A program is defined as an indexed sequence of instructions; each of these instructions is formed by an interconnection of branching (or conditional) instructions (of the form if, then, else) followed by an interconnection of execution instructions (of the form do). A program is an efficient tool, allowing the digital system designer to describe the microprograms of discrete systems and to synthesize their control automaton. This paper deals with a method of transformation and of optimization of programs. The presented algorithm obtains, for any given program, an equivalent one with a minimum number of conditional vertices.


Climate warming is expected to shift bioclimatic zones and plant species distribution. Yet, few studies have explored whether seedling establishment is a possible bottleneck for future migration and population resilience. We test how warming affects the early stages of seedling establishment in 10 plant species in subarctic tundra. To zoom into the life phases where the effects of warming actually take place, we used a novel approach of breaking down the whole‐season warming effect into full factorial combination of early‐, mid‐, and late‐season warming periods. Seeds were sown in containers placed under field conditions in subarctic heath and were exposed to 3 °C elevation of surface temperature and 30% addition of summer precipitation relative to ambient. Heating was achieved with Free Air Temperature Increase systems. Whole‐season heating reduced germination and establishment, significantly in four out of 10 species. The whole‐season warming effect originated from additive effects of individual periods, although some of the periods had disproportionally stronger influence. Early‐germinating species were susceptible to warming; the critical phases were early summer for germination and mid summer for seedling survival. Graminoids, which emerged later, were less susceptible although some negative effects during late summer were observed. Some species with intermediate germination time were affected by all periods of warming. Addition of water generally could not mitigate the negative effects of whole‐season heating, but at individual species level both strengthening and amelioration of these negative effects were observed. We conclude that summer warming is likely to constrain seedling recruitment in open micro sites, which is a common seed regeneration niche in tundra ecosystem. Importantly, we described both significant temporal and species‐specific variation in the sensitivity of seedling establishment to warming which needs to be taken into consideration when modelling population dynamics and vegetation transitions in a warmer climate.


Abstract A comparison of two semi-Lagrangian limited area models, one spectral, and the other grid point, is described. Forecasts from both models are compared and contrasted, first on a 55-km horizontal mesh and subsequently on a 22-km horizontal mesh. The weaknesses in the respective models exposed by these tests, and the corrections made to overcome them are described. The final models arrived at are shown to be accurate and more efficient than the Eulerian counterpart for the test dataset. It is also found that the spectral model is as accurate as the gridpoint model and is also computationally competitive.. It is concluded that with sufficient thought and effort the gridpoint and spectral models can be made to produce equally good forecasts at comparable computer costs. Finally, a reassessment of the relative merits and drawbacks of the spectral and gridpoint schemes is attempted taking into account the fact that the advection terms are integrated by semi-Lagrangian scheme.


In this paper, prospect of employing a low-tech preparation of coconut shell as activated carbon was investigated. Activated carbon was prepared from locally available coconut shell with simple, inexpensive and low-tech production process. The influence of carbonisation temperatures (i.e. 500, 600, 700 and 800°C) and residence times (i.e. 1.5 and 2 hours) of the prepared activated carbon on the percentage of yield, adsorption capacity and the development of pores were examined. The charcoal was ground to particles size ranges of 0.6-1.0, 1.0-2.36 and 2.36-4.75 mm, respectively and was activated by saturated NaCl solution for 24 hours. Results show that the carbon yield reduces with both increasing temperature and residence time, but the adsorption capacity increases up to an optimum temperature of 700°C. The pore diameter was progressively increased from the carbonisation temperatures 500 to 700°C and stabilised even at higher temperature. Increasing residence time to two hours obviously increased the pore diameter but the structural pore walls started to collapse at 700°C. It is further found that 1.0-2.36 mm particle sized activated carbon has the best adsorption capacity of 58% compared with the other particle size range. The optimum condition obtained is at carbonisation temperature of 700°C and 1.5 hours residence time. The results of the study demonstrate that the low tech process of self-prepared coconut-shell activated carbon is feasible and may be utilised for water treatment.


Nairobi's wastewater stabilization ponds (also known as Dandora Wastewater Treatment Plant) are located 30 km to the East of the city, and they discharge into Nairobi River, and finally into Athi River. The plant has eight series, comprising of 38 ponds, and has expanded significantly since its establishment in 1978. Treatment in ponds is achieved by waste stabilization. In 2009, a study was done to establish the efficiency of this wastewater treatment plant and to assess whether the final effluent met the required standards for Kenya. Grab samples were collected at the inlet and outlet of the treatment plant, and also from the discharge points of each pond in 4 series. Wastewater samples from the ponds were analyzed in the chemistry laboratory of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), at Kenya Industrial Research and Development Institute (KIRDI) laboratories, Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company (NCWSC) laboratories and also at the Mines and Geology labs. Dissolved Oxygen (DO) content in the dry season was below the 5.0 mgO2/L requirement for discharge into surface waters. DO content during the wet season ranged between 2.76 and 19.77 mgO2/L. The Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD5), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and Total Suspended Solids (TSS) in the final effluents did not meet the design expectation of 20 mgO2/L, 280 mgO2/L and 30 mg/L respectively. BOD5 concentration ranged between 29.90±8.20 and 92.44±5.08 mgO2/L and removal efficiency from the series ranged between 90.12 and 97.10 %. TSS in the final effluent ranged between 46.10 and 107.8 mg/L in dry season and 78.22 and 120.89 mg/L in the wet season. The % reduction was from 76.70 to 90.00%. The Total-Phosphorus (T-P) concentration ranged between 7.00 and 75.80 mgP/L (compared to a standard of 2 mgP/L), and the removal efficiency was 13.70% to 78.26 %. Total-Nitrogen (T-N) ranged between 29.11 and 61.35 mgN/L in the dry season (compared to a standard of 2 mg N/L), and 92.73 and 366.42 mgN/L inthe wet season. Nitrates (NO3-N) ranged from 50.33 to 334.42 mgN/L in the wet season (compared to a standard of 18 mg N/L). Cd, Mn and Pb levels were above the Kenya guideline standards of 0.01, 0.2 and 0.01 mg/L respectively, for discharge into the environment and surface water. Cd ranged from 0.025 to 0.033 mg/L, Mn concentrations were from 0.085 to 0.748 and Pb concentrations were between 0.083 and 0.332 mg/L. The treated effluent failed to meet the required standards for discharge into surface water bodies. It is recommended that measures should be put in place to improve the final effluent quality. Separation of industrial waste from domestic waste and regular maintenance of the plant are necessary.


Billions of online video ads are viewed every month. We present a large-scale analysis of facial responses to video content measured over the Internet and their relationship to marketing effectiveness. We collected over 12,000 facial responses from 1,223 people to 170 ads from a range of markets and product categories. The facial responses were automatically coded frame-by-frame. Collection and coding of these 3.7 million frames would not have been feasible with traditional research methods. We show that detected expressions are sparse but that aggregate responses reveal rich emotion trajectories. By modeling the relationship between the facial responses and ad effectiveness, we show that ad liking can be predicted accurately (ROC AUC = 0.85) from webcam facial responses. Furthermore, the prediction of a change in purchase intent is possible (ROC AUC = 0.78). Ad liking is shown by eliciting expressions, particularly positive expressions. Driving purchase intent is more complex than just making viewers smile: peak positive responses that are immediately preceded by a brand appearance are more likely to be effective. The results presented here demonstrate a reliable and generalizable system for predicting ad effectiveness automatically from facial responses without a need to elicit self-report responses from the viewers. In addition we can gain insight into the structure of effective ads.


Indigenous curricula content, including particular narratives of Australian colonial history are highly contested in contemporary Australia. How do white Australians understand Australia's colonial past and its relevance today? An empirical study was conducted with 29 rural Australians who self-identified as white. Critical race and whiteness studies provided the framework for analysis of the interviews. I argue that they revealed a delimited understanding of colonial history and a general inability to link this to the present, which limited their capacity to think crossculturally in their everyday living - activities considered crucial in the contemporary move to Reconciliation in Australia. The normative discourse of white settler Australians to be 'Australian' is invested in the denial of Indigenous sovereignty to protect white settler Australian claims to national sovereignty. The findings support arguments for a national curriculum that incorporates Indigenous history as well as an Indigenous presence throughout all subject areas.


Since being adopted by The English Football Association as the preferred format of football to be played by children aged 10 and under, mini soccer has evolved and expanded into a popular activity for children. Yet little is known about the experiences of those participating in the game. In addition, adult-organized activities such as mini soccer are increasingly seen by parents and adults as suitable pursuits for their children to participate in. Yet the perspective of the child participating in mini soccer, as with many other activities, is largely ignored in academic literature. This is especially true in the social sciences, where research has historically been done 'on' children, rather than 'with' children. In this study, we seek to address this imbalance by including children as active participants in the research process. In doing so, we devised a methodology based on audiovisual methods to create participatory conditions between children and researchers interested in investigating their experiences of mini soccer in England. Children were asked to identify aspects of their experience which they felt were noteworthy to create video recordings of critical incidents that directly involved them participating in mini soccer. These were used as a discussion tool in focus groups to explore how and why children felt the incidents were critical, and how their experience of them shaped their participation. The methodology employed helped capture children's differentiated views of the same incidents, and highlighted the diversity of their experiences. It is recommended that similar audiovisual methodologies are employed to inform future policy and strategy development in grassroots football that includes children as participants.


The aim of the study is to investigate how special education teachers talk about their teaching in relation to bilingual students with dyslexia within Swedish compulsory schools. Data consist of transcripts from in-depth interviews with 15 special education teachers. According to the teacher narratives, the special education services appeared to be biased against bilingual students, as the support provided to bilingual students with dyslexia was revealed to be more or less the same as that provided to monolingual Swedish-speaking students with dyslexia. This bias is discussed in relation to the notion of difference blindness as well as in relation to practical constraints. Nevertheless, the teachers strongly advocated collaborative work with mother tongue teachers in order to facilitate dyslexia identification in bilingual students and to gain a more comprehensive picture of their language and literacy competencies, which is a desire that contrasts and contests a pedagogical monolingual master model within special education services.


Astronomy is a branch of sciences that speaks about objects
of sky and nature like expressed in the Qur'an about 14 centuries
ago. This also studies about the concept of sky representing locus
and tempus and sky amounting to seven. There is a lot of kinds of
interpretation on sky depended on the growth of science and
human's perception. For instance, every moment sun transmitting
its energy is as source of life on earth and has very important
implication on the other members of solar system. This energy has
effect of a nuclear spontaneous reaction that happened naturally
and in a certain condition. Sun as star and solar system center
(heliocentric theory) represents the theory if huh till now in the
light of modem science doesn't oppose against the Qttr'anic teaching.
Sun and other solar system members like planet which amounts
nine, comet, meteor, interplanetary body planet and satellite have
the veil-balanced system. These celestial bodies make a regular
movement proportionally among them. The movement goes into
effect the law of movement, the Keppler's laa> on gravitation and
is confirmed by Newton later.


Empirical studies demonstrate that medication-assisted treatment (including the use of methadone, buprenorphine or naltrexone) is more effective at preventing opiate addiction relapse and recidivism than regular attendance at twelve-step groups or mental health counseling alone. However, less than half of drug courts provide access to medication-assisted treatment, and half of drug courts explicitly ban their use. This essay explores why drug courts fail to provide the most medically advanced forms of drug addiction treatment. Reasons include the following: a cultural preference for abstinence-only treatments; belief that addiction medication is "immoral"; hyperbolic fear of the illegal diversion of medication; cultural loyalty to twelve-step groups; preference for morality-based approaches; and lack of knowledge about addiction treatment medications. Finally, the essay proposes approaches for expanding medication-assisted treatment in drug courts. Proposals include increased judicial deference to physicians, collaboration between drug courts and community health providers, state funding incentives, enhanced training and educational opportunities for drug court staff, and incorporation of treatment methods in drug court accreditation.


Brazil is important for the present and future development of international human rights. Yet, any immediate expectations that the country will emerge as an active promoter of human rights internationally are likely to remain unfulfilled. Indeed, Brazil's distinctiveness, both in terms of its domestic human rights record, and in terms of its historical relationship with the international human rights regime, means that the country is likely to impact on debates on the meaning and nature of human rights in the decades to come. From its membership in the so-called BRICS to its leadership role in the exclusive club of G20 countries, Brazil has indeed emerged as a pivotal player in global governance. There are also a host of domestic processes of change that have projected Brazil abroad. From Brazilian companies with mining interests in Africa, increased diplomatic activities and collaborations through various country constellations (IBSA, BRICS), through to its significant soft power projection, Brazil's international profile is more varied and extensive than ever before.Much of the international interest in Brazil in recent years reflects a widespread view that the country matters for the outside world. The very active foreign policy agenda pursued by former president Lula da Silva raised Brazil's international profile. And, although current president Dilma Rousseff has increasingly turned inward over the course of her administration the image of a 'rising' Brazil remains prevalent. It is of course not the first time that outside observers have had high expectations on Brazil. But what may be most striking in the current conjuncture is that these are increasingly matched by domestic expectations in Brazil that the country should take its rightful place in elite international fora. Whether these expectations are likely to be fulfilled is a matter of dispute. For many international observers, particularly in the financial press, the recent sluggish performance of the Brazilian economy raises significant doubts. For other even more hardnosed observers, Brazil's limited military might, its hard power, seriously questions the capacity of Brazil to play any influential role on the global scene. Brazil remains a moderate military power, and will do so for the foreseeable future.Still, whether Brazil is actually rising – however one may measure it – is at least partly distinct from the international perceptions of and expectations on the country's rise. It may not be quite as simple as this, but as long as these perceptions and expectations persist, Brazil will continue its ascent. Important questions remain unanswered however, regarding Brazil, the character, meaning and direction of its rise. In this short article the aim is to assess, on the one hand, the considerable hopes that many have invested in Brazil, but also, on the other hand, to illustrate the many uncertainties that accompany Brazil's foreign policy in general and with regards to the promotion of human rights abroad in particular.


Arabization has ever been one of the major concerns of the academic circles and the specialists concerned. It has gone through many ups and downs more downs than ups – throughout the history of Arabic and Arab translation. Hot argument about its legitimacy, possibility and, necessity and usefulness is still going on in the Arab World. Much is written about it more emotionally than rationally in Arabic, but only occasionally rationally if any in English. The boundaries of this paper cover the major questions and aspects of the big issue of Arabization: legitimacy of Arabization and background issues; scientific terminology and Arabization: Problems and solutions and means of Arabization. It is hoped that covering this number of topics of Arabization would contribute significantly to the process of Arabization in our age of sunshine industries, computer sciences, the Internet technologies, the amazing revolution of communications, nuclear weapons and nanotechnology. These sciences in particular, and medical and other exact and applied sciences in general, bring forth a huge number of new terminologies that await Arabization in earnest. The ultimate objective of this paper is to argue for the urgent necessity for Arabization in the Third Millennium, not only as a matter of national pride, but also for teaching, educational, academic, socio-political, socio-religious and sociocultural reasons. Its use, usefulness, validity and feasibility are remarkable linguistically, semantically as well as heuristically . It represents a challenge as the right and the duty to be taken up by Arab academics and specialists to meet the Arab Nation's urgent needs for education and knowledge in her own native Language, Arabic, by means of Arabization.


The presence of handheld technologies in the classroom isn't enough - you need to know how to use them to enhance teaching and transform learning. As more and more primary schools acquire devices such as iPads and tablets, it is becoming clear that adding them as a classroom resource is not enough. Teachers and trainees need strategies to integrate these into existing learning contexts in a meaningful way. Without this, these fantastic resources lose their value. This book helps teachers to make the most of these devices in the primary classroom. It offers guidance on: how to use tablets to devise meaningful learning activities embed them in genuine curriculum contexts, drawing upon case studies from existing practice It is written for non-specialists and explains technical terms in an accessible, practical way. Each chapter begins with a case study contributed by a teacher using tablets in schools. Real life examples and comments like this give the text a truly practical focus.Check out the book's Pinterest board which includes the apps mentioned in the book as well as a handy infographic for a snapshot guide on starting off your tablet teaching journey. A note from the authors The use of technology in schools continues to evolve rapidly as new devices and tools become available, and the adoption of mobile devices such as iPads and tablets has been a particularly exciting development in recent years. The benefits offered by these technologies, such as their portability, connectivity, accessibility and range of media, present new challenges and opportunities for teaching and learning. As the take up of tablets gathers pace in our schools there is a need for advice on the best approaches and apps to help achieve successful learning outcomes. Teachers need to find meaningful ways to integrate the devices into their own practice and to evaluate which of the many thousands of educational apps might be appropriate for their pupils. This book considers how iPads and tablets can be used to enhance teaching and learning in primary schools. It is especially relevant in the light of the computing curriculum, which puts a new emphasis on children as makers and creators of digital content. Across other curriculum subjects too, the introduction of mobile devices that can be quickly and reliably accessed has precipitated a shift in practice. For example, they have enabled teachers and children to spontaneously pursue lines of inquiry, to connect, collaborate and publish in many different ways, and to use their digital skills to enhance their exploration of the physical world outside the classroom. With these opportunities in mind, we offer anecdotes from the classroom and examples of how tablets might be embedded within current pedagogy and practice as a natural learning tool. Each chapter combines a practical case study with discussion of related pedagogy, and recommends apps to support a personalised, inclusive and active approach to teaching and learning.


This paper investigates some of the core philosophical premises of Viktor Frankl's philosophy and model of psychotherapy (logotherapy) in order to explore the extent of an epistemological framework. While Viktor Frankl never developed a formal epistemology, it is argued that his thought is coherent and comprehensive enough to suggest the presence of a rudimentary epistemology that could be classified as a form of correspondence theory. There is a description of how—despite the historical, irreconcilable differences between logotherapy and psychoanalysis—these paradigms have epistemological similarities that have increased due to a waning of Freudian orthodoxy.


Since the Viking missions in the mid-1970s, traditional culture-based methods have been used for microbial enumeration by various NASA programs. Viable microbes are of particular concern for spacecraft cleanliness, for forward contamination of extraterrestrial bodies (proliferation of microbes), and for crew health/safety (viable pathogenic microbes). However, a "true" estimation of viable microbial population and differentiation from their dead cells using the most sensitive molecular methods is a challenge, because of the stability of DNA from dead cells. The goal of this research is to evaluate a rapid and sensitive microbial detection concept that will selectively estimate viable microbes. Nucleic acid amplification approaches such as the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) have shown promise for reducing time to detection for a wide range of applications. The proposed method is based on the use of a fluorescent DNA intercalating agent, propidium monoazide (PMA), which can only penetrate the membrane of dead cells. The PMA-quenched reaction mixtures can be screened, where only the DNA from live cells will be available for subsequent PCR reaction and microarray detection, and be identified as part of the viable microbial community. An additional advantage of the proposed rapid method is that it will detect viable microbes and differentiate from dead cells in only a few hours, as opposed to less comprehensive culture-based assays, which take days to complete. This novel combination approach is called the PMA-Microarray method. DNA intercalating agents such as PMA have previously been used to selectively distinguish between viable and dead bacterial cells. Once in the cell, the dye intercalates with the DNA and, upon photolysis under visible light, produces stable DNA adducts. DNA cross-linked in this way is unavailable for PCR. Environmental samples suspected of containing a mixture of live and dead microbial cells/spores will be treated with PMA, and then incubated in the dark. Thereafter, the sample is exposed to visible light for five minutes, so that the DNA from dead cells will be cross-linked. Following this PMA treatment step, the sample is concentrated by centrifugation and washed (to remove excessive PMA) before DNA is extracted. The 16S rRNA gene fragments will be amplified by PCR to screen the total microbial community using PhyloChip DNA microarray analysis. This approach will detect only the viable microbial community since the PMA intercalated DNA from dead cells would be unavailable for PCR amplification. The total detection time including PCR reaction for low biomass samples will be a few hours. Numerous markets may use this technology. The food industry uses spore detection to validate new alternative food processing technologies, sterility, and quality. Pharmaceutical and medical equipment companies also detect spores as a marker for sterility. This system can be used for validating sterilization processes, water treatment systems, and in various public health and homeland security applications.


PD6493:1991 fracture assessment have been performed for a range of large-scale fracture mechanics tests conducted at TWI in the past. These tests cover several material groups, including pressure vessel steels, pipeline steels, stainless steels and aluminium alloys, including parent material and weldments. Ninety-two wide plate and pressure vessel tests have been assessed, following Levels 1, 2 and 3 PD6493:1991 procedures. In total, over 400 assessments have been performed, examining many features of the fracture assessment procedure including toughness input, proof testing, residual stress assumptions and stress state (tension, bending and biaxial). In all cases the large scale tests have been assessed as one would actual structures: i.e., based on lower bound toughness values obtained from small scale fracture toughness specimens.


An overview essay and approximately 50 alphabetically arranged reference entries explore the background and significance of atheism and agnosticism in modern society.
This is the age of atheism and agnosticism. The number of people living without religious belief and practice is quickly and dramatically rising. Some experts call nonreligion, after Christianity and Islam, the third largest "religion" in the world today. Understanding the origins, history, variations, and impact of atheism and agnosticism is crucial to getting a grasp of the meaning of the present and gaining a glimpse of the future. Exploring some of the most extraordinary people, events, and ideas of all time, this book provides a fair, comprehensive, and engaging survey of all aspects of contemporary atheism and agnosticism. An overview essay discusses the background and social and political contexts of unbelief, while a timeline highlights key events. Some 50 alphabetically arranged reference entries follow, with each providing fundamental, objective information about particular topics along with cross-references and suggestions for further reading. The volume closes with an annotated bibliography of the most important resources on atheism and agnosticism.


This paper investigates the dynamics of four motorcycle crashes that occurred on or near a curve (Edwards Corner) on a section of the Mulholland Highway called "The Snake." This section of highway is located in the Santa Monica Mountains of California. All four accidents were captured on video and they each involved a high-side fall of the motorcycle and rider. This article reports a technical description and analysis of these videos in which the motion of the motorcycles and riders is quantified. To aid in the analysis, the authors mapped Edwards Corner using both a Sokkia total station and a Faro laser scanner. This mapping data enabled analysis of the videos to determine the initial speed of the motorcycles, to identify where in the curve particular rider actions occurred, to quantify the motion of the motorcycles and riders, and to characterize the roadway radius and superelevation throughout the curve. For each crash video, this paper reports quantitative data from the crash along with a qualitative description of the rider's actions.


As our sensitive data is increasingly carried over the Internet and stored remotely, security in communications becomes a fundamental requirement. Yet, today's security practices are designed around assumptions the validity of which is being challenged. In this thesis we design new security mechanisms for certain scenarios where traditional security assumptions do not hold. First, we design secret-agreement protocols for wireless networks, where the security of the secrets does not depend on assumptions about the computational limitations of adversaries. Our protocols leverage intrinsic characteristics of the wireless to enable nodes to agree on common pairwise secrets that are secure against computationally unconstrained adversaries. Through testbed and simulation experimentation, we show that it is feasible in practice to create thousands of secret bits per second. Second, we propose a traffic anonymization scheme for wireless networks. Our protocol aims in providing anonymity in a fashion similar to Tor - yet being resilient to computationally unbounded adversaries - by exploiting the security properties of our secret-agreement. Our analysis and simulation results indicate that our scheme can offer a level of anonymity comparable to the level of anonymity that Tor does. Third, we design a lightweight data encryption protocol for protecting against computationally powerful adversaries in wireless sensor networks. Our protocol aims in increasing the inherent weak security that network coding naturally offers, at a low extra overhead. Our extensive simulation results demonstrate the additional security benefits of our approach. Finally, we present a steganographic mechanism for secret message exchange over untrustworthy messaging service providers. Our scheme masks secret messages into innocuous texts, aiming in hiding the fact that secret message exchange is taking place. Our results indicate that our schemes succeeds in communicating hidden information at non-negligible rates.


In modern cloud computing environments, elasticity is regarded as one of the most important features. Part of this elasticity is the ability to boot virtual machines quickly to accommodate suddenly emerging workloads. However, booting large numbers of VMs simultaneously in a scalable way is a difficult problem. If the file system images used for booting are stored in a central location, it will most likely become a bottleneck. Therefore, a distributed solution is necessary. In this thesis, we present a new solution for storing kernel and ramdisk images, as well as loading these images into newly created VMs efficiently. Our approach combines a fast and scalable distributed storage system with the high bandwidth and low interconnect latency of a BlueGene/P supercomputer. The client program runs directly inside the hypervisor, thus avoiding virtualization overhead and allowing it to access the memory of the newly created VM directly. We make use of the remote DMA facilities offered by BlueGene's interconnect to minimize the load of the storage nodes, mitigating the potential bottleneck they pose. The resulting system is both fast and scalable. It can boot large numbers of VMs simultaneously with low delay.


ABSTRACT Aim: Tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes (TLIs) are frequently found in malignant tumors, suggesting the presence of immune response against the tumor. The aim of this study was to evaluated the correlation between the level of tumor lymphocyte infiltration (from 0 to 3 degree) and well known clinicopathological factors in breast cancer patients. Methods: Paraffin sections were retrospectively evaluated in 60 cases in early stage breast cancer patients who received surgery and next systemic treatment (anthracycline-based chemotherapy and trastuzumab in patients with HER2 overexpression) between 2008 and 2010 in MSC Memorial Cancer Center and Institute of Oncology, Gliwice Branch in Poland. Lymphocytic infiltrations were classified as: absent (grade 0), little (grade 1), moderate (grade 2), and marked (grade 3). These variables were evaluated for their association with clinicopathological features. Results: Tumor lymphocyte infiltration were present in 83% of patients. Marked grade infiltration (grade 3) was detected in 8% of them. Most tumors with TLI were invasive ductal carcinoma in comparison with other histological type of cancer (89% vs. 67%), p=0.05. TLIs were observed in all patients with viral diseases in their history. They were also detected more often in diabetics then in patients without diabetes (86% vs. 25%), p=0.012. Marked grade TLIs were present more frequently in younger patients (under 35 years) comparing with older women (100% vs. 45%), p=0.09. TLIs were also more associated with negative estrogen receptor status than with positive receptor status (95% vs. 76%), p=0.05. Additionally TLIs were observed more frequently in tumors with HER2 overexpression than in HER2-negative tumors (92% vs. 75%), p=0.06. In patients with the presence of lymph nodes metastases, tumor infiltration was present more often than in group without metastases (94% vs. 79%), p=0.183. Disease recurrence was detected in 9% of patients. All of them had tumors with lymphocyte infiltration (from grade 1-3). Conclusions: TLIs appears to be associated with negative clinicopathological factors such as negative steroid receptor status (p=0.05), HER2 overexpression (p=0.06) and the presence of lymph nodes metastases (p=0.183). Other factors were age under 35 years (p=0.09), diabetes and viral diseases in the patient history (p=0.012). Further studies are necessary. Disclosure: All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.


Foot-based gestures have recently received attention as an alternative interaction mechanism in situations where the hands are pre-occupied or unavailable. This paper investigates suitable real-world mappings of foot gestures to invoke commands and interact with virtual workspaces. Our first study identified user preferences for mapping common mobile-device commands to gestures. We distinguish these gestures in terms of discrete and continuous command input. While discrete foot-based input has relatively few parameters to control, continuous input requires careful design considerations on how the user's input can be mapped to a control parameter (e.g. the volume knob of the media player). We investigate this issue further through three user-studies. Our results show that rate-based techniques are significantly faster, more accurate and result if far fewer target crossings compared to displacement-based interaction. We discuss these findings and identify design recommendations.


This thesis focuses on social encounters among strangers in the public spaces of a new masterplanned neighbourhood. By doing so, this research wants to address the dominant negative critiques that argue on the one hand that public life is in decline, and on the other, that the contemporary design trends of public spaces and masterplanned environments are placeless and exclusionary places. This thesis argues that such environments can bring new knowledge on the role of urban design in framing public social life and behaviour. Methodologically, this research involved extensive fieldwork using a combination of empirical methods of observation, walking interviews and spatial analysis to study where, how and why of social encounters in various public settings of a new masterplanned neighbourhood, the Park of the Nations in Lisbon. Besides being a good illustration of current planning and urban design trends, characterized by large-scale, highly controlled and thematic public spaces, at the same time it reflects the new principles of urban compactness and diversity advocated by Jane Jacobs. The findings of my research demonstrate that social encounters do occur in new masterplanned environments and semi-private public spaces. They also suggest that more attention needs to be given to the existence of another category of informal public settings, which I call 'fourth-places'. As opposed to 'third-places', this newly theorized concept is characterized by 'in-betweeness' in terms of spaces, uses, time and management and a great sense of publicness. These latter conditions make 'fourth-places' sociologically more open in order to bring strangers together. They are effective to break the 'placelessness' and 'fortress' designs of new urban public spaces. The recognition of these findings problematizes well-established urban design theories about masterplanning and redefines several spatial concepts for designing public space.


Phil Frickey's death leaves an irreparable hole in the fabric of legal scholarship. Frickey never deviated from the perfect balance of integrity and tact. He was generous and kind, yet his Midwestern virtues were tough and supple as steel. He radiated the instinct of justice, yet his judgment was clear eyed and impervious to distraction. His scholarship was unmistakable: judicious, perspicuous, wide ranging, and generative. I treasured my association with Professor Frickey. I learned from him in dimensions scholarly and non-scholarly. I mourn his loss in the best way I can, by examining seriously a question that haunted Professor Frickey throughout his long and distinguished career: Should judges take account of the political consequences of their decisions when these consequences affect the ongoing legitimacy of law? In this Article, I explore whether the virtue of technical legal craft, which exemplifies the ideal of a formally autonomous law, can appropriately be joined to the virtue of judicial statesmanship, which exemplifies the ideal of politically responsive law.1


Background—Among individuals with ischemic heart disease, young women with an acute myocardial infarction (AMI) represent an extreme phenotype associated with an excess mortality risk. Although women younger than 55 years of age account for less than 5% of hospitalized AMI events, almost 16 000 deaths are reported annually in this group, making heart disease a leading killer of young women. Despite a higher risk of mortality compared with similarly aged men, young women have been the subject of few studies. Methods and Results—Variation in Recovery: Role of Gender on Outcomes of Young AMI Patients (VIRGO) is a large, observational study of the presentation, treatment, and outcomes of young women and men with AMI. VIRGO will enroll 2000 women, 18 to 55 years of age, with AMI and a comparison cohort of 1000 men with AMI from more than 100 participating hospitals. The aims of the study are to determine sex differences in the distribution and prognostic importance of biological, demographic, clinical, and psychosocial risk factors; to determine whether there are sex differences in the quality of care received by young AMI patients; and to determine how these factors contribute to sex differences in outcomes (including mortality, hospitalization, and health status). Blood serum and DNA for consenting participants will be stored for future studies. Conclusions—VIRGO will seek to identify novel and prognostic factors that contribute to outcomes in this young AMI population. Results from the study will be used to develop clinically useful risk-stratification models for young AMI patients, explain sex differences in outcomes, and identify targets for intervention.


From the Publisher:
Learn to assess and assure the quality of university-level distance education classes!
Now that many colleges and universities have embarked on significant distance education curricula, an overview of the state of the art is necessary. This valuable collection looks at distance education through a varied set of critical lenses to examine how distance education classrooms can affect students' attitudes and behaviors, the use of—and attitudes toward—group projects in online courses, the effects that the use of technology has on the relationship between student and teacher, and a great deal more!
Distance Education: Issues and Concerns:
provides concrete recommendations for enhancing the distance education experience shows the relationship between learning styles, enrollment, and retention in Internet-based courses, and makes recommendations to help ensure student success highlights the importance of conducting small-scale usability studies for instructional Web sites examines the advantages of using handheld computers and mobile phones in teacher education emphasizes the importance of good teaching, no matter what kind of technology is in use provides an overview of the drawbacks and benefits of distance education and a plan for quality control examines the steps taken by one graduate program to ensure continuing improvement of its online courses offers a number of ways to develop a comprehensive quality control system that addresses development, delivery, and evaluation presents a basic cost-income model for electronically delivered instruction provides a social constructionist framework for online learning looks at the challenges that laboratory experience courses present in a distance education context, and shows how remote lab use could work in several engineering disciplines describes a successful hybrid online graduate class designed to help administrators increase their technical competencies and more!


Objectives Elevated Lipoprotein(a) (Lp[a]) is a well-known risk factor for cardiovascular disease. However, its roles in bone metabolism and fracture risk are unclear. We therefore investigated whether plasma Lp(a) levels were associated with bone mineral density (BMD) and incident hip fractures in a large cohort of postmenopausal women. Design Post hoc analysis of data from the Women's Health Initiative (WHI), USA. Setting 40 clinical centres in the USA. Participants The current analytical cohort consisted of 9698 white, postmenopausal women enrolled in the WHI, a national prospective study investigating determinants of chronic diseases including heart disease, breast and colorectal cancers and osteoporotic fractures among postmenopausal women. Recruitment for WHI took place from 1 October 1993 to 31 December 1998. Exposures Plasma Lp(a) levels were measured at baseline. Outcome measures Incident hip fractures were ascertained annually and confirmed by medical records with follow-up through 29 August 2014. BMD at the femoral neck was measured by dual X-ray absorptiometry in a subset of participants at baseline. Statistical analyses Cox proportional hazards and logistic regression models were used to evaluate associations of quartiles of plasma Lp(a) levels with hip fracture events and hip BMD T-score, respectively. Results During a mean follow-up of 13.8 years, 454 incident cases of hip fracture were observed. In analyses adjusting for confounding variables including age, body mass index, history of hysterectomy, smoking, physical activity, diabetes mellitus, general health status, cardiovascular disease, use of menopausal hormone therapy, use of bisphosphonates, calcitonin or selective-oestrogen receptor modulators, baseline dietary and supplemental calcium and vitamin D intake and history of fracture, no significant association of plasma Lp(a) levels with low hip BMD T-score or hip fracture risk was detected. Conclusions These findings suggest that plasma Lp(a) levels are not related to hip BMD T-score or hip fracture events in postmenopausal women. Trial registration number NCT00000611; Post-results.


Providing a practical review of the latest technology in the field, Ultrawideband Radar Applications and Design presents cutting-edge advances in theory, design, and practical applications of ultrawideband (UWB) radar. This book features contributions from an international team of experts to help readers learn about a wide range of UWB topics, including: History of the technology American and European governmental regulations and key definitions Nonsinusoidal wave propagation theory Random signal radar Object detection by ground permittivity measurements Large-target backscattering effects Medical applications Large current radiator antenna design Materials-penetrating theory Radar signal processing Weak-signal detection methods Holographic and real time radar imaging This books contributors use practical information to illustrate the latest theoretical developments and demonstrate UWB radar principles through case studies. Radar system engineers will find ideas for precision electronic sensing systems for use in medical, security, industrial, construction, and geophysical applications, as well as those used in archeological, forensic and transportation operations.


As a developing country, South Africa is in dire need of socio-economic development and upliftment, especially in the light of past inequalities. Mining generates massive amounts of revenue and creates employment for the masses and could therefore contribute successfully towards socio-economic development, especially in a country which is richly endowed with mineral resources. Mining seems unsustainable due to the fact that it leads to the destruction of the natural environment and the depletion of non-renewable resources. Mining companies must nonetheless strive to achieve sustainability. The Constitution stipulates that the State should establish an environmental governance framework to, amongst others, protect the environment and prevent pollution while ensuring justifiable social and economic development. While the Constitution emphasises the importance of the integration, the question remains as to how the notion of sustainable development should be interpreted in a country suffering from severe poverty and a need for social and economic development. The aim of this study is to determine how the sustainability concept within mining and environmental legislation could be interpreted and given effect in order to ensure better environmental governance within the mining sector. This study indicates that the current environmental governance framework regulating the mining industry is fragmented and lacks the necessary criteria to ensure sustainability. For the purposes of this study, a sustainability model was developed for the mining industry along the lines of the different layers of an "onion" to illustrate the interdependence of the different layers of sustainability. To ensure better sustainability within the environmental governance framework, currently regulating the mining industry, sustainability criteria should be developed, clearly indicating how the different layers of sustainable development should be weighed, balanced and integrated by decision-makers.


Propagating and periodically amplified and filtered pulses are considered as resonant periodic orbits of the applied variational model. Launching conditions (initial width and chirp) resulting in selection of particular nonlinear modes are given by a Poincare map analysis. The resonant periodic orbits and the corresponding nonlinear modes of the real system are shown to be destroyed under strong filtering. Application of Melnikov's method provides estimates of filtering margin for specific nonlinear mode preservation. Direct simulations of the real system show that the nonlinear modes that are characterized by large-amplitude pulse-shape oscillations exhibit a remarkably low radiation emission.


A molecular model for the water/platinum interface has been devised. It includes the surface corrugation of the metal and orientationally anisotropic water-metal interactions obtained from quantum chemical cluster calculations. Barriers for the surface diffusion and for the reorientation of a single water molecule on the quadratic (100) face of the face-centered-cubic platinum crystal are discussed. The flexible Bopp-Jancso-Heinzinger water model describes the water-water interactions, and the platinum-platinum interactions are described by a single force constant. Molecular dynamics simulations of a water lamina confined by (100) platinum surfaces have been performed using these interaction potentials. The structure is discussed on the basis of one-particle density profiles and solvent pair correlation functions. The surface-induced structural inhomogeneity ranges up to distances of 10 {angstrom}. In the center of the lamina water properties are bulklike. Hydrogen bonding in the vicinity of the interface is only slightly reduced relative to the bulk. The orientational structure of water is strongly influenced by water-water interactions and is considerably different from the preferential orientation according to the water-platinum interaction potential. It leads to a dipolar potential drop across the interface of 1.1 V.


A linear causal model with correlated errors, represented by a DAG with bi-directed edges, can be tested by the set of conditional independence relations implied by the model. A global Markov property specifies, by the d-separation criterion, the set of all conditional independence relations holding in any model associated with a graph. A local Markov property specifies a much smaller set of conditional independence relations which will imply all other conditional independence relations which hold under the global Markov property. For DAGs with bi-directed edges associated with arbitrary probability distributions, a local Markov property is given in Richardson (2003) which may invoke an exponential number of conditional independencies. In this paper, we show that for a class of linear structural equation models with correlated errors, there is a local Markov property which will invoke only a linear number of conditional independence relations. For general linear models, we provide a local Markov property that often invokes far fewer conditional independencies than that in Richardson (2003). The results have applications in testing linear structural equation models with correlated errors.


Written by the pioneers of Flash-OFDM, arguably the first commercially developed OFDMA-based mobile broadband system in the world, this book teaches OFDMA from first principles, enabling readers to understand mobile broadband as a whole. The book examines the key requirements for data-centric mobile; how OFDMA fits well with data networks; why mobile broadband needs to be IP-based; and how to bridge communications theory to real-world air interface design and make a good system choice between performance and complexity. It also explores the future of wireless technologies beyond conventional cellular architecture. One of the key challenges faced by newcomers to this field is how to apply the wireless communications theory and principles to the real world and how to understand sophisticated commercial systems such as LTE. The authors use their firsthand experience to help graduate students, researchers and professionals working on 4G to bridge the gap between theory and practice.


Incentive-based pay is rational, intuitive, and popular. Agency theory tells us that a principal seeking to align its incentives with an agent's should be able to simply pay the agent to achieve the principal's desired results. Indeed, this strategy has long been used across diverse industries—from executive compensation to education, professional sports to public service—but with mixed results. Now a new convert to incentive compensation has appeared on the scene: the United States' behemoth health care industry. In many ways, the incentive mismatch story is the same. Insurance companies and employers are concerned about constraining the cost of care, and patients are concerned about quality of care. Physicians lack an adequate financial incentive to pay attention to either. Health care's recent move away from the traditional fee-for-service compensation model to incentive pay is perhaps unsurprising.
But there is a problem: mixed preliminary evidence and potential mal-effects on vulnerable third-party patients. This Article employs a new lens—the legal and behavioral literature on optimal contract specificity—to suggest why incentive pay is problematic and why the health care experience will be no different than other industries. The use of incentive pay is a change in contract drafting strategy, a decision to write a more detailed, control-based contract rather than one that relies on discretion. The contracts literature suggests that this strategy will only work well where simple compliance is the goal rather than creativity or innovation. The health industry will not succeed in implementing incentive pay better than other industries have. What it needs is to recognize the limits of incentive pay and implement it sparingly. The new Trump administration may be particularly primed to heed this call.


A triplet metal-to-ligand charge transfer emitting cationic ReI complex (1c) functionalised with a C12 alkyl chain possesses unique solvent-dependent photophysical properties. In acetonitrile solution the luminescence properties of 1c are typical of related fac-{Re(CO)3(diimine)L}+ species with emission at 555 nm (τ = 135 ns, Φem = 1.7%) whereas in water, emission was blue-shifted to 523 nm with an increase in luminescence lifetime (688 ns) and quantum yield (9.2%). These unusual properties are attributed to a dynamic intramolecular mechanism involving fold-back of the alkyl chain onto or around the coordinated 2,2′-bipyridine ligand, thus shielding the excited state from the surrounding water solvent. Comparison of 1c with ReI complexes either lacking a chain or incorporating varying chain lengths (C8 and C16) showed these properties to be unique to 1c. The intramolecular fold-back conformation was shown to be highly temperature dependent between 278 and 318 K, with elevated temperatures resulting in far less effective shielding. These unique photophysical properties can therefore be exploited in aqueous environments through interaction with lipophilic entities such as liposomes or biomolecules such as human serum albumin, which both result in a reverted red-shifted emission for 1c at 552–555 nm.


Background: Higher coffee intake has been purportedly related to a lower risk of liver cancer. However, it remains unclear whether this association may be accounted for by specific biological mechanisms. Objective: We aimed to evaluate the potential mediating roles of inflammatory, metabolic, liver injury, and iron metabolism biomarkers on the association between coffee intake and the primary form of liver cancer—hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Design: We conducted a prospective nested case-control study within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition among 125 incident HCC cases matched to 250 controls using an incidence-density sampling procedure. The association of coffee intake with HCC risk was evaluated by using multivariable-adjusted conditional logistic regression that accounted for smoking, alcohol consumption, hepatitis infection, and other established liver cancer risk factors. The mediating effects of 21 biomarkers were evaluated on the basis of percentage changes and associated 95% CIs in the estimated regression coefficients of models with and without adjustment for biomarkers individually and in combination. Results: The multivariable-adjusted RR of having ≥4 cups (600 mL) coffee/d compared with <2 cups (300 mL)/d was 0.25 (95% CI: 0.11, 0.62; P-trend = 0.006). A statistically significant attenuation of the association between coffee intake and HCC risk and thereby suspected mediation was confirmed for the inflammatory biomarker IL-6 and for the biomarkers of hepatocellular injury glutamate dehydrogenase, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), γ-glutamyltransferase (GGT), and total bilirubin, which—in combination—attenuated the regression coefficients by 72% (95% CI: 7%, 239%). Of the investigated biomarkers, IL-6, AST, and GGT produced the highest change in the regression coefficients: 40%, 56%, and 60%, respectively. Conclusion: These data suggest that the inverse association of coffee intake with HCC risk was partly accounted for by biomarkers of inflammation and hepatocellular injury.


The vertical migration velocity of radionuclides and the ability of soils components to immobilise them, as the most important parameters of natural-restoration, was studied. The Dose Equivalent Rate (DER) reduction of external a-radiation was studied in order to assess its impact on human health. The vertical migration velocities of 137 Cs and 90 Sr in typical soils of contaminated regions in Ukraine (Chernobyl 30-km zone) and Belarus (Gomel region) have been evaluated annually during the last 8 or 10 years since the accident. In most of these soils the migration rate of 90 Sr was found to be higher than this of 137 Cs and ranged from 0.71 to 1.54 cm year -1 and 0 to 1.16 cm year -1 respectively. At present the main part of radionuclides is located in the upper 10 cm soil layer. The ability of the soil components to immobilise the radionuclides was also investigated from 1989 to 1994 and was found that approximately 57% of 137 Cs was converted in fixed forms. It is expected that this percentage will increase to 80% in the next years. Finally, we studied how the DER of a-radiation, which changes with the migration of radionuclides in the soil, affects the human health. In comparison with 1986, when 100% of 137 Cs was distributed on the soil surface, a significant reduction of DER occurred in the studied areas and about ten years after the Chernobyl accident, it ranges from 17.5% to 45%, depending mainly on the level of initial contamination of soils and its migration velocity.


Recent advances in deep learning have shown exciting promise in filling large holes in natural images with semantically plausible and context aware details, impacting fundamental image manipulation tasks such as object removal. While these learning-based methods are significantly more effective in capturing high-level features than prior techniques, they can only handle very low-resolution inputs due to memory limitations and difficulty in training. Even for slightly larger images, the inpainted regions would appear blurry and unpleasant boundaries become visible. We propose a multi-scale neural patch synthesis approach based on joint optimization of image content and texture constraints, which not only preserves contextual structures but also produces high-frequency details by matching and adapting patches with the most similar mid-layer feature correlations of a deep classification network. We evaluate our method on the ImageNet and Paris Streetview datasets and achieved state-of-the-art inpainting accuracy. We show our approach produces sharper and more coherent results than prior methods, especially for high-resolution images.


China's 13th Five-Year Plan (FYP) is the first chance for the Xi-Li administration, which assumed leadership at the 18th Party Congress, to solidify a new course. Notably, ICT is the highest priority sector in the 13th FYP. This article highlights the ascent of the Internet in China's national strategy. It illustrates why and how ICT development—accelerated by the spread of high-speed Internet—is tasked to underpin China's rise as a global power and its internal transformation. More important, drawing on the geopolitical economy approach that emphasizes the economic roles of states in sustaining and animating the capitalist world order on the one hand, and the digital capitalism literature that deems the political economy of ICT as an increasingly primary dimension of global capitalism on the other, this article sets up a conceptual framework for interpreting this key policy document and China's ICT policy in general.


The population in cities is slated to double by mid-century according to estimates prepared by the World Health Organization. This rapid increase in population will impact transportation and economic growth, and will increase responsibilities of local managing authorities and different stakeholders. It is a need of the hour to convert cities into smart cities in order to provide new service to the public, by using available resources in an optimum manner. From crowd-sourced data and open governmental data to other online sources, a variety of data sources can provide users with smart tools to efficiently manage their daily activities. Moreover, with the advancement in Internet and mobile technologies, social networking platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have become popular modes of communication. They allow users to share a spectrum of information, including spatio-temporal data, both publicly and within their community of interest in real-time. Scrutinizing knowledge from different types of available, rich, geo-tagged, and crowd-sourced data and incorporating it on a map has become more feasible. This presents a real opportunity to enrich traditional maps and enhance conventional spatio-temporal queries with the help of different types of data extracted from a variety of available data sources. In this thesis, we first propose a constraint-aware route recommendation system in lack of physical infrastructure environment that leverages geo-tagged data in social media and user-generated content to identify upcoming traffic constraints and, thus, recommend an optimized path. We have designed and developed a system using a spatial grid index to inform users about upcoming constraints and calculate a new, optimized path in minimal response time. Later, the concept of "smart maps" will be introduced by collecting, managing, and integrating heterogeneous data sources in order to infer relevant knowledge-based layers. Unlike conventional maps, smart maps extract information about live events (e.g., concert, competition, incidents, etc.), online offers, and statistical analysis (e.g., dangerous areas) by encapsulating incoming semi- and un-structured data into structured generic packets. This methodology sets the ground for providing different intelligent services and applications. Moreover, developing smart maps requires an efficient and scalable processing and the visualization of knowledge-based layers at multiple map scales, thus allowing a smooth and clutter-free browsing experience. Finally, we introduce Hadath, a scalable and efficient system that extracts social events from a variety of unstructured data streams. Hadath applies natural language processing and multi-dimensional clustering techniques to extract relevant events of interest at different map scales, and to infer the spatio-temporal extent of detected events. The system comprises a data wrapping component which digests different types of data sources, and prepossesses data to generate structured data packets out of unstructured streams. Hadath also implements a hierarchical in-memory spatio-temporal indexing scheme to allow efficient and scalable access to raw data, as well as to extracted clusters of events. Initially, data packets are processed to discover events at a local scale, then, the proper spatio-temporal extent and the significance of detected events at a global scale is determined. As a result, live events can be displayed at different spatio-temporal resolutions, thus allowing a smooth and unique browsing experience. Finally, to validate our proposed system, we conducted experiments on real-world data streams. The final output of our system named Hadath creates a unique and dynamic map browsing experience


Building coral reefs in ancient times 540 million years ago, in the dawn before the Cambrian explosion, evolution was setting the stage for the global rise of animals. Before they took over the seas, the earliest animals developed strategies to defend themselves against predators. These strategies, which remain common today, include forming skeletons and building reefs. Penny et al. discovered a massive fossil reef deposit in Namibia made up of tiny coneshaped early animals known as Cloudina. The reef, which is 20 million years older than other ancient reefs, was probably formed as the Cloudina adapted to benefit from reefs, which protect the animals and allow them to feed more efficiently. Science, this issue p. 1504 Animal reefs from 550 million years ago suggest a complex ecosystem before the Cambrian explosion. Reef-building in metazoans represents an important ecological innovation whereby individuals collectively enhance feeding efficiency and gain protection from competitors and predation. The appearance of metazoan reefs in the fossil record therefore indicates an adaptive response to complex ecological pressures. In the Nama Group, Namibia, we found evidence of reef-building by the earliest known skeletal metazoan, the globally distributed Cloudina, ~548 million years ago. These Cloudina reefs formed open frameworks without a microbial component but with mutual attachment and cementation between individuals. Orientated growth implies a passive suspension-feeding habit into nutrient-rich currents. The characteristics of Cloudina support the view that metazoan reef-building was promoted by the rise of substrate competitors and predators.


Current perceptions about agriculture-based systems are rooted in an assessment of their negative and positive externalities, as well as their tremendous influence in the cultural and religious values of communities. Among the emerging concerns is how to integrate this view of the multi-faceted nature and function of agroecosystems, not only in incentive systems but also in national, regional, and global policy guidelines. This paper documents available evidence which shows that the concept of multifunctionality can be used as the basis of agricultural policymaking. The concept of multifunctionality is differentiated and at the same time associated with the popular concept of sustainability. It is pointed out that sustainability finds expression in a multifunctional agroecosystem; that is, multifunctionality is a sufficient condition for sustainable agricultural system but not a necessary condition. Various examples presented in this paper indicate the need to look at the multifunctionality of agricultural systems in a landscape vis-à-vis its historical, spatial and time dimensions of its biodiversity element. The review of field studies provides evidence that ecological processes drive the relationships between the various roles of agroecosystems. The cases cited consist of: a paddy rice agricultural system in Yunnan province in China which has resulted from the interspecific enhancement of agrobiodiversity; a sustainable rice production system among the Bontocs in Northern Luzon, Philippines, where the interaction between the household and the rice agroecosystem has led to improved nutrient recycling; and the Phu Wiang watershed in Northeast Thailand where the lowland agroecosystem productivity is maintained at the expense of the uplands and upper forest areas. The final section concludes with a list of questions that need to be addressed before an effective agri-environmental policy can be implemented within the context of developing countries. These questions hark back to the basic premise that implementing agri-environmental policies rooted within the concepts of multifunctionality involves technology or science, ecology, economics, and institutions. The multifunctional role of agroecosystems, which is just beginning to be slowly unraveled, will become an important area of research, and should prove valuable toward achieving national development as well as fulfilling certain Millennium Development Goals.


DNA methylation, the postreplicative transfer of a methyl group to the C5 position of cytosine bases, was the first epigenetic modification identified and has been intensively studied for more than half a century. By now it is clear that Dnmt1, the major eukaryotic DNA methyltransferase, faithfully maintains genome-wide methylation patterns and plays an essential role in the epigenetic network controlling gene expression and genome stability during development. However, the molecular mechanisms that ultimately control DNA methylation still remain elusive. This is, in part, attributable to the remarkable complexity of the DNA methylation reaction, the apparent involvement of several inter- and intramolecular protein interactions, and the limited structural information. The crystal structure of Dnmt1 presented in PNAS (1) now provides detailed insights into the inner workings and possible regulation of one of the most intriguing enzymes.


Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to compare four popular academic social networking sites (ASNSs), namely, ResearchGate, Academia.edu, Mendeley and Zotero.

Design/methodology/approach

Evaluation method has been used with the help of checklist covering various features of ASNSs. A structured checklist has been prepared to compare four popular ASNSs, comprising 198 dichotomous questions divided into 12 broad categories.

Findings

The study found that performance of ASNSs using the latest features and services is not up to the mark, and none of the site is rated as "Excellent". The sites lack in incorporation of session filters; output features; privacy settings and text display; and search and browsing fields. Availability of bibilographic features and general features is poor in these sites. Further, altmetrics and analytics features are not incorporated properly. User interface of the sites need to improve to draw researchers to use them. The study report reveals that ResearchGate scored the highest, 61.1 per cent points, and was ranked "above average", followed by Academia.edu with 48.0 per cent and Mendeley with 43.9 per cent are ranked "average". However, the Zotero (38.9 per cent) was ranked "below average".

Practical implications

Accreditation agencies can identify suitable sites in the evaluation of institutions' research output. Further, students and faculty members can choose the site suiting their needs. Library and information science professionals can use the checklist to impart training to the academic community which can help fostering research and development activities.

Originality/value

The study identifies features that ought to be available in a model ASNS. These features are categorized into 12 broad categories. The findings can also be used by developers of the sites to enhance functionalities. Institutions can choose suitable sites while collaborating with other institutions.


The role of individual behavioral tendencies in wild populations remains largely unstudied, especially in mammals, despite its potential ecological importance. We examined whether individual variation in muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus) behavior in a captive novel environment correlates with other measures of behavior and habitat use. We compared the novel environment assay behavior with handling docility and trap habitat for all animals. We radio-collared subadults to look for correlation between assay behavior, summer space use, trappability and likelihood of autumn dispersal. In the novel environment test, we found many muskrat did not exit the shelter during the test. Muskrat that entered the arena showed activity and boldness/emotionality axes similar to behaviors identified in other taxa in similar tests. Participation in entering the arena appears to be related to boldness rather than activity. Both participation and boldness were lower in subadults and higher in males. Neither activity nor boldness of participants in the novel arena was correlated to handling docility, suggesting that such measures would not be interchangeable for evaluating muskrat behavioral tendencies. None of these behaviors related to fine-scale habitat use as reflected by the capture site. In subadults they did not relate to field measures of home range composition, trappability or autumn dispersal, and there is only a suggestion of a positive correlation between captive activity and home range size, although small sample size limits the power of these subadult analyses. Muskrat vary in their behavioral responses in captivity, but there is no strong indication that this variation reflects differences in space use in the wild.


Law enforcement agencies are increasingly using predictive policing systems to forecast criminal activity and allocate police resources. Yet in numerous jurisdictions, these systems are built on data produced during documented periods of flawed, racially biased, and sometimes unlawful practices and policies ("dirty policing"). These policing practices and policies shape the environment and the methodology by which data is created, which raises the risk of creating inaccurate, skewed, or systemically biased data ("dirty data"). If predictive policing systems are informed by such data, they cannot escape the legacies of the unlawful or biased policing practices that they are built on. Nor do current claims by predictive policing vendors provide sufficient assurances that their systems adequately mitigate or segregate this data.

In our research, we analyze thirteen jurisdictions that have used or developed predictive policing tools while under government commission investigations or federal court monitored settlements, consent decrees, or memoranda of agreement stemming from corrupt, racially biased, or otherwise illegal policing practices. In particular, we examine the link between unlawful and biased police practices and the data available to train or implement these systems. We highlight three case studies: (1) Chicago, an example of where dirty data was ingested directly into the city's predictive system; (2) New Orleans, an example where the extensive evidence of dirty policing practices and recent litigation suggests an extremely high risk that dirty data was or could be used in predictive policing; and (3) Maricopa County, where despite extensive evidence of dirty policing practices, a lack of public transparency about the details of various predictive policing systems restricts a proper assessment of the risks. The implications of these findings have widespread ramifications for predictive policing writ large. Deploying predictive policing systems in jurisdictions with extensive histories of unlawful police practices presents elevated risks that dirty data will lead to flawed or unlawful predictions, which in turn risk perpetuating additional harm via feedback loops throughout the criminal justice system. The use of predictive policing must be treated with high levels of caution and mechanisms for the public to know, assess, and reject such systems are imperative.


CONTEXT
Firearms are used in approximately half of all youth suicides. Many state and federal laws include age-specific restrictions on the purchase, possession, or storage of firearms; however, the association between these laws and suicides among youth has not been carefully examined.

OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the association between youth-focused firearm laws and suicides among youth.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS
Quasi-experimental design with annual state-level data on suicide rates among US youth aged 14 through 20 years, for the period 1976-2001. Negative binomial regression models were used to estimate the association between state and federal youth-focused firearm laws mandating a minimum age for the purchase or possession of handguns and state child access prevention (CAP) laws requiring safe storage of firearms on suicide rates among youth.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Association between youth-focused state and federal firearm laws and rates of firearm, nonfirearm, and total suicides among US youth aged 14 to 17 and 18 through 20 years.

RESULTS
There were 63 954 suicides among youth aged 14 through 20 years during the 1976-2001 study period, 39 655 (62%) of which were committed with firearms. Minimum purchase-age and possession-age laws were not associated with statistically significant reductions in suicide rates among youth aged 14 through 20 years. State CAP laws were associated with an 8.3% decrease (rate ratio [RR], 0.92; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.86-0.98) in suicide rates among 14- to 17-year-olds. The annual rate of suicide in this age group in states with CAP laws was 5.97 per 100 000 population rather than the projected 6.51. This association was also statistically significant for firearm suicides (RR, 0.89; 95% CI, 0.83-0.96) but not for nonfirearm suicides (RR, 1.00; 95% CI, 0.91-1.10). CAP laws were also associated with a significant reduction in suicides among youth aged 18 through 20 years (RR, 0.89; 95% CI, 0.85-0.93); however, the association was similar for firearm suicides (RR, 0.87; 95% CI, 0.82-0.92) and nonfirearm suicides (RR, 0.91; 95% CI, 0.85-0.98).

CONCLUSIONS
There is evidence that CAP laws are associated with a modest reduction in suicide rates among youth aged 14 to 17 years. As currently implemented, minimum age restrictions for the purchase and possession of firearms do not appear to reduce overall rates of suicide among youth.


The aim of this paper is to evaluate a precise intensity-duration-frequency (IDF) relation for a small catchment area which is situated at the north part of Graz in Austria. In order to determine the probability of occurrence of any rainfall event, the frequency distribution, which can fit past characteristics on the magnitude and the probability of occurrence of such rainfalls, should be known. In this paper, in order to find the best-fit probability distribution model, some parameter estimation techniques such as L-moments and maximum likelihood models were used and for goodness of fit test, three methods were used as chi-square, Kolmogorov-Smirnov and the root mean square error (RMSE). In this paper, a comparison between four commonly used rainfall frequency distributions were carried out such as generalised extreme value (GEV), Gumbel, log-Pearson type 3 (LP3) and three-parameter log-normal (LN3). Finally, using the best-fit probability distribution, the IDF for this catchment area using a simple graphical method was determined.


We present simplied techniques to simulate and control complex motions. The spacetime constraint paradigm has proven successful for providing animators with control of motion without burdening them with explicit denition of the motion trajectories. Unfortunately, this method suers from undue computational complexity as the creatures or motions approach those one wouldlike to animate. Some of these problems have recently been addressed, but it is worth taking a closer look to see if simplications of the problem statement itself can be made. This extended abstract presents some experiments in decomposing the spacetime constraint formulation into smaller and simpler subproblems. Each subproblem can then be solved with an appropriate numerical methodology or perhaps through an analytic formulation. The key to this is a close examination of the physical principles in an attempt to nd assumptions which do not unduly restrict the motion, yet provide quick and simple solution methodologies. In particular, physical relationships such as angular momentum conservation laws are pulled out of the nonlinear optimization problem so that the original problem leads to a much simpler optimization problem (without the conservation equation) and two point boundary problems. By, in addition, approximating the energy minimization objective fair sized problems can be solved in real time. A human-like diving motion is used to illustrate these concepts. Experimental results are shown. Some thoughts on how to generalize this approach are given.


An e-skin that uses multiple levels of biologically inspired patterning is capable of discriminating both normal and tangential forces. Tactile sensing is required for the dexterous manipulation of objects in robotic applications. In particular, the ability to measure and distinguish in real time normal and shear forces is crucial for slip detection and interaction with fragile objects. Here, we report a biomimetic soft electronic skin (e-skin) that is composed of an array of capacitors and capable of measuring and discriminating in real time both normal and tangential forces. It is enabled by a three-dimensional structure that mimics the interlocked dermis-epidermis interface in human skin. Moreover, pyramid microstructures arranged along nature-inspired phyllotaxis spirals resulted in an e-skin with increased sensitivity, minimal hysteresis, excellent cycling stability, and response time in the millisecond range. The e-skin provided sensing feedback for controlling a robot arm in various tasks, illustrating its potential application in robotics with tactile feedback.


A Predator drone attack in Pakistan and the "enhanced interrogation techniques" that the Bush administration used on suspected terrorists have at least one thing in common: legal advice. While advice given the Obama administration on drones has received only a partial airing, disclosure that lawyers in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) authorized coercive interrogation after 9/11 has ignited a wide-ranging debate on reform and accountability. However, the volume of calls for reform has exceeded consideration of the competing values at stake. Some reformers stress the need to combat a climate of impunity with formal sanctions such as disbarment and damages. Advocates of structural reform, such as Bruce Ackerman, view sanctions as small change, and urge OLC's makeover as an adjudicative body. Veterans of OLC reject these dramatic steps. They caution that structural changes could threaten the separation of powers. Structural changes could also detach OLC from its clients in the executive branch, transforming it into a stately mansion that requires too much maintenance to use. OLC veterans urge more measured changes, including greater transparency and a renewed commitment to stare decisis. After assessing these reform proposals, this paper suggests a model of dialogic equipoise to shape both the substance of OLC opinions and OLC's deliberative process. While a structural makeover would actually weaken the rule of law, OLC resembles a court in its need to conserve institutional capital with two audiences: the legal community and the President. OLC can issue opinions that authorize robust responses to national security and humanitarian crises, if the President seeks ratification of executive action. To conserve OLC's institutional capital, the model caps legal advice that expands presidential power. Just as courts preserve institutional capital with devices such as standing, mootness, and political questions, a cap will prompt OLC to marshal its institutional capital for those occasions when no alternatives will do the job.


Observational and experimental studies have shown that phagotrophic ciliates are highly selective predators. However, little is as yet known about the actual mechanisms involved in prey selection. We used direct behavioral observations to study the mechanism of prey selection in benthic algivorous ciliates feeding on mixed assemblages of diatom species. Four ciliate species, viz. three Strombidium species and a Pseudochilodonopsis species, and three diatom species from intertidal sediments in the Schelde estuary were used for the experiments. In each experiment, a single ciliate species was offered a mixture of two diatom species. The feeding preferences of the ciliates were estimated as well as relative encounter rates, attack probabilities, and capture successes for the prey species. The feeding preferences of the ciliates were distinctly predatorߚspecific and highly discerning with respect to the nature of the prey species. They appeared to result mainly from active selection at the time of the encounters and between the encounter and attack of the diatoms. Our observations suggest that selective encounters with the diatoms were caused by noncontact detection of individual prey items, at least for the Strombidium species. Additional experiments confirmed that these ciliates were able to distinguish between diatom species on the basis of soluble chemical cues. Grazing was also constant, i.e., prey switching was not observed. Moreover, neither total prey density nor feeding history influenced the preferences. We hypothesize that these highly specialized trophic interactions may be an important driving force in shaping structure and diversity of benthic diatom communities in intertidal sediments.


This paper presents an analysis of a compiled database of power consumption and networking functionalities found in datasheets of routers and switches of some major manufacturers. We found very striking differences in consumption between switches and routers of the same nominal capacity. The paper analyzes the significance of such results and sheds some light on the most consuming elements and networking features that could be extremely useful in the re-planning and operation of energy-efficient networks.


In this paper we consider the problem of sampling far below the Nyquist rate signals that are sparse linear superpositions of shifts of a known, potentially wide-band, pulse. This signal model is key for applications such as Ultra Wide Band (UWB) communications or neural signal processing. Following the recently proposed Compressed Sensing methodology, we study several acquisition strategies and show that the approximations recovered via ℓ1 minimization are greatly enhanced if one uses Spread Spectrum modulation prior to applying random Fourier measurements. We complement our experiments with a discussion of possible hardware implementation of our technique.


This thesis explores the meaning o f the legal phrase contained in s63 of the Education Act 1989, ' to take all reasonable steps '. It questions how Boards of Trustees in New Zealand schools view it and if and how it influences the ways they control their schools. The restructuring of education resulted from the adoption of neo-liberal economic theory by the Labour government in 1984. These reforms had the effect of devo lving power to Boards of Trustees through a charter that acted as an undertaking by boards to implement community derived goals and objectives within a legislative and regulatory framework. The 1989 Act introduced the legal requirement 'to take all reasonable steps· that legislati vely describes the wide discretion Boards have to control their schools within the parameters o r that framework. No prior research into this specific legal requirement exists. and therefore this study extends into the domains of reasonab leness in law, education and law, aspects of neoliberal theory. concepts of power and empowerment. decision-making. and compliance. These domains in formed the research approach. which explored the narratives of the members of school boards. The research demonstrates tensions between the intent of the PM mode l of se lfgoverning schools and the reality of self-governance for ew Zealand schools. The study reveals a generally poor understanding of the legal requirement 'to take all reasonable steps' and the consequently minimal direct impact the requirement had on the ways the participating Boards governed and managed their schools. Further investigations revealed widely differing opinions over the meaning of this legal requirement and, in particular, the strong influence of government agencies on the ways these Boards attained assurance that their governance and management practices were reasonable. The research demonstrates that alternative influences, such as common sense and altruism were informing Boards' decision-making practices. The research concludes that the complexity of the legal concept of reasonableness and the seeming reluctance of the law to define its meaning in special circumstances limi ts its effectiveness as a tool for devolving power and discretion to Boards of Trustees.


Monitoring inflow measurements of water resource recovery facilities (WRRFs) are essential to promptly detect abnormalities and helpful in the decision making of the operators to better optimize, take corrective actions, and maintain downstream processes. In this paper, we introduced a flexible and reliable monitoring soft sensor approach to detect and identify abnormal influent measurements of WRRFs to enhance their efficiency and safety. The proposed data-driven soft sensor approach merges the desirable characteristics of principal component analysis (PCA) with  $k$ -nearest neighbor (KNN) scheme. PCA performed effective dimension reduction and revealed interrelationships between inflow measurements, while KNN distances demonstrated superior detection capacity, robustness to underlying data distribution, and efficiency in handling high-dimensional dataset. Furthermore, nonparametric thresholds derived from kernel density estimation further enhanced detection results of PCA-KNN approach when compared with parametric counterparts. Moreover, the radial visualization plot is innovatively employed for fault analysis and diagnosis in combination with PCA and delineated interpretable visualization of anomalies and detector performances. The effectiveness of these soft sensor schemes is evaluated by using real data from a coastal municipal WRRF located in Saudi Arabia. Also, we compared the proposed soft sensor scheme with the conventional PCA-based approaches, including standard prediction error, Hotelling's  $T^{2}$ , and joint univariate methods. Results demonstrate that this soft sensor-based monitoring approach outperforms conventional PCA-based methods.


This research describes outcomes from a project that aimed to present near real-time bushfire information to remote and regional Australian communities susceptible to bushfires through an intuitive and easy to use interface. This project arose as a response to calls for increased information sharing amongst communities and individuals in the wake of several severe fire events in Australia. Several rounds of user engagement were undertaken, which informed the design of an application that came to be known as MyFireWatch, which was launched as an officially-supported publicly-accessible web application. Previous research in Australia regarding bushfire information suggests that user-sourced data can provide rich, timely and meaningful information. Yet the MyFireWatch research, the first of its kind in Australia to ascertain community attitudes to user-sourced disaster information, found that user attitudes varied. This paper describes those user attitudes and how they pose both challenges and opportunities for organisations who provide publicly-accessible disaster information.


The purpose of this final project is to realise the design process that involve in the preliminary findings, analysis case study and synthesizing. The suggested title of this project is Proposed Uprading Terminal Sultan Azlan Shah Airport Ipoh. Before writing this documentation, a lot of procedures has to be met and must follow a systematic process. Various important factors must be considered especially inside the angular space including environment outside the building. The first step is to identify constraints and limitations of the existing site, interior and exterior spaces. This is important as to identify the problem solving of the project. The research begins from basic design principles up to the building roof. Besides that, the research of interior space must also be considered as a case study. The nature of the case study directly or indirectly related to the project that I have proposed. In fact, a planning proposal was made before I started to do a new design. Several important aspects must be considered to ensure the space function, such as to fulfill user's needs and comfort. The design made should fulfill the character of users or visitors demand and also match the concepts that need to be shown. By proposed uprading, it is hoped that it will be able to give benefits to the tourist, our people and country.


We formalise the pi-calculus using the nominal datatype package, a package based on ideas from the nominal logic by Pitts et al., and demonstrate an implementation in Isabelle/HOL. The purpose is to derive powerful induction rules for the semantics in order to conduct machine checkable proofs, closely following the intuitive arguments found in manual proofs. In this way we have covered many of the standard theorems of bisimulation equivalence and congruence, both late and early, and both strong and weak in a unison manner. We thus provide one of the most extensive formalisations of a process calculus ever done inside a theorem prover.

A significant gain in our formulation is that agents are identified up to alpha-equivalence, thereby greatly reducing the arguments about bound names. This is a normal strategy for manual proofs about the pi-calculus, but that kind of hand waving has previously been difficult to incorporate smoothly in an interactive theorem prover. We show how the nominal logic formalism and its support in Isabelle accomplishes this and thus significantly reduces the tedium of conducting completely formal proofs. This improves on previous work using weak higher order abstract syntax since we do not need extra assumptions to filter out exotic terms and can keep all arguments within a familiar first-order logic.


The pattern of the biomass specific growth rate is an important focus for many biotechnological applications. Several control strategies have been employed to describe version of the exponential phase of growth of microorganisms. Moreover, in some bioprocesses there is more than one feeding substrates required for the specific growth. Hence, the problem of estimating multiple substrate consumption rates together with the specific growth rate of the microorganism becomes applicable. In this context, the dynamics behaviour of fed-batch process with multiple substrates (dextrose and peptone) and kinetics is further investigated in Beauveria bassiana. Different features of the proposed model are assessed by numerical simulation in different scenarios.