In this paper, we show that the right to determine the sequence of moves in a dynamic team tournament improves the chances of winning the contest. Because studying dynamic team tournaments – like R&D races – with interim feedback is difficult with company data, we examine decisions of highly paid professionals in soccer penalty shootouts and show that teams whose captains can decide about the shooting sequence are more likely to win the shootout. So, managerial decisions matter for outcomes of dynamic tournaments and we discuss potential reasons for this finding.


Traffic routing and gateway selection for Internet flows play a crucial role in determining the performance of WMNs. Optimal routing strategies have been derived under the assumption that the traffic demands are static and known a priori, or that can be accurately predicted. However, the effectiveness of most of the existing optimization-based routing solutions is still to be demonstrated in real-world deployments. In this paper we present a practical and robust framework for load-balanced routing and gateway selection in WMNs under variable traffic loads, which relies only on real-time measurements of network statistics. Then, we design, implement and evaluate two simple adaptive strategies to automatically select network paths and gateways for flows that dynamically arrive and depart, with the goal of achieving a high network utilization and improved load balancing. We have developed a full-fledged implementation of the proposed mechanisms as an extension of the OLSR protocol, and conducted an experimental study in a trial outdoor mesh network using video streaming traffic. Collected measurements show that our scheme can significantly increase the number of video sessions that can be supported with acceptable quality compared to traditional shortest path routing.


With the overall temperature rise across the globe and the sweltering heat these summers, one can safely assume that households will see a furious shoot-up in their electricity bills this year. While the urban population resorts to air-conditioning to escape the heat wave, the poor clamour for shade in varied confinements. About 300 million people in India live without access to power. The perfect solution for the poor to the problem of rising temperatures is the 'Eco-Cooler', a cooling device that can run without electricity. The process involves creating grids made from repurposed plastic bottles cut in half and installed on windows as per size. Based on the direction of the wind and the pressure created by airflow, the Eco-Cooler decreases the temperature by five degrees Celsius at optimal conditions.


We select clothes that we're purchasing and wearing according to the meaning we believe them to have, or
the messages we believe them to send. But what are psychological consequences of clothing, and how does
clothing express something about the user? To assess the state of knowledge about the communicative nature
of fashion, the aim of this review was to provide a concise and succinct literature overview of over twenty
empirical studies of the above-mentioned concept. The psychology behind clothing is classified into 3 thematic
categories in this paper: a) the meaning of colors in clothing psychology; b) the socio-psycological impact of
clothing; and c) gender (in)equality regarding clothing. Finally the last chapter brings a concise study of a
few recent fashion shows, brands and trends. It is doubtless that both clothing and appearance serve as an
important socializing influence and a form of communication.


While the United States Supreme Court has developed an elaborate constitutional jurisprudence of criminal procedure, it has articulated few constitutional doctrines of the substantive criminal law. The asymmetry between substance and procedure seems natural given the demise of Lochner and the minimalist stance towards due process outside the area of fundamental rights. This Article, however, argues that the "positivistic" approach to defining criminal offenses stands in some tension with other basic principles, both constitutional and moral. In particular, two important constitutional guarantees depend on the notion of an offense: the presumption of innocence and the ban on double jeopardy. Under the positivistic orthodoxy, the scope of these doctrines is left to state legislatures to determine. The presumption of innocence and the ban on double jeopardy thus suggest the needfor a substantive conception of the notion of 'an offense. This Article attempts to provide a jurisprudential framework for developing such a conception. It proceeds from the idea that we have a presumption against the use of the criminal sanction, stemming from the commitment to a background right to liberty our constitutional jurisprudence contains. The use of the criminal sanction is justified only if the infringement of liberty it imposes is sufficient to overcome that presumption. This requirement of justification in turn suggests boundaries on the notion of an offense: The definition of an offense must be constructed in a way that makes the infringement of liberty justified in light of the harm the prohibited conduct inflicts.


ABSTRACT The Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) is now a common technological artefact in Swedish preschools and schools. This study examines preschool teachers' thinking behind the embedding of IWB in the early years' mathematics classroom and how preschool teachers structure their mathematical activities when using IWB. Two complementary empirical studies, that is, interviews and video observations, were conducted with four preschool teachers. The findings demonstrate that (just) having a positive attitude to technological artefacts like IWB is less likely to enrich the learning environment and lead to pedagogical change. This suggests that teachers' IWB use is mostly informed by their pedagogical knowledge.


This paper describes PROMOTE, which is one of the currently running research projects evaluating and implementing Environmental Technology Verification (ETV). It is funded by the European Union in the 7th Framework Program. An ETV certificate guarantees that new equipment or innovative technology corresponds to the producer's description of advantages and simultaneously responds to the environmental requirements of EU experts. ETV-SGS (Soil-Groundwater Systems) has to answer several logical requirements to be useful and understandable. The general rules of system operation are compliant with the PRINCE2 methodology applied in many countries. This involves laboratory and field test stages. In the PROMOTE project the research site in Poland was chosen for field tests of innovative measurements and monitoring technology. The site was located at the Old Gasworks in Bydgoszcz whose terrain is strongly contaminated. The area is recognized and documented with contamination by organic compounds of ground and groundwater – vestiges of 140 years of gas production from coal – hence became for PROMOTE project purposes and the ETV system an ideal research site. Despite the number of years since the site has been used, tests conducted in cooperation with the Municipality of Bydgoszcz and the land owner i.e. Pomorska Spolka Gazownictwa, confirmed the longevity of pollutants and the high risk assessment for the ground and groundwater environment. The results obtained are all the more credible as the innovative technology tests were verified with classical methods and simultaneous analysis in three different, independent European laboratories in Stuttgart, Barcelona and Warsaw.


ii ABSTRACT US natural gas prices fell in 2009 on account of weak demand and increased supply from shale gas production. The fall in prices led to a reduction in coal-fired electricity generation and a concomitant increase in natural gas-fired electricity generation. Low natural gas prices conjoined with static coal prices and underutilized natural gas power plant capacity to create an environment primed for switching from natural gas to coal. Due to differences in chemical make-ups and plant efficiencies between the two fuels, this switching led to a significant reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. This thesis models how the fuel switching effect occurred and how it translated to an emissions reduction. It also analyzes several hypothetical policies aimed at augmenting the effect to achieve further reductions in emissions. Throughout the analysis, it considers the other impacts— environmental, human health, and economic—of a large-scale shift from a fuel system based on coal to one based on natural gas. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS


In this paper, we analyze the impact of Chinese competition on manufacturing firms in El Salvador between 2005 and 2013 using manufacturing survey data and customs transaction data. We find that Chinese import competition in El Salvador has a negative effect on firms employment, total factor productivity (TFP), and revenue. A 1-percentage-point increase in the measure of Chinese import competition in El Salvador reduces the employment of production workers by 2.27%. The negative impact is mainly reflected in employment at firms with less than 50 employees and those with low capital intensity. A 1-percentage-point-increase in the measure of Chinese import competition in El Salvador reduces low-productivity firms TFP by 1.851%, and total revenue of the low-revenue firms by 3.241%. Chinese competition in El Salvador export markets increases the production-worker employment at large firms, reduces TFP at medium-productivity firms, reduces the total revenue of low productivity firms, and increase the total revenue of high-productivity firms. In general, firm offshoring has no effect.


In this paper, we investigate order-preserving sparse coding for classifying structured data whose atomic features possess ordering relationships. Examples include time sequences where individual frame-wise features are temporally ordered, as well as still images (landscape, street view, etc.) where different regions of the image are spatially ordered. Classification of these structured data is often tackled by first decomposing the input data into individual atomic features, then performing sparse coding or other processing for each atomic feature vector independently, and finally aggregating individual responses to classify the input data. However, this heuristic approach ignores the underlying order of the individual atomic features within the input data, and results in suboptimal discriminative capability. In this work, we introduce an order preserving regularizer which aims to preserve the ordering structure of the reconstruction coefficients within the sparse coding framework. An efficient Nesterov-type smooth approximation method is developed for optimization of the new regularization criterion, with theoretically guaranteed error bound. We perform extensive experiments for time series classification on a synthetic dataset, several machine learning benchmarks, and an RGB-D human activity dataset. We also report experiments for scene classification on a benchmark image dataset. The encoded representation is discriminative and robust, and our classifier outperforms state-of-the-art methods on these tasks.


This paired watershed study tested the effects of timber harvest on water quantity and quality in the North Carolina Piedmont physiographic region. Four headwater watersheds at Hill Demonstration Forest (HF1, HF2, HFW1, and HFW2) and two at Umstead Research Farm (UF1 and UF2) were continuously monitored for discharge and water quality from 2007 to 2013. The HF1 and UF1 watersheds were clearcut (treatment), leaving a 15.2-m vegetated riparian buffer around the streams to protect water quality as described in the North Carolina Neuse River Basin Riparian Buffer Rule. HF2 and UF2 were uncut and used as reference watersheds. Merchantable timber was selectively removed from the riparian buffer, reducing tree basal area by 27% in HF1 and 48% in UF1. HF1 and HF2 were nested within HFW1; thus, HFW1 was considered a partial cut where 33% of the watershed area was harvested, and HFW2 was the reference. We found that discharge in treatment watersheds increased dramatically, averaging 240% in HF1 and 200% in UF1 and 40% in HFW1 during the postharvest period, 2011–2013. Total suspended sediment export in the treatment watersheds also increased significantly in HF1 after harvest, probably due to the increase of discharge and movement of in-channel legacy sediment. Stormflow peak nitrate reached its maximum concentration during the first 2 years after harvest in the treatment watersheds and then declined, corresponding to the rapid regrowth of woody and herbaceous plants in the riparian buffer and uplands. We found that 36% of the UF1 streambank trees were blown down but did not cause a measurable increase in mean daily stormflow total suspended sediment concentration. Most buffer tree blowdown occurred during the first few years after a harvest. Bioclassification of benthic macroinvertebrates indicated that stream water quality remained good/fair to excellent in the treatment watersheds after the harvest. We conclude that the temporary increases in discharge were relatively large for the Piedmont region compared with those for other regions in the southeastern United States. However, the increases in channel sediment transport and nutrient exports associated with the hydrologic change did not have a measurable impact on the indicators of aquatic invertebrate community health or bioclassification rankings.


This thesis considers the various church building schemes that took place in Glasgow during the early nineteenth century, focussing upon one particular model – that of church extension – to examine the way in which the Established Church of Scotland negotiated a space materially and culturally within the rapidly shifting socio-spatial dynamics of a city in the midst of processes of urbanisation and industrialisation. In so doing, the study asks what such schemes reveal of the Church's understanding of both the city and its own role within society. The arguments used to persuade influential actors within the city to support the cause of church building are examined, and it is claimed that these arguments both drew upon and reiterated a series of claims that C. Brown has identified as belonging to a discourse of the 'unholy city'. The material plans of church extension are next considered, detailing the mechanisms by which it was thought to work and the role of social elites in its establishment. It is claimed that, while clearly in keeping with earlier church-building plans, church extension was fundamentally different in concentrating upon churches not as means of accommodating worshippers but as centre points of a mechanism for evangelism, capable of impacting upon the manners and morals of wider society. Attention is drawn to the key influence of the Reverend Thomas Chalmers in the creation and application this model. Finally, the impacts that this was designed to have upon the city are considered, and used as a means of gaining insight into the shape of society sought by proponents of church extension. The thesis concludes by suggesting that while church extension can be interpreted critically as a tool of the Establishment, it is better conceived as a form of evangelism in which social improvement was a fundamental part, inseparable from the movement's spiritual aspirations. Thus, it argues for the importance of understanding the Church as a religious community whose task is to engage theologically with society, and as a collection of individuals who are each a part of the very society upon which they seek to impact.


Since 1990s the English NHS has used Information and Communication Technology (ICT) such as Electronic Patient Records and more recently health apps in order to improve healthcare delivery and patient experience. The rhetoric of patient choice has driven past policy but various studies have suggested that choice has failed to materialise (Dent, 2006; Henwood et al., 2011; Fotaki, 2010). In 2012 the Department of Health introduced the policy 'The Power of Information' whereby choice is envisioned to be enacted yet again through patients' 'informatisation' supported by various electronic interfaces. According to this new policy patients are supposed to be involved in decision-making processes that relate to their health. Indicative is the rhetoric of 'no decision about me without me' that underpins this policy. This new policy indicates a shift of the discourse on patients from 'health consumers' to 'empowered patients'. A fundamental aspect of this shift is the new role that is ascribed to patients; one that sees patients not as mere consumers but as producers of health information. ICT and more specifically health applications enable this new role by allowing patients to input and retrieve health-related information and to interact with healthcare professionals and patients electronically, facilitating management of their health. The aim of this paper is to examine the shift of this discourse and to study how patients are being governed (by themselves and by others) through assumptions embodied into ICT. We draw upon Foucault's work on 'governmentality' (Foucault, 1991), which has been used extensively to studies of healthcare reforms but has been applied much less so to studies of the role of ICT in shaping patienthood. We report on a pilot qualitative study and use interviews with relevant stakeholders such as health policy makers (NHS England); health ICT developers and representatives of patient groups and associations.


Flow variability analysis based on the annual number and duration of pulses above flow thresholds has been used to identify potential impacts of agricultural land-use change on the River Axe catchment (288.5 km 2 ). The analysis shows significant trend and step changes in runoff response which coincide both with changes in land use and management and with changes in rainfall amount and intensity. The effects of climatic variability are taken into account by regression analysis; residuals from regression continue to show a trend which is ascribed to land-use change. Seasonal analysis indicates that the winter season has the greatest change in runoff response but little change in rainfall. in contrast, the summer season shows little change in runoff response but altered rainfall frequency. The success of flow variability methods in identifying trends and the sources of trends in the runoff response on the Axe catchment indicates the potential of the methods for more general application for the development of flood risk management policies based on land-use and management.


Mass propagation of algae in drinking water source affects the coagulation process in water treatment systems. Many researchers indicated that some kinds of algal organic matters (AOMs) interacted with coagulants by coordinate bonds and brought about several disorders due to the increase in both the coagulant demand and the residual coagulant in treated water. However, the inhibitory mechanism on the coagulation by AOMs has not been fully elucidated. In this study, AOMs able to form complex with aluminium coagulant were isolated and analyzed. The results of the gel chromatography showed that extracellular organic matters (EOMs) from Microcystis aeruginosa (NIES-91) have molecular weight of between 10 and 20 kDa, around 40 kDa and more than 600 kDa. The amount and diversity of EOMs increased as the algal growth. AOMs able to form complex with aluminium coagulant were successfully isolated with the affinity chromatography. SDS-PAGE analysis revealed that these AOMs included proteins that have molecular weight between 43 and 67 kDa. Since several kinds of proteins such as metallothionein are known for strongly adsorbing multivalent cations, the isolated algal proteins able to form complex with aluminium might have a high capacity of capturing coagulants and inhibit the coagulation in the drinking water treatment.


This article introduces a new particle filtering approach for object tracking in video sequences. The projective particle filter uses a linear fractional transformation, which projects the trajectory of an object from the real world onto the camera plane, thus providing a better estimate of the object position. In the proposed particle filter, samples are drawn from an importance density integrating the linear fractional transformation. This provides a better coverage of the feature space and yields a finer estimate of the posterior density. Experiments conducted on traffic video surveillance sequences show that the variance of the estimated trajectory is reduced, resulting in more robust tracking.


Over the course of the 2009-2010 school year I worked with my 8th grade art students to implement a series of projects using an interdisciplinary approach within the art classroom. The main thrust of the project was the creation of a children's book with a focus on art history using an interdisciplinary approach. Students initially explored different artists and art movements to narrow the subject for a story. Through that process students created large scale works based on those artists' styles illustrated possible characters for a children's story book and brainstormed different story themes and ideas. These projects were conducted in a series of individual projects and group work. Once the theme and plot had been selected for the story students began illustrating and refining the story. Music and a performance were created to accompany the book. This project culminated with a final performance of the book for the entire middle school. Once the entire project was complete questionnaires and focus groups assessed the impact of these projects. The students benefitted from the various projects because they were able to employ individual talents and interests to different parts of the projects. The students' reflections and feedback indicated that they valued the creative aspects of the project and the ability to collaborate with each other. The students worked well together focusing on the strengths of each group member. They also appreciated being able to take turns working within the group sharing the creative input and taking responsibility for quality control of each artwork during the project. This project demonstrated that interdisciplinary instruction utilizing story art music and performance can be powerful tools to promote group learning in education. By promoting these types of interdisciplinary approaches an educator can increase participation engagement and enthusiasm in students.


Robust prediction of pedestrian behavior is one of the most challenging problems for autonomous driving. Particularly, predicting pedestrian crossings at crosswalks is of considerable importance for avoiding accidents on the one hand and not unnecessarily slowing down traffic on the other hand. Traditional model-based motion tracking and prediction approaches have difficulties in capturing abrupt changes in motions, as humans can perform them. In this paper, an approach for predicting pedestrian motions that combines established motion tracking algorithms with data-driven methods is presented. The approach is built upon a hierarchical structure, where first, the intent of each pedestrian is classified. Then, the approach computes several qualitative metrics, such as time-to-cross, for the pedestrians classified as crossing. The approach is evaluated on a challenging urban data set collected for different types of crosswalks such as roundabouts and straight roads. The evaluation also provides a thorough analysis of the generalization performance of the proposed approach.


A range of new helicate-like architectures have been prepared via highly diastereoselective self-assembly using readily accessible starting materials. Six pairs of enantiomers [Fe2L3]Cl4.nH2O (L = various bidentate ditopic ligands NN–NN) show very good water solubility and stability. Their activity against a range of cancer cell lines in vitro is structure-dependent and gives IC50 values as low as 40 nM. In an isogenic pair of HCT116 colorectal cancer cells, preferential activity was observed against cell lines that lack functional p53. Selectivity is also excellent, and against healthy human retinal pigment epithelial (ARPE19) and lung fibroblast (WI38) cells IC50 values are nearly three orders of magnitude higher. Cisplatin is unselective in the same tests. The compounds also appear to have low general toxicity in a number of models: there is little if any antimicrobial activity against Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli.; Acanthamoeba polyphaga is unaffected at 25 μg ml -1 (12.5 μM); Manduca sexta larvae showed clear evidence of systemic distribution of the drug, and rather than any observation of adverse effects they exhibited a significant mean weight gain vs controls. Investigation of the mode of action revealed no significant interaction of the molecules with DNA, and stimulation of substantial cell death by apoptosis.


Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) schemes are attracting increasing interest as policy mechanisms to improve conservation and sustainable development outcomes. PES initiatives aim to reach mutually beneficial agreements between providers and users of ecosystem services. In Latin America, with Costa Rica as the frontrunner, there are now more than two decades of experience in the implementation of PES schemes, which potentially represent a valuable source of knowledge for the improvement of the efficacy of conservation programs. Reviews and special issues dedicated to the study of PES exist, but they remain to most of their extent descriptive and qualitative. This paper presents the first study that systematically analyses the PES experience on the basis of a descriptive analysis of existing programs. The objective is twofold: (i) understanding the key features of existing PES mechanisms based on reported evidence; and (ii) identifying information needs for evidence-based policy design and implementation. We focus on water-related services since this type of service is involved in the majority of schemes. A database was constructed with 287 observations from 39 studies, from 1984 to 2011 in 10 Latin American countries. We find evidence confirming some known facts, such as deforestation and forest management as the main drivers of PES establishment, and revealing new ones, such as that average income for sellers is 60% larger than average buyersAƒÂ¢A'€A'â"¢ payment for the service.


Sustainability responds to crises of ecology and human development and the relationships between them. Sustainability cannot be adequately described using disciplinary categories arising from the modern dichotomy between nature and culture. Sustainability research requires a methodology that reflects the reality of its subject.

This thesis presents material semiotics as a methodology for sustainability research. Material semiotics refers to the work of actor-network theorists and latter developments of alternate spatial metaphors for material relationality. Actor-network theory is a methodology that describes human and non-human actors in the same terms. It follows actor through networks of material relationships that they constitute and are constituted by, depicting heterogeneous objects without recourse to prior categories of nature or culture. The description of material relationships in fluid and regional, as well as network, spaces expands the descriptive power of material semiotics to include Others and to better represent complexity.

The Oil Mallee Project is a case study of sustainability in the Western Australian wheatbelt. Indigenous eucalypts, oil mallees, are planted on land that was cleared for agriculture. The above ground biomass can be processed for eucalyptus oil, electricity and activated carbon, and the rights to carbon stored in the extensive mallee roots, or in unharvested trees, can be sold. The Project responds to a number of sustainability issues, including ozone depletion, land degradation, climate change and rural decline. This thesis follows the actors that comprise the Oil Mallee Project to describe its complexity, multiplicity and sustainability. Qualitative interviews with actors in the Project and the wheatbelt provided the primary data, which is supported by documentary material.

Three contingent phases can be identified in the history of the Oil Mallee Project - eucalyptus oil industry, dryland salinity management, and greenhouse response. The Project has persisted because it is simultaneously a regional, network and fluid object. Mallees grow well in the tough conditions of the wheatbelt. Mallees can be integrated with existing networks of industrial agriculture. The Project has achieved contingent stability in policy documents and the networks of scientific research. The fluidity of the Project has enabled it to change shape and identity in response to threats and opportunities, and as relationships break and form, without complete disruption. Specific humans have been central heroes in different phases of the Project. The mallees themselves are the only actors that have been consistently central to the identity of the Project.

Sustainability requires knowledge of the relationships between humans and non-humans that constitute the multiple crises of ecology and human development. Sustainability is the re-ordering of those relationships in ways that make possible ecological integrity and human fulfilment. Material semiotics is a methodology for knowing sustainability in ways that reveal the possibilities for such re-orderings.


In this study, I present analyses of various aspects of Karitiana, a Tupí-Arikém language spoken in the state of Rondônia, in the Amazon region of Brazil. These analyses range in both methodology and scope, but are unified by the goal of elucidating articulatory, perceptual, and morphosyntactic patterns in the language. These patterns crystallize during the course of each of two parts of the dissertation. In the first part, I focus on the sound system of Karitiana. The investigation of the sound system includes detailed analyses of the phonemic inventory of the language, as well as basic phonological processes. However, the investigation also includes acoustic, quantitativelyoriented examinations of the vowel system, stop-vowel sequences, and patterns of velar lowering, among other phenomena. These studies focus on basic articulatory gestures in the language. Basic perceptual patterns, related to the typologically-unusual patterns of velar lowering in the language, are also considered in Part I, via the discussion of a speech-perception experiment carried out among the Karitiana. In Part II morphological and syntactic patterns in Karitiana are examined, within a functional-typological framework. Part II includes a grammatical sketch of Karitiana morphology and syntax, as well as more detailed studies of two basic aspects of Karitiana morphosyntax, namely grammatical relations and voice phenomena. I demonstrate that in some cases the latter sorts of phenomena reflect basic conceptual patterns, associated with the construal of event types, which are evident in the grammar of Karitiana.


BACKGROUND/AIMS
The management of patients with cirrhosis requiring dental extractions is complicated due to an increased risk of post-operative bleeding. Topical hemostatic agents are usually required to control bleeding in these cases, as an adjunct to systemic measures of hemostasis. The aims of this randomized, prospective, single-blind clinical study are twofold. The primary aim is to compare the hemostatic efficacy of chitosan and surgicel in patients with cirrhosis after a tooth extraction, and the secondary aim is to assess the value of the current setting as a clinical model of post-operative bleeding following minor oral surgery.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Fifty patients with cirrhosis scheduled for a tooth extraction under local anesthesia were prospectively included in the study in a randomized fashion. Patients were blinded to the treatment group they were in. The cirrhosis classification, bleeding time, trauma score, and corrected bleeding time (during post-operative reviews) were recorded. Statistical evaluations were done.

RESULTS
Study groups had an equal number of teeth extractions (40 teeth each). There were no statistically significant differences between the groups with respect to patient demographics, cirrhosis classification, trauma score, and bleeding time. No side effects were noted.

CONCLUSION
Both Celox and Surgicel are effective for controlling bleeding and are safe after a tooth extraction in patients with cirrhosis.


ABSTRACT To augment limited instrumental recordings of the M w  7.8 Gorkha, Nepal, earthquake on 25 April 2015 (Nepali calendar: 12 Baisakh 2072, Bikram Samvat), we collected 3831 detailed media and first-person accounts of macroseismic effects that include sufficiently detailed information to assign intensities. The resulting intensity map reveals the distribution of shaking within and outside of Nepal, with the key result that shaking intensities throughout the near-field region only exceeded intensity 8 on the 1998 European Macroseismic Scale (EMS-98) in rare instances. Within the Kathmandu Valley, intensities were generally 6–7 EMS. This surprising (and fortunate) result can be explained by the nature of the mainshock ground motions, which were dominated by energy at periods significantly longer than the resonant periods of vernacular structures throughout the Kathmandu Valley. Outside of the Kathmandu Valley, intensities were also generally lower than 8 EMS, but the earthquake took a heavy toll on a number of remote villages, where many especially vulnerable masonry houses collapsed catastrophically in 7–8 EMS shaking. We further reconsider intensities from the 1833 earthquake sequence and conclude that it occurred on the same fault segment as the Gorkha earthquake.


Near-infrared reflectance (NIR) spectroscopy, which has become a widely used technique in food analysis, also holds considerable promise as a nondestructive and noninvasive probe for clinical diagnosis and examinations. Since the light in the near-infrared region is able to penetrate human tissues sufficiently, the use of the NIR technique may enable one to extract useful information directly from a human body without any pain and injury. However, in spite of the potentiality of NIR spectroscopy in medicine, its applications to clinical problems are still very limited; so far, most near-infrared spectroscopic studies in the medical field are concerned with the estimation of body fat and with the quantification of cerebral oxygenation and hemodynamics. Therefore, we have started working toward novel applications of the NIR method to medical problems. In this note we demonstrate the usefulness of NIR spectroscopy with fiber optics in the noninvasive monitoring of deoxyhemoglobin in the vein; it is possible to obtain in vivo NIR spectra of venous blood from various parts of the human body surface, with a high signal-to-noise ratio.


This thesis reports on experimental research on structural defects and magnetic species on the nanoscale. The latter project involved considerable development work on the production of a spin-polarised mono-energetic positron beam. The construction of the system is described through various trial steps with emphasis on the methods of maximum practical polarization of the positron beam and of electrons in the sample with the smallest possible loss of beam intensity. A new sodium-22 source capsule was purchased, having beryllium foil backing to minimise the depolarisation effects of backscattering, and the source-moderator spacing was increased. Different types of sample were tested, varying in atomic structure, purity, magnetic susceptibility, electronic structure, and electric conductivity - including iron of different purity and structure, mu metal and solid oxygen. After these tests measurements were taken on single crystal iron, and the results suggest that the positron response to magnetic structures is very small, and that prospects for depth profiling of dilute magnetic systems are not favourable at this time. A large number of other investigations have been performed on non-magnetic defect structures in various materials. Variable Energy Positron Annihilation Spectroscopy – here involving beam-based Doppler broadening – was applied to novel materials of relevance to photonic or electronic structures on the nanoscale. These included thin films of technological interest such as AlGaN and Ar plasma-treated TiO2: silicon and silicon-on-insulator samples implanted with He and Si ions to engineer vacancies: Si-rich SiO2 and SiN to form nanocrystals for photonic applications in which new findings on the evolution of the nanocrystals, and the role of the nanocrystal-oxide interface in optical emission, could be very useful in the technological development of such systems: and a study of the structural phase and nano-pore properties of water ice films grown from vapour on a cold copper surface. The variety of these experimental studies serves to underline the wide applicability of positron beam spectroscopy in research on defect and nanostructure structures. A list of papers published to date resulting from this work is given at the end of the thesis; a number of others are planned.


A new frontier of cervical cancer prevention began with use of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines, but the question is: which vaccine to choose? There are now two highly efficacious vaccines approved in many developed countries, the Merck quadrivalent HPV 6/11/16/18 (Gardisil) and the GSK bivalent HPV 16/18 (Cevarix). Many countries have committed to HPV immunisation programmes, and most of them, like the USA, published recommendations before the approval of the bivalent vaccine.1 2 The UK has now chosen the bivalent product in contrast to the rest of Europe that has gone with the quadivalent product, although this decision has led to criticism.3 4 Presumably the decision would be based on the economic consequences, since this is the major determinant for policymakers. Vaccine cost played a significant role in the initial rejection to add HPV vaccine to the formulary of the Australian National Immunization Program under the recommendation of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee, although this was soon overturned, resulting in a successfully launched national vaccination programme.1 5 The Irish HPV immunisation plan was interrupted due to the outright cost of any HPV vaccination programme, even though HPV 16/18 vaccination showed a favourable cost-effectiveness compared with other countries.6 …


ABSTRACT l-Cysteine is essential for virtually all living organisms, from bacteria to higher eukaryotes. Besides having a role in the synthesis of virtually all proteins and of taurine, cysteamine, glutathione, and other redox-regulating proteins, l-cysteine has important functions under anaerobic/microaerophilic conditions. In anaerobic or microaerophilic protozoan parasites, such as Entamoeba histolytica, l-cysteine has been implicated in growth, attachment, survival, and protection from oxidative stress. However, a specific role of this amino acid or related metabolic intermediates is not well understood. In this study, using stable-isotope-labeled l-cysteine and capillary electrophoresis-time of flight mass spectrometry, we investigated the metabolism of l-cysteine in E. histolytica. [U-13C3, 15N]l-cysteine was rapidly metabolized into three unknown metabolites, besides l-cystine and l-alanine. These metabolites were identified as thiazolidine-4-carboxylic acid (T4C), 2-methyl thiazolidine-4-carboxylic acid (MT4C), and 2-ethyl-thiazolidine-4-carboxylic acid (ET4C), the condensation products of l-cysteine with aldehydes. We demonstrated that these 2-(R)-thiazolidine-4-carboxylic acids serve for storage of l-cysteine. Liberation of l-cysteine occurred when T4C was incubated with amebic lysates, suggesting enzymatic degradation of these l-cysteine derivatives. Furthermore, T4C and MT4C significantly enhanced trophozoite growth and reduced intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels when it was added to cultures, suggesting that 2-(R)-thiazolidine-4-carboxylic acids are involved in the defense against oxidative stress. IMPORTANCE Amebiasis is a human parasitic disease caused by the protozoan parasite Entamoeba histolytica. In this parasite, l-cysteine is the principal low-molecular-weight thiol and is assumed to play a significant role in supplying the amino acid during trophozoite invasion, particularly when the parasites move from the anaerobic intestinal lumen to highly oxygenated tissues in the intestine and the liver. It is well known that E. histolytica needs a comparatively high concentration of l-cysteine for its axenic cultivation. However, the reason for and the metabolic fate of l-cysteine in this parasite are not well understood. Here, using a metabolomic and stable-isotope-labeled approach, we investigated the metabolic fate of this amino acid in these parasites. We found that l-cysteine inside the cell rapidly reacts with aldehydes to form 2-(R)-thiazolidine-4-carboxylic acid. We showed that these 2-(R)-thiazolidine-4-carboxylic derivatives serve as an l-cysteine source, promote growth, and protect cells against oxidative stress by scavenging aldehydes and reducing the ROS level. Our findings represent the first demonstration of 2-(R)-thiazolidine-4-carboxylic acids and their roles in protozoan parasites. Amebiasis is a human parasitic disease caused by the protozoan parasite Entamoeba histolytica. In this parasite, l-cysteine is the principal low-molecular-weight thiol and is assumed to play a significant role in supplying the amino acid during trophozoite invasion, particularly when the parasites move from the anaerobic intestinal lumen to highly oxygenated tissues in the intestine and the liver. It is well known that E. histolytica needs a comparatively high concentration of l-cysteine for its axenic cultivation. However, the reason for and the metabolic fate of l-cysteine in this parasite are not well understood. Here, using a metabolomic and stable-isotope-labeled approach, we investigated the metabolic fate of this amino acid in these parasites. We found that l-cysteine inside the cell rapidly reacts with aldehydes to form 2-(R)-thiazolidine-4-carboxylic acid. We showed that these 2-(R)-thiazolidine-4-carboxylic derivatives serve as an l-cysteine source, promote growth, and protect cells against oxidative stress by scavenging aldehydes and reducing the ROS level. Our findings represent the first demonstration of 2-(R)-thiazolidine-4-carboxylic acids and their roles in protozoan parasites.


A digital ticket is a certificate that guarantees certain rights of the ticket owner. There are many applications for digital tickets but the ticket properties vary depending on the application. This variety makes the digital ticket processing system expensive, especially if dedicated systems must be developed for each application. This paper thus addresses issues on developing a common data schema and processing architecture for various types of digital tickets. This paper clarifies requirements for a general-purpose digital ticket and shows four features in contrast to digital cash: 1) parameterization of ticket properties on anonymity, transferability, and divisibility; 2) machine-understandability of ticket contents; 3) state-transitionality of ticket status; and 4) composability of multiple tickets. To achieve parameterization of ticket properties and machine-understandability, we propose a Resource Description Framework (RDF)-based ticket description method. Its metadata facility enables various ticket properties to be defined using multi-layered schemata. To achieve state-transitionality and composability, we propose describing a ticket using a set of signed descriptions linked with restriction-specified incomplete/complete links. Finally, this paper proposes a set of common ticket processing components.


Bimanual coordination tasks form an essential part of our behaviour. One brain region thought to be involved in bimanual coordination is the supplementary motor area (SMA). We used repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) at 1 Hz for 5 min to create a temporary virtual lesion of the rostral portion of the human SMA immediately prior to performance of a goal-directed bimanual coordination task. In two control conditions, participants underwent sham stimulation or stimulation over the primary motor cortex (MI). The experimental task was to open a drawer with the left hand, catch a ball with the right hand, and reinsert the ball into the drawer through an aperture just big enough for the ball to pass through, again with the right hand. Hence, the actions of one hand depend upon the actions of the other. We calculated time intervals between the successive component actions of one hand (unimanual intervals) and actions of both hands (bimanual intervals) and analyzed these intervals separately. Interestingly, none of the unimanual intervals were affected by the rTMS, but the variability of a critical bimanual interval--the time between the left hand opening the drawer and the right hand starting to move to catch the ball--was increased by rTMS over the rostral parts of the SMA. No such effect was seen following rTMS over MI or after sham rTMS. Our results suggest that the rostral parts of the SMA play an important role in aspects of functional bimanual tasks, which involve tight temporal coordination between different motor actions of the two hands.


In this exciting and challenging account of the development and sustainability of the liberal democratic state, Ajume H. Wingo offers a completely new perspective from that provided by political theorists. Such theorists will typically argue for the basic values of liberal democracies by rationally justifying them. This book argues that it is non-rational factors - rhetoric, symbols, traditions - that more often than not provide the real source of motivation. Drawing from both historical and philosophical sources Ajume H. Wingo demonstrates that these 'veils', as he calls them, can play an essential role in a thriving, stable liberal democratic state. This theory of veil politics furnishes a conceptual framework within which we can reassess the role of aesthetics in politics, the nature and function of political myths in liberal democracies, and the value of civic education.


In marine ecosystems, virus-mediated microbial mortality results in cell lysis and release of cellular contents, freeing dissolved organic nutrients. This nutrient recycling facilitates competition within diverse bacterial assemblages. In contrast, little is known about the role of phage predation in terrestrial ecosystems. A single study done in Barrow, Alaska found phage predation to be a key factor controlling bacterial population dynamics. By applying the methods used in the Arctic experiment to a temperate environment, the goal of this study was to examine the impact of phage predation in temperate soil ecosystems. Upland and wetland field sites were established in the College Woods on the William & Mary campus and PVC soil collars were installed at each site. Five days post installment, each collar received one of four treatments, done in six replicates: acetate (C), nutrients (N, P, K), Tea extract + ferrous sulfate (antiphage, "TeaF"�), or sterile water (control). Upon treatment, microbial respiration of each collar was measured for eight consecutive days using an infrared gas analyzer. At day three and day eight, selected collars were harvested for direct count analysis of microbial cells and virus particles, as well as microbial biomass carbon. At both the wetland and upland sites, treatment of soil with the antiphage solution had no significant impact on microbial respiration or abundance. Nutrient amendment also failed to significantly impact microbial dynamics. Acetate treatment at the upland site, however, resulted in a significant increase in microbial respiration, but not in microbial biomass carbon or abundance. Furthermore, TeaF did not appear to exhibit virucidal activity in temperate soils, as it has been documented to exert in Arctic soils. Two field tests examining the effects of varying volumes of TeaF treatment on autochthonous phage were conducted to explore this disparity. Results indicated that TeaF lacks virucidal capacity in temperate soils and appears to facilitate a washout effect on soil viral populations that is also produced by water. Further studies are necessary to understand the impacts of phages on microbial dynamics within terrestrial soils. This early study neither defends nor rejects the idea that bacteriophage serve as significant drivers of bacterial mortality. Thus, despite their abundance in soils, impacts of phages on soil microbial dynamics remain unknown.


We evaluate Spectral OCT (SOCT) with a speckle contrast reduction technique using resonant scanner for assessment of corneal surface changes after excimer laser photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) and we compare healing process between conventional PRK and transepithelial PRK. The measurements were performed before and after the surgery. Obtained results show that SOCT with a resonant scanner speckle contrast reduction is capable of providing information regarding the healing process after PRK. The main difference between the healing processes of PRK and TransPRK, assessed by SOCT, was the time to cover the stroma with epithelium, which was shorter in the TransPRK group.


When applying a stochastic algorithm, one must choose an order to draw samples. The practical choices are without-replacement sampling orders, which are empirically faster and more cache-friendly than uniform-iid-sampling but often have inferior theoretical guarantees. Without-replacement sampling is well understood only for SGD without variance reduction. In this paper, we will improve the convergence analysis and rates of variance reduction under without-replacement sampling orders for composite finite-sum minimization. Our results are in two-folds. First, we develop a damped variant of Finito called Prox-DFinito and establish its convergence rates with random reshuffling, cyclic sampling, and shuffling-once, under both convex and strongly convex scenarios. These rates match full-batch gradient descent and are state-of-the-art compared to the existing results for without-replacement sampling with variance-reduction. Second, our analysis can gauge how the cyclic order will influence the rate of cyclic sampling and, thus, allows us to derive the optimal fixed ordering. In the highly data-heterogeneous scenario, Prox-DFinito with optimal cyclic sampling can attain a sample-size-independent convergence rate, which, to our knowledge, is the first result that can match with uniform-iid-sampling with variance reduction. We also propose a practical method to discover the optimal cyclic ordering numerically.


This paper is an exploration on the topic of childhood sexual abuse among the Latino population and specifically of the undocumented Latino population living in the communities that we serve. The basic child protection needs of undocumented Latino children often go unnoticed and children and families in need experience multiple barriers. In a time when immigration is increasingly an issue, we are concerned about whether or not families and children should be crossing the border that we do not stop to think about the protection needs of the children who are already here in this country. These children often go unnoticed and do not receive the services that are their basic human right. This guided review of the literature on the topic of Latino children living in the United States will explore what is known about the prevalence of sexual abuse in our communities and what is predicted to be the prevalence of sexual abuse among undocumented children. It will also identify obstacles that these children may face when accessing services. Finally, It will discuss potential concerns that practitioners may have when working with this population and some best practice suggestions for assisting an undocumented victim of sexual abuse. It is clear that we need to gain a better understanding of the relationship between ethnicity and the maltreatment of children, especially childhood sexual abuse.


Tree induction and logistic regression are two standard, off-the-shelf methods for building models for classification. We present a large-scale experimental comparison of logistic regression and tree induction, assessing classification accuracy and the quality of rankings based on class-membership probabilities. We use a learning-curve analysis to examine the relationship of these measures to the size of the training set. The results of the study show several things. (1) Contrary to some prior observations, logistic regression does not generally outperform tree induction. (2) More specifically, and not surprisingly, logistic regression is better for smaller training sets and tree induction for larger data sets. Importantly, this often holds for training sets drawn from the same domain (that is, the learning curves cross), so conclusions about induction-algorithm superiority on a given domain must be based on an analysis of the learning curves. (3) Contrary to conventional wisdom, tree induction is effective at producing probability-based rankings, although apparently comparatively less so for a given training-set size than at making classifications. Finally, (4) the domains on which tree induction and logistic regression are ultimately preferable can be characterized surprisingly well by a simple measure of the separability of signal from noise.


Abstract. Over the last couple of years, applications that support navigation and wayfinding in indoor environments have become one of the booming industries. However, the algorithmic support for indoor navigation has so far been left mostly untouched, as most applications mainly rely on adapting Dijkstra's shortest path algorithm to an indoor network. In outdoor space, several alternative algorithms have been proposed adding a more cognitive notion to the calculated paths and as such adhering to the natural wayfinding behavior (e.g. simplest paths, least risk paths). The need for indoor cognitive algorithms is highlighted by a more challenged navigation and orientation due to the specific indoor structure (e.g. fragmentation, less visibility, confined areas…). Therefore, the aim of this research is to extend those richer cognitive algorithms to three-dimensional indoor environments. More specifically for this paper, we will focus on the application of the least risk path algorithm of Grum (2005) to an indoor space. The algorithm as proposed by Grum (2005) is duplicated and tested in a complex multi-story building. Several analyses compare shortest and least risk paths in indoor and in outdoor space. The results of these analyses indicate that the current outdoor least risk path algorithm does not calculate less risky paths compared to its shortest paths. In some cases, worse routes have been suggested. Adjustments to the original algorithm are proposed to be more aligned to the specific structure of indoor environments. In a later stage, other cognitive algorithms will be implemented and tested in both an indoor and combined indoor-outdoor setting, in an effort to improve the overall user experience during navigation in indoor environments.


A thermochemical study of the protic ionic liquid 1,5-diazabicyclo[4.3.0]non-5-enium acetate ([DBNH][OAc]), a prospective cellulose solvent considered for the Ioncell-F process, was carried out. The heat capacities of 1,5-diazabicyclo[4.3.0]non-5-ene (DBN) and [DBNH][OAc] were measured by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) at 223–323 and 273–373 K temperature ranges, respectively. The enthalpies of fusion and synthesis reaction of [DBNH][OAc] were measured by DSC and reaction calorimetry, respectively. The gas-, liquid-, and solid-phase enthalpies of formation of [DBNH][OAc] and DBN were determined using calorimetric and computational methods. The enthalpy of vaporization of [DBNH][OAc] was estimated from the formation enthalpies. The activity coefficients at infinite dilution of 17 and the enthalpies of solution at infinite dilution of 25 organic solutes in [DBNH][OAc] were measured by gas chromatography and solution calorimetry methods, respectively. The obtained data will be used in the design and...


The aim of this study was to describe the knowledge, attitudes and smoking behavior among doctors at Mahosot University Hospital in Lao PDR. A cross-sectional, descriptive study used a self-administered anonymous questionnaire. The study population comprised 164 doctors. Answers were retrieved from 151 (92%) of the doctors. The prevalence of smoking among male doctors was 35%, 16% smoked daily and 19% occasionally. None of the female doctors reported to have ever smoked. Out of the five diseases related to smoking, 5% of the doctors recognized all and 10% recognized only one. Doctors were significantly more likely to advise patients with symptoms related to smoking. However, approximately one in two doctors reported that they did not always counsel smokers with severe smoking related symptoms to stop smoking. Almost all doctors, independent of smoking behavior, perceived tobacco prevention to be important. The findings indicate a lack of comprehensive knowledge on tobacco related issues. Most doctors expressed a positive attitude towards tobacco prevention. An effort is needed to get doctors in Lao PDR to stop smoking engage in smoking assation support.


Duck eggs are more difficult to hatch than chicken eggs as the duck does not incubate their eggs and the duck eggs need more time to hatch (in 28 days). This study aimed to determine the sex ratio of DOD (Day Old Duck) from two different breeds, namely cihateup from Tasikmalaya West Java and alabio from South Kalimantan. This experiment was conducted from May 2012 to July 2012 at the Hatchery Laboratory of Animal Science Faculty of IPB. 500 eggs consist of 300 alabio eggs and 200 cihateup eggs were used in this experiment. Temperature, humidity, egg weight, egg shape index, hatching weight and mortality were measured. The data of egg weight, egg shape index, and hatching weight were analyzed using t-test, the data of sex ratio DOD were analyzed using chi-square test . The result showed that there were no significant difference between egg weight and egg shape index on sex ratio. Sex ratio of male and female cihateup ducks was equal  (50%:50%), however the sex ratio of alabio ducks was different (32%:68%). Mortality rate was affected by sex of duck (P 25) hatching period.


The paper presents a method that identifies and extracts features of chips on loading grinding wheel using image processing technology. The Sobel operator is adopted to detect chips edge. The segmenting threshold was obtained by applying Otsu's method. Image dilation connects the discontinuous segments to yield continuous and close shapes of chips. Erosion removes the noise from the image. The different optical characters between metal chips and abrasive grains are analysed. The ratios of chips are calculated and displayed to monitor the wheel surface working status. The toolbox of the MATLAB is used for image processing.


New Technology Reveals the Genome's 3D Shape Try taking a human hair as long as Manhattan and cramming it— unsnarled—inside a marble. This is the challenge faced by a 2-meter-long strand of DNA as it folds into its compact array of 23 chromosomes within a cell's nucleus. Previously, scientists only theorized about how DNA squeezes inside a nucleus without becoming a hopelessly tangled mass. Now a new technique called Hi-C reveals that DNA packs knot-free into its chromosomal patterns by assuming a rare geometric shape observed in snowflakes, crystals and broccoli. "We've developed a powerful new technique to look at chromosomes at an unprecedented resolution," says Job Dekker, PhD, cell biologist at the University of Massachusetts and coauthor of the study in the October 9, 2009 issue of Science. "What we found constitutes a breakthrough in our understanding of chromosome folding." At the small scale, DNA wraps around proteins called histones and assumes its classical double-helix shape. At the large scale, chromosomes cluster in discrete sections within the nucleus called "territories." "Between the scale of chromosome territories and the scale of histones, effectively nothing has been known about the structure of the genome," says first author Erez Lieberman-Aiden, a graduate student in the lab of Eric Lander, PhD, professor of biology at the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Hi-C reconstructs an unbiased 3-D map of the entire genome. First, scientists soak a complete set of chromosomes in formaldehyde, which acts like glue to stick together parts of the genome that are close in 3-D space. Then they chop the DNA into a million pieces and perform massive parallel sequencing on the interacting fragments. Mapping software compares the sequences of attached fragments with a human genome reference sequence; based on the results, the scientists compute which parts of the folded DNA physically interact with each other. The team found that active, generich and inactive, gene-poor sections cluster in separate parts of the nucleus. The active chromatin segments are like easily accessible papers spread out across a desk, whereas the inactive portions are densely packed, like folders in a file cabinet. Simulations revealed that DNA assembles into dense fractal globules— structures that look alike at different levels of magnification, such as the intricate geometrical form of a crystal. Genes are easily accessible, but when they're not in use, the structure spontaneously collapses into a tight, knot-free bundle. "This is the first spatial map of the genome," says Tom Misteli, PhD, cell biologist at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland. "It's a technical breakthrough that opens the doors to doing all sorts of interesting experiments." Future experiments will investigate how the 3-D shape of DNA morphs depending on the activity of genes and disease states, like cancer. As genome sequencing becomes cheaper, Dekker says, it should be possible to obtain higher spatial resolution and even to reconstruct the shapes of individual genes. —By Janelle Weaver, PhD


Barriers to trade in Environmental Goods (EGs) and Environmental Services (ESs) are documented for a large sample of countries and compared with barriers to trade in other goods and other services. Some progress at reduction in barriers has occurred at the national, regional and sectoral levels but not at the multilateral level, where countries have been unable to agree on an approach to reduce barriers to trade. For EGs, tariffs and NTBs are highest for low-income countries and low for high-income countries. First-order estimates of the import response to a 50% reduction in tariffs for low-income countries suggest an increase in imports of around 4%. For ESs, estimates draw on the comparison of an Environment Services Liberalization index calculated across modes and services sub-sectors. The limitations of this ordinal index coupled with the inadequacy of the UN CPC list where services are defined in an exclusionary manner so that they cannot appear on two lists, casts greater uncertainty as to the informational content of the commitment measures presented here which, at best, indicate bindings on market access and national treatment rather than actual policies. It would appear nonetheless that at least as great, and probably greater commitments took place in the environmental sectors (as defined by the CPC) both multilaterally and regionally than for 'other' services with the same pattern across income groups: greater commitments observed for HIC than for MICs and LICs although it is widely recognized that GATS commitments by HICs largely amounted to consolidated members' unilateral services policies. North-South Regional Trade Agreements resulted mostly in commitments by the Southern partners indicating greater prospects for reducing barriers to trade in a regional than in a multilateral context.


Models of true concurrency have gained a lot of interest over the last decades as models of concurrent or distributed systems which avoid the well-known problem of state space explosion of the interleaving models. In this thesis, we study such models from two perspectives. Firstly, we study the relation between Petri nets and stable event structures. Petri nets can be considered as one of the most general and perhaps wide-spread models of true concurrency. Event structures on the other hand, are simpler models of true concurrency with explicit causality and conflict relations. Stable event structures expand the class of event structures by allowing events to be enabled in more than one way. While the relation between Petri nets and event structures is well understood, the relation between Petri nets and stable event structures has not been studied explicitly. We define a new and more compact unfoldings of safe Petri nets which is directly translatable to stable event structures. In addition, the notion of complete finite prefix is defined for compact unfoldings, making the existing model checking algorithms applicable to them. We present algorithms for constructing the compact unfoldings and their complete finite prefix. Secondly, we study probabilistic models of true concurrency. We extend the definition of probabilistic event structures as defined by Abbes and Benveniste to a newly defined class of stable event structures, namely, jump-free stable event structures arising from Petri nets (characterised and referred to as net-driven). This requires defining the fundamental concept of branching cells in probabilistic event structures, for jumpfree net-driven stable event structures, and by proving the existence of an isomorphism among the branching cells of these systems, we show that the latter benefit from the related results of the former models. We then move on to defining a probabilistic logic over probabilistic event structures (PESL). To our best knowledge, this is the first probabilistic logic of true concurrency. We show examples of expressivity achieved by PESL, which in particular include properties related to synchronisation in the system. This is followed by the model checking algorithm for PESL for finite event structures. Finally, we present a logic over stable event structures (SEL) along with an account of its expressivity and its model checking algorithm for finite stable event structures.


To deal with class imbalance learning (CIL) problems, a novel algorithm is proposed based on kernel extreme learning machine (KELM), named KELM-CIL. To solve it, two algorithms are developed from the dual and primal spaces, respectively, thus yielding D-KELM-CIL and P-KELM-CIL. However, both D-KELM-CIL and P-KELM-CIL are not sparse algorithms. Hence, a sparse strategy based on Cholesky factorization is utilized to realize their sparseness, producing CD-KELM-CIL and CP-KELM-CIL. For large-size problems, a probabilistic trick is applied to accelerate them further, hence obtaining PCD-KELM-CIL and PCP-KELM-CIL. To test the effectiveness and efficacy of the proposed algorithms, experiments on benchmark datasets are carried out. When the proposed algorithms are applied to fault detection of aircraft engine, they show good generalization performance and real-time performance, especially for CP-KELM-CIL and PCP-KELM-CIL, which indicates that they can be developed as candidate techniques for fault detection of aircraft engine.


Finned tube evaporators are used in a wide range of application such as commercial and industrial cold/freezed storage rooms with high traffic loading under frosting conditions. During the literature survey it has been realized that there is not enough experimental and visual data regarding the unit cooler tested with casing and fan integrated as in real operating conditions. As it is known, the usage of fan and evaporator external case and non-optimum distributor design may affect air and refrigerant side distribution, capacity and frost formation along the fins with respect to degree of maldistribution. In this paper, an evaporator with an integrated fan was manufactured and tested at under frosting conditions by only changing air flow rate at ambient balanced type test laboratory in contrast with testing at wind tunnel and more uniform flow distribution. During the test, operation performed according to three different air flow rate separately. The parameters concerning test operation such as the changes of air temperature, air relative humidity, surface temperature, air-side pressure drop and refrigerant side capacity etc. were followed in detail for each air flow rate. At the same time, the digital and thermal images were captured in front of heat exchanger; thus, the frost temperature distributions, blockage ratios and frost thicknesses occurring throughout all surfaces were investigated. In this study the effect of air flow rate on frosting has been investigated. The test and visual results showed that the trendline of air side pressure drop has increased slowly at the first stage of test operations, then this phenomena has increased linearly up to a top point and then the linearity has disrupted instantly and this point has admitted beginning of defrost operation for each case. On the other hand, the refrigerant capacities were declined continuously during the test operations. When examining visual and thermal images captured at certain time intervals, it was shown an uneven frost layers and detected the temperature distributions in front of evaporator as different degree for each case via thermal and digital camera. Similarly, the frost thicknesses distribution with time occurring at the specific area of each circuit was identified via Matlab Image Process Program. Moreover, the initial period of frost growth, which have significant impact on further frost growth, was investigated via a microscope camera.


Introduction Throughout the past decade the developed world saw a boom of the Internet driven by the rapid advancement of computer technologies and the resulting information systems (IS) (Saade & Bahli, 2005). The management of these IS aims at applying these associated vast information resources successfully. In order to successfully manage these IS we must match the correct processes with the appropriate technologies and applications. An important step towards that is the studying of factors determining the appropriateness of a systems' usage (Koohand & Durante, 2003). In this study we present our experiences with a multimedia tool. Generally, multimedia applications are considered to be computer applications that allow users to interact with audio and video to convey information (Gonzalez, 2000). This definition has been modified many times. The common features that are held between most definitions are that information is accessed and controlled using more than one mode of data representation. (Low, 2003; MacDonald, 2003). These different modes include pictures, text, animations, audio, and video. Multimedia learning systems have been heralded as providing benefits both to students and administrators alike (Marold, 2002). Benefits to administrators are usually measured in terms of savings (time and money) when managing resources. Often benefits affect both groups of users such as gains in temporal and geographical availability (Manning, 2003). Multimedia tools capitalize on the student's needs by offering more interactivity in online learning modules (Chen, 2004). Multimedia learning tools can be developed to perform simulations or play games at the same time as provide presentations. These styles of tools offer instantaneous feedback (Saade, 2003). This interactivity increases the student's belief that they are in control of their learning activity (Lainema, 2004). Enhancing the learning tools in this way helps to bring a higher sense of connectivity between the students and the program. The objective of developing and using a multimedia tool in an online educational setting promotes students to be less passive in their learning experience. The increase in information technology infrastructure has led to many changes throughout society and particularly within the education industry. Some of these changes entail multimedia use in human computer interfaces, increasing multimedia and information technology use for entertainment, increased use of information technology for communication and increased use of e-business (Hsu, 2004; Liu, 2003). Online multimedia learning has resulted from all of these factors and is seen to be the replacement to all forms of distance education (Liu, 2003). Research done on online multimedia learning has mainly focused at determining how to use tools to get the most affect on final learning. Researchers have broken down user groups by demographics in order to customize learning tools (Liu, 2003), concept mapping has continued to breakdown user guidance needs (Lin, 2004), and have gauged self-efficacy and satisfaction as measures of success for the tools (Cheung, 2003; Wang, 2003). All of these methods have lead to a better understanding of how to create multimedia learning tools. It has also been noted within these studies that the more users utilize the system the greater the success they will have learning the material (Hwang, 2003). In general we are performing this study to understand acceptance of online multimedia IS to be used for database modeling. Multimedia tools capitalize on the students need for more interactivity, which has shown to aid the student's beliefs of enhanced learning (Hill, 2004). To that effect, the goal of this paper is to study intention to use multimedia learning systems (MMLS). Research Objective In this study we are concerned with online learning using a MMLS. Based on our literature review computers have been used to teach many different types of content with varying degrees of success (Sunal, Sunal, Odell, & Sundberg, 2003). …


This study examines the efficiency of search engine advertising strategies employed by firms. The research setting is the online retailing industry, which is characterized by extensive use of Web technologies and high competition for market share and profitability. For Internet retailers, search engines are increasingly serving as an information gateway for many decision-making tasks. In particular, Search engine advertising (SEA) has opened a new marketing channel for retailers to attract new customers and improve their performance. In addition to natural (organic) search marketing strategies, search engine advertisers compete for top advertisement slots provided by search brokers such as Google and Yahoo! through keyword auctions. The rationale being that greater visibility on a search engine during a keyword search will capture customers' interest in a business and its product or service offerings. Search engines account for most online activities today. Compared with the slow growth of traditional marketing channels, online search volumes continue to grow at a steady rate. According to the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization, spending on search engine marketing by North American firms in 2008 was estimated at $13.5 billion. Despite the significant role SEA plays in Web retailing, scholarly research on the topic is limited. Prior studies in SEA have focused on search engine auction mechanism design. In contrast, research on the business value of SEA has been limited by the lack of empirical data on search advertising practices. Recent advances in search and retail technologies have created datarich environments that enable new research opportunities at the interface of marketing and information technology. This research uses extensive data from Web retailing and Google-based search advertising and evaluates Web retailers' use of resources, search advertising techniques, and other relevant factors that contribute to business performance across different metrics. The methods used include Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), data mining, and multivariate statistics. This research contributes to empirical research by analyzing several Web retail firms in different industry sectors and product categories. One of the key findings is that the dynamics of sponsored search advertising vary between multi-channel and Web-only retailers. While the key performance metrics for multi-channel retailers include measures such as online sales, conversion rate (CR), c1ick-through-rate (CTR), and impressions, the key performance metrics for Web-only retailers focus on organic and sponsored ad ranks. These results provide a useful contribution to our organizational level understanding of search engine advertising strategies, both for multi-channel and Web-only retailers. These results also contribute to current knowledge in technology-driven marketing strategies and provide managers with a better understanding of sponsored search advertising and its impact on various performance metrics in Web retailing.


INTRODUCTION A dog on a leash pulls its master toward a flock of flushing pigeons in an advertisement for asthma medicine. A cat serenely naps on the couch next to a couple of apartment dwellers fretting about their home loan application in an ad for a mortgage company. A billboard purchased by a check cashing company displays two dogs--a large dog (Big Cash) and a much smaller companion dog (Little Cash). Our favorite household pets play various roles in advertising--as major players in the key message, as message "catalysts" illuminating a key point, or as background characters that merely set a tone or mood for an ad. The connection they have to the product, service or idea being communicated occasionally is direct (i.e. a pet product), but more often is indirect, and sometimes is, arguably, outright nonexistent (i.e. a golden retriever appears in an ad for medicine). Although advertising creative directors have used dogs and cats in advertising for years, Americans' indulgences in their pets have changed drastically (Kennedy & McGarvey, 2008). Nationally, pets account for more household spending than ever before. Whereas in previous generations, Rover and Fluffy may have gotten a bed, some food and occasional trips to the veterinarian, today's pet owners pour money into such things as designer pet clothes, gourmet pet food, pet daycare, healthcare insurance for their pets and other products and services that make life for Rover and Fluffy more comfortable and secure (Ellson, 2008). Likewise, the importance pets play in the lives of their owners has increased. More than mere companions, Rover and Fluffy now are likely to be treated by their owners as surrogate children, best friends, and partners that add priceless value to life. Holbrook (2008) agrees the role of pets as animal companions has been well documented. This supports the research of Fielding (2008). Utilizing the November 2007 Harris Poll survey data which found nine in 10 pet owners consider their pets members of their family, Fielding (2008) found women are more likely to support this statement (93% to 84%) and dog owners are more likely than cat owners to consider pets family members (93% to 89%). If advertising reflects and amplifies cultural values, and if dogs and cats have attained positions of power in American culture, then one would expect to see dogs and cats play more significant or visible roles in advertisers' creative strategies. The question this research attempts to answer is: How have the changed roles and increased value household pets play in our lives been reflected in advertising? Financial and Social Significance of Pets Pets have become a central part of American life and have, in recent years, even been credited with having a direct positive effect on the health of their owners (Allen, 2003). Pet owners represented 69.1 million (sixty-three %) American households and of these households, forty-five % had multiple pets (Wallenfang, 2005). As further reported by Wallenfang (2005), dogs numbered 73.9 million and were present in 43.5 million households while cats numbered 90.5 million and were present in 37.7 million households. As pets have become more and more important in the lives of their owners, it only stands to reason that marketers and advertisers would portray pets more in their communication messages. Consumers spent $34.4 billion dollars in 2004 (double 1994 figures) and $36.3 billion in 2005 (APPMA, 2006) on their pets (not adjusted for inflation). During the December holidays 55% of dog owners spend an average of $13 on Rover, and although only 37% of cat owners purchase gifts for Fluffy, those who indulge their feline companions spend $30 per cat (Wallenfang, 2005). According to the APPMA National Pet Owners Survey, basic annual expenses for dog and cat owners include: DOG CAT Surgical vet visits $574 $337 Food $241 $185 Kennel boarding $202 $119 Routine vet visits $211 $179 Groomer/grooming aids $107 $ 24 Vitamins $123 $ 32 Treats $ 68 $ 43 Toys $ 45 $ 29 TOTAL $1,571 $948 While the numbers indicate increased levels of spending for pets, there is also an increase in the types of products purchased for pets. …


Throughout history, philosophers have argued that the capacity to solve problems successfully in the real world is a crucial component for one's well-being. Psychologists have since been looking to understand the nuances of problem solving specifically as it applies to the self-directed cognitive-behavioral process by which an individual, couple, or group attempts to identify or discover effective solutions for problems encountered in everyday living. From this researchers are developing training methods in which people can learn to solve problems effectively and positively thereby leading to generalized and durable behavior changes. In Social Problem Solving: Theory, Research, and Training, readers will find a nice balance of theory and research in social problem solving and well as practical methods and training approaches. Because of the widespread relevance of social problem solving, this book is not only for researchers and mental health practitioners, but also for students and other readers who would like to maximize their effectiveness and success in dealing with real and complex problems in everyday living.


Software engineering (SE) is predominantly a team effort that needs close cooperation among several people who may be geographically distributed. It has been recognized that appropriate tool support is a prerequisite to improve cooperation within SE teams. In an effort to contribute to this line of research, we have designed and developed an infrastructure, called ABC4GSD, based on the models of activity theory (AT) and the principles of the activity-based computing (ABC) paradigm. In this paper, we present a study that empirically evaluates the ability of ABC4GSD in supporting teams cooperation. We designed and executed a study based on a scenario that simulated the follow-the-Sun (FTS) strategy of global SE (GSE). Our research design allowed us to ensure cooperation to be both computer-mediated as well as contained within observable short time-windows - the hand-off activities of the FTS strategy. [Results] Overall, the results show that the cooperation support provided by the ABC4GSD system has been positively perceived by the participants. Nonetheless, open issues stimulating further investigations have been raised especially due to a few mixed results. Aware of the limitations of the simulated scenario, we conclude that the approach followed by the ABC4GSD system based on activities is desirable to improve the cooperation support in SE. Finally, our research approach based on simulating a scenario with geographical and temporal distribution can provide useful ideas for assessing collaborative technologies in SE.


Reasoning over an instance composed of a set of vectors, like a point cloud, requires that one accounts for intra-set dependent features among elements. However, since such instances are unordered, the elements' features should remain unchanged when the input's order is permuted. This property, permutation equivariance, is a challenging constraint for most neural architectures. While recent work has proposed global pooling and attention-based solutions, these may be limited in the way that intradependencies are captured in practice. In this work we propose a more general formulation to achieve permutation equivariance through ordinary differential equations (ODE). Our proposed module, Exchangeable Neural ODE (ExNODE), can be seamlessly applied for both discriminative and generative tasks. We also extend set modeling in the temporal dimension and propose a VAE based model for temporal set modeling. Extensive experiments demonstrate the efficacy of our method over strong baselines.


This thesis presents a multi-scalar analysis of the institutional influences upon Third Sector Employment and Training Initiatives (TSEIs) which have become de rigueur as a response to the seemingly intractable unemployment problems of many localities in the UK. To address the efficacy of third sector initiatives in the development of local economies, previous evaluations have attempted to define the features of 'best practice' initiatives in the UK. However, such analyses focus upon the internal organisation of TSEIs and are biased towards what are regarded as successful organisations while neglecting the impacts of failure. Consequently, this thesis addresses the institutional influences upon TSEIs within a comparative analysis of successful and failing initiatives, while recognising that 'success' and 'failure' are relative rather than absolute concepts. The thesis combines approaches from the social sciences in order to create an informed theoretical basis which is able to incorporate broader explanatory issues of social change and structure that are explored through empirical study. An approach is therefore applied which emphasises the multiple scales at which theories operate, from the essentially grand meta-theories of the regulation approach to the more locally contingent theories of governance and institutions. This subsequently informs the debate into changes in economic, social, political and governance structures which affect labour markets and job creation strategies in the UK. The thesis suggests a number of common factors which influence the development of TSEIs, allied to a number of specific factors which are related to the aims of particular initiatives. The need for flexibility within frameworks leads to a conceptualisation of the key organisational factor influencing TSEIs as Structured Flexibility. From this, I suggest a number of policy directions which ought to facilitate the third sector's attempts to develop local economic growth.


In heavy ion therapy, precise knowledge of fluence, energy and particle type is necessary for an adequate treatment planning. The current status of the verification of a patient's individual treatment plan relies mainly on dose measurements in a water phantom which means a limited validity with respect to the biological effect on tissue. A technology which can be used for accurate in-vivo verifications would improve the planning process
considerably. Biocompatible fluorescent nuclear track detectors (FNTDs) were therefore investigated in this thesis as a precursor with respect to the detection of heavy charged particles (HCPs) with penetration depth.
For that reason, irradiations of FNTDs with protons and carbon ions in different depths of PMMA were performed at the Heidelberg Ion-Beam Therapy Center (HIT). In these
experiments, the detectors have shown their suitability to detect HCPs with depth. Proton densities for penetration depths lower 11.5 cm in PMMA were determined with an
average deviation of 3.3% and a maximum deviation of 4.5% from FLUKA simulated data. In a carbon ion beam, densities of carbon ions deviated systematically by 6.8%
on average from treatment planning system data for depths lower 12.4 cm, most likely due to the detection of fragments such as boron ions.
In further investigations, methods for the determination of angular distributions of protons were examined showing that stacks of images give the most accurate information on
deflection angles of particles. Furthermore, incipient steps regarding the discrimination of different particle types in a carbon ion beam were done showing that carbon ions and lighter fragments such as protons and helium ions can be discriminated very easily using FNTDs.


RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES
All grants and manuscripts bearing the Canadian Critical Care Trials Group name are submitted for internal peer review before submission. The authors sought to formally evaluate authors' and reviewers' perceptions of this process.

METHODS
The authors developed, tested and administered two electronic nine-item questionnaires for authors and two electronic 13-item questionnaires for reviewers. Likert scale, multiple choice and free-text responses were used.

RESULTS
Twenty-one of 29 (72%) grant authors and 16 of 22 (73%) manuscript authors responded. Most author respondents were somewhat or very satisfied with the turnaround time, quality of the review and the review process. Two-thirds of grant (13 of 20 [65%]) and manuscript authors (11 of 16 [69%]) reported one or more successful submissions after review. Changes made to grants based on reviews were predominantly editorial and involved the background, rationale, significance⁄relevance and the methods⁄protocol sections. Twenty-one of 47 (45%) grant reviewers and 32 of 44 (73%) manuscript reviewers responded. Most reviewer respondents reported a good to excellent overall impression of the review process, good fit between their expertise and interests and the grants reviewed, and ample time to review. Although most respondents agreed with the current nonblinded review process, more grant than manuscript reviewers preferred a structured review format.

CONCLUSIONS
The authors report a highly favourable evaluation of an existing internal review process. The present evaluation has assisted in understanding and improving the current internal review process.


Drawing on the lives of youth living in precarious conditions, we analyse in this paper the ways in which the youth in Zimbabwe respond to varied shocks that they face in their everyday lives. We note that for many years the political and economic challenges have eroded the capacities of many Zimbabweans, but the impact on the youth has been discernibly high. Yet the youth have remarkably survived the tenacity of political, social and economic challenges. Many people have described this response as resilience. As such we seek to test this aspect of bouncing back in view of social, economic and political developments in Zimbabwe since 2000 and determine if this can be an aspect of resilience or its just sheer luck. We want to know why this phenomenon is uniquely Zimbabwean? Why did the Zimbabwean youth fail to get to the tipping point? What can be learnt from this? We use meta-analysis and direct interviews of the key informant and individual youth to test our hypotheses that Zimbabwean youth have an outstanding way of responding to shocks and are able to re-bounce back without necessarily being recruited into forces of violence, crime or anarchy. Key words: Zimbabwe, Resilience, Youth, Crisis, Violence, Crime Lloyd Pswarayi, Researcher, Research and Advocacy Unit, Email: email@example.com


Some new tellurium(IV) complexes of propylenediamine-bis(Isatin) Schiff base with TeCl4, RTeCl3 and R2TeCl2; where R = p-methoxy-, p-hydroxy- and 3-methyl-4-hydroxyphenyl, have been synthesized and characterized via elemental analyses, conductance measurement, infrared and proton magnetic resonance spectral studies. The data suggest 1:1 (tellurium: ligand) stoichiometry of all the complexes where the Schiff base behaves as a neutral ONNO quadridentate ligand. Some of these complexes have also been observed to possess antifungal and antitubercular activity.


This report presents research and development of dedicated system architecture, designed to enable its users to interact with each other as well as to access information on Points of Interest that exist in their immediate environment. This is accomplished through managing personal preferences and contextual information in a distributed manner and in real-time. The advantage of this system architecture is that it uses mobile devices, heterogeneous sensors and a selection of user interface paradigms to produce a sociotechnical framework to enhance the perception of the environment and promote intuitive interactions. The thrust of the work has been on software development and component integration. Iterative prototyping was adopted as a development method in order to effectively implement the users' feedback and establish a platform for collaboration that closely meets the requirements and aids their decision-making process. The requirement acquisition was followed by the system-modelling phase in order to produce a robust software prototype. The implementation includes component-based development and extensive use of design patterns over native programming. Conclusively, the software product has become the means to evaluate differences in the use of mixed reality technologies in a ubiquitous scenario.

The prototype can query a number of context sources such as sensors, or details of the personal profile, to acquire relevant data. The data (and metadata) is stored in opensource structures, so that they are accessible at every layer of the system architecture and at any time. By proactively processing the acquired context, the system can assist the users in their tasks (e.g. navigation) without explicit input – e.g. by simply creating a gesture with the device. However, advanced interaction with the application via the user interface is available for requests that are more complex.

Representations of the real world objects, their spatial relations and other captured features of interest are visualised on scalable interfaces, ranging from 2D to 3D models and from photorealism to stylised clues and symbols. Two principal modes of operation have been implemented; one, using geo-referenced virtual reality models of the environment, updated in real time, and second, using the overlay of descriptive annotations and graphics on the video images of the surroundings, captured by a video camera. The latter is referred to as augmented reality.

The continuous feed of the device position and orientation data, from the GPS receiver and the digital compass, into the application, makes the framework fit for use in unknown environments and therefore suitable for ubiquitous operation. This is one of the novelties of the proposed framework, because it enables a whole range of social, peer-to-peer interactions to take place. The scenarios of how the system could be employed to pursue these remote interactions and collaborative efforts on mobile devices are addressed in the context of urban navigation. The conceptual design and implementation of the novel location and orientation based algorithm for mobile AR are presented in detail. The system is, however, multifaceted and capable of supporting peer-to-peer exchange of information in a pervasive fashion, usable in various contexts. The modalities of these interactions are explored and laid out in several scenarios, but particularly in the context of user adoption. Two evaluation tasks took place. The preliminary evaluation examined certain aspects that influence user interaction while being immersed in a virtual environment, whereas the second summative evaluation compared the utility and certain usability aspects of the AR and VR interfaces.


A proper mechanistic understanding of the deaggregation process of small colloidal particle aggregates is of generic importance within many fields of science and engineering. The methodology for modeling colloidal deaggregation is currently limited to analytical solutions in the two-particle case and time consuming numerical algorithms, such as Brownian Dynamics (BD) simulations, for many-particle aggregates. To address this issue, a simplified alternative model that describes deaggregation of few-particle aggregates is presented. The model includes end-particle deaggregation and a particle reconfiguration mechanism, which are the two most important mechanisms for deaggregation. Comparison of the calculated first passage time distribution for various two-, three-, four-, and five-particle aggregates with the corresponding result using BD simulations confirms the validity of the model. It is concluded that the dominating mechanism behind deaggregation can be quantified using a deaggregation number, which reflects the time scale for reconfiguration relative to the time scale for end-particle deaggregation.


The Water Point Mapper, conceptualized and developed by WaterAid, has proven to be a valuable tool to inform the planning and design of interventions and build evidence for effective advocacy in the sector. Sanitation Mapper is a simple and low-cost technology to map sanitation facilities and their status in low- and middle-income countries. The process is based on Water Point Mapper experiences from WaterAid country programmes in Southern and East Africa regions. This paper reports on the piloting of the Sanitation Mapper in informal settlements in Dhaka and Matlab (Chandpur) in Bangladesh.