Abstract. Infrared images of an uncooled microbolometer camera can show significant blurring effects while recording a moving object. The electrical signal in the pixel of a microbolometer detector decays exponentially; hence, the moving object is mapped to more pixels resulting in a blurred image. Not only the contrast is corrupted by the motion, but also the temperature of the object seems to be significantly lower. In this paper, it is shown how such images can be deblurred and the true temperature with a good approximation restored. Since the detection mechanism of a microbolometer camera is different from complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) or charge-coupled device (CCD) cameras, also the point-spread function (PSF) needed for the deblurring restoration is different. It is shown how the exponential coefficient of the PSF can be calculated if the motion speed and the camera resolution are known, or otherwise how it can be estimated from the image itself. Experimental examples are presented for motion deblurring used to restore images with linear or rotational motion.


We report spectroscopic observations of the earthshine reflected from the Moon. By applying our well-developed photometry methodology to spectroscopy, we are able to precisely determine the Earth's reflectance and its variation as a function of wavelength through a single night as the Earth rotates. These data imply that planned regular monitoring of earthshine spectra will yield valuable new inputs for climate models, which would be complementary to those from the more standard broadband measurements of satellite platforms. For our single night of reported observations, we find that Earth's albedo decreases sharply with wavelength from 500 to 600 nm, while being almost flat from 600 to 900 nm. The mean spectroscopic albedo over the visible is consistent with simultaneous broadband photometric measurements. Unlike previous reports, we find no evidence for either an appreciable "red" or "vegetation" edge in the Earth's spectral albedo, or for changes in this spectral region (700-740 nm) over the 40° of Earth's rotation covered by our observations. Whether or not the absence of a vegetation signature in disk-integrated observations of the Earth is a common feature awaits the analysis of more earthshine data and simultaneous satellite cloud maps at several seasons. If our result is confirmed, it would limit efforts to use the red edge as a probe for Earth-like extrasolar planets. Water vapor and molecular oxygen signals in the visible earthshine, and carbon dioxide and methane in the near-infrared, are more likely to be powerful probes.


A large number of findings in survey research suggest that responses to sensitive questions are situational and can vary in relation to context. The methodological literature demonstrates that social desirability biases are less prevalent in self-administered surveys, particularly in Web surveys, when there is no interviewer and less risk of presenting oneself in an unfavorable light. Since there is a growing number of users of mobile Web browsers, we focused our study on the effects of different devices (PC or cell phone) in Web surveys on the respondents' willingness to report sensitive information. To reduce selection bias, we carried out a two-wave cross-over experiment using a volunteer online access-panel in Russia. Participants were asked to complete the questionnaire in both survey modes: PC and mobile Web survey. We hypothesized that features of mobile Web usage may affect response accuracy and lead to more socially desirable responses compared to the PC Web survey mode. We found significant differences in the reporting of alcohol consumption by mode, consistent with our hypothesis. But other sensitive questions did not show similar effects. We also found that the presence of familiar bystanders had an impact on the responses, while the presence of strangers did not have any significant effect in either survey mode. Contrary to expectations, we did not find evidence of a positive impact of completing the questionnaire at home and trust in data confidentiality on the level of reporting. These results could help survey practitioners to design and improve data quality in Web surveys completed on different devices.


Gurindji Kriol is a contact variety spoken in northern Australia which has been identified as a mixed language. Yet its status as an autonomous language system must be questioned for three reasons — (i) it continues to be spoken alongside its source languages, Gurindji and Kriol, (ii) it has a close diachronic and synchronic relationship to code-switching between Gurindji and Kriol, and (iii) its structure bears a strong resemblance to patterns found in this code-switching. Nonetheless in this paper I present criteria which support the claim of 'language-hood' for Gurindji Kriol. I demonstrate that Gurindji Kriol (i) is a stable language variety (it has child language learners and a high degree of inter-speaker consistency), (ii) has developed independent forms and structural subsystems which have not been adopted back into the source languages, and (iii) contains structural features from both languages which is rare in other language contact varieties including Kriol/Gurindji code-switching. I also present a number of structural indicators which can be used to distinguish Gurindji Kriol mixed language clauses from code-switched clauses.


Recent evidence in the road safety research literature indicates that skills in hazard perception, visual search and attention may be developing executive functions in young novice drivers before the age of 25 years, contributing to their unintentional risk taking behaviour and subsequent high crash rates. The present research aimed to investigate these skills, whether they are predictive of each other, and whether hazard perception can be improved through road commentary training. Twenty-two young novice drivers and eight experienced drivers were recruited as participants in this study. The experienced drivers performed significantly better than the novice drivers on the hazard detection task that was specifically designed for the study. Their visual search skills were also examined and compared using the Visual Search and Attention Test, with the experienced drivers performing significantly better than the novice drivers. Interestingly, a significant positive correlation was found between the scores of the participants on the hazard detection task and the Visual Search and Attention Test which may indicate that the hazard detection skills can be predicted. The novice driver group who received 12 trials of video based road commentary training significantly improved in their hazard detection skills, suggesting that video based road commentary could be an effective road safety intervention for young novice drivers and if developed into a more comprehensive programme, holds promise for future implementation into the New Zealand Graduated Driver Licensing System. The results also hold promise for future investigation into the use of the Visual Search and Attention Test as a predictor of hazard perception skills in novice drivers.


Cold stage scanning electron microscopy (cryoSEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and light microscopy (LM) were used to examine the effect of NaCl (2.5%), MgC12 , CaC12 , KCl, LiCl (calculated ionic strength, IS = 0.43) and 1.5% NaCl (IS = 0.26) on the microstructure of comminuted raw meat batters (fat added) and comminuted meat mixes (no fat added). Cryo-SEM revealed that comminuting the lean meat with different chloride salts resulted in the formation of different types of gel structures. Differences were mainly in gel strand thickness, the degree of interlinking between strands and the size of pores within the gels. KCl and 1.5% NaCl formed multi-component, mixed gels in the lean meat system, but formed more uniform gels when fat was added. The other chloride salts produced similar types of gels in both the lean meat mixes and meat batters. Monovalent salts resulted in a good distribution of fat globules in coherent matrices. The divalent salts were shown to promote protein aggregation in raw batters. The CaC1 2 batter showed some fat instability but the fat channels were not well interconnected. MgC12 caused widespread fat channelling and matrix disruption which was also visible by LM. The results . indicate that some gel formation occurs in meat batters prior to cooking and suggest that the type of gel formed may depend on the relative amounts and type of protein in the aqueous phase. It appears that MgC12 destabilizes batters by causing extensive pre-cooking protein aggregation while CaC12 destabilizes batters by increasing protein-protein interaction during cooking. Initial paper received May 30, 1990 Manuscript received October 17, 1990 Direct inquiries to S. Barbut Telephone number: 519 824 4120 x3669


Molecular techniques and phenotypic characterisation have been used to differentiate aflatoxigenic and atoxigenic Aspergillus flavus strains. However, there is a lack of a consistent and reliable tool for discrimination between these strains of A. flavus. Here we report, an optimised real-time qPCR-based tool for reliable differentiation between aflatoxigenic and atoxigenic strains of A. flavus. Accordingly, expression profiles and deletion patterns of genes responsible for aflatoxin production in five representative aflatoxigenic and atoxigenic A. flavus strains (KSM012, KSM014, HB021, HB026 and HB027) were examined using the optimised real-time qPCR tool. We observed that under induced conditions, aflP, aflS, aflR and aflO transcripts were the most upregulated genes across the tested isolates while aflS and aflO were always expressed in both induced and uninduced isolates. However, aflR and aflP did not give clear distinctions between non-toxin and toxin producing isolates. The deletion patterns were prominent for aflD and aflR whereas alfO, aflS and aflP had no deletions among the isolates. Significant variation in transcript abundance for aflD, aflR and aflS were observed for aflatoxigenic isolate KSM014 under induced and uninduced states. False detection of aflD gene transcript in atoxigenic strain KSM012 was evident in both induced and uninduced conditions. With the exception of KSM012, aflP gene did not exhibit significant variation in expression in the isolates between induced and uninduced conditions. One-way ANOVA and Post-test analysis for linear trends revealed that aflatoxin biosynthetic cluster genes show significant (P < 0.05) differences between atoxigenic and aflatoxigenic isolates. Our optimized qPCR-based tool reliably discriminated between aflatoxigenic and atoxigenic A. flavus isolates and could complement existing detection methods.


Deep neural network (DNN) architecture based models have high expressive power and learning capacity. However, they are essentially a black box method since it is not easy to mathematically formulate the functions that are learned within its many layers of representation. Realizing this, many researchers have started to design methods to exploit the drawbacks of deep learning based algorithms questioning their robustness and exposing their singularities. In this paper, we attempt to unravel three aspects related to the robustness of DNNs for face recognition: (i) assessing the impact of deep architectures for face recognition in terms of vulnerabilities to attacks inspired by commonly observed distortions in the real world that are well handled by shallow learning methods along with learning based adversaries; (ii) detecting the singularities by characterizing abnormal filter response behavior in the hidden layers of deep networks; and (iii) making corrections to the processing pipeline to alleviate the problem. Our experimental evaluation using multiple open-source DNN-based face recognition networks, including OpenFace and VGG-Face, and two publicly available databases (MEDS and PaSC) demonstrates that the performance of deep learning based face recognition algorithms can suffer greatly in the presence of such distortions. The proposed method is also compared with existing detection algorithms and the results show that it is able to detect the attacks with very high accuracy by suitably designing a classifier using the response of the hidden layers in the network. Finally, we present several effective countermeasures to mitigate the impact of adversarial attacks and improve the overall robustness of DNN-based face recognition.


Social media, as one key platform for citizen journalism, are becoming a useful news-gathering tool for journalists. Based on data from a nationwide probability sample of newspaper editors in the United States, this study investigates the extent to which newspaper editors consider social media an influential news source. Results show that variations in editors' ratings of social media as a news source were related to multiple levels of influence, including professional journalistic experience, organization size, community structural pluralism, and citizen journalism credibility. Implications are discussed for the roles of social media in news production.


Wind turbine blades experience tremendous stresses while in operation. Failure of a blade can damage other components or other wind turbines. This research focuses on developing an electromagnetic energy harvester for powering structural health monitoring (SHM) equipment inside a turbine blade. The harvester consists of a magnet inside a tube with coils outside the tube. The changing orientation of the blade causes the magnet to slide along the tube, inducing a voltage in the coils which in turn powers the SHM system. This thesis begins with a brief history of electromagnetic energy harvesting and energy harvesters in rotating environments. Next a model of the harvester is developed encompassing the motion of the magnet, the current in the electrical circuit, and the coupling between the mechanical and electrical domains. The nonlinear coupling factor is derived from Faraday's law of induction and from modeling the magnet as a magnetic dipole moment. Three experiments are performed to validate the model: a free fall test to verify the coupling factor expression, a rotating test to study the model with a load resistor circuit, and a capacitor charging test to examine the model with an energy storage circuit. The validated model is then examined under varying tube lengths and positions, varying coil sizes and positions, and variations in other parameters. Finally a sample harvester is presented that can power an SHM system inside a large scale wind turbine blade spinning up to 20 RPM and can produce up to 14.1 mW at 19 RPM.


Suppose that governments care about their tax revenue and local firms have some say in environmental regulations. Then, the level of employment and environmental compliance may be negotiated. We find that firms located in different countries can improve their threat-point payoffs by mutual migration. This in turn affects the negotiated output/employment and environmental regulations, which causes profits to increase if the firm's threat-point payoff is higher than that of the local government. The model predicts that pollution-intensive firms or firms with highly inelastic demands are more likely to move out. Increases in the government's valuation of the environment, or in the degree of globalization also cause mutual migration of dirty firms. The effect of a government caring about consumer surplus leads to a lower pollution tax, reducing firms' incentives to move out.


Attitudes towards formalization and proof have gone through large swings during the last 150 years. We sketch the development from Frege's first formalization, to the debates over intuitionism and other schools, through Hilbert's program and the decisive blow of the Gödel Incompleteness Theorem. A critical role is played by the Skolem–Lowenheim Theorem, which showed that no first-order axiom system can characterize a unique infinite model. Skolem himself regarded this as a body blow to the belief that mathematics can be reliably founded only on formal axiomatic systems. In a remarkably prescient paper, he even sketches the possibility of interesting new models for set theory itself, something later realized by the method of forcing. This is in contrast to Hilbert's belief that mathematics could resolve all its questions. We discuss the role of new axioms for set theory, questions in set theory itself, and their relevance for number theory. We then look in detail at what the methods of the predicate calculus, i.e. mathematical reasoning, really entail. The conclusion is that there is no reasonable basis for Hilbert's assumption. The vast majority of questions even in elementary number theory, of reasonable complexity, are beyond the reach of any such reasoning. Of course this cannot be proved and we present only plausibility arguments. The great success of mathematics comes from considering 'natural problems', those which are related to previous work and offer a good chance of being solved. The great glories of human reasoning, beginning with the Greek discovery of geometry, are in no way diminished by this pessimistic view. We end by wishing good health to present-day mathematics and the mathematics of many centuries to come.


Traveller communities form a distinctive and ever-growing group of home-educators in England. This thesis examines the reasons why Traveller families take up Elective Home Education (EHE). Although there is a substantial research literature about the difficulties Travellers experience in school, there is limited research on Traveller families' experiences of EHE.

The aim of my research was to explore the reasons why Traveller children are home-educated and to illuminate issues of educational inequality that lie therein. I wish to inform current understandings of the education system, as experienced by a marginalised community and to work towards making this system more socially just. This study considers equality issues in education for Traveller children within two educational spaces, mainstream school and EHE, by documenting the rarely-heard accounts of a sample of Traveller families. I interviewed 11 different Traveller families and the main professionals responsible for EHE in one particular Local Authority in England.

Critical Race Theory (CRT) provided an appropriate theoretical framework for this study. CRT focuses on concepts of racism and inequality as well as providing methodological approaches such as storytelling and counter-stories to give voice to Traveller families. I found that although many Traveller families were satisfied with home-education as preferable to mainstream school, they were all compelled to take it up, rather than adopting it as a positive and desirable choice.

Racism, bullying and discrimination in school were commonly cited reasons for the uptake of EHE. EHE was chosen by my Traveller families as a safe educational space. My study reveals how current education systems do not facilitate the opportunities which many Traveller families desire for their children's success. Wide-spread racism still denies many Traveller children equitable educational opportunities. This study's findings will, it is hoped, inform new understandings of racism and education to address these inequalities.


Nigeria is a resource-rich country and has become extraordinarily dependent on the oil sector, which accounts for over 90 per cent of exports and government revenues, and contributes up to one third of the GDP (Gross Domestic Product). Evidences have shown that Nigeria's resource wealth has not translated into meaningful development. For example, while other countries realised positive outcomes from mineral-based developments, Nigeria's poor state of development is assumed to be a product of the pathologies that are collectively known as the 'resource curse'. This paper examines various literatures about the resource curse thesis by focusing on the experience of Nigeria, Africa's largest oil and gas producer and exporting country. The result shows that corruption, government complacency, the Dutch disease, lack of public accountability, neglect of education and excessive external debt/borrowing overhang are all hampering the development goals of the country. Whilst the measurements that support this conclusion were made at the national level, this paper opined and called for the Nigerian resource curse measurements to be looked at from the local scale (communities), where the resource economy hits the ground.


Abstract The paper presents empirical data concerning the utilisation of mixed method research in Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) research projects (theses). The Southern Cross University, Australia, DBA program was established in 1996 as a research degree and has successfully graduated over 250 graduates from a diverse range of countries across the globe. It is the largest DBA program in the Australasia. The research will present prevalence rates of mixed methods research utilised by doctoral candidates, data will be presented on the most frequently used data collection methods and research approaches within the field of business and management, with empirical data from a number of countries including Australia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia. Emergent issues with regard to the use of mixed methods research in business and management research and the teaching of mixed methods are discussed.


Widespread mafic volcanism, elevated crustal temperatures, and plateau‐type topography in Central Anatolia, Turkey, could collectively be the result of lithospheric delamination, mantle upwelling, and tectonic escape. We use results from 40Ar/39Ar geochronology, basalt geochemistry, and a passive‐source broadband seismic experiment obtained in a collaborative international effort (Continental Dynamics‐Central Anatolia Tectonics) to investigate the upper mantle structure and evolution of melting conditions over an ∼2400 km2 area south and west of Hasan volcano. New 40Ar/39Ar dates for the basalts mostly cluster between 0.2 and 0.6 Ma, but some scoria cones are as old as 2.5 Ma. Basalts are dominantly Mg‐rich (Mg# = 62–71), moderately alkaline (normative Ne < 5 wt %), and, based on major and trace element signatures, derived from a peridotitic source. Covariations between radiogenic isotope and trace element signatures reveal contributions from a subduction‐related component and intraplate‐like mantle asthenosphere, as well as from ambient upper mantle. Central Anatolian basalts reflect maximum mantle potential temperatures of <1350°C and an average pressure of melt equilibration of 1.4 GPa, which are cooler and shallower than for basalts from Eastern and Western Anatolia. When considered in light of regionally slow upper mantle shear wave velocities, the mantle lithosphere may be thin and infiltrated by melts, or largely absent. An absence of secular changes in melting conditions suggests little to no lithospheric thinning over the past ∼1 Ma, despite evidence for lithospheric extension. Hasan basalts appear to be generated by decompression melting in response to the rollback of the Cyprean slab.


During the 1840s, twelve American states adopted new constitutions. Eleven of the twelve states adopted new procedures for issuing government debt and for chartering corporations through general incorporation acts. These institutional innovations were American inventions, and today hard budget constraints and transparent corporate forms with secure stockholder rights are important institutional determinants of successful economies. This paper investigates how and why these two important institutional reforms occurred at precisely the same time. The link is the public finance implications of chartering corporations and investing in large infrastructure projects in finance and transportation. States borrowed almost $200 million between 1820 and 1840 to invest in canals, railroads, and banks. Electoral pressure to provide these important government investments was counter-balanced by the difficulty of providing geographically specific projects and paying for them with geographically widespread taxation. States responded with several innovative schemes for financing canals and banks in the 1820s and 1830s. Some schemes involved taxless finance:' construction of canals and banks used borrowed funds and privileges for private corporations so that current taxes did not rise, but required a contingent commitment by taxpayers to service bonds in case of the project's failure. Other schemes involved benefit taxation:' coordinating the tax costs of projects with the geographic benefits of canal and bank construction through the property tax. When a fiscal crisis hit states in the early 1840s, they responded by changing their constitutions, and thereby economic institutions, to eliminate the possibility of taxless finance in the future.


Whether drawing commences in strategic suspension of cognition or from a posture that seeks deeper recognition of the considered object, this research pair share a method of practice that employs the drawn line to trace paths commencing outward from acknowledged deficiencies of information. Both view drawing as tool for exploration; a kind of raw material of thought-made-visible in marks that nibble away at preconception and other barriers to knowledge. The resultant records of such active thinking reveal discoveries to both the artists and a wider audience. A practice-based drawing project was devised in order to examine these ideas of drawing-as-process. The results of this project form the basis of a conversational presentation. Openness to the evolution within a drawing is a vital criteria for both researchers. Such openness invites detours and digressions that circumvent predetermined outcome. In the gaps between hesitant marks on blank paper - or obfuscating smudges - we chance upon what we do not yet know, what requires us as researchers to step back from preconception and focus anew upon the shifting object/subject. Thus we come to identify new and unexpected possibilities for investigation. The stages of drawing are evident upon its surface, where layers of error and hesitation collect. The materials themselves also reveal oscillation between the known and the unknown – as when pen bleeds into paper in the pause to look more closely. Such stratified disclosure is less common within written text. Hence drawing transcribes thought and insight of a distinctly different quality than those which occur when writing. The confidence and uncertainty that coexist in drawing allow us to reconsider notions of clarity and assumptions of outcome, particularly when applied to research and communication. Therefore, we situate and engage drawing as its own uniquely generative instrument of enquiry.


This paper deals with the esterification kinetics of oleic acid (OA) using ethanol (EtOH) over acrylic-supported lipase from Aspergillus niger (Novozym 435) as catalyst. The reaction was carried out in a stirred 500 mL Pyrex glass reactor at 45oC under conditions with negligible external and internal transport resistances. Reaction runs in a microaqueous medium employed OA: EtOH ratio, b, between 0.01 to 2.0 without initial addition of water. The rate dependency on reactant concentration has a maximum at b=0.9, just below the stoichiometric ratio, and was therefore described by a Michaelis- Menten kinetic expression implicating irreversible surface reaction between adsorbed OA and EtOH as the rate-controlling step. Ethanol inhibition was significant in this monophasic medium. Although there is no literature agreement on the optimum water content in the biphasic system, the existence of multiple peaks in the sinousoidallydecaying rate-water content profile over a wider range (0 to 26.5wt%) than previously investigated is symptomatic of an auto-regulatory behaviour between the organic and aqueous phases. This was ascribed to the dynamic migration of ethanol between the well-mixed water and organic pools leading to periodic states in enzyme revivification. The oscillatory kinetics was adequately fitted to under-damped sinusoidal expression with model parameters related to the resonant frequency of the open-close water assisted activation of the lipase site.


Influence of air exchange rate and air exchange effectiveness on thermal comfort has not been investigated in the world at all and are, therefore, not well understood. The main objective of this research is to investigate effects of ventilation parameters on thermal comfort and assessing these influences through the variable windows-door opening arrangements. To determine the windows-door opening performance in terms of ventilation air flow rate 28 opening configurations have been considered. The combination of windows-door opening arrangements was carried out in office room.
Thermal comfort field experiments and ventilation study were conducted in both naturally ventilated and air conditioned office. Age of air, Air exchange rate (ACH), Air exchange effectiveness (AEE), Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) and predicted Percentage of Dissatisfied (PPD) for each condition were calculated. Apart from common thermal comfort factors such as air dry bulb temperature, relative humidity,mean radiant temperature, air velocity, metabolic rate and thermal resistance, two new factors were considered, i.e., ACH and AEE.
The subjective survey involved questions on the thermal environmental perception and indoor air quality for office occupants. The results yielded from subjective and objective approach were used to formulate a method for simulation of office buildings to include the effects of opening arrangements and ventilation parameters on thermal comfort.
These results showed that for naturally ventilated and air conditioned office room twelve linear regression equations of PMV versus ACH and AEE can be derived. Through those yielded equations it has been determined that the Coefficient of Correlation (R2) obtained for PMV average, maximum and minimum versus ACH are 96.5, 93.9, 97.3% and 94.3, 89.9, 86.6%, respectively. The Coefficient of Correlation (R2) obtained for PMV average, maximum and minimum versus AEE are 74.9, 70.7, 76.9% and 88.7, 76.5, 86.7%, respectively for naturally and mechanically ventilated office room. P values (significance levels) for ANOVA test and t-test are less than 0.05, which means that the variation explained by these equations not due to chance and there are significant correlation between PMV and ACH and high correlation between PMV and AEE in naturally and mechanically ventilated office room.
It has been observed that with increment in ACH in order to meet ASHRAE Standard 62 requirements, PMV values are closed to ISO 7730 comfort range, and by approaching the AEE to value of one, PMV values are again closed to ISO 7730 comfort range in naturally and mechanically ventilated office room.
This study has shown that there are relationship between ACH, AEE and thermal comfort. Thermal comfort is to a great extent influenced by ACH and AEE which go beyond the six factors which have been taken into account in PMV modeling. It is believed that they have contributed in some positive ways to the higher level of thermal comfort.


In this final part, we report the consubstantiate model and investigate the Solutional behaviour, stability analysis and asymptotic stability. For details, reader is kindly referred to part one. Philosophy merges with ontology, ontology merges with univocity of being, analogy has always a theological vision, not a philosophical vision, and one becomes adapted to the forms of singular consciousness, self and world. The univocity of being does not mean that there is one and the same being; on the contrary, beings are multiple and different they are always produced by disjunctive synthesis; and they themselves are disintegrated and disjoint and divergent; membra disjuncta.like gravity. Like electromagnetism; the constancy of gravity does not mean there does not exist total gravity, the universal theory depends upon certain parameters and it is disjoint; conservations of energy and momentum is one; but they hold good for each and every disjoint system; so there can be classification of systems based on various parametric representationalitiesof the theory itself. This is very important. Like one consciousness, it is necessary to understand that the individual consciousness exists, so does the collective consciousness and so doth the evolution too. These are the aspects which are to be borne in my mind in unmistakable terms .The univocity of being signifies that being is a voice that is said and it is said in one and the same "consciousness". Everything about which consciousness is spoken about. Being is the same for everything for which it is said like gravity, it occurs therefore as a unique event for everything. For everything for which it happens, eventum tantum, it is the ultimate form for all of the forms; and all these forms are disjointed. It brings about resonance and ramification of its disjunction; the univocity of being merges with the positive use of the disjunctive synthesis, and this is the highest affirmation of its univocity, highest affirmation of a Theory be it GTR or QFT. Like gravity; it is the eternal resurrection or a return itself, the affirmation of all chance in a single moment, the unique cast for all throws; a simple rejoinder for Einstein's god does not play dice; one being, one consciousness, for all forms and all times. A single instance for all that exists, a single phantom for all the living single voice for every hum of voices, or a single silence for all the silences; a single vacuum for all the vacuumes; consciousness should not be said without occuring; if consciousness is one unique event in which all the events communicate with each other. Univocity refers both to what occurs to what it is said, the attributable to all states of bodies and states of affairs and the expressible of every proposition. So univocity of consciousness means the identity of the noematic attribute and that which is expressed linguistically and sensefullly. Univocity means that it does not allow consciousness to be subsisting in a quasi state and but expresses in all pervading reality; Despite philosophical overtones, the point we had to make is clear. There doth exist different systems for which universal laws are applied and they can be classified. And there are situations and conditions under which the law itself breaks; this is the case for dissipations or detritions coefficient in the model.


HLFB is one of the leading financial institutions in the country. The
company has achieved quantum leap in the increase of the number of
branches at the end of 1993 with the acquisition of Visia Finance Berhad.
The company was the first finance company in the country to computerize
the deposit and loans business between 1981 and 1985. In 1999, HLFB
has embarked on opening "In Store" branches.
The loan base of the company had increased rapidly, especially from year
1996 to 1997, from RM5,721 million to RM7,544 million and the loan base
had grown by 32 percent within the stipulated period. Due to the high loan
base, the company has embarked on loan regionalization
(decentralization) in September 1996. With the regionalization, it reduces
bottleneck in head office.
Non-performing loans (NPLs) of the company is rising, from RM177 million
in December 1995 to RM1,166 million in March 1999. In terms of
percentage, the rate had increased from 4.4 percent to 16.6 percent within
the stipulated period. The Chief Operating Officer was very concerned on
the rising NPLs and the manager of credit control department was
requested to look into the issue.
In the past, the company had focussed its lending on corporate loans.
The case reveals that corporate loans had contributed to majority of the NPLs and Kuala Lumpur Main office and Johore Bahru Regional loan
centre were the two offices that had the highest NPLs rate.
To overcome the problem faced by HLFB, two approached were
recommended to implement for the reduction of NPLs rate. These two
approaches are an immediate approach and preventive approach. Eight
different ways to reduce the NPLs under immediate approach were
recommended. A preventive approach is quality lending. This approach is
used to prevent new loans from becoming problem loans. In this
approach, more emphasize is based on quality instead of quantity.
Recommendation was make to change the portfolio mix of the company,
that is to go for more consumers lending instead of corporate lending, as
the risk for corporate loans is higher.
To ensure a successful implementation and also to achieve a desirable
result, HLFB must always improve the process by going through the
process of Planning, Deploying and Reviewing.


The impact of trades on asset prices is a crucial aspect of market dynamics for academics, regulators, and practitioners alike. Recently, universal and highly nonlinear master curves were observed for price impacts aggregated on all intra-day scales (Patzelt and Bouchaud 2017 arXiv:1706.04163). Here we investigate how well these curves, their scaling, and the underlying return dynamics are captured by linear 'propagator' models. We find that the classification of trades as price-changing versus non-price-changing can explain the price impact nonlinearities and short-term return dynamics to a very high degree. The explanatory power provided by the change indicator in addition to the order sign history increases with increasing tick size. To obtain these results, several long-standing technical issues for model calibration and testing are addressed. We present new spectral estimators for two- and three-point cross-correlations, removing the need for previously used approximations. We also show when calibration is unbiased and how to accurately reveal previously overlooked biases. Therefore, our results contribute significantly to understanding both recent empirical results and the properties of a popular class of impact models.


The article represents an attempt to investigate the development of the national higher education system of Slovak Republic (as part of former Czechoslovakia) starting from the first known data of the medieval times up to the beginning of the XXI century when the period of intense Europeanization and internationalization started. Considerable attention has also been paid to the development of higher education in Slovak Republic after 1989 with the emphasis on relevant legislation, students' enrollment numbers, overall institutional setting. The aim of the paper is to present theoretical review of the Slovak national higher education system development as determined by the processes of socio-political transformations in the country, including the final stage integration to the European Union and European Higher Education Area (EHEA). Theoretical provisions of the paper are supported with relevant statistical data on the number of higher education institutions and the number of students, including the number of those who participate in mobility schemes within EHEA (statistical indicators are gender-sensitive). Attention has also been paid to development of the country's higher education legislation system after the so-called disintegration of Czechoslovakia to Czech and Slovak Republics, which allowed for the establishment and development of private sector within national higher education system. The research is based on the comprehensive analysis of original sources – open-accessed national legal framework for higher education, as well as theoretical and practical research works by Slovak scholars. The topicality of research is determined by the similarity of the Slovak and Ukrainian national systems of higher education at the end of the XX century, which allows to state that consideration of the Slovak context is relevant to the current reforming Ukrainian national higher education system.


AIM
Prolonged exposure to stress mainly affects the cognitive functions of the brain by inducing neuronal damage mediated through oxidative stress. Acorus calamus (AC) has long been used in Indian folk medicine for various central nervous system (CNS) abnormalities. Hence the present study investigates the effect AC on learning and memory in rats.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Adult Wistar male rats were subjected to restrained stress for 21 days (6 hr/day) and the animals were concurrently administered AC for 21 days orally. The Hebb-Williams maze and elevated plus maze served as standard behavioural models for testing memory. The rats were sacrificed on 22nd day and the brain homogenate was taken for various biochemical assessments.

RESULTS
Sodium potassium ATPase activity and TBARS levels showed a significant decrease in the stress group compared to control. After administration of AC, the activity of Na- K- ATPase and levels of TBARS showed a tendency to revert back to normal. However there was no effect on AOPP levels, even after the treatment, which remained high.

CONCLUSION
The present study shows the preventive action of AC rhizome powder on stress induced cognitive functions and modulatory effect on antioxidants and Na-K-ATPase activity.


Mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, frequently store confidential data, yet implementing a secure device unlock functionality is non-trivial due to restricted input methods. Graphical knowledge-based schemes have been widely used on smartphones and are generally well adapted to the touchscreen interface on small screens. Recently, graphical password schemes based on emoji have been proposed. They offer potential benefits due to the familiarity of users with emoji and the ease of expressing memorable stories. However, it is well-known from other graphical schemes that user-selected authentication secrets can substantially limit the resulting entropy of the authentication secret. In this work, we study the entropy of user-selected secrets for one exemplary instantiation of emoji-based authentication. We analyzed an implementation using 20 emoji displayed in random order on a grid, where a user selects passcodes of length 4 without further restrictions. We conducted an online user study with 795 participants, using the collected passcodes to determine the resistance to guessing based on several guessing strategies, thus estimating the selection bias. We evaluated Markov model-based guessing strategies based on the selected sequence of emoji, on its position in the grid, and combined models taking into account both features. While we find selection bias based on both the emoji as well as the position, the measured bias is lower than for similar schemes. Depending on the model, we can recover up to 7 % at 100 guessing attempts, and up to 11 % of the passcodes at 1 000 guessing attempts. (For comparison, previous work on the graphical Android Unlock pattern scheme (CCS 2013) recovered around 18 % at 100 and 50 % at 1 000 guessing attempts, despite a theoretical keyspace of more than double the size for the Android scheme.) These results demonstrate some potential for a usable and relatively secure scheme and show that the size of the theoretical keyspace is a bad predictor for the realistic guessability of passcodes.


The intermetallic compound MoSi2, which adopts the C11b crystal structure, and related alloys exhibit an excellent corrosion resistance at high temperatures but tend to be brittle at room and even relatively high temperatures. The limited ductility of MoSi2 in ambient conditions along with the anomalous temperature dependence of the critical resolved shear stress (CRSS) of the {110)<111], {011)<100] and {010)<100] slip systems and departure from Schmid law behavior of the {013)<331] slip system can all be attributed to complex dislocation core structures. We have therefore developed a Bond-Order Potential (BOP) for MoSi2 for use in the atomistic simulation of dislocations and other extended defects. BOPs are a real-space, O(N), two-center orthogonal tight-binding formalism that are naturally able to describe systems with mixed metallic and covalent bonding. In this development novel analytic screening functions have been adopted to properly describe the environmental dependence of bond integrals in the open, bcc-based C11b crystal structure. A many-body repulsive term is included in the model that allows us to fit the elastic constants and negative Cauchy pressures of MoSi2. Due to the internal degree of freedom in the position of the Si atoms in the C11b structure which is a function of volume, it was necessary to adopt a self-consistent procedure in the fitting of the BOP. The constructed BOP is found to be an excellent description of cohesion in C11b MoSi2 and we have carefully assessed its transferability to other crystal structures and stoichiometries, notably C40, C49 and C54 MoSi2, A15 and D03 Mo3Si and D8m Mo5Si3 by comparing with ab initio structural optimizations.


What is meant by a United States of Africa, and where does the idea come from? Is it feasible? Or even desirable as a realistic goal for the continent's diverse people? This paper traces the roots of the Pan-Africanist vision for the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), and then examines the prospects for its revival in the African Union (AU). It is evident from an analysis of OAU decisions, declarations and speeches over the years that Pan-Africanism was subsumed by African nationalism. It was a minority voice, seldom heard and at times drowned out by African nationalism. The ideals of founding fathers Nkrumah, Selassie and Nyerere did not have the support of the majority of African leaders, who were all concerned to a greater or lesser degree with the consolidation of state power. From the ideas and actions of a few visionaries, support for an African regional peacekeeping capacity and for human rights monitoring across borders grew into the AU institutions of the Peace and Security Council and the African Commission (and court) of Human and Peoples' Rights. The agenda for a United States of Africa goes further than what member states agreed upon in the AU Constitutive Act, however. The paper analyses the AU Commission's 'Study on an African Union government towards the United States of Africa' - a discussion document issued by the office of the chairperson of the AU Commission.


Remarkable advances have been made in radiotherapy for cancer. Tumors inside the body that move with respiration can now be tracked during irradiation or can be irradiated at a specific phase of respiration [1]. Since radiation of these wavelengths is invisible to the human eye, it is not possible to see whether a tumor that is moving during respiration is being irradiated accurately. Therefore, simulations that use the actual respiration wave to show the tumor being irradiated are useful for training and to explain the procedure to patients.


Abstract. The last deglaciation is one of the best constrained global-scale climate changes documented by climate archives. Nevertheless, understanding of the underlying dynamics is still limited, especially with respect to abrupt climate shifts and associated changes in the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) during glacial and deglacial periods. A fundamental issue is how to obtain an appropriate climate state at the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, 21 000 yr before present, 21 ka BP) that can be used as an initial condition for deglaciation. With the aid of a comprehensive climate model, we found that initial ocean states play an important role on the equilibrium timescale of the simulated glacial ocean. Independent of the initialization, the climatological surface characteristics are similar and quasi-stationary, even when trends in the deep ocean are still significant, which provides an explanation for the large spread of simulated LGM ocean states among the Paleoclimate Modeling Intercomparison Project phase 2 (PMIP2) models. Accordingly, we emphasize that caution must be taken when alleged quasi-stationary states, inferred on the basis of surface properties, are used as a reference for both model inter-comparison and data model comparison. The simulated ocean state with the most realistic AMOC is characterized by a pronounced vertical stratification, in line with reconstructions. Hosing experiments further suggest that the response of the glacial ocean is dependent on the ocean background state, i.e. only the state with robust stratification shows an overshoot behavior in the North Atlantic. We propose that the salinity stratification represents a key control on the AMOC pattern and its transient response to perturbations. Furthermore, additional experiments suggest that the stratified deep ocean formed prior to the LGM during a time of minimum obliquity (~ 27 ka BP). This indicates that changes in the glacial deep ocean already occur before the last deglaciation. In combination, these findings represent a new paradigm for the LGM and the last deglaciation, which challenges the conventional evaluation of glacial and deglacial AMOC changes based on an ocean state derived from 21 ka BP boundary conditions.


Summary  The Eastern Bristlebird (Dasyornis brachypterus) is an endangered endemic passerine of south-eastern Australia. The re-establishment of extirpated populations through translocation was identified as a key action in New South Wales to address the threats to this species associated with habitat fragmentation and widespread and frequent fire. At Jervis Bay during 2003–2005, 50 birds were translocated from Bherwerre Peninsula to Beecroft Peninsula. In the Illawarra in 2008, 50 birds were translocated from Barren Grounds Nature Reserve to Cataract. At Jervis Bay, monitoring indicated that after 7 years, (i) there was no detectable impact on the source population from the removal of birds and (ii) the count at Beecroft Peninsula was 94 birds, with dispersal up to 6.3 km from the release point. In the Illawarra, (i) the source population was recovering 3 years post-removal and (ii) the maximum count at Cataract was 15 birds after 3.5 years, including evidence of breeding, and after 3 years, the maximum dispersal was 7 km from the release point. Both translocations adhered to five key principles as follows. (i) Feasibility analysis prior to each project was favourable. (ii) For 17 pre-stated criteria for success, 14 and 10, respectively, were met for Jervis Bay and Illawarra. (iii) Financial accountability was achieved with detailed statements showing budgets of $201k and $92k, respectively, for Jervis Bay and Illawarra. (iv) Ecological research was incorporated into both projects. (v) The results of each project are progressively being published. The re-introduction at Jervis Bay has succeeded, and we are optimistic about the Illawarra re-introduction.


The problem of fitting a straight line to a planar set of points is reconsidered. A parameter space computational approach capable of fitting one or more lines to a set of points is presented. The suggested algorithm handles errors in both coordinates of the data points, even when the error variances vary between coordinates and among points and can be readily made robust to outliers. The algorithm is quite general and allows line fitting according to several useful optimality criteria to be performed within a single computational framework. It is observed that certain extensions of the Hough transform can be turned to be equivalent to well-known M estimators, thus allowing computationally efficient approximate M estimation.


The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of computerized versus classroom instruction on musicians' ability to correctly pronounce English words phonetically transcribed into the International Phonetic Alphabet. Sixty-three (N = 63) instrumentalists volunteered as subjects. The study used a pretest/posttest design. The tests consisted of two different phonetic transcriptions of English used by the International Phonetic Association for its standardized proficiency exam. Following the pretest, subjects were randomly assigned to one of three groups: (1) Class (n = 21) received three 45-minute lessons, (2) Computer-Assisted (n = 21) used the software package Sounds of English, and (3) Class and Computer-Assisted (n = 21) used a combination of the two previous instruction types. Results showed no significant differences among groups regarding pretest scores, but significant differences regarding posttest and pre/posttest difference scores. Post hoc analyses of total time revealed significant differences among the groups.


Background Before becoming work disabled, people with inflammatory arthritis (IA) experience work instability, which threatens employment. Thus, many employed people with IA are at risk of losing their job. Rheumatology Occupational Therapists (OT) are best placed to provide vocational rehabilitation (VR) within the health service due to their inherent expertise of human occupation. However, currently we know little about the VR services delivered across the UK by Rheumatology OTs in the National Health Service (NHS). Objectives To conduct a national survey of NHS Rheumatology OT VR provision to describe the services currently available for employed people with IA with job concerns because of arthritis. Methods All NHS Hospitals in the UK with Rheumatology services were mailed a study invitation pack to partake in an online survey. Those who do not have an access to the internet were provided with a paper version of the survey, with a freepost envelope. The survey requested information on: personal and demographic factors, Rheumatology OT service provision and VR OT service provision. No personally identifiable data was collected. The data collected was primarily quantitative although participants were encouraged to provide additional comments. Results 78 Rheumatology OTs completed the survey (England n=56; Scotland=14; Wales n=3; Northern Ireland=2). Nearly half of these OTs were a lone Rheumatology OT (n=32) within their setting. The majority were NHS grade band 6 (49%) and band 7 (42%). Although all responded "Yes" to "Do you think it is appropriate for OTs to provide VR", a third stated VR was not provided by their OT department. However, most OTs (n=70) said they provided patients with written, online or electronic information about work problems. Amongst those providing VR (n=56), most said there was no VR referral process from Rheumatology to the OT (n=46). Time spent providing VR varied greatly, as this was tailored to individual patient's needs. Only one in ten OTs providing VR used a standardised assessment to identify work problems (i.e. Rheumatoid Arthritis Work Instability Scale (RA-WIS)). The VR interventions provided were; fatigue management (n=56); splinting (n=55); pacing (n=53); posture/work positioning (n=52); joint protection (n=51); task rotation (n=51); alternative equipment (n=49); relaxation/stress management (n=48); work station modification (n=47); changes to duties (n=47); changes to shift patterns (n=47); exercise at work (n=42); supported (graded) return to work after sick leave (n=40); enabling access in the workplace (n=35); injury prevention; and supporting disclosure (n=23). Half liaised with Occupational Health departments and line managers (n=28), but of these only 16 OTs reported to conduct work site visits. Following VR, 39 therapists followed-up employed patients to identify if they still worked. Conclusions In the NHS, rheumatology OTs provides VR but the availability and quality varies widely with experience and service constraints. NHS-based job-retention VR provided by OTs includes job modifications, psychosocial and informational strategies, liaising with employers, occupational health and statutory services and multidisciplinary team referral to manage the condition. Barriers to accessing VR need identifying and NHS-wide referral pathways to rheumatology OT VR services could help standardise patients' access to VR. Acknowledgements This study is funded by Arthritis Research UK. Disclosure of Interest None declared DOI 10.1136/annrheumdis-2014-eular.3407


We present a numerical expansion of the forward loss of CDO tranches in the case of fatal-Shock models (also called Marshall- Olkin). The method is very fast and can be compared with Saddle point and Recursion methods for factor copulas. The benefit of the framework is to allow a term structure of spreads and correlation with a natural understanding of the correlation structure.


Given the legacy of 500 years of colonization, sharing and telling stories for children and young adults about difficult truths is important in moving forward towards reconciliation. As part of the journey, increased sensibilities and approaches are needed and give rise to many questions. How can children's literature be decolonized and made appropriate for 21st century learners? What role do writers, illustrators, teachers, teacher-librarians and children's librarians play in the process? What ethical and respectful approaches are employed to decolonize the creation, dissemination and use of literature, especially about issues that readers find stressful and upsetting? Who should tell the stories? What are the risks and benefits of appropriation and commodification of cultural heritage? And what critical analysis skills are essential when promoting and sharing literature that is both historic and an ongoing expression of colonization? Watch the webcast of this School Library Day conversation, to hear from our panelists.


Sketches are tiny data structures that can be used to efficiently perform filtering high-dimensional data for similarity search. To design real systems with sketching techniques, an important design decision is the choice of sketch size given the targeted dataset size and desired filtering quality. Such design decisions need to be made without the dataset, or at least without the whole dataset. This paper provides analytical and experimental results to help system designers make such design decisions. We first show that the `1 distances between data objects in these datasets fits lognormal distributions well. We then present a rank-based filtering model for the sketching algorithm that uses Hamming distance to approximate `1 distance. Our experimental results show that the model gives conservative and good prediction for image, audio and 3D shape datasets. Finally, we show that the parameters of the model can be set with a small sample dataset and the resulting model can make good predictions for a large dataset.


This Essay takes up the metaphor of the polluted body, its menacing effect on society, and what this metaphor means for law. It turns to civil liberties in times of health crisis in light of recent immigration debates and the United States' panic about Ebola. We argue that historically, fears of contagion and infection were as much rooted in racial and class fear and animus as genuine threat of health. For example, many people of color and vulnerable minority groups have been caused great harm in the name of advancing and protecting the public's health. Unfortunately, during such periods in American history, too frequently courts have failed to protect basic civil liberties, and people have suffered as a result. The Supreme Court sanctioning forced sterilizations of poor Americans provides a powerful example of government abuse of power in this regard, but sadly it is one among many forgotten or lesser known cases even among lawyers. Indeed, children, men, and women have been interned, sterilized, banned from entering the United States, detained, subjected to horrific human research, and otherwise injured by government abuse of power under the cover of protecting or promoting health.As we explain, the relationship between public health, on the one hand, and race, poverty, and ethnicity discrimination, on the other, is neither new nor distinctly American. In the United States, the intersection between minority rights and public health has a long and shameful history, dating back hundreds of years. On close inspection, the metaphor of the polluted body and its menacing effect in American society persists, no doubt due to its origins rooted so long ago in American slavery, "Yellow Peril," and early twentieth-century anti-immigration policy.When analyzed from a distance, law's vulnerability to prejudice packaged as public health concern crystallizes. For example, judges may make poor judgment calls conditioned on spurious or misinterpreted science, politicians may manipulate the public's fear for political gain, even scientists and doctors may conflate or exaggerate data, and consequentially, civil liberties may be compromised and constitutional rights trampled. We take up these issues through our review of Eula Biss's On Immunity.


Induced-strain materials can produce very large forces and, hence, large energy density, but small actual displacements. A new concept for obtaining large-amplitude rotary displacements from small linear displacements generated by induced-strain material stacks is proposed. The concept utilizes the theory of twist-warping coupling in thin-wall open tubes. The theory of the proposed solid-state axial-to- rotary converter-amplifier, together with the appropriate bibliographical references, is given. A simple formula is generated for estimating the axial-to-rotary conversion- amplification coefficient from the geometrical length, L, and enclosed area, A, of the open tube. A large-displacement induced-strain rotary (LARIS) actuator proof-of-concept demonstrator was built and tested to verify and validate the theoretical developments. The LARIS actuator consisted of a 28 mm diameter, 1.2 m length open tube and a 120 micrometer, -1000 V PZT translator. The experimental set-up and the excitation and measuring equipment are fully described in the paper. A maximum rotary displacement of 8 degrees was measured, and the linear relationship between the rotation coefficient, the tube length, L, and the inverse of the enclosed area, A, was verified. An improved theoretical model, that accounts for the experimentally observed zero off-set, is also given. The theoretical developments and experimental tests presented in this paper show that the proposed LARIS actuator, based on a novel solid-state axial-to-rotary converter-amplifier utilizing the warping-torsion coupling of an open tube, is a viable design option, of great constructive simplicity and very low parts count. This concept can be successfully used in a series of aerospace and mechanical engineering applications, as for example in the actuation of adaptive control surfaces for aircraft wings and helicopter blades. The 8 degree rotary displacement capabilities measured on the proof-of-concept demonstrator can be easily scaled to other values to meet the operation requirements of specific applications. For very large angles (40 - 50 degrees), conventional electromechanical actuators (e.g., stepper-motors and ball-screws assemblies) can used.


While it is often conceptualized in a spatially and/or temporally averaged sense, the mixed layer depth of the global ocean exhibits significant variability in both space and time. The mixed layer plays a key role in controlling the exchange of heat and gases between the atmosphere and the ocean interior; an inaccurate portrayal of mixed layer depths can be a major source of error in global climate models. In particular, the Southern Ocean, or the waters around Antarctica, take up a significant portion of anthropogenically released carbon dioxide and subduct it into the deep ocean, affecting global climate on both relatively short and glacial timescales. Variability in the mixed layer also affects the formation and subduction of mode waters, the partitioning of waters between the upper and lower overturning cells, and biological productivity. The stratification of the mixed layer is significantly modified by submesoscale dynamics, which are not resolved in current state-of-the-art climate models. The parameterization of these dynamics represents a large source of uncertainty, and better observations and a better understanding of the submesoscale can be used to improve climate predictions. In this work, the variability of Southern Ocean mixed layers is examined using both numerical and observational methods. General circulation model output is combined with a simple advection scheme to examine upwelling pathways, mixed layer residence times, and air-sea equilibrium in the Southern Ocean. Virtual Lagrangian drifters are released around the basin and tracked as they outcrop into the mixed layer, where they can exchange properties with the atmosphere. These studies are combined with high-resolution observations of mesoscale and submesoscale dynamics in the Southern Ocean, which play a leading order role in setting the stratification of the mixed layer. Seaglider data are used to construct potential vorticity fields, which are used to identify possible instances of different submesoscale instabilities in Drake Passage. Seasonal and zonal mixed layer variability are also examined using these observations. A second set of Seaglider observations are used to diagnose changes in ventilation and eddy stirring on sub-seasonal timescales at the Polar Front, one of the major fronts of the Southern Ocean. This thesis aims to expand current knowledge of mixed layer dynamics, especially at the submesoscale, and examine their implications for global circulation and climate.


We present a high resolution objective lens made entirely from catalog singlets that has a numerical aperture of 0.36. It corrects for aberrations introduced by a glass window and has a long working distance of 35 mm, making it suitable for imaging objects within a vacuum system. This offers simple high resolution imaging for many in the quantum gas community. The objective achieves a resolution of 1.3 μm at the design wavelength of 780 nm, and a diffraction-limited field of view of 360 μm when imaging through a 5 mm thick window. Images of a resolution target and a pinhole show quantitative agreement with the simulated lens performance. The objective is suitable for diffraction-limited monochromatic imaging on the D2 line of all the alkalis by changing only the aperture diameter, retaining numerical apertures above 0.32. The design corrects for window thicknesses of up to 15 mm if the singlet spacings are modified.


Controlling mycotoxin formation by fungi growing in and on cereal grains involves a
multifactorial approach for defining multiple variables. The scope includes varietial (maturity, date,
GMO) selection, tillage (time, depth), planting (density, spacing), fertilizion (type, amount, timing),
irrigation, pesticides, procedures from stalk to storage bin (combines, grain carts, semitrailers,
augers and dryers) and transfer devices from initial storage to processing units. Other
considerations include operator acuity, organic growing methodologies, growing seasons, heat days,
critical rainfalls, late freezes, early frosts, pulse field, electron beam irradiation and broken corn and
foreign material (BCFM). Collection of usable data for future modeling that integrates technological
advancements with practical applications, necessitates initial multidisciplinary input, continued
attention to details and realistic conclusions which can be utilized by personnel throughout the
system. A primary consideration for interventions will be economic return for directly involved
individuals as well as personal and portfolio investors and representatives from loaning agencies.
Most plant biomaterials evolved to assist in avoidance of predators. Cultivating cereal grains under
conditions of environmental duress results in elevated levels of polyphenols. Grain compositional
characteristics resulting from sustainable (status quo) vs progressive agricultural practices must be
reviewed in the context of food safety. Establishing programs to support research and transfer new
knowledge must be integral to designing overall management systems. For successful
implementation, program recommendations programs must provide relevant information.
Development of regulatory procedures must be based on both scientific and practical considerations
to result in relevant impacts. Five mycotoxins associated with corn, milo and sorghum are: aflatoxin,
deoxynivalenol (DON)(vomitoxin), fumonisin, ochratoxin and zearalonone.


Immigration law prescribes a range of statuses into one of which individuals must try to fit to be allowed entry. This range establishes a hierarchy from highly advantageous forms of permission to enter or remain in the United Kingdom to ones to which few rights accrue, which create dependency or are precarious. Against the backdrop of this hierarchy, I make two claims: that women are disadvantaged by immigration law's distribution of migration statuses; and, that this disadvantage is the result of rules which indirectly discriminate against women, discrimination which may be unlawful under Article 14 ECHR. As it is well-established that indirect discrimination may be revealed by statistical information, I rely on data from over 10 years to demonstrate that certain migration opportunities are distributed differently to women and men. This distribution is then subjected to scrutiny, potential 'justifications' for it, including those premised on sexed/gendered stereotypes, being analysed and refuted. Finally, an understanding of women's disadvantageous and discriminatory treatment in relation to the family and labour migration routes considered, is combined with a broader consideration of gendered patterns of migration and the statuses that such patterns produce, to found the normative claim that immigration law as whole disadvantages women.


The inhibition efficiency of aniline on zinc corrosion of zinc in (HNO3 + H3PO4) binary acid mixture has been studied by weight loss method and polarization technique. Corrosion rate increases with the concentration of acid mixture and the temperature. Inhibition efficiency (I.E.) of aniline increases with the concentration of inhibitor while decreases with the increase in concentration of acid. As temperature increases corrosion rate increases whereas percentage of I.E. decreases. The plot of log (θ/1-θ) versus log C results in a straight line suggest that the inhibitors cover both the anodic and cathodic regions through general adsorption following Longmuir isotherm. Galvenostatic polarization curves show polarization of both anodes as well as cathodes.


Biomass productivity presents a challenging problem in arid and semi-arid areas. Despite a large need for energy in the form of solid biomass, liquid fuel or needs for animal feed, these regions remain largely unproductive. A convenient way to overcome this challenge is to utilize plants with high water-use efficiency. Agave lechuguilla is an example of a highly productive (3.8 tons ha -1 yr -1 ) desert plant that holds the potential for producing biomass with minimal water resources. For this purpose, a global suitability map has been developed showing areas where this plant can be planted, and its productivity was assessed. A Maxent model was used and was further refined by excluding protected areas and used lands (urban, agriculture, etc.). Productivity assessment provides a good way forward for prioritizing the regional utilization of this plant. This study provides an initial analysis for the use of arid and semi-arid regions for biomass production. Results indicate the potential generation of 93.8 million tons per year of dry biomass if the suitable areas were fully utilized. The analytical method can be readily applied to other potential plant species to optimize the use of certain areas.


George, Kallie. The Melancholic Mermaid. Illus. Abigail Halpin. Vancouver: Simply Read Books, 2010. Print. Upon reading a plot summary of Kallie George's The Melancholic Mermaid, you might first wonder if you've read the book before. Humans befriending mermaids, outsiders uniting, and children learning that their differences make them special are all plots that have been told and retold in a variety of mediums. It will be no surprise to readers that, though Maude the two-tailed mermaid has twice the speed, twice the strength, and twice the grace, these same qualities isolate her from the other mer-children. Similarly, when two-legged Tony's webbed hands are revealed, an unlikely friendship with Maude is inevitable. However, while the plot and themes rarely venture outside established cliche, there are two aspects of The Melancholic Mermaid that not only make it well worth the read but push it over and above similar fare. Firstly, George's poetic rhythms perfectly capture the lulling melancholy of the seashore. At times, she dances the line between poetry and prose, evoking the rolling tides of a calm day at the beach. Of particular note is her command of alliteration, which when well-executed, rarely fails to captivate children and draw them into a fairy tale world. Secondly, Abigail Halpin's illustrations are positively breathtaking. Her use of colour, space, and contrast are all wonderful to behold and do a remarkable job of highlighting the settings and mood of George's story. While the scenes on land are depicted in vibrant purples and reds, the seashore is dominated by calm and subtle shades of blue and green. If you are the type to choose a book by its cover, The Melancholic Mermaid should most certainly be a popular choice. The high quality of the illustrations make The Melancholic Mermaid a great book for beginning readers to grow into, and it will be ideally suited for children transitioning from picture books into shorter chapter books. While the story features both male and female protagonists, it will most likely hold a broader appeal for girls than for boys. Recommended: 3 out of 4 stars Reviewer:  Amy Paterson Amy Paterson is a Public Services Librarian at the University of Alberta's H. T. Coutts Education Library. She was previously the Editor of the Dalhousie Journal of Interdisciplinary Management and is very happy to be involved in the Deakin Review and the delightful world of children's literature.


The orphan nuclear receptor liver receptor homolog-1 (LRH-1) plays important roles in embryonic development, lipid homeostasis and steroidogenesis, and has been implicated in driving several cancers. In breast cancer, LRH-1 is expressed in tumour epithelial cells of invasive ductal carcinomas. We hypothesized that LRH-1 regulates epithelial cell proliferation and invasiveness to drive breast tumour progression. The overall goal of this study was to identify molecular mechanisms regulated by LRH-1 related to cell proliferation and epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT). Previously, expression-profiling experiments identified the heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein (hnRNP) gene family as potential LRH-1 target genes. The specific aim of this project was to define the effects of LRH-l on hnRNPA1 and hnRNPA2 gene expression, cell proliferation and EMT using normal and transformed human mammary epithelial cell lines as models. The siRNA-mediated knockdown of LRH-1 significantly decreased expression of hnRNPs at the mRNA and protein levels. This correlated with reduced cell proliferation, an effect that was potentiated when hnRNPA1 were knocked down in parallel. Evidence was also obtained to suggest that alternative splicing of the hnRNPs-regulated enzyme pyruvate kinase resulted in a switch in energy metabolism (from aerobic glycolysis to oxidative phosphorylation) that contributes to increased cell proliferation. Using a well-established model of EMT (the hMLE epithelial cell line), we demonstrated that LRH-1 expression increases during TGFβ-induced EMT, and that knockdown of LRH-l partially reverses the EMT phenotype. hnRNPs expression decreased during EMT, however, and knockdown experiments did not support a role for LRH-1 induced hnRNPs expression in EMT. In conclusion, this study has identified hnRNPs family as LRH-1 target genes. The data support a role for LRH-1 in mediating breast cancer proliferation via multiple mechanisms, including metabolic regulation. We also demonstrate an important role for LRH-1 in EMT, although LRH-1-induced hnRNPs expression does not appear to be involved in this process.


Global food price hikes during 2007 and 2008 resulted in a sharp rise in staple food prices in Bangladesh. The poor and marginalized households were particularly vulnerable to such an adverse situation as their real purchasing power eroded. Several studies indicated that the adverse effects of the food price hike in Bangladesh were primarily manifested by the significant rise in the number of households falling below the poverty line income. At the political front, Bangladesh was run by an unelected and undemocratic 'civil' caretaker government backed by the military. The civil caretaker government came to power in January 2007 in the wake of intense political conflicts between the outgoing government led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the opposition, led by the Awami League. The civil .../


Abstract The marketisation of education is a global phenomenon and has attracted increased interest during the last three decades, not least in terms of research on school choice and its consequences. However, while much research has been conducted on the marketisation of schooling, less attention has been directed at adult education. In this paper, focus is directed at institutional logics and institutional responses to the process of marketisation of adult education. More specifically, we focus on how a procurement system, implemented in order to create competition and to increase quality in adult education, influences how students construe themselves, as well as the way principals and teachers work. Our results indicate that teachers emerge as the main source of resistance towards an institutional logic emerging in the wake of marketisation, while principals and students to a large extent conform to the emerging institutional demands.


The purpose of this paper is to investigate Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system outcomes in the context of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Most of the former research on ERP outcomes is based on data from large enterprises, and this study examines how the SME context affects the ERP system outcomes and the related evaluation practices. The paper reports findings from a multiple case study of ERP implementation in four SMEs. The case companies put more emphasis on system and information quality improvements from the ERP systems, compared to individual and organizational outcomes. This can be related to the lack of a strategic perspective on ERP implementation in these companies, with replacement of the legacy systems serving as the main motivation for the implementation projects. Moreover, the findings indicate that the identified lack of ERP system evaluation practice in these SMEs can be explained by ownership type, resource constraints, limited IT competence, and status of the IT legacy systems in SMEs.


Acting is a very special and specific art form, be it in cinema or not it significantly differs from other art forms. First of all in the art of acting, created by the artist and thus the created work (artifact) represents a union. For example, a writer writes a novel, a composer composes music; painters do paintings, but only the actor is at the same time the creator and the result of his/hers own art. This feature of the actor not only determines the narrative expression it also determines the inner and private life of the actors. Though the existence of the actor is not a life, which is only consisted of his own, but also it is the life of others, there is a continuing public side in an actor's life. Most of the actor's lives are identified with the characters they play, and in certain cases the characters they play goes into a realm beyond the actors and take a shape a life form of its own in a sense it exchanges the place of the real character. Therefore, actors are inevitably forced to live a life of constant dilemma. Prior to anything else, it must be admitted that this is a psychological burden. This state of neither mind nor situation has to be considered by every director, and understood that to work with the actors is to work with a palette of rich hues, of emotionally high and low volumes and of highly sensitive and easily affected personas.


SUMMARY An attempt was made to evaluate the immunoprophylactic efficacy of Brugia malayi transglutaminase (BmTGA) as a DNA vaccine, for human lymphatic filariasis. BmTGA was cloned and characterized in the DNA vaccine vector pVAX1. Further, the tissue distribution study of the DNA construct, pVAX-TGA was carried out in mice and the DNA vaccine was shown to be efficiently distributed to all the organs, was accessible to the immune system, and at the same time was metabolized quickly and did not pose problems of toxicity. Intramuscular immunization in mice showed significant antibody production and splenocyte proliferation upon antigenic stimulation. The immune responses were biased towards the Th1 arm, as evaluated in terms of isotype antibody distribution and cytokine profile. Thus, analysis of the humoral and cellular immune responses indicated that BmTGA is a potent immunogen. However, protection studies as determined by the micropore chamber method using live microfilarial larvae, showed that the DNA vaccine could confer only partial protection in the mouse model. We conclude that despite the induction of sufficient humoral and cellular immune responses, BmTGA as a DNA vaccine could not confer much protection against subsequent challenge and other aspects of the immune responses need to be further investigated.


Pigmeat products have been associated with an unhealthy image due to the relative proportions of polyunsaturated and saturated fatty acids. The aim of this experiment was to improve the fatty acid profile of the carcass fat by feeding various dietary sources of fat.

Groups of 10 female Large While × Landrace pigs were fed one of four experimental diets. Five in each group were slaughtered at 70 kg live weight and the remaining five at 100 kg live weight. The diets were offered ad libitum and daily intake was recorded. The diets were based on barley, soya bean meal and fishmeal. Diet 1 contained 50 g tallow kg−1, a relatively saturated fat, and diets 2, 3 and 4 contained 50 g soya oil kg−1, an unsaturated fat. Diet 3 also contained 7.5 g GLA oil kg−1, which is rich in gamma linolenic acid, with the aim of increasing the production of arachidonic acid in the body fat. Diet 4 was supplemented with 9.5 g EPAnoil kg−1, which is rich in eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid.

There were no significant differences between dietary treatments in performance (daily liveweight gain or the efficiency of food conversion to liveweight gain) of the pigs slaughtered at 70 kg live weight, but small differences were observed at 100 kg live weight, where pigs on treatments 2, 3 and 4 performed slightly better than those on treatment 1. At both slaughter weights the lipid content of the m semitendinosus was higher than that of the m longissimus dorsi (approximately 24 and 13 g kg−1, respectively).

The pattern of fatty acids in the dietary fat was reflected to varying degrees in the carcass fat. Diet 1 resulted in the highest levels of palmitic, palmitoleic, stearic and oleic acids whereas diets 2, 3 and 4 gave high levels of linoleic and linolenic acids. The extra gamma linolenic acid in diet 3 did not result in a consistently significant increase in the production of arachidonic acid. The supplement of EPAnoil gave significant increases in the levels of eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acids in the body lipids.

The polyunsaturated to saturated fatty acid ratio of the body lipid was increased with diets 2, 3 and 4 to about 1.0. In spite of high levels of linoleic acid, there were no adverse effects during the processing of the carcasses and the taste panel evaluation did not reveal any treatment differences.


Agroecology is increasingly recognized within mainstream development. Yet, this is controversial, due to disagreement over what it does and should mean. This article takes a 'knowledge politics' approach to show how different understandings of agroecology create contexts where contrasting agricultural development narratives thrive, albeit often unintentionally. It draws on literature and media review and 37 elite interviews with agricultural researchers and decision makers around the world. Four agricultural development narratives or 'regimes' are identified, each presented by different actor groups as part of their vision of what agricultural development should look like. Simultaneously, five different understandings of agroecology are described. A political understanding of agroecology is promoted to support the regime of agroecological agriculture. Simultaneously, an understanding of agroecology as a descriptive science is conducive to the African Green Revolution narrative. Actor groups tend to emphasize the differences between these understandings and regimes. They pay less attention to unpacking the divergent ways agroecological science has been framed since the early 20th century. This has the effect of concealing the way different understandings of agroecology support different development paradigms, and thus the political nature of the construction of science.


Digital Archaeology is predicated upon an ever-changing set of apparatuses – technological, methodological, software, hardware, material, immaterial – which in their own ways and to varying degrees shape the nature of Digital Archaeology. Our attention, however, is perhaps inevitably more closely focused on research questions, choice of data, and the kinds of analyses and outputs. In the process we tend to overlook the effects the tools themselves have on the archaeology we do beyond the immediate consequences of the digital. This article introduces cognitive artefacts as a means of addressing the apparatus more directly within the context of the developing archaeological digital ecosystem. It argues that a critical appreciation of our computational cognitive artefacts is key to understanding their effects on both our own cognition and on the creation of archaeological knowledge. In the process, it defines a form of cognitive digital archaeology in terms of four distinct methods for extracting cognition from the digital apparatus layer by layer.


Density-based approaches to extract bathymetry from airborne lidar point clouds generally rely on histogram/frequency-based disambiguation rules to separate noise from signal. The present work targets the improvement of such disambiguation rules by enhancing each pulse with a machine learning-based estimate of its p(Bathy) – i.e., its probability of truly being bathymetry. Extreme gradient boosting (XGB) is used to assess the strength of bathymetric signal in pulse return metadata. Because lidar point clouds can be highly imbalanced between Bathymetry and NotBathymetry, three strategies for mitigating the effects of imbalanced samples were examined. Impacts of an imbalanced lidar point cloud were successfully mitigated by: •Applying an "optimal" decision threshold (ODT) that equalizes accuracy for Bathymetry and NotBathymetry to p(Bathy) rather than using a conventional probability decision threshold (PDT) of 0.50, and •Using proportional class weighting to fit the XGB model. However, decomposing a confusion matrix by iteratively discarding misclassified points and re-fitting an XGB model was not successful in improving the strength or detectability of the bathymetric signal in the metadata. The same was true for iteratively discarding correctly classified points. The bathymetric signal in the metadata was found to be sufficiently strong to explore the operational incorporation of results into the disambiguation rules of density-based bathymertric extraction methods.


Metaheuristic algorithm is a powerful optimization method, in which it can solve problems by exploring the ordinarily large solution search space of these instances, that are believed to be hard in general. However, the performances of these algorithms signicantly depend on the setting of their parameter, while is not easy to set them accurately as well as completely relying on the problem's characteristic. To ne-tune the parameters automatically, many methods have been proposed to address this challenge, including fuzzy logic, chaos, random adjustment and others. All of these methods for many years have been developed indepen- dently for automatic setting of metaheuristic parameters, and integration of two or more of these methods has not yet much conducted. Thus, a method that provides advantage from combining chaos and random adjustment is proposed. Some popular metaheuristic algo- rithms are used to test the performance of the proposed method, i.e. simulated annealing, particle swarm optimization, dierential evolution, and harmony search. As a case study of this research is contrast enhancement for images of Cameraman, Lena, Boat and Rice. In general, the simulation results show that the proposed methods are better than the original metaheuristic, chaotic metaheuristic, and metaheuristic by random adjustment.


Coastal plumes of low salinity water that extend hundreds of kilometers offshore into oligotrophic waters are often found in the Gulf of Mexico. To characterize one such feature, a series of photoautotrophic activity and biomass parameters were measured at 2 stations in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, including pigments by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), autotrophic pico- plankton abundance by flow cytometry, photoautotrophic I4C-HC03- fixation, and Ribulose-1,5- &phosphate carboxylase large subunit gene (rbcL) transcriptional activity. One sampling site (Stn 4) was in a 15 m deep, low salinity (29.8 ppt) plume 242 km west of Tampa Bay. This feature contained relatively high chlorophyll a (chl a) concentrations, carbon fixation rates, and Synechococcus cell abun- dance (8.6 X 104 cells rnl-l) at 3 m depth and a relatively shallow (45 m depth) subsurface chlorophyll a maximum (SCM). We also found a high level (1.1 ng I-') of Form IA rbcL mRNA in the surface water as determined by probing with a 1.1 kb Synechococcus WH7803 rbcL probe. Form 1A rbcLs have been found to occur malnly in chemosynthetic autotrophic bacteria but have recently been described in Synechococcus WH7803 as well as in Prochlorococcus GP2. In contrast, a nearby station outside of the plume (Stn 7) had a SCM at 83 m, lower chl a, Synechococcus cell counts, and carbon fixation rates in the surface waters. The amount of Form IA rbcL was only about 3% of the concentration found in the surface waters of Stn 4. Both stations had an abundance of Prochlorococcus cells (>105 rnl-') at inter- mediate depths (20 to 70 m). The picoeucaryote community occurred principally below the Pro- chlorococcus community, coinciding with the SCM, and was composed of diatoms, pryrnnesiophytes, and pelagophytes as determined by HPLC pigment analysis. This report represents the first description of Form IA rbcL transcriptional activity in the marine environment, and indicates that Form 1A rbcL- containing picoplankton (like Prochlorococcus GP2 and Synechococcus WH7803) may be important in the primary production of low salinity, surface water plumes of the Gulf of Mexico.


In modern monitoring systems for critical infrastructures protection, there is the need to design automatic decision support systems with high reliability and real-time constraints. These features are usually in contrast as there is a significant trade-off between performance and precision. In this paper, we propose an innovative approach for smart event detection and enriched phenomena comprehension based on ontological and semantic models. In particular, the proposed approach is based on a two-step process made of a fast classifier for real-time alarm raising and an offline post reasoner to refine the final decision and give operators more feelings about the situation assessment. Details about data processing and alarm detection are illustrated and discussed in a practical case study designed for securing subways infrastructures.


Measured inflation records many shocks that are not representative of the persistent component of inflation. Several methods are used to construct measures of core inflation which abstract from these unrepresentative shocks; this paper focuses on trimmed means. Analysis of Australian CPI component price changes shows they are widely dispersed. Further, they are not normally distributed; there is a large proportion of extreme price changes (the distribution is fat-tailed) and the distribution is usually positively skewed. With an understanding of the behaviour of price changes, trimmed means are then developed. It is found that trimmed means provide a better measure of trend, or core, inflation when a large proportion of the distribution is removed. As a consequence of the distribution's systematic positive skew, slightly more than half of the trim should be taken from the left-hand tail to ensure that the trimmed mean records average inflation equal to that of the whole CPI.


A derivative of 2-methylindole, 3-[2-(4-nitrophenyl)ethenyl]-1-allyl-2-methylindole, NPEMI-A, has been studied for its photoconductivity and photorefractivity behaviour. The neat material was studied together with its blends with the organic polymer poly-(2,3-dimethyl-N-vinylindole), PVDMI. It was possible to carry out measurements with the content of the chromophore NPEMI-A changing from zero to 100 wt. %. No opacity hint was observed. The photorefractive optical gain Γ2 was obtained as a function of the chromophore content inside the different films. Differential Scanning Calorimetry measurements (DSC) were also carried out to obtain the whole change of the glass transition temperature Tg as a function of the amount of chromophore contained in the blends. From the experimental trend of Tg it was possible to gather a meaningful quantitative estimate of the value of the electrostatic interactions inside the blends. The importance of the value of Tg, and hence of the electrostatic interactions, in determining the extent of the photorefractivity has been clearly put in evidence. This was done by comparing the results obtained for NPEMI-A (Γ2 = 210.1 cm−1) with other ones previously discussed for a molecule similar to NPEMI-A but having a 2-ethylhexyl group, NPEMI-E (Γ2 = 2,027 cm−1), instead of an allyl group. Three different contributions to the photorefractivity of NPEMI-A, namely the Pockels, the Kerr and the Collaborative ones, could be distinguished from the peculiar trend of Γ2 as a function of the composition of the blends.


The use of tax incentives to encourage private landowners to donate conservation easements has become increasingly popular as policy makers search for ways to combat the growing problem of urban sprawl. The tax incentives have worked remarkably well to encourage private landowners who have both the will and the means to shoulder a significant percentage of the economic cost of protecting their land through the donation of conservation easements. However, the success of the tax incentive program should not blind its proponents to its inevitable inefficiencies and limitations. Continually increasing tax incentives in an effort to make them attractive to a broader class of landowners - including, in particular, so-called land rich, cash, poor landowners - could have unintended consequences. Thus far, the land trust community has been able to recognize and respond to the challenges presented by the acquisition and long-term stewardship of conservation easements. However, the capacity of land trusts (and the often less well-equipped government agencies) to respond to such challenges is not unlimited. Some easement holders could be overwhelmed if Congress and the states adopt policies that result in a sudden surge in easement donations. Moreover, exploitation and abuse of the tax incentives by profit motivated donors could imperil the very existence of the tax incentive program and call into question both the credibility of the land trust community and the use of conservation easements as a private land protection tool. This article undertakes a much-needed critical analysis of the tax incentives designed to encourage conservation easement donations and proposals to increase those incentives. This article ultimately concludes that a responsible approach to increasing the tax incentives is called for: Congress should increase the incentives only if some assurance can be had that the increase will be efficient, that land trusts and government agencies have the expertise and resources to appropriately screen and steward the anticipated additional easements, and that the increase will not encourage exploitation and abuse.


Abstract A synthetic protonic magadiite was used as a silica source to prepare zeolitic material (PLS-1) in the presence of tetramethylammonium hydroxide and water. The conversion of the protonic magadiite to the PLS-1 phase was achieved at 150°C after 5 days, or at 170°C after 3 days for SiO2: TMAOH:H2O molar ratios of 2.54:1:4.4. The synthesis of the pure PLS-1 phase depended also on the amounts of tetramethylammonium hydroxide and water used. Analysis by 29Si magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy confirmed the layered character of the PLS-1 phase with a resonance at −93 ppm, and its dehydroxylation-condensation process. The chemical formula of (TMA)2Si18O33(OH)6 for PLS-1 was refined with the Rietveld method and the tetrahedron-splitting model. The later model has been proposed to describe the presence of silanol defects in the layered structure of PLS-1. Upon calcinations of the PLS-1 phase at temperatures >400°C, the removal of TMA cations and dehydroxlyation of PLS-1 layers resulted in a three-dimensional structure phase identified as the CDS-1 phase, with a chemical formula of Si18O36. The CDS-1 phase exhibited a large specific surface area of 288 m2/g and microporous character, as indicated by the nitrogen adsorption isotherms. The temperature-programmed desorption profile of ammonia indicated that CDS-1 exhibited one weak type of acid sites, confirmed, by pyridine desorption studies, as weak Lewis acid sites.