With the high-resolution spectroscopy now available in the optical and satellite UV, it is possible to determine the neutral/ionized column density ratios for several different elements in a single cloud. Assuming ionization equilibrium for each element, one can make several independent determinations of the electron density. For the clouds for which such an analysis has been carried out, these different estimates disagree by large factors, suggesting that some process (or processes) besides photoionization and radiative recombination might play an important role in the ionization balance. One candidate process is the collision of ions with dust grains. Making use of recent work quantifying the abundances of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon molecules and other grains in the interstellar medium, as well as recent models for grain charging, we estimate the grain-assisted ion recombination rates for several astrophysically important elements. We find that these rates are comparable to the rates for radiative recombination for conditions typical of the cold neutral medium. Including grain-assisted ion recombination in the ionization equilibrium analysis leads to increased consistency in the various electron density estimates for the gas along the line of sight to 23 Orionis. However, not all of the discrepancies can be eliminated in this way; we speculate on some other processes that might play a role. We also note that grain-assisted recombination of H+ and He+ leads to significantly lower electron fractions than usually assumed for the cold neutral medium.


Few studies have contrasted faunal communities between flooded and unflooded tropical forests, and such attempts have largely been restricted to a few taxonomic groups. We present the first comparison of the composition and structure of an entire assemblage of mid-sized to large-bodied mammals in adjacent unflooded (terra firme) and flooded (várzea) forests of central-western Amazonia. We extend this comparison to 13 other terra firme and várzea forest sites in order to examine the fundamental dichotomy between mammal communities in these Amazonian environments. We found a consistently impoverished fauna in várzea environments both in terms of primates and other non-volant mammals, although primate density and biomass was substantially higher in várzea than in terra firme. The average Bray–Curtis mammal community dissimilarity between terra firme and várzea forests was 74%, whereas mean dissimilarity within várzea and terra firme samples was 40% and 39%, respectively. The results seem to be largely a function of high habitat heterogeneity and floristic diversity in terra firme and the physical connectivity and proximity of várzeas to adjacent terra firme forests. We suggest that inundated forests should be set aside as a crucial complement to Amazonian reserves dominated by terra firme forests in future biodiversity conservation planning.


This paper provides an overview of the Joint Contest on Multimedia Challenges Beyond Visual Analysis. We organized an academic competition that focused on four problems that require effective processing of multimodal information in order to be solved. Two tracks were devoted to gesture spotting and recognition from RGB-D video, two fundamental problems for human computer interaction. Another track was devoted to a second round of the first impressions challenge of which the goal was to develop methods to recognize personality traits from short video clips. For this second round we adopted a novel collaborative-competitive (i.e., coopetition) setting. The fourth track was dedicated to the problem of video recommendation for improving user experience. The challenge was open for about 45 days, and received outstanding participation: almost 200 participants registered to the contest, and 20 teams sent predictions in the final stage. The main goals of the challenge were fulfilled: the state of the art was advanced considerably in the four tracks, with novel solutions to the proposed problems (mostly relying on deep learning). However, further research is still required. The data of the four tracks will be available to allow researchers to keep making progress in the four tracks.


Abstract. Rainfall-triggered fluid flow in a mechanical fracture zone associated with a seismic fault has been estimated (Tanaka et al., 2011) using muon radiography by measuring the water position over time in response to rainfall events. In this report, the data taken by Tanaka et al. (2011) are reanalyzed to estimate the porosity distribution as a function of a distance from the fault gouge. The result shows a similar pattern of the porosity distribution as measured by borehole sampling at Nojima fault. There is a low porosity shear zone axis surrounded by porous damaged areas with density increasing with the distance from the fault gouge. The dynamic muon radiography (Tanaka et al., 2011) provides a new method to delineate both the recharge and discharge zones along the fault segment, an entire hydrothermal circulation system. This might dramatically raise the success rate for drilling of geothermal exploration wells, and it might open a new horizon in the geothermal exploration and monitoring.


Introducing a global dataset of open standing water bodies Santoro, Lamarche, Bontemps, Wegmuller, Kalogirou, Arino, Defourny Poor characterization of inland water bodies in current global land cover products triggered an investigation that exploits synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data to provide up-to-date and reliable information on water bodies extent and possibly temporal dynamics. To this scope, Envisat Advanced SAR (ASAR) data acquired in the moderate resolution (150 m) Wide Swath Mode (WSM) were considered because of the frequent observations. Up to daily observations are possible thanks to the strong overlap of swaths of adjacent orbital tracks. The high density of observations allows generating metrics of the temporal variability of the SAR backscatter (TV) and the minimum SAR backscatter (MB) in a time series of measurements. A preliminary analysis at six study areas demonstrated that the features of the multi-temporal SAR metrics were unique (high TV and low MB) with respect to other land cover types. A simple thresholding algorithm in the feature space of TV and MB allowed for accurate detection (Overall Accuracy > 90%) of open standing water bodies with respect to land surfaces. The main advantage of such algorithm is the global classification rule, i.e., the independency from the local land cover types and, therefore, from a set of measurements necessary to calibrate the algorithm. The main limitation of this approach is the imprecise delineation of water bodies. The SAR multi-temporal metrics are affected more by land scatterers than water scatterers so that the pixel is mostly classified as land. To overcome this issue, it is necessary to work at higher resolution compared to the desired final spatial resolution of the water body map and then aggregate the result with an expansion rule. For example, in order to generate a water body map at 300 m (typical pixel size of global land cover products), water body classification should be carried out at 150 m and the results should be aggregated to 300 m. This also allows for detection of thin water bodies, which would disappear if the detection algorithm would be applied directly on SAR data at 300 m pixel size. The water body detection algorithm has been applied to Envisat ASAR data acquired between 2005 and 2010 to generate a nearly global dataset of open standing water bodies. The ultimate goal is to generate a layer to be included in the Climate Change Initiative Land Cover (CCI-LC) product, which represents the LC "state" and "condition" of the land surface for several epochs at 300m spatial resolution. Envisat ASAR WSM data were the primary dataset. The time span was maximized to limit gaps in the coverage and allow capturing dynamics of water extent in areas with frequent data coverage. For gap filling, also data acquired through to the end of the Envisat mission (April 2012) were used. Further gaps were filled with Envisat ASAR Image Mode Medium resolution data (IMM, 75 m resolution, central US, central Asia). Remaining gaps, primarily over South America and Australia, could only be filled with Global Monitoring (GM1, 500m resolution) mode data, oversampled to 150 m. The 500m resolution of ASAR GM1 was sub-optimal in our mapping efforts; still, this dataset allowed complete coverage of all continents. Isolated isles or groups of isles (e.g., in Oceania) remained unmapped because there are practically no ASAR observation. The ASAR data was available through the Grid Processing on Demand (G-POD) platform. WSM and IMM images were processed on G-POD to obtain the backscatter measurements at 150 m resolution required for classification. Processing was based on standard approaches including terrain geocoding, speckle filtering, reduction of speckle noise (multi-channel approach) and normalization of the backscatter to reduce the effect of sloped terrain and different viewing geometries. Major efforts had to be spent on the selection of the ASAR data because of multiple entries of the same dataset in the G-POD archives and the limited flexibility of the G-POD platform to handle very large datasets. Over 11 Gbyte of data were produced. In addition, 3 Gbyte of Global Monitoring were obtained by processing the data on local servers. For optimal management of computing resources, the data were tiled according to a 1x1 degree tiling system. The SAR data was fed to the water body detection algorithm on a tile-by-tile basis. From the multi-temporal SAR backscatter measurements, single multi-year datasets of TV and MB were obtained. Water/land classification was supported by an image of the local terrain slope, derived from a global Digital Elevation Model (DEM) merging several existing DEM datasets. The output of the classification consisted of a map of potential water bodies to be further refined since the multi-temporal SAR metrics were affected by factors that differed locally depending on land cover type, seasonal conditions and amount of SAR data. The refinement rules were based on careful observation of false detections of land as water (more frequent) and water as land (less frequent). Qualitative evaluation of the refined water body map with respect to imagery in Google Earth indicated that major flaws were corrected for. The final water body product was then consolidated using an independent dataset made of a combination of existing global water bodies' products. The overlay between the SAR product and this dataset allowed underlying the zones of inconsistencies. Based on decision rules related to the amount of input SAR data and visual assessment on high resolution imagery, further improvements in removing remaining commission and omission errors were brought the CCI SAR WB product. A first quantitative validation is being conducted, based on a validation database of 2500 SAR footprints (150m²) interpreted as "water" or "no-water" using Google Earth imagery. The footprints are spread globally using a stratified random distribution. A more detailed validation protocol is foreseen during spring with the aim of better understanding the sources of uncertainty associated with the product. Various factors that may affect the accuracy of the water body product (e.g. climatology, geophysical characteristics, signal-based information, etc.) will be identified and retrieved over a sample of points globally distributed. Factors will then be compared to the accuracy of the product and univariate and multivariate statistical analyses will be carried out to estimate the dependence of type I and type II errors on the indices. The results of the analysis could also allow contributing to the current SAR knowledge for water detection.


Using eligibility rules in place as of July 2000, 57 percent of uninsured children were eligible for Medicaid and an additional 26 percent were eligible for SCHIP. Only 23 percent of uninsured children were not eligible for public health insurance coverage. Among low-income uninsured children, only 16 percent were not eligible for Medicaid or SCHIP. The authors conclude that lack of eligibility for public health insurance coverage is no longer the reason for uninsurance for most children. The challenge for policymakers is to focus on eliminating other barriers to enrollment for the millions of eligible but uninsured children. The analysis is based on the National Survey of America's Families and a detailed Medicaid and SCHIP eligibility model.


Background: Infants are at an increased risk of malnutrition from six months of age onwards and hence timely initiation of nutritionally enough, reliable, age appropriate complementary feeding is urged for improved health and development of infants. The aim of this study was to assess the magnitude and associated factors of timely initiation of complementary feeding in Halaba Kulito town, Southern Ethiopia. Method: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from May 30 to June 4, 2016 among 320 mothers with their 6-23 months using systematic random sampling technique. Data was collected using pretested and interviewer administered structured questionnaire. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression was carried out using SPSS version 20.0 software. Result: The magnitude of complementary feeding timing was 57.8%. Maternal education (AOR=4.18, CI: 1.02, 17.20), age at first pregnancy (AOR=5.82, CI: 2.45, 13.81) were predictors while maternal job status (AOR=0.49, CI: 0.07, 3.51) and paternal job status (AOR=0.16, CI: 0.06, 0.42) were negative predictors of complementary feeding timing. Conclusion: Nearly, three among five mothers (57.8%) initiated complementary feeding timely. Maternal education, age at first pregnancy and maternal and paternal occupational status were the main factors for timely initiation of complementary feeding. Women education, health education dissemination strategies using mass media as a vehicle and through Health Extension workers need to be considered to improve timely initiation of complementary feeding.


The Weipa Mission (1898–1932) on Cape York Peninsula (north-eastern Australia) was one of seven Australian missions designed and staffed by the Moravian Church during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. We present findings of archaeological and historical research that illustrate key aspects of the settlement's development and operations. Moravian missionaries at Weipa aimed to create a built landscape that reshaped Aboriginal social, cultural and economic relations, with particular emphasis on children through the use of a dormitory system. However, their efforts were mediated by the open spatial and social boundaries of the settlement, which enabled Aboriginal people to make choices about the nature and extent to which they engaged with the mission. Adopting a political economy approach, we show that this openness emerged through complex social relationships between missionaries and Aboriginal people. While missionaries required access to children and adults, they lacked the ability (or will) to maintain a resident population through force, with limited financial resources also hampering their activities. Instead, Aboriginal people came and went from the settlement, with some establishing and maintaining social relationships with missionaries to access economic and social benefits. We argue that these social relationships led to the development of the settlement as a more open domain.


Thesis Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Masters in Public Policy and Management at
Strathmore University


Cancer diagnosis and pharmaceutical research increasingly depend on the accurate quantification of cancer biomarkers. Identification of biomarkers is usually performed through immunohistochemical staining of cancer sections on glass slides. However, combination of multiple biomarkers from a wide variety of immunohistochemically stained slides is a tedious process in traditional histopathology due to the switching of glass slides and re-identification of regions of interest by pathologists. Digital pathology now allows us to apply image registration algorithms to digitized whole-slides to align the differing immunohistochemical stains automatically. However, registration algorithms need to be robust to changes in color due to differing stains and severe changes in tissue content between slides. In this work we developed a robust registration methodology to allow for fast coarse alignment of multiple immunohistochemical stains to the base hematyoxylin and eosin stained image. We applied HSD color model conversion to obtain a less stain color dependent representation of the whole-slide images. Subsequently, optical density thresholding and connected component analysis were used to identify the relevant regions for registration. Template matching using normalized mutual information was applied to provide initial translation and rotation parameters, after which a cost function-driven affine registration was performed. The algorithm was validated using 40 slides from 10 prostate cancer patients, with landmark registration error as a metric. Median landmark registration error was around 180 microns, which indicates performance is adequate for practical application. None of the registrations failed, indicating the robustness of the algorithm.


It is widely believed that the presence of a large informal sector increases the efficiency cost of social programs -- transfer and social insurance programs -- in developing countries. We evaluate such claims for policies that have been heavily studied in countries with low informality -- increases in unemployment insurance (UI) benefits. We introduce informal work opportunities into a canonical model of optimal UI that specifies the typical tradeoff between workers' need for insurance and the efficiency cost from distorting their incentives to return to a formal job. We then combine the model with evidence drawn from comprehensive administrative data to quantify the efficiency cost of increases in potential UI duration in Brazil. We find evidence of behavioral responses to UI incentives, including informality responses. However, because reemployment rates in the formal sector are low to begin with, most beneficiaries would draw the UI benefits absent behavioral responses, and only a fraction of the cost of (longer) UI benefits is due to perverse incentive effects. As a result, the efficiency cost is relatively low, and in fact lower than comparable estimates for the US. We reinforce this finding by showing that the efficiency cost is also lower in labor markets with higher informality within Brazil. This is because formal reemployment rates are even lower in those labor markets absent behavioral responses. In sum, the results go against the conventional wisdom, and indicate that efficiency concerns may even become more relevant as an economy formalizes.


Software security is a big data problem. The volume of new software artifacts created far outpaces the current capacity of software analysis. This gap has brought an urgent challenge to our security community—scalability. If our techniques cannot cope with an ever increasing volume of software, we will always be one step behind attackers. Thus developing scalable analysis to bridge the gap is essential.
In this dissertation, we argue that automatic code reuse detection enables an efficient data reduction of a high volume of incoming malware for downstream analysis and enhances software security by efficiently finding known vulnerabilities across large code bases. In order to demonstrate the benefits of automatic software similarity detection, we discuss two representative problems that are remedied by scalable analysis: malware triage and unpatched code clone detection.
First, we tackle the onslaught of malware. Although over one million new malware are reported each day, existing research shows that most malware are not written from scratch; instead, they are automatically generated variants of existing malware. When groups of highly similar variants are clustered together, new malware more easily stands out. Unfortunately, current systems struggle with handling this high volume of malware. We scale clustering using feature hashing and perform semantic analysis using co-clustering. Our evaluation demonstrates that these techniques are an order of magnitude faster than previous systems and automatically discover highly correlated features and malware groups. Furthermore, we design algorithms to infer evolutionary relationships among malware, which helps analysts understand trends over time and make informed decisions about which malware to analyze first.
Second, we address the problem of detecting unpatched code clones at scale. When buggy code gets copied from project to project, eventually all projects will need to be patched. We call clones of buggy code that have been fixed in only a subset of projects unpatched code clones. Unfortunately, code copying is usually ad-hoc and is often not tracked, which makes it challenging to identify all unpatched vulnerabilities in code basesat the scale of entire OS distributions. We scale unpatched code clone detection to spot over15,000 latent security vulnerabilities in 2.1 billion lines of code from the Linux kernel, allDebian and Ubuntu packages, and all C/C++ projects in SourceForge in three hours on asingle machine. To the best of our knowledge, this is the largest set of bugs ever reported in a single paper.


Chapter 1 An Overview of Reliability and Resiliency in Today s Mission Critical Environment. 1.1 Introduction. 1.2 Risk Assessment. 1.3 Capital Cost versus Operation Cost. 1.4 Critical Environment Workflow and Change Management. 1.5 Testing and Commissioning. 1.6 Documentation and Human Factor. 1.7 Education and Training. 1.8 Operation and Maintenance. 1.9 Employee Certification. 1.10 Standard and Benchmarking. 1.11 Conclusion. 1.12 Risk Analysis and Improvement. Chapter 2 Energy Security and its Effect on Business Resiliency. 2.1 Introduction. 2.2 Risks Related to Information Security. 2.3 How Risks are Addressed. 2.4 Use of Distributed Generation. 2.5 Documentation and Its Relation to Information Security. 2.6 Smart Grid. 2.7 Conclusion. 2.8 Risk Analysis and Improvement. Chapter 3 Mission Critical Engineering with an Overview of Green Technologies. 3.1 Introduction. 3.2 Companies Expectations Risk Tolerance and Reliability. 3.3 Identifying the Appropriate Redundancy in a Mission Critical Facility. 3.4 Improving Reliability, Maintainability, and Proactive Preventative Maintenance. 3.5 The Mission Critical Facilities Manager and the Importance of the Boardroom. 3.6 Quantifying Reliability and Availability. 3.7 Design Considerations for the Mission Critical Data Center. 3.8 The Evolution of Mission Critical Facility Design. 3.9 Human Factors and the Commissioning Process. 3.10 Short Circuit and Coordination Studies. 3.11 Introduction to Direct Current in the Data Center. 3.12 Containerized Systems Overview. 3.13 Conclusion. Chapter 4 Mission Critical Electrical System Maintenance and Safety. 4.1 Introduction. 4.2 The History of the Maintenance Supervisor and the Evolution of the Mission Critical Facilities Engineer. 4.3 Internal Building Deficiencies and Analysis. 4.4 Evaluating Your System. 4.5 Choosing a Maintenance Approach. 4.6 Safe Electrical Maintenance. 4.7 Maintenance of Typical Electrical Distribution Equipment. 4.8 Being Proactive In Evaluating the Test Reports. 4.9 Conclusion. Chapter 5 Standby Generators: Operations and Maintenance. 5.1 Introduction. 5.2 The Necessity for Standby Power. 5.3 Emergency, Legally Required, and Optional Systems. 5.4 Standby Systems That Are Legally Required. 5.5 Optional Standby Systems. 5.6 Understanding Your Power Requirements. 5.7 Management Commitment and Training. 5.8 Standby Generator Systems Maintenance Procedures. 5.9 Documentation Plan. 5.10 Emergency Procedures. 5.11 Cold Start and Load Acceptance. 5.12 Non-Linear Load Problems. 5.13 Conclusion. Chapter 6 Fuel Systems Design and Maintenance. 6.1 Introduction. 6.2 Brief Discussion on Diesel Engines. 6.3 Bulk Storage Tank Selection. 6.4 Codes and Standards. 6.5 Recommended Practices for All Tanks. 6.6 Fuel Distribution System Configuration. 6.7 Day Tank Control System. 6.8 Diesel Fuel and A Fuel Quality Assurance Program. 6.9 Conclusion. Chapter 7 Power Transfer Switch Technology, Applications, and Maintenance. 7.1 Introduction. 7.2 Transfer Witch Technology and Applications. 7.3 Types of Power Transfer Switches. 7.4 Control Devices. 7.5 Design Features. 7.6 Additional Characteristics and Ratings of ATS. 7.7 Installation and Commissioning, Maintenance, and Safety. 7.8 General Recommendations. 7.9 Conclusion. Chapter 8 The Static Transfer Switch. 8.1 Introduction. 8.2 Overview. 8.3 Typical Static Switch One Line. 8.4 STS Technology and Application. 8.5 Testing. 8.6 Conclusion. Chapter 9 The Fundamentals of Power Quality. 9.1 Introduction. 9.2 Electricity Basics. 9.3 Transmission of Power. 9.4 Understanding Power Problems. 9.5 Tolerances of Computer Equipment. 9.6 Power Monitoring. 9.7 The Deregulation Wildcard. 9.8 Conclusion. Chapter 10 UPS Systems: Applications and Maintenance with an Overview of Green Technologies. 10.1 Introduction. 10.2 Purpose of UPS Systems. 10.3 General Description of UPS Systems. 10.4 Components of a Static UPS System. 10.5 Line Interactive UPS System. 10.6 Offline (Standby). 10.7 The Evolution of Static UPS Technology. 10.8 Rotary System. 10.9 Redundancy, Configurations, and Topology. 10.10 Energy Storage Devices. 10.11 UPS Maintenance and Testing. 10.12 Static UPS and Maintenance. 10.13 UPS Management. 10.14 Conclusion. Chapter 11 Data Center Cooling Systems. 11.1 Introduction. 11.2 Background Information. 11.3 Cooling Within Datacom Rooms. 11.4 Cooling Systems. 11.5 Components Outside the Datacom Room. 11.6 Components Inside Datacom Rooms. 11.7 Conclusion. Chapter 12 Data Center Cooling Efficiency and Advanced Technology. 12.1 Introduction. 12.2 Heat Transfer inside Data Centers. 12.3 Cooling and other Airflow Topics. 12.4 Design Approaches for Data Center Cooling. 12.5 Additional Considerations. 12.6 Hardware and Associated Efficiencies. 12.7 Best Practices. 12.8 Efficiency Problem Solving. 12.9 Conclusion. 12.10 Conversions, Formulas, Guidelines. Chapter 13 Raised Access Floors. 13.1 Introduction. 13.2 Design Considerations. 13.3 Safety Concerns. 13.4 Panel Cutting. 13.5 Access Floor Maintenance. 13.6 Troubleshooting. 13.7 Additional Design Considerations. 13.8 Conclusion. Chapter 14 Fire Protection in Mission Critical Infrastructures. 14.1 Introduction. 14.2 Philosophy. 14.3 Alarm and Notification. 14.4 Early Detections. 14.5 Fire Suppression. 14.6 System Designs. 14.7 Fire Detection. 14.8 Fire Suppression Systems. References. APPENDICES. Appendix A Policies and Regulations. A.1 Introduction. A.2 Industry Policies and Regulations. A.2.1 USA Patriot Act. A.2.2 Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX). A.2.3 Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability act of 1980 (Superfund Act). A.2.4 Executive Order 13423: Strengthening Federal Environmental, Energy and Transportation Management. A.2.5 ISO27000 Information Security Management Systems (ISMS). A.2.6 The National Strategy for the Physical Protection of Critical Infrastructure and Key Assets. A.2.7 2009 National Infrastructure Protection Plan. A.2.8 North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC). A.2.9 U.S. Security and Exchange Commission. A.2.10 Sound Practices to Strengthen in the Resilience of the U.S. Financial System. A.2.11 C4I Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence. A.2.12 Basel II Accord. A.2.13 National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). A.2.14 Business Continuity Management Agencies and Regulating Organizations. A.2.15 FFIEC Federal Financial Institution Examination Council. A.2.16 National Fire Prevention Association 1600 Standard on Disaster/Emergency Management and Business Continuity Programs. A.2.17 Private Sector Preparedness Act. A.3 Data Protection. A.4 Encryption. A.5 Protecting Critical Data through Security and Vaulting. A.6 Conclusion. Appendix B Mission Critical Questions. Appendix C Airflow Management (A Systems Approach). C.1 Introduction. C.2 Control is the Key. C.3 Obtaining Control. C.4 Air Management Technologies. C.5 Conclusion.


Diffraction of plane waves, obliquely incident on a (waveguide) grating with infinitely long grooves, is analyzed with the four-wave coupled-mode theory (CMT). Unlike the ordinary analysis that considers only coupling between pairs (i.e., TE+↔TE-,TE+↔TM-,TM+↔TE-, or TM+↔TM-), the simultaneous interaction among these waves is properly accounted for. The field variation along the grating and the impulse response representation of the grating (reflectivity and transmission as functions of the plane-wave incidence angle) are calculated. Significant differences between the ordinary (two-wave) CMT and the four-wave CMT are observed over a wide range of incident angles.


Wireless channel emulation is becoming increasingly important, particularly with the advent of multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) systems, where system performance is highly dependent on the accurate representation of the channel condition. In this paper, we compare the conventional finite impulse response (FIR)-based emulator versus solely performing the emulation in the frequency domain. We show that for single-input-single-output (SISO) systems, FIR-based emulators are computationally efficient but that the complexity rapidly becomes impractical for larger array sizes. On the other hand, frequency-domain approaches exhibit a fixed initial complexity cost that grows at a reduced rate as a function of the array size, resulting in significant savings in complexity for higher order arrays. As an illustrative example of this approach, field-programmable gate array (FPGA) architecture implementing a sample 3 times 3 MIMO system exhibits resource savings of up to 67% over a similarly constrained FIR approach. The architecture is discussed in detail, and implementation results, as well as laboratory measurements, are presented.


Corrosion is the major cause of components, infra structures and equipment failure over the world, affecting seriously various critical sectors, including water and energy security. The direct cost of corrosion may reach 5% of the GDP in some countries, representing an important economic burden for companies and governments. Just to cite an example, operations and maintenance in offshore infrastructures may represent over 50% of the global cost; out of these 80% are due to corrosion. This means that implementation of effective corrosion management strategies is crucial to decrease energy costs, to increase economic competitiveness, to enhance reliability and security and to achieve a more sustainable economy and healthy environment. Concomitantly, countries and decision makers must pay attention to this crucial issue and the existence of dedicated competence centers gathering synergistic efforts to combat corrosion are a step forward to mitigate the problem and to important economic saves. There are very effective corrosion protection solutions that can be put on place. Amongst these multifunctional protective coatings, based on modern nanotechnology approaches, play a pivotal role. Novel functionalities, such as self-cleaning, superhydrophobicity, anti-fouling and self-healing, have been more and more requested in coatings used for corrosion protection of a multitude of materials in a wide array of industrial applications. This trend has imposed many challenges that have been addressed over the last years and that will continue to evolve over the next years, achieving a very high impact on the market. This presentation overviews the impact of corrosion and highlights the relevance of protective coatings to combat corrosion, emphasizing the latest trends on functional coatings and self-healing approaches and its growing use in conventional and new Hi-tech applications. This lecture reviews recent contributions to the field and will provide a critical discussion, identifying successful paths, trends and challenges, answering to important questions "What do we need and where are we?"


The antimicrobial activity of garlic extract against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial isolates was well studied. However, reports on antibacterial activity of garlic extract against some pathogenic bacteria in animals in Indonesia, are still limited. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the antibacterial activity of water and ethanol extracts of garlic against Salmonella typhimurium in chickens, and Streptococcus agalactie, Escherichia coli, and Staphylococcus aureus causing mastitis in dairy cows in Indonesia. A filtrate of fresh garlic was used to determine the antibacterial activity against S. typhimurium at concentrations of 5%, 10%, 20%, 30%, and 40% w/v, whereas, the antibacterial activity of water and ethanol extracts was determined against S. agalactie, E. coli, and S. aureus at concentrations of 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, and 25% w/v. Results showed that antibacterial activity of 30% garlic filtrate was equivalent to 10% tetracycline. Meanwhile, antibacterial activity of garlic aqueous extract on mastitis bacteria was better than that of the garlic ethanol extract. Aqueous extract of garlic at 20% had the same antibacterial activity as 0.01% ampicillin on mastitis bacteria. Filtrates of fresh garlic can be used to inhibit growth of S. typhimurium and mastitis bacteria.


We prove a "Tverberg type" multiple intersection theorem. It strengthens the prime case of the original Tverberg theorem from 1966, as well as the topological Tverberg theorem of Barany et al. (1980), by adding color constraints. It also provides an improved bound for the (topological) colored Tverberg problem of Barany & Larman (1992) that is tight in the prime case and asymptotically optimal in the general case. The proof is based on relative equivariant obstruction theory.


Spectroscopic observations allow for detailed interpretation of the processes that govern the Sun. We establish a statistical baseline of activity by analysing quiet Sun conditions. We investigate the propagation of the energy released by solar eruptions across all layers of the solar atmosphere. An intriguing sunquake is detected. Mathematical methods are utilised to uncover the nature of peculiar manifestations in the aftermath of an eruption, discovering a highly turbulent coronal rain. We aim at understanding solar eruptions, the most energetic events in our corner of the Universe, as they are paramount for the improvement of current models of solar and stellar processes.


Characteristics of mating behavior in Drosophila melanogaster have been well-described, but the genetic basis for male-female mating success is largely unknown. Here we show that the white (w) gene, a classical eye color gene, is associated with mating success. 81.3 % of wild-type flies copulated within 60 minutes in the circular arenas, whereas few white-eyed mutants mated successfully. The w+ allele exchanged to the X chromosome or duplicated to the Y chromosome in the white-eyed genetic background rescued the defect of mating success. The w+-associated mating success was independent of eye color phenotype. Addition of a mini-white (mw+) gene to the white-eyed mutant background rectified the defect of mating success and rescued courting in a dosage-dependent manner. Lastly, male-female sexual experience mimicked the effects of w+/mw+ in improving successful male-female mating. These data suggest a strong association between the w gene and mating success in Drosophila melanogaster.


Clostridium difficile is a clinically problematic pathogen and continues to persist within the healthcare system. Presentation of disease symptoms ranges from mild to severe diarrhoea, through to fulminant pseudomembranous colitis. Approximately 20% of patients will suffer from recurrent episodes and of all patients who die from C. difficile related causes, approximately 41% of death certificates mention C. difficile as an underlying cause of death, and this poses a significant burden on healthcare facilities. Three methods of investigation were employed to develop a more comprehensive understanding of both the host and isolate association with the outcomes of C. difficile infection; mortality and recurrence. These methods were; analysing patient clinical data to try and identify host markers of infection outcomes, evaluating C. difficile type association with infection outcomes, and genetically and phenotypically characterising the clinically relevant C. difficile isolates associated to these outcomes. During this study statistical analysis of clinical data revealed that there were four variables; white cell count, serum albumin, C-reactive protein and respiratory rate, which were prognostic of mortality in patients with C. difficile infection. Threshold levels of these variables were used to create a clinical prediction rule to classify patients with C. difficile infection who were more 'at risk' from mortality, with statistical significance in both a derivation and validation cohort. However, analysis was unable to determine variables prognostic of recurrent infection. Due to small sample sizes of some groups of isolates, no groups of C. difficile isolates were significantly associated with increased recurrent infection or mortality during this study. Some groups of isolates were associated with primary only infection and/or low mortality. There was a non-significant trend in particular C. difficile isolate groups being associated with infection outcomes; a panel of representative isolates was therefore chosen to be characterised in more detail. Phenotypic and genetic analysis of a panel of sixteen C. difficile isolates revealed isolate specific differences in toxin production, conservation of transposable elements and SNP abundances, which may have played a role in infection outcomes. Isolate motility and antibiotic resistance profiles were not statistically significantly different between isolates within a particular group of C. difficile types. One hypothesis from the collective results obtained during this study suggests that the phenotypic and genotypic changes in isolates may have facilitated differences in their interaction with the host. In turn, the host specific inflammatory response to the infecting C. difficile isolate may have played a role in host outcomes. Research conducted during this study has begun to assess which host specific responses may be important in determining the outcome of C. difficile infection, and which C. difficile isolate characteristics may in part also contribute. However, the assessment of both host and isolate association to infection outcomes would benefit from further investigation in a larger cohort, in order to prove or refute conclusively any hypothesises generated in this study.


The primary objective of this report is to describe the detection of adenocarcinoma in situ (AIS) and associated human papillomavirus (HPV) type distribution that was observed in the context of two phase 3 clinical trials of a quadrivalent HPV6/11/16/18 vaccine. In this intention‐to‐treat analysis, we include all women who had at least one follow‐up visit postenrollment. Healthy women (17,622) aged 15–26 with no history of HPV disease and a lifetime number of less than five sex partners (average follow‐up of 3.6 years) were randomized (1:1) to receive vaccine or placebo at day 1, months 2, and 6. Women underwent colposcopy and biopsy according to a Papanicolaou triage algorithm. All tissue specimens were tested for 14 HPV types and were adjudicated by a pathology panel. During the trials, 22 women were diagnosed with AIS (six vaccine and 16 placebo). There were 25 AIS lesions in total, with HPV16/18 present in 96% (24 of 25 with 15 of 25 as single infections). Only two of 22 women had concomitant cytology results suggesting glandular abnormality. Colposcopic impressions (25 total) were either negative or indicated squamous lesions only. Of women with AIS, all six in the vaccine cohort and seven of 16 in the placebo cohort were infected at baseline with the same HPV type that was detected in the AIS lesion. Concurrent squamous lesions were detected in 20 of these 22 women. In summary, our findings show that AIS evades colposcopic and cervical cytologic detection. As most AIS lesions were HPV16/18‐related, prophylactic HPV vaccination should reduce the incidence of invasive adenocarcinoma.


This paper investigates the dynamics of willingness to communicate (WTC) in written communication between a native and non-native speaker of English. Although research into WTC has identified topic as an interacting variable affecting L2 learners' WTC during task performances (MacIntyre & Legatto, 2011) and classroom interactions (Cao, 2013), fewer studies have explored the nature of written WTC, its relationships with topics, as well as L2 writing development. This study addresses this gap by exploring the dynamism of WTC in writing from a Complex Dynamic Systems Theory (CDST) perspective. Through the employment of three methods—WTC analysis, complexity and accuracy analysis, and functional analysis—the findings suggest that WTC in written communication also reflects the characteristics of a dynamic system. Specifically, it fluctuates as the interlocutors organically move from one topic to the next. Results from the complexity and accuracy analysis and functional analysis provide further evidence to confirm that L2 development is a highly variable and nonlinear process. Overall, these findings lend support to the CDST perspective of interlanguage (IL) development, including dynamism in WTC and L2 writing development.


A small number of studies have been pubished which examine the native speaker teacher (NST) versus non-native speaker teacher (NNST) debate. However, almost all of them are concerned with teachers' opinions, whereas this paper considers the question from the point of view of the student, a perspective largely ignored so far. The data for this study were compiled from the completed questionnaires of 76 undergraduate university students who agreed to take part. Special attention was paid to two independent variables: (1) students' specialisation and (2) whether the student had been taught by an NST. The participants were asked if they preferred a native or non-native teacher/lecturer with regard to the following: language skills, grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, learning strategies, culture and civilization, attitudes and assessment. Within these areas, students were asked about their preferences concerning primary, secondary and tertiary education. The results showed a clear preference for the NST, although the most voted option was that of the team-teaching approach (an NST and an NNST working together). Nevertheless, the independent variables (specialisation and previous learning experience of an NST) did not exert a significant effect. The results seem to suggest the need for further discussion of the issues surrounding the NST/NNST debate.


Distributed massive MIMO networks are envisioned to realize cooperative multi-point transmission in next-generation wireless systems. For efficient cooperative hybrid beamforming, the cluster of access points (APs) needs to obtain precise estimates of the uplink channel to perform reliable downlink precoding. However, due to the radio frequency (RF) impairments between the transceivers at the two en-points of the wireless channel, full channel reciprocity does not hold which results in performance degradation in the cooperative hybrid beamforming (CHBF) unless a suitable reciprocity calibration mechanism is in place. We propose a two-step approach to calibrate any two hybrid nodes in the distributed MIMO system. We then present and utilize the novel concept of reciprocal tandem to propose a low-complexity approach for jointly calibrating the cluster of APs and estimating the downlink channel. Finally, we validate our calibration technique's effectiveness through numerical simulation.


Abstract : Small manufacturing enterprises face a number of challenges when integrating computer-aided design (CAD) tools and computer-aided engineering (CAE) tools into their design processes. One of the most significant challenges is interoperability across the wide range of commercial CAD and CAE tools. Although many of these tools support industry data standards and claim to be interoperable, the connection between them is not seamless. This report summarizes two case studies of tool integration activities at one small manufacturer. The first study examines the enhancement of the product development process resulting from replacement of a two-dimensional CAD system with a three-dimensional CAD system. The second examines the creation of an in-house capability to perform finite element analysis (FEA), replacing analysis that had previously been outsourced. As a result of these experiences, the manufacturer learned that improved productivity and superior designs could be obtained by integrating analysis into the design process at the earlier stages of conceptual and preliminary design. The manufacturer also learned that the design process and some design techniques had to change for the company to use the CAD and FEA tools effectively.


The discipline of curating fashion has experienced a cultural turn in the last decades. What were controversial approaches are now recognised as pioneering and significant in having encouraged debates and opened the discipline through rethinking existing paradigms. This contribution analyses the challenges and criticisms surrounding fashion displays, with the aim to address the centrality of performativity in relation to key fashion exhibitions. The paper explores 'the power of display' (Staniszewski, 1998; 2000) through mediums and spaces, whether physical, digital or both. Within museum studies, the focus on the visitors' experience and on the narrative has been identified as a key feature of a 'new museology' (Vergo, 1989; Hein, 2000; Henning, 2006), which ultimately leads us to question the purposes of museum and gallery displays. With references to museum studies, fashion curation, philosophy, and drawing from conversations with fashion curators, the paper examines the exhibition's potential to provide a context for visual and material experiences, as well as for a new understanding and articulation of knowledge. The contribution embraces Foucault's reflection on heterotopia (1967; 1970), arguing that the content of the museum as a space of difference is the interpretation itself. Considering exhibition design as a medium in its own right (Celant, 1996) the paper highlights performativity as a fundamental feature of the exhibits, of the installation and, more broadly, of the museum space.


Abstract for Qatar Foundation Annual Research Conference 2016 Qatari Women's Engagement in Politics By: Noor Khalifa Al-Tamaimi For the past year and a half, I have been a student researcher on the QNRF UREP grant, "Qatari Women: Engagement and Empowerment" (UREP 15-035-5-013). The grant as a whole focused on understanding the drivers and the obstacles of women's empowerment in Qatar. We focused our research on female participation in women's gatherings in the Majlis and its links to societal engagement. I was involved in several aspects of the grant project, including ethnographic observation, photography, writing the survey questionnaire, creating a documentary, and now analyzing the survey data. The survey aimed to understand the perceptions of both the Qatari males and females about a number of cultural, educational, economic, and political topics. I will be using a few of the survey findings to investigate my theory. I start my research with a puzzle: Qatari women are equally educated and equally interested in politics as Qatari men, and yet Qatari women are very underrepresented in the political sphere. Why are Qatari women choosing not to pursue politics after graduation? My analysis of our survey results points to an answer: cultural norms and social pressure. In a society where males hold the majority of influential positions women undergo a series of challenges to be noticed. Cultural norms also pressure women not to pursue a career they could excel in. Statistics show that women have virtually the same interest in local politics as men did. Yet the survey results also show that both genders believe that males make better political leaders than women do. Also, a majority of Qataris believe there is social pressure for women to focus on family instead of work. All of these findings lead to a conclusion. I suspect that women are not choosing to pursue politics because there is a substantial societal pressure women them not to pursue politics, and because of the difficulties of reaching the targeted position because of their gender. Qatar's recent development saw a statewide encouragement in developing a knowledge-based economy that requires more qualified people to pursue jobs in all spheres political, economic and scientific (Qatar National Vision 2030). Statistics show that more women are completing higher education than men, making them well educated and qualified to pursue any job (Ridge 2014; Walker 2014). Yet when it comes to joining the workforce, a number of women choose not to pursue the career their college degree qualifies them to achieve. The fact is, when it comes to pursuing work in politics or holding important political positions, there is a clear majority of men holding these positions. My preliminary research shows that Qatari men outnumber Qatari women in key political positions throughout the country: out of 29 Municipal Council members there are 2 women. Out of the 35 Majlis Al-Shura members there are no females and there is one female out of 100 male Ambassadors. Why aren't women choosing to pursue politics? Some may say that there is a lack of political interest among women. Yet my survey analysis shows no difference between Qatari women and Qatari men when asked if they were interested in local politics: The survey found that 3 of every 4 Qataris, whether male or female, are very interested or somewhat interested in local politics. And my own research into the gender of those who attend the politics programs of local universities such as Qatar University and Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar show that women outnumber men in these programs. Thus, there is substantial interest in political studies for both males and females. Is the lack of societal support the reason why we see so few women in the political sphere in Qatar? The survey results clearly show that Qatari society is divided on whether women have a place in the political sphere. 6 out of 10 Qataris believe it is acceptable for a woman to run for political office, meaning that almost 40 percent of society does not view this as acceptable. On the other hand 3 of 4 Qataris feel that men make better political leaders than women do. These results are the same for both men and women, showing that this is not a male attitude, but a societal attitude toward the place of women in the political sphere. In my opinion, these survey findings show that there is a substantial pressure on women to stay out of the political sphere. My theory is that there is a considerable social constraint from both the males and the females in the Qatari society on women not to pursue a political job. This social constraint in my opinion comes from the fact that males outnumbers females in key political positions which leads to the societal conception that women are incapable of handling key political positions. There could be several reasons behind the pressure on women not to pursue politics. Our survey found that 7 out of 10 Qataris believe there is social pressure on women to focus on family instead of work. Another reason could be the belief that men belong in politics while women do not, as almost 40 percent of Qataris believe it is not acceptable for women to run for political office. A third reason could be the cultural norm of women taking on public jobs that require them to constantly travel or appear in the media. Fourth, the fact that most political and high-positioned jobs are male dominated makes it hard for women to rise in job status. I recognize that a Qatari woman's choice not to pursue politics after graduation could be a result of many social, educational, and societal factors. Yet the research shows that females are graduating at higher rates than men, and that women are as interested in politics as men, so the small numbers of females in key political positions are indeed disappointing. This research aims to understand the reason behind women's under representation in the political sphere through our original survey research and my additional interview research in the hopes that these findings will help ease the path for more Qatari women to participate in the political sphere in the future. References "Economic Development." Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics. Accessed November 14, 2015. http://www.mdps.gov.qa/portal/page/portal/gsdp_en/qatar_national_vision/Economic_development. Qatar National Vision 2030. General Secretariat for Development Planning. July 2008. Qatari Women: Engagement and Empowerment. $150,000 from Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation), UREP 15-035-5-013. Grant, March 29, 2014–September 29, 2015. Ridge, Natasha. Education and the Reverse Gender Divide in the Gulf States: Embracing the Global, Ignoring the Local. New York: Teachers College Press, 2014. Walker, Lesly. "Female University Students in Qatar Outnumber Men 2:1 - Doha News." Doha News. June 12, 2014. Accessed November 14, 2015. http://dohanews.co/female-university-students-outnumber-males-nearly/.


Data analysis is an important functionality in cloud computing which allows a huge amount of data to be processed over very large clusters. MapReduce is recognized as a popular way to handle data in the cloud environment due to its excellent scalability and good fault tolerance. However, compared to parallel databases, the performance of MapReduce is slower when it is adopted to perform complex data analysis tasks that require the joining of multiple data sets in order to compute certain aggregates. A common concern is whether MapReduce can be improved to produce a system with both scalability and efficiency. In this paper, we introduce Map-Join-Reduce, a system that extends and improves MapReduce runtime framework to efficiently process complex data analysis tasks on large clusters. We first propose a filtering-join-aggregation programming model, a natural extension of MapReduce's filtering-aggregation programming model. Then, we present a new data processing strategy which performs filtering-join-aggregation tasks in two successive MapReduce jobs. The first job applies filtering logic to all the data sets in parallel, joins the qualified tuples, and pushes the join results to the reducers for partial aggregation. The second job combines all partial aggregation results and produces the final answer. The advantage of our approach is that we join multiple data sets in one go and thus avoid frequent checkpointing and shuffling of intermediate results, a major performance bottleneck in most of the current MapReduce-based systems. We benchmark our system against Hive, a state-of-the-art MapReduce-based data warehouse on a 100-node cluster on Amazon EC2 using TPC-H benchmark. The results show that our approach significantly boosts the performance of complex analysis queries.


To cope with today's large scale of data, parallel dataflow engines such as Hadoop, and more recently Spark and Flink, have been proposed. They offer scalability and performance, but require data scientists to develop analysis pipelines in unfamiliar programming languages and abstractions. To overcome this hurdle, dataflow engines have introduced some forms of multi-language integrations, e.g., for Python and R. However, this results in data exchange between the dataflow engine and the integrated language runtime, which requires inter-process communication and causes high runtime overheads. In this paper, we present ScootR, a novel approach to execute R in dataflow systems. ScootR tightly integrates the dataflow and R language runtime by using the Truffle framework and the Graal compiler. As a result, ScootR executes R scripts directly in the Flink data processing engine, without serialization and inter-process communication. Our experimental study reveals that ScootR outperforms state-of-the-art systems by up to an order of magnitude.


Between December 1997 and May 1998 twenty-three
cases of suicides related to agricultural crop loss
were reported from the north Karnataka districts of
Bidar and Gulbarga. Of these, thirteen suicides were by
agriculturists in the district of Bidar, and a significant
proportion of these was from Bhalki taluka. Though this study was initiated in response to reports of suicides in the district, the study does not focus on the actual cases/households in which distress-related suicides were reported.1 Rather, the study considers the suicides to be symptomatic of larger and more pervasive crises in the region. The crises are ecological,economic, and social; each inter-linked with the other, and combining to produce distress in the region. And it is in the context of these crises that the pervasive distress in the region
and the suicides by agriculturists must be understood.


The Sami have been subject to relentless assimilation efforts for centuries. (1) Assimilation took different forms, overt and covert, depending on which nation-state the Sami happened to inhabit. What were the results of the ruling authorities' attempts to get the Sami to meld into the majority populations? There are perhaps 80,000 Sami in the four nations where they live today; some scholars suggest that up to ten times that number were assimilated. Many studies have illustrated the effects on the Sami, but few have shown how assimilation impacted Finns, Norwegians, and Swedes. I demonstrate first that assimilation has been going on much longer than mid-nineteenth century to about 1980, during which the main effort focused on Sami children in transitional areas where they dwelt among others. They were forced to attend boarding schools where they were not allowed to speak their mother tongue, thus threatening not only their language but their culture. Then I investigate what became of those assimilated and what sort of relationship there was/is to non-Sami. Here the answers are in many ways surprising. For example, intermarriage was quite common, and this led to admixture (mixing of ancestral, previously relatively isolated populations) in ensuing generations. Today's Scandinavians may not be aware of how much Sami DNA they carry. Recently I showed that today's Sami population in Scandinavia is genetically heterogeneous; the genetic profile of Sami in Troms, for example, is significantly different from the genetic profile of Sami in eastern Finland (Weinstock 2010, 31-45). Though there were migrations into the area after the Last Glacial Maximum, they came from many directions, along different routes and at various times and rates depending on where the glaciers disappeared earliest, ecological factors, and the nature of the flora and fauna. The goal of the present effort is to broaden the focus, to consider in more detail population and genetic data for all of the Nordic countries and how assimilation affected the current majority peoples, Finns, Norwegians, and Swedes. Phylogeography (2) has evolved rapidly in recent years with analyses based on genome-wide sequencing and allowing new interpretations previously impossible with classical population genetics. In nature, humans have generally been gregarious: when members of one group meet strangers, they communicate; trade; borrow words, ideas, or technologies from one another; and they frequently marry outside their ethnic group and often exchange genes. Such cultural contacts can be seen, for example, in the Venus figurines widespread over Central and Eastern Europe after 30,000 years ago (Hoffecker 2005, 87). Social networks were much larger than one might imagine. One should keep in mind when dealing with today's Nordic peoples that they are defined primarily on the basis of ethnicity, especially their mother tongue. In the case of the Sami, this leads to problems, since most of the available Sami genetic data were sampled from those who "consider" themselves to be Sami. (3) Not included are the many "Sami" who were assimilated by the nation-states in the nineteenth century and first half of the twentieth century, or even earlier, and who left their Sami ethnicity behind--but not their genes--when they moved away to metropolitan areas such as Helsinki, Oslo, or Stockholm: do the genetic analyses of the majority populations take this into account, and, if so, what role does this factor play in the results? PALEOLITHIC SETTLEMENT IN EURASIA AND THE LAST GLACIAL MAXIMUM Did modern humans move westward from Central Asia to Europe during the Paleolithic? One might think that humans arrived in Europe before northern Eurasia due to the latter's sparse human habitation, and its colder and drier climate; surprisingly, that does not seem to be particularly accurate. Modern humans settled relatively rapidly in many areas of Eurasia: new radiocarbon curves in the range of 25,000-50,000 BP (4) suggest a much speedier dispersal of human populations than originally thought (Mellars 2006, 933). …


During experimental tests in situ, footbridge identification is usually pursued by exploiting the response to environmental actions. The aim of this manuscript is to replace the environment excitation with "Human Induced Loading" (HIL), when carrying out the periodical assessment of timber footbridges. Due to the stochastic component of the model, the tests should be repeated several times along the experimental campaign. The statistical analysis of the collected structural responses will then allow one to detect discrepancies, if any, from the expected spectral response. The proposal runs with the support of data collected on an existing timber footbridge located in North-Eastern Italy. doi: 10.12783/SHM2015/48


The Hedgehog (Hh) pathway is essential for vertebrate embryogenesis, and excessive Hh target gene activation can cause cancer in humans. Here we show that Neuropilin 1 (Nrp1) and Nrp2, transmembrane proteins with roles in axon guidance and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) signaling, are important positive regulators of Hh signal transduction. Nrps are expressed at times and locations of active Hh signal transduction during mouse development. Using cell lines lacking key Hh pathway components, we show that Nrps mediate Hh transduction between activated Smoothened (Smo) protein and the negative regulator Suppressor of Fused (SuFu). Nrp1 transcription is induced by Hh signaling, and Nrp1 overexpression increases maximal Hh target gene activation, indicating the existence of a positive feedback circuit. The regulation of Hh signal transduction by Nrps is conserved between mammals and bony fish, as we show that morpholinos targeting the Nrp zebrafish ortholog nrp1a produce a specific and highly penetrant Hh pathway loss-of-function phenotype. These findings enhance our knowledge of Hh pathway regulation and provide evidence for a conserved nexus between Nrps and this important developmental signaling system.


In plant breeding programmes, potential genotypes are usually evaluated in different
environments (locations and years) before desirable ones are selected. Genotype x
environment (G x E) interaction is associated with the differential performance of materials
tested at different locations and in different years, and influences selection and
recommendation of cultivars. Highly stable genotypes are desirable. Furthermore, spatial
variability on soil properties and crop yield has been one of the major objectives in
investigations related to agriculture production. Performance and stability of grain maize
(Zeci 112uys L.) genotypes were evaluated at four locations in Peninsular Malaysia vi-..
Padang Rengas (Perak), Rhu Tapai (Terengganu), Sungai Udang (Melaka) and UPM,
Serdang (Selangor), in two years.
The objectives of this study were: (1) to determine the performance of 14 grain maize
genotypes for grain yield and yield components at the four locations in two years, (2) to
evaluate the G x E interaction effects, (3) to identify high yielding genotypes at each
location and their stability by using different stability parameters, (4) to evaluate the
spatial variability of soil N, P and K, plant N, P and K, and their influence on grain yield,
and (5) to investigate the relationship among grain yield and soil and plant nutrient
variables.
The experiments at the locations were arranged 'in a randomized complete block design
(RCBD) with four replications. Recommended agronomic practices were used at each
location. Evaluations were conducted from June 2000 to March 2002. Genotype and G x
E interaction effects were highly significant, indicating high variability among genotypes,
and genotypes responded differently to the changing environments. Among the 14
genotypes evaluated, GxA, Selected GxA, SC-2, Putra 1-58 and TWC-4 revealed high
performance and have good potential to be used as source populations for future breeding
programmes. Comparing performance of genotypes for grain yield and yield components,
Selected GxA was found to have the highest grain yield (5726 kg ha-'), shelling
percentage (84.9 %), 100-grain weight (25.5 g) and ear weight per plant (149.5 g),
earliest in flowering (50.6 days to tasseling, and 53.2 days to silking) and longest ears
(15.5 cm): TWC-2 was found to be earliest to mature. SC-3 revealed the shortest plants,
while Suwan 1 was the tallest and was late in maturity. The highest ear diameter was
observed on SC-1.- Terengganu in 2000 was found to be the most favourable
environment, as shown by its highest environmental index.
Different methods of stability analyses were used, which include comparison of mean
values, regression coefficient (b,), deviation from regression (s2d), coefficient of
determination (R*), environmental variance (s2), Wricke7s ecovalence (W,), Shukla's
stability variance (a2;) and genotype grouping involving coefficients of variation (CV).
; I C ~ ' ~ ~ Different methods were consistent with each other in revealing t&-&?$(i& u~~
genotypes. Selected GxA was identified as having the highest grain yield and most stable
in performance, followed by DC-1, while SC-2 was the lowest yielding and most
unstable genotype. Some genotypes revealed specific adaptability to specific locations,
such as GxA in Perak, Putra 3-58 in Terengginu and Selected GxA in Melaka and
Selangor. This experiment led to the identification and possible release of a new, high
yielding and stable grain maize synthetic variety, Selected GxA.
Broad-sense heritability estimates on the genotypes were moderate for grain yield in the
year 2001 evaluation and years combined, and also for ear length, ear diameter and
number of kernel rows per ear in each year and years combined. These indicate that
genetic factors had moderate effects on the control of grain yield, ear length, ear diameter
and number of kernel rows per ear in the population of genotypes.
In addition to the evaluation on genetic stability, spatial variability for grain yield and
leaf and 'soil chemical properties were also evaluated at the four locations, where,
different patterns of spatial variability for grain yield, and leaf and soil chemical
properties were observed in the fields at all locations. The analysis also revealed that
percent variability in grain yield variation was associated with soil N, P and K and leaf P
contents. Grain yield was particularly positively correlated with soil P and K contents.
The results also indicate the effectiveness of site-specific soil management such as
reduced fertilizer applications to increase grain yield through minimizing yield variation
in grain maize fields. In addition, soil and plant N, P and K analyses provided some
information on genotype x environment interaction effect.


Background:
Eye-tracking has been used to investigate social perception in autism
spectrum disorder (ASD) with variable results. This heterogeneity may be due to
the types of stimuli used. In this study, we investigated whether the use of
moving vs static stimuli or human actors vs cartoons characters would be more
sensitive in detecting gaze abnormalities and discriminating children with ASD
from typically developing children. Methods: We studied 18 children with ASD
(mean age = 12.9 ± 2.9) and 21 typically developing controls (mean age = 11.3 ±
2.5). Gazes were tracked using Tobii-T120 eye-tracker. Four different types
of stimuli were presented: movie with human actors, cartoon movie, picture with
human actors and cartoon picture. To identify the type of stimuli that best
discriminate the ASD group from the control group, a two-way ANOVA was
performed using ecological dimension [human-actors/cartoon] and presentation
form [movie/picture] as factors. Results: Children with ASD presented
significantly less fixations to eyes and faces in the movie with human actors
and in the picture with human actors. Children with ASD also presented
significantly more fixations to non-social backgrounds in the movie with human
actors and in the cartoon movie. A significant ecological effect was observed
for the reduction in fixations to the eyes [human-actors > cartoon]. A significant presentation form effect was observed for the
increased fixations to the non-social background [movie > picture]. Conclusions:
The direct comparison of gaze behavior across four different types of stimuli
demonstrates that gaze abnormalities in ASD depend on the type of stimuli that
is used. Our results suggest that general gaze abnormalities in children with
ASD are better detected when using dynamic stimuli, and finer details of these
abnormalities, especially looking less to the eyes, are better detected in a
more ecologically relevant situation presenting human characters.


The paper attempts to look at the fate of the Filipino Left after the February Revolution that replaced an authoritarian state with a liberal democratic state. The democratic state, which was brought about by mass insurrectionary activity and occurred at a time when the elite and conservative forces lost political monopoly and the masses have developed a means to effectively intervene in the state process, has distinct populist features and anti-fascist characteristics. From the perspective of popular democrats, this is a step towards better conditions for progressive popular empowerment but the absence of the national democrats during the crucial moment weakened the progressive flank and the anti-dictatorship coalition. The national democrats entered into a political settlement with the Marcos regime while the CPP-NPA-NDF committed itself to armed revolutionary struggle pluralized the left movement. By further asserting their role as the vanguard over independent movements and ideological tendencies, they fostered tensions between themselves and the other forces. The rise of an internal debate within the CPP-NPA-NDF on the direction and courses of action to be taken have further weakened the progressive bloc. In the immediate term, the progressive bloc is predicted to be fluid and at worst turbulent. Unless progressive groups and movements possess a sense of community to start with and maintain lines of dialogues, ecumenism on the Left cannot be achieved.


The rapidly changing East Siberian Arctic Shelf (ESAS) receives large amounts of terrestrial organic carbon (OC) from coastal erosion and Russian-Arctic rivers. Climate warming increases thawing of coastal Ice Complex Deposits (ICD) and can change both the amount of released OC, as well as its propensity to be converted to greenhouse gases (fueling further global warming) or to be buried in coastal sediments. This study aimed to unravel the susceptibility to degradation, and transport and dispersal patterns of OC delivered to the ESAS. Bulk and molecular radiocarbon analyses on surface particulate matter (PM), sinking PM and underlying surface sediments illustrate the active release of old OC from coastal permafrost. Molecular tracers for recalcitrant soil OC showed ages of 3.4–13 14C-ky in surface PM and 5.5–18 14C-ky in surface sediments. The age difference of these markers between surface PM and surface sediments is larger (i) in regions with low OC accumulation rates, suggesting a weaker exchange between water column and sediments, and (ii) with increasing distance from the Lena River, suggesting preferential settling of fluvially derived old OC nearshore. A dual-carbon end-member mixing model showed that (i) contemporary terrestrial OC is dispersed mainly by horizontal transport while being subject to active degradation, (ii) marine OC is most affected by vertical transport and also actively degraded in the water column, and (iii) OC from ICD settles rapidly and dominates surface sediments. Preferential burial of ICD-OC released into ESAS coastal waters might therefore lower the suggested carbon cycle climate feedback from thawing ICD permafrost.


In recent years, record numbers of individuals have been released from U.S. correctional facilities and have reentered their communities. At present, approximately 650,000 individuals are released annually from U.S. federal and state prisons, while an estimated additional 7 million are released from its jails. In addition, the number of individuals with criminal records - whether or not they were incarcerated - continues to climb. At present, approximately 20 percent of adults in the United States have criminal records. Part I [of this article] details the shortcomings of current reentry practice. Part II sets forth a reentry-centered vision of criminal justice that recasts the roles of defense attorneys, prosecutors, and judges. Part III sets out a couple of ways in which the reentry-centered model differs from models that, at first blush, appear to be similar and then explains that broader reforms are necessary to fully realize the reentry-centered vision.


The tendencies of the development of the Lithuanian criminal procedure within the recent twenty years, after Lithuania has regained its independence, are analyzed in the present article. The main factors which influence lawmaking in the sphere of criminal procedure as well as in the application of the criminal procedure norms are discussed. The constitutional imperatives and the human rights, fixed in international and the European Union agreements as the main factors determining the evolution of the law of criminal procedure are reviewed. It is stated that earlier, while amending or supplementing the Code of Criminal Procedure, the utmost attention used to the drawn to the legal tradition of the state, whereas the legal norms of the modern criminal procedure must be subordinated to the principles fixed in the Constitution. After having briefly reviewed the main tendencies of the development of criminal procedure, i.e. the constitutionalization and internationalizationeuropeization, the following conclusion is drawn: the mentioned tendencies have been producing a significant impact on the evolution of the Lithuanian criminal procedure after the restoration of independence and accession to the international treaties. However, the systemic and critical viewpoint towards the impact of the European Union law on the national law of criminal procedure is still missing.


In these inspiring essays about why we read, Proust explores all the pleasures and trials that we take from books, as well as explaining the beauty of Ruskin and his work, and the joys of losing yourself in literature as a child. Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves - and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives - and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization and helped make us who we are.


The main purpose of the present thesis was to develop a measurement instrument aimed to reveal attitudes towards child sexual abuse, and to measure attitudes and associating personal, social and cultural factors among three different samples of Norwegian adults. Additional aims were to explore the relation between participants' knowledge-seeking on the one hand, their experiences, attitudes and actual knowledge about abuse on the other hand.Three studies are presented based on the same data material collected in Norway in spring 2004. Three samples were included in the survey: A sample of randomly selected adults between 18-67 years (n = 296). A sample of active Christians between 22-65 years (n = 125) and finally a sample of imprisoned child sexual offenders between 21-74 years (n = 36).Study I was primarily concerned about the development and validation of a new measurement instrument, entitled Attitudes towards child sexual abuse (ACA). The scale consisted of four different attitudinal dimensions. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) confirmed the four-factor structure. The four dimensions were entitled 1) Acceptance and responsibility, 2) Fatalism, 3) Damages caused by abuse, and 4) Legal issues. The result showed that there were significant attitude differences across the samples. The differences were in the expected direction e.g. offenders reported more abuse-accepting attitudes than the random adults and active Christians, and men had more abuse-accepting attitudes than women. This confirms the discriminative properties of ACA. Furthermore, the factors hypothesized to be associated with attitudes towards abuse behaved as expected, e.g. high empathy was related to more averse attitudes. Conclusively, the scale was found to be valid and reliable.Study II further investigated attitudes towards abuse and explored cultural, social and personal factors associated with these attitudes. The results showed that different factors were predictors of attitudes in the three samples. Empathy and normlessness were the best predictors of attitudes among the random sample of adults and the active Christians. The most significant predictors of attitudes among the prisoners were their view of women and femininity. This may imply that different intervention strategies should be chosen depending on the target group.Study III aimed to explore attitudes towards and knowledge-seeking about child sexual abuse among the samples. It was hypothesized that those who seek more knowledge had more accurate knowledge about abuse, and that the difference in knowledge-seeking and attitudes were related to the respondents' own experience with abuse. It was furthermore expected that both knowledge-seeking and attitudes were predictors of abusive behaviour. The results suggested that attitudes and knowledge-seeking differed across samples and gender. The active Christians had most aversive attitudes towards child sexual abuse and sought more knowledge about abuse than the comparing samples. The respondents who reported high knowledge-seeking seemed to have more knowledge of abuse as well. However, a more comprehensive measurement of both knowledge-seeking and actual knowledge is recommended in future studies. Knowledge-seeking was related to both direct and indirect experience, e.g. victims of abuse had higher knowledge-seeking compared to non-victims and those who knew a victim had higher knowledge-seeking than those who did not know a victim. Abusive behaviour was predicted by attitudes, gender and sample. Knowledge-seeking did not predict abusive behaviour.Taken together, the three studies showed that the hypothesized attitudinal differences between the three samples, were confirmed. Furthermore, the expected relation between attitudes on the one hand and social, cultural, and personality factors and knowledge-seeking on the other hand, was supported. The result as a whole may serve as a guide to interventions aimed to prevent abuse.


Abstract Sand ridges form discrete parts of a modern surficial veneer on many continental shelves worldwide yet are seldom cited as analogs for isolated marine sand bodies found in outcrop or the subsurface. One reason may be that a comprehensive explanation for the evolution of modern mid-shelf sand ridges has proven elusive. New information, most notably high-resolution seismic data collected on modern sand ridges in adjacent areas by other workers, has led to this reevaluation of a largely unpublished but extensive vibracore dataset from a mid-shelf sand ridge off New Jersey (USA). The presence of dipping reflections within other ridges is particularly notable on new high-resolution seismic data, but has yet to be confirmed in these other ridges by extensive coring. Reexamining the original well-preserved vibracore peels from the mid-shelf sand ridge sampled in the 1980s reveals that these internal reflections could be associated with burrowed, low-density mud beds. New cross sections constructed with 20 vibracores suggest that the dipping internal reflections are accretionary surfaces associated with episodic ridge migration to the east and south. Radiocarbon dating indicates that the mid-shelf sand ridge has migrated episodically over the last 5 ka and movement probably continues today during major storms. This documented migration continues well after transgressive ravinement (approximately 9–10 ka), contradicting existing views that mid-shelf ridges become moribund sometime after detachment from the shoreline. The morphology, migration history, and internal sedimentary character suggest that the ridges are acting much like primary bedforms, although these sand bodies are much larger in scale (5 to 8 m height or thickness) than typical subaqueous dunes observed on modern storm-dominated shelves.


As the legal profession undergoes structural changes, longstanding principles of ethics still govern the day-to-day lives of practicing lawyers. This new hornbook on professional responsibility provides both a snapshot of ongoing systemic changes and a thorough examination of the fundamentals of lawyer and judicial ethics. As a multi-dimensional work by scholarly experts in several fields, the hornbook (1) begins with the changing environment in which legal services are provided in the modern economy; (2) continues with a theoretical grounding of legal ethics in moral philosophy; (3) offers empirical evidence and discussion about professional formation and moral development; (4) provides a comprehensive analysis of the law of lawyer ethics; (5) includes a rich discussion of the modern law of legal malpractice, and (6) concludes with exploration of the rules of judicial ethics. The introduction to and table of contents to this new hornbook are included with this posting.


This document defines a new attribute for the Telephony Routing over
IP (TRIP) protocol. The attribute associates protocols/services in the
PSTN offering authorized prioritization during call setup that are
reachable through a TRIP gateway. Current examples of preferential
service in the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) are Government
Emergency Telecommunications Service (GETS) in the U.S. and Government
Telephone Preference Scheme (GTPS) in the U.K. The proposed attribute
for TRIP is based on the NameSpace.Value tuple defined for the SIP
Resource-Priority field. [STANDARDS-TRACK]


Randy Stoecker noted in 2005 that CI remains underdeveloped as a field of practice as long as it does not have its own set of ethical guidelines. While Averweg & O'Donnell published a researcher-focused set of guidelines in 2007, a full-scale work for CI practice has not yet been completed. Workshops employing a range of collaborative techniques have been held at the last three Community Informatics Research Network conferences, identifying perspectives and ideas from attendees regarding ethical CI practice and guiding critical questions. This paper is published as a means to widen the audience reviewing and commenting on these.


Abstract The fast growth of fashion brands and the popularity of counterfeit goods has posed certain challenges to the existing and new luxury fashion brand players. This study elaborates on the factors driving the market for counterfeit products in the UK. The data collected by means of survey questionnaires from 306 respondents and empirical techniques including descriptive and inferential statistics (correlation and multiple regression analysis), have shown that the consumers have a negative attitude towards counterfeit luxury products. However, they showed fewer tendencies to seek for a brand whose counterfeit cannot easily be found and preferred to buy a genuine rather than a counterfeit. In terms of frequency of purchase, reversion to counterfeit has negative impact, unlike the tendency to seek a brand whose counterfeit is hard to find. The overall results show that the attitude and acceptance of counterfeit do not greatly prevail in the market. However, about 27% of respondents demonstrated either a positive or a neutral tendency towards counterfeit products, which could have serious implications for the luxury goods market.


Coccidia is an intestinal parasite that infects animals and causes Coccidiosis disease. Substantial animal mortality can be faced within several days of infection if it is not diagnosed or treated at the early stages of infection. Therefore, an urgent diagnostic tool has become necessary to tackle the spread of disease and to avoid animal death and subsequent business losses. Vets detect the disease by examining animal stool slides under microscope. They consider Eimeria oocyst sizes, textures and shapes to identify which genus has infected animals. However, this manual process is generally a challenging task as those oocysts are quite similar to each other and difficult to distinguish them. Apart from the morphological characteristics, this paper applies an automated, more robust and simple method to identify Coccidia species. It adopts pixel-based features instead of the morphological ones. Grey-scale images of Coccidia microscopic slides have been analyzed and the mean of their pixel values has been calculated to form three different feature sets to characterize the microscopic images. They are (i) column feature set (CF), (ii) row feature set (RF) and (iii) combination of both feature sets (CRF). Automated classification of the microscopic images is then carried out using K-Nearest Neighbor classifier. A five-fold cross validation is adapted to assess the robustness of the method and repeated for 50 times to avoid any statistical bias. As a case study, a database of 2902 microscopic images of Eimeria taken from rabbits has been analyzed, which yields a predictive accuracy of 70.44%, 67.47%and 80.13% for CF, RF and CRF, respectively. Furthermore, the number of features has been reduced by eliminating low degree of the features. This process has reduced the feature size by as much as 30% and improved the best predictive accuracy by about 3% to 82.83%. This promising outcome is expected to lead a fully automated mobile diagnostic tool for parasite detection.


The scope of the present work is the application of a particular class of strain energy function, based on the logarithmic strain, for the prediction of the twisting moment and axial force of a rubber circular cylinder under combined extension and torsion. The strain energy function involves four material parameters three of which are determined by fitting Published experimental data from simple tensile and compression tests of natural rubber. One of the parameters of the proposed model has physical meaning, and it is equal to one ninth Of the initial modulus of elasticity of the material. Hence, the number of unknown parameters is reduced to three. The logarithmic strain energy function is then applied to a combined extension and torsion problem of a rubber circular cylinder to check its performance for more complicated deformations. The results are compared with corresponding experimental and theoretical solutions available in the literature to validate the proposed model. It is found that the proposed strain energy function apart from predicting the common modes of deformations is also capable to determine more complicated types of deformation. (c) 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


The diversity of plant life histories provides a wealth of raw material for comparative studies on evolution and ecology. The two fundamental questions for any comparative study are: which traits are correlated with one another, and are these correlations the result of common descent or convergent evolution? Phylogeny should therefore be explicitly included in any comparative analysis that is concerned with the causes of correlation between traits, even when the principal research question is a purely ecological one. In illustration, the method of phylogenetically independent contrasts (PIC) is used to test two long-standing hypotheses that have not been satisfactorily tested before. In the first example we find that annuals and species of early succession have greater reproductive allocation than perennials and species of later succession. In the second example we show that the apparency hypothesis of chemical defence is supported by a positive correlation between woodiness and the frequency of tannins and by a negative correlation between tannin frequency and alkaloid frequency. Finally, we point out that PIC has a much lower type-I error than cross-species analyses and that this superiority is surprisingly robust to lack of phylogenetic resolution.


In this article, we use a probit model to assess the factors that will influence the decision of Irish farmers to adopt genetically modified (GM) technology should they be given a choice in the near future of selecting between GM and non-GM varieties of crops. The results from the probit model indicate that among the likely early adopters of GM technology in Ireland are farmers with large farm acreage who are specialist crop farmers and who have formal agricultural education together with access to high-quality soils. Contrary to expectations and theory, the farmer's age was insignificant in the final specification of the model. Neither tenure nor profitability had any influence in determining the likelihood of adoption once farm size was accounted for, indicating that farm size may dominate other farm-level characteristics.


We present K-band (2.2 μm) imaging polarimetry that resolves 19 T Tauri binary and multiple systems in the Taurus-Auriga and Scorpius-Ophiuchus star-forming regions. We observed systems with projected separations 1.″5-7.″2 (~200-1000 AU) in order to determine the relative orientation of the circumstellar disks in each binary system. Scattered light from these disks is polarized, allowing us to deduce the position angle of the disk on the sky from the position angle of polarization even though our observations do not resolve the disks themselves. We detected measurable polarization (typically 0.5%-2%, with typical uncertainty 0.1%) from both stars in 14 of the systems observed. In eight of the nine binary systems, the two stars' polarization position angles are within 30° of each other, inconsistent with random orientations. In contrast, the five triple and quadruple systems appear to have random disk orientations when comparing the polarization position angles of the widest pair in the system; the close pairs are unresolved in all but one system. Our observations suggest that disks in wide (200-1000 AU) binaries are aligned with each other within ≲20° but not perfectly coplanar. However, we cannot conclusively rule out random relative disk orientations if the observed polarizations are significantly contaminated by interstellar polarization. Even in the presence of interstellar polarization our observations securely exclude coplanar disks. These results provide constraints on possible binary formation mechanisms if the observed orientations are primordial. On the other hand, models of disk-binary interactions indicate that the disks may have had time to decrease their relative inclinations since formation. If the common orientation of the disks in these binaries is a tracer of the binary orbital plane, then our results also have significance for the stability of planetary orbits, suggesting that planetary systems in wide binaries should be stable over 109 yr timescales.


© 2015 by The Oceanography Society. All rights reserved. Oceanic and coastal waters are acidifying due to processes dominated in the open ocean by increasing atmospheric CO2 and dominated in estuaries and some coastal waters by nutrient-fueled respiration. The patterns and severity of acidification, as well as its effects, are modified by the host of stressors related to human activities that also influence these habitats. Temperature, deoxygenation, and changes in food webs are particularly important co-stressors because they are pervasive, and both their causes and effects are often mechanistically linked to acidification. Development of a theoretical underpinning to multiple stressor research that considers physiological, ecological, and evolutionary perspectives is needed because testing all combinations of stressors and stressor intensities experimentally is impossible. Nevertheless, use of a wide variety of research approaches is a logical and promising strategy for improving understanding of acidification and its effects. Future research that focuses on spatial and temporal patterns of stressor interactions and on identifying mechanisms by which multiple stressors affect individuals, populations, and ecosystems is critical. It is also necessary to incorporate consideration of multiple stressors into management, mitigation, and adaptation to acidification and to increase public and policy recognition of the importance of addressing acidification in the context of the suite of other stressors with which it potentially interacts.


Rationale: Autophagy is an essential survival mechanism during energy stress in the heart. Oxidative stress is activated by energy stress, but its role in mediating autophagy is poorly understood. NADPH oxidase (Nox) 4 is an enzyme that generates reactive oxygen species (ROS) at intracellular membranes. Whether Nox4 acts as a sensor of energy stress to mediate activation of autophagy is unknown. Objective: We investigated whether Nox4 is involved in the regulation of autophagy and cell survival during energy stress in cardiomyocytes. Methods and Results: Production of ROS in cardiomyocytes was increased during glucose deprivation (GD) in a Nox4-dependent manner. Protein levels and the ROS-producing activity of Nox4 were increased in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), but not in mitochondria, in response to GD. Selective knockdown of Nox4, but not Nox2, or selective reduction of ROS in the ER with ER-targeted catalase, but not mitochondria-targeted perioxiredoxin 3, abrogated GD-induced autophagy. Nox4 promoted autophagy during GD through activation of the protein kinase RNA-activated-like ER kinase pathway by suppression of prolyl hydroxylase 4. The decrease in cell survival during GD in the presence of Nox4 knockdown was rescued by reactivation of autophagy by Atg7 overexpression, indicating that the effect of Nox4 on cell survival is critically mediated through regulation of autophagy. Nox4 was activated during fasting and prolonged ischemia in the mouse heart, where Nox4 is also required for autophagy activation and cardioprotection. Conclusions: Nox4 critically mediates autophagy in response to energy stress in cardiomyocytes by eliciting ROS in the ER and stimulating the protein kinase RNA-activated-like ER kinase signaling pathway.


Growing warm-season legumes during fallow periods associated with traditional continuous systems of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in the southern Great Plains (SGP) can provide supplemental forage, biological N, and protection from soil erosion, provided the legumes can tolerate drought stress and not deplete the available water in the soil profi le. Our objective was to quantify water use by fi ve species of pulse legumes {pigeon pea [(Cajanus Cajan (L.) Millsp.) cv. GA-2], guar [Cyamopsis tetragonobloba (L.) Taub., cv. Kinman], cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp., cv. Chinese red], mung bean [Vigna radiate (L.) Wilcz., cv. Berkins], and soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr., cv. Hutcheson (the control)]}. Seeds were inoculated and planted after wheat harvest in mid-June 2003 through 2006. The amount of water in the upper 65 cm of the soil profi le was measured on nine dates [from 45 d before planting legumes to 195 d since planting (DSP)]. Signifi cant (P < 0.01) differences in soil water were recorded among treatments, dates, and years. Differences in soil water among fallow, cowpea, and mung bean were less following the 2003 and 2004 summer seasons and most noticeable in 2005 and 2006. Mung bean, guar, soybean, and pigeon pea used the greatest amounts of water in 2005, the wettest season, while cowpea and mung bean used the least in 2003. Mung bean, cowpea, and guar generated smaller water defi cits and used less soil water, in three of four years, and could be effective in wheat-summer legume rotations in the SGP.


Violence over water resources has persisted in various forms for thousands of years, driven by complex ideological, religious, economic, and strategic factors. Scarce and valuable freshwater has played a role in conflicts as a contributing factor, a target or tool, or a weapon. The focus of this review is on specific instances of violence around water and water systems conflict in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen, where water resources and human‐built water systems have been both weapons and targets of conflict. A new cycle of violence in the region, growing in extent and severity, began approximately three decades ago and is described here in the context of broader regional water challenges and theoretical issues around environmental security. New data and definitions and an analysis of the types of event and sources of information are also provided in the context of international humanitarian law. This assessment confirms and expands upon previous work that evaluates trends toward the weaponization of water and the targeting of water systems in Middle East conflicts. Initial recommendations for reducing these trends are provided.