Excess adrenal androgen (AA) levels are observed in 25--50% of women with the polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), and AA excess in PCOS may represent selection bias. Thus, it is possible that AA secretion among the general population is highly variable, and that those women who are predisposed to secreting greater amounts of AA have a greater probability of having PCOS. We now hypothesize that the levels of AAs are highly variable among normal nonhyperandrogenic women, and that this heterogeneity is the result of a variable response of AAs to ACTH stimulation. To test this hypothesis we prospectively studied the response of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHA) and cortisol (F) to a 60-min acute stimulation with ACTH-(1--24) in 56 healthy eumenorrheic nonhirsute healthy women with a mean age of 28.9 yr (range, 20--37 yr.) and a mean body mass index (BMI) of 29.2 kg/m(2) (18.2--46.2 kg/m(2)). Baseline samples and poststimulation samples were assayed for DHA and F. The basal and ACTH-stimulated levels of DHA, but not those of F, were negatively correlated with age, although neither the basal nor ACTH-stimulated responses of DHA and F varied with BMI. After controlling for age, the basal F level was negatively correlated to its net increment (i.e. Delta F; r = -0.54; P < 0.001), whereas there was no significant relationship between basal DHA and Delta DHA. We also compared the intersubject variability (coefficient of variation) for basal and stimulated levels of DHA and F. For basal (DHA(0)), 60 min (DHA(60)), and net increment in (Delta DHA) DHA levels, the coefficients of variation were 67.9%, 61.4%, and 76.0%, respectively; for F(0), F(60), and Delta F, they were 40.4%, 16.9%, and 31.3%, respectively. The variance in Delta DHA was significantly higher, and the variance in F(60) was significantly lower than that in all other variables; DHA(0), DHA(60), F(0), and Delta F had similar variances. In conclusion, in our population of healthy reproductive-aged women we observed that both basal and ACTH-stimulated levels of DHA after ACTH-(1--24) stimulation had significantly greater intersubject variance (approximately 60--70%) compared with the basal and poststimulation levels of F (approximately 15--40%). These data support the hypothesis that among normal women, AA (i.e. DHA) levels are highly variable compared to those of F. In addition, the intersubject variability in DHA levels is at least in part due to a variable response of AAs to ACTH stimulation. Whether the AA excess frequently observed in PCOS is due to the greater risk of those women with higher AA levels, basally and after ACTH stimulation, remains to be confirmed.


In this paper we critically review the literature on rational choice theory (RCT) and the critical approaches to it. We will present a concise description of the theory as defended by Gary Becker, Richard Posner and James Coleman (as well as others) at the University of Chicago from the mid-1970s to the early 1990s, we will discuss its epistemological assumptions and predictions and we will also examine the most important arguments against it. We will give our main emphasis on the critique coming from behavioral economics and we will try to see if humans' supposed cognitive constraints lead to a failure of rationality or if they constitute rational responses to the scarcity of information, time and energy. In our discussion we will use findings from experimental economics and the sciences of the brain, especially evolutionary psychology and neuroeconomics. Our intention is to present an improved theory of rational choice that, informed from the above discussion, will be descriptively more accurate but without losing its predicting power. Moreover, we will conclude by trying to answer the most important related policy question: when rationality seems to fail, does this necessarily imply that agents should be paternalistically protected against themselves? We will briefly defend the thesis that, in the long-run, it is much better for them and the society at large for the individual decision makers to be let alone to develop rational responses to their cognitive constraints.


Naturally occurring polyether ring compounds have been studied extensively over
the past several years because of their importance as biologically active hemolytic and
neurotoxic substances produced by various marine phytoplankton species. These
substances contain varying numbers of ether rings of varying sizes. This research was
performed to predict NMR spectra, including chemical shifts and coupling constants, of
such polyether ring compounds. A literature search was performed to determine the
frequency of ring size occurrence within the known toxins and each structure was broken
down into three-ring segments. Models of each of these three-ring substructures were
built in Spartan and a conformer search was done followed by a semi-empirical energy
minimization on the lower energy conformers. Once the most energetically favorable
conformers of each compound were determined, they were submitted to the North
Carolina Supercomputing Center to perform a Hartree-Fock single point energy
calculation, as well as a calculation of isotropic shielding values using the GIAO (Gauge
including atomic orbital) method. From these values, chemical shifts were calculated.
Energy values were used to determine the distribution among the various conformers by
using a Boltzmann function. With this distribution data a prediction of chemical shifts for
each ring structure was developed as the weighted average of the chemical shifts
computed for each contributing conformer. Proton-proton coupling constants were also
calculated using dihedral angles measured from the several minimum energy conformers
and applying a modified Karplus equation to each one. Again, application of the
Boltzmann function gave a weighted average coupling constant. These numbers were used to produce a library of NMR spectral data, which should be useful for determining
the structures of novel polyether toxins.


In recent years we have seen an increased participation in sport. With this increased participation comes increased risk of pain and injury. The short-term rewards of competing with a degree of pain might be great, but the long-term ramifications could prove to be detrimental. Many factors, such as age, level of professionalism, time spent in sport, and gender has an impact on an athlete's rationalization for competing with pain. Their view of the consequences also differs depending on their status in the sport. In order to determine where the most important factors lie, a combination of in-person interviews and online questionnaires were used to provide the most diverse yet accurate representation of athletes. Statistical cross tabulations of the Bryant athletics responses provided black and white answers, while more comprehensive in-person interviews gave insight not found from the questionnaire. Issues such as influential factors, length involved in sport, status as a collegiate starter, and gender were stressed to Bryant athletics participants. The in-person interviews of male and female rugby players as well as male mixed martial artists provided focused on types of pain experienced, influential factors, pain rationalization, and whether or not the athlete's decision was worth it. All of the data was compared to works from leading researchers in the sociology of sport. The findings based on 2013 research of collegiate athletes along with professional fighters will both confirm and disprove current views on gender differences and the influence of friendship networks on athletes.


In a recent ground-breaking case the South African courts were for the first time requested to use their discretion to interfere in the parent-child relationship due to the traditional socio-cultural beliefs of the parents. In what has been described as "every parent's nightmare; the fancy of many teenagers", a 16 year-old schoolgirl from Milerton in the Western Cape asked to be "freed" from her parents to live semi-independently from them because of her unhappiness with the conservative manner in which her parents treated her. After considering the matter the judge assigned to the case granted her request to live semi-independently with a school friend and her family (called by the judge the host family) until she reaches the age of 18 (her majority). Her parents were accorded permission to have limited contact with her. This case represents an example of the difficulties involved when balancing the rights of a teenager against those of the parents in matters of socio-cultural practice and belief. In a multi-cultural society such as South Africa the case raises numerous serious questions for other families. For instance, what standards will a court use to determine if parents are too conservative in bringing up their children and what factors will be taken into account? How much freedom and autonomy should children be given? How will courts prevent children from misusing the system just to get what their friends have, and - the ultimate question - are the rights of children superior to the traditional rights of parents in matters of socio-cultural practice, with specific reference to their upbringing? In this context it is the aim of this contribution to focus primarily on the questions asked above. Possible solutions for striking a balance between the rights of children and their parents are explored. The submission is made that the best interests principle is still the most important factor to be taken into account when balancing or weighing competing rights and interests concerning children. The principle of the best interests of the child, the founding principle of children's rights, however, is anchored in the family, and any break between the two should be carefully considered. It is concluded that in an attempt to resolve disputes between parents and their children the relevant provisions of the Constitution and the Children's Act must be considered and must be balanced and tested in relation to each other for constitutional consistency and compliance. It is also submitted that caution should be taken by the legislative framework not to encourage children to break the parent-child relationship on a mere whim, as an overemphasis of children's rights might result in the dilution of the sense of the value of the family in society. KEYWORDS: "Child divorce"; parental responsibilities and rights; traditional socio-cultural practices and the beliefs of parents; best interests of the child' children's rights' conflict of rights within the family; interference with the parent-child relationship.


BACKGROUND: Early identification of myocardial infarction (MI) is a determinant in the provision of appropriate treatment modalities. The focus of the present study is on the identification of gender-based differences in risk factors, clinical manifestations, and coronary angiography findings in patients presenting with MI. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among patients admitted with MI at a tertiary care center in South India during March 2016 to June 2017. Selected 120 male and 120 female consecutive patients admitted with acute MI, who had survived and been stabilized. Data was collected using a pre-tested structure data sheet. Appropriate parametric and nonparametric tests were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: Participants were homogenous as regards age (P < 0.107); majority of men and women were from the rural areas. About 32.5% of the men interpreted the pain as due to a cardiac problem or indigestion, whereas 60.8% of the women thought it was fatigue/muscle pain. The self-interpretation or perception of pain in both genders was statistically significant (P < 0.001). Compared to the men, the females increasingly presented with atypical symptoms (P = 0.005). Regarding ST-elevated MI, male preponderance was noted (P = 0.004)). Considering the anatomical location of MI, the presentation of Inferior Wall Myocardial Infarction (IWMI) was predominant in females compared to men (P = 0.003). The majority of men had increased presentation of single-vessel disease compared to women (P = 0.02), whereas normal coronaries and double-vessel disease were found statistically significantly higher in females (P = 0.03 and P = 0.008, respectively). CONCLUSION: Public education is needed on the atypical presentations which are common with women than in men. The public should, therefore, be informed of those symptoms and how to recognize them so that they may seek medical care promptly.


The aim of this study was to build a model showing the relationship between consultations for asthma and the daily weather in a suburban computerised general practice in New Zealand. A ret- rospective count of the number of asthmatic patients attending the practice on any particular day for a consultation for asthma was compared with the weather variables temperature, rainfall, relative humidity, and wind strength. Quasi-likelihood Poisson regression models were built in steps. There were 3844 consultations for asthma between October 1, 1986 and October 30, 1991. The number varied from 0 to 11 consultations per day (mean 2.1). The annual means were 1.3, 1.9, 2.3, 2.5, and 2.7 con- sultations per day, respectively. After variables indicating time trends, days of the week, and holiday periods were included in the model, temperature and relative humidity provided the only significant additional explanatory power for variation in consultations.


Increasingly, researchers have acknowledged that consumption activities involve hedonic components. Hedonic consumption relates to affective consumer behaviors in that it deals with the emotive and multisensory aspects of the consumption experience. Because the online shopping environment is characterized by the existence of an IT-enabled web interface that acts as the focal point of contact between customers and vendors, its design should also embed hedonic elements to create a holistic consumption experience. Drawing on the Expectation Disconfirmation Theory (EDT), this study advances a model that not only delineates hedonic consumer expectations into its constituent dimensions for online shopping but also highlights how these expectations can be best served through properties of aesthetic performance. The model is then empirically verified via an online questionnaire administered to a sample of 84 student participants. Theoretical contributions and pragmatic implications to be gleaned from our proposed model and its subsequent empirical validation are discussed.


Pathogenesis in diseases caused by vascular wilt fungi depends upon the entry of the organism into the xylem of the host, and its continued spread through the vascular system, although other conditions may have to be fulfilled before symptoms are expressed. Mechanisms which reduce the probability of the pathogen entering the xylem, or which limit the extent or intensity of vascular colonization, will contribute to wilt resistance. A number of such mechanisms operating in the prevascular phase (primary determinants) and in the vascular phase of pathogenesis (secondary determinants) have three features in common: they are non-specific and can be induced in many plants by many fungi; they can be induced by minor damage to cells or tissues; and their effectiveness depends upon the rate of response of a process involving synthesis of cell material or other metabolites. The formation of ethylene has been demonstrated during pathogenesis in certain vascular wilt diseases; it is suggested that ethylene at appropriate low concentrations may function as a 'trigger' for some of the determinant mechanisms of resistance, but that at high concentrations it contributes to pathogenesis by accelerating processes of senescence. It is suggested that wilting, as such, is an incidental feature of the vascular wilt syndrome and not of fundamental significance.


The paper empirically examines the implications of the implementation of the EAC regional integration on the Ugandan economy. Specifically, it analyses the likely effects of the asymmetric tariff reduction on the macro variables and quantifies the sectoral growth effects on the industrial, agricultural and services sectors. It adopts the General Equilibrium Model (CGE) for the analysis based on the Uganda 2007 Social Accounting Matrix. The primary policy simulation is the asymmetric reduction of internal tariffs across East African countries under assumptions of unemployment and free movement of factors of production. Other policy simulations that change these assumptions are analysed. Results indicate that the aggregate impact of internal tariff reduction under conditions of unemployment and free movement of factors of production is positive with average GDP growth improving by up to 0.3 percentage points over the period 2008 – 2021. However, the reduction in tariffs has negative implications for tax collections with import duties contracting by 0.3 percentage points, with no significant gains in direct taxes revenues. The rise in exports to the EAC region leads to a decline in the trade deficit by 0.8 percent during the simulation period. There are also significant growth gains for agriculture, industry and services sectors with the former registering growth improvements of 1.2 percentage points and the other two 0.7 percentage points. Therefore, Uganda should optimise gains within the EAC regional integration framework through tariff reduction and free movement of factors of production. Finally, the government should address infrastructural constraints (energy and transport) to foster growth in the manufacturing sector within the EAC region.


Synovial fluid (SF) was found to possess stimulatory capacity for the proliferation of T cell clones derived from patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) when cultured together with IL-2. Using chromatography technique and gel electrophoresis, a synovial fluid protein with an apparent m.w. of 205 kDa (p205) was isolated that demonstrated a bioactivity analogous to that obtained with native synovial fluid. After electroelution, p205 dissociated into 70-kDa fragment(s). Upon IEF, it appeared as a single band with an isoelectric point of 6.5, suggesting a noncovalently bound trimer complex. Amino acid sequences of the whole protein and of tryptic peptides were determined by N terminal sequencing. The N terminal amino acid sequence of the 70-kDa fragment and of the tryptic peptides showed no identity to recently described protein sequences. One peptide matched, in 11 amino acid residues, with the human IgG1-4 constant heavy chain and rheumatoid factor (RF) binding region. The p205 induced the proliferation of peripheral blood T cells and long term T cell cultures that had been raised by alternate stimulation with IL-2 and p205. In a similar approach, synovial lining cells were shown to release a protein with biochemical characteristics similar to the synovial fluid-derived p205. Western blot analysis revealed the binding of RF-containing sera to p205, which was diminished by absorption with an RF reagent. These observations suggest that p205 is expressed by synovial cells and may be a target for T and B cells in RA.


A cluster randomized controlled trial was undertaken, testing two sets of interventions to encourage enrollment in the Philippines' Individual Payer Program. Of 243 municipalities, 179 were randomly assigned as intervention sites and 64 as controls. In early 2011, 2,950 families were interviewed; unenrolled Individual Payer Program-eligible families in intervention sites were given an information kit and a 50 percent premium subsidy until the end of 2011. In February 2012, the "non-compliers" had their voucher extended, were re-sent the enrollment kit, and received Short Message Service (SMS) reminders. Half were told that in the upcoming end-line interview the enumerator could help complete the enrollment form, deliver it to the insurer, and have identification cards mailed. The control and intervention sites were balanced at baseline. In the control sites, 9.9 percent (32/323) of eligible individuals had enrolled by January 2012, compared with 14.9 percent (119/801) in intervention sites. In the sub-experiment, enrollment was 3.4 percent (10/290) among eligible non-compliers and who did not receive assistance but 39.7 percent (124/312) among those who did. A premium subsidy combined with information can increase voluntary enrollment in a social health insurance program, but less than an intervention that reduces the enrollment burden; even that leaves enrollment below 50 percent.


One of the central questions facing the regulatory and competition authorities is whether to delegate the regulation of the potentially competitive elements of the utility to specialised regulatory agencies, or whether they should be solely subject to normal competition laws enforced by the competition authorities – often referred to as 'light-handed regulation'. German electricity and New Zealand utilities exemplify this approach, with the United States at the other extreme in granting considerable powers to federal regulatory agencies. Britain evolved a system of licensing the majority of network activities, including the larger part of the potentially competitive services such as electricity generation and supply, gas trading and supply, and mobile telephony. The EU, in contrast, has always placed more emphasis on the application of competition law, and has sought to make sector regulation consistent with general competition law. This is most clearly evident in the 2003 EU Communications Directives which required considerable changes on the British approach to telecoms regulation. The paper discusses the appropriateness of this approach for telecoms and electricity. Post-modern utilities like telecoms, in which facilities-based competition is possible, lend themselves to the approach laid out in the Communications Directives. Regulators must first determine whether markets are effectively competitive or suffer from Significant Market Power (SMP). Only in the latter case is ex ante regulation warranted, and then only if it is necessary, justified and proportionate. The paper considers how this approach works in the case of mobile call termination, and the implications of restricting regulation solely to the market experiencing SMP. Electricity does not fit comfortably into this approach, in part because the wholesale market is more likely to suffer from collective dominance than the single firm dominance that allows for an easier determination of SMP. Licence conditions are no longer needed under the Telecommunications Directives, but appear to retain advantages for electricity, where information and continuing market surveillance are desirable, and where it may be necessary to modify market rules in a timely and well-informed manner. The paper considers the example of the English Electricity Pool, which suffered from tacit collusion in the period 1996-99, and the unsuccessful attempts of the regulator to impose a Market Abuse Licence Condition. JEL: G18, L94, L96


The distribution of wealth is widening in many countries and with it the importance of inherited wealth. In 1974 a Labour Government came to power in the United Kingdom committed to introducing an annual wealth tax. It left office without doing so. Using the official archives of the time and those of a key advisor this paper traces both the origins of the policy and its fate in Whitehall. It explores two related questions. What does this experience tell us about the role of the civil service in the policy process in the UK and what lessons might be learned by those wishing to tackle the issue of widening wealth disparities today?


The current state of information concerning the classical model of deterministic, age-dependent population dynamics the McKendrick von Foerster equation is overviewed. This model and the related Renewal equation are derived and the parameters involved in both are elaborated upon. Fundamental theorems concerning existence, uniqueness and boundedness of solutions are outlined. A necessary and sufficient condition concerning the stability of equilibrium age-distributions is rederived along different lines . . Attention is then given to generalizations of the McKendrick-von Foerster model that have arisen from the inclusion of densitydependence into the parameters of the system; the inclusion of harvesting terms; and the extension of the model to describe the dynamics of a two-sex population. A technique which reduces the model, under certain conditions on the mortality and fertility functions, to a system of ordinary differential equations is discussed and applied to specific biochemical population models. Emphasis here is on the possible existence of stable limit cycles. The Kolmogorov system of ordinary differential equations and its use in describing the dynamics of predator-prey systems is examined. The Kolmogorov theorem is applied as a simple alternative to a lengthy algorithm for determining whether limit cycles are stable. Age-dependence is incorporated into this system by means of a McKendrick von Foerster equation and the effects on the system of different patterns of age-selective predation are demonstrated. Finally, brief mention is made of recent work concerning the use of the McKendrick von Foerster equation to describe the dynamics of both predator and prey. A synthesis of the theory and results of a large number of papers is sought and areas valuable to further research are pointed out.


In this article, we explain how overly prescriptive, rigid state statutory and regulatory policy frameworks regarding teacher evaluation, tenure and employment decisions outstrip the statistical reliability and validity of proposed measures of teaching effectiveness.  We begin with a discussion of the emergence of highly prescriptive state legislation regarding the use of student testing data within teacher evaluation systems, specifically for purposes of making employment decisions.  Next, we explain the most problematic features of those policies, which include a) requirements that test-based measures constitute fixed, non-negotiable weight in final decisions, b) that test-based measures are used to place teachers into categories of effectiveness by applying numerical cutoffs beyond the precision or accuracy of the available data, and c) that professional judgment is removed from personnel decisions by legislating (or regulating) specific actions be taken when teachers fall into certain performance categories.  In the subsequent section, we point out that different types of measures are being developed and implemented across states, and we explain that while value-added metrics in particular are, in fact designed to estimate a teacher's effect on student outcomes, descriptive growth percentile measures are not designed for making such inference and thus have no place in making determinations regarding teacher effectiveness. We also explain that, due to the properties of value-added estimates, they have no place in making high-stakes decisions based on rigid policy frameworks like those described herein.  We evaluate the legal implications of rigid reliance on measures of teaching effectiveness that a) lack reliability and b) may be entirely invalid.


A list sphere detector (LSD) is an enhancement of a sphere detector (SD) that can be used to approximate the soft output maximum a posteriori probability (MAP) detector used in the detection of the multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) signals. The LSD consists of three different parts: the preprocessing unit, the LSD algorithm unit and the log-likelihood ratio (LLR) calculation unit. Architecture design is the key point to enable an efficient implementation of the LSD. In this paper, we design the architecture for the whole detector structure and exploit the parallelism and pipelining possibilities of the presented architecture units. The designed architecture is implemented in a field programmable gate array (FPGA) using Mentor Graphics Catapult C tool. We show that a scalable architecture can be designed for the LSD. The LSD is also shown to be feasible for practical implementation, and the implementation complexity and latency results are presented.


Lipases are key biocatalysts with important biotechnological applications. With the aim of isolating robust lipolytic microbial strains, we have analyzed the bacterial communities inhabiting two domestic extreme environments: a thermophilic sauna and a dishwasher filter. Scanning electron microscopy revealed biofilm-forming and scattered microorganisms in the sauna and dishwasher sample, respectively. A culture-independent approach based on 16S rRNA analysis indicated a high abundance of Proteobacteria in the sauna sample; and, a large amount of Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Cyanobacteria and Actinobacteria in the dishwasher filter. With a culture-dependent approach, we isolated 48 bacterial strains, screened their lipolytic activities on media with tributyrin as the main carbon source, and finally selected five isolates for further characterization. These strains, all of them identified as members of the genus Bacillus, displayed optimum lipolytic peaks at pH 6.5 and with 1-2% NaCl, and the activity proved very robust at a wide range of pH (up to 11.5) and added NaCl concentrations (up to 4%). The thermal, pH and salt robustness of the selected isolates is a valuable attribute for these strains, which are promising as highly tolerant biodetergents. To our knowledge, this is the first report regarding the isolation from an indoor environment of Bacillus strains with a high potential for industry.


Background Bariatric surgery includes surgical interventions to reduce severe obesity (BMI > 35). For these procedures, anaesthesia with neuromuscular blockade is a high-risk step for the patient and especially obese patients. Intubation is based on rapid sequence induction (RSI) for two reasons: firstly obese patients are considered as 'full stomachs' and secondly they are potentially difficult to intubate. In addition, bariatric surgery requires a profound neuromuscular blockade to be maintained until the end of the intervention. In protocol 1 (P1), the drugs used to induce/reverse neuromuscular blockade were suxamethonium, atracurium, atropine and neostigmine. A new protocol (P2) using a new drug, sugammadex was introduced with rocuronium. Purpose The first objective of this study was to assess a possible reduction in the length of the operation [operating theatre (OT) and/or post anaesthesia care unit (PACU)]. The second was to analyse the potential impact of this new protocol on the intervention safety. Materials and methods A new anaesthesia protocol was written for bariatric surgery. The procedures for bariatric surgery in our hospital were investigated and data collected: population characteristics, time spent in OT and PACU, timing of drugs injection to reverse neuromuscular blockade, extubation time, place of extubation (OT or PACU). Results Fifty-seven patients treated with the sleeve procedure were divided into 2 groups: 29 from September to December 2011 (retrospective study) with P1, 28 from March to May 2012 (prospective study) with P2. Patients were similar in the two groups. There was no significant difference in the length of time spent in the OT between the two protocols (the mean operating time was 175.4 min (P1) vs. 160.5 min (P2)). The monitoring time in the PACU was significantly reduced (p < 0.05) with sugammadex (154.2 min (P1) vs. 126.7 min (P2)). The time spent in PACU decreased by 30 min per patient allowing the possibility of more effective patient rotation in the unit. The average injection/extubation time was 13.4 min (P1) vs. 5.4 min (P2). Regarding intervention safety, extubations were systematic in OT thanks to sugammadex (extubation percentage in OT was 21% (P1) vs 100% (P2)). Furthermore, for all patients, reversal of blockade effect is possible with P2 and in less than 5 min. This protocol also decreased the residual paralysis risk after extubation (serious postoperative respiratory complications). Finally, sugammadex (P2) allows the eviction of drugs (P1) responsible for adverse events. Conclusions Using this new protocol with sugammadex appears to offer many advantages: obtain a safe anaesthetic protocol for bariatric surgery and save time in PACU to optimise use of the unit. However sugammadex is expensive. For this reason, we also conducted an economic study. No conflict of interest.


Tephra layers are a unique tool for stratigraphy. Their geologically instantaneous deposition across wide areas makes them a powerful instrument for dating and correlating distant localities. In this paper, we apply tephra fingerprinting for high-resolution stratigraphic purposes in the upper Miocene portion of the Pisco Formation, which crops out along the southern Peruvian coast. The Pisco Formation diatomaceous strata host an important marine vertebrate Fossil-Lagerstätte, whose palaeontological relevance has entailed the necessity of reconstructing a detailed chronostratigraphic framework using 39Ar–40Ar dating and tephra correlations. Distal ashes from the Central Andes volcanoes are frequent in the Pisco Formation, but their similar glass composition and mineral assemblage, together with the shallow marine environment limiting tephra preservation, could be unpromising for tephra-based correlations. In this study, tephra layers from measured stratigraphic sections were fingerprinted with a combined petrographic and microanalytical approach, including glass shard morphology and granulometric analyses. Based on the obtained results, we correlated sections several kilometres apart, greatly increasing the chronostratigraphic detail. Major element composition of biotite proved a valuable tool to discriminate the Central Andes metaluminous to peraluminous tephra deposited in the Peruvian forearc basins. This study highlights the applicability of tephra fingerprinting in unfavourable shallow marine environments. Supplementary material: A compilation of tephra data (field observations, granulometric parameters, petrographic data and EPMA analyses on glass), EPMA single analyses on glass and biotite, 39Ar–40Ar step heating results, measured stratigraphic logs and biotite chemical diagrams are available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4201484


The legal device of renvoi, or (correspondingly) reception, which refers to the norms of a different legal order, has considerable significance also for the relations between the canonical and the civil legal orders. The current canon law imports significant portions of the civil law into the canonical legal order, notably contract law, while the concrete effectiveness of the canon law in today's world depends to a large extent on ensuring that its norms are valid and enforceable in the civil forum as well. The "Legal Personality Agreement," which the Holy See made with the State of Israel, achieves the latter purpose to a very high degree. It gains for ecclesiastical legal persons full recognition in Israeli law, in their original identity, and together with the canon law that governs them. At the same time it also resolves a long-standing ambiguity concerning the relation of canon law to the Israeli judicial system, by clarifying that questions of canon law before the Israeli courts are questions of fact, like any "foreign" law.


Polyphenols represent
a group of chemical substances common in plants, structurally characterized by the
presence of one or more phenol units. Polyphenols are the most abundant antioxidants
in human diets and the largest and best studied class of polyphenols is flavonoids,
which include several thousand compounds. Numerous studies confirm that they exert
a protective action on human health and are key components of a healthy and balanced
diet. Epidemiological studies correlate flavonoid intake with a reduced incidence
of chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer. The involvement
of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the etiology of these degenerative conditions
has suggested that phytochemicals showing antioxidant activity may contribute to
the prevention of these pathologies. The present review deals with phenolic compounds
in plants and reports on recent studies. Moreover, the present work includes information
on the relationships between the consumption of these compounds, via feeding, and
risk of disease occurrence, i.e. the effect
on human health. Results obtained on herbs, essential oils, from plants grown in
tropical, subtropical and temperate regions, were also reported.


The ratio of absorption of Cinchophen and Tolysin was controlled by its depressing effect on the temperature of normal and coli-fever animals and by its toxicity. In a rabbit 0.9 gram Cinchophen per kilogram per os induced transient paralysis of the hind legs and 1.0 per kilogram caused death.—With Tolysin in normal rabbits 1.0 gram per kilogram induced a marked fall of temperature, 1.2 gram severe intoxication and 1.4 grams death. (This ratio corresponds to the clinical experiences about the relative amounts of Tolysin and Cinchophen wanted in acute rheumatic fever for securing a complete relief.) In a rabbit suffering from coli-fever 0.4 to 0.5 gram Tolysin per kilogram per os have been fully sufficient for producing a very marked decrease of temperature. Of course the absorption of Tolysin from the intestine seems somewhat slower than the absorption of Cinchophen. Contrary to the absorption from the gastro-intestinal tract , the absorption of Tolysin in olive oil solution from the subcutaneous tissue is indeed a very poor and slow one.

As for the fate of Tolysin in the intermediate metabolism the bulk is destroyed by the catabolizing agents of the living organism. After having administered to rabbits Tolysin (about 1 gram in 10 per cent olive oil-solution by way of the pharyngeal sound daily) several percents of the ingested compound used to appear in the urine in the shape of a substance of distinctly acid character, soluble in alkali and precipitated by acid and soluble in organic solvents. From the alcoholic solution it is thrown down by cadmiumchloride in a crystalline form. The pure substance has a marked orange colour and is characterized by a brilliant diazo-reaction. This substance, which has been separated from the urine in shape of fine crystalls and in a pure state, may be considered as a Dioxymethylphenylquinolincarboxylic acid or Dioxymethylcinchophen C17H13NO4. Of the 4 atoms of O two are contained (as titration shows) in one carboxylic radical. The two others are to be found in two hydroxyl groups , inasmuch the determination according to Zerewitinoff with a Grignard-reagent reveals the presence of 3 active hydrogen atoms within the molecule.


The failure of the Seattle trade ministerial in December 1999 to launch a new round of multilateral trade negotiations dealt a major blow to the World Trade Organization (WTO). The Seattle meetings exposed significant policy differences among the WTO member countries as well as shortcomings in the way the WTO conducts its business and interacts with other international and nongovernmental organizations. The WTO after Seattle analyzes the problems and challenges facing the trading system in the aftermath of the Seattle ministerial. Leading trade experts examine why it is in the interests of both developed and developing countries to reengage in new trade talks, and how such talks could promote world trade and economic development, reform WTO operations, and strengthen public support for the trading system. The volume presents balanced perspectives on world trade problems by authors from the United States, Europe, Asia, and Latin America, with recommendations on what needs to be done in key areas to launch new talks. The authors address the WTO's existing mandate to negotiate on agriculture and services, as well as how to handle new issues such as investment, competition policy, e-commerce, and trade-related environmental and labor issues. The editor, Jeffrey J. Schott, provides a comprehensive overview of the issues facing the WTO and of what needs to be done to begin a new round.


Abstract. Although this is not always the common practice, the survey should be an essential preliminary stage to any operation of restoration, enhancement and promotion of cultural heritage. Today, various surveying techniques make it possible to collect large amounts of data quickly and to provide a complete three-dimensional representation of extremely complex artefacts. In fact, 3D models allow a much richer description than traditional 2D representations. However, these survey techniques (laser scanner and photogrammetry above all) necessarily imply that the data that must be elaborated during the processing phase increase dramatically. It is therefore essential to identify methods and workflows that allow to find a compromise between the richness and completeness of the survey data and the problems inherent in the costs and times of execution of the modelling operations. The problem is further heightened by the fact that the importance of historical monumental architecture inevitably requires the use of different techniques integrated with each other, the production of documentation at different scales with different levels of detail and the creation of a 3D model that has the ability to be used for different purposes. This paper describes the survey of one of the most important medieval monuments in northern Italy, the Parma Baptistery, with a special focus on the phase of data restitution. The integrated survey campaigns conducted in recent years have aimed to describe the building in its totality: from the scale of the architecture to the detail, passing through the description of the pictorial cycle that characterizes the interior. This case study represents a moment of reflection, at least for those who wrote it, on the validity of the methods and techniques to be used for the creation of a complete 3D model of a complex historical monument.


Studies in animals and humans have demonstrated that an increased heart rate is a predictor for the development of coronary atherosclerosis and overall cardiovascular mortality. In contrast, we have previously reported that the need for pacemaker implantation because of bradycardia in heart transplant recipients is associated with an increased prevalence of transplant coronary artery disease (TxCAD). Hence, the relevance of changes in heart rate to the development of TxCAD remains unclear. Intra-coronary ultrasound examinations (ICUS) were therefore analyzed in 130 heart transplant recipients (age 50 +/- 11 yr) studied at annual evaluations (3.7 +/- 3.0 yr after transplantation). Quantitative ultrasound measurements were obtained by calculating mean coronary artery intimal thickness (MIT) obtained by examination of the left anterior descending artery. The presence of TxCAD was defined as MIT > 0.3 mm. Resting heart rates (HR) were recorded with the patients in the supine position during routine echocardiography. Based on HR recordings, two groups were defined: group 1, HR below; or group 2, HR above the median. TxCAD was detected in 40% of the ICUS studies overall. The prevalence of TxCAD was higher in group 1 (49%) compared with group 2 (33%), p < 0.05. There was no significant difference in donor ischemic time or donor gender, recipient age, gender, body weight, CMV status, creatinine, total cholesterol, use of lipid lowering drugs or diltiazem. Donor age and use of beta-blockers were higher in group 1 compared with group 2 (29 +/- 10 vs. 25 +/- 9 yr, and 15% vs. 5%, for donor age and beta-blocker use, respectively). By multivariate regression analysis only donor age and years after transplantation were independently correlated with TxCAD. After excluding patients taking beta-blockers and diltiazem, the prevalence of CAD was still higher in group 1 (50%) vs. group 2 (34%). In conclusion, transplant coronary artery disease is more prevalent in patients with lower, rather than higher, heart rates. The reason for this is unclear, but may reflect impaired blood flow to the sinoatrial node.


When steroid hormones are emitted into the environment, they may have harmful effects on the reproduction system of aquatic life. Until now, research has primarily focused on human excretion, demonstrating that steroid hormones reach the aquatic environment due to insufficient removal in waste water treatment processes. However more recently, it has been revealed that agricultural practices also may add to the environmental burden of steroid hormones. So far, research activities have mainly focused on steroid estrogens, but also androgens, progestagens and glucocorticoids, expressed in the vertebrate steroidogenesis, may occur at substantial levels in animal manure and should be addressed. In agricultural practices the animal manure can be applied to the soil as raw manure, but also as a solid or liquid manure fraction, since current livestock production facilities utilizes a recently developed technology, which separates raw animal manure into a solid and a liquid fraction.This technology offers an improved handling and refined distribution of the manure nutrients to the farmlands and the possibility to reduce the environmental impact of manure nutrients, especially avoiding the surplus load of phosphorous. In the present work we investigated the distribution of 9 steroid hormones (pregnenolone, progesterone, dehydroepiandrosterone, androstenedione, testosterone, dihydrotestosterone, estrone, 17α-estradiol and 17β-estradiol) in raw manure and manure separates from 10 to 15 different pig farms in Denmark utilizing 4 different separation technologies. Furthermore, we investigated a possible relationship between the steroid hormone concentration and the different manure fractions and separation technologies. The chemical steroid hormone analysis was done by inverse and integrated clean-up pressurized liquid extraction, and further cleaned by a two step solid-phase extraction before derivatization and finally analyzed by GC-MS/MS.It was found that the steroid hormones were predominant in the solid manure separate calling for manure management strategies to reduce the content of steroid hormones in separated manure solid fraction. This could potentially be achieved through composting or anaerobic digestion for biogas production of the solid fraction; however, the effects of these technologies on steroid hormones need to be verified.


Arguing that the importance of painting and other visual art for Benjamin's epistemology has yet to be appreciated, Weigel undertakes the first systematic analysis of their significance to his thought. She does so by exploring Benjamin's dialectics of secularization, an approach that allows Benjamin to explore the simultaneous distance from and orientation towards revelation and to deal with the difference and tensions between religious and profane ideas. In the process, Weigel identifies the double reference of 'life' to both nature and to a 'supernatural' sphere as a guiding concept of Benjamin's writings. Sensitive to the notorious difficulty of translating his language, she underscores just how much is lost in translation, particularly with regard to religious connotations. The book thus positions Benjamin with respect to the other European thinkers at the heart of current discussions of sovereignty and martyrdom, of holy and creaturely life. It corrects misreadings, including Agamben's staging of an affinity between Benjamin and Schmitt, and argues for the closeness of Benjamin's work to that of Aby Warburg, with whom Benjamin unsuccessfully attempted an intellectual exchange.


As the race for effective vaccines/treatments for Covid-19 develops, attention has turned to how such vaccines/treatments will be accessed globally. Patents play a significant role in this context because they give the patent-holder the right to stop others using patented inventions. Patents are available on medicines/vaccines and could form significant access obstacles for Covid-19. Moreover, whilst many patent-holders may be willing to license health-technologies reasonably, others may not. Therefore, it is imperative that national governments ensure effective avenues exist to intervene with patent-holder discretion via compulsory and government-use licensing. This article focuses on the legal framework applicable in Ireland for such compulsory licensing interventions, interrogating the effectiveness of this framework in alleviating access issues posed by patents for Covid-19. It demonstrates how the current framework could be reformed to make it more effective in tempering patent-holder control, where needed, whilst remaining in compliance with Ireland's international obligations.


The growth of online social networks such as Facebook, MySpace, and Linked-In has transformed the way in which individuals establish and maintain relationships for both business and entertainment. In this paper we present the analysis of a similar online social network that was used to foster cross-cultural awareness among users ages 14--17. The social network provided students across the globe with an environment to establish online identities, explore their own culture and the culture of peers who were located in three different countries. We make recommendations to network designers to reconsider friendship metaphors, work within existing network tools, and replace text as the default medium in communication.


Epidote minerals are known since the 18th century, but at that time the greenish to dark colored varieties were termed actinolite or schorl and not distinguished from the minerals to which these names apply today. Hauy defined the mineral species and introduced the name "epidote" in 1801, whereas Werner in 1805 used the term pistacite (quoted from Hintze 1897). Epidote is derived from greek epidosis = to increase, because the base of the rhombohedral prism has one side larger than the other and pistacite refers to its green color (all references for names after Luschen 1979; Blackburn and Dennen 1997). Weinschenk (1896) proposed the name clinozoisite from its monoclinic symmetry and zoisite-like composition for those monoclinic members of the epidote family that are Fe poor, optically positive and have low refractive indices and birefringence.

Zoisite was probably confused with tremolite until the beginning of the 19th century. In 1804, Siegmund Zois, Baron von Edelstein 1747–1819, an Austrian sponsor of mineral collections, found and described a new mineral in a handspecimen from the Saualpe Mountains in Carinthia that was named zoisite by Werner.

Hauy (1822) interpreted zoisite as a variety of epidote and included it in his "epidote spezies." Weiss (1820) presented a theory of the epidote system and also discussed crystal morphological features of the epidote minerals (Weiss 1828). Rammelsberg (1856) studied the relationship between epidote and zoisite and presented a compilation of chemical analyses of zoisite. He already noticed that the relative concentrations of di-, tri- and tetravalent cations are identical in zoisite and epidote but that the Fe content in zoisite (about 2–3.5 wt% Fe2O3) is generally less than in epidote (about 9–12 wt% Fe2O3). Piemontite (see Bonazzi and Menchetti 2004) was probably first described in 1758 by Cronstedt …


This document defines the syntax and semantics for the Clearance
attribute and the Authority Clearance Constraints extension in X.509
certificates. The Clearance attribute is used to indicate the
clearance held by the subject. The Clearance attribute may appear in
the subject directory attributes extension of a public key certificate
or in the attributes field of an attribute certificate. The Authority
Clearance Constraints certificate extension values in a Trust Anchor
(TA), in Certification Authority (CA) public key certificates, and in
an Attribute Authority (AA) public key certificate in a certification
path for a given subject constrain the effective Clearance of the
subject. [STANDARDS-TRACK]


ABSTRACT Histone H1 is an abundant and essential component of chromatin whose precise role in regulating gene expression is poorly understood. Here, we report that a major target of H1-mediated regulation in embryonic stem (ES) cells is the X-linked Rhox homeobox gene cluster. To address the underlying mechanism, we examined the founding member of the Rhox gene cluster—Rhox5—and found that its distal promoter (Pd) loses H1, undergoes demethylation, and is transcriptionally activated in response to loss of H1 genes in ES cells. Demethylation of the Pd is required for its transcriptional induction and we identified a single cytosine in the Pd that, when methylated, is sufficient to inhibit Pd transcription. Methylation of this single cytosine prevents the Pd from binding GA-binding protein (GABP), a transcription factor essential for Pd transcription. Thus, H1 silences Rhox5 transcription by promoting methylation of one of its promoters, a mechanism likely to extend to other H1-regulated Rhox genes, based on analysis of ES cells lacking DNA methyltransferases. The Rhox cluster genes targeted for H1-mediated transcriptional repression are also subject to another DNA methylation-regulated process: Xp imprinting. Remarkably, we found that only H1-regulated Rhox genes are imprinted, not those immune to H1-mediated repression. Together, our results indicate that the Rhox gene cluster is a major target of H1-mediated transcriptional repression in ES cells and that H1 is a candidate to have a role in Xp imprinting.


In September 2015, a new era of astronomy began with the first direct detection of gravitational waves from a binary black hole coalescence. The event was captured by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory, comprised of two long-baseline interferometers, one in Livingston, LA and one in Hanford, WA. At the time of the first detection, the interferometers were part way through an upgrade to an advanced configuration and were operating with a strain sensitivity of just better than 10−23/Hz around 100 Hz. The full Advanced LIGO design calls for sensitivity of a few parts in 10−24/Hz. This thesis covers the detector upgrade to double the input power, thereby reducing quantum shot noise, which currently limits LIGO strain sensitivity above 100 Hz. First, it presents the design of the interferometer and the noises – fundamental, technical, and environmental – which contribute to the full sensitivity curve, motivating the need for high power. The details of the high power laser upgrade are discussed. Second, it presents select side effects of high power, which can result in overall losses and heighten specific classical noise couplings. The work particularly focuses on a three-mode opto-mechanical interaction that can become unstable at high power, threatening the operational ability of the detector; multiple successful mitigation technique are presented and compared. The results of this work, combined with the collaborative work of many others, allow the Advanced LIGO detectors to achieve a strain sensitivity better than 5× 10−24/Hz during the third observation run.


We report a beam-shaping technique whereby the output power from a high-power laser-diode stack is efficiently coupled, reconfigured, and transmitted to a thin-disk laser by means of a compact optical fiber bundle. By using this technique, the power density is increased by a factor of 2 when compared to direct coupling with a octagonal fused silica rod while the numerical aperture is kept constant. Transmission efficiency of 80% was measured for the beam shaper without antireflection coating. The top-hat distribution is numerically calculated at the thin-disk laser crystal.


Sansiviera is a plant that hardly needs water, or very little water. This occurrence is in accordance to its nature as succulent plant capable of preserving water in its leaf tissues. This research aims to know the effect of various farmyard manures and liquid fertilizer concentrations to sansiviera seedling growth. The research was conducted in experimental fields of UMM's Faculty of Agriculture in Tegalgondo, with altitude of 560 meters from high sea level, starting from April and ended in July 2007. Factorial randomized block design was employed in this research with two factors, each of which consisted of 3 levels, thus delivering 9 combined treatments, added with 1 control treatment with three replications. The observation started within two weeks after planting with interval of 10 days. The following parameter to be observed were the length of longest leaf, length of average leaf, increasing number of width leaf, increasing number of sprouting. The treatment of various farmyard manures and liquid fertilizer concentrations to the length of longest leaf resulted in significant difference. On 5th observation, no significant difference occurred due to combined treatments for length of average leaf. The combined treatments resulted in no significant difference for increasing number of width leaf. While the the increasing number of average leaf gave no significant difference with combined treatments. The parameter of leaf increase showed no significant difference. However, on 6th observation revealed that treatment of chicken farmyard manure + soil + hull with proportion of 1: 1: 1 combined with concentration of 9 ml/l water resulted in highest score to variable of increasing number of leaf. Parameter of sprouting number resulted in no significant difference among the combined treatments. The conclusion thus can be drawn that the combined treatments gave no interaction to variables of average leaf length, increasing number of width, and increasing number of sprout. Whereas for variable of the increasing number of longest leaf on 5th observation resulted in significant difference with goat and chicken farmyard manures, respectively. For leaf increase on 6th observation the treatments resulted in highest score to variable of increasing number of leaf.


Training speed and accuracy are two major concerns of large-scale natural language processing systems. Typically, we need to make a tradeoff between speed and accuracy. It is trivial to improve the training speed via sacrificing accuracy or to improve the accuracy via sacrificing speed. Nevertheless, it is nontrivial to improve the training speed and the accuracy at the same time, which is the target of this work. To reach this target, we present a new training method, feature-frequency–adaptive on-line training, for fast and accurate training of natural language processing systems. It is based on the core idea that higher frequency features should have a learning rate that decays faster. Theoretical analysis shows that the proposed method is convergent with a fast convergence rate. Experiments are conducted based on well-known benchmark tasks, including named entity recognition, word segmentation, phrase chunking, and sentiment analysis. These tasks consist of three structured classification tasks and one non-structured classification task, with binary features and real-valued features, respectively. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method is faster and at the same time more accurate than existing methods, achieving state-of-the-art scores on the tasks with different characteristics.


Biometric technologies are becoming the foundation of an extensive array of person identification and verification solutions. Biometrics is defined as the science of recognising a person based on certain physiological (fingerprints, face, hand-geometry) or behavioral (voice, gait, keystrokes) characteristics. Weak biometrics (hand-geometry, face, voice) are the traits which possess low discriminating content; they change over time for each individual. Thus they show lower performance as compared to the strong biometrics (eg. fingerprints, iris, retina, etc.). Due to exponentially decreasing costs of the hardware and computations, biometrics has found immense use in civilian applications (Time and Attendance Monitoring, Physical Access to Building, Human-Computer Interface, etc.) other than the forensics ones (e.g. criminal and terrorist identification). Various factors come into picture while selecting biometric traits for civilian applications, most important of which are user psychology and acceptability. Most of the weak biometric traits have little or no association with criminal history as against fingerprints (a strong biometric); data acquisition is also very simple and easy with weak biometrics. Due to these reasons, weak biometric traits are often better accented for civilian applications than the strong biometric traits. Moreover, not much research has gone into this area as compared to strong biometrics. Due to the low discriminating content of the weak biometric traits, they result in poor performance of verification. We propose a feature selection technique called Single Class Hierarchical Discriminant Analysis (SCHDA) specifically for authentication purpose in biometric systems. The SCDHA recursively identifies the samples which overlap with the samples of the claimed identity in the discriminant space built by the single-class discriminant criterion. If samples of claimed identity are termed "positive" samples, and all the other samples "negative" samples, the single-class discriminant criterion finds an optimal transformation such that the ratio of the negative scatter with respect to positive mean over the positive within-class scatter is maximized, thereby pulling together the positive samples and pushing the negative samples away from the positive mean. Thus SCHDA results in building an optimal user-specific discriminant space for each individual where the samples of the claimed identity are well-separated from the samples of all the other users. Performance of authentication using this technique is compared with the other popular existing discriminant analysis techniques in the literature and significant improvement has been observed. The second problem which leads to low accuracy of authentication is the poor stability of permanence of weak biometric traits due to various reasons (eg. ageing, the person gaining or losing weight, etc.). Civilian applications usually operate in cooperative or monitored mode wherein the users can give feedback to the system on occurrence of any errors. An intelligent adaptive framework is proposed which uses the feedback to incrementally update the parameters of the feature selection and verification framework for the individuals. This technique does not require the system to be re-trained to address the issue of changing features. The third factor which has been explored to improve the performance of authentication for civilian applications is the pattern of participation of the enrolled users. As the new users are enrolled into the system, a degradation is observed in performance due to the increasing number of users. Traditionally, it is required to re-train the system periodically with the existing users to take care of this issue. An interesting observation is that although the number of users enrolled into the system can be very high, the number of users which regularly participate in the authentication process is comparatively low. Thus, modeling the variation in participating population helps to bypass the retraining process. We propose to model the variation in participating population using the Markov models. Using these models, the prior probability of participation of each individual is computed and incorporated into the traditional feature selection framework, providing more relevance to the parameters of regularly participating users. Both the structured and unstructured modes of variation of participation were explored. Experiments were conducted on varied datasets, verifying our claim that incorporating prior probability of participation helps to improve performance of a biometric system over time. In order to validate our claims and techniques, we used hand-geometry and keystrokes-based biometric traits. The hand-images were acquired using a simple low-cost setup consisting of a digital camera and a flat translucent platform with five rigid pegs (to assure that the images acquired are well-aligned). The platform is illuminated from beneath so as to simplify the preprocessing of the acquired images. The features used for hand-geometry includes lengths of four fingers, and widths at five equidistant points on each finger. Features of thumb are not used as these measurements for thumb show high variability for the same user. This dataset was used to validate the proposed feature selection technique. For keystrokes-based biometrics, the features used were the dwell time (duration of key-press event) and flight time (duration between key-release and next key-press events)of each key, and the number of times backspace and delete key were pressed. Data was collected from subjects who were not accustomed to a particular kind of keyboard (French keyboard). The features extracted from this dataset were time-varying and was used to validate the concept of incremental updation. In this thesis, we identify and address some of the issues which lead to low performance of authentication using certain weak biometric traits. We also look into the problem of low performance of authentication in large-scale biometrics for civilian applications.


Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have recently been very successful in a variety of computer vision tasks, especially on those linked to recognition. Optical flow estimation has not been among the tasks CNNs succeeded at. In this paper we construct CNNs which are capable of solving the optical flow estimation problem as a supervised learning task. We propose and compare two architectures: a generic architecture and another one including a layer that correlates feature vectors at different image locations. Since existing ground truth data sets are not sufficiently large to train a CNN, we generate a large synthetic Flying Chairs dataset. We show that networks trained on this unrealistic data still generalize very well to existing datasets such as Sintel and KITTI, achieving competitive accuracy at frame rates of 5 to 10 fps.


Inadequate internal communication and insufficient information transfer is already recognized as a non-value-adding waste. To achieve a higher value creation, an identification and categorization of information transfer is necessary. Common methods are unsuitable especially for visualizing information media disruptions and lead to errors in the added value. Moreover, media disruptions mostly cause redundancy and additional effort, which are reflected in non-value added activities. The Value Added Heat Map is a visualization tool that categorizes and visualize the information flow different from other visualization tools e.g. the value stream analysis. The first step in categorizing the information flow using the Value Added Heat Map is the value analysis of the information transmission. In a second step, the information flow is visualized in the factory layout depending on the value. The innovative method Value Added Heat Map is described and exemplarily applied to an information flow of a production shop floor. The results show that the Value Added Heat Map method can contribute to a better transparency of the often not fully documented internal information flows. This innovative approach enables the visualization of media disruptions via colour transitions and thus helps value added processes by identifying and eliminating possible sources of waste.


Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common malignancy affecting approximately one million people worldwide annually. It is one of the most common causes of cancer morbidity and mortality in Asia and Africa. The successful control of HCC in children after HBV vaccination further supports a role of chronic HBV infection in the development of HCC. Known risk factors for HCC include chronic viral infection, cirrhosis, extensive alcohol intake, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, certain inherited metabolic conditions, environmental exposure, and transgenic oncogenes (1-4).


Abstract.
 Fifty-two fossils of megalyrid wasps from various collections of European amber were examined. A male neotype for Prodinapsis succinalis Brues and a female neotype for P. minor Brues are designated. The two species are redescribed and illustrated from Eocene and Oligocene amber, and males are tentatively distinguished by the length of their forewing. Three new species are described: P. pumilio Perrichot & Perkovsky n. sp., from a single female preserved in upper Eocene Rovno amber (Ukraine); P. janzeni Perrichot n. sp., from three males in Eocene Baltic and Rovno amber; and P. oesiensis Perrichot n. sp., from a single male preserved in lower Eocene French amber. A key for the identification of the five species of Prodinapsis is provided. Megazar elegans Perrichot n. gen. and n. sp., and Megalava truncata Perrichot n. gen. and n. sp., are described from Albian French and Spanish amber, respectively, and are placed in a new tribe Megazarini Perrichot n. tribe, which is characterized by the mesothoracic spiracle not being surrounded by pronotal cuticle posteriorly, the inner margin of the metathoracic trochanter, femur, tibia, and first two tarsomeres having comblike spines or stiff setae, the forewing with M+Cu being tubular, the basal segment of Rs being very long, and a narrow medial cell [1M]. The following new fossil genera and species are also described and illustrated: Ukrainosa prolata Perrichot & Perkovsky n. gen. and n. sp., from Eocene Rovno amber; Rubes bruesi Perrichot n. gen. and n. sp. from Eocene Baltic amber; Megallica parva Perrichot n. gen. and n. sp., from upper Albian amber of France; and Valaa delclosi Perrichot n. gen. and n. sp., from lower Albian amber of Spain. A second specimen of Megalyra baltica Poinar & Shaw is illustrated from Baltic amber and discussed. A key for the identification of all known fossil and extant genera is provided. The new fossils extend significantly our knowledge of the evolutionary history of Megalyridae sensu stricto (i.e., excluding Cleistogastridae) that hitherto comprised eight modern and two extinct genera. They also emphasize the relictual distribution of the family that is now mainly restricted in tropical and austral regions, while it obviously occurred widely in ancient forests of the northern hemisphere during the Mesozoic and Cenozoic era.


abstract The Article distinguishes different approaches to conceptualising gender and poverty through examining the challenges of intersecting inequalities. Three dilemmas relating to whether one prioritises what works or what matters in poverty reduction are considered. The first dilemma is entailed in translating between different contexts of public policy formation, professional work, and lived experience in relation to gender and poverty. Is 'what works' achieved at the expense of 'what matters'? The second arises from a problem of attempting to build transversal dialogues across differently situated actors and the extent to which building a process of understanding of 'what matters' is enough to go beyond advocacy to selecting the appropriate action. The last is the dilemma of prioritisation. Is it more important to address poverty and gender sequentially or in tandem? Taking examples drawn from a research project on the interpretation of the gender Millennium Development Goal (MDG3) in Kenya and South Africa, and drawing on some of the conceptual resources associated with Amartya Sen's comparative approach to justice, the analysis attempts to address some of the challenges of the relationship of what works, what matters and the complexity of intersecting injustices.


A modern day Great Game is playing out in Inner Asia once again. Like the Great Game of the nineteenth century, it centers on Afghanistan, a land that falls outside every state's sphere of influence and has always been intensely hostile to foreigners, making it a perfect playing field. China, India, Russia, and the United States are the major powers embroiled in competition in and around Afghanistan, but Pakistan is also very much in the game. As the most significant front-line state, as well as the country of first asylum to the largest number of Afghan refugees (and largest refugee population in the world from 1982 to 1997), Pakistan correctly saw itself as having invested much in Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation in the 1980s. This investment cost Islamabad a great deal, however, even as it provided a great opportunity. Afghan mujahideen operated from Pakistani soil to attack Afghanistan, causing retaliatory attacks by the Soviet and Afghan governments that accompanied all the ills that millions of refugees can inflict on a poor state. At the same time, Pakistan's Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) used the Afghan war of the 1980s to refine its strategy of leveraging asymmetric actors to influence events in hostile or less-governed spaces in the country's immediate neighborhood. This goes to the heart of the security dilemma facing Pakistan today, which also helps explain its problem with India and how Afghanistan after 2014 fits into that relationship.The Great Game construct offers much to our understanding of post-2014 Afghanistan and the factors that will likely drive the competition there. This essay articulates Pakistan's primary national interests in Afghanistan and how those interests can be expected to play out in the context of the interests of the other major actors that are also engaged there. It will conclude with some predictions about Pakistan's post-2014 approach to Afghanistan.Pakistan and Afghanistan: Historical ContextEven before the partition of 1947, Pakistan's security consciousness has been dominated by the perceived threat posed by its larger neighbor India, with which it has fought four wars and numerous smaller conflicts. India's sheer size has helped it prevail in all these military exchanges, prompting Pakistan to invest more and more in its military over time. Today, Pakistan has a large and very professional military with a poor track record against India's military, a large nuclear arsenal with robust delivery systems (postured against India's Cold Start conventional strategic doctrine), and an active use of asymmetric actors (guerrillas, insurgents, irregulars, and terrorists), especially in the contested area of Kashmir. This "strategic triad" both reflects and reinforces the fixation of the Pakistani military on India, motivates Pakistan's spending and strategic doctrines, and causes it to focus increasingly on building, funding, training, and running asymmetric actors outside Pakistan.In the 1990s, after the Soviet Union collapsed and the United States extricated itself from Afghanistan, only Pakistan remained deeply engaged there. Russia, the United States, China, and India all had other priorities: modern Russia was a weakened successor to the Soviet Union, the United States was focused on the Persian Gulf and Eastern Europe, China was reeling from the Tiananmen Square uprising, and India was set adrift from its treaty arrangement with the Soviet Union in the wake of the latter's collapse. The United States left Afghanistan largely in the hands of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, with a decade of increasingly virulent Islamism and destructive civil war as the result. In the latter half of the 1990s, Iran also became engaged in supporting its clients in western, central, and northern Afghanistan, deepening the civil war into ethnic-sectarian cleansing.The Afghan war that erupted after September 11, 2001, changed the regional equation. Today, the United States plays the dominant role, but a rising China, emerging India, re-emerging Russia, troubled Iran, and other regional players all are actively involved in Afghanistan, as are multilateral and nongovernmental organizations. …


Adaptive filters can improve their performance by exploiting the well-known tradeoff between bias and variance of the estimated solution. In a previous work, a scheme for adaptively biasing the filter weights was introduced, multiplying the output of a filter of any kind by a shrinking factor α ∈ [0, 1]. With an appropriate value α, such a scheme can reduce the steady-state error, especially for low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Here, we extend such analysis for a tracking scenario in which the optimal solution follows a random walk-model. We briefly review a realizable scheme for learning a, based on recently proposed algorithms for adaptive filter combination. Our experiments validate the accurateness of the analysis, and illustrate the performance gains that can be expected from these biased configurations in stationary and tracking scenarios.


Gaussian normal error assumption and OLS-based regression estimations form the basis of co-integration testing techniques. However, many studies have found evidence that financial and some important economic time series data such as exchange rate returns and inflation rates are subject to high variability. In particular, their innovations exhibit the features of skewness, excessive peakness around the mean and heavier tails than those of the Gaussian normal distribution. Stable distributions (which are used to model high variability in data and infinite-variance processes) provide more realistic distributional assumptions than the Gaussian distribution for heavy-tailed financial and economic time series. Least Absolute Deviation (LAD) based estimators often yield robust results for heavy-tailed data compared to least squares based estimators. In this dissertation, as a natural extension of the extant studies, we consider a new robust residual-based co-integration test under the assumption of infinite-variance errors which are in the domain of attraction of a stable law. We implement the least absolute deviation (LAD) procedure in our regression estimations.In part I, the new co-integration tests are proposed. The test is parametric: the critical values of the test statistic depend on the stability index of the stable distribution from which the errors are driven. The unit root test statistic we consider under the null of no co-integration is taken from Samarakoon and Knight (2009, Econometric Reviews, 28, 314--334). We find the critical values of these new co-integration tests through Monte Carlo simulations and observe that the null convergence of the test statistic is faster for lighter tails. Size and power comparisons are included to evaluate the performance of the new residual-based tests relative to conventional OLS-based ones which are due to Caner (1998, J. of Econometrics, 86, 155--175). We observe that the LAD-based tests have power advantages over the OLS-based tests as the sample size gets larger and the tails get heavier with infinite-variance error assumption, yet there are more size distortions associated with LAD-based tests especially for small sample sizes compared to OLS-based ones.The new tests are employed to test for forward rate unbiasedness hypothesis (FRUH) with daily frequency data for a sample of eight currencies (Australian dollar, Canadian dollar, French franc, German mark, Italian lira, Japanese yen, Swiss franc and U.K. pound) against the U.S. dollar for 1-month, 3-month, 6-month and 1-year forward contracts. We also run fully-modified ordinary least squares (FM-OLS) and fully-modified least absolute deviation (FM-LAD) estimators on the co-integrating regressions to test the coefficient restrictions which are implied by the FRUH. We observe that tests involving longer maturity forward contracts (6-month and 1-year) and LAD-based co-integration tests mostly provide the evidence that is inconsistent with FRUH.In part II, weak and strong-form purchasing power parity (PPP) relations are re-examined by using LAD-based procedures under infinite-variance error assumption. LAD-based co-integration tests that are proposed in part I are used to test for weak-form PPP. FM-OLS and FM-LAD procedures are used to test for the strong-form PPP hypothesis. The results from LAD-based estimations are compared to their OLS-based counterparts. Monthly exchange rate (per U.S. dollar) and PPI data for a sample of eight countries (Austria, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Sweden and the U.K.) from 1973:1 to 2009:12 are used for estimation purposes. Neither weak-form nor strong-form PPP relations can be justified empirically regardless of the estimation procedure. Results from the new residual-based co-integration tests give slightly more support of the weak-form PPP.


Growth factors and cytokines act through cell surface receptors with different biochemical properties. Yet each type of receptor can elicit similar as well as distinct biological responses in target cells, suggesting that distinct classes of receptors activate common gene sets. Epidermal growth factor, interferon-gamma, and interleukin-6 all activated, through direct tyrosine phosphorylation, latent cytoplasmic transcription factors that recognized similar DNA elements. However, different ligands activated different patterns of factors with distinct DNA-binding specificities in the same and different cells. Thus, unrelated receptors may activate a common nuclear signal transduction pathway that, through differential use of latent cytoplasmic proteins, permits these receptors to regulate both common and unique sets of genes.


Privacy is a major concern in RFID systems, especially with widespread deployment of wireless-enabled interconnected personal devices e.g. PDAs and mobile phones, credit cards, e-passports, even clothing and tires. An RFID authentication protocol should not only allow a legitimate reader to authenticate a tag but it should also protect the privacy of the tag against unauthorized tracing: an adversary should not be able to get any useful information about the tag for tracking or discovering the tag's identity. In this paper, we analyze the privacy of some recently proposed RFID authentication protocols (2006 and 2007) and show attacks on them that compromise their privacy. Our attacks consider the simplest adversaries that do not corrupt nor open the tags. We describe our attacks against a general untraceability model; from experience we view this endeavour as a good practice to keep in mind when designing and analyzing security protocols.


This paper introduces an approximate adder architecture based on a digital quasi-feedback technique called Carry CutBack in which high-significance stages can cut the carry propagation chain at lower-significance positions. This lightweight approach prevents activation of the critical path, improving energy efficiency while guaranteeing low worst-case relative error. It offers a degree of freedom which allows to dissociate precision and dynamic range in fixed-point implementation. A design methodology is presented along with results and a comparative study. For a worst-case accuracy of 98 %, energy savings up to 44% and power-delay-area reductions up to 62 % are demonstrated compared to low-power conventional designs.


The Chinese economy has been reasonably stable during the Asian financial crisis. However, there is a widespread speculation about the prospect of the stability of RMB, the Chinese currency. While the Chinese government has repeatedly promised the stability of RMB, many oversea economists have downgraded the future RMB. Unlike speculations by many in the academic and business circles outside China, this paper argues that the Chinese government is able to and will defend RMB in the near future. The cost for China to defend RMB is not formidably high for the time being. However, as China implements an expansionary macroeconomic policy, hence the macroeconomic environment changes, it will be economically unacceptable to peg the RMB to the U.S. dollar. The uncertainty of the Hong Kong dollar and the economy of Hong Kong is another concern for the RMB stability. In the long run, the exchange rate of RMB will have to be adjusted.


Greenland's main outlet glaciers have more than doubled their contribution to global sea level rise over the last decade. Recent work has shown that Greenland's mass loss is still increasing. Here we show that the ice loss, which has been well‐documented over southern portions of Greenland, is now spreading up along the northwest coast, with this acceleration likely starting in late 2005. We support this with two lines of evidence. One is based on measurements from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite gravity mission, launched in March 2002. The other comes from continuous Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements from three long‐term sites on bedrock adjacent to the ice sheet. The GRACE results provide a direct measure of mass loss averaged over scales of a few hundred km. The GPS data are used to monitor crustal uplift caused by ice mass loss close to the sites. The GRACE results can be used to predict crustal uplift, which can be compared with the GPS data. In addition to showing that the northwest ice sheet margin is now losing mass, the uplift results from both the GPS measurements and the GRACE predictions show rapid acceleration in southeast Greenland in late 2003, followed by a moderate deceleration in 2006. Because that latter deceleration is weak, southeast Greenland still appears to be losing ice mass at a much higher rate than it was prior to fall 2003. In a more general sense, the analysis described here demonstrates that GPS uplift measurements can be used in combination with GRACE mass estimates to provide a better understanding of ongoing Greenland mass loss; an analysis approach that will become increasingly useful as long time spans of data accumulate from the 51 permanent GPS stations recently deployed around the edge of the ice sheet as part of the Greenland GPS Network (GNET).


Chemical cues play an important role in an organism's assessment of their environmentand resulting decision-making behavior. Examples include kairomones, which prey species useto gather information about the predator species that produce them. Vaejovis carolinianus, thesouthern devil scorpion, occupies both secondary and tertiary trophic levels of its communitiesand, as with all members of its order, possesses dedicated chemosensory organs called pectines.V. carolinianus and members of its family exhibit radical sexual dimorphism in pectine size.Three biogenic amines, 2-phenylethylamine, tyramine and histamine, were selected as treatment.The aims of this study are to determine the effect, if any, of the tested amines on decisionmakingbehavior and to assess if the difference in pectine morphology among the sexes conveysa chemosensory advantage to males outside of functions related to courtship and mate detection.In order to assess the effect of three biogenic amines on decision-making behavior,twelve identical mazes were constructed. Treatment was deposited on a sand substrate in onearm of each trial, and 70 individuals were tested against each amine. Of the three test amines,two (2-phenylethylamine and tyramine) are trace amines belonging to the phenylethylamineclass of neurotransmitters; of these, 2-phenylethylamine has been shown to function as akairomone used by rodents. Histamine, the third amine to be tested, is a monoamine and alsofunctions as a neurotransmitter.In each set of trials, females were shown to be more likely to avoid tested amines thanmales, although avoidance was significant only in trials concerning tyramine and histamine; 2-phenylethylamine did not produce a significant avoidance in either sex. Notably, males exhibitedstatistically significant avoidance of only tyramine, showing no discernable preference forhistamine. The results of the study suggest that females use chemical information differently inmatters of environmental assessment and decision-making behavior.


Previous research on multimedia information filtering has mainly concentrated on key frame identification and video skim generation for browsing purposes, however applications requiring the generation of summaries as the final product for user con- sumption are of equal scientific and commercial interest. Recent advances in computer vision have enabled the extraction of semantic events from an audio-visual signal, so it can be assumed for our purposes that such semantic labels are already available for use. We concentrate instead on developing methods to prioritise these semantic elements for inclusion in a summary which can be personalised to meet a particular user's needs. Our work differentiates itself from that in the literature as it is driven by the results of a knowledge elicitation study with expert summarisers. The experts in our study believe that summaries structured as a narrative are better able to convey the content of the original data to a user. Motivated by the information filtering problem, the primary contribution of this thesis is the design and implementation of a system to summarise sequences of events by automatic modelling of the causal relationships between them. We show, by com- parison against summaries generated by experts and with the introduction of a new coherence metric, that modelling the causal relationships between events increases the coherence and accuracy of summaries. We suggest that this claim is valid, not only in the domain of soccer highlights generation, in which we carry out the bulk of our experiments, but also in any other domain in which causal relationships can be iden- tified between events. This proposal is tested by applying our summarisation system to another, significantly different domain, that of business meeting summarisation, using the soccer training set and a manually generated ontology mapping. We introduce the concept of a context-group of causally related events as a first step towards modelling narrative episodes and present a comparison between a case based reasoning and a two-stage Markov model approach to summarisation. For both methods we show that by including entire context-groups in the summary, rather than single events in isolation, more accurate summaries can be generated. Our approach to personalisation biases a summary according to particular narrative plotlines using different subsets of the training data. Results show that the number of instances of certain event classes can be increased by biasing the training set appropriately. This method gives very similar results to a standard weighting method, while avoiding the need to tailor the weights to a particular application domain.


"On the morning of 26 April 1607, three small ships carrying 143 Englishmen arrived off the Virginia coast of North America, having spent four months at sea...All hoped for financial success and perhaps a little adventure; as it turned out, their tiny settlement eventually would evolve from colony into a prominent state in an entirely new nation." So begins "Old Dominion, New Commonwealth: A History of Virginia, 1607-2007" and the remarkable story behind the founding not only of the state of Virginia but of our nation. With this book, the historians Ronald L. Heinemann, John G. Kolp, Anthony S. Parent Jr., and William G. Shade collaborate to provide a comprehensive, accessible, one-volume history of Virginia, the first of its kind since the 1970s. In seventeen narrative chapters, the authors tackle the four centuries of Virginia's history from Jamestown through the present, emphasizing the major themes that play throughout Virginia history - change and continuity, a conservative political order, race and slavery, economic development, and social divisions - and how they relate to national events. Including helpful bibliographical listings at the end of each chapter as well as a general listing of useful sources and Websites, the book is truly a treasure trove for any student, scholar, or general-interest reader looking to find out more about the history of Virginia and our nation. Timed to coincide with the 2007 quadricentennial, "Old Dominion, New Commonwealth" will stand as a classic for years to come.


Corrosion under flow conditions is a major problem in the transportation industry. Various studies have shown the direct impact of different flow rates on bacteria biofilm formation, mass transfer and resulting different corrosion behaviour of materials in neutral environments. However, little is understood on corrosion under acidic flow conditions. This study investigated the impact of an acidic artificial seawater environment containing Desulfovibrio vulgaris on DSS 2205 microbial corrosion under different velocities (0.25 m.s-1 and 0.61 m.s-1). Experiments containing no bacteria were performed as controls. Bacterial attachment was observed by optical and scanning electron microscope (SEM). Materials corrosion was assessed using open circuit potential (OCP), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and potentiodynamic polarization. Pits formed after potentiodynamic test were observed under SEM. The largest area of bacterial attachment was found on coupons immersed at a velocity of 0.25 m.s-1; however, the corrosion rate was lower than at higher velocity. Shallow pits occurred in the metal coupons when bacteria were present, while deep pits occurred in the controls. The study indicates the positive impact of biofilm formation in corrosion prevention of materials under acidic condition. The nature of corrosion behaviour of duplex stainless is discussed.


Abstract We assessed the effects of range disjunction, migratory habit, coloniality, and habitat structure on the genetic differentiation of North American Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia) populations. Burrowing Owls in North America comprise two forms or subspecies: A. c. floridana in Florida, separated by ∼1,500 km from the western form, A. c. hypugaea, which ranges from Texas to California and north to southern Canada. Burrowing Owls tend to be loosely colonial, and both the Florida populations and southerly populations of A. c. hypugaea from California to Texas are nonmigratory. To assess genetic structure, we examined 201 individuals from nine western and six Florida populations at seven highly variable microsatellite DNA loci. Mean gene diversity (Hexp) was higher in the west than in Florida (0.539 and 0.341, respectively; P < 0.05). Populations within subspecies were essentially panmictic (A. c. floridana: θ = 0.038, ρ = 0.014; A. c. hypugaea: θ = 0.014, ρ = 0.009) and even genetic differentiation across subspecies was modest (θ = 0.051, ρ = 0.014). Nevertheless, the western and Florida forms were easily distinguished by any of several criteria, such as allelic absences in Florida, assignment tests, and well-supported branches on the inferred phylogenetic tree. Genetic differentiation was at least twice as great in resident Florida (θ = 0.038) and California (θ = 0.021) populations as in migratory western populations (θ = 0.012), though 95% confidence intervals of theta estimates overlapped. We found no evidence of a genetic bottleneck that would result in evolutionary disequilibrium within subspecies. In the west, high observed heterozygosity values and evidence of gene flow suggest that population declines and patchy habitat, which currently imperil this species throughout much of its range, have not led to inbreeding or biologically meaningful genetic differentiation among the sampled populations.


Distribution Agnostic Structured Sparsity Recovery: Algorithms and Applications Mudassir Masood Compressed sensing has been a very active area of research and several elegant algorithms have been developed for the recovery of sparse signals in the past few years. However, most of these algorithms are either computationally expensive or make some assumptions that are not suitable for all real world problems. Recently, focus has shifted to Bayesian-based approaches that are able to perform sparse signal recovery at much lower complexity while invoking constraint and/or a priori information about the data. While Bayesian approaches have their advantages, these methods must have access to a priori statistics. Usually, these statistics are unknown and are often difficult or even impossible to predict. An effective workaround is to assume a distribution which is typically considered to be Gaussian, as it makes many signal processing problems mathematically tractable. Seemingly attractive, this assumption necessitates the estimation of the associated parameters; which could be hard if not impossible. In the thesis, we focus on this aspect of Bayesian recovery and present a framework to address the challenges mentioned above. The proposed framework allows Bayesian recovery of sparse signals but at the same time is agnostic to the distribution of the unknown sparse signal components. The algorithms based on this framework are agnostic to signal statistics and utilize a priori statistics of additive 5 noise and the sparsity rate of the signal, which are shown to be easily estimated from data if not available. In the thesis, we propose several algorithms based on this framework which utilize the structure present in signals for improved recovery. In addition to the algorithm that considers just the sparsity structure of sparse signals, tools that target additional structure of the sparsity recovery problem are proposed. These include several algorithms for a) block-sparse signal estimation, b) joint reconstruction of several common support sparse signals, and c) distributed estimation of sparse signals. Extensive experiments are conducted to demonstrate the power and robustness of our proposed sparse signal estimation algorithms. Specifically, we target the problems of a) channel estimation in massive-MIMO, and b) Narrowband interference mitigation in SC-FDMA. We model these problems as sparse recovery problems and demonstrate how these could be solved naturally using the proposed algorithms.