A rapidly growing field, vibrational spectroscopy has found applications in industries including pharmaceutical manufacture, food and drug safety, and process monitoring on production lines. In particular, interest in clinical spectroscopy is rising rapidly as researchers recognize the potential of the vibrational spectroscopic techniques-Infrared (IR) and Raman Spectroscopy-as noninvasive tissue diagnosis tools. However, the details of the characteristic peak frequencies and their relationship to specific functional groups present in the biological tissues have not been fully understood. Vibrational Spectroscopy for Tissue Analysis introduces IR and Raman Spectroscopy to those scientists who are either using these spectroscopic techniques to address clinical problems or planning to use spectroscopy to analyze clinical tissues and understand their chemical composition. By compiling the interpretations and understandings of the spectral peaks of the biological molecules in one place, this book aids in the understanding of IR and Raman Spectroscopy, and what these techniques can offer both in early diagnosis of the disease and monitoring of the progression of the disease. Despite the tremendous advances in the field of spectroscopy, where new applications are emerging at the pace of development, there are still areas of research that are crying for further exploration. This book bridges the gap between the spectroscopic research and medical applications. © 2013 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.


In ultra high density optical recording such as near field recording, large amount of SIL shift from optical axis due to tracking direction eccentricity of disk degrade spot quality on recording layer as well as reduction of overall optical efficiency. In this paper, we suggest aberration compensation method for SIL shift using galvano actuator to improve read and write characteristics.


Roberto Mantovani (Parma, 25 March 1854-Paris, 10 January 1933) ‐ a musician and geologist trained in the Duchy of Parma ‐ was a Consul in the French island of La Reunion at the end of the nineteenth century. In 1878 drawing general conclusions from the similarity in shape between the facing banks of a river that flowed in a volcanic fracture, and the way in which the layers corresponded, Mantovani formulated a mobilistic theory, attributing the moving apart of the continents to the expansion of the entire planet. This theory is more general than that of Wegener from the first decades of the following century. Mantovani's hypothesis was officially recognised by the French Geological Society in 1924, which incorporated it in its body of legitimate ideas. Encouraged by Bourcart in 1924, Wegener quoted the Italian in his famous book as one who offered ideas extraordinarily close to his own. A letter of Mantovani to Wegener, and the sceptical answer of the German scientist, have been recently found. In his letter Mantovani shows a greater awareness of the predecessors of the continental drift than Wegener himself. Mantovani continued to disseminate his idea up to the last years of his life. A final pamphlet, of 1930, was printed with this dedication: «to the mathematicians, physicists, astronomers, geologists, and anyone interested in the great enigmas of the Universe». His biography has been reconstructed thanks to the correspondences carefully conserved in the archives of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ethnographic Museum Luigi Pigorini, the Societa Geografica Italiana, and in the private files of his direct descendants.


In human history it is not uncommon for religious ideas to
 shape the behavioural attitude of actors within it. This paper finds its influences
 in Max Weber's seminal essay The Protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism. The
 quest of this paper is to investigate the formations of different forms of Islam in
 South Africa and how the ideas of early historical Islam at the Cape influences
 attitudes toward charity (sadaqa) and obligatory almsgiving (zakah). The Cape
 Islamic tradition is contrasted against the more doctrinal form of the religion in
 the provinces of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng. The methodology employed is
 historical-sociology which, in this case study, allows further comparison with the
 Dutch Reformed Church in the region and its attitude toward the "poor whites".
 Conclusionary remarks are offered after three prominent Islamic organisations
 involved in Islamic forms of charity are investigated.


A plethora of research has examined bilateral and reciprocal concentric strength relationships of the thigh musculature in a variety of athletic populations. However, little research has reported strength values of the trunk and hip musculature. Thus, the purpose of this investigation was to examine concentric and eccentric strength of the trunk and hip flexor and extensor muscle groups in female runners. Twenty-one habitual female runners were assessed for trunk and hip strength via isokinetic dynamometry (KinCom, Chattecx Corp.). Strength was reported in newtons (N) and calculated as the average force over the range of motion in which the joint was tested. Eccentric strength at the trunk was greater than concentric strength. Similar results were found at the hip. Reciprocal muscle group ratios revealed that concentric trunk flexion was 52% of extension. Eccentric trunk flexion was 39% of extension. Concentric hip flexion was 98% of extension. Eccentric hip flexion was 103% of extension. The ratios were not significantly different. These findings establish previously unreported isokinetic strength values for the trunk and hip in female runners.


Most previous artificial ant foraging algorithms have to date relied to some degree on a priori knowledge of the environment, in the form of explicit gradients generated by the nest, by hard-coding the nest location in an easily-discoverable place, or by imbuing the artificial ants with the knowledge of the nest direction. In contrast, the work presented solves ant foraging problems using two pheromones, one applied when searching for food and the other when returning food items to the nest. This replaces the need to use complicated nest-discovery devices with simpler mechanisms based on pheromone information, which in turn reduces the ant system complexity. The resulting algorithm is orthogonal and simple, yet ants are able to establish increasingly efficient trails from the nest to the food in the presence of obstacles. The algorithm replaces the blind addition of new amounts of pheromones with an adjustment mechanism that resembles dynamic programming.


There are two primary contexts in which junk science arises in the asbestos litigation. The first is misdiagnosis of unimpaired patients as having an asbestos-related lung or chest abnormality. This occurs when an expert claims to find a lung or chest abnormality and states that this abnormality is a manifestation of asbestosis, and the expert is wrong on one or both counts. The need for care in diagnosing asbestosis-related abnormalities is evident. Incipient or marginal asbestosis as picked up on an X-ray bears at least a superficial resemblance to more than 130 other lung inflammations. Many of the experts who diagnose asbestos-related disease are partisan hired guns. Courts should instead insist that neutral experts, retained by the court itself, be used to determine whether plaintiffs in class action cases show signs of asbestos-related disease. Moreover, any physician who testifies regarding a diagnosis of asbestos-related disease should be properly qualified. The appropriate test is the reasonable patient test: would a reasonable person who thought he had the asbestos-related abnormality that he is claiming in litigation go to the testifying physician for a diagnosis? The second important context in which junk science arises in the asbestos litigation is when an impaired plaintiff claims an injury that might be, but is not necessarily, related to asbestos exposure. Asbestos exposure can clearly cause lung cancer, and some scientists believe that other cancers, such as colon cancer, can also be caused by asbestos exposure. However, most instances of lung cancer have nothing to do with asbestos exposure, and even taking a generous view of the evidence, the vast majority of colon cancers and other cancers purported to be linked to asbestos have nothing to do with asbestos exposure. The most pressing causation issue in the asbestos litigation is whether fleeting exposure to minute amounts of asbestos causes disease. Until recently, courts were much too liberal about allowing doctors, especially treating physicians, to testify with respect to causation evidence. Fortunately, beginning in the early 1990s as part of a general trend toward stricter scrutiny of expert evidence, the federal courts have started to crack down on the use of unqualified physicians who seek to testify about causation. State courts should follow their lead. Even if experts testifying regarding causation are qualified, the testimony must, of course, meet the particular jurisdiction's reliability standards. In federal court, this means amended Rule 702, which incorporates the Daubert trilogy. State courts have a hodgepodge of standards. Some states have adopted various versions of the Daubert test, others apply various versions of the Frye general acceptance rule, and still others have idiosyncratic tests. Whatever test is used, courts should serve as gatekeepers that exclude unreliable evidence. If state courts are unwilling to do so, the legislature should step in where appropriate and adopt a state version of federal rule 702.


The fungal cell wall surface, which represents the interface between the host and the infective microbe, emerges as the complex structure that harbors many of the relevant components that interact with the host tissues and defenses. Knowledge of cell wall biogenesis and the functions that control dynamics of this interface may provide significant clues for the development of novel therapeutic strategies. This chapter summarizes some structural and functional aspects of the cell wall of the fungal pathogen Candida albicans. It also highlights recent findings that indicate its relevance in the interaction with the host immune cells, as this process is essential to prime and develop a protective immune response and contributes significantly to the control and pathology of the infection. The cell wall is an external structure that confers the typical morphology to almost all microbes. As the most external cellular structure, it mediates adhesion to the host tissues, being crucial to initiate colonization and, therefore, causes disease. Phagocytosis of C. albicans is carried out by different types of cells, mainly neutrophils and macrophages. This process occurs presumably by the action of complement and antibody receptors, following the routes of microbial ingestion after opsonization by either the complement, antibodies, or both. The identification of permanent dialog among the microbe and the host cells at the molecular level (signals, mechanisms, and responses) will have important consequences from which both basic and applied research may benefit in the near future.


Program slice is the part of program that may take the program off the path of the desired output at some point of its execution. Such point is known as the slicing criterion. This point is generally identified at a location in a given program coupled with the subset of variables of program. This process in which program slices are computed is called program slicing. Weiser was the person who gave the original definition of program slice in 1979. Since its first definition, many ideas related to the program slice have been formulated along with the numerous numbers of techniques to compute program slice. Meanwhile, distinction between the static slice and dynamic slice was also made. Program slicing is now among the most useful techniques that can fetch the particular elements of a program which are related to a particular computation. Quite a large numbers of variants for the program slicing have been analyzed along with the algorithms to compute the slice. Model based slicing split the large architectures of software into smaller sub models during early stages of SDLC.
Software testing is regarded as an activity to evaluate the functionality and features of a system. It verifies whether the system is meeting the requirement or not. A common practice now is to extract the sub models out of the giant models based upon the slicing criteria. Process of model based slicing is utilized to extract the desired lump out of slice diagram. This specific survey focuses on slicing techniques in the fields of numerous programing paradigms like web applications, object oriented, and components based. Owing to the efforts of various researchers, this technique has been extended to numerous other platforms that include debugging of program, program integration and analysis, testing and maintenance of software, reengineering, and reverse engineering. This survey portrays on the role of model based slicing and various techniques that are being taken on to compute the slices.


The structures in spherulites of poly(butylene succinate) (PBSU) are discussed by analyzing the spherulitic growth rate of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) inside PBSU spherulites of PBSU/PEO blends, which are binary blends of crystalline polymers where PBSU spherulites fill the whole volume before PEO spherulites nucleate and grow inside PBSU spherulites. The results indicated that a PBSU spherulite contains wide amorphous regions and that PBSU crystals suppress the molecular mobility of PEO very little. It also implied that PEO crystallizes primarily in interfibrillar regions in PBSU spherulites. The same equation as that for crystalline/ amorphous blends was applicable to the dependence of the spherulitic growth rate of PEO, GPEO ,o n the crystallization temperature by using the same activation energy for molecular transport as in a melt. The variation of GPEO with the blend composition could be ascribed to the volume fraction of PEO in the amorphous region of PBSU spherulites.


Second-order characteristic beam parameters, including beamwidth and far-field divergence, are generalized for hard-edge diffracted fields. On the basis of, the so-called moments formalism these parameters are shown to propagate through ABCD optical systems according to laws similar to those applied to systems with no hard-edge openings. The power–content ratio of any diffracted beam within a certain region is evaluated in terms of such generalized parameters. An alternative analytical expression of such generalized far-field divergence is also provided that is suitable for experimental measurements. Application to Gaussian beams diffracted by slits is included.


It is known that IT projects are high-risk. To achieve project success, the strategies to avoid and reduce risks must be designed meticulously and implemented accordingly. This paper presents methods for avoiding and reducing risks throughout the development of an information system, specifically electronic payment system to handle tuition in the universities in Indonesia. The university policies, regulations and system models are design in such a way to resolve the project key success factors. By implementing the proposed methods, the system has been successfully developed and currently operated. The research is conducted in Parahyangan Catholic University, Bandung, Indonesia.


Nanotechnology and Nano sciences is one of the technologies that is set to transform the world's economy by bringing transformation in various factors that bring about development. This involves health, agriculture among other sectors of the economy. The debate on the effects and the uncertainty caused by this technology has however been on the rise and experts have warned on the impending danger if this technology is not regulated or carefully implemented. The rise of the usage of nanomaterial in international market for instance has led to further significant amount of challenges. Nano sciences and nanotechnologies are set to change the worldwide modern scene, yet the level headed discussion on the best way to control environment, health and safety risks is hiding behind the technological innovations.

Current administrative endeavors' are essentially centered around the national and provincial level, while the worldwide measurements of nanotechnology administration are still inadequately comprehended and once in a while highlight on the international plan. With the continuous globalization of Nano sciences and the quick extension of international exchange nanomaterial, nonetheless, interest for worldwide coordination and harmonization of administrative methodologies is set to increment.

Notwithstanding, vulnerability about nanotechnology hazard represents a significant situation for controllers and approach producers. Vulnerability both makes interest for and hinders more noteworthy global participation and harmonization of administrative methodologies. This dissertation surveys the rising open deliberation on nanotechnology hazard and administrative methodologies, explores the present condition of worldwide collaboration and diagrams the basic commitment that a worldwide administration methodology can make to the protected advancement of nano-technologies .This dissertation is going to describe the еffесts of unсеrtаinty on the rеgulаtiоn of hеаlth and safety in the dеvеlорmеnt of nаnоtесhnоlоgy and the policies that have been put in place to tackle these challenges basing on some countries.


Object representations within both the auditory and visual systems include partially segregated networks for living and man-made items. Presently, it is unresolved whether/how multisensory interactions impact access to and discrimination of these representations. Participants in the present study were presented with auditory, visual, or auditory-visual stimuli during a living/non-living discrimination task while 160-channel event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded. Reaction times were slowest for auditory conditions, but did not differ between multisensory and visual conditions, providing no evidence for multisensory performance enhancement. ERP analyses focused on identifying topographic modulations, because such are forcibly the result of distinct configurations of intracranial brain networks. First, these ERP analyses revealed that topographic ERP differences between object categories occurred ∼40 ms earlier following multisensory (∼200 ms) than either visual (∼240 ms) or auditory (∼340 ms) stimulation. Multisensory interactions therefore facilitate segregated cortical object representations. These analyses also indicated that the earliest non-linear multisensory neural response interactions manifest as topographic ERP modulations, irrespective of object category, at 60ms post-stimulus onset. Auditory-visual multisensory interactions recruit (partially) distinct brain generators from those active under unisensory conditions, corroborating and extending our earlier findings with simple and task-irrelevant stimuli. These results begin to differentiate multiple temporal and functional stages of multisensory auditory-visual interactions.


This report focuses on issues for Latin America and the Caribbean from China's expanding presence in the world economy, with a particular interest in questions related to China's size and proximity to markets.The authors begin with a basic overview of facts, including a characterization of trade and trade growth for China and Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Next, the following issues are addressed: Relative proximity of China and LAC countries to major markets. Detailed data on shipping costs to address the size of the import wedge, the price of goods at the exporter's departure port telative to the importing destination and the size of the sourcing wedge and its determinants. LAC's proximity to the US market. Overview of literature discussing the importance of country size


The purpose of this study was to investigate potential differences between two pilot groups; the first was a sample of individuals who have not been involved in an accident and the second was a sample of pilots from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) accident database. Factors investigated included flight time, pilot flight review status, pilot certification, employment as a professional pilot, gender, and age. This study was guided by the exigent literature on aviation accidents with a primary focus on general aviation pilot accident attributes. Non-accident pilot participation was solicited through various aviation-related websites and a total of 1,829 usable cases were collected. From the NTSB database, 19,821 cases were deemed to have all of the necessary variables for analysis. MannWhitney U tests found significant differences in age (U 5 9377426.5, p , 0.001, r 5 0.233) and flight time (U 5 5501468.5, p , 0.001, r 5 0.356). Logistic regression was then calculated to provide improved understanding of how the variables may be used to categorize pilots in accident and non-accident groupings. The model showed a significant improvement over random assignment (x [8] 5 4912.89, p , 0.001) and was able to successfully identify 98.9% of accident pilots and 34.9% of non-accident pilots. Significant factors that were identified included that if an individual that was employed as a professional pilot (correlation value 5 2.388) or as his or her age decreased (correlation value 5 2.522), he or she is more likely to be within the accident pilot classification. The investigated variables showed some indication of predictive value and shed some insight onto what factors may be associated with accident risk. Suggestions for future research are also included.


A crucial system for the operation of high-speed trains is the pantograph catenary interface as it is the sole responsible to deliver electrical power to the train. Being the catenary a stationary system with a long lifespan it is also less likely to be redesigned and upgraded than the pantographs that fit the train vehicles. This letter proposes an optimization procedure for the improvement of the contact quality between the pantograph and the catenary solely based on the redesign of the pantograph head suspension characteristics. A pantograph model is defined and validated against experimental dynamic characteristics of existing pantographs. An optimization strategy based on the use of a global optimization method, to find the vicinity of the optimal solution, followed by the use of a deterministic optimization algorithm, to fine tune the optimal solution, is applied here. The spring stiffness, damping characteristics and bow mass are the design variables used for the pantograph optimization. The objective of the optimal problem is the minimization of the standard deviation of the contact force history, which is the most important quantity to define the contact quality. The pantograph head suspension characteristics are allowed to vary within technological realistic limits. It is found that current high-speed railway pantographs have a limited potential for mechanical improvements, not exceeding 10%–15% on the decrease of the standard deviation of the contact force.


The New Zealand Garden Bird Survey started in 2007 primarily to monitor long-term trends in common garden bird populations. The method was based on the Big Garden Birdwatch in the UK. Volunteers spent one hour in midwinter each year recording for each bird species the largest number of individuals detected at any one time in their gardens, as an index of abundance. A large number of species was recorded, the two most numerous being house sparrow (Passer domesticus) and silvereye (Zosterops lateralis). There was regional variation in species occurrence and abundance; more species and more individuals of most species in rural than in urban gardens; more individuals of some species and fewer of others in gardens where supplementary food was provided; and changes in the abundance of some species over the 4 years. Potential problems with the methodology and interpretation of the data are discussed. As a consequence of convenience sampling the results apply only to the gardens of participants, not necessarily New Zealand as a whole. The survey has the potential to alert authorities to changes in garden bird population trends, and to provide circumstantial evidence of the success or otherwise of management actions such as restoration planting.


The Great Lakes are vast yet vulnerable. There is a need to focus the public's attention on the significance of the lakes for the region as a cohesive, binational whole. To address this need, build on existing water law, and engage the public, this Article provides a blueprint to establish a Great Lakes Trail on the shores of the Great Lakes. The Trail will link together 10,000 miles of coastline and provide the longest marked walking trail in the world. It will demarcate an already existing, yet largely unrecognized, public trust easement and engage the public with their common heritage in the lakeshore. The Great Lakes Trail is rooted in longstanding legal rights in the beach commons that have been forgotten and eroded over time. The Trail will provide a tangible way to restore the public's coastal history and reinvigorate public trust rights. In the United States, when each of the Great Lakes states entered the Union, the federal government transferred to them the waters and lakebeds of the Great Lakes up to the ordinary high water mark on the beach. The states were to hold these lands and waters in trust for the public use and enjoyment. In 2005, the Michigan Supreme Court held in favor of the public's right to access and walk along this beach. This is the only Great Lakes state court decision to directly address the public's right to walk along the Great Lakes, and it provides an excellent contemporary model decision for the region. On the Canadian side of the Great Lakes, there is an existing movement to build a Waterfront Trail along all of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River, as well as legislative efforts to recognize a right of passage on foot along the Great Lakes shoreline. However, the states and provinces lack consistency in how they address public access to this coast, and have not identified it as a broad public asset like the Appalachian Trail. Establishing the Great Lakes Trail will be a monumental effort, requiring a multidisciplinary approach. It will require generating local, and especially lakeshore property owners' support for the Trail; developing a system of local volunteers; working with artists and educators to design art installations and signs that reflect each community's values and educate the public about Great Lakes ecological and legal issues; building local tourism economies with chambers of commerce to promote trail-oriented businesses; and partnering with GIS mappers and app developers to produce real time local business information and mapping. Ultimately, allowing people to utilize their public trust rights in walking the coasts of the Great Lakes actively engages them in seeing the importance of the Great Lakes as an ecological, political, economic, and cultural asset, which is a precursor to developing and implementing cooperative Great Lakes governance structures.


Myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) is caused by a CTG trinucleotide expansion in the 3' untranslated region (3' UTR) of DM protein kinase (DMPK). The key feature of DM1 pathogenesis is nuclear accumulation of RNA, which causes aberrant alternative splicing of specific pre-mRNAs by altering the functions of CUG-binding proteins (CUGBPs). Cardiac involvement occurs in more than 80% of individuals with DM1 and is responsible for up to 30% of disease-related deaths. We have generated an inducible and heart-specific DM1 mouse model expressing expanded CUG RNA in the context of DMPK 3' UTR that recapitulated pathological and molecular features of DM1 including dilated cardiomyopathy, arrhythmias, systolic and diastolic dysfunction, and mis-regulated alternative splicing. Combined in situ hybridization and immunofluorescent staining for CUGBP1 and CUGBP2, the 2 CUGBP1 and ETR-3 like factor (CELF) proteins expressed in heart, demonstrated elevated protein levels specifically in nuclei containing foci of CUG repeat RNA. A time-course study demonstrated that colocalization of MBNL1 with RNA foci and increased CUGBP1 occurred within hours of induced expression of CUG repeat RNA and coincided with reversion to embryonic splicing patterns. These results indicate that CUGBP1 upregulation is an early and primary response to expression of CUG repeat RNA.


The research project investigates the role Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) play in delivering the government's social policies through Widening Participation (WP) policy, why HEIs have a role in social policy and whether the current model fits all segments of the HE sector. In particular, it evaluates the impact of the policies on the development of HEIs and particularly post-92 HEI expansion. It is recognised that the political and economic environment has had, and will continue to have, a significant level of influence on the development of Higher Education (HE) within England. The relationship between the state and HE in delivering WP raises questions of autonomy and purpose which are explored within the study, recognising the importance of understanding the original intentions of the policy. The study ultimately helps to identify the future role of HEIs in delivering state policies, using WP policy as the example, and how this will impact on HEIs. A mixed methods approach, combining documentary analysis and comparative analysis with futures studies, is used to conduct the study. Case studies have been used to support the comparative analysis. The use of future studies with WP and HE, pioneered within this study, offering insight into a new method of considering the role of institutions in delivering social policies. The alternate futures produced aid our understanding of what a mutually beneficial policy outcome would be for both institutions and the state. This offers a preferred model of effective state-HE relationships allowing institutions to have a greater level of autonomy from the state whilst sharing the strategic aims of the state in delivering growth through WP. The model supports HEI policy makers in planning for change within the sector. The study, and the model produced, is designed to suggest further research for conducting a stakeholder analysis. This would test the future scenarios produced in the study with key influencers within the HE sector. The outcome of this would be to facilitate the planning process for the future in an evidence-based way. The model has the potential to be reused for other policy initiatives, other than the example of WP, to shape future state-HE relationships.


We developed methods to measure juvenile growth rates of the spionid polychaete Polydora cornuta in nature. We transplanted and recovered small vials containing labeled individuals and measured each worm's body volume before and after worms spent a week in field sediments. We transplanted labeled individuals to 3 elevations on an intertidal mudflat in Oneonta Slough within the Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve: a high elevation 0.7 m above mean lower low water (MLLW), a mid-elevation 0.4 m above MLLW, and a low elevation 0.1 m above MLLW. To include a range of environmental conditions, we performed two 7 d transplantations in July 2009 and 2 in November 2009. On average, we recovered one-third of the transplanted juveniles. Mean relative growth rates (RGR) declined significantly from 7.7% d−1 at the low elevation to 2.4% d−1at the high elevation. There was a positive correlation between RGR and the time each elevation was submerged, suggesting the decline in RGRs with increasing elevation was due to a reduction in the time available for suspension feeding. RGRs during 1 transplantation (12 to 19 November) were significantly slower than RGRs during the other 3 transplantations, especially at the high and mid elevations. Due to seasonality in the mixed semidiurnal tides, the 12 to 19 November period was the only transplantation that experienced lower low tides during the afternoon. The slower RGRs during this time of exposure to afternoon sunlight and air temperatures suggest physiological stress might have contributed to reduced RGRs during this transplantation.


Abstract. In the Vietnamese part of the Mekong Delta (VMD) the areas with three rice crops per year have been expanded rapidly during the last 15 years. Paddy-rice cultivation during the flood season has been made possible by implementing high-dyke flood defenses and flood control structures. However, there are widespread claims that the high-dyke system has increased water levels in downstream areas. Our study aims at resolving this issue by attributing observed changes in flood characteristics to high-dyke construction and other possible causes. Maximum water levels and duration above the flood alarm level are analysed for gradual trends and step changes at different discharge gauges. Strong and robust increasing trends of peak water levels and duration downstream of the high-dyke areas are found with a step change in 2000/2001, i.e. immediately after the disastrous flood which initiated the high-dyke development. These changes are in contrast to the negative trends detected at stations upstream of the high-dyke areas. This spatially different behaviour of changes in flood characteristics seems to support the public claims. To separate the impact of the high-dyke development from the impact of the other drivers – i.e. changes in the flood hydrograph entering the Mekong Delta, and changes in the tidal dynamics – hydraulic model simulations of the two recent large flood events in 2000 and 2011 are performed. The hydraulic model is run for a set of scenarios whereas the different drivers are interchanged. The simulations reveal that for the central VMD an increase of 9–13 cm in flood peak and 15 days in duration can be attributed to high-dyke development. However, for this area the tidal dynamics have an even larger effect in the range of 19–32 cm. However, the relative contributions of the three drivers of change vary in space across the delta. In summary, our study confirms the claims that the high-dyke development has raised the flood hazard downstream. However, it is not the only and not the most important driver of the observed changes. It has to be noted that changes in tidal levels caused by sea level rise in combination with the widely observed land subsidence and the temporal coincidence of high water levels and spring tides have even larger impacts. It is recommended to develop flood risk management strategies using the high-dyke areas as retention zones to mitigate the flood hazard downstream.


The performance and reliability of microdevices can be strongly influenced by the peak temperature rise and spatial temperature distribution during brief electrical overstress (EOS) phenomena, which can occur at sub-microsecond time scales. The present study investigates short-time-scale laser reflectance thermometry of micro devices by examining the impact of passivation overlayers on the thermoreflectance signal and by demonstrating a calibration method suitable for metallization. This manuscript also describes a scanning laser thermometry facility that captures temperature fields in microdevices with 10 ns temporal resolution and 1 μm spatial resolution. The facility combines scanning laser optics with electrical stressing capability to allow simultaneous interrogation of the thermal and electrical behavior of devices. Data show the transient temperature distribution along the drift region of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) power transistors and along metal interconnects subjected to brief electrical stresses. The theory and experimental capability developed in this study are useful for studying short-time-scale thermal phenomena in microdevices and verifying models employed for their simulation.


One of the Republic's outstanding economists, John Bradley, and the prominent Unionist politician and economist, Esmond Birnie, debate to what extent Northern Ireland can learn from the phenomenon of the "Celtic Tiger." Professor Bradley asks what lessons the North can take from the success of the Republic's economic planning, and whether it makes sense for the island to trade and seek investment as one unit in a globalized economy. Dr Birnie wonders whether the low level of trade and economic interchange between the two Irish economies is really abnormal in European terms, and whether a successfully co-ordinated island economy is possible in two separate political jurisdictions.


My primary aim in this research has been to present a case for the impact of a 'Drama as Process' whole group improvisation model on creativity and thinking skills and to assess how it may be more successful in raising achievement in those areas than 'performance' and 'convention' styles of drama. The thesis identifies the elements of teaching and learning styles which may develop creativity and thinking skills most effectively and examines other key learning areas developed in the 'drama improvisation process' and, how these are best approached. Whole group drama is a form of narrative story exploration carried out for the benefit of the participants, and is not concerned with performance for an audience beyond the immediate group of actor-spectators. The thesis presents a theoretical argument, and examines practice in detail to test out the validity of the whole group model and to provide concrete examples of it in practice. This thesis constitutes an argument illuminated by empirical evidence drawn from practice including: observation of classes; teaching of classes; experiments in improvisation and thinking skills, where the number of changes of direction in thinking required by participants, within a given time were recorded; observation, transcribing and analysing of videoed Drama lessons; interviews of individuals and classes; completion of pro-forma questionnaires by pupils, ex-pupils and staff Creativity and thinking skills are central to the methodology of whole group improvisation, and operate throughout the process. Through observation and discussion with students, it became clear that operating in the improvisation model they could work at their own level, developing their creativity and thinking skills in the manner most appropriate to the individual and as their levels of confidence grew. The contextualisation of their knowledge and understanding in the drama was seen to enable them to use their ideas in a relevant and experiential manner, without the hindrance of feeling they were 'showing/performing' or that they needed to plan or rehearse presentation, developing their flexibility and ability to react imaginatively and creatively to situations and questions.


Study Design. In this study, 26 cases of congenital kyphosis and kyphoscoliosis treated surgically were retrospectively reviewed. Objective. To assess the clinical outcomes and surgical indications for posterior only versus anteroposterior surgery in the child. Summary of Background Data. Congenital kyphosis usually is progressive without surgical intervention. Current recommended treatment includes posterior arthrodesis for deformities of less than 50° to 60°, and anterior release or decompression, anterior fusion, and posterior instrumented arthrodesis for large deformities and cord compression. Methods. Cases involving myelodysplasia, spinal dysgenesis, and skeletal dysplasia were excluded from the study. Kyphoscoliosis was included if the kyphotic deformity was greater than the scoliotic deformity. Patients were grouped by age and surgical technique. The patients in group P1 underwent posterior arthrodesis at an age younger than 3 years, and those in group P2 underwent the procedure at an age older than 3 years. The patients in group AP1 underwent anterior and posterior procedures at an age younger than 3 years, and those in group AP2 underwent the procedures at an age older than 3 years. The preoperative deformity, complications, and postoperative deformity correction were analyzed. There were nine Type 1 (failure of formation), nine Type 2 (failure of segmentation), and eight Type 3 (mixed) deformities. Four patients had associated spinal dysraphism. Three patients with Type 1 deformities had clinical or radiographic evidence of cord compression. Results. In Group P1, five patients at an average age of 16 months underwent posterior arthrodesis alone for an average kyphotic deformity of 49°. The immediate postoperative correction improved over a period of 6 years and 9 months by an additional 10°, resulting in a final deformity of 26°. Pseudarthrosis developed in two patients, requiring fusion mass augmentation or anterior arthrodesis. Neither patient was instrumented. In Group P2, five patients at an average age of 13 years and 7 months underwent posterior arthrodesis with instrumentation for kyphotic deformity of 59°. Approximately 30° of intraoperative correction was achieved safely using compression instrumentation and positioning. No further correction occurred with growth. The final residual kyphotic deformity was 29° after a follow-up period of 4 years and 5 months. In Group AP1, seven patients underwent anterior release or vertebra resection for deformity correction and posterior arthrodesis for an average kyphotic deformity of 48° at the age of 16 months. There were no iatrogenic neurologic injuries. The final residual kyphotic deformity was 22° after a follow-up period of 6 years and 3 months. In Group AP2, nine patients underwent anterior release or decompression with posterior arthrodesis for kyphotic deformity of 77° at the age of 11 years and 6 months. The deformity was corrected to 37°, with no significant loss over a follow-up period of 5 years and 2 months. There were two postoperative neurologic complications. Conclusions. After reviewing their experience, the authors made the following observations: 1) The pseudarthrosis rate was low even without routine augmentation of fusion mass if instrumentation was used; 2) gradual correction of kyphosis may occur with growth in patients younger than 3 years with Types 2 and 3 deformities after posterior fusion, but appears to be unpredictable; 3) the risk of neurologic injury with anterior and posterior fusion for kyphotic deformity was associated with greater age, more severe deformity, and preexisting spinal cord compromise.


The purpose of this paper is to review the current literature to examine the effects of various forms of physical activity upon mental health. A literature review was conducted to examine specific findings of the relationship between exercise (aerobic and anaerobic) and psychological well being. It was found that aerobic exercise performed at a moderate intensity produces significantly greater positive psychological outcomes than does either high intensity aerobic exercise or anaerobic exercise. Additionally, no specific differences were discovered between various methods of aerobic exercise as long as it is conducted for over 20 minutes continuously. Low impact aerobic exercise, such as yoga or meditation was also found to have positive effects on mental health. Various mechanisms underlying the mood boosting effects of exercise are also briefly examined.


The overall research objective was to evaluate changes in pedestrian safety and traffic efficiency from installing pedestrian countdown timers. The study analysed pedestrian behaviour and safety before and after the installation of a trial countdown timer at the intersection of Queens Street, Bunny Street and Margaret Street in Lower Hutt in July 2007. The results were compared with the 2006/07 trial at the Queen Street/Victoria Street intersection in Auckland CBD and showed very different results. The Auckland city trial indicated that, if placed in suitable locations, pedestrian countdown signals were associated with pedestrian behaviour change that enhanced safety. This study in Lower Hutt demonstrated that the observed pedestrian safety decreased as the percentage of both late starters and late finishers increased, although this was likely to be due to the nature of the intersection with one particularly long diagonal crossing coupled with the allocated phase times. In contrast, perceived pedestrian safety increased with the installation of the countdown timers.


abstract:For Victoria Kahn, Hobbes' argument that fear of violent death is "the passion to be reckoned upon" in explaining what inclines men to peace must be interpreted as a mimetic argument. However, Kahn then notes a paradox that makes Hobbes' thinking problematic: whereas love and the desires are appetites that produce an imitative effect, fear is different. Though also a passion, fear lacks that capacity to produce a mimetic effect or, therefore, to generate a contract. My hypothesis is that resolving the dilemma presented in Kahn's interpretation of Hobbes requires a shift in attention from mimesis to rhetoric and, more specifically, to biological rhetoric as defined by Nancy Struever. This approach to Hobbes makes it possible to understand the rhetorical role of fear in generating and maintaining the social contract, and how the problem that Kahn signals—the impotence of fear in relation to mimesis—can be resolved.


Corporate governance has come to prominence in recent years because of the perceived political importance of issues such as executive pay and apparent accounting scandals. As might be expected in this frenzied climate, politicians have reacted. US politicians reacted with particular speed through the passing of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Dr Elaine Sternberg brings some sobriety and clear thinking to the debate in this new and fully revised edition of "Corporate Governance: Accountability in the Marketplace", lucidly defining the purposes of corporate governance and analysing different models of corporate regulation. The Anglo-American model allows corporations to fulfil their corporate purposes more effectively than the stakeholder or the German/Japanese models. Given that problems of executive pay, accounting scandals and so on result in corporations not achieving their proper purposes, Sternberg finds that a change in the regulatory model cannot be the answer. Instead, she proposes that we should look at the ways in which regulation prevents the Anglo-American model from working in practice as effectively as it should in theory. Sternberg shows how a genuine 'market' in corporate governance could be created so that firms had to compete for funds, with their mode of governance being one of the attractions to potential shareholders.


Objectives To examine the role of microsystem characteristics in the translation of an evidence-based intervention (the Diabetes Prevention Initiative (DPI)) into practice in a community-health centre (CHC). Design Case study. Analysis Constant comparative method of qualitative analysis. Setting Community-health centre in a mid-sized city in the USA. Participants 27 administrators, clinicians and staff of a community-health centre implementing a DPI. Main outcome measures Perceptions of microsystem characteristics that influence the implementation of this initiative. Results Five characteristics of high-performing microsystems were reflected, but not maximised, in the implementation of the DPI. First, there was no universally shared definition of the desired purpose of the DPI. Second, investment in quality improvement (QI) was strong, yet sustainability remained a concern, since efforts were dependent upon external grant support. Third, lack of cohesiveness between the initiative planning team and the rest of the organisation served to both facilitate and constrain implementation. Fourth, administrators showed both support for new initiatives and a lack of strategic vision for QI. Fifth, this initiative substantially strained already-stretched role definitions. Conclusions Translation of the DPI in this CHC was constrained by the lack of a cohesive QI infrastructure and incomplete alignment with characteristics of high-performing microsystems. The findings suggest an important role for microsystem characteristics in the process of implementing evidence-based interventions. Enhancing the level of microsystem performance of CHCs is essential to informing efforts to improve quality of care in this critical safety-net system.


The Web success in leading the information technology revolution has relied on an enormous computing infrastructure. In recent years, both cloud computing as well as social networks are putting even more burden in such infrastructure. The cloud computing paradigm is creating a massive shift in computing – from PC-based applications to cloud-based applications. Cloud computing frees users from having to remember where the data resides, gives users access to information anywhere, and provides fast services through essentially infinite online computing. Social networks, on the other hand, emerge the social aspects of the Web where the social interactions put demands on Web applications, and in turn further demands in the Web's infrastructure.

The Internet, which was mostly developed for interactive applications between humans and computers, has struggled to handle the necessities of a Web designed around content. For instance, as Web content moves from one place to another, Web pointers are broken and so do search ranking algorithms. Similarly, content is often not where it should be when you need it and routers waste capacity copying the same content millions of times. As a result, we have seen the emergence of Internet systems that were not planned for from the beginning, e.g. Web Caching, Content Distribution Networks, or P2P networks.

In this talk I will discuss the challenges that the Web is posing in today's Internet infrastructure, and argue about various solutions to cope with them. In particular, I will argue how to re-think the Internet to do networking at the content/information layer, and the underlying architectural system design principles needed to guide the efficient engineering of new Web infrastructure services.


In 1944, Franklin Delano Roosevelt gave a State of the Union Address that was arguably the greatest political speech of the twentieth century. In it, Roosevelt grappled with the definition of security in a democracy, concluding that "unless there is security here at home, there cannot be lasting peace in the world." To help ensure that security, he proposed a "Second Bill of Rights" -- economic rights that he saw as necessary to political freedom. Many of the great legislative achievements of the past sixty years stem from Roosevelt's vision. Using this speech as a launching point, Cass R. Sunstein shows how these rights are vital to the continuing security of our nation. This is an ambitious, sweeping book that argues for a new vision of FDR, of constitutional history, and our current political scene.


The endothelium plays important roles in modulating vascular tone by synthesizing and releasing a variety of endothelium-derived relaxing factors, including vasodilator prostaglandins, NO, and endothelium-dependent hyperpolarization factors, as well as endothelium-derived contracting factors. Endothelial dysfunction is mainly caused by reduced production or action of these relaxing mediators. Accumulating evidence has demonstrated that endothelial functions are essential to ensure proper maintenance of vascular homeostasis and that endothelial dysfunction is the hallmark of a wide range of cardiovascular diseases associated with pathological conditions toward vasoconstriction, thrombosis, and inflammatory state. In the clinical settings, evaluation of endothelial functions has gained increasing attention in view of its emerging relevance for cardiovascular disease. Recent experimental and clinical studies in the vascular biology field have demonstrated a close relationship between endothelial functions and cardiovascular disease and the highlighted emerging modulators of endothelial functions, new insight into cardiovascular disease associated with endothelial dysfunction, and potential therapeutic and diagnostic targets with major clinical implications. We herein will summarize the current knowledge on endothelial functions from bench to bedside with particular focus on recent publications in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology.


Metazoan parasites of pike Esox lucius from Southern Indian Lake, Manitoba were studied to reveal species composition, differences with host age, sex, and location and season of capture. Pike hosted 18 species of metazoan parasites, two of which, Tetraonchus monenleron and Proteocephalus pinguis, made up over 84% of metazoan parasite numbers. Some parasite species exhibited definite patterns of abundance with host age and season which resulted from changes in host diet and behaviour. No differences in parasite abundance existed between the host sexes. Ranking of parasite abundances was significantly different between two sampling sites only 2 km apart as a result of intermediate host distribution. Impoundment could greatly change pike parasite levels. An initial decrease in parasite numbers could be followed by a rapid increase.


The adoption of an agent-based approach that incorporates intelligence, adaptation and learning abilities has proved to significantly increase the realism and the accuracy of the simulation. Simulation systems of such a kind, however, require computational resources that might be considerable for a single agent, so to become unfeasible when the number of simulated agents scales up. A distributed environment is thus needed to allow the execution of such simulation systems, particularly in the case of scenarios populated by a large number of agents. Building an agent-based distributed simulation system, however, requires both specific expertise and knowledge of distributed simulation standards and a non-negligible amount of effort to develop ad-hoc components. This paper introduces a simulation framework named DisSimJADE, which enables the incorporation of distributed simulation facilities into existing agent-based systems. DisSimJADE is built on top of the popular agent-based framework JADE and allows to define agent-based simulation systems that can be transparently executed either in a local or distributed, therefore bringing significant savings in terms of effort and development time. In addition, DisSimJADE provides a uniform interface to the JADE framework, which further facilitates the production of distributed simulation systems to developers of JADE-based multi-agent systems.


Geologic mapping and integrated stratigraphic and structural observations of a gypsum quarry from northwestern Italy allow evaluation of the relative contributions, the time relationships, and the causative links between tectonic, sedimentary, and diapiric processes in the genesis of chaotic sediments of Messinian age. Three chaotic units are exposed in the quarry: together, they make up a composite chaotic unit that is unconformably overlain by post-chaotic sediments. Unit 1 is composed of blocks of primary evaporites that are juxtaposed to marine marls by subvertical transpressive faults and are parallel to the fault surfaces. Unit 2 unconformably overlies Unit 1, and consists of a lenticular sedimentary body containing both angular and rounded blocks, randomly distributed in a fine-grained matrix. Unit 3 consists of a 10-m-wide body bounded by transpressive faults, and pierces both Units 1 and 2. It is composed of strongly deformed muddy deposits that envelop blocks of gypsum and carbonate rocks. Between the core and the margins, various zones have been defined based on the increasing amount of deformation toward the margins. The post-chaotic sediments unconformably overlie both Units 1 and 2, sealing the main fault systems. The composite chaotic unit is related to thrust propagation during a regional phase of deformation, and is the result of different evolutionary stages, in each of which a single genetic mechanism prevailed. Tectonic faulting prevailed during stage 1 and was responsible for the formation of a tectonically disrupted assemblage (Unit 1). During stage 2, gravity-driven sedimentary phenomena, related to slope oversteepening triggered by ongoing thrust propagation, resulted in the deposition of Unit 2. Gravity sliding was favored by the mechanical weakening of sediments caused by tectonic faulting. Over-pressure conditions resulting from the rapid deposition of Unit 2 triggered the rise of a diapir (Unit 3) that pierced Units 1 and 2. The involvement of methane-rich fluids in the formation of the diapir is suggested by the occurrence of blocks of methane-derived carbonates, found not in the quarry, but just outside it.


How do you decide what is a 'story' and what isn't? What does a newspaper editor actually do all day? How do hacks get their scoops? How do the TV stations choose their news bulletins? How do you persuade people to say those awful, embarassing things? Who earns what? How do journalists manage to look in the mirror after the way they sometimes behave? The purpose of this insider's account is to provide an answer to all these questions and more. Andrew Marr's brilliant, and brilliantly funny, book is a guide to those of us who read newspapers, or who listen to and watch news bulletins but want to know more. Andrew Marr tells the story of modern journalism through his own experience. This is an extremely readable and utterly unique modern social history of British journalism, with all its odd glamour, smashed hopes and future possibility.


The wave quantities needed in constructing wave fields propagating in anisotropic elastic media are usually calculated as a function of the slowness vector, or of its direction called the wave normal. In some applications, however, it is desirable to calculate the wave quantities as a function of the ray direction. In this paper, a method of calculating the slowness vector for a specified ray direction is proposed. The method is applicable to general anisotropy of arbitrary strength with arbitrary complex wave surface. The slowness vector is determined by numerically solving a system of multivariate polynomial equations of the sixth order. By solving the equations, we obtain a complete set of slowness vectors corresponding to all wave types and to all branches of the wave surface including the slowness vectors along the acoustic axes. The wave surface can be folded to any degree. The system of equations is further specified for rays shot in the symmetry plane of an orthorhombic medium and for a transversely isotropic medium. The system is decoupled into two polynomial equations of the fourth order for the P–SV waves, and into equations for the SH wave, which yield an explicit closed-form solution. The presented approach is particularly advantageous in constructing ray fields, ray-theoretical Green functions, wavefronts and wave fields in strong anisotropy.


The high prevalence of sleep disorders is well documented in individuals with Down syndrome (DS). Thus, given the robust association between physical activity and sleep disorders in the typical population, more work is needed to examine this association in this population. The total of twenty-nine adolescents and young adults with DS participated in the current study. Parents reported on well-validated questionnaires to measure the levels of physical activity and sleep-related disorders in their children with DS. First, our result indicates that high active participants had lower parental reports of features associated with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) compared with low active participants. Further, after controlling for age and BMI, the levels of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity showed negative correlations with parental ratings of OSA. Both results suggest physical activity, in particular moderate-tovigorous intensity exercise, may determine the severity of OSA in adolescents and young adults with DS. Therefore, future work should consider the role of physical activity that may reduce the onset of sleep disorders in individuals with DS.


Background and aims : One of the disorders which make some limitation for people is cervical spine injury. It causes disturbances in the upper sensory and motor extremities. This complication limits daily activities. The aim of this study is to design a manual toothbrush for cervical spinal cord handicapped (tetraplegia C5-C7) that is in compliance with the movement restrictions of this group. The tool's convenience was measured by the user-centered method. Method s: The research methodology of this study is a case study and data were collected by field study and questionnaires. The UCD method was also used to gain information and pertinent feedback of the users. In this study, 27 volunteers participated. Based on preliminary questioning and implementing the phases of user- centered approach, the final design of the toothbrush was achieved. In the final stage of UCD in which the aim was to provide the comfort parameters of tetraplegia handicapped C5-C7's manual tool, the satisfaction questionnaire of manual tool was used to determine the convenience level. Result s: By using UCD method and gaining the feedbacks of the users, it is concluded that the physical properties of the toothbrush should be matching with the movement limitations of the hands. In this phase, the authors provided a list of dimensional properties that finally were applied in design. Conclusion : It seems that emphasis on user autonomy is the most important item in product design for this group that is provided by the coordinating the manual tools' form, mechanism and dimensions with the limitation of user's hands.


OBJECTIVE To assess the effects of two controlled diets, one rich in oleic acid obtained from avocado and olive oil and the other rich in complex carbohydrates, on fasting and postprandial serum lipids and glycemic control in 12 women with NIDDM. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS A randomized crossover study was designed. During a 4-week baseline period, all patients received the isocaloric diets recommended by the American Diabetes Association. After this period the patients were randomly assigned to receive the two study diets alternately during two 4-week periods. One diet was high in monounsaturated fatty acids (HMUFA) and the other was high in complex carbohydrates (high-CHO). There also was a 4-week washout period in between the two 4-week periods during which the patients followed the American Diabetes Association's isocaloric diet. Blood samples were obtained before and after each dietary period. RESULTS Both diets had a minor hypocholesterolemic effect with no major changes in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. The HMUFA diet was associated with a greater decrement in plasma triglycerides (20 vs. 7% in the high-CHO diet). Glycemic control was similar with both diets. CONCLUSIONS Partial replacement of complex digestible carbohydrates with monounsaturated fatty acids (avocado as one of its main sources) in the diet of patients with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus improves the lipid profile favorably, mantains an adequate glycemic control, and offers a good management alternative.


Iran ABSTRACT Background: One of the important goals in control diabetes to maintain normal levels of glycated hemoglobin, but different social and psychological factors such as social support and alexithymia play role on process of this control. The purpose of present study was to examine the role of alexithymia on the association of social support and glycated hemoglobin in patients with type 2 diabetes. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. The study sample consisted of 100 (60% females, 40-60 years) type 2 diabetic out-patients visiting the Labbafinejad hospital in 2013. The sample of the present study was a convenience sample. Measures of data collection included demographic and anthropometric questionnaires, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, Toronto Alexithymia Scale and test of glycated hemoglobin. The collected data were analyzed, using multiple regression analysis. Results: Pearson's correlation coefficients showed a significant association between better reported perceived social support and lower alexithymia and glycated hemoglobin. Results of hierarchical linear regression analyses indicated that social support explained 23% and alexithymia 31% of glycated hemoglobin variance. As well as, alexithymia moderated association between perceived social support and glycated hemoglobin in patient with type 2 diabetes. Conclusion: Based on the present data, alexithymia has moderate role on the association between perceived social support and glycated hemoglobin in patient with type 2 diabetes. The results of this study highlight effective psychological factors in glycated hemoglobin which can help in the conceptualization, planning and design of treatment policies for control and treatment of type 2


Background: Nowadays, by considering the important advances in multimedia and networks including telemedicine applications, the amount of information to store and/or transmit has dramatically increased over time. To overcome the limitations of transmission channels or storage systems, data compression is considered a useful tool. In general, data compression addresses the problem of reducing the amount of data required to represent any digital data including images and signals. This can be achieved by removing redundant information where the main challenge is to reduce the bit-rate while preserving a high quality of the information. Objective: This work aims to propose a new multimodal compression methodology allowing compression of jointly various data, not necessary of the same type, using only one codec. Method: The proposed joint signal-image compression methodology consists of inserting the wavelet coefficients of a decomposed signal in the details region of a wavelet transformed image at the finest scale (i.e., the highest frequency sub-bands: horizontal details, vertical details, or diagonal details) according to a spiral way. The mixture is afterwards compressed using the well-known SPIHT algorithm (Set Partitioning In Hierarchical Trees). This process is inverted by decoding the mixture, then separating the signal from the image using a separation function applied to the insertion detail sub-band area. Next, the signal and image are reconstructed using inverse wavelet transformation followed by a dequantization step. Figure 1 illustrates the corresponding compression scheme. Results: The proposed method was evaluated on medical images with biomedical signals. The experimental results obtained show that this method provides better performance compared to the basic version based on inserting the signal samples in the spatial domain of the image to the encoding phase. This is confirmed by an important obtained improvement in terms of PSNR (Peak Signal to Noise Ratio) and PRD% (Mean Square Difference).


Linguistic structures have recently started to attract attention from economists as determinants of economic phenomena. This paper provides the first comprehensive review of this nascent literature and its achievements so far. First, we explore the complex connections between language, culture, thought and behaviour. Then, we summarize the empirical evidence on the relationship between linguistic structures and economic and social outcomes. We follow up with a discussion of data, empirical design and identification. The paper concludes by discussing implications for future research and policy.


AIM
The aim of this evaluation was to assess the acceptability, accessibility, and compliance with the 2014 editions of the Remote Primary Health Care Manuals (RPHCM) in health care centres across remote areas of Northern and Central Australia.

METHOD
To undertake a comprehensive evaluation that considered context, the evaluation used a realist evaluation framework. The evaluation used a variety of methods including interviews and survey to develop and test a programme theory.

RESULTS
Many remote health practitioners have adopted standardized, evidence-based practice because of the use of the RPHCM. The mechanisms that led to the use of the manuals include acceptance of the worth of the protocols to their clinical practice, reliance on manual content to guide their practice, the perception of credibility, the applicability of RPHCM content to the context, and a fear of the consequences of not using the RPHCMs. Some remote health practitioners are less inclined to use the RPHCM regularly because of a perception that the content is less suited to their needs and daily practice or it is hard to navigate or understand.

CONCLUSION
The evaluation concluded that there is work to be done to widen the RPHCM user base, and organizations need to increase support for their staff to use the RPHCM protocols better. These measures are expected to enable standardized clinical practice in the remote context.


Electron microscopes are equipment that use an accelerated electron beams as probes to generated images with magnifications and resolution not possible to obtain with optical microscopes (due to fact that electron wavelength can be 100,000 times shorter than visible light photons). Electron microscopes operating in the conventional high vacuum mode require conductive imaging specimens; therefore, non-conductive materials need the deposition of a conductive layer (Au-Pd alloys, carbon and osmium, among others). Low voltage mode of modern microscopes makes possible to observe non-conductive uncoated specimens. Transmission electron microscopes require thin samples (below 100 nm), placed onto appropriate sample holders. Electron microscopes are state of the art equipment that requires high operation and maintenance standards, therefore having a clear understanding of the operation fundamentals, equipment capabilities, suitable sample preparations and appropriate results interpretation is of critical importance to use the technique in the most suitable fashion.


The aim of the study was to evaluate the mechanized grape harvest conducted by the trailed harvester. As a criterions was introduced the performance, harvest losses of grapes and economic efficiency from the perspective of its introduction. The calculations consist of total annual and partial unit costs also with regards to indirect costs which are formed by the grape losses during the harvest. Evaluation was conducted on three varieties of grapes. The losses of grapes, total annual and partial unit costs were calculated for selected varieties of grapes and also for whole production area. The mean grape losses for whole production area were determined at 470 kg ha-1, while the greatest portion of these losses (9.7%) was observed in case of Neronet variety. Among other analysed aspect were the efficiency of mechanized harvest introduction by definition of labour costs and the ransom price of grapes in relation with minimum required area. A substantial part of total costs for area 100 ha was formed by direct costs up to 15.24% greater than the indirect costs. The efficiency of machinery introduction into the harvest process was observed at minimum area of 16.92 ha in case of rental mechanized harvest of grapes. In case of mechanized harvest conducted by previously bought trailed grape harvester the value of minimal efficiency was determined at 27.42 ha year-1. As a result then serves an effective utilization of mechanized grape harvest in selected company but it is not limited to it and can be applied on


The aim of this study was to investigate determinants of help from informal or formal caregivers or a combination of both among people aged 75 or more and living at home, and the characteristics of the recipients, the help they received and their quality of life (QoL). The sample for this study was 448 elderly people, 75-99 years of age, living at home and receiving help with activities for daily living, instrumental or both instrumental and personal. Regression analysis showed high QoL not to be significantly related to who was providing the help, whilst it was related to higher age, living with someone, lower number of complaints and managing to be alone at home. Multinomial regression analysis showed age, number of children, number of complaints, the ability to stay alone at home and living alone to predict receiving help from different kinds of caregivers. Recipients receiving help from informal caregivers were younger, more often married and living together with someone, whilst those receiving help from both informal and formal caregivers had more help with instrumental and personal activities for daily living and were not able to stay alone at home as much as those receiving help from other kinds of caregivers. Those receiving help from formal caregivers had fewer children, were single and were living alone more often than the other recipients. Thus the responsibility for help for elderly people rests heavily on informal caregivers, whom it seems essential to support. As public service at home is preferably given to those living alone or able to stay alone at home, those without relatives may not be able to remain at home when their need of help increases.


Most GIST patients develop clinical resistance to KIT/PDGFRA tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI). However, it is unclear whether clinical resistance results from single or multiple molecular mechanisms in each patient. KIT and PDGFRA mutations were evaluated in 53 GIST metastases obtained from 14 patients who underwent surgical debulking after progression on imatinib or sunitinib. To interrogate possible resistance mechanisms across a broad biological spectrum of GISTs, inter‐ and intra‐lesional heterogeneity of molecular drug‐resistance mechanisms were evaluated in the following: conventional KIT (CD117)‐positive GISTs with KIT mutations in exon 9, 11 or 13; KIT‐negative GISTs; GISTs with unusual morphology; and KIT/PDGFRA wild‐type GISTs. Genomic KIT and PDGFRA mutations were characterized systematically, using complementary techniques including D‐HPLC for KIT exons 9, 11–18 and PDGFRA exons 12, 14, 18, and mutation‐specific PCR (V654A, D820G, N822K, Y823D). Primary KIT oncogenic mutations were found in 11/14 patients (79%). Of these, 9/11 (83%), had secondary drug‐resistant KIT mutations, including six (67%) with two to five different secondary mutations in separate metastases, and three (34%) with two secondary KIT mutations in the same metastasis. The secondary mutations clustered in the KIT ATP binding pocket and kinase catalytic regions. FISH analyses revealed KIT amplicons in 2/10 metastases lacking secondary KIT mutations. This study demonstrates extensive intra‐ and inter‐lesional heterogeneity of resistance mutations and gene amplification in patients with clinically progressing GIST. KIT kinase resistance mutations were not found in KIT/PDGFRA wild‐type GISTs or in KIT‐mutant GISTs showing unusual morphology and/or loss of KIT expression by IHC, indicating that resistance mechanisms are fundamentally different in these tumours. Our observations underscore the heterogeneity of clinical TKI resistance, and highlight the therapeutic challenges involved in salvaging patients after clinical progression on TKI monotherapies. Copyright © 2008 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


In Arabidopsis thaliana, the focus of my research, three developmental switches controlling the life cycle can be recognised. The first is germination that separates embryonic from post-embryonic development. The second signals the transition from the juvenile to the adult vegetative phase while the third, flowering, marks the initiation of the reproductive phase (Isabel Baurle and Caroline Dean, Cell 2006). All three exhibit both external (environmental) and endogenous (hormones) regulation. Natural genetic variation, namely phenotypic diversity due to genetic differences between individuals of the same species, has been reported both for germination and flowering initiation (Bentsink et al., PNAS 2006; O Neill et al., TAG 2008). Since individuals of Arabidopsis, commonly referred to as accessions, are collected from a variety of locations, it is believed that this genetic diversity reflects differences in the seasonal oscillations of environmental cues among the collection sites leading to local adaptation. Although natural genetic variation as a tool has been used in the study of flowering initiation in Arabidopsis (Alonso-Blanco and Maarten Koornneef, Trends in Plant Science 2000) a systematic survey that focuses mainly on the photoperiodic aspect of this regulation has been lacking. In order to expand the current knowledge two approaches were designed. First a survey for natural genetic variation in the flowering responses of phylogenetically distant Arabidopsis accessions under six different photoperiods was made. In parallel the transgenic equivalents of the same accessions, carrying a promoter fusion of the flowering time and circadian clock gene GIGANTEA (GI) were screened in the same photoperiods as for flowering time in order to detect for the first time trans-specific natural variation in the circadian regulation of an evening gene. Here I present evidence that natural genetic variation is present in a wide range of photoperiods both for the circadian clock and for flowering initiation per se. The flowering time responses are compared with the ones of mutants and transgenic lines of previously identified flowering time genes and I show that the affected known genes cannot fully cover the different patterns of day length discrimination that the natural accessions exhibit. Five different mapping populations were constructed by selecting interesting accessions from both screens, which led to the identification of new as well as known QTL, which alter various circadian and flowering responses between short and long days of similar duration. Generating advanced genetic material allows fine mapping and eventually cloning of some of the loci, while identification of genome-wide patterns of genetic interactions reveals additional loci that classical QTL mapping approaches cannot detect. Using RT-PCR and in situ hybridisation, I link this novel natural genetic variation between similar long day lengths with molecular variability in the temporal and spatial expression of flowering time genes FT and SOC1 thereby also demonstrating the tight dependence of the SAM floral commitment on the FT florigen. Finally I show that in nature, genetic variability in the property of enhanced photoperiod discrimination under similar long days, is enough to prevent winter flowering in a plant without any requirements for vernalization. Cologne, 2008


The objective of the research was to develop a method to extend the shelf life of
freshly extracted sugarcane juice. The work focused on understanding the properties of
sugarcane juice as well as determining methods of preserving the colour.
Polyphenoloxidase (PPO) from sugarcane juice was extracted, partially purified and
characterised. Results indicated that the temperature for optimum PPO enzyme activity
was 30°C at pH 7.6. Heat inactivation studies showed that enzyme lost 50% activity by
exposure to 80, 75, 70 and 65°C for 1 .2, 2.8, 3.6 and 7.8 min, respectively. The use of
ascorbic acid (0.5mM concentration), erythorbic acid (0.5mM concentration) and
sodium metabisulphite (0.5mM concentration) inhibited the browning reaction 80%,
74% and 92%, respectively.The effect of different blanching conditions on the quality of juice was also
investigated. Sugacane was blanched at various temperatures and time intervals using both steam ( 100 °C) and hot water (75°C, 80 °C and 85 °C). After blanching the juice
was analysed for chlorophyll content, colour, PPO activity and tannin content and
sensory evaluated for colour and taste. Unpeeled sugarcane stems which were steam
blanched for 13±1 min yield the highest quality juice.


"Since 2002 artists can be invited to participate in the "Pilotprojekt Gropiusstadt" to create ideas for temporary interventions in the public space of Gropiusstadt, Berlin. The artists develop their ideas during a stay in the area: the Deutsche Wohnen AG provides an apartment which is located in Gropiusstadt. The works done by the artists try to intervene in or interfere with normal daily life in Gropiusstadt, they can be kinds of actions which involve the inhabitants or just small interventions in the environment." -- Publisher's website.


Summary Transgressive segregation and heterosis are the reasons that plant breeding works. Molecular explanations for both phenomena have been suggested and play a contributing role. However, it is often overlooked by molecular genetic researchers that transgressive segregation and heterosis are most simply explained by dispersion of favorable alleles. Therefore, advances in molecular biology will deliver the most impact on plant breeding when integrated with sources of heritable trait variation – and this will be best achieved within a quantitative genetics framework. An example of the power of quantitative approaches is the implementation of genomic selection, which has recently revolutionized animal breeding. Genomic selection is now being applied to both hybrid and inbred crops and is likely to be the major source of improvement in plant breeding practice over the next decade. Breeders' ability to efficiently apply genomic selection methodologies is due to recent technology advances in genotyping and sequencing. Furthermore, targeted integration of additional molecular data (such as gene expression, gene copy number and methylation status) into genomic prediction models may increase their performance. In this review, we discuss and contextualize a suite of established quantitative genetics themes relating to hybrid vigour, transgressive segregation and their central relevance to plant breeding, with the aim of informing crop researchers outside of the quantitative genetics discipline of their relevance and importance to crop improvement. Better understanding between molecular and quantitative disciplines will increase the potential for further improvements in plant breeding methodologies and so help underpin future food security.


In approaches to quantum gravity, where smooth spacetime is an emergent approximation of a discrete Planckian fundamental structure, any standard effective field theoretical description will miss part of the degrees of freedom and thus break unitarity. Here we show that these expectations can be made precise in loop quantum cosmology. Concretely, even when loop quantum cosmology is unitary at the fundamental level, when microscopic degrees of freedom, irrelevant to low-energy cosmological observers, are suitably ignored, pure states in the effective description evolve into mixed states due to decoherence with the Planckian microscopic structure. When extrapolated to black hole formation and evaporation, this concrete example provides a key physical insight for a natural resolution of Hawking's information paradox.


Empire is a curious and challenging book. Although it sets out to be a latter-day Communist Manifesto, it lacks the concrete aesthetic, the urgent pace of argument, and the practical cutting edge of the latter. There are sound material reasons for this, some of which its authors would doubtless acknowledge: it is not, after all, the product of the needs and temperature of a radical organisation, written in the midst of a great revolutionary wave.

What Empire is not, however, is made up for in some ways by what it is. A closer analogy than with the Manifesto would probably be with the German Ideology. Like that work, Empire offers a "a general theoretical framework and a toolbox of concepts" (p.xvi), still some way detached from the actual use of those tools, and a sustained exposure to a particular way of thought which - just maybe - can help particular kinds of militant to see themselves and their situation in new ways, ways they can then practice in concrete movements.

An even closer analogy would be with contemporary socialist science fiction. Caught in this same period where the assured languages and strategies of the mid-century have finally broken down, while new senses of potentiality are stirring on the fringes of what can be articulated, authors like MacLeod (1995 etc.), MiA©ville (2000), Byrne (1999) or Robinson (1993 etc.) show us successful moments of popular revolt, placed in settings which illuminate the present without being allegories and driven by forms of agency which bear a similarly metaphoric relationship to reality.

The richly allusive nature of the book makes this a stronger way to read what Empire has to say on social movements than a formal critique of an analysis of movements which it lacks, in that sense of a neat organisation of propositions. It is not a book which is easy to grasp on first reading; like Starhawk or Le Guin(2), it demands rereading ("front to back, back to front, in pieces, in a hopscotch pattern, or through correspondences" (p. xvi)) to enter into its mental world and find new possibilities there.

To keep going in the present, an important resource may be to recognise that we do not know as much as we thought we did: like the barbarian priest or the rebel volunteer, we understand our local struggles but find it hard to grasp their insertion within - and challenge to - Empire. In our own provinciality, of campaigns and jobs, gatherings and books, what do we gain - and what do we not find - in Hardt and Negri's alternate world?


The SIGNAL insurance companies have developed an expert system for the support of its customer sales service. It was introduced at the end of 1993 and is currently used by approximately 500 customer service representatives. It involves a counseling system, which enables customer sales personnel to produce high-quality benefit analyses at the point of sale. It is not only an information system for the agent but involves the customer in an active role (through the implementation of sales talks, the conscious visualisation of facts, the generation of natural language explanations etc.). Thus, the customer is not faced with a fait accompli but is actively involved in solving the problem. To meet these requirements, several AI techniques are used, as described further below. The application has increased sales efficiency, optimized customer contact time and decreased training requirements. The system is developed with KEE (and reimplemented in Allegro CL/PC) and runs on notebooks with 8 MB RAM.


Adaptations to training and exercise can be measured in blood, muscle, and bones and are also reflected in behavior. Since equine total muscle mass represents approximately 42% of total body weight, a major role for skeletal muscle in adaptation to training can be expected. The plasticity of skeletal muscle to adapt to changes in activity or in working conditions is extremely high. A comparison between expression profiles of proteins and their corresponding mRNAs in equine skeletal muscle during development, training or disease would provide us with valuable fundamental knowledge on how adaptations to these different stages or interventions take place in this tissue. This thesis describes the expression profiles of myosin heavy chain (MyHC) and Na+,K+-ATPase isoforms in equine skeletal muscles. Besides basal expression levels, adaptations of the different isoforms due to exercise, training or disease were investigated. The data obtained could provide us with important knowledge on the outcome of training and the effects of disease, which in turn could help elucidate the mechanism behind these changes. Furthermore the results may be useful in the diagnostic analysis of a disease, such as LMND. The MyHC is the backbone of the contractile machinery and it comprises 25% of the total protein content in skeletal muscle. The expression of myosin heavy chains is transcriptionally controlled, as individual muscle fibers always express one mRNA isoform, but simultaneously can express two different proteins. This is the result of differences in half life of MyHC mRNA and protein. It is complicated to define adaptations to exercise and training using the MyHC expression as a parameter. It is suggested to measure, next to MyHC fiber type composition, other parameters that are more sensitive to training. This thesis showed that parameters such as capillaries per fiber ratio and Na+,K+-ATPase expression may be good candidates to test. We recommend taking biopsies from at least two muscles, because adaptations in muscles are not necessarily the same in different parts of the body. In contrast to training, measuring MyHC fiber type composition and fiber size is very useful to support the diagnosis of a neuromuscular disease like LMND. To indicate the importance of Na+,K+-ATPase, it has been estimated that roughly 23% of all cytoplasmic ATP is hydrolyzed by sodium pumps in a resting human body. All Na+,K+-ATPase isoforms present in muscles of other mammalian species are also detected in equine muscle. The Na+,K+-ATPase isoforms at the mRNA level have been shown to be a good parameter to measure effects of acute exercise in both muscles of the horse, while measuring isoform protein expression is a solid parameter to confirm training adaptations. Finally, measurement of Na+,K+-ATPase isoform mRNAs in muscles of diseased horses was found to be a very sensitive method to detect changes in muscles of horses affected by LMND. Further investigation is required to determine whether the measurement Na+,K+-ATPase expression at both the mRNA and protein level could be a useful tool for diagnosing LMND in horses.


Structured representations like graphs and parse trees play a crucial role in many Natural Language Processing systems. In recent years, the advancements in multi-turn user interfaces necessitate the need for controlling and updating these structured representations given new sources of information. Although there have been many efforts focusing on improving the performance of the parsers that map text to graphs or parse trees, very few have explored the problem of directly manipulating these representations. In this paper, we explore the novel problem of graph modification, where the systems need to learn how to update an existing scene graph given a new user's command. Our novel models based on graph-based sparse transformer and cross attention information fusion outperform previous systems adapted from the machine translation and graph generation literature. We further contribute our large graph modification datasets to the research community to encourage future research for this new problem.


Sensors are tiny devices, which consume low power and are inexpensive; they are used in many applications, such as, military surveillance, target tracking, forest-fire alarm. Many applications require k-coverage network to ensure the quality of the monitored area, where every single point is assured to be concurrently covered by a minimum of k sensors. Meanwhile, the network that provides more than the required k-coverage degree does not enhance the performance, but just increases the number of working sensors, and shortens the network lifetime. Preserving the requested k-coverage for Wireless Sensor Networks, while prolonging the network lifetime with a small computation cost, is a major challenge. This research demonstrates distributed and energy-efficient k-coverage scheduling algorithms that preserve the required k-coverage and prolong the network lifetime. An efficient k-coverage algorithm for sensors with fixed sensing range (Maximum Layers Scheduling algorithm - MLS) is demonstrated. MLS efficiently builds maximum number of layers, where, each layer consists of a disjoint set of working sensor nodes that conserve 1-coverage for the whole monitored area, and 1-connection that guarantees each layer is connected, and can individually deliver the data reporting to the base station. Moreover, MLS competently schedules the layers to conserve the required k-coverage degree, distribute the power consumption among sensors, and prolong the system lifetime. Experimental results show that, the MLS algorithm minimizes the average number of active sensors and the average coverage degree, and prolongs the network lifetime, compared to two popular k-coverage algorithms. Furthermore, MLS efficiently reduces the computation complexity and distributes the energy expenditure among sensors in the network. The second algorithm demonstrated in this study is Dynamic k-coverage Scheduling Algorithm (D£CS), to prolong the network lifetime and preserve the required k-coverage in WSNs. The DkCS provides two types of k-coverage, static and dynamic. The static k-coverage provides k-coverage for all the monitored area, whereas, the Dynamic k-coverage provides k-coverage for intruder zone, while the rest of the monitored area is 1-covered. The network decides to run static or dynamic k-coverage scheduling, based on the coverage status of the layer, to ensure preserving the required k-coverage degree. Experimental results show that, the DkCS algorithm profoundly reduces the average number of active sensors, power consumption, and efficiently prolongs the network lifetime. The third demonstrated algorithm is a power aware k-coverage algorithm for WSNs with adjustable sensing range. The power consumption of this kind of sensor depends on the extent of the sensing radius. For this type of sensor, setting the coverage range to the minimum is necessary to decrease the energy consumption. Each sensor uses the least possible sensing range to provide coverage, without affecting the network k-coverage; on the other hand, the activated sensors are able to cover the same area, if the operational sensors are activated with their maximum sensing range. Experimental results show that, the proposed algorithm minimizes the sum of sensing energy cost of all sensors without affecting the network coverage, and also efficiently distribute the power among sensors in the network and prolong the network lifetime. Finally, a Dynamic k- Coverage Scheduling algorithm for WSNs with Adjustable sensing range (DkCSA) is demonstrated, where DkCS is implemented over MLSA to provide a dynamic scheduling algorithm for WSNs with adjustable sensing range capability. Experimental results show that, the DkCSA saving the network power, and prolonging the network lifetime, compared to DACS.


Several studies have separately explored accumulation of the dominant fuels (grass, fine litter (<6 mm diameter) and coarse woody debris (CWD, 6–50 mm diameter)) in north Australian savannas. We report an analysis of two longitudinal datasets describing how these three fuel components covary in abundance throughout the year in eucalypt-dominated savanna over a rainfall gradient of 700–1700 mm mean annual rainfall (MAR). Our observations concur generally with previous observations that litter accumulation results in a late dry season (LDS) peak in biomass, whereas cured grassy fuels typically are seasonally invariant, and CWD inputs are associated with stochastic severe wet season storms and dry season fires. The distinct LDS litter peak contributes significantly to the potential for LDS fires to be of higher intensity, burn more fuel per unit area and produce greater emissions relative to early dry season (EDS) fires. However, Australia's current (2018) formal savanna burning emissions avoidance methodology erroneously deems greater EDS fine fuel (grass and fine litter) biomass in four of nine designated vegetation fuel types. The study highlights the need to develop seasonally dynamic modelling approaches that better account for significant seasonal variation in fine fuel inputs and decomposition.


Theoretical studies on the gender gaps in productive entrepreneurship that could inform policymaking in Africa have been scarce. This paper contributes to closing this gap with a model linking entrepreneurship to skills, productivity, and formality. The model shows that differences in skills, including ICT skills, together with greater opportunity cost for women, can lead to gender gaps in entrepreneurial outcomes. The results are consistent with the findings from the World Bank Enterprise Surveys for African countries. The model also helps explain why narrow business training programs for women have had a limited success. Training for women entrepreneurs that encompasses business skills, technical skills, networking, and confidence building, together with lifting women's time constraints, may be more effective.


Tornado damage-path width is a necessary component for calculation of area impacted, which allows estimation of hazards. To date, rarely has variation in damage path width or path discontinuity been a focus. In this paper, using a damage threshold of >25% canopy damage, we quantify width and discontinuity in 50 tornado paths in forested areas. Tornado-path starting and end points were overlaid on Google Earth imagery obtained ≤24 months after the tornadoes, and damage-path width (or absence of damage) was measured for severities >25% canopy loss, at fixed intervals. Width was measured only where both sides of the damage path were clearly defined by forest tree damage, thus many points were excluded from our analysis. Given our threshold level of forest canopy damage, no EF0 tornadoes showed remotely visible damage, and analyses were thus restricted to ≥EF1 tornado paths. Variation in remotely visible damage width was quantified as coefficient of variation, which ranged from 0.227 to 0.852, with a mean of 0.531 among the 50 paths. Discontinuity in remotely visible damage also varied among damage paths; up to 45% of the total number of measured points within a path lacked visible damage. Almost 40% of tornado damage paths exhibited such discontinuity along 20% or more of their path length. We suggest that the long, narrow EF-scale contours (particularly for ≥EF1) often reported after storm surveys may mask extensive width variation in severe damage and substantial portions of tornado paths with no severe damage.


We study the revision properties of the Bank of Canada's staff output gap estimates since the mid-1980s. Our results suggest that the average staff output gap revision has decreased significantly over the past 15 years, in line with recent evidence for the U.S. Alternatively, revisions from purely statistical methods to estimate the gap have not experienced the same drop in magnitude. We then examine the usefulness of real-time gap estimates for forecasting inflation and find no deterioration in forecast performance when inflation projections are conditioned on real time rather than on final estimates of the gap.