Abstract. Photogrammetry needs known geometric elements to provide metric traceable measurements. These known elements can be a distance between two three-dimensional object points or two camera stations, or a combination of known coordinates and/or angles to solve the seven degrees of freedom that lead to rank deficiency of the normal-equation matrix. In this paper we present a novel approach for scaling and levelling to the local vertical direction an underwater photogrammetric survey. The developed methodology is based on a portable low-cost device designed and realized by the authors that uses depth measurements from a high resolution pressure sensor. The prototype consists of a data logger featuring a pressure sensor synchronized with a digital camera in its underwater pressure housing. The modular design, with optical communication and synchronization, provides great flexibility not requiring the camera housing to undergo any hardware modifications. The proposed methodology allows for a full 3D levelling transformation comprising two angles, a vertical translation and a scale factor and can work for surveying scenes extending horizontally, vertically or both. The paper presents the theoretical principles, an overview of the developed system together with preliminary calibration results. Tests in a lake and at sea are reported. An accuracy better than 1:5000 on the length measurement was achieved in calm water conditions.


In an increasingly ethnically diverse society, debates about migration, community, cultural difference and social interaction have never been more pressing.

Drawing on the findings from a two-year, qualitative Economic and Social Research Council funded study of different locations across England, Lived Experiences of Multiculture uses interdisciplinary perspectives to examine the ways in which complex urban populations experience, negotiate, accommodate and resist cultural difference as they share a range of everyday social resources and public spaces. The authors present novel ways of re-thinking and developing concepts such as multiculture, community and conviviality, whilst also repositioning debates which focus on conflict models for understanding cultural differences.

Amidst highly charged arguments over the social relations of belonging and the meanings of local and national identities, this timely volume will appeal to advanced undergraduate students and graduate students interested in fields such as Race and Ethnicity Studies, Sociology, Urban Studies, Human Geography and Migration Studies.


This paper presents a hands-on simulation that is conducted in an introductory integrated supply chain management course using enterprise resource planning concepts associated with the Cash-to-Cash Manufacturing Operating Cycle. More specifically, this activity simulates the activities in the procure-to-pay, plan-to-produce, and order-to-cash business processes to provide participants the opportunity to learn integration of key business processes in a purchasing, operations, and supply chain management context. The hands-on simulation is called Business Process Integration Simulation, or BPIsim. Participants collaborate on a five-member supply chain team comprised of an end-user, a distributor/dealer, a manufacturer (OEM), and two suppliers. While partaking in the simulation, participants actively experience the exchange of tangible resources (e.g., preprinted documents; prop cash money; packaging; and component, raw, semi-finished, finished, and trading goods inventories, etc.) and construct tangible products for the benefit of the customer. When the simulation is complete, the participants will have learned major ERP concepts and the five major activities associated with plan, source, make, deliver, and return management processes that are prominently highlighted in the seminal Supply Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) Model. Quantitative and qualitative data indicate that the hands-on simulation is not only intuitive, engaging, and fun, but also a highly-effective experiential learning activity to improve understanding of key business processes that span across five key supply chain members.


We investigate the importance of various mechanisms by which child care policies can affect life-cycle patterns of employment and fertility among women, as well as long-run cognitive outcomes among children. A structural life-cycle model of employment, fertility, and child care use is estimated using Norwegian administrative data. The estimation exploits a large-scale child care reform, which provided generous cash transfers to mothers who did not use formal child care facilities. Combining with administrative data on national test scores, we examine the effects of mother's behavior on long-run cognitive outcomes of children, via estimating a cognitive ability production function that corrects for the endogeneity of inputs. We find that the child care reform generates sizable changes in employment and fertility decisions, especially among low-education women. This leads to lower reading scores among children, primarily as a result of mothers shifting away from formal care and becoming employed. Simulation results suggest that a partial reform, in which workers are ineligible for cash transfers, can generate a more balanced impact on the population. The implications of tax policy and maternity leave are also investigated.


Microalgae are a promising feedstock for the production of sustainable, 3rd generation biofuels; however, current lipid-based processes are too expensive to effectively compete with existing transportation fuels. A potential solution is to convert the entire algae via hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) instead, therefore allowing the use of faster-growing, and cheaper microalgae. This project sought to address some of the main challenges with this technology, currently restricting its use for large-scale fuel production. Fuels are low value products and unlikely to pay for the entire fuel production process on their own. Consequently, the possibility of producing additional by-products from the conversion of polymer- containing algae, or combining HTL with a more conventional lipid- extraction process, was explored. In addition, the project studied the conversion of microalgae produced during the bioremediation of domestic wastewater, in order to help to offset the overall biomass production costs. The majority of research into algal HTL has been confined to batch systems, which are not fully representative of the continuous flow processes used for large-scale fuel production. Consequently, an inexpensive laboratory-scale system was designed to study the continuous HTL of algae under a range of operating conditions. Using this system, it was found that, compared to a batch reactor, significantly enhanced oil yields could be obtained from the system, as a result of increased heating rates, together with prolonged reaction times. Finally, the poor quality of the bio-oils produced by the HTL of microalgae is a major challenge. Particularly their high nitrogen content restricts their conversion within conventional petrochemical refineries. Therefore, significant upgrading is required before the oil can be fractionated into fuels. In order to achieve this, a range of zeolite-supported nickel phosphide catalysts were synthesised in this project, and tested for the denitrogenation of the model compound quinoline, before they were applied to the upgrading of bio-oil obtained from the continuous liquefaction of the wastewater-derived algae. Although the synthesised catalysts showed only low activity towards the denitrogenation of the bio- oil, they were more active for the hydrogenation of quinoline, compared to two conventional sulphided transition metal catalysts, and following further optimization, could therefore represent a viable class of oil upgrading catalysts.


Clinical-Medical Image:

Paget disease of the bone is a chronic disorder of unknown etiology that typically results in enlarged, deformed bones due to abnormal and excessive bone remodeling. The disease which can be monostotic or polyostotic and is characterized initially by an increase in bone resorption, followed by a disorganized and excessive formation of bone, leading to pain, fractures, and deformities. The classically described radiological appearances are of expanded bone with a coarsened trabecular pattern, but it can present differently according to the disease stage: in the active or osteolytic phase, aggressive bone resorption and lytic appearance are the hallmarks while on the quiescent and inactive stage there is a predominance of cortical thickening and sclerosis, and finally, it can have a mixed pattern presentation. The pelvis, spine, skull, and proximal long bones are most frequently affected. We depict an exuberant case of this disease with craniofacial involvement resulting in the historical eponym of Leontiasis Ossea (lion mask face) (Figures 1 and 2).


Enforcing rich policies in open environments will increasingly require the ability to dynamically identify external sources of information necessary to enforce different policies. In this paper, we introduce a semantic web framework and a meta-control model for dynamically interleaving policy reasoning and external service discovery and access. Within this framework, external sources of information are wrapped as web services with rich semantic profiles allowing for the dynamic discovery and comparison of relevant sources of information. Each entity relies on one or more software agents responsible for enforcing relevant privacy and security policies in response to incoming requests. These agents implement meta-control strategies to dynamically interleave semantic web reasoning, service discovery and access. This research has been conducted in the context of myCampus, a pervasive computing environment aimed at enhancing everyday campus life at Carnegie Mellon University though the proposed framework extends to a number of other environments (e.g. virtual enterprises, coalition forces, homeland security). Preliminary empirical results appear rather promising.


Vortices in protoplanetary disks have attracted attention since the discovery of lopsided structures. One of the possible mechanisms for producing vortices is the Rossby wave instability (RWI). In our previous work, we have performed detailed linear stability analyses of the RWI with various initial conditions. In this paper, we perform numerical simulations of the vortex formation by the RWI in two-dimensional barotropic disks using the Athena++ code. As initial conditions, we consider axisymmetric disks with a Gaussian surface density bump of various contrasts and half-widths. Perturbations grow as expected from the linear stability analyses in the linear and weakly nonlinear regimes. After the saturation, multiple vortices are formed in accordance with the most unstable azimuthal mode and coalesce one after another. In the end, only one quasi-stationary vortex (the RWI vortex) remains, which migrates inward. During the RWI evolution, the axisymmetric component approaches the stable configuration. We find that the axisymmetric component reaches the marginally stable state for the most unstable azimuthal mode at the saturation and for the m = 1 mode at the final vortex merger. We investigate the structure and evolution of the RWI vortices. We obtain some empirical relations between the properties of the RWI vortices and the initial conditions. Using tracer particle analyses, we find that the RWI vortex can be considered as a physical entity, like a large fluid particle. Our results provide solid theoretical ground for quantitative interpretation of the observed lopsided structures in protoplanetary disks.


The current study sought to investigate the extent to which early childhood educators' confidence in knowledge, attitudes and self-efficacy for supporting early self-regulation predicted educator behavior and children's self-regulation outcomes. Data from a diverse sample of 165 early childhood educators participating in a cluster Randomized Control Trial evaluation of a self-regulation intervention were utilized to evaluate the construct validity, reliability and predictive properties of the Self-Regulation Knowledge, Attitudes and Self-Efficacy scale. Evaluation via traditional (EFA, Cronbach's Alpha) and modern approaches (Rasch Analysis) yielded a valid and reliable 25-item scale, comprising three distinct yet related subscales (i.e., confidence in knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy). For educators assigned to the intervention group, self-efficacy significantly predicted educators perceived competency to implement the self-regulation intervention as well as their perceptions around the effectiveness of the intervention to enhance children's self-regulation. For educators assigned to the control group (i.e., practice as usual), educator attitudes longitudinally predicted children's end-of-year status and change in self-regulation (over 6 months later). Findings from this study suggest the importance of pre-school educators' beliefs for fostering early self-regulation and highlight a need to further explore the impact of these beliefs with regard to educator engagement with intervention.


Art historian, collector, museum director and broadcaster, Kenneth Clark was one of the leading cultural figures in Britain in the midtwentieth century. Accompanying a major exhibition, this book considers all aspects of his life and work, including his television career that climaxed in the landmark series 'Civilisation'. Particular emphasis is placed on Clark's support of, and influence upon, the art of his time. As director of the National Gallery he oversaw the relocation of the collection during the Second World War. He chaired the pioneering War Artists Advisory Committee, and persauded the government not to conscript artists - Henry Moore was one such artist who greatly benefited from Clark's support. After the war he resigned his directorship to concentrate on writing, in 1954 was co-founder of the broadcasting company that was to become ITV, and chaired the Arts Council from 1955 to 1960. A passionate advocate of art being made accessible to all, in 1969 Clark wrote and presented 'Civilisation' for the BBC, distilling the history of Western philosophy, culture and art into thirteen groundbreaking episodes. After a period of neglect, there is now considerable interest in Clark among academics, publishers and broadcasters. As well as providing new research and information on Clark, the book is a significant intervention into histories of modern British art.


It is a delicate matter to trade spot products and financial derivatives in energy markets. Op-posite to bond and stock markets, the underlying assets are real products and a significant part of the demand for them represents a real need for the products, which can only be substituted away with some difficulties or, in some cases, only in a prohibitively costly manner. This is particularly true in the spot market, where the demand is almost always met, but where the spot price processes can be quite different from the spot price processes conventionally used in the pricing of derivatives. This pattern of real demand is also the main reason for the existence of the well-known convenience yield in energy markets.


When a piece of 'evidence' is generated in the research environment and almost nobody hears about it, then can we really still call it a piece of 'evidence'? Does evidence only become evidence once it is used; and until then, is it just a piece of insignificant information? As we inexorably travel through the EBVM era, we must increasingly prioritise effective dissemination of evidence. This paper will use the VetCompass Programme at the Royal Veterinary College as a case study to explore a strategic dissemination plan and examine routes for effective dissemination. Although EBVM traditionally assumes an audience of academics or practicing veterinarians, the authors contend that substantial welfare gains can be additionally achieved by targeting current and future pet owners, the non-owner general public, industry, welfare bodies, scientific groups, breeders and kennel clubs. Effective dissemination should be strategic and give a priori consideration to identifying target audiences, appropriate formatting of the messages and open access routes for dissemination. Scientists who generate EBVM may not always be best placed to also disseminate these messages and therefore research teams should consider widening their combined skill-base to also incorporate marketing and media savvy. The VetCompass Programme is a new and hugely exciting project that shares de-identified primary-practice clinical data for research to support effective evidence based veterinary medicine and welfare reforms. VetCompass data collection commenced in 2009 and the current 470 collaborating primary-care practices have shared data on 4 million small animals and 45 million unique episodes of care. VetCompass has 15 peer-reviewed publications to date. In order to maximise the welfare gains from an array of evidence silos generated within VetCompass, a dissemination strategy was designed based on a Systems Thinking approach. The outcomes from a range of dissemination trials within VetCompass will be discussed to highlight the most effective vehicles for individual audiences. Traditional dissemination vehicles include peer-reviewed publications and conference talks but the authors will explore the utility of online interactive tools, poster infographics, social media, YouTube, newspaper, TV and radio in addition to engagement via embedding key groups within primary research itself. Effective dissemination pathways must be realistic within the resources available, and ideally should also enhance future evidence generation. For maximally effective EBVM, it is no longer enough to assume that if we build it, they will come. Instead, we must take our evidence to the audience.


Meeting the filtering requirements for telemetry transmitters and receivers can be challenging. Telemetry systems use filters to eliminate unwanted spurious or mixing products. The use of tunable microwave filters for both L and S Band can improve filter selectivity and provide low insertion losses in the filter passband. Along with meeting specifications, these microwave filters with the ability to tune an octave, reduce size and cost by the reduction of multiple, fixedfrequency filters. As size, weight and power are often a concern with aeronautical telemetry systems, this paper will demonstrate that microstrip tunable filters can be small in size and use minimal power. Telemetry transmitters are subject to difficult spurious emission and interference specifications and require selective filters to eliminate spurious signals before the final amplification. Telemetry receivers on the other hand are subject to intense Image and Local Oscillator (LO) rejection requirements and demand low insertion loss for front-end filtering. Low insertion loss filtering before the Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) circuit limits degradation to the system noise figure (NF). By using different filter topologies and state-of-the-art, high-Q varactor diodes, tunable microwave filters can be optimized for two different functions. The two functions emphasize either low insertion loss or selectivity. An important design consideration with tunable filters, when compared to typical fixed frequency filters, is the degraded intermodulation performance. This is largely due to the non-linear behavior of the varactor diodes. This paper describes the benefits and limitations of microwave tunable filter architectures suitable for both aeronautical telemetry transmitters and telemetry receivers. Information on the computer modeling of varactor diodes will be covered as a critical part of the design. Potential design considerations for microwave tunable filters will also be covered. Through the use of simulation software and filter prototypes, this paper presents dramatically improved filter performance applicable to telemetry transmitters and receivers.


Research assessing the biological impacts of global ocean change often requires a burdensome characterization of seawater carbonate chemistry. For laboratory-based ocean acidification research, this impedes the scope of experimental design. Honeywell Durafet® III pH electrodes provide precise and continuous seawater pH measurements. In addition to use in oceanographic sensor packages, Durafets can also be used in the laboratory to track and control seawater treatments via Honeywell Universal Dual Analyzers (UDA). Here we provide performance data, instructions, and step-by-step recommendations for use of multiple UDA-Durafets. Durafet pH measurements were within ± 0.005 units pHT of spectrophotometric measurements and agreement among eight Durafets was better than ± 0.005 units pHT. These results indicate equal performance to Durafets in oceanographic sensor packages, but methods for calibration and quality control differ. Use of UDA-Durafets vastly improves time-course documentation of experimental conditions and reduces person-hours dedicated to this activity. Due to the versatility of integrating Durafets in laboratory seawater systems, this technology opens the door to advance the scale of questions that the ocean acidification research community aims to address.


Proteins play a crucial role in life, taking part in all vital process in the body, and are therefore used as therapeutic agents in a diverse range of biomedical applications. When administrated into bodily fluids, most native proteins are prone to degradation or inactivation process. The challenges of protein delivery are overcoming poor stability, low permeability toward cell membrane. Among all existing materials for protein delivery, mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) are one of the most promising intracellular nanocarriers due to its key properties: biocompatible, straightforward synthesis, and surface modification. For various biomedical applications, monodisperse MSNs with a particle size in the 50-200 nm range,3 controllable surface chemistry,4 and a large pore size (> 5 nm) are desired. This thesis presents a new method to synthesize large disc-like pore (10 ± 1 nm) containing MSNs with an elongated cuboidal-like geometry (90 × 43 nm), which effectively encapsulate and release proteins.


This document explores an ambiguity in the interpretation of the
 element of the Presence Information Data
Format for Location Objects (PIDF-LO) in cases where PIDF-LO is
conveyed by the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). It provides
recommendations for how the SIP location conveyance mechanism should
adapt to these ambiguities. Documents standardizing the SIP location
conveyance mechanisms will be standards-track documents processed
according to the usual SIP process. This document is intended
primarily to provide the SIP working group with a statement of the
consensus of the GEOPRIV working group on this topic. It secondarily
provides tutorial information on the problem space for the general
reader.


E-learning has become a critical factor in the academic environment due to the endless number of possibilities that it opens for the learning context. However, these platforms often suppose to increase the difficulties for the communication between teachers and students. Without having real contact between teachers and students, the former finds it harder to adapt their methods and content to their students, while the students also find complications for maintaining their focus. This paper aims to address this challenge with the use of emotion and engagement recognition techniques. We propose an emotion-aware e-learning platform architecture that recognizes students' emotions and attention in order to improve their academic performance. The system integrates a semantic task automation system that allows users to easily create and configure their own automation rules to adapt the study environment. The main contributions of this paper are: (1) the design of an emotion-aware learning analytics architecture; (2) the integration of this architecture in a semantic task automation platform; and (3) the validation of the use of emotion recognition in the e-learning platform using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) methodology.


This study examined the possible relationship between reaction time 'foreperiod' length and optimal performances as measured by a text of muscular power. Specifically, several questions were asked: -- 1. Would the use of 5 different foreperiods (i.e. 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5 and 3.0 seconds) produce significantly different measures of muscular power for the same individual, using the same sub-maximal load for all trials? -- 2. Which of the 5 choses foreperiods would have a 'no' effect of an 'equal' effect upon measured muscular power? -- 3. Could various foreperiods be used in a future investigation with reasonable certainty of no inherent experimental bias being introduced into the data, which might contaminate recorded measures of muscular power? -- The ultimate problem was defined: did 24 force-velocity trials with the same sub-maximal load, but with randomly varied reaction time foreperiods, induce significantly different scores of muscular power from the same individual? This was determined by comparing optimal performances for each foreperiod. -- The alternative hypothesis (H) was tested: Any individual's average score of muscular power, with a pre-determined sub-maximal load, will be significantly different for each of 5 different foreperiods. -- To test the alternative hypothesis, a one-group repeated measures design, involving a single test, was employed. A random sample of 7 male students was tested, using specially constructed apparatus designed to (a) measure muscular power, (b) vary foreperiods. The test consisted of 24 trials with randomly varied foreperiods; the subject was asked to respond to a green light, by kicking against a resistance as hard and fast as possible. -- Mechanical principles governed both the construction of the measuring instruments, and the calculation of scores of muscular power from observed data. (A high reliability score (r = 0.99) was obtained for the measuring technique employed.) -- The effect of the independent variable (i.e. randomly varied foreperiod) upon the dependent variable (i.e. measured muscular power) was ascertained; to compare performances with each of the 5 chosen foreperiods, an analysis of variance, utilizing a repeated measures design with two experimental variables, was undertaken. Statistical analysis (two-tailed, at the 0.05 level of significance) indicated that the treatments effects (i.e. varying foreperiods) were insignificant, since the tabled F value was considerably greater (=5.664) than the obtained value (=0.722). Consequently no reasonable evidence existed for rejecting the Null Hypothesis (H₀); the Alternative Hypothesis (H₁) could be rejected with reasonable confidence, since the low observed F value indicated a relatively small chance of making a type II error. -- Differences between subjects were highly significant (α = 0.05) with an obtained F value much larger (= 440.647) than the tabled value (= 2.214). Order of trials had no significant effect on performance (α = 0.05); the obtained F value being smaller (= 2.532) than the tabled value (= 2.719). Each of the three first-order interactions was insignificant (α = 0.05). -- It was concluded that: -- (1) Whilst an optimum foreperiod may exist for any reaction time task, results indicated that no such optimum foreperiod exists for the muscular power task outlined in this investigation. -- (2) Similar randomly varied foreperiods would not act as an intervening variable, contaminating observed scores of muscular power, in future investigations. -- It was subsequently recommended for future investigations, that various sub-maximal loads be used together with randomly varied foreperiods, when measuring simultaneously muscular power and reaction time.


Robust and reliable measurements in electrochemical biosensing of molecules are crucial for personalized medicine. Electrochemical sensors based on cytochrome P450 can detect the large majority of drugs commonly used in pharmacological treatments. The same cytochrome can detect different substrates; each of them changes the electrochemical response of the enzyme in a specific manner. Our system exploits the measure of electrical potential to identify the drug type, while current measurements decode the drug concentration. Since potential and current are affected by pH and temperature, and since variations occur in the patient samples, we propose a novel design for multiplexing biosensing with pH and temperature control, which ensures more precise measurements for drugs identification and their quantification.


The determination of the per capita water consumption is an essential step in the design of water supply systems. The present paper examines the influence of several variables on the per capita water consumption, based on 96 different towns in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. The set of samples was categorised firstly into five different classes and three distinct population intervals and, finally, was presented in overall terms. The paper also attempts to explain the relative influence of the intervening factors for each population range, and presents a multivariate regression model for the per capita water consumption rates for towns with populations ranging from 50,000 to 100,000 inhabitants. For this population range, the significant variables were: (a) percentage of water metering, (b) water tariff, and (c) energy consumption by commercial and industrial activities.


Background:Evidence is conflicting about the association of abacavir use and cardiovascular disease (CVD) among HIV-infected individuals. Previous studies may have been biased by the preferential initiation or continuation of abacavir in patients with renal dysfunction. Methods:We conducted a cohort study in Kaiser Permanente California during 1998–2011, following HIV-infected adults initiating antiretroviral therapy until the earliest of CVD (ie, coronary heart disease or ischemic stroke), health plan disenrollment, death, or end of study. We used inverse-probability weighting to fit marginal structural models to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) for CVD comparing regimens with and without abacavir. Propensity score models included demographics, HIV-specific factors, and CVD risk factors, including alcohol/drug use, smoking, overweight/obesity, diabetes, lipid-lowering and hypertension therapy, and renal dysfunction (ie, estimated glomerular filtration rate <60 mL·min−1·1.73 m−2). Results:Among 8154 subjects, 178 had ≥1 CVD event, with 24/704 (3.4%) in the abacavir group and 154/7450 (2.1%) in the group initiating regimens without abacavir. Abacavir users had more renal dysfunction at antiretroviral therapy initiation (7.0% vs. 3.3%, P < 0.001). Compared with patients initiating regimens without abacavir, abacavir users had a 2.2-fold higher risk of CVD in intention-to-treat analysis [HR 2.2, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.4 to 3.5], a 2.7-fold higher risk when remaining on their initial regimens for ≥1 year (HR 2.7, 95% CI: 1.5 to 5.0), and a 2.1-fold higher risk in per-protocol analysis (HR 2.1, 95% CI: 0.9 to 5.0). Conclusions:Abacavir was associated with an over 2-fold increased risk of CVD, which was not explained by renal dysfunction or other CVD risk factors.


The Teardrop 2.0 is a towed, wing shaped device used for the underwater surveying of shallow coral reefs. We use computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to examine the lift forces acting on a model of the Teardrop 2.0 and determine its lift coefficient for different angles of attack. In this study, a full scale computer generated reconstruction of the Teardrop 2.0 is subjected to fluid tunnel simulations using CFD software. It is found that lift is greatest at an attack angle of around 25°. At greater angles of attack, large regions of recirculation form behind the wing. This effect reduces flow past the trailing edge of the wing, causing lift to decrease. The resulting lift coefficient curve is found to be consistent with experimentally determined lift coefficient curves for flat plate wings.


One of the interesting findings among the seasonalities in stock markets is that the return, volume and volatility of the stock prices and bid-ask spreads all broadly follow a U-shaped pattern over the trading day. This study examines the intra-daily seasonalities of the stock returns in the emerging Turkish Stock Market which is an order-driven continuous auction market using electronic trading without market makers in the period from January 1, 1996 through January 15, 1999 by using 15-minute (and also 5 minute and 1 minute) interval data. Results show that stock returns follow a U-shaped or more precisely a W-shaped pattern over the trading day at the Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE) since there are two trading sessions in a day. This result is consistent with the previous findings in the literature. Opening (Overnight) and closing returns are significantly large and positive. In addition, volatility is higher at the openings and follows an L-shape pattern during the both sessions. Interestingly, the daily average close-to-close returns are generated only during the opening and closing intervals and the average intra-day return is negative when the returns at the opening and/or closing intervals (even the first and the last minutes of the day) are excluded from the analyses. Thus, the rest of the trading day provides no gains (losses) to close-to-close overall returns. Findings suggest that relatively higher closing prices are not corrected by the market at the opening of the next trading day. Relatively higher mean return and standard deviation at the openings of the trading sessions seem to be significantly generated by the accumulated overnight information and the closed-market effect (halt of trade). Mondays have the highest opening mean return and volatility among the days of the week supports this explanation. On the other hand, large day-end returns are strongly affected by the activities of fund managers and speculators who, at the end of the day, boost their portfolios' asset value by bidding higher and accepting ask prices that result to higher closing prices with the contribution of relatively higher minimum tick sizes determined by the Stock Exchange. Intra-day seasonalities that also exist significantly in the Turkish Stock Market, are consistent with those of the international stock markets. This conclusion implies that large profits can be realized by using a simple trading rule, based on the strong intra-day seasonalities in stock returns at the ISE, such as buying and selling stocks at a particular time of the day.


Abstract We examined the progression of lexical-retrieval deficits in individuals with neuropathologically determined Alzheimer's disease (AD; n = 23) and a comparison group without criteria for AD (n = 24) to determine whether linguistic changes were a significant marker of the disease. Our participants underwent multiple administrations of a neuropsychological battery, with initial administration occurring on average 16 years prior to death. The battery included the Boston Naming Test (BNT), a letter fluency task (FAS) and written description of the Cookie Theft Picture (CTP). Repeated measures analysis revealed that the AD-group showed progressively greater decline in FAS and CTP lexical performance than the comparison group. Cross-sectional time-specific group comparisons indicated that the CTP differentiated performance between the two groups at 7–9 years prior to death and FAS and BNT only at 2–4 years. These results suggest that lexical-retrieval deficits in written discourse serve as an early indicator of AD.


We developed an electrooptic (EO) sensing system using an external optical intensity modulator for radio frequency (RF) electric near-field measurements. This low-noise, high-frequency resolution system is based on the photonic heterodyning technique in which a RF near-field signal is mixed with modulated light by an EO crystal and downconverted to the difference frequency. Because the optical modulator has a bandwidth extending from DC to several gigahertz, the frequency resolution of this system is determined by that of the RF synthesizer it uses. The intensity noise of the modulated light is quite low, and the noise level of the EO signal can be reduced to almost the shot-noise level by using a balanced detection scheme.


Taxes and subsidies are increasingly being considered as potential policy instruments to incentivize consumers to improve their food and beverage consumption patterns and related health outcomes. This study provided a systematic review of recent U.S. studies on the price elasticity of demand for sugar‐sweetened beverages (SSBs), fast food, and fruits and vegetables, as well as the direct associations of prices/taxes with body weight outcomes. Based on the recent literature, the price elasticity of demand for SSBs, fast food, fruits and vegetables was estimated to be −1.21, −0.52, −0.49 and −0.48, respectively. The studies that linked soda taxes to weight outcomes showed minimal impacts on weight; however, they were based on existing state‐level sales taxes that were relatively low. Higher fast‐food prices were associated with lower weight outcomes particularly among adolescents, suggesting that raising prices would potentially impact weight outcomes. Lower fruit and vegetable prices were generally found to be associated with lower body weight outcomes among both low‐income children and adults, suggesting that subsidies that would reduce the cost of fruits and vegetables for lower‐socioeconomic populations may be effective in reducing obesity. Pricing instruments should continue to be considered and evaluated as potential policy instruments to address public health risks.


Create high-quality models in no time at all with these comprehensive, full-color, techniques and tutorials from Antony Ward and David Randall. These step-by-step tutorials walk readers through the creation of a high-quality female model while teaching you the basics and principles behind 3D modeling in Silo - including modeling the face and clothes, creating textures, and posing the character. The companion website includes all of the tutorial and project files. This book is officially endorsed and co-written by the creators of Silo, Nevercenter. Features include:* See how to create three main models - A base mesh, a detailed female base mesh and the final cover character, Jade Raven.* Covers both organic and hard surface modeling techniques.* Introduces the reader to more advanced Silo tools like Paint Displacement and UV Mapping.* Full of bonus material and information to make you a more efficient 3D artist.* The techniques featured can also be applied to other 3D applications, making the skills you will learn easily transferable.* Get money off Silo with the discount code included.


A cold-flow experimental investigation is performed on the Ryerson University lab-scale hybrid rocket engine test apparatus, in order to gain a further understanding of transient phenomena affecting the engine's hot test firing results to date. The hot test firing data was characterized primarily by noticeable thrust oscillation magnitudes at low frequency being measured by the test stand's thrust-measuring load cell, relative to somewhat lower magnitude low-frequency pressure oscillations being measured by a head-end pressure transducer. The present investigation allows for the evaluation of the fluid-structure interaction behaviour of the rocket engine's combustion chamber and upstream oxidizer feed-line/injection apparatus (along with the surrounding test stand structure). Pressurized air at a moderate temperature acts as the working fluid (rather than hot gas arising from combustion), passing through the internal flow system, and exiting at the engine's exhaust nozzle. Cold flow tests are conducted at three different flow-regulating orifice-plate conditions upstream of the head-end injector: 1) unchoked, 2) marginally choked and, 3) choked, in order to potentially observe any trends in that regard, as tied to feed-system stability/instability. The cold flow test results, from the experimental time-dependent measurement of pressure, thrust and axial acceleration, in turn undergo FFT analyses to help identify any frequency-dependent trends in regard to transient behaviour. Hammer tests are conducted to further establish the relevant lower frequency natural modes of structural vibration of the test apparatus with the engine in position The potential applicability of Karabeyoglu's well-known thermal lag-combustion-gasdynamic predictive model (for estimating a characteristic frequency), which captures to some degree the intrinsic low frequency combustion-based instability behaviour of hybrid rocket engines, is considered for the present test engine setup. There are some promising comparisons in terms of relevant frequencies of mechanisms in the 20 Hz range, mechanisms that might be coupling to produce a noticeably augmented oscillation condition (as was observed in the hot firing thrust measurements).


The Zandrivier Mine on Mount Mare in the Pietersburg Greenstone Belt exploited a gold-bearing, arsenical tourmalinite that formed during episodes of ductile and brittle deformation associated with D2 tectonism along the Snymansdrift Shear Zone. The deposit is unusual for an Archaean mesothermal gold lode in southern Africa with respect to the abundance of tourmaline rock that hosts large quantities of auriferous arsenopyrite. Some ore is preserved within strain shadows of a resistant quartz mica schist horizon, while fluid focussing and sulphide deposition were enhanced by the competence contrast between the overlying quartz mica schist and chert with a mudstone-derived, chlorite phyllonite in the footwall. Mineralisation appears to have commenced with barren pyrrhotite-siderite veining under a high strain regime with subsequent gold and arsenopyrite being deposited under brittle-ductile conditions associated with progressively decreasing strain. Although mineral elongation lineations and S-C duplexes in the quartz mica schist and phyllonite generally indicate oblique reverse movement with a dextral component, other kinematic indicators reflect elements of possibly earlier sinistral and normal motion. The deficiency of other major gold deposits in the Mount Mare section of the Pietersburg Greenstone Belt may be due to lack of balance between critical factors such as a favourable strain regime, relatively brittle host rocks, and conduits to an auriferous fluid source.


This paper analyses the link between forthcoming EU enlargement and selected aspects of EU institutional reforms, namely decision making rules in the European Central Bank and the status of the Eurogroup. It argues that some earlier arguments calling for urgent ECB reform are based on unrealistic assumptions. It concludes that the reform recently adopted by the EU Council as well as the present system, while not free from shortcomings, could provide a workable environment for monetary policy in an enlarged EMU. Additionally, the paper claims that designing efficient institutional solutions for the EU Council is also important from the perspective of new member states as it might impact on their chances for early adoption of the common currency.


BACKGROUND
High alcohol intake in pregnancy has been linked to abnormal fetal development. There are limited published data in Australia on standard drinks of alcohol consumed on a typical occasion during the periconceptional period or pregnancy.

METHODS
During 1995 to 1997, a 10% random sample of all nonindigenous women giving birth in Western Australia was surveyed 12 weeks after delivery (N=4,839). Women were asked questions about alcohol consumption in each of the 4 time periods: the 3 months before pregnancy and each trimester of pregnancy. Questions were framed to measure volume, frequency, and type of alcoholic beverage.

RESULTS
46.7% of the women had not planned their pregnancy. Most women (79.8%) reported drinking alcohol in the 3 months before pregnancy, with 58.7% drinking alcohol in at least 1 trimester of pregnancy. The proportion of women consuming 1 to 2 drinks on a typical occasion did not change much during pregnancy, but the number of occasions declined. Although the proportion of women consuming more than 2 standard drinks on a typical occasion declined after the first trimester, 19.0% of women consumed this amount in at least 1 trimester of pregnancy and 4.3% of women consumed 5 or more standard drinks on a typical occasion in at least 1 trimester of pregnancy. In the first trimester of pregnancy, 14.8% of women drank outside the current Australian guideline for alcohol consumption in pregnancy, decreasing to 10% in the second and third trimesters.

CONCLUSIONS
Women generally reduced their average alcohol consumption and the number of standard drinks on a typical occasion as their pregnancy progressed, although 10 to 14% were drinking outside current guidelines for pregnancy. It is important that all women of child-bearing age are aware, well before they consider pregnancy, of the risks of drinking alcohol during pregnancy so they can make informed decisions about their alcohol consumption in pregnancy.


With rapid development of electronic devices, their internal heat generation become significantly denser. Accordingly, the thermal management becomes increasingly important for their stable operation. For the heat dissipation performance improvement in limited installation spaces of integrated computer packages, passive two-phase cooling technique using water is being applied. Instead of water, using refrigerants as the working fluid is advantageous in many aspects. The large heat transport rate in refrigerant vapour allows compactness, while higher boiling heat transfer coefficient can extend the stable operation conditions with heavy loads of electronic devices. In this study, a gravity-driven cooling circuit so called looped thermosyphon using water, R134a, R1234ze(E), and R1234ze(Z) are experimentally investigated. The well-known hysteresis of boiling inception was confirmed but negligible with R134a, R1234ze(E) and R1234ze(Z). The experimental circuit successfully kept the heating block temperature simulating electronic devices below 80 °C at heat fluxes up to 1400, 1250, and 1110 kWm -2 with R134a, R1234ze(E), and R1234ze(Z), respectively; meanwhile that is 750 kWm -2 with water. Furthermore, by using a super-hydrophilic boiling surface, the heat flux was extended to 1600, 1400, and 1350 kWm -2 in R134a, R1234ze(E), and R1234ze(Z). The experiment demonstrated that using the selected volatile working fluids, instead of water, and the superhydrophilic surface can be a beneficial solution for electronic device cooling.


Bioinformatics, a field devoted to the interpretation and analysis of biological data using computational techniques, has evolved tremendously in recent years due to the explosive growth of biological information generated by the scientific community. Soft computing is a consortium of methodologies that work synergistically and provides, in one form or another, flexible information processing capabilities for handling real-life ambiguous situations. Several research articles dealing with the application of soft computing tools to bioinformatics have been published in the recent past; however, they are scattered in different journals, conference proceedings and technical reports, thus causing inconvenience to readers, students and researchers. This book, unique in its nature, is aimed at providing a treatise in a unified framework, with both theoretical and experimental results, describing the basic principles of soft computing and demonstrating the various ways in which they can be used for analyzing biological data in an efficient manner. Interesting research articles from eminent scientists around the world are brought together in a systematic way such that the reader will be able to understand the issues and challenges in this domain, the existing ways of tackling them, recent trends, and future directions. This book is the first of its kind to bring together two important research areas, soft computing and bioinformatics, in order to demonstrate how the tools and techniques in the former can be used for efficiently solving several problems in the latter.


Objectives
The growing obesity challenge around the world continues to warrant interventions that could mitigate disease onset and progression. This study aimed to evaluate the potential of seaweed supplementation using dulse (Palmaria palmata) and wakame (Undaria pinnatifida), in improving caloric management and insulin resistance, and mitigating inflammation and gut microbiome shifts in diet-induced obesity in C57BL/6 J mice.

Methods
Twenty-four individually-caged C57BL/6 J mice were fed ad libitum with a high-fat diet (HFD) with and without seaweed inclusion, and another 8 mice for low-fat control (n = 8). Freeze-dried dulse and wakame were incorporated in the test diets at 5% inclusion level. Glucose tolerance test was performed during week 4 to assess insulin resistance state of test animals. After 9 weeks, fresh fecal samples were collected from all 32 mice prior to necropsy. These were used for the gut microbiome analysis using MiSeq. Fecal triglyceride levels were determined using Infinity Triglycerides Kit while plasma Monocyte Chemoattractant Protein-1 (MCP-1) was quantified using ELISA.

Results
Despite higher feed intake, dulse-fed mice had lower feed efficiency, indicating less weight gain from same amount of diet. This group also showed improved early-phase insulin response compared to HFD and wakame-fed groups. Plasma inflammatory marker MCP-1 levels were also significantly reduced in dulse-fed mice. While liver triglyceride levels were not affected with the dietary inclusion, fecal samples showed that there was higher lipid being excreted in dulse-fed group. This suggests that caloric excess and inflammatory progression may have been mitigated by increased lipid excretion in the feces. Gut microbiome analysis showed that dulse-fed mice retained microflora composition that is comparable to those fed with low-fat diet.

Conclusions
Our work reveals that dulse supplementation improved obesity and associated metabolic parameters by increasing lipid excretion, improving early-phase insulin response, and mitigating both inflammation and gut microbiome shifts associated with HFD, more effectively than wakame. These provide initial evidences that dietary inclusion of dulse holds therapeutic promise in mitigating diet-induced obesity.

Funding Sources
Oregon State University Agricultural Research Foundation.

Supporting Tables Images and/or Graphs


Increasingly, communication requires more from the network stack. Due to missing functionality, we see a proliferation of networking libraries that attempt to fill the void (e.g., iOS to OSX Handoff and Google Cast SDK). This leads to considerable duplication of effort. Further, the provisions for extending legacy protocol stacks is largely exhausted (e.g., TCP options space is mostly allocated) making the addition of future extensions much more challenging. We present SLIM, an extensible session-layer intermediary that extracts the duplicate functionality from modern networking libraries and provides the means for future extensibility to the network stack. SLIM enables mobility, multiparty communication, and dynamic reconfiguration of the network stack in a straightforward and elegant way. SLIM includes an out-of-band signaling channel, which not only enables reconfiguration, but also allows for incremental evolution of the stack. To start, we tease out elements of session management which are currently conflated with transport semantics in TCP. Doing so highlights the need for sessions in contemporary use cases. Next, we propose session, flow and endpoint abstractions that allow application developers to describe communication between any number of participants. The abstractions apply to individual or a group communication allowing them to be managed as one. We describe the abstractions and evaluate them in terms of typical communication patterns. We demonstrate the abstractions via a prototype implementation of SLIM.


This small scale research project invited vegans to describe unfair experiences in personal, social and employment contexts. On the basis of the results, it is clear that members of the vegan community are at risk of unfair and discriminatory treatment in all major sectors of social life. This study reveals that the public sector is failing in its duty to accommodate veganism, particularly in health care. Protection for vegans in employment is urgently required in both the public and private sector. This study makes a number of recommendations related to the requirements of international and domestic law and urges the United Kingdom Equality and Human Rights Commission to pay particular regard to the vegan community.


The current demography and the language reality in our country necessitate that translators and interpreters should become more visible and need to play a more prominent role in our society. By supporting qualified translators, interpreters and translation projects we will help to facilitate the language reality. This ought to form part of the democratisation process in our country. This article attempts to investigate the role of translation service delivery in such a context and in such a way it can assist that multilingualism is being viewed as an asset, but also to sensitise language users of their language rights. The ultimate goal is to address the elitist and symbolic nature of translation and interpreting and to ensure that it has practical value for language users.


The Engineering Design and Engineering Validation Activities (EVEDA) of IFMIF, the International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility, are started as one of three projects of the Broader Approach Agreement as the collaborative works between Japan and Europe, in June 2007.The main objective of the project is deliver the detailed, complete, and fully integrated engineering design the IFMIF. The designs of key subsystems are validated by executing prototyping or mockup studies. The main outcomes one year after the start of the project are: the design of the prototype accelerator of low-energy part up to 9 MeV with 125 mA continuous wave deuteron beam was updated and optimized to employ the superconducting resonators as the main linac; the purification methods for controlling the erosion/corrosion and radioactive products in the flowing lithium used as the neutron producing target material were examined under the laboratory-scale; and the concept of the irradiation test modules was elaborated further by conducting thermo-mechanical and hydraulic analyses.


This is a study of the final semester of a clinical training course in psychoanalytic psychotherapy. This study explores the contribution of the classroom group to promoting the process of learning, in other words, its role as a learning group. The author took part in the group as a participant observer, but was also one of the two teaching staff responsible for the semester. Hence, the study is an exemplification of practice, from the inside outwards. Within the inter-disciplinary tradition of psychoanalytic anthropology, the study demonstrates the novel methodology of post-Foulkesian group-analytic ethnography. The study makes use of an understanding of the unconscious mind, one which emphasises associative processes. This perspective enables a focus on metonymy, a figure of speech where a concept or object is replaced by an associated concept or object. In the study, metonymy is used to facilitate both the elaboration of the methodology and methods of the study (by exploiting the associations between disciplines and processes that are contiguous), as well as the processes of analysis and interpretation of the data. Data was collected through participant observation (both at the time of the teaching and learning and in reflective consideration later), by audiotape recording the semester, and from analytic consideration of allied experiences. The study includes both a narrative account of the whole semester as well as analyses of a series of 'sticky moments', episodes that are dense with layered meanings. These sticky moments include: a difficult beginning; an eruption of emotion in an hiatus; the dramatic appearance of a powerful symbol; phenomena transferred to, enacted in and managed in an allied reflective space; and disconnection from reality at an ending. These are understood respectively as being, amongst other things, illustrations: of timelessness, and of containment, essential to the work of the group; of how an individual can come unconsciously through a form of symbolisation to be the focus of and conveyor of experience for the group; of condensation of an array of meanings into a single instance; of how displacement offers potential for resolution, and, finally, of how an absence of mutual contradiction can allow the unconscious to remain so, at a cost. From these accounts, a series of concepts, dynamics and issues are identified. These elements are then linked to form a group-analytically aware model in order to inform and to understand this type of teaching and learning. This model has twin foci, the content of the learning, and the context and process of that learning. The study aims to contribute in the following ways: to understanding of the processes of teaching and learning; to the development of research methodology for reflective practitioner research, particularly for use by clinicians but available to others; to clinical psychotherapy training; and to the promotion of professional development in related fields.


In the fluorescence light of a single atom, the probability for emission of a photon with certain polarization depends on the polarization of the photon emitted immediately before. Here correlations of such kind are investigated with a single trapped calcium ion by means of second-order correlation functions. A theoretical model is developed and fitted to the experimental data, which show 91% probability for the emission of polarization-correlated photon pairs within 24 ns.


Identification of candidate genes and their immunological mechanisms that control autoaggressive T cells in inflamed environments, may lead to novel therapies for autoimmune diseases, like type 1 diabetes (T1D). In this study, we used transgenic NOD mice that constitutively express TNF-alpha in their islets from neonatal life (TNF-alpha-NOD) to identify protective alleles that control T1D in the presence of a proinflammatory environment. We show that TNF-alpha-mediated breakdown in T cell tolerance requires recessive NOD alleles. To identify some of these recessive alleles, we crossed TNF-alpha-NOD mice to diabetes-resistant congenic NOD mice having protective alleles at insulin-dependent diabetes (Idd) loci that control spontaneous T1D at either the preinsulitis (Idd3.Idd5) or postinsulitis (Idd9) phases. No protection from TNF-alpha-accelerated T1D was afforded by resistance alleles at Idd3.Idd5. Lack of protection was not at the level of T cell priming, the efficacy of islet-infiltrating APCs to present islet peptides, nor the ability of high levels of CD4+ Foxp3+ T cells to accumulate in the islets. In contrast, protective alleles at Idd9 significantly increased the age at which TNF-alpha-NOD mice developed T1D. Disease delay was associated with a decreased ability of CD8+ T cells to respond to islet Ags presented by islet-infiltrating APCs. Finally, we demonstrate that the protective region on chromosome 4 that controls T1D in TNF-alpha-Idd9 mice is restricted to the Idd9.1 region. These data provide new evidence of the mechanisms by which selective genetic loci control autoimmune diseases in the presence of a strong inflammatory assault.


Background Lactase non-persistent (LNP) individuals may be lactose intolerant and therefore on a more restricted diet concerning milk and milk products compared to lactase persistent (LP) individuals. This may have an impact on body fat mass. Objective This study examines if LP and LNP children and adolescents, defined by genotyping for the LCT-13910 C > T polymorphism, differ from each other with regard to milk and milk product intake, and measures of body fat mass. Design Children (n=298, mean age 9.6 years) and adolescents (n=386, mean age 15.6 years), belonging to the Swedish part of the European Youth Heart Study, were genotyped for the LCT-13910 C > T polymorphism. Dietary intakes of reduced and full-fat dairy varieties were determined. Results LNP (CC genotype) subjects consumed less milk, soured milk and yoghurt compared to LP (CT/TT genotype) subjects (p<0.001). Subsequent partitioning for age group attenuated this observation (p=0.002 for children and p=0.023 in adolescents). Six subjects were reported by parents to be 'lactose intolerant', none of whom were LNP. LNP children and adolescents consumed significantly less reduced fat milk and milk products than LP children and adolescents (p=0.009 for children and p=0.001 for adolescents). Conclusions We conclude that LP is linked to an overall higher milk and dairy intake, but is not linked to higher body fat mass in children and adolescents.


We propose a new theory of Optimum Currency Areas (OCAs) based on monetary sovereignty. We consider two economically integrated countries with separate currencies and monetary policies, but with exchange rate underreaction. We show that the two countries are then engaged in a strategic monetization game, which may generate excessive inflation in equilibrium. A monetary union between the two countries can eliminate this excess inflation cost, but also removes a nation's monetary sovereignty. By eliminating the option to monetize debt in times of exigency, a monetary union may give rise to costly debt defaults. Joining a monetary union therefore involves trading excess monetization costs for debt default costs. Allowing for fiscal transfers within the union and for the option of debt monetization in a generalized crisis are optimal features of a monetary union. Our model also provides a coherent analytical framework that helps shed light of the recent history of OCAs.


We investigate several aspects of the correlations reported by the Pierre Auger Observatory between the highest energy ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) and galaxies in the Veron-Cetty Veron (VCV) catalogue of active galactic nuclei (AGNs). First, we quantify the extent of the inhomogeneity and impurity of the VCV catalogue. Second, we determine how the correlation between the highest energy Auger UHECRs and VCV galaxies is modified when only AGNs satisfying optical spectral line ratios, i.e. a very pure sample, are used. Finally, we measure the correlation between the published Auger UHECRs and the distribution of nearby galaxies. We find that the correlation between the arrival directions of published Auger UHECRs and the VCV AGNs is much stronger than the correlation with the random sets of galaxies drawn from nearby large-scale structure. This suggests that the correlation of the UHECRs with AGNs is not solely due to AGNs tracing the large-scale distribution of matter. We also find that once we take into account the heavy oversampling of the VCV catalogue in the Virgo region, the lack of UHECRs from that region is not incompatible with UHECRs having AGN sources.


Polygamy remains one of the key topics in various societies. It is through cultural practices, beliefs and also on the individuals' choices that people decide to be committed to polygamy lifestyles. Polygyny remains widespread across the world. Over seventy percent of the societies known to Anthropologists permit men to marry more than one wife. There are consequences to each type of marriage that certain individuals might adapt to. Women who have entered into polygamous marriages have different experiences that can be enriching to those who practice monogamy.This paper highlights what people in polygamous marriages face on a daily basis. It argues that there are more disadvantages for women who are in polygamous marriages than there are for their counterparts in monogamous relationships. The paper further suggests that the patriarchal power structure appears to play a powerful and effective role in polygamous marriages in our societies. However, there is also a realization that many people practsing polygamy are happier. There is also an exploration of the complexities of polygamous marriages from a worldview with the hope of understanding the nature and evolution of polygamous marriages. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n27p1058


Abstract. The remote sensing of total column water vapour (TCWV) from polar orbiting, sun-synchronous satellite spectrometers such as the Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) on board of ENVISAT and the Moderate Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board of Aqua and Terra enables observations on a high spatial resolution and a high accuracy over land surfaces. The observations serve studies about small-scale variations of water vapour as well as the detection of local and global trends. However, depending on the swath width of the sensor, the temporal sampling is low and the observations of TCWV are limited to cloud-free land scenes. This study quantifies the representativeness of a single TCWV observation at the time of the satellite overpass under cloud-free conditions by investigating the diurnal cycle of TCWV using 9 years of a 2-hourly TCWV data set from global GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite Systems) stations. It turns out that the TCWV observed at 10:30 local time (LT) is generally lower than the daily mean TCWV by 0.65 mm (4 %) on average for cloud-free cases. Averaging over all GNSS stations, the monthly mean TCWV at 10:30 LT, constrained to cases that are cloud-free, is 5 mm (25 %) lower than the monthly mean TCWV at 10:30 LT of all cases. Additionally, the diurnal variability of TCWV is assessed. For the majority of GNSS stations, the amplitude of the averaged diurnal cycle ranges between 1 and 5 % of the daily mean with a minimum between 06:00 and 10:00 LT and maximum between 16:00 and 20:00 LT. However, a high variability of TCWV on an individual day is detected. On average, the TCWV standard deviation is about 15 % regarding the daily mean.


Purpose: Indeed due to global advancement, rapid technological innovation, and enhancing regional influence, supply chain (SC) has become an essential element. Now, competition has shifted from organization to industry level; any disruption can not only disturb organization but also affect the whole industry. Although Pakistan is agriculture land still industry sector is supporting more than half population, especially the automotive sector is the highest growing sector. Due to regional and economic shift toward China and India, this sector is facing numerous problems. Only thirteen large-scale automotive organizations are operational by creating collaboration among them many issues can be resolved. Supply chain collaboration has dogged the performance in various industries and in various regions. The aim of this study is to explore the potential benefits of supply chain collaboration toward achieving operational performance.Design/methodology/approach: This is an empirical investigation conducting among supply chain department of automotive industries in Pakistan. Data were collected from 232 members of the supply chain that include suppliers, manufacturers, and distributors. Factor analysis and multiple regressions through SPSS have been used for data analysis.Findings: The finding of this study reveals that two supply chain management approaches information sharing (IS), joint decision making (JDM) significantly effect, while Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) does not have a significant effect on operational performance.Research limitations: This study consists only three approaches, next study should include more approaches. Secondly, this study is limited to the automotive sector.  Practical implications: [This study will help the managers of the automotive industry in making their operation smooth by applying information sharing, joint decision making, and electronic data interchange.Originality/value: First novelty of this study is the implementation of supply chain collaboration for developing country especially for Pakistan. Secondly, this study seed collaboration as communication and include all aspects of communication like formal communication, informal communication.


Manufacturers are the leaders in developing new products to drive productivity. Higher productivity means more products based on the same materials, energy, labour, and capitals. New product development plays a critical role in the success of manufacturing firms. Activities in the product development process are dependent on the knowledge of new product development team members. Increasingly, many enterprises consider effective knowledge search to be a source of competitive advantage.

This research presents an exploratory case study conducted at an aircraft manufacturer. This investigation uncovered six, empirically derived and theoretically informed, problems to enterprise knowledge search. They have been articulated as (i) the effectual web bandwidth limits search speed; (ii) less relevant search results based on word-frequency recognition models of search engine; (iii) un-useable techniques for enterprise search; (iv) rigour security, reliability, and company policy; (v) poor search performance about unstructured enterprise knowledge; (vi) the lack of tacit knowledge sharing. Existing search methodologies have focused on the internet search, rather than providing effective search for enterprise.

This research aim is developed to assist the manufacturing enterprise in meeting the industrial requirements in the following way: a methodology and system that can improve the information and knowledge search performance in new product development process. Based on the exploratory case findings, a knowledge search methodology and system has been developed. Agent technology is used to fulfil the requirements of enterprise search. Some initial tests were conducted to better understand implementation issues and future deployment of the methodology and system in practice.


Excellence in academic performance at the graduate level requires good command of writing skills. Teachers' written feedback can help students to develop their writing skills. However, several personal and contextual factors may influence feedback processes and its utilization by students. Therefore, understanding these factors is essential to improve the practice of written feedback.  This study aimed to appraise the quality of written feedback in the graduate programmes and to ascertain students' perceptions about it at a private university in Pakistan. A purposive sample of 15 participants comprised the study. The data were collected through in-depth students' interviews and the teachers' written comments on students' assignments. Data were coded and categorized to assess the pattern of similarities and dissimilarities. The analysis of comments on students' assignments indicated that the amount of feedback varied greatly. Although some feedback focused on form and style, most comments focused on the content. Moreover, the tone of comments lacked a balance of praise, criticism and suggestions. The data from students' interviews were categorized as: variations in experiences, functions of written feedback, effectiveness of feedback and utilization of feedback. With some exceptions students' perceptions about the quality feedback corroborated with the teachers' comment analysis. The study highlights several factors that impact the receptivity and utilization of feedback by students.  Therefore, teachers need to be aware and trained to enhance the quality of their feedback.


Coliseums can create consumer surplus benefits by providing types of entertainment to local residents that would otherwise not be available to them. This paper estimates consumer surplus for a major city owned entertainment/convention facility, the Greensboro Coliseum Complex (GCC). A novel aspect of this paper is that it estimates the distribution of consumer surplus across households of different income levels, as well as aggregate consumer surplus. It is estimated that aggregate consumer surplus from the GCC in 1999 exceeded the public subsidy for this complex, but a disproportionate amount of the consumer surplus benefits go to higher income households.


Globally, there is a trend towards privatization due to poor performance of public extension services. Private agricultural extension system is considered demand-driven, cost-effective with efficient and quality service. In Pakistan, Privatization of agricultural extension system was started in 1988 when the then Government of Pakistan established a commission to look into the causes of poor performance of agricultural sector and suggest ways to improve its performance. The commission suggested the involvement of the private sector in reshaping agricultural extension. It was a major policy shift, in which the supply of inputs was shifted to private sector from public sector. Currently, 320 pesticide companies (private sector) are working in the Punjab. These companies not only provide pesticide products to the farmers through dealers but also provide advisory services to them. Privatization experiences in the world had mixed results. In some cases it has positive results while in other location the results are discouraging. The present study was conducted to analyze the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for private extension system in the Pakistani context where the literature is either silent or scanty about the performance of private sector extension. A cross-sectional research design was used for the study. The study was carried out in the Punjab province which comprises five cropping zones, out of which, three zones were selected purposively. Multistage proportionate sampling technique was used for the selection of respondents. A sample of 408 respondents was selected (136 from each zone) by using simple random sampling technique. Sample size was determined by using Fitzgibbon table (Fitzgibbon & Lynn, 1987). Similarly, a sample of 60 respondents from EFS of Syngenta (Pesticide Company) were also selected randomly by using the same table. The data were collected through personal interviews with the help of validated research instrument. The data, thus collected were analyzed by using computer software (i.e. SPSS). The results showed that a diagnostic skill of the EFS was strength of the system. Attributes of the EFS i.e. politeness and good conduct with farmers were also rated as strengths. Group discussion method was rated as strength of the system. However, subject matter coverage, target beneficiaries, extension approach and functions, communication, competencies of EFS of private extension found to be the weakness of the system. Limited opportunities existed for the demand of advisory services for specific crops at specific location and fee-based private extension system in the country. Overall it poses threat for the system. There were great discrepancies observed between the perceptions of the farmers and the EFS about the same questions. According to the EFS, the system has more strengths as compared to weaknesses. It is suggested that the steps should be taken to mitigate the weaknesses and ensure the strengths of the system. Similarly, threats should be converted into opportunities.


This paper investigates several approaches to bootstrapping a new spoken language understanding (SLU) component in a target language given a large dataset of semantically-annotated utterances in some other source language. The aim is to reduce the cost associated with porting a spoken dialogue system from one language to another by minimising the amount of data required in the target language. Since word-level semantic annotations are costly, Semantic Tuple Classifiers (STCs) are used in conjunction with statistical machine translation models both of which are trained from unaligned data to further reduce development time. The paper presents experiments in which a French SLU component in the tourist information domain is bootstrapped from English data. Results show that training STCs on automatically translated data produced the best performance for predicting the utterance's dialogue act type, however individual slot/value pairs are best predicted by training STCs on the source language and using them to decode translated utterances. © 2010 ISCA.


This working paper presents the progress made thus far in the development of a corpus-lexicographical approach to discourse analysis, more specifically the application of Hanks' [5, 6] Corpus Pattern Analysis (CPA) procedure to a (critical) discourse analysis task. The theoretical basis of CPA is explained, followed by some practical applications of CPA, namely lexicography and the proposed method of discourse analysis. Examples are taken from an ongoing investigation into the use of 'killing' verbs in contemporary British English, which draws upon two corpora: the British National Corpus (BNC) and the animal themed 'People', 'Products', 'Pests' and 'Pets' (PPPP) corpus [8]. Preliminary findings suggest that a CPA-assisted, or corpus-lexicographical, discourse analysis is one with a strong theoretical basis, whose transparency and systematicity empowers the analyst to make precise and persuasive argument


The results of two searches for pair production of vector-like T or B quarks in fully hadronic final states are presented, using data from the CMS experiment at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The data were collected at the LHC during 2016 and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb$^{-1}$. A cut-based analysis specifically targets the bW decay mode of the T quark and allows for the reconstruction of the T quark candidates. In a second analysis, a multiclassification algorithm, the"boosted event shape tagger,"is deployed to label candidate jets as originating from top quarks, and W, Z, and H. Candidate events are categorized according to the multiplicities of identified jets, and the scalar sum of all observed jet momenta is used to discriminate signal events from the quantum chromodynamics multijet background. Both analyses probe all possible branching fraction combinations of the T and B quarks and set limits at 95% confidence level on their masses, ranging from 740 to 1370 GeV. These results represent a significant improvement relative to existing searches in the fully hadronic final state.


The National Environmental Policy Act requires federal agencies to consider environmental impacts before acting.  NEPA is the Magna Carta of U.S. environmental law, a topic of intense debate, and the subject of ongoing rulemaking efforts.  Prior NEPA scholarship focuses almost exclusively on Environmental Impact Statements, which account for just 1% of all NEPA decisions.  Little is known about the length of time required to complete the other 99% of agency decisions, which involve a more streamlined review.  This is a critical gap in the literature because NEPA compliance involves an estimated 50,000 federal decisions annually.  NEPA reform, we believe, should begin with a careful understanding of NEPA practice at all levels of review.
To help advance effective NEPA reform, we studied over 41,000 NEPA decisions completed by the U.S. Forest Service between 2004 and 2020.  Using this data, we conducted a multivariate statistical analysis of the length of time required to complete the NEPA process at each level of review.  We then investigated factors associated with longer decisionmaking times.  Our model accounts for interactions between 3 levels of NEPA analysis, 43 activities involved in these decisions, 9 geographic regions, and the year of project initiation.  Contrary to widely held assumptions, we found that a less rigorous level of analysis often fails to deliver faster decisions.  Delays, we found, are often caused by factors only tangentially related to the Act, like inadequate agency budgets, staff turnover, delays receiving information from permit applicants, and compliance with other laws.  Improving NEPA efficacy, we argue, should therefore focus on improving agency capacity.  This approach, we believe, would improve the NEPA process and advance NEPA's mandate to engage with key stakeholders and carefully consider environmental impacts before making decisions.


Convolutional neural networks have been applied to a wide variety of computer vision tasks. Recent advances in semantic segmentation have enabled their application to medical image segmentation. While most CNNs use two-dimensional kernels, recent CNN-based publications on medical image segmentation featured three-dimensional kernels, allowing full access to the three-dimensional structure of medical images. Though closely related to semantic segmentation, medical image segmentation includes specific challenges that need to be addressed, such as the scarcity of labelled data, the high class imbalance found in the ground truth and the high memory demand of three-dimensional images. In this work, a CNN-based method with three-dimensional filters is demonstrated and applied to hand and brain MRI. Two modifications to an existing CNN architecture are discussed, along with methods on addressing the aforementioned challenges. While most of the existing literature on medical image segmentation focuses on soft tissue and the major organs, this work is validated on data both from the central nervous system as well as the bones of the hand.


Does paid employment during high school and college displace the time students spend in educational activities? Most enrolled college students in the US now work in paid jobs, almost half of whom work 25 or more hours per week. An economic approach suggests that students consider the tradeoffs involved with work versus study time allocation in terms of both current income and future earnings capacity and well being. There may be some complementarity, not just substitutability, between work and education time, regarding educational outcomes. Previous research tends to find that when paid hours exceed some threshold level, typically somewhere between 15 and 25 hours per week, various indicators of students' academic performance are lower. Longer work hours also undermine certain aspects of mental health. This research applies the pooled 2003-2005 American Time Use Survey (ATUS) data (n=47k#) to empirically investigate four main questions: (1) Are paid work hours of students associated with time spent doing homework or research and/or attending class? (2) If so, at what threshold point of paid work hours are hours of student work displaced? (3) Are there differences between college and high school students in the above relationships? They are addressed with econometric analyses of the ATUS sample of college (n = 1,314, with 1,121 full-time) students and high school students. (4) Is student employment in certain industries or occupations associated with more time spent studying? Work hours are found to be inversely related to hours in educational activities among those aged 16-24. Moreover, there are nonlinearities by the number of actual hours. In contrast to previous studies and samples, students who work as little as 5 or more hours spend a statistically significant lesser amount of time studying than their cohorts who are not employed. The extent to which work displaces time spent studying is consistent across levels of weekly work hours, but becomes largest when hours are 40 or more, even when controlling for various demographic and occupational characteristics, but not time spent in class. The conclusion explores how to investigate whether students who work during the school year have a relatively lower well being, as indicated by available estimates of net affect associated with particular uses of time? It also explores implications for policies, such as extending youth employment regulatory protections to students if it is warranted by clear threats to their mental or physical well being.


The effectiveness of dimethyl disulfide (DMDS) to control root-knot nematodes ( Meloidogyne spp.) and weeds was tested for the first time in Hungary in two consecutive protected cucumber crops with application made only before the first crop. The treatments were Accolade EC (DMDS 94.1%) at 400 l/ha applied by driplines, Nemathorin 10 G (fosthiazate) at 30 kg/ha, and an untreated control. During the first cucumber cycle vigour-index, yield, root-gall index, Meloidogyne juveniles in the soil and germination of weeds were evaluated. All considered parameters were significantly improved by using DMDS compared respectively to the chemical standard and untreated control: (i) vigour-index of 7.0, 4.3 and 3.6; (ii) cumulative yield/sample of 45.1 kg, 30.9 kg, and 16.6 kg; root-gall index (RGI) of 1.2, 4.9, and 5.9; (iii) M. incognita J2/25 g soil of 0.25, 48.5 and 78.0, and (iv) number of weed seedlings/sample in the 20–30 cm soil profile of 1.1, 2.6, and 4.2. During the second cucumber crop, only root-gall index was evaluated. Results showed that a single DMDS treatment applied before the first crop had a prolonged beneficial effect on the following crop. In the second crop cycle, root gall indices were 5.58, 9.18, and 8.44 for DMDS treated plots, chemical control and untreated control, respectively.


Research in automated planning typically focuses on the development of new or improved algorithms. Yet, an equally important but often overlooked topic is that of how to actually implement these algorithms efficiently. In this study, we are making an attempt to close this gap in the context of optimal Markov Decision Process (MDP) planning. Precisely, we present a novel cache-efficient memory representation of MDPs, which we call CSR-MDP, that takes advantage of low-level hardware features such as memory hierarchy. We evaluate the speed improvement provided by our memory representation by comparing the performance of CSR-MDP with the performance obtained by traditional MDP representation. We show that by using our CSR-MDP memory representation, existing MDP solvers, including VI, LRTDP and TVI, are able to find an optimal policy an order of magnitude faster.


Background
Mitochondrial dysfunction plays an important role in the pathogenesis and progression of diabetic nephropathy (DN). We study the relation between urinary and intra-renal mitochondrial deoxyribonucleic acid (mtDNA) levels and renal dysfunction in DN.

Methods
We recruited 92 patients with biopsy-proven DN. Urinary sediment, urinary supernatant and intra-renal mtDNA levels were measured and compared with baseline renal biopsy, kidney scarring and renal function decline in the subsequent 24 months.

Results
mtDNA could be detected in all urine supernatant, urine sediment and renal biopsy specimens. There was a modest but statistically significant inverse correlation between urinary supernatant and intra-renal mtDNA levels (r = -0.453, P = 0.012). Urinary supernatant mtDNA level had modest but statistically significant correlations, inversely with estimated glomerular filtration rate (r = -0.214, P = 0.04), and positively with interstitial fibrosis (r = 0.300, P = 0.005). Intra-renal mtDNA had significant inverse correlation with interstitial fibrosis (r = -0.537, P = 0.003). However, there was no significant relation between renal function decline and urinary supernatant, urinary sediment or intra-renal mtDNA levels.

Conclusions
mtDNA is readily detectable in urinary supernatant and kidney tissue, and their levels correlate with renal function and scarring in DN. Further studies are needed to determine the accuracy of urinary supernatant mtDNA level as a prognostic indicator of DN, as well as its role in other kidney diseases.


It has been found that the implementation of Human-centred Design (HCD) methods in the Fuzzy Front-End is not likely to lead to diversification in educational product planning exercises, where time lines are short and executors lack experience. Companies, interested to collaborate with Master-level Industrial Design students on strategic design projects, should have realistic ambitions with respect to innovation and value creation. Moreover, diversification is not the only generic growth strategy to gain competitive advantage. Value can also be created from developing new products for existing markets, or creating new markets for existing products. On the contrary, companies who aim for diversification in their generic growth strategies, may not always end up with a complementary 'high valued' design outcome. From a learning perspective, the understanding of HCD methods created awareness among students and companies that respect and empathy for the end-user are important for enriching their design processes, and as such increasing the chances for diversification in subsequent projects with clients. This study also compares the implementation of Human-Centred Design (HCD) methods in a professional /collaborative and an educational/collaborative strategic design project.


Abstract. We estimate the net production of phytoplankton in the Gulf of Maine (GoM) over a 3-yr period using satellite ocean color data in conjunction with surface velocities from a high-resolution operational ocean circulation model. Chlorophyll (Chl-a) and light attenuation (K490) products are combined with a carbon to chlorophyll model to estimate the phytoplankton carbon (PC) stock in the euphotic layer. A satellite-based productivity, termed NCPe in analogy with net community production (NCP), is derived by tracking changes in satellite-derived PC from one satellite image to the next, along water parcel trajectories calculated with surface velocities from the ocean circulation model. Such an along-trajectory analysis of satellite data discounts the effect of advection that would otherwise contribute to the temporal change between consecutive images viewed in the fixed reference frame. Our results show a high variability of up to ±500 mg C m−2 d−1 in NCPe on spatial scales of 10–100 km. A region-wide median NCPe of 40–50 mg C m−2 d−1 is often prevalent in the Gulf, while blooms attain peak values of 400 mg C m−2 d−1 for a few days. The spatio-temporal variability of NCPe in this region, though conditioned by seasonality, is dominated by events lasting a few days, which if integrated, lead to large inter-annual variability in the annual carbon budget. This study is a step toward achieving synoptic and time-dependent estimates of oceanic productivity and NCP from satellite data.


Abstract Cathodoluminescence (CL) spectroscopy in an SEM has been used to investigate the point defect structure of clear natural α-quartz at 295 K. Cathodoluminescence processes and experimental factors that influence the CL spectra from α-quartz are investigated. Electron irradiation may induce changes in the average local crystal microstructure of quartz, locally transforming it to a less dense, amorphized state. The observed CL emissions are identified with a range of native and impurity defect centres including: interstitial molecular O at 0.968 eV; a charge-compensated substitutional Fe3+ impurity centre at ~1.65 eV; a non-bridging oxygen hole centre (NBOHC) at 1.9 eV; an NBOHC with OH- precursor at 1.95 eV; an NBOHC with a non-bridging impurity (e.g. Li+, Na+ or K+) precursor at ~1.9 eV; a radiative recombination of the self-trapped exciton (STE) associated with an Eʹcentre in electron-irradiation-amorphized quartz at 2.3 eV; a radiative recombination of the STE associated with the E1ʹ centre in α-quartz at 2.7 eV; a charge-compensated-substitutional Al3+ impurity centre at 3.3 eV; and a neutral relaxed O vacancy at 4.3 eV. In addition, unresolved contributions from O-deficient defects in electron-irradiation-amorphized SiO2 are likely at ~2.7 and 4.3 eV.


Introduction: Preoperative anxiety before cesarean section is a major issue. Nonpharmacologic anxiety control is believed to be more suitable in pregnant women. Auricular acupuncture (AA) is an inexpensive, easy-to-use, and validated intervention to reduce anxiety in different surgical settings. We evaluated the effect of AA on preoperative cesarean section anxiety. Methods: In a prospective, blind, controlled trial, pregnant women with a scheduled cesarean section under spinal anesthesia were randomized to receive AA with needle, AA without needle (sham), or usual care (no intervention). Anxiety level was assessed by using a visual analogue scale for anxiety (VAS-A; 0-minimal anxiety, 100-maximal anxiety) at three time points: inclusion (pre-induction room-T0), when entering the operating room (T1), and before incision (T2). The primary outcome was the VAS-A variation (percentage changes) between T0 and T1 in the AAe group compared with that in the sham AA group. The secondary outcomes were the VAS-A variation between T0 and T1 in the AA group compared with that in the control group, and the variation between T0 and T2 compared between the three groups, the effect of AA on parasympathetic tone, and the incidence of adverse effects. Results: In women immediately before anesthesia for cesarean section, the AA produced a 19% decrease of anxiety, compared with a 21% anxiety increase in sham AA, which is significantly different. The effect of AA was more present in women with low initial anxiety. The proportion of patients reaching clinically significant anxiety reduction (>33% from the initial level) was 2.5 times higher in the AA group (p = 0.02) compared with the sham group. No differences in anxiety variations were found compared with the no-intervention group. No effect of AA was noted on parasympathetic tone. Conclusion: Compared with sham, AA decreased maternal anxiety level when arriving in the operation room and just before the beginning of the cesarean section, with a trend toward improvement compared with usual care.


ABSTRACT Contemporary 3D printing and traditional craft rarely meet in the same creation. They tend to live in different worlds. In this paper, the author argues for merging these two distinct traditions. To that end, he developed hybrid basketry, a medium where 3D-printed structures are shaped to allow the growth and development of hand-woven patterns. While the 3D-printed plastic elements contribute the aesthetics of the digital curvatures and manifolds, the hand-woven reed, jute, and canvas fibers infuse the baskets with a unique organic appeal. The author discusses his motivation, describes the making process, and presents four hybrid baskets, integrating a deeper discussion on the place of craft and tradition within our contemporary approach to design and fabrication.


Brazilian honey possesses large floral sources with various colors and flavors due to botanical and geographical differences and the large extension of the country. The absence of antibiotics and pesticides contamination positively differentiates Brazilian honey in the international market. Thus, the present chapter presents an overview of regulatory aspects for identity and quality evaluation of honey produced and commercialized in Brazil and international markets, as well as, it compares the production and consumption of honey with other countries. In addition, the chapter presents physicochemical and microbiological analysis commonly used in honey, as fundamentals of the technics and literature results with different kinds of honey obtained in Brazil. Physicochemical qual ity control and microbiological analysis of honey samples is of fundamental importance for assessing their the absence of adulteration, deterioration, and environmental pollution and geographical area. Finally, we will present the market scenario nowadays with future perspectives and some recognition obtained for Brazilian bee products in international events.


The recent need in space astronomy for wide-field telescopes having the best transmission and exempt from the chromatic aberration in uv, the severe conditions of the aspheric surface quality for the shortest wavelength, leads to new developments both in the theory and design of those surfaces. A two-surface all-reflective Schmidt telescope is analyzed (1) with Fermat's principle and (2) with Abbe sine condition. A dioptric elasticity method is presented to aspherize the primary mirror which is a nonaxisymmetric surface. Experimental results are given for an f/1.5, 180 mm focal length all-reflective Schmidt.


One of the most difficult challenges within online learning is keeping the learner motivated so as to prevent attrition or dropout. Motivation is considered to be of primary importance in determining success in online learning. Currently little research exists on intervention strategies, based on the individual learner's profile, which increase motivation in an adaptive online learning environment, so automatic intervention is not possible.

The research outlined in this thesis is based on Social Cognitive Theory and the motivational constructs of self-efficacy, goal orientation, locus of control and perceived task difficulty, all of which affect the learner's self-regulation. Using systematically constructed personas, surveys were conducted with experienced classroom and online teachers to extract and validate selection rules for intervention strategies to increase learners' motivation. The results were modelled using a decision tree algorithm with correct prediction rates showing 66% to 93% accuracy. A comparison between two algorithms was carried out to predict the level of trust in the rules and in the analysis. Based on the decision rules, a motivational strategies recommender tool, MotSaRT, was designed and evaluated. The recommender tool will be incorporated into the learner model of an adaptive Intelligent Tutoring System, enabling the system to automatically select the most suitable intervention strategy to use depending on the particular student's motivational profile.

This study extends the existing body of knowledge on motivational strategies by first targeting the intervention strategies to specific profiles and then by designing an automated component for the learner model of an adaptive Intelligent Tutoring System. The adaptation component will enable the system to directly intervene when a student shows signs of becoming demotivated by delivering motivation messages to the student. It is anticipated that these messages will reduce the level of attrition currently experienced in online learning.