KircHev, H., v. Delibaltova, i. YancHev and i. ZHeliaZKov, 2012. comparative investigation of rye type triticale varieties, grown in the agroecological conditions of thrace valley. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 18: 696-700 A field trial has been carried out in the period 2007-2009 on the experimental field of Crop Sciences Department in Agricultural University Plovdiv. Seven varieties of rye type triticale – Rakita (Standard), Attila, Accord, Kolorit, Frontera, Alter and Scudo are studied. The following traits has been investigated: Grain yield, (t.ha-1); Plant height, cm; Number of productive tillers; Length of main spike, cm; Number of spikeletts per spike; Weight of grains per spike, g; Test weight, kg; 1000-grain weight, g. Differences in genotypes of triticale, measured by average yield of grain allows them to be displayed in the following ascending order Alter <Rakita <Frontera <Scudo <Kolorit <Attila <Accord. Variation in the length of spike and the number of spikeletts per spike by years in each of the varieties is very low, from which it can be concluded that this feature is genetically determines and is influenced to a greater extent by genotype, rather than the climatic conditions of the year.


This thesis introduces a collection of physics-based methods for super-resolution in optical microscopy. The core of these methods constitutes a framework for 3-D localization of single fluorescent molecules. Localization is formulated as a parameter estimation problem relying on a physically accurate model of the system's point spread function (PSF). In a similar approach, methods for fitting PSF models to experimental observations and for extended-depth-of-field imaging are proposed. Imaging of individual fluorophores within densely labeled samples has become possible with the discovery of dyes that can be photo-activated or switched between fluorescent and dark states. A fluorophore can be localized from its image with nanometer-scale accuracy, through fitting with an appropriate image function. This concept forms the basis of fluorescence localization microscopy (FLM) techniques such as photo-activated localization microscopy (PALM) and stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (STORM), which rely on Gaussian fitting to perform the localization. Whereas the image generated by a single fluorophore corresponds to a section of the microscope's point spread function, only the in-focus section of the latter is well approximated by a Gaussian. Consequently, applications of FLM have for the most part been limited to 2-D imaging of thin specimen layers. In the first section of the thesis, it is shown that localization can be extended to 3-D without loss in accuracy by relying on a physically accurate image formation model in place of a Gaussian approximation. A key aspect of physically realistic models lies in their incorporation of aberrations that arise either as a consequence of mismatched refractive indices between the layers of the sample setup, or as an effect of experimental settings that deviate from the design conditions of the system. Under typical experimental conditions, these aberrations change as a function of sample depth, inducing axial shift-variance in the PSF. This property is exploited in a maximum-likelihood framework for 3-D localization of single fluorophores. Due to the shift-variance of the PSF, the axial position of a fluorophore is uniquely encoded in its diffraction pattern, and can be estimated from a single acquisition with nanometer-scale accuracy. Fluroescent molecules that remain fixed during image acquisition produce a diffraction pattern that is highly characteristic of the orientation of the fluorophore's underlying electromagnetic dipole. The localization is thus extended to incorporate the estimation of this 3-D orientation. It is shown that image formation for dipoles can be represented through a combination of six functions, based on which a 3-D steerable filter for orientation estimation and localization is derived. Experimental results demonstrate the feasibility of joint position and orientation estimation with accuracies of the order of one nanometer and one degree, respectively. Theoretical limits on localization accuracy for these methods are established in a statistical analysis based on Cramer-Rao bounds. A noise model for fluorescence microscopy based on a shifted Poisson distribution is proposed. In these localization methods, the aberration parameters of the PSF are assumed to be known. However, state-of-the-art PSF models depend on a large number of parameters that are generally difficult to determine experimentally with sufficient accuracy, which may limit their use in localization and deconvolution applications. A fitting algorithm analogous to localization is proposed; it is based on a simplified PSF model and shown to accurately reproduce the behavior of shift-variant experimental PSFs. Finally, it is shown that these algorithms can be adapted to more complex experiments, such as imaging of thick samples in brightfield microscopy. An extended-depth-of-field algorithm for the fusion of in-focus information from frames acquired at different focal positions is presented; it relies on a spline representation of the sample surface and as a result yields a continuous and super-resolved topography of the specimen.


Ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs) account for >60% of all RNAs in eukaryotic cells and are encoded in the ribosomal DNA (rDNA) arrays. The rRNAs are produced from two sets of loci: the 5S rDNA array resides exclusively on human chromosome 1, whereas the 45S rDNA array resides on the short arm of five human acrocentric chromosomes. The 45S rDNA gives origin to the nucleolus, the nuclear organelle that is the site of ribosome biogenesis. Intriguingly, 5S and 45S rDNA arrays exhibit correlated copy number variation in lymphoblastoid cells (LCLs). Here we examined the genomic architecture and repeat content of the 5S and 45S rDNA arrays in multiple human genome assemblies (including PacBio MHAP assembly) and ascertained contacts between the rDNA arrays and the rest of the genome using Hi-C datasets from two human cell lines (erythroleukemia K562 and lymphoblastoid cells). Our analyses revealed that 5S and 45S arrays each have thousands of contacts in the folded genome, with rDNA-associated regions and genes dispersed across all chromosomes. The rDNA contact map displayed conserved and disparate features between two cell lines, and pointed to specific chromosomes, genomic regions, and genes with evidence of spatial proximity to the rDNA arrays; the data also showed a lack of direct physical interaction between the 5S and 45S rDNA arrays. Finally, the analysis identified an intriguing organization in the 5S array with Alu and 5S elements adjacent to one another and organized in opposite orientation along the array. Portraits of genome folding centered on the ribosomal DNA array could help understand the emergence of concerted variation, the control of 5S and 45S expression, as well as provide insights into an organelle that contributes to the spatial localization of human chromosomes during interphase.


ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to determine whether individualized gait training is more effective than usual care for reducing mobility disability and pain in individuals with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis. DesignAdults aged 60 yrs or older with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis and mobility limitations were randomized to physical therapist–directed gait training on an instrumented treadmill, with biofeedback individualized to optimize knee movements, biweekly for 3 mos or usual care (control). Mobility disability was defined using Late Life Function and Disability Index Basic Lower Limb Function score (primary); mobility limitations, using timed 400-m walk, chair-stand, and stair-climb tests; and symptoms, using the Knee Injury/Osteoarthritis Outcome Score at baseline, as well as at 3, 6, and 12 mos. The analyses used longitudinal mixed models. ResultsThere were no significant intergroup differences between the 35 gait-training (74.3% women; age, 69.7 ± 8.2 yrs) and 21 control (57.1% women; age, 68.9 ± 6.5 yrs) participants at baseline. At 3 mos, the gait-training participants had greater improvement in mobility disability (4.3 ± 1.7; P = 0.0162) and symptoms (8.6 ± 4.1; P = 0.0420). However, there were no intergroup differences detected for pain, 400-m walk, chair-stand, or stair-climb times at 3 mos or for any outcomes at 6 or 12 mos. ConclusionsCompared with usual care, individualized gait training resulted in immediate improvements in mobility disability knee symptoms in adults with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis, but these effects were not sustained.


Book synopsis: After widespread neglect over many years, the study of human sexuality has recently come to the forefront of many of the most important debates in contemporary society and culture. This book addresses seriously the issue of how to improve the methodological basis of research into non-heterosexual sexualities, exploring the key question of what different methodological and theoretical uses of intersectionality contribute to our understandings of non-heterosexual sexualities. Bringing together research from the UK, USA, Europe and Australasia, this innovative collection rethinks traditional methodologies, creating new epistemologies and applying new approaches, whilst critically examining key issues, including communities, identities, relationships, sexualities, homosexual parenthood, fostering, civil marriage, and politics. As such, it will be of interest to researchers, scholars and students across the social sciences and health professionals.


Research thrives – indeed can hardly do without – data. It is the raw information upon which better understanding, and better knowledge is based. Indeed one whole assumption underpinning some visions of Electronic Government – such as Wiki-Gov – is the idea that data which has been collected for a specific government task can be re-used in ways which further public service goals through citizen oversight and input (through 'open data sets'). There are very many public service collections of data which comprise 'Public Registers' which the researcher might wish to utilise, but which are presently difficult or impossible to access. With the development of database techniques and ever more data being collected and processed in digital formats, the potential pool of data is growing considerably. Importantly, public registers usually relate to individuals giving valuable insights which cannot be easily gleaned in other ways. This kind of information includes public registers which, it can be argued, consist of 'public information' of the sort which might be accessible under the Freedom of Information Act or through the Re-Use of Public Sector Information Directive. Should researchers have the possibility of piggy-backing upon these Re-Use and Freedom of Information rights to access the underlying public register data set as a whole? If so, what are the limitations upon using these sources? The primary questions are: When most such data sets have a value to the agency which is responsible for their collection are they willing to make this available freely? Where many public record data sets will have information relating to individuals, how can access be enabled without infringing data protection law? And, is the current Freedom of Information regime suitable for enabling access to this 'information'? This article looks to examine how 'public' these public registers are in terms of research usage. It is clear that public registers have already been commoditized (with more commoditization currently being planned) and are used in a variety of ways. Their contents have not, to date, been openly available. Will – in these days of open data – they become an important and novel resource for the researcher?


Achieving research reproducibility is challenging in many ways: there are social and cultural obstacles as well as a constantly changing technical landscape that makes replicating and reproducing research difficult. Users face challenges in reproducing research across different operating systems, in using different versions of software across long projects and among collaborations, and in using publicly available work. The dependencies required to reproduce the computational environments in which research happens can be exceptionally hard to track – in many cases, these dependencies are hidden or nested too deeply to discover, and thus impossible to install on a new machine, which means adoption remains low. In this paper, we present ReproZip , an open source tool to help overcome the technical difficulties involved in preserving and replicating research, applications, databases, software, and more. We will examine the current use cases of ReproZip , ranging from digital humanities to machine learning. We also explore potential library use cases for ReproZip, particularly in digital libraries and archives, liaison librarianship, and other library services. We believe that libraries and archives can leverage ReproZip to deliver more robust reproducibility services, repository services, as well as enhanced discoverability and preservation of research materials, applications, software, and computational environments.


Where HIV/AIDS has had its greatest adverse impact is on TB. People with TB that are infected with HIV are at increased risk of dying from TB than HIV. TB is the leading cause of death in HIV individuals in South Africa. HIV is the driving factor that increases the risk of progression from latent TB to active TB. In South Africa no coherent analysis of the risk determinants of HIV and TB has been done at the national level this study seeks to mend that gab. This study is about estimating risk determinants of HIV and TB. This will be done using the national household survey conducted by Human Sciences Research Council in 2005. Since individuals from the same household and enumerator area more likely to be more alike in terms of risk of disease or correlated among each other, the GEEs will be used to correct for this potential intraclass correlation. Disease occurrence and distribution is highly heterogeneous at the population, household and the individual level. In recognition of this fact we propose to model this heterogeneity at community level through GLMMs and Bayesian hierarchical modelling approaches with enumerator area indicating the community effect. The results showed that HIV is driven by sex, age, race, education, health and condom use at sexual debut. Factors associated with TB are HIV status, sex, education, income and health. Factors that are common to both diseases are sex, education and health. The results showed that ignoring the intraclass correlation can results to biased estimates. Inference drawn from GLMMs and Bayesian approach provides some degree of confidence in the results. The positive correlation found at an enumerator area level for both HIV and TB indicates that interventions should be aimed at an area level rather than at the individual level.


The remote manual teleoperation of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) by a human operator creates a human-in-the loop system that is of great concern. In a remote teleoperation task, a human pilot must make control decisions based upon sensory information provided by the governed system. Often, this information consists of limited visual feedback provided by onboard cameras that do not provide an operator with an accurate portrayal of their immediate surroundings compromising the safety of the mobile robot. Due to this shortfall, haptic force feedback is often provided to the human in an effort to increase their perceptual awareness of the surrounding world. To investigate the effects of this additional sensory information provided to the human operator, we consider two haptic force feedback strategies. They were designed to provide either an attractive force to influence control behavior towards a reference trajectory along a flight path, or a repulsive force directing operators away from obstacles to prevent collision. Subject tests were conducted where human operators manually operated a remote UAV through a corridor environment under the conditions of the two strategies. For comparison, the conditions of no haptic feedback and the liner combination of both attractive and repulsive strategies were included in the study. Experimental results dictate that haptic force feedback in general (including both attractive and repulsive force feedback) improves the average distance from surrounding obstacles up to 21%. Further statistical comparison of repulsive and attractive feedback modalities reveal that even though a repulsive strategy is based directly on obstacles, an attractive strategy towards a reference trajectory is more suitable across all performance metrics. To further examine the effects of haptic aides in a UAV teleoperation task, the behavior of the human system as part of the control loop was also investigated. Through a novel device placed ii on the end effector of the haptic device, human-haptic interaction forces were captured and further analyzed. With this information, system identification techniques were carried out to determine the plausibility of deriving a human control model for the system. By defining lateral motion as a onedimensional compensatory tracking task the results show that general human control behavior can be identified where lead compensation in invoked to counteract second-order UAV dynamics.


"You must see yourself." The exhortation was increasingly familiar to English men and women in the two centuries before the Reformation. They encountered it repeatedly in their devotional books, the popular guides to spiritual self-improvement that were reaching an ever-growing readership at the end of the Middle Ages. But what did it mean to see oneself? What was the nature of the self to be envisioned, and what eyes and mirrors were needed to see and know it properly? Looking Inward traces a complex network of answers to such questions, exploring how English readers between 1350 and 1550 learned to envision, examine, and change themselves in the mirrors of devotional literature. By all accounts, it was the most popular literature of the period. With literacy on the rise, an outpouring of translations and adaptations flowed across traditional boundaries between religious and lay, and between female and male, audiences. As forms of piety changed, as social categories became increasingly porous, and as the heart became an increasingly privileged and contested location, the growth of devotional reading created a crucial arena for the making of literate subjectivities. The models of private reading and self-reflection constructed therein would have important implications, not only for English spirituality, but for social, political, and poetic identities, up to the Reformation and beyond. In Looking Inward, Bryan examines a wide range of devotional and secular texts, from works by Walter Hilton, Julian of Norwich, and Thomas Hoccleve to neglected translations like The Chastising of God's Children and The Pricking of Love. She explores the models of identification and imitation through which they sought to reach the inmost selves of their readers, and the scripts for spiritual desire that they offered for the cultivation of the heart. Illuminating the psychological paradigms at the heart of the genre, Bryan provides fresh insights into how late medieval men and women sought to know, labor in, and profit themselves by means of books.


Abstract. Studies on the palaeoclimate and palaeoceanography using numerical model simulations may be considerably dependent on the implemented geographical reconstruction. Because building the palaeogeographic datasets for these models is often a time-consuming and elaborate exercise, palaeoclimate models frequently use reconstructions in which the latest state-of-the-art plate tectonic reconstructions, palaeotopography and -bathymetry, or vegetation have not yet been incorporated. In this paper, we therefore provide a new method to efficiently generate a global geographical reconstruction for the middle-late Eocene. The generalised procedure is also reusable to create reconstructions for other time slices within the Cenozoic, suitable for palaeoclimate modelling. We use a plate-tectonic model to make global masks containing the distribution of land, continental shelves, shallow basins and deep ocean. The use of depth-age relationships for oceanic crust together with adjusted present-day topography gives a first estimate of the global geography at a chosen time frame. This estimate subsequently needs manual editing of areas where existing geological data indicate that the altimetry has changed significantly over time. Certain generic changes (e.g. lowering mountain ranges) can be made relatively easily by defining a set of masks while other features may require a more specific treatment. Since the discussion regarding many of these regions is still ongoing, it is crucial to make it easy for changes to be incorporated without having to redo the entire procedure. In this manner, a complete reconstruction can be made that suffices as a boundary condition for numerical models with a limited effort. This facilitates the interaction between experts in geology and palaeoclimate modelling, keeping reconstructions up to date and improving the consistency between different studies. Moreover, it facilitates model inter-comparison studies and sensitivity tests regarding certain geographical features as newly generated boundary conditions can more easily be incorporated in different model simulations. The workflow is presented covering a middle-late Eocene reconstruction (38 Ma), using a MatLab script and a complete set of source files that are provided in the supplementary material.


Densely-sampled image representations such as the light field or lumigraph have been effective in enabling photorealistic image synthesis. Unfortunately, lighting interpolation with such representations has not been shown to be possible without the use of accurate 3D geometry and surface reflectance properties. In this paper we propose an approach to image-based lighting interpolation that is based on estimates of geometry and shading from relatively few images. We decompose captured light fields at different lighting conditions into intrinsic images (reflectance and illumination images), and estimate view-dependent scene geometries using multi-view stereo. We call the resulting representation an intrinsic lumigraph. In the same way that the lumigraph uses geometry to permit more accurate view interpolation, the intrinsic lumigraph uses both geometry and intrinsic images to allow high-quality interpolation at different views and lighting conditions. Joint use of geometry and intrinsic images is effective in the computation of shadow masks for shadow prediction at new lighting conditions. We illustrate our approach with images of real scenes.


Today, the term Victorian implies snobbishness and rigidity. Our world, the result in part of a rebellion against Victorian formality and social hierarchy, celebrates the classless, the democratic, and the popular. It professes faith in the artistic judgment of all members of society regardless of ethnic origin, level of education or wealth. From the Victorian point of view, however, twentieth-century mass culture is accessible to all by appealing to the lowest common denominator; it is inclusive at the cost of a loss of education, refinement, and profundity. Turn-of-the-century America is the ideal subject for a study of the interaction between Victorian high culture and modern mass culture; the period from 1870 to 1915 was one of drastic cultural metamorphosis. Social change threatened the foundations of high culture and eventually killed it, but not without the unintentional help of the Victorians' own self-alienating behaviour.


The economic downturn that began in 2008 is continuing to create budgetary problems for the state of Hawaii. The biennial budget passed in 2009 reflected an anticipated shortfall of $2.1 billion. The budget was balanced half by appropriations cuts, and the other half by revenue increases. At the end of 2009, Hawaii was ranked as one of the 10 states with the worst budget deficit problems (Paulson 2009). Even though the state took drastic actions to furlough teachers and other state employees for nearly three days a month, cut spending and raised taxes, projections at the end of the year showed the state had a 13 percent shortfall halfway into the fiscal year (FY 2010, see Paulson 2009).As the legislative session began at the beginning of 2010, revenue projections came in even lower than projected, leaving a significant deficit for the legislature to reconcile. Because of the state constitutional requirement that the budget be balanced annually, the state has had to revise the biennial budget passed last year (FB 2009-11). Off-year supplemental budget packages including adjustments to revenues and appropriations are made as a matter of course, but this year is particularly significant given that the expected shortfall for the current fiscal biennium is $1.2 billion (HCF 2010). Tax increases, contract renegotiations, employee furloughs, and across the board cuts were implemented last year and are likely to continue. Still, they will not be enough, and the governor and the legislature are locked in a struggle over priorities. For many reasons that are unique to the politics of the State of Hawaii, certain departments and programs will likely have to shoulder the brunt of these cuts while other have will remain relatively unscathed. Taxes will likely increase, with tourists bearing a shoulder of the burden. The rest of the tax revenue increase is likely to come either as tax increases on businesses or delayed refunds to individuals.


Abstract Controlling the plasma in ITER to achieve its primary mission goals requires a complex and sophisticated plasma control system (PCS) that will be based initially on those of existing tokamaks, with some significant differences. An overview of the physical phenomena on which the ITER PCS will be based is presented with particular emphasis on magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) instabilities. The ITER PCS is logically structured into five parts that work closely together: (a) wall conditioning and tritium removal; (b) plasma axisymmetric magnetic control, including plasma initiation, inductive plasma current, position, and shape control; (c) plasma kinetic control, including fueling, power and particle flux to the first wall and divertor, noninductive plasma current, plasma pressure, and fusion burn control; (d) nonaxisymmetric control, which includes sawteeth, neoclassical tearing modes, edge localized modes, error fields and resistive wall modes, and Alfven eigenmodes; and (e) event handling, including changing the control algorithm or scenario when a plant system fault or a plasma-related event occurs that could affect plasma operation, which includes disruption mitigation. At high plasma performance, the control of MHD instabilities will become particularly important in ITER to maintain the fusion burn and to avoid potential damage to the first wall.


This study investigates how ten European languages from the Germanic, Romance and Slavic groups divide the semantic space of giving. The study is based on exemplars of events of giving extracted from two very different parallel corpora: Bible translations and film subtitles. This probabilistic exemplar-based approach allows for integration of the postclassical categorization models and semantic typology. The analyses show that there was more cross-linguistic variation in verbalization of GIVE in the subtitles than in the Bible translations, and also more cross-linguistic variation at the level of specific verbs than at the level of more abstract constructions. Moreover, there were significant associations between the constructional and lexical ways of expressing GIVE in all languages in the sample. Finally, the way these ten languages cut the semantic space of GIVE conforms to the genetic relationships between them only at the level of specific verbs, but not at the more abstract and iconic constructional level of categorization.


Buoyant micro-plastic marine debris (MPMD) is a known widespread ocean pollutant. Every year, surface tows are conducted to collect MPMD and to estimate MPMD concentrations. However, it has been observed that such surface concentrations are lower when wind speeds are elevated, suggesting that wind and wave-driven mixing is submerging MPMD to greater depth. Motivated by MPMD observations, this study applies a turbulence resolving large eddy simulation (LES) and a parametric one-dimensional column turbulence model to examine the vertical distributions of MPMD. The parametric model, which is tuned to accurately capture LES results, is computationally e cient, so that it can be applied to long time series of MPMD observations. Both models capture wind-driven turbulence, Langmuir turbulence (LT), and enhanced turbulent kinetic energy input due to breaking waves (BW). Therefore, these models depend explicitly on wind and wave properties, which are estimated from archived wave simulation data for the analysis period. Model results are only consistent with the observed MPMD concentration profiles if LT e↵ects are included; neither BW nor shear-driven turbulence is capable of deeply submerging MPMD, suggesting that observed MPMD concentration profiles are a characteristic signature of wave-driven Langmuir turbulence. The parametric model is applied to several years of observations in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans to show that total MPMD concentrations are significantly underestimated by surface measurements. xi Chapter


Current, unsustainable practices are negatively impacting the socio-ecological systems on which humanity depends. This paper argues that social enterprise, as a market-based approach is an effective tool to help developing countries to transition toward sustainability. To gain an understanding as to how broader participation in social enterprise could be encouraged, this research investigates the motivations, enablers, challenges and incentives for professionals in developing countries to participate in social enterprise. In addition, the role of social enterprise and its limitations in moving society toward sustainability were investigated. A qualitative research design was used. The framework for strategic sustainable development (FSSD) was employed to ensure a systems perspective of sustainability was captured in this study. Findings include seven motivational factors, eight enabling factors, and twelve challenges facing social entrepreneurs; as well as seven categories of suggested incentives to increase participation. Strategic recommendations targeted toward government agencies, non-governmental and multilateral development organizations, and social enterprise incubators, were provided as guidelines to encourage participation and ensure sustainability.


Title of dissertation: NUMERICAL STUDIES ON NEW TECHNIQUES FOR GRAVITATIONAL WAVE EXTRACTION AND BINARY BLACK HOLE SIMULATIONS Enrique Pazos, Doctor of Philosophy, 2009 Dissertation directed by: Professor Manuel Tiglio Department of Physics This dissertation presents numerical studies of gravitational waves produced by black holes in two scenarios: perturbations of a single black hole, and the collision of a binary pair. Their detection plays a crucial roll in further testing General Relativity and opens a whole new field of observational astronomy. First, a technique called Cauchy–perturbative matching is revisited in one dimension through the use of new numerical methods, such as high order finite difference operators, constraint-preserving boundary conditions and, most important, a multi-domain decomposition (also referred to as multi-patch, or multi-block approach). These methods are then used to numerically solve the fully non-linear threedimensional Einstein vacuum equations representing a non-rotating distorted black hole. In combination with a generalization of the Regge-Wheeler-Zerilli formalism, we quantify the effect of the background choice in the wave extraction techniques. It is found that a systematic error is introduced at finite distances. Furthermore, such error is found to be larger than those due to numerical discretization. Subsequently, the first simulations ever of binary black holes with a finitedifference multi-domain approach are presented. The case is one in which the black holes orbit for about twelve cycles before merging. The salient features of this multidomain approach are: i) the complexity of the problem scales linearly with the size of the computational domain, ii) excellent scaling, in both weak and strong senses, for several thousand processors. As a next step, binary black hole simulations from inspiral to merger and ringdown are performed using a new technique, turduckening, and a standard finite difference, adaptive mesh-refinement code. The computed gravitational waveforms are compared to those obtained through evolution of the same exact initial configuration but with a pseudo-spectral collocation code. Both the gravitational waves extracted at finite locations and their extrapolated values to null infinity are compared. Finally, a numerical study of generic second order perturbations of Schwarzschild black holes is presented using a new gauge invariant high order perturbative formalism. A study of the self-coupling of first order modes and the resulting radiated energy, in particular its dependence on the type of initial perturbation, is detailed. NUMERICAL STUDIES ON NEW TECHNIQUES FOR GRAVITATIONAL WAVE EXTRACTION AND BINARY BLACK HOLE SIMULATIONS


This paper investigates the key components of an intelligent web user interface to facilitate online investment as a novel approach to compensating for the impersonality of e-commerce. By analyzing challenges to online brokerage services and evaluating key criteria for a viable intelligence system, we develop a decision tree based intelligent web user interfaces model. The resulting intelligent model is intended to help online shoppers avoid common mistakes by means of implicit reasoning, flexible knowledge granularity, and effective reasoning-by-exception, which is significantly different from the traditional approaches that largely rely on assistance from remote control knowledge engines. One of the key contributions of the intelligent web user interfaces model introduced in this paper is that it provides a heuristic guidance behind the scene for both online shoppers and online stores without extra structural constraints or financial burdens.


We present worst case bounds for the learning rate of a known prediction method that is based on hierarchical applications of binary context tree weighting (CTW) predictors. A heuristic application of this approach that relies on Huffman's alphabet decomposition is known to achieve state-of-the-art performance in prediction and lossless compression benchmarks. We show that our new bound for this heuristic is tighter than the best known performance guarantees for prediction and lossless compression algorithms in various settings. This result substantiates the efficiency of this hierarchical method and provides a compelling explanation for its practical success. In addition, we present the results of a few experiments that examine other possibilities for improving the multi-alphabet prediction performance of CTW-based algorithms.


In recent decades, indigenous knowledge has been added to the environmental education agenda in an attempt to address the marginalization of non-western perspectives. While these efforts are necessary, the debate is often framed in terms of a discourse of victimisation which overlooks the agency of the people we refer to as marginalized. In this paper I discuss how young secondary school graduates from a pastoralist community in Kenya use and negotiate indigeneity, marginal identity, and experiences of marginalization in social navigations aimed at broadening their current and future opportunities. I argue that researchers not only need to pay attention to how certain voices are marginalized in environmental education research and practice, but also to how learners as agents respond to, use and negotiate the marginalization of their perspectives.


ATP Receptor in Arabidopsis As well as its role as an intracellular energy source, extracellular adenosine triphosphate (ATP) has diverse functions as a signaling molecule. ATP receptors have been identified in animal cells, but searches based on structural homology have not identified ATP receptors in plants. Choi et al. (p. 290) have now identified an ATP receptor in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana by tracking down the cause of mutations that leave mutant plants unresponsive to ATP signals. The receptor identified carries an intracellular kinase domain and an extracellular lectin domain. An Arabidopsis lectin receptor kinase, DORN1, is the plant receptor for extracellular adenosine triphosphate. Extracellular adenosine 5′-triphosphate (ATP) is an essential signaling molecule that is perceived in mammals by plasma membrane P2-type purinoceptors. Similar ATP receptors do not exist in plants, although extracellular ATP has been shown to play critical roles in plant growth, development, and stress responses. Here, we identify an ATP-insensitive Arabidopsis mutant, dorn1 (Does not Respond to Nucleotides 1), defective in lectin receptor kinase I.9 (Arabidopsis Information Resource accession code At5g60300). DORN1 binds ATP with high affinity (dissociation constant of 45.7 ± 3.1 nanomolar) and is required for ATP-induced calcium response, mitogen-activated protein kinase activation, and gene expression. Ectopic expression of DORN1 increased the plant response to physical wounding. We propose that DORN1 is essential for perception of extracellular ATP and likely plays a variety of roles in plant stress resistance.


Mechanical forces transmitted through the cellular microenvironment are critically important for tissue development, homeostasis, and degeneration, particularly for tissues in the musculoskeletal system that play primary load bearing roles. When these tissues degenerate, their limited healing capacity has lead many to propose tissue engineering strategies in order to provide functional replacements. While native tissue structural and mechanical benchmarks are commonly used to quantify and validate outcomes for tissue engineering and to refine experimental approaches, these same benchmarks have not yet been extended to the cellular and sub-cellular level. This is true despite the fact that it is at this length scale where tissue specific mechanotransduction occurs. With this motivation, and building on an established biomaterial framework for engineering fibrocartilagenous tissues, this thesis further refines macro-scale functional benchmarks and defines new micro-scale benchmarks that are operative at the cellular and sub-cellular level. In doing so, we identify a number of structural attributes of the cellular cytoskeleton and its attachments to the nucleus that are important for mechanotransduction. In normal functioning tissues, maintenance of phenotype in mechanically active microenvironments requires appropriately tuned mechanotransduction machinery. Understanding how these sub-cellular mechanoactive species (including the cytoskeleton, the nucleus, and nuclear connectivity) change with differentiation and development, as well as their role in mechanical signaling, will be of primary importance for the success of tissue engineering strategies. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Bioengineering First Advisor Robert L. Mauck


Abstract. Changes in the atmospheric moisture transport have been proposed as a vehicle for interpreting some of the most significant changes in the Arctic region. The increasing moisture over the Arctic during the last decades is not strongly associated with the evaporation that takes place within the Arctic area itself, despite the fact that the sea ice cover is decreasing. Such an increment is consistent and is more dependent on the transport of moisture from the extratropical regions to the Arctic that has increased in recent decades and is expected to increase within a warming climate. This increase could be due either to changes in circulation patterns which have altered the moisture sources, or to changes in the intensity of the moisture sources because of enhanced evaporation, or a combination of these two mechanisms. In this short communication we focus on the more objective assessment of the strong link between ocean evaporation trends and Arctic Sea ice melting. We will critically analyse several recent results suggesting links between moisture transport and the extent of sea ice in the Arctic, this being one of the most distinct indicators of continuous climate change both in the Arctic and on a global scale. To do this we will use a sophisticated Lagrangian approach to develop a more robust framework on some of these previous disconnecting results, using new information and insights. Results reached in this study stress the connection between two climate change indicators, namely an increase in evaporation over source regions (mainly the Mediterranean Sea, the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Pacific Ocean in the paths of the global western boundary currents and their extensions) and Arctic ice melting precursors.


The state of focus of the eye in dim light and in total darkness was investigated by photographing the Purkinje images of a double aperture placed over a high speed flash lamp. Measurement of the photographed images showed that all subjects, when viewing a dim scene, remained focused for far vision. By subjective test, however, these subjects were myopic under the same conditions of dim light. The experimental results thus favor the theory that "night myopia" is a result of the aberrations of the eye and is not due to accommodation. The flash photographs taken in total darkness showed that three subjects remained focused for far vision; the fourth subject sometimes accommodated, by amounts varying between 0.5 and 1.5 diopter.


Background and Aim: Hospital's traditional charter that mostly emphasized productivity has been replaced by a charter that stresses social and environmental issues. On this basis, to achieve success, managers should regard both the inner and the outer environments of hospitals. This study aims at measuring hospitals' social responsibility. Materials and Methods: The present descriptive-analytic study was carried out through a cross-sectional method in 2010. The study population consisted of hospital managers of the city of Isfahan (n=21). The data collection instrument was a researcher-made questionnaire. The instrument's content validity was determined by the experts' views and its reliability calculated through Cronbach's α was found to be 0.95. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS software (version 16) and the hypotheses were tested by t-test, ANOVA and Eta coefficients. The maximum mean score was 100. Results: The mean score of hospitals' social responsibility was computed to be 68.6. The mean scores of leadership and inner processes, market place, community policies, environmental policies, and workplace policies were found to be 72.2, 70, 67.8, 67.4 and 66.2, respectively. There was no significant relationship between hospital's social responsibility and type of hospital's possession and activity (pvalue > 0.05). Conclusion: The social responsibility of hospitals was assessed as moderate. To improve hospital's social responsibility, it is suggested that more attention be paid to workplace and environmental policies.


Thoroughly revised for its Third Edition, this volume is the most comprehensive, multidisciplinary text on genitourinary cancers. This edition has two new editors - Frans M.J. Debruyne and W. Marston Linehan - and more than 50 per cent new contributors. Seventeen new chapters cover familial prostate cancer, biology of bone metastases, molecular pathology and biologic determinants, PSA and related kallikreins, needle biopsy, laparoscopic surgical procedures, 3D conformal radiotherapy, hormones and radiotherapy, integration of chemotherapy and other modalities, quality of life after treatment of localized prostate cancer, management of rising PSA after local therapy, the role of surgery in advanced bladder cancer, post-chemotherapy node dissections and resection of metastatic disease, and stem cell transplantation.


Purpose - The purpose of the paper was to examine whether, and in what way, managers perceive that the level and shape of intellectual capital (IC) within firms influences management accounting practice, specifically, performance measurement, planning and control, capital budgeting, and risk management. It also explores whether such firms are better able to respond to unanticipated economic and market changes and achieve relatively higher performance within their sector. Design/methodology/approach - The paper is based on the results of a study conducted in Malaysia through a questionnaire survey in 119 large companies with varying levels of IC and selected interviews with both accounting and non-accounting executives in a subset of them. Findings - The findings in the paper suggest some evolution in management accounting practices for firms investing heavily in IC. The findings are discussed and further explored through interviews in some of the firms analysed. Research limitations/implications - The limitations of survey research in this paper are acknowledged, however these are ameliorated by confirmatory insights from the interviews. Further research could be carried out using more extensive case studies in companies, perhaps longitudinally, or undertaken using sector focused surveys. Practical implications - It is important to show in the paper that management accounting systems reflect the strategic orientation of the companies concerned. Where a greater focus on intangibles and intellectual capital occurs it may require a different emphasis on management accounting practices compared to companies where they do not feature strongly. It is important that management recognise and act on this in order to improve corporate performance. Originality/value - The paper shows that it is widely recognised that (IC), whether in the form of knowledge, experience, professional skill, good relationships, or technological capacity is a major source of corporate competitive advantage. Whilst the literature places considerable attention on the valuation, measurement and reporting of IC for external reporting purposes, far less attention has so far been given to the implications of IC for managerial accounting practice. This paper addresses this omission.


In his seminal paper on arbitrage and competitive equilibrium in unbounded exchange economies, Werner (Econometrica, 1987) proved the existence of a competitive equilibrium, under a price no-arbitrage condition, without assuming either local or global nonsatiation. Werner's existence result contrasts sharply with classical existence results for bounded exchange economies which require, at minimum, global nonsatiation at rational allocations. Why do unbounded exchange economies admit existence without local or global nonsatiation? This question is the focus of our paper. We make two main contributions to the theory of arbitrage and competitive equilibrium. First, we show that, in general, in unbounded exchange economies (for example, asset exchange economies allowing short sales), even if some agents' preferences are satiated, the absence of arbitrage is sufficient for the existence of competitive equilibria, as long as each agent who is satiated has a nonempty set of useful net trades - that is, as long as agents' preferences satisfy weak nonsatiation. Second, we provide a new approach to proving existence in unbounded exchange economies. The key step in our new approach is to transform the original economy to an economy satisfying global nonsatiation such that all equilibria of the transformed economy are equilibria of the original economy. What our approach makes clear is that it is precisely the condition of weak nonsatiation - a condition considerably weaker than local or global nonsatiation - that makes possible this transformation. Moreover, as we show via examples, without weak nonsatiation, existence fails.


The purpose of this project is to understand how it is that women become electronic/dance music (E/DM) DJs and intervene in the dominant discourses and practices of cultural production in E/DM and DJ culture. The three main areas I address are: the impact of the socialization of gender and technology relations, the various ways that women use the Internet to access knowledge and create supportive communities, and finally, the hegemonic representation of women in dominant E/DM culture and how this representation has led to women creating their own communities of practice. I take a cultural studies approach to understanding the communicative strategies women adopt to become DJs. Adopting this methodology requires an examination of the relationships between people, places, practices, and texts. Such an interdisciplinary approach also necessitates drawing on literature from various "studies" areas, including cultural studies, popular music, women's studies, technology, and cyber culture studies. The result is a group of interconnected case studies linked by the ways that each of them addresses distinct aspects related to my central question of how women become DJs. It is clear from my research that the increased integration of women in E/DM is the result of women building face-to-face social networks and creating their own communities—both on and offline. In the spirit of the Women's Music movement that started in the 1970s and Riot Grrrl culture in the early 1990s, women in E/DM are increasingly taking on the roles of bookings agents, event planners and promoters, website developers, listserv managers, DJs, producers, and record label owners. Online forums are used to organize offline events like monthly potlucks and public performances, in addition to providing spaces where women can ask questions or share knowledge about all things DJ related.


Modelling an infectious disease like diarrhea improves the understanding of the transmission and helps in preventing it. Based on the pathogenesis, this research creates a continuous mathematical model for diarrhea (forming an SIRS system) caused by the virus rotavirus. Basic calculations including the basic reproduction number (R0) and disease-free  state are successfully completed for the described system. Results show that if the basic reproduction number is kept below 1 (i.e. R0 < 1), there will be no epidemic. This mathematical model has been simulated using assumed values of parameters to test its fidelity.  In  order  to  establish  the  model  in  a  functioning  form,  the Routh Hurwitz method has been used for the stability  analysis.  Model fidelity has been made stronger by conducting the sensitivity analysis and parameter estimation too. This model is very useful and has been integrated to form utilizable systems which function as a predictive system to assist in prevention of further infections of rotavirus causing diarrhea.


Abstract. The distribution and abundance of microbiota in soil and litter may be significantly affected by the quality and quantity of localized patches of leaf organic matter. This study examined the relative effects of aqueous extracts of shed autumn leaves from American beech (Fagus grandifolia), sugar maple (Acer saccharum), red oak (Quercus rubra), and white oak (Quercus alba) on the density and diversity of gymnamoebae in laboratory cultures. Overall, the beech leaf extract produced the most growth of gymnamoebae followed by white oak with leaf extracts from maple and red oak producing least growth. Cultures using natural leaf litter from beneath beech trees had higher densities and diversity of gymnamoebae than leaf‐litter cultures from a maple–oak stand. Soil microcosms confirmed that beech leaf extracts produced a higher density of gymnamoeba growth when added to soil cultures compared with maple and oak leaf extracts. Protein content, CHN (carbon and nitrogen content), and pH of the leaf extracts were assayed, but these alone were not sufficiently different to account for the effects. A dilution experiment indicated that some other concentration‐dependent factor in the extract may produce the effects.


In European Union ("EU") competition law, the supply policy of a dominant input provider can be deemed unlawful, if his wholesale and retail price-mix forces rival input purchasers to compete at a loss on the downstream market. This is known as an abusive "margin squeeze". Whilst this stands to reason, the TeliaSonera case-law adds that there can also be an "exclusionary" abuse when rivals' margins are "positive", by virtue, for instance of "reduced profitability". In other words, there is an infringement of Article 102 TFEU even if rivals maintain the ability to competitively sell their products at prices above costs. We call this the positive margin squeeze theory. After a quick overview of TeliaSonera and of its context (I), this paper shows that the positive margin squeeze theory is flawed on economic grounds (II). To this end, it resorts to a simple numerical example. Further, this paper explains that the positive margin squeeze theory is wrong on legal grounds, and that it has since then been overruled by a subsequent judgment of the Court of Justice of the EU ("CJEU") (III). Finally, we conclude that the positive margin squeeze theory can be disregarded in modern competition law.


This editorial refers to 'Geometric changes after tricuspid annuloplasty and predictors of residual tricuspid regurgitation: a real-time three-dimensional echocardiography study', by S.-Y. Min et al. doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehq227

Only limited information is currently available about the prognostic significance of tricuspid regurgitation (TR). The few existing studies, however, suggest a strong impact of TR on clinical outcome. Significant TR is associated with poor prognosis in patients with mitral stenosis after percutaneous balloon valvuloplasty1 and with a reduction in exercise capacity after mitral valve surgery.2 A significant increase in mortality among patients with moderate and severe TR has been reported, which was independent of left ventricular ejection fraction or pulmonary artery pressure.3 In 60 patients with flail tricuspid leaflet due to trauma, significant increases in atrial fibrillation, heart failure, and death were observed.4 TR was also an independent predictor of increased mortality in 1400 patients with left ventricular systolic dysfunction.5

TR is only rarely caused by primary abnormalities of the tricuspid leaflets. In most instances it is 'functional' in nature and is the consequence of geometric alterations caused by right ventricular dilatation,6,7 distortion of the subvalvular apparatus, tricuspid annular dilatation, or a combination …

*Corresponding athor. Tel: +43 1 40 400 4614, Fax: +43 1 40400 4216, E-mail: gerald.maurer{at}meduniwien.ac.at


Author(s): Morgan, Mallory | Abstract: This project seeks to evaluate the success and degree of implementation of the Climate Change Action Plan for the Florida Reef System 2010-2015 (CCAPFRS). This Action Plan identifies interdisciplinary actions to be incorporated into reef management plans in order to address a myriad of climatic and non-climatic stressors to the reef system, minimize risks to coral reef dependent people and industries, and target scientific research priorities for strategic management. As we are now in the final year of the Action Plan, the status and degree of implementation of the plan's 40 recommendations has been unknown until now. A qualitative evaluation was designed due to a lack of monitoring, established benchmarks, and specific measures in the plan. Through stakeholder interviews, surveys, and independent Internet research, this project assessed to what degree the recommended actions had been implemented and developed a scorecard to consolidate information on management strategies underway that contribute to the general success of the Action Plan. The scorecard enhances communication among stakeholder groups and various governmental and state agencies regarding collective progress, and serves as a blueprint for a subsequent plan moving forward. This review process demonstrated the great benefits and value of monitoring and evaluation of action plans with application worldwide. Overall, it was found the plan is in a fairly good degree of implementation, with 80% of the plan's 40 action items addressed to some degree. The most success was found in research goals, and the area most in need regards fisheries management. Some priorities changed over time. There has been a strong monitoring and reporting network built in the region, with several programs utilizing "eyes and ears on the water". The capacity to respond and monitor coral bleaching events has also greatly increased.


For noncitizen criminal defendants, a guilty sentence often means deportation. For many years, confusion and inconsistency governed the question of whether a criminal defense attorney had a duty to advise a noncitizen defendant on the immigration consequences of a conviction. Before Padilla v. Kentucky , thousands of defendants—especially those who were incarcerated—received no advice on immigration consequences and unknowingly signed pleas that would lead to their deportation. When the landmark Padilla decision was issued, defense attorney reactions ranged from ecstatic celebration to feigned nonchalance to outright panic. Everyone knew that they had just witnessed a revolution in the field of criminal justice, but no one knew when or how the casualties would arrive. Would every attorney be required to learn immigration law? Interpretations of Padilla vary, and many criminal defense attorneys remain uncertain of their obligations under Padilla and how to fulfill them .


It is difficult to predict stock market returns but relatively easy to predict market volatility. But volatility predictions don't easily translate into return predictions since the two are largely uncorrelated. We put forward a framework that produces a formula in which returns become a function of volatility and therefore become somewhat more predictable. We show that this strategy produces excess returns giving us the upside of leverage without the downside.As a side-effect the strategy also smooths out volatility variation over time, reduces the kurtosis of daily returns, reduces maximum drawdown, and gives us a dynamic timing signal for tilting asset allocations between conservative and aggressive assets.It has been said that diversification is the only free lunch in investing. It appears that once you have diversified away some risk you can get a further free lunch by smoothing what risk remains.


A Finite element model of plasma sprayed
TBC's was developed to estimate the stress
induced by thermal cycling experiments. A heat
transfer analysis was performed to evaluate the
temperature distribution on the specimen during the cooling under an impinging air jet; temperature measurements performed with an infrared pyrometer on the cooled samples show good agreement with the evaluated data. These results were then integrated in a structural
mechanic model as thermal load. The COMSOL Multiphysics® Thermal-Structural interaction model allowed to determine the dependence of the stress on the temperature fields


The thesis sets out to investigate the problem of theoretical perspectives on regional development in regional development programmes, studying the case of Regional Operational Programmes of five Eastern Poland regions. Formulation of regional development policy for the macroregion is a controversial issue in regional policy discussions in Poland. A literature review on regional growth theories was conducted to develop a number of theoretical perspectives and identify key words for each of those. The method of content analysis, taking the key words into consideration, was used to study how different perspectives are reflected in the five documents. The content analysis showed the domination of the innovation perspective in all of the documents. What can be concluded is that the regional authorities, while writing regional development programmes are often driven by regional policy advances and recommendations of superior documents. However, in case of the Eastern Poland regions the dominance of the innovation perspective does not seem to be congruent with the macroregions' socio-economic conditions.


F. Scott Fitzgerald's short stories are the most critically undervalued and ignored segment of his fiction. Despite the fact that most of his short fiction has been published in various extant collections, critics nonetheless continue to focus primarily on his novels. Moreover, even when they turn their attention to Fitzgerald's stories, they tend to deal with the half dozen most frequently anthologized to the exclusion of the vast majority. This volume presents twenty-three previously unpublished essays on Fitzgerald's "other" stories. The first section contains close readings of individual stories and ranges chronologically over his entire career--from "The Spire and the Gargoyle" (published in 1917, when Fitzgerald was at Princeton) through such early efforts as "Bernice Bobs Her Hair" (1920) and "John Jackson's Arcady" (1924) down to late stories such as "An Alcoholic Case" (1937) and "The Lost Decade" (1939). The second section includes essays on Fitzgerald's three story groups--the Basil and Josephine stories, the Count of Darkness stories, and the Pat Hobby stories.By placing these stories within the context of Fitzgerald's total fictional achievement, this collection serves as a resource for a deepened understanding of the intensely autobiographical nature of Fitzgerald's work, offering insights into his methods of composition and his aims, both artistic and human.The roster of contributors includes long-time Fitzgerald critics such as John Kuehl, Scott Donaldson, and Ruth Prigozy, along with distinguished critics of modern American literature such as Robert Merrill, Alan Cheuse, and James Nagel, and younger scholars like Gerald Pike and Heidi Kunz Bullock. The editor, Jackson R. Bryer, deliberately chose such a diverse group to ensure a variety of critical perspectives. The resulting volume is not the "last word" on these neglected stories; rather, these are the "first words" on stories that will now begin to receive more attention in what will be a continuing discovery of the pleasures in the full range of F. Scott Fitzgerald's fiction.


Multiple antibiotic resistant bacteria (MARB) and antimicrobial drugs enter the environment via wastewater, especially from hospitals and pharmaceutical plants, and through agricultural runoff, leading to contamination of surface and groundwater. This is a serious problem in arid regions such as Oman where wastewater is recycled for irrigation and recharging aquifers. Treatment with chlorine does not completely remove bacteria from wastewater or prevent their re-growth in downstream distribution systems. MARB can infect humans via contaminated food and drinking water, or directly from the environment. Agricultural runoff and sewage, either treated or untreated, are also the main sources of MARB in coastal seawater. It is necessary to use antibiotics more prudently in medicine, treat wastewater more effectively, eliminate the discharge of untreated waste into the environment, and curtail the proflgate use of antibiotics as growth promoters for livestock.


Dahmardeh, M., B. Keshtegar and J. Piri, 2017. Assessment chemical properties of soil in intercropping using ANN and ANFIS models. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 23 (2): 265–273 Intercropping as an example of sustainable agricultural systems follows objectives, such as the ecological balance, more exploitation of resources and increase in soil fertility. Evaluation of soil nutrients in intercropping is a basic criterion for selecting the type of cultivation and increasing the productivity of the soil. Based on experimental study, evaluation of soil needs time and cost too much. However the soil parameters can be rapidly estimated using predicted meteorology and can be appropriately assessed. Linear estimation methods are less accurate than non-linear methods, but non-linear methods for modeling of soil elements are diffi cult due to highly computing times. The artifi cial intelligence is a powerful tool for fast modeling, more accurately. In this paper, artifi cial intelligence method such as Artifi cial Neural Networks (ANN) and Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) has been used to estimate soil chemical properties (carbon and nitrogen). Four input parameters including the soil temperature, type of intercropping (different ratios of Roselle – green gram), type of tillage (no-tillage, minimum tillage, conventional tillage) and sodium have been used in ANN and ANFIS prediction. ANFIS and ANN modeling have been compared using several statistics (root mean square error (RMSE) and Mean Absolute Error (MAE). The results indicate that the artifi cial intelligences can be successful applied for estimating soil carbon and nitrogen. ANFIS is found to be more accurate than the ANN. A sensitivity analysis has conducted based on ANFIS estimate. It is shown that increased percent of green gram in intercropping can reduce the percentage of carbon to nitrogen (C/N).


-Methodologies for determining soil chemical properties have evolved dramatically during the past century. Early geochemical analyses were conducted exclusively through the use of wet chemistry techniques that were relatively reliable but painstaking and subject to errors at various stages of analysis. Near infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) has emerged as a new approach for rapidly analyzing a variety ofmaterials including soils. In this study soil samples were taken from eight study areas across the Ozark Highlands of Arkansas, and NIRS calibration models were developed to determine the accuracy of using NIRS to analyze soils compared with standard soil chemical analysis protocols. Multivariate regression models were highly effective for analyzing several important elements. C and N models explained 92% and 88% of their variation, respectively, and Ca, Mg, P, and Mn models explained 72-88% ofthe variability in these elements. Models for C:N and pH explained 82% and 86% oftheir variability, respectively. Models for micronutrients Cu and Zn did not fit as well with 22% and 40% of their variability explained, respectively. Our findings suggest that additional NIRS calibration and modeling is promising for rapidly analyzing the chemical composition of soils, and it is desirable to develop model libraries that are calibrated for the soils of a given region.


The national mandate to develop northern Australia presents significant opportunities and many challenges that must and can be overcome. The successful and sustained development of the north, however, will depend on the quality and performance of appropriate governance (decision-making) and policy structures to: (i) overcome these unique challenges; and (ii) capitalise on, and invest in, the emerging opportunities.
Governance in northern Australia, however, is typified by the separation of place and power, poor east-west alignment across the north, and continued tensions between development, conservation and the diverse interests of traditional owners. A strong and collaborative governance framework is a clear conduit for bringing together these interests, whilst delivering on the development mandate, reducing Indigenous disadvantage and harmonizing historically separate governance frameworks.
Consistent with the findings of the Developing Northern Australia Green Paper (PM&C 2014), we consider the government and policy imperatives most critical to the development of the north are:
• A clearer, inclusive and on-going national policy narrative that recognizes developing Northern Australia is in the national economic interest;
• A clear structure and cohesive framework for the over-arching governance of northern Australia;
• A clear national, State and Territory policy focus on the most strategic priorities for development;
• Building a much stronger, more integrated and accessible knowledge base that will aid the de-risking of potential capital investment through informed decision making;
• Clear processes for linking these priorities to, and alignment of, annual Commonwealth and State/NT budget cycles, Future Fund investment considerations, and wherever possible, seeking to establish the appropriate public private partnerships (PPPs) that are needed to secure the investment required;
• A stronger framework for strategic land use planning across Northern Australia and continuous improvements in major project assessment and approval processes;
• A determined attempt to continue to enhance the fair resolution of significant issues concerning land tenure security across the north; and
• Stronger devolved capability (including appropriate rationalization) and more defined roles and responsibilities among northern Australian Councils, regional bodies, Indigenous institutions and others involved in critical decision-making.
The north's existing governance arrangements and policy processes, however, do not accommodate the full scope of these imperatives. Enhanced governance mechanisms and policy approaches that meet multi-jurisdictional objectives are instead necessary. Such mechanisms would form the logical foundation for the development of the many strategies required to implement the six major reform themes already identified within the Green Paper on Developing Northern Australia (PM&C 2014).
Developing the north needs a shared and committed mandate right across Australia. Developing the north is in the National economic interest not just in the parochial interest of those of us who live in Northern Australia. The opportunities in resources, agriculture, tourism, access to markets etc. are well understood – the challenges in seizing these opportunities in the national interest have lacked cohesive and focused partnerships and planning between all levels of Government and the private sector.
The current bi-partisan mandate to develop Northern Australia is an opportunity that should be seized upon to put in place the long term strategic governance, policy and financial architecture that will allow our nation to realize the potential of Northern Australia in the nations interest.


Objectives To investigate the effects of interleukin 1β (IL1β) treatment on the Notch1/Hes1 pathway in chondrocytes in vitro. Methods Mouse articular chondrocytes in primary culture were challenged with IL1β, alone or combined with Notch1 and IL1β pathway inhibitors. Notch1 and Hes1 expressions were investigated by immunocytochemistry, western blot and real-time quantitative (q)PCR. IL1β-responsive genes were assessed by real-time qPCR and a specific siRNA against Hes1 was used to identify Hes1 target genes. Results Notch1 labelling remained nuclear and stable in intensity irrespective of treatment, suggesting a steady state activation of this pathway in our model. IL1β transiently increased Hes1 mRNA (2.5-fold) and protein expression in treated versus naive chondrocytes. Hes1 mRNA level then decreased below control and its cyclic pattern of expression was lost. This was associated with nuclear translocation of the cytoplasmic Hes1 protein. IL1β induced increase in Hes1 mRNA was transcriptional, occurred through nuclear factor (NF)κB activation and appeared to be associated with downregulation by its own protein. Hes1 induction was insensitive to the γ-secretase inhibitor N-(N-(3,5-difluorophenacetyl)-l-alanyl)-S-phenylglycine t-butyl ester (DAPT), which suggested its independence from novel Notch1 activation. Hes1 expression was efficiently silenced by a specific siRNA. This experiment revealed that Hes1 did not mediate IL1β-induced downregulation of Sox9, type II collagen and aggrecan transcription but mediated IL1β induction of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)13 and ADAM metallopeptidase with thrombospondin type 1 motif, 5 (ADAMTS5). The Hes1-related repressor Hey1 was expressed at a very low level and was not inducible by IL1β. Conclusion Hes1 is a novel IL1β target gene in chondrocytes which influences a discrete subset of genes linked to cartilage matrix remodelling and/or degradation.


Fever of War: The Influenza Epidemic in the U.S. Army during World War I By Carol R. Byerly (New York: New York University Press, 2005) (272 pages; $65.00 cloth; $20.00 paper) Fever of War is a compelling history of the intersection of pandemic influenza with America's participation in World War I. Using numerous primary sources and analyzing the data in relation to the published literature on the topic, Carol Byerly addresses one aspect of the global disaster-the impact the influenza pandemic had on the American military during the war. In doing this, she provides new insight into the reasons why this pandemic has long been ignored by historians. The well-written prologue immediately draws the reader into the story of the pandemic and army medical officer Ward J. McNeal's role in understanding and combating the dreadful disease. Byerly then graphically recounts the spread of the deadly influenza virus from Kansas to Boston and along the northeastern seaboard. She then follows its transmission to the European theater of the Great War, where she details the havoc wrought by the flu in the military, particularly noting its devastating impact on soldiers' morale. In addition, Byerly documents the military physicians' overly optimistic view of the ability of scientific medicine to control disease and their ultimate failure in this regard. Byerly's research demonstrates how the influenza epidemic was inextricably linked to the war, providing a concise description of the intersection of the flu with the German military offensive in the spring of 1918 (pp. 69-70). It also demonstrates how army medical officers, occupying a unique position between the government and its citizenry, had two responsibilities that were sometimes in conflict: they were to implement the administration's war aims while simultaneously protecting the health of the enlisted men and their officers. Particularly noteworthy is Byerly's discussion of racial and gender discrimination in the American Army medical corps (pp. 29-31). Her discussion of women and black physicians' struggles for opportunity to serve their country is particularly interesting. She demonstrates once again the importance of race and gender in the history of American medicine. What is largely missing from this account is attention to nurses and their role in the pandemic. Little attention is paid to the major role that nurses had in keeping patients alive when there was no effective cure for influenza and there were no antibiotics for the subsequent pneumonia that killed thousands of men, although the author does state that "Physicians and nurses alike knew that traditional nursing care-warmth, good food, bed rest-provided the best and only effective treatment for influenza and a preventive against pneumonia. …


Purpose

This paper aims to examine the impact of corporate logos on corporate image and reputation in creating competitive advantage in the context of Persia and Mexico as emerging markets. The paper provides an extensive links between corporate logo and its dimension and internal stakeholders' attitudes towards advertisement, familiarity and recognisability as intermediaries to corporate image and reputation.

Design/methodology/approach

A qualitative exploratory approach was undertaken, comprising 12 face-to-face interviews and 14 skype in-depth interviews with graphic designers, design, communication and marketing consultant in Mexico and Persia based on attribution theory.

Findings

The study posits that the more favorable the name, colour, typeface and design of the company logo, the more favorable the attitude Mexican consumers have towards the corporate logo, corporate image and reputation. However, in comparison for Persia these factors have less effect on customers' judgment and behaviour, towards the corporate logo, corporate image and reputation. The research findings suggest that the selection of colour in a corporate logo is related to its marketing objectives, cultural values, desired customer relationship levels with the organisation and organisation's corporate communications.

Originality/value

Corporate logo has received little attention in marketing literature and rarely researched in the context of emerging market. This is the first research of its kind to find the effect of the compound logo in emerging markets of Persia and Mexico. Therefore, this research makes significant contribution towards the corporate visual identity literature by developing of the sphere of influence of the corporate logo and its antecedents and consequences (corporate image and corporate reputation).


Water quality experts have suggested that no-till induces phosphorus (P) stratification, which may exacerbate soluble P (SP) runoff from agricultural fields, contributing to eutrophication. Conservationists have been concerned about increased SP loading to Lake Erie, which has been partially blamed on adoption of no-till and the concomitant P stratification of no-till soils. This study was conducted to provide better insight into the potential link between P stratification from no-till soils and P losses via runoff with the objective of exploring P fertilization strategies on P stratification and P runoff from a corn (Zea mays L.)–soybean (Glycine max L.) rotation. Plots were established with nine treatments, including unfertilized, diammonium phosphate (DAP) applications, monoammonium phosphate (MAP) applications, surface applied, injecting fertilizer or tilling fertilizer in, and the use of cover crops. Fertilizer applications were made at 24.4 kg P ha−1 (21.8 lb P ac−1) every other year or at 9.6 kg P ha−1 (8.7 lb P ac−1) every year. Disking, which was intended to minimize P stratification, resulted in the greatest stratification, with significantly higher water SP and Mehlich 3 P in the 0 to 5 cm (0 to 2 in) soil layer compared to the other treatments. There were no differences in SP or total P (TP) runoff from rainfall simulations between fertilizer source (MAP versus DAP) or fertilizer rate (annual versus biennial). The highest SP concentrations observed were from DAP applied to cover crops at the high application rate (24.4 kg P ha−1 applied every other year). This may suggest cover crops are not the ideal practice to decrease SP losses from agricultural fields. Incorporation of fertilizer reduced SP but increased erosion and could potentially increase TP loss. Injecting liquid fertilizer (polyphosphate [Poly]) at the time of planting resulted in lower SP and TP loads than surface applied fertilizers. We encourage other researchers to confirm these results at the field-to-watershed scale to ensure there are not unintended consequences of adopting this fertilization strategy. Further, fertilizer dealers, crop consultants, and farmers should be encouraged to consider liquid fertilizer applications as one option to minimize P losses.


This paper examines the current state of knowledge on the impact of domestic and family violence (DFV) on parenting. It considers how often DFV occurs among parents; the impact of DFV on parenting; the methods and behaviours used by perpetrators to disrupt the mother-child relationship; and interventions used to strengthen and support a healthy mother-child relationship. The paper finds that approximately one third or more of parents in the general community experience DFV, but there is limited evidence on DFV among marginalised parent populations such as Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD), rural, disabled and same-sex parents. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men, women and children suffer considerable DFV, but the true prevalence of abuse among parents is hard to determine due to a lack of reporting, limited screening for DFV, and methodological issues. Most evidence suggests that DFV during pregnancy can result in poor pregnancy outcomes and reduced attachment. It also impacts on an abused woman's ability to parent effectively; women will attend to their abusive partner's demands and needs, and control and discipline children to keep them safe. Attachments/relationships can improve over time, and parenting and child health outcomes also improve once DFV stops. There is limited information on the parenting style of abusive fathers, but researchers and victims have characterised them as authoritarian, under-involved, self-centred and manipulative. They aim to isolate, control and undermine women's authority to parent and have meaningful relationships with their children. The paper recommends supportive care for mothers experiencing DFV and their children as an alternative to reporting all DFV to child protection services. Home visiting programs have been shown to be effective in reducing child maltreatment, improving parenting skills and children's behaviour, but not necessarily effective in preventing or reducing DFV. New programs with an additional DFV focus are currently being assessed. Victims of abuse need more intense and targeted therapy; the paper recommends psychotherapeutic interventions with combined mother-child sessions as they have shown good results. Interventions with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families show client satisfaction but are yet to show other effective outcomes. There are considerable gaps in Australian research on DFV and parenting. This paper recommends further research in areas including prevalence of DFV in diverse groups of parents; qualitative research on the experiences of motherhood and fatherhood in the context of DFV; and interventions measuring parenting and the parent-child relationship as primary outcomes, with larger, more representative samples.


Excessive hepatic glucose production is a hallmark of insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes. The cAMPresponsive transcription factor cAMP-responsive element binding protein (CREB), thought to be a key activator of the hepatic gluconeogenic gene regulation program, has been suggested as therapeutic target to reduce glucose output by the liver. Here, I test directly the requirement for hepatocytic CREB for the maintenance of glucose homeostasis utilizing Cre-loxP for conditional, cell-type specific gene ablation. Strikingly, I find no difference in fed and fasted glucose levels, or glucose, insulin, and glucagon tolerance in mice fed normal chow or a high-fat diet in hepatocyte Creb-null mice compared to controls. In addition, mRNA levels of liver specific genes, including several CREB target genes involved in gluconeogenesis, were not affected by CREB deficiency in the liver. In conclusion, my data indicate that CREB has no nonredundant functions in hepatic glucose metabolism, and is therefore not likely to be a useful target for the development of anti-diabetic drugs. Furthermore, lipolysis and thermogenesis are regulated by catecholamines signaling via β-adrenergic receptors in adipose tissue and a role for the CREB in adipocyte function had been suggest by previous studies. However the role of CREB in adipose tissue had never been evaluated in vivo. Here, I test directly the requirement for adipocyte CREB for lipolysis and thermogenesis using the Cre-loxP system for adipocytespecific ablation of Creb in mice. Loss of adipocytic Creb lead to a moderate decrease in fasting-induced lipolysis in adipose tissue. Strikingly, the adipocytic transcriptome was not globally affected by ablation of Creb. In addition, cold temperature and cAMP signaling-induced thermogenesis and white-to-beige adipocyte conversion were not changed in adipocyte specific Creb-null mice compared to controls. In conclusion, my data indicate that CREB has no non-redundant functions in thermogenesis, but contributes to the regulation of fasting-induced lipolysis. The underlying mechanism of reduced fasting-induced lipolysis in adipocytic CREB-deficient mice will need to be explored further. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Pharmacology First Advisor Klaus H. Kaestner Second Advisor Mitchell A. Lazar This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1342


This paper aims to develop a functional model of symmetrical multipulse autotransformer rectifier units (ATRUs) for more-electric aircraft (MEA) applications. The ATRU is seen as the most reliable way readily to be applied in the MEA. Interestingly, there is no model of ATRUs suitable for unbalanced or faulty conditions at the moment. This paper is aimed to fill this gap and develop functional models suitable for both balanced and unbalanced conditions. Using the fact that the dc voltage and current are strongly related to the voltage and current vectors at the ac terminals of ATRUs, a functional model has been developed for the asymmetric ATRUs. The developed functional models are validated through simulation and experiment. The efficiency of the developed model is also demonstrated by comparing with corresponding detailed switching models. The developed functional model shows significant improvement of simulation efficiency, especially under balanced conditions.


This chapter reviews the developments and configurations of hybrid electrical vehicles. A classic model for a parallel hybrid electrical vehicle is chosen and modeled. Model pre‐ dictive controllers and simulations for this vehicle model are applied to control the vehi‐ cle speed and power to check the ability of the system to handle the transitional period for the automatic clutch engagement from the electrical driving to the internal combus‐ tion engine (ICE) driving. The chapter produces potential model predictive control con‐ siderations to achieve the optimal real-time control actions subject to the vehicle physical constraints. The new system can be applied for electronic control units in real hybrid ve‐ hicle powertrains.


Written in conjunction with the group exhibition 'Not Quite How I Remember It', at The Power Plant, Toronto (7 June - 1 September, 2008), the catalogue essay considers how artists reconstruct events, narratives and cultural artifacts from the recent past. It focuses on works by exhibiting artists Diane Borsato, Gerard Byrne, Nancy Davenport, Felix Gmelin, Sharon Hayes, Mary Kelly, Nestor Kruger, Michael Maranda, Olivia Plender, Walid Raad, Dario Robleto, Michael Stevenson, Kelley Walker, and Lee Walton.

Exploring how artists revisit iconic as well as obscure histories, Reckitt shows how these strategies aim to wrest the past from master narratives in order to reveal suppressed or forgotten details, and to propose unexpected connections and speculative futures. She highlights artistic tactics of montage, sampling, remixing, restaging, and reconstruction, noting how they often take surprisingly laborious forms. Discussing how artworks reflect on the complexities of cultural and artistic transmission, influence and inheritance, Reckitt notes how these practices pay tribute to figures and groups who are rarely depicted within official histories. She highlights artists' concern with how radical political and cultural legacies are both bequeathed to and deployed by subsequent generations. Evoking the exhibition's atmosphere of layered time, Reckitt suggests that it sharpens viewers' awareness of historical place, while prompting questions about how future generations will represent current times.


He wasn't the first person I met days before I was to start my psychiatric residency, but as I walked about in my new city, he caught my attention much more than most. As psychiatrists, we typically assume that we will hear the inside stories, even if in bits and pieces, that will help us better understand and help patients. But perhaps we are too expectant . . .


Recently developed models of fairness can explain a wide variety of seemingly contradictory facts. One of the most controversial and yet unresolved issues in the modeling of fairness preferences concerns the behavioral relevance of fairness intentions. Intuitively, fairness intentions seem to play an important role in economic relations, political struggles, and legal disputes but there is surprisingly little direct evidence for its behavioral importance. We provide experimental evidence for the behavioral relevance of fairness intentions in this paper. Our main result indicates that the attribution of fairness intentions is important in both the domains of negatively and positively reciprocal behavior. This means that equity models exclusively based on preferences over the distribution of material payoffs cannot capture reciprocal behavior. Models that take players' fairness intentions and distributional preferences into account are consistent with our data, while models that focus exclusively on intentions or on the distribution of material payoffs are not.


Myostatin, a member of the transforming growth factor (TGF)-β superfamily, plays a potent inhibitory role in regulating skeletal muscle mass. Inhibition of myostatin by gene disruption, transgenic (Tg) expression of myostatin propeptide, or injection of propeptide or myostatin antibodies causes a widespread increase in skeletal muscle mass. Several peptides, in addition to myostatin propeptide and myostatin antibodies, can bind directly to and neutralize the activity of myostatin. These include follistatin and follistatin-related gene. Overexpression of follistatin or follistatin-related gene in mice increased the muscle mass as in myostatin knockout mice. Follistatin binds to myostatin but also binds to and inhibits other members of the TGF-β superfamily, notably activins. Therefore, follistatin regulates both myostatin and activins in vivo. We previously reported the development and characterization of several follistatin-derived peptides, including FS I-I (Nakatani M, Takehara Y, Sugino H, Matsumoto M, Hashimoto O, Hasegawa Y, Murakami T, Uezumi A, Takeda S, Noji S, Sunada Y, Tsuchida K. FASEB J 22: 477-487, 2008). FS I-I retained myostatin-inhibitory activity without affecting the bioactivity of activins. Here, we found that inhibition of myostatin increases skeletal muscle mass and decreases fat accumulation in FS I-I Tg mice. FS I-I Tg mice also showed decreased fat accumulation even on a control diet. Interestingly, the adipocytes in FS I-I Tg mice were much smaller than those of wild-type mice. Furthermore, FS I-I Tg mice were resistant to high-fat diet-induced obesity and hepatic steatosis and had lower hepatic fatty acid levels and altered fatty acid composition compared with control mice. FS I-I Tg mice have improved glucose tolerance when placed on a high-fat diet. These data indicate that inhibiting myostatin with a follistatin-derived peptide provides a novel therapeutic option to decrease adipocyte size, prevent obesity and hepatic steatosis, and improve glucose tolerance.


During 2008 and 2009, the insurance industry experienced unprecedented volatility. The large swings in insurers' market valuations, and the significant role that financial reporting played in the uncertainty surrounding insurance companies during that period, highlight the importance of understanding insurers' financial information and its implications for the risk and value of insurance companies. To facilitate an informed use of insurers' financial reports, this manuscript reviews the accounting practices of insurance companies, discusses the financial analysis and valuation of insurers, summarizes relevant insights from academic research, and provides related empirical evidence. The paper contains three sections. The first section describes the insurance business, including activities and organization of insurance companies, products and services, distribution channels, competition, regulation, taxation, and risks and risk management. The second section discusses how insurance activities are reflected in financial reports. Specifically, for each key line item from insurers' financial statements, the study provides evidence on the economic significance of the item, reviews the related US accounting principles, discusses earnings quality issues, describes analyses and red flags that inform on the item's quality, reviews selected research findings, and describes the primary differences between International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and US GAAP. Building on the discussion and analyses in the previous two sections, the third section addresses the valuation of insurance companies. The section starts by discussing the primary drivers of insurers' intrinsic value, including profitability, growth prospects and cost of equity capital, as well as accounting quality indicators that inform on the reliability of the measured drivers. It then describes relative and fundamental valuation models that translate those fundamentals into value estimates. Finally, in the context of fundamental valuation models, the study presents a template for forecasting the key financial statement line items of insurance companies.