Second-generation (2G) digital cellular systems constitute the majority of cellular communication deployed today. A variety of services of 2G systems has increased significantly and this will continue to grow even further in the emerging third-generation (3G) systems. Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS) is a third-generation mobile communications system which uses the Wide-Band Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) technique to support a wide variety of services, like speech, video telephony, Internet browsing, etc. These services require a wide range of Quality of Service (QoS) requirements. QoS is an important issue as the number of multimedia services increases day by day. Differentiated QoS methods allow the differentiation of users based on their priority levels and channel conditions so that the network can allocate the bandwidth for a particular request based on the QoS requirements. These requirements are controlled by Radio Resource Management (RRM) mechanisms. In this paper we have proposed two RRM algorithms which are modification to the existing scheduling algorithms. One is Prioritized C/I scheduling, which takes the priorities into consideration, and this algorithm serves the user with highest priority. Other algorithm is Modified Inverse C/I scheduling, which takes channel conditions into consideration and serves the users in degraded conditions, thereby improving QoS. The performance evaluation of two algorithms is done with EURANE extensions for NS-2. Simulation results shows the improvement in QoS for the users who are at equidistance from Base Station (BS) but requesting for different services by implementing Prioritized C/I scheduling and also for the users who are in degraded conditions by implementing Modified Inverse C/I scheduling when compared to Max C/I and Inverse C/I scheduling algorithm respectively.


Cervical cancer is the second leading cause of mortality among women. Impairment of the base excision repair (BER) pathway is one of the major causes of the initiation and progression of cervical cancer. However, whether the polymorphisms of the BER pathway components (i.e., HOGG1, XRCC1, ADPRT, and APE1) can affect the risk of cervical cancer remains unknown. Herein, we applied a hospital-based case-control study covering two independent cohorts and a subsequent functional assay to determine the roles of the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the BER pathway genes in cervical cancer. Results indicated that the XRCC1 rs3213245 (-77TC) TT genotype was associated with an increased risk of cervical cancer. The immunohistochemistry assay showed that XRCC1 protein expression levels were upregulated in cervical cancer patients with the XRCC1 rs3213245 CC genotype compared with the CT or TT genotypes. Further, results from ChIP assay showed that Sp1 could bind to the −77 site and that the rs3213245 C genotype promoted the binding of Sp1 to the XRCC1 promoter. Moreover, ChIP/Re-ChIP assays revealed that transcription factor Krox-20 was recruited to the XRCC1 rs3213245 mutation region and regulated the transcription of the XRCC1 gene by interacting with Sp1, ultimately mediated cervical cancer development. In summary, the findings indicated that the functional XRCC1 SNP rs3213245 was associated with the risk of cervical cancer based on the Sp1/Krox-20 switch.


This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of irrigation management on subsurface drainage flow in an arid irrigated area. The irrigation management and drainage flow were monitored from four fields in a 14000 ha irrigation district located on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley. Furrow irrigation was the predominate method used on the fields with some sprinkler irrigation being used for germination of crops. The irrigation application efficiency was poorest during the pre-plant and first seasonal irrigation. The peak flows from the drains occurred during the winter and early spring, which corresponded to the timing of the aforementioned irrigations. There was considerable variation in both the peak and total drainage flow which could not be explained as differences in deep percolation. At some sites there was probably a significant amount of deep percolation going past the drains while in one case the drains were probably intercepting water originating from outside of the field. The drainage rate data show that the rate decreases with time during the irrigation season. These data show that the current methods to estimate deep percolation under irrigation for purposes of drainage design are inadequate.


Upon vigorous extraction with ionic detergent under reducing conditions, the macroscopic structures of mammalian hair, bird feather and horny teeth of the hagfish become swollen and flexible but were substantially preserved. In each case, removal in this way of solubilizable constituents, such as disulfide-bonded keratins and associated matrix proteins, left a residue of epsilon-(gamma-glutamyl)lysine cross-linked protein. Residual features in hair included cell envelopes in the cortex, cell envelopes and intracellular deposits in the medulla, and nearly the entire cuticle cells. In feather, extraction left largely intact the macroscopic barb structures but caused collapse of the rachis. In both rachis and barbs, considerable material resembling cell envelopes remained. In extracted hagfish teeth the cellular organization was clearly visible microscopically, including cell borders and remnant nuclei. Unlike the cornified envelopes of mature epidermal keratinocytes, which appear as doublets, reflecting their formation immediately beneath each plasma membrane of apposing cells, the borders of cells of hair cortex and hagfish teeth appeared single and continuous from one cell to the next. Thus the observed cross-linked features comprised four types: (i) condensation immediately beneath the plasma membrane (feather, hair medulla and cuticle) similar to cornified envelopes of epidermal keratinocytes; (ii) deposition between cells (hair cortex, horny teeth); (iii) cytoplasmic deposits (hair cuticle and medulla); and (iv) nuclear condensation (hair medulla, horny teeth). The results emphasize the importance of transglutaminases and their substrate proteins for the function of epidermal appendages and may provide a useful diagnostic test for perturbation of their normal structures.


This article puts into perspective the results of a collective research project carried out in Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Ivory Coast, South Korea, Colombia, Bulgaria, and Russia. It analyzes the nature of the more or less informal networks through which pirated audiovisual products circulate, the modes through which they are appropriated, and the changes occurring with the rise of Internet. Placing piracy in the context of international power relations, this article studies the transnational pressures exerted, in the field of copyright, on national authorities, as well as the way the latter try to respond to the former. It shows that audiovisual piracy needs to be seen as a complex phenomenon, intimately interwoven into the social, economic, cultural, and political structures of the countries surveyed.


The binary data are often used in the medical field or in social sciences to study an effect between two groups. It can be for example the effect of a treatment between a treated and a control group. The outcome will be the number of successes and the total number of trials in each group. Let us call X1, X2 the successes and n1, n2 the number of trials, then X1 and X2 are binomial random variables with probabilities p1 and p2 respectively. The difference between these two probabilities will attest the difference of the effect between the two groups. Several statistics may be used to compare two probabilities.


This paper presents the results of a study of the characteristics of a fiber-optic sparking sensor based on the spectral conversion of the spark radiation into the long-wavelength region of the spectrum. It is shown that the sensitivity of the sensor can be increased by more than a factor of 200 when a fiber with a polymer coating containing rhodamine 6G and a cylindrical lens is used in the sensor. The proposed sensor possesses a narrow directional pattern, and this makes it possible to determine the spatial position of the signal source (an electric discharge).


Once not so long ago Germany had what it called a "Jewish Problem". Then it had a paralyzing Holocaust memorial problem, a double-edged conundrum: How would a nation of former perpetrators mourn its victims? How would a divided nation reunite itself on the bedrock memory of its crimes? In June 1999, after ten years of tortured debate, the German Bundestag voted to build a national "Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe" on a prime, five-acre piece of real estate between the Brandenburger Tor and Potsdamer Platz, a stone's throw from Hitler's bunker. In their vote, the Bundestag also accepted the design——an undulating field of pillars——by American architect, Peter Eisenman, which had been recommended by a five-member Findungskommission , for which I served as spokesman.

Like many others, I had been quite satisfied with the insolubility of Germany's memorial dilemma. Better a thousand years of Holocaust memorial competitions in Germany than any single "final solution" to Germany's memorial problem. But then I began to suspect that the neverending debate over Holocaust memory in Germany was itself becoming a substitute for taking any kind of action on behalf of such memory.

In this report, I tell the story of Germany's national Holocaust memorial and my own role in it, my evolution from a highly skeptical critic on the outside of the process to one of the arbiters on the inside. I find that as the line between my role as critic and arbiter began to collapse, the issues at the heart of Germany's memorial conundrum came into ever sharper, more painful relief.


Abstract The Maimecha-Kotui province in the North of Siberian platform is the largest province of ultramafic alkaline rocks in the world. The province comprises thirty-seven central-type complexes together with numerous dykes. The majority of dykes are radially disposed around the ultramafic alkaline massifs. Data are presented for dykes of the Dolbykha carbonatite complex, which comprises olivine and melilite nephelinites; nosean, calcite and cancrinite phonolites; calcite trachytes and calcite carbonatites. Some peralkaline phonolitic dykes contain carbonate-bearing globules with sizes of 1−2 mm to 17−20 mm. Globules consist of polycrystalline calcitic aggregates together with albite, phlogopite, apatite, Sr-lueshite, zircon, ancylite, ilmenite and strontianite. The phonolites have phenocrysts of albite, phlogopite and ilmenite. Albite, phlogopite, calcite and nepheline are also present in the groundmass. Analysis of these materials in the light of experimental data on the liquid immiscibility in carbonate-silicate systems suggests that separation of carbonatite from phonolitic melts took place due to immiscibility in the liquid state. I propose that carbonate melts contained originally significantly higher alkali contents which were subsequently lost into the fluid phase due to the incongruent dissolution of calcium-sodium carbonates in aqueous fluid at low temperatures. The discovery of nyerereite in the carbonatite of Polar Siberia confirms this conclusion. I infer that one of the mechanisms for the genesis of carbonatite melt in Polar Siberia was liquid immiscibility in strongly differentiated phonolitic magmas. The generation of the carbonatites was probably controlled by the depth (and Pco) of the crustal magma chamber where differentiation took place and probably also by the alkalinity of melts, and the rapidity of magma ascent to the surface.


Groundwater recharge for Bugesera region, a potable water-scarce area in northeastern Burundi, is computed using the soil moisture budget technique. Five evapotranspiration methods including Hamon, Hargreaves, Thornthwaite and two modifications of the original Thornthwaite method are evaluated in comparison to the reference evapotranspiration method, i.e. the FAO Penman-Monteith equation for years where complete climatic data is available. The evapotranspiration calculated by the aforementioned methods along with rainfall data are used to compute the soil moisture budget. The latter is calculated using the methodology devised by Thornthwaite & Mather (1955). Recharge calculation is performed using both the Thornthwaite Monthly Water-Balance Model (henceforth TMWB model) and excel sheets wherein each term of the soil moisture budget is computed separately. The results of evapotranspiration calculations show that, while the other evaporation methods slightly to moderately underestimate or overestimate the potential evapotranspiration in comparison to the FAO Penman-Monteith method, Hargreaves equation aberrantly overestimates this parameter. Likewise, groundwater recharge estimated using Hargreaves' evapotranspiration is dramatically reduced in comparison to the other evapotranspiration methods. Moreover, this study clearly shows that the time discretisation used in recharge calculations has important consequences, the use of smaller time steps leading to enhanced recharge. This better corresponds to reality. Compared to the recharge values obtained on a daily basis with Penman-Monteith evapotranspiration, the TMWB model which is on a monthly basis, using Hamon's evapotranspiration, gives the best approximations of reality, with the advantage of needing much less data. The distribution pattern of monthly recharge features a bimodal pattern somewhat similar to that of the monthly rainfall with an important peak in April.


What explains cross-national differences in the fiscal impact of government, including the size of the welfare state? Standard explanations center on citizen and government ideology and ethnic heterogeneity, with a smaller role for institutions such as majoritarianism, presidentialism, and federalism. Recent research has discovered that fiscal federalism has previously been mismeasured in such a way as to obscure its impact on policy. This paper argues that, in high-income countries, ethnic and religious heterogeneity was historically associated with the retention of federal institutions. Cross-national statistical results show that fiscal federalism suppresses government consumption, particularly on goods and services, while religious heterogeneity has an independent effect on government consumption, employment, and social spending. By contrast, jurisdictional competition under fiscal federalism does not provide incentives to cut government investment or transfers. Fiscal federalism appears to constrain government by keeping administrative costs low, while religious heterogeneity reduces the generosity of the welfare state. Together, fiscal federalism with a large number of jurisdictions and religious heterogeneity explain essentially all differences in size of government between the United States and more comprehensive welfare states such as Denmark, Canada, and the Netherlands.


Moranbah North Mine has a challenging geotechnical environment that historically resulted in cavity formation on the longwall face with its an associated reduction in productivity. Due to the complex geology at the mine, the increased depths of cover in future panels and the aging of the previous 980 t shields, longwall face stability became a concern. In order to ensure effective strata control in future panels, a new set of 1750 t powered supports were installed into the longwall 108 panel in 2009. These shields were, and still remain, the highest rated capacity shields in the world. This paper presents the results of an investigation into the effectiveness and necessity of the new powered supports. The investigation was undertaken in the form of a comparative analysis to determine the relative effectiveness of the two sets of different capacity shields by analysing the performance of the shields in panels that were directly adjacent and, subsequently, subject to similar conditions. Anglo American has plans to commence two additional longwall mining operations in the same region and the outcome of the investigation will allow the suitability of the larger capacity shields to be determined for the future operations.


In 2007 we presented a paper that described the application of Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Machine Translation (MT) for the automated translation of process build instructions from English to other languages to support Ford's assembly plants in non-English speaking countries. This project has continued to evolve with the addition of new languages and improvements to the translation process. However, we discovered that there was a large demand for automated language translation across all of Ford Motor Company and we decided to expand the scope of our project to address these requirements. This paper will describe our efforts to meet all of Ford's internal translation requirements with AI and MT technology and focus on the challenges and lessons that we learned from applying advanced technology across an entire corporation.


Documentary musical and theatrical works span a wide variety of genres, styles, and media. Such musical works typically involve fixed electronic media, either alone or--as in Steve Reich's Different Trains--with an accompanying acoustic ensemble. Most documentary theatrical works, by contrast, are live performances in which interviewees' original words are re-created by an actor. With this thesis, I have attempted a new blend of documentary styles involving the live performance of both acoustic and electronic elements. I have composed a piece, There Was No Question, using narrative audio clips taken from interviews with my father. His recorded speech is triggered and manipulated live during performance by two laptop players using Wii remotes, and is accompanied by an acoustic ensemble. This thesis investigates the precedents, both musical and theatrical, informing this new work. It also introduces two frameworks for understanding the compositional techniques used, both in treating the documentary audio and in constructing a compelling dramatic narrative. I provide the text of the narration (Appendix A), a score of the work (Appendix B), a concert recording (Appendix C) and the Max/MSP patches used to perform the two electronics parts (Appendix D).


Extending working life is an objective for many nations. However, the UK government has recently reported only modest improvement "compared to many nations". A comparison of European, Labour Force Surveys show that Germany has reversed early retirement much faster than the UK since 2003. This was not forecast by previous researchers. In particular, Ebbinghaus' influential cross-national analysis of early retirement, published in 2006, had predicted that liberal welfare states regimes like the UK would react faster than conservative ones like Germany. A review of changes to pensions and employment policies suggests the UK puts more emphasis on recruitment of older workers, flexible working and gradual retirement while Germany puts more emphasis on retention of older workers through age-management and employment protection. The paper compares the employment transitions of older workers using data covering 1993 to 2013 from the longitudinal surveys British Household Panel Survey, Understanding Society and the German Socio-Economic Panel. It finds little evidence for the recruitment of older workers or gradual retirement in either the UK or Germany and concludes it was the greater employment protection for older workers in Germany that enabled the employment rate for older workers to increase even during the recent recession.


The reduction and oxidation potentials of methylated 4-styrylpyrylium and 6-styrylpyrylium perchlorates have been evaluated using cyclic voltammetry, in comparison to their non-methylated derivatives values. The reduction peak of all studied compounds remained chemically irreversible. The presence of the electron-donating methyl group on pyrylium ring leads to a shift of the styrylpyrylium perchlorates reduction potential towards cathodic values. Kinetic studies on platinum electrodes based on the variation of the peak potential at different scan rates and upon substrate concentrations confirm, in another way, the mechanism of electron transfer. KEY WORDS : Styrylpyrylium perchlorates, Cyclic voltammetry, Reduction potential, Kinetic study Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2013 , 27(1), 117-124. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/bcse.v27i1.12


In this work, we give a novel algorithm for computing dense lattice subspaces, a conjecturally tight characterization of the lattice covering radius, and provide a bound on the slicing constant of lattice Voronoi cells. Our work is motivated by the pursuit of faster algorithms for integer programming, for which we give a conditional speedup based on the recent resolution of the ℓ2 Kannan-Lovász conjecture. Through these results, we hope to motivate further study of the interplay between the recently developed reverse Minkowski theory, lattice algorithms and convex geometry. On the algorithmic side, our main contribution is a 2O(n)-time algorithm for computing a O(Cη(n))-approximate sublattice of minimum normalized determinant on any n-dimensional lattice, where Cη(n) = O(logn) is the reverse Minkowski constant in dimension n. Our method for finding dense lattice subspaces is surprisingly simple: we iteratively descend to a random co-dimension 1 subspace chosen to be the orthogonal space to a discrete Gaussian sample from the dual lattice. Applying this algorithm within a "filtration reduction" scheme, we further show how to compute a O(Cη(n))-approximate canonical filtration of any lattice, which corresponds to a canonical way of decomposing a lattice into dense blocks. As a primary application, we get the first 2O(n)-time algorithm for computing a sparse lattice projection whose "volume radius" provides a lower bound on the lattice covering radius that is tight within a O(log2.5 n)-factor. This provides an efficient algorithmic version of the ℓ2 Kannan-Lovász conjecture, which was recently resolved by Regev and Stephens-Davidowitz (STOC '2017). On the structural side, we prove a new lower bound on the covering radius which combines volumetric lower bounds across a chain of lattice projections. Assuming Bourgain's slicing conjecture restricted to Voronoi cells of stable lattices, our lower bound implies (somewhat surprisingly) that the problem of approximating the lattice covering radius to within a constant factor is in . Complementing this result, we show that the slicing constant of any n-dimensional Voronoi cell is bounded by O(CKL,2(n)) = O(log1.5 n), the ℓ2 Kannan-Lovász constant, which complements the O(logn) bound of Regev and Stephens-Davidowitz for stable Voronoi cells.


In social production communities, users' individual and collective efforts lead to the creation of valuable resources — cf. Wikipedia, Open Street Map, and Reddit. Contributors to such communities often specialize in the tasks they choose to do. We found evidence for specialization by work type in Cyclopath, a geographic wiki for bicyclists -- most users edit a single type of map feature, such as points of interest or roads and trails. We also saw a user lifecycle effect: as users gain experience, they specialize in editing roads and trails. Our findings suggest more effective ways to organize social production interfaces, compose units of work, and match them to users who want to help.


Although opening up of research is considered an appropriate and trend-setting model for future scientific communication, it can still be difficult to put open science into practice. How open and transparent can a scientific work be? This article investigates the potential to make all information and the whole work process of a qualification project such as a doctoral thesis comprehensively and freely accessible on the internet with an open free license both in the final form and completely traceable in development. The answer to the initial question, the self-experiment and the associated demand for openness, posed several challenges for a doctoral student, the institution, and the examination regulations, which are still based on the publication of an individually written and completed work that cannot be viewed by the public during the creation process. In the case of data and other documents, publication is usually not planned even after completion. This state of affairs in the use of open science in the humanities will be compared with open science best practices in the physical sciences. The reasons and influencing factors for open developments in science and research are presented, empirically and experimentally tested in the development of the first completely open humanities-based PhD thesis. The results of this two-part study show that it is possible to publish everything related to the doctoral study, qualification, and research process as soon as possible, as comprehensively as possible, and under an open license.


Estrogen receptor–negative (ER ) breast cancers have limited treatment options and are associated with earlier relapses. Because glucocorticoid receptor (GR) signaling initiates antiapoptotic pathways in ER breast cancer cells, we hypothesized that activation of these pathways might be associated with poor prognosis in ER disease. Here we report findings from a genome-wide study of GR transcriptional targets in a premalignant ER cell line model of early breast cancer (MCF10A-Myc) and in primary early-stage ER human tumors. Chromatin immunoprecipitation with massively parallel sequencing (ChIP-seq) coupled to time-course expression profiling led us to identify epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) pathways as an important aspect associated with GR activation. We validated these findings by carrying out a meta-analysis of primary breast tumor gene expression from 1,378 early-stage breast cancer patients with long-term clinical follow-up, confirming that high levels of GR expression significantly correlated with shorter relapse-free survival in ER patients who were treated or untreated with adjuvant chemotherapy. Notably, in ERþ breast cancer patients, high levels of GR expression in tumors were significantly associated with better outcome relative to low levels of GR expression. Gene expression analysis revealed that ER tumors expressing high GR levels exhibited differential activation of EMT, cell adhesion, and inflammation pathways. Our findings suggest a direct transcriptional role for GR in determining the outcome of poor-prognosis ER breast cancers. Cancer Res; 71(20); 6360–70. 2011 AACR.


The ALICE Collaboration reports the measurement of semi-inclusive distributions of charged-particle jets recoiling from a high-transverse momentum trigger hadron in p–Pb collisions at √ s NN = 5 . 02TeV. Jets are reconstructed from charged-particle tracks using the anti- k T algorithm with resolution parameter R = 0 . 2 and 0.4. A data-driven statistical approach is used to correct the uncorrelated background jet yield. Recoil jet distributions are reported for jet transverse momentum 15 < p chT , jet < 50 GeV / c and are compared in various intervals of p–Pb event activity, based on charged-particle multiplicity and zero-degree neutral energy in the forward (Pb-going) direction. The semi-inclusive observable is self-normalized and such comparisons do not require the interpretation of p–Pb event activity in terms of collision geometry, in contrast to inclusive jet observables. These measurements provide new constraints on the magnitude of jet quenching in small systems at the LHC. In p–Pb collisions with high event activity, the average medium-induced out-of-cone energy transport for jets with R = 0 . 4 and 15 < p chT , jet < 50 GeV / c is measured to be less than 0.4 GeV / c at 90% confidence, which is over an order of magnitude smaller than a similar measurement for central Pb–Pb collisions at √ s NN = 2 . 76 TeV. Comparison is made to theoretical calculations of jet quenching in small systems, and to inclusive jet measurements in p–Pb collisions selected by event activity at the LHC and in d–Au collisions at RHIC.


This paper presents a method for the biped dynamic walking and balance control using reinforcement learning, which learns dynamic walking without a priori knowledge about the dynamic model. The learning architecture developed is aimed to solve complex control problems in robotic actuation control by mapping the action space from a discretized domain to a continuous one. It employs the discrete actions to construct a policy for continuous action. The architecture allows for the scaling of the dimensionality of the state space and cardinality of the action set that represents new knowledge, or new requirements for a desired task. The balance learning method utilizing the motion of robot arm and leg to shift the zero moment point on the soles of a robot can maintain the biped robot in a static stable state. This balanced algorithm is applied to biped walking on a flat surface and a seesaw and is making the biped's walks more stable. The simulation shows that the proposed method can allow the robot to learn to improve its behavior in terms of walking speed. Finally, the methods are implemented on a physical biped robot to demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed learning scheme.


The anti-Vietnam War movement in the United States is perhaps best remembered for its young, counterculture student protesters. However, the Vietnam War was the first conflict in American history in which a substantial number of military personnel actively protested the war while it was in progress. In The Turning, Andrew Hunt reclaims the history of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW), an organization that transformed the antiwar movement by placing Vietnam veterans in the forefront of the nationwide struggle to end the war. Misunderstood by both authorities and radicals alike, VVAW members were mostly young men who had served in Vietnam and returned profoundly disillusioned with the rationale for the war and with American conduct in Southeast Asia. Angry, impassioned, and uncompromisingly militant, the VVAW that Hunt chronicles in this first history of the organization posed a formidable threat to America's Vietnam policy and further contributed to the sense that the nation was under siege from within. Based on extensive interviews and in-depth primary research, including recently declassified government files, The Turning is a vivid history of the men who risked censures, stigma, even imprisonment for a cause they believed to be "an extended tour of duty."


This paper presents the results of an investigation into web crippling behaviour—conducted on cold-formed thin-walled steel lipped channel beams subjected to Interior-One-Flange (IOF), Interior-Two-Flange (ITF), End-One-Flange (EOF) and End-Two-Flange (ETF) loading conditions as defined by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI). An experimental program was designed to obtain the load-deformation characteristics of beam members with varying cross-sectional and loading parameters under the three web crippling loading conditions. The results obtained from the experiments comprised of the ultimate web crippling strength values and displacements of the thirty-six beam specimens tested. Nonlinear finite element models were developed to simulate web crippling failure of the two loading conditions considered in the experimental program. Also, a combination of elastic analysis with a plastic mechanism approach was employed to investigate the load-deformation characteristics of lipped channel members subjected to the IOF loading condition. The comparison of experimental, finite element and plastic mechanism approach results revealed that the nonlinear finite element models were best capable of closely simulating the web crippling failure behaviour observed in the experiments for all ranges of displacement. Web crippling strength predicted from the Eurocode 3, Part 1.3 [1], and the Polish PN-B-0327 [2] design specifications were also compared with the experimental results and the comparisons indicated considerable underestimations for the range of specimens under EOF and ETF loading conditions.


Research exploring spontaneously generated self-talk has involved recording performers' self-talk categorized by researchers. The actor-observer bias, suggests that actors (performers) and observers (researchers) may perceive the same situation (e.g., self-talk) differently. The purpose of this study was to explore the actor-observer bias and validity of self-talk categorization. College students' (n = 30) spontaneous self-talk was audio recorded during a dart throwing task. Participants then listened to and categorized their self-talk. Three independent researchers reviewed written transcripts and categorized the self-talk. Another three researchers who had not read the transcripts listened to audio recordings and categorized the same self-talk. Results confirmed actor-observer bias predictions. Spontaneous self-talk ratings made by participants were similar to but distinct from those made by researchers reading transcripts or listening to self-talk audio recordings. These results suggest that participan...


Accurate classification of hyperspectral data is still a competitive task and new classification methods are developed to achieve desired tasks of hyperspectral data use. The objective of this paper is to develop a new method for hyperspectral data classification ensuring the classification model properties like transferability, generalization, probabilistic interpretation, etc. While factor graphs (undirected graphical models) are unfortunately not widely employed in remote sensing tasks, these models possess important properties such as representation of complex systems to model estimation/decision making tasks. In this paper we present a new method for hyperspectral data classification using factor graphs. Factor graph (a bipartite graph consisting of variables and factor vertices) allows factorization of a more complex function leading to definition of variables (employed to store input data), latent variables (allow to bridge abstract class to data), and factors (defining prior probabilities for spectral features and abstract classes; input data mapping to spectral features mixture and further bridging of the mixture to an abstract class). Latent variables play an important role by defining two-level mapping of the input spectral features to a class. Configuration (learning) on training data of the model allows calculating a parameter set for the model to bridge the input data to a class. The classification algorithm is as follows. Spectral bands are separately pre-processed (unsupervised clustering is used) to be defined on a finite domain (alphabet) leading to a representation of the data on multinomial distribution. The represented hyperspectral data is used as input evidence (evidence vector is selected pixelwise) in a configured factor graph and an inference is run resulting in the posterior probability. Variational inference (Mean field) allows to obtain plausible results with a low calculation time. Calculating the posterior probability for each class and comparison of the probabilities leads to classification. Since the factor graphs operate on input data represented on an alphabet (the represented data transferred into multinomial distribution) the number of training samples can be relatively low. Classification assessment on Salinas hyperspectral data benchmark allowed to obtain a competitive accuracy of classification. Employment of training data consisting of 20 randomly selected points for a class allowed to obtain the overall classification accuracy equal to 85.32% and Kappa equal to 0.8358. Representation of input data on a finite domain discards the curse of dimensionality problem allowing to use large hyperspectral data with a moderately high number of bands.


The paper presents empirical studies on the appreciation of nature and landscape in the Eastern Ore Mountains (Saxony, Germany) by tourism service providers (TSP) and visitors. Attractive landscape and experience of nature are the most important reasons to visit this region and to spend leisure time there. Particularly mountain meadows, raised bogs and mixed forests are highly appreciated. Deforestation, industrial development and the decline of biodiversity would reduce attractiveness for visitors. We also assessed whether the tourism sector is prepared to contribute to the funding of nature conservation and landscape management. Use of general tax revenues is favoured, but other modes would also be accepted, e.g. a nature tax. Willingness to pay (WTP) is ranging between €0.75 and €1.36 per guest per night by TSP, or between €1.06 and €2.73 per day by visitors. With respect to landscape preference and WTP we found in some cases significant differences among visitors, depending on region of residence, age and education level. A major part of the annual costs for nature conservation and landscape could be covered by public funds (taxes), if the results of the WTP approach were understood as a sign of societal demand and a call to action.


What does a religious community do when confronted by a political regime determined to eliminate religion? Under communism, Hungary's persecuted Lutheran Church tried desperately to find a strategy for survival while remaining faithful to its Christian beliefs. Appealing to the Lutheran Confessions, many argued that the church can do whatever is necessary to survive provided it does not compromise on its essential ministry, while others, appealing to the witness of the confessor Bishop Lajos Ordass, argued that the church must uncompromisingly witness to the truth even if that means ecclesiological extinction. Here, H. David Baer draws upon the disciplines of theology, history, ethics, and politics to provide a comprehensive analysis of the different strategies developed by the church to preserve its integrity. Relying on previously unnoted archival documents and other primary sources, Baer's telling of the history is also a sensitive and moving account of courage and cowardice in the face of religious persecution. This book should be of interest not only to students of religion in Eastern Europe but also to anyone concerned about the problems that arise wherever there is religious persecution.


Search engines today present results that are often oblivious to recent shifts in intent. For example, the meaning of the query 'independence day' shifts in early July to a US holiday and to a movie around the time of the box office release. While no studies exactly quantify the magnitude of intent-shifting traffic, studies suggest that news events, seasonal topics, pop culture, etc account for 1/2 the search queries. This paper shows that the signals a search engine receives can be used to both determine that a shift in intent happened, as well as find a result that is now more relevant. We present a meta-algorithm that marries a classifier with a bandit algorithm to achieve regret that depends logarithmically on the number of query impressions, under certain assumptions. We provide strong evidence that this regret is close to the best achievable. Finally, via a series of experiments, we demonstrate that our algorithm outperforms prior approaches, particularly as the amount of intent-shifting traffic increases.


Background People with genetic variants of butyrylcholinesterase (EC 22.214.171.124, BChE) can have hours of prolonged apnea after a normal dose of succinylcholine or mivacurium. Methods Plasma samples from 226 people in the Vysya community in Coimbatore, India were tested for BChE activity. Results Nine unrelated individuals had no detectable activity. DNA sequencing revealed a novel mutation in exon 2 of the BCHE gene, responsible for the silent phenotype of human serum BChE. All silent BChE samples were homozygous for a point mutation at codon 307 (CTT→CCT), resulting in substitution of leucine 307 by proline. Western blot analysis with a monoclonal antibody showed no BChE protein in plasma. Silent BChE plasma samples had no organophosphate-reactive BChE, as measured with FP-biotin. Expression of recombinant Leu307Pro BChE in cell culture confirmed that this mutant is expressed at very low levels. The proline substitution most likely destabilizes the BChE structure and causes the protein to be misfolded and rapidly degraded. Conclusions This is the first report of a molecularly defined BChE mutation in the Indian population. The frequency of homozygous silent BChE in the Vysya community is 1 in 24, a value 4000-fold higher than the frequency of homozygous silent BChE in European and American populations.


Abstract How do Norwegian government officials perceive the dilemma between liberty and security after the 2011 terrorist attacks? A survey from 2016 shows that the central government officials' attitudes are rather similar to the general population. Both are willing to trade individual rights for more societal security. Structural, cultural, and demographic features explain variations in the civil servants' views. Position and perceptions of crisis management capacity make a difference. Officials responsible for crisis management are more willing to prioritize security. Low conflict, high trust, and a strong identification with central government creates support for security measures. Furthermore, age and gender matter.


We investigate the temperature dependence of the emission wavelength and reflection band of polymer Distributed Bragg Reflector (DBR) and defect Distributed FeedBack (DFB) lasers fabricated using a coextrusion melt-process. We show the measured spectral shifts are a direct consequence of the optical path modifications associated with layer expansion and thermo-optic coefficients. By varying the choice of polymer bilayers and sandwiching the DBR laser films between glass coverslips, we fabricated DBR lasers that are either readily tunable up to 0.36nm/°C or made thermally stable at 0.035nm/°C.


An investigation is made of ultrafast pump–probe pulse collisions near the zero-dispersion wavelength in an optical single-mode fiber. A steplike probe frequency shift is observed when the pump power is gradually increased. The magnitude of this frequency jump is shown to depend on the phase difference between the pulses. This new effect is investigated numerically and experimentally and is attributed to four-wave mixing.


This paper tries to offer an indication of what it means to be young, displaced and looking for a job in a war-affected town of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Starting off as a sociological survey into the livelihoods of young displaced migrants in the city of Butembo, it subsequently integrates more critical views on the life making perspectives of these African youngsters, who appear to be affected as much by problems of daily survival as by a lack of access to decent jobs. The high entry gates these youngsters face in their quest for a decent living not only illustrates the explicitly political nature of Butembo's job market in the aftermath of war, but also supports the claim that stories of daily survival and political categorization/marginalization remain inherently connected. The fact that this connection is often explicitly made in these youngsters' imagination about a better life forces us to rethink critically the relationship between armed violence, livelihoods and economic markets in the aftermath of protracted conflicts.


It is well known that the deposition of gaseous pollutants and aerosols plays a major role in
causing the deterioration of monuments and built cultural heritage in European cities. Despite
of many studies dedicated to the environmental damage of cultural heritage, in case of cement
mortars, commonly used in the 20th century architecture, the deterioration due to air multipollutants
impact, especially the formation of black crusts, is still not well explored making
this issue a challenging area of research.
This work centers on cement mortars – environment interactions, focusing on the diagnosis of
the damage on the modern built heritage due to air multi-pollutants. For this purpose three
sites, exposed to different urban areas in Europe, were selected for sampling and subsequent
laboratory analyses: Centennial Hall, Wroclaw (Poland), Chiesa dell'Autostrada del Sole,
Florence (Italy), Casa Galleria Vichi, Florence (Italy). The sampling sessions were performed
taking into account the height from the ground level and protection from rain run off
(sheltered, partly sheltered and exposed areas). The complete characterization of collected
damage layer and underlying materials was performed using a range of analytical techniques:
optical and scanning electron microscopy, X ray diffractometry, differential and gravimetric
thermal analysis, ion chromatography, flash combustion/gas chromatographic analysis,
inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometer. The data were elaborated using
statistical methods (i.e. principal components analyses) and enrichment factor for cement
mortars was calculated for the first time.
The results obtained from the experimental activity performed on the damage layers indicate
that gypsum, due to the deposition of atmospheric sulphur compounds, is the main damage
product at surfaces sheltered from rain run-off at Centennial Hall and Casa Galleria Vichi. By
contrast, gypsum has not been identified in the samples collected at Chiesa dell'Autostrada del
Sole. This is connected to the restoration works, particularly surface cleaning, regularly
performed for the maintenance of the building.
Moreover, the results obtained demonstrated the correlation between the location of the
building and the composition of the damage layer: Centennial Hall is mainly undergoing to
the impact of pollutants emitted from the close coal power stations, whilst Casa Galleria Vichi
is principally affected by pollutants from vehicular exhaust in front of the building.


Crowdsourcing relies on people's contributions to meet product- or system-level objectives. Crowdsourcing-based methods have been implemented in various cyber-physical systems and realtime markets. This paper explores a framework for Crowdsourced Energy Systems (CES), where small-scale energy generation or energy trading is crowdsourced from distributed energy resources, electric vehicles, and shapable loads. The merits/pillars of energy crowdsourcing are discussed. Then, an operational model for CESs in distribution networks with different types of crowdsourcees is proposed. The model yields a market equilibrium depicting traditional and distributed generator and load setpoints. Given these setpoints, crowdsourcing incentives are designed to steer crowdsourcees to the equilibrium. As the number of crowdsourcees and energy trading transactions scales up, a secure energy trading platform is required. To that end, the presented framework is integrated with a lightweight Blockchain implementation and smart contracts. Numerical tests are provided to showcase the overall implementation.


Public-private partnerships (PPPs) have been undeniably successful in the whole of Europe in recent years. Often grounded in the assumption that private organizations would have a positive impact on the efficiency of public organizations, PPPs are now also regarded as mechanisms for producing innovation in the services area. This article takes account of the place of PPPs in innovation dynamics in hospitals by mobilizing and applying theoretical models of innovation in services to an in-depth case study of a complex innovation-oriented PPP. It is a question of uncovering the multifaceted nature of innovation in hospitals involved in PPPs at inter-organizational, organizational, and intra-organizational levels. PPPs can welcome medical, technological, programmed, and top-down innovations, but are also fertile ground for non-medical, non-technological, bottom-up, and non-programmed innovations. We should not neglect the actors involved. JEL Codes: I1, O3


This study analyzes the effectiveness of the Market Abuse Directive (MAD) in reducing possible profits from insider trading during voluntary tender offers with the purpose of delisting initiated by controlling shareholders. Exploiting the quasi-experimental setting provided by the introduction of the MAD, our event-study analysis on the Italian market suggests that the new regulation did not produce appreciable effects on the magnitude of abnormal returns and volumes noted before the announcement of a tender offer. Multivariate econometric analyses based on regression and matching methods confirm this result. However, poolability tests reveal that the MAD has changed the manner in which corporate characteristics influence the capacity of insiders to make profit. We interpret our results considering the choice problem of the optimal amount of insider trading, when comparing the marginal costs and benefits of the illegal activity.


This paper is an attempt to solve the problems of translating some ambiguous items in the Qur"anic text by using the notion of intra-textuality. The term intra-textuality is defined and compared with that of inter-textuality. The intra-textuality technique seems quite useful when a ST problematic item has more than one parallel occurrence in a text. It is used to establish some form of discourse-semantic-pragmatic relation between the problematic lexical item and its other parallel occurrence(s) in the macro text. It is applied to four problematic items in the Qu"ranic text, for which not only different translators have produced different rendering for the same item , but even one and the same translator has produced inconsistent renderings in different editions of his translation work, probably as a result of some change in the translator"s experiential knowledge or ideologies. Based on such a discourse-oriented perspective, interpretation and translation solutions are suggested for the four cases investigated.


Objectives: Health technology assessment (HTA) carried out for policy decision making has well-established principles unlike hospital-based HTA (HB-HTA), which differs from the former in the context characteristics and ways of operation. This study proposes principles for good practices in HB-HTA units. Methods: A framework for good practice criteria was built inspired by the EFQM excellence business model and information from six literature reviews, 107 face-to-face interviews, forty case studies, large-scale survey, focus group, Delphi survey, as well as local and international validation. In total, 385 people from twenty countries have participated in defining the principles for good practices in HB-HTA units. Results: Fifteen guiding principles for good practices in HB-HTA units are grouped in four dimensions. Dimension 1 deals with principles of the assessment process aimed at providing contextualized information for hospital decision makers. Dimension 2 describes leadership, strategy and partnerships of HB-HTA units which govern and facilitate the assessment process. Dimension 3 focuses on adequate resources that ensure the operation of HB-HTA units. Dimension 4 deals with measuring the short- and long-term impact of the overall performance of HB-HTA units. Finally, nine core guiding principles were selected as essential requirements for HB-HTA units based on the expertise of the HB-HTA units participating in the project. Conclusions: Guiding principles for good practices set up a benchmark for HB-HTA because they represent the ideal performance of HB-HTA units; nevertheless, when performing HTA at hospital level, context also matters; therefore, they should be adapted to ensure their applicability in the local context.


Ketamine, an anesthetic and recreational drug, rapidly increases synaptic signaling and antidepressant behavioral responses. In contrast to the weeks or months of treatment required for standard antidepressant medication, ketamine administration produces an antidepressant response within 4 to 6 hours in depressed patients. What lies behind the rapid actions of ketamine? Li et al. (see the Perspective by Cryan and O'Leary) found that ketamine administration resulted in fast activation of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling and increased levels of synaptic proteins in the rat prefrontal cortex. Ketamine rapidly increased the density and function of the dendritic spines of layer V pyramidal neurons in the prefrontal cortex. Thus, the behavioral actions of ketamine in models of depression and antidepressant response are dependent on mTOR signaling. N. Li, B. Lee, R.-J. Liu, M. Banasr, J. M. Dwyer, M. Iwata, X.-Y. Li, G. Aghajanian, R. S. Duman, mTOR-dependent synapse formation underlies the rapid antidepressant effects of NMDA antagonists. Science 329, 959–964 (2010). [Abstract] [Full Text] J. F. Cryan, O. F. O'Leary, A glutamate pathway to faster-acting antidepressants? Science, 329, 913–914 (2010). [Summary] [Full Text]


Abstract The Columbia Bottomlands, a Southern floodplain forest formation on the upper Texas coast, historically covered over 283,000 ha but has since been reduced to 25% of its former extent. The importance of this regional ecosystem as critical stopover and staging habitat for Nearctic-Neotropical migratory landbirds gave rise to the Columbia Bottomlands Conservation Plan, an active land acquisition and conservation program administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and its governmental and non-governmental partners. The Plan seeks to establish an integrated network of protected tracts as representative examples of the regional landscape, and thus conserve ecosystem integrity, function, heterogeneity, and biological diversity. We describe the Conservation Plan and its progress to date, and we summarize data on the plant composition of a typical preserved tract. Vegetation sampling at the Dance Bayou Unit, a mature forest remnant, revealed a mosaic of species composition across habitats varying in microtopography, soil type, and flooding pattern. The Dance Bayou study is a formative step in developing guidelines for future plant inventories, for site characterization in aid of land acquisition, and for restoration targets. As threats from urban development accelerate, intensified efforts may be needed to reach the Conservation Plan goal of protecting 10% of the original ecosystem extent.


Wanderings in India: Australian Perceptions, sharing its title with a curious and entertaining travel book written by the first Australian-born writer John Lang, is a collection of essays about diverse encounters between Australians and Indians in both South Asia and the Antipodes. The chapters—creative, reflective and academic—meet the objectives of a volume that provide snapshots of the wide range of interests and issues that Australians have shown towards India. Taken as a whole, the chapters represent a range of responses, reactions and experiences that chart the course of the ongoing engagement between Australia and India, between Australians and Indians. While there is something of an emphasis on literary responses, charting the ebb and flow of writers' reactions to India from the 1850s onwards, this volume also includes historical, political, sporting and other writings about the complex "magnetic amalgams" that link Australia and India. The basic idea is to encourage on-going research and other kinds of writing about cross-cultural engagements between India and Australia; it is hoped that this volume will contribute to discussions about Australia-India relations in the coming century.


Media companies and their managers have to develop and adapt products and services as well as processes and business models to exploit opportunities in the digital era. In doing so, knowledge of success factors is crucial.
Success factor research in the media is a fairly broad and fragmented field. Studies till date have focused on single types of media; however, this technology-based distinction is no longer valid. It has been shown that products and services converge as well as their development and production processes. Therefore, the present study aims to synthesize the findings from different media contexts.
On the basis of a comprehensive literature review and semi-structured, in-depth interviews with media professionals from Austria, Germany and Switzerland, ten building blocks of media success are suggested: content, design, environmental orientation, internal processes, organizational aspects, leadership, human resources, marketing, distribution, and external evaluation. The findings support the transferability of success factors on an abstract level and their adaptability for different contexts. They function as hygiene factors representing industry standards and constraints to failure. This study concludes with presenting the implications for media management research and media practice.


We report on the optical properties of silver nanodisk (Ag ND) Langmuir Blodgett monolayers that were transferred to substrates in different coupling regimes. Ag ND monolayers deposited in the liquid expanded–gaseous (Le–G) phase demonstrated individual plasmon resonance behavior while monolayers deposited in the liquid condensed–liquid expanded (Lc–Le) and solid–liquid condensed (S–Lc) phases exhibited plasmon coupling between closely packed adjacent nanoparticles, which caused a red shift in their localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) spectra. The initial presence of excess polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) surfactant micelles on the Ag ND monolayers could be eliminated by first compressing the monolayers to high surface pressures, resulting in blue shifted extinction spectra and increased sensitivity as micelles depleted into the subphase. Ag ND monolayers were then used in conjunction with a conjugated poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) (P3HT) medium to reversibly modulate the LSPR by changing the local refractive index around the nanoparticles. Ultimately, a high reversible LSPR shift of 27 nm was observed with an applied electropotential of ±500 mV to the P3HT-coated Ag ND monolayer. A high refractive index sensitivity (RIS) of 141 nm per RIU was found for monolayers deposited in the Lc–Le phase due to an increase in hot spot formation.


Although the Himalayan range is classically presented as cylindrical along strike, segmentation of the range in terms of structure, topography, precipitation, and erosion patterns is becoming widely recognized. The potential climatic or tectonic controls on these lateral variations remain controversial. Thermokinematic models predict that the geometry of the main Himalayan detachment controls the kinematics, exhumation, and topography of the orogen: where the detachment includes a major crustal ramp, the topography shows a steep gradient that focuses orographic precipitation and exhumation, whereas the topography is gentler and exhumation less focused above a flatter detachment. We test this prediction by comparing the patterns of river incision (specific stream power) and long-term exhumation (from apatite fission track thermochronology) in central Nepal, where a major crustal ramp has been imaged by geophysical methods, with new exploratory data from the remote Karnali River transect in western Nepal, where a ramp is predicted to be absent or minor. Our results show that both exhumation rates and river incision capacity are significantly higher and focused on the crustal ramp in central Nepal, whereas they are lower and the pattern is more diffuse in western Nepal. These differences support a model in which lateral variations in topography and exhumation are controlled by variations in the geometry of the detachment, and imply that along-strike climatic variations in the Himalaya respond to tectonics rather than driving it.


The triathlon combines three resistance sport disciplines and requires physical characteristics to optimize the performance of each segment. The aim of this study was to determine the morphological profile of the triathlete. A retrospective analysis was performed on 153 protocols including: weight, height, perimeters, diameters, lengths, and skinfolds. The male and female samples were divided into senior and junior, and senior into first and second ranking levels. The somatotype was ecto-mesomorph, except for junior females, for which it was central. The senior category had a fat percentage (Withers, 1987) lower than the junior, men 7.4 vs. 8.5; females 13.9 vs. 16.8; and level 1 compared to level 2 in females, 11.8 vs. 16.2. Muscle mass (Lee, 2000) for the senior was higher than for the junior, in males in kilograms (32.1 vs. 30.9), and females in percentage (42.8 vs. 41); level 1 female compared to 2 (44.2 vs. 41.2). Muscle cross-section areas (Heysmfield, 1982) in arm and thigh were higher in senior male than in junior male; and for senior female in the thigh it was higher in level 1 than in level 2. The indices were in the middle range, the senior male having a brachial index greater than the junior male. Males only reached the senior phase in the upper body musculoskeletal development; while females reach it in the junior phase. The performance in the senior females is marked by greater age and lower fat levels. Triathletes should have a weight with low percentage of body fat and a musculoskeletal component in the medium range. © 2013 Consell Català de l'Esport. Generalitat de Catalunya. Published by Elsevier España, S.L. All rights reserved. KeYWOrDS


The purpose of this paper is to account for certain gaps in the syntactic distribution of certain combinations of clitics in varieties of Aragonese, Catalan, Occitan and Spanish. A view in which ordering of clitics is only determined by templates is insufficient since templates enter into play after the syntactic component, either in the morphology or in some other post-syntactic component. The alternative I propose is to assume that the ordering of clitic combinations can be done in the syntax, as anticipated by Kayne (1994) and Terzi (1999). I will specifically propose that some of the anomalies involve clitic combinations that are actually non-constituents (split clitics) while in others one element is not actually a clitic but an element with a different morphological status or weak pronominals as in Cardinaletti and Starke (1999).


Germany's large current account surpluses have been criticized as a major cause of slower economic growth in the euro area periphery, especially Greece, Spain, and Italy. Critics repeatedly call on Germany to boost domestic demand and allow wages to rise. This Policy Brief argues that Germany should indeed act to reduce its current account surplus, but not for the reasons that critics give. Rather the German government should recognize that its large surpluses expose German savers to potential financial losses, bailout costs, and opportunity costs associated with low (negative) domestic real interest rates. Instead of accelerating wage growth in excess of productivity, Germany should increase public investments in the domestic economy and raise its ceiling on public indebtedness.


Introduction. Although impairment in the quality of life is common among cocaine dependent patients, there are but a few researches about the interaction between addiction and quality of life. Objective. To study different parameters of quality of life in a sample of cocaine dependent patients and to compare patients with or without dual diagnosis. Also, to promote the importance of subjectivity in the quality of life and to propose to incorporate patients' self-perception into their treatment. Method. Three diagnostic interviews were administered (SCID-I, SCID-II and PRISM) and a quality of life questionnaire (SF-36) was applied between two different patient groups: Group I (cocaine dependent patients) and Group II (cocaine dependent patients with other mental disorder). Results. Patients diagnosed with dual disorders (Group II) showed broader differences in perceptions of their quality of life in comparison with their clinicians. The perception of quality of life may vary depending on the presence and severity of mental disorders, and these different appreciations may explain the difficulties that clinicians face in understanding their patients' expectations and motivations. Discussion and conclusion. A systematic evaluation of the subjective quality of life should be included in the management of cocaine dependent patients in order to more accurately understand the patients' perception of their treatment, motivations and expectations.


The book ('Living environment of creative people in Slovenia') attempts to answer two key questions: where do creative people reside in Slovenia and why do they choose to live there. The findings show that creative people in Slovenia adhere to a similar percentage of the work force as in other highly developed countries; this is also the occupational group that has increased in number the most compared to others in the last decade. The spatial distribution analyses show that, similar to other countries, creative people in Slovenia are unevenly distributed. A lower concentration is typical predominantly for economically less developed regions in Eastern Slovenia, while a higher concentration occurs in more developed regions of Western Slovenia. With time, the differences between the regions increase, but decrease within the regions themselves. Contemporary settlement processes run towards a deconcentration from heavily urbanized settlement types to more sparsely populated suburbanized and rural settlements. The most important spatial distribution factors for creative people in Slovenia are: living environment quality with a great emphasis on access to nature, identity or close connections to people and places, and workplace proximity. Additionally, some important differences were identified from the aspect of the selected regionalization as well as the settlement urbanization level.


A vision-based method is proposed to measure the 3D shape of external and internal surfaces (not accessible) of smooth transparent objects. Looking at the reflections of point sources on a specular surface with a polarimetric camera, we combine the measurements of two techniques: shape from distortion and shape from polarization. It permits us to recover the position and orientation of the specular surface for each detected point. The internal surface of transparent objects exhibiting as well a specular component, the same technique is used on the highlights coming from the back surface, taking into account the refraction by using polarimetric ray tracing.


This paper reviews changing contemporary approaches to geographies of incarceration, the penal system, and the institution of the prison. Firstly, it suggests a propensity to position spaces of imprisonment within thematics of containment and exclusion, which removes from consideration the particular contextual issues of reform and rehabilitation. By highlighting emerging literature within and beyond the discipline, which focuses upon both the development of the prison as a purposeful form of punishment and the complex interlinkages between prison and society, I have noted geography's tendency to concentrate upon political economy analyses, with other disciplines providing a different register of interest. This paper concludes by calling for intervention from the repertoire of cultural geography with such things as performance, media, embodiment and spectacle, to open up the political at a more 'personal' level.


In this study, we broke through the directing function of the amide group. The coordination interaction between metal and directing-group enhanced the reactivity of the substrate. Using this strategy, we realized the selective amination of 8-aminoquinolines at the C5 position via employing azoles as the source of amine. Various kinds of 8-aminoquinolines and different substituted azoles were compatible to afford the corresponding C-N coupling products.


In this study, we report empirical results from forecasting field defect rates and predicting the number of field defects for a large commercial software system. We find that we are not able to accurately forecast field defect rates using a combined time-based and metrics-based approach, as judged by the Theil forecasting statistic. We suggest possible conditions that may have contributed to the poor results. Next, we use metrics-based approaches to predict the number of field defects within the six months after deployment. We find that the simple ratios method produce more accurate predictions than more complex metrics-based methods. Our results are steps toward quantitatively managing the risks associated with software field defects.


The recent financial crisis demonstrated that, contrary to longstanding regulatory assumptions, nonbank financial firms — such as investment banks and insurance companies — can propagate systemic risk throughout the financial system. After the crisis, policymakers in the United States and abroad developed two different strategies for dealing with nonbank systemic risk. The first strategy seeks to regulate individual nonbank entities that officials designate as being potentially systemically important. The second approach targets financial activities that could create systemic risk, irrespective of the types of firms that engage in those transactions. In the last several years, domestic and international policymakers have come to view these two strategies as substitutes, largely abandoning entity-based designations in favor of activities-based approaches. This Article argues that this trend is deeply misguided because entity- and activities-based approaches are complementary tools that are each essential for effectively regulating nonbank systemic risk. Eliminating an entity-based approach to nonbank systemic risk — either formally or through onerous procedural requirements — would expose the financial system to the same risks that it experienced in 2008 as a result of distress at nonbanks like AIG, Bear Stearns, and Lehman Brothers. This conclusion is especially salient in the United States, where jurisdictional fragmentation undermines the capacity of financial regulators to implement an effective activities-based approach. Significant reforms to the U.S. regulatory framework are necessary, therefore, before an activities-based approach can meaningfully complement domestic entity-based systemic risk regulation.


During the Khmer Rouge's brutal reign in Cambodia during the mid-to-late 1970s, a former math teacher named Duch served as the commandant of the S-21 security center, where as many as 20,000 victims were interrogated, tortured, and executed. In 2009 Duch stood trial for these crimes against humanity. While the prosecution painted Duch as evil, his defense lawyers claimed he simply followed orders. In  Man or Monster?  Alexander Hinton uses creative ethnographic writing, extensive fieldwork, hundreds of interviews, and his experience attending Duch's trial to create a nuanced analysis of Duch, the tribunal, the Khmer Rouge, and the after-effects of Cambodia's genocide. Interested in how a person becomes a torturer and executioner as well as the law's ability to grapple with crimes against humanity, Hinton adapts Hannah Arendt's notion of the "banality of evil" to consider how the potential for violence is embedded in the everyday ways people articulate meaning and comprehend the world.  Man or Monster?  provides novel ways to consider justice, terror, genocide, memory, truth, and humanity.


Recent seismic imaging across the Rio Grande rift, western United States, revealed unexpected structures in the underlying mantle. Low seismic wave velocity anomalies below the Rio Grande rift have been interpreted as being partially of melt origin, and high-velocity structures below the western Great Plains have been proposed to be the result of small-scale convection, i.e., cold downwelling lithospheric material with probably a compositional contribution. We perform a dynamic test of these interpretations using a passive rift model for isochemical convection. The models self-consistently produce a rift localized at approximately the right distance from the border to the nearby thicker Great Plains lithosphere. With realistic upper mantle rheologies, small-scale convection forms, aided by the lithospheric step. The resulting thermal anomalies produce seismic low-velocity anomalies below the rift of amplitudes similar to those imaged seismically, requiring the presence of only small amounts of melt. The lateral extent of the observed low velocities below the Rio Grande rift is as in the models, where it is controlled by the spacing between downwelling limbs of the small-scale convection. The fast velocity structure below the western Great Plains can be produced by cold downwelling lithosphere. The thermal rifting models can predict the amplitudes and size of the main seismic anomalies; compositional heterogeneity may contribute to some of the smaller features observed.


This systematic review examines the empirical literature on an emerging body of coping strategies (CS), both civilian readjustment and health-risk related, experienced by United States military veterans exposed to combat stress and other military lifestyle stressors. Studies that met inclusion criteria were selected among quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods studies published in peer-reviewed journals; the gray literature and white papers were considered as well. Population, Intervention, Comparison, and Outcome (PICO) criteria and Grades of Recommendation, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) were applied to all studies. Seventeen reports meeting a priori inclusion criteria were extracted from 107 studies accessed through 9 electronic databases. Data were synthesized to investigate two research questions: What coping strategies do veterans use to deal with past military experience(s)? What are the health-risk coping strategies that veterans employ to adjust to past military life? There were five types of coping strategies (CS) that occurred most frequently: cognitive, religiosity/spirituality methods, drug and alcohol sedation, avoidance, and behavioral approaches. Veterans learn multiple coping strategies and techniques for overcoming and adapting to the demands of war during their military service. However, some behavioral coping strategies are associated with negative health-risks and some may not be as effective in the civilian world as they once were during active duty. Thus, these findings may assist social workers in collaborating with rurally located veterans in selecting optimal strategies to protect their health and advance their post-military service life goals.


The photorefractive effect was observed in He-ion-implanted semi-insulating GaN film in UV spectral region. The photorefractive grating is induced by the electroabsorption effect near the band-edge. Two beam coupling experiments were performed at a wavelength of 363.8 nm. The experimental results indicate that absorption grating mainly contributes to the beam coupling effect.


Nineteen university students experimented taking on the persona of an apprehended suicide bomber. The role play explored the psychological mechanisms of dissociative phenomena, euphoria or a sense of empowerment contemplating suicide bombing; responses of imagined secondary traumatization; identification with the victim group; creation of fictive kin; choosing the (imagined) target; and their (imagined) moral reasoning. Results were eerily similar to accounts of real (failed) suicide bombers. Subjects identified with secondary trauma and fictive kin; and reported revenge and justice seeking as motivators; dissociation, some having experiences of euphoria or empowerment when contemplating strapping on a bomb. Their moral reasoning was nearly identical with the one of suicide bombers, despite none of them being Muslim. Most imagined targeting children or civilians. This leads us to the tentative conclusion that psychological mechanisms underlying the contemplation to engage in suicide terrorism may be universal.


Obesity is a major public health problem in both Western and non-Western countries (WHO 1999). In recent decades, the prevalence of obesity has nearly doubled worldwide. In 2014, the World Health Organization estimated that 11% of men and 15% of women of the world's adult population were obese (WHO 1999). The strong increase in obesity prevalence has also affected women of reproductive age. A study among 66,221 births in 9 U.S. states showed that from 1993 to 2003, the rate of maternal obesity at the start of pregnancy increased from 13% in 1993/1994 to 22% around 2002/2003 (Kim et al. 2007). Similarly, a study from 1990 to 2004 among 36,821 women in the United Kingdom showed a significant increase in the proportion of maternal obesity at the start of pregnancy from approximately 10% to 16% (Heslehurst et al. 2007). To date, the obesity prevalence rate in pregnant women is estimated to be as high as 30% in Western countries (Huda et al. 2010; Flegal et al. 2012; Bahadoer et al. 2015; Devlieger et al. 2016). In addition, in these countries, even higher percentages of women gain an excessive amount of weight during pregnancy based on the U.S. Institute of Medicine (IOM) guidelines 238(Fraser et al. 2010; Restall et al. 2014; Bahadoer et al. 2015). In the IOM guidelines, optimal ranges of maternal weight gain during pregnancy are defined according to a mother's prepregnancy body mass index (BMI; Rasmussen et al. 2009) (Table 13.1). These guidelines have been established based on evidence from observational studies that relate gestational weight gain to various maternal and offspring outcomes (Rasmussen et al. 2009). As described previously, an accumulating body of evidence suggests that maternal obesity and excessive weight gain during pregnancy also have a long-term adverse influence on common health outcomes in the offspring (Gaillard et al. 2014a, 2016; Gaillard 2015).


Many language generation tasks require the production of text conditioned on both structured and unstructured inputs. We present a novel neural network architecture which generates an output sequence conditioned on an arbitrary number of input functions. Crucially, our approach allows both the choice of conditioning context and the granularity of generation, for example characters or tokens, to be marginalised, thus permitting scalable and effective training. Using this framework, we address the problem of generating programming code from a mixed natural language and structured specification. We create two new data sets for this paradigm derived from the collectible trading card games Magic the Gathering and Hearthstone. On these, and a third preexisting corpus, we demonstrate that marginalising multiple predictors allows our model to outperform strong benchmarks.


The article discusses the essential characteristics of discourse, dialogue discourse and discursive competence. At the present stage of development of the methodology of foreign language education, the formation of discursive competence in the framework of dialogue discourse occupies a special place. Dialogue turns from a certain type of communication into a dialogic type of culture, which is constantly evolving and undergoing some changes. Therefore, the dialogue discourse is of particular interest to the authors of the article, and describes the method of forming discursive competence in the framework of dialogue discourse using communicative situations in practical classes of foreign language. The degree of the students' intercultural und communicative competence formation depends on the level of the discursive competence formation, which is the aim of foreign language education in Kazakhstan at the present stage of the development of methodological thought.


The author describes the program and organization of the Riverside Church & Corporation in New York City for a German readership, taking German experiences with religious work and life into account. The essay is based on the underlying sociological concept of "welfare production," which deals with the general question of how societal actors contribute to the quality of life and well-being of people. The first section, "Die Kirche und die Firma" (The Church and the Firm), is a standard introduction of the article's subject. It acquaints the reader with Riverside's neighborhood and buildings, denomination, corporate indicators, and the diversity of its congregation. It also includes a brief portrait of its present senior minister, Rev. Dr. James A. Forbes, Jr. This section illustrates the dual nature of U.S. churches as both religious and entrepreneurial organizations. The second section, "Riverside's Angebot—Seelsorge im groseren Zusammenhang" (What Riverside Offers—Pastoral Care Within a Wider Context) explores the mission, goals and day-to-day activities of the Riverside Church. The main topics are its integrative approach known as the "three i's" (interdenominational—interracial—international) and its broad program which centers on worship services and spiritual exercise, including a range of social, cultural, and political activities. The third section, "Der Sonntagsgottesdienst" (The Sunday Worship Service) comprises a description of three frequently mentioned elements to make the worship services of the Riverside Church particularly attractive: the famous sermons of Reverend Dr. Forbes, the church's music program, and the optical setting. The section closes with observations and explanations of the offertory formalities during the Sunday worship services. The fourth section, "Der Einflus von Rockefeller und Fosdick" (The Impact of Rockefeller and Fosdick) reviews the founding phase of Riverside and the meeting and synergies of its founding fathers, Dr. Harry E. Fosdick and Mr. John D. Rockefeller, Jr. The author argues that these two men exerted lasting positive influence on Riverside's philosophy, freedom of spirit and action, innovative capacity, and high standing. The fifth section, "Die Okonomie von Riverside: Das 'dreifache t'" (The Economy of Riverside, Including the Three t's") gives an overview of Riverside's resources. The "Rockefeller endowment" and the time, talent, and treasure of the congregation are emphasized as the financial assets and human input of Riverside's work. Highlights of this section are creative money-making, exemplified by the Easter Flower List, and the New Members Plus Program. The final section, "Die dauernde Herausforderung" (The Constant Challenge) focuses on two main challenges for the Riverside Church & Corporation: the cohesion of its multifaceted congregation, and organizational sustainability in the face of external pressure. The author concludes that Riverside is fit for survival thanks to a timely pastoral concept, professional excellence, business acumen, creativity, ability and willingness to communicate, and innovative capacity.


The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit is unique among federal courts. It is well known for its unusual caseload, which is disproportionally weighted toward administrative law. What explains the unusual caseload? This Article explores the inputs into the D.C. Circuit's caseload. We identify several "push" factors that push some types of cases away from the Circuit, and several "pull" factors that pull certain cases in. We give particular focus to the jurisdictional provisions of federal statutes, which reveal Congressional intent about the sorts of actions over which the D.C. Circuit should have special jurisdiction. Through a comprehensive examination of the U.S. Code, we identify several trends: The Congress is more likely to give the D.C. Circuit exclusive jurisdiction over reviews of administrative rulemakings than agency fines, over reviews of actions of independent agencies than executive agencies, and over certain subject matters that are likely to have national effect. In sum, we explore what makes this court unique, from its history to its modern docket and jurisdiction.


Preface. 1. Issues in New Political Economy: An Introduction: Stuart Sayer (University of Edinburgh). 2. Political Macroeconomics: A Survey of Recent Developments: Manfred Gortner (University of St. Gallen). 3. Central Bank Independence: An Update of Theory and Evidence: Helge Berger (University of Munich), Jakob de Haan (University of Groningen) and Sylvester Eijffinger (Tilburg University). 4. Dependant and Accountable: Evidence from the Modern Theory of Central Banking: Gustavo Piga ( University of Macerata). 5. The Political Economy of Low Inflation: Jonathan Kirshner ( Cornell University & Harvard University). 6. Monetary Policy Rules, Policy Preferences, and Uncertainty: Some Recent Theoretical Contributions: Anton Muscatelli and Carmine Trecroci (University of Glasgow). 7. Social Capital: One or Many? Definition and Measurement: Martin Paldam (University of Aarhus). 8. Corruption: A Review: Arvind Jain (Concordia University). 9. Collective Action: Susanne Lohmann (University of California -- Los Angeles). Index.


While a number of different algorithms have recently been proposed for convolutional dictionary learning, this remains an expensive problem. The single biggest impediment to learning from large training sets is the memory requirements, which grow at least linearly with the size of the training set since all existing methods are batch algorithms. The work reported here addresses this limitation by extending online dictionary learning ideas to the convolutional context.


OBJECTIVE Cerebral damage in frontal, parietal, and temporal brain areas and, probably more importantly, their interconnections can lead to deficits in language. However, neural plasticity and repair allow the brain to partly compensate for neural injury, mediated by both functional and structural changes. In this study, the authors sought to systematically investigate the relationship between language performance in brain tumor patients and structural perisylvian pathways (i.e., the arcuate fasciculus [AF]) using probabilistic fiber tracking on diffusion tensor imaging. The authors used a previously proposed model in which the AF is divided into anterior, long, and posterior segments. The authors hypothesized that right-handed patients with gliomas in the language-dominant (left) hemisphere would benefit from a more symmetrical or right-lateralized language pathway in terms of better preservation of language abilities. Furthermore, they investigated to what extent specific tumor characteristics, including proximity to the AF, affect language outcome in such patients. METHODS Twenty-seven right-handed patients (12 males and 15 females; mean age 52 ± 16 years) with 11 low-grade and 16 high-grade gliomas of the left hemisphere underwent 3-T diffusion-weighted MRI (30 directions) and language assessment as part of presurgical planning. For a systematic quantitative evaluation of the AF, probabilistic fiber tracking with a 2 regions of interest approach was carried out. Volumes of the 3 segments of both hemispheric AFs were evaluated by quantifying normalized and thresholded pathways. Resulting values served to generate the laterality index of the AFs. RESULTS Patients without language deficits tended to have an AF that was symmetric or lateralized to the right, whereas patients with deficits in language significantly more often demonstrated a left-lateralized posterior segment of the AF. Patients with high-grade gliomas had more severe language deficits than those with low-grade gliomas. Backward logistic regression revealed the laterality index of the posterior AF segment and tumor grade as the only independent statistically significant predictors for language deficits in this cohort. CONCLUSIONS In addition to the well-known fact that tumor entity influences behavioral outcome, the authors' findings suggest that the right homologs of structural language-associated pathways could be supportive for language function and facilitate compensation mechanisms after brain damage in functionally eloquent areas. This further indicates that knowledge about preoperative functional redistribution (identified by neurofunctional imaging) increases the chance for total or near-total resections of tumors in eloquent areas. In the future, longitudinal studies with larger groups are mandatory to overcome the methodological limitations of this cross-sectional study and to map neuroplastic changes associated with language performance and rehabilitation in brain tumor patients.


Visual Difference Predictor (VDP) models have played a key role in digital image applications such as the development of image quality metrics. However, little attention has been paid to their applicability to peripheral vision. Central (i.e., foveal) vision is extremely sensitive for the contrast detection of simple stimuli such as sinusoidal gratings, but peripheral vision is less sensitive. Furthermore, crowding is a well-documented phenomenon whereby differences in suprathreshold peripherally viewed target objects (such as individual letters or patches of sinusoidal grating) become more difficult to discriminate when surrounded by other objects (flankers). We examine three factors that might influence the degree of crowding with natural-scene stimuli (cropped from photographs of natural scenes): (1) location in the visual field, (2) distance between target and flankers, and (3) flanker-target similarity. We ask how these factors affect crowding in a suprathreshold discrimination experiment where observers rate the perceived differences between two sequentially presented target patches of natural images. The targets might differ in the shape, size, arrangement, or color of items in the scenes. Changes in uncrowded peripheral targets are perceived to be less than for the same changes viewed foveally. Consistent with previous research on simple stimuli, we find that crowding in the periphery (but not in the fovea) reduces the magnitudes of perceived changes even further, especially when the flankers are closer and more similar to the target. We have tested VDP models based on the response behavior of neurons in visual cortex and the inhibitory interactions between them. The models do not explain the lower ratings for peripherally viewed changes even when the lower peripheral contrast sensitivity was accounted for; nor could they explain the effects of crowding, which others have suggested might arise from errors in the spatial localization of features in the peripheral image. This suggests that conventional VDP models do not port well to peripheral vision.


The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of wearing two different clothing ensembles on endurance performance of handgrip exercise in eight female subjects in the climatic chamber (25 +/- 1 degrees C, 50 +/- 10% RH). The experimental clothing ensembles were HALF and LONG. The clothing ensemble HALF consisted of half-sleeved shirts, knee-length trousers and sandals; LONG of long-sleeved shirts, long-trousers, socks and walking shoes. The subjects carried out the preliminary exercise for 1 hr as scheduled which was composed of slow running on the horizontal treadmill for 25 min, rest for 10 min and running again for 25 min the same as the first running. After the preliminary exercise, the subject exercised with a hand ergometer lifting a weight of 15% of maximal voluntary contraction at the rate of 35 contractions per min until volitional exhaustion. Rectal temperature, skin temperatures, heart rate, body weight loss, clothing microclimate, number of contractions were measured during the experiment and compared between two clothing ensembles. An important result was that the endurance performance of handgrip exercise was significantly greater in HALF than in LONG, for which the lower maintenance of core temperature and mean skin temperature in HALF during the 1 hr preliminary exercise might be responsible. Our present and former results indicate a significant participation of clothing for the endurance performance of handgrip exercise.


We report on the coherent control of terahertz (THz) spin waves in a canted antiferromagnet yttrium orthoferrite, YFeO${}_{3}$, associated with a quasiferromagnetic (quasi-FM) spin resonance at a frequency of 0.3 THz, using a single-incident THz pulse. The spin resonance is excited impulsively by the magnetic field component of the THz pulse. The intrinsic dielectric anisotropy of YFeO${}_{3}$ in the THz range allows for coherent control of both the amplitude and the phase of the excited spin wave. The coherent control is based on simultaneous generation of two interfering phase-shifted spin waves whose amplitudes and relative phase, dictated by the dielectric anisotropy of the YFeO${}_{3}$ crystal, can be controlled by varying the polarization of the incident THz pulse with respect to the crystal axes. The spatially anisotropic decay of the THz-excited FM spin resonance in YFeO${}_{3}$, leading to an increasingly linear polarization of the THz oscillation at the spin resonance frequency, suggests a key role of magnon--phonon coupling in spin-wave energy dissipation.


In order to ensure the safety of aircraft operating in airspace, air traffic controllers apply a number of rules recommended by the ICAO, known as "separation rules". Previously using essentially the calculation of the estimates, they are based today on the visualization of the traffic through Air Traffic Management Systems. Traffic data comes from several sources. These include radar data from Air Traffic Control Radars. The objective of this work is to simulate, using a web map server, the evolution of air traffic: positions and flight levels of aircraft over time based on radar data. For this we use three parts. The first part, the pseudo radar, is a remote radar data server that, depending on the time, sends the data to the map server that is the second part. The latter receives this data and combines it with other geographical and cartographic data and sends them in turn to the client via the web server. The client, a simple interface finally displays the positions of aircraft on screen.


A pilot-scale wastewater treatment plant was developed for the purpose of treating wastewaters in south-western Nigeria. The
plant, mounted on a roller frame was divided into three sections, viz. wastewater holder, purification chamber and treated
water collector. The purification chamber contained three sets of strainers with locally sourced materials which include
Azolla pinnata fern, fine sand, chlorine pellets, alum cubes and palm kernel shell charcoal (PKSC). The performance of the
treatment plant was evaluated using four different wastewater (WW) sources which were industrial (IW), municipal (MW),
domestic (DW) and aquaculture (AW) wastewaters. Sixteen physicochemical parameters and ten metals were monitored in
the four WW samples which included temperature, turbidity, electrical conductivity (EC), pH, total suspended solids (TSS),
total dissolved solids (TDS), total solid (TS), acidity as CaCO3,
total hardness, total phosphorus (TP), total nitrogen (TN),
ammoniacal nitrogen, dissolved oxygen (DO), chemical oxygen demand (COD), biochemical oxygen demand (
BOD5), fecal
coliform, Escherichia coli and total coliform count. The metals were Na, K, Ca, Mg, Zn, Fe, Pb, Cu, Cd, and Mn. Water
quality analysis was done using standard laboratory procedures and results obtained were subjected to statistical analysis.
From the results, 100% removal efficiencies were obtained in some heavy metals such as cadmium (Cd) and manganese
(Mn) and in parameters such as turbidity, TP, and TN after passing through the treatment plant. The presence of pathogens
and microorganisms that were also reduced does not in any way affect its use for agricultural purposes. All other parameters
reduced appreciably with results which were statistically significant at P < 0.05. This indicated the high efficiency of the
treatment plant in the removal of the water pollutant and heavy metals from the four WW sources considered.


This unique guide combines an up-to-date French grammar with an accessible, comprehensive bi-lingual dictionary of over 45,000 words and phrases in the French language. It presents all the basic grammar of modern French clearly and simply, using hundreds of helpful examples taken from everyday speech, newspapers, and magazines, and offers a glossary of grammatical terms as well as a full index. Clear labels to each section direct the user to the appropriate word or idiomatic expression, and an integrated pronunciation guide makes sure that even the novice will speak French correctly. Ideal for travel, business, or study, this comprehensive, single-volume guide to all aspects of the French language is indispensable for anyone who hopes to speak French like a native.


The U.S. Department of Energy and Idaho National Laboratory are developing a very high temperature reactor to serve as a demonstration of state-of-the-art nuclear technology. The purpose of the demonstration is twofold: (a) efficient, low-cost energy generation and (b) hydrogen production. Although a next-generation plant could be developed as a single-purpose facility, early designs are expected to be dual purpose, as assumed here. A dual-purpose design with a combined cycle of a Brayton top cycle and a bottom Rankine cycle was investigated. An intermediate heat transport loop for transporting heat to a hydrogen production plant was used. Helium, CO2, and a helium-nitrogen mixture were studied to determine the best working fluid in terms of the cycle efficiency. The relative component sizes were estimated for the different working fluids to provide an indication of the relative capital costs. The relative size of the turbomachinery was measured by comparing the power input/output of the component. For heat exchangers the volume was computed and compared. Parametric studies away from the baseline values of the cycle were performed to determine the effects of varying conditions in the cycle. This gives some insight into the sensitivity of the cycle to various operating conditions as well as trade-offs between efficiency and component size. Parametric studies were carried out on reactor outlet temperature, mass flow, pressure, and turbine cooling.