Critical parameters for geophysical wave propagation studies are the dynamic elastic properties (shear and Young's moduli, and Poisson's ratio) and the intrinsic material damping of rocks. To determine these parameters for two different types of sandstone and an acrylic plastic, which was used as a reference standard, laboratory tests were carried out by means of resonant column testing. Surprisingly high values of material damping were measured for the sandstones, 20% to 40%, which is greater than normally assumed in geophysical analysis. Values of the elastic moduli and Poisson's ratio corresponded more closely to usual expectations. Important variables were found to be the degree of saturation, temperature, confining pressure and strain level. In addition, it was possible to obtain extremely low values of damping under vacuum conditions, which implies that rock damping is associated at the microscopic level with energy dissipation due to viscous movement of the pore fluid.


Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in males and is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in men after skin cancer. It is still associated with significant mortality and morbidity and statistics indicate that 80% of prostate cancer deaths have metastatic bony lesions. Previous work from our group has identified integrin alpha 2 (ITGA2) as a putative prostate cancer susceptibility gene through a familial genetic study. There is an increasing body of evidence suggesting it is involved in prostate cancer progression, particularly contributing to the preferential metastasis of prostate cancer cells to the bone. Integrins are surface receptors which play important roles in cell migration, invasion, survival and angiogenesis. Altered expression of integrins has been found to mediate tumour cell invasion and metastasis in a range of cancers including prostate cancer. Recently, it has become evident that epigenetic mechanisms play important roles in the progression of prostate cancer, affecting a large number of genes associated with the disease, which leads to the hypothesis that deregulation of ITGA2 expression by epigenetic alterations may be associated with prostate tumour progression and metastasis. To examine this hypothesis, regulation of the ITGA2 gene was investigated in a panel of prostate cell lines which represents different aspects of prostate cancer biology.
The ITGA2 promoter is associated with a large CpG island and reduced methylation at the ITGA2 promoter was observed in the bone metastatic cell line, PC3 when compared to the non-tumorigenic cell line, LNCaP and the benign prostate cell line, PWR-1E. Reduced methylation correlated with increased ITGA2 expression levels in these cell lines. Chromatin accessibility and histone acetylation at the ITGA2 promoter was found to be higher in the more highly expressing PC3 cell line. A lower percentage of nucleosome occupancy at the transcription start site also correlated with the higher expression of ITGA2 in 22Rv1 as compared to LNCaP cells. In addition, inhibition of DNA methylation and histone acetylation in combination increased ITGA2 expression in LNCaP cells. These data are consistent with DNA methylation, nucleosome occupancy and histone acetylation contributing to ITGA2 regulation. Higher ITGA2 gene expression levels were also found to correlate with higher cell migration capacity. This was consistent with LNCaP cells displaying an epithelial-like phenotype while the highly expressing PC3 cells displayed a mesenchymal-like phenotype. Knockdown of ITGA2 in the metastatic prostate cancer cell line, PC3, resulted in reduced cell migration, without affecting epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT). However, selection of cells with increased ITGA2 expression by serial passaging of cells on collagen matrix correlated with altered expression of transcription factors known to modulate EMT. Higher ITGA2 expression correlated with increased Twist and decreased Snail expression.
Further examination of the regulation of ITGA2 gene by transcription factors suggests that the Sp1 transcription factor activates ITGA2 expression. However, Sp1 is expressed at equivalent levels in both LNCaP and PC3 cells and thus, can not account for the differential ITGA2 expression observed. While Twist showed inconsistent activity, androgen treatment and Snail overexpression repressed ITGA2 promoter activity. Since Snail is more highly expressed in LNCaP as compared to PC3 cells, this could explain the lower ITGA2 expression observed in LNCaP compared to PC3 cells.
Overall, ITGA2 has been shown by others to be involved in the selective metastasis of prostate cancer to the bone, which is the major cause of prostate cancer related death. ITGA2 may therefore represent a potential therapeutic target in metastatic prostate cancer. This study has shown that both epigenetic factors involving DNA methylation, histone acetylation and nucleosome occupancy and the transcription factors, Sp1, Snail and androgen receptor cooperate to regulate ITGA2 gene expression. Further, the data presented suggest that alterations to epigenetic factors and/ or the EMT transcription factor Snail may contribute to aberrant ITGA2 expression during prostate cancer metastasis.


In this distinguished work, which Hilton Kramer in The New York Times Book Review called "surely the best book ever written on the subject," Barbara Novak illuminates what is essentially American about American art. She highlights not only those aspects that appear indigenously in our art works, but also those features that consistently reappear over time. Novak examines the paintings of Washington Allston, Thomas Cole, Asher B. Durand, Fitz H. Lane, William Sidney Mount, Winslow Homer, Thomas Eakins, and Albert Pinkham Ryder. She draws provocative and original conclusions about the role in American art of spiritualism and mathematics, conceptualism and the object, and Transcendentalism and the fact. She analyzes not only the paintings but nineteenth-century aesthetics as well, achieving a unique synthesis of art and literature. Now available with a new preface and an updated bibliography, this lavishly illustrated volume-featuring more than one hundred black-and-white illustrations and sixteen full-color plates-remains one of the seminal works in American art history.


Litigation Risk and the Optimism in Long-horizon Management Forecasts of Bad News and Good News Helen Hurwitz This study investigates the framework of how litigation risk affects management forecasting of bad news and good news differently, resulting in differential optimism in these forecasts. I argue that distinct stock price patterns following these two types of management forecasts expose them to differential litigation risk ex post. While optimistic management forecasts of good news attract lawsuits, truthful rather than optimistic forecasts of bad news are more likely to trigger immediate lawsuits. As a result, managers adjust the optimism in bad and good news forecasts differently to reduce litigation risk. Consistent with my hypotheses, I find that ex ante litigation risk increases the optimism in bad news management forecasts but does not change the optimism in good news management forecasts, and the optimism in bad news management forecasts is higher than that in their good news counterparts. In addition, I use RegFD as a natural setting to demonstrate how arguably exogenous shocks amplify this effect. It appears that litigation risk in the pre-RegFD period is not sufficient to affect management forecasting behavior, and my findings only exist in the post-RegFD period. Last, I present evidence that is consistent with investors correctly perceiving and responding to the relative bias in bad new and good news management forecasts.


Social movement organizations widely use social media to organize collective action for social change, such as cancer awareness campaigns. However, little is known about how effective online social movement campaigns are at generating social change by translating online action into meaningful (offline) action. This dissertation examines the micro-mobilization dynamics at play that can explain the effectiveness of online social movement campaigns. This book comprises seven chapters presenting research based on a multidisciplinary, mixed-meethod approach combining theories and methods from sociology, social psychology, communication science, and computational social science. The findings show that, by looking at the micro-mobilization dynamics of collective action, we can gain an important understanding of the mechanisms at work during online social movement campaigns and of the effectiveness of such campaigns in fostering communication processes related to the cause, obtaining important resources for the cause, developing a collective identity, and raising awareness.


Asparagus racemosus, Shatavari, is reported to nourish and cleanse the blood and the female reproductive organs. It is a source of plant-derived estrogens, making Shatavari a healthy choice for women. Asparagus is one of the medicinal plants that are being exported from Nepal in wild form.  Quality of a medicinal plant is determined by its Physico-chemical Parameters and the amount of active principle. In this paper the study of various parameters of Asparagus from eight different localities are presented. Keywords: Asparagus racemosus ; Physico-chemical Parameters; Plant-derived estrogens; Standardization; Saponins. Bulletin of the Department of Plant Resources Vol. 30, 2008, pp 102-104.


THE POTENTIALThe United States imports more oil and oil products from Canada than from any other single source. It imports nearly two million barrels of oil per day, three quarters of which is crude oil, placing Canada marginally behind Saudi Arabia as a US crude supplier. Canada is the leading exporter to the US of both refined oil products and natural gas (Canada is the world's second largest exporter of natural gas, after Russia). All of Canada's natural gas exports go to the US, accounting for 87 percent of total US natural gas imports.1As oil and gas production fall in the lower 48 states, a decline matched across the border in the western Canadian sedimentary basin (WCSB), the source of most current Canadian oil and natural gas production, both countries have turned their attention to the vast potential of the Albertan tar sands. These tar sands, covering an area equivalent to both Ireland and Scotland, are located predominantly in the Cold Lake, Peace River, and Athabasca regions of Alberta. While proven conventional oil resources in Canada are estimated at a paltry 4.5 billion barrels, proven tar sands reserves are estimated at some 174 to 178 billion barrels. This places Canada second only to Saudi Arabia in terms of potential crude oil reserves. Ultimate reserves may be as high as 315 billion barrels."The Canadian-US market is unique in its integration, particularly for natural gas markets. Hydrocarbons from both countries pass freely over the Canadian-US frontier in a seamless web of pipelines, by vehicle and tanker transport. New England's natural gas demand is critical to offshore Nova Scotia. Futures contracts for gas sold at Henry Hub in Louisiana affect the overall North American price structure, playing a role similar to that for NYMEX futures contracts for West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude sold at Cushing, Oklahoma. Thus a Wyoming refiner can purchase Saskatchewan Lloydminster grade crude at a discount from the prices quoted for WTI at Cushing, or it can purchase Mexican Mayan or Alaskan North Slope crude, both of which are priced with reference to WTI quotes. The Sable Island Consortium sells Atlantic Canada natural gas at spot prices in the northeast corridor, prices which in turn reflect the going prices at Henry Hub.Pipelines are being redirected to take account of freer North American trade. For example, the flow in the Sarnia-Montreal pipeline, designed to carry oil from the WCSB to Montreal, has been reversed from west-to-east to east-to-west, reflecting market fundamentals. In May 2004, the main federal Canadian regulatory authority, the National Energy Board (NEB), and its US counterpart, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) signed a memorandum of understanding committing themselves to further harmonization of their regulatory approaches to cross-border projects.After many years of teething problems, there is now progress in developing the Albertan tar sands. As can be seen from table i, current production of the various grades of tar sands-based bitumen (and synthetic crude) is one million barrels per day, and is predicted to increase to two millions per day by 2015. There are over 40 tar sands projects, projected with a cumulative investment value of Cdn. $60 billions. Virtually every major oil company or large independent from the US, Canada, or Europe is involved in some fashion with the tar sands industry. Two million barrels is roughly equivalent to 60 percent of total current Canadian production level, and 133 percent of the level of current crude exports to the United States.The integration of Canadian-US continental hydrocarbons trade would appear to be a success. How did it get that way? What are its prospects for the future?MARKET INTEGRATION: TWO VIEWSEconomists look at market integration in terms of an efficient allocation of resources and a consequent increase of the absolute gains made from trade. When these gains are viewed politically, however, there is a tension between the absolute gains from trade, and how these gains are distributed among various parties, i. …


A universal basic income (UBI) would provide all citizens with a guaranteed income, irrespective of their earnings, age or household status. It would be financed from a flat-rate personal income tax. It would replace the existing work-based social security system with its plethora of benefit types, abatement rates and eligibility rules. However, when the trade-offs between the competing objectives of a tax/benefit scheme are considered, and the variety of individual and family circumstances that need to be addressed, the apparent simplicity of a UBI quickly disappears. The article shows that while the current tax/benefit system represents a 'welfare mess', and needs substantial restructuring, a UBI does not necessarily provide an adequate income for poverty relief, nor ensure labour force incentives, at an acceptable fiscal cost.


The surfing industry is a multi-billion dollar a year global business (Gladdon, 2002). Professional female surfers, in particular, are drawing greater media attention than ever before and are seen by surf companies as the perfect vehicle to develop this global industry further. Because lifestyle branding has been developed as a modern marketing strategy, this thesis examines the lifestyle marketing practices of the three major surfing companies Billabong, Rip Curl and Quicksilver/Roxy through an investigation of the sponsorship experiences of fifteen sponsored female surfers.
The research paradigm guiding this study is an interpretive approach that applies Doris Lessing's (1991) concept of conformity and Michel Foucault's (1979) notion of surveillance and the technologies of the self. An ethnographic approach was utilised to examine the main research purpose, namely to: determine the impact of lifestyle marketing by Billabong, Rip Curl and Quicksilver/Roxy on sponsored female surfers. The data collection was conducted over a four-year period and was predominantly based on interviews supported by observation, field notes and document analysis that included the analysis of visual material represented in magazines, newspapers, surf-related websites and DVDs. Interviews were conducted with fifteen female surfers who were predominantly sponsored by either Billabong, Rip Curl or Quicksilver/Roxy and included other non-surf-related companies to discuss their sponsorship experiences. Four representatives from three manufacturers of global surf wear, Billabong, Rip Curl and Quicksilver/Roxy, were also interviewed in order to determine the motivation, selection criteria and philosophy that will impact on the sponsorship of these female surfers.


The cementation reaction [chemical formula] although theoretically possible, is not normally considered to be of significance since the negative electrode potential of the reaction is very small and the rate of deposition is usually extremely low. However, a previous investigation of the corresponding reaction between nickel and iron suggests that such reactions may occur at a relatively rapid rate, provided the specific surface area of the iron is very high, as in the case of a fine powder. In the present work the cementation reaction has been followed in a three phase fluidized bed, which maintained the powder in suspension in the solution and ensured that all particles had an equal chance of contact with cobalt ions. An investigation was made of the effect on the reaction of certain process variables including temperature, PH, type of anion in the solution and concentration of iron powder in the cell and cobalt ions in the solution. This has allowed, under optimum conditions, cobalt deposition at a relatively high rate. In view of the relative cost of iron and cobalt this reaction may be a suitable way of extracting cobalt from waste solutions. An examination of the morphology of the deposit suggested that deposition always took place irregularly, so that some parts of the iron powder remained in contact with the solution. Thus the cementation reaction did not come to a rapid conclusion, on account of the formation of a continuous layer of cobalt on the iron surface. This irregular deposit was maintained even when electrodeposition occurred simultaneously with the cementation reaction.


BACKGROUND/AIMS: Innovative web-based methods of delivering wide-scale mental health interventions in an efficient and sustainable manner have the potential to overcome barriers to care and increase access. Herein we describe lessons learned using an integrated informatics architecture developed to support implementation of two large randomized mental health pragmatic trials that are currently underway at three HCSRN sites. The Strategies for Overcoming Residual Depressive Symptoms (SOAR) study is evaluating the effectiveness of an online mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) program in 460 patients. The Suicide Prevention Outreach Trial (SPOT) is evaluating the effectiveness of two separate interventions -- an online dialectical behavior therapy skills training program or risk assessment/care management using the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale with secured messaging through Epic -- in preventing suicide attempt/death in 16,000 patients. Each study integrates software tools for targeted patient outreach, retention and monitoring of suicide risk. Methods: Both studies leverage real-time patient-reported outcomes data from Epic questionnaires for cohort identification and recruitment. Patients are then invited via email to visit websites to learn about the study and provide informed consent. REDCap, DatStat or Epic questionnaires are used to collect follow-up data from participants with real-time, item-level email alerts to notify study staff of suicide risk. An email service delivers study incentives to patients on survey completion. A dashboard was developed in Epic to facilitate population management for a large volume of high-risk patients. Results: The integrated informatics architecture allows the study team to enroll patients efficiently and to maintain high patient retention with survey completion rates of 70% in the MBCT study at 6 months. We tested several approaches for suicide risk monitoring using web-based surveys to encourage patients' acceptance of subsequent outreach. Each HCSRN site adapted an Epic dashboard function that alerts care managers to high-risk patients and tracks appointment compliance. Conclusion: Creative problem solving and effective partnerships among study staff, software and data programmers, care delivery teams, external collaborators and institutional review boards are essential for effective implementation of large pragmatic trials using multiple technologies. The integrated informatics architecture created here is essential to realize scalability, increase efficiency and support effectiveness of the interventions. Language: en


Summary

This paper revisits, with new data, the changes in the distribution of global poverty towards middle-income countries (MICs). In doing so it discusses an implied 'poverty paradox'– the fact that most of the world's extreme poor no longer live in the world's poorest countries.

The paper outlines the distribution of global poverty as follows: half of the world's poor live in India and China (mainly in India), a quarter of the world's poor live in other MICs (primarily populous lower MICs such as Pakistan, Nigeria and Indonesia) and a quarter of the world's poor live in the remaining 35 low-income countries. Underlying this pattern is a slightly more surprising one: only 7 per cent of world poverty remains in low-income, stable countries.

The paper discusses factors that are behind the shift in global poverty towards middle-income countries in particular and how sensitive the distribution of global poverty is to the thresholds for middle-income classification. The paper concludes with implications for research related to poverty.


children have been replacing them as consumers. The Billboard Using Graffitists Against Unhealthy Products are not "merry pranksters" they are serious-minded professionals, angry and frustrated at the immorality of the cigarette message. And "a passing desire to ape an athlete or pop idol" is a consciously naive analysis of the rather more subtle network of psychological strategies on which advertising is based. Of greater concern, however, is the reduction of the health problem to that of a socioeconomic issue. If smoking is to be endorsed for the lower class, we might as well advocate the reintroduction of slavery or child labour. In an era which purports to offer health and education for society as a whole, regardless of class, the responsibility of the smoking issue lies with those with the expertise to deal effectively with the problem the medical profession. The comments in the editorial parallel those of the tobacco industry, which continues to refer to the "medical controversy about smoking". That there is no medical controversy is well established within the ranks of the profession as a whole. Comments such as these do not belong in a journal which prides itself on being a service to education and communication and enhancing the high repute of Australian medical science they belong in a glossy tobaccocompany handout. H. R. Elphick, FRACP President K. Faulkner,FRACS Chairman A. W. Musk, FRACP Secretary Australian Councilon Smoking and Health Murray Street, West Perth, WA 6005


We review the status of marine shellfish ecosystems formed primarily by bivalves in Australia, including: identifying ecosystem-forming species, assessing their historical and current extent, causes for decline and past and present management. Fourteen species of bivalves were identified as developing complex, three-dimensional reef or bed ecosystems in intertidal and subtidal areas across tropical, subtropical and temperate Australia. A dramatic decline in the extent and condition of Australia's two most common shellfish ecosystems, developed by Saccostrea glomerata and Ostrea angasi oysters, occurred during the mid-1800s to early 1900s in concurrence with extensive harvesting for food and lime production, ecosystem modification, disease outbreaks and a decline in water quality. Out of 118 historical locations containing O. angasi-developed ecosystems, only one location still contains the ecosystem whilst only six locations are known to still contain S. glomerata-developed ecosystems out of 60 historical locations. Ecosystems developed by the introduced oyster Crasostrea gigas are likely to be increasing in extent, whilst data on the remaining 11 ecosystem-forming species are limited, preventing a detailed assessment of their current ecosystem-forming status. Our analysis identifies that current knowledge on extent, physical characteristics, biodiversity and ecosystem services of Australian shellfish ecosystems is extremely limited. Despite the limited information on shellfish ecosystems, a number of restoration projects have recently been initiated across Australia and we propose a number of existing government policies and conservation mechanisms, if enacted, would readily serve to support the future conservation and recovery of Australia's shellfish ecosystems.


Government institutions, courts and administrative tribunals have been entrusted with making critical decisions concerning environmental risks. The nature of these decisions and their underlying uncertainty inevitably involve reliance upon opinion evidence from environmental scientists. This analysis begins with a review of the evolution of scientific expert opinion as an evidentiary input to legal decision-making followed by the identification of problems arising with scientific evidence based upon those problems identified by the authors and/or reported in the literature. These problem issues were organised under five categories or 'interfaces' for both environmental trials and administrative hearings, being: the quality of scientific information introduced; the communication and comprehension/understanding of scientific information; scientific uncertainty; the use of scientific information to establish and enforce decision-making standards; the suitability of existing legal decision-making institutions and legal procedures for resolution of scientific issues in environmental decision-making. Finally, unique empirical research was conducted by performing a questionnaire survey with parallel questions on 93 problem issues identified under these five interfaces. The survey was completed by 18 judges (90% response), 63 tribunal members (40.6% response), 101 lawyers (6.1% response) and 107 expert scientific witnesses (30.9% response), who had actually participated in environmental trials and administrative hearings across five jurisdictions. The differing perspectives of these groups on several issues serve to highlight many of the fundamental incompatibilities that currently exist between science and the law in relation to environmental decision-making. Eighteen recommendations are offered to address the range of problem issues identified and discussed.


In this paper we argue that data-sharing is an activity that sits at the crossroads of privacy concerns and the broader challenges of data governance surrounding access and use. Using the Sidewalk Toronto "smart city" proposal as a starting point for discussion, we outline these concerns to include resistance to data monopolies, public control over data collected through the use of public infrastructure, public benefit from the generation of intellectual property, the desire to broadly share data for innovation in the public interest, social — rather than individual — surveillance and harms, and that data use be held to standards of fairness, justice and accountability. Data-sharing is sometimes the practice that generates these concerns and sometimes the practice that is involved in the solution to these concerns.

Our safe sharing site approach to data-sharing focuses on resolving key risks associated with data-sharing, including protecting the privacy and security of data subjects, but to do so in a manner that is independent of the various legal contexts of regulation and governance. Instead, we propose that safe sharing sites connect with these different contexts through a legal interface consisting of a registry that provides transparency in relation to key information that supports different forms of regulation. Safe sharing sites also offer assurances and auditability regarding the data-sharing, further supporting a range of regulatory interventions. It is therefore not an alternative to these interventions but an important tool that can enable effective regulation.

A central feature of a safe sharing site is that it offers an alternative to the strategy of de-identifying data and then releasing it, whether within an "open data" context or in a more controlled environment. In a safe sharing site computations may be performed on the data in a secure and privacy-protective manner without releasing the raw data, and where all data-sharing is transparent and auditable. Transparency does not mean that all data-sharing becomes a matter of "public" view, but rather that there is the ability to make these activities visible to organizations and regulators in appropriate circumstances while recognizing the potential confidentiality interests in data uses.

In this way safe sharing sites facilitate data-sharing in a manner that manages the complexities of sharing while reducing the risks and enabling a variety of forms of governance and regulation. As such it offers a flexible and modular piece of legal-technical infrastructure for the new economy.


The objective of the study was made to develop a probabilistic model for predicting the statistical distribution of stiffness properties of some selected Malaysian timbers.In this respect, a three-step experimental approach was adopted before simulated beam stiffness for the species population was derived. Firstly, a number of probability functions representing the actual distribution of selected timber data were examined. Goodness-offit (GOF) analysis was then carried out to establish the best fitting distribution function
for the experimental data used.Secondly, the modulus of elasticity (MOE) of solid and finger-jointed samples was obtained from non-destructive testing (NDT) using the
fundamental vibration frequency methodology. Results from the above method were calibrated against those obtained through static bending test by means of Universal
Testing Machine. Finally, glued-laminated timber (glulam) beams were fabricated using laminations with predetermined MOEs by NDT method and the beams were later subjected to 3-point static bending test for MOE determination.In the mean time, finite element method (FEM) coupled with transformed section approach, was also used to simulate the glulam beam tests after experimental length effect was incorporated.The MOE of beams population was then predicted using randomly generated MOE and length data.The GOF analysis indicates that 3-parameter Weibull distribution best fit the probability distribution of the tested timber. Results from the NDT method also showed a good relationship between the fundamental vibration frequency test and the static bending test conducted with a coefficient of determination of about 0.89. In the simulation of glulam beams, the MOE values of simulated glulam beams are generally higher than the actual
tests conducted, particularly in durian hutan, with a percentage difference of about 23%.In the prediction of the MOE glulam beams population, the generated distribution
exhibits higher MOE values compared to the average value reported respectively for durian hutan and rubberwood species


Background: Trauma centers have historically been staffed by attending surgeons and varying levels of surgery and emergency residents. With the imposition of resident work hour restrictions there was a need for staffing solutions. One of the options that has been utilized is the addition or replacement of residents by physician assistants (PAs). What is the impact of PAs on the outcomes of trauma patients at level I centers when compared with resident only teams? Methods: An exhaustive search of available medical literature was conducted using Medline-OVID, CINAHL, and Web of Science. The keywords used for each search were: physician assistant, trauma center, length of stay, patient readmission, and hospital mortality. Additional inclusion and exclusion criteria were used to focus the search. Results: Three retrospective studies met criteria and were included and assessed for this systematic review. One study compared a resident based team with a team that added PAs and found no change in mortality rates and a reduction in length of stay (LOS). Another study compared three groups: a resident based team, an attending surgeon only team, and a PA based team. This study showed a reduction in mortality and LOS. A third study compared a PA based team with the National Trauma Data Bank. That study showed a reduction in mortality and LOS when normalizing for injury severity. Conclusion: When PAs were added to or replaced residents on trauma teams there was either no change or a reduction in patient mortality and length of stay. PAs can be a helpful and productive addition or replacement on resident based teams without negatively impacting patient outcomes. Degree Type Capstone Project Degree Name Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies First Advisor Annjanette Sommers, PA-C, MS


Estimating the relative importance of each sample in a training set has important practical and theoretical value, such as in importance sampling or curriculum learning. This kind of focus on individual samples invokes the concept of samplewise learnability: How easy is it to correctly learn each sample (cf. PAC learnability)? In this paper, we approach the sample-wise learnability problem within a deep learning context. We propose a measure of the learnability of a sample with a given deep neural network (DNN) model. The basic idea is to train the given model on the training set, and for each sample, aggregate the hits and misses over the entire training epochs. Our experiments show that the samplewise learnability measure collected this way is highly linearly correlated across different DNN models (ResNet-20, VGG-16, and MobileNet), suggesting that such a measure can provide deep general insights on the data's properties. We expect our method to help develop better curricula for training, and help us better understand the data itself.


AbstractThe frequency of autopsies appears to be declining, and the usefulness has been challenged. We reviewed cases of autopsied active infective endocarditis (IE) during 2 periods based on the availability of high-tech 2-dimensional echocardiograms: Period 1 (P1) included 40 cases studied from 1970 to 1985, and Period 2 (P2) included 28 cases seen from 1986 to 2008—that is, before and after the introduction of echocardiograms in our institution. We conducted the study to reassess the pathology of IE and to determine how frequently diagnosis is not made during life.The age of patients increased 10 years on average between the 2 periods, and comorbidities were significantly more frequent in P2. While the frequency of rheumatic valve disease and prosthetic valve endocarditis (PVE) decreased, degenerative valve disease increased. Isolated mitral or aortic valve IE was most common. Right-sided IE was observed in patients with Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia from infected venous lines. In most cases IE involved only the cusps of cardiac valves. "Virulent" microorganisms caused ulcerations, rupture, and perforation of the cusps and necrosis of chordae tendiniae and perivalvular apparatus. In PVE the lesions were located behind the site of attachment, and vegetations were seen on the sewing ring in both metallic and biologic prostheses. Infection spread to adjacent structures and myocardium with ring abscess observed in 88% of cases. Prosthetic detachment causing valve regurgitation was associated with abscesses in 76% of cases; these patients developed persistent sepsis and severe cardiac failure. Obstruction occurred in patients with PVE of the mitral valve. Acute purulent pericarditis was observed in 22% of cases, mainly in patients with aortic valve IE and myocardial abscesses.Gross infarcts were seen in 63% of cases but were asymptomatic in most instances. The spleen, kidneys, and mesentery were the sites most frequently involved. Myocardial infarctions were found in less than 10% of cases. Abscesses were also frequently found and were a common source of persistent fever and bacteremia. Glomerulonephritis was more common in the first period. Brain pathology consisted of ischemic and hemorrhagic infarcts and abscesses. Cerebral bleeding was more frequent in patients with PVE on anticoagulant therapy. Neutrophilic meningitis was observed in S. aureus IE.Diagnosis of IE was not made during life in 14 (35%) cases during P1 and 12 (42.8%) cases in P2. Overall, diagnosis was missed until autopsy in 38.2% of cases. IE was hospital acquired in 28 instances. While a clinical diagnosis was made in all but 4 cases of early-onset PVE (23.5%), the diagnosis was not made during life in 22 of 51 patients with native-valve IE (43.1%). Of these 22 patients, IE was hospital acquired in 11 (50%). The absence of fever, cardiac murmurs, and many of the typical stigmata of endocarditis may have led to the diagnosis being overlooked clinically.Brain bleeding, cardiac failure and less frequently acute myocardial infarct were the most common causes of death.IE continues to be missed frequently until autopsy. Postmortem examination is an important tool for evaluating the quality of care, and for guiding teaching and research related to cardiovascular infections. AbbreviationsCT = computed tomography, IE = infective endocarditis, MRI = magnetic resonance imaging, P1 = Period 1, P2 = Period 2, PVE = prosthetic valve endocarditis, TTE = transthoracic echocardiogram, TEE = transesophageal echocardiogram.


This thesis presents a cloud platform for automatic speech recognition, CloudASR, built on top of Kaldi speech recognition toolkit. The platform supports both batch and online speech recognition mode and it has an annotation interface for transcription of the submitted recordings. The key features of the platform are scalability, customizability and easy deployment. Benchmarks of the platform show that the platform achieves comparable performance with Google Speech API in terms of latency and it can achieve better accuracy on limited domains. Furthermore, the benchmarks show that the platform is able to handle more than 1000 parallel requests given enough computational resources.


Supplementary data tml http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/suppl/2013/01/08/rspb.2012.2767.DC1.h "Data Supplement" References http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/280/1754/20122767.full.html#ref-list-1 This article cites 39 articles, 12 of which can be accessed free Subject collections (1242 articles) ecology  • Articles on similar topics can be found in the following collections Email alerting service here right-hand corner of the article or click Receive free email alerts when new articles cite this article sign up in the box at the top


Single-agent planning in a multi-agent environment is challenging because the actions of other agents can affect our ability to achieve a goal. From a given agent's perspective, actions of others can be viewed as non-deterministic outcomes of that agent's actions. While simple conceptually, this interpretation of planning in a multi-agent environment as non-deterministic planning remains challenging, not only due to the non-determinism resulting from others' actions, but because it is not clear how to compactly model the possible actions of others in the environment. In this paper, we cast the problem of planning in a multiagent environment as one of Fully-Observable Non-Deterministic (FOND) planning. We extend a non-deterministic planner to plan in a multi-agent setting, allowing non-deterministic planning technology to solve a new class of planning problems. To improve the efficiency in domains too large for solving optimally, we propose a technique to use the goals and possible actions of other agents to focus the search on a set of plausible actions. We evaluate our approach on existing and new multiagent benchmarks, demonstrating that modelling the other agents' goals improves the quality of the resulting solutions.


Separation of complex gaseous mixtures using gas chromatography (GC) is an important step in analytical systems for environmental monitoring, medical diagnosis, and forensic science. Due to its high resolving power, analysis speed, and small sample size, GC, has become the premier technique for separation and analysis of volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds. Miniaturization of analytical systems has become a major trend which is mainly driven by advancements in microfabrication techniques and a need for portable lab-on-a-chip systems for onsite monitoring. Microfabricated columns have been explored for applications in analytical processes like GC in several research studies. These microGC columns typically have open rectangular or open circular cross sections which is a result of the etching process utilized in the fabrication. This work reports the fabrication and performance of a new generation of silicon-onglass micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) based GC columns with microposts namely "semi-packed." These columns can be fabricated on a 2 cm-die for a 1 m-long channel or a 1 cm-die for a 25 cm-long channel. The semi-packed columns have a higher sample capacity as the overall surface area is larger than that of open rectangular columns of the same dimensions. The separation efficiency of these columns is also superior to that of open columns due to the presence of the microposts. As compared to conventional packed columns, the semi-packed columns show lower pressure drops and a more uniform flow profile, both of which contribute to, performance in terms of separation efficiency. Syed A. Ali Abstract


The design of a set of benchmarks for evaluating the capabilities of high-performance engineering workstations is described. The benchmarks were designed to evaluate the workstations' capacity to calculate and display solid finite-element or finite-difference data. After the benchmarks were run on several workstations, a cost performance analysis was undertaken. This analysis was based on how many polygons per second could be drawn per $10000 invested.<<ETX>>


Serial sectioning of a nodule encapsulating an adult specimen of the arthrodire placoderm Watsonosteus fletti from the Eday Flagstone Formation (Givetian) in the Orcadian Basin of northern Scotland has revealed the presence of a number of embryos within the adult. This specimen represents the oldest known record of fossilized vertebrate embryos. Thin sections of two of the slices have revealed the detailed histological structure of embryonic plates in placoderms, showing that as previously deduced from visual examination, the outer and inner layers were the first to form. Gut contents preserved near the embryos show that the species had a varied diet, with dermal bone fragments from sarcopterygians and placoderms.


The development of electric vehicle projects can be explained first and foremost by the environmental objectives set in the global frameworks to combat climate change, with a particular focus on reducing CO2 emissions. The scarcity of natural hydrocarbon resources and current global warming poses the problem of energy transition. In the present situation, solar energy appears to man as an inexhaustible, renewable energy is above all, as a clean energy. It is therefore in response to a crucial problem of humanity that we decided to design a prototype miniature solar vehicle. In this article, the contribution envisaged with this research work is to realize an electric vehicle powered and charged by a photovoltaic solar panel (PV), from where the management and the optimization of the electrical energy is ensured by a card Arduino whose which two-wheel drive vehicle to control by a Bluetooth embedded, in order to ensure proper control, thus, the instructions are sent according to a Smartphone via a wireless local network. Keywords— electric vehicle; greenhouse gas (GHG); battery; solar panel; Arduino card; Bluetoot; Smartphone.


The city of Adelaide in South Australia is built on a clay plain running north-south between the Adelaide Hills and the sea. Adelaide has a Mediterranean, i.e. semi-arid, climate causing this clay to be unsaturated and stiff to very stiff when above the watertable. To improve traffic flow on the western side of Adelaide an expressway-standard road, the North-South Corridor, is being built. The 4.5km section of the North-South Corridor from the River Torrens in the south to Torrens Road in the north is referred to as the T2T project. For 2 kilometres the expressway-standard road of T2T runs in a cutting up to 9m deep.  The amount of material used in conventional retaining walls, and hence their cost, could be greatly reduced if the shear strength of the unsaturated stiff clay could be estimated with sufficient accuracy for engineering design.  Recent developments in unsaturated soil mechanics allow the shear strength of the clay to be determined with sufficient accuracy as long as the suction can be estimated with confidence for the various design conditions, e.g. leaking pipes. Geotechnical engineers in Adelaide have over 50 years of experience in measuring soil suction and estimating suction profiles for varying conditions of drainage.  This paper shows how that experience, combined with field measurements, allowed for the design of a cost-effective lightweight soil nail/shotcrete walls for T2T by the successful consortium bidding for this job.  The walls have now been under construction for a year and will be completed by late 2018. In this paper the geotechnical investigation for the T2T project and the design of the lightweight soil nail/shotcrete wall are described briefly.  The geotechnical investigation showed significant sand lenses occurring in the clay in the southernmost part of the project near the River Torrens. A "toolbox" of soil nail/shotcrete wall designs was developed to cope with the variety of sand lenses.  During construction the observational method was used to deal with this soil variability. This required inspection of every section of soil exposed during excavation and selection of an appropriate wall design from the design toolbox. Implementing the observational method proved difficult. This, and other problems prolonged construction, resulting in the walls costing more than originally estimated but still considerably less than conventional walls. This paper concludes with a discussion of the difficulties of implementing the observational method in this project, how these difficulties were overcome, and how they could be avoided in the future.


Biotechnology covers a broad spectrum of scientific applications that are applied in many sectors including health and agriculture. It involves the usage of living organisms, or its parts in order to deliver innovative methods of production and create new products e.g. new vaccine production (through disease diagnosis) to avoid disease-attack; genetically modified plants (to develop resistance against various pests); bacteria having the ability to cleaning up oil spills etc. All these features are related to biotechnology that is totally applicable to human health care. In other words, biotechnology related to human healthcare has a tremendous impact on the necessity of patients and their families as it not only revolves around medicines and diagnostics that are produced employing a biotechnological process, but also involve gene and cell therapies, recombinant DNA products, tissue engineered products and controlling environment pollution. Today, the majorities of innovative medicines either produced using biotechnology or through diagnostic products, are made readily available to the society by applying modern biotechnology in their development and/or expansion processes.


Single nucleotide polymorphisms in the first intron of the fat-mass-and-obesity-related gene FTO are associated with increased body weight and adiposity. Increased expression of FTO is likely underlying this obesity phenotype, as mice with two additional copies of Fto (FTO-4 mice) exhibit increased adiposity and are hyperphagic. FTO is a demethylase of single stranded DNA and RNA, and one of its targets is the m6A modification in RNA, which might play a role in the regulation of gene expression. In this study, we aimed to examine the changes in gene expression that occur in FTO-4 mice in order to gain more insight into the underlying mechanisms by which FTO influences body weight and adiposity. Our results indicate an upregulation of anabolic pathways and a downregulation of catabolic pathways in FTO-4 mice. Interestingly, although genes involved in methylation were differentially regulated in skeletal muscle of FTO-4 mice, no effect of FTO overexpression on m6A methylation of total mRNA was detected.


Joint liability group lending is currently the lending technology of choice of microfinance institutions because of the success of the Grameen Bank, which is using the technology to successfully lend to millions of poor Bangladeshi women. The analysis and findings presented in this brief are the results of research undertaken by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and Bunda College of Agriculture on the practice and performance of joint liability group lending in Malawi. This research provides evidence on the extent to which peer selection, peer monitoring, and peer pressure are taking place in the credit groups affiliated to the Malawi Rural Finance Company (MRFC), the main microfinance institution in Malawi, and their impact on the joint liability on loan repayment. authorities have on the formation and com-position


Abstract Composite coatings containing beryllium are prepared by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition at a substrate temperature as low as 250°C in a radio-frequency-induced cylindrical plasma reactor. Diethylberyllium is used as the precursor together with hydrogen as a coreactant gas. These coatings are characterized by Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, electrical resistivity, and thermogravimetric analysis. AES indicates that the composition of the coatings reaches a steady level at a depth of 300 Å from the surface and maintains a constant composition throughout the thickness of the coatings. The characterization studies establish the dominant phase to be Be2C. The coatings are also resistant to oxidation and hydrolysis in dry/moist air unlike bulk Be2C. It is found that the coatings deposited close to the diethylberyllium inlet contain amorphous beryllium that is homogeneously dispersed in a Be2C matrix. Films of ~5-μm thickness with an acceptable permeability to H2 are prepared. These coatings meet some of the major requirements of the ablator material for inertial confinement fusion target capsules.


According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, delayed posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) must be diagnosed in individuals fulfilling criteria for PTSD if the onset of symptoms is at least six months after the trauma. The purpose of this thesis was to establish the prevalence of delayed PTSD and to examine factors that may explain its occurrence. We conducted a meta-analysis and examined prospective data from disaster survivors, unaccompanied refugee minors, and armed forces deployed to Afghanistan. Delayed PTSD occurred in about one quarter of all PTSD cases. The risk of delayed PTSD did not decrease between 9 and 25 months after the traumatic event, and when traumatized populations were followed up for longer periods of time, more delayed PTSD cases were found. These findings suggest ongoing potential risk to some individuals. Delayed PTSD occurred most often in individuals already reporting subthreshold symptoms. Prodromal symptoms included intrusive memories and avoidance of reminders as well as feelings of depression and anxiety. We found a high likelihood of mental health services utilization in participants endorsing delayed PTSD 4 years after a disaster. Two thirds of disaster survivors endorsing delayed PTSD used or continued using mental health services. This finding strongly suggests that symptom progression in delayed PTSD is clinically relevant. We found the severity of traumatic event exposure to be related to PTSD progression after a disaster in individuals reporting total home destruction and after military deployment. We also found that cognitive ability as indicated by higher education was associated with PTSD progression after a disaster, presumably by mitigating initial distress. Lack of perceived social support as well as new stressful life events increased the risk of delayed PTSD after a disaster. In unaccompanied refugee minors, increasing age emerged as a risk marker for delayed PTSD. This highlights the importance of the stressful transitions for these youths at the age of 18 years. They will be moved to more independent living arrangements if they had previously lived in living arrangements with more supervision. Furthermore, their legal status will be reviewed and they will be aware of uncertainty regarding their future right to remain in the Netherlands. Thus, factors associated with delayed PTSD may explain its occurrence in one of three ways. First, factors may increase the risk for PTSD in general. Second, factors may promote initial adaptation to the traumatic event and thus explain why symptoms are not full-blown from the start. Third, factors may precipitate PTSD onset despite initial adaptation and thus explain why symptoms increase in number or severity later on. We found prospective evidence of stress sensitization, i.e. enhanced reactivity of individuals to new stressors following exposure to severe traumatic stressors. Stress sensitization may explain progression of distress over time and has important practical implications. Averting foreseeable stressors and resource losses in the aftermath of severe trauma, diminishing the impact of chronic stressors as well as reducing stress sensitization may be a target for preventing and treating progression of posttraumatic distress.


Wormlike micellar (WLM) solutions are frequently used in enhanced oil and gas recovery applications in porous rock beds where complex microscopic geometries result in mixed flow kinematics with strong shear and extensional components. Experiments with WLM solutions through model microfluidic porous media have revealed a variety of complex flow phenomena, including the formation of stable gel-like structures known as a Flow-Induced Structured Phase (FISP), which undoubtedly play an important role in applications of WLM fluids, but are still poorly understood. A first step in understanding flows of WLM fluids through porous media can be made by examining the flow around a single micro-scale cylinder aligned on the flow axis. Here we study flow behavior of an aqueous WLM solution consisting of cationic surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and a stable hydrotropic salt 3-hydroxy naphthalene-2-carboxylate (SHNC) in microfluidic devices with three different cylinder blockage ratios, β. We observe a rich sequence of flow instabilities depending on β as the Weissenberg number (Wi) is increased to large values while the Reynolds number (Re) remains low. Instabilities upstream of the cylinder are associated with high stresses in fluid that accelerates into the narrow gap between the cylinder and the channel wall; vortex growth upstream is reminiscent of that seen in microfluidic contraction geometries. Instability downstream of the cylinder is associated with stresses generated at the trailing stagnation point and the resulting flow modification in the wake, coupled with the onset of time-dependent flow upstream and the asymmetric division of flow around the cylinder.


Extracted from text ... EDITORIAL
South African Psychiatry Review - August 2002 1
Parental alienation syndrome
nocents for the purposes of a self-satisfying agenda that appears
to relate to power, control and vengeance. Such an agenda need
not necessarily be a conscious one. Many questions regarding
PAS remain unanswered, not least of which is "why ?" The answer
may lie in PAS not so much being a syndrome as a pattern of
behaviour, symptomatic of an underlying condition, manifesting
in a situation specific manner. It is commonly accepted that
most alienators are women. 3 This may be more a function of the
legal ..


Brain-derived neurotrophic factor and neurotrophin-3 deficient mice were generated by gene targeting. The analysis of these mice has led to the characterization of their role in the survival of neurons in the peripheral nervous system. NT-3 deficient mice displayed severe movement defects and most died shortly after birth. The mutation causes loss of substantial portions of cranial and spinal peripheral sensory and sympathetic neurons. Significantly, spinal proprioceptive afferents and their peripheral sense organs (muscle spindles and Golgi tendon organs) were completely absent in homozygous mutant mice. BDNF deficient mice displayed deficiencies in coordination and balance. Excessive loss of neurons was detected in most of the peripheral sensory ganglia examined, but the survival of sympathetic neurons was not affected. The most marked reduction of neurons was observed in the vestibular ganglion, leading to a loss of innervation of the sensory epithelia of the vestibular compartments of the inner ear.


Very little is known about the efficient collection of fines despite their indispensable contribution to local government budgets. This paper fills an important gap in the literature by studying the effectiveness of deterrence (enforcement) and non-deterrence (social norms) letters that aim to improve the collection of traffic and parking fines. We discuss potential mechanisms through which these letters may affect fine compliance and present results from a natural field experiment that was implemented in collaboration with the government of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). We find that both letters increase fine payments significantly relative to a control group that did not receive a letter. The effect of the enforcement letter is stronger than that of the social norms letter. Our analysis of heterogenous treatment effects indicates that addressing social norms does not change the behavior of young offenders, those who committed a speeding offence, those with a long outstanding debt and those with a debt above the median. In contrast, the enforcement letter is generally effective across subgroups.


Face recognition, as the main biometric used by human beings, has become more popular for the last twenty years. Automatic recognition of human faces has many commercial and security applications in identity validation and recognition and has become one of the hottest topics in the area of image processing and pattern recognition since 1990. Availability of feasible technologies as well as the increasing request for reliable security systems in today's world has been a motivation for many researchers to develop new methods for face recognition.
In automatic face recognition we desire to either identify or verify one or more persons in still or video images of a scene by means of a stored database of faces. One of the important features of face recognition is its non-intrusive and non-contact property that distinguishes it from other biometrics like iris or finger print recognition that require subjects' participation.
During the last two decades several face recognition algorithms and systems have been proposed and some major advances have been achieved. As a result, the performance of face recognition systems under controlled conditions has now reached a satisfactory level. These systems, however, face some challenges in environments with variations in illumination, pose, expression, etc. The objective of this research is designing a reliable automated face recognition system which is robust under varying conditions of noise level, illumination and occlusion. A new method for illumination invariant feature extraction based on the illumination-reflectance model is proposed which is computationally efficient and does not require any prior information about the face model or illumination. A weighted voting scheme is also proposed to enhance the performance under illumination variations and also cancel occlusions. The proposed method uses mutual information and entropy of the images to generate different weights for a group of ensemble classifiers based on the input image quality. The method yields outstanding results by reducing the effect of both illumination and occlusion variations in the input face images.


Cells and tissues are self-organized within an extracellular matrix (ECM) composed of multifunctional, nano- to micrometer scale protein fibrils. We have developed a cell-free, surface-initiated assembly technique to rebuild this ECM structure in vitro. The matrix proteins fibronectin, laminin, fibrinogen, collagen type I, and collagen type IV are micropatterned onto thermosensitive surfaces as 1 to 10 nm thick, micrometer to centimeter wide networks, and released as flexible, free-standing nanofabrics. Independent control of microstructure and protein composition enables us to engineer the mechanical and chemical anisotropy. Fibronectin nanofabrics are highly extensible (>4-fold) and serve as scaffolds for engineering synchronously contracting, cardiac muscle; demonstrating biofunctionality comparable to cell-generated ECM.


Grades serve as one of the primary indicators of student learning, directing subsequent actions for students, instructors, and administrators, alike. Therefore, grade validity—that is, the extent to which grades communicate a meaningful and credible representation of what they purport to measure—is of utmost importance. However, a grade cannot be valid if one cannot trust that it will consistently and reliably result in the same value, regardless of who makes a measure or when they make it. Unfortunately, such reliability becomes increasingly challenging to achieve with larger class sizes, especially when utilizing multiple evaluators, as is often the case with mandatory introductory courses at large universities. Reliability suffers further when evaluating open-ended tasks, as are prevalent in authentic, high-quality engineering coursework.This study explores grading reliability in the context of a large, multi-section engineering course. Recognizing the number of people involved and the plethora of activities that affect grading outcomes, the study adopts a systems approach to conduct a human reliability analysis using the Functional Resonance Analysis Method. Through this method, a collection of data sources, including course materials and observational interviews with undergraduate teaching assistant graders, are synthesized to produce a general model for how actions vary and affect subsequent actions within the system under study. Using a course assignment and student responses, the model shows how differences in contextual variables affect expected actions within the system. Next, the model is applied to each of the observational interviews with undergraduate teaching assistants to demonstrate how these actions occur in practice and to compare graders to one another and with expected behaviors. These results are further related to the agreement in system outcomes, or grades, assigned by each grader to guide analysis of how actions within the system affect its outcome.The results of this study connect and elaborate upon previous models of grader cognition by analyzing the phenomenon in engineering, a previously unexplored context. The model presented can be easily generalized and adapted to smaller systems with fewer actors to understand sources of variability and potential threats to outcome reliability. The analysis of observed outcome instantiations guides a set of recommendations for minimizing grading variability.


Empirical estimations of urban effects on the diurnal temperature cycle were carried out for Phoenix, Arizona, through a framework capable of estimating the mean urban effect on air temperature. The analysis of pre-urban and urban differences in hourly temperature data at Sky Harbor International Airport during dry tropical conditions in June and January revealed a significant urban influence. Minimum temperature was most influenced by urbanization with the mean minimum temperature during the urban period exceeding that of the pre-urban period by 4.4°C (2.4°C) in June (January). A significant urban heat sink in January maximum temperatures was evident as the mean maximum temperature during the pre-urban period exceeded that of the urban period by 1.5°C. The greater thermal inertia due to urban growth around the airport and the growth of the airport itself has also had an effect on nocturnal cooling rates. Pre-urban January minimum temperatures typically occurred between 06:00 and 07:00 local standard time (LST) in the pre-urban period and between 07:00 and 08:00 LST in the urban period. Similarly, in June, the minimum temperature occurred on average around 05:00 LST during the pre-urban period and between 05:00 and 06:00 LST during the urban period. This apparent decrease in cooling rates was modeled well by the first harmonic fit to the average hourly temperature data.


A data warehouse is a view on a set of distributed and possible loosely coupled source databases. For eeciency reasons a warehouse should be maintained as a materialized view. Therefore , eecient incremental algorithms must be used to periodically refresh the data warehouse. It is possible and desirable to separate the process of warehouse refreshment from the process of warehouse use. In this paper we describe and compare view refreshment algorithms that are based on diierent combinations of materialized views, partially materialized views, and pointers. Our contribution is twofold. First, our algorithms and data structures are designed to minimize network communication and interactions between the warehouse and the source databases. The minimal set of data that is necessary for both warehouse refreshment and warehouse use is stored on the warehouse. Second, we describe the results of an experiment comparing these methods with respect to storage overhead and I/O. Brieey, the experiment show that algorithms based on a combination of partially materialized views and pointers outperforms algorithms based on materialized views.


AIm: The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of citicoline administration on epidural fibrosis which is a frequent complication of lumbar disc surgery with no effective treatment or preventive surgical technique. mATeRIAL and meTHods: Sixty Sprague-Dawley female rats undergoing L4-5 right hemilaminotomy and annular fenestration were arranged in three groups: rats in Group 1 (control group) and Group 2 (topical citicoline group) were applied 0,9% saline and 100 µM citicoline on surgical area, respectively, while rats in Group 3 (systemic citicoline group) received 600 µmol/kg citicoline intraperitoneally. Rats were sacrificed four weeks later and their vertebral colons were removed en bloc. Groups were evaluated according to histological criteria and results were compared using statistical tools. ResuLTs: Compared with control group, significantly less epidural fibrosis, dural adhesion, fibroblast cell density, foreign body reaction, and medulla spinalis retraction were observed in groups treated with topical and systemic citicoline (groups 2 and 3) (p 0,05). CoNCLusIoN: Our study demonstrates for the first time in the literature that citicoline may be effective for preventing postoperative epidural fibrosis. However, its mechanism of action and clinical effectiveness must be further investigated.


Objective. There has been an ongoing scientific debate regarding the most reliable and valid method of single-subject data evaluation in the applied behavior analysis area among the advocates of the visual analysis and proponents of the interrupted time-series analysis (ITSA). To address this debate, a head-to-head comparison of both methods was performed, as well as an overview of serial dependency, effect sizes and sample sizes. Method. The comparison of both methods was conducted in two independent studies. In the first study, conclusions drawn from visual analysis of the graphs published in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis (2010) were compared with the findings based on the ITSA of the same data; in the second study, conclusions drawn from visual analysis of the graphs obtained from the textbook by Alan E. Kazdin (2011) were used. These comparisons were made possible by the development of software, called UnGraph ® which permits the recovery of the raw data from the graphs, allowing the application of ITSA. Results. In both studies, ITSA was successfully applied to over 90% of the examined time-series data with numbers of observations ranging from 8 to 136. Over 60% of the data had moderate to high level first order autocorrelations (> .40). A large effects size (≥ .80) was found for over 70% of eligible studies. Comparison of the conclusions drawn from visual analysis and ITSA revealed an overall low level of agreement (Kappa = .14) in the first study and moderate level of agreement (Kappa = .44) in the second study. Conclusions. These findings show that ITSA can be broadly implemented in applied behavior analysis research and can facilitate evaluation of the intervention effect, particularly when specific characteristics of single-subject data limit the reliability and validity of visual analysis. Comparison of the two methods revealed low to moderate agreement between visual analysis and ITSA. Overall, the two methods should be viewed as complimentary and used concurrently.


Background: Infertility is a complex crisis of life and increases psychological difficulties such as anxiety and depression. Identification of copy strategies for stressful events like infertility is important. The aim of our study was to investigate the relationship between coping strategies with anxiety and depression symptoms in men and women's infertile. Methods: This descriptive-analytic study was conducted from 20112012 on 168 Iranian infertile couples referred to the Fatemeh Zahra infertility and reproductive health research center of Babol university of medical science to initiate assistant reproductive technologies and completed the Ways of Coping Questionnaire (WCQ), The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI).The results were analyzed using ttest, the Pearson correlation and the stepwise model of multiple regression analysis. P < 0.05 was considered for level of significant. Results: Escape/ avoidance contributed the greatest amount of unique variance to the model for anxiety/depression of infertile women (P < 0.0001, P < 0.001) and followed by distancing (P < 0.0001, P < 0.01), accepting responsibility (P < 0.0001, P < 0.01). Seeking social support was the negative significantly predictor for both anxiety and depression in infertile women (P < 0.01, P < 0.01), but planful problem solving was the inversely predictor for only depression in infertile women (P < 0.01). Escape/avoidance was the only predictor factor of the model anxiety for infertile men (P < 0.01). Escape/avoidance and self controlling were the positive predictor (P < 0.001) and planful problem solving was the negative predictor for men depression (P < 0.05). Conclusion: men and women infertile who use disproportionally maladaptive coping strategies such as escape/avoidance are predisposed to anxiety and depression symptoms. How using the coping strategies is very important in expressing anxiety and depression in infertile couples and training the adaptive coping strategies suggested by counseling centers.


Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) have changed the way marine environment is surveyed, monitored and mapped. Autonomous underwater vehicles have a wide range of applications in research, military, and commercial settings. AUVs not only perform a given task but also adapt to changes in the environment, e.g., sudden side currents, downdrafts, and other effects which are extremely unpredictable. To navigate properly and allow simultaneous localisation and mapping (SLAM) algorithms to be used, these effects need to be detected. With current navigation systems, these disturbances in the water flow are not measured directly. Only the indirect effects are observed. It is proposed to detect the disturbances directly by placing pressure sensors on the surface of the AUV and processing the pressure data obtained. Within this study, the applicability of different learning methods for determining flow parameters of a surrounding fluid from pressure on an AUV body are tested. This is based on CFD simulations using pressure data from specified points on the surface of the AUV. It is shown that support vector machines are most suitable for the given task and yield excellent results.


In this paper asymmetric price transmission mechanism and nonlinear adjustment between producer and retail prices of milk were examined in Zanjan Province of Iran. For this purpose, a Two-Regime Threshold Vector Error Correction Model (TVECM) and a Sup-LM Test developed by Hansen and Seo (2002) were employed for checking presence of a threshold effect. Application of unit root tests indicated that both wholesale and retail prices are I (1), and Johansen test verified cointegration of the series in the long-run. Results of the Sup-LM test confirmed threshold adjustment of product price towards the long-run equilibrium. Furthermore, results obtained from TVECM revealed that the coefficient of ECT is significant only in the first regime of retailing equation implying that retailers significantly respond to the decreasing deviations from the long-run equilibrium. While adjustment coefficient is not significant for wholesale equation in both regimes to imply that there is not significant inclination to react to deviations from the long-run equilibrium among the wholesalers despite the retailers.


To delineate the function of adenovirus early region 4 (E4) gene products, we constructed a set of mutant viruses which carry defined lesions within this coding region. Deletion and insertion mutations within six of seven known E4 coding regions had no measurable effect on virus growth in cultured cells. A variant carrying a deletion within the last coding region (encoding a 34,000-molecular-weight polypeptide) was modestly defective, and a mutant lacking the majority of the E4 region was severely defective for growth. The phenotypes of the two defective mutants are similar and complex. Both display perturbations in DNA replication, translation of the E2A mRNA, accumulation of late viral mRNAs, and host cell shutoff.


Six supramolecular complexes of charged aliphatic/aromatic amines and polyoxomolybdate anions (β-Mo7O246− and β-Mo8O264−) are reported in an effort to study the 'Shrink wrapping' effect of these amines on the formation of small sized unsymmetrical polyoxomoybdates (POMos). The single crystal X-ray diffraction structures of complexes I–II (with tetramethylammonium (TMA+)), III (with tetraethylammonium (TEA+)), IV (with tris(2-aminoethyl)ammonium (TREN3+)), V (with 3-aminopyridinium (AP+)), and VI (with 2-aminomethylpyridinium (AMP+)) as cations, show that water, amine based cations and small size (POMo) anions are assembled to form various supramolecular architectures running from infinite 1D chains to 3D networks. Unique and interesting water clusters having W8 to W21 members are formed, having 3, 4, 6 and up to 11 neighboring H-bonded water molecules in them. Steric shielding and/or "Shrink-wrapping" effect of organic cations is neither according to the number of amine⋯POMo interactions nor as their ability to wrap around the POMo. Therefore the effect has been analyzed by considering an accumulative outcome of the water clusters and the amines. Various water clusters help to envelop the POMos very effectively to prevent anion⋯anion interactions, helping them 'shrinked wrapped' to smaller β-Mo7O246− species in complexes I–II and IV–VI. Complex III however, has only one water molecule, encapsulation by water is minimal and it results in the highest number of anion⋯anion interactions and yields bigger β-Mo8O264− species. The crystallographic results have been amply supplemented by Hirshfeld surface analysis and other solid state studies.


Technology and globalization, competitive drivers for the 21st century, Lawrence W. Foster integrating technology management with business strategy, Liming Zhao the strategic use of organizational competencies and backcasting in competitive analysis, Clement K. Wang and Paul D. Guild ideas at work - creating an on-project idea factory, Christopher E. Olstead and Anne S. Davis environmental determinants of merger strategy - some empirical evidence, V.K. Narayanan and Deepak K. Datta competing through high technology and strategic partnerships - the global expansion of Russian aerospace enterprises, Detelin S. Elenkov team-based strategy making, Ken A. Smith and Henry P. Sims, Jr. self-deception in strategic management - conceptualizing the influence, Reginald A. Litz and John E. Prescott a toolbox metaphor for navigating the strategic discourse, Edward W. Christensen and Eric H.Kessler globalization, originality and convergence in the entertainment industry, Chong Ju Choi and Brian Hilton.


The scale and rate of development of linear disturbances has increased dramatically in the past decade. Traditional and alternative energy development, logging and mining activities, together with off-highway vehicles and exurban development, have increased the density of linear disturbances on public and private lands throughout the world. In developing countries, the replacement of livestock with motor vehicles as the dominant form of transportation has had unforeseen consequences (figure 1) (Okayasu et al. 2007). In the western United States, some of the greatest increases are associated with energy development (Brooks and Lair 2005; Watts et al. 2007). In the Powder River Basin of northeastern Wyoming, an additional 28,572 km (17,754 mi) of roads and 42,095 km (26,157 mi) of pipelines and overhead electric lines are planned to support energy development activities between 2003 and 2013 (BLM 2003). Road construction generally leads to increased off-road vehicle use as land becomes more accessible to a growing global population (Cordell et al. 2005; Okayasu et al. 2007; Chomitz and Gray 1996). We argue that the dramatic increase in linear disturbances occurring globally has the potential to drastically alter landscape ecosystem processes, including soil and water conservation, and thus presents one of the greater challenges…


This research aimed to develop and evaluate a visualization approach for teaching Organic Chemistry at Senior Cycle in Ireland. The Organic Chemistry through
Visualisation (OCV) programme was designed to promote students' (i) understanding of the inter-relation between different representations of organic molecules and (ii)
their ability to predict the physical properties and reactivity of organic molecules. The use of physical models to promote accurate mental models of organic structures and development of student argumentation are core elements of the approach. Organic chemistry forms the basis of pharmaceutical chemistry, green chemistry, biochemistry and nanotechnology. However, in second-level teaching, this area of chemistry is often reduced to simply the rote learning of functional groups and their reactivity without development of understanding of the nature of this reactivity. Many organic molecules
that students use in their everyday life are considered too complex in structure for second level students, for example vanillin. The approach adopted in this research
'reduces' complex molecules to 'simply' looking at each bond and asking where the electrons are located and how the molecule is constructed. By locating areas of high
and low electron density in a molecule, it is possible to suggest reactive centres in the molecule and hence predict its reactivity. The findings of this research study indicate that while the majority of students were successful in translating between different
representations, some still held 2-dimensional mental models of organic structures. The OCV approach was particularly successful in enabling students to predict and critically compare the physical properties of a range of organic molecules. Students were not only able to identify multiple reactive centres within organic molecules but also able to suggest the most likely reactive centre in the presence of electrophiles and nucleophiles.
Following a full evaluation of the OCV approach, a suggested sequence for learning organic chemistry through the use of physical models has emerged. The results of this research have implications for the ongoing review of the current Leaving Certificate chemistry syllabus in Ireland.


A complete scheme for motion prediction based on motion capture data is presented. The scheme rests on three main components: a special posture representation, a diverse motion capture database and prediction method. Mostprior motion prediction schemes have been based on posture representations based on well-known local or global angles. Difficulties have arisen when trying to satisfy constraints, such as placing a hand on a target or scaling the posture for a subject of different stature. Inverse kinematic methods based on such angles require optimization that become increasingly complex and computationally intensive for longer linkages. A different representation called stretch pivot coordinates is presented that avoids these difficulties. The representation allows for easy rescaling for stature and other linkage length variations and satisfaction of endpoint constraints, all without optimization allowing for rapid real time use. The validity of this scheme also rests on the availability of motion capture data. There are two situations - in one case the user has access to a larger database of motions relevant to the particular problem while in the second case, the user collects a small amount of motion capture data concerning the task of interest. At the Human Motion Simulation Laboratory (HuMoSim) at the University of Michigan, we have collected several large databases on various types of automobile and materials handling motions. A prediction models based on these databases is presented. Two contrasting prediction methods are demonstrated. One is parametric and uses functional regression analysis to predict the stretch pivot coordinates used in the postural representation as they vary over the time of the motion. This regression-type model allows the use of subject-based variables such as stature and age and task based variables such as target location and object weight to influence the predicted motion. This also allows the scientific study of the effect of such factors using statistical significance testing. The second type of prediction method is based on the idea of nearest neighbor nonparametric regression. A small number (perhaps even just one) of motions is selected that have characteristics similar to the motion we wish to predict. These motions are then averaged in a special way using the stretch pivot coordinates to produce the predicted motion with the required features such as stature, target location etc. This method lends itself to the prediction of motion based on small special purpose motion capture databases collected by the user for some specific problem.


Ever since industrialization, manufacturing companies have competed with each other in trying to make the best and the cheapest product and the automotive industry is definitely no exception. The arms race between truck and car manufacturers has pushed manufacturing technology and production practice to where it is today. However, whereas companies have traditionally competed with the engineering excellence and technology of their products, the human effort in production is often neglected. After all, there are still many tasks that require the flexibility and intelligence of a human worker.
This thesis focuses entirely on the information context of assembly workers. It investigates and discusses their general information behaviour in terms of information need, syntax of information, information sources and technology as well as basic cognitive abilities used to utilize information such as attention and memory. The thesis presents relevant literature on the subject of information behaviour and pinpoints potential hazards of information design in manual assembly. It also identifies three hypotheses that suggest improved productivity and quality of work as a result of certain changes in the information landscape. One hypothesis deals with the layout of information, a second deals with the syntax used to identify parts and a third deals with the information medium used to convey information.
Analysis of empirical data gathered shows, among other things, that using unstructured and batched information favours productivity of work; using a syntax with semantic content as opposed to traditional article numbers without any semantic content also improves productivity of work; and using a mobile information unit betters the quality of work.
The purpose of the thesis is to present the beginnings of a road map towards the greater understanding of information presentation in manual assembly. As previous research on this application area has been scarce, it draws upon existing theories found in other sciences, primarily cognitive science and its applications such as Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), information theory and human error.


In this paper, we study the use of adaptive modulation (AM) for a dual-hop multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) network with transmit antenna selection (TAS) at the transmitter and maximal ratio combining (MRC) at the receiver. Our system deploys incremental amplify-and-forward (AF) relaying with AM to forward the source signal. A switching policy for selecting between the relaying and the direct communications is utilized to maximize spectrum efficiency. In particular, we derive expressions for the outage probability, spectrum efficiency, and bit error rate (BER) for the considered system over Nakagami-m fading. The considered network not only takes advantage of TAS transmission such as achieving full diversity order with low transmit complexity but also inherits the beneficial feature of AM such as spectrum efficiency improvement.


We report a hybrid approach for photonic systems that combines chemically synthesized single nanowire emitters with lithographically defined photonic crystal and racetrack microresonator structures. Finite-difference time-domain calculations were used to design nanowire photonic crystal structures where the photonic band gap overlaps the electronic band gap of the nanowire. Photoluminescence (PL) images of cadmium sulfide (CdS) nanowire photonic crystal structures designed in this way demonstrate localized emission from engineered defects and light suppression in regions of the photonic crystal. PL spectroscopy studies of defect-free nanowire photonic crystal structures further demonstrate the photonic band gap or stop band that spans most of the CdS band edge emission spectrum. In addition, single CdS nanowire-racetrack microresonator structures were fabricated, and PL imaging and spectroscopy measurements show good coupling of the nanowire to the microcavity including efficient feedback and amplified spontaneous emission. These hybrid structures exploit unique strengths of bottom-up and top-down approaches and thereby open new opportunities in nanophotonics from efficient and localized light sources to integrated optical processing.


This Culture and Politics senior thesis examines and compares the imagined and the lived experience of the city, using Beirut, the capital city of Lebanon, as a model. In a neo-liberal city such as Beirut, group formations can be engaged in multiple hegemonies that affect and define the 'urban' city experience. In this thesis, I will label two major group-formations in Beirut that shape its urban experience: the 'Urbanistas' and the 'Biarts.' The Urbanistas are an affluent upper-class group that imagines a 'global' and worldly Beirut that is in connection to the rest of the world. This group then lives its 'social imaginaire' of the city in a tightly confined upper-class conceptual map of the downtown, the Zaytouna Bay Area and Rue du Verdun. The Biartis on the other hand, a lower-income group, represent the lived experience of Beirut, living a city of manifestations, contradictions and concerns. I will argue that both groups exhibit a form of hegemony in their city, albeit a different one, and interact with each other in different ways. To explore the role of these groups in the social production of the city, this thesis analyzes interviews with Urbanistas and Biartis, participant observation of the socio- spatial habits of these groups, media coverage of Beirut and advertisement, pictorials and street art within enclaves of the city. Due to the multiple hegemonies of these groups, the 'global' city should no longer be taken to be identical to its image. Groups such as the Urbanistas, wishing to engage in a global and capitalist experience of urban city life, present a singular image of cities that is an imagined reflection of them. While groups such as the Biartis, have an inward looking experience, shaping the notion of the city through their daily lived occurrences.


As aid diminishes in importance, donors need a capacity that enables governments to improve the quality of their public spending. In this study I suggest three such organizational innovations: independent ratings of spending systems, Independent Public Service Agencies, and Sovereign Development Funds. These constitute a new donor instrument of influencing the modalities of public spending, alongside the volume of aid. With an additional instrument donors can escape the dilemma of having more objectives than instruments. How aid is spent may become more important than how much of it is spent.


Finding rugged and farm-proven sampling methods for odor measurement and mitigation of emissions continues to be a challenge. The objective was to develop a new method to quantify odorous volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in air. The main goal was to transform a fragile lab-based technology into a sampler that can be deployed for longer periods of time in remote locations. The developed method uses improved solidphase microextraction (SPME) for combined on-site air sampling and sampling preparation. No power source is needed, and the technique is solvent-less. SPME fiber is exposed inside a protective glass liner. Thus, extraction of odorants is controlled by diffusion. Gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry is used for sample analysis in the laboratory. Acetic acid was chosen as a model compound to prove the concept. In the new method, extraction of acetic acid had a linear relationship with extraction time (R2<0.99). The Car/PDMS 85 μm fiber was shown to have better sensitivity for acetic acid. The effects of glass liner condition and diffusion path length on mass extraction were studied. The new method was evaluated under field conditions by comparing it to the standard method (sorbent tubes) in four different locations. This research shows that SPME fiber retracted into a glass liner is a low-cost, simple, yet accurate sampling technique for quantification of odorous VOCs.


Background Student loans are the second largest source of personal debt in the USA and may represent an important source of financial strain for many young adults. Little attention has been paid to whether debt is associated with sleep duration, an important health-promoting behaviour. We determine if student loans are associated with sleep duration. Since black young adults are more likely to have student debt and sleep less, we also consider whether this association varies by race. Methods Data come from the US National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997. The main analytic sample includes 4714 respondents who were ever enrolled in college and who reported on sleep duration in 2010. Most respondents had completed their college education by 2010, when respondents were 25 to 31 years old. Multivariable linear regression models assessed the cross-sectional association between student loans accumulated over the course of college and sleep duration in 2010, as well as between student debt at age 25 and sleep duration in 2010. Results Black young adults with greater amounts of student loans or more student debt reported shorter sleep duration, controlling for occupation, hours worked, household income, parental net worth, marital status, number of children in the household and other sociodemographic and health indicators. There was no association between student loans or debt with sleep for white or latino adults and other racial/ethnic groups. Conclusions Student loans may contribute to racial inequities in sleep duration. Our findings also suggest that the student debt crisis may have important implications for individuals' sleep, specifically and public health, more broadly.


Land-use changes with natural vegetation removal may impact the quantity and quality of humic substances (HS), including their molecular nature. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments were used in the present study to evaluate the alterations in the molecular composition of fulvic (FA) and humic (HA) acids from soils under eucalypt plantations in three major biomes in Brazil: Atlantic Forest, Cerrado, and Grassland. The major NMR-identifiable components in these HS were aromatics including aromatic C-O, COO/NC = O groups, peptides, carbohydrates, lignin-derived moieties and nonpolar alkyls. In all biomes the dipolar dephasing technique indicated the presence of significant amounts of condensed aromatic C, possibly inherited from charred materials derived from natural and anthropogenic fires in the region. The nonpolar alkyl C to O-alkyl C ratio averaged 1.4 for HA and 1.1 for FA. Humic substances from eucalypt soils showed greater contribution of nonpolar alkyl groups and a smaller abundance of O-alkyl groups in comparison to the native vegetation soil. Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) cultivation increased HA aromatics in comparison to those from the native Atlantic Forest soil, but when sugarcane was substituted by eucalypt the aromatics decreased and O-alkyl C recovered in HA and FA. There was evidence of greater contribution of lignin-derived C for HA and FA in sites planted with Brachiaria spp. pastures. Except for the HA from one Cerrado soil (Itacambira), aromaticity of HA decreased following planting to eucalypt. These changes in HS molecular composition across biomes may have impact on soil organic matter processes and they should be taken into account in future studies.


At the beginning of 2019, the RIVM measured the air quality around the landfill at Philipsburg, Sint Maarten for two weeks. No or hardly any harmful substances were measured. During the measurement period there were no open fires at the landfill. As a result, the RIVM is unable to assess the potential health risks of substances released in the event of an open fire at the landfill. In order to do so, it is necessary to take measurements during an open fire. The local fire department could perform this task. RIVM can support the fire brigade with specialized equipment and knowledge. The measurements were taken by the Environmental Incident Service (MOD) of the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) between 24th January and 6th February 2019. The measurements were taken at a distance of 500 to 2500 metres from the landfill. The RIVM did not perform any measurements at the landfill itself. The locations were chosen to provide a good insight into the possible exposure of the local population. Measurements were taken to identify the following substances: particulate matter (PM10), inorganic gases, Volatile Organic Components (VOC), aldehydes, Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), dioxins and Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCB). This is a broad "package" of substances that might be relevant in case of a fire. From the 206 samples taken, a representative selection of 90 samples was analyzed in special laboratories. In some cases, the concentrations of aluminum and possibly of chromium measured were found to exceed the standards that apply if people were to breathe these substances continuously throughout their lives. However, the health effects of these exceedances are negligible. For PAHs, some samples exceeded the standards that would apply if these substances were ingested daily during a lifetime. This results in an almost negligible health risk. The odour nuisance that people experience can cause health problems such as nausea and headache.


An anecdote about the failure of the Soviet economic system tells about a factory which were evaluated based on tons of nails produced – unsurprisingly the nails became heavy. China is currently hailed as the worlds primer wind power producer; however, a closer examination reveals a string of policy failure making the Chinese wind power development resemble the infamous Soviet nail example. From a technological transition perspective, policy failures in China's wind power program from 1980-2016 is documented and analysed. Five overarching topics are analysed including: Conflicting policies, quality problems, underwhelming technological development, lacking technological standards and insufficient grid transmission system. One conclusion is that when the Chinese government set a command and control target of how much new installed capacity that was going to be constructed the state utilities delivered to target but with an abundance of power plants without grid connectivity, severe quality problems and low technological development.