The physico-chemical quality study of different drinking water sources used in Khamis Mushait, southwestern, Saudi Arabia (SA) has been studied to evaluate their suitability for potable purposes. A total of 62 drinking water samples were collected randomly from bottled, desalinated and groundwater located around the study area. The parameters determined in this study were Turbidity; Conductivity; Total solids; pH; Chlorides; Hardness; Sulphate; Ammonia; Nitrite; Nitrate; Iron; Manganese; Copper and Zinc. Most examined parameters were higher in groundwater, followed by desalinated water except for Manganese and Zinc levels. Manganese level was highest in desalinated, followed by bottled water, while Zinc was higher in groundwater than bottled and desalinated water. Most examined groundwater samples had the highest physico-chemical levels as compared with guideline of international and Saudi standards, followed by desalinated and lastly bottled water. Desalinated water showed the higher Manganese value more than the recommended level followed by bottled water, while all the examined water samples had Zinc content lower than the guideline values of international and Saudi standards. Strict hygienic measures should be applied to improve quality of drinking water and to avoid deleterious effect on human health. This could be achieved by working towards a proper monitoring program of drinking water supply and sources.


ABSTRACT Research Findings: The objective of this research was to evaluate the effectiveness of Incredible Years Basic Parent Training (IYPT Basic) in a community clinic setting in Hong Kong. IYPT Basic is a Western program developed to promote children's academic, social, and emotional regulation skills and to reduce conduct problems among typically developing children. The program has not been tested in non-Western cultures, where the challenges for parents of children with developmental disabilities can be different. The IYPT Basic was adapted slightly to accommodate cultural characteristics in Hong Kong. Parents of 52 preschoolers with developmental disabilities were randomly assigned to either the IYPT Basic or a waitlist control. Parent and child dyads were assessed before and after the 12-week intervention/waitlist period via self-reports and spouse/kin reports and videotape coding by observers blind to the intervention/waitlist status. Significant intervention benefits included (a) increase in positive and reciprocal parent –child interaction, (b) reduction in parental stress, and (c) decrease in oppositional behavior among the children. The parents' attendance, satisfaction, and homework compliance was high. Practice or Policy: IYPT Basic, when implemented with cultural sensitivity, can be effective for —and well received by—Chinese parents of preschoolers with developmental disabilities in a community setting.


A general derivation of the luminescence flux reaching the detector in molecular luminescence spectrometry is given. The expression accounts for the pre-filter effect, the primary absorption effect, the re-absorption of fluorescence effect, and the post-filter effect. Also more than one absorbing species of primary excitation radiation and of fluorescence radiation is considered. The final expression may be used for explaining the shapes of luminescence analytical calibration curves in fluorimetry and phosphorimetry as well as to explain the mechanism of response of a positive-negative fluorescence detector.


Beside this valuation methodology stipulated by the International Valuation Standards Committee, the Automated Valuation Models (AVM) are growing in acceptance. These rely on statistical models such as the multiple regression analysis or geographic information systems (GIS). While AVMs can be quite accurate, particularly when used in a very homogenous area, there is also evidence that AVMs are not accurate in other instances such as when they are used in rural areas, or when the appraised property does not conform well to the neighborhood. AVMs have also gained favor in class action litigation and have been substantiated in numerous cases as appropriate method for dealing with large-scale real estate litigation and retrocession problems. The central idea of this Paper is that instead of teaching based around three approaches to value we should base teaching on concepts of price distributions, pricing models and prediction error analysis. This ground real estate valuation more firmly in modern economics and finance theory and statistical methods as they have developed in recent academic literature. The key concepts are: possible price distribution, pricing model and error analysis. Thus, the price = coefficients * characteristics + error. Rely on these elements, the valuation methods fall into two main categories: objective and subjective. The objective methods stipulate the valuation as a science, leads to setting out methods and standards and performance criteria. The valuer reasons from evidence using quantitative methods. The subjective methods confirm the valuation as art. The valuer creates a value by subjective opinion based on experience. Modern societies are dedicated to rationality rather than superstition. The use of econometrics and regression analysis is a superior tool compared to so-called itraditionali appraisal techniques. Appraisal valuation modeling techniques augment traditional appraisal practice, which differentiates them from automated valuation model systems that literally replaces the appraiser.


By discovering and reusing relevant web services, an organization can select and compose those services that most closely meet its business and Quality of Service (QoS) needs. As the number of available web services increases, selecting the best fit services for a given task becomes more challenging. QoS attributes play a significant role in the selection process by directing service composition constraints to a workflow plan that has the best QoS values. Two major problems arise at runtime when undesirable events necessitate the need to reselect services and replan the service bindings. First, if the reselection process consumes additional time, it can impact a temporal QoS constraint. Second, the newly generated composition might not comply with other QoS constraints imposed on the plan. This paper proposes an approach to composing web services that both performs reselection and avoids the violation of QoS constraints after replanning by defining and evaluating a replaceability property. Replaceability factors directly into the algorithm's original service selection process considering all QoS constraints.


This article sets out a framework for a critical digital literacy curriculum derived from the four resources, or reader roles, model of critical literacy developed by Luke and Freebody (1990). We suggest that specific problematics in academic engagement with and curriculum development for digital literacy have occurred through an overly technocratic and acritical framing and that this situation calls for a critical perspective, drawing on theories and pedagogies from critical literacy and media education. The article explores the consonance and dissonance between the forms, scope and requirements of traditional print/media and the current digital environment, emphasising the knowledge and operational dimensions that inform literacy in digital contexts. It offers a re-interpretation of the four resources framed as critical digital literacy (Decoding, Meaning Making, Using and Analysing) and elaborates the model further with a fifth resource (Persona). The article concludes by identifying implications for institutional practice. Keywords:  curriculum development; academic development; digital identity (Published: 31 January 2014) Citation : Research in Learning Technology 2014,  21 : 21334 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/rlt.v21.21334


Each year the Elementary School Journal presents a series of three lists on instruction in the elementary school. The first list, which appeared in the October issue, included items on curriculum, evaluation, and supervision. This month, several experts offer references on foreign languages, the language arts, the library program, and the social studies. In December, in the final section of this series, specialists will present references on arithmetic, science, music, art, and health and physical education.


PARENTAL FACTORS AFFECTING CHILD RESTRAINT DEVICE USE IN CHILDREN AGES 3-5 YEARS By Peggy Sue Meulenberg Motor vehicle accidents are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in children. Although Michigan law requires all children to be restrained, many children remain unrestrained or improperly restrained. The purpose of this study was to determine how preschool children are restrained and to examine where parents obtain information on restraining techniques. A descriptive study utilizing a newly developed questionnaire was performed. The Health Belief Model served as the conceptual framework. A significant relationship was found between parents who wore their seat belts all the time and the child being restrained. Most parents restrained their child by a lap and shoulder belt rather than a CRD. The barriers to CRD use included affordability, difficulty in use, CRD too small, and child's objection to CRD. Sources of information most frequently identified by parents were family and friends, magazines, newspapers, TV, and radio. The study was limited by the small sample.


Recently, Tan and coworkers studied the 2001 September 24 solar energetic particle (SEP) event observed by the Wind spacecraft at 1 AU and found that there is a counter-streaming particle beam with a deep depression of flux at 90° pitch angle during the beginning of the event. They suggested that it is a result of a reflecting boundary at some distance outside of 1 AU. While this scenario could be true under some specific configuration of an interplanetary magnetic field, in this paper we offer another possible explanation. We simulated the SEP event by solving the five-dimensional focused transport equation numerically for 40 keV electrons with perpendicular diffusion. We find that a counter-streaming particle beam with deep depression at 90° pitch angle can form on Parker magnetic field lines that do not directly connect to the main particle source on the Sun in the beginning of an SEP event. It can happen when a significant number of observed particles come from adjacent field lines through parallel transport to large radial distance first, hopping across field lines through perpendicular diffusion, and then getting scattered back to 1 AU, where they combine with the particles directly coming from the Sun to form a counter-streaming beam.


The obvious need for using modern computer networking capabilities to enable the effective sharing of information has resulted in data-sharing systems, which store, and manage large amounts of data. These data need to be effectively searched and analyzed. More specifically, in the presence of dirty data, a search for specific information by a standard query (e.g., search for a name that is misspelled or mistyped) does not return all needed information, as required in homeland security, criminology, and medical applications, amongst others. Different techniques, such as soundex, phonix, n-grams, edit-distance, have been used to improve the matching rate in these name-matching applications. These techniques have demonstrated varying levels of success, but there is a pressing need for name matching approaches that provide high levels of accuracy in matching names, while at the same time maintaining low computational complexity. In this paper, such a technique, called ANSWER, is proposed and its characteristics are discussed. Our results demonstrate that ANSWER possesses high accuracy, as well as high speed and is superior to other techniques of retrieving fuzzy name matches in large databases.


A review of the building services engineering profession in the United Kingdom is considered in this document. It provides supporting information for a comprehensive study into the profession in Hong Kong which is being conducted by Hong Kong Polytechnic University on behalf of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers. The overall aim of the work is to investigate mechanisms for raising the profile of building services engineers in Hong Kong.


Invasive aspergillosis has increased considerably in recent years; this serious infection was primarily described in severely immunocompromised patients and patients with moderate levels of immune suppression. We conducted this study on 85 patients admitted to the chest department and chest ICU with severe exacerbations of chronic lung diseases in the period from April 2018 to April 2019. We collected tracheal aspirates BAL fluid and blood samples for isolation of Aspergillus spp. by convectional culture and assay of galactomannan level in these samples using ELISA. Aspergillus spp. was isolated from (14.3%) of tracheobroncheal aspirate samples, (11%) BAL samples and (2.4%) blood samples. Aspergillus fumigatus represented (70%) of isolates while Aspergillus niger represented (25%). Galactomannan antigen was positively detected in (9.4%) of serum samples, (22%) of tracheobronchial aspirates, and in (22.2%) bronchoalveoalar lavage fluid samples. The sensitivity (52%) and specificity (48%) of culture were much lower than the sensitivity and specificity of galactomannan detection (92%) and (85%) respectively. proven IA patient category represented (2.4%), while Probable IA represented (22.4%), and possible IA represented (22.2%). invasive aspergillosis could be a cause of exacerbation in patients with chronic chest diseases and a cause of their unresponsiveness to relevant treatment. Galactomannan antigen detection is a rapid sensitive diagnostic test of IA in those patients that helps the clinicians to rapidly diagnose IA and start antifungal therapy. K e y w o r d s


This article is devoted to working capital management and its optimization on an inter-organizational level when supply chain members operate collaboratively. We aim to develop and validate a model of collaborative approach to working capital management in supply chains for cases of constrained liquidity and imposed return requirements using supply chain finance (factoring, reverse factoring and inventory financing). As such, we suggest a tool of working capital optimization using financial terms and cash flows verified on Russian supply chain data. Mathematical modeling is suggested as a method to modify an existing working capital management model on the grounds of collaborative financial cost minimization under industry specific liquidity constraints. These liquidity constraints are constructed in such a way as to eliminate possible violations from companies, because their violation will lead to the inverse relation between liquidity and rate of return. The results of the optimization provide recommended values for cash conversion cycle elements – days of inventories, days of accounts payable, days of accounts receivable – that guarantee the coordinating effect of collaborative working capital management. Calculation, further optimization and monitoring of cash conversion cycle values sustain effective working capital management on an inter-organizational level while meeting the liquidity and return levels for each company in a chain. The suggested model can be implemented for a day-to-day decision making process by companies oriented to stay competitive in the long run. Besides, the results obtained show the potential for further coordination among the key members of the supply chain in terms of aligning financial, product, and information flows. Despite the fact that the model provides a static solution to the problem of collaborative working capital management, it has potential for the further development of a dynamic algorithm. Future research should seek to investigate the possible imputation options for gained costs reduction values on the grounds of cooperative games with a coalition structure.


The mammalian neurotrophin family proteins, nerve growth factor (NGF), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) and neurotrophin-4/5 (NT-4/5) are known as neuronal survival factors. NGF, one of the most important cytokines, is composed of 118 amino
acids. NGF is involved in the growth and differentiation of neural cells of the vertebrate peripheral
sympathetic nerve as well as basal forebrain cholinergic neurons which degenerate in Alzheimer's disease. In addition, it is implicated in the regulation of synaptic transmission and synaptogenesis in the central nervous system. NGF is produced by a variety of immune cells, including B cells, T cells, monocytes and mast cells as well as nervous system and binds through two distinct receptors, TrkA and p75NTR which signaling through them leads to the neuronal differentiation and cell death
respectively. Considering the importance of this protein as a drug, NGF has been proposed for the treatment of neuron degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and multiple sclerosis. To produce enough protein for research and clinical applications, genetic engineering techniques are used to produce recombinant forms. To date, there are no reports about the systems for production of the recombinant human NGF in an effective, low cost, with industrial production. Plants as a safe host generally offer major advantages such as free of animal pathogens, low costs, the ability to
produce a protein similar to natural protein, and industrial production in large scale. Then they are
suitable for the production of recombinant human NGF.
Keywords: Nerve growth factor, Neurotrophin, Recombinant protein


ABSTRACT What would it mean to conceptualize some environmental relationships as bundles of rights, rather than as a good as generally defined by liberalism? Environmental rights are a category of human rights necessarily central to both democracy and global environmental protection and governance (ecological democracy). The world of democratic politics and governance since mid-twentieth century has been transformed by a rights revolution in which recognized rights have come to constitute a 'global normative order.' There are several policy spaces in which persuasive environmental rights discourses have been emerging from existing or foreseeable congruences of elite and popular environmental norms, including (1) rights involving access to information and decision-making processes; (2) rights ensuring access to food and water; and (3) rights providing environmental security to all. We analyze these three rights discourses and assess their current and necessary future trajectories. We identify next steps in achieving better understanding and more meaningful establishment of environmental rights and their integration into our thinking about human rights, with attention to how they can be reconciled with the social and cultural diversity of democratic environmental governance in coming turbulent times.


Context: New evidence suggests that levetiracetam may be as effective as traditional agents, with better safety profile. Objective: To synthesize evidence regarding efficacy and tolerability of levetiracetam as first line, adjunctive or prophylactic antiepileptic agent. Study Selection & Data Extraction: Eligible studies were randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of levetiracetam used in adults with epilepsy. MEDLINE, EMBASE, CENTRAL, CINHAL, PAPERSFIRST, PROCEEDINGSFIRST, PROQUEST and conference proceedings identified studies (to September 30, 2010). Two investigators independently selected, appraised studies, collected and analyzed data. Results: Of ten eligible randomized trials, eight investigated adjunctive levetiracetam for refractory seizures, one as monotherapy for newly diagnosed seizures, one as monotherapy for prophylaxis. Eight RCTs of adjunctive levetiracetam were of moderate quality (GRADE criteria), with two showing lack of allocation concealment. Meta-analyses showed adjunctive levetiracetam was more effective than placebo in achieving at least 50% reduction of seizure frequency, when added to baseline antiepileptic regimen (pooled RR 2.15 [1.65,2.82], I2 = 45%, p value (heterogeneity) = 0.08, p value (overall effect) < 0.01). Likelihood of serious adverse events necessitating withdrawal from study was not significantly different between levetiracetam and control (pooled RR 1.37 [0.88,2.13], I2 = 0%, p value (heterogeneity) = 0.84, p value (overall effect) = 0.17). Subgroup analyses suggested similar effects across different dosages. Sensitivity analysis of studies with adequate concealment showed similar effects. Conclusions: Levetiracetam is an effective adjunctive agent for refractory epilepsy. More studies are needed to establish whether it is effective as monotherapy for newly diagnosed seizures, and for prophylaxis in traumatic brain injury.


This introduction provides an overview of academic re- search and current practice relating to stakeholder dialogue around oil and gas development in the Russian North, Siberia and the Russian Far East. We discuss the two main strands of analysis in this special issue: (a) regulation and impact assessment; and (b) relationship- building in practice, with a particular focus on indigenous commu- nities. We argue that an effective regulatory framework, meaningful dialogue, and imaginative organization of stakeholder relations are required to minimize negative impacts and maximize benefits from oil and gas projects. Self-interest, mistrust, and a lack of collective agency frequently lead to ineffective planning and heightened ten- sions in relations. We identify lessons to be learned from partner- ships and initiatives already established in Sakhalin and Western Siberia, despite the lack of a stable legal framework to govern rela- tions. This issue focuses on the academic-practitioner interface, em- phasizing the importance of practical application of academic research and the value of non-academic contributions to academic debates.


Surface attachment, an early step in the colonization of multiple host environments, activates the virulence of the human pathogen P. aeruginosa. However, the downstream toxins that mediate surface-dependent P. aeruginosa virulence remain unclear, as do the signaling pathways that lead to their activation. Here, we demonstrate that alkyl-quinolone (AQ) secondary metabolites are rapidly induced upon surface association and act directly on host cells to cause cytotoxicity. Surface-induced AQ cytotoxicity is independent of other AQ functions like quorum sensing or PQS-specific activities like iron sequestration. We further show that packaging of AQs in outer-membrane vesicles (OMVs) increases their cytotoxicity to host cells but not their ability to stimulate downstream quorum sensing pathways in bacteria. OMVs lacking AQs are significantly less cytotoxic, suggesting these molecules play a role in OMV cytotoxicity, in addition to their previously characterized role in OMV biogenesis. AQ reporters also enabled us to dissect the signal transduction pathways downstream of the two known regulators of surface-dependent virulence, the quorum sensing receptor, LasR, and the putative mechanosensor, PilY1. Specifically, we show that PilY1 regulates surface-induced AQ production by repressing the AlgR-AlgZ two-component system. AlgR then induces RhlR, which can induce the AQ biosynthesis operon under specific conditions. These findings collectively suggest that the induction of AQs upon surface association is both necessary and sufficient to explain surface-induced P. aeruginosa virulence.


This paper presents work on finding acoustic parameters suitable to convey a sense of difference in geographic distance through the concepts of "near", "middle" and "far". The context for use is a mobile application for navigation services. A set of acoustic parameters was selected based on how sound naturally travels through and is dispersed by the atmosphere. One parameter without direct acoustic connection to distance was also selected. Previous works corroborate the choice of parameters in the context of the project. Results show that modulating multiple parameters simultaneously to express distance gives a more robust experience of difference in distance compared to modulating single parameters. The ecological parameters low-pass filter and reverb gave the test's subjects the most reliable and consistent experience of difference in distance. Modulating the parameter pitch alone was seen to be an unreliable method. Combining the pitch parameter with the reverb parameter gave more robust results.


This article situates the Marikana massacre, in which 34 mine workers were gunned down by police in South Africa, in the context of what the South African state has become, and questions the characterisation of the post-Apartheid state as a "developmental state". This contribution first highlights what is at stake when the post-Apartheid state is portrayed as a "developmental state" and how this misrecognition of the state is ideologically constituted. Second, it argues for an approach to understanding the post-Apartheid state by locating it within the context of the rise of transnational neoliberalism and the process of indigenising neoliberalism on the African continent. Third, it examines the actual economic practices of the state that constitute it as an Afro-neoliberal state. Such economic practices are historicised to show the convergence between the post-Apartheid state and the ideal type neoliberal state coming to the fore in the context of global neoliberal restructuring and crisis management. The article concludes by recognising that South Africa's deep globalisation and globalised state affirm a form of state practice beyond utilising market mechanisms that includes perpetrating violence to secure its existence. Marikana makes this point.


With the development of the information society and knowledge economy it is crucial to apply the innovative methods of teaching while learning life long so that the human resources remain competitive. This article deals with the topic of life long learning; the system of innovative teaching methods (such as simulation teaching, e-teaching, distance teaching), which includes the use of information technologies, is also identified in this article. The system of the forms of life-long learning such as independent learning, team learning, learning organization and learning society is also described here. A system of the innovative method application has been prepared during the research. The findings of the research are relevant for the preparation of life long learning strategies and programmes.


Surgical site infections (SSI) are a costly problem. The purpose of this study was to determine the rate of infection and identify patient and technical risk factors for SSI in an orthopaedic ambulatory surgical center. Over 11,000 consecutive orthopaedic surgeries over 5 years were reviewed for SSI as well as demographic, medical, and surgical risk factors. Nearly 400 noninfected patients served as statistical controls. The overall infection rate was 0.33%, which compares favorably to previous studies of outpatient surgery and appears to be substantially lower than SSI rates previously reported for inpatient orthopaedic surgery. Male sex, smoking, and diabetes demonstrated significantly higher risk for infection. Surgery time and duration of anesthesia administration were also associated statistically with SSI. A history of cancer, hypertension, or thyroid problems were all associated with higher but statistically insignificant risk of SSI. Patient age and number of past surgeries were equal in the SSI and control groups.


Organizations are increasingly seeking to enhance performance and efficiency and establish new capabilities by integrating previously developed software systems. As organizations undertake the integration of multiple software systems, they often have little idea of how much it will cost or how long it will take. Little research has been performed to date on how cost drivers for integration differ from traditional single-system initiatives. This paper outlines a major research effort undertaken by the DOD, SEI and UNC to identify the non-SLOC based cost drivers of systems integration and interoperability. The paper then turns to a discussion of the potential role that "operant subjectivity" analysis may provide for expanding our understanding of the latent cost drivers that are often associated with integration and interoperability. We then illustrate the results of a study of public sector CIO's where Q Methodology was employed to isolate the system needs of local government agencies. The findings suggest that Q Methodology may prove helpful in isolating many of the non-technical latent cost factors associated with system integration and interoperability.


Abstract. Reactions of the key atmospheric nighttime oxidant NO3 with organic monolayers at the air–water interface are used as proxies for the ageing of organic-coated aqueous aerosols. The surfactant molecules chosen for this study are oleic acid (OA), palmitoleic acid (POA), methyl oleate (MO) and stearic acid (SA) to investigate the effects of chain length, head group and degree of unsaturation on the reaction kinetics and products formed. Fully and partially deuterated surfactants were studied using neutron reflectometry (NR) to determine the reaction kinetics of organic monolayers with NO3 at the air–water interface for the first time. Kinetic modelling allowed us to determine the rate coefficients for the oxidation of OA, POA and MO monolayers to be (2.8±0.7) × 10−8, (2.4±0.5) × 10−8and (3.3±0.6) × 10−8 cm2 molecule−1 s−1 for fitted initial desorption lifetimes of NO3 at the closely packed organic monolayers, τd, NO3, 1, of 8.1±4.0, 16±4.0 and 8.1±3.0 ns, respectively. The approximately doubled desorption lifetime found in the best fit for POA compared to OA and MO is consistent with a more accessible double bond associated with the shorter alkyl chain of POA facilitating initial NO3 attack at the double bond in a closely packed monolayer. The corresponding uptake coefficients for OA, POA and MO were found to be (2.1±0.5) × 10−3, (1.7±0.3) × 10−3 and (2.1±0.4) × 10−3, respectively. For the much slower NO3-initiated oxidation of the saturated surfactant SA we estimated a loss rate of approximately (5±1) × 10−12 cm2 molecule−1 s−1, which we consider to be an upper limit for the reactive loss, and estimated an uptake coefficient of ca. (5±1) × 10−7. Our investigations demonstrate that NO3 will contribute substantially to the processing of unsaturated surfactants at the air–water interface during nighttime given its reactivity is ca. 2 orders of magnitude higher than that of O3. Furthermore, the relative contributions of NO3 and O3 to the oxidative losses vary massively between species that are closely related in structure: NO3 reacts ca. 400 times faster than O3 with the common model surfactant oleic acid, but only ca. 60 times faster with its methyl ester MO. It is therefore necessary to perform a case-by-case assessment of the relative contributions of the different degradation routes for any specific surfactant. The overall impact of NO3 on the fate of saturated surfactants is slightly less clear given the lack of prior kinetic data for comparison, but NO3 is likely to contribute significantly to the loss of saturated species and dominate their loss during nighttime. The retention of the organic character at the air–water interface differs fundamentally between the different surfactant species: the fatty acids studied (OA and POA) form products with a yield of  ∼ 20 % that are stable at the interface while NO3-initiated oxidation of the methyl ester MO rapidly and effectively removes the organic character ( ≤ 3 % surface-active products). The film-forming potential of reaction products in real aerosol is thus likely to depend on the relative proportions of saturated and unsaturated surfactants as well as the head group properties. Atmospheric lifetimes of unsaturated species are much longer than those determined with respect to their reactions at the air–water interface, so they must be protected from oxidative attack, for example, by incorporation into a complex aerosol matrix or in mixed surface films with yet unexplored kinetic behaviour.


This paper estimates the impact of the first nation-wide e-commerce expansion program on rural households. To do so, we combine a randomized control trial with new survey and administrative microdata. In contrast to existing case studies, we find little evidence for income gains to rural producers and workers. Instead, the gains are driven by a reduction in cost of living for a minority of rural households who tend to be younger, richer and in more remote markets. These effects are mainly due to overcoming logistical barriers to e-commerce, rather than to additional investments to adapt e-commerce to the rural population.


Background: Past studies have observed rises in intracranial pressure (ICP) during hemodialysis (HD) in the neurosurgical patient. This phenomenon may cause secondary brain injury and further compromise the patients′ recovery. While continuous renal replacement modalities can theoretically be more beneficial for the brain-injured patient, this option is often not available due to limited resources. Modified prescriptions of intermittent HD may be the more easily accessible method. The purpose of this study is to clarify whether a less aggressive HD regimen in patients with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) will prevent ICP fluctuation during HD. Patients and Methods: We present a single center experience with the enrollment of nine uremic patients with severe TBI who underwent decompressive surgery with ICP monitoring via external ventricular drain (EVD) between January 2003 and December 2006. These patients were divided into two groups based on different HD methods. In Group A, four patients received standard intermittent HD every other day, and in Group B, five patients received a modified, daily dialysis procedure that cut the amount of fluid removed per session and the dialysate flow rate by half. Results: All patients in both groups experienced an increased ICP during HD, but milder ICP changes were found in all five patients (P < 0.05) who had received the modified procedure (Group B). All patients in Group A had expired, but there were only two mortalities in Group B. Conclusion: ICP fluctuation may be minimalized by altering the HD protocol. A less aggressive HD procedure is recommended for uremic patients with severe TBI.


Some previous analyses have suggested that the smoothing of tax rates over time would be a desirable guide for public debt management. One implication of this viewpoint is that future changes in tax rates would be unpredictable based on current information. This proposition is tested by examining the behavior of U.S. federal and total government tax (and "non-tax")receipts relative to GNP. The sample for the federal government goes back to1879, while that for total government starts in 1929. Some econometric problems with using time-averaged data are discussed. The main empirical results accord with the theoretical analysis -- in particular, there is first, little indication of drift in the tax rates; second, insignificant relations of tax-rate changes to the own history of changes; and third, little explanatory value for tax-rate changes from a vector of lagged variables, which include the behavior of government spending and real output. If the findings are sustained, they imply that the existing IJ.S. time series data do not isolate periods in which current overall tax rates would be perceived as high or low relative to expected future rates. Accordingly, it may be impossible to use these data to evaluate policies that entail intertemporal manipulation of aggregate tax rates.


This study focuses on a major problem facing today's educators: high school dropouts. Numerous studies have been conducted to identify the reasons that students drop out of school and programs that may address the needs of students at-risk for dropping out of school. Literature in this area was reviewed to identify what can be learned from these studies. Research questions addressed differences in teacher perspectives of the characteristics of elementary, middle, and high school struggling students. Differences in teachers' perspectives based on tenure and type of teaching assignment were examined. A sequential, mixed methods approach was taken. The researchers began with a quantitative survey of 108 teachers, followed by focus groups with 12 elementary and secondary teachers. The research was conducted in two suburban school districts. The analysis indicated that characteristics of at-risk students fall into four dimensions: Family Involvement, Behavior, Achievement, and Family Background. Significant differences were found for Achievement with secondary teachers reporting higher mean scores than elementary teachers. Additionally, significant differences were identified for elementary classroom teachers in regards to Achievement. Elementary classroom teachers reported higher mean scores than elementary nonclassroom teachers for this dimension. The data gained from the study can be used to inform decisions regarding the identification of at-risk students. It also provides information related to support services aimed at assisting struggling students. Determining if differences in perspectives exist among the levels of teachers can be beneficial in identifying students before they become at-risk for dropping out of school. This study benefits students, parents, teachers, school administrators, central office administrators, and school committee members as these stakeholders look to address the dropout problem that plagues high schools across the nation.


ABSTRACT Transposon insertions in Geobacter sulfurreducens GSU1501, part of an ATP-dependent exporter within an operon of polysaccharide biosynthesis genes, were previously shown to eliminate insoluble Fe(III) reduction and use of an electrode as an electron acceptor. Replacement of GSU1501 with a kanamycin resistance cassette produced a similarly defective mutant, which could be partially complemented by expression of GSU1500 to GSU1505 in trans. The Δ1501 mutant demonstrated limited cell-cell agglutination, enhanced attachment to negatively charged surfaces, and poor attachment to positively charged poly-d-lysine- or Fe(III)-coated surfaces. Wild-type and mutant cells attached to graphite electrodes, but when electrodes were poised at an oxidizing potential inducing a positive surface charge (+0.24 V versus the standard hydrogen electrode [SHE]), Δ1501 mutant cells detached. Scanning electron microscopy revealed fibrils surrounding wild-type G. sulfurreducens which were absent from the Δ1501 mutant. Similar amounts of type IV pili and pilus-associated cytochromes were detected on both cell types, but shearing released a stable matrix of c-type cytochromes and other proteins bound to polysaccharides. The matrix from the mutant contained 60% less sugar and was nearly devoid of c-type cytochromes such as OmcZ. The addition of wild-type extracellular matrix to Δ1501 cultures restored agglutination and Fe(III) reduction. The polysaccharide binding dye Congo red preferentially bound wild-type cells and extracellular matrix material over mutant cells, and Congo red inhibited agglutination and Fe(III) reduction by wild-type cells. These results demonstrate a crucial role for the xap (extracellular anchoring polysaccharide) locus in metal oxide attachment, cell-cell agglutination, and localization of essential cytochromes beyond the Geobacter outer membrane.


Remote prediction of gassy marine sediment properties is important for geohazard assessment. Gas bubble resonance theory suggests that gassy sediments exhibit acoustic wave velocity-frequency and attenuation-frequency relationships that depend on gas bubble size, gas content, and sediment elastic properties. An acoustic monitoring experiment to investigate gas bubble resonance effects was undertaken at an intertidal site at Dibden Bay, Southampton, United Kingdom. A vertical hydrophone array was positioned to straddle the top of the gassy zone identified on acoustic reflection profiles at about 1 m below the seabed. A miniboomer in the seabed above the array was used to generate broadband (600 Hz to 3000 Hz) acoustic signals every 10 min during a 24 hour period with water depths varying between 0 m (subaerial exposure) at low tide and 2.35 m at high tide. The calculated frequency spectra of compressional wave attenuation coefficient show an attenuation maximum (over 200 dB/m) that shifts in frequency from 1050 Hz at low tide to 1250 Hz at high tide, thus for the first time providing direct evidence of in situ gas bubble resonance in marine sediments. Modeling suggests that effective gas bubble radii of 11 mm to 13 mm are responsible for the attenuation maximum, supported by X-ray computed tomography scan observations on a pressure core (which also indicate that bubble shape depends on sediment type). Modeling of bubble size fluctuations due to pressure equilibration cannot reproduce the observed frequency shift of the attenuation maximum, implying that gas diffusion and nonspherical bubbles are significant.


During routine cadaveric dissection of a sole of foot, multiple variations were encountered. The flexor hallucis brevis muscle had a third head, arising from the medial tubercle of the calcaneal tuberosity. The flexor hallucis longus and the flexor digitorum longus tendons had multiple communications between them. The adductor hallucis muscle had a large oblique head and missing transverse head. The abductor of fifth metatarsal was present. The opponens digiti minimi muscle was present. These additional muscle slips may pose some problems to an individual, but can be godsend awards to be used as reconstruction flaps, in flexor injuries thereby sparing the use of other important long flexors. The knowledge of these variations in foot muscle architecture is of utmost importance in analysis of foot function, biomechanical modeling of the foot and prosthesis designing and to the orthopedist, radiologists and podiatrists. These additional slips also have an anthropological importance.


Cross docking is a relatively new logistics technique used in the retail and trucking industries with operations seeking to move materials from inbound locations to outbound locations as quickly as possible. As the high-speed warehouse, short-term staging can still be used to consolidate shipments from disparate sources and realize economies of scale in outbound transportation. In this research, the layout design, short term staging strategy and shipping trailer assignment issues are integrated with the objective of increasing shipping trailer utilization while still satisfying the timeefficiency requirement of the cross docking facility. The problem is modeled as a nonlinear mixed integer programming model. Small-scale problems are solved using Lingo 8.0. The tabu search meta-heuristic is also applied in order to solve large-scale problems.


Since the time of the Constitution's framing, our intellectual canon has shifted so that the classical era is no longer central to our learning. This shift may impede our understanding of the Framers and their work. We may fail to grasp a historical analogy and, even more, fail to appreciate the full meaning of a core document in our history. This Article assists today's reader in gaining the knowledge necessary for an informed understanding of The Federalist's references to ancient Rome. The Article explains each significant reference to Rome by providing a richly textured historical background for the reference. The four primary themes are the need for a national government, the need for a single executive, the best way to structure a government, and the need for a standing army. The Article concludes by discussing three issues: were these classical references persuasive to Publius' readers, what do the references tell us about how the Framers viewed ancient Rome, and in light of our fading familiarity with the classical era, on what political references do modern commentators rely.


The article focuses on the paradigmatic change of national long-term development strategies (Great Strategies) in the context of globalisation. Globalisation has created conditions for the development of transcontinental political, business, social and cultural flows, networks and their interactions, which transformed traditional settings of the national Grand Strategy. It is noted that Grand Strategies based on the so-called systemic (linear, sectoral) strategic management paradigm and material resource management no longer give prerequisites for the long-term sustainable development of a state. The theoretical novelty of this publication is related to the fact that it is based on a holistic scientific and strategic management concept. The Grand Strategy is considered as an integral part of the management system and its subsystems, operating in complex local and global political, economic, social and cultural contexts. In order to achieve strategic development, a state has to participate in the local and global political, economic, social and cultural networks and strive to embed its national identities into a global media culture. Contemporary Grand Strategies are developed and implemented in the context of changed parameters of time and space. The traditional linear time has transformed itself into the cross/fragmented time, while the territory of the state, previously a traditional space for the implementation of the Grand Strategy, is now more and more complemented by global virtual spaces and global media platforms. To achieve strategic development, governments should devote more attention to the following aspects of the Grand Strategy: intellectualism, uniqueness and innovativeness. There is also a tendency of increasing focus on non-traditional, post-material issues (cyber and ecological security, smart technologies, alternative energy sources etc.), intangible (intellectual) strategic resources (information, knowledge, ideas, images, identities, public relations and effective communication). The conclusion is made in the article that the importance of national Grand Strategies and national development goals in the conditions of globalisation is not diminishing. Complexity of the environment in which states operate creates new opportunities for the spread of unique and innovative national identities on the global scale and for the creation of sustainable synergies on different geographical and institutional levels for the implementation of national goals.


Developer turnover can result in a major problem when developing software. When senior developers abandon a software project, they leave a knowledge gap that has to be managed. In addition, new (junior) developers require some time in order to achieve the desired level of productivity. In this paper, we present a methodology to measure the effect of knowledge loss due to developer turnover in software projects. For a given software project, we measure the quantity of code that has been authored by developers that do not belong to the current development team, which we define as orphaned code. Besides, we study how orphaned code is managed by the project. Our methodology is based on the concept of software archaeology, a derivation of software evolution. As case studies we have selected four FLOSS (free, libre, open source software) projects, from purely driven by volunteers to company-supported. The application of our methodology to these case studies will give insight into the turnover that these projects suffer and how they have managed it and shows that this methodology is worth being augmented in future research.


: This review provides an overview of the synthesis and metal complexation chemistry of the nitrogen and sulphur donor bicyclic ligands or cages, and the key criteria that led to the design of sarar for the application for (64)Cu(II). Aspects of the high yielding synthesis of sarar and strategies for its conjugation to a range of antibodies for targeting colorectal cancer, neuroblastoma and melanoma are described. Free and conjugated to proteins sarar can complex (64)Cu(II) rapidly at room temperature and quantitatively; the latter leading to products of high specific activity and purity. The full occupation of the (64)Cu(II) ions 6 coordination sites by the sarar cage prevents the ready exchange of the (64)Cu(II) from the cage and is the rational for the extraordinary thermodynamic and kinetic stability of (64)Cu(II) labelled sarar and its conjugates. It's in vivo stability is further highlighted by the low uptake and retention of (64)Cu-sarar-conjugated antibodies in the liver. Finally, the prospects for the use of the sarar technology in the materials science arena for probing solid liquid interfaces, in particular, the quantification of functional groups on microspheres and in the engineering of novel materials are discussed.


The advent of the internet – and the wider digital environment – has enabled new forms of free expression, organisation and association, provided unprecedented access to information and ideas, and catalysed rapid economic and social development. It has also facilitated new forms of repression and violation of human rights, and intensified existing inequalities. Global Partners Digital (GPD) is a social purpose company dedicated to fostering a digital environment underpinned by human rights and democratic values. We do this by making policy spaces and processes more open, inclusive, and transparent, and by facilitating strategic, informed, and coordinated engagement in these processes by public interest actors.


The way that inner city learners and their educators experience life varies to a great extent. A music programme relevant to the needs of learners can create better understanding between these groups. The success of such a programme depends on an effective teaching-learning approach. The action learning approach, developed by Reginald Revans and adapted for music by Thomas A. Regelski, was implemented in a once-off rap programme at an inner city school in Gauteng. The aim of the programme was the acquisition of practical musical skills by learners through participation in a real-life musical event. The programme was offered on the basis of six specific action learning principles. The action learning approaches of Revans and Regelski were adapted to suit local goals and circumstances.


The Triassic pelagic carbonates of the Lagonegro Basin Units from the Southern Apennines fold and thrust belt (Italy) are often replaced by dolomites, which in some cases show fabric and petrographic characteristics typical of late burial saddle dolomites displaying zebra-like structures (Iannace et al., in press).
The aim of this thesis was to carry out a systematic regional study on Lagonegro dolomites, both on outcrops and on subsurface samples (cuttings from oil wells), in order to define dolomites extent, timing relative to Southern Apennines tectonic history, and fluids origin, by means of a combination of field work, and petrographic and geochemical investigations.
The Lagonegro Basin succession, together with the Apennine Platform successions, is now imbricated in a pile of nappes of the Southern Apennines chain. This latter is a NE-directed fold and thrust belt, formed by progressive collision between Afro-Adriatic and Eurasian plates during the Neogene (Mazzoli and Helman, 1994, and references therein), with the Apulian promontory representing the orogenic foreland. The classical restorations of the pre-orogenic (Triassic to Paleogene) palaeogeography of the Southern Apennines show that the African (Apulian) passive margin was characterized by the Meso-Cenozoic pelagic Lagonegro Basin, located between two coeval carbonate platforms, Apennine and Apulian platforms (Pescatore and Tramutoli, 1980; Mostardini and Merlini, 1986).
The evolution of the Lagonegro Basin was punctuated by two massive dolomitization events, which generated two distinct dolomite types displaying different petrographic and geochemical features. A fine crystalline and fabric preservative dolomite crops out in the northern area (Molise, Campagna and San Fele-Mount Pierno), whereas a coarse crystalline and fabric destructive dolomite, showing zebra-like and hydrofracturing structures is present in the southern area (from Pignola to the high Val d'Agri).
Geochemical data (enrichment in 18O in respect with typical Upper Triassic seawater values, high Sr and low Mn and Fe content, Sr isotopes consistent with Upper Triassic seawater) allow to interpret dolomites of the northern area as the result of an early replacement caused by cold, marine and oxidizing fluid, in a shallow burial. It is proposed that dolomitizing fluids were expelled through a reflux from the Norian Apenninic carbonate platform toward the proximal Lagonegro Basin, or alternatively they were put into motion through a Kohout convection of seawater, heated thanks to a geothermal anomaly.
Dolomites located in the southern area, display a depletion in 18O compared to Upper Triassic seawater values and show lower Sr, higher Mn and Fe contents, and higher Sr isotopes ratios in respect with early dolomites of the northern area. It is suggested that the southern area was affected, during Neogene time, by a late burial dolomitization, which was the result of a large scale "squeegee" fluid flow during Southern Apennines fold and thrust belt formation. The geochemistry of saddle dolomite samples indicates an origin by warm fluids (105-125 °C). Integration with available thermal data (Corrado et al., 2005; Mazzoli et al., 2008) into the regional deformation history, by assuming a fluid in thermal equilibrium with the host rocks, suggests that the fluid flow took place after maximum burial, in early stages of exhumation, between 5 and 4 Ma and under 3-4 km of burial.
The dolomitizing fluids of southern area dolomites had salinities in the range of slightly modified to normal marine seawater (1.9-6.4 eq. wt % NaCl with a mean of 3.7) and oxygen isotopic composition typical of saline formation waters. Two possible sources for such fluids can be envisaged. They could be formation waters, diluted with fresh waters delivered during the smectite-illite transformation at depth, squeezed out from the surrounding Triassic and Cretaceous fine-clastic formations or Miocene marine pore-waters expelled from the melange zone that separates the allochthonous wedge from the buried Apulian platform.
The fluid flow event was a major phenomenon affecting the fold and thrust belt and it could be expected that the dolomite bodies which are reported in the Apulian subsurface (Murgia et al., 2004) might have the same origin of Lagonegro dolomites from the southern area. As the carbonates of the Apulia platform host major oil fields of continental Europe, the fluid flow that took place along with Southern Apennines belt formation could be of economic significance, providing secondary porosity development.


Passive haptic proxy objects allow for rich tangible interaction, and this is especially true in VR applications. However, this requires users to have many physical objects at hand. Our paper proposes robotic assembly at run-time of low-resolution haptic proxies for tangible interaction and virtual reality. These assembled physical proxy objects are composed of magnetically attached blocks which are assembled by a small multi robot system, specifically Zooids. We explore the design of the basic building blocks and illustrate two approaches to assembling physical proxies: using multirobot systems to (1) self-assemble into structures and (2) assemble 2.5D structure with passive blocks of various heights. The success rate and completion time are evaluated for both approaches. Finally, we demonstrate the potential of assembled proxy objects for tangible interaction and virtual reality through a set of demonstrations.


There is a new way of thinking about the mind that does not locate mental processes exclusively "in the head." Some think that this expanded conception of the mind will be the basis of a new science of the mind. In this book, leading philosopher Mark Rowlands investigates the conceptual foundations of this new science of the mind. The new way of thinking about the mind emphasizes the ways in which mental processes are embodied (made up partly of extraneural bodily structures and processes), embedded (designed to function in tandem with the environment), enacted (constituted in part by action), and extended (located in the environment). The new way of thinking about the mind, Rowlands writes, is actually an old way of thinking that has taken on new form. Rowlands describes a conception of mind that had its clearest expression in phenomenology -- in the work of Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre, and Merleau-Ponty. He builds on these views, clarifies and renders consistent the ideas of embodied, embedded, enacted, and extended mind, and develops a unified philosophical treatment of the novel conception of the mind that underlies the new science of the mind.


Environmental licensing is one of the most important tools of environmental policies in any country, as it allows to adopt preventive and mitigation measures on predicted or observed environmental impacts. However, Environmental Impact Assessments are recurrently criticized due to their low quality and effectiveness to support decisions for project viability or mitigation planning. One way to counteract those limitations is by strengthening terms of reference. Here we present the results of a collaborative initiative carried out in southernmost state of Brazil to improve terms of reference for assessmentsof vertebrate road mortality in a context of road widening. This initiative integrated contributions from stakeholders involved in road planning, construction, operation and road environmental assessments and licensing through a series of workshops undertaken during two years. Using the Why, What and How schema, we first briefly present the reasons to evaluate wildlifevehicle collisions in environmental assessments, and then we comment some limitations of current legal regulations and environmental impact assessments in Brazil and identify the improvements needed. We describe the approach and principles used to develop a sampling protocol for what and how to sample and how to analyze vertebrate road mortality data in Brazilian roads. Finally, we present the result of this effort, the guidelines itself. Although focused on a single road impact (road-kill), we expect that our approach could be replicated to produce guidelines to improve assessments of other road impacts and even other types of infrastructures or activities for which environmental licensing is a pre-requisite.


Colonization influences the colonized country politically, economically and culturally, and colonial traces persist everywhere in a colonized society, particularly in social manners, behaviour and culture. After a period of colonization, a period of decolonization is needed. According to W. D. Mignolo, decolonization is the long-term processes involving the bureaucratic, cultural, linguistic, and psychological divesting of colonial power. The result of decolonization is a new people and community. The processes involved depend on cultural transfer, cultural relations and modernisation of smaller and peripheral national cultures. All of these processes make it possible for small and peripheral nations to find their own originality within European culture. An "external" or "alien" culture may function as a metatext in an "own" culture and it can describe the "own" culture itself via auto-communication. The literary works of smaller national cultures, such as Estonia and Latvia, represent cultural processes in the process of modernisation and the modernist period in literature at the beginning of the 20th century and also in the 21st century. The paper analyses different texts from "alien" cultures (Shakespeare's Hamlet , the Bible etc.) which function as metatexts in "own" culture. Shakespeare's Hamlet as a literary figure has been a very important and influential motif in Estonian literature and culture: Gustav Suits's and Paul-Eerik Rummo's poems used the motif of Hamlet to describe Estonian history and culture. The Bible has influenced Estonian literary culture for a long time. The function of the old biblical myths is to create the eternal, mythical dimension in literary works and create contact with old nations (e.g. Kasu Hans', Juhan Liiv's and Ene Mihkelson's poetry.). Prose writers Rūdolfs Blaumanis' and Eduard Vilde's works represent the Baltic lifestyle, which affected peasants and aristocrats in different ways. Both writers used more of their "own" cultural system and language as metatext to describe the cultural system, rather than using external cultural systems and languages. They transformed realist, romantic and psychological realist styles and languages into internal or "own" cultural systems. All of these stories and poems demonstrate how smaller and peripheral cultures find their own original national cultures and how cultural influences and transformations work through cultural dynamics. Small nations can communicate with other cultures, and they can communicate with us; we can describe our "own" culture via auto-communication.


Pertinent simulations of string instruments, for the purpose of sound synthesis or instrument making, require at least three major conditions: a deep understanding of the physics, accurate measurements of elastic and geometric properties, and good mathematical properties of the discrete time modeling. Today, the modeling of complete string instruments appears to be a rather unrealistic objective. However, one intermediate step consists of a thorough investigation of the vibrations and radiation of plates, which are essential in the production of sound by such sources. This presentation will concentrate first on the development of appropriate damping models for both isotropic and anisotropic plates, using a generalized viscoelastic formulation, in order to account for the complex, but clearly audible, influence of frequency‐dependent decay times on timbre of most materials. Other refinements, such as the time‐domain modeling of inhomogeneities, stiffening of plates, and plate–cavity coupling, which are known to be significant in the physics of string instruments, will be addressed. Sound examples will be played, highlighting the results and limits of the state of the art for these current investigations.


Abuse of authority, in general, is due to the extension of power and authority without being based on the juridical foundation that is the source of such power and authority. A phenomenon of abuse of authority, in relation to a process of verification / technical tracing of ceramic importation activities, has moved from a juridical foundation which is the implementing arrangement of the mandate of Law Number 17 of 2006 on Amendment to Law No. 10/1995 on Customs. Regulation of the Minister of Trade of the Republic of Indonesia Number 72 / M-DAG / PER / 11/2012 concerning Technical Investigation of Ceramic Import contains double norms which gives authority to the Directorate General of Customs and Excise to override legal norms governing the same subject without obligation to Building juridical arguments and alternative solutions. The construction of legal reasoning constructed by the Directorate General of Customs and Excise against decisions taken under the authority of such delegates can not be declared invalid as a decision. However, concrete facts indicate the existence of material losses for ceramic impotation business actors as a result of the synchronization and disharmony of the formulation of legal norms. Thus, the absence of legal protection for importers is particularly vulnerable.


This paper will not simply be cross-linguistic, but typological, insofar as it refers to language types as constellations of typologically relevant linguistic properties. The general hypothesis is that children are sensitive to typological properties of the language they acquire, i.e. they are sensitive to the relative communicative importance and structure of linguistic patterns in their verbal interactions. This paper will focus on morphology as the backbone of holisic language typology. The data discussed will come especially from the collaborative results of the international "Cross-linguistic Project on Pre- and Protomorphology in Language Acquisition". The paper will concentrate on early phases of language acquisition and on inflectional morphology. The relevant properties are degree of morphological richness of a language, of transparency, uniformity and productivity. It is assumed that children will develop morphology faster, the richer the morphology is they are acquiring. They will also acquire transparent, uniform and productive patterns faster than opaque, non-uniform and unproductive ones. Among the three epistemological levels of typology, i.e. classificatory, ordering and quantitative typology, the paper will focus on the second level, where languages, and more precisely language subsystems, are ordered according to how closely they approach the ideal morphological types of, in our case, the agglutinating, the inflecting(-fusional) and the isolating type.


Sharing a secret key between two physically separated nodes, Alice and Bob, is possible through the use of quantum key distribution (QKD) techniques. In the presence of an eavesdropper, Alice's key may not be identical with Bob's key, due to the characteristics of a quantum channel. To obtain identical keys at Alice and Bob, we propose a block-based key verification protocol that relies on Newton's polynomial interpolation. As the nodes solely share random numbers and indices of the removed blocks, no information is revealed about the secret message, at a cost of higher computational complexity. The error propagation through the key verification process is prevented by the characteristics of the proposed approach.


This document specifies how to use the Session Initiation Protocol
(SIP) to establish an Secure Real-time Transport Protocol (SRTP)
security context using the Datagram Transport Layer Security (DTLS)
protocol. It describes a mechanism of transporting a fingerprint
attribute in the Session Description Protocol (SDP) that identifies
the key that will be presented during the DTLS handshake. The key
exchange travels along the media path as opposed to the signaling
path. The SIP Identity mechanism can be used to protect the integrity
of the fingerprint attribute from modification by intermediate
proxies.


Background— Leukocyte telomere length (LTL) decreases over the adult life course owing to the cumulative burden of oxidative stress, inflammation, and exposure to vascular risk factors. Left ventricular (LV) mass is a biomarker of long-standing exposure to cardiovascular disease risk factors. We hypothesized that LTL is related inversely to LV mass. Methods and Results— We related LTL (measured by Southern blot analysis) to echocardiographic LV mass and its components (LV diastolic dimension and LV wall thickness) in 850 Framingham Heart Study participants (mean age 58 years, 58% women) using multivariable linear regression with adjustment for age, sex, height, weight, systolic blood pressure, hypertension treatment, and smoking. Overall, multivariable-adjusted LTL was positively related to LV mass (β-coefficient per SD increase 0.072; P=0.001), LV wall thickness (β=0.053; P=0.01), and LV diastolic dimension (β=0.035; P=0.09). We observed effect modification by hypertension status (P for interaction=0.02 for LV mass); LTL was more strongly associated with LV mass and LV wall thickness in individuals with hypertension (β-coefficient per SD increment of 0.10 and 0.08, respectively; P<0.01 for both). Participants with hypertension who were in the top quartile of LV mass had LTL that was 250 base pairs longer than those in the lowest quartile (P for trend across quartiles=0.009). Conclusions— In contrast to our expectation, in the present community-based sample, LTL was positively associated with LV mass and wall thickness, especially so in participants with hypertension. These data are consistent with the hypothesis that longer LTL may be a marker of propensity to LV hypertrophy.


One of the long-standing issues in the field of corporate real estate corporate strategy. Extensive research into existing approaches brought valuable insights into steps, components and variables that are needed in the alignment process. Despite that, it is not clear if existing approaches had much uptake in practice and they fall short in a number of aspects. In most models little to no attention is given to the design and selection of the alternative portfolio that adds most value to the organisation. Furthermore, university campus managers have indicated that they need better information and tools to support campus decision making. The Preference-based Accommodation Strategy design (PAS) procedure is a tool to enhance CRE decision making and has been developed to remove these gaps. In the PAS design procedure decision makers define criteria and iteratively test and adjust these criteria by designing new real estate portfolios. The portfolio design that adds most value to the organisation, i.e. has the highest overall preference is suggested as the portfolio that optimally aligns real estate to corporate strategy. The PAS procedure is iteratively repeated with the participants in a series of interviews and workshops. Two pilot studies have been performed at the Delft University of Technology (DUT). The study into the portfolio of lecture halls showed that stakeholders were able to use the procedure successfully. This paper reports the pilot study for their portfolio of food facilities. The objective of this research is to test if participants are able to perform the PAS procedure. Therefore a mathematical model of the group decision making process is designed and tested. This pilot study also reveals that the participants by completing the steps in the PAS procedure are able to express their preferences accordingly. They designed an alternative portfolio with a higher overall preference score than their current real estate portfolio. In addition, the design method is evaluated positively. The positive results suggest that designing a strategy by using the PAS procedure is a suitable approach to alignment. The PAS design procedure enables CRE managers to determine the added value of a real estate strategy. Because the PAS design method is generic in nature it can be used for a wide range of real estate portfolios.


Innovation is the key of enterprises to improve the core competitiveness and maintain sustainable competitive advantage. According to the different stages in the product life cycle, the enterprise innovation mode should be different. This paper discusses the impact of the product life cycle on enterprise innovation mode, and puts forward the main innovation modes corresponding to different stages of product life cycle.


The enhanced principal rank characteristic sequence (epr-sequence) of an $n\x n$ matrix is a sequence $\ell_1 \ell_2 \cdots \ell_n$, where each $\ell_k$ is ${\tt A}$, ${\tt S}$, or ${\tt N}$ according as all, some, or none of its principal minors of order $k$ are nonzero. There has been substantial work on epr-sequences of symmetric matrices (especially real symmetric matrices) and real skew-symmetric matrices, and incidental remarks have been made about results extending (or not extending) to (complex) Hermitian matrices. A systematic study of epr-sequences of Hermitian matrices is undertaken; the differences with the case of symmetric matrices are quite striking. Various results are established regarding the attainability by Hermitian matrices of epr-sequences that contain two ${\tt N}$s with a gap in between. Hermitian adjacency matrices of mixed graphs that begin with ${\tt NAN}$ are characterized. All attainable epr-sequences of Hermitian matrices of orders $2$, $3$, $4$, and $5$, are listed with justifications.


We present a sample of 8 nearby Seyfert 2 galaxies observed by HST and Chandra . All of the sources present soft X-ray emission which is coincident in extension and overall morphology with the [O iii] emission. The spectral analysis reveals that the soft X-ray emission of all the objects is likely to be dominated by a photoionized gas. This is strongly supported by the 190 ks combined XMM- Newton /RGS spectrum of Mrk 3, which different diagnostic tools confirm as being produced in a gas in photoionization equilibrium with an important contribution from resonant scattering. We tested with the code cloudy a simple scenario where the same gas photoionized by the nuclear continuum produces both the soft X-ray and the [O iii] emission. Solutions satisfying the observed ratio between the two components exist, and require the density to decrease with radius roughly like r -2 , similarly to what often found for the Narrow Line Region.


This text examines three mid-Victorian novels that highlight prevailing attitudes toward both women and lawyers: Charles Dickens' "Bleak House"; Wilkie Collins' "The Woman in White"; and George Eliot's "Felix Holt, the Radical". The novels reflect the confluence of social issues: the public's suspicion of lawyers and the law's own hostility toward women. To qualify the underpinnings of this tension more completely, the first chapter looks at three short works by Herman Melville: "The paradise of Bachelors", "The Tartarus Maids", and "Bartleby the Scrivener". These pieces crystallize the difficulties women encounter when confronted with the legal world, and set the framework for what will be examined in the novels. The volume also provides an overview of the legal profession in England, outlining the kinds of marginality experienced by both lawyers, particularly solicitors, and women, who were struggling for legal identity.


Flexible displays have paved the road for a new generation of interaction styles that allow users to bend and twist their devices. We hypothesize that bend gestures can be augmented with "hot-key" like pressure areas. This would allow single corner bends to have multiple functions. We created three pressure and bend interaction styles and compared them to bend-only gestures on two deformable prototypes. Users preferred the bend only prototype but still appreciated the pressure & bend prototype, particularly when it came to the lock/unlock application. We found that pressure interaction is a poor replacement for touch interaction, and present design suggestions to improve its performance.


The factory automation community is looking toward the devices profile for Web services (DPWS) set of Web service standards to provide a service orientated architecture (SOA) enablement of factory elements. This paper examines the issues surrounding the application and future development of DPWS on production line machines and their integration with distributed enterprise applications. Issues raised reflect the need for more development on defining a generic approach to Web Service architecture in automation and the ontologies that support it. The concept of an automation lifecycle is introduced to aid this development from a more holistic perspective.


Abstract We used capture-recapture analyses to estimate the density of a tiger Panthera tigris population in the tropical forests of Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary, Thailand, from photographic capture histories of 15 distinct individuals. The closure test results (z = 0.39, P = 0.65) provided some evidence in support of the demographic closure assumption. Fit of eight plausible closed models to the data indicated more support for model Mh, which incorporates individual heterogeneity in capture probabilities. This model generated an average capture probability $\hat p$ = 0.42 and an abundance estimate of $\widehat{N}(\widehat{SE}[\widehat{N}])$ = 19 (9.65) tigers. The sampled area of $\widehat{A}(W)(\widehat{SE}[\widehat{A}(W)])$ = 477.2 (58.24) km2 yielded a density estimate of $\widehat{D}(\widehat{SE}[\widehat{D}])$ = 3.98 (0.51) tigers per 100 km2. Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary could therefore hold 113 tigers and the entire Western Forest Complex c. 720 tigers. Although based on field protocols that constrained us to use sub-optimal analyses, this estimated tiger density is comparable to tiger densities in Indian reserves that support moderate prey abundances. However, tiger densities in well-protected Indian reserves with high prey abundances are three times higher. If given adequate protection we believe that the Western Forest Complex of Thailand could potentially harbour >2,000 wild tigers, highlighting its importance for global tiger conservation. The monitoring approaches we recommend here would be useful for managing this tiger population.


In the present study, Ramor 500 armor steel plates were automatically welded using cold metal transfer arc welding (CMT), gas metal arc welding (GMAW), and hybrid plasma arc welding (HPAW) methods. To investigate the effects of three different fusion welding methods on metallurgical and mechanical properties, the welded joints were examined using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and also subjected to radiographic, hardness, tensile, and notched impact tests. The weld metal (WM) region of the GMAW and HPAW joints consisted of massive austenite. In the CMT welded joint, the WM consisted mainly of dendritic austenite and a minor amount of δ-ferrite. Regardless of the welding process, the hardness of both the WM and heat-affected zone (HAZ) regions was found to be higher than the base metal (BM). The tensile strengths obtained by CMT, GMAW, and HPAW were 45%, 50%, and 65% of the BM, respectively. Cleavage-type brittle fractures occurred in the GMAW and HPAW welded joints, while localized ductile fractures occurred in the CMT joints. Tensile test specimens of the CMT joints fractured in the WM, while the GMAW and HPAW joints fractured in the HAZ. In terms of notch toughness, the CMT joints exhibited better impact resistance compared with the BM. GMAW and HPAW joints displayed less impact resistance than the BM, with values comparable with previous studies in the literature.


During daily operations of a building, a significant amount of energy is spent on indoor illumination. The choice of different lighting sources and control strategies can notably affect the energy consumption. To achieve the most economical lighting design, a number of factors from both physical and cyber perspectives must be considered. More importantly, these factors must be taken into account during early design phrases of building architecture and automation systems. This paper proposes an infrastructure towards the cyber-physical approach for prototyping indoor illumination. In particular, the distributed lighting automation system is modeled using the IEC 61499 standard. The lighting energy performance of a building is evaluated according to the EN 15193 standard. By integrating the evaluation methodology of energy efficiency in the development of lighting automation systems, adequate indications regarding the correlation between physical and cyber designs can be revealed. The proposed design approach has been demonstrated on a case study house, where impacts of different lighting control strategies on the house's energy efficiency can be quantitatively compared.


Author(s): Kiparsky, Michael; Fisher, Andrew T; Hanemann, W Michael; Bowie, John; Kantor, Rose; Coburn, Chris; Lockwood, Brian | Abstract: Groundwater sustainability depends on balancing aquifer inflows and outflows. Extraction (pumping of groundwater, typically for human use) and recharge (inflow of water to an aquifer from the land surface and streams) are central components of this water balance. Often, increasing demands for groundwater are exacerbated by stresses on limited surface water supplies. Changes in land use and shifting climate can result in less infiltration of precipitation into the ground, reducing recharge. Increasing water scarcity has led to increased pumping, and in turn, unsustainable management of groundwater in many basins, resulting in depleted supplies, degraded water quality, and other impacts. Conservation strategies have reduced demand in some basins, and there are also opportunities for increasing recharge; both strategies can help to tip the water balance towards sustainability. Natural recharge occurs across the landscape, in forests and fields, and below rivers and streams; it is a fundamental hydrologic process that is difficult to measure or control because it varies so greatly in location and timing. Managed aquifer recharge (MAR) is a set of techniques used to improve groundwater conditions by routing more surface water into aquifers. MAR can be applied at many scales, from street corner swales to regional systems. MAR based on the distributed collection of stormwater ("distributed MAR") can be accomplished at an intermediate scale, generating hundreds to thousands of acre-feet/year of infiltration benefit. The promise of distributed MAR stems from its modest cost, and comparative simplicity of design and operation. Distributed MAR projects can be developed on private or public land across a groundwater basin, potentially generating more total benefit than smaller scale installations, and with less cost and complexity than regional MAR systems. A key challenge for developing distributed MAR projects lies in creating incentives that will motivate landowners, tenants, and other stakeholders to participate. Distributed MAR projects can be funded by a limited number of private participants, but public benefits may accrue more broadly. Developing and implementing policies to encourage the creation and operation of distributed MAR systems is a challenge at the frontier of groundwater management.


TECHNICAL AND APPLIED FEATURES OF FUNCTIONAL BEHAVIORAL ASSESSMENTS AND BEHAVIOR INTERVENTION PLANS by Shannon M. Hawkins When conducted correctly, functional behavior assessments (FBAs) can help professionals intervene with problem behavior using function-based interventions. Despite the fact that researchers have shown that effective interventions are based on function, recent investigators have found that most behavioral intervention plans (BIPs) are written without regard to the function of students' problem behaviors as documented in their FBAs. This study was conducted to examine the overall technical adequacy of FBAs and BIPs within one educational system to evaluate reliance on the outcomes of FBAs in the development of BIPs. The technical and applied features of a randomly selected sample of 134 FBA/BIPs of students with disabilities, ages 3-21 years, who were receiving services due to their severe emotional and behavioral disorders (SEBD) or autism spectrum disorders (ASD) within the Georgia Network of Educational and Therapeutic Services (GNETS) were analyzed. In addition, similarities and differences between function-based strategies specified in BIPs were examined. Logistic regression was used to reveal the probability that a given behavioral function can predict which intervention(s) might be chosen. A series of chi-square tests of independence and a multinomial logistic regression model were used to examine how BIP component variables, demographic variables, behavioral function variables, and behavioral intervention variables related to each other statistically. Components described as critical in research literature for conducting FBAs and developing BIPs were absent from a significant number of the student files. Results suggest few of the prescribed interventions were likely to be related to function. The findings extend research on FBAs and BIPs, particularly as they are used with students with SEBD and autism, documenting that a significant number of BIPs are developed without regard of the function of the problem behavior. TECHNICAL AND APPLIED FEATURES OF FUNCTIONAL BEHAVIORAL ASSESSMENTS AND BEHAVIOR INTERVENTION PLANS by Shannon M. Hawkins


Perfectly paced and brimming with passion-twenty-two tales from a master storyteller of the twentieth century. In this magnificent collection of Stefan Zweig's short stories the very best and worst of human nature are captured with sharp observation, understanding and vivid empathy. Ranging from love and death to faith restored and hope regained, these stories present a master at work, at the top of his form. Translated by the award-winning Anthea Bell 'Zweig, prolific storyteller and embodiment of a vanished Mitteleuropa, seems to be back, and in a big way.' The New York Times 'For far too long, our links with Zweig...have been broken. Pushkin Press's phenomenal, heartbreaking collection is a reminder that it's time to forge them again.'Los Angeles Review of Books 'One of the joys of recent years is the translation into English of Stefan Zweig's stories. They have an astringency of outlook and a mastery of scale that I find enormously enjoyable' Edmund de Waal, author of The Hare with the Amber Eyes 'The rediscovery of this extraordinary writer could well be on a par with last year's refinding of the long-lost Stoner, by John Williams' Simon Winchester Telegraph 'The Updike of his day...Zweig is a lucid writer, and Bell renders his prose flawlessly' New York Observer 'Zweig belongs with those masters of the novella-Maupassant, Turgenev, Chekhov.'-Paul Bailey 'The stories are as page-turning as they are subtle...Compelling' Guardian 'An unjustly neglected literary master'The Times [A] new omnibus edition of Zweig's stories, in Anthea Bell's flawlessly pitched translations" TLS 'One of the masters of theshort story' Nicholas Lezard, Guardian 'Stefan Zweig...was a talented writer and ultimatelyanother tragic victim of wartime despair. This rich collection...confirms howgood he could be' Eileen Battersby, IrishTimes 'Zweig is at once the literary heir of Chekhov, Conrad, and Maupassant, with something of Schopenhauer's observational meditations on psychology thrown in. The Collected Stories of Stefan Zweig is a major book of cultural and historical importance, and Pushkin Press has done the literary world a service by releasing it in such an attractive volume.' Harvard Review Stefan Zweig (1881-1942) was born in Vienna, into a wealthy Austrian-Jewish family. He studied in Berlin and Vienna and was first known as a poet and translator, then as a biographer. Zweig travelled widely, living in Salzburg between the wars, and was an international bestseller with a string of hugely popular novellas including Letter from an Unknown Woman, Amok and Fear. In 1934, with the rise of Nazism, he moved to London, where he wrote his only novel Beware of Pity. He later moved on to Bath, taking British citizenship after the outbreak of the Second World War. With the fall of France in 1940 Zweig left Britain for New York, before settling in Brazil, where in 1942 he and his wife were found dead in an apparent double suicide. Much of his work is available from Pushkin Press. Pushkin Press's special hardbacks also include deluxe editions of Stefan Zweig's Beware of Pity and Antal Szerb's Journey by Moonlight.


This paper analyzes the challenges and opportunities for agricultural marketing cooperatives in value-added, quality-differentiated markets. Product quality in all of its dimensions is critical in modern food markets, but various traditional cooperative business practices are not conducive to success in meeting consumers' demands for quality. We discuss and evaluate these limitations, which have led to pessimism on the part of some commentators regarding the future of cooperatives, but we also demonstrate advantages, relative to investor-owned firms inherent in some traditional coop practices, such as revenue pooling. We also propose and illustrate appropriate modeling frameworks to study cooperatives' performance in differentiated-product market settings, including comparing the performance of open- and closed-membership cooperatives in competition with an investor-owned firm in a market with horizontal product differentiation.


This article utilises the theoretical perspectives of the forensic turn to further expand our historical understandings and interpretations of the events of the Holocaust. More specifically, it applies a theory of the materialities of dead bodies to historically reconstruct and reinterpret the death march from Buchenwald to Dachau from 7 to 28 April 1945. It focuses on dead bodies as 'evidence', but explores how the evidential meanings of corpses along the death-march route evolved and changed during the march itself and in the aftermath of discovery by approaching American military forces. While drawing on theories of the evidential use of dead bodies, it remains firmly grounded in empirical historical research based on archival sources. The archives at the Buchenwald Concentration Camp contain eyewitness accounts and post-war trial testimony that enable a deeply contextualised 'microhistory' of the geography, movements, perpetrators, victims and events along this specific death march in April and May 1945. This 'thick description' provides the necessary context for a theoretical reading of the changing evidential meanings of dead bodies as the death march wove its way from Buchenwald to Dachau and the war and the Holocaust drew to an end.


The language of human rights has become the public vocabulary of our contemporary world. Ironically, as the political influence of human rights has grown, their philosophical justification has become ever more controversial. Building on a theory of discourse ethics and communicative rationality, this book addresses the politics and philosophy of human rights against the background of the broader social transformations that are shaping the modern world. Rejecting the reduction of international human rights to the Trojan horse of a neo-liberal empire's bid for world power, as well as the conservative objections to legal cosmopolitanism as encroachments upon democratic sovereignty, Benhabib develops two key concepts to move beyond these false antitheses. International human rights norms need contextualization in specific polities through processes of what she calls 'democratic iterations.' Furthermore, such norms have a 'jurisgenerative power,' in that they enable new actors to enter fields of social and political contestation; they promote new vocabularies for public claim-making and anticipate a justice to come. Ranging over themes such as sovereignty, citizenship, genocide, European antisemitism, the crisis of the nation-state, and the 'scarf affair' in contemporary Europe and Turkey, this major new book by one of our leading political theorists reflects upon the political transformations of our times and makes a compelling case for a cosmopolitanism without illusions.... Download ebook, read file pdf Human Rights in Troubled Times


We have developed a brain-machine interface (BMI) rehabilitation system for patients with stroke and motor paralysis, which provides proprioceptive feedback upon successful generation of motor-imagery (MI)-induced event-related desynchronization (ERD) and a decrease in mu band (8–13 Hz) activity derived from hand motor imagery. This system consists of an electroencephalogram (EEG) ampli er operated using the MATLAB Simulink software; a pneumatic robotic exoskeleton to provide proprioceptive feedback to the paralyzed hand; and a tablet computer placed over the paralyzed hand to display a hand-action movie to facilitate ERD generation. The EEG ampli er was connected and synchronized via the exoskeleton and tablet computer with an Arduino microcomputer. Nine patients in the subacute stage of recovery after stroke participated in a neurofeedback training experiment, which employed the aforementioned system. During the 4 weeks of this study, the participants received 2 weeks of BMI-based or control interventions in a random and counterbalanced order, in addition to their daily conventional physiotherapy. The control intervention consisted of the same MI training as the BMI-based intervention, but the exoskeleton always provided proprioceptive feedback regardless of the ERD strength. The ERD strength in the affected hemisphere showed a desirable increase with a signi cant improvement of nger joint spasticity, only after the DMB-based intervention period, and not after the control intervention period. The proposed neurofeedback training can help patients with stroke and movement disorders, because increased ERD strength may lead to recovery of motor function.


Corporate entities enjoy legal subjectivity in a variety of forms, but they are not human beings, and hence their legal capacity to bear rights and obligations of their own is not universal. This paper explores, from a normative point of view, one of the limits that ought to be set on the capacity of corporations to act "as if" they had a human nature, their capacity to commit crime. Accepted wisdom has it that corporate criminal liability is justified as a measure to deter criminal behavior. Our analysis supports this intuition in one subset of cases, but also reveals that deterrence might in fact be undermined in another subset of cases, especially in an environment saturated with plea bargains involving serious violations of the law.


This paper undertakes a thorough review of the legislative and policy framework of water supply and sanitation in India within the larger backdrop of the universal affirmation of right to water and sanitation under the UN WaSH initiatives, first articulated under the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Recognizing the proactive role played by the Indian judiciary in this regard, the paper examines various patterns of judicial reasoning in realising the right to water and sanitation as Constitutional rights of citizens. The paper observes that through a consistent 'rights-based' approach, the Indian judiciary has systematically articulated and achieved the objectives of the UN WaSH initiatives long before they were spelled out under the MDGs. The paper highlights the need for the Government to recognise and incorporate judicial insights in implementing developmental projects under the WaSH initiatives.


Succinctness is a natural measure for comparing the strength of different logics. Intuitively, a logic L/sub 1/ is more succinct than another logic L/sub 2/ if oil properties that can be expressed in L/sub 2/ can be expressed in L/sub 1/ by formulas of (approximately) the same size, but some properties can be expressed in L/sub 1/ by (significantly) smaller formulas. We study the succinctness of logics on linear orders that have the same expressive power as first-order logic. Our first theorem is concerned with the finite variable fragments of first-order logic. We prove that:(i) Up to a polynomial factor, the 2- and the 3-variable fragments of first-order logic on linear orders have the same succinctness.(ii) The 4-variable fragment is exponentially more succinct than the 3-variable fragment. Our second main result compares the succinctness of first-order logic on linear orders with that of monadic second-order logic. We prove that the fragment of monadic second-order logic that has the same expressiveness as first-order logic on linear orders is non-elementarily more succinct than first-order logic.


Train passages induce forces on the track, train-induced vibrations propagate through the soil and excite neighbouring buildings. The emission, which is the first part of the prediction of vibrations near railway lines, is presented by focusing on the dynamic axle loads. The calculation of the axle loads is based on the vehicle-track-soil interaction. This interaction calculus utilises the dynamic stiffness of the vehicle (the inertia of the wheelset) and the dynamic stiffness of the track-soil system. Based on various time consuming finite-element boundary-element calculations, an approximate track-soil model has been established. The vehicle-track-soil analysis yields several transfer functions between the various geometric or stiffness irregularities and the axle loads of the train. Geometric irregularities of the vehicle (the wheels) and the track (rail surface and track alignment) are the simplest components. Geometric irregularities of the subsoil (trackbed irregularities) have to be transferred to effective irregularities at rail level. The bending stiffness of the track is filtering out the short-wavelength contribution. Stiffness irregularities occur due to random variations in the ballast or the subsoil, which must also be transferred to effective track irregularities, and due to the discrete rail support on sleepers. All necessary transfer functions for the prediction of axle-load spectra are presented as general formula and as specific graphs for differing vehicle and track parameters. The prediction method is applied to a ballast track and a slab track and compared with corresponding axle-box measurements. Moreover, ground vibration measurements at numerous sites are exploited for the axle-load spectra and the validation of the prediction method. All theoretical and experimental results confirm that the dynamic axle-load spectra have an approximate value of 1 kN per third of octave and increase with train speed, track stiffness and around the vehicle-track resonance.