Practical evaluation of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) network requires a lot of money to build experiment environments, which includes UAVs, network devices, flight controllers, and so on. To investigate the time-sensitivity of the multi-UAV network, the influence of the UAVs' mobility should be precisely evaluated in the long term. Although there are some simulators for UAVs' physical flight, there is no explicit scheme for simulating both the network environment and the flight environments simultaneously. In this paper, we propose a novel co-simulation scheme for the multiple UAVs network, which performs the flight simulation and the network simulation simultaneously. By considering the dependency between the flight status and networking situations of UAV, our work focuses on the consistency of simulation state through synchronization among simulation components. Furthermore, we extend our simulator to perform multiple scenarios by exploiting distributed manner. We verify our system with respect to the robustness of time management and propose some use cases which can be solely simulated by this.


ASYMMETRY: WAYS TO exploit it, and means to counter it pervade the thinking of military professionals as much today as it did a decade ago. The Guardian, immediately after 9/1 1 , pointed out that "asymmetric warfare" had become a "buzz phrase."1 The need for military professionals to be experts at asymmetric warfare has become a dominant theme in Western military literature and thinking.2 The U.S. Department of Defense directive that addresses irregular warfare says plainly, "IW favors indirect and asymmetric approaches, though it may employ the full range of military and other capacities, in order to erode an adversary's power, influence, and will."3 Quoting this guidance, U.S. Joint doctrine advocates asymmetric means for conducting counterinsurgency (COIN) warfare.4 Individual services' doctrinal publications continue the theme, and many nations either borrow directly from U.S. doctrine with respect to this point or echo similar themes.5 To those engaged in the campaign to build security capability within Afghanistan, the conflict remains "asymmetric" by current definitions of the term. Insurgent military capabilities exhibit (to borrow from General Montgomery Meigs' definition of asymmetric warfare) "an absence of a common basis of comparison" with the military capabilities of the coalition nations fighting and working to stabilize Afghanistan.6 Although earlier U.S. Joint doctrine identified asymmetry as applying only to techniques used against friendly forces, later scholarship recognized that asymmetric techniques are used by both sides. In fact, the search for an asymmetric advantage is the key to any successful combat endeavor, whether in irregular war or conventional war.7 Whatever insights we have gained into asymmetric warfare in recent years, solid techniques for waging successful asymmetric warfare are harder to come by. Those of us gathered around a dining table at the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) compound listened intently, therefore, when a senior advisor and retired flag officer from one of our coalition partner countries asserted, "We must combat asymmetry with symmetry."8 This was a novel turn of phrase. Was unfamiliarity with the wars occurring in southwest Asia causing him to neglect the character of war there? No: he was drawing on extensive experience as a veteran of the Iraq War and had been working for months in Afghanistan. Had he dismissed the body of knowledge germane to fourth-generation warfare, expanded recently at the expense of thousands of coalition and Afghan lives?9 Was he advocating that the coalition find a way to turn the struggle in Afghanistan into a conventional war, one that ignores "hearts and minds" and instead uses large-scale maneuver tactics to bring stability to Afghanistan? The answer to these questions is an emphatic "No." Far from dismissing received wisdom about how to conduct effective counterinsurgency (COIN) warfare, the speaker, British Lieutenant General Sir Graeme Cameron Maxwell Lamb, was offering a useful way to consider the nature of asymmetry and helping spur some creative thinking essential to success in asymmetric warfare. In summarizing his observation - "symmetry of all parts of the government, its armed forces, the coalition, the international community, those in the fight, and those supporting the fight will, if applied with rigor, overwhelm those who have had to contest by asymmetric means" - he offered something that all coalition forces must appreciate: some of the most effective force multipliers in the Afghanistan COIN struggle are the professionalism, standards, and discipline that coalition forces impart.10 Military organizations displaying - and passing on - these positive influences offer a welcome alternative to the chaos and misery inflicted on a nation that has suffered for more than three decades under insurgency, civil war, and oppressive governments. General Lamb's comments have immediate relevance to members of the NATO command charged with building effective security forces in Afghanistan. …


This article addresses two subjects that are relevant to the finding of facts in international arbitration, namely, the burden of proof and the power of the arbitral tribunal to draw adverse inferences. Regarding the burden of proof, it shows that despite the existence of a general rule stating that the party making the allegation carries the burden to prove it, there are other factors – such as the applicable law to the merits or to the procedure – that may play a role in defining it. In circumstances where the party carrying the burden of proof is not able to discharge it without evidence that the opposing party possesses, the tribunal has the power to order the opposing party to produce said evidence. Non-compliance with the tribunal's order calls for the drawing of an adverse inference, which is not a reversal of the burden of proof nor a lowering of the standard of evidence, but rather the filling of the gap left by the missing (non-produced) evidence by a complex gap-filler. This article explains the elements within such gap-filler and presents an original methodology (a step-by-step approach) for the drawing of adverse inferences, represented in an Inference Chart.


The promise of service design is to enable a service supplier to prosper by delivering continuous value to customers. This prosperity is of strategic value to the service supplier. There is value in a service for both the service supplier and its service customers. We call these two values, service supplier value and service adopter value. When designing a service it is necessary to align both value propositions with the service components and service features. To this end, we propose to use a systemic method where whole (i.e. black box) and composite (i.e. white box) reasoning are interleaved on both the organizational and functional dimensions. We begin by producing an as-is model that describes how the value is created for the customer and how it is captured by the service supplier. Service improvement opportunities are identified in terms of value to both service adopter and service supplier. A to-be model is built that specifies the new interaction between actors and their new responsibilities and thereby, new service components and features. The method is illustrated with an example based on the service offering and implementation of Amazon.com in Amazon Marketplace.


Abstract. Model-measurement comparisons of HOx in extremely clean air ([NO] The free-radical chemistry was studied using a zero-dimensional box-model based upon the Master Chemical Mechanism (MCM). Two versions of the model were used, with different levels of chemical complexity, to explore the role of hydrocarbons upon free-radical budgets under very clean conditions. The "detailed" model was constrained to measurements of CO, CH4 and 17 NMHCs, while the "simple" model contained only the CO and CH4 oxidation mechanisms, together with inorganic chemistry. The OH and HO2 (HOx) concentrations predicted by the two models agreed to within 5–10%. The model results were compared with the HOx concentrations measured by the FAGE (Fluorescence Assay by Gas Expansion) technique during four days of clean Southern Ocean marine boundary layer (MBL) air. The models overestimated OH concentrations by about 10% on two days and about 20% on the other two days. HO2 concentrations were measured during two of these days and the models overestimated the measured concentrations by about 40%. Better agreement with measured HO2 was observed by using data from several MBL aerosol measurements to estimate the aerosol surface area and by increasing the HO2 uptake coefficient to unity. This reduced the modelled HO2 overestimate by ~40%, with little effect on OH, because of the poor HO2 to OH conversion at the low ambient NOx concentrations. Local sensitivity analysis and Morris One-At-A-Time analysis were performed on the "simple" model, and showed the importance of reliable measurements of j(O1D) and [HCHO] and of the kinetic parameters that determine the efficiency of O(1D) to OH and HCHO to HO2 conversion. A 2σ standard deviation of 30–40% for OH and 25–30% for HO2 was estimated for the model calculations using a Monte Carlo technique coupled with Latin Hypercube Sampling (LHS).


Ideas and the USPTO: Examiner Guidance Post Enfish and TLI By Erik Halverson, Aaron Morrow, Margaux Nair and Bob Barrett On May 19, 2016, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued a memorandum containing a summary of two recent Federal Circuit decisions along with a directive for how patent examiners should apply the holdings of the decisions. The first decision, Enfish, LLC v. Microsoft Corp., held that claims directed to a "self-referential" table are patent eligible under 35 U.S.C. § 101. The second decision, TLI Communications LLC v. A.V. Automotive, LLC, held that claims directed to classifying and storing digital images in an organized manner are not patent eligible under 35 U.S.C. § 101. In summarizing Enfish, the memorandum focused on four key points utilized in the determination of patent eligibility: (1) comparing the pending claim to claims already found to be abstract in prior court decisions is appropriate, (2) the "directed to" inquiry applies a filter to the claims and incorporates the specification in deciding whether their character as a whole is directed to a patent ineligible concept, (3) describing the claims in a high degree of generality when determining the focus of the claimed invention is discouraged, and (4) and noting that an invention's ability to run on a general-purpose computer does not automatically render it patent ineligible. The Federal Circuit noted that both it and the Supreme Court "have found it sufficient to compare claims at issue to those already found to be directed to an abstract idea in previous cases." The claims at issue in Enfish were distinguished from the claims of Bilski and Alice, where computers are invoked as a tool to implement a process that qualifies as an abstract idea. The Federal Circuit found that the claims in Enfish are an improvement to computer functionality itself, not an economic task for which a computer is used in its ordinary capacity. The Court also looked to the specification, which taught that the claimed invention achieved increased flexibility and smaller memory requirements over the computer functionality available at the time. The "directed to" analysis requires more than just the involvement of a patent-ineligible concept. Mere involvement would vitiate all of patent law because essentially every patenteligible claim involves a law of nature and/or a natural phenomenon, as every claim takes place in the physical world. In analyzing what the claims are directed to, the court looked to the specification's teachings. The court found that the claimed invention achieved benefits over computer functionality at the time, noting specifically an increased flexibility, faster search times, and smaller memory requirements. The court noted that disclosures in a patent's specification are relevant to determining the scope of the invention. 1 Memorandum from Robert Bahr to Patent Examining Corps entitled Recent Subject Matter Eligibility Decisions (Enfish, LLC v. Microsoft Corp. and TLI Communications LLC v. A.V. Automotive LLC), May 19, 2016. 2 2016 WL 2756255 (Fed. Cir. May 12, 2016) 3 2016 WL 2865693 (Fed. Cir. May 17, 2016) 4 Enfish at *4. 5 Enfish at *5. 24 May 2016 Practice Group: Intellectual Property Abstract Ideas and the USPTO: Examiner Guidance post Enfish and TLIIdeas and the USPTO: Examiner Guidance post Enfish and TLI 2 The Federal Circuit found that the District Court oversimplified and downplayed the benefits of the claimed invention. Again, the Federal Circuit looked to the specification to decide the scope the claims should be given in a § 101 analysis. The Federal Circuit found that "organizing information in tabular formats," as phrased by the District Court, was not an accurate characterization of the patent. Instead, the Federal Circuit ultimately decided the claims were directed to a "self-referential" table. The Federal Circuit compared other claims that had been deemed ineligible subject matter, noting specifically that the mere presence of a general-purpose computer is not sufficient to render claims ineligible. A laundry list of cases about claims that recited well-known business practices in connection with conventional computer components were distinguished from the current claims. The current claims were deemed to be an improvement on the actual functionality of a computer, which satisfied the first step of a § 101 analysis. Conversely in TLI, the court held that the idea of classifying and storing digital images in an organized manner was not sufficient to overcome the hurdle of § 101. The court in TLI continued to compare the claims at issue with prior claims that were deemed to have been patent ineligible for claiming no more than an abstract idea performed on a general-purpose computer, with the computer behaving in an expected way. Furthermore, nothing in the TLI claims provided an improvement on the computer functionality at the time. The additional components in the claims merely performed in a way that was "well understood, routine, conventional . . . and previously known to the industry." As the patent office memorandum notes, there is nothing present in these decisions that changes the subject matter eligibility framework. Nevertheless, some key practice points have been further clarified in the memorandum. First, when drafting computer-based applications, it is important to fully flesh out why the new claims are an improvement over what currently exists and, if possible, provide detailed examples how the claimed invention is an improvement. Second, when prosecuting an application, arguments against computerbased § 101 rejections will typically be stronger if the arguments compare the claims to claims that have been deemed allowable in a post-Alice proceeding. The memorandum made clear that rejections under § 101 should include some comparison to claims that have been deemed ineligible; a response using a stronger comparison to eligible claims will have a higher likelihood of success. Finally, the memorandum makes clear that in light of recent case law, software claims are not automatically ineligible and instead can be eligible if they provide specific implementations of a solution to a problem rooted in the software. The advice encourages drafting of a specification that articulates what problems exist at the time and describes how the claims solve that problem. This approach may be enough to overcome the § 101 bar with computer-based claims that are directed to software. 6 TLI attempted to modify their arguments in light of the recent Enfish decision; however, they were unable to successfully do so. 7 TLI at *5. Abstract Ideas and the USPTO: Examiner Guidance post Enfish and TLIIdeas and the USPTO: Examiner Guidance post Enfish and TLI


A succession of continental red beds in the Paleogene Carroza Formation, northeastern Mexico, contains an assemblage of evaporite paleosols previously unknown in pre-Neogene strata that record the syndepositional exposure of nearby diapiric evaporite and a climatic shift to increasing aridity. Carroza red beds were deposited in an ephemeral braided-fl uvial system in a highaccommodation setting. Paleosols developed in nearly all depositional settings, including channels, crevasse splays, and fl oodplains, and contain salic/natric, gypsic, baritic, and calcic horizons. Calcic paleosols are limited stratigraphically to the lowermost part of the formation in oyster-bearing estuarine strata and yield upsection to evaporitic paleosols, thus providing a record of increasingly arid conditions as the Paleogene marine shoreline shifted eastward, toward the Gulf of Mexico Basin. The increase in aridity reduced vegetation and residuum thickness on the exposed diapiric salt, consequently increasing the infl ux of evaporitic minerals into the basin, and driving the development of salic/natric, gypsic, and baritic horizons in all depositional environments. Evaporitic paleosols of the Carroza Formation have characteristics similar to soils forming today in climates with annual precipitation ranging from <80 mm/yr to as much as 450 mm/yr, in apparent confl ict with estimates of subhumid to subtropical conditions from Carroza fossil leaf data. Because evaporitic paleosols are persistent throughout the Carroza section, we infer that a combination of spring-fed, high water tables, augmented by fl ood-basin inundation from high-discharge seasonal fl uvial fl ood events sustained perennial woodlands, and sodium-caused clay dispersion created poor drainage in topographically low parts of a rapidly subsiding salt-withdrawal basin.


Eutectic plates are widely used in refrigerated vehicles to keep the temperature of the container in desired range, eliminating or including the refrigeration unit. Eutectic is a phase change material which remains unaffected by cyclic heating and cooling. Eutectic plates consists a mixture of two or more compounds which has low melting point than that of each individual compound. Eutectic is a solution which has phase change temperature below 0°C (32°F). Eutectic plates consume energy for freezing during night and during day period it operates to keep the storage container at a constant prearranged temperature by absorbing and dissipating large amount of thermal energy, without consuming energy. The eutectic material is stored in stainless steel, aluminium and high density polyethylene pipes. Using eutectic plates on refrigerated boards eliminate the use of bulky refrigeration unit which reduces chances of failure of the system components due to vibrations during transportation and make the system simple. Also the CO2 emission contracts to a greater extend.


Ikom Monoliths are a unique form of African visual creativity, which typifies a traditional art genre defined by minimalism aesthetics. These unique abstractionism, positions the Ikom Monoliths apart, in formal configuration and content, from other established traditional African art conventions. However, this unique aesthetic paradigm imbedded in the Ikom Monoliths, is under-researched. The main purport of this study was aimed art propounding a new perspective of investigating these creative stone carvings, which will bring to lime light their peculiar artistic visual qualities, and locate them within a creative conventional context. At the base of this study, the current discourse on Ikom Monoliths was surveyed, which indicated that, such discourse was drawn along anthropological lines of investigation, which incorporates various ambiguities. This is because, such anthropological discourse reduces these monoliths to mere artefacts and monuments, thereby depriving them of their artistic being. This study equally identified the discourse of aesthetic association, as another paradoxical mode of enquiry employed by most scholars in discussing Ikom Monoliths and pointed out that, the association/relation of the Ikom Monoliths with Western European monuments like Stonehenge, Menhirs, or Megaliths, was both problematic and misleading. This study rather employed an artistic methodology of investigation which focused on interrogating the visual artistic qualities of these stone carvings. The result of this intrinsic investigation, led to the submissions that, the Ikom Monoliths possesses conceptual minimalist qualities which set them apart as a peculiar aesthetic genre from other traditional African artworks, and further positing that the Ikom Monoliths are traditional Found Object. This findings therefore, underpins the fact that, the concept of Found Object transmutation in African art, predates its usage and appearance in Western European art cultures.


Synopsis Silicic pyroclastic deposits, attributed to two discrete volcanic phases, are reported from a basal sequence of the Paleogene Skye Lava Field, NW Scotland. Phase 1 comprises relict silicic fall deposits that have been subsequently altered to a bed of K-bentonite. These fall deposits pre-date a thick (c. 70 m) sequence of basaltic plateau lavas and a later underlying tholeiitic sill. The K-bentonite bed has a fabric that strongly resembles that of eutaxitic welded ignimbrite. Phase 2 comprises both basic and silicic ignimbrites that post-date the lowermost plateau lavas. The nature of these distinct ignimbrite lithofacies can be used to infer that eruption parameters, such as chemistry, intensity and flux output, underwent temporal variations. The recognition of these two phases of pyroclastic volcanism has major implications for the established sequence of the Skye Lava Field and gives important new insights into the nature of these Paleogene eruptions.


An archaeoastronomical study recently accomplished in the Maya area revealed that the architecture on the northeast coast of the Yucatán peninsula is characterized by some peculiar orientation trends, which we have not been able to explain in a satisfactory manner. In order to acquire additional information, in November 2015 we measured the orientations of 34 structures at 21 archaeological sites. The book presents the results of this work, as well as some analyses based on all the available data from the northeast coast. Their distribution shows that the percentage of orientations related to the Sun is notably lower than in other parts of the Maya Lowlands. The orientations to the major lunar extremes (also known as standstill positions), which are quite rare elsewhere, constitute the most prominent group on the northeast coast, most likely reflecting the fact that the worship of the goddess Ixchel, associated with the Moon, was very important in the region, particularly during the Postclassic period, when most of the buildings included in the study were constructed. The lunar alignments are regularly associated with those referring to the solstices; the analysis of declinations corresponding to both groups has disclosed that their referents must have been predominantly the major northerly extremes of the Moon on the western horizon and the southern (winter solstice) extremes of the Sun on the eastern horizon. It is thus possible to conclude that a special attention was paid to the full Moon extremes, considering that these phenomena are always visible around the solstices and can be observed almost simultaneously with those of the Sun, but on diametrically opposed horizons. The significance of lunar orientations can be accounted for by the Moon's aquatic and fertility symbolism, which was likely based on the observed correlations between lunar cycles and the periodicity of climatic variations and other changes in natural environment, whereas the combinations of lunar and solstitial alignments are congruent with the conceptual relationship between the Sun and the full Moon, characteristic of the Mesoamerican world view. The solstitial orientations represent the second most important group on the northeast coast, conceivably because of their relation with lunar alignments. The remaining solar orientations probably allowed the use of observational calendars similar in structure to those that have been documented in other parts of Mesoamerica and whose purpose was to facilitate a proper scheduling of seasonal activities. For the third most significant group of orientations on the northeast coast we propose some stellar motives, but the hypothesis requires further testing. Finally, by analyzing the orientations of coastal structures, we note that many of them exhibit a rather close correspondence with the adjacent shoreline, but since they also pertain to astronomically significant groups, we argue that the seafront buildings must have often been erected on selected places, where both astronomical and topographic criteria could be met.


In multiprocessor systems, one of the main factors of systems' performance is task scheduling. The well the task be distributed among the processors the well be the performance. Again finding the optimal solution of scheduling the tasks into the processors is NP-complete, that is, it will take a lot of time to find the optimal solution. Many evolutionary algorithms (e.g. Genetic Algorithm, Simulated annealing) are used to reach the near optimal solution in linear time. In this paper we propose a heuristic for genetic algorithm based task scheduling in multiprocessor systems by choosing the eligible processor on educated guess. From comparison it is found that this new heuristic based GA takes less computation time to reach the suboptimal solution.


During earthquakes, faults heat up due to frictional work. However, evidence of heating from paleoearthquakes along exhumed faults remains scarce. Here we describe a method using thermal maturation of organic molecules in sedimentary rock to determine whether a fault has experienced differential heating compared to surrounding rocks. We demonstrate the utility of this method on an ancient, pseudotachylyte-hosting megathrust at Pasagshak Point, Alaska. Measurements of the ratio of thermally stable to thermally unstable compounds (diamondoids/n-alkanes) show that the melt-bearing rocks have higher thermal maturity than surrounding rocks. Furthermore, the mineralogy of the survivor grains and the presence of any organic molecules allow us to constrain the temperature rise during the ancient earthquakes to 840–1170 °C above ambient temperatures of ~260 °C. From this temperature rise, we estimate that the frictional work of the earthquake was ~105–228 MJ/m 2 . Using experimental friction measurements as a constraint, we estimate that the minimum slip necessary for heating was ~1–8 m. This paper demonstrates that biomarkers will be a useful tool to identify seismic slip along faults without frictional melt.


We review two well-known definitions present in the literature, which are used to define the heat or energy flux in one dimensional chains. One definition equates the energy variation per particle to a discretized flux difference, which we here show it also corresponds to the flux of energy in the zero wavenumber limit in Fourier space, concurrently providing a general formula valid for all wavelengths. The other relies somewhat elaborately on a definition of the flux, which is a function of every coordinate in the line. We try to shed further light on their significance by introducing a novel integral operator, acting over movable boundaries represented by the neighboring particles' positions, or some combinations thereof. By specializing to the case of chains with the particles' order conserved, we show that the first definition corresponds to applying the differential continuity-equation operator after the application of the integral operator. Conversely, the second definition corresponds to applying the introduced integral operator to the energy flux. It is, therefore, an integral quantity and not a local quantity. More worryingly, it does not satisfy in any obvious way an equation of continuity. We show that in stationary states, the first definition is resilient to several formally legitimate modifications of the (models of) energy density distribution, while the second is not. On the other hand, it seems peculiar that this integral definition appears to capture a transport contribution, which may be called of convective nature, which is altogether missed by the former definition. In an attempt to connect the dots, we propose that the locally integrated flux divided by the inter-particle distance is a good measure of the energy flux. We show that the proposition can be explicitly constructed analytically by an ad hoc modification of the chosen model for the energy density.


The antioxidant activity of organic solvent extracts from green mate leaves (Ilex paraguariensis), lotus plumule (Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn.) and fresh rhubarb (Rheum rhabarbarum L.) stalks was investigated using four antioxidant assays. An extract obtained with 60% methanol solution from mate leaves exhibited antioxidant activity of 99.96 ± 1.20% at the level of 2000 g/mL (TBA assay) and of 81.80 ± 0.54% at the level of 125 g/mL (DPPH assay), respectively. In this fraction, five polyphenols, including chlorogenic acids, were identified by HPLC/MS analysis. Methanol extracts from lotus and rhubarb showed potent antioxidant activity of 98.45 ± 0.78% and 83. 93 ± 2.39%, respectively, at the level of 100 L/mL in a malonaldehyde/gas chromatography assay. Analysis of a hexane fraction of lotus and rhubarb identified several volatile antioxidants, such as 1-octen-3-ol and benzaldehyde. The results of the present study demonstrate that mate, lotus and rhubarb are excellent natural sources of antioxidants.


The first recorded use of hydraulic lime in construction can be traced back to at least two thousand years ago. Hydraulic lime, produced through either adding pozzolanic materials or calcining clay containing limestone, unlike air lime, can set and harden under water, developing strength through initial hydration reaction and subsequent carbonation. After WWII Portland cement mortars had almost completely replaced lime based mortars in modern construction. However, through conservation and specialist construction the benefits of hydraulic lime are becoming increasingly recognised. To support wider usage of these mortars there is a need for systematic study on the mortar properties and structural performance of lime mortared masonry. This thesis presents findings from a research programme conducted to develop understanding of the mechanical properties of natural hydraulic lime (NHL) mortared brickwork. The work focussed on the flexural strength of NHL mortared brickwork. A variety of material and environmental factors, including lime grade and supplier, mix proportion, sand type and age, have been investigated. In addition the research has completed an in-depth study on the influence of brick absorption characteristics on bond development. The two methods of flexural wall panel and bond wrench testing to establish flexural strength have been compared. In addition to flexural strength, initial shear strength and compressive strength of brickwork has also been investigated. A greater understanding of NHL mortared brickwork performance has been developed through this work. Performance of the brickwork has been related to properties of constituent materials and environmental factors. Recommendations for design performance of materials have been provided.


This study investigated the extent to which lack of ability to use printed transit information materials correctly to plan transit trips is a barrier to transit use. 180 people were asked to undertake 2 transit trip-planning efforts, each requiring the use of a system map, 2 route maps, and schedules. The study found that only 52.5% of the sample, composed of both transit users and nonusers, was able to plan a transit trip successfully using standard printed information materials. The main problems existed at the latter stages of the trip-planning process involving schedule use (55.6% success rate). Although printed information materials were the most popular trip-planning media for transit users, more than half stated that they did not use this method to plan their trips. Additional questioning suggested that a relationship between transit trip-planning ability and transit use does exist. However, it was also found that while lack of information material comprehension is a problem, it is not a primary barrier to transit use—none of the nontransit users cited lack of transit trip-planning ability as their main reason for not using transit. Furthermore, a wide range of other information resources is available for transit users to choose from if they are uncomfortable with printed media.


We determine the band structure of two-dimensional photonic crystals that are composed of left-handed materials and dielectrics, based on the numerical solution of the Helmholtz equation by using integral equations. It is found that plasmonic resonances appear constituting a band that is independent of the filling fraction. Wide bandgaps are present where the penetration depth of the electromagnetic field inside the photonic crystal is quite short compared to purely dielectric photonic crystals.


Skull sutures serve as growth centers whose function involves multiple molecular pathways. During periods of brain growth the sutures remain thin and straight, later developing complex fractal interdigitations that provide interlocking strength. The nature of the relationship between the molecular interactions and suture pattern formation is not understood. Here we show that by classifying the molecules involved into two groups, stabilizing factors and substrate molecules, complex molecular networks can be modeled by a simple two‐species reaction–diffusion model that recapitulates all the known behavior of suture pattern formation. This model reproduces the maintenance of thin sutural tissue at early stages, the later modification of the straight suture to form osseous interdigitations, and the formation of fractal structures. Predictions from the model are in good agreement with experimental observations, indicating that the model captures the essential nature of the interdigitation process.


Age discrimination and the other protected characteristics are legislated, in the EC Treaty, as a numerus clausus of features which, despite the differences, enjoy equal status. Yet, age discrimination, unlike its counterparts, is susceptible to being 'justified' in force of the Framework Directive. The obscure and grey waters of law to which age discrimination has been drifting aimlessly for some time, is the subject of this paper, the ultimate purpose of which is, beyond the sociological and anthropological studies, to dissect and unearth the current inconsistencies in the European Union legislation as regards this notion and its interplay with the equality corpus iuris . As a logical outcome, the paper puts forward suggestions for amendments to the current Framework Directive so that its tenor can be aligned to the Treaty where, be this construct ontologically correct or not, there is no suggestion that a ranking of protected characteristics should be adopted. Furthermore and more intriguingly, the contribution advances a more radical proposal, ergo the reform of the Framework Directive so that this protected characteristic, in so many cases unsuccessfully pursued vis-a-vis the national courts, be ultimately shaped in a binary way, therefore 'old age discrimination', so that its 'promotion' to the 'premier league' of  protected characteristics can thereupon be realised.


PURPOSE
To compare performance characteristics of dedicated dual-head gamma imaging and mammography in screening women with mammographically dense breasts.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Asymptomatic women (n = 1007) who had heterogeneously or extremely dense breasts on prior mammograms and additional risk factors provided informed consent to enroll in an institutional review board-approved HIPAA-compliant protocol. Participants underwent mammography and gamma imaging after a 740-mBq (20-mCi) technetium 99m sestamibi injection. Reference standard (more severe cancer diagnosis or 12-month follow-up findings) was available for 936 of 969 eligible participants. Diagnostic yield, sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive values (PPVs) were determined for mammography, gamma imaging, and both combined.

RESULTS
Of 936 participants, 11 had cancer (one with mammography only, seven with gamma imaging only, two with both combined, and one with neither). Diagnostic yield was 3.2 per 1000 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.1, 9.3) for mammography, 9.6 per 1000 (95% CI: 5.1, 18.2) for gamma imaging, and 10.7 per 1000 (95% CI: 5.8, 19.6) for both (P = .016 vs mammography alone). One participant had a second ipsilateral cancer detected with gamma imaging only. Prevalent screening gamma imaging demonstrated equivalent specificity relative to incident screening mammography (93% [861 of 925] vs 91% [840 of 925], P = .069). Of eight cancers detected with gamma imaging only, six (75%) were invasive (median size, 1.1 cm; range, 0.4-5.1 cm); all were node negative. The ratio of the number of patients with breast cancer per number of screening examinations with abnormal findings was 3% (three of 88) for mammography and 12% (nine of 73) for gamma imaging (P = .01). The number of breast cancers diagnosed per number of biopsies performed was 18% (three of 17) for mammography and 28% (10 of 36) for gamma imaging (P = .36).

CONCLUSION
Addition of gamma imaging to mammography significantly increased detection of node-negative breast cancer in dense breasts by 7.5 per 1000 women screened (95% CI: 3.6, 15.4). To be clinically important, gamma imaging will need to show equivalent performance at decreased radiation doses.


To quantify the economic impacts of Japan's feebate policy, a random-coefficients logit model is estimated for quarterly automobile sales between 2007 and 2012 from the Japanese new car market. For identification of the structural parameters, we exploit the policy-induced variation in effective car prices and the location of product-specific vehicle taxes as instruments. The estimated demand system allows us to simulate counterfactual Bertrand-Nash equilibria in response to alternative policy scenarios. Our results indicate that Japan's feebate policy induced a sizable increase in economic surplus, yet only a small improvement in sales-weighted average fuel efficiency, relative to the no-policy counterfactual. We also design an optimal feebate policy, which maximizes total economic surplus subject to a tax revenue constraint, by explicitly accounting for market power, product attributes, and carbon dioxide emissions rates. The policy is predicted to induce sizable improvements in both economic surplus and average fuel efficiency over Japan's feebate policy without requiring any decrease in tax revenues.


Objectives: Various stretching techniques have been proposed to prevent or improve Glenohumeral Internal Rotation Deficit (GIRD) and Posterior Shoulder Tightness (PST). Common stretching techniques include modified sleeper stretch and cross-body stretch. The current evidence is unclear which stretching technique is more effective. This study aimed to examine immediate effects of modified sleeper stretch and cross-body stretch on GIRD and PST. Methods: This study was a crossover randomised controlled trial. 12 young healthy individuals (nine men and three women, age 20.9 ± 0.3 years, body mass index 21.3 ± 1.3) were recruited. At two separate sessions, participants actively performed a randomly assigned stretching technique; modified sleeper stretch, or cross-body stretch. Range of motions (ROM) of dominant shoulder in external rotation (ER), internal rotation (IR) and horizontal adduction (HA), were assessed before and after stretching interventions. Results: Both stretching interventions led to significant immediate improvements in IR and HA (p<0.01), however not in ER. There was no significant difference between the two intervention groups in terms of ROM changes. Conclusion: Both modified sleeper stretch, and cross-body stretch might be applied effectively to treat GIRD and PST in the short term, as long as they do not provoke pain.


The arguments developed in this article offer reflective advocacy for the widening of the agenda of social policy: away from the prevalent narrowly focused approach that relies on various forms of instrumental exclusionary targeting based on inherently flawed notions of absolute poverty, towards a more holistic vision of the universalization of socio-economic security that locates the issue of poverty within the broader analytical frames of vulnerability and well-being. The endemic inefficiencies, exclusionary tendencies and societal fractures inherent in targeting form the negative case for its rejection; in contrast, the positive synergies and externalities generated by socio-economic security add to the intrinsic ethical value of the alternative universalist approach. While going beyond a critique of the conventional position, the article assembles scaffolding for constructing a strategic policy template that integrates the diverse constitutive elements and key parameters of such a universalist approach. It highlights, and provides an a priori discussion of, the constraints, issues and options that have to be negotiated and resolved in the formulation of such a strategy, including the dimensions of content, scope and norms; institutions, governance and delivery mechanisms; supply side deficits; social exclusion barriers; resource and financial constraints; and multiple contending pathways towards the universalization of socio-economic security wherein rights are defined and claimed through the status of worker, entrepreneur, or citizen. The suggestion made here is for the weaving together of a universal socio-economic security cover in the form of an organic patchwork quilt, not through a standard state-supplied uniform straitjacket.


As most loads on buildings and structures are stochastic in nature, an analytical method for studying load combination is presented in which the loads are treated as random processes. Factors considered include load occurrence rate, intensity variation, duration of each occurrence, and simultaneous occurrence of different loads. The probability distribution of the maximum combined load effect over a given time interval is derived and the distribution parameters as functions of the first two moments and the occurrence rate of individual loads are also obtained in close form. Numerical examples are given and the results are compared satisfactorily with Monte-Carlo simulation. The reduction factors for load combination as given in current building codes are examined and their inadequacy pointed out.


This report explores the role of private consultants in the school facility planning process. It focuses on such issues as school siting and local government and school district collaboration. As such, it seeks to demonstrate the importance of the school facility planning process and its significance in the community. The primary data for this report are in-depth interviews with a variety of school facility planning consultants. The questions asked in the interviews were broad and open-ended, and the data were studied qualitatively to determine similar experiences of all interview participants. The conclusion of this report presents key findings from the interviews, as well as from background information on the subject.


This paper presents results on behavior modeling of a general purpose metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) for simulation of power electronics systems requiring accuracy both in steady state and in switching conditions. Methods of parameters extraction, including nonlinearity of parasitic capacitances and steady-state characteristics, are based on manufacturer datasheet and externally measurable characteristics. The MOSFET template is written in the MAST language and simulated in the SABER simulator. Experimental validation of the N-channel power MOSFET-type IRFP240 (Fairchild Semiconductor) rated at 20 A/200 V is performed in a dc/dc boost converter. The main features of the developed model have been compared with the properties of an analytical MOSFET model and a general MOSFET model embedded to a SABER simulator.


Among the world's largest metropolises, Beijing is notable for its ancient roots and current transformations. Founded more than 3,000 years ago, the city has served as the national capital of China for at least eight centuries - during the last five feudal dynasties (Liao, Jin, Yuan, Ming, Qing) and, since 1949, for the People's Republic of China. Over the past decade the city's urban landscape has experienced dramatic changes. A research trip to Beijing in the summer of 1997 allowed me to investigate these changes. The choice of Beijing was not accidental: I grew up there and studied geography and urban planning for seven years at Beijing University before I came to the United States in 1989. It is the city to which I have always felt closest. Although I was well aware that Beijing was going through many changes, nothing prepared me for the sweeping transformations that had occurred since my previous visit, in 1992. The urban landscape and people's way o life differed so drastically that initially I was not sure this was where I had resided for twenty-four years. Even lifelong residents have similar feelings: One friend told me, "If I don't go to this section of town for several months, many of the streets and buildings can become unrecognizable." This note tracks one aspect of urban development in Beijing, the emergence of a central business district (CBD). Before I left China in 1989 I led a group of graduate students in drawing up a developmental plan for one of Beijing's major retail centers, Xidan. This site, we thought, would probably grow from a retail center into a CBD of Beijing (Peng, Zhou, and Qi 1989). Although the memory remained fresh, it took me no time to realize how obsolete our conclusion had become eight years later. The location of Beijing's CBD, however, remains an interesting matter. The CBD is the most visible landmark in many Western and Third World colonial cities. Even with the decline of central cities in many metropolitan areas throughout the united States, the unmistakable cluster of high-rises in the middle of a built-up urban area is as conspicuous as ever. Many high-level business services such as finance, advertising, and government continue to gravitate to CBDs, despite more-dispersed patterns of other sectors and so-called back offices, which conduct routine data and information processing instead of directly interacting with clients. But in Beijing visitors who want to find a visible CBD by scanning the landscape may face a challenge. Both as the capital of a feudal empire and as the epicenter of a centrally planned socialist economy, Beijing developed its enormous size and sophisticated urban structure without a CBD. This is changing, however, with advancing market reforms that have dramatically altered the urban structure and landscape of Beijing. Yet the market reform has not transformed Beijing into just another capitalist city. The entangled relationship between state bureaucracy and market forces, including the notable complications of urban land markets, has produced a unique spatial configuration in Beijing, represented in part by its CBD. In Beijing there is a marked spatial divide between the international and trade-oriented eastern business center and the government- and finance-oriented western business center, almost symmetrically located on two sides of the old city [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 1 OMITTED]. During my summer visit I interviewed numerous planners, scholars, real estate developers, entrepreneurs, and ordinary citizens in the city and collected information from various publications. This record note summarizes some of my findings about how and why the duality arose. A CITY WITHOUT A CBD It is not difficult to understand why Beijing did not have a CBD. Throughout its feudal history, the city was always a political center of China. Government and bureaucracy were its main foundation, overshadowing even its economic importance. …


The problem with employees is :
"The young people just don't work as hard as we do."
"They are not committed to the organisation."
"The employees at the operational levels do not want to work."
"They take less pride in their work than we do, etc, etc".
Everyone has heard these statements, perhaps you have said it yourself. All these statements refer to the perception that if they (whoever 'they' may be) can only have our work ethic, the productivity of the organisation and consequently of the country, will improve.


Shelf life is one of the important property of a drug for safety and quality. The shelf life of Picralima nitida (herbal drug) and three orthodox drugs (glibenclamide, ciprofloxacin, and pefloxacin) has been investigated. The stability study was done using UV spectrometry method. Their shelf life was determined by accelerated stability studies on the basis of first-order degradation kinetics and t10% (the time required to degrade 10% of a drug at 27°C). The stability was studied at temperatures of 45°C, 60°C and 70°C during the course of one month at one-week interval (1, 2, 3 and 4 weeks). The initial concentration of 5, 2.5, 25 and 100 mg/ml was used for Picralima nitida, glibenclamide, ciprofloxacin, and pefloxacin, respectively in the study. Influence of storage time and temperature on the drug samples were investigated. The half-life was also evaluated. All experiments were carried out in the year 2012. The concentrations of the drug samples were found to decrease with increase in storage time and temperature. The shelf life of ciprofloxacin, pefloxacin, and glibenclamide were found to be 535.18, 298.17 and 134.31 weeks, respectively. The half-life of ciprofloxacin, pefloxacin and glibenclamide were also found to be 3553.85, 1980 and 891.89 weeks, respectively. The shelf life and half-life of Picralima nitida could not be determined using UV spectrometry technique because of the presence of complex metabolites, which results in the irregular increase in absorbance and instability. Storage time and temperature was found to have a great influence on the concentration of the drug substances.


Spatial optimization problems (SOPs) are characterized by spatial relationships governing the decision variables, objectives, and/or constraint functions. In this article, we focus on a specific type of SOP called spatial partitioning, which is a combinatorial problem due to the presence of discrete spatial units. Exact optimization methods do not scale with the size of the problem, especially within practicable time limits. This motivated us to develop population-based metaheuristics for solving such SOPs. However, the search operators employed by these population-based methods are mostly designed for real-parameter continuous optimization problems. For adapting these methods to SOPs, we apply domain knowledge in designing spatially aware search operators for efficiently searching through the discrete search space while preserving the spatial constraints. To this end, we put forward a simple yet effective algorithm called swarm-based spatial memetic algorithm (SPATIAL) and test it on the school (re)districting problem. Detailed experimental investigations are performed on real-world datasets to evaluate the performance of SPATIAL. Besides, ablation studies are performed to understand the role of the individual components of SPATIAL. Additionally, we discuss how SPATIAL is helpful in the real-life planning process and its applicability to different scenarios and motivate future research directions.


There is strong evidence that self-regulatory processes are linked to early academic skills, both concurrently and longitudinally. The majority of extant longitudinal studies, however, have been conducted using autoregressive techniques that may not accurately model change across time. The purpose of this study was to examine the unique associations between 2 components of self-regulation, attention and executive functioning (EF), and growth in early literacy skills over the preschool year using latent-growth-curve analysis. The sample included 1,082 preschool children (mean age = 55.0 months, SD = 3.73). Children completed measures of vocabulary, syntax, phonological awareness, print knowledge, cognitive ability, and self-regulation, and children's classroom teachers completed a behavior rating measure. To examine the independent relations of the self-regulatory skills and cognitive ability with children's initial early literacy skills and growth across the preschool year, growth models in which the intercept and slope were simultaneously regressed on each of the predictor variables were examined. Because of the significant relation between intercept and slope for most outcomes, slope was regressed on intercept in the models to allow a determination of direct and indirect effects of the predictors on growth in children's language and literacy skills across the preschool year. In general, both teacher-rated inattention and directly measured EF were uniquely associated with initial skills level; however, only teacher-rated inattention uniquely predicted growth in early literacy skills. These findings suggest that teacher ratings of inattention may measure an aspect of self-regulation that is particularly associated with the acquisition of academic skills in early childhood.


A flow cell set-up was used as a model drinking water distribution system to analyze the in situ microbial population. Biofilm growth was followed by transmission light microscopy for 81 days and showed a biofilm consisting of microcolonies separated by a monolayer of cells. Protozoans (ciliates and flagellates) were often seen attached to the microcolonies. The biofilm was hybridized with oligonucleotide probes specific for all bacteria and the α- and β-subclass of Proteobacteria and visualized with a scanning confocal laser microscope. Hybridization showed that the microcolonies primarily consisted of a mixed population of α- and β- Proteobacteria . 65 strains from the inlet water and 20 from the biofilm were isolated on R2A agar plates and sorted into groups with amplified rDNA restriction analysis. The 16S rDNA gene was sequenced for representatives of the abundant groups. A phylogenetic analysis revealed that the majority of the isolated strains from the bulk water and biofilm were affiliated to the family of Comamonadaceae in the β-lineage of Proteobacteria . The majority of the strains from the α-lineage were affiliated to the family of Sphingomonadaceae . We were unable to detect any strains from the Pseudomonas genus and found a low abundance of bacteria affiliated to the γ-subclass of Proteobacteria where Pseudomonas and E. coli are positioned. The analysis revealed a high bacterial diversity in the water phase as well as the biofilm, but no strains were found in both environments.


UNLABELLED
BACKGROUND AND ОBJECTIVE: Loss of conformation and function of sufficient number of proteins with high aggregation capacity plays an important role in the pathogenesis of many neurodegenerative disorders (NDD). Due to a recent discovery of new array of proteins with the capacity to form aggregates of nonamyloid type, new NDD models as well as a new level of understanding in vivo models which are already exist is needed. DNA/RN A binding proteins - FUS and TDP-43 play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of some forms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia. The objective of the study was to develop a new ALS transgenic model.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
In cell culture experiments, we studied mutant FUS proteins capable to form intracellular deposits morphologically similar to those observed in the autopsy material of ALS patients.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSION
We created a transgenic mice line, in which a pathogenic form of human FUS protein was expressed in the nervous system. That led to the aggregation of FUS protein in spinal cord and motor neurons with the following degeneration and development of a phenotype, similar to the human ALS disease phenotype, in young grown-up animals. This neurodegenerative phenotype corresponds to a great number of clinical manifestations of human ALS and is an adequate transgenic model of the disease.


The rapid development of technology, the Internet, and the development of electronic commerce have led to the emergence of recommender systems. These systems will assist the users in finding and selecting their desired items. The accuracy of the advice in recommender systems is one of the main challenges of these systems. Regarding the fuzzy systems capabilities in determining the borders of user interests, it seems reasonable to combine it with social networks information and the factor of time. Hence, this study, for the first time, tries to assess the efficiency of the recommender systems by combining fuzzy logic, longitudinal data and social networks information such as tags, friendship, and membership in groups. And the impact of the proposed algorithm for improving the accuracy of recommender systems was studied by specifying the neighborhood and the border between the users' preferences over time. The results revealed that using longitudinal data in social networks information in memory-based recommender systems improves the accuracy of these systems.


Readers may choose their own villain in the story we have told. Like us, some will find the greatest culpability in the scientific community itself, for the large-scale failure to pay attention to the teaching of science in the high schools. Others will blame the textbook authors and publishers for pursuing sales rather than quality. Some will attach blame to the politicians who exploited antievolution sentiment to get into, or remain, in office. Others will blame the conservative Protestant clergy. Some may blame the whole educational system for failing to teach Americans how to evaluate evidence. And many will blame the evolutionists for bringing the matter up in the first place. But whatever the lesson one wishes to draw from the history of biology textbooks since the Scopes trial, we think the story itself is worth knowing. That the textbooks could have downgraded their treatment of evolution with almost nobody noticing is the greatest tragedy of all.


The purpose of this study was to assess the growth of spoilage and pathogenic bacteria on low sodium concentration sliced cooked bologna under refrigerated storage conditions. In study 1, the effect of three different sodium concentrations (1%, 2% and 3%) and two packaging conditions (aerobic and vacuum) on growth of a cocktail of inoculated spoilage bacteria such Lactobacillus curvatus, Leuconostoc mesenteroides, Brochothrix thermosphacta and Pseudomonas fluorescens were investigated by using culture-dependent and culture-independent techniques. In general, reducing the sodium concentration from 2% (the current industry standard) to 1% NaCl in the cooked bologna system did not have a significant effect on microbial growth. The utilization of Ion Torrent high-throughput sequencing in this study allowed the description of the total microbial community present on sliced cooked bologna. Taxonomic analysis revealed the microbial community belongs to the phyla Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria and Bacteroidetes. Finally, in this study, in situ meat redox measurement values were collected over time using platinum electrodes placed on top of, and in between bologna slices. While the redox values obtained were, in general, consistent with increasing bacterial cell numbers, issues of reproducibility and consistency were evident. The second study focused on the impact that the addition of a bacteriocin, Micocin X®, to the meat blend would have on growth of spoilage bacteria and in particular, Listeria monocytogenes, in vacuum-packaged cooked bologna formulated with 1% and 3% NaCl. In general, results demonstrated Micocin X® had a significant effect on the growth of Pseudomonas fluorescens and Listeria monocytogenes; however, no substantial effect was assessed in the control of lactic acid bacteria or Brochothrix thermosphacta.


The term "exclusionary zoning" typically describes a particular phenomenon: suburban large-lot zoning that reduces the supply of developable land and drives up housing prices. But exclusionary zoning in its modern form also occurs both within the urban core and region-wide. Exclusionary zoning at the sub-local and regional scales results in property values that fully capitalize the benefits of living in higher-wage regions, and the value of local public goods (like high-quality schools). Lower-income households then cannot meaningfully access those advantages, even if every municipality accommodates its fair share of regional need. The long-standing focus of exclusionary zoning on the content of local ordinances, instead of on these broader exclusionary dynamics, has defined the problem of exclusionary zoning too narrowly. We remedy that deficiency in our contribution to the Fordham Urban Law Journal's Fortieth Anniversary issue.


The grand challenge of Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS) development is that of creating a computer tutor as good as a human tutor. This difficult task may be broken into several parts. The first task real instructors perform prior to making instructional decisions is assessing the state of the trainee. Thus, the first consideration in the construction of an ITS is obtaining meaningful data from sensors and interpreting them in order to assess trainee emotional state. The interpretation of sensor data is the significant problem in this area, with the problem of sensor data mostly having been reduced to sensor selection. The machine learning methods for interpreting unlabelled sensor data are significantly more sparse than the sensors available, and their selection is far from straightforward. In this paper, Growing Neural Gas (GNG) methods, two types of incremental clustering, and Adaptive Resonance Theory (ART) will be evaluated against each other on fabricated and realtime data streams of trainees" state in order to determine the best selection of methods to accomplish this task.


The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the metabolism of gibberellin A20 (GA20) to gibberellin A1 (GA1) by tall and mutant shoots of rice (Oryza sativa L.) and Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. The data show that the tall and dx mutant of rice and the tall and ga5 mutant of Arabidopsis metabolize GA20 to GA1. The data also show that the dy mutant of rice and the ga4 mutant of Arabidopsis block the metabolism of GA20 to GA1. [17–13C,3H]GA20 was fed to tall and the dwarf mutants, dx and dy, of rice and tall and the dwarf mutants, ga5 and ga4, of Arabidopsis. The metabolites were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography and full-scan gas chromatography-mass spectrometry together with Kovats retention index data. For rice, the metabolite [13C]GA, was identified from tall and dx seedlings; [13C]GA1 was not identified from the dy seedlings. [13C]GA29 was identified from tall, dx, and dy seedlings. For Arabidopsis, the metabolite [13C]GA1 was identified from tall, ga5, and ga4 plants. The amount of [13C]GA1 from ga4 plants was less than 15% of that obtained from tall and ga5 plants. [13C]GA29 was identified from tall, ga5, and ga4 plants. [13C]GA5 and [13C]GA3 were not identified from any of the six types of plant material.


This research utilized population genetic analyses (protein starch-gel electrophoresis and DNA sequencing of the cytochrome b mtDNA gene), host-parasite specificity (lice coevolution), remote sensing of satellite data, and geographic information systems (GIS) to characterize newly discovered populations of pocket gophers (genus: Geomys) in Arkansas. These populations are isolated and occur in seemingly unsuitable habitat in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas. Analyses of electrophoretic and ectoparasite data suggested the populations in the Ozark Mountains represented isolates allied to Geomys bursarius, a species not known to occur in Arkansas. Comparison of mitochondrial DNA sequence data of the cytochrome b gene with that of other taxa and morphometric analyses confirmed that these populations are most closely allied to G. bursarius occurring to the north in Missouri. Moreover, these mtDNA sequence analyses indicated a degree of differentiation typical of that between other subspecies of pocket gophers. Therefore, these populations represent a distinct genetic entity in an intermediate stage of speciation and should be designated as a new subspecies, Geomys bursarius ozarkensis. Molecular clock analysis revealed a time of lineage divergence for this new subspecies as approximately 511,000 YBP. Due to the isolated nature and limited distribution of this subspecies, an evaluation of critical habitat needs was initiated. Remote sensing and GIS technologies were used to identify and describe suitable habitat Computerized classification of satellite imagery of suitable vegetation, integrated with ancillary digital information on soil associations, roads, and water systems, revealed that human activity had played a positive role in the establishment and dispersal of pocket gophers in this area. This research represents an initial combination of classical systematic tools with remote sensing and GIS to investigate biogeographic patterns and evolution. This project establishes a framework for using an interdisciplinary approach to studying organisms with limited distributions, determining evolutionary status, and providing recommendations for conservation.


: Biopharmaceuticals main classes comprise recombinant proteins, antibodies, and nucleic-acid-derived products, while synthetic pharmaceuticals include a wide variety of organic compounds. The purification of (bio)pharmaceuticals, as part of downstream processing, is mainly carried out by chromatographic processes, which are responsible for the therapeutics high cost. Therefore, there is a crucial need on the development of novel and more efficient separation/purification processes or on the improvement of the current chromatographic-based ones, aiming at producing pharmaceuticals of high quality and at a lower cost. Amongst alternative techniques, it has been demonstrated that inorganic or organic (nano)particles, used in solid-phase extraction approaches, may be promising for the purification of pharmaceuticals. This chapter provides an overview on solid-liquid separation/purification processes used to obtain high purity and high quality pharmaceuticals. The main purification processes are described and summarized. The areas where there has been a sustainable progress, combined with improved therapeutic characteristics, are highlighted. Materials based on silica (nano)particles, carbon-based (nano)particles (carbon nanotubes, graphene and activated carbon) and magnetic (nano)particles are overviewed. Based on the reported results, nanotechnology may play a key role in future pharmaceutical developments and manufacturing, where the design of suitable functionalized (nano)particles is a crucial factor to enhance the selectivity and to obtain high purification and recovery yields of (bio)pharmaceuticals.


This study investigated on the "Role of Community in managing Teaching and Learning resources: A Case of Secondary Schools in Kinondoni Municipality" The main objectives were to explore the ways in which communities were involved in managing teaching and learning resources, to examine the challenges faced the school communities in managing teaching and learning resources and to establish the strategies for improving the school communities' performance in managing teaching and learning resources in Kinondoni Municipality. The research approach was mixed research approach while research design was case study. The area of the study was Kinondoni Municipality in Dar-es-Salaam Region. The sample size was 54 respondents from six schools. The selection of respondents was done by writing the names of all teachers on piece of paper, then folded and put them together into the container. One paper after another was picked up randomly without replacement, then the names of teachers on the picked papers were involved in the study. Equally, in selecting the schools, only six schools were randomly selected from the total of 46 schools, each school was labeled with a number on piece of paper, then were all folded and put them into the box and a fellow was guided to select only six of them randomly. The selected numbers of schools participated in the study. The data were gathered through interview, questionnaires, observation and documentary review, the instruments were pilot tested and triangulation was made to cross-check validity and reliability of data collected. Community members were involved through meetings, challenges were revealed such as carelessness, poor fences, lack of seriousness and poor cooperation. The strategies were usage of principles, regulation, recruiting professional security guards and building fences to improve performance in managing teaching and learning resources.


The national university of Belize was forced to close its door on March 20, 2020, due to the deadly pandemic, COVID-19. Its president, Professor Clement Sankat was faced with the challenging decision of how to meet the goals of the university via an electronic means. Previously, he had worked several years as an administrator at the University of the West Indies and, at the time of the pandemic, three years at the University of Belize. Throughout his years of experience, he was required to make challenging decisions—but none was of this sort.


This paper presents a system architecture for load management in smart buildings which enables autonomous demand side load management in the smart grid. Being of a layered structure composed of three main modules for admission control, load balancing, and demand response management, this architecture can encapsulate the system functionality, assure the interoperability between various components, allow the integration of different energy sources, and ease maintenance and upgrading. Hence it is capable of handling autonomous energy consumption management for systems with heterogeneous dynamics in multiple time-scales and allows seamless integration of diverse techniques for online operation control, optimal scheduling, and dynamic pricing. The design of a home energy manager based on this architecture is illustrated and the simulation results with Matlab/Simulink confirm the viability and efficiency of the proposed framework.


This paper investigates the relationship between labour productivity, average real wages and employment in South Africa's manufacturing sector, using cointegrating VAR and VECM econometric techniques. A long-run equilibrium relationship was found between real wages and productivity, with an elasticity of 0,38 indicating that productivity has grown more rapidly than wages. However, the econometric tests proved to be highly sensitive to specification and sample period. Nevertheless, the main result is consistent with the finding that labour's share of gross output has been shrinking over the past three decades, which has negative implications for income distribution. These trends may plausibly be explained by capital intensification and possibly the adoption of labour-saving technology. The implication is that growth in the manufacturing sector cannot realistically be relied upon to create significantly more jobs for South Africa's millions of unemployed. Policy-makers are urged to consider alternative strategies which promote local economy and protect key labour-intensive sectors.


This paper discussed the influence of tightness or contacts pressure on copper busbar joints to determine changes in the value of the initial contact resistance and the maximum temperature at the joint due to high current load. The test sample was copper busbar 3 x 30 mm with configuration of bolted overlapping joint. Increasing contact pressure at the joint was measured to find out its effect on the value of contact resistance. The applied pressure was 6 to 36 MPa. Procedure of contact resistance measurement refer to the ASTM B539 standard using four-wire method. The sample subsequently loaded with the current of 350 A for 60 minutes and the maximum temperature at the joint was measured. The result showed that increasing contact pressure at the busbar joint will reduce the contact resistance and maximum temperature. The increase of contact pressure from 6 to 30 MPa causes decreasing contact resistance from 16 μΩ to 11 μΩ. Further increasing of contact pressure more than 30 MPa did not affect the contact resistance significantly. The lowest temperatur of busbar joint of 54°C was reached at a contact pressure of 36 Mpa.


: This paper proposes a method to represent the first step in information retrieval (IR) (that prepare the document set (preprocessing), In Information retrieval systems, tokenization is an integral part whose prime objective is to identify the token and their count. In this paper, an effective tokenization approach which is based on proposed new method called enhance inverted index (EII). The result shows that efficiency/ effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. Tokenization on documents helps to satisfy user's information need more precisely and reduced search sharply, believed to be a part of information retrieval. Pre-processing of input document is an integral part of Tokenization, which involves preprocessing of documents and generates its respective tokens, which is the basis of these tokens. Probabilistic IR generates its scoring and gives reduced search space. The comparative analysis based on the two parameters; reduce the time of search space, Pre-processing time.


The aim of this research is to explore the nature of the relationship which developed between the Preston Borough Police Force and the public between 1815 and 1914. An attempt is made to determine whether or not the relationship fits either of the two models of nineteenth century policing; the 'conflict' model identified by Robert Storch and the consensus' model proposed by Charles Reith. Attempts are also made to discover whether or not there was a discernible pattern to the developing relationship between police and public similar to that noted by Barbara Weinberger for Warwickshire, and if the objections to the new police, noted by Stanley Palmer, were raised in Preston.
Several issues which affected the relationship are examined These include the influence public opinion had on determining the role of the police, the 'local' versus 'national' control controversy, and the policies on recruitment, discipline, incentives and duties pursued by the Watch Committee in its effort to establish and maintain an acceptable image of efficiency and effectiveness for the force. The validity of this image is examined by a study of the role played by the police in regard to political and industrial radicalism, popular recreation and their use of published crime statistics.
A number of findings have emerged through the course of this study. From the outset the two main objections noted by Palmer towards the establishment of the new police, namely the fear of a military force and the men being strangers were not substantiated in the case of Preston. The activities of the early force did not apparently elicit concern and the transition from 'parish' to 'police' constable was seemingly a cosmetic one. Whilst assaults were committed against the police throughout the period, the police were rarely the direct target of working class grievances and in Preston there is no evidence to substantiate Weinberger's 'rejectionist' notion of policing in the I 830s.
The 1 860s proved to be a significant turning point in the development of the force and its relationship with the public in Preston. Detailed analysis of the Preston force reveals a turbulent period in recruitment, and retaimnent, of a suitable calibre of men during the 1860s, but both prior and subsequent to this decade a reasonable degree of stability was maintained. The policies pursued by the Watch Committee reflect its concern to maintain the force under local control as well as to maintain an acceptable image. As such the role of the police was restricted to that designated by the Watch Committee, although increased government intervention becomes evident after 1856. In policing political and industrial radicalism the force was used mainly to support military forces in controlling popular protest, whilst as regards policing popular recreation a 'hands off approach appears to have been the norm, with police discretion in such matters increasing in importance.
Preston contemporaries perceived changes in the crime rate as evidence of police effectiveness and efficiency and changes in the crime rate had a direct bearing on increases made in the size of the force.
By 1914 the Borough Police Force of Preston was tolerated if not wholly accepted by every class of society. The relationship which developed does not fit the pattern proposed by Weinberger and, whilst on occasion the police may have been perceived as Storch's 'blue locusts' or 'domestic missionaries', Preston does not fit his 'conflict' model. However, neither does it fit Reith's 'consensus' model. The Preston police officer appears to have more closely resembled what Clive Emsley has termed a 'general factotum', and the relationship which developed between the police and the public would appear to lie somewhere between the two extremes suggested by these models of policing


The 2015 Gorkha Nepal earthquake caused tremendous damage and loss. To gain valuable lessons from this tragic event, an earthquake damage investigation team was dispatched to Nepal from 1 May 2015 to 7 May 2015. A unique aspect of the earthquake damage investigation is that first-hand earthquake damage data were obtained 6 to 11 days after the mainshock. To gain deeper understanding of the observed earthquake damage in Nepal, the paper reviews the seismotectonic setting and regional seismicity in Nepal and analyzes available aftershock data and ground motion data. The earthquake damage observations indicate that the majority of the damaged buildings were stone/brick masonry structures with no seismic detailing, whereas the most of RC buildings were undamaged. This indicates that adequate structural design is the key to reduce the earthquake risk in Nepal. To share the gathered damage data widely, the collected damage data (geo-tagged photos and observation comments) are organized using Google Earth and the kmz file is made publicly available.


Community-based drinking water organizations (CBDWOs) are the most important providers of water in rural areas of the developing world. They are responsible for coping with future threats due to climate change, besides other non-climatic drivers of change such as demographic growth. The inherent capacities of CBDWOs to adapt to external drivers of change would be greatly conditioned by their capacities to initiate and catalyze collective processes. The rich background of CDBWOs' actual and historical responses to drought phenomena is an essential starting point for understanding both the processes and the limitations of adapting to future adverse climatic events. In this study, we contrast six CBDWOs located in the Costa Rican dry corridor, in order to analyze their ability to self-organize coping with recent annual periodical droughts. We found that CBDWOs implement hard, soft, and ecosystem-based adaptation measures. The decisions in this regard are reactive, tend to follow a sequential order, and are context dependent. One of the main factors that facilitates capital-intensive adaptation measures is the ability of CBDWOs to mobilize internal or external financial resources, which further depends on social capital and the governance structure.


In this article, we analyze the causal link between membership in environmental groups and active participation and membership in religious groups. We use a club-based model and employ OLS and spatial econometrics with controls to test for whether membership and participation in a religious group is a substitute or complement for membership in environmental groups. Instrumental variables estimation was used as a robustness check. We found that religious participation and religious membership in evangelical groups are a substitute for environmental membership. Much of the work on environmental concerns has focused on answers to survey questions, not on membership. We used a dataset of environmental membership at the county level to perform our analysis. We further add quantitative evidence to the discussion by some researchers on the link between religion and environmentalism. In this respect, our work aims to investigate further the causal links between religion and environmentalism.


In Neutral Accent , A. Aneesh employs India's call centers as useful sites for studying global change. The horizon of global economic shift, the consequences of global integration, and the ways in which call center work "neutralizes" racial, ethnic, and national identities become visible from the confines of their cubicles. In his interviews with call service workers and in his own work in a call center in the high tech metropolis of Gurgoan, India, Aneesh observed the difficulties these workers face in bridging cultures, laws, and economies: having to speak in an accent that does not betray their ethnicity, location, or social background; learning foreign social norms; and working graveyard shifts to accommodate international customers. Call center work is cast as independent of place, space, and time, and its neutrality—which Aneesh defines as indifference to difference—has become normal business practice in a global economy. The work of call center employees in the globally integrated marketplace comes at a cost, however, as they become disconnected from the local interactions and personal relationships that make their lives anything but neutral.


atrial fibrillation, machine learning We present techniques to detect various types of terminating and nonterminating atrial fibrillation (AF) as required by the Computers in Cardiology Challenge 2004. First, we describe an automatic technique to distinguish non-terminating AF from terminating AF. Our method models R-R intervals using mixtures of Gaussians and achieves an accuracy of 90% on the training set and 77% on the challenge test set. Second, we describe a semi-automatic technique to distinguish immediately terminating AF from AF which terminates one minute later. Our method first uses spectral models to determine which pairs of records are recorded from the same patient. This technique achieves 100% accuracy on the training set and partitions the test set into 10 unique record pairs. We then examine by hand the end of each ECG record to determine the likely time ordering of the records in each pair, thus distinguishing which record terminates immediately. This technique achieves an accuracy of 90% on the challenge test set.


The discussion of corporate sustainability (CS) is hindered by a lack of definitional clarity of the concept of CS and neighboring concepts. Therefore in this paper a framework of corporate sustainability is constructed from information derived from guidelines concerning corporate sustainability. Within this framework, a differentiation between sustainability performance and its managerial antecedents is undertaken. This permits a differentiated appraisal of formal as well as informal prerequisites for sustainability performance within companies, enabling to tackle the immense increase of complexity of decision owed to corporate adherence to the goal of sustainability. Furthermore, it enables the analysis of different definitions of the concept of corporate social responsibility as well as of their relation to the concept of CS and sustainable development.


Acute otitis media is the most common ENT pathology, childhood acute otitis media is evolving in a particular way. The place of antibiotic therapy in the treatment of this pathology is sometimes subject of controversies as evidenced by studies depending on the country. Aim: To access a therapeutic strategy for acute otitis media of the child in its congestive namely phase: is it justified the antibiotic and the place of the analgesic for this stage of otitis media? Methods: 109 patients aged 10 days to 15 years with acute otitis media in its phase congestive, attending Unit of the ENT Diseases, between 2013 and 2014 were selected for studies. Patients were reviewed at the 4th and 8th days to appreciate the aspect of the tympanic membrane (color, reliefs, hypervascularisation) and clinical signs (otalgia, fever). A therapeutic approach to antibiotic therapy and the prescription of the analgesic in the congestive phase of acute otitis media has been evaluated. Results: We noted a male predominance. The age of the patients ranged from 10 days to 15 years with an average age of 2.74 years. Our study confirms the non-systematic use of the antibiotic and the imminent place of the analgesic in the treatment of congestive acute otitis of the child. Conclusion: Congestive OMA is a frequent in children of less than three years in our unit. Our study confirms another therapeutic approach at the congestive acute otitis media of the child.


The tariff duties already enforced or threatened by the Trump administration are likely to increase costs and prices in the US economy, but by how much? To address this question, we identify and quantify three channels: direct taxation, cost increase linked to taxes on intermediate inputs, and altered pricing strategy resulting from strategic complementarities across firms. Evidence from three recent episodes of additional tariff protection show that our framework provides sensible assessments of ensuing price increases, which usually materialize gradually and do not reach their maximum level for at least four months. We reckon that the additional duties enforced up to December 2018 should increase inflation in the US by 0.25% to 0.38%. Should all US imports from China be hit with a 25% tariff, the total inflationary impact would range between 0.66% and 0.99%. Levying 25% additional duties on imports of autos and auto parts would more or less double down this effect, by adding 0.67% to 1.03% to inflation if all providers are targeted, and 0.47% to 0.73% if Canada and Mexico are excluded. These estimates show that the additional duties considered by the Trump administration, if applied extensively, might push up consumer prices by more than one percentage point. This is far from negligible from the point of view of both consumers' purchasing power and financial stability, thus potentially seriously limiting the administration's room for maneuver. The contrast with China is stark; there, the inflationary impact of retaliatory measures is small, and more than counterbalanced by the wide-ranging tariff cuts enforced over the last year.


Abstract. Attracting in‐migration of the creative class has been argued by Florida (2002) to be a route to higher economic growth in the era of the knowledge economy. This paper critically evaluates this proposition in relation to old industrial regions using the example of Scotland. The paper presents an assessment of, in the first instance, to what extent there is a shortage of skilled, talented and entrepreneurial individuals and, in the second instance, whether a talent attraction strategy alone can hope to attract such people to Scotland. It is proposed that for most migrants the availability of appropriate economic opportunities is a prerequisite for mobility. However, despite uncertain evidence that place attractiveness is a catalyst to mobility among the so‐called creative class, this is not a reason for dismissing talent attraction programmes. Instead it is argued that talent attraction programmes have the potential to contribute to old industrial economies, but their success will be greatest when talent attraction is carefully targeted and based on economic realities rather than the marketing of ethereal conceptions of place attractiveness.


Since 2002, bankers in Nevada have been working together to pool resources with the goal of increasing the impact of their community development dollars. This article tracks the progress and activities of the Nevada Bankers Collaborative and discusses some of the lessons learned over the past eight years of community development work.


"[I]t is evident that in all written works there is an implied narrator or 'author' who 'intrudes' in making the necessary choices to get his story . . . written in the way he desires" (Booth 164). Literary theorists may sometimes misconceive the provocative potential of their ideas. Rarely, however, they are so notably off the mark in this regard as Wayne C. Booth was when he first introduced the implied author concept in the above quoted passage from his 1952 essay "The S elf-Conscious Narrator in Comic Fiction before Tristram Shandy." Far from being an "evident" component of "all written works," the implied author has given rise to a debate as intense and controversial as few concepts have in literary studies. For almost five decades now, Booth's concept has been eliciting responses ranging from devastating criticism to passionate advocacy. In what follows, we shall add a short statement to this long debate. Our deliberations will draw on what seems to be the lesson to be learned from the implied author's history: it lies in the insight that making use of the concept reflects a wide range of deeply rooted scholarly aims and beliefs which are perfectly plausible when considered separately but which conflict with one another when combined in a single concept.1 When dealing with concepts such as the implied author, it is therefore advisable to explicate them by identifying different key understandings and then examine the latter separately from one another. For this reason, our discussion of the implied author presented in the following pages will not consist of a straightforward proposal for clarifying the concept. Instead, we shall comment on the dominant types among the ways of modeling the implied author. In principle, three competing suggestions are involved here, according to which Booth's concept should be taken as denoting either an aid to the description of empirical reception processes, a participant of communication, or a postulated subject behind the text, which in itself can be perceived in at least four different shapes. Thus, we will have to deal with six ways to understand and - to let the cat out of the bag at once - not to save the implied author. 1. The Implied Author as a Phenomenon of Reception We begin our survey by briefly considering the thesis that the concept should be understood as an aid to the description of empirical reception processes. Such an understanding of the implied author is encountered in some of Booth's own remarks and in a significant number of contributions to the controversy surrounding the concept. The thesis can be rejected straightaway as it ignores the differences between empirical research in reading processes and the nomatively based endeavour of literary interpretation: advocates of the view in question assume that actual reception processes should be taken as a point of reference for developing concepts to be used in the study of texts. However plausible such an assumption might be, it does not determine how concepts like the implied author should be modelled in detail. In other words, it is perfectly conceivable that the discourse of literary theory could come to see the implied author as superfluous, even if experiments in cognitive psychology were to show that readers of a text do form an image of its author. Conversely, it is also conceivable that Booth's concept could be retained in the academic study of literature, even if empirical studies were to demonstrate that author-images are not formed in the process of reading literary texts. 2. The Implied Author as a Participant in Communication The second interpretation of the concept that we will consider is the idea that the implied author should be understood as a sender in the process of literary communication. The underlying idea here is that the communicative tasks in literature are shared between several parties; William Nelles has expressed this division pointedly when he says that "the historical author writes . …


This poster describes the mapping of habitats and biodiversity of the Ningaloo Marine Park as part of the Wealth from Oceans Ningaloo Collaborative Cluster. This is being achieved through a combination of state-of-the-art hyperspectral remote sensing techniques, coupled with biodiversity field surveys of the area. Airborne hyperspectral data were sponsored by BHP Billiton and collected by HyVista in April 2006 over 3400 km2 covering the whole Ningaloo Marine Park. This is the largest hyperspectral coral reef survey to date in the world which provides images at 3.5 m spatial resolution for a 1km wide terrestrial coastal strip and out to 20m depth over lagoon areas. Spectral range of the images is from 400-2500nm at 15nm interval. Hyperspectral remote sensing data are corrected for atmospheric, air-water interface and water column effects. This, physics-based approach, promotes automatisation and the removal of subjectivity from the classification process, allowing improved transferability to additional sampling locations and extension of the monitoring to other seasons. Field work to support the airborne data acquisition was carried out in 2006 and 2007, measuring underwater field spectra of cover-forming substrates, collecting echo-sounding data and underwater photographs to allow for accurate validation and interpretation of hyperspectral data. Field spectra from various habitats are used to characterise their spectral features enabling differentiation and classification of various bottom cover types. Transects across coastal vegetation were also conducted to identify the vegetation types and key landforms contributing to the variability in the images along the coast. Over the next three years, this project will use the hyperspectral data to develop a high-resolution characterisation of the reef, shallow water habitats and terrestrial vegetation of the coastal strip in order to support sound conservation and management of the Ningaloo Marine Park.


Alcohol ignition interlock schemes (AISs) for drink drive offenders can be mandatory or voluntary in nature, although many include both approaches. Outcome evaluations of AISs show that they effectively reduce or eliminate drink drive offending only for as long as an interlock is installed, as once an interlock is removed risks of re-offending tend to return. Achieving a critical mass of interlock use among drivers will increasingly develop a sense of normality about interlocks, with benefits in reducing recidivism among drink drivers as well as contributing to reduced alcohol offences and crashes among drivers generally. Increased use of interlocks can come from greater use among non-offender driver groups such as occupational drivers, inclusion of first offenders as well as repeat offenders in AISs and technological advances in interlock design relating to ease of use and tampering prevention. Other critical operational factors relevant to AIS effectiveness include: the timing of an offenderrs admission to an AIS, the degree and nature of participant monitoring while on the AIS, the type of any adjunct education, treatment or other support programs, availability of user cost subsidies, how often participants drive illegally while subject to AIS requirements, and AIS interoperability between jurisdictions. Based on AIS evaluation findings, together with relevant theoretical and experiential perspectives, a substantial list of best practice components characteristic of effective AISs has been derived. This list can be used to gauge the potential effectiveness of and identify possible areas for improvement in existing AISs.


Five villages that border Bukit Baka Bukit Raya National Park in Melawi, West Kalimantan, are rekindling their protest over the park boundaries and the appropriation of their lands by the park. The park was established as a nature reserve in 1981 without participation of customary users. Customary user contestations are muted by a democratic void in which they are without recognition in the governance structures of the park. Therefore, communities have sought Indigenous peoples' rights NGOs to represent them and advance their customary claims over land. These NGOs prove more salient to the needs of the villages because they focus less on distributive justice through benefit sharing and more on recognition justice through the advancement of land claims. Whilst villagers decry the lack of any benefit from the park, it is they themselves who refuse to accept such benefits from park authorities. This paper explores the struggles for recognition over customary land in the national park and finds that peoples' resistance to the State, including offers of distributive benefits, is rooted in the notion that their consent constitutes acceptance of State authority over customary land.