We are in the midst of the third severe coronavirus outbreak caused by SARS-CoV-2 with unprecedented health and socio-economic consequences due to the COVID-19. Globally, the major thrust of scientific efforts has shifted to the design of potent vaccine and anti-viral candidates. Earlier genome analyses have shown global dominance of some mutations purportedly indicative of similar infectivity and transmissibility of SARS-CoV-2 worldwide. Using high-quality large dataset of 25k whole-genome sequences, we show emergence of new cluster of mutations as result of geographic evolution of SARS-CoV-2 in local population (≥10%) of different nations. Using statistical analysis, we observe that these mutations have either significantly co-occurred in globally dominant strains or have shown mutual exclusivity in other cases. These mutations potentially modulate structural stability of proteins, some of which forms part of SARS-CoV-2-human interactome. The high confidence druggable host proteins are also up-regulated during SARS-CoV-2 infection. Mutations occurring in potential hot-spot regions within likely T-cell and B-cell epitopes or in proteins as part of host-viral interactome, could hamper vaccine or drug efficacy in local population. Overall, our study provides comprehensive view of emerging geo-clonal mutations which would aid researchers to understand and develop effective countermeasures in the current crisis. Significance Our comparative analysis of globally dominant mutations and region-specific mutations in 25k SARS-CoV-2 genomes elucidates its geo-clonal evolution. We observe locally dominant mutations (co-occurring or mutually exclusive) in nations with contrasting COVID-19 mortalities per million of population) besides globally dominant ones namely, P314L (ORF1b) and D164G (S) type. We also see exclusive dominant mutations such as in Brazil (I33T in ORF6 and I292T in N protein), England (G251V in ORF3a), India (T2016K and L3606F in ORF1a) and in Spain (L84S in ORF8). The emergence of these local mutations in ORFs within SARS-CoV-2 genome could have interventional implications and also points towards their potential in modulating infectivity of SARS-CoV-2 in regional population.


Compact microracetrack resonator (MRR) devices are presented with small SU-8 polymer strip waveguides. The SU-8 strip waveguide has an SU-8 polymer core (n~1.573) , a SiO2 buffer (n~1.445), and an air cladding. The fabricated straight waveguide has a low propagation loss of about 0.1 dB/mm. With such a high index-contrast optical waveguide, a compact MRR with a small bending radius (~150 mum) are designed and fabricated. The measured spectral responses of the through/drop ports show a Q-factor of 8000.


The flow microenvironment of 2 marine peritrich ciliates, Vorticella sp. and Zootham- nium niveum, with ectobiotic sulfur bacteria was studied with frame-by-frame analyses of video sequences and a microsensor for fluid velocity. Both species populate the chemocline above H2S- releasing mangrove peat. Vorticella sp. moves the surrounding seawater up to a horizontal and ver- tical distance of at least 400 µm with a maximum flow velocity of 18 mm s -1 close to its peristomial edge. The feather-shaped colonies of Z. niveum generate a unidirectional flow of seawater passing the colony perpendicular to the stalk; the convex side of the feather faces upstream. The flow veloc- ity increased exponentially towards the colony, up to 11 mm s -1 at a distance of 100 µm. Contraction of the stalk forces the zooids of Vorticella sp. and Z. niveum towards the substrate at a high velocity of 71 and 520 mm s -1 , respectively. During contraction of Vorticella sp., only little seawater is dragged along towards the surface to which the ciliates are attached whereas the contraction of Z. niveum resulted in a clear increase in the velocity of the seawater both surrounding the colony and above the substrate. Extension of the species proceeds 700 to 1000 times more slowly than contraction, and the surrounding seawater sticks to the cells and therefore is dragged along. The measurements given here support our earlier data indicating the importance of the feeding current for the bacteria-ciliate association, i.e. the cilia beat drives H2S- and O2-containing seawater toward the zooid at high veloc- ity and thus, supports the growth of the ectobiotic sulfide-oxidizing bacteria. Rapid movement, shrinkage (Vorticella sp.) and bunching (Z. niveum) of the zooids during stalk contraction apparently cause sufficient shear stress to abrade ectobiotic bacteria that, once suspended, could enter the feeding currents.


On 05 December 2010, the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) came into force in the EU. Member States are still working to fully transpose the Directive into national law and establish a framework for achieving their legally binding greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions. However, governments got off to a slow start as debate continues on the validity of the directives foundations including the default values used to measure the sustainability of biofuels. Only sustainable biofuels can be counted towards Member State targets. This, as a matter of principle, makes sense with respect to the very aim of renewable energy policies. On the other hand, the vague and distortive formulation and values regarding what is to be classified as "sustainable" have negatively impacted the perception of the underlying scientific base and methodologies as well as the reliability in the European biofuels sector. This uncertainty and the ongoing controversial debates are affecting investment and progress in the biofuel sector not just in Europe but all over the world. Producers of soybeans in the US, sugarcane in Brazil and palm oil in Malaysia and Indonesia as well as European importers and end-users of these products have all been sharply critical of the default values, citing significant variations in calculations that undermine the credibility of the values contained in the Directive. Given the remarkable difference between the calculation of carbon reduction performance of palm oil based biofuel by the EU and a range of scientific studies which we documented in an earlier paper (Pehnelt and Vietze 2009), we are re-calculating GHG emissions saving potentials for palm oil biodiesel in order to further assess the carbon footprint of palm oil to overcome the lack of transparency in existing publications on the issue and EU regulations governing the biofuel feed-stocks. The aim of this paper is to calculate realistic and transparent scenario based CO2-emission values for the GHG emission savings of palm oil fuel compared with fossil fuel. Using the calculation scheme proposed by the Renewable Energy Directive (RED), we derive a more realistic overall default value for palm oil diesel by using current input and output data of biofuel production (e.g. in South-East Asia) and documenting every single step in detail. We calculate different scenarios in which reliable data on the production conditions (and the regarding emission values during the production chain) of palm oil diesel are used. Our conservative calculations based on the Joint Research Centre's (JEC 2011) background data and current publications on palm oil production result in GHG emissions saving potentials of palm oil based biodiesel fairly above the 35% threshold. We cannot reproduce the EU's GHG saving values for palm oil. Rather, our results confirm the higher values obtained by other studies mentioned in our last paper (Pehnelt and Vietze 2009) and elsewhere in this study. Our results indicate default values for the GHG emission savings potential of palm oil biodiesel not only way beyond the 19 percent default value published in RED but also beyond the 35 percent threshold. Our findings conclude that the more accurate default value for palm oil feedstock for electricity generation to be 52%, and for transportation biodiesel between 38.5% and 41%, depending on the fossil fuel comparator. Our results confirm the findings by other studies and challenge the official default values published in RED. As indicated by lawsuits filed by environmental NGOs against the Commission for greater transparency related to the assessment of biofuels, the process has been severely lacking in full disclosure of metrics used to achieve the values contained in the Renewable Energy Directive. As a result, the reliability of the Directive to support the EU's low-carbon ambitions is being undermined, exposing the EU and Commission to charges of trade discrimination and limiting the ability of Member States to achieve their legally binding GHG emission reductions. This analysis demonstrates that a full review of the values contained in the Directive should be undertaken and the values revised to ensure their accuracy, and raises questions as to the method that the values were originally established. Were outside parties consulted, including the industries directly affected by the assessments in the Directive? Were these values peer reviewed? In light of grievances expressed by producers throughout the world, including US soybean growers, Brazilian sugarcane farmers, and Malaysian and Indonesian palm growers, ensuring the Directive does not discriminate against imports is critical to the long-term efforts in the EU to reduce GHG emissions.


BACKGROUND: Damage control resuscitation advocates correction of coagulopathy; however, options are limited and expensive. The use of prothrombin complex concentrate (PCC), also known as factor IX complex, can quickly accelerate reversal of coagulopathy at relatively low cost. The purpose of this study is to describe our experience in the use of factor IX complex in coagulopathic trauma patients. METHODS: All patients receiving PCC at our Level I trauma center over a two-year period (2008–2010) were reviewed. PCC was used at the discretion of the trauma attending for treatment of coagulopathy, reversal of coumadin, and when recombinant factor VIIa was indicated. RESULTS: Forty-five trauma patients received 51 doses of PCC. Sixty-two per cent were male and mean Injury Severity Score was 23 (±14.87). Standard dose was 25 units per kg and mean cost per patient was $1,022 ($504–3,484). Fifty-eight per cent of patients were on warfarin before admission. Mean international normalized ratio (INR) was decreased after PCC administration (p = 0.001). Packed red blood cell transfusion was also reduced after factor IX complex (p = 0.018). Mean INR was reduced in both the nonwarfarin (p = 0.001) and warfarin (p = 0.001) groups. Packed red blood cell transfusion was less in the nonwarfarin group (p = 0.002) however was not significant in the warfarin group. Subsequent thromboembolic events were observed in 3 of the 45 patients (7%). Mortality was 16 of 45 (36%). CONCLUSION: PCC rapidly and effectively treats coagulopathy after traumatic injury. PCC therapy leads to a significant correction in INR in all trauma patients, regardless of coumadin use, and concomitant reduction in blood product transfusion. PCC should be considered as an effective tool to treat acute coagulopathy of trauma. Further prospective studies examining the safety, efficacy, cost, and outcomes comparing PCC and recombinant factor VIIa are needed. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: III, therapeutic study.


This study is based on the isotope-geochemical characteristics of oils from 53 fields in the South Caspian Basin – from Upper Cretaceous, Eocene, Oligocene–Lower Miocene (Maykop), Middle and the Upper Miocene (Diatom) and Pliocene. The isotopic composition of carbon (δ13C) allows two main groups of oils to be identified: (1) isotopically heavy and (2) isotopically light oils. The first group includes oils assumed to be generated by Upper Cretaceous, Eocene and Oligocene–Lower Miocene sources. The second group consists of oils assumed to be generated by Diatom (Middle and Upper Miocene) sources. Isotope-geochemical and biomarker parameters demonstrated that oils in the Pliocene reservoirs are not syngenetic to their enclosing deposits. The isotopic composition of carbon in oils and hydrocarbon gases in mud volcanoes and fields and the biomarker parameters of oils allow several isolated stratigraphic oil- and gas-producing complexes (source rocks) in the Mesozoic, Palaeogene–Lower Miocene and Middle–Upper Miocene to be postulated. Oils in the Pliocene reservoirs and in mud volcanoes consist of mixed oils generated by the Pre-Diatom and Diatom deposits and of oils from only one of the above-mentioned complexes.


While maintaining core assets of a product line, product line engineers may need to adapt the assets to accommodate new requirements and new devices from the changing and newly emerging markets. Additionally, due to the emergence of new computing environments like autonomous systems (e.g., ubiquitous computing and the Internet of Things), there is increasing demand for dynamic adaptations of core assets, and this often needs to be managed with minimum human intervention. We propose an approach for managing a distributed feature model in order to facilitate the adaptation of self-adaptive dynamic software product lines (DSPLs). In addition, our approach allows the change of behaviours to promote the long lifecycle of self-adaptive DSPL. The case study applied in this paper is a baby care system (BCS). BCS assists people to monitor a baby while they are sleeping. We tested our BCS in the following scenarios: adding features, removing features and changing behaviours. All these scenarios showed that it is possible to use our approach to self-adapt DSPLs.


We have previously demonstrated that subacute and subchronic acrylamide (ACR) intoxication are associated with a loss of subcellular elemental regulation in myelinated axons and Schwann cells of rat tibial nerve (LoPachin et al., Toxicol. Appl. Pharmacol. 115, 21-34, 1992; LoPachin et al., Toxicol. Appl. Pharmacol. 115, 35-43, 1992). In the present study, rats were allowed to recover partially from subchronic oral ACR intoxication (2.8 mM in drinking water for approximately 30 days). Elemental composition and water content of tibial nerve myelinated axons and Schwann cells were measured by electron probe X-ray microanalysis. Results show that K and Cl concentrations in larger tibial nerve axons were shifted toward normal values or above. For the most part, small axons also exhibited elemental changes that reflected recovery from ACR intoxication. Mitochondria displayed elemental changes that were similar to corresponding axoplasm. Schwann cells in tibial nerve of recovering animals had altered Na, P, Cl, K, and Mg concentrations that were similar in magnitude and extent to those occurring during ACR intoxication. In contrast, myelin displayed few changes. These results suggest that the recovery process following ACR intoxication is associated with characteristic changes in subaxonal elemental composition that might be related to repair mechanisms. That recovery-related elemental changes differ from those associated with intoxication provides additional support for the hypothesis (LoPachin et al., Toxicol. Appl. Pharmacol. 115, 21-34, 1992) that perturbation of elemental regulation is a specific component of ACR neurotoxicity. The observation of persistent Schwann cell disruption during recovery might reflect either long-term secondary consequences or delayed recovery from direct injury. Further studies are necessary to resolve this issue.


Discrete optimization is a difficult task common to many different areas in modern research. This type of optimization refers to problems where solution elements can assume one of several discrete values. The most basic form of discrete optimization is binary optimization, where all solution elements can be either 0 or 1, while the more general form is problems that have solution elements which can assume $n$ different unordered values, where $n$ could be any integer greater than 1. While Genetic Algorithms (GA) are inherently able to handle these problems, there has been no adaption of Particle Swarm Optimization able to solve the general case.


When in July 1987 the diagnosis of child sexual abuse in some forty families in Cleveland hit the national headlines, society was confronted not only with the spectre of a much wider crisis, but also with a challenge to our stereotypes of both victims and perpetrators. For the children at the centre of the controversy were not the teenagers of popular mythology: they were as young as four years, even four months, from every class, boys as well as girls. When Cleveland Council made child sexual abuse a priority, it led to the appointment of specialist consultants and paediatricians trained in radical new approaches to diagnosis. It was they who uncovered what few others in Britain had seen, or wanted to see, throwing professional services and private lives into turmoil. In this study of the circumstances and implications of the Cleveland case, Beatrix Campbell examines the ways in which the different professions - police, doctors, social workers, health visitors, bureaucrats, educators - interpret the problem according to their particular stake in it. She looks too at the issues raised for every one of us by the evidence of the Cleveland findings: that our assumptions about the nature and frequency of child sex abuse must change before solutions can be found. Beatrix Campbell is the author of "Wigan Pier Revisited" and "The Iron Ladies".


Objective: To determine, in prematurely born children who had BPD, if respiratory
morbidity, healthcare utilisation and cost of care during the preschool years were
influenced by use of supplementary oxygen at home after NICU discharge.
Design: Observational study.
Setting: Four tertiary neonatal intensive care units.
Patients: 190 children, median gestational age 27 (range 22-31) weeks, 70 of whom
when discharged home received supplementary oxygen.
Interventions: Review of hospital and general practitioner records together with a
parent completed respiratory questionnaire.
Main outcome measures: Health care utilisation, cost of care, cough, wheeze and
use of an inhaler,
Results: Seventy children had supplementary oxygen at home (home oxygen group),
but only one had a continuous requirement for home oxygen beyond two years of age.
There were no significant differences in the gestational age or birth weight of the
home oxygen children compared to the rest of the cohort. Between two and four
years of age inclusive, the home oxygen children, however, had more outpatient
attendances (p=0.0021) and specialist attendances (p=0.0023) and for respiratory
problems required more prescriptions (p<0.0001). Their total cost of care was higher
(p<0.0001). In addition, more of the home oxygen group wheezed more than once a
week (p=0.048) and were more likely to use an inhaler (p<0.0001).
Conclusion: Children who had BPD and had supplementary oxygen at home
following NICU discharge have increased respiratory morbidity and health care
utilisation in the preschool years.


This article presents a causality analysis of output growth in East Java, Indonesia's second most competitive province after the capital city, Jakarta. We identify three variables which have stood out prominently for East Java: high output growth in the service sectors, a flexible labour market, and extensive infrastructure. Using a methodology developed by Geweke (1982), we measure the direction of causal effects between the three variables. Our findings confirm existing theories and research which argue that output growth is affected by the extent of infrastructure and quality of labour market. Such findings also support various calls for Indonesia to improve its infrastructure and labour market policies, and present East Java as a case from which lessons could be drawn for other Indonesian provinces.


For a long time guilds have been condemned as a major obstacle to economic progress in the pre-industrial era. This re-examination of the role of guilds in the early modern European economy challenges that view by taking into account fresh research on innovation, technological change and entrepreneurship. Leading economic historians argue that industry before the Industrial Revolution was much more innovative than previous studies have allowed for and explore the different products and production techniques that were launched and developed in this period. Much of this innovation was fostered by the craft guilds that formed the backbone of industrial production before the rise of the steam engine. The book traces the manifold ways in which guilds in a variety of industries in Italy, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Britain helped to create an institutional environment conducive to technological and marketing innovations.


Purpose: The main goal of this paper is to analyze how the schools and teachers in three high schools dealt with the challenges of heterogeneity in the classroom using methods of citizenship and character education (CCE). Approach: To achieve this goal we conducted case studies in three high schools in Berlin, using multiple methodological approaches: observation of lessons, surveys of students, focus group interviews (FGI) and workshops with students, and individual interviews with teachers and with the headmasters of the schools. For the analysis of the data we use the PRIME model developed by Berkowitz and Bier (2014). Findings: Findings: The results of the case studies provide numerous insights into the issue's complexity and highlight the need to discuss the goals as well as different models of CCE more broadly. Since the understanding of goals and appropriate means of CCE differs strongly depending on cultural and school context, analyzing CCE in the context of heterogeneity in democratic societies implies multidimensional questions. Practical implications: Future research needs to include more members of the studied school communities in the process of participatory action research: Deeper insight into the field can be achieved by integrating multiple perspectives. At the same time more members of the school community can reflect on the study outcomes, which might facilitate their direct implementation into practice.


A trophic cascade recently has been reported among wolves, elk, and aspen on the northern winter range of Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA, but the mechanisms of indirect interactions within this food chain have yet to be established. We investigated whether the observed trophic cascade might have a behavioral basis by exploring environmental factors influencing the movements of 13 female elk equipped with GPS radio collars. We developed a simple statistical approach that can unveil the concurrent influence of several environmental features on animal movements. Paths of elk traveling on their winter range were broken down into steps, which correspond to the straight-line segment between successive locations at 5-hour intervals. Each observed step was paired with 200 random steps having the same starting point, but differing in length and/or direction. Comparisons between the characteristics of observed and random steps using conditional logistic regression were used to model environmental features influencing movement patterns. We found that elk movements were influenced by multiple factors, such as the distance from roads, the presence of a steep slope along the step, and the cover type in which they ended. The influence of cover type on elk movements depended on the spatial distribution of wolves across the northern winter range of the park. In low wolf-use areas, the relative preference for end point locations of steps followed: aspen stands > open areas > conifer forests. As the risks of wolf encounter increased, the preference of elk for aspen stands gradually decreased, and selection became strongest for steps ending in conifer forests in high wolf-use areas. Our study clarifies the behavioral mechanisms involved in the trophic cascade of Yellowstone's wolf-elk-aspen system: elk respond to wolves on their winter range by a shift in habitat selection, which leads to local reductions in the use of aspen by elk.


Background The current injury and illness (I&I) surveillance system in association to athletics championships have to be improved by collecting pre-participation data for risk factors analyses. Objectives To evaluate a pre-participation health questionnaire (PHQ) for collecting health status data from athletes for risk factors analyses and to describe incidence and characteristics of I&I occurred during a major indoor Athletics championships. Design Cohort study using retrospective athlete self-report data on health status for the 4 weeks prior to the championship and prospective recording of in-championship injuries and illnesses. Setting 32st European Athletics Indoor Championships 2013 in Göteborg, Sweden. Participants A sub-cohort of athletes (n=127) for PHQ study and 577 registered athletes for I&I study. Risk factor assessment Age, gender, pre-competition pain, pre-competition injury, pre-competition illness, pre-competition training load and fatigue. Main outcome measures Newly incurred injury and illness at the championships. Results In the I&I study, 60 injuries (104.6/1000 registered athletes) were recorded. The most common injury cause was "field play conditions" (31%), followed by overuse (29%). 29 illnesses were reported (12.6 illnesses per 1000 athlete days), with upper respiratory tract infection and gastro-enteritis/diarrhoea as the most common diagnoses. 74 athletes submitted a complete PHQ (58.3%). An univariate statistical analysis showed that athletes having trained more than 12 hours per week were at increased risk for suffering a new injury (Relative risk (RR)=4.9 (95% Confidence interval (95% CI):1.2–20.7)), and athletes who presented a pre-participation health problem were more likely to suffer a new illness (RR=2.7; (95% CI:1.1–6.7)). Conclusions An athlete self-report PHQ was feasible and allowed for pre-participation screening of individuals at risk. Injury risk during indoor championships seems slightly lower than during outdoor championships with specific injury types that can be attributed to the indoor track conditions.


Abstract The turnover-pulse hypothesis (TPH) makes explicit predictions concerning the potential responses of species to climate change, which is considered to be a major cause of faunal turnover (extinction, speciation, and migration). Previous studies have tested the TPH primarily by examining temporal correlations between turnover pulses and climatic events. It is rarely possible to dissect such correlations and observe turnover as it is occurring or to predict how different lineages will respond to climate change. Thus, whether climate change drives faunal turnover in the manner predicted by the TPH remains unclear. In this study, we test the underlying mechanics of the TPH using well-dated Quaternary ungulate records from southern Africa's Cape Floristic Region (CFR). Changes in sea level, vegetation, and topographic barriers across glacial-interglacial transitions in southern Africa caused shifts in habitat size and configuration, allowing us to generate specific predictions concerning the responses of ungulates characterized by different feeding habits and habitat preferences. Examples from the CFR show how climatically forced vegetation change and allopatry can drive turnover resulting from extinction and migration. Evidence for speciation is lacking, suggesting either that climate change does not cause speciation in these circumstances or that the evolutionary outcome of turnover is contingent on the nature and rate of climate change. Migrations and extinctions are observed in the CFR fossil record over geologically short time intervals, on the order of Milankovitch-scale climate oscillations. We propose that such climate oscillations could drive a steady and moderate level of faunal turnover over 104-year time scales, which would not be resolved in paleontological records spanning 105 years and longer. A turnover pulse, which is a marked increase in turnover relative to previous and subsequent time periods, requires additional, temporally constrained climatic forcing or other processes that could accelerate evolutionary change, perhaps mediated through biotic interactions.


To understand how the composition of estuarine bacterioplankton changes on a monthly basis, microbial communities in the Baltimore Inner Harbor were investigated using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) of 16S rRNA gene. As revealed by DGGE fingerprints, the composition of bacterioplankton populations in the harbor varied from month to month, and 3 major seasonal patterns were identified: winter (December and January), spring (February to May) and summer-fall (June to November). Sequencing of DGGE bands showed that Planctomycetes and uncultured α-Proteobacteria were detected in all seasons. Roseobacter spp. and Rhodobacter sp. were only present in winter and spring. Marine α-Proteobacteria and Cyanobacteria exhibited simi- lar seasonal patterns and appeared to be more dominant from late summer to fall. β-Proteobacteria were present in most months, but different phylotypes were present from spring to summer-fall. γ-Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes were only present in winter and early spring. In addition to DGGE analysis, 48 bacterial isolates from summer and winter were cultured and characterized. Few of these bacterial isolates matched with phylotypes determined by sequencing DGGE bands, which sug- gested that the density of 'easy-to-culture' bacteria in the natural environment may be too low to be detected by PCR-DGGE. Bacterial seeding experiments showed that detection thresholds for PCR- DGGE ranged from 2.5 × 10 3 to 1 × 10 4 cells ml -1 (0.1 to 0.4% of total cell counts), depending on the copy number of rRNA operons in the genome of individual species.


Voice and Video Conferencing Fundamentals Design, develop, select, deploy, and support advanced IP-based audio and video conferencing systems Scott Firestone, Thiya Ramalingam, Steve Fry As audio and video conferencing move rapidly into the mainstream, customers and end users are demanding unprecedented performance, reliability, scalability, and security. In Voice and Video Conferencing Fundamentals, three leading experts systematically introduce the principles, technologies, and protocols underlying today's state-of-the-art conferencing systems. Discover how to use these concepts and techniques to deliver unified, presence-enabled services that integrate voice, video, telephony, networks, and the Interneti¾–and enable breakthrough business collaboration. The authors begin with a clear, concise overview of current voice and video conferencing, including system components, operational modes, endpoints, features, and user interactivity. Next, they illuminate conferencing architectures, offering practical insights for designing today's complex IP-based conferencing and collaboration systems. Topics covered in this book include video codecs, media control, SIP and H.323 protocols and applications, lip synchronization in video conferencing, security, and much more. Throughout the book, the authors draw on their extensive experience as Cisco® technical leaders, showing how to avoid the most common pitfalls that arise in planning, deployment, and administration. Voice and Video Conferencing Fundamentals is for every professional involved with audio or video conferencing: network and system administrators, engineers, technology managers, and Cisco solution partners alike. Whether you're involved with design, development, selection, implementation, management, or support, you'll find the in-depth knowledge you need to succeed. Scott Firestone holds a master's degree in computer science from MIT and has designed video conferencing and voice products since 1992, resulting in five patents. Thiya Ramalingam is an engineering manager for the Cisco Unified Communications organization. Thiya holds a master's degree in computer engineering and an MBA degree from San Jose State University. Steve Fry, a technical leader in the Cisco Unified Communication organization, has spent the last several years designing and developing telephony and conferencing products. Thoroughly understand the fundamentals of audio and video conferencing over IP networks Architect networks for optimal performance and reliability in conferencing applications Leverage new advances in video architecture, from emerging codecs to distributed implementations Understand how SIP and H.323 compare, and when to use each Optimize synchronization between audio and video Secure conferencing traffic without compromising performance or connectivity Learn how to evaluate vendors and make better buying decisions This book is part of the Cisco Press® Fundamentals Series. Books in this series introduce networking professionals to new networking technologies, covering network topologies, sample deployment concepts, protocols, and management techniques. Category: Cisco Press/Networking Covers: Voice and video conferencing 1587052687


Simulations of the Martian upper atmosphere have been conducted with 'MarTIM', University College
London's Martian thermosphere and ionosphere general circulation model (GCM). MarTIM, a finite
difference model, solves the coupled non-linear Navier-Stokes equations of continuity and momentum as
well as an energy equation with calculations conducted on a fixed co-rotating grid of variable size in the
pressure coordinate system. From its lower boundary of 0.883 Pa (~60 km) to its upper boundary of
9.9×10−8 Pa (~200−350 km), it evaluates the main sources of solar forcing (EUV/UV and IR absorption)
while self-consistently determining the composition of four of the major gas species, CO2, N2, CO and
O. These four major gases are mutually diffused throughout the model in a typical run.
Development of MarTIM includes a consideration of the importance of neutral species diffusion
and advection on the thermodynamics of the modelled Martian atmosphere. The influence on the
modelled atmosphere of including additional neutral species is investigated. Next, a new infrared heating
parameterization has been introduced from background research of detailed non-LTE modelling. This has
allowed MarTIM to study thermospheric polar warming features as found in Mars Odyssey accelerometer
data.
MarTIM's lower boundary is coupled to the Mars Climate Database (MCD v4.3) developed by the
University of Oxford, the Open University and Laboratoire de Meteorologie Dynamique. This database
of GCM results provides MarTIM a physically self-consistent lower boundary derived from multiple
runs of the aforementioned circulation models. Consequently the effects of dust storms, non-migrating
tides and the influence of Martian topography are studied by prescription of MarTIM's lower boundary.
MarTIM is also compared against density and temperature measurements derived from SPICAM stellar
occultation profiles.
Lastly, a new ionospheric code has been developed through collaboration with Laboratoire de Planetologie
de Grenoble. This has provided a more sophisticated ionosphere model that solves a one-dimensional
kinetic Boltzmann transport equation for the suprathermal population of electrons present in the Martian
ionosphere. MarTIM can now self-consistently describe an ionosphere produced by both primary
(photoionisation) and secondary ionisation (suprathermal electron propagation). This new ionospheric
model has been used to study the variation in secondary ionization efficiency (ratio of secondary to
primary ion production) through a large range of seasonal and solar conditions.


Abstract The deep-sea planktonic microfossil record (foraminifera, coccolithophores, diatoms, radiolaria and dinoflagellates) provides a unique resource for palaeobiology. Despite some geographical gaps due to poor regional preservation, and intermittant time intervals lost to erosion, most time periods for each Cenozoic planktonic biogeographical province are preserved. Vast numbers of specimens and numerous deep-sea cores provide abundant material and the opportunity to tightly integrate macroevolutionary and palaeoenvironmental data. Current documentation of this record is mixed. Catalogues for foraminifera and coccolithophores offer nearly complete species-level clade histories, but taxonomy for siliceous microfossils is incomplete. Published occurrence data is primarily stratigraphic and covers only a fraction of the total preserved diversity. Age models for some sections are excellent (accuracy c. 100 kya) but for many other sections are still poor. Taxonomic errors, age model errors and reworking displace fossil occurrences in time, complicating palaeobiological analysis. With additional taxonomic work, careful collection of whole fauna/floral assemblage occurrence data, improved age models, and the development of better data filtering and analysis tools to deal with data outliers the deep-sea microfossil record can deliver its promise of providing the most complete, detailed record of macroevolutionary change available to science. Supplementary material: Supplementary Appendix is available at http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/SUP18485


Roost switching is a common occurrence in bats, yet the causes and consequences of such behavior are poorly understood. In this study we explore the ecological correlates of roost fidelity in the tent-making bat Artibeus watsoni, particularly focusing on the effect of sex, reproductive status, and roost availability using a three-factor general linear model (GLM). We estimated roost fidelity of radio-tracked individuals and found that the GLM was significant (R 2 ¼ 0.72, F10,34 ¼ 8.91, p < 0.001). Significant interaction terms were observed for relative roost availability and sex (F4,34 ¼ 16.96, p < 0.001), and relative roost availability and reproductive status (F6,34 ¼ 7.62, p < 0.001), indicating that variation in roost fidelity among males and females, and among individuals under different breeding conditions, depended on relative roost availability at the site where they were radio-tracked. Individuals in areas of high roost availability exhibited lower roost fidelity than those sampled in areas of lower roost availability. Females exhibited less roost fidelity than males for all roost availability categories, but the difference between males and females was only significant at high roost availability. The general pattern of decreased roost fidelity as roost availability increased was also prevalent among individuals in different breeding conditions. Additionally, satellite males exhibited higher roost fidelity than resident males in areas of low roost availability, and lactating females had higher roost fidelity than non-breeding females in areas of medium roost availability. Our study thus demonstrates that sex, reproductive status, and roost availability all affect roost fidelity in the tentmaking bat A. watsoni, and also suggests that roost availability is the most important factor influencing roost fidelity in this bat, providing the first quantitative evidence that roost fidelity is correlated with roost abundance in a single species.


Ureaplasma parvum serovar 3 strain, OMC-P162, was isolated from the human placenta of a preterm delivery at 26 weeks' gestation. In this study, we sequenced the complete genome of OMC-P162 and compared it with other serovar 3 strains isolated from patients with different clinical conditions. Ten unique genes in OMC-P162, five of which encoded for hypothetical proteins, were identified. Of these, genes UPV_229 and UPV_230 formed an operon whose open reading frames were predicted to code for a DNA methyltransferase and a hypothetical protein, respectively. DNA modification analysis of the OMC-P162 genome identified N4-methylcytosine (m4C) and N6-methyladenine (m6A), but not 5-methylocytosine (m5C). UPV230 recombinant protein displayed endonuclease activity and recognized the CATG sequence, resulting in a blunt cut between A and T. This restriction enzyme activity was identical to that of the cultivated OMC-P162 strain, suggesting that this restriction enzyme was naturally expressed in OMC-P162. We designated this enzyme as UpaP162. Treatment of pT7Blue plasmid with recombinant protein UPV229 completely blocked UpaP162 restriction enzyme activity. These results suggest that the UPV_229 and UPV_230 genes act as a type II restriction-modification system in Ureaplasma OMC-P162.


Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify the commonalities and differences in manufacturers' motivations to servitise. Design/methodology/approach – UK study based on interviews with 40 managers in 25 companies in 12 sectors. Using the concept of product complexity, sectors were grouped using the Complex Products and Systems (CoPS) typology: non-complex products, complex products and systems. Findings – Motivations to servitise were categorised as competitive, demand based (i.e. derived from the customer) or economic. Motivations to servitise vary according to product complexity, although cost savings and improved service quality appear important demand-based motivations for all manufacturers. Non-complex product manufacturers also focus on services to help product differentiation. For CoPS manufacturers, both risk reduction and developing a new revenue stream were important motivations. For uniquely complex product manufacturers, stabilising revenue and increased profitability were strong motivations. For uniquely systems manufacturers, customers sought business transformation, whilst new service business models were also identified. Research limitations/implications – Using the CoPS typology, this study delineates motivations to servitise by sector. The findings show varying motivations to servitise as product complexity increases, although some motivational commonality existed across all groups. Manufacturers may have products of differing complexity within their portfolio. To overcome this limitation the unit of analysis was the strategic business unit. Practical implications – Managers can reflect on and benchmark their motivation for, and opportunities from, servitisation, by considering product complexity. Originality/value – The first study to categorise servitisation motivations by product complexity. Identifying that some customers of systems manufacturers seek business transformation through outsourcing.


Diffuse Reflectance Infrared Fourier Transform Spectroscopy (DRIFTS) has been established as a good and relatively sensitive method for qualitative analysis of powders and rough surfaces. The technique is non-destructive and high quality spectra can be easily obtained without extensive sample preparation. The capacity of the method for qualitative analysis of functional groups has been demonstrated in numerous fields. The potential of DRIFTS for quantitative analysis was recognized quite early as well. However, many theoretical and practical problems do appear when the method is applied for this purpose, requiring very accurate sampling procedure. The effect on reflectance spectra of several parameters influencing sampling has been studied. Conventionally, a simplified relation derived from the phenomenological continuum theory of Kubelka-Munk is used in order to relate the concentration of a chromophore, dispersed in a sample, to the intensity of the diffusely reflected radiation. In practice however, this equation can be used only for ideal systems diluted in a non-absorbing scattering matrix and in a limited concentration range. Preparation of such idealized samples in a reproducible way is difficult. Quantitative analysis of opaque non-diluted systems such as those found in the real world is of high interest. In many fields, like for example in thin layer chromatography, stationary phase studies, environmental pollutant analysis, and industrial quality control or heterogeneous catalysis, it is desirable to quantitatively characterize samples as close as possible to their original state. In our own effort to do quantitative spectroscopy of powders, we have investigated the case of non-diluted samples. Model systems constituted of two types of silica powders (Cab-O-Sil and LiChrosorb) of very different morphology were prepared. The surface hydroxyl groups of SiO2 were exposed to a silylation reaction with an aminosilane containing a suitable chromophore. Known superficial concentrations of molecules carrying a cyano functional group were anchored by this way on the powder surface. A quantitative model of diffuse reflectance, derived from the general hyperbolic solutions of the Kubelka-Munk equations has been developed, taking into account different parameters such as the absorption of the silica substrate, finite thickness of the sample, specular reflection, as well as diffusion and absorption coefficients profiles within the depth of the scattering layer. Application of this model gives a quite good description of measured diffuse reflectance, in cases where the simple Kubelka-Munk relation fails. Use of a Mar quardt type non-linear least square adjustment method to the experimental data allows moreover the determination of other parameters of interest. A new FTIR analytical technique, based on a PVDF photo-pyroelectric film detector, has also been developed, which has enabled for the first time sequential measurement of diffuse reflectance and diffuse transmittance of the same sample without any change in the optical geometry and sample manipulation. Another multilayer discontinuum theory, more suited for particles of diameter larger than the radiation wavelength, has been developed and successfully applied to diffuse reflectance and transmittance measurements of sodium carbonate powders.


Industries can improve their business efficiency by analyzing and extracting relevant knowledge from large numbers of documents. Knowledge extraction manually from large volume of documents is labor intensive, unscalable and challenging. Consequently there have been a number of attempts to develop intelligent systems to automatically extract relevant knowledge from OCR documents. Moreover, the automatic system can improve the capability of search engine by providing application-specific domain knowledge. However, extracting the efficient information from OCR documents is challenging due to highly unstructured format [1, 11, 18, 26]. In this paper, we propose an efficient framework for a knowledge extraction system that takes keywords based queries and automatically extracts their most relevant knowledge from OCR documents by using text mining techniques. The framework can provide relevance ranking of knowledge to a given query. We tested the proposed framework on corpus of documents at GE Power where document consists of more than hundred pages in PDF.


The United States Navy have outlined an unmanned underwater vehicle master plan, which includes nine distinct capabilities for these vehicles, some of which may be suitable for underwater gliders. An underwater glider is a type of unmanned underwater vehicle that has a unique concept of propulsion using a combination of buoyancy driven engine and wings. In this paper, four different wing geometries; swept wing, swept back wing, elliptical wing and delta wing, are investigated to determine a suitable wing geometry for a given mission type. The computational fluid dynamic software, ANSYS FLUENT, was used to determine the glider hydrodynamics at different angles of attack. The delta wing has the highest drag followed by the elliptical, swept and swept back wing. Similarly, the delta wing had the highest lift; followed by the elliptical, swept and swept back wing. Underwater gliders are deemed capable of six distinct capabilities. Appropriate wing types were determined for a given mission based on three glide characteristics, which are stability/manoeuvrability, speed and endurance.


This paper examines how network attributes are related to firms' organisational characteristics. The paper utilises Adult Population Survey (APS, 18-64) data for 15 countries. The sample descriptives show that, on the whole, the network environment differs across firm characteristics, but private networks dominate all characteristics. Latent class analysis results show that female entrepreneurs are significantly less likely to fall into any class, relative to class five, when compared to men. While some firm characteristics increase the odds of receiving advice from all sources (transforming type firms), others increase the odds of receiving advice from the private network environment only (business services and starting phase firms).


Outbreaks of human gastroenteritis caused by norovirus (NoV)-contaminated oysters occur
worldwide and have periodically been linked to the consumption of Australian oysters.
Contamination with NoV can occur when human excrement (faeces and vomit) containing the
virus flows into oyster growing areas. Minimal data about the occurrence of NoV in Australian
oysters was available at the commencement of this thesis due to the expense involved in testing
oysters for viruses because no Australian commercial laboratories had the capacity to perform
the test. To that time, all Australian samples were tested in New Zealand.
The aim of this Thesis was to establish an informed strategy for minimising the risk of NoV in
commercial Australian oysters. To collect the NoV data, a sensitive and accurate method to
detect NoV was adopted in this study and validated for Australian oysters and conditions.
Epidemiological evidence suggests that the occurrence of NoV in Australian oysters is low;
therefore a sampling regime for the detection of NoV at low occurrence and concentration in
oysters was designed. Using this sampling programme, NoV was detected in oysters (8.3%, n =
163) from a harvest area that had been associated with 2 NoV illness outbreaks. The results
showed the need for a comprehensive sampling regime to ensure the detection of NoV.
To address the lack of systematically collected data on the occurrence of NoV in Australian
growing areas and due to the impending imposition of international standards for NoV in
Australia, a survey was conducted. This involved the collection of oysters from two
geographically distinct oyster growing areas on four occasions from each of the three main
oyster producing States in Australia and testing samples for NoV and E. coli (n = 120). The
growing areas selected were considered by Australian shellfish authorities to be the most
compromised in those States with respect to the potential for human faecal contamination, as
identified by shoreline surveys.
NoV GII was detected in two samples (1.7%) but NoV GI was not detected. Some of the
samples were found to have more than the guidance concentration of 230 E. coli per 100 g of
shellfish flesh but these samples did not contain detectable concentrations of NoV. These results
reinforce epidemiological data suggesting that NoV contamination of commercially produced
Australian oysters is rare.
There is minimal data about NoV dispersal in waterways following sewage overflows.
The persistence of NoV in Sydney Rock oysters (SRO) following sewage overflows was also
unknown. These knowledge gaps were addressed by strategically placing SRO in an estuary
downstream from a sewage pump station known to overflow periodically and initiating sampling
after an overflow event. After the event NoV GII was detected up to 5.29 km downstream and
persisted in SRO closest to the pump station outfall for 42 days. NoV GII concentrations
decreased significantly over time; a reduction rate of 8.5% per day was observed in oysters
located at two sites near the outfall (p<0.001). Five days after the overflow, NoV GII
concentrations were found to decrease significantly as a function of distance at a rate of 5.8% per
km (p<0.001). The decline in E. coli concentration with distance was 20.1% per km (p<0.001).
NoV GI and Hepatitis A virus were not detected. A comparison of NoV GII reduction rates from
oysters over time, derived from this study and other, published, research collectively suggest that
GII reduction rates from oysters may be broadly similar, regardless of environmental conditions,
oyster species and genotype.
In the final phase of the project, an investigation of risk management options for Australian
commercial oyster harvest areas to protect oyster consumers from NoV was conducted. The
result, a culmination of data and research, is a combination of strategies recommended for
minimising the risk of NoV prevalence in Australian oysters. It was found that the risk is real, as
demonstrated by the occurrence of 1-2 outbreaks of NoV illness associated with oysters
annually. This was supported by the findings of a NoV contamination rate of 1.7% of oysters
from Australian growing areas. Recommendations were made for risk management strategies to
prevent contamination of oyster growing areas and to enable rapid detection and notification of
contamination events when they occur.
It was found that communication between local councils, water utility operators and shellfish
authorities regarding reporting sewage spills and the condition of potential sources of sewage
spills (i.e. on-site sewage management systems (OSMS)) was lacking. A theoretical NoV
contamination event in oyster growing areas was considered, showing that it was possible for a
small human faecal mishap to cause illness in oyster consumers. Recommendations for a riskbased
virus monitoring programme are proposed, including: regulation of OSMS by local
councils; workshops on water quality to stimulate increased communication between
Environmental Health Officers and shellfish authorities; upgrading sewage treatment plants
where the effluent flows into oyster growing areas; mandatory dye studies of STP effluent flows
and potential sources of sewage overflows for each growing area to enable more effective closure times and delineation of the impacted area closed for harvesting; ASQAP to include
guidance to put local management committees in place for each growing area, ASQAP to include
guidance for portable toilets to be on oyster harvesting boats, and the development of an
alternative indicator for NoV other than faecal coliforms i.e. bacteriophage testing.
The results of this Thesis will improve NoV risk management strategies used by shellfish
authorities to protect the Australian oyster consumer and help to ensure that future control
measures are commensurate with the risk associated with the growing area rather than requiring
mandatory end product testing regimes for all areas.


Existing research supports two opposing mechanisms through which positive mood might affect cooperation. Some studies have suggested that positive mood produces more altruistic, open and helpful behavior, fostering cooperation. However, there is contrasting research supporting the idea that positive mood produces more assertiveness and inward-orientation and reduced use of information, hampering cooperation. We find evidence that suggests the second hypothesis dominates when playing the repeated Prisoner's Dilemma. Players in an induced positive mood tend to cooperate less than players in a neutral mood setting. This holds regardless of uncertainty surrounding the number of repetitions or whether pre-play communication has taken place. This finding is consistent with a text analysis of the pre-play communication between players indicating that subjects in a more positive mood use more inward-oriented, more negative and less positive language. To the best of our knowledge we are the first to use text analysis in pre-play communication.


English is unquestionably the contemporary language of science, technology, commerce, intercultural communication and scholarship. It is consists of accomplished growing importance in the world. Consequently, in Malaysia concerned parents, researchers, scientists and instructors that know the inevitable impact English language possess over the academic and socio-economic progress of the students clamour for English proficiency. In Malaysia, English is not only the second language in importance but also a school and college subject, and language of instruction of science and mathematics. Interestingly, ESL/EFL studies nowadays are devoted to finding out techniques employed by learners. It is against this backdrop that this study was carried out to discover strategy use among ESL students in Malaysian secondary schools to look further at the implication of their strategy use with regards to inter-cultural communication. Oxford's SILL Questionnaire was administered to 180 secondary school students and SPSS 7.0 version was used for analysis. Findings reveal the dominance of indirect learning techniques, meaning high anxiety, dependence heavily on peers and teachers to learn English and fewer practice of the oral language. The study recommends the teaching of learning techniques to students and positive exploitation of core-curricular activities that will create and sustain constant practicing of English language among students to facilitate inter-cultural communication.


We introduce novel communication strategies in synchronous distributed Deep Learning consisting of decentralized gradient reduction orchestration and computational graph-aware grouping of gradient tensors. These new techniques produce an optimal overlap between computation and communication and result in near-linear scaling (0.93) of distributed training up to 27,600 NVIDIA V100 GPUs on the Summit Supercomputer. We demonstrate our gradient reduction techniques in the context of training a Fully Convolutional Neural Network to approximate the solution of a longstanding scientific inverse problem in materials imaging. The efficient distributed training on a dataset size of 0.5 PB, produces a model capable of an atomically-accurate reconstruction of materials, and in the process reaching a peak performance of 2.15(4) EFLOPS$_{16}$.


In the past financial management was often regarded as a bad word in the non-profit world.
The importance of financial management to these organizations however cannot be under
estimated. Many not for profit concerns obtain significant resources from voluntary donors who
expect no product or service in exchange but who are concerned with whether their donations are
achieving their intended purpose. Many of these organizations have even turned to for profit
activities; most of these same organizations however have overlooked the potential of better
financial management to enhance revenues. Churches are one group of non profits that receive a
lot of funds in form of private contributions from the public. The general objective of this study
was to analyze the effect of financial management practices on the quality of accountability in
the churches in Nairobi. The researcher limited the research to Friends churches that are situated
in Nairobi because of financial and time limitation. A cross-sectional survey study design was
used and questionnaires were the instruments of choice, this instrument was structured to have
both open ended and closed ended questions. Simple random sampling technique was used to
select the study sample of 25 research subjects/churches while the primary data collected was
coded and analyzed using SPSS to get the frequencies, percentages as well as generate graphs
and table. The study found out that most of the churches have put in place basic financial
management practices. The greatest challenge these churches face is how to improve their
internal control systems.


Yasukuni Jinja, or 'Shrine for a Peaceful Nation', was established in Tōkyō by Emperor Meiji to commemorate those who gave their lives for the nation. In our contemporary times Yasukuni has however become shrouded by an ideological aura of the pre-war system, where it became the "citadel of military ideology", which it is perceived to glorify to this day. Consequently, when you visit Yasukini the question arises "What do you actually commemorate?" And although the answer may be very clear to yourself, the action itself carries such great ambiguity that other's preconceptions equally so define its interpretation. China in particular strongly protests against any visits by Japanese officials to Yasukuni, and even views it as a threat to the long treacherous path of reconciliation in East Asia, as each nation holds a distinct interpretation of its wartime past. Visits and offerings by current Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has often been labelled as a hawkish nationalist conservative, have come under particular scrutiny as his image is perceived to enforce Yasukuni's militaristic past. This research therefore sets out to clarify the role of Yasukuni within Chinese-Japanese relations under the prime-ministership of Shinzo Abe, by introducing the concept of assertive soft power, which seeks to avert another nations' identity by endorsing its opposite.


The exchange rates are one of the most important macroeconomic variables influencing the economic activities of any country such as foreign trade, money and capital markets. From this aspect, examining the changes in exchange rates, which are considered as one of the indicators of economic stability, is of significant importance. The aim of this study is to test the purchasing power parity (PPP) hypothesis for E-7 countries between 1994 and 2017. Within the scope of this analysis, firstly the dependence between the cross-sections was examined. Then, the validity of PPP hypothesis was tested using SURADF (Seemingly Unrelated Augmented Dickey Fuller) panel unit root test developed by Breuer et al. (2001) and Carrion-i-Silvestre et al. (2005) panel unit root test (PANKPSS), which takes the structural breaks into consideration. According to the results of SURADF test, it was determined that the PPP is holds only in Russia and Turkey, but not in the other countries. According to the results of PANKPSS unit root test considering the structural breaks, however, it was found that PPP is holds in all the countries.


In this study, eighty, day-old female Avion breed, broiler chicks were used. Chicks were separated into five groups, including one control. While the control group (Group I) received normal feed, the experimental groups received feed supplemented with aflatoxin at the rate of 0.05 ppm (Group II), 0.1 ppm (Group III), 0.5 ppm (Group IV), and 1 ppm (Group V) for 45 days. On days 15, 30 and 45 blood was taken from the control and experimental animals in order to perform biochemical analyses and kidney tissue was dissected for histopathological examination. As a result, a number of pathological findings were determined in kidney tissue related to the intake of aflatoxin over 45 days. However, the changes in all biochemical parameters were not statistically significant in most periods, thus showing that aflatoxin provided over the reported period and doses does not affect kidney function sufficiently to destabilize the physiological balance.


Hydrogen is a promising energy carrier for providing a clean, reliable and affordable energy supply. This paper provides a blueprint for the hydrogen energy in the transportation sector in the future of China. This paper is divided into three parts. The first part answers this question: why is China interested in hydrogen energy? The second part describes the possibility of a hydrogen fuel cell engine and a hydrogen internal-combustion engine in the transportation in China in the near future. The final part describes the production of hydrogen in China.


This book explores and challenges common assumptions about gender, conflict, and post-conflict situations. It critically examines the gendered aspects of international and transitional justice processes by subverting traditional understandings of how wars are waged, the power dynamics involved, and the experiences of victims. The book also highlights the gendered stereotypes that underpin the (mis)perceptions about gender and war in order to reveal the multi-dimensional nature of modern conflicts and their aftermaths.

Featuring contributions from academics in law, criminology, international relations, politics and psychology, as well as legal practitioners in the field, Gender and War offers a unique and multi-disciplinary insight into contemporary understandings of conflict and explores the potential for international and transitional justice processes to evolve in order to better acknowledge diverse and gendered experiences of modern conflicts.

This book provides the reader with international and interdisciplinary perspectives on issues of international law, conflict, gender and transitional justice.


This is the first interdisciplinary book-length treatment of paralanguage, briefly defined as: nonverbal vocal or narial communication. After sensitizing the reader to our sound-generating movements and to all human external and environmental sounds for their unquestionable communicative qualities, it realistically combines an anatomical-physiological auditory approach to voice production (identifying many neglected articulations) with the analysis of its visual manifestations as the triple reality of speech: language-paralanguage-kinesics. The primary qualities of speech (loudness, pitch etc.) are extensively discussed, as are the many voice qualities. The longest chapter in the book deals with paralinguistic differentiators: laughter, crying, sighing, yawning, coughing, sneezing etc. Finally the author presents a model for analyzing paralinguistic alternants, word-like independent constructs (such as Pooh, Aah and Brrr). Throughout the discussion of these paralinguistic phenomena, extensive attention is given to cultural, social and psychological aspects. This first, ground-breaking interdisciplinary work on paralanguage will serve as a source of data and a theoretical/methodological model for phoneticians, linguists, anthropologists, sociologists, psychologists, speech therapists etc.


This paper analyzes a multidistrict game of electoral accountability in which constituencies compete over scarce resources by setting expectations for targeted spending. I build a political agency model in which a vote-maximizing politician is subject to the oversight of distinct constituencies. The voters' demand for targeted spending in these constituencies is driven down by the competition among them. I characterize the unique equilibrium of this game. In order to make their constituency an attractive choice for discretionary spending, the voters adopt reelection standards below what they receive in equilibrium. They therefore tend to be satisfied with the distributive politics of the incumbent politician. The incumbent is then quite likely to win more than half of the votes.


This report examines what the rise of ISIL means for al-Qaeda and how will it react. Overview ISIL is a real threat and must be targeted, but al-Qaeda shouldn't be forgotten. Indeed, al-Qaeda should remain a key focus for international counterterrorism efforts. It's a resilient and resolute terrorist organisation, but it's also weaker than it's been for many years. We should use this brief opportunity to dismantle the organisation completely. The report examines what the rise of ISIL means for al-Qaeda and how will it react. How will al-Qaeda seek to regain the oxygen of publicity that's central to terrorist organisations if they're to recruit, grow and, ultimately, challenge their enemies? Does the rise of ISIL signal the end of al-Qaeda or might al-Qaeda merge with ISIL, confront it head on or take some other course of action? The authors explore four alternative futures for al-Qaeda and ISIL and conclude that a worrying scenario of 'one-upmanship' is likely to take place between the two organisations in which al-Qaeda pursues a campaign of international attacks in order to regain the limelight.


Swift intensive accretion disk reverberation mapping of four AGN yielded light curves sampled ∼200–350 times in 0.3–10 keV X-ray and six UV/optical bands. Uniform reduction and cross-correlation analysis of these data sets yields three main results: (1) The X-ray/UV correlations are much weaker than those within the UV/optical, posing severe problems for the lamp-post reprocessing model in which variations in a central X-ray corona drive and power those in the surrounding accretion disk. (2) The UV/optical interband lags are generally consistent with as predicted by the centrally illuminated thin accretion disk model. While the average interband lags are somewhat larger than predicted, these results alone are not inconsistent with the thin disk model given the large systematic uncertainties involved. (3) The one exception is the U band lags, which are on average a factor of ∼2.2 larger than predicted from the surrounding band data and fits. This excess appears to be due to diffuse continuum emission from the broad-line region (BLR). The precise mixing of disk and BLR components cannot be determined from these data alone. The lags in different AGN appear to scale with mass or luminosity. We also find that there are systematic differences between the uncertainties derived by JAVELIN versus more standard lag measurement techniques, with JAVELIN reporting smaller uncertainties by a factor of 2.5 on average. In order to be conservative only standard techniques were used in the analyses reported herein.


Nowadays, encryption is used in order to determine the access policy and data security. In PBE[1] encryption, the publisher sends a message to a subset of users with access to the broadcasted data, so that only the desired users can decrypt the data and other users cannot access the data even with colliding their key and information. In ABE[2] encryption, a set of attributes is used as the main index to generate the private key. This encryption system can well provide the appropriate access control in environments such as Cloud Control. In this paper, we attempt to explain the strengths and weaknesses of the two ABE and PBE methods, and examine the pioneer methods for their implementation.

[1] Public Broadcast Encryption
[2] Attribute Base Encryption


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Sequencing data from host-associated microbes can often be contaminated by the body of the investigator or research subject. Human DNA is typically removed from microbial reads either by subtractive alignment (dropping all reads that map to the human genome) or using a read classification tool to predict those of human origin, and then discarding them. To inform best practice guidelines, we benchmarked 8 alignment-based and 2 classification-based methods of human read detection using simulated data from 10 clinically prevalent bacteria and 3 viruses, into which contaminating human reads had been added. While the majority of methods successfully detected > 99% of the human reads, they were distinguishable by variance. The most precise methods, with negligible variance, were Bowtie2 and SNAP, both of which misclassified few, if any, bacterial reads (and no viral reads) as human. While correctly detecting a similar number of human reads, methods based on taxonomic classification, such as Kraken2 and Centrifuge, often misclassified bacterial reads as human, the extent of which was species-specific. Among the most sensitive methods of human read detection was BWA, although this also made the greatest number of false positive classifications. Across all methods, the set of human reads not identified as such, although often representing < 0.1% of the total reads, were non-randomly distributed along the human genome with many originating from the repeat-rich sex chromosomes. For viral reads and longer (> 300bp) bacterial reads, the highest performing approaches were classification-based, using Kraken2 or Centrifuge. For shorter (150-300bp) bacterial reads, combining multiple methods of human read detection maximised the recovery of human reads from contaminated short read datasets without being compromised by false positives. The highest-performing approach with shorter bacterial reads was a two-stage classification using Bowtie2 followed by SNAP. Using this approach, we re-examined 11,577 publicly archived bacterial readsets for hitherto undetected human contamination. We were able to extract a sufficient number of reads to call known human SNPs, including those with clinical significance, in 6% of the samples. These results show that phenotypically-distinct human sequence is widespread in publicly-archived (and nominally pure) bacterial datasets.


In the last decades the US economy experienced a rise in female labor force participation, a reversal of the gender education gap and a closing of the gender wage gap. Importantly, these changes occurred at a substantially different pace over time. During the same period, workers in the US faced a considerable shift in labor demand from more physical to more intellectual skill requirements. I rationalize these observations in the context of a general equilibrium model displaying two key assumptions: (1) the demand for brain increases both within and across education groups; and (2) women have less brawn than men. Given the observed US technical change process, the model replicates (1) over half of the narrowing gender wage gap, (2) most of the narrowing employment gap, and (3) all of the reversing education gap. Crucially, the model can also account for the time-varying-path of the narrowing gender divide with an initial stagnation and a later acceleration in female wages and education rates.


Abstract: Sex segregation of labor markets still is common in most western industrialized countries. This structure needs explanation and political change, even more as in the last decades sex differences in labor market participation and education became less important. The German 'women promotion' strategy differs from the more egalitarian oriented politics in the United States or the Swedish welfare state model as it focuses on social difference of women's life course rather than on status equality. This paper questions the impact and outcomes of these promotion politics and linked discourses. As research results from various fields show (i.e. industry, university and management), difference oriented strategies fail to cope with the ongoing erosion of the traditional 'normal wages labor'/'house wife family' system and the gender hierarchies built in these structures. However, given the examples of some more promising anti-discrimination measures regarding work, familiy, and welfarestate, a 'sustainable' political strategy that challenges gender hierarchies as well as social inequality within the dynamics of restructuring modern societies seems possible.;


Sunlight-driven water splitting to produce hydrogen and oxygen provides a pathway to store available solar energy in the form of stable, energy-dense chemical bonds. Here we investigate a tandem particle-suspension reactor design for solar water splitting comprising micron-scale photocatalyst particles suspended in an aqueous solution with soluble redox shuttles. A porous separator facilitates redox species transport between the hydrogen and oxygen evolution reaction compartments while averting gas crossover. A two-dimensional, transient model of the reactor is presented to illustrate the coupling between light absorption, interfacial electron-transfer kinetics and species transport, and their combined impacts on overall solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency. The volumetric reactivity of the suspended semiconductor particles is dictated by combining the (photo)current–voltage behavior of a photodiode with Butler–Volmer electron-transfer kinetics. For the first time, a quantitative approach to determine the impacts of surface-dependent redox shuttle kinetic parameters on reaction selectivity in a Z-scheme system is established. Model results provide insights on the effects of optical, transport and kinetic properties of the semiconductor particles and the redox shuttles on the overall reactor performance. Solar-to-hydrogen reactor efficiencies predicted with BiVO4 particles for oxygen evolution are at least two times larger than efficiencies achieved with wider band-gap TiO2 particles due to enhanced visible light absorption; hydrogen evolution with SrTiO3:Rh particles was considered for both cases. Superior performance is predicted with proton-coupled electron transfer redox shuttles (para-benzoquinone/hydroquinone and iodide/iodate) that absorb little-to-no visible light, while also facilitating operation at near-neutral pH conditions, as compared to the non-proton-coupled triiodide/iodide and iron(III)/iron(II) redox shuttles. For 1 cm tall reaction compartments, diffusive species transport is fast enough to sustain reactor operation at a 1% solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency for both para-benzoquinone/hydroquinone and iodate/iodide redox shuttles with less than 2.2 mg L−1 of each of BiVO4 and SrTiO3:Rh particles in the solution.


Significance Posttraumatic stress disorder is characterized by a resistance to extinction learning and dysregulated signaling of the neurotransmitter norepinephrine. Previous research suggested the prelimbic and infralimbic subdivisions of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) regulate fear expression and suppression, respectively. However, noradrenergic signaling in response to psychological stress may disrupt mPFC function, contributing to extinction deficits. Here we show, for the first time to our knowledge, that footshock stress dysregulates mPFC spike firing; this can be stabilized by propranolol, a β-noradrenergic receptor blocking drug, which in turn facilitates extinction when it normally fails. These findings suggest that propranolol may be a particularly effective adjunct to behavioral therapy soon after trauma, when stress is high, at least in part by normalizing prefrontal cortical function. Stress-induced impairments in extinction learning are believed to sustain posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Noradrenergic signaling may contribute to extinction impairments by modulating medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) circuits involved in fear regulation. Here we demonstrate that aversive fear conditioning rapidly and persistently alters spontaneous single-unit activity in the prelimbic and infralimbic subdivisions of the mPFC in behaving rats. These conditioning-induced changes in mPFC firing were mitigated by systemic administration of propranolol (10 mg/kg, i.p.), a β-noradrenergic receptor antagonist. Moreover, propranolol administration dampened the stress-induced impairment in extinction observed when extinction training is delivered shortly after fear conditioning. These findings suggest that β-adrenoceptors mediate stress-induced changes in mPFC spike firing that contribute to extinction impairments. Propranolol may be a helpful adjunct to behavioral therapy for PTSD, particularly in patients who have recently experienced trauma.


The degree of overlap (i.e., fit) between product development organizations' resources and the product development projects pursued has powerful performance implications. Drawing on organizational learning theory and the resource-based view, this research conceptualizes and empirically tests the interrelationships between the levels of fit, innovativeness, speed to market, and financial new product performance. After reviewing the research literature relevant to resource fit and new product performance, the level of innovativeness is posited to be an important moderating and mediating factor, which is validated by analysis of data gathered from 279 product developing firms. Technological fit has a negative direct effect on both technological and market innovativeness, while the use of existing marketing resources (i.e., a high degree of marketing fit) positively impacts technological innovativeness. This suggests, consistent with findings from market orientation research, that a deep, long-held customer understanding can promote technological innovativeness. The moderating hypotheses proposed are also well supported: First, a high degree of marketing fit has a more positive impact on performance for market innovative products (e.g., products which address a new target market or use a nontraditional channel for the firm). Drawing on a deep customer understanding is more critical to performance for market innovative products. Conversely, the benefits of marketing fit are limited where market innovativeness is lacking. Interestingly, the counterpart moderating role of technological innovativeness on technological fit's performance effect is not significant; the level of technological innovativeness does not significantly impact the performance impact of technological fit. There are also significant moderating effects across dimensions. Our results show that the financial benefit of using existing marketing resources is lessened for technologically innovative products. Technological innovations necessitate drastic adaptation of marketing resources (i.e., channel and brand); firms drawing only on existing marketing resources for a technologically innovative new product will incur reduced profit. Similarly, the positive implications of using existing technological resources are limited for products which are highly market innovative. Generally, resource fit is seen to have an (oft-overlooked) dark side in product development, though several of our findings suggest that marketing resources are more flexible than are technological resources.


We describe the evolution of an similar to 600-m-deep tributary outflow channel to Ares Vallis, Mars. High-resolution topography, image analysis, and crater statistics indicate that this tributary canyon developed by the upstream migration of a large, similar to 300-m-tall cataract during multiple flood events that span similar to 1 b.y. of Mars history (3.7-2.6 Ga). Issuing from Hydapsis Chaos, these floods were initiated at a similar time and occurred over a similar time range to flooding in Ares Vallis, suggesting a potential regional control on flood initiation and chaos formation. In addition, we provide evidence that cataract retreat and significant incision within the tributary canyon occurred only after a series of downcutting events within Ares Vallis. Topography data and crater statistics taken from the floor of Ares Vallis indicate an similar to 300 m base-level drop that coincides temporally with an Early Amazonian (ca. 2.6 Ga) flood event and cataract formation within the tributary canyon. The results both confirm the hypothesis of long-term, multiple flood events within martian outflow channels and demonstrate the influence of base-level change on their incision.


We consider a variation of the problem of combining expert opinions for the situation in which there is no ground truth to use for training. Even though we don't have labeled data, the goal of this work is quite different from an unsupervised learning problem in which the goal is to cluster the data into different groups. Our work is motivated by the application of segmenting a lung nodule in a computed tomography (CT) scan of the human chest. The lack of a gold standard of truth is a critical problem in medical imaging. A variety of experts, both human and computer algorithms, are available that can mark which voxels are part of a nodule. The question is, how to combine these expert opinions to estimate the unknown ground truth. We present the Veritas algorithm that predicts the underlying label using the knowledge in the expert opinions even without the benefit of any labeled data for training. We evaluate Veritas using artificial data and real CT images to which a synthetic nodule has been added, providing a known ground truth.


This article describes a pressure generation technique that has been applied to the task of calibrating hydraulic pressure transducers. The technique combines principles given by the Lorentz Force and Faraday's Law of Induction to generate a hydrostatic pressure within a cavity. The time history of this pressure is given by the device without reliance on a reference transducer or knowledge of: the local gravity; thermodynamic properties of the working fluid; or acceleration of the cavity. In this way, the Pascal can be defined by reference only to the standards of the Amp, the Volt, the Meter, and – in the case of time varying pressure – the Second. Using this technique, a prototype device has been developed using commonly available tooling and can generate pressures in the range of 0.1 to 600 Pa with relative errors of 1.5%. Date: October 28, 2013.


This dissertation investigates the relationship between church leadership and parishioners and hypothesizes that the leadership in the black church is complicit in the perpetuation of dominating and oppressive behaviors within the communities that are directly and indirectly served by the church. Chapter I chronicles socio-economic patterns in black church leadership from the time of slavery to the 21st Century and documents probable reasons and purposes for the behaviors of leaders. Issues concerning power and dominance, denominationalism, racism, classism, and sexism are integral to the investigation. Two central questions arise: (1) "Does the religious leadership of the black church unknowingly train congregations to internalize negative feelings, connotations, and behaviors regarding critical reflection, critical thinking, and critical questioning." (2) "Is this lack of critical questioning detrimental to a forward movement of liberation and social justice for African American people?" Chapter II reviews the concepts of authority, power, and commodification as they relate to the silencing and injustice encountered when followers fail to voice their criticisms or other opinions. The concepts of authoritarianism and free-market fundamentalism as described by Cornel West in Democracy Matters (2004) are used to interrogate the relationship between leadership and parishioner and to determine the degree to which parishioners are encouraged to reflect upon and to question practices and behaviors of the leadership. Chapter III reports the results of the interviews with five black church leaders who reflected on their own practices. They were questioned about who influenced them, their accepted philosophy of leadership, their relationships with "others", and their efforts to bring about social justice in their communities. Female and male black church leaders were interviewed in an effort to illuminate typical trends and patterns regarding leadership styles, attitudes toward critical questioning, and social justice practices. They were also asked to reflect upon their methods for promoting interaction among the congregation. It was determined that mentorship, self-identification, interaction and relationship have the ability to affect how leaders view, interact, and work for others. The general conclusions addressed personal, economic, and spiritual concepts that create complex situations when determining the needs of the people versus the needs of the self. The concluding chapter reviews each chapter's themes and issues a call to action that involves a paradigm shift from asking for change from the leaders to asking for change from the followers. The church body will renew their ability to imagine that which seems impossible (Caputo, 2001), will use the voice to speak out for alternative ways of worship (Cox, 1973), will question and examine practices of the leaders, and will accept new beginnings (Brueggemann, 2001) that engage the prophetic and transformational rather than maintain the stagnant and conventional ways of worshiping.


This study introduces an approach to copula model parameter estimation within a Bayesian framework. The model is applied to estimate the return periods of the 2013–2015 drought in the Han River watershed (South Korea) as observed through a network of 18 rainfall stations in the watershed. For the univariate return periods, some of the 2013–2015 drought durations (i.e., 9–24 months) have return periods of around 30 years while the drought severities (which range from about 400 to 1,400 mm) at certain stations might be regarded as extreme events with return periods in the hundreds of years. The recent drought is extraordinary at many stations in the Han River watershed although the associated uncertainty is quite large (e.g., for the Seoul station, a range of about 180 to 2,250 years). Moreover, it is clearly seen that the unprecedented joint return periods of the 2013–2015 drought at many stations are consistent with the very high drought severity. The joint return period of the drought duration and severity is above 100 years for many of the stations and upwards of 1,000 years for a few stations.


This work addresses the challenge of hate speech detection in Internet memes, and attempts using visual information to automatically detect hate speech, unlike any previous work of our knowledge. Memes are pixel-based multimedia documents that contain photos or illustrations together with phrases which, when combined, usually adopt a funny meaning. However, hate memes are also used to spread hate through social networks, so their automatic detection would help reduce their harmful societal impact. Our results indicate that the model can learn to detect some of the memes, but that the task is far from being solved with this simple architecture. While previous work focuses on linguistic hate speech, our experiments indicate how the visual modality can be much more informative for hate speech detection than the linguistic one in memes. In our experiments, we built a dataset of 5,020 memes to train and evaluate a multi-layer perceptron over the visual and language representations, whether independently or fused. The source code and mode and models are available this https URL .


Biodiesel is one of the promising renewable, alternative and environmentally friendly biofuels that can be used in diesel engine with little or no modification in the engine. In the present study an experimental investigation has been carried out on the combustion and performance characteristics of a CI engine running with biodiesel under steady state operating conditions. The experimental work has been conducted on a four-cylinder, four -stroke, direct injection (DI) and turbocharged diesel engine. In this investigation, biodiesel (produced from the waste oil by transesterfication process) and normal diesel have been used. During the experiment the in-cylinder pressure and the specific fuel consumption were measured. The experimental results of this study can be summarised as follows. The tests on engine running with different fuels (biodiesel and diesel) have resulted almost overlapped P-V diagrams. The power outputs at 1300rpm and 105, 210, 315Nm and 420 loads of the diesel and biodiesel are almost the same. The engine running with biodiesel has produced slightly higher in-cylinder pressure and peak heat release rate than the engine running with normal diesel at all operating conditions. Furthermore, the brake specific fuel consumption values for the engine running with biodiesel are higher than the engine running with normal diesel by a maximum of 14%. However, the thermal efficiency of the engine running with biodiesel is lower than engine running by diesel by 10%.

Key words: combustion characteristics, brake specific fuel consumption, thermal efficiency


Abstract Feminism and generation are live and ideologically freighted issues that are subject to a substantial amount of media engagement. The figure of the millennial and the baby boomer, for example, regularly circulate in mainstream media, often accompanied by hyperbolic and vitriolic discourses and affects of intergenerational feminist conflict. In addition, theories of feminist generation and waves have been and continue to be extensively critiqued within feminist theory. Given the compelling criticisms directed at these categories, we ask: why bother examining and foregrounding issues of generation, intergeneration, and transgeneration in feminist media studies? Whilst remaining sceptical of linearity and familial metaphors and of repeating reductive, heteronormative, and racist versions of feminist movements, we believe that the concept of generation does have critical purchase for feminist media scholars. Indeed, precisely because of the problematic ways that is it used, and the prevalence of it as a volatile, yet only too palpable, organizing category, generation is both in need of continual critical analysis, and is an important tool to be used—with care and nuance—when examining the multiple routes through which power functions in order to marginalize, reward, and oppress. Exploring both diachronic and synchronic understandings of generation, this article emphasizes the use of conjunctural analysis to excavate the specific historical conditions that impact upon and create generation. This special issue of Feminist Media Studies covers a range of media forms—film, games, digital media, television, print media, as well as practices of media production, intervention, and representation. The articles also explore how figures at particular lifestages—particularly the girl and the aging woman—are constructed relationally, and circulate, within media, with particular attention to sexuality. Throughout the issue there is an emphasis on exploring the ways in which the category of generation is mobilized in order to gloss sexism, racism, ageism, class oppression, and the effects of neoliberalism.


The social laboratoryconcept as a sustainable technology transfer strategy was developed andapplied  in the establishment of ruralenterprises using the multi-commodity solar tunnel dryer (MCSTD. This is inorder to improve productivity and income of micro-enterprises engaged inprocessing and drying of agricultural and fishery products. First, the roles ofstakeholders and resources needed to hasten the adoption of MCSTD wereestablished. Coaching and mentoring of new MCSTD adopters followed to strengthentheir technical capability on proper drying of agricultural products, theoperation of the solar dryer, and on managing their businesses.  Finally, the enterprises were monitored interms of technical, socio-economic, financial viability, and their contributionto the community. Results showed that the social laboratory concept was aneffective technology transfer strategy. It played major role in theestablishment of new MCSTD-based enterprises in the different regions in thePhilippines.  A total of 15 newenterprises were established and 3 of the enterprises were found to betechnically, economically and financially viable. The use of MCSTD generatedincome for the enterprises, facilitated the creation of new enterprise,introduced unique products in the market, and increased demand of rawmaterials. Moreover, the solar drying technology was found very technicallyefficient, cost efficient, environmentally sound generating employment forpeople in the community. Keywords – solar drying, social laboratory, technology transfer, rural enterprise. **Additional information article available at page 36-40 Vol.2 No.3


This paper derives a three stage Cournot duopoly game for research collaboration, research expenditures and product market competition. The amount of knowledge firms can absorb from other firms is made dependent on their own research efforts, e.g., firms' absorptive capacity is treated as an endogenous variable. It is shown that cooperating firms invest more in R&D than non-cooperating firms if spillovers are suficiently large. Further, market demand and R&D productivity have a positive effect on R&D efforts both under research joint venture and under research competition. Firms' propensity to collaborate in R&D is increasing in R&D productivity. The key findings of the theoretical model are tested using German innovation survey data for the service sector. A simultaneous model for cooperation choice and innovation expenditures shows that R&D cooperation has a weakly significant positive effect on innovation expenditures. The empirical results broadly support the theoretical model.


Earlier empirical literature has examined some long- and medium-term aspects of macro-fiscal volatility while leaving its short-term fiscal impact unexplored. To help fill that gap, we examine the impact of macro-fiscal volatility on the composition of public spending. To that end, we analyse a panel of 10 EU countries during 1991—2007. Our results suggest that contemporaneous increases in the volatility of regularly collected revenues such as the VAT and income taxes tend to tilt the expenditure composition in favour of public investment. In contrast, increases in the volatility of ad hoc –type of taxes such as capital taxes tend to favour public consumption spending. A possible explanation to these differences concerns news about the underlying economic conditions embedded in short-term volatility changes: the policy maker may be more inclined to increase public investment in response to persistent changes in the economic conditions, while temporary changes may prompt a reaction on consumption spending.