In this book, we aim to collect the most recent advances in artificial intelligence techniques (i.e. neural networks, fuzzy systems, multi-agent systems, genetic algorithms, image analysis, clustering, etc), which are applied to the protection of privacy and security. The symbiosis between these fields leads to a pool of invigorating ideas, which are explored in this book. On the one hand, individual privacy protection is a hot topic and must be addressed in order to guarantee the proper evolution of a modern society. On the other, security can invade individual privacy, especially after the appearance of new forms of terrorism. In this book, we analyze these problems from a new point of view.


Eucrites represent one of the major lithologies of the Vestan upper crust, which had experienced pervasive and intense thermal metamorphism. To better constrain the timing and mechanism of thermal metamorphism, we carried out in situ Pb‐isotope analysis of an unbrecciated basaltic eucrite NWA 6594 on the basis of detailed mineralogical and petrographic investigations. Zircon Pb‐Pb dating reveals that NWA 6594 emplaced before or at 4547 ± 11 Ma (95% confidence, MSWD = 1.3). Studies of silica minerals indicate that NWA 6594 had experienced intense thermal metamorphism after emplacement, followed by a late impact reheating and rapid cooling. Apatite grains yield a weighted mean Pb‐Pb age of 4523 ± 2 Ma (95% confidence, MSWD = 0.76). This age could not be attributed to slow cooling after the initial crystallization, but most likely related to an independent thermal event that induced thermal metamorphism. The protracted time lag (~24 ± 13 Myr) between zircon and apatite closure ages indicates that this thermal event is most probably induced by an intense impact event that was synchronous with the metal–silicate mixing event recorded by mesosiderites. HEDs may have experienced multiple stages of thermal metamorphism after emplacement. The late impact reheating occurred after thermal metamorphism, which caused crystallization of tridymite.


Service-learning has been prominently featured as a best or high impact practice for education. Yet throughout its existence, this pedagogy has been troubled with questions regarding its effectiveness, controversy in its impact on communities, and even confusion surrounding what its definition is. Within the Anthropology Department at Minnesota State University, Mankato, the impact of service-learning has often been uncertain, with exemplary stories coming out as much as negative ones. This mixed success of service-learning's application throughout the years motivated Dr. Susan Schalge to commission a student research project in 2012 to interview service-learning stakeholders to obtain a more certain grasp of the program's successes and failures. This thesis builds upon this and other research, with a focus on understanding service-learning issues faced by the department through a mixed-method, qualitative approach, and through eclectic theoretical frameworks. Specifically, this research draws heavily from practice theory, in particular the work of Michel de Certeau, who considers power relations in terms of strategies by the powerful and tactics used by the less powerful in response. This research examines several strategies and tactics in use by students, community partners, and the department to better understanding how different parties maneuver to advance their respective agendas.


Hardware-in-the-loop (HiL) simulation is used to test code changes in automotive control systems for component tests and for fault testing. A realistic and validated vehicle dynamic model needs to be used in the simulations. The experimental and simulated results should exhibit a close match in a validation study. The development of a validated CarSim model of a light commercial vehicle for use in HiL simulation is presented in this paper. A CarSim dynamics model has been prepared for a light commercial vehicle and validated using driving test data obtained on a test track. The HiL simulator developed for testing the electronic stability control unit of this vehicle is presented along with results of an exemplary HiL simulation.


Heart disease is the leading cause of death in women in all countries. A history of pre-eclampsia, one of the most deadly hypertensive complications of pregnancy, increases cardiovascular risk by two to four times, which is comparable with the risk induced by smoking. Substantial epidemiological data reveal that pregnancy-related hypertensive complications are associated with a predisposition to chronic hypertension, premature heart attacks, strokes, and renal complications. In this review, we summarize clinical studies that demonstrate this relationship and also discuss the pathogenesis of these long-term complications of pre-eclampsia. Future studies should focus on strategies to prevent the progression of cardiovascular disease in women exposed to pre-eclampsia, thereby improving long-term cardiovascular health in women.


CEAS155 Fictional Japan: Introduction to Japanese Literature and Culture This course will explore the evolution of Japanese fictional narrative, from Japan's first encounter with 'modern' literary forms in the late 19th century to postmodern digital discourses advanced through anime and gaming. In so doing, we will discuss the ways in which Japanese theories of literature intersect with notions of national identity, modernity, and Westernization. How does the Japanese novel participate in the modern process of nation building, and how is it used to situate Japan's position in East Asia and the world? We will also consider fictional works from marginalized groups in Japan to address how notions of gender and ethnicity serve as an intervention into traditional discourses on Japanese literature. Finally, we will explore new iterations of Japanese fiction in the form of digital media and database narratives. Does advanced technology fundamentally change how we produce and consume narratives and, therefore, view the world around us? How do these new forms impact constructions of national history and identity? Is this phenomenon somehow unique to Japan, or a simple product of globalization? Offering: Host Grading: A-F Credits: 1.00 Gen Ed Area: HA-CEAS Prereq: None


In this paper, an intra-panel interface with a clock embedded differential signaling for TFT-LCD systems is proposed. The proposed interface reduces the number of signal lines between the timing controller and the column drivers in a TFT-LCD panel by adopting the embedded clock scheme. The protocol of the proposed interface provides a delay-locked loop (DLL)-based clock recovery scheme for the receiver. The timing controller and the column driver integrated with the proposed interface are fabricated in 0.13- μm CMOS process technology and 0.18-μm high voltage CMOS process technology, respectively. The proposed interface is verified on a 47-inch Full High-Definition (FHD) (1920RGB×1080) TFT-LCD panel with 8-bit RGB and 120-Hz driving technology. The maximum data rate per differential pair was measured to be as high as 2.0 Gb/s in a wafer test.


This dissertation comprises two main sections. The first section, comprising Chapters 2 and 3, addresses the methodological problems with seeking to understand Buddhist ethics through categorizing it into a Western ethical system. Since Buddhist ethics has often been interpreted as either a type of consequentialism or a type of virtue ethics, Chapter 2 is devoted to addressing the problems with a consequentialist reading of Buddhist ethics, and Chapter 3 to highlighting the structural differences that inhibit a faithful reading of Buddhist ethics as a type of virtue ethics. In the second section, consisting of of Chapters 4 and 5, I argue that when Buddhist ethical writings are considered on their own terms, there emerges a recurrent and dominant emphasis on the phenomenology of moral acts. Chapter 4 draws on Buddhist psychological texts to elucidate the Buddhist explanation of the foundational components of experience and the way in which these are ethically significant. Chapter 5 looks at Buddhist ethical texts to demonstrate that mental states are prioritized in ethical discussions and that both the Buddhist moral problem and moral solution pertain to the way we see and experience the world.
Since Goodman has argued most extensively that Buddhist ethics is best understood as a kind of universalist consequentialism, Chapter 2 begins with an examination of Goodman's methodology and arguments. Goodman identifies an agent-neutral approach as the central characteristic of a consequentialist ethical system, the characteristic that differentiates it from systems of virtue ethics, which are agent-relative. He interprets themes within Buddhist texts such as the promotion of self-sacrifice and the dedication of merit as evidence of the agent neutral approach of a consequentialist ethical system. I aim to demonstrate that these examples should be read as moral instructions for the agent's motivational state rather than evidence supporting that Buddhist ethics is a type of consequentialism. In doing so, I intend to demonstrate that Goodman's methodology of confining the inquiry into Buddhist ethics to its categorization as one of two Western ethical systems based on the criteria of Western ethical thought limits the possibility for a comprehensive understanding of Buddhist ethics.
I then turn to arguments made by Goodman, Williams, and Siderits specifically in regard to Śāntideva. These scholars each contend that Śāntideva's metaphysical position commits him to a universalist consequentialist ethics and point to his discussion of the ethical meditative practice of equalizing and exchanging self and other in Chapter 8 of How to Lead an Awakened Life as evidence. I will contest the claim that the Buddhist doctrine of selflessness entails the agent neutrality that characterizes consequentialism. I will argue that Śāntideva's use of the metaphysical doctrine of selflessness within an ethical context does not aim to demonstrate a moral obligation based on agent neutrality, and thus is not a form of consequentialism. Instead, I will argue that he uses it to effect a psychological shift in the agent for the purposes of moral development.
I argue that, in Chapter 8, Śāntideva is simply pointing out the irrationality of distinguishing pains based on their owners, together with the possibility for taking on the concerns of others as our own, because of the malleable boundaries of the conception of identity. I contend that, in this section of his treatise, Śāntideva is instructing the practitioner to harness the powerful psychological forces that already exist within our experience, such as the aversion to our own pain or attachment to our future selves, and extend their scope through expanding the conception of self, transforming our experience and moral conduct from one motivated by self concern to one centered on concern for others.
After arguing that the emphasis on the mental domain of the agent fatally undermines a consequentialist interpretation of Buddhist ethics, in Chapter 3, I address the virtue ethics interpretation. While it might seem that an emphasis on the mental states of the agent could accord with a form of virtue ethics, I argue that there are structural differences between the two systems that preclude this classification. It is Keown who offers the most detailed account of this position, so using his arguments I engage in a comparative analysis of the structures of virtue ethics and Buddhist ethics. I identify five critical structural features of virtue ethics and argue that they do not characterize Buddhist ethics. I will argue that neither the Buddhist account of the relationship between virtues and nirvana nor the Buddhist explanation of moral choice and agency are consistent with a virtue ethics.
In the second section, I begin the inquiry into Buddhist ethical writings on their own terms. To argue that moral phenomenology is foundational to Buddhist ethical thought, in Chapter 4, I turn first to the Buddhist psychological treatises of Vasubandhu, Asaṅga, and Buddhaghosa, highlighting the fundamental mental processes that shape experience with the intention of demonstrating that these Buddhist psychology texts provide the foundation for understanding that the way we construct our experience of the world is ethically significant.
In Chapter 5, I turn to Mahāyāna Buddhist ethical texts to demonstrate how this psychological foundation is used in these texts in the formulation of a moral phenomenology. I use primarily the works of Āryadeva and Śāntideva; I call attention to the fact that these texts prioritize mental states in their ethical discussions and present a division of two types of moral perception: the confused way of seeing the world that is characterized by vice and the accurate way of seeing the world that characterizes virtue. These texts identify the moral problem with confusion about reality, and the moral solution as a transformation of the way we experience the world through the cultivation of a metaphysically accurate understanding. In the final stage of making the case for moral phenomenology as central to Buddhist ethical thought, I turn to the Prajnāparamitā literature, focusing on the Heart Sūtra and Diamond Cutter Sūtra to demonstrate that in these sūtras we can find the seeds of the ethical system of Āryadeva and Śāntideva since they also stress the importance of a transformation of vision as the basis of ethical activity.


Despite the importance of agglomeration externalities in theoretical work, evidence for their nature, scale, and scope remains elusive, particularly in developing countries. Identification of productivity spillovers between firms is a challenging task, and estimation typically requires, at a minimum, panel data, which are often not available in developing country contexts. In this paper, we develop a novel identification strategy that uses information on the network structure of producer relationships to provide estimates of the size of productivity spillovers. Our strategy builds on that proposed by Bramoulle et al. (2009) for estimating peer effects, and is one of the first applications of this idea to the estimation of productivity spillovers. We improve upon the network structure identification strategy by using panel data and validate it with exchange-rate induced trade shocks that provide additional identifying variation. We apply this strategy to a long panel dataset of manufacturers in Indonesia to provide new estimates of the scale and size of productivity spillovers. Our results suggest positive productivity spillovers between manufacturers in Indonesia, but estimates of TFP spillovers are considerably smaller than similar estimates based on firm-level data from the U.S. and Europe, and they are only observed in a few industries.


The spectral output of flash-discharge lamps containing iodine, and mixtures of iodine and the inert gases were studied at selected wavelengths and discharge voltages. It was found that addition of xenon or krypton to iodine produced a marked enhancement of the 2062-A iodine line compared to the output from a pure iodine discharge. The enhancement of this line was found to be a maximum at approximately 130 torr and 3.0-kV discharge voltage with either of the inert gases. An enhancement factor of about 400 was found with added xenon and about 700 for a lamp filling containing krypton. It was postulated that, with xenon, energy-transfer collisions between metastable xenon and ground-state iodine atoms were responsible for the enhanced 2062-A radiation. With krypton–iodine mixtures an additional mechanism for producing excited iodine atoms was the reaction of metastable krypton atoms with iodine molecules producing one ground-state iodine atom and one in the 6p4P3/2 state.


Navigation systems have been widely used in outdoor environments, but indoor navigation systems are still in early development stages. In this paper, we introduced an augmented-reality-based indoor navigation application to assist people navigate in indoor environments. The application can be implemented on electronic devices such as a smartphone or a head-mounted device. In particular, we examined Google Glass as a wearable head-mounted device in comparison with handheld navigation aids including a smartphone and a paper map. We conducted both a technical assessment study and a human factors study. The technical assessment established the feasibility and reliability of the system. The human factors study evaluated human-machine system performance measures including perceived accuracy, navigation time, subjective comfort, subjective workload, and route memory retention. The results showed that the wearable device was perceived to be more accurate, but other performance and workload results indicated that the wearable device was not significantly different from the handheld smartphone. We also found that both digital navigation aids were better than the paper map in terms of shorter navigation time and lower workload, but digital navigation aids resulted in worse route retention. These results could provide empirical evidence supporting future designs of indoor navigation systems. Implications and future research were also discussed.


The problem of data management has been studied widely in the field of mobile ad-hoc networks and pervasive computing. The issue addressed is that finding the data required by a device depends on chance encounter with the source of data. Most existing research has focused on specifying the required data by specifying the user or application intentions. These approaches take the semantics of data into account while caching data onto mobile devices from the wired sources. We propose a scheme by which mobile devices proactively increase the availability of data by pushing and caching the most popular data in the network. It involves a local distributed technique for estimating global query distribution in the network. The devices have a finite sized cache to store the pushed data and use their estimation of queries for prioritizing the data to cache. We implement this technique in the network simulator, Glomosim and show that our scheme improves data availability as well as the response latency.


Many authors have discussed an apparent shift to a new employment contract characterized by less commitment between employer and employee coupled with closer ties between wages within the enterprise and those in the external labor market. We study the issue of when people in the U.S. and Canada feel pay cuts are fair, comparing our results with those of Kahneman, Knetsch, and Thaler (1986). In contrast to much previous discussion, we find no evidence of increasing acceptance of pay cuts--a measure of whether external, not internal, labor markets are considered fair. These results suggest that new organizational forms might do well to preserve some of the features of the "old" employment contract.


We report on the design, fabrication, and optical characterization of silicon-on-insulator-based one-dimensional (1-D) photonic crystal (PhC) microcavities. The scope of this paper lies on filters for communication systems around 1.55-mum wavelength. Detailed calculations of filter performance against the relevant device layout parameters are given. Resonant cavity modes with quality factors as high as Qap630 in the 1.55- mum wavelength band were measured for filters comprised of two PhC mirrors containing 2 times 5 holes, that were 200 nm in diameter. This is the highest Q-value reported of such a filter up to now


Do religious practices have any value from an evolutionary point of view? This book, edited by JR Feierman, a retired clinical psychiatrist, could be the answer to the question posed by neuroscientists, philosophers and evolutionary biologists as to why religious beliefs and practices have persisted through the ages into modern times (pp. 23-24). Using Darwin's ideas as a general theoretical framework for understanding aspects of religion, it observes the religious behaviour of people in their daily lives (p. xvi). Religion as such is supernatural (pp. 21-25) and outside the realm of scientific investigation whilst religious behaviour is observable and identifiable by the senses (pp. 28-29). It is puzzling that despite the emergence of so much scientific information about the origins of the universe and species, belief in a deity, a common denominator of all religions, despite its perceived illogicality (pp. 21-25), remains steadfast and with no sign of abating anytime soon. In Darwinian terms this would be considered an adaptation (p. xvii). Science, even to the extent that it has demystified the universe and offered explanations of various phenomena, has not replaced religion as a source of meaning and comfort to human beings! (pp. xii and 71).


Currently, the method of using millimeter wave radar to detect obstacles in front of vehicles has been widely used. When using millimeter wave radar to detect obstacles on the road, the radar has more noise interference due to the changeable road environment and complex background. Combined with the complexity and variety of road targets, the random changes of scattering intensity and relative phase of different parts cause the distortion of the echo phase wave, resulting in the flicker noise that affects the accuracy of measurement, and even lead to the loss of targets. In this case, there are some shortcomings in tracking the target using the ordinary Kalman filter algorithm. In this paper, a Sage-Husa adaptive Kalman filtering algorithm is designed for the road environment to track radar targets and improve the accuracy of target tracking. Then, the radar and machine vision information fusion method is used to intuitively judge the filtering effect and determine whether the radar loses the target. Finally, the true value of the target position is approximated by filtered value when the radar loses its target. The experimental results show that this method can improve the accuracy and reliability of the millimeter wave radar.


The Heisenberg model for S=1/2 describes the interacting spins of electrons localized on lattice sites due to strong repulsion. It is the simplest strong-coupling model in condensed matter physics with wide-spread applications. Its relevance has been boosted further by the discovery of curate high-temperature superconductors. In leading order, their undoped parent compounds realize the Heisenberg model on square-lattices. Much is known about the model, but mostly at small wave vectors, i.e., for long-range processes, where the physics is governed by spin waves (magnons), the Goldstone bosons of the long-range ordered antiferromagnetic phase. Much less, however, is known for short-range processes, i.e., at large wave vectors. Yet these processes are decisive for understanding high-temperature superconductivity. Recent reports suggest that one has to resort to qualitatively different fractional excitations, spinons. By contrast, we present a comprehensive picture in terms of dressed magnons with strong mutual attraction on short length scales. The resulting spectral signatures agree strikingly with experimental data


The present study aims to demonstrate the potential of microalgae Chlorococcum humicola for treatment of dairy industry effluent and reduction of its pollution load with the cultivation of microalgae in the same effluent. Dairy industry wastewater supplies the required nutrients for the growth of C. humicola and its growth was comparatively higher in 50 % dairy industry effluent as compare to Bold basal growth medium. Optimization of growth parameters of algae showed that growth of C. humicola was favoured by alkaline pH and optimum growth was observed at pH 8, whereas acidic pH does not favour the growth of selected algae. The exponential growth phase of C. humicola was achieved between 3-7 days, at 20˚C temperature, a further increase in temperature decreases the algal growth. The results for the effect of different concentration of dairy wastewater (0, 10, 25, 50, 75 and 100 %) on biochemical content (protein, chlorophyll a, carbohydrate) of C. humicola revealed that 50 % wastewater concentration was more efficient for enhancement of biochemical content of microalgae as compare to control. The result further showed considerable reduction in the organic pollution load of dairy wastewater as biological oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) reduced to 72 and 78 % respectively, after 15 days of treatment with C. humicola. The results also showed a reduction in the nutrient concentration of dairy wastewater such as nitrate, phosphate and sulphate by 92, 43, 62 % respectively, after 10 days of treatment and 96, 67 and 78 % respectively, after 15 days of microalgal treatment as compared to control (without microalgae). These findings suggested that dairy industry wastewater was a good nutrient supplement and can be directly used for mass cultivation of C. humicola without requiring additional nutrient supplements and also the microalgae C. humicola has a great potential for the treatment of dairy industry wastewater


Hi-tech fraudsters have urbanized a new way of tricking on line banking customers. One such most well known and fast growing technique is phishing. Latest in phishing is application of Trojan horse program. Trojan horse" program insinuates itself into a user's computer via an email and directs the user of the system to website which is exactly similar to financial institution web site. Crooks pick up passwords and account numbers as soon as customer logon to these sites. As it evident from table 1 phishing causes maximum loss to the customers/ institution in comparison to other similar techniques. Keeping in view, the serious threats of phishing attacks author analyzed the trends of major activities of the phishing across globe specifically in the banking sector. In addition, author analyzed the reasons for increase in fishng activities, types of phishing techniques, and process of phishing. Further author has presented recent cases of phishing specifically in banking/ financial sector. Towards the end it author has studied the measures to combat the fishing in online banking.


There has never been a more urgent time for clinically expert nurses to consider the clinical faculty role. Whether they are making a full-time "leap" into academia or combining a successful staff nurse role with a part-time clinical teaching position, nurses should consider teaching as a good career move. Practical tips and resources are described for making the transition into a clinical faculty role a smooth one.


Many philosophers hold that a norm of truth governs the propositional attitude of belief. According to one popular construal of normativity, normativity is prescriptive in nature. The prescriptive norm can be formulated either in terms of obligation or permission: one ought to or may believe that p just in case p is true. It has been argued that the obligation norm is jointly incompatible with the maxim ought implies can and the assumption that there exists some truth that we cannot believe. The problem of the incompatible triad has motivated some to adopt the permissible norm of truth. I argue that the permissible norm faces an analogous problem of the incompatible triad.


This paper introduces a new framework for analyzing risk preferences that does not rely on Von-Neumann and Morgenstern's expected utility theorem. In particular, the proposed model does not require the (much debated) axiom of independence. In our setting, individuals choose between two lotteries L and M, depending on a cumulative probability gap: they compare the probability that the outcome W is lower than each possible value x for each lottery, and put a weight on each combination (x ; probability gap). Formally, the individual chooses between lotteries L and M depending on the sign of the cumulative weighted probability gap. It allows us to build a theory of decision under risk where risk aversion is not linked to the concavity of Bernoulli's utility function. We show that in this framework, it is possible to estimate risk preferences non-parametrically and provide some simulation illustrations.


Many programs initialize or copy large amounts of memory data. Initialization and copying are forms of memory operations that do not require computation in order to derive their data-values – they either deal with known data-values (e.g., initialize to zero) or simply move data-values that already exist elsewhere in memory (e.g., copy). Therefore, initialization/copying can potentially be performed entirely within the main memory subsystem without involving the processor or the DMA engines. Unfortunately, existing main memory subsystems are unable to take advantage of this fact. Instead, they unnecessarily transfer large amounts of data between main memory and the processor (or the DMA engine) – thereby consuming large amounts of latency, bandwidth, and energy. In this paper, we make the key observation that DRAM chips – the predominant substrate for main memory – already have the capability to transfer large amounts of data within themselves. Internally, a DRAM chip consists of rows of bits and a row-buffer. To access data from any portion of a particular row, the DRAM chip transfers the entire row (e.g., 4 Kbits) into the equally-sized rowbuffer, and vice versa. While this internal data-transfer between a row and the row-buffer occurs in bulk (i.e., all 4 Kbits at once), an external data-transfer (to/from the processor) is severely serialized due to the very narrow width of the DRAM chip's data-pins (e.g., 8 bits). Our key idea is to utilize and extend the row-granularity data-transfer in order to quickly initialize or move data one row at a time within a DRAM chip. We call this new mechanism RowClone. By making several relatively unintrusive changes to DRAM chip design (0.026% die-size increase), we accelerate a one-page (4 KByte) copying operation by 11.5x, and a one-page zeroing operation by 5.8x, while also conserving memory bandwidth. In addition, we achieve large energy reductions – 41.5x/74.4x energy reductions for one-page zeroing/copying, respectively. We show that RowClone improves performance on an 8-core system by 27% averaged across 64 copy/initialization-intensive workloads. April 25, 2013 DRAFT


The controversy concerning the future displacement of print media is an ongoing dispute among stakeholders and academic experts. Based on the model of displacement or resilience of a given medium, this study explores the print media audience, primarily by comparing the time spent reading print media with that allotted to consuming their digital equivalents and other media. The study compares nine European democratic countries that have undergone the same technological changes but that also manifest disparate cultures that may explain variance in consumption patterns. The study's main findings demonstrate that print media are still an important component of the new communications environment among European audiences. Reasons for print media's resilience are suggested in the discussion.


Objective To examine the associations between mode of delivery and public versus privately funded obstetric care within the same hospital setting. Design Retrospective cohort study. Setting Urban maternity hospital in Ireland. Population A total of 30 053 women with singleton pregnancies who delivered between 2008 and 2011. Methods The study population was divided into those who booked for obstetric care within the public (n=24 574) or private clinics (n=5479). Logistic regression analyses were performed to examine the associations between operative delivery and type of care, adjusting for potential confounding factors. Main outcome measures Caesarean section (scheduled or emergency), operative vaginal delivery (vacuum or forceps), indication for caesarean section as classified by the operator. Results Compared with public patients, private patients were more likely to be delivered by caesarean section (34.4% vs 22.5%, OR 1.81; 95% CI 1.70 to 1.93) or operative vaginal delivery (20.1% vs 16.5%, OR 1.28; 95% CI 1.19 to 1.38). The greatest disparity was for scheduled caesarean sections; differences persisted for nulliparous and parous women after controlling for medical and social differences between the groups (nulliparous 11.9% vs 4.6%, adjusted (adj) OR 1.82; 95% CI 1.49 to 2.24 and parous 26% vs 12.2%, adj OR 2.08; 95% CI 1.86 to 2.32). Scheduled repeat caesarean section accounted for most of the disparity among parous patients. Maternal request per se was an uncommonly reported indication for caesarean section (35 in each group, p<0.000). Conclusions Privately funded obstetric care is associated with higher rates of operative deliveries that are not fully accounted for by medical or obstetric risk differences.


Purpose: Intratumoral (i.t.) vaccination represents a potential modality for the therapy of tumors. Previous i.t. vaccination studies have focused on the efficacy of i.t. vaccination alone. There are no reports that clearly compared i.t. vaccination with systemic vaccination achieved by s.c., intradermal, or i.m. injection, or combining both modalities of systemic and i.t. vaccination. Here, we compared the antitumor effects induced by a systemic vaccination regimen (s.c.) and i.t. vaccination, and a sequential s.c/i.t. vaccination regimen. In this study, we used a recombinant vaccinia virus containing the transgenes for carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and a triad of T-cell costimulatory molecules (B7–1, ICAM-1, and LFA-3; designated rV-CEA/TRICOM) for s.c. priming and a replication defective avipox (fowlpox) virus containing the same four transgenes (designated rF-CEA/TRICOM) for i.t. vaccination or s.c. booster vaccinations. Experimental Design: Vaccination was started on day 8 after s.c. implantation with CEA-positive tumors. We compared the antitumor activity induced by these vaccines when administered via the i.t. route versus the s.c. route. Subsequent therapy studies examined the sequential combination of these routes, s.c. priming with rV-CEA/TRICOM followed by i.t. boosting with rF-CEA/TRICOM. Initial studies were conducted in conventional mice to define optimal vaccine regimens and then in CEA-transgenic mice that expressed CEA as a "self" antigen in a manner similar to that of an advanced colorectal cancer patient. Results: The results demonstrate that the antitumor activity induced by i.t. vaccination is superior to that induced by s.c. vaccination. For more advanced tumors, a s.c. priming vaccination, followed by i.t. boosting vaccinations was superior to either s.c. or i.t. vaccination alone. Both of these phenomena were observed in tumor models where the tumor-associated antigen is a foreign antigen and in a CEA-transgenic tumor model where the tumor-associated antigen is a self-antigen. The cytokine, granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor admixed in vaccines, was shown to be essential in inducing the antitumor activity. Conclusions: These studies demonstrate that the diversified vaccine regimens that consisted of s.c. prime and i.t. boosts with CEA/TRICOM vectors could induce antitumor therapy superior to that seen by either route alone.


Developments in information communication technologies (ICT) is growing rapidly and organizations use the ICT for business tasks. Group organization consists of various levels of management receive technology development to ensure the management and administration to be more effective and efficient. Organizations now have the equipment of modern technology which allows the task is done by using electronic devices to ensure increased productivity among lower, higher and professional management. Computer mediated communication, such as Instant Messaging (IM) used in the workplace other than the use of e-mail. This study discusses the frequency and patterns of use of IM in the workplace. Quantitative methods of survey questionnaires and qualitative methods of conversation analysis used in this study. For survey questionnaire, 379 organizations status MSC involved as respondents. Meanwhile, the conversation analysis approach, using five examples of IM conversations from five different organizations for sample analysis. Data was then analyzed using descriptive (survey questionnaire) and thematic analysis (analysis of IM conversations) to identify the specific themes on IM usage motive at work. The study found that 279 respondents have used IM in organization. Motives intended use of IM to provide work orders, obtain information, maintain relationship together and express feelings.


A mixed time-scale subgrid large eddy simulation was used to simulate mixture formation, combustion and soot formation under the influence of turbulence during diesel engine combustion. To account for the effects of engine wall heat transfer on combustion, the KIVA code's standard wall model was replaced to accommodate more realistic boundary conditions. This were carried out by implementing the non-isothermal wall model of Angelberger et al. with modifications and incorporating the log law from Pope's method to account for the wall surface roughness. Soot and NOx emissions predicted with the new model are compared to experimental data acquired under various EGR conditions.


A new scorecard issued in December 2000 and posted at http://www.skiareacitizens. com/ has rated 51 ski resorts on how environmentally sound their operations are. Comprising environmentalist groups such as Durango-based Colorado Wild and Utah's Save Our Canyons, the Ski Area Citizen's Coalition said it designed the scorecard to exert economic pressure; by choosing environmentally friendly ski areas, snow sport enthusiasts may encourage ski resorts to improve their environmental grade in the future. About 11 million Americans skied or snowboarded at more than 500 ski areas in 1999, according to the National Sporting Goods Association. SnowSports Industries America, a trade organization, says the two sports produced $12.4 billion in direct and indirect revenues in 1999. Only western resorts were considered for this year's scorecard. They were rated on factors such as pollution , traffic, whether they make artificial snow, and whether they avoid expansion onto undisturbed lands. The list of the 10 most environmentally friendly areas included Sundance, Utah, and Timberline Lodge in Oregon. " Failing " grades went to Colorado's Breckenridge Ski Resort and Telluride Ski and Golf Company, among others. Expansions account for many of the criteria on the scorecard. Colorado Wild volunteer Jonathan Staufer says that cutting trees for new trails, lifts, and the development of roads, parking, houses, condominiums, stores, and restaurants all reduce wildlife habitat. In addition, says Richard Valdez, a Logan, Utah, fishery ecologist, western ski areas are traditionally situated amidst prime wildlife habitats, and expansion of these areas exacerbates declining wildlife populations. Furthermore, say opponents, expansions come in the face of static demand. The National Ski Areas Association (NSAA), an industry trade organization, says total skier-days (or one day of skiing for one person) range between 50 million and 54 million per year, a total increase of 2–4% since the 1978–1979 season. Staufer claims expansions are not designed to accommodate new skiers but to increase market share and create settings for expensive real estate developments in the mountains. He says, " There are only two motives for ski area expansion: to facilitate ski area real estate development. .. and as a marketing ploy for 'newer, better, improved' ski areas. " Many western ski areas are located inside National Forests, he observes. Environmentalists are also concerned about the withdrawal of water from streams to make artificial snow. Valdez says removing a large volume of water from streams can be harmful because it stresses aquatic life …


The factual dominance of English as Lingua Franca of the international scientific community continues to increase in most disciplines. Univesrity students, lecturers and researchers are more and more commonly required to acquire English for academic purposes. Meanwhile, linguistic research into the similarities and differences between academic English and its German, Italian or other counterparts has been conducted. However, no comprehensive study has yet dealt with the specific problems faced by German-speaking academics and students acquiring English for academic purposes. It is in this context that this article presents an ongoing research project designed to address that gap. It concerns the lack or partial lack of equivalent linguistic means between the German and the English common language of academia. The common language of academia is, by definition, used across the disciplines and contains or realises fixed, language- and culture-specific conceptions of what actually constitutes 'science' or 'academia'. It is largely based on but differs from language use in everyday contexts, thus posing significant challenges for students even in their first language. In this article, we address the challenge of achieving not only a functional comparison of the common language of academia in English and German, but of complementing the underlying inventory and analysis of each. Following a discussion of previous work, we detail our research design and criteria for the comparative analysis of the common language of academia in English and German, as well as some prelimiary results of the project. The findings of our project will ultimately lead to a German-English dictionary for the common language of academia designed to support both students and academics with understanding and participating in international scientific communities with different linguistic backgrounds.


An important part of the mind–brain problem arises because consciousness seems inherently resistant to scientific explanation. The solution to this dilemma is to recognize, first, that scientific explanation can only render comprehensible a selected aspect of what there is, and second, that there is a mode of explanation, the personalistic, different from, irreducible to, but as viable as, scientific explanation, in terms of which consciousness can be understood. The problem of explaining why experiential or mental aspects of brain processes or things should be correlated with certain physical processes or things is a non-problem because there is no kind of explanation possible in terms of which an explanation could be couched. A physical theory, amplified to include the experiential, might be predictive but would, necessarily, cease to be explanatory; and an amplified personalistic explanation could not succeed either. There is, in short, an explanation as to why there cannot be an explanation of correlations between physical and mental aspects of processes going on inside our heads. Despite this, there are important, as yet unsolved but solvable problems of knowledge and understanding concerning such correlations. The central serious task for research is to discover how the two explanatory accounts of what goes on inside our heads, physical and personal, are inter-related.


ABSTRACT House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) populations declined across much of their global range in the late 20th century. Most research examining this decline is conducted in the species' native European range, but Europe encompasses a small portion of the species' current distribution. House Sparrow population trends in the United States and Canada, and the potential mechanisms driving these trends, remain relatively unexplored. We use 21 years of data from Project FeederWatch, a large-scale citizen science project, to investigate House Sparrow population trends in North America. We found winter flocks in urbanized areas were larger than flocks in rural areas, with widespread spatial heterogeneity in local population trends. Despite greater abundance in developed areas, House Sparrow populations declined in developed areas from 1995 to 2016 while remaining stable in rural areas. House Sparrow population declines coincide with an increase in populations and expansion of the winter distributions of Accipiter hawks, which are known predators of House Sparrows. However, we do not find a direct connection between the presence of Accipiter hawks at count sites and House Sparrow population declines in winter. These results expand our knowledge of widespread House Sparrow declines to North America and provide context for continuing research on House Sparrow declines in the introduced range.


A passively Q-switched Erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) is demonstrated using a black phosphorus saturable absorber as the Q-switcher. The laser generates a stable pulse operating at a wavelength of 1562.35 nm within a pump power region from 7.2 mW to 42.3 mW. At 980 nm pump power of 42.3 mW, the EDFL generates an optical pulse train with a repetition rate of 44.72 kHz and pulse width of 9.8 us. The maximum pulse energy of 81.5 nJ is obtained at a pump power of 35.2 mW. A higher performance Q-switched EDFL is expected to be achieved with the optimization of the saturable absorber and laser cavity. Full Text: PDF References R. Mas-Balleste, C. Gomez-Navarro, J. Gomez-Herrero and F. Zamora, "2D materials: to graphene and beyond", Nanoscale 3, 20 (2011). CrossRef Z. Sun, T. Hasan, F. Torrisi, D. Popa, G. Privitera, F. Wang, F. Bonaccorso, D. M. Basko and A. C. Ferrari, "Graphene Mode-Locked Ultrafast Laser", ACS nano 4, 803 (2010) CrossRef F. Xia, H. Wang and Y. Jia, "Rediscovering black phosphorus as an anisotropic layered material for optoelectronics and electronics.", Nat Commun 5 (2014). CrossRef G. Sobon, "Mode-locking of fiber lasers using novel two-dimensional nanomaterials: graphene and topological insulators [Invited]", Photonics Research 3, A56 (2015). CrossRef Y. Chen, G. Jiang, S. Chen, Z. Guo, X. Yu, C. Zhao, H. Zhang, Q. Bao, S. Wen and D. Tang, "Mechanically exfoliated black phosphorus as a new saturable absorber for both Q-switching and Mode-locking laser operation", Optics express 23, 12823 (2015). CrossRef M. Hisyam, M. Rusdi, A. Latiff and S. Harun, "Generation of Mode-Locked Ytterbium Doped Fiber Ring Laser Using Few-Layer Black Phosphorus as a Saturable Absorber", IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics 23, 39 (2017). CrossRef S. Sugai and I. Shirotani, "Raman and infrared reflection spectroscopy in black phosphorus", Solid state communications 53, 753 (1985). CrossRef Z.-C. Luo, M. Liu, Z.-N. Guo, X.-F. Jiang, A.-P. Luo, C.-J. Zhao, X.-F. Yu, W.-C. Xu and H. Zhang, "Microfiber-based few-layer black phosphorus saturable absorber for ultra-fast fiber laser", Optics express 23, 20030 (2015). CrossRef A. Latiff, M. Rusdi, M. Hisyam, H. Ahmad and S. Harun, "A generation of 2 um Q-switched thulium-doped fibre laser based on anatase titanium(IV) oxide film saturable absorber", Journal of Modern Optics 64, 187 (2017). CrossRef J. Boguslawski, G. Sobon, K. Tarnowski, R. Zybala, K. Mars, A. Mikula, K. M. Abramski and J. Sotor, "All-polarization-maintaining-fiber laser Q-switched by evanescent field interaction with Sb 2 Te 3 saturable absorber", Optical Engineering 55, 081316 (2016). CrossRef Z. Wang, Y. Xu, S. C. Dhanabalan, J. Sophia, C. Zhao, C. Xu, Y. Xiang, J. Li, and H. Zhang, "Black Phosphorus Quantum Dots as an Efficient Saturable Absorber for Bound Soliton Operation in an Erbium Doped Fiber Laser," IEEE Photonics Journal 8, 1 (2016). CrossRef


An expansive and deeply contextual work, at its heart this book is about the intersection of faith and politics - the tension between the pope's innovative vision for the Church and the obstacles he faces in an institution still strongly defined by its conservative past. Based on extensive interviews in Argentina and years of study of the Catholic Church, Ivereigh tells the story not only of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the remarkable man whose background and total commitment to the discernment of God's will transformed him into Pope Francis - but the story of why the Catholic Church chose him as their leader. With the Francis Revolution just beginning, this biography will provide never-before-explained context on how one man's ambitious program began-and how it will likely end - through an investigation of Francis' youth growing up in Buenos Aires and the dramatic events during the Peron era that shaped his beliefs; his ongoing conflicts and disillusionment with the ensuing doctrines of an authoritarian and militaristic government in the 1970s; how his Jesuit training in Argentina and Chile gave him a unique understanding and advocacy for a "Church of the Poor"; and his rise from Cardinal to the papacy.


We augment the increasingly common practice of typically ad hoc robustness tests into a research methodology that allows reliable inferences when researchers do not know the true data-generating process. We identify three principal sources of model uncertainty. First, theories simplify and aim at isolating causal mechanisms under ceteris paribus conditions. Theories thus cannot sufficiently specify the data-generating process. Second, empirical researchers are uncertain about what constitutes the population – the set of cases for which a theory claims validity – from which to draw a representative sample as required for econometric estimation. Finally, model uncertainty also results from the fact that many concepts used in social science theories cannot be observed and therefore can only be measured by proxy variables, which deviate in unknown, but potentially systematic ways from the theoretical concepts. These three causes of model uncertainty result in at least 16 specific aspects of uncertainty about model specification that can be subjected to various robustness tests. Defining robustness as stability of causal inferences, we argue against the misplaced focus on single point estimates from any specific test. Instead, we suggest scholars employ model averaging techniques to assess robustness in terms of the entire set of empirical evidence from the baseline and all robustness test models. This method avoids the type-II error bias of current practice and encourages researchers to undertake a larger set of robustness tests instead of carefully hand-selecting only those tests that do not deviate from their baseline model results. We illustrate our proposal using an example of an existing study by the authors on the political determinants of famine mortality, which contained only two robustness tests and thus begs the question whether the causal inferences are fragile. Subjecting our baseline model to a battery of additional tests, we conclude that our causal inferences are in fact robust: democracies respond more elastically than autocracies to the simultaneous presence of international food aid and a large share of the population being affected, which results in lower famine mortality.


In textbooks, the low reactivity of amides is attributed to the strong resonance stability. However, Garg and co-workers recently reported the Ni-catalyzed activation of robust amide C-N bonds, leading to conversions of amides into esters, ketones, and other amides with high selectivity. Among them, the Ni-catalyzed Suzuki-Miyaura coupling (SMC) of N-benzyl-N-tert-butoxycarbonyl (N-Bn-N-Boc) amides with pinacolatoboronate (PhBpin) was performed in the presence of K3PO4 and water. Water significantly enhanced the reaction. With the aid of density functional theory (DFT) calculations, the present study explored the mechanism of the aforementioned SMC reaction as well as analyzed the weakening of amide C-N bond by N-functionalization. The most favorable pathway includes four basic steps: oxidative addition, protonation, transmetalation, and reductive elimination. Comparing the base- and water-free process, the transmetalation step with the help of K3PO4 and water is significantly more facile. Water efficiently protonates the basic N(Boc) (Bn) group to form a neutral HN(Boc) (Bn), which is easily removed. The transmetalation step is the rate-determining step with an energy barrier of 25.6 kcal/mol. Further, a DFT prediction was carried out to investigate the full catalytic cycle of a cyclic (amino) (aryl)carbene in the Ni-catalyzed SMC of amides, which provided clues for further design of catalysts.


In his chapter on the "Joyful economy," Gus Speth contends that building a new economy requires a redefinition of the corporation and its goals. He advocates for shifting it from an enterprise designed primarily to provide profits for shareholders to one concerned about a broader set of values and stakeholders. To develop what he deems a joyful economy, he suggests that people, place and planet must be prioritized. Perhaps those who bring leadership to businesses that focus on social and environmental concerns –– social entrepreneurs –– can answer the call by reorienting the corporations that they create. Such localized efforts to transform individual firms could inspire widespread change.The timing is good for such a transition, as social entrepreneurs have promising new options available for widely soliciting like-minded investors and organizing their business enterprises to include social goals. Yet, due to distrust of the existing system, some may not explore these opportunities. Not attuned to mainstream matters, they may be unaware of the recent legal changes that make it easier for them to engage within the existing financial and corporate governance systems to fund their enterprises and to organize them with a social or environmental mission in mind.These recent legal developments are significant. Now in the US, those seeking to fund an enterprise using securities offerings can forgo a complex, time-consuming full federal registration process with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) while still reaching out to solicit a wide group of potential investors. This general solicitation can take place in a variety of media including advertising online through crowdfunding portals and other platforms. The ability to bypass the full SEC registration process is the result of recent legal reforms that streamline how businesses can raise money through the offering and sale of securities. These legal reforms impact social entrepreneurs because the law covers the methods they might use to attract funding. Unlike a donation made through a site like Kickstarter or Go Fund Me, which is not subject to the securities laws, investments made with an expectation of profit typically are subject to securities regulation at the federal or state levels (or both). This is because as a matter of law, securities include investments of money in a common enterprise with the expectation of profit as well as more common financial instruments like stocks and bonds.Taken together, these federal and state legal and regulatory updates make it easier for startups, including socially or environmentally-focused enterprises to raise capital and for members of the general public to channel their savings into such investments. These changes can provide space for those social entrepreneurs who believe they do not fit within the current system.With these hopeful legal developments, however, come hazards. The usual concerns around fraud and mismanagement endure. Moreover, less sophisticated members of the public may not have the skills to assess the investment opportunities. And, they may not fully understand that the majority of startups fail and may invest more in individual startups or even in a diversified portfolio than they can stand to lose. Streamlining the offering process and eliminating traditional federal registration and disclosure requirements may result in investors not obtaining information essential to their investment decisions. These streamlined offering processes may also attract the unscrupulous and reckless issuers seeking a quick buck without sufficient skill or realistic business plans. Indeed, in some cases, given the combination of the perceived virtue of or affinity with a local and mission-driven enterprises and unsophisticated investors, fraud could be even more prevalent.


The objective of the project was to contribute to the current research on reservoirs enhancement fisheries in tropical countries through the implementation of a series of action-research activities implemented in two small reservoirs in the Indo-Gangetic basin in India, and two very large reservoirs in Africa, the Lake Nasser (Egypt), and the Volta Lake (Ghana). Socio-institutional analyses were also conducted in these reservoirs to improve our knowledge regarding some of the main social processes that influence reservoir productivity. Overall the results of the project stress that while the natural biophysical constraints of the reservoirs are important in defining the ecological production processes, it is the socio-economic settings characterizing the community/societies around the reservoirs that eventually shape the human production enhancement possibilities.


With the rapid developments in hardware and software technology, so called networked systems have expanded significantly in the recent years. Due to their significant advantages, these networks grow continuously in size (number of agents, links) and complexity. However, this enormous growth brings potential problems, i.e., complexity issues and failure consequences. For this reason, in this study, we focus on efficient, scalable and reliable information diffusion algorithms on complex networks. We first focus on so called average consensus problem under finite rate communications. We utilize increasing spatial and correlation among node states to reduce quantization error in the system and propose coding with side information schemes for quantized consensus algorithms. We analyze the convergence behavior of the quantized consensus as well as analytically modeling the mean squared error of the algorithm.
Moreover, we propose a gossiping algorithm, i.e., broadcast gossiping, for consensus type problems on sensor networks. Similar to other gossiping algorithms, our scheme generates only local traffic and robust to link/node failures due to the iterative update structure. The main advantage of the algorithm is the fact that our updates rely on the wireless nature of the links in between nodes rather than point to point communications. We further analyze performance characteristics of our algorithm such as the speed of convergence and mean squared error.
We also propose a gossiping based scheme for asymmetric information diffusion problem. In this particular problem, a subset of the network is interested in a separable function of the data which is stored in another subsets of the nodes. Given the underlying network connectivity and the source-destination sets, we provide necessary and sufficient conditions on the update weights (referred to as codes) so that the destination nodes converge to the desired function of the source values. We show that the evolution of the source states does not affect the feasibility of the problem, and we provide a detailed analysis on the spectral properties of the feasible codes. We also study the problem feasibility under some specific topologies and provide guidelines to determine infeasibility. We also formulate different strategies to design codes, and compare the performance of our solution with existing alternatives.
Finally, we propose a gossiping based method for modeling opinion propagation through social networks. In particular, we model the individuals' opinions as binary variables (such as 0 or 1, democrat or republican, etc), and assume that there exists certain individuals in society who do not change their opinions. We analyze the behavior of individual's opinions as well as the collective opinion of the society in the long run. We completely characterize long term mean and variance of the average opinion in the networks as well as posing optimal stubborn agent replacement problem.


Advanced industrial countries have been exhibiting a steady decline of the labour income shares in the last two decades. The study explains this phenomenon by resorting to the old Stolper-Samuelson theorem. The conclusions concerning the impact of free trade on the income distribution are unambiguous in a Heckscher-Ohlin world with two countries, two goods and two factors of production (capital and labour). In contrast, the consequences of FDI from the capital abundant country (EU) to the labour abundant CEECs are ambiguous. Both scenarios are investigated theoretically and then simulated with a hypothetical two-country CGE model, including the EU and the CEECs. A panel regression for both regions separately helps to decide empirically which influences on the development of the labour income shares are at work. Globalisation, measured by revealed comparative advantage (increase in global net trade) has contributed to a decline in the labour income shares in the EU. Additionally, those countries which are engaged more in trade with the CEECs can expect a sharper decline in the wage share. Global net FDI outflow also exerts a negative influence on the labour income share in the EU. In the CEECs the increase in global net trade had a positive influence on the labour income share, trade with the EU, however, dampened the labour income share. FDI inflow increased the labour income share in the CEECs.


In the first and second section of this paper some methodological topics in the study of interlanguage (IL) and error analysis are discussed. The author adheres to Adjemian's point of view (1976): any interlanguage is a natural language and contains a linguistic system. Its systematicity is therefore given a priori. However, not all utterances of an IL speaker might be consistent: some rules of the system might be unstable over a certain period of time. Research would have to show what performance strategies (like simplification) influence the stability of the system, in other words in what way the consistency of the system is permeable.In the third section a preliminary study is presented dealing with the topic of inconsistency in IL. The research question was: to what extent can the inconsistency in the learners' utterances be accounted for by distinguishing different kinds of performance? To nineteen adult foreigners in Holland, with 15 different mother tongues, all partici-pating in an intensive Dutch course for beginners, eight tests ^licitation procedures) were administered: two reproduction tests, four production tests and two "intuition tests" (see table I). Eight rules of Dutch syntax and morfology were tested, (table II). Results show that:(a) if someone makes one or more errors with a particular rule in a reproduction test, he will make one or more errors with the same rule in a production test and an intuition test as well: the reverse is not true;(b) if someone makes one or more errors with a particular rule in a production test, he will make one or more errors with the same rule in an intuition test as well; the reverse is not true;(c) the overlap in errors/correct forms was greatest with both repro-duction tests. Of the production tests translation and the anagram test were almost equally representative for the four tests. Finally, there was no congruence between both "intuition tests", the sentence correc-tion test yielding consistently more errors (for all eight rules) than the multiple choice test.


This study analyzes core inflation concept for Turkey from the perspective of design and evaluation. To our best knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate the performance of the core inflation measures for Turkey. We first define and calculate new core inflation indicators using the disaggregated price data for the time period of January 1994 to June 2007. The core inflation measures developed in this paper include weighted median, trimmed mean and volatility-based measures along with the permanent exclusion-based methods. Later, we evaluate the performance of the core inflation measures with regards to pre-defined criteria including unbiasedness, reduced volatility, trend tracking ability and predictive ability. Considering the significant shift in the inflation process in Turkey, we split the sample into two as pre- and post-2003 when evaluating the performance of the core inflation measures. Overall, no single core inflation indicator stands out alone as "the core" and therefore different core measures should be followed simultaneously to get a better understanding of the real trend of inflation and to identify various shocks hitting the inflation. However, limited influence estimators and volatility-based core measures perform relatively better compared to permanent exclusion-based methods. The study also provides an extensive analysis of the distribution of price changes at various aggregation levels.


Managerial resistance precludes half of shareholder-initiated proposals from reaching the ballot stage. I construct a novel dataset of excluded and withdrawn proposals from the Securities and Exchange Commission's responses to managers' exclusion requests. An examination of announcement returns to the exclusion and withdrawal decisions reveals that non-voted proposals have a value-destroying nature. Special interest investors pursuing self-serving agendas and retail investors advocating for one-size-fits-all reforms explain the harmful character of non-voted proposals. I correct for the selection bias induced by managerial resistance and show that focusing only on voted proposals overstates the shareholder proposals-driven value creation.


The integration of mobile workplaces is a major challenge for companies. First-wave mobile solutions mostly support existing business processes through adding value in terms of increased efficiency. Second-wave mobile solutions comprise a re-engineering of the mobile business processes, add value through increased effectiveness and may even enable new forms of mobility. In order to achieve a systematic approach to mobile integrated business processes it is important to analyze existing processes, focusing on the effects and determinants of mobile solutions that might be used to support those processes. For this purpose we examined a typical example, the field technician support process of an IT service providing company. Our research approach combines usability and process performance issues. The results show which tasks are suitable for mobile application support, which personnel is most likely to benefit from mobile technology and what improvements on business metrics such as labor time, back office capacity, and invoice cycle are to be expected.


ABSTRACT
 European corn borer, Ostrinia nubilalis (Hübner) (Lepidoptera: Crambidae), displays a larval diapause in response to short photoperiods and is adapted to a variety of local conditions throughout North America. Hence, the effective photoperiod inducing larval diapause will differ among geographic ecotypes. This study considers the inheritance of photoperiodic larval diapause induction by hybridization and backcrossing two latitudinally distinct ecotypes of the European corn borer collected between 41° N, 96° W and 48° N, 96° W and under a range of photoperiods representative of their respective locations: from 14:10 to16:8 (L:D) h. The ecotype adapted to a bivoltine habitat (southeastern Nebraska) exhibited a shorter critical photoperiod (1480 h) than the ecotype (1533 h), originating from a univoltine habitat (northwestern Minnesota). Reciprocal F1 crosses exhibited intermediate values with indication of sex-linked inheritance. In addition, the male parent had significantly more influence on diapause incidence of subsequent progeny than the female. The F2 and backcross progeny further supported the supposition that diapause response is a sex-linked inheritance. The minimum number of genes estimates, and the response from backcross progeny, suggest that diapause response of European corn borer larva may be controlled by only a few loci. The overall results indicated that both ecotypes had adopted unique diapause responses, which ultimately lead to seasonal synchrony in their ecosystems.


• Three examples of an unusually aggressive form of basal cell carcinoma in the skin of the scalp were treated surgically. The extent of each tumor was verified with gross and microscopic examination. The tumors invaded fat, muscle, fascia, and bone. Dural involvement was seen in one case. Light microscopy showed a marked variation in growth patterns and cytologic types from one portion of the tumor to another. Characteristics included a diffusely infiltrating pattern with a fibrotic stromal response, rare intraepidermal tumor nests, formation of occasional duct-like structures, poor cellular cohesion with single-file invasion through dermal collagen, perineural invasion, and pleomorphism with varying nuclear cytoplasmic ratios. Basaloid populations with peripheral palisading were seen in each tumor. These malignancies may be representative of an unusual basal cell carcinoma variant unique to the scalp. (Arch Dermatol114:782-783, 1978)


Accounting, economic, social and political, and slack resources theories provide different perspectives to addressing corporate social responsibility in relation to disclosure, corporate financial performance e.t.c. This paper aims to identify the determinants financial and non financial of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Jordan .The annual reports determine a sample of 60 industrial companies listed on the Amman Stock Exchange for a period from 2006 to 2010 in Jordan were used as a basis for the study. The results of the analysis imply that companies that are expected to be large in size firm, age of firm, maintaining growth and are highly leveraged are more likely to voluntary disclose social responsibility information. The result lends partial support to agency and political economy theories.


Background: Episiotomy is the most common obstetric procedure for prevention of perineal laceration during childbirth. In order to further involve women in the decision-making process for their care, understanding their perception of common obstetric procedures will contribute to practical discussions on the gaps that need to be filled.
Methods: Cross-sectional descriptive survey of consenting pregnant women attending antenatal clinic at the University College Hospital, Ibadan. Information on their socio-demographic data, knowledge and perception about episiotomy was obtained using an interviewer-administered questionnaire. Data analysis was done with SPSS version 18.0.
Results: A total of 304 women were interviewed, of which 199 (65.5%) had ever heard about episiotomy. Among those ever heard, 62 (31.2%) have had personal experience with 10 (16.1%) reporting sexual dysfunction as complication. Only 60 (19.7%) are ever willing to accept episiotomy while 172 (56.6%) will advise friends and relatives against acceptance. Only parity is significantly associated with knowledge (X2 – 15.08, p<0.001) while age is associated with previous experience (X2 – 22.92, p<0.001). Previous experience had no effect on willingness to accept repeat episiotomy (OR = 1.24; 95% CI: 0.63 – 2.44). Health workers are the main source of information.
Conclusion: Parturients in our environment are yet to accept episiotomy due to inadequate information as many of them believed it is unnecessary. Sessions on intrapartum interventions in obstetrics need to be further integrated into our antenatal care services.


Aims Determine the prevalence and severity of diabetic retinopathy (DR) and risk factors in a large community based screening programme, in order to accurately estimate the future burden of this specific and debilitating complication of diabetes. Methods A cross-sectional analysis of 91 393 persons with diabetes, 5003 type 1 diabetes and 86 390 type 2 diabetes, at their first screening by the community based National Diabetic Retinopathy Screening Service for Wales from 2005 to 2009. Image capture used 2×45° digital images per eye following mydriasis, classified by qualified retinal graders with final grading based on the worst eye. Results The prevalence of any DR and sight-threatening DR in those with type 1 diabetes was 56.0% and 11.2%, respectively, and in type 2 diabetes was 30.3% and 2.9%, respectively. The presence of DR, non-sight-threatening and sight-threatening, was strongly associated with increasing duration of diabetes for either type 1 or type 2 diabetes and also associated with insulin therapy in those with type 2 diabetes. Conclusions Prevalence of DR within the largest reported community-based, quality assured, DR screening programme, was higher in persons with type 1 diabetes; however, the major burden is represented by type 2 diabetes which is 94% of the screened population.


Solid wastes from the meat industry are produced in large amounts resulting in a negative impact on the environment if not properly treated. Due to their high content of proteins and fats, these residues are excellent substrates for anaerobic digestion which holds high potential for methane yield. However, possible toxic compounds may be formed during its biodegradation with a consequent failure of the process under long-term operation. The anaerobic co-digestion of such residues with other co-substrates as those generated in agricultural activities has been proposed as a good alternative to overcome these problems. Nevertheless, today there is very little knowledge to assess on mixture interactions connected to wastes composition, biodegradability, and the kinetics of the anaerobic process when complex materials are utilized in ternary and quaternary mixture, specifically when co-digesting solid cattle slaughterhouse waste with agrowaste. It is therefore important to select the right combination of substrates and ratios to obtain synergy instead of antagonism in those mixtures. This chapter aims to provide an overview of the anaerobic digestion of solid slaughterhouse waste and agrowaste, as well as the influence of mixture interactions on its biodegradation.


Sphingolipids are structural components of the eukaryotic plasma membrane that are involved, together with cholesterol, in the formation of lipid microdomains (rafts). Additionally, sphingolipid metabolites have been shown to modulate a wide variety of cellular events, including differentiation and apoptosis. To investigate the role of de novo sphingolipid biosynthesis in Leishmania, we have focused on serine palmitoyltransferase (SPT), which catalyses the first, rate‐limiting step in the synthetic pathway. Genetic ablation of one SPT subunit, LmLCB2, yields viable null parasites that can no longer synthesize ceramide and sphingolipids de novo. Unexpectedly, LmLCB2 expression (and sphingolipid biosynthesis) is stage regulated in Leishmania, being undetectable in intramacrophage parasites. As expected from this observation, the LmLCB2 null mutants maintain infectivity in vivo. However, they are compromised in their ability to form infective extracellular parasites, correlating with a defect in association of the virulence factor, leishmanolysin or GP63, with lipid rafts during exocytosis and an observed relocalization of a second virulence factor, lipophosphogycan, during differentiation. Thus, de novo sphingolipid biosynthesis is critical for membrane trafficking events in extracellular Leishmania but has at best a minor role in intracellular pathogenesis.


The Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC) in the Mediterranean resulted from a complex interplay between tectonic gateway closure and climate evolution. The climate factor, in turn, can be separated into two components, one associated with dominantly pre- cession controlled regional climate change and the other with dominantly obliquity related glacial cyclicity. The influence of these cli- mate changes occurred superimposed on a long(er)-term tectonic trend. Discrimination into the various forcing factors only recently came within reach due to the development of an integrated high-resolution stratigraphy and astronomically tuned age models, both for the Messinian (pre-)evaporite successions in the Mediterranean and for benthic oxygen isotope records from the open ocean. The application of these time scales in combination with a high-resolution integrated stratigraphic approach showed that 1) the on- set of the MSC proper at 5.96 Ma is not related to glacio-eustatic sealevel lowering but its timing can best be attributed to the influence of the 400-kyr eccentricity cycle on regional climate superimposed on a tectonic trend, 2) the main desiccation phase between the Lower and Upper Evaporites coincides with the twin peak glacials TG12-14 suggesting a glacio-eustatic control, 3) the beginning of the Upper Evaporites and Lago Mare phase coincides with the onset of the major deglaciation following peak glacial TG 12, indicating that glacio-eustatic sealevel rise played a role, 4) the Pliocene flooding of the Mediterranean is not related to a glacioeustatic sealevel rise, and 5) the evaporite cycles are controlled by precession induced regional climate changes rather than by obliquity forced glacio-eustatic sealevel change. Our astronomical age model for the Mediterranean Messinian is consistent with 40 Ar/ 39 Ar ages of ash layers intercalated in Messinian successions in the Mediterranean. However, the intercalibration between astronomical and 40 Ar/ 39 Ar dating has to be taken into account for a direct comparison of these ages.


(Ga, Mn)As and other diluted magnetic semiconductors (DMS) attract a great deal of attention for potential spintronic applications because of the possibility of controlling the magnetic properties via electrical gating. Integration of a ferroelectric gate on the DMS channel adds to the system a non-volatile memory functionality and permits nanopatterning via the polarization domain engineering. This topical review is focused on the multiferroic system, where the ferromagnetism in the (Ga, Mn)As DMS channel is controlled by the non-volatile field effect of the spontaneous polarization. Use of ferroelectric polymer gates in such heterostructures offers a viable alternative to the traditional oxide ferroelectrics generally incompatible with DMS. Here we review the proof-of-concept experiments demonstrating the ferroelectric control of ferromagnetism, analyze the performance issues of the ferroelectric gates and discuss prospects for further development of the ferroelectric/DMS heterostructures toward the multiferroic field effect transistor.


This qualitative study was conducted to assess how senior care facilities are responding to LGBT older adults in rural communities. While reviewing previous literature, the following themes were found: discrimination and health disparities, families of choice and social support, challenges in rural communities, and cultural responsive services. This study interviewed seven social workers and one social work designee. Seven of the participants worked at rural nursing homes and one participant worked at a rural assisted living in Minnesota. Many of the results were also found within previous research. The major themes include: limited diversity in rural settings has slowed progress towards implementing changes, staff strengths with LGBT older adults, potential barriers with staff and other residents, addressing concerns of staff and nonLGBT residents, and resident to resident harassment would be handled the same regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. Implications of this study are integrated into how they relate to social work policy, practice and research.


The paper presents a numerical simulation technique { based on the well{known particle methods { for the stationary, one{dimensional Boltzmann equation for Maxwellian molecules. In contrast to the standard splitting methods, where one works with the instationary equation, the current approach simulates the direct solution of the stationary problem. The model problem investigated is the heat transfer between two parallel plates in the rareeed gas regime. An iteration process is introduced which leads to the stationary solution of the exact { space discretized { Boltzmann equation, in the sense of weak convergence.


Even current state-of-the-art automatic stereo matching methods often struggle on natural images and videos, in great part due to fundamental matching ambiguities in low texture regions and a lack of higher level object knowledge. Stereo image matching can benefit greatly from user input to guide the matching process and help disambiguate matches. Applying interactive correction tools from scratch on each frame of a video would not only be throwing away valuable information provided by the user on other frames, but would also likely be too time consuming to be practical for video even if excellent disparity results could be obtained within a few minutes on each frame. In this work, we propose a stereo video matching system that allows user interaction to obtain high quality, dense disparity maps on key frames and then intelligently propagates the user input and key frame disparities to automatically produce high quality disparity maps on intermediate frames. The disparity maps on key frames are obtained using several novel, easy-to-use, and effective interactive tools. Our novel propagation algorithm estimates 3D transformations that map user corrected areas in key frames to intermediate frames. Experiments demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of our hybrid interactive/automatic approach.


The topic of the article has not been studied sufficiently in the works of the law historians. More exhaustive studies on this issue were started at the end of the 19th century. German scientists J. Grimm, V. Schlagenweit and H. Nottarp conducted more extensive studies of ordeals as trial evidence. Most frequently this trial evidence is presented as most irrational evidence in the history of the criminal case. The author willing to justify certain rationality of evidence has studied the concept of ordeals and its evolution, the prerequisites for emergence of the trial evidence and its distribution. Special focus is laid on the special character of ordeals in the legal proceedings of Lithuania. Basing mostly on 16th-18th century legal acts collected by K. Jablonskis and the surviving law sources, a conclusion has been made that ordeals in Lithuania in the essence have been taken over from the Western European legal acts especially from the Magdeburg City Rights. It has been observed that ordeals applicable in Lithuania had lost their primary form and meaning.


For many years considerable efforts have been put into investigating and modelling hydrological processes of mountainous catchments. On the one hand, the complexity and intrinsically high variability of the involved processes as well as insufficient knowledge of the underlying physical mechanisms still induce large uncertainties in understanding observed phenomena and predicting the behaviour of the system. On the other hand, the demand for models that are able to simulate mountainous water resource systems is increasing because of the needs related to both water exploitation and water conservation, which clearly call for an integrated vision and modelling of these systems. Accordingly, this paper moves from a brief survey of the most significant achievements in mountain hydrology to discuss what could be future challenging issues related to the broader spectrum of questions, which hydrologic modelling of mountainous river systems may face in the next decades. Firstly, reference is made to existing methodologies for modelling alpine water systems, focussing on some specific aspects that provide a basis for the discussion of the weaknesses and perspectives of present simulation tools. The future is thus discussed, delineating some of the research challenges that may foster a comprehensive and integrated vision of water related issues in mountainous regions.


Abstract Realistic physical models of meandering rivers have proven extremely difficult to produce, particularly in comparison to the formation of braided rivers in the laboratory. Here we address the question of why such realistic model meanders are so difficult to reproduce, through the most realistic physical modeling of meandering channels yet achieved. This paper demonstrates that cohesion is a key variable in the development and maintenance of single-thread channels. In particular, cohesion must be sufficient to force the planform away from a braided state but low enough for active migration to continue and for the avoidance of a gradual reduction and eventual cessation of planform movement (ossification). The enhanced realism of the experiments also enables the processes of meander evolution, and critically the resultant alluvial architecture, to be examined in a physical model for the first time. Planform history can be linked to deposits, and this process–product linkage enables the depositional development of the experimental deposits to be compared against, and to test, existing models of bedding geometries within point bars. Here we document three mechanisms for bend cutoff, provide new process explanations for certain modes of bend evolution in coarse-grained meandering rivers, examine the geometries and spatial distribution of alluvial architecture, and demonstrate that existing models of point-bar geometry successfully reproduce the larger-scale aspects of point-bar accretion in rivers dominated by episodic unit-bar accretion.


Chapter Introduction: There is an excellent fossil record of ferns in Australia, and it provides an important source of
information on the phylogeny and biogeography of living ferns. The most important elements of the
fossil record are spores, sterile and fertile frond compressions and impressions, and the relatively
rare but highly informative petrified remains, usually rhizomes and stems. Because ferns are such
an ancient group of plants, much of the record cannot be applied directly to the extant flora.
Although this causes problems in interpreting the fossil record, and affinities often remain unclear,
the record relevant to living taxa is still imposing.
Pteridophyte spores are well-preserved and frequently seen in a wide range of sediments and are of
considerable taxonomic significance. Indeed, not only can spore wall ornamentation often be
observed, ultrastructural features may also be visible. One limit to the taxonomic value of the spore
record is the considerable convergence in spore morphology and anatomy in fossil and extant
pteridophytes, especially ferns. The consequent problems with the identification of dispersed fossil
spores are exacerbated by the frequent loss of the diagnostically important exospore.
Fragments of vegetative fronds are comparatively uncommon in the fossil record. However, while
these can sometimes be assigned to genera or families, identification is often impossible, because
available characters such as frond shape and venation show considerable convergence. Conversely,
fertile fronds tend to be much more useful, and those with in situ spores are among the most
confidently and precisely identified of all plant fossils, as well as being useful in confirming or
disproving the identity of dispersed fossil spores (e.g. Jordan et al., 1996). Tree fern stems and
rhizomes are beautifully petrified under some special conditions that are still not fully understood
and these can often be confidently identified.
In this brief review we concentrate on fossils that bear directly on living ferns and their allies, and
we provide examples that demonstrate particularly interesting biogeography or palaeoecology.
While many of the early fern-like fossils appear quite similar to living forms (e.g. Baragwanathia
W.H.Lang & Cookson and some extant Lycopodium species), these will not be dealt with here
because they are too remote from the living flora to be significant. Although the dispersed spore
record is difficult to summarise, we direct interested readers to the review articles of Dettmann
(1994) and Macphail et al. (1994) on the dispersed spore record and the role of ferns and fern allies
in the Australian flora over the last 100 million years or so.


There is evidence that fisheries are altering the phenotypic composition of fish populations, often in ways that may reduce the value of fish stocks for the exploiters. Despite the increasing number of theoretical and field studies, there is still debate as to whether these changes are genetic, can be reversed, and are occurring rapidly enough to be considered in fisheries management. We review the contribution that selection experiments have already provided with respect to the study of the evolutionary effect of fisheries, identify issues that still require more study, and outline future directions for doing so. Selection experiments have already been crucial in showing that harvesting can lead to phenotypic and genetic evolution over relatively short time frames. Furthermore, the experiments have shown the changes involve many other traits than those under direct selection, and that these changes tend to have population-level consequences, including a decreasing fisheries yield. However, experiments focused on fisheries-induced evolution that fulfil all our requirements are still lacking. Future studies should have more controlled and realistic set-ups and assess genetic changes in maturation and growth (i.e. traits most often reported to change) to be more relevant to exploited populations in the wild.


Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP) remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality within immunocompromised patients. In this study, we examined the potential role of macrophage-inducible C-type lectin (Mincle) for host defense against Pneumocystis. Binding assays implementing soluble Mincle carbohydrate recognition domain fusion proteins demonstrated binding to intact Pneumocystis carinii as well as to organism homogenates, and they purified major surface glycoprotein/glycoprotein A derived from the organism. Additional experiments showed that rats with PCP expressed increased Mincle mRNA levels. Mouse macrophages overexpressing Mincle displayed increased binding to P. carinii life forms and enhanced protein tyrosine phosphorylation. The binding of P. carinii to Mincle resulted in activation of FcRγ-mediated cell signaling. RNA silencing of Mincle in mouse macrophages resulted in decreased activation of Syk kinase after P. carinii challenge, critical in downstream inflammatory signaling. Mincle-deficient CD4-depleted (Mincle−/−) mice showed a significant defect in organism clearance from the lungs with higher organism burdens and altered lung cytokine responses during Pneumocystis murina pneumonia. Interestingly, Mincle−/− mice did not demonstrate worsened survival during PCP compared with wild-type mice, despite the markedly increased organism burdens. This may be related to increased expression of anti-inflammatory factors such as IL-1Ra during infection in the Mincle−/− mice. Of note, the P. murina–infected Mincle−/− mice demonstrated increased expression of known C-type lectin receptors Dectin-1, Dectin-2, and MCL compared with infected wild-type mice. Taken together, these data support a significant role for Mincle in Pneumocystis modulating host defense during infection.


In single-cell RNA sequencing data, biological processes or technical factors may induce an overabundance of zero measurements. Existing probabilistic approaches to interpreting these data either model all genes as zero-inflated, or none. But the overabundance of zeros might be gene-specific. Hence, we propose the AutoZI model, which, for each gene, places a spike-and-slab prior on a mixture assignment between a negative binomial (NB) component and a zero-inflated negative binomial (ZINB) component. We approximate the posterior distribution under this model using variational inference, and employ Bayesian decision theory to decide whether each gene is zero-inflated. On simulated data, AutoZI outperforms the alternatives. On negative control data, AutoZI retrieves predictions consistent to a previous study on ERCC spike-ins and recovers similar results on control RNAs. Applied to several datasets and instances of the 10x Chromium protocol, AutoZI allows both biological and technical interpretations of zero-inflation. Finally, AutoZI's decisions on mouse embyronic stem-cells suggest that zero-inflation might be due to transcriptional bursting.


Viruses are the main pathogens responsible for acute upper respiratory tract infections; they spread easily among infants, young children, and the elderly population. The strong spreading capability of such viruses poses great difficulties for clinical diagnosis, treatment, and disease prevention and control. During the current coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, a clear understanding of the epidemiological characteristics of respiratory tract pathogens is essential for the timely identification of non-COVID-19 respiratory tract infections and enhancement of the efficiency of disease prevention and control. In this study, a total of 2,017 patients with upper respiratory tract infections in Kunming, Yunnan province of China, were included as subjects and divided into the Before COVID-19 and During COVID-19 groups. Differences in the infection rate of 13 common respiratory tract pathogens before and during the COVID-19 pandemic were determined using PCR in conjunction with capillary electrophoresis. Results indicated that the infection rate of respiratory tract pathogens (prevailing pathogens and infection status of different age groups) underwent significant changes after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Further in-depth research is required to improve the diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and control of respiratory tract infections.


Purpose A frequent concern of older people and of those who work with older people is that research is often divorced from reality and does not inform everyday practice. For many years, psychology and related disciplines have investigated the social and psychological aspects of ageing from different perspectives. However, the contemporary challenges faced by older people and their carers remain substantial. There is a need to better connect research with policy and practice designed to improve the quality of life of older people. The aim of this special issue is to provide a forum for researchers, policy makers and practitioners to discuss particular initiatives and topics pertinent to people as they age. It is through this dialogue that researchers can gain further insight into the everyday issues faced by older people, and can become more aware of particular challenges faced in developing and implementing changes in policy and practice. Design/methodology/approach This paper introduces the six papers th...


A downhole electric heater, which reduces heat loss along a heat insulation pipe, is a key apparatus used to ignite oil shale underground. Downhole heaters working together with packers can improve the heating efficiency of high-temperature gases, while different packer locations will directly affect the external air temperature of the heater shell and, subsequently, the performance and total cost of the downhole heaters. A device was developed to simulate the external conditions of heater shells at different packer locations. Then, the effects of external air temperature on the performance of a downhole heater with pitches of 50, 160, and 210 mm were experimentally studied. In the test, results indicated that the heater with a packer at its outlet had an accelerated heating rate in the initial stage and decreased temperature in the final stage. Additionally, the lowest heating rod surface temperature and highest comprehensive performance were achieved with minimal irreversible loss and lower total cost when using a downhole electric heater with a packer set at its outlet. In addition, the downhole electric heater with a helical pitch of 50 mm and a packer at its outlet was more effective than other schemes in the high Reynolds number region. These findings are beneficial for shortening the oil production time in oil shale in situ pyrolysis and heavy oil thermal recovery.


We study the homogenization of a hyperbolic-parabolic PDE with oscillations in one fast spatial scale. Moreover, the first order time derivative has a degenerate coefficient passing to infinity when e→0. We obtain a local problem which is of elliptic type, while the homogenized problem is also in some sense an elliptic problem but with the limit for e−1∂tue as an undetermined extra source term in the right-hand side. The results are somewhat surprising and work remains to obtain a fully rigorous treatment. Hence the last section is devoted to a discussion of the reasonability of our conjecture including numerical experiments.


It is a challenging task to train large DNN models on sophisticated GPU platforms with diversified interconnect capabilities. Recently, pipelined training has been proposed as an effective approach for improving device utilization. However, there are still several tricky issues to address: improving computing efficiency while ensuring convergence, and reducing memory usage without incurring additional computing costs. We propose DAPPLE, a synchronous training framework which combines data parallelism and pipeline parallelism for large DNN models. It features a novel parallelization strategy planner to solve the partition and placement problems, and explores the optimal hybrid strategies of data and pipeline parallelism. We also propose a new runtime scheduling algorithm to reduce device memory usage, which is orthogonal to re-computation approach and does not come at the expense of training throughput. Experiments show that DAPPLE planner consistently outperforms strategies generated by PipeDream's planner by up to 3.23× speedup under synchronous training scenarios, and DAPPLE runtime outperforms GPipe by 1.6× speedup of training throughput and saves 12% of memory consumption at the same time.