The Council for Geoscience and the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO) conducted an investigation to determine the suitability of a proposed site for a new space geodetic observatory. The proposed site is located 5 km outside Matjiesfontein in a small depression, which will shield it from radio frequency interference. The position of the site is suitable for space geodetic observations due to many cloudless days (essential for laser ranging), clear skies and low atmospheric water vapour content, which is very common in the Great Karoo. Provisionally called the International Institute for Space Geodesy and Earth Observation (IISGEO), the station is envisaged to operate advanced space geodetic techniques as part of a global network.

The proposed site is close to the geological contact between sandstones and shales of the Cape and Karoo Supergroups. Geophysical, geotechnical and atmospheric measurements were included in the survey to test the geologic structure of the site. Geophysical investigations involved magnetic, electromagnetic and seismic refraction surveys that indicated the geology of the proposed terrain is relatively homogeneous and without obvious structures such as dykes and major faults. The geotechnical investigation consisted of eight backacter test pits and a terrain evaluation. Refusal depths were between a few centimetres and 0.5 m. An atmospheric and tropospheric investigation indicated low levels of atmospheric turbulence, a prerequisite for lunar and satellite laser ranging. Data gathered indicate that the site is suitable for the proposed site development.


In this study, raw coffee wastewater (CWW) was used as a complex substrate for anaerobic digestion. The inoculum adaptation stage, microbial diversity analysis and biomethane potential (BMP) tests were performed. A fast inoculum adaptation stage was used by the replacement of vinasse to CWW in an anaerobic sequential batch reactor (AnSBR) operated at mesophilic conditions. Illumina MiSeq sequencing was used to analyze the microbial diversity. While, BMP tests using inoculum adapted to CWW were carried out at different inoculum to substrate (I/S) ratios (2:1, 3:1 and 4:1, on a VS basis). Results show that the adaptability percentage was increased gradually until it reaches the highest theoretical value in a short time of 10 d; with a methane yield of 359.10 NmL CH4/g COD-removed; Methanobacterium beijingense was the most abundant microbial (75%) and the greatest specific methane production was achieved at I/S ratio 4:1, whereas the lowest was obtained at 2:1, with BMP values of 320 NmL CH4/g VS and 151 NmL CH4/g VS, respectively. In conclusion, gradual replacement of substrate was a feasible method to adapt the inoculum in a short time even using complex raw substrates, whereas in the BMP tests, the specific methane production was proportional to the initial amount of inoculum. Keywords—Fast inoculum adaptation, coffee wastewater, biomethane potential test, anaerobic digestion.


Abstract Over the past decade and a half, substantial resources were poured into the development of prisoner reentry programs. However, the excitement that surrounded the initial roll out of reentry programs has begun to wane from a lack of substantive change to the number of individuals who return to prison. Therefore, this article details the development of an intervention that can provide a new path forward for prisoner reentry programs. Informed by a rigorous process based on both theory and a thorough literature review of randomized controlled trials, evidence-driven interventions were identified and combined into a holistic reentry services approach.


The Multispecies Freshwater Biomonitor (MFB) has been identified as a system able to continuously monitor water quality through detection of changes in the movements of biota which may be caused by external stressors. In this study, behavioural changes of Daphnia magna and Hyalella azteca when exposed to tributyltin and atrazine were detected using the MFB. The applicability of the MFB to be used as a monitor of drinking water quality and the usefulness of the organisms in this automated system was determined. Neither contaminant brought about behavioural changes in either organism that were detectable by the MFB. While extensive literature indicated that this system was useful for field applications, this study concluded that the MFB is not yet able to detect contaminants entering a water system using the above test species. Future research is required to examine other species' ability to detect aquatic contaminants and the ability of the MFB to detect such responses.


Abstract Tribe Podalyrieae is a group of papilionoid legumes that are largely endemic to the Cape Floristic Region of South Africa, possessing fire survival strategies with both nonsprouting and sprouting species. A phylogenetic study of the tribe was undertaken using gene sequences obtained from the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) of nuclear ribosomal DNA as well as the plastid rbcL gene (107 species). Several clades were identified within the tribe. Subtribe Xiphothecinae consists of the genera Amphithalea and Xiphotheca. Subtribe Podalyriinae was paraphyletic. Based on the results of this study, Liparia (except L. calycina) and Podalyria are sister genera with Stirtonanthus sister to both of these. While Podalyria and Stirtonanthus are monophyletic, the monophyly of Liparia is still uncertain. Virgilia and Calpurnia are closely related and Cyclopia retains an isolated, monophyletic position within the tribe. Cadia is monophyletic and sister to the rest of the Podalyrieae. The placement of this genus has, until now, been uncertain due to their actinomorphic flowers that are unusual among papilionoid legumes. The data from this study indicate that actinomorphic flowers may be interpreted as an apomorphy for Cadia and it shares many characters with Podalyrieae. We therefore propose that Cadia be transferred to Podalyrieae from the paraphyletic tribe Sophoreae. The age of the root node of the tribe Podalyrieae s.s. was estimated at 30.5 ± 2.6 million years (Ma) using nonparametric rate smoothing (NPRS) and 34.7 Ma (confidence intervals: 25.1–44.1 Ma), using a Bayesian relaxed clock, indicating that a major radiation has taken place during the middle to late Miocene and early Pliocene. Finally, we found that nonsprouting species have a higher rate of molecular evolution than sprouting species.


In this study, a designed proportional-integral (PI) controller and a fuzzy logic controller (FLC) that fix the voltage amplitude to a constant value of 380 V and 50 Hz for loads supplied from a wind/battery hybrid energy system are explained and compared. The quality of the power produced by the wind turbine is affected by the continuous and unpredictable variations of the wind speed. Therefore, voltage-stabilizing controllers must be integrated into the system in order to keep the voltage magnitude and frequency constant at the load terminals, which requires constant voltage and frequency. A fuzzy logic-based controller to be used for the voltage control of the designed hybrid system is proposed and compared with a classical PI controller for performance validation. The entire designed system is modeled and simulated using MATLAB/Simulink GUI (graphical user interface) with all of its subcomponents.


Abstract Post-collisional magmatism in western Anatolia began in the Eocene, and has occurred in discrete pulses throughout the Cenozoic as it propagated from north to south, producing volcano-plutonic associations with varying chemical compositions. This apparent SW migration of magmatism and accompanying extension through time was a result of the thermally induced collapse of the western Anatolian orogenic belt, which formed during the collision of the Sakarya and Tauride–Anatolide continental blocks in the late Paleocene. The thermal input and melt sources for this prolonged magmatism were provided first by slab break-off-generated aesthenospheric flow, then by lithospheric delamination-related aesthenospheric flow, followed by tectonic extension-driven upward aesthenospheric flow. The first magmatic episode is represented by Eocene granitoid plutons and their extrusive carapace that are linearly distributed along the Izmir–Ankara suture zone south of the Marmara Sea. These suites show moderately evolved compositions enriched in incompatible elements similar to subduction zone-influenced subalkaline magmas. Widespread Oligo-Miocene volcanic and plutonic rocks with medium- to high-K calc-alkaline compositions represent the next magmatic episode. Partial melting and assimilation-fractional crystallization of enriched subcontinental lithospheric mantle-derived magmas were important processes in the genesis and evolution of the parental magmas, which experienced decreasing subduction influence and increasing crustal contamination during the evolution of the Eocene and Oligo-Miocene volcano-plutonic rocks. Collision-induced lithospheric slab break-off provided an influx of aesthenospheric heat and melts that resulted in partial melting of the previously subduction-metasomatized mantle lithosphere beneath the suture zone, producing the Eocene and Oligo-Miocene igneous suites. The following magmatic phase during the middle Miocene (16–14 Ma) developed mildly alkaline bimodal volcanic rocks that show a decreasing amount of crustal contamination and subduction influence in time. Both melting of a subduction-modified lithospheric mantle and aesthenospheric mantle-derived melt contribution played a significant role in the generation of the magmas of these rocks. This magmatic episode was attended by region-wide extension that led to the formation of metamorphic core complexes and graben systems. Aesthenospheric upwelling caused by partial delamination of the lithospheric root beneath the western Anatolian orogenic belt was likely responsible for the melt evolution of these mildly alkaline volcanics. Lithospheric delamination may have been caused by 'peeling off' during slab rollback. The last major phase of magmatism in the region, starting c.12 Ma, is represented by late Miocene to Quaternary alkaline to super-alkaline volcanic rocks that show OIB-like geochemical features with progressively more potassic compositions increasing toward south in time. These rocks are spatially associated with major extensional fault systems that acted as natural conduits for the transport of uncontaminated alkaline magmas to the surface. The melt source for this magmatic phase carried little or no subduction component and was produced by the decompressional melting of aesthenospheric mantle, which flowed in beneath the attenuated continental lithosphere in the Aegean extensional province. This time-progressive evolution of Cenozoic magmatism and extension in western Anatolia has been strongly controlled by the interplay between regional plate-tectonic events and the mantle dynamics, and provides a realistic template for post-collisional magmatism and crustal extension in many orogenic belts.


The growth of SiC single crystals from SiC saturated Co-Si molten alloy fluxes is reported. Experiments were performed by two routes: liquid phase sintering of CoSi/SiC and Si/Co/SiC powder compacts and melt infiltration of CoSi alloy into porous SiC powder preforms. Results showed that euhedral SiC crystals, many of which appeared as polygonal or plate shaped single crystals, grew from the SiC saturated CoSi molten alloy. The largest SiC crystals exceed half millimetre in size, after 25h of isothermal dwelling at 1700°C in the melt infiltration process. The nature of the growth mechanism, the crystal defects and the effects of constituent materials, temperature and time on the abnormal grain growth of SiC single crystals are further discussed.


In 2001, Statistics New Zealand conducted a major survey of the assets and liabilities of New Zealanders called the Household Savings Survey (HSS). This paper presents the results of an analysis of ownership and investment in housing based on the results of that survey. International comparisons suggest that the rates of home ownership, investment in property and housing debt levels in New Zealand are broadly comparable with those in Australia and the United States and with a wider set of countries. An exception is that younger age groups in New Zealand hold more investment property than their counterparts in the USA and Australia. In New Zealand almost one in ten couples owned rental property in 2001, while one in five owned some form of investment property. We examine the factors that govern tenure choice and gearing. Of note is the fact that 44% of couples and 56% of individual home owners have debt free residential properties. Households' balance sheets reflect the importance of housing for both assets and liabilities. We complement the analysis of the cross-sectional unit record data from the HSS with an analysis of housing taken from the households' aggregate balance sheets from 1978 to 2004 from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. We use these data to form a measure of household saving based on the stock of net equity. We then adjust this measure of savings for changes in house prices, and find that this adjustment explains almost two thirds of the difference between the stock and flow measure of household savings, the latter taken from the Household Income and Outlay Accounts. Furthermore we find that from 1980 to 2005 the annual average rate of household saving based on these estimates from household balance sheets was 12.4% of personal disposable income, after removing the effect of changes in house price. Arguably this is a preferable measure of household saving to the widely cited negative rates of household saving based on national income accounts. We further use the balance sheet data to estimate the extent to which households have apparently withdrawn equity from their housing assets for investment in other forms or consumption. We find that on average a rise of one dollar in housing net equity is associated with 10 cents of apparent equity withdrawal.


Accomplishing even simple tasks depend on neuronal circuits to configure how incoming sensory stimuli map onto responses. Controlling these stimulus-response (SR) mapping rules relies on a cognitive control network comprising the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Single neurons within the ACC convey information about currently relevant SR mapping rules and signal unexpected action outcomes, which can be used to optimize behavioral choices. However, its functional significance and the mechanistic means of interaction with other nodes of the cognitive control network remain elusive and poorly understood. Here, we report that core aspects of cognitive control are encoded by rhythmic theta-band activity within neuronal circuits in the ACC. Throughout task performance, theta-activity predicted which of two SR mapping rules will be established before processing visual target information. Task-selective theta-activity emerged particularly early during those trials, which required the adjustment of SR rules following an erroneous rule representation in the preceding trial. These findings demonstrate a functional correlation of cognitive control processes and oscillatory theta-band activity in macaque ACC. Moreover, we report that spike output of a subset of cells in ACC is synchronized to predictive theta-activity, suggesting that the theta-cycle could serve as a temporal reference for coordinating local task selective computations across a larger network of frontal areas and the hippocampus to optimize and adjust the processing routes of sensory and motor circuits to achieve efficient sensory-motor control.


Information on biogeographical composition and vertical distribution patterns of regional ant faunas in the Alps is relatively scarce. In this study I investigated species number, vertical distribution and zoogeographical composition of the ant fauna of Vorarlberg (Austria). A total number of 68 species and 4 subfamilies of ants were recorded in the region. Using information from literature these ant species were related to biogeographical elements and classes. The major part of the ant fauna is associated with the mixed and deciduous forest zone (58 %) and the coniferous forest zone (31 %). A few ant species belong to the Mediterranean zone (10 %). Regarding the biogeographical composition the regional ant fauna is dominated by North-Transpalaearctic (13 spp., 19 %), Boreomontane (7 spp., 10 %), EuroSiberian (13 spp., 19 %) and South-Palaearctic elements (7 spp., 10 %). Total species number and species numbers of biogeographical classes and elements were analysed relative to altitude. Total species number and species numbers of the class of mixed and deciduous forest and Mediterranean zone as well as the biogeographical elements of these classes decrease significantly with altitude. In the class of the coniferous forest zone, North-Transpalaearctic and Montane elements decrease at higher elevations, while Alpine-Endemic and Boreomontane elements increase with altitude.


"Foreword by Lou Dobbs One of the hottest, most controversial topics in the news is the outsourcing of American jobs to other countries. Outsourced jobs are extending well beyond the manufacturing sector to include white-collar professionals, particularly in information technology, financial services, and customer service. "Outsourcing America" reveals just how much outsourcing is taking place, what its impact is and will be, and what can be done about the loss of jobs. More than an expose, the book shows how outsourcing is part of the historical economic shifts toward globalism and free trade, and demonstrates the impact of outsourcing on individual lives and communities. The authors discuss policies that countries like India and China use to attract U.S. industries, and they offer frank recommendations that business and political leaders must consider in order to confront this snowballing crisis -- and bring more high-paying jobs back to the U.S."


Search using subgoal graphs is a recent preprocessing-based path-planning algorithm that can find shortest paths on 8-neighbor grids several orders of magnitude faster than A*, while requiring little preprocessing time and memory overhead. In this paper, we first generalize the ideas behind subgoal graphs to a framework that can be specialized to different types of environments (represented as weighted directed graphs) through the choice of a reachability relation. Intuitively, a reachability relation identifies pairs of vertices for which a shortest path can be found quickly. A subgoal graph can then be constructed as an overlay graph that is guaranteed to have edges only between vertices that satisfy the reachability relation, which allows one to find shortest paths on the original graph quickly. In the context of this general framework, subgoal graphs on grids use freespace-reachability (originally called h-reachability) as the reachability relation, which holds for pairs of vertices if and only if their distance on the grid with blocked cells is equal to their distance on the grid without blocked cells (freespace assumption). We apply this framework to state lattices by using variants of freespace-reachability as the reachability relation. We provide preliminary results on (x,y,theta)-state lattices, which shows that subgoal graphs can be used to speed up path planning on state lattices as well, although the speed-up is not as significant as it is on grids.


Morocco has become a permanent transit country for tens of thousands of sub-Saharan migrants heading to Europe. Many of these migrants are women who have a precarious legal status and can no longer reach Europe, whose borders have been considerably securitized since September 11, 2001. They also have no wish to risk their lives again returning south across the Sahara Desert. This paper discusses the results of an exploratory research project conducted in Morocco on the relationships between the sub-Saharan migrant women's traumatic experiences, social invisibility, and emotional distress in the context of a massive securitization of Euro-Mediterranean borders.


Determining who qualifies as a lawful object of attack in contemporary military operations against non-state belligerents is an increasingly demanding challenge. While it is axiomatic that only persons who qualify as either belligerents or civilians taking a direct part in hostilities fall into this category, the nature, and indeed goal, of counter-insurgencies blurs the line between civilians protected from deliberate attack and belligerents subject to attack. The difficulty in distinguishing the protected (civilians) from the unprotected (belligerents and civilians taking a direct part in hostilities) does not, however, warrant a fundamentally different targeting paradigm in counterinsurgency operations (a non-international armed conflict (NIAC)) than in international armed conflicts (IAC). This article rejects the increasing trend to treat all non-state actors as merely a conglomeration of civilians who take a direct part in hostilities, an approach which incentivizes non-compliance with the law of armed conflict (LOAC) and, perversely, dilutes civilian protection. Instead, this article argues that all belligerent operatives – those involved in not just IAC but also the more prevalent NIAC – are subject to status based targeting authority and the application of deadly force in the first instance. This flawed trend appears to be the result of the combined effect of the lack of an explicit definition of a combatant in NIAC, and misapplication of the International Committee of the Red Cross' (ICRC) endorsement of the concept of "continuous combat function" (CCF) as a means of establishing direct participation in hostilities and corresponding loss of civilian protection from attack. The effect of the CCF concept has made it more convenient to analyze the legality of attacking non-state actors through the DPH methodology than to assess whether such actors fall into a category of presumptively targetable belligerents subject to attack no differently than their IAC counterparts. The article offers a proposal of how to reconcile the ICRC's view with status based targeting presumptions: maintain the distinction integrity.The article begins by discussing the LOAC's categorization of civilians and belligerents (combatants in IAC), and how a lack of an explicit treaty definition of combatant in the NIAC context is an obstacle to acknowledging analogous categorization. The article then explores organizational membership and how subordination to command and control is the fundamental difference between belligerents and civilians in any armed conflict. The article next explains the difference between status and conduct based targeting and why a focus on conduct to assess belligerent status is merely a permutation of traditional status recognition analysis.The article then contrasts that approach by examining why the use of conduct undermines the extension of the ICRC's rule to define enemy belligerent forces. These problems result in the ICRC's arguably schizophrenic imposition of a minimum force requirement even when targeting those engaged in CCF. As the article details, the utility of CCF is not in assessing which civilians are taking a direct part in hostilities, but in determining when an individual appearing to be a civilian is in fact a belligerent operative of an armed organized group.Ultimately, the integrity of the target legality framework depends on the recognition of opposing belligerent groups in any armed conflict. This recognition facilitates implementation of the principle of distinction by allowing belligerent forces to segregate those they encounter into two distinct groups: those presumed hostile and therefore subject to immediate attack, and all others (civilians) presumed non-hostile and therefore protected from immediate attack. Neither of these presumptions is absolute; both may be rebutted based on the nature of the interaction with friendly forces. However, these presumptions add a modicum of clarity to an increasingly uncertain operational environment, clarity derived from the very nature of armed conflict and essential to protect both civilians and belligerents from the effects of overzealous or unjustifiably hesitant targeting authority


Today, there is a growing set of technologies being developed for information exchange in the construction industry. These range from Aspect Models in specific product areas to large scale integrated product models, to new languages such as EXPRESS-X and EXPRESS-2. The purpose of this paper is to sort out and review these various efforts, from several different perspectives:
 * in terms of what can be used now or in the near future in a production form;
 * in terms of the significant technical issues and limitations that may require generation changes in exchange technologies;
 * in terms of external business practices (reflecting case studies), practical benchmarks and adoption criteria, political and other externalities that are affecting these efforts.
 The survey will review the following issues:
 * current capabilities of ISO-STEP Part definitions to support information exchange in the building industry;
 * current efforts by IAI, BCCM in STEP, and other parallel activities and their potential contribution and pitfalls (problems to be overcome);
 * different current research efforts and the problems and solutions they identify, including COMBINE, EDM-2, VEGA, work at CIFE at Stanford University.
 Hitherto underdeveloped model aspects, such as capturing the semantics of the client's brief, or capturing design evolution (program, decisions and rationale), modeling performance assessments, and others such as relevant standards, construction site handling, etceteras will be reviewed and priorities assessed.
 Over the last ten years, the set of requirements that a building product model must meet in order to be accepted in practice as a significant 'productivity enhancement has incrementally expanded. That is, as various research goals have been set, then met, the true extent of the challenge for realizing production-based building product modeling has grown. We will review this expanding set of requirements and attempt to scope their final range. These requirements include, among other aspects:
 * 'semantic coverage',
 * level of interoperability across applications,
 * level of embedded project management control, and
 * maintained linkages to parallel 'unstructured' information flows, e.g. managed by Engineering Data Management and Document Management software.
 It will be argued that a viable growth scenario regarding the semantic coverage of building models is likely to be a determining factor in the way that CAD vendors will embrace these as the basis for developing the next generation of architectural CAD software.
 Priorities of development will be identified and compared with perceived market pulls. The perspective taken will emphasize the US point of view. However, we will endeavor to also weight significantly the European situation and efforts. The result of these perspectives will be to identify 2-3 scenarios of future evolution in the area of building product modeling, with an assessment of their likelihood of coming to be, and the critical issues needed to accomplish them.


Microalgae biotechnology has grown very rapidly in the last few decades due to the multiple applications that these microorganisms have from pharmaceuticals and cosmetics to foods/feeds and biofuels. One of the main challenges in expanding this industry is to enlarge the single use of the biomass produced in addition to reducing the high biomass production cost of the current technologies. To overcome this bottleneck, the development of microalgae-based biorefineries has been proposed. The issue is to obtain as many bioproducts as possible from the cultivated biomass, including biofuels. Consequently, biodiesel production (from the lipid fraction), bioethanol (from carbohydrate fraction), and biogas or bio-oil (from the whole biomass) have been posited. In this book chapter, we review the current state of the art in the production of sustainable biofuels from microalgae and analyze the potential of microalgae to contribute to the biofuel sector.


PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES
To examine whether primary caregivers' helping behaviors are predicted by their illness attribution reactions as proposed in Weiner's model.

DESIGN
Latent-variable structural equation modeling.

SETTING
Five oncology outpatient settings in central Canada.

SAMPLE
100 dyads consisting of patients with lung cancer and their primary caregivers.

METHODS
Self-report questionnaires, abstracted medical record data, confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation modeling.

MAIN RESEARCH VARIABLES
Smoking history, judgments of responsibility for controlling the disease, anger, pride, and helping behaviors.

FINDINGS
An interrelation was seen between judgments of responsibility toward patients to control aspects of the disease, affective reactions of anger and pride, and helping behavior. Anger and pride had a stronger influence on helping behavior than smoking history did.

CONCLUSIONS
Judgments of responsibility for controlling lung cancer and anger toward patients put caregivers at risk for dysfunctional helping behavior, particularly if patients had a history of tobacco use.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING
Primary caregivers' affective states directly affect their helping behavior toward patients with lung cancer. Clinicians should be aware that caregivers who perceive the patient to be largely responsible for managing the disease also may be angry toward that patient. Angry caregivers are at risk of providing suboptimal helping behavior.


In the paper we examine the issue of food systems in which farms participate in multiple networks that, for their part, tend also to be members of networks of networks. The issue is addressed through a descriptive analysis of the fruit sector in Emilia‐Romagna (Italy). The farms in the area tend to join a different network for each product/product type. Innovation networks are embedded in commercialization or input provider networks, but separate (parallel) networks also exist, particularly for basic research activities. Networks of networks are largely a product of the cooperative system. The paper concludes by emphasising the need for further research in multiple networking strategies and the connection between commercialisation networks and innovation.


The current standard approach to scaling transformer language models trains each model size from a different random initialization. As an alternative, we consider a staged training setup that begins with a small model and incrementally increases the amount of compute used for training by applying a"growth operator"to increase the model depth and width. By initializing each stage with the output of the previous one, the training process effectively re-uses the compute from prior stages and becomes more efficient. Our growth operators each take as input the entire training state (including model parameters, optimizer state, learning rate schedule, etc.) and output a new training state from which training continues. We identify two important properties of these growth operators, namely that they preserve both the loss and the"training dynamics"after applying the operator. While the loss-preserving property has been discussed previously, to the best of our knowledge this work is the first to identify the importance of preserving the training dynamics (the rate of decrease of the loss during training). To find the optimal schedule for stages, we use the scaling laws from (Kaplan et al., 2020) to find a precise schedule that gives the most compute saving by starting a new stage when training efficiency starts decreasing. We empirically validate our growth operators and staged training for autoregressive language models, showing up to 22% compute savings compared to a strong baseline trained from scratch. Our code is available at https://github.com/allenai/staged-training.


We propose a systematic procedure to optimize quantum state tomography protocols for continuous variable systems based on excitation counting preceded by a displacement operation. Compared with conventional tomography based on Husimi or Wigner function measurement, the excitation counting approach can significantly reduce the number of measurement settings. We investigate both informational completeness and robustness, and provide a bound of reconstruction error involving the condition number of the sensing map. We also identify the measurement settings that optimize this error bound, and demonstrate that the improved reconstruction robustness can lead to an order of magnitude reduction of estimation error with given resources. This optimization procedure is general and can incorporate prior information of the unknown state to further simplify the protocol.


A mobile ad hoc network comprises of many mobile wireless nodes. MANET is a self configuring network and such network can be organized easily without any base station. MANET can be very efficiently used in salvage related area, military and law enforcement. But it faces the issues of security and confidentiality, especially when used in susceptible areas. Safe routing protocols have been refined to provide protection and confidentiality at various levels for e.g. ALARM protocol (Anonymous Location Aided Routing) provides both privacy features and security which includes data virtue, node verification and obscurity. This network focuses on achieving the major security objectives which are Confidentiality, Authentication, Authorization and Integrity. In this book, we have proposed ALARM protocol in WSN environment which uses network time protocol synchronization and removes the malicious node from the network, hence preventing the network from attacks.


This paper explores the list as a tool forheritage preservation. The focus is on the extent to which a list is useful in and of itself, decoupled from any other forms of intervention. While considerable attention has been paid to the regulatory and incentive mechanisms that typically accompany listing, rather less attention has been paid to the act of listing as a tool in its own right. What is a list for? How do those who use it as a tool of historic preservation conceive of it? Is it merely a designation or is it an award? What are the intended reactions to the fact of listing ? What are the actual reactions ? What are the issues involved in compiling the list? Can a list be too long? Can it be too short? Is the listing process ultimately self-defeating? Under what conditions? Are there ways in which lists can be designed to increase their effectiveness as a preservation tool? These are the questions that this paper puts on the table for policy debate.


PANAYOTOV, N., 2014. Assessment of vitality potential and storability of pepper seeds by the method of accelerated ageing. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 20: 133-139 The object of the present study was to investigate the possibilities for evaluation of viability, vigour and storability of sample of pepper seeds with different origin by accelerated ageing test and to optimize the regime for its implementation. The experiments were carried out with varieties Kurtovska kapia 1619, Bulgarski rotund and Delikates, produced in three different regions Vardim, Stryama and Plovdiv. Accelerated ageing test was conducted by described method of ISTA. Three temperature regimes 350С, 400С and 450С and three periods 24, 48 and 72 hours were examined. After treatment, the seeds were subjected to standard germination test. The germination energy (first count), germination (final count), mean germination time, uniformity of germination, length of embryo root and hypocotyls, fresh and dry weight of seedlings and percentage of seedlings with deviation were analyzed. The optimum temperature regime about accelerated ageing of pepper seeds was established in temperature 400С for 48 hours. The initial seeds with best characteristics were these with origin from Varidim. Higher sensitivity to accelerated ageing demonstrated the seed of Bulgraski ratund, Vardim. The highest vigor and storability were established about seeds from variety Delikates from Vardim.


Admitted rehabilitation activity accounts for an increasing proportion of health care expenditure in Australia. This presentation describes the development of a tool to predict demand for rehabilitation care generated by acute inpatient episodes provided in Australian public sector facilities. Previous work by Dr Lynette Lee identified a set of "rehabilitation-sensitive AR-DRGs" , or AR-DRGs from which patients are more likely to require subsequent rehabilitation. In developing the predictive tool, this earlier work was extended, primarily by quantifying the degree of sensitivity and by incorporating the patient's age. The model uses variables, both clinical and demographic, found within routinely collected administrative data sets and could be used in routine service planning. Rehabilitation activity can be predicted as the number of episodes or the expected number of bed days. A strategy for "finding" additional bed days was proposed for situations where the prediction exceeds the current level of activity.


effect and actively search for it, particularly as acceptable alternative 'hypotensive agents are available. It must be borne in mind that in Sainsbury's 1967 inquiry into consummated suicide 2800 of the patients had been receiving hypotensive agents, including methyldopa.:) Therefore a previous history of mental depression must continue to be accepted as a contraindication to the exhibition of methyldopa.37 It is interesting to note that in the clinicopathological conference reported in the same issue (1 September, o. 480) depression as a side effect of methyldopa was not considered, though the patient became depressed while on methyldopa. Senile melancholia is a "common early manifestation of lurking neoplasia," but it would have been reasonable to exclude methyldopoa, if not as the cause, at least as a precipitating or exacerbating agent.-I am, etc.,


Microalgae are alternative source for biodiesel production due to the prospective high oil content in its cells and fast generation to yield a higher biomass. The focus of the study was to provide a feasibility study on the potential of a local isolated strain for biodiesel production comprising of cell growth, micro algae from the local ponds, which are grown in tubs at laboratory by open pond cultivation system with addition of nutrients to it, the grown algae dried under shade dry, weigh the amount of dried powder and extracted for the oils in the culture for the production of biodiesel, The dried sample was weighed and the sample was in extracted in Soxhlet extractor with the help of the solvents like n-hexane, chloroform and methanol (2:1) ratio. The solvents dissolved in lipped extract was evaporated by rotator evaporation system. Lipped extract remains in it eventually by transesterification, the pure biodiesel was obtained.


Because many livestock with avian influenza and foot and mouth disease have been disposed of at landfills, underground water contamination is a big problem for people living near these landfills as well as burial sites. Biological oxygen demand (BOD), NH 4 , total dissolved solids (TDS), chloride and potassium have been used as markers of contamination from the leachates of animal carcasses. However, livestock manure and vegetable oils from compost are also a source of these markers. In this study, we propose arachidonic acid (C20:4) as a specific indicator of leachates from animal carcasses, and the presence of arachidonic acid in underground water is suggested to be a potential marker of contamination from the leachates of animal carcasses. Based on the specific fatty acid composition, the fatty acid profiles of the carcass leachates, livestock manure and vegetable oil were examined, and multidimensional scaling (MDS) analyses of the fatty acids showed pronounced differences between the carcass leachates, livestock manure and vegetable oils in this study. MDS analyses of fatty acids can also be used as a potential indicator of contamination from the leachates of animal carcasses in groundwater.


International agreements, such as those governing arms control or the environment, virtually always require some degree of verification of information, in order that compliance can be established. To ensure that the verification process can be regarded as efficient, effective and impartial, it is important to have a mathematical model of it. One can be derived by applying methods from statistics and the theory of non-cooperative games, developed in part by John Nash, who received a Nobel prize in 1994 for his work. The methods permit the development of rational verification strategies, as well as such fundamental concepts as guaranteed probability of detection, timeliness of inspections and the deterrence of illegal activity. In this 1996 book, the required theory is introduced gradually in the context of specific real-world examples. The only prerequisites are simple calculus and statistics, so the book should be accessible to a broad range of scientists and non-scientists, in industrial, academic or governmental environments.


This article analyses the effects of skill in timing and skill in sizing on the Information Ratio (IR). The author shows that risk-adjusted returns can be decomposed into the Hit Ratio, the Win/Loss Ratio, and Breadth. The Hit Ratio represents skill in market timing and measures the relative frequency of investment decisions that prove correct. The Win/Loss Ratio represents skill in position sizing and measures the relative magnitude of profits versus losses. The results show that it is possible to realise positive IRs even when most investment decisions prove incorrect. The author allows for fat tails and shows that the theoretical results hold against empirical results from other papers and against simulations, also when the underlying assumptions are violated. The framework can be used to decompose skill underlying an investment process into a timing and sizing dimension.


Abstract This essay addresses the emerging field of Atlantic Studies and questions the status of "the Atlantic" as an object of study. Rather than assuming a self-evident grid where Atlantic cultural phenomena oscillate between such poles as "centers and peripheries," or "the colonizer and the colonized," I consider a different formulation of the Atlantic. Taking as a starting point an analysis of a poem by Tomás Morales, a modernista poet from the Canary Islands, my essay outlines the notion of "Atlantic nessologies." Three parallel departures are offered from this analysis: image (or the realm of the imaginary); territory (or spatial and geopolitical inscriptions of the Atlantic in western space-time); and value (or those ethical and political dimensions that can be drawn from Atlantic specificities). Critical engagements with the Atlantic, my essay concludes, can be anchored in "nessological" readings in which neither local, singular perspectives contained in islands, nor wider, more panoramic views of the Atlantic, ought to escape critics. Instead, the work of engaging the Atlantic from multiple perspectives and locations should express itself as a field of critical/political strategies coordinated against perennial re-inscriptions of Eurocentric totality.


A behavioral divide cuts across the Atlantic. Despite the recent surge of behavioral analysis in European academia, a scrutiny of decisions by courts and regulatory agencies in the US and the EU reveals striking differences: While in the US rulings by courts and regulatory agencies progressively take insights from behavioral economics into account, EU courts and agencies still, and even increasingly, cling to the rational actor model. These inverse trends can be uncovered in the interpretation of legal concepts of human agency, i.e., of those elements in a legal order which refer, implicitly or explicitly, to a model of rationality of human actors. More particularly, this paper reviews the concepts of consumers and of users, in consumer law and product liability respectively, to underscore the claim of the behavioral divide. Moreover, importantly, this divergence between EU and US private law theory and practice calls for a normative evaluation. In the face of empirical uncertainty about the existence, direction and intensity of biases, the most attractive legal concept of human agency is a pluralistic one, assuming the simultaneous presence of boundedly and fully rational actors. In concrete applications, this paper shows that a pluralistic perspective urges a revision of the concept of the reasonable consumer, both in US and EU consumer law. Furthermore, such a view leads to the adoption of a more boundedly rational user concept in product liability. The pluralistic, yet more boundedly rational concepts thus have far-reaching consequences both for private law theory and its concomitant case law.


Citizen participation is encouraged in a variety of areas of public policy, not least in urban regeneration projects. Resident involvement is seen as possessing the potential to improve the managerial efficiency of schemes, to increase their legitimacy, to offer developmental benefits to participants and the wider community, and to progress civil rights. Local people who appear uninterested in becoming involved in such initiatives pose a significant challenge to policymakers and practitioners in the field. It has been suggested that developing trust in relevant organisations, officials or other local residents may offer a potential solution to citizens' disengagement. Very little research has been conducted into trust and its relationship with participation in the field of urban regeneration.The thesis presents research which explores resident trust in regeneration officers and its relationship with participation. The research took place in Chandless and Dunston in Gateshead and in West Kensington, London. A sequential mixed methods approach was employed, consisting of three phases: 14 qualitative interviews with residents across all three areas; a self-completion resident questionnaire distributed to 1,566 households in the Dunston and West Kensington regeneration areas from which 144 questionnaires were returned; and a further 12 qualitative interviews with questionnaire respondents living in the West Kensington regeneration area.Drawing upon a constructionism-influenced model of trust, this thesis argues that the specific characteristics which contribute to perceived trustworthiness will vary dependent upon the specific party and scenario in question. Trust in regeneration officers was found to be more closely connected with perceived similarities, such as those of experience, perception, priorities and understanding, than the notions of technical competence associated with trust in some other fields. The findings also demonstrated that residents' interpersonal trust in regeneration officers may be unlikely either to encourage or dissuade participation in projects. Instead the thesis highlights the potential importance of "system trust" in regeneration, where residents' more generalised trust in the entire network of relevant parties to be receptive, based upon their past experience of participatory mechanisms, is the important element in generating their involvement. In addition, the research makes wider contributions to knowledge in relation to interpersonal trust, public participation and professionalism in regeneration.


The emergence of cloud-based storage services is opening up new avenues in data exchange and data dissemination. This has amplified the interest in right-protection mechanisms to establish ownership in the event of data leakage. Current right-protection technologies, however, rarely provide strong guarantees on dataset utility after the protection process. This work presents techniques that explicitly address this topic and provably preserve the outcome of certain mining operations. In particular, we take special care to guarantee that the outcome of hierarchical clustering operations remains the same before and after right protection. Our approach considers all prevalent hierarchical clustering variants: single-, complete-, and average-linkage. We imprint the ownership in a dataset using watermarking principles, and we derive tight bounds on the expansion/contraction of distances incurred by the process. We leverage our analysis to design fast algorithms for right protection without exhaustively searching the vast design space. Finally, because the right-protection process introduces a user-tunable distortion on the dataset, we explore the possibility of using this mechanism for data obfuscation. We quantify the tradeoff between obfuscation and utility for spatiotemporal datasets and discover very favorable characteristics of the process. An additional advantage is that when one is interested in both right-protecting and obfuscating the original data values, the proposed mechanism can accomplish both tasks simultaneously.


Shrinking the size of a solid down to nanometer scale is indeed fascinating, which makes all the otherwise constant physical quantities to be tunable such as the Young's modulus, dielectric constant, melting point, etc. The variation of size also generates novel properties that can hardly be seen in the bulk such as the conductor-insulator and nonmagnetic-magnetic transition of noble metals at the nanoscale. Although the physics of materials at the nanoscale has been extensively investigated, the laws governing the energetic and dynamic behavior of electrons at such a scale and their consequences on the tunable physical properties of nanostructures have not been well understood [C. Q. Sun, Prog Solid State Chem 35, 1-159 (2007); Prog Mater Sci 54, 179-307 (2009)]. The objective of the contribution is to update the recent progress in dealing with the coordination-resolved energetic and dynamic behavior of bonds in the low-dimensional systems with consideration of the joint effect of temperature and pressure. It is shown that the broken-bond-induced local strain and the associated charge and energy quantum trapping at the defect sites perturbs the atomic cohesive energy, electroaffinity, the Hamiltonian and the associated properties of entities ranging from point defects, surfaces, nanocavities and nanostructures. Application of the theories to observations has led to consistent understanding of the behavior of nanometer-sized materials and the interdependence of these entities as well as the means of determining the bond energy through the temperature-dependent measurements.


In this study, we present RainNet, a deep convolutional neural network for radar-based precipitation nowcasting. Its design was inspired by the U-Net and SegNet families of deep learning models, which were originally designed for binary segmentation tasks. RainNet was trained to predict continuous precipitation intensities at a lead time of 5 min, using several years of quality-controlled weather radar composites provided by the German Weather Service (DWD). That data set covers Germany with a spatial domain of 900km× 900 km and has a resolution of 1 km in space and 5 min in time. Independent verification experiments were carried out on 11 summer precipitation events from 2016 to 2017. In order to achieve a lead time of 1 h, a recursive approach was implemented by using RainNet predictions at 5 min lead times as model inputs for longer lead times. In the verification experiments, trivial Eulerian persistence and a conventional model based on optical flow served as benchmarks. The latter is available in the rainymotion library and had previously been shown to outperform DWD's operational nowcasting model for the same set of verification events. RainNet significantly outperforms the benchmark models at all lead times up to 60 min for the routine verification metrics mean absolute error (MAE) and the critical success index (CSI) at intensity thresholds of 0.125, 1, and 5 mmh−1. However, rainymotion turned out to be superior in predicting the exceedance of higher intensity thresholds (here 10 and 15 mmh−1). The limited ability of RainNet to predict heavy rainfall intensities is an undesirable property which we attribute to a high level of spatial smoothing introduced by the model. At a lead time of 5 min, an analysis of power spectral density confirmed a significant loss of spectral power at length scales of 16 km and below. Obviously, RainNet had learned an optimal level of smoothing to produce a nowcast at 5 min lead time. In that sense, the loss of spectral power at small scales is informative, too, as it reflects the limits of predictability as a function of spatial scale. Beyond the lead time of 5 min, however, the increasing level of smoothing is a mere artifact – an analogue to numerical diffusion – that is not a property of RainNet itself but of its recursive application. In the context of early warning, the smoothing is particularly unfavorable since pronounced features of intense precipitation tend to get lost over longer lead times. Hence, we propose several options to address this issue in prospective research, including an adjustment of the loss function for model training, model training for longer lead times, and the prediction of threshold exceedance in terms of a binary segmentation task. Furthermore, we suggest additional input data that could help to better identify situations with imminent precipitation dynamics. The model code, pretrained weights, and training data are provided in open repositories as an input for such future studies.


Background: The relation between central obesity epidemic and food consumption strategies has drawn attention towards understanding its complexity. The aim of our study is to evaluate clinical and nutritional aspects of women with central obesity in Salvador, Bahia. Methods: The study was done in 89 adult women with waist circumference > 84 cm after individualized outpatient consultations for 48 months (2012 - 2015). Direct interviews were performed with the application of three R24h recalls to evaluation of food consumption in relation to macronutrients, fiber and energy. The biochemical variables were determined in the blood collected with a 12-h fasting period. Results: There was a significant reduction in the waistline circumference baseline and final values, associated to a reduction in body fat percentage and a significant increase in body water. A significant reduction was observed in the consumption of carbohydrates in parallel to an increase in the consumption of fibers and 55 times in the percentage of consumption of lipids, in addition to a significant reduction in the baseline and final values of glycosylated hemoglobin, fasting glycemia and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). Conclusions: It was observed that outpatient care with emphasis in the quality of the diet was capable of reducing anthropometric and clinical variables attributed to the development of illnesses associated with central obesity. J Endocrinol Metab. 2018;8(4):69-75 doi: https://doi.org/10.14740/jem516w


This work advances the understanding of compensation demanded for environmental impacts on atmosphere, lakes and rivers, soil, and ocean generated by mining, urban, fishing and agriculture activities. Our aims are to determine whether compensation demanded depends on the standard variables used in the field of risk perception (as perceived risk, public acceptability and trust in regulating authorities), and to explore whether these relationships depend on the environment affected and on the economic activity generating the impacts. General Linear Models were used to analyze survey responses from 427 citizens of Santiago, Chile. Results showed that compensation demanded depends on perceived risk, acceptability, and on the economic activity, but not on the environment affected. Acceptability depends on trust in authorities, on perceived risk and on the economic activity. Perceived risk depends on trust, the economic activity and the environment affected. Overall, environmental impacts from the mining industry are perceived as riskier, less acceptable, and have a higher compensation demanded than those generated by the other sectors. These results suggest that to achieve sustainable development, regulations should consider not only environmental impacts but also the economic activity originating them.


Calcium in milk products stimulates gastric acid secretion and inhibits the cytolytic activity of intestinal contents. Based on these effects, it was hypothesised that calcium might lessen the severity of food borne intestinal infections. The possible differential effects of a low calcium milk and normal milk products (milk, acidified milk, and pasteurised yoghurt) on the resistance of rats to a salmonella infection was therefore studied. Rats were infected orally with Salmonella enteritidis just after food consumption. The first day after infection, faecal salmonella counts of the yoghurt fed rats were significantly lower than those of the other groups. Thereafter, faecal salmonella excretion declined rapidly in all high calcium groups, whereas rats fed the low calcium milk continued to excrete high numbers of salmonella. The reduced colonisation resistance to salmonella of rats fed low calcium milk might be caused by the high cytolytic activity of faecal water or a high iron concentration in faecal water, already present before infection, or both. The reduced resistance of these rats corresponded with a large infection induced increase in the cytolytic activity of faecal water, an appreciable reduction in apparent iron absorption, and a large increase in faecal mucin and alkaline phosphatase excretion. In yoghurt fed rats, only minor infection induced changes in luminal parameters were noticed. The rats fed milk and acidified milk always showed intermediate reactions. In conclusion, in addition to fermentation by yoghurt bacteria, calcium in milk products strongly enhanced the resistance to salmonella infection by lowering luminal cytolytic activity or diminishing the availability of iron for pathogen growth, or both.


Mechanics of structure genome (MSG) is a unified homogenization theory that
provides constitutive modeling of three-dimensional (3D) continua, beams and plates.
In present work, the author extends the MSG to study the buckling of structures such
as stiffened and sandwich panels. Such structures are usually slender or flat and easily
buckle under compressive loads or bending moments which may result in catastrophic
failure.Buckling studies of stiffened and sandwich panels are found to be scattered. Most
of the existed theories employ unnecessary assumptions or only apply to certain types
of structures. There are few unified approaches that are capable of studying the
buckling of different kinds of structures altogether. The main improvements of current
approach compared with other methods in the literature are avoiding unnecessary
assumptions, the capability of predicting all possible buckling modes including the
global and local buckling modes, and the potential in studying the buckling of various
types of structures.For global buckling that features small local rotations, MSG mathematically decouples
the 3D geometrical nonlinear problem into a linear constitutive modeling using
structure genome (SG) and a geometrical nonlinear problem defined in a macroscopic
structure. As a result, the original structures are simplified as macroscopic structures
such as beams, plates or continua with effective properties, and the global buckling
modes are predicted on macroscopic structures. For local buckling that features
finite local rotations, Green strain is introduced into the MSG theory to achieve geometrically nonlinear constitutive modeling. Newton's method is used to solve
the nonlinear equilibrium equations for fluctuating functions. To find the bifurcated
fluctuating functions, the fluctuating functions are then perturbed under the Bloch-periodic
boundary conditions. The bifurcation is found when the tangent stiffness
associated with the perturbed fluctuating functions becomes singular. Moreover, the
arc-length method is introduced to solve the nonlinear equilibrium equations for post-local-buckling
predictions because of its robustness. The imperfection is included in
the form of geometrical imperfection by superimposing the scaled buckling modes in
linear perturbation analysis on mesh.Extensive validation case studies are carried out to assess the accuracy of the
MSG theory in global buckling analysis and post-global-buckling analysis, and assess
the accuracy of the extended MSG theory in local buckling and post-local-buckling
analysis. Results using MSG theory and extended MSG theory in buckling analysis
are compared with direct numerical solutions such as 3D FEA results and results in
literature. Parametric studies are performed to reveal the relative influence of selective
geometric parameters on buckling behaviors. The extended MSG theory is also
compared with representative volume element (RVE) analysis with Bloch-periodic
boundary conditions using commercial finite element packages such as Abaqus to
assess the efficiency and accuracy of the present approach.


This study aimed to identify the correlation between the volunteering on Pemberdayaan dan Kesejahteraan Keluarga (PKK - Empowerment and Family Welfare) and subjective wellbeing (SWB). Participants of this study were 78 women who volunteered at PKK organization, in TDU Urban-Village, Jakarta. Researchers argued that the higher rate of volunteering in PKK would increase the subjective well-being of women as volunteer at PKK. Data was collected by using the SWB questionnaire and hours of participations per week. SWB was differentiated as life satisfaction and happiness. The results showed that there were insignificant correlations between the hours of participation with life satisfaction (r = -.049, p = .335>.05) and happiness (r = -.060. p = .302>.05). Previous studies stated being a volunteer increased SWB because the volunteers could channel their help through voluntary activities, thus they felt they had contributed to social welfare and increased their SWB level. Participants in this study lived closely with their relatives; therefore they were able to channel their help by taking care of their grand-child instead. Life satisfaction and happiness of the participants were high. In accordance with the results, researchers suggested to evaluate PKK's programs to meet the SWB of volunteers.


The common genetic variants associated with complex traits typically lie in noncoding DNA and may alter gene regulation in a cell type-specific manner. Consequently, the choice of tissue or cell model in the dissection of disease associations is important. We carried out an expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) study of primary human osteoblasts (HOb) derived from 95 unrelated donors of Swedish origin, each represented by two independently derived primary lines to provide biological replication. We combined our data with publicly available information from a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of bone mineral density (BMD). The top 2000 BMD-associated SNPs (P < approximately 10(-3)) were tested for cis-association of gene expression in HObs and in lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs) using publicly available data and showed that HObs have a significantly greater enrichment (threefold) of converging cis-eQTLs as compared to LCLs. The top 10 BMD loci with SNPs showing strong cis-effects on gene expression in HObs (P = 6 x 10(-10) - 7 x 10(-16)) were selected for further validation using a staged design in two cohorts of Caucasian male subjects. All 10 variants were tested in the Swedish MrOS Cohort (n = 3014), providing evidence for two novel BMD loci (SRR and MSH3). These variants were then tested in the Rotterdam Study (n = 2090), yielding converging evidence for BMD association at the 17p13.3 SRR locus (P(combined) = 5.6 x 10(-5)). The cis-regulatory effect was further fine-mapped to the proximal promoter of the SRR gene (rs3744270, r(2) = 0.5, P = 2.6 x 10(-15)). Our results suggest that primary cells relevant to disease phenotypes complement traditional approaches for prioritization and validation of GWAS hits for follow-up studies.


For over 50 years one family dominated England's high offices of state. William and Robert Cecil, father and son, held unparalleled power as statesmen, diplomats, counsellors and spymasters throughout Elizabeth's reign and long beyond. From Privy Councillor to Chief Secretary of State and Lord High Treasurer, both exerted far-reaching influence to secure the Queen's realm and legacy. They enjoyed her reliance and trust, and Robert the gratitude of her successor James I, yet each inhabited a perilous world where favour brought enemies and a wrong step could lead to disaster. In "The Cecils", David Loades reveals the personal and political lives of these remarkable men. He shows how father and son negotiated volatile court life, battling flamboyant favourites like Robert Dudley and the ill-fated Earl of Essex and playing for time to stabilise a country still torn by religious divide. He discovers the contradictory characters of these advocates of caution who nevertheless took great personal risks, such as William's role in the execution of Mary Queen of Scots and Robert's secret negotiations with James VI of Scotland before Elizabeth's death. Yet these principled public servants - who put the interests of the State before their own - still amassed large personal wealth, and relished its display at their great houses of Burghley, Theobalds and Hatfield. From the early days of turmoil, when William escaped the fate of Thomas Seymour and honed his strategies for survival, to the shadowy intrigues of the Jacobean court, this is a fascinating portrait of men who shaped an extraordinary age.


Part tutorial, part reference guide, this book will show you how to create and manage reports as well as identify the most appropriate reporting tool for any reporting challenge. In addition, you will learn universal topics such as how to locate data for any given report. Although some of the reporting tools addressed in this book are exclusive to Dynamics GP 2010, many of the topics discussed also apply to older versions of GP. If you are a Microsoft Dynamics GP developer, consultant, or power user who wants to create and manage reports, then this book is for you. A working knowledge of Microsoft Dynamics GP is required. A basic understanding of business management systems and reporting applications such as Microsoft Excel and SQL Reporting Services is highly recommended.


Information Systems (IS) continued use theories have typically excluded a role for effort expectancy and similar constructs arguing that they do not impact the intentions of experienced users. This may not hold true for an emerging class of information systems that we refer to as High Maintenance Information Systems (HMIS). HMIS are a class of information systems that require users to expend an ongoing maintenance effort in order to keep the system up-to-date so they can continue to reap future benefits out of using the system. This ongoing maintenance effort is unlikely to significantly diminish as users gain further experience. The proposed study seeks to develop a theoretical model that explains the factors influencing individuals' continued use of such systems taking into account the potential role of perceived maintenance effort. The proposed model will be validated using a survey design involving experienced Facebook users. Collected data will be analyzed using structural equation modeling and qualitative data analysis techniques.


The market segment of hybrid-electric and full function electric vehicles is growing within the automotive transportation sector. While many papers exist concerning fuel economy or fuel consumption and the limitations of conventional powertrains, little published work is available for vehicles which use grid electricity as an energy source for propulsion. Generally, the emphasis is put solely on the average drive cycle efficiency for the vehicle with very little thought given to propelling and braking powertrain losses for individual components. The modeling section of this paper will take basic energy loss equations for vehicle speed and acceleration, along with component efficiency information to predict the grid energy consumption in AC Wh/km for a given drive cycle. This paper explains how to calculate the forces experienced by a vehicle while completing a drive cycle in three different ways: using vehicle characteristics, United States Environmental Protection Agency"s (EPA) Dynamometer "target" coefficients, and an adaptation of the Sovran parameters. Once the vehicle forces are determined, power and energy demands at the wheels are determined. The vehicle power demands are split into propelling, braking, and idle to aide in the understanding of what it takes to move a vehicle and to identify possible areas for improvement. Then, using component efficiency data for various parameters of interest, the energy consumption of the vehicle as a pure EV is supplied in both DC (at the battery terminals) and AC (from the electric grid) Wh/km. The energy that flows into and out of each component while the vehicle is driving along with the losses at each step along the way of the energy path are detailed and explained. The final goal is to make the results of the model match the vehicle for any driving schedule. Validation work is performed in order to take the model estimates for efficiencies and correlate them against real world data. By using the Virginia Tech Range Extended Crossover (VTREX) and collecting data from testing, the parameters that the model is based on will be correlated with real world test data. The paper presents a propelling, braking, and net energy weighted drive cycle averaged efficiency that can be used to calculate the losses for a given cycle. In understanding the losses at each component, not just the individual efficiency, areas for future vehicle improvement can be identified to reduce petroleum energy use and greenhouse gases. The electric range of the vehicle factors heavily into the Utility Weighted fuel economy of a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, which will also be addressed.


Although advances in the management of children with congenital cholestasis have enabled many to survive into adulthood with their native livers, even the most common of these conditions remains rare in adult hepatology practice. Among four congenital cholestatic syndromes (biliary atresia, Alagille syndrome, Caroli disease and congenital hepatic fibrosis, and progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis), the published data on outcomes of the syndromes into adulthood suggest that a spectrum of severity of liver disease can be expected, from cirrhosis (almost universal in adults with biliary atresia who have not required liver transplantation) to mild and subclinical (eg, in the previously undiagnosed affected parent of an infant with Alagille syndrome). Complications associated with portal hypertension and nutritional deficiencies are common, and other associated features of the cholestatic syndrome may require appropriate attention, such as congenital heart disease in Alagille syndrome. Indications for liver transplantation include synthetic failure, progressive encephalopathy, intractable pruritus, recurrent biliary sepsis and recurrent complications of portal hypertension. Improved understanding of biliary physiology will hopefully translate into improved therapy for children and adults with cholestasis.


Background: Repeated administration of anxiety sensitivity measures can often produce declining scores, even in ostensible control groups, which is a significant concern for researchers. The reasons for these changes are as yet unknown, but could be because of regression to the mean in samples selected on extreme scores, exposure to general information about anxiety contained in psychiatric interviews, or mere exposure to anxiety sensitivity information. Methods: This study sought to experimentally evaluate these potential explanations using a comprehensive measure of anxiety sensitivity and its subcomponents, a non‐anxiety sensitivity measure (self‐esteem), and participants representing the full spectrum of anxiety sensitivity. Results: Results indicated significant decreases in anxiety sensitivity scores (but not self‐esteem scores) that could not be accounted for by regression to the mean or exposure to information about anxiety in general. Conclusions: Several potential explanations for these findings are reviewed and implications for research study designs are discussed. Depression and Anxiety, 2009. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


The pandemic crisis has accelerated the entry of financial technology ("fintech") firms into the banking industry. Some of the new fintech banks are owned or controlled by commercial enterprises. Affiliations between commercial firms and fintech banks raise fresh concerns about the dangers of mixing banking and commerce. Recent scandals surrounding the failures of Wirecard and Greensill Capital (Greensill) reveal the potential magnitude of those perils.

 The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) have encouraged commercial enterprises to acquire fintech banks. The FDIC has authorized commercial firms to acquire FDIC-insured industrial banks in reliance on a controversial loophole in the Bank Holding Company Act (BHC Act). The OCC is seeking to charter nondepository fintech national banks, which commercial firms could own under a separate exemption in the BHC Act. The FDIC's and OCC's initiatives undermine – and could potentially destroy – the BHC Act's longstanding policy of separating banking and commerce.

 The disasters at Wirecard and Greensill demonstrate the importance of maintaining a strict separation between banking and commerce. Regulators in Germany and other countries allowed banks controlled by Wirecard and Greensill to engage in risky and abusive transactions that benefited their parent companies and other related parties, including commercial firms connected to their major investors. Wirecard Bank provided financial support to its parent company and CEO, and it also made fraudulent transfers of funds to insiders and their controlled entities. Greensill Bank made preferential and unsound loans that benefited its parent company and leading investors. Greensill Bank securitized many of its reckless loans, and Greensill Capital sold the resulting asset-backed securities as "safe" and "liquid" investments to misinformed investors.

Regulators failed to take timely enforcement actions against Wirecard and Greensill because they did not exercise consolidated supervisory authority over the complex international structures created by both firms. In addition, Wirecard and Greensill built extensive networks of influence that produced significant political favors and regulatory forbearance in Germany and the U.K. The collapse of Wirecard and Greensill embarrassed government agencies and inflicted massive losses on investors, creditors, and other stakeholders.

 The failures of Wirecard and Greensill provide clear warnings about the dangers of allowing fintechs to offer banking services while evading prudential regulatory requirements and supervisory standards that apply to traditional banks and their corporate owners. Regulators and policymakers should not allow fintechs' claims of "innovation" to serve as a rationale for regulatory arbitrage and as camouflage for fraud. Both disasters show that high-tech firms engaged in banking and commercial activities are likely to create the same unacceptable hazards as previous banking-and-commercial conglomerates, including toxic conflicts of interest, reckless lending, dangerous concentrations of economic power and political influence, supervisory blind spots, and systemic threats to economic and financial stability.


We have performed gas-phase absorption spectroscopy in the Soret-band region of chlorophyll (Chl) a and b tagged by quaternary ammonium ions together with time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) calculations. This band is the strongest in the visible region of metalloporphyrins and an important reporter on the microenvironment. The cationic charge tags were tetramethylammonium, tetrabutylammonium, and acetylcholine, and the dominant dissociation channel in all cases was breakage of the complex to give neutral Chl and the charge tag as determined by photoinduced dissociation mass spectroscopy. Two photons were required to induce fragmentation on the time scale of the experiment (microseconds). Action spectra were recorded where the yield of the tag as a function of excitation wavelength was sampled. These spectra are taken to represent the corresponding absorption spectra. In the case of Chl a we find that the tag hardly influences the band maximum which for all three tags is at 403 ± 5 nm. A smaller band with maximum at 365 ± 10 nm was also measured for all three complexes. The spectral quality is worse in the case of Chl b due to lower ion beam currents; however, there is clear evidence for the absorption being to the red of that of Chl a (most intense peak at 409 ± 5 nm) and also a more split band. Our results demonstrate that the change in the Soret-band spectrum when one peripheral substituent (CH3) is replaced by another (CHO) is an intrinsic effect. First principles TD-DFT calculations agree with our experiments, supporting the intrinsic nature of the difference between Chl a and b and also displaying minimal spectral changes when different charge tags are employed. The deviations between theory and experiment have allowed us to estimate that the Soret-band absorption maxima in vacuo for the neutral Chl a and Chl b should occur at 405 nm and 413 nm, respectively. Importantly, the Soret bands of the isolated species are significantly blueshifted compared to those of solvated Chl and Chl-proteins. The protein microenvironment is certainly not innocent of perturbing the electronic structure of Chls.


A study of the relation of religion and political thought during the English Revolution, Mark R. Bell's Apocalypse How? challenges earlier historical claims that early Baptists "hardly had any political opinions at all". This reexamination demonstrates that Baptists were close to the secular radicals who became known as the Levellers and to the more religious revolutionaries known as the Fifth Monarchists. The reintegration of the religious and political aspects of their thought reveals Baptists as a movement capable of generating support for both radical groups.In clear and lively prose, Bell discusses the transformation of Baptists from an aggressively critical sect to one more accommodating to its larger culture. This development is identified with two changes in Baptist views of the end time. The first of these was an overall decline in eschatological enthusiasm during the 1640s, while the second was the way apocalyptic language among Baptists gradually came to refer more to endorsing society than to transforming it. This engaging study is a solid contribution to the historiography of the earliest Baptists.


In this paper we examine the persistent effects of past wages of displaced workers on the probability of finding a new job and on wages in the new job. We use a new database looking at the post-displacement experience of a sample of Belgian workers who have lost their jobs because of a sizeable reduction in the work-force of their firm. We decompose past wages into a market return to human capital, a firm-specific component (the `firm effect'), and an individual component. We develop an information model of wages and test its predictions. These predictions are validated by the evidence on subsequent wages. We also find that spells of unemployment are long, but that re-employed workers suffer limited wage losses on re-employment. This suggests that some institutional constraints prevent wages from falling.


Friedman (1962) suggested that in general, unfettered markets ensure the efficient provision of goods and services. Applying this logic to Education, he recommended that students be provided with vouchers and allowed to purchase schooling services in a free market ((Friedman (1955, 1962)). Hoxby (2002) refines this argument and suggests that more choice will lead to higher school productivity. We discuss the evidence in this area, concluding that the impact of competition has proven to be more mixed and modest than expected. We suggest that this in fact should not be surprising, since economic theory on incentives and incomplete contracts (beginning with many contributions also from the 1950s) leads to a more nuanced expectation. Specifically, an examination of the incentives faced by schools, parents, and students leads to predictions that are broadly consistent with the evidence, and suggests that there is no a priori reason to believe that school choice will dramatically improve test scores. We describe a simple model that illustrates this point and further implies that elements of market design might be necessary to ensure that competition enhances educational performance.


This paper argues that immigration has varying implications for attitudes about government redistribution depending on the level at which immigration is experienced. Working in occupations with higher shares of foreign-born employees can raise individual economic insecurities in ways that might overwhelm the way high foreign-born shares of the population can reduce solidarity or increase fiscal burdens. Hence, experiencing more immigration in one's occupation might more positively affect support for government redistribution than does experiencing more national-level immigration. We test this and other expectations on survey data in 17 European polities, focused on occupational and national measures of immigration. While national-level exposure to foreign-born populations tends to have little effect on support for government redistribution, occupational-level exposure to immigration tends to spur such support. These results suggest that immigration directly influences the politics of inequality, but in ways more complicated than recent scholarship suggests.


Trust management systems are trust infrastructures that support authorization for security-critical actions in decentralized environments. In this paper we describe an extension suitable for multi-domain applications in variable-threat environments that allows for temporary adjustments of trust levels in response to elevated threat levels, and which can be reversed without compromising actions that took place during such periods-we term this, rollback-access. We argue that a rollback-access capability is an essential feature for security-critical applications, and propose a working prototype for an agent based implementation.


Field-proven MPLS designs covering MPLS VPNs, pseudowire, QoS, traffic engineering, IPv6, network recovery, and multicast Understand technology applications in various service provider and enterprise topologies via detailed design studies Benefit from the authors' vast experience in MPLS network deployment and protocol design Visualize real-world solutions through clear, detailed illustrations Design studies cover various operator profiles including an interexchange carrier (IXC), a national telco deploying a multiservice backbone carrying Internet and IP VPN services as well as national telephony traffic, an international service provider with many POPs all around the globe, and a large enterprise relying on Layer-3 VPN services to control communications within and across subsidiaries Design studies are thoroughly explained through detailed text, sample configurations, and network diagramsDefinitive MPLS Network Designs provides examples of how to combine key technologies at the heart of IP/MPLS networks. Techniques are presented through a set of comprehensive design studies. Each design study is based on characteristics and objectives common to a given profile of network operators having deployed MPLS and discusses all the corresponding design aspects.The book starts with a technology refresher for each of the technologies involved in the design studies. Next, a series of design studies is presented, each based on a specific hypothetical network representative of service provider and enterprise networks running MPLS. Each design study chapter delivers four elements. They open with a description of the network environment, including the set of supported services, the network topology, the POP structure, the transmission facilities, the basic IP routing design, and possible constraints. Then the chapters present design objectives, such as optimizing bandwidth usage. Following these are details of all aspects of the network design, covering VPN, QoS, TE, network recovery, and-where applicable-multicast, IPv6, and pseudowire. The chapters conclude with a summary of the lessons that can be drawn from the design study so that all types of service providers and large enterprise MPLS architects can adapt aspects of the design solution to their unique network environment and objectives.Although network architects have many resources for seeking information on the concepts and protocols involved with MPLS, there is no single resource that illustrates how to design a network that optimizes their benefits for a specific operating environment. The variety of network environments and requirements makes it difficult to provide a one-size-fits-all design recommendation. Definitive MPLS Network Designs fills this void."This book comes as a boon to professionals who want to understand the power of MPLS and make full use of it."-Parantap Lahiri, Manager, IP Network Infrastructure Engineering, MCIIncludes a FREE 45-Day Online EditionThis book is part of the Networking Technology Series from Cisco Press®, which offers networking professionals valuable information for constructing efficient networks, understanding new technologies, and building successful careers.


Automatic feature extraction still remains a relevant image and signal processing problem even tough both the field and technologies are developing rapidly. Images of low quality, where it is extremely difficult to reliably process image information automatically, are of special interest. To such images we can refer forensic fingerprints, which are left unintentionally on different surfaces andare contaminated by several of the most difficult noise types. For this reason, identification of fingerprints is mainly based on the visual skills of forensic examiners. We address the problem caused by low quality in fingerprints by connecting different sources of information together, yielding dense frequency and orientation maps in an iterative scheme. This scheme comprises smoothing ofthe original, but only along, ideally never across, the ridges. Reliable estimation of dense maps allows to introduce a continuous fingerprint ridge counting technique. In fingerprint scenario the collection of irrefutable tiny details, e.g. bifurcation of ridges, called minutiae, is used to tie the pattern of such points and their tangential directions to the finger producing the pattern. This limited feature set, location and direction of minutiae, is used in current AFIS systems, while fingerprint examiners use the extended set of features, including the image information between the points. With reasonably accurate estimationsof dense frequency and orientation maps at hand, we have been able to propose a novel compact feature descriptor of arbitrary points. We have used these descriptors to show that the image information between minutiae can be extracted automatically and be valuable for identity establishment of forensic images even if the underlying images are noisy. We collect and compress the image information in the neighborhoods of the fine details, such as minutiae, to vectors, one per minutia, and use the vectors to "color" the minutiae. When matching two patterns (of minutiae) even the color of the minutia must match to conclude that they come from the same identity. This feature development has been concentrated and tested on forensic fingerprint images. However, we have also studied an extension of its application area to other biometrics, periocular regions of faces. This allowed us to test the persistence of automatically extracted features across different types of imagesand image qualities, supporting its generalizability.


Recently, a part of healthcare services has been assigned to the private sector to increase the quality of medical services, increase patient satisfaction and reduce costs. In this regard, the outsourcing approach has been significantly considered for pharmaceutical services provided by healthcare centers. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of outsourced pharmacies of rural healthcare centers on service quality using structural equations modelling. The methodology used was descriptive using correlation by structural equations modelling. The studied population included those patients who provided their medicines from pharmacies of rural healthcare centers in Abhar and Soltanieh counties. The samples included 384 of these patients. Data was collected by outsourcing and service quality questionnaires. A structural equation modelling was used to analyze data by LISREAL software. Results indicated a positive significant effect of outsourced pharmacies of rural healthcare centers on quality of tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy. findings emphasize the role of outsourcing on quality of services. Outsourced pharmacies of rural healthcare centers of Abhar and Soltanieh counties lead to improved service quality.


Resisting Financialization with Deleuze and Guattari aims to provide a contribution in relation to three main areas: the understanding of contemporary capitalism and financialization from a critical perspective; the analysis of resistance to financialization; and the better understanding of the philosophy of Deleuze and Guattari.

Using a critical perspective, this book is informed by a Marxian literature in political economy and the poststructuralist works of Deleuze and Guattari, and Foucault. Through this, the author argues that it is relevant to combine Marxism and poststructuralism so as to better understand financialization. The analysis of resistance to financialization also provides a reflection on social democracy and Occupy Wall Street as contrasting ways to resist capitalism. Finally, this book will contribute to the analysis of Deleuze and Guattari through an analysis of their reception within political philosophy.

This book provides the intellectual tools needed by academics in order to articulate a critical and revolutionary interpretation of Deleuze and Guattari, as well as analyse their reception by political philosophy. It also offers these tools to a more general audience interested in political economy and capitalism.


The renormalization-group (RG) method is applied to the problem of formation of a localized state of a particle moving in a given potential. It is shown that RG transformation on the particle's Green's function can be performed exactly. The fixed-point equations yield information on the critical binding strength, while the transformation equations near the fixed points give scaling laws and critical exponents, e.g., for the dependence of the localization radius on the energy and the potential strength. The general theory is illustrated by considering the simplest case of the Slater-Koster problem in detail. We find that it is possible to take all the irrelevant variables into account and thus obtain the exact result for the critical binding point. Critical exponents and scaling laws are, however, universal in character. The method is then extended to the case of motion in random potentials, and some applications are pointed out. In particular it is shown that the RG properties of the averaged absolute value squared ($〈{|G|}^{2}〉$) of the Green's function do not correspond to a simple second-order phase transition. The analysis illustrates certain features of RG methods which have not heretofore been encountered in other problems and which are likely to be found in treatments of disordered materials. In particular, the runaway behavior observed in the RG transformation of $〈G〉$ and $〈{|G|}^{2}〉$ as well as in many random-spin systems, might be associated with the formation of bound states in the band tail for any amount of randomness.


Evaluation is an important issue for every scientific field and a necessity for an emerging software technology like case-based reasoning. This paper is a supplementation to the review of industrial case-based reasoning tools by K.-D. Althoff, E. Auriol, R. Barletta and M. Manago which describes the most detailed evaluation of commercial case-based reasoning tools currently available. The author focuses on some important aspects that correspond to the evaluation of case-based reasoning systems and gives links to ongoing research.


The information society that presides today is dependent on the communication industry to facilitate unintelligible data transfers between authenticated parties. Such requirements have, to date, taken advantage of security based on the mathematical complexities of certain algorithms. However, the advancement of computing power and the advent of the quantum computer together with the vulnerability of this scheme to mathematical progress have prompted the introduction of quantum cryptography. This process, through the laws of quantum physics, ensures provably secure data communication. Quantum cryptography provides physical protection to individual bits of information thus providing a hardware implemented solution. The implementation of this theoretical concept requires much practical innovation for transparent deployment into current cryptographic solutions. This thesis introduces the concept of quantum cryptography in a practical perspective. It raises a few core concerns with the present quantum cryptographic technology and provides some solutions towards the practical deployment of commercially feasible quantum cryptographic systems. The thesis commences with an introduction to classical cryptography focussing on key management protocols. This is followed by the presentation of the basic concepts of Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) together with an explanation of some QKD protocols and parameter required to classify such protocols. Chapter 2 discusses the theoretical and practical aspects of quantum channels in particular optical fibre. The primary challenges of transferring classical and quantum data along these channels are mentioned together with some solutions. A description of experimental usage with present QKD solutions is presented in Chapter 3. An investigation into highly efficient QKD protocols follows illustrating effective post-distribution processing for increasing the efficiency of the BB84 protocol. Chapter 4 begins with the limitations of present day QKD systems and explicates Quantum Networks as a possible solution. An introduction to classical networking theory is first presented after which some quantum network architectures based on passive optical networks are illustrated. Finally the proposed Quantum City project in conjunction with the eThekwini Municipality is explained. The realization of this project is intended to be complete by the third quarter of 2008 effectively making Durban into the first Quantum City in the world.


A fundamental aspect of scientific thinking is to account for why things happen, and
this can be addressed by using ideas from the Second Law of Thermodynamics.
These ideas are however traditionally not attended to in lower secondary school
science. The present research is an evaluative study of the novel curriculum approach
developed by the 'Energy and Change' project. This novel approach introduces
'Second Law thinking' in ways accessible to pupils aged 11 upwards. To accomplish
this, the project developed an abstract 'picture language', through which a coherent
and systematic account of the fundamental nature of all changes is told.
The research was carried out in two phases. The first phase had an exploratory
character and was concerned with the development of the research tools. In the
second phase, the study examined the user-friendliness of the innovative aspects of
the approach for pupils and teachers; the pupils' learning progress from using the
innovation; and the merit of the materials for teaching, as well as for teachers'
personal development. The focus was on two classes of pupils (aged 11-12 and 12-
13) over a period of eight months using the approach to study a variety of science
topics. An intensive investigation of the influence of the new approach on these
pupils' understanding of the nature and causes of change was undertaken, based on
records of their written work, observational records of lessons and small group taskbased
interviews. Moreover, the views of science teachers about the approach were
elicited in questionnaires and interviews.
The research concludes that the innovative aspects of the new approach were broadly
accepted by both the pupils and the teachers who took part in the study. Moroever, it
reveals and discusses the difficulties and challenges the pupils met when using the
intended thennodynamic ideas in their explanations of change.