Current information on broad-scale climatic conditions is essential for assessing potential distribution of forest pests. At present, sophisticated spatial interpolation approaches such as the Parameter-elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model (PRISM) are used to create high-resolution climatic data sets. Unfortunately, these data sets are based on 30-year normals and rarely incorporate up-to-date data. Furthermore, because they are constructed on a monthly rather than a daily time step, they do not directly measure simultaneous occurrence of multiple climatic conditions (e.g., days in the past year with appropriate temperature and adequate precipitation). Yet, the actual number of days—especially consecutive days—where multiple conditions are met could be significant for pest dispersal or establishment. For the sudden oak death pathogen (Phytophthora ramorum), we used National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration daily weather station data to create current, national-scale grids depicting co-occurrence of multiple climatic conditions. For each station, we constructed two count-based variables: the total number of days and the greatest number of consecutive days in a year where the station met several conditions (temperature, rain/fog, relative humidity). We then employed gradient plus inverse distance squared (GIDS) interpolation to generate grids (4-km2 resolution) of these variables for 5 years (2000-2004). The GIDS technique weights standard inverse distance squared interpolation using coefficients based on geographic location (x, y) and a spatial covariate such as elevation. Using these variables, we determined the GIDS coefficients for each output grid cell via Poisson regression on the 30 closest stations. We also performed model selection to ensure only significant variables contributed to the GIDS coefficients. We compared the GIDS approach to cokriging and detrended kriging using cross-validation and found similar accuracies among all three interpolation methods. We also compared the output grids to maps assembled from the PRISM data depicting the probability all conditions were met in a given year. As expected, we found differences in areas highlighted as suitable for P. ramorum establishment by the two methods. We suggest that using current weather data and calculating the variable of interest directly will provide more practical information for mapping forest pest risk.


This study proposes the use of abstract software models in order to meet the diversity of embedded platforms. A UML 2.0 Profile for Modeling Application and Platform of Embedded Software (called PROAPES) is proposed. Such profile is intended to generically describe the services provided by a system platform that makes use of an RTOS. In addition, this study presents a Model Transformation (MT) based on the PROAPES profile, named MT-PROAPES. In this way, MT-PROAPES uses a Platform Model (PM), created on the basis of the proposed profile (PROAPES), and performs a transformation named Platform Independent Model (PIM)-behavior into Platform Specific Model (PSM)-behavior. Thus, the generation of reusable model transformations that are adaptable to different platform models is possible.


Financialisation and the Pension System: Lessons from the United States and the Netherlands The articles explores the financialisation of private pensions in the United States and the Netherlands. It proposes two distinct arguments. First, the article shows that both the American and the Dutch pension systems stand out internationally for their high degrees of capitalisation and the absence of substantive investment restrictions for pension funds. The article posits that both pension systems are highly financialised, yet the process of financialisation has proceeded along different historical paths and within different institutional contexts. Secondly, the article maintains that the financialisation of pension systems is accompanied by its own political dynamics. In both political economies, different groups of actors (employers, labour unions, financial professionals) have made claims over the growing concentration of pension assets. Here, particular emphasis is given to the role of the state. It shows how since the mid-1970s, both American and Dutch pension funds have altered their investment strategies, abandoning public debt as the dominant investment category. The article explains this change in terms of the rising popularity of modern portfolio theory and the immense growth of pension capital in need of new investment options. As austerity politics have made governments more dependent on financial markets, pension funds have become more assertive in leveraging their assets and demanding political reform which are in the interest of the financial industries. Financialisation has thus fundamentally altered the balance of power between the state and financial market actors.


A study of the differences among the capacitances of freshly exfoliated highly ordered pyrolytic graphite (HOPG, sample denoted FEG), HOPG aged in air (denoted AAG), and HOPG aged in an inert atmosphere (hereafter IAG) is presented in this work. The FEG is found to be more hydrophilic than AAG and IAG because the aqueous electrolyte contact angle (CA) increases from 61.7° to 72.5° and 81.8° after aging in Ar and air, respectively. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy shows the FEG has an intrinsic capacitance (6.0 μF cm-2 at the potential of minimum capacitance) higher than those of AAG (4.3 μF cm-2) and IAG (4.7 μF cm-2). The observed changes in the electrochemical response are correlated with spectroscopic characterization (Raman spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy), which show that the surface of HOPG was doped or contaminated after exposure to air. Taken together, these changes upon atmospheric exposure are attributed to oxygen molecule, moisture, and airborne organic contaminations: high-vacuum annealing was applied for the removal of the adsorbed contaminants. It was found that annealing the aged sample at 500 °C leads to partial removal of the contaminants, as gauged by the recovery of the measured capacitance. To the best of our knowledge, this is first study of the effect of the airborne contaminants on the capacitance of carbon-based materials.


Abstract. Rapid industrialization in Asia in the last two decades has resulted in a significant increase in Asian ozone (O3) precursor emissions with likely a corresponding increase in the export of O3 and its precursors. However, the relationship between this increasing O3, the chemical environment, O3 production efficiency, and the partitioning between anthropogenic and natural precursors is unclear. In this work, we use satellite measurements of O3, CO and NO2 from TES (Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer), MOPITT (Measurement of Pollution In The Troposphere) and OMI (Ozone Monitoring Instrument) to quantify O3 precursor emissions for 2006 and their impact on free tropospheric O3 over northeastern Asia, where pollution is typically exported globally due to strong westerlies. Using the GEOS-Chem (Goddard Earth Observing System Chemistry) global chemical transport model, we test the modeled seasonal and interannual variation of O3 based on prior and updated O3 precursor emissions where the updated emissions of CO and NOx are based on satellite measurements of CO and NO2. We show that the observed TES O3 variability and amount are consistent with the model for these updated emissions. However, there is little difference in the modeled ozone between the updated and prior emissions. For example, for the 2006 June time period, the prior and posterior NOx emissions were 14% different over China but the modeled ozone in the free troposphere was only 2.5% different. Using the adjoint of GEOS-Chem we partition the relative contributions of natural and anthropogenic sources to free troposphere O3 in this region. We find that the influence of lightning NOx in the summer is comparable to the contribution from surface emissions but smaller for other seasons. China is the primary contributor of anthropogenic CO, emissions and their export during the summer. While the posterior CO emissions improved the comparison between model and TES by 32%, on average, this change also had only a small effect on the free tropospheric ozone. Our results show that the influence of India and southeastern Asia emissions on O3 pollution export to the northwestern Pacific is sizeable, comparable with Chinese emissions in winter, about 50% of Chinese emissions in spring and fall, and approximately 20% of the emissions in the summer.


textabstractDams are among the obvious efforts to improve the economic situation in a
developing country. They aim at using locally available natural resources. At
present they are among the most popular means for promoting socio-economic
development. A significant number of these programmes have been undertaken in
Africa during the past two decades, and it is to be expected that many more will
follow in due course.
Dams are anything but natural. They do not fit into the old balance which nature
established between climate and environment. Man responded to this ecological
situation by creating systems of food production, by rigidly adhering to
their routine, by constructing shelter fitting the needs of his household, and
by developing customs and rules to guide his daily life. These conditions of human
living, also called subsistence economy, still prevail in many parts of
Africa, and we usuallY consider them as belonging to a traditional life-style.
But technological progress tends increasingly to disrupt the old ways of life
by promising a different and· brighter future. Obstructing the natural flow of
rivers on a previously unprecedented scale, and subjugating them to the strivings
of man is just one of them. For growing food where this was formerly
scarce, and for multiplying power which formerly depended on man's muscles only,
this procedure is very efficient.
As, however, only the sun rises for nothing. such gigantic efforts have to be
paid somehow in gigantic currency. A dam creates a crisis situation in a given
ecological setting. It does more than throwing up another physical gradient. It
creates a new environment not only for flora and fauna, but also for man.
Especially the history of the great seas-connecting canals is full of calamities
following such interventions. Of the more recent history of numerous larger
and smaller dams it can be confidently stated that every one was followed by undesirable
or unforeseen effects. In recent years the attention for those effects
has rapidly grown, and is still expressing itself in relevant documentation.
Water and development in Africa are items very different from those in temperate
climates. They have much more to do with health and wellbeing of the people
involved. Those people are far less prepared for the implications than in
economically advanced societies. That means that much more attention and efforts
should be spent on planning, monitoring and evaluating the health effects at the
introduction of dams and irrigation.
The author himself was confronted with the consequences of dam construction
on two different occasions. First, at Yelwa (Northern Nigeria) when he was a local
doctor near the newly created lake behind Kainji Dam. Second, as a lecturer
in Community Health at the University of Nairobi (Kenya). At that time the Kamburu
Dam was already well underway in construction. The necessity to look into
future health problems of the people concerned came as an afterthought, for
which provisions had not been made. Only "modest" means were made available to
Professor Odingo, who was in charge of the project. This lead to a pluridisciplinary
ecological survey in 1974, followed by a repetition in 1977.
Later on, in discussions with experts of WHO, FAO, UNDP and the World Bank
the absence of more comprehensive documentation was often deplored. Many incidental
reports and documents existed but they were hardly accessible, and reliable
guidelines were not established


This article explores the implication of the legal monopoly that occurs through the current attorney regulation system used in most states. Through the lens of consumer protection, the author discusses how the current regulatory regime, limiting the practice of law to only those who have law licenses and law degrees, effects a landscape where many potential legal consumers' needs are not being met. First, the author provides a general discussion of consumer protection and the public interest. Then, the author focuses specifically on the legal profession, discussing the historical justification for the legal profession's monopoly: consumer protection, advancing the integrity of the judicial system and the rule of law, and economic protectionism. Next, she turns to the impact this monopoly has on consumer protection: self-policing systems deprive the consumer of the full force of state and federal consumer protection; limiting competition drives up costs, restricts access, and stifles innovation. Finally, she looks at reassessing the legal profession's monopoly. She argues that the strength of the argument justifying limiting legal services providers to only licensed attorneys does not have the same force over the entire spectrum of legal work. Therefore, she feels there can be a strong case for some regulation of legal service, especially when addressing the issues caused by the gap in access to legal services.


This paper derives optimal trade and domestic taxes for a small open economy containing a monopolistically competitive (MC) sector in which firms may have heterogeneous productivity levels. Analysis encompasses cases in which the domestic MC sector is able to expand or contract flexibly, or is constrained to be of fixed size. In the former case domestic protection can bring gains by increasing the number of product varieties on offer; these gains (and the corresponding rates of domestic subsidy or of import tariffs) are reduced by heterogeneity of foreign exporters some of whom may withdraw from the market. In the latter case gains from protection arise from terms-of-trade effects; since various margins of substitution are switched off, only the relative values of domestic taxes, import tariffs and export taxes matter. In general, policies work through both a terms-oftrade and a variety effect, and the paper shows how the relative importance of each depends on the structure of the economy.


The range of information now available in queryable repositories opens up a host of possibilities for new and valuable forms of data analysis. Database query languages such as SQL and XQuery offer a concise and high-level means by which such analyses can be implemented, facilitating the extraction of relevant data subsets into either generic or bespoke data analysis environments. Unfortunately, the quality of data in these repositories is often highly variable. The data is still useful, but only if the consumer is aware of the data quality problems and can work around them. Standard query languages offer little support for this aspect of data management. In principle, however, it should be possible to embed constraints describing the consumer's data quality requirements into the query directly, so that the query evaluator can take over responsibility for enforcing them during query processing.
 Most previous attempts to incorporate information quality constraints into database queries have been based around a small number of highly generic quality measures, which are defined and computed by the information provider. This is a useful approach in some application areas but, in practice, quality criteria are more commonly determined by the user of the information not by the provider. In this article, we explore an approach to incorporating quality constraints into database queries where the definition of quality is set by the user and not the provider of the information. Our approach is based around the concept of a quality view, a configurable quality assessment component into which domain-specific notions of quality can be embedded. We examine how quality views can be incorporated into XQuery, and draw from this the language features that are required in general to embed quality views into any query language. We also propose some syntactic sugar on top of XQuery to simplify the process of querying with quality constraints.


Automated theorem proving has made great progress during the last few decades. Proofs of more and more difficult theorems are being found faster and faster. However, the exponential increase in the size of the search space remains for many theorem proving problems. Logic program analysis and transformation techniques have also made progress during the last few years and automated theorem proving can benefit from these techniques if they can be made applicable to general theorem proving problems. In this thesis we investigate the applicability of logic program analysis and transformation techniques to automated theorem proving. Our aim is to speed up theorem provers by avoiding useless search. This is done by detecting and deleting parts of the theorem prover and theory under consideration that are not needed for proving a given formula. The analysis and transformation techniques developed for logic programs can be applied in automated theorem proving via a programming technique called meta-programming. The theorem prover (or the proof procedure on which the theorem prover is based) is written as a logic meta-program and the theory and formula we wish to investigate becomes the data to the meta-program. Analysis and transformation techniques developed for logic programs can then be used to analyse and transform the meta-program (and therefore also the theorem prover). The transformation and analysis techniques used in this thesis are partial evaluation and abstract interpretation. Partial evaluation is a program optimisation technique whose use may result in gains in efficiency, especially when used in meta-programming to ``compile away'''' layers of interpretation. The theory of abstract interpretation provides a formal framework for developing program analysis tools. It uses approximate representations of computational objects to make program dataflow analysis tractable. More specifically, we construct a regular approximation of a logic program where failure is decidable. Goals in the partially evaluated program are tested for failure in the regular approximation and useful information is inferred in this way. We propose a close symbiosis between partial evaluation and abstract interpretation and adapt and improve these techniques to make them suitable for our aims. Three first-order logic proof procedures are analysed and transformed with respect to twenty five problems from the Thousands of Problems for Theorem Provers Problem Library and two new problems from this thesis. Useful information is inferred that may be used to speed up theorem provers.


A bacterial biosurfactant isolated from Pseudomonas (strain H6) has previously been shown to have a lethal effect on the oomycete Saprolegnia diclina infecting fish eggs. The present work demonstrates that the same biosurfactant has a strong in vitro antiparasitic effect on the fish pathogenic ciliate Ichthyophthirius multifiliis. Three life cycle stages (the infective theront stage, the tomont and the tomocyst containing tomites) were all susceptible to the surfactant. Theronts were the most sensitive showing 100% mortality in as low concentrations as 10 and 13 μg/ml within 30 min. Tomonts were the most resistant but were killed in concentrations of 100 μg/ml. Tomocysts, which generally are considered resistant to chemical and medical treatment, due to the surrounding protective cyst wall, were also sensitive. The surfactant, in concentrations of 10 and 13 μg/ml, penetrated the cyst wall and killed the enclosed tomites within 60 min. Rainbow trout fingerlings exposed to the biosurfactant showed no adverse immediate or late signs following several hours incubation in concentrations effective for killing the parasite. This bacterial surfactant may be further developed for application as an antiparasitic control agent in aquaculture.


Successful machine learning (ML) applications require iterations on both modeling and the underlying data. While prior visualization tools for ML primarily focus on modeling, our interviews with 23 ML practitioners reveal that they improve model performance frequently by iterating on their data (e.g., collecting new data, adding labels) rather than their models. We also identify common types of data iterations and associated analysis tasks and challenges. To help attribute data iterations to model performance, we design a collection of interactive visualizations and integrate them into a prototype, Chameleon, that lets users compare data features, training/testing splits, and performance across data versions. We present two case studies where developers apply \system to their own evolving datasets on production ML projects. Our interface helps them verify data collection efforts, find failure cases stretching across data versions, capture data processing changes that impacted performance, and identify opportunities for future data iterations.


Bolivia is in the process of consolidating 36 years of democracy amid important reforms and challenges. Despite a history of colonialism, racist oppression of the indigenous majority, and a national revolution and military reaction, the democratic transition to civilian rule and "pacted" electoral democracy among traditional political parties was established in 1982. The governments of pacted democracy failed to fully incorporate all of Bolivia's citizens into the political process and imposed a severe neoliberal economic model that disproportionately disadvantaged the poor and indigenous. The constitutional popular participation reforms of 1994–1995 altered the party-dominated pacted democracy and opened up the political system to the unmediated and direct participation of indigenous organizations and popular social movements in local and national elections. Grassroots political mobilization and participation by previously marginalized and excluded indigenous groups and social movements, and the election of their candidates into office increased significantly. Indigenous and social movement protests erupted in the Cochabamba Water War in 2000 against the multinational Bechtel Corporation, and in the Gas War in 2003 against the export and exploitation of Bolivia's natural gas. These mass demonstrations resulted in the turnover of five presidents in five years. The social and political agitation culminated in the game-changing, democratic election in December 2005 of Juan Evo Morales Ayma, as Bolivia's first indigenous-heritage president.
 In office for 14 years, longer than all previous presidents, Morales and the Movement Toward Socialism party launched the "Refounding Revolution," and passed the new Constitución Política del Estado (CPE), the progressive reform constitution that established a multicultural model of plurinational democracy. The Morales-MAS administration provided unprecedented continuity of governance and relative stability. However, amid charges of interference, relations deteriorated with the United States. And disputes erupted over regional and indigenous autonomy, and extractive economic development in the protected lands of native peoples, especially over the proposed road through the Isiboro Sécure National Park and Indigenous Territory (Territorio Indígena Parque Nacional Isiboro Sécure, TIPNIS). These conflicts pitted highlanders against lowlanders, and divided indigenous organizations and social movements, and the government's coalition of supporters. Contested term limits for the presidency created another acute and ongoing challenge. President Morales's determination to run for re-election in 2019, despite constitutional restrictions, further tested the process of change and the resilience of Bolivia's indigenous and social movement-based democracy.


The flow of fluids (pure liquids and solutions) in very narrow channels enjoys a substantial attention with the rapid development of the fields of micro and nanofluidics. Miniaturized integrated fluidic devices have a great potential for enhanced separation and analysis by reducing the required time and the sizes of the samples. In channels of submicron dimension the electrokinetic phenomena play a particularly important role since the electric double layers formed at the walls can occupy a substantial part of the channel volume. In our work we present a concise theory that allows obtaining analytical expressions for the transport of fluid (electroosmotic flow), ions (electric current) and dissolved charged molecules (analytes) in the case of a weak double layer overlap. The approach is applicable not only to symmetric but also to asymmetric 2:1 and 1:2 electrolytes solutions in slit shaped nanoscale channels and cylindrical nanocapillaries. In the case of very thick double layers (compared to the channels width) the transport problems are treated numerically. Applying transverse voltage bias across the channel wall can be used in an attempt to control the transport and such devices are often called "fluidic field effect transistors". Our model quantifies the effect of the voltage bias on the zeta potential of the channel wall and therefore can be used for prediction of transport and optimization of separations in such fluidic devices. We show that the conductivity properties of fluidic nanochannels filled with electrolyte solution strongly depend strongly on the channel dimension. As the channel becomes thinner, the migration conductivity contribution monotonically increases while the convective term, due to the electroosmotic flow, passes through a maximum and then decreases. The total conductivity is greater for narrow channels due to the dominance of the migration current transport in this size range. Using electrolytes, that provide divalent counterions to the double layers in the channel, dramatically improves the conductivity even if the overall ionic strength remains the same. Therefore a proper selection of the electrolyte is essential for the performance of a field effect nanofluidic fluidic device. Cylindrical nanocapillaries have better conductivity than parallel slit shaped channels. The transverse voltage bias has a much stronger effect on modulating the wall electrokinetic potential and the double layer for narrow channels that are smaller than the double layer thickness. All these effects need to be taken into account when designing a nanofluidic device for a particular application.


This study is an inter-disciplinary theoretical endeavour which situates itself at the interface between marketing and political science and which contributes to both political marketing and political science perspectives. It emerges from the proposition that there are important differences between the workings of party-centred political systems as practiced in many of the well established democracies in Northern/Western Europe and candidate-centred systems such as in the United States. The latter are characterised predominantly by self-introduced political entrepreneurs who capture the nomination of a political party while the former are mainly constructed around the workings of membership parties that allow, encourage and facilitate party members' and associated members' participation in intra-party production processes (of policy and representatives). While these differences are acknowledged by interested political marketing and political science scholars, such insights have yet to penetrate at the level of theory. As a result, significant aspects of party-centred political realities are rendered theoretically invisible or they are misrepresented in these literatures. This study aimed to remedy these shortcomings through the application and extension of an alternative marketing framework - that is, the relationship marketing framework - which departs from the managerial marketing framework which is most often applied cross- contextually in the contemporary political marketing literature. The thesis offers a problematising re-description - a theoretical rethinking - of how party-centred political contexts may be understood in terms of "markets". The theoretical argument is constituted, firstly, by the methodological procedure involving an independent critical and reflexive analysis; and secondly, through the introduction of a theoretical contextual distinction between markets for 'high-touch labour-intensive services' (on the one hand) and ordinary goods and commoditised services (on the other); Together these aid in the development of a set of conceptual models aimed at furthering our understanding of party-centred politics in terms of "markets" and at helping to distinguish them theoretically from candidate-centred systems such as those in the United States. The argument contributes to scholarly debates devoted to understanding the dynamics of party-centred politics within both the political marketing and political science analytical traditions. The analysis also helps to shed theoretical light on the different types of political power that party-centred and candidate-centred systems potentially make available to their citizens, thereby contributing an enhanced understanding of different categories of democracy.


Use of lignin as a precursor, instead of PAN, for manufacturing carbon fiber shows promise in developing renewable and low-cost carbon fiber composites. The lignin used in this research was a highly pure form based on the extraction process that was implemented. Suitable procedures were developed to melt spun lignin fibers which were subsequently stabilized and carbonized. The resulting carbon fibers were characterized to determine mechanical and interfacial properties of single carbon fibers with future scale-up to fiber reinforced epoxy composite testing. Using VARTM, initial lignin carbon fiber composites were manufactured by the authors. Mechanical testing of single carbon fibers was performed using a highly precise nanouniversal testing machine and the results were interpreted using a Weibull statistical distribution. The tensile testing on single fibers resulted in a Weibull shape parameter of 3.66 and scale parameter of 630 MPa respectively. The interfacial properties were determined using a Single Fiber Fragmentation Testing and a custom testing apparatus. Average interfacial shear strength values on the order of 31 MPa were obtained with an average size of 100 μm delamination zone. X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) was used to determine the structural characteristics. The structure of the lignin carbon fiber developed to date had little to no crystalline regions with minimal alignment. Initial trials associated with the mechanical testing of these lignin-based carbon fiber composites prepared using VARTM were considered and are in development. Mechanical testing will integrate digital image correlation (DIC) for highly accurate strain mapping on specimen for future testing. This top-to-bottom approach will evaluate lignin at every step of the process in realizing a dream to make a lignin and bio-epoxy based renewable carbon fiber composite.


We investigate the spatial coherence properties of a twisted, partially coherent field in the focal region of diffractive axicons. We demonstrate that the focused field is a combination of an infinite number of weighted, mutually uncorrelated, helical components, whose weights depend on both the coherence width and the twist strength, and the total helicity of the field inverts its handedness depending on the twist handedness and vanishes at the nontwist limit. Depending on the variances of whichever the effective coherence width, the twist strength, the twist handedness of the illumination, or the shape of the axicon phase function, substantive changes will intervene on the distribution of the spatial coherence degree of the focused field. In particular, the twist strength of the illumination influences both the phase and amplitude of the spatial degree of coherence, while the twist handedness just inverts its phase. In addition, the spectral degree of coherence of the focused field possesses phase singularities, and their locations and shapes are affected by the coherence and twist properties of the illumination and the shape of the axicon phase function.


Accumulation of dead woody material is a critical management concern following wildfires, especially given the possibility of subsequent wildfires. Forest structure and fuel accumulation are largely driven by site climatic conditions, so variability in site conditions is important to consider in management beyond the one-size fits all model for post-fire fuel dynamics. Moreover, dead woody material provides important ecological functions for forested ecosystems. Understanding when surface fuels biomass is highest following wildfires and how these dynamics change after repeated fires affords land management agencies opportunities to adjust fuel reduction strategies without removing large quantities of dead trees that are important in these post-fire landscapes for a variety of ecosystem services, including wildlife, water and nutrient retention, and soil stabilization. Here, we examined how surface fuels and standing dead trees change over time, by burn severity, site climate, and with repeated fires at seven different years-since-fire (1–24 years) across 182 sites from ten wildfires in central Idaho. Downed woody fuel loads were higher on moister and cooler sites. Large-diameter woody fuels saw significant increases after about 14 years post-fire while smaller woody fuels had the highest loads at 20 years post-fire. Surface fuel loads varied by burn severity and years since fires, with the highest loadings at longer years since fire and sites burned in stand replacing fire. Litter and duff had not sufficiently accumulated to compensate for continued decomposition, resulting in lower forest floor biomass through 24 years post fire. Density of snags of all sizes generally declined after 7–9 years, but large-diameter snags were still standing 24 years post fire. Repeated fires resulted in >40% reduction in both surface fuels and standing trees compared to once-burned areas at the same years since fire. Burned landscapes can serve a great ecological benefit by providing an infusion of both standing and downed dead woody debris. Additionally, though some sites burned in stand replacing fires exceed recommended surface fuel loadings, these ecological considerations should be weighed against concerns about reburning potential and fire fighter hazards.


Species are predicted to respond to global warming through 'cold‐ward' shifts in their geographic distributions due to encroachment into newly suitable habitats and/or dieback in areas that become climatically unsuitable. I conduct one of the first‐ever tests of this hypothesis for tropical plant species. I test for changes in the thermal distributions of 239 South American tropical plant species using dated herbarium records for specimens collected between 1970 and 2009. Supporting a priori predictions, many species (59%) exhibit some evidence of significant cold‐ward range shifts even after correcting for collection biases. Over 1/3 of species (35%) show significant cold‐ward movement in their hot thermal limits (mean rate of change = 0.022 °C yr−1). Most of these species (85%; 30% of all study species) show no corresponding shift in their cold thermal limits. These unbalanced changes in the species' thermal range limits may indicate species that are experiencing dieback due to their intolerance of rising temperatures coupled with an inability to expand into newly climatically suitable habitats. On the other hand, 25% of species show significant cold‐ward shifts in their cold thermal range limits (mean rate of change = 0.003 °C yr−1), but 80% of these species (20% of all study species) show no corresponding shift in their hot thermal range limits. In these cases, the unbalanced shifts may indicate species that are able to 'benefit' under global warming, at least temporally, by both tolerating rising temperatures and expanding into new suitable habitat. An important ancillary result of this study is that the number of species exhibiting significant range shifts was greatly influenced by shifting collector biases. This highlights the need to account for biases when analyzing natural history records or other long‐term records.


This paper describes the ideas related to forensic practice with people with learning disabilities through a study that explores the apparent 'truths' about people with learning disabilities who are detained in forensic settings (referred to here as 'the men') and the staff who work with them by an analysis the dialogue contained in retrospective data from interviews and focus groups.The men in these settings are subject to intense stigma and disadvantage; socially and legally. Not only are they categorised as having a learning disability, but also have the added stigma of being offenders, and commonly having mental health issues that expose them to the worst of myths surrounding learning disability; such as the possibility of being viewed as 'dangerous monsters and sex fiends' (French & Swain, 2008). Similarly, but to a lesser degree, forensic nurses are stigmatised and subject to strict laws, policies and practices and stereotyped as prison wardens and 'tough guys'. These ideas may be exposed and challenged through studying the discourses in the dialogue. Therefore, the general research questions included the following.• What are the discourses related to learning disability and forensic practice?• What ideologies underpin and justify forensic practice?This paper is primarily concerned with the way that the staff and the men experience the medium secure unit (MSU) and their views as to the advantages and disadvantages of secure care.The findings generally suggest that the men and the staff are very positive about their lives.They report that the men have many attributes and talents, and view having a learning disability as an advantage at times; the staff enjoy their work and have good relationships with the men. Paradoxically1, there are also negative discourses identified, some of which permeate from macro ideologies into policy and practice to justify the men's treatment in the MSU.The analysis showed that despite the certainty that many feel about the justifications for holding men with learning disabilities in secure settings, many paradoxes exist in the discourses in this setting, which question the validity of official knowledge in this area ‐ this is essentially a Foucauldian idea (Foucault, 1975). Foucault's ideas on the way that knowledge and practice may be challenged are important to this paper.


We present an approach for constructing nonlinear empirical mappings from high-dimensional domains to multivariate ranges. We employ radial basis functions and skew radial basis functions for constructing a model using data that are potentially scattered or sparse. The algorithm progresses iteratively, adding a new function at each step to refine the model. The placement of the functions is driven by a statistical hypothesis test that accounts for correlation in the multivariate range variables. The test is applied on training and validation data and reveals nonstatistical or geometric structure when it fails. At each step, the added function is fit to data contained in a spatiotemporally defined local region to determine the parametersin particular, the scale of the local model. The scale of the function is determined by the zero crossings of the autocorrelation function of the residuals. The model parameters and the number of basis functions are determined automatically from the given data, and there is no need to initialize any ad hoc parameters save for the selection of the skew radial basis functions. Compactly supported skew radial basis functions are employed to improve model accuracy, order, and convergence properties. The extension of the algorithm to higher-dimensional ranges produces reduced-order models by exploiting the existence of correlation in the range variable data. Structure is tested not just in a single time series but between all pairs of time series. We illustrate the new methodologies using several illustrative problems, including modeling data on manifolds and the prediction of chaotic time series.


: Monitoring vegetation dynamics is fundamental to improve Earth systems models and to increase our understanding of the terrestrial carbon cycle and the interactions biosphere-climate. Medium spatial resolution sensors, like MERIS, have a great potential to study these dynamics at regional/global scales. However, the spatial resolution provided by MERIS (300m in full resolution mode) might not be appropriate over highly heterogeneous landscapes. This is why the synergistic use of MERIS full resolution (FR) and Landsat TM data is studied in this paper. An unmixing-based data fusion approach was applied to a time series of MERIS FR images acquired over the Netherlands in 2003. The selected data fusion approach uses the linear mixing model and the information derived from Landsat TM imagery acquired in the same year to produce images that have the spectral and temporal resolutions provided by MERIS but with the spatial resolution of Landsat TM. After the fusion, a quantitative assessment of the quality of the fused images was done in order to assess the validity of the proposed methodology and to evaluate the radiometric characteristics of the images. Finally, the time series of fused images was used to compute land cover specific NDVI, MTCI and MGVI profiles.


English as a Foreign Language (EFL) education has been of concern throughout the world and has prompted calls for reform to preservice EFL teachers' practices in order to raise the standard of teaching and learning (Aiken & Day, 1999; Cook, 1996; Velez-Rendon, 2006). This requires preservice teachers in countries where English is a foreign language to be prepared to meet the challenges and standards for EFL teaching (Lu, 2002; Wertheimer & Honigsfeld, 2000). However, preservice EFL teachers have additional challenges as they attempt to teach English while using this language as the mode of instruction. Field experiences or practicum have long been a central part of preservice EFL teacher development in many countries and is crucial for implementing EFL education reform (Anderson, 2004; Stewart, 2004). These field experiences allow preservice teachers to make the connection between current theoretical knowledge and school practices; yet understanding how to teach EFL effectively requires further investigation (Liu, 2005). Ninety-seven Vietnamese preservice teachers, completing a four-year undergraduate course, will finalize their education with a six-week field experience in upper secondary schools in Hanoi. An open-ended questionnaire was designed to gather data from these preservice EFL teachers at the beginning of their last field experience (i.e., practicum, professional experience). Ten open-ended questions aimed to investigate preservice EFL teachers' thoughts and expectations before entering their practicum, and as a means of understanding respondents' views. These questions also focused on their perceptions of potential difficulties related to learning about teaching EFL writing in their practicum. The completed responses (93 female; 4 male) provided descriptors of the participants (preservice EFL teachers). Most of these mentees (67%) were 22 years of age, 16% were at the age of 21 and the rest were between 22 and 24 years of age. In the data analysis, themes and categories were coded for each of the questions, and descriptive statistics were used to quantify the data (Hittleman & Simon, 2002). The preservice teachers were asked about challenges they perceived for learning how to teach EFL writing during their practicum. Expectedly, 41% of these preservice EFL teachers indicated they lacked confidence and knowledge for teaching writing at secondary schools. About 22% of respondents thought they would have difficulties in learning to teach writing due to the mixed-ability levels of students, boring writing topics at secondary schools. Differences in writing styles were listed as one of the challenges by 13% of respondents; however only 2% believed they would not have enough opportunities or time to practice the teaching of writing. These preservice EFL teachers appeared to underestimate the challenges they will face during their practicum. There was a gap between their knowledge of classroom practices from their university education and the reality of the classroom. Teaching materials and classroom issues related to teaching writing such as writing genres, writing topics, how to motivate students to learn writing need to be incorporated in preservice teacher coursework. Reform in preservice EFL teacher education must focus on facilitating practical university coursework and providing mentoring experiences that address the potential challenges preservice EFL teachers face.


Knowledge about computer users is very beneficial for assisting them, predicting their future actions or detecting masqueraders. In this paper, a new approach for creating and recognizing automatically the behavior profile of a computer user is presented. In this case, a computer user behavior is represented as the sequence of the commands she/he types during her/his work. This sequence is transformed into a distribution of relevant subsequences of commands in order to find out a profile that defines its behavior. Also, because a user profile is not necessarily fixed but rather it evolves/changes, we propose an evolving method to keep up to date the created profiles using an Evolving Systems approach. In this paper, we combine the evolving classifier with a trie-based user profiling to obtain a powerful self-learning online scheme. We also develop further the recursive formula of the potential of a data point to become a cluster center using cosine distance, which is provided in the Appendix. The novel approach proposed in this paper can be applicable to any problem of dynamic/evolving user behavior modeling where it can be represented as a sequence of actions or events. It has been evaluated on several real data streams.


Spontaneous oscillations of blood pressure (BP) and interbeat interval (IBI) may reveal important information on the underlying baroreflex control and regulation of BP. We evaluated the method of continuously measured instantaneous baroreflex sensitivity by cross correlation (xBRS) validating its mean value against the gold standard of phenylephrine (Phe) and nitroprusside (SNP) bolus injections, and focusing on its spontaneous changes quantified as variability around the mean. For this purpose, we analyzed data from an earlier study of eight healthy males (aged 25–46 years) who had received Phe and SNP in conditions of baseline and autonomic blocking agents: atropine, propranolol, and clonidine. Average xBRS corresponds well to Phe/SNP‐BRS, with xBRS levels ranging from 1.2 (atropine) to 102 msec/mmHg (subject asleep under clonidine). Time shifts from BP‐ to IBI‐signal increased from ≤1 sec (maximum correlations within the current heartbeat) to 3–5 sec (under atropine). Plotted on a logarithmic vertical scale, xBRS values show 40% variability (defined as SD/mean) over the whole range in the various conditions, except twice when the subjects had fallen asleep and it dropped to 20%. The xBRS oscillates at frequencies of 0.1 Hz and lower, dominant between 0.02–0.05 Hz. Although xBRS is the result of IBI/BP‐changes, no linear coherence was found in the cross‐spectra of the xBRS‐signal and IBI or BP. We speculate that the level of variability in the xBRS‐signal may act as a probe into the central nervous condition, as evidenced in the two subjects who fell asleep with high xBRS and only 20% of relative variation.


In this paper, a performance analysis of amplifyand-forward (AF) relaying cooperative diversity system with relay selection is given when all terminals are moving. We have derived analytical expressions for probability density function (PDF), cumulative distribution function (CDF) and moment generating function (MGF) of end-to-end signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for the considered system. Then, the symbol error rate performance (SER) of the system is calculated for MPSK modulation assuming the all links have double Rayleigh distribution.


For research purposes, the ECG signals were obtained from the PhysioNet service (http://www.physionet.org) from the MIT-BIH Arrhythmia database. The created database with ECG signals is described below. 1) The ECG signals were from 45 patients: 19 female (age: 23-89) and 26 male (age: 32-89). 2) The ECG signals contained 17 classes: normal sinus rhythm, pacemaker rhythm, and 15 types of cardiac dysfunctions (for each of which at least 10 signal fragments were collected). 3) All ECG signals were recorded at a sampling frequency of 360 [Hz] and a gain of 200 [adu / mV]. 4) For the analysis, 1000, 10-second (3600 samples) fragments of the ECG signal (not overlapping) were randomly selected. 5) Only signals derived from one lead, the MLII, were used. 6) Data are in mat format (Matlab).


Background: Elevated biomarkers of systemic inflammation have been reported in individuals with cognitive decline, however, most of the literature concerns cross-sectional analyses that have produced mixed results. This study investigates the etiology of this association by performing meta-analyses on prospective studies investigating the relationship between baseline interleukin-6 (IL-6), an established marker of peripheral inflammation, with cognitive decline risk in non-demented adults at follow-up. Methods: We reviewed studies reporting peripheral IL-6 with future cognitive decline, up to February 2017 by searching the PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus and Google Scholar databases. Studies which contained odds ratios (ORs) for the association between circulating baseline IL-6 and longitudinal cognitive performance in non-demented community dwelling older adults were pooled in random-effects models. Results: The literature search retrieved 5,642 potential articles, of which 7 articles containing 8 independent aging cohorts were eligible for review. Collectively, these studies included 15,828 participants at baseline. Those with high circulating IL-6 were 1.42 times more likely to experience global cognitive decline at follow-up, over a 2–7-year period, compared to those with low IL-6 (OR 1.42, 95% CI 1.18–1.70; p < 0.001). Subgroup and sensitivity analyses suggests that this association is independent of the study sample size, duration of follow-up and cognitive assessments used. Conclusions: These results add further evidence for the association between high peripheral inflammation, as measured by blood IL-6, and global cognitive decline. Measuring circulating IL-6 may be a useful indication for future cognitive health.


Feather-associated bacteria are widespread inhabitants of avian plumage. However, the determinants of the between-individual variation in plumage bacterial loads are less well understood. Infection intensities can be determined by ecological factors, such as breeding habitat, and can be actively regulated by hosts via preening. Preening, yet, is a resource intensive activity, and thus might be traded-off against reproductive investment in breeding birds. Here, we studied barn swallows Hirundo rustica to assess the bacterial cost of reproduction in relation to nesting site micro-habitats. Barn swallows prefer to breed in the company of large-sized farm animals, although the presence of mammalian livestock in barns assures a warm and humid micro-climate that favours bacterial proliferation. Thus, we experimentally manipulated brood sizes of birds breeding in barns with, or without, farm animals and measured total cultivable bacteria (TCB) and feather-degrading bacteria (FDB) from the plumage. We found that the abundance of feather-associated bacteria (i.e. both TCB and FDB) in females, but not males, breeding in barns with livestock were significantly higher than in conspecifics breeding in empty barns. Plumage bacterial loads, however, were not affected by brood size manipulations in either sex. In addition, we report a negative relationship between both TCB and FDB and hatching date in females, and several sex and seasonal differences in plumage bacterial abundances. Our study is the first to show that breeding micro-habitat (i.e. livestock co-tenancy) has consequences for the abundance of feather-associated bacteria.

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This paper develops a model based on the general equilibrium framework to evaluate Household's excess burden of carbon tax levied on energy goods (electricity and natural gas). The model accounts for tax distortion on labor market and cross-price effects between energy goods. With data from the U.S. Residential Energy Consumption Survey, own price and cross-price elasticities of energy goods are estimated. Substitution effects are found between electricity and natural gas, and omitting such effects will overestimate the excess burden of carbon tax. The results indicate that carbon tax performs differently on affecting excess burden of low, middle and high income households. With a low pre-set labor tax rate, higher income households have lower excess burden comparing to lower income households, but with a high pre-set labor tax rate, the effect is reverse.


ABSTRACT Prevention of skipping of exon 7 during pre-mRNA splicing of Survival Motor Neuron 2 (SMN2) holds the promise for cure of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a leading genetic cause of infant mortality. Here, we report T-cell-restricted intracellular antigen 1 (TIA1) and TIA1-related (TIAR) proteins as intron-associated positive regulators of SMN2 exon 7 splicing. We show that TIA1/TIAR stimulate exon recognition in an entirely novel context in which intronic U-rich motifs are separated from the 5′ splice site by overlapping inhibitory elements. TIA1 and TIAR are modular proteins with three N-terminal RNA recognition motifs (RRMs) and a C-terminal glutamine-rich (Q-rich) domain. Our results reveal that any one RRM in combination with a Q domain is necessary and sufficient for TIA1-associated regulation of SMN2 exon 7 splicing in vivo. We also show that increased expression of TIA1 counteracts the inhibitory effect of polypyrimidine tract binding protein, a ubiquitously expressed factor recently implicated in regulation of SMN exon 7 splicing. Our findings expand the scope of TIA1/TIAR in genome-wide regulation of alternative splicing under normal and pathological conditions.


Aaron Wildavsky's greatest concern, as expressed in his writings, is how people manage to live together. This concern may at first appear to have little to do with the study of budgeting, but for Wildavsky budgeting made living together possible. Indeed, as he argues here, if you cannot budget, you cannot govern. "Budgeting and Governing "gathers in one place a mass of material that otherwise would be lost in a wilderness of journals and edited volumes. With few exceptions, Wildavsky chose the articles in this collection. They are organized largely chronologically so that the reader can trace the progression of his thought which moved from studies of the American federal government, through comparative work, and on to placing budgeting within a broader theory of political culture. Wildavsky wrote about budgeting because in his words, "when a process involves power, authority, culture, consensus, and conflict, it captures a great deal of national political life." Wildavsky was interested in budgeting because of what it could tell us about the classic questions of- politics: who gets what, how, and why? His earlier analyses focus narrowly on budgeting personnel and agency actors in answering these questions, while in his later work the contending actors become sub-cultural types. To Wildavsky politics was about finding terms for living together in spite of ideological differences. Budgetary incrementalism helped to manage this otherwise unmanageable task. He thought synoptic budgeting and all related reforms would increase disagreement and raise the stakes, and so were unwise. Analysis had to serve politics, not try to displace it.


Purpose of the article: This paper represents a pilot study examining determinants of the development of market active micro, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in South Moravian Region (SMR). The reason is their socio-economic role which is important for many economies and growing recognition of the importance of removing constraints to help established SMEs support to maintain and improve their competitiveness, leading to the need to understand the factors contributing to this. Methodology/methods: The empirical evidence is based on a quantitative data gathered through an email questionnaire which yielded 76 qualified responses with fewer than 250 employees. The analysis is based on descriptive statistics and validation technique based on chi-square nonparametric test. The analysis was conducted in SPSS for Windows, version 11.5. Scientific aim: The objective of this study is to identify various pressures and constraints in the strategic behavior of small business with discussion to the following four dimensions: product development, market development, development of business cooperation and investment strategies for development of competencies. And further, test of independence (differences) of these determinants by size category and industry affiliation of respondents, which may influence the importance of a wide range of different circumstances for each individual firm and the complex interaction of forces that affect it. Findings: The results of this study clearly show that it is necessary to take into account the factor of size and sectoral dimension, which affect the selection and perception of the importance of determinants and their subsequent translation into strategic decisions. In general, an economic decline, pressures on the quality and a range of offered products, a lack of managerial competence and excessive costs of innovation activities are the most frequent determinants of development activities of SMEs in the SMR. However, due to the overall testing of variables by size and sector showed significant differences in the selection of external, competing and internal determinants which influence strategic behaviour of SMEs. Conclusions (limits, implications etc.): The study has its scope limits owing to the character of the crosssectional research performed at a fairly small sample from a single region. Therefore the results cannot be generalized in any way. And also, the area of unequal representation (representativeness) of the respondents in the size and sector category may lead to a distorted evaluation of statistical data analysis.


Material damping in rotating structure plays a crucial role in dynamics. It produces a tangential force and acts towards whirl direction. This force is also proportional to spin speed, after certain speed it destabilizes the system, and corresponding speed is known as stability limit of spin speed. Thus, a reliable model is indeed essential for the correct assessment of stability. Modelling was done by many researchers and incorporated material damping through frequency dependent viscous or frequency independent hysteretic behaviour. Both of these damping models are not sufficient to predict the exact dynamic characteristic. The motivation for using general viscoelastic model arises from a need to capture the influence of both types of damping behaviours. The operator based constitutive relationship is used to incorporate such type of damping. The instantaneous stress of the linear viscoelastic material is obtained by operating instantaneous strain. The numerator and dt:;nominator of material modulus are a polynomial of differential time operator, and polynomial coefficients are known as viscoelastic parameters. Those parameters are obtained from frequency-dependent storage modulus and loss factor by using any optimization tool or curve fitting technique. Two types of material (low and high damped) are chosen for a case study. The operator based constitutive relationship is further used to bring down higher order equations of motion of an isotropic viscoelastic rotor by using two distinct approaches, i.e. (a) Classical model (CM) and (b) Finite element model (FEM). Lumped mass approximation is adopted in the CM approach thus it is also known as lumped mass classical model. Whereas, in FEM approach, the distributed effect of the continuum is considered. The Euler-Bernoulli beam theory is used here. The shear deformation effect may easily be included; however, it has been left out for simplicity. The shaft material damping has been tackled in such a way that to consider dissipation effect through all .coordinates. The order of the differential equation exclusively depends on the material behaviour and explained by modulus operator. For better understanding the dynamic characteristics of the rotating system, ·a comparative study is done by using following parameters such as decay rate, campbell diagram, modal damping factor, stability limit of spin-speed, unbalance frequency response, and also time response. This study is affirming compatibility between two approaches with each other up to some extent. According to industrial demand, heavy and bulky rotors are replaced by a light yet strong rotor, where the composite material is only supplementary. This composite is achieved either by reinforcing fibre or multi-layering arrangements. The present idea is also extended to develop multi-layer, multi-disc rotor system with the help of CM and FEM. All layers are isotropic viscoelastic material and assumed to be perfectly bonded. The effect of placement of material and their radius ratio in multi-layering of rotor is being well justified by taking an example of aluminium/steel (as low damped material) and PVC/LORD LD-400 (as high damped material). In general rotor shafts made of composite material are used in aerospace, helicopter rotor, under water vehicle soft toys etc. Since all dynamic behaviours of the rotating system are interlinked with rotation. The present study focuses on finding directivity and some other modal characteristics through complex modal analysis. A complex modal coordinate creates a platform to indicate the directivity of modes and provides better information about the whirl direction. The study of natural modes and directional frequency response function is obtained from free and force vibration analysis. The modal analysis also distinguishes the significance of higher order model over conventional second order model. For achieving a complete study, modal analysis is done under consideration of both rolling and sliding contact bearings. Higher-order finite element model involves a large number of coordinates as well as various types of asymmetry in different orders, resulting a complicated system again. Such problem is overcome by reducing the matrix size. For the sake of finding best methodology to reduce the higher order model, two different reduction techniques are applied here, i.e. a) Iterative Improved Reduction System (IIRS) b) Balanced Realization System (BRS). In the first case, an iterative algorithm is used to improve the transformation matrix by achieving convergence. Whereas, in the second case, Hankel singular value decomposition assures to predict the most controllable and most observable states that help to reduce the system matrices accurately. The dynamic study justifies the effectiveness of the reduced model. The presented work purely shows the mathematical modelling of various viscoelastic rotor bearing system. The mathematical procedure and formulations can _be used for any rotors as per their applications.


We introduce a simple and compact fuel-cell architecture consisting of only solid channels and demonstrate its validity by developing a miniature direct formic acid fuel cell (DFAFC). The proposed architecture generates electric power while pumping the fuel and removing byproduct CO2 without any discrete pump, gas separator, or membrane electrode assembly (MEA). The fuel pump and gas separator are embedded in the channel, as reported before, by directionally growing and venting CO2 byproduct bubbles formed inside the reaction microchannels using "virtual check valve" and microporous hydrophobic venting membrane. The new architecture further eliminates the MEA, along with the issues associated with it, by flowing one stream of fuel and electrolyte mixture in a single channel consisting of both an anode and an air-breathing cathode. The reported system obtains a supply of oxygen directly from quiescent air through a gas-diffusion cathode rather than using an oxygen tank. By eliminating all the ancillary parts, the so-called "packaging penalty," which has been hindering the miniaturization of fuel cells below the order of a centimeter, is avoided. This simple and self-standing fuel-cell unit produces 16.7 mW/cm2, a performance comparable to the existing bulkier DFAFCs that use external pumps, pressurized oxygen or MEA.


ABSTRACT There is a risk that climate change will cause an increase of mosquito populations in Europe. Due to their nuisance to humans, there are demands to combat mosquitoes, mainly through spraying. These interventions, however, are expensive and associated with uncertainties concerning effects on biodiversity. This poses a dilemma for policy-makers, which makes it important to gain knowledge on what people's nuisance comprises. Thus, the aim of this study is to explore what factors are associated with this risk perception of mosquitoes. Theories about place identity, social norms, environmental concern and values were used to identify relevant factors. A questionnaire was distributed to 317 persons in a Swedish community where mosquitoes have increased radically. The items concerning risk perception fell out as a unidimensional scale in a principal component analysis and the internal consistency of the scale was good. Risk perception was positively related to place identity, descriptive social norms, and self-oriented environmental concern and negatively related to ecocentric values. The most important predictor was descriptive social norms, but the other factors and gender also contributed uniquely in explaining risk perception. Results are discussed in relation to the theory of social amplification of risks.


Substantial efforts have been made in the study of occupational induced airway diseases. A strong link has been found between worker exposure to organic dust and resulting acute pulmonary spasms. The supporting studies behind this link are primarily in the industries of cotton, animal and swine farming; however, some studies have been related to landscaping type tasks (i.e. mowing, leaf blowing). The relationship between organic dust and pulmonary response is associated with respiratory irritants that are found in materials such as soil, grain, and compost, especially when these materials have become moist. Some of the culprits that have been identified as causative agents of respiratory spasms are endotoxin, fungal spores, and fungal mycotoxin. This study focused on the respiratory hazards in the landscaping industry. During the month of March, landscapers worked heavily with wood mulch, which contains many organic materials that potentially harbor the aforementioned irritants. This study measured the exposure levels of endotoxin and fungal spores in the landscaper workers' breathable space. While also measuring the pulmonary function of participants and evaluating disposable respirators as an intervention. Low levels of endotoxin and fungal spores were found in the breathable space of the participants during the two days of data collection. The users were not completely satisfied with the half face disposable respirator provided, and offered detailed feedback concerning the design and use of the respirator intervention.


Wireless underground communications is mainly characterized by the effects of soil moisture on antenna return loss and bandwidth as well as path loss. In this paper, the impacts of soil moisture, especially on underground channel capacity, are analyzed for underground wireless communications. It is shown that for a given antenna and soil moisture level, there exits an optimal operation frequency that maximizes channel capacity. While existing research on wireless underground communication is focused on fixed-frequency systems, this paper motivates the use of cognitive radio systems, which can adjust operation frequency in a wide range, for efficiency for wireless underground communication. Moreover, it is shown that soil type significantly affects the channel capacity and the capacity can be improved by using longer antennas that allow lower operation frequencies. However, the size of the antenna is also limited by other factors, such as device size and deployment challenges.


ing and Indexing Services The journal is indexed by Abstracts on Hygiene and Communicable Diseases, Academic Search (EBSCO), BIOBASE/Current Awareness in Biological Sciences, Biomedical Reference (EBSCO), Current


Increasing evidence suggests a key role for tissue energy failure in the pathophysiology of multiple sclerosis (MS). Studies in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), a commonly used model of MS, have been instrumental in illuminating the mechanisms that may be involved in compromising energy production. In this article, we review recent advances in EAE research focussing on factors that conspire to impair tissue energy metabolism, such as tissue hypoxia, mitochondrial dysfunction, production of reactive oxygen/nitrogen species, and sodium dysregulation, which are directly affected by energy insufficiency, and promote cellular damage. A greater understanding of how inflammation affects tissue energy balance may lead to novel and effective therapeutic strategies that ultimately will benefit not only people affected by MS but also people affected by the wide range of other neurological disorders in which neuroinflammation plays an important role.


The gammacoronavirus, Infectious Bronchitis Virus (IBV), is a respiratory pathogen of chickens. IBV is a constant threat to poultry production as established vaccines are often ineffective against emerging strains. This requires constant and rapid vaccine production by a process of viral attenuation by egg passage, but the essential forces leading to attenuation in the virus have not yet been characterised. Knowledge of these factors will lead to the development of more effective, rationally attenuated, live vaccines and reduction of the mortality and morbidity caused by this pathogen.
 M41 CK strain was egg passaged four times many years ago at Houghton Poultry Research Station and stored as M41-CK EP4 (stock virus at The Pirbright Institute since 1992). It was the first egg passage to have its genome pyrosequenced and was therefore used as the baseline reference. The overall aim of this project was to analyse deep sequence data obtained from four IBV isolates (called A, A1, C and D) each originating from the common M41-CK EP4 (ep4) and independently passaged multiple times in embryonated chicken eggs (figure 1.1). Highly polymorphic encoding regions of the IBV genome were then identified which are likely involved in the attenuation process through the formation of independent SNPs and/or SNP clusters. This was then used to direct targeted investigation of SNPs during the attenuation process of the four IBV passages.
 A previously generated deep sequence dataset was used as a preliminary map of attenuation for one virulent strain of IBV. This investigation showed the nucleocapsid and spike as two highly polymorphic encoding regions within the IBV genome with the highest proportion of SNPs compared to encoding region size. This analysis then led to more focussed studies of the nucleocapsid and spike encoding region with the ultimate aim of mapping key attenuating regions and nucleotide positions. The 454 pyrosequencing data and further investigation of nucleocapsid and spike encoding regions have identified the SNPs present at the same nucleotide positions within analysed A, A1, C and D isolates. These SNPs probably play a crucial role in viral attenuation and universal vaccine production but it is not clear if independent SNPs are also involved in loss of virulence. The majority of SNPs accumulated at different nucleotide positions without further continuation in Sanger sequenced egg passages presenting S2 subunit (spike) and nucleocapsid as polymorphic encoding regions which in nature remain highly conserved.


A nonferrous oxygen scavenger (NFOS) comprising activated carbon and sodium l-ascorbate was developed to enhance the preservative efficacy of raw meatloaves. To determine the optimum formulation of activated carbon and sodium l-ascorbate, NFOSs with varying ratios of components (1:1, 1:1.2, 1:1.4, 1:1.6, 1:1.8, and 1:2, w/w) were prepared and their oxygen-scavenging volumes were measured over 4 d at 25 °C. Assays of oxygen-scavenging capacities indicated that the optimum NFOS formulation of activated carbon and sodium l-ascorbate was achieved at a ratio of 1:1.6 (w/w). Finally, the optimal NFOS sachet was applied to packaging of raw meatloaves and its oxygen-scavenging capacity was periodically analyzed. Moreover, microbiological changes (including total aerobic bacteria, lactic acid bacteria, and yeasts and molds) and an effect on lipid oxidation during the storage were examined at 4 °C for 4 d. The meatloaves packaged with NFOS sachet had lower thiobarbituric acid reactive substances and microbiological changes than control meatloaves, indicating the practical utility in the food packaging industry.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION
Oxygen-scavenging sachets containing iron powder have been generally used although those have several problems. Therefore, to solve them, an ascorbic acid-based oxygen scavenger composed of activated carbon and sodium l-ascorbate was newly developed. It did not only inhibit lipid oxidation but also reduce microbial growth in meatloaves. It could be used as a promising packaging material to protect meat products from lipid oxidation and microbial contamination.


To address the engineering questions on security issues of geological carbon sequestration (GCS), a broad range of computational models with different levels of complexity have been developed from multiphase multicomponent fully coupled three-dimensional models to simplified analytical solutions. Within this wide range of models, a family of so-called vertical equilibrium (VE) models has been developed. These models assume that CO2 and brine have segregated due to buoyancy and reached a hydrostatic pressure distribution in the vertical direction. Such VE models are computationally efficient due to the dimensional reduction in the vertical, and accurate as long as the VE assumption is satisfied. However, a study comparing results from a VE model to results from a full threedimensional model found that there are realistic conditions for which the VE assumption is not justified, especially for geological formations that have low vertical permeability, on the order of 10 milliDarcy or lower [1]. In an attempt to overcome the VE limitation of the vertically-integrated models, a new type of vertically-integrated model which relaxes the VE assumption while still using a vertically-integrated framework has been developed [2]. The new vertically-integrated model is cast into a multiscale framework, where the coarse scale is the horizontal domain and the fine scale is the vertical domain corresponding to the thickness of a geologic formation. This type of model maintains much of the computational advantages of the VE models, while allowing a much wider range of problem to be modelled. In this paper, we extend the model in [2] to include horizontally layered geologic heterogeneities and develop a new dynamic reconstruction model, which we refer to as a "multi-layer dynamic * Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-609-673-2120; fax: +16092582799. E-mail address: firstname.lastname@example.com 3524 Bo Guo et al. / Energy Procedia 63 ( 2014 ) 3523 – 3531 reconstruction" model. The model in [2] is called "single-layer dynamic reconstruction" model to distinguish the modelling approaches. We apply both dynamic reconstruction models to field injection sites, including a hypothetical injection scenario into the Mount Simon formation in the Illinois Basin, USA and the well-known industrial-scale injection into the Utsira formation at the Sleipner site in Norway. The modelling results show that the multi-layer dynamic reconstruction model is capable of dealing with horizontally layered heterogeneities and gives results that agree reasonably well with results from the full multi-dimensional model, although in geologic layers with high permeability the reconstruction algorithm is not able to fully capture the horizontal driving forces due to buoyancy. This could be important over long time scales for highly permeable geologic layers. The singlelayer dynamic reconstruction model was shown be to the right model choice for homogeneous formations with relatively low permeability where it takes a long time for CO2 and brine to reach vertical equilibrium [2]. In this study, we found that for homogeneous formations with high permeability and steep capillary pressure curves, the single-layer dynamic reconstruction model gives results that are analogous to vertical equilibrium models, with the fast segregation dynamics requiring small time steps in the dynamic reconstruction algorithm. As such vertical equilibrium models are the appropriate choice for systems with high permeability, although we also note that the behaviour of the brine relative permeability curve at low brine saturations is an additional important consideration and must be included in the overall analysis. © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of GHGT.


We study the electronic transport properties of dual-gated bilayer graphene devices. We focus on the regime of low temperatures and high electric displacement fields, where we observe a clear exponential dependence of the resistance as a function of displacement field and density, accompanied by a strong nonlinear behavior in the transport characteristics. The effective transport gap is typically 2 orders of magnitude smaller than the optical band gaps reported by infrared spectroscopy studies. Detailed temperature dependence measurements shed light on the different transport mechanisms in different temperature regimes.


Today's undergraduates are clearly comfortable as consumers of technology and new media—purchasing ring tones for their cell phones and tunes for their iPods, text-messaging from handheld devices, scanning and tinkering with photos, keeping up with their Facebook friends and watching viral YouTube videos, sometimes all simultaneously. We share examples of classroom assignments integrated with library support services that engage today's undergraduates with academic materials in a variety of course context. We discuss how specific arrangements of library learning spaces and alignment of space and staffing can help undergraduate students succeed with new media projects for class assignments.


Throughout the Middle East, unemployment rates of educated youth have been persistently high and female labor force participation, low. This paper studies the impact of a randomized experiment in Jordan designed to assist female community college graduates find employment. One randomly chosen group of graduates was given a voucher that would pay an employer a subsidy equivalent to the minimum wage for up to 6 months if they hired the graduate; a second group was invited to attend 45 hours of employability skills training designed to provide them with the soft skills employers say graduates often lack; a third group was offered both interventions; and the fourth group forms the control group. The analysis finds that the job voucher led to a 40 percentage point increase in employment in the short-run, but that most of this employment is not formal, and that the average effect is much smaller and no longer statistically significant 4 months after the voucher period has ended. The voucher does appear to have persistent impacts outside the capital, where it almost doubles the employment rate of graduates, but this appears likely to largely reflect displacement effects. Soft-skills training has no average impact on employment, although again there is a weakly significant impact outside the capital. The authors elicit the expectations of academics and development professionals to demonstrate that these findings are novel and unexpected. The results suggest that wage subsidies can help increase employment in the short term, but are not a panacea for the problems of high urban female youth unemployment.


Erosional bedforms in deep-sea environments record the passage of highly erosive turbidity currents that are often voluminous and fully bypassing. This investigation
focuses upon a subset of erosional bedforms that are elliptical in shape, and utilises a multidisciplinary approach to reappraise the occurrence and dynamics of the
bedforms across all scales. The investigation provides highly detailed analyses for three scales of form: centimetre-scale flutes, metre-scale megaflutes, and large
metre-to-kilometre scale scours. The results confirm that deep-water scours form a continuous spectrum from centimetre- to kilometre-scale. Furthermore, the
investigation effectively 'bridges the scale gap' between traditional scales of analysis of outcrop and modern system.

Laboratory modelling of the erosion of mud beds provides the first experimental generation of flutes upon a smooth mud-bed in open channel flows. High-resolution bathymetric data taken in time-series during experiments demonstrate that bedforms are stable, migrate downstream with time, and form in association with features not previously generated under experimental conditions, including pock-marks, gullies and potholes. The study also revisits the outcrops of the Carboniferous Ross Sandstone (SW Ireland) to address the stratigraphic occurrence, morphology and lithology of megaflutes and associated thickening-upward packages. This has identified that packages form via prograding lobe elements, deposited by mud-rich sands, and record a vertical trend from distal- to proximal-deposits accompanied by an increasing frequency of megaflutes and broad erosional surfaces. Existing process-models for these packages are re-examined, and a six-stage model for lobe-element evolution is proposed that documents successive
phases of deposition, sediment bypass, erosion and lobe abandonment.

High-resolution AUV data and well-constrained core control present the bathymetry (2x2 m pixel size), sedimentology and chronology of four large-scale modern deep-water canyon/channel systems along the northeast Atlantic continental margin. Scours range from 40-3170 m wide and 8-48 m deep and occur in zones of rapid flow expansion, such as channel mouths or overbank areas.


The purpose of this mixed methods sequential exploratory study was to develop an understanding of the ways in which graduates of liberal arts programs recognize, make meaning of, and apply the competencies developed as an undergraduate within the workplace. In the first quantitative phase of the study, the research questions addressed the association among liberal arts graduates' perceived importance, academic preparation, and assessment of value attributed by employers of eight critical skills in the workplace and any differences based on participants' academic domain. The data were collected via a self-developed web-based survey (N=328) sent to graduates of six institutions representing four different Carnegie classifications. The overall response rate was 9.4%. A chi-square analysis in conjunction with the Holm-Bonferroni procedure yielded a statistically significant relationship in five of nine academic domain relationships. A post-hoc contingency table analysis further revealed statistically significant results between academic vii domain and perception value categories. In the second qualitative phase, eight case studies, consisting of graduates of liberal arts programs from four Carnegie classifications and four academic domains, delved deeper into the results from the first phase. Four themes emerged during the withinand cross-case analysis related to participants' perceptions of the use of critical skills in the workplace: (1) Personal accountability to the job, (2) workplace dynamics among coworkers, clients, and supervisors, (3) self-awareness of what is important in the workplace, and (4) employer support of the liberal arts in the workplace. The final phase of the study integrated the quantitative results and qualitative findings to determine broad-scale outcomes of the study. Based on the overall analysis, the study provides policy implications and recommendations related to practical skill development within liberal arts


This is is an exploration of the tensions between interpreting ethics and customary law distilled from interviews with interpreters in Aboriginal languages as part of research commissioned by the Law Reform Commission of Western Australia (2006). While accuracy, impartiality and confidentiality are key principles in interpreting ethics, it was found that for Australian Indigenous interpreters each of these principles may be seriously compromised in practice by rules of customary law. Suggested strategies for resolving potential conflict between interpreting ethics and customary law include: Indigenous communities requiring public education about the interpreter's role; health and legal professionals undertaking cultural awareness training; requiring use of trained and accredited interpreters; and an expanded role for interpreters to occasionally act as cultural broker.


Cartilage defects are considered troublesome injuries, which can cause symptoms as pain, swelling and locking, limit function and impede quality of life, similar to patients with osteoarthritis. Treatment of these defects is a clinical challenge as currently, an ideal strategy is lacking, especially for larger (> 2 cm2) defects. This thesis aimed at improving cartilage repair, both from a patient and societal perspective. Tools were provided for patient profiling as well as a new treatment introduced to allow single-stage cost-effective cartilage repair.

 Large and symptomatic defects are frequently treated using autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI) in which an initial biopsy is followed by a second surgical intervention for re-implantation of cultured cells. While good results up to twenty years have been shown, high treatment costs along with the burden on patients that have to undergo two surgeries with an interval of up to two months, has stimulated the development of an investigator-driven single-stage procedure (IMPACT). This treatment uses mesenchymal stromal/ stem cells (MSCs) to replace the expanded chondrocytes currently used. It is based on a proof of concept that has shown MSCs and cartilage cells can communicate and stimulate cartilage regeneration when cultured together. In this thesis we have shown, for the first time, that this communication takes place through cell-cell contact via gap junctions. In a first in man study, we found the strategy to be safe in the short-term (up to twelve months) and lead to cartilage regeneration. Biopsies taken twelve months after surgery showed the regenerated tissue to completely consist of patient-own cells confirming the stimulatory role of MSCs. This is in contrast with the current view on MSCs as stem cells that can differentiate into chondrocytes. Cost-effectiveness models showed that if IMPACT would achieve within ten percent of the clinical outcome after ACI, it could have a dramatic impact on cost-effectiveness in this patient category. An airbrush system was used in the laboratory to introduce a full arthroscopic application of IMPACT. Cells were found to survive the spraying procedure and a cadaveric study confirmed feasibility of the airbrush technique. Ongoing research continues to search for optimal spraying conditions and applicators to allow clinical application of arthroscopic airbrush-facilitated single-stage cartilage repair in the near future. In this thesis, we have worked on introducing patient profiling for cartilage repair. That is, using prognostic factors to better predict clinical outcome in practice. We found the Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) to be a valuable and reliable tool to measure clinical outcome and identify such relevant prognostic factors. For example, the knowledge that treatment delay does not benefit outcome is important to consider when seeing a patient with a cartilage injury. Difficulty in using biomarkers and MRI as means of determining clinical outcome after treatment was emphasized through a cohort study and lsystematic review, respectivelt. Thus although first steps were made, significant challenges remain for patient profiling in daily practice. The safety of allogeneic MSCs found and there stimulatory effect through communication with cartilage cells in humans has been exceptionally encouraging.


A detached divertor plasma is predicted to be necessary to mitigate the heat fluxes and ion energy, and so sputtering, at the divertor plate of a fusion power plant. It has proven difficult in current experiments, however, to prevent the detachment front, once formed, from running up to the main plasma resulting in deterioration of pedestal performance. The lithium vapor box divertor localizes a dense cloud of lithium vapor away from the main plasma, in order to induce detachment at a stable, distant location. The vapor localization is created by local evaporation and nearby condensation, a configuration inaccessible for non-condensing seed impurities. This paper provides simulations of lithium vapor flow using the SPARTA direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) code, in which the lithium vapor dynamics are governed by Li–Li collisions that should dominate in regions with little plasma. Inertia is included in this code, permitting the formation of shocks. The plasma model implemented in SPARTA is based on UEDGE results for the location of ionization and recombination. We find that a simplified lithium vapor box configuration, without baffles, provides robust stabilization of the detachment front and acceptable lithium vapor flow to the main chamber. Lithium is evaporated from a capillary porous surface on the private-flux side of the divertor, distant from the main plasma, and is condensed on the other side walls of the divertor chamber. The condensed lithium flows back to the evaporator through 2 cm internal diameter pipes. The capillary pressure differential at the surface of the evaporator is capable of overcoming MHD back-force in the piping, with a great deal of margin if a sandwich flow channel insert is implemented. Very little lithium should be accumulated on the first wall of the main chamber if it is maintained at 600 °C, as expected for a power-producing fusion system.


Abstract:This essay decodes how Marlon James's A Brief History of Seven Killings uses the history of Jamaican music, culminating in the conflict between roots reggae and dancehall, to chart the Cold War's temporality, futurity, and ideological conflicts over time, temporality, and futurity. A Brief History of Seven Killings points readers to a jaded, subaltern temporality encoded in a dancehall music that rejects the revolutionary utopianism woven into postindependence Jamaican music. The novel stages this temporal conflict at the center of Jamaican popular music through the status of revolutionary Cuba and the riddim-based technique of dancehall song composition, both of which converge in the itinerary of the "Death in the Arena" riddim. The novel thus invites readers to process the Cold War's conflict over time and space through the lens of Jamaican music, attuned both to how geopolitics inflected that music and to how that music inflected geopolitics. Reading the evolution of Jamaican music since independence, this essay reveals how the form of James's novel replicates the spectral and shattered assemblages of dancehall music in order to borrow some of its fugitive, subaltern autonomy.


Generative AI models are capable of creating high-fidelity outputs, sometimes indistinguishable from what could be produced by human effort. However, some domains possess an objective bar of quality, and the probabilistic nature of generative models suggests that there may be imperfections or flaws in their output. In software engineering, for example, code produced by a generative model may not compile, or it may contain bugs or logical errors. Various models of human-AI interaction, such as mixed-initiative user interfaces, suggest that human effort ought to be applied to a generative model's outputs in order to improve its quality. We report results from a controlled experiment in which data scientists used multiple models – including a GNN-based generative model – to generate and subsequently edit documentation for data science code within Jupyter notebooks. In analyzing their edit-patterns, we discovered various ways that humans made improvements to the generated documentation, and speculate that such edit data could be used to train generative models to not only identify which parts of their output might require human attention, but also how those parts could be improved.


The paper reports the lessons learned from a two year collaborative learning trial between students at Auckland University of Technology (AUT) and Uppsala University. The trials took place using a combination of email and a custom developed Lotus Notes/sup TM/ database. The first trial involved a case study in which students performed different roles in designing a software solution for an Auckland based nailcare distributor. The second trial built upon the knowledge base of the earlier trial, and required students to evaluate and rank the previous design proposals. A theoretical model developed from the group support systems literature guided some of the changes in the second trial. The software, the collaboration process and the evaluation methods evolved over the course of these trials. The challenges of creating global student communities within a short collaboration window in existing courses of study are discussed. Further extensions to this research are proposed and some general recommendations are made.


PURPOSE
The purpose of the present study was to elucidate the role of the polyol pathway enzyme aldose reductase (AR) in the mediation of ocular inflammation in a rat model of endotoxin-induced uveitis (EIU).

METHODS
EIU was induced by a subcutaneous injection of 200 microg lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in male Lewis rats treated with the AR inhibitor, zopolrestat (25 mg/kg body weight, intraperitoneally) or its carrier. The rats were killed 24 hours after LPS injection, the eyes were enucleated immediately, and aqueous humor (AqH) was collected. The number of infiltrating cells, protein concentration, and levels of nitric oxide (NO), tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, and prostaglandin E(2) (PGE(2)) in the AqH were determined. Immunohistochemical analysis was performed in paraformaldehyde-fixed eye sections by staining with antibodies against iNOS, COX-2, TNF-alpha, NF-kappaB, and AR. The levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in rat eye sections were determined by dihydroethidium (hydroethidine) fluorescence staining.

RESULTS
In the EIU rat eye AqH, both the number of infiltrating cells and protein concentrations of the inflammatory markers, TNF-alpha, NO, and PGE(2) were significantly higher than in the control rats, and inhibition of AR by zopolrestat suppressed the LPS-induced increases. The LPS-induced increased expression of AR, TNF-alpha, iNOS, and COX-2 proteins in the ciliary body, corneal epithelium, and retinal wall was also significantly inhibited by zopolrestat. Furthermore, AR inhibition prevented the LPS-induced increased levels of ROS and activation of NF-kappaB in the ciliary body, corneal epithelium, and retinal wall of the rat eye. AR inhibition also prevented the LPS-induced activation of NF-kappaB and expression of COX-2 and iNOS in the human monocyte cell line U-937.

CONCLUSIONS
The results indicate that AR inhibition suppresses the inflammation in EIU by blocking the expression and release of inflammatory markers in ocular tissues, along with the attenuation of NF-kappaB activation. This finding suggests that AR inhibition could be a novel therapeutic target for the treatment of uveitis and associated ocular inflammation.