Feature code is often scattered across wide parts of the code base. But, scattering is not necessarily bad if used with care—in fact, systems with highly scattered features have evolved successfully over years. Among others, feature scattering allows developers to circumvent limitations in programming languages and system design. Still, little is known about the characteristics governing scattering, which factors influence it, and practical limits in the evolution of large and long-lived systems. We address this issue with a longitudinal case study of feature scattering in the Linux kernel. We quantitatively and qualitatively analyze almost eight years of its development history, focusing on scattering of device-driver features. Among others, we show that, while scattered features are regularly added, their proportion is lower than non-scattered ones, indicating that the kernel architecture allows most features to be integrated in a modular manner. The median scattering degree of features is constant and low, but the scattering-degree distribution is heavily skewed. Thus, using the arithmetic mean is not a reliable threshold to monitor the evolution of feature scattering. When investigating influencing factors, we find that platform-driver features are 2.5 times more likely to be scattered across architectural (subsystem) boundaries when compared to non-platform ones. Their use illustrates a maintenance-performance trade-off in creating architectures as for Linux kernel device drivers.


Objective To reveal possible differences in whole brain topology of epileptic glioma patients, being low-grade glioma (LGG) and high-grade glioma (HGG) patients. We studied functional networks in these patients and compared them to those in epilepsy patients with non-glial lesions (NGL) and healthy controls. Finally, we related network characteristics to seizure frequency and cognitive performance within patient groups. Methods We constructed functional networks from pre-surgical resting-state magnetoencephalography (MEG) recordings of 13 LGG patients, 12 HGG patients, 10 NGL patients, and 36 healthy controls. Normalized clustering coefficient and average shortest path length as well as modular structure and network synchronizability were computed for each group. Cognitive performance was assessed in a subset of 11 LGG and 10 HGG patients. Results LGG patients showed decreased network synchronizability and decreased global integration compared to healthy controls in the theta frequency range (4–8 Hz), similar to NGL patients. HGG patients' networks did not significantly differ from those in controls. Network characteristics correlated with clinical presentation regarding seizure frequency in LGG patients, and with poorer cognitive performance in both LGG and HGG glioma patients. Conclusion Lesion histology partly determines differences in functional networks in glioma patients suffering from epilepsy. We suggest that differences between LGG and HGG patients' networks are explained by differences in plasticity, guided by the particular lesional growth pattern. Interestingly, decreased synchronizability and decreased global integration in the theta band seem to make LGG and NGL patients more prone to the occurrence of seizures and cognitive decline.


The purpose of this study is to call attention to the diagnosis of spinal cyst caused by lumbar disc herniation. Reviewing a total of 11 cases of lumbar spinal cyst that have been encountered in our spinal practice, we propose our views concerning the pathology of this lesion. The clinical findings of lumbar spinal cyst are identical to those in acute disc herniation such as low back pain and radiculopathy. The characteristics of imaging study are as follows; The magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) demonstrates a relatively large, rounded mass postero-laterally to the vertebral body. These lesions are isointense relative to the intervertebral disc on T1-weighted images and homogeneously hyperintense on T2. A gadolinium -DTPA-enhanced MRI shows a rim-enhancing lesion. A discogram reveals leakage of the contrast medium into the mass. The operative findings demonstrated encapsulated soft tissue masses which contained bloody fluid and small fragments of herniated disc tissue. The pathologic examinations revealed fibrous tissue with hemosiderin deposit in cyst wall and degenerative disc materials with inflammatory cell infiltration. This type of lumbar spinal cyst has been recognized as spinal epidural hematoma in recent years. Wiltse suggested that epidural hematoma may result from tearing of fragile epidural veins due to acute disc disruption. However, MRI characteristics of hematoma are not identical with those with lumbar spinal cyst. It is more likely that the lesions showing the pattern of changes are herniated disc tissue accompanied by hemorrhage and inflammation. If hernial tissue is covered with some membranous susbtance, formation of cystic lesions is understandable. Hence, we hypothesize that lesions, in which lysis liquefaction and absorption of the herniated disc tissue associated with inflammatory response have progressed, and the herniated disc tissue has completely disappeared, may be filled solely with bloody fluid, showing an appearance like cysts.


The world is witnessing an accelerating expansion of urban areas and intensive urbanization. The robust relation between transport infrastructure and urban planning is reflected in how integrated and reliable any system is within the urban spatial system. Designing an integrated infrastructure to support full electric vehicle (EV) use is a crucial matter, which concerns planning authorities, policy makers, as well as current and potential users. Reducing range anxiety by facilitating access to public refuelling stations (RSs) is designed to overcome one of the main barriers that stops potential users to utilise EVs. The uncertainty of having a reliable and integrated charging infrastructure presents hurdles to, and slows down, the growing trend of smart ecosystems and sustainable urban communities as whole. Strategically locating non-domestic (public) EV charging points will help to pave the way for a better market penetration of EVs and, in space syntax terms, this involves establishing the spatial configurational correlates to successful charging locations. This paper analyses real information about EV usage of the year 2012, in one of these metropolitan areas. A case study of 38 charging points (CPs) with 120 EV users located in the inner urban core (NE1, NE4, and NE8 postcode districts) of a metropolitan area in the North-East England, the city of Newcastle upon Tyne, incorporating space-time analysis of the EV population, is presented. Information about usage and charging patterns has been collected from the main local service provider in the North East of England, Charge Your Car (CYC) Ltd. The primary methodology employed is a clustering analysis. It is conducted as a dimensional analysis technique for data mining and for significant analysis of quantitative datasets. A spatial (consisting of space syntax measures) and temporal analysis of charging patterns is conducted using SPSS and predictive analytics software. The study outcomes provide recommendations and an explorative design theory for the implementation of non-domestic EV charging infrastructure. This paper presents a methodological approach useful for planning authorities, policy makers and commercial agents in evaluating and measuring the degree of usability of the public electric mobility (e-mobility) system.


The sports district has developed into a common urban condition within cities. It is often idealized as a vibrant hub in the city fabric, when, in reality it at times plays a mediator (and mediocre) part within that fabric. Communal, active, sports-programed space is essential for these interventions - but its execution and implementation is usually subject to, and constrained by, a limited and specific event. These are often touted as hearts or engines of the city, as drivers of development, markers of a city's energy, atmospheric hubs that will activate neighborhoods. If they are so connected, essential, and key to urban and civic space, why are they often so limiting and hindering?
This thesis explores - playfully, civically and critically - a sports-based intervention within Stampede Park in Calgary - a closed-off neighbourhood within the city's downtown that finds itself more exclusive that it is inclusive.


Quantum communication is a rapidly growing area of research and development. While the successful construction of a large-scale quantum computer may be some years away, there are already commercial implementations of secure communication using quantum cryptography. The application of formal methods to classical communication and cryptographic systems has been very successful, and is now widely used in industry by organisations such as Intel, Microsoft and NASA. There is reason to believe that similar benefits can be expected for the verification of quantum systems.

In this thesis, we focus on the use of process calculus, specifically Communicating Quantum Processes (CQP), for the analysis of quantum protocols. Congruence relations are an important aspect of process calculus, since they provide the foundation for equational reasoning. Previous work on congruence relations for quantum processes excluded the classical information arising from measurements, and was therefore unable to analyse many of the interesting known quantum communication protocols. Developing a congruence relation for general quantum processes is difficult because of the interaction between measurement, entanglement and parallel composition.

We define a labelled transition relation for CQP in order to describe external interactions. Based on this semantics, we define a notion of observational equivalence for CQP processes, namely probabilistic branching bisimilarity. We find that this relation is not preserved by parallel composition, however we are able to gain a deeper understanding of the link between probabilistic branching and measurement. Based on this newfound understanding, we present a novel semantics for quantum processes, combining mixed quantum states with probabilistic branching. With respect to this new semantic model, we define full probabilistic branching bisimilarity and prove that it is a congruence. We use this congruence relation to discuss an axiomatic approach to the verification of quantum processes. The quantum teleportation protocol is used as a primary example throughout, and we prove that it is congruent to a quantum channel.

We define a translation from CQP to the Quantum Model Checker (QMC) in order to provide automated verification techniques using CQP specifications. We prove that this translation preserves the semantics of CQP processes, thereby enabling a multifaceted approach to formal verification by enhancing the manual techniques of process calculus with the benefits of model checking.


This article reports the impacts of three different drying treatments on selected physical and mechanical properties of European (Populus tremula L.) and hybrid (P. tremula × tremuloides) aspen wood. The material originates from 5 European aspen stands and 7 hybrid aspen stands in southern and central Finland. After processing the logs at a saw mill, sawn timber samples were dried using 1) conventional warm air drying, 2) press drying, or 3) heat treatment into Thermo-S grade by the Finnish Thermowood® method. Finally, small clearwood specimens were manufactured from different within-stem positions for the measurements of physical and mechanical properties. Both press dried and heat treated specimens absorbed water at significantly slower pace than the conventionally dried specimens. In normal climate, the conventionally dried, press dried and heat treated specimens conditioned at equilibrium moisture contents of 12.2, 8.7, and 8.9 per cent, respectively. It appears that the butt logs between 2–6 metres contain the lightest and, thus, weakest wood in aspen stems. Radial compression strength was at its highest in heat treated specimens, whereas conventionally and press dried specimens did not differ from each other. Press dried specimens had the highest longitudinal compression strength, also heat treated specimens showed higher values than the conventionally dried ones. Radial Brinell hardness of press dried specimens was higher than that of conventionally dried or heat treated specimens. Both modulus of elasticity and modulus of rupture were at their highest in press dried specimens. Irrespective of the drying treatment, the tangential shear strength of European aspen specimens was approximately 5% higher than that of hybrid aspen. Heat treated specimens indicated significantly lower tangential shear strength values than the conventionally dried ones. In case of both aspen species, the longitudinal tensile strengths of heat treated specimens were significantly lower than those of conventionally and press dried specimens. Heat treated specimens had the highest variability among the results. The inherent flaws in aspen wood material, e.g., wetwood and density fluctuations, increase especially the property variability of heat treated wood.


Iwao Takamoto (1925-2007) spent a lifetime in the animation industry and was influential in the creation of some of the most beloved characters in the medium's history, including Scooby-Doo, Atom Ant, The Jetsons' Astro, The Flintstones' Great Gazoo, and The Wacky Races' Penelope Pittstop and Muttley, all of whom he designed. Iwao Takamoto: My Life with a Thousand Characters is the story of this legendary American artist, told in his own words. Takamoto records his experiences growing up in the heart of Los Angeles as a self-described "street kid" and his wartime ordeal of being sent to a government internment camp for Japanese Americans. He recalls stories of how he and his teenaged friends still managed to function as normal teens despite the confinement of Manzanar. The book chronicles his career, first with the Walt Disney Studios, where he worked directly with the famous "Nine Old Men," and later for Hanna-Barbera, where he was a key artistic force. Packed with memorable stories of working in the trenches of two of Hollywood's most notable animation studios and filled with photographs and artwork, much of which has never before been published, this book is essential for any fan of animation and twentieth-century popular culture.


Using a single period measure to capture the population with disabilities in the Panel Study of Income Dynamics we observe the same dramatic decline in the relative employment rate of working age people with disabilities in the 1990s that is found in the Current Population Survey. We find that the trends in these two data sets are not significantly different over the 1980s and 1990s. This is also the case when we use longitudinal aspects of the PSID to develop long duration disability populations. Using similar methods we compare the levels and trends in the relative employment of working age men with disabilities in Germany using data from the German Socio- Economic Panel. We find that while the relative employment rates of men with disabilities fall dramatically in both countries, the timing of these falls is not the same. Relative employment rates for German men with disabilities fell in the late 1980s but were constant over the 1990s while the opposite occurred in the United States. We argue that these differences in timing are more likely to be caused by differences in the timing of changes in the social environment these men faced than in differences in the timing of changes in the severity of their work limitations in the two countries.


An unusual new coccolithophore species is described from the deep photic zone. The species is dimorphic with small body coccoliths bearing short spines and larger spine-coccoliths with exceptionally long, hollow, quadrate spines. The species is rare but has been observed in the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans reinforcing other evidence that the deep photic zone nannoflora is more diverse and heterogeneous than previously assumed. The species also shows remarkable morphological similarity to some species of the non-calcifying haptophyte Chysochromulina of a type which has frequently been cited as evidence for possible multiple origins of calcification in haptophytes. However, the coccolith structure strongly indicates that the species is a member of the Papposphaeraceae. Available phylogenetic data from molecular genetics and biomineralization modes make it extremely unlikely that the Papposphaeraceae are closely related to the spine-bearing Chrysochromulina species and so the striking morphological similarity is almost certainly a case of homoeomorphy, and possibly functional convergence.


Astronomical tuning in the Mediterranean region is primarily based on organically‐mediated proxies, such as cyclicity of organic rich layers or changes in foraminiferal assemblages. Both during and post deposition, organic proxies can be affected by complex processes not immediately related to the changes in precession (insolation) they are assumed to reflect. Here we present an isotopic proxy which exhibits precessional cyclicity yet is inorganic. Seawater lead (Pb) isotope records over four precessional cycles between 6.6 and 6.5 Ma, from bulk sediment leachates of three Messinian, circum‐Mediterranean marginal locations, show variations consistent with precessional cyclicity. During insolation minima, the Pb isotope signatures from all three sites converge to similar values, suggesting a regional process is affecting all three locations at that time. Data from the marginal sites are compared with new data from ODP Site 978 and published data from a variety of geological archives from the Mediterranean region to determine the mechanism(s) causing the observed variability. While the comparisons are not fully conclusive, the timing of events suggest that increased dust production from North Africa during insolation minima is the most likely control. This hypothesis implies that authigenic marine Pb isotope records have the potential to provide a reliable inorganic tie point for Mediterranean cyclostratigraphy where sub‐precessional resolution is required. An inorganic tie point could also provide the means to resolve long‐standing problems in Mediterranean stratigraphy on precessional and sub‐precessional timescales which have been obscured due to post‐depositional changes (e.g., sapropel burn‐down) or suboptimal ecological conditions (e.g., the Messinian Salinity Crisis).


Each paper needs an abstract of up to 200 words. It should be structured as follows: Background/Aims: What is the major problem that prompted the study? Methods: How was the study done? Results: Most important findings? Conclusion: Most important conclusion? Footnotes: Avoid footnotes. When essential, they are numbered consecutively and typed at the foot of the appropriate page. Tables and illustrations: Tables and illustrations (both numbered in Arabic numerals) should be prepared on separate pages. Tables require a heading and figures a legend, also prepared on a separate page. Due to technical reasons, figures with a screen background should not be submitted. When possible, group several illustrations on one block for reproduction (max. size 180  223 mm) or provide crop marks. Color illustrations Online edition: Color illustrations are reproduced free of charge. In the print version, the illustrations are reproduced in black and white. Please avoid referring to the colors in the text and figure legends. Print edition: Up to 6 color illustrations per page can be integrated within the text at CHF 800.– per page. References: In the text identify references by Arabic numerals [in square brackets]. Material submitted for publication but not yet accepted should be noted as 'unpublished data' and not be included in the reference list. The list of references should include only those publications which are cited in the text. Do not alphabetize; number references in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text. The surnames of the authors followed by initials should be given. There should be no punctuation other than a comma to separate the authors. Preferably, please cite all authors. Abbreviate journal names according to the Index Medicus system. Also see International Committee of Medical Journal Editors: Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals (www.icmje.org). Examples (a) Papers published in periodicals: Sun J, Koto H, Chung KF: Interaction of ozone and allergen challenges on bronchial responsiveness and inflammation in sensitised guinea pigs. Int Arch Allergy Immunol 1997;112:191–195. (b) Papers published only with DOI numbers: Theoharides TC, Boucher W, Spear K: Serum interleukin-6 reflects disease severity and osteoporosis in mastocytosis patients. Int Arch Allergy Immunol DOI: 10.1159/000063858. (c) Monographs: Matthews DE, Farewell, VT: Using and Understanding Medical Statistics, ed 3, revised. Basel, Karger, 1996. (d) Edited books: Parren PWHI, Burton DR: Antibodies against HIV-1 from phage display libraries: Mapping of an immune response and progress towards antiviral immunotherapy; in Capra JD (ed): Antibody Engineering. Chem Immunol. Basel, Karger, 1997, vol 65, pp 18–56. Reference Management Software: Use of EndNote is recommended for easy management and formatting of citations and reference lists. Digital Object Identifier (DOI) S. Karger Publishers supports DOIs as unique identifiers for articles. A DOI number will be printed on the title page of each article. DOIs can be useful in the future for identifying and citing articles published online without volume or issue information. More information can be found at www.doi.org. Supplementary Material Supplementary material is restricted to additional data that are not necessary for the scientific integrity and conclusions of the paper. Please note that all supplementary files will undergo editorial review and should be submitted together with the original manuscript. The Editors reserve the right to limit the scope and length of the supplementary material. Supplementary material must meet production quality standards for Web publication without the need for any modification or editing. In general, supplementary files should not exceed 10 MB in size. All figures and tables should have titles and legends and all files should be supplied separately and named clearly. Acceptable files and formats are: Word or PDF files, Excel spreadsheets (only if the data cannot be converted properly to a PDF file), and video files (.mov, .avi, .mpeg). Author's ChoiceTM Karger's Author's ChoiceTM service broadens the reach of your article and gives all users worldwide free and full access for reading, downloading and printing at www.karger.com. The option is available for a onetime fee of CHF 3,000.–, which is a permissible cost in grant allocation. More information can be found at www.karger.com/authors_choice. NIH-Funded Research The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) mandates under the NIH Public Access Policy that final, peer-reviewed manuscripts appear in its digital database within 12 months of the official publication date. As a service to authors, Karger submits the final


DiSSCo, a Distributed System of Scientific Collections, is a Research Infrastructure (RI) with 114 self-sustaining partners in Europe aiming at providing physical and digital (data) access to the approximately 1.5 billion biological and geological specimens in collections distributed across Europe. It is a facility to generate and aggregate data derived from the collections and repackage them as linked data objects with unified access to enable science and underpin FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) data principles. In the European landscape of environmental Research Infrastructures, the effectiveness of services that aim at aggregating, monitoring, analysing and modelling geo-diversity information relies on the primary description of the bioand geodiversity. It also relies on the availability of this primary reference data that today is scattered and disconnected. DiSSCo provides the required bio-geographical, taxonomic and species trait data at the level of precision and accuracy required to enable and speed up research towards achieving the Targets of the Sustainable Development Goals for Life on Earth, Life below Water and Climate Action. ‡ ‡,§ © Addink W, Koureas D. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. DiSSCo requires further development of TDWG standards, RDA (Research Data Alliance) recommendations, practices developed in the CETAF, Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities network and novel technological approaches to deliver data at the economies of scale and scope needed. In this paper, we: 1. discuss technical barriers for interoperability and possible action lines to overcome these including practices and technologies to underpin the FAIR data principles; 2. outline the DiSSCo API (Application Programming Interface) services to provide data suitable for thematic services in environmental Research Infrastructures like LifeWatch, eLTER (European Long-Term Ecosystem and socio-ecological Research Infrastructure) as well as RIs in other domains such as E-RIHS (European Research Infrastructure for Heritage Science) in the field of social sciences. The services enable better connections between collection data and observations in biodiversity observation networks, such as EUBON (European Biodiversity Observation Network) and GEOBON (Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network); 3. explain the DiSSCo strategy to align project outcomes and standards development towards a common unified research infrastructure.


Overview Differences in strategic vision and concepts of security are central to the U.S. and European Union (EU) approaches to counterterrorism. While the United States conceives of a war against terrorism, Europe does not. As a result of different perceptions of the threat, both sides of the Atlantic take divergent approaches to homeland security. Europeans tend to favor the use of a law enforcement strategy over a warfighting approach. Meanwhile, the U.S. administration believes that a quasi-militaristic, overtly proactive, and highly vigilant stance will serve as the best deterrent to future attacks. By their own standards, Europeans are doing more to counter terrorism since September 11 and even more since the attacks in Madrid (March 11, 2004) and in London (July 7, 2005); by U.S. standards, these measures sometimes appear inadequate. As a result, there are significant transatlantic divergences on the best methods for halting the spread of terrorism. The way ahead in an EU-U.S. counterterrorism relationship may be to focus on positive areas such as capacity building, anti-corruption measures, and strengthening multilateral agreements. Further, the key to apprehending--or at least interrupting--terrorist conspiracies may well lie in cooperating on the law enforcement side to apprehend and incarcerate terrorists for criminal activity. The United States may have to be satisfied when terrorists are brought to justice for organized criminal activity in EU states. While this does not hold the same political weight as convictions for terrorism, the result may be fewer acts of terrorism. Perhaps the greatest task for the transatlantic counterterrorism partnership is to renew the sense of urgency for cooperation in areas where the United States and EU countries do agree. Differing Assessments American-European Union (EU) cooperation in the war against terrorism has improved in a number of important areas over the past several years, but in some respects policies and practices in justice and law enforcement continue to diverge. Overall, the effort is exposing serious differences born of the varying backgrounds and diagnoses of the problems. To be sure, both sides of the Atlantic are being more vigilant; the United States and the European Union countries have worked diligently to create inhospitable environs for terrorists. Still, notable variations exist in their approaches to terrorism, especially with respect to the costs and benefits of responses to the heightened threat posed to the West. For the most part, the events of September 11 did not result in a fundamental shift of most European governments' security paradigm. However, both the Madrid bombings of March 11, 2004, and the London bombings of July 7, 2005, spurred new antiterrorist proposals that have since brought EU policy closer to that of the United States. Still, these measures have been undertaken not so much to cooperate with U.S. efforts as to address more realistically terrorism as "one of the key strategic threats facing Europe." (1) Indeed, shortly after the March 11 attack, British Prime Minister Tony Blair observed that the Madrid bombings had exacerbated the divergence between the United States and Europe. In response to the September 11 attacks, Article V of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Charter was invoked for the first time in the history of the Alliance. Nevertheless, Europe does not see itself at war. For Europe, March 11 was a wake-up call that new policies and practices were needed, but it was not the beginning of a war in the same way that September 11 was for the United States. In general, Europeans have been dealing with relatively low-level terrorism for decades and have found means to cope with it. Many prominent Europeans have noted that complacency is a grave danger, particularly in light of the potential for terrorist groups to undertake mass terrorism using chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) weapons. …


ABSTRACT Despite progress made in recent decades, infant and neonatal mortality rates (NMRs) in India have remained high compared to neighbouring developing countries. This study aims at establishing quantitative links between the relatively slow progress in fight against neonatal death at national level and strikingly varying mortality patterns at sub-national level. It appears that the tempo and quantum of reductions in neonatal mortality have been inconsistent across time, states, and urban and rural sub-populations. Decompositions have shown that the total NMR decrease in India, since the early 1980s has been largely driven by mortality changes in poorer states and rural areas, whereas compositional changes had negligible impact. The disparity in NMRs across the sub-populations which had been declining earlier stabilised in the 2000s. These disparities produce a heavy burden of avoidable death. While the mortality excess in poorer states and rural areas constitutes the core of bulk of excess deaths, some richer states, and urban areas, also show unexpected slower mortality decreases. However, the experience of the two states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu highlights the potential for declines in NMRs in low-income settings with sensible health and social policies.


Couple Relationship Education (CRE) programs are a prevention resource used to assist adult individuals, couples, and families reduce relationship distress and improve prosocial behaviors. Regional Extension agents (REAs) and other community family life educators (FLEs) who teach CRE are involved in a facilitation process that develops relationships and rapport with their participants similar to other helping relationships. To date, no published research has focused on how CRE may affect the REAs/FLEs who provide the programs through community adult education programs. Informed by relational-cultural theory and the ecological systems perspective, the current study focused on assessing change in ten outcomes measuring REAs/FLEs' (N = 54) individual, couple, and co-parenting functioning and whether that change differed by gender. Results from repeated measure ANCOVAs indicate REAs/FLEs experience gains across several domains of functioning. There were no differences by gender. Implications for REAs/FLEs and suggestions for future research are described.


An ecomorphological explanation is given of the anal spots of haplochromine cichlids from Lake Victoria. Anal spots are ovoid orange-yellow spots on the anal fins of these fishes. The possible roles of sexual selection and predation as determinants of the form of these spots are discussed. Evidence is given that the anal spots are egg mimics and thus examples of intra-specific mimicry. Mimicking an egg to stimulate sexually active females presumably is an important demand on the form of the anal spots. However, no positive correlation was found between anal spot size and egg size. Light intensities of the habitat of the species investigated showed a negative correlation with anal spot size. In contrast to this, egg size did not show a negative correlation with light intensities. It is suggested that, besides mimicry, at least one more demand is involved in determining spot size: that of being conspicuous. Conspicuousness is likely to have a positive impact (benefits) on courting conspecific females, but a negative one (costs) with regard to predators who hunt visually for either adults or eggs. The actual appearance of anal spots may be a compromise. This may explain the mismatch between egg size and spot size in many species. Qualitative evidence is presented that predation pressures on adult haplochromines exerted by visually hunting predators are relatively high in lighter habitats, viz. near the rocks and near the surface. An alternative hypothesis that spots in dark surroundings cannot be seen unless they are supra-normal is discussed.


Although the potential usefulness of the offence action–offender characteristic (A–C) relationships is widely accepted and operational 'offender profiling' units now exist around the world, few such relationships have been empirically established. To explore this, the offending action patterns within 111 sexual assault cases from South Korea were coded in terms of 16 distinctive, objective crime scene criteria and subjected to an agglomerative hierarchical cluster analysis. Background psychiatric and general characteristics, Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) scale scores, and criminal histories were described for each cluster. The cluster analysis drew attention to six clusters or behavioural profiles within the sexual assaults. Cluster 1 included serial offenders who aggressively raped and robbed adult women, with some pseudo-intimate sexual behaviour, in their homes. Two thirds of these offenders had histories of sexual assault. Cluster 2 included offenders who again targeted adults in their homes, but without pseudo-intimate sexual behaviour. Cluster 3 included offenders who targeted adults outdoors at night. These offenders showed high antisocial personality PAI scores and psychiatric histories of sexual sadism. Cluster 4 included unarmed offenders who targeted adults in their homes without robbery. These offenders often had psychiatric histories of depression. Cluster 5 included offenders who targeted adults outdoors with a blitz-style attack, and Cluster 6 included offenders who targeted minors outdoors, without weapons, using a confidence-trick style of approach. Paedophilia and histories of psychiatric treatment were prominent amongst these offenders. The results indicate therefore some of the key empirical relationships that future research may develop as the basis for sexual assault 'profiles'. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Prominent commentators recently have proposed that the government allocate significant portions of the radio spectrum for use as a wireless commons. The problem for commons proposals is that truly open access leads to interference, which renders a commons unattractive. Those advocating a commons assert, however, that a network comprising devices that operate at low power and repeat each other's messages can eliminate the interference problem. They contend that this possibility renders a spectrum commons more efficient than privately owned spectrum, and in fact that private owners would not create these 'abundant networks' in the first place. In this Article, Professor Benjamin argues that these assertions are not well founded, and that efficiency considerations favor private ownership of spectrum. Those advocating a commons do not propose a network in which anyone can transmit as she pleases. The abundant networks they envision involve significant control over the devices that will be allowed to transmit. On the question whether private entities will create these abundant networks, commons advocates emphasize the transaction costs of aggregating spectrum, but those costs can be avoided via allotment of spectrum in large swaths. The comparative question of the efficiency of private versus public control, meanwhile, entails an evaluation of the implications of the profit motive (enhanced ability and desire to devise the best networks, but also the desire to attain monopoly power) versus properties of government action (the avoidance of private monopoly, but also a cumbersome process that can be subject to rent-seeking). Professor Benjamin contends that, on balance, these considerations favor private control. An additional factor makes the decision clearer: Abundant networks might not develop as planned, and so the flexibility entailed by private ownership—as well as the shifting of the risk of failure from taxpayers to shareholders—makes private ownership the better option. The unattractiveness of a commons for abundant networks casts serious doubt on the desirability of spectrum commons more generally. If private ownership is a more efficient means of creating abundant networks, then the same is almost certainly true for networks that run the risk of interference. Most uses of spectrum are subject to interference, so the failure of the commons advocates' arguments undermines the appeal of a commons for most potential uses of spectrum.


: Due to wide-ranging and successful aplication of linear modal analysis (LMA), not only in the structural dynamics, but practically in all areas of natural and engineering sciences, its simple concept strives to extends to nonlinear dynamical systems. This has led to the formulation of nonlinear modal analysis (NMA), which has a potential to become powerful tool in the analysis of real dynamic systems. This paper presents a comparison of simple linear and nonlinear systems, and the concept of nonlinear normal modes (NNM). For realistic estimation of dynamical parameters experimental modal analysis is neccessary, which can then, in combination with nonlinear analysis, give real results.


We introduce a natural measure on bi-infinite random walk trajectories evolving in a time-dependent environment driven by the Langevin dynamics associated to a gradient Gibbs measure with convex potential. We derive an identity relating the occupation times of the Poissonian cloud induced by this measure to the square of the corresponding gradient field, which - generically - is not Gaussian. In the quadratic case, we recover a well-known generalization of the second Ray-Knight theorem. We further determine the scaling limits of the various objects involved in dimension 3, which are seen to exhibit homogenization. In particular, we prove that the renormalized square of the gradient field converges under appropriate rescaling to the Wick-ordered square of a Gaussian free field on $\mathbb{R}^3$ with suitable diffusion matrix, thus extending a celebrated result of Naddaf and Spencer regarding the scaling limit of the field itself.


This research introduces Sorush Cancer Treatment Ptotocol (SCTP) based on successful cancer treatment methodology which has done by Dr. Somayeh Zaminpira and Dr. Sorush Niknamian in 54 cancer patients in Violet Cancer Institute (VCI), Combining Specific Ketogenic Diet (SKD)-which has 80% saturated fat, 15% Protein with the lowest glutamine and 5% complex-high fiber carbohydrate- and intravenous ozone therapy which has had marvelous results in the treatment of several cancers in human models. The aim of this protocol is to weaken and starve cancer cells, decreasing acidity, increasing the immune system response, decreasing the possibility of metastasis and decreasing the cachexia without any serious side effects in cancer patients. This protocol introduces mega vitamins and minerals plus several supplements based on some tried and true protocols mainly the Budwig and Bill Henderson Protocol (BHP) with serious revisions. The BHP incorporates principal components of the Budwig Diet which was developed in the early 1950s by German chemist Dr. Johanna Budwig (1908-2003). Budwig's theory is based upon the work of Otto Warburg (1883-1970). Warburg was an earlier Nobel Prize Laureate (1931) for the discovery of the nature and action of the respiratory enzyme, the first of the so-called yellow enzymes, or flavoproteins. Warburg's scientific efforts produced a large body of work and publications in highly respected journals such as Science (1928, 1956). According to Budwig, Warburg theorized that cellular respiration, like many chemical reactions, was dependent upon substrate availability, specifically a sulphydryl group and an unknown saturated fatty acid, which he failed to identify. According to Dr. S. Zaminpira and Dr. S. Niknamian, Cancer is an Evolutionary Metabolic disease (EMHC) and the main cause of cancer is the Butterfly Effect inside normal cells as a result of increasing the amounts of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS).


Renaissance England's Chief Rabbi: John Selden, by Jason P. Rosenblact. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. 314 pp. $99.00. The impact of Greek and Latin scholarship upon English Renaissance culture continues to be examined intensely, but apart from studies of the King James Bible and Milton, little concerted attention has been devoted to the contribution of Hebrew studies to that culture. Hence the exceptional importance of Jason Rosenblatts new study: Renaissance England's Chief Rabbi: John Seiden, a work deploring and correcting that neglect. Rosenblatt s volume swirls around Seiden, but is more broadly dedicated to "the cultural influence of rabbinic and especially talmudic scholarship on some early modern British poets and intellectuals as mediated principally by Seiden" (p. 3). The sweep of the volume is large. Rosenblatt opens with the divorce proceedings of Henry VIII. Lacking adequate rabbinic authorities in England, Henry sent inquiries to Jewish scholars abroad concerning incest laws and critical biblical texts concerning levirate marriage. This discussion illuminates the impoverished state of Hebrew studies at the outset of the English Renaissance and the curious responses of the rabbis themselves, and likewise shows how an understanding of that theological controversy leads to a richer understanding of Hamlet. From that point, Rosenblatt focuses upon Seiden's intense exploration of rabbinic and Talmudic material and the impact of his studies upon a wide spectrum of English figures, ranging from Ben Jonson to Sir John Vaughan Among English intellectuals of his rime, only Seiden placed "rabbinic thought at the centre of his scholarship" (p. 105). The focus of Rosenblatt's study is thus two-fold: (1) the character and direction of Selden's explorations of rabbinic wisdom; and (2) his transmission of that learning to his friends and to his culture at large. Rosenblatt documents that Selden's fascination with rabbinic materials was already well advanced by the time of the writing of De Diis Syris (1617) (p. 2), and Seiden continued to explore these materials until the end of his life, producing six substantial works resting upon that scholarship. By the time of his death in 1654, Rosenblatt affirms, "Seiden would have been the most learned rabbinic scholar in the country," an accomplishment leading one Christian Hebraist in 1641 to address him as "Rabbi" (p. 4). Selden's reputation, moreover, as the most learned man in England led students of every stripe to pore over his volumes, to such an extent that he in essence became a primary text himself, the study of Seiden generally substituting for the study of the actual rabbinic works. Once Selden's influence weakened, tellingly, so did the quality of Hebrew learning itself in England. As important as the study of Hebrew texts themselves, however, was Selden's orientation. Rosenblatt shows that Selden's rabbinic works "constitute a notable exception to those products of the English Renaissance that emphasize otherness and difference" (p. 161). "In the midst of an age of prejudice," he insists, "Seiden transmitted an uncommonly generous view of Judaism" (p. 9). So influential were Selden's views, in fact, that Rosenblatt argues that his promulgation of ideas drawn from ancient writers as well as post-Talmudic rabbis created conditions leading to the reintroduction of Jews into England in the 1650s (pp. 277-8). Such is the larger portrait of Seiden. The chapters themselves have a divided emphasis. The first half of the volume brings rabbinic learning (largely mediated by Seiden) to bear on literary matters. Selden's learned correspondence with Ben Jonson over the issue of cross-dressing is particularly interesting, as are Rosenblatt's two chapters detailing Selden's influence upon Milton's creations. …


In material systems consisting of hard second phase particles in a ductile matrix, failure initiating from cracking of the second phase particles is an important failure mechanism. This dissertation applies the principles of fracture mechanics to consider this problem, first from the standpoint of fracture of the particles, and then the onset of crack propagation from fractured particles. This research was inspired by the observation of the failure mechanism of a commercial zinc-based anti-corrosion coating and the analysis was initially approached as coatings problem. As the work progressed it became evident that failure mechanism was relevant to a broad range of composite material systems and research approach was generalized to consider failure of a system consisting of ellipsoidal second phase particles in a ductile matrix. The starting point for the analysis is the classical Eshelby Problem, which considered stress transfer from the matrix to an ellipsoidal inclusion. The particle fracture problem is approached by considering cracks within particles and how they are affected by the particle/matrix interface, the difference in properties between the particle and matrix, and by particle shape. These effects are mapped out for a wide range of material combinations. The trends developed show that, although the particle fracture problem is very complex, the potential for fracture among a range of particle shapes can, for certain ranges in particle shape, be considered easily on the basis of the Eshelby Stress alone. Additionally, the evaluation of cracks near the curved particle/matrix interface adds to the existing body of work of cracks approaching bi-material interfaces in layered material systems. The onset of crack propagation from fractured particles is then considered as a function of particle shape and mismatch in material properties between the particle and matrix. This behavior is mapped out for a wide range of material combinations. The final section of this dissertation qualitatively considers an approach to determine critical particle sizes, below which crack propagation will not occur for a coating system that exhibited stable cracks in an interfacial layer between the coating and substrate.


For more than twenty years Douglas Moo's NICNT volume on Romans has been providing pastors, students, and scholars with profound insight into Paul's most famous letter. In this thorough revision of his commentary, Moo deals with issues that have come into prominence since the first edition (1996), incorporating the latest research and rewriting the text throughout for better comprehension. Exegetically astute and theologically minded, Moo interacts critically with the new perspective on Paul, highlights the emphasis in Romans on "practical divinity," and traces the theme of the gospel throughout the letter. His Letter to the Romans in this second edition will inform and enlighten a new generation of serious Bible readers.


We show how to extend the ICP framework to nonrigid registration, while retaining the convergence properties of the original algorithm. The resulting optimal step nonrigid ICP framework allows the use of different regularisations, as long as they have an adjustable stiffness parameter. The registration loops over a series of decreasing stiffness weights, and incrementally deforms the template towards the target, recovering the whole range of global and local deformations. To find the optimal deformation for a given stiffness, optimal iterative closest point steps are used. Preliminary correspondences are estimated by a nearest-point search. Then the optimal deformation of the template for these fixed correspondences and the active stiffness is calculated. Afterwards the process continues with new correspondences found by searching from the displaced template vertices. We present an algorithm using a locally affine regularisation which assigns an affine transformation to each vertex and minimises the difference in the transformation of neighbouring vertices. It is shown that for this regularisation the optimal deformation for fixed correspondences and fixed stiffness can be determined exactly and efficiently. The method succeeds for a wide range of initial conditions, and handles missing data robustly. It is compared qualitatively and quantitatively to other algorithms using synthetic examples and real world data.


ABSTRACT Concomitantly with an outbreak of fatal anaplasmosis in a cattle herd in Switzerland in 2002, we detected two bovine hemoplasma species in diseased animals: Mycoplasma wenyonii (formerly Eperythrozoon wenyonii) and a second, novel bovine hemoplasma species later designated "Candidatus Mycoplasma haemobos" (synonym, "Candidatus Mycoplasma haemobovis"). The second species was characterized by a shorter 16S rRNA gene. The aims of the present study were to provide a detailed molecular characterization of this species, to develop specific quantitative real-time PCR assays for the two bovine hemoplasma species, and to apply these assays in order to evaluate the prevalence and clinical significance of the hemoplasmas. Sequencing of the near-complete 16S rRNA gene of the second hemoplasma revealed that it was 94% identical to that of Mycoplasma haemofelis, an anemia-inducing feline hemoplasma species, but less than 85% identical to that of the bovine hemoplasma M. wenyonii. Using the newly developed assays, a total of 159 animals from the anaplasmosis outbreak were reexamined. In addition, we tested 57 clinically ill and 61 healthy Swiss cattle, as well as 47 calves. Both hemoplasmas were highly prevalent in adult cattle but occurred rarely in calves. Animals from the herd with the fatal anemia outbreak were more frequently infected with M. wenyonii and exhibited higher M. wenyonii blood loads than animals with unrelated diseases and healthy animals. Coinfections may increase the pathogenicity and clinical significance of bovine hemoplasmosis.


Under conditions of metabolic stress, tumor cells receive a survival advantage through AMPK-dependent maintenance of NADPH abundance. Under conditions of metabolic stress that lead to a decrease in the intracellular concentration of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), liver kinase B1 (LKB1) is activated, which in turn phosphorylates and activates adenosine monophosphate (AMP)–activated protein kinase (AMPK), which modulates glucose metabolism and autophagy in the cell to promote energy homeostasis. The LKB1-AMPK signaling pathway is also activated in tumor cells in response to certain oncogenes and as a result of the detachment of cells from the extracellular matrix. Noting that cells deficient in LKB1 or AMPK are resistant to oncogenic transformation, Jeon et al. investigated how AMPK modulated metabolism in tumor cells. A549 cells, a human epithelial cancer cell line deficient in LKB1, were more sensitive than LKB1-sufficient cell lines to cell death induced by glucose deprivation. In addition, LKB1-deficient cells exhibited increased NADPH depletion and oxidative stress during glucose deprivation compared with LKB1-sufficient cells. NADPH is consumed by fatty acid synthesis (FAS) and generated through fatty acid oxidation (FAO). NAPDH reduces oxidative stress in cells by detoxifying hydrogen peroxide. AMPK phosphorylates and inhibits the enzymes acetyl-CoA carboxylase 1 (ACC1) and ACC2, thereby inhibiting FAS and increasing FAO. The authors found that knockdown of ACC1 or ACC2 substantially inhibited A549 cell death induced by glucose deprivation. Additionally, AMPK activation was required for the inhibition of the ACCs and for the maintenance of NAPDH abundance in cells during conditions of glucose deprivation or matrix detachment. Tumor growth in mice injected with oncogenic fibroblasts expressing mutant ACC isoforms that could not be phosphorylated by AMPK was reduced compared to that in mice injected with control tumor cells. Together, these data suggest that under conditions of metabolic stress, AMPK maintains NAPDH concentrations in tumor cells to reduce oxidative stress and promote survival. As Svensson and Shaw discuss in commentary, future work will determine how the timing and context of LKB1-AMPK signaling determine tumor cell survival. S.-M. Jeon, N. S. Chandel, N. Hay, AMPK regulates NAPDH homeostasis to promote tumour cell survival during energy stress. Nature 485, 661–665 (2012). [Online Journal] R. U. Svensson, R. J. Shaw, Tumour friend or foe. Nature 485, 590–591 (2012). [Online Journal]


Existing research into specific language impairment in Spanish utilizes primarily spontaneous production data and concludes that children do not have problems with verb finiteness. In contrast, we show, through a new receptive measure, the "Grammaticality Choice Task", that the distribution of the 2 most common errors in child Spanish is sufficient to distinguish language-impaired children from age and language control groups. We conclude that finiteness marking on verbs is a promising clinical marker for SLI in Spanish and that spontaneous measures of finiteness marking do not provide the most accurate representation of children's grammatical competence in the verbal domain in a null subject language such as Spanish.


Thinks to its level of care and its economic aspect in recent years, telemonitoring is increasingly used. Telemonitoring aims to monitor the patient's health in the comfort of its own home. For this, all patient data that can be useful are collected, and represented in the most appropriate mode; after that, a decision support system is used to detect unsafe situations. E-care is a project of telemonitoring for people suffering of heart failure. It is based on a generic and extensible platform to expand the data and integrate other sources of information. E-care platform is based on the use of ontologies for knowledge representation and decision support system to detect dangerous situations. Adding other sources of information such as auscultation, allows having more knowledge on the patient and more efficient decision support system; this can be performed by extracting relevant features from the heart sounds which reveal the mechanical activity of the heart.


"Expressly intended to demonstrate America's national progress toward utopia, the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago pointedly excluded the contributions of African Americans. For them, being left outside the gates of the "White City" merely underscored a more general exclusion from America's bright future. Exhibits at the fair were controlled by all-white committees, and those that acknowledged African Americans at all, such as the famous Aunt Jemima pancake exhibit, ridiculed and denigrated them. Many African Americans saw the racist policies of the World's Columbian Exposition as mirroring, framing, and reinforcing the larger horrors confronting blacks throughout the United States, where white supremacy meant segregation, second-class citizenship, and sometimes mob violence and lynching. In response to the politics of exclusion that governed the fair, and of its larger implications, several prominent African Americans resolved to publish a pamphlet that would catalog the achievements of African Americans since the abolition of slavery while articulating the persistent political economy of apartheid in the American South. The authors of this remarkable document included the antilynching crusader Ida B. Wells, the former slave and abolitionist Frederick Douglass, the educator Irvine Garland Penn, and the lawyer and newspaper publisher Ferdinand L. Barnett. An eloquent statement of protest and pride, The Reason Why the Colored American Is Not in the World's Columbian Exposition reminds us that struggles over cultural representation are nothing new in American life. Robert Rydell's introduction provides insight into the sometimes conflicting strategies employed by African Americans as they strove to represent themselves at a cultural event that was widely regarded as a defining moment in American history."


Introduction Deep wound infection is a catastrophic complication after hip fracture surgery. However, current understanding of infection rates in this population is limited. Many technologies such as incisional negative-pressure wound therapy (NPWT) show promise in reducing the rate of infection. This trial is a feasibility study looking to establish a value estimated with a greater precision of the rate of deep infection after hip fracture treatment in patients treated with NPWT versus standard dressing following hip fracture surgery. Methods and analysis A randomised controlled trial of 464 patients will be run across multiple centres. It is embedded in the World Hip Trauma Evaluation cohort study. Any patient over the age of 65 years having surgery for hip fracture is eligible unless they are being treated with percutaneous screw fixation. A web-based randomisation sequence will stratify patients by centre. Patients will be allocated to either NPWT or standard care on a 1:1 basis. The primary outcome measure is the Centre for Disease Control definition of deep infection at 30 days. Follow-up at 4 months will also assess deep infection and the core outcome dataset for hip fractures. This includes health-related quality of life (EQ-5D-5L), mobility, mortality and late complications such as further surgery. The primary analysis will be intention to treat. Ethics and dissemination Oxford C Research Ethics Committee granted ethical approval on 28/04/2017, 17/SC/0207. The results of this study will be reported in a peer-reviewed publication and inform the design of a future full-scale trial. Trial registration number ISRCTN55305726.


This course gives the participants a general overview of the application, implementation and design of current and future base station antennas for mobile communications. It is aimed at microwave, RF- and antenna engineers in the wireless area, but also useful for researchers looking for relevant research topics and system engineers needing a deeper understanding of the antenna component of their system. The course explains underlying theoretical and practical implementation aspects of base station antennas in mobile communication networks of today and the future. The course is divided into three main parts: (i) System Aspects, (ii) BTS Antenna Design, (iii) Diversity and MIMO In the first part the fundamental parameters of a base station antenna are discussed in the context of radio network design. In particular we discuss parameters such as gain, radiation patterns, frequency bands and power handling and put them in the context of cell planning, propagation and capacity. In the second part a general overview of base station antenna design is given. In particular the design aspects of radiators, feed networks and reflectors are discussed. Furthermore, a general discussion of array synthesis for base station antennas is given. In the final part of the course we give an overview of the underlying theory of diversity and MIMO systems. In particular we discuss the requirements that these systems put on the base station antennas in order to be able to deliver the data rates expected from WiMAX and the long term evolution of 3G systems.


Provenance is essential in scientific experiments. It contains information that is key to preserving the data and to determine it's quality and authorship. In complex experiments and analyses, where multiple tools are used to derive data products, provenance captured by these tools must be combined in order to determine the complete lineage of the derived products. We propose a mediator-based architecture to integrate provenance information from multiple sources, which contains two key components: a global mediated schema that is general and capable of representing provenance information represented in different models; and an expressive query interface that supports complex queries over provenance information spread over multiple different sources. We also present a case study where we show how this model was applied to integrate provenance from three provenance-enabled systems.


Many animals, especially flying insects are experts on reacting to approaching predators. For robots, the ability to avoiding collisions is also crucial. In locusts, a visual neuron called the Lobula Giant Movement Detector (LGMD) has been identified to be responsible for evoking collision avoidance behaviours. It has been modelled for collision avoidance on large robots or vehicles whose computational power are abundant. For micro robots, however, the limited computational capabilities on-board prevent the LGMD model to be accomplished on the robot by its own. Therefore in earlier researches, those micro robots serve only as image grabbers and motion actuators, leaving majority of the model processed on a host device connected. The unavoidable communication and consequent latency have become the bottlenecks that restrains the employment of this promising collision avoidance model in multi-agent research fields such as swarm robotics.

This research focuses on the embedded modelling and realization of this bio-inspired collision sensitive model ELGMD. By carefully considering the required on-board resource, a novel micro robot Colias IV is designed to meet the requirements. Featured with the sufficient computing power, various of sensing modalities including a tiny camera, the modularized design and other specialities, this robot has become an advantageous platform to perform embedded vision tasks. The bio-inspired neural model Embedded-LGMD (ELGMD) is realized on the micro robot that can run autonomously without any off-board guidance. Optimization on the structure and timing has guaranteed its computational efficiency. The performance of the ELGMD and the effectiveness on triggering the robot's collision avoidance behaviour are tested via systematic experiments. To achieve more precise interactive behaviours with other kinds of moving obstacles, a compound motion detection system is realized within the robot to detect various of motion patterns by integrating several neural models at a higher level, in which those LGMD-like neural models are accomplished by an unified ELGMD model with minimum reconfiguration. Experiments have been conducted to validate the improved ELGMD model and the compound motion detection system.

Results of this research have demonstrated the design goals of all the proposed modules, including the hardware platform, the bio-inspired model and the compound motion detection system, indicating the practicability of implementing these bio-inspired visual motion sensing systems for further robotic studies.


New series of dinuclear transion metal chelates of guanidine ligand have been synthesized and characterized by spectroscopic measurements such as: 1H-NMR, mass spectra, IR, UV-Visible, ESR, magnetic moments and conductance measurements, as well as elemental and thermal curves (DTA and TGA). The IR data clarify that, the Schiff base is a neutral bidentate or monobasic bidentate ligand attached to the ions of metal through the (N) atom of azomethine and (O) atom of hydroxyl in deprotonated or protonated form adopting tetragonal distorted octahedral geometries. Solutions of molar conductances in DMF clarified that, the chelates are not electrolytes. The ESR spectra of solid Cu(II) chelates (2) and (4) show an axial type. However, Mn(II) complex (8) show isotropic type indicating distorted octahedral geometry. Anticarcinogenic effects of the ligand chelates have been carried out. Chelates show enhanced activity in comparison to the ligand of guanidine and standard drug.


A wideband (6-20 GHz) Silicon-Germanium (SiGe) adaptive image-reject mixer with an intermediate frequency (IF) of 1.8 GHz is presented. The mixer can be "self-healed" to deliver consistent performance by nullifying the effects of process variations, environmental changes, or aging. Various performance metrics of the mixer can also be adapted to different specifications across multiple frequency bands. A conversion gain greater than 15 dB, an image rejection ratio (IRR) exceeding 35 dB, and an output 1-dB compression point greater than 10 dBm, were obtained in measurement. An automated self-healing procedure is developed and shown to be effective for improving the measured performance of the mixer. The mixer was fabricated in a 150 GHz peak fT, 200 nm SiGe BiCMOS process technology and consumes 215 mA of current operating off a 4 V rail.


Constructed wetlands have emerged as a viable option for treatment of acidic mine wastewater. Bench scale experiments were conducted, to evaluate the performance of wetland treatment system, with emergent macrophyte Desmostachya bipinnata and substrate (containing powdered goat manure, wood shavings and soil) for 24, 48, 72, 96 and 168 hours of retention period for different water column heights (100mm, 150mm and 200mm). Within 24 hours of retention period the pH increased from 2.93 to 7.22, alkalinity increased from zero mg/L to 204.30 mg/L as CaCO 3 , electric conductivity decreased by 27.94 to 35.93 percent, turbidity decreased by 30.14 to 66.65 percent, sulphate reduced by 21.52 to 28.09 percent, acidity reduced by 88.89 to 100 percent, hardness reduction was 18.18 to 26.07 percent.  Potential metal removal rates was 95.20 to 95.51 percent for Fe, 88.77 to 91.72 percent for Cu, 76.75 to 78.21 percent Zn, 88.80 to 90.12 Pb, 67.65 to72.33 percent Co, 29.60 to 63.76 percent Ni and 35.90 to 76.44 percent Mn respectively. Keywords: Acidic Mine Water,Treatment, Constructed Wetland, D. bipinnata


Streptomyces are known to produce a large variety of antibiotics and other bioactive compounds with remarkable industrial importance. Streptomyces sp. COUK1 was found as a contaminant on a plate in which Rhodococcus erythropolis was used as a test strain in a disk diffusion assay and produced a zone of inhibition against the cultured R. erythropolis. The identity of the contaminant was confirmed as Streptomyces through 16S rRNA sequencing. This Streptomyces produces a strong inhibitory compound in different growth media. A culture extract from inorganic salts starch agar was found to be very active; producing a large zone of inhibition against several Gram positive and Gram negative test strains. The active molecules in this extract have been detected via TLC and bioautography. The difference in the antibacterial activity and chromatographic properties of extracts recovered from different growth media suggests that this Streptomyces strain could produce more than one type of inhibitory compound.


The existence of a separation between science and literature has long been taken for granted. This study shows that in science language functions in very much the same way as in literature: it is rhetorical in that it persuades readers to the author's point of view, and it is poetical in that with its metaphors and other figures of speech it shapes the experience of author and reader. The separation between science and literature proves to be untenable. This has important ontological implications: science can no longer be considered an action performed by a speaking subject on a mute object. Does the creative role of language in science mean that human beings 'create' the world? The author emphatically rejects a conclusion which would degrade nature to mere malleable material at the mercy of human beings. A hermeneutical model for the relationship between knower and known is suggested: creative interaction between reader and text. The reader's responses actualise a text's meaning; in like manner, scientists give their responses to reality by actualising one of many possibilities. The hermeneutical ontology proposed in this book steers away from the rocks of realism and anti-realism.


Abstract Despite the high-grade diagenesis experienced by the Skoorsteenberg Formation mudstones, Tanqua Karoo basin, South Africa, geochemical data have been interpreted to reveal primary mineralogy and so help understand provenance evolution. The geochemical signatures show systematic variations related to stratigraphy. The main changes in mudstones from the lower to the upper part of the section include: (1) an increase in the feldspar content of the primary sediment and a decrease in the content of Al-rich clay (probably dioctahedral smectite); (2) a decrease in the degree of chemical weathering of the sediment, representing a change to a dryer and/or cooler climate; (3) an increase in TiO2/Al2O3 representing increasing mafic sources; (4) an increase in CaO/ (K2O+CaO) also possibly representing increasing mafic sources. Mass flux and differential diagenesis are unlikely to be responsible for the depth-related changes since the rocks have undergone the same degree of high-grade diagenesis and the mudstones are interrupted by other lithologies, so disturbing any sort of diffusion gradient. These variations could plausibly be the result of one or more of differential weathering, evolving provenance characteristics or variable hydrodynamic fractionation of the sediment. The ratio of Zr/Y, a possible indicator of hydrodynamic fractionation, increases only slightly and irregularly up-section. There is no relationship between the silica content, representative of the quartz-silt content of the sediment, and TiO2/Al2O3 showing that the amount of quartz, and so the degree of hydrodynamic fractionation, has not controlled mudstone geochemistry. The stratigraphic increase in feldspar content, the decrease in Al-rich clay content and increase of both TiO2/Al2O3 and CaO/(K2O+CaO) must be due to a combination of marginally evolving provenance characteristics (more mafic and felsic rocks exposed to weathering with time) and changes in the degree of rock weathering (less chemical weathering with time).


Author(s): Walker, Iain; Less, Brennan | Abstract: Energy end-uses and interior comfort conditions have been monitored in 11 Deep Energy Retrofits (DERs) in a mild marine climate. Two broad categories of DER envelope were identified: first, bringing homes up to current code levels of insulation and airtightness, and second, enhanced retrofits that go beyond these code requirements. The efficacy of envelope measures in DERs was difficult to determine, due to the intermingled effects of enclosure improvements, HVAC system upgrades and changes in interior comfort conditions. While energy reductions in these project homes could not be assigned to specific improvements, the combined effects of changes in enclosure, HVAC system and comfort led to average heating energy reductions of 76percent (12,937 kWh) in the five DERs with pre-retrofit data, or 80percent (5.9 kWh/ft2) when normalized by floor area. Overall, net-site energy reductions averaged 58percent (15,966 kWh; n=5), and DERs with code-style envelopes achieved average net-site energy reductions of 65percent (18,923 kWh; n=4). In some homes, the heating energy reductions were actually larger than the whole house reductions that were achieved, which suggests that substantial additional energy uses were added to the home during the retrofit that offset some heating savings. Heating system operation and energy use was shown to vary inconsistently with outdoor conditions, suggesting that most DERs were not thermostatically controlled and that occupants were engaged in managing the indoor environmental conditions. Indoor temperatures maintained in these DERs were highly variable, and no project home consistently provided conditions within the ASHRAE Standard 55-2010 heating season comfort zone. Thermal comfort and heating system operation had a large impact on performance and were found to depend upon the occupant activities, so DERs should be designed with the occupants needs and patterns of consumption in mind. Beyond-code building envelopes were not found to be strictly necessary for the achievement of deep energy savings in existing uninsulated homes in mild marine climates, provided that other energy end-uses were comprehensively reduced. We recommend that mild climate DERs pursue envelopes in compliance with the 2012 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) and pair these with high efficiency, off-the-shelf HVAC equipment. Enhanced building envelopes should be considered in cases where very low heating energy use (l1,000 kWh/year or l0.5 kWh/ft2-year) and enhanced thermal comfort (ASHRAE 55-2010) are required, as well as in those situations where substantial energy uses are added to the home, such as decorative lighting, cooling or smart home A/V and communication equipment.


The study evaluated the effects of incorporation and subsequent decomposition of leaves of exotic tree species (Gmelina arborea, Swietenia macrophylla and Tectona grandis) and native tree species (Pterocarpus indicus, Dipterocarpus validus and Parashorea plicata) on the quality of forest soil. Forty-two pots containing an acidic and clayey forest soil and added with fresh leaves of the different tree species were setup in an open area in Mt. Pangasugan. Retrieval of the first three pots for each treatment was done after two months and the remaining three pots, five months later. Soil samples were collected from each pot and were analyzed for soil respiration rate, pH, OM, total N and available P. Findings showed that in general the exotic tree species did not change the soil pH while the native species appeared to decrease it. Regardless of tree species, leaf decomposition significantly increased available soil phosphorus. The leaves of the exotic tree species decomposed faster than those of the native tree species.


BACKGROUND
Meloxicam (MLX) is classified as NSAID that is used for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. Poor water solubility of MLX leads to its slow oral absorption and slow onset. Preparation of solid dispersion (SD) could improve the water solubility of poorly water soluble drugs. It has been demonstrated that orally disintegrating tablets (ODTs) show faster onset of action and could be more appropriate for the treatment of acute pain.

METHOD
The purpose of this study is to improve the solubility of MLX through the preparation of its SD and then decrease the onset of action by preparation of ODTs from prepared SD. MLX SDs were prepared by solvent evaporation method. MLX, polyvinylpyrrolidone k30 (PVP k30), crospovidone and sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) with different ratios were dispersed in molten menthol as solvent. Menthol was separated by freeze drying. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis approved amorphous form of MLX in SDs.

RESULT
The optimum SD with highest saturation solubility in water (12.60±1.2 microgram/ml) which consists of MLX, PVP, crospovidone and SLS in a ratio of 1:1:1:0.03 was used for the preparation of MLX ODTs. ODTs were prepared by direct compression method and optimized by 23 factorial design. The effect of the superdisintegrant concentration, mannitol/avicel ratio and the level of compression force was evaluated on the disintegration time, hardness and percent of dissolved MLX after 30 min of prepared MLX ODTs. The optimized ODT formulation contained 10% superdisintegrant, mannitol and avicel a ratio of 2:1 compressed using a high level of compression force.

CONCLUSION
Optimized ODT showed hardness (48±4.3 N) and friability (0.81±0.07%). This formulation provided rapid disintegration in 19±2 seconds of which 77.8±5.1% of drug was released within 30 minutes. The present study demonstrated an effective method for the preparation of suitable dosage form of MLX with improved solubility and onset of action.


As transnational education collaborations increase so too do concerns about the quality of provision. To address these concerns, national codes of good practice have been written to guide exporting institutions on how to set up and manage international collaborations, so that academic standards and student experiences are not compromised. This article attempts to show how linguistic analysis can be used to decode underlying messages in the way we describe quality assurance processes. It looks at three codes of practice from major exporters of higher education: USA, UK and Australia. The article focuses specifically on the roles and responsibilities of the awarding higher education institution and their partner, issues of equivalence and opportunities for adaptation of curricula to meet global and local requirements. The analysis raises questions about the portrayal of transnational higher education within the documents.


Lord of the Robotic Flies While small-scale flying objects are ubiquitous in nature, they are quite hard to engineer. As sizes get smaller, fixed-winged flight becomes less efficient because of increased drag resistance. Ma et al. (p. 603) developed a tethered robotic fly with wings that flap through the use of piezo-electric materials. Control of the flight motion involved a feedback process, which allowed the tethered robotic fly to hover and make controlled flight maneuvers. A fly-scale, flapping-wing robot has been fabricated and can be controlled to perform unconstrained flight maneuvers. Flies are among the most agile flying creatures on Earth. To mimic this aerial prowess in a similarly sized robot requires tiny, high-efficiency mechanical components that pose miniaturization challenges governed by force-scaling laws, suggesting unconventional solutions for propulsion, actuation, and manufacturing. To this end, we developed high-power-density piezoelectric flight muscles and a manufacturing methodology capable of rapidly prototyping articulated, flexure-based sub-millimeter mechanisms. We built an 80-milligram, insect-scale, flapping-wing robot modeled loosely on the morphology of flies. Using a modular approach to flight control that relies on limited information about the robot's dynamics, we demonstrated tethered but unconstrained stable hovering and basic controlled flight maneuvers. The result validates a sufficient suite of innovations for achieving artificial, insect-like flight.


The Skiing Manual offers instructions on technique and skills from an author with over 30 years of skiing experience. It will cover every type of skiing from cross-country to mountaineering, highlighting the important differences between genres. It explains the clothing and equipment required for every type of skiing and of course the skis, boots, bindings and poles, as well as skills, snow science, and safety and rescue. It's presented in colour with easy-to-follow step-by-step sequences and a wealth of inspirational action photographs. History of skiing - from prehistoric travel to Olympic competition Clothing and equipment for all types of skiing Learning to ski - carrying and putting on skis, choosing a ski school Life on the hill - what it's like on the mountain, how to buy a lift pass, and how to get around in the snow Skiing technique - from snow plough turns to extreme skiing Ski lifts - the different types, and how to use them Types of skiing - cross country, telemark, freeskiing and adventure skiing Mountain safety - avalanches, precautions, equipment and rescue Ski culture - Cafe culture and apres ski Ski travel - skiing around the world, and how to get there Competition disciplines - downhill, slalom, giant slalom and super G, jumping, freestyle, cross country (and biathlon)


Background: Prescription opioid drug overdose mortality rates have surpassed those of motor vehicle accidents in Kentucky. While opioid overdose plagues the state, buprenorphine is an FDA approved medication that has proven effective in treating opioid dependence. Objectives: This study examined the supply of licensed buprenorphine providers and community treatment centers in each county of Kentucky along with the need for treating opioid use disorder in each county. Methods: Licensed buprenorphine physicians and community treatment centers prescribing buprenorphine were identified through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration online treatment locator. The need for treatment was measured by calculating the crude opioid overdose hospitalization rates in each county, year 2008 through 2012. Results: Results of this study conclude Eastern Kentucky has the greatest need for opioid treatment along with a small pocket of Northern Kentucky. Forty six percent of Kentucky counties (n=56) have at least one licensed buprenorphine physician and eight counties house community treatment centers prescribing buprenophine. Discussion: The need for treatment is greater than the current supply of physicians and treatment centers. Figures included in this study illustrate clearly where current treatment providers are located and where need is most prevalent. Conclusion: Future policy must address gaps in treatment supply and treatment needs to identify treatment solutions and curb opioid dependence. Buprenorphine is the gold-star standard in opioid dependence treatment and requires significantly less resources then other types of opioid treatment. Buprenorphine Treatment Supply and Need 3


The instability of labor earnings in the United States contributes to earnings inequality and may diminish household welfare. Despite the importance of earnings instability little is known about its correlates or causes. This paper seeks to better understand earnings instability by studying whether volatile firms pay volatile earnings. I am the first to directly test the relationship between earnings instability and firm employment instability using linked employer-employee data. I find a positive and statistically significant relationship between the two that remains when the effect is estimated using only within-firm variation. This suggests that the effect is a feature of the way workers are being paid by their employer. The size of the effect varies by a worker's position in the earnings distribution: low-earning workers are passed a greater share of firm employment instability than higher-earning workers. Survey data from the NLSY79 confirm that lower-skill workers have relatively less stable earnings. I find significant heterogeneity in the magnitude and significance of the effect across industries and explore how the competitiveness of an industry relates to the size of the industry specific effect.


OBJECTIVE
Hypothermia has been associated with coagulation defects. The purpose of this experimental study was to investigate the effect of mild hypothermia on clinically used coagulation tests and on haemodynamic variables.

METHODS
Nine New Zealand rabbits were subjected to mild core hypothermia by administration of general anaesthesia and exposure to room temperature of 22 degrees C for 60 minutes. Blood samples were obtained at normothermia and mild hypothermia for measurement of prothrombin time, activated partial thromboplastin time, fibrinogen levels, platelet count and haemoglobin concentration. Hypothermic values were compared to the normothermic values. Additionally, the progressive temperature drop and haemodynamic changes (blood pressure, heart rate) were recorded.

RESULTS
Core temperature decreased significantly over time changing from 39.4 +/- 0.27 to 36.6 +/- 0.28 degrees C (p = 0.0001). Prothrombin time and activated partial thromboplastin time increased [corrected] at hypothermia, but the changes were not statistically significant (p = 0.203 and p = 0.109, respectively). Platelet count, fibrinogen levels and haemoglobin concentration decreased significantly (p = 0.0001, p = 0.03 and p = 0.027) but remained within normal limits. Mean arterial pressure and heart rate declined significantly over time (p = 0.0001 and p = 0.0001, respectively).

CONCLUSION
The results of this study suggest that short term mild hypothermia may affect the coagulation mechanism to a clinically nonsignificant extent, while haemodynamic responses are significantly suppressed.


This thesis is structured around a central overriding question: to what extent can the practice of landscape photography be used to make visible the politics of landscape in borderland territories?

Introduced by architect Teddy Cruz, the 'political equator' suggests an alternative politics of space through which to critically consider socio-economic and geopolitical processes associated with globalisation under neoliberal capitalism. This equator is based on a revised geography of the post-9/11 world, whereby a line drawn across a world map intersects at three contested desert territories: 1) the Mexico USA frontier; 2) southern Spain and northern Morocco; and 3) Palestine/Israel.

This concept and its implications for human mobility, porous frontiers and material readings of landscape are explored through my photographic practice. In this work I challenge the idea of 'hard borders' between sovereign nation-states and make new political and symbolic associations between the territories along the political equator.

Landscape can be seen as a cultural construct imbued with social uses and a more abstract set of desires. Photography as both a material and imaginative medium is able to simultaneously narrate and re-shape landscape. Through my three projects, Imported Landscapes (2010), Badlands (2011) and Gardening the Suburbs (2013) I examine and translate borderland territories. I produce photographs that suggest how these landscapes embody the contradictions of globalisation and carry the traces of past empires and geographies. I analyse the creation of a built environment and the construction of a post-natural landscape to suggest that our understanding of landscape – in 'real-life' and as it is aesthetically configured in images – is something materially arranged and a product of the imagination. My practice facilitates an imaginative engagement with potential future political sustainability or modification of these landscapes.

Visuality plays a pivotal role in the production of contemporary geo-politics. By exploring three of my art projects in relation to historical and contemporary visual representations of desert borderlands, political and symbolic readings of the desert emerge as inherently connected. This thesis creates an innovative connection between early photographic practices in landscape and their later critical and conceptual versions. The thesis considers the ways in which my work translates, critiques and revises these conventions.

I approach landscape phenomenologically, understanding it not as a static entity but as a process. This process is composed of and shaped by human and animal life, material object and place. Through an analysis of my own embodied engagement with landscape and my material and imaginative experience of landscape photographs, this thesis opens new ways of narrating the thresholds of the political equator.


Twenty-seven video-recorded interviews, with nine patients diagnosed with schizophrenia, were analysed using qualitative methodology. Sequences of well and of poorly functioning communication were distinguished, and characteristic verbal and nonverbal means of communication were described. In well functioning communication the interviewer asked short open questions, explored the emotional content in the narrative, and showed nonverbal means of communication that invited social interaction. The interviewer confirmed the patient emotionally and the narrative turned into a dialogue. The patient took a more active part and the narrative became extensive and elaborated. In poorly functioning communication the conversations were often fragmented, incoherent and confusing, with long pauses. The interviewer and the patients avoided eye-contact, and the nonverbal communication that was displayed did not accompany verbal utterances, but indicated discomfort and tension instead. Either patient or interviewer was observed dominating the conversation. In order to establish well functioning communication the interviewer's contribution, particularly the willingness to explore and pursue the emotional content in the patient's narrative, was found to be important.


Current StarCraft bots are not very flexible in their strategy choice, most of them just follow a manually optimized one, usually a rush. We suggest a method of augmenting existing bots via Fuzzy Control in order to make them react on the current game situation. According to the available information, the best matching of a pool of strategies is chosen. While the method is very general and can be applied easily to many bots, we implement it for the existing BTHAI bot and show experimentally how the modifications affects its gameplay, and how it is improved compared to the original version.


The adaptor protein p66Shc decreases glucose uptake and metabolism by inhibiting mTOR signaling. This Podcast features an interview with Jim Dennis and Mohamed Soliman, authors of a Research Article that appears in the 18 February 2014 issue of Science Signaling, about an adaptor protein that limits glucose uptake metabolism. Adaptor proteins are key components of signal transduction networks because they mediate protein-protein interactions that can promote or block the formation of active signaling complexes. p66Shc is an adaptor protein that participates in signaling by receptor tyrosine kinases and plays a role in glucose metabolism. Mice that lack p66Shc have better glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity than control mice, so they are resistant to developing diabetes and obesity. Soliman et al. found that at least some of p66Shc's effects on glucose metabolism required the mTOR pathway.


Development of small-diameter blood vessels using tissue engineering has been promising as a novel therapy for patients who require coronary artery bypass grafting but lack suitable donor tissue. However, the performance of tissue engineered vascular grafts (TEVGs) has been challenged by the lack of a complete endothelium and by poor mechanical properties which contribute to blood incompatibility and burst failure in vivo respectively. In this work, these challenges have been addressed by genetically modifying vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) to produce factors that will promote endothelialization and improve mechanical properties. Genetic engineering of VSMCs was explored using different methods to obtain the optimal transfection system. Viral transduction of cells resulted in the highest efficiency and stability of expression. Neomycin selection of virally transduced SMCs resulted in a homogenous population with high expression levels. To promote endothelialization of TEVGs, VSMCs were virally-transduced to produce vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) which acts as a chemoattractant and mitogen of endothelial cells (ECs). The proliferation of ECs significantly increased after exposure to VEGF-transfected SMCs or their conditioned media. The chemotactic response of ECs to the VEGF-producing cells was explored by different in vitro models which demonstrated increased migration of ECs in response to VEGF-transfected cells on both tissue culture treated surfaces as well as collagen-coated surfaces. To improve mechanical properties, lysyl oxidase (LO) was utilized to enzymatically crosslink extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins, particularly collagen and elastin, to enhance the mechanical integrity of the ECM and thereby impart mechanical strength to the engineered tissue. Viral transduction of VSMCs resulted in increased LO expression using Northern and Western analysis. Increased LO activity was demonstrated using a fluorescent enzyme substrate assay, and as increased levels of desmosine, a product of LO crosslinking, in the ECM. The mechanical effects of altered crosslink densities within tissue engineered constructs were demonstrated in a VSMC-populated collagen gel model. VSMCs transfected with lysyl oxidase were seeded in collagen gels; the tensile strength and elastic modulus in these constructs increased by approximately three-fold compared to constructs seeded with mock transfected VSMCs. Compositional analysis of the ECM deposited by the transformed cells showed similar collagen and elastin levels, and cell proliferation rates were similar as well, thus attributing increased mechanical properties to ECM crosslinking.


The handbook explains how money and exchange functioned as elements of the American economy in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; it also provides sufficient technical and statistical information to allow the reader to convert a sum recorded in one currency into its equivalent in another. McCusker combines this with a compilation of exhaustive tables that give the commercial rate of exchange between London and the major cities of Europe and the British colonies.


This thesis investigates how authority is distributed in social media and develops a novel method to validate the finding using prediction markets. By modelling prediction markets with a data corpus comprising of both microblog and traditional blogs data a objective metric is established to validate a method to select the most authoritative information in Twitter. Also the question of what is the primary unit of authority in twitter is addressed by looking at methods that extract authoritative posts and comparing them to methods that extract the most authoritative users. It is not immediately clear how to measure the success of a system that claims to identify authority. There are a number of ways to decide what constitutes an authoritative post, but many of them are too subjective or abstract. Such as, looking simply at the number of people that repeat a tweet or a subjective polling of users regarding the influence a user has. The approach in this thesis is to use a forecast of a prediction market trained on a language model derived from the posts of a selected group of users or tweets. This method yields a measurable and objective method for determining the informative value of a set of Twitter posts. If a non-random sample of tweets deemed to be authoritative is used, the model should result in a better forecast than the baseline of random tweets. Using this method a number of theories of authority in twitter are examined. The corpus used consisted of Twitter posts that were collected on a daily basis by a crawler from the beginning of April 2009 until January 1st 2010. Four prediction market questions were selected to use when evaluating the the notions of authority. Two general news related questions, one technology news question and two sports questions. when looking at questions posed to the population in general, that are largely opinion based, a small subset of informative users can be selected. This provides support for the idea that authority in twitter is centred around the user rather then the individual tweet. It can be seen that by selecting only a few users, it is possible to get as much information from this small authoritative group as would be required by selecting many more users at random. This demonstrates that for this type of question, there exists methods for finding authoritative users. In this experiment, the top 10 users accounted for 76.9% of the forecast information for the flu related question. Other types of questions tho were


The unconventional superconductivity in the newly discovered iron-based superconductors is intimately related to its multiband/multiorbital nature. Here we report the comprehensive orbital characters of the low-energy three-dimensional electronic structure in BaFe1.85Co0.15As2 by studying the polarization and photon-energy dependence of angle-resolved photoemission data. While the distributions of the dxz, dyz ,a ndd3z2−r2 orbitals agree with the prediction of density functional theory, those of the dxy and dx2−y2 orbitals show remarkable disagreement with theory. Our results point out the inadequacy of the existing band structure calculations and, more importantly, provide a foundation for constructing the correct microscopic model of iron pnictides.


In this paper, we propose view-based recognition, a method for 3D object recognition based on multi-view representations. We analyze view-based recognition and compare its performance theoretically and empirically with one of the most commonly used method for 3D object recognition, 3D bounded error recognition. In particular, we show that the probability of false positive or false negative matches in a view-based recognition system is not substantially different from the probability of similar errors in other commonly used recognition systems. Furthermore, we derive an upper bound on the number of views needed to be stored by a view-based recognition system in order to achieve zero probability of false negative matches. Simulations and experiments on real images suggest that these estimates are conservative and that view-based recognition is a robust and simple alternative to the more traditional 3D shape based recognition methods.