Renewable energy resources, notably wind power, are expected to provide considerable portion of the world energy requirements in the near future. Many system operators around the world are challenged by the problems associated with integrating these intermittent resources into the grid. As one of the potential solutions, demand response (DR) is expected to play a major role for mitigating integration issues of intermittent renewable energy resources. In this context, this paper proposes a DR program which helps to integrate wind power by reshaping the load of the system. The DR program provides a framework to procure load reduction from DR resources in the wholesale energy market. The participants in the program submit their offer packages to provide load reduction in the day-ahead energy market. A day-ahead network-constrained market clearing formulation is also proposed which considers the load reduction provided by the DR program participants as an energy market commodity. The proposed method, which is in the mixed-integer linear programming format, determines commitment state of generating units, schedules the energy and spinning reserve provided by generating units, and schedules the load reduction provided by the DR program participants. To reveal the features of the proposed method, several numerical studies are conducted on the IEEE-RTS. The results presented indicate that integrating load reduction in the energy market provides a powerful tool to selectively modify the system load to support wind power integration, while making significant economic and technical benefits for the system.


Turkish government published a 'Regulation on Traditional and Complementary Medical Therapies' (CAM) in 2014. We aimed at assessing the knowledge and the thoughts of medical students and faculty members of BVUSOM on this regulation of Ministry of Health. All the students and faculty members were included in the research (in 2017-2018 academic year). Five hundred thirteen medical faculty students (68.8% of all students) and 90 teaching faculty members (57.7% of the all faculty members) participated to the study. One hundred and forty-eight (28.8%) of the students and 57 (63.3%) of faculty members reported that they know the legal regulation. At least one of the treatment methods suggested in the regulation was applied by 83 (16.2%) of the students. Four hundred (77.9%) of the students and 61 (67.8%) of the faculty members would like to be educated well enough so that they could treat their patients in any area of CAM. Medical students were more likely to show interest in receiving a training in CAM techniques than faculty members (p=0.03). As CAM is still very new area of interest in Turkey. There are several strategies to integrate it to current medical education, including: embedding lectures, organizing multidisciplinary meetings, scheduling elective rotations and informing faculty members.


Growth in eBusiness has led to an increase in the research of online business models characterized into two broad areas: goods and services provider models and collaborative models. Collaborative commerce marketplace (CCM) is vital in eBusiness models however it is only discussed in relation to the management of parts of the supply chain and not the system as a whole in the academic literature (Hodge and Cagle 2004). This paper proposes a comprehensive, visual business model for CCM with an emphasis on the interactions between core business competency to attain organizational objectives. An emerging competency of CCM such as partner/supplier identification is used to illustrate the versatility of the proposed model.


The Internet is facilitating new ways of designing, manufacturing and distributing products.
This has led to a more democratic, open-design approach and has resulted in users having
more involvement in the design process than ever before. In particular, designers are shifting
away from designing a finished product, to either designing components, a template or a set
of tools which the user interacts with to finalise and/or personalise the product. This way of
approaching design is still in its infancy. The authors' have termed this design framework, as it
applies within product design, 'user-completion'.
The authors' propose that the user-completion framework operates at the intersection
between mass-customisation and craft. The skills and knowledge sets associated with masscustomisation
and craft, presents challenges and opportunities for both the designer and user.
The user-completion framework enables users to personalise the end product and therefore
requires designers to shift their conceptual approach, by handing-over more design control to
the users. It is hoped that by doing so, and by engaging the user in the product's completion, a
stronger emotional bond will be generated between the user and the final product. This design
process also anticipates an added value and a longer life cycle for the product.
The 'user-completion' framework proposed by the authors will be outlined, and supported with
the three case study examples of work. Through these case studies the value of users being
involved in the design process is explored, as is their engagement with craft and their perceived
emotional value of the resulting products.


What we believe to be a new rigorous theoretical approach to the refraction of light at the interface of twodimensional photonic crystals is developed. The proposed method is based on the Dirichlet-to-Neumann (DtN) approach which consists of computing exactly the DtN operators associated with each half-space on both sides of the interface. It fully uses the properties of periodic optical media and takes naturally into account both the evanescent and propagative Bloch modes. Contrary to other proposed approaches, the new method is not based on modal expansions and their complicated electromagnetic field matching at the interfaces, but uses an operator vision. Intrinsically, each operator represents the effect along the interface of a particular medium independently of any medium and/or material that is placed in the other half-space. At the end, the whole computational effort to estimate DtN operators is restricted to the computation of a finite element problem in the periodicity cell of the photonic crystal. Field computations in arbitrary large part of the optical media can be then performed with a negligible computational effort. The method has been applied to the case of incoming plane waves as well as Gaussian beam profiles. It has successfully been compared with the standard plane wave expansion method and finite difference time domain (FDTD) simulations in the case of negative refraction, strongly dispersive, and lensing configurations. The proposed approach is amenable to the generalized study of dispersive phenomena in planar photonic crystals by a rigorous modeling approach avoiding the main drawbacks of FDTD. It is amenable to the study of arbitrary cascaded periodic optical media and photonic crystal heterostructures. © 2010 Optical Society of America.


Monolithic poly(butyl methacrylate-co-ethylene dimethacrylate) columns have been prepared in capillaries ranging in inner diameter from 5 to 75 microm using thermally initiated free-radical polymerization of a mixture of butyl methacrylate, ethylene dimethacrylate, and porogens at different temperatures. Scanning electron microscopy and the measurement of hydrodynamic properties reveal that the downward scalability of the monolithic columns is greatly affected by the confinement effect of the capillary wall resulting from the decreased volume-to-surface ratio as the capillary diameter is decreased. The downscaling process is affected most by the polymerization temperature, the diffusion of the propagating radicals, and the density of coverage of polymerizable groups on the inner walls of the capillary. Optimization of all these factors enables the preparation of monolithic structures in capillaries with inner diameters as low as 5 microm while retaining the desirable properties of monoliths prepared in much larger capillaries. Under these conditions, formation of undesired dense polymer layers attached to the capillary wall was minimized. The chromatographic performance of 10, 25, and 50 microm capillaries evaluated in the reversed phase gradient separation of three proteins showed no change in elution times at identical flow velocities and gradient times, while peak elution width was the smallest with the narrowest capillary.


Sequential decision-making with multiple agents and imperfect information is commonly modeled as an extensive game. One efficient method for computing Nash equilibria in large, zero-sum, imperfect information games is counterfactual regret minimization (CFR). In the domain of poker, CFR has proven effective, particularly when using a domain-specific augmentation involving chance outcome sampling. In this paper, we describe a general family of domain-independent CFR sample-based algorithms called Monte Carlo counterfactual regret minimization (MCCFR) of which the original and poker-specific versions are special cases. We start by showing that MCCFR performs the same regret updates as CFR on expectation. Then, we introduce two sampling schemes: outcome sampling and external sampling, showing that both have bounded overall regret with high probability. Thus, they can compute an approximate equilibrium using self-play. Finally, we prove a new tighter bound on the regret for the original CFR algorithm and relate this new bound to MCCFR's bounds. We show empirically that, although the sample-based algorithms require more iterations, their lower cost per iteration can lead to dramatically faster convergence in various games.


Sodium dehydroacetate (SDA) was extracted from cosmetic powders using a Na2CO3-methanol-H2O system. After the extract was neutralized, the resulting dehydroacetic acid (DAA) reacted with 4-nitrophenylhydrazine∙HCl (4-NPH∙HCl) to give the corresponding hydrazone, which was determined by an HPLC-VIS (400 nm) system. Using 4-NPH∙HCl in great excess was suitable for detecting the presence of DAA, which almost reacted with the hydrazine to yield the corresponding hydrazone. As a result, it was determined that contaminants in the cosmetic powder did not interfere with analysis of the hydrazone. Importantly, the molar absorptivity of the hydrazone (1.29 × 104 at 400 nm) is five times that of DAA (2.57 × 103 at 230 nm). Accordingly, detection of the hydrazone at 400 nm in a new analytical method might have fivefold higher sensitivity compared with that of DAA at 230 nm in the standard method.


Acute appendicitis is one of the most common and challenging surgical emergencies. Ultrasound [US] is widely available , highly accurate imaging modality in patients suspected to have acute appendicitis, this study was done to assess the value of US in evaluation of suspected acute appendicitis patients with Alvarado Scoring System [MASS] of 5 & 6 . In this prospective study a total of (100) patients with clinically suspected acute appendicitis and with Alvarado score between 5 &6 underwent US examination of the abdomen The accuracy of ultrasonography in the diagnosis of appendicitis was compared with clinical diagnosis, laparotomy findings and histopathological examination reports.. The patients were divided into two groups: group A included those for whom surgery was done & the final diagnosis was established depending on the surgical finding &/or histopathology results & this group comprised (65) patients . Group B comprises patients who did not underwent surgery ,these patients were followed up until their improvement & discharge from the hospital & this group included (35) patients. The overall specificity of ultrasound was 88% and the sensitivity was 89% in the diagnosis of acute appendicitis in patients with MASS of 5 & 6 . US is a valuable tool in diagnosing acute appendicitis in patients with MASS (5 & 6). When the clinical sign and symptoms are combined with US, the diagnostic accuracy is significantly high.


Energy efficiency is a major design issue in the context of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN). If the acquired data is to be sent to a far-away base station, collaborative beamforming performed by the sensors may help to distribute the communication load among the nodes and to reduce fast battery depletion. However, collaborative beamforming techniques are far from optimality and in many cases we might be wasting more power than required. We consider the issue of energy efficiency in beamforming applications. Using a convex optimization framework, we propose the design of a virtual beamformer that maximizes the network lifetime while satisfying a pre-specified Quality of Service (QoS) requirement. We derive both centralized and distributed algorithms for the solution of the problem using convex optimization and consensus algorithms. In order to account for other sources of battery depletion different from that of communications beamforming, we consider an additional random energy term in the consumption model. The formulation then switches to a probabilistic design that generalizes the deterministic case. Conditions under which the general problem is convex are also provided.


Background and Objectives: Renal dysfunction is common in liver diseases, either as part of multi-organ involvement in acute illness or secondary to advanced liver disease. The presence of renal impairment in both groups is a poor prognostic indicator. The main aim of the current study is to find out the etiology, clinical features, and incidence of patients who develop both acute liver failure and acute renal failure (ARF). Materials and Methods: This is a prospective observational study conducted for patients admitted in VIMS combined hospital from December 2010 to June 2012. All the patients with both ARF and acute liver dysfunction who met the inclusion criteria were included in the study. Data were collected after obtaining informed/written consent from patient. After detailed history, detailed clinical examination, general physical and systemic examination and relevant laboratory investigations were done. Results: Studies showed that the maximum number of patients were in the age group of 21-30 years with increased incidence in males, farm workers, lower income group. Most patients presented with nonspecific symptoms like fever and myalgia with more than 90% patients had abnormal urine findings and ultrasound findings implying the need for simple investigations to identify this fatal condition. This study had an overall mortality of 26.67%, with the highest mortality noted in patients with septicemia. Conclusion: Our study shows leptospirosis, malaria and sepsis as common causes of combined hepatic and renal dysfunction in this part of the country. Acute cases had a comparatively better prognosis and outcome than chronic cases of combined hepatic and renal dysfunction. Early diagnosis and apt treatment will reduce mortality.


United States easily imitate its most advanced weapon systems and thus erode its military-technological superiority? Do reverse engineering, industrial espionage, and, in particular, cyber espionage facilitate and accelerate this process? China's decades-long economic boom, military modernization program, massive reliance on cyber espionage, and assertive foreign policy have made these questions increasingly salient. Yet, almost everything known about this topic draws from the past. As we explain in this article, the conclusions that the existing literature has reached by studying prior eras have no applicability to the current day. Scholarship in international relations theory generally assumes that rising states beneat from the "advantage of backwardness," as described by


Winner of the Outstanding Sports Writing Award, Cross British Sports Book Awards 2015 Shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year award. One winter's night in 1976, over 20 million people in Britain watched John Curry skate to Olympic glory on an ice rink in Austria. Many millions more watched around the world. Overnight he became one of the most famous men on the planet. He was awarded the OBE. He was chosen as BBC Sports Personality of the Year. Curry had changed ice skating from marginal sport to high art. And yet the man was - and would always remain - an absolute mystery to a world that had been dazzled by his gift. Surely, men's skating was supposed to be Cossack-muscular, not sensual and ambiguous like this. Curry himself was an often-tortured man of labyrinthine complexity. For the first time, Alone untangles the extraordinary web of his toxic, troubled, brilliant - and short - life. It is a story of childhood nightmares, furious ambition, sporting genius, lifelong rivalries, homophobia, Cold War politics, financial ruin and deep personal tragedy. Alone reveals the restless, impatient, often dark soul of a man whose words could lacerate, whose skating invariably moved audiences to tears, and who - after succumbing to AIDS, as so many of his fellow artists and friends did - died of a heart attack aged just 44.


It's your job to make email safe. Where do you start? In today's national and global enterprises where business is conducted across time zones and continents, the "e" in email could stand for "essential." Even more critical is rock-solid email security. If you're the person charged with implementing that email security strategy, this book is for you. Backed with case studies, it offers the nuts-and-bolts information you need to understand your options, select products that meet your needs, and lock down your company's electronic communication systems. Review how email operates and where vulnerabilities lie Learn the basics of cryptography and how to use it against invaders Understand PKI (public key infrastructure), who should be trusted to perform specific tasks, how PKI architecture works, and how certificates function Identify ways to protect your passwords, message headers, and commands, as well as the content of your email messages Look at the different types of devices (or "tokens") that can be used to store and protect private keys


Mosaics have been commonly used as visual maps for undersea exploration and navigation. The position and .orientation of an underwater vehicle can be calculated by integrating the apparent motion of the images which form the mosaic. A feature-based mosaicking method is proposed in this paper. The creation of the mosaic is accomplished in four stages: feature selection and matching, detection of points describing the dominant motion, homography computation and mosaic construction. In this work we demonstrate that the use of color and textures as discriminative properties of the image can improve, to a large extent, the accuracy of the constructed mosaic. The system is able to provide 3 0 metric information concerning the vehicle motion using the knowledge of the intrinsic parameters of the camera while integrating the measurements of an ultrasonic sensor. The experimental results on real images have been tested on the GARBI underwater vehicle.


Vitiligo is an acquired chronic skin disease which shows itself as depigmented
areas. Among the theories about the etiology of vitiligo, autoimmunity theory is the most accepted.
One of the issues raised is whether smoking could have an influence on the vitiligo or not. This study
was conducted to investigate the effects of smoking on the disease.
Materials and Methods: The study population consisted of 100 patients with vitiligo and two control
groups of 100 patients with non-vitiligo skin problems and 100 normal individuals. Individual
interviews were completed according to the questionnaire of smoking (active / passive / non smoker).
Using the instrument of detecting CO levels in the breath, PPM2 and CoHb of the participants in the
study and control groups were recorded.
Results: In terms of distribution of smokers among three studied groups, in people with vitiligo 10
cases were smokers (10%), 24 cases were exposed to cigarette smoke (24%) and 66 cases were nonsmokers
(66%) and in patients with other skin diseases, 13 cases were smokers (13%), 14 cases were
exposed to cigarette smoke (14%) and 73 cases were non-smokers (73%). Healthy individuals were 10
smokers (10%), 16 cases were exposed to cigarette smoke (16%) and 74 cases were non-smokers
(74%) and by chi-square with p=0.38 there was no significant difference among three studied groups
based on smoking.
Conclusions: Based on the results of our study, there was no significant difference between three
groups considering smoking history


Study Design. Prospective, multicenter, randomized Food and Drug Administration approved investigational device exemption clinical trial. Objective. To evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the PCM Cervical Disc compared with anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) in the treatment of patients with degenerative spondylosis and neurological symptoms at 1 level between C3–C4 and C7–T1. Summary of Background Data. Cervical disc arthroplasty in the treatment of symptomatic cervical spondylosis has been studied in other series. The PCM Cervical Disc is a nonconstrained motion-sparing alternative to ACDF. Methods. Patients 18 to 65 years of age with single-level symptomatic cervical spondylosis with radiculopathy and/or myelopathy unresponsive to nonoperative treatment were enrolled, including patients with prior nonadjacent or adjacent single-level fusions. The per-protocol patient sample at 2 years included 342 patients (189 PCM, 153 ACDF). Longitudinal outcomes were comparatively evaluated. Results. At 2 years postoperatively, clinical measures—neck and arm pain visual analogue scale, Neck Disability Index (NDI), SF-36, and neurological status—were significantly improved from preoperative baselines in both groups. Mean NDI score at 2 years was significantly lower in PCM group (P = 0.029). There were no statistical differences between groups in rates of surgery-related serious adverse events (5.6% PCM, 7.4% ACDF) or secondary surgical procedures (5.2% PCM, 5.4% ACDF). Patients with PCM reported lower dysphagia scores (8.8/100 vs. 12.1/100; P = 0.045) and higher patient satisfaction (82.8/100 vs. 81.4/100). Overall success, a composite endpoint including minimum 20% NDI improvement, no major complications, no neurological worsening, no secondary surgical procedures, and meeting radiographical criteria of motion for PCM and fusion for ACDF, was significantly greater in the PCM group (75.1% vs. 64.9%; P = 0.020). Conclusion. The treatment of symptomatic single-level cervical spondylosis with PCM achieves clinical outcomes that are at least equivalent to ACDF while maintaining motion. At 2 years, patients with PCM had lower NDI scores, statistically lower rate of prolonged dysphagia, greater patient satisfaction, and superior overall success. Level of Evidence: 1


Two categories of forest canopy damage (none to light vs. moderate to heavy) resulting from a 2003 ice storm in eastern Kentucky could be identified on readily available Landsat Thematic Mapper imagery using change detection techniques to evaluate the ratio of spectral bands 4 and 5. Regression analysis was used to evaluate several model formulations based on the spectral ratio and topographic variables for detecting the two categories of damage, which could be applied with a geographic information system. Results of this study suggest that moderate to heavy forest canopy damage caused by ice storms can be detected on sample plots from satellite imagery. Additional work is needed, however, to determine if these results can be used to produce an accurate landscape-scale map of canopy damage beyond the study area.


This essay argues for the critical value of situating Romantic poetry—particularly as it's theorized by Wordsworth and Scott—as a "medium" between the two extremes that often shape accounts of media history: the "primary orality" of Walter Ong and the "techno-informatic vanishing point" of aesthetics recently described by Alan Liu in The Laws of Cool. I propose that Sir Walter Scott's story, "My Aunt Margaret's Mirror," offers a "supernatural" or occulted account of how literature operates as a kind of telepathic medium, enabling readers to be "affected by absent things as if they were present." But it offers at the same time, in its almost anachronistic play with the concept of "resolution" as a feature of the televisual screen, an account of all perception—both "immediate" and mediated—as a process of discretization and resynthesis that works remarkably like Wordsworth's "digital" theory of meter.


A QoS adaptation to dynamically changing system conditions that takes into consideration the user's constraints on the stability of service provisioning is presented. The goal is to allow the system to make QoS adaptation decisions in response to fluctuations in task traffic flow, under the control of the user. We pay special attention to the case where monitoring the stability period and resource load variation of service level agreements for different types of services is used to dynamically adapt future stability periods, according to a feedback control scheme. System's adaptation behaviour can be configured according to a desired confidence level on future resource usage. The viability of the proposed approach is validated by preliminary experiments


Hybrid solar photovoltaic (PV)/thermal power systems offer the possibility of dispatchable, affordable and efficient solar electricity production – the type of transformative innovation needed for solar cell devices to realize high grid penetration. The PV sub-system enjoys high efficiency, and the thermal sub-system can ensure uninterrupted power delivery via backup gas heating and/or multi-hour thermal storage. However, elucidation of the basic performance bounds, and the quantitative perspective required for judging the leading hybrid strategies relative to one another, as well as relative to the existing alternative of autonomous photovoltaic and solar thermal power systems, have remained incomplete. A more thorough and basic evaluation of the performance of the assorted combinations of PV and solar thermal sub-systems over a wider range of possible operating conditions than regarded previously is presented here. This involves analysis of the most fundamental processes limiting system efficiency, tempered by the realities of current and foreseeable PV and thermal technologies. The 3 leading hybrid strategies are: (1) concentrated solar beam radiation irradiating an integrated PV–thermal receiver, with the unique advantage of recuperating PV thermalization losses as heat delivered to the thermal receiver, thereby contributing to driving the turbine, (2) the spectral splitting of concentrated solar beam radiation, with sub-bandgap photons directed to a thermal receiver and the rest to concentrator PV cells, and (3) nominally 1 sun PV cells performing double duty as both a direct converter and as a spectrum-splitting reflector that concentrates sub-bandgap photons onto a thermal receiver. The two figures of merit appraised are: (a) the solar-to-electricity conversion efficiency, and (b) the share between thermal and PV electricity production.


Book synopsis: Women and European Politics is a comprehensive country-by-country survey of the changing political and economic history of women in Eastern and Western Europe over the last two centuries. Joni Lovenduski first discusses the contributions of the "first wave" feminists who fought for women suffrage as well as for reforms in family life, wage work, and educational opportunities. A more economically independent group of "second wave" feminists were concerned primarily with women's political activism, reproductive rights, child care provision for wage-earning women, laws against rape and sexual harassment, and consciousness-raising about women's oppression.

Throughout her consideration of these issues, Lovenduski remains keenly aware of the unique situation for the women in each country discussed, as well as the divisions created among women due to differing social class and ethnic background. She is also skeptical of official press reports and accounts of women's political activity and aware of the interplay between professed government ideology and actual social and political practices as they affect women's daily lives.


Existing spatial object recommendation algorithms generally treat objects identically when ranking them. However, spatial objects often cover different levels of spatial granularity and thereby are heterogeneous. For example, one user may prefer to be recommended a region (say Manhattan), while another user might prefer a venue (say a restaurant). Even for the same user, preferences can change at different stages of data exploration. In this paper, we study how to support top-k spatial object recommendations at varying levels of spatial granularity, enabling spatial objects at varying granularity, such as a city, suburb, or building, as a Point of Interest (POI). To solve this problem, we propose the use of a POI tree, which captures spatial containment relationships between POIs. We design a novel multi-task learning model called MPR (short for Multi-level POI Recommendation), where each task aims to return the top-k POIs at a certain spatial granularity level. Each task consists of two subtasks: (i) attribute-based representation learning; (ii) interaction-based representation learning. The first subtask learns the feature representations for both users and POIs, capturing attributes directly from their profiles. The second subtask incorporates user-POI interactions into the model. Additionally, MPR can provide insights into why certain recommendations are being made to a user based on three types of hints: user-aspect, POI-aspect, and interaction-aspect. We empirically validate our approach using two real-life datasets, and show promising performance improvements over several state-of-the-art methods.


The Long-tailed Ground-roller ( Uratelornis chimaera ) is a globally Vulnerable, restricted-range species of dry forests in south-west Madagascar. We studied a population in 1997–2000, finding that nest-building was relatively synchronous and that pairs preferentially nested next to open areas, such as driveable tracks. By searching for trackside nests and for footprints, we conducted surveys throughout the known range of the species. Total transect coverage was 153 km, along which we encountered a minimum of 28 breeding pairs. By dividing the transects into 41 randomly distributed survey strips, each 1.2 km in length and 200 m broad, we intensively sampled an area of 9.84 km 2 . Using transect data, we made a tentative estimate of 5.7 mature adults km −2 , from which we estimated a global population of 21,092 individuals, based on our calculation from satellite imagery that 3,706 km 2 of suitable habitat remained. By comparing habitat data at points with and without ground-rollers we found that, contrary to previous statements, they prefer lower stature or degraded habitats, and have no direct association with the endemic cactus-like tree Didierea madagascariensis . We used a novel census technique to provide the first quantitative data on population size, population density, breeding behaviour and ecology in the Long-tailed Ground-roller, or any member of the family Brachypteraciidae, information that is crucial to the design of effective conservation programmes.


The Modifiable Areal Unit Problem (MAUP) is the classic term for describing different totals observed from spatially different aggregation units. In a typical analytical problem (e.g. estimating total population within a watershed from census unit totals) the spatial distribution of populations within the census units are modeled. To minimize MAUP errors, areal interpolation techniques are used to model such sub-unit population distributions. Areal interpolation techniques are highly dependent on ancillary data (e.g. land use/cover data) and typically do not include "intelligent" relations about where people choose to live, other than a weighted association between nominal land cover/use and population density. The purpose of this research was to design and implement an "intelligent" areal interpolation method for housing data in coastal environments, validate the accuracy, and compare to other techniques. This study was conducted for Miami-Dade County in Florida at census scales from county to block. Parcel boundary data was used as a reference layer to validate each technique. Not surprisingly, all techniques perform best at finer spatial resolutions (e.g. block level) with error increasing at coarser resolutions. The accuracy of the dasymetric technique is directly related to the accuracy of ancillary data. The new intelligent technique, (referred to as the process-oriented technique from here onwards) models the relationship between housing unit density distribution and proximity to the coast. This process-oriented technique performed better than the areal weighting and the dasymetric mapping technique. Combining the 'process-oriented' technique with a dasymetric technique provided the least amount of error.


It is safe to regard all vegetation fires that occur on the main forested islands of Kalimantan, Sumatra and Irian Jaya as deliberately started by man. Accidental ignition caused by lightning strikes are rare under Indonesian conditions, exposed burning coal seems cost minor, highly localised damage and - as elsewhere through the world - discarded cigarettes are of no importance. Arson is often mentioned but no evidence offered, and even where land dispute tensions are high, arson is towards the bottom of the list of causes of vegetation fires. The roles played by the three major government agencies responsible for land management are discussed and it is concluded that their overlapping functions, together with the diffusion of responsibility, contribute greatly to the fire problem. It is concluded that the solution to Indonesia's fire problem lies largerly in much improved local level land-use planning and in strengthened local management that, together, foster local initiative and allow local autonomy. A continuation of the top-down, bureaucratic approach to fire management that focuses on fire suppression will fail in the field during the next el Nino drought as it did in 19997.


The Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate (COSMIC) was launched in April 2006. This system provides a new observation type for operational meteorology that has been shown to provide significant information on the thermodynamic state of the atmosphere and to allow improvements in atmospheric analysis and prognosis. A month of COSMIC radio occultation observations, together with a smaller number of radio occultation observations from the Meteorological Operational satellite (MetOp) and Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) spacecraft, have been assimilated into the global ACCESS (Australian Community Climate Earth System Simulator) system, which is being employed at the Australian Bureau of Meteorology to provide real-time operational forecasts. In this study, four-dimensional variational assimilation (4DVAR) has been used to assimilate the radio occultation and other data into the global ACCESS system (ACCESS-G), which has been used to provide forecasts to five days ahead. For the period studied, the accuracy of these forecasts has been compared to forecasts generated without the use of the radio occultation data. The forecasts using radio occultation data have been found to be improved in the lower, middle and upper troposphere. These results, combined with the relatively unbiased nature of the radio occultation observations indicate their use has the potential to improve operational analysis and forecasting in the Australian Region and also to assist in important tasks such as a regional reanalysis and climate monitoring.


In Indentured Labor, Caribbean Sugar Walton Look Lai offers the first comprehensive study of Asian immigration and the indenture system in the entire British West Indies-with particular emphasis on the experiences of indentured laborers in the major receiving colonies of British Guyana, Trinidad, and Jamaica. Exploring living and working conditions as well as the makeup of immigrant communities and their cultures, Look Lai offers a "dialectical pluralist" model of Caribbean acculturation that contrasts with the more familiar "melting pot" or "pure pluralist" model.


The Mau Forest Complex is the largest riverine water tower in East Africa. The area is one of the main sources of the major rivers in Kenya. However, in the recent past, the ecological sustenance of the complex has been under severe threat due to massive deforestation and human induced socio-economic activities. There is thus the urgent need for comprehensive and consistent environmental change analysis to support management. In this study, the spatio-temporal land cover changes within the Mau Complex region was assessed through consistent classification of selected multispectral Landsat satellite images. A post-classification procedure employing the maximum-likelihood classifier was employed to discern the changes, and the accuracy of the classifications assessed from ground based information integrating indigenous knowledge obtained through participatory mapping techniques. Preliminary results of the study indicate significant land degradation, especially within the Eastern part of the Mau Forest Complex. Before 1986, the dominant pre-change land cover types were about 75% of forests, 12% of woodlands and 13% of farms. By 1989, the landscape had changed tremendously to about 60 % of forest and woodland and 40 % of agriculture and built-up area. Hydrologically, these changes have not only impaired the ability of the area to cleanse runoff based processes, but also amplified soil erosion and flooding processes leading to degradation of streams, lakes and other water bodies served by the complex. From the existing signatures, the Mau Forest Complex can be classified as highly vulnerable, considering the long term consequences of the degradation on the sustainability of the existing and important water resources.


The pheromone cVA promotes aggression in Drosophila through olfactory sensory neurons that express the receptor Or67d. Aggressive behavior between males in a number of animal species is regulated by pheromones; however, the mechanisms involved are unclear. Social experience has effects on male aggression in Drosophila. For example, the group of Wang and Anderson showed that Cyp6a20, which encodes a cytochrome P450 protein, is more highly expressed in socially experienced, nonaggressive flies than in aggressive flies and that it is localized to cells sensitive to the male volatile pheromone 11-cis-vaccenyl acetate (cVA). The authors have now studied the effects of synthetic cVA on pairs of male files by videotaping their movements in a chamber and analyzing their behavior. cVA dose-dependently increased aggressive behavior between male flies without increasing their general locomotion. This response was dependent on the activity of olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) that specifically expressed Or67d, which encodes a known receptor for cVA; mutation of Or67d blocked the response of files to cVA. Flies that had a mutation in Or83b, which encodes a co-receptor for olfactory receptors, were less aggressive in response to cVA than were control flies. Aggressive activity between flies was increased when the analyzed pair was surrounded by a high density of caged male flies, which would be expected to increase the concentration of volatile cVA in the chamber. In nature, aggressive, activity within a group of male flies leads to population dispersal. The authors found that synthetic cVA increased aggressive behavior in a group of flies surrounding a food source, which led to the dispersal of a number of flies. In contrast, flies in which Or67d-expressing OSNs were inactivated exhibited neither aggressive behavior nor dispersal in response to cVA. Further study of this pheromone-OSN pair should provide further insights into the mechanisms that control aggression. L. Wang, D. J. Anderson, Identification of an aggression-promoting pheromone and its receptor neurons in Drosophila. Nature 463, 227–231 (2010). [PubMed]


PURPOSE
To measure and compare the development of ocular alignment, sensory binocularity, and convergence in infants during the first 5 months of life.

METHODS
Healthy infants were tested between 2 and 21 weeks of age. Ocular alignment was measured by the Hirschberg test; convergence was determined by visual examination as an illuminated toy approached an infant's face; and sensory binocularity was measured by preferential looking for fusible versus rivalrous gratings. In experiment 1 we compared the proportion of infants at different ages demonstrating orthotropic ocular alignment with those showing convergence. In experiment 2, we compared the age of onset of convergence to that of sensory binocularity.

RESULTS
Experiment 1: Most infants were orthotropic during the first month, and almost all of the others showed small amounts of exotropia. None of the infants showed accurate convergence until 6 weeks of age. By 4 months of age virtually all were orthotropic and had good convergence. Experiment 2: The onset of sensory binocular fusion occurred at 12.8 +/- 3.3 weeks. Full convergence did not occur until 13.7 +/- 3.2 weeks, although the first signs of convergence occurred slightly earlier. For individual infants there was a high correlation between the age of onset of sensory binocularity and convergence, and both onsets occurred earlier in girls than in boys.

CONCLUSIONS
Ocular alignment did not require the development of binocularity mechanisms, and the development of binocularity mechanisms did not await the onset of good ocular alignment. The relatively sudden onset of binocularity, both sensory (preference for fusion and stereopsis) and motor (convergence) at about 3 months of age and the high correlation between these measures indicate a common causal mechanism that probably involves refinements in striate cortex circuitry.


Little is known about the movement of stoats in alpine grassland, where several species of native birds, reptiles and invertebrates are potentially at risk from predation. Radio-tracking, live trapping and tracking tunnel techniques were used to sample stoats in two adjacent habitats to determine whether the home range of stoats in beech forest valley floors extends into neighbouring alpine grasslands in the Ettrick Burn Valley, Fiordland. If this is the case then trapping stoats in the more easily accessible beech forest valley floors might serve to protect endangered species inhabiting the adjacent but more remote alpine grasslands. Between December 2000 and March 2001, 415 radio locations were collected on 15 stoats and none were observed to make any significant movements between the two habitats. Stoats were active in alpine grasslands, and trapping in the adjacent beech forest valley would not have caught those stoats during the time-frame of this study. Further research is needed to determine long term impacts of trapping in beech forest on stoats in alpine grasslands. During the timeframe of this research stoats were more abundant in beech forest than in alpine grasslands, and tracking tunnels showed this trend to be consistent at other sites.


Thrombi developing within the origin of the internal carotid artery may be demonstrated by a slow trickle injection of highly concentrated contrast medium, which lingers in pools around the thrombus on the dependent wall of the vessel. With this technique thrombi have been detected which could not be visualized on conventional arteriography because they were obscured by the density of the vascular shadow produced by the forceful injection usually employed in carotid angiography. In addition, trickle arteriography is useful for assessing the position and extent of atheromatous plaques and the contrast stasis associated with them.


This article examines the definitions and implementations of the concept of 'social tourism' that are in use in Europe today. Examples show that the concept has been implemented in many different ways to suit national contexts and that the justifications and goals of social tourism can differ greatly. The question arises how one can define the boundaries of this versatile and complex concept. This article proposes a model to clarify the interrelationships between the different interpretations: it highlights where common ground exists, but also where contradictions are apparent. The model consists of four main categories: the participation model, the inclusion model, the adaptation model and the stimulation model. The model draws on the historical development of social tourism and the ethical foundations for provision, and it is supported by a range of examples of European practice. Through this sub-categorisation of the concept, it is argued that a 'scientification' of the concept of social tourism can take place, so that the term does not lose its academic and political value. This article concludes by proposing a definition for social tourism that can effectively set the concept apart from other forms of tourism with attached social benefits.


Common among the wide variety of ubiquitous networked devices in modern use is wireless 802.11 connectivity. The MAC addresses of these devices are visible to a passive adversary, thereby presenting security and privacy threats - even when link or application-layer encryption is employed. While it is well-known that the most significant three bytes of a MAC address, the OUI, coarsely identify a device's manufacturer, we seek to better understand the ways in which the remaining low-order bytes are allocated in practice. From a collection of more than two billion 802.11 frames observed in the wild, we extract device and model information details for over 285K devices, as leaked by various management frames and discovery protocols. From this rich dataset, we characterize overall device populations and densities, vendor address allocation policies and utilization, OUI sharing among manufacturers, discover unique models occurring in multiple OUIs, and map contiguous address blocks to specific devices. Our mapping thus permits fine-grained device type and model predictions for unknown devices solely on the basis of their MAC address. We validate our inferences on both ground-truth data and a third-party dataset, where we obtain high accuracy. Our results empirically demonstrate the extant structure of the low-order MAC bytes due to manufacturer's sequential allocation policies, and the security and privacy concerns therein.


Stephen Eric Bronner is a prolific author, activist, and one of America's leading political thinkers. His new book presents bigotry as a systematic, all-encompassing mindset that has a special affinity for right-wing movements. In what will surely prove a seminal study, Bronner explores its appeal, the self-image it justifies, the interests it serves, and its complex connection with modernity. He reveals how prejudice shapes the conspiratorial and paranoid worldview of the true believer, the elitist, and the chauvinist. In the process, it becomes apparent how the bigot hides behind mainstream conservative labels in order to support policies designed to disadvantage the targets of his contempt. Examining bigotry in its various dimensions--anthropological, historical, psychological, sociological, and political--Professor Bronner illustrates how the bigot's intense hatred of "the other" is a direct reaction to social progress, liberal values, secularism, and an increasingly complex and diverse world. A sobering look at the bigot in the twenty-first century, this volume is essential for making sense of the dangers facing democracy now and in the future.


There is a general impression in Norway that most entrepreneurs struggle to secure funding from venture capital providers, such as angel investors. Worse still, most angel research has failed to be of practical use, mainly because such studies fail to consider interdependencies in angels' decision-making processes. This study contributes to reduce the researchpractice gap and highlight the cross-cultural context in seed capital investments. My qualitative analysis of comparative, U.S.-Norwegian data verifies past research in the Norwegian context by finding that angels employ the Affect Heuristic, Confirmation Bias, Elimination-by-Aspect Heuristic, and Availability Heuristic. Further, I expand research by discovering three novel heuristics. Firstly, angels prefer to invest within industries in which they are interested or are experts in, labeled Personal Relevance Heuristic. Secondly, Norwegian angels perceive a higher risk of product-market fit failure, because of a proposed lack of a sales mindset in Norway relative to the U.S., labeled Salesperson Heuristic. Thirdly, older and more experienced angels are more hands-on and exercise more control over investments, labeled Deference-towards-the-Archangel Heuristic. I validate my findings and interpret them within a three-stage angel investment decision-making process. Moreover, I provide practical recommendations for angels, entrepreneurs, and government.


Abstract Kadosawa, T., Ohashi, F., Nishimura, R., Sasaki, N., Saito, I., Wakabayashi, H. and Takeuchi, A. Relative Biological Effectiveness and Tolerance Dose of Fission Neutrons in Canine Skin for a Potential Combination of Neutron Capture Therapy and Fast-Neutron Therapy. Radiat. Res. 160, 436–442 (2003). To investigate the potential efficacy of fission neutrons from a fast-neutron reactor for the treatment of radioresistant tumors, the relative biological effectiveness (RBE) and tolerance dose of fission neutrons in canine skin were determined. The forelimbs of 34 healthy mongrel dogs received a single dose of fission neutrons (5.6, 6.8, 8.2, 9.6 or 11 Gy) or 137Cs γ rays (10, 15, 20, 25 or 30 Gy). Based on observations of radiodermatitis for each radiation, the single-fraction RBE of fission neutrons in the sixth month was calculated as approximately 3. The tolerance doses of fission neutrons and γ rays, defined as the highest doses giving no moist desquamation on the irradiated skin in the recovery phase, were estimated as 7.6 Gy and 20 Gy, respectively. The tolerance dose of 7.6 Gy of fission neutrons included 5.0 Gy of fast neutrons possessing high anti-tumor effects and 1.4 × 1012 n/cm2 of thermal neutrons, which could be applicable to neutron capture therapy (NCT). The combination of fast-neutron therapy and NCT using a fast-neutron reactor might be useful for the treatment of radioresistant tumors.


The increasing militarisation of cyber-space comes in response to fears of critical damage caused by digital weapons like Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS). Understanding that the botnets are the key platform behind DDoS, we compared the costs of running a large-scale attack with the approximate downtime loss in a country-scale attack in case of Serbia, showing that DDoS are readily available weapons of possible mass disruption. Taken as a whole, this paper suggests responding to risks by combating cybercrime as the DDoS enabler, rather than by militarisation.


Academics today are under increasing institutional pressure to win external research funding, at a time when such funding is becoming ever more targeted and policy-driven. This thesis explores the effects of this and other funding policy constraints on academics' freedom to carry out the research that they believe is intrinsically important – their choices over what research they conduct, and their ability to do so. In particular, it considers the effects of increasing pressure from funders that the research they fund should demonstrate both societal relevance and impact, and fit with either the funders' or government priorities. The study took an inductive approach, and is based on interviews conducted with a number of academics across a range of disciplines and institutions (both research intensive and newer institutions).The study finds that academic research today - and thus knowledge production itself - is being pulled in competing directions due to pressures to satisfy the requirements of both the Research Excellence Framework and today's 'impact agenda', elements which require different types of research activity and skills. Furthermore, using a Bourdieusian framework, we see that the impact agenda has changed the stakes in the field, as 'demonstrable impact' becomes a sought-after form of capital, causing a potential crisis for hitherto dominant agents (Bourdieu's 'hysteresis' effect). The findings also indicate the extent to which funding policies have resulted in an emphasis on impact and income as what is seemingly most valued by institutions and other stakeholders, rather than the intrinsic academic merit of the research itself.


Current literacy interventions (i.e. programmes of instruction for low-progress readers and writers that are supplementary to the literacy programmes used in mainstream classrooms) implemented in most Western Cape schools reflect the use of isolated item-based literacy teaching methods. The low literacy levels in the Western Cape primary grades, however, do not indicate successful literacy learning. This article describes an individualised literacy intervention for emergent literacy learners that explored alternative, research-based methods of instruction. The intervention took shape as a comparison between low-progress learners who participated in the literacy intervention and average-progress learners who did not participate in this intervention. The aim was to accelerate the low-progress learners' literacy learning so that they could reach the average-band performance of their classmates after 12 weeks in the intervention. Qualitative and quantitative data were gathered by means of observations of learners and assessment results obtained in a pre-test-post-test design, with the addition of a mid-test to observe learners' literacy progress. Based on qualitative data, the intervention proved to be successful, because observations indicated positive change in the low-progress learners' reading and writing behaviours. Given the small sample size, the overall trend in the quantitative data supported the value of the intervention and indicated a need for extending the research beyond a pilot study. Further research using larger sample sizes is thus recommended.


This paper presents an investigation on the scale effects associated with the powering performance of a Gate Rudder System (GRS) which was recently introduced as a novel energy-saving propulsion and maneuvring device. This new system was applied for the first time on a 2400 GT domestic container ship, and full-scale sea trials were conducted successfully in Japan, in 2017. The trials confirmed the superior powering and maneuvring performance of this novel system. However, a significant discrepancy was also noticed between the model test-based performance predictions and the full-scale measurements. The discrepancy was in the power-speed data and also in the maneuvring test data when these data were compared with the data of her sister container ship which was equipped with a conventional flap rudder. Twelve months after the delivery of the vessel with the gate rudder system, the voyage data revealed a surprisingly more significant difference in the powering performance based on the voyage data. The aim of this paper, therefore, is to take a further step towards an improved estimation of the powering performance of ships with a GRS with a specific emphasis on the scale effect issues associated with a GRS. More specifically, this study investigated the scale effects on the powering performance of a gate rudder system based on the analyses of the data from two tank tests and full-scale trials with the above-mentioned sister ships. The study focused on the corrections for the scale effects, which were believed to be associated with the drag and lift characteristics of the gate rudder blades due to the low Reynolds number experienced in model tests combined with the unique arrangement of this rudder and propulsion system. Based on the appropriate semi-empirical approaches that support model test and full-scale data, this study verified the scale effect phenomenon and presented the associated correction procedure. Also, this study presented an enhanced methodology for the powering performance prediction of a ship driven by a GRS implementing the proposed scale effect correction. The predicted powering performance of the subject container vessel with the GRS presented an excellent agreement with the full-scale trials data justifying the claimed scale effect and associated correction procedure, as well as the proposed enhanced methodology for the practical way of predicting the powering performance of a ship with the GRS.


We investigate the factors associated with the incidence of mortgage-related financial difficulties in Australia. We use two complementary micro-level datasets: loan-level data on residential mortgages from two Australian banks, which we use to analyse the factors associated with entering 90+ day housing loan arrears; and household-level data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey, which we use to explore the factors associated with households missing mortgage payments. The loan-level analysis indicates that the probability of entering arrears increases with the loan-to-valuation ratio (LVR) at origination, and is particularly high for loans with an LVR above 90 per cent. In contrast, the probability of entering arrears is lower for loans that are repaid relatively quickly. Additionally, the probability of entering arrears varies across different loan types; for example, low-documentation loans are more likely to enter arrears, even after controlling for whether the borrower was self-employed. The likelihood of entering arrears increases with the contract interest rate, which is consistent with lenders setting higher interest rates for riskier borrowers. The household-level analysis suggests that the probability of missing a mortgage payment is particularly high for households with relatively high debt-servicing ratios. Households that have previously missed a payment are also much more likely to miss subsequent payments than households with unblemished payment histories.


Routing algorithms with time and message complexities that are provably low and independent of the total number of nodes in the network are essential for the design and operation of very large scale wireless mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs). In this paper, we develop and analyze Cluster Overlay Broadcast (COB), a low-complexity routing algorithm for MANETs. COB runs on top of a one-hop cluster cover of the network, which can be created and maintained using, for instance, the Least Cluster Change (LCC) algorithm. We formally prove that the LCC algorithm maintains a cluster cover with a constant density of cluster leaders with minimal update cost. COB discovers routes by flooding (broadcasting) route requests through the network of cluster leaders with a doubling radius technique. Building on the constant density property of the network of cluster leaders, we formally prove that, if there exists a route from a source to a destination node with a minimum hop count of A, then COB discovers a route with at most O(/spl Delta/) hops from the source to the destination node in at most O(/spl Delta/) time and by sending at Most O(/spl Delta//sup 2/) messages. We prove this result for arbitrary node distributions and mobility patterns and also show that COB adapts asymptotically optimally to the mobility of the nodes. In our simulation experiments, we examine the network layer performance of COB, compare it with Dynamic Source Routing, and investigate the impact of the MAC layer on COB routing.


Set in Arequipa during Peru's recent years of crisis, this ethnography reveals how dress creates gendered bodies. It explores why people wear clothes, why people make art, and why those things matter in a war-torn land. Blenda Femenias argues that women's clothes are key symbols of gender identity and resistance to racism. Moving between metropolitan Arequipa and rural Caylloma Province, the central characters are the Quechua and Spanish-speaking maize farmers and alpaca herders of the Colca Valley. Their identification as Indians, whites, and mestizos emerges through locally produced garments called bordados. Because the artists who create these beautiful objects are also producers who carve an economic foothold, family workshops are vital in a nation where jobs are as scarce as peace. But ambiguity permeates all practices shaping bordados' significance. Femenias traces contemporary political and ritual applications, not only Caylloma's long-standing and violent ethnic conflicts, to the historical importance of cloth since Inca times. This is the only book about expressive culture in an Andean nation that centers on gender. In this feminist contribution to ethnography, based on twenty years' experience with Peru, including two years of intensive fieldwork, Femenias reflects on the ways gender shapes relationships among subjects, research, and representation.


Background: As an alternative to the standard single-point suture-anchor technique, a suture-bridge technique has been described for the treatment of bony Bankart fractures. There is, however, little evidence supporting one technique over the other. Purpose/Hypothesis: To compare the failure strength, fixation stability, and loading mechanics of the 2 techniques for the fixation of bony Bankart fractures. We hypothesized that use of the double-point suture-bridge technique would result in superior strength and fixation stability because of the increased compression and contact area between the bony fragment and glenoid fracture site. Study Design: Controlled laboratory study. Methods: A total of 16 shoulders (8 pairs) were tested with an intact glenoid, after creation of a 15% bony Bankart fracture, and after fragment fixation using a single-point or suture-bridge technique. Paired specimens were randomly assigned to each technique. Cyclic progressive loading was applied via a materials testing machine to the glenoid concentrically and eccentrically according to a staircase protocol. Failure strength, fragment displacement, glenoid strain load transfer, and contact area were quantified. Results: No significant differences in failure strength were found between the single-point and suture-bridge techniques (mean strength, 74 ± 28 N vs 77 ± 56 N, respectively; P = .91). Additionally, no significant differences were found for glenoid load transfer (P ≥ .318) and glenohumeral joint contact (P = .357) between the 2 techniques. Centralized loading, however, produced significant differences in fragment displacement at 5, 150, and 200 N (P ≤ .045), with the single-point technique permitting greater fragment displacement in all cases (0.06-0.28 mm). Similarly, eccentric loading caused significantly greater fragment displacement with the single-point technique at ≥25 N compared with the suture-bridge technique (mean range, 0.38-0.63 mm vs 0.14-0.19 mm, respectively; .009 ≤ P ≤ .048). Conclusion: Single-point and suture-bridge techniques for the fixation of bony Bankart fragments have equivalent failure strengths and load transfers. The suture-bridge technique does provide statistically greater initial fracture fragment stability; however, the clinical implications of this are presently unknown. Clinical Relevance: This study will aid in the selection of the optimal repair technique for bony Bankart fractures by providing important insights into the quality of initial fixation and ultimate strength.


Executive functions (EF) refer to self-regulative processes that underlie goal-directed activities. While previous research has shown a strong relationship between EF and achievements in school, there is a paucity of empirical research that has examined how EF contribute to writing development in the upper elementary grades. This longitudinal study examined how EF predict development in narrative writing in these grades. Both in fourth and in sixth grade, children's writing skills were assessed using a narrative picture-elicitation task. In addition, in fourth grade a battery assessing transcription skills, language skills, and EF was administered. The results showed that in fourth grade, EF contributed directly to the quality of the written narrative, and indirectly, with handwriting fluency functioning as a mediator. Furthermore, results revealed that EF in fourth grade predicted development of the syntactic complexity of the written narratives between fourth and sixth grade. The theoretical and educational implications of these results are discussed.


Security and privacy issues have become critically important with the fast expansion of multiagent systems. Most network applications such as pervasive computing, grid computing, and P2P networks can be viewed as multiagent systems which are open, anonymous, and dynamic in nature. Such characteristics of multiagent systems introduce vulnerabilities and threats to providing secured communication. One feasible way to minimize the threats is to evaluate the trust and reputation of the interacting agents. Many trust/reputation models have done so, but they fail to properly evaluate trust when malicious agents start to behave in an unpredictable way. Moreover, these models are ineffective in providing quick response to a malicious agent's oscillating behavior. Another aspect of multiagent systems which is becoming critical for sustaining good service quality is the even distribution of workload among service providing agents. Most trust/reputation models have not yet addressed this issue. So, to cope with the strategically altering behavior of malicious agents and to distribute workload as evenly as possible among service providers; we present in this paper a dynamic trust computation model called "SecuredTrust." In this paper, we first analyze the different factors related to evaluating the trust of an agent and then propose a comprehensive quantitative model for measuring such trust. We also propose a novel load-balancing algorithm based on the different factors defined in our model. Simulation results indicate that our model compared to other existing models can effectively cope with strategic behavioral change of malicious agents and at the same time efficiently distribute workload among the service providing agents under stable condition.


It is now possible to develop head-mounted devices (HMDs) that allow for ego-centric sensing of mid-air gestural input. Therefore, we explore the use of HMD-based gestural input techniques in smart space environments. We developed a usage scenario to evaluate HMD-based gestural interactions and conducted a user study to elicit qualitative feedback on several HMD-based gestural input techniques. Our results show that for the proposed scenario, mid-air hand gestures are preferred to head gestures for input and rated more favorably compared to non-gestural input techniques available on existing HMDs. Informed by these study results, we developed a prototype HMD system that supports gestural interactions as proposed in our scenario. We conducted a second user study to quantitatively evaluate our prototype comparing several gestural and non-gestural input techniques. The results of this study show no clear advantage or disadvantage of gestural inputs vs.~non-gestural input techniques on HMDs. We did find that voice control as (sole) input modality performed worst compared to the other input techniques we evaluated. Lastly, we present two further applications implemented with our system, demonstrating 3D scene viewing and ambient light control. We conclude by briefly discussing the implications of ego-centric vs. exo-centric tracking for interaction in smart spaces.


N-Glycosylation is a post-translational modification performed in all three domains of life. In the halophilic archaea Haloferax volcanii, glycoproteins such as the S-layer glycoprotein are modified by an N-linked pentasaccharide assembled by a series of Agl (archaeal glycosylation) proteins. In the present study, mass spectrometry (MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy were used to define the structure of this glycan attached to at least four of the seven putative S-layer glycoprotein N-glycosylation sites, namely Asn-13, Asn-83, Asn-274 and Asn-279. Such approaches detected a trisaccharide corresponding to glucuronic acid (GlcA)-β1,4-GlcA-β1,4-glucose-β1-Asn, a tetrasaccharide corresponding to methyl-O-4-GlcA-β-1,4-galacturonic acid-α1,4-GlcA-β1,4-glucose-β1-Asn, and a pentasaccharide corresponding to hexose-1,2-[methyl-O-4-]GlcA-β-1,4-galacturonic acid-α1,4-GlcA-β1,4-glucose-β1-Asn, with previous MS and radiolabeling experiments showing the hexose at the non-reducing end of the pentasaccharide to be mannose. The present analysis thus corrects the earlier assignment of the penultimate sugar as a methyl ester of a hexuronic acid, instead revealing this sugar to be a methylated GlcA. The assignments made here are in good agreement with what was already known of the Hfx. volcanii N-glycosylation pathway from previous genetic and biochemical efforts while providing new insight into the process.


The research presented is motivated by the demand for process improvement for companies active within software development. High demands on software quality are a reality. At the same time, short development time and low effort consumption are required. This stresses the necessity for process improvement. Empirical research methods and close cooperation with the industry partner addressed the research challenge. The research presented in this thesis shows how the analysis of faults through fault classification can be used to determine suitable and required process improvements. Two alternatives are investigated. First, a lightweight approach, and second a fault classification approach targeting all faults. The suitability of the fault classification is stressed as well as the importance of assigning the correct fault class. The latter is determined by classifier agreement calculations. Additionally, the research proposes that the appropriate occasion for a correct fault classification is alleged to be when the fault is corrected. The research also introduces an approach to tailor the verification and validation process. The tailoring process suggested considers the functionality characteristics and the software entity complexity in terms of couplings. This is used to select the appropriate and efficient process for verification and validation.


Premiere: White Concert Hall, University of Missouri-Kansas City: April 4, 2001.

Published: On La Limite du bruit (solo CD). Montreal: Empreintes Digitales (IMED 0261), 2002.

Further performances: PACE, De Montfort University (2007); Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (2006); Scarborough Electroacoustics (2003); Finnish National Radio (2003); University of York (2003); International Biennial of Electroacoustic Music, Sao Paulo (2002); Musica Viva, Portugal (2002); National Review of Live Art, Glasgow (2002); Rien a voir, Montreal (2001).

Research summary: Pythagoras's Curtain investigates the perception of tactility through sound using, as source material, audio recordings produced solely by human manual actions. The title points to the adoption/adaptation of the term 'acousmatic' by composers of the Groupe de recherches musicales in the 1950s. By way of a reference to an aspect of the teaching methods of Pythagoras, it refers to the perception of sound without direct visual confirmation of the source. The process of working with these sounds in an acousmatic context led to a three-way investigation of the interaction between the physical energy of gesture, the sonic response of the objects being handled, and the application of digital signal processing techniques and 'interventions' in the way manual gesture-energy and physical objects interact. In particular digital audio interleaving techniques and techniques of time domain envelope substitution were used to form new energy-object sonic relationships. Techniques of envelope substitution and wave set interleaving are also used to construct new forms of vivid spatial imagery within a stereo format.

A discussion of the techniques and musical processes used in the work are reported in 'Sound-Image Design and Electroacoustic Transformation Processes' presented at Sonoimagenes 2002, Buenos Aires and further developed in 'Reflections on sound-image design in electroacoustic music', Organised Sound, 12(1): 25-33, 2007.


The National Association of Democratic Lawyers (NADEL) held its annual general meeting in Port Elizabeth from 22 to 23 February. The theme for the AGM was 'Quo vadis NADEL? Where is South Africa heading?' Speakers at the conference included Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Andries Nel; former Constitutional Court Justice Zak Yacoob; Judge Vincent Saldanha of the Western Cape High Court and the Justice Department's acting deputy-director of legislative development and secretary of the Rules Board for Courts of Law, Raj Daya.


SUMMARY 1. In situ experiments were conducted using specialised incubation devices to grow biofilms under varying light regimes and grazing intensities (by excluding fish and largesized zooplankton, >2 mm) both within and between two sites in Lake Saint-Pierre. 2. Biofilms growing under greater in situ UVR and light exposures found in the south water mass were characterised by a greater biomass and nutrient content, but their total fatty acid (FA) contents and ratios of elemental nutrients were not significantly different from the north. There was a relatively greater abundance of chlorophytes and cyanobacteria in the south water mass, along with a greater proportion of low nutritional quality saturated fatty acids (SAFA). Conversely, biofilms growing in the north had a greater relative abundance of diatoms, as well as greater eicosapentaneoic acid (20:5x3) and docosahexaneoic acid (22:6x3) concentrations (two FAs implicated in the physiological competency of grazers). 3. The prevailing community structures created differences in terms of nutritional status of the biofilms for benthic grazers and their predators at the two sites. The biofilms from the southern site were characterised by greater food quantity at the expense of quality, while biofilms from the northern site contained less food of a better quality. Despite this, the nutritional regime in the south supported a greater productivity at higher trophic levels. The secondary treatments (light and grazing by fish and macro-invertebrates) had lesser effects on food quality.


This article presents the utilization of DPWM for the online condition monitoring of SiC power MOSFET switching at high switching frequencies in a three-phase inverter prototype. Due to the settling time imposed by the monitoring system, accurate measurements require low switching frequency and high modulation indexes when monitoring. To overcome these limitations, a DPWM strategy is proposed. This way, the monitored device does not switch during a certain time, and hence, the accuracy of the measurements is not compromised. The effect of the alteration of the modulation is analyzed in terms of power losses and current ripple, comparing the traditional with the proposed modulation. Moreover, online monitoring results performed in a SiC-based inverter prototype in different operating points are presented. An $R_{\mathrm {DS}}$ -based thermal model is presented in order to estimate online the junction temperature.


Background/objectives: Studies on environmental exposure to toxic metals and their effects on male reproductive function are scare in our setting. This study evaluates the levels of lead and mercury in seminal plasma of infertile males who are non-occupationally exposed in Benin City, Nigeria and to determine the relationship between seminal quality and these toxic metals. Materials and Methods: A total of 80 subjects participated in this study which includes 60 infertile males on routine visit to the infertility clinics in Benin City and 20 fertile males as controls. The concentration of lead in seminal plasma was assayed by atomic absorption spectrophotometer while the concentration of mercury was measured using inductively coupled plasma Mass spectrometry. Semen analyses were performed using standard techniques as recommended by World Health Organization. Results: Mean seminal plasma lead and mercury levels were significantly higher (p<0.001) in infertile males compared with controls. Mercury and lead correlated negatively (p<0.001) with sperm count, progressive motility, total motility and morphology but not with semen volume. There was no significant correlation between toxic metals and sperm indices in fertile males (controls). Conclusion: The levels of the studied toxic metals were higher in seminal plasma of infertile males and appear to have adverse effect on seminal indices in non -occupationally exposed males.


The ever-tightening government-enforced regulations for more energy efficient and less polluting machines and the simultaneous fast development of electric drives have caused hydraulic systems to lose ground to electric drives. One promising solution to improve the status of hydraulics in this competition are the Direct Driven Hydraulic (DDH) systems, aka electro-hydraulic actuators (EHAs), which are characterized by a closed circuit type and a servo motor driven speed-controlled pump controlling the actuator. Due to this topology, they offer a possibility of reaching higher energy efficiencies compared to traditional open circuit type valve-controlled systems and simultaneously they offer the high accuracy and dynamics of these.
 Typical applications where DDHs have been used are, in the area of mobile equipment, modern commercial and military aircrafts and some lift trucks, and in the area of stationary applications, mostly presses. In all of these, the actuators produce relatively slow motions.
 In this experimental study, a DDH system is applied to a stationary industrial vertical position control application where a very rapid movement of a heavy load is required. This brings out some unwanted fluctuation phenomena not encountered with slower motion velocities. Here we are striving for avoiding these phenomena by adding damping to the system. In addition, it is studied whether the good energy efficiency of DDH systems could be enhanced with load-compensation.
 The presented measurement results include the system behavior regarding the smoothness of positioning, the fluctuations of pressures, forces, and power, and finally the energy consumption with three different system configurations: basic DDH, load-compensated DDH, and load-compensated and damped DDH. The measured energy consumptions are compared against results gained in simulating a conventional valve-controlled system driving the same application.
 The measurement results manifest that energy consumption wise significant benefits are achievable with DDH, especially in combination with hydraulic load compensation. However, without added damping the motion involved marked vibrations in the end of the upward and downward strokes. Added damping eliminated these vibrations, but at the cost of reduced energy efficiency. Due to this, the solution for the fluctuation and vibration problem should be sought by developing a control strategy that produces a smoother but as fast motion.


Objective: Child/adolescent 'marriages' and following pregnancies have adverse effects both on the child and adolescent mother. The aim of this study is to detect whether the adult pregnant women who have previous adolescent pregnancy more susceptible to the depression and anxiety than current adolescent pregnants and the adult pregnant women who have no adolescent pregnancy history. Study Design: This cross sectional study evaluated a total of 163 pregnant women who attended to our antenatal clinic. Subjects aged between 16 and 43 years including both adolescent and adult pregnant women were divided into three groups. These groups are current adolescent pregnant women (Group I), adult pregnant women who have adolescent pregnancy history (Group II), adult pregnant women who have no adolescent pregnancy history (Group III). Three groups were compared in terms of the pregnancy status, socio-demographic variables and depression-anxiety scores. Result: In the current study the highest depression and anxiety scores were observed in Group II [depression scores' median (IQR) values respectively 5 (8.5) points for Group I, 12.5 (8.5) for Group II, 9 (12) for Group III (p<0.001 between Group I and Group II for BDI comparison). Anxiety scores' median (IQR) values respectively 19.5 (15.5) for group II, 9 (15.5) for group I, 14 (15.25) for Group III (p=0.005 between Group I and Group II for BAI comparison). Conclusion: Marriage and pregnancy at an early age are considered as risk factors for psychiatric morbidity in the next pregnancy. Therefore, women with a history of teenage pregnancy should be carefully monitored for depression and anxiety symptoms.


This paper is concerned with the interpretation of markedness at the interfaces. Special attention is given to the analysis of (specific types of) Topic constituents, aimed to show the feature-compositional nature of discourse categories. In particular, the notion of contrast is addressed, showing that discourse features are systematically associated with specific functional heads and require validation through Agree to obtain interpretation at the interfaces. In this line of analysis, the notion of phase proves to play a crucial role insofar as the syntactic visibility of embedded discourse-semantic features is dependent on their location in the edge or head (as opposed to the complement position) within the hosting phase. Keywords: contrast; conversational dynamics; givenness; phase; syntax-prosody interface


Globalisation has brought new dimensions and depths to the
inequalities which have always characterised human societies. For indigenous peoples across the world, globalisation has too often meant new invasions of traditionally-held land and the destruction of natural
environments for deforestation, mining, agribusiness or other forms of exploitation, and has brought in its train the devastating effects of climate change. Meanwhile exclusion from majority societies' pathways to economic and social security through education and employment has exacerbated the inequalities that have long been experienced. One consequence, despite the best efforts of indigenous peoples themselves and their allies, has been acute inequalities in health outcomes (see Chapters 4 and 9, this volume, by Alston and Fawcett, respectively).

The people whose lives are most affected, and practitioners wanting to address the social and health rights of indigenous peoples, are at risk of feeling overwhelmed in the face of such powerful macro-level forces. The situation is compounded by the problematic history between professionals and indigenous peoples in countries like Australia where professionals have too often been implicated in oppressive practices. However, even in the face of such powerful and often destructive social and economic processes, there are examples of ordinary people making extraordinary personal changes and taking greater control of
their health and well-being, on occasions with effective professional support. International research into the social determinants of health has demonstrated the significance of people's experience of 'control', a term described as being synonymous with empowerment as critical to health and well~being, irrespective of whether or not these changes
ripple to effect wider social systems (Tsey et al, 2003). Despite this research, this important psychosocial factor, which resonates with Indigenous Australians' desire to be self-determining in relation to the health and social services in their communities, has received little
attention in research literature. This chapter analyses an attempt by a transdisciplinary team of social workers, public health practitioners and Indigenous academics and community partners to engage with international research addressing the social determinants of health, particularly the critical psychosocial factor of empowerment (Tsey et
al, 2003). The Family Wellbeing empowerment programme (FWB),
developed by and for Indigenous Australians, will provide a case study to illustrate the approach.


Euphausiids are commonly found in the stomachs of bowhead whales Balaena mystice- tus hunted near Barrow, Alaska; however, no evidence exists of a self-sustaining population in this region. To explain euphausiid presence near Barrow, their transport from the northern Bering Sea was investigated through particle tracking experiments using velocity fields from an ocean general circulation model in 4 contrasted circulation scenarios (1997, 1998, 2002 and 2003). Euphausiids were released during their spawning season (April−June) in the bottom and surface layers in the northern Bering Sea, their endemic region, and tracked through the Chukchi-Beaufort Sea. Results show that both Anadyr Gulf and Shpanberg Strait are potential regions of origin for euphausiids. Topographi- cally steered bottom particles have 4 to 5 times higher probability of reaching Barrow than surface particles (ca. 95% versus 20% of particles). As euphausiids are often found near the bottom on the northern Bering shelf, this suggests a very high probability of euphausiids reaching Barrow, making this location a privileged area for whale feeding. The main pathways to Barrow across the Chukchi Sea shelf are Central Valley (CV) and Herald Valley (HV). The transit to Barrow takes 4 to 20 mo. Arrivals at Barrow have 2 peaks at ca. 200 d (fall, CV particles) and 395 d after release (spring, mixed CV and HV) on average, because of the seasonal cycle of the Chukchi Sea currents. Elevated euphausiid abundance in the fall at Barrow is favored by a high Bering Strait northward transport and by southerly winds, driving organisms through CV rather than through the HV pathway.


With the lack of direct markets to examine, copyright setting agencies often adopt a total proxy approach whereby other markets are used to formulate benchmark prices. In this paper, we utilize a "downstream" market to estimate the value to a commercial "rights user" of distant television signals. This "partial proxy" approach has two advantages: it uses data drawn from the distant signal market (i.e. vertical market information) and it uses actual market pricing data from buyers and sellers of programming content.
Using this data, we derive estimates of the wholesale market value of distant TV signals. Based on our analysis we find that the current per signal payment to distant signal rights-holders (as certified by the Copyright Board of Canada) is less than the actual market value of those signals.


The fiduciary duty owed to clients by attorneys is defined by the reasonable-care standard of negligence as opposed to the all-encompassing "absolute and perfect candor" rhetoric frequently used to describe the duty owed. Words have meanings and, though the use of "absolute and perfect candor" serves a beneficial purpose, reminding attorneys of the special duty owed to their clients, the fiduciary duty owed to clients is not so all encompassing and impractical.Modern case law fails to establish that a broadly applicable duty of "absolute and perfect" candor applies to the attorney-client relationship, except in a limited number of situations. The disclosure obligations of attorneys are limited by a variety of considerations including: scope of representation, materiality, client knowledge, competing obligations to others, client agreement, and threatened harm to the client or others, justifying the nondisclosure of information and reflecting the lack of a generally applicable duty of "absolute and perfect candor." The fiduciary duty owed to clients by attorneys is not one requiring "absolute and perfect candor," except for in situations wherein the interests of the attorney and client are adverse and a few delineated exceptions, but one requiring the attorney to act reasonably in providing information to a client.


The World Wide Web (WWW) is a primary resource of information. With the growth of the WWW, it is not only enough to have a web presence, but also to have a highly readable website. Scientific web pages include text content, tables, graphs, charts, images, mathematical formulae that are difficult to represent in a legible manner. This study involved creating a sample scientific website. Users had to browse a sample website and answer a survey questionnaire. The survey responses were analyzed using data mining techniques from SAS Enterprise Miner to determine the main factors affecting readability of the website.


This study investigates an efficient and sustainable route of Ag-NPs preparation using leaf extracts of two plants, Ocimum tenuiflorum (tulsi) and Garcinia mangostana (mangosteen), well adorned for their wide availability and medicinal property. Silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) have been synthesized at room temperature following a green approach by reducing the corresponding salt (AgNO 3 ) with plant leave extract. The reaction was instantaneous and the average diameter of the particles formed was around 15nm and 20nm (for ocimum tenuiflorum) and 25nm and 38nm (for garcinia mangostana) as measured by HRTEM and DLS techniques respectively. Electron diffraction pattern showed that the particles were crystalline in nature. These particles were highly stable for more than four months at room temperature in both the cases. These nanoparticles were used for assessing antibacterial activity studies against both gram positive ( Staphylococcus aureus ) and gram negative ( Escherichia coli ) bacteria. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of silver nanoparticles synthesized using Ocimum Tenuiflorum against these two pathogens was found to be 0.25µg/mL (E. coli) and 0.64µg/mL (S. aureus) while for Garcinia mangostana it was 0.38 µg/mL (E. coli) and 0.92 µg/mL (S. aureus). The inhibition zone diameter (IZD) in case of Ocimum tenuiflorum was 30mm (with both E. coli and S. aureus) while with garcinia mangostana it was 25mm (E. coli) and 28mm (S. aureus).


The mechanical properties of a 7A04 aluminum alloy were improved by deformation strengthening and phase transformations strengthening adopting thermomechanical treatment, whose process include solution treatment, deformation treatment and ageing treatment in turn. The paper focuses on the influences of deforming degree and ageing process on microstructure and properties of 7A04 aluminum alloy. The experimental results show that hardness increased with increasing deformation ratio, and the value are greatly higher than that of samples after solution treatment. The results of ageing after deformation show that the hardness enhanced with prolonging the ageing time, which reach the peak value at 16 hours. In addition, the microstructure became more homogeneous and the grain was refined obviously by metallography microscope observation. The second phase precipitate dispersedly to strengthen the alloy. Above all, in order to obtain the better mechanical properties, the optimal thermomechanical treatment processes are solution treatment at 470°C for 2h, deformation with ratio of 40% as well as ageing at 120°C for 16h.


This paper investigated the effect of block-based programming and unplugged coding teaching activities on fifth graders' computational thinking skills, self-efficacy, and academic performance. The teaching activities were conducted within the scope of the "Problem-Solving and Programming" unit of the Information Technologies and Software (ITS) course. The sample consisted of 82 fifth graders of three public middle schools in the academic year of 2020-2021. Participants were recruited using random sampling. The study adopted an embedded mixed design. The quantitative stage employed a pretestposttest randomized control group design, while the qualitative staged employed a case study. Quantitative data were collected using the Computational Thinking Self-efficacy Scale (CTSES), the International Informatics and Computational Thinking Activity Task Test (IICTATT), and a Computational Thinking Performance Test (CTPT) developed by the researcher. Qualitative data were collected using a semi-structured interview questionnaire. The quantitative data were analyzed using the Kruskal Wallis H, paired sample t-test, and ANCOVA test on the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The qualitative data were analyzed inductively using MAXQDA. There was no significant difference in CTSES scores between groups. Experimental 2 had higher IICTATT and CTPT scores than Experimental-1 and control groups. The qualitative findings were grouped into seven categories.


For 30 years there has been ongoing argument that developments of information and communication technology (ICT) will inevitably change education systems and practices. This innovation of education by using ICT-tools is often described as more or less self-evident with a naive faith in the promises of new technology to enable teachers to make improvement in the content, the methods and the organisation of teaching and learning, with far-reaching influence on students' skills and knowledge (Westera 2005; Nivala 2009). One example is ICT literacy defined as an important component in a set of generic skills that all citizens in the neo-liberal market society must possess (Kozma and Voogt 2003; Krumsvik 2009; Robertson 2003; De Castell, Bryson, and Jenson 2002). However, educational practices seem to have failed to live up to these utopian expectations and the process of integration of ICT has often been described as slow. Reasons for this lethargy has by many researchers been identified in various aspects of educational practice ranging from technical factors such as lack of technology and software in schools and the limited personal expertise of teachers in the use of ICT, to other factors, such as for example teachers' beliefs, and knowledge about how to integrate ICT in teaching (Robertson 2003; UNESCO Launches ICT Standards Effort 2008; De Castell, Bryson, and Jenson 2002; Goktas, Yildirim, and Yildirim 2009; Govender and Govender 2009). The aim with this paper is to discuss how ethnographic methods can be used to make visible what educational technologies might offer for teaching and learning of mathematics. The paper offers critical considerations of the official discourse (described above), stemming from economic interests, exhorting the field of education to adopt and integrate information and communication technology (ICT), in teaching and learning. It calls for an alternative, reflexive and critical approach where questions about technology uses in education are emphasised. But the question is, what educationally, does ICT really offer for education? In the present study a group of student teachers were followed during 20 weeks of a mathematics course as part of a three and a half to four yearlong education. The course was followed in its entirely but the material discussed here represents participants observation together with conversional interviews with students from lab work where student teachers work with computers . One way of understanding the attractiveness of ICT for educational policy makers, is the way new technology is formulated in official discourse, by the society and its selected agents, where digital technology in many way defines society, and the position education has as a driving force of economic competiveness (Ball 2006). The argument for ICT use in education formulated in this discourse is rooted in economistic theorizing rather than in an educational theory (De Castell, Bryson, and Jenson 2002). The present study try to redress this imbalances. It uses Basil Bernstein conceptual framework about the construction of pedagogic discourse as a grammar underlying fields of production, recontextualisation and pedagogical practice. These theoretical concepts could be used to understand the process where dominant groups in society ideologically create unrealistic expectations about the effects of ICT use on teaching and learning. It does this through its concern with the intrinsic feature of pedagogic discourse, with the distinctive form and structure of what actually goes on the process of education (Bernstein 2000).


Abstract. Statistical models for environmental monitoring strongly rely on automatic data acquisition systems that use various physical sensors. Often, sensor readings are missing for extended periods of time, while model outputs need to be continuously available in real time. With a case study in solar-radiation nowcasting, we investigate how to deal with massively missing data (around 50% of the time some data are unavailable) in such situations. Our goal is to analyze characteristics of missing data and recommend a strategy for deploying regression models which would be robust to missing data in situations where data are massively missing. We are after one model that performs well at all times, with and without data gaps. Due to the need to provide instantaneous outputs with minimum energy consumption for computing in the data streaming setting, we dismiss computationally demanding data imputation methods and resort to a mean replacement, accompanied with a robust regression model. We use an established strategy for assessing different regression models and for determining how many missing sensor readings can be tolerated before model outputs become obsolete. We experimentally analyze the accuracies and robustness to missing data of seven linear regression models. We recommend using the regularized PCA regression with our established guideline in training regression models, which themselves are robust to missing data.