Background: New immigrants to North America, most of whom are under age 50 years, exhibit fewer risk factors for cardiovascular disease than their native-born counterparts, yet the stress of resettlement may conceivably place them at higher risk of stroke. We determined the risk of acute stroke associated with recency of immigration. Methods: We completed a population-based matched cohort study in Ontario, the largest province in Canada, from April 1, 1995, to March 31, 2007. Overall, 965,829 new immigrants were matched to 3,272,393 long-term residents by year of birth, sex, and location. New immigrants were identified as new recipients of universally available public health insurance, and long-term residents were those insured for 5 years or longer. Results: The mean age of the participants at study entry was about 34 years and the total number of observed strokes was 6,216 after a median duration of follow-up of about 6 years. The incidence rate of acute stroke was 1.69 per 10,000 person-years among new immigrants and 2.56 per 10,000 person-years among long-term residents (crude hazard ratio [HR] 0.66, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.62-0.71). After adjusting for age, income quintile, urban vs rural residence, history of hypertension, diabetes mellitus and smoking, and number of health insurance claims, the HR for stroke was 0.69 (95% CI 0.64-0.74). Similar risk estimates were seen for both ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke subtypes. Conclusion: New immigrants appear to be at lower risk of premature acute stroke than long-term residents. This finding does not appear to be explained by the availability of health care services or income level.


The environmental movement is one of the most successful social movements in the 21st
century. In the 50 years since Rachel Carson published her iconic book Silent Spring,
environmental concerns have moved from the marginal fringes to the mainstream of social
policy in most countries throughout the world. The impact which our everyday lives have on
the environment is widely acknowledged. While major real achievements in the wider world
have yet to be achieved (stopping climate change; turning around biodiversity loss; a
moratorium on nuclear power; food security without chemical or genetic pollution),
nonetheless, as a social movement it has made a bigger impact on the consciousness of policy
makers and the public alike than most other social movements of the same period.
With this success it is perhaps not surprising that the environmental movement is at risk of
being infiltrated. I am not referring here to the infiltration of environmental activist groups by
police and other security agents – that is clearly widespread. But the infiltration is from
groups who wish to pass themselves off as environmentalists when in fact their objectives are
contrary to the values of environmentalism. Their environmentalism is a mask, behind which
is the objective of ethnic cleansing, colonial occupation and complicity in racist massacres.
This is what is happening with the Jewish National Fund.


This study assessed four methods for measuring soil total suction in laboratory: the noncontact filter paper method, the psychrometer technique, the relative humidity (RH) sensor, and the chilled‐mirror hygrometer technique. Our aim in this study was to compare the four total suction measurement techniques, especially the psychrometer method and the RH sensor, which may be used for field total suction measurements. While field application of the sensors is the eventual concern, no field measurements were performed in the study. Assessment was made using two bentonite–sand mixtures, which can be used as clay liner for landfills. A discussion of factors influencing measurement accuracy is also provided. The chilled‐mirror hygrometer technique appears to give the most accurate results, and therefore may be used as a benchmark for assessing the accuracy of the three other methods. For the bentonite–sand mixture used in this study, the total suction measured using the noncontact filter paper technique represents values at a quasi‐equilibrium state after redistribution of water in the specimen, instead of the total suction at as‐compacted state. The RH sensor provided a faster response than the psychrometer technique. However, the RH sensor exhibited a systematic error in the small suction range.


Chinese people should consume Chinese products! This slogan was the catchphrase of a movement in early twentieth-century China that sought to link consumption and nationalism by instilling a concept of China as a modern nation with its own national products. From fashions in clothing to food additives, from museums to department stores, from product fairs to advertising, this movement influenced all aspects of China's burgeoning consumer culture. Anti-imperialist boycotts, commemorations of national humiliations, exhibitions of Chinese products, the vilification of treasonous consumers, and the promotion of Chinese captains of industry helped enforce nationalistic consumption and spread the message--patriotic Chinese bought goods made of Chinese materials by Chinese workers in factories owned and run by Chinese. In China Made, Karl Gerth argues that two key forces shaping the modern world--nationalism and consumerism--developed in tandem in China. Early in the twentieth century, nationalism branded every commodity as either Chinese or foreign, and consumer culture became the place where the notion of nationality was articulated, institutionalized, and practiced. Based on Chinese, Japanese, and English-language archives, magazines, newspapers, and books, this first exploration of the historical ties between nationalism and consumerism reinterprets fundamental aspects of modern Chinese history and suggests ways of discerning such ties in all modern nations.


Brian Eyre was an outstanding metallurgist who played a leading role in the development of nuclear engineering materials. His experiments on irradiated metals enabled a theoretical understanding of the mechanisms of radiation damage, and in particular the formation of voids and void swelling in structural steels. His work on the fracture of metals advanced our understanding of intergranular embrittlement and helped define the specifications of the structural components in nuclear reactors. He rose from a humble upbringing in London's East End to become Chief Executive of the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA). He was instrumental in transforming the UKAEA from a organization whose mission was to develop nuclear power generating systems into the privatized AEA Technology, which worked on a wide range of technologies on a customer–contractor basis.


This article introduces the concept of Experimental Visual Experience Devices (EVEDs), which the author defines as artistic inventions that alter the participant's visual perceptions of the external real world. The aim of EVEDs is to place the participant in a slightly altered visual reality in order to cause him or her to see real things anew. The article describes several works of participation art that can be seen as historical precedents to EVEDs. The author discusses two EVEDs that he invented: Whirld is a cylindrical room mounted on an axle that functions as a spinning camera obscura; Portable Whirld is a hood that functions as a portable camera obscura. The author describes how the two sculptures reshape the spectator's visual perceptions, and suggests some forms that future EVEDs might take.


Abstract:Scholars of environmental politics and policy experts have long debated whether climate change can be linked to violent conflict. I present a new framework called human– environmental–climate security (HECS), which integrates critiques of traditional security frameworks while offering a systematized method of process tracing. Using existing concepts of vulnerability and resilience, I illustrate the empirical utility of centering the human subject and local conceptions of security when analyzing the role of climate in armed conflict. I develop this framework using the cases of Syria, Sudan, and Morocco. I argue that the ecological drivers of conflicts in Sudan and Syria are best understood as a result of policy decisions that reflected the ideology and preferences of ruling elites rather than direct functions of climate change. Conversely, I present the case of Morocco as a counterfactual in which sound government policy attenuated environmental drivers of conflict. In doing so, this approach considers the impacts of international and domestic structures of inequality on people's climate vulnerability and resilience.


Fatigue cracks are prone to develop around the fasteners found in multilayer aluminum structures such as ageing aircraft. The determination of their probability of detection (POD) using eddy current techniques is critical for risk assessments used in evaluating serviceability. Normally, a large number of samples of both fatigue cracks and electric discharge machined notches are required for such a study. In this study, the use of quantitative fractography (QF) to efficiently gather POD data for bolt hole eddy current is demonstrated. The technique can be readily automated, significantly reducing man-hour requirements. The method is applied to mid-bore cracks, grown without starter notches, in order to simulate naturally occurring fatigue cracks. POD of the mid-bore cracks is examined using a probit analysis. An a 90/95 is the probability that 90% of the cracks of size a or larger will be detected 95% of the time. An a 90/95 of 0.34 mm was obtained for mid-bore crack depth. This value is consistent with skin depth considerations at the 1.6 MHz inspection frequency. An examination of the POD based on crack length found that it was related to that of depth according to the average length-to-depth aspect ratio of 2 to 1.


Robotic cutting of soft materials is critical for applications such as food processing, household automation, and surgical manipulation. As in other areas of robotics, simulators can facilitate controller verification, policy learning, and dataset generation. Moreover, differentiable simulators can enable gradient-based optimization, which is invaluable for calibrating simulation parameters and optimizing controllers. In this work, we present DiSECt: the first differentiable simulator for cutting soft materials. The simulator augments the finite element method (FEM) with a continuous contact model based on signed distance fields (SDF), as well as a continuous damage model that inserts springs on opposite sides of the cutting plane and allows them to weaken until zero stiffness, enabling crack formation. Through various experiments, we evaluate the performance of the simulator. We first show that the simulator can be calibrated to match resultant forces and deformation fields from a state-of-the-art commercial solver and real-world cutting datasets, with generality across cutting velocities and object instances. We then show that Bayesian inference can be performed efficiently by leveraging the differentiability of the simulator, estimating posteriors over hundreds of parameters in a fraction of the time of derivative-free methods. Finally, we illustrate that control parameters in the simulation can be optimized to minimize cutting forces via lateral slicing motions. We publish videos and additional results on our project website at https://diff-cutting-sim.github.io.


An expansion of the medicalization of Postpartum Depression (PPD) is evident in increased screening for maternal depression that begins in pregnancy and continues in the postpartum period, and in the growing number of medical professionals alerted to watch for signs of maternal distress. Although a definitive etiology of PPD remains elusive, the scientific and medical fields – highly imbued with authority to create knowledge in Western society – promote essentialist views of motherhood that espouse "natural" attributes such as maternal instincts and tendencies to nurture. Mothers who struggle with these standards of motherhood are then defined as being ill and become patients under the care of the medical profession until they can perform adequately in their motherhood roles, or they face social condemnation and legal repercussions for being "bad" mothers. Because characteristics of the "normal" postpartum period are said to be similar to symptoms of general depression, how do some women come to identify their postpartum experiences as depression while others do not? Does the choice of traditional obstetrics or an alternative, such as midwifery, make a difference in the incidence of postpartum depression? And what changes in the social support network occur in a woman's life as a result of a diagnosis of PPD? Using Foucault's theory of docility, critical constructionism, and postmodern feminism as the theoretical focus, and in-depth interviews as the research method, I compare the postpartum experiences of mothers who have been diagnosed with postpartum depression with mothers who have not been diagnosed. The sample includes mothers who gave birth with the assistance of obstetrics and mothers who gave birth with the assistance of certified nurse-midwives. In order to examine the differences in approaches to and treatment of postpartum depression, I also interview a sample of obstetricians and certified nurse-midwives. Findings show that medical professionals use gender-normative assessments, such as physical appearance, language, and nurturing tendencies to determine whether the mother is performing as expected; if not, she is defined as ill and treated with antidepressant medication. Although the majority of mothers in the sample experienced feelings of depression in the postpartum period, many resisted diagnosis and medication. Mothers found the greatest support in their peers, rather than those closest to them, citing the ability to talk candidly about the struggles they face in their motherhood roles as the way to avert or heal from PPD. This finding highlights the enforcement of normative motherhood within the social institutions of the family and medicine; thus, cultural change from ideological representations of motherhood may come about through peer relationships. INDEX WORDS: Postpartum depression, Motherhood, Medicalization, Expansion of medical control, Maternal behavior, Childbearing years, Normative motherhood, Mandatory motherhood Postpartum Depression: Standardizing Motherhood?


Not only do the highly-distributed digital crowdsourcing solutions surpass both borders and time-zones, but they materialize the vision of impact sourcing, by tapping into new labor markets in developing countries. Unfortunately, crowdsourcing is associated with severe quality issues. To that end, many countermeasures have been designed to detect spammers, except in practice, also honest, yet not perfect workers will often be exposed and deprived of much-needed earnings. Here, we argue for the need of an impact-driven quality control measure, especially for skewed-domain tasks. Such a measure should ensure high quality results, while simultaneously fulfilling the social responsibility aspect of crowdsourcing.


The 2013 Nobel Prize in Chemistry went to Martin Karplus, Michael Levitt and Arieh Warshel for their pioneering work on computer modelling, specifically, the 'development of multiscale models of complex chemical systems' (1). This award not only recognises the critical contributions by the three laureates to the field of molecular simulations, but also underscores the broad impact that computer simulations have made in fields as diverse as chemistry, biophysics, enzymology and material sciences. This review will present an overview of computational enzymology, a rapidly maturing field where multiscale modelling plays a key role in deciphering enzymatic catalysis (2-4).


In the Spring 2003 issue of  Entertainment Law Ken Foster 1 wrote of the distinction between 'international sports law' and 'global sports law', with the latter connoting immunity from national law that 'international sports law' does not purport to possess. In his introduction to that article, Foster wrote briefly of the litigation between the International Amateur Athletic Federation (hereafter IAAF) and Harry ('Butch') Reynolds, the American track athlete who failed an IAAF doping test in the early 1990s and was banned as a consequence. Foster used that case as an example of governing bodies' response to the possibility of the 'ordinary' courts intervening in their disciplinary processes, citing the words of IAAF luminary Arne Ljundqvist. In the course of the litigation Ljundqvist famously stated that 'the Courts create a lot of problems for our anti-doping work, but we don't care in the least what they say. We have our rules and they are supreme.


Today there are any number of research articles and books for executives that reflect on the importance of culture within companies. However, there are not so many that focus on how this culture affects the process when an executive is starting a new job. Experience tells us that trying to change the culture is no easy task, nor is it free of risk. It also shows us that, by using the right tools, culture can become an effective weapon to help the executive take control of the organization as quickly as possible.During the first 90 days in a given company, department or team (Watkins, 2003), one of the most pressing actions is taking stock of the culture, discovering its specific features and assessing the real potential for change. Even though culture is usually considered an abstract concept, it can be harnessed to push for improvements within the organization and to align employees with the company's strategy. The following pages provide a review of what business culture is, how it shapes companies and individuals, and how to deal with changes if they are needed. This background is then used to explore the case of Google and to offer a list of questions to help executives beginning a new job manage the new culture effectively.


Accountability is one of the fundamental elements of good governance manifestation that currently is strived in Indonesia. Transparency and accountability of regional financial management requires a supervisory agency of local government, an internal Auditor (inspectorate) to improve the accounting quality. The aim of this study is to provide empirical evidence on how the internal auditor's competency can affect internal audit quality in local government, and how its implication toward accountability of local government will be beneficial. The study is done with the population of all inspectorates in regency/city of Lampung Province, by using path analysis of Partial Least Square (PLS). The result of this study gives empirical evidence that internal auditor (inspectorate) competency positively and significantly affects internal audit quality. Likewise, internal audit quality positively and significantly affects financial accountability of regency/city of Lampung. The higher the internal auditor competency, the better audit quality that is proxied by the number of findings by internal audit. Based on descriptive and verificative approach in all Province/City/Regency Inspectorates in Lampung, it shows that internal auditors (inspectorate) have been adequately competent, but there are some regions that have not been competent (have not had adequate education level and skill). Accountability of local government of regency/city of Lampung is quite accountable, but not all regions of regency/city produce maximal opinion (WTP).


Building text-to-speech (TTS) systems requires large amounts of high quality speech recordings and annotations, which is a challenge to collect especially considering the variation in spoken languages around the world. Acoustic modeling techniques that could utilize inhomogeneous data are hence important as they allow us to pool more data for training. This paper presents a long short-term memory (LSTM) recurrent neural network (RNN) based statistical parametric speech synthesis system that uses data from multiple languages and speakers. It models language variation through cluster adaptive training and speaker variation with speaker dependent output layers. Experimental results have shown that the proposed multilingual TTS system can synthesize speech in multiple languages from a single model while maintaining naturalness. Furthermore, it can be adapted to new languages with only a small amount of data.


The research investigates definitions and representations of the interstitial through digital art practice and through critical reflection and discussion in an accompanying textual dissertation. It began with a series of photographic light paintings which I argue via metaphorical mappings, are representations and definitions of the interstitial (or what Duchamp termed the infra-slim) in terms of moments, forms and spaces. Practice-based study then aimed to create new audiovisual interpretative responses that articulate the interstitial based on these definitions. The investigation through practice encompassed a combination of two distinct approaches towards the creation of form, each with its own aesthetic. Firstly the use of generative systems and algorithms that allow for unforeseen visual outcomes, resulting in a more organic aesthetic; and secondly, direct manipulation of form through 3D modelling and montage techniques, leading to pre-defined visual outcomes that demonstrate an aesthetic that is more synthetic in nature. Over the course of the study, both approaches were employed to create a series of motion-based audiovisual artworks that explored and negotiated tensions between these seemingly conflicting visual aesthetics in response to the source images. In doing so, a dialogue between these distinctive aesthetics unfolded, and a new interstitial aesthetic emerged.


A nonlinear principal component analysis (NLPCA) represents an extension of the standard principal component analysis (PCA) that overcomes the limitation of the PCA's assumption about the linearity of the model. The NLPCA belongs to the family of nonlinear versions of dimension reduction or the extraction techniques of underlying features, including nonlinear factor analysis and nonlinear independent component analysis, where the principal components are generalized from straight lines to curves. The NLPCA can be achieved via an artificial neural network specification where the PCA classic model is generalized to a nonlinear mode, namely, Neural Networks Principal Component Analysis (NNPCA). In order to extract a set of nonlinear underlying systematic risk factors, we estimate the generative multifactor model of returns in a statistical version of the Arbitrage Pricing Theory (APT), in the context of the Mexican Stock Exchange. We used an auto-associative multilayer perceptron neural network or autoencoder, where the 'bottleneck' layer represented the nonlinear principal components, or in our context, the scores of the underlying factors of systematic risk. This neural network represents a powerful technique capable of performing a nonlinear transformation of the observed variables into the nonlinear principal components, and to execute a nonlinear mapping that reproduces the original variables. We propose a network architecture capable of generating a loading matrix that enables us to make a first approach to the interpretation of the extracted latent risk factors. In addition, we used a two stage methodology for the econometric contrast of the APT involving first, a simultaneous estimation of the system of equations via Seemingly Unrelated Regression (SUR), and secondly, a cross-section estimation via Ordinary Least Squared corrected by heteroskedasticity and autocorrelation by means of the Newey-West heteroskedasticity and autocorrelation consistent covariances estimates (HEC). The evidence found shows that the reproductions of the observed returns using the estimated components via NNPCA are suitable in almost all cases; nevertheless, the results in an econometric contrast lead us to a partial acceptance of the APT in the samples and periods studied.


Invasive species are expected to experience a unique combination of high genetic drift due to demographic factors while also experiencing strong selective pressures. The paradigm that reduced genetic diversity should limit the evolutionary potential of invasive species, and thus, their potential for range expansion has received little empirical support, possibly due to the choice of genetic markers. Our goal was to test for effects of genetic drift and selection at functional genetic markers as they relate to the invasion success of two paired invasive goby species, one widespread (successful) and one with limited range expansion (less successful). We genotyped fish using two marker types: single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in known‐function, protein‐coding genes and microsatellites to contrast the effects of neutral genetic processes. We identified reduced allelic variation in the invaded range for the less successful tubenose goby. SNPs putatively under selection were responsible for the observed differences in population structure between marker types for round goby (successful) but not tubenose goby (less successful). A higher proportion of functional loci experienced divergent selection for round goby, suggesting increased evolutionary potential in invaded ranges may be associated with round goby's greater invasion success. Genes involved in thermal tolerance were divergent for round goby populations but not tubenose goby, consistent with the hypothesis that invasion success for fish in temperate regions is influenced by capacity for thermal tolerance. Our results highlight the need to incorporate functional genetic markers in studies to better assess evolutionary potential for the improved conservation and management of species.


Hand-crafted features employed in classical generic instance segmentation methods have limited discriminative power to distinguish different objects in the scene, while Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) based semantic segmentation is restricted to predefined semantics and not aware of object instances. In this paper, we combine the advantages of the two methodologies and apply the combined approach to solve a generic instance segmentation problem in RGBD video sequences. In practice, a classical generic instance segmentation method is employed to initially detect object instances and build temporal correspondences, whereas instance models are trained based on the few detected instance samples via CNNs to generate robust features for instance segmentation. We exploit the idea of one shot learning to deal with the small training sample size problem when training CNNs. Experiment results illustrate the promising performance of the proposed approach.


A 68-year-old patient, without relevant medical history, suffered from a syncope without prodromal signs. There were no constitutional symptoms such as fever or loss of weight. The ECG demonstrated sinus rhythm with a first-degree atrioventricular block. The transthoracic echocardio graphic study (TTE) showed preserved left and right systolic function. Attached to the interatrial septum, a giant left atrial mass, oscillating through the mitral valve in the left ventricle, was seen. However, the echo Doppler transmitral flow pattern could not document left ventricular inflow obstruction. The TTE images showed different echocardio graphic tissue characteristics of the basal and apical segments of the mass (figure 1, panel A). Transoesophageal echocardiography (TEE) confirmed the attachment of the heterogeneous mass to left atrial septum by a thin stalk (figure 1, panel B). Coronary angiography excluded severe coronary atherosclerosis. The vascular supply of the mass originated from the right coronary artery (figure 1, panel C). Contrast-enhanced (Sonoview, Braco Milan) TTE demonstrated a different density in contrast uptake, where the septal part of the mass was better vascularised (higher contrast uptake) compared with the apical segments of the mass (figure 1, panel D). The patient was referred for prompt resection of the mass to avoid embolic events.


At the beginning of the 21st century, music surrounds us on a daily basis. Instant access to recordings and immediate comparisons of performances worldwide have become an integral part of our lives. Yet arguably there has been a heavy price to pay. In Mozart's day, major European cities such as Vienna and Prague boasted distinctive musical personalities; nowadays, even such a hitherto distinctive ensemble as the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra has assumed an international aura, with a less identifiable corporate sound. Opportunities provided by air travel have further encouraged such a process. Early recordings provide valuable evidence of what has been lost in terms of individuality and national styles, and these have increasingly been the subject of detailed research. A useful case study is provided by the British clarinet school. "The Clarinet has long been considered by the whole Musical Profession as the most beautiful of wind instruments," remarked the great English clarinetist Thomas Willman in 1826 (p.1). "That king of the reed instruments, the clarinet...," wrote his successor Henry Lazarus in 1881 (preface, p.1). Since 1900 or so there has been aural evidence for these assertions. As one of Mozart's contemporaries put it, some musical subtleties cannot really be described - they must be heard.


Event-related potentials (ERPs)̶in particular, the P300 component̶have come under increasing scrutiny as a means of clarifying brain functions, as they are considered to reflect higher brain activity. Although much research has been devoted to the P300 signal, its source within the human brain remains unclear. Electroencephalogram (EEG) is often used in ERP studies because it directly reflects neurological responses to external stimulus. However, owing to the low spatial resolution of EEG, many surface or intracranial electrodes are required to estimate the signal source. We have attempted to develop a new signal source estimation method using only one signal electrode, which utilizes the switching voltage divider technology for simultaneous measurement of the potential and location of the signal source ; i. e., whether the signal source is far from or near the signal electrode. This signal source estimation method may improve the low spatial resolution of EEG. Using our proposed method, we measured the ERPs of subjects participating in an oddball paradigm using auditory stimuli. The results suggest that the P300 component of an ERP is generated in a region deep within the brain.


The Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS) onboard the ENVISAT satellite provides profiles of temperature and various trace-gases from limb-viewing mid-infrared emission measurements. The stratospheric nitric acid (HNO 3 ) from September 2002 to March 2004 was retrieved from the MIPAS observations using the science-oriented data processor developed at the Institut fur Meteorologie und Klimaforschung (IMK), which is complemented by the component of non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (non-LTE) treatment from the Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia (IAA). The IMK-IAA research product, different from the ESA operational product, is validated in this paper by comparison with a number of reference data sets. Individual HNO 3 profiles of the IMK-IAA MIPAS show good agreement with those of the balloon-borne version of MIPAS (MIPAS-B) and the infrared spectrometer MkIV, with small differences of less than 0.5 ppbv throughout the entire altitude range up to about 38 km, and below 0.2 ppbv above 30 km. However, the degree of consistency is largely affected by their temporal and spatial coincidence, and differences of 1 to 2 ppbv may be observed between 22 and 26 km at high latitudes near the vortex boundary, due to large horizontal inhomogeneity of HNO 3 . Statistical comparisons of MIPAS IMK-IAA HNO 3 VMRs with respect to those of satellite measurements of Odin/SMR, ILAS-II, ACE-FTS, as well as the MIPAS ESA product show good consistency. The mean differences are generally ±0.5 ppbv and standard deviations of the differences are of 0.5 to 1.5 ppbv. The maximum differences are 2.0 ppbv around 20 to 25 km. This gives confidence in the general reliability of MIPAS HNO 3 VMR data and the other three satellite data sets.


Investigating the recent direct action campaigns against genetically modified crops in France and the United Kingdom, the authors set out to understand how contrasting judicial systems and cultures affect the way that activists choose to commit ostensibly illegal actions and how they negotiate the trade-offs between effectiveness and public accountability. The authors find evidence that prosecution outcomes across different judicial systems are consistent and relatively predictable and consequently argue that the concept of a "judicial opportunity structure" is useful for developing scholars' understanding of social movement trajectories. The authors also find that these differential judicial opportunities cannot adequately account for the tactical choices made by activists with respect to the staging of covert or overt direct action; rather, explanations of tactical choice are better accounted for by movement ideas, cultures, and traditions.


Almost every single image restoration problem has a closely related parameter, such as the scale factor in super-resolution, the noise level in image denoising, and the quality factor in JPEG deblocking. Although recent studies on image restoration problems have achieved great success due to the development of deep neural networks, they handle the parameter involved in an unsophisticated way. Most previous researchers either treat problems with different parameter levels as independent tasks, and train a specific model for each parameter level; or simply ignore the parameter, and train a single model for all parameter levels. The two popular approaches have their own shortcomings. The former is inefficient in computing and the latter is ineffective in performance. In this work, we propose a novel system called functional neural network (FuncNet) to solve a parametric image restoration problem with a single model. Unlike a plain neural network, the smallest conceptual element of our FuncNet is no longer a floating-point variable, but a function of the parameter of the problem. This feature makes it both efficient and effective for a parametric problem. We apply FuncNet to super-resolution, image denoising, and JPEG deblocking. The experimental results show the superiority of our FuncNet on all three parametric image restoration tasks over the state of the arts.


Amorphous Si waveguides with gradient refractive index cladding structure are proposed and fabricated using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition method. Compared with 6 dB/cm for ridge waveguide without gradient cladding, the propagation loss of the gradient cladding waveguides is less than 1 dB/cm with both TE and TM polarizations.


CASTAway is a mission concept to explore our Solar System's main asteroid belt. Asteroids and comets provide a window into the formation and evolution of our Solar System and the composition of these objects can be inferred from space-based remote sensing using spectroscopic techniques. Variations in composition across the asteroid populations provide a tracer for the dynamical evolution of the Solar System. The mission combines a long-range (point source) telescopic survey of over 10,000 objects, targeted close encounters with 10 – 20 asteroids and serendipitous searches to constrain the distribution of smaller (e.g. 10 m) size objects into a single concept. With a carefully targeted trajectory that loops through the asteroid belt, CASTAway would provide a comprehensive survey of the main belt at multiple scales. The scientific payload comprises a 50 cm diameter telescope that includes an integrated low-resolution ( R = 30 – 100) spectrometer and visible context imager, a thermal (e.g. 6 – 16 µ m) imager for use during the flybys, and modified star tracker cameras to detect small (~10 m) asteroids. The CASTAway spacecraft and payload have high levels of technology readiness and are designed to fit within the programmatic and cost caps for a European Space Agency medium class mission, whilst delivering a significant increase in knowledge of our Solar System.


Abstract The Bayesian calibration program OxCal v.4.1.5 is applied to two chronological datasets for early Lapita derived from two pcomprehensive reviews. The two datasets are supplemented by published ages for early Lapita sites in two key island groups within Remote Oceania: Vanuatu and Fiji. The analyses provide statistically robust chronologies for the emergence of Lapita on Mussau at 3470-3250 cal BP and in the rest of the Bismarck Archipelago at 3360-3240 cal BP. After a period of 130-290 years, Lapita dispersed to Vanuatu by 3250-3100 cal BP and to Fiji by 3130-3010 cal BP. Keywords: Lapita pottery, Bayesian calibration, Bismarck Archipelago, Remote Oceania, dispersal The appearance of Lapita pottery, primarily dentatestamped, in the Bismarck Archipelago is a major event in Pacific history (e.g. Kirch 1997), yet it is relatively poorly dated (Specht 2007). Lapita pottery is generally considered to be derived from red-slipped pottery in Island Southeast Asia (Bellwood 1997; Kirch 1997), with dentate-stamped decorative innovations emerging in the Bismarck Archipelago. In this paper, the focus is upon the chronology of early or formative Lapita pottery in the Bismarck Archipelago and the timing of its dispersal to the islands of Remote Oceania, where this dispersal represented the first human colonization. Several key debates associated with Lapita pottery, principally those focused on cultural associations, geographical and chronological variations, social practices and ultimate demise, are not considered here (Green 1979, 1991a; Anson 1986; Kirch 1997; Spriggs 1997; Summerhayes 2000). Surprisingly, given the importance of Lapita pottery to Pacific archaeology and the ways in which archaeologists have been 'ensnared' by radiocarbon dating in the region (Bedford and Sand 2007), there has been no systematic attempt to derive an explicitly chronological model for its appearance in the New Guinea region and subsequent dispersal into Remote Oceania. Two exceptions are the application of Bayesian approaches 1) at the Nanggu site in the southeast Solomons (Green et al. 2008), and 2) to dates on human bone from a range of Lapita pottery contexts (Petchey et al. 2011). Despite the lack of precision in regional syntheses of radiocarbon dates, given that they have been derived from ad hoc interpretative approaches rather than Bayesian modelling, various conclusions regarding the nature of the dispersal of Lapita pottery have been drawn, especially a fast dispersal rate that implies a structured process (Kirch and Hunt 1988; Anderson 2001). There have been various reviews of the radiocarbon dates for early Lapita sites, especially within the Bismarck Archipelago (Kirch and Hunt 1988; Specht and Gosden 1997; Kirch 2001; Summerhayes 2001,2010; Spriggs 2003; Specht 2007). The resultant dates proposed for the appearance of Lapita pottery, however, are impressionistic assessments based largely on the range of individual age determinations through an effective 'eye-bailing' of calibrated age ranges, e.g. 3300-3200 cal BP (Specht and Gosden 1997: 189; Spriggs 2001: 240; Summerhayes 2010), 3350-3250 cal BP or ca. 3550 cal BP 'at the earliest' (Kirch 2001: 219), and 3450-3350 cal BP (Specht 2007: 54). Overlaps between date ranges have enabled only tendencies and approximate chronologies to be ascertained. Other proposed dates for the emergence of Lapita have relied heavily upon the results from individual sites or island groups (Kirch 2001; Summerhayes 2001). Although Kirch's (2001) application of summed probability distributions is an attempt to interpret data in summary form, it is not a model-based approach that includes statistical interrogation of sets of geographically and historically restricted radiocarbon age determinations. Bayesian statistical programs are model-based applications for the analysis of radiocarbon age determinations that are being increasingly applied to archaeological problems in order to generate higher resolution and statistically valid calibrated date ranges. …


This paper presents a climatology and trends of tropospheric ozone in the Southwestern Indian Ocean (Reunion Island) and South Africa (Irene and Johannesburg). This study is based on a multi-instrumental dataset: PTU-O3 ozonesondes, DIAL LIDAR and MOZAIC airborne instrumentation.

The seasonal profiles of tropospheric ozone at Reunion Island have been calculated from two different data sets: ozonesondes and LIDAR. The two climatological profiles are similar, except in austral summer when the LIDAR profiles show greater values in the free troposphere, and in the upper troposphere when the LIDAR profiles show lower values during all seasons. These results show that the climatological value of LIDAR profiles must be discussed with care since LIDAR measurements can be performed only under clear sky conditions, and the upper limit of the profile depends on the signal strength.

In addition, linear trends have been calculated from ozonesonde data at Reunion and Irene. Considering the whole tropospheric column, the trend is slightly positive for Reunion, and more clearly positive for Irene. Trend calculations have also been made separating the troposphere into three layers, and separating the dataset into seasons. Results show that the positive trend for Irene is governed by the lower layer that is affected by industrial pollution and biomass burning. On the contrary, for Reunion Island, the strongest trends are observed in the upper troposphere, and in winter when stratosphere-troposphere exchange is more frequently expected.


These studies were conducted to determine whether there are gender-specific regional differences in meal triglyceride fatty acid uptake. Systemic and regional oleate ([3H]oleate) kinetics were measured in nine nonobese men and eight nonobese women before and at the end of a 6-h meal, administered as small frequent feedings to achieve steady-state chylomicronemia. Chylomicron uptake in the splanchnic bed accounted for 71 +/- 15% of meal triglyceride disappearance in men and 20 +/- 7% in women (P < 0.01), whereas leg chylomicron uptake could only account for 12 +/- 2 and 8 +/- 4% (P not significant in men vs. women) of meal triglyceride disappearance. Meal ingestion suppressed (P < 0.05) systemic and regional free fatty acid release in both men and women. Splanchnic nonchylomicron triglyceride release and leg nonchylomicron triglyceride uptake were not significantly different in men and women. In summary, the largest quantitative difference between men and women in fatty acid kinetics during meal ingestion is a substantially greater splanchnic uptake of meal triglyceride fatty acids in men. This could represent greater meal fatty acid storage in visceral adipose tissue.


In order to investigate the effects of mycorrhizal fungi on yield and water use efficiency of eight sesame ( Sesamum indicum L.) genotypes in different levels of drought stress, an experiment was conducted using a factorial split plot with three replications in the research field of the Urmia agricultural high school in 2014. The main factor was consisted of different levels of irrigation as: normal irrigation (irrigation after 70 mm evaporation of the crop (ETc), moderate drought stress (irrigation after 90 mm ETc) and severe drought stress (irrigation after 110 mm ETc), and two species of mycorrhiza fungi ( Glomus mosseae , Glomus intraradices ) and non-inoculated (control). Sub plots consisted of eight landraces of sesame names Jiroft13, Zanjan Tarom Landrace, Moghan Landrace, several branches Naz, TC-25, TS-3, Darab 14 and Dashtestan 5. Results showed that the effect of irrigation, mycorrhiza fungi and genotypes on studying traits was significant. Mean comparisons showed that with increasing severity of drought stress, grain yield, biological yield, water use economic and biotic efficiencies decreased significantly. Severe drought stress reduced water use economic and biotic efficiencies about 62 and 49 percent, respectively. Using two species of mycorrhizal fungi ( Glomus mosseae , Glomus intraradices ) in comparison with non-inoculated (control) had significant effect on all studied traits. Inoculation with G . mosseae improved seed yield, biological yield and water use economic efficiency compared to control with 33, 42 and 33 percent, respectively. Moghan landrace and Zanjan Tarom landrace based on yield and water use efficiency, had superiority on other landraces. Mycorrhiza led to improve yield of landraces and in severe drought stress conditions, sesame plants showed a higher mycorrhizal dependency.


Cells are structural and functional unit of our body that control and maintain the function of all unicellular and multicellular organisms. The process of cell proliferation and differentiation plays a vital role from the time of embryogenesis to development of whole organism from single- or double-cell embryo and continues its crucial role in maintenance of adult tissue homoeostasis by recycling the old cells with new cells. In addition, abnormal cell proliferation is also associated with various human diseases like cancer. Therefore, cell proliferation assays become crucial to scrutinise the rate of cell proliferation in both in vitro and in vivo conditions. These assays follow different parameters to determine the rate of cell proliferation like rate of deoxyribonucleic acid synthesis, metabolic activity of cells, different antigens associated with cell proliferation and adenosine triphosphate concentration. In the present article, authors have tried to summarise different cell proliferation assays commonly used in laboratories to determine cell proliferation.

Key Concepts:

Cell proliferation plays a vital role in regular tissue and cellular homoeostasis for proper growth, development and maintenance of organism.

Cell proliferation assays are mainly designed based on three concepts, that is, (1) measuring rate of DNA replication, (2) analysis of metabolic activity and (3) cell surface antigen recognitions.

Rate of DNA replication can be analysed by using radioactive or labelled nucleotide analogues, that is, 3H-thymidine- and BrdU-based assays.

Metabolic activity-based assays include MTT, XTT, WST, resazurin and ATP measurements.

Cell proliferation antigen-based assay targets antigens present in proliferating cells such as markers like Ki-67, topoisomerase IIB, phosphohistone H3 and PCNA.

Keywords:

cell proliferation;
cell assays;
metabolic activity;
ATP;
BrdU;
MTT assay;
rate of DNA synthesis


Learning a single static convolutional kernel in each convolutional layer is the common training paradigm of modern Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs). Instead, recent research in dynamic convolution shows that learning a linear combination of $n$ convolutional kernels weighted with their input-dependent attentions can significantly improve the accuracy of light-weight CNNs, while maintaining efficient inference. However, we observe that existing works endow convolutional kernels with the dynamic property through one dimension (regarding the convolutional kernel number) of the kernel space, but the other three dimensions (regarding the spatial size, the input channel number and the output channel number for each convolutional kernel) are overlooked. Inspired by this, we present Omni-dimensional Dynamic Convolution (ODConv), a more generalized yet elegant dynamic convolution design, to advance this line of research. ODConv leverages a novel multi-dimensional attention mechanism with a parallel strategy to learn complementary attentions for convolutional kernels along all four dimensions of the kernel space at any convolutional layer. As a drop-in replacement of regular convolutions, ODConv can be plugged into many CNN architectures. Extensive experiments on the ImageNet and MS-COCO datasets show that ODConv brings solid accuracy boosts for various prevailing CNN backbones including both light-weight and large ones, e.g., 3.77%~5.71%|1.86%~3.72% absolute top-1 improvements to MobivleNetV2|ResNet family on the ImageNet dataset. Intriguingly, thanks to its improved feature learning ability, ODConv with even one single kernel can compete with or outperform existing dynamic convolution counterparts with multiple kernels, substantially reducing extra parameters. Furthermore, ODConv is also superior to other attention modules for modulating the output features or the convolutional weights.


The novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has led to a pandemic. The current testing regime based on Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction for SARS-CoV-2 has been unable to keep up with testing demands, and also suffers from a relatively low positive detection rate in the early stages of the resultant COVID-19 disease. Hence, there is a need for an alternative approach for repeated large-scale testing of SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19. The emergence of wearable medical sensors (WMSs) and deep neural networks (DNNs) points to a promising approach to address this challenge. WMSs enable continuous and user-transparent monitoring of physiological signals. However, disease detection based on WMSs/DNNs and their deployment on resource-constrained edge devices remain challenging problems. To address these problems, we propose a framework called CovidDeep that combines efficient DNNs with commercially available WMSs for pervasive testing of the virus and the resultant disease. CovidDeep does not depend on manual feature extraction. It directly operates on WMS data and some easy-to-answer questions in a questionnaire whose answers can be obtained through a smartphone application. We collected data from 87 individuals, spanning three cohorts including healthy, asymptomatic (to detect the virus), and symptomatic (to detect the disease) patients. We trained DNNs on various subsets of the features automatically extracted from six WMS and questionnaire categories to perform ablation studies to determine which subsets are most efficacious in terms of test accuracy for a three-way classification. The highest test accuracy obtained was 98.1%. The models were also shown to perform well on other performance measures, such as false positive rate, false negative rate, and F1 score. We augmented the real training dataset with a synthetic training dataset drawn from the same probability distribution to impose a prior on DNN weights and leveraged a grow-and-prune synthesis paradigm to learn both DNN architecture and weights. This boosted the accuracy of the various DNNs further and simultaneously reduced their size and floating-point operations. This makes the CovidDeep DNNs both accurate and efficient, in terms of memory requirements and computations. The resultant DNNs are embedded in a smartphone application, which has the added benefit of preserving patient privacy.


This thesis is concerned with properties of pointed Hopf algebras: that is, Hopf algebras whose coradicals are the group algebras of their grouplike elements. These have been fruitfully studied via their associated graded Hopf algebras with respect to the coradical filtration. In fact, the associated graded Hopf algebra gr H of a pointed Hopf algebra H can be decomposed into a braided graded Hopf algebra of coinvariants adjoined to a group algebra by a process called bosonisation.

Chapter 1 consists of background material, which fully explains the process outlined above.

In Chapter 2, we outline and discuss the main results of Kharchenko in [32], which gives a PBW-basis for a certain class of associated graded Hopf algebras gr H of pointed Hopf algebras H. The hypotheses on gr H are that its grouplikes form an abelian group that acts on the braided Hopf algebra of coinvariants diagonalisably - that is, by multiplication by scalars, which are called the braiding coefficients. In Theorem 2.4.1, we give an expanded proof of [32, Corollary 5].

This provides a tool which we use in Chapter 3 to show that the ordering of the PBW-generators in Kharchenko's PBW-basis for gr H may be permuted in the case where there are only a finite number of generators. We then use this in order to prove that gr H, and hence H, satisfy certain homological properties.

In Chapter 4, we prove a result giving sufficient conditions on the braiding coefficients for the braided Hopf algebra of coinvariants to be a free algebra, thus answering a question of Andruskiewitsch and Schneider in [2].

Chapter 5 switches the focus to a type of skew-polynomial algebras called ambiskew polynomial algebras, defined over a base algebra R. We drop the hypothesis that R is commutative, which was generally assumed in previous work on these algebras. We then give necessary and sufficient conditions for a Hopf algebra structure on R to be extended to a Hopf algebra structure on the ambiskew polynomial algebra, generalising work of Hartwig in [22]. We also calculate explicitly their coradical filtration, which gives as a corollary some theorems of Montgomery [43] and Boca [11] on the coradical filtration of U_q(sl_2). Finally, we consider some homological and ring-theoretic properties of ambiskew polynomial algebras.


Osteomas of the temporal bone are rare entity with incidence of 0.1% - 1% of all benign tumours of skull. They are slow growing benign lesion of temporal bone. We report a rare case of mastoid osteoma of size more than 5 cm. A 40-year-old female patient presented to us with left post auricular bony swelling of size greater than 5 cm. Diagnosis of mastoid osteoma was made after relevant investigations including High Resolution Computed Tomography (HRCT) temporal bone. Complete surgical excision was done with good cosmetic outcome without recurrence.


Machine learning is often used to acquire knowledge in domains that undergo frequent changes, such as networks, social media, or markets. These frequent changes pose a challenge to most machine learning methods as they have difficulty adapting. So my thesis topic focus on adaptive machine learning models. At the first step, we consider a forum content recommender system for massive open online courses (MOOCs) as an example of an application where recommendations have to adapt to new items and evolving user preferences. We formalize the recommendation problem as a sequence prediction problem and compare different recommendation methods, including a new method called context tree (CT). The results show that the CT recommender performs much better than other methods. We analyze the reasons for this and demonstrate that it is because of better adaptation to changes in the domain.


The strong need for the development of alternative anti-HIV agents is primarily due to the emergence of strain-resistant viruses, the need for sustained adherence to complex treatment regimens and the toxicity of currently used antiviral drugs. This review analyzes proof of concept studies indicating that the immunomodulatory drug rapamycin (RAPA) possesses anti-HIV properties both in vitro and in vivo that qualifies it as a potential new anti-HIV drug. It represents a literature review of published studies that evaluated the in vitro and in vivo activity of RAPA in HIV. RAPA represses HIV-1 replication in vitro through different mechanisms including, but not limited, to down regulation of CCR5. In addition RAPA synergistically enhances the anti-HIV activity of entry inhibitors such as vicriviroc, aplaviroc and enfuvirtide in vitro. RAPA also inhibits HIV-1 infection in human peripheral blood leucocytes-SCID reconstituted mice. In addition, a prospective nonrandomized trial of HIV patient series receiving RAPA monotherapy after liver transplantation indicated significantly better control of HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV) replication among patients taking RAPA monotherapy. Taken together, the evidence presented in this review suggests that RAPA may be a useful drug that should be evaluated for the prevention and treatment of HIV-1 infection.


Ubiquitous computing and the ever-rising need for energy efficiency pose challenges in terms of the processing requirements and the corresponding machine complexity. Nonetheless, the nature of the underlying applications, particularly dealing with real-world data, offers alternative paradigms toward the efficient utilization of the available design resources. In this paper, approximate computing is addressed as an accommodating technique that can benefit from the inherent resilience of the current applications to build low-power and low-complexity architectures. This paper proposes an alternative way of attaining approximation based on transistor dynamic variability. Furthermore, it presents a comprehensive study using voltage scaling scheme, starting from the impact of variation on the circuit-level output and investigating cascaded logic gates, storage elements, arithmetic building blocks, and on the application level, with an image compression outcome using 2-point discrete Fourier transform as a proof of concept. This paper addresses design analysis metrics and the efficiency of the proposed technique with respect to the technology node, operating frequency, energy and delay, process corner, and temperature. The configurable designs are shown to be possible with adaptive voltage scaling and energy-quality scalability. The proposed technique offers compromises in terms of the circuit design metrics with savings of up to 90% on energy for image compression application, in comparison with running at deterministic nominal value, while preserving the relative quality and accuracy of the output.


Chirp signals arise in many applications of digital signal processing. In this dissertation, we address the problem of detection of chirp signals that are encountered in a bistatic radar which we are developing for remote sensing of cosmic ray induced air showers. The received echoes from the air showers are characterized by their large Doppler shift (several tens of MHz), and very short sweep period (~ 10 ^s). This makes our astrophysical problem a challenging one, since a very short sweep period is equivalent to a very low energy chirp signal. Furthermore, the related parameters of the received echoes are nondeterministic since they are tied to the physical parameters of the air showers that are stochastic in nature. In addition, our problem is characterized by the rarity of the expected chirp-echoes to be received, few events per week, and thus, background noise reception is the case most of the time. The primary focus of this research is to address these challenges and find an optimized detection approach under the existing receiver environment which contains non-Gaussian noise and is characterized by low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Matched filters are commonly used in radar systems when the chirp signal is known. In our first method, we revisit this context and use a matched filter as a basis of building a rake-like receiver that consists of a set of filters matched to quantized chirp rates, logarithmically distributed within the chirp-rate interval of interest. We examine the detection capability of the proposed structure through extensive theoretical and numerical analysis. Theoretical analysis and simulation results prove that the proposed detector has high detection capability for a range of chirp slopes in a low SNR environment. A major source of false-alarms was found to be due to sudden noise spikes that cover wide frequency bands. These transient signals have high amplitudes and occur at random time instants. This leads to erroneous detection decision. We study the influence of amplitude limiting the noisy signal on reducing the received false-alarms and enhancing the detection performance of the proposed rake-like receiver. In our second method, we use Hough transform (HT), which is widely used in the area of image processing for the purpose of finding parameterized patterns, as a basis of building a robust detection technique. We examine the detection capability of the proposed structure through theoretical and numerical analysis. Our results prove that the proposed detector has high detection capability for a range of chirp slopes in a low SNR environment. The introduced detection algorithms are implemented over a Virtex-5 FPGA. National Instruments modules are used as a high-performance custom hardware. Due to rarity of received echoes, we emulate the expected radar echoes to evaluate the system performance. The detection performance of the emulated echoes is examined using the implemented receiver at the field. Also, we compare the performance of both detectors.


From Jesus to His First Followers represents the process of transformation that began after Jesus' death. Continuity and discontinuity between the early groups of followers and Jesus are primarily examined in the religious practices.


A thorough search for bat herpesviruses was carried out in oropharyngeal samples taken from most of the bat species present in the Iberian Peninsula from the Vespertilionidae, Miniopteridae, Molossidae and Rhinolophidae families, in addition to a colony of captive fruit bats from the Pteropodidae family. By using two degenerate consensus PCR methods targeting two conserved genes, distinct and previously unrecognized bat-hosted herpesviruses were identified for the most of the tested species. All together a total of 42 potentially novel bat herpesviruses were partially characterized. Thirty-two of them were tentatively assigned to the Betaherpesvirinae subfamily while the remaining 10 were allocated into the Gammaherpesvirinae subfamily. Significant diversity was observed among the novel sequences when compared with type herpesvirus species of the ICTV-approved genera. The inferred phylogenetic relationships showed that most of the betaherpesviruses sequences fell into a well-supported unique monophyletic clade and support the recognition of a new betaherpesvirus genus. This clade is subdivided into three major clades, corresponding to the families of bats studied. This supports the hypothesis of a species-specific parallel evolution process between the potentially new betaherpesviruses and their bat hosts. Interestingly, two of the betaherpesviruses' sequences detected in rhinolophid bats clustered together apart from the rest, closely related to viruses that belong to the Roseolovirus genus. This suggests a putative third roseolo lineage. On the contrary, no phylogenetic structure was detected among several potentially novel bat-hosted gammaherpesviruses found in the study. Remarkably, all of the possible novel bat herpesviruses described in this study are linked to a unique bat species.


This publication is a report of the UCN/NRDC Workshop to Identify Areas of Ecological and Biological Significance or Vulnerability in the Arctic Marine Environment. The purpose of this workshop was to advance the process of identifying Ecologically and Biologically Significant Areas (EBSAs) in the Arctic marine environment. In addition, the workshop served as a venue to bring together and build on the work of several parallel projects, including those undertaken under the auspices of the Arctic Council, the World Heritage Arctic marine site identification process, and mapping efforts by non-governmental organizations including the World Wildlife Fund, Oceana and the National Audubon Society.


PURPOSE
To evaluate the psychometric properties of an oral-health related quality of life (OHRQoL) instrument for application in the population of Iranian adolescents and to assess the discriminate and convergent validity and reliability of the Persian version of the Child Oral Health Impact Profile (COHIP) in a representative sample of this population.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Using multistage stratified sampling, 597 schoolchildren aged from 13 to 18 years living in the city of Isfahan were recruited to complete the Persian COHIP questionnaire. They were also examined for dental caries and malocclusion by two trained, calibrated examiners.

RESULTS
Overall COHIP scores ranged from 15 to 135 (mean ± SD: 103.6 ± 18). Sixty-six percent of the students experienced at least one frequent oral health-related impact over the past three months. The Cronbach alpha coefficient was 0.89 for the overall score. Discriminate validity was supported by the significant difference between COHIP scores in the caries-free group and the others (P = 0.01). In addition, the questionnaire was able to differentiate among the groups by various degrees of need for orthodontic treatment (P < 0.01). Convergent validity was confirmed by significant association between the quality of life scores, the self-perceived health and oral health ratings and the self-perceived treatment need (r = 0.36, 0.57, -0.40).

CONCLUSION
The Persian COHIP demonstrated acceptable psychometric properties for the descriptive purposes. Some discrepancies observed between the clinical data and quality of life status were confirmed by the perceptual identity of such indices influenced by several overt and covert variables.


Water treatment in The Netherlands has developed to an outstanding level. Nevertheless, new challenges, such as protozoa (e.g. Cryptosporidium), Legionella, endocrine disrupting compounds and pharmaceuticals, have to be faced. These challenges can have a negative effect on customer confidence and the overall reputation of water supply. The Dutch water supply companies therefore have set a new ambition for water quality. To realize this ambition an integral approach to water treatment involving new technologies as membrane filtration and UV is necessary. The paper will present the possibilities of the current level of technology, how it relates to the vision and ambition of the Dutch drinking water sector and the role of research - especially in UV technology and membrane filtration - in realizing long-term goals.


The work presented in this paper belongs to the power quality knowledge area and deals with the voltage sags in power transmission and distribution systems. Propagating throughout the power network, voltage sags can cause plenty of problems for domestic and industrial loads that can financially cost a lot. To impose penalties to responsible party and to improve monitoring and mitigation strategies, sags must be located in the power network. With such a worthwhile objective, this paper comes up with a new method for associating a sag waveform with its origin in transmission and distribution networks. It solves this problem through developing hybrid methods which hire multiway principal component analysis (MPCA) as a dimension reduction tool. MPCA reexpresses sag waveforms in a new subspace just in a few scores. We train some well-known classifiers with these scores and exploit them for classification of future sags. The capabilities of the proposed method for dimension reduction and classification are examined using the real data gathered from three substations in Catalonia, Spain. The obtained classification rates certify the goodness and powerfulness of the developed hybrid methods as brand-new tools for sag classification.


A new organic crystal isopropyl-4-acetylphenylurea (IAPU) was identified as a promising candidate for blue second-harmonic generation (SHG). The nonlinear optical d coefficient obtained is d22=30.5 pm/V at the fundamental wavelength 1064 nm, and the crystal's transmitting range is 380–1400 nm. Thin, single crystalline films fabricated on the glass substrate are useful for waveguide-device applications. For the improvement of SHG efficiency and the relaxation of phase-matching conditions, the concept of thickness-noncritical phase matching (TNCPM) in a four-layer waveguide is proposed. Modal dispersion calculations for the various four-layer structures suggested the possibility of TNCPM from the TE0ω mode to TE12ω mode and from the TE0ω mode to the TE22ω mode by adjustment of the refractive indices of the two guiding layers.


This study is part of a program aimed at creating measures enabling a fairer and more complete assessment of a scholar's contribution to a field, thus bringing greater rationality and transparency to the promotion and tenure process. It finds current approaches toward the evaluation of research productivity to be simplistic, atheoretic, and biased toward reinforcing existing reputation and power structures. This study examines the use of the Hirsch family of indices, a robust and theoretically informed metric, as an addition to prior approaches to assessing the scholarly influence of IS researchers. It finds that while the top tier journals are important indications of a scholar's impact, they are neither the only nor, indeed, the most important sources of scholarly influence. Other ranking studies, by narrowly bounding the venues included in those studies, distort the discourse and effectively privilege certain venues by declaring them to be more highly influential than warranted. The study identifies three different categories of scholars: those who publish primarily in North American journals, those who publish primarily in European journals, and a transnational set of authors who publish in both geographies. Excluding the transnational scholars, for the scholars who published in these journal sets during the period of this analysis, we find that North American scholars tend to be more influential than European scholars, on average. We attribute this difference to a difference in the publication culture of the different geographies. This study also suggests that the influence of authors who publish in the European journal set is concentrated at a moderate level of influence, while the influence of those who publish in the North American journal set is dispersed between those with high influence and those with relatively low influence. Therefore, to be a part of the top European scholar list requires a higher level of influence than to be a part of the top North American scholar list.


Determining the co-integrating rank of a system of variables has become a fundamental aspect of applied research in macroeconomics and finance. It is wellknown that standard asymptotic likelihood ratio tests for co-integration rank of Johansen (1996) can be unreliable in small samples with empirical rejection frequencies often very much in excess of the nominal level. As a consequence, bootstrap versions of these tests have been developed. To be useful, however, sequential procedures for determining the co-integrating rank based on these bootstrap tests need to be consistent, in the sense that the probability of selecting a rank smaller than (equal to) the true co-integrating rank will converge to zero (one minus the marginal significance level), as the sample size diverges, for general I(1) processes. No such likelihood-based procedure is currently known to be available. In this paper we fill this gap in the literature by proposing a bootstrap sequential algorithm which we demonstrate delivers consistent cointegration rank estimation for general I(1) processes. Finite sample Monte Carlo simulations show the proposed procedure performs well in practice.


This article argues that Jürgen Habermas's view of religion as anathema to rational critical discourse reflects his misunderstanding that religion comprises a monolithic and immutable body of dogma that is closed to reason. Illustrative data from Catholic history and theology and empirical data gathered from contemporary American Catholics are used to show the weaknesses in Habermas's negation of the possibility of a self-critical religious discourse. Specifically, I highlight the doctrinal differentiation within Catholicism, its longstanding theological emphasis on the coupling of faith and reason, institutional reflexivity, and the doctrinally reflexive reasoning that contemporary Catholics use in negotiating what might appear as "contradictory" identities (e.g., being gay or lesbian and Catholic). Although the data presented take issue with Habermas's disavowal of religion, the article shows that the practical relevance of doctrinal reasoning at both the institutional and the individual level vindicate Habermas's faith in the emancipatory potential of reasoned argumentation to advance participative equality.


This paper presents the design and implementation of a control system for testing the endurance and behavior of electrical appliances in fluctuations of their input supply voltage. The proposed control system produces voltage fluctuations similar to the power network. The control system uses a DC/AC inverter that can produce variable frequency and variable voltage up to a maximum voltage level. A Spike Production Circuit is added to the design to produce spikes at levels higher than that of the inverter. An electronic relay circuit is responsible for switching between the inverter and the Spike Production Circuit. The inverter, the Spike Production Circuit and the relay are microprocessor controlled in order to produce the desired output waveform to the Device Under Test. The platform is interfaced with a PC where an application program was developed in order different testing patterns to be able to be generated and stored. This way the system will have the ability to cause electrical distress at the appliance in a programmable and repeated fashion while monitoring the condition of the appliance and the recording the time of faults happening. Results are presented.


This work is an investigation of the Circinus H20 megamasers, especially the unusual rapid variability seen in their flux density. It has been previously hypothesized that this was due to interstellar scintillation and one of the aims of this study was to test this. If scintillation proved to be the cause, then there was the potential application of Earth-Orbit synthesis to study the pas structure of the masers themselves. This was carried out by a monitoring campaign using the Tidbinbilla 70m telescope, joint VLBI imaging / time-delay detection experiments with the LBA (Long Baseline Array) and fullpolarization observations using the ATCA (Australia Telescope Compact Array). The results have shown good but not definitive evidence for the scintillation hypothesis, and specifically for quenched diffractive scintillation. The strongest single piece of evidence is in the detection of an apparent annual cycle at the 3σ significance level. The fitted annual cycle is consistent with the non-detections of a time delay between the Tidbinbilla and ATCA telescopes in the simultaneous observations made in 2004. The quenched diffractive scintillation model successfully accounts for the observed properties of the variability by proposing a certain range of size and morphologies within the population of the Circinus megamasers. While consistent with the observations, the models have proved difficult to usefully test due to the extremely high levels of intrinsic variability that the monitoring campaign has revealed. It is hoped that future work will enable a more rigorous testing of the proposed models.


Deep generative models trained with large amounts of unlabelled data have proven to be powerful within the domain of unsupervised learning. Many real life data sets contain a small amount of labelled data points, that are typically disregarded when training generative models. We propose the Cluster-aware Generative Model, that uses unlabelled information to infer a latent representation that models the natural clustering of the data, and additional labelled data points to refine this clustering. The generative performances of the model significantly improve when labelled information is exploited, obtaining a log-likelihood of -79.38 nats on permutation invariant MNIST, while also achieving competitive semi-supervised classification accuracies. The model can also be trained fully unsupervised, and still improve the log-likelihood performance with respect to related methods.


Written for students of linguistics, applied linguistics and speech therapy, this dictionary covers over 2,000 terms in phonetics and phonology. In addition to providing a comprehensive, yet concise, guide to an enormous number of individual terms, it also includes an explanation of the most important theoretical approaches to phonology. Its usefulness as a reference tool is further enhanced by the inclusion of pronunciations, notational devices and symbols, earliest sources of terms, suggestions for further reading, and advice with regard to usage. The wide range of topics explained include: * Classical phonology, including American Structuralism and the Prague School * Contemporary approaches, including Autosegmental Phonology, Metrical Phonology, Dependency Phonology, Government Phonology and Lexical Phonology * Prosodic ideas in phonology, both traditional and contemporary ^ * * historical phonology * Intonation and tonology This dictionary devotes space to the various theoretical approaches in proportion to their importance, but it concentrates most heavily on non-theory-bound descriptive terminology. It will remain a definitive reference for years to come.


Policy reforms in the wake of the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) are expected to reduce food exports in Western Europe. Will the transition to market- oriented policy regimes in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union expand agricultural production there, eventually offsetting the reductions in Western Europe and leading to food surpluses for the region as a whole? What effects will these changes have on the rural sectors of developing countries? Addressing these questions quantitatively, Rod Tyers concludes that agricultural exports in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union countries could expand enough to more than offset decreases in exports from reforms in Western Europe. Tyers estimates that the combined grain exports of Europe and the former Soviet Union could increase world supplies by as much as 44 million metric tons by 2000, leading to a reduction in world food prices.


Abstract. The resolution of geostationary satellite image is not high and the image is covered with clouds. At present, when the extracted feature points are unstable, there are some problems, such as low matching accuracy or even matching failure. In this paper, a landmark matching algorithm is proposed to directly establish the multi-level grids for the image coastline and the coastline template. Through the similarity measure of the multi-level grids, the landmark matching is realized layer by layer. First of all, we've finished cloud detection, establishment of landmark data set, and extraction of image coastline. Then we design and implement the landmark matching algorithm based on multi-level grids. Finally, through analysis from different levels of landmarks and different proportion of cloud cover, the advantages and applicable conditions of this algorithm are given. The experimental results show that: 1) with the increase of cloud cover, the correct rate of landmark matching decreases, but the decrease is small. It shows that the matching algorithm in this paper is stable. Correct matching rate could always be stable at about 75 percent in the fourth level. 2) when the proportion of cloud cover is less than 20 percent, the higher the matching level, the higher the matching accuracy. When the cloud cover is more than 20 percent, the matching accuracy in the fourth level is the highest. This algorithm provides a stable method for the landmark matching of geostationary satellite image.


: Under storage a challenge has happened population decreases drastically very next it gets its peak. This seems an opportunistic challenge to bring of such substrates where certain microorganisms might be replicated and stored for long time to be used by farmers. Many substrates from many researches came into record and has been used for mass production of antagonistic microorganisms (BCAs) known for biological control of other group of microorganisms called plant pathogens. Therefore, few tree borne oilseeds (TBOs) known for their medicinal and nutritional properties been used under current investigation. There were four cakes of Neem, Jatropha, Mahua and Karanja evaluated and found supporting population dynamics of Trichoderma harzianum when used as substrate. It was revealed that Neem cake was the best substrate in vitro supported Trichoderma growth for four months while Jatropha cake was found supporting population dynamics in vivo. The antagonist could be stored for more than 4 months when mixed with the sources of carbon and nitrogen. Among all substrates Neem cake found maintaining high population at any level when counted as colony forming units (CFUs) per gram of substrate.


Before the 1997-98 crisis, the East Asian economies—except for Japan—informally pegged their currencies to the dollar. These soft pegs made them vulnerable to a depreciating yen thereby aggravating the crisis. To limit future misalignments, the IMF wants East Asian currencies to float freely. Alternatively, authors have proposed increasing the weight of the yen in East Asian currency baskets. However, dollar pegs are entirely rational from the perspective of each Asian country—both to facilitate hedging by merchants and banks against exchange risk, and to help central banks anchor their domestic price levels. Post-crisis, as the East Asian economies transform themselves from being dollar debtors into dollar creditors, they face "conflicted virtue": pressure to appreciate their currencies that could lead to a defla-tionary spiral. Rather than undervaluing their currencies to promote exports as is commonly alleged, East Asian governments are trapped into returning to—and then maintaining—soft dollar pegs.


OF THESIS TWIN AND NARROW ROW WIDTH EFFECTS ON CORN (ZEA MAYS L.) YIELD AND WEED MANAGEMENT Corn or maize (Zea mays L.) has been grown in North America for many centuries, and an increase in corn production will continue to be needed. Agriculture producers must meet the demands of feeding and providing for an increasing population of people. In order to meet those needs, different production practices are being investigated as a way to increase grain yield. Field plots were conducted across the state of Kentucky in 2011 and 2012 to evaluate the interaction between hybrid, row width, and plant density on corn yield. The primary objectives were to test if 1) narrower rows increase grain yield, 2) higher plant densities increase yield in narrow and twin rows, and 3) the interactions among all factors. Three hybrids were evaluated in three row widths (76, 38 cm or twin) at target densities ranging from 74 000 to 124 000 plants ha. Interactions between hybrid, row width, and plant density occurred; however, effects on grain yield and plant physiological characteristics were small and variable across all environments. Plant density had the greatest impact on IPAR and grain yield. Field trials were conducted near Lexington and Princeton, Kentucky in 2011 and 2012 to evaluate the effects of row width on different weed management treatments in corn. The objectives were to 1) evaluate five weed management methods in three row widths (76, 38 cm or twin) and 2) estimate the effect of these practices on corn yield. Herbicides used within each weed management strategy included the residual herbicide S-metholachlor + atrazine (1.4 + 1.8 kg/ha) applied preemergence (PRE) and/or glyphosate (0.86 kg/ha) postemergence (POST). Weed management treatments consisted of a PRE only, PRE followed by POST, POST only, POST + PRE, and an untreated control. Row spacing had little effect on weed suppression and control except for two cases. In general, PRE followed by POST and POST + Residual treatments controlled weeds better compared to PRE only and POST only treatments. Corn yields were higher when a herbicide was used compared to applying no herbicide application.


Technology-mediated task settings are rich interactional domains in which second language (L2) learners manage a multitude of interactional resources for task accomplishment. The affordances of these settings have been repeatedly addressed in computer-assisted language learning (CALL) literature mainly based on theory-informed task design principles oriented to the elicitation of structured learning outcomes. However, such focus on design and outcome has left unexplored the great diversity of emergent interactional resources that learners deploy in situ. With this in mind, and using conversation analysis (CA) as the research methodology, this study sets out to describe the task engagement processes of L2 learners who collaboratively engage in online tasks. A close look into screen-recorded interactions of geographically dispersed participants shows that they orient to numerous context-specific interactional resources, which also locates a process-oriented interactional development site for further examination. To this end, the study presents a longitudinal conversation analytic treatment of a focal participant's context-specific interactional behaviors. The findings explicate the emergence and diversification of interactional resources, thus evidencing task-induced development of L2 interactional competence (IC). By providing participant-oriented, situated, qualitative insights into interactional development in and through online task-oriented L2 interactions, the study contributes to CALL, task design, and L2 IC based on methodological underpinnings of CA.


Stefan W. Hell is a director at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Gottingen, Germany, and also leads a research division at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg. He is credited with having conceived, validated and applied the first viable concept for breaking Abbe's diffraction-limited resolution barrier in a light-focusing microscope.

Hell was unable to attend SPIE Photonics West 2015, but participated in the Nobel plenary session by contributing this video, which includes an edited version of his Nobel acceptance speech.

Hell received the 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, along with Eric Betzig and W.E. Moerner, for their development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy.


Many primary care physicians are unhappy with patient panels in excess of 3000, increased administrative requirements, reduced reimbursement rates, and other earmarks of managed care. Concierge medicine is a new form of medical practice that allows physicians to reduce their patient load to perhaps 300 or less, in order to spend more time with each patient and increase their incomes at the same time. In one model, the physician accomplishes this by charging patients a monthly fee that varies from a few hundred to over a thousand dollars, for which the patient is allowed to access the medical services of the physician. The fee covers special attention from the physician and a list of amenities not usually covered by insurance, while the patients remain responsible for their medical bills. The dark side of concierge medicine is that thousands of patients unable to pay the fee no longer have access to their physician, and must find a new physician in a market with increasingly fewer primary care physicians available. Because wealthier patients are often healthier, concierge medicine may also require those physicians remaining within the system to absorb the sicker patients. Medicare patients in particular may be disproportionately affected. This presentation briefly reviews state and federal laws that may impede this new practice form, as well as its ethical implications. More importantly, this presentation focuses on the potential negative effects of concierge medicine on access to health care. It concludes that, although physicians may provide, and wealthy persons may receive, medical care as they wish (or as the market will bear), private insurers should exclude concierge physicians from their networks and physicians should be prohibited from charging Medicare patients access fees.


We explore the types of data used to characterize risky subprime lending and consider the geographic dispersion of subprime lending. First, we describe the strengths and weaknesses of three different datasets on subprime mortgages using information from LoanPerformance, HUD, and HMDA. These datasets embody different definitions of subprime mortgages. We show that estimates of the number of subprime originations are somewhat sensitive to which types of mortgages are categorized as subprime. Second, we describe what parts of the country and what sorts of neighborhoods had more subprime originations in 2005, and how these patterns differed for purchase and refinance mortgages. Subprime originations appear to be heavily concentrated in fast-growing parts of the country with considerable new construction, such as Florida, California, Nevada, and the Washington DC area. These locations saw house prices rise at faster-than-average rates relative to their own history and relative to the rest of the country. However, this link between construction, house prices, and subprime lending is not universal, as other markets with high house price growth such as the Northeast did not see especially high rates of subprime usage. Subprime loans were also heavily concentrated in zip codes with more residents in the moderate credit score category and more black and Hispanic residents. Areas with lower income and higher unemployment had more subprime lending, but these associations are smaller in magnitude. Christopher J. Mayer Columbia Business School 3022 Broadway, Uris Hall #808 New York, NY 10025 and NBER email@example.com Karen Pence Household and Real Estate Finance Federal Reserve Board of Governors MS 93 Washington, DC 20551 firstname.lastname@example.com


Fusion trials between metamorphs of the aplousobranch compound ascidian Diplosoma listerianum indicated that chimera formation was not dependent on relatedness. Similar, high rates of union were observed between full siblings, half siblings, unrelated individuals from the same population, and individuals from two geographically distant localities. This is in contrast to the well–studied ascidian genus Botryllus, in which a highly polymorphic allorecognition system governing the fusion–non–fusion reaction (colony specificity) largely limits fusion to close relatives. Fusion in Botryllus establishes a vascular chimera throughout which stem cells may circulate, promoting cell lineage competition between the fusion partners. The restriction of fusion to close kin in Botryllus is thought to reduce the inclusive fitness costs of competitive interactions between cell lineages within the chimera. In contrast to Botryllus, modules (zooids) of a D. listerianum colony are not interlinked by blood vessels, seemingly precluding the exchange of stem cells. The apparent absence of strict colony specificity in D. listerianum is thus in keeping with the predictions of the Botryllus model for the maintenance of allorecognition polymorphism. However, colony specificity has been reported in other species of aplousobranch ascidian that also lack a common vascular system. In these, the threat of migrating blood–borne stem cells cannot be responsible for the presence of colony specificity. One possibility, requiring experimental investigation, is that stem cells could perhaps migrate between zooids by another route, such as through the matrix of the colonial tunic. Even in the absence of stem cell exchange, cheating on the costs of colony maintenance and defence could also produce selective forces favouring colony specificity. In compound ascidians, this could involve unequal contribution to extrazooidal structures, principally the tunic and related tissues. This consideration seems potentially relevant to the lack of discrimination during fusion in D. listerianum, since extrazooidal somatic investment in this species appears minimal, severely limiting the scope for this other form of cheating. The various possible modes of exploitative interaction between fused colonies are not mutually exclusive, and offer fundamentally similar explanations for colony specificity. If none of them can be shown to occur in non–botryllid species possessing colony specificity, the generality of the Botryllus model may require re–evaluation.


From the Publisher:
Data modeling is one of the most critical phases in the database application development process, but also the phase most likely to fail. A master data modeler must come into any organization, understand its data requirements, and skillfully model the data for applications that most effectively serve organizational needs.

Mastering Data Modeling is a complete guide to becoming a successful data modeler. Featuring a requirements-driven approach, this book clearly explains fundamental concepts, introduces a user-oriented data modeling notation, and describes a rigorous, step-by-step process for collecting, modeling, and documenting the kinds of data that users need.

Assuming no prior knowledge, Mastering Data Modeling sets forth several fundamental problems of data modeling, such as reconciling the software developer's demand for rigor with the users' equally valid need to speak their own (sometimes vague) natural language. In addition, it describes the good habits that help you respond to these fundamental problems. With these good habits in mind, the book describes the Logical Data Structure (LDS) notation and the process of controlled evolution by which you can create low-cost, user-approved data models that resist premature obsolescence. Also included is an encyclopedic analysis of all data shapes that you will encounter. Most notably, the book describes The Flow, a loosely scripted process by which you and the users gradually but continuously improve an LDS until it faithfully represents the information needs. Essential implementation and technology issues are also covered.

You will learn about such vital topics as:

The fundamental problems of data modeling The good habits that help a data modeler be effective and economical LDS notation, which encourages these good habits How to read an LDS aloud—in declarative English sentences How to write a well-formed (syntactically correct) LDS How to get users to name the parts of an LDS with words from their own business vocabulary How to visualize data for an LDS A catalog of LDS shapes that recur throughout all data models The Flow—the template for your conversations with users How to document an LDS for users, data modelers, and technologists How to map an LDS to a relational schema How LDS differs from other notations and why

"Story interludes" appear throughout the book, illustrating real-world successes of the LDS notation and controlled evolution process. Numerous exercises help you master critical skills. In addition, two detailed, annotated sample conversations with users show you the process of controlled evolution in action.


Carbon monoxide (CO) is a known, potent poisonous gas that causes hypoxaemia because of its high affinity for haemoglobin. It also induces inflammatory responses that cause tissue injury, particularly to the nervous and cardiovascular systems. Here we present a case of late-onset sick sinus syndrome (SSS) after CO poisoning. Arrhythmia during the acute phase has been recorded in the literature, but to the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of late-onset SSS. Late-onset neuropathy after CO poisoning is well known, and it seems that a similar mechanism develops in cardiac conduction after CO poisoning. This report highlights the importance of followup for arrhythmia after CO poisoning.


In recent years a new class of one-dimensional cellular automata (CA) models has attracted much attention. These so-called mass transport models can be characterized as nonequilibrium stochastic processes. In the presented thesis a new model of this class, the Asymmetric Multi Occupation Process (AMOP) is considered. This CA model was first introduced with open boundary conditions to simulate Internet data transport. It is defined on a one-dimensional lattice equipped with buffers of finite size that can be occupied by at most B particles. The local dynamics are implemented by the totally asymmetric shift of discrete mass variables respectively particles under consideration of hard-core repulsion and parallel dynamics. In the first part of this work the AMOP with periodic boundary conditions is investigated by means of numerical as well as analytical considerations. Regarding deterministic model dynamics the influence of finite buffer and system sizes onto the fundamental diagram (FD), i.e., flow-density relation is analyzed. Furthermore, for stochastic movement the FDs obtained by numerical simulations are compared with analytical results derived by Mean-Field (MF) approaches and a 2-cluster approximation. In the second part the AMOP with open boundary conditions is investigated in the context of boundary induced phase transitions. In case of deterministic bulk dynamics an analytical exact representation of the system inflow as well as the outflow is presented in dependence of the buffer size. As a result the deterministic phase diagram derived by numerical simulations could be verified by analytical considerations. Regarding stochastic particle movement the phase diagram is obtained by Monte Carlo simulations. In both cases it is shown that the jammed phase is strongly enlarged for increasing buffer sizes. Finally, in the third part of this thesis the influence of interacting boundaries on the model dynamics is analyzed. Therefore, a new fall back inflow strategy is introduced in order to stabilize high flow states and thus prevent the system from a complete jamming. Precisely, the inflow is determined by the state of the last site of the system. As a result the phase diagrams of the deterministic and the stochastic model obtained by means of numerical simulations are presented. Two new phases could be identified a free-flow as well as a jammed phase both characterized by a striped microscopic pattern. Especially in the arising striped jammed regime system flow and mean velocity are drastically enlarged compared to generic inflow strategies. Here, the fall back strategy is capable to prevent the system from a complete jamming. Thus, the introduced inflow procedure represents an effective strategy for establishing reliable connections.