The Synergies of Meaning Research Project, based at Kurongkurl Katitjin, Edith Cowan University, constructs a working relationship between traditional Aboriginal knowledge and Western natural and social scientific knowledge. The aim is to find ways of going forward together. One recently completed focus, Nyoongar Boodja, required the development of a collaborated timeline of the formation of Nyoongar land. Cooperative inquiry and research of narrative methods were used. Eleven eras are identified, with the focus of the first eight being land from (1) The Nyetting (The cold, dark time = Permian ice ages 350 million years ago) to (8) Wardanaak boodja (The Holocene flood, 7000 years ago). Astonishing resonances between the knowledge sets were discovered. This coincidence of Nyoongarinherited lore with Western scientific discoveries about the evolution of Nyoongar boodja highlights the value of walking together, cross-culturally, seeking synergies of meaning.


Integration of technology in task-based language teaching (TBLT) has long been a source of attraction for language teachers (Pierson, 2015). In the case of developing countries, such as Pakistan, mobile phones are the modern form of technology commonly available at low cost to individuals as well as institutions. The present descriptive case study explores the impact of ubiquitous smartphones and a TBLT approach on students' and teachers' perception and motivation in improving English writing skills. A mixed method approach was used to explore the qualitative and quantitative data. Smartphones were used to complete writing tasks on blogs. The results of the study reveal that using smartphones, combined with a TBLT approach, created learning environments which promote self-confidence and interaction with the teacher and peers. It also helped the teacher in providing individual feedback to the students, improving students' engagement in learning tasks as well as self-expression in English.


Hodeir, an avant-garde jazz musician in Postwar France, later published fictions entertaining relations to music. I consider Hodeir's careers, as instrumentalist, musicologist, composer, and his itinerary from music critic to novelist, arguing that his literary aesthetics derives from his musical aesthetics. I also examine Musikant (1987) for its musical dimensions. W While studies abound on the influence of music on 19th-century and early to mid-2Oth-century literature, post-war literary production has attracted less attention. Among the authors examined at the 1997 Colloquium of the International Association of Word and Music Studies, only Anthony Burgess belongs to the second half of the century. A similar observation can be made about the 1997 Strasbourg colloquium "Music and Literature in the 20th-Century," which considered novelists Georges Perec and Marguerite Duras (Dethurens 231-32), as about Francoise Escal's earlier study of music in French literature (1990). Absent from these is novelist Andr[acute{e}] Hodeir, who published his first fictions in 1970, and whose literary works evidence multiple relations with music. Hodeir was among the first European theorists of jazz music. He received a formal musical education, unlike many writers attracted to music, and was, from 1947 to 1972, a composer. In literature, then, and in the field of music-literature interrela tions, the overlooked Hodeir is a unique case. In this essay, I examine Hodeir's musical careers and literary itinerary, and argue that his literary aesthetics derives from his musical aesthetics. I then discuss Hodeir's most celebrated novel, Musikant (1987), approaching its musical dimensions from the perspective of the music-derived narrative strategies used by the author, and from the perspective of the reader. Hodeir's background as a composer informs the conception of his narratives. Consequently, a number of effects experienced by the novel's reader are similar to the perception of music by a listener. Born in 1921, Hodeir grew up in Paris and studied music early. He played the violin, for which he received extensive training, at first with private teachers, then, in 1932, at the Conservatoire de Paris. Hodeir initially planned to become an instrumentalist, but later elected composing. Familiarity with the violin repertoire, however, as well as reminiscences of his training, and of the physical and psychological constraints imposed upon young violinists, later shaped his writing of Musikant. After a stay in a sanitarium from 1938 to 1942, memories of which surface in his novel Play-Back (1983), Hodeir returned to the Conservatoire from 1942 to 1947, to focus on composition. He attended Olivier Messiaen's Harmony class, and graduated with first prizes in Harmony, Counterpoint, and Music History. 1942 marked the beginning of his parallel career as a jazz violinist, under the pseudonym of Claude Laurence. Hodeir had discovered jazz around 1935 (Dumont 25), and, during WWII, he started performing with renowned French jazzmen, including Andr[acute{e}] Ekyan and Django Reinhardt, the legendary Gypsy guitarist (whose more customary partner was, of course, St[acute{e}]phane Grappelli). In 1946, Django and Hodeir started a collaboration for a film soundtrack (Williams 134-35). Hodeir also played with American drummer Kenny Clarke on the first be-bop violin recording in France, Laurenzology (1948). Other collaborations followed, with Don Byas and James Moody (Tarting 469). In 1954, Hodeir and saxophonist Bobby Jaspar founded the Jazz Groupe de Paris, dedicated to performing Hodeir's works, in which he no longer performed but conducted. The group, which remained in existence until 1969, recorded three albums, two of which were released in the U.S. From 1947 to 1954, Hodeir's compositional career developed through what he called a period of "bilingualism," consisting of the dual activity of composing jazz for jazz performers, as well as writing works, including a capella pieces, a symphony, and a sonata for solo violin (Dumont 6), for classically-trained musicians. …


This workshop is part of a Nordic Council of Ministers, Ocean and Air Group (NMR/HLG) funded project which supports the development and communication of scientific research between Nordic countries on the topic of "data assimilation in regional scale atmospheric chemistry models". The four institutes involved, NILU (Norway), met.no (Norway), DMU (Denmark) and SMHI (Sweden), all have active programmes in data assimilation. The intention of this project and workshop is to bring together these institutes to share knowledge and experience within a Nordic context and to further support development in this research area. In total 21 people attended the workshop, including invited experts in data assimilation from Europe. The workshop showed itself to be successful, being both informative and helpful to the participants. This report consolidates the presentations and discussions that took place during the workshop.


Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia has been marginalized at the edge of a Western-dominated political and economic system. In recent years, however, leading Russian figures, including former president Vladimir Putin, have begun to stress a geopolitics that puts Russia at the center of a number of axes: European-Asian, Christian-Muslim-Buddhist, Mediterranean-Indian, Slavic-Turkic, and so on. This volume examines the political presuppositions and expanding intellectual impact of Eurasianism, a movement promoting an ideology of Russian-Asian greatness, which has begun to take hold throughout Russia, Kazakhstan, and Turkey. Eurasianism purports to tell Russians what is unalterably important about them and why it can only be expressed in an empire. Using a wide range of sources, Marlene Laruelle discusses the impact of the ideology of Eurasianism on geopolitics, interior policy, foreign policy, and culturalist philosophy.


The performance of a newly developed cyclone dryer is investigated using RANS-based single-phase computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and experimental model studies. The
cyclone dryer is a cylindrical tower, divided by conical orifices into several chambers; recirculation of the flow within individual chambers ensures adequate retention time for drying of the transported solid material. Numerical calculations are performed using the commercial CFD code CFX5.7 for different mesh types, turbulence models, advection schemes, and mesh resolution. Results of the simulation are compared with data from experimental model studies. The RNG k- turbulence model with hexahedral mesh gives satisfactory results. A significant improvement in CFD prediction is obtained when using a second order accurate advection scheme. Useful descriptions of the axial and tangential velocity distributions are obtained, and the pressure drop across the cyclone dryer chamber is predicted with an error of approximately 10%. The optimized numerical
model is used to predict the influence of orifice diameter and chamber height on total pressure drop coefficient.


The complexity of population ageing effect is a significant challenge at a regional and local level. Adaptation activities require the cooperation of local governments, business entities and non-governmental organizations. The article describes the dimensions of interventions, typology of "shrinking regions" and two initiatives: Regions for All Ages and SEN@ER - Silver Economy Network of European Regions. In addition, essay discusses the dilemmas of creating special regional strategies with their implementation factors and barriers in the construction of silver economies. It is supplemented by some conclusions from the analysis of selected regional development strategies in Poland. Summary sets out possible directions for further research for national institutions.


We propose a general framework for studying adaptive regret bounds in the online learning setting, subsuming model selection and data-dependent bounds. Given a data- or model-dependent bound we ask, "Does there exist some algorithm achieving this bound?" We show that modifications to recently introduced sequential complexity measures can be used to answer this question by providing sufficient conditions under which adaptive rates can be achieved. In particular each adaptive rate induces a set of so-called offset complexity measures, and obtaining small upper bounds on these quantities is sufficient to demonstrate achievability. A cornerstone of our analysis technique is the use of one-sided tail inequalities to bound suprema of offset random processes.

Our framework recovers and improves a wide variety of adaptive bounds including quantile bounds, second order data-dependent bounds, and small loss bounds. In addition we derive a new type of adaptive bound for online linear optimization based on the spectral norm, as well as a new online PAC-Bayes theorem.


Liberalism struggles with an ancient paradox. That is, it must navigate the sometimes treacherous course between individual autonomy and pluralism's accommodation. In this article, Professor Riley argues that this philosophical tension has manifested in very concrete intrusions on American Indians' tribal sovereignty. On the one hand, tribal sovereignty guards Indian nations' inherent right to live and govern beyond the reach of the dominant society. This measured separatism embodies liberalism's commitment to the accommodation of pluralism. On the other hand, however, critics charge that imposing liberalism onto Indian nations is necessary to prevent infractions of individual rights by tribal governments. For these scholars, individual autonomy must always be given preference above Indian nations' continued existence. Scholars concerned with illiberal practices perpetrated by tribal governments are increasingly calling for an expansion of federal civil rights laws into tribal communities. But these urgings are rarely accompanied by a thorough and thoughtful analysis of American Indian tribal sovereignty. In fact, most scholars writing in this area fail to acknowledge that expansion of such laws into tribal communities would potentially eviscerate tribal sovereignty and wipe out Indian differentness altogether. Accordingly, based on a detailed examination of tribal sovereignty - both as embodied in American law and as experienced by Indian nations on the ground - Professor Riley concludes that the United States' own theory of Indian sovereignty supports the perpetuation of Indian nations' autonomous existence. Further, it mandates that internal tribal decisions regarding Indian culture and tradition be left to Indian tribes, even when those decisions are inapposite to Western liberal ideals.


Summary Three samples that have a bearing on the age of horizons within the Ordovician and Silurian systems, two previously dated by the conventional K-Ar method and one by the 40Ar/39 Ar total-fusion method, have been reanalysed using the 40Ar/39Ar age-spectrum method. Conventional K-Ar and total-fusion 40Ar/39Ar ages can always be questioned because of the relative ease with which the K-Ar system can be disturbed, either thermally or chemically (i.e. Dalrymple & Lanphere 1969; Clauer et al. 1982). The 40Ar/39Ar age-spectrum method has the potential for identifying disturbed K-Ar systems (i.e. Berger 1975; Harrison & McDougall 1980). The authors feel that the age-spectrum data from these samples are significant because the previous results for these samples have been questioned in recently proposed Palaeozoic time-scales because of a possible disturbance of the K-Ar isotopic system (i.e. Gale et al. 1979, 1980; Gale 1982).


Back-propagation (BP) is the foundation for successfully training deep neural networks. However, BP sometimes has difficulties in propagating a learning signal deep enough effectively, e.g., the vanishing gradient phenomenon. Meanwhile, BP often works well when combining with ``designing tricks'' like orthogonal initialization, batch normalization and skip connection. There is no clear understanding on what is essential to the efficiency of BP. In this paper, we take one step towards clarifying this problem. We view BP as a solution of back-matching propagation which minimizes a sequence of back-matching losses each corresponding to one block of the network. We study the Hessian of the local back-matching loss (local Hessian) and connect it to the efficiency of BP. It turns out that those designing tricks facilitate BP by improving the spectrum of local Hessian. In addition, we can utilize the local Hessian to balance the training pace of each block and design new training algorithms. Based on a scalar approximation of local Hessian, we propose a scale-amended SGD algorithm. We apply it to train neural networks with batch normalization, and achieve favorable results over vanilla SGD. This corroborates the importance of local Hessian from another side.


We have generated a line of transgenic mice that when homozygous for the transgene develop a severe, adult-onset neuromuscular disorder. This mutation is likely the result of the insertional inactivation of an endogenous gene by the transgene integration. The mutant mice have a gait abnormality with stiffened and/or splayed hind legs, and adopt a hunched posture with some exhibiting kyphosis of the thoracic spine. These symptoms progress gradually to severe motor dysfunction. Pathologic changes were found in skeletal muscle and peripheral nerve of the mutant animals. In young mice the muscles from both upper and lower extremities show necrosis and phagocytosis. In older mice, regeneration with muscle fiber splitting, internally located nuclei, and variable fiber size are conspicuous features. Interactions between Schwann cells and axons also appear disrupted in these animals. Although many peripheral axons are well myelinated, the nerve and nerve roots contain very large bundles of juxtaposed, bare axons, reminiscent of Schwann cell-axon interactions in early development. Within these bundles there are axons large enough to be myelinated. The relationship between the pathologic changes in the muscles and nerves is not clear. The phenotypic abnormalities of these animals resemble those that occur in the spontaneous mouse mutants dysfrophia muscularis and myodystrophy. Nevertheless, the chromosomal position of the transgene integration site, which was mapped by fluorescent in situ hybridization to chromosome 11, indicates that this disorder represents a new neuromuscular mutation. [


This article examines the use of a model of search by entrepreneurs; for decades they have been advised to remain alert but now, new approaches are more open to effectuation and creation. However, so far none provides guidance regarding how to improve search effectiveness. We report upon a phenomenological investigation of Fiet's model of constrained, systematic search which offers a prescriptive alternative. In order to test the latter's effectiveness, 10 participants who started 47 ventures were interviewed. The article presents evidence of its use by these repeatedly successful entrepreneurs, finds support for the model and discusses its limitations and contributions.


We study vectorial bent functions with Dillon-type exponents. These functions have attracted attention because they are hyperbent whenever they are bent, and they achieve the highest possible algebraic degree among all bent functions on the same domain. In low dimensions we determine the simplest possible forms of such functions when they map to GF(4). We prove non-existence results for certain monomial and multinomial bent functions mapping to large codomains.


Urban sprawl and new residential preferences in rural areas are the main driving factor of the increase of periurban spatial assets at regional level. In this sense "periurbanity" tends to be increasingly a stable and permanent condition of a territory, and not only a phase of transition between a rural to an urban condition. At the same time the agricultural activities located in these areas are assuming a more distinctive aspect from the ones located in the rural areas. The European regulation on rural development (Reg. CE 1698/05) seems to take into account this "new" territorial perspective. It gives to rural periurban areas an autonomous condition and it indicates for them specific strategies of intervention. In this paper it is briefly analysed the main features of periurban agriculture and the role they can have to enforce the efficiency and effectiveness of the rural development interventions for the 2007-2013 programming period.


State-owned financial institutions have been proposed as a way to address market failure, though the literature has also highlighted their pathological problems. This paper examines pitfalls of a state-dominated financial system in the case of China, including possible segmentation of the internal capital market due to local government interference and mis-allocation of capital. Even without formal legal prohibition to capital movement across regions, we find that capital mobility within China is low. Furthermore, to the extent some capital moves around the country, the government (as opposed to the private sector) tends to reallocate capital systematically away from more productive regions towards less productive ones. In this context, a smaller role of the government in the financial sector might increase economic efficiency and the rate of economic growth. for very useful comments, and Heather Milkiewicz for research assistance. The views expressed are the authors' own, and do not represent those of the World Bank, the IMF, or their respective policies.


For over thirty years, scholars, courts, defense attorneys and prosecutors have been deeply troubled by the guilty plea procedure, concerned about the sacrifice of rights and due process for cheap efficiency. Although many legal players seem to dislike the plea, few have taken on its reform.With the Supreme Court's recent iteration of the jury's constitutional rights and powers in criminal adjudication, however, a way to meaningfully reform the guilty plea has finally arisen. I propose incorporating the community into the guilty plea process through the use of a plea jury. With a plea jury, a lay panel of citizens would listen to the defendant's allocution and determine the acceptability of the plea and sentence, reinvigorating the community's right to determine punishment for offenders. My goal in this piece is to restore the community jury right to its proper place by envisioning its integration into the guilty plea, theoretically as well as procedurally. In doing so, I will illustrate not only how a standard jury would be incorporated, but also why the critical norms embedded into jury participation will help improve the existing guilty plea procedure.


This paper proposes a mixed color sequential (MCS) algorithm with high contrast enhancement technique in RGB light-emitting diode (LED) backlight display. Owing to synchronous control of liquid crystal display (LCD) and LED panels, high quality image with suppressed color breakup (CBU) and motion blur effects is achieved by our novel color sequential technique. Importantly, MCS algorithm is useful for color filter-less optical compensated bend (OCB) panel display for alleviating CBU and motion blur effects. Furthermore, high contrast image is also presented on LCD panel because of mixed red-green-blue (RGB) and cyan-magenta-yellow (CMY) backlights with optimum power consumption. In other words, MCS algorithm with high contrast enhancement technique can have the better performance compared with other field sequential color techniques. Experimental results demonstrate by an actual RGB backlight module for 32-in 1366*768 LCD panel the improvement of CBU and motion blur effects.


This paper offers an understanding of medical pluralism as practiced among the Tharus of Nepal, and makes a discussion on the indigenous medicine in relation to the state health policy and the ambivalence that exists regarding official recognition of indigenous healers. Field data were collected from a village cluster of Dang district following qualitative methods: observation of healing sessions, interview with healers, patients, and key informants. Tharu healing tradition consists of three main practices: shamanic, herbal, and midwifery; practiced mainly by three types of healers: guruwa, baidawa, and surenya who employ three major strategies of healing: mantra, medicine and massage. The knowledge of healing mantras, use of local herbal medicine, and traditional midwifery and massage are the most important features of the Tharu's indigenous healing practices. Such practices, along with those of co-inhabited non-Tharu healers and healing practices form the universe of local folk medicine. The folk medicine, which represents an oral tradition, co-exists along with scholarly traditional medicine and biomedicine. In terms of official recognition and support, biomedicine is on the top followed by scholarly traditional medicine and folk medicine falls at the bottom of the hierarchy. The scope of medical pluralism has been widened with the inclusion of scholarly traditional medicine in the official health care system. However, many of the indigenous traditional medicines that indigenous ethnic communities continue to practice still fall outside the purview of state regulation. The legitimacy of indigenous healers remains in question. An expression of sceptical and ambivalence attitudes towards indigenous healers has been reflected in the policy and planning documents. There has been an insignificant and inconsistent efforts to link indigenous healers with the official health care system and a hesitation to legitimize indigenous traditional medicine. A serious reflection is needed to move ahead from this ambivalence and inaction towards a more inclusive and democratic medical pluralism.


Abstract The paper presents the importance of process security as one of the parts of Total Production Maintenance. Knowledge about the standards and factors used in monitoring production processes has been systematized. The good manufacturing practices in production continuity management are presented in the article.


The effects of ZK 36374, a prostacyclin analogue, were studied on adhesion of rabbit platelets to damaged rabbit aorta and on activation of platelets (judged by release of serotonin and formation of thromboxane-B2) in response to the processes of adhesion to the vessel surface and aggregation in response to microfibrillar collagen in suspension. In the presence of ZK 36374 (10-100 nmol/l), platelet adhesion and thromboxane-B2 formation were progressively reduced. The extent of serotonin release from adherent platelets was similar to that found for platelets aggregated with collagen. However, higher concentrations of ZK 36374 were required to inhibit serotonin release from adherent platelets than from aggregated platelets. The results indicate that ZK 36374 acts similarly to native prostacyclin on adhesion and collagen-induced aggregation and unlike previously described analogues is equipotent. The mechanism of release of serotonin induced by adhesion of platelets is less sensitive to the action of ZK 36374 than that of release induced by aggregation in response to microfibrillar collagen in suspension.


Planktonic foraminifera occur in the limy sediment of a manganese-coated breccia from the top of Erben Guyot, a sunken island which is located about 800 miles west of San Diego, California. The fauna suggests an age of Early Miocene (Aquitanian Stage), which represents an absolute age of more than 25 million years. Bathyal foraminifera in the sample indicate considerable subsidence between the suggested time of truncation (Oligocene) of the seamount and the accumulation of the foraminiferal fauna.


Introduction We aimed to identify modifiable risk factors in primary care associated with emergency hospital admissions with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in Lothian, Scotland. We sought permission to obtain data from primary to secondary care databases in a way that would allow the required analyses while ensuring that patient confidentiality was protected. Methods The research protocol proposed an "anonymised linkage" method that linked personal identifiers and pseudonymised them before adding clinical data. All identifiers would be removed from the final analysis dataset. Consent to participate in the project was sought from general practitioners. General information was available to patients about secondary uses of their personal data. Ethical approval was sought from relevant local to national committees. Results Conflicting views were expressed by different ethical committees. Some took the view that individual patient consent was required for the proposed approach while others viewed it as anonymous database research. Conclusions In large epidemiological studies it may not be practicable to obtain individual patient consent. UK law and professional guidance supports the use of patient data for research without consent in some circumstances provided the research is deemed to be in the public interest. Data linkage is a powerful tool increasingly used for epidemiological research. However, its use to improve health in Scotland is hampered by lack of clear guidance and inconsistent interpretation. While it is important that patient confidentiality is respected, a balance needs to be struck to enable use of patient data to improve health and the quality of care.


Objective The aim of the present study was to examine the influence of acute high-intensity interval exercise (HIIE) on neural and behavioral measures of inhibitory control in young male adults with obesity. Design The present study employed a within-subjects design. Methods Sixteen male adults with obesity [body mass index (BMI) > 28 kg/m2] were recruited. Reaction time and response accuracy of the Flanker task as well as P3 and late positive potential (LPP) components of the event-related potential (ERP) were measured following HIIE and a sedentary control, in counterbalanced order. The HIIE session consisted of 30 min of stationary cycle exercise (5-min warm-up, 20-min HIIE, and a 5-min cool-down), whereas the control condition consisted of a time and attention-matched sedentary resting session. Results Faster response times were observed following HIIE regardless of Flanker task condition. Faster and more accurate responses were also observed for congruent relative to incongruent conditions across both sessions. Relative to the neuroelectric data, acute HIIE resulted in increased LPP amplitude but did not affect P3 amplitude. Conclusion Collectively, a single bout of HIIE has a general beneficial effect on basic information processing and inhibitory control among young adult males with obesity. Acute HIIE was found to impact LPP amplitude, but not the P3, which may suggest a modulation in the ability to successfully maintain attention and filter irrelevant information to achieve successful cognitive inhibition. Future research is warranted to extend these findings to a larger sample size that includes both genders, other cognitive functions, and a comparison of different modes of exercise.


Software Defined Networking (SDN) is being extensively adopted by researchers and enterprise networks due to its feature of decoupling data and control planes from network device which enables them to implement new networking ideas. Communication between data and control planes faces various security issues where many users in data plane approach controller device in control plane to gain networking policies. In this paper, we proposed an efficient Zero-knowledge proof based identification scheme for securing SDN controller during data and control plane communication. This scheme ensures that only users who prove their knowledge about secrecy without revealing actual secret or any other information about it can communicate with controller. The computation cost was calculated to validate efficiency of the proposed work and compared with scheme that works in the basis of Kerberos authentication protocol.


Background: To evaluate shear bond strength (SBS) and surface topography of excess adhesive of the recently introduced APCTM Flash-Free (FF) bracket-bonding system. Material and Methods: Sixty extracted human upper first premolars were randomly divided into five groups (12 per group), and used for this in vitro study: group 1, APCTM Flash-Free adhesive coated appliance system; group 2, APCTM Plus adhesive coated appliance system; group 3, APCTM II adhesive coated appliance system; group 4, manual application of adhesive bracket bonding system (Conven. 1) (with the use of TransbondTM XT Primer); group 5, manual application of adhesive bracket bonding system (Conven. 2) (with the use of TransbondTM Plus Self Etching Primer). Bond strength was measured using an Instron machine at a cross-head speed of 1 mm/min. The excess adhesive was evaluated with stereomicroscopic. Results: There were highly significant differences among all groups using ANOVA F-test; furthermore, there were no significant differences in (SBS) between APCTM Flash-Free group and the remaining groups, except with APCTM II group, and the mean shear bond strength were 12.633, 13.578, 15.080, 13.852, and 11.143 MPa respectively. The adhesive excess, which was metrically measured from the bracket edge, ranged from 206.245 μm to 75.488 μm APCTM Flash-Free group, 530.258 μm to 155.750 μm APCTM Plus group, 522.329 μm to 188.681 μm APCTM II group, 519.562 μm to 157.151 μm manual application Conven.1 group, and 508.449 μm to 162.208 μm manual application Conven.2 group, so there were high significant difference between APCTM Flash-Free group and the remaining groups. Conclusions: With the use of APCTM Flash-Free adhesive bracket system there was no need to clean up excess adhesive, which simplifies the bracket-positioning process and facilitate a smooth and sufficient marginal surface of the adhesive, which clinically might improve reduction of plaque accumulation, with an optimum shear bond strength value for clinical routine use.


Abstract In an effort to minimize the probability of forward contamination of pristine extraterrestrial environments, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration requires that all US robotic spacecraft undergo assembly, testing and launch operations (ATLO) in controlled clean-room environments. This study examines the impact of ATLO activity on the microbial diversity and overall bioburden contained within the air of the clean-room facility in which the Mars Exploration Rovers (MERs) underwent final preparations for launch. Air samples were collected from several facility locations and traditional culture-based and molecular methodologies were used to measure microbial burden and diversity. Surprisingly, the greatest estimates of airborne bioburden, as derived from ATP content and cultivation assays, were observed prior to the commencement of MER ATLO activities. Furthermore, airborne microbial diversity gradually declined from the initiation of ATLO on through to launch. Proteobacterial sequences were common in 16S rDNA clone libraries. Conspicuously absent were members of the Firmicutes phylum, which includes the genus Bacillus. In previous studies, species of this genus were repeatedly isolated from the surfaces of spacecraft and clean-room assembly facilities. Increased cleaning and maintenance initiated immediately prior to the start of ATLO activity could explain the observed declines in both airborne bioburden and microbial diversity.


Throughout much of the modern era, faith healing received attention only when it came into conflict with biomedical practice. During the 1990s, however, American culture changed dramatically and religious healing became a commonplace feature of our society. Increasing numbers of mainstream churches and synagogues began to hold held 'healing services' and 'healing circles.' The use of complementary and alternative therapies-some connected with spiritual or religious traditions-became widespread, and the growing hospice movement drew attention to the spiritual aspects of medical care. At the same time, changes in immigration laws brought to the United States new cultural communities, each with their own approaches to healing. Cuban santeros, Haitian mambos and oungans, Cambodian Buddhist priests, Chinese herbalist-acupuncturists, and Hmong shamans are only a few of the newer types of American religious healers, often found practicing within blocks of prestigious biomedical institutions. This book offers a richly comprehensive collection of essays examining this new reality. It brings together, for the first time, scholars from a wide variety of disciplinary perspectives to explore the relatively uncharted field of religious healing as understood and practiced in diverse cultural communities in the United States. The book will be an invaluable resource for students of anthropology, religious studies, American studies, and ethnic studies, health care professionals, clergy, and anyone interested in the changing American cultural landscape.


The interconnections between Large Hadron Collider (LHC) main dipole and quadrupole magnets are made of soldered joints of two superconducting cables stabilized by a copper bus bar. The 2008 incident revealed the possible presence of defects in the interconnections of the 13 kA circuits that could lead to unprotected resistive transitions. Since then thorough experimental and numerical investigations were undertaken to determine the safe operating conditions for the LHC. This paper reports the analysis of experimental tests reproducing defective interconnections between main quadrupole magnets. A thermo-electromagnetic model was developed taking into account the complicated sample geometry. Close attention was paid to the physical description of the heat transfer towards helium, one of the main unknown parameters. The simulation results are reported in comparison with the measurements in case of static He I cooling bath. The outcome of this study constitutes a useful input to improve the stability assessment of the 13 kA bus bars interconnections. Index Terms – accelerator magnets, interconnection, LHC, superconducting bus bar.


As part of the current debate in Australia on the adoption of a bill or charter of rights, the experience of other countries is informative. The German Constitution contains a comprehensive catalogue of rights and freedoms. This includes principles protecting religious freedom, most importantly article 4, which declares 'inviolable' the 'freedom of faith, of conscience, and freedom to profess a religion or a particular philosophy'. It also guarantees the 'undisturbed practice of religion'. Should Australia opt to adopt a charter of rights in any form, it is highly likely that this instrument will contain some protection of cultural and religious freedom. While initially an Australian charter would not be constitutionally entrenched, a comparison with Germany is still helpful because it can be expected that issues encountered under a constitutional charter also arise under a legislative one. The German experience provides examples of the type of social controversies which the courts are called on to decide in relation to the protection of religious freedom. Issues encountered in Germany seem to belong to two broad categories: first, which kind of behaviour falls within the ambit of freedom of religion and, secondly, to what degree can religious freedom be limited. In relation to the first category, it appears uncontroversial that practices such as praying, conducting Sunday service or ringing of church bells constitute religious behaviour. But what about announcing a charitable drive to collect second hand goods from the pulpit; selling food or drink at religious meetings or refusing to bury an urn in a cemetery? In relation to the second category, even if a type of behaviour is found to be within the definition of freedom of belief, there must be limitations to this freedom. But where should the line be drawn? In the last few decades, the German Constitutional Court was called upon to rule on controversies where one party's freedom to exercise his or her religion infringed another party's freedom not to be exposed to religion or religious practices. Many of these occurred within the educational system. Famous examples are the School Prayer Case, where a student's parents objected to their child's exposure to school prayer outside of religious education; the Classroom Crucifix Case, where non-Christian parents objected to their child being exposed to crucifixes in classrooms of a public, non-religious school; and the Teacher Headscarf Case where the Court was asked to decide whether an Islamic teacher is entitled to wear a headscarf while teaching in a public school, thus exposing students to a manifestation of her faith. All of these cases saw the Constitutional Court become involved in morally highly controversial disputes, which received a lot of attention from the public and where public opinion was clearly divided. This paper will explain the course which the Court took in resolving these disputes. It will argue that a clause protecting freedom of belief in a charter of rights inevitably involves the courts in disputes which are morally difficult, highly controversial and the subject of much public debate. However, in my view, this is a small price to pay for providing protection of the public's religious beliefs in a charter of rights.


This article examines adaptation to climate change in view of changing humanitarian approaches in Isiolo County, Kenya. While humanitarian actors are increasingly integrating climate change in their international and national-level strategies, we know less about how this plays out at sub-national levels, which is key to tracking whether and how short-term assistance can support long-term adaptation. The article suggests that increasing attention to resilience and adaptation among humanitarian actors may not lead to reduced vulnerability because resources tend to be captured through existing power structures, directed by who you know and your place in the social hierarchy. In turn, this sustains rather than challenges the marginalisation processes that cause vulnerability to climate shocks and stressors. The article highlights the important role of power and politics both in channelling resources and determining outcomes.


MORE THAN ten years after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the devastation caused by the attacks remains difficult to comprehend. Nearly 3,000 people perished at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field near the town of Shanksville in rural Pennsylvania. The resulting economic damage was so devastating that in the immediate aftermath of the attacks, Congress moved to stabilize the airline industry by enacting the Air Transportation Safety and System Stabilization Act (ATSSSA). (1) That legislation, signed by President Bush only eleven days after the attacks, sought "[t]o preserve the continued viability of the United States air transportation system." (2) ATSSSA's express purpose was to provide financial assistance to an airline industry potentially threatened with collapse as a result of the terrorist attacks and thereby to protect the American economy against the consequences of that collapse. (3) In addition to providing a $15 billion bailout of the airline industry, ATSSSA established the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 ("VCF") to compensate those who were injured of lost family members in the attacks. (4) ATSSSA also vested in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York "original and exclusive jurisdiction over all actions brought for any claim (including any claim for loss of property, personal injury, of death) resulting from or related to the terrorist-related aircraft crashes of September 11, 2001." (5) Given the tidal wave of litigation filed against various airlines, security firms, airports, and airplane manufacturers following the September 11th attacks, actions involving such claims were consolidated for discovery and other pre-trial proceedings. (6) To help protect against similar attacks, Congress also enacted the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2003 (the "Act"), signed into law by the President on November 27, 2002. (7) The Act provides funding for intelligence-related activities and established an independent, bi-partisan agency called The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (the "Kean Commission") to investigate the circumstances surrounding the September 11th terrorist attacks. (8) The Act specifically directed the Kean Commission to "examine" and "report" "the facts" and "the causes" to "make a full and complete accounting of the circumstances" surrounding the September 11th terrorist attacks, and to make recommendations designed to guard against future attacks. During its investigation, the Kean Commission published two monographs that provide detailed analyses of subjects covered by the Commission's mandate (9) and seventeen staff statements presented at twelve public hearings. (10) The Commission incorporated portions (but not all) of the monographs and staff statements into the final report ("the Report") issued on July 26, 2004. In April 2008, the aviation defendants (11) in the consolidated actions litigated in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York filed a motion seeking an order that the Report, Aviation Monograph, and certain staff statements contain relevant evidence not excluded by the hearsay rule and thus are admissible at trial. Although some findings in the Report and related Kean Commission documents arguably favor the plaintiffs more than the aviation defendants, the plaintiffs opposed the aviation defendants' motion and requested that it be denied in its entirety. On July 16, 2009, the court issued its order denying the aviation defendants' motion without prejudice to resubmission consistent with the court's rulings on the relevance and admissibility of the Report. (12) This paper discusses the issues underlying the admissibility of the Report, staff statements and monographs. After briefly discussing the scope of the Kean Commission's investigation and the development of the Report, staff statements and monographs, this paper examines the factors governing the admissibility of public records under FRE 803(8)(C) and the Rainey Doctrine and considers whether the Report and related documents satisfy the public records exception to the hearsay rule. …


The dispersion compensation properties of dual-concentric core photonic crystal fibers are theoretically investigated in this letter. The effects of geometric structure on the dispersion properties of dual-concentric core photonic crystal fibers are carefully studied by finite element method. The first layer of holes around the core area is enlarged in a new manner with the near-core point fixed. Considering the tradeoff among several parameters, results show that the dispersion compensation wavelength and strength can be tuned to desired values by constructing an appropriate design of the geometric structure of photonic crystal fibers.


This paper explores the processes through which Canada's immigration system creates human insecurity for newcomers to Canada. With a focus on the new Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and post-September 11 security measures such as the Safe Third Country Agreement, I argue that the immigration system draws on and reaffirms national security discourses. Measures designed to create national security, in turn, create human insecurity for migrants and refugees. Using a feminist approach that explores how gender, race, and class oppressions intensify experiences of in/security, this paper suggests that the new national security measures within Canada's immigration system will likely have a disproportionate impact on classed, raced, and gendered asylum seekers.


Emerging from a decade marked by civil war and political instability, Rwanda began a comprehensive and ambitious campaign in 2000 to rebuild, foster national reconciliation and drastically reduce poverty. The government's agenda gave priority to health, education, infrastructure, and private and financial sector development, showing a commitment to improving citizens' living conditions and building a solid foundation for reconciliation. Starting early on in the reform campaign, Rwanda has implemented many business regulation reforms. These have transformed the life of the private sector and made it noticeably easier to do business. While challenges remain, the country has achieved much success in its reform agenda since the early 2000s. This success stems from many factors, and Rwanda's experience may provide useful lessons for other national seeking to improve their business climate, particularly for those coming out of conflict.


Loss or absence of permanent teeth in a growing individual due to genetic or syndromic conditions, trauma, or due to extensive carious lesions requires prosthodontic rehabilitation. Conventional approaches such as removable partial dentures, complete dentures, and fixed dentures may not satisfy the needs of a growing patient due to its several disadvantages. In adults, the introduction of dental implants has offered a stable, durable, and hygienic alternative to missing teeth by restoring the function, preserving the alveolar bone and by giving excellent esthetics, restoring the individual's confidence and social acceptability. However, their use in a growing patient is still debatable. This study aims to present an in-depth review on the use of dental implants in pediatric dentistry. Implants in a growing child require special consideration because of osseointegration between implant and developing alveolar bone. The development of maxilla and mandible along with continued eruption of the remaining teeth plays an important role in ideal implant placement. Studies and case reports have advocated the use of implants in pediatric patients, but the results for ideal implant placement timing are still inconclusive. As these studies offer the evidence of the potential use of implants in growing individuals, further long-term, controlled studies should be planned to study the benefits.


ISO/IEC standardizes several chosen ciphertext-secure key encapsulation mechanism (KEM) schemes in ISO/IEC 18033-2. However, all ISO/IEC KEM schemes are not quantum resilient. In this paper, we introduce new isogeny-based KEM schemes (i.e., CSIDH-ECIES-KEM and CSIDH-PSEC-KEM) by modifying Diffie-Hellman-based KEM schemes in ISO/IEC standards. The main advantage of our schemes are compactness. The key size and the ciphertext overhead of our schemes are about five times smaller than these of SIKE-KEM which is submitted to NIST's post-quantum cryptosystems standardization.


Dynamic nonlinear models of metabolism offer significant advantages as compared to traditional steady-state counterparts for the analysis of metabolic networks and identification of metabolic engineering strategies. Uncertainties in the metabolic network structure, kinetic rate laws, and their corresponding parameters are limiting the development of systematic methodologies for construction of large-scale, dynamic metabolic models. In this study, we proposed a novel methodology for design of metabolic engineering strategies that makes use of these models. We illustrated this methodology using a dynamic model of E. coli composed of 225 reactions and 140 metabolites. Implementation of this methodology and subsequent analysis allowed us to identify globally and locally relevant design strategies to from the current state of metabolic network transition towards a desired state. Using dynamic simulations, we analyzed the network responses upon the chosen perturbations of the network components to explore the feasibility and properties of the identified strategies. The methodology can be used for the design of any metabolic network of interest irrespectively of the organism and/or the physiological conditions.


This study examined the personal characteristics and processes of thriving in a
group of young men during a geographically dislocating transition. The concept
of thriving broadened the traditional vulnerability and coping focus of transition
research, to one that incorporated positive learning and growth. The challenging
circumstances surrounding geographic dislocation provided the context for these
characteristics and processes to be examined and explained.
The study was conducted with 24 young male, elite athletes drawn from the
Australian Football League who were required to relocate to take up their player
contracts. A partially mixed, sequential design was employed, firstly to identify
the features of the participant group. Despite their homogeneity on a range of
instruments, the outcome variations were not adequately explained.
Subsequently, the particular characteristics and processes that contributed to
thriving were examined. From the results, a comprehensive analysis of the
experience of the geographically, dislocating transition identified a principle group
of 16 characteristics (concepts) and associated processes. Based on variations
in these identified concepts, the study's participants clustered in one of three
groups (categories): those who were thriving, surviving or languishing in regard
to the challenge of the geographically dislocating transition.
Thriving was further examined in relation to a theoretical framework of transition
as a cyclical process. This was explained as a dynamic exchange across stages
of transition, rather than as a standard linear model. While the transition was
recursive, the stages were disjunctive and at the same time interconnected.
Thriving explained by this model required the resolution of tasks associated with
the concepts at each stage. For each of the categories the concepts were the same however the resolution of the associated tasks was more problematic. The
recursive process of learning gave the thriving participants a significant
advantage. They had a positive trajectory on the thriving transition cycle and
their ability to progress was enhanced by the satisfactory resolution of issues at
each stage of the challenge. Those whose tasks were poorly resolved or
unresolved were less able to thrive as the transition unfolded. This study
provided new insights into the characteristics and processes of thriving in a
geographically dislocating transition. Thriving was observed as a cyclic, staged
process where the trajectories of passage, and adjustment strategies, exerted a
significant influence on the outcomes.
To advance the learnings from this research and to broaden the application of
possible interventions, the direction of future research should extend the
methodology to other groups in transition, and to a wider range of transition
challenges.


OBJECTIVES
Geriatric facility residents experience easy decrease of their quality of life (QOL) compared with elderly people cared for in their own homes owing to environmental changes. Because complementary and alternative medicine is useful to improve QOL, a simple manual for hand massage for inexperienced volunteers was developed, and the physical and psychological effects of this method were examined.

METHODS
Thirty-six female geriatric facility residents (mean age, 84.5 years) were chosen. They were divided into two groups: the control and hand-massaged groups. In the hand-massaged group, females received 15 min hand massage from volunteers in accordance with a simple manual. No hand massage was performed in the control group. Before and after the treatment, a survey using a questionnaire (7 items; e.g., tension, fatigue) and physiological measurements (e.g., blood pressure, hand skin temperature), and measurement of cortisol and chromogranin A levels in saliva samples using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits were carried out. Data were analyzed by two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) to determine the effects of group and time on the dependent variables.

RESULTS
The hand-massaged group showed greater increases in skin temperature than the control group, as shown by ANOVA (p<.05). Results showed that improvements of the scores in the questionnaire (condition and feel-good items) were greater in the hand-massaged group than in the control group (p<.05). Cortisol level increased in the control group, but was not statistically significantly different from that in the hand-massaged group, as shown by ANOVA. Chromogranin A level was also not significantly different between the two groups.

CONCLUSIONS
These results confirmed the benefits of complementary and alternative medicine including touching and massage found in previous studies. Hand massage prompted relaxation in geriatric facility residents in this experiment.


Early Alzheimer's disease (AD) is marked by cholinergic hypofunction, neuronal marker loss, and decreased nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) density from the cortex and hippocampus. α7 nAChRs expressed on cholinergic projection neurons and target regions have been implicated in neuroprotection against β-amyloid (Aβ) toxicity and maintenance of the septohippocampal phenotype. We tested the role that α7 nAChRs perform in the etiology of early AD by genetically deleting the α7 nAChR subunit from the Tg2576 mouse model for AD and assessing animals for cognitive function and septohippocampal integrity. Thus, Tg2576 mice transgenic for mutant human amyloid precursor protein (APP) were crossed with α7 nAChR knock-out mice (A7KO) to render an animal with elevated Aβ in the absence of α7 nAChRs (A7KO–APP). We found that learning and memory deficits seen in 5-month-old APP mice are more severe in the A7KO–APP animals. Analyses of animals in early-stage preplaque cognitive decline revealed signs of neurodegeneration in A7KO–APP hippocampus as well as loss of cholinergic functionality in the basal forebrain and hippocampus. These changes occurred concomitant with the appearance of a dodecameric oligomer of Aβ that was absent from all other genotypic groups, generating the hypothesis that increased soluble oligomeric Aβ may underlie additional impairment of A7KO–APP cognitive function. Thus, α7 nAChRs in a mouse model for early-stage AD appear to serve a neuroprotective role through maintenance of the septohippocampal cholinergic phenotype and preservation of hippocampal integrity possibly through influences on Aβ accumulation and oligomerization.


This book is a timely and significant examination of the role of counter-messaging via social media as a potential means of preventing or countering radicalization to violent extremism. In recent years, extremist groups have developed increasingly sophisticated online communication strategies to spread their propaganda and promote their cause, enabling messages to be spread more rapidly and effectively. Counter-messaging has been promoted as one of the most important measures to neutralize online radicalizing influences and is intended to undermine the appeal of messages disseminated by violent extremist groups. While many such initiatives have been launched by Western governments, civil society actors, and private companies, there are many questions regarding their efficacy. Focusing predominantly on efforts countering Salafi-Jihadi extremism, this book examines how feasible it is to prevent or counter radicalization and violent extremism with counter-messaging efforts. It investigates important principles to consider when devising such a program. The authors provide both a comprehensive theoretical overview and a review of the available literature, as well as policy recommendations for governments and the role they can play in counter-narrative efforts. As this is the first book to critically examine the possibilities and pitfalls of using counter-messaging to prevent radicalization or stimulate de-radicalization, it is essential reading for policy makers and professionals dealing with this issue, as well as researchers in the field.


The Capromyidae (hutias) are endemic rodents of the Caribbean and represent a model of dispersal for non-flying mammals in the Greater Antilles. This family has experienced severe extinctions during the Holocene and its phylogenetic affinities with respect to other caviomorph relatives are still debated as morphological and molecular data disagree. We used target enrichment and next-generation sequencing of mitochondrial and nuclear genes to infer the phylogenetic relationships of hutias, estimate their divergence ages, and understand their mode of dispersal in the Greater Antilles. We found that Capromyidae are nested within Echimyidae (spiny rats) and should be considered a subfamily thereof. We estimated that the split between hutias and Atlantic Forest spiny rats occurred 16.5 (14.8–18.2) million years ago (Ma), which is more recent than the GAARlandia land bridge hypothesis (34–35 Ma). This would suggest that during the Early Miocene, an echimyid-like ancestor colonized the Greater Antilles from an eastern South American source population via rafting. The basal divergence of the Hispaniolan Plagiodontia provides further support for a vicariant separation between Hispaniolan and western islands (Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica) hutias. Recent divergences among these western hutias suggest Plio-Pleistocene dispersal waves associated with glacial cycles.


This exploratory, qualitative research study examined the attitudes and barriers police officers identified in successful implementation of the lethality assessment protocol (LAP), a collaborative intervention between police departments and domestic violence advocacy agencies in the state of Connecticut. Focus groups were conducted at three police departments to ascertain officers' perceptions of the LAP. Officers (N = 22) were recruited through an individual contact at each department. Responses to focus group questions indicated both system-wide and individual police department barriers. Results showed officers generally support the protocol and believe it has beneficial intent and purpose. Obstructions identified include timing of the implementation, lack of victim cooperation, and agency culture. Implementation barriers and officers' attitudes are discussed.


Tuart (Eucalyptus gomphocephala) is a woodland tree endemic to the coastal plain of south-western Western Australia (WA). However, it has been undergoing a severe health decline since the early 1990's, confined to Yalgorup National Park, but like many eucalypt species that occur in native forests, little is known about the foliar fungi infecting these trees. The genus Mycosphaerella contains some of the most widespread and destructive foliar pathogens of eucalypts, including M. cryptica and M. nubilosa, both of which have been largely responsible for disease epidemics in Australia. This study examines the potential contribution that Mycosphaerella species have in the decline of E. gomphocephala (tuart) in south-western WA, and examines the accuracy of standard methods used for the identification of species based on germination patterns. A method for the successful production of ascospores of M. cryptica in culture was also examined.

Three survey sites along the natural distribution of tuart, ranging from Yanchep National Park in the north to Ludlow Forest in the south and including Yalgorup National Park were surveyed for the incidence and severity of Mycosphaerella Leaf Blotch (MLB). Mycosphaerella cryptica was the only species isolated at all of the sites surveyed. Yalgorup National Park recorded the highest incidence and severity ratings of the three sites surveyed, with Ludlow Forest recording the lowest incidence and severity ratings. There have been previously no published accounts of Mycosphaerella species occurring on tuart in native forests of WA.

Pathogenicity trials were then carried out on the M. nubilosa and M. cryptica to investigate infection processes and subsequent disease development. Three methods of inoculation were used; Experiment 1 spore inoculation on intact plants, Experiment 2 lesion inoculation on intact plants, and Experiment 3 spore inoculation on excised leaves. Mycosphaerella cryptica was shown to infect adult and juvenile tuart leaves through direct penetration of the epidermal layer or via stomatal openings. This species will begin to germinate on leaves up to 8 days following inoculation and will produce appressoria and infect leaves 13 days after inoculation. This is the first study to examine how M. cryptica infects tuart. Mycosphaerella nubilosa was not found to infect tuart. In order to examine
infection processes with accuracy and reliability an attempt was made to examine the ability of Mycosphaerella species to produce ascospores in vitro. Nine different agar media were used as substrates for M. cryptica and M.
nubilosa. Mycosphaerella cryptica produced ascospores in vitro on Eucalyptus Agar (EA) after 6 weeks of incubation at 20°C. Initially pseudothecial initials were produced on EA after 4 weeks, when these were then stressed by cutting up the culture with a sterile scalpel; ascospores were produced 4 weeks later. This is believed to be the first account of Mycosphaerella species producing sexual spores in culture. This finding has huge potential for future studies to increase our understanding of how M. cryptica and other Mycosphaerella species infect eucalypts and cause disease.

The identification of Mycosphaerella species has previously relied heavily upon characters such as ascospore morphology and the mode of ascospore germination. However, there is wide overlap and variation among these characters, which can lead to morphologically similar species being identified as the same. The accuracy of spore germination patterns as a reliable identification tool was examined. Germinating ascospores of 2 known and 2 unknown but provisionally named species of Mycosphaerella; M. cryptica, M. nubilosa, M. pseudonubilosa prov. nom and M. tumulus prov. nom. were examined every 6 hours over a 48 hour period to provide a detailed description of their germination patterns. Mycosphaerella cryptica and M. pseudonubilosa prov. nom continuously released ascospores over 48 hours which would allow for greater dispersal under ideal environmental conditions. Germ tube growth rate was shown to influence the identification of the isolates based on germination patterns. Mycosphaerella tumulus prov. nom. grew very rapidly, which caused the ascospores to become distorted and so cloud germination patterns possibly leading to incorrect identification.

Mycosphaerella nubilosa germinates from both ends, with germ tubes growing perpendicular to the long axis of the spore. Ascospores are discharged within the first 6 hours, with germination beginning during the following 6 hours. Mycosphaerella pseudonubilosa prov. nom. also germinates from both ends with germ tubes growing perpendicular to the long axis of the spore. In contrast to M. nubilosa, M. pseudonubilosa prov. nom. discharges ascospores after 24 hours, with germination beginning in the following 6 hours. Initially there is a similar germination pattern between the two species, however after 18 hours the differences become apparent with M. pseudonubilosa prov. nom. developing lateral germ tubes while M. nubilosa does not.

This study has shown that M. cryptica is widespread in the tuart forest and is a potential contributor to the decline of regenerating tuart and highlights the need for further studies on Mycosphaerella species and their impact in native forests of Western Australia. This study also showed the importance of monitoring the timing and duration of spore release, germination, and germination patterns over time when identifying Mycosphaerella species based on spore germination patterns alone. In future studies, it is recommended that a 'new' standard be put in place to ensure that germination patterns are examined at specific time periods. This study has also shown that ascospores can be produced in vitro by Mycosphaerella species, which has significant implications for the production of pure ascospore inoculum for use during infection studies and pathogenicity trials.


Abstract Although interspecific killing among carnivores can drive populations toward extinction, it is generally unknown how these intraguild interactions vary among populations, and whether the threat for vulnerable species can be mitigated. We studied imperiled populations of swift foxes (Vulpes velox) in Canada and kit foxes (Vulpes macrotis) in Mexico to determine potential differences in survival or predator-avoidance strategies. Survival rates were significantly lower in Canada than in Mexico because of mortality caused by coyotes (Canis latrans) and golden eagles (Aquila chrysaëtos), and the potential for population recovery is likely higher for the Mexican fox population. Differences in body size between coyotes and foxes, diet, group sizes, intraspecific home-range overlap, home-range sizes of coyotes, and movements of coyotes relative to foxes were similar among study areas. However, Canadian foxes had home ranges that were approximately 3 times larger than those in Mexico, and Canadian foxes were most frequently killed on their home-range peripheries. Home ranges of kit foxes decreased in size as the availability of black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) colonies increased and associated refuge holes, which foxes could use to escape predation, were significantly more abundant in Mexico than in Canada. Small home ranges of foxes probably reduced encounters with coyotes in Mexico, and a high availability of refuges likely allowed foxes to elude predators when such encounters did occur. Differences in survival of foxes relative to mortality caused by coyotes demonstrate that interactions between carnivores can vary greatly between populations and that, in some situations, vulnerable species may be able to coexist with dominant carnivores despite a lack of large-scale habitat partitioning.


Globalization is a fact. You can't stop it; it has already happened; it is here to stay. And we are moving into a new global stage.A radically new world is taking shape from the ashes of yesterday's nation-based economic world. To succeed, you must act on the global stage, leveraging radically new drivers of economic power and growth. Legendary business strategist Kenichi Ohmae-who in The Borderless World, published in 1990, predicted the rise and success of globalization, coining the very word-synthesizes today's emerging trends into the first coherent view of tomorrow's global economy-and its implications for politics, business, and personal success.Ohmae explores the dynamics of the new "region state," tomorrow's most potent economic institution, and demonstrates how China is rapidly becoming the exemplar of this new economic paradigm. The Next Global Stage offers a practical blueprint for businesses, governments, and individuals who intend to thrive in this new environment. Ohmae concludes with a detailed look at strategy in an era where it's tougher to define competitors, companies, and customers than ever before.As important as Huntington's The Clash of Civilizations, as fascinating as Friedman's The Lexus and the Olive Tree, this book doesn't just explain what's already happened: It offers a roadmap for action in the world that's beginning to emerge. New economics for a borderless world Why Keynes' and Milton Friedman's economics are history-and what might replace them Leveraging today's most powerful platforms for growth From Windows to English to your global brand Technology: driving business death-and rebirth Anticipating technological obsolescence-and jumping ahead of it Government in the post-national era What government can do when nation-states don't matter Leadership and strategy on the global stage Honing your global vision and global leadership skills


The worsening conditions in the Middle-East and Sub-Saharan Africa have resulted in millions of asylum seekers entering the European Union. Also, Finland received over ten times more asylum seekers in 2015 than the previous years. The irregular migration has generated many public discussions and demonstrations at the local and national level against and for asylum seekers. Furthermore, online hate speech has increased and intensified. This research examines how asylum seekers are portrayed in a discussion forum inside Darknet. The results show that this forum holds three distinct hate-related themes when discussing asylum seekers. These were related to imported violence, economics and cultural identity. Hate speech is targeted towards very specific ethnic groups and religion(s), which resonate the current geopolitical situation in Finland concerning asylum seekers. In addition, hate extends beyond asylum seekers into Finnish society, where it's expressed as negative speech towards the authorities and pro-immigration movement. The results also indicate that despite the Darknet's reputation of being an unregulated online space, there are some rules, which guide the dialogues.


In recognition of the centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment, this essay provides an introduction to a largely overlooked yet essential component of the women's movement: the pursuit of women's legal right to hold public office. From the mid-nineteenth century through ratification of the federal suffrage amendment in 1920, women demanded access to appointed and elected positions, ranging from notary public to mayor. Because the legal right to hold office had literal and symbolic connections to the right to vote, suffragists and antisuffragists were deeply invested in the outcome. Courts and legislatures varied in their responses, with those in the Midwest and West generally more willing than those in the Northeast and South to construe or create law permitting women to hold office. This account centers on the experiences of Nellie G. Robinson, a pioneering woman lawyer whose efforts to secure public office in Ohio received nationwide attention in the years surrounding the turn of the twentieth century. To contextualize Robinson's successes and failures, the essay expands to consider the parallel efforts of other women lawyers from the period, as well as the broader history of women's officeholding in Ohio—a state with laws and politics reflecting the major trends and tensions in the national women's officeholding movement.

This essay was written for a symposium issue of the Akron Law Review, organized with the Center for Constitutional Law. The topic for the conference and symposium was "The 19th Amendment at 100: From the Vote to Gender Equality."


Aerodynamic and icing studies were conducted on a one-half-scale model of an annular submerged inlet for use with axial-flow turbojet engines. Pressure recoveries, screen radial-velocity profiles, circumferential mass-flow variations, and icing characteristics were determined at the compressor inlet. In order to be effective in maintaining water-free induction air, the inlet gap must be extremely small and ram-pressure recoveries consequently are low, the highest achieved being 65 percent at inlet-velocity ratio of 0.86. All inlets exhibited considerable screen icing. Severe mass-flow shifts occurred at angles of attack.


Geologic sequestration of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) will be a necessary part of a carbon management strategy for reducing atmospheric CO 2 emissions so long as fossil fuels are a significant part of the energy mix. Proposed federal and state regulations for underground injection of CO 2 require that underground sources of drinking water be protected. Accordingly, proposed federal regulations require analysis of the suitability of different receiving formations for geologic sequestration. This study compiles all available water quality data for four potential CO 2 receiving formations in the Greater Green River Basin of southwestern Wyoming. The Greater Green River Basin encompasses two large geologic structures, the Moxa Arch and Rock Springs Uplift, which potentially are capable of storing commercial quantities of CO 2 in a number of formations, including the Nugget Sandstone, Tensleep/Weber Sandstone, Madison li mestone, and Bighorn Dolomite. The data suggest that except along the basin margins, the Tensleep/Weber, Madison, and Bighorn Formations are suitable targets under proposed federal and state geologic sequestration regulations. However, low total dissolved solids in Nugget Sandstone groundwater in parts of the Rock Springs Uplift suggest the potential for local, fracture-assisted recharge in this area. For this reason the Nugget Sandstone is less suitable than the deeper formations for CO 2 storage in the Rock Springs Uplift.


Intelligent monitoring and control involves observing and guiding the behavior of a physical system toward some objective, with real-time constraints on the utility of particular actions. Generic functional requirements for this task include: integration of perception, reasoning, and action; integration of multiple reasoning activities; reasoning about complex, time-varying systems; coordination of multiple response modes; dynamic allocation of limited computational resources. We illustrate these requirements in the domain of patient monitoring in a surgical intensive care unit (SICU). We propose a generic architecture, designed and implemented in layers: top-level system organization; reasoning architecture; generic reasoning skills and knowledge representation; first-principles knowledge of physical systems; domain knowledge. We illustrate the architecture in the "Guardian" system for SICU monitoring and describe Guardian's performance on an illustrative scenario. Finally, we discuss the generality and limitations of the proposed architecture.


During the design and implementation of digital circuits for various applications, mapping of algorithms to different hardware components is a central task to achieve best in class performance (e.g., low power consumption per position fix, position accuracy and position deviation for satellite navigation receivers). During the last decade software defined radio receivers (SDRs) and Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) based receivers gain more and more importance during the prototyping phase and for receivers with an expected low volume production. These receivers are also of special interest during the introduction of new signals and frequency bands. FPGA based receivers allow a flexible design and the implementation of highly parallel digital logic and software based processing at the same time. The fundamental drawback of FPGA based GNSS receiver solutions is the high design complexity and the enlarged design space. In this context the design space describes the number of parameters the designer has to consider, to optimize the final design for a given application. Successful navigation in this design space, requires experience in various disciplines (e.g. Radio Frequency (RF) engineering, signal processing, GNSS algorithm design). The main idea of this paper is to ease the design, simulation and cost optimization of Software Defined Radio (SDR) GNSS receivers, implemented on standard PCs, Graphical Processing Units (GPUs) and FPGAs. The idea is to describe the receiver architecture and the receiver specifications at a very high and thus understandable level. During the next step a compiler maps the different receiver signal processing blocks to the existing hardware (i.e. General Purpose Computer (GPC), FPGA or GPU). Using this approach, the most time consuming parts (i.e. design description and specification) have to be done only once and the design is based on a single code base.


In this paper, polar codes for the m-user multiple access channel (MAC) with binary inputs are constructed. It is shown that Arikan's polarization technique applied individually to each user transforms independent uses of an m-user binary input MAC into successive uses of extremal MACs. This transformation has a number of desirable properties: 1) the "uniform sum-rate" of the original MAC is preserved, 2) the extremal MACs have uniform rate regions that are not only polymatroids but matroids, and thus, 3) their uniform sum-rate can be reached by each user transmitting either uncoded or fixed bits; in this sense, they are easy to communicate over. A polar code can then be constructed with an encoding and decoding complexity of O(n log n) (where n is the block length), a block error probability of o(exp (- n1/2 - ε)), and capable of achieving the uniform sum-rate of any binary input MAC with arbitrary many users. Applications of this polar code construction to channels with a finite field input alphabet and to the additive white Gaussian noise channel are also discussed.


Since the post-war period researchers have been pointing to a shift towards a new techno-economic paradigm. Whilst the macroeconomic impact of this powerful wave of technology has yet to be determined, it is sensed intuitively as being more important than generally suspected and to have major multiplier effects on national development. The convergence of information technology and modern communications has raised renewed hopes for enhancing national development in developing countries. At the same time, there are legitimate fears of increased marginalisation for those countries that fail to keep pace in the technological race. Grappling with the complexity involved in constructing an infrastructure that can improve their ability to achieve development objectives, and may lay the foundations for their future competitive advantage, few Sub-Saharan African countries have constructed a coordinated policy response to the complexities involved in creating an effective information infrastructure. Economically and politically fragile, and with only the promise of technological potentialities, the vast majority of African policy-makers are adopting a cautious approach. In the face of such a policy vacuum external actors such as multilateral development agencies, have taken it upon themselves to design, implement and fund initiatives with the idea of information infrastructure at their core. Such initiatives, whilst bringing much needed infrastructure to the region, are often short-termist in outlook and do not necessarily dovetail with local development objectives. If less developed countries and regions are to implement telecommunication networks and information services that will serve their interests, they must prioritise objectives that rest firmly in their particular economic, political, cultural and social context. Within a broad, multi-dimensional research schema, the research examines the main actors in the field of information infrastructure development in Africa. These are identified as development agencies, indigenous government and the foreign private sector. By articulating the respective roles of these actors and their spheres of influence, the research provides a coherent understanding of information infrastructure development activities within Sub-Saharan Africa. The research outlines a policy framework, which at both the conceptual and practical levels, argues that government plays the critical role in articulating national strategies for the coordination of disparate actors and scarce resources. The main contribution of the research is a practical policy framework that pinpoints priority areas for information infrastructure development within the Sub-Saharan Africa region.


The Central Statistics Office of the Government of India launched a new Consumer Price Index (CPI) which will start producing consumer price inflation estimates from January 2012. The creation of the new index is a delayed response to the findings of the National Statistical Commission which found deficiencies in the existing systems of price data collection and the compilation of indices. Until relatively recently there have only been piecemeal changes in the system of measuring inflation in India with the Reserve Bank of India and various government departments relying mainly on a Wholesale Price Index to shape policy. The emergence of volatile inflationary pressures in recent years have seen greater urgency in the process of revising the methods by which price indices are measured in India culminating in the discontinuation of some indices, major overhauls in the methods of construction of others and the launch of the new all India CPI. This paper will review the main price indices published in India highlighting some of their main statistical and economic strengths and weaknesses and will discuss both the proposed and the actual changes that have been made.


As most African countries, Namibia is multilingual, but the linguistic diversity is not fully appreciated nor supported in the language education policy. Nationalist one nation – one language ideologies and policy makers' desire to remove Afrikaans from its former power position and replacing it with English have affected the choices of the official language and the medium of instruction policies. The current language education policy has contributed to low academic achievements and high school dropout rates. This article discusses the development of the language education policy in independent Namibia within the critical language policy framework. The language education policy is re-evaluated from a historical perspective in order to understand the current situation and the recent developments. The method is historical-structural analysis of institutional texts. The focus is on the choice of the official language and the medium of instruction policy. The covert policy is analysed in light of educational statistics and examination results. The analysis reveals that the language education policy has remained almost the same during the years of independence, and the efforts of extending mother tongue instruction to senior primary have not been successful. Despite the twofold emphasis of the overt policy of promoting the local languages and making the citizens proficient in English, the covert policy is more English-oriented. Multilingual teaching practices and pedagogies, including translanguaging, are discussed as a feasible option to promote more flexible multilingual education and to strengthen the learners' multilingual identities.


Surgical site infections (SSIs) are a major threat for liver transplant recipients. We prospectively studied SSIs after living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) at Kyoto University Hospital from April 2001 to March 2002 (1 period) and from January 2011 to June 2012 (2 period). We investigated the epidemiology of SSIs after LDLT and determined the differences between the two periods. A total of 129 adult recipients (66 during the 1 period and 63 during the 2 period) and 72 pediatric recipients (39 and 33) were included in this study. The SSI rates for each period were 30.3% (1 period) and 41.3% (2 period) among the adult recipients and 25.6% and 30.3% among the pediatric recipients. The overall rates of 30-day mortality among adult transplant recipients with SSIs were 10.0% (1 period) and 3.9% (2 period). No pediatric recipient died from SSIs after LDLT in either period. The incidence of Enterococcus faecium increased from 5.0% to 26.9% in the adults and from 10.0% to 40.0% in the pediatric patients. Extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae were emerging important isolates during the 2 period. For this period, a univariate analysis showed that ABO incompatibility (P = 0.02), total operation duration (P = 0.01), graft-to-recipient body weight ratio (GRWR [P = 0.04]), and Roux-en-Y biliary reconstruction (P<0.01) in the adults and age (P = 0.01) and NHSN risk index (P = 0.02) in the children were associated with SSI development. In a multivariate analysis, lower GRWR (P = 0.02) and Roux-en-Y biliary reconstruction (P<0.01) in the adults and older age (P = 0.01) in the children were independent risk factors for SSIs during the 2 period. In conclusion, SSIs caused by antibiotic resistant bacteria may become a major concern. Lower GRWR and Roux-en-Y biliary reconstruction among adult LDLT recipients and older age among pediatric LDLT recipients increased the risk of developing SSIs after LDLT. PLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0136559 August 31, 2015 1 / 14 OPEN ACCESS Citation: Yamamoto M, Takakura S, Iinuma Y, Hotta G, Matsumura Y, Matsushima A, et al. (2015) Changes in Surgical Site Infections after Living Donor Liver Transplantation. PLoS ONE 10(8): e0136559. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0136559 Editor: Mercedes Susan Mandell, University of Colorado, UNITED STATES Received: March 25, 2015 Accepted: August 4, 2015 Published: August 31, 2015 Copyright: © 2015 Yamamoto et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Data Availability Statement: All relevant data are all contained within the paper. Funding: This work was supported by a grant from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare of Japan (H21-Shinko-Ippan-009 and H23-Shinko-Ippan-018). The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing Interests: No commercial relationships or potential conflicts of interest exist. The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.


We present a new reliable Network-on-Chip (NoC) suitable for Dynamically Reconfigurable Multiprocessors on Chip systems. The proposed NoC is based on routers performing online error detection of routing algorithm and data packet errors. Our work focuses on adaptive routing algorithms which allow to bypass faulty components or processor elements dynamically implemented inside the network. The proposed routing error detection mechanism allows to distinguish routing errors from bypasses of faulty components. The new router architecture is based on additional diagonal state indications and specific logic blocks allowing the reliable operation of the NoC. The main originality in the proposed NoC is that only the permanently faulty parts of the routers are disconnected. Therefore, our approach maintains a high run time throughput in the NoC without data packet loss thanks to a self-loopback mechanism inside each router.


Background: Advances in medical science and success in increasing the survival rate of vulnerable infants has raised the future evolution issues of these children. Developmental and behavioral disorders are the most common problem in children after discharge from Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).An extensive range of factors involve in the occurrence of developmental disorders. According to the importance of the subject and lack of accurate information in the field of risk factors, related factors with the developmental disorders was investigated in this article, in low weight infants with history of care in NICU. Methods: This Cohort study was performed on 76, 4-24 month-old infants with a history of hospitalization in NICU of Shiraz Hazrat Zeinab (SA) hospital with an average weight of (1800gr). The information on pregnancy, child birth and problems during hospitalization was registered. These 4-24 month-old infants were evaluated developmentally according to Age & stage questionnaire (ASQ). The data was analyzed by statistical tests. Results: In the conducted evaluation using ASQ, the correlation coefficient statistical test did not show any significant relationship between developmental disorder with mechanical ventilation, duration of hospitalization, surfactant and betamethasone injection, initial and final diagnosis of diseases (r< 1). Nor did T-Test show any significant differences between the mean of the presence of high-risk delivery and the average of performing advanced Cardiopulmonary resuscitation in children with developmental disorders and healthy children (p> 0.05). Conclusion: Although improvement in respiratory therapy, monitoring system, non-invasive or minimal invasive procedures and developmental care were decrease neonatal mortality rate and prematurity complications, but we cannot find any relationship between NICU-related risk factors and neurologic outcome. For better outcome we must detect developmental delay as soon as possible and start early rehabilitation of low birth weight infants after discharge from NICU.


We propose a method to accurately obtain the ratio of tumor cells over an entire histological slide. We use deep fully convolutional neural network models trained to detect and classify cells on images of H&E-stained tissue sections. Pathologists' labels consisting of exhaustive nuclei locations and tumor regions were used to trained the model in a supervised fashion. We show that combining two models, each working at a different magnification allows the system to capture both cell-level details and surrounding context to enable successful detection and classification of cells as either tumor-cell or normal-cell. Indeed, by conditioning the classification of a single cell on a multi-scale context information, our models mimic the process used by pathologists who assess cell neoplasticity and tumor extent at different microscope magnifications. The ratio of tumor cells can then be readily obtained by counting the number of cells in each class. To analyze an entire slide, we split it into multiple tiles that can be processed in parallel. The overall tumor cell ratio can then be aggregated. We perform experiments on a dataset of 100 slides with lung tumor specimens from both resection and tissue micro-array (TMA). We train fully-convolutional models using heavy data augmentation and batch normalization. On an unseen test set, we obtain an average mean absolute error on predicting the tumor cell ratio of less than 6%, which is significantly better than the human average of 20% and is key in properly selecting tissue samples for recent genetic panel tests geared at prescribing targeted cancer drugs. We perform ablation studies to show the importance of training two models at different magnifications and to justify the choice of some parameters, such as the size of the receptive field.


Based on previous studies that have shown the competitive nature of non-pathogenic environmental strains of Vibrio, we hypothesize that environmentally derived bacteria can inhibit Vibrio pathogens, and possibly be a source of novel antibiotics. A previous experiment performed in the lab tested environmental Vibrio strains from various habitats against the pathogenic strains, Vibrio cholerae and Vibrio parahaemolyticus. Of the 3,456 strains collected, members of the Wildschutte lab identified 102 environmental strains of Vibrio that inhibited the growth of both pathogens. The data suggests that environmental Vibrio strains directly inhibit the growth of related pathogens. Our project involves the identification of genes responsible for producing secondary metabolites in order to discover potential novel antibiotics. To accomplish this task, all 102 strains will be screened for their ability to undergo conjugation and transposon mutagenesis. Candidates efficient in these processes will be subjected to a large scale mutant hunt to identify genes involved in antibiotic production.


Father involvement is a salient predictor of children's cognitive development and recent studies suggest that African American and Hispanic fathers, who are highly involved, have children who enter school more poised to succeed. Little is known, however, about contextual barriers to positive father involvement in ethnic minority families. This study examined prospective relations between fathers' work characteristics (i.e., total work hours per week, job satisfaction, and work shift) and children's cognitive development in preschool (i.e., reading and math scores). A total of 2,340 children were included in the study (35% African American, 65% Hispanic). Fathers' total work hours per week positively predicted children's reading and math scores. Fathers' work shift (i.e., nonstandard) positively predicted reading, but not math. In contrast, fathers' job satisfaction negatively predicted children's math achievement. Findings were evident even after controlling for a host of demographic factors (e.g., father education, mother education, home-learning environment, and family income).


Background/Aims We studied the role of lysyl oxidase-like 2 (LOXL2) in collagen crosslinking and hepatic progenitor cell (HPC) differentiation, and the therapeutic efficacy of a LOXL2-blocking monoclonal antibody on liver fibrosis progression/reversal in mice. Methods Anti-LOXL2 antibody, control antilysyl oxidase antibody or placebo was administered during thioacetamide (TAA)-induced fibrosis progression or during recovery. Therapeutic efficacy in biliary fibrosis was tested in BALB/c.Mdr2−/− and 3,5-diethoxycarbonyl-1,4-dihydrocollidine (DDC)-fed mice. Collagen crosslinking, fibrosis progression and reversal were assessed histologically and biochemically. HPC differentiation was studied in primary EpCAM(+) liver cells in vitro. Results LOXL2 was virtually absent from healthy but strongly induced in fibrotic liver, with predominant localisation within fibrotic septa. Delayed anti-LOXL2 treatment of active TAA fibrosis significantly reduced collagen crosslinking and histological signs of bridging fibrosis, with a 53% reduction in morphometric collagen deposition. In established TAA fibrosis, LOXL2 inhibition promoted fibrosis reversal, with enhanced splitting and thinning of fibrotic septa, and a 45% decrease in collagen area at 4 weeks of recovery. In the Mdr2−/− and DDC-induced models of biliary fibrosis, anti-LOXL2 antibody similarly achieved significant antifibrotic efficacy and suppressed the ductular reaction, while hepatocyte replication increased. Blocking LOXL2 had a profound direct effect on primary EpCAM(+) HPC behaviour in vitro, promoting their differentiation towards hepatocytes, while inhibiting ductal cell lineage commitment. Conclusions LOXL2 mediates collagen crosslinking and fibrotic matrix stabilisation during liver fibrosis, and independently promotes fibrogenic HPC differentiation. By blocking these two convergent profibrotic pathways, therapeutic LOXL2 inhibition attenuates both parenchymal and biliary fibrosis and promotes fibrosis reversal.


The quality and purity of the air entering a gas turbine is a significant factor influencing its performance and life. Foulants in the ppm range which are not captured by the air filtration system usually cause deposits on blading, which results in a severe drop in the performance of the compressor.Through the interdisciplinary approach proposed in this paper, it is possible to determine the evolution of the fouling phenomenon through the integration of studies in different research fields: (i) numerical simulation, (ii) power plant characteristics and (iii) particle-adhesion characteristics. In fact, the size of the particles, their concentrations and adhesion ability, and filtration efficiency represent the major contributors to performing a realistic quantitative analysis of fouling phenomena in an axial compressor. The aim of this work is the estimation of the actual deposits on the blade surface in terms of location and quantity. This study combines the impact/adhesion characteristic of the particles obtained through a CFD and the real size distribution of the contaminants in the air swallowed by the compressor.The blade zones affected by deposits are clearly reported by using easy-to-use contaminant maps realized on the blade surface, in terms of contaminant mass.The analysis has shown that particular fluid-dynamic phenomena and airfoil shape influence the pattern deposition. The use of a filtration system decreases the contamination of the blade and the charge level of the electrostatic seems to be less important than the air contaminant concentration. From these analyses, some guidelines for proper installation and management of the power plant (in terms of filtration systems and washing strategies) can be drawn up. Characterization of the air contaminants in the power plant location represents the most important step in improving the management of the gas turbine power plant.© 2016 ASME