The rape/seduction of Hardy9s Tess has been the subject of critical debate for a century. Recent commentary focuses on the ambiguity of the Chase scene in Phase the First and on how Hardy9s presentation of the scene prevents a final interpretation of rape or seduction. Study of the novel9s background and earliest versions-specifically Hardy9s legal notebook entries from the 1880s, the manuscript version of the Chase scene, the 1891 first edition, and English rape law-suggests that Hardy conceived of the event as a rape/assault. Key passages from later chapters support this interpretation, while others add a subsequent event-a seduction-to the history of Tess9s relationship with Alec. Possible sources for the Chase scene as it was written in the manuscript and in the 1891 first edition include two nineteenth-century law cases, summarized in Hardy9s notebook, involving the application of spirits or liquor to onsuspecting women. Hardy was probably likewise aware of the provision in English rape law that a sleeping woman was incapable of consenting to a sexual relationship. Hardy removed the reference to spirits after the first edition of the novel. The fact that Tess is asleep when Alec approaches her in the Chase, together with subsequent references to the use of force, suggests that the event in the Chase should be read as a case of rape just as actual Victorian cases were interpreted.


Case Description. A 2.5-year-old female spayed mixed breed dog presented to the Teaching Hospital for draining tracts on the left medial aspect of the tibia. Two years prior to presentation, the patient sustained a left tibial fracture, which was repaired with an intramedullary (IM) pin and two cerclage wires. Multiple antimicrobials were utilized during this time. Clinical Findings. Radiographs were consistent with left tibial osteomyelitis. The implant was removed and the wound was debrided. Treatment and Outcome. A bone window on the medial aspect of the tibia was created in order to facilitate implant removal. The wound and associated bone window were treated with vacuum assisted closure (VAC) in preparation for reconstructive surgery. Adjunctive VAC therapy was utilized following the caudal sartorius myocutaneous flap. Complications following this surgery included distal flap necrosis and donor site dehiscence. Clinical Relevance. This presents a difficult case of canine osteomyelitis with subsequent wound care in which VAC and a myocutaneous flap were useful adjunctive treatments for osteomyelitis. This is the first report of VAC in the management of canine osteomyelitis and management with a myocutaneous flap.


Survey studies worldwide have revealed large differences in happiness, both within and across nations. Many of the within-nation differences have a genetic basis, as twin studies have shown. Is there also a genetic component in the large differences across nations? In this paper, we report an initial exploration of this question in 104 nations. We estimate the relative importance of the genetic component in a bilateral analysis, calculating the correlation between the distance in genetic profile and average happiness, measured as satisfaction with life-as-a-whole. In this analysis, genetic distance explains 8.4% of the variance in cross-national differences in happiness. However, after controlling for cultural, institutional, economic, and geographical differences between countries, the explained variance is significantly reduced. We conclude that the direct effect of genetic distance is probably small.


In many strongly correlated electron metals the thermoelectric power has a nonmonotonic temperature dependence and values that are orders of magnitude larger than for elemental metals. Inspired by Kelvin, Peterson and Shastry derived a particularly simple expression for the thermopower in terms of the temperature dependence of the chemical potential, now known as the Kelvin formula. We consider a Hubbard model on an anisotropic triangular lattice at half filling, a minimal effective Hamiltonian for several classes of organic charge transfer salts. The finite temperature Lanczos method is used to calculate the temperature dependence of the thermopower using the Kelvin formula. We find that electronic correlations significantly enhance the magnitude of the thermopower and lead to a nonmonotonic temperature dependence. The latter reflects a crossover with increasing temperature from a Fermi liquid to a bad metal. Although, the Kelvin formula gives a semiquantitative description of some experimental results it cannot describe the directional dependence of the sign of the thermopower in some materials.


Interactive website charts can be used to engage stakeholders and help them understand and apply relevant data. We explain methods we used to create and implement interactive charts for online outreach so that other Extension personnel can use similar interactive tools with their clientele. We describe step by step and in detail how we made interactive graphs and embedded them in a website. We also explain why we chose to use Google Docs as the source for this effort. Our approach offers a useful way to disseminate beneficial information to Extension clients.


The purpose of this study was to construct portrayals of teachers7 work conceptions in various career stages from the stories they told and the metaphors they used to describe the ways in which teachers learned about their work. Specifically, the study included preservice teachers, first-year teachers, third-year teachers, and teachers with more than four years of teaching experience at the elementary and secondary school levels.
Thirty-five elementary and secondary school teachers from the North-Central area of Texas participated in this study (nineteen inservice and sixteen preservice teachers). Qualitative techniques were employed to collect data. The preservice teachers filled out a questionnaire and wrote short stories about their preconceptions of their first year of teaching. Inservice teachers were interviewed using a short questionnaire and a long interview schedule. Nine inservice teachers participated in a storytelling workshop/focus group session. Group stories based on
predetermined scenarios were constructed, tape-recorded and transcribed. The focus group session was videotaped and transcribed.
Fifteen categories emerged from the analysis of the data: cyclical, ritualized, hierarchical, reciprocal, developmental, experiential, reflective, cumulative, body of knowledge, folkloric, individualized/personalized, order/control/manage, disciplinarian, facilitative, and replicative. These categories represent a summary of the constructs, images, contextual maps and metaphors held by these teachers to describe their enculturation process.
The descriptive categories developed in this study offer teacher educators, supervisors and teachers a basis for understanding the culture of teachers. The storytelling technigues used in this study provide a means by which teachers and teacher-related personnel can generate further information about the enculturation process that can be applied to recruitment, orientation/ induction programming, reflective teacher preparation and change strategies.


Teachers and schools tend to mistake good behavior for good character. What they prize is docility, suggestibility; the child who will do what he is told; or even better, the child who will do what is wanted without even having to be told. They value most in children what children least value in themselves. Small wonder that their effort to build character is such a failure; they don't know it when they see it.


This book explores some of the risks associated with sustainable peace in Colombia. The book intentionally steers away from the emphasis on the drug trade as the main resource fueling Colombian conflicts and violence, a topic that has dominated scholarly attention. Instead, it focuses on the links that have been configured over decades of armed conflict between legal resources (such as bananas, coffee, coal, flowers, gold, ferronickel, emeralds, and oil), conflict dynamics, and crime in several regions of Colombia. The book thus contributes to a growing trend in the academic literature focusing on the subnational level of armed conflict behavior. It also illustrates how the social and economic context of these resources can operate as deterrents or as drivers of violence. The book thus provides important lessons for policymakers and scholars alike: Just as resources have been linked to outbreaks and transformations of violence, peacebuilding too needs to take into account their impacts, legacies, and potential


Today the Internet is mostly used for services that require low or none security. The commercial and governmental applications have started to emerge but met problems since they require strong authentication, which is both difficult and costly to realize. The SIM card used in mobile phones is a tamper resistant device that contains strong authentication mechanisms. It would be very convenient and cost-efficient if Internet services could use authentication methods based on the SIM. This master thesis presents an analysis and a design of a generic authentication system based on SIM, together with a detailed description of an implemented prototype. The proposed system, called the Generic SIM Authentication System (GAS), provides a strong authentication mechanism. The GAS builds upon the existing GSM authentication infrastructure, thus allows re-use of GSM expertise from the mobile operators. New services can easily be supported, such that these can benefit from strong authentication. By gradually implementing more authentication mechanisms (e.g. OTP and PKI) on the SIM, it will be able to support several levels of security. This will result in a generic authentication system satisfying the security needs for nowadays and also for the future. In order to design the GAS, the thesis starts by giving an overview of authentication and relevant technologies, before the requirements to the system, both functional and non-functional, are defined. Then different interaction diagrams, collaboration diagrams and sequence diagrams are presented, and the necessary components and interfaces in the system are outlined. This thesis builds on two student projects finished December 2005, where tentative high-level architectures for utilizing SIM-based authentication were proposed. A Prototype has been developed in Java to demonstrate the GAS, and includes both a client (Supplicant) and a server (Authenticator) part. The communication between the Supplicant and the other components in the authentication system is based on EAP, which is a general authentication protocol supporting multiple authentication methods. When performing the GSM authentication the EAP-SIM protocol is used. The Prototype has been tested end-to-end, i.e. from the SIM to the Telenor GSM HLR/AuC, via IP-based network. Three different services have been developed to demonstrate how easily the SIM authentication can be integrated. The first demo service shows how to integrate the authentication with JSP technology and Apache Tomcat. The second service, MyService, is another example of how the authentication service could be integrated into a web portal using PHP to demonstrate that the Prototype is independent of the service implementation language. MyService also illustrates how the service provider can control the registration of new users and link up with their SIM identity. The last service, GasSpot, shows how to integrate the GAS to authenticate users to a Captive Portal. The access is controlled by the gateway, which is implemented using ChilliSpot. Based on the results of the master thesis, the authors have written the paper "A Generic Authentication System based on SIM", which has been submitted and accepted for publication at the ICISP'06 Conference in Cap Esterel, Cote d'Azur, France, August 26-29, 2006.


Boron is one of the most popular materials in recent technologies due to its potential to emerge desired technological results. Many attempts have been done to understand the boron activity in crystal media or on the electronic properties of the materials to understand the mechanisms as a result of interesting molecular interplays between neighboring atoms. In the most studies, boron atoms did not have the main role in the first steps of the scientific study where it took placed. However, mostly it has become the key element and the main role player that is reported as the interesting results of the research. In this study, the background activities of the boron atom are investigated regarding its roles as dopant or substitution element.


M Underwood

Professor M Underwood, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK; firstname.lastname@example.com

For older patients with chronic knee pain, should general practitioners advise use of topical or oral non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)?

### Design:

randomised controlled trial (Topical or Oral Ibuprofen [TOIB]).

### Allocation:

concealed.

### Blinding:

blinded (data collectors).

### Follow-up period:

12 months.

### Setting:

26 general practices in the UK.

### Patients:

282 patients ⩾50 years of age (mean age 63 y, 54% women) with knee pain (97% with osteoarthritis). Exclusion criteria included history of, or awaiting, knee replacement, and recent knee injury.

### Intervention:

the patient's general practitioner recommended preferential use of topical ibuprofen (n = 138) or oral ibuprofen (n = 144).

### Outcomes:

Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) score, adverse effects, and cost-effectiveness. The study had >80% power to show equivalence in WOMAC scores to within 10 mm (α = 0.05).

### Patient follow-up:

88% (intention-to-treat …


Modifications of the courtroom environment have been proposed to enhance the ability of child witnesses to offer complete and accurate testimony and reduce system-induced stress. However, these interventions have often been conceived without the benefit of empirical data demonstrating intervention efficacy. The present study examines the effects of the courtroom context on children's memory and anxiety. Eighty-one eight- to ten-year-olds participated in a staged event involving bodily touch, and two weeks later their memory for the event was tested. Half of the children were questioned in a mock courtroom in a university law school, and half were questioned in a small, private room adjacent to the courtroom. Children's heart rate was monitored throughout questioning. Results indicated that children questioned in the courtroom showed impaired memory performance and greater heart rate variability, indicative of a stress response, when compared with children interviewed in the small, private room.


Introduction/background: Despite the increasing popularity of online university courses, high non-completion rates are common. An effective orientation program can assist students to prepare for online study.

Aim/objectives: The focus of this research was to gain an understanding of students' perceptions of: (i) the skills needed for online study; (ii) which skills HPE students feel least confident about at the commencement of their course; and (iii) orientation activities and resources that students find useful when preparing for online study.

Methods: A mixed methods study, including online surveys and telephone interviews, was used.

Results: Students were confident about their computer skills but were less confident about using the learning management system, in particular, the discussion board and webinar tools. Rusty academic skills, such as writing and referencing, were a challenge for many. Responses to suggested orientation sessions indicate students desire a wide variety of activities and resources to help them transition to online learning including: study tips from experienced online learners; staying motivated in off-campus study, and tips for organising and managing files.

Discussion and Conclusions: Orientation activities should be delivered in an incremental way so students can progress at their own pace through a structured, but flexible, program that does not overwhelm the novice. Self-evaluation of the skills required for postgraduate online study, flexibility to tailor the orientation program to suit personal learning needs, and time to practise required skills, should underpin the orientation program. Lastly, opportunities for students to connect with other students and faculty should be provided.


This paper uses matched employer-employee data from the 1998 Workplace Employee Relations Survey (WERS98) to estimate influences on managerial and employee perceptions of the employee relations climate. Both the strength and direction of union effects differ according to the nature of the union and employer responses to it. Employee and employer perceptions of climate differ according to the strength of the union, bargaining arrangements adopted, and managerial attitudes to union membership. Employees'' perceptions of climate are also strongly associated with employees'' perceptions of union effectiveness.


Polarity reversals, excursions and secular variation of the geomagnetic field are examined as magnetostratigraphic tools in recent sediments. Polarity reversals and some excursions are recognizable worldwide, whereas secular variation occurs on a more local scale. The reliability of palaeomagnetic directions in recent sediments, as a record of the ancient geomagnetic field, varies widely. The necessity of acceptability criteria for using palaeomagnetic data in chronological studies is emphasized. Low temperature partial demagnetization of Recent sediments is described to illustrate its use, in conjunction with more conventional magnetic and geochemical techniques, in establishing the mode and duration of origin of the natural remanent magnetization.


This study explored gender norms with cricket coaches and athletes in India to adapt a coach-delivered gender violence prevention program from the United States for the urban Indian context. Interviews and focus groups conducted among coaches and adolescent cricketers highlight the extent to which coaches and athletes articulate prevailing inequitable notions about gender and recognition of the power coaches wield. Adapting a violence prevention program that emphasizes gender norms change may be feasible with Indian cricket coaches but is likely to require attention to defining gender equity and challenging cultural assumptions with coaches prior to implementing the program with athletes.


Within the United Kingdom and internationally, the practice of separating pupils by ability endures as a characteristic feature of mathematics and science classrooms. Although there is extensive international research literature on ability grouping within classroom-based subjects, limited research exists in the context of physical education (PE). The purpose of this paper is to explore ability grouping in PE in North East of England schools. Specifically, the paper examined the prevalence of setting and within-class ability grouping in PE, the contexts of its use, how sets and within-class ability grouping were established, and the rationales used to justify decisions about setting and within-class ability grouping in the subject. Data were collected via a web-based survey. The electronic survey was sent to 194 PE Heads of Department from North East of England schools catering for pupils in Key Stage 3 (ages 11–14) and/or Key Stage 4 (ages 14–16). The results indicated that setting is embedded in the organisational and pedagogical practices of PE in many secondary schools. Ability also served as a basis upon which to organise pupils within mixed-ability and setted PE lessons. A variety of other factors, including friendship and behaviour, were also reported as factors influencing grouping of pupils in PE lessons. Our discussion directs attention to issues arising for policy and practice in PE and points to the merits of further exploration and analysis of between-class and within-class grouping practices in the subject.


Background & Objective : Silymarin is an effective material of Milk thistle whose therapeutic effects have been mentioned in folk medicine. However, little research has been conducted on its antinociceptive effect and its mechanisms of action. Therefore, the aim of present study was to investigate the pain-relieving effects of silymarin using Formalin test with an emphasis on histaminergic system in rats. Materials & Methods: In this experimental study, 42 male rats weighing approximately 200-250 g aged 12-14 weeks were divided into 7 groups with 6 rats in each group: control group (Saline + Formalin 1% intraplantar), 4 treatment groups with silymarin (50, 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg), 1 treatment group with chlorpheniramine (20 mg/kg), 1 pretreatment group with chlorpheniramine (20 mg/kg) + silymarin (200 mg/kg). Formalin test was used to assess somatic pain. One-way ANOVA was used to analyze the data. Results : Intraperitoneal injection of silymarin significantly reduced pain response in both the first and second phase of formalin pain (P<0.05). Pretreatment with chlorpheniramine and then silymarin enhanced the analgesic response in both phases of formalin pain (P<0.05). Conclusion : Silymarin has analgesic effects and these effects are probably caused by using the histaminergic system.


The act of inventing relates to the process of inquiry, to creativity, to poetic and aesthetic invention.Building on the work of rhetoricians, philosophers, linguists, and theorists in other disciplines, Karen Burke LeFevre challenges a widely-held view of rhetorical invention as the act of an atomistic individual. She proposes that invention be viewed as a social act, in which individuals interact dialectically with society and culture in distinctive ways.Even when the primary agent of invention is an individual, invention is pervasively affected by relationships of that individual to others through language and other socially shared symbol systems. LeFevre draws implications of a view of invention as a social act for writers, researchers, and teachers of writing."


ABSTRACT This paper develops a dynamic model of minority labor market discrimination. Employers repeatedly decide to hire either minority or majority job candidates whose productivities are unobservable beforehand. Hiring decisions are based on productivity expectations derived from the observable productivity of employers' previously hired workers. If employers have fewer minority workers initially—a plausible assumption for (numerical) minorities—they discriminate against minority workers over time. Discrimination results from more dispersed minority expectations across the employer population and stronger effects of additional productivity observations on minority expectations. Both effects are a direct consequence of the minority's initial underrepresentation in firms. I demonstrate the emergence of minority discrimination formally in a two-period hiring model and show simulation results for longer time frames.


The early breakup of western Pangea has been investigated by mapping the pattern of fracture zones and distribution of seismic reflectors within the sedimentary cover of the Atlantic between the Cape Verde Islands and the equator. Two distinct sets of transverse oceanic lineaments are present, separated by the Guinea Fracture Zone near lat 10/sup 0/N. Lineaments to the north are associated with the formation of the central Atlantic in the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous; those in the south relate to the Cretaceous opening of the South Atlantic. The Guinea Fracture Zone is thus the conjugate of the Jurassic transform boundary under peninsular Florida, which linked the Atlantic with the Gulf of Mexico. The distribution of dated seismic reflectors suggests that deposition of deep-water sediments was confined to the region north of the Guinea transform until Aptian time, when the Sierra Leone Basin began to open. The latter started to widen at least 15 m.y. after the initiation of the Cape Basin off southwest Africa, an age difference that can be explained if a short-lived plate boundary developed in either Africa or South America during the Early Cretaceous. Neither the trends of the equatorial fracture zones nor the seismic stratigraphymore » supports the existence of a predrift gap between west Africa and Brazil.« less


What's the singular of paparazzi? Is graffiti singular or plural? What about kudos? Should I say empathic or empathetic? Is it a couple of dozen or a couple dozen? What's the correct pronunciation of concierge? Or schism? Or flaccid? In this book of crisp, precise, and often witty pronouncements on modern American English, Bryan Garner decisively answers these and thousands of other questions that bedevil those who care about the language. Garner draws on massive evidence to support his judgments, citing thousands of examples--good, bad, and ugly--from sources such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Newsweek. No one can browse through the book without sharing the authors spirited awareness of how words work and his relish for exposing the affectations that bloat our language. And even if you don't have the time for browsing, but simply want a quick answer to an editorial riddle, this book is your best bet.


High intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) is a medical procedure for noninvasive treatment of cancers. High intensity focused ultrasound is used to heat and destroy the diseased tissue. Piezoelectricity has been the core mechanism for generation of ultrasound waves in the treatment. Focusing can be done by using spherically curved transducers or using a lens or electronically steering sound waves by using phased arrays. Current research in HIFU technology targets the development of MR-guided miniaturized ultrasonic probes for treatment of cancerous tumors. Capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (CMUT) is an alternative technology to generate and detect ultrasound. CMUT consists of a suspended membrane The advances in CMUT technology, enables fabricating tiny transducer arrays with wide bandwidth makes them a strong candidate for the application. In this thesis, a new methodology is proposed to design and operate CMUTs to generate high pressures under continuous wave excitation. An accurate nonlinear circuit model of CMUT is developed and the model is carried into a SPICE (Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis) simulator for fast simulations. The model includes the radiation impedance of the array, thus the operation in a fluid environment can be simulated. The model is verified by doing FEM simulations. The circuit model provides a novel optimization tool for CMUT operating in non-collapse mode. The optimized CMUT parameters are presented and a sample fabrication is done using anodic bonding process. With the process, a 100 m thick silicon wafer is bonded to a glass substrate. A new driving scheme is proposed without a need of DC voltage. Thus, the charge trapping problem in CMUT operation is eliminated. The fabricated device provides 1.8 MPa surface pressure with -28dB second harmonic for a maximum 125V drive voltage at 1.44 MHz which is currently a state of art performance of a CMUT under continuous wave excitation.


[1] The GOES Aerosol/Smoke Product (GASP) is a retrieval of the aerosol optical depth (AOD) using visible imagery. The product currently runs operationally at NOAA/NESDIS in near-real time at 30 min intervals. This high temporal resolution is not possible with polar orbiting instruments which produce one daily image. This work evaluates the GASP AOD from the GOES-12 Imager over North America at various temporal and spatial scales based on comparisons with AOD from the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). We find a mean GASP/AERONET correlation of 0.79, rms difference of 0.13 and slope of 0.8, based on a statistical analysis at 10 northeastern U.S. and Canadian sites. The GASP AOD has a slight negative bias when the AOD is greater than 0.35 and a positive bias elsewhere. The absolute bias is less than 30% when the AOD is greater than 0.1. When the AOD is less than 0.15 we find poor correlation and biases greater than 30%. The GASP/AERONET statistics also indicate that GASP can be used to examine the seasonal and diurnal variability in the AOD over the eastern United States between 1215 and 2115 UTC. GASP/AERONET AOD correlations were generally less than 0.5 elsewhere in the continental United States. Comparisons between the MODIS and GASP AOD over the eastern United States in the summer of 2004 showed agreement within 20% and correlations greater than 0.7 under elevated AOD conditions. Simultaneous comparisons between GASP, MODIS, and AERONET AODs showed good agreement over the northeastern United States and Canada, with higher correlation and lower rms differences in the MODIS/AERONET comparisons than in the GASP/AERONET comparisons.


Modern avionic system development is undergoing a major transition, from federated systems to Integrated Modular Avionics (IMA) where several applications with mixed criticality will reside on the same platform. Moreover, there is a departure from today's single core computing, and we need to address the problem of how to guarantee determinism (in time and space) for application tasks running on multiple cores and interacting through shared memory. This paper summarizes the main challenges and briefly describes some active directions in research regarding temporal partitioning. It also outlines the forthcoming research that we will pursue for quantifying time bounds on memory access related interference, to ensure determinism and comply with certification requirements.


Background: Pulmonary involvement is a frequent and among the most severe extra-articular manifestations of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) ranking as the second cause of mortality in this patient population. Rheumatoid arthritis can a ect the lung parenchyma, airways and pleura. Pulmonary complications are directly responsible for 10-20% of all mortality in RA patients. Spirometry is becoming increasingly available in Kenya and could be used in peripheral areas to screen and monitor for pulmonary function abnormalities in well characterized patient populations such as those with RA. Abnormalities detected by pulmonary function tests may precede symptoms by years and lead to early diagnosis of pulmonary fibrosis in rheumatoid arthritis and
hence intervention.
Objective: To determine the prevalence of pulmonary function abnormalities in rheumatoid arthritis patients attending Rheumatology Clinics in Nairobi.
Design: Cross sectional descriptive study.
Setting: Nairobi Rheumatology Clinics in Kenyatta National Hospital, Aga Khan University Hospital and Mater Hospital. Methods: Rheumatoid arthritis patients aged 13 to 65 years who fulfilled the study inclusion criteria were recruited. Sociodemographic characterictics and respiratory symptoms were assessed using Lung Tissue Research Consortium questionnaire (LTRC) and RA disease activity was established by Disease Activity Score (DAS28). Pulmonary function tests were then done using Spirolab 111 according to the American Thoracic Society recommendations.
Results: One hundred and sixty six RA patients were recruited; the male to female ratio was 1:9.3, with a median age of 47 years. The overall six month prevalence of pulmonary function abnormalities was 38.5% as measured by Spirometry and all our patients did not carry any prior pulmonary disease diagnosis. The predominant ventilatory defect was obstructive pattern at 20.4%, followed by restrictive pattern at 16.8% and least common being a mixed picture at 1.2%. Factors that were shown
to be independently associated with pulmonary function abnormalities were age and RA disease activity. Respiratory
symptoms that were predictive of PFTs abnormalities were cough, increased frequency of chest colds and illnesses
and phlegm.
Conclusion: High prevalence of pulmonary function abnormalities was observed. Respiratory symptoms, older age and ongoing disease activity can identify patients in greatest need of further pulmonary evaluation. Key words : Rheumatoid Arthritis, Pulmonary function test, Nairobi Rheumatology Clinics


By treating utterances as points in the i-vector space, i-vector/PLDA can achieve fast verification. However, this approach lacks the ability to cope with utterance-length variability. A method called uncertainty propagation (UP) that takes the uncertainty of i-vectors into account has been recently proposed to deal with this problem. However, the loading matrix for modeling utterance-length variability is session-dependent, making UP computationally expensive. In this paper, we demonstrate that utterance-length variability mainly affects the scale of the posterior covariance matrices. Based on this observation, we propose to substitute the session-dependent loading matrices by the ones trained from development data, where the selection of pre-computed loading matrices is based on a fast scalar compar-ison. This approach can reduce the computation cost of standard UP to the one comparable with the conventional PLDA. Experiments on the NIST 2012 Speaker Recognition Evaluation show that the proposed method can perform as good as the standard UP, but requires only 3.7% of the scoring time. The method also requires substantially less memory as compared with the standard UP, especially when the number of target speakers is large.


Mast cells and eosinophils often travel in the same biologic circles. In non-clonal states, such as allergic and inflammatory conditions, cell-to-cell contact and the pleiotropic actions of multiple cytokines and chemokines, derived from local tissues or mast cells themselves, foster the co-recruitment of these cells to the same geographic cellular niche. While eosinophils and mast cells serve critical roles as part of the host immune response and in maintenance of normal homeostasis, these cell types can undergo neoplastic transformation due to the development of clonal molecular abnormalities that arise in early hematopoietic progenitors. The dysregulated tyrosine kinases, D816V KIT and FIP1L1-PDGFRA, are the prototypic oncogenic lesions resulting in systemic mastocytosis (SM) and chronic eosinophilic leukemia, respectively. We review the pathobiology of these myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) with a focus on the relationship between mast cells and eosinophils, and discuss murine models, which further elucidate how the phenotype of these diseases can be influenced by stem cell factor (SCF) and expression of the potent eosinophilopoietic cytokine, interleukin-5 (IL-5). Therapy of SM and FIP1L1-PDGFRA-positive disease and the prognostic relevance of increased peripheral blood and tissue mast cells in hematolymphoid malignancies will also be addressed.


Due to the prominent performance on networking virtualization and programmability, OpenFlow is widely regarded as a promising control plane technology in packet-switched IP networks as well as wavelength-switched optical networks. For the purpose of applying software programmable feature to future optical networks, we propose an OpenFlow-based control plane in Flexi-Grid optical networks. Experimental results demonstrate its feasibility of dynamic lightpath establishment and adjustment via extended OpenFlow protocol. Wireshark captures of the signaling procedure are printed out. Additionally, the overall latency including signaling and hardware for lightpath setup and adjustment is also reported.


The fifth grade students of elementary school are entering the industriousness vs inferiority stage according to "all compassing psychological theory" from Erikson. At this stage, students like to learn new knowledge based on their curiosity. The learning model based on LCM theory is designed so that every human being is able to achieve maximum intuitive intelligence by considering the physical aspects, creativity, and ratio or reasoning power. These three aspects are based on the LCM theory introduced by Tibrani. The ADDIE model was used for the development design. The first third stages of the ADDIE model has been applied (i.e. analysis, design, and development). This module consists of animal and human motion organs theme and fresh air for health theme and linking the materials in sub-themes with an art creation process. The components in the learning module consist of KI, KD, indicators, learning activities, student worksheets, evaluation, and independent assignments. Validation instrument that be used was modified from the standard of LPPM UNS and Ghirardini standard. Learning content validation was done by the expert team and has of 85.88% score so it could be categorized as a very good module. This result shows that the science learning module for the fifth grade of elementary school students in animal and human motion organ theme and fresh air for health theme using learning model based on LCM theory is suitable to be used. It also ready to be proceed to the next stage in the ADDIE model product development design


Abstract Active volcanism on Io has been monitored during the nominal Galileo satellite tour from mid 1996 through late 1997. The Solid State Imaging (SSI) experiment was able to observe many manifestations of this active volcanism, including (1) changes in the color and albedo of the surface, (2) active airborne plumes, and (3) glowing vents seen in eclipse. About 30 large-scale (tens of kilometers) surface changes are obvious from comparison of the SSI images to those acquired by Voyager in 1979. These include new pyroclastic deposits of several colors, bright and dark flows, and caldera-floor materials. There have also been significant surface changes on Io during the Galileo mission itself, such as a new 400-km-diameter dark pyroclastic deposit around Pillan Patera. While these surface changes are impressive, the number of large-scale changes observed in the four months between the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 flybys in 1979 suggested that over 17 years the cumulative changes would have been much more impressive. There are two reasons why this was not actually the case. First, it appears that the most widespread plume deposits are ephemeral and seem to disappear within a few years. Second, it appears that a large fraction of the volcanic activity is confined to repeated resurfacing of dark calderas and flow fields that cover only a few percent of Io's surface. The plume monitoring has revealed 10 active plumes, comparable to the 9 plumes observed by Voyager. One of these plumes was visible only in the first orbit and three became active in the later orbits. Only the Prometheus plume has been consistently active and easy to detect. Observations of the Pele plume have been particularly intriguing since it was detected only once by SSI, despite repeated attempts, but has been detected several times by the Hubble Space Telescope at 255 nm. Pele's plume is much taller (460 km) than during Voyager 1 (300 km) and much fainter at visible wavelengths. Prometheus-type plumes (50–150 km high, long-lived, associated with high-temperature hot spots) may result from silicate lava flows or shallow intrusions interacting with near-surface SO2. A major and surprising result is that ∼30 of Io's volcanic vents glow in the dark at the short wavelengths of SSI. These are probably due to thermal emission from surfaces hotter than 700 K (with most hotter than 1000 K), well above the temperature of pure sulfur volcanism. Active silicate volcanism appears ubiquitous. There are also widespread diffuse glows seen in eclipse, related to the interaction of energetic particles with the atmosphere. These diffuse glows are closely associated with the most active volcanic vents, supporting suggestions that Io's atmopshere is dominated by volcanic outgassing. Globally, volcanic centers are rather evenly distributed. However, 14 of the 15 active plumes seen by Voyager and/or Galileo are within 30° of the equator, and there are concentrations of glows seen in eclipse at both the sub- and antijovian points. These patterns might be related to asthenospheric tidal heating or tidal stresses. Io will continue to be observed during the Galileo Europa Mission, which will climax with two close flybys of Io in late 1999.


Random laser-writer position errors in raster-scanned monochrome halftone images are examined by using Fourier analysis techniques. For a high-contrast, narrow-exposure latitude recording material (typically used in halftone reproduction) with medium-sized halftone dots (25–85%), a one-dimensional halftone model is developed to derive the signal power spectrum of a halftone image containing position errors in the slow-scan (page-scan) direction. The spectrum of such an image is shown to consist of a periodic component and a random component, which is a function of position error but independent of dot size. The term signal power spectrum, in the context of this paper, is the average squared modulus of the Fourier transform of an image containing these errors. A comparison is made between the percent position-error specification quoted for continuous-tone laser writing and the corresponding specification made in writing digital halftones. For a given absolute position error, the ratio of the resulting percent position error of a single pixel in continuous-tone writing to that for a halftone cell is shown to be roughly 2(X/L), where X is the halftone cell period and L is the pixel size used in continuous-tone reconstruction. Thus, whereas the position-error tolerance for halftone writing is almost an order of magnitude greater than its continuous-tone counterpart on a percent basis, on an absolute scale they are approximately equal. The results can be generalized to include any digitally generated halftone image based on a center-growing dot configuration and containing dot-size/shape distortions.


With current scientific technologies, a significant amount of genetic information can be obtained from biological evidence found at a crime scene. Not only is it possible to identify the donor of the evidence through routine DNA profiling techniques, but new RNA based methods are being developed to determine the tissue type as well as the physical characteristics of the donor. Despite the information that can be obtained, the ability to determine the age or time the biological material was deposited at the crime scene has eluded the forensic community thus far. Timing is critically important as it could help police determine when the crime was committed. In this body of work an investigation was conducted into whether the degradation rates of nucleic acid macromolecules could serve as molecular clocks for age estimations. An attempt was made to gain a better understanding of the degradation products produced from an internal urban environment and to develop an optimal assay accordingly. A number of different RNA based techniques for ageing both hair and blood samples were also examined.
Degradation assays have been traditionally designed around amplicon size however, it was established that testing loci stability is an essential requirement in the optimisation process. The results presented in this thesis suggest the reliability of the data can be increased when the two competing target species are selected from the same loci, which minimised the effect of loci susceptibility to degradation. It was determined that blood stains aged up to 60 days in an internal urban environment were best distinguished (in terms of age estimations) by using targets that differed in size by 170 to 240 base pairs, with one of the targets being between 200 and 300 base pairs in length. Despite using a robust TH01 qPCR assay it was established that an internal "urban" environment was not as stable as predicted and that seasonal temperature variation had a large effect on degradation rates. Interpretation of the results was therefore limited suggesting these optimised target sizes may only be relevant to the winter months.
Using a carefully designed hermetically sealed dry swab we were able to remove moisture and inhibit the growth of DNA consuming micro-organisms. It was determined that bacteria alone can cause a 2-fold increase in the degradation rate of a sample aged at room temperature. In terms of integrity, storing samples at room temperature in a moisture free environment was equivalent to storing standard samples (exposed to normal humidity levels) in refrigerated conditions. It was also determined that the effect of bacterial degradation can be halved by lowering the storage temperature from room temperature to 4°C.
RNA was examined in an attempt to reduce the large variations that had inhibited previous DNA methodologies. IL-6 and TNF-α were initially selected due to their rapid post-extraction change in expression levels. However, their levels were highly variable, unpredictable and therefore not suitable for this type of analysis even on samples that had been aged for only ten days. It is thought that their dynamic roles in a number of haemopoietic processes could be responsible for the poor results.

A new RNA methodology, as described by Nolan et al (2008) was used to analyse samples that had been aged over 80 days. Four targets, AMICA1, MNDA, CASP1 and GAPDH were chosen based on their cell lineage as it was hypothesised that inter-donor variation could be reduced by using targets confined to the granulocytic cell lineage. Using the novel 3'/5' assay, AMICA1, MNDA and CASP1 all performed poorly and no correlation could be determined between the 3'/5' ratio and sample age. GAPDH showed some encouraging results with a correlation of 0.912 (age to 3'/5' ratio) although initial stability over the first 20 days and the inter-donor variation were still limiting factors. It was also thought that the various mRNA degradation processes, in particular the 5'/3' exonuclease activity, contributed to the poor results generally.
A large inter-donor variation was a common aspect to all the blood based methodologies trialled. This meant that none of the methods had any practical value. As a result, an alternative RNA method was used to determine if it was possible to age another forensically important type of biological evidence; hair. Using a Reverse Transcription Quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) assay, we monitored the Relative Expression Ratio (RER) of two different RNA species (18S rRNA and B-actin mRNA) in hair samples that were aged naturally over a period of three months. Overall the results presented here suggest that the age of hair samples containing follicular tags can be approximated using a second order polynomial (Age = 3.31RER2 - 2.85RER – 0.54), although with limitations.


We present a generic spatially explicit modeling framework to estimate carbon emissions from deforestation (INPE-EM). The framework incorporates the temporal dynamics related to the deforestation process and accounts for the biophysical and socioeconomic heterogeneity of the region under study. We build an emission model for the Brazilian Amazon combining annual maps of new clearings, four maps of biomass, and a set of alternative parameters based on the recent literature. The most important results are as follows: (a) Using different biomass maps leads to large differences in estimates of emission; for the entire region of the Brazilian Amazon in the last decade, emission estimates of primary forest deforestation range from 0.21 to 0.26 Pg C yr (cid:2) 1 . (b) Secondary vegetation growth presents a small impact on emission balance because of the short duration of secondary vegetation. In average, the balance is only 5% smaller than the primary forest deforestation emissions. (c) Deforestation rates decreased significantly in the Brazilian Amazon in recent years , from 27 Mkm 2 in 2004 to 7 Mkm 2 in 2010. INPE-EM process-based estimates reflect this decrease even though the agricultural frontier is moving to areas of higher biomass. The decrease is slower than a non-process instantaneous model would estimate as it considers residual emissions (slash, wood products, and secondary vegeta-tion). The average balance, considering all biomass, decreases from 0.28 in 2004 to 0.15 Pg C yr (cid:2) 1 in 2009; the non-process model estimates a decrease from 0.33 to 0.10 Pg C yr (cid:2) 1 . We conclude that the INPE-EM is a powerful tool for representing deforestation-driven carbon emissions. Biomass estimates are still the largest source of uncertainty in the effective use of this type of model for informing mechanisms such as REDD + . The results also indicate that efforts to reduce emissions should focus not only on controlling primary forest deforestation but also on creating incentives for the restoration of secondary forests.


The research question addressed by this thesis is: if a modification to the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act enabled an increase in Total Allowable Catch for a single species in the US West Coast groundfish fishery, what would be the direct and indirect economic effects on Monterey County, California? I used primary and secondary industry sources to build an Input/Output table reflecting the Monterey County economy, then calculated economic multipliers from this Input/Output table. I then calculated the likely increase in catch of relevant species (the species of focus and those that co-occur with it) and used recent ex-vessel prices to arrive at the likely economic effect. Various scenarios were explored: the base case was a simple aggregation of industry sector data from federal government sources; additional cases included a different aggregation of industry sectors, addition of industry transaction data from PacFIN and addition of survey data from fishermen and processors. Counting only direct and indirect effects, a 10% increase in Total Allowable Catch ofbocaccio rockfish could result in effects ranging from $250,000 to over $1,000,000 per annum for the fishing community in Monterey County. While this is a straightforward benefit, the costs of ecosystem effects would need to be quantified and evaluated for a thorough analysis of the merit of increasing bocaccio TAC.


Uncovered interest parity (UIP) has been almost universally rejected in studies of exchange rate movements, although there is little consensus on why it fails. In contrast to previous studies, which have used relatively short-horizon data, we test UIP using interest rates on longer-maturity bonds for the G-7 countries. These long-horizon regressions yield much more support for UIP -- all the coefficients on interest differentials are of the correct sign, and almost all are closer to the UIP value of unity than to the zero coefficient implied by the random walk hypothesis. We then use a small macroeconomic model to explain the differences between the short- and long-horizon results. Regressions run on data generated by stochastic simulations replicate the important regularities in the actual data, including the sharp differences between short- and long-horizon parameters. In the short run from risk premium shocks in the face of endogenous monetary policy. In the long run, in contrast, exchange rate movements are driven by the "fundamentals," leading to a relationship between interest rates and exchange rates that is more consistent with UIP.


Very-High-Resolution (VHR) satellite imagery is a powerful source of data for detecting and extracting information about urban constructions. Shadow in the VHR satellite imageries provides vital information on urban construction forms, illumination direction, and the spatial distribution of the objects that can help to further understanding of the built environment. However, to extract shadows, the automated detection of shadows from images must be accurate. This paper reviews current automatic approaches that have been used for shadow detection from VHR satellite images and comprises two main parts. In the first part, shadow concepts are presented in terms of shadow appearance in the VHR satellite imageries, current shadow detection methods, and the usefulness of shadow detection in urban environments. In the second part, we adopted two approaches which are considered current state-of-the-art shadow detection, and segmentation algorithms using WorldView-3 and Quickbird images. In the first approach, the ratios between the NIR and visible bands were computed on a pixel-by-pixel basis, which allows for disambiguation between shadows and dark objects. To obtain an accurate shadow candidate map, we further refine the shadow map after applying the ratio algorithm on the Quickbird image. The second selected approach is the GrabCut segmentation approach for examining its performance in detecting the shadow regions of urban objects using the true colour image from WorldView-3. Further refinement was applied to attain a segmented shadow map. Although the detection of shadow regions is a very difficult task when they are derived from a VHR satellite image that comprises a visible spectrum range (RGB true colour), the results demonstrate that the detection of shadow regions in the WorldView-3 image is a reasonable separation from other objects by applying the GrabCut algorithm. In addition, the derived shadow map from the Quickbird image indicates significant performance of the ratio algorithm. The differences in the characteristics of the two satellite imageries in terms of spatial and spectral resolution can play an important role in the estimation and detection of the shadow of urban objects.


Background.Job-based exposure estimation using the occupational mean (JBM) is associated with substantial error. Many studies have therefore estimated job exposures from workers' tasks, i.e. task-based modeling (TBM), typically by combining individual workers' task proportions (TP) in the job with a general task exposure matrix. Studies of postures and muscle activity have, however, shown that TBM may be ineffective; one possible reason being that TPs are not correct. The present simulation study investigated the influence of random and systematic TP error on TBM performance.Methods.We constructed two virtual two-task jobs with task exposure contrasts of 0.2 and 0.8. In both, TPs and task exposures mimicked likely occupational scenarios. We then simulated four cases of TP error: no error, random error, bias, and bias and random error. For each case, we varied the TP error size, and compared the absolute errors of TBM- and JBM-based job exposures for 10,000 virtual workers.Results.For the low-contrast job, TBM with error-free TPs was, on average, only 6% more efficient than JBM, and the probability of TBM leading to a more correct job exposure than JBM was 56%. TP errors had negligible effects on effectiveness. With error-free TPs in the high-contrast job, TPM was 75% more efficient than JBM, and led to more correct job exposures for 71% of all workers. TP errors decreased TBM performance, down to being 34% better than JBM when both random and systematic errors were "large"; 62% of all individuals being more correctly assessed by TBM.Discussion.For jobs with limited task exposure contrast, TBM was essentially equivalent to JBM, while TP errors had marginal impact. In high-contrast jobs, TBM was more effec-tive, but was also more sensitive to both random and systematic TP errors. This may feed further discussion of the cost-efficiency of TBM in occupational settings.


We measured carbon isotope signatures (δ 13 C) from 0-10 cm and 10-20 cm soil depth intervals for grassland soils near Boulder, Colorado. These grasslands included tall-, short-, and mixed-grass prairies that were grazed, ungrazed, or hayed. Soils exhibited δ 13 C signatures consistent with observations that current sites are a mix of C 3 and C 4 species, with C 3 plants more abundant in mixed-grass than in native tall- or shortgrass prairies. The δ 13 C signatures were not significantly different for grassland types; however, management treatments (grazing, no grazing, haying) significantly influenced changes in soil δ 13 C signatures from the 0-10 cm to 10-20 cm soil depth intervals. We observed a correlation ( r = 0.63) between isotopic values of surface soils and percent native species in total vegetation cover. Overall, the community type with the lowest percentage of nonindigenous species cover had the most enriched δ 13 C signature. Sites currently grazed by prairie dogs, cattle, or both herbivores had stronger C 3 signatures, indicating that grazing may have increased C 3 plant productivity in these communities at the expense of C 4 grasses. This finding differs from studies of native shortgrass steppe where grazing has the opposite effect on the relative abundance of these 2 functional groups of plants. This result, along with the correlation between C 3 isotopic values and nonnative vegetation abundance, provides evidence that management practices that maintain dominance of C 4 grasses should be encouraged.


Even in a safe programming language, such as C or Java, disobeying the rules for using an interface can cause exceptions at run time. Such rules govern how system resources are managed, the order of method calls, and the formatting of string parameters, such as SQL queries. This paper introduces Fugue, a modular static checker for languages that compile to the Common Language Runtime. Fugue allows the rules for using an interface to be recorded as declarative specifications and provides a range of annotations that allow a developer to specify interface rule with varying precision. At the simplest end of the range, a specifier can mark those methods that allocate and release resources. A specifier can also limit the order in which an object's methods may be called to the transitions of a finite state machine. At the most complex end of the range, a specifier can give a method a plug-in preand postconditon, which is arbitrary code that examines an object's current state and a static approximation of the method's actuals, decides whether the call is legal and returns the object's state after the call. We used these features to specify rules for using ado.net, a library for accessing relational databases, and found several errors in an internal Microsoft Research web site, which extensively uses this library.


When examined in its Balkan context, object reduplication tells us a number of things about language contact phenomena in general and Balkan contact phenomena in particular. It provides a striking illustration of the way a pragmatic phenomenon becomes syntactic and finally grammaticalized almost to the point of morphologization. The areal distribution of reduplication and its degree of integration into the various Balkan linguistic systems arguably reflects different diachronic stages as well as different synchronic systems. Of particular importance is the fact that the phenomenon shows varying degrees of encoding (as pragmatic or grammatical devices) on the basis of areal rather than genealogical relations. At the same time, this geographic distribution is additional evidence for the manner in which grammatical change can be triggered by pragmatic devices: object reduplication is more highly grammaticalized in the west Balkans than in the east, and the variations shown by Balkan Slavic, Balkan Romance, and Albanian point to the areality of this feature. These data also demonstrate the importance of taking dialectology and less commonly examined Balkan languages (Aromanian, Romani) into account when discussing degrees of Balkanization.


Author: Ayeni, Oyedotun Isaac, MSME Institution: Purdue University Degree Received: December 2018 Title: Sintering and Characterization of 3D Printed Bronze Metal Filament Major Professor: Jing Zhang Metal 3D printing typically requires high energy laser or electron sources. Recently, 3D printing using metal filled filaments becomes available which uses PLA filaments filled with metal powders (such as copper, bronze, brass, and stainless steel). Although there are some studies on their printability, the detailed study of their sintering and characterizations is still missing. In this study, the research is focused on 3D printing of bronze filaments. Bronze is a popular metal for many important uses. The objectives of this research project are to study the optimal processing conditions (like printer settings, nozzle, and bed temperatures) to print bronze metal filament, develop the sintering conditions (temperature and duration), and characterization of the microstructure and mechanical properties of 3D printed specimens to produce strong specimens. The thesis includes three components: (1) 3D printing and sintering at selected conditions, following a design of experiment (DOE) principle; (2) microstructure and compositional characterizations; and (3) mechanical property characterization. The results show that it is feasible to print using bronze filaments using a typical FDM machine with optimized printing settings. XRD spectrums show that there is no effect of sintering temperature on the composition of the printed parts. SEM images illustrate the porous structure of the printed and sintered parts, suggesting the need to optimize the process to improve the density. The micro hardness and three-point bending tests show that the mechanical strengths are highly related to the sintering conditions. This study provides important information of applying the bronze filament in future engineering applications.


A technique
used to determine the authenticity of artifacts that compares the oxygen
isotopic composition of speleothems to the carbonate included within the patina
of unprovenanced artifacts is of questionable value. The unprovenanced Jehoash
Inscription Tablet and James Ossuary are of potentially immense historical and
cultural importance. Nevertheless, they
both were rejected by workers based on the oxygen isotope technique which provided the major foundational
evidence of forgery in the longest running archaeological trial in Israel.
Nevertheless, both these artifacts were determined not to be forged. The initial incongruence between the oxygen
isotopes of the speleothems of the Soreq cave (Israel) purported to represent
the unique composition of Jerusalem rainfall, and the patina on the artifacts,
can be readily explained by the accretion of materials and geo-biochemical
processes expected in normal patina formation in the Jerusalem region. The
patina formation involves sporadic events in disequilibrium kinetic processes
that are opposed to the equilibrium formation of
speleothems in a sealed cave. Moreover, 23 of 56 patina samples (41%) on well-documented
ancient artifacts from Israel yielded oxygen isotope values greater or lower
than the expected speleothem values of -4 δ18O ‰ [PDB] to -6 δ18O ‰ [PDB].
Thus, the speleothem-patina correlation is invalid and the applied oxygen
isotopes technique for determining the authenticity of patinas on artifacts is
not a useful tool in the authentication of artifacts.


We propose a new training objective named order-agnostic cross entropy (OaXE) for fully non-autoregressive translation (NAT) models. OaXE improves the standard cross-entropy loss to ameliorate the effect of word reordering, which is a common source of the critical multimodality problem in NAT. Concretely, OaXE removes the penalty for word order errors, and computes the cross entropy loss based on the best possible alignment between model predictions and target tokens. Since the log loss is very sensitive to invalid references, we leverage cross entropy initialization and loss truncation to ensure the model focuses on a good part of the search space. Extensive experiments on major WMT benchmarks show that OaXE substantially improves translation performance, setting new state of the art for fully NAT models. Further analyses show that OaXE alleviates the multimodality problem by reducing token repetitions and increasing prediction confidence. Our code, data, and trained models are available at https://github.com/tencent-ailab/ICML21_OAXE.


This paper focuses on the theory of economic transformation, applied to property market emergence and comparing different transitional economies. Past experience of the Chinese and East European markets has major differences. This paper reviews the Chinese economic transition with emphasis putting on property markets especially their formation and behaviour. Property marketsi structural characteristics are examined and compared. Basic supply and demand for commercial space are also compared and evaluated. Horizontally, comparing and extending the study of Chinese citiesi property markets will enhance the knowledge about emerging property markets. Vertically, comparing emerging markets, although rarely observed, can be a very useful way to extend our understanding of market behaviour and maturity. The emergence of commercial property markets depends on the formation process of market structure, as well as the business cycle in each country. The Chinese and the Polish markets differ in these regards. Yet the transition has provided some common ground which has resulted in similarity between the two. State intervention in market formation and emergence is necessary and essential which should not be mixed up with the much criticised iagency problemi. This is essentially the problem of human individuality existing in every economic system. Transitional economies do share some common features in their property markets.


This article, part of a symposium on the future of immigration enforcement honoring Professor David Martin, considers relief from removal awarded to some long-term residents based on compelling equities in their particular cases as an essential component of rational immigration enforcement. Under the current statute, adjudication of this form of relief — known as non-LPR cancellation of removal — has ground to a halt. The article explains the unintended and perverse consequences of a statutory cap on grants of non-LPR cancellation, which when combined with the crushing backlog of cases in immigration court operates to undermine non-LPR cancellation as a form of lasting relief. Ironically, a robust system of prosecutorial discretion, which focuses enforcement resources on high priority cases, can also cut off access to non-LPR cancellation for the most deserving applicants, since an individual must be in removal proceedings to apply. A close examination of how non-LPR cancellation currently operates reveals the serious dysfunction of our nation's immigration court system. I argue that the statutory cap on non-LPR cancellation should be repealed. Alternatively, the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) should change the way it administers the statutory cap. In addition, with the advent of the Deferred Action of Parents of Americans and Lawful Residents (DAPA) initiative (which was placed under preliminary injunction as this article went to press), an opportunity arises to create an affirmative application process, so that individuals can apply for non-LPR cancellation outside of removal proceedings. In an era of congressional gridlock, where expanded prosecutorial discretion via deferred action has become the de facto alternative to a legalization program, close attention must be paid to preserving access to this more durable form of relief from removal. Any serious conversation about immigration reform must consider how at present non-LPR cancellation contributes significantly to EOIR's dysfunction, but if reformed could play a role in rationalizing immigration enforcement.


In spite of their easier ignition capability compared to metals and ceramics, non-metallic materials are often used in oxygen atmospheres because of their specific properties and, consequently, miscellaneous methods have been developped to evaluate their ignition risks which depend on their service conditions. The main test methods implemented at "L'AIR LIQUIDE - Centre de Technologie et d'Expertise" i.e., the "bomb test" (determination of autogenous ignition temperature at high oxygen pressure), the gaseous oxygen pneumatic impact test (adiabatic compression test) and the liquid oxygen mechanical impact test will be presented first. Then, we will give our interpretation of the results which show that : . for use with high-pressure oxygen gas (up to 24 MPa), it is best to use materials with spontaneous ignition temperature at 12 MPa greater than or equal to 400°C ; however, this may not be a sufficient limit if extreme ignition sources can be expected ; on the other hand, it may not be possible to respect this limit if a compromise is required between the qualities of the product for which it is used and its resistance to ignition ; the following precautions must be taken in either of these cases : the equipment must be well-designed (small quantities of organic materials, protected wherever possible from the impact of the gas stream and in integral contact with their metal support), additional tests must be made on this equipment (such as adiabatic compression tests), a precise analysis of hazards must be made and types of use for which no incidents have been reported should be considered ; . for use with liquid oxygen, the materials must at least successfully pass the impact drop test at an energy level of 100 Joules.


Migration of nanosized liquid Pb inclusions attached to dislocations in Al has been observed during in-situ transmission electron microscopy heating experiments and monitored by real-time video recordings. The movements of the inclusions can be separated into two independent components parallel to and perpendicular to the dislocations respectively. Movements parallel to the dislocation lines display properties of partially confined one-dimensional random walks where smaller inclusions can be seen to move over distances that are many times their own sizes. In contrast, the trajectories perpendicular to the dislocation lines are within narrowly confined spaces. Frame-by-frame analysis of digitized video sequences recorded at different temperatures for the same inclusion attached to a nearly horizontal dislocation illustrates the two types of movement. The step lengths parallel to the dislocation increase rapidly with increasing temperature while the step lengths in the transverse movement only display a weak temperature dependence. A detailed statistical analysis of the inclusion trajectories documents that both patterns of movement are random. The activation enthalpy of the one-dimensional movement parallel to the dislocation was found to be 2.72 ± 0.10 eV at lower temperatures and 1.44 ± 0.07 eV at higher temperatures with a transition temperature around 650–660 K.


A near automatic method has been developed for data handling and analysis in atomic spectroscopy. Plate factors are determined by a least-squares solution of 100 standard lines by using a polynomial up to the fifth degree. Catalogs of predicted lines are made from known energy level schemes, and classifications of new lines are suggested. The method has been applied to the visible spectrum of yttrium as produced by electrodeless discharge tubes. A total of 977 new lines has been measured with an accuracy of 0.005 A in the wavelength range 4600 to 6400 A, which is usually masked by oxide bands; 162 of these lines have been classified in terms of the known energy level system.


Abstract
 For the first time, the bryological flora of the Vatican City State has been studied. Research concentrated in particular in the area of the Vatican Gardens, and led to the identification of 121 taxa of bryophytes (14 liverworts and 107 mosses), among which one liverwort and nine moss species are new reports for the Lazio Region. Particularly interesting among these species is the presence of Tortula bolanderi (Lesq. & James) M. Howe, the first report for the Italian peninsula. The study is of considerable floristic and biogeographical importance, and contributes significantly to the knowledge of a territory that until now had been unexplored from the bryological point of view.


We study embezzlement when donations have to pass through intermediaries to reach recipients, by means of a sequential game tested in a laboratory experiment conducted in Tanzania. We investigate the impact on the amount embezzled of both the number of intermediaries in transfer chains and transparency about the donation. We show that donors are less generous in the presence of intermediaries. When transfer chains are shorter, aggregate embezzlement decreases when donations are transparent. At the individual level, intermediaries embezzle less, the longer the transfer chain; this is due to less embezzlement at the beginning of the chain. We fail finding significant positive effects of transparency on the honesty of individual transfers through social judgment.


One of the goals of software engineering research is to achieve generality: Are the phenomena found in a few projects reflective of others? Will a technique perform as well on projects other than the projects it is evaluated on? While it is common sense to select a sample that is representative of a population, the importance of diversity is often overlooked, yet as important. In this paper, we combine ideas from representativeness and diversity and introduce a measure called sample coverage, defined as the percentage of projects in a population that are similar to the given sample. We introduce algorithms to compute the sample coverage for a given set of projects and to select the projects that increase the coverage the most. We demonstrate our technique on research presented over the span of two years at ICSE and FSE with respect to a population of 20,000 active open source projects monitored by Ohloh.net. Knowing the coverage of a sample enhances our ability to reason about the findings of a study. Furthermore, we propose reporting guidelines for research: in addition to coverage scores, papers should discuss the target population of the research (universe) and dimensions that potentially can influence the outcomes of a research (space).


This Article sketches a frame of analysis for the doctrinal quandary of manipulative practices in securities markets, drawing on the historical origins of the concept of market manipulation and the realities of the modern electronic marketplace. The essence of market manipulation is maintained to be in artificial pricing based on market activity, as opposed to other indicia of "artificiality," and this definitional approach is compared and contrasted to the process of price discovery and liquidity provision. The Article addresses several key themes relevant for today's securities markets, such as the phenomenon of exploratory trading, market making and the role played by market makers, the doctrine of open market manipulation, spoofing / layering and disruptive trading, and the implications of the market structure crisis.


This bachelor thesis in mechanical engineering was performed during the spring2015 in collaboration with Composite Consulting Group in Laholm. TheComposites Consulting Group works mainly with design and details of differentcomposite projects, their main area is FE-calculations, 3D-modelling andmechanical tests with composite materials.The aim of this bachelor thesis was to simplify the calculation process of solidmechanics for sandwich panels by simulation with computer software. The goalwas to decrease the time for the design and calculation process of the constructionand the cost of the practical tests. Our task was to build a static three dimensionalmodel with the computer software Abaqus, where the result should correspondwith the practical pressure tests in laboratory.The project started with collection of material data from Composites ConsultingGroup and by learning the software Abaqus, simultaneously a specification wasdeveloped in corporation with the company. Later on, a static wheel pressuremodel in the software Abaqus was produced which simulated the behavior of thesandwich panel during static wheel-pressure by a pallet truck. The results from thewheel-pressure model were verified with the practical tests.The project led to a static three dimensional wheel- contact model with thesoftware Abaqus to calculate complex wheel-contact problems on sandwichpanels. The wheel-contact model corresponded to the practical test results. Thecontact model with Abaqus enabled faster and more efficient design anddevelopment process of new sandwich panels. It also provided better analysis ofthe sandwich panels' behavior during wheel- contact loading.


Abstract Fully automated online measurement of the size distribution of limestone fragments on conveyor belt is presented based on 3D range data collected every minute during 13 hours of production. The research establishes the necessary measurement technology to facilitate automatic control of particle breaking or aggregating processes to improve both energy efficiency and product quality. Techniques are presented covering; sizing of fragments, determination of non-overlapped and overlapped fragments, and mapping of sizing results to distributions comparable to sieving. Detailed variations in the product sieve size are shown with an abrupt change when the size range of the limestone fragments was changed.


Based on first principles calculations, we propose a solubility control method of magnetic impurities in dilute magnetic semiconductors (DMSs). The low solubility of Mn in (Ga,Mn)As is experimentally and theoretically known. We show that donor atoms, such as Li, introduced at the interstitial sites in GaAs enhance the solubility of Mn. As a result, Mn can be doped to more than 20% in GaAs in the thermal equilibrium condition. The same effect can be seen when we dope Mn in GaAs with other interstitial donors, such as H, Na, K, Be, Mg, Ca, Cu, and Ag.


ABSTRACT Thanks to its high nutritional potential and huge ivory canines, walrus (Odobenus rosmarus) appears to have been a key resource in the subsistence economy of Dorset groups. However present archaeological data are sparse and a more global analysis of its exploitation by the Palaeoeskimos is required. The Tayara site (KbFk-7) in Nunavik (Quebec, Canada) yielded a significant assemblage of walrus bones and many manufactured ivory objects. In addition, Tayara serves as a reference site in Eastern Arctic cultural chronology. A thorough zooarchaeological study has been conducted which includes skeletal profile, the sexing and ageing of walrus bones, and a technological study of the manufactured objects, including a use-wear analysis on lithic tools. This allows the discussion of several aspects of the modus operandi for the exploitation of walrus, from the death of the animal to the processing of the raw material into artefacts. Even if the walrus seems to have been treated with the same processes as other species, some specificities have been noted, particularly in the selection of the different skeletal elements for tool productions and the emblematic value that this animal may have played in consumption and production activities.


BACKGROUND
Platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) is a central mediator of mesangioproliferative glomerulonephritis (GN). In experimental mesangioproliferative GN, PDGF-DD serum levels, unlike PDGF-BB, increased up to 1000-fold.

METHODS
We assessed disease activity in 72 patients with GN, established a novel PDGF-D ELISA and then determined their PDGF-DD levels. In parallel, we studied renal PDGF-DD mRNA expression by RT-PCR.

RESULTS
PDGF-DD serum levels in patients with IgA nephropathy (IgAN) were significantly higher (1.67 +/- 0.45 ng/ml) and in patients with lupus nephritis significantly lower (0.66 +/- 0.86 ng/ml) compared to healthy controls (1.17 +/- 0.46 ng/ml), while patients with focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, membranous GN and ANCA-positive vasculitis did not differ from controls. The subgroup of IgAN patients with elevated PDGF-DD levels (27% of samples) did not differ in their clinical features from those with normal PDGF-DD levels. In IgAN patients with repetitive PDGF-DD determinations, most exhibited only minor fluctuations of serum levels over time. Intrarenal PDGF-DD mRNA expression did not differ between controls and patients, suggesting an extrarenal source of the elevated PDGF-DD in IgAN.

CONCLUSIONS
Serum PDGF-DD levels were specifically elevated in patients with IgAN, in particular in those with early disease, i.e. preserved renal function. Our data support the rationale for anti-PDGF-DD therapy in mesangioproliferative GN.


Increasing recognition is being given to the role that employee overall well-being plays in desired outcomes of today's organizations. To help organizational leaders searching for understanding and answers, we propose that the positive core construct of psychological capital (or simply PsyCap), consisting of the positive psychological resources of hope, efficacy, resiliency, and optimism can be extended into the well-being domain. Although PsyCap has been clearly demonstrated to be related to employee attitudes, behaviors, and performance, linking it with other life domains relevant to overall well-being has yet to be tested. After first building a comprehensive conceptual foundation for extending PsyCap into the well-being domain, we empirically found that a cross section of employees' (N = 523) "Relationship PsyCap" and "Health PsyCap" were related to both their respective satisfaction appraisals and desired objective outcomes. In addition, these two extended life satisfactions, along with the already well-established work satisfaction, combined to relate to the appraisal of the study participants' overall well-being. This well-being was in turn found to be related to their overall level of PsyCap. These findings have implications for helping leaders meet the challenges they face in both understanding and helping develop the overall well-being of their employees.


This study ascertains landslide impact under climate change. The disaster impact under climate change was estimated by calculating the variation in safety factor (FS value). The result shows less landslide impact for the late 21st century (2075 2099) than in the late 20th century (1979 2003). The relationship between rainfall characteristics and landslide susceptibility was then clarified. A total of 40 out of 82 typhoon events from the late 20th century and 40 out of 88 events from the late 21st century were selected for estimating landslide impact. The landslide ratio in each event is calculated to find the variation in landslide occurrence between the late 20th and the late 21st century. The result proved that landslide occurrence is highly dependent on the rainfall characteristics. Landslides occurred earlier during each rainfall event for the late 21st century, which is consistent with rainfall characteristics, e.g., high intensity and short duration, for the late 21st century.


Throughout the nineteenth century, German philosophy was haunted by the spectre of the French Revolution. Kant, Hegel, and their followers spent their lives wrestling with its heritage, trying to imagine a specifically German path to modernity: a 'revolution without revolution'. Trapped in a politically frozen society, German intellectuals were driven to brood over the nature of the revolutionary experience. In this ambitious and original study, Stathis Kouvelakis paints a rich panorama of the key intellectual and political figures in the effervescence of German thought before the 1848 revolutions. He shows how the attempt to chart a moderate and reformist path entered into deep crisis, generating two antagonistic perspectives. In one camp, represented by Moses Hess and the early Friedrich Engels, were those socialists who sought to discover a principle of reconciliation and harmony in social relations, by bypassing the question of revolutionary politics. In sharp contrast, the poet Heinrich Heine and the young journalist Karl Marx developed a new perspective articulating revolutionary rupture and struggle for democracy, thereby redefining the very notion of politics.


The management of primary lung cancer relies on sophisticated imaging methods to assist in the diagnosis, staging, and evaluation of tumor regression during treatment. The information provided is generally anatomical in nature, except for that provided by positron emission tomography with [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose, a modality that yields physiological data that have been shown to be useful in identifying neoplasia, based on an elevated glucose metabolic rate. Because the metabolism of malignant tissue depends intimately on neovascularization to provide oxygen and glucose in sufficient quantities to allow tumor growth, the characterization of tumor vascular physiology could be an important tool for assessing and predicting the likely effectiveness of treatment. Our goal was to show the feasibility and practical value of parameters of tumor vascular physiology obtained using dynamic T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), to correlate them with glucose metabolism and to demonstrate changes in these parameters during and after treatment in patients with lung cancer. Parameters of vascular physiology [permeability-surface area (PS) product and extracellular contrast agent distribution volume] and glucose metabolism were assessed in 14 patients with lung cancer. Glucose metabolism was measured by using [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography. Vascular physiology was assessed by dynamic T1-weighted, contrast-enhanced MRI. The mean PS product in tumor was 0.0015 +/- 0.0002 s(-1) (n = 13) before, 0.0023 +/- 0.0003 s(-1) (n = 3, P = 0.053) midway through, and 0.00075 +/- 0.0002 s(-1) (n = 5, P < 0.03) 2 weeks after treatment. Values for the extracellular contrast distribution space were 0.321 +/- 0.03 before, 0.289 +/- 0.02 midway through, and 0.195 +/- 0.02 (P < 0.01) 2 weeks after therapy. The glucose metabolic rate was significantly correlated with the PS product (P < 0.01) but not with the extracellular contrast distribution space. Our results demonstrate that tumor PS product correlates with glucose metabolism, that chemo- and radiotherapy induce observable and quantifiable changes in these parameters, and that such changes can be measured by in vivo dynamic MRI. Quantitative dynamic T1-weighted MRI of tumor vascular physiology may have a useful role in the clinical management of lung cancer.


A three period overlapping generations model is developed to investigate the impact of shorter life expectancy due to disease, on human capital investment decisions and income growth. This research is particularly relevant to Sub-Saharan Africa given the dramatic reduction in life expectancy due to HIV/AIDS and the potential lasting effects on growth. Our results indicate that as life expectancy shortens so does schooling inducing a lower growth rate of income. These relationships are even more pronounced for the African continent than for the rest of the world.


Information Technology (IT) has been widely acknowledged as an important component in the fight to reduce global poverty; it has also been identified as having the potential to empower women around the world economically, socially and politically. Education, and IT education (ITE) in particular, are prerequisites for achieving higher rates of IT usage. In this paper, the nexus between gender, IT and ITE in the developing world is considered, including analysis of both the potential benefits of ITE, and barriers to women's participation in ITE in these countries. These barriers include literacy, education, language, mobility, location, time, money, skills, and sociocultural practices. Relevant policy initiatives are examined and assessed, including increasing access to IT (both hardware and software), establishment of telecentres, targeted ITE programmes, strategic modification of content in ITE programmes, measures to increase demand for ITE, scholarships for IT and ITE programmes, and increasing female role models.


Is inequality largely the result of the Industrial Revolution? Or, were pre-industrial incomes as unequal as they are today? This article infers inequality across individuals within each of the 28 pre-industrial societies, for which data were available, using what are known as social tables. It applies two new concepts: the inequality possibility frontier and the inequality extraction ratio. They compare the observed income inequality to the maximum feasible inequality that, at a given level of income, might have been extracted by those in power. The results give new insights into the connection between inequality and economic development in the very long run.


The synthesis of homopolymer and diblock copolymers on surfaces was demonstrated using electrodeposition of a methacrylate-functionalized carbazole dendron and subsequent reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) " grafting-through " polymerization. First, the anodically electroactive carbazole dendron with methacrylate moiety (G1CzMA) was electrodeposited over a conducting surface (i.e. gold or indium tin oxide (ITO)) using cyclic voltammetry (CV). The electrodeposition process formed a crosslinked layer of carbazole units bearing exposed methacrylate moieties. This film was then used as the surface for RAFT polymerization process of methyl methacrylate (MMA), styrene (S), and tert-butyl acrylate (TBA) in the presence of a free RAFT agent and a free radical initiator, resulting in grafted polymer chains. The molecular weights and the polydispersity indices (PDI) of the sacrificial polymers were determined by gel permeation chromatography (GPC). The stages of surface modification were investigated using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), ellipsometry, and atomic force microscopy (AFM) to confirm the surface composition, thickness, and film morphology, respectively. UV-Vis spectroscopy also confirmed the formation of an electro-optically active crosslinked carbazole film with a π-π * absorption band from 450–650 nm. Static water contact angle measurements confirmed the changes in surface energy of the ultrathin films with each modification step. The controlled polymer growth from the conducting polymer-modified surface suggests the viability of combining electrodeposition and grafting-through approach to form functional polymer ultrathin films.


This paper addresses the question as to whether previously reported findings on a positive relation between character strengths, satisfaction with life, and orientations to happiness (OTH) can be replicated for peer ratings of character strengths. A sample of 334 Swiss adults completed questionnaires and collected informant ratings by 634 peers. Self- and peer ratings converged well and suggest that, primarily: the strengths of hope, zest, and curiosity – but also gratitude and love – play key roles in the interplay of strengths and satisfaction with life. Peer ratings of strengths also related positively with the endorsement of a pleasurable, engaged, and meaningful life. Further analyses show that the OTH predict satisfaction with life beyond self- and peer-rated character strengths. There, the engaged life (i.e. endorsement of flow) was most relevant. This study supports earlier findings that argue for an important role of character strengths when describing the well-being of a person.


Background and Objective: Obstructive sleep apnea–hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) is one of the most recognized sleep apneas which are induced by complete or partial blocking of the upper airway. Multiple consequences of OSAHS have been identified clinically, most notably cardiovascular disease. We aim to explore the effect of OSAHS on the function of cardiac endothelia in coronary slow flow (CSF) patients.
Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 90 patients who were diagnosed with having CSF but displayed normal coronary angiography (CAG). Based on nocturnal polysomnography (PSG) results, patients were divided into 2 groups – an OSAHS (OSAHS/CSF) group (n=39) and a non-OSAHS (CSF) group (n=51). The brachial artery endothelium-dependent flow mediated dilation (FMD) as well as the plasma levels of nitric oxide (NO), endothelin-1 (ET-1),high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) were determined and compared between the two groups.
Results: Our results indicated that compared to the control group, OSAHS patients had lower levels of FMD and NO (p<0.05), but significantly increased hs-CRP, TNF-α and ET-1 levels in the plasma (p<0.05). Furthermore, amongst OSAHS patients, the apnea hypopnea index (AHI) and time of oxygen saturation (SaO2 ) <90% score were negatively correlated with FMD, while the lowest pulse oxygen saturation (LSpO2 ) score was positively correlated with FMD.
Conclusion: OSAHS can significantly impair vascular endothelial function in CSF patients.


Mumbai, erstwhile Bombay, is located on the north-west seacoast of India and is
the nerve centre of trade, commerce and industry. Rapid urbanization and
industrialization coupled with increasing population pressure has resulted in
social, economical, technological and environmental problems in Mumbai. The
objective of the present study was to conduct synoptic studies on the
hydrographic conditions and fishery of the coast to gain a holistic picture of the
impact and extent of pollution with reference to fisheries. Physico-chemical (pH,
sea surface temperature, dissolved oxygen, salinity, BOD, nutrients) and
biological analysis (Chlorophyll-a, zooplankton group diversity, fish biomass,
crustacean diversity and microbiological parameters like total plate count, total
coliforms, faecal coliforms and faecal streptococci) of water at nine sampling sites
along the creek, nearshore and open shore areas off Mumbai coast was
undertaken for a period of 28 months. Experimental trawling was undertaken on
board M.F.V. "Narmada" at two depth strata (10-20 m & 20-30 m). Subsequently
the results were subjected to statistical analysis to find any possible relationships
between the parameters employed, and to identify any analogous behaviour
between the sampling sites. Temporal, spatial and tidal variations were observed
for various parameters. The deterioration in water quality was most severe in the
creeks and its intensity decreased gradually from the nearshore to the openshore
environment. The water quality observed along the coastal marine environment
off Mumbai can distinctly be classified into highly polluted creeks, semi-polluted
nearshore and relatively cleaner open shore waters. The study provides data
support for comprehensive area-specific marine management and planning that is
essential for maintaining the long-term ecological integrity. productivity and
economic benefit of Mumbai coastal region. The solution for many critical issues
related to fishery and environment lies in the development of a balanced coastal
zone management plan (ClMP) that requires a closer and continuous monitoring
to develop long-term environmental use models for formulating suitable corrective
measures through integrated effort.


In the presence of massive bosonic degrees of freedom, rotational superradiance can trigger an instability that spins down black holes. This leads to peculiar gravitational-wave signatures and distribution in the spin-mass plane, which in turn can impose stringent constraints on ultralight fields. Here, we demonstrate that there is an analogous spindown effect for conducting stars. We show that rotating stars amplify low-frequency electromagnetic waves, and that this effect is largest when the time scale for conduction within the star is of the order of a light crossing time. This has interesting consequences for dark photons, as massive dark photons would cause stars to spin down due to superradiant instabilities. The time scale of the spindown depends on the mass of the dark photon, and on the rotation rate, compactness, and conductivity of the star. Existing measurements of the spindown rate of pulsars place direct constraints on models of dark sectors. Our analysis suggests that dark photons of mass ${m}_{V}\ensuremath{\sim}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}12}\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{eV}$ are excluded by pulsar-timing observations. These constraints also exclude superradiant instabilities triggered by dark photons as an explanation for the spin limit of observed pulsars.


This paper proposes a voltage support scheme for traction networks, which compensates for the voltage drop along the catenary line to which locomotives are connected. The proposed method is based on the injection of capacitive reactive power through the current controlled active line-side converter of locomotives. Comparing the catenary voltage with its reference value, the error is fed to a gain-scheduled PI-controller. The controller generates the q-axis reference value of the converter current, which is responsible for reactive power injection. The gain scheduling is carried out through identifying the parameters of the catenary line. The catenary parameters identification is performed by harmonic current injection and analyzing its impact on the catenary voltage. The performance of the proposed control strategy is evaluated in MATLAB/PLECS environment for a traction network consisting of one locomotive and two substations and moreover, for a two-locomotive three-substation traction network.