The LHCb experiment (Large Hadron Collider beauty) is one of the four experiments under construction at the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) at CERN near Geneva. It is planned to start in 2007 and its goal is the study of b-quark physics. The LHC is a circular accelerator in which collide protons-protons at a center-of-mass energy of √s = 14 TeV. This generates a large number of high energy bb pairs which are predominantly produced in the same forward cone. The LHCb detector is therefore a forward single arm spectrometer designed to exploit the large bb production cross section (σbb 500 μb) and to perform precise measurements of CP violation in b-hadrons decays. One of the actual greatest challenges in High Energy Physics is the discovery of the Higgs boson which is responsible for the Model Standard particles mass generation through the Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking process. The Higgs mass is not known and cannot be predicted by the theory. However the recent results of LEP at CERN have shown that mH0 > 114 GeV/c2. Below 150 GeV/c2 the Higgs decay into two b-quarks H0 → bb dominates. The two quarks emitted back-to-back in the H0 rest frame form a string which fragments, giving rise to hadronization in jets containing b-hadrons. The aim of this thesis is to assess the feasibility to discover a Higgs boson with intermediate mass at LHCb by using the detector sensibility to b-hadrons in order to reconstruct these jets using jets reconstruction algorithms. The study is focused on the mechanisms in which the Higgs boson is produced in association with a gauge boson decaying leptonically H0 + W± → bb + lνl and H0 + Z0 → bb + l+l- for Higgs masses in the range 100 - 130 GeV/c2. The gauge bosons decay produces hard leptons quite often isolated from the b-jets. Hence an isolated lepton with high transverse momentum is required in order to reject the large QCD background. Several important background channels which also provide two b-quarks and an isolated lepton – like tt → W+b W-b, Z0 + W± → bb + lνl, Z0 + Z0 → bb + l+l-, W± + b-jets, Z0 + b-jets and generic bb – are studied in parallel. The idea is to find observables which behave differently for backgrounds and Higgs signal and to exploit these differences in the framework of a neural network, precisely in order to discriminate background from signal. The LHCb experiment needs a high capability to identify b-hadrons despite their very short lifetime τB 1.5 · 10-12 s. The Vertex Locator (VeLo) is a sub-detector placed around the p-p interaction point which has to provide accurate measurements of the b-hadrons production and decay points by reconstructing secondary vertices. The second part of this thesis is a technical contribution to the development of the VeLo analogue transmission line. It consists in testing several hardware and software methods to improve the VeLo analogue transmission between the on-detector part of the readout and the off-detector electronics. Because the 60 m line introduces an important attenuation, several cables and line drivers configurations with frequency and gain compensation are studied in order to obtain the best results in terms of signal-to-noise ratio and channel crosstalk. The different contributions to the noise are also studied and an estimation of the contribution due to the Beetle pipeline non-uniformity is given in order to see if a specific correction is needed or if it can be suppressed by a standard common noise correction procedure.


Soil organic carbon (SOC) losses due to poor soil management in dryland are now well documented. However, the influence of soil properties on organic carbon change is not well known. The groundnut plant (Arachis hypogaea L.), and the dominant crop system in the Senegal's Soudanian zone, have been compared with semi-natural savanna. Leaves, stems and roots biomass were measured, and soil characteristics were analysed. The total leaves and stems biomass was 1.7 and 2.7 Mg ha −1 dry matter in groundnut fields and savanna respectively. Total SOC stocks were low (8 to 20 Mg C·ha −1 within upper 0.2 m depth, 20 to 64 Mg C·ha −1 within upper 1 m depth) and were significantly lower (P < 0.05) in sandy soils than in sandy clayey soils, and lower (approximately 27% - 37%) in groundnut fields than in savanna soils. δ 13 C values show that SOC quality is transformed from the savanna plants (C4/C3 mixed-pools) to C3-pools in groundnut cultivated zone, with the organic matter signature more preserved in the clayey soils. This study confirms that converting woodland to groundnut fields provokes texture transformation and SOC loss. The results call for the extreme necessity to regenerate the wooded zone or encourage practices that favour SOC restitution.


Rings are widely accepted wearables for gesture interaction. However, most rings can sense only the motion of one finger or the whole hand. We present PeriSense, a ring-shaped interaction device enabling multi-finger gesture interaction. Gestures of the finger wearing ring and its adjacent fingers are sensed by measuring capacitive proximity between electrodes and human skin. Our main contribution is the determination of PeriSense's interaction space involving the evaluation of capabilities and limitations. We introduce a prototype named PeriSense, analyze the sensor resolution at different distances, and evaluate finger gestures and unistroke gestures based on gesture sets allowing the determination of the strengths and limitations. We show that PeriSense is able to sense the change of conductive objects reliably up to 2.5 cm. Furthermore, we show that this capability enables different interaction techniques such as multi-finger gesture recognition or two-handed unistroke input.


This comment refers to two central concepts of Badke-Schaub et al.'s lead paper, the functionality of mental models for coping with the complexity of reality and sharedness as a prerequisite of group performance. For both ideas, a trade-off perspective is introduced. Major functionalities of mental models, e.g. organization of knowledge, not only provide benefits but also costs, e.g. oversimplification of a problem. The degree to what individual mental models in a team need to be shared in order to manage a task depends on multiple factors, e.g. the nature of the task and the developmental stage of the team. Related to the specific tasks of design teams, the idea of optimal sharedness is elaborated and conclusions on task-oriented processes in design teams are drawn.


An ultra-stable time-keeping device is presented, which locks its output clock frequency to the rotational-mode transition of polar gaseous molecules. Based on a high-precision spectrometer in the sub-terahertz (THz) range, our new clocking scheme realizes not only fully electronic operation but also implementations using mainstream CMOS technology. Meanwhile, the small wavelength of probing wave and high absorption intensity of our adopted molecules (carbonyl sulfide, 16O12C32S) also enable miniaturization of the gas cell. All these result in an "atomic-clock-grade" frequency reference with small size, power, and cost. This paper provides the architectural and chip-design details of the first proof-of-concept molecular clock using a 65-nm CMOS bulk technology. Using a 231.061-GHz phase-locked loop (PLL) with frequency-shift keying (FSK) modulation and a sub-THz FET detector with integrated lock-in function, the chip probes the accurate transition frequency of carbonyl sulfide (OCS) gas inside a single-mode waveguide, and accordingly adjusts the 80-MHz output of a crystal oscillator. The clock consumes only 66 mW of dc power and has a measured Allan deviation of 3.8 <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\times $ </tex-math></inline-formula> 10<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$^{-10}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> at an averaging time of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\tau =1000$ </tex-math></inline-formula> s.


Models of Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) data suggest that poorly-crystalline weathering products allophane and aluminosilicate gel occur in several low-albedo regions of Mars. The presence of allophane in TES models indicates that the martian surface experienced low-temperature chemical weathering at low water-to-rock ratios and mildly acidic to neutral pH on regional scales. The allophane and gel may be ancient and preserved by a persistently dry martian climate. Alternatively, evidence for recent ground ice in these regions suggests that pedogenic processes causing the formation of poorly-crystalline aluminosilicates could be late Amazonian in age and may be active today. While previous models have suggested that global-scale acidic weathering has occurred on Mars for the past 3.5 billion years, the presence of allophane indicates that acidic weathering was not occurring in these low-albedo regions and that mildly acidic to neutral weathering has been an important regional-scale weathering process on the martian surface.


Turbine passage secondary flows are studied for a large rounded leading edge airfoil geometry considered in the experimental investigation of Varty et al. (J. Turbomach. 140(2):021010) using high resolution Large Eddy Simulation (LES). The complex nature of secondary flow formation and evolution are affected by the approach boundary layer characteristics, components of pressure gradients tangent and normal to the passage flow, surface curvature, and inflow turbulence. This paper presents a detailed description of the secondary flows and heat transfer in a linear vane cascade at exit chord Reynolds number of 5 × 105 at low and high inflow turbulence. Initial flow turning at the leading edge of the inlet boundary layer leads to a pair of counter-rotating flow circulation in each half of the cross-plane that drive the evolution of the pressure-side and suction side of the near-wall vortices such as the horseshoe and leading edge corner vortex. The passage vortex for the current large leading-edge vane is formed by the amplification of the initially formed circulation closer to the pressure side (PPC) which strengthens and merges with other vortex systems while moving toward the suction side. The predicted suction surface heat transfer shows good agreement with the measurements and properly captures the augmented heat transfer due to the formation and lateral spreading of the secondary flows towards the vane midspan downstream of the vane passage. Effects of various components of the secondary flows on the endwall and vane heat transfer are discussed in detail.


In Michel Serres'  The Five Senses: A Philosophy of Mingled Bodies , he establishes an opposition between two mouths: the anaesthetising, speaking mouth of discourse and analysis and the aesthetic, tasting mouth of sensation. This article uses Serres' model of the two mouths to think about the performance of knowledge and philosophy in a sensory performance event and the potential of intoxication to unveil or reveal through a process of 'making strange'. The article begins with an outline and reading of Serres, considering his writing on the two mouths and their indicative models of knowledge, before moving to think about philosophies of confluence or confusion; the pouring or flowing together of different forms of knowing. This is coupled with outlining two modes of intoxication (losing oneself into the status quo and a process of estrangement) to think about the politics of aesthetic sensory experience in the age of commodification of live(d) experience. The second half of the article turns to a dining-performance event by Kaye Winwood entitled After Dark (2016). The event is used as a basis for more personal reflections, considering the ways intoxication makes strange and enters into performance as a revelatory experience. The article proposes a number of interconnected arguments: that sensory experience and embodiment offer a mode of knowledge; that intoxication as 'making strange' has potential as a philosophical gesture; and that in that estrangement, there is potential to resist the coopting of live(d) or sensory experience in an economy of commodification.


We demonstrate a Raman laser made from a grating-free highly-nonlinear photonic crystal fiber. The laser threshold power is lower than 600 mW and laser power characteristics recorded in experiments are accurately described from the usual simplest model dealing only with stationary evolutions of total optical powers [J. Opt. Soc. Am. 69, 803-807 (1979)]. In our theoretical treatment, reflectivity coefficients are fixed parameters, in strong contrast with procedures usually implemented to describe Raman fiber lasers made with fiber Bragg gratings. Experimental investigations of the spectral properties of our grating-free Raman fiber laser evidence that the shape of the Stokes power spectrum remains remarkably Gaussian whatever the incident pump power. Increasing the incident pump power induces a drift of the Stokes wavelength together with a broadening of the Stokes optical spectrum. Investigations on the role of light polarization on laser characteristics show that our grating-free Raman fiber laser behaves as a Raman laser made with a standard polarization maintaining fiber.


We study the modification of the far-field cross sections and the near-field enhancement for gold and silver nanospheres illuminated by a tightly focused beam. Using a multipole-expansion approach we obtain an analytical solution to the scattering problem and provide insight on the effects of focusing on the optical response. Large differences with respect to Mie theory are especially found when the nanoparticle supports quadrupole or higher-order resonances.


The aim of our drying trials was to determine the drying suitability of stone fruits. The tested species were sour and sweet cherries and European plums too. Data and results of sweet cherry drying were published earlier (Klincsek et. al. 2005, 2006).This article containing results of twenty sour cherry and six European plum varieties. Laboratory tests, drying processes and sensory testing were done at Fruit Quality Testing Laboratory of Fruit Science Department of Corvinus University of Budapest. The sensory tests and their valuations were done by the instruction of National Institute for Agricultural Quality Control. In the case of sour cherries by one year data in 2004 we divided fruits to five categories by suitability for making dried fruit. Varieties in the first two groups are the followings: most suggested for making dried, fruits: 'Meteor korai' and `Erdi jubileum'; suggested: 'IV-3-48' and `Piramis'.In the case of European plums three varieties can be suggested for making dried fruits from the six tested cultivars: 'Revfulopi', Althann gage' and `Besztercei'.


Presented here is a modification in the adjustment for refractive-index nonlinear regression through a Sellmeier expansion. It is free of the deficiencies inherent in the earlier nonlinear method and notably improves the adjustment without excessively complicating the mathematical procedures. The method is applied to CdS with the object of comparing the results with those obtained previously. In this manner, the best adjustment has been found for CdS dispersion. It has also allowed a physical explanation of some adjustment parameters.


In the 1990s there was considerable growth in implementations of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems. Companies
expected these systems to support many of the day to day business transactions. The growth in ERP implementations had a
resultant impact on the demand for ERP skills. Many universities recognised this demand and the potential of using ERP
Systems software as a teaching tool, and endeavoured to incorporate ERP systems into their curriculum; however most
universities have struggled in this task. ERP systems have now evolved to incorporate more strategic components and
universities and ERP vendors are investigating ways in which curriculum can be developed to support these new solutions.
This paper discusses the evolution of ERP systems and university curriculum. It identifies how one university is addressing
this problem and how this approach can be adopted and expanded by other universities.


Why do we mistrust people more in the UK than in Japan? Why do Americans have higher rates of teenage pregnancy than the French? What makes the Swedish thinner than the Greeks? The answer: inequality. This groundbreaking book, based on years of research, provides hard evidence to show: how almost everything - from life expectancy to depression levels, violence to illiteracy - is affected not by how wealthy a society is, but how equal it is; that societies with a bigger gap between rich and poor are bad for everyone in them - including the well-off; and, how we can find positive solutions and move towards a happier, fairer future. Urgent, provocative and genuinely uplifting, "The Spirit Level" has been heralded as providing a new way of thinking about ourselves and our communities, and could change the way you see the world.


Fast-growing cities in the global South have an important role to play in climate change mitigation. However, city governments typically focus on more pressing socioeconomic needs, such as reducing urban poverty. To what extent can social, economic and climate objectives be aligned? Focusing on Kolkata in India, we consider the economic case for low-carbon urban development, and assess whether this pathway could support wider social goals. We find that Kolkata could reduce its energy bill by 8.5 per cent and greenhouse gas emissions by 20.7 per cent in 2025, relative to business-as-usual trends, by exploiting readily available, economically attractive mitigation options. Some of these measures offer significant social benefits, particularly in terms of public health; others jeopardize low-income urban residents' livelihoods, housing and access to affordable services. Our findings demonstrate that municipal mitigation strategies need to be designed and delivered in collaboration with affected communities in order to minimize social costs and – possibly – achieve transformative change.


Unmanned ground and aerial vehicles are becoming crucial to many applications because of their ability to assist humans in carrying out dangerous missions. These vehicles can be viewed as networks of heterogeneous unmanned robotic sensors with the goal of exploring complex environments, to search for and, possibly, pursue moving targets. The robotic vehicle performance can be greatly enhanced by implementing future sensor actions intelligently, based both on prior knowledge and on the information obtained by the sensors on line. In this paper, we present an approximate dynamic programming (ADP) approach to cooperative navigation for heterogeneous sensor networks. The mobile sensor network consists of a set of robotic sensors modeled as hybrid systems with processing capabilities. The goal of the ADP algorithm is to coordinate a team of heterogeneous autonomous vehicles (i.e., ground robot and quadrotor UAV) to navigate within an obstacle populated environment while satisfying collision avoidance constraints and searching for stationary and mobile targets. It is assumed that the ground vehicle has a small sensor footprint with high resolution. The quadrotor, on the other hand, has a large sensor field-of-view but low resolution. The UAV provides a low resolution look-ahead map to the ground robot which in turn uses this information to plan its actions. The proposed navigation strategy combines artificial potential functions for target pursuing with ADP for learning C-obstacles on line. The efficacy of the proposed methodology is verified through numerical simulations.


In this paper, we are interested in massively parallel multiscale relaxation algorithms applied to image classification. It is well known that multigrid methods can improve significantly the convergence rate and the quality of the final results of iterative relaxation techniques. First, we present a classical multiscale model which consists of a label pyramid and a whole observation field. The potential functions of coarser grids are derived by simple computations. The optimization problem is first solved at the higher scale by a parallel relaxation algorithm; then the next lower scale is initialized by a projection of the result. Second, we propose a hierarchical Markov random field model based on this classical model. We introduce new interactions between neighbor levels in the pyramid. It can also be seen as a way to incorporate cliques with far apart sites for a reasonable price. This model results in a relaxation algorithm with a new annealing scheme: the multitemperature annealing (MTA) scheme, which consists of associating higher temperatures to higher levels, in order to be less sensitive to local minima at coarser grids. The convergence to the global optimum is proved by a generalization of the annealing theorem of S. Geman and D. Geman (IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell.6, 1984, 721–741).


Cathy Trask, Monstrosity, and Gender-Based Fears in John Steinbeck's East of Eden Claire Warnick Department of Humanities, Classics, and Comparative Literature, BYU Master of Arts In recent years, the concept of monstrosity has received renewed attention by literary critics. Much of this criticism has focused on horror texts and other texts that depict supernatural monsters. However, the way that monster theory explores the connection between specific cultures and their monsters illuminates not only our understanding of horror texts, but also our understanding of any significant cultural artwork. Applying monster theory to non-horror texts is a useful and productive way to more fully understand the cultural fears of a society. One text that is particularly fruitful to explore in this context is John Steinbeck's 1952 novel, East of Eden. The personification of evil in the text is one of the most memorable monsters in 20th century American literature—Cathy Ames Trask. Described by the narrator as a monster from birth, Cathy haunts the text. She rejects any and all attempts to force her to behave in socially acceptable ways. Cathy refuses to abide by the roles that mid-century American culture assigned to women, particularly the roles of wife and mother. Feminist theorists have often examined Cathy's character in this context, although many of them emphasize Steinbeck's personal misogyny. While Steinbeck's personal fears have clearly formed the basis of Cathy's character, the concept of the monster extends beyond idiosyncratic fears. Monster theory, through its emphasis on the particular cultural moment of the monster, allows for a broader understanding of cultural fears. Although the description of Cathy in the text connects her to a long tradition of female monsters, including Lilith and the Siren, Steinbeck's characterization of the monstrous woman focuses on specific mid-century American cultural fears. The most significant of these cultural fears are those of emasculation and the potential flexibility of gender roles. These fears have often been associated with the feminine monster, but they became a crucial part of postwar American cultural discourse. The character of Cathy Trask, while exhibiting many traits that have been assigned to female monsters during the course of Western history, is essentially a 20th century American monster, one who encapsulates the fears of midcentury American men faced with rapidly changing gender roles and boundaries. The creation of such a horrifyingly monstrous woman, one that continues to haunt the reader even after her eventual demonstration, testifies to the intense cultural anxiety about gender roles, particularly in the context of the heterosexual nuclear family, present in post-World War II America. This anxiety is dealt with in the figure of the monster Cathy, who represents forbidden desires and is then punished for those desires; her eventual demise reinforces the culturally patriarchal social structure and serves as a warning against transgressive gender behavior.


The population of Milky Way (MW) satellites contains the faintest known galaxies and thus provides essential insight into galaxy formation and dark matter microphysics. Here we combine a model of the galaxy–halo connection with newly derived observational selection functions based on searches for satellites in photometric surveys over nearly the entire high Galactic latitude sky. In particular, we use cosmological zoom-in simulations of MW-like halos that include realistic Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) analogs to fit the position-dependent MW satellite luminosity function. We report decisive evidence for the statistical impact of the LMC on the MW satellite population due to an estimated 6 ± 2 observed LMC-associated satellites, consistent with the number of LMC satellites inferred from Gaia proper-motion measurements, confirming the predictions of cold dark matter models for the existence of satellites within satellite halos. Moreover, we infer that the LMC fell into the MW within the last 2 Gyr at high confidence. Based on our detailed full-sky modeling, we find that the faintest observed satellites inhabit halos with peak virial masses below at 95% confidence, and we place the first robust constraints on the fraction of halos that host galaxies in this regime. We predict that the faintest detectable satellites occupy halos with peak virial masses above , highlighting the potential for powerful galaxy formation and dark matter constraints from future dwarf galaxy searches.


Analysing public sentiment about future events, such as demonstration or parades, may provide valuable information while estimating the level of disruption and disorder during these events. Social media, such as Twitter or Facebook, provides views and opinions of users related to any public topics. Consequently, sentiment analysis of social media content may be of interest to different public sector organisations, especially in the security and law enforcement sector. In this paper we present a lexicon-based approach to sentiment analysis of Twitter content. The algorithm performs normalisation of the sentiment in an effort to provide intensity of the sentiment rather than positive/negative label. Following this, we evaluate an evidence-based combining function that supports the classification process in cases when positive and negative words co-occur in a tweet. Finally, we illustrate a case study examining the relation between sentiment of twitter posts related to English Defence League and the level of disorder during the EDL related events.


COMMERCIAL vehicles engaged in interstate commerce have been federally regulated for over seventy years. Interstate carriers have been required to establish proof of financial responsibility, and assume responsibility for leased vehicles, for fifty years. Central to this regulation of interstate commerce is the premise that an innocent victim is entitled to prompt compensation from an easily identifiable responsible party. While Congress has effectively eliminated the confusion as to liability arising from accidents caused by leased vehicles operating in interstate commerce, its failure to designate the ultimate source of recovery for injured members of the public insurance--has resulted in confusion and delay in the compensation of claimants. In addition to failing to achieve adequate protection of the public, this omission has placed enormous weight on invariably complex choice of law determinations that would have been moot had Congress achieved the uniformity critical to the regulation of interstate carriers. I. Legislative History The Interstate Commerce Commission ("ICC"), established by Congress in 1887, is "conventionally cited as the first of the modern administrative agencies." (1) In 1935, the United States Congress amended the Interstate Commerce Act in an effort to reduce danger to the public inherent in the unregulated use of vehicles in interstate commerce. (2) Further regulation occurred in the 1950s, when Congress, in an effort to protect the public from the confusion surrounding responsibility for accidents involving vehicles leased to interstate carriers, placed responsibility for the control and operation of such vehicles on the carrier. (3) "Significant aims" of this amendment included eliminating the difficulties inherent in fixing financial responsibility for damage and injuries to members of the public. (4) Congress created the Department of Transportation ("DOT") in 1966 and, in so doing, transferred some of the ICC's authority to the new department. (5) In particular, the DOT acquired responsibility for the regulation of safety and the operation of equipment by commercial motor vehicle carriers. (6) Fourteen years later, the Interstate Commerce Act was comprehensively reformed through the Federal Motor Carrier Act of 1980. (7) The Motor Carrier Act was a further effort by Congress to limit confusion as to liability arising from accidents caused by leased vehicles. (8) Prior to 1996, the ICC and the DOT had concurrent regulatory jurisdiction over vehicles weighing 10,000 pounds that transported non-hazardous materials. (9) Where a carrier established its federally mandated proof of financial responsibility through an insurance policy, the ICC required the incorporation of an endorsement, the BMC-90. (10) The DOT created its own version of the BMC-90, the MCS-90. (11) To eliminate the inherent redundancy of multiple forms performing the same function, the ICC adopted the MCS-90 form. (12) The ICC was disbanded pursuant to the ICC Termination Act of 1995. (13) Pursuant to the Termination Act, the ICC's responsibilities were transferred to either the DOT proper, or to its newly established Surface Transportation Board. (14) The Secretary of Transportation continued in his regulatory role until the Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act of 1999, (15) at which time Congress transferred all "duties and powers related to motor carriers or motor carrier safety vested in the Secretary" to another newly formed agency of the DOT, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration ("FMCSA"). (16) The FMCSA carries out its rule-making function through the dissemination of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSR). (17) Notwithstanding the tumultuous litany of federal entities presiding over the regulation of interstate carriers, the regulations themselves have remained essentially the same since the Motor Carrier Act of 1980, albeit revised and renumbered. …


Article history: Received 6 September, 2015 Accepted 9 December 2015 Available online 9 December 2015 This paper provides a method of acoustic emission (AE) technique to detect a train bearing fault of tapered bearing unit (TBU). An approach is to utilize acoustic emission signals which were captured from piezoelectric transducer and processed using Fourier transform. The transformed signals may contain unique characteristic features relating to the various types of bearing faults. The experiments on different operating conditions were investigated and they corresponded to (a) a normal bearing and (b) outer race defect bearing. The result is promising for faulty bearing identification and discrimination between different bearing conditions. © 2016 Growing Science Ltd. All rights reserved.


S ome 50 years ago, a group of pioneering researchers in Cambridge, United Kingdom, nudged biology into the molecular world. Images of Watson and Crick have personified molecular biology to the general public in a way that has never been equaled (see the Perceptions in Science Essay, p. 255). The announcement of the structure of DNA fundamentally changed not only only our basic understanding of the flow of information within the cell but also the scope and direction of investigations in biology. This special issue explores both research revolutions.

The opening News story by Pennisi (p. 278) describes the remarkable laboratory where modern biology was born. Next follows a brief look at how the understanding of DNA and its function has evolved over the ensuing years (p. [282][1]). As Snyder and Gerstein describe in a Perspective on our changing concept of the gene (p. [258][2]), much remains to be learned.

The project to sequence the human genome represented biology's first foray into "big science." In pioneering this new direction, the National Institutes of Health, Wellcome Trust, and Department of Energy (DOE) faced unique challenges, as Collins et al. recount on p. 286. One promising avenue of research to emerge from that project is DOE's ambitious "Genomes to Life" program. As Frazier et al. describe (p. 290), its goal is to understand the molecular machines and systems acting within microbes and microbial communities, and then try to harness them to solve global problems such as the need for clean energy. As part of this effort, DOE intends to create user facilities that will serve as bridges between large and small laboratories.

In the quest for improved therapeutics, Strausberg and Schreiber (p. [294][3]) describe the National Cancer Institute's plan for an Initiative in Chemical Genetics that will facilitate the development of small-molecule inhibitors based on genomic information. On p. 295, Jimenez-Sanchez describes progress toward creating an Institute of Genomic Medicine in Mexico. It is an effort to help ensure that the fruits of the genomic revolution will not increase the divide between developed and developing countries and will be used to help the neediest populations.

 [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.300.5617.282
 [2]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.1084354
 [3]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.1083395


A free-space 1 x 2 wavelength-selective switch (WSS) based on thin-film filter technology is proposed. The 1 x 2 WSS is fabricated with an electromagnetic actuator, a reflecton prism, a narrow-band thin-film filter, and three fiber collimators. The working principle and the configuration of WSS are illuminated. The experimental results indicate a fiber-to-fiber insertion loss ranging from 1.109 to 1.249 dB with 2-V voltage input, which satisfies the application of optical fiber communication.


There are few linguistic phenomena that have seduced linguists so skillfully as grammatical case has done. Ever since Panini (4th Century BC), case has claimed a central role in linguistic theory and continues to do so today. However, despite centuries worth of research, case has yet to reveal its most important secrets. This book offers breakthrough explanations for the understanding of case through agent-based experiments in cultural language evolution. The experiments demonstrate that case systems may emerge because they have a selective advantage for communication: they reduce the cognitive effort that listeners need for semantic interpretation, while at the same time limiting the cognitive resources required for doing so.


Maintaining and supporting the software of an organization is not an easy task, and software maintainers do not currently have access to tools to evaluate strategies for improving the specific activities of software maintenance. This article presents a web-based training approach using a knowledge-based system which helps in locating best practices in a software maintenance capability maturity model (S). The contributions of this paper are: 1) To define a task analysis, 2) to instrument the maturity model with a support tool to aid software maintenance practitioners in locating specific best practices; and 3) to describe the web-based training approach and system overview used by the research team.


Analysis of the popular expected goals (xG) metric in soccer has determined that a (slightly) smaller number of high-quality attempts will likely yield more goals than a slew of low-quality ones. This observation has driven a change in shooting behavior. Teams are passing up on shots from outside the penalty box, in the hopes of generating a better shot closer to goal later on. This paper evaluates whether this decrease in long-distance shots is warranted. Therefore, we propose a novel generic framework to reason about decision-making in soccer by combining techniques from machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI). First, we model how a team has behaved offensively over the course of two seasons by learning a Markov Decision Process (MDP) from event stream data. Second, we use reasoning techniques arising from the AI literature on verification to each team's MDP. This allows us to reason about the efficacy of certain potential decisions by posing counterfactual questions to the MDP. Our key conclusion is that teams would score more goals if they shot more often from outside the penalty box in a small number of team-specific locations. The proposed framework can easily be extended and applied to analyze other aspects of the game.


This thesis describes the model-based development and validation of an advisor for the
maintenance of artificially ventilated patients in the intensive care unit (ICU). The advisor
employs fuzzy logic to represent an anaesthetist's decision making process when adjusting
ventilator settings to safely maintain a patient's blood-gases and airway pressures within desired
limits. Fuzzy logic was chosen for its ability to process both quantitative and qualitative data.
The advisor estimates the changes in inspired O2 fraction (FI02), peak inspiratory pressure
(PEEP), respiratory rate (RR), tidal volume (VT) and inspiratory time (TIN), based upon
observations of the patient state and the current ventilator settings. The advisor rules only
considered the ventilation of patients on volume control (VC) and pressure regulated volume
control (PRVC) modes.
The fuzzy rules were handcrafted using known physiological relationships and from tacit
knowledge elicited during dialogue with anaesthetists. The resulting rules were validated using a
computer-based model of human respiration during artificial ventilation. This model was able to
simulate a wide range of patho-physiology, and using data collected from ICU it was shown that it
could be matched to real clinical data to predict the patient's response to ventilator changes.
Using the model, five simulated patient scenarios were constructed via discussion with an
anaesthetist. These were used to test the closed-loop performance of the prototype advisor and
successfully highlighted divergent behaviour in the rules. By comparing the closed-loop
responses against those produced by an anaesthetist (using the patient-model), rapid rule refinement
was possible. The modified advisor demonstrated better decision matching than the
prototype rules, when compared against the decisions made by the anaesthetist.
The modified advisor was also tested using data collected from ICU. Direct comparisons were
made between the decisions given by an anaesthetist and those produced by the advisor. Good
decision matching was observed in patients with well behaved physiology but soon ran into
difficulties if a patients state was changing rapidly or if the patient observations contained large
measurement errors.


Abstract. In this paper we are presenting our approach and workflow for macro photogrammetry as a complementary method for 3D digitization of polychromies on wood support. Macro photogrammetry can be used for detailed documentation of physical damages in painting layers, underlayers or support. For a better presentation of the context, a selection of typical physical damages, relevant to this study, are explained. Two case studies are presented. Two wooden icons realized with different techniques and presenting different types of physical deterioration. The experiments detailed within this paper represent the first epoch of long-term monitoring of the restoration interventions for each of these icons. All the stage of our workflow is thoroughly detailed with acquisition parameters and processing settings in order to better understand the results and where things can be improved. For each icon a full body photogrammetry process is described, followed by macro photogrammetry on smaller selected areas on the icons' surfaces. Macro magnifications of 1 : 1 and 2 : 1 are obtained by using a dedicated macro lens and extension rings. Lighting setups and focus stacking process are also described for a better understanding of the parameters and settings used.


1. Within-clutch variation in parental investment of yolk lipid (including essential fatty acid composition and fat-soluble vitamin content) was investigated in whole clutches of three eggs of Lesser Black-backed Gulls, Larus fuscus. 2. Although there were no significant differences between years in egg size or yolk mass among eggs of the same laying order, eggs collected in 1996 had significantly lower lipid content than those collected in 1997. 3. In both years third-laid c-eggs were smaller, had a smaller mass of yolk and had significantly lower yolk lipid mass compared with earlier laid (a- and b-) eggs. 4. Despite this lower lipid mass of c-eggs, of the different lipid fractions only cholesterol content of c-eggs was significantly lower than that of a- or b-eggs. 5. Earlier laid eggs had greater amounts of arachidonic acid in the phospholipid and cholesterol ester fractions of yolk lipid, and considerably greater quantities of vitamin E and carotenoids. 6. Conversely, levels of linoleic acid and vitamin A were equalized among eggs of different laying sequence as both these essential nutrients have primarily systemic roles. 7. The probable effect of increased antioxidant (vitamin E and carotenoid) content of earlier-laid eggs is to enhance embryonic and neonatal growth and development, reduce susceptibility to pathogens and increase the ability of the embryo to withstand the oxidative stress associated with hatching. 8. The results suggest that there is maternal bias of essential nutrients to offspring with the highest reproductive value in order to maximize reproductive success.


Obesity is a leading preventable cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide, with increasing prevalence in adults as well as in children [1]. Authorities often view obesity as one of the most serious public health problems of the 21st century. Treating obesity is aimed at decreasing the amount of excessive adipose tissue by changing the balance between intake and expenditure of energy, via physical exercise, diet control or both, under the assumption that if there are no hormonal disorders present, the obesity is caused by calorie consumption that is not counterbalanced by sufficient calorie burn.© 2011 ASME


Defense lawyers whose clients are sentenced to death are virtually guaranteed to be accused of ineffective assistance of counsel. The question is how they will respond. On one hand, lawyers alleged to be ineffective are obligated under Guideline 10.13 of the American Bar Association's Guidelines for the Appointment and Performance of Defense Counsel in Death Penalty Cases to continue to safeguard the interests of their former clients, a duty that includes full cooperation in appropriate legal strategies chosen to pursue the ineffectiveness claim. On the other hand, lawyers who are accused of ineffectiveness often react defensively to the allegation, reflexively viewing the claim of poor performance as an attack on their competency and reputation. To date, there has been no systematic attempt to understand how these tensions are mediated and resolved. To fill this gap, this article explores the psychological dimensions of how lawyers can be expected to respond to allegations of ineffectiveness. Relying on empirical research into "motivated reasoning" – a phenomenon that describes the many ways in which people unconsciously seek out, interpret and recall information in a manner that is consistent with their pre-conceived wishes and desires – it argues that motivation can be expected to play a dominant role in how lawyers respond to alleged ineffectiveness. Further, because motivation exercises its power implicitly, efforts to encourage compliance with the obligations set forth in Guideline 10.13 must take into account the subtle psychological forces that influence behavior. Simply put: motivation matters.


Canada is a popular destination for immigrants and integration of newcomers is an important strategy for its demographic growth and economic development. Food inse‐ curity disproportionately affects newcomers in Canada; unfortunately, they occupy the lower end of the socio‐economic spectrum and thus adding to the burden of socio‐cul‐ tural challenges they are already facing. The high level of food insecurity contributes to poor diet quality and the rise in overweight and other chronic health conditions and therefore to the loss of healthy immigrant status. Indeed, statistical evidence, mainly of the overall Canadian population, demonstrates that individuals living in food‐insecure households have higher rates of self‐reported poor health and chronic health conditions. Therefore, understanding and properly addressing the factors associated with food inse‐ curity among Canadian immigrants is crucial for an adequate integration of immigrants. This chapter suggests that an adequate and appropriate understanding of food security for Canadian immigrant populations requires consideration of a cultural perspective in addition to the traditional individual, household and community levels and the develop‐ ment of measurement tools to capture this cultural dimension. It is proposed the concept of cultural food insecurity encompasses the four usual dimensions (availability, acces‐ sibility, utilization, and stability) and a newly proposed fifth cultural dimension. Future research should aim at validating the relevance of this cultural perspective as a fifth pillar for food security and developing measurement tools to assess it.


The successful invasion of freshwater and coastal lakes of South Africa by the recently introduced thiarid snail Tarebia granifera may be due in part to release from predatory pressure. This study aimed to determine the comparative vulnerability of T. granifera and the widespread native aquatic thiarid Melanoides tuberculata to predation. These species also account for many thiarid invasions in the Americas, Europe and parts of Africa. We quantified the shell crushing resistance of these snails, as well as the maximal shell crushing capability of native freshwater crab predators, Potamonautes sidneyi and P. perlatus. Using an Instron isometric transducer, we showed that Tarebia granifera shells were significantly stronger than Melanoides shells, and exceeded the crushing strength we documented for both potential predatory crabs. The greater shell strength of Tarebia granifera was due to shape, sculpture and thickness characteristics. Shell strength of Melanoides, however, remained within the range of crushing strength of their potential predators. Assuming crushing to be the main form of crab predation on snails, we inferred T. granifera to be less vulnerable to durophagous attack and that their population growth is thus not limited by predation pressure.


This paper aims to present the topological structure design and kinematic analysis of a novel double-ring truss deployable satellite antenna mechanism. First, a new topological scheme and a new rectangular prism deployable linkage unit are proposed for constructing the kind of antenna mechanisms. Second, the degree-of-freedom (DOF) of the deployable unit and the antenna mechanism are analyzed based on structure decomposition and screw theory. Third, the kinematic model of the double-ring truss deployable antenna mechanism is established based on its structural characteristics. Finally, a typical numerical example is used to illustrate the effectiveness of the designed mechanism and the established kinematic model. The new double-ring truss deployable antenna mechanism consists of the units with the better structural symmetry and has simpler joint axis layouts, comparing with the same type of most existing mechanisms.


PURPOSE
Although Monte Carlo methods provide the most accurate radiation dose calculation for medical physics applications, long simulation time remains an impediment for its routine utilization. An electron-photon coupled Monte Carlo code ARCHER - Accelerated Radiation-transport Computations in Heterogeneous EnviRonments - is being developed at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as a software testbed for emerging heterogeneous high performance computers that utilize accelerators such as GPUs. This paper describes the development of ARCHER and demonstrates its preliminary applications involving brachytherapy and radionuclide therapy.

METHODS
In ARCHER code electron transport was modeled by mixed condensed history method. Photon transport was simulated in analog. The energy range handled was from 10 keV to 30 MeV. The hardware platform involved a desktop with Intel Xeon X5660 CPU and six NVIDIA Tesla™ M2090 GPUs. ARCHER was benchmarked against MCNPX and EGSnrc on slab geometry. In addition, we used ARCHER to calculate Ir-192 brachytherapy dose distribution and to evaluate Y-90 beta SAF in radionuclide therapy.

RESULTS
The depth dose and lateral dose at different depth were tallied and compared with results from MCNPX and EGSnrc. For 99.1% of all tested voxels, the dose difference between ARCHER and EGSnrc was within 2% of the dose maximum. In the brachytherapy calculation, all the major organ doses from ARCHER matched those from MCNPX within statistical error. In the Y-90 internal source case, ARCHER gave similar SAF value with MCNPX. Meanwhile the simulation speed was 2∼3 orders faster than MCNPX and EGS using single GPU. With multiple GPUs, the simulation time can be decreased almost linearly.

CONCLUSION
We developed an electron photon coupled Monte Carlo code ARCHER. Preliminary testing showed good agreement with prevailing general purpose codes, while its speed was hundreds even thousands times faster. We are working on applying ARCHER to Brachytherapy and radionuclide therapy and have encouraging preparatory Result.


BACKGROUND: Malnutrition is common among patients with cancer, but little attention is given to its risks and consequences. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study is to assess the nutritional status and identify the factors associated with malnutrition among newly diagnosed patients with cancer. METHODS: Patients admitted with newly diagnosed cancer at a teaching hospital in Malaysia were recruited from January to April 2015. Nutritional status was assessed before treatment initiation, and patients were classified into three categories: well nourished, mild to moderately malnourished, and severely malnourished. Clinical parameters and disease characteristics were also assessed. FINDINGS: A total of 132 pretreatment patients were recruited into the study. About half were severely malnourished. Patients with stage III cancer had the highest prevalence of severe malnourishment. Clinical parameters and disease characteristics were significantly associated with nutritional status. Demographic variables were also statistically significantly associated with severe nutritional status.


The human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 gene (HER2) is amplified in approximately 15%-20% of all breast cancers. This results in overexpression of the HER2 protein, which is associated with worse clinical outcomes in breast cancer patients. Several studies have shown that trastuzumab, a monoclonal antibody that interferes with the HER2/neu receptor, can improve overall survival in patients with HER2-positive breast cancer. Immunohistochemistry (IHC), combined with different methods for in situ hybridization, is currently used for routine assessment of HER2 status. The aim of the present study was to determine whether real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) can serve as a supplementary method for evaluation of HER2 status in primary breast cancer. For this purpose, 145 formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded primary breast cancer samples were tested by real-time PCR amplification of HER2, using amyloid precursor protein as a reference. The results were compared with HER2 status determined by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and IHC. The specificity, sensitivity, and reproducibility of real-time PCR were evaluated, and a comparison of formalin-fixed and fresh-frozen samples was performed. This showed concordance of 93% between real-time PCR and FISH, and 86% between real-time PCR and IHC. Therefore, we suggest that real-time PCR can be a useful supplementary method for assessment of HER2 status.


This article challenges the conventional wisdom that democratic consolidation depresses voter turnout. Studying democratic legislative elections held worldwide between 1939 and 2015, it explains why voting rates in new democracies decrease when they do, how much they decrease, and how this phenomenon relates to the voter decline observed in established democracies. The article identifies three main sources of decline. The first and most important is the democratization context. When democratizations are opposition-driven or occur in electorally mobilized dictatorships, voter turnout is strongly boosted in the founding democratic elections. As time passes and the mobilizing democratization context loses salience, voting rates return to normal, which translates into turnout declines. The second source is the democratic consolidation context, which seems to depress voter turnout only in post-Communist democracies. Finally, new democracies mirror established democracies in that their voting rates have been declining since the 1970s, irrespective of the two previous mechanisms.


This work is concerned with the corrosion fatigue characteristics of full-scale reinforced concrete beams partially submerged in 3.5% NaCl solution or in tapwater of low dissolved salt content. The test beams were subjected to constant amplitude fatigue loading in uni-directional or reverse bending at slow cycle rate of 0.17 Hz and various load levels. The test programme had two stages: Stage I, carried out at relatively high load levels, represented a study of the fatigue-failure phenomenon but also provided guides for the more detailed study undertaken in Stage II which was devoted to low load conditions under which the main steel deterioration process was corrosion. In the latter stage, attention was focused on the monitoring of a number of electrochemical parameters including the corrosion rate. Late in the programme, electrochemical noise technique was also examined.The phenomenon of concrete crack blocking, previously reported in seawater environment, was observed in both test environments in this work. This phenomenon was closely examined and the mechanisms of the formation of deposits and its effects were described. A hypothesis was proposed for the structural behaviour of reinforced concrete beams during cyclic loading in aqueous environment. Failure normally occurred by the fracture of one of the main tensile bars due to fatigue, often followed immediately by yield of the remaining bar and beams collapse. Fracture surfaces were examined under SEM.Corrosion rate measurements involved formidable difficulties which had to be overcome to obtain accurate measurements. For instance, the current interruption technique for the estimation of the IR-drop was developed and established as the most appropriate method for concrete beams with complex reinforcement configuration. Extensive polarisation measurements indicated clear effect of the test condition on the technical variables involved in various measuring techniques (viz potentiodynamic and potentiostatic techniques). Based on these observations a criterion has been proposed to determine the appropriate variables necessary for the accurate determination of the polarisation resistance Rp.The work has demonstrated that the corrosion behaviour of reinforced concrete sustaining dynamic loading is extremely complex, and short term indications could not be used safely for long term predictions. Based on corrosion rate measurements and the actual corrosion pattern observed upon completion of the tests, a concept of a change in corrosion mechanism from a microcell process of relatively low corrosion rates to a macrocell process at much accelerated high rates is introduced. The prevailing mechanism depends on time of exposure, load level and reinforcement details. Results from long running fatigue tests in seawater from concurrent research were incorporated which also support this concept.


We investigated sugar (solute) accumulation in watermelon [Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. et Nakai] fruits at the immature stage. Watermelon plants were grown hydroponically in a nutrient solution with an electric conductivity (EC) of 1.2 S⋅m−1 (EC 1.2 regime); then, fruits were harvested 21 days after anthesis. The flesh of each fruit was divided into seven different parts to measure the sugar concentration and water status. The results indicated that the sugar concentration was higher in the center of the fruit flesh than in the other parts, such as around the pericarp. Moreover, the lowest osmotic potential was observed in the center of the fruit flesh, indicating solute accumulation. Concurrently, when the transport of photosynthates in the fruit was investigated using the 13CO2 isotope, the active solute accumulation in the center of the fruit flesh was observed, supporting the observed sugar accumulation in this part. Consequently, this active solute accumulation and distribution occurred in the center of the watermelon fruit, as demonstrated by the data of osmotic pressure and sugar concentration and supported by the observed active photosynthate accumulation. Additionally, we investigated these measurements by increasing the nutrient solution concentration 14 days after anthesis. As a result, fruit growth was slightly inhibited using the EC 3.0 regime, and 13C translocation was also inhibited in the fruit, especially in its center. Even though the sugar concentration and osmotic pressure of the fruit flesh were not clearly affected by high nutrient solution concentrations, the cell turgor of the central flesh of the fruit grown using the EC 2.0 and 3.0 regimes was lower than that of the fruit grown using the EC 1.2 regime. Treatments with higher nutrient concentrations might have negative effects on immature watermelon fruits.


The challenge of dynamic environment requires managing business processes with the ability to adapt to changes and to collaborate in activities. As a promising technology to process management, agent technology with its flexible, distributed and intelligent features has been studied in numerous studies. However, most existing approaches are special and ad-hoc. They have not looked much into the nature and characteristic of agents and their rational behaviours in process management. This paper intends to investigate the mechanism how to build intelligent agents in dynamic process management from the view of knowledge engineering. An agent-oriented approach to dynamic process management with its knowledge engineering is discussed, and a three-layer knowledge model of intelligent agents is proposed. By exploiting the knowledge involved in dynamic process management and transforming it into a computational model, this work provides an essential support of developing agent-oriented approaches to business process management.


Objective: To evaluate the effect of synergistic mode of professional nursing upon the clinical efficacy and quality of life of patients diagnosed with tubercular meningitis.
Methods: In total, 120 adult patients with tubercular meningitis admitted to Hebei Chest Hospital between June 2014 and December 2015 were randomly assigned into the observation and control groups (n=60). Clinical data were matched and retrospectively analyzed. In the control group, patients received conventional nursing care, and their counterparts were subject to synergistic mode of professional nursing care. All participants were followed up for 1 y. Clinical efficacy and quality of life was statistically compared between two groups.
Results: Statistical analysis demonstrated that the overall effective rate in the control group was 66.7%, significantly lower when compared with 86.7% in the observation group. The scoring of multiple parameters related to the quality of life in the observation group was significantly higher when compared with that in the control group (all P<0.05).
Conclusion: The synergistic mode of professional nursing service integrates health education, psychological consultation, diet guidance and nursing measures after hospital discharge. Implementation of this mode can significantly enhance the clinical efficacy and quality of life of patients diagnosed with tubercular meningitis.


An efficient parsing technique for HPSG is presented. Recent research has shown that supertagging is a key technology to improve both the speed and accuracy of lexicalized grammar parsing. We show that further speed-up is possible by eliminating non-parsable lexical entry sequences from the output of the supertagger. The parsability of the lexical entry sequences is tested by a technique called CFG-filtering, where a CFG that approximates the HPSG is used to test it. Those lexical entry sequences that passed through the CFG-filter are combined into parse trees by using a simple shift-reduce parsing algorithm, in which structural ambiguities are resolved using a classifier and all the syntactic constraints represented in the original grammar are checked. Experimental results show that our system gives comparable accuracy with a speed-up by a factor of six (30 msec/sentence) compared with the best published result using the same grammar.


A new, simple, precise, and accurate HPTLC method for simultaneous quantitation of olmesartan medoxomil (OLME) and amlodipine besylate (AMLO) as the bulk drug and in tablet dosage forms have been developed. Chromatographic separation of the drugs was performed on aluminum plates precoated with silica gel 60 F254 as the stationary phase and the solvent system consisted of Chloroform: Methanol: Toluene: Acetic acid (8:1:1:0.1 v/v/v/v). Densitometric evaluation of the separated zones was performed at 254 nm. The two drugs were satisfactorily resolved with RF values of 0.45 ± 0.02 and 0.15 ± 0.02 for OLME and AMLO, respectively. The accuracy and reliability of the method was assessed by evaluation of linearity (800-5600ng spot-1 for OLME and 200-1400ng spot-1 for AMLO), precision (intra-day RSD 0.65–1.33% and inter-day RSD 0.97–1.45% for OLME, and intra-day RSD0.83–1.35% and inter-day RSD1.42–1.68% for AMLO), accuracy for OLME and AMLO afford 98-102%, and specificity, in accordance with ICH guidelines.


We present a study of three-dimensional Lagrangian coherent structures (LCS) near the Hong Kong International Airport and relate to previous developments of two-dimensional (2D) LCS analyses. The LCS are contrasted among three independent models and against 2D coherent Doppler light detection and ranging (LIDAR) data. Addition of the velocity information perpendicular to the LIDAR scanning cone helps solidify flow structures inferred from previous studies; contrast among models reveals the intramodel variability; and comparison with flight data evaluates the performance among models in terms of Lagrangian analyses. We find that, while the three models and the LIDAR do recover similar features of the windshear experienced by a landing aircraft (along the landing trajectory), their Lagrangian signatures over the entire domain are quite different—a portion of each numerical model captures certain features resembling those LCS extracted from independent 2D LIDAR analyses based on observations.


The Web of Linked Data is growing and currently consists of several hundred interconnected data sources altogether serving over 25 billion RDF triples to the Web. What has hampered the exploitation of this global dataspace up till now is the lack of an open-source Linked Data crawler which can be employed by Linked Data applications to localize (parts of) the dataspace for further processing. With LDSpider, we are closing this gap in the landscape of publicly available Linked Data tools. LDSpider traverses the Web of Linked Data by following RDF links between data items, it supports different crawling strategies and allows crawled data to be stored either in files or in an RDF store.


This article engages the EU's approach to science diplomacy through the case of the Swiss 'mass migration initiative' in 2014. The legislative proposal, legally binding through its adoption by Swiss voters, obliged the Swiss government to take sovereign control over migration management, thereby preventing the ratification of the 'Croatia Protocol' that would have, through the EU regime of free movement of persons and the bilateral treaties between Switzerland and the EU, granted Croatian citizens free movement to Switzerland. As the refusal to ratify the protocol effectively undercut the bilateral treaties, the EU Commission in turn used the Swiss participation in the European research funding framework Horizon 2020 as leverage to enforce Swiss compliance to the bilateral treaties. This eventually compelled the Swiss government to ratify the Croatia Protocol despite the domestic legal clash with the 'mass migration initiative' proposal. Conceptually, the article turns the attention to contradicting policy goals in an emerging EU science diplomacy framework, and shows how science diplomacy in the conflict around the Croatia Protocol got stuck between a liberal 'carrot' and a realist 'stick'.


The objective of this research is to develop a methodology for incorporating cost models based on manufacturing process information within multidisciplinary design optimisation problems. Although cost considerations are critical in product design and development, cost models are rarely used in opti¬mising designs mainly due to the inability in acquiring accurate manufacturing cost estimates in early design. In this thesis, we present a new technique for embedding manufacturing process knowledge within a modelling tool which can be utilised to provide accurate cost estimates in design optimisation applications. We use the proposed cost estimating technique for optimising the geometry of two components from a Rolls-Royce civil aircraft engine by designing a sequential workflow consisting of CAD, analysis and cost models along with optimisation algorithms within an integrated system. Initial results from the first component (which is treated as a model problem) show that significant cost savings as well as shape changes can be achieved by using an accurate cost model in the objective function. The second case study dealt with is the shape optimisation of the initial 2D profile of a high pressure turbine disc. We develop highly flexible geometry parameterisation schemes to accurately represent manufacturing, supplier and inspection constraints inherent in the cost model for the disc. Significant differences in the geometry are achieved when the design is optimised for low manufacturing cost as compared to traditional weight minimisation leading to the second part of this thesis that deals with the hypothesis that low volume and low cost are conflicting attributes. Multiobjective optimisation approaches are then utilised to generate a Pareto front of designs with optimum combinations of both objectives. We then proceed to list the obstacles which prevent a straightforward application of multiobjective techniques to sophisticated design problems and propose modifications which enhance the quality of results achieved. Finally, a flowchart detailing the design optimisation framework used in this thesis is described for the benefit of future applications. We then conclude by stating the salient contributions of this work and interesting avenues of future research that can be pursued.


Written by one of the foremost scholars of African art and featuring 129 color images, Postcolonial Modernism chronicles the emergence of artistic modernism in Nigeria in the heady years surrounding political independence in 1960, before the outbreak of civil war in 1967. Chika Okeke-Agulu traces the artistic, intellectual, and critical networks in several Nigerian cities. Zaria is particularly important, because it was there, at the Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology, that a group of students formed the Art Society and inaugurated postcolonial modernism in Nigeria. As Okeke-Agulu explains, their works show both a deep connection with local artistic traditions and the stylistic sophistication that we have come to associate with twentieth-century modernist practices. He explores how these young Nigerian artists were inspired by the rhetoric and ideologies of decolonization and nationalism in the early- and mid-twentieth century and, later, by advocates of negritude and pan-Africanism. They translated the experiences of decolonization into a distinctive "postcolonial modernism" that has continued to inform the work of major Nigerian artists.


The kings of Aksum formally became Christian during the second quarter of the 4th century, making Ethiopia the second country in the world (after Armenia) officially to adopt the new faith. This landmark book is the first to integrate historical, archaeological, and art-historical evidence to provide a comprehensive account of Ethiopian Christian civilization and its churches--both built and rock-hewn--from the Aksumite period to the 13th century. David W. Phillipson, a foremost authority on Ethiopia's archaeology, situates these churches within the development of Ethiopian society, illuminating the exceptional continuity of the country's Christian civilization. He offers a fresh view of the processes which gave rise to this unique African culture as well as the most detailed treatment of the rock-hewn churches at Lalibela World Heritage Site ever published. Abundantly illustrated, filled with original insights, and incorporating new chronological findings, this book will be of enormous interest to a wide international circle of students, scholars, and travelers.


Abstract Farming practices of Kappaphycus seaweed planters using the multiple raft, long-line method were assessed in three major cultivation areas of Zamboanga del Sur, Mindanao. Results show that this cultivation method is appropriate in deeper waters (> 10 m deep). Family labor (6–70 years old) is usually used in the selection and preparation of 'cuttings', unloading of newly harvested crops and drying of seaweeds, while preparation and installation of the raft, tying of 'cuttings' and harvesting, hired labor is needed. Though the multiple raft, long-line method of cultivating Kappaphycus is expensive (PhP 45,742 to PhP 49,785) based on a 500 m2 raft, return on investment (ROI) is high and the payback period is short. Of the three areas assessed, Maasin had the highest ROI (218%), followed by Tictauan Island (212%), and finally Taluksangay (79%). Consequently, the payback period followed the same order. Seaweed farming in these areas showed a tremendous impact on the quality life of the fisher folk and contributed a high revenue to the national economy.


The increasing availability of digital health records should ideally improve accountability in healthcare. In this context, the study of predictive modeling of healthcare costs forms a foundation for accountable care, at both population and individual patient-level care. In this research we use machine learning algorithms for accurate predictions of healthcare costs on publicly available claims and survey data. Specifically, we investigate the use of the regression trees, M5 model trees and random forest, to predict healthcare costs of individual patients given their prior medical (and cost) history. Overall, three observations showcase the utility of our research: (a) prior healthcare cost alone can be a good indicator for future healthcare cost, (b) M5 model tree technique led to very accurate future healthcare cost prediction, and (c) although state-of-the-art machine learning algorithms are also limited by skewed cost distributions in healthcare, for a large fraction (75%) of population, we were able to predict with higher accuracy using these algorithms. In particular, using M5 model trees we were able to accurately predict costs within less than $125 for 75% of the population when compared to prior techniques. Since models for predicting healthcare costs are often used to ascertain overall population health, our work is useful to evaluate future costs for large segments of disease populations with reasonably low error as demonstrated in our results on real-world publicly available datasets.


We estimated the sensitivity of terrestrial ecosystem respiration to air temperature across 60 FLUXNET sites by minimizing the effect of seasonally confounding factors. Graf et al. now offer a theoretical perspective for an extension of our methodology. However, their critique does not change our main findings and, given the currently available observational techniques, may even impede a comparison across ecosystems.


It is stated that in the Russian Federation, Kazakhstan as well as throughout the world the crisis of personal identity has become a big problem due to globalization in the society and multifaceted participation of people in social processes. The article deals with the analysis of the concept of professional identity of the student on the basis of participative approach. Professional identity is viewed as the main criterion and result of the student's successful adaption to the learning environment, professional and creative activities as well as to changing social and cultural conditions. The authors advocate for the proposition that the professional identity being the element of social and cultural identity allows students to overcome the state of anxiety, lack of confidence, tension, and dissatisfaction presenting the obstacles to the process of adaption to the changing conditions in the globalised world. The authors assume that the study of the stated phenomenon of professional identification on the theoretical and empirical levels will allow implementing innovational technologies of coherent cooperation of social and cultural environment of the higher educational institution having impact on the professional growth of students. Professional identity is presented within the framework of both individuality and group.


Campbell Hall is an independent, coeducational K-12 day school in Los Angeles that sits on a triangular-shaped piece of land between the Ventura Freeway and the Tujunga Wash, a Los Angeles river tributary.  Having increased its population to over 1,000 students, the school recently acquired land to expand the campus. Gensler and its multidisciplinary design team helped Campbell Hall reconfigure the campus' existing traffic circulation to improve safety and encourage walking.  The team also developed a holistic, phased plan for future building development.  The first building phase, and the primary topic of this article, included a new 175-car, two-level underground parking structure and a 37,000 square foot two-story Arts & Education Center. A future Phase II will include a 650-seat theater immediately adjacent to the Center; and finally, a 45,000 square foot gymnasium will cap off Phase III. This design case will discuss the process that led to the Arts & Education Center design in general, as well as how the design team approached several specific project issues. First, the team faced a design program that exceeded the project's site, whose vehicular access was problematic.  Secondly, a significant existing feature that impacted many of team's design decisions was the bar-shaped classroom buildings designed by noted mid-century modernist architect A. Quincy Jones.  The shape and arrangement of these buildings formed the basis of the Arts & Education Center's "interstitial" outdoor spaces—flexible learning, socializing and circulation areas that promote informal interaction among students and faculty while forming a physical and symbolic link between the new and old parts of the campus.  Third, the project's landscape design was ultimately shaped by "value engineering" or cost cutting measures. Through the strength of multidisciplinary collaboration, the design team overcame these hurdles and produced a solution yielding a safer, denser campus with a greater sense of community than had existed before.


Atmospheric remote sensing has played a pivotal role in the increasingly sophisticated representation of clouds in the numerical models used to assess global and regional climate change. This has been accomplished because the underlying bulk cloud properties can be derived from a statistical analysis of the returned microwave signals scattered by a diverse ensemble comprised of numerous cloud hydrometeors. A new Doppler radar, previously used to track small debris particles shed from the NASA space shuttle during launch, is shown to also have the capacity to detect individual cloud hydrometeors in the free atmosphere. Similar to the traces left behind on film by subatomic particles, larger cloud particles were observed to leave a well-defined radar signature (or streak), which could be analyzed to infer the underlying particle properties. We examine the unique radar and environmental conditions leading to the formation of the radar streaks and develop a theoretical framework which reveals the regulating role of the background radar reflectivity on their observed characteristics. This main expectation from theory is examined through an analysis of the drop properties inferred from radar and in situ aircraft measurements obtained in two contrasting regions of an observed multicellular storm system. The observations are placed in context of the parent storm circulation through the use of the radar's unique high-resolution waveforms, which allow the bulk and individual hydrometeor properties to be inferred at the same time.


The American criminal justice system is at a turning point. For decades, as the rate of incarceration exploded, observers of the American criminal justice system criticized the enormous discretion wielded by key actors, particularly police and prosecutors, and the lack of empirical evidence that has informed that discretion. Since the 1967 President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice report, The Challenge of Crime in a Free Society, there has been broad awareness that the criminal system lacks empirically informed approaches. That report unsuccessfully called for a national research strategy, with an independent national criminal justice research institute, along the lines of the National Institutes of Health. Following the report, police agencies continued to base their practices on conventional wisdom or "tried-and-true" methods. Prosecutors retained broad discretion, relying on their judgment as lawyers and elected officials. Lawmakers enacted new criminal statutes, largely reacting to the politics of crime and not empirical evidence concerning what measures make for effective crime control. Judges interpreted traditional constitutional criminal procedure rules in deference to the exercise of discretion by each of these actors. Very little data existed to test what worked for police or prosecutors, or to protect individual defendants' rights. Today, criminal justice actors are embracing more data-driven approaches. This raises new opportunities and challenges. A deep concern is whether the same institutional arrangements that produced mass incarceration will use data collection to maintain the status quo. Important concerns remain with relying on data, selectively produced and used by officials and analyzed in nontransparent ways, without sufficient review by the larger research and policy community. Efforts to evaluate research in a systematic and interdisciplinary fashion in the field of medicine offer useful lessons for criminal justice. This Article explores the opportunities and concerns raised by a law, policy, and research agenda for an evidence-informed criminal justice system.


ABSTRACT Being able to accurately spell in Standard English requires efficient coordination of multiple knowledge sources. Therefore, spelling is a word-formation problem-solving process that can be difficult to learn. The present study uses Triple Word Form Theory as a conceptual framework to analyse Standard English spelling performance levels of Australian primary school students (N = 1198) in Years 3–6. Systematic linguistic error analysis and testing using a factorial multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) revealed significant year-level differences in phonological, orthographic and morphological scores; however, the effects for gender and the interaction of year level and gender were non-significant. The results suggest that learning to spell may not proceed in developmental stages or phases and that explicit instruction in phonological, orthographic and morphological components of the language is needed in the middle and upper primary school years, and potentially beyond. The findings highlight a need for teachers to be informed of the specific linguistic skills that individual students bring to the classroom and to be able to identify instructional priorities among phonology, orthography and morphology.


Most information retrieval technologies are designed to facilitate information discovery. However, much knowledge work involves finding and re-using previously seen information. We describe the design and evaluation of a system, called Stuff I've Seen (SIS), that facilitates information re-use. This is accomplished in two ways. First, the system provides a unified index of information that a person has seen, whether it was seen as email, web page, document, appointment, etc. Second, because the information has been seen before, rich contextual cues can be used in the search interface. The system has been used internally by more than 230 employees. We report on both qualitative and quantitative aspects of system use. Initial findings show that time and people are important retrieval cues. Users find information more easily using SIS, and use other search tools less frequently after installation.


ABSTRACT The aim of this study is to provide understanding of microgravity effects on important food-borne bacteria, Escherichia coli O157:H7 ATCC 35150, ATCC 43889, and ATCC 43895, cultured in nutrient-rich or minimal medium. Physiological characteristics, such as growth (measured by optical density and plating), cell morphology, and pH, were monitored under low-shear modeled microgravity (LSMMG; space conditions) and normal gravity (NG; Earth conditions). In nutrient-rich medium, all strains except ATCC 35150 showed significantly higher optical density after 6 h of culture under LSMMG conditions than under NG conditions (P < 0.05). LSMMG-cultured cells were approximately 1.8 times larger than NG-cultured cells at 24 h; therefore, it was assumed that the increase in optical density was due to the size of individual cells rather than an increase in the cell population. The higher pH of the NG cultures relative to that of the LSMMG cultures suggests that nitrogen metabolism was slower in the latter. After 24 h of culturing in minimal media, LSMMG-cultured cells had an optical density 1.3 times higher than that of NG-cultured cells; thus, the higher optical density in the LSMMG cultures may be due to an increase in both cell size and number. Since bacteria actively grew under LSMMG conditions in minimal medium despite the lower pH, it is of some concern that LSMMG-cultured E. coli O157:H7 may be able to adapt well to acidic environments. These changes may be caused by changes in nutrient metabolism under LSMMG conditions, although this needs to be demonstrated in future studies.


In a recent cricket match, the South African wicketkeeper, Mark Boucher, suffered a lacerated sclera when hit by a ricocheting bail,1 and the irreparable vision loss, photophobia and risk of further damage forced him to retire immediately from international cricket.2 Commentators have referred to the incident as a freak accident3 and that Boucher was unlucky 4; however, he is at least the third international wicketkeeper in the last 25 years to have their career cut short by an eye injury. English wicketkeeper Paul Downton was hit in the eye by a bail in 1990 and the consequential decrease in depth perception forced him to retire.5 Indian wicketkeeper Saba Karim was hit in the eye by a ball in 2000, and he suffered a similar fate.6 These international cases may represent the tip of an iceberg considering that wicketkeepers play in each of the many cricket matches played throughout the world. During his international career spanning 467 matches, Mark Boucher was exposed to only 112 incidences where he was wicketkeeping at the moment a batsman was bowled by a spin bowler. This highlights that, although his overall chance of being exposed to incidences where a spin bowler dismissed the batsman by hitting the stumps was relatively low (0.25% of balls bowled by a spin bowler did so), the chance of being hit in the eye by a bail when this did occur might actually be higher than one may intuitively expect. This risk is exacerbated by the fact that the wicketkeeper's key role is to concentrate on the ball rather than the bails. Given the severity of the eye injuries experienced by Boucher and the other international wicketkeepers, prevention would clearly be valuable. Here, we briefly address three potential solutions to protect the eyes of wicketkeepers: …


Amyloid beta-peptide is generated by two sequential proteolytic cleavages mediated by beta-secretase (BACE) and gamma-secretase. BACE was recently identified as a membrane-associated aspartyl protease. We have now analyzed the maturation and pro-peptide cleavage of BACE. Pulse-chase experiments revealed that BACE is post-translationally modified during transport to the cell surface, which can be monitored by a significant increase in the molecular mass. The increase in molecular mass is caused by complex N-glycosylation. Treatment with tunicamycin and N-glycosidase F led to a BACE derivative with a molecular weight corresponding to an unmodified version. In contrast, the mature form of BACE was resistant to endoglycosidase H treatment. The cytoplasmic tail of BACE was required for efficient maturation and trafficking through the Golgi; a BACE variant lacking the cytoplasmic tail undergoes inefficient maturation. In contrast a soluble BACE variant that does not contain a membrane anchor matured more rapidly than full-length BACE. Pro-BACE was predominantly located within the endoplasmic reticulum. Pro-peptide cleavage occurred immediately before full maturation and trafficking through the Golgi.


Fine aggregates used in the ready-mixed concrete industry in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, are mainly blended of natural silica sand and manufactured sand obtained from crushed limestone. Fine materials such as clay, silt, or dust content, are one of the most important defects of aggregate in Riyadh, particularly in crushed sand. In ready-mixed concrete plants and independent laboratories in Riyadh, the practice of determining the amounts of fine materials in fine aggregates is either by American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) C 117 (materials finer than No. 200 sieve by washing) or ASTM D 2419 (sand equivalent test) and sometimes both. In this paper, the relationship between the sand equivalent and materials finer than No. 200 sieve tests was investigated. A total of 100 samples of natural silica sand and 100 samples of crushed sand were collected from the stockpiles of different ready-mixed concrete plants in Riyadh. Also, the effects of silica and crushed sands, using different values of sand equivalent and passing No. 200 sieve, on water demands of mortar were investigated. A strong correlation was found between the sand equivalent and fine materials passing No. 200 for silica sand, whereas there was no correlation for the crushed sand. This indicates that the amount of fine materials in silica sand can be determined by either the passing No. 200 sieve or sand equivalent test. However, the sand equivalent test can be misleading in crushed sand. For the same workability, the results indicated that there was a direct relation between water demand and the amount of materials passing No. 200 sieve for both silica and crushed sands. However, there was a good correlation between water demand and sand equivalent for only silica sand.


Abstract : The U.S. Army plans to spend about an additional $34 billion in 2013 dollars to develop and purchase a new armored vehicle for its infantry, the Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV). The GCV is supposed to operate across the full range of potential conflict types while providing unprecedented levels of protection for the full squad of soldiers it will carry. To achieve the Army's goals, the GCV would weigh from 64 to 84 tons, making it the biggest and heaviest infantry fighting vehicle that the Army has ever fielded--as big as the M1 Abrams tank and twice as heavy as the Bradley, the Army's current infantry fighting vehicle. Designing such a vehicle presents important technical challenges. To aid the Congress in its oversight of the GCV program, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has prepared two reports. This CBO working paper provides background information for understanding the technical challenges that the program faces. It presents the Army's technical goals for the GCV program, examines the threats that the vehicle could face in combat, and explores the variety of approaches that vehicle designers can take to protect the vehicle and its passengers and to meet the Army's other requirements. A companion report, The Army's Ground Combat Vehicle Program and Alternatives, examines the GCV program (including the number of vehicles, the production schedule, and the cost) and alternative approaches that the Army could take that would cost less but still provide substantial improvements over today's fleet of combat vehicles.


Engagement in preschool predicts children's development, learning and wellbeing in later school years. The time children engage in activities and social interactions is conditional for pre-school inclusion. Engagement is part of the construct participation, which is determined by attendance and involvement. Two suggested underlying dimensions of engagement had been identified as essential when assessing children's participation in preschool activities. As engagement is a key question in inclusion of all children, and preschool becomes a common context for them, it is increasingly important to understand the concept of engagement in those settings. In Sweden most children attend preschool but children in need of special support tend not to receive enough support for their everyday functioning. This study aimed to conceptualize child engagement in preschool with ICF-CY as a framework to clarify core and developmental engagement dimensions included in Child Engagement Questionnaire (CEQ). The content of CEQ was identified through linking processes based on ICF linking rules with some exceptions. Specific challenges and solutions were acknowledged. To identify engagement dimensions in the ICF-CY, CEQ items related to ICF-CY chapters were integrated in the two-dimensional model of engagement. Findings showed that engagement measured for preschool ages was mostly related to Learning and Applying knowledge belonging to Activities and Participation but the linkage detected missing areas. Broader perspectives of children's everyday functioning requires extended assessment with consideration to mutual influences between activites, participation, body functions, and contextual factors. Related to core and developmental engagement, findings highlight the importance for preschool staff to pay attention to how children do things, not only what they do. Activities related to core engagement include basic skills; those related to developmental engagement set higher demands on the child. Linking challenges related to preschool context were not consistent with those reported for child health. Using the ICF-CY as a framework with a common language may lead to open discussions among persons around the child, clarify the different perspectives and knowledges of the persons, and facilitate decisions on how to implement support to a child in everyday life situations in preschool and at home.


OBJECTIVE
The study examines diabetes attitude differences by treatment modality (insulin vs. no insulin), race/ethnicity, and the interaction of these two variables for people with type 2 diabetes.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS
Data were collected with the Diabetes Care Profile (DCP), an instrument that assesses psychosocial factors related to diabetes. Participants (n = 672) were recruited in the metropolitan Detroit, Michigan, area from 1993 to 1996. A total of 68% of these participants were African-Americans with type 2 diabetes, and 32% were Caucasians with type 2 diabetes. Analyses of covariance were performed to examine the effects of race/ethnicity, treatment, and their interaction for each DCP scale.

RESULTS
The four patient categories (two ethnicities by two treatment modalities) differed by age, years with diabetes, education, and sex distribution. Treatment modality had a significant effect on 6 of the 16 DCP scales (Control, Social and Personal Factors, Positive Attitude, Negative Attitude, Self-Care Ability, and Exercise Barriers). Ethnicity was a significant effect for three scales (Control, Support, and Support Attitudes). The interaction of race/ethnicity and treatment modality was a significant effect for two related attitude scales (Positive Attitude and Negative Attitude).

CONCLUSIONS
The results suggest that attitudes toward diabetes are similar for African-American and Caucasian patients with type 2 diabetes. The results also suggest that treatment modality has a greater effect on attitudes than either race/ethnicity or the interaction effect. However, Caucasian patients using insulin differed from the other patient groups by having the least positive and the most negative attitudes regarding diabetes.


We recognize knowledge management as a socio-technical phenomenon where the basic social constructs such as person, team, and organization require support from information communication technology applications. In an era of business transition, the effective management of knowledge is proposed as a strategy that effectively utilizes organizational intangible assets. Knowledge Management Strategies: A Handbook of Applied Technologies provides practical guidelines for the implementation of knowledge management strategies through the discussion of specific technologies and taxonomies of knowledge management applications. A critical mass of some of the most sough-after research of our information technology and business world, this book proves an essential addition to every reference library collection.


Side Channel Attack (SCA) exploits the physical information leakage (such as electromagnetic emanation) from a device that performs some cryptographic operation and poses a serious threat in the present IoT era. In the last couple of decades, there have been a large body of research works dedicated to streamlining/improving the attacks or suggesting novel countermeasures to thwart those attacks. However, a closer inspection reveals that a vast majority of published works in the context of symmetric key cryptography is dedicated to block ciphers (or similar designs). This leaves the problem for the stream ciphers wide open. There are few works here and there, but a generic and systematic framework appears to be missing from the literature. Motivating by this observation, we explore the problem of SCA on stream ciphers with extensive details. Loosely speaking, our work picks up from the recent TCHES'21 paper by Sim, Bhasin and Jap. We present a framework by extending the efficiency of their analysis, bringing it into more practical terms.In a nutshell, we develop an automated framework that works as a generic tool to perform SCA on any stream cipher or a similar structure. It combines multiple automated tools (such as, machine learning, mixed integer linear programming, satisfiability modulo theory) under one umbrella, and acts as an end-to-end solution (taking side channel traces and returning the secret key). Our framework efficiently handles noisy data and works even after the cipher reaches its pseudo-random state. We demonstrate its efficacy by taking electromagnetic traces from a 32-bit software platform and performing SCA on a high-profile stream cipher, TRIVIUM, which is also an ISO standard. We show pragmatic key recovery on TRIVIUM during its initialization and also after the cipher reaches its pseudo-random state (i.e., producing key-stream).


Simulations of complex physical systems are typically realized by discretizing partial differential equations (PDEs) on unstructured meshes. While neural networks have recently been explored for surrogate and reduced order modeling of PDE solutions, they often ignore interactions or hierarchical relations between input features, and process them as concatenated mixtures. We generalize the idea of conditional parameterization -- using trainable functions of input parameters to generate the weights of a neural network, and extend them in a flexible way to encode critical information. Inspired by discretized numerical methods, choices of the parameters include physical quantities and mesh topology features. The functional relation between the modeled features and the parameters is built into the network architecture. The method is implemented on different networks and applied to frontier scientific machine learning tasks including the discovery of unmodeled physics, super-resolution of coarse fields, and the simulation of unsteady flows with chemical reactions. The results show that the conditionally-parameterized networks provide superior performance compared to their traditional counterparts. The CP-GNet - an architecture that can be trained on very few data snapshots - is proposed as the first deep learning model capable of standalone prediction of reacting flows on irregular meshes.


The Keck Laboratory for the Analysis of Vision Motion is a state-of-the art multi-perspective imaging laboratory recently established at the University of Maryland. In this paper, we describe the design and architecture of the lab, that is currently being used to support many computer vision studies. In particular, we discuss: camera synchronization, image resolution analysis, image noise analysis, stereo error analysis, video capture, lighting, calibration hardware.