Forest fragments in Arid and Semi-Arid Lands are key water catchment areas and provide important ecosystem services. However, uncontrolled human activities are fast altering their stem density basal area and diameter structure resulting into forest degradation. Besides, information regarding tree density and diameter size-class distribution of dryland forest fragments such as Museve and Mutuluni is lacking. Thus, the purpose of this study was to document key human activities in Museve and Mutuluni forest fragments in Kitui, Kenya and comparatively investigate their influences on stem density, basal area and stem diameter size-class distribution. Two belt transect of 20 m wide and 500 m long, with contiguous sample plots of 20 m by 20 m and subplots of 10 m by 10 m were established in each forest. Evidence of human activities, abundances and diameter measurements for mature trees were assessed in the 20 m by 20 m plots while abundances and diameter measurements for saplings were in the subplots. Mann-Whitney, t-test and logistic regression were used for data analysis. Mutuluni forest exhibited significantly (p<0.05) high stem density compared to Museve however, basal area density was not different (p<0.05). Introduction of exotic species enhanced basal area and stem density (p<0.05) in Museve forest. Tree cutting reduced both basal area and stem density in Museve forest and only stem density in Mutuluni. Stem-density diameter distribution in both forests followed a reverse J-curve but with more fluctuations and irregularities observed in Museve compared to Mutuluni forest. Diameter size-class distribution did not differ (p<0.05) across the two forests. Therefore human activities significantly impacted on tree density in both forest fragments with high impacts in Museve. This study recommends formulation of appropriate protection and conservation strategies, especially for Museve, to control tree cutting and increase tree density.


Optical satellite communications play an increasingly important role in a number of space applications. However, if the system concept includes optical links to the surface of the Earth, the limited availability due to clouds and other atmospheric impacts need to be considered to give a reliable estimate of the system performance. An OGS network is required for increasing the availability to acceptable figures. In order to realistically estimate the performance and achievable throughput in various scenarios, a simulation tool has been developed under ESA contract. The tool is based on a database of 5 years of cloud data with global coverage and can thus easily simulate different optical ground station network topologies for LEO- and GEO-to-ground links. Further parameters, like e.g. limited availability due to sun blinding and atmospheric turbulence, are considered as well. This paper gives an overview about the simulation tool, the cloud database, as well as the modelling behind the simulation scheme. Several scenarios have been investigated: LEO-to-ground links, GEO feeder links, and GEO relay links. The key results of the optical ground station network optimization and throughput estimations will be presented. The implications of key technical parameters, as e.g. memory size aboard the satellite, will be discussed. Finally, potential system designs for LEO- and GEO-systems will be presented.


It is known that exposure to high sound pressure levels can lead to permanent hearing loss; however, many workers, in mining as well as other occupational sectors, frequently receive hazardous noise exposures. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recommends using a criterion level of 85 dB(A) for implementation of hearing loss prevention programs. But, despite engineering and administrative controls, workers continue to exceed their recommended daily noise dose. Hearing protection devices are worn as a final defense against noise overexposure, but many workers have difficulty communicating or detecting warning signals while wearing them. New electronic technology has been integrated into conventional hearing protectors to allow for some degree of sound restoration. Research is currently being carried out within NIOSH, Pittsburgh Research Laboratory (PRL) to evaluate the performance of sound restoration hearing protectors. Due to certain features of the devices, such as their non-linear performance and possible manipulation of electronic settings, there are obstacles to testing them using the existing standard hearing protector test methodology (ANSI S12.42-1995 and ISO 4869-3:1997). These and other issues related to testing these devices are outlined within this paper, and possible solutions are discussed. Measures of attenuation properties have been done on a set of the devices and preliminary findings indicate that new test methods, or at least modifications of existing methods, must be developed to accurately determine device performance. Furthermore, it is necessary to know not only the attenuation properties of such devices, but also the degree to which speech intelligibility or recognition of warning signals is preserved, as compared with conventional hearing protectors. As additional data is collected a more accurate and reliable test methodology will be developed, and a more comprehensive picture regarding device performance will be determined and disseminated.


A developed and validated spectrophotometric method has been suggested for the analysis of vitamin C (ascorbic acid) of some drugs namely Aspirin-C, VC500 and Centrum in their drug formulation. The proposed method used the complexation of vitamin C with Bromocresol Purple (BCP) at pH 4.0. The optimum experimental conditions were studied carefully. The λmax of the complex formed (ascorbic acid and BCP) was occurred at 430 nm with absorptivity of 0.0398 L mol-1.cm-1. The linearity was obtained in the concentration range of 0.5-100 μg/ml for iron content in hemoglobin. The Limit of Detection (LOD) and Limit Quantification (LOQ) were found to be 0.677 and 2.051 μg/ml for the iron respectively and with R2 of 0.999. And the percentage recoveries ranged from 98.86-100.48%. Effects of analytical parameters on the analysis of vitamin C (Ascorbic acid) of the three drugs have been studied. This method can be applied for the estimation of vitamin C in vitamin C drugs in their pharmaceutical dosage.


The aesthetic of 'cuteness' in South Korean popular music (known as K-pop) is a pivotal concept in Korean media and culture and is frequently used to describe performances by both male and female K-pop groups. Aegyo is a fundamental part of this aesthetic, also called 'K-cute', and it refers to the behaviour of 'acting cute' that denotes a particular coquettish style not only in K-pop but also in South Korean society in a broader sense.

This thesis explores K-pop performance from the mid-2000s to the 2010s through an examination of K-pop artists' training process, an analysis of K-pop music videos' lyrical and visual codes and a study of notable live performances. The aesthetic of 'cuteness' in K-pop is contextualised through a historical and cultural review of South Korea and the forms through which aegyo has been represented. Thus, we see how aegyo has evolved in response to gender stereotyping in both traditional and contemporary South Korean society and how it has come to represent a unique idea of Korean-ness expressed in a cultural form that also fulfils its potential for flexibility.

Furthermore, this thesis investigates how the K-pop industry influences aegyo through issues of gender and sexuality, primarily examining Richard Schechner's performance theory and Erving Goffman's notion of self-presentation. A significant aspect of this investigation is the sexualisation of K-pop idol boy and girl groups through the deliberate adoption of the aegyo aesthetic, a process that forms a key part of the marketing strategy behind their 'Korean wave' global success.

Finally, I explore mediatised performances of aegyo and the possibility that remediation, as outlined by Bolter and Grusin, provides a potent vehicle for the repetition and reinforcement of 'cuteness' via holographic and digitalised K-pop performances.


Abstract. In order to meet the requirements of the European Water Framework Directive (EU-WFD), authorities face the problem of repeatedly performing area-wide surveying of all kinds of inland waters. Especially for mid-sized or small rivers this is a considerable challenge imposing insurmountable logistical efforts and costs. It is therefore investigated if large-scale surveying of a river system on an operational basis is feasible by employing airborne hydrographic laser scanning. In cooperation with the Bavarian Water Authority (WWA Weilheim) a pilot project was initiated by the Unit of Hydraulic Engineering at the University of Innsbruck and RIEGL Laser Measurement Systems exploiting the possibilities of a new LIDAR measurement system with high spatial resolution and high measurement rate to capture about 70 km of riverbed and foreland for the river Loisach in Bavaria/Germany and the estuary and parts of the shoreline (about 40km in length) of lake Ammersee. The entire area surveyed was referenced to classic terrestrial cross-section surveys with the aim to derive products for the monitoring and managing needs of the inland water bodies forced by the EU-WFD. The survey was performed in July 2011 by helicopter and airplane and took 3 days in total. In addition, high resolution areal images were taken to provide an optical reference, offering a wide range of possibilities on further research, monitoring, and managing responsibilities. The operating altitude was about 500 m to maintain eye-safety, even for the aided eye, the airspeed was about 55 kts for the helicopter and 75 kts for the aircraft. The helicopter was used in the alpine regions while the fixed wing aircraft was used in the plains and the urban area, using appropriate scan rates to receive evenly distributed point clouds. The resulting point density ranged from 10 to 25 points per square meter. By carefully selecting days with optimum water quality, satisfactory penetration down to the river bed was achieved throughout the project. During the data processing meshes for multiple purposes like monitoring sediment transport or accumulation and hydro-dynamic numeric modeling were generated. The meshes were professionally conditioned considering the adherence of, both, geometric and physical mesh quality criterions. Whereas the research is focused on the design and implementation of monitoring database structures, the airborne hydrographic data are also made available for classical processing means (cross sections, longitudinal section).


The motivation of the current work is to develop a multi-modal analysis of the nonlinear response of stiffened double curved shells made of functionally graded materials under thermal loads. The formulation is based on the first order shear deformation shell theory in conjunction with the von Kármán geometrical nonlinear strain-displacement relationships. The nonlinear equations of motion of stiffened double curved shell based on the extended Sanders's theory were derived using Galerkin's method. The resulting system of infinite nonlinear ordinary differential equations, that includes both cubic and quadratic nonlinear terms, was solved using a nonlinear dynamic software XPPAUT to obtain the force-amplitude relationship. The effect of both, longitudinal and transverse stiffeners, was considered using the Lekhnitsky's technique and the material properties are temperature dependent and vary in the thickness direction according to the linear rule of mixture. In order to obtain accurate natural frequency in thermal environments, critical buckling temperature differences are carried out, resulting in closed form solutions. The effect of temperature's variation as well as power index, functionally graded stiffeners, geometrical parameters, temperature depended materials and initial imperfection on the nonlinear response of the stiffened shell are considered and discussed. This dissertation showed that the nonlinear study of problems of thin-walled structures with even stiffeners is of paramount importance. It was also found that the difference between single-mode and multi-mode analyses could be very significant for nonlinear problems in a thermal environment. Hence, multimode vibration analysis is necessary for structures of this nature.


Physicians serve as the nexus of treatment decision-making in hospitalized patients; however, little empirical evidence describes the influence of individual physicians on hospital costs. In this study, we examine the extent to which hospital costs vary across physicians and physician characteristics. We used all-payer data from 2 states representing 15 237 physicians and 2.5 million hospital visits. Regression analysis and propensity score matching were used to understand the role of observable provider characteristics on hospital costs controlling for patient demographics, socioeconomic characteristics, clinical risk, and hospital characteristics. We used hierarchical models to estimate the amount of variation attributable to physicians. We found that the average cost of hospital inpatient stays registered to female physicians was consistently lower across all empirical specifications when compared with male physicians. We also found a negative association between physicians' years of experience and the average costs. The average cost of hospital inpatient stays registered to foreign-trained physicians was lower than US-trained physicians. We observed sizable variation in average costs of hospital inpatient stays across medical specialties. In addition, we used hierarchical methods and estimated the amount of remaining variation attributable to physicians and found that it was nonnegligible (intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC]: 0.33 in the full sample). Historically, most physicians have been reimbursed separately from hospitals, and our study shows that physicians play a role in influencing hospital costs. Future policies and practices should acknowledge these important dependencies. This study lends further support for alignment of physician and hospital incentives to control costs and improve outcomes.


In this survey article, we revisit construction of simple continued fractions of quadratic irrationals with long period lengths, which has generated much interest in the relatively recent literature. We show that new and not-sonew results actually follow from results of Perron in the 1950s and from results of this author from over a decade ago. Moreover, we are able to generalize and simplify numerous such results for a better understanding of the phenomenon. This continues work in [7]–[12].


This picaresque tale, first published in 1751, was Tobias Smollett s second novel. Following the fortunes and misfortunes of the egotistical dandy Peregrine Pickle, the novel is written as a series of brief adventures with every chapter typically describing a new escapade. The novel begins with Peregrine as a young country gentleman. His mother rejects him, as do his aloof father and his dissolute, spiteful brother. Commodore Hawser Trunnion takes Peregrine under his care and raises him. Peregrine s upbringing, education at Oxford, and journey to France, his debauchery, bankruptcy, jailing, and succession to his father s fortune, and his final repentance and marriage to his beloved Emilia all provide scope for Smollett s comic and caustic perspectiveon the Europe of his times. As John P. Zomchick and George S. Rousseau note in the introduction, by contrasting the genteel and the common, the sophisticated and the primal, Smollett conveys forcefully the way it felt to be alive in the middle of the eighteenth century. The introduction provides an overview of the composition and publication history of Peregrine Pickle and discusses the novel s critical reception over time by such figures as Lady Luxborough, Sir Walter Scott, Joseph Conrad, and George Orwell. The text of the novel uses the first edition of 1751 as copy-text while recording the second edition s substantive variants. Included are illustrations by Thomas Rowlandson, Richard Corbould, and George Cruikshank, as well as frontispieces designed by, and engraved in the style of, Henry Fuseli. A complete textual apparatus concludes the volume."


This extensively illustrated book presents the astrophysics of galaxies since their beginnings in the early Universe. It has been thoroughly revised to take into account the most recent observational data, and recent discoveries such as dark energy. There are new sections on galaxy clusters, gamma ray bursts and supermassive black holes. The authors explore the basic properties of stars and the Milky Way before working out towards nearby galaxies and the distant Universe. They discuss the structures of galaxies and how galaxies have developed, and relate this to the evolution of the Universe. The book also examines ways of observing galaxies across the whole electromagnetic spectrum, and explores dark matter and its gravitational pull on matter and light. This book is self-contained and includes several homework problems with hints. It is ideal for advanced undergraduate students in astronomy and astrophysics.


Ioan Lewis details the history and culture of the Somali people, providing a unique window into this little-known culture and its increasingly public predicaments. He provides insight into the complex social, historical, and cultural hinterland that is the Somali heritage and pays close attention to the pervasive influence of traditional nomadism, especially its decentralized nature. Lewis also addresses developments in the Somali political region since the collapse of the Republic in 1991, including the formation and steady development of the democratic state of Somaliland. Though it has grown into a de facto personality, this self-governing outpost of democracy is still officially unrecognized internationally. Lewis concludes with a discussion of the Islamist movement that brought a brief but astonishing period of stability to much of Southern Somalia in late 2006.


Begun by young rebels committed to revolutionizing the creative arts, Pre-Raphaelitism has moved from the margins of nineteenth-century art and literature to the vanguard of interdisciplinary studies. The term is now used to denote the Pre-Raphaelite, Aesthetic, and Decadent movements in art, culture, and literature, but it has remained as difficult to define as ever. Haunted Texts attempts to meet the challenge of defining and illustrating the full spectrum of Pre-Raphaelitism. Working with a diverse range of Pre-Raphaelite poetry, painting, decorative arts, book illustration, and political prose, the ten contributors to Haunted Texts pursue the critical strategies of such leading figures as Christina Rossetti and Dante Rossetti, William Morris and Oscar Wilde, Walter Pater, and Aubrey Beardsley. The essays consider the bibliocritical issues of archival research concerning the personal letters and diaries of the Rossetti family; the technological issues that challenge conventional methods of scholarship; the gender issues concerning constructions of identity derived from the changing conceptions of love, desire, anxiety, and brotherhood; and the interdisciplinary cultural issues that transgress the borders of high art and popular culture. Haunted Texts pays tribute to the scholarship of Professor William Fredeman who devoted much of his career since the 1950s to establishing a critical foundation that would enable future scholars to define their understanding of the complexity of Pre-Raphaelitism.


Cork oak, (Quercus suber) is widely distributed in the Mediterranean region, an area subject to frequent fires. The ash produced by burning can have impacts on the soil status and water resources that can differ according to the temperature reached during fire and the characteristics of the litter, defined as the dead organic matter accumulated on the soil surface prior to the fire. The aim of this work is to determine the physical and chemical characteristics of ash produced in laboratory experiments to approximate conditions typical of fires in this region. The litter of Quercus suber collected from two different plots on the Iberian Peninsula, Mas Bassets (Catalonia) and Albufeira (Portugal), was combusted at different temperatures for 2 h. We measured Mass Loss (ML per cent), ash colour and CaCO3 content, pH, Electrical Conductivity (EC) and the major cations (Ca2+, Mg2+, K+ and Na+) released from ash slurries created by mixing ash with deionized water. The results showed that ML per cent is higher at all temperatures in Albufeira samples compared to Mas Bassets samples, except at 550°C, and the rate of loss increases faster with temperature than the Mas Bassets samples. At 150°C the ash colour is yellowish, becoming reddish at 200–250°C and black at 300°C. Above 400°C the ash is grey/white. This thermal degradation is mostly observed in Albufeira litter. The formation of CaCO3 was identified at a lower temperature in Albufeira litter. At temperatures < 300°C, pH and EC values are lower, rising at higher temperatures, especially in Albufeira slurries. The concentration of cations at lower temperatures does not differ substantially from the unburned sample except for Mg2+. The cation concentration increases at medium temperatures and decrease at higher temperatures, especially the concentration of divalent cations. The monovalent cations showed a larger concentration at moderate temperatures, mainly in Albufeira ash slurries. The analysis of the Ca:Mg ratio also showed that for the same temperature, a higher severity results for Albufeira litter. Potential negative effects on soil properties are observed at medium and higher temperatures. These negative effects include a higher percentage of mass loss, meaning more soil may be exposed to erosion, higher pH values and greater cation release from ash, especially monovalalent cations (K+, Na+) in higher proportions than the divalent ions (Ca2+, Mg2+), that can lead to impacts on soil physical properties like aggregate stability. Furthermore, the ions in ash may alter soil chemistry which may be detrimental to some plants thus altering the recovery of these ecosystems after fire. Low intensity prescribed fire can be a useful tool to land management in these sites, due to the reduced effects of fire temperatures on the physical and chemical properties of surface litter, and can reduce the risk of high temperature wildland fires by reducing fuel loadings. From the perspective of water resources, lower fire temperatures produce fewer impacts on the chemistry of overland flow and there is less probability that the soil surface will be eroded. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Today on the perimeter of a small network a firewall is installed on a router. Towards the inner network, there is a demilitarised zone (DMZ) and the local network (LAN). Servers accessible from the Internet are located in the DMZ, the additional firewall to the LAN increases security. Routing decisions are usually based on the destination IP address. In systems, where due to IP availability restrictions only the external router has an official IP address and all machines within in the DMZ use private IPs, it determines where to route a packet according to the TCP or UDP destination port and rewrites the destination IP accordingly. Outgoing connections from DMZ-servers are net address translated (NAT). This rewriting on both sides might have an impact on several security systems.

Therefore, the authors propose to use an IP-less device to direct network traffic depending on its destination port. This paper describes the usage of an ISO/OSI level 2 device, a bridge, to make those routing decisions usually made on a higher level. This allows two or more devices to share the same IP without the need for network address translation. Several methods to allow those systems sharing the same IP to intercommunicate without modifying their network stack are also proposed. We report on our sample implementation on a Linux bridge.


In pattern recognition, clustering is a powerful technique that can be used to find the identical group of objects from a given dataset. It has proven its importance in various domains such as bioinformatics, machine learning, pattern recognition, document clustering and so on. But, in clustering, it is difficult to determine the optimal cluster centers in a given set of data. So, in this paper, a new method called magnetic charged system search (MCSS) is applied to determine the optimal cluster centers. This method based on the behavior of charged particles. The proposed method employs the electric force and magnetic force to initiate the local search while Newton second law of motion is employed for global search. The performance of the proposed algorithm is tested on several datasets which are taken from UCI repository and compared with the other existing methods like K-Means, GA, PSO, ACO and CSS. The experimental results prove the applicability of the proposed method in clustering domain.


We have timed publishing our first standard issue of the year to coincide with International Woman's Day, 8 March 2021 to celebrate the contribution women have made to higher education. The first woman documented as teaching in a university was more than 800 years ago, and yet it is only the last century that the number of female academics has started to increase (Whaley, 2011). In Australia, the first university was established in 1851, yet it would be another 32 years until Julia Guerin graduated in 1883 from the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in 1883 (Women's Museum of Australia, 2020). And another 10 years when Leonora Little graduated from Melbourne University with a Bachelor of Science in 1983. Despite these accomplishments in the late 19th century, it was not until 1959 when the first woman, Dorothy Hill, was awarded a Chair appointment (Chair of Geology) in an Australian university, and nearly a century before Australia has its first female Vice Chancellor, when Dianne Yerbury became the Vice-Chancellor of Macquarie University in 1987, a position she held for twenty years. Australia's higher education history tells a clear story of the slow integration of women in higher education, particularly within the STEM fields. For example, Little graduated in 1893 with a Bachelor of Science, but it was 1928 before the first female Lecturer in Mathematics, Ethel Raybould was appointed, and another 36 years before Hanna Neumann became the first female Professor of Pure Mathematics in 1964. It was just over 60 years ago that Margaret Williams-Weir was the first female Indigenous Australian to graduate with a university qualification in 1959. Female Indigenous Australians remain under-represented in the Australian university graduate population. The current situation for Australian higher education still retains a dominance of males within academic roles, such as 30 percent more men in Associate and Full Professor roles than women (Devlin, 2021). And whilst there has been progress in some jurisdictions, such as the majority of Queensland vice chancellors are women in 2021, these continue to be the exception, for example only 28% of vice chancellors in Australia are women. International Woman's Day is an opportunity to reflect on the significant contribution women make in higher education in Australia and globally. We celebrate through the publication of this issue, with many female authors from across higher education globally.


Twenty-five patients with known neuroendocrine tumour disease were biopsied with 1.2 mm and 0.9 mm biopsy-gun needles to evaluate the respective diagnostic accuracy of the 2 needle sizes. The influence of treatment-related fibrosis on the histopathological diagnosis was also evaluated. The overall diagnostic accuracy with the 0.9 mm needle was 69% as compared to 92% with the 1.2 mm needle. This difference, however, seems more related to needle guiding difficulties with the 0.9 mm needle than to insufficient tissue yield. When the tumour was hit with both the 0.9 and the 1.2 mm needle the tissue yield was inferior with the 0.9 mm needle in only one of 16 cases. The increased amount of fibrous tissue due to interferon treatment did not seem to negatively influence the diagnostic accuracy.


It is likely that the early Universe was pervaded by a whole host of scalar fields which are ubiquitous in particle physics models and are employed everywhere from driving periods of accelerated expansion to the spontaneous breaking of gauge symmetries. Just as these scalar fields are important from a particle physics point of view, they can also have serious implications for the evolution of the Universe. In particular in extreme cases their dynamical evolution can lead to the failure of the synthesis of light elements or to exceed the dark matter bound in contrast to observation. These scalar fields are not however isolated systems and interact with the degrees of freedom which comprise their environment. As such two interrelated effects may arise; fluctuations and dissipation. These effects, which are enhanced at finite temperature, give rise to energy transfer between the scalar field and its environment and as such should be taken into account for a complete description of their dynamical evolution. In this thesis we will look at these effects within the inflationary era in a scenario termed warm inflation where amongst other effects, thermal fluctuations can now act as a source of primordial density perturbations. In particular we will show how a model of warm inflation based on a simple quartic potential can be brought back into agreement with Planck data through renormalizable interactions, whilst it is strongly disfavoured in the absence of such effects. Moving beyond inflation, we will consider the effect of fluctuation-dissipation dynamics on other cosmological scalar fields, deriving dissipation coefficients within common particle physics models. We also investigate how dissipation can affect cosmological phase transitions, potentially leading to late time periods of accelerated expansion, as well as presenting a novel model of dissipative leptogenesis.


Cryptographic systems and their use in communications
are presented. The advantages obtained by the use of a
public key cipher and the importance of this in a
commercial environment are stressed. Two two main public
key ciphers are considered.

The RSA public key cipher is introduced and various
methods for implementing this cipher on a standard, nondedicated, 8 bit microprocessor are investigated. The
performance of the different algorithms are evaluated and
compared. Various ways of increasing the performance are
considered. The limitations imposed by the performance on
the practical use of the cipher are discussed.

The importance of the key to the security of the
cipher is assessed. Different forms of attack are mentioned
and a procedure for generating keys, which minimise the
probability of a sucessful attack is presented. This
procedure is implemented on a minicomputer. Use of the
method on personal computers or microprocessors is
examined.

Methods for performing multiplication in hardware,
with particular emphasis on the use of these methods in
modular multiplication, are detailed. An algorithm for
performing part of the encryption function in hardware and
the hardware necessary for it is described. Different
methods for implementing the hardware are discussed and one
is choosen. A description of the hardware unit is given.

The design and development of an application specific
integrated circuit (ASIC) to perform key elements of the
encryption function is described. The various stages of the
design process are detailed. The results expected from this
device and its integration into the overall encryption
scheme are presented.


A multinational crew of space travelers, including NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan, is scheduled to arrive at the International Space Station on Saturday, July 20 – the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11's historic landing on the Moon. NASA Television and the agency's website will provide live coverage of the crew's launch and arrival.


Optimality-Theoretic learning algorithms are only guaranteed to be successful if the data fed to them contain full structural descriptions of the surface forms, i.e. descriptions that include hidden structure like metrical feet. This is not realistic as a model of acquisition, because children are only exposed to overt forms, e.g. unstructured strings of syllables. Optimality-Theoretic learning algorithms that learn solely from overt forms turn out to sometimes succeed and sometimes fail (Tesar & Smolensky 2000). This possibility of failure is a property of both on-line learning algorithms that have been proposed for OT, namely Error Driven Constraint Demotion (EDCD; Tesar 1995) and the Gradual Learning Algorithm (GLA; Boersma 1997). The possibility of failure is not necessarily bad: one would want an algorithm to fail for languages that do not exist, and to succeed for languages that do exist. Latin exists (or existed). This paper compares the performance of the two learning algorithms for the metrical stress system of Classical Latin. It turns out that EDCD cannot learn this system from overt forms only, and that the GLA can. This suggests that the GLA may be a better model of acquisition than EDCD. The results also provide evidence in the discussion in the literature about what is the correct linguistic analysis of Latin stress: if overt forms contain main stress only, the GLA makes the child posit an analysis that makes use of uneven trochees (like the analysis by Jacobs 2000) rather than strictly bimoraic trochees (like the analysis by Mester 1994 and Hayes 1995).


Transport phenomena for different boundary conditions in finite and effectively semi‐infinite domains were successfully simulated using the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM). We verified an LBM solute transport algorithm and its boundary conditions by comparing simulation results with analytical solutions for four different one‐dimensional solute transport problems. Zero‐diffusion analytical breakthrough curves were derived for parallel plate and pipe flow, and LBM simulations with small diffusion coefficients matched these well. Simulations of solute transport in one‐dimensional finite and semi‐infinite domains were performed at a low column Peclet number (Pe = 1) for first‐ and third‐type inlet boundary conditions; these followed the analytical solutions closely. A series of transport simulations were performed to demonstrate the impact of diffusion and dispersion on the solute front. Taylor dispersion coefficients for the simulated range of Peclet numbers were estimated using moment analysis of the concentration obtained from transport simulation by the LBM. The simulation results showed good agreement with theoretical predictions and thus verified the robustness of LBM‐based transport models.


Magnetospheric compression due to impact of enhanced solar wind dynamic pressure Pdyn has long been considered as one of the generation mechanisms of electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves. With the Van Allen Probe‐A observations, we identify three EMIC wave events that are triggered by Pdyn enhancements under prolonged northward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) quiet time preconditions. They are in contrast to one another in a few aspects. Event 1 occurs in the middle of continuously increasing Pdyn while Van Allen Probe‐A is located outside the plasmapause at postmidnight and near the equator (magnetic latitude (MLAT) ~ −3°). Event 2 occurs by a sharp Pdyn pulse impact while Van Allen Probe‐A is located inside the plasmapause in the dawn sector and rather away from the equator (MLAT ~ 12°). Event 3 is characterized by amplification of a preexisting EMIC wave by a sharp Pdyn pulse impact while Van Allen Probe‐A is located outside the plasmapause at noon and rather away from the equator (MLAT ~ −15°). These three events represent various situations where EMIC waves can be triggered by Pdyn increases. Several common features are also found among the three events. (i) The strongest wave is found just above the He+ gyrofrequency. (ii) The waves are nearly linearly polarized with a rather oblique propagation direction (~28° to ~39° on average). (iii) The proton fluxes increase in immediate response to the Pdyn impact, most significantly in tens of keV energy, corresponding to the proton resonant energy. (iv) The temperature anisotropy with T⊥ > T|| is seen in the resonant energy for all the events, although its increase by the Pdyn impact is not necessarily always significant. The last two points (iii) and (iv) may imply that in addition to the temperature anisotropy, the increase of the resonant protons must have played a critical role in triggering the EMIC waves by the enhanced Pdyn impact.


The European Union Insolvency Regulation (the EU Regulation) is a giant step forward in promoting international cooperation among EU countries for cross-border insolvency proceedings. It adopts a modified universalist solution to cross-border proceedings insofar as they are located within the EU. However, experience has shown that it needs improvement to work effectively. A venue battle now rages between courts of several European countries over which country's courts will administer particular cross-border proceedings and how the center of main interest is to be determined for this purpose.This Article begins with a detailed examination of the two principal cases where conflicts have arisen, Eurofood and Daisytek. Eurofood is a subsidiary of Parmalat, which has produced the largest invsolvency case in European history. The Irish and Italian courts have both opened main insolvency proceedings for the Eurofood subsidiary, and the controversy is now pending before the European Court of Justice (ECJ). For the Daisytek French subsidiary, both English and French courts have opened main insolvency cases, and an appeal is pending before the French Cour de Cassation, where the Ministry of Justice is expected to recommend submission to the ECJ.Two very important substantive modifications would vastly improve the EU Regulation. First. the EU Regulation needs to provide for the filing in the same country (thereby permitting the filing in the same court) of members of a corporate group that are economically integrated. It is very difficult (if at all possible) to recognize a corporate empire when its insolvency proceedings are distributed among a number of countries.Second, the EU Regulation needs to clarify the definition of "center of main interest" (CoMI) and to specify what a court should consider in making the CoMI decision. A court should weigh the following factors: (1) the location of operations and management decisions for the corporation; (2) the location of the "nerve center" or place of principal decision-making for the corporation; and (3) the expectations of creditors, such as suppliers and financiers, as to the CoMI decision in the event that the company foes into an insolvency proceeding.This Article also argues for three kinds of procedural improvements: (1) decoupling the decision on whether a proceeding is a main proceeding from the decision opening the proceeding itself, to give an opportunity to the parties in interest to be heard on the subject of whether a proceeding is a main proceeding; (2) defining what constitutes a "judgment opening insolvency proceedings," to specify what steps qualify under this term in those countries where an opening order or judgment is not a typical part of the insolvency process; (3) adopting procedures to recognize the due process rights of foreign estate administrators, foreign creditors, and other parties in interest in a cross-border insolvency proceeding.


The use of an inductively coupled argon plasma atomic emission spectrometer (ICP-AES) system for analysis of radioactive materials at Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) began about three years ago on completion of the installation of a modified Applied Research Laboratory (ARL) Model 3560 inductively coupled plasma (ICP) spectrometer. At that time, the system consisted of a direct reader interfaced with a lead-shielded glove box containing the source stand. Further modification a year later added a sequential spectrometer for increased analytical capabilities. An important concern in radioactive analyses is limiting the operator exposure to high-energy β and 8 rays emitted by various radioisotopes. Scientists at PNL decided that an ICP-AES interfaced with a lead-shielded glove box would provide minimum operator exposure as well as radioactive material containment. The system was selected on the basis of a number of criteria that met this mandate, including the following features: (a) a direct reader capable of analyzing up to 40 elements simultaneously to minimize the sample volume; (b) availability of a simple, compact autosampler and software that allowed remote handling; (c) electronic and gas control systems that were easily removable from the torch stand so that only the stand would be inside the glove box; (d) torch and sample aspiration systems that were easily replaced and maintained without affecting the optical alignment, and (e) availability of a sequential analyzer as a field-installed module. Most critical to the installation was the interface between the spectrometer and a lead-shielded glove box weighing over 1360 kg (1 ½ tons). A neoprene gasket around the interface plate serves to keep the optical path properly aligned. Retrofit installation of a sequential system involved the mounting of a second spectrometer directly above the first. Spectral emissions can be directed upward to the sequential spectrometer with a system of mirrors. To verify the integrity of the simultaneous system, the same solution containing 20 μg/mL of selected ion elements was analyzed before and after the installation of the sequential spectrometer. Comparison of the intensities after 20 integrations indicated little change. Operation and maintenance of the system has been fairly problem-free. Plugging of the aspiration system occurs, as well as signal drift; but both these problems are common in the operation of any ICP spectrometer. Funding for the purchase and installation of the ICP-AES was provided by the Nuclear Waste Materials Characterization Center (MCC) established at PNL by the U.S. Department of Energy in 1979. Reference glasses prepared by the MCC have been analyzed on the ICP-AES. Other samples analyzed relate to the methods of storage for nuclear waste. Radionuclide-doped glass samples leached in a brine solution simulate storage in a salt bed. Vitrification of waste slurries involves their analysis before being fed into the ceramic melter, characterization of off-gas and condensate samples taken during melting, and analysis of the glass produced.


The major driving factors for land use planning are largely limited to socio-economic inputs that do not completely represent the spatio-temporal patterns and ecological inputs have often been neglected. Integration of remote sensing and GIS techniques enabled successful applications in characterizing the spatiotemporal trends of land use/land cover (LULC) change. This study demonstrated an approach that combines remote sensing, landscape metrics, and LULC change analysis as a promising tool for understanding spatiotemporal patterns of Adana city. Calculation of spatial metrics was based on a categorical, patch-based representation of the landscape. Landscape metrics are conceptual framework for sustainable landscape and ecological planning. LULC change analysis was performed by considering the metric calculation. Post-classification technique was used for the metric based change detection and two different remotely sensed data set recorded in 1967 (CORONA) and 2007 (ALOS AVNIR) were used for the analysis. Additionally, a LULC projection for the year 2023 was also generated and integrated to the change analysis. SLEUTH model was utilised as a urban growth model for the future developments of study area in the scope of Cellular Automata (CA). SLEUTH model contains the main elements that characterize the core characteristics of CA: it works in a grid space of homogeneous cells, with a neighburhood of eight cells, two cell states and five transition rules that act in sequential time steps. Most useful and relevant metrics for landscape including: percentage of landscape, patch density, edge density, largest patch index, Euclidian mean nearest neighbor distance, area weighted mean patch fractal dimension and contagion were calculated for the 1967, 2007 and 2023 LULC maps and temporal changes were determined for the study area. Most considerable change was observed on the agricultural areas. Urban sprawl is the major driving factor of the LULC change.


Over the last decades, information systems (IS) have become pervasive in and inextricably intertwined with organizations. Further, the dialectical interaction between IS and organizations is perceived as one of the major stimuli of organizational strategic moves and transformation. Notwithstanding a plethora of IS artifact-centric discussions in the extant literature, there is a need for an overarching conceptualization that goes beyond specific IS artifacts and simultaneously accounts for a fusion between IS and organizations, which we denominated as enterprise-wide IS initiatives. To afford a paradigm shift towards an enterprise-wide investigation of such a phenomenon, this study opts for a stakeholder perspective and proposes complementary theoretical lenses to conceive the given phenomenon as a stakeholder management endeavor. To assist analyses of this phenomenon, this study also sheds light on the necessity of its investigation in multiple levels of analysis and in different periods of time. This phenomenon is hence further characterized as an emergent, ongoing endeavor. Building on both stakeholder management and emergent analyses, this study proposes a theoretical foundation to guide prospective theorizations on enterprise-wide IS initiatives and discusses its implications.


Light scattering from ZnO nanorods (NR) is investigated, modeled, and applied to a solar cell. ZnO NR (120–1300 nm long, 280–60 nm large), grown by low-cost chemical bath deposition at 90 °C, exhibit diffused-to-total transmitted light as high as 70% and 30% in the 400 and 1000 nm wavelength range, respectively. Data and scattering simulation show that ZnO NR length plays a crucial role in light diffusion effect. A transparent ZnO NR film grown on glass and placed on top of a 1 μm thick c-Si solar cell is shown to enhance the light-current conversion efficiency for wavelengths longer than 600 nm.


This year is the 100th anniversary of the discovery of heparin, the main anticoagulant drugs for more than 70 years [1], and we would like to remind its discovery. Heparin is a highly-sulfated glycosaminoglycan. It was first discovered by J McLean and WH Howell. McLean was a second-year medical student, at Johns Hopkins University, who was assisting Howell in the investigation of procoagulant preparations. Howell sugggestd to him that he study the nature of the thromboplastic substance to identify the active principle of this extract. In 1916 the young student isolated a fat-soluble anticoagulant in canine liver tissue [2]. It was discovered serendipitously in the course of a problem.


The purpose of this study was to analyze selected Wolaita proverbs for their reflection of prejudiced negative images of femininity. The subjects used for the current study were 20 theme-relevant proverbs collected by interviewing systematically selected 12 elders and conducting participantbased observation. The qualitative research design was used to conduct this study. The result indicated that, Wolaita proverbs draw negatively prejudiced images of femininity in overall system of human communication. Such prejudiced and negatively drawn images of femininity include femininity as a symbol of incapability, lack of power to protect self, and sources of danger and problems. Based on these findings, awareness creation trainings should be given to demotivate the use of proverbs having negative images of femininity, Walaita speaking families should encourage their children to use proverbs that reflect gender equality, and the society, at large, should totally avoid the outdated negative perception of femininity in their overall walks of life.


Purpose Develop strategic priorities to guide future physical activity surveillance in the United States. Methods The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American College of Sports Medicine convened a scientific roundtable of physical activity and measurement experts. Participants summarized the current state of aerobic physical activity surveillance for adults, focusing on practice and research needs in three areas: 1) behavior, 2) human movement, and 3) community supports. Needs and challenges for each area were identified. At the conclusion of the meeting, experts identified one overarching strategy and five strategic priorities to guide future surveillance. Results The identified overarching strategy was to develop a national plan for physical activity surveillance similar to the U.S. National Physical Activity Plan for promotion. The purpose of the plan would be to enhance coordination and collaboration within and between sectors, such as transportation and public health, and to address specific strategic priorities identified at the roundtable. These strategic priorities were used 1) to identify and prioritize physical activity constructs; 2) to assess the psychometric properties of instruments for physical activity surveillance; 3) to provide training and technical assistance for those collecting, analyzing, or interpreting surveillance data; 4) to explore accessing data from alternative sources; and 5) to improve communication, translation, and dissemination about estimates of physical activity from surveillance systems. Conclusion This roundtable provided strategic priorities for physical activity surveillance in the United States. A first step is to develop a national plan for physical activity surveillance that would provide an operating framework from which to execute these priorities.


Tracing attack packets to their sources, known as IP traceback, is an important step to counter distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. In this paper, we propose a novel packet logging based (i.e., hash-based) traceback scheme that requires an order of magnitude smaller processing and storage cost than the hash-based scheme proposed by Snoeren, et al. (2001), thereby being able to scalable to much higher link speed (e.g., OC-768). The baseline idea of our approach is to sample and log a small percentage (e.g., 3.3%) of packets. The challenge of this low sampling rate is that much more sophisticated techniques need to be used for traceback. Our solution is to construct the attack tree using the correlation between the attack packets sampled by neighboring routers. The scheme using naive independent random sampling does not perform well due to the low correlation between the packets sampled by neighboring routers. We invent a sampling scheme that improves this correlation and the overall efficiency significantly. Another major contribution of this work is that we introduce a novel information-theoretic framework for our traceback scheme to answer important questions on system parameter tuning and the fundamental trade-off between the resource used for traceback and the traceback accuracy. Simulation results based on real-world network topologies (e.g. Skitter) match very well with results from the information-theoretic analysis. The simulation results also demonstrate that our traceback scheme can achieve high accuracy, and scale very well to a large number of attackers (e.g., 5000+).


ABSTRACT This article traces the origins of the term of the green shift, which gained increased cultural, social and political traction in Norway after it was introduced in 2015 by journalist Anders Bjartnes, editor of Energi og klima (2011-). By looking at this outlet as well as two other contemporary niche media, Harvest (2013-) and Naturpress (2016-), we show how this term provided a way of working with frequency, one of the 12 news values outlined in Galtung and Ruge's seminal study from 1965. Inspired by discourse-historical analysis, we base our article on interviews with the editors of the three outlets, their journalistic output as well as on contextual material in order to show how the slow, uneven, global and partially invisible process of climate change was given a different temporal frame through the notion of the green shift. By addressing notions of frequency in relation to a specific time and context, we speak, on the one hand, to discussions about how an event-driven journalism struggles with the complex temporalities of climate change and, on the other, to recurrent calls for providing a more "context-driven reflection on the value and legacy of Galtung and Ruge" [Joye, Stijn, Ansgard Heinrich, and Romy Wöhler. 2016. "50 Years of Galtung and Ruge: Reflections on Their Model of News Values and its Relevance for the Study of Journalism and Communication Today." CM Komunikacija i Mmediji 36: 5–28].


About 94.8 per cent of Malaysian trade is depending on collective inter/intra-regional maritime networks. Straits of Malacca is an important strait and the only strait that connecting Indian Ocean and South China Sea which contributes to the nation's economic growth significantly. This strait plays a key character to enable the trade connection between east and west of the globe. In average, about 63,000 different types of vessels passing through the strait per year and the number of the vessels keep accelerating every year. Conversely, the introduction of Thai Canal to detour the trade voyage between Indian Ocean to South China Sea is expecting to reduce about three to four days journey time between these two passages. Although the development of this canal is predicted to provide substantial benefits to shipping lines, the grey area or disadvantages change to implications of this canal need to be explored especially on Malaysian trade and infrastructure. Therefore, a qualitative approach has been employed to achieve the aim of this paper. Face-to-face interviews with experts from various agencies had been conducted to gather information on the impact of Thai Canal on Malaysian trade and infrastructure. The outcome of this paper indicates that the implication of Thai Canal reduces the productivity of Malaysian seaports, transformation of seaports in northern region as a major hub of the nation, enforcing equal regional development between west and east coast Malaysia and administering dramatic progress on multimodalism in each state. The outcome of this research is important as an input for the preparation of Malaysian seaport system due to any significant changes in the trade route. Although, the development of Thai Canal reduce the overdependence on Malacca Straits, the impact of this this new canal will affects the trade performance of this region. Hence, this paper is significant to understand the implications that might occur to this nation due to dynamism of maritime logistics.


We present four new reinforcement learning algorithms based on actor–critic, function approximation, and natural gradient ideas, and we provide their convergence proofs. Actor–critic reinforcement learning methods are online approximations to policy iteration in which the valuefunction parameters are estimated using temporal difference learning and the policy parameters are updated by stochastic gradient descent. Methods based on policy gradients in this way are of special interest because of their compatibility with function approximation methods, which are needed to handle large or infinite state spaces. The use of temporal difference learning in this way is of special interest because in many applications it dramatically reduces the variance of the gradient estimates. The use of the natural gradient is of interest because it can produce better conditioned parameterizations and has been shown to further reduce variance in some cases. Our results extend prior two-timescale convergence results for actor–critic methods by Konda and Tsitsiklis by using temporal difference learning in the actor and by incorporating natural gradients. Our results extend prior empirical studies of natural actor–critic methods by Peters, Vijayakumar and Schaal by providing the first convergence proofs and the first fully incremental algorithms. We present empirical results verifying the convergence of our algorithms.


The components, such as characters and radicals, of a Chinese word are important sources to help in capturing semantic information of the word. In this paper, we propose a novel framework, namely, ladder structured networks (LSN), which contains three layers representing word, character and radical and learns their embeddings synchronously. LSN captures not only the relations among words, but also the relations among their component characters and radicals, as well as the relations across layers. Each layer in LSN is pluggable so that any particular type of unit (word, character, radical) can be removed and the LSN is thus adjusted for particular types of inputs. In evaluating our framework, we use word similarity as the intrinsic evaluation and part-of-speech tagging and document classification as extrinsic evaluations. Experimental results confirm the validity of our approach and show superiority of our approach over previous work.


By means of numerical simulations, using a computational fluid dynamics software together with an optical ray tracing analysis platform, we show that we can tune various optical aberrations by electrically manipulating the shape of liquid lenses using one hundred individually addressable electrodes. To demonstrate the flexibility of our design, we define electrode patterns based on specific Zernike modes and show that aspherical, cylindrical and decentered shapes of liquid lenses can be produced. Using different voltages, we evaluate the tuning range of spherical aberration (Z11), astigmatism (Z5 and Z6) and coma (Z7), while a hydrostatic pressure is applied to control the average curvature of a microlens with a diameter of 1mm. Upon activating all electrodes simultaneously spherical aberrations of 0.15 waves at a pressure of 30Pa can be suppressed almost completely for the highest voltages applied. For astigmatic and comatic patterns, the values of Z5, Z6 and Z7 increase monotonically with the voltage reaching values up to 0.06, 0.06 and 0.2 waves, respectively. Spot diagrams, wavefront maps and modulation transfer function are reported to quantify the optical performance of each lens. Crosstalk and independence of tunability are discussed in the context of possible applications of the approach for general wavefront shaping.


Composite laminates display a complex mechanical behavior due to their microstructure, with a through-thickness variation of the displacement and stress fields that depends on the fiber orientation in each layer. Aiming to develop reduced-order numerical models mimicking the real response of composite structures, we investigated the capability and accuracy of finite element analyses coupling layered shell and solid kinematics. This study represents the first step of a work with the goal of accurately matching stress evolution in regions close to possible impact locations, where delamination is expected to take place, with reduced computational costs. Close to such locations, a 3-D modeling is adopted, whereas in the remainder of the structure, a less computationally demanding shell modeling is chosen. To test the coupled approach, results of numerical simulations are presented for a quasi-statically loaded cross-ply orthotropic plate, either simply supported or fully clamped along its boundary.


The world's fast-growing data has become highly concentrated on enterprise or cloud storage servers. Data deduplication reduces redundancy in this data, saving storage and simplifying management. While existing systems can deduplicate computations on this data by memoizing and reusing computation results, they are insecure, not general, or slow.

This paper presents UNIC, a system that securely deduplicates general computations. It exports a cache service that allows applications running on behalf of mutually distrusting users on local or remote hosts to memoize and reuse computation results. Key in UNIC are three new ideas. First, through a novel use of code attestation, UNIC achieves both integrity and secrecy. Second, it provides a simple yet expressive API that enables applications to deduplicate their own rich computations. This design is much more general and flexible than existing systems that can deduplicate only specific types of computations. Third, UNIC explores a cross-layer design that allows the underlying storage system to expose data deduplication information to the applications for better performance.

Evaluation of UNIC on four popular open-source applications shows that UNIC is easy to use, fast, and with little storage overhead.


Introduction: Anti-vaccination movements exist in Europe and it may reduce adherence to international vaccination.Objectives:To evaluate attitudes on vaccination among Portuguese travelers and Brazilian migrants in Portugal.Material and Methods:Between May and June 2019 a cross-sectional survey was carried out in the Travel Clinic of the Institute of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine of Lisbon. A self-administered questionnaire was applied after medical consultation. Travelers were asked about their attitudes to vaccines. An anonymous web-based survey was sent to Brazilian migrants living in Portugal for at least 6 months.Results: 55 Portuguese (P) travelers and 22 Brazilian (B) migrants answered the questionnaire. 47.3% of Portuguese travelers were male; the mean age was 33 years; reason for travel: tourism (43.6%) or business (30.9%). 31.8% of Brazilian migrants were male and the mean age was 44 years; 71.4% were living in Portugal for ≤ 2 years. Attitudes towards vaccines: 64.8% P and 68.2% B prefer to vaccine even when the risk of acquire a disease is low; 64.1% P and 95.5% B consider that the resistance acquired by disease is better than resistance acquired by vaccine; 75.5% P and 77.3% B prefer to vaccine even when diseases are not severe; 5.6% P and 13.6% B don't take vaccines because they are afraid of side effects.About the reasons to accept a vaccine, travelers/migrants consider very important to trust in the doctor (100% P, 95.4% B), and the excellent protective effect of a vaccine (98.1% P, 90.9% B).Conclusions: Portuguese travelers and Brazilian migrants in Portugal seem to have a favorable attitude towards vaccination, despite the anti-vaccination movements in Europe. They believe that trust in the doctor and excellent protection of the vaccines are reasons to accept it. The quality of traveler's advice may maintain/increase adherence to vaccination.


Background Two recent randomised trials studied the benefit of mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (MRAs) in ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) irrespective or in absence of heart failure. The studies were both undersized to assess hard clinical endpoints. A pooled analysis was preplanned by the steering committees. Methods We conducted a prespecified meta-analysis of patient-level data of patients with STEMI recruited in two multicentre superiority trials, randomised within 72 hours after symptom onset. Patients were allocated (1:1) to two MRA regimens: (1) an intravenous bolus of potassium canrenoate (200 mg) followed by oral spironolactone (25 mg once daily) versus standard therapy or (2) oral eplerenone (25–50 mg) versus placebo. The primary and key secondary outcomes, all-cause death and the composite of all-cause death or resuscitated sudden death, respectively, were assessed in the intention-to-treat population using a Cox model stratified on the study identifier. Results Patients were randomly assigned to receive (n=1118) or not the MRA regimen (n=1123). After a median follow-up time of 188 days, the primary and secondary outcomes occurred in 5 (0.4%) and 17 (1.5%) patients (adjusted HR (adjHR) 0.31, 95% CI 0.11 to 0.86, p=0.03) and 6 (0.5%) and 22 (2%) patients (adjHR 0.26, 95% CI 0.10 to 0.65, p=0.004) in the MRA and control groups, respectively. There were also trends towards lower rates of cardiovascular death (p=0.06) and ventricular fibrillation (p=0.08) in the MRA group. Conclusion Our analysis suggests that compared with standard therapy, MRA regimens are associated with a reduction of death and death or resuscitated sudden death in STEMI.


A precise quantification of Co(II)EDTA complex is required to develop bioremediation approaches for Co(III)EDTA complex that is generated in various industrial processes. It is cumbersome to quantify Co(II)EDTA in a mixture of Co(II)EDTAand Co(III)EDTAby normal UV-visible spectrophotometric methods as both the complexes absorb significantly at 490 nm, which is the λ max of Co(II)EDTA. Whereas other sophisticated techniques such as gas chromatography, atomic absorption spectrophotometer, inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy can measure individual species of Co(II)EDTA or Co(III)EDTA when present alone but are ineffective to measure the Co(II)EDTAprecisely when it is mixed with Co(III)EDTA. Hence, an attempt has been made to develop a spectrophotometric method for its quantification. This paper describes the development of a simple and economic dual wavelength spectrophotometric method for the determination of Co(II)EDTAin a mixture of Co(II)EDTA and Co(III)EDTA complexes. The wavelength pair, 490-580 nm was optimized for the measurement of absorbance for this dual wavelength method of determination of Co(II)EDTA in the presence of Co(III)EDTA .  Int J Appl Sci Biotechnol, Vol 3(4): 584-587


Abstract
 Hornworts are the least species-rich bryophyte lineage, but represent a key group to understand the evolution of plants because, together with the remaining bryophyte lineages (mosses and liverworts), they constitute the earliest diverging land plants. The responses of hornworts to ultraviolet (UV) radiation are unknown, but they may be important to infer how primitive hornworts (and bryophytes in general) coped with UV upon land colonization. In this context, our aim was to show the first data on the effects of UV radiation on the accumulation patterns of phenolic UV-absorbing compounds (UVACs) in the emerging model hornwort Anthoceros agrestis. Thalli of 52 days age were exposed to photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) alone (P regime) and to a combination of PAR + UV-A + UV-B radiation (PAB regime) for 21 days, using realistic UV doses (equivalent to the natural ambient doses received in summer at mid-latitudes). At the end of the culture period, we measured the bulk levels and individual contents of phenolic UV-absorbing compounds (UVACs), differentiating in both cases the UVACs located in the methanol-soluble (mainly vacuolar) and -insoluble (cell wall-bound) fractions (SUVACs and IUVACs, respectively). Three soluble and one insoluble compounds were identified, among which the soluble rosmarinic and anthocerotonic acids are not present in any other bryophyte lineage. The bulk levels of SUVACs were higher than those of IUVACs, a physiological trait more typical of liverworts than of mosses. None of the variables measured responded significantly to UV exposure, but all of them showed an increasing trend under the PAB regime. Given that UV responsiveness of phenolic compounds depends on the UV levels used and the thallus age (with decreasing responsiveness as age increases), further research using higher UV levels and younger thalli should be conducted to more reliably establish the UV reactiveness of Anthoceros agrestis.


The solid solutions between ilmenite (FeTiO3) and hematite (α-Fe2O3) have recently attracted considerable attention as a spintronic material due to their interesting magnetic and electrical properties. In this study, the electronic and magnetic structures of epitaxially grown 0.6FeTiO3·0.4Fe2O3 solid solution thin films were investigated by combining x-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES), x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) for two different crystallographic projections, and first-principles theoretical calculations. The Fe L-edge XANES and XMCD spectra reveal that Fe is in the mixed-valent Fe2+–Fe3+ states while Fe2+ ions are mainly responsible for the magnetization. Moreover, the experimental Fe L-edge XANES and XMCD spectra change depending on the incident x-ray directions, and the theoretical spectra explain such spectral features. We also find a large orbital magnetic moment, which can originate the magnetic anisotropy of this system. On the other hand, although the valence state of Ti was interpreted to be 4+ from the Ti L-edge XANES, XMCD signals indicate that some electrons are present in the Ti-3d orbital, which are coupled antiparallel to the magnetic moment of Fe2+ ions.


Experimental tests were conducted on seven 1/3-scale specimens to define the vulnerabilities of existing outrigger bents under in-plane and out-of-plane seismic loading and to develop appropriate retrofit measures that address the identified vulnerabilities. The specimens represented bents with short and long outrigger beams in the SR-99 Spokane Street Overcrossing in western Washington State. The as-built specimens failed at low ductility levels due to shear distress, low torsional strength of the beam, and reinforcement bond failures within the joint. Circular and D-shaped steel jackets were used to retrofit the regular and split as-built specimens, respectively. The retrofitted specimens developed plastic hinging in the column, with enhanced strength, energy and ductility capacities. Threshold principal tension stress values describing the expected condition of the joints were established and compared to values obtained by other researchers. Design and detailing guidelines for retrofitting outrigger bents were proposed. The guidelines include equations for the jacket thickness required to form a stable force transfer mechanism between the beam and the column reinforcement as well as to prevent joint failure.


The evolutionary part of Maxwell's equations has a Lagrangian written in terms of the electric and magnetic fields, but admit neither Lorentz nor conformal transformations. The additional equations on vanishing the divergences of the electric and magnetic fields guarantee the Lorentz and conformal invariance, but the resulting overdetermined system does not have a Lagrangian. The aim of the present paper is to attain a harmony between these two contradictory properties.


Special purpose trusted computing devices are currently being deployed to offer many services for which the general purpose computing paradigm is unsuitable. The nature of the services offered by many of these devices demand high security and reliability, as well as low cost and low power consumption. Electronic Voting machines is a canonical example of this phenomenon. With electronic voting machines currently being used in much of the United States and several other countries, there is a strong need for thorough security evaluation of these devices and the procedures in place for their use. In this work, we first put forth a general framework for special purpose trusted computing devices. We then focus on Optical Scan (OS) electronic voting technology as a specific instance of this framework. OS terminals are a popular e-voting technology with the decided advantage of a user-verified paper trail: the ballot sheets themselves. Still election results are based on machine- generated totals as well as machine-generated audit reports to validate the voting process. In this paper we present a security assessment of the Diebold AccuVote Optical Scan voting terminal (AV-OS), a popular OS terminal currently in wide deployment anticipating the 2008 Presidential elections. The assessment is developed using exclusively reverse-engineering, without any technical specifications provided by the machine suppliers. We demonstrate a number of security issues that relate to the machine's proprietary language, called AccuBasic, that is used for reporting election results. While this language is thought to be benign, especially given that it is essentially sandboxed by the firmware to have only read access, we demonstrate that it is powerful enough to (i) strengthen known attacks against the AV-OS so that they become undetectable prior to elections (and thus significantly increasing their magnitude) or, (ii) to conditionally bias the election results to reach a desired outcome. Given the discovered vulnerabilities and attacks we proceed to discuss how random audits can be used to validate with high confidence that a procedure carried out by special purpose devices such as the AV-OS has not been manipulated. We end with a set of recommendations for the design and safe-use of OS voting systems.


This paper focuses on a residual ancient aeolian climbing dune from Punta Penaboa (A Coruna, Northwest Spain) showing evidence of post-depositional weathering, particularly the presence of dark brown nodular masses. The partitioning of trace elements between nodular masses and host sand during post-depositional weathering of the dune is investigated in this work, with the main objective of studying the elemental enrichment patterns in the dark masses. Data of the concentrations of chemical elements were obtained by instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) and complemented by mineralogical and microchemical studies, using X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) / energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS). The dune was dated by optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) , yielding an age of 300ka B.P.. The dark nodular masses preserved the dune sand structure, without defined concentric layers, suggesting an early stage of formation. They consist mainly of quartz grains cemented by clay materials enriched in the majority of the elements studied, especially in Mn, Co, Ba, Sb, Ce, Tb, Th, As, Zr and Hf. The post-depositional transformations of the dune were most likely influenced by migration of chemical compounds from the surrounding slope deposits and granitic rocks, as well as microbial activity that promoted metals concentration in the solutions percolating through the pore network of the dune. Seasonal changes in the redox potential were required to produce the accumulation of Mn and other trace elements in the dune pore network and to promote the fractionation between Ce4+ and trivalent rare earth elements that was observed in the geochemical patterns.


Electricity bought and sold on the deregulated Nordic power market is dominated by hydro power. However, hydro power generation is restricted by the amount of water in reservoirs. The inflows to these reservoirs show a yearly cycle and seasonal planning of the production is necessary. Seasonal planning up to 1.5 years for a power producer in a hydro-thermal system with a regulated river is considered. For a price-taking, risk-averse producer who wants to maximize his profit, the representation of the stochastic variables, i.e. inflows and power price, in the planning algorithm is crucial. The representation of the stochastic variables as scenario trees is the main subject of this thesis. The inflows to the reservoirs in a river are highly spatially correlated and show temporal autocorrelation, as well. These properties are used to construct scenario trees. By using time series models the autocorrelation is explained and principal component analysis reduce substantially the dimension of the stochastic variables. Since the available amount of water that can be used for power production varies between years due to meteorological reasons the spot price shows large fluctuations. This dependence is used for modeling the power price and power contracts. Altogether, this gives an efficient method to create scenario trees suitable for stochastic programming with few assumptions concerning stochastic properties of the underlying stochastic processes. Scenario tree generation is the stochastic part in the solution to the seasonal planning problem. A multi-stage stochastic programming model with the inflows to different stations and the power price as stochastic elements has been constructed as well as a program system, SPOT, for obtaining the solution in practice. The different scenario tree generation methods have been evaluated as well as a comparison between the stochastic programming model and a deterministic model. (Less)


The contemporary philosophy of mind and neuroethics are two of the liveliest fields of interdisciplinary reflection which deal with the everlasting topic: what/who we essentially are. One of the many questions that can be tackled in order to go deep in this knowledge is: why man is naturally inclined towards specific tiers for survival which constitute his/her teleological project of flourishing? Two different, but complementary, answers are brought to light in this work. The author argues for an apparently obvious, but relatively underexplored view of the classical hylomorphic concept of form (morphe), not just as the information that characterizes the organization of human body, but also as the intrinsic final reason why, through a specific type of bodily (brain) structure, the human being develops his/her natural inclinations and behaves according to them. The author advances the argument in terms of an upward comparison between the threefold levels of Thomas Aquinas' natural human inclinations according to Summa Theologiae I-II, question 94, article 2, and the pioneering structural and functional "Triune Brain" model developed from 1949 to 1952 by Paul MacLean. The hylomorphic view sketched is profoundly different from a purely materialistic conception of teleological processes of human behavior, and it is a plausible explanation that motivates and invites further considerations and research.


We are witnessing the third wave of constitutional readjustment after the collapse of communism in post-Soviet Eurasia. Following the establishment of founding constitutional regimes in the early 1990s, the second wave occurred in the first half of the 2000s and derived from the malfunctions of the "patronal-presidential" systems (to use political scientist Henry Hale's term) that had more or less been capable of running these countries in the first years of their existence. The second wave, often taking the form of hasty "revolutions," in some cases produced what might be considered even more authoritarian regimes than before (Kyrgyzstan and Georgia); other readjustments proved to be half-minded (Transnistria) or produced unworkable political systems (Moldova and Ukraine). This memo focuses on three countries in the northwestern Black Sea Rim (Ukraine, Moldova, and, between them, the unrecognized state of Transnistria) and assesses their struggle to overcome the negative outcomes of the second wave (Ukraine's Orange Revolution in 2004, Moldova's shift to a parliamentary regime in 2000, and Transnistria's de facto cohabitation after 2005).


We studied childhood epilepsy with occipital paroxysms (CEOP) with regard to typical and/or atypical ictal symptoms, EEG findings, as well as atypical evolution and outcome. This report focuses on the main clinical and EEG features of CEOP underlying its atypical symptoms and its management. Thirty-five patients with CEOP were subdivided into Panayiotopoulos syndrome (n=15), Gastaut syndrome (n=11), and mixed type (n=9). Nine patients (25%) with CEOP (mixed type) had shown atypical ictal manifestations and presented combinations of vomiting (100%) along with visual symptoms (66%), and/or eye deviation (66%), and headaches (44%). Five patients with CEOP had atypical evolution. However, the dictate for strict delineation into either the early-onset or late-onset forms of CEOP should be discarded because many children will present mixed clinical findings at varying ages. We think a detailed evaluation should be carried out as to why certain patients who apply have atypical findings, and whether each patient has age related evolution or not.


Recent developments have given birth to H.264/AVC: a video coding standard offering better bandwidth to video quality ratios than previous standards (such as H.263, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, etc.), due to its improved inter- and intraprediction modes at the expense of higher computation complexity. It is expected that H.264/AVC will take over the digital video market, replacing the use of previous standards in most digital video applications. This creates an important need for heterogeneous video transcoding technologies from older standards to H.264. In this paper, we focus our attention on the interframe prediction, the most computationally intensive task involved in the heterogeneous video transcoding process. This paper presents a novel macroblock (MB) mode decision algorithm for interframe prediction based on data mining techniques to be used as part of a very low complexity heterogeneous video transcoder. The proposed approach is based on the hypothesis that MB coding mode decisions in H.264 video have a correlation with the distribution of the motion compensated residual in the decoded video. We use data mining tools to exploit the correlation and derive decision trees to classify the incoming decoded MBs into one of the several coding modes in H.264. The proposed approach reduces the H.264 MB mode computation process into a decision tree lookup with very low complexity. For general validation purposes, we apply our algorithm to two of the most important heterogeneous video transcoders: MPEG-2 to H.264 and H.263 to H.264. Our results show that the our data-mining based transcoding algorithm is able to maintain a good video quality while considerably reducing the computational complexity by 72% on average when applied in MPEG-2 to H.264 transcoders, and by 62% on average when applied in H.263 to H.264 transcoders. Finally, we conduct a comparative study with some of the most prominent fast interprediction methods for H.264 presented in the literature. Our results show that the proposed data mining-based approach achieves the best results for video transcoding applications.


Brittle-ductile deformation of a primary, volcanogenic sul phi de deposit at Dragset has produced a stack of folded and faulted massive sulphide layers now underlying a ftattened and elongated stringer ore zone. The orebody was overturned, deformed and metamorphosed under mid-greenschist facies conditions during at !east two major phases of deformation. The host rocks are mostly massive. sheet-ftow and pillowed greenstones which retain the geochemical signature of tholeiitic ocean-ftoor basalts. Metabasalts in the stringer zone show ore-related hydrothermal alteration marked by enrichment in Fe and MgO, and depletion in CaO and Na20. Ore types include: massive. fine-grained pyritic and siliceous ores with minor Cu and Zn: chalcopyriteand sphalerite-rich pyritic ores; and chalcopyrite-pyrrhotite stringer ores. Primary ore fabrics are only preserved on a macroscale and include compositional layering in sphalerite rich ores, and possibly some replacement and relict fragmentary textures. Textures in massive pyritic ores mostly reftect cataclastic ftow and recrystallization during early isoclinal folding and axial plane shearing of the ore layers. This style of deformation is probably typical for massive pyritic ores subjected to high shear stress under low grade metamorphic conditions (350-450•q.


In this paper, we address the crucial problems of parameters estimation of Collateralized Debt Obligation (CDO). We present a methodology for fair spread estimation of reconstituted (CDO) from European market data. A fundamental part of the pricing framework is the estimation of default probabilities and the structure of dependency. We present a copula based simulation procedure for pricing CDO and we estimate parameters from market data. We extract default probabilities from the market quoted credit default swap spreads. We consider using Gaussian copula and Student copula on pricing CDO prices. We will present an application of the Canonical Maximum Likelihood Method (CML) for calibrating Student copula. The paper has several practical implications that are of value for financial hedgers and engineers, financial regulators, government regulators, central banks, and risk managers.


Digital watermarking is a technique which allows an individual to add hidden copyright notices or other verification messages to digital audio, video, or image signals and documents. In this paper a novel robust image watermarking method based on Discrete Hartley Transform (DHT) and Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) is presented. The watermarking image is spread on a canvass and is then embedded invisibly block by block either in DCT domain or in DHT domain in a block wise manner in the original image depending on the number of edges in each block of the original image. For this purpose, the threshold number of edges acts as a key. To extract the embedded image from the watermarked image, the same steps used in the embedding process are performed in reverse sequence. This technique is demonstrated to be robust against various attacks like Salt & Pepper, JPEG compression etc. even with severe degradation to the watermarked image.


BACKGROUND
We have previously reported an alternative technique for treatment of choledocholithiasis found at laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) that can be considered with selected patients. This study was undertaken to update our experience with this alternative technique, which makes serial postoperative cholangiograms possible and facilitates stone extraction by assuring access to the common bile duct so that a guidewire-assisted endoscopic retrograde sphincterotomy can be performed.

METHODS
In the period between 1989 and 1997, prospective data were maintained on 1043 consecutive patients who underwent LC by a single surgeon. Fifty-two patients with abnormal cholangiograms were managed with a percutaneously placed double-lumen catheter threaded through the cystic duct and advanced into the duodenum.

RESULTS
Five attempts failed, 3 because of failure to pass the catheter and 2 because of catheter dislodgement. Of the 47 remaining patients, 2 underwent intraoperative endoscopic sphincterotomies using this alternative technique and 45 had cholangiograms repeated at 10 to 14 days. Twenty-three had negative cholangiograms, thus avoiding further procedures or unnecessary sphincterotomies because of spontaneous stone passage or initial false-positive cholangiograms. The remaining 22 had positive cholangiograms. Eighteen ultimately underwent sphincterotomies with stone extraction using a guidewire placed through the catheter. The other 4 had negative cholangiograms after serial follow-up, presumably because of spontaneous stone passage.

CONCLUSIONS
The use of a transcystic double-lumen catheter passed through the ampulla of Vater is an effective and safe alternative for the management of choledocholithiasis discovered during LC.


Humans and society need boundaries, and the law is a primary tool for setting boundaries. The boundary-marking concepts that we use to categorise reality and that constitute our symbolic order, fundamentally shape our legal frameworks. But how can boundaries be defined in a technology-pervaded world in which space, self, and society increasingly collapse? This paper aims to show that current and emerging technologies challenge ingrained boundary-marking concepts in law. Can the body still be seen as distinct from its environment? Can private space still be delineated from public space? Through a discussion of technological developments related to human-machine interfaces, the evaporation of the home and public-space surveillance, the paper argues that previously independent dimensions of privacy are collapsing, and that it becomes increasingly meaningless to ask 'where' a privacy intrusion takes place. Privacy continues to have a physical element, but this physical element is growing more elusive as it cannot be neatly tied to human persons or specific places. Thus, there is a need to find innovative, non-physical boundary-marking concepts in privacy law. This illustrates that when basic boundary-marking concepts lose their usefulness in providing guidance for human behaviour, the structure on which particular legal systems are built may have to be fundamentally revised.


Using an institutional theory lens, our study examines how variations in responsiveness to formal organisation-wide changes bring about diversity in the functioning of the same management control system in different units of an organisation. As we conducted the study inside a Chinese state-owned enterprise's headquarters and at three of its factories, we illustrate the use and relevance to the Chinese socialist market economy of a theoretical framework developed from research undertaken in organisations functioning as part of the Western socio-economic system of market capitalism. We focus on the role of responsiveness in distinguishing formal and informal change, the distinction in question giving rise to varieties in the kinds of coupling occurring simultaneously in the same organisation. We show that the functionings of coupling are dynamic and that assessing them is facilitated through comparison over time in one location and with concurrent circumstances in other locations. We suggest that some of the non-responsiveness/resistance relates to the socio-economic system in China being community-based economic, rather than neo-classical economic, and how this difference is manifested in the production sphere, and investigating this further would be valuable.


Stephanie M. Hilger, in her paper "Ondaatje's The English Patient and Rewriting History," situates the novel within the long-standing Western tradition of writing about the cultural "Other," from Herodotus to Michel de Montaigne to Rudyard Kipling. Michel de Certeau's notion of history serves as a reference point for the analysis of Ondaatje's presentation of the "English" patient's story as well as of twentieth-century history. Hilger argues that the protagonist's physical mutilation is a metonymic representation of post-World War II and postcolonial consciousness. In the same way that the characters in the novel attempt to understand the mystery that is the "English" patient, Ondaatje's readers are led on a search for the understanding of a brutal and fragmented reality. While the novel questions and undermines the opposition between the "civilized" and the "barbarian," Ondaatje also suggests that certain historical realities, such as the dropping of the atomic bomb, force characters into a binary that they have been trying to deconstruct throughout the narrative. Stephanie M. Hilger, "Ondaatje's The English Patient and Rewriting History" page 2 of 9 CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 6.3 (2004):


Background: Recent interest and advances in the field of alternative medicine has promoted the use of various herbal and natural products for multiple uses in the field of medicine. Aloe vera is one such product exhibiting multiple benefits and has gained considerable importance in clinical research. This clinical study focuses on Aloe vera and highlights its property when used as a medicament in the periodontal pocket. Materials and Methods: A total number of 15 subjects were evaluated for clinical parameters like plaque index, gingival index, probing pocket depth at baseline, followed by scaling and root planing (SRP). Test site comprised of SRP followed by intra-pocket placement of Aloe vera gel, which was compared with the control site in which only SRP was done, and clinical parameters were compared between the two sites at one month and three months from baseline. Results: Results exhibited encouraging findings in clinical parameters of the role of Aloe vera gel as a drug for local delivery. Conclusion: We conclude that subgingival administration of Aloe vera gel results in improvement of periodontal condition. Aloe vera gel can be used as a local drug delivery system in periodontal pockets.


PURPOSE Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) genotyping may guide targeted therapy for patients with advanced GI cancers. However, no studies have validated ctDNA genotyping for microsatellite instability (MSI) assessment in comparison with a tissue-based standard. PATIENTS AND METHODS The performance of plasma-based MSI assessment using Guardant360, a next-generation sequencing–based ctDNA assay, was compared with that of tissue-based MSI assessment using a validated polymerase chain reaction–based method in patients with advanced GI cancers enrolled in GOZILA study, a nationwide ctDNA profiling study. The primary end points were overall percent agreement, positive percent agreement (PPA), and negative percent agreement. The efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy was also evaluated. RESULTS In 658 patients with advanced GI cancers who underwent both plasma and tissue testing for MSI, the overall percent agreement, PPA, and negative percent agreement were 98.2% (95% CI, 96.8 to 99.1), 71.4% (95% CI, 47.8 to 88.7), and 99.1% (95% CI, 98.0 to 99.7), respectively. In patients whose plasma samples had a ctDNA fraction ≥ 1.0%, the PPA was 100.0% (15/15; 95% CI, 78.2 to 100.0). Three patients with MSI-high (MSI-H) tumors detected only by ctDNA genotyping achieved clinical benefits after receiving anti–programmed cell death 1 therapy with the progression-free survival ranging from 4.3 to 16.7 months. One patient with an aggressive cancer of an unknown primary site benefited from pembrolizumab after rapid detection of MSI-H by ctDNA genotyping. CONCLUSION ctDNA genotyping was able to detect MSI with high concordance to validated tissue-based MSI testing, especially in patients with tumors that have sufficient ctDNA shedding. Furthermore, ctDNA genotyping enabled identification of patients with MSI-H tumors who benefited from immune checkpoint inhibitor treatment.


Most modern offices use open plan office system due to the flexibility of the
product. The open plan system (OPS) can be customized from low screen to
high screen and can be installed and dismantled according to the office needs.
According to MIDA (Malaysian Industrial Development Authority) the total
sales for Malaysian office furniture industries was RM1.6 billion in 2003 of
which 7.2% (115. million) came from sales generated from the open plan
office system. The sales report showed the importance of the open plan office
system in creating the office environment. Since the demand of OPS is
increasing, effective ways of assembling the system is required. Most OPS
uses bolts and nuts to joint the panels. However, this jointing system requires
many parts and the assembly process is time consuming. A survey carried out
in this study on OPS manufacturers identified the main criteria for the jointing
system design which is to increase the efficiency during the assembly process.
An important function of the jointing system is to ensure that the system is
flexible during the assembly process. Based on these findings, various jointing
system that could satisfy all these requirements were considered. Two designs
of the jointing system were proposed. Simulation studies were carried out on
the proposed designs to determine the ease of assembly, number of parts,
weight, time taken for assembly and the strength of the joints. The research
was limited to the tile system. Both design concepts were based on the snap fit
concept. They were found to be better than the current design not only in
terms of ease of assembly but also efficiency.


An automated testing system that is well integrated into the software development process is considered. The knowledge-based interactive test script system (Kitss) focuses on functional testing. It ignores a program's internal design and structure and directly uncovers discrepancies in the program's behavior as viewed from the outside world. Kitss uses the same expressive input medium that is normally used and outputs test scripts in an automated test language. Kitss checks the tests for consistency with its built-in domain model, which yields even better tests.<<ETX>>


Background: Although the health benefits of traditional social support have been largely documented (e.g. Uchino, 2006), less is known about its virtual form. Some of the benefits include increased social capital, potential for egalitarianism and the cathartic function of writing (e.g. White and Dorman, 2006). Notwithstanding, there is a risk of over-extending our virtual time at the expense of traditional interactions (Burrows et al., 2000). Moreover, spending long hours online is associated with higher risk of Compulsive Internet Use (CIU), a maladaptive use that results in damaged family relationships (Meerkerk et al, 2010). In this study, we explore the extent to which using online channels to interact with the main source of social support contributes to the development of CIU. Furthermore, to address the lack of reference to macro-variables in the study of social support and health, we collected data in three countries with different freedom in their internet access. Methods: We used a cross-sectional, survey-based design (NUK=277, NUSA=268, NUAE=270). The survey was made of validated scales (i.e. CIU, Meerkerk et al, 2010), Social Support (Rena et al, 1999) and new items that we developed to assess main source and main channel of social support. Findings: Those that mostly used online channels to interact with their main source of social support were at a higher risk of CIU. UK and UAE used online channels in higher proportion than face to face, whereas the USA used all channels (face to face and online) in a similar way. UAE reported higher levels of CIU than UK and USA, even though they also were the country that spent the lowest time online. Discussion: Our study highlights the dangers of relying on online channels for social support. The study also supports previous studies regarding the health benefits of using a variety of social support sources (Cohen et al,1997) and expands these to incorporate the channel of interaction(virtual vs non virtual).