Data is generally expected to continue its exponential growth the next five to ten years. However, it is commonly agreed that the amount of data that currently exist is abundant and that there is still much to achieve with it. The industry, in general, has recognized both the growth and the need to analyze the data. This is also the case with oil well drilling operations. Currently, operators monitor oil well drilling operations manually by staring at real-time measurements visualized in a computer program as graphs. Having humans monitoring the drilling operations manually has its disadvantages, as people get bored, tired and distracted. In this thesis, we investigate whether real-time decision making can be improved by enhancing the decision maker's situation awareness through applying case-based reasoning on streaming data. This thesis is not about automating decisions, but informing human decision makers about the current situation so that they can make an informed decision. A hybrid reasoning system that abstracts recognize symptoms in time-series data and describe the current situation using these is described. The current situation is compared to past problematic situations and the similar past situations are brought to the attention of the decision maker to support decisions. Furthermore, situation assessment, the process of acquiring an understanding of the current state of a situation, in oil well drilling is analyzed and described. There are four main contributions of the research effort presented in this thesis: (i) a case representation for drilling situations; (ii) a hybrid reasoning architecture that is capable of reasoning with real-time data streams; (iii) a similarity metric for sequences of complex events; and (iv) a knowledge level model of situations and situation assessment.


Abstract. Water flowing below glaciers exerts a major control on glacier basal sliding. However, our knowledge of the physics of subglacial hydrology and its link with sliding is limited because of lacking observations. Here we use a 2-year-long dataset made of on-ice-measured seismic and in situ-measured glacier basal sliding speed on Glacier d'Argentière (French Alps) to investigate the physics of subglacial channels and its potential link with glacier basal sliding. Using dedicated theory and concomitant measurements of water discharge, we quantify temporal changes in channels' hydraulic radius and hydraulic pressure gradient. At seasonal timescales we find that hydraulic radius and hydraulic pressure gradient respectively exhibit a 2- and 6-fold increase from spring to summer, followed by comparable decrease towards autumn. At low discharge during the early and late melt season channels respond to changes in discharge mainly through changes in hydraulic radius, a regime that is consistent with predictions of channels' behaviour at equilibrium. In contrast, at high discharge and high short-term water-supply variability (summertime), channels undergo strong changes in hydraulic pressure gradient, a behaviour that is consistent with channels behaving out of equilibrium. This out-of-equilibrium regime is further supported by observations at the diurnal scale, which prove that channels pressurize in the morning and depressurize in the afternoon. During summer we also observe high and sustained basal sliding speed, which supports that the widespread inefficient drainage system (cavities) is likely pressurized concomitantly with the channel system. We propose that pressurized channels help sustain high pressure in cavities (and therefore high glacier sliding speed) through an efficient hydraulic connection between the two systems. The present findings provide an essential basis for testing the physics represented in subglacial hydrology and glacier sliding models.


Abstract Fisheries managers normally make decisions based on stock abundance estimates subject to process, observation, and model uncertainties. Considerable effort is invested in gathering information about stock size to decrease these uncertainties. However, few studies have evaluated benefits from collecting such information in terms of yield and stability of annual harvest. Here, we develop a strategic age‐structured population model for a long‐lived fish with stochastic recruitment, resembling the Norwegian spring‐spawning herring (NSSH, Clupea harengus L.). We evaluate how uncertainties in population estimates influence annual yield, spawning stock biomass (SSB), and variation in annual harvest, using both the proportional threshold harvesting (PTH) and the current harvest control rule for NSSH as harvest strategies. Results show that the consequences of a biased estimate are sensitive to the harvest strategy employed. If the harvest strategy is suitably chosen, the benefits of accurate information are low, and less information about the stock is necessary to maintain high average yield. Reduced harvest intensity effectively removes the need for accurate stock estimates. PTH (a variant of the constant escapement strategy) with low harvest ratio and the current NSSH harvest control rule both provide remarkable stability in yield and SSB. However, decreased uncertainty will often decrease year‐to‐year variation in harvest and the frequency of fishing moratoria.


The French Revolution dealt a fatal blow to the alliance of Church and State. The Christian church had to adapt to great changes - from the social upheavals of the Industrial Revolution to the philosophical speculations of Kant's 'Copernican revolution', to Darwin's evolutionary theories. Some Christians were driven to panic and blind reaction, others were inspired to re-interpret their faith; the results of this conflict within the fabric of the Church are still reverberating today. In this masterly appraisal of a doubt-ridden and turbulent period in Christianity Alec Vidler concludes with a discussion of the position of the Church in modern times and expertly answers the question: 'Has the Church stood up to the Age of Revolution?'


Since the middle of the last century, the ideal of constitutional legitimacy has been grounded on the foundation of the concept of the rule of law. The rule of law is usually understood in two senses: first, as embracing firm limits on an arbitrary use of power, that is, of the use of the state power when not grounded in law (process aspect); and second, as vesting the state with a critical role as guardian of a set of foundational communally embraced substantive norms that are to be protected and furthered through the use of state power grounded in law (substantive aspect). The Chinese Constitution of 1982 has, as a formal matter, embraced the idea of the rule of law in its process aspect. The Preamble declares that the Constitution is the fundamental law of the state and has supreme legal authority and Article 5 as amended in 1999 emphasizes the People's Republic of China practices ruling the country in accordance with the law and building a socialist country of law. However, it is more difficult to discern even a formal adoption of the rule of law in its substantive aspect. As a consequence, outsiders have questioned the fidelity of the Chinese state to the rule of law because of the control by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) of the apparatus of law making in China. In one sense these arguments can be reduced to a criticism of Chinese constitutionalism as illegitimate because it lacks a basis in moral and ethical norms outside of the personal desires of the leaders of the CCP. This paper suggests that traditional criticism misperceives the fundamental nature of Chinese Constitutionalism as it attempts to fashion its own distinct socialist rule of law constitutionalism. Fundamental to this socialist rule of law is the core premise the connection between the apparatus of the state (its institutions) and that of the Chinese Communist Party (as the Party in power). The paper examines the way the normative basis of this socialist rule of law has been advanced through the use of increasingly sophisticated and complex specific ideological frameworks into the constitution. This may suggest a greater willingness to advance the implementation of ideology, and the substantive structure it represents, through state power grounded in law. However, because the norm structures of Chinese ideology articulated through the CCP remain either alien or antithetical to their usual Western counterparts, they remain opaque outside of China. To examine the parameters of this possible shift in Chinese constitutionalism, the paper will examine one element in this process of incorporation - the inclusion of sange daibiao (the 'Three Represents') into the governance structures of the CCP after 2000 and the Chinese Constitution after 2004. Like the earlier constitutional assimilation of Deng Xiaoping Theory, the adoption of sange daibiao may serve, at least as a formal matter, to further incorporate substantive rule of law elements into Chinese constitutionalism. Sange daibiao illustrates the way in which China is seeking to construct socialist rule of law through a commitment to an institutional structure of the state in which the CCP serves not as a mere Western style political party but as an integral organ of state power. The focus is on the reality of the CCP within the state. Sange Daibiao provides an ideological basis, a deep constitutional foundation, for the position of the CCP at the center of the constitutional apparatus of the Chinese state. But it does more than that - it also provides the basis through which the rule of law, as a framework for the proper relationship between state institutions (representing the collective) and the individual (as an instrument of that collective). As developed by the organs of the CCP, it is clear that Sange Daibiao can provide the principles through which the framework of commonly understood rule of law constitutionalism can be adopted with Chinese characteristics.


Dry matter (DM) yields of unimproved resident browntop-dominant pasture on three Central Otago dryland farms was 18 000 ha applied lime to increase soil pH to ≥5.8 and reduce aluminium to <1.5 mg/kg. The resident vegetation was sprayed in autumn before spring drilling of perennial ryegrass/white clover pastures or lucerne monocultures. After renovation, ryegrass pastures yielded 3.1-5.3 t DM/ha and lucerne produced 4.2-8.4 t DM/ha. Yields of improved pastures were affected by the soil moisture stored during autumn and winter and spring rainfall. Together these gave a water use efficiency of ~16.0 kg DM/ha/mm for lucerne compared with 3.5 kg DM/ha/ mm for browntop dominant pasture. Quantifying and explaining yield improvements on-farm in relation to rainfall and soil moisture deficits provide a transferable basis for interpretation of results at other sites.


Despite a robust college premium, college attendance rates in the United States have remained stagnant and exhibit a substantial socioeconomic gradient. We focus on information gaps — specifically, incomplete information about college benefits and costs — as a potential explanation for these patterns. For this purpose, we conduct an information experiment about college returns and costs embedded within a representative survey of U.S. household heads. We show that, at the baseline, perceptions of college costs and benefits are severely and systematically biased: 75 percent of our respondents underestimate college returns (defined as the average earnings of a college graduate relative to a non-college worker in the population), while 61 percent report net public college costs that exceed actual net costs. There is also substantial heterogeneity in beliefs, with evidence of larger biases among lower-income and non-college households. We also elicit respondents' intended likelihood of their pre-college-age children attending college, and the likelihood of respondents recommending college for a friend's child, the two main behavioral outcomes of interest. Respondents are then randomly exposed to one of two information treatments, which respectively provide objective information about "college returns" and "college costs." We find a significant impact on intended college attendance for individuals in the returns experiment: intended college attendance expectations increase by about 0.2 of the standard deviation in the baseline likelihood. Importantly, as a result of the college returns information intervention, gaps in intended college attendance by household income or parents' education persist but decline by 20 to 30 percent. Notably, the effect of information persists in the medium-term, two months after the intervention. We find, however, no impact of the cost information treatment on college attendance expectations.


Introduction/Background Colposcopy is an essential method in the diagnosis of precancerous lesions. In recent years, new adjunctive technologies have been emerging with an aim to increase the effectiveness of colposcopy. In our randomized pilot study, we tested the Folate Receptor-mediated Detection staining solution (FRD) on 10 patients who visited our colposcopy outpatient office. Methodology In our randomized pilot study, ten patients were tested using FRD staining solution. In all 10 patients HPV Test, Pap Smear, and Colposcopy were also performed. These four methods were evaluated in regard to the histopathological findings of the targeted biopsy. Results The sensitivity and specificity of FRD staining solution were 100% and 50%, respectively. Conclusion The advantage of the FRD method is that the results are immediate. Another benefit of this test is that it can predict the location of cervical dysplasia both on the cervix and in the canal itself. Further study could be useful to check if overall accuracy for screening is improved when FRD is used as a co-test with HPV testing. Disclosures None.


The objective of the Nagoya Protocol guides Parties to regulate illegitimate access and utilization of biological resources or associated traditional knowledge, and also directs Parties to share with fairness, equity and justice the monetary or non-monetary benefits arising out of utilization of genetic resources. In a nod to the United Nations Declaration on Rights of Indigenous People, the Nagoya Protocol binds the Parties to create access and benefit sharing (ABS) laws, policies or administrative measures as envisaged in Articles 5.2 and 5.5 of the Protocol, and obliges the States to allow for benefits to flow to Indigenous peoples and local communities (ILCs). Present paper is based on an opinion survey of academic/research institutions, civil society organizations and concerned individuals apart from competent national authorities of Asian countries. Review of secondary information, especially domestic ABS laws of relevant countries, and participant observation were other means of legal and policy analysis. The findings of this paper illustrate that the accrued benefits from the utilization of genetic resources or traditional knowledge are not adequately realized by Indigenous people or local communities. State sovereignty occupies dominance when justice and equity principles are considered in benefit sharing mechanism. It leads to the infringement of Indigenous rights and conservation objectives. Discrepancies in domestic ABS laws and in the frameworks for their implementation could be addressed by ensuring the participation of ILCs in domestic ABS rulemaking, decision-making processes, and the participatory execution of ABS mechanisms at all levels. The resulting gains in efficiency in the ABS process could then better achieve the goal of conserving and sustainably using biodiversity, while also ensuring respect for the rights of Indigenous people.


The automatic assessment of barrage water quality is very restricted due to the distances, the number of biochemical parameters to be considered and the financial resources spent to obtain their values. To this scenario should be added the latency times between the sampling moment and the outcome of the laboratory analyses. Although the idea of considering sensors for remote acquisition of data is not new, there are some constraints to be addressed, like the existence of sensors to measure the pertinent parameters and their efficiency, the costs involved and the possibility of remote sensing. The application of this alternative is highly dependent on the relevance of the candidate parameters. At this point, the Data Mining (DM) approach assumes an important role, in the sense that it can reveal the relative importance of the parameters, as well the prediction models to determine the water quality and finally the associated accuracies. This paper introduces a decision framework to support the selection of biochemical parameters to be considered in remote sensing of water contained in barrages. The framework enables the comparison of the efficiency of two kinds of models, using decision trees. The first one uses all the water quality indicators, including the time and cost consuming variables, while the second model is based only on remotely real-time acquired parameters. When comparing both strategies under several criteria (e.g., cost, time and confidence), the latter method was showed to be the best alternative.


This paper presents our efforts to create argument structures from meeting transcripts automatically. We show that unit labels of argument diagrams can be learnt and predicted by a computer with an accuracy of 78,52% and 51,43% on an unbalanced and balanced set respectively. We used a corpus of over 250 argument diagrams that was manually created by applying the Twente Argument Schema. In this paper we also elaborate on this schema and we discuss applications and the role we foresee the diagrams to play.


The study investigated the annual life cycles of four copepod species, thereof two congener pairs, which differentiate in their geographical and/or seasonal distribution patterns: (1) Temora longicornis and T. stylifera, (2) Centropages hamatus and C. typicus. T. longicornis occurs farthermost north and has hardly any overlap with its warm-temperate congener T. stylifera. The two Centropages species represent a homologous pair, with the cold-temperate C. hamatus and the southern-intermediate C. typicus. The distribution patterns of these species suggest that temperature is a major factor for copepod population dynamics and distribution. A field study focused mainly on the reproductive strategies of these species, which was related to temperature and phytoplankton concentration at two stations in the North Sea and the Mediterranean, respectively. In the laboratory, demographic parameters were studied in a temperature range from 2 to 35°C.Temperature plays a central role in the life cycles of small calanoid copepods. In the North Sea, T. longicornis was always present, while C. hamatus was absent from the water column in winter. Both species are known to overwinter as resting eggs in the sediment. The presence of C. typicus was irregular there at its northern distribution margin, underlying high interannual variability. The timing of maximum reproductive activity was similar between species and was recorded in spring, except in C. typicus. Significant correlations were obtained between clutch size and prosome length, which in turn was inversely correlated with temperature. Consequently, temperature controlled egg production via its effect on body size at Helgoland Roads, while food probably was not limiting. In contrast, oligotrophy governed copepod life in the Mediterranean, where reproductive rates were considerably lower, but continuous throughout the year in both T. stylifera and C. typicus. However, no statistical relationship between reproduction and food availability or temperature was observed.The laboratory experiments strengthened the assumption that temperature is one important source of interannual and regional variability. The tolerance limits and optima of survival, reproduction and development distinguished the northern species T. longicornis and C. hamatus from the southern T. stylifera, while C. typicus, which is found in both regions, was intermediate. Thus, thermal preferences can in part explain distribution patterns of copepds. C. typicus was able to tolerate different temperature conditions, resulting in its wide distribution range from the subarctic to the tropics.


There are enormous challenges in establishing policing systems in young democracies. Such societies typically have a host of unresolved pressing social, economic and political questions that impinge on policing and the prospects for reform. There are a series of hugely important questions arising in this context, to do with the emergence of the new security agenda, the problems of transnational crime and international terrorism, the rule of law and the role of the police, security services and the military. This is a field that is not only of growing academic interest but is now the focus of a very significant police reform 'industry'. Development agencies and entrepreneurs are involved around the globe in attempts to establish democratic police reforms in countries with little or no history of such activity. Consequently, there is a growing literature in this field, but as yet no single volume that brings together the central developments. This book gathers together scholars from political science, international relations and criminology to focus on the issues raised by policing within developing democracies examining countries in Eastern Europe, Asia, South America and Africa.


There were no city water supplies to fight the fires in San Francisco after last year's earthquake. The fires were brought under control because of an historic auxiliary water system and a unique portable water supply system. After the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, when 25,000 buildings burned, the insurance industry doubled the city's rates until it built an auxiliary water system, separate from the city's water system. Completed in 1912, the high-pressure, redundant system incorporates a 10 million gallon reservoir with two pressure-reducing tanks, two emergency shoreline salt-water pumping stations, a 121 mi pipe network which distributes water to auxiliary system hydrants, fireboats that can hook up to manifolds and 150 underground cisterns that contain 75,000 gal of water. Voters approved extension of the system in a 1986 bond issue. Construction is now underway on an upgrade of the auxiliary system with 21 mi of pipe, 300 hydrants, 95 cisterns and a new smart valve system in which 80 valves will be radio-controlled to aid in isolating leaks. San Francisco was also saved by a portable water system. A portable hydrant, invented by assistant fire chief Frank Blackburn, is used to take water off the supply main through special large-diameter hoses. The portable unit was deployed and within 20 min after its arrival, 5 in hoses and portable hydrants were laid out in what amounted to an above ground water system.


Efficient cooling after aluminum extrusion is crucial for strengthening of AlMgSi type alloys. However, distortions induced by such fast cooling can become challenging. The optimum cooling conditions can be obtained by cooling through the so-called quench window, giving the best compromise between high strength and low distortion. Appropriate modeling, using both physical and numerical methods, can help us achieve a better cooling strategy in extrusion plants. In this study, a few simple sections both on a real scale and lab scale were simulated. First, the effect of the initial cooling at a quench box entrance was considered. Then the effect of the non-uniform cooling across the section width inside the quench box was addressed. In order to investigate the selected parameters, proper measures were used and distortion mechanisms in different conditions were discussed. Then effects of some selected parameters, e.g., the thickness, width, non-uniformity, stop time, and extrusion speed were taken into account. Finally, the benefits and disadvantages of two types of cooling patterns, elliptic and rectangular, representing different nozzle types and arrangements inside the quench box were analyzed. Results demonstrated that sharper starting of the cooling process and using an overlapped elliptic footprint decrease the final distortion.


Linear energy transfer, L, is currently used as reference parameter for the quality factor in radiation protection, and this practice is likely to be continued in an impending revision of the quality factor. But the numerical convention is not, at present, actually applied to photon or electron fields; their quality factor is, instead, summarily equated to unity. The current trend of tightened dose limits in radiation protection may create the need for precise computations of quality factors even for photon and electron radiations. Such computations can, however, not be performed in terms of unrestricted linear energy transfer. The reasons for this difficulty are explained, and the formulae for the quality factor as an integral over electron fluence and restricted linear energy transfer are given. A correct energy balance in this and in a variety of linked dosimetric relations requires a modification of the definition of restricted linear energy transfer. For large energy cut-off values the correction is of minor importance, but for small cut-off values - such as those invoked in biophysical considerations - the modification is essential.


Juvenile hyaline fibromatosis is a rare genetic disease that is characterized by multiple papulonudular skin
lesions, gingival hypertrophy and joint contracture. According to our knowledge, less than 70 cases with
features suggesting the diagnosis have been reported. It is an autosomal recessive disease that is usually
detected in infancy or early childhood.
We report a 14-year old boy, who presented skin colored to erythematous painless rubbery nodules on the
scalp, face, hand, and feet and flexion contracture on both elbow and gingival hypertrophy.
Radiological findings showed erosion at the end of distal phalanxes with marginal sclerosis and soft tissue
masses on toes. Pathological finding were an increased number of fibroblasts embedded in an amorphous
eosinophilic hyalinized matrix. Some stoma cells were observed in the lacuna-like spaces (chondroid cell)
within this material.
For our patient, the diagnosis of JHF was based on the presence of typical tumoral lesions, gingival
hyperplasia, joint contracture, and the characteristic histopathological findings. The presence of
amorphous hyaline material in the dermis supported our diagnosis of JHF.


While gender and age are often noted as being important dimensions of Indigenous leadership and governance, they have rarely been examined in detail. This paper focuses specifically on the gender and age of directors on the boards of prescribed bodies corporate (PBCs), the corporations established to hold and/or manage native title rights and interests. A predominant view persists of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women as excluded or marginalised in native title. Statistical data for the year 2011–12 reveals, however, that women's representation on PBC boards is higher than that found in mainstream sectors, while the literature reveals a complex picture of cultural, historical, demographic, institutional and intercultural factors that influence men's and women's participation and power in the native title arena. A key generational concern is the relatively low number of older people and the growing number of young people in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population. Viewed in relation to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population and projected changes, the pool of potential PBC directors looks likely to grow in coming years. This paper argues that, as an increasingly significant sector, PBCs have the potential to both contribute to and benefit from the strengthening of community capacity but this potential will not be realised until the constraints on the capacity of PBCs to meet their statutory obligations and pursue native title holder aspirations are addressed. Geoff Buchanan


DUE TO COPYRIGHT RESTRICTIONS ONLY AVAILABLE FOR CONSULTATION AT ASTON UNIVERSITY LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SERVICES WITH PRIOR ARRANGEMENT This study is about leadership in American Evangelical Churches, which as a sub-set of American Christianity, are growing, while American Christianity as a whole is in decline. As a result evangelicalism is quickly becoming the dominate iteration of American Christianity. It is anecdotal that well led churches grow while poorly led churches do not, yet no one has identified what leadership, in the evangelical church context, is. Researchers have investigated a number of aspects of church leadership (much of it without identifying whether or not the churches under investigation were evangelical or not) but no one has put forth a unified theory linking these aspects together. The purpose of this research is to address that gap and develop a theory that explains how evangelicals view leadership in their local churches. In this study of three churches, dissimilar in size and governance, a purely qualitative approach to data collection and analysis was employed. The study involved 60 interviews that sought points-of-view from top and mid-level leadership along with congregant followers. The study borrowed heavily from Glaser and Strauss (1967) Grounded Theory approach to data analysis. The results developed a theory which provides a unified explanation of how leadership actually works in the three evangelical churches. Several implications for practice are discussed as to the theory's usefulness as a method of leadership education and evaluation. An original discovery was found that an individual's incumbency within the organization was identified as a social power. Limitations to this research are the limitations generally imputed to purely qualitative research in that questions are raised about the theory's applicability to evangelical churches beyond the three studied. The suggestions for further research involve addressing those limitations


Abstract Rismalm, M. (2015). Obstacles and opportunities in efforts to promote the health of the unemployed and supporting on the way to work. Bachelor thesis in Public Health science. Department of work- and public health science. The academy of health and working life. University of Gavle, Sweden. Purpose: The purpose was to study the potential obstacles and opportunities in the work of promoting health among unemployed and support them to a job. The research questions were: How is health promoted practically in supporting unemployed, what are the obstacles and opportunities do the project staff encounter, how is the project organized and what future visions do the project staff have regarding the project.Method: The method used was a qualitative interview study with a semi-structured form for the interview questions. The studied project was in the middle of Sweden. Based on a convenience selection, four managers was selected from the project and was interviewed. Results: The study showed that potential obstacles regarding the job was, according to the respondents, language barriers, competence weighed against job market and the lack of health among the unemployed. In the result there were also opportunities that the respondents work with physical activity was used as a natural work in promoting health among unemployed. Conclusion: Physical activity and education in language was considered important in the work of promoting health among unemployed. This provided a greater possibility to enter the job market.Keywords: Obstacles, Opportunities, Unemployment, Projects, Health promotion.


The history and development of fire and invasive alien plant management policies in fynbos during the 20th century are reviewed. Fire was initially condemned outright as a destructive force, but as its vital role became better understood, management policies switched from protection to active burning in 1968. During the 1970s, large, coordinated research programmes were established, resulting in a solid basis of knowledge on which to develop fire management policies. Despite policies of prescribed burning, wild fires remain the dominant feature of the region, fortunately driving a variable fire regime that remains broadly aligned with conservation objectives. The problem of conserving fire-adapted fynbos is complicated by invading alien trees that are also fire-adapted. Research results were used to demonstrate the impacts of these invasions on water yields, leading to the creation of one of the largest alien plant control programmes globally. Despite improvements in control methods, alien trees, notably pines, continue to spread almost unchecked. Biological control offered some hope for controlling pines, but was ruled out as too high a risk for these commercially-important trees. Failure to address this problem adequately will almost certainly result in the severe degradation of remaining fynbos ecosystems.


Insects have evolved a diversity of hearing organs specialized to detect sounds critical for survival. We report on a unique structure on butterfly wings that enhances hearing. The Satyrini are a diverse group of butterflies occurring throughout the world. One of their distinguishing features is a conspicuous swelling of their forewing vein, but the functional significance of this structure is unknown. Here, we show that wing vein inflations function in hearing. Using the common wood nymph, Cercyonis pegala, as a model, we show that (i) these butterflies have ears on their forewings that are most sensitive to low frequency sounds (less than 5 kHz); (ii) inflated wing veins are directly connected to the ears; and (iii) when vein inflations are ablated, sensitivity to low frequency sounds is impaired. We propose that inflated veins contribute to low frequency hearing by impedance matching.


Introduction: Nowadays, not only nurses need to have knowledge and skills, but they must be able to judge in clinical high risk conditions, to take a decision to maintain patients' lives, to solve complex problems and to think critically. Nurses who work in emergency wards need to have enough knowledge for diagnosis and classifying emergencies, gather data correctly, provide necessary patient education and anticipate in care needs for problem solving. But, lack of planning on no anticipated conditions, inappropriate control of care givers, equipment insufficiency, inappropriate physical environment and ultimately lack of compliance of processing and structural standards, result in decreasing their correct functions and endanger patients lives leading to death. Unfortunately, what are often seen in treatment centers, are services made far from professional standards that have direct effects on community health. Therefore, we decided to examine measurements of processing and structural standard compliance in a sample center (Emergency ward in Kashani Hospital) and to demonstrate the alternatives. Methods: This was a cross-sectional descriptive analytic survey carried out In Isfahan Kashani Hospital. The main goal of research was examination and measurement of structural standard compliance (physical environment, equipments and personnel) and processing manner of patients care. First, an observational checklist was made to evaluate physical environment, equipments, personnel and nursing care instruments in emergency ward. Then, necessary information via these tools was gathered from emergency wards and their staff (nurses and auxiliary nurses). Collected data were examined through descriptive statistics. Results: The findings of this research indicated a desirable condition in 48.5% of physical environment and equipments and in 74% of personnel. Also, 86% of personnel had average competency. Conclusion : The findings showed that the inappropriate physical environment, insufficient equipments, inappropriate distribution of personnel and useless accountancy/control tools are the most important problems in this ward. Key words: Processes Standard, Structure Standard, Nursing Care Standard


Ribonucleic acid (RNA) plays a fundamental and important role in cellular life forms and their function is directly related to their structure. RNA secondary structure prediction is a significant area of study for many scientists seeking insights into potential drug interactions or innovative new treatment methodologies. Predicting structure can overcome many issues related with physical structure determination and their study yields information useful in prediction of the full three dimensional structures and also in the interpretation of the biochemical abilities of the molecules. Therefore, predicting the secondary structure of RNA is very important for understanding their function. Furthermore, secondary structures are discrete and thus, well suited for computational methods. In this paper, we present a review on RNA secondary structure prediction using Dynamic Programming (DP) algorithm. An analysis of DP algorithm from previous work is discussed. We will present our proposed work for RNA secondary structure prediction using DP algorithm and special-purposed hardware of multicore and Graphical Processing Unit (GPU). We proposed to implement the DP algorithm approach on a hybrid of multicore and GPU platform to speed up the computational process of RNA secondary structure prediction.


Prediction of the remaining life of high-voltage power transformers is an important issue for energy companies because of the need for planning maintenance and capital expenditures. Lifetime data for such transformers are complicated because transformer lifetimes can extend over many decades and transformer designs and manufacturing practices have evolved. We were asked to develop statisticallybased predictions for the lifetimes of an energy company's fleet of high-voltage transmission and distribution transformers. The company's data records begin in 1980, providing information on installation and failure dates of transformers. Although the dataset contains many units that were installed before 1980, there is no information about units that were installed and failed before 1980. Thus, the data are left truncated and right censored. We use a parametric lifetime model to describe the lifetime distribution of individual transformers. We develop a statistical procedure, based on age-adjusted life distributions, for computing a prediction interval for remaining life for individual transformers now in service. We then extend these ideas to provide predictions and prediction intervals for the cumulative number of failures, over a range of time, for the overall fleet of transformers.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Brachial plexus block is used in surgical procedures of the upper limbs. The brachial plexus is a potential territory for absorption of local anesthetics. Studies on bupivacaine isomers have shown reduced cardiovascular toxicity of its levorotatory form (levobupivacaine). However, the anesthetic efficacy (sensorial and motor blockades) of levobupivacaine in neuroaxis blocks has been debated. The objective of this study was to demonstrate the anesthetic efficacy of levobupivacaine in brachial plexus block, using the perivascular subclavian approach, by comparing it to racemic bupivacaine. METHODS: Fifty adult patients of both genders, ASA I and II, underwent subclavian perivascular brachial plexus block, with the aid of a peripheral neurostimulator, for orthopedic surgeries of the upper limbs. Patients were randomly divided into two groups: GBUPI - racemic bupivacaine, and GLEVO - levobupivacaine, and they received 30 mL of the 0.5% solution. Sensorial blockade was evaluated by pinprick stimulation from C5 to C8 metameres; and the motor blockade was assessed 1, 2, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 minutes after the administration of the local anesthetic or until blockade of fingers, hand, forearm, and arm movements was observed. RESULTS: Statistical differences in latency, failure rate, and degree of the motor blockade, and failure of the sensorial blockade between both groups were not observed, but the latency of the sensorial blockade in all metameres analyzed showed statistically significant differences. Adverse events inherent to the administration of local anesthetics were not observed. CONCLUSIONS: The anesthetic efficacy of levobupivacaine in brachial plexus block was similar to that of the racemic solution commonly used.


Different industrial and medical situations require the non-invasive extraction of information from the inside of bodies. This is usually done through tomographic methods that generate images based on internal body properties. However, the image reconstruction involves a mathematical inverse problem, for which accurate resolution demands large computation time and capacity. In this paper we explore the use of Machine Learning to develop an accurate solver for reconstructing Electrical Impedance Tomography images in real-time. We compare the results with the Iterative Gauss-Newton and the Primal Dual Interior Point Method, which are both largely used and well-validated solvers. The approaches were compared from the qualitative as well as the quantitative viewpoints. The former was focused on correctly detecting the internal body features. The latter was based on accurately predicting internal property distributions. Experiments revealed that our approach achieved better accuracy and Cohen's kappa coefficient (97.57% and 94.60% respectively) from the qualitative viewpoint. Moreover, it also obtained better quantitative metrics with a Mean Absolute Percentage Error of 18.28%. Experiments confirmed that Neural Networks algorithms can reconstruct internal body properties with high accuracy, so they would be able to replace more complex and slower alternatives.


A Multiple-Linear Regression Model to Predict Carotid Artery IMT in a Senior Population of Competitors at the Huntsman World Senior Games Cheryl Ann Stapley Smith Department of Exercise Sciences, BYU Master of Science Carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) is a valid measure of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Physical activity appears to improve cIMT, however, research is inconclusive. This study investigated the relationship between physical activity (physical activity rating (PA-R)) and cardiovascular fitness (predicted VO2max, perceived functional ability (PFA)) and cIMT. Data collected from 341 seniors (≥50 years) competing in the Huntsman World Senior Games (HWSG) included blood lipids, inflammatory makers, blood glucose, blood pressure (BP) and anthropometric measurements of obesity and central adiposity. Multiple regression analysis was used to determine correlations of measured variables with cIMT. Two of the fitness related variables, PFA (r ≈ 0.1359; p = 0.012) and predicted VO2max (r ≈ 0.1475; p = 0.007) were significantly correlated to cIMT without controlling for confounding factors, but lost significance when adjustments for other CVD risk factors were included. PAR (r ≈ 0.0869; p = 0.111) was not significantly correlated to cIMT. Regression analysis indicated that the most predictive variables of cIMT we investigate were: age (t = 7.166, p = 0.000), gender (t = 3.310, p = 0.001), BMI (t = 1.892, p = 0.05), SBP (t = 3.952, p = 0.000), total cholesterol (TC) (t = 4.184, p = 0.000) and triglycerides (TRG) (t ≈ 3.466, p = 0.000), our R = .299, thus indicating these 6 variables account for about 30% of the variance in cIMT in seniors competing at HWSG. Physical activity and cardiovascular fitness influence other CVD risk factors and consequently may have an indirect impact on cIMT.


The procedure of investment arbitrations vary tremendously. Arbitrations can range from cases that take many years to conclude to cases that are heard within a year or two. The experience in one case may not hold for another. However, there are a number of common elements and fixed variables. An understanding of these elements and variables allows the reader to draw conclusions as to how a specific arbitration will likely play out. This chapter attempts to convey this understanding with a practical focus on the principal strategic decisions in such a case. It divides the activity in an investment-treaty arbitration into five sequential phases: (1) the preparation of the case, (2) the written submissions, (3) the hearing, (4) post-hearing activity, and (5) the decision and its aftermath; each of these activities is discussed in turn.


The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of organizational leadership on performance in academics in secondary schools of Baringo Central Sub County of Baringo
County, Kenya. The specific objectives were: to establish the effect of leadership styles, skills and ethics on performance in secondary schools in Baringo Central Sub County of Baringo
County of Kenya. The study made use of a survey study research design. The target population was secondary schools in the Baringo Central Sub County. The study targeted 28 schools with unit of enumeration consisting of 28 leaders who were the principal, the deputy principal, boarding master or director of studies per school. 120 teachers from the 28 schools, making a
total target population of 148 respondents. The study sampled 26 of the 28 schools, 26 of the 28 school leaders and 91 teachers to form a total sample size of 117 respondents. Questionnaires were used as the main data collection tools. Stratified random sampling was used to select 26 schools from the targeted 28 schools to ensure schools of various categories including the county, national, private and sub county schools were selected to participate in the study, convenience sampling was used so as to have the school heads that is, either the principal or the deputy principal as respondents for this study based on who was readily available and finally simple random sampling of teachers was done to select teachers from the identified school. The data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Descriptive statistics included measures such as percentages, means and SPSS software aided in the computation and in generation of descriptive statistics. Inferential statistics involved multiple regression analysis. Multiple linear regressions were used to establish the predictive power of the study model. The study findings indicated that there was no significant relationship between leadership styles and the academic performance (Accept, (p = 0.507), there was no significant relationship between leadership skills and the academic performance (Accept, p = 0.448) and that there was a
significant relationship between ethical practices and the school's performance. (Reject, p = 0.006). The findings of this study provide policy recommendations that are useful in managing and improving academic performance of secondary schools in the study area. The findings indicate that Leaders in the school have relevant years of experience in leadership position and leaders are required to be ethical in practice of duty. It also recommends that ethical aspects of leaders should be considered before being given opportunity to head schools.


European countries have increasingly adopted wage subsidies for the sector of domestic services to reduce low-skilled unemployment. Yet, empirical evidence on their effectiveness is scarce. In this paper, we use Belgian administrative data to estimate how participation in the subsidized domestic services sector impacts the labour market outcomes of program participants. Our identification strategy rests on a dynamic event study difference-in-differences model combined with coarsened exact matching. Our findings indicate that such subsidies can be effective in reducing unemployment and inactivity, but only by increasing employment within the subsidized domestic services sector. We also find that program participation deteriorates physical health, thus increasing the worker's probability of claiming disability insurance benefits.


In the five years since the launching of Fundamental Index® strategies as live portfolios, the effectiveness of the strategy and source of its outperformance have been strenuously debated. The initial research by Arnott, Hsu, and Moore presented the concept as a simple quantitative way to sidestep a crucial shortcoming of cap-weighted indexing. Capitalization-weight traditionalists, following in step with the efficient markets hypothesis, enter into the argument with the belief that excess returns for any strategy must be compensation for the assumption of extra risk. In their mind, a Fundamental Index approach outperforms merely due to exposure to a size or value premium. Standing contrary to the EMH are proponents of a noise-in-price model, who believe that an ability to systematically take advantage of a mispricing effect drives the excess returns. In this article, the author examines the characteristics of price returns in the Fundamental Index fixed income strategies and shows evidence that supports the noise-in-price model. A fixed income portfolio that earns higher return due to a risk premium should show a higher yield and typically a higher income return at the expense of greater defaults and lower price return. However, a noise-in-price model suggests that outperformance will come about from systematic rebalancing and contra-trading against noisy price movements, which is manifested as a high price return. The findings show that the excess returns to Fundamental Index fixed income portfolios are due entirely to price corrections and not due to exposure to higher risk factors. This supports a noise-in-price model as the driver of excess returns rather than exposure to higher amounts of risk.


In order to explain the emergence of violent conflicts, an increasing number of academic studies have focused on the role of inequalities between 'culturally' defined groups or 'horizontal inequalities'. The concept and theory of horizontal inequalities is also gaining purchase in donor agencies and the broader international development community, particularly in the context of specific countries undergoing or recently emerged from violent conflicts in which such inequalities appear to have played an important role. In this article, we critically review the scope and evidence for the relationship between the presence of severe horizontal inequalities and the emergence of violent conflicts, and lay out areas demanding further research. We identify three main avenues for future research which could extend the horizontal inequality approach and deepen its analytical advances by focusing more attention away from the state. Two of these relate to the role of non-state centred dynamics in the evolution and interpretation of horizontal inequalities and their mobilisation capacity; the third relates to the broad sociological process through which horizontal inequalities and ethnic identity formation may, in fact, be iteratively or dialectically intertwined.


What are the different understandings of marriage, family, and rights that have been developed during recent debates regarding same sex marriage, and polygamy in France and in North America? What modes of justification and repertoires are used today in order to define marriage and claim the rights it entails? What changes in the anthropological conception of marriage in Western societies do the present disputes imply? These two papers examine these questions from different angles and contexts. They both address the new tension between law, the reference to nature, and the Church. Law now seems to accept the idea of the homosexual family, and it even equates it to the biological family. This legal evolution deconstructs the assumption of an "order of nature". It is leading in several Western States to a redefinition of the marriage institution and to its opening to same sex partners (Netherlands in 2001; Belgium in 2003; Spain and Canada in 2005; Sweden and Norway in 2009). Whereas law rejects the relevance of the reference to nature, the Catholic Church has sought for several years to base its opposition to same sex marriage on the need to respect a natural order.


ABSTRACT DNA methylation and chromatin modification operate along a common pathway to repress transcription; accordingly, several experiments demonstrate that the effects of DNA methylation can spread in cis and do not require promoter modification. In order to investigate the molecular details of the inhibitory effect of methylation, we microinjected into Xenopus oocytes a series of constructs containing a human CpG-rich sequence which has been differentially methylated and cloned at different positions relative to a specific promoter. The parameters influencing the diffusion of gene silencing and the importance of histone deacetylation in the spreading effect were analyzed. We demonstrate that a few methylated cytosines can inhibit a flanking promoter but a threshold of modified sites is required to organize a stable, diffusible chromatin structure. Histone deacetylation is the main cause of gene repression only when methylation does not reach levels sufficient to establish this particular structure. Moreover, contrary to the common thought, promoter modification does not lead to the greater repressive effect; the existence of a competition between transactivators and methyl-binding proteins for the establishment of an open conformation justifies the results obtained.


The publication by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) of its clinical guideline on the recognition and management of urinary tract infection (UTI) in children in August 20071 comes some 16 years after the UK consensus-based guidelines published by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP).2 It represents an important milestone in our understanding of this common and sometimes under-diagnosed condition.

For most children a UTI does not have any implications for their long-term health. However, a small minority is at risk of significant morbidity, and in the past concerns about the development of chronic pyelonephritis with accompanying renal insufficiency and/or hypertension have led to many children being investigated following an infection, particularly in early childhood, and an emphasis on the diagnosis and management of reflux nephropathy.

The RCP guidelines helped to achieve a more consistent approach to the investigation of children, but imposed a huge burden on paediatric and imaging departments by recommending imaging in all children after the first UTI (11% of girls and 3% of boys). Subsequent questions about the problems of diagnosis in very young children in primary care, the relation between vesico-ureteric reflux and subsequent scarring, and about the effectiveness of antibiotic prophylaxis, have led to a need for a reappraisal about the current strategy for effective management of the condition.

The NICE guideline signals a move away from the wholesale imaging of children following a UTI, and places a greater emphasis on the recognition and diagnosis in primary care, facilitating earlier antibiotic treatment in those at greatest risk. Age and severity of illness are key determinants of the level of investigation.

NICE has not assigned grades to its recommendations, but relies on assessment of the levels of evidence in a detailed analysis of the evidence used to formulate the recommendations. …


We study the computational and sample complexity of parameter and structure learning in graphical models. Our main result shows that the class of factor graphs with bounded degree can be learned in polynomial time and from a polynomial number of training examples, assuming that the data is generated by a network in this class. This result covers both parameter estimation for a known network structure and structure learning. It implies as a corollary that we can learn factor graphs for both Bayesian networks and Markov networks of bounded degree, in polynomial time and sample complexity. Importantly, unlike standard maximum likelihood estimation algorithms, our method does not require inference in the underlying network, and so applies to networks where inference is intractable. We also show that the error of our learned model degrades gracefully when the generating distribution is not a member of the target class of networks. In addition to our main result, we show that the sample complexity of parameter learning in graphical models has an O(1) dependence on the number of variables in the model when using the KL-divergence normalized by the number of variables as the performance criterion.


Noting the nation's renewed attention to remedying school segregation, Segregation, Race, and Charter Schools presents evidence about the extent of school segregation and its relationship with improving student achievement for students of color. The report argues that school segregation has remained flat for decades and also argues that the nation would be wise to instead attend to improving the quality of schools that students of color and low-income students attend. It points to some urban charter schools as exemplars of this latter approach. However, this review finds that the report omits significant research directly related to the topic and includes other studies that are less relevant. Moreover, the report draws questionable conclusions from studies that are included—conclusions that are not reflective of the research consensus. The report's selective interpretation of existing research leads to two erroneous conclusions about improving educational outcomes for students of color: (1) that focusing on school integration is relatively unimportant; and (2) that attending to school quality via school choice, rather than addressing the complex array of policies to combat racial segregation, should instead be pursued. In fact, because most forms of school choice further segregation, the report's recommendation will likely only further segregation and inequality for students. Review of Segregation, race, and charter SchoolS: What do We KnoW?


Fenfluramine has been demonstrated to have a biphasic effect on glucose removal by skeletal muscle during forearm perfusion. A prompt early increase in glucose removal by skeletal muscle, lasting 90 to 120 minutes, disappeared with the release of free fatty acids. The metabolic effect of fenfluramine on glucose removal occurred without increase in lactate release, suggesting complete oxidation of glucose by skeletal muscle. The effect of fenfluramine on blood glucose was assessed in maturity onset and insulin-requiring diabetics. The drug was most suitable as a hypoglycemic agent when administered immediately before a meal in order that the maximum hypoglycemic action occurred during the period of post-absorption hyperglycemia. When administered before a meal fenfluramine consistently lowered blood glucose levels in maturity onset diabetes mellitus for at least two hours. A similar but less marked action was seen in insulin-requiring diabetics. Blood glucose levels were lowered by fenfluramine in diabetics who were maintained on diet alone or diet plus tolbutamide without the risk of lactic acidosis and without any direct effect on insulin secretion.


The present study included species composition of fish and some ecological factors in haji Ali drainage in the Babylon province. Three stations were chosen for the purpose of the study, the station of first is placed at the beginning of the drain(St1), the second in the middle(St2) and the third at the end(St3), monthly samples were selected from June 2019 to May 2020. Water temperature showed slight changes to the stations were recorded between(11.8C°-28.9C°).Salinity ranged between 0.12gm/l -2.55 gm/l. pH values tended in some months of study to the acidic side and in other months to the basic side has recorded from (6.4-9.3). Dissolved oxygen values ranged from (1.718 .86)mg/l.Biological oxygen demand values ranged between (0.04-4.59) mg/l.Throughout the period mentioned above, a total of 5 397 fish were obtained, belonging to 14 species and 7 families, 11 species of them were native species whereas 3 of them were alien species. The most abundant species was Carassius auratus constituted 31.28% of the total caught of the first station, the value of the dominance index (D3) in first station was 78.53%. The most abundant species in second station was C. auratus constituted 31.46% of the total caught, the value of the dominance index (D3) in the second station was 70.03%. The most abundant species in third station was Planiliza abu constituted 28.08% of the total caught, the index of dominance value (D3) in the third station was 75.68%. Richness index (D) was ranged between (0.66-1.92) and diversity index (H) recorded (1.07-2.01),while evenness index (J) ranged (0.55-0.70).


A long-term sea voyage imposes a special living environment on mariners that directly influences their physical health. To our best knowledge, there have been few research efforts that evaluate mariners' physical health during sea life. This study aims to develop wearable-based mariner physical activity classification models. Twenty-eight participants (n=7 females, n=21 males, mean age=21.4, and mean BMI=22.9) wore a single accelerometer on their dominant hand. The wrist acceleration data were collected and analyzed to extract wrist motion features compared to the criterion measures (i.e., direct observation) including four major physical activity types in a maritime setting. Three machine learning algorithms were applied to develop an accurate classification model. The results of the criterion-based classification show that more than 95% of mariners' daily physical activities were accurately classified. Based on the experimental results, we conclude that the wrist motion features efficiently differentiate major physical activity patterns in a maritime environment. The proposed physical activity classification models can be used as an objective measurement of mariners' physical activity levels during their long voyage.


This paper explores how processes of social transformation since the 1980s have impacted on mobility patterns and migration aspirations in Western French Guiana. The French state showed little interest in the development of this scarcely populated region until the arrival of refugees during Suriname's War of the Interior (1986–1991), which triggered rapid population growth and pressed the state to provide services. With the expansion of formal education, young people's life aspirations shifted away from rural economic activities and were increasingly mismatched with locally available opportunities. In line with mobility transition theories, these social transformations diversified and expanded mobility patterns: whereas grandparents relied on short-term circular mobility along the Maroni river to perform agricultural activities in the region's interior, today's young people engage in permanent rural-urban and overseas migration in order to access educational facilities and economic opportunities. Despite these 'instrumental' aspirations for migration, the analysis of 31 interviews revealed that young people have an 'intrinsic' preference to stay in Western French Guiana. Many remain closely attached to their familiar socio-cultural environment and families; at the same time, the French state provides basic economic stability which facilitates staying – e.g. through paid professional training and social benefits. In fact, young people find themselves in a situation of 'in-betweenness'. They cannot achieve their life aspirations locally but do not aspire to migrate. This finding shows that migration aspirations do not automatically increase with levels of 'development'. Instead, this paper highlights the ambiguous effects of developmental processes, especially state expansion, on people's migration aspirations.


Lightning presents a significant danger to electrical and electronic equipment, buildings and monuments, people and animals. Although our knowledge about lightning has significantly improved over last century, the development of new composite materials and the construction of an increasing number of tall structures present new challenges to the lightning protection techniques. Electric power generation based on wind energy is an extremely fast growing sector of renewable energy production. Lightning is the major cause of damage to wind turbines and their components. While modern wind turbines measure 150 m in height, future wind power generation units will be characterized by even taller turbines, as a result, it is expected that wind turbines will be more exposed to lightning strikes. Within this context, three key problems related to lightning protection of wind turbines and other tall structures were identified and studied within this thesis. First, the problem of the initiation of upward flashes from tall structures is addressed. Two techniques are commonly used to study this process in real scale: direct measurements of lightning currents using tall towers and rocket-triggered lightning experiments. An advanced analytical model was developed to study the relation between the parameters of ground and wire corona during triggered lightning experiments. The influence of several previously disregarded parameters was studied, which is a significant improvement over formerly used methods. An analysis of the initiation of upward lightning flashes for the Gaisberg and the Santis Towers is presented that is based on the data from the European lightning location system (EUCLID) and direct lightning current measurements at the towers. Secondly, a new method for the estimation of the number of upward flashes from a tall structure is developed. The method is based on the analysis of the data provided by lightning location systems and it can therefore be applied to any tall tower or wind turbine covered by a lightning location system. Unlike available methods, it can be applied for structures in various locations with complex terrain. The method is applied to various structures around Europe. It is also shown that the method used in the current standards to esti-mate the risks due to lightning can result in underestimated values of lightning incidence and therefore in the choice of an inade-quate lightning protection level. Using the proposed approach, the proportion of upward flashes observed at different research towers used for lightning measure-ments is analysed. The obtained results confirm the validity of the parameters of downward flashes obtained at this tower and used in current standards on lightning protection. The application of the proposed method to evaluate lightning incidence to a group of tall structures is also presented in the thesis. The case of the Mont-Crosin wind turbine park was used to illustrate it, for which the lightning incidence is evaluated over several time periods corresponding to the construction periods of the wind turbine park. Finally, the last question discussed in this thesis is the distribution of lightning flashes over large areas. Specifically, the distribution of lightning flash density as a function of terrain elevation is analysed. Two improved methods were proposed. The lightning flash density distributions over the Alps and the Pyrenees are then evaluated using the proposed methods and the obtained results suggest that the lightning flash density grows over the whole altitude range.


There is no need to repeat earlier complaints that the historiography of missionary linguistics was being neglected, since the situation has changed considerably sine the last decades of the past century. The first decade of the 21st century in particular has witnessed a veritable explosion of research activities. This article surveys the state of the art in the field of recent work in the historiographical subfield called 'Missionary linguistics', covering the period 2002–2012. It represents an update of Zimmermann (2004) and provides separate sections devoted to earlier studies of missionary linguistics, international conferences, published volumes, journals, reprints and editions of primary sources, exhibitions and other activities related to the subject. The reference list is divided in two sections, (1) primary sources, with some 140 entries, and (2) secondary sources, including more than 300 titles. It is hoped that this account will suggest several additional research topics and inspire scholars to make further advances in this fascinating field of research.


There is a method of controlling nucleation and lateral growth using the three-dimensional (3D) and two-dimensional (2D) growth modes to reduce the dislocation density. We performed 3D–2D-AlN growth on 6H-SiC substrates to obtain high-quality and crack-free AlN layers by low-pressure hydride vapor phase epitaxy (LP-HVPE). First, we performed 3D-AlN growth directly on a 6H-SiC substrate. With increasing V/III ratio, the AlN island density decreased and the grain size increased. Second, 3D–2D-AlN layers were grown directly on a 6H-SiC substrate. With increasing the V/III ratio of 3D-AlN, the crystalline qualities of the 3D–2D-AlN layer were improved. Third, we performed 3D–2D-AlN growth on a trench-patterned 6H-SiC substrate. The crack density was reduced to relax the stress by voids. We also evaluated the threading dislocation density by using molten KOH/NaOH etching. As a result, the estimated edge dislocation density of the 3D–2D-AlN sample was 3.9 × 108 cm−2.


Traditional definitions of Developmental Dyscalculia state that a child must substantially underachieve on mathematical abilities tests relative to the level expected given age, education and intelligence. However, cognitive developmental neuropsychological studies nowadays suggest that not only core numerical but also cognitive skills of children with developmental dyscalculia present deficits. The main aim of the research protocol was to construct a battery of six tests that can be delivered by computer in order to screen children's arithmetic and cognitive skills. The hypothesis of the study was that children that are already diagnosed by paper and pencil tests as dyscalculic will present lower scores and larger time latencies not only in arithmetical but also in executive function tasks. A total of 134 right handed children (74 male and 60 female, age range 8 – 12 years) participated in this study. The students with disorders in mathematics (N= 67, 37 male and 30 female age range 8 – 12 years M= 10.15 SD=1.10) had a statement of dyscalculia after assessment at a Centre of Diagnosis, Assessment and Support, as it is required by Greek Law. A comparison group without any learning disabilities was individually matched with the dyscalculic group according to age, sex and grade (N=67, 37 male and 30 female, age range 8 – 12 years old, M=10.24 SD=1.12). Statistical analysis revealed that children with dyscalculia had statistically significant lower mean scores of correct answers and larger time latencies in all tasks compared to their average peers that participated in the comparison group.`


Neuronal morphology and function are highly coupled. In particular, dendritic spine morphology is strongly governed by the incoming neuronal activity. Previously, volumes of dendritic spines have been considered as a primary parameter to study spine morphology and gain insight into structure-function coupling. However, this reductionist approach fails to incorporate the broad spine structure repertoire. First step towards integrating the rich spine morphology information into functional coupling is to classify spine shapes into main spine types suggested in the literature. Due to the lack of reliable automated analysis tools, classification is currently performed manually, which is a time-intensive task and prone to subjectivity. Availability of automated spine shape analysis tools can accelerate this process and help neuroscientists understand underlying structure and function relationship. Several studies on spine shape classification have been reported in the literature, however, there is an on-going debate on whether distinct spine shape classes exist or whether spines should be modeled through a continuum of shape variations. Another challenge is the subjectivity and bias that is introduced due to the supervised nature of classification approaches. This thesis focuses on morphological, shape, and appearance features based methods to perform dendritic spine shape analysis using both clustering and classification approaches. We apply manifold learning methods for dendritic spine classification and observe that ISOMAP implicitly computes prominent features suitable for classification purposes. We also apply linear representation based approach for spine classification and conclude that sparse representation provides slightly better classification performance. We propose 2D and 3D morphological features based approach for spine shape analysis and demonstrate the advantage of 3D morphological features. We also use a deep learning based approach for spine classification and show that mid-level features extracted from Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) perform as well as hand-crafted features. We propose a kernel density estimation (KDE) based framework for dendritic spine classification. We evaluate our proposed approaches by comparing labels assigned by a neuroscience expert. Our KDE based framework also enables neuroscientists to analyze separability of spine shape classes in the likelihood ratio space, which leads to further insights about the nature of the spine shape analysis problem. Furthermore, we also propose a methodology for unsupervised learning and clustering of spine shapes. In particular, we use x-means to perform cluster analysis that selects the number of clusters automatically using the Bayesian information criterion (BIC). The objective of clustering in this context is two-fold: confirm the hypothesis of some distinct shape classes and discover new natural groups. We observe that although there are many spines which easily fit into the definition of standard shape types (confirming the hypothesis), there are also a significant number of others which do not comply with standard shape types and demonstrate intermediate properties.


The Mycoplasma mycoides cluster is a group of genetically and antigenically related pathogenic bacteria that infect ruminants. The M. mycoides cluster members that are the focus of this discussion are three caprine pathogens: Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides Large Colony, Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. capri, and Mycoplasma capricolum subsp. capricolum. These organisms are causative agents of contagious agalactia as well as polyarthritis, pneumonia, mastitis, and septicemia. Mycoplasma possess no cell wall, are among the smallest self-replicating organisms identified, and have lost many biochemical pathways, including those necessary to synthesize sterols and amino acids, thus requiring they exist as obligate parasites within the host organism. This close relationship makes the cell surface a critical point of interaction between the bacterium and the host, not only to survive an attack by the host immune system, but also to acquire nutrients necessary for survival of the microbial pathogen. Proteins on the cell surface may be involved in host specificity or disease determination; therefore we compared five regions throughout the mycoplasmal chromosome of four different M. mycoides cluster members, as well as two different strains of M. mycoides subsp. mycoides Large Colony. These loci were found to contain unique putative lipoprotein genes (lipid modified proteins expressed on the cell surface), many of which show the potential to phase-vary. These genes may be useful to differentiate between members of the cluster. Herein is also described the first phase-variable lipoprotein gene in M. mycoides subsp. mycoides Large Colony. How the bacteria in this cluster cause disease is largely unknown; the only virulence factor identified to date has been the production of hydrogen peroxide via the metabolism of glycerol. This dissertation includes the initial characterization of a putative glycerol binding protein, also a lipoprotein, which may play a role in the ability of the mycoplasma cell to produce hydrogen peroxide and cause damage to host tissues. Understanding how such closely related organisms are able to exhibit variable virulence in unique hosts will depend on the characterization of those proteins expressed on the cell surface and their role in the bacterial lifecycle.


We previously reported that culture of murine fetal liver (FL) cells with interleukin 7 (IL-7) results in expression of high levels of T cell receptor (TCR) gamma transcripts by a population of cells expressing Thy-1 and Pgp-1, suggesting that IL-7 promotes the growth and/or differentiation of pre-T cells. We demonstrate herein that culture of FL cells for 7 d with IL-7 caused the rearrangement and expression of TCR gamma variable (V) region genes V gamma 4 and V gamma 6, but not V gamma 5 or V gamma 7. Since this effect was not blocked by hydroxyurea, it appeared to represent induction of expression of these genes by IL-7 rather than expansion of a preexisting positive population. We also show that IL-7 induced RAG-1 and RAG-2 mRNA expression by FL cells. These data provide evidence that specific TCR gamma/delta V region genes can be rearranged and expressed by T lineage cells before their migration to the thymus, in response to IL-7.


Background: According to recent reports during the COVID-19 pandemic, malariaendemic regions have a significantly lower COVID-19 case and mortality rate than those malaria-non-endemic. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of COVID-19 in malarious areas of southern Iran and the incidence of disease in people previously infected with malaria. Materials and Methods: We conducted an ecological study during the Covid-19 epidemic period in a malaria-endemic area, Hormozgan province, by including all critically ill patients with Covid-19 admitted to hospitals in different counties. The malaria cases were matched in the Covid patient's list. Also, the cumulative incidence and mortality rate of the Covid-19 were calculated in all counties. Results: The results show that malaria-endemic regions have a lower cumulative incidence and mortality rate than the others. Moreover, it was found that people with a history of malaria were not infected with Covid 19. Conclusion: It seems that malaria endemicity may positively affect the lower incidence and mortality rate of COVID-19 in malaria-endemic regions. However, further studies must be carried out to confirm the hypothesis that malaria reduces the risk of Covid-19 in other parts of the world. © The Author(s) 2021;All rights reserved.


Using population wide register data, I exploit the "speed premium" rule in the Swedish parental leave system to estimate the causal effect of a change in the level of benefits per day on the utilization of parental leave. The results show that a 1% (5 SEK ≈ $0.54) increase in the mother's benefit level per day increases her length of leave by 2.6 days (≈ 1%). Fathers respond by reducing their own time on leave by 1.9 days, i.e. about 75% of the mother's increase. This suggests that changes in the benefit level effects not only the recipient's time on leave, but also the division of leave between parents. This is the first paper to causally estimate the elasticity of take-up duration (length of spell) with respect to the parental leave benefit level; which is found to be equal to 1 for mothers.


Gear shift control of automated manual transmissions (AMT) has many advantages in terms of improvement of driving comfort, reduction of fuel consumption and shifting quality. This paper aims to present a mathematical model, simulation, for gear-shift controller of automated manual gearbox (AMG) using neuro fuzzy approaches. The neuro fuzzy control is used for shift decision making at maximum torque, which will be correspond to the best shift. The mathematical and the control logic for the model have been developed using Matlab/Simulink software tool.


OBJECTIVE
To determine risk factors for development of sequestra in cattle and identify factors associated with a successful outcome.

DESIGN
Retrospective study.

ANIMALS
110 cattle.

PROCEDURE
Medical records of cattle treated at veterinary teaching hospitals in North America were reviewed. To determine risk factors for osseous sequestration, breed, age, and sex of cattle with osseous sequestration were compared with breed, age, and sex of all other cattle admitted during the study period.

RESULTS
110 cattle were included in the study. Three had 2 sequestra; thus, 113 lesions were identified. Most sequestra were associated with the bones of the extremities, most commonly the third metacarpal or third metatarsal bone. Ninety-two animals were treated surgically (i.e., sequestrectomy), 7 were treated medically, 3 were initially treated medically and were then treated surgically, and 8 were not treated. Follow-up information was available for 65 animals treated surgically and 6 animals treated medically. Fifty-one (78%) animals treated surgically and 5 animals treated medically had a successful outcome. Cattle that were 6 months to 2 years old had a significantly increased risk of developing a sequestrum, compared with cattle < 6 months old. Cattle in which sequestrectomy was performed with the aid of local anesthesia were significantly more likely to undergo 2 or more surgical procedures than were cattle in which sequestrectomy was performed with the aid of general anesthesia.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE
Results suggest that sequestrectomy will result in a successful outcome for most cattle with osseous sequestration.


Super-hydrophobic surfaces (SHSs) are bio-inspired, artificial microfabricated interfaces, in which a pattern of cylindrical micropillars is modified to incorporate details at the nanoscale. For those systems, the integration of different scales translates into superior properties, including the ability of manipulating biological solutions. The five Ws, five Ws and one H or the six Ws (6W), are questions, whose answers are considered basic in information-gathering. They constitute a formula for getting the complete story on a subject. According to the principle of the six Ws, a report can only be considered complete if it answers these questions starting with an interrogative word: who, why, what, where, when, how. Each question should have a factual answer. In what follows, SHSs and some of the most promising applications thereof are reviewed following the scheme of the 6W. We will show how these surfaces can be integrated into bio-photonic devices for the identification and detection of a single molecule. We will describe how SHSs and nanoporous silicon matrices can be combined to yield devices with the capability of harvesting small molecules, where the cut-off size can be adequately controlled. We will describe how this concept is utilized for obtaining a direct TEM image of a DNA molecule.


Internet links may create legal liability. Despite the Internet's initial "free linking" ethos, links can be unlawful when they are designed to confuse viewers, to evade court orders or clear statutory prohibition, or to promote illegal conduct by others. But most linking is lawful, even where the linked site claims the right to authorize and control links. Linking law, which began with the Shetland Times headline-linking case in Scotland in late 1996, now includes several United States precedents as well as a developing worldwide body of opinions on various subjects. As new linking claims are asserted, and as new linking techniques are created, courts are being challenged to carefully analyze the practical, technological and business circumstances surrounding the claims, and to fashion sound legal principles. This Article comprehensively reviews linking claims and potential claims, including cases of direct linking, deep linking, metatags, keyword purchases, inlining, framing, and derivative liability. It analyzes the legal theories asserted, suggests defenses and strategies for combating linking claims, and concludes with recommendations for link-law policies.


Adherence of bacteria to biotic or abiotic surfaces is a prerequisite for host colonization and represents an important step in microbial pathogenicity. This attachment is facilitated by bacterial adhesins at the cell surface. Because of their size and often elaborate multidomain architectures, these polypeptides represent challenging targets for detailed structural and functional characterization. The multifunctional fibrillar adhesin CshA, which mediates binding to both host molecules and other microorganisms, is an important determinant of colonization by Streptococcus gordonii, an oral commensal and opportunistic pathogen of animals and humans. CshA binds the high-molecular-weight glycoprotein fibronectin (Fn) via an N-terminal non-repetitive region, and this protein-protein interaction has been proposed to promote S. gordonii colonization at multiple sites within the host. However, the molecular details of how these two proteins interact have yet to be established. Here we present a structural description of the Fn binding N-terminal region of CshA, derived from a combination of X-ray crystallography, small angle X-ray scattering, and complementary biophysical methods. In vitro binding studies support a previously unreported two-state "catch-clamp" mechanism of Fn binding by CshA, in which the disordered N-terminal domain of CshA acts to "catch" Fn, via formation of a rapidly assembled but also readily dissociable pre-complex, enabling its neighboring ligand binding domain to tightly clamp the two polypeptides together. This study presents a new paradigm for target binding by a bacterial adhesin, the identification of which will inform future efforts toward the development of anti-adhesive agents that target S. gordonii and related streptococci.


Rachmania MK, Ningsih F, Setyaningsih PP, Syafitri WA, Sari DCAF, Yabe S, Yokota A, Oetari A, Sjamsuridjal W. 2020. Xylan-degrading ability of thermophilic Actinobacteria isolated from soil in a geothermal area. Biodiversitas 21: 144-154. This study was conducted to obtain the potential isolates of xylan-degrading thermophilic Actinobacteria. Seventeen isolates were obtained from the soil samples collected from Cisolok geysers in West Java, Indonesia. These isolates were screened for their xylan-degrading ability on minimal medium with the addition of 0.5% xylan as substrate, and were incubated at various temperatures for 7 days. A total of 15, 14, 4, and 3 isolates showed a xylan-degrading ability at 45°C, 50°C, 55°C, and 60°C, respectively. The three isolates (SL1-2-R-2, SL12-R-3, and SL1-2-R-4) that showed xylan-degrading ability at 60°C on 0.5% xylan were further tested by using minimal medium with the addition of 0.1% RBB-xylan as a substrate. The results showed that these isolates were also able to utilized RBB-xylan at 45 to 60°C. The xylanolytic activity of the crude enzymes from the three isolates on minimal medium containing 0.5% xylan or 0.1% RBBxylan as substrates, indicated that these isolates were able to produce extracellular xylanase. This study revealed that the soil of Cisolok geysers served as an ideal source for finding the thermophilic Actinobacteria which produced xylanase at high temperatures.


Newly discovered remains of the early Middle Eocene (Lutetian) sirenian Protosiren (Protosirenidae) in shark tooth rich conglomerates from a coastal delta environment northwest of the European Rhenish Massif at Furstenau (northwestern Germany), represent the most northerly occurrence of this genus whose global distribution was generally restricted to warm waters. Its presence of the remains so far north can be explained by seasonal inflow of warm Tethys surface water into the cool, upwelling-influenced, basin. The existence of two discrete centers of sirenian evolution can be explained by the opening of the Atlantic and the upwelling that separated the North American warm water faunal province from those of Africa and Eurasia. A slightly modified evolutionary model is presented in which the oldest Early Eocene manatee sirenians evolved in the Caribbean of Central America. Protosiren, however, appears to have developed polyphyletically along the African coastline of the Tethys, and represents the oldest known dugong ancestor. Younger (Oligocene) European sirenian skeletons of Halitherium and Anomotherium are included in the phylostratigraphic model in which sirenians had generally reduced their teeth by 28 Ma as an adaptation for feeding on sea-plants (macroalgae/seagrass). Teeth from early megatooth sharks, which preyed on sirenians, have been recorded from shallow marine Eocene and Oligocene coastlines of the southern proto-North Sea Basin, and shark bite marks have been found on sirenian skeletons.


Group recommender systems (GRSs) recommend items that are used by groups of people because certain activities, such as listening to music, watching a movie, dining in a restaurant, etc., are social events performed by groups of people sharing their tastes, and their choices affect all of them. GRSs help groups of people making choices in overloaded search spaces according to all group members preferences. A common GRS scheme aggregates users preferences to generate a group preference profile. However, the aggregation process may imply a loss of information, negatively affecting different properties of the GRS such as diversity of group recommendations, which is an important quality factor because of such recommendations are targeted to groups formed by users with individual and possibly conflicting preferences. To avoid and manage the loss of information caused by aggregation, this paper proposes to keep all group members preferences by using hesitant fuzzy sets (HFSs) and interpreting such information like the group hesitation about their preferences that will be used in the group recommendation process. To evaluate the performance and rank quality of the HFS GRS proposal, a case study is carried out.


A pot experiment was conductedto determine the effect of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and a plant growth – promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR ) on the uptake of heavy metals by lady's finger seedlings were grown in soil amended with 5 % (w / w ) sewage sludge.Glomus mosseae and Bacillus sphaericus UPM10 were inoculated individually or in combination to the respective pots. Plants inoculated with both mycorrhiza and bacteria had significantly higher shoot , root and fruit yields compared to the non-inoculated plants . Plant's uptake of N and P was subsequently increased with microbial inoculation . In general , the uptake of heavy metals ( Cd , Pb , C u and Zn ) was higher in the plant shoots and root than in the fruits . Microbial inoculation had ni significant effect on heavy metals uptake expect for Zn. Highest Zn content was observed in the fruits of plants inoculated with both AMF and PGPR.High mycorrhizal root infection was observed in plants inoculated with AMF individually or in combination with UPMB10.


On a bitterly cold night in January 2012, Haatchi the dog was hit over the head, and abandoned on a railway line to be hit by a train. The driver saw the adorable five-month old Anatolian Shepherd moments too late. Somehow, the terrified puppy survived the blood loss from his partially severed leg and tail and managed to crawl away to safety. Fortunately, Haatchi was rescued, although vets couldn't save his leg and tail. A Facebook appeal brought him to the attention of a couple of kind-hearted dog lovers, Colleen Drummond and Will Howkins, who are also the dad and stepmum of Owen (known to his family as Little B for 'little buddy'). One look at Haatchi's expressive face told them all they needed to know and the lucky dog moved into the Howkins' family home just six weeks after almost being killed. Owen, now aged eight, has a rare genetic disorder which causes his muscles to tense permanently. Largely confined to a wheelchair, he was withdrawn and anxious and found it difficult to make friends. But when Owen awoke the morning after Haatchi arrived he immediately fell in love with the severely disabled rescue animal who would, in turn, rescue him. This book tells their inspiring true story - one astonishing little boy and the very special dog who has changed his life forever.


This paper is devoted to the study of an eigenvalue second order differential equation, supplied with homogenous Dirichlet conditions and set on the real line. In the linear case, the equation arises in the study of a reaction-diffusion system involved in disease propagation throughout a given population. Under some relations upon the real parameters and coefficients, we present some existence and nonexistence results. We use a variational method and fixed point arguments.


The dawn of the information age brought to light technical and economic challenges in delivering broadband telecommunication services to subscribers in rural and remote areas; challenges created by tiny pockets of subscribers scattered over a vast network service area. Dealing with such challenges calls for an appropriate system engineering approach and the utilisation of suitable network building blocks, which could differ significantly from those of the urban areas. The aim of this thesis, therefore, was to make a distinct contribution of knowledge to enable the delivery of broadband telecommunication services to rural and remote communities in a technically-effective and economically-viable manner. The thesis viewed the customer access line as the crucial network building block in determining the optimal architecture of a telecommunication network, based on the fact that maximising the length of customer access line results in minimising the number of network nodes required to serve a given area. A customer access line utilising wideband VHF radio channels, capable of bridging distances of up to 100 km, would make a significant economic difference in deploying telecommunication services in rural and remote areas. For many years, narrowband VHF radio channels have been used to carry voice and low-speed data over long distances in rural and remote areas, but very little or no data is available on the use of wideband VHF radio channels. Therefore, the research focused on wideband VHF radio channel modelling and characterisation over paths extending beyond line-of-sight, where diffraction is the dominant mode of radiowave propagation. This research was mainly concerned with aspects of radiowave propagation, rather than modulation and coding schemes. Conducting radiowave propagation studies over long distances extending beyond line-of-sight is often time consuming and can be extremely expensive. Traditionally, a powerful radio channel sounder is needed for conducting such studies. In this work, a novel inexpensive wide band VHF radio channel sounding technique was developed by the candidate. The technique makes use of a VHF digital television transmitter as a source for wideband sounding signals. The receiving end of the sounder is a special configuration of two synchronised modern swept-tuned spectrum analysers and a crossed-dipole antenna array. This enables the simultaneous measurement of the co-polarised and cross-polarised components of incident radiowaves. The power spectrum traces obtained from both the analysers were then mathematically processed to produce the channel parameters. A field measurement campaign was staged for collecting primary data for eight case studies using a sma1l4-wheel drive vehicle equipped with a 6 m telescopic antenna mast. A specially developed in-situ terrain path profiling tool played a pivotal role in the investigations. In line with the aim of the thesis, the measurements were conducted over ranges from 10 to 100 km. The signals from two transmitter sites, one transmitting on horizontal and the other on vertical polarisation, were used as sources for wide band sounding signals. Field measurements were conducted using antenna height of 7 m above ground level. In conclusion, using the developed radio channel sounding technique, and under the propagation conditions described in this thesis, showed that diffraction alone has little or no effect on the performance of a 7-MHz wide VHF radio channel. Diffraction by terrain obstacles seemed to reduce the effect of multi path. The investigation showed that low antenna height of approximately 7 m at the customer's premises can be used for distance of up to 100 km from the transmitter. The actual data transmission speed possible over a 7-MHz wide VHF radio channel will depend on the adopted modulation and coding schemes.


The intent of this symposium is to assemble current knowledge of the role of arachidonic acid (AA) in the diet to provide a conceptual and mechanistic framework for future research. The principal focus is on the varied biological effects of dietary AA, including opposing effects of n-3 and n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA); regulation of n-6 PUFA metabolism, eicosanoid synthesis and gene expression; the importance of AA in infant nutrition and the contemporary Western diet in general; and the effects of AA on tumor promotion. Through its myriad actions and remarkably ubiquitous presence in cells, AA can be argued to affect every cell of the body. Although the varied molecular events associated with the metabolism of AA have been subjects of intense investigation, the ability of AA in the diet to alter AA levels in cellular membranes is poorly described and is thus the focus of this symposium.


It is widely believed that public sector spending and investment can restore aggregate economic activity to efficient levels. But some policy responses are likely to be more successful than others. In particular, directly targeting frictions in capital, labor, and insurance markets arguably provides the best chances of improving welfare.