Since the current recession began in December 2007, New Deal legislation and its effectiveness have been at the center of a lively debate in Washington. This paper emphasizes some key facts about two kinds of policy that were important during the Great Depression and have since become the focus of criticism by new New Deal critics: (1) regulatory and labor relations legislation, and (2) government spending and taxation. We argue that initiatives in these policy areas probably did not slow economic growth or worsen the unemployment problem from 1933 to 1939, as claimed by a number of economists in academic papers, in the popular press, and elsewhere. To substantiate our case, we cite some important economic benefits of New Deal–era laws in the two controversial policy areas noted above. In fact, we suggest that the New Deal provided effective medicine for the Depression, though fiscal policy was not sufficiently countercyclical to conquer mass unemployment and prevent the recession of 1937–38; 1933's National Industrial Recovery Act was badly flawed and poorly administered, and the help provided by the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 came too late to have a big effect on the recovery.


Abstract. Closed-path eddy-covariance (EC) systems are used to monitor exchanges of trace gases (e.g., carbon dioxide [CO2], water vapor [H2O], nitrous oxide and methane) between the atmosphere and biosphere. Traditional EC-intake systems are equipped with inline filters to prevent airborne dust particulate from contaminating the optical windows of the sample cell which causes measurement degradation. The inline filter should have a fine pore size (1 to 20 µm is common) to adequately protect the optics and a large filtration surface area to extend the time before it clogs. However, the filter must also have minimal internal volume to preserve good frequency response. This paper reports test results of the field performance of an EC system (EC155, Campbell Scientific, Inc., Logan Utah, USA) with a prototype vortex intake replacing the inline filter of a traditional EC system. The vortex-intake design is based on fluid dynamics theory. An air sample is drawn into the vortex chamber, where it spins in a vortex flow. The initially homogenous flow is separated when particle momentum forces heavier particles to the periphery of the chamber, leaving a much cleaner airstream at the center. Clean air (75 % of total flow) is drawn from the center of the vortex chamber, through a tube, to the sample cell where it is exposed to the optical windows of the gas analyzer. The remaining 25 % of the flow carries the heavier dust particles away through a separate bypass tube. An EC155 system measured CO2 and H2O fluxes in two urban-forest ecosystems in the megalopolis of Beijing, China. These sites present a challenge for EC measurements because of the generally poor air quality which has high concentrations of suspended particulate. The closed-path EC system with vortex intake significantly reduced maintenance requirements by preserving optical signal strength and sample-cell pressure within acceptable ranges for much longer periods. The system with vortex intake also maintained an excellent frequency response. For example, at the Badaling site, the amount of system downtime attributed solely to clogged filters was reduced from 26 % with traditional inline filters to 0 % with the prototype vortex intake. The use of a vortex intake could extend the geographical applicability of the EC technique in ecology and allow investigators to acquire more accurate and continuous measurements of trace-gas fluxes in a wider range of ecosystems.


Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) play an important role in modern economies because of their flexibility and ability to innovate. In nearly every country, SMEs play a significant role in providing employment opportunities and supporting large scale manufacturing firms. However, there are not many studies reported in the literature that deal with productivity problems in SMEs. Considering the importance of SMEs, the experiences of a small company engaged in continuous improvement and a related conceptual model are discussed here to highlight how productivity can be improved with limited resources. The case study presented in this paper was conducted at Valeo; a French company located in England that produces wiper systems for the automotive industry in the UK. The wiper systems include containers, pumps, jets and hoses. Valeo produces a wide variety of low volume parts for various customers in a job shop environment. The objective of the project was to improve productivity in two cells of the company, namely the Honda/Rover cell and the headlamp cleaning cell. Next, the aim was to identify potential areas for cost savings resulting from productivity gains. Finally, implementation issues associated with productivity improvement strategies in a small company are discussed.


This paper examines artifactual and palaeo-limnological evidence of sealskin processing associated with Phillip's Garden, a Dorset Palaeoeskimo site at Port au Choix in northwestern Newfoundland. We propose that harp seals were hunted from Phillip's Garden as much for skins as for meat and fat, and that processing sealskins was the first step in the important activity of making clothes, boots, and other items. We outline the steps and tools involved in sealskin processing throughout the northern circumpolar world, and we identify specialized skin-processing tools in the Phillip's Garden tool assemblage. Sealskin processing is also inferred from pollen and chironomid data from Bass Pond, adjacent to Phillip's Garden. Disturbance across pollen taxa is evident at 2200– 1400 cal BP, and anomalous salinity values are evident at 2000–1400 cal BP. We argue that these are connected to Palaeoeskimo activities at the pond, in particular Dorset sealskin soaking and tanning. This study shifts our perception of Dorset activities at Phillip's Garden away from a narrow focus on seal hunting and the site itself and broadens our view to include more of the multiplicity of day-to-day human activities that took place within a larger cultural landscape that included Phillip's Garden and Bass Pond.


This study compared U.S. Americans' (n = 222) and Koreans' (n = 202) perceptions of and management strategies towards potentially impolite situations. The results showed that cultural norms significantly determine the perception of the situation and Koreans are more likely to resort to confrontation across situations than did U.S. Americans. Additionally, individual face needs, situational factors and culture as well as the interactions were important predictors of individuals' management strategies in potentially impolite situations. Practical implications for intercultural communication were discussed.


AIM
to assess whether different glomerular filtration rate (GFR) equations render different predictive value on hospital adverse events in patients hospitalised due to acute myocardial infarction.

METHODS
the study design is cross-sectional. Data from consecutive patients with acute myocardial infarction were analyzed. Three different estimated GFR equations, i.e. Cockroft-Gault (eGFRC-G), MDRD (eGFRMDRD) and CKD-EPI (eGFRCKD-EPI) were calculated. Hospital adverse events in these study patients were recorded. The predictive values of these eGFRs on hospital adverse events were compared with ROC curve. Univariate and multivariable analysis to assess which GFR equation as independent predictor for hospital adverse events were performed.

RESULTS
among 103 study patients, 49 patients (47.6%) experienced hospital adverse events. Proportion of hospital adverse events were significantly associated with eGFRMDRD (p<0.01) and eGFRCKD-EPI (p=0.02), but not with eGFRC-G (p=0.10). Hospital adverse events were better predicted by eGFRMDRD than by eGFRCKD-EPI (AUC, 0.698; 95%CI: 0.596-0.800, p<0.01 versus AUC, 0.693; 95%CI: 0.591-0.796, p<0.01). Multivariable analysis showed moderate (adjusted OR 3.50; 95%CI: 1.38-8.85, p<0.01) and severe (adjusted OR 8.13, 95%CI: 1.38-47.91, p=0.02) kidney dysfunctions based on eGFRMDRD were independent predictors for hospital adverse events.

CONCLUSION
an eGFR based on MDRD gave better predictive value than eGFR based on CKD-EPI on hospital adverse events among acute myocardial infarction. Moderate and severe kidney dysfunctions based on eGFRMDRD were independent predictors for hospital adverse events following acute myocardial infarction.


Condition monitoring of rotor problems such as demagnetization and eccentricity in permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSM) is essential for guaranteeing high motor performance, efficiency, and reliability. However, there are many limitations to the off-line and on-line methods currently used for PMSM rotor quality assessment. In this paper, an inverter-embedded technique for automated detection and classification of PMSM rotor faults is proposed as an alternative. The main concept is to use the inverter to perform a test whenever the motor is stopped, to detect rotor faults independent of operating conditions or load torque oscillations, which is not possible with motor current signature analysis (MCSA). The d-axis is excited with a dc+ac signal, and the variation in the inductance pattern due to the change in the degree of magnetic saturation caused by demagnetization or eccentricity is observed for fault detection. An experimental study on a 7.5kW PMSM verifies that demagnetization and eccentricity can be detected and classified independent of the load with high sensitivity.


This dissertation is a qualitative study of an all-girls' advisory in a coeducational, urban middle school located in a mid-sized city in the northeast. The advisory group met daily over the course of the 2010-2011 academic year. Drawing from data collected over one year of fieldwork--including participant observation, analysis of discourse, dynamic interviews, and the analysis of social constructs --this study explores how a group of mostly African American and Latina students created a caring community in order to increase their academic and social success. Each chapter of the dissertation examines the challenges and obstacles the girls in the advisory group faced in their daily lives, and how they worked together to overcome them. I begin by exploring the social constructs of gender, race, and class that are prevalent to the girls within the advisory group. I then explore the importance of building an effective and authentic advisory program to create a community grounded in care as well as my role as the advisor of this community. Here, I also explore how the girls in the advisory group began to negotiate their understanding of academic "success", namely how the girls grew to use their voices and advocate for themselves and others in order to achieve greater academic success. Furthermore, I discuss why accountability to the teacher and the group led to academic and social growth for the girls in the advisory. I argue throughout the dissertation that an all-girls advisory provides the caring environment that enabled the girls to experience greater academic success. This study offers a perspective on how an all-girls advisory group empowers the girls within the group while providing them with the tools necessary to negotiate their daily lives. I also argue that the teacher student relationship is essential to the success of the advisory group and directly linked to the girls' academic and social growth.


Between 2007 and 2009, one of the largest Q fever epidemics documented worldwide occurred in the Netherlands. This epidemic originated from dairy goat farms and resulted in over 3,500 notified human acute Q fever cases. After an episode of acute Q fever, the causative bacterium Coxiella burnetii may persist intracellularly, causing progression to chronic disease in approximately 2% of patients with confirmed acute Q fever. Chronic Q fever mainly presents as endocarditis or vascular infections with a high morbidity and mortality. Early detection and prompt treatment improve the prognosis of patients with chronic Q fever. The established way to detect chronic Q fever is to provide follow-up and check antibody levels of all acute Q-fever patients, but there is no consensus on its frequency and duration. The Q fever epidemic in the Netherlands allowed for long-term follow-up of a large cohort of acute Q-fever patients and validation of current follow-up strategies. More than 1,900 patients diagnosed at the Jeroen Bosch Hospital ('s-Hertogenbosch) with follow-up checks available in the first year after the acute episode were invited to have a blood sample taken approximately four years after the acute infection. The antibody levels were determined for 1,289 participants. Patients suspected for chronic Q fever were referred for further clinical examinations. Overall, 4.5% of the 1,289 participants had an antibody profile suggesting chronic Q feverduring the four years. The majority (89.7%) had already been identified within the first year after the acute episode. Based on these results, a single follow-up check twelve months after diagnosis is recommended for all the acute Q fever patients that have no risk factors for chronic Q fever (heart valve/vascular disease or prosthesis). Additional serological and clinical follow-up is recommended for patients with IgG phase I titres ≥1:512. Dutch Laboratories for Medical Microbiology implemented their own follow-up strategies. Large differences were found in follow-up rates within 15 months after diagnosis when comparing a laboratory that provided an active follow-up service by approaching patients directly and two laboratories that only tested on requests of physicians (95% versus 25% follow-up rate, respectively; odds ratio 54, 95% confidence interval 43−67). A study among 183 hospitalized Dutch acute Q fever patients showed that they mostly presented with fever and pneumonia. Hospitalized acute Q fever pneumonia patients were younger, had less co-morbidity, and lower pneumonia severity scores than hospitalized patients with another community-acquired pneumonia. PCR testing is a valuable tool in diagnosing acute Q fever in outbreak situations when the symptom onset is less than 15 days earlier. Patients who later developed serologic profiles indicative of chronic Q fever infection (IgG phase I ≥1:1,024) had significantly higher C. burnetii DNA loads during the acute phase than patients who did not develop such a serologic profile. When the antibody response develops, serology becomes the most important diagnostic tool. Immunofluorescence assay (IFA), enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and complement fixation test (CFT) perform equally well in diagnosing acute Q fever but two serum samples are needed for the definitive laboratory diagnosis.


Patent litigation not only covers legal and technical issues, it is also a key consideration for managers of high-technology (high-tech) companies when making strategic decisions. Patent litigation influences the market value of high-tech companies. However, this raises unique challenges. To this end, in this paper, we develop a novel recommendation framework to solve the problem of litigation risk prediction. We will introduce a specific type of patent-related litigation, that is, Section 337 investigations, which prohibit all acts of unfair competition, or any unfair trade practices, when exporting products to the United States. To build this recommendation framework, we collect and exploit a large amount of published information related to almost all Section 337 investigation cases. This study has two aims: (1) to predict the litigation risk in a specific industry category for high-tech companies and (2) to predict the litigation risk from competitors for high-tech companies. These aims can be achieved by mining historical investigation cases and related patents. Specifically, we propose two methods to meet the needs of both aims: a proximal slope one predictor and a time-aware predictor. Several factors are considered in the proposed methods, including the litigation risk if a company wants to enter a new market and the risk that a potential competitor would file a lawsuit against the new entrant. Comparative experiments using real-world data demonstrate that the proposed methods outperform several baselines with a significant margin.


The preliminary sizing and design of a centrifugal compressor for a 10 MWe waste heat recovery supercritical carbon dioxide (S-CO2) Brayton power plant is presented. Modelling and achieving proper convergence at the design point is challenging due to the proximity to the critical point. To overcome this challenge dimensional analysis was used. Three independent non-dimensional parameters were used to perform the scaling between the design point and a partially dynamically and geometrically similar operating point, which lies in the supercritical ideal gas region of carbon dioxide. The investigation found that the compressor characteristic map can be expressed as a single map referred to as the Generalized Map. The map is expressed in terms of the Enthalpy Rise coefficient and the Flow Coefficient for a set of constant speed lines. From the Generalized Map, the designer can project the characteristic map corresponding to another operating point.


Expression of a 2.3-kb RNA species is induced in mammary tumors as a consequence of insertional mutagenesis at the int-3 locus by the mouse mammary tumor virus. The nucleotide sequence and biological activity of this mammary tumor-specific int-3 RNA species were determined. It contains an open reading frame which encodes a 57-kDa protein. The translated protein possesses six nearly contiguous 32-amino-acid repeats which are related to a similar motif in the Saccharomyces cerevisiae cdc-10-encoded cell cycle protein. In addition, the int-3 cdc-10 repeats are bounded by the PEST amino acid sequence motif which is commonly found in proteins having a rapid turnover and may represent sites for phosphorylation. The int-3 cdc-10 repeat sequences are 50% identical to a portion of the intracellular domain of the neurogenic Drosophila notch gene product. Activation of expression of a recombinant int-3 genomic DNA fragment encoding the 2.3-kb RNA species in HC11 mouse mammary epithelial cells in vitro induces anchorage-independent growth in soft agar.


Abstract. Persistent surface water pools along non-perennial rivers represent an important water resource for the plants, animals, and humans that inhabit semi-arid regions. While ecological studies of these features are not uncommon, these are rarely accompanied by a rigorous examination of the hydrological and hydrogeological characteristics that create or support the pools. Here we present an overarching framework for understanding the hydrology of persistent pools based on data from 22 pools in the Hamersley Basin in Western Australia. Three dominant mechanisms that control the occurrence of persistent pools have been identified; perched pools, through flow pools and groundwater discharge pools. Groundwater discharge pools are further categorized into those that are present because of a geological contact or barrier, and those that are controlled by topography. A suite of diagnostic tools (including geological mapping, hydraulic data and hydrochemical surveys) is generally required to identify the mechanism supporting persistent pools. Perched pools are sensitive to climate variability but their persistence is largely independent of groundwater withdrawals. Water fluxes to pools from alluvial and bedrock aquifers can vary seasonally and resolving these inputs is generally non-trivial. The susceptibility of through-flow and groundwater discharge pools to climate variations and groundwater withdrawals depends on the mechanism of pool persistence and the spatial distribution of stressors relative to the pool. Although this framework was developed in the context of north-western Australia, this framework can also be applied to pools and springs found along non-perennial rivers around the world.


How do so many Internet users escape harm? The range of attacks is enormous and growing; we know that most users neglect even basic defense measures. Yet things somehow muddle along: 2 billion people use the Internet and seem to derive more good than harm from it. If security is only as good as the weakest link, why don't worst-case outcomes happen regularly? Why isn't everyone hacked every day? The answer might lie in economics rather than technology.


[PSI+] is a prion isoform of the yeast release factor Sup35. In some assays, the cytosolic chaperones Ssa1 and Ssb1/2 of the Hsp70 family were previously shown to exhibit "pro-[PSI+]" and "anti-[PSI+]" effects, respectively. Here, it is demonstrated for the first time that excess Ssa1 increases de novo formation of [PSI+] and that pro-[PSI+] effects of Ssa1 are shared by all other Ssa proteins. Experiments with chimeric constructs show that the peptide-binding domain is a major determinant of differences in the effects of Ssa and Ssb proteins on [PSI+]. Surprisingly, overproduction of either chaperone increases loss of [PSI+] when Sup35 is simultaneously overproduced. Excess Ssa increases both the average size of prion polymers and the proportion of monomeric Sup35 protein. Both in vivo and in vitro experiments uncover direct physical interactions between Sup35 and Hsp70 proteins. The proposed model postulates that Ssa stimulates prion formation and polymer growth by stabilizing misfolded proteins, which serve as substrates for prion conversion. In the case of very large prion aggregates, further increase in size may lead to the loss of prion activity. In contrast, Ssb either stimulates refolding into nonprion conformation or targets misfolded proteins for degradation, in this way counteracting prion formation and propagation.


Author: Li, Weiran. PhD Institution: Purdue University Degree Received: August 2019 Title: Classification of Receptor-Like Cytoplasmic Kinases in Maize and Functional Analysis of ZmBLK1 Committee Chair: Charles Woloshuk Receptor-like cytoplasmic kinases (RLCKs) form a large family of proteins in plants. RLCKs have been found in different plant species, regulating plant immunity to different bacterial and fungal pathogens. Previous studies implicated Arabidopsis botrytis induced kinase1 (BIK1) and tomato protein kinase 1b (TPK1b) in plant resistance to Pseudomonas syringae and Botrytis cinerea. In this study, we classified 195 putative maize RLCKs into ten subfamilies. Based on the amino acid sequence similarity to BIK1 and TPK1b, a novel maize RLCK, zea mays bik1-like kinase 1 (ZmBLK1) was identified. Enzyme assays with cloned ZmBLK1 revealed a functional kinase when expressed in planta. The recombinant protein located to the plasma membrane. Expression of ZmBLK1 is highest in maize leaves compared to other structures at silking stage. Expression of the recombinant ZmBLK1 significantly reduced the rate of lesion spread in maize leaves inoculated with the Goss's wilt pathogen. In maize kernels, expression of ZmBLK1 increases during kernel maturation. Kernels from transgenic maize overexpressing ZmBLK1 were not resistant to Aspergillus flavus or to aflatoxin contamination. In addition, mutations were made in ZmBLK1 that were hypothesized to create a constitutively active kinase. However, resulting proteins had similar activity to the wild-type ZmBLK1 and transgenic plants showed similar responses to the Goss's wilt and Aspergillus ear rot pathogens. Overall, this research established the first


Lehtinen, Antti Pre-service Teachers and Guided Inquiry-Based Science Teaching with Simulations Jyväskylä: University of Jyväskylä, 2017, 86 p. (Jyväskylä Studies in Education, Psychology and Social Research ISSN 0075-4625; 591) ISBN 978-951-39-7181-6 (nid.) ISBN 978-951-39-7182-3 (PDF) The aim of this dissertation was explore the beliefs and practices of pre-service primary teachers on using simulations as a part of guided inquiry-based lessons. Even though research has shown that using simulations to learn science offers certain learning benefits compared to other forms of instruction, their use in Finnish schools is still rare compared to the international average. Teacher training has the potential to promote the use of simulations in primary classrooms. Internationally, research has been called for the role of teachers in learning and teaching with simulations. As a part of this dissertation, an intervention was designed to accustom a group of pre-service teachers to teaching science with simulations. As teacher beliefs play a critical role in the implementation of new technologies into classrooms, the connection of preservice teachers' beliefs about their knowledge in different domains to their attitudes towards simulations was examined. The focus was also on how the pre-service teachers provided guidance for inquiry-based learning with simulations in the lessons that were a part of the intervention. The findings show that the pre-service teachers' belief on their own technological knowledge correlates with their attitude towards simulations. As for providing guidance for inquiry-based learning with simulations, the findings demonstrate the important role teachers have on providing guidance that adapts to both the simulation and to the students' needs. The forms of guidance had also an effect on the communicative approach the pre-service teachers applied in the lessons. The results provide insight on the unique role of the teacher in science teaching with simulations but as well give guidelines to teacher educators on how to promote high quality inquiry-based science teaching with simulations through teacher training. These guidelines include improving the technological knowledge of pre-service teachers throughout their teacher training and ensuring that they are able to recognize the potential different providers of guidance have on supporting inquiry-based learning.


Upon contact with the ZP3 glycoprotein of a mammalian egg's outer coating, the zona pellucida, the intracellular calcium concentration in the associated sperm rises, stimulating the exocytic acrosome reaction that drives fertilization. O'Toole et al. report that in mouse sperm, after the known transient calcium influx that occurs through low voltage-activated-type channels, a second sustained calcium influx occurs through calcium store-depleted activated channels. Both transient and sustained calcium influxes were necessary for the acrosome reaction to occur. Other voltage-gated calcium channels were ruled out through the use of specific antagonists. The requirement for a transient calcium entry before a sustained calcium response to ZP3 stimulation is not yet clear. O'Toole, C.M.B., Arnoult, C., Darszon, A., Steinhardt, R.A., and Florman, H.F. (2000) Ca2+ entry through store-operated channels in mouse sperm is initiated by egg ZP3 and drives the acrosome reaction. Mol. Biol. Cell 11: 1571-1584. [Abstract] [Full Text]


Many models to predict tree height from diameter have been developed, but not all are equally useful. This study compared a set of height-diameter models for loblolly (Pinus taeda) and shortleaf (Pinus echinata) pines from Ashley County, Arkansas. Almost 560 trees ranging in diameter at breast height (DBH) from 0.3 cm (both species) to 91.9 cm (for shortleaf) or 108.2 cm (for loblolly) were chosen for measurement. Height equations were then fit to four different functions (Chapman-Richards, modified logistic, exponential, and Curtis-Arney) with weighted nonlinear least squares regression using DBH as the only predictor. Models were evaluated using a series of goodness-of-fit measures, including fit index (R 2 ), root mean square error (RMSE), bias, and corrected Akaike information criterion (AICc). All of the models fit the data very well, with 96 to 98% of the variation explained for loblolly pine, and 96 to 97% explained for shortleaf pine. Similarly, few differences were apparent in RMSE, bias, and AICc, although it was clear that the Curtis-Arney function fit both pine species slightly less well across the upper range of the diameters. Only subtle differences appeared in curve shape for small- to moderate-sized pines, with increasing departures predicted above 75 cm DBH. Given their overall similarity in performance, the modified logistic function was the preferred heightdiameter model because of its more intuitive allometry at the upper extreme of pine size, especially when compared to the original FVS height dubbing equation. A unified height-diameter model capable of predicting total tree height for either pine taxa was also developed with a modified logistic function.


This report is a summary of a two year research project carried out by the IT byg group at BYG. DTU for the Danish government agencies Erhvervsfremmestyrelsen and By- og Bolig-ministeriet. The objectives were to collect data on the use of IT by the PPB housing consortia, a development project to test out various innovations, to map communications between the partners, and compare IT usage with their original proposals. Data was collected on communications in housing projects in the period June 1999- Aug 2000. The original PPB proposals were made in 1994/5 but there have been breaks in the flow of projects, and information technology has gone through much change since then. Use of Email has taken over from post and fax, and Project Webs have been developed in most consortia. Consortium members' policies have dominated the choice of management and logistics software, restricted compatibility in the consortia, and limited willingness to share data. Greater involvement by the client, and more sharing of equity, would have encouraged adoption of common IT systems and created more trust for data sharing between partners. PPB projects have allowed consortium members to test out new technologies but, in general, the IT systems used have been similar to those which the larger firms use elsewhere. Vertical integration has been limited by lack of experience and technology in smaller firms. In future, access to Project Webs from mobile devices should help use by all partners from any location. In all the projects studied, and in spite of the introduction of Email and Project Webs, the ratio of non-IT communications to IT varied from 0.8 to 4.6. When problems need to be solved rapidly there appears to be a tendency to revert to traditional means of communication - meetings, telephone and fax.


Ultrasonography has added benefits such as fetal sexing, early embryonic detection and is less invasive than rectal palpation. Besides, it also has the ability to visually characterize the uterus, fetus, ovary, corpus luteum, and follicles. In order to study the influence of fetal growth on further development in animal models like the rabbit, methods of measurement of fetal and placental size must be measured and viability must be established and validated (Chavatte-Palmer et al. 2008). This research is carried out to detect the earliest day of conception in Indonesian domestic rabbits by means of ultrasonography as well as to study the fetal development by analyzing the images produced during the pregnancy check on embryonic vesicle, body diameter and head diameter.


We consider the problem faced by a firm that receives highly differentiated products in an online fashion and needs to price them in order to sell them to its customer base. Products are described by vectors of features and the market value of each product is linear in the values of the features. The firm does not initially know the values of the different features, but it can learn the values of the features based on whether products were sold at the posted prices in the past. This model is motivated by a question in online advertising, where impressions arrive over time and can be described by vectors of features. We first consider a multi-dimensional version of binary search over polyhedral sets, and show that it has exponential worst-case regret. We then propose a modification of the prior algorithm where uncertainty sets are replaced by their Lowner-John ellipsoids. We show that this algorithm has a worst-case regret that is quadratic in the dimensionality of the feature space and logarithmic in the time horizon.


Lichens are complex organisms living in a symbiotic relationship with fungi and algae have recently received special interest in cancer research. The cytotoxic activities of Usnea filipendula Stirt. lichen extract was investigated on colon cancer cell lines, HCT-15 and HT-29. Sulforhodamine B and ATP cell viability tests were used to monitor cytotoxic activity. The mode of cell death (apoptosis/necrosis) was determined using caspase-cleaved cytokeratin 18 (M30), caspase-3/7 activity and fluorescence staining techniques that included, Annexin-V, Hoechst 33342 and propidium iodide. Usnea filipendula showed dose and time-dependent antiproliferative effect in HCT-15 and HT-29 cells. The IC50 values in HCT-15 and HT-29 cells were 17.92 and 41.87 µg/ml, respectively. The extract induced apoptosis in both cell lines especially in HCT-15 cells in which caspase-3/7 activity was increased. Usnea filipendula was cytotoxic to colon cancer HCT-15 and HT-29 cell lines by inducing early or late apoptosis as evidenced by translocation of phosphatidylserine, pyknotic nuclei and nuclear condensation. Further studies would help to understand the full potential of Usnea filipendula as a novel anticancer therapy.


This paper discusses several issues regarding innovations in Chinese local governments in the past 10 years, through analyzing past applications of the Chinese Local Governance Innovations Awards since its establishment, as well as complementary surveys. These issues include the current state, distribution, types, motivations, sustainability and impacts of local governance innovations. The research concludes that local innovations must be evaluated and analyzed against the backdrop of social and political development in China. Most innovations are incident-driven, and are enrichments and improvements to the existing system. However, innovations are distributed at different levels of the administration as well as at different departments, thus, its impact on the overall system may be weakened due to the conflicts among different levels of administration, or among different departments.


Using state-representative teacher surveys in three states—Texas, Ohio, and Kentucky—we examine teachers' implementation of college- and career-readiness (CCR) standards. What do teachers report about the specificity, authority, consistency, power, and stability of their standards environment? How does their policy environment predict standards-emphasized instruction? Do these relationships differ for those who teach different subjects (math and English Language Arts [ELA]), different grades (elementary or high school), different populations (English Language Learners [ELLs], students with disabilities [SWDs]), and in different areas (rural, urban, or suburban)? We found elementary math teachers taught significantly more standards-emphasized content than elementary ELA teachers, whereas secondary ELA teachers taught significantly more standards-emphasized content than secondary math teachers. Teachers of SWDs and rural teachers taught significantly less of the emphasized content. In all three states, we found greater buy-in (authority) predicted increased emphasized content coverage among ELA teachers but not among math teachers.


Author(s): Kessler, Alan | Abstract: Are public attitudes toward immigration policy in the United States driven by economic or non-economic concerns? Though systematic analyses are few, a burgeoning literature suggests that cultural norms and enduring values, rather than calculations of self-interest, determine immigration policy preferences. This paper challenges the contention that economic motivations play little or no role in the formation of immigration policy preferences. Drawing on recent work in political economy, I argue that individual preferences over immigration policy reflect economic and non-economic concerns – both broadly rooted in considerations of individual self-interest. While affective orientations toward ethnic groups and prejudice clearly underlie public attitudes toward immigration policy, analysts err in discounting an economic interpretation of immigration policy preferences. In fact, multivariate analysis of 1992 through 2000 National Election Study surveys reveals a robust link between an individual's position in the labor market and immigration policy. Respondents at the lower end of the nation's occupational and/or educational distribution are more likely to oppose increased immigration, as the Heckscher-Ohlin model of international trade implies.


This paper analyses how decentralised wage bargaining affects wage levels and the structure of wages as well as the impact on firm performance. By using unique employer-employee matched data for Sweden 2007 and 2010, the paper presents new evidence on the collective bargaining premium in Sweden and the linkages between decentralised bargaining and firm performance. By differentiating between decentralised, two-tiered and centralised collective wage bargaining the methodologies of Card and De La Rica (2006); Dahl, le Maire, and Munch (2013); Guertzgen (2014); Gurtzgen (2007); Jakubson (1991) are adopted and adjusted using pooled OLS, first difference OLS, and quantile regressions. Variation in individual worker's bargaining regime is exploited for identification of the effect of decentralisation. Results indicate that a large share of the wage premium associated with decentralised and two-tiered bargaining is due to systematic selection/sorting into those regimes. Models that take into account individual and firm unobserved heterogeneity indicate that the wage premium associated with decentralised wage bargaining is around 5-7.5% and 0.7-4.1% for two-tiered bargaining. When examining the effect on the wage structure, results indicate that decentralised and two-tiered bargaining compresses the wage structure by awarding relatively higher wage premiums to low-wage earners, in particular in decentralised regimes. At the same time, no evidence is found of higher returns to education in either regime, but both regimes are associated with higher returns to experience than centralised bargaining. Lastly, unique evidence is found of a positive linkage between the level of decentralisation at the firmlevel and value added per employee and firm productivity. This is a novel contribution to the literature that has not yet considered the impact of decentralised wage bargaining on firm performance. Thus there is evidence that the level at which bargaining takes place influences both wage levels and wage structure as well as firm performance.


Detailed diagnostic data is a prerequisite for debugging problems and understanding runtime performance in distributed embedded wireless systems. Severe bandwidth limitations, tight timing constraints, and limited program text space hinder the application of standard diagnostic tools within this domain. Our work introduces the Log Instrumentation Specification (LIS) that drives insertion of low overhead logging calls into a system. The LIS language is easy for developers to directly integrate into their daily work flow and, by acting as an intermediary language, facilitates rapid construction of higher level analysis. Through microbenchmarks of a complete LIS implementation for the TinyOS operating system, we demonstrate that LIS can comfortably fit onto bottom tier embedded systems. We show how we have used LIS to create a complete monitoring infrastructure for wireless sensor networks that uses features of the LIS language to optimize the size of gathered logs, replicate features o f specialized logging infrastructures with minimal effort, and jump start debugging of these systems. Finally, we provide examples of our use of LIS to diagnose specific problems and understand system behavior of a sensor network. Keywords-software engineering; testing and debugging; debugging aids; diagnostics; distributed debugging; sensor networks


Winning college application essays take admission officers beyond the numbers and shows them what the students really care about, how they think, and who they really are. But even the best of students can be daunted by the task. This easy-to-follow guide provides the tools to tell a memorable story. Updated to reflect recent changes to the all-important Common Application, which nearly all applicants to competitive colleges use, this book provides a clear path to an essay that says, Pick me! Features: Best approaches to the new Common Application questions. Clues to how colleges read essays Simple steps for successful drafts. Revision strategies. Quick fixes for procrastinators. The right role of parents in the process. Critiques of actual sample essays guide students toward the best practices and away from common mistakes. No other book on this topic has this breadth and depth of expertise.


This is a classic introduction to Latin literature, with translations of the best passages from Virgil, Livy, Ovid, Seneca and many others. This classic anthology traces the development of Latin literature from the early Republican works of Cicero and Catullus, to the writers of the Empire such as Lucan and Petronius, to the later writings of St Augustine. The selections cover comedy and epic, history and philosophy, in prose and in verse, and each passage is prefaced by an introduction to the author and his influence. The translators range across history from Alexander Pope and Lord Byron to contemporaries. The result is a broad and brilliant overview of the civilization of Rome and its Empire - an ideal introduction to Latin literature. Michael Grant was born in 1914. He served as an intelligence officer during the Second World War, and subsequently held academic posts at the universities of Cambridge, Edinburgh, Khartoum and Belfast. Over his lifetime, he published nearly fifty books on the ancient world, ranging from studies of Roman coinage, to biographies of Caesar, Nero and Jesus, to books on Ancient Israel and the Middle Ages. Many of his translations were published in Penguin Classics. Professor Grant moved to Italy in 1966, where he spent most of the rest of his life until his death in 2004.


Objectives To prospectively and longitudinally study symptoms and signs of temporomandibular disorders (TMD) and occlusal changes in girls with Class II malocclusion receiving orthodontic fixed appliance treatment in comparison with untreated Class II malocclusions and with normal occlusion subjects. Design Prospective observational cohort. Subjects Sixty-five girls with Class II malocclusion who received orthodontic treatment, 58 girls with no treatment, and 60 girls with normal occlusion. Method The girls were examined for symptoms and signs of TMD and re-examined 2 years later. Additional records were taken in the orthodontic group during active treatment and 1 year after treatment Results All three groups included subjects with more or less pronounced TMD, which showed individual fluctuation during the ongoing study. In the orthodontic group, the prevalence of muscular signs of TMD was significantly less common post-treatment. Temporomandibular joint clicking increased in all three groups over the 2 years, but was less common in the normal group. The normal group also had a lower overall prevalence of TMD than the orthodontic and the Class II group at both registrations. Functional occlusal interferences decreased in the orthodontic group, but remained the same in the other groups over the 2 years. Conclusions (i) Orthodontic treatment either with or without extractions did not increase the prevalence or worsen pre-treatment symptoms and signs of TMD. (ii) Individually, TMD fluctuated substantially over time with no predictable pattern. However, on a group basis, the type of occlusion may play a role as a contributing factor for the development of TMD. (iii) The large fluctuation of TMD over time leads us to suggest a conservative treatment approach when stomatognathic treatment in children and adolescents is considered.


Idelalisib, a PI3Kδ inhibitor, inhibits antibody-induced formation of ROS in human monocytes by preventing Akt-dependent phosphorylation of NOX2. By rescuing NK cells from immunosuppressive ROS, idelalisib promotes NK cell–mediated antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity against malignant B cells. The phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate-3 kinase-δ (PI3Kδ) inhibitor idelalisib, used alone or in combination with anti-CD20, is clinically efficacious in B-cell lymphoma and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) by promoting apoptosis of malignant B cells. PI3K regulates the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) by the myeloid NADPH oxidase NOX2, but the role of PI3Kδ in myeloid cell–induced immunosuppression is unexplored. We assessed the effects of idelalisib on the spontaneous and IgG antibody–induced ROS production by human monocytes, on ROS-induced cell death of human natural killer (NK) cells, and on tumor cell clearance in an NK cell–dependent mouse model of metastasis. Idelalisib potently and efficiently inhibited the formation of NOX2-derived ROS from monocytes and rescued NK cells from ROS-induced cell death. Idelalisib also promoted NK cell cytotoxicity against anti–CD20-coated primary human CLL cells and cultured malignant B cells. Experiments using multiple PI3K inhibitors implicated the PI3Kδ isoform in regulating NOX2-induced ROS formation and immunosuppression. In B6 mice, systemic treatment with idelalisib significantly reduced the formation of lung metastases from intravenously injected melanoma cells but did not affect metastasis in B6.129S6-Cybbtm1Din (Nox2−/−) mice or in NK cell–deficient mice. Our results imply that idelalisib rescues NK cells from NOX2/ROS-dependent immunosuppression and thus exerts antineoplastic efficacy beyond B-cell inhibition.


The lymphocyte growth factors interleukin-2 (IL2), IL4, IL7, IL9 and IL15 use the common IL2 receptor-γ (IL2Rγ) and activate the IL2Rγ-associated tyrosine kinase JAK3 (Janus kinase 3). IL13 is structurally related to IL4, competes with IL4 for binding to cell surface receptors and exhibits many similar biological effects. The molecular basis for this functional overlap between IL4 and IL13 has been attributed mainly to a shared use of the 140 kDa IL4Rα, since these cytokines appear to be uniquely different in that, according to several recent reports, IL13 does not recruit the IL2Rγ or JAK3. This notion has been supported by the identification of a novel 70 kDa IL13 receptor in certain IL13-responsive cell lines that lack IL2Rγ. The present study sheds new light on the issue of functional overlap between IL13 and IL4, by demonstrating for the first time that, in cells that express both IL2Rγ and IL4Rα, IL13 can mimic IL4-induced heterodimerization of IL2Rγ and IL4Rα, with consequent marked activation of JAK3 and the transcription factor STAT6 (IL4-STAT). Reconstitution experiments in BA/F3 cells showed that both cytokines require the simultaneous presence of IL4Rα and IL2Rγ to mediate JAK3 and proliferative responses, and analysis of 12 IL4Rα variants showed that IL4 and IL13 signals were equally affected by mutations of the cytoplasmic domain. We conclude that IL13 activates the IL2Rγ-associated JAK3 tyrosine kinase in appropriate cell types, and propose that IL13 is capable of interacting with multiple receptor subunits in a cell-dependent and combinatorial manner. Consequently, we predict that partial disruption of IL13 signal transduction also contributes to the severe combined immunodeficiency syndromes associated with inactivation of the IL2Rγ or JAK3 genes.


Objective. Patients with arthritis frequently are at increased risk for future cardiovascular (CV) events. We investigated the performance of the cardiac biomarkers N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) and high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) for predicting CV events in patients with arthritis taking chronic nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAID). Methods. We evaluated 2-year CV outcomes in a prospective, nested biomarker study among patients (N = 6273) with rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis treated with NSAID in the MEDAL (Multinational Etoricoxib and Diclofenac Arthritis Long-term) trial. Patients were stratified by quartiles of baseline NT-proBNP and established cutpoints of NT-proBNP and hsCRP. Results. NT-proBNP demonstrated a strong graded relationship with CV outcomes, including CV death (p for trend < 0.0001), myocardial infarction (MI) (p for trend = 0.02), heart failure (HF) (p for trend < 0.0001), and a composite of thrombotic events (CV death, MI, stroke) or HF (p for trend < 0.0001). Baseline levels of hsCRP were not associated with CV events (CV death/MI/stroke/HF; p for trend = 0.65). NT-proBNP remained strongly predictive of CV events after adjustment for age, sex, diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, smoking, type of arthritis, body mass index, creatinine clearance, history of CV disease, and hsCRP (CV death/MI/stroke/HF: Q4 vs Q1 hazard ratio 3.53, 95% CI 1.89−6.58). Patients with a NT-proBNP level below 100 pg/ml had a 0.94% rate of thrombotic events or heart failure at 2 years. Conclusion. NT-proBNP is a simple and robust noninvasive indicator of CV risk in patients with arthritis. Risk stratification based on NT-proBNP may facilitate identification of patients with arthritis who are at low CV risk during chronic NSAID treatment.


This paper is intended to "Analyze Customer Satisfaction with service delivery of Botswana Telecommunications Corporation (BTC) Mobile Network", with specific reference to Francistown. This was prompted by the fact that currently, not much study has been done regarding the measurement of customer satisfaction on the delivery of BTC's Mobile Telecommunication Network service in Botswana. Customer satisfaction has become a fundamental marketing concept in the last three decades. This research is centered to those respondents who are using the beMobile services of BTC. For this study a sample of 20 beMobile employees and 80 customers stationed in Francistown who use the beMobile services were used in random. Thus 100 respondents are identified for this research study. Their opinions were collected through a structured questionnaire. The data were tabulated, percentage analysis made and graphical illustration made. The research results indicate that 75% of beMobile clients were very much satisfied, 25% expressed satisfaction while none expressed any form of dissatisfaction. This shows that customer satisfaction with service delivery of Botswana Telecommunications Corporation (BTC) mobile network is generally satisfactory but still need improvement. The study recommends that beMobile expands its network coverage in rural areas, introduction of SIMcard replacement while retaining original cell phone number, introduction of services like Khumo points where the subscriber recharges with a prescribed amount and gets not only free calls on weekends and public holidays, but also free airtime that can be used any time including weekdays. BeMobile should also reduce the time taken by its staff when attending customers at counters. Therefore this study aims to shed light on the current experiences faced by both staff and customers using the beMobile service by BTC.


This paper develops a communication theoretic model for the design and analysis at the physical layer of a reader receiver structure for passive UHF Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID). The objective is attaining multipacket reception capabilities which in turn help the fast resolution of multiple tags through a more rapid and power efficient arbitration of the tags collisions. In particular, we derive a parametric continuous time model for the subspace of a tag signal at the noisy receiver/reader, which in addition to being affected by fading and receiver delay, exhibits wide variations in the symbol frequency and transmission delay, due to imperfections in the RFID hardware design. Our main contribution is in showing that channel fading, the difference in delay and the tags frequency dispersion can be transformed from foes to friends by exploiting them in a multipacket receiver. In fact, signals colliding from different tags are more easily separable by estimating the sensor specific variation in frequency and delay and using these estimates in a multiuser receiver. In our study, we specifically consider a successive interference cancellation algorithm followed by a maximum likelihood sequence decoder, that iteratively reconstructs one signal contribution at a time and then removes it from the received signal. Numerical simulations show that the estimates and proposed algorithm are effective in recovering collisions. The proposed algorithm is then incorporated into a numerical simulation of the Q -protocol for UHF RFID tags and is shown to be effective in providing fast and power efficient arbitration.


The present study investigates how the linguistic and cognitive characteristics of second language learners' writing change over the course of a one-month intensive English for Academic Purposes (EAP) summer programme at a British university. A mixed methods approach was used in the study in order to obtain a more nuanced picture of the students' writing skills development over time. Data for this study was collected using the relatively new research tool, keystroke logging. The participants (25 postgraduate and 14 undergraduate students) were asked to produce two argumentative essays, at the beginning and at the end of the EAP course. The essays were analysed using measures theoretically motivated by previous research in corpus linguistics, systemic functional linguistics and developmental child language acquisition. All students participated in pre-course and post-course interviews and completed three learning journal entries during the course. MANOVAs, ANOVAs and non-parametric Wilcoxon signed-ranks tests were used to analyse the quantitative data, while the interviews and learning journals were transcribed and coded manually. The quantitative results suggest that despite no explicit focus on lexis and syntax in the EAP programme, by the end of the course the undergraduate and postgraduate students' writing exhibited a developmentally more advanced repertoire of lexical and syntactic choices that are characteristic of expository texts in academic contexts. With regard to writing fluency, controversial results were obtained, the undergraduate students having advanced in terms of their writing speed, whereas the postgraduate students, whose writing speed has decreased, made significantly more content-oriented revisions at the end of their study on the EAP programme. The qualitative results revealed a number of interesting findings. Specifically, the goals that the students set became more focused on academic writing rather than on language improvement. The results of the analyses have also shown that the majority of undergraduate students gained in terms of confidence in their writing skills and their self-efficacy beliefs increased substantially during four weeks. Finally, regarding the writers' difficulties, in contrast with the beginning of the EAP programme, when most students believed that vocabulary constituted the biggest challenge for them, at the end of the course, vocabulary was scarcely mentioned. These findings coupled with the quantitative results indicate that the students showed notable improvement on the EAP programme.


This collection brings together innovative historical work on race and national identity in Latin America and the Caribbean and places this scholarship in the context of interdisciplinary and transnational discussions regarding race and nation in the Americas. Moving beyond debates about whether ideologies of racial democracy have actually served to obscure discrimination, the book shows how notions of race and nationhood have varied over time across Latin America's political landscapes. Framing the themes and questions explored in the volume, the editors' introduction also provides an overview of the current state of the interdisciplinary literature on race and nation-state formation. Essays on the postindependence period in Belize, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Panama, and Peru consider how popular and elite racial constructs have developed in relation to one another and to processes of nation building. Contributors also examine how ideas regarding racial and national identities have been gendered and ask how racialized constructions of nationhood have shaped and limited the citizenship rights of subordinated groups.


Renal transplantation is not readily available in the majority of countries in Africa. It is expensive and difficult to sustain on the meagre funds allocated to health. We report our short experience with fifteen living donor recipients followed in our unit for at least 24 months, range 26 - 48 (mean 35 months) post-transplantation. The donors and recipients were mostly young adults with mean ages of 36.7 years and 32.6 years respectively. The majority of the donors and recipients were males. The donors in most cases were siblings. Within this time, one graft has been lost at one year and the patient restarted on haemodialysis. Three patients died, two within the first year, the third at 23 months after transplantation, all with functioning grafts. The one year graft and patient survival rates were 93% and 86.6% respectively. The second year graft survival rates remained at 93% and the patients survival rate 80%. The nature and frequency of complications seen in these patients is comparable to those in other centres. Of all medical complications, bacterial infections contributed 69.4% of all infections. Cardiovascular complications comprised 31.25% of the complications. Hypertension seen in 85.5% of the patients accounted for 65% of the cardiovascular complications. Acute rejections were common and occurred in seven patients. Transplantation is a viable mode of renal replacement therapy (RRT) in our environment. The practice should be supported to make it more readily available to the many young end stage renal failure (ESRF) patients.


The recent information and networks explosion has greatly affected the fields of education and distance learning, leading to the development of educational material that provides support for interactive communication between trainers and learners. Web technology in particular stands as a medium with great educational value, mainly due to its ability to grant access to training material without any spatial or temporal constraints, thus motivating and attracting new users to experience this novel form of learning. As the Internet constantly evolves, new technologies tend to influence the domains of e-learning. The combination of the Web, multimedia and 3D graphics has resulted to the implementation of new training tools bearing advanced navigational and interactive functionalities along with appealing user interfaces that encourage learners to actively participate in the learning process. Moreover, 3D Virtual Worlds have surfaced making available new forms of visualization, distribution and presentation of training material. The objectives of the present paper are to discuss the educational value of 3D virtual worlds and the emerging challenges regarding the analysis, design and development of these innovative user interfaces. VRLAB is an e-learning system created solely to address the aforementioned issues. It offers a three dimensional multimedia user interface with extended interactivity, permitting learners to participate virtually in studying and performing simulated lab experiments for a course in Computer Graphics.


Objectives: To investigate the experiences by distance learning (DL) method during the first wave of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in Italy, and to search for correlations with purported experiences and respective levels of social determinants of health (SDH). Study design and methods: Cross-sectional online survey, investigating various SDH and parents' attitude towards DL, proposed 6 months after the beginning of the pandemic to a sample population of parents with school-aged children throughout Italy. Results: A total of 3791 questionnaires were analyzed. Non-Italian parents complained more frequently of difficulties in providing support to their children in DL due to poor digital skills (p = 0.01), lack of good-quality digital equipment (p = 0.01), problems with the Italian language (p < 0.001), and a lower level of education (p < 0.001). When parents lived apart, greater difficulties in concentration in children using DL (p = 0.05) and a lower parental capacity to support DL (p = 0.002) were reported. Adequate digital structures appeared related to living in owned compared to rented property, higher levels of parental education, and better familial financial situations. Conclusions: Students from families with financial difficulties and low levels of parental education, or even those living in houses for rent or having separated parents, may be disadvantaged in an educational context since the introduction of DL.


Green technologies display unusually strong growth and are well on the way to establishing a 'mega-trend' in technology development. To exploit the associated economic opportunities, many industrialised countries have started to follow an innovation-oriented approach to environmental policy. Against this background, the ways are examined in which environmental policy can effectively 'govern' technological change and secure environmental improvements. What is needed is a clear focus on prioritising the ecological effectiveness of environmental innovations, devising 'smart regulation' through instrument mixes and addressing the inherent limitations of innovation-oriented policies.


The most that an author can hope for is that others will read their work. An even greater honor is when readers take the time to provide thoughtful comments on the content of that work. I truly appreciate that the contributors to this symposium have not only taken the time to read Doing Bad by Doing Good (DBDG), but have also provided thoughtful observations on a variety of themes discussed in, or related to, the book. In what follows I offer my reflections on each of the articles in the volume. I separate my thoughts into several categories which align with the themes of the papers in this issue. Where multiple papers fall into a single category I provide sub-section by the last name of the author(s).


Designing new medical drugs for a specific disease requires extensive analysis of many molecules that have an activity for the disease. The main goal of these extensive analyses is to discover substructures (fragments) that account for the activity of these molecules. Once they are discovered, these fragments are used to understand the structure of new drugs and design new medicines for the disease. In this paper, we propose an interactive approach for visual molecule mining to discover fragments of molecules that are responsible for the desired activity with respect to a specific disease. Our approach visualizes molecular data in a form that can be interpreted by a human expert. Using a pipelining structure, it enables experts to contribute to the solution with their expertise at different levels. In order to derive desired fragments, it combines histogram-based filtering and clustering methods in a novel way. This combination enables a flexible determination of frequent fragments that repeat in molecules exactly or with some variations.


Over the past decade, a global convergence in migration policies has emerged, and with it a new, mean-spirited politics of immigration. It is now evident that the idea of a settler society, previously an important landmark in understanding migration, is a thing of the past. What are the consequences of this shift for how we imagine immigration? And for how we regulate it? This book analyzes the dramatic shift away from the settler society paradigm in light of the crisis of asylum, the fear of Islamic fundamentalism, and the demise of multiculturalism. What emerges is a radically original take on the new global politics of immigration that can explain policy paralysis in the face of rising death tolls, failing human rights arguments, and persistent state desires to treat migration as an economic calculus.


The social structure of contemporary Korea contains strong echoes of the hierarchical principles and patterns governing stratification in the Choson dynasty (1392-1910): namely, birth and one's position in the bureaucracy. At the beginning of Korea's modern era, the bureaucracy continued to exert great influence, but developments undermined, instead of reinforced, aristocratic dominance. Furthermore, these changes elevated the secondary status groups of the Choson dynasty, those who had belonged to hereditary, endogamous tiers of government and society between the aristocracy and the commoners: specialists in foreign languages, law, medicine, and accounting; the clerks who ran local administrative districts; the children and descendants of concubines; the local elites of the northern provinces; and military officials. These groups had languished in subordinate positions in both the bureaucratic and social hierarchies for hundreds of years under an ethos and organization that, based predominantly on family lineage, consigned them to a permanent place below the Choson aristocracy. As the author shows, the political disruptions of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, however, rewarded talent instead of birth. In turn, these groups' newfound standing as part of the governing elite allowed them to break into, and often dominate, the cultural, literary, and artistic spheres as well as politics, education, and business.


Significant progress has been made during the past two decades to advance the use of cold warped glazing (glass that has been elastically twisted out of plane) to achieve architectural vision.  As with most new technologies, a full understanding of the mechanics of elastic cold warping has lagged its adoption and increasing specification for use in new construction.  As a contractor whose aim is to turn vision into reality, Enclos has been invested in research and development related to the structural and performance implications of cold warped glazing. One of the most recent discoveries from this work at Enclos has been to relate cold warping of glass to its effect on plate stiffness.  In particular, transverse stiffness to resist load may be negatively affected by the operation of cold warping glass supported by a perimeter frame.  This loss in stiffness has been observed in cold warped glass when compared to flat glass of equal size and thickness.  Recent work at Enclos indicates deflection due to transverse load increases with an increasing degree of warping.  This phenomenon is especially pronounced for thin plates that resist load through significant large-deformation, non-linear plate behavior.  As the degree of warp increases, the loss of stiffness becomes increasingly apparent, to the point at which the glass buckles. As a result of the warping operation, compressive membrane stresses are generated in the center region of the glass.  These compressive stresses counteract the tension that normally arises during large-deformation plate behavior and that contributes to its deflection performance.  As such, a membrane compression due to warping leads to the loss in stiffness when membrane effects appreciably contribute to overall bending stiffness (as they do in plates that fall within the large-deflection regime of bending).  An exploration of this phenomena using a series of finite element tests, coupled with observations from previous testing are the basis for these findings.


The BUGS language offers a very flexible way of specifying complex statistical models for the purposes of Gibbs sampling, while its JAGS variant offers very convenient R inte-gration via the rjags package. However, including smoothers in JAGS models can involve some quite tedious coding, especially for multivariate or adaptive smoothers. Further, if an additive smooth structure is required then some care is needed, in order to centre smooths appropriately, and to find appropriate starting values. R package mgcv imple-ments a wide range of smoothers, all in a manner appropriate for inclusion in JAGS code, and automates centring and other smooth setup tasks. The purpose of this note is to describe an interface between mgcv and JAGS , based around an R function, jagam , which takes a generalized additive model (GAM) as specified in mgcv and automatically gen-erates the JAGS model code and data required for inference about the model via Gibbs sampling. Although the auto-generated JAGS code can be run as is, the expectation is that the user would wish to modify it in order to add complex stochastic model components readily specified in JAGS . A simple interface is also provided for visualisation and further inference about the estimated smooth components using standard mgcv function-ality. The methods described here will be un-necessarily inefficient if all that is required is fully Bayesian inference about a standard GAM, rather than the full flexibility of JAGS . In that case the BayesX package would be more efficient.


Various interferometric methods can be used for testing aspheric surfaces with high accuracy. Using a partially compensating lens in a Twyman-Green arrangement together with a computer-generated hologram instead of a null corrector gives great flexibility. For quantitative analysis a high-resolution automatic fringe analysis is necessary. The interferometric arrangement and the setup for the interferogram data acquisition are described along with different algorithms for calculating the wave front data. Tilt and decentering of the aspheric surface and the synthetic hologram as well as the actual aspherical parameters can be derived from the calculated wave front using Zernike polynomials to communicate with a ray tracing program. For small adjustment and shape errors the linearity will hold, leading to fast correction and numerical compensation of their effects on the surface error. The method is verified by several examples. Experimental results agree with the proposed model.


Background and Purpose Neurolymphomatosis is a rare manifestation of hematological malignancy and is characterized by direct infiltration of the peripheral nervous system. The objective of this study was to identify the clinical and electrophysiological features of neurolymphomatosis. Methods We retrospectively analyzed the medical records of 13 patients with neurolymphomatosis. Seven (54%) of the patients were men, and the median age at symptom onset was 60.0 years. Results The most common type of underlying malignancy was diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (69%). Twelve patients had painful asymmetric neuropathies. The median survival time after diagnosis was 7 months, and 12 patients died during the study period. Thirty-eight motor nerve conduction studies (NCSs) were performed in the affected nerves. Ten and 28 motor nerves were classified into the conduction-block and simple-axon-degeneration groups, respectively. The median time interval between symptom onset and the NCS was significantly shorter in the conduction-block group than in the simple-axon-degeneration group (p=0.032). However, no significant differences in the motor nerve conduction velocities, terminal latencies, and distal compound muscle action potential amplitudes were identified between the conduction-block and simple-axon-degeneration groups. The conduction-block group showed excessive temporal dispersion in only five of the ten NCSs (50%). Follow-up NCSs revealed that partial conduction blocks had changed into axonal degeneration patterns. Conclusions This is the first study to analyze the electrophysiological features of patients with neurolymphomatosis. Our findings showed that a partial conduction block is not rare and is an early nerve conduction abnormality in neurolymphomatosis.


Are regulatory interventions delayed reactions to market failures or can regulators proactively pre‐empt corporate misbehavior? From a public interest view, we would expect "effective" regulation to ex ante mitigate agency conflicts between corporate insiders and outsiders, and prevent corporate misbehavior from occurring or quickly rectify transgressions. However, regulators are also self‐interested and may be captured, uninformed, or ideological, and become less effective as a result. In this registered report, we develop a historical time series of corporate (accounting) scandals and (accounting) regulations for a panel of 26 countries from 1800 to 2015. An analysis of the lead‐lag relations at both the global and individual country level yields the following insights: (1) Corporate scandals are an antecedent to regulation over long stretches of time, suggesting that regulators are typically less flexible and informed than firms. (2) Regulation is positively related to the incidence of future scandals, suggesting that regulators are not fully effective, that explicit rules are required to identify scandalous corporate actions, or that new regulations have unintended consequences. (3) There exist systematic differences in these lead‐lag relations across countries and over time, suggesting that the effectiveness of regulation is shaped by fundamental country characteristics like market development and legal tradition.


A key issue in the implementation of the Water Framework Directive is the classification of streams and rivers using biological quality parameters and type-specific reference conditions. Four groups of stream types were defined in NE Spain on the basis of 152 diatom samples by means of detrended correspondence analysis and classification techniques. Diatom analysis was restricted to epilithic taxa, and the sites included gradients ranging from near-natural streams to sites with poor ecological quality. The main gradient shows a clear separation of sites in relation to the degree of human influence: polluted streams (mainly located in the lowlands) differ from streams in mountainous areas and in the Pyrenees. A second gradient is related to physiographical features. Headwater streams can be distinguished by their catchment geology. The type-specific diatom taxa for the stream types studied were determined by using indicator species analysis (IndVal). The type-specific taxa from near-natural streams are coincident with the indicator taxa for high ecological status. Human impact reduced the typological heterogeneity of the diatom community composition. Overall, the diatom communities in NE Spain exhibit a regional distribution pattern that closely corresponds with that observed in river systems elsewhere. Physiographical differences are only evident in undisturbed sites, while nutrient enrichment and other human disturbances may mask the regional differences in the distribution of diatom communities.


In ecology, it is assumed that the characteristics (e.g. shape, size) of interstitial spaces found in a variety of habitats affect the colonization of species, species interactions, and species composition. However, those characteristics have traditionally been difficult to measure due to technological limitations. In this study, we used the Structure-from-Motion (SfM) photogrammetry technique to measure the physical characteristics of interstitial spaces in a small oyster cluster. The point cloud (and mesh) of the oyster cluster derived from SfM photogrammetry was found to be accurate enough (mean error of 0.654 mm) to conduct 3D geomorphometric analyses. We present an example of measures of curvature, roughness, interstitial volume, surface area, and openness for three 3D interstitial spaces. The interpretation of those measures enabled establishing which interstitial spaces were the most likely to be used as a shelter for an average crab. Those spaces are characterized by smaller openness and higher roughness and curvature measures. This initial quantitative 3D characterization of an oyster cluster is the first step in establishing empirical relationships between structural complexity of biological structures like oyster clusters and their ecological role for instance in predator-prey interactions. Overall, this study demonstrates the feasibility of combining SfM photogrammetry with geomorphometry for fine-scale ecological studies.


Seamounts are not solid basalt structures, but have relatively high porosities in their upper crustal sections. At Axial Seamount, off the coast of Oregon, United States, we used on-bottom gravity measurements with a Bell gravity meter within deep-sea submersible Alvin to determine a porosity of 31% for the uppermost ∼100 m of the edifice. The southwestern caldera wall has a porosity of 22% and the caldera floor has a slightly higher porosity of 33%. Seafloor observations and models indicate that these high porosities result from large-scale structural features such as lava tubes and cracks, large lava drain backs, or regions of open pillow basalts in the near subsurface. These high-porosity zones can affect the subsurface permeability, and models of hydrothermal upflow zones explain observed localized gravity anomalies. The variety of hydrothermal alteration, hydrothermally active areas, and open porous features appears to be related to the high porosity that is inferred from geophysical measurements on this active seafloor volcano.


The IsoDAR sterile-neutrino search calls for a high neutron flux from a 60 MeV proton beam striking a beryllium target, that flood a sleeve of highly-enriched Li, the beta-decay of the resulting Li giving the desired neutrinos for the veryshort-baseline experiment. The target is placed very close to an existing large neutrino detector; all such existing or planned detectors are deep underground, in low-background environments. It is necessary to design a shielding enclosure to prevent neutrons from causing unacceptable activation of the environment. GEANT4 is being used to study neutron attenuation, and optimising the layers of shielding material to minimize thickness. Materials being studied include iron and two new types of concrete developed by Jefferson Laboratory, one very light with shredded plastic aggregate, the other with high quantities of boron. Initial studies indicate that a total shielding thickness of 1.5 meters produces the required attenuation factor, further studies may allow decrease in thickness. Minimising it will reduce the amount of cavity excavation needed to house the target system in confined underground spaces.


The CEO succession process is broken. Many companies have no meaningful succession plans, and few of the ones that do are happy with them. CEO tenure is shrinking; in fact, two out of five CEOs fail in their first 18 months. It isn't just that more CEOs are being replaced; it's that they're being replaced badly. The problems extend to every aspect of CEO succession: internal development programs, board supervision, and outside recruitment. While many organizations do a decent job of nurturing middle managers, few have set up the comprehensive programs needed to find the half-dozen true CEO candidates out of the thousands of leaders in their midst. Even more damaging is the failure of boards to devote enough attention to succession. Search committee members often have no experience hiring CEOs; lacking guidance, they supply either the narrowest or the most general of requirements and then fail to vet eitherthe candidates or the recruiters. The result is that too often new CEOs are plucked from the well-worn Rolodexes of a remarkably small number of recruiters. These candidates may be strong in charisma but may lack critical skills or otherwise be a bad fit with the company. The resulting high turnover is particularly damaging, since outside CEOs often bring in their own teams, can cause the company to lose focus, and are especially costly to be rid of. Drawing on over 35 years of experience with CEO succession, the author explains how companies can create a deep pool of internal candidates, how boards can consistently align strategy and leadership development, and how directors can get their money's worth from recruiters. Choosing a CEO should be not one decision but an amalgam ofthousands of decisions made by many people every day over years.


Pasture legumes provide critical nitrogen inputs but fail to persist in typical acidic low P fertility upland soils. Alternative legume species for these environments are urgently sought. Twelve novel legume species were grown for 42 weeks under glasshouse conditions in an acidic upland New Zealand soil. Phosphorus (P) was applied at eight rates (0, 10, 30, 60, 100, 250, 500, 1500 mg kg-1 soil) or lime (100% CaCO3) at five rates (0, 2, 5, 8, 15 t ha-1 equivalent). Annual species grew on average for 25 weeks, while perennial species grew for 42 weeks. Yield was measured and herbage was analysed for macro and micro elements and soils analysed for pH, exchangeable Al and Olsen P. P responses differed substantially between legume species which were likely driven by genetic adaptations to low phosphorus environments. Critical shoot P concentrations for optimum yield were identified and ranged from 0.23 (tagasaste) to 0.39 % P (falcata lucerne). Arrow leaf, subterranean and balansa clovers had the greatest yield increase at low P inputs (100 mg P kg-1) and show promise as alternatives to white clover. Lime treatments increased the yield of all species to a point beyond which yield decreased with further additions. Increased yield was primarily driven by decreased soil exchangeable aluminium (Al) concentrations and to a lesser extent by increased soil P and molybdenum (Mo) availability, while decreases were driven by lower soil P and boron (B) availability at high pH. Thresholds for soil exchangeable Al differed between legume species. Species with higher Al thresholds (7 - 8 mg Al kg-1) were tagasaste, lotus, persian and gland clovers and falcata lucerne. These species show promise for acid soil environments with soil Al issues and should now be investigated further in field experiments. For many of these legume species this represents new and critical information.


The recent demographic shift, sparked by a combination of political and environmental forces, towards urbanization in the Canadian Arctic has uprooted a tie to the land that largely defines Inuit cultural identity. The transition of Iqaluit from a seasonal camp to the capital city of Nunavut has been swift, forcing residents to find their place between tradition and modernity, land and city. Though the populations of Nunavut communities are predominantly Inuit, many Inuit maintain a rather negative view of urban spaces in the Arctic, identifying them as places where Inuit values and practices have been eclipsed by Qallunaat ("white people") values. While Inuit identity weighs heavily on a connection to the land, the spatial organization of Iqaluit ignores the opportunistic proximity of the urban centre to Frobisher Bay. Similarly, individual buildings often are designed as though sunlight, wind, and snow did not exist. This follows a historical trend of poor and imported design in the Canadian Arctic; design which does not properly serve the needs and aspirations of its inhabitants.

 Architecture which fails to serve Iqaluit's distinctiveness undermines the ambitions of the territory. The creation of Nunavut in 1999 was to be an expression of Inuit self-determination, yet the territory is unable to meet the needs of its 33,000 inhabitants. Nunavut remains fiscally dependent, with 92% of its annual revenue coming from the federal government. Due to a lack of infrastructure and training opportunities, agency for social and economic growth remains weak. By leveraging expanding natural resource based industries, Iqalungmiut – the people of Iqaluit – have the potential to shape a more economically autonomous future using their cultural and environmental resources. Understanding how infrastructure can support the visions Iqalungmiut maintain for their community is crucial in a place where shortsighted developments threaten a unique way of life.

 The thesis proposes an urban facility in Iqaluit to support and promote what is currently a primarily informal subsistence economy. Animal processing, food and craft production, and training are accommodated in this new building typology. The proposal, while enabling Iqalungmiut to participate more actively in the economy, also applies regional cultural and environmental processes in an attempt to avoid some of the mistakes of the past. A congruent soft system infrastructure is proposed to aid in the collection of raw materials across the region. Taking cue from Iqaluit's vernacular, mobile structures respond to the seasonal rhythms of Nuna – the land – and its people. The design harnesses traditional activities through a range of economic scales to find new spatial and programmatic models for a place in transition.


Background Understanding of the context of anal sex behaviour among Black and Hispanic adolescent women with a history of sexually transmitted infection (STI/HIV) has public health implications for health promotion and risk reduction behavioural interventions. Methods African-American (n = 94, 16.8%) and Mexican-American (n = 465, 83.2%) women (14–18 years) with histories of sexual risk behaviour, STI or violence, recruited from metropolitan sexual health clinics for participation in a clinical trial for behavioural interventions, completed semi-structured interviews to assess psychosocial and situational factors associated with high sexual risk behaviour, substance use, STI/HIV acquisition, and violence occurrence at study entry. Results Anal sex varied by ethnicity (24.1% Mexican-American, 10.6% African-American, p = 0.004) and was associated with more (p < 0.05) run-away, school dropout, sexual partners, bisexuality, sex for favours, money or friends with benefits, group sex, substance and alcohol use, sex when high, history of STI, withdrawal for birth control and psychological distress. More (94.3% vs. 85.1%) and higher levels of violence (8.37 vs. 6.38) overall, and by comparisons of sexual and physical violence was identified. Age at first anal sex (15.85 years) with partner age (18.43 years), ever condom use for anal sex (38%), anal sex past year (79.5%), past 6 months (61.2%), past 3 months (36.7%) with limited condom use (40.8%) was self-reported. Fewer women reporting anal sex could stop having sex with partners having sex with others (64.7% vs. 76.2%) while more believed it's okay to have a man on the side for more variety/sex (43.9% vs. 18.3%), he fools around so why shouldn't I? (25.8% vs. 15.1%) or I get high and lose control (24.2% vs. 14.5%). Conclusions Conceptualization of anal sex behaviour within partner relationships is important for modification of evidence-based sexual health promotion interventions to enhance efficacy for prevention of violence, substance use, unintended pregnancy and STI/HIV among ethnic minority adolescent women.


To improve the diagnosis and therapy of heart diseases, we are developing a patient specific heart model KAHMO. Since indications as well as limitations of therapies for those diseases are still subject of discussion, this project is aimed at the optimization and the finding of indication criteria using a numerical simulation of the heart. The focus lies on the left ventricle, the atrium and the heart valves. In order to get quantitative information on the respective disease, it is first necessary to model a healthy human heart as a reference for a successful therapy planning. Standard clinical imaging (MRI, CT) is used to get a time-resolved ventricular geometry by segmentation of the fluid movement. A semiautomatic method generates topologically identical grids of the ventricle for each trigger step. A new grid generation method for the atrium is presented. The heart movement for a full cardiac cycle is performed by a third order approximation during simulation. Former publications showed, that the intraventricular flow structure is not only prescribed by the ventricle itself, but also by the movement and shape of the atrium. Enhancements in modeling the atrium and the valve models as well as an optimized grid generation are presented.


Recent observations of growing and collapsing bubbles in flows over axisymmetric headforms have revealed the complexity of the 'micro-fluid-mechanics' associated with these bubbles (van der Meulen & van Renesse 1989; Briancon-Marjollet et al. 1990; Ceccio & Brennen 1991). Among the complex features observed were the bubble-to-bubble and bubble-to-boundary-layer interactions which leads to the shearing of the underside of the bubble and alters the collapsing process. All of these previous tests, though, were performed on small headform sizes. The focus of this research is to analyse the scaling effects of these phenomena due to variations in model size, Reynolds number and cavitation number. For this purpose, cavitating flows over Schiebe headforms of different sizes (5.08, 25.4 and 50.8 cm in diameter) were studied in the David Taylor Large Cavitation Channel (LCC). The bubble dynamics captured using high-speed film and electrode sensors are presented along with the noise signals generated during the collapse of the cavities. In the light of the complexity of the dynamics of the travelling bubbles and the important bubble/bubble interactions, it is clear that the spherical Rayleigh-Plesset analysis cannot reproduce many of the phenomena observed. For this purpose an unsteady numerical code was developed which uses travelling sources to model the interactions between the bubble (or bubbles) and the pressure gradients in the irrotational flow outside the boundary layer on the headform. The paper compares the results of this numerical code with the present experimental results and demonstrates good qualitative agreement between the two.


Illinois has many years of experience using various reclaimed materials in highway construction; and in recent years, recycled asphalt shingles (RAS) have been adopted for use in hot-mix asphalt (HMA), along with much higher amounts of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP). These reclaimed asphalt materials usually contain aged asphalt binders, which may increase the mix brittleness and hence, a challenge for maintaining a flexible pavement and ensuring good performance. To counter these hard asphalt binders, softer asphalts are incorporated into the HMA. The goal is for the final mix to provide acceptable mix properties for the life of the pavement. To determine the impact of recycled materials on pavement performance, this study monitored nine field projects in terms of the testing, construction, and performance of surface mixes that have a variety of asphalt binder replacement levels from RAP and RAS which used different virgin asphalt binder grades. Simple performance tests (Hamburg wheel tracking test and the Illinois flexibility index test [I-FIT]) were used to evaluate the mix designs. Flexibility index (FI) from the I-FIT showed good correlation with field crack development, especially after first year performance of the mix. Early-age field performance showed that placing the HMA overlay directly over existing bare concrete pavement or milling off all the HMA and placing new overlay on concrete pavement results in higher extents of cracking in early age than the sections that left an HMA layer in place. Regardless of which mix type is designed and what material sources are used, the performance of mix should be evaluated to ensure it has sufficient flexibility to resist cracking before the mix is used in road construction. This allows owners and contractors to use low-cost reclaimed and recycled materials to the extent possible without negatively impacting pavement performance.


Recent work has demonstrated that breaking the up–down symmetry of tokamak flux surfaces removes a constraint that limits intrinsic momentum transport, and hence toroidal rotation, to be small. We show, through MHD analysis, that ellipticity is most effective at introducing up–down asymmetry throughout the plasma. We detail an extension to GS2, a local δf gyrokinetic code that self-consistently calculates momentum transport, to permit up–down asymmetric configurations. Tokamaks with tilted elliptical poloidal cross-sections were simulated to determine nonlinear momentum transport. The results, which are consistent with the experiment in magnitude, suggest that a toroidal velocity gradient, (∂uζi/∂ρ)/vthi, of 5% of the temperature gradient, (∂Ti/∂ρ)/Ti, is sustainable. Here vthi is the ion thermal speed, uζi is the ion toroidal mean flow, ρ is the minor radial coordinate normalized to the tokamak minor radius, and Ti is the ion temperature. Though other known core intrinsic momentum transport mechanisms scale poorly to larger machines, these results indicate that up–down asymmetry may be a feasible method to generate the current experimentally measured rotation levels in reactor-sized devices.


Articles that appeared in The American Journal of Occupational Therapy (vol 27, 1973 and vol 37, 1983) were reviewed and categorized according to the quantitative procedures employed. Data analysis revealed that the proportion of articles reporting no statistical information decreased from 57% in 1973 to 31% in 1983. Conversely, there was a significant increase in articles containing quantitative methods that were categorized as advanced, from 8% (vol 27) to 29% (vol 37). A trend was also revealed toward multiple authorship of articles over the ten-year period. In addition, the senior authors of articles appearing in 1983 were much more likely to possess graduate degrees than were senior authors of articles published in 1973. This paper discusses the implications of the increased use of quantitative procedures in the occupational therapy literature.


In dense radio frequency identification (RFID) systems, reader-to-reader interference may appear among readers operating nearby. When the anticollision algorithm is Frame Slotted Aloha (FSA), a usual solution is to multiplex the frames of interfering readers by means of a central controller. The scenario studied considers RFID tags attached to objects carried by conveyor belts or vehicles so that each tag crosses, in constant motion, one reader's interrogation region. The problem addressed consists of determining the length of the multiplexed FSA frames such that each object is successfully identified, with high probability, before exiting its interrogation region. In this paper, we develop a mathematical model, based on dynamic system theory, allowing us to obtain the configurations attaining the desired reliability objective, to show that some configurations present multiple equilibrium points and should be avoided, and to define the operating boundaries of the system. The model can also incorporate fading and capture effects.


Operational software is constantly evolving. Regression testing is used to identify the unintended consequences of evolutionary changes. As most changes affect only a small proportion of the system, the challenge is to ensure that the regression test set is both safe (all relevant tests are used) and inclusive (only relevant tests are used). Previous approaches to reducing test sets struggle to find safe and inclusive tests by looking only at the changed code. We use decomposition program slicing to safely reduce the size of regression test sets by identifying those parts of a system that could not have been affected by a change; this information will then direct the selection of regression tests by eliminating tests that are not relevant to the change. The technique properly accounts for additions and deletions of code. We extend and use Rothermel and Harrold's framework for measuring the safety of regression test sets and introduce new safety and precision measures that do not require a priori knowledge of the exact number of modification-revealing tests. We then analytically evaluate and compare our techniques for producing reduced regression test sets.


A major consequence of special relativity, expressed in the relation E0=mc2, is that the total energy content of an object at rest, including its thermal motion and binding energy among its constituents, is a measure of its inertia, i.e., its mass. This relation was first stated by Einstein.1 He showed that, in order to be consistent with the principles of special relativity, there must be a loss of inertia in a block that emits two pulses of electromagnetic radiation. A pedagogical difficulty with this example is that radiation is a purely relativistic phenomenon, and so the connection with the examples one learns in introductory mechanics courses is not simple. Here we use a more familiar example of masses and springs, where the nonrelativistic limit can be easily found and where the potential energy is clearly shown to be part of the mass of the bound system.


In this thesis, characteristic singular integral equations of Cauchy type
()(),LtdtfxxLxtϕ=∈−∫ (1)
where L is open or closed contour, are examined.
The analytical solutions for equation (1) are described. Some examples of solution for certain functions f (x) are given.
A quadrature formula for evaluation of Cauchy type singular integral (SI) of the form
11(),11tdtxxtϕ−−<<−∫ (2)
is constructed with equal partitions of the interval [−1,1] using modification discrete vortex method (MMDV), where the singular point x is considered in the middle of one of the intervals [tj, tj+1], j=1,…, n.
It is known that the bounded solution of equation (1) when L=[−1,1] is 12211,111ftxxdtttxϕπ−−=−−∫ (3)
A quadrature formula is constructed to approximate the SI in (3) using MMDV and linear spline interpolation functions, where the singular point x is assumed to be at any point in the one of the intervals [tj,tj+1], j=1,…, n.
The estimation of errors of constructed quadrature formula are obtained in the classes of functions C1[−1,1] and Hα(A,[−1,1]) for SI (2) and Hα(A,[−1,1]) for (3). For SI (2), the rate of convergence is improved in the class C1[−1,1], whereas in the class Hα(A,[−1,1]), the rate of convergence of quadrature formula is the same of that of discrete vortex method (MDV).
FORTRAN code is developed to obtain numerical results and they are presented and compared with MDV for different functions f(t). Numerical experiments assert the theoretical results.