In Boston in 1954, Hartwell Harrison, the chief of urology at Harvard University, harvested a kidney and performed the first ever human organ transplantation [1]. The concept of cell transplantation developed after kidney transplantation and led to the first human bone marrow cell transplantation in the 1970s. At that time, researchers combined the scientific fields of device and material sciences with cell biology and in effect pioneered a new field called "tissue engineering" [2]. The first use of the term "tissue engineering" can be traced in the literature to a reference dealing with corneal tissue in 1985 [3]. The discovery of mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells in the early 1980s gave a huge boost to the stem cell field and led to the description of human ES (hES) in 1998 [4]. The creation of the first cloned mammal, a sheep named Dolly, was announced in 1997 [5]. Two years later, the term "regenerative medicine" was coined to describe the unifying goal of cell transplantation, tissue engineering, and nuclear transfer, i.e., the regeneration of living tissues and organs [6]. Over the past decade, the number of patients waiting for transplantation has doubled, while the actual number of transplantations has remained practically unchanged. This disparity is a consequence of our aging population. As time passes, we get older and older, and medicine does a better job of keeping us alive. However, as we age, our organs tend to fail more often. This, then, is our new challenge. Although advanced medicines and treatments have saved many lives, we now face a major shortage of organs. The human body has many organs, each of which has a cell population that is ready to take over at the time of injury. It happens every day of our lives. Thus, our body is constantly regenerating. When challenges occur through an injury or a disease, the human body's first reaction is to seal off the area. Whether it is the organs inside the body or the skin, the development of scar tissue is the immediate response to solve the problem. How can we harness that power? One way is through the use of smart biomaterials. In 1996, the first use of natural biomaterials in humans for tissue regeneration demonstrated that smart biomaterials could be used as a bridge in the treatment of an injured urethra [7]. First, the injured area was closed off from the outside environment. Then, cells that were regenerated in the body crossed the bridge and followed the pathway or channel that connected to the bladder or to outside the body. Tissue engineering for urethral reconstruction may involve matrices alone, wherein the body's natural ability to regenerate is used to orientate or direct new tissue growth, or the use of matrices with cells. Acellular collagen matrices that are derived from donor bladder submucosa have been used both experimentally and clinically for urethral replacement. Urethra successfully regenerates, but only over a limited distance. What if the injury is in a larger organ? What can we do to repair injuries in structures that are much larger than the limited distance of regeneration? Researchers have turned to cells to solve these problems. The strategy is to take a very small piece of tissue from the injured or diseased organ and to tease that tissue apart into its basic components. Then, the patient's own cells are taken and grown outside the body in large quantities. Next, scaffold materials are used. The scaffold acts as a cell delivery vehicle, bringing the cells into the body and allowing them to regenerate into new tissue. Scaffold materials are designed to disintegrate in the body a few months later. Currently, gastrointestinal (GI) segments are commonly being used as tissue for bladder and urethral replacement or repair. However, GI tissue is designed to absorb specific solutes, whereas bladder and urethral tissue are designed for the excretion of solutes. When GI tissue comes in contact with the urinary tract, multiple complications may occur, such as infection, metabolic disturbances, urolithiasis, perforation, increased mucus production, and malignancy [8]. James J. Yoo, the Associate Director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, focuses his work on growing and regenerating tissues and organs. His team engineered the first lab-grown organ to be implanted into a human - a bladder. His article 'in this issue of the Journal' [9] will introduce the novel tissue engineering-based regenerative strategies that are being applied to bladder reconstruction and will discuss how these strategies can be used to treat the neurogenic bladder.


The National Compensation Survey is conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics to compute measures of the pay and benefits for America's workers. The current survey uses a three-stage sample design to select samples of areas, establishments, and jobs for which wage and benefit data are collected periodically over a five-year rotation. In recent years, several potential changes to this design have been explored to increase survey efficiency, adjust to budget changes, reduce respondent burden, and reduce design complexity. Design areas that have been studied include sample rotation, allocation, sample frame preparation, establishment selection, and sample initiation scheduling. This paper will update the discussion of these issues, describe the alternative approaches that have been explored, present results from the recent design research, and present the recommended changes to the general survey design. The work in this paper updates and significantly expands upon the work presented in 2010 JSM Paper "Evaluating Sample Design Issues in the National Compensation Survey".


Sexual segregation in foraging is predicted from the great size disparity of male and female northern elephant seals, Mirounga angustirostris. Our aim was to test this prediction by measuring diving and foraging behavior, foraging locations, and distribution of the sexes during biannual migrations in the northeastern Pacific Ocean. Daily movements of 27 adult males and 20 adult females, during 56 migrations from Afio Nuevo, California, USA, were determined by Argos satellite telemetry via head-mounted platform transmitter terminals. Diving records were obtained with archival time-depth-speed recorders attached to the backs of seals that were recovered when the seals returned to the rookery. Pronounced sex differences were found in foraging location and foraging pattern, as reflected by hor- izontal transit speed and diving behavior. Males moved directly north or northwest at a mean speed of 90 ? 27 km/d to focal foraging areas along the continental margin ranging from coastal Oregon (534 km away) to the western Aleutian Islands (4775 km away). Males remained in these areas (mean size = 7892 ki2) for 21-84% of their 4-mo stays at sea. The predominance of flat-bottom dives in these areas suggests concentrated feeding on benthic prey. Migration distance and estimated mass gain were positively correlated with male size, and individual males returned to the same area to forage on subsequent migrations. In contrast, females ranged across a wider area of the northeastern Pacific, from 380 to 600 N and from the coast to 172.5? E. Focal foraging areas, indicated by a reduction in swim speed to <0.4 m/s, were distributed over deep water along the migratory path, with females remaining on them a mean of 3.5 d before moving to another one. Jagged-bottom dives that tracked the deep scattering layer prevailed in these areas, suggesting that females were feeding on pelagic prey in the water column. Females took roughly similar initial paths in subsequent migrations, but large deviations from the previous route were observed. We conclude that there is habitat segregation between the sexes. Females range widely over deep water, apparently foraging on patchily distributed, vertically migrating, pelagic prey, whereas males forage along the continental margin at the distal end of their migration in a manner consistent with feeding on benthic prey.


Significant efforts invested in unmanned air vehicle (UAV) technology lead to a wide variety of new applications such as aero-photography and surveillance (Kontogiannis et al., 2013) and the operation of remotely piloted aircraft system (RPAS) undoubtedly has a great impact on the aviation industry and on the industrial applications. Experiments for measuring plume ash gas composition in the Stromboli Vulcan with a drone, inspections on wind turbine farms, high voltage lines and on antennae for the mobile connectivity, underline how the drones may be useful in case of disasters for analysis and for industrial applications. Unfortunately, the still incomplete regulatory framework and the frequency with which RPAS operate in urban areas or in unsegregated airspace highlight the many risks and the potentially catastrophes in case of risk underestimation and human errors. The European Aeronautic Safety Agency (EASA) is working together with the Joint Authorities for Rulemaking on Unmanned System (JARUS) work group for Safety & Risk Management to analyse and review the different strategies for safety assessment and human factors. The "just culture" approach may not be sufficient to avoid responsibilities in case of an air or ground collision and dramatic accidents. Exploring cases of near mid-air collisions between RPAS and commercial aircrafts, the paper firstly outlines and discusses the correlation between safety and knowledge through a survey conducted until the end of 2015 to assess the background of more than 1000 future RPAS pilots. Finally, examining the precarious situation when an incomplete preliminary risk assessment is conducted, the research work highlights how the human factor may affect the risks deriving from unsuitable selection of aircraft, airspace and weather conditions associated with the operator's lack of knowledge.


The farm power and machinery jointly represent the largest single item of expenditure constituting about 60% of the total investment on a farm. Tractor industries play an important role as agriculture sector has major contribution to India's GDP. There are currently 19 manufactures of tractors in India. Tractors (35 hp) were possessed by 75% of the farmers. The percentage of tractor use for own work was 66 and rest at the time tractors were used for custom work. Maximum use of tractor was found in tillage operations which were 42.30 per cent whereas the minimum use was found in threshing operations which was 3.03 per cent. Average cost of operations of tractor/hour was found to be 227.18. Average cost per hour was 198.66 for small size (15 to 18 KW) of tractor and 432.65 for large size (60 KW) of tractor. Average cost of operation of tractor decreased initially upto age of 4 to 6 years and thereafter it increased with the increase in age. The net cost of operation per hectare decreased with the increase in farm size. The break-even point increased with increase in size of the tractor. Maximum breakeven point was 521 hours. Since average annual use of tractor is 856 hours which is more than break- even point. Therefore the purchase of tractor is profitable in the region..


Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the impact of scientific data in order to assess the reliability of data to support data curation, to establish trust between researchers to support reuse of digital data and encourage researchers to share more data.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors compared the correlations between usage counts of associated data in Dryad and citation counts of articles in Web of Science in different subject areas in order to assess the possibility of using altmetric indicators to evaluate scientific data.

Findings

There are high positive correlations between usage counts of data and citation counts of associated articles. The citation counts of article's shared data are higher than the average citation counts in most of the subject areas examined by the authors.

Practical implications

The paper suggests that usage counts of data could be potentially used to evaluate scholarly impact of scientific data, especially for those subject areas without special data repositories.

Originality/value

The study examines the possibility to use usage counts to evaluate the impact of scientific data in a generic repository Dryad by different subject categories.


From the hypotheses compatible with microphysics theory, this paper establishes a new theoretical model of static universal gravitation and deduces new formula of the theory of universal gravitation. In a first order approximation, the new formula shows the inverse-square law consistent with Newton formula, which would indicate that the new theory is consistent with the experimental results that can be reasonably explained by the current theory of gravitation. The parameters and higher order terms among the coefficients of this paper reveal the numerous infinitesimal neglected effects by current theory and experiments. In the first order approximation, the meanings of the physical parameters included in coefficients are analyzed and the infinitesimal neglected effects are applied in the study of the stability of the universe, which overcomes the difficulty of singularity in the cosmology of Newton, Einstein, etc., and concludes that the boundary of universe is unlimited, without any need of the hypothesis that the universe starts off with the big bang. Therefore, this paper establishes a harmonious and ingenious relationship between microphysics and macrophysics theories. In addition, through the analysis of the formula derived from the theory of this paper, it is found that: in general, the gravitational constant is not always a constant in the gravitation formula requiring high precision; from the perspective of the interaction of field quantum, the acting force may not be equal to counter-acting force under the interaction of indirect contact; the gravity process is an exothermic process; in the gravitational process, annihilation effects may exist amongst gravitons; reciprocal translation may exist amongst fundamental forces.


To better understand the tissue-specific regulation of chromatin state in cell-fate determination and animal development, we defined the tissue-specific expression of all 36 C. elegans presumptive lysine methyltransferase (KMT) genes using single-molecule fluorescence in situ hybridization (smFISH). Most KMTs were expressed in only one or two tissues. The germline was the tissue with the broadest KMT expression. We found that the germlineexpressed C. elegans protein SET-17, which has a SET domain similar to that of the PRDM9 and PRDM7 SET-domain proteins, promotes fertility by regulating gene expression in primary spermatocytes. SET-17 drives the transcription of spermatocyte-specific genes from four genomic clusters to promote spermatid development. SET-17 is concentrated in stable chromatin-associated nuclear foci at actively transcribed msp (major sperm protein) gene clusters, which we term msp locus bodies. Our results reveal the function of a PRDM9/ 7-family SET-domain protein in spermatocyte transcription. We propose that the spatial intranuclear organization of chromatin factors might be a conserved mechanism in tissuespecific control of transcription.


Hepatitis C virus (HCV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) share the same routes of transmission, which explains the high rate of HCV and HIV coinfection (approximately 9%). HIV/HCV coinfection leads to high rates of indeterminate recombinant immunoblot assay patterns and seroreversion; high levels of viral replication; and a more severe histopathologic course. By contrast, HCV infection does not seem to accelerate the progression of HIV infection. Interferon alpha (IFN-alpha) in coinfected patients leads to a similar rate of primary responses, but sustained responses are less frequent. The potential severity of hepatitis C virus infection evidences the need for early diagnosis. Liver biopsy should be performed for all HCV RNA-positive patients in order to evaluate the activity of the liver disease. Given the poor efficiency of IFN-alpha in terms of sustained response in HIV-infected patients, reinforced therapeutic procedures (long-term administration of IFN-alpha or combined ribavirin/IFN-alpha) should be proposed, at least for those patients with severe liver disease.


Mobile phones have spread around the developing world at an amazing speed. Their proliferation has given rise to numerous mobile phone-enabled services (m-services) in the areas of health, education, agriculture and entertainment. However, to date many of these services are barely scratching the surface of what is technologically possible. This paper examines the potential of recent mobile technology trend to enhance the functions and reach of m-services, with a focus on promoting agricultural development among smallholder farmers. To this end, the paper identifies three broad trends: the growing diversity of devices to access mobile content and functions, the Internet of Things that links sensors and 'smart objects', and the power of social networks and a large user base to gather data, collectively develop solutions and facilitate learning. For each of these trends, the paper reviews the current state of the technologies and highlights actual and potential applications in the agriculture sector. The extent to which benefits can be realised on a large scale will depend on a number of factors. Thus, the paper outlines two possible scenarios how the trends could evolve in the future under different assumption and assesses the implications of these scenarios for the provision of m-services that suit the needs and capacities of farmers in developing countries.


The Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls, by Jodi Magness. Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature. Grand Rapids/Cambridge, UK: Eerdmans, 2002. Pp. xlvi + 238. $18.00/£12.99 (paper). ISBN 0802826873. The Pesharim and Qumran History: Chaos or Consensus? by James H. Charlesworth. With Appendixes by Lidija Novakovic. Grand Rapids/Cambridge, UK: Eerdmans, 2002. Pp. xiv + 171. $20.00/£12.47 (paper). ISBN 0802839886. The two books examined in this review, both written by leading authorities in Qumran studies, explore the historical background of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the archaeological site of Khirbet Qumran. Informed by a judicious use of textual evidence from the Dead Sea Scrolls, Jodi Magness's book, The Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls, seeks to reconstruct the history of the Qumran settlement primarily through an analysis of its archaeological remains. James H. Charlesworth's study, The Pesharim and Qumran History, examines whether historical episodes are reflected in the pesharim and if there is currently a consensus regarding the most likely reconstruction of Qumran history in light of these documents. Archaeological analysis not only plays a central role in Charlesworth's reconstruction of Khirbet Qumran's occupational history, but to some extent provides the basis for his analysis of the pesharim and related Dead Sea Scrolls that likely reflect historical events. Because Magness and Charlesworth present new analyses or interpretations of Khirbet Qumran's occupational history that substantially impact our understanding of the Dead Sea Scrolls, this review will examine some of the most significant issues raised in these two publications and their possible implications for Qumran studies. The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the excavation of Khirbet Qumran have greatly enriched our understanding of second Temple judaism. For several decades, scholars wishing to understand the history of these documents were denied access to the majority of the Dead Sea Scrolls, especially those from Cave 4, as well as their photographic plates. Oxford don Geza Venues, writing at the time of the thirtieth anniversary of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, warned that the lack of publication of the Qumran texts "is likely to become the academic scandal par excellence of the twentieth century" (Geza Vermes, The Dead Sea Scrolls: Qumran in Perspective [London: Collins, 1977], 24). By the late 1980s, the continued denial of access to the complete corpus of Dead Sea Scrolls became an international cause celebre. Following a protracted media campaign, the unpublished Dead Sea Scrolls were made accessible to scholars in 1991 (for a detailed account of these events, see Neil Asher Silberman, The Hidden Scrolls: Christianity, judaism, and the War for the Dead Sea Scrolls [New York: Grosset/Putnam, 1994]). Under the able leadership of Emmanuel Tov, editor-in-chief of the Discoveries in the judaean Desert series, the number of translators was increased. Since 1992,Tov has supervised the publication of the majority of DJD volumes, twenty-nine of which were released between 1992 and 2002 as compared with eight that appeared during the first forty years of the project (for these figures, and information on the entire series, which will comprise thirty-eight volumes with a separate introductory volume with indexes, see E. Tov, "The Discoveries in the Judaean Desert Series: Histoiy and System of Presentation," in DJD 39,1-25). The delegates at the 2001 annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature celebrated the immanent completion of the DJD series, which will also include several reeditions of previous volumes. The major problem for Qumran scholars now is merely keeping abreast of the rapidly increasing number of publications, most of which are in some manner indebted to the DJD series; the list of publications is updated weekly on the Hebrew University's Orion Center for the Study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Associated Literature Web Site (http://orion. …


The MobiQ app for Android smartphones is a feature-rich application enabling a novel approach to data collection for longitudinal surveys. It combines continuous automatic background data collection with user supplied data. It can prompt users to complete questionnaires at regular intervals, and allows users to upload photographs for social research projects. The app has the capability to collect GPS location data, and calls and text frequency (excluding content) unobtrusively. The app transmits data to a secure cloud rather than storing research data on the phone, but can also store data temporarily if a data connection is unavailable; hence, MobiQ offers data security advantages over textor web-based surveys using phones. MobiQ has been pilot tested in the field in a social science research project and is able to collect longitudinal social research data. Due to its modular and flexible design, MobiQ can easily be adapted to suit different research questions. Furthermore, its core design approachwhich allows for long-termpower efficient data collection can be re-used outside the social sciences domain for other kinds of smartphonebased data-driven projects. Projects that have a requirement for communications-based, sensors-based, user-based data collection or any combination of thesemay find our code and design approach beneficial. For example, MobiQ code and architecture has been successfully adapted to build an app for a project investigating smartphone-based implicit authentication for mobile access control. © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).


This paper deals with the numerical simulation of Friction Stir Welding (FSW) processes. FSW techniques are used in many industrial applications and particularly in the aeronautic and aerospace industries, where the quality of the joining is of essential importance. The analysis is focused either at global level, considering the full component to be jointed, or locally, studying more in detail the heat a§ected zone (HAZ). The analysis at global (structural component) level is performed deOning the problem in the Lagrangian setting while, at local level, an apropos kinematic framework which makes use of an e¢ cient combination of Lagrangian (pin), Eulerian (metal sheet) and ALE (stirring zone) descriptions for the di§erent computational sub-domains is introduced for the numerical modeling. As a result, the analysis can deal with complex (non-cylindrical) pin-shapes and the extremely large deformation of the material at the HAZ without requiring any remeshing or remapping tools. A fully coupled thermo-mechanical framework is proposed for the computational modeling of the FSW processes proposed both at local and global level. A staggered algorithm based on an isothermal fractional step method is introduced. To account for the isochoric behavior of the material when the temperature range is close to the melting point or due to the predominant deviatoric deformations induced by the visco-plastic response, a mixed Onite element technology is introduced. The Variational Multi Scale (VMS) method is used to circumvent the LBB stability condition allowing the use of linear/linear P1/P1 interpolations for displacement (or velocity, ALE/Eulerian formulation) and pressure Oelds, respectively. The same stabilization strategy is adopted to tackle the instabilities of the temperature Oeld, inherent characteristic of convective dominated problems (thermal analysis in ALE/Eulerian kinematic framework). At global level, the material behavior is characterized by a thermo-elasto- viscoplastic constitutive model. The analysis at local level is characterized by a rigid thermo-visco-plastic constitutive model. Di§erent thermally coupled (non-Newtonian) auid-like models as Norton-Ho§, Carreau or Sheppard-Wright, among others are tested. To better understand the material aow pattern in the stirring zone, a (Lagrangian based) particle tracing is carried out while post-processing FSW results. A coupling strategy between the analysis of the process zone nearby the pin-tool (local level analysis) and the simulation carried out for the entire structure to be welded (global level analysis) is implemented to accurately predict the temperature histories and, thereby, the residual stresses in FSW.


The cost of many coastal projects is often increased by the expensive beach repair and maintenance required to remedy the destabilising effects of structures on the adjoining coastline. Physical and/or mathematical models have been developed for use in planning these projects in order to predict and quantify the effects of marine sediment transport on the coastal topography. Such models need to be calibrated against prototype data and one method of gauging volumetric sediment movement is by successive bathymetric/ topographic profiting surveys which are performed seasonally and annually. Since large quantities of sediment are related to small changes in bed elevation it is clear that this profiling needs to be done with the utmost precision* The areas most affected extend from the beach through the surf zone to water depths of about 25 metres. The surf zone in particular is a dynamic and hostile area which falls outside the traditional activities of both the hydrographic and land surveyors. Consequently innovative methods, deficient in sound survey principle and practice, have often been pursued in this area without any attempt being made to assess the tolerance on the data. This paper attempts to show that it is possible to produce reliable and verifiable results to the required accuracy by using conventional survey equipment and techniques, also by taking the necessary precautions against the many possible sources of survey error. The procedures and techniques described have evolved from NRIO's involvement over the past decade in major projects at Richards Bay, Durban, Koeberg and in False Bay. The results of a recent verification investigation are fully reported in this paper.


This paper considers the state of the system which is represented by a controlled stochastic process. We shall formulate a stochastic optimal control in which the stochastic differential equations of a type known as Ito equations are considered which are perturbed by Markov diffusion process. Our goal is to use the stochastic optimal control principle to completely solve production planning model for the demand rate.


The present paper addresses the case study of a financial institution, the Kendallville Bank, developed by The Anti-Fraud Collaboration. The constituents of the Collaboration are the Center for Audit Quality, Financial Executives International, the National Association of Corporate Directors, and The Institute of Internal Auditors. These organisations are concerned with financial reporting fraud deterrence and detection. The case study approaches financial reporting fraud at a multidimensional level. It explores the corporate governance arrangements and management control instruments at place at the Kendallville Bank. The findings are discussed against the theoretical framework of the Agency Theory and the Stewardship Theory. Shortcomings of the arrangements are identified and safeguards are recommended on the background of international corporate governance best practice and academic literature. The risks arising from corporate governance weaknesses are addressed through various risk control procedures. Culture control is acknowledged as a major instrument to improve effectiveness and performance of the bank through a shift in the interpersonal interaction of the Board members, the executive team and the auditors.


GeoVisual Analytics can enable a user to explore multivariate multi-temporal health datasets, to understand spatial distribution of diseases especially in relation to external factors that may influence the outbreaks. External data are presently distributed using geo web services. Web services are used in health mainly to present results leading to a supplier driven service model limiting the exploration of health data. In this paper we illustrate server side approach of designing GeoVisual Analytics environment that allow user driven exploratory analysis. The server side combines a data query, processing technique and styling methodology to rapidly visually summarise properties of a dataset. We illustrate this functionality on a typical analytical workflow used by a health researcher and demonstrate analytical functionality in cases where consistent classification and styling scheme is needed across dynamically aggregated multivariate multi-temporal datasets. And since framework builds on the existing OGC web mapping standards, it integrates the existing geo web services as well as standalone non-spatial database servers such as health data repositories.


The article substantiates that food security and food independence of Russia is accompanied by new internal and external factors. Counter-measures from Russia include quickened import substitution, modernization of agriculture, and investments for increase of efficiency and competitiveness under the conditions of growing economic, social, political, and natural & climatic turbulence. As to foreign policy, these counter-measures include membership in the WTO, integration into the Eurasian Economic Union, globalization of agricultural sphere, foreign sanctions against or limiting food import in Russia, and exchange of partners in export and import. Policy of food security and independence is conducted under the conditions of high inflation and is rather costly. Vectors of food security of Russia are differently directed, though there is economic growth of agriculture. Food security and food independence become a part of national security and independence. Innovational strategy of modernization of agriculture should be considered to be the highest priority of country's development. Increase of support for Russian agriculture from state budget, regional budget, federal and regional programs, and subsidies are especially important.


Urban warfare is unfortunate reality of the modern world and that fact is unlikely to change in the near future. One significant danger to soldiers in an urban setting is posed by concealed snipers. The large amount of cover among densely packed buildings make snipers hard to detect by sight or sound. When a sniper fires at troops, it is imperative to positively locate the sniper as soon as possible to ensure the safety of soldiers in the field. One method of sniper detection is the use of distributed sensor nodes. These nodes may be stationary, mounted on a soldier or mounted on a vehicle. These nodes may accommodate many types of sensors, including microphones and cameras, both conventional and infrared. This project specifically deals with microphone arrays and conventional cameras mounted on a remote-operated vehicle. The purpose of this project is to demonstrate that mobile sensor platforms can be used alone or in groups to locate the source of gunshots as well as other sources of noise. The vehicle described is a recreational ATV. It has been outfitted with mechanical actuators and electronic control modules to allow the vehicle to be operated remotely. The selection and installation of these components is detailed. This includes the control of the ATV's steering, brakes, throttle and engine starter. The system also includes a failsafe circuit to ensure that the system will shut down if positive control is lost. iii An array of sensors and transducers was added to the vehicle to allow for useful data collection. This includes the aforementioned microphone array and camera. Other sensors mounted on the vehicle include a GPS antenna and an electronic compass for establishing the position and orientation of the vehicle and an accelerometer to sample engine vibration and allow for cancellation of engine noise. Once assembled, this vehicle was tested in laboratory and field environments to demonstrate its effectiveness as a mobile sensor platform. The tests showed that a microphone array could be used in combination with a camera to provide a continuous stream of images of a moving target. The test also demonstrated how a mobile acoustic node can relocate to triangulate the location of an acoustic source and thereby replicate a larger stationary network. Overall, these tests demonstrated that such a system is a feasible platform for urban combat use. Full implementation would require the fusion of several separate features, the addition of a few new features, such as semi-autonomous operation, and further field testing.


We constructed a series of chimeric neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine (ACh) receptor (nAChR) alpha subunits to map the location of amino acid residues that determine the pharmacological properties of these receptors. The alpha 2 and alpha 3 subunits form pharmacologically distinct nAChRs upon expression, in combination with the beta 2 subunit, in Xenopus oocytes. The alpha 2 beta 2 subunit combination is insensitive to the nicotinic antagonist neuronal bungarotoxin (NBT) and is much more sensitive to nicotine than to ACh. In contrast, the alpha 3 beta 2 subunit combination is potently inhibited by NBT and is much less sensitive to nicotine than to ACh. Chimeric subunits were constructed by replacing portions of alpha 2 or alpha 3 with the analogous portion of the other alpha subunit. Pharmacological analysis of receptors formed by these chimeric subunits, in combination with beta 2, revealed that amino acid residues involved in determining NBT sensitivity were located within sequence segments 84-121, 121-181, and 195-215. Amino acid residues that determine agonist sensitivity were located within sequence segments 1-84 and 195-215. Within region 195-215, we used site-directed mutagenesis to demonstrate the importance of Gln-198 of alpha 3 (proline in alpha 2) in determining both the antagonist sensitivity and the agonist sensitivity of neuronal nAChRs.


Title of Dissertation: STUDIES ON THE STEP-GROWTH POLYMERIZATION OF AROMATIC POLYCARBONATES Yuesheng Ye, Doctor of Philosophy, 2007 Directed by: Professor Kyu Yong Choi Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Bisphenol A polycarbonate (BAPC) is a versatile engineering polymer that has a broad spectrum of applications. In this dissertation, theoretical and experimental studies of step-growth polymerization of BAPC are presented to gain better understandings in both solid-state polymerization (SSP) and melt copolymerization systems. The reactive end group mole ratio in the prepolymer is one of the most important parameters in the AA-BB type polycondensation system. However, it often deviates from the stoichiometric ratio due to the loss of diphenyl carbonate during the melt transesterification process, limiting the molecular weight increase in a subsequent SSP process. In this work, a new back calculation method has been developed to estimate the initial mole ratio of reactive end groups for the melt transesterification using the data of prepolymer's molecular weight and end group mole ratio. An end group model and a molecular species model have been developed to describe the reaction kinetics of SSP in a single polymer particle. A single particle model is combined with a dynamic moving packed bed reactor model to investigate the steady-state and dynamic behaviors of a continuous polymerization reactor process. The model simulations show that any temperature nonuniformity in the reactor caused by poor heat transfer from the purge gas or the reactor walls leads to a slow increase in the polymer molecular weight averages and molecular weight distribution. A new method has been developed to calculate the sequence length distributions for condensation terpolymers and applied to calculating the time evolution of sequence length distributions for a semibatch melt copolymerization process. Finally, the crystalline structures of BAPC have been investigated using scanning electron microscopy. We observed that BAPC crystallization occurs readily by solvent-induced crystallization technique when the polymer is deposited as a thin film onto a substrate surface. When acetone is used as a swelling agent, the polycarbonate crystals grow to three dimensionally structured spherulites that have been rarely reported in the literature. STUDIES ON THE STEP-GROWTH POLYMERIZATION OF AROMATIC POLYCARBONATES


As the nineteenth century progressed, shorter working weeks brought more leisure time and improved opportunities to promote and take part in sport and entertainment. By 1900 two professional football teams had become established in the league, Edgbaston had become the home of Warwickshire County Cricket Club, and ball games such as rugby, hockey, netball and tennis flourished. Birchfield Harriers regularly showed a clean pair of heels to clubs near and far. Gymnastics and swimming also became very popular. During the first three decades of the twentieth century music halls, theatres and the cinema attracted impressive numbers of patrons. All of these enjoyable activities are described in this book with over 200 photographs, postcards and other wonderful memorabilia. Coronations are also featured and the week-long city-wide pageant in 1938. Look out for the small boy who surely put the 'imp' into 'impudence'!


The modern phase of volcanism on Heard Island probably is younger than one million years and is responsible for building Big Ben, the
bulk of the island. The nearby McDonald Islands are less than 100 000 years old and are volcanically active. Big Ben sits on the Drygalski
Formation, a Late Miocenc-Early Pliocene volcanic/marine sediment with glacial influence, which occurs as a generally flat-lying, cliff forming
unit over most of Heard Island. The "basement" of Palaeogene limestone crops out mainly on Laurens Peninsula but also
sporadically beneath Big Ben and occurs as clasts in volcanics. Historical eruptions of Heard Island, most recently from 1985 to at least
1992 and probably later, have occurred from Mawson Peak, the summit cone built upon Big Ben, but young lavas and ash cones are
widespread around the island. Recent volcanic activity is summarised.
Heard Island and the McDonald Islands, with the Kerguelen Islands, are exposed parts of the Kerguelen Plateau, possibly the largest
submarine plateau on earth, and provide geochemical and isotopic insights into the formation of oceanic plateaux, mantle plume
development and the separation of Australia, India and Africa from Antarctica. The Plateau has a complex history that commenced with
subaerial basaltic volcanism at 115 Ma, about 10 million years after India and Antarctica separated. It sank below sea level in the mid-Cretaceous,
and subsided to its present setting as Broken Ridge and Kerguelen Plateau separated at 43 Ma when the Southeast Indian Ridge
came between Australia and Antarctica. It is likely that, during its entire existence, some part of the plateau has been volcanically active,
yielding a long-term geochemical record of large-scale crust-mantle evolution.


We report CdTe, CdS, and ITO thin films on glass substrates for solar cell fabrication by closed space sublimation and chemical bath deposition. CdTe and CdS thin films were sublimated to chemical treatment at 25°C in a saturated CdCl 2 solution (1.04 g/100 ml methanol) and heat treated at 400°C for 30 minutes. Indium tin oxide and tellurium films were analyzed by spectrophotometer and scanning electron microscopy. It has been observed that solar cell performance can be improved by depositing a CdCl 2 layer on the CdTe/CdS layers. The optical, structural, and morphological changes of CdTe and CdS surfaces on CdTe/CdS/ITO/glass solar cells due to CdCl 2 solution treatment followed by annealing for 400°C were studied. Optical analysis showed about 15% decrease in transmittance after CdCl 2 heat treatment in case of CdTe thin film, whereas CdS thin film demonstrated an increase of about 10–15% transmittance after CdCl 2 heat treatment. Similarly, a decrease in band gap values was found for both CdTe and CdS thin films after CdCl 2 heat treatment. XRD and SEM results of CdCl 2 heat‐treated CdTe and CdS samples showed recrystallization, reorientation, and progressive increase in grain size. The grain sizes of CdTe and CdS samples demonstrated an increase of about 0.2


We propose a novel domain adaptation framework, namely Consensus Adversarial Domain Adaptation (CADA), that gives freedom to both target encoder and source encoder to embed data from both domains into a common domaininvariant feature space until they achieve consensus during adversarial learning. In this manner, the domain discrepancy can be further minimized in the embedded space, yielding more generalizable representations. The framework is also extended to establish a new few-shot domain adaptation scheme (F-CADA), that remarkably enhances the ADA performance by efficiently propagating a few labeled data once available in the target domain. Extensive experiments are conducted on the task of digit recognition across multiple benchmark datasets and a real-world problem involving WiFi-enabled device-free gesture recognition under spatial dynamics. The results show the compelling performance of CADA versus the state-of-the-art unsupervised domain adaptation (UDA) and supervised domain adaptation (SDA) methods. Numerical experiments also demonstrate that F-CADA can significantly improve the adaptation performance even with sparsely labeled data in the target domain.


Abstract The December 18, 1996 resolution of the Oakland Unified School District Board officially recognizing Ebonics as an African Language System, and not a dialect of English, sparked anew much debate concerning the speech and language of African American people. In the aftermath of the resolution passed by the Board, due in part to some abstruseness in the wording, a considerable amount of confusion and controversy emerged. A great deal of the confusion had nothing to do with the abstruse wording, but rather, was due to the popular press and media's misapprehension and use of the appellation "Ebonics" as being a synonym for the phrase or appellation "Black English ". As an African centered term that legitimizes the language of Black Americans as an African based linguistic system, rather than allowing the deviancy model to persist, this article traces the true origin and meaning of the term Ebonics. In this article it is posited by the writers that inherent in the very use of the phrase "Black English" there is a tacit inference that the language being discussed is a variant of English and hence that, there is, ipso facto, a genetic kinship between "Black English" and the Germanic language family to which English belongs. The writers contend that since Ebonics was not coined as a synonym for the appellation "Black English" and when it is used as such those who do so reveal an ignorance of the in fact origin and meaning of the term "Ebonics" that is so profound their confusion is pathetic. Introduction The features of the language of Black or African Americans, i.e., United States slave descendants of West and Niger-Congo African origin, has been recognized, described and discussed for several decades. When an exploration is made of the literature on the language of slave descendants of African origin it will be found that the appellation "Black English" is a post 1950's label. This is because, prior to the 1950's Blacks in America were not referred to as "Blacks". Prior to 1950 the most prevalent term used to designate the race of United States slave descendants of African origin was "Negro". Thus, in the pre-1950's literature on the language of the descendants of African slaves, the appellation used to designate their language was "Negro English", "The Negro Dialect", "Negro Speech", Non-standard Negro English or Negro Non-Standard English and "Nonstandard Negro Dialect" etc. (Defrantz, 1975) In the late 1950's, during what is commonly called the civil rights era, the appellation used for the language of the descendants of African slaves changed. United States slave descendants of African origin began to call themselves "Black" and the word "Black" became acceptable. With the widespread acceptance of the word "Black" there was, in the literature on the language of the descendants of African slaves, a concomitant substitution of the word "Black" for "Negro" in front of the word "English". Throughout the 1960's and on into the 1990's, although the appellations "Vernacular Black English", "Black Vernacular English", "Black English Vernacular" and more recently "African American Vernacular English" have gained some popularity, the most prevalent phrase used is "Black English". What is Black English? In the 1970's and in the 1980's several books appeared on the language of slave descendants of African origin with "Black English" as their title. To name but a few, there is Black English: Its History and Usage in the United States (Dillard, 1972), Black American English: Its Background and Its Usage in the Schools and in Literature (Stoller, 1975), Black English: A Seminar (Harrison & Trabasso, 1976) and Black English: Educational Equity and the Law (Chambers, Jr., 1983). Conspicuously, in none of these works is there a phrase that explicitly defines "Black English". Presuming, inherently, by the very use of the word "English" that the language of slave descendants of African origin is a variant of "English", the inference is also made that, being a dialect of English, there is a genetic kinship between "Black English" and the Germanic language family to which English belongs. …


Alternative road designs with overtaking restrictions and periodic overtaking lanes, so-called 2+1 roads, are used as low-cost alternatives to increase safety on two-lane roads. However, there are potential implications of these road designs on the quality of service. To ensure acceptable quality of service, there is a need for trac analysis tools to support the design of 2+1-roads. This paper presents an extended version of the RuTSim microscopic trac simulation model including models of characteristic speed adaption, overtaking and merging behaviour on 2+1 roads. Numerical experiments are used to verify that the model reproduces fundamental characteristics of trac on 2+1-roads


Some contractualist egalitarians try to accommodate a concern for numbers by embracing a pluralist strategy. They incorporate the belief that the number of people affected matters for what distribution one ought to bring about by arguing that their primary contractualist concern for justifiability to each may be outweighed by aggregative considerations. The present contribution offers two arguments against such a pluralist strategy. First, I argue that advocates of the pluralist strategy are forced to abandon the rationale behind the criterion of universal acceptability. Second, I show that pluralist contractualists will be unable to avoid the dreaded conclusion that originally motivated their contractualism. Ultimately, these arguments matter for the nature of egalitarianism. They should give those in search of sound distributive principles a reason to make sense of their egalitarian commitment in a non-contractualist way. If a sound set of distributive principles includes comparative and relational principles, while contractualist egalitarianism does not lend itself to being pluralistically combined with non-individualist principles, telic egalitarianism may after all be part of the truth in distributive ethics.


This report reviews Manitoba's and Minnesota's Specific Pavement Studies (SPS-5) projects. The studies focus on investigating the performance of hot mix asphalt (HMA) overlays on HMA pavements and involve nine core test sections. The SPS-5 design variables in test sections include a control section (do nothing), amount of preparation of the existing surface (mill, no-mill), overlay thickness (50-mm, 125-mm), and the type of overlay material (virgin, recycle). Researchers plan to study the Manitoba and Minnesota SPS-5 projects, part of the Long-Term Pavement Performance (LTPP) Project, until 2010, when each project reaches the approximate age of 20 years. This project update includes a field review by the authors, a review of the existing monitoring data, and an estimate of the expected performance and cost expectations for upcoming years until 2010. Currently after 10 years all sections, excluding the control section, still are performing well. As a result at this point, researchers recommended the least costly treatment, 50-mm recycled asphalt overlay with no surface preparation, for pavement rehabilitation.


The Arab-Muslim world is often described negatively as undemocratic, intolerant and economically backward. Rare positive commentary about the region is usually reserved for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states based on the belief that their status as rentier states coupled with immense energy resources has enabled them to escape the failures of the larger region. However, this research posits a United Arab Emirates (UAE) exceptionalism attributed to its internalization of key political, economic and social norms, and the promotion of such norms as a norm entrepreneur. The attractiveness of the UAE9s accomplishments in the region has made it worthy of emulation and, thus, a soft power.


In recent years, the offshore wind industry has experienced significant growth with the installation of offshore wind farms in shallow water (such as in Denmark). However, almost all of offshore wind turbines
to date are mounted on fixed-bottom support structures in water depths of less than 50m, which are not feasible off the coasts of the United States, China, Japan, Norway and Spain, among others. As a potential
solution, wind turbines can be mounted on floating support structures anchored to the seabed through the mooring lines to restrain the global movement of the platform against the effects of wind, waves and currents. Usually, the mooring systems of floaters can be designed such that the system's natural periods fall outside the range of common wave periods. However, due to nonlinearity in the wave to force transformation, oscillating forces can still arise in period ranges that will cause resonance in the structure. In general, the dynamic loads should be studied for the primary components of the wind turbine (blades, drivetrain,
nacelle and tower), and also for the mooring systems in floating support structures. One of the main challenges is to reduce the fatigue of a floating offshore wind turbine so as to guarantee its proper functioning under the constraints imposed by the floating support structures subject to a greater range of motion than that of the fixed-bottom support structures. This paper will analyze the loads and dynamic response of floating support structures together with the mooring systems and will address the structural control issues on the mitigation of the dynamic wind and wave loads on floating wind turbines.


Acute pulmonary exacerbations (APE) in cystic fibrosis (CF) are associated with loss of lung function that may require aggressive management with intravenous antibiotics. The aim of this review is to provide an evidence‐based summary of pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD), tolerability, and efficacy studies utilizing aztreonam and anti‐pseudomonal carbapenems (i.e., doripenem, imipenem–cilastatin, and meropenem) in the treatment of an APE, and to identify areas where further study is warranted. The current dosing recommendations in the United States and Europe for aztreonam are lower than the literature supported dosing range of 200–300 mg/kg/day divided every 6 hr, maximum 8–12 g/day. In vitro, PK/PD, and tolerability studies show the potential of doripenem 90 mg/kg/day divided every 8 hr, infused over 4 hr, maximum 6 g/day in the treatment of APE. Imipenem‐cilastatin 100 mg/kg/day divided every 6 hr, maximum 4 g/day and meropenem 120 mg/kg/day divided every 8 hr, maximum 6 g/day have been shown to be tolerable and effective in the treatment of APE. With availability issues of new anti‐pseudomonal agents and a large percentage of CF patients will not regain their lung function following an APE, we suggest the need to determine optimization of aztreonam and meropenem dosing in CF, as well as to determine the clinical efficacy of doripenem in the treatment of APE. The usefulness of imipenem‐cilastatin may be limited due to the rapid development of resistance. Pediatr Pulmonol. 2012; 47:1147–1158. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


"It could only have happened in Brooklyn." With these words, Brooklyn Dodgers catcher Roy Campanella summed up the episode that brought Jackie Robinson to the big leagues. Baseball entrepreneur Bill Veeck agreed: "If Jackie Robinson was the ideal man to break the color line, then Brooklyn was the ideal place." (1) Why Brooklyn was the right setting is a bit more difficult to comprehend, but writer Peter Golenbock ventures an analysis: "Everyone came to Brooklyn as a minority, and they discovered everyone was the same: everyone was poor. Everyone was struggling. No one felt persecuted." (2) Upon signing Brooklyn native Tommy Davis to his first professional contract, Dodgers officials warned him to be prepared for "the problem." The major-league star recalled with some lingering puzzlement, "I didn't know what they were talking about. I played in Brooklyn and never knew that there was a problem." Similarly, Jim Mosley, who still resides in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood where he grew up, remembers his sandlot days as trouble free: "I never had any racial problems throughout my time playing for the Bisons, the Eagles, or Nathans. We didn't even realize at the time that there was a racial problem. Those were good times." It is a well-kept secret, but the boys of Brooklyn played their baseball on sandlot fields in the 1950s and early 1960s oblivious to any bigoted animosity whatsoever. A good on-the-field race riot would have made tabloid fare, but the camaraderie, tolerance, and friendship that existed among these sandlot athletes has gone unnoticed and unsung, except by those who lived it. In truth, no one--black or white, Jewish or Christian, Irish or Italian--ever made a conscious effort to smooth the way. The game itself served as the conduit of harmony, and the boys' single-mindedness made the game the thing. Octogenarian Clarence Irving still laments the shortsightedness that relegates what he considers a social manifestation of major magnitude to the back pages of American culture. "Segregation of this type was unusual in Brooklyn at that time," he said. "At the Parade Grounds it was virtually non-existent." When Irving organized his Bisons team in 1949, he put an ad in the Brooklyn Eagle inviting all to try out. Athletes came from all over the borough, and Irving made no decisions based upon race, religion, or ethnic background. As a result, his team covered all bases. Sebastian Pepi, an Italian American who played with the Bisons, remembers, "There was never a problem from day one. Not even a passing word. It was baseball only. Color was never an issue. We were brothers." Wally Edge was born in segregated Heflin, Alabama, in 1936. He came to Brooklyn after the eighth grade and ultimately became team captain and center fielder of Irving's 1955 championship Bisons. Edge does not recall any racial issues at all. "There were none in my time," he said. "I was simply part of the team. We transcended racial stuff. I was cushioned by my teammates, absorbed into it, and never faced any problems, even at times when my teams traveled south for tournaments." Unlike the Bisons, most sandlot clubs had their genesis in the neighborhoods where the boys lived. Some were almost all Italians; others, like Joe Schwartz's Eagles, were predominately Jewish. The all-black Brooklyn Seals featured a hard-throwing, right-handed pitcher named Sonny Williams, who later played some minor-league ball. Another all-black neighborhood team, the Breevoort Senators, came from Breevoort Place in the Bed-Sty section of Brooklyn. These clubs shared the spotlight with all-white or mixed teams, with no racially motivated confrontations. The camaraderie among the boys and young men playing ball in Brooklyn was neither contrived nor forced. The problems of the times struck them as real only after playing professionally in other parts of the country. In his autobiography Chasing the Dream, Joe Torre recalled a motel in Bradenton, Florida, in 1961: "Even there they had to feed us in a private room where no one else could see blacks and whites eating together. …


Abstract Article 6 of the SPS Agreement presents a series of interlinked obligations for importing and exporting countries of diseased agricultural products. The Russia–Pigs dispute raises the question of when an importing country is justified in imposing a ban on products from exporting countries unaffected by the disease, on the basis of the fact that the country is part of the same customs union as another country inflicted with the disease. This Article contends that four distinct classes of cross-border and cross-product externalities ought to play an important role when assessing this question in the future. It discusses the possible roles to be played by bilateral, sequential, pass-through, and supply chain externalities in propagating the transmission of agricultural disease across borders through trade.


A dual wavelength time-resolved reflectance system was developed for monitoring haemoglobin saturation noninvasively. At each wavelength, the time-resolved reflectance data were fitted to a diffusion model of light propagation in a homogeneous, semi-infinite medium to yield the absolute scattering and absorption coefficients. The absorption coefficients were then used to calculate haemoglobin saturation. A two-layer phantom containing human erythrocytes in a scattering solution in the bottom layer was used to study system performance under more realistic conditions. The top layer was chosen to simulate either skin or fat and the oxygenation of the bottom layer, which corresponded to muscle, was controlled. The thickness of the fat layer was varied from 1.5 to 10 mm to investigate the effects of increasing the top layer thickness. These results, obtained with the simple diffusion model, were compared with simultaneous measurements of oxygenation made directly in the bottom layer. Errors in estimating haemoglobin saturation with this method ranged from 5-11% depending on the thickness of the top layer and its optical properties.


In this paper a system will be described that enables the design of a series of computer programs ("modules") for the automatic treatment of homography.By homography we mean the ambiguity between the graphic representation of word forms belonging to different syntactic classes.By automatic treatment of homography we mean assigning the correct syntactic class to homographs with the help of an algorithm.Homography is a problem connected with written text only.In our opinion it is not a linguistic problem,but a problem of information processing using linguistic and extralinguistic signs. As linguistic signs the syntactic rules of the so-called surface structure are used.They are used from two different points of view:the string properties are used to shape the algorithm; the constituent structure is used to find out which branch is to be taken in the algorithm.Thus the design of the system is more or less comparable with Winograd's model for semantic information processing or Salkoff's String Grammar (Salkoff,1973). However,we are not developing a model for parsing structures.The paper is devoted to homography because the systems developed in the past neglected this kind oflinguistic information processing. On the other hand the output of homography solving programs forms useful input for a variety of sciences studying aspects of languages use.Not only purely linguistic studies could use text input free from homography,but also literary,sociological and even legal text studies or question answering systems using data bases (Berry-Rogghe,1978; Krageloh; Lockemann) needsuchinput.A more detailed description will be given of a concrete problem:the definition of the information that should be computed to disambiguate the homography of the German determiner.We developed a linear bounded automaton,because this proved to be the most efficient way to solve,the problem of homography.


Even in an adequately resourced system, admission to hospital with an acute exacerbation of COPD (AECOPD) could be a frightening and unpleasant experience for patients with the condition and for their relatives. Unfortunately, the UK Government has made a political choice to underfund the National Health Service (NHS) by more than £20 billion per year by 2020 and there has already been a 26% cut in the number of people over 65 receiving local authority social care since 2010.1 The latest report from the UK's 2014 National COPD audit programme— COPD: who cares when it matters most? 2 warns of patients 'on a continuous cycle of admission' with an 'overriding impression provided by the data of a system that is not only stressed, but is ultimately failing COPD patients'. The report found that 8% of patients discharged following an AECOPD died within 90 days of admission, 25% were readmitted within 30 days and 43% within 90 days. Fewer than half (43%) of the readmissions were due to COPD. The number of prior admissions to hospital was associated with postdischarge mortality and subsequent readmission risk. Readmission was much more likely in those with a longer length of stay and in patients who had been discharged to sheltered accommodation.

In Thorax , Echevarria and colleagues describe the development of a new prognostic tool for use in patients admitted with an AECOPD.3 The initial derivation and subsequent validation cohorts, including six UK centres, were those that were also used in the development of the Dyspnoea, Eosinopenia, Consolidation, Acidaemia, and atrial Fibrillation (DECAF) score, a tool to identify patients who can be safely discharged.4 ,5 Patient characteristics, selected on the basis of literature review and clinical plausibility, and which were consistently recorded across sites, were related to the risk of readmission or death …


ABSTRACT Teachers frequently employ surface-acting strategies to regulate emotions and to be more effective. This can be detrimental for teachers' health but the effects of such inauthentic emotion expressions on students are largely unexplored. In two exploratory studies we investigated the impact of teachers' emotions and emotional authenticity (expressing truly felt emotions) on students' emotions of enjoyment, anger, and anxiety. In study 1 we used generalised (trait-level) assessments from teachers (N = 81) and students (N = 786) on emotions and emotional authenticity. As emotions are dynamic in nature, we further used the experience sampling method with a randomly chosen subsample (N = 128 students) in study 2 to assess momentarily perceived teacher emotional authenticity and students' emotions in the classroom. In study 1 we found teachers' and students' self-reported enjoyment (but not anger and anxiety) to be interrelated. In study 2, all three (perceived) teacher emotions were related to students' emotions. Further, in both studies students' perceptions of their teachers' emotional authenticity related to their own emotions. Although teachers' self-reported and students' perceived emotional authenticity did not converge, the results show that emotional authenticity matters to students. Implications for future studies but also for teachers' emotion regulation are discussed.


The informal sector in India has been exceptionally persistent over the past two decades. Is this a bad thing? Not necessarily. This paper shows that a substantial share of the persistence in India's unorganized manufacturing sector is due to the rapid increase in female-owned businesses. Had women's participation remained in the proportion to male-owned businesses that was evident in 1994, the unorganized manufacturing sector would have declined in share rather than increased. Most of these new female-owned businesses are opened in the household and at a small scale, about a third of the size of a typical male-owned business in the informal sector. Yet, it appears that these businesses offer economic opportunities not otherwise present and a transition for some women from unpaid domestic work.


We present solutions to scattering problems for unsteady disturbances to a mean swirling flow in an annular duct with a rigid 'splitter'. This situation has application to rotor-stator interaction noise in aeroengines, where the flow downstream of the fan is swirling and bifurcates into the by-pass duct and the engine core. We also consider the trailing edge extension of this problem. Inviscid mean flow in a cylindrical annulus is considered, with both axial and swirling (azimuthal) velocity components. The presence of vorticity in the mean flow couples the acoustic and vorticity modes of irrotational flow. Instead we have one combined spectrum of acoustic-vorticity waves in which the 'sonic' and 'nearlyconvected' modes are fully coupled. In addition to the aeroacoustics application the results oer insight into the behaviour of these acoustic-vorticity waves, and the precise nature of the coupling between the two types of mode. Two regimes are discussed in which progress has been made, one for a specialised mean flow, uniform axial flow and rigid body swirl, and a second regime in which the frequency is assumed large, valid for any axisymmetric mean flow. The Wiener-Hopf technique is used to solve the scattering problems mathematically, and we present numerical evaluations of these solutions. Several new eects are seen to arise due to the mean vorticity, in particular the generation of sound at a trailing edge due to the scattering of a nearly convected disturbance, in contrast to the way a convected gust silently passes a trailing edge in uniform mean flow.


This study explores the communication and agency of five children between 6-8 years old attending a special school in England. The children have all received a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder and demonstrate limited or no verbal speech. The study analyses how the children communicate with staff and peers in the classroom, how the diverse communicative contexts arising from the school day shape their communicative behaviours, and the nature of the relationship between their communication opportunities and the agency they exercise in the classroom.
The study draws on a wide range of data including classroom video recordings, fieldnotes, the author's reflexive research journal, interviews with classroom staff and with the children's parents and the collection of photographs and documents. It adopts a hybridized methodological framework drawing upon ethnography of communication, Conversation Analysis and Multimodal Interaction Analysis. This framework is used to enable fine-grained analysis of communication and to subsequently locate such microanalysis within a broader ethnographic context.
The children in this study communicate using a range of strategies including the use of Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS®) and Makaton® signing, embodied communication and Intensive Interaction. Some individual variation between children is noted in terms of their preferred modes, speech topics, functions and interactional partners. Communication mediated by Makaton and PECS is often associated with requesting objects or help from adults as well as social convention such as please and thank-you, and appears to be outstripped in range and complexity by the children's embodied multimodal communication. Some forms of communication are found to be highly associated with certain classroom communicative contexts. Whilst all the children show at least some orientation towards peer interaction, the nature of a specialist setting with high staff to student ratios, small classes, an absence of non-disabled peers and AAC provision which orients towards object requesting together tend to mitigate against interactions with other children.
Implications arising from the study include the need to think critically about facilitating peer interaction in specialist settings, to reflect on how and why some vocabulary and speech functions are provided with PECS and Makaton to the exclusion of others, and to consider the very complex relationships between classroom activities, vocabulary, mode, speech function and interactional partners. It is suggested that the concept of childhood 'agency' might support practitioners and policy makers in reflecting on how communication support for disabled children might enhance their lives both present and future.


Population distributions are affected by a variety of spatial processes, including dispersal, intraspecific dynamics and habitat selection. Within reef‐building coral communities, these processes are especially important during the earliest life stages when reproduction provides mobility among sessile organisms and populations experience the greatest mortality bottlenecks both before and immediately after settlement. Here, we used large‐area imaging to create photomosaics that allowed us to identify and map the location of 4681 juvenile (1–5 cm diameter) and 25 902 adult (>5 cm diameter) coral colonies from eight 100‐m² plots across the forereef of Palmyra Atoll. Using metrics of density, percent cover and the relative location of each colony within each plot, we examined abundance and spatial relationships between juvenile and adult coral taxa. Within coral taxa, juvenile density was generally positively related to the numerical density and percent cover of adults. Nearest neighbor analyses showed aggregation of juveniles near adults of the same taxon for two of the focal taxa (Pocillopora and Fungiids), while all other taxa showed random spatial patterning relative to adults. Three taxa had clustered distributions of juveniles overall. Additionally, we found that on a colony level, juveniles for five of nine focal taxa (accounting for >98% of all identified juveniles) associated with a specific habitat type, with four of those five taxa favoring unconsolidated (e.g. rubble) over consolidated substrata. The general lack of clustering in juvenile corals contrasts with consistent clustering patterns seen in adult corals, suggesting that adult spatial patterns are largely driven by processes occurring after maturity such as partial colony mortality, including fission and fragmentation. The association of many taxa with unconsolidated habitat also suggests that corals may play an important role in colonizing natural rubble patches that could contribute to reef stabilization over time.


Abstract : On October 12, 1992, a moderate earthquake occurred near Dahshur, Egypt, about 20 km south of Cairo. The intensity of ground shaking at historic districts of Cairo was VI to VII using the Modified Mercalli scale and 212 of 560 monuments in Cairo were reportedly damaged although none destroyed. Damage to historic monuments can be generally described as having resulted from the continuous degradation of foundation and structural masonry from environmental effects, especially groundwater, inadequate lateral structural resistance, and the subsequent imposition of light to moderate earthquake forces. Other large earthquakes have affected old monuments in Cairo, but the recent earthquake may have caused a disproportionate amount of damage because of wide-spread poor structural conditions. This study provides specific examples of how monuments ranging from 80 to about 1500 years in age, in various conditions, respond to near-field motions from a moderate-magnitude earthquake and helps to define problems that research studies can solve. It also provides strong evidence that a preservation strategy be adopted for historic monuments in Cairo that embraces scientific and engineering knowledge to understand these monuments and propose the least invasive repair and retrofit procedures.


Reconstructing Argumentative Discourse analyzes argumentation in ordinary disputes. The analysis begins with an ideal model: a theoretical structure of discourse that might be used to resolve a dispute about the merits of two opposing cases. The ideal model does not describe actual argumentative practice. Argumentative discourse does not always seek genuine resolution and, when it does, the participants may not perform as ideal arguers. A central challenge for argumentation theory is to give an account of argumentation occurring under less-than-ideal conditions and conducted by less-than-ideal participants. The authors offer detailed analysis of argument in such contexts as ordinary conversation, third party dispute mediation, and religious confrontation. An adequate analytic approach to such forms of discourse, the authors argue, must offer critical insight into actual practice; must begin with a defensible normative standard against which practice can be compared; and must also offer an applicable analytic machinery for making the comparison, so its methods can be tailored to empirical circumstances. The authors position their study of argumentation within a general 'normative pragmatics' characterized by a dual commitment to usefulness and adequacy in description. A distinctive set of practical applications and a distinctive view of practicality follow from this approach, characterized not by the search for generalizable means-end relationships but by the development and testing of plans for making real argumentation look as much as possible like ideal argumentation. This book integrates for the first time the normative interest of dialectical theories of argumentation with the descriptive interests of the empirical study of everyday language use. This ambitious project is achieved by adopting a distinctively social and pragmatic view of argumentation - by seeing argumentation as a language activity structured for the function of resolving disagreements. The authors examine argumentation in a wide variety of contexts - including everyday conversation, campus evangelism, political speeches, newspaper letters to the editor, and the formal mediation of disputes. In doing so, they illustrate how to analyze the details of actual argumentation and tackle a variety of theoretical and methodological puzzles encountered in the effort to apply normative models to real life argumentation.


Phenology and chemical composition of Chromolaena odorata leaf was investigated. This plant propagates both by sexual and vegetative means throughout the year. Chemical composition of leaf sample showed variations in different phenological stages of the plant growth. A high quantity of total carbohydrate (15.43 mg/gm DW) was observed in seed maturation and dispersal stage. Our result suggests that the vegetative stage of C. odorata is a source of high quality protein (5.1 mg/gm DW) and nitrogen (0.162% DW) which could serve as a potential source of protein supplement.


Increased railway patronage worldwide is putting pressure on rolling stock and infrastructure to operate at higher capacity and with improved punctuality. Condition monitoring is seen as a contributing factor in enabling this and is highlighted here in the context of rolling stock being procured with high capacity data buses, multiple sensors and centralised control. This therefore leaves scope for advanced computational diagnostic concepts. The rail vehicle bogie and associated wheelsets are one of the largest and most costly areas of maintenance on rolling stock and a potential method is presented here for real time estimation of wheel-rail contact wear to move this currently schedule-based assessment to condition-based assessment. This paper discusses several analytical techniques used to capture the wheel-rail geometry characteristics in real time.


Discouraged and marginally attached workers have received increasing attention from policy makers over the past several years. Through slackness in the labor market, periods of high unemployment should reduce the likelihood of receiving a job offer and thus create more discouraged workers. However, the existing literature generally fails to find evidence of such pro-cyclicality in search intensity. Surprisingly, search appears to be acyclical. We hypothesize the observed acyclicality may be the result of coarse measurement of search intensity in previous studies and the failure to account for changes in individuals' wealth across the business cycle. In this paper we use daily time use dairies from the American Time Use Survey 2003–2011 to examine the cyclicality of search intensity to explain this apparent contradiction between theory and data. Results indicate that workers do reduce their search in response to deteriorating labor market conditions, but these effects appear to be offset by the positive effects on search that are correlated with declines in household wealth.


A great deal has been achieved in recent years in understanding how universities can best support the transition to higher education of an increasingly diverse student body (Kift, 2015). Numerous studies have identified transition program elements that correlate with improved success and retention for commencing students. Lizzio's 'five senses' model (2006) rationalises these diverse features into a framework consisting of five affective domains that need to be developed in students to ensure successful transition. To assess how well a program based on the Lizzio model supports transition in practice, we evaluate our Get Ready transition program, developed for a large-enrolment first year Human Physiology subject with a highly diverse student cohort. We conclude that embedding the development of Lizzio's five senses in a performative way is the key to building students' agency and nurturing their identity as thriving members of a new academic community.


Strategic trade in international markets is important for agricultural and other basic commodities. State trading companies (STCs) and large private firms control most of the trade volume. In this study the authors use concepts of modern game theory to treat time inconsistency issues associated with strategic trade. The results are particularly applicable to trade in commodities with lengthy production periods, such as agriculture. The model considered here provides an important context for exploring impacts of signaling, reputation, and third party interventions that approximate the institutions and authorities that govern international trade.


Introduction The purpose of this study was to measure the time spent by a single autopsy assistant in obtaining full-body radiographic imaging in a forensic pathology setting. The Lodox digital radiography (DR) system was compared with a traditional cassette-based portable computed radiography (CR) system to quantify time saved by the implementation of the Lodox imaging system. Methods Decedents were examined with the Lodox DR and portable CR systems to provide full-body coverage with each system. Timing was divided into preparation, acquisition, and postacquisition stages, with an additional transfer stage being required for the Lodox DR system. A neutral observer timed each stage for each decedent examined with both systems. Results The Lodox DR system provided an 87% time savings (p < 0.001) over the portable CR system to complete full-body radiographic scanning. While the portable CR system was faster at image acquisition (p < 0.001), the Lodox DR system was faster during the preparation (p < 0.001) and postacquisition (p < 0.001) stages. Conclusions The time required for a full-body radiographic examination is markedly shortened with utilization of the Lodox DR system. Seven full-body examinations can be completed with the Lodox DR system in the time that a single full-body examination is completed with the portable CR system. In a forensic pathology setting, the Lodox DR system is therefore more time-efficient than the portable CR system studied, as it provides the same scope in a shorter time period, allowing for streamlining of radiographic imaging studies.


ABSTRACT Indochina (Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam) houses over 600 species of amphibians and reptiles, roughly a quarter of which has been described within the last 15 years. Herein, we undertake the first biogeographic synthesis of the regional herpetofauna since the first half of the 20th century. We review the literature to measure and map species richness and endemism, the contributions of regional faunas, and ecological characteristics of Indochina's amphibians (Anura, Caudata), and reptiles (Serpentes, Sauria, Testudines, Crocodylia). Dividing Indochina into 19 subregions defined by topography and geology, we estimate the similarity among the regional faunas and appraise the effects of area and survey effort on these comparative analyses. Variation in species composition is broadly correlated with topography, habitat complexity, and proximity to regions outside Indochina. Indochina's herpetofauna is dominated (in decreasing order) by endemic species, widely distributed species, a South China fauna, and a biota centered in Thailand and Myanmar. Species richness is highest in amphibians and snakes, and peaks in upland forests. Endemism, highest among amphibians and lizards, also peaks in forests of the region's northern uplands and Annamite Range. Endemic species occupy a narrower range of habitats than nonendemics. Patterns of richness and endemism are partially explained by ecological constraints: amphibians and lizards are more restricted to forests than snakes, turtles, and crocodiles; amphibians are more restricted to uplands, turtles to lowlands. We also assess biogeography in the context of Indochina's geology, climate, and land cover. In northern Indochina, the Red River either acts as or coincides with an apparent dispersal barrier. Herpetofauna in northeastern upland areas are closely allied with fauna of southeastern China. In southern Indochina there is little evidence that the Mekong River represents a biogeographic barrier to the regional herpetofauna. The Annamite Range is composed of at least three distinct units and its elevated species richness and endemism are also noted in adjacent lowlands. Contribution of subtropical biota to Indochina's fauna is significantly greater than that of tropical biota and there is little other evidence for intermixing at intermediate latitudes. Our results have implications for biogeography and conservation efforts, although they must be viewed in the context of rapidly evolving systematic knowledge of the region's amphibians and reptiles. Future survey efforts, and the phylogenetic analyses that come from them, are essential for supporting regional conservation efforts, as they will better resolve the known patterns of amphibian and reptile richness and endemism.


Government demands to increase the number of physiotherapy students have led to problems in acquiring extra placements in which these students can experience their clinical education. This problem has been accentuated by difficulties with recruitment and retention of physiotherapy staff that might take on the role of clinical educator. This study uses empirical data to explore how further placements could be found without compromising the quality of the learning experiences. Action research is used to identify current practice and areas where change may be advantageous. Perceptions are drawn from professionals and students - physiotherapy managers, clinical educators and physiotherapy students. Data collecting techniques include interviews (13 physiotherapy managers) and five questionnaires – with clinical educators (n=67 and 42) and students (n= 73, 76 and 62) as samples. All data are triangulated to justify the study findings. The findings are framed around concepts of management and learning within clinical education. Evidence that emerged during the action research process led to two main changes. Firstly more junior grades of physiotherapy staff were included within the pool of clinical educators. Secondly a new 'model' of facilitating learning was established through the creation of 'learning teams' where both students and clinical educators worked together to share and develop knowledge. Changes meant that increased student numbers were accommodated without compromising quality. This was demonstrated through positive student evaluation of clinical placements at the end of their degree course. The impact of accommodating students within physiotherapy settings is discussed in relation to departmental, personal and professional management. Priority could be given to improving how student learning might influence not only personal but also professional development.


Experience of Sector-wide Approaches (SWAPs) for improving rural water supply and sanitation in Uganda has shown
that not all of the "negative" aspects of project are overcome. Despite the difficulties that RWSS has experienced with
regards to SWAP, we do not urge Donors or Government to abandon this approach. However, for SWAPs to work, and
enable Governments to develop the vision for development of their citizens, a high level of commitment is required among
all stakeholders, a long time horizon (more than ten years) is essential. Issues of procurement and accounting procedures,
management skills and systems in Government, inadequate remuneration of civil servants, heterogeneity between different
parts of the country and the need for targeted support to disadvantaged districts, and donor coordination need to be
fully addressed.


Purpose: The aim of our study was to analyze the outcomes and predictive factors in patients with an initial biopsy grade group 1 (GG1) prostate cancer (PCa) at risk of GG upgrading. Materials and Methods: We performed a retrospective review of patients who had GG1 PCa at biopsy and were managed with robotic-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (RaLRP) from January 2012 to December 2018 and collected their clinical characteristics and pathological data. The primary outcomes were GG upgrading at RaLRP and biochemical recurrence-free survival (BCRFS) in these patients. The secondary outcome was to analyze the risk factors of pathological upgrades. Results: Among the 159 patients with initial prostate biopsy of GG1, 122 patients (76.7%) had GG upgrading based on the final pathology at RaLRP. Multivariable analysis showed that transrectal ultrasound (TRUS)-measured prostate volume <30 mL (odds ratio [OR] 4.727, P = 0.011), prostate-specific antigen density [PSAD] ≥0.2 ng/mL2 (OR 3.201, P = 0.019), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-measured prostate volume <30 mL (OR 3.892, P = 0.007), and PSAD ≥ 0.2 ng/mL2 (OR 2.65, P = 0.019) were independent predictive factors of GG upgrading. During 5 years of follow-up, patients who upgraded to GG3-5 had a significantly shorter time to biochemical recurrence than those who remained as GG1 (P = 0.001) or upgraded to GG2 (P = 0.008). Conclusion: The final pathology grading was underestimated in 76.7% of initial biopsy GG1 and may influence the BCRFS after RaLRP. Prostate volume <30 mL and PSAD ≥0.2 ng/mL2, measured by either MRI or TRUS, were significant predictive factors of biopsy GG1 upgrading.


We consider the phase retrieval problem of reconstructing a $n$-dimensional real or complex signal $\mathbf{X}^{\star}$ from $m$ (possibly noisy) observations $Y_\mu = | \sum_{i=1}^n \Phi_{\mu i} X^{\star}_i/\sqrt{n}|$, for a large class of correlated real and complex random sensing matrices $\mathbf{\Phi}$, in a high-dimensional setting where $m,n\to\infty$ while $\alpha = m/n=\Theta(1)$. First, we derive sharp asymptotics for the lowest possible estimation error achievable statistically and we unveil the existence of sharp phase transitions for the weak- and full-recovery thresholds as a function of the singular values of the matrix $\mathbf{\Phi}$. This is achieved by providing a rigorous proof of a result first obtained by the replica method from statistical mechanics. In particular, the information-theoretic transition to perfect recovery for full-rank matrices appears at $\alpha=1$ (real case) and $\alpha=2$ (complex case). Secondly, we analyze the performance of the best-known polynomial time algorithm for this problem -- approximate message-passing -- establishing the existence of a statistical-to-algorithmic gap depending, again, on the spectral properties of $\mathbf{\Phi}$. Our work provides an extensive classification of the statistical and algorithmic thresholds in high-dimensional phase retrieval for a broad class of random matrices.


Evolving research in Fort Resolution and the Slave River Delta, Northwest Territories, aims to improve understanding of how the natural ecosystem functions and responds to various environmental stressors, as well as to enhance the stewardship of natural resources and the capacity of local residents to respond to change. We seek to integrate approaches that span the natural and social sciences and traditional knowledge understandings of change, employing a research design developed in response to the concerns of a northern community. In doing so, we have strived for a research process that is collaborative, interdisciplinary, policy-oriented, and reflective of northern priorities. These elements characterize the new northern research paradigm increasingly promoted by various federal funding agencies, northern partners, and communities. They represent a holistic perspective in the pursuit of solutions to address complex environmental and socioeconomic concerns about impacts of climate change and resource development on northern societies. However, efforts to fulfill the objectives of this research paradigm are associated with a host of on-the-ground challenges. These challenges include (but are not restricted to) developing effective community partnerships and collaboration and documenting change through interdisciplinary approaches. Here we provide an overview of the components that comprise our interdisciplinary research program and offer an accounting of our formative experiences in confronting these challenges.


Host fishes were identified for 6 species of freshwater mussels (Unionidae) from the Black Warrior River drainage, Mobile Basin, USA: Strophitus subvexus, Pleurobema furvum, Ptychobranchus greeni, Lampsilis perovalis, Medionidus acutissimus, and Villosa nebulosa. Hosts were determined as those that produced juvenile mussels from glochidial infestations in the laboratory. The following mussel-fish-host relationships were established: Strophitus subvexus with 10 species including Cyprinidae, Catostomidae, Fundulidae, Centrarchidae, and Percidae; Pleurobema furvum with Campostoma oligolepis, Cyprinella callistia, C. venusta, Semotilus atromaculatus, and Fundulus olivaceus; Ptychobranchus greeni with Etheostoma bellator, E. douglasi, Percina nigrofasciata, and Percina sp. cf. caprodes; Lampsilis perovalis with Micropterus coosae, M. punctulatus, and M. salmoides; Medionidus acutissimus with Fundulus olivaceus, Etheostoma douglasi, E. whipplei, Percina nigrofasciata, and Percina sp. cf. caprodes; and Villosa nebulosa with Lepomis megalotis, Micropterus coosae, M. punctulatus, and M. salmoides. Fundulus olivaceus served as host for 3 species and carried glochidia for long periods for 2 other species, suggesting that topminnows may serve as hosts for a wide variety of otherwise host-specialist mussel species. Host relationships for the species tested are similar to congeners. Methods of glochidial release, putative methods of host-fish attraction, and gravid periods are described for the 6 species.


OBJECTIVE
To test the hypothesis that a greater peak internal hip abduction moment is associated with a reduced likelihood of ipsilateral medial tibiofemoral osteoarthritis (OA) progression.

METHODS
Fifty-seven persons with knee OA (by definite osteophyte presence and symptoms) were evaluated. Baseline assessments included kinematic and kinetic gait parameters, obtained with an optoelectronic camera system and force platform, with inverse dynamics used to calculate 3-dimensional moments at the joints; pain, using a separate visual analog scale for each knee; and alignment, using full-limb radiographs. Radiographs of the knee in a semiflexed position, with fluoroscopic confirmation of tibial rim alignment, were obtained at baseline and 18 months later. Disease progression was defined as worsening of the grade of medial joint space narrowing. Logistic regression obtained with generalized estimating equations was used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) for progression per unit of hip abduction moment, after excluding knees with the worst joint space grade at baseline (which could not progress).

RESULTS
The 57 participants (63% women) with mild to moderate OA had a mean age of 67 years and a mean body mass index of 29. A greater internal hip abduction moment during gait was associated with a reduced likelihood of medial tibiofemoral OA progression, with OR/unit hip abduction moment of 0.52 and a 95% confidence interval (95% CI) of 0.32-0.85. This protective effect persisted after adjustment for age, sex, walking speed, knee pain severity, physical activity, varus malalignment severity, hip OA presence, and hip OA symptom presence, with an adjusted OR of 0.43 a 95% CI of 0.22-0.81.

CONCLUSION
A greater hip abduction moment during gait at baseline protected against ipsilateral medial OA progression from baseline to 18 months. The likelihood of medial tibiofemoral OA progression was reduced 50% per 1 unit of hip abduction moment.


It might be the long lines at the theater, the $4.00 for a small bag of popcorn, or the cutting-edge technology that's now so readily available to the home market. Whatever the reason, the home theater market today is booming like the soundtrack to Star Wars! Want proof? A Google search for home theater reveals over three million results. Yikes! It's simply undeniable: More and more people prefer watching their favorite movies, television shows, and videos from the comfort of their own sofas and couches. What's also undeniable is the inexperience of most people who choose to install or upgrade their home theaters. Until now, the knowledge, technique, and experiences of those who've encountered similar conditions to yours could only be accessed through laborious web searches, stacks of magazines, and water cooler conversations. Home Theater Hacks from O'Reilly is the perfect remedy for this group. A smart collection of insider tips and tricks, Home Theater Hacks covers home theater installation from start to finish, purchase to experience. Just imagine: no frustrating trial and error process and better yet, no expensive appointments with installation experts. Home Theater Hacks prevents both by imparting down-and-dirty technique not found anywhere else. The book begins with a quick glossary of terms so you can speak the lingo when you go shopping, and then dives right into hush-hush, insider tricks. It's all covered where to find the right audio and video components, how to deal with speakers and wiring, understanding cable connectivity, mastering remote controls, how to fully grasp TiVo, and so much more. And to top it off, each of these insider tips is presented in a concise yet delightfully entertaining style. Bringing the Jurassic Park dinosaurs into your living room has never been so easy! A seasoned veteran with numerous O'Reilly titles under his belt, author Brett McLaughlin leaves no stone unturned in helping you customize your home theater experience to your own personal environment.


Succession is a pervasive topic in recent family business research and receives attention from a wide range of research directions. Strategic and principal-agent approaches discuss the subject from an organizational point of view; gender research takes a sociological viewpoint. The study assesses the perspectives of those involved in the succession process through a qualitative research approach. Based on in-depth interviews, a comparative analysis leads to the development of a substantial grounded theory of succession in horticultural family businesses. Results show a range of determining factors, including socialization of the potential successor, affecting the generation spanning succession process.