Military activities are characterized with high physical endurance exercises and the psychological load. The cadets of the last study year participate in the combat training course lasting for ten days. The combat training course is a challenge for military officers. It is characterized with the transition from the daily military study process routine in the National Defence Academy to military exercises in the external environment. The cadets face feeding limitation, sleeping deprivation, intensive and continuous training, strict discipline, etc. Such a situation requires the adaptation to a novel way of activity, which includes hardships and arduous training. We provided the assessment of the body mass fluctuation during the combat training course. We provided the analysis of anthropometric parameters before, during and after the combat training course, summarized the data of the health statement and health problems that are fixed in the medical cards. The proper body mass supports the good health capacity. The body composition undergoes changes during the higher physical load performance. The analysis of the average value of the body mass and the Body Mass Index have shown large individual changes inside the groups. Physical fitness and body composition have an adverse effect on military performance. The assessment of the results of physical fitness tests is provided differentially according to the individual corresponding age subgroup. The military personnel have a high risk for the health concerning the impact of external and internal factors. According to the review of the medical cards of the cadets group we indicated the main problems which are fixed after the combat training course. These are acute respiratory infections, dermatological problems, locomotor system problems, gastro-intestinal problems.


Purple sweet potato ( Ipomoea batatas L. Poir) is potential for functional food, especially as antioxidant source due to its purple color and other nutrient content. The objective of this research was  to produce plain bread containing antioxidant by partial substitution of wheat flour with purple sweet potato flour. The result showed that the best plain bread was produced by a maximum substitution of 20% purple sweet potato flour to wheat flour. The hedonic characteristics of the resulting bread including aroma, taste, and texture were not significantly different from bread without substitution. Nevertheless, the crust was harder and darker. Addition of 1.0% GMS emulsifier and reduction of purple potato flour to 15% increased the score of softness, hedonic  texture, acceptance level, as well as the volume of the bread. The substituted bread had  antioxidant activity of 55833.78 ppm DPPH as shown by the IC 50 value and contained  4.30% of dietary fiber.


The text analyzes the character of the second wave of electoral
system reform in post-communist countries. It describes the
direction of the change in status quo after the first reform,
which was usually implemented by participants on the basis of
imperfect or incomplete information. We claim that the
character of the second reforms favored the bigger and
established parties and accentuated the tendencies towards
establishing electoral competition between political parties at
the expense of other participants (independent candidates). We
furthermore use a sample of 40 electoral events in 15
post-communist countries to analyze the potential of the
strongest electoral parties and other parliamentary parties to
transform votes into seats, and we connect this characteristic
with the electoral changes made, arguing that the logic of the
electoral rules and the effects arising from the actual shares
of the vote won in elections sometimes reinforced one another
but - at least in some electoral events - also ran in opposite
directions


This volume focuses on a range of topics and studies that address the notion of plurilingualism and multilingual identity in computer-mediated language learning (CALL) spaces. Interest in digital multilingual identity in the fields of applied linguistics and language education has been growing exponentially in recent years. New theoretical assumptions and recent global challenges have urged researchers to problematize the traditional notion of virtual identity in the face of increased virtual connectedness and the hybridization of transcultural and translingual practices. The chapters in this collection contribute to this fast-growing body of interdisciplinary research, featuring conceptual papers and research studies of identity performance and multilingual communication in highly complexified digitally mediated social platforms. The volume seeks to (a) contextualize digital multilingual communication as it pertains to language learning and teaching via a historical and conceptual overview of the multilingual movement in technologically mediated SLA; (b) offer in-depth explorations of multilingual practices and digital affordances that affect language learner identities beyond the classroom context, (c) fill the research void by exploring empirically the critical aspects of multilingual identity deployment in digital contexts where language learners actively participate in translingual and plurilingual practices, and (d) illustrate new ways of evaluating and adapting teaching practices to accommodate multilingual subjects, and reflect the increasingly hyperlingual nature of digital communication.


Problem Studies (Arn, 1988) reported that over 80% of churches in America are in a period of stagnation or decline relative to growth. Despite the mega-church trend in America, most churches will not add one person to the membership rolls in a given year (Sylvia, 2004). A safe conclusion is that attendance is also on a downward trend. Research (Burrill, 2007) suggests that from historical bases the Seventh-day Adventist church does a good job in the area of evangelism. In 2006 the statistical report of the world Adventist church highlighted that over 3,000 people joined the church through baptism on a daily bases (Bediako, 2010). The average attendance in the Adventist church in America is approximately 50 people each week. The annual baptisms at Word of Life Seventh-day Adventist Church in Memphis, TN are around six with the attendance around 85 people. The specific problem is the low evangelism that impacts the low growth in baptisms and attendance at Word of Life. Method The purpose of this project was to, (a) examine the reasons or barriers for low growth; (b) establish biblical and spirit of prophecy foundations for relational strategies to reach the community; (c) develop and implement an evangelism model that activates the members of Word of Life Seventh-day Adventist Church in a blessing approach of evangelism, increase baptism and attendance. In order to arrive at the development and implementation of the project, I made several steps of progression. I examined the church's history of evangelism and outreach. I collected data relative to church attendance and baptisms. I ordered an independent assessment of the church and examined the results. I administered and examined the Styles Questionnaire to 75 members of the church. I developed the model and training seminar pertaining to evangelism. -- Results The church did increase its outreach into the community of Frayser. This increase revealed more outreach ministry activities in and for the community as well. Eight people joined the church through baptism as a result of the iBlessMemphis model of friendship evangelism. Conclusion This research document represents the development and implementation of the iBlessMemphis evangelistic model at the Word of Life Seventh-day Adventist Church. This model successfully utilized the small group, friendship, community outreach and proclamation approaches in evangelism by increasing the church baptisms, attendance and community presence. Other churches can adapt and use this model or approach for positive outcomes.


The Old Testament's stories are intriguing, mesmerizing, and provocative not only due to their ancient literary craft but also because of their ongoing relevance. In this volume, well suited to college and seminary use, Jerome Walsh explains how to interpret these narrative passages of Scripture based on standard literary elements such as plot, characterization, setting, pace, point of view, and patterns of repetition. What makes this book an exceptional resource is an appendix that offers practical examples of narrative interpretation- something no other book on Old Testament interpretation offers.


Abstract Background Previous studies have demonstrated that short interpregnancy interval (the interval between delivery and estimated last menstrual period of a subsequent pregnancy) is associated with small for gestational age birth. It is controversial if this association is causal, as few studies have accounted for likely confounding factors such as unintended pregnancy. We examined the association between interpregnancy interval and infant birthweight, adjusting for pregnancy intention and other socio‐economic and obstetrical risk factors. Methods We used data from the Scandinavian Successive Small‐for‐Gestational‐Age births study (1986‐1988). Birthweight was expressed as a gestational age‐standardised z‐score. Results Among 1406 women, a trend towards lower birthweight z‐score with short interpregnancy interval was not statistically significant (unadjusted difference in birthweight z‐score of −0.25, 95% confidence interval (CI) −0.55, 0.05). After adjusting for pregnancy intention, detailed measures of socio‐economic status, and other covariates, the estimated magnitude of effect between interpregnancy interval and birthweight z‐score was further attenuated (adjusted difference in birthweight z‐score of −0.13, 95% CI −0.46, 0.20). Conclusions In this cohort study with detailed information on pregnancy intention and socio‐economic status, short interpregnancy interval was not associated with lower birthweight. These findings suggest that previously observed associations between short interpregnancy interval and lower birthweight may reflect confounding by socio‐economic and/or other unmeasured confounders.


The measurement of optical excitation functions excited by electron impact is typically accomplished by recording atomic fluorescence emitted into a small solid angle perpendicular to the incident electron beam. This measured intensity is not proportional to the emission cross section because the fluorescence exhibits an angular distribution and polarization that varies with the energy of the exciting electrons. Typically, a polarizer is set at the "magic angle" (54.7°) with respect to the electron beam axis to remove this polarization dependence. The literature for the derivation of the magic angle value assumes the polarizing element is perfect. An expression for the angle that accounts for the use of a partial polarizer is presented.


The first part of this paper deals with the application of a new microhardness tester, called Durimet, manufactured by E. Leitz, Ltd., Wetzlar, for determining Vickers hardness by making four-sided diamond shaped pyramidal indentation in the polished mineral surface. The length of the resulting diagonal is precisely measured by means of a measuring ocular.The general construction of the apparatus, and the working procedure are briefly described. Results obtained from testing the polished surfaces of about fifty different mineral species, and the correlation of the results obtained with Talmage9s Scale of Hardness are given in detail. The "Durimet" seems to be of valuable aid in helping to determine metallic opaque minerals, from their polished surfaces, particularly in small inclusions or discrete grains too small to be examined by Talmage9s method. Furthermore, the instrument can also be used for determining Knoop hardness as well as scratch hardness simply by changing the diamond that produces the indentation.The second part of the paper shows relationships between hardness and the textures encountered in the study of polished mineral surfaces. Among the most important relationships are the following:(1) Ore minerals of the metallic elements belonging to the same group in Mendeleeff9s Periodic Table are generally of the same class of hardness.(2) Ex-solution textures, graphic intergrowths, and graphic replacement textures are generally shown by minerals belonging to the same grade of hardness.(3) Soft minerals commonly replace hard ones, whereas minerals of the same hardness commonly replace each other. Rarely hard minerals replace softer minerals.(4) In most ores the harder minerals seem to have crystallized earlier than the softer ones.


Abstract The present article provides a detailed description of the corpus of Early Modern Multiloquent Authors (EMMA), as well as two small case studies that illustrate its benefits. As a large-scale specialized corpus, EMMA tries to strike the right balance between big data and sociolinguistic coverage. It comprises the writings of 50 carefully selected authors across five generations, mostly taken from the 17th-century London society. EMMA enables the study of language as both a social and cognitive phenomenon and allows us to explore the interaction between the individual and aggregate levels. The first part of the article is a detailed description of EMMA's first release as well as the sociolinguistic and methodological principles that underlie its design and compilation. We cover the conceptual decisions and practical implementations at various stages of the compilation process: from text-markup, encoding and data preprocessing to metadata enrichment and verification. In the second part, we present two small case studies to illustrate how rich contextualization can guide the interpretation of quantitative corpus-linguistic findings. The first case study compares the past tense formation of strong verbs in writers without access to higher education to that of writers with an extensive training in Latin. The second case study relates s/th-variation in the language of a single writer, Margaret Cavendish, to major shifts in her personal life.


Abstract. Coinciding with the development of sensor networks, communication technologies and also emerging the Internet of Things (IoT), the way was smoothed for the improvement of environmental observation tasks. The basic considered architecture for IoT is a 3-layer architecture including application, network, and perception layers respectively. The lowest layer is tasked with sensing the physical world. In environmental observation and monitoring, in-situ sensing and remote sensing generally do this duty. If the variability of the phenomenon in space and time is high such as air pollution concentrations, in-situ sensing is the best solution. Gathered data from physical world deliver to application layer through network layer. Services and analyses of monitoring tasks offer and conduct in application layer.There are lots of researches in the literature which have addressed requirements and challenges of IoT including network architecture and infrastructure [1], security and privacy [2], big data analytics [3]. Natural phenomena are inherently continuous. Ideally, in IoT scenarios, it is needed to know observing phenomenon at anytime and anywhere. At this point, sensor measurement rate and spatial coverage of sensor network are problematic. This is an undeniable fact that the phenomenon cannot be sensed at any place. Most sensors are statics. In addition, setup and maintenance of them are expensive. Therefore, data of interested phenomenon is measured at a number of distinct points. Node failure is one of the critical issues in wireless sensor networks which leads to a coverage hole. These holes in sensor networks result in the degradation of network performance and quality of service [4]. However, it might be a minor problem depending on spatial variability of observing phenomenon or sensor network density. Spatial interpolation methods are the best keys to solve this problem. In this way, a continuous surface of interested parameter is estimated throughout the area and values for unmeasured points are predicted. According to the first low of geography, there is a spatial relation between spatial features in geographic space. Spatial autocorrelation is a characteristic implying this relation and define a distance in which observed values are correlated with itself [5]. This correlation might be positive or negative. Nonetheless, it is meaningful at a range. This range is essential in monitoring task. It plays a prominent role in sensor network density. If sensor network structure is so dense that cover out of range distances according to spatial autocorrelation, this surface will be acceptably precise. If a node failure happen in monitoring network, precision of resulted interpolated surface will decrease and predicted values at unobserved points will be unreliable. The main purpose of the current work is providing a solution to manage this coverage hole in IoT scenarios with earth observation tasks. In other words, it makes concentration values of pollutants available at right place and right time via web.The case study for implementing solution is air pollution monitoring network in Tehran, Iran. Air pollution is one of the main problems in cities, especially in metropolises. In this regard, Tehran is faced with serious matters, and damages caused by this issue inflicts exorbitant costs on urban residents and officials. High intrinsic dynamic of air pollution in space and time, and contributions of natural or synthetic sources to its increase or reduction, clarify the necessity of observation systems which should be adopt to this dynamic. To overcome node failure in network, short-term time series analysis methods are promising. A time series is a sequence of observations that occur continuously in time [6]. The complexity of the physical and chemical processes that lead to changes in concentrations of atmospheric pollutants, and the complexity of geographical conditions, along with the presence of data errors in involving parameters, cause serious problems in precise and rapid modelling of pollutants. Therefore, for practical purposes, short-term predictive methods for concentrations of air pollutants are mainly based on time series statistical methods [7]. Using Holt-Winters temporal model, a method is proposed for covering missed data among observations of sensor network. This study was performed on air quality monitoring network of Tehran and utilized OGC SWE standards to produce interoperable open spatial infrastructure in sensor networks. For performing statistical tests, two stations named Cheshmeh and Elm-o-Sanat were detected as samples of clean and polluted regions using Moran's I index spatial clustering method. For spatial prediction of pollutant, various kind of spatial interpolation methods will be evaluated and best method will be selected due to less error in fitting a surface of pollutants throughout the city. Finally, the desired models will be integrated in a data infrastructure established by sensor web standards and results will be available for users through a web-based application. These results could be usable in other applications of internet of things such as related tasks to public health, gathering correct and timely decisions by city policy-makers during the advent of air pollution critical conditions and reduction or prevention of it.


Classic algorithms for community detection in social networks use the structural information to identify groups in the social network, i.e., how clusters are formed according to the topology of the relationships. However, these methods do not take into account any semantic information which could guide the clustering process, and which may add elements to do further analyses. The method we propose, uses in a conjoint way, the semantic information from the social network, represented by the point of view, and its structural information. This is, by the combination of the relationships, expressed by the edges on one hand, and the implicit relations deduced from the semantic information on the other hand.


Introduction: Menstrual disorders are more frequently observed among young females, especially medical students nowadays. Various lifestyle factors such as frequent consumption of fast foods, dietary habits, physical exercise, and yoga practicing play a very great role in alteration of menstruation pattern. All of these variables are affected by weight gain which is determined by body mass index (BMI), which itself affect menstrual pattern. Aims and Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the association of menstrual pattern with lifestyle factors and BMI among medical students. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional observational study was done among sixty undergraduate female medical students with the help of pretested and predesigned questionnaire consisting of menstrual pattern, premenstrual syndrome (PMS), and dysmenorrhea along with details about lifestyle factors. Anthropometric measurements such as weight, height, and BMI were also taken. Chi-square test was applied to test the association between menstrual pattern and lifestyle factors. Results: Out of total, 60% of students had regular cycle, 63% had dysmenorrhea, and 75% possess PMS. Majority of obese (65.2%) students had irregular cycle and 52.1% suffered from dysmenorrhea. Maximum 91% and 77.4% of students had regular cycle practicing yoga and physical exercise, respectively, whereas 86.2% of students suffered from PMS among those not exercising regularly. All of these findings were found statistically significant. Conclusion: More than half of students possess regular cycle. Overweight and obesity were found to be associated with irregular menstrual cycle and dysmenorrhea. Lifestyle factors such as yoga practicing, frequent consumption of fast foods, and regular physical exercise affect menstrual pattern in the present study.


We develop flexible semiparametric time series methods for the estimation of the causal effect of monetary policy on macroeconomic aggregates. Our estimator captures the average causal response to discrete policy interventions in a macrodynamic setting, without the need for assumptions about the process generating macroeconomic outcomes. The proposed estimation strategy, based on propensity score weighting, easily accommodates asymmetric and nonlinear responses. Using this estimator, we show that monetary tightening has clear effects on the yield curve and on economic activity. Monetary accommodation, however, appears to generate less pronounced responses from both. Estimates for recent financial crisis years display a similarly dampened response to monetary accommodation.


The increase in health care expenditures is a major problem of all welfare states. To counter this trend, since the early 1980s, most OECD countries have changed the way hospitals are financed. Although these reforms are certainly linked to country-specific factors, the authors' main argument is that they are in part due to a diffusion process: Policy change in one country is influenced by previous changes in other countries. More specifically, the authors argue that policy makers learn from the experience of others. Using an original data set and event—history methods to test arguments, their results show that policy change is more likely when the existing policy is ineffective and when the experience of other countries suggests that the reform leads to the desired results. In addition, the authors find that the effects of learning grow over time and that early adopters tend to be countries with few veto players.


In a compelling approach structured as theme and variations, Barbara Sicherman offers insightful profiles of a number of accomplished women born in America's Gilded Age who lost--and found--themselves in books, and worked out a new life purpose around them. Some women, like Edith and Alice Hamilton, M. Carey Thomas, and Jane Addams, grew up in households filled with books, while less privileged women found alternative routes to expressive literacy. Jewish immigrants Hilda Satt Polacheck, Rose Cohen, and Mary Antin acquired new identities in the English-language books they found in settlement houses and libraries, while African Americans like Ida B. Wells relied mainly on institutions of their own creation, even as they sought to develop a literature of their own. It is Sicherman's masterful contribution to show that however the skill of reading was acquired, under the right circumstances, adolescent reading was truly transformative in constructing female identity, stirring imaginations, and fostering ambition. With "Little Women"'s Jo March often serving as a youthful model of independence, girls and young women created communities of learning, imagination, and emotional connection around literary activities in ways that helped them imagine, and later attain, public identities. Reading themselves into quest plots and into male as well as female roles, these young women went on to create an unparalleled record of achievement as intellectuals, educators, and social reformers. Sicherman's graceful study reveals the centrality of the era's culture of reading and sheds new light on these women's Progressive-Era careers.


We build on a stakeholder–agency theoretical perspective to explore the impact of particular corporate governance mechanisms on firm environmental performance. Our empirical evidence shows that several important corporate governance mechanisms such as the board of directors, managerial incentives, the market for corporate control, and the legal and regulatory system determine firms' environmental performance levels. These results suggest that these different governance mechanisms resolve, to some extent, the existing divergence of interests between stakeholders and managers with respect to environmental activities.


Lost in the debate about employer discrimination against individuals with criminal records has been the availability of disparate impact claims under state law and the underenforcement of such claims by state Fair Employment Practices Agencies (FEPAs). While budget-conscious FEPAs are rightfully weary of disparate impact litigation's often exorbitant costs, these costs can be effectively mitigated in the criminal record context. Based on the availability of highly probative data on both racial disparities in the criminal justice system and the minimal recidivism risk posed by ex-offenders who have remained crime free for many years, this Comment proposes a set of presumptions that would enable FEPAs to limit their attention to complaints provable at trial without resort to costly statistical analyses. Although disparate impact's ultimate potential contribution to the reentry process is limited, FEPA involvement would bring significant advantages over current Title VII-based litigation and should be encouraged.


The biochemical aspects of the initiation of DNA replication in Mycobacterium tuberculosis are unknown. To understand this process, we overproduced, purified and characterized the recombinant M. tuberculosis DnaA protein. The M. tuberculosis DnaA protein binds the origin of replication (oriC), ATP and ADP, and exhibited weak ATPase activity. ADP, after hydrolysis of ATP, remained strongly associated with DnaA and the exchange of ATP for bound ADP was weak. Vesicles prepared from acidic phospholipids, such as phosphatidylinositol, cardiolipin and phosphatidylglycerol, promoted dissociation of both ADP and ATP, whereas the neutral phospholipid phosphatidylethanolamine did not. The phospholipid-mediated dissociation of ATP was decreased in the presence of the M. tuberculosis oriC, whereas dissociation of ADP was stimulated in the presence of oriC. Acidic phospholipids in micelles, however, were not efficient in dissociating bound nucleotides from DnaA. Together, these results suggest that both polar head groups and membrane bilayer structure play an important role in M. tuberculosis DnaA-adenine-nucleotide interactions. We suggest that initiation of M. tuberculosis oriC involves intimate interactions between DnaA, adenine nucleotides and membrane phospholipids, and the latter helps to ensure that only the ATP form of the DnaA protein interacts continuously with oriC.


Privacy policies have been known to be hard to read and understand by internet users and yet users are obliged to accept these one-sided terms of usage of their data before they can effectively use websites. Although research has been conducted into alternative representations of privacy policies, it does not consider whether the website provider actually adheres to the data handling practices outlined in the privacy policy. However, there has been significant research towards achieving compliance of internal processing systems to access control policies that capture some aspects of privacy policies, such as those related to confidentiality of collected information, the time period of its retention, and its disclosure to third parties. Apart from the fact that these access control policies may not be designed to be translatable to machine-readable or simplified text policies, such systems suffer from two related drawbacks: first, they assume a large trusted computing base (TCB) and in particular, the operating system is included within their TCB. Secondly, as they are only aimed at achieving compliance of different internal data processing systems to these access control policies, they do not seek to provide users of any proof of a compliant system. On the other hand, trusted hardware seeks to reduce the TCB on a remote machine that a user needs to trust in order to run a program and obtain its results. Trusted hardware platforms provide two novel security properties: they disallow a malicious operating system from learning secrets from the program state and secondly, they allow the user to verify that the OS has not modified the program before or while running it, as long as the user trusts the hardware platform. Our goal is to design an architecture that uses an underlying trusted hardware platform to run a program, named the decryptor, that only hands users' data to a target program that has been determined to be compliant with a privacy policy model. As both of these programs are run on a trusted hardware platform, users can verify that the decryptor is indeed the correct, unmodified program. Most importantly, in our architecture, we provide trustworthy information about the verifier program used on the server side to a client program such that it can ensure that the target program has been checked for compliance with a privacy policy model by a valid verifier program. Such a verifier program should be made open-sourced so that it can be checked by experts. Our second contribution lies in implementing this architecture on the Intel SGX hardware platform, using a shim layer, namely the Graphene-SGX library. Finally, we also evaluate our system for its efficiency and find that it has a very small overhead in comparison with a setup that does not provide such guarantees.


In the last decade, the provision of school breakfast has increased significantly in the UK. However, there is an absence of knowledge regarding senior stakeholder views on the processes and potential outcomes on different groups, within the communities served by school breakfast programs. The purpose of this study was to examine the views and experiences of senior level stakeholders and thereby provide an original qualitative contribution to the research. A sample of senior level stakeholders was recruited, including senior officers, directors, and elected members, from within a Local Authority (LA) involved in the leadership, implementation and delivery of a council-wide universal free school breakfast (UFSB) program, and from the senior staff body of mainstream primary and special schools, participating in the program. A grounded theory analysis of the data collected identified issues encountered in the implementation and delivery, and views on the funding and future of a USFB program, in addition to perceived outcomes for children, parents, families, schools, and the wider community. The results refer to both positive and negative issues and implications associated with the program, according to the perspectives of senior level stakeholders. Perceived positive outcomes included benefits to children, families, schools, and the community. For instance, alleviating hunger, improving health outcomes, and conferring financial benefits, with the potential to cumulate in overall improvements in educational, social, and behavioral outcomes. Reported negative implications included the absence of an effective communication strategy in implementing the USFB program; in addition to concerns about the impacts of "double-breakfasting" on obesity levels among children, particularly in less deprived communities. Findings were validated using theoretical sampling and saturation, triangulation methods, member checks, and inter-rater reliability measures. In presenting these findings, this paper provides a unique qualitative insight into the processes, issues and outcomes of a council-wide UFSB program within a socioeconomically deprived community, according to the perceptions of senior level stakeholders.


It is estimated that between 15.6 and 19.6 million people are living with rheumatic heart disease (RHD) worldwide, accounting for about one million deaths annually and 60% of Africa's open heart surgeries. As RHD results in heart murmurs that are almost always audible during auscultation, a mobile phone-based automatic auscultation device has the potential to identify those individuals with a high risk of having RHD. Such a device would allow cost-effective treatment while not requiring expert training or expensive equipment. This paper addresses two of the major steps when processing heart sounds recordings using such a device: signal quality classification, which achieved over 90% accuracy, and heart sound segmentation, with 93.5% F1 score. Future steps required to develop a fully automatic device are then discussed.


The amount of non-paraffinic components is directly associated with fuel sensitivity (S), which is an important consideration for using low-octane and low-cetane fuels in direct injection engines. In this research we examine the effects of S and RON (research octane number) on the ignition and combustion behavior of naphtha fuel surrogates in homogeneous mixtures and diesel sprays. Two binary blends (PRF70 and PRF80) and four ternary blends (TPRF70-a, TPRF70-b, TPRF80-a, TPRF80-b), with varying amounts of iso-octane n-heptane, and toluene, are considered. Simulations are performed using a reaction mechanism with 109 species and 543 reactions. The mechanism is validated against the shock tube and rapid compression machine ignition data, and non-reacting spray data. Ignition simulations in homogeneous mixtures are performed using CHEMKIN-Pro for a temperature range of 625-1250K, equivalence range of ɸ=0.5-2.0, and pressure of 55 bar. The study is then extended to examine the transient ignition and flame structure in liquid fuel sprays in a constant-volume combustion vessel using the CFD software CONVERGE. Results indicate that the temperature dependence of ignition characteristics in both homogeneous mixture and spray is strongly influenced by fuel sensitivity. In particular, it affects the NTC behavior and temperature dependence of the 1st and 2nd stage ignition processes. The ignition kernel structure in sprays is also strongly modified by fuel sensitivity, as the ignition kernel in ternary sprays involves rich mixtures, while that in binary sprays contains near stoichiometric mixtures, Consequently, the spray flame structure is modified by sensitivity. While the spray flame is characterized by partially premixed combustion involving a lean premixed zone (LPZ), a rich premixed zone (RPZ), and a nonpremixed zone (NPZ), the effect of sensitivity is to enhance the relative contribution of RPZ compared to those of NPZ and RPZ. In addition, due to enhanced ignitability, the flame in ternary sprays is located closer to the injector compared to that in binary sprays. The effect of higher RON is to increase the ignition delay time. Consequently, the ignition kernel involves relatively leaner mixtures, and the flame structure is characterized by increased contributions from LPZ compared to RPZ, and flame liftoff length is increased. Increasing the initial reactor temperature has the opposite effect. A sensitivity analysis is performed to identify reactions that characterize the reduced and enhanced ignitability of ternary blends at low and high temperatures, respectively. In this work, we also examine the effects of fuel sensitivity on PAHs emissions in partially premixed counterflow flames burning one binary blend (PRF70) and two ternary blends fuel (TPRF70-a TPRF70-b). Four different mechanisms are evaluated for their predictive capabilities for PAHs emission in these flames. The mechanisms include the Park et al. reduced mechanism, CRECK mechanism, Wang et al. mechanism, and Cai and Pitsch mechanism. Counterflow flames are simulated using CHEMKIN-Pro, and these four mechanisms are evaluated by comparing their predictions of PAH species against the PAH LIF signals for fuel blends containing 10% and 20% toluene. The PAH species considered in this evaluation include A1 (benzene, C6H6), A2 (naphthalene, C10H8), A3 (phenanthrene, C14H10), A4 (pyrene, C16H10), and A5 (Benzo[e]pyrene, C20H12) depending upon the mechanism. Park et al. mechanism was found to mimic the trend of increase in PAH with increase of iso-octane in the fuel. For all three fuels, the global flame structures are found to be similar, characterized by a rich premixed zone (RPZ) on the fuel side and a non-premixed zone (NPZ) on the oxidizer side. Most of PAHs are formed near RPZ. The fuel with high sensitivity shows higher PAHs emission, which is due to the presence of toluene (C6H5CH3) that increases the production of benzene (A1), an important precursor for the formation of larger PAHs. The detailed path and sensitivity analysis were carried out to identify the dominant reactions for the formation of A1 and A4 (pyrene). Toluene reacting with hydrogen (H) is observed to be the dominant reaction for the formation A1, while benzyl radical (C6H5CH2) reacting with indenyl radical (C9H7) is the dominant reaction for the formation of A4 in ternary blends. In addition, the effects of equivalence ratio (level of fuel-air premixing) and low temperature combustion (achieved by using N2 dilution of the fuel stream) on PAH emissions are discussed.


A methodology of obtaining the local critical dimension uniformity of contact hole arrays by using optical scatterometry in conjunction with machine learning algorithms is presented and discussed. Staggered contact hole arrays at 44 nm pitch were created by EUV lithography using three different positive-tone chemically amplified resists. To introduce local critical dimension uniformity variations different exposure conditions for dose and focus were used. Optical scatterometry spectra were acquired post development as well as post etch into a SiN layer. Reference data for the machine learning algorithm were collected by critical dimension scanning electron microscopy (CDSEM). The machine learning algorithm was then trained using the optical spectra and the corresponding calculated LCDU values from CDSEM image analyses. It was found that LCDU and CD can be accurately measured with the proposed methodology both post lithography and post etch. Additionally, since the collection of optical spectra post development is non-destructive, same area measurements are possible to single out etch improvements. This optical metrology technique can be readily implemented inline and significantly improves the throughput compared to currently used electron beam measurements.


Glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) is essential for the brain function and highly regulated, according to its role in metabolism of the major excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate. Here we show a diurnal pattern of the GDH acetylation in rat brain, associated with specific regulation of GDH function. Mornings the acetylation levels of K84 (near the ADP site), K187 (near the active site), and K503 (GTP‐binding) are highly correlated. Evenings the acetylation levels of K187 and K503 decrease, and the correlations disappear. These daily variations in the acetylation adjust the GDH responses to the enzyme regulators. The adjustment is changed when the acetylation of K187 and K503 shows no diurnal variations, as in the rats after a high dose of thiamine. The regulation of GDH function by acetylation is confirmed in a model system, where incubation of the rat brain GDH with acetyl‐CoA changes the enzyme responses to GTP and ADP, decreasing the activity at subsaturating concentrations of substrates. Thus, the GDH acetylation may support cerebral homeostasis, stabilizing the enzyme function during diurnal oscillations of the brain metabolome. Daytime and thiamine interact upon the (de)acetylation of GDH in vitro. Evenings the acetylation of GDH from control animals increases both IC50GTP and EC50ADP. Mornings the acetylation of GDH from thiamine‐treated animals increases the enzyme IC50GTP. Molecular mechanisms of the GDH regulation by acetylation of specific residues are proposed. For the first time, diurnal and thiamine‐dependent changes in the allosteric regulation of the brain GDH due to the enzyme acetylation are shown.


We present results from a GALEX ultraviolet (UV) survey of a complete sample of 390 galaxies within ∼11 Mpc of the Milky Way. The UV data are a key component of the composite Local Volume Legacy, an ultraviolet-to-infrared imaging program designed to provide an inventory of dust and star formation in nearby spiral and irregular galaxies. The ensemble data set is an especially valuable resource for studying star formation in dwarf galaxies, which comprise over 80% of the sample. We describe the GALEX survey programs that obtained the data and provide a catalog of far-UV (∼1500 Å) and near-UV (∼2200 Å) integrated photometry. General UV properties of the sample are briefly discussed. We compute two measures of the global star formation efficiency, the star formation rate (SFR) per unit H i gas mass, and the SFR per unit stellar mass, to illustrate the significant differences that can arise in our understanding of dwarf galaxies when the FUV is used to measure the SFR instead of Hα. We find that dwarf galaxies may not be as drastically inefficient in converting gas into stars as suggested by prior Hα studies. In this context, we also examine the UV properties of late-type dwarf galaxies that appear to be devoid of star formation because they were not detected in previous Hα narrowband observations. Nearly all such galaxies in our sample are detected in the FUV and have FUV SFRs that fall below the limit where the Hα flux is robust to Poisson fluctuations in the formation of massive stars. Otherwise, the UV colors and star formation efficiencies of Hα-undetected, UV-bright dwarf irregulars appear to be relatively unremarkable with respect to those exhibited by the general population of star-forming galaxies.


The Birth of American Tourism: New York, the Hudson Valley, and American Culture, 1790-1830. Richard H. Gassan. (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2008. Pp. xii + 213. Cloth: $80.00, Paper: $29.95.)Reviewed by Will MackintoshRichard H. Gassan's The Birth of American Tourism is the latest addition to the literature of early American tourism, a field that has biossomed in the last twenty-five years, with important contributions from scholars like John F. Sears, Dona Brown, Cindy S. Aron, Thomas A. Chambers, Jon Sterngass, Charlene Boyer-Lewis, and Catherine Cocks. As its title suggests, the defining feature of Gassan's contribution is its tight focus; he explores the roots of American tourism in New York's Hudson Valley during a forty-year period. This rigorous and narrow focus allows Gassan to construct a clear, direct narrative about the "birth of American tourism" - something that has so far escaped the field - but it also places inherent limits on his analysis.For Gassan, the birth of American tourism happened in the early 1790s in the small upstate New York settlement of Ballston, where an ambitious land speculator and entrepreneur named Nicholas Low sought to take advantage of some mineral springs on his property by constructing an American version of the great British spa towns. Low used his wealth and his New York society connections to build a small but successful resort that provided health and pleasure to leisured elites, just like its forebears at Bath and Tunbridge Wells. Ballston Spa thrived from the turn of the nineteenth century through the war of 1812, after which it was surpassed by the neighboring Saratoga Springs, where superior water and a more open competitive environment spurred rapid development. Both resorts benefited from their relative proximity to the growing cities of the northeast and, more importantly, from New York State's heavy investment in transportation infrastructure that began with Robert Fulton's successful steam navigation of the Hudson in 1808 and extended through the completion of the Erie Canal in 1825. Gideon Davison, a printer in Saratoga Springs, pioneered the American use of the tourist guidebook in 1822, which established his town as the pivot point of what he called the "Fashionable Tour." By the 1820s, Gassan argues, this combination of local boosterism and infrastructure investment had laid the groundwork for American tourism.The Hudson Valley also plays a significant role in Gassan's account. Not only did it provide fast and easy access to interior destinations like Ballston, Saratoga, and, later, the Catskills and Niagara Falls, but it also offered its own scenic delights that attracted tourists. Gassan argues that early American tourists understood the rugged terrain of the Hudson Valley in the eighteenth-century British mode of picturesque tourism. This romantic tradition was adapted to the new American landscape by popular authors like Washington Irving and James Fenimore Cooper and successful artists like Thomas Cole, all of whom shaped tourists' desire for and perception of specific Hudson Valley destinations. As transportation improved in the 1820s, tourists pursued their search for the picturesque deeper into the Catskills and westward to Niagara Falls - the ultimate sublime sight - and extended the "Fashionable Tour" throughout New York State and into neighboring Canada. …


The Cloud‐Aerosol Transport System (CATS) is an elastic backscatter lidar that was launched on 10 January 2015 to the International Space Station (ISS). CATS provides both space‐based technology demonstrations for future Earth Science missions and operational science measurements. This paper outlines the CATS Level 1 data products and processing algorithms. Initial results and validation data demonstrate the ability to accurately detect optically thin atmospheric layers with 1064 nm nighttime backscatter as low as 5.0E−5 km−1 sr−1. This sensitivity, along with the orbital characteristics of the ISS, enables the use of CATS data for cloud and aerosol climate studies. The near‐real‐time downlinking and processing of CATS data are unprecedented capabilities and provide data that have applications such as forecasting of volcanic plume transport for aviation safety and aerosol vertical structure that will improve air quality health alerts globally.


A new design is presented for a fixed-trajectory, uniform-size-droplet generator. This droplet generator is useful in a variety of scientific studies, one of which is of solute atomization in analytical flames. The improved droplet generator provides more stable droplet production, production of droplets over a wider range of sizes, and easier operation than earlier designs. Fabrication details are provided and performance of the new device is assessed.


A majority of Latino adolescents are reading below a proficient level, according to federal data, and there is a significant gap between overall reading proficiency of Latino and non-Latino, Caucasian adolescents. The purpose of this study was to investigate the linguistic underpinnings of Latino students' text comprehension. A positive relationship appears to exist between idiom comprehension and academic achievement, as well as idiom comprehension and reading comprehension, in typically developing, monolingual adolescents. Since reading comprehension and idiom comprehension share many of the same linguistic processes, idiom comprehension may provide a unique perspective for investigating Latino adolescents' reading comprehension. Using the Global Elaboration Model (GEM, Levorato, Nesi, & Cacciari, 2004) as the conceptual framework, the present study examined the relationship between idiom comprehension and reading comprehension with a population that had not been studied in this manner: bilingual (Spanish-English) adolescents in West Central Florida and their monolingual (English-only) peers. The GEM posits that idiom comprehension develops in tandem with other linguistic development requiring inferencing ability; and that idiom x comprehension ability can be predicted by reading comprehension ability. The present research design included the evaluation of idiomatic familiarity, semantic transparency, and contextual support, as well as three other linguistic measures: a) a reading comprehension task, b) an error detection task, and c) a synonym task. Results indicated that the three linguistic measures predicted 33% of the variance in idiom comprehension accuracy; and error detection was the strongest predictor of idiom comprehension accuracy. Furthermore, monolinguals outperformed bilinguals on all measures. The synonym task, a measure of lexical depth, best predicted language group membership. There was a three-way interaction among idiomatic familiarity, semantic transparency, and contextual support; and a three-way interaction among familiarity, transparency, and language group. Lastly, the three linguistic measures significantly predicted the bilinguals' amount of English experience, with qualitative differences emerging between sequential and simultaneous language learners. Findings lend support to the psychological reality of the GEM and provide insight into the linguistic foundations of reading comprehension in Spanish-English bilinguals.


This article presents and evaluates an idea for a non-transferable secret that can be used for security verification. This new type of security primitive relies on the pre-semantic treatment of images in the human brain. By showing users an image for a limited time, we show that they can find it again when it is shown among a larger set. Despite their ability to recognise their image, they cannot reliably communicate to someone else exactly how to do so. As the secret is embedded in the very act of recognition, it cannot be shared by the user — whether voluntarily or through coercion. We report on the initial results of a usability study on 151 subjects which showed that subjects can recognise their image shown among 20 similar images with an accuracy of 79% to 86%, compared with an expected baseline of 5%. Despite their recognisability, the 'secret' images were hard to describe in unambiguous ways: no assessor managed to accurately identify the images from the description given by the subjects.


Magic and Science in the Nineteenth-century Culture of Spectacle: Henri Robin in the Low Countries The theatre of modernity served to illuminate scientific insight and discovery in a spectacular way. Astronomy, physics, and experiments with electricity were at the heart of a popular genre that became known as 'physiques amusantes' (amusing physics). These shows occupied a middle ground between entertainment and science, between showing and doing. They were often staged by magicians, who presented themselves as 'professors' and awed audiences at local fairgrounds, world's fairs, and popular theatres. One such figure was Henri Robin (1811–1974). Reviews and images dating from Robin's time in Belgium and the Netherlands and his own memoirs of his time in Paris reveal that he found himself at the crossroads of a number of key developments. In particular, Robin's theatre practices shed light on the changing nature of spectacle in the latter half of the nineteenth century. His shows succeeded in maintaining a precarious balance between spectacle-driven entertainment and scientific learning, between visually-oriented fairground amusement for the masses and educational fare for the new bourgeoisie. This article will discuss the complex relationship between aesthetic and didactic concerns in Henri Robin's theatre shows, their remarkable blend of science and magic, and their effect on audiences. At the same time, we will demonstrate that the spectacle of modernity in the Low Countries resulted in part from the international mobility of showmen such as Robin.


NP Complete problems are one of the most complex problems in computer science but their vast applications in real world always pushes the scientists to explore new ways to solve them. We extended the original problem definition of Boolean Satisfiability Problem to finding all satisfiable solutions of a given problem instance and used massively parallel architecture of CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture) for reducing its run time. Certainly, exponential time complexity of this NP Complete problem can't be so easily reduced to polynomial time but through our implementation it can be well challenged for sufficiently large number of inputs. Our fully optimized implementation attained speedup ranging from 19x to 188x on Nvidia Ge Force GTX 260 for different type of SAT problems.


What happens when manhood suffrage, a radically egalitarian institution, gets introduced into a deeply hierarchical society? In her sweeping history of Imperial Germany's electoral culture, Anderson shows how the sudden opportunity to "practice" democracy in 1867 opened up a free space in the land of Kaisers, generals, and Junkers. Originally designed to make voters susceptible to manipulation by the authorities, the suffrage's unintended consequence was to enmesh its participants in ever more democratic procedures and practices. The result was the growth of an increasingly democratic culture in the decades before 1914. Explicit comparisons with Britain, France, and America give us a vivid picture of the coercive pressures--from employers, clergy, and communities--that German voters faced, but also of the legalistic culture that shielded them from the fraud, bribery, and violence so characteristic of other early "franchise regimes." We emerge with a new sense that Germans were in no way less modern in the practice of democratic politics. Anderson, in fact, argues convincingly against the widely accepted notion that it was pre-war Germany's lack of democratic values and experience that ultimately led to Weimar's failure and the Third Reich. Practicing Democracy is a surprising reinterpretation of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Germany and will engage historians concerned with the question of Germany's "special path" to modernity; sociologists interested in obedience, popular mobilization, and civil society; political scientists debating the relative role of institutions versus culture in the transition to democracy. By showing how political activity shaped and was shaped by the experiences of ordinary men and women, it conveys the excitement of democratic politics.


BACKGROUND
The long-term safety and efficacy of long-acting injectable risperidone, the first long-acting second-generation antipsychotic, were evaluated in stable patients with schizophrenia.

METHOD
After a 2-week run-in period during which patients with DSM-IV schizophrenia received flexible doses of 1 to 6 mg of oral risperidone, patients received injections of 25 mg, 50 mg, or 75 mg of long-acting risperidone every 2 weeks for 12 months. Severity of extrapyramidal symptoms was assessed with the Extrapyramidal Symptom Rating Scale (ESRS), and efficacy was assessed with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). This study was conducted from March 29, 1999 to July 19, 2000.

RESULTS
The subjects were 615 patients with schizophrenia who received at least 1 injection of long-acting risperidone. The 12-month trial was completed by 65% of patients. Treatment was discontinued because of adverse events in 5% of patients. Extrapyramidal symptoms as adverse events were reported by 25% of the patients. Severity of extrapyramidal symptoms (according to ESRS scores) was low at baseline and decreased in each of the groups during the 12 months. The other most common adverse events were anxiety in 24%, insomnia in 21%, psychosis in 17%, and depression in 14% of the patients. Little pain was associated with the injections. Severity of symptoms of schizophrenia was improved in each group, with significant reductions in PANSS total scores (p <.01) and positive (p <.01) and negative (p <.001) factor scores.

CONCLUSION
In terms of both safety and efficacy, symptomatically stable patients with schizophrenia benefit from being switched to long-acting injectable risperidone.


We study the estimation of the mutual information I(X;T`) between the input X to a deep neural network (DNN) and the output vector T` of its `th hidden layer (an "internal representation"). Focusing on feedforward networks with fixed weights and noisy internal representations, we develop a rigorous framework for accurate estimation of I(X;T`). By relating I(X;T`) to information transmission over additive white Gaussian noise channels, we reveal that compression, i.e. reduction in I(X;T`) over the course of training, is driven by progressive geometric clustering of the representations of samples from the same class. Experimental results verify this connection. Finally, we shift focus to purely deterministic DNNs, where I(X;T`) is provably vacuous, and show that nevertheless, these models also cluster inputs belonging to the same class. The binningbased approximation of I(X;T`) employed in past works to measure compression is identified as a measure of clustering, thus clarifying that these experiments were in fact tracking the same clustering phenomenon. Leveraging the clustering perspective, we provide new evidence that compression and generalization may not be causally related and discuss potential future research ideas.


SARS-CoV-2 virus evolution occurs as a result of antigenic drift and shift. Although antigenic drift has been extensively studied, antigenic shift, which for SARS-CoV-2 occurs through genetic recombination, has been examined scarcely. To gain a better understanding of the emergence and prevalence of recombinant SARS-CoV-2 lineages through time and space, we analyzed SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences from public databases. Our study revealed an extraordinary increase in the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 recombinant lineages during the Omicron wave, particularly in Northern America and Europe. This phenomenon was independent of sequencing density or genetic diversity of circulating SARS-CoV-2 strains. In SARS-CoV-2 genomes, recombination breakpoints were found to be more concentrated in the 3' UTR followed by ORF1a. Additionally, we noted enrichment of certain amino acids in the spike protein of recombinant lineages, which have been reported to confer immune escape from neutralizing antibodies, increase ACE2 receptor binding, and enhance viral transmission in some cases. Overall, we report an important and timely observation of accelerated recombination in the currently circulating Omicron variants and explore their potential contribution to viral fitness, particularly immune escape.


One of the fundamental goals of genetic research is to understand the pattern of heritability associated with the manifestation of various complex diseases. Elucidation of underlying genetic variation associated with common traits is one of the major challenges faced by clinical researchers. Gestational diabetes Mellitus (GDM) is multifactorial disorder of pregnancy. GDM refers to abnormal glucose tolerance that is first identified or diagnosed during pregnancy. GDM has long term impacts on the health of mother, developing fetus and child. Women and their offspring with history of GDM are at a greater risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM). GDM increases the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes, including preeclampsia, birth injuries, macrosomia and neonatal hypoglycemia, respiratory distress syndrome, neonatal cardiac dysfunction and stillbirth. It is estimated that 4% of pregnancies in the United States are complicated with GDM; however, rates of GDM are significantly increasing with an overall increased prevalence of diabetes. It is reported that prevalence of GDM varies considerably among racial and ethnic groups. Genetic causes of this disease are uncovered by many recent studies. A systematic review of genetic association studies of GDM was performed by using Pubmed navigator. Key terms used were GDM, genetics, genetic variants, genome wide association studies, genetic risk factors and genetic susceptibility and loci. Functional studies of GLUT1, FOXC2, IRS1, PPARGC1 and UCP2 genes have data suggesting an influence of these genes on GDM. Genetic variants that are common in GDM and T2DM are documented in several promising studies. Genetic variants of CAPN10, MBL2, KCNJ11, ABCC8, ND1, TCF7L2, ADIPOQ and PAI1 genes are associated with the development of both GDM and T2D. However, six genes are widely studied and all of them reported to have significant association with the risk of GDM are TCF7L2, GCL, KCNJ11, CDKAL1, IGF2BP2 and MTNR1B. It is therefore, determined that some susceptibility loci are unique to GDM and can be used in future as markers for identifying women with a high risk of GDM. There is an increasing need of replication of these studies in other populations. Identification of genetic variants in specific populations will significantly contribute to our understanding of the pathogenesis of GDM and will ultimately improve our prediction of GDM and future of T2DM.


Airfoil self-noise is defined as the acoustic emission by an airfoil immersed in uniform and steady fluid flow. As in most aeroacoustic noise generation situations, it is emitted by flow unsteadiness that interacts with the body surface and leads to broadband noise. There are mainly two broadband noise-generating mechanisms: the turbulence-interaction noise, involving the breakdown of oncoming vortexes on the leading edge of the airfoil, and the boundary-layer turbulence scattering at the trailing edge, known as trailing-edge (TE) noise. In future, the increasing air traffic and the proximity of airport to the cities will produce several noise problems for the inhabitants. For this reason, noise prediction models assume increasing importance. Noise emission has to be reduced in order to guarantee an high comfort for both passengers and citizens. Another interesting application field is related to the wind turbines. They produce typical broadband noise that has negative effects on health, mainly psychological, for who lives around the wind farms. Reducing broadband noise is one of the main requirement for wind turbine design. However, airfoil self-noise is only a contribution of the acoustic pollution. Keeping in mind the necessity of an accurate acoustic model during the design phase, this document provides a useful approach for noise prediction. The thesis consists firstly into a comparison of several analytical methods that allow to predict the sound pressure level for TE noise, in far field approximation, and generated by airfoils at different angle of attack, immersed into an high Reynolds flux. Several models are studied to find an optimum configuration that well approximates the experimental measurements. However, in experiments, the different sound sources, due to the turbulence phenomena around the body, are not completely discernible. The contribution of radiated TE noise is studied for two geometries: NACA0012, a classical example of symmetrical airfoil used for wind design, and DU96-W-180, asymmetrical profile applied in wind turbines. This allows to evaluate in which geometrical configuration the acoustic prediction is more accurate. The acoustics model is implemented in post processing data. The pressure, velocity and wall stress distribution around the profile are obtained using a numerical simulation based on Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations with Spalart-Allmaras turbulent model. Amiet's theory, is the first model introduced in literature. As far as concern analytical aspects, the method is based on the Power Spectrum Density (PSD) and on the introduction of correlation length as function of the frequency, according to Corcos hypothesis. However, the condition of high shape ratio must be satisfied. The pressure spectrum is obtained using empirical models such developed by Goody, Rozenberg, Kamuruzzaman or Lee. A simple solution was proposed by Amiet in his principal work but omitted in following chapters. Finally, the solutions are compared with experimental data. A sensitivity analysis is carried out in order to understand how the output of each acoustic model is influenced by the boundary-layer quantities predicted by RANS simulations. Monte Carlo method is combined with Saltelli's approach which introduce global sensitivity factors useful to quantify the weight of each single input parameter and estimate the uncertainty propagation in different analytical models.


During June and July 2001, the Marucci Center received 33 foliage samples from healthy- and unhealthy-looking highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum L.) bushes from growers in Connecticut and Massachusetts, via local extension agents. Unhealthy bushes were reported to exhibit symptoms including leaf chlorosis and necrosis, blossom blight, tip dieback, or a general decline in vigor. Marginal leaf chlorosis, reddening, or necrosis characterized foliage samples from these bushes. Five-leaf samples from each bush were tested for Blueberry scorch virus (BlScV) (3) with Agri-Check detection kits (Hydros, Inc., Falmouth, MA). These kits use an indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) protocol and antibodies developed at Rutgers University that are specific to the two eastern strains of BlScV (NJ1 and NJ2) (1). The ELISA extraction buffer was based on that used by Martin and Bristow (3) with 1% (wt/vol) nonfat dry milk powder added as a blocking agent. Fourteen samples from cvs. Blueray and Berkeley in both states and cvs. Elliott, Bluecrop, and Coville in Massachusetts tested positive for BlScV. These results were confirmed by a second test. Six of seven samples from symptomatic bushes and 8 of 26 samples from asymptomatic bushes harbored BlScV. Virus preparations extracted from five infected plants (two from Connecticut and three from Massachusetts) were examined using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) with oligonucleotide primers (5'-TGTGTCAAACAATATGGC-3' and 5'-GCATTTCGATGA-TTGCGG-3') designed to amplify a portion of the coat protein gene from any of the three known virus strains (1,2). Sequence analysis of fragments amplified from their coat protein genes revealed that two of the isolates from Massachusetts (GenBank Accession Nos. AY530957 and AY530958) and the two isolates from Connecticut (GenBank Accession Nos. AY530955 and AY530956) were similar but not identical to one another, and these four were most similar to strain NJ2. One isolate from Massachusetts (GenBank Accession No. AY530958) was most similar to strain NJ1. To our knowledge, this is the first report of BlScV on the east coast outside of New Jersey, where it was first reported in 1983 (4). These results indicate that the disease is now present in other blueberry-growing areas in the northeast and is likely to be spreading locally within those areas. Because blueberry scorch is symptomless in propagation material and may take several years to express symptoms in the field, the initial spread of the disease was probably due to the shipping of latently infected plants to BlScV-free areas before reliable testing was available. References: (1) T. D. Cavileer et al. J. Gen. Virol. 75:711, 1994. (2) B. T. Halpern and B. I. Hillman. Plant Dis. 80:219, 1996. (3) R. R. Martin and P. R. Bristow. Phytopathology 78:1636, 1988. (4) A. W. Stretch. (Abstr.) Phytopathology 73:375, 1983.


In the past, variations in the chemical contents (SO4 2Z , Cl Z , cations) of crater lake water have not systematically demonstrated any relationships with eruptive activity. Intensive parameters (i.e., concentrations, temperature, pH, salinity) should be converted into extensive parameters (i.e., fluxes, changes with time of mass and solutes), taking into account all the internal and external chemical‐physical factors that affect the crater lake system. This study presents a generalized box model approach that can be useful for geochemical monitoring of active crater lakes, as highly dynamic natural systems. The mass budget of a lake is based on observations of physical variations over a certain period of time: lake volume (level, surface area), lake water temperature, meteorological precipitation, air humidity, wind velocity, input of spring water, and overflow of the lake. This first approach leads to quantification of the input and output fluxes that contribute to the actual crater lake volume. Estimating the input flux of the "volcanic" fluid (Qf - kg/s) ‐‐ an unmeasurable subsurface parameter ‐‐ and tracing its variations with time is the major focus during crater lake monitoring. Through expanding the mass budget into an isotope and chemical budget of the lake, the box model helps to qualitatively characterize the fluids involved. The (calculated) Cl Z content and dD ratio of the rising "volcanic" fluid defines its origin. With reference to continuous monitoring of crater lakes, the present study provides tips that allow better calculation of Q f in the future. At present, this study offers the most comprehensive and up-to-date literature review on active crater lakes.


Static and pseudo-static analysis based on the Discrete Element Method (DEM) is presented for active and passive earth pressure distribution behind a retaining wall. Soil mass in the present model is treated as comprising blocks which are connected by elasto-plastic Winklersprings. The solution of this method satisfies all equilibrium and compatibility conditions. Examples are shown to demonstrate the applicability of the method for analyses of earth pressure behind a gravity wall, including pseudo-static pressure of earth and lateral pressure of nonhomogeneous soil. The applicability of DEM for analyses of reinforced soil structures and the advantages of this method over the conventional limit equilibrium method are also discussed.


The three dimensional structure tensor algorithm (3D-STA) is often used in image processing applications to compute the optical flow or to detect local 3D structures and their directions. This algorithm is computationally expensive due to many computations that are required to calculate the gradient, the tensor, and to smooth every pixel of the image frames. Therefore, it is important to parallelize the implementation to achieve high performance. In this paper we present two parallel implementations of 3D-STA; namely moderately parallelized and highly parallelized implementation, on a massively parallel reconfigurable array. Finally, we evaluate the performance of the generated code and results are compared with another optical flow implementation. The throughput achieved by the moderately parallelized implementation is approximately half of the throughput of the Optical flow implementation, whereas the highly parallelized implementation results in a 2x gain in throughput as compared to the optical flow implementation.


Specialized languages are often a good choice for expressing a set of facts. However, many specialized languages are limited in their expressive power. This paper presents methods for determining when a set of facts is expressible in a language. Some specialized languages have the property that when some collections of facts are stated explicitly, additional facts are stated implicitly. A set of facts should not be stated in such a language unless these implicit facts are correct. This paper presents an algorithm for identifying implicit facts so that they can be checked for correctness. Criteria are also presented for choosing between languages that are sufficiently expressible for a set of facts. This research is being used to build a system that automatically determines when a specialized language is appropriate. It is also relevant to system designers who wish to use specialized languages.


Background Polyclonal serum consists of vast collections of antibodies, products of differentiated B-cells. The spectrum of antibody specificities is dynamic and varies with age, physiology, and exposure to pathological insults. The complete repertoire of antibody specificities in blood, the IgOme, is therefore an extraordinarily rich source of information–a molecular record of previous encounters as well as a status report of current immune activity. The ability to profile antibody specificities of polyclonal serum at exceptionally high resolution has been an important and serious challenge which can now be overcome. Methodology/Principal Findings Here we illustrate the application of Deep Panning, a method that combines the flexibility of combinatorial phage display of random peptides with the power of high-throughput deep sequencing. Deep Panning is first applied to evaluate the quality and diversity of naïve random peptide libraries. The production of very large data sets, hundreds of thousands of peptides, has revealed unexpected properties of combinatorial random peptide libraries and indicates correctives to ensure the quality of the libraries generated. Next, Deep Panning is used to analyze a model monoclonal antibody in addition to allowing one to follow the dynamics of biopanning and peptide selection. Finally Deep Panning is applied to profile polyclonal sera derived from HIV infected individuals. Conclusions/Significance The ability to generate and characterize hundreds of thousands of affinity-selected peptides creates an effective means towards the interrogation of the IgOme and understanding of the humoral response to disease. Deep Panning should open the door to new possibilities for serological diagnostics, vaccine design and the discovery of the correlates of immunity to emerging infectious agents.


Thispractical referenceprovides you a comprehensive in-depth coverage of both theory and practice of cutting-edge Passive Eye (-Gaze) Monitoring technology. It describes and examines vision algorithms, Human Factors methodologies, and hardware build in eye-gaze monitoring systems designed for various real-world applications, along with practical issues, including performance on experimental subjects, real-time measurements, and user calibration, feedback and acceptance. It helps you to understand the motivations, activities, trends and directions of researchers and engineers in Intelligent Human Machine Interaction and Eye Tracking in today's market, and offers you a view of the future of this rapidly evolving technological area. The bookoffers you a detailed description of vision algorithms and core building-blocks of a video-based eye tracking system (parts I and II), including: automatic detection of human eyes in videos, modeling the eyes' structure and appearance, tracking of spatial eye coordinates, identifying pupil, iris, eyelids, and eye-corners locations, estimating, calibrating and tracking a person's gaze direction, as well as interpreting and reconstructing displayed worlds' images on the eye's cornea. Part III through VI of this book provide a detailed coverage of recent successful use of eye monitoring systems, either as an interaction input device or a reliable source of data, in advanced applications including automotive, military, medicine, information security and retrieval, typing and reading, online search, marketing, gaze-contingent displays, augmented and virtual reality, and video gaming. Part III is on ``Gaze-Based Interactions'' and contains three chapters. Part IV includes two chapters on applications of eye monitoring in military and security realms. Part V presents recent deployment of the technology in automotive and medicine. The last part is on "Eye Monitoring in Information Retrieval and Interface Design Assessment".


Synopsis Grade control and short-term planning are usually based on the samples obtained from blastholes. These samples may carry a large sampling and sample preparation error. At El Tesoro copper mine in northern Chile, an advance drilling grid is used for short-term planning and grade control. These drill holes are sampled well in advance, and a short-term model that incorporates several variables and sophisticated estimation methods can be prepared for decisionmaking. An additional advantage of the advance drilling samples is that reverse circulation can be used instead of conventional downthe-hole equipment, and a very careful sampling and sample preparation process can be implemented, reducing the total sampling error. Advance drilling can be performed on a wider grid than blasthole drilling, hence the decision about the grid requires assessing the economic benefit of different sampling grids. Furthermore, this process allows the cost of poor sampling and the effect of different estimation procedures to be quantified. We demonstrate the optimization of the drilling grid for shortterm planning and grade control at El Tesoro mine by means of the economic evaluation of the performance of different drilling grids, with different drilling techniques (which differ in the sampling error). The methodology is based on creating dense (exhaustive) geostatistical simulations of the grade distribution over a volume defined for a production period in respect of the geological model, and assuming each simulation as the true grade distribution. Then, samples are obtained from the exhaustive simulations at a spacing similar to the advance grid to be evaluated, and a sampling error is added. The short-term estimation procedures used on the mine are applied to determine the destination of each block and the profit obtained. This profit can be compared with the maximum profit (unachievable) and with the profit under different sampling errors and grids. The results show that the current 8 × 8 m drilling grid is appropriate and by reducing the sampling error, misclassification is also reduced, leading to an increase in profit of about US$ 5 million in 4 years.


The effect of feeding a diet naturally contaminated with deoxynivalenol (DON) (0-21 days: 1.50 mg·kg -1 ; 22-39 days: 1.54 mg·kg -1 ) was studied in 40 broiler chickens. Birds were divided into two groups fed a control diet and a diet contaminated with DON (n = 20 in each). Feed intake was measured daily and individual live weight weekly; daily weight gain and feed to gain ratio were calculated. Five animals from each group were euthanized on days 21 and 39 when blood (blood plasma and red blood cell haemolysates) and liver samples were collected. Concentration of triglyceride, uric acid and glucose and activities of ALT, AST and LDH were measured in blood plasma. Indicators of lipid peroxide and glutathione redox status, malondialdehyde and reduced glutathione concentration and glutathione-peroxidase activity were measured in blood plasma, red blood cell haemolysates and liver homogenates. The low dose of DON did not cause difference in the production traits, but caused significantly lower concentration of uric acid and glucose, and significantly higher concentration of triglyceride in blood plasma on day 21. Enzyme activities in blood plasma did not differ significantly between the treatment groups. Among the markers of lipid peroxide and glutathione redox status, malondialdehyde content was significantly higher in liver homogenate on day 21 in the group fed with DON contaminated diet, but reduced glutathione content and glutathione peroxidase activity did not differ significantly between the treatment groups. The results showed that diet contaminated even with a low content of deoxynivalenol caused alterations in selected biochemical indicators of blood and liver of broiler chicken.


Perfect Syntax dispenses with the idea of externally forced imperfections in syntax. This article presents a system of principles relating (L) LF representations and lexical items that aims to be compatible with this assumption. The core of this theory is that phrase structures are viewed as projection lines (lexical items and their projections) linked by an Insert relation. This explains uniqueness and locality of projection, the fact that phrases and nonphrasal elements can immediately dominate each other only when they are part of the same projection line, and most effects of the target projects requirement. I attribute a residue to the Generalized Projection Principle, for which I also provide an explanation. In addition, I explore various consequences of the present approach for the Move/Chain relation.


Abstrad Groundwaters in Finland are soft and acidic, and the main substances that require treatment are iron and manganese. Iron removal is usually relatively easy by oxidizing dissolved iron into an undissolved form either by aeration or chemical oxidization and removing the formed precipitate by sand filtration, for example. if the raw water contains high amounts of organic matter, problems may arise when using the traditional methods for iron removal. In Finland it is quite common that groundwater contains both high levels of iron and humus. The groundwater of Kukkala intake plant in Liminka has been found problematic due to the high level of organic matter and therefore this research studied the removal of iron from this water by means of oxidation with hydrogen peroxide and filtration. Iron was oxidized with hydrogen peroxide and when the dosage reached 3 mg l -1 , all iron was in trivalent form, which means that nearly all of it was in undissolved form, i.e. in fractions greater than 0.45 μm. Oxidized iron particles were, however, very fine and they could not be removed by sand/anthracite filtration. However sand/anthracite filtration was able to remove iron well without the feed of oxidation chemicals, and the iron was then led to the filter in bivalent dissolved form, thus the filter operated as an adsorption filter.


Many organisations seek flexibility, but its attainment is fraught with problems. Research argues that information systems (IS) can provide flexibility. This paper explores the relationship between one type of IS, inter-organisational systems (IOS) and flexibility. The first element of the research demonstrates that organisations do obtain flexibility from using IOS. In particular, IOS improve efficiency, responsiveness, versatility and robustness. Subsequently the research finds some support for the proposition that the technologies used for IOS provide flexibility. Certain organisational characteristics have a positive relationship with flexibility from IOS. These include (i) adopting IOS for offensive competitive reasons, (ii) integrating IOS planning with IS planning, (iii) integrating IOS planning with business planning, (iv) initiating adoption of IOS, (v) integrating IOS with internal IS software, (vi) possessing superior internal IT expertise, (vii) operating in a competitive environment and (viii) longevity of IOS use. The implications of these findings for managers and researchers are discussed.


This Comparative Study investigates the spontaneous convergence of law in the cultural and social milieu of medieval Serbia under the reign of Tsar Stephan Urosh IV Dushan (1331-1355). It argues that legal transplants, as a means of this convergence in the Code of Dushan, constitute a fruitful source of medieval Serbia's legal development. The process of legal transplantation has long been the subject of a polarized debate in international academic circles and has generated opposing approaches to the transfer of legal regulations or entire systems of law from one country to another. The approach to diffusion herein comprises a synthesis of multiple methodologies of comparative law (and jurisprudence on the whole) supplemented with the routes of non-legal disciplines. Such interdisciplinary approach facilitates an exhaustive insight into legal transplants and their applicability as a concept of legal development. This Comparative Study offers a systematic rationalization for legal transplants in Middle-age Serbia and draws some general tendencies with regard to the overall diffusion of law.


Women who operate small-scale farms and sell to small
markets in Indiana may encounter certain obstacles and constraints due to
self-employment in the traditionally male-dominated field of agriculture.
Researchers have recognized the role of sustainable agriculture ideology in attracting
women to these niche agricultural markets. Despite increasing opportunities for
women in sustainable agriculture, research suggests that traditional gender
roles are often maintained, manifesting itself through several obstacles
(Pilgeram & Amos, 2015). Female agricultural entrepreneurs encounter
obstacles including work-family balance, geographic barriers, access to
physical resources, access to financial resources, access to places of
information. Previous research indicates that female entrepreneurs have less
access to human, social, and financial capital to support their business
ventures (Powell & Eddleston, 2013). However, this study explored the
feminine perspective and management styles which may serve as beneficial
resources.

The purpose of this study was to explore and describe
existing obstacles encountered by female entrepreneurs in niche agricultural
markets and their methods of building resilience in their business.
Quantitative data was collected through an online survey of 62 agricultural
entrepreneurs across the state of Indiana. Participants were asked questions
pertaining to their business structure, resources, constraints, processes,
achievements, and demographics. Several responses to open-ended questions were
also collected and analyzed through open, axial coding. Study results include
the diversity of the population, value of human capital resources,
prioritization of quality products, significance of internal constraints, discrepancies
in division of labor and women's obstacles to access to social networks. A
greater understanding of the obstacles encountered by women agricultural
entrepreneurs can also provide valuable insight to Land-Grant University
Extension, policymakers, and stakeholders in the Indiana agriculture industry.


Today, tuberculosis is still one of the major public health problems in many places in the world especially in Africa and Asia. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of counseling on self-care management among adult patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (T.B). An intervention design was conducted at homes of pulmonary patients with tuberculosis who attended at Benha Chest Hospital during the years 2010. The sample was composed of 100 adult patients with tuberculosis. Two tools were utilized in this study: 1)A structured interview questionnaire to collect data about general characteristics of patients and their knowledge about the disease.2) An observational checklist for assessing T.B patient's self-care and home condition. Results revealed that significant improvement in patient's knowledge and practice post implementation of the health educational counseling. This study concluded that after the counseling implementation there was a significant improvement on participants' physical, social and psychological conditions. The study recommended that health education intervention should be carried out for all new T.B cases at the chest clinics about T.B self-care, and continuous health education to all old cases attending at chest clinics for follow up to upgrade their knowledge and practice related to T.B self-care management at home [Howyida, S. Abd ElHameed, Heba, A.Aly and Abeer, Y.Mahdy. Effect of Counselling on Self-Care Management among Adult Patients with Pulmonary Tuberculosis. Life Science Journal 2012;9(1):956-964]. (ISSN: 10978135). http://www.lifesciencesite.com. 139 Key word: Counseling, Pulmonary Tuberculosis, Adult patients.


Locality exploitation is essential to asymptotic energy minimization for gate array netlist evaluation. Naive implementations that ignore locality, including flat crossbars and simple processors based on monolithic memories, can require O(N2) energy for an N node graph. Specifically, it is important to exploit locality (1) to reduce the size of the description of the graph, (2) to reduce data movement, and (3) to reduce instruction movement. FPGAs exploit all three. FPGAs with a Rent Exponent p<0.5 running designs with p<0.5 achieve asymptotically optimal Theta(N) energy. FPGA designs with p>0.5 and implementations with metal layers that grow as O(N(p-0.5)) require only O(N(p+0.5)) energy; this bound can be achieved with O(1) metal layers with a novel multicontext design that has heterogeneous context depth. In contrast, a p>0.5 FPGA design on an implementation technology with O(1) metal layers requires O(N(2p)) energy.


Through the use of developmental and knock out studies Mig-6 has been shown to have a role in development. It has also been shown to be a tumour suppressor gene. Little work has been done as yet looking at its role in the adult. This study examined the role of Mig-6 in the lung with the ultimate goal being to determine if the pulmonary phenotype due to Mig-6 ablation is due to a developmental programming or loss of function in the adult. This was investigated in two ways. 1. To investigate if knocking out Mig-6 in adult lung has an effect on lung function 2. Investigate the role of Mig-6 in lung epithelial cells by RNAi (Investigation of the Role of Mig-6 in Pulmonary Epithelial Cells and Vascular Cells In Vitro). Knocking out Mig-6 in the adult mice showed no difference in epithelial markers and after staining morphology and airway size were found to be normal. This would seem to indicate that the Mig-6 phenotype is due to altered development of the lungs during the neonatal period and not due to a loss of function in the adult. From the cell work we observed differences in the effect on epithelial cells vs. endothelial cells when Mig-6 was knocked out. The epithelial cells showed an increased number of viable cells present after knocking out Mig-6 while the number of viable cells was decreased in the endothelial cells. This would indicate that knocking out Mig-6 in epithelial cells causes increased proliferation but in endothelial cells causes apoptosis. Conclusions: Ablation of Mig-6 leads to increased proliferation in epithelial cells (and apoptosis in endothelial cells) but knocking it out in the adult stage has a mild effect on lung phenotype


Fully updated and revised, the second edition of Spinal Cord Injury is the definitive guide for people with SCI and their families. Combining first-person accounts with up-to-date medical information, the book addresses all aspects of spinal cord injury-recovery and coping, sex and family matters, transportation and housing, employment and leisure-and reviews the challenges encountered by people with spinal cord injury throughout their lives. The authors explain how spinal cord injury affects physical functioning and the impact of physical changes on emotions and social life. They offer a holistic approach to recovery that incorporates all aspects of living and emphasizes achieving optimal health, personal fulfillment, and meaningful family and social relationships. The new edition of this helpful book includes a completely revised chapter on recovery and regeneration research, stem cell research, and activity-based therapies. New information is offered on medical and rehabilitative care of children and adolescents as well as preventative health measures for people of all ages living with spinal cord injury. The book includes expanded ideas and resources for socializing, travel, sports and recreation.


The world requires a transition from the classical node centric network to an information centric network. Publish/Subscribe Internet Routing Paradigm (PSIRP) being one of the paradigms for future networking is grabbing vast attention of the internetworking user group as a captivating communication paradigm because of its flexibility, desired functionality and performance. Thus, increase in the number of user groups, causes increase in the demand for information access. Consequently, it induces various security concerns. So far most of the researches related to security in publish/subscribe system are concentrated on secure routing, caching and transmission of the information. Access control is a crucial domain of security which cannot be overlooked and requires sincere attention. In this paper a trust driven approach to implement secure access control on the information is proposed. This ensures information availability on demand to the authorized users based on their trust level with the network. The mechanism is illustrated with the help of example usage scenarios.


The Database of Political Institutions presents institutional and electoral results data such as measures of checks and balances, tenure and stability of the government, identification of party affiliation and ideology, and fragmentation of opposition and government parties in the legislature, among others. The current version of the database, which is now hosted at the IDB, expands its coverage to about 180 countries for 40 years, 1975-2015. Researchers at the World Bank Development Research Group first compiled the database in 2000 (see citation information below). It has become one of the most cited databases in comparative political economy and comparative political institutions. Almost 3000 studies have used this database so far as a source of institutional and political data in their empirical analysis.


Continuing high consumption of livestock products in nearly all developed countries, and increasing demand for livestock-based foods in large transition economies, are creating serious problems of prolonged and persistent environmental and social degradation. These problems are further exacerbated and affected by climate change and risks, biodiversity loss, water stress, and water pollution. How do the associated socioeconomic aspects such as food security and personal health, together with impoverishment and displacement of communities, associated with livestock production consumption figure into the challenges? And how can we change livestock production consumption to reduce future environmental destruction going forward?


We present constraints derived from a search of four years of IceCube data for a prompt neutrino flux from gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). A single low-significance neutrino, compatible with the atmospheric neutrino background, was found in coincidence with one of the 506 observed bursts. Although GRBs have been proposed as candidate sources for ultra-high-energy cosmic rays, our limits on the neutrino flux disfavor much of the parameter space for the latest models. We also find that no more than ∼1% of the recently observed astrophysical neutrino flux consists of prompt emission from GRBs that are potentially observable by existing satellites.


The School of Arts and Trades (Escuela de Artes y Oficios, EAO) in Santiago is one of the earliest examples of how enlightenment-based ideas of education, developed during the industrial revolution, reached Latin American states at the dawn of their independence. The School was founded in 1849 at the behest of President Manuel Bulnes to promote the development of the "mechanical arts" among the "sons of honest and industrious artisans", with the intention of training a workforce for a fledgling domestic industry through the teaching of four trades: carpentry, blacksmithing, foundry and mechanics. From the beginning until well into the twentieth century, a polytechnical approach was repeatedly considered and rejected in favour of a solid industrial formation rather than specialization in a particular trade. This discussion began early on and continued throughout the life of the EAO, with various specialtes added over time to the basic structure of the school; the initial four workshops, however, were a constant presence throughout.


What is truth? Although this question is almost as old as philosophy itself, it has not lost much of its attractiveness; it has been present during the whole history of philosophy. One easily recognizes that philosophers starting with Aristotle up to the 21. Century came up with various theories of truth in the hope of clarifying this enigmatic concept. Even if a certain progress concerning this subject-matter is recognizable, a solid agreement is still missing. However, if one restricts the question What is truth? to a limited branch of philosophy such as logic, one is able answer it without being forced to present conflicting theories. Franz Josef Rainer applies himself to the question What is the meaning of truth in logic?, which he tries to answer in a short and understandable manner. He goes into detail only if it is necessary for a proper understanding of the subject-matter. He refrains from the presentation of hardly comprehensible logical formulas and sticks to the field of elementary logic, which is taught in philosophy. Therefore, one need not be a professional logician in order to follow the thoughts, it is sufficient to be interested in this subject-matter.