The spent fuel of current nuclear reactors contains fissile plutonium isotopes that can be combined with uranium to make mixed oxide (MOX) fuel. In this way the Pu from spent fuel is used in a new reactor cycle, contributing to the long-term sustainability of nuclear energy. However, an extensive use of MOX fuels, in particular in fast reactors, requires more accurate capture and fission cross sections for some Pu isotopes. In the case of 242Pu there are sizable discrepancies among the existing capture cross-section measurements included in the evaluations (all from the 1970s) resulting in an uncertainty as high as 35% in the fast energy region. Moreover, postirradiation experiments evaluated with JEFF-3.1 indicate an overestimation of 14% in the capture cross section in the fast neutron energy region. In this context, the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) requested an accuracy of 8% in this cross section in the energy region between 500 meV and 500 keV. This paper presents a new time-of-flight capture measurement on 242Pu carried out at n_TOF-EAR1 (CERN), focusing on the analysis and statistical properties of the resonance region, below 4 keV. The 242Pu(n, γ) reaction on a sample containing 95(4) mg enriched to 99.959% was measured with an array of four C6D6 detectors and applying the total energy detection technique. The high neutron energy resolution of n_TOF-EAR1 and the good statistics accumulated have allowed us to extend the resonance analysis up to 4 keV, obtaining new individual and average resonance parameters from a capture cross section featuring a systematic uncertainty of 5%, fulfilling the request of the NEA.


The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of Emotional Intelligence at work-group level on Learning Organization, examining five dimensions of L.O. according to Senge's model, within a framework of Greek Public Administration reform. The research was conducted among Greek Independent Administrative Authorities, a modern European institution that among others guarantees transparency and optimum performance, leading to upgraded public sector services. Our research is a quantitative research consisting of 257 valid questionnaires out of a sample of 300 employees. Our research highlights the strong correlation between Work-group Emotional Intelligence and Learning Organization. A constructive emotional climate affects the vision of the organization, while emotions have an impact on employees' attitudes/behaviours and on the learning process within the group as well as on the diffusion of information. Finally, our research demonstrated that emotional intelligence affects the personal improvement and development of employees. Managers should focus on developing more emotionally intelligent employees by cultivating an emotional environment that promotes positive behaviours, system thinking and group learning. Thus, the benefits generated can be identified at both individual and organizational level, including higher levels of employees' personal development, better communication processes and implementing the organization's vision.


Reproductive genetic technologies are becoming more controversial as they become more ubiquitous. The opponents of these technologies are largely religious groups, a fact that leads to the question of why religious groups would be more opposed to these technologies than others. Since all of these technologies are justified by their ability to relieve suffering of some kind, it is hypothesized that the actively religious have a notion of suffering different from that of advocates for these technologies, and this different notion of suffering leads to opposition to the technologies. In this article I report on a qualitative interview study of the religiously active in the United States. I find that the religiously active do have views of suffering that are distinct from the medical consensus, and these views are related to people's conclusions about the advisability of reproductive genetic technologies.


Industrial co-operation and business-to-business marketing relationships form the core of economic activities that exist today between the Nordic countries and the newly independent Baltic states of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia. The paper focuses on Finnish firms' business development in Estonian industrial markets. Through case studies the process of market penetration and market presence is empirically studied and analyzed from the Finnish counterparts' perspective. Theoretically and empirically the paper adopts a network view of business-to-business markets and marketing and in the analysis of the development of business relationships in this new market.


We consider a multi-armed bandit game where N players compete for K arms for T turns. Each player has different expected rewards for the arms, and the instantaneous rewards are independent and identically distributed. Performance is measured using the expected sum of regrets, compared to the optimal assignment of arms to players. We assume that each player only knows her actions and the reward she received each turn. Players cannot observe the actions of other players, and no communication between players is possible. We present a distributed algorithm and prove that it achieves an expected sum of regrets of near-O\left(\log^{2}T\right). This is the first algorithm to achieve a poly-logarithmic regret in this fully distributed scenario. All other works have assumed that either all players have the same vector of expected rewards or that communication between players is possible.


With the proliferation of social networks and blogs, the Internet is increasingly being used to disseminate personal health information rather than just as a source of information. In this paper we exploit the wealth of user-generated data, available through the micro-blogging service Twitter, to estimate and track the incidence of health conditions in society. The method is based on two stages: we start by extracting possibly relevant tweets using a set of specially crafted regular expressions, and then classify these initial messages using machine learning methods. Furthermore, we selected relevant features to improve the results and the execution times. To test the method, we considered four health states or conditions, namely flu, depression, pregnancy and eating disorders, and two locations, Portugal and Spain. We present the results obtained and demonstrate that the detection results and the performance of the method are improved after feature selection. The results are promising, with areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve between 0.7 and 0.9, and f-measure values around 0.8 and 0.9. This fact indicates that such approach provides a feasible solution for measuring and tracking the evolution of health states within the society.


Protesting Cartography: Places the United States has Bombed is a series of protest drawings of US military interventions. Utilizing surveillance imagery, military websites such as the US Department of Defense battle plans, aerial photography, mass media, and maps, each drawing is based on a rendering of a place, almost always viewed from the air, which has been targeted by US bombers. I choose to make these drawings by hand rather than to employ photographic or other mechanical means in the hope that people will take their time with them.  This project is an attempt to provide: a comprehensive and more humane acknowledgement of war; a revelation and analysis of our own complicity and passive acceptance of things as they are; different and multiple ways to access, interpret, and act on the magnitude of war and its aftermath; the truth; an uncovering of covert operations; and a remembrance of the dead for the living.


1 Holography is a firmly established discipline that can be used as a tool for scientific and engineering studies and as a display medium as well. Until now both silver halide photographic emulsions (SHPE) and dichromated gelatine (DCG) have been the most common materials used for high efficiency full colour reflection hologram recording. However, these materials require wet chemical processing for developing the holograms which is laborious and costly from the point of view of commercial applications. Self-developing photopolymers such as acrylamide based photopolymer (ABP) which do not require development are the ideal choice for real-time recording and reconstruction of holograms. This thesis reports on the development of an acrylamide based photopolymer system for full colour reflection holographic display. Firstly ABP was dye sensitised separately at 633 nm and 473 nm using methyleneblue and acriflavine respectively to record holographic reflection gratings and the corresponding diffraction efficiencies were measured. Following this, the ABP material which had already been sensitised at 532 nm at the IEO centre by using erythrosine B as a dye, a panchromatic ABP was developed at IEO sensitised at all three selected primary wavelengths which were available, namely 633 nm, 473 nm and 532 nm. The Bidirectional Scattering Distribution Function (BSDF) was measured for the ABP and scattering obtained was relatively low compared with that of air and glass in the visible region. Reflection holographic gratings were recorded at 633 nm, 532 nm, and 473 nm wavelengths to evaluate the diffraction efficiencies at spatial frequencies of 4200 lineslmm, 5000 lineslmm and 5700 lineslmm respectively. An optical setup was established to record multicolour holograms by combining three selected laser beams (at 633 nm, 532 nm, and 473 nm). Further multicolour reflection holographic gratings were recorded using a combined single RGB beam so that all wavelengths illuminated the same spot. Spectral characterisation was carried out on the multicolour reflection holographic gratings and the Bragg peaks of the diffracted beam were monitored and compared with the recording wavelengths to reveal the shifts which were considered due to the dimensional changes inside the photopolymer. These spectral shifts in the photopolymer response were minimised by using zeolite nanoparticles (Si-MFI 30nm). Reflection holograms of objects were successfully recorded at all three primary wavelengths, and also using a combined RGB beam. The results provided a strong confirmation that this acrylamide based photopolymer can be used as a panchromatic recording material and can be employed in future commercial holographic applications.


Controversies continue to exist between architects and the public about what is a good building. High-style modern architecture is often disliked by the public. Moreover, in everyday life people blame the architect for everything they find impractical in a building. The non-operable window is emblematic of this controversy. The kernel of the problem lies in the lack of knowledge about how people relate to their buildings. This thesis investigates the relationship between people and their buildings, a topic that lies on the interface of architecture, psychology, and anthropology. In architecture, many have attempted to create buildings that feel alive, although much of what is built today feels alien to those who inhabit it. Environmental psychology has its focus on perception and meaning, whereas in anthropology, the habitat is often observed in a cultural perspective. This thesis aims at building theory that connects the insights of these disciplines. The importance of the topic lies in the increasing alienation of people from their buildings. Although many architects work on buildings that we can better relate to, alienation and disconnection continue to exist because, to mention one aspect, the built environment is made by more people than only architects. In the multidisciplinary world, improvement of the relationship of people and building would surely benefit from the introduction of a clear focal point and an adequate conceptual framework. From literature, insights were collected that explain the relationship in four perspectives: human aspects, properties of buildings, its relation to society, and abstract systems. Together they form a model that can serve as the focal point. Next, in order to identify what is changing in the relationship, the model was used as research tool in different contexts, ranging from vernacular to modern. Fieldwork research was conducted in traditional habitats, state-of-the-art modern buildings, and settings in between: primitive housing in urban slum or informal settlement. Detailed research methods for the survey of people's interaction with buildings were newly developed in the field and combined with existing sampling and coding techniques. Architects tools like sketches, scale models, and photography were used next to interviews and participatory observation. Results are presented in several reports ranging from slum dwellings to hi-tech. Besides architecture, they describe the practice of everyday life, logic and inconsistencies in building methods, and effects on the people-building relationship. From the findings, we concluded that what happened to the people-building relationship in the transition from vernacular to modern could be described in five trends. These trends explain the current disconnection as well as the difficulties we face in creating live buildings. Thus, together with the focal point, a conceptual framework is created holding the patterns typical of the people-building relationship. This knowledge can be used as both tool and theory by the profession. The research suggests that in order to create a strong people-building relationship, the whole process of building, dwelling, and daily operation must be focused on inclusion of the end-user. Today's technology and regulations favor exclusion and therefore contribute to a built environment that is not humanly sustainable.


The accuracy of the Faddeev random phase approximation (FRPA) method is tested by evaluating total and ionization energies in the basis-set limit. A set of light atoms up to Ar is considered. Comparisons are made with the results of coupled-cluster singles and doubles (CCSD), with third-order algebraic diagrammatic construction [ADC(3)], and with the experiment. It is seen that even for two-electron systems, He and Be2+, the inclusion of RPA effects leads to satisfactory results, and therefore it does not overcorrelate the ground state. The FRPA becomes progressively better for larger atomic numbers, where it gives ≈5 mH more correlation energy, and it shifts ionization potentials by 2–10 mH with respect to the similar ADC(3) method. The ionization potentials from FRPA tend to reduce the discrepancies with the experiment.


The third edition of the casebook, which is suitable either for a one- or two-semester course, strives to make constitutional law easily teachable and readily accessible for students. The authors have selected the cases very carefully and provided extensive excerpts of the opinions so that students get a good sense of the Court's reasoning. Text boxes call the students' attention to important aspects of each opinion, and the book is filled with introductions, points for discussion, hypotheticals, and executive summaries. The authors present a diversity of views on every subject, and, reflecting some of their own disagreements, the authors have written point-counterpoint discussions on many disputed questions.


Comparisons among firms play a major role in securities analysis. This Article asks if this fact justifies the mandatory nature of securities regulation. Once a firm approaches the public securities markets, federal securities regulations compel it to disclose financial information to the public. A seminal theory argues that firms would not otherwise commit to maintain optimal disclosure levels, since a disclosing firm bears all disclosure costs but does not gain all disclosure benefits. This Article examines the robustness of this argument in relation to disclosure benefits, which arise from comparisons among firms. Financial data of peer firms allows shareholders to measure and monitor the relative performance of their own firm. The ability to make such comparisons is a benefit that each disclosing firm provides to its peers; it may have great social value but allegedly no private value to the disclosing party which bears the full cost of such disclosure. One might, therefore, call for addressing this market failure with a mandatory disclosure requirement. Interestingly, while the above description might justify a mandatory disclosure requirement for private firms (a requirement which does not exist in practice), it does not automatically justify mandated disclosure by public firms. If comparison benefits accrue only after the public shareholders or securities analysts have had a chance to review the data of all the relevant firms (which is the case for all public firms), each individual firm cannot enjoy comparison benefits without exposing its own statements. In other words, if one firm must make its financials public in order to incur comparative disclosure benefits — which is normally the case with public firms since their public investors process financial data outside the boundaries of the firm — then public firms would tend to disclose information regardless of the fact that such information benefits their peers. This voluntary mutual disclosure phenomenon, which helps firms capture comparative disclosure benefits, mitigates the fear that disclosure might be sub-optimally produced without the intervention of the regulator. Nevertheless, if a material piece of information confers significant comparative benefits when reviewed by corporate insiders and not by the public shareholders, one cannot count on voluntary mutual disclosure to occur, and mandatory federal intervention might be in order.


Anomaly detection is an important aspect of data analysis in order to identify data items that significantly differ from normal data. It is used in a variety of fields such as machine monitoring, environmental monitoring and security applications and is a well-studied area in the field of pattern recognition and machine learning. In this thesis, the key challenges of performing anomaly detection in non-stationary and distributed environments are addressed separately.

In non-stationary environments the data distribution may alter, meaning that the concepts to be learned evolve in time. Anomaly detection techniques must be able to adapt to a non-stationary data distribution in order to perform optimally. This requires an update to the model that is being used to classify data. A batch approach to the problem requires a reconstruction of the model each time an update is required. Incremental
learning overcomes this issue by using the previous model as the basis for an update. Two kernel-based incremental anomaly detection techniques are proposed. One technique uses kernel principal component analysis to perform anomaly detection. The kernel eigenspace is incrementally updated by splitting and merging kernel
eigenspaces. The technique is shown to be more accurate than current state-of-the-art solutions. The second technique offers a reduction in the number of computations by using an incrementally updated hypersphere in kernel space.

In addition to updating a model, in a non-stationary environment an update to the parameters of the model are required. Anomaly detection algorithms require the selection of appropriate parameters in order to perform optimally for a given data set. If the distribution of the data changes, an update to the parameters of a model is required. An automatic parameter optimization procedure is proposed for the one-class quartersphere support vector machine where the v parameter is selected automatically based on the anomaly rate in the training set.

In environments such as wireless sensor networks, data might be distributed amongst a number of nodes. In this case, distributed learning is required where nodes construct a classifier, or an approximation of the classifier, that would have been formed had all the data been available to one instance of the algorithm. A principal component analysis based anomaly detection method is proposed that uses the solution to a convex
optimization problem. The convex optimization problem is then derived in a distributed form, with each node running a local instance of the algorithm. Nodes are able to iterate towards an anomaly detector equivalent to the global solution by exchanging short messages.

Detailed evaluations of the proposed techniques are performed against existing state-of-the-art techniques using a variety of synthetic and real-world data sets. Results in the area of a non-stationary environment illustrate the necessity to adapt an anomaly detection model to the changing data distribution. It is shown that the proposed incremental techniques are maintain accuracy while reducing the number of computations.
In addition, optimal parameters derived from an unlabelled training set are shown to exhibit superior performance to statically selected parameters.

In the area of a distributed environment, it is shown that local learning is insufficient due to the lack of examples. Distributed learning can be performed in a manner where a centralized model can be derived by passing small amounts of information between neighbouring nodes. This approach yields a model that obtains performance equal to that of the centralized model.


Mutations in the MCPH1 (Microcephalin) and ASPM (abnormal spindle-like microcephaly associated) genes cause primary microcephaly. Both are centrosomal associated proteins involved in mitosis. Microcephalin plays an important role in DNA damage response and ASPM is required for correct division of proliferative neuro-epithelial cells of the developing brain. Reduced MCPH1 mRNA expression and ASPM mRNA over-expression have been implicated in the development of human carcinomas. Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is characterised by highly aneuploid tumours. Previously we have reported low Microcephalin and high ASPM protein levels and associations with clinico-pathological parameters in malignant cells from ascitic fluids. To confirm these previous findings on a larger scale Microcephalin and ASPM expression levels and localisations were evaluated by immunohistochemistry in two cohorts; a training set of 25 samples and a validation set of 322 EOC tissue samples. Results were correlated to the associated histopathological data. In normal ovarian tissues the Microcephalin nuclear staining pattern was consistently strong. In the cancer tissues, we identified low nuclear Microcephalin expression in high grade and advanced stage tumours (p<0.0001 and p = 0.0438 respectively). ASPM had moderate to high nuclear and low to moderate cytoplasmic expression in normal tissue. Cytoplasmic ASPM expression decreased with tumour grade and stage in the serous subtype of EOC (p = 0.023 and p = 0.011 respectively). Cytoplasmic ASPM increased with tumour stage in the endometrioid subtype (p = 0.023). Increasing tumour invasiveness (T3) and lymph node involvement (N1) also correlated with a decrease in cytoplasmic ASPM in EOC (p = 0.02 and p = 0.04 respectively). We have validated previous findings of deregulated expression of Microcephalin and ASPM in EOC by confirming associations for low nuclear Microcephalin levels and high cytoplasmic ASPM levels in a larger scale tumour tissue study. Microcephalin and ASPM may prove useful biomarkers in EOC.


In this work we study the task of image annotation, of which the goal is to describe an image using a few tags. Instead of predicting the full list of tags, here we target for providing a short list of tags under a limited number (e.g., 3), to cover as much information as possible of the image. The tags in such a short list should be representative and diverse. It means they are required to be not only corresponding to the contents of the image, but also be different to each other. To this end, we treat the image annotation as a subset selection problem based on the conditional determinantal point process (DPP) model, which formulates the representation and diversity jointly. We further explore the semantic hierarchy and synonyms among the candidate tags, and require that two tags in a semantic hierarchy or in a pair of synonyms should not be selected simultaneously. This requirement is then embedded into the sampling algorithm according to the learned conditional DPP model. Besides, we find that traditional metrics for image annotation (e.g., precision, recall and F1 score) only consider the representation, but ignore the diversity. Thus we propose new metrics to evaluate the quality of the selected subset (i.e., the tag list), based on the semantic hierarchy and synonyms. Human study through Amazon Mechanical Turk verifies that the proposed metrics are more close to the humans judgment than traditional metrics. Experiments on two benchmark datasets show that the proposed method can produce more representative and diverse tags, compared with existing image annotation methods.


Since its discovery in the early 1940s the element plutonium has been seen by mankind as both an opportunity and a threat. As a radioactive nuclide plutonium presents health hazards in its handling and if mankind is to make the most of this element's potential benefits it is essential that these hazards be understood. Both overestimation and underestimation of these hazards are damaging to its proper utilisation. Many studies have been carried out to determine the effects of plutonium exposure and a broad picture of the biological behaviour of plutonium has been built up. Radiological protection standards are based on such broad understanding and a "Central Dogma" has arisen viz, plutonium is bound avidly in liver and bone; clearance half-lives from these organs differ (by a factor of 2.5) but are very long - a minimum of 50 years for bone; this is why plutonium urinary excretion levels are very low.
Despite all the research work that has been carried out there are many important areas of plutonium behaviour which are not well understood or in which the central ideas adopted for radiological protection purposes are questionable. One such questionable area is extended half-life in the body. Two rather different areas relate to the molecular binding interactions which plutonium enters into in body tissues and transfer mechanisms from blood into cellular organelles. Very little is known about these processes and the speciation that plutonium demonstrates within the body.
This thesis explores understanding of plutonium behaviour by application of pharmacokinetic theory to observed human behaviour, both following occupational exposure and experimental injection. Occupational exposure data demonstrated
behaviour consistent with pharmacokinetic expectations over periods of 25 years or more. Long-term half-lives were 10 to 30 years rather than 50 to 100 years or more.
There was no evidence of differing half-lives between liver and bone. Very low renal clearance was seen in intravenous injection studies suggesting either very extensive plutonium binding to the protein transferrin in blood or pointing to reabsorption in the kidney tubule after glomerular filtration. This latter possibility might lead to a "Plutonium blood pressure" which effectively forces activity into tissues irrespective of the strength of binding forces. Experimental work indicated species differences in transferrin binding which may have relevance for extrapolation from animals to humans.


The patch structure of the grass sward at Kroomie (26°25'38"E 33°48'30"S) in a semi-arid savanna in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, was investigated. The study was conducted on long term grazing trials on five treatments varying in stocking rate (SR; recommended (low) and 1.5 x recommended (high», grazing system (continuous and rotational), and animal type (cattle and sheep). The treatments studied were CR (cattle, rotational stocking, low SR), CC (cattle, continuous stocking, low SR), CH (cattle, rotational stocking, high SR), SC (sheep, continuous stocking, low SR), and SR (sheep, rotational stocking, low SR). Rainfall during the two years of the study (1997/98 and 1998/99) was slightly below the mean average rainfall of the area (66 and 84% of the mean of 519 mm, respectively). Analysis of sward height data using Maximum Likelihood Estimation reflected a bimodal height structure in all treatments. Due to a high overlap of the two distributions in some cases, however, the height at which to separate patches (short grass) from non-patches (tall grass) could not be determined. Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) was used to relate species composition to sward height. It emerged that there are two distinct grass communities at Kroomie, and these are associated with sward height (Le. patches and non-patches). The interface (in cm) between these two communities, as determined using Two Way Indicator Species Analysis (TWINS PAN) was 6 cm, and this value was subsequently used to discriminate between patches and non-patches. Sward structure was affected by treatments. Animals (cattle and sheep) stocked rotationally at low SR's grazed less than a third of the total area, and this grazing was concentrated primarily in small patches « 6 m; length is used as a linear indicator of patch size). Animals stocked continuously at low SR's grazed approximately half the area, in small and large (up to 40 m) patches. Animals in the CH treatment grazed approximately two-thirds of the area, in both small and large patches. There was an inverse relation between the size of patches and the size of non-patches, as expected. Nine common grass species were related to sward height. Digiteria eriantha, Eragrostis racemosa, Eustachys paspaloides, and Microchloa caffra were associated with short swards, while Cymbopogon pluronodis, Eragrostis chloromelas, and Sporobolus fimbriatus were associated with tall swards. Themeda triandra (themeda), the most abundant grass xi at Kroomie, was principally associated with tall swards, but was present at all sward heights. Applying CCA demonstrated a considerable difference between the species composition of patches and of non-patches. There was also a difference in composition between treatments, although these were not as pronounced. Patches reflected a higher species diversity than non-patches. There was a significant (P<O.05) effect of treatment, and of an interaction of treatment by sward structure (Le. patches and non-patches), on the density of themeda plants. The density of themeda plants was positively correlated with patch size, which suggested that themeda plants that have been grazed may suffer fatal competition from ungrazed neighbours. Anecdotal evidence suggested that patches are stable over the medium term, and that non-patches that are grazed during a drought return to a non-patch structure after rainfall. There was no evidence to support the contention that rotational stocking reduced patch-selective grazing, nor that the species composition of rotationally stocked treatments was better than continuously stocked treatments.


INTRODUCTION A central target of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) is to achieve a good status of all European waterbodies (European Community, 2000). As most water pollution emanates from diffuse sources, the WFD challenges many existing land-use practices, especially those determined by agricultural production and urban development (overview in Moss, 2004). Consequently, the directive discourages intensive agriculture on land close to lakes and rivers and encourages minimization of urban run-off and retaining water in wetlands or polders. In those catchments where WFD objectives require strict protective measures, the use of land for agricultural production and urban settlements may fall under conflicts of interests (Moss, 2004). This paper seeks methodological ways to overcome such conflicts with more eco-efficient land-use planning. An example of an area with such conflicting interests is the Narva River basin, which hosts two large lakes--Peipsi and Vortsjdrv--of moderate ecological status. These lakes are eutrophied due to the load of phosphorus (Noges & Noges, 2006). The most significant contributing driving force has been found to be agricultural diffuse load, followed by household and industrial wastewaters (Ministry of Environment, 2010a). Considering also other waterbodies and groundwater in that drainage basin, other most significant drivers are oil shale based power engineering, drainage, dams, and peat mining (Ministry of Environment, 2010a). Such various land-demanding economic activities in the Narva basin provide an opportunity to test how advancements in land-use planning methodologies might generate more sustainable river basin management solutions. STUDY AREA "Water Scenarios for Europe and for Neighbouring States (SCENES)", a project under the EU 6th Research Framework Programme, selected the Narva River drainage basin as one of the pilot study areas for developing and analysing a set of comprehensive scenarios of Europe's freshwater futures up to 2050. These scenarios will provide a reference point for long-term strategic planning of European water resource development. In the SCENES project, the Narva basin represents the Eastern Baltic region. The Narva basin (56 200 km2) is located in Estonia and the Russian Federation (Fig. 1). The area is situated in the central part of the southeastern coast of the Baltic Sea and has a population of approximately 1.1 million. Forests and semi-natural areas dominate in the flat drainage basin, which has its highest point at 338 m above sea level and an average elevation of 163 m. The area includes the large Lake Peipsi/Chudskoe, which consists of three unequal parts: the largest in the north known as Lake Peipsi s.s. (2603 [km.sup.2]) is connected through the narrow strait-like Lake Lammijarv/Teploe (240 [km.sup.2]) to the southern part called Lake Pihkva/Pskovskoe (710 [km.sup.2]). The water of Peipsi (25 [km.sup.3]) has a residence time of two years. The Narva River is 77 km long and has its source in the northeastern part of Lake Peipsi. The Baltic Sea receives an average of about 400 [m.sup.3] [s.sup.-1] of water from the Narva River. [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] METHODOLOGY To comply with practical guidance of WFD Common Implementation Strategy, an analysis of pressures and impacts of river basins should follow the Drivers--Pressures--State--Impacts--Responses (DPSIR) approach of the European Environmental Agency (Smeets & Weterings, 1999; IMPRESS, 2002). In this framework, 'Driving Forces' mean economic factors and human activities while 'Pressures' serve as the ways how drivers affect the environment. 'State' refers to the quality of the environment, which is affected by the pressures. State, in turn, affects human health, ecosystems, and natural resources, which together form 'Impacts'. Finally, impacts lead to 'Responses' in society such as environmental regulations. Among these regulations, this paper focuses on large-scale spatial development plans. …


Lawyers obtain the "mass" for some mass tort litigations by conducting screenings to sign-up potential litigants en masse. These "litigation screenings" have no intended medical benefit. Screenings are mostly held in motels, shopping center parking lots, local union offices and lawyers' offices. There, an occupational history is taken by persons with no medical training, a doctor may do a cursory physical exam, and medical technicians administer tests, including X-rays, pulmonary function tests, echocardiograms and blood tests. The sole purpose of screenings is to generate "medical" evidence of the existence of an injury to be attributed to exposure to or ingestion of defendants' products. Usually a handful of doctors ("litigation doctors") provide the vast majority of the thousands and tens of thousands of medical reports prepared for that litigation. By my count, approximately 1,500,000 potential litigants have been screened in the asbestos, silica, fen-phen (diet drugs), silicone breast implant, and welding fume litigations. Litigation doctors found that approximately 1,000,000 of those screened had the requisite condition that could qualify for compensation, such as asbestosis, silicosis, moderate mitral or mild aortic value regurgitation or a neurological disorder. I further estimate that lawyers have spent at least $500 million and as much as $1 billion to conduct these litigation screenings, paying litigation doctors and screening companies well in excess of $250 million, and obtaining contingency fees well in excess of $13 billion. On the basis of the evidence I review in this article, I conclude that approximately 900,000 of the 1,000,000 claims generated were based on "diagnoses" of the type that U.S. District Court Judge Janis Jack, in the silica MDL, found were "manufactured for money." Despite the considerable evidence I review that most of the "medical" evidence produced by litigation screenings is at least specious, I find that there is no effective mechanism in the civil justice system for reliably detecting or deterring this claim generation process. Indeed, I demonstrate how the civil justice system erects significant impediments to even exposing the specious claim generation methods used in litigation screenings. Furthermore, I present evidence that bankruptcy courts adjudicating asbestos related bankruptcies have effectively legitimized the use of these litigation screenings. I also present evidence that the criminal justice system has conferred immunity on the litigation doctors and the lawyers that hire them, granting them a special dispensation to advance specious claims. Finally, I discuss various strategies that need to be adopted to counter this assault on the integrity of the civil justice system.


In Cyanobacteria (cyanophytes, cyanoprokaryotes) species has been traditionally defined on the basis of morphological characters (Geitlerian system) and these same criteria are still commonly used for identification of natural populations. Modern investigations, based on EM-methods and molecular sequencing have proven the differences between the genotypes which correspond more or less with the traditional phenotypic genera (revised after re-evaluation of morphologial characters). However, within genotypes enormous variability of natural morphotypes and ecotypes has been found and the same diversity has been confirmed in strains in cultures. Genotypically distinct species have not been confirmed, and the separation of them according to morphological criteria is problematic with respect to wide morphological variability. - Because the purely traditional (morphological) concept of cyanobacterial species is frequently in disagreement with modern knowledge of cyanobacteria, the criteria for species delimitation should be changed. Taxonomic classification is always conventional; the definition of species in cyanobacteria is possible, if it will be based on rules developed in concordance with modern knowledge of morphology (phenotype variability and stability of different features). physiology, ecology and molecular bases of individual morpho- and ecotypes (e.g. morphospecies belonging to proved and distinct genotypes and characterised by ecological characterization).


Since the beginning of the new millennium, Swiss citizens have accepted a series of constitutional amendments initiated by the people (via so-called popular initiatives) which clash with the rule of law and human rights. Against this backdrop, the present contribution examines the possibilities and limits of the judiciary to tame the excesses of direct democracy in the Swiss political and constitutional context. Using the «deportation initiative» as a case study, it concludes that the role of the judiciary is limited but nevertheless significant. «Taming the demos» requires the collaboration of all the branches of government, civil society and political parties.


The allowance for low-probability disasters, suggested by Rietz (1988), explains a lot of puzzles related to asset returns and consumption. These puzzles include the high equity premium, the low risk-free rate, the volatility of stock returns, and the low values of typical macro-econometric estimates of the intertemporal elasticity of substitution for consumption. Another mystery that may be resolved is why expected real interest rates were low in the United States during major wars, such as World War II. This resolution works even though price-earnings ratios tended also to be low during the wars. This approach achieves these explanations while maintaining the tractable framework of a representative agent, time-additive and iso-elastic preferences, complete markets, and i.i.d. shocks to productivity growth. Perhaps just as puzzling as the high equity premium is why Rietz's framework has not been taken more seriously by researchers in macroeconomics and finance.


Insulin resistance in rodents and humans is highly correlated with inflammation of white adipose tissue (WAT) and the presence of proinflammatory immune cells. Such chronic immune challenge leads to a variety of metabolic effects in the adipocyte, including endoplasmic reticulum stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress, and altered adipokine and cytokine secretion, which in sum play a major role in affecting whole-body insulin sensitivity (1–3). Of the factors regulating mitochondrial biogenesis, the regulation of the endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) has garnered considerable attention as a major metabolic control point.

eNOS is a constitutively expressed nitric oxide (NO)–producing enzyme classically linked to smooth muscle contraction and platelet aggregation (4). However, eNOS and downstream NO signaling are now appreciated as a major metabolic determinant of the peroxisome proliferator–activated receptor γ coactivator 1α (PGC1α) (5). Although the molecular mechanism(s) is still not completely understood, NO signaling and activation of the soluble guanylyl cyclase–protein kinase G (PKG) system upregulate PGC1α expression and, moreover, are required for increased expression of SirT1, the major NAD+-dependent deacetylase controlling PGC1α activity (6–8). NO signaling via PKG stimulates the expression of the entire mitochondrial biogenesis program, including the activation of Nrf1 and Tfam, two major transcription factors regulating expression of mitochondrial enzymes.

A second major theme controlling mitochondrial biogenesis linked to sympathetic drive and eNOS is G-protein–coupled receptor–dependent activation …


Clinical data management systems typically provide caregiver teams with useful information, derived from large, sometimes highly heterogeneous, data sources that are often changing dynamically. Over the last decade there has been a significant surge in interest in using these data sources, from simply reusing the standard clinical databases for event prediction or decision support, to including dynamic and patient-specific information into clinical monitoring and prediction problems. However, in most cases, commercial clinical databases have been designed to document clinical activity for reporting, liability, and billing reasons, rather than for developing new algorithms. With increasing excitement surrounding "secondary use of medical records" and "Big Data" analytics, it is important to understand the limitations of current databases and what needs to change in order to enter an era of "precision medicine." This review article covers many of the issues involved in the collection and preprocessing of critical care data. The three challenges in critical care are considered: compartmentalization, corruption, and complexity. A range of applications addressing these issues are covered, including the modernization of static acuity scoring; online patient tracking; personalized prediction and risk assessment; artifact detection; state estimation; and incorporation of multimodal data sources such as genomic and free text data.


Although the Air Mail Affair dominates the country's headlines as it unfolds throughout the winter and spring of 1934, it is mostly a forgotten chapter in American history. Without warning, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his Postmaster General James Farley annul the airmail contracts with more than 30 different commercial airlines. On February 9, 1934, Roosevelt enters Executive Order 6591 directing the U.S. Army Air Corps to fly the mail instead of the commercial airlines which are denied a grievance procedure or an opportunity to be heard. The carriers file suit but the United States Court of Claims does not decide the case until several years later on December 7, 1942. In Pacific Air Transport v. United States, 98 Ct. Cl. 649 (1942), the court holds that Postmaster General Farley justifiably annuls the airmail contracts negotiated by former Postmaster General Walter Brown but the commercial airlines are entitled to payment withheld by Roosevelt and Farley for the airmail services provided in January and February 1934. Following a review of the existing, relevant and possibly persuasive case law from this time period, this treatise analyzes the Pacific Air decision and specifically considers whether President Roosevelt violates separation of powers and offends due process as guaranteed by the Constitution when he abruptly cancels the airmail contracts with the commercial mail carriers. 1 Pacific Air Transport v. United States, 98 Ct. Cl. 649, 776, 789-90 (Ct. Cl. 1942.)


Scheduling in a dynamic flowshop that receives jobs at random and unforeseen points in time has traditionally been done by using dispatching rules. This study compares the performances of leading dispatching rules with a cooperative dispatching approach, for the objective of minimising mean flowtime in a flowshop, in which the buffers that hold in-process jobs between machines have finite capacities. Cooperative dispatching employs a consultative and consensus-seeking methodology for deciding which job to dispatch next on a machine. Computational experiments using randomly generated test problems for three different utilisation (congestion) levels are carried out for 5- and 10-machine flowshops, under a wide range of buffer capacities. The results highlight the sensitivity of some of the popular dispatching rules to buffer size. In contrast, cooperative dispatching emerges as a robust method that performs consistently well across the range of buffer sizes and machine utilisations tested. The reductions in mean flowtime obtained by cooperative dispatching, in comparison to the other dispatching rules, are particularly large in flowshops that operate with very tight buffer capacities and elevated levels of congestion


Physical implementations of quantum computers will inevitably be subject to errors. However, provided that the error rate is below some threshold, it is theoretically possible to build fault tolerant quantum computers that are arbitrarily reliable. A particularly attractive fault tolerant proposal, due to its high threshold value, relies on Clifford group quantum computation and access to ancilla qubits. These ancilla qubits must be prepared in a particular state termed the 'magic' state. It is possible to distill faulty magic states into pure magic states, which is of significant interest for experimental work where perfect state preparation is generally not possible. This thesis describes a liquid state nuclear magnetic resonance based scheme for distilling magic states. Simulations are presented that indicate that such a distillation is feasible if a high level of experimental control is achieved. Preliminary experimental results are reported that outline the challenges that must be overcome to attain such precise control.


The Mw = 6.3 earthquake of February 22 was the strongest seismic event in a series of damaging aftershocks in and around Christchurch after the Darfield earthquake on 4 September 2010. The source of the Darfield earthquake was in a sparsely populated area and thus it caused no loss of life. Serious damage was mainly due to extensive liquefaction. By contrast, the Christchurch earthquake was generated on a fault in close proximity to the city, resulting in a death toll of 181 people.

The Canterbury Plains are covered with river gravels that hide any evidence of past fault activity in this region. The newly revealed Greendale fault was therefore completely unknown. Only a portion of it was revealed on the ground surface during the Darfield earthquake. The second fault (the one that ruptured in February 2011) appears to be a continuation of the first, although no fault structure directly connecting the faults has been recognized. There is a debate among seismologists at this point whether this is a different fault from Greendale one or not (NHRP 2011a; NHRP 2011b; Geonet 2011).

Due to its magnitude, shallow depth and close proximity to the city, the February earthquake proved particularly destructive for the central business district (CBD) of Christchurch, where buildings suffered extensive damage. Thanks to a dense network of strong ground motion stations, a large number of records have been obtained, which provide valuable information on the event and offer the possibility of relating the extent of damage to actual measurements of ground shaking.

Apart from the southern part of the city on the hills and the Lyttelton port area, Christchurch is built on deep estuarine soil, which has been shaped in the last thousands of years by the ever-changing riverbed. Fine sands—the dominant soil type—and the …


An optical fiber vibration sensor based on a polarization diversity scheme has been developed to study structural vibration properties under external disturbance. The polarization diversity scheme has improved signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) by over 13 dB with capability of detection frequency of sub-hertz to tens of kilo- hertz. The minimum dynamic strain we have detected is 3 nepsiv, and the SNR of the sensor is >37 dB without any averaging. For the first time, Rayleigh backscattering has been utilized to detect continuous and damped vibration generated by a piezo fiber stretcher and vibrating cantilever with a frequency range of sub-hertz to 16 kHz. We also use this sensor and polarization analyzer to characterize the polarization state change and phase shift of the piezo fiber stretcher in transmission and Rayleigh backscattering up to kilohertz frequency, both results agrees quantitatively.


This paper documents key elements and their mathematical representation of a projection methodology for international migration. The methodology rests on the well-established multiregional model in demography, but was reformulated to allow for more realistic migration assumptions that depend on sending and receiving countries. The paper develops the methodology in a consistent and transparent way in matrix notation. The starting point is the generating matrix of multiregional models, followed by the multiregional life table and corresponding projection model. The paper distinguishes between two types of multiregional projection models—the standard model, which implements migration solely in terms of emigration intensities, and a model that allows for interactions between the regions or countries involved. The second projection model is nonlinear and requires an iterative approach. The paper implements procedures to estimate the demographic events that are associated with the multiregional model. In the classical formulation of the multiregional projection model, births are (implicitly) covered, but deaths and migrants by age are neglected. The explicit inclusion of all vital events adds considerably more analytical power to multiregional population projections. The last addition to the multiregional methodology is the replacement of the common assumption of a uniform distribution of (decrement) events within age groups by a more realistic assumption that rests on approximations by local fits and an empirical model especially for the first age group. The methodology was implemented in a multiregional analysis and projection software package and coded in the high-level statistical language R. See Working Paper 30: Modeling Alternative Projections of International Migration here.


Attitudes toward seeking health care, particularly mental health care, are significantly affected by stigma. Stigma surrounding mental health care is a particularly poignant issue for military veterans who are returning home in need of both medical and psychological care. The present study aimed to investigate whether social problem solving plays a role in perceptions of stigma and subsequent attitudes toward seeking both mental health care and medical care among veterans. Social problem solving was found to be a significant predictor of psychological openness, a subscale of the Inventory of Attitudes Toward Seeking Mental Health Services (IASMHS) assessing the extent to which one is open about recognizing a problem and seeking help for that difficulty. These findings suggest that programs aimed at improving social problem solving skills may help veterans seek necessary care.


Expression of the farnesoid X receptor (FXR; NR1H4) is limited to the liver, intestine, kidney, and adrenal gland. However, the role of FXR in the latter two organs is unknown. In the current study, we performed microarray analysis using RNA from H295R cells infected with constitutively active FXR. Several putative FXR target genes were identified, including the organic solute transporters alpha and beta (OSTalpha and OSTbeta). Electromobility shift assays and promoter-reporter studies identified functional farnesoid X receptor response elements (FXREs) in the promoters of both human genes. These FXREs are conserved in both mouse genes. Treatment of wild-type mice with 3-(2,6-dichlorophenyl)-4-(3'-carboxy-2-chloro-stilben-4-yl)-oxymethyl-5-isopropyl-isoxazole (GW4064), a synthetic FXR agonist, induced OSTalpha and OSTbeta mRNAs in the intestine and kidney. Both mRNAs were also induced when wild-type, but not FXR-deficient (FXR-/-), adrenals were cultured in the presence of GW4064. OSTalpha and OSTbeta mRNA levels were also induced in the adrenals and kidneys of wild-type, but not FXR-/-, mice after the increase of plasma bile acids in response to the hepatotoxin alpha-naphthylisothiocyanate. Finally, overexpression of human OSTalpha and OSTbeta facilitated the uptake of conjugated chenodeoxycholate and the activation of FXR target genes. These results demonstrate that OSTalpha and OSTbeta are novel FXR target genes that are expressed in the adrenal gland, kidney, and intestine.


SUMMARY Objective: To describe the prevalence and distribution patterns of the major common risk factors for non communicable diseases among the people living in Mombasa, Kenya. Methods: Using the WHO STEPwise approach, risk factors for non communicable diseases were analyzed for 305 people aged between 13 to 67 years. The study sample was arrived at through convenient stratification of the population according to age and setting followed by random selection of the participants. Results: The most common individual risk factors registered were physical inactivity, hypertension and overweight/obesity accounting for 42%, 24% and 11% of the sample respectively. Participants who possessed a single risk factor profile were 42% and those who had multiple risk factors were approximately 17%. Hypertension and physical inactivity were the most common multiple risk factor pattern possessed by 7.5% of the participants who had at least one of the investigated risk factors for CNCDs. Socio-demographic characteristics including male gender, increasing age, being a student and low socio-economic status were found to be positive predictors of CNCDs Conclusion: The burden of CNCDs risk factors is unequally distributed among Mombasa residents. The poorest quintile posses the worst risk factor profile compared to their privileged counterparts. The implementation of WHO STEPwise approach was feasible since it revealed a comprehensive picture of the at-risk groups thus forming a vital baseline framework for targetspecific and cost-effective CNCDs control and prevention interventions.


ObjectivesWhat do practices of family law professionals and school staff mean for children's vulnerability and victimization at school? While there has been considerable discussion of issues about child protection and the cooperation between school and social services in that context, studies on the intersection between school and family law proceedings seem virtually non-existent. This is also the case when it comes to family law proceedings, school and different forms of childhood adversity. The paper explores how family law proceedings in cases involving intimate partner violence impact on school and how school staff tackle the issue of violence and family law.MethodsThe empirical material consists of qualitative interviews with a sample of pre-school/school staff, individually or in groups, and a questionnaire to school head teachers and pre-school managers. In total 12 interviews were carried out with 22 interviewees from different staff categories. The questionnaire was sent out to 110 pre-schools and 110 schools in two Swedish counties (response rate 51 and 65 percent respectively). The analysis both concerns the children exposed to violence who are the objects of family law disputes, and the vulnerability of other children at school.ResultsThe analysis shows that children's victimization at school can be due to actions by court staff, family law social workers and school staff, in addition to actions by parents. The problematic practices range from actions with victimizing effects, such as the neglect of children's possible fear due to previous experiences of violence, or the invalidation experiences of violence, to outright dangerousness as when leaving children and their mothers without protection. In the worst case scenario, these practices enable further violence, possibly even lethal violence. Further violence may also be witnessed by other children present at school.ConclusionThe examples found in the data sets make it clear that it is not just the children who are the objects of a family law dispute that are subjected to victimizing practices at school, but other children as well. An issue raised by the analysis presented here is the question as to whether the concept of children "witnessing" violence as crime victims in their own right – well established in Swedish policy today - should be expanded to include also children who witness violence against their peers or their peers' parents at school.


By zooming in on urban localities in India and by unpacking the 'meaning of the local' for those who live in them, the ten papers in this volume redress a recurrent asymmetry in contemporary debates about globalisation. In much literature, the global is associated with transnationalism, dynamism and activity, and the local with static identities and history.

Focusing on a range of locales in India's metropolitan areas and provincial small towns, the contributions move beyond the assertion that space is socially constructed to explore the ways in which social and political relations are themselves spatially and historically contingent. Using detailed ethnography, the authors highlight the vitality of place-making in the lives of urban dwellers and the centrality of a 'politics of place' in the production of power, difference and inequality. The volume illustrates how urban spaces are increasingly interconnected through wider social and spatial processes, while local boundaries and group-based identities are at the same time reconstructed, and often even consolidated, through the use of 'traditional' idioms and localised practices.

All contributions relate detailed case studies of everyday activities to a range of contemporary debates that highlight various spatial aspects of cultural identities, economic restructuring and political processes in India. The volume provides an interdisciplinary perspective on urban life in rapidly changing political and economic environments. It offers a contribution to policy-orientated debates on urban livelihoods and urban planning as well as a wealth of ethnographic material for those interested in the spatial dimensions of urban life in India.


We report a new technique for determining second-order nonlinear optical coefficients that uses the spectral brightness of spontaneous parametric fluorescence. Measurements with this technique on two separate AgGaS2 crystals yielded values of 22.9 and 24.3 pm/V for |d36|, and measurements on a KTP crystal yielded 4.1 pm/V for |d24|. The uncertainty of the determined values is approximately ±10%.


In determining the feasibility of projects where capital investments are concerned, various methods are used. The focus of these methods is on return per se, so it is often asked to what extent any of these methods take the risk concept into account. The main objective of this study was to investigate the importance of risk with regard to capital investment projects. Secondly, with the aid of an empirical study, the study tried to establish whether risk is incorporated when South African companies evaluate capital investment projects. The empirical analysis indicated that risk analysis and evaluation in practice are to a large extent neglected by South African companies. It was found that nearly a quarter of companies estimate their annual cash flows using management subjective estimates alone.


Exosomes are extracellular vesicles (EVs) that have attracted attention because of their important biological roles in intercellular communication and transportation of various biomolecules, including proteins and genetic materials. However, due to difficulties in their selective capture and detection, further application of exosomes remains challenging. To detect EVs, we fabricated a liposomal biosensor based on polydiacetylene (PDA), a conjugate polymer that has been widely used in sensing applications derived from its unique optical properties. To confer selectivity and sensitivity to the sensory material, antibodies targeting CD63, a membrane protein exclusively found in exosomes, were attached to the PDA liposomes and phospholipid molecules were incorporated into the PDA vesicles. Signal analysis derived from PDA liposomes for exosome detection and quantification was performed by observing colorimetric changes triggered by the ligand-receptor interaction of PDA vesicles. Visual, UV-visible, and fluorescence spectroscopic methods were used to obtain signals from the PDA lipid immunosensor, which achieved a detection limit of 3 × 108 vesicles/mL, the minimum concentration that can be used in practical applications. The strategies used in the system have the potential to expand into the field of dealing with exosomes.


One of the key predictions of modeling from the IR excess of Herbig Ae stars is that for protoplanetary disks, where significant grain growth and settling has occurred, the dust disk has flattened to the point that it can be partially or largely shadowed by the innermost material at or near the dust sublimation radius. When the self-shadowing has already started, the outer disk is expected to be detected in scattered light only in the exceptional cases when the scale height of the dust disk at the sublimation radius is smaller than usual. High-contrast imaging combined with the IR spectral energy distribution allow us to measure the degree of flattening of the disk, as well as to determine the properties of the outer disk. We present polarimetric differential imaging in the H band obtained with Subaru/HiCIAO of one such system, MWC 480. The HiCIAO data were obtained at a historic minimum of the NIR excess. The disk is detected in scattered light from 0.″2 to 1.″0 (27.4–137 AU). Together with the marginal detection of the disk from 1998 February 24 by Hubble Space Telescope/NICMOS, our data constrain the opening half-angle for the disk to lie between 1.°3 ⩽θ ⩽ 2.°2. When compared with similar measures in CO for the gas disk from the literature, the dust disk subtends only ∼30% of the gas disk scale height (H/R ∼ 0.03). Such a dust disk is a factor of 5–7 flatter than transitional disks, which have structural signatures that giant planets have formed.


Prediction of adult performance from early age talent identification in sport remains difficult. Talent identification research has generally been performed using univariate analysis, which ignores multivariate relationships. To address this issue, this study used a novel higher-dimensional model to orthogonalize multivariate anthropometric and fitness data from junior rugby league players, with the aim of differentiating future career attainment. Anthropometric and fitness data from 257 Under-15 rugby league players was collected. Players were grouped retrospectively according to their future career attainment (i.e., amateur, academy, professional). Players were blindly and randomly divided into an exploratory (n = 165) and validation dataset (n = 92). The exploratory dataset was used to develop and optimize a novel higher-dimensional model, which combined singular value decomposition (SVD) with receiver operating characteristic analysis. Once optimized, the model was tested using the validation dataset. SVD analysis revealed 60 m sprint and agility 505 performance were the most influential characteristics in distinguishing future professional players from amateur and academy players. The exploratory dataset model was able to distinguish between future amateur and professional players with a high degree of accuracy (sensitivity = 85.7%, specificity = 71.1%; p<0.001), although it could not distinguish between future professional and academy players. The validation dataset model was able to distinguish future professionals from the rest with reasonable accuracy (sensitivity = 83.3%, specificity = 63.8%; p = 0.003). Through the use of SVD analysis it was possible to objectively identify criteria to distinguish future career attainment with a sensitivity over 80% using anthropometric and fitness data alone. As such, this suggests that SVD analysis may be a useful analysis tool for research and practice within talent identification.


The production of software for robotic systems is often case-specific, without fully following established engineering approaches. Systematic approaches, methods, models, and tools are pivotal for the creation of robotic systems for real-world applications and turn-key solutions. Well-defined (software) engineering approaches are considered the "make or break" factor in the development of complex robotic systems. The shift towards well-defined engineering approaches will stimulate component supply-chains and significantly reshape the robotics marketplace. The goal of this technical briefing is to provide an overview on the state of the art and practice concerning solutions and open challenges in the engineering of software required to develop and manage robotic systems. Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) is discussed as a promising technology to raise the level of abstraction, promote reuse, facilitate integration, boost automation and promote early analysis in such a complex domain.


Numerical calculations have been conducted to study elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) with lubricant in the form of droplet groups, which was aimed to simulate air‐oil lubrication. Two types of lubricant droplet distributions, ie, 1 row of droplets along the centreline of the contact or 2 rows of droplets on each side of the centreline, were adopted. The results showed that continuous EHL film could be obtained in spite that discontinuous lubricant droplets were supplied, which is attributed to the squeeze spread and rejoining of the droplets at the inlet. The total effective lubrication time for full film lubrication has a linear correlation with the number of the droplets, and there exists an optimum droplet spacing distance for continuous full film lubrication. For a constant volume of lubricant, calculations indicated that for most efficient lubrication, there is a trade‐off between the droplet size and the number of droplets divided.


Abstract An 84-GHz electron cyclotron heating (ECH) system has been installed to assist plasma start-up by preionization in the Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR) device. The KSTAR 84-GHz ECH system consists of a 500-kW gyrotron, a transmission line, and an antenna system. The wave power is transmitted from the gyrotron to the antenna through an evacuated corrugated circular waveguide of 31.75-mm inner diameter and six miter bends, which include a pair of polarizer miter bends for polarization control. The maximum permitted vacuum pressure without radio-frequency (rf) breakdown in the 31.75-mm waveguide at 84 GHz, 500 kW was calculated to be ~0.1 torr. The pumping time to reach the vacuum pressure of 1 × 10-3 torr in the KSTAR ECH system was ~2 h by two turbomolecular pumps. The transmission efficiency of ~93% from the output of the mirror optical unit to the torus window was measured using a low-power rf source. The wave polarization by a pair of polarizer miter bends with grooved mirrors was tested using the low-power system, and it showed good agreement with numerical calculations. In this paper, we present the design and commissioning results of the KSTAR 84-GHz transmission line.


The camel cricket, Utabaenetes(tanneri Tinkham, has been little studied. This study gathered information on the basic life history and behavior of this species, which is found only in the San Rafael Desert and adjacent Colorado Plateau in areas of loose sand or active dunes. The daily activity pattern is matutinal, and individuals construct burrows for shelter in the afternoon. The diet of U.(tanneri is omnivorous, composed of plant material, detritus, and conspecific crickets. Utabaenetes(tanneri has been found in the diet of several predatory species, although the total number of observed predation instances is low. Utabaenetes(tanneri might be a Batesian mimic of sympatric tenebrionid beetles, which might explain the small number of observed predation attempts on this species. Utabaenetes(tanneri can be very abundant where it occurs. Abundance and density of crickets was determined for three study plots in Grafield County, Utah. Plot 1 had a mean abundance of 482 crickets, determined by mark and resight analyses, and a mean density of 0.23 individuals per square meter. Only one cricket was found in Plot 2, and no mark and resight analysis was performed. Plot 3 had a mean abundance of 50 crickets, and a mean density of 0.022 individuals per square meter. The bulk density of the soil was compared between the three sites, but no significant difference was found (Kruskal0Wallace X2 = 0.932, df = 2, P = 0.627), and therefore is probably not the reason for the differences in abundances between the three plots. Studies on similar species of sand treaders have indicated that they are important detritivores within arid ecosystems. They are also preyed on by numerous species, and are usually one of the most abundant arthropods where they occur. Utabaenetes(tanneri probably functions in a similar ecological role to these other species of sand treaders. In addition to these observations of U.(tanneri, a morphological description of the species is provided. The first key to the subfamilies of Rhaphidophoridae in the United States and Canada is presented, along with a key to the genera of the subfamily Ceuthophilinae.


Objective The 6-minute walk test is widely used to assess functional status in neurological disorders. However, the test is subject to great inter-test variability due to fluctuating motivation, fatigue and learning effects. We investigated whether inter-test variability of the 6MWT can be reduced by heart rate correction. Methods Sixteen patients with neuromuscular diseases, including Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy, Limb-girdle muscular dystrophy, Charcot-Marie-Tooths, Dystrophia Myotonica and Congenital Myopathy and 12 healthy subjects were studied. Patients were excluded if they had cardiac arrhythmias, if they received drug treatment for hypertension or any other medical conditions that could interfere with the interpretation of the heart rate and walking capability. All completed three 6-minute walk tests on three different test-days. Heart rate was measured continuously. Results Successive standard 6-minute walk tests showed considerable learning effects between Tests 1 and 2 (4.9%; P = 0.026), and Tests 2 and 3 (4.5%; P = 0.020) in patients. The same was seen in controls between Tests 1 and 2 (8.1%; P = 0.039)). Heart rate correction abolished this learning effect. Conclusion A modified 6-minute walk test, by correcting walking distance with average heart rate during walking, decreases the variability among repeated 6-minute walk tests, and should be considered as an alternative outcome measure to the standard 6-minute walk test in future clinical follow-up and treatment trials.


Summary. In this study the effect of the sequential exposure of spermatozoa to progesterone and gonadotrophin‐releasing hormone (GnRH) upon zona binding and the intracellular free Ca2+ concentration was evaluated. Sperm aliquots were treated as follows: (a) 0.7 μmol 1−1 progesterone or 0.1% DMSO (progesterone solvent) followed by 50 nmol 1−1 of GnRH; (b) 50 nmol 1−1 of GnRH or distilled water (GnRH solvent) followed by 0.7 μmol 1−1 of progesterone. Additional aliquots were incubated with DMSO or distilled water (controls) and with 0.7 μmol 1−1 of progesterone or 50 nmol 1−1 of GnRH. All treatments were for 5 min. Motile spermatozoa were incubated in modified Tyrode's medium, at 37 °, 5% CO2, 10times106 spermatozoa ml−1, for 4.5 h. Intracellular Ca2+ concentration and sperm‐zona binding was evaluated using fura 2 and the hemizona assay, respectively. GnRH and progesterone increased sperm‐zona binding and the Ca2+ concentration. Regarding zona binding, the effect of GnRH was significantly greater when the spermatozoa had been previously treated with progesterone (progesterone → GnRH = 185 ± 116 zona‐bound spermatozoa versus DMSO → GnRH = 99 ± 15, P <0.001). On the other hand, previous treatment with GnRH did not modify their subsequent response to progesterone (GnRH → progesterone = 114 ±19 zona‐bound spermatozoa versus distilled water → progesterone = 108 ± 22, NS). The results regarding intracellular Ca2+ showed a similar pattern. These findings suggest a priming effect of progesterone upon a GnRH‐induced increase in sperm‐zona binding and intracellular Ca2+.


An international interlaboratory comparison of the measurement capabilities of four National Metrology Institutes (NMIs) and one Designated Institute (DI) in the determination of the chemical composition of thin Fe‐Ni alloy films was conducted via a key comparison (K‐67) of the Surface Analysis Working Group of the Consultative Committee for Amount of Substance. This comparison was made using XPS (four laboratories) and AES (one laboratory) measurements. The uncertainty budget of the measured chemical composition of a thin alloy film was dominated by the uncertainty of the certified composition of a reference specimen which had been determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry using the isotope dilution method. Pilot study P‐98 showed that the quantification using relative sensitivity factors (RSFs) of Fe and Ni derived from an alloy reference sample results in much more accurate result in comparison to an approach using RSFs derived from pure Fe and Ni films. The individual expanded uncertainties of the participants in the K‐67 comparison were found to be between 2.88 and 3.40 atomic %. The uncertainty of the key comparison reference value (KCRV) calculated from individual standard deviations and a coverage factor (k) of 2 was 1.23 atomic %. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The Pig is one of the most important sources of animal protein and an essential animal model for human biomedical research due to its anatomical, physiological, biochemical and metabolic similarities with human being. Profound understanding of the pig genome helps to understand its
biology in depth. To help this, availability of the pig genome sequence in the public databases facilitates research of wider spectrum. Generating Expressed sequence tags (EST) by partial sequencing normalized full-length cDNA libraries can improve the discovery of genes expressed in different tissues. cDNA libraries are also vital resources to elucidate alternative splicing pattern of genes and infer splice variants. The objective of this study was to pick and sequence the 5'end of 7,680 individual clones, identify clone sequences blasted against identical genes to determine the transcript size by Agarose-gel analysis and examining the presence of splice variants. Total RNA was isolated from eleven different tissues of an adult pregnant pig (113 days of gestation) and a normalized full-length cDNA library was constructed by a commercial company. Individual cDNA clones were cultured in 384-well plates and Sanger sequenced on an ABI3730 DNA analyser. The obtained sequence results were merged with results of two previous studies of the same cDNA library which resulted in 26,880 processed clones. In total 19,470 edited sequences were used for further analysis. Sequence similarity was searched using Basic Local Alignment Searching Tool (BLAST) against pig cDNA, human cDNA and mouse cDNA databases. A total of 12,461 sequences provided hit against the pig cDNA database and 8,300 sequences provided hit against the human
cDNA database. 5,268 sequences provided hit against the mouse cDNA database. Moreover, the first 100 base pairs of the sequences were blasted against the newly released pig genome (build 10.2). In total of 12,222 sequences provided hit against the pig genome. Significant amount of clones provided database specific hits in either the Human or Mouse cDNA database which are important to retrieve homologous pig genes which are not mapped in the pig genome. A total of 7,074 non-redundant transcripts and 6,877 non-redundant genes were retrieved. PCR and Gel-electrophoresis protocols were optimized to determine insert the size of transcripts. Transcript length of 108 clones blasted against 10 different genes was determined and variation in size was obtained. The complete sequence of the 13 clones blasted to the same gene; the Swine Leucocyte Antigen (SLA-3) gene was obtained by sequencing with internal primers and variation in length and Exon-intron organization was confirmed. A comparison between the clone sequences and mRNA sequence stored in gene bank revealed higher degree of similarity and tissue specific transcripts were found. Large-scale screening and sequencing of cDNA libraries constructed from various tissues and development stages using the direct sequencing procedure can help to understand the pig genome. The procedure is also important to identify tissue specific splice variants.


The typical status attainment approach assumes a purely individual-level process, disregarding that individuals are interdependent because status positions are scarce. In line with arguments by Thurow [1975] and Coleman [1987] we reanalyze and extend Boudon's [1974] model in which status attainment is modeled as a competitive process. We use computer simulations to derive testable predictions from this model under different circumstances. In line with previous studies, we find that Boudon's assertion that mobility is not affected by educational inequality does not hold in all circumstances. Furthermore, we extend Boudon's model by allowing the distribution of jobs to shift upwards (in line with modernization arguments), and find that this has complex and counterintuitive effects on status inequality. We test the hypotheses that we derive from the simulation on comparative data. Although not all hypotheses are supported, the results do lend support to the notion that status attainment is indeed a competitive process.Copyright © 2013 by Societa editrice il Mulino,Bologna.


The concept of non-economic losses (NELs) has recently emerged in the context of negotiations on loss and damage under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). NELs are losses of values that are not commonly traded in markets but bear high relevance for those affected. Examples include loss of life, biodiversity and cultural heritage. The ongoing institutionalization of approaches to loss and damage under the UNFCCC offers great opportunities to provide a sound information base for policy- and decision-making on NELs. Available expertise to meet the emerging knowledge needs includes insights into relevant indicators, and adequate means of integrating NELs into decision-making processes that seek to reduce losses ex-ante. Further research is needed to identify or develop appropriate responses to NELs ex-post. Here, historical analogues of loss and practices of remembrance and recognition can provide valuable insights. Opportunities for engagement exist at the UNFCCC's science-policy interface. These include participation and active engagement at open meetings under the UNFCCC to advance exchange on applied research that is framed around policy-relevant questions on NELs as well as interaction with the expert group on NELs that was set up under the designated policy body to work on loss and damage under the UNFCCC, i.e. the Warsaw International Mechanism.


After two decades of stagnation, Russia and the United States have pledged their support for reductions in nuclear warheads. But the vision of mutual disarmament remains plagued by doubts on all sides. Russia, the US and American allies struggle as ever with the notion that downsizing would be a step into the unknown, and hold on to the belief that, when it comes to deterrence, size matters. Until now, the reasons behind this anxiety – and whether it is justified – have not been properly explored. Based on a series of interviews with opinion formers in Russia and the US, this Adelphi examines long-held concerns about the effectiveness of deterrence (including extended deterrence) at low numbers, the possible incentives to use nuclear weapons first in a crisis, the potential for rearmament and risks surrounding nuclear multipolarity. Deep reductions in nuclear arsenals are much less problematic than commonly perceived, as the experience of the USSR and the US in the early Cold War, and China, France and the United Kingdom over a longer period demonstrates. Taking into account these examples, together with potential stumbling blocks and crisis scenarios, this book contends that arsenal size has little bearing on many of the security challenges usually associated with low numbers, and accordingly, that making deep cuts would not undermine international security.


The evolution of reproductive isolation via a switch in mimetic wing coloration has become the paradigm for speciation in aposematic Heliconius butterflies. Here, we provide a counterexample to this, by documenting two cryptic species within the taxon formerly considered Heliconius demeter Staudinger, 1897. Amplified fragment length poly-morphisms identify two sympatric genotypic clusters in northern Peru, corresponding to subspecies Heliconius demeter ucayalensis H. Holzinger & R. Holzinger, 1975 and Heliconius demeter joroni ssp. nov. These subspecies are reciprocally monophyletic for the mitochondrial genes COI and COII and the nuclear gene Ef1 α , and exhibit marked differences in larval morphology and host plant use. COI sequences from 13 of the 15 currently recognized subspecies show that mtDNA differences are reflected across the range of H. demeter , with a deep phylogenetic split between the southern and northern Amazonian races. As such, our data suggest vicariant speciation driven by disruptive selection for larval performance on different host plants. We raise Heliconius demeter eratosignis (Joicey & Talbot, 1925) to Heliconius eratosignis based on nomenclatural priority, a species also comprising H. eratosignis ucayalensis comb. nov. and three other southern Amazonian races. Heliconius demeter joroni spp. nov. remains within H. demeter s.s. , along with northern Amazonian and Guianan subspecies.


All refereed journals will soon be available online; most of them already are. This means that anyone will be able to access them from any networked desk-top. The literature will all be nterconnected by citation, author, and keyword/subject links, allowing for unheard-of power and ease of access and navigability. Successive drafts of pre-refereeing preprints will be linked to the official refereed draft, as well as to any subsequent corrections, revisions, updates, comments, responses, and underlying empirical databases, all enhancing the self-correctiveness, interactivity and productivity of scholarly and scientific research and communication in remarkable new ways. New scientometric indicators of digital impact are also emerging to chart the online course of knowledge. But there is still one last frontier to cross before science reaches the optimal and the inevitable: Just as there is no longer any need for research or researchers to be constrained by the access-blocking restrictions of paper distribution, there is no longer any need to be constrained by the impact-blocking financial fire-walls of Subscription/Site-License/Pay-Per-View (S/L/P) tolls for this give-away literature. Its author/researchers have always donated their research reports for free (and its referee/researchers have refereed for free), with the sole goal of maximizing their impact on subsequent research (by accessing the eyes and minds of fellow-researchers, present and future) and hence on society. Generic (OAi-compliant) software is now available free so that institutions can immediately create Eprint Archives in which their authors can self-archive all their refereed papers for free for all forever . These interoperable Open Archives will then be harvested into global, jointly searchable "virtual archives" (e.g., ). "Scholarly Skywriting" in this PostGutenberg Galaxy will be dramatically (and measurably) more interactive and productive, spawning its own new digital metrics of productivity and impact, allowing for an online "embryology of knowledge."


This paper investigates the notion of an ensemble artefact. This concept is proposed by Sein et al (2011) in their description of the Action Design Research method. This concept is based on the ensemble view of IT artefacts, which is described by Orlikowski & Iacono (2001) together with four other views. The conceptual journey from ensemble view to ensemble artefact is found problematic and is the impetus for a conceptual inquiry conducted in this paper. The conceptual investigation is supported by the use of a case illustration of an IT artefact in the social welfare sector. The different views from Orlikowski & Iacono are analysed and compared. The suggested conceptualisation of IT artefacts based on the ensemble view, made by Orlikowski & Iacono, is also analysed. Based on these analyses an alternative view is articulated: A communication tool view of IT artefacts. This view is compared with the ensemble view, especially in a design research context. The notion of ensemble artefact is contested, as is the suggested use of it as a main conceptual basis in design research.


Abstract. Many studies have focused on the physicochemical properties of aerosol particles in unusually severe haze episodes in North China instead of the more frequent and less severe hazes. Consistent with this lack of attention, the morphology and mixing state of organic matter (OM) particles in the frequent light and moderate (L & M) hazes in winter in the North China Plain (NCP) have not been examined, even though OM dominates these fine particles. In the present work, morphology, mixing state, and size of organic aerosols in the L & M hazes were systematically characterized using transmission electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, and nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometer, with the comparisons among an urban site (Jinan, S1), a mountain site (Mt. Tai, S2), and a background island site (Changdao, S3) in the same hazes. Based on their morphologies, the OM particles were divided into six different types: spherical (type 1), near-spherical (type 2), irregular (type 3), domelike (type 4), dispersed-OM (type 5), and OM-coating (type 6). In the three sampling sites, types 1–3 of OM particles were most abundant in the L & M hazes and most of them were internally mixed with non-OM particles. The abundant near-spherical OM particles with higher sphericity and lower aspect ratio indicate that these primary OM particles formed in the cooling process after polluted plumes were emitted from coal combustion and biomass burning. Based on the Si-O-C ratio in OM particles, we estimated that 71 % of type 1–3 OM particles were associated with coal combustion. Our result suggests that coal combustion in residential stoves was a widespread source from urban to rural areas in NCP. Average OM thickness which correlates with the age of the air masses in type 6 particles only slightly increased from S1 to S2 to S3, suggesting that the L & M hazes were usually dry (relative humidity


Solar fuels are proven to be promising candidates for thermochemical energy storage. However, the transient nature of solar radiation is an obstacle to maintaining a stable operational temperature inside a solar reactor. To overcome this challenge, the temperature of a solar reactor can be regulated by controlling the incoming solar radiation or the feedstock flowrate inside the reactor. In this work, a combined Proportional-Integral- Derivative (PID) controller is implemented to regulate the temperature inside a high-temperature tubular solar reactor with counter-current flowing gas/particles. The control model incorporates two control systems to regulate incoming solar radiation and gas flow simultaneously. The design of the controller is based on a reduced-order numerical model of a high-temperature tubular solar reactor that is vertically oriented with an upward gas flow and downward particle flow. The reactor receives heat circumferentially through its wall over a finite segment of its length. Formulation of the heat transfer model is presented by applying the energy balance for the reactor tube and considering heat and mass transfer inside. A set of governing differential equations are solved numerically by using finite volume method to obtain reactor wall, particles, and gas temperatures along the reactor length with various boundary conditions. Simulation results are used to tune the PID controller parameters by utilizing the Ziegler–Nichols tuning method. Both the simulation results and the controller performance are visualized on the LabVIEW platform. The controller is challenged to track different temperature setpoints with different scenarios of transient solar radiation. The performance of the PID controller was compared to experimental results obtained from industrial PID controller embedded to 7 kW electric furnace. Results shows that the combined PID controller is successful in maintaining a stable temperature inside the reactor by regulating the incoming solar radiation and the flowrate via small steady-state error and reasonable settling time and overshoot.


In October 1999, the Brighton Marine Block was awarded to Venture Production Company Trinidad Limited and Petrotrin, the Trinidadian National Oil Company, with Venture as operator. The challenges to improved field recovery posed by such a complex field, with more than 50 years of production history, are many. The field has potential, but requires new interpretations and ideas based on both new and old datasets, a phased programme of rehabilitation and a long-term development plan that will generate immediate value without compromising long-term oil production. Discovered in 1951, the Brighton Marine Field has produced almost 58×106 STB from an oil in place of over 500×106 STB. Production peaked at 14 000 BOPD in 1967 but had not exceeded 1000 BOPD since 1983. Some 275, mostly deviated, wells were drilled into the field from 11 onshore pads and 9 offshore platforms. In the year since Venture assumed operations, production rose to nearly 2000 BOPD through field infrastructure rehabilitation, well work-overs and the implementation of new field management processes. In early 2001, the first new well proved the presence of a commercial quantity of petroleum in a hitherto undepleted part of the field. It is very early in the rehabilitation process and much remains uncertain, but significant progress has been made in understanding the field and tapping its full potential. The field's first 3D seismic survey, acquired in 1997, has provided a significant enhancement to the understanding of a structurally and stratigraphically complex field. The field compartmentalization and 50 years of production, have complicated the distribution of pressures, sweep and compaction. In order to mitigate risks, a phased strategy was implemented. This process focuses initially on the most straightforward, cost-effective opportunities. These redevelopments are designed to maximize data collection, test new models and help finance more extensive developments. Already, this approach is starting to yield results, although it is still early days.


Hemolysin protein is exotoxin produce by organisms that cause lysis of blood cells. This study was conducted to screen the presence of hemolysin gene from 20 isolates of Klebsiella pneumonia based 16S rRNA genes by using specific primer. This gene potent the pathogenesis of Klebsiella pneumonia. The primer was designed in this study by NCBI-GenBank and primer3 plus. (Bioneer Company provided the primers. Korea). Molecular detection of isolates, which give away specific PCR products of 505bp for hly gene, hemolysin gene, was detected in 70% (14/20).


Eighteen Arctic Basin earthquakes were hydroacoustically detected during 64 days of monitoring with the Spinnaker hydrophone array in the Lincoln Sea (Arctic Ocean). Epicentral estimates were made for 12 of these events. Event ranges were estimated via the arrival time difference between the solid earth P -wave and the hydroacoustic T wave. Azimuths were estimated via plane-wave beamforming to the array elements in the 5–10 Hz band. The 12 events fall on the North American/Eurasian plate boundary at the extreme southern end of the Gakkel Ridge, and along the Spitsbergen Fracture Zone (Lena Trough). One of the events ( m b 5.4, 11 May 1996, Spitsbergen Fracture Zone) was detected by the Global Seismic Network (GSN) with an epicenter that differs from our hydroacoustic estimate by 51 km. Our hydroacoustic detection threshold appears to be m b ∼3–4 within a ∼1100 km radius of the Spinnaker array, confirming that T waves propagate efficiently in the Arctic Basin and that hydroacoustic techniques hold promise for seismic monitoring of the region.


Nearly all large American cities rely on zoning to regulate land use. According to Donald L. Elliott, however, zoning often discourages the very development that bigger cities need and want. In fact, Elliott thinks that zoning has become so complex that it is often dysfunctional and in desperate need of an overhaul. "A Better Way to Zone" explains precisely what has gone wrong and how it can be fixed."A Better Way to Zone" explores the constitutional and legal framework of zoning, its evolution over the course of the twentieth century, the reasons behind major reform efforts of the past, and the adverse impacts of most current city zoning systems. To unravel what has gone wrong, Elliott identifies several assumptions behind early zoning that no longer hold true, four new land use drivers that have emerged since zoning began, and basic elements of good urban governance that are violated by prevailing forms of zoning. With insight and clarity, Elliott then identifies ten sound principles for change that would avoid these mistakes, produce more livable cities, and make zoning simpler to understand and use. He also proposes five practical steps to get started on the road to zoning reform.While recent discussion of zoning has focused on how cities should look, "A Better Way to Zone" does not follow that trend. Although New Urbanist tools, form-based zoning, and the SmartCode are making headlines both within and outside the planning profession, Elliott believes that each has limitations as a general approach to big city zoning. While all three trends include innovations that the profession badly needs, they are sometimes misapplied to situations where they do not work well. In contrast, "A Better Way to Zone" provides a vision of the future of zoning that is not tied to a particular picture of how cities should look, but is instead based on how cities should operate.


Extracted from text ... 6 - IMIESA MARCH 2006
The elections held on 1 March marked the end of another term
for local government. An assessment of the past five years
brings to light salient questions that deserve answers, the
most important of which is how local government has worked - alongside
the national and provincial tiers and the various sectors - to
improve the lives of ordinary South Africans. Aside from the many
elaborate election manifestos of political parties, there is no clear
indication, at first glance, of what successfully implemented projects
have really achieved and what challenges will truly be addressed in ..


This paper discusses the need for the integration of storage systems on transmission networks having renewable sources, and presents a tool for energy storage planning. The tool employs robust optimization to minimize the investment in storage units that guarantee a feasible system operation, without load or renewable power curtailment, for all scenarios in the convex hull of a discrete uncertainty set; it is termed ROSION-Robust Optimization of Storage Investment On Networks. The computational engine in ROSION is a specific tailored implementation of a column-and-constraint generation algorithm for two-stage robust optimization problems, where a lower and an upper bound on the optimal objective function value are successively calculated until convergence. The lower bound is computed using mixed-integer linear programming and the upper bound via linear programming applied to a sequence of similar problems. ROSION is demonstrated for storage planning on the IEEE 14-bus and 118-bus networks, and the robustness of the designs is validated via Monte Carlo simulation.