The author conducted morphological and biological characteristics of seedlings of six species belonging to three sections: Lupinaster (T. lupinaster L, T. pacificum Bobr, T. eximium Steph. Ex. DC.), Chronosemium (T. campestre Schreb.) and Trifolium (T. arvense L., T. pratense L.) of the genus Trifolium. Dimensional and qualitative morphological characteristics of the main structural elements of the seedlings of these species are represented in the article.


Background and Aim: Chronic periodontitis (CP) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are diseases characterized by an inflammation; the relationship between them is bidirectional. The NOD like receptor (NLRP3) is a part of inflammasome which is responsible for the maturation of proinflammatory cytokines and it also regulates Th2 differentiation. The aim of our study was to investigate three NLRP3 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in diabetic patients with CP and systematically healthy subjects with/without CP in the Czech population. Methods: In total, 486 individuals were included in this case-control study: 85 patients with T2DM+CP, 210 patients with CP and 191 non-periodontitis controls. The subjects were examined by a periodontist and several parameters such as plaque index, gingival index, clinical attachment loss and the presence of selected bacteria were recorded. NLRP3 SNPs (rs4612666, rs10754558, rs3806265) were determined by the method based on qPCR using 5' nuclease TaqMan® assays. Results: Although distribution of allele and genotype frequencies of two NLRP3 SNPs (rs10754558, rs3806265) between patients and controls were similar, carriers of TT genotype vs. carriers of CT+CC genotypes NLRP3 (rs4612666) had a higher risk for development of CP in systemically healthy patients and in T2DM patients (P<0.01 and P<0.05, respectively). This finding was confirmed by haplotype analysis, TGC haplotype NLRP3 (rs4612666/rs10754558/rs3806265) was found as a risk factor for CP (OR=2.46, 95%CI=1.17-5.16, P=0.01). Conclusions: It is possible that lower NLRP3 expression in TT rs4612666 carriers has an impact on CD4+ Th1/Th2 balance. We suggest that variability in the NLRP3 gene may play an important role in the pathogenic pathways of CP in the Czech population. Acknowledgements: The study was supported by grant GACR GB14-37368G, funds provided by the Faculty of Medicine MU to junior researcher Petra Borilova Linhartova, and project MUNI/A/0948/2016.


Reading Wordsworth's Prelude implicates us immediately in the politics of autobiographical writing — which deliberately elides, to use Felicity Nussbaum's words, "the subject's fragmentations and discontinuities." But at the same time, one cannot help suspecting that the seemingly reasonable expectation of factual correctness in autobiography can also mask a deep denial of these essential fragmentations and discontinuities in the name of truth. Wordsworth's revisions of the Prelude afford an insightful means of understanding these issues: here the imperatives of narrative self-constitution far outweigh the imperatives of literal facts. But the misdating of crucial events — such as the composition of the Glad Preamble — do not detract from its validity as autobiographical writing, but rather gives evidence of the self-problematising nature of origins. In fact, the interest in works such as the Prelude lies not in how closely they adhere to historical particularities, but how tenaciously their metaphoric transcendence resists reduction back to these historical particularities. Romantic subjectivity makes no clear distinction between self and the outer world of phenomena — and also it seems between self and self. This becomes abundantly clear in Wordsworth's appropriation of Dorothy's experience. In the Prelude this process is traceable eminently through the process of textual revisions as the present study argues.


London's modest eighteenth-century houses - those inhabited by artisans and labourers in the unseen parts of Georgian London - can tell us much about the culture of that period. This fascinating book examines largely forgotten small houses that survive from the eighteenth century and sheds new light on both the era's urban architecture and the lives of a culturally distinctive metropolitan population. Peter Guillery discusses how and where, by and for whom the houses were built, stressing vernacular continuity and local variability. He investigates the effects of creeping industrialisation (both on house building and on the occupants), and considers the nature of speculative suburban growth. Providing rich and evocative illustrations, he compares these houses to urban domestic architecture elsewhere, as in North America, and suggests that the eighteenth-century vernacular metropolis has enduring influence.


Inadequate poultry nutrition results in substandard growth rates as well as decreased egg production and weight. In order to express the genetic potential for which they were selected, meat- and egg-type birds must receive the correct amounts of nutrients and energy through properly formulated rations. This 4-page fact sheet examines the roles of water, carbohydrates, proteins and amino acids, lipids (fats and oils), vitamins, minerals, and feed additives in poultry growth and development. It also emphasizes the importance of providing suitable feeds to birds of different ages and discusses common feeding mistakes. Written by Michael A. Davis, published by the UF Department of Animal Sciences, and reviewed and revised August 2015. This fact sheet is a major revision of "Small Poultry Flock Nutrition," written by B. L. Damron and D. R. Sloan, April 1998. (Photo credit: Smather's Archives)


Objectives There is little consensus regarding the burden of pain in the UK. The purpose of this review was to synthesise existing data on the prevalence of various chronic pain phenotypes in order to produce accurate and contemporary national estimates. Design Major electronic databases were searched for articles published after 1990, reporting population-based prevalence estimates of chronic pain (pain lasting >3 months), chronic widespread pain, fibromyalgia and chronic neuropathic pain. Pooled prevalence estimates were calculated for chronic pain and chronic widespread pain. Results Of the 1737 articles generated through our searches, 19 studies matched our inclusion criteria, presenting data from 139 933 adult residents of the UK. The prevalence of chronic pain, derived from 7 studies, ranged from 35.0% to 51.3% (pooled estimate 43.5%, 95% CIs 38.4% to 48.6%). The prevalence of moderate-severely disabling chronic pain (Von Korff grades III/IV), based on 4 studies, ranged from 10.4% to 14.3%. 12 studies stratified chronic pain prevalence by age group, demonstrating a trend towards increasing prevalence with increasing age from 14.3% in 18–25 years old, to 62% in the over 75 age group, although the prevalence of chronic pain in young people (18–39 years old) may be as high as 30%. Reported prevalence estimates were summarised for chronic widespread pain (pooled estimate 14.2%, 95% CI 12.3% to 16.1%; 5 studies), chronic neuropathic pain (8.2% to 8.9%; 2 studies) and fibromyalgia (5.4%; 1 study). Chronic pain was more common in female than male participants, across all measured phenotypes. Conclusions Chronic pain affects between one-third and one-half of the population of the UK, corresponding to just under 28 million adults, based on data from the best available published studies. This figure is likely to increase further in line with an ageing population.


Niobium dioxide (NbO2) features a high theoretical capacity and an outstanding electron conductivity, which makes it a promising alternative to the commercial graphite negative electrode. However, studies on NbO2 based lithium‐ion battery negative electrodes have been rarely reported. In the present work, NbO2 nanoparticles homogeneously embedded in a carbon matrix are synthesized through calcination using a dental resin monomer (bisphenol A glycidyl dimethacrylate, Bis‐GMA) as the solvent and a carbon source and niobium ethoxide (NbETO) as the precursor. It is revealed that a low Bis‐GMA/NbETO mass ratio (from 1:1 to 1:2) enables the conversion of Nb (V) to Nb (IV) due to increased porosity induced by an alcoholysis reaction between the NbETO and Bis‐GMA. The as‐prepared NbO2/carbon nanohybrid delivers a reversible capacity of 225 mAh g−1 after 500 cycles at a 1 C rate with a Coulombic efficiency of more than 99.4% in the cycles. Various experimental and theoretical approaches including solid state nuclear magnetic resonance, ex situ X‐ray diffraction, differential electrochemical mass spectrometry, and density functional theory are utilized to understand the fundamental lithiation/delithiation mechanisms of the NbO2/carbon nanohybrid. The results suggest that the NbO2/carbon nanohybrid bearing high capacity, long cycle life, and low gas evolution is promising for lithium storage applications.


Viewing zones of contact-type multiview (MV) three-dimensional (3D) imaging and Integral Photography (IP) are defined based on geometrical optics, and then the compositions of images projected to viewers' eyes at viewing regions of the viewing zones are analyzed. This analysis reveals that each image is composed of a pixel from each participating pixel cell to form the central and side viewing zones. In the regions between the viewing zones, one or two pixel cells do not contribute any pixel. However, when the total number of pixel cells in forming the viewing zones is large, one or two missing pixel cells may not deteriorate the image quality. In this sense, the side viewing zones are not working independently but they work together with the central viewing zone to build a bigger combined viewing zone. The analysis also reveals that the combined viewing zone of IP is not different from the viewing regions between viewing zone forming optics and the viewing zone cross section of the MV viewing zone, in its characteristics.


This article sheds light on the complexity of international climate change negotiations in a federal country, like Canada, where there is no clear attribution of full power over international negotiation concerning this issue. Climate change is a multi-level and multi-stakeholder issue, one that can only be tackled successfully if all actors, at all levels of government, are involved in the process. In recent years, Canadian provinces, especially Quebec, have become intensely involved in climate change paradiplomacy. That situation has led to a Canadian paradox where the Government of Quebec worked to respect the Kyoto Protocol and act accordingly, while Canada opted out of the Protocol in 2011.


Shrub encroachment into grass-dominated biomes is occurring globally due to a variety of anthropogenic activities, but the consequences for carbon (C) inputs, storage and cycling remain unclear. We studied eight North American graminoid-dominated ecosystems invaded by shrubs, from arctic tundra to Atlantic coastal dunes, to quantify patterns and controls of C inputs via aboveground net primary production (ANPP). Across a fourfold range in mean annual precipitation (MAP), a key regulator of ecosystem C input at the continental scale, shrub invasion decreased ANPP in xeric sites, but dramatically increased ANPP (41000 g m ) at high MAP, where shrub patches maintained extraordinarily high leaf area. Concurrently, the relationship between MAP and ANPP shifted from being nonlinear in grasslands to linear in shrublands. Thus, relatively abrupt (o50 years) shifts in growth form dominance, without changes in resource quantity, can fundamentally alter continental-scale pattern of C inputs and their control by MAP in ways that exceed the direct effects of climate change alone.


Changes in technology and regulation have resulted in an increasing number of trading venues in equity markets in Canada. New trading platforms have intensified price competition and have encouraged innovation, and they do not appear to have segmented trade. But the increasingly complex market structure has necessitated investments in expensive technology and has introduced new operational risks. Regulatory responses should be carefully adapted to retain the competition and innovation associated with this market fragmentation.


Abstract There is limited information about the effects of cattle grazing to longer-term plant community composition and herbage production following fire in sagebrush steppe. This study evaluated vegetation response to cattle grazing over 7 yr (2007–2013) on burned Wyoming big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata ssp. wyomingensis [Beetle & Young] Welsh) steppe in eastern Oregon. Treatments, replicated four times and applied in a randomized complete block design, included no grazing on burned (nonuse) and unburned (control) sagebrush steppe; and cattle grazing at low (low), moderate (moderate), and high (high) stocking on burned sagebrush steppe. Vegetation dynamics were evaluated by quantifying herbaceous (canopy and basal cover, density, production, reproductive shoot weight) and shrub (canopy cover, density) response variables. Aside from basal cover, herbaceous canopy cover, production, and reproduction were not different among low, moderate, and nonuse treatments. Perennial bunchgrass basal cover was about 25% lower in the low and moderate treatments than the nonuse. Production, reproductive stem weight, and perennial grass basal cover were greater in the low, moderate, and nonuse treatments than the control. The high treatment had lower perennial bunchgrass cover (canopy and basal) and production than other grazed and nonuse treatments. Bunchgrass density remained unchanged in the high treatment, not differing from other treatments, and reproductive effort was comparable to the other treatments, indicating these areas are potentially recoverable by reducing stocking. Cover and production of Bromus tectorum L. (cheatgrass) did not differ among the grazed and nonuse treatments, though all were greater than the control. Cover and density of A.t. spp. wyomingensis did not differ among the burned grazed and nonuse treatments and were less than the control. We concluded that light to moderate stocking rates are compatible to sustainable grazing of burned sagebrush steppe rangelands.


In light of the myriad of regulatory challenges posed by the increasing availability of online gambling websites, there have, in recent years, been numerous calls for the reform of gambling regulation. This article explores certain key issues and regulatory challenges posed by online gambling from a UK and wider European perspective, with particular focus on the risks such activity poses in respect of children and young people. The article identifies the special characteristics of online gambling from a cross-disciplinary perspective, and stresses the need for protecting children and young people from the dangers of online and problem gambling. The article argues that, instead of piecemeal provision, what is needed is action which addresses the issues through the adoption of a robust, holistic approach that includes legal, social, and policy considerations, and advocates the use of technology in order to find an effective solution to protecting children and young people from the potential risks of online and problem gambling. Keywords: Gambling, Internet, Children, Young people, Regulation


We present a new algorithm 3DNN (3D Nearest-Neighbor), which is capable of matching an image with 3D data, independently of the viewpoint from which the image was captured. By leveraging rich annotations associated with each image, our algorithm can automatically produce precise and detailed 3D models of a scene from a single image. Moreover, we can transfer information across images to accurately label and segment objects in a scene. The true benefit of 3DNN compared to a traditional 2D nearest-neighbor approach is that by generalizing across viewpoints, we free ourselves from the need to have training examples captured from all possible viewpoints. Thus, we are able to achieve comparable results using orders of magnitude less data, and recognize objects from never-before-seen viewpoints. In this work, we describe the 3DNN algorithm and rigorously evaluate its performance for the tasks of geometry estimation and object detection/segmentation. By decoupling the viewpoint and the geometry of an image, we develop a scene matching approach which is truly 100% viewpoint invariant, yielding state-of-the-art performance on challenging data.


Dynamic environment has put forth many challenges for today's human being; even a common person wants to prove him or herself with the greatest efficiency in present era. Competition is multiplying every day and that has given birth to number of good or bad aspects. Some want to survive in Cutthroat competition by applying unethical practices, while some wants to enjoy healthy competition through ethical and transparent activities. The reaction of both the aspects are obviously, represent in their action positive for the positive action and negative for negative actions. Good governance is the expectations of every stakeholder, specially, shareholder. Governance is related with the controlling of the activity and controlling of the corporate sector can be termed as corporate governance. But the implementation of 'Corporate Governance' is not that much simple as its meaning. It is very wide subject and it includes lot of discussion. No doubt corporate governance is recently emerged concept and has taken the attention of each and every country, investors and corporate executives. Corporate governance is the practice, which requires transparency, accountability and good performance from the corporate executives. It has, its strong base from the internal management of company, to the shareholders' value as well as corporate social responsibility. Reasons for selecting corporate level units which are functioning in India is to find out whether corporate governance is actually being practiced by the corporate level executives or not.


The introductory chapter of this doctoral thesis provides an overview of the salient properties of pharmaceutical excipients, chitin, metal silicates and sugar alcohols in order to give a scientific background/context to the research subject matter reported in subsequent chapter of the thesis.

When chitin is used in pharmaceutical formulations processing of chitin with metal silicates is advantageous, from both an industrial and pharmaceutical perspective, compared to processing using silicon dioxide. Unlike the use of acidic and basic reagents for the industrial preparation of chitin-silica particles, co-precipitation of metal silicates is dependent upon a simple replacement reaction between sodium silicate and metal chlorides. When co-precipitated onto chitin particles, aluminum, magnesium, or calcium silicates result in non-hygroscopic, highly compactable, and disintegrable compacts. Disintegration and hardness parameters for co-processed chitin compacts were investigated and found to be independent of the particle size. Capillary action appears to be the major contributor to both water uptake and the driving force for disintegration of compacts. The good compaction and compression properties exhibited by the chitin–metal silicates were found to be strongly dependent upon the type of metal silicate co-precipitated onto chitin. In addition, the inherent binding and disintegration abilities of chitin–metal silicates are useful in pharmaceutical applications when poorly compressible and/or highly non-polar drugs need to be formulated.

The influence of the lubricant magnesium stearate (MgSt) on the powder and tablet properties of chitin-Mg silicate co-precipitate was examined and compared with lubricated Avicel® 200 and Avicel-Mg silicate co-precipitate. Crushing strength and disintegration-time studies were conducted in order to evaluate tablet properties at different compression pressures. Lubrication of chitin-Mg silicate powder with MgSt was evaluated using a high speed rotary tablet press. The compactability and disintegration time of chitin-Mg silicate are unaffected by the possible deleterious action of up to 2% (w/w) MgSt. The deleterious effect of MgSt on Avicel® 200 compaction was found to be minimized when magnesium silicate was co-precipitated onto Avicel® 200. Lubrication of chitin-Mg silicate with MgSt does not enhance particle agglomeration, whereas the opposite is the case for Avicel® 200; the foregoing was ascertained by measurements of the fixed measured bulk density, constant powder porosity using Kawakita analysis and by the absence of variation in particle size distribution in the presence of up to 5% (w/w) MgSt. In the case of chitin-Mg silicate tablets the ejection force was greatly reduced at a compression speed of 150,000 tablet/h at a MgSt concentration of 0.5% (w/w) when compared with the unlubricated powder. The physical properties and drug dissolution profile of ibuprofen tablets were found to be unaffected when chitin-Mg silicate was lubricated up to 5% (w/w) with MgSt. Optimal drug dissolution was attained for gemfibrozil tablets using 3% (w/w) MgSt when compared to a reference (LOPID® tablets).

A co-processed excipient was prepared from commercially available crystalline mannitol and -chitin using direct compression as well as spray, wet and dry granulation. The effect of the ratio of the two components, percentage of lubricant and particle size on the properties of the prepared co-processed excipient has been investigated. -Chitin forms non-hygroscopic, highly compactable, disintegrable compacts when co-processed with crystalline mannitol. The compaction properties of the co-processed mannitol-chitin mixture were found to be dependent upon the quantity of mannitol added to chitin, in addition to the granulation procedure used. Optimal physicochemical properties of the excipient, from a manufacturing perspective, were obtained using a co-processed mannitol-chitin (2:8 w/w) mixture prepared by wet granulation (Cop-MC). Disintegration time, crushing strength and friability of tablets produced by Cop-MC, using magnesium stearate as a lubricant, were found to be independent of the particle size of the prepared granules. The inherent binding and disintegration properties of the compressed Cop-MC are useful for the formulation of poorly compressible, low and high strength active pharmaceutical ingredients. The ability to co-process α-chitin with crystalline mannitol allows chitin to be used as a valuable industrial pharmaceutical excipient.

The preparation and characterization of the performance of a novel excipient for use in the development of oro-dispersible tablets (ODT) has also been undertaken. The excipient consists of α-chitin and crystalline mannitol. The physical properties (disintegration and wetting times, crushing force and friability) of the ODTs produced depend on the ratio of chitin and mannitol, in addition to the processing techniques used for excipient preparation. The excipient with optimal physicochemical properties was obtained at a chitin: mannitol ratio of 2:8 (w/w) produced by roll compaction (Cop-CM). Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR), X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) techniques were used to characterize the Cop-CM, in addition to characterization of its powder and ODT dosage forms. The effect of particle size distribution of the Cop-CM was investigated and found to have no significant influence on the overall tablet physical properties. The compressibility parameter (a) for Cop-CM was calculated from a Kawakita plot and found to be significantly higher (0.661) than that of mannitol (0.576) due to the presence of the highly compressible chitin (0.818). Montelukast sodium and domperidone ODTs, produced using Cop-CM, displayed the required physicochemical properties. The exceptional binding, fast wetting and super-disintegration properties of Cop-CM, in comparison with commercially available co-processed ODT excipients, results in a unique multi-functional base which can successfully be used in the formulation of oro-dispersible and fast immediate release tablets.


Title: THE MOTIVATIONS AND EXPERIENCES OF MEXICAN AMERICANS IN THE U.S. MARINE CORPS: AN INTERSECTIONAL ANALYSIS Karin Kristine De Angelis, Ph.D., 2012 Directed by: Professor David R. Segal, Department of Sociology As one of the largest and fastest growing minority groups in the United States, Mexican Americans are reshaping the major institutions of American life, including the military. The Mexican American military population, although still underrepresented when compared to their presence in the American population generally, is a growing ethnic group. Although growth is occurring across the services, Mexican Americans have a large presence in the U.S. Marine Corps, a trend unlike the military behavior of African Americans, the next largest minority group in the military. This trend holds for both Mexican American men and women, even though the Marine Corps is the most combat-oriented of the service branches and the service branch with the lowest proportion of occupations open to women. Using an intersectional approach and through in-depth interviews of Mexican American men and women serving in the Marine Corps, I examine the personal characteristics, motivations, and experiences that are associated with the decision to join the Marine Corps. I argue that Mexican American Marines, regardless of gender, share common motivations for service grounded in the intersection of their common ethnicity and socioeconomic position. However, while the majority of respondents were drawn to the military because of occupational considerations, I also argue that they felt a connection to the Marine Corps because of its more institutional nature, which intermeshed well with their own individual values. I also compare the experiences of the respondents while in the service. In regard to ethnicity, the majority of respondents discussed the large number of Hispanics in the Marine Corps, even as they noted stratification in the population. They did not view themselves as a minority, but as a population growing in size and influence. These commonalities decline with the application of an intersectional analysis, as gender becomes the most salient and divisive characteristic. Despite their diversity, the women were considered a unified category and as a token population, their proportions shaped the group culture in predictable, visible ways. I conclude by discussing how lived experiences are not only shaped by one's social characteristics, but by the social institutions in which one operates. THE MOTIVATIONS AND EXPERIENCES OF MEXICAN AMERICANS IN THE U.S. MARINE CORPS: AN INTERSECTIONAL ANALYSIS By Karin Kristine De Angelis Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Department of Sociology of the University of Maryland, College Park in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2012


The comprehensive analysis and characterization of cancer subtypes is an important problem to which significant resources have been devoted in recent years. In this paper we integrate the dual analysis method, which uses statistics to describe both the dimensions and the rows of a high dimensional dataset, into StratomeX, a Caleydo view tailored to cancer subtype analysis. We introduce signi cant difference plots for showing the elements of a candidate cancer subtype that differ significantly from other subtypes, thus enabling analysts to characterize cancer subtypes. We also enable analysts to investigate how samples relate to the subtype they are assigned and to the other groups. Our approach gives analysts the ability to create well-defined candidate subtypes based on statistical properties. We demonstrate the utility of our approach in three case studies, where we show that we are able to reproduce findings from a published cancer subtype characterization.


In 1996, Government directives began a transition to conform logging in Western Australia's State forests to principles of ecologically sustainable forest management (ESFM). To place this in a historical context, we reviewed the history of the logging of jarrah Eucalyptus marginata forests to determine whether the volume of timber extracted and the main forest management practices employed was consistent with components of ESFM. While quantitative assessment proved difficult, usually the timber cut considerably exceeded the estimated annual increment of forested lands. Overcutting often distressed professionals, who strove to regulate logging despite social, political and economic pressures. Furthermore, despite recent major reductions in permissible timber cut, areas of productive State forest have declined after conversion to alternative vestings. Thus it is important to prevent overcutting continuing in the remaining production forests.

Too few data exist on the health or condition of forest ecosystems before logging to document subtle impacts. However, overcutting has interacted with broad-scale threatening processes in their impacts on forest fauna. These changes are all associated with reluctance to invoke effective adaptive management in association with the precautionary principle. The historical survey suggests that ESFM cannot be achieved without a socio-political will to assert long-term sustainable practice in the face of short-term goals. This could be achieved in the current preparation of a new forest management plan for Western Australia.


SUMMARY Eucalypt plantations and contract farming for eucalypts have expanded and are now occurring on a large scale despite concerns about their social and environmental impacts. Our analysis shows that Thai policies and land tenure context have been the principal drivers of the adoption of eucalypt tree growing by Thai smallholders. Thai policies and land tenure system are responsible for the current key role played by smallholders in pulp production. Contract eucalypt farming has become critical for the major pulp companies in Thailand to secure the supply of the raw material. Companies use contract farming to promote eucalypts among smallholders who have not farmed them before and secure their supply in a context of strong competition among buyers. None of the impacts of contract eucalypt farming on the environment and on livelihoods in general are well understood yet, and the paper argues that, to inform appropriate policy development, there is a need to explain how contract tree farming impacts livelihoods.


In this study, the adaptive network-based fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) and artificial neural network (ANN) were employed to estimate the wind- and wave-induced coastal current velocities. The collected data at the Joeutsu-Ogata coast of the Japan Sea were used to develop the models. In the models, significant wave height, wave period, wind direction, water depth, incident wave angle, and wind speed were considered as the input variables; and longshore and cross-shore current velocities as the output variables. The comparison of the models showed that the ANN model outperforms the ANFIS model. In addition, evaluation of the models versus the multiple linear regression and multiple nonlinear regression with power functions models indicated their acceptable accuracy. A sensitivity test proved the stronger effects of wind speed and wind direction on longshore current velocities. In addition, this test showed great effects of significant wave height on cross-shore currents' velocities. It was concluded that the angle of incident wave, water depth, and significant wave period had weaker influences on the velocity of coastal currents.


STOCKING DENSITY, STRAIN PERFORMANCE, AND FEEDING METHOD EVALUATION OF CAGE REARED RAINBOW TROUT (Salmo gairdneri) IN EASTERN SOUTH DAKOTA BY DALE B. ALLEN Methods for cage rearing rainbow trout (Salmo gairdneri) were investigated to assist in the development of a landowner aquaculture program for eastern South Dakota. Rainbow trout when stocked as small fingerlings in the spring did not reach a marketable weight (200 g). The fish did attain a size acceptable to some landowners for personal consumption. Maximum stocking density (fish/m3 ) was not determined. Densities greater than those used would have been needed to determine the optimum stocking rate. The use of a deeper culture cage (3 m) was justified in this area due to the high water temperatures that were common. Growth and survival of three strains of cage reared rainbow trout were compared in a gravel pit environment. The Hildebrand strain performed significantly better (p<0.01) than the Kamloops and Growth strains for the variables length, weight, survival, and relative weight. An automatic fish feeder and a demand feeder were developed for use in remote locations with cage culture. The automatic feeder treatment produced larger fish than either the demand feeder or hand feeding treatments. Cage culture of rainbow trout in eastern South Dakota is presently not economical in the type of water bodies investigated due to a short growing season imposed by high lethal water temperatures in late June or early July.


Roman Jakobson's work with sound symbolism remains authoritative in the study of iconicity within language.  This article applies Jakobsonian criticism to the works of five Russian poets, whose poems have been identified by other scholars as containing some level of linguistic iconicity.  Phoneme- and word-level iconicity is explored by employing Jakobsonian analysis with the following works, resulting in an expanded examination of and discussion on the poetic texture evident in these poems.


Label the faces of a cube with the numbers from 1 to 6 in some order, then perform the following operation: replace the number labeling each given face with the arithmetic mean of the numbers labeling the adjacent faces. What numbers will appear on the faces of the cube after this operation is iterated many times? This is a sample problem whose solution is a model of the application of the theory of representations of groups to diverse problems of mathematics, mechanics, and physics that possess symmetry of one kind or another. In this introductory talk I will present the tools from representation theory needed to solve this problem. I will also point out the connection with harmonic analysis by expressing Fourier analysis as an instance of representation theory of the circle group (the multiplicative group of complex numbers with absolute value 1) and by stating a version of Heisenberg's uncertainty principle for finite cyclic groups.


In eusocial organisms, some individuals specialize in reproduction and others in altruistic helping. The evolution of eusociality is, therefore, also the evolution of remarkable inequality. For example, a colony of honeybees (Apis mellifera) may contain 50 000 females all of whom can lay eggs. But 100 per cent of the females and 99.9 per cent of the males are offspring of the queen. How did such extremes evolve? Phylogenetic analyses show that high relatedness was almost certainly necessary for the origin of eusociality. However, even the highest family levels of kinship are insufficient to cause the extreme inequality seen in e.g. honeybees via 'voluntary altruism'. 'Enforced altruism' is needed, i.e. social pressures that deter individuals from attempting to reproduce. Coercion acts at two stages in an individual's life cycle. Queens are typically larger so larvae can be coerced into developing into workers by being given less food. Workers are coerced into working by 'policing', in which workers or the queen eat worker-laid eggs or aggress fertile workers. In some cases, individuals rebel, such as when stingless bee larvae develop into dwarf queens. The incentive to rebel is strong as an individual is the most closely related to its own offspring. However, because individuals gain inclusive fitness by rearing relatives, there is also a strong incentive to 'acquiesce' to social coercion. In a queenright honeybee colony, the policing of worker-laid eggs is very effective, which results in most workers working instead of attempting to reproduce. Thus, extreme altruism is due to both kinship and coercion. Altruism is frequently seen as a Darwinian puzzle but was not a puzzle that troubled Darwin. Darwin saw his difficulty in explaining how individuals that did not reproduce could evolve, given that natural selection was based on the accumulation of small heritable changes. The recognition that altruism is an evolutionary puzzle, and the solution was to wait another 100 years for William Hamilton.


PURPOSE
To determine retrospectively whether relative cerebral blood volume (CBV) measurements can be used to predict clinical response in patients with low-grade gliomas.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Approval for this retrospective HIPAA-compliant study was obtained from the Institutional Board of Research Associates, with waiver of informed consent. Thirty-five patients (23 male and 12 female patients; median age, 39 years; range, 4-80 years) with histologically diagnosed low-grade gliomas (21 low-grade astrocytomas and 14 low-grade oligodendrogliomas and low-grade mixed oligoastrocytomas) were examined with dynamic susceptibility-weighted contrast material-enhanced perfusion magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. Wilcoxon tests were used to compare patients in different response categories (complete response, stable, progressive, death) with respect to baseline relative CBV. Kaplan-Meier survival curves, log-rank tests, and Weibull survival models were used to characterize and evaluate the association of baseline relative CBV with time to progression. Tumor volumes and relative CBV measurements were obtained at initial examination and follow-up.

RESULTS
Lesions with relative CBV less than 1.75 had a median time to progression of 4620 days +/- 433 (standard deviation), and lesions with relative CBV more than 1.75 had a median time to progression of 245 days +/- 62. Patients who had an adverse event (either death or progression) had significantly higher (P = .003) relative CBV than did patients without adverse events (either complete response or stable disease). Lesions with low baseline relative CBV had stable tumor volumes at follow-up over time, whereas those with high baseline relative CBV (>1.75) had progressively increasing tumor volumes over time.

CONCLUSION
Dynamic susceptibility-weighted contrast-enhanced perfusion MR imaging can help to identify low-grade gliomas that will progress rapidly and a subset of low-grade gliomas that have a propensity for malignant transformation.


BACKGROUND INFORMATION Environmental Services is a general contracting company based in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The company performs general contracting work mainly in the area of construction and facility maintenance. The company executes approximately 10-30 projects at any given time and each project is managed by a project manager (PM). Most federal government contracts are awarded to the company on a fixed cost basis. Also, most Environmental Services' projects are awarded on a "design-bid-build" basis. That is, the company bids on the projects after the design has been completed by the federal government or other governmental agency. Environmental Services is not involved either directly or indirectly in any design aspects of the project. The general contracting organizations like Environmental Services that work on fixed cost "design-bid-build" projects can only be profitable by completing projects on time and within budget. However, in construction projects, cost and/or schedule overruns could occur due to a variety of internal and/or external factors. These overruns can quickly wipe out profit margins and may result in a loss. Project losses generally are the result of problems of a few activities in a project which may impact other activities and hence, the entire project may be impacted negatively. It is not possible to avoid all schedule or cost overruns (such as those due to inclement weather), but proper project monitoring can reduce the impact of these overruns. ANALYSIS OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT PROBLEMS There are two main categories of factors that can create risk in a construction project during its monitoring and controlling phase. These categories are internal and external factors. Internal factors include scheduling conflicts, lack of subcontractor supervision, insufficient labor and/or supervisor training, improper match between labor skills and the tasks assigned, and changes in key personnel. It is important that the project management recognizes a problem and takes corrective action in a timely manner. For example, scheduling conflicts could be resolved by rescheduling (if time permits), supporting an activity with additional labor, or resource leveling. The lack of subcontractor supervision or improper supervision could be resolved with the proper training of management or by providing support to the subcontractor as needed. Similarly, when there is a change in the key personnel, management needs to find an effective replacement quickly. Tools like EVA provide necessary information to management regarding the project status while requiring proper documentation of project parameters at select time intervals or other milestones. These tools and techniques (like EVA) are used at the monitoring and controlling stage of a project life cycle, hence, should not to be confused with project scheduling techniques like PERT, CPM, etc. which are used at the planning stages of a project life cycle. External factors could be more serious since contractors have little or no control over these factors. Problems may arise due to delay by an external organization or due to natural causes like rain, snow, wind, etc. External organizations may include subcontractors, suppliers, and project owners. Subcontractors' internal problems can have a direct impact on a project. For example, labor disputes at a subcontractor's business may force a company to miss completion dates, potentially delaying a project. Suppliers could have similar problems as subcontractors. Delays in material supply can also cause significant cost and schedule overruns. Project managers should have the ability to spot these problems early and to take corrective action. Providing extra labor or financing to fix the subcontractor problem could avoid bigger delays and losses to the entire project. Furthermore, project owners can also increase general risk by changing task requirements (scope creep). The change in one task could result in a much larger cumulative impact of the project cost and time. …


Computer modeling and simulation reveals a bridging domain mechanism that explains the phase coexistence commonly observed around the morphotropic phase boundaries of ferroelectric solid solutions. The simulation takes into account the important role of coupled ferroelectric and ferroelastic domain microstructures in phase coexistence phenomenon. It shows that minor domains of metastable phase spontaneously coexist with and bridge major domains of stable phase to reduce total system free energy, including bulk free energy, domain wall energy, and long-range electrostatic and elastostatic energies. The existence of bridging domains also explains the enhanced piezoelectric response in the vicinity of morphotropic phase boundaries.


Inconsistency in the use of Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) has led to dissatisfaction amongst students and is an issue across the Higher Education sector. This paper outlines research undertaken in one faculty within one university to ascertain staff and student views on minimum standards within the VLE; how the VLE could reduce student dissatisfaction; and to propose a conceptual framework surrounding student satisfaction with the VLE. A questionnaire was sent to staff and students asking if they agreed with the need to introduce minimum standards in the VLE and what criteria they wanted. The National Student Survey (NSS) results were analysed for six schools within the faculty over a 4-year period. Many of the NSS results were relevant to developing minimum standards with the VLE. The questionnaire results showed the vast majority of staff and students favour the introduction of minimum standards and identified specific items that should be included, for example handbooks, contact information for staff, access to previous modules, assessment information, further reading, etc. The NSS data showed that students wanted lectures available in the VLE, improved feedback, more computers for students and information about cancelled sessions/timetable changes in the VLE. The results suggest the presence of many minimum standards may reduce student dissatisfaction with the VLE. However, a distinction is made between those pre-potent factors that cause dissatisfaction and those that lead to satisfaction, using Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory as a theoretical basis. When considering minimum standards as 'hygiene factors', their presence can prevent student dissatisfaction and provide the foundations for innovation in technology-enhanced learning.


Micro-manufacturing emerged in the last years as a new engineering area with the potential of increasing peoples' quality of life through the production of innovative micro-devices to be used, for example, in the biomedical, micro-electronics or telecommunication sectors. The possibility to decrease the energy consumption makes the micro-manufacturing extremely appealing in terms of environmental protection. However, despite this common belief that the micro-scale implies a higher sustainability compared to traditional manufacturing processes, recent research shows that some factors can make micro-manufacturing processes not as sustainable as expected. In particular, the use of rare raw materials and the need of higher purity of processes, to preserve product quality and manufacturing equipment, can be a source for additional environmental burden and process costs. Consequently, research is needed to optimize micro-manufacturing processes in order to guarantee the minimum consumption of raw materials, consumables and energy. In this paper, the experimental results obtained by the micro-electrical discharge machining (micro-EDM) of micro-channels made on Ni–Cr–Mo steel is reported. The aim of such investigation is to shed a light on the relation and dependence between the material removal process, identified in the evaluation of material removal rate (MRR) and tool wear ratio (TWR), and some of the most important technological parameters ( i.e. , open voltage, discharge current, pulse width and frequency), in order to experimentally quantify the material waste produced and optimize the technological process in order to decrease it.


The interfacial behaviour of two amphiphillic poly iso-butenyl succinic anhydride (PIBSA)-derived surfactants and the effect of their interaction with various nitrate salts on the stability of a water-in-oil type emulsion has been investigated. The adsorption of the esterification product of PIBSA and coco-diethanolamide (PICDEA) and of Experse-70 (E-70) at the equilibrated aqueous-fuel oil interface was investigated via the measurement of interfacial tension using the ring detachment method. The interfacial pressure of PICDEA decreased in the presence of excess unreacted coco-diethanolamide (CDE) and for both PICDEA and E-70 interfacial pressure decreased with an increase in the length of the poly iso-butenyl (PIB) hydrocarbon tail. Interfacial tension-concentration curves and the Gibbs Equation were used to determine surfactant surface excess concentration and the packing efficiency of the surfactant in the interphase. The double hydrocarbon PICDEA molecule was found to occupy a larger interfacial area than the single hydrocarbon E-70 molecule. The pH of the aqueous phase effects the interfacial activity and nature of, PICDEA and E-70 at the interface. PICDEA is protonated at pH values less than 4.6 and deprotonated at higher pH values. E-70 is neutral at low pH and deprotonated at pH values greater than approximately 2. The effect of sodium, calcium and ferric nitrate salts on the interfacial free energy of the surfactant saturated interface v was also determined. The interfacial tension at the E-70 aqueous nitrate interface was dependent on ionic strength alone with a general decrease in interfacial free energy as nitrate concentration was increased. In the case of PICDEA, however, a surfactant-cation orientation effect was observed. The divalent Ca2+ cation attracts two adjacent PICDEA anions resulting in the adverse interaction of hydrocarbon tails in the interphase. This produces an interface with a higher than expected interfacial free energy. The Na+ cation produces an interface with a more energetically stable orientation. PICDEA in the presence of a ferric nitrate solution (pH 1 to 2) is protonated and therefore the univalent nitrate anion forms the counterion layer at the positively charged surfactant interface. Stability studies were carried out on aqueous nitrate salt in diesel emulsions using PICDEA as the stabilizing surfactant. Droplet coalescence rates were determined from droplet size distribution data in the presence of varying concentrations of sodium, calcium and ferric nitrate salts. Droplets were sized microscopically at progressive time intervals and the rate of coalescence determined from the change in droplet concentration with time. Coalescence was found to follow two or more consecutive first order reactions. After an initial period of rapid droplet coalescence, involving small droplets with diameters of 5~m and less, a droplet distribution is attained conducive to a more stable emulsion which then undergoes a slower rate of coalescence involving larger droplets. The effect of the nitrate salt type on the initial droplet


Extraordinarily high selectivity (80–93%) for the oxyfunctionalization of the terminal methyl group was discovered in the photocatalytic selective oxidation of dodecane with molecular oxygen in a continuous flow system under mild gas phase reaction conditions over mesoporous TiO2–SiO2 mixed oxide photocatalysts. The oxygenated hydrocarbon products were mainly aldehydes with carboxylic acids and ketones as minor products. By dispersing most of the Ti atomically in a tetrahedral coordination in a SiO2 matrix, the oxygenated products were stabilized by diluting contiguous Ti sites present on the surface of TiO2 particles. The preferential oxidation of the terminal methyl group was ascribed to the extensive C–C bond breaking by photogenerated holes prior to oxyfunctionalization.


For marine sciences sometimes there is a need to perform underwater photography. Optical properties of light cause severe quality problems for underwater photography. Light of different energies is absorbed at highly different rates under water causing significant bluishness of the images. If the colour dependent attenuation under water can be properly estimated it should be possible to use computerised image processing to colour correct digital images using Beer's Law.In this thesis we have developed such estimation and correction methods that have become progressively more complicated and more accurate giving successively better correction results. A process of estimation of downwelling attenuation coefficients from multi or hyper spectral data is a basis for automatic colour restoration of underwater taken images. The results indicate that for each diving site the unique and precise coefficients can be obtained.All standard digital cameras have built in white balancing and colour enhancement functions designed to make the images as aesthetically pleasing as possible. These functions can in most cameras not be switched off and the algorithms used are proprietary and undocumented. However, these enhancement functions can be estimated. Applying their reverse creates un-enhanced images and we show that our algorithms for underwater colour correction works significantly better when applied to such images.Finally, we have developed a method that uses point spectra from the spectrometer together with RGB colour images from a camera to generate pseudo-hyper-spectral images. Each of these can then be colour corrected. Finally, the images can be weighted together in the proportions needed to create new correct RGB images. This method is somewhat computationally demanding but gives very encouraging results.The algorithms and applications presented in this thesis show that automatic colour correction of underwater images can increase the credibility of data taken underwater for marine scientific purposes.


A minority group's demand for a separate territory is usually understood as its protest against the majority rule in a democratic setup. While the minority's demand for a separate territory is against the majority rule, it is certainly not against the principles of majoritarianism. In the process of resisting against the majority rule, the minority aspires to be seen as a majority in an exclusive territorial arrangement that it demands. In this case, the minority takes a majoritarian approach to achieve greater democratic rights. This can be called as majority–minority paradox in a democracy. The present article is an attempt to critically understand the Bodoland conflict in Assam; especially as to how the Bodos demand for an autonomous or separate territory on ethnic lines can be seen as a similarly majoritarian approach to democracy. The demand for a separate territory exclusively for the Bodos revolves around the concept of majoritarianism. This article finds a key contradiction in how majority rule is opposed and simultaneously majoritarianism is practiced by groups demanding a separate Bodoland. This article also investigates militant organizations that are allegedly fighting for the "Bodo" cause including the various factions of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland. It also seeks to investigate what happens to the democratic rights of non-Bodos in the majoritarian "minority" politics of the Bodoland Territorial Area District.


We consider the optimization of a quadratic objective function whose gradients are only accessible through a stochastic oracle that returns the gradient at any given point plus a zero-mean finite variance random error. We present the first algorithm that achieves jointly the optimal prediction error rates for least-squares regression, both in terms of forgetting the initial conditions in O(1/n), and in terms of dependence on the noise and dimension d of the problem, as O(d/n). Our new algorithm is based on averaged accelerated regularized gradient descent, and may also be analyzed through finer assumptions on initial conditions and the Hessian matrix, leading to dimension-free quantities that may still be small in some distances while the "optimal" terms above are large. In order to characterize the tightness of these new bounds, we consider an application to non-parametric regression and use the known lower bounds on the statistical performance (without computational limits), which happen to match our bounds obtained from a single pass on the data and thus show optimality of our algorithm in a wide variety of particular trade-offs between bias and variance.


Pattern classification systems are commonly used in adversarial applications, like biometric authentication, network intrusion detection, and spam filtering, in which data can be purposely manipulated by humans to undermine their operation. As this adversarial scenario is not taken into account by classical design methods, pattern classification systems may exhibit vulnerabilities, whose exploitation may severely affect their performance, and consequently limit their practical utility. Extending pattern classification theory and design methods to adversarial settings is thus a novel and very relevant research direction, which has not yet been pursued in a systematic way. In this paper, we address one of the main open issues: evaluating at design phase the security of pattern classifiers, namely, the performance degradation under potential attacks they may incur during operation. We propose a framework for empirical evaluation of classifier security that formalizes and generalizes the main ideas proposed in the literature, and give examples of its use in three real applications. Reported results show that security evaluation can provide a more complete understanding of the classifier's behavior in adversarial environments, and lead to better design choices.


This thesis is divided into three parts, revolving around the developments of dynamic systems utilized in dynamic kinetic resolution (DKR) and constitutional dynamic chemistry (CDC).The first section gives an introduction to constitutional dynamics, the core concept of this thesis. Constitutional dynamics can be tuned through reversible interactions. Then, the basic principles of constitutional dynamics in DKR and CDC are discussed, along with their applications.The second section explores the asymmetric synthesis of oxazolidinone derivatives using lipase catalysis through kinetic resolution (KR) and dynamic kinetic resolution. In the first example, synthetic protocol to enantioenriched 5-phenyloxazolidin-2-ones is described, where a kinetically controlled carbamation is followed by lipase-catalyzed cyclization. In contrast to the 5-substituted species, the synthesis of 3-phenyloxazolidin-2-one derivatives could be achieved through lipase-catalyzed cascade O- and N- alkoxycarbonylations in one pot. Furthermore, this KR system could be coupled to a ruthenium-catalyzed racemization process of 1,2-aminoalcohols, thus providing an efficient DKR methodology for asymmetric transformations.The third section focuses on dynamic systems built through reversible covalent reactions. In the first example, a selective gelation process is described, and employed to resolve dynamic imine systems consisting of gelator candidates. In the second example, reversible reactions with aldehyde enamines are presented, including enamine formation and exchange reactions. In particular, Bi(III) and Sc(III) were discovered to accelerate the enamine exchange reactions by 50-400 times, in which the equilibria could be reached within hours. The last example describes reversible nitroaldol reactions in aqueous media, where rapid and efficient equilibration was identified for selected structures in neutral phosphate buffer.


In Alzheimer's disease (AD) and tauopathies, tau aggregation accompanies progressive neurodegeneration. Aggregated tau appears to spread between adjacent neurons and adjacent brain regions by prion-like seeding. Hence, inhibitors of this seeding offer a possible route to managing tauopathies. Here, we report the 1.0 Å resolution micro-electron diffraction structure of an aggregation-prone segment of tau with the sequence SVQIVY, present in the cores of patient-derived fibrils from AD and tauopathies. This structure illuminates how distinct interfaces of the parent segment, containing the sequence VQIVYK, foster the formation of distinct structures. Peptide-based fibril-capping inhibitors designed to target the two VQIVYK interfaces blocked proteopathic seeding by patient-derived fibrils. These VQIVYK inhibitors add to a panel of tau-capping inhibitors that targets specific polymorphs of recombinant and patient-derived tau fibrils. Inhibition of seeding initiated by brain tissue extracts differed among donors with different tauopathies, suggesting that particular fibril polymorphs of tau are associated with certain tauopathies. Donors with progressive supranuclear palsy exhibited more variation in inhibitor sensitivity, suggesting that fibrils from these donors were more polymorphic and potentially vary within individual donor brains. Our results suggest that a subset of inhibitors from our panel could be specific for particular disease-associated polymorphs, whereas inhibitors that blocked seeding by extracts from all of the tauopathies tested could be used to broadly inhibit seeding by multiple disease-specific tau polymorphs. Moreover, we show that tau-capping inhibitors can be transiently expressed in HEK293 tau biosensor cells, indicating that nucleic acid–based vectors can be used for inhibitor delivery.


The right to security is inherently ambiguous. It encapsulates on one hand a commitment to rights, which we commonly associate with absence from coercion, but on the other hand a commitment to coercion in the name of individual and collective security. This ambiguity has been exploited in complex ways, and has particular implications. The political implications of the extension of the right to security, and the direction in which political rhetoric is taking the right, raise the stakes required in clarifying and delimiting the right even further. This chapter will thus seek to present reasons for limiting the right to security to the narrowest possible set of claims and correlative duties on the state, and even to think of a 'right to insecurity'. It will be divided into four further parts: the next will explore the varied legal meanings attributed to the right to security; the third will examine rhetorical expressions of the right to security; the fourth will explore attempts to cast security as a meta-right and the problems involved with this; and the fifth will examine the risks inherent in the symbiotic process of 'securitising rights' and 'righting security'.


Four experiments were conducted to evaluate carcass characterist ics, palatahility, chemical traits and shear values of cattle produced on pasture (primarily hermudagrass and ryegrass), pasture plus l/2% or 1% of body weight in grain or finished on a concentrate ration. Angus or Angus x Hereford cattle were used in Experiments 1, 2 and 3 tut Ex periment 4 contained straightbred Angus and Hereford along with crosses of Angus, Hereford Brahman and Charolais cattle in various combina tions. Age at slaughter was 23 and 20 months for Experiments 1 and 2, respectively. Age in Experiments 3 and 4 varied with treatments be cause of the experimental design. Number of animals per treatment varied from 10 to 24 among the four experiments. Carcass data were taken for all animals. An 18 cm portion of the blade chuck, the short loin (tenderloin removed) and the top round from one side were cut, wrapped and frozen at -16 C for distribution to consumer panels in Ex periments 1, 2 and 3• Loin, chuck, rib, round, rump and sirloin cuts were delivered to cooperating retail food stores for fabrication into retail cuts used in the retail study. Loin steaks, rib roasts and round steaks were cut and frozen for laboratory panel evaluation in Experiment 2. Ribeye steaks were obtained from each carcass in Ex periment 4 for laboratory panel evaluation. Fat samples for rancidity (thiobarbituric acid) and fatty acid analysis were taken from subcu taneous fat above the longissimus muscle. Loin steaks were used in Experiments 1, 2 and 3 for evaluation of pH and shear. Forage-fed cattle in Experiment 1 had less fat thickness than cattle fed l/2% grain-on-grass or fed concentrate free-choice for 63, 78 or 108 days. Evaluation of chuck, loin and round steaks hy a 150 household consumer panel showed panelists preferred (p < .05) the loin steaks from grainfed treatments over limited grain or forage treatments for tenderness and flavor. The forage treatment also had a higher (P < .05) pH than treatments receiving grain. There were significant differences (P «= .01) for all carcass characteristics in Experiment 2. Differences were usually between the forage treatment and the grain-fed treatments (1% grain-on-grass, 70 or 140 day feedlot treatments). A 273 household consumer panel found chuck steaks to be less (P < .05) tender and loin steaks to be less (P <.05) juicy from forage-fed cattle compared to grain-fed cattle. Fewer treatment differences were observed in con sumer ratings after adjustment for variation in marbling and backfat. Retail panel evaluation indicated a difference (P < .05) in flavor of cuts from the round between the forage and those treatments receiving grain. Laboratory ratings indicated lower (P < .01) flavor and over all satisfaction ratings of loin steaks from forage cattle than from grain-fed cattle. Fat from the forage treatment was least (p «= .05) rancid and had the highest (p < .05) pH. Forage cattle in Experiment 3 had less fat thickness (P <= .01), less kidney fat (p <■ .01), less marbling (P < .01) and a lower (P< .05) quality grade than grain-fed cattle (1% grain-on-grass, 70 days feedlot or 60 days 1% grain-on-grass plus 70 days feedlot). A 168 household consumer panel indicated a greater (P <= .05) preference for concentrate-fed treatments compared to the grain-on-grass treatment. Fat from the forage treatment was least (P <. .05) rancid. There were significant differences (P «=. .01) for all carcass characteristics except yield grade and hot weight in Experiment U-. Panelists preferred the flavor of rib steaks (P «= .01) and fat from the grain-fed treatment (198 days feedlot). Differences (P «= .01) in fatty acid composition were greatest for 018:0 (stearic) and Gl8sl (oleic).


Over the last fifty years, British society has changed from a Christendom model, where the default religious identity was Church of England, to a religiously diverse society, where religious identity is a significant marker for minorities in the population. Among Christians, strong religious belief and belonging is most likely to be expressed by those who identify as evangelical. In many parts of the world, and especially in the USA, evangelical discourse on the subject of non-Christian faiths, especially Islam, suggests profound antipathy to 'other' beliefs and sometimes hostility to their adherents. In contrast, evidence presented in this paper from a recent Evangelical Alliance panel survey suggests a range of nuanced viewsin the community of evangelical Christians in the UK. Although over 80% affirmed that Jesus is the only way of salvation, and 84% thought Christianity is the only path to God, more extended comments show that a wide range of views exist, from the paranoid or exclusive to a view that is tolerant and broadly inclusive. The paper will examine the associations between these views and various demographic and theological factors and seek to explain the data in terms of the patterns of contemporary everyday inter-faith encounters, with specific emphasis on the Abrahamic faiths, especially Islam. The situation is discussed in a framework of dynamics and stability, where religious contact between faith communities has both crystallized beliefs and identities and opened up new possibilities for alliances against the secular world.


This article diagnostically examined the several competing perspectives on the beleaguered nature of intergovernmental relations in Nigeria. Tracing the evolution of intergovernmental relation in Nigeria and espousing its legal, political and governance antecedents, the paper hazarded the undercurrent for the lingering conflicts between the center and the component units. The article also critically analyzed the impacts of the erstwhile British colonial strategy of division into regions as a means for administering the country and exploration of the mineral endowments in the 1950s on the composition and the current nature of predatory power that the center currently wields, much to the detriments and underfunding of the component units in the federation. The paper found evidences to showcase that because the British colonialists unduly queered the political pitch by allocating more seats to the North than to each of the other two regions at the center, intergovernmental relations in Nigeria has been quite contentious. If anything, a mutual suspicion between the North-dominated Federal Government and the Southern component units became a logical end. We concluded, among others, that notwithstanding the ample provisions in the 1999 Constitution for veritable intergovernmental relationship in Nigeria, there are still the intricate issues of regional domination of the center, leading to lack of political will to induce proper constitutional implementations.


This research explores the application of synthetic organic photochemistry for the preparation of new phthalimide and phthalonitrile derivatives. Photodecarboxylative (PDC) additions of carboxylates to phthalimides were explored, this work included addition reactions using phenyl acetates, α-keto carboxylates and protected amino acids. Once these photo-additions were optimised using a Rayonet reactor, interest was turned to the conversion of this chemistry to a micro-flow platform with a view to improving the results obtained using the large-scale Rayonet reactor. It was successfully demonstrated that the microreactor delivered comparable if not superior results.

The possibility of using the PDC addition products as precursors for the synthesis of aristolactams was investigated. Optimisation of a method for the preparation of several compounds related to the aristolactam family was attempted, with the successful preparation of two compounds achieved. Also described is the photochemical synthesis of new phosphorescent phthalonitrile derivatives and their respective phthalocyanines. Two of the phthalonitrile derivatives were successfully converted to water soluble derivatives by selective sulfonation and one such derivative was screened as a potential cell-imaging agent.


This article is a case study describing the challenges and successes of the creation of a new educational pathway for nurses to concurrently earn the ADN and BSN. To create such an innovative program, challenges were encountered in dealing with curriculum, transcripts, advising, the admissions process, financial aid and logistics. These were all successfully surmounted and the program continues to grow with a lower attrition rate, higher on-time graduation rates and similar NCLEX pass rates when compared to the ADN stand-alone program.


Carcinomas form tumors in which malignant epithelial cells intermingle with nonmalignant stromal cells; indeed, stromal cells may constitute the majority of cells in the tumor. Moreover, bidirectional interactions between cancer cells and their microenvironment may influence tumor progression (see Bierie and Moses). Noting that mutations of the tumor suppressor p53 have been found in tumor stroma, Hill et al. investigated cancer cell-stromal interactions in a transgenic mouse model of prostate cancer in which a fragment of the SV40 large T antigen is expressed in prostate epithelium in response to androgens at puberty (TgAPT121 mice) to inactivate retinoblastoma (Rb) protein function. When TgAPT121 mice were crossed with wild-type, p53 null, or p53 heterozygous mice, p53 loss facilitated tumor progression. Tumors emerged earlier in p53 null than in p53 heterozygous mice and earlier in p53 heterozygous than in p53 wild-type mice. Tumors in mice lacking p53 were massive and had an extensive mesenchymal component; such "stromal tumors" appeared much later in 44% of wild-type p53 mice. Whereas all TgAPT121 prostates showed enhanced epithelial cell proliferation before tumor development, only mice also lacking p53 showed enhanced fibroblast proliferation in mesenchyme shortly (two months) after T121 induction. Immunofluorescence analysis revealed that, whereas p53 was undetectable in the prostates of wild-type mice, p53 was expressed in the epithelial cells and a subset of mesenchymal cells in TgAPT121 mice two months after T121 induction. Loss of p53 expression was apparent in regions of mesenchymal proliferation of emerging tumors, and laser capture microdissection of stromal regions of TgAPT121;p53+/– or TgAPT121;p53+/+ tumors confirmed loss of p53 in proliferating stroma. Thus, the authors propose that the abnormally proliferating epithelial cells stimulate p53 expression in mesenchymal cells through paracrine interactions. Because lack of p53 is associated with enhanced proliferation, this leads to a selective pressure for p53 loss in the mesenchyme, enhanced stromal proliferation, and massive tumor growth. R. Hill, Y. Song, R. D. Cardiff, T. Van Dyke, Selective evolution of stromal mesenchyme with p53 loss in response to epithelial tumorigenesis. Cell 123, 1001-1011 (2005). [PubMed] B. Bierie, H. L. Moses, Under pressure: Stromal fibroblasts change their ways. Cell 123, 985-987 (2005). [PubMed]


Except for studies of temperature data related to ground-water developments that induce infiltration from streams, little attention has been given to the possibility of using temperature fluctuations as a tool for studying the elements of the hydrologic cycle involving ground water. The temperature of the water discharged from large installations that induce river infiltration through alluvial deposits depends primarily on the following factors: (a) the porosity of the aquifer, (b) the specific heat of the rocks or mineral grains making it up, (c) the temperature of the ground water in storage, (d) the temperature of the river water, and (e) the amount of mixing that occurs as a result of pumping. In six installations of this type, where the annual rivertemperature fluctuations ranged from 44° to 52°F, the average range in groundwater temperature was 22 °F. The cycles of ground-water temperature lagged behind the river-temperature cycles by 1 to 5^ months. Under the conditions that existed, the lag of the minima of the cycles was much greater than that of the maxima, largely because of variations in pumpage and of the effect of viscosity differences on the rate of flow. An experimental study was made at Worthington in southwestern Minnesota to determine whether temperature fluctuations could be used to study rates and directions of ground-water movement or to evaluate recharge conditions. Three shallow glacial-outwash aquifers were studied by measuring temperatures at approximately monthly intervals in three municipal-supply wells whose average yields were about 60 to 150 gpm (gallons per minute). Temperatures were read with an accuracy of 0.01° to 0.02°C, and the data were analyzed graphically and correlated in detail with lake levels, lake temperatures, precipitation, and groundwater levels. Thermographs for 2 wells, 1 completed in a semiconfined aquifer about 200 feet from Okabena Lake and the other in a water-table aquifer about 850 feet from the lake, indicate that pumping induces water to move from the lake into the aquifers. A larger percentage of cold lake water was mixed with ground water from January to March 1958 than from January to March 1959. On the assumption that the cold or warm lake water was a distinct mass, the average time required for water to move from the lake to the well 200 feet away, under the prevailing hydraulic gradient, was 2 to 4 months; and to the well 850 feet away, 5 to 7 months. B-l B-2 GENERAL GROUND-WATER TECHNIQUES The thermograph for a well 1,800 feet from the lake, completed in an artesian aquifer that is confined by relatively impervious glacial till, indicates that the till acts as an insulating medium. However, despite the apparently low permeability of the till, the thermograph suggests that the lowering of artesian pressure, which results from pumping, induces warmer water to move downward through the till. The infiltration of relatively warm spring and summer rainfall can be detected on the thermographs of all the wells. The precise measurement of fluctuations in ground-water temperature, based on monthly readings in shallow glacial-outwash aquifers (up to about 70 feet deep), is useful in the study of ground-water movement and recharge. In addition to the study of natural phenomena in the hydrologic cycle, thermometry may be used as a tool in making detailed studies of (1) the effects of inducing the infiltration of surface water, (2) artificial recharge, (3) the effects of injecting petroleum products or radioactive or other wastes into the ground, and (4) ground-water movement in mines.


An Asian Reader introduces students to the scope and variety of Asian literature. Including pieces from Japan, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, singapore, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia, the selection contains both traditional and modern works. Designed to give students insights into other cultures, this anthology: places each piece in its social and historical context; contains both poetry and prose of various text types; provides vocabulary lists; and has a range of student tasks accompanying each piece. An Asian Reader makes some of the diversity of Asian literature accessible to Secondary students.


There are, on average, 200 appellate cases addressing the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) annually—though this number includes published and unpublished opinions. There are usually around thirty reported state appellate court cases involving ICWA issues every year. There has never been a systematic look at the cases on appeal including an analysis of who is appealing, what the primary issues are on appeal, and what trends are present. This article seeks to fill that void. This article provides a comprehensive catalog of published ICWA jurisprudence from across all fifty states in 2017. Designed as a quick reference for the ICWA practitioner, this article summarizes key case decisions that have interpreted the law in meaningful, significant, or surprising ways. It also tracks current attempts by ICWA's opponents to overturn the law. By providing an overview of last year's ICWA cases, this article is meant to keep practitioners up-to-date so they can be effective in the juvenile courtroom without sorting through and reading the dozens of cases published across all fifty jurisdictions.


Theories of global justice are often criticised for being ineffective or unrealisable. The aim of this interdisciplinary thesis is to examine whether this motivational criticism holds regarding Singer's Principle and Pogge's theory of global egalitarian justice. First, I will show that the effectiveness argument is unconvincing: the underlying effectiveness criterion is either incoherent or not defined, and existing effectiveness predictions are empirically unsatisfactory. Second, I will analyse whether Singer's interactional Principle satisfies the 'ought implies can' (OIC) criterion, which holds that obligations must be within the capacities of individuals. Having discussed the rationale and standard of the OIC criterion, I will show that the philosophical literature does not offer a convincing empirical justification of possibility evaluations. Drawing on psychological explanations of moral heroism, I will conclude that compliance with Singer's Principle is possible for ordinary persons, i.e. that 'every person is a hero in waiting'. Third, turning to the feasibility of Pogge's theory of global egalitarian justice, I will discuss how the standard, time-frame, weight and rationale of the feasibility criterion should be defined. Based on psychological and sociological explanations about moral behaviour, social norms and identity, I will evaluate the empirical arguments advanced in the philosophical literature. In addition, I will consider how the long-term trends of globalisation are likely to influence the role of nationality, identity and global institutions. I will conclude that Pogge's theory of egalitarian global justice is conditionally feasible, i.e. if we assume that domestic egalitarian justice is feasible. This implies that nationalism will not necessarily play a dominant role during the centuries to come. Overall, possibility and feasibility evaluations remain uncertain and partly subjective. I will thus argue that a burden of proof should be established to limit the negative effects of false evaluations.


Need2Know is the name of a test work made by the public libraries of Aalborg, Denmark. Using MSN Messenger as a tool for synchronous reference service the project tested if it is possible to reach new library users with instant messaging as a platform. The authors of this paper followed the test work as researchers. The paper does not give a detailed report or evaluation of the test work but presents the project and discusses the implications of the use of instant messaging and new media in the public library. The test work was a great success. A contract with Microsoft provided banner spots exposing Need2Know to MSN users, and 700 users signed up for the service. The users were mostly young people at the age of 12-15 years, a group of users who in recent years has deselected the library. The conclusion is that instant messaging is an excellent communication tool for reaching young people. Based on research literature in the field the paper discusses the kind and quality of synchronous reference service and the qualifications needed by the librarian. Instant messaging has lately been related to the phenomenon of Web 2.0, and the paper also refers to Web 2.0, especially to the aspects of distributed services versus the library as a physical and virtual unit. Should the library be an equal among equals in a common knowledge sharing of user communities? Or will users still expect the public library to be a confidential guide in the jungle of information?


The project title for this thesis is Code Detection Software Quality Tool of Electronic Shopping Cart based on Logic Scoring Preferences Model. This project is to develop
Electronic Shopping Cart Code Detection Tool that will detect shopping cart code. This tool only can detect PHP files in e-commerce systems. It is because this project focused the research on the e-commerce PHP website. E-commerce PHP website has been chosen for this project is because PHP is a programming language develop for open
source and the more important factor here is recently, many system developers applied PHP to develop their systems including e-commerce systems. Logic Scoring Preferences
Model is a model that will be used as a guideline of quality level to be identified and used in the development of this tool. And also that's how the result of code detection will be displayed; according to quality level specified by Logic Scoring Preferences Model (0 = unsatisfactory, 1 = marginal, 2 - satisfactory). To achieve one of these project objectives that are to identify the shopping cart characteristics, data collection
has been made such as e-commerce websites observation and comparison. This type of data collection has been used to identify the characteristics normally used in e-commerce
website arid to identify the differences of characteristics applied by e-commerce websites. Some interviews with e-commerce expertise also have been conducted in order to gain more information for this project. PHP code review on source code of several open source e-commerce website also have been made to achieve thesecond objective of this project which is to identify the PHP source code of electronic shopping cart on e-commerce website. The third and the last objectives of this research were achieved by designing and developing this Electronic Shopping Cart Code
Detection Tool


Thermonuclear (type-I) X-ray bursts, observed from neutron star (NS) low-mass Xray binaries (LMXB), provide constraints on NS masses and radii and consequently the equation of state of NS cores. In such analyses various assumptions are made without knowing if they are justified. We have analyzed X-ray burst spectra from the LMXB 4U 1608–52, with the aim of studying how the different persistent emission components react to the bursts. During some bursts in the soft spectral state we find that there are two variable components; one corresponding to the burst blackbody component and another optically thick Comptonized component. We interpret the latter as the spreading layer between the NS surface and the accretion disc, which is not present during the hard state bursts. We propose that the spectral changes during the soft state bursts are driven by the spreading layer that could cover almost the entire NS in the brightest phases due to the enhanced radiation pressure support provided by the burst, and that the layer subsequently returns to its original state during the burst decay. When deriving the NS mass and radius using the soft state bursts two assumptions are therefore not met: the NS is not entirely visible and the burst emission is reprocessed in the spreading layer, causing distortions of the emitted spectrum. For these reasons the NS mass and radius constraints using the soft state bursts are different compared to the ones derived using the hard state bursts.


It is difficult to be aware of the personal context for providing a mobile recommendation, because each person's activities and preferences are ambiguous and depend upon numerous unknown factors. In order to solve this problem, we have focused on a reality mining to discover social relationships (e.g., family, friends, etc.) between people in the real world. We have assumed that the personal context for any given person is interrelated with those of other people, and we have investigated how to take into account a person's neighbor's contexts, which possibly have an important influence on his or her personal context. This requires that given a dataset, we have to discover the hidden social networks which express the contextual dependencies between people. In this paper, we propose a semiautomatic approach to build meaningful social networks by repeating interactions with human experts. In this research project, we have applied the proposed system to discover the social networks among mobile subscribers. We have collected and analyzed a dataset of approximately two million people.


Over the past few years, neural networks were proven vulnerable to adversarial images: targeted but imperceptible image perturbations lead to drastically different predictions. We show that adversarial vulnerability increases with the gradients of the training objective when viewed as a function of the inputs. Surprisingly, vulnerability does not depend on network topology: for many standard network architectures, we prove that at initialization, the $\ell_1$-norm of these gradients grows as the square root of the input dimension, leaving the networks increasingly vulnerable with growing image size. We empirically show that this dimension dependence persists after either usual or robust training, but gets attenuated with higher regularization.


The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the relationship of Andrew Johnson to the South and the effect of that relationship on presidential reconstruction. It is not meant to be a complete retelling of the story of reconstruction, rather it is an attempt to determine how Johnson affected southern ideas of reconstruction and, equally important, how southerners influenced Johnson.


A fixed-pattern noise correction technique for time-domain CMOS imagers with high dynamic range is presented in this chapter. Analytical derivations are presented showing how the circuit variations affect the time measured. The error in the time measured can be reduced by using lower reference voltages achieving values smaller than 4%. The fixed-pattern noise correction technique proposed is based on a new readout method for time-domain imagers employing two reference voltages for the discharge time measurement. This new technique is non-sensitive to circuit parameter variations that contribute to fixed-pattern noise such as hold voltages of transistors. A simple electronic circuit is proposed to implement the technique. Circuit and simulation results are presented to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed technique.


OBJECTIVE
To study changes in the levels of systematic and airway local oxidative stress in patients in different stages of chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD), and explore the association between oxidative stress and glucocorticoid receptor (GR) level in the peripheral blood leukocytes.

METHODS
The levels of malonaldehyde (MDA), glutathione (GSH), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX) in induced sputum and plasma, as well as GR levels in peripheral blood leukocytes and plasma levels of cortisol and adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH), were examined in 33 patients with acute exacerbations of COPD (AECOPD, group A), 27 with stable COPD (group B), and 28 healthy volunteers (including 15 smokers as group C, and 15 nonsmokers as group D).

RESULTS
MDA level in induced sputum and plasma decreased, whereas the levels of GSH, SOD and GSH-PX increased significantly in the order of groups A, B, C, and D (P<0.05). The activity of SOD in induced sputum and plasma were significantly lower in group C than in group D. No significant difference was noted in the other oxidative stress indices between groups C and D (P>0.05). The plasma levels of cortisol and ACTH showed no significant difference between the 4 groups, while the GR level in peripheral blood leukocytes increased significantly in the order of groups A, B, C and D (1565-/+719, 2069-/+488, 2739-/+926, and 4793 -/+1415 U, respectively, P<0.05). After controlling for the factor of smoking status, the plasma and sputum SOD activity were both positively correlated to GR, with the partial correlation coefficient of 0.512 and 0.564, respectively (P<0.001).

CONCLUSION
Patients in different stages of COPD, especially those with AECOPD, may sustain systematic and local oxidation and anti-oxidation imbalance. Decreased SOD activity may contribute to GR level decrement in peripheral blood leukocytes in these patients.


Estimation of signal quality is critical in high-capacity spread spectrum systems for several reasons, e.g., power control and multiuser detection. In some techniques, signal amplitude is used as the measure of signal quality, but this is not as good a measure as the signal-to-noise-plus-interference ratio (SNIR). In this work we investigate several SNIR estimators based upon correlator outputs, and show by simulation that they are both accurate in terms of estimating bit error probability, and rapid in that only several tens of bits are required. We also derive the SNIR probability density function for the equal-received-energy case and validate it by computer simulations.


In this article, I attempt to indicate the productive function of censorship based on examples of recent restrictions of creative freedom in Poland, understood as elements of a new political order. Following Judith Butler, I demonstrate how the formative dimension of censorship became the element transforming Polish culture from the domain dominated by its creators into the common sphere, which is also a response to micro-fascist practices of the political authorities. Drawing from analyses of the commons offered by Antonio Negri and Hardt, as well as the idea of the institution of the commons proposed by Raunig and others, I argue that the imperative of creating public theatre expressed by Maciej Nowak has, in fact, already been implemented by Polish society in reaction to acts of censorship. By revealing the productive dimension of censorship, I also encourage an abandoning of paternalistic attitudes to the audience for the benefit of the common good – by means of revolt and resistance, if necessary.


The demographic phenomenon of "low fertility" has received considerable attention over the last three decades within academic, political, and public spheres. While a large body of research has led to a deeper understanding of the underlying social and economic dimensions of low fertility, current theoretical and empirical approaches fail to explain puzzles pertaining to within and across population heterogeneity in fertility rates. This dissertation is comprised of three papers that investigate the social, economic, and demographic causes and consequences of low fertility. Chapter 1 sets forth a new theoretical approach to examining the interrelations between low fertility, socioeconomic development, and gender equity among developed countries. The main findings of this chapter are that 1) the pace and onset of socioeconomic development explain a significant proportion of the variation in fertility among developed countries, 2) low fertility may facilitate changes in gender norms through a "gender-equity dividend", and 3) contrary to Second Demographic Transition theory, low fertility may be a transitory phase of the demographic transition. Whereas the Chapter 1 looks cross-nationally at gender and fertility dynamics, Chapter 2 takes a micro-level approach by exploring the relationship between fertility and gender norms in the United States. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY 79), I find that both men and women with progressive views on gender equity have lower fertility than their traditional counterparts, though these results were stronger, more consistent, and more significant across models for women. In Chapter 3 I argue that the rising costs of childrearing through "shadow education" have become a key fertility-reducing force across high, medium, and low-income countries. To investigate this hypothesis, I use data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and find evidence of a "quality-quantity tradeoff " both within and across populations due to costly shadow education. Collectively, the findings of this dissertation signal that the causes and consequences of low fertility are multifaceted and evolving across time and space. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Demography First Advisor Hans-Peter Kohler


The Chilean granado bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) contains nutritionally valuable proteins, and there was indication that the proteins can help in the prevention of diabetes. To further explore tis potential purified samples of the bean proteins is required. A membrane-based process was developed for the isolation of proteins from granado beans, adapted from methods reported earlier for mustard protein processing. The optimised process consists of alkaline protein extraction from granado bean flour at pH 10, ultrafiltration at concentration factor 4 and diafiltration with diavolume 4 followed by isoelectric protein precipitation at pH 4. The process starting with granado beans containing 28% protein, recovered 60.1% of the protein as precipitated protein isolate (PPI) and 7.2% as acid soluble protein isolates (SPI). The losses in the process system were approximately 26% of mass and 18.8% of nitrogen due to removal of non-protein nitrogen and small molecular weight components, likely carbohydrates. The protein contents of the PPI and SPI were ~92 % and ~ 62% on a moisture-free basis; the protein content of the SPI produced is considerably lower than typical isolates. This may be due to the co-recovery of high molecular weight carbohydrates. The water absorption capacity and nitrogen solubility index, of the PPI and SPI were measured and compared to other oilseed isolates. The PPI showed high water absorption (<400%). SPI dissolved completely – a nitrogen solubility index of 100%, while PPI had low nitrogen solubility near its isoelectric point. Both isolates had traits desirable for easy incorporation into food products.


this paper introduces a tool for the optimization of CMOS integrated spiral inductors. Its aim is to offer designers a first approach on designing inductors without the need for fabrication. The core of the tool is an optimization procedure where technology constraints on the inductor layout parameters are considered by applying user-defined discretization on the design variables. User-defined constraints between layout parameters may also be accounted for, as a way of taking into account design heuristics. For those cases where the device area is a major concern area minimization may be considered. On the other hand, if a major design goal is the inductor quality factor the tool may yield the layout parameters which maximize the quality factor. The trade-off between quality factor and device area is evaluated through the generation of a graphical representation of quality factor versus output diameter for a given inductance. For the sake of simplicity the π-model has been used for characterising the inductor. The application was developed in Matlab and the optimization toolbox is used. The validity of the design results obtained is checked against circuit simulation with ASITIC.


The Battle of Kursk 60 years ago in what is today the independent republic of theUkraine was, from the German side, an abomination. Just about every rule ofarmoured warfare was broken by the attackers. They had by their actions advertisedtheir intention to attack for weeks (although the Russians also got wind of itthrough their spy system). They made no attempt to hide their preparations, thepoints they were intending to attack, nor the approximate time it would take place.


Theories and counterinsurgency doctrines emphasize the importance of avoiding civilian casualties. Yet, many operations produce large numbers of so-called collateral civilian deaths. I present two competing arguments for when collateral deaths occur. One the one hand, they could be the unintentional result of offensives when trying to maintain force protection; on the other hand, they could be the result of a deliberate choice of relying on indiscriminate violence when pressured on the battlefield. I use new data on violence in Afghanistan 2004–2009, disaggregated by province and month, to examine what type of battlefield dynamics are more likely to produce high levels of collateral civilian casualties. The results show that civilian casualties are particularly high after counterinsurgency forces suffer losses in combat.


The theory of fuzzy sets and neural networks was aplied to non-linear process dynamics. In order to perform to state prediction necessary for the neuro- fuzzy logic controller, a neural net was trained to emulate the behavior of the system based on input/output data. Fuzzy model reduces size of the neural network requiring rank to features detected. Fuzzy logic algorithm is generated using production rules for processing corresponding neural network. The algorithm of the generalized delta rule was used to train the neural network minimizimg the sum of squares of the residual. As a case study multivariable control of the etanol recovery plant was used.