Soils are physical foundation of every ecosystem. Soils determine growth and productivity of mangrove forest. This study investigated soil characteristics and its relationship with growth of replanted Rhizophora apiculata BL. mangroves at four locations of mangrove forest ecosystems in Indonesia. The research was conducted at Sungai Asam, Riau and East Lampung of the east coast of Sumatera island, at Cilacap of south coast of Java island and at Denpasar of south coast of Bali island. At each research location, growth variables of thirty mangrove stands were measured, and soil samples were collected and analyzed. Results of the studies indicated that soil in four locations of replanted Rhizophora apiculata BL mangroves forest in Indonesia has different characteristics. Soil texture of mangrove soil in Riau and East Lampung of Sumatera Island were clay, while those in Cilacap and Bali were respectively sandy clay loam and loam. Mangrove soil in Riau had high pH, low salinity, and high availability of nutrients, in the contrary mangrove soil in Cilacap had low pH, high salinity, and low availability of nutrients, while the characteristics of mangrove soil in East Lampung and Denpasar Bali were in the range in between the values of mangrove soil in Cilacap and in Ria. Growth indicated by parameters of root and plant height, stem diameter, crown volume and biomass production were higher in Rhizophora apiculata BL stands grown in Riau and Lampung of Sumatra Islands than those grown in Cilacap of Java and Denpasar of Bali Islands. Soil properties and salinity might be responsible for the discrepancy between mangrove growth in Sumatera and in Java and Bali. Mangroves grew in Sumatra Island developed higher than those grew in Cilacap of Jawa and in Denpasar of Bali, because soils of mangrove in Sumatera were more fertile than those in Jawa and Bali. Mangrove soil in Sumatera was fertile due to compared with the mangrove soil in Java and Bali due to they had high pH, C-organic, total N and available P, Na content and SAR , and low salinity and exchangeable aluminum and H ion; while mangrove soil in Jawa was less fertile due to it had low pH, low C-organic, total N and available P and Na content, and high salinity, exchangeable aluminum and hydrogen ion. The study suggest that ecological aspect of degraded mangrove is going to be rehabilitated should be taken in to consideration, particularly in developing methods of replanting techniques and selecting the species suitable for the selected sites.
Keywords: mangrove, growth, soil,ecosystem,Indonesia.


This book explores an approach to social robotics based solely on autonomous unsupervised techniques and positions it within a structured exposition of related research in psychology, neuroscience, HRI, and data mining. The authors present an autonomous and developmental approach that allows the robot to learn interactive behavior by imitating humans using algorithms from time-series analysis and machine learning. The first part provides a comprehensive and structured introduction to time-series analysis, change point discovery, motif discovery and causality analysis focusing on possible applicability to HRI problems. Detailed explanations of all the algorithms involved are provided with open-source implementations in MATLAB enabling the reader to experiment with them. Imitation and simulation are the key technologies used to attain social behavior autonomously in the proposed approach. Part two gives the reader a wide overview of research in these areas in psychology, and ethology. Based on this background, the authors discuss approaches to endow robots with the ability to autonomously learn how to be social. Data Mining for Social Robots will be essential reading for graduate students and practitioners interested in social and developmental robotics.


The brain contains approximately 86 billion neurons that are located in different brain regions. Within each region, neurons are connected to each other to form neural circuits of bewildering complexity. To function in such circuits, each neuron must receive and process information entering from one set of neurons and then relay signals to other neurons in the circuit. The neuronal processes of signal reception and transmission are key elements of neuronal function and are located at opposite ends of the neuron. Specific attention will be focused on the operation of neural circuits in regions such as the hippocampus, cortex, cerebellum, basal ganglia and the respiratory centre in the brainstem. Neural circuits are established during development and remain relatively constant throughout adult life. The only exception in humans is the hippocampus, where the neuronal elements of the circuit are constantly being replaced by a process of neurogenesis. In addition to the large number of neurons, the nervous system contains an equally large number of glial cells, such as astrocytes and the microglia, insinuate themselves between the neurons to provide a functional scaffold. This is not a passive scaffold, because the glial cells and neurons carry on a constant two-way dialogue that is essential for the computational operation of the neuronal circuits. Neuronal morphology reveals that information is received at one end (the dendritic tree) and is transmitted at the synaptic endings at the opposite end. The key event is the process of synaptic transmission, during which presynaptic events release neurotransmitters from one neuron to induce localized excitatory or inhibitory postsynaptic events in the target neuron. The localized excitatory events are integrated to generate more global neural signals that trigger action potentials that initiate from the axon hillock. These action potentials then spread in two directions. They can flow in the forward direction down the axons to the synaptic endings. In addition, they can also flow backwards, and these back-propagating action potentials invade the dendritic tree to create global Ca 2+ signals. A very important aspect of neuronal signalling concerns the action potential frequency, which can vary over a wide range. At one extreme, there is the circadian clock, where the output of the suprachiasmatic clock neurons changes over 24 h. At the other end of the scale, we have the very rapid transfer of information that occurs between neurons in the 0.5–200 Hz frequency range that characterizes the brain rhythms detected by electroencephalograms (EEGs) during sleep and consciousness. Any consideration of synaptic transmission must take into account the fact that the rate of synaptic transmission is often extremely high. Another example of the significance of timing concerns neuronal coincident detection, during which a neuron integrates information coming in from more than one input, as occurs during the processes of learning and memory. Modulation of neuronal activity can occur at many levels. Presynaptic events display a process of facilitation, whereby transmitter release is enhanced. Varying the permeability of K + channels can modulate membrane excitability, which determines whether or not a neuron will transmit information by firing an action potential. Information transfer across the synapse can also vary, and the mechanism of synaptic plasticity can persist for variable times. Enhancement of transmitter release through the process of facilitation is very brief, whereas the processes of long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD), which are thought to be responsible for some memory processes, can last for hours. A process of memory consolidation functions to make these short-term changes more permanent through mechanisms that depend upon neuronal gene transcription and neuronal protein synthesis. Ca 2+ plays a key role in this modulation of neuronal activity in that it can act locally to influence excitability and synaptic strength, or it can have global effects on gene transcription, neuronal survival and axonal outgrowth. The neuron is not a static unit, but is highly plastic, and this underlies the process of learning and memory. The remarkable aspect of neuronal plasticity responsible for learning is that memory acquisition can occur within seconds, and can then be retained for a very long time in long-term memory (months to years) through a process of memory consolidation. In considering neuronal signalling, we therefore have to understand how individual neurons carry out their day-by-day computational functions while retaining the ability to form memories by suddenly modifying this capacity to process information. The section on hypothalamic pituitary regulation describes the interaction between the nervous and endocrine systems. The hypothalamus contains neurons that release a variety of hormones that regulate the endocrine cells located in the anterior pituitary. Some hypothalamic neurons, which send axons to the posterior pituitary, release hormones such as vasopressin and oxytocin. Neurons in the respiratory centre located in the brainstem have the respiratory pacemaker mechanisms that control breathing. Specialized neurons that function in the sensory systems are responsible for detecting information from both the internal and external environment. Photoreceptors in the eye are responsible for photoreception. Sensory neurons spread throughout the body function in nociception, temperature sensing and touch. Olfactory receptor cells in the nasal epithelium function in olfaction and taste receptors on the tongue function in taste. Hair cells in the ear are mechanoreceptors that function in hearing. Specialized cells and neurons function in the hypoxia-sensing mechanisms.


Brenton G. Y orgason, Little Known Evidences of the Book of Mormon. Salt Lake City: Covenant, 1989. 49 pp. $3.95. Reviewed by Paul Y. Hoskisson · Because this booklet, by its own admission, is adapted from a "Know Your Religion" lecture given February 1988 in Scottsdale, Arizona (see the title page), the reader does not expect documentation and therefore is pleasantly surprised with what is given. The book is divided into three parts. The author's feelings toward the Book of Mormon and his autobiographical conversion story form the first part. Why this is included among "little known evidences" is never explained. The material presented in the second part treats the coming forth of the Book of Mormon in the nineteenth century. It is unfortunate that what meager new information is presented here (most of the sources quoted have long been in print) is not better documented. While the title of this booklet seems to have been drawn from the third part, the bulk of the material in this last section is not new, but has admittedly been taken from other sources. Lamentably the information was used uncritically, mixing glaring factual errors and unsupported statements with some few accurate facts. For instance, on page 35 it is stated that "Syrian, Hebrew, Ancient Egyptian, Arabic, and Aramaic" comprise the Semitic language family. This list is not only too exclusive but also too inclusive: many of the East Semitic (Assyrian and Babylonian) and some of the more important West Semitic (Phoenician and Ethiopic) languages have not been included. And Ancient Egyptian is not a Semitic language but rather belongs to the Hamitic family of languages. Both language groups belong to the Hamito-Semitic, or Afro-Asiatic, group, but Hamitic is not Semitic. In addition, there is no such language as "Syrian." Probably Syriac was meant, which is a dialect of Aramaic. (Or was it Assyrian?) On the same page it is stated that Syrian, Ancient Egyptian, and Aramaic "are considered dead languages, and are no longer in use." Aramaic is not dead. Several groups still speak dialects of Aramaic. It is also claimed on the same page that "the Book of Mormon was originally written in the Egyptian language, although 'reformed'," with Mormon 9:32 as a reference. Although the Book of Mormon informs us that Mormon used an Egyptian script on the plates, the underlying language could have been YORGASON, LTITLE KNOWN EVIDENCF.S {HOSKISSON) 259 Hebrew. (To cite a modern example, Yiddish, a language closely related to German, is written in the Hebrew script.) The rest of the booklet argues from the nonposition that it therefore contains Semitisms, specifically Arabisms and not the more likely Hebraisms.


Determining the stem volume of a tree, both a standing or felled tree, has long been a chronic problem for foresters, whereas, the need for an accurate estimate of wood volume is becoming more important. The use of Brereton's formula in Indonesia, nowadays, was based solely on practical consideration in obtaining the data which comprise diameter of the large and small ends of logs; and logs length. However, the relative accuracy of this formula in comparison with other formulae still needs to be tested.  The result of this study by using 499 logs in PT Siak Raya Timber (Riau Province) showed that Centroid and Newton's formulae have the best performance (seen from bias, accuracy and precision) for estimating the log volume of meranti in Sumatera. Bias of both formulae is around zero and very small, therefore it could be neglected. Huber's formula tends to underestimate the volume, but it has still better performance than Brereton's, Smalian's and Bruce's formulae. Brereton's and Smalian's formulae tend to overestimate the volume, whereas Bruce's formula tends to underestimate. Deviation of errors for Brereton's is consistently smaller than Smalian's, and for Bruce's is the largest one. But, precision for Brereton's, Smalian's and Bruce's formulae are nearly the same.


Words and faces have vastly different visual properties, but increasing evidence suggests that word and face processing engage overlapping distributed networks. For instance, fMRI studies have shown overlapping activity for face and word processing in the fusiform gyrus despite well-characterized lateralization of these objects to the left and right hemispheres, respectively. To investigate whether face and word perception influences perception of the other stimulus class and elucidate the mechanisms underlying such interactions, we presented images using rapid serial visual presentations. Across 3 experiments, participants discriminated 2 face, word, and glasses targets (T1 and T2) embedded in a stream of images. As expected, T2 discrimination was impaired when it followed T1 by 200 to 300 ms relative to longer intertarget lags, the so-called attentional blink. Interestingly, T2 discrimination accuracy was significantly reduced at short intertarget lags when a face was followed by a word (face–word) compared with glasses–word and word–word combinations, indicating that face processing interfered with word perception. The reverse effect was not observed; that is, word–face performance was no different than the other object combinations. EEG results indicated the left N170 to T1 was correlated with the word decrement for face–word trials, but not for other object combinations. Taken together, the results suggest face processing interferes with word processing, providing evidence for overlapping neural mechanisms of these 2 object types. Furthermore, asymmetrical face–word interference points to greater overlap of face and word representations in the left than the right hemisphere.


The problem of demand inversion -- a crucial step in the estimation of random
utility discrete-choice models -- is equivalent to the determination of stable outcomes in
two-sided matching models. This equivalence applies to random utility models that are not
necessarily additive, smooth, nor even invertible. Based on this equivalence, algorithms
for the determination of stable matchings provide e ffective computational methods for
estimating these models. For non-invertible models, the identifi ed set of utility vectors
is a lattice, and the matching algorithms recover sharp upper and lower bounds on the
utilities. For invertible models, our matching approach facilitates estimation of models that
were previously dicult to estimate, such as the pure characteristics model. An empirical
application to voting data from the 1999 European Parliament elections illustrates the
good performance of our matching-based demand inversion algorithms in practice.


Instructional designers hold the responsibility of selecting, sequencing, synthesizing, and summarizing unfamiliar content to subject matter experts. To successfully achieve legitimate participation in communities of practice, instructional designers need to utilize a number of communication strategies to optimize the interaction with the subject matter expert. Instructional Design: Case Studies in Communities of Practice documents real-world experiences of instructional designers and staff developers who work in communities of practice. Instructional Design: Case Studies in Communities of Practice explains the strategies and heuristics used by instructional designers when working in different settings, articulates the sophistication of communication strategies when working with subject matter experts, and provides insight into the range of knowledge, skills, and personal characteristics required to complete the tasks expected of them.


This research is an endeavor to combine deep-learning-based language modeling with classical topic modeling techniques to produce interpretable topics for a given set of documents in Urdu, a low resource language. The existing topic modeling techniques produce a collection of words, often uninterpretable, as suggested topics without integrating them into a semantically correct phrase/sentence. The proposed approach would first build an accurate Part of Speech (POS) tagger for the Urdu Language using a publicly available corpus of many million sentences. Using semantically rich feature extraction approaches including Word2Vec and BERT, the proposed approach, in the next step, would experiment with different clustering and topic modeling techniques to produce a list of potential topics for a given set of documents. Finally, this list of topics would be sent to a labeler module to produce syntactically correct phrases that will represent interpretable topics.


This article explores the question of political struggles for inclusion on an oil palm land deal in Ghana. It examines the employment dynamics and the everyday politics of rural wage workers on a transnational oil palm plantation which is located in a predominantly migrant and settler society where large-scale agricultural production has only been introduced within the past decade. It shows that, by the nature of labour organization, as well as other structural issues, workers do not benefit equally from their work on plantations. The main form of farmworkers' political struggles in the studied case has been the 'everyday forms of resistance' against exploitation and for better terms of incorporation. Particularly, they express agency through acts such as absenteeism and non-compliance, as well as engaging in other productive activities which enable them to maintain their basic food sovereignty/security. Nonetheless, their multiple and individualized everyday politics are not necessarily changing the structure of social relations associated with capitalist agriculture. Overall, this paper contributes to the land grab literature by providing context specific dynamics of the impacts of, and politics around land deals, and how they are shaped by a multiplicity of factors-beyond class.


Strain measurements have been made to help quantify the intensity of deformation and amount of displacement across Archaean greenstone belts in Rhodesia and Botswana and across the gneisses of the Limpopo mobile belt. The area has been divided into three domains based on the orientation of the finite strain fabric and the orientation of the maximum extension direction in associated shear zones. The domains are considered to have different movement patterns and to be similar to small orogenic belts. Early deformation within the greenstone belts accompanied the intrusion of the diaipric granites, but there was also bulk translation and rotation of greenstone belt and gneiss leading to imbrication of the stratigraphic pile and the formation of large nappes of overturned rock. This was followed by regional phases of deformation which affected all the greenstone belts and the gneisses of the Limpopo belt. Detailed strain measurements show a variation in amount of shortening during this phase, from under 30 % across the Shabani-Bellingwe belt in central Rhodesia, to over 60 % across the Tati and Matsitama belts in northern Botswana. Many local variations in intensity of deformation occur within large ductile shear zones and deviations from plane strain may be partly due to such rotational deformation. The regional deformation pattern suggests that there was movement of the Rhodesian craton approximately 200 km to the southwest relative to the gneisses of the Limpopo belt, producing a dominantly flattening deformation in the southwest of Rhodesia, but dominantly simple shear with a nearly horizontal sinistral movement, in the southeast.


Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is a major health problem affecting childbearing age women. Here we present a very rare entity of TB in a pregnant woman involving multifocal skeletal system treated with second-line anti-TB according to culture susceptibility pattern. On completion of therapy, patient showed good clinical response. J Med Cases. 2016;7(8):368-372 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.14740/jmc2585w


Abstract. Classification of Australian continental aerosol types resulting from episodes of enhanced source activity, such as smoke plumes and dust outbreaks, is carried out via cluster analysis of optical properties obtained from inversion of sky radiance distributions at Australian aerosol ground stations using data obtained over the last decade. The cluster analysis distinguishes four significant classes, which are identified on the basis of their optical properties and provenance as determined by satellite imagery and back-trajectory analysis. The four classes are identified respectively as aged smoke, fresh smoke, coarse dust and a super-absorptive aerosol. While the first three classes show similarities with comparable aerosol types identified elsewhere, the super-absorptive aerosol has no obvious foreign prototype. The class identified as coarse dust shows a prominent depression in single scattering albedo in the blue spectral region due to absorption by hematite, which is shown to be more abundant in central Australian dust relative to the "dust belt"of the Northern Hemisphere. The super-absorptive class is distinctive in view of its very low single scattering albedo (~0.7 at 500 nm) and variable enhanced absorption at 440 nm. The strong absorption by this aerosol requires a high black carbon content while the enhanced blue-band absorption may derive from organic compounds emitted during the burning of specific vegetation types. This aerosol exerts a positive radiative forcing at the top of atmosphere (TOA), with a large deposition of energy in the atmosphere per unit aerosol optical depth. This contrasts to the other three classes where the TOA forcing is negative. Optical properties of the four types will be used to improve the representation of Australian continental aerosol in climate models, and to enhance the accuracy of satellite-based aerosol retrievals over Australia.


Fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) is emerging as a powerful tool that allows real-time monitoring of protein interactions in living cells. Janetopoulos et al. added fluorescent tags to the Gα2 and Gβ subunits of heterotrimeric guanine nucleotide binding proteins (G proteins) in Dictyostelium discoideum. The G protein-coupled receptors are a very large family of proteins that mediate the action of hormones, neurotransmitters, and other signaling molecules. In this case, the authors treated cells with a chemoattractant and then observed the dissociation of the active G protein subunits by FRET. During continuous stimulation, the physiological response to the chemoattractant subsided, but the G protein remained activated (as measured by dissociation of the heterotrimer). The authors suggest that signal adaptation must occur downstream of the activated G protein. The method is expected to be extensible to mammalian cells and should enable substantial improvement in our quantitative understanding of mechanisms of G protein signaling. C. Janetopoulos, T. Jin, P. Devreotes, Receptor-mediated activation of heterotrimeric G-proteins in living cells. Science 291, 2408-2411 (2001). [Abstract] [Full Text]


The black scale is an important pest of citrus and olive trees. Originally from South Africa, this scale is now distributed worldwide. In Florida, black scale is found on citrus, cultivated olive, avocado, and many popular landscape plants. It is likely that black scale, like many invasive pests, was imported to the United States on infested nursery plants. Based on their small size and the unique life history of scale insects, these insects are difficult to detect and control. This 4-page fact sheet was written by Morgan A. Byron, Jennifer L. Gillett-Kaufman, and Sandra A. Allan, and published by the UF Department of Entomology and Nematology, March 2015. (Photo credit: Lyle Buss, UF/IFAS)
EENY620/IN1082: Black Scale Saissetia oleae (Olivier 1791) (Insecta: Hemiptera: Coccoidea: Coccidae) (ufl.edu)


I present an analysis of verb order variation occurring with so called "substitute infinitive" constructions in (Austrian) Alemannic and Bavarian, which hinges on three central ideas: First, following the standard assumption that the unexpected morphological marking on the verb is an effect of conflict resolution between morphological and syntactic constraints (e.g. Schmid 2000, 2005), I show that these dialects employ at least three different "repair strategies" that rely on morphological underspecification of the participle. Second, the different serialization patterns that can be observed show a clear asymmetry in that left-branching structures never allow nonverbal interveners (verb projection raising), while this is always an option for right-branching structures. I show how these differences can be derived by a modified version of the Branching Constraint (Haider 2003, 2013). Taking the direction of licensing ( Statusrektion 'status government' in Gunnar Bech's 1955 seminal work) that a verbal head employs to be open for (micro-)parametric variation, I demonstrate how differences between the two dialect groups, but crucially also speaker-oriented variation ("idiolectal variability" in the sense of Cornips 2009) can be analyzed with Stochastic Optimality Theory (StOT), cf. Boersma and Hayes (2001), Bresnan, Deo, and Sharma (2007). As Gen(erator), Williams' (2003, 2004) formal language CAT shall be used, which offers a very simple means for analyzing complex predicates through functional composition.


The modern mother needs to be wearing internal andexternal armour to battle the hidden enemy, and the modernmidwife needs to provide the right types of weaponry toprepare women for their pregnancy journey. Every day weread news reports, research papers and alerts that identifythe harm to the mother and baby from ingested chemicals.Some are prescribed and we refer to them as 'medications'and others are consumed for recreational purposes and werefer to them as 'drugs'. There is a vast difference betweencompliance with prescribed medication for life-threateningconditions, such as cardiac anomalies, diabetes and asthma,and recreational drugs, such as marijuana, cocaine, ecstasyand ketamine. The known enemies are alcohol and cigarettes.Another hidden harm is the potentially unknown effects ofnon-ionising radiation emissions from computers, mobilephones and other household items, such as microwaves,alarms, electric doors, electric blankets and televisions. Butit will take data from case-controlled studies to give us thenecessary evidence and that will take years.Pregnant women need to know where to go to if they needinformation about the safety of using products, such as deetfound in flea sprays and insecticides. Threats from the socalled'fresh air' include viruses and bacteria and we advisewomen to become vaccinated. The battle against infection isprobably the most dangerous of all and has a mortality ticketfor both mother and baby, as we have observed in the pasttwo years with the number of mothers who have died fromH1N1. It is understandable that the DH issued new advicefor pregnant women encouraging them to take the pertussisvaccine as the number of new cases reported in 2011/2012was approximately 5000 (DH, 2012).Advice was given without the highest-quality evidence tosupport its universal adoption, but this is understandableas the risks from epidemic proportions appear to be toogreat. What we need to learn from these events is thatinfection is a major threat and we need to be constantlyalert. Our attention has just been focused on the harmfrom 'chips and crisps'. Unbelievable. I am sure some ofyou are asking yourselves, 'Whatever next?' However,this research warrants serious consideration. It was theresult of robust research evidence demonstrating a smallerhead circumference for babies whose mothers ingestedthe chemical acrylamide, found in starchy foods heatedto very high temperatures. The research involved 20 siteswith 14,000 participants across Europe. The UK arm tookplace in Bradford and 186 mothers participated. The datafrom mothers about food consumption was based on selfreportusing the Food Frequency Questionnaire, but one ofthe major scientific measures in the study was cord bloodanalysis to detect the levels of acrylamide (Pedersen, 2012).The potential for harm to the infant was alarming andlinked to longer-term outcomes impacting on neurologicaland psychological development. The UK cohort of infantshad significantly higher levels of the drug in their cordbloods and dietary patterns indicated higher consumptionof chips and crisps. So we advise pregnant women to cutdown on these foods. This new evidence is likely to beadopted by us, because it fits well with the key behaviouralchange messages around prevention of obesity in pregnancy.Now I want to touch on an even more sensitive subject:'breastfeeding' and harm from dioxins emanating fromman-made products such as PVC and bleached chlorinatedpaper and microwave plastics. These polychlorinateddibenzodioxins (PCDDs) or plastics, commonly referred toas dioxins, are transferred in breastmilk and accumulate overtime and are known carcinogenics. The US Department ofHealth and Human Services Public Health Service Agency forToxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR, 2006) statesanimal studies have indicated that PVC is likely to increasethe risk of cancer in infants and young children.Twenty years ago, Greenpeace campaigned about thisharmful toxin being transferred in breastmilk and formulafood. Dioxins accumulate in the body over time and can effectbrain development. In 1998, the WHO reported that dioxinconcentrations in breastmilk had reduced by 50% (WHO,1998). The current mantra remains: 'Breast is best and thebenefits outweigh the risks.' But it is important to note, thereis no evidence to state there are no risks associated withbreastfeeding. Weighing up the balance between harm and goodis complex and midwives need to refer mothers to the websiteOtis for advice about fear of birth defects (otispregnancy.org/files/deet.pdf). The battle against harm of one kind or anotherwill always be with us and we need to be constantly vigilant.


Current fatigue design of roof cladding is entirely reliant on complex and repetitive prototype testing. Standardised cladding fatigue design has successfully minimized the occurrence of fatigue failure during severe wind storms such as cyclones, but the prototype tests required in fatigue design are costly and time consuming. All variations of the cladding assembly, including the various profiles, manufacturers, fasteners and fastener arrangements, must be tested multiple times. A greater understanding of the mechanism underlying fatigue of roof cladding in combination with a numerical model capable of simulating cladding fatigue could reduce the total reliance on prototype testing in fatigue design. Such a numerical model would employ fracture mechanics to simulate crack initiation in the cladding and could to some extent replace aspects of the prototype test or enable a semi-empirical approach to fatigue design.

This thesis investigates the mechanism of fatigue crack initiation in corrugated roof cladding in a bid to develop a model capable of simulating this phenomenon numerically. Characterising fatigue crack initiation required the development of a specialized testing arrangement which isolated a single cladding-fastener connection. The test, known as the isolated fastener connection (IFC) test, restrained all four edges of a 720 mm × 150 mm section of corrugated cladding with a fastener located at the centre displacing to induce load. The IFC test successfully recreated the response of the cladding that was observed in full scale testing when subject to both monotonic and cyclic loads. In particular, the IFC test reproduced the two common crack formations observed in cladding fatigue, the 'star' type crack and 'H' type crack, and produced the cracks after a comparable number of cycles.

A unique and inexpensive photogrammetric method was developed to measure the displacement of the cladding sample within the IFC test when subject to monotonic loads. The photogrammetric method involved texturizing the cladding surface and taking 70 photographs of the cladding at distinct angles. These photographs were passed through commercial photogrammetry software to produce a 3D digital reconstruction of the cladding surface. The displacement of the cladding was then calculated by comparing the digital reconstruction of the deformed cladding with a digital reconstruction of the cladding under no applied load. The digital surface models produced using the photogrammetric method was also used to extend numerical model validation studies. The digital reconstructions were compared directly with the deformed mesh of a numerical model to provide a full-field comparison of the displacement of the cladding sheet.

The IFC test was employed to study the mechanism underlying crack initiation. Corrugated cladding samples were cycled under constant amplitude loading to form a 'star' type crack. The fastener hole edge was monitored by both digital microscopes and strain gauge rosettes. The longitudinal arm of the 'star' type crack opened in the underside of the cladding in regions of tensile strain. The crack proceeded to propagate through the thickness of the cladding along the plane of maximum shear. Once the thickness of the cladding had been entirely bisected, the crack then rapidly opened into the plane of the cladding. A similar mechanism was observed for the transverse leg of the crack. Crack initiation was then defined as the point in which the crack had entirely bisected the thickness of the cladding and had begun to open into the plane of the cladding. Under a number of load amplitudes this point of crack initiation occurred at a crack length of 0.9 mm and 0.5 mm for the longitudinal and transverse cracks respectively. Based on this definition of crack initiation, the strain field at the crack tip at crack initiation was monitored to produce a strain based crack initiation criterion. A crack initiation criterion based on the principal surface strains and distinct to the longitudinal and transverse directions was found.

Attempts were also made to identify the kinematic material properties of the cladding steel. Anti-buckling fixtures were developed to enable tension-compression testing of the thin steel sheet but the cladding softened too much and continued to buckle under compressive loads. Preliminary results suggest the cladding is prone to significant cyclic softening and the nonlinear combined kinematic and isotropic hardening model is required to accurately describe the kinematic material properties of the steel in a numerical simulation.

A numerical model of the cladding subject to monotonic loads in an IFC test was also developed. The model accurately predicted the fastener reaction, strain surrounding the fastener hole and the displacement of the cladding sheet. Under a maximum applied load the cladding predicted the displacement of the cladding to within 89% of that documented experimentally. Development of the model involved a mesh convergence study, in depth analysis of the boundary conditions and compression studies of the EPDM (ethylene propylene diene monomer) seal. The boundary conditions of the model were simplified to reduce the simulation run time making the model more appropriate for a fatigue study. These simplifications significantly reduced the computation cost of the simulation but performing a fatigue simulation was still too costly. Furthermore, a fatigue model requires the kinematic material properties of the steel which remain unknown.

This study identified the mechanism underlying crack initiation in corrugated cladding and characterised the phenomenon using a strain based crack initiation criterion. This investigation also successfully developed a numerical model capable of simulating the response of the cladding subject to monotonic loads. This crack initiation criterion and validated numerical model provide a strong foundation for future development of a numerical model capable of simulating cladding fatigue. Development of such a numerical model is likely to be an iterative process combining both experiments and numerical simulations. A model capable of simulating cladding fatigue could directly reduce the total reliance on prototype testing in cladding fatigue design by either replacing components of the prototype test or enabling a fracture mechanics based analysis of cladding fatigue.


†The Agulhas Bank is a wide continental shelf that forms the southern tip of the African continent. On the eastern side of this shelf the flow of water is dominated by the adjacent Agulhas Current. On its western border, the movement is more complex. It is influenced by the Benguela Current, by the occasional presence of products from the Agulhas Current such as Agulhas rings, Agulhas filaments and by lee eddies. Understanding the flow on this western side of the Agulhas Bank is of considerable ecological importance because it has been assumed that a shelf edge jet carries immotile or weakly motile fish larvae and eggs from the spawning region on the bank to the biologically productive regions of the Benguela upwelling regime. We have used the tracks of a set of surface drifters to study the movement at the western edge of the bank, and show that on average the movement is indeed equatorward along this shelf edge, but that this movement is not persistent in direction or magnitude. Instead, this movement appears to be driven entirely by mesoscale turbulence created at the termination of the Agulhas Current.


This paper presents a new Dynamic Partial Self Reconfiguration (DPSR) flow for Xilinx FPGAs. Leveraging the Xilinx FPGA Editor and PlanAhead tools, we provide two implementation approaches that enable partial reconfiguration for large configuration changes without Xilinx's paid tool. The flow is difference-based but still allows a modular design, which is made up of Partial Reconfiguration (PR) modules and a static design. It works regardless of the amount of difference between PR modules. We call this flow DPSR-LD, where LD stands for Large Differences. DPSR-LD is an enabler especially for Spartan-6 FPGA family., as Xilinx currently supports PR on Spartan-6 only through the difference-based flow and only for small differences. DPSR-LD also includes an ICAP controller that makes DPSR possible and offers bitstream compression.


Increasing demands on the safety of public train services have led to the development of various types of security monitoring systems. Most of the surveillance systems are focused on the estimation of crowd level in the platform, thereby yielding too many false alarms. In this paper, we present a novel security monitoring system to detect critically dangerous situations such as when a passenger falls from the station platform, or when a passenger walks on the rail tracks. The method is composed of two stages of detecting dangerous situations. Objects falling over to the dangerous zone are detected by motion tracking. 3D depth information retrieved by the stereo vision is used to confirm fallen events. Experimental results show that virtually no error of either false positive or false negative is found while providing highly reliable detection performance. Since stereo matching is performed on a local image only when potentially dangerous situations are found; real-time operation is feasible without using dedicated hardware.


The female reproductive system of the spiny lobster Panulirus
homarus ( Linnaeus, 1758 ) was investigated histomorphologically and
ultrastructurally to study the process of ovarian development and vitellogenesis
in detail. The general morphology of the central nervous system was traced
out. The neurosecretory cells in the optic ganglia, supraoesophageal ganglion
and thoracic ganglia were identified, classified and mapped. The optic ganglia
have six types of neurosecretory cells whereas both the supra oesophageal
ganglion and the thoracic ganglia have eight neurosecretory cell types.
Secretory cycle of the neurosecretory cell types was studied and it was
classified into four phases, viz. synthetic phase, vacuolar phase, secretory
phase and quiscent phase. Secretory status of the various neurosecretory
cell types was studied at different stages of ovarian development. The
vitellogenin unit from the haemolymph and the vitellin unit from the ovary was
isolated and characterized. The immunodiffusion precipitation studies and the
ultrastructural studies reveal that there is exogenous vitellogenin synthesis in
Panulirus homarus. The hepatopancreas and the adipose tissue are likely
to be the sites of vitellogenin synthesis. Bilateral eyestalk ablation studies
conducted on the early and late intermoult stages show simultaneous
acceleration of the somatic growth and reproductive processes with higher
emphasis for ovarian growth in lobsters ablated in the early intermoult phase
and lower activity in those ablated in the late intermoult phase. Ablation in late
intermoult phase resulted in faster entry into the premoult stage. Administration
ofthe aqueous extracts of supraoesophageal ganglia and the thoracic ganglia
from the maturing female lobsters accelerated vitellogenesis when they were
injected into the lobsters. Injection of neuroregulators accelerated vitellogenic
process in those injected with 5-hydroxytryptamine unlike the dampened effect
in lobsters administered with dopamine.


Experimental Organic Chemistry: Laboratory Manual is designed as a primer to initiate students in Organic Chemistry laboratory work. Organic Chemistry is an eminently experimental science that is based on a well-established theoretical framework where the basic aspects are well established but at the same time are under constant development. Therefore, it is essential for future professionals to develop a strong background in the laboratory as soon as possible, forming good habits from the outset and developing the necessary skills to address the challenges of the experimental work. This book is divided into three parts. In the first, safety issues in laboratories are addressed, offering tips for keeping laboratory notebooks. In the second, the material, the main basic laboratory procedures, preparation of samples for different spectroscopic techniques, Microscale, Green Chemistry, and qualitative organic analysis are described. The third part consists of a collection of 84 experiments, divided into 5 modules and arranged according to complexity. The last two chapters are devoted to the practices at Microscale Synthesis and Green Chemistry, seeking alternatives to traditional Organic Chemistry. * Organizes lab course coverage in a logical and useful way* Features a valuable chapter on Green Chemistry Experiments* Includes 84 experiments arranged according to increasing complexity


In modern electronic business era, the currently popular topic of wearable computing devices (WCD) has prompted foreign and local industry players to look proactively into various WCD-related developments, including the external appearances of WCD hardware, software applications, human-device interface designs, and the appearances of WCDs expected by general users. Setting aside the necessary functional specifications and application requirements of WCDs, the wearing habits that general users have already developed is a more fundamental consideration. These habits should form the basis for the design of both WCD hardware and software at the technological level. In this paper, an analysis is made of the items that general users customarily wear and the purpose(s) and frequency of wearing them. The findings will serve as a reference for industry players who wish to enter the WCD market.


Okay, Professor Turner is not Rodney King. He is not responding to bioethicists and social scientists running amuck, setting automobiles aflame, and pelting each other with rocks and broken bottles. He does not come right out and ask, "Why can't we all just get along?" But in its academic way, Turner's essay is an effort to negotiate a truce in the interdisciplinary squabbles that plague bioethics, a plea to move bioethics beyond the "misleading" and "unhelpful" "demarcation of disciplinary goals" that leads to "dichotomous thinking" and "polemical accusations."


In this paper, we consider underwater networks with multiple sensors reporting data to a single sink node, and advocate the use of FDMA as a channel access method. In order to assign channels to users in an efficient way, we compare a number of allocation methods that explicitly account for the underlying channel attenuation and noise model. We begin by inspecting a simpler case, where the number of channels, Nch, is equal to the number of users, Nu, and shortly describe a known algorithm which finds an optimal channel allocation in a max-min fair sense. We then assume that Nch > Nu, and explore how the channel assignment problem changes. We finally propose suitable heuristic methods that allow to find effective solutions without the complexity of an exhaustive exploration of all possible assignments. Performance evaluation by means of simulation shows that our heuristic methods maintain fairness among users, while achieving a better minimum performance than optimal methods for the Nch = Nu case. We also show when it is more effective to use a given allocation method as a function of the network area extension. Finally, we compare our FDMA-based allocation method with the ALOHA random access control mechanism, showing how our channel allocation can improve the overall throughput of the network.


Objective We aimed to characterize cortical superficial siderosis, its determinants and sequel, in community-dwelling older adults. Methods The sample consisted of Framingham (n = 1724; 2000–2009) and Rotterdam (n = 4325; 2005–2013) study participants who underwent brain MRI. In pooled individual-level analysis, we compared baseline characteristics in patients with cortical superficial siderosis to two reference groups: (i) persons without hemorrhagic MRI markers of cerebral amyloid angiopathy (no cortical superficial siderosis and no microbleeds) and (ii) those with presumed cerebral amyloid angiopathy based on the presence of strictly lobar microbleeds but without cortical superficial siderosis. Results Among a total of 6049 participants, 4846 did not have any microbleeds or cortical superficial siderosis (80%), 401 had deep/mixed microbleeds (6.6%), 776 had strictly lobar microbleeds without cortical superficial siderosis (12.8%) and 26 had cortical superficial siderosis with/without microbleeds (0.43%). In comparison to participants without microbleeds or cortical superficial siderosis and to those with strictly lobar microbleeds but without cortical superficial siderosis, participants with cortical superficial siderosis were older (OR 1.09 per year, 95% CI 1.05, 1.14; p < 0.001 and 1.04, 95% CI 1.00, 1.09; p = 0.058, respectively), had overrepresentation of the APOE ɛ4 allele (5.19, 2.04, 13.25; p = 0.001 and 3.47, 1.35, 8.92; p = 0.01), and greater prevalence of intracerebral hemorrhage (72.57, 9.12, 577.49; p < 0.001 and 81.49, 3.40, >999.99; p = 0.006). During a mean follow-up of 5.6 years, 42.4% participants with cortical superficial siderosis had a stroke (five intracerebral hemorrhage, two ischemic strokes and four undetermined strokes), 19.2% had transient neurological deficits and 3.8% developed incident dementia. Conclusion Our study adds supporting evidence to the association between cortical superficial siderosis and cerebral amyloid angiopathy within the general population. Community-dwelling persons with cortical superficial siderosis may be at high risk for intracerebral hemorrhage and future neurological events.


The relation between DNA polymerase fidelity and base pairing stability is investigated by using DNA primer-template duplexes that contain a common 9-base template sequence but have either correct (A.T) or incorrect (G.T, C.T, T.T) base pairs at the primer 3' terminus. Thermal melting and enzyme kinetic measurements are compared for each kind of terminus. Analysis of melting temperatures finds that differences between the free energy changes upon dissociation (delta delta Go) are only 0.2, 0.3, and 0.4 kcal.mol-1 (1 cal = 4.18 J) for terminal A.T compared to G.T, C.T, and T.T mispairs, respectively, at 37 degrees C. We show that enthalpy changes are directly correlated with entropy changes for normal and abnormal base pairs in DNA in aqueous solution and that delta delta Go values are small because of near cancellation of corresponding enthalpy and entropy components. The kinetics of elongating primer termini are measured with purified Drosophila DNA polymerase alpha. The matched A.T terminus is found to be extended approximately 200 times faster than a G.T mismatch and 1400 and 2500 times faster than C.T and T.T mismatches, respectively. Enzymatic discrimination against elongating mismatched termini is based mainly on Km rather than Vmax differences. From Km at 37 degrees C, we find delta delta Go values of 2.6-3.7 kcal.mol-1, about an order of magnitude greater than indicated by melting data. A similar measurement of nucleotide insertion kinetics has previously found rates of forming A.T base pairs to be 500 times greater than G.T mispairs and 20,000 times greater than C.T and T.T mispairs. Here also, Km differences are mainly responsible for discrimination and indicate even larger delta delta Go values (4.3-4.9 kcal.mol-1). Thus, free energy differences between correct and incorrect base pairs in the active site cleft of polymerase appear to be greater than 10 times as large as in aqueous medium. We explore the idea that a binding cleft that snugly fits correct base pairs and excludes water at the active site may amplify base-pair free energy differences by reducing entropy differences and increasing enthalpy differences sufficiently to account for nucleotide insertion and extension fidelity.


This essay examines the interrelations of religion, civilization, and imperialism in Shelley's The Last Man. Though Shelley may envision the negative effects of imperialism in this novel, I argue that she does not critique the discourse of civilization itself, which helped justify imperialist designs. Furthermore, by viewing the aesthetic in Shelley's novel as enmeshed with the political, I see Shelley's aesthetic imperialism curiously aligned with the Evangelicals' version of middle-class religion. Shelley would reject the Evangelicals' arguments for the moral norms of Christianity as the means of civilization, but her aesthetic imperialism, through its emphasis on the self-regulation and discipline produced by literature and culture, also becomes a means to train the uncivilized in these bourgeois values.


Tropical forests are experiencing a growing fire problem driven by climatic change, agricultural expansion and forest degradation. Protected areas are an important feature of forest protection strategies, and sustainable use reserves (SURs) may be reducing fire prevalence since they promote sustainable livelihoods and resource management. However, the use of fire in swidden agriculture, and other forms of land management, may be undermining the effectiveness of SURs in meeting their conservation and sustainable development goals. We analyse MODIS derived hot pixels, TRMM rainfall data, Terra-Class land cover data, socio-ecological data from the Brazilian agro-census and the spatial extent of rivers and roads to evaluate whether the designation of SURs reduces fire occurrence in the Brazilian Amazon. Specifically, we ask (1) a. Is SUR location (i.e., de facto) or (1) b. designation (i.e. de jure) the driving factor affecting performance in terms of the spatial density of fires?, and (2), Does SUR creation affect fire management (i.e., the timing of fires in relation to previous rainfall)? We demonstrate that pre-protection baselines are crucial for understanding reserve performance. We show that reserve creation had no discernible impact on fire density, and that fires were less prevalent in SURs due to their characteristics of sparser human settlement and remoteness, rather than their status de jure. In addition, the timing of fires in relation to rainfall, indicative of local fire management and adherence to environmental law, did not improve following SUR creation. These results challenge the notion that SURs promote environmentally sensitive fire-management, and suggest that SURs in Amazonia will require special attention if they are to curtail future accidental wildfires, particularly as plans to expand the road infrastructure throughout the region are realised. Greater investment to support improved fire management by farmers living in reserves, in addition to other fire users, will be necessary to help ameliorate these threats.


At the 4th Conference on Combinatorics on Words, Christophe Reutenauer posed the question of whether the dual reflected order yields a Gray code on the Lyndon family. In this paper we give a positive answer. More precisely, we present an O(1)-average-time algorithm for generating length n binary pre-necklaces, necklaces and Lyndon words in Gray code order.


Abstract. Special forecasts from the Global Forecast System (GFS) model were used in this study to evaluate how the intensification process in a tropical cyclone is represented in this model. Several tropical cyclones that developed in 2005 were analyzed in terms of the storm-scale circulation rather than more traditional measures such as maximum wind or minimum central pressure. The primary balance governing the circulation in the planetary boundary layer is between the convergence of environmental vorticity, which tends to spin up the storm, and surface friction, which tends to spin it down. In addition, we employ recently developed ideas about the relationship between precipitation and the saturation fraction of the environment to understand the factors controlling mass, and hence vorticity convergence. The budget of moist entropy is central to this analysis. Two well-known governing factors for cyclone intensification emerge from this study; surface moist entropy fluxes, dependent in the model on sea surface temperature and cyclone-generated surface winds, and ventilation of the system by dry environmental air. Quantitative expressions for the role of these factors in cyclone intensification are presented in this paper.


The European Commission has initiated a series of conferences in all member states of the European Union on fundamental political and social rights. The basic idea is to start a European-wide civil dialogue which should eventually lead to a revision of the Treaty on the European Union at a next Intergovernmental Conference. This volume documents the Austrian conference which was hosted by the Institute for Advanced Studies and held on 23 and 24 May 1997. In addition to the full text of some core statements at the meeting we report about the discussions in five parallel workshops and reprint the theses of keynote speakers. Before the conference a questionnaire had been sent out to government agencies, NGOs and independent experts. We document the main findings of this survey and the proceedings of two discussion fora which focused on how to promote and implement political and social rights in the Union. The programme of the conference and the list of participants is documented in the Annex.


J. V. Kadam, W. Marquardt Lehrstuhl fur Prozesstechnik, RWTH Aachen University, Turmstr. 46, 52064 Aachen, Germany B. Srinivasan, D. Bonvin Laboratoire d'Automatique, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland Optimization of Transitions in Industrial Polymerization Processes using Solution Models Increasing demand on delivering on-spec product, higher operating costs and diminishing profit margins in the polymerization industry require cost- optimal process operation. This has led to the development of new tools and techniques for the operation of polymerization processes. Besides the added complexity due to market-driven operation, polymerization processes have intrinsic characteristics that cause specific problems in applying advanced optimization and control techniques. Planned or unplanned polymer load and grade changes are typical transitions routinely performed in a polymerization process. In this contribution, transition optimization problems (e.g. minimization of the transition time or the amount of off-spec polymer product) under quality control are considered. We address the challenges faced by any polymerization control strategy, i.e. process uncertainty, which requires on-line updates of any off-line computed solution. Furthermore, it is assumed that measurements of key process variables are available both on- line and at the end of the transition. Two major measurement-based approaches are classified as: 1. Process model approach: Here, measurements are used on-line to correct the current state of the process and re-estimate key model parameters. The inputs are updated subsequently by a repetitive on-line solution of an optimization problem that utilizes a dynamic process model. 2. Solution model approach: Here, measurements are used to directly update the inputs using a parameterized solution model that has been obtained from off-line optimization using a nominal dynamic process model (this is explained later). In the solution model approach considered in this paper (see [1] for more details), the necessary conditions of optimality (NCO) are enforced using a solution model and measurements. Thus, the approach is also labeled NCO tracking [1]. The solution model is obtained by appropriately parameterizing a robust optimal solution of the optimization problem with uncertainty [2]. The solution model is defined in terms of the sequence of input arcs corresponding to constraint-seeking arcs (active path constraints) and sensitivity-seeking arcs. The constrained variables are kept active using simple PID-type controllers. Sensitivity-seeking input arcs minimize the objective function sensitivity. Terminal constraints are handled by updating the corresponding switching times in a run-to-run fashion using the constraint measurements available at the end of the transition. Furthermore, terminal constraints can also be enforced within a single run by proposing a model for predicting the terminal constrained variables or tracking feasible reference trajectories. For the sake of illustration, let us consider the optimal solution shown in Figure 1, where there is the terminal constraint ytf on y. The corresponding solution model includes three arcs: input upper bound arc (left), constraint-seeking arc (middle) and input lower bound arc (right). The input u is kept at its upper bound umax until the constraint y reaches its lower bound ymin that is kept active by manipulating u until the switching time ts is reached. This switching time, which is determined to satisfy the terminal constraint ytf, is adjusted on the basis of a prediction of ytf using a simple empirical. This empirical relationship has to be sufficiently conservative to guarantee end-point feasibility. We assume that this qualitative solution model remains the same in the presence of uncertainty. This might be restrictive in some cases, especially when solving a complex industrial optimization problem with many inputs as well as path and terminal constraints. Techniques to deal with changing sets of active constraints are explained elsewhere (see e.g. [3]). An industrial polymerization process is considered as a case study. The dynamic process model is fairly large with 2500 DAEs. Grade change transition in minimal time is targeted here. The optimization problem has three time-variant inputs and many path and terminal constraints. The optimization problem with nominal model parameters is solved off-line. The resulting solution is subsequently characterized to derive a robust solution model. It is verified that the solution model does not change for the class of uncertainty considered (unknown initial solvent concentration) and the choice of the initial steady state. Furthermore, it is assumed that polymer quality measurements are available on-line. The solution model is quite complex, thus leading to many controllers and switching times for enforcing the terminal constraints. The solution model optimization approach is applied using both within-run and run-to-run and updates for a number of uncertainty realizations. In most of the cases, the transition time is nearly optimal, which is verified by doing re-optimizations. Furthermore, in every realization of the class of uncertainty, all path and terminal constraints can be respected. This approach, in conjunction with techniques for on-line active set change and solution model detection, represents a very efficient and cost-effective operational strategy for general industrial problems. [pic] Keywords: Dynamic optimization, necessary conditions of optimality, optimizing control, constraint tracking, grade change, polymerization. [1] Srinivasan, B., D. Bonvin, E. Visser and S. Palanki (2002): Dynamic optimization of batch processes II: Role of measurements in handling uncertainty, Computers and Chemical Engineering 27, 27-44. [2] Schlegel, M. and W. Marquardt (2004): Direct sequential dynamic optimization with automatic switching structure detection, DYCOPS 2004, Massachusetts. [23 Kadam, J. V. and W. Marquardt (2004): Sensitivity-based solution updates in closed-loop dynamic optimization, DYCOPS 2004, Massachusetts.


We investigate a common-value labor setting in which firms interview a worker prior to hiring. When firms have private information about the worker's value and interview decisions are kept private, many firms may enter the market, interview, and hire with positive probability. When firms' interview decisions are revealed, severe adverse selection arises. As a result, all firms except for the highest-ranked firm are excluded from the hiring process.


This contribution is a presentation of the encounter between Greek philosophy and Islam and of the way in which philosophical thought was consequently appropriated by the Muslim world. What made this encounter possible was the existence, within the Muslim world, of a spirit of openness able to overcome the fear of a 'pagan' thought: this spirit helped develop the position that Greek philosophy, qua wisdom, could not be 'foreign' to the universe of the Koran. The Arabic language, as it became a philosophical language, bears traces of such an appropriation. Today, in Africa, the debate on philosophy could usefully take into account the tradition of Islamic philosophy which is also African to some extent and which would help enlighten, in particular, the question of transforming African tongues into philosophical languages.


Now a day, various medicinal plants are becoming popular for the treatment of different diseases. Some medicinal plants are being used for the treatment of diabetes all over the world. The study was conducted to investigate the effects of powdered form of Stevia ( Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni) leaves on blood glucose concentration and body weight in Streptozotocin induced diabetic rats and for its efficacy study with a patent drug, Glimepiride. The effects of powdered form of Stevia leaves was evaluated in the Streptozotocin (STZ; 55 mg/kg body weight as single intraperitoneal injection) induced diabetic rats and for this, powdered form of Stevia leaves was orally administered at three different dose rates of 150 mg/kg, 200 mg/Kg and 250 mg/Kg body weight, respectively once a day for 3 weeks. Changes in the blood glucose levels and body weights were measured and the data obtained were compared with that of Glimepiride statistically by using Student's unpaired t-test. The powdered form of Stevia leaves produced significant (p Key words: Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni, glimepiride, streptozotocin, diabetic rat doi: 10.3329/bjvm.v6i2.2338 Bangl. J. Vet. Med. (2008). 6 (2): 211-215


Instructional design usually begins with the specification of behavioural objectives or intended learning outcomes. The field of educational psychology has long been sensitive to the desirability of establishing learning objectives for instruction. Computer-processable learning objectives in the motor skill domain, however, seem to have remained the silent partner of objectives in both the cognitive and affective domains. This paper presents a conceptual model of learning objectives in the motor skill domain for the implementation of web-based training. The heart of this model is to treat athlete's skill as a contextualized space of capability either actual or potential. Rowing is the sport chosen as a study source.


Abstract. Relative humidity (RH) measurements in ice clouds are essential for determining the ice crystals growth processes and rates. A differential absorption radar (DAR) system with several frequency channels within the 183.3 GHz water vapour absorption band is proposed for measuring RH within ice clouds. Here, the performance of a DAR system is evaluated by applying a DAR simulator to A-Train observations in combination with collocated European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) reanalysis. Observations from the CloudSat W-band radar and from the CALIPSO lidar are converted first into ice microphysical properties and then coupled with ECMWF temperature and relative humidity profiles in order to compute scattering properties at any frequency within the 183.3 GHz band. Self-similar Rayleigh Gans approximation is used to model the ice crystal scattering properties. The radar reflectivities are computed both for a space-borne and a ground-based DAR system by using appropriate radar receiver characteristics. Sets of multi-frequency synthetic observation of attenuated reflectivities are then used to retrieve profile of water vapour density by fitting the line shape at different levels. 10 days of A-Train observations are used to test the measurement technique performance for different combination of tones when sampling ice clouds globally. Results show that that water vapour densities can be derived with accuracies that can enable ice process studies (i.e. better than 3 %) both from a ground-based system (at the minute temporal scale and with circa 100 m vertical resolution) and from a space/airborne system (at 500 m vertical resolution and with circa 5 km integration lengths) with four tones in the right wing of the absorption line. A ground-based DAR system to be deployed at high latitude/high altitudes is highly recommended to test the findings of this work in the field.


We present an Agent-Based Stock Flow Consistent Multi-Country model of a Currency Union to analyze the impact of changes in the fiscal regime of member countries, that is permanent changes in the deficit-to-GDP targets that governments commit to comply. Simulations are performed under three scenarios differentiated for the number of member countries. Though we did not try to estimate empirically the parameters of the model, the configuration employed for our artificial Currency Union yields economically reasonable values for the dynamics of key economic
variables, broadly comparable with historical data and available stylized facts, in particular referred to the Euro Area which constitutes the natural point of reference for our work. Our policy
experiments show that fiscal expansions generally allow to improve the dynamics of real GDP, labor productivity, and employment, though being associated to higher levels of public debt. On the contrary, permanent fiscal contractions have always strong recessive effects and tend to be
self-defeating when the Currency Union includes a higher number of countries and international trade between member countries is more prominent, exacerbating real GDP volatility both in the short and long run. The observed increase of average debt-GDP ratios in these scenarios seems to be mainly attributable to the raise of public debt-to-GDP in poorer and less productive countries, which is mirrored by a reduction of the countries' net foreign asset position. In the conclusions we
discuss current limitations of the model and we sketch out the future lines of development.


This Article, prepared for a conference on the Class Action Fairness Act, examines the effect of CAFA on our understanding about the benefits and drawbacks of class actions. The Article describes the vision of class actions that imbues CAFA, and demonstrates how many subsequent developments in the law of class actions — including the Supreme Court's decisions in Wal-Mart v. Dukes, AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion, and Shady Grove Orthopedics v. Allstate Insurance — have advanced CAFA's restrictive vision about the role of class actions in modern American litigation. The Article demonstrates that competing visions about the role of class actions lack the broad reach or intuitive appeal of CAFA's vision. It then suggests that, if the class action is to become a less disfavored procedural device, a more compelling competing vision for class actions must develop. It concludes by suggesting one such vision: class actions should be certified only when they are superior to all other forms for resolving disputes.


This paper aims to research of unevenness and imbalances problems on the labor markets in Ukrainian regions. Indexes of structural changes in regional employment on different economic activities are evaluated as well as sectoral diversification indexes of employment in different regions. Comparison of employment structure in Ukraine and the European Union countries is made. Econometric models describing changes in the level of employment in the region as a whole and separately in agriculture and industry are estimated for regional panel data for 2004-2014 years. The impact of an initial employment, index of sectoral employment diversification in the region, geographical attractiveness index, the initial level of regional economic integration with the European countries and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) are estimated as well as their changes over the last 6 years. Advantages of European integration for Ukraine and the negative impact of integration with CIS countries on the labor market are detected.


In a multicore system, applications running on different cores interfere at main memory. This inter-application interference degrades overall system performance and unfairly slows down applications. Prior works have developed application-aware memory request schedulers to tackle this problem. State-of-the-art application-aware memory request schedulers prioritize memory requests of applications that are vulnerable to interference, by ranking individual applications based on their memory access characteristics and enforcing a total rank order. In this paper, we observe that state-of-the-art application-aware memory schedulers have two major shortcomings. First, ranking applications individually with a total order based on memory access characteristics leads to high hardware cost and complexity. Second, ranking can unfairly slow down applications that are at the bottom of the ranking stack. To overcome these shortcomings, we propose the Blacklisting Memory Scheduler (BLISS), which achieves high system performance and fairness while incurring low hardware cost and complexity. BLISS design is based on two new observations. First, we find that, to mitigate interference, it is sufficient to separate applications into only two groups, one containing applications that cause interference and another containing applications vulnerable to interference, instead of ranking individual applications with a total order. Vulnerable-to-interference group is prioritized over the interference-causing group. Second, we show that this grouping can be efficiently performed by simply counting the number of consecutive requests served from each application - an application that has a large number of consecutive requests served is dynamically classified as interference-causing. We evaluate BLISS across a wide variety of workloads and system configurations and compare its performance and complexity with five state-of-the-art memory schedulers. Our evaluations show that BLISS achieves 5% better system performance and 25% better fairness than the best-performing previous memory scheduler while greatly reducing critical path latency and hardware area cost of the memory scheduler (by 79% and 43%, respectively).


This paper examines bidding strategies at auctions for residential property market sales in Dublin, Ireland during the property boom of 2004 to 2005. At that time, sales of properties through the auction mechanism was more common for premium properties. In the case of properties sold through auction, the form adopted was the first-price English method. English auctions are marked by discrete increases in bids. The auctioneer raises the price incrementally and each participant chooses whether to stay in or drop out of the auction. This study sets out to compare bidding strategies of first bidders to those of snipers. (A "sniper" is defined to be a late bidder at the auction; who does not bid until only one remaining bidder is left.) This paper also examines how behavioural biases (such as "escalation of commitment") influences the behaviour of bidders at these auctions. Actual bids can signal that an item's true value has not been reached (Kagel, 1995) and increased bids by others can cause other to copy. In other words, bidders use traffic as an indication of value, and more traffic implies higher value. This is consistent to Shiller's (1990) theory on a shortage illusion. Similar to bluffing in a poker game, a sniper strategy can serve the purpose of signalling an aggressive strategy, sending the message "Don't continue bidding as I am going to keep bidding higher". This message discourages competition for two related reasons: it suggests that the sniper bidder values the property more than anyone else, and also if the aggressive bidder drops out at any stage it implies that the other bidder has overbid for the item. Our results show that snipers are more successful at auctions in terms of winning more auctions and paying lower prices than first bidders. In summary, our results suggest that sniper bidders in residential house auctions are suggestions of keen strategies.


This paper proposes a numerically efficient tracking controller for polynomic nonlinear systems by a combined Volterra series and an extended Kalman filtering approach. The developed state estimation approach is applied for the state estimation of the states of a pendulum model, and the tracking control of the pendulum is accomplished by utilizing the internal model principle and the feedback linearization method. It is demonstrated that this approach is more numerically efficient as compared to the standard extended Kalman filtering approach and thus also leads to a numerically efficient control scheme.


PURPOSE
To compare isolation of staphylococci from periorbital tissues and accessories of orthokeratology (ortho-k) lens and spectacle wearers and investigate prevalence of antiseptic-resistance (QAC) genes. To determine minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of antiseptics and antibiotic susceptibility of isolates.

METHODS
Staphylococci were isolated from eyelids, eyelashes, and conjunctival sacs of 23 ortho-k lens wearers and 20 spectacle wearers. Samples were also collected from ortho-k lenses, lens cases, and spectacle frames. Isolations of Staphylococcus aureus were compared between ortho-k subjects and controls for all samples and for coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) from conjunctival sacs. QAC genes were amplified in 110 S. aureus and 59 CNS isolates and prevalence compared in isolates from ortho-k lens and spectacle wearers. Associations were assessed between presence of QAC genes and antibiotic and antiseptic susceptibility.

RESULTS
Although isolation of S. aureus did not differ significantly in periorbital samples from ortho-k and control subjects, QAC genes were significantly more common in both S. aureus and CNS from ortho-k subjects (odds ratio 4.4 and 10.74, respectively). Overall, qacA/B was the predominant gene detected, being present in 26.5% CNS and 11% S. aureus. smr and qacH were present in 12% of CNS, but were less common in S. aureus. QAC gene-positive isolates had higher MICs to benzalkonium chloride and chlorhexidine digluconate.

CONCLUSIONS
Our results suggest that long-term use of multipurpose solutions containing quaternary ammonium compounds may select for carriage of organisms harboring QAC genes. As these genes are associated with antibiotic resistance, their increased prevalence in isolates from contact lens wearers is a concern.


Modern information systems not only capture a seemingly endless amount of transactional data, but also tend to retain it for indefinite periods of time. We argue that privacy policies must address not only collection and access to transactional information, but also its timely disposal. One unintended side effect of data retention is the disappearance of social forgetfulness, which allows individuals a second chance, the opportunity for a fresh start in life. We examine three domains in which social policy has explicitly recognized the importance of such a principle: bankruptcy law, juvenile crime records, and credit reports. In each case, we frame the issue in terms of the social benefits of forgetfulness, rather than in terms of individual privacy protection. We examine how different policy approaches to privacy might handle the retention of data and propose a comprehensive policy that includes a variety of strategies. The broad conclusion of the article is that data retention and disposal should be addressed as a part of a broader and comprehensive policy approach, rather than in a piecemeal fashion or as an afterthought.


Adaptive E-learning Hypermedia System keeps characteristics of particular students and adapts its output in accord to them. Such characteristic can be level of student's knowledge of particular information domain, prerequisite knowledge needed to understand particular information, specific preferences and needs of student (for example the disabled) and many others. There are several adaptation techniques (adaptive features), which define adaptive behavior of system. Student's characteristic is stored in user model. In general, there are two main parts of user model: general information, which is valid for all hypermedia documents in adaptive hypermedia systems and particular information relevant only to particular hypermedia document. The second part of model can be automatically generated from hypermedia topology and used adaptation techniques (this part of model is only the secondary information). Such automated generation can improve data consistency and stability of adaptive E-learning hypermedia system. This paper deals with formal description of problem, propose algorithm for automated user model generation based on formal description and discuss consequences in adaptive system implementation.


The miniband structure of a quantum dot lattice based on GaN/AlN nanowire arrays has been investigated using the finite element method and Floquet theorem. The quantum dot modes and the quantum wire modes in the nanowire arrays were graphically verified. The optimum geometries of GaN/AlN quantum wire arrays were investigated by using a correlation between the width of nanowires and the separation of the minibandgap which is to be larger than the thermal energy at room temperature.


The effects of the synthetic 28-amino-acid alpha-human atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) on the proximal coronary arteries and coronary blood flow were evaluated in 17 patients. Proximal coronary dimension was quantitated by digital angiography, and coronary flow was quantitated with 3F Doppler flow catheters. ANP, when given as a 2.5-micrograms/kg bolus in the left ventricle, caused sustained significant proximal coronary dilations from 3.49 +/- 0.57 to 4.09 +/- 0.76 mm, lasting more than 30 minutes. The proximal coronary diameter did not increase further after intracoronary injection of 0.3 mg nitroglycerin (4.08 +/- 0.79 mm). Coronary flow (resistance coronary dilation) was not significantly increased at 5 minutes after ANP (87 +/- 55 to 102 +/- 54 vol flow units), indicating that the proximal coronary dilations were not flow dependent. The persistent proximal coronary dilations were associated with minor and transient decreases in aortic pressure and left ventricular end-diastolic pressure and with minor and transient increases in heart rate, cardiac output, and left ventricular contractility. Plasma ANP level increased significantly by more than sixfold from 39.8 +/- 8.8 to 245.8 +/- 168.5 pg/ml. The time course of proximal coronary dilations was related more closely to the time course of increase in plasma cyclic guanosine monophosphate than that of plasma ANP. This study demonstrates that bolus injection of ANP (2.5 micrograms/kg), an endogenous vasodilator, caused marked sustained preferential proximal coronary dilations and brief minor changes in cardiac and systemic hemodynamics. Although additional studies are needed to assess its clinical efficacy as a coronary dilator in the treatment of coronary artery disease, these data suggest a potential of ANP in the therapy of ischemia.


A philosophical look at the movie Inception and its brilliant metaphysical puzzles Is the top still spinning? Was it all a dream? In the world of Christopher Nolan's four-time Academy Award-winning movie, people can share one another's dreams and alter their beliefs and thoughts. Inception is a metaphysical heist film that raises more questions than it answers: Can we know what is real? Can you be held morally responsible for what you do in dreams? What is the nature of dreams, and what do they tell us about the boundaries of "self" and "other"? From Plato to Aristotle and from Descartes to Hume, Inception and Philosophy draws from important philosophical minds to shed new light on the movie's captivating themes, including the one that everyone talks about: did the top fall down (and does it even matter)?


Passengers disco dancing in The Love Boat 's Acapulco Lounge. A young girl walking by a marquee advertising Deep Throat in the made-for-TV movie Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway . A frustrated housewife borrowing Orgasm and You from her local library in Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman . Commercial television of the 1970s was awash with references to sex. In the wake of the sexual revolution and the women's liberation and gay rights movements, significant changes were rippling through American culture. In representing—or not representing—those changes, broadcast television provided a crucial forum through which Americans alternately accepted and contested momentous shifts in sexual mores, identities, and practices.

Wallowing in Sex is a lively analysis of the key role of commercial television in the new sexual culture of the 1970s. Elana Levine explores sex-themed made-for-TV movies; female sex symbols such as the stars of Charlie's Angels and Wonder Woman ; the innuendo-driven humor of variety shows ( The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour , Laugh-In ), sitcoms ( M\*A\*S*H , Three's Company ), and game shows ( Match Game ); and the proliferation of rape plots in daytime soap operas. She also uncovers those sexual topics that were barred from the airwaves. Along with program content, Levine examines the economic motivations of the television industry, the television production process, regulation by the government and the tv industry, and audience responses. She demonstrates that the new sexual culture of 1970s television was a product of negotiation between producers, executives, advertisers, censors, audiences, performers, activists, and many others. Ultimately, 1970s television legitimized some of the sexual revolution's most significant gains while minimizing its more radical impulses.


The two main foci of the present study were:

a) Biological control of soil born plant pathogens, and

b) Role of fungi as indicator of anthropogenic air pollution.

Over a seven year study period extensive experiments were planned and a variety of assays were designed in pursuance of the goal. The outcome of the surveys and experimental work was fruitful and exciting.

Focus I: Biological control of root borne plant pathogens has been first of the two major objectives of the present study First chapter describes the details relevant to this objective. The goal of biological control was successfully achieved by:

Using arbuscular mycorrhiza separately and in combination with beneficial antagonistic fungi. It is concluded from the results that diseases can be controlled biologically by employing arbuscular mycorrhiza. Mycorrhizal plants showed a significantly better response when exposed to pathogens as compared to those which did not had a prior inoculum of arbuscular mycorrhiza. Plants when inoculated with beneficial antagonistic fungi like Trichoderma along with arbuscular mycorrhiza, the response was further enhanced.

Use of antagonistic soil fungi in various combinations have also proved useful in achieving the objective of bioprotection. The fungi like Trichoderma viride and Aspergillus flavus used in combination or inoculated separately provided a comprehensive control of disease biologically. The specific soil moisture contents however being critical for best performance.

Soil is a medium of growth for microbes and plant roots. By altering soil and other conditions while manipulating the use of AM and other beneficial antagonistic fungi, significant results have been obtained in the present study. Soil texture has been found to be an important factor affecting the efficacy of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. The results have shown that the soil mix, which could retain lesser moisture, provides conducive conditions for mycorrhizal fungi and therefore better control of plant diseases.

In yet another segment to further manipulate the role of AM and beneficial antagonistic fungi, pretreatment of seeds/fungal cultures with IAA, NAA and humic acid was employed in possible strategy for bioprotection. Lower concentrations like 100 and 150 ppm were promising. The results of this part have very strongly emphasized the effective use of growth stimulants in plant microbe relationships. The resistance levels of plants getting seed presoaking treatment in specific concentrations of auxins and humic acid have also improved.

Focus II: In this part of the study some open-top chamber experiments were designed for three economically important plants. Better growth and performance was noticed in all three plants supplied with filtered air in open-top chambers. Significant reductions were recorded in unfiltered (dust free) and ambient air.

In a first ever investigation, an attempt was made to relate the impact of pollution to diversity and density of arbuscular mycorrhizal association. The results presented in this segment have shown that the anthropogenic air pollutants like O3, NO2 and dust particles (to some extent) affect mycorrhizal plants but the effects were severe on plants without arbuscular mycorrhiza. Furthermore, some of the species of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and other soil mycoflora exhibited better tolerance to air pollution in comparison to the rest of the associated microbes.


Product Name: Flat Belly FixAuthor Name: Todd LambBonus: Yes
 Official Website: CLICK HERE

Flat Belly Fix is a unique online system that's designed to help you shed several pounds of unwanted belly fat in as little as 21 days… Without starving yourself or doing hours of intense cardio. And I know, you've heard it all before and may have even tried other online fitness programs, only to not see the results you were promised. I've been there. However, there's something different about the Flat Belly Fix that I think will change your mind about online fitness systems and the incredible weight loss results you can achieve from them. I know it changed mine. So, if you're wanting to discover ways to achieve sustainable weight loss and without forking over a ton of cash on equipment, working out in a sweaty gym with strangers and without eating nothing but lettuce, then keep reading.
 About the Flat Belly Fix Program
Just when you think you've heard of them all, you discover the Flat Belly Fix. Let me start off by saying that this online fitness program isn't like anything you've seen before. For one, it isn't just about fitness.Yes, Flat Belly Fix is highly focused on military-style, muscle building, fat burning workouts but it also incorporates nutrition into their system which is definitely worth mentioning, since achieving sustainable weight loss is just as much about what you put in your body as it is what you do with your body. I'll get into the nutritional side of this unique system in just a moment. First, let's get into the details of the entire program.You receive three different manuals when you purchase the program, which are:The 21 Day System7-Minute Flat Belly ProtocolSmoothie Recipe GuideThese 3 different guides provide you with all the knowledge you need to not only achieve weight loss with the program but also, to keep the weight loss off moving forward. You're also provided with detailed instructions on the specific exercises to do, all which come with photo instructions, as well as written instructions and the days to execute each. And then, of course, it's time for a hefty dose of deliciousness that comes in the form of smoothies. The 21 Day System also provides you with a lot of information about nutrition and even has detailed meal plan instructions on what to eat and when. So, there's a nice combination of both fitness and nutrition provided.Now, the really interesting thing is that the smoothie recipes coincide with everything you learn about weight loss and nutrition. So, not only are you provided with all the information you need to succeed but you're also provided with an action plan for both your fitness and diet.It's also worth mentioning that since the entire program is online, you have the freedom to do it whenever and wherever you are. You simply download the content onto your desktop, laptop, smartphone or tablet, and access it when you're ready to do some reading, workout or mix together a delicious smoothie. I really liked this because there are many times when I'm working out in a hotel or in my basement or in my backyard and then heading to the kitchen to make something to snack on. So, being able to take this program with you wherever life takes you is definitely a huge benefit. It also makes it easier to stick to the regime.Additionally, Flat Belly Fix comes with a 60 Day Money Back Guarantee. So, if you decide that working out isn't for you and that you'd rather sit around waiting for stubborn belly fat to simply disappear with next to no effort than you can opt for a refund. But let's be honest here, we all know that weight loss doesn't come without some effort.
 About the Author Behind Flat Belly Fix
This unique system was created by Todd Lamb, who has a long list of certifications. He's a veteran police officer of 17 years, a retired SWAT team leader, a SWAT and Canine dog handler, has military experience and the list goes on. Now, you may be wondering what this has to do with fitness. Well, everything Todd has done in the past has a lot to do with keeping in shape and being strong. Police officers, SWAT members, dog handlers, and military members all have an intense fitness regime they must follow. So, what he has learned from his previous careers ultimately shaped his current endeavor, all of which can be found in this program.
 Brief Summary of the Flat Belly Fix Program

Now it's time to dive into the good stuff – the details. Here you'll find a breakdown of the different sections of this program.
 The 21 Day System
The 21 Day System is "the main" portion of the program. This is where you'll find absolutely everything there is to know about this unique approach to eliminating belly fat, from nutrition to human anatomy, eating schedules, proportions, insulin, triglycerides and much more. There's even a chapter that breaks down the different benefits for men and women, which I thought was really great because let's be honest, we aren't the same and we certainly don't lose weight the same either. Knowledge is power, and this section of the system definitely provides you with just that.
 The 7-Minute Flat Belly Protocol
The 7-Minute Flat Belly Protocol is where you'll find all of the exercises needed to put your newfound information into action. Each movement is broken down into pictures and detailed instructions on how to execute the movement, for how many reps, how long to rest in between sets and much more.
 Smoothie Recipe Guide
Just as the name reads, this is where you'll find all of the recipes needed to drink the knowledge you learned in the first section of the program. And don't be fooled – these smoothies aren't gross either. You just can't go wrong with chocolate and avocado, banana nut, chocolate almond smoothies or any of the other delicious recipes provided.
 Conclusion
The Flat Belly Fix program is really easy to follow. It gets straight to the point, eliminates all of the nonsense no one actually wants to learn about and gets you working towards better eating and more effective exercise. The only downside is that the meal timings and composition was a little different to follow, and I would have loved to see all of the quality information laid out in an easy-to-read table. The good news is that you do have it; it's just not laid out as pretty as I had hoped.From your fitness to your nutrition and everything in between, The Flat Belly Fix sets you up on a path towards finally getting rid of that stubborn belly fat. The workouts are intense and will push your muscles to the limits, and the smoothie recipes will make you want to eat smoothies for the rest of your life, and when combined, you're in for one hell of a fat burning regime. Purchase the program today and receive access to it right now. Official Website: CLICK HERE


A flurry of fuzzing tools (fuzzers) have been proposed in the literature, aiming at detecting software vulnerabilities effectively and efficiently. To date, it is however still challenging to compare fuzzers due to the inconsistency of the benchmarks, performance metrics, and/or environments for evaluation, which buries the useful insights and thus impedes the discovery of promising fuzzing primitives. In this paper, we design and develop UNIFUZZ, an open-source and metrics-driven platform for assessing fuzzers in a comprehensive and quantitative manner. Specifically, UNIFUZZ to date has incorporated 35 usable fuzzers, a benchmark of 20 real-world programs, and six categories of performance metrics. We first systematically study the usability of existing fuzzers, find and fix a number of flaws, and integrate them into UNIFUZZ. Based on the study, we propose a collection of pragmatic performance metrics to evaluate fuzzers from six complementary perspectives. Using UNIFUZZ, we conduct in-depth evaluations of several prominent fuzzers including AFL [1], AFLFast [2], Angora [3], Honggfuzz [4], MOPT [5], QSYM [6], T-Fuzz [7] and VUzzer64 [8]. We find that none of them outperforms the others across all the target programs, and that using a single metric to assess the performance of a fuzzer may lead to unilateral conclusions, which demonstrates the significance of comprehensive metrics. Moreover, we identify and investigate previously overlooked factors that may significantly affect a fuzzer's performance, including instrumentation methods and crash analysis tools. Our empirical results show that they are critical to the evaluation of a fuzzer. We hope that our findings can shed light on reliable fuzzing evaluation, so that we can discover promising fuzzing primitives to effectively facilitate fuzzer designs in the future.