live capture and release at three study sites, with three replicate surveys performed at two-monthly intervals at each site.
Results from the present study were compared with historical data from previous studies at these sites to gauge the extent of any local population changes. Significant
reductions of >60% were observed in the number of quolls trapped at both Cradoc and Cradle Mountain, with no eastern quolls observed during any surveys at the Buckland study site. These declines appear to meet the criteria for listing the species as endangered under the Tasmanian Threatened Species Protection Act 1995 and the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
A range of morphometric data and biological samples was collected from captured eastern quolls to assist in identifying potential causes of decline. Population structure, body condition, reproductive output and the health and disease status of captured quolls were compared across sites and between years. Several significant trends were observed in areas such as the development and timing of key reproductive stages, changes in population demographics and shifts in coat-colour ratios.
From the findings of this study, critical information gaps were identified and several hypotheses were formulated to guide the management of key threats, halt further reductions, and ideally reverse the recent declines in eastern quolls.


Social media platforms and other digital interactive media hold great potential for political communication. This study explores perceptions about this potential and the motivations to adopt participatory tools and assesses both motivations and challenges that local administrations face in the process of technology adoption for political communication. Switzerland is a critical case for local communication, because, on the one hand, media structures, media usage patterns, political culture, and legal regulations make it likely to find high levels of participatory online communication. On the other hand, the formalized participation opportunities of direct democracy may undermine the potential of online participation. Our analysis, based on interviews and document analysis, addresses the implementation of participatory online communication from the theoretical perspectives of rational choice and neoinstitutionalism. We found diffuse rather than specific motivations, role conflicts, frictions between informal online participation and formal decision-making processes, and low demand and resonance from citizens to be important challenges to the implementation of online participation.


The Eyesafe Ladar Test-bed (ELT) is an experimental ladar system with the capability of digitizing return laser pulse waveforms at 2 GHz. These waveforms can then be exploited off-line in the laboratory to develop signal processing techniques for noise reduction, range resolution improvement, and range discrimination between two surfaces of similar range interrogated by a single laser pulse. This paper presents the results of experiments with new deconvolution algorithms with the hoped-for gains of improving the range discrimination of the ladar system. The sparsity of ladar returns is exploited to solve the deconvolution problem in two steps. The first step is to estimate a point target response using a database of measured calibration data. This basic target response is used to construct a dictionary of target responses with different delays/ranges. Using this dictionary ladar returns from a wide variety of surface configurations can be synthesized by taking linear combinations. A sparse linear combination matches the physical reality that ladar returns consist of the overlapping of only a few pulses. The dictionary construction process is a pre-processing step that is performed only once. The deconvolution step is performed by minimizing the error between the measured ladar return and the dictionary model while constraining the coefficient vector to be sparse. Other constraints such as the non-negativity of the coefficients are also applied. The results of the proposed technique are presented in the paper and are shown to compare favorably with previously investigated deconvolution techniques.


Achieving wireless connectivity in ever smaller, lower power portable devices with increasing number of features and better radio-frequency (RF) performance is becoming difficult to fulfill through existing RF front-end technology. RF micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) switch technology, which has significantly better RF characteristics than conventional technology and has near-zero power consumption, is one of the emerging solutions for next generation RF front-ends. However, to achieve satisfactory RF MEMS device performance, it is often necessary to have an actuating circuitry to generate high direct current (DC) voltages for device actuation with low power consumption. In this study, the authors present an RF MEMS switch controller based on a switched-capacitor (SC) DC-DC converter in a 0.35 μm CMOS technology. In this design, novel design techniques for a higher output voltage and lower power consumption in a smaller die area are proposed. The authors demonstrate the design of the high-voltage (HV) SC DC-DC converter by using low-voltage transistors and address reliability issues in the design. Through the proposed design techniques, the SC DC-DC converter achieves more than 25% higher boosted voltage compared to converters that use HV transistors. The proposed design provides 40% power reduction through the charge recycling circuit. Moreover, the SC DC-DC converter achieves 45% smaller than the area of the conventional converter.


Due to the close correlation between environmental radiationprotection and human health protection, the normal radiologicalactivity of 226Ra, 232Th, and 40K were measured in samples of beef and milk as an animal products. The measurements were performed using a gamma spectrometer to measure those animal products collected from four different regions, namely Mahammid, Cap, Helal and Nesrab in Upper Egypt. The uptake of these radionuclides was estimated from animal food, clover, straw, and water. Results showed that the concentration of 226Ra, 232Th was lower than the permissible values. The total annual dose of natural radionuclides was estimated as a result of the consumption of the population in those areas contaminated with phosphates for animal products. The total effective annual dose of beef consumption was estimated are 1.868, 1.889, 1.644, 1.756 µSv/yr in the studied areas respectively. Since the concentration of radionuclides 226Ra, 232Th, 40K in milk is higher than in beef, the total annual effective dose of milk consumption was higher than beef consumption. The effective annual dose was less than the annual permissible dose for the public. The obtained results indicating that a safe consumption of an animal products in the area under investigation.


In this, the 16th issue of The Archaeology of the Clay Tobacco Pipe, the subject matter returns to the east coast of the USA, last visited by the Chesapeake Bay volume (Number XII). A new, extended, typology for Colono pipes is presented, along with a detailed analysis of their chronology. A study of the archaeological evidence at these sites, together with a comparison of the stylistic elements present on the Colono pipes with examples from Mali in West Africa and from elsewhere in the African Diaspora outside North America, strongly supports previous arguments for an African ethnicity for the Chesapeake finds. The author links the increasing social hostility towards Africans in the area, as the century progresses, with changes in the styles observed on the pipes "investing them with...a symbolic content...as a method of communicating cultural survival and ethnic solidarity." The work is of particular significance to prehistorians who lack the means of studying past societies using historical sources.


This paper describes a participatory and collaborative process for formalising qualitative data, using research from southeast Cameroon, how these results can provide input to an social simulation model, and what insights they can provide in better understanding decision-making in the region. Knowledge Elicitation Tools (KnETs) have been used to support a body of existing research on local strategies that build community adaptive capacity and support sustainable forest management under a range of socio-environmental and climatic stressors. The output of this approach is a set of decision rules which complements previous analysis of differentiated vulnerability of forest communities. Improvements to the KnETs methodology, such as new statistical measurements, make it easier to generate inputs for a social simulation model, such as agent attributes and heterogeneity, as well as informing which scenarios to prioritise during model development and testing. The KnETs process served as a vehicle to structure a large volume of empirical data, to identify the most salient drivers of decision-making amongst different actors, to uncover tacit knowledge and to make recommendations about which strategic interventions should be further explored in a social simulation and by local organizations planning interventions. It was notable that there were many common rule drivers for men and women from the same households, though they participated in the game-interviews separately. At the same time, though strategies were common to both poor and better-off farmers, differences lay in the package of strategies chosen – the number and type of strategies as well the drivers factors – and how they were prioritised with respect to each farmer's goal.


After signing a bilateral free trade agreement with China and joining in the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Switzerland has become one of China's best partners in Europe. The bilateral relationship has been upgraded from "strategic partnership" to "innovative strategic partnership," and is regarded by the Chinese as "a model relationship for China-European countries." Two fundamental reasons explain why Switzerland has achieved such harmonious relations with the world's second largest economy: first, there is no historical conflict between the two countries; second, Switzerland is more pragmatic than other European countries in strengthening bilateral cooperation with China. So far, the two countries have institutionalized dialogues and other exchanges involving both elites and the public; sensitive issues have been properly handled without obstructing the development of their bilateral relations. As ever closer ties are being built between China and Europe as a whole, the Beijing-Bern relationship can serve as a model for other European countries.


Distributed generation (DG) of electricity is providing an increasing part of the worldwide electricity supply. At the same time, there is a big potential of demand response resources. When - in a geographical area or in the contract portfolio of an energy trader - the number of these distributed energy resources (DER) increases, clustered control of DER by common ICT (information and communication technology) systems can add value. Due to the fine-grained and distributed nature of DER, the design of such a system needs to meet heavy requirements, e.g. regarding scalability and openness. Further, these systems need to balance multiple stakes in a multi-actor environment. Multiagent systems, especially those based on electronic markets have been identified as key technologies in this respect. This paper presents a multiperspective case study of the design, implementation and performance of such a system for the business case of imbalance reduction in commercial clusters of DER. The benefits of this approach are shown by field experimental results of a real-life DER cluster with an imbalance characteristic dominated by wind electricity production. The approach resulted in substantial imbalance reductions. Further, a thorough analysis of the networked business constellation is given, together with an indication how business modelling techniques can be used to assess the financial feasibility of the business idea.


Context: Asthma is characterized by hyperresponsiveness and bronchoconstriction, induced by histamine and other noxes, with a prevalence in Peru of 20.7-28.2%, which is why, in traditional medicine, Jatropha macrantha Müll.Arg is used. Aims: To evaluate the in vivo bronchodilator activity of the ethanolic extract of the stems of J. macrantha. Methods: The powdered material of the stem of J. macrantha was extracted with ethanol 96° by maceration; then, the phytochemical screening was carried out. The doses of 200, 400 and 800 mg/kg of the extracts were subjected to in vivo evaluation in guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus) with 1% histamine-induced bronchoconstriction, determining the latency period and the intensity of the effect. Results: Phytochemical sieving showed alkaloids, catechins, flavonoids, tannins and terpenes. The activity was observed at the three doses of the J. macrantha extract, being higher at a single dose of 400 mg/kg, with a latency period of 33.0 ± 1.02 s, asphyxia 84.5 ± 1.08 s and anaphylaxis 105.6 ± 0.59 s. The analysis of variance and Dunnett's test resulted with p<0.05 as statistically significant. Conclusions: The results showed bronchodilator activity of the ethanolic extract of J. macrantha at an average dose of 400 mg/kg, orally, in Cavia porcellus.


Radical lesbian feminist Sheila Jeffreys (1997, 2003, 2014) argues that trans individuals are destroying feminism by succumbing to the greater forces of the patriarchy and by opting for surgery and thus conforming to normative ideas of sex and gender. Jeffreys is not alone in her views. Janice Raymond (1994, 2015) also maintains that trans individuals work either as male-to-females (MTFs) to uphold stereotypes of femininity and womanhood, or as female-to-males (FTMs) to join the ranks of the oppressors, support the patriarchy, and embrace hegemonic masculinity. Both Jeffreys and Raymond conclude that sex/gender is fixed by genitals at birth and thus deny trans individuals their right to move beyond the identities which they were assigned at birth. Ironically, a paradox is created by these feminist theorists, who deny trans individuals the right to define their own lives and control their own bodies. Such essentialist discourse, however, fails to recognize the oppression, persecution, and violence to which trans individuals are subjected because they do not conform to the sex that they were assigned at birth.
Jeffreys (1997) also claims there is an emergency and that the human rights of those who are now identifying as trans are being violated. Their critiques are not only troubling to me, as a self-identified lesbian feminist, but are also illogical and transphobic. My research, with trans identified individuals in Chicago, presents a different story and will begin to show another side of the complex relationship between trans and lesbian feminist communities. When considering the lives of my research participants, another agenda, counter to that of what is assumed by Jeffreys and Raymond, emerges and shows how trans individuals are moving forward to embrace themselves and their communities, while also establishing, or in some cases maintaining, a relationship with feminist values and politics.


This study examines relationships between external face movements, tongue movements, and speech acoustics for consonant-vowel (CV) syllables and sentences spoken by two male and two female talkers with different visual intelligibility ratings. The questions addressed are how relationships among measures vary by syllable, whether talkers who are more intelligible produce greater optical evidence of tongue movements, and how the results for CVs compared to those for sentences. Results show that the prediction of one data stream from another is better for C/a/ syllables than C/i/ and C/u/ syllables. Across the different places of articulation, lingual places result in better predictions of one data stream from another than do bilabial and glottal places. Results vary from talker to talker; interestingly, high rated intelligibility do not result in high predictions. In general, predictions for CV syllables are better than those for sentences.


ABSTRACT: The paper aims to dissect whether Cricket is a discriminatory sport or not. It will look at what has led to Cricket becoming a Gentleman's game and how did this systematic discrimination has occurred? And due to what reasons? The proposition of the paper is that it is the origination, politics, institutional practices accompanied with political agenda and stereotypes which has made Cricket a man's world. There are various reasons which has contributed to women not being equal participants in Sports. It ranges from the perception of women being physiologically inferior to men, lack of strength, women being allocated places in private then in public an all these values reflect in the upbringing of kids. It leads to disparity between Men's and Women's game. Capitalism, Patriarchy and men in Politics have further contributed to this partiality. The paper is divided into four parts: • Historical Aspect-. • Social Aspect-. • Economic Aspect• Constitutional AspectKey WordsICC:International Cricket's Council, BCCIBoard of Control for Cricket in India.


Due to the services and demands of the end
users, Distributed Computing (Grid Technology,
Web Services, and Peer-to-Peer) has been
developedrapidJy in thelastyears. Theconvergence
of these architectures has been possible using
mechanisms such as Collaborative work and
Resources Sharing. Grid computing is a platform to
enable flexible, secure, controlled, scalable,
ubiquitous and heterogeneous services. On the
other hand, Video Streaming applications demand
a greater deployment over connected Internet users.
The present work uses the Acti ve Grid technology
as a fundamental platform to give a solution of
multimediacontentrecovery. This solution takes
into account the following key concepts:
collaborative work, multi-source recovery and
adapti ve quality. A new archi tecture is designed to
deliver video content over a Grid Network. The
acti ve and passi ve roles of the nodes are important
to guarantee a high quality and efficiency for the
video streaming system. The acti ve sender nodes
are the content suppliers, while the passive sender
nodes wiU perform the backup functions, based on
global resource control policies. The aim of the
backup node is minirnize the time to restore the
systemin caseoffailures. In this way, all participant
peers work in a collaborati ve manner following a
mul ti -source recovery scheme.
Furthermore, Video La yered Encoding is used
to manage the video data in a high scalable way,
di viding the video in multiple layers. This video
codification scheme enables thequality adaptation
according to the availability of system resources. In
addition, a buffer by sender peer and by layer is
needed for an effecti ve control ofthe video retrieve.
The QoS will fit considering the state of each buffer
and the measurement tools provide by the Acti ve
Grid on the network nodes. Ke ywords: Peer -to-Peer Grid Architecture,
Services for Active Grids, Streaming Media,
Layered Coding, Quality Adaptation, CoUaborative
Work.


Musealisation as tool for collective memory management, constitutes a violent intervention in the social life of material objects, which –among other thingstransforms them into almost exclusively visual stimuli. This loss of materiality contravenes the consolidated museum practice that is based on the tangible evidence of 'authentic' objects, as well as its undoubted educational mission. I argue that the triptych 'protection – authenticity – learning' that has been the ontological base of modern museum is characterized by inherent contradictions. Therefore, any attempt to re-determine museum practice should re-examine it. In this vein of thought, it is imperative to challenge vision's domination, using something more than limited naïve dashes of other sensorial stimuli, that leave intact the dominant visual approach. In other words, I argue that multisensorial museum experience can threaten traditional museum's ontological features, and, therefore, can lead to a 'new' museum that will act principally as 'public space', and secondly, as the protector of a collection of dead things.


Primary intestinal lymphoma is rare representing about 0.5% of all colonic malignancies. It can be classified into two principal categories: follicular B cell lymphomas and intestinal T cell lymphomas. Other intestinal diseases are very important such as immunoproliferative small intestinal disease (IPSID), a prelymphomatous process, and MALT lymphomas, caused by infection of Helicobacter pylori (H. Pylori). We present a 79-year-old male patient which presented with abdominal pain in the upper parts of abdomen of four months' duration, colic timpanists, tenderness, distention, weight loss. Sometimes the abdominal pain decreased expelling diarrheal dejections. Histological and immune-histochemical tests on bioptic piece helped to reach the diagnosis of lymphoma but only after histological investigation on operative piece was made the diagnosis of B-cell lymphoma. This case report shows that an accurate diagnosis, the evaluation of the extension and the presence of particular infections and/or co morbidities (H. Pylori positive, age, performance status) are fundamental to decide the therapeutic protocol.


We evaluate a program that introduced bilingual education in English and
Spanish in primary education in some public schools of the Madrid region in 2004. Under this
program students not only study English as a foreign language but also some subjects (at least
Science, History and Geography) are taught in English. Spanish and Mathematics are taught only
in Spanish. The first class receiving full treatment finished Primary education in June 2010 and
they took the standardized test for all 6th grade students in Madrid on the skills considered
\indispensable" at that age. This test is our measure of the outcome of primary education to
evaluate the program. We have to face a double self-selection problem. One is caused by schools
who decide to apply for the program, and a second one caused by students when choosing school.
We take several routes to control for these selection problems. The main route to control for selfselected
schools is to take advantage of the test being conducted in the same schools before and
after the program was implemented in 6th grade. To control for students self-selection we
combine the use of several observable characteristics (like parents' education and occupation)
with the fact that most students were already enrolled at the different schools before the program
was announced. Our results indicate that there is a clear negative effect on learning the subject
taught in English for children whose parents have less than upper secondary education, and no
clear effect for anyone on mathematical and reading skills, which were taught in Spanish


The growing number of tree gene discovery projects reveals the existence of genes associated with possible functions already evaluated in other plant species. However, a considerable number of gene sequences offer limited clues as to their key functions, particularly in the context of tree species Trancriptome analysis using DNA microarray or DNA chip technologies has already been used to classify genes into distinct groups, based on similar gene expression patterns. However, to decode gene functions, a range of systematic approaches could be used, collectively known as functional genomics. In this chapter, we will describe how functional genomic studies are applicable to forest tree species with a specific emphasis on wood formation and defense response. We specifically outline a rationale for using transcriptional regulators to experimentally modulate and dissect the transcriptome and its regulation. This approach takes advantage of studies in model plant systems in which several classes of transcriptional regulator genes have been well characterized. A important application of this technology, the development of selection tools to accurately identify elite trees, which is particularly important in forestry where tree improvement cycles are very long. The genomic technologies described here will identify and characterize key genes responsible for wood quality or disease resistance that may also lead to applications via homologous gene transformation systems for the improvement offorest trees.


Finger movement identification is an important innovative interfacing method which has countless possible applications. It can be used to create a new age in human computer interfacing (HCI) devices. It can also be applied to medical applications, such as in the development of a more advanced prosthetic hand. The current research for this purpose includes methods such as computer vision and detecting finger motion through mechanical vibrations from skin surface. They have the limitation of being restrictive, in terms of the degree of movement that the hand is allowed from a certain optimum position, as well as being susceptible to environmental factors. In this study, the surface electromyography (sEMG) of the forearm from skin electrodes is developed and interfaced with computer. The response at the flexor carpi radialis muscle of the forearm is plotted for a group of subjects to observe the qualitative responsiveness of the sEMG to different types of finger movements. The results show that finger movement generates a corresponding response on the EMG electrodes. For the particular muscle being studied, the greatest individual digit amplitude response was observed for the ring finger (digitus annularis) across the subjects. In future studies, this research could be made more quantitative in nature by observing the frequency content of a variety of hand gestures across a sample of subjects


Background Forkhead box O (FoxO) transcription factors integrate environmental signals to modulate cell proliferation and survival, and alterations in FoxO function have been reported in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Objectives To examine the relationship between inflammation and FoxO expression in RA, and to analyse the mechanisms and biological consequences of FoxO regulation in RA fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS). Methods RNA was isolated from RA patient and healthy donor (HD) peripheral blood and RA synovial tissue. Expression of FoxO1, FoxO3a and FoxO4 was measured by quantitative PCR. FoxO1 DNA binding, expression and mRNA stability in RA FLS were measured by ELISA-based assays, immunoblotting and quantitative PCR. FLS were transduced with adenovirus encoding constitutively active FoxO1 (FoxO1ADA) or transfected with small interfering RNA targeting FoxO1 to examine the effects on cell viability and gene expression. Results FoxO1 mRNA levels were reduced in RA patient peripheral blood compared with HD blood, and RA synovial tissue FoxO1 expression correlated negatively with disease activity. RA FLS stimulation with interleukin 1β or tumour necrosis factor caused rapid downregulation of FoxO1. This effect was independent of protein kinase B (PKB), but dependent on c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK)-mediated acceleration of FoxO1 mRNA degradation. FoxO1ADA overexpression in RA FLS induced apoptosis associated with altered expression of genes regulating cell cycle and survival, including BIM, p27Kip1 and Bcl-XL. Conclusions Our findings identify JNK-dependent modulation of mRNA stability as an important PKB-independent mechanism underlying FoxO1 regulation by cytokines, and suggest that reduced FoxO1 expression is required to promote FLS survival in RA.


The diffuse deformation zone in the central Indian Ocean is the classical example of distributed deformation of the oceanic lithosphere, where shortening between the Indian and Capricorn plates is manifest as reverse faulting (5–10-km-spaced faults) and long-wavelength (100–300 km) folding. The onset of this deformation is commonly regarded as a key far-field indicator for the start of major uplift of the Himalayas and Tibet, some 4000 km further to the north, due to increased deviatoric stresses within the wider India-Asia area. There has been disagreement concerning the likely timing for the onset of deformation between plate-motion inversions and seismic reflection–based studies. In the present study, fault displacement data from seismic-reflection profiles within the central Indian Ocean demonstrate that compressional activity started much earlier than previously thought, at around 15.4–13.9 Ma. From reconstructions of fault activity histories, we show that 12% of the total reverse fault population had been activated, and 14% of the total strain accumulated, prior to a sharp increase in the deformation rate at 8.0–7.5 Ma. There is no evidence for any regional unconformity before 8.0–7.5 Ma; early shortening was accommodated by activity on single isolated fault blocks. Total strain estimates derived are more variable and complex than those predicted from plate inversion, and they do not show simple west to east increase.


Since the dawn of the Space Age, over six thousand satellites have been launched into Earth orbit. The function of determining the orientation of a satellite in orbit, so that it can point its antennas and instruments in the required direction is known as attitude determination. Depending on the nature of the mission, this important function is typically performed by means of optical instruments that determine the orientation of the satellite with respect to known bodies such as the Earth, the sun, and bright stars. Conventional Earth sensors use cameras and telescopes to locate the position of the Earth's horizon and hence to calculate the orientation of the satellite. In the event that a satellite starts to tumble, existing Earth sensors that use optical sensing are severely limited in their ability to reacquire the attitude due to the limited field of view of the instruments. Also, due to this limited field of view, multiple Earth sensor units need to be placed on all faces of the satellite to ensure 4π steradian coverage. Because of the optical sensing principle of existing Earth sensors, constraints are imposed on the positioning of solar panels and antennas so that they do not block the field of view of optical sensors. This thesis describes a novel inertial sensor that uses the Earth's gravity gradient as a reference for attitude determination on-board a satellite in low Earth orbit. Using the gravity gradient for attitude determination makes it possible to realise a single, compact Earth sensor instrument which can be positioned flexibly within the satellite. Due to its 4π steradian field of view, such an instrument can offer added capability as a backup sensor, or act as the main Earth sensor. By using Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) technology for the inertial sensor, a target mass of 1 kg and target volume of 1 dm3 can be realised for the entire gravity gradient Earth sensor system. The gravitational force decreases as the square of the distance from the center of the Earth. An elongated object in orbit around the Earth will have slightly different values of gravity acting over the different points in its volume. This gives rise to a small torque, the Gravity Gradient Torque (GGT), on the object. A compact micromachined inertial sensor was designed with an elongated proof mass and compliant spring to measure the GGT, so that the orientation of the proof mass with respect to the normal from the Earth's surface can be determined. Such a sensor on-board a satellite can act as an Earth sensor, and provide information about the satellite attitude with respect to the normal to the Earth's surface. An inertial sensor to measure GGT, which with readout electronics fits within a 1 dm3 volume, has to measure a torque of magnitude 10-15 N.m. Currently, no inertial sensor is capable of such a fine measurement. In addition to the required performance in microgravity, the inertial sensor must be robust enough to be tested on Earth with no special handling, and must survive the vibration and shock of a launch, to be used in space. The readout scheme to measure the displacement due to GGT must also be simple and robust. The designs of two generations of a novel inertial sensor to measure the GGT are presented in the thesis. To be able to measure the GGT with the required accuracy a sensor is designed that has a proof mass 5 cm long, suspended by springs which have widths less than ten microns. The sensor resonant frequency of the inertial sensor is on the order of 1 Hz. A new fabrication process is developed for the sensor, which incorporates hard stops to limit the motion of the proof mass along all the axes, thus making it robust enough for testing without any special precautions. The sensor survives low magnitude vibration tests. A digital electronic readout based on capacitive sensing of the displacement due to GGT, is developed based on commercially available ICs, and allows easy interfacing of the inertial sensor output to a PC or microcontroller. To test the sensor on Earth, a dedicated test setup is developed to replicate the nm-scale motion of the proof mass expected in orbit. The electronic readout is capable of measuring the sub-nm displacements due to GGT. The 2nd generation sensor design with capacitive displacement sensing is the first demonstration of an inertial sensor capable of measuring the GGT in low Earth orbit, and an important step towards realization of a 1 kg, 1 dm3 Earth sensor that uses the gravity gradient of the Earth for attitude determination.


The focus of Deputy Governors when they met for their annual meeting at the BIS in January 2008 was on the great expansion of the role of emerging market economies (EMEs) in the international banking and capital markets. The deeper integration of EMEs is seen in the rapid growth in their gross non-official inflows and outflows . The papers written for this meeting - three background papers by BIS staff members and the country-specific papers prepared at the central banks of 19 EMEs - tackle several topics related to the growth in capital flows. Some issues were thrown into sharper focus by the severe market stress in the fourth quarter of 2008. The topics covered include: 1. The great increase in capital outflows of EMEs and growth in sovereign wealth funds, changes in the volatility of capital flows, and the challenges posed in analysing the risk exposures created by different forms of capital flow; 2. Exchange rate-sensitive capital flows and the implications of greater development and foreign participation in local currency debt markets; exchange rate volatility and foreign exchange market intervention; 3. Increased cross-border bank flows and their implications for financial stability, including credit growth, liquidity risks and currency mismatches; 4. Financial and capital account reforms. The trend has been towards capital account liberalisation with some recent reversals; 5. Pension funds and demographic trends. Ageing trends should lower national saving rates and reduce current account surpluses in EMEs but precautionary motives for saving plus related fiscal and asset accumulation policies could offset these effects, at least for a time. The rapid growth in pension fund assets appears to have help to deepened some financial markets. This could be enhanced if pension portfolios were diversified further, including internationally; 6. More liquid EME markets. A recurrent theme of the meeting was the deepening of local money and capital markets. In particular, the development of derivatives markets in the EMEs has been helped by the very strong growth the spot foreign exchange market for EME currencies and the increase in local currency domestic bonds outstanding.


Abstract Sampling distributions are central to understanding statistical inference, yet they are one of the most difficult concepts for introductory statistics students. Although hands-on teaching methods are preferred, finding the right balance between theory and practical experience has not been easy. Simulation activities have not always captured the research situations that statisticians work with. This paper describes a method developed by the author to teach sampling distributions using a collaborative learning simulation based on political polling. Anecdotally, students found the polling scenario easy to understand, interesting, and enjoyable, and they were able to explain the meaning of sample results and inferences about the population. Sample examination questions are included, with examples of students' responses that suggest that the method helped them to understand sampling error and its role in statistical inference.


High-performance air-stable PBTZT-stat-BDTT-8 organic solar cells were fabricated using mixed C60/C70 fullerene acceptors. Normal-architecture devices using PBTZT-stat-BDTT-8 with PC71BM produced a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 9.38%. An inverted-architecture, which possesses higher stability, was fabricated using a more economical PC61BM and PC71BM mixture with solution-processed PEDOT:PSS on top and produced a PCE of 8.15%. Exploiting the viscous nature of PBTZT-stat-BDTT-8, the slow evaporation effect was utilised to achieve an even higher efficiency of 8.73%. A stability test was conducted under operating conditions and our devices showed remarkably higher stability compared with PTB7-based devices.


Female terrestrial isopods (Crustacea: Oniscidea) carry eggs and early instars in a ventral brood pouch. We investigated reproductive expenditure of female Armadillidium vulgare Latreille under the condition of restrictedfood resources. Regardless of food availability, few cases of spontaneous termination of care were observed and most gravid females either successfully produced offspring or died while still bearing eggs. There were no differences in pre-hatching maternal mortality between food-restricted and non-restricted groups, but females exhibited significantly higher post-reproductive mortality when food availability was heavily reduced after oogenesis. This did not occur when food was restricted prior to oogenesis, but in this case females delayed the onset of reproduction. An association between mortality and past reproduction was further supported by high laboratory mortality, regardless of food availability, in non-gravid females field-captured late in the reproductive season. Maternal investment in A. vulgare thus appears to be energetically expensive. Despite the ability to terminate care, however, females continue to invest heavily in reproduction even when resources are scarce and the likelihood of mortality is high.


Abstract The rupture, localization, and slip of faults in serpentinite were studied under varying pore fluid pressure conditions to understand deformation mechanisms potentially responsible for slow slip in fault zones. Experiments were conducted at a constant effective confining pressure of 10 MPa and under pore fluid pressures from 0 to 120 MPa and at temperatures from 23 to 110 °C. With no fluid pressure, faulting occurs rapidly and audibly, and the duration of failure increases monotonically with increasing fluid pressure and temperature. Although non-dilatant during initial strain hardening, the serpentinite dilates during strain weakening concomitant with fault rupture and slip. Non-dilatant strain hardening occurs by microcracking along serpentine basal planes and grain boundaries and rarely in mode I orientations, consistent with previous studies. Dilatant fault rupture produces a network of transgranular shear fractures in conjugate orientations, generally with one dominant fracture. Structural observations show that as fluid pressure increases, the number of transgranular fractures increases. We propose that when faulting occurs over a distributed zone rather than a pre-existing principal slip surface, dilatant hardening causes deformation to migrate. This process causes an increase in slip weakening distance and fracture energy at elevated fluid pressures that can lead to more stable failure. Further, thermally-activated processes caused deformation at propagating crack tips, which also increases the slip weakening distance and the effective fracture energy with increasing temperature. Given the geologic settings for slow slip, our results indicate that high fluid pressure, distributed deformation, and thermally-activated processes may all contribute to slow fault rupture and slip.


Over the last decade information engineering has become the methodology of choice for developing information systems. There are as many definitions of information engineering as there are practitioners of the techniques. This paper addresses information engineering from a practical perspective; it discusses how information engineering techniques can be applied to the real-life problem of identifying system requirements and satisfying those requirements with a computer-based information system. The paper also shows that information engineering, rather than being a new methodology, is made up of components of existing methodologies. >