This Article considers the constitutional status of state punitive damage judgments and the particular obligation that sister-states have to enforce them. Part I considers the legality of measures recently enacted by the tobacco companies' home states to delay enforcement of the judgment in Engle. This discussion will show that, contrary to the public protestations of many legal scholars, those states properly exercised their authority under the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the Constitution when they acted to defer enforcement of the Engle judgment while it is appealed through the Florida courts. Part II of this Article considers whether there is any obligation under the Full Faith and Credit Clause to enforce sister-state judgments for punitive damages. According to Supreme Court precedent dating back to the nineteenth century, "penal" judgments are not entitled to full faith and credit. While the penal judgment rule has not seen great service in recent decades, its reexamination is timely. First, there is widespread agreement that modern punitive damages awards no longer serve the compensatory purposes they served at the time the Full Faith and Credit Clause was ratified: Punitive damages now serve the quasi-criminal purposes of deterrence and punishment, and are therefore penal in nature. Second, an increasing number of states have reaffirmed the penal role of punitive damages by appropriating a share of the plaintiff's punitive award. Such shared recovery laws emphasize that punitive awards now vindicate "public wrongs," and so fulfill the historical purpose of penal laws. This Article contends, however, that the penal judgment rule should not be extended to permit the denial of full faith and credit to judgments for punitive damages. Notwithstanding the linguistic similarity in the epithets penal judgments and punitive damages, the concepts address quite different concerns. Further, application of the penal judgment rule to punitive damages awards would serve no state or litigant interest not already addressed by other constitutional provisions - particularly the Due Process Clause. For these reasons, courts should not revivify the penal judgment rule to address contemporary problems posed by punitive damages awards. This Article concludes that the Constitution offers defendants who suffer the imposition of catastrophic verdicts like that in Engle a measure of protection. States may, and after Engle should, eliminate appellate bond requirements for punitive awards when there is no reason to suspect that the judgment debtor will intentionally dissipate its assets. This approach will leave intact appellate bond requirements for compensatory damages, and thus secure the judgment creditor's right to be made whole for his losses. At the same time, judgment debtors need not face the prospect of bankruptcy, or exorbitant settlement, simply because they cannot post security for an aberrant, punitive verdict like that in Engle. The Supreme Court has emphasized the critical role of appellate courts in policing unconstitutionally excessive punitive verdicts, and that role can only be fulfilled if the appellate process is affordable. Realistic appellate bond requirements, however, are only part of the solution. Engle sounds a grave warning. The current system of tort law increasingly "commits the fate of an entire industry or, indeed, the fate of a class of millions, to a single jury."The constellation of interests affected by mass tort litigation--injured persons, consumers, states, national industries, and local economies - exceeds the competence of a single jury or single state court to resolve. A national solution is needed, and by default the task of devising that solution falls on Congress.


High voltage field testing of electrical insulation can necessitate the use of bulky test equipment and large power supplies. This is due to the significant insulation capacitance presented by some types of high voltage machinery. For these applications, test equipment should be portable and have some way of compensating for the load capacitance. Partial core resonant transformers (PCRTXs) were developed as a solution to this problem. These are light weight transformers with a core consisting of a single limb which can be inductively tuned to resonate with the load capacitance at power frequency. These transformers have been designed for medium voltage applications such as high potential testing of generator stators. This thesis explores the concept of connecting multiple PCRTXs in cascade to generate higher voltages to enable portable field testing of high voltage cables and gas insulated switchgear. An existing two winding model is extended to predict the performance of three winding PCRTXs. A new equivalent circuit model is developed to represent multiple PCRTXs connected in cascade and validated by measurements conducted on existing prototypes. New challenges presented by the cascaded arrangement are explored including a method for tuning multiple stages, primary winding current distribution and load voltage distribution across stages. The limitations of cascaded PCRTXs are investigated and it is concluded that designs with more than three stages become impractical due to increased losses and a reduction in the resonant load capacitance. A suite of flexible software design tools is developed to make the design process user friendly. A constrained particle swarm optimisation algorithm is applied to compare the relative benefits of cascaded and single PCRTXs. Simulated cascaded test kits with varying numbers of stages are optimised for weight to meet the same design specification. The relationship between the number of stages and the optimal stage weight is presented. A new two stage cascaded PCRTX test kit is designed and built to generate a 66 kV test voltage. New construction methods are trialled and evaluated including radially laminated core sections to reduce losses and fibreglass inter-layer winding insulation with vacuum resin infusion. The transformer is thoroughly tested and numerous design strengths and areas for improvement are identified. An existing PCRTX is added as a third stage to energise a 343 nF load to 100 kV whilst drawing 60.6 A from the supply. Equivalent Circuit Model of Cascade Connected Partial Core Resonant Transformers, Australian Universities Power Engineering Conference, Hobart, Tasmania


Exploring and understanding the phylogeny of the Butyrivibrio group is imperative if we are ever to fully understand the consortium of ruminal microbial enzymes that are responsible for the catalysis of multifaceted reactions, such as biohydrogenation. At present, taxonomic classification of the Butyrivibrio group is based primarily on butyrate production. This approach has become antiquated with the development of sequencing technologies and downstream bioinformatics analysis. This study investigated the taxonomic relatedness and functional capacity of the ruminal Butyrivibrio group using 72 genomes. Seventy-one Butyrivibrio group genomes were obtained via JGI (the Hungate 1000 project), and one additional bacterial strain was sequenced by ourselves. A 40 marker phylogenetic tree was constructed and visualised with the interactive Tree Of Life (iTOL), and pangenome analysis conducted using Spine/ClustAGE. Orthologous gene affiliations were identified using OrthAgogue, and glycosyl hydrolase families were identified using dbCAN then aligned with Clustal Omega. Data obtained showed that three primary clades were observed, namely the genus Pseudobutyrivibrio, B. fibrisolvens, and the remaining Butyrivibrio species. Pangenome analysis and orthologous gene affiliations revealed greater diversity within Butyrivibrio than Pseudobutyrivibrio. Butyrivibrio clades consistently showed smaller core genome sizes in comparison to Pseudobutyrivibrio, with core genome percentages as low as 4 %, indicating high levels of variance. Glycosyl hydrolase alignment shows extensive sequence dissimilarity between genes on a nucleotide and amino acid level These findings suggest that the Butyrivibrio group are highly evolved to maintain competitiveness in the rumen and emphasises the need for further research into the biochemical capacity of the Butyrivibrio group.


A module of an automatic adjustment system has been developed and studied, consisting of a scaled segment of the main four-pass amplifier of the Iskra-6 128-beam laser apparatus. The adjustment methods are based on the use of small light markers, centered with the stops of the elements. The adjustment algorithm, the image-processing methods, and the adjustment accuracy and rate have been experimentally investigated. A software package has been developed for modeling radiation propagation through the optical system and the automatic adjustment of the system, and a comparison has been made with experiment. The results serve as a basis for further development of the system for automatically adjusting the laser apparatus.


The few years since the U.S. incursion into Iraq in 2003 have witnessed an explosion in the literature on odious debts - that is, debts incurred (a) without the consent of the people (e.g., by a despotic regime); (b) from which no benefits accrued to the people; and (c) when the creditors had knowledge of the foregoing. The key question in the literature is whether successors to the despotic regime are obligated to pay the debts of the despot. That is, whether the newly democratic nation of Iraq is obligated to pay the debts of Saddam Hussein. The starting point for almost every discussion - scholarly or popular - of this doctrine is an obscure legal scholar named Alexander Nahum Sack, variously described as the pre-eminent scholar on public debts of his time, a former minister to Tsar Nicholas II, and a Russian professor of law who penned the doctrine of odious debts while teaching in Paris. This Article excavates the background of Alexander Sack, separating the reality of his life from the myth perpetuated in the odious debts literature. Instead of the heroic and eminent Tsarist exile, the evidence reveals a peripatetic legal scholar who taught in five different universities on two continents, and after being fired from a tenured position, ended his life penniless. We are left then with these questions: What does the reality of Sack mean for the legal status of the odious debts doctrine? And how is it that he achieved this iconic status when even minimal inquiry would have revealed a far more murky reality?


The new health secretary for England, Jeremy Hunt, has said that his aspiration for the NHS is improving the care of elderly people.

In his first major speech as health secretary since the cabinet reshuffle in September,1 Hunt told the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham on 9 October, "This year for the first time there are more pensioners than children. So, looking to the future, our biggest priority must be to transform what we offer to meet the challenge of an ageing population. Fail to address this, and our healthcare system will not be sustainable for them—or indeed for any of us."

Hunt vowed to press ahead with the reorganisation of the NHS introduced by his predecessor, Andrew Lansley, saying that the changes "are brave, they are right, and they will make our NHS stronger."

He added, "If Andrew is the health secretary who helped give us the structures for a modern NHS, I …


In addition to the hundreds of new articles reviewed and incorporated into the text, the fourth edition includes an entirely new chapter on Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation therapy, a reassessment of ultrabrief pulse therapy, a comprehensive critique of the validity of the seizure threshold-stimulus titration dosing method, a compelling rebuttal of recent claims of ECT-induced persistent or permanent memory dysfunction, a proposed mechanism for the almost universal experience of subjective memory improvement with ECT, and a new model for understanding the neurophysiological basis underlying effective ECT.


Two recent developments – the WikiLeaks releases and the Arab Spring – have demonstrated the capacities of individuals and movements in advancing free expression, transparency and social change through the use of online and social media. However they have also highlighted new sets of challenges and threats that interfere with, and restrict, such media uses. In this article I will present an analytical framework for understanding and investigating these contemporary restrictions to freedom of expression, based on the dimensions of information control, access to infrastructure, critical resources and applications, surveillance, and physical repression. The model takes into account current trends such as the use of intermediaries in control regimes, and provides a global perspective that incorporates restrictions in both East and West. Further, I will outline how free expression advocates and civil society campaigns, such as the Icelandic Modern Media Initiative (IMMI), have contested these practices, and discuss whether their agendas confirm the issue areas highlighted above. The restrictions to, and the advocacy for, free online communication demonstrate some of the key struggles and contestations on freedom of expression in the current digital media environment, the strategic points of intervention by different actors (states, businesses, and civil society), and the requirements for "modern freedom of expression".


Background and Aim: Self-reliance is a psychological belief that is formed in an individual during growth and is not changed easily and quickly. The present study aims to evaluate the relationship between nursing managers' selfreliance and patients' satisfaction in hospitals affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences(TUMS). Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 400 individuals(200 nursing managers and 200 patients) were interviewed in various clinical wards of TUMS hospitals. Nursing managers' self-reliance and patients' satisfaction were evaluated using a structured questionnaire. The data were entered into Stata 11 software and analyzed with non-parametric ANOVA and Spearman's correlation coefficient tests. The significance level was determined to be p<0.05. Results: Of the nursing managers, 58(29%) were male and 142(71%) were female. The mean and SD of their self-reliance were 134.9 and 19.8, respectively. The patients, however, comprised 81(40.5%) males and 118(59.5%) females. The mean and the standard deviation of patients' satisfaction were 57 and 18.2, respectively; the only individual factors affecting their level of satisfaction were educational level(p<0.005) and insurance status(p<0.0001). Besides, a multivariate analysis showed that there was a significant negative association between managers' self-esteem and patients' satisfaction(P=0.04). Conclusion: The findings revealed that female managers had less self-esteem than male managers. Moreover, it showed that managers' higher self-esteem would cause patients' lower satisfaction. Furthermore, patients with higher education and/or with health insurance were more satisfied than others.


The inflammatory cytokine osteopontin stimulates the transcription factor GLI1 to promote multidrug resistance and the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition. The Hedgehog (Hh) pathway is critical for development, but it is also implicated in the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in tumorigenesis and metastasis, processes that are regulated by both cancer cell intrinsic properties and extrinsic signals provided by the surrounding tissue. Osteopontin (OPN) is an inflammatory cytokine secreted by the stroma. Das et al. found that breast cancer cell lines treated with exogenous OPN showed increased activity of the Hh-regulated transcription factor GLI1 and expression of its target PTCH (Patched), increased the expression of genes associated with the mesenchymal phenotype, and decreased the expression of those associated with the epithelial phenotype. Conversely, silencing endogenous OPN in invasive breast cancer cell lines suppressed the activity of GLI1 and induced the expression of epithelial phenotype–related genes. GANT61, a GLI1 inhibitor, antagonized the OPN-induced transcriptional repression of epithelial marker keratin 18 and inhibited the transcription of numerous mesenchymal markers. Breast cancer cell lines treated with OPN had reduced cytotoxicity to various chemotherapeutics and increased abundance of multidrug resistance proteins MDR1 and BCRP (breast cancer resistance protein), effects that were also inhibited by GANT61 or GLI1 silencing. The Smoothened inhibitor cyclopamine did not block the effects of OPN, indicating that OPN's effects on GLI1 were independent of Smoothened. This may occur through the inactivation of GSK3β (glycogen synthase kinase 3β), because OPN induced the inhibitory phosphorylation of endogenous GSK3β in breast cancer cells, which was associated with the translocation of GLI1 to the nucleus. Cells transfected with constitutively active GSK3β exhibited increased drug concentrations, which were reduced by addition of OPN. Because OPN is also transcriptionally activated by GLI1 in response to Hh, and OPN promotes GLI1 activity, the findings suggest a destructive feed-forward cycle that promotes EMT and multidrug resistance in cancer. S. Das, R. S. Samant, L. A. Shevde, Nonclassical activation of Hedgehog signaling enhances multidrug resistance and makes cancer cells refractory to Smoothened-targeting Hedgehog inhibition. J. Biol. Chem. 288, 11824–11833 (2013). [Abstract] [Full Text]


By Lee Kennett New York: HarperCollins, 2001. 432 pages. $35.00. Lee Kennett's book on the life of William Tecumseh Sherman is brimming with details about Sherman's relationship with his wife, the state of his mental health at various times in his life, his hostility for the press and politicians, his racist attitudes, his self-promotion and manipulation of superiors, and a host of other subjects. About important issues such as the traits and characteristics that made Sherman successful as a general, however, we learn very little. Of Sherman's relationship with Grant, we learn even less. Kennett gives readers fair warning in his introduction, saying, "With few exceptions I have forsaken traditional campaign history, the direction of battles and the chronicling of campaigns; these matters merit books of their own, and in many cases have them.... [M]ore importantly, the man himself has claimed almost all the pages available, and I think rightly so." Many will disagree with that assessment. Those familiar with Sherman are likely to feel that what Kennett has left out is of greater interest than what he has retained. Kennett's Sherman is a much smaller man than the Sherman one usually finds in the history of the American Civil War. Many students of the war rank William Tecumseh Sherman, along with Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant, as among the best generals produced by the war. The noted British military theorist and historian Sir Basil Henry Liddell Hart considered Sherman as the first truly modern soldier, both for his sophisticated use of the indirect approach and the way he used military operations to break the will of the Southern people. Yet not all consider Sherman in a favorable light. Even today in many southern states a mention of Sherman's march through Georgia will bring instant and intense condemnation. Whereas Lee and Grant are considered by most biographers to be "good" generals, with Sherman there is a hesitation. This "war on the people thing" still makes people uncomfortable. Perhaps the best one can say is that in this book Kennett attempts to explain what it is about Sherman that makes these people uncomfortable after all these years. To this end he marshals considerable evidence. Unfortunately, by placing so much emphasis on the negative aspects of Sherman's character, there is little room left to comment on his more attractive qualities. Reading this book one is at a loss as to how to explain Sherman's greatness, least of all his competence as a soldier. What was it that made the team of Grant and Sherman so effective? What did Grant see in Sherman and why did he place so much confidence in him, especially when, as Kennett tells us, Sherman seems to have had so little confidence in himself? Regardless of one's views about Grant as a general, at least he proved to be a good judge of generals, and he considered Sherman one of the best. In one of the most troubling sections of the book, Kennett turns to a questionable application of psychology to get a better understanding of Sherman's psyche. He refers to the journal Psychohistory Review, wherein Sherman was recently diagnosed, long after death, as a "victim of personality disorder, most likely some form of manic depression." Kennett readily admits that "a posthumous diagnosis of mental illness based largely on epistolary evidence more than a century old is at best tentative," but then concludes, "still, the line of inquiry is a valid one and should be pursued." The most likely diagnosis, we are told, is that Sherman had a "narcissistic personality disorder," and further that "the general's behavior patterns" suggest that he suffered from what today would be characterized as "manic depression. …


Lyme disease is a most common vector borne disease in the US. Although the majority of Lyme patients can be cured with the standard 2-4 week antibiotic treatment, at least 10-20% of patients continue to suffer from prolonged post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS). While the cause for this is unclear, one possibility is that persisting organisms are not killed by current Lyme antibiotics. In our previous studies, we screened an FDA drug library and an NCI compound library on B. burgdorferi and found some drug hits including sulfa drugs as having good activity against B. burgdorferi stationary phase cells. In this study, we evaluated the relative activity of three commonly used sulfa drugs sulfamethoxazole (Smx), dapsone (Dps), sulfachlorpyridazine (Scp), and also trimethoprim (Tmp), and assessed their combinations with the commonly prescribed Lyme antibiotics for activities against B. burgdorferi stationary phase cells. Using the same molarity concentration, dapsone, sulfachlorpyridazine and trimethoprim showed very similar activity against stationary phase B. burgdorferi enriched in persisters, however, sulfamethoxazole was the least active drug among the three sulfa drugs tested. Interestingly, contrary to other bacterial systems, Tmp did not show synergy in drug combinations with the three sulfa drugs at their clinically relevant serum concentrations against B. burgdorferi. We found that sulfa drugs combined with other antibiotics were more active than their respective single drugs and that four-drug combinations were more active than three-drug combinations. Four drug combinations dapsone+minocycline+cefuroxime+azithromycin and dapsone+minocycline+cefuroxime+rifampin showed best activity against stationary phase B. burgdorferi in these sulfa drug combinations. However, these 4-sulfa drug containing combinations still had considerably less activity against B. burgdorferi stationary phase cells than the daptomycin+cefuroxime+doxycycline used as a positive control which completely eradicated B. burgdorferi stationary phase cells. Future studies are needed to evaluate and optimize the sulfa drug combinations in vitro and also in animal models.


This thesis presents the research work on the design and modeling of a 3-DoF robot arm as part of the 6-DoF arc welding robot called Robotums RA-01 developed at Centre of Materials & Minerals, Universiti Malaysia Sabah. A 3-DoF robot arm has been designed with the ability to interface with a forearm mechanism developed by Chua (2007) to form a complete 6-DoF arc-welding robot with a maximum reachable distance of 1,300mm and a handling payload of 6kg at the wrist center. As well as designing of the robot-arm mechanics and structure, and the driving system design fundamentals. The robot kinematics model has been developed to serve as the fundamental mechanics of the robot-arm system. Modified Denavit-Hartenberg frame assignment is introduced to resolve the complexity of the skeleton structure frame assignment with a final reference coordinate frame been fixed, which leads to the forward and inverse kinematics model formulation. Each joint of the designed robot arm is given a degree of freedom by attaching a joint driving system using servomotors and harmonics drive partnership. The joint driving systems are designed based on the criteria to meet acceleration and manipulation of the robot arm structures and inertia masses achieving the 6kg payload at the wrist center point. Prediction of harmonic drive safety functional life span of the shortest period of 8 years is achieved at 1st joint driving system before failure is anticipated. The robot arm 3-D virtual prototype linkage structures are designed through SolidWorks to meet the design requirement of a maximum deflection value of 0.257mm and an equivalent stiffness of 295717.5 N/mm for 6kg payload acting at the wrist center has also been achieved. The main linkage structures design involved the theoretical model, and the iteration or numerical via CAD with CAE verification has been introduced. For analyzing the theoretical dynamic behavior of the robot arm, a dynamic model of the arm has been developed based on the Lagrange approach. An ideal theoretical dynamic model, neglects on the frictional force terms are simulated in the development of inverse dynamic solutions of the joint torques. A close-to real life dynamic simulation or 3-D motion numerical analysis has also been performed through CosmosMotion CAE application tool for comparison and verification of the results with the theoretical model. The linear trajectory simulation of the GMAW robot-arm wrist center Cartesian position error range of 0.00mm to 0.35mm is achieved at 400 mm/min for standard gas metal welding operation, which permitted tolerance variation position between the arc and joint gap not to exceed more than +0.5 mm. Therefore, the designed GMAW robot-arm has successfully met the requirement of gas metal arc welding operation.


This paper studies the role of employer behavior in generating "negative duration dependence" -- the adverse effect of a longer unemployment spell -- by sending fictitious resumes to real job postings in 100 U.S. cities. Our results indicate that the likelihood of receiving a callback for an interview significantly decreases with the length of a worker's unemployment spell, with the majority of this decline occurring during the first eight months. We explore how this effect varies with local labor market conditions, and find that duration dependence is stronger when the labor market is tighter. We develop a theoretical framework that shows how the sign of this interaction effect can be used to discern among leading models of duration dependence based on employer screening, employer ranking, and human capital depreciation. Our results suggest that employer screening plays an important role in generating duration dependence; employers use the unemployment spell length as a signal of unobserved productivity and recognize that this signal is less informative in weak labor markets.


Children as culture bearers: Music Education professor Patricia Campbell and co-editor Trevor Wiggins of Dartington College, UK) present a breakthrough study of children-as-culture in The Oxford Handbook of Children's Musical Cultures (2013, Oxford Musical Press). Featuring the research of ethnomusicologists and educators (39 authors of 35 chapters) from around the world, this volume investigates the nature, structures, and styles of music preferred and used by children. Among the authors are are several former UW students, including Andrea Emberly ('09, PhD Ethnomusicology, now at York University), Sarah Bartolome ('10, PhD Music Education, now at Louisiana State University), and Chee-Hoo Lum ('07, PhD Music Education, now at National Institute of Education, Singapore).


Study in restoring images from their degraded states has been an important research topic in image processing and has potential applications in complex pattern recognition. We propose in this paper a new adaptive image restoration method using the concept of random-function realizations in geostatistics. This conceptual framework allows us to derive the model means and variances in the context of spatial statistics. Experimental results demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed approach to other image restoration algorithms.


Closed-form approximations for the density and cumulative distribution function of the doubly noncentral t distribution are developed based on saddlepoint methods. They exhibit remarkable accuracy throughout the entire support of the distribution and are vastly superior to existing approximations. An application in finance is considered which capitalizes on the enormous increase in computational speed.


This paper brings to the fore a set of masks that are used in combination to simulate the pattern-colour separability function of the human visual system. These kernels give a perceptual degree of smoothing which correspond to measurements estimated from human psychophysical experiments. We have found that they are a better approach to image smoothing for colour images than the traditional Gaussian masks which are widely practised.


OBJECTIVE
To describe the clinical and epidemiological features of severe acute poisonings in an adult population.

DESIGN
Retrospective analysis of clinical cases.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Analysis of the clinical charts, risk factors and main outcomes of 55 acute poisoned patients admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU).

RESULTS
Of the 55 clinical charts reviewed, female prevailed over male gender with a relation of 1.5:1, the average age was 32 years (16-83 years), the major etiologic factor for the acute poisonings were drugs in 35 cases (64%), and home or work chemicals in 20 cases (36%). The mechanisms of intoxication/poisoning were: attempted or successful suicide in 51 cases (93%), accidental poisoning in three cases (5%), and iatrogenic in one case (2%). Precipitating factors were major depressive disorder in 29 cases (53%), dysthymic disorder in 12 cases (22%) and adjustment disorder with depressive mood or impulsive act in nine cases (16%). Associated feature comorbid conditions were: homosexuality, schizophrenia, drug addiction, AIDS, other chronic diseases, and previous suicide attempts. Outcomes were 33 (60%) patients discharged from the ICU without sequela, seven (13%) with permanent severe sequela and 15 (27%) deaths.

CONCLUSIONS
There was a high rate of suicides related with depressive disorders in a predominantly female population. Drug products were used more frequently than home or work chemicals. Although advanced life support and antidotal treatments were available, mortality was high. Areas where injury prevention efforts might have an influence on adult poisoning morbidity and mortality include management of depression as well suitable control of drugs and chemicals.


In order to understand the heat transfer performance, startup and fluid flow condition of oscillating heat pipe (OHP) with hydraulic diameter far exceeding the maximum hydraulic diameter (MHD), an experimental investigation on heat transfer performance and visualization was conducted. From the experimental performance, it is found that the OHP can still work well with ethanol as the working fluid when the tube diameter has exceeded the MHD of 91.6%. In addition, the detailed flow patterns of the OHP were recorded by a highspeed camera for vertical and horizontal orientation to understand its physical mechanism. In the vertical orientation, initially working fluid generates small bubbles, and then the small bubbles coalesce and grow to vapor plugs, the vapor plugs finally pushes the liquid slugs to oscillate in the tube. In the horizontal orientation, the working fluid surface fluctuates due to the vapors flow from the evaporator to the condenser and bubbles burst in the evaporator. When the peak of liquid wave reaches the upper surface of tube, a liquid slug has been formed, and then the steam flow pushes the liquid slugs to oscillate in the tube.


Objectives The boom in computer use and concurrent high rates in musculoskeletal complaints and carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) among users have led to a controversy about a possible link. Most studies have used cross-sectional designs and shown no association. The present study used longitudinal data from two large complementary cohorts to evaluate a possible relationship between CTS and the performance of computer work. Settings and participants The Cosali cohort is a representative sample of a French working population that evaluated CTS using standardised clinical examinations and assessed self-reported computer use. The PrediCTS cohort study enrolled newly hired clerical, service and construction workers in several industries in the USA, evaluated CTS using symptoms and nerve conduction studies (NCS), and estimated exposures to computer work using a job exposure matrix. Primary and secondary outcome measures During a follow-up of 3–5 years, the association between new cases of CTS and computer work was calculated using logistic regression models adjusting for sex, age, obesity and relevant associated disorders. Results In the Cosali study, 1551 workers (41.8%) completed follow-up physical examinations; 36 (2.3%) participants were diagnosed with CTS. In the PrediCTS study, 711 workers (64.2%) completed follow-up evaluations, whereas 31 (4.3%) had new cases of CTS. The adjusted OR for the group with the highest exposure to computer use was 0.39 (0.17; 0.89) in the Cosali cohort and 0.16 (0.05; 0.59) in the PrediCTS cohort. Conclusions Data from two large cohorts in two different countries showed no association between computer work and new cases of CTS among workers in diverse jobs with varying job exposures. CTS is far more common among workers in non-computer related jobs; prevention efforts and work-related compensation programmes should focus on workers performing forceful hand exertion.


Perivaginal fat protrusion is a complication of soft tissue laceration in cases of dystocia in cattle. The vaginal wall is able to heal around the perivaginal fat prolapse, leaving a pedunculated mass of fat covered with granulation tissue (Hull 1995). When the cow lies down or strains, this mass protrudes through the vulva, and the surface often becomes necrotic due to recurrent exposure. The prolapsed tissue usually originates from the lateral vaginal wall. Pedunculated masses of perivaginal fat are often misdiagnosed as tumours (Hull 1995).

Arbeiter and Mayer (1967) have described fat tissue protrusion through the vaginal wall in primiparous as well as in multiparous cows. The protrusion was always located in the region of the hymen (Arbeiter and Mayer 1967). Each case described in their study had a history of assisted calving one to two weeks before being referred for treatment. Particularly at first calving, livestock owners underestimate the time needed for dilatation of soft tissue, leading to premature forced extraction.

Different techniques are described for the excision of the protruded fat tissue: Arbeiter and Mayer (1967) propose an episiotomy and the excision of the fat prolapse with a scalpel and the tamponade of the wound cavity with a resorbable sponge (Spongostan Johnson & Johnson Medical GmbH). Hull (1995) proposed making small cuts in the surface of the protruded fat to produce a gradual protrusion of fat from the inside and then the stepwise excision of the fat tissue avoiding the risk of deep dissection and massive bleeding. Wolfe and Carson (1998) finally described the removal of the fat tissue with an emasculator.

The aim of the present case series is to describe a novel surgical technique to easily and safely remove prolapsed perivaginal fat tissue.

Six adult Eringer cows (numbers 1–6; number 6 was referred …


Schizophrenia is a complex and devastating psychiatric disorder that creates a substantial emotional and economic burden on individuals with the illness, their families, and society. Understanding the causes and identifying the molecular alterations in the brain that underlie the pathophysiology of core clinical features of schizophrenia are central to the development of new therapeutic interventions. In particular, schizophrenia is characterized by impairments in working memory, which are thought to result from a deficit in GABA neurotransmission in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Interestingly, exposure to cannabis has been associated with an increased risk for developing schizophrenia and cannabis use is associated with DLPFC-related working memory impairments similar to those observed in schizophrenia. The effects of cannabis are mediated by the brain cannabinoid 1 (CB1) receptor, which in the rodent, is heavily localized to certain inhibitory axon terminals and, when activated, inhibits GABA release. Here, we have investigated the anatomical distribution of the CB1 receptor in the primate brain and characterized the cellular localization and synaptic targets of the CB1 receptor in the primate DLPFC. In addition, we explored the potential relationship between CB1 receptor signaling and altered GABA neurotransmission in schizophrenia by evaluating CB1 receptor mRNA and protein expression in the DLPFC of subjects with schizophrenia. We found that CB1 receptors are highly expressed in the primate DLPFC and that CB1 receptors are localized in the terminals of the subtype of perisomatic-targeting GABA interneurons that contain the neuropeptide cholecystokinin (CCK). We found that CB1 mRNA and protein are reduced in schizophrenia, which may represent a compensatory mechanism to increase GABA transmission from perisomatic-targeting CCK neurons with impaired GABA synthesis. We conclude that reductions in the expression of the CB1 receptor mRNA and protein in CCK neurons represent a novel neuropathological entity in the DLPFC of individuals with schizophrenia. These findings suggest a novel drug target for the treatment of cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia.


Along-track interferometric synthetic aperture radar (AT-InSAR) can be used to estimate the radial velocity of ground moving targets, starting from interferometric phase measures. The estimation obtained from a single-phase interferogram suffers from ambiguities. To solve these problems, multichannel AT-InSAR systems are required. In this letter, we analyze the radial velocity maximum-likelihood estimation accuracy with respect to AT-InSAR system parameters, such as velocity values and different clutter and thermal noise levels. We consider two different models for the target response: a deterministic model and a zero-mean Gaussian model. The presented results show that AT-InSAR systems exhibit better estimation accuracies for low-velocity values (slow targets).


As a subcategory of contract negotiations, corporate transactions present information problems that have not been fully analyzed. In particular, the literature does not address the possibility that parties may simply be unaware of value-increasing transaction terms or their outside option. Such unawareness can arise even for transactions that attract many competing parties, if the bargaining process is such that (1) the price terms are negotiated and fixed prior to the non-price terms, contrary to the standard assumption; and (2) some of the non-price terms remain private for some period of time.
A simple bargaining model shows that, when such unawareness is reasonably probable, each transaction party will maximize its expected payoff by acquiring current market information about non-price transaction terms. Because they have unique access to it, law firms with a significant share of transactional advisory work play an important role in aggregating and selling such market information. The implication is that, absent shocks to transactional practice, the volume advantage of high-market-share law firms should be self-perpetuating. This result is consistent with the observation that the legal advisory market for major corporate transactions is highly concentrated, and that the top firms earn substantial and persistent rents.


In 1972, in the search for a method to cope with all deformities in protruding ears and other common minor auricular deformities, Claus Walter published a surgical technique based on various incisions and excisions of the cartilage. The procedure consists of a complete separation of the auricle into two parts, combined with remodeling of antihelical, helical, and lobular structures without use of adjusting sutures. Thus, even in patients with stiff and unyielding cartilage and in revisional surgery, pleasing aesthetic results may be achieved. The recurrence rate has found to be reduced markedly. Considering all pros and cons and optional surgical modifications, the incision-excision technique can be adopted for every protruding ear as well as for lop ears, moderate cup ear deformities, and secondary revisions. Because of the extent of cartilage dissection, this technique is not recommended for beginners but should be restricted to experienced surgeons with profound knowledge of basic remodeling procedures.


Abstract Almost all heuristic optimization procedures require the presence of a well-tuned set of parameters. The tuning of these parameters is usually a critical issue and may entail intensive computational requirements. We propose a fast and effective approach composed of two distinct stages. In the first stage, a genetic algorithm is applied to a small subset of representative problems to determine a few robust parameter sets. In the second stage, these sets of parameters are the starting points for a fast local search procedure, able to more deeply investigate the space of parameter sets for each problem to be solved. This method is tested on a parametric version of the Clarke and Wright algorithm and the results are compared with an enumerative parameter setting approach previously proposed in the literature. The results of our computational testing show that our new parameter-setting procedure produces results of the same quality as the enumerative approach, but requires much shorter computational time.


The effect of fluctuating environmental conditions (i.e. environmental stochasticity) on the evolution of virulence has been broadly overlooked, presumably due to a lack of connection between the fields of evolutionary epidemiology and insect ecology. Practitioners of the latter have known for a long time that stochastic environmental variations can impact the population dynamics of many insects, some of which are vectors of infectious diseases. Here we investigate whether environmental stochasticity affecting a vector's life history can have an indirect impact on the evolutionarily expected virulence of the parasite, using Chagas disease as an example. We model the evolution of virulence using the adaptive dynamics framework, showing that parasite virulence should decrease when the vector's dynamics randomly change in time. The decrease is even more pronounced when environmental variations are frequent and ample. This decrease in virulence can be viewed as a bet-hedging strategy: when a parasite is at a risk of not being transmitted (e.g. because vectors are scarce), its best option is to stay in the host longer – that is, to be less virulent. Lowering virulence is thus very similar to increasing iteroparity, a well-known risk-spreading strategy, and should be expected to evolve whenever parasite transmission varies randomly in time.


Currently, there is a growing interest in combining anticancer drugs with the aim to improve outcome in patients suffering from tumours and reduce the long-term toxicity associated with the current standard of treatment. In this study, we evaluated the possible role of deracoxib against the toxicity of doxorubicin on normal canine mammary epithelial cells. The effect of deracoxib and doxorubicin combination on cell viability was determined by MTT assay. Apoptosis was characterised by flow cytometry. Cell nitrite concentrations were measured with the Griess reaction. Deracoxib (50 and 100 μM) treatment decreased the cytotoxic action of doxorubicin at 0.9 μM in the cells, from 33.63% to 13.4% and 25.82%, respectively. Our results also showed that the reverse effect of deracoxib on doxorubicin-induced cytotoxic activity in the cells was associated with a marked (3.04- to 3.57-fold) decrease in apoptosis. In additional studies identifying the mechanism of the observed effect, deracoxib exhibited an activity to prevent doxorubicin-mediated overproduction of nitric oxide in the cells. Our in vitro study results indicate that deracoxib (50 and 100 μM) can be beneficial in protecting normal cells from the toxic effect of doxorubicin in conjunction with apoptosis by the modulation of nitric oxide production.


Current scholarship on the impact of epidemics on American Indians is inadequate to explain how Indians survived. Too often Indians are given no credit for being able to combat emergent diseases, and too often epidemics are depicted as completely undermining native religious beliefs. This article, however, examines the response of Southeastern Indians to disease and shows that Native Americans were capable of successfully retarding mortality rates and curtailing the spread of contagions. Through their innovative responses to epidemiological crises, spiritual leaders reinforced tribal customs as well as their leadership position.


This paper offers an alternative proposition to that of Lewis on identity and professional identity in higher education (HE). The proposition is provided from the narratives of 26 individual interviewees who deliver HE in college-based higher education, a viewpoint not considered by Lewis, who tends to adopt a more generalist view. Where Lewis blames the demise of HE on academics, the alternative is considered where it is the managerialist and marketisation practiced by managers and administrators alike that may be the cause of this demise, introducing what is often referred to as the 'McDonaldization of HE'. The paper considers Lewis' views that the Association of University Administrators should have more power and take the lead on managing academics and HE, but finds the arguments both weak and tentative; subsequently one argues that the subjects Lewis discusses are 'wicked problems' with little or no real opportunity for resolution.


PURPOSE
For CT-based image-guided proton therapy, it is possible to adapt to new patient anatomy by correcting the range of protons. In this work we investigated the use of several correction methods to adjust proton spot monitor units (MU) for single field uniform dose for real-time range adaptive proton therapy.

METHODS
Spot MU correction factors for range-adapted plans were calculated based on two different Methods: differences in central-axis peak dose per MU, and differences in number of protons per MU. These factors were applied either only to the highest energy spot for each ray, or to the entire spot matrix. For each of these methods, the difference between the dose distributions from the verification (non-adaptive) and adaptive plans to the original treatment plan was assessed. We examined target coverage (V95%), target hot spots (V110%), and dose to the organs-at-risk including the spinal cord (Dmax), esophagus (Dmean), contralateral lung (Dmean), and heart (Dmean). A scanning-beam plan with single-field optimization was created for a lung cancer patient, simulating a single-field delivering a uniform target dose pointing directly at organs-at-risk. Average change in water equivalent thickness (WET) was used to quantify anatomic change.

RESULTS
Dose to normal tissues distal to the target was reduced for the adaptive plans compared to the verification plans for cases where WET decreased, but were similar for cases where WET increased. The adaptive plans almost always improved target coverage when WET increased, but the verification plans tended to have better target coverage when WET decreased. The hot spots in the target were always greater in the adaptive plans compared to the verification plans.

CONCLUSION
The simple proton range correction adaptive scheme shows promise to reduce normal tissue doses without a full reoptimization. However, more sophisticated spot MU correction is warranted to increase dose homogeneity throughout the target volume.


The Dutch and English offered Spanish and Portuguese Jews inducements such as liberties unheard of in Europe until the mid-nineteenth century in order to lure them to their New World colonies. As compelling as the economic and military rationales for Jewish settlement were, there were also "spiritual" reasons to encourage Jewish settlement – and for Jews, themselves, to venture to the colonies. The mid-seventeenth century was a time of eschatological fervor in both Christian and the Jewish communities and millenarianism and messianism formed the backdrops against which Jewish colonization in the New World occurred. The seventeenth century saw an increasingly acute expectation of apocalyptic events by Christians and Jews, and was marked by an outpouring of messianic prophecy all over Europe and the Mediterranean. This article will discuss whether the English and/or the Dutch encouraged Jewish settlement in the New World with the idea that it could help in ushering in the much yearned for second coming. It will also discuss whether Jews may have been tempted to go to the colonies with the idea that they were helping to bring about the dispersion described in Daniel 12:7 – a scattering that was necessary before the prophesized "Second Coming".


Abstract Information about the interaction between behavior and landscape resources is key to directing conservation management for endangered species. We studied multi-scale occurrence, habitat use, and selection in a cooperatively breeding population of Micronesian kingfishers (Todiramphus cinnamominus) on the island of Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia. At the landscape level, point-transect surveys resulted in kingfisher detection frequencies that were higher than those reported in 1994, although they remained 15–40% lower than 1983 indices. Integration of spatially explicit vegetation information with survey results indicated that kingfisher detections were positively associated with the amount of wet forest and grass–urban vegetative cover, and they were negatively associated with agricultural forest, secondary vegetation, and upland forest cover types. We used radiotelemetry and remote sensing to evaluate habitat use by individual kingfishers at the home-range scale. A comparison of habitats in Micronesian kingfisher home ranges with those in randomly placed polygons illustrated that birds used more forested areas than were randomly available in the immediate surrounding area. Further, members of cooperatively breeding groups included more forest in their home ranges than birds in pair-breeding territories, and forested portions of study areas appeared to be saturated with territories. Together, these results suggested that forest habitats were limited for Micronesian kingfishers. Thus, protecting and managing forests is important for the restoration of Micronesian kingfishers to the island of Guam (United States Territory), where they are currently extirpated, as well as to maintaining kingfisher populations on the islands of Pohnpei and Palau. Results further indicated that limited forest resources may restrict dispersal opportunities and, therefore, play a role in delayed dispersal and cooperative behaviors in Micronesian kingfishers.


BACKGROUND
Upper extremity lymphedema is a complication that often occurs in women with breast cancer as a result of surgery and/or radiotherapy. Some studies report that a boating activity known as the "dragon boat" sport can benefit these women.

AIM
The aim of this study was to assess whether this type of sport prevents or reduces lymphedema, its impact on quality of life (QoL), and the possible predictors of this condition.

METHODS
This was an observational study of 2 groups: group A (women who participated in dragon boat racing for at least 6 months) and group B (women who participated in other forms of physical exercise biweekly). Data were collected at the National Cancer Institute of Rome and the lake of Castel Gandolfo from June to October 2016. The instruments used were a questionnaire created for sociodemographic and clinical data, the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Core Questionnaire for evaluating QoL, and a tape measure applied to estimate the local lymphedema.

RESULTS
One hundred women participated in the study. Lymphedema incidence in group A was 4.0% (2 of 50), whereas in group B it was 26.0% (13 of 50). Women who participated in dragon boat racing also reported a healthier lifestyle, lower body mass index, and a better QoL (set point: 61.8 group B vs 80.0 group A).

CONCLUSIONS
The dragon boat sport participants had more positive clinical and QoL outcomes than did the women who did not participate in that sporting activity.

IMPLICATIONS FOR CLINICAL PRACTICE
It would be important to make women with breast cancer aware of the practice of dragon boat racing.


Small scale roughness of the seafloor is of direct relevance to a range of interests, including boundary layer hydrodynamics, sediment transport and high-frequency acoustic scattering. Despite its importance, only few studies have quantitatively resolved seafloor height at the relevant scales. In particular, characterisation of roughness over vegetated beds is needed to better understand hydrodynamics and sediment transport in the coastal zone. A new Benthic Roughness Acoustic Device (BRAD) has been developed to define microtopographical roughness through high-resolution imagery of the seabed. BRAD, composedof a profiling sonar – the Sediment Imager Sonar (SIS) – and a motor, both mounted on a frame, enables measurements of the seabed elevation over an area of 1.7 m 2 . A thresholdmethod was established to detect the seabed from the SIS raw data. Laboratorydeployments were carried out in order to assess the system accuracy over known targetsand its ability to discriminate sediment sizes. Field deployments at 6 sites enabled the imaging of a variety of seabed types; in particular bioturbated fine sand and mud, seagrass canopies, gravelly sand and ripple fields. Spectral analysis applied on the seabed elevations was used to characterise roughness type. Seagrasses are flowering plants that have adapted to the submerged marine environment.They develop extensive underwater meadows in coastal areas around the world, forming complex, highly productive ecosystems. The SIS was used together with a towed videocamera system to survey a seagrass (Zostera marina) bed in Calshot, UK. A method was developed to assess Z. marina presence from the SIS data and its results were tested against video data. The SIS proved to be a useful tool for seagrass surveying and the use of the SIS and the video yielded a preliminary map of the seagrass bed. Seagrass canopies exert strong effects on water flow inside and around them. The influenceof Zostera marina canopies on flow, turbulence, roughness and sediment movement was evaluated through laboratory experiments. Numerous runs were carried out in an annular and a straight, recirculating flume using live Z. marina and a mobile sand layer. Flow was greatly decelerated inside the canopy while turbulence was increased. The Turbulent Kinetic Energy was observed to be maximal at the canopy/water interface. This was hypothesised to be related to the canopy 'wavy' motion. Sediment movement was observed within the canopy as scour around the stems. Ripples formed downstream of the canopy at velocities lower than the sediment threshold of motion. Intermittent turbulence associated with the burst phenomenon is thought to be responsible for this.


Background We investigated sex-specific associations between lifetime number of sexual partners and several health outcomes in a large sample of older adults in England. Methods We used cross-sectional data from 2537 men and 3185 women aged ≥50 years participating in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. Participants reported the number of sexual partners they had had in their lifetime. Outcomes were self-rated health and self-reported limiting long-standing illness, cancer, coronary heart disease, and stroke. We used logistic regression to analyse associations between lifetime number of sexual partners and health outcomes, adjusted for relevant sociodemographic and health-related covariates. Results Having had 10 or more lifetime sexual partners was associated with higher odds of reporting a diagnosis of cancer than having had 0–1 sexual partners in men (OR 1.69, 95% CI 1.01 to 2.83) and women (OR 1.91, 95% CI 1.04 to 3.51), respectively. Women who had 10 or more lifetime sexual partners also had higher odds of reporting a limiting long-standing illness (OR 1.64, 95% CI 1.15 to 2.35). No other statistically significant associations were observed. Conclusions A higher lifetime number of sexual partners is associated with increased odds of reported cancer. Longitudinal research is required to establish causality. Understanding the predictive value of lifetime number of sexual partners as a behavioural risk factor may improve clinical assessment of cancer risk in older adults.


This book series provides complete, comprehensive and broad subject based reviews about existing biodiversity of different habitats and conservation strategies in the framework of different technologies, ecosystem diversity, and genetic diversity. The ways by which these resources are used with sustainable management and replenishment are also dealt with. The topics of interest include but are not restricted only to sustainable development of various ecosystems and conservation of hotspots, traditional methods and role of local people, threatened and endangered species, global climate change and effect on biodiversity, invasive species, impact of various activities on biodiversity, biodiversity conservation in sustaining livelihoods and reducing poverty, and technologies available and required. The books in this series will be useful to botanists, environmentalists, marine biologists, policy makers, conservationists, and NGOs working for environment protection.


The aminoglycoside 6'-N-acetyltransferase AAC(6')-Ii from Enterococcus faecium is an important microbial resistance determinant and a member of the GCN5-related N-acetyltransferase (GNAT) superfamily. We report here the further characterization of this enzyme in terms of the kinetic mechanism of acetyl transfer and identification of rate-contributing step(s) in catalysis, as well as investigations into the binding of both acetyl-CoA and aminoglycoside substrates to the AAC(6')-Ii dimer. Product and dead-end inhibition studies revealed that AAC(6')-Ii follows an ordered bi-bi ternary complex mechanism with acetyl-CoA binding first followed by antibiotic. Solvent viscosity studies demonstrated that aminoglycoside binding and product release govern the rate of acetyl transfer, as evidenced by changes in both the k(cat)/K(b) for aminoglycoside and k(cat), respectively, with increasing solvent viscosity. Solvent isotope effects were consistent with our viscosity studies that diffusion-controlled processes and not the chemical step were rate-limiting in drug modification. The patterns of partial and mixed inhibition observed during our mechanistic studies were followed up by investigating the possibility of subunit cooperativity in the AAC(6')-Ii dimer. Through the use of AAC-Trp(164) --> Ala, an active mutant which exists as a monomer in solution, the partial nature of the competitive inhibition observed in wild-type dead-end inhibition studies was alleviated. Isothermal titration calorimetry studies also indicated two nonequivalent antibiotic binding sites for the AAC(6')-Ii dimer but only one binding site for the Trp(164) --> Ala mutant. Taken together, these results demonstrate subunit cooperativity in the AAC(6')-Ii dimer, with possible relevance to other oligomeric members of the GNAT superfamily.


The Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health (ALSWH) involves three cohorts of women born in 1921–1926, 1946–1951 and 1973–1978, who have been surveyed every 3 years since 1996. We describe how the 1921–1926 cohort have changed over time. We also describe trends in health risks among the younger cohorts, providing an indication of future health threats. By Survey 5, 28.4% of the 1921–1926 cohort had died. Among those who survived and remained in the study, 61% maintained high physical function scores over time. Chronic conditions such as arthritis, diabetes, heart disease and stroke were associated with lower physical function scores and decline in scores over time. ALSWH will continue to provide information on changes in health and health service use as we follow the oldest cohort through their 90s, and as younger cohorts accumulate increasing burden of disease and disability as they age.


This essay begins from another. In a recent examination of the ideological conceits of current conceptions of the brain, Catherine Malabou asks: "What should we do so that consciousness of the brain does not purely and simply coincide with the spirit of capitalism?"1 Such is the conundrum, in its essence, that I want to explore. While Malabou's query is chiefly about the brain, it resonates far and wide because it goes straight to what is wrong with some philosophical thinking appearing these days. Why, within the current renaissance of research in continental philosophy, is there a coincidence between the structure of ontological systems and the structure of the most highly evolved technologies of post-Fordist capitalism? I am speaking, on the one hand, of computer networks in general and object-oriented computer languages (such as Java or C ) in particular and, on the other hand, of certain realist philosophers such as Bruno Latour, but also more pointedly Quentin Meillassoux, Graham Harman, and their associated school known as speculative realism. Why do these philosophers, when holding up a mirror to nature, see the mode of production reflected back at them? Why, in short, is there a coincidence between today's ontologies and the software of big business?


The most accurate evacuation plan should be developed based on those areas which are not affected by the damage gained by an emergency event. In this paper, three emergency models are provided: fire danger rating, hurricane index, and earthquake's affected area estimation. The system conducts a spatial overlay and proximity analysis resulting in a buffer zone shown on map around any emergency event according to its type. The system displays an evacuation path as well. Evacuation path is generated in response to two inputs marked on the study area map: the current location of the public and the location of the nearest health care facility to that evacuation area. As a result, the system draws the shortest path to that facility. Test and evaluation of the system are carried out by applying the model on various study areas to assure the resulted evacuation path accuracy and system functionality.


Abstract A new Monte Carlo (MC) method for calculating the isotopic inventory of material subjected to a neutron flux is developed and demonstrated. The method is particularly suited to modeling materials that flow through a system in a nondeterministic path. The method has strong analogies to MC neutral particle transport. The analog methodology is fully developed, including considerations for simple, complex, and loop flows, and enabling concepts such as sources and tallies. A wide variety of test problems is employed to demonstrate the validity of the analog method under various flow conditions. The method reproduced the results of the as-low-as-reasonably-achievable deterministic inventory code for comparable problems and is self-consistent when comparing complex flow scenarios to mathematically identical simple flow scenarios. A demonstration of highly scalable parallelization does not eliminate the need to develop variance reduction techniques.


This article develops a new model depicting how organizations can help customers test out and experience a service prior to purchase and consumption or use. When customers buy a new car, for instance, they are allowed to test-drive it to get the feel of it. When customers wish to purchase services, it can be more difficult to provide customers with a "test drive." In some service situations, service organizations can and do provide "test drives," but it is suggested that such experiences take place in a simulated setting. This article introduces the notion of hyperreality, the simulated reality of a service experience. It also introduces the concept of the "experience room," the place where the simulated experience takes place. Based on the existing literature, the authors apply six dimensions of experience rooms to demonstrate how organizations can cocreate value, in conjunction with the customer, through hyperreality in a preservice experience.


Kigali is a rapidly growing city, as exemplified by the phenomenal increase of its inhabitants from 358,200 in 1996 to 1,630,657 in 2017. Nevertheless, there is a paucity of detailed analytical information about the processes and factors driving unprecedented urban growth in the period following the genocide perpetrated against the Tutsi (1994) and its impact on the natural environment. This article, therefore, analyses the growth of the city of Kigali with respect to its post-genocide spatial and demographic dimensions. The methodology involves a quantification of urban growth over the period of the last 30 years using remote-sensing imagery coupled with demographic data drawn from different sources. The analysis of land cover trends shows how significant the pressure of urban expansion has been on the natural environment, with a 14 per cent decrease in open land between 1999 and 2018. Spatially, the average annual growth rate was almost 10.24 per cent during the same period. This growth is associated with the building of a large number of institutions, schools and industries. Moreover, the increase in low-income residents led to the construction of bungalows expanding on large suburbs and the development of new sub-centres in the periphery instead of high-rise apartments.


Abstract This article considers whether there is any lawful authority for foreign armed forces assisting a territorial State during a non-international armed conflict to arrest and detain civilians. Taking the backdrop of Iraq and Afghanistan it considers relevant UN Security Council resolutions including Resolution 1546 (2004) relating to Iraq which authorized the multi-national force (MNF) 'to take all necessary measures' and provided for the internment, for imperative reasons of security, of civilians. In respect of Afghanistan, a number of resolutions authorized the International Assistance Stabilisation Force (ISAF) to 'take all necessary measures'. It challenges the notion that the positive rights under international humanitarian law applicable to an international armed conflict apply, mutatis mutandis, to a non-international armed conflict, where national law (including human rights law having extra-territorial effect) is of primary (although not of exclusive) significance. It also considers which body of national law, that of the sending or that of the receiving State, applies to determine the lawfulness of detention of foreign civilians. The article recognizes that the arrest and detention of civilians may be necessary during a non-international armed conflict but concludes that the lawful justification for doing so needs to be clearly established.


This paper provides direct measures of the international mobility of long-term financial capital using interest arbitrage conditions previously applied only to short-term assets. Long-term arbitrage conditions are constructed using a now well-developed mechanism for hedging long-term currency positions, the currency swap. Asset returns are compared in the Euromarkets and in the onshore markets of Canada, Japan, Germany, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The evidence, discussed below, indicates that long-term financial capital is as mobile across these markets as is short-term capital. This appears to be the case both within the Euromarkets and across political jurisdictions.


Abstract Gas-filled capillary discharge waveguides are a commonly employed medium in laser–plasma interaction applications, such as the laser wakefield accelerator, because they can simultaneously guide high-power laser pulses while acting as the medium for acceleration. In this paper, the production of both straight and linearly tapered capillaries using a femtosecond laser micromachining technique is presented. A tapered capillary is shown to possess a smooth variation in diameter (from 305 μm to 183 μm) along its entire 40 mm length, which would lead to a longitudinal plasma density gradient, thereby dramatically improving the laser–plasma interaction efficiency in applications. Efficient guiding with up to 82% energy transmission of the fundamental Gaussian mode of a low intensity, 50 fs duration laser pulse is shown for both types of capillary waveguide.


Volcanic volatile species are scavenged by silicate ash during transition through eruption plumes. Scavenging may form S, F and Cl salts and acids on ash surfaces, though the mechanisms and controlling variables remain poorly understood. A limited mechanistic understanding impedes estimation of volcanic volatile budgets and may also prevent assessment of environmental impacts resulting from volatile scavenging. Limited assessment of these impacts may have implications for local communities affected by ashfall onto vegetation, soils and into water bodies, and ashfall from very large eruptions may have global impacts. Through experimental techniques, this study examined SO2 scavenging mechanisms on silicate ash surfaces. SO2 uptake experiments were conducted on model Ca-aluminosilicate xerogels and on glasses with chemical compositions of common ash types. The materials were characterised using bulk and surface-sensitive techniques to gain insight into the mechanisms of scavenging and the reaction products formed. SO2 chemisorption onto glass surfaces may occur on non-bridging oxygens of network modifying cations (Ca), forming sulphate salts (CaSO4) and initiates diffusion mechanisms which resupplies the surface with Ca. The chemisorption-diffusion mechanism may be most efficient at high temperature, and may become significant after a few minutes of SO2 exposure. The proposed scavenging mechanism may occur during the eruption within the high temperature volcanic conduit and in the core of the plume. High temperature SO2 scavenging could deposit the soluble S salts inferred to exist on ash and may dictate its surface chemistry for later reactions during transport through the plume and dispersion in the atmosphere and/or environment. It is not yet possible to quantify this mechanism or compare it to other scavenging mechanisms (aqueous acid condensation, high temperature salt condensation), and so future studies should attempt to constrain all volatile scavenging mechanisms occurring on ash surfaces, with particular focus on high temperatures, even in the subterranean environment.


The review considers the 5th All-Russian Sociological Congress held at the Ural Federal University in Yekaterinburg in October, 2016. The event, entitled "Sociology and Society: Social Inequality and Social Justice," attracted more than 1000 delegates from Russia and abroad. The Congress took place against a background of increasing social inequality in Russia, following the economic crisis of 2015. The program included 17 sessions, 37 panels, and 35 round tables which covered burning topics such as the unequal distribution of resources in Russian regions, the reduction of social welfare, the low living standards of vulnerable social groups, the growth of ethnic tension, and others. One of the plenary talks was given by the president of the International Sociological Association, Margaret Abraham, who spoke on the humanistic mission of Sociology, and called to coalesce in the struggle against social injustice in the world. The discussions at the Congress have shown that sociologists in Russia follow the global trends in examining urgent social problems, as well as in reflecting methodological issues, e.g., the application of new approaches in inequality studies. The debate on the restriction of academic freedoms in Russia at the closing plenary session made it obvious that the solution to this problem can be found in professional solidarity and is the responsibility of everyone who belongs to the sociological community.


The effects of higher-order scattering on intensity, degree of polarization, and direction of the plane of polarization in a molecular atmosphere have been calculated.Inclusion of higher-order scattering changes these parameters strongly. Particularly, consideration of higher-order scattering is essential in the blue wavelength range (large optical thickness). The influence increases with decreasing zenith distance of the sun. The earth albedo augments the effect, except for direction of the polarization, which is independent of higher-order scattering.


Two of the core determinations made in a reorganization proceeding under chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code' are simply stated: Who gets how much? What will the new capital structure be? To resolve these simply stated questions of valuation and recapitalization, bankruptcy courts loosely oversee a lengthy bargaining process that is widely thought to be cumbersome, costly, and complex. The strain of extended financial stress results in lost sales when customers seek a more secure supply source, in consumption of valuable management time spent resolving financial difficulties, and in forgone opportunities to obtain new projects. Additional costs are borne by the employees, customers, and suppliers of the bankrupt company, as well as the comnunities in which it operates. Furthermore, while contraction of the bankrupt firm is usually in order, parts of the firm may sometimes be liquidated even though liquidation value is less than operational value. Finally, the firm often emerges from reorganization with an unnecessarily complex capital structure. Such a complex capital structure can cause the reorganized firm to adopt poor operational strategies, prevent it from raising new capital, and pose a barrier to a healthy merger.


In this paper, we argue for representing networks as a bag of triangular motifs, particularly for important network problems that current model-based approaches handle poorly due to computational bottlenecks incurred by using edge representations. Such approaches require both 1-edges and 0-edges (missing edges) to be provided as input, and as a consequence, approximate inference algorithms for these models usually require Ω(N2) time per iteration, precluding their application to larger real-world networks. In contrast, triangular modeling requires less computation, while providing equivalent or better inference quality. A triangular motif is a vertex triple containing 2 or 3 edges, and the number of such motifs is Θ(∑i D2i) (where Di is the degree of vertex i), which is much smaller than N2 for low-maximum-degree networks. Using this representation, we develop a novel mixed-membership network model and approximate inference algorithm suitable for large networks with low max-degree. For networks with high maximum degree, the triangular motifs can be naturally subsampled in a node-centric fashion, allowing for much faster inference at a small cost in accuracy. Empirically, we demonstrate that our approach, when compared to that of an edge-based model, has faster runtime and improved accuracy for mixed-membership community detection. We conclude with a large-scale demonstration on an N ≈ 280,000-node network, which is infeasible for network models with Ω(N2) inference cost.


A number of class C G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) have been shown to form dimers in the plasma membrane, and mounting evidence supports the hypothesis that many, if not all, class A rhodopsin-like receptors also form dimers or higher-order oligomers. Evidence for this hypothesis has come from SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, coimmunoprecipitation, resonance energy transfer, atomic force microscopy, and cross-linking studies, approaches that are reviewed in this article. Like any method, each has its strengths and limitations, and these must be kept in mind when interpreting the data for oligomerization. Recent experimental evidence supports the hypothesis that class A receptors may exist as higher-order oligomers, or even as arrays, with distinct symmetrical interfaces in both the first and fourth transmembrane segments.


Background. This study questions the 6-month duration criterion for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) used in DSM-III-R and DSM-IV. Method. In adults from age 20/21 to 40/41 in the prospective Zurich Cohort Study, four groups of generalized anxiety syndromes defined by varying duration (2 weeks, 1 month, 3 months and 6 months) were compared. Results. Applying DSM-III (1979–1999) and DSM-III-R (1986–1999) criteria, there were no significant differences between the four groups in terms of family history of anxiety, work impairment, distress, treatment rates or co-morbidity with major depressive episodes (MDEs), bipolar disorder or suicide attempts. Only social impairment related to the length of episodes. The 6-month criterion of DSM-III-R and DSM-IV GAD would preclude this diagnosis in about half of the subjects treated for generalized anxiety syndromes. Conclusions. In this epidemiological sample, the 6-month duration criterion for GAD could not be confirmed as clinically meaningful. GAD syndromes of varying duration form a continuum with comparable clinical relevance.


Contemporary business systems are becoming increasingly competitive. Faster and smarter technology, although imperative, is not enough to survive in dynamic environments. Modern enterprises must adopt a deliberate and systematic approach to managing the drivers of innovation in order to create and deliver innovative new products and services and thus maintain competitive advantage. Managing the enterprise's knowledge base and converting intellectual capital into useful products and services is fast becoming the critical executive skill of the age. With this in mind, our research focuses on adopting a knowledge management approach to product innovation management. This paper reports on the findings of a case based research investigation. It introduces the concept of knowledge management for product innovation and presents a collaborative knowledge management tool specifically designed to help manage a portfolio of product innovation projects in a distributed environment.


China's overseas direct investment (ODI) in Australia has attracted adverse public reaction, similar to the reaction to Japanese investment in the late 1980s. Publicly aired concerns focus on Chinese ODI which is predominantly from state-owned enterprises and is perceived as a risk to Australia's control over its wealth-creating assets. This perception is exacerbated by a lack of understanding of the institutional environment within which China's state owned investors operate and the scale of investment. The current Australia—China investment relationship has involved an awkward interaction between public reaction, policy response in Australia, and adaptation by Chinese investors and institutions. Adaptation by Chinese investors has seen increased attempts to gain local legitimacy but has also potentially diverted largescale resource investments to other resource rich countries such as Guinea and Mongolia. Resolution of this reaction, response and adaptation process will require a deeper bilateral policy dialogue and increased investment transparency from state-owned investors and the related institutions on both sides.


The opportunity to offer advice to those who are considering the adoption or modification of class or group action procedures for other legal systems is both welcome and distracting. It is welcome because it forces a change of perspective in the attempt to contemplate adaptation of United States practice to different cultures, political structures, substantive laws, and courts with dissimilar surrounding procedures. It is distracting because there are so many different levels of possible comparison that the choice of perspective must be tailored to the immediate occasion. It is tempting to take on the most important sets of questions--for example, to ask if non-governmental individuals, organizations, or lawyers should replace individual litigants in larger scale litigation so as to facilitate efficiency or remedy wrongs that otherwise would go unredressed. These questions can be addressed only within the framework of a particular society and its political and governmental structures. There is little point in attempting to provide answers good for all settings. At the other end, however, there is no point in attempting to address matters of minute detail. A more suitable middle ground can be found in a series of questions raised by more than eight years of witnessing the work of the Advisory Committee on the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure as it has grappled with possible revisions of Civil Rule 23. These questions are more helpful than even provisional answers would be--the questions are much the same for most systems, while the answers often will be different. I. FRAMEWORK QUESTIONS A. Should We Do It at All? The broad question is whether to create a procedural vehicle that authorizes a real person, private organization, lawyer, or public entity to conduct litigation that enforces or terminates the rights of someone who does not participate directly as a party. The common concept is that the party in court somehow "represents" the person who is not in court. Litigation by representation is a reasonably familiar concept: the trustee of an express trust represents the beneficiaries, the representative of an estate binds those who claim through the estate, and so on. The more specific issue within the broad question is whether representation can be justified by the number of people who may have similar rights (or duties) growing out of some factually related nexus of events and who are not otherwise related to each other or to the representative. The number may be small--examples include a class of seven or more in Australia,(1) and two or more in Canada.(2) In deciding on the need for representation in this setting, one must first determine what purpose is to be served. In determining purpose, a comparison to alternative means of enforcement is required. Why do we need representative group litigation at all? Much of the pressure for group litigation springs from the perception that more explicitly public means are not adequate to meet a society's felt needs for enforcement. Government agencies may lack resources or will to enforce public or private rights, or may be too closely aligned with wrongdoers, public or private. Alternative means of private enforcement may also fail. The most basic comparison is to individual litigation, one plaintiff at a time. But this comparison extends to many alternative means of joining multiple claims: voluntary joinder of two or more plaintiffs in a single action, consolidation of separate actions separately initiated (a device that may include actions initially filed in different courts), intervention by new parties in litigation commenced by others, "test case" litigation, resort to "nonmutual preclusion," and bankruptcy. When comparing representative group litigation with the alternatives, the numbers required to support group litigation should be examined. If the number may be as few as two or seven, the comparisons to voluntary joinder, consolidation, intervention, and other simple devices is different than when the number is 50, 500, or higher. …


Glioblastoma IV (GBM) is one of the deadliest malignant diseases in adults and is characterized by a high mutation rate and multiple traits to suppress inborn and acquired immunity. We here approached autophagy-related cell death in newly established GBM cell lines derived from individual tumor isolates. Treatment with a small molecule, termed Vacquinol-1 (Vac) exhibited 100% GBM cell death, which was related to mitochondrial dysfunction, calcium-induced endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-stress, and autophagy. The toxicity of Vac was significantly increased by the inhibition of transient receptor potential cation channel, subfamily M, member 7 (TRPM7). TRPM7 is overexpressed in GBM as well as in many other tumors and thus may be a potential target by the natural compound carvacrol. Of note, at higher concentrations, Vac also induced growth inhibition and cell death in non-transformed cell types. However, in the presence of the TRPM7 inhibitor carvacrol, the tumor-selective effect of Vac was very much increased. Results given in the present study are based on long-term video microscopy using IncuCyteZOOM®, calcium measurements, and 3D ultrastructural analysis using the cryofixed material.


Two prominent strategies that the human visual system uses to reduce incoming information are spatial integration and selective attention. Whereas spatial integration summarizes and combines information over the visual field, selective attention can single it out for scrutiny. The way in which these well-known mechanisms—with rather opposing effects—interact remains largely unknown. To address this, we had observers perform a gaze-contingent search task that nudged them to deploy either spatial or feature-based attention to maximize performance. We found that, depending on the type of attention employed, visual spatial integration strength changed either in a strong and localized or a more modest and global manner compared with a baseline condition. Population code modeling revealed that a single mechanism can account for both observations: Attention acts beyond the neuronal encoding stage to tune the spatial integration weights of neural populations. Our study shows how attention and integration interact to optimize the information flow through the brain.


Wells turbines are among the most practical wave energy converters despite their low aerodynamic efficiency and power produced. It is proposed to improve the performance of Wells turbines by optimizing the blade pitch angle. Optimization is implemented using a fully automated optimization algorithm. Two different airfoil geometries are numerically investigated: the standard NACA 0021 and an airfoil with an optimized profile. Numerical results show that each airfoil has its own optimum blade pitch angle. The present computational fluid dynamics optimization results show that the optimum blade pitch angle for NACA 0021 is +0.3° while that of the airfoil with an optimized profile equals +0.6°.The performance of the investigated airfoils is substantially improved by setting the blades at the optimum blade pitch angle. Both the turbine efficiency and tangential force coefficient are improved, especially at low flow rate and during turbine startup. Up to 4.3% average increase in turbine efficiency is achieved by optimizing the blade pitch angle. A slight improvement of the tangential force coefficient and decrease of the axial force coefficient are also obtained. A tangible increase of the stall‐free operating range is also achieved by optimizing the blade pitch angle. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The Material Point Method (MPM) is a continuum-based numerical method which discretises the object as material points. It is particularly well suited for and has shown great success in the community for large deformations. Even though it has been widely adopted, there are still fundamental questions to be addressed. In MPM the material properties are carried on the material points and the dynamics is calculated on an overlaid grid. Afterwards, the material points are integrated according to the grid values using an explicit time integration scheme. The traditional boundary methods are applied on the grid values, such as setting the grid momentum to zero for grid nodes inside a fixed wall. This can cause artefacts in the stress as seen for an object in touch with the wall. These distort the stress multiple grid lengths into the object. In this paper we propose a novel consistent boundary method to reduce these artefacts. The method is borrowed from electrostatics and makes use of so called image particles. With their help the desired values of the momentum field are created on both the grid and particles in a consistent way. We will also show an optimization that makes the explicit construction of mirror particles unnecessary. The traditional boundary method and image particle method are then compared using numerical examples featuring stress induced by a simple shear and body forces. These numerical examples show a significant reduction of boundary artefacts using the image particle method.


In the Northern Territory, Indigenous people comprise 32% of the total population yet they account for more than 80% of all prisoners. Indigenous recidivism in this jurisdiction has been reported to occur at a rate three times higher than that for non-Indigenous prisoners, with 45% of offenders returning to prison. These figures on Indigenous incarceration and recidivism are representative of the situation for many Indigenous Peoples across the Western World.

As one attempt to address Indigenous incarceration and recidivism rates, the NT and Federal Governments partnered in 2004 on the establishment of the Elders Visiting Program (EVP). With visits commencing in 2005, the EVP had two interconnected objectives of (i) supporting the mental health and wellbeing of Indigenous inmates by maintaining their links to community and culture while in prison; and (ii) improving the reintegration prospects of Indigenous offenders by Elders talking with inmates about behaviours that led to their incarceration and discussing their post-release plans, obligations and expectations upon returning to community.

The set aims of this evaluation were to:-
i. document the critical factors that have underpinned the development of the EVP;
ii. review the performance and outcomes of the EVP against its stated aims and objectives;
iii. document and review the processes and practices of, and relationships between, inmates, the prison service, relevant government agencies, Elders and their respective communities; and
iv. highlight the strengths and limitations of the EVP in order to make recommendations on how the program can be improved and/or expanded.


In this paper, we aim to improve the performance and power metrics of packet-switched network-on-chips (NoCs) and benefits from the scalability and resource utilization advantages of NoCs and superior communication performance of point-to-point dedicated links. The proposed method sets up the virtual point-to-point (VIP) connections over one virtual channel (which bypasses the entire router pipeline) at each physical channel of the NoC. We present two schemes for constructing such VIP circuits. In the first scheme, the circuits are constructed for an application based on its task-graph at design time. The second scheme addresses constructing the connections at run-time using a light-weight setup network. It involves monitoring the NoC traffic in order to detect heavy communication flows and setting up a VIP connection for them using a run-time circuit construction mechanism. The proposed mechanism is compared to a traditional packet-switched NoC and some modern switching mechanisms and the results show a significant reduction in the network power and latency over the other considered NoCs.


Poverty Practice, Bureau for Development Policy, UNDP Esplanada dos Ministérios, Bloco O, 7o andar 70052-900 Brasilia, DF Brazil The views expressed in this page are the authors' and not necessarily those of the United Nations Development Programme or the Government of Brazil. E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com URL: www.ipc-undp.org Telephone: +55 61 2105 5000 The International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth is jointly supported by the Poverty Practice, Bureau for Development Policy, UNDP and the Government of Brazil. May, 2012 No. 162


Coastal erosion endangers millions living near-shore and puts coastal infrastructure at risk, particularly in low-lying deltaic coasts of developing nations. This study focuses on morphological changes along the ~320-km-long Sindh coastline of Pakistan over past three decades. In this study, the Landsat images from 1989 to 2018 at an interval of 10 years are used to analyze the state of coastline erosion. For this purpose, well-known statistical approaches such as end point rate (EPR), least median of squares (LMS), and linear regression rate (LRR) are used to calculate the rates of coastline change. We analyze the erosion trend along with the underlying controlling variables of coastal change. Results show that most areas along the coastline have experienced noteworthy erosion during the study period. It is found that Karachi coastline experienced 2.43 ± 0.45 m/yr of erosion and 8.34 ± 0.45 m/yr of accretion, while erosion on the western and eastern sides of Indus River reached 12.5 ± 0.55 and 19.96 ± 0.65 m/yr on average, respectively. Coastal erosion is widespread along the entire coastline. However, the rate of erosion varies across the study area with a general trend of erosion increasing from west to east in the Indus Delta region (IDR), and the highest average erosion rate is 27.46 m/yr. The interdecadal change during 1989–1999, 1999–2009 and 2009–2018 periods depicted an increasing linear trend (R2 = 0.78) from Karachi to Indus River (IR) East zone. The spatial trend from west to east is positively correlated with mean sea level rise, which has increased from 1.1 to 1.9 mm/year, and negatively correlated with topographic slope, which is found to be decreasing eastward along the coastline. The findings necessitate appropriate actions and have important implications to better manage coastal areas in Pakistan in the wake of global climate change.


A difficulty in using diffusion models to predict large-scale animal population dispersal is that individuals move differently based on local information (as opposed to gradients) in differing habitat types. This can be accommodated by using ecological diffusion. However, real environments are often spatially complex, limiting application of a direct approach. Homogenization for partial differential equations has long been applied to Fickian diffusion (in which average individual movement is organized along gradients of habitat and population density). In this work, we derive a homogenization procedure for ecological diffusion, which allows us to determine the impact of small-scale (10-100 m) habitat variability on large-scale (10-100 km) movement, and apply it to models for chronic wasting disease (CWD) in mule deer. CWD is an infectious prion disease that affects members of the Cervidae family. It is a slow-developing, fatal disease, which is rare in the free-ranging deer population of Utah. We first present a simple spatial disease model to illustrate our homogenization procedure and the use of ecological diffusion as a way to connect animal movement with disease spread. Then we develop a more disease-specific sex-structured model for the spread of CWD, incorporating both horizontal and environmental transmission pathways. We apply our homogenization technique to greatly reduce the computational load for a simulation of disease spread from the La Sal Mountains to the Abajo Mountains of Southeast Utah. We use the averaged coefficients from the homogenized model to explore asymptotic invasion speed and critical population size for portions of our study area. Lastly, we describe the estimation of motilities for the disease-specific model from GPS location data, using a continuous-time correlated random walk model.


Purpose – The study aims to identify and rank the major strategies that help achieve successful implementation of Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) in Indian manufacturing industry. Design/methodology/approach – Strategies to implement GSCM have been identified thorough extensive literature review and then experts' opinion is sought for categorizing them into four representative dimensions which are then ranked using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). Findings – The study categorizes the GSCM implementation strategies into four dimensions - Non members of supply chain, downward stream supply chain Members, Organizational members of supply chain and upward stream supply chain members. These dimensions are found to play an important role in greening the supply chains enabling the practicing firms achieve enhanced operational performances. Research limitations/implications - AHP is used for ranking the GSCM implementation strategies in Indian manufacturing scenario. The pair-wise comparisons are made on the basis of the opinion of the experts drawn from academia and industry. As is natural, opinions of experts may not always be free from bias or prejudices. Moreover, the study relied more on the GSCM practices literature in developed nations as only limited literature related to the undertaken work in the Indian context was available. Practical implications – This paper may play important role in understanding various strategies and ranking them in order of importance. This facilitates firms prioritize different actions for achieving high GSCM performances in Indian manufacturing industry. Strategic implementation of green supply chain management will help Indian manufacturing enterprises enjoy cost and efficiency benefits. Originality/value – GSCM is a relatively new topic for majority of Indian manufacturing industries. This work is likely to help GSCM practitioners select suitable strategies in consonance with the government regulations and customers' requirements.