Landslides are one of the most destructive geological disasters affecting Japan every year, resulting in huge losses in life and property. Numerous susceptibility studies have been conducted to minimize the risk of landslides; however, most of these studies do not differentiate landslide types. This study examines the differences in landslide depth, volume and the risk imposed between shallow and deep-seated landslide types. Shallow and deep-seated landslide prediction is useful in utilizing emergency resources by prioritizing target areas while responding to sediment related disasters. This study utilizes a 2-m DEM derived from airborne Light detection and ranging (Lidar), geological information and support vector machines (SVMs) to study the 1225 landslides triggered by the M 6.8 Chuetsu earthquake in Japan and the successive aftershocks. Ten factors, including elevation, slope, aspect, curvature, lithology, distance from the nearest geologic boundary, density of geologic boundaries, distance from drainage network, the compound topographic index (CTI) and the stream power index (SPI) derived from the DEM and a geological map were analyzed. Iterated over 10 random instances the average training and testing accuracy of landslide type prediction was found to be 89.2 and 77.8%, respectively. We also found that the overall accuracy of SVMs does not rapidly decrease with a decrease in training samples. The trained model was then used to prepare a map showing probable future landslides differentiated into shallow and deep-seated landslides.


In 2009, the Center for Underwater Archaeology has started a project on the Development of Predictive Models for Identification of Archaeological Sites along the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast in GIS environment, financed by the National Scientific Fund. This is the first major project in Bulgaria aimed at archaeological predictive modeling as a method to evaluate the probability of finding of archaeological sites within a specific territory and an attempt to create a scientifically sound hypothesis that is able to overcome the subjectivity in prediction.Bulgaria lacks experience in archaeological predictive modeling. One of the project activities is to review and study international experience in this field.The article presents some of the archaeological predictive models developed mostly in response to the implementation of infrastructure projects in different countries around the world.We discuss the factors involved in the development of archaeological predictive models and underline their identification as a key stage in any model development. An important step in the identification of the main factors is to determine and rank their importance in relation to the monuments/sites under study.Special attention is paid to the main stages of predictive model development:– the first stage is concerned with the determination of the spatial parameters of the model and the development of a database;– the second stage is analytical and consists of analysis of the database and identification of the factors that are important for prediction;– the third stage deals with the creation of different information layers of the model and– the fourth final stage is the verification of the prediction through fieldwork and on-site inspection. This step allows for new information to be added to the database and for an improvement of the model. The improvement of the model should be ongoing and continuous, in parallel with its application.The paper presents the first results of the Bulgarian project – the creation of a digital terrain model and bathymetric map of 100 square kms of the Bulgarian Black Sea coast (sea and land area) between the mouth of the Ropotamo river and the town of Tsarevo as a result of the first application in Bulgaria of LiDAR technology (Light Detection and Ranging), including the first airborne bathymetry, as well.


In order to satisfy the demand for equitable quick-access to information and borderless resources by the citizens, a framework was designed and adopted for librarians and information professionals. The framework is to empower librarians in support of the government's drive in the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Ekiti State, Nigeria. It premised on the roles that librarians could play in fulfilling its mandate in the implementation of the 17 SDGs within available internet facilities in Ekiti State, Nigeria. The mapping together of letters in the two keywords, STRENGTHEN and REVITALISE was used to frame the 10 cardinal syllabus, which are: Support for Research; Teamwork Enablement; Realistic Vision; Enthusiasm for Innovation; Nurturing Trainers; Goal-oriented Altmetrics; Technologies Literacy; Hotspots for Internetworking; Enterprising Structure and Novelty Expansion. The author consulted postgraduate researchers at the Information Studies program, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa for input. Pilot training were for 9 teacher-librarians drawn from government colleges and full focused training for one teacher-librarian per school and there are 98 of such public secondary schools in the state. The framework is becoming a standard in the training of librarians in support of the state's government drive in knowledge economy and human capital development. The academic librarians at the Ekiti State University Library and Nigerian Library Association, Ekiti State Chapter, Nigeria are being co-opted in the capacity building. The project monitoring are on-going as teacher-librarians are to implement what they have learned in rendering services to other teachers and students under them as it is relevant to society in the dissemination of knowledge around SDGs.


We present a simple and validated HPLC method for measuring Vitamin B6 urinary metabolite 4-pyridoxic acid (4-PA). Urine samples were treated with 6% perchloric acid. HPLC separation was achieved using Waters column (Symmetry® C18 250 mm × 4.6 mm i.d (5 μM). The mobile phase was a mixture of methanol and 35 mM sodium phosphate buffer containing 2.5 mM sodium heptane polysulfonate at pH=3.5 with 85% O-phosphoric acid. Retention times were 8.0 min for 4-pyridoxic acid. Detection (UV at 302 nm) of analyte was linear in a range from 0.0125 to 0.8 μM. This method is stable, reproducible and has practical advantages such as ease and low cost.


Audio podcasting is increasingly present in the educational field and is especially appreciated as an ubiquitous/pervasive tool ("anywhere, anytime, at any pace") for acquiring or expanding knowledge. We designed and implemented a Web-based Text To Speech (TTS) system for automatic generation of a set of structured audio podcasts from a single text document. The system receives a document in input (doc, rtf, or txt), and in output provides a set of audio files that reflect the document's internal structure (one mp3 file for each document section), ready to be downloaded on portable mp3 players. Structured audio files are useful for everyone but are especially appreciated by blind users, who must explore content audially. Fully accessible for the blind, our system offers WAI-ARIA-based Web interfaces for easy navigation and interaction via screen reader and voice synthesizer, and produces a set of accessible audio files for Rockbox mp3 players (mp3 and talk files), allowing blind users to also listen to naturally spoken file names (instead of their spelled-out strings).
 In this demo, we will show how the system works when a user interacts via screen reader and voice synthesizer, showing the interaction with both our Web-based system and with an mp3 player.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the prevalence of hypertension in newly diagnosed type 2 diabetic patients and its association with risk factors for cardiovascular and diabetic complications.

DESIGN
Cross-sectional study.

PATIENTS
Newly diagnosed type 2 diabetic patients (n = 3648, mean age 52 years, 59% male) recruited for the UK Prospective Diabetes Study (UKPDS).

MEASUREMENTS
Blood pressure, body mass index, waist:hip ratio, ECG signs of ischaemia and of left ventricular hypertrophy (Minnesota code), fasting plasma glucose, urate, creatinine, insulin, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein-, low-density lipoprotein- and total cholesterol, urinary albumin:creatinine ratio, retinopathy grading.

RESULTS
Thirty-nine per cent of the patients (35% of the males, 46% of the females) were hypertensive (mean blood pressure > or = 160 systolic and/or > or = 90 mmHg diastolic 2 and 9 months after diagnosis of diabetes, or taking antihypertensive therapy). The hypertensive patients had a greater mean body mass index (30.1 versus 28.0 kg/m2, P < 0.0001) than the normotensive patients. They also had higher fasting plasma triglyceride (1.94 versus 1.69 mmol/l, P < 0.0001) and insulin (15.0 versus 12.8 mU/l, P < 0.0001) levels but these associations disappeared or weakened when obesity was taken into account. Hypertensive compared with normotensive subjects suffered a higher prevalence of cardiovascular events before the diagnosis of diabetes (4.8 versus 2.5%, P < 0.0001), of microalbuminuria (albumin:creatinine ratio > 5.0 g/mol; 24 versus 14%, P < 0.0001), of ECG signs of probable and possible ischaemia (24 versus 14%, P < 0.0001) and of left ventricular hypertrophy (8.5 versus 3.8%; P < 0.0001). The prevalence of retinopathy was similar in the two groups.

CONCLUSIONS
Hypertension is common in newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes and is associated with obesity. The association between hypertension and higher triglyceride and insulin levels may be secondary to obesity in this population. An association between hypertension and cardiovascular complications is already apparent at diagnosis of diabetes.


Environmental lead exposure in Port Pire, South Australia and Esperance, Western Australia led to differing perceptions of risk among these communities. This paper describes our observations of the social and economic context of these cases of environmental lead exposure and how this influenced responses among the community. Lead had been transported out of the Esperance Port since 2005. However, much of the community was unaware of this until it became public as part of the investigation into bird deaths in the local environment. Esperance saw itself as an idyllic rural community, with a sound economic basis, but removed from the problems associated with cities, such as pollution. Once the lead problem was identified, residents became very concerned about their children's health and demanded immediate action. On the other hand Port Pirie residents valued their long history associated with the lead industry. This industry underpinned the local economy. The attention from outsiders was seen as unwarranted and unnecessarily portraying the city as a dirty harmful place. These differences highlight the need for scientists and regulators to acknowledge that both the social context as well as patterns of exposure is integral to the assessment and management of risk.


A significant and growing portion of our population is in or has recently been in prison. Nearly all members of this population will face significant obstacles as they struggle to reintegrate into society. A key source of these obstacles is the complex, sometimes unknown, and often harmful collection of civil consequences that flow from a criminal conviction. As the number and severity of these consequences have grown, courts, policymakers, and scholars have struggled with how to identify and understand them, how to communicate them to defendants and the public, and how to treat them in the criminal and civil processes. Padilla v. Kentucky, heralded by some as a watershed and others as an anomaly, is a first step in matching the law to the practical reality of the civil consequences of criminal convictions. This article examines Padilla and the context in which it was decided and suggests that, although the dissenters in Padilla may be correct that the opinion will be difficult to apply in a coherent way, the solution to this challenge can be found in the decision itself, which has laid the foundation for a legal doctrine of civil consequences that reflects the reality of these consequences. The Supreme Court's recent decision in Turner v. Rogers underscores that the Court's approach in these two cases creates the opportunity for a more realistic, consistent, and just doctrine of civil consequences of criminal convictions. This article begins the process of defining this doctrine by suggesting that instead of inquiring into whether consequences are direct or collateral, the test used in the past, courts should inquire into whether these civil consequences are "significant entanglements" of civil and criminal law. First, courts should analyze whether the civil consequence is significant, in both an objective and subjective sense. Second, courts should examine whether the consequence is entangled with the criminal process. Where significant entanglements exist, corresponding protections should follow. The article goes on to suggest that the significant entanglement framework can be used to analyze whether Sixth Amendment protections should apply to a particular civil consequence at a particular stage of the criminal process. Further, the significant entanglement framework applies outside the Sixth Amendment to understand the other constitutional protections that may be applied by courts to civil consequences of criminal convictions. Thus, the significant entanglement framework is the next step in developing a new doctrine for the protections that apply to civil consequences of criminal convictions.


This article discusses the role of rumors in everyday Acholi life in war-torn northern Uganda. These rumors concern various health threats such as HIV and Ebola. The rumors are closely associated with the forces of domination that are alleged to destroy female sexuality and women's reproductive health and, by extension, Acholi humanity. Moreover, the rumors are stories that say something profound about lived entrapments and political asymmetries in Uganda and beyond.


Traditional offline evaluations of recommender systems apply metrics from machine learning and information retrieval in settings where their underlying assumptions no longer hold. This results in significant error and bias in measures of top-N recommendation performance, such as precision, recall, and nDCG. Several of the specific causes of these errors, including popularity bias and mis-classified decoy items, are well-explored in the existing literature. In this paper we survey a range of work on identifying and addressing these problems, and report on our work in progress to simulate the recommender data generation and evaluation processes to quantify the extent of evaluation metric errors and assess their sensitivity to various assumptions


This paper examines automated genre classification of text documents and its role in enabling the effective management of digital documents by digital libraries and other repositories. Genre classification, which narrows down the possible structure of a document, is a valuable step in
realising the general automatic extraction of semantic metadata essential to the efficient management and use of digital objects. In the present report, we present an analysis of word frequencies in different genre classes in an effort to understand the distinction between independent classification tasks. In particular, we examine automated experiments on thirty-one genre classes to determine the relationship between the word frequency metrics and the degree of its significance in carrying out classification in varying environments.


Approximately 3.8 million cubic meters of surface water was applied to spreading ponds from 2003–2007 to artificially recharge the underlying aquifer through a 200‐meter thick unsaturated zone in the San Gorgonio Pass area in southern California. A study was conducted between 1997 and 2003, and a numerical model was developed to help determine the suitability of the site for artificial recharge. Ongoing monitoring results indicated that the existing model needed to be modified and recalibrated to more accurately predict artificial recharge at the site. The objective of this work was to recalibrate the model by using observation of the application rates, the rise and fall of the water level above a perching layer, and the approximate arrival time to the water table during the 5‐yr monitoring period following initiation of long‐term artificial recharge. Continuous monitoring of soil‐matric potential, temperature, and water levels beneath the site indicated that artificial recharge reached the underlying water table between 3.75 and 4.5 yr after the initial application of the recharge water. The model was modified to allow the simulation to more adequately match the perching layer dynamics and the time of arrival at the water table. The instrumentation also showed that the lag time between changes in application of water at the surface and the response at the perching layer decreased from about 4 mo to less than 1 mo due to the wet‐up of the unsaturated zone and the increase in relative permeability. The results of this study demonstrate the importance of iteratively monitoring and modeling the unsaturated zone in layered alluvial systems in the context of artificial recharge. They show that adequate geologic and hydraulic‐property data on perching layers are critical to success. Continuous monitoring in the unsaturated and saturated zones beneath a site provides data to develop and constrain numerical models, better understand local unsaturated zone process, manage artificial recharge operations, and to determine the timing and volume of recoverable water for consumptive use.


This chapter will consider the particularly British responses to the threat of nuclear annihilation in the Cold War. Where British Cold War genre fiction is often investigated in terms of espionage and the double agent in a late recapitulation of the 'Great game' of Empire, the critical response to British science fiction and nuclear war is under-regarded. This chapter will take as its primary case-study Nevil Shute's On the Beach (1957), which lenses the British post-war disaster novel (Aldiss's 'cosy catastrophe') through a scenario where a group of men and women temporarily survive nuclear war in Australia (the place of Britain's own testing of atomic weapons and of its doomed participation in the Space Race). The chapter will analyse Shute's text, and others from the 1950s and 1960s which combine the Pacific island spaces of the end of British Empire (Golding's Lord of the Flies, Ballard's 'The Terminal Beach') with the threat or actuality of nuclear conflict, to investigate the ideological and imagined connection between Britain's role in a global system of MAD and its negotiation of Empire's end. The chapter will end with a consideration of David Graham's Down to a Sunless Sea (1979) as a terminal reprise of the British disaster novel and its pessimistic envisioning of surviving catastrophe.


Abstract Studies of large-scale sedimentary architecture are mainly based on the interpretation of two-dimensional photomosaics. This method cannot account for the natural rugosity of outcrop exposures, introducing errors in the measurement of geobody sizes and orientations. In the past, three-dimensional outcrop studies have relied on time-intensive fieldwork, with irregular sampling and low geometric accuracy. More recently, terrestrial laser scanning, or LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), has been widely applied to small-scale outcrops, but range and accessibility preclude its usage on larger-scale outcrops. Oblique helicopter-based laser scanning, however, allows the collection of tens of kilometres of outcrop sections in a relatively short time frame. In this paper, a procedure for collecting and processing such virtual outcrop data is outlined, and the application of the technique for extracting dimensions of fluvial geobodies from two large and otherwise inaccessible outcrops from Utah is presented. The results are compared to interpretations from more conventional photomosaicking of the same outcrops. Results show that the use of helicopter-based laser scanning enables geoscientists to rapidly acquire georeferenced data that can then be used for sedimentological interpretation and analysis on reservoir scales. It is concluded that helicopter-based laser scanning promotes sedimentological research and is well suited to capturing quantitative geometrical data from large outcrops.


Cervical cancer is a leading cause of death in underserved areas of Brazil. This prospective randomized trial involved 200 women in southern/central Brazil with abnormal Papanicolaou tests. Participants were randomized by geographic cluster and referred for diagnostic evaluation either at a mobile van upon its scheduled visit to their local community, or at a central hospital. Participants in both arms underwent colposcopy, in vivo microscopy, and cervical biopsies. We compared rates of diagnostic follow-up completion between study arms, and also evaluated the diagnostic performance of in vivo microscopy compared with colposcopy. There was a 23% absolute and 37% relative increase in diagnostic follow-up completion rates for patients referred to the mobile van (102/117, 87%) compared with the central hospital (53/83, 64%; P = 0.0001; risk ratio = 1.37, 95% CI, 1.14–1.63). In 229 cervical sites in 144 patients, colposcopic examination identified sites diagnosed as cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2 or more severe (CIN2+; 85 sites) with a sensitivity of 94% (95% CI, 87%–98%) and specificity of 50% (95% CI, 42%–58%). In vivo microscopy with real-time automated image analysis identified CIN2+ with a sensitivity of 92% (95% CI, 84%–97%) and specificity of 48% (95% CI, 40%–56%). Women referred to the mobile van were more likely to complete their diagnostic follow-up compared with those referred to a central hospital, without compromise in clinical care. In vivo microscopy in a mobile van provides automated diagnostic imaging with sensitivity and specificity similar to colposcopy. Cancer Prev Res; 11(6); 359–70. ©2018 AACR.


Since its launch in 2013, the Youth Guarantee has supported millions of young people across the European Union (EU) to find a job, a traineeship, an apprenticeship or to continue in education. Yet despite this, too many young Europeans are still without work. Across the EU, more effort is needed so that all young people can benefit from quality offers under the Youth Guarantee. This report is one in a series of five reports on Youth Guarantee delivery, presenting existing practices from the ground from the first five years of its implementation. It outlines lessons learnt, challenges and success factors, aiming to inspire and help all actors involved in delivering the Youth Guarantee. The report looks at measures to better reach out to young people who are Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET), and to encourage them to register for Youth Guarantee schemes.


To improve the automation level of distributed generation, a hierarchical optimisation strategy is proposed in this study. The strategy consists of day-ahead dispatch and scheduling implementation by power control. The energy management framework about the multi-agent system is also designed. Given the collaborative gaming process between microgrid and distributed network, a day-ahead dispatch is used to minimise the general expenses. Moreover, considering security constraints, the secondary control strategy is proposed to realise the precise control of the active power, which is adaptive to voltage inconsistency. Besides, the consensus algorithm is utilised to trace the dispatch target of tie-line power by monitoring power deviation at the point of common coupling. Finally, a series of simulation verifies the effectiveness of the method proposed. The influence of communication delay is also discussed.


It is well established that on average disabled people and the households in which they live face greater financial disadvantage in terms of income than their counterparts. What is less well understood is how they fare in terms of their wealth status. In this paper we use data from two large scale social surveys to examine the relationship between disability status and household wealth holdings. We find that overall disabled people have substantially lower household wealth and all components of wealth (property, financial, pension, physical) than non-disabled people but even these average differences mask important lifecycle patterns. The incidence of disability increases with age and the effect of this is that disabled people are on average older than non-disabled people. As wealth accumulation also increases with age up to retirement the effect is that average differences understate the true disability wealth-penalty. People who experience disability later in life have been in a stronger position to accumulate assets over their working lives than people who experience disability over the crucial wealth-accumulation stage (35-64 years) of the lifecycle. The full extent of the disability wealth-penalty can only be observed by looking at age or lifecycle profiles. We find evidence of cumulative disadvantage related to disability longevity and cumulative advantage to remaining disability free. Part of the disability wealth-penalty can be accounted for by lower average levels of education among disabled people and by their lower position in the socio-economic classification (NS-SEC) reflecting lower profiles of lifetime earnings and household income. The evidence points to a situation where disabled people have been unable to save and accumulate assets to anything like the extent of their non-disabled peers most likely through lower long term income and extra costs associated with disability. This puts them at a disadvantage in terms of being able to draw on an asset in times of need when expenditure needs exceed current levels of income, lower pension wealth on entering retirement and less likely to be in a position to benefit from the 'asset-effect' and more generally is a matter of concern in terms of equality and social mobility.


High specific discharges from Himalayan headwater basins arises from seasonal winter snow cover, summer monsoon precipitation and melting glacier ice in varying proportions and differing absolute quantities along west –east axes of the Karakoram and western Himalaya. Discharge records for stations in the UIB, Jhelum, Chenab and Sutlej have been examined for periods between 1920 and 2009, together with precipitation and air temperature data for stations with long records (within the period 1876 to 2013) at elevations between 234 and 3015 m a.s.l. Ice-cover age in the basins was between 222.8 and 15,061.7 km2. Climate in the Karakoram had a distinct opposing regime to climate in the western Himalaya. Totals of summer and winter precipitation at climate stations in the UIB reached their maxima in the 1990s. Winter precipitation in the western Himalaya generally declined from the 1980s, while summer precipitation declined since the 1950s but recovered from the 2000s. Mean summer air temperature had an inverse relationship with seasonal totals of precipitation. Air temperatures at UIB climate stations reached their maxima in the 1970s before declining to the 1990s, failing to recover in the 2000s. Air temperatures from mountain stations in the Himalaya displayed maxima in the 2000s, as did climate stations in Tibet.

Riverflows of partially glacierised basins varied regionally, being influenced by regional climate and amount of ice coverage within a basin. Discharge in the glacierised Hunza declined from maxima in the 1970s following a reduction of mean summer air temperature and increasing precipitation since the 1990s. Riverflow in the eastern Karakoram, in the glacial Shyok basin inclined from the 1990s in response to increasing temperatures in Tibet. Annual riverflow along the Sutlej declined from the 1970s-2000s, reduction of flow in the range of 5-31%. Flows at large dams were influenced by riverflows upstream of smaller sub-basins. Annual discharge was least variable from year-to-year at Tarbela (Indus), flow being influenced not only by precipitation fluctuations but also by changes in air temperature affecting glacier melt in headwater basins. Riverflow at Bhakra (Sutlej) also had low variability, flow being influenced by winter precipitation in the upper Sutlej and by summer monsoon in the lower Sutlej. Mangla had high variability of annual runoff, as did other basins with small proportions of ice cover. Basins which had intermediate proportions of ice cover moderated intra-annual variations in runoff as in warm dry years icemelt enhanced riverflows, compensating for reduced precipitation.


This thesis analyzes the neoliberal governmentalities of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and how they shape the policies, practices, and perceptions of poverty within the context of Namibia and its Vision 2030 policy. Within this field, I emphasize that the techniques of partnerships, responsibilization, and benchmarking aim to shape particular spaces, and the individuals occupying them, and achieve millennial development targets and goals. These neoliberal techniques guide the actions of the poor and shape ideas of poverty and poverty reduction, as well as legitimize the interventions of development and government institutions designed to manage the lives of the poor. The ability for national and international actors to mold certain individuals into selfregulating subjects is a crucial aspect in transforming social relations in the region and in understanding the strategies and activities associated with Vision 2030 and the MDGs.


The workspace is an important reference for designs of cable-driven parallel robots (CDPRs). Most current researches focus on calculating the workspace of redundant CDPRs. However, few literature study the workspaces of under-constrained CDPRs. In this paper, the static equilibrium reachable workspaces (SERWs) of spatial 3-cable under-constrained CDPRs are solved numerically since expressions describing workspace boundaries cannot be obtained in closed forms. The steps to solve the SERWs are as follows. First, expressions that describe the SERWs and their boundaries are proposed. Next, these expressions are instantiated through a novel anchor points model composed of linear equations, quadratic equations, and tension limits in cables. Then, based on the reformulated linearization technique (RLT), the constraints system is transformed into a system containing only linear equality constraints and linear inequality constraints. Finally, the framework of the branch-and-prune (BP) algorithm is adopted to solve this system. The effect of the algorithm is verified by two examples. One is searching the SERWs boundaries of a special three-cable-driven parallel robot (CDPR) whose anchor points layouts both on the moving platform (MP) and on the base are equilateral triangles, followed by a method to extract the SERW boundary where cables do not interfere with each other. The other is searching the SERWs boundaries of a general three-cable CDPR with randomly selected geometry arrangement. The presented method in this paper is universal for calculating the SERWs of spatial three-cable CDPRs with arbitrary geometry parameters.


Based on a household survey from China, this paper analyzes the effect of within-household relative income on happiness, taking into account the role of gender identity. Results show that the probability of being happy decreases significantly with the wife earning more income than her husband for both men and women from the households holding the traditional gender identity, i.e., the husband should be a breadwinner and the wife a homemaker. This is, however, not the case for those households without such a traditional view.


The recent foraminiferal fauna and associated
microbiota of Clipperton Island (10.2833°N, 109.2167°W) were investigated at 20
sites collected in the intertidal zone around the perimeter of the island and
from the edge of the inner brackish-water lagoon. Due to the island's
geographic location in a low productivity zone, a lack of variable habitats on
and surrounding the island, and heavy surf that pounds the exposed land, a
depauperate fauna was recovered although mixed biogeographic affinities are
represented. The shallow-water foraminiferal assemblage has no endemics but primarily
tropical Indo-Pacific and eastern Pacific (Panamic) affinities, as well as one
species of Caribbean affinity. The most abundant taxa are Sorites spp. and Quinqueloculina
spp. Noticeably absent are any species of Amphistegina,
despite the fact that they are considered ubiquitous in the tropical
Pacific. The molluscan fauna has Clipperton Island endemics, a tropical
Pacific/Inter-Island endemic, and tropical eastern Pacific oceanic islands/Panamic Molluscan affinities. The ostracods included endemics found
restricted to Clipperton Island lagoon, as well as Indo-Pacific and Panamic
Province species. The foraminifera, mollusks, and ostracods are thought to
disperse to Clipperton Island by way of the North Equatorial Countercurrent and
North Equatorial Current, suggesting that the island is indeed a stepping stone
for migration both east and west across the Eastern Pacific Barrier.


Federal deposit insurance was first introduced in the United States in 1933 during the depths of the Great Depression and accompanying bank crisis, which saw a reduction in the number of commercial banks from more than 25,000 to near 15,000, mostly by failure. The insurance system has been changed a number of times since. Most recently, it was modified in the 1990s after the savings and loan (S&L) crisis of the 1980s drove the old Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation (FSLIC) into insolvency—requiring taxpayers to finance its near $150 billion deficit to protect depositors at the failed institutions from loss— and widespread bank failures threatened also to bankrupt the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Provisions primarily in the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Improvement Act (FDICIA) of 1991 dramatically reduced the liability of taxpayers for losses from future bank failures and, combined with provisions in the Deposit Insurance Funds Act (DIFA) of 1996, changed both the premium structure and the way the FDIC collects the premiums.


Nutrient accessions in litterfall are described for a mixed conifer (mostly Agathis australis D.Don (Lindl.), New Zealand kauri) and angiosperm temperate forest in northern New Zealand to determine the relative contributions to nutrient cycling of the conifer and angiosperm components of the forest. Concentrations for many nutrients were significantly lower in conifer litterfall fractions than for equivalent angiosperm fractions. Angiosperm leaves had concentrations of N and P twice those found in conifer leaf fall. Despite a large contribution to litterfall from weight, conifer reproductive parts (mostly cone scales) were very low in nutrients (especially N, P and Ca). Whereas angiosperm litterfall constituted < 45% of total litterfall by weight, nutrient accessions from the angiosperm component accounted for 45–60% of total nutrient accessions and the conifer fraction for only 30–45%, almost the exact reverse of their contributions to litterfall by weight. Of the macronutrients, P (3 kg ha–1 year–1) showed the lowest rate of accession in litterfall while Ca (84 kg ha–1 year–1) showed the highest. Faunal detritus, although < 1% of total litterfall by weight, contributed 10% of total P and 4% of total N reaching the forest floor via the litterfall pathway each year. The C:N and C:P ratios in litterfall and litterstore were all well above the levels at which mineralization is likely to occur. Based on the estimated residence times, long-term immobilization was more likely for N than for P. The annual pattern of nutrient accessions differed for the two components, with angiosperm accessions highest in spring and summer, and conifer accessions highest in autumn, due largely to a peak in litterfall of reproductive parts at that time of year. It is argued that differences in litter quality, decomposition rates and spatial and temporal patterns of litterfall for angiosperm versus conifer components of the forest, in conjunction with long-term disturbance regimes, may contribute to conifer–angiosperm coexistence.


The Government of Eritrea launched the Integrated Early Childhood Care and Development program (IECCD) as a project in September 2000 with a fund of US D 49 million. The objective of the program was to promote the basic needs for a healthy growth and holistic development of children under six years of age, children in primary school age, and children in need of special protection, through the provision of services and support in health care, early education, cognitive stimulation and social protection and affection. The research paper discusses the Eritrean concept of social justice and the IECCD program and explores the relation that exists between them. The discussion on social justice expands on the major components of this principle and defines the strategy of self-reliance. The deliberation upholds the view that the economic, social, cultural and biological benefits obtained from IECCD program can create a balanced and sustainable economic, political, social and cultural development as envisaged under the principle of social justice. It assists in the


Augmented reality (AR) is a paradigm that aims at fusing the perceived real environment of a human with digital information located in 3D space. Typically, virtual 3D graphics are overlayed into the captured images of a moving camera or directly into the user's field-of-view by means of optical see-through displays (OST). For a correct perspective and view-dependent alignment of the visualization, it is required to solve various static and dynamic geometric registration problems in order to create the impression that the virtual and the real world are seamlessly interconnected.

The advances during the last decade in the field of simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) represent an important contribution to this general problem. It is now possible to reconstruct the real environment and to simultaneously capture the dynamic movements of a camera from the images without having to instrument the environment in advance. However, SLAM in general can only partly solve the entire registration problem, because the retrieved 3D scene geometry and the calculated motion path are spatially related only with regard to an arbitrarily selected coordinate system. Without a proper reconciliation of coordinate systems (spatial registration), the real world of the human observer still remains decoupled from the virtual world. Existing approaches for solving this problem either require the availability of a virtual 3D model that represents a real object with sufficient accuracy (model-based tracking), or they rely on use-case specific assumptions and additional sensor data (such as GPS signals or the Manhattan-world assumption). Therefore, these approaches are bound to these additional prerequisites, which limit the general applicability. The circumstance that automated registration is desirable but not always possible, creates the need for techniques that allow a user to specify connections between the real and the virtual world when setting up AR applications, so that it becomes possible to support and control the process of registration. These techniques must be complemented with numerical algorithms that optimally exploit the provided information to obtain precise registration results.

Within this context, the present thesis provides the following contributions.

* We propose a novel, closed-form (non-iterative) algorithm for calculating a Euclidean or a similarity transformation. The presented algorithm is a generalization of recent state-of-the-art solvers for computing the camera pose based on 2D measurement points in the image (perspective-n-point problem) - a fundamental problem in computer vision that has attracted research for many decades. The generalization consists in extending and unifying these algorithms, so that they can handle other types of input correspondences than originally designed for. With this algorithm, it becomes possible to perform a rigid registration of SLAM systems to a target coordinate system based on heterogeneous and partially indeterminate input data.

* We address the global refinement of structure and motion parameters by means of iterative sparse minimization (bundle adjustment or BA), which has become a standard technique inside SLAM systems. We propose a variant of BA in which information about the virtual domain is integrated as constraints by means of an optimization-on-manifold approach. This serves for compensating low-frequency deformations (non-rigid registration) of the estimated camera path and the reconstructed scene geometry caused by measurement error accumulation and the ill-conditionedness of the BA problem.

* We present two approaches in which a user can contribute with his knowledge for registering a SLAM system. In a first variant, the user can place markers in the real environment with predefined connections to the virtual coordinate system. Precise positioning of the markers is not required, rather they can be placed arbitrarily on surfaces or along edges, which notably facilitates the preparative effort. During run-time, the dispersed information is collected and registration is accomplished automatically. In a second variant, the user is given the possibility to mark salient points in an image sequence during a preparative preprocessing step and to assign corresponding points in the virtual 3D space via a simple point-and-click metaphor. The result of this preparative phase is a precisely registered and ready-to-use reference model for camera tracking at run-time.

* Finally, we propose an approach for geometric calibration of optical see-trough displays. We present a parametric model, which allows to dynamically adapt the rendering of virtual 3D content to the current viewpoint of the human observer, including a pre-correction of image aberrations caused by the optics or irregularly curved combiners. In order to retrieve its parameters, we propose a camera-based approach, in which elements of the real and the virtual domain are simultaneously observed. The calibration procedure was developed for a head-up display in a vehicle. A prototypical extension to head-mounted displays is also presented.


Born in 1805 as the son of an officer in the Napoleonic army, Coste went to Delfzijl, Holland with his father as a child of 8. In 1813 the French withdrew from this fortress, passing the Zuiderzee and the Rhine. Later, he would dedicate his Souvenirs to these places. He grew up in Valenciennes, where he already developed musical activities. In December 1828 he settled in Paris and made his career, giving concerts, lessons and composing. He studied harmony and counterpoint with Sor. As a member of the Societe academique des Enfants d'Apollon he played in its concerts, most notably in 1843 with his Le Tournoi in the Salle du Conservatoire. He also became a member of the Freemasons lodge and participated in a concert in 1852. He entered his most important works in the Makaroff guitar competition in Brussels in 1856, where he took second prize with Grande Serenade. Back in Paris he continued his activities but had to take an administrative job in order to support himself. He married his pupil Louise Olive Pauilhe in 1871, after the German invasion. He injured his left shoulder in 1873, just as he had in 1863. Nevertheless he continued to give concerts up to 1880, when he could no longer play due to the extreme cold that winter. A year later he was struck by a 'cerebral congesture'. He died on 14 January 1883 and was buried at the Cimetiere de Montmartre. Until the millennium only the Etudes opus 38 remained in the guitarists repertoire. Currently however, most of his works are regularly performed in concert. Coste's music displays a wide spectrum of characteristics of the Romantic style. He composes by continuing the music with new ideas or varied repetition of these, which gives his works an episodic character. The Romanticism in Coste's music is reflected mostly in harmony, wherein complexity and intensity are characteristic. His use of altered chords and dissonants can be related to that of Liszt, his harmonic progressions to those of Berlioz, his harmonic freedom to that of Chopin. His modulations are comparable to those of Schubert. In this he follows the general development, but he gives his music a personal mark, all this connected to his great control of the instrument, with which he expands the limits of technical possibilities, based on the principles of Sor. In his music narrative as well as folklore contribute to the character. Here historicism plays a role in his programmatic works, which represent musical dramatics in an original and innovative way. For all these aspects, Coste can be placed at the centre of the musical developments appearing in Romantic music in Paris. From his early works on a great development leading to his masterworks can be seen in the middle of the century, in which the Makaroff compositions play a major role. His approach towards virtuosity and complexity is of such a delicate and logical nature that his music attains a high technical level, never at the cost of performance.


† Abstract. The macroscopically emergent rheology of suspensions is dictated by details of fluid-particle and particle-particle interactions. For systems where the typical spatial scale on the particle level is much smaller than that of macroscopic properties, the scales can be split. We present a heterogeneous multiscale method (HMM) approach to modeling suspension flow in which at the macroscale the suspension is treated as a non-Newtonian fluid. The local shear-rate and particle volume fraction are input to a simulation of fully re- solved suspensionmicrodynamics. With the help of these simulations, the apparent viscosity and shear-induced diffusivities can be computed for a given shear-rate and volume fraction, and are then used to complete the information needed in the constitutional relations on the macroscopic level. On both levels, the lattice-Boltzmann method (LBM) is applied to model the fluid phase and coupled to a Lagrangian model for the advection-diffusion of the solid phase. Down and upward mapping of viscosity and diffusivity related quantities will be discussed, as well as information exchanged between the phases on both scales. Temporal scale splitting between viscous and diffusive dynamics has also been exploited to accelerate the macroscopic equilibration dynamics. Additionionally, Galileian and rotational symmetries allow us to make very efficient use of a database where the results of previous simulations can be stored, again reducing the computational effort by factors of several orders of magnitude. The HMM suspension model is applied to the simulation of a 2-dimensional flow through a straight channel of macroscopic width. The equilibration dynamics of flow and volume fraction profiles and equilibrium profiles of volume fraction, diffusivity, velocity, shear-rate, and viscosity are discussed. We show that the proposed HMM model not only reproduces experimental findings for low Reynolds numbers but also predicts additional dependencies introduced by shear-thickening effects not covered by existing macroscopic suspension flow models.


This paper proposes a new method for recognizing both activities and gestures by using acceleration data collected on a smartwatch. While both activity recognition techniques and gesture recognition techniques employ acceleration data, these techniques are studied independently due to the large difference between the characteristics of activity sensor data and gesture sensor data. In this study, we combine their recognition using a tree structured classifier that combines features that are widely used to recognize activities with dynamic time warping-based k-nearest neighbor classifiers. Our method can recognize both activities and gestures with low computational cost by executing only the minimal set of feature extraction and classification processes that are required to recognize an input sensor-data segment. An experiment on 30 sessions of sensor data shows that our method can recognize both activities and gestures simultaneously with 95.8% accuracy while reducing computation costs by 97.3% when compared with a baseline method.


We propose a novel control method to enclose a moving target in a two-dimensional setting with a team of agents forming a prescribed geometric pattern. The approach optimises a measure of the overall agent motion costs, via the minimisation of a suitably defined cost function encapsulating the pattern rotation and scaling. We propose two control laws which use global information and make the agents exponentially converge to the prescribed formation with an optimal scale that remains constant, while the team's centroid tracks the target. One control law results in a multiagent pattern that keeps a constant orientation in the workspace; for the other, the pattern rotates with constant speed. These behaviours, whose optimality and steadiness are very relevant for the task addressed, occur independently from the target's velocity. Moreover, the methodology does not require distance measurements, common coordinate references, or communications. We also present formal guarantees of collision avoidance for the proposed approach. Illustrative simulation examples are provided.


As of 2020, blasphemy was formally criminalised in some 84 countries. As many as 21 countries criminalised apostasy as of 2019. The legal penalties for such offences range from fines to imprisonment to corporal punishment—and in at least 12 countries, the death penalty.This report examines the extent to which States commit, or are complicit in, killings that violate religious freedom. Focussing on the 12 States in which offences against religion are lawfully punishable by death, we examine four different types of State-sanctioned killings on the basis of religious offence (apostasy, blasphemy, or alike) or affiliation (most commonly, membership of a religious minority): judicial executions, extrajudicial killings, killings by civilians, and killings by extremist groups. We explore the relationship between the retention of the death penalty for religious offences and other forms of State-sanctioned killings motivated by alleged religious offending or by religious identity.


Following the introduction of the Liverpool Care of the Dying Pathway in an acute hospital, nurses involved with the initial project requested the opportunity to continue the education meetings with the specialist palliative care team. The nurses reported they found this useful, especially the networking opportunity to meet with other generic nurses interested in palliative care. In response the palliative care team developed a network nurse programme, which included a clear defined role for the network nurse. The programme was delivered via monthly meetings focusing on an educational aspect selected by the network nurses and promoted the networking opportunity. As the programme has been in established for 4 years the aim of this study was to evaluate its impact on the network nurses.
Methodology: A confidential descriptive questionnaire was distributed to all 41 network nurses, 33 were returned giving a response rate of 80%. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics. Open-ended questions were analysed using a thematic analysis approach.
Results and Discussion: All respondents indicated the positive benefits of attending the programme. 97% (32) nurses reported their palliative care knowledge had increased. Over 60% (20) highlighted the additional benefits of support, advice and networking. 93% (31) respondents reported the personal benefits including, increased knowledge and confidence to care for dying patients and empowerment. An overview of the programme and role of the network nurse will be presented and potential explanations for the results discussed.


This thesis outlines the process of combining various non-conventional Occidental
and Oriental voice and movement practices in order to create an alternate method of
training and performance. Throughout this investigation, a series of original training
methodologies have been developed which comprised of five distinct yet
interconnected stages, and several performances that incorporated these training
aesthetics. The training of voice and body as one entity is not a new concept, and
many theatre practitioners have experimented with these elements.
The convergence of voice and body has been investigated for most part of the 20th
Century and has continued to develop throughout the past decade. Physiologically, the
voice is housed within the body. It is therefore logical to initially focus on the
physical aspect of vocal training, and to combine the separate voice and movement
training in both logical and illogical senses in order to unify these two separate yet
interconnected elements. This investigation does not claim to discover a new
performance aesthetic, actor training method or a new physical and vocal training
aesthetic. It aims to examine various combinations of existing Oriental and Occidental
methods in order to discover an alternate to the multifaceted area of the human voice
in performance pertaining to the notion of 'crisis'. The work explored throughout this
investigation, using the Voice Theatre Lab as a means of exploration in training and
performance, is the result of the application of various synergies, dichotomies and
contradictions. These contradictions and abstract applications abandon literal and
textual realities, and focuses on opposites and non-conventional means of vocal
production and physical states. The result is a series of training and performance
aesthetics that go beyond the quotidian forms of physical and vocal expression.
The title itself, Sonorous Theatre - Dark Voices in Revolt: Uniting the core, proximity
and the human voice in crisis, represents these illogical and contradictory aspects.
Sonority (deep and resonant), relates to the overall affect the performers extra-daily
instrument has on the immediate (performance space and other performers) and
surrounding (audiences and the peripheries of the performance space) spaces. In some
Oriental viewpoints, 'dark' simply means 'inner' or 'deeper'. A 'dark' voice would
therefore refer to a voice that has connections deep in the body. By eradicating logic
and textual reality, the performer would have greater access to the deeper parts of the
unconscious. This will result in a genuine sound free from idiosyncratic patterns that
may hinder the reality of the vocal and physical expression, which would therefore
hinder the reality of the performance. Overall, the concept of a 'dark' voice is a revolt
against conventional Occidental vocal practices in the theatre.
Vocal expression and voice work provides the key for the performer to rediscover
their mysterious entity – an inner voice of the unconscious through improvisations
and non-verbal expressions. Voice Theatre Lab are not bound by the semantic
meaning of words. The freedom from not having connections to meaning enables
performers to explore a range of concrete and abstract elements. This investigation,
and Voice Theatre Lab's ongoing work, aims to maintain the view that voice is indeed
an immensely important tool which has been neglected. Also, physical and
conceptual crisis, as opposed to freedom, relaxation and textual, 'literal reality', can
benefit the voice and allow it to flourish and reveal its many colours and nuances.


The measurement of soil stiffness at very small strains (Gmax) has been carried out under both dynamic and continuous loading in the triaxial apparatus up to high stresses. A new system of LVDTs has been used to measure axial strain locally during continuous loading while dynamic stiffnesses were measured using bender elements. Using the two methods good agreement was found between the stiffnesses at 0.0001% strain for two different materials. Bender elements measure the propagation time of shear waves through a soil sample so that the value of Gnax can be determined. The design of the bender element configuration in the triaxial apparatus has been improved so that the reduction in the electrical noise resulted in a high quality of received signal. Bender elements were also incorporated into high pressure triaxial cells and were used to test very stiff soils for the first time. Theoretical studies and dynamic finite element analyses are presented which have been carried out to develop more objective criteria for the determination of Gmax. Several techniques have been proposed for simple and direct measurement of the arrival time of the shear wave to an accuracy of ±1%. The thesis presents the results of bender element tests examining the variation of Gmax for sands, which is then related to the stiffness at larger strains determined under continuous loading using the new system of LVDTs. Three sands with very different geological origins were tested over a wide range of stresses allowing a general framework for stiffnesses to be established. The interpretation of the results is based on the correct normalisation of the data by which means unique relationships have been derived for each soil. The framework demonstrates that the confining stress and volumetric state relative to the normal compression line are the principal controlling factors of stiffness as they would be for clays. However, the framework distinguishes that for sands the means of arriving at its initial volume stress state are also important, in particular whether this is by overconsolidation or compaction. The thesis also presents results of bender element tests examining the anisotropy of Gmax of both natural and reconstituted clays. The work investigates both the stress induced and inherent components of anisotropy related to an axi-symmetric stress state or cross anisotropy of the soil fabric. The results show that the stress induced anisotropy of soils is generally small for an axi-symmetric stress state while significant inherent anisotropy was found in natural London clay. The same degree of inherent anisotropy has been reproduced by anisotropic straining of reconstituted London clay suggesting that the inherent anisotropy is a variable factor related to the strain history. The rate of change was, however, found to be very small so that. when an isotropic stress regime was applied the Gmax anisotropy persisted long after the plastic strain increments became isotropic. Finally, finite element analyses were carried out using the 3 SKH model (Stallebrass, 1990b) to investigate the influence of Giax on calculated ground movements. The analyses consisted of parametric studies of the stress-strain behaviour of a triaxial sample, the load deflection behaviour of a foundation and the ground movements around a tunnel. Although constrained by the limitations of the model the analyses offer an insight into the behaviour which can be also important for a general understanding of the behaviour of real soils. The studies highlighted that the assessment of the importance of Gmax on the stress strain behaviour should consider all the relevant factors which control the non linearity of soil's response, in particular the recent stress history of the soil and the geometry of the boundary value problem.


STUDY OBJECTIVES
We hypothesized that a dual-channel portable monitor (PM) device could accurately identify patients who have a high pretest probability of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), and we evaluated factors that may contribute to variability between PM and polysomnography (PSG) results.

METHODS
Consecutive clinic patients (N = 104) with possible OSA completed a home PM study, a PM study simultaneous with laboratory PSG, and a second home PM study. Uniform data analysis methods were applied to both PM and PSG data. Primary outcomes of interest were the positive likelihood ratio (LR+) and sensitivity of the PM device to "rule-in" OSA, defined as an apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) ≥ 5 events/h on PSG. Effects of different test environment and study nights, and order of study and analysis methods (manual compared to automated) on PM diagnostic accuracy were assessed.

RESULTS
The PM has adequate LR+ (4.8), sensitivity (80%), and specificity (83%) for detecting OSA in the unattended home setting when benchmarked against laboratory PSG, with better LR+ (> 5) and specificity (100%) and unchanged sensitivity (80%) in the simultaneous laboratory comparison. There were no significant night-night (all p > 0.10) or study order effects (home or laboratory first, p = 0.08) on AHI measures. Manual PM data review improved case finding accuracy, although this was not statistically significant (all p > 0.07). Misclassification was more frequent where OSA was mild.

CONCLUSIONS
Overall performance of the PM device is consistent with current recommended criteria for an "acceptable" device to confidently "rule-in" OSA (AHI ≥ 5 events/h) in a high pretest probability clinic population. Our data support the utility of simple two-channel diagnostic devices to confirm the diagnosis of OSA in the home environment.

COMMENTARY
A commentary on this article appears in this issue on page 411.


Discarded vehicle tyres constitute one important part of solid waste which had historically been disposed of into landfills. Recent EU policies on the Landfilling of Waste (Council Directive 1999/31/EC) have however put a ban on the landfilling of whole or shredded tyres, creating an imminent need to investigate any possible viable uses of this waste product. An emerging use is the production of concrete, in which tyre rubber particles partially replace natural aggregates. This has the additional advantage of saving in natural aggregates used in the production of concrete which are becoming increasingly scarce. This research investigated a wide range of physical and mechanical properties of concrete containing recycled tyre aggregates, to assess its suitability as a construction material. [1]The influence of factors such as rubber aggregate content and size, as well as curing time was also considered. The results showed that despite a great loss in strength, this type of concrete was acceptable for various applications requiring medium to low compressive strength. The quantities of concrete produced worldwide for such applications could ensure the viability of this product. Therefore, this type of concrete shows promise for becoming an additional sustainable solution for tyre rubber waste management.


PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES
To examine how family members of patients with a primary malignant brain tumor transition into the caregiver role and how their perceptions of this transition change over time.

RESEARCH APPROACH
Descriptive, qualitative.

SETTING
Neurosurgery and neuro-oncology clinics of a regional medical center.

PARTICIPANTS
10 family caregivers of patients with a primary malignant brain tumor.

METHODOLOGIC APPROACH
A series of 11 open-ended questions addressing various aspects of the care situation were administered to each caregiver. The same questions were asked at baseline (within one month of the patient's diagnosis) and four months later. Content analysis was performed to identify themes among interviews.

MAIN RESEARCH VARIABLES
Patient changes, caregiver adjustments, and accessing support.

FINDINGS
Caregivers described difficulties stemming from the patient's tumor-related dysfunction and changes in their familial, occupational, and social roles. Support from family and friends was vital to caregivers' emotional health, but shock and fear were evident in all interviews. Becoming subsumed in the care situation was described as enmeshment. Caregivers reported difficulty in communicating with healthcare providers. When looking at change over time, three major themes emerged: Patient Changes: The New Normal; Caregiver Adjustments; and Accessing Support.

CONCLUSIONS
Caregivers require support in handling neurologic and physical sequelae, transitioning into new roles, and avoiding becoming enmeshed in the care situation.

INTERPRETATION
This study underlines the importance of continuing research in this area to provide the necessary interventions that will assist caregivers and provide support throughout their loved one's disease trajectory.


A group of strains representing species of the genus Leptospira, isolated from patients with leptospirosis in Mayotte (Indian Ocean), were previously found to be considerably divergent from other known species of the genus Leptospira. This was inferred from sequence analysis of rrs (16S rRNA) and other genetic loci and suggests that they belong to a novel species. Two strains from each serogroup currently identified within this novel species were studied. Spirochaete, aerobic, motile, helix-shaped strains grew well at 30-37 °C, but not at 13 °C or in the presence of 8-azaguanine. Draft genomes of the strains were also analysed to study the DNA relatedness with other species of the genus Leptospira. The new isolates formed a distinct clade, which was most closely related to Leptospira borgpetersenii, in multilocus sequence analysis using concatenated sequences of the genes rpoB, recA, fusA, gyrB, leuS and sucA. Analysis of average nucleotide identity and genome-to-genome distances, which have recently been proposed as reliable substitutes for classical DNA-DNA hybridization, further confirmed that these isolates should be classified as representatives of a novel species. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 39.5 mol%. These isolates are considered to represent a novel species, for which the name Leptospira mayottensis sp. nov. is proposed, with 200901116(T) ( = CIP 110703(T) = DSM 28999(T)) as the type strain.


A detailed comparison is given of several theoretical expressions commonly used in the determination of the molecular orientation in monolayers by reflection second-harmonic-generation measurements. The experimental data obtained from the Langmuir films of a hemicyanine dye are used to demonstrate that the deduced molecular-orientation angle depends sensitively on the linear dielectric constants of the monolayer. It is also pointed out that an unambiguous determination of the nonlinear susceptibilities of a monolayer by reflection second-harmonic generation requires measurements that use at least three different polarization combinations.


The Incas honored and venerated many features of both natural and man-made landscapes that they felt to be endowed with superhuman powers. In Quechua these shrines were known as huacas, and at the time of the Spanish conquest there were thousands of them. Soon after invading the Inca homeland the Spaniards began a campaign against the indigenous religion that included a systematic eradication of huacas. Shrines that were large carved stones and outcroppings survived, however, and form a part of this study. These are examined for astronomical orientations marking such events as solstices and equinoxes.

The Inca apparently believed rock could be empowered by elaborate carving as well as through the movement of water and, as such, astronomical huacas are evaluated for nearby sources of water. Ritual stairways are also common features, symbolizing shamanic movement between the three worlds of Inca cosmology. Certain shrines appear to be organized by lines or ceques connecting adjacent huacas which may be associated with sequential rituals as well as astronomical sightlines. These and other features are recorded for each of the huacas of this study.

The Incas built multiple towers on the horizons of Cusco to mark the positions of the rising or setting sun on significant dates of the year. All were destroyed. Beyond Cusco two solar pillars overlooking the modern village of Urubamba escaped the Spanish purge. This research establishes that when viewed from a large granite boulder in the center of the palace courtyard of Huayna Capac they mark the rising sun at June solstice. Additionally, from the boulder in the direction of the December solstice sunrise are located enigmatic stone structures on the summit of Cerro Unoraqui.

Below Machu Picchu, near the Urubamba River, lies a large and complex shrine initially identified by Bingham as the Urubamba Intihuatana. The massive granite stone lies approximately between the Sacred Plaza of Machu Picchu and the Sun Temple of Llactapata along the axis of the June solstice sunrise and December solstice sunset. The River Intihuatana is explored and catalogued in detail. There also appear to be more than 30 huacas in proximity to Machu Picchu itself. This array of huacas in the neighborhood of Machu Picchu is reminiscent of the concentration of huacas associated with the ceques of Cusco.

Many facets of Inca astronomy are explored, as well as the context within which it served Incan society. This thesis analyzes 29 sites near Cusco, in the Sacred Valley, and between Machu Picchu and Llactapata for evidence of astronomical orientation and inclusion of any of 25 motifs and iconic features. The approach is a holistic one in that it considers multiples levels of meaning including cultural motifs, topographic and astronomical contexts, sightlines, as well as light and shadow effects throughout the year, especially at times of the solstice, equinox, zenith and antizenith suns. Photographic evidence of light and shadow effects was recorded and is presented with the field data in Part IV. Various solar orientations were cataloged and the results are given in Chapter 12. Data was examined for trends regarding proximity to water sources and inclusion of the aforementioned motifs and iconic features. These trends are also presented in Chapter 12.


Can an asset manager plan the optimal timing for her/his hedging strategies given market conditions? The standard approach based on Markowitz or other more or less sophisticated financial rules aims to find the best portfolio allocation thanks to forecasted expected returns and risk but fails to fully relate market conditions to hedging strategies decision. In contrast, Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) can tackle this challenge by creating a dynamic dependency between market information and hedging strategies allocation decisions. In this paper, we present a realistic and augmented DRL framework that: (i) uses additional contextual information to decide an action, (ii) has a one period lag between observations and actions to account for one day lag turnover of common asset managers to rebalance their hedge, (iii) is fully tested in terms of stability and robustness thanks to a repetitive train test method called anchored walk forward training, similar in spirit to k fold cross validation for time series and (iv) allows managing leverage of our hedging strategy. Our experiment for an augmented asset manager interested in sizing and timing his hedges shows that our approach achieves superior returns and lower risk.


In the literature on working memory (WM), a paradox exists
according to which very similar memory tasks provide
support for very different estimates of working memory
capacity. The current paper analyses the conflicting estimates
of a capacity of 4+/-1 with a capacity of 1. To this end a
dynamic process model of short-term recognition is used to
generate data to which exponential speed-accuracy trade-off
functions are fitted. The results show that even though the
process model has a capacity larger than one, the exponential
SAT functions indicate a one-chunk hypothesis. Further
nested modeling reveals, counter to the dominant belief, that
retrieval rate is insensitive to differences in WM capacity.
The resolution of the WM capacity paradox lies in the choice
of dependent measure.


Unsustainable health care costs combined with suboptimal patient outcomes have led health policy experts and payers to consider value-based payment or alternative payment models. Replacing fee-forservice reimbursement, these models link payment to value by rewarding efforts to enhance the quality of care at similar or reduced costs. Although many of the models employed to date have focused on primary care, management of chronic disease in the Medicare population, and episodes of care for common procedures, models for primary and specialty care of women are in the early stages of development. As specialists in women's health, obstetrician–gynecologists need to be actively engaged in this fundamental shift in the payment and delivery system.


detection and imaging DTU Orbit (12/02/2019) Sample preparation strategies for food and biological samples prior to nanoparticle detection and imaging Accurate and precise characterization of metrics such as size, mass, shape etc. of nanoparticles (NPs) remains a challenging task. In order to determine quantitative metrics that are relevant in food monitoring or in risk assessment, an instrumental separation method like asymmetric field flow fractionation (AFFF, or AF4) coupled on-line to various detectors including static and dynamic light scattering (LS), UV or fluorescence (FL) spectroscopies and ICP-MS have proven useful and powerful [1, 2, 3]. Furthermore, additional information obtained by an imaging method such as transmission electron microscopy (TEM) proved to be necessary for trouble shooting of results obtained from AFFF-LS-ICP-MS. Aqueous and enzymatic extraction strategies were tested for thorough sample preparation aiming at degrading the sample matrix and to liberate the AgNPs from chicken meat into liquid suspension. The resulting AFFF-ICP-MS fractograms, which corresponded to the enzymatic digests, showed a major nano-peak (about 80 % recovery of AgNPs spiked to the meat) plus new smaller peaks that eluted close to the void volume of the fractograms. Small, but significant shifts in retention time of AFFF peaks were observed for the meat sample extracts and the corresponding neat AgNP suspension, and rendered sizing by way of calibration with AgNPs as sizing standards inaccurate. In order to gain further insight into the sizes of the separated AgNPs, or their possible dissolved state, fractions of the AFFF eluate were collected and subjected to ICP-MS analysis in single particle (sp) mode. The results showed that the first eluting AFFF peaks contained some dissolved Ag-species and the later eluting peaks primarily contained AgNPs of increasing sizes. Finally, the possibility of using alkaline pre-treatment of rat spleens prior to sp-ICP-MS analysis of their content of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) was tested and compared with enzymatic sample preparation [3]. The results showed that the same results, with respect to the obtained number-based size distribution for AuNPs, were obtained for the two preparation methods. In contrast, the alkaline method was by far superior for quantification of AuNPs and was comparable with that obtained by ICP-MS after digestion of the samples in aqua regia. The reason for this is however, not fully understood, and requires further study.


When a belief state is represented as a probability function P, the resulting belief state of the contraction of a sentence (belief) from the original belief state P can be given by the probabilistic version of the Harper Identity. Specifically, the result of contracting P by a sentence h is taken to be the mixture of two states: the original state P, and the resultant state P¬h* of revising P by the negation of h. What proportion of P and P¬h* should be used in this mixture remains an open issue and is largely ignored in literature. In this paper, we first classify different belief states by their stability, and then exploit the quantitative nature of probabilities and combine it with the basic ideas of argumentation theory to determine the mixture proportions. We, therefore, propose a novel approach to probabilistic belief contraction using argumentation.


This guide provides links to free online resources to support your research interests, pre and post-graduation for undergraduate, postgraduate and prospective PhD students.


The features and concepts underlying EverFE2.2, a freely available 3D finite element program for the analysis of jointed plain concrete pavements, are detailed. The functionality of EverFE has been greatly extended since its original release: multiple tied slab/shoulder units can be modeled, dowel misalignment and/or mislocation can be specified on a per-dowel basis, nonlinear thermal or shrinkage gradients can be treated, and nonlinear horizontal shear stress transfer between the slabs and base can be simulated. Improvements have also been made to the user interface, including easier load creation, user-specified mesh refinement, and expanded visualization capabilities. This manuscript details these new features and explains the concepts behind the implementation of EverFE2.2. In addition, the results of two parametric studies are reported. The first study considers the effects of dowel locking and slab-base shear transfer, and demonstrates that these factors can significantly affect the stresses in slabs subjected to both uniform shrinkage and thermal gradients. The second study examines transverse joint mislocation and dowel looseness on joint load transfer. As expected, joint load transfer is greatly reduced by dowel looseness. However, while transverse joint mislocation can significantly reduce peak dowel shears, it has relatively little effect on total load transferred across the joint for the models considered here.


In this research, the differentiation condition of teaching the learning strategies depending on the time which the first grade of primary school teachers carried out to form an information-process skeleton on student is tried to be found out. This process including the efforts of 260 teachers in this direction consists of whether the adequate time is separated for teaching these learning strategies and the direction of tactical teachings presented on which strategies are intensively taught. In conclusion; it is understood that teachers separate more time for motivation and repetition strategies; however they do not have systematic activities to form information--process model for students. ********** Cognitive theories suggest that learning occurs with the result of information formation developing with dominant priorities. According to this, learning is based on that a learner processes the information that he configured with his own cognitive process and this process shapes new learning. The advances in this direction are related to what they learn and how they learn, not how much they learn. The main metaphor expected to be argued is, perhaps, students are active learners rather than they are passive receivers (Mayer, 1992). Increasing efficiency in learning processes in this direction is possible with understanding how learning occurs in an individual. This requires full-using the individual capacity mentally. According to the cognitive theorists learning is a mental process which requires to be perceived, configured and remembered the outsider stimulus. At the present day, the learning approach that explains learning in the most comprehensive way is known as information processing model. According to this model; learning is an individual's attribution to the things happening around him with his past life, memory form and model. In this context there are two significant subjects. The first one is the individual is an active and specific existence searching for information, the second one is the individual interprets the stimulus at cognitive level with his advance information in this searching process (Babadogan, 1995; Ozden, 1998). According to this model information acquisition is the forms an individual has and the relationships correlation resulting from processes related to these forms. These relations imply the events take place in mind like perception, attention, and interpretation and recall (Bacanli, 2002; Ozden, 1998). In information processing model the focal point is the individual and his living space. The individual's bio-genetic potential, his mind of habit prone to develop this potential and his social interaction field are identifiers of both his learning and his learning forms. These forms determine the learner's mental influence field in which he follows his learning life and interpret the orientation field of next learning in advance. Interpreting the individual's learning life according to his near environment in which the individual is impressed and keeping him developing indicates his individual discipline (Ramsland, 1998). The information chosen intentionally as a result of being directed of certain interests acquires a different character with the effect of external environment. Brain needs to form a model from the information coming this way when needed and to connect a link with the outside world via this model (Ayer, Broad, & Moore, 1984). Because brain has features that guiding information, deciding and forming the information according to itself. A student gets information in his cognition forms actively and makes it pioneer for his future decisions by forming it his past information (Asan, & Gunes, 2000; Cannon, 1997; Gurol, 2002; Ulgen, 2001; Wheatley, 1991). Information processing model that is meaningful according to an individual, in this context, looks for answers the following four questions. 1. How is new information taken from outside? …


The speed and altititude at which modern military aircraft operate are such that escape can only be achieved by some means of forcibly propelling the aircrew clear of the aircraft. The most common method of doing this is by use of an ejection seat.The use of such seats, whilst generally life saving, exposes aircrew to forces that may be at the limits of human tolerance. Each phase of the ejection sequence is associated with characteristic injury patterns and of particular concern is the occurrence of spinal compression fractures, which are caused by the upward acceleration of the ejection seat. Thorough investigation of aircrew who eject is necessary and magnetic resonance imaging of the spines of these aircrew is now becoming mandatory. Aircrew who sustain stable anterior wedge compression fractures usually require no invasive treatment, but are prevented from flying aircraft fitted with ejection seats for 3-4 months. Introduction The need for ejection systems, to provide a means of actively removing the aircrew from their aircraft in an attempt to overcome the difficulties associated with manual escape, was first considered in Sweden and Germany and then later in the UK. The increase in speed of military aircraft developed during the 1939-1945 war resulted in manual escape becoming an increasingly difficult task.The high speed of the aircraft subjected escapees to severe airblast loads, which could physically prevent the aircrew from climbing out of the cockpit or could increase the possibility of failure to survive the escape from subsequent contact with the aircraft structure. The development of the ejection seat could overcome these problems. Nevertheless, ejection is still not without its dangers, and the development of escape systems has brought additional hazards to which pilots bailing out from aircraft were not exposed. The scope of this paper is to outline the ejection sequence, to discuss the accelerations imposed on the aircrew and to highlight the spinal injuries which may result. The paper describes each phase of the ejection sequence: ejection initiation, escape pathway clearance, initial seat acceleration, exposure to windblast, man/seat separation, main parachute canopy deployment and parachute landing, and relates these phases with the injuries the ejectees may sustain. Ejection Sequence The ejection sequence varies slightly with aircraft and ejection seat types; however, all assisted escape systems have broadly similar modes of operation. The emergency escape systems fitted in RAF fast jet aircraft are initiated by pulling a seat pan firing handle. This fires the initiation cartridge and gas is piped around the seat to: • The harness power retraction unit, which pulls the seat occupant's shoulders and upper torso backward so as to improve the aircrew's posture and spinal alignment. • The ejection gun sear withdrawal unit, which rotates the cross shaft assembly and fires the primary cartridge of the ejection gun. • The command ejection selector valve, which fires the command ejection cartridge (if fitted) and hence, initiates the ejection sequence of the second seat of a twin seat aircraft. • The Miniature Detonating Cord (MDC) or canopy jettison firing unit. The gases from the ejection gun primary cartridge initiate upward seat movement, release the locking plunger from the top latch and thus unlock the sear from the aircraft structure.As the seat accelerates up the guide rails the following events occur: • The ejection gun secondary cartridges fire in turn to maintain the upward acceleration of the seat. • The static trip rods withdraw the sears from the drogue gun and the barostatic time release unit; the command ejection system disconnects as does the aircraft portion of the personal equipment connector and the main oxygen system. • The emergency oxygen supply is selected and the regulator is set to 100%02 • The leg restraint lines, and arm restraint lines, if fitted, are pulled downwards through the snubber units to restrain the occupant's limbs. • The rocket motor initiator cartridge is fired by the pull of a static cable. Rocket motor initiation is timed to occur immediately prior to gun separation, so that the seat continues to accelerate smoothly Sq Ldr ME Lewis


We studied the role of the amyloid precursor protein (APP) in ischemic brain damage using transgenic mice overexpressing APP. The middle cerebral artery (MCA) was occluded in FVB/N mice expressing APP695.SWE (Swedish mutation) and in nontransgenic littermates. Infarct volume (cubic millimeters) was assessed 24 hr later in thionin-stained brain sections. The infarct produced by MCA occlusion was enlarged in the transgenics (+32 ± 6%;n = 12; p < 0.05;t test). Measurement of APP by ELISA revealed that, although relatively high levels of Aβ were present in the brain of the transgenics (Aβ1–40 = 80 ± 19 pmol/g;n = 6), there were no differences between ischemic and nonischemic hemispheres (p > 0.05). The reduction in cerebral blood flow produced by MCA occlusion at the periphery of the ischemic territory was more pronounced in APP transgenics (−42 ± 8%; n = 9) than in controls (−20 ± 8%; n = 9). Furthermore, the vasodilatation produced by neocortical application of the endothelium-dependent vasodilator acetylcholine (10 μm) was reduced by 82 ± 5% (n = 8;p < 0.05) in APP transgenics. The data demonstrate that APP overexpression increases the susceptibility of the brain to ischemic injury. The effect is likely to involve the Aβ-induced disturbance in endothelium-dependent vascular reactivity that leads to more severe ischemia in regions at risk for infarction. The cerebral vascular actions of peptides deriving from APP metabolism may play a role in the pathogenic effects of APP.


Recent reports depict regimes in Irish prisons as 'inhumane', and as 'increasingly oppressive and destructive'. This deterioration in conditions is part of a larger 'punitive turn' that can be identified in the Irish prison system since the late 1990s, and that is also evident in a huge increase in the scale of incarceration and much greater demonisation of those held in prison. In 1985, the Whitaker Report set standards for 'basic living conditions' in prisons. The Whitaker standards mirror similar ones in the European Prison Rules. For example, both stipulate that an imprisoned person should normally have a single cell. When current regimes in Irish prisons are examined in the light of five key 'basic living conditions' set out in Whitaker, a picture of severe deterioration is evident. Nearly sixty per cent of all those in prisons must now share cells. Close to two-thirds are subject to highly inappropriate, undignified and often unhygienic sanitary arrangements. Lock-up times, deemed 'excessive' in Whitaker's day, have, in fact, worsened significantly. Access to structured activity such as education or work is now far more problematic. And contact with family is unreasonably restrictive. These deteriorating conditions reinforce each other. Likewise, the multiple factors behind the regression – such as overcrowding, segregation, prisons that are too large, and an overemphasis on 'security' – also compound each other. Rescuing the Irish prison system from the morass it is now in, and bringing it towards the kind of system the Whitaker Committee envisioned, is an enormous task. An outline of some of the changes required is suggested. These include a radical reduction in the numbers imprisoned, much greater use of open prisons and a renewed focus on balancing 'custody' with 'care'. Moreover, given the problems now endemic in Ireland's large closed prisons, major long-term adjustments in the prison estate need to be planned, so that we have a system of much smaller prisons. In particular, the foolhardy Thornton Hall Project should be abandoned.


We have developed a novel method to compute the conformational entropy of any molecular system via conventional simulation techniques. This method only requires that the total energy of the system is available and that the Hamiltonian is separable, with individual energy terms for the various degrees of freedom. Consequently the method, which we call the energy decomposition (Edcp) approach, is general and applicable to any large polymer in implicit solvent. Edcp is applied to estimate the entropy differences due to the peptide and ester groups in polyalanine and polyalanil ester. Ensembles over a wide range of temperatures were generated by replica exchange molecular dynamics, and densities of states were estimated using the weighted histogram analysis method. The results are compared with those obtained via evaluating the P ln P integral or employing the quasiharmonic approximation, other approaches widely employed to evaluate the entropy of molecular systems. Unlike the former method, Edcp can accommodate the correlations present between separate degrees of freedom. In addition, the Edcp model assumes no specific form for the underlying fluctuations present in the system, in contrast to the quasiharmonic approximation. For the molecules studied, the quasiharmonic approximation is observed to produce a good estimate of the vibrational entropy, but not of the conformational entropy. In contrast, our energy decomposition approach generates reasonable estimates for both of these entropy terms. We suggest that this approach embodies a simple yet effective solution to the problem of evaluating the conformational entropy of large macromolecules in implicit solvent.


The applicability of continuous auditing, which is deemed as the future of auditing, in terms of enterprises can be presented depending upon corporate management mentality of enterprises. As for the corporate management mentality within enterprises, it can be presented based on accountability which is a concept involving internal and external considerations. Consequently, the aim of this study is to identify the potential impacts of the corporate accountability mentality of enterprises on continuous auditing. In accordance with this purpose, a corporate accountability index has been prepared and the variables have been determined in the first place. Then, the data of the enterprises included in Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE) 100 Index regarding these variables have been construed; thus, the potential impacts thereof on continuous auditing have been tried to be determined.


1. Mated females lay more eggs than virgin females. They also oviposit earlier in the cycle, and at a higher rate, than virgins. 2. Mated females produce, slightly more than two oocytes per ovariole. Virgin females produce a little more than one oocyte per ovariole. The first wave of oogenesis proceeds at the same rate in mated and virgin females, whereas the second wave is inhibited in virgins. 3. The concentration of yolk protein in the haemolymph remains high for longer in virgins than in mated females. The inhibition of egg production during the second wave of oogenesis in virgins is thus not a consequence of a previous decline in yolk-protein titre. 4. Virgin females digest their blood meal more slowly than mated females. 5. The follicular epithelium of an oocyte in the second wave of oogenesis in a virgin shows sparsely scattered intercellular spaces, whereas that of an oocyte from the first wave exhibits the abundant spaces characteristic of a follicle from a mated female. 6. During the time when vitellogenesis is inhibited in virgins there is an accumulation of oocytes in the size range below that of activation. 7. The corpora allata of both mated and virgin females undergo a cycle of increase in size associated with the cycle of oogenesis. There are no differences which can be correlated with the differences in the activities of the ovaries of mated and virgin females. 8. Topical application of farnesyl methyl ether (FME) to decapitated mated females brings about egg development equivalent to that of virgin females. 9. Topical application of FME to virgin females results in the production of the number of eggs characteristic of mated females, but very high doses are necessary to achieve this. These dose levels also result in an increase in rate of oviposition. These effects of high doses of FME are abolished if the virgin females lack their neurosecretory cells. 10. It is concluded that the virgin inhibition of oogenesis results not from a deficiency
of allatum hormone, but from the presence of an antigonadotropin released from ovaries which contain mature eggs.


In children it is often essential to recognise serious infections at an early stage to reduce possible life-threatening complications.

C reactive protein (CRP) is an acute-phase protein, secreted in response to any infection or inflammation.1 Venous blood sampling can be difficult in children in ambulatory care. A point-of-care (POC) test, provided at the bedside, presents an immediate result from a droplet of blood and is especially useful in children.

Previous generations of POC CRP tests have shown good correlation with standard laboratory tests in studies in primary care and emergency departments.1–3 Measuring CRP could contribute to clinical decision-making in diagnosing serious infection.4

We determined the analytical accuracy (closeness of the agreement between the measurement results and a true value) and user-friendliness of the Afinion CRP test (on the Afinion AS100 Analyzer, Alere, USA), in children and adults.

To assess analytical accuracy, we performed POC CRP tests in children (aged 1 month–18 years) admitted to an inpatient paediatric unit or attending an outpatient paediatric clinic, and in adults (aged 18–65 years) attending a general practice surgery. User-friendliness was evaluated by the participating general practitioners.

This study was approved by the ethical review board of the KU Leuven, under reference ML8239.

### Afinion CRP test

The Afinion CRP Test Cartridge consists of a 1.5 µL glass capillary and a reagent container. The result is available within 4 min and the measuring range for CRP is 5–200 mg/L. One physician (JYV) performed all POC CRP tests in children, executing every finger stick in a similar fashion (lateral side of …


: The widespread distribution of HIS requires professional evaluation techniques. In this study we present a usability questionnaire called IsoMetrics which is based on the international standard ISO 9241 Part 10. The questionnaire was applied to assess the usability of a Hospital Information System. The equivalence of the online and a paper-and-pencil format of the questionnaire were investigated. The results show that the different formats do not affect the subject's ratings. IsoMetrics was proven to be a reliable technique for software evaluation in the field of hospital information systems supporting usability screenings in large organisations.


Route optimization enables mobile nodes to directly communicate with one another. This is an important efficiency benefit of modern mobility protocols like Mobile IPv6 or the Host Identity Protocol. However, route optimization can introduce the possibility for a new type of amplified flooding attacks if designed without care: An attacker may misuse the protocol to trick its peer into redirecting a flow of packets to a false, i.e., a victim's, IP address. A precautionary counter-measure used by various mobility protocols is to first determine whether the right node is present at a new IP address before any data packets are sent to that address. The test can be as simple as a ping carrying some unguessable, to-be-returned piece of data. Yet, an unfortunate side effect of this common approach is that it increases handover latency by one round-trip time, precluding interactive or real-time applications in many scenarios. This paper proposes a credit-based strategy that allows peers to continue communications while a new IP address is being examined. The optimization is exemplarily applied to Mobile IPv6 and the Host Identity Protocol, for which it reduces handover-signaling delays by 50%.


Many eyes-free interaction techniques have been proposed for touchscreens, but few researches have studied human's eyes-free pointing ability with mobile phones. In this paper, we investigate the single-handed thumb performance of eyes-free, absolute position control on mobile touch screens. Both 1D and 2D experiments were conducted. We explored the effects of target size and location on eyes-free touch patterns and accuracy. Our findings show that variance of touch points per target will converge as target size decreases. The centroid of touch points per target tends to be offset to the left of target center along horizontal direction, and shift toward screen center along vertical direction. Average accuracy drops from 99.6% of 2×2 layout to 85.0% of 4×4 layout, and average per target varies depending on the location of target. Our findings and design implications provide a foundation for future researches based on eyes-free, absolute position control using thumb on mobile devices.