BACKGROUND
Our understanding of factors associated with acquisition and clearance of human papillomavirus (HPV) in men has been limited. This study sought to determine factors associated with those aspects of HPV infection in a cohort of US men.

METHODS
A total of 285 men aged 18-44 years were monitored every 6 months for approximately 18 months. Risk-factor information was obtained at each visit by use of a self-administered questionnaire. A continuous-time 2-state Markov model was applied.

RESULTS
Lifetime number of sex partners reported at enrollment was the most significant risk factor for acquisition of all types of HPV. Men reporting >16 lifetime sex partners were at significantly elevated risk of any HPV infection (adjusted hazard ratio [AHR], 2.8 [95% confidence interval {CI}, 1.1-7.1]), oncogenic HPV infection (AHR, 9.6 [95% CI, 2.4-37.8]), and nononcogenic HPV infection (AHR, 3.6 [95% CI, 1.3-9.9]), compared with those reporting 0-4 partners. Circumcised men were 3 and 6 times more likely to clear infection with any and oncogenic HPV types, respectively. In addition, having had >16 lifetime sex partners was associated with greater likelihood of clearance of oncogenic HPV infection (AHR, 4.9 [95% CI, 1.2-19.8]).

CONCLUSION
The key factor associated with acquisition of HPV was lifetime number of sex partners, whereas circumcision was the most significant determinant for clearance of any HPV infection and oncogenic HPV infection.


The development of predictive appearance models for organic tissues is a challenging task due to the inherent complexity of these materials. In this report, we closely examine the biophysical processes responsible for the appearance attributes of whole blood, one the most fundamental of these materials. We describe a new appearance model that simulates the mechanisms of light propagation and absorption within the cellular and fluid portions of this specialized tissue. The proposed model employs a comprehensive, and yet flexible first principles approach based on the morphological, optical and biochemical properties of blood cells. This approach allows for environment driven changes in the cells' anatomy and orientation to be appropriately included into the light transport simulations. The correctness and predictive capabilities of the proposed model are quantitatively and qualitatively evaluated through comparisons of modeled results with actual measured data and experimental observations reported in the scientific literature. Its incorporation into rendering systems is illustrated through images of blood samples depicting appearance variations controlled by physiologically meaningful parameters. Besides the contributions to the modeling of material appearance, the research presented in this report is also expected to have applications in a wide range of biomedical areas, from optical diagnostics to the visualization and noninvasive imaging of blood-perfused tissues.


Constitutionalism is often understood to mean more than mere adherence to the formal terms of a constitution. Beyond this, it is usually associated with structuring the exercise of public power in line with a core set of principled commitments and, in doing so, rendering it legitimate. That said, it is possible to imagine a political system that practices robust constitutional discipline without meeting basic expectations of democracy, fundamental rights, human dignity, justice, or equality. With the example of the 1982 Turkish Constitution in mind, this article develops a theory of "authoritarian constitutionalism" as a system in which the constitution, rather than constraining the exercise of public power, is coopted to sanction oppressive uses of it. This discussion is situated against the backdrop of the enduring problem of "parchment barriers" in constitutional theory: authoritarian constitutionalism is instructive for understanding the extent to which the writ of the constitution shapes the beliefs, actions, and aspirations of the actors who inhabit the regime. When constitutional rule is marshaled to consolidate state power, it is strikingly effective at thwarting attempts at democratic reform. This suggests that constitutions do, in fact, "matter," though not uniformly as a force for political liberalization.


Robot-aided systems to support the physical rehabilitation of individuals with neurological impairment is one of the fields that has been widely developed in the last few decades. However, the adoption of these systems in clinical practice remains limited. In order to better understanding the causes of this limitation, a systematic review of robot-based systems focused on upper extremity rehabilitation is presented in this paper. A systematic search and review of related articles in the literature were conducted. The chosen works were analyzed according to the type of device, the data analysis capability, the therapy method, the human–robot interaction, the safety strategies, and the focus of treatment. As a conclusion, self-adaptation for personalizing the treatments, safeguarding and enhancing of patient–robot interaction towards training essential factors of movement generation into the same paradigm, or the use of lifelike environments in fully-immersive virtual reality for increasing the assimilation of motor gains could be relevant factors to develop more accepted robot-aided systems in clinical practice.


Manufacturing industries differ with respect to their energy intensity, labor-to-capital ratio and their pollution intensity. Across the United States, there is significant variation in electricity prices and labor and environmental regulation. This paper uses a regression discontinuity approach to examine whether the basic logic of comparative advantage can explain the geographical clustering of U.S. manufacturing. Using a unified empirical framework, we document that energy-intensive industries concentrate in low electricity price counties, labor-intensive industries avoid pro-union counties, and pollution-intensive industries locate in counties featuring relatively lax Clean Air Act regulation. We use our estimates to predict the likely jobs impacts of regional carbon mitigation efforts.


Francis Bacon painted pictures based mostly on photographs published in encyclopaedias, popular magazines, the tabloid press, posters and packaging. He was interested in reproductions of paintings by great masters. He used photographs by Muybridge. Photographs, treated by Bacon as tools, were later "worked on" by the artist, becoming the canvas for his paintings. The scenes he chose – often drastic, depicting rape and violence – were painted into his canvases, creating a deformed image of the world that "emerged" from the horrors of both world wars. He painted portraits based on his photographs of friends. These were usually people with whom the artist was emotionally connected. He painted self-portraits base on a series of photographs taken in automatic photography, from which he selected several to form the basis of his paintings. Real things and persons should exist in the fictional space assigned to them. By destroying literalism in painting, Bacon wanted to find the similarity desired in painting as its principal, so to rediscover realism. When painting a portrait, he tried to capture the appearance of the figure. After Francis Bacon's death, his London studio (7, Reece Mews), restored by conservators, was "repeated" in the space of the Hugh Lane Gallery in Dublin. It contains about 7,500 objects, among them numerous photographs which had been torn up by the artist, photographs of his lovers and friends, black and white reproductions. The Bacon 'archive' collected in Dublin is now a silent hint of the creative process of the artist, who despite numerous studies devoted to him and recorded conversations, still remains one of the most inscrutable artists of the 20th century.


Passive protection of metal installations against corrosion is provided by coatings (organic or metallic) and paints. These limit the flow of aggressive elements by creating a physical barrier. Most of these coatings are not perfect and therefore the contact metal/corrosive medium is inevitable. The efficiency of anticorrosive paints is dependent on the intrinsic characteristics of the organic film (barrier effect), its adhesion (metal/paint interface), the presence of inhibitors or sacrificial pigments within the film of the painting.
The aim of this work is to propose primer based on a conductive polymer (polyaniline / lignin) and to evaluate its anti-corrosive performance when protecting carbon steel in a 1M HCl acid medium.
Conventional primers are based on zinc chromates, currently prohibited for environmental reasons, hence their substitution by zinc phosphate. three primaries are investigated in this study:
1.      Conventional zinc phosphate-based primer, manufactured by the Algerian National Paintings Company (ENAP) and which is a reference set,
2.      Primary without anticorrosion load for comparative purposes.
3.      Polyaniline / lignin-based primer developed in this study,
The study of the corrosion behavior and the evolution of the protective power of these primers were carried out by an immersion test, and by stationary (polarization curves) and non-stationary electrochemical techniques (electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, test of cathodic delamination). These methods make it possible to demonstrate, on the one hand, the efficiency of the nature of the anti-corrosive used in the primary formulations on the protection performance of carbon steel against corrosion in acidic medium (1M HCl), and of on the other hand the solubility of the anti-corrosion charge in the chosen solvent system (dimethylformamide, xylene).


In "Making Sense of the Constitution: A Primer on the Supreme Court and Its Struggle to Apply Our Fundamental Law," Walter Frank tackles in a comprehensive but lively manner subjects rarely treated in one volume.Aiming at both the general reader and students of political science, law, or history, Frank begins with a brief discussion of the nature of constitutional law and why the Court divides so closely on many issues. He then proceeds to an analysis of the Constitution and subsequent amendments, placing them in their historical context. Next, Frank shifts to the Supreme Court and its decisions, examining, among other things, doctrinal developments, the Court s decision making processes, how justices interact with each other, and the debate over how the Constitution should be interpreted.The work concludes with a close analysis of Court decisions in six major areas of continuing controversy, including abortion, affirmative action, and campaign finance. "Outstanding" by the University Press Books for Public and Secondary Schools"


A single volume of 85 articles, the "Handbook of the Neurobiology of Aging" is an authoritative selection of relevant chapters from the "Encyclopedia of Neuroscience", the most comprehensive source of neuroscience information assembled to date (AP Oct 2008). The study of neural aging is a central topic in neuroscience, neuropsychology and gerontology. Some well-known age-related neurological diseases include Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, but even more common are problems of aging which are not due to disease but to more subtle impairments in neurobiological systems, including impairments in vision, memory loss, muscle weakening, and loss of reproductive functions, changes in body weight, and sleeplessness. As the average age of our society increases, diseases of aging become more common and conditions associated with aging need more attention by doctors and researchers. This book offers an overview of topics related to neurobiological impairments which are related to the aging brain and nervous system. Coverage ranges from animal models to human imaging, fundamentals of age-related neural changes and pathological neurodegeneration, and offers an overview of structural and functional changes at the molecular, systems, and cognitive levels. Key pathologies such as memory disorders, Alzheimer's, dementia, Down syndrome, Parkinson's, and stroke are discussed, as are cutting edge interventions such as cell replacement therapy and deep brain stimulation. There is no other current single-volume reference with such a comprehensive coverage and depth. Authors selected are the internationally renowned experts for the particular topics on which they write, and the volume is richly illustrated with over 100 color figures. A collection of articles reviewing our fundamental knowledge of neural aging, the book provides an essential, affordable reference for scientists in all areas of Neuroscience, Neuropsychology and Gerontology. The most comprehensive source of up-to-date data on the neurobiology of aging, review articles cover: normal, sensory and cognitive aging; neuroendocrine, structural and molecular factors; and fully address both patholgy and intervention. Chapters represent an authoritative selection of relevant material from the most comprehensive source of information about neuroscience ever assembled, ("Encyclopedia of Neuroscience"), synthesizing information otherwise dispersed across a number of journal articles and book chapters, and saving researchers the time consuming process of finding and integrating this information themselves. Offering outstanding scholarship, each chapter is written by an expert in the topic area and over 20 percent of chapters feature international contributors, (representing 11 countries). The book provides more fully vetted expert knowledge than any existing work with broad appeal for the US, UK and Europe, accurately crediting the contributions to research in those regions. It fully explores various pathologies associated with the aging brain (Alzheimer's, dementia, Parkinson's, memory disorders, stroke, Down's syndrome, etc.). The book includes coverage of disorders and key interventions makes the volume relevant to clinicians as well as researchers. It is heavily illustrated with over 100 color figures.


Oil and gas development in Federal waters off Alaska has recently been stymied by litigation. Tensions have been increasing rather than decreasing and no development is taking place in various locations. Faced with identical problems in the Eastern Beaufort Sea, the author, along with a small group of other involved industry participants, attempted to resolve concerns directly with the affected coastal users. As a first priority, industry negotiators inquired informally whether negotiations would even be possible. Concurrently, research was begun into the statutory and regulatory constraints on both parties regarding any actions that might be undertaken to facilitate a settlement. With these problems in mind, initial presentations were made by each party to the other. These general proposals were then presented to each involved State or Federal regulatory agency to insure that they were conceptually acceptable. A problem was encountered in obtaining certain approvals necessary from the National Marine Fisheries Service regarding the assistance requested by the Natives. Operations proceeded through the summer largely without incident.


I am pleased to present this week's Commencement Archive piece: Dr. Jonathan LaPook's keynote address at the 2017 Quinnipiac University School of Medicine Commencement. Dr. Jonathan LaPook is the Chief Medical Correspondent for CBS news and has served in this role since 2006. A board-certified physician in internal medicine and gastroenterology, he is also a Professor of Medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center. He attended medical school at Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, and completed an internal medicine residency and a gastroenterology fellowship at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center. Dr. LaPook has received two Emmy awards for his work in 2012 and 2013 covering the national drug shortage and Boston Marathon bombings, respectively. While Dr. LaPook is accustomed to speaking in front of crowds and cameras, this particular speech was a first for him.   With great pride and humility, he addressed the very first graduating class of Quinnipiac University School of Medicine.  While the event was new to everyone involved, the message Dr. LaPook delivered stems from his diverse experiences as both a physician and journalist.  Dr. LaPook discusses the semipermeable membrane—or as he puts it, an emotional wall—that lies between us (as physicians) and the patient.  One must be mindful of the emotional balance that exists, and this, according to Dr. LaPook, is the first and last challenge of the art of healing. "It starts with a decision about the emotional wall we all build between ourselves and our patients. Constructing it is tricky. You don't want to make it too thin and porous, because that can be emotionally devastating. But you don't want to make it too thick and impervious, because then you miss out on all the good stuff, the precious moments when you connect with a patient as a person. I treasure the time an elderly patient showed up for an office visit on a beautiful spring day, and I wheeled her over to the Central Park Zoo to watch the sea lions. No medicine I have ever prescribed has had a more powerful therapeutic response. Everybody has to find a comfort level. For me, erring on the side of "too empathetic" is the way to go. Patients pick up on it, and if they feel you really care, they're more likely to open up to you." "When we're watching a movie and an important moment is about to happen, how do we know?" Unfortunately, when caring for sick patients, other than a few beeps on the monitor, important moments don't come with dramatic music or close-ups.  There is no camera-pan to direct our attention to informative, meaningful information.  We are both privileged and burdened with this responsibility of seeking out and interpreting information in order to make informed decisions. "Well, in life, there's no close-up and there's no change of music. You have to play the soundtrack in your own head. You have to control the zoom button yourself. You must catch that moment when the patient—consciously or unconsciously—tells you what's the matter. You need to get them to open up to you as one human being to another. And they will not do that unless they know they are talking to a human being!" As Dr. LaPook continues, he begins to discuss his career in journalism and its implications on his medical practice.  In particular, covering global health crises has shaped his ability to communicate oftentimes complex medical information to a broad audience.  "The key is taking complex topics and presenting them in simple, accessible terms. Communicating clearly—and succinctly—is an important skill. Work on it." Dr. LaPook summarizes with a single piece of advice. "Be comfortable with uncertainty. If you've been practicing medicine for five years and you think you have all the answers, you're in the wrong profession." Although patients may expect us to have all the answers, we must not burden ourselves with this expectation. Medicine is an art, not a calculation. Physicians consume diverse clinical data not necessarily to find an answer but rather to justify a decision. Dr. LaPook sends the graduating class out with a final message. "What's going to distinguish you as true healers is the way you embrace humility, compassion, and empathy. Turn away from the computer screen and look your patient straight in the eyes. Understand the extraordinary importance of listening. And realize that even when you don't have the answer for a patient in need, you can still help—with a sympathetic ear, a reassuring touch of the hand, and by sticking by them, through sickness and health. "


In this paper, we study pseudo-valuations on a BCI-algebra and obtain some related results. The relation between pseudo-valuations and ideals is investigated. We use a pseudo-metric induced by a pseudo- valuation to introduce a congruence relation on a BCI-algebra. We define the quotient algebra induced by this relation and prove that it is also a BCI-algebra and study its properties.


This paper discusses the outcomes of action research with an interfaith community dialogue project. The project was established to encourage resilience to the divisive narratives of extreme or radical right-wing groups in South Yorkshire, UK. In communities where there is antipathy towards 'outsiders', contact theory encourages intergroup interaction as a way of improving relationships. However, this research found that where people could or would not take part in inter-group contact, an alternative approach was therefore required. This research identified an innovative process of facilitated 'safe-space' intra-community dialogue that involved groups whose 'out-group' antipathy could feed extremism. Participants could talk amongst themselves about why they felt as they did without the expectation they would interact with other groups. This research identified the role of faith in challenging extremism and a dialogue process that has potential for wider application in settings where identity-related hostility is present.


Abstract Although European economic history provides essentially no support for the view that education of the general population has a positive causal effect on economic growth, a recent paper by Becker, Hornung and Woessmann (Education and Catch-Up in the Industrial Revolution, 2011) claims that such education had a significant impact on Prussian industrialisation. The author shows that the instrumental variable BHW use to identify the causal effect of education is correlated with variables that influenced industrialisation but were omitted from their regression models. When this specification error is corrected, and a systematic model selection procedure is used, the evidence shows that education of the general population had, if anything, a negative causal impact on industrialisation in Prussia.


PURPOSE
This study investigated the decrement in running performance of elite soccer players competing at low altitude and time course for abatement of these decrements.

METHODS
Twenty elite youth soccer players had their activity profile, in a sea-level (SL) and 2 altitude (Alt, 1600 m, d 4, and d 6) matches, measured with a global positioning system. Measures expressed in meters per minute of match time were total distance, low- and high-velocity running (LoVR, 0.01-4.16 m/s; HiVR, 4.17-10.0 m/s), and frequency of maximal accelerations (>2.78 m/s2). The peak and subsequent stanza for each measure were identified and a transient fatigue index calculated. Mean heart rate (HR) during the final minute of a submaximal running task (5 min, 11 km/h) was recorded at SL and for 10 d at Alt. Differences were determined between SL and Alt using percentage change and effect-size (ES) statistic with 90% confidence intervals.

RESULTS
Mean HR almost certainly increased on d 1 (5.4%, ES 1.01 ± 0.35) and remained probably elevated on both d 2 (ES 0.42 ± 0.31) and d3 (ES 0.30 ± 0.25), returning to baseline at d 5. Total distance was almost certainly lower than SL (ES -0.76 ± 0.37) at d 4 and remained probably reduced on d 6 (ES -0.42 ± 0.36). HiVR probably decreased at d 4 vs SL (-0.47 ± 0.59), with no clear effect of altitude at d 6 (-0.08 ± 0.41). Transient fatigue in matches was evident at SL and Alt, with a possibly greater decrement at Alt.

CONCLUSION
Despite some physiological adaptation, match running performance of youth soccer players is compromised for at least 6 d at low altitude.


Previous field experiments have found that artificial surveillance cues facilitated prosocial behaviors such as charitable donations and littering. Several previous field studies found that the artificial surveillance cue effect was stronger when few individuals were in the vicinity; however, others reported that the effect was stronger in large groups of people. Here, we report the results of a field study examining the effect of an artificial surveillance cue (stylized eyes) on charitable giving. Three collection boxes were placed in different locations around an izakaya (a Japanese-style tavern) for 84 days. The amount donated was counted each experimental day, and the izakaya staff provided the number of patrons who visited each day. We found that the effect of the stylized eyes was more salient when fewer patrons were in the izakaya. Our findings suggest that the effect of the artificial surveillance cue is similar to that of "real" cues and that the effect on charitable giving may weaken when people habituate to being watched by "real" eyes.


In this study, we tackle the problem of searching for the most favorable pattern of link capacities that makes a power transmission network resilient to cascading failures with limited investment costs. This problem is formulated within a combinatorial multi-objective optimization framework and tackled by evolutionary algorithms. A power flow model (namely, the ORNL-Pserc-Alaska (OPA) model) is embraced to simulate cascading failures in a network and to quantify its resilience. The framework of capacity allocation optimization is originally applied to the 400kV French power transmission network for the purpose of exemplification. The results show that cascade resilient networks tend to have a non-linear capacity-load relation: in particular, heavily loaded components have smaller unoccupied portion of capacity, whereas lightly loaded links present larger unoccupied portion of capacity which is in contrast with the linear capacity-load relation hypothesized in previous works.


In the present work a thorough investigation of how small amounts of multiwall carbon nanotubes (CNTs), nanodiamonds (NDs), and combinations between them affect the properties and performance of polypropylene (PP) is presented. An improvement on the mechanical properties of the nanocomposites as a consequence of the incorporation of CNTs and NDs is detected which is also related to their crystalline characteristics as well as melting and crystallization kinetics. In specific ratios, property enhancements caused by the combined incorporation of the nanofillers exceed the corresponding reinforcements induced by each type of filler separately and are probably linked with their dispersion state. The incorporation of CNTs and NDs does also increase effectively the thermal conductivity of PP, while the two fillers affect this property distinctly. The detected cumulative trends of the separate effects of the fillers confirm their distinct contributions on heat capacity and thermal diffusivity, marking a notable difference in the reinforcement mechanism of the mechanical versus thermal properties.


Sonneratia apetala and S. caseolaris are easily distinguishable by leaf epicuticular and pollen ultrastructure. S. apetala shows fine, distinct, intermingled rodlets of wax crystalloids on leaf surface with sunken stomata. In the contrary S. caseolaris shows wide, indistinct, rodlets of wax crystalloids with exposed stomata. Epicuticular structures enlighten an important adaptation toward transpiration control according to their area of occupancy in saline habitat. Pollens of the both species show the phenomenon of harmomegathy. Harmomegathic effect is pronounced in S. apetala.


The interaction of polymers and a solid surface modifies the polymer properties near the surface (the
so-called interphase) in comparison to those of the bulk polymers. A clear explanation of the origin of
this modification in the polymer properties is still missing. The aim of my PhD thesis has been the
study of the mechanical properties of nanocomposite materials and the analysis of the behavior of
polymers in the interphase region under deformation. Coarse-grained simulations have been performed
for a model system of silica nanoparticles (NPs) embedded in atactic polystyrene (PS). In this case
molecular details are important only in a small spatial region of the interphase. The rest of the polymer
has bulk-like behavior which can be described by continuum mechanics. Therefore, it is convenient to
simulate the region of interest by molecular dynamics (MD) and to treat the rest of the nanocomposite
by continuum mechanics methods. To fulfill this we developed a new hybrid molecular – continuum
simulation method for polymers. In our model the center of the simulation box is treated by MD. This
region is surrounded by a continuum domain which is described by a finite element approach. To the
best of our knowledge, the present work is the first attempt to use simultaneously MD and FE methods
in simulations of polymers. It has been the main motivation of this work to develop a new hybrid
scheme for polymers. Coupling a MD to a FE method requires a lot of modifications in both the MD
and FE domains. The introduction of my thesis contains a short review on the existing hybrid schemes
and modifications needed to couple the two domains. Difficulties to couple them such as transferring
the information between two domains and equilibrating the continuum domain are explained. Different
methods and techniques to overcome these difficulties as well as the advantages and disadvantages of
each method are described briefly. These methods, however, are limited to liquid and crystalline solid
materials. They have to be modified to be capable of simulating polymers. In the present PhD thesis
we have explained the technical difficulties to couple a MD to a FE model for polymers in the MD
domain and how we tackled these problems. Modifications in the FE domain have been done by
researchers in the Applied Mechanics Department of the University of Erlangen. The current work has
involved a strong collaboration with them to integrate a modified MD domain into a FE domain.
In the second chapter of the thesis, the mechanical properties of a pure polystyrene matrix as well as a
polystyrene matrix filled with bare silica nanoparticles are investigated by MD simulations at the
coarse-grained level. The stress-strain curve of polystyrene has been computed for a range of
temperatures below and above the glass transition. The Young's modulus of polystyrene obtained from
the stress-strain curve has been compared to experimental and atomistic simulation data. By studying
the local segmental orientation and the local structure of the polymer near the nanoparticle surface under deformation, we have found that the segments close to the silica nanoparticle surface are stiffer
than those in the bulk. The thickness of the interphase has been estimated. We have shown that the
Young's modulus of the studied nanocomposite increases by increasing the volume fraction of the
nanoparticle. The results of interphase studies under deformation as described in this section are
important input parameters for the FE simulations in the present hybrid scheme; this will explained in
chapter four.
In hybrid simulations the usual periodic boundary conditions of MD cannot be used as the MD domain
is surrounded by a FE domain. In hybrid schemes boundary conditions should allow an information
transfer through the boundary region between two domains. Therefore, I developed new non-periodic
boundary conditions, so-called stochastic boundary conditions (SBC), which are able to transfer
information (forces and deformations) between the two domains and to minimize the artifacts in the
dynamics. In the SBC ensemble we have defined a set of auxiliary particles, so-called anchor points, in
the boundary region. The anchor points are harmonically coupled to the MD particles. They play an
important role to transfer the information between the MD and FE domains. Particles in the boundary
region are forced to mimic the bulk behavior by employing a stochastic dynamics in the boundary
region. This minimizes the artificial influence of the anchor points and the vacuum on the polymers in
the center of the box. The SBCs are explained in more detail in the third chapter. We have validated
these boundary conditions by comparing the results of coarse-grained polystyrene melts under nonperiodic
and regular periodic boundary conditions. Excellent agreement is found for thermodynamic,
structural, and dynamic properties.
The new hybrid molecular – continuum method for polymers is explained in more detail in chapter
four. Due to the significant difference between the time steps in the two domains, we employed a
staggered coupling procedure in which the continuum domain has been described as a static region
while the MD domain has been treated dynamically. The Arlequin method has been used for the static
coupling of the MD to the FE domain. The information transfer between them has been realized in a
coupling region which contains the above mentioned anchor points. In this region two descriptions are
valid, i.e., the particle and the continuum one. The total energy is blended by a weighting factor.
Atactic PS and a PS silica nanocomposite have been simulated in a coarse-grained representation to
validate the new hybrid scheme. The deviations between data from the hybrid method and pure FE
simulations have been computed for quantities such as reaction forces and the Cauchy stress. The
sources of the observed deviations are discussed in some detail.
Finally, the fifth chapter summarizes the results obtained in this PhD work, and discusses possibilities
to extend the current hybrid model to new problems such as larger deformations.


The aim of this study was to characterize calving behavior of dairy cows and to compare the duration and frequency of behaviors for assisted and unassisted dairy cows at calving. Behavioral data from nine hours prior to calving were collected for 35 Holstein-Friesian dairy cows. Cows were continuously monitored under 24 h video surveillance. The behaviors of standing, lying, walking, shuffle, eating, drinking and contractions were recorded for each cow until birth. A generalized linear mixed model was used to assess differences in the duration and frequency of behaviors prior to calving for assisted and unassisted cows. The nine hours prior to calving was assessed in three-hour time periods. The study found that the cows spent a large proportion of their time either lying (0.49) or standing (0.35), with a higher frequency of standing (0.36) and shuffle (0.26) bouts than other behaviors during the study. There were no differences in behavior between assisted and unassisted cows. During the three-hours prior to calving, the duration and bouts of lying, including contractions, were higher than during other time periods. While changes in behavior failed to identify an association with calving assistance, the monitoring of behavioral patterns could be used as an alert to the progress of parturition.


We explore algorithms of independent component analysis and K-means applied to 3D reconstruction of occluded objects using integral imaging. 3D reconstruction of occluded objects is implemented using the elemental images of the separated objects from occlusion. Experimental and theoretical results are presented. We show that the 3D reconstructed images using the proposed method may perform better than those using the conventional method in terms of contrast, sharpness and average normalized rms error (RMSE) metrics.


Although a large proportion of the lexicon consists of abstract concepts, little is known about how they are represented by the brain. Here, we investigated how the mind represents relations shared between sets of mental representations that are superficially unrelated, such as car–engine and dog–tongue, but that nonetheless share a more general, abstract relation, such as whole–part. Participants saw a pair of words on each trial and were asked to indicate whether they could think of a relation between them. Importantly, they were not explicitly asked whether different word pairs shared the same relation, as in analogical reasoning tasks. We observed representational similarity for abstract relations in regions in the "conceptual hub" network, even when controlling for semantic relatedness between word pairs. By contrast, we did not observe representational similarity in regions previously implicated in explicit analogical reasoning. A given relation was sometimes repeated across sequential word pairs, allowing us to test for behavioral and neural priming of abstract relations. Indeed, we observed faster RTs and greater representational similarity for primed than unprimed trials, suggesting that mental representations of abstract relations are transiently activated on this incidental analogy task. Finally, we found a significant correlation between behavioral and neural priming across participants. To our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate relational priming using functional neuroimaging and to show that neural representations are strengthened by relational priming. This research shows how abstract concepts can be brought to mind momentarily, even when not required for task performance.


SUMMARY

The Markov approximation is a powerful stochastic method for the direct synthesis of wave envelopes in random velocity fluctuated media when the wavelength is shorter than their correlation distance. To apply the Markov approximation to realistic cases, we consider horizontal layered random media characterized by an anisotropic autocorrelation function (ACF), where different layers have different randomnesses and different background velocities having step-like changes. Solving the parabolic master equation for the two frequency mutual coherence function (TFMCF) in random elastic media for the vertical incidence of a plane wavelet from the bottom, we calculate the angular spectrum just before the first velocity boundary. Multiplying transmission or PS conversion coefficients of the boundary by the angular spectrum, we calculate the angular spectrum and TFMCF on the other side of the boundary. Then we solve the master equation for the forward propagating wavelet in the second layer. Taking the same procedure for each layer boundary, we finally obtain the mean square (MS) vector envelopes on the free surface on the top layer. For the practical simulation, we use 2-D random media characterized by a Gaussian ACF. We numerically confirm the validity of the envelope synthesis for a specific case of layered random media with anisotropic ACF by comparing with finite difference (FD) simulations of elastic waves. Considering the Earth structure, the horizontal correlation distance is larger than the vertical one and the velocity fractional fluctuation becomes weak as depth increases, the Markov approximation is good for modelling the primary wavelet and also the converted wavelet for the vertical incident wavelet. We derive an applicable range of the Markov approximation for random media with anisotropic ACF by comparing with FD simulations. The results show that the Markov approximation is accurate when the wavelength is comparable or shorter than the both of vertical and horizontal correlation distances and the MS fractional fluctuation is much smaller than the ratio of squared horizontal correlation distance to the product of the vertical correlation distance and propagation distance.


A joint field course to Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda, in March-April 2008 was undertaken by undergraduate students of Gloucestershire University (UK) and Makerere University (Uganda). The aim of the pilot was to evaluate the potential of active learning to develop new and inter-disciplinary understandings of the complexity of community conservation within the Park, including the effectiveness of active learning in rapid assessment of common pool resource management. Students collected data through field visits, observations, key informant and group interviews, supported by lectures and tutorials. Student learning was assessed through presentations given in the field and evaluated using video diaries. Academic staff from both institutions also undertook participant observation. The findings show that active learning has high potential to advise park management on the best practices if the learning environment is receptive and proactive. The field class was successful in promoting learning and reflection on a range of issues relevant to CPR management of the QENP but also of other commons, including the global commons. These included: the relationship between economic wealth and agency; the role of culture in facilitating and obstructing communication between groups; the relative responsibilities of individuals, communities and governments; and the balance between intellectual and emotional imperatives for conservation. Some lessons were drawn about how to facilitate more effectively such learning on future field classes and recommendations are made. The implications of active learning to wildlife management are to promote inter-cultural and interdisciplinary sharing of knowledge, views, attitudes and perceptions and link these to theory and practice in resource management. Through challenging and being challenged, active learning is expected to produce a new and better breed of conservationists that should withstand the new challenges of linking conservation with development.


This paper gives an overview of the steganography process and reviews different steganalysis methods for images. Steganography involves sending a message through some innocuous carrier, for example an image or an audio file, to a receiver while preventing anyone else from knowing that a message is being sent at all. Computer based steganography allows changes to be made to digital carriers e.g. an image. These changes represent the hidden message but result, if successful, in no discernible change to the carrier. In both cases the objective is not to make it difficult to read the message as cryptography does, but to hide the existence of the message in the first place. To investigate image-based steganography six common methods of steganography were implemented and their strengths and weaknesses were evaluated. To provide a common frame of reference, all of the steganography methods were implemented and analysed using GIF images. The methods were chosen for their different strengths in terms of resistance to different types of steganalysis or their ability to maximise the size of the message they could store. All of the methods used were based on the manipulation of the least significant bits of pixel values or the rearrangement of colours to create least significant bit or parity bit patterns that correspond to the message being hidden. The stegoed image inevitably suffered some distortion from the steganography process. In the case of manipulation of the least significant bits of pixel values there were strong indications of steganography in the palette also. Overall the colour rearrangement technique appears to be the most resistant to detection if suitable images are chosen. Techniques which attempt to maximise the message size they can store appear to be the least resistant to detection.


Textile fibers have become a major issue in the debate on sustainable fashion and clothing consumption. While consumers are encouraged to choose more sustainable and circular textile materials, studies have indicated that a reduction in production and consumption has the greatest potential to reduce the total environmental impact. This can be considered an ecocentric perspective with a focus on degrowth as opposed to a technocentric view where new technologies are expected to solve environmental problems while economic growth continues. Based on a survey in Norway (N = 1284), we investigate how the techno- and ecocentric perspectives impact Norwegian consumers' fiber preferences and perceptions and the corresponding effects on their clothing consumption. We found that the majority of consumers preferred natural fibers compared to synthetic materials. This contradicts current market practices and the recommendations by material sustainability comparison tools such as the Higg Material Sustainability Index (MSI), where many synthetics receive better ratings than natural fibers. We also found that perceptions of high sustainability regarding fibers were negatively correlated with reduced consumption. Our study suggests that a continued focus on material substitution and other technological measures for reducing climate change will impede the move toward sustainability in the textile sector.


The research area of algorithms with predictions has seen recent success showing how to incorporate machine learning into algorithm design to improve performance when the predictions are correct, while retaining worst-case guarantees when they are not. Most previous work has assumed that the algorithm has access to a single predictor. However, in practice, there are many machine learning methods available, often with incomparable generalization guarantees, making it hard to pick a best method a priori. In this work we consider scenarios where multiple predictors are available to the algorithm and the question is how to best utilize them. Ideally, we would like the algorithm's performance to depend on the quality of the best predictor. However, utilizing more predictions comes with a cost, since we now have to identify which prediction is the best. We study the use of multiple predictors for a number of fundamental problems, including matching, load balancing, and non-clairvoyant scheduling, which have been well-studied in the single predictor setting. For each of these problems we introduce new algorithms that take advantage of multiple predictors, and prove bounds on the resulting performance.


During the decades following 1989, characterized by multiple economic and social convulsions in Romania, the migratory process registered different typology and structure of flows, but also, changes of direction and intensity. The present paper aims to analyse and assess the effects of external migration, especially in the years following Romania's adherence to the European Union and in the context of profound transformations of demographic structures in Romania. The study shows that Romania continues to remain a source country on our continent, with a negative migratory balance rate, which together with a natural population deficit that Romania confronts with, proves the necessity of applying specific policies for migration. Also, the present study highlights migration patterns in correlation with demographic changes in a post-communist country, taking into consideration the regional and local effects and risks of demographical changes in Romania.


Areas of the putative visual cortex are involved in combining multisensory information about object shape. In particular, the lateral occipital complex (LOC) is a known region involved in visuohaptic object recognition. Relative to adult research, there have been few studies investigating the development of crossmodal perception of visual and haptic information, and fewer still exploring the neural substrates of this ability. In the present study, BOLD fMRI was measured in children aged 7 to 8.5 years and in adults during intramodal (visual-to-visual, haptic-to-haptic) and crossmodal (visual-to-haptic, haptic-to-visual) delayed match-to-sample recognition tasks. In both children and adults, results indicated that the ventral occipitotemporal cortex followed a medial to lateral organization in which there was a visual to haptic bias in the mapping of sensory modalities used to process shape information. These areas were adjacent to (and on either side of) an overlapping bimodal region within the LOC (corresponding to LOtv). Additionally, results showed a crossmodal enhancement effect in which crossmodal matching produced greater activation than intramodal matching in the overlapping bimodal LOC region (LOtv), but not in the medial visual-preferring or lateral haptic-preferring areas of the LOC, suggesting that this bimodal region was sensitive to sensory changes. Finally, although children and adults did not differ qualitatively in the overall patterns of neural activity, children produced more widespread, but lower intensity, activation than adults. This suggests that fundamental neural support for visuohaptic object processing is present by 7 years, but requires fine-tuning to be adult-like. Finding a haptic-preferring region in the LOC suggests that the multisensory signals integrated in the LOtv likely arrive via neighboring modality-biased regions within the LOC itself. We hypothesize that these modality-biased regions transform somatosensory and visual signals to facilitate multisensory integration in the LOtv. A future step should be identifying the exact nature of those transformations. Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2015.


A two stage approach to performing ab initio calculations on medium and large sized molecules is described. The first step is to perform SCF calculations on small molecules or molecular fragments using the OPIT Program. This employs a small basis set of spherical and p-type Gaussian functions. The Gaussian functions can be identified very closely with atomic cores, bond pairs, lone pairs, etc. The position and exponent of any of the Gaussian functions can be varied by OPIT to produce a small but fully optimised basis set. The second stage is the molecular fragments method. As an example of this, Gaussian exponents and distances are taken from an OPIT calculation on ethylene and used unchanged in a single SCF calculation on benzene. Approximate ab initio calculations of this type give much useful information and are often preferable to semi-empirical approaches, since the nature of the approximations involved is much better defined.


Justice-involved youth (JIY) are at considerable risk for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), but are disconnected from treatment and prevention. Juvenile justice agencies providing community supervision (CS) are well positioned to provide HIV prevention, testing, and prompt referral to treatment for JIY. However, we lack an understanding of juvenile CS agency responses to HIV/sexually transmitted infection (STI) needs among JIY. We conducted a nationwide systematic assessment of how juvenile CS agencies identify, refer, and move youth through the HIV care cascade using a nationally representative sample of 195 juvenile CS agencies across 20 states. Two-thirds of CS agencies did not offer any HIV-/STI-related services, and 82% reported no collaboration with health agencies. Screening or referral for HIV risk behaviors was reported by 32% of the CS agencies and 12% for any intervention or prevention for HIV/STI risk behaviors. Between 21% and 30% of agencies were unaware of the location of local HIV/STI services. HIV/STI prevention training was not a priority for directors and was ranked second to last out of 16 training topics. Agencies where staff expressed need for HIV risk training and where specific court programming was available were more likely to provide or refer for HIV/STI screening and/or testing. Agencies were more likely to provide or refer for services if they provided pre-trial/pre-adjudication supervision, parole, or court programming. Considering the low provision of HIV/STI-related services and limited collaboration between health and justice agencies, interventions that promote cross-system collaboration designed to minimize barriers and facilitate identification, referral, and linkage to HIV services for JIY are necessary.


Sometime before 1579, Zhou Lujing, a professional writer living in a bustling commercial town in southeastern China, published a series of lavishly illustrated books, which constituted the first multigenre painting manuals in Chinese history. Their popularity was immediate and their contents and format were widely reprinted and disseminated in a number of contemporary publications. Focusing on Zhou's work, Art by the Book describes how such publications accommodated the cultural taste and demands of the general public, and shows how painting manuals functioned as a form in which everything from icons of popular culture to graphic or literary cliche was presented to both gratify and shape the sensibilities of a growing reading public. As a special commodity of early modern China, when cultural standing was measured by a person's command of literati taste and lore, painting manuals provided nonelite readers with a device for enhancing social capital.


BACKGROUND
Patients with diabetes mellitus may be at increased risk for infection following foot and ankle surgery. This study aimed to determine whether patients with a diagnosis of diabetes mellitus have an increased rate of infection following foot and ankle surgery compared with a cohort of patients without diabetes. Furthermore, our study sought to demonstrate whether patients with complicated diabetes are at greater risk of postoperative wound infection than are patients with uncomplicated diabetes or patients without diabetes.

METHODS
We conducted a retrospective review of the charts of 1000 patients who had orthopaedic foot and ankle surgery. The following data were extracted: patient age, sex, history of diabetes mellitus, development of postoperative infection, severity of infection, inpatient or outpatient surgery, use of internal or external fixation, tobacco use, history of organ transplantation, history of rheumatoid arthritis, length of surgery, follow-up time in weeks, and comorbid conditions.

RESULTS
The overall infection rate in this study was 4.8%. Fifty-two percent of all infections occurred in our diabetic study group, which represented only 19% of the patient population. Postoperative infections occurred in significantly more persons with diabetes (13.2%) than in those without diabetes (2.8%). Diabetic patients were five times more likely to experience a severe infection requiring hospitalization compared with patients without diabetes. After removing the patients with neuropathy from the analysis, there was no longer a significant association between diabetes and infection. The presence of complicated diabetes increased the risk of postoperative infection by a factor of ten compared with the risk for patients without diabetes and by a factor of six compared with the risk for patients with uncomplicated diabetes. We did not identify a significantly increased risk of infection in patients with uncomplicated diabetes compared with that in patients without diabetes.

CONCLUSIONS
Patients with diabetes mellitus are at increased risk of severe infection compared with those without diabetes. Patients with uncomplicated diabetes did not have an increased risk of postoperative infection compared with patients without diabetes, whereas patients with complicated diabetes had a significantly higher rate of postoperative infection.


The concept of resilience is now widely used to understand the vulnerability of complex systems to disturbances. It is emerging that more diverse systems are more resilient to disturbances. Here we develop a conceptual understanding of the resilience of behavioral systems and assess how this measure is related to the diversity of behavioral sequences modeled using Markov chains. We show that the resilience of behavior is related to its unpredictability, a diversity measure, using simulations and empirical data collected at ten study sites over 30 years. The more predictable behavior is, the less resilient it becomes. Such influences on behavioral resilience cannot be related to the effect size of disturbances in inter-population comparisons. However, we show that such measures are meaningfully related to the influence of disturbances when comparing the same population exposed to different ecological conditions. We show that behavior predictability can be driven by ecological conditions. For example, an increase in food availability can increase the duration of foraging bouts, hence constraining the dynamics of the population's behavior. Such constraints increase behavioral predictability and in turn weaken its resilience to disturbance. This empirically-driven theoretical study offers a framework to manage exposure of animal populations to disturbance.


The African continent is characterized by a bimodal topography. The
900-1100 m elevation peak mainly corresponds to the Southern African
(Kalahari Plateau) and the East African Domes, whereas the 300-400 m
peak is the mean elevation of the Sahara. Those reliefs are characterized
by very long wavelength (x1000 km), similar to the scale of mantle
dynamics. The origin of this relief, dynamic topography or more local
controls (e.g. old lithospheric inheritance), are highly debated and more
geological controls are required.
To answer those questions - in the frame of the TopoAfrica project -
we performed a geomorphical study of Africa coupled with the tectonosedimentary
study of the sedimentary basins or the magmatism.
(1) Most of the African reliefs are younger than the Early-Middle Eocene
(55-40 Ma).
(2) The only significative old relief of Africa is the Southern African
Plateau that experienced a two steps evolution, a first uplift during Late
Cretaceous contemporaneous with high erosion under humid climatic
conditions, followed by a second uplift during Late Eocene - Early Oligocene.
The present-day arid to semi-arid climate could explain its preservation.
(3) Most of Africa is uplifted during Miocene times (20-10 Ma), age of
most of the present-day reliefs.
(4) The African magmatic provinces (Virunga-Kivu, Cameroon Volcanic
Line, Hoggar, Air...) are associated with local uplifts that started
around Late Eocene times (40-35 Ma).
The relationships of those reliefs with the migration of the African plate
over the African superswell will be discussed.


Epicuticular waxes are a multifunctional interface between a plant and the environment. In this paper wheat leaves wax has been studied. Wax isolation was carried out using the method of gradual freezing in water followed by slow thawing. The morphology of the samples obtained was observed with a Hitachi SU3500 electron microscope. The structure period is determined by the nanotubes diameter which equals 150–200 nm. Random orientation of their long axes in the layer allows using a one-dimensional model to calculate the transmission spectrum of a photonic crystal with the help of the transfer matrix method. While making the calculations a defect that may be caused by possible interlayer heterogeneity also must be taken into account. Numerical modeling made it possible to identify the stop zone and the defective mode. Intense fluorescence appears in the optical area of the wax layer under ultraviolet radiation, thus increasing the efficiency of photosynthesis.


The banking system is modelled in a closed system of financial accounts, whereby the equilibrium volume of bank intermediation between households and corporates reflects structural parameters such as household preferences, comparative cost structures of heterogeneous banks, loan demand of corporates, and the difference between the borrowing rate and the deposit facility rate of the central bank. The model also allows understanding the link between this difference (the width of the central bank standing facilities corridor) and the stance of monetary policy, and how this link changes during a financial crisis. It is shown how the narrowing of the standing facilities corridor can make more accommodating the stance of monetary policy in a financial crisis. JEL Classification: E43, E44, G21


Background: Idiopathic interstitial pneumonia (IIP) is a subtype of interstitial lung disease. Hypoxia and oxidative stress that take a role in IIP, are also thought to affect ocular structures. Objectives: In this study, our aim was to evaluate the retinal nerve fiber layer thickness, choroidal thickness and retinal vessel diameter using the Spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) in participants with IIP. Material and method: A total of 35 subjects with IIP were evaluated. The ocular parameters of patients with IIP were compared with that of 35 age-sex matched healthy volunteers. All subjects underwent respiratory function testing and carbon monoxide diffusion test. Arterial blood gas analysis was performed to determine the hypoxic state. In addition to SD-OCT measurements, all participants underwent a standard ophthalmic examination including visual acuity assessment, biomicroscopy, air-puff tonometry and retinal examination. Results: The mean retinal arteriolar caliber (RAC) was 89.5±5.5 μm in the IIP group and 94.3±6.9 μm in the control group (p=0.002). The mean retinal venular caliber (RVC) was 131.5±11.2 μm in the IIP group and 125.2±9.2 μm in the control group (p=0.01). The mean inferior quadrant retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness was 127.5±19.4 μm in the IIP group and 140.1±13.8 μm in the control group (p=0.003). Conclusion: The IIP may affect retinal vessels and nerve fiber layer. The diameter of the retinal venules was larger and the diameter of the retinal arterioles was smaller in the IIP patients when compared to the healthy controls. The inferior quadrant RNFL was significantly thinner in the IIPgroup. (Sarcoidosis Vasc Diffuse Lung Dis 2017; 34: 68-73)


Abstract : This report focuses on international law related to cybercrime, international information security standards, and software liability issues as they relate to information security for critical infrastructure applications. Each area is explored and implications for U.S. policy and efforts to create cyber security policy worldwide are discussed. Recommendations are made for U.S. government participation and leadership. This report is one of a series of reports on U.S. policy by the CERT Coordination Center. Prior reports focused on international infrastructure for global security incident response and the technical challenges and global policy issues of tracking and tracing cyber attacks.


This paper empirically investigates financial constraints experienced by innovative small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the context of Visegrad countries: Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Hungary and Poland. At first, we examine whether innovative firms seek more external finance and then we examine the likelihood of being successful on a loan application. This study uses the data set from the Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey (BEEPS V), which was conducted by the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) during the period of 2012-2014. With respect to firm level analysis, we find that innovative SMEs are likely to seek external finance to support their innovative ideas but the results are not statistically significant. We also did not find any evidence that innovative SMEs experience more credit constraints as compared to non-innovative firms. However, country level analysis suggests that firms in Slovak Republic and Hungary are more likely to seek external finance for process and product innovation. Further we find that mature firms, firms having audited financial statements, and risky borrowers are highly likely to apply for external finance while service oriented firms are less likely to apply for bank finance. Finally, we find that loan application of the experienced borrowers and service firms are more likely to be accepted. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ee.28.5.18204


Splitting a meeting into segments such that each segment contains discussions on exactly one agenda item is useful for tasks such as retrieval and summarization of agenda item discussions. However, accurate topic segmentation of meetings is a difficult task. In this paper, we investigate the idea of acquiring implicit supervision from human meeting participants to solve the segmentation problem. Specifically we have implemented and tested a note taking interface that gives value to users by helping them organize and retrieve their notes easily, but that also extracts a segmentation of the meeting based on note taking behavior. We show that the segmentation so obtained achieves a Pk value of 0.212 which improves upon an unsupervised baseline by 45% relative, and compares favorably with a current state-of-the-art algorithm. Most importantly, we achieve this performance without any features or algorithms in the classic sense.


Background: Proprioception may be defined as a specialised sensory modality that gives information about joint position sense (JPS), kinaesthesia and vibratory perception. Vibratory Perception Threshold (VPT) testing has been suggested as an alternative means for assessing proprioception at the knee, as it is believed to travel through the same type of large afferent nerve fibres as JPS. Methods: This study examines the strength of relationship between vibration sense and JPS at the knee in healthy participants and determines the minimum number of trials required for each method to attain constant stable data. Stability was determined by 3 consecutive cumulative standard deviations varying less than 5%. Twenty healthy adults (11 females, 9 males) were tested for VPT at five lower limb positions and JPS at two angles of knee flexion (20° and 60°) using Active Angle Reproduction (AAR). Results: Results showed no significant correlations between VPT and JPS, suggesting the two modalities measure different facets of proprioception. VPT (at all 5 sites) and AAR 20° required 4 repetitions to attain data stability, whereas AAR 60° required five repetitions. There were significant differences (p<0.005) between the five sites tested for VPT with increasing thresholds at more proximal sites. No significant differences were seen between the two angles tested for JPS. Conclusions: The two testing modalities are not interchangeable when testing proprioception, requiring at least 4 repetitions to attain consistent stable data. These findings have implications for clinicians and researchers, encouraging the use of broader proprioceptive assessments and increased repetitions.


This thesis focuses on newcomers in organised crime, employing a case study on the Apulian Sacra Corona Unita (SCU) clan. The thesis tackles the following questions: Do newcomers in a crowded national context adopt their organisational structure in response to predominantly structural or agency factors?; Is the adopted organisational configuration stable or subject to change and fluctuations?; Finally, does this organisational configuration impact upon the success or failure of newcomers in the field of organised crime? In order to respond to these questions, the SCU was selected as a representative example of a newcomer in the Italian national context. A historiographical analytical approach was adopted and the thesis is, therefore, divided into three distinct time periods; the preorganised crime era in Apulia and the emergence of the first native organisation (the SCU); the early years of the SCU and emerging weaknesses at the heart of the organisation; and the era of the state counteroffensive and organisational decline. A structure and agency approach has been applied to the case study in order to address the different ages of the organisation visavis our research questions. Data, in the form of material from the principal trials, have been analysed to produce a narrative history of the organisation, enabling us to draw conclusions about the factors which may account for organisational success or failure. We focus on Italy as the home of European organised crime, but the SCU represents a distinct case due to its status as a newcomer, its relative anonymity, particularly on a global scale, and its complex and often incongruous history. It is in the interests of researchers and policy makers alike to investigate even the smaller, less successful organised crime syndicates if any cohesive and effective approach to combating the phenomenon is ever to be reached.


The hybrid/heterogeneous nature of future microprocessors and large high-performance computing systems will result in a reliance on two major types of components: multicore/manycore central processing units and special purpose hardware/massively parallel accelerators. While these technologies have numerous benefits, they also pose substantial performance challenges for developers, including scalability, software tuning, and programming issues. Researchers at the Forefront Reveal Results from Their Own State-of-the-Art WorkEdited by some of the top researchers in the field and with contributions from a variety of international experts, Scientific Computing with Multicore and Accelerators focuses on the architectural design and implementation of multicore and manycore processors and accelerators, including graphics processing units (GPUs) and the Sony Toshiba IBM (STI) Cell Broadband Engine (BE) currently used in the Sony PlayStation 3. The book explains how numerical libraries, such as LAPACK, help solve computational science problems; explores the emerging area of hardware-oriented numerics; and presents the design of a fast Fourier transform (FFT) and a parallel list ranking algorithm for the Cell BE. It covers stencil computations, auto-tuning, optimizations of a computational kernel, sequence alignment and homology, and pairwise computations. The book also evaluates the portability of drug design applications to the Cell BE and illustrates how to successfully exploit the computational capabilities of GPUs for scientific applications. It concludes with chapters on dataflow frameworks, the Charm++ programming model, scan algorithms, and a portable intracore communication framework. Explores the New Computational Landscape of Hybrid Processors By offering insight into the process of constructing and effectively using the technology, this volume provides a thorough and practical introduction to the area of hybrid computing. It discusses introductory concepts and simple examples of parallel computing, logical and performance debugging for parallel computing, and advanced topics and issues related to the use and building of many applications.


The potential role of rural land use in mitigating flood risk and protecting water supplies continues to be of great interest to regulators and planners. The ability of hydrologists to quantify the impact of rural land use change on the water cycle is however limited and we are not able to provide consistently reliable evidence to support planning and policy decisions. This shortcoming stems mainly from lack of data, but also from lack of modelling methods and tools. Numerous research projects over the last few years have been attempting to address the underlying challenges. This paper describes these challenges, significant areas of progress and modelling innovations, and proposes priorities for further research. The paper is organised into five inter-related subtopics: (1) evidence-based modelling; (2) upscaling to maximise the use of process knowledge and physics-based models; (3) representing hydrological connectivity in models; (4) uncertainty analysis; and (5) integrated catchment modelling for ecosystem service management. It is concluded that there is room for further advances in hydrological data analysis, sensitivity and uncertainty analysis methods and modelling frameworks, but progress will also depend on continuing and strengthened commitment to long-term monitoring and inter-disciplinarity in defining and delivering land use impacts research.


Data assimilation has allowed hydrologists to account for imperfections in observations and uncertainties in model estimates. Typically, updated members are determined as a compromised merger between observations and model predictions. The merging procedure is conducted in decision space before model parameters are updated to reflect the assimilation. However, given the dynamics between states and model parameters, there is limited guarantee that when updated parameters are applied into measurement models, the resulting estimate will be the same as the updated estimate. To account for these challenges, this study uses evolutionary data assimilation (EDA) to estimate streamflow in gauged and ungauged watersheds. EDA assimilates daily streamflow into a Sacramento soil moisture accounting model to determine updated members for eight watersheds in southern Ontario, Canada. The updated members are combined to estimate streamflow in ungauged watersheds where the results show high estimation accuracy for gauged and ungauged watersheds. An evaluation of the commonalities in model parameter values across and between gauged and ungauged watersheds underscore the critical contributions of consistent model parameter values. The findings show a high degree of commonality in model parameter values such that members of a given gauged/ungauged watershed can be estimated using members from another watershed.


OBJECTIVE: The role of intraoperative angiography (IA) in the surgical treatment of cerebral aneurysms has remained extremely controversial. We determine the frequency and predictors of unanticipated findings necessitating clip adjustment established on postoperative angiography (PA) in a consecutive series of 147 aneurysms. On the basis of published series, we discuss the utility, safety, accuracy, and cost effectiveness of adjunct IA in the surgical treatment of cerebral aneurysms. METHODS: We retrospectively examined the charts of 124 consecutive patients harboring 147 aneurysms that were surgically clipped between December 2000 and March 2005 and had PA available for review. Patient demographics, aneurysm size, location, Hunt and Hess score, Fisher grade, mode of aneurysm discovery, time between discovery and surgery, and PA results, as determined by a blinded independent neuroradiologist, were recorded. RESULTS: PA demonstrated two (1.4%) unexpected residuals, four anticipated residuals (2.7%), and four (2.7%) vessel compromises. Of the six unanticipated outcomes, two of two (100%) unexpected residuals and three of four (75%) vessel compromises were from large aneurysms (P = 0.0001 each). Middle cerebral artery aneurysms comprised 5 of 10 (50%) imperfect outcomes (three expected remnants and two vessel occlusions), which trended toward significance (P = 0.06). CONCLUSION: IA is recommended during the surgical clipping of complex or large aneurysms and some middle cerebral artery aneurysms. High cost-benefit ratio, false-negative rate, and moderate risk, however, preclude routine use. With future technological advances, IA may warrant broader use by replacing postoperative studies in the neurosurgical management of intracranial aneurysms.


In this paper we solve (approximately) the problem of finding the minimum number of colours with which the vertices of a complete, balanced, multipartite graph G may be coloured such that the maximum degrees of all colour class induced subgraphs are at most some specified natural number d. The minimum number of colours in such a colouring is referred to as the Delta(d)–chromatic number of G. The problem of finding the Delta(d)–chromatic number of a complete, balanced, multipartite graph has its roots in an open graph theoretic characterisation problem and has applications conforming to the generic scenario where users of a system are in conflict if they require access to some shared resource. These conflicts are represented by edges in a so–called resource access graph, where vertices represent the users. An efficient resource access schedule is an assignment of the users to a minimum number of groups (modelled by means of colour classes) where some threshold d of conflict may be tolerated in each group. If different colours are associated with different time periods in the schedule, then the minimum number of groupings in an optimal resource access schedule for the above set of users is given by the Delta(d)–chromatic number of the resource access graph. A complete balanced multipartite resource access graph represents a situation of maximum conflict between members of different user groups of the system, but where no conflict occurs between members of the same user group (perhaps due to an allocation of diverse duties to the group members).


W I encounter Claire Watkins's place-based prose, I'm reminded of the first photograph I ever saw of a nuclear detonation crater. The image, shot at the Nevada Test Site, is disturbingly aesthetic: the blast hole lovely in its perfect symmetry, rimmed by a delicately crested lip, full of exquisite colors glowing from desert sands that were melted into glass by a terrible force born of human imagination. In Watkins's depictions of the arid landscapes of the American West there is a sense not only that the physical environment is terrifying and gorgeous, but also that something horrific has happened here, or might yet. The lushness of her imagery contrasts with the skeletal landscapes of the desert West, while the delicacy and precision of her meticulously crafted prose compels us to envision both the human and the environmental tragedies taking place on the land. Battleborn, Watkins's 2012 short story collection, takes us through the remote, inhospitable expanses of the Great Basin, by turns embracing the land and offering powerful glimpses into the deeply troubled human stories playing out there. Her forth coming novel The Amargosa Dune Sea, excerpted here, envisions a dystopic future Southwest in which aquifers are depleted, rivers have run dry, and what was the glory of the Mojave Desert has been buried beneath an ever-growing complex of immense dunes. But while the apocalypse described in the novel is genuinely terrifying and disturbingly possible, the stunning prose in which it is sung almost makes us wish for a chance to see those invading waves of sand swallow the land's past. In all of Claire Watkins's writing on place there is a new kind of sublimity, a wonderful beauty shot through with fear. Introduced by Michael P. Branch new nature writers


Abstract A figure in part a foreman, in part a headman, and in part a recruiting contractor, formed an indispensable part of labour organization in mills, mines, ports and plantations in nineteenth-century India, and in the tropical colonies where Indian emigrants went for work. Historians have explained the presence of such a figure by the needs of capital for intermediaries, or needs of labour for familiar relationships in an unfamiliar environment. The significance of the labour agent for economic history, however, seems to go beyond these needs. The universal presence of a worker who embodied a variable blend of roles prompts several larger questions. Was the labour agent an institutional response to an economic problem? Were modern forms of agency rooted in older modes of labour organization? The scholarship discussed the gains for employers. Were there costs too? This paper is a preliminary attempt at framing these larger issues. I suggest here that the agent had roots in the traditional economy, and represented an incorporation of putting out and the authority of the headman inside modern work sites, and that this incorporation of traditional authority in a modern setting gave rise to contradictions.


Entities in social networks may be subject to consolidation when they are inconsistently indexed, and subject to splitting when multiple entities share the same name. How much do errors or shortfalls in entity disambiguation distort network properties? We show empirically how network analysis results and derived implications can tremendously change depending solely on entity resolution techniques. We present a series of controlled experiments where we vary disambiguation accuracy to study error propagation and the robustness of common network metrics, topologies and key players. Our results suggest that for email data, not conducting deduplication, e.g. when operating on the level of email addressed instead of individuals, can make organizational communication networks appear to be less coherent and integrated as well as bigger than they truly are. For co-publishing networks, improper merging as caused by the commonly used initial based disambiguation techniques can make a scientific sector seem more dense and cohesive than it really is, and individual authors appear to be more productive, collaborative and diversified than they actually are. Disambiguation errors can also lead to the false detection of power law distributions of node degree; suggesting preferential attachment processes that might not apply.


Large-scale events like the 2008 UEFA European Football Championship (commonly referred to as the Euro) put a great deal of strain on the cities that host them, forcing them to find a provisional balance between the pursuit of everyday activities and the activities and persons involved in the event. Such events put a particular strain on cities because they tend to overstep the boundaries of a simple event involving specific actors (organizers and spectators) and well-defined limits. In fact, the organizing of major sporting events can be seen as the process of temporarily reorganizing an entire city. As such, this means reorganizing collective life on a citywide scale to better respond to issues at the social, economic, and operational levels. The key is conciliating the order of the event (the factors that determine its success economically, security-wise, and as a celebration) and that of the city. In this article we will explore the impact of the 2008 Euro on Geneva, its host-city, based on collective research done on this case study. By 'impact' we do not in this case mean a balance sheet of the Euro's fiscal benefits or a statistical accounting of transactions. Rather we will focus our attention on how the city reorganized itself at different levels in order to host the event. Simultaneous to reflection on Geneva's transformation as a receptacle for this sporting event, we will also look at how the city was used based on our observations of the supporters.


RNA interference (RNAi) is central to a number of natural RNA-based silencing processes and is becoming a common tool used in a wide range of studies in eukaryotes. It is also being explored for its therapeutic potential. Kim et al. carried out a genome-wide screen in Caenorhabditis elegans for components of the RNAi pathway using RNAi. Although apparently a "circular" methodology, the screen identified 90 viable and lethal genes involved in RNAi, most of which were not previously linked with the process. Classes of factors include RNA binding and processing factors, chromatin-associated factors, and nuclear import and export factors. The screen also provides insight into the degree of overlap between different RNAi-based silencing pathways. J. K. Kim, H. W. Gabel, R. S. Kamath, M. Tewari, A. Pasquinelli, J.-F. Rual, S. Kennedy, M. Dybbs, N. Bertin, J. M. Kaplan, M. Vidal, G. Ruvkun, Functional genomic analysis of RNA interference in C. elegans. Science 308, 1164-1167 (2005). [Abstract] [Full Text]


A long-period waveguide grating (LPWG) with a tunable index contrast is proposed. The design features a simple configuration that consists of a two-mode waveguide formed on periodically poled lithium niobate with an angle with respect to its domain wall and a traveling-wave electrode. In the design, the electrical traveling wave introduces a periodic change in the refractive index of waveguide, which functions as a long-period waveguide grating that couples between symmetric and anti-symmetric core modes. The index contrast of grating can be controlled by the traveling-wave intensity. For application to ultrafast device, structural parameters satisfying velocity and impedance matching conditions are numerically calculated.


Within the past three decades, social and legal changes have transformed the juvenile court from a nominally rehabilitative welfare agency into a second-class criminal court for young offenders. Recent efforts to "toughen" juvenile justice policies have resulted in increasingly harsh sanctions that fall disproportionately on minority youths. In this provocative new book, Barry Feld examines what went wrong with the juvenile court and proposes an alternative model for youth crime control and child welfare. The Progressive reformers who created the juvenile court a century ago saw children as relatively blameless and innocent. But recent decades of rising crime rates associated with urban decay have strained this tolerant view of young offenders. Feld relates the 1967 Supreme Court decision In re Gault to the broader social and legal changes associated with the civil rights movement and the Warren Court's "Due Process Revolution." Although gault mandated more elaborate procedural safeguards in delinquency hearings, ironically, those protections legitimated the imposition of more punitive sanctions. Since Gault, Feld argues, three decades of judicial, legislative, and administrative reforms have conducted a form of "criminological triage." At the "soft end," reforms have shifted noncriminal status offenders, primarily female and white, out of the juvenile justice system into a "hidden system" made up of private sector mental health and chemical dependency facilities. At the "hard end," states transfer increasing numbers of young offenders, disproportionately minorities, to criminal court for prosecution as adults. Meanwhile, juvenile courts punish more severely those delinquents-again disproportionately minorities-who remain within the increasingly criminalized juvenile justice system. Feld attributes the current state of affairs to a conceptual flaw inherent in the juvenile court. The juvenile justice system attempts to combine social welfare and social control functions in one organization, but inevitably fulfills both missions badly because of the inherent and irreconcilable contradictions between them. Progressive reformers situated the juvenile court on a number of cultural, legal, and criminological fault lines, where the ideas of child and adult, determinism and free will, immature and responsible, treatment and punishment collide. The past three decades have witnessed a shift from the former to the latter of these binary pairs in response to the racial transformation of cities, the increase in serious youth crime, and the erosion of the rehabilitative assumptions of the juvenile court. The solution, Feld argues, is to uncouple social welfare from criminal social control. States could try all offenders in one integrated criminal justice system with appropriate modifications to accommodate the youthfulness of younger defendants: a graduated, age-culpability sentencing system, separate youth correctional facilities, and the like. Formally recognizing youthfulness as a mitigating factor would provide youths with greater protections and justice than they currently receive in either the juvenile or criminal justice systems. At the same time such a strategy would enable public policies to address directly the social welfare needs of all young people.


Mutations in myocilin (MYOC) are the most common genetic cause of primary open angle glaucoma (POAG), but the mechanisms underlying MYOC-associated glaucoma are not fully understood. Here, we report the development of a transgenic mouse model of POAG caused by the Y437H MYOC mutation; the mice are referred to herein as Tg-MYOC(Y437H) mice. Analysis of adult Tg-MYOC(Y437H) mice, which we showed express human MYOC containing the Y437H mutation within relevant eye tissues, revealed that they display glaucoma phenotypes (i.e., elevated intraocular pressure [IOP], retinal ganglion cell death, and axonal degeneration) closely resembling those seen in patients with POAG caused by the Y437H MYOC mutation. Mutant myocilin was not secreted into the aqueous humor but accumulated in the ER of the trabecular meshwork (TM), thereby inducing ER stress in the TM of Tg-MYOC(Y437H) mice. Furthermore, chronic and persistent ER stress was found to be associated with TM cell death and elevation of IOP in Tg-MYOC(Y437H) mice. Reduction of ER stress with a chemical chaperone, phenylbutyric acid (PBA), prevented glaucoma phenotypes in Tg-MYOC(Y437H) mice by promoting the secretion of mutant myocilin in the aqueous humor and by decreasing intracellular accumulation of myocilin in the ER, thus preventing TM cell death. These results demonstrate that ER stress is linked to the pathogenesis of POAG and may be a target for treatment in human patients.


abstract: the austrian textile industry responded to massive foreign competition which mainly came from other industrialized countries with the introduction of more efficient and advanced production techniques as well as with improving product quality and design. the introduction of technical progress has helped the industry to meet foreign competition successfully. technical advance in the austrian textile industry was dominated by two specific features. it was imported from abroad while own research activities played only a minor role. the import-led growth strategy persued by the austrian textile industry seems to have been economically successful because of the following reasons. first, economic models on international diffusion of technology suggest that the impact of diffusion on the growth-rate of productivity will be the greatest in industries with medium-sized relative technological gaps. accordingly, with an elasticity between .39 and .15 the austrian textile industry was able to achieve a significant part of its productivity-growth by the import of foreign best practice technology, which was of about the same size as the impact of capital deepening. furthermore, econometric stability tests of the estimated relationshipseem to indicate that the productivity gains obtained by the strategy have increased in the 1970s which might be a possible explanation for the shift that has taken place towards importing technical progress instead of producing it at home. second, the import of foreign process innovations has helped the industry to meet international price competition by making improvements in product quality possible thereby lowering the export price elasticity for textile products.;


The character of global regulation has changed dramatically over the last decade. Today, multinational corporations sometimes assert substantial regulatory power across borders, and states sometimes enter markets as participants rather than as regulators - especially when they engage in economic activity outside their borders through sovereign wealth funds (SWFs). In both cases the current transnational ordering has settled on voluntary principles based approaches to regulation. SWFs are controlled by states but seek to participate in private markets in the same way as private investment vehicles. But the difficulty has been the need to overcome the inherent sovereign character of state investment, central to the definition of SWFs. SWFs thus proceed from definition to conundrum. If SWFs are grounded in the reality of their formal connection to states, and if states are deemed sovereign in their actions, then it might be reasonable to assume that such funds could not be treated like private investment funds. To bridge that gap, it was necessary to find a way to disconnect SWFs from the state and sovereign activity, and to model private activity in a way that made it possible to construct a set of behavior principles that might produce an equivalence between SWFs and private investment vehicles. The first was accomplished by creating a functional distinction between state and SWF, a distinction unnecessary for traditional sovereign investment. The second was grounded in the presumption that there is a way of distilling the essence of private investment behaviors sufficiently precisely to distinguish those behaviors from sovereign conduct. Both are nicely captured in the Santiago Principles. Both are problematic either as concept or in application. This paper looks closely at one example of this rising phenomenon - the socially responsible sovereign wealth fund. It focuses on a close review of one of the most influential funds, the Norwegian Government Pension Fund - Global (Statens pensjonsfond - Utland). It is among the largest and most influential SWF in the world, and the largest in Europe. The Norwegian SWF provides a particularly useful case study of the issues that are now at the center of reconceptualizations of the relationships between state and corporation, between economic and political regulation, between national and transnational legal frameworks, and between public and private legal regimes. The paper first describes conceptual and regulatory frameworks on which current policy discussions of sovereign wealth funds are undertaken. It then turns to the Norwegian funds, focusing on the history of the Norwegian fund, its legal structure and the development of its investment principles. It then looks to the way those principles were used in two distinct areas - the creation of incentives to produce changes in the behavior and culture of corporations and the response to the global financial crisis of 2008. The paper suggests the political character of these activities. It then examines these actions in light of investment behaviors of socially responsible private funds, on which the Santiago Principles framework are grounded. These entities operate in ways that would be considered political, and suspect under the Santiago Principles, were they sovereign rather than private investment vehicles. Thus, problem is not that the Norwegian SWF advances political agendas through interventions in private markets, but rather that private investors engage in substantially similar conduct. The Norwegian SWF suggests that the emerging framework of SWF governance, grounded on an assumption that a state organization formally public but functionally private, acting like an idealized private investor does not work either for private investors who seek to use investment for political ends or state investment entities that purport to refrain from that sort of activity.


P2X7 nucleotide receptors modulate a spectrum of cellular events in various cells including epithelia, such as exocrine pancreas. Although the pharmacology and channel properties of the P2X7 receptors have been studied intensively, signal transduction pathways are relatively unknown. In this study we applied a heterologous expression system of rat P2X7 receptors in HEK293 cells. We followed the receptor expression and function using the enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) tag, activation of intracellular proteins and increases in cellular Ca2+. EGFPP2X7 receptors localized to the plasma membrane, clusters within the membrane and intracellularly. Stimulation of P2X7 receptors in HEK-293 cells led to an activation of extracellular signalregulated kinases ERK1 and ERK2 and this activation was seen after just 1 min of stimulation with ATP. Using Cand N-terminal P2X7-receptor mutants we show that the N-terminus is important in activation of ERKs, whereas deletion of the last 230 amino acids in the C-terminus did not effect ERK activation. On the other hand, Ca2+ entry was impaired in C-terminal but not in N-terminal mutants. In cell suspensions prepared from rat pancreas we show that P2X7 receptors also activate ERK1 and ERK2, indicating that these signalling pathways are also turned on in native epithelium.


This study examines Israeli and Syrian impression management (facework), drawing on Hofstede's theory of cultural dimensions. Using a MANCOVA design while controlling for social desirability and gender, it measured the influence of country on direct, aggressive, competitive, and harmonious facework strategies from self-report questionnaires (n = 176) collected in Israel and Syria. Consistent with the hypotheses, Israelis exhibit more direct, aggressive, and competitive facework strategies than Syrians. Israeli facework strategies corresponded to cultural individualism and a low power distance, whereas Syrian facework corresponded to cultural collectivism and a high power distance. Contrary to expectation, Israeli facework is more harmonious. A unique contribution of the present study is the identification of changes in facework necessary for avoiding a loss of face among two populations whose previous diplomatic efforts have not succeeded.


The text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement and more than 5,000 pages of individual country schedules were released in October 2015 after five years of negotiations. Its transformation from a small agreement to one of the deepest and broadest trade deals ever, with 12 members, highlights the challenges of negotiating modern comprehensive trade agreements.


We consider the problem of planning in a stochastic and discounted environment with a limited numerical budget. More precisely, we investigate strategies exploring the set of possible sequences of actions, so that, once all available numerical resources (e.g. CPU time, number of calls to a generative model) have been used, one returns a recommendation on the best possible immediate action to follow based on this exploration. The performance of a strategy is assessed in terms of its simple regret, that is the loss in performance resulting from choosing the recommended action instead of an optimal one. We first provide a minimax lower bound for this problem, and show that a uniform planning strategy matches this minimax rate (up to a logarithmic factor). Then we propose a UCB (Upper Confidence Bounds)-based planning algorithm, called OLOP (Open-Loop Optimistic Planning), which is also minimax optimal, and prove that it enjoys much faster rates when there is a small proportion of near-optimal sequences of actions. Finally, we compare our results with the regret bounds one can derive for our setting with bandits algorithms designed for an infinite number of arms.


The authors describe in detail the design considerations of our previously proposed novel optical quantizing and coding method for all-optical analog-to-digital (A/D) conversion using nonlinear optical switches based on the Sagnac interferometer. The multiperiod transfer function, which is the key to quantizing and coding, is achieved through a careful design of the Sagnac interferometer. In the experiments, the intensity of the pulse train input to our A/D converter is manually changed, and the corresponding digital signals are successfully mapped generated. Although the input-pulse trains are not the sampling of real analog signal, the principle of our proposed 3-bit A/D conversion at a 10 gigasample per second (Gsps) rate is demonstrated. The proposed optical quantizing and coding, combined with existing optical sampling techniques, will enable ultrafast photonic A/D conversion without electronics. The potential in the frequency regime of over a few hundred gigasamples per second was investigated by using an optical switch that utilizes the optical Kerr effect for fast operation. It was found out that the wavelength allocations and temporal widths of control and probe pulses have to be optimized with respect to the group-velocity dispersion of highly nonlinear fiber.