Queensland (abbreviated as Qld) is the second-largest and third-most populous state in the Commonwealth of Australia. Situated in the north-east of the country, it is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australiaand New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean. To its north is the Torres Strait, with Papua New Guinea located less than 200 km across it from the mainland. The state is the world's sixth-largest sub-national entity, with an area of 1,852,642 square kilometres (715,309 sq mi).As of 15 May 2018, Queensland has a population of 5,000.


This paper analyzes a novel solution of a dental prosthesis containing a gold washer between the implant and the screw head (made of a titanium alloy, Ti-6Al-4V), and compares its mechanical behavior under variable loading with those observed in two other solutions commonly used in dentistry, one of them having the implant, the abutment and the screw made of a titanium alloy, and the other one having a screw made of pure gold (the implant and the abutment being made of the same titanium alloy). The analysis has consisted in the measurement of the torque loss in the three types of prostheses after the application of a given number of variable loading cycles following ISO protocol 14 801. The investigation has been completed with the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis of the different components after testing.The torque loss in this new solution is very similar to that obtained in the prosthesis containing a gold screw, and 30.7 % lower than that obtained in the prosthesis whose components are all made of a titanium alloy. This behavior can be accounted for by the lower friction between gold and titanium (when compared to titanium-titanium friction), which causes a higher preload in the screw. Also, the SEM analysis has revealed greater damage in Ti-Ti contacts than in Au-Ti contacts, and significant material transfer between the gold washer and the titanium alloy screw. The solution including a gold alloy washer combines low torque loss, as observed in the prosthesis with the gold screw, with the good mechanical (tensile) properties of the solution with the titanium alloy screw, which allows repairs in vivo to be performed more easily.


OBJECTIVES
To determine the relationship among gait, grip strength, cognition, depression, pain, and fatigue, and to identify which variables are most predictive of poor sleep.

SAMPLE & SETTING
60 women with breast cancer aged 69 years or older who were receiving treatment in the Senior Adult Oncology Program at the James Cancer Hospital at the Ohio State University.

METHODS & VARIABLES
The variables were gait and grip strength (functional domains), cognition, depression, pain, and fatigue. Patients were tested using the Timed Up and Go Test (TUG), Jamar Hydraulic Hand Dynamometer, Mini-Cog, Numeric Pain Rating Scale, Brief Fatigue Inventory, Geriatric Depression Scale, and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Pearson correlation coefficients and logistic regression models were used.

RESULTS
The mean age of the sample was 78 years. Pain and fatigue, depression and pain, and depression and fatigue each were positively related, and grip strength and TUG scores were negatively related. Fatigue was the strongest predictor of poor sleep.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING
These findings are important to the comprehensive care of older women diagnosed with breast cancer. Understanding symptoms associated with poor sleep helps nurses develop comprehensive care plans for older adults with breast cancer.


The Proton Engineering Frontier Project (PEFP), approved and launched by the Korean government in July 2002, includes a 100 MeV proton linear accelerator (linac) development and programs for its utilization and application. The main goals in the first phase of the project, spanning from 2002 to 2005, were the design of a 100 MeV proton linac and the development of a 20 MeV linac consisting of a 50 keV proton injector, a 3 MeV radio frequency quadrupole (RFQ), and a 20 MeV drift tube linac (DTL). The 50 keV injector and 3 MeV RFQ have been installed and tested, and the 20 MeV DTL is being assembled, tuned and under a beam test. At the same time, the utilization programs using the proton beam have been planned, and some are now under way. The vacuum system of the 20 MeV proton linac and its related issues, especially in operation with a high duty, are discussed in detail.


In this article, I present insights from an empirical study of a congregation which consists of a medley of refugees from the Middle East who have recently converted from Islam and ethnic Danes whose families have belonged to the Lutheran Church for generations. The empirical material is analyzed in light of Søren Kierkegaard's category of repetition, in the sense of receiving anew, because this phenomenon appears crucial, not only to the genre of preaching but to preachers and listeners alike – especially, in times and situations of transition. I suggest that the Kierkegaardian notion of repetition may be useful as a homiletical category with regard of scholars' method, preachers' preparation and listeners' appropriation of preaching.


We derived a set of brief, clinically relevant symptom indices for assessing symptomatic response to chemotherapy for advanced bladder, brain, breast, colorectal, head and neck, hepatobiliary/pancreas, lung, ovarian, and prostate cancers. Questions were extracted from a multidimensional cancer quality of life (QOL) measurement system, the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy (FACT). Surveys of disease-related symptoms were presented to expert physicians and nurses at 17 National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) member institutions. In a two-step procedure, each expert narrowed the list to no more than five of the very most important to attend to when assessing the value of drug treatment for advanced disease. Symptoms endorsed at a frequency greater than chance probability were retained for the nine symptom indices. The resulting NCCN/FACT symptom indices are comprised of 6–15 items, depending on disease. Fatigue, pain, nausea, weight loss, worry about worsening condition, and contentment with current QOL were consistently selected by experts as priority symptoms across tumor sites. These nine tumor-specific symptom indices indicate the most important clinician-rated targets of chemotherapy for many advanced cancers. These results await validation in patient populations and examination of the extent to which changes in symptomatology translate into meaningful improvement to the patient.


Background: Although patients may experience a quick recovery followed by rapid discharge after percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs), continuity of care from hospital to home can be particularly challenging. Despite this fact, little is known about the experiences of care across the interface between secondary and primary healthcare systems in patients undergoing PCI. Aim: To explore how patients undergoing PCI experience continuity of care between secondary and primary care settings after early discharge. Methods: The study used an inductive exploratory design by performing in-depth interviews of 22 patients at 6–8 weeks after PCI. Nine were women and 13 were men; 13 were older than 67 years of age. Eight lived remotely from the PCI centre. Patients were purposively recruited from the Norwegian Registry for Invasive Cardiology. Interviews were analysed by qualitative content analysis. Findings: Patients undergoing PCI were satisfied with the technical treatment. However, patients experienced an unplanned patient journey across care boundaries. They were not receiving adequate instruction and information on how to integrate health information. Patients also needed help to facilitate connections to community-based resources and to schedule clear follow-up appointments. Conclusions and implications: As high-technology treatment dramatically expands, healthcare organisations need to be concerned about all dimensions of continuity. Patients are witnessing their own processes of healthcare delivery and therefore their voices should be taken into greater account when discussing continuity of care. Nurse-led initiatives to improve continuity of care involve a range of interventions at different levels of the healthcare system.


Objective: To examine the optimal intensity of leisure time physical activity (LTPA) to decrease the risk of all cause, cardiovascular disease (CVD), and coronary heart disease (CHD) mortality in a population sample of middle aged British men. Design: Prospective study of middle aged men with an 11 year follow up. Setting: A whole population sample of men from Caerphilly, South Wales, UK. Subjects: 1975 men aged 49–64 years without historical or clinical evidence of CHD at baseline examination. Main outcome measures: All cause, CVD, and CHD mortality. Results: Total (cumulative) LTPA had a graded, significant relation with all cause, CVD, and CHD mortality but no trend with cancer deaths. When different intensities of activity were considered, light and moderate intensity LTPA had inconsistent and non-significant relations with all cause, CVD, or CHD mortality whether adjusted only for age or for other cardiovascular risk factors. In contrast a significant dose–response relation was found for heavy intensity LTPA for all cause, CVD, and CHD mortality fully adjusted for other risk factors. Conclusions: These data suggest that, in a population of men without evidence of CHD at baseline, only leisure exercise classified as heavy or vigorous was independently associated with reduced risk of premature death from CVD.


In sorption experiments, Cd in the solution phase may be surface adsorbed or immobilized and precipitated into mineral phases. The reaction kinetics can be described by a two‐site model combining a linear instantaneous model for the surface adsorption and a first‐order reaction kinetic model with forward and backward reaction constants for the immobilization and precipitation of the mineral phase. A simplified sequential procedure was developed to study the contribution of these two processes. Results of batch Cd adsorption experiments with two California soils were used to illustrate the model validity. When the Cd sorption was obtained by varying the initial Cd solution concentration and maintaining constant equilibration time, the amounts of Cd in the solid phase as well as the adsorbed and mineral phases increase linearly with the initial Cd solution concentrations. As much as 90% of the sorbed Cd may be in the mineral phase. When the Cd sorption was examined at varying equilibration time and a constant Cd initial solution concentration, the sorbed Cd in the mineral phase increased exponentially to approach a maximum with time. The forward and backward reaction constants were obtained by fitting the sorption data to the model equations. It showed that the forward reaction was five times faster than the backward reaction for both soils and the reaction rates were two times faster in the heavier textured Holtville clay loam soil than the Arlington sandy loam soil.


Carbon dioxide (CO2) sensing and metabolism via carbonic anhydrases (CAs) play pivotal roles in survival and proliferation of pathogenic fungi infecting human hosts from natural environments due to the drastic difference in CO2 levels. In Cryptococcus neoformans, which causes fatal fungal meningoencephalitis, the Can2 CA plays essential roles during both cellular growth in air and sexual differentiation of the pathogen. However the signaling networks downstream of Can2 are largely unknown. To address this question, the present study employed comparative transcriptome DNA microarray analysis of a C. neoformans strain in which CAN2 expression is artificially controlled by the CTR4 (copper transporter) promoter. The PCTR4∷CAN2 strain showed growth defects in a CO2-dependent manner when CAN2 was repressed but resumed normal growth when CAN2 was overexpressed. The Can2-dependent genes identified by the transcriptome analysis include FAS1 (fatty acid synthase 1) and GPB1 (G-protein β subunit), supporting the roles of Can2 in fatty acid biosynthesis and sexual differentiation. Cas3, a capsular structure designer protein, was also discovered to be Can2-dependent and yet was not involved in CO2-mediated capsule induction. Most notably, a majority of Can2-dependent genes were environmental stress-regulated (ESR) genes. Supporting this, the CAN2 overexpression strain was hypersensitive to oxidative and genotoxic stress as well as antifungal drugs, such as polyene and azole drugs, potentially due to defective membrane integrity. Finally, an oxidative stress-responsive Atf1 transcription factor was also found to be Can2-dependent. Atf1 not only plays an important role in diverse stress responses, including thermotolerance and antifungal drug resistance, but also represses melanin and capsule production in C. neoformans. In conclusion, this study provides insights into the comprehensive signaling networks orchestrated by CA/CO2-sensing pathways in pathogenic fungi.


The number of commercial banks in the United States has fallen by more than 50 percent since 1984. This consolidation of the U.S. banking industry and the accompanying large increase in average (and median) bank size have prompted concerns about the effects of consolidation and increasing bank size on market competition and on the number of banks that regulators deem "too–big–to–fail." Agency problems and perverse incentives created by government policies are often cited as reasons why many banks have pursued acquisitions and growth, though bankers often point to economies of scale. This paper presents new estimates of ray-scale and expansion-path scale economies for U.S. banks based on non-parametric local-linear estimation of a model of bank costs. Unlike prior studies that use models with restrictive parametric assumptions or limited samples, our methodology is fully non-parametric and we estimate returns to scale for all U.S. banks over the period 1984–2006. Our estimates indicate that as recently as 2006, most U.S. banks faced increasing returns to scale, suggesting that scale economies are a plausible (but not necessarily only) reason for the growth in average bank size and that the tendency toward increasing scale is likely to continue unless checked by government intervention.


Book synopsis: This collection features essays by leading experts in European public law on the most significant single initiative in European integration of the past decade. After introductory essays on the legal and economic foundations and political context of the Euro,the book concentrates on the articulation of Monetary Union with other aspects of the legal and political order of the EU. The constitutional status of the institutions of Monetary Union is assessed, as is the relationship between Monetary Union and the broader administrative structure and social objectives of the EU. A final essay considers the implications of the Euro for the cohesiveness of the European legal order in the early years of the next century.

This highly topical book is the first of its kind, seeking to address in a comprehensive manner the relationship between the single currency and the European legal order.


Oral implantology is a common procedure in dentistry, especially for fully or partially edentulous patients. The implants must be placed in the best location from both the aesthetic and functional point of view. Because of this it is increasingly more frequent to resort to regeneration techniques that use substitutes of the bone itself, in order to be able to insert the implants in the most appropriate location.
Material and Methodology: A review was performed on the literature from the last ten years based on the following search limitations: "graft materials", "allograft", "xenograft", "autologous graft" and "dentistry".
Results: 241 works were obtained that after reading their respective summaries, they were reduced to 38, and 9 previous works were included in order to summarize the concepts.
Discussion: Autologous grafts are the "gold standard" of the bone regeneration. They have obvious advantages, but they also have drawbacks. This is why allogeneic and xenogeneic tissues are used. The former because of their clear similarity with the recipient's tissue and the latter due to their wide availability. Given that these grafts also have drawbacks, the industry has developed synthetic materials that have properties similar to those of human bone tissue. However, as of today, the ideal material to substitute human bone has not yet been found. In recent years the tendency has been to combine these synthetic materials with the patient's own bone, which is extracted during drilling in implant placement, with bone marrow aspiration, or with bone morphogenetic proteins. Thus the intention is to equip these substances with the osteogenic capacity.
Conclusions: There is currently no ideal graft material, with the exception of those materials that come directly from the patient. We hope that in the coming years we will have products that will allow us to perform rehabilitations with better results and provide a better quality of life for our patients, especially those who have more complex situations to resolve, like the patients that are operated on for head and neck cancer.


This study contrasted the frequency of negativistic evaluative judgments to words of various emotional content between two groups of patients with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) (20 patients with a comorbid diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and 20 patients without BPD) and a group of 20 community adult Controls. BPD patients made more "dislike" judgments with neutral words than MDD patients and Controls. The performances of the MDD patients were more similar to the Control group than to the BPD group, despite negligible differences between the two patient groups in the severity of depressive symptoms and overall psychopathology. As a whole, these data indicate that the presence of borderline features in patients with MDD can be an important qualifier in terms of patients attitudinal dispositions.


HONO formation has been proposed as an important OH radical source in simulation chambers for more than two decades. Besides the heterogeneous HONO formation by the dark reaction of NO 2 and adsorbed water, a photolytic source has been proposed to explain the elevated reactivity in simulation chamber experiments. However, the mechanism of the photolytic process is not well understood so far. As expected, production of HONO and NO x was also observed inside the new atmospheric simulation chamber SAPHIR under solar irradiation. This photolytic HONO and NO x formation was studied with a sensitive HONO instrument under reproducible controlled conditions at atmospheric concentrations of other trace gases. It is shown that the photolytic HONO source in the SAPHIR chamber is not caused by NO 2 reactions and that it is the only direct NO y source under illuminated conditions. In addition, the photolysis of nitrate which was recently postulated for the observed photolytic HONO formation on snow, ground, and glass surfaces, can be excluded in the chamber. A photolytic HONO source at the surface of the chamber is proposed which is strongly dependent on humidity, on light intensity, and on temperature. An empirical function describes these dependencies and reproduces the observed HONO formation rates to within 10 %. It is shown that the photolysis of HONO represents the dominant radical source in the SAPHIR chamber for typical tropospheric O 3 /H 2 O concentrations. For these conditions, the HONO concentrations inside SAPHIR are similar to recent observations in ambient air.


A simple, but efficient, method for automatic calibration of the conceptual HBV rainfall-runoff model was developed. A new criterion, which combines the commonly used efficienyy criterion R 2 and the relative volume error was introduced. Optimising this combined criterion resulted in R 2 values nearly as high as those for optimssing only R 2, but with much smaller volume errors. An earlier automatic calibration method for the HBV model relied on the use of differett criteria for different parameters. With the simplification to one single criterion, the optimum search method could be made more efficient. The optimisation is made for one parameter at a time, while the others are kept constant. This one-dimensional optimisation is repeated in a loop for all parameters. A new loop is performed as long as there is a sufficiently large improvement since the last one. After each loop a search is made in the direction which is defined by the differences in parameter values between the two latest loops. The calibration routine was developed for, and tested with, the HBV model, but it should be general enough to be applicable to other modess as well.


There is a critical shortage of radiologists in Zambia, with only 5 serving the entire population of approximately 17 million. For this reason, most hospitals, especially in rural areas have no radiologist services. This leaves most diagnostic imaging examinations unreported. In order to bring imaging services closer to the families who stand as a point of care, this article addresses the ways and possibilities of having reporting radiographers assisting radiologists in reporting on plain film radiographs. It has further evaluated evidence and research on how this undertaking has worked well in other countries. The article ends by recognising that with postgraduate training in image interpretation and reporting, radiographers (both diploma and degree holders) in Zambia can effectively report on plain film radiographs; thereby improving access to this service for the majority of patients.


Recent advancements in energy-harvesting techniques provide an alternative to batteries for resource-constrained IoT devices and lead to a new computing paradigm, the intermittent computing model. In this model, a software module continues its execution from where it left off when an energy shortage occurred. Enforcing security of an intermittent software module is challenging because its power-off state has to be protected from a malicious adversary in addition to its power-on state, while the security mechanisms put in place must have a low overhead on the performance, resource consumption, and cost of a device.In this paper, we propose SIA (Secure Intermittent Architecture), a security architecture for resource-constrained IoT devices. SIA leverages low-cost security features available in commercial off-the-shelf microcontrollers to protect both the power-on and power-off state of an intermittent software module. Therefore, SIA enables a host of secure intermittent computing applications such as self-attestation, remote attestation, and secure communication. Moreover, our architecture provides confidentiality and integrity guarantees to an intermittent computing module at no cost compared to previous approaches in the literature that impose significant overheads. The salient characteristic of SIA is that it does not require any hardware modifications, and hence, it can be directly applied to existing IoT devices.We implemented and evaluated SIA on a resource-constrained IoT device based on an MSP430 processor. Besides being secure, SIA is simple and efficient. We confirm the feasibility of SIA for resource-constrained IoT devices with experimental results of several intermittent computing applications. Our prototype implementation outperforms by two to three orders of magnitude the secure intermittent computing solution of Suslowicz et al. presented at IGSC 2018.


Deep water percolation and chemical leaching is a recognized environmental problem with furrow irrigation. Alternate-furrow irrigation (AFI) was hypothesized as a method to increase water-use efficiency and decrease chemical leaching compared with every-furrow irrigation (EFI). The SWMS_2D finite-element model was used to investigate water and CaCU movement in EFI and AFI with furrow-placed or ridge-placed fertilizer bands. Model simulations were conducted for a Crook loamy sand (mixed, mesic, Ustic Torripsamment) and a Nunn clay loam (fine, montmorillonitic, mesic Aridic Argiustoll). Water isolation zones occurred with AFI and EFI that contributed little to overall profile drainage. The soil water contents after infiltration and redistribution were more uniform for EFI than for AFI for both soils. Water distribution was more uniform with AFI in the clay loam than in the loamy sand. Chemical movement was least with AFI and CaCl2 placement under the nonirrigated furrow. The greatest chemical leaching was predicted with furrow placement of CaCl2 and EFI. Results with CaCl2 suggest soluble chemicals or fertilizers placed under the nonirrigated furrow in loamy sand may not be available for plant uptake because the soil did not wet during irrigation. With either form of furrow irrigation, placement of a fertilizer in the ridge rather than in the furrow would decrease leaching of the fertilizer and keep the fertilizer in the root zone. View complete article To view this complete article, insert Disc 5 then click button8


When the restorative justice idea is implemented, its goals and values might not be entirely pursued clue to various factors such as penal goals, relevant social theories, cultural difference, and the values and norms of people in society. These factors might have an influence on its practices as well as its electiveness. Moreover, empirical evidence relating to the effect of restorative justice practices on crime victims is not consistent and casts doubt on its reliability and validity. These limitations snake it uncertain that restorative justice practices can restore victims. Therefore, this research study aims to investigate the actual effect by systematically analysing quantitative and qualitative findings of the existing studies conducted in various countries, compare the effect between different restorative justice practices. i. e. conferencing and mediation and the conventional criminal justice system: and investigate factors relating, to the effect. i. e., case characteristics, scheme characteristics and study characteristics. The meta-analytical method is used to analyse research findings collected from 17 restorative justice schemes implemented in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United States and United Kingdom. Results from the meta-analysis confirm that comer acing and mediation have a profound effect on the outcomes of victim satisfaction, perception of fairness, fear of revictimisation, attitude toward offenders, agreement completion, and receiving of an apology. The effect ranges from 2 to 12 times as opposed to the conventional justice system with the highest on the outcome of the receiving of an apology and the lowest on the outcome of the perception of fairness. Two outcomes are examined further and results show that restorative justice practices are likely to increase victim satisfaction and perception of fairness among victims of serious cases more so than among victims of less serious cases. In addition, they are likely to increase victim satisfaction and perception of fairness on victim's attitude toward the way their cases were handled than the case outcomes. These findings confirm the importance of the restorative process and suggest that restorative justice schemes should put more emphasis on serious cases.


Critics doubt the existence of any coherent doctrine of legitimate expectations in the common law. Legitimate expectation is said to be a vague concept which permits judges to trespass into the legislative and executive domains and distribute palm-tree justice. In my view, however, coherence can be attained. That the doctrine may not map clearly onto the various justifications offered for it from time to time is not a great surprise. The doctrine is of recent provenance and, as is the case with the common law, its development has not followed inexorably from an agreed set of first principles. Some underlying theory is needed to assist in answering difficult doctrinal questions. I propose a pluralist approach to the doctrine of legitimate expectations. Several values -- the rule of law, good administration, democracy and separation of powers -- can be found in the decided cases. Faced with values found in the cases that are individually appealing but which may be in tension, coherence can be achieved by adopting a pluralist approach that does not assign priority to any one value but seeks instead to reconcile them.Three controversial doctrinal questions form a crucible within which the appropriate interaction of the rule of law, good administration, democracy and separation of powers can be observed and the advantages of a pluralist approach appreciated. These are, first, the role of knowledge and reliance, second, substantive legitimate expectations and third, expectations based on ultra vires representations. I argue that neither knowledge nor reliance should be a pre-requisite to the enforcement of legitimate expectations. On substantive legitimate expectations, I take the side of the Court of Appeal in Coughlan, arguing in the teeth of strong criticism of that decision that there are indeed good reasons for courts to enforce substantive legitimate expectations, though I also observe that the Court of Appeal probably went too far in one important respect. And as to ultra vires representations, I ally myself with those who have advocated a balancing approach that would permit courts to enforce them in some circumstances.


The majority of bacteria suspended in seawater do not appear to be metabolically active or in good physiological condition as assessed by various methods. We tested the idea that a large fraction of 'inactive' bacterial cells can become 'active' with respect to detectable cell-specific electron transport system (ETS) activity, determined by the ability of cells to reduce the fluorogenic tetrazolium salt, CTC, when incubated for periods of time with or without additional substrate. Aliquots of 1.0 pm filtered seawater were amended with mixed antibiotics to inhibit DNA synthesis and thus cell division, and incubated at in situ (12.8 and 16.4"C) temperature or at 20°C. Additions included: phosphate (0.83 mM P, 5.3 mgP 1-'), ammonium (1.67 mM N, 23.4 mgN l-'), and organic carbon as glucose, mixed amino acids or yeast extract (8.33 mM C, 100 mgC 1l ) . At 2OoC, the addition of mixed amino acids and yeast extract resulted in a large increase of % ETS-active cells (CTC-positive [CTC+] cells), from 1.9-2.4 % at 0 h to 55-87 % CTC+ cells by 21 to 28 h. At in situ temperature, the increase in % CTC+ cells was less, and the glucose addition caused the greatest increase in % CTC+ cells. Under conditions of increased temperature and high concentration of organic substrate, a large proportion of the apparently 'inactive' bacteria can become highly ETS-active within a day, suggesting that these cells are in fact alive, and are capable of attaining significant metabolic activity. The different response patterns of the bacterial assemblages at 20°C compared to those at 12.8 and 16.4"C suggests that temperature can be an important factor in bactenoplankton response to increase in substrate concentration.


This paper investigates extensions of the method of endogenous gridpoints (ENDGM) introduced by Carroll (Econ Lett 91(3):312–320, 2006) to higher dimensions with more than one continuous endogenous state variable. We compare three different categories of algorithms: (i) the conventional method with exogenous grids (EXOGM), (ii) the pure method of endogenous gridpoints (ENDGM) and (iii) a hybrid method (HYBGM). ENDGM comes along with Delaunay interpolation on irregular grids. Comparison of methods is done by evaluating speed and accuracy by using a specific model with two endogenous state variables. We find that HYBGM and ENDGM both dominate EXOGM. In an infinite horizon model, ENDGM also always dominates HYBGM. In a finite horizon model, the choice between HYBGM and ENDGM depends on the number of gridpoints in each dimension. With less than 150 gridpoints in each dimension ENDGM is faster than HYBGM, and vice versa. For a standard choice of 25–50 gridpoints in each dimension, ENDGM is 1.4–1.7 times faster than HYBGM in the finite horizon version and 2.4–2.5 times faster in the infinite horizon version of the model.


Endosymbioses between animals and chemoautotrophic bacteria are ubiquitous at hydrothermal vents. These environments are distinguished by high physico-chemical variability, yet we know little about how these symbioses respond to environmental fluctuations. We therefore examined how the γ-proteobacterial symbionts of the vent snail Ifremeria nautilei respond to changes in sulfur geochemistry. Via shipboard high-pressure incubations, we subjected snails to 105 μM hydrogen sulfide (LS), 350 μM hydrogen sulfide (HS), 300 μM thiosulfate (TS) and seawater without any added inorganic electron donor (ND). While transcript levels of sulfur oxidation genes were largely consistent across treatments, HS and TS treatments stimulated genes for denitrification, nitrogen assimilation, and CO2 fixation, coincident with previously reported enhanced rates of inorganic carbon incorporation and sulfur oxidation in these treatments. Transcripts for genes mediating oxidative damage were enriched in the ND and LS treatments, potentially due to a reduction in O2 scavenging when electron donors were scarce. Oxidative TCA cycle gene transcripts were also more abundant in ND and LS treatments, suggesting that I. nautilei symbionts may be mixotrophic when inorganic electron donors are limiting. These data reveal the extent to which I. nautilei symbionts respond to changes in sulfur concentration and species, and, interpreted alongside coupled biochemical metabolic rates, identify gene targets whose expression patterns may be predictive of holobiont physiology in environmental samples.


A study was carried out to assess the effect of live yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Nutriferm™) on milk production at National Cattle Research Program Khumaltar Lalitpur from 19 March 2015 to 15 April 2015. Twenty crossbred cattle were selected randomly and divided into five treatment groups. Each group had four animals arranged in Complete Randomized Design (CRD). Among five treatment groups, treatment (T1) was treated with 0.5 kg/MT of live yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae (SC) incorporated feed, treatment (T2) with 1 kg/MT SC, treatment (T3) with 1.5 kg/MT SC, treatment (T4) with 2 kg/MT SC and treatment (T5) as control without any live yeast inclusion in feed. Supplementation of the live yeast up to seventh day of the trial had statistically non-significant (P>0.05) effect on average milk yield per cattle between the treatments. Response of the yeast on mean milk yield per cattle between the treatments was found statistically different (P<0.05) on fourteenth day and twenty-eight day of the trial. On fourteenth day mean milk yield of control group (T4) was statistically significant with highest dose rate inclusion T4 only but remained non-significant with the rest of the lower dose rate treatments. With further supplementation of the yeast up to 28th day of the trial results showed the statistically significant effect with lower dose rate T2 as well with respect to control group besides T4. Hence, the result of this experiment indicates that supplementation of live yeast for at least 14 days has role in the enhancement of milk production in crossbred dairy cattle with faster effect by dose rate of T4 treatment.


One of the first layers of active defense in plant-microbe interactions is based upon the recognition of pathogen associated molecular patterns (PAMPs). Although biochemically well studied, components of PAMP signaling await to be identified. Furthermore, emerging data point to a function of endocytosis in signaling (Chinchilla et al., 2007a; Geldner et al., 2007). Here, we conducted reverse and forward genetic approaches to identify components and to elucidate the role of endocytosis in PAMP signaling. Previous successful forward genetic approaches were refined to identify additional components in PAMP signaling (Gomez-Gomez and Boller, 2000). The sensitivity of the response to flg22 by seedling growth inhibition was enhanced by UV-B treatment (Logemann and Hahlbrock, 2002), and by employing a modified seedling growth inhibition assay on plates with reduced flagellin dosis. Arabidopsis thaliana ecotypes were inspected and most insensitive accessions were mutated in FLS2 alleles. Furthermore, screening a a-irradiation population revealed several fli mutants (for flagellin-insensitive). Notably, only late PAMP responses such as callose deposition, seedling growth arrest and resistance to PtoDC3000 infection were impaired. The tested fli1-8 mutants were not allelic to FLS2 or BAK1, which suggests that yet unknown components of flg22 signaling are affected. While fli mutants were more susceptible to bacterial infection they appear more resistant to the oomycete Hyaloperonospora arabidopsis cv. Cala2. Taken together, potentially novel components involved in late PAMP responses were identified. FLS2 endocytosis is one of the flg22 responses and appears to contribute to flg22 signaling. We therefore tested several knock-out mutants in known endocytosis components for their response to flg22 and bacterial infection. While most mutants displayed wild-type-like flg22 responses, vps28-2, vps37-1, vps28-1 elch, and gnl1-1 exhibited enhanced susceptibility to PtoDC3000 infection. VPS28-2, VPS37-1, and VPS28-1 ELCH are components of the ESCRT I system responsible for sorting ubiquitinated proteins. GNL1 is an ARF GEF regulating vesicle trafficking at the Golgi and PM. To further delineate the role of endocytosis in plant immunity, a genetic screen for novel endocytosis mutants was established. Applying quantitative confocal microscopy 12 fel mutants (for FYVE-GFP endosome levels) with altered endosomal numbers in cotyledons were identified. Two selected mutants, fel4 with an increased endosome number and a few enlarged endosomes and fel5 with a reduced endosome number, were characterized in more detail. Both fel mutants displayed minor developmental defects, which did not co-segregate with the endosomal phenotype, and revealed unaltered endosomal levels in roots. In total, these approaches allowed us to isolate novel components involved in PTI and components regulating endocytosis in Arabidopsis. Map-based cloning will unravel the genetic identity of these mutants and elucidate how endocytosis contributes to immunity.


Control flow integrity (CFI) has received significant attention in the community to combat control hijacking attacks in the presence of memory corruption vulnerabilities. The challenges in creating a practical CFI has resulted in the development of a new type of CFI based on runtime type checking (RTC). RTC-based CFI has been implemented in a number of recent practical efforts such as GRSecurity Reuse Attack Protector (RAP) and LLVM-CFI. While there has been a number of previous efforts that studied the strengths and limitations of other types of CFI techniques, little has been done to evaluate the RTC-based CFI. In this work, we study the effectiveness of RTC from the security and practicality aspects. From the security perspective, we observe that type collisions are abundant in sufficiently large code bases but exploiting them to build a functional attack is not straightforward. Then we show how an attacker can successfully bypass RTC techniques using a variant of ROP attacks that respect type checking (called TROP) and also built two proof-of-concept exploits, one against Nginx web server and the other against Exim mail server. We also discuss practical challenges of implementing RTC. Our findings suggest that while RTC is more practical for applying CFI to large code bases, its policy is not strong enough when facing a motivated attacker.


Femoral head necrosis (FHN) is a disease process resulting from inadequate blood perfu- sion of subchondral bone. While the etiology of this disease is still not fully understood, there are multiple traumatic and atraumatic factors that are associated with the disease. Pathophysiology of the disease is characterized by the death of bone marrow and osteocytes. If left untreated, the disease may progress to joint collapse. While initial stages of the disease are asymptomatic, painful limitation of active and passive motion of the hip is eventually present. The current body of literature cannot identify an optimal treat- ment protocol for FHN. Postcollapse cases require surgical intervention, core decompression, or total hip arthroplasty. However, current strides in conservative management are being made. One of the possible conservative modalities that may effectively delay hip arthroplasty or even prevent the need for a surgical approach is hyperbaric oxygen (HBO 2 ) therapy. HBO 2 increases extracellular oxygen concentration and reduces cellular ischemia and edema by inducing vasoconstriction. Studies have reported radiographic improvement, reduction in pain, and increases in range of motion for early stages of the disease. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy has also been shown to stimulate angiogenesis and enhance osteoclast and osteoblast function for remodeling and repair.


The Hölderian regularity is an important mathematical feature of a signal, connected with the physical nature of the measured parameter. Many algorithms have been proposed in literature for estimating the local Hölder exponent value, but all of them lead to biased estimates. This paper attempts to apply the grey system theory (GST) on the raw signal for improving the accuracy of Hölderian regularity estimation. First, synthetic logs data are generated by the successive random additions (SRA) method with different types of Hölder functions. The application on these simulated signals shows that the Hölder functions estimated by the GST are more precise than those derived from the raw data. Additionally, noisy signals are considered for the same experiment, and more accurate regularity is obtained using signals processed using GST. Second, the proposed technique is implemented on well log data measured at an Algerian exploration borehole. It is demonstrated that the regularity determined from the well logs analyzed by the GST is more reliable than that inferred from the raw data. In addition, the obtained Hölder functions almost reflect the lithological discontinuities encountered by the well. To conclude, the GST is a powerful tool for enhancing the estimation of the Hölderian regularity of signals.


Fermi liquid theory is used to generate the Ginzburg-Landau free energy functionals for unconventional superconductors belonging to various representations. The parameters defining the GL functional depend on Fermi surface anisotropy, impurity scattering and the symmetry class of the pairing interaction. As applications I consider the basic models for the superconducting phases of UPt3. Two predictions of Fermi liquid theory for the two-dimensional representations of the hexagonal symmetry group are (i) the zero-field equilibrium state exhibits spontaneously broken time-reversal symmetry, and (ii) the gradient energies for the different 2D representations, although described by a similar GL functionals, are particularly sensitive to the orbital symmetry of the pairing state and Fermi surface anisotropy.


To study the cognitive role that tangible objects play in design thinking, we gave 17 architects and novice students a set of blocks and asked them to design their dream house. Although the blocks seem simple they are filled with perceptual surprises. We regard manipulating blocks as a form of physical thinking because through interaction designers increase the dimensionality of their design space. This happens because a) perceptual ambiguity leads to multiple semantics multiple ways of identifying what shapes are out there, and b) kinesthetic and other forms of non-visual interaction enables designers to feel inertia, mass, force and gravity and thereby encounter blocks and their relations in additional ways. The effects of tangibility and enactive forms of perception is that the design space expands, often leading architects to more divergent thinking. Physical interaction broadens the basis of creativity.


Online social networks such as Facebook allow users to control which friend sees what information, but it can be a laborious process for users to specify every receiver for each piece of information they share. Therefore, users usually group their friends into social circles, and select the most appropriate social circle to share particular information with. However, social circles are not formed for setting privacy policies, and even the most appropriate social circle still cannot adapt to the changes of users' privacy requirements influenced by the changes in context. This problem drives the need for better privacy control which can adaptively filter the members in a selected social circle to satisfy users' requirements while maintaining users' social needs. To enable such adaptive sharing, this paper proposes a utility-based trade-off framework that models users' concerns (i.e. Potential privacy risks) and incentives of sharing (i.e. Potential social benefits), and quantifies users' requirements as a trade-off between these two types of utilities. By balancing these two metrics, our framework suggests a subset of a selected circle that aims to maximise users' overall utility of sharing. Numerical simulation results compare the outcome of three sharing strategies in randomly changing contexts.


The Mosque and Islamic Cultural Centre of Rome was officially inaugurated in 1995 after 20 years of design and construction when the idea of its establishment was envisioned as an international competition in 1976. The centre is located 5 km to the north from the city centre. It sets in Prioli district, a residential area of the upper-middle class at the foothills of Villa Ada park and Monte Antenne, serves the growing number of Muslims that moved to Rome, and provides educational and cultural services to both Muslim and Italian communities. Due to considerable coverage the project has received in international publications and media, the centre has acquired regional and international architectural significance. The final realization of the project is a synthesis of elements that are derived from historic references of Islamic, Roman, and Baroque architecture. The incorporation of these elements into a unified whole results in a unique landmark that speaks to the Islamic and Western worlds.


Carbonate and sulfide scales are directly coupled together and differ from other inorganic scales because they are intimately linked to the in-situ concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) and hydrogen sulfide (H2S), which influence the local pH and availability of reactive species.
 The CO2 in aqueous solutions has the most significant effect on the system pH, on the solution content of bicarbonate ion (HCO3–), and on the final alkalinity. However, the presence of H2S in the system also has a direct and important effect on the total-system alkalinity. When calcium carbonate deposition occurs in a depressurized aqueous fluid, the amount of scale (CaCO3) that forms depends on the initial (prescaling) solution alkalinity. Thus, the occurrence and severity of carbonate scale are linked to both the solution carbonate system (CO2/HCO3–/CO32–) and the sulfide system (H2S/HS–/S2–).
 In previous publications, we have described a rigorous work flow (step-by-step procedure) to accurately predict carbonate- and sulfide-scaling profiles from reservoir to separator using commonly available field data (Verri et al. 2017a). Although, with perfect data, the work flow is rigorous [i.e., it will correctly predict the types and amounts of scale that can occur in some carbonate systems (e.g., CaCO3, FeCO3, FeS)], the numerical results produced are, of course, subject to errors of different types.
 In this paper, we identify and describe three key categories of data and procedures that must be correctly gathered and used to obtain accurate carbonate- and sulfide-scale predictions: These relate to field measurements, data-handling procedures, choice of software, model equations, and parameters. Moreover, in this work, the impact of unreliable field measurements on the final carbonate and sulfide scaling profiles is estimated, with a specific focus on gas- and water-chemistry errors. By varying important parameters such as Ca2+ concentration and gas-phase CO2 and H2S, it is possible to assess the impact that errors in these measurements have on the final scale-prediction profiles. Because of the closely coupled nature of the carbonate and sulfide systems, it is essential to consider "groups" of variables that change together.


The nanotechnology innovation ecosystem within the U.S. remains firmly anchored by the fundamental science activities supported by federal and state government investments, being well positioned to accelerate the commercialization path for nano-enabled products. Effective technology transfer of translational R&D from laboratory proof-of-concept and prototype demonstrations remains a significant barrier to rapid commercial scale-up, and numerous models have emerged to better support this critical stage of the innovation cycle, including regional and state models for stakeholder networks providing the critical connections between academic research, investors, and entrepreneurs. While measures of success for an innovation ecosystem are not always so easily derived, the approach of connecting capital, resources, and leadership with good science remains an enduring model which continues to shape the future for the commercialization of nanotechnology, with nanomanufacturing firmly embedded within the framework of advanced manufacturing in the U.S. Beneq's industrial thin film coating, nanotechnology and sustainability, and metallic nanoparticles are also discussed.


The epidemiology of the anthracnose pathogen of mango, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, was studied over two growing seasons in the Philippines. This pathogen spreads within tree canopies as water-borne conidia during rainfall, and causes symptoms on young flush leaves, flowers and fruit. Infection studies with leaves and fruit incubated at different temperatures and humidities led to the derivation of a logistic regression model of the percentage of conidia forming appressoria. This model was compared with a similarly derived model from work in Australia; it appeared that the Philippine isolates of C. gloeosporioides were adapted to the higher mean temperatures of the Philippines. Conidia were observed to germinate and form appressoria at relative humidities (RH) between 95 and 100%, even though free surface moisture was only visible at 100% RH. This model was used retrospectively to estimate infection levels in two field trials which had been established to compare pre- and post-harvest practices in the control of the disease. Using this information to plan applications of a curative fungicide might have resulted in four fewer sprays in the first trial and one less in the second, compared with the standard protective spray programme employed.


We address the seemingly implausible project of moving the technical support of complex organisational technologies online. We say 'implausible' because from the point of view of micro-sociological analysis and the influential work of Julian Orr (1996) there is a consensus that the diagnosis and resolution of technical failures is an intrinsically 'localised affair' (i.e., rooted within a specific place and time). Notwithstanding this view, technology producers have been pushing in the recent period to develop online forms of support. Today, and particularly in the area of organisational software, many technical failures are now repaired at a distance. How is this possible given the consensus amongst sociologists? Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted at a major software producer we show how repair work has been recast and inserted in a new geographical and temporal regime. This has implications for how sociologists of technology conceptualise the nature and practice of technical failure but also the time and situation in which it occurs. We attempt to refocus understandings of technical problems from a preoccupation with their rootedness onto how they are lifted out of local contexts and passed around globally distributed offices in search of requisite specialist expertise. Importantly, whilst virtualisation appears a seemingly effective means to resolve failures it also has negative consequences. Whereas in more traditional types of technical support place-based social relations are seen to bear the burden of controlling and regulating support, in online forms other means have to be found. Our conceptual aim is to move away from a view of repair revolving exclusively around the situation conceived of as a 'small place'. Rather, since support work is increasingly 'stretched out' across a global network of labs connected up by technologies, it now takes place across an extended situation. We work up this notion first to highlight how aspects once seen as central to localist forms of analysis are no longer the only organising features as technical work moves online and second to demonstrate the various ways in which the locales for this work are now mediated by technology.


Zinc-based nanostructured nickel (Ni) free metal oxide electrode material Zn0.60/Cu0.20Mn0.20 oxide (CMZO) was synthesized by solid state reaction and investigated for low temperature solid oxide fuel cell (LTSOFC) applications. The crystal structure and surface morphology of the synthesized electrode material were examined by XRD and SEM techniques respectively. The particle size of ZnO phase estimated by Scherer's equation was 31.50 nm. The maximum electrical conductivity was found to be 12.567 S/cm and 5.846 S/cm in hydrogen and air atmosphere, respectively at 600∘C. The activation energy of the CMZO material was also calculated from the DC conductivity data using Arrhenius plots and it was found to be 0.060 and 0.075 eV in hydrogen and air atmosphere, respectively. The CMZO electrode-based fuel cell was tested using carbonated samarium doped ceria composite (NSDC) electrolyte. The three layers 13 mm in diameter and 1 mm thickness of the symmetric fuel cell were fabricated by dry pressing. The maximum power density of 728.86 mW/cm2 was measured at 550∘C.


Thackeray's eponymous, comedic antihero rightfully earned his reputation as one of the most notoriously unreliable narrators in English fiction, not least for his portrayal as a gentleman scoundrel and roving confidence man. Scholars have long assumed that Victorian readers found the highly mobile gambler with dozens of aliases both frightening and irredeemably bad. I wish to suggest that Barry's literary appeal as well as his commercial liability were rooted in Thackeray's decision to cast him as a professing philosopher in imposture and identity play.  This essay analyzes two scenes in Barry Lyndon (1844) to demonstrate Barry's swift education in the art of personal narrative manipulation and to describe a model for interpersonal literacy in which Barry both expressly and implicitly offers instruction. Though Barry claims to be educating readers in the finer points of professional gambling, he is actually delineating the rules for playing with one's identity, an endeavour far more universally interesting, and alarming, than the ostensible tutoring in how to circumvent the original readers' growing middle-class work ethic. Barry labours hard and constantly, but he is manufacturing personal narrative—something many Victorian readers may have wished was authentic, unique, and thus beyond the grimy reach of industrial production.  Barry's wins and losses in identity manipulation have little to do with The Luck of Barry Lyndon , the title under which the novel was originally published, and everything to do with Barry's increasing but perpetually inadequate grasp of the complex of skills that forms the modus operandi  for successful impostors: interpersonal literacy, recursive scripting, and confidence networking. Tracing Barry's experiments in narrative propagation reveals both a discipline in which one can be educated and a generative process by which a subject inhabits a narrative that takes on a life of its own.


Although many vectors exist for Escherichia coli and closely related species, there are few broad host range vectors that can be conjugated into a large variety of Gram-negative bacteria. We have constructed a broad host range vector, pMJ445, that facilitates the analysis of divergent promoters in Gram-negative bacteria. The vector was validated using two intergenic regions derived from gene clusters involved in hydantoin hydrolysis, from the environmental isolates Pseudomonas putida and Agrobacterium tumefaciens. The DNA sequences analysed were capable of activating expression of the reporter enzymes, β-glucuronidase and β-galactosidase, present on pMJ445, indicating the presence of divergent promoters in the sequences selected. In addition, we demonstrated that pMJ445 can be applied to gene regulation studies.


BASF has signed on Citrine, an artificial intelligence software developer focused on materials research, to accelerate development of environmental catalysts. Using Citrine's software, BASF will build AI models for identifying new materials that capture greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. Iterative testing of materials is expected to improve the models via the machine-learning attributes of AI. The chemical company plans to extend the collaboration with Citrine into other catalyst applications.


Photograph of the bridal party, beginning with the flower girl Dixie Rhinehart, entering down the aisle of the Sunny View Methodist Church for the wedding ceremony of Gilbert Dove and Hazel Petrey. The Dixie is followed by Gerry Petrey, with Mabel Henderson visible behind her. Hazel's father and brother, A.D., are seated in the first row on the left side of the photo. Narrative by Junebug Clark: More images and information can be found in the July 28, 1941 issue of Life Magazine, pages 82-85 in the story "Life Magazine Goes to a Kentucky Wedding." Also in the Joe Clark, HBSS book "Country Wedding," published in 1974. Additionally, a 1982 photo of Hazel and Gilbert can be found in Joe's Tennessee Scrapbook. All are in the Clark Family Photography Collection. Additional photos and information can be forund in the pdf document "Joe Clark HBSS Scrapbook" pgs 39-41


Articulated objects represent an important class of objects in our everyday environment. Automatic detection of the type of articulated or otherwise restricted motion and extraction of the corresponding motion parameters are therefore of high value, \eg in order to augment an otherwise static 3D reconstruction with dynamic semantics, such as rotation axes and allowable translation directions for certain rigid parts or objects. Hence, in this paper, a novel theory to analyse relative transformations between two motion-restricted parts will be presented. The analysis is based on linear subspaces spanned by relative transformations. Moreover, a signature for relative transformations will be introduced which uniquely specifies the type of restricted motion encoded in these relative transformations. This theoretic framework enables the derivation of novel algebraic constraints, such as low-rank constraints for subsequent rotations around two fixed axes for example. Lastly, given the type of restricted motion as predicted by the signature, the paper shows how to extract all the motion parameters with matrix manipulations from linear algebra. Our theory is verified on several real data sets, such as a rotating blackboard or a wheel rolling on the floor amongst others.


In writing Still Lives, Jonathan Cole wanted to find out about living in a wheelchair, without having what he calls "the doctor/patient thing" intervene. He has done this by asking people with spinal cord injuries the simple question of what it is like to live without sensation and movement in the body. If the body has absented itself, where does the person reside? He describes his method in the first chapter: "I have gone to people, not with a white coat or a stethoscope...[but] to listen to their lives as they express them," and it is the candid and powerful narratives of twelve people with spinal cord injuries that form the heart of the book.Asking his simple question, Cole discovers that there is no single or simple answer. The twelve people with tetraplegia (known as quadriplegia in the US) or paraplegia whose stories he tells testify to similar impairments but widely differing experiences. Cole employs their individual responses to shape the book into six main sections: "Enduring," "Exploring," "Experimenting," "Observing," "Empowering," and, finally, "Continuing." Each concludes with a commentary on the broader issues raised. Still Lives moves from a view of impairment as tragedy to reveal the possibilities and richness of experience available to those living with spinal injuries. More universally, it offers new perspectives on our relation to our bodies. In exploring the creative and imaginative adjustments required to construct a "still life," it makes a plea for the able-bodied to adjust their view of this most profound of impairments.


Precast pre-tensioned concrete bridge construction became common in New Zealand in the 1950s and a large number of pre-tensioned concrete bridges were constructed between 1953 and 1980. These bridges do not meet todayrs durability requirements and many are at risk of chloride-induced pre-tensioned reinforcement corrosion. This deterioration can be difficult to detect in visual inspections and has immediate structural implications, so prediction or early detection of at-risk structures is critical for bridges to achieve their required service lives. This report presents an assessment of the New Zealand pre-tensioned concrete bridge stock and identifies bridges at risk of pre-tensioned reinforcement corrosion. Construction eras based on evolving construction practices are identified, and examples of typical beam types used in each era are presented. The exposure classification of each pre-tensioned concrete bridge on the state highway network was remotely estimated using a Google Earth-based tool developed for the purpose. A sample of 30 bridges was selected for inspection, and chloride profiles and concrete cover depth surveys were obtained from each structure. This data was used in diffusion models to predict the remaining service life before initiation of chloride-induced reinforcement corrosion for each bridge, and the results were then applied to other similar bridges in New Zealand.


Since the 1940s mangroves have expanded their areal coverage in many estuaries in the northern half of the North Island of New Zealand. The extent of mangrove colonization in Waikaraka Estuary, Tauranga Harbour, has been documented using photogrammetric analysis, and the impacts of subsequent mangrove removal are analysed. Surface elevation changes in response to mangrove removal are measured using RSETs (Rod Surface Elevation Table) and erosion pins, and sediment accumulation rates were calculated from sediment trap results. Temporal changes to surface sediment texture are analysed. Mangrove physiognomy is described from analysis of mean plant height, plant density and pneumatophore density. Plant heights reflect the shrubby growth form of mangroves growing toward their southern climatic limit, with mean plant heights under 1.5 m. Mangrove coverage has increased from approximately 16,000 m2 in 1943 to 115,000 m2 in 2003. Since May 2005, 9,600 m2 of mangrove vegetation has been removed from the estuary.For the monitoring period of March 2006 to March 2007, rates of surface elevation change in cleared areas ranged from - 9 mm to - 38 mm yr (mean -14 mm yr). Conversely, surface elevation under mangrove forest varied between sites, ranging from -5 mm to 14 mm yr (mean 3 mm yr). Results from RSETs and erosion pins and a coarsening of surface sediment texture at the cleared sites, is consistent with sediment release after mangrove removal.


We derive analytical expressions for the extra capacity requirements of mesh networks to ensure survivability against single-link failures. We study both shared link- and path-based restoration schemes and formulate the network global expectation value of extra capacity. We analyze a wide range of planar and toroid mesh networks using a linear programming optimization tool and find our analytic model in good agreement with the numerical simulation data. © 2005 Optical Society of America


In an information transmission situation, a sender's concern for its credibility could endow itself with an invisible power to control the receiver's decisions so that the sender can manipulate information without being detected. In this case, the sender can achieve its favored outcome without losing its credibility, which stays true even when the sender and the receiver have contradictory preferences. Therefore, the sender's concern for its credibility could result in less truthful signals from the sender and worse payoffs to the receiver. This is the paradox of credibility. This paper models this paradoxical role of the sender's credibility concern.


This paper uses a public choice framework to consider the impact of Congressional adoption of a biennial federal budget. The introductory chapters detail the evolution of the current Congressional annual budget and explain how budgetary institutions affect the power structures inside Congress. The relevant public choice literature on budgetary institutions is also explored. Proponents of biennial budgeting argue that changing to a biennial process will provide several benefits to Congress: reduced discretionary spending through more Congressional control over the process, more time for oversight of programs, and greater transparency. Chapter 3 constructs a model of state spending to examine the relationship between budget periodicity and spending by constructing a model of state spending. In contrast to most of the literature on budget periodicity, this chapter finds a positive relationship between spending and biennial budgets. Chapter 4 conducts two case studies of states that have recently moved from annual budgeting to biennial budgeting to determine how the changes affected the influence and power of Appropriators relative to Authorizers. Anecdotal evidence from Connecticut suggests Appropriators' influence is negatively affected by a move to a two-year budget. Campaign contribution evidence from Arizona confirms that interest groups perceive this reduction in the power of Appropriators and, accordingly, donate less to Appropriators relative to Authorizers following a shift to biennial budgeting. Chapter 5 considers whether timing and transparency problems under an annual budget are technical issues that could be cured by extending the budget period and finds that instead these problems the political realities facing legislators. Thus, changing the budget period will not fix these issues and may exacerbate them. This dissertation finds that moving to a federal biennial budget process would increase the pressure on Congressional budgeters to spend, shift power away from Appropriators, and not solve timing and transparency problems in the federal budget.


In coherent lensless imaging, the presence of image sidelobes, which arise as a natural consequence of the finite nature of the detector array, was early recognized as a convergence issue for phase retrieval algorithms that rely on an object support constraint. To mitigate the problem of truncated far-field measurement, a controlled analytic continuation by means of an iterative transform algorithm with weighted projections is proposed and tested. This approach avoids the use of sidelobe reduction windows and achieves full-resolution reconstructions.


Localisation is a far-reaching discipline, covering much more than just translation. Many other aspects of web site design also require attention, one example being cultural modification. Music content is often included in web sites, but how much thought goes into the cultural suitability of such music? Is the style, the genre, of the music in keeping with the locale of the user? Different cultures can also derive differing meanings and understanding from music due to their cultural conditioning, and an acceptance that the structures of Western Art Music can be viewed as universal is a dangerous assumption to make. For example, some music deemed happy in some cultures can be perceived as melancholy in others. This paper presents a novel approach for possibly 'localising' a piece of music via a system the author originally created for the purposes of capturing and recreating emotive content in music thus permitting the cultural modification of musical digital content held in the MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) file format. A graphical user interface allows users to alter music until they are happy with the resulting cultural or emotive content, and these presets can then be saved and re-applied to any other musical content. This approach has the enormous benefit of allowing all listeners to participate, not just skilled musicians.


This integrative review on the teaching of reading in Kenyan primary schools provides a foundation for the growing movement there to improve reading education. In gathering sources for this review, we took an inclusive historical stance. Thus, we did not dismiss research reports that lacked traditional indicators of quality such as being published in peer-reviewed journals. We used multiple methods to find relevant research and associated documents, including two trips to Kenya. The review is organized by six topics: (a) language of instruction, (b) reading instruction, (c) reading materials, (d) reading culture, (e) assessment, and (f) teacher development. The review concludes with six proposals for policymakers, educational researchers, and teacher educators for the development of reading instruction based on what we learned in reviewing the literature. The first proposals are intended specifically to address the teaching of reading in Kenya, but they may be relevant to other sub-Saharan nations. The final proposal encourages others to conduct similar reviews to make possible a handbook of reading in


In the interests of full disclosure, I must acknowledge up front that J. Douglas Canfield was for more than twenty-five years one of my closest friends in this profession, so there is no chance that this assessment will be objective. Furthermore, in the culture wars that shook eighteenth-century studies as much as any other area of literary studies across the 1980s and beyond, Doug Canfield was a stalwart ally. And finally, as anyone who heard Doug deliver a paper at the MLA or any ASECS meeting would know, with his interest in a huge range of plays, his dramatic flair, and his booming voice, Doug made the study of Restoration and eighteenth-century drama (usually a brutally dry and arcane subject), fun. (1) It is my claim that Doug's contribution to this field of study far exceeds the several books and many articles that he published on the drama. Indeed, I want to argue that Doug was one of a handful of scholars who were instrumental in making Restoration drama a field as such, as opposed to its more familiar status as a minor subcategory or byway within the Long Eighteenth Century. I am not claiming simply that Doug brought the sophistications of contemporary (post-structural) theory to bear on the drama, though he did do that, and I am not claiming simply that by bringing to bear the political concerns of contemporary critical theory and cultural studies he made the drama much more interesting than it had hitherto been, though he did that, too. Above all, through his attention to form and to genre, Doug was instrumental in bringing together two very different lines of study--theatre history and literary criticism. When literary history and criticism was professionalized to fit the development of the new post-World War II research university, drama in general, and Restoration drama in particular, fell between two stools: theatre historians, often coming out of or allied with drama departments, on the one hand, and literary history and literary criticism, coming out of English departments, on the other. The former produced monumental reference works such as The London Stage and A Biographical Dictionary of Actors and Actresses, while the latter produced playwright-centered monographs such as Dale Underwood on Etherege. (2) It was not just the interests and methods that differed but the object of study itself, for theatre historians studied the texts and figures obviously important to the development of the institution, preeminently David Garrick. Literary critics would not have been caught dead writing an interpretive essay about Garrick's The Country Girl, but stuck religiously to the big three: Etherege, Wycherley, Congreve, occasionally Dryden, and then almost nothing else on up to Sheridan. The former were interested in theatres and actual production--dramatic trends and developments--in what succeeded on the stage, and how. As was typical for English studies of the time, literary critics had little interest in what was successful then (the Thomases Shadwell or Durfey), but rather in what "stood the test of time," indisputable literary greatness, the best that was thought and writ. As many have argued, this pattern owes more to literary criticism as an exercise in taste than it does to literary history, and the difference is nowhere better instantiated than in the large body of work on Congreve's The Way of the World, a play that had a miniscule initial run and precious few revivals, but came to be regarded as the finest example of wit comedy in the twentieth century--an important play now but not then. As Julie Stone Peters has shown, through successive revisions Congreve turned The Way of the World increasingly into a printed text to be read--a literary, not a theatrical, masterpiece. (3) So while theatre historians looked to the wide purview of plays produced and reproduced across the period, literary critics focused on a narrow body of the "best" plays by the three "best" playwrights--for all intents and purposes, The Man of Mode, The Country Wife, and The Way of the World. …


Since sources of corruption stem from, but are not limited to, the lack of transparency and accountability in the public sector, this paper sets out to examine if there is a connection between a nation's personal disposable income levels for public employees, when measured by higher personal income tax rates and lower real wage rates, and the level of public corruption found in these countries. We look at a simple contributing factor, disposable income, measured by personal income tax rates and purchasing power parity, as a primary reason for corruption in a country. The research adds to the theory of corruption knowledge in that as a developing country moves towards becoming a developed country, the components of measuring corruption change and evolve. We found that developing nations' public-sector employees place more emphasis on sociological determinants and tax rate contributions as factors contributing toward corruption, whereas developed nations place more emphasis on securing wealth from a standar...


Diagrid structures are widely used for today's tall buildings due to their distinguished architectural aesthetics in any existing urban context and structural efficiency in carrying lateral loads. With prevalent emergence of complex-shaped buildings throughout the world, this paper investigates structural efficiency of diagrid structures employed for complex-shaped tall buildings, such as twisted, tilted and freeform towers. For each complex form category, tall buildings are designed with diagrid systems, and their structural efficiency is studied in conjunction with building forms. In order to investigate the impacts of various important geometric configurations of complex-shaped tall buildings, parametric models are generated using appropriate computer programs, and the models are exported to structural engineering software for design and analyses. Based on the study results, structural efficiency of diagrids for tall buildings of each complex form category is estimated.


Abstract. This paper examines a new "political opportunity structure" in United States Rust Belt cities – globalization – currently being used by redevelopment governances. An investigation of two cities reveals that this discourse ("the global trope") has helped to produce a new socio-spatial polarization in US cities. Globalization here is now not merely a new reality, but also a powerful rhetorical device whose invoking is proving to be a potent political tool for capital in its drive to transform cities. At this rhetoric's core, a supposed new hyper-competitive reality makes Rust Belt cities easily discardable as places of investment. These once-enclosed containers of "the economic", in the rhetoric, have recently become leaky landscapes rife with a potential for economic hemorrhaging. Against this supposed reality, cities are portrayed as beset by a kind of accumulation disorder that now haunts them. Through this, the new governmentality's dominant contours – a proposed shock treatment of re-regulation – is rationalized. This generates a new uneven development across US cities that marginalizes low-income African-American communities.


We investigate the Hermitian and the non-Hermitian dynamics of the mode entanglement in two identical optical cavities coupled by a chiral mirror. By employing the non-Hermitian quantum evolution, we calculate the logarithmic negativity measure of entanglement for initially Fock, coherent, and squeezed states, separately. We verify the nonconservation of mean spin for the initially coherent and squeezed states when the coupling is nonreciprocal and report the associated spin noise for each case. We examine the effects of nonconserved symmetries on the mode correlations and determine the degree of nonreciprocal coupling to establish robust quantum entanglement.


Because most large-magnitude earthquakes along reverse faults have such irregular and complicated rupture patterns, reverse-fault segments defined on the basis of geometry alone may not be very useful for estimating sizes of future seismic sources. Most modern large ruptures of historical earthquakes generated by intracontinental reverse faults have involved geometrically complex rupture patterns. Ruptures across surficial discontinuities and complexities such as stepovers and cross-faults are common. Specifically, segment boundaries defined on the basis of discontinuities in surficial fault traces, pronounced changes in the geomorphology along strike, or the intersection of active faults commonly have not proven to be major impediments to rupture. Assuming that the seismic rupture will initiate and terminate at adjacent major geometric irregularities will commonly lead to underestimation of magnitudes of future large earthquakes.


The Misanthrope, Moliere's richly sophisticated comic drama is accompanied in this volume by The Would-be Gentleman, another tale of a dangerously deluded and obsessive hero. Tartuffe dares to take on the subject of religious hypocrisy. Also included are Such Foolish Affected Ladies and Those Learned Ladies, both newly translated for this edition. Finally, The Doctor Despite Himself is a hilarious example of Moliere's long-standing vendetta against the medical profession.


This paper presents a 3D model of a terahertz photoconductive antenna (PCA) using black phosphorus, an emerging 2D anisotropic material, as the semiconductor layer. This work aims at understanding the potential of black phosphorus (BP) to advance the signal generation and bandwidth of conventional terahertz (THz) PCAs. The COMSOL Multiphysics package, based on the finite element method, is utilized to model the 3D BP PCA emitter using four modules: the frequency domain RF module to solve Maxwell's equations, the semiconductor module to calculate the photocurrent, the heat transfer in solids module to calculate the temperature variations, and the transient RF module to calculate the THz radiated electric field pulse. The proposed 3D model is computationally intensive where the PCA device includes thin layers of thicknesses ranging from nano- to microscale. The symmetry of the configuration was exploited by applying the perfect electric and magnetic boundary conditions to reduce the computational domain to only one quarter of the device in the RF module. The results showed that the temperature variation due to the conduction of current induced by the bias voltage increased by only 0.162 K. In addition, the electromagnetic power dissipation in the semiconductor due to the femtosecond laser source showed an increase in temperature by 0.441 K. The results show that the temperature variations caused the peak of the photocurrent to increase by ∼3.4% and ∼10%, respectively, under a maximum bias voltage of 1 V and average laser power of 1 mW. While simulating the active area of the antenna provided accurate results for the optical and semiconductor responses, simulating the thermal effect on the photocurrent requires a larger computational domain to avoid false rise in temperature. Finally, the simulated THz signal generation electric field pulse exhibits a trend in increasing the bandwidth of the proposed BP PCA compared with the measured pulse of a reference commercial LT-GaAs PCA. Enhancing signal generation and bandwidth will improve THz imaging and spectroscopy for biomedical and material characterization applications.


A seismic survey was conducted adjacent to the nearshore feeding ground of gray whales Eschrichtius robustus off northeastern Sakhalin Island, Russia. Scan surveys were con- ducted at 7 shore stations before, during and after the seismic survey. We investigated whether gray whales shifted their distribution with respect to distance from the shoreline in response to acoustic pulses from the seismic source. To do this, we used linear mixed effects modelling that included effects of detection, space and time. Data were tested for effects of magnitude and pres- ence/absence of sound from seismic activity on whale distance from shore. Sound covariates were estimated over 3 temporal scales (8 h, 3 d and since the start of seismic activity) at locations 500 and 5000 m offshore each observation station. Sighting distance from shore was less in poor visi- bility and at earlier times of day. No significant effects of sound were identified, although data suggest that at most stations, sighting distance from shore increased slightly over the 2 wk of the seismic survey. The analysis was limited, however, by several factors that included low numbers of sightings throughout most of the study, non-availability of data on biomass of gray whale prey and sources of error that could not be accounted for in the model. Sensitivity to potential errors in sighting distance estimation was assessed using a correction factor based on known locations of vessels and gray whales when sighted. The model was refitted using distance-corrected sightings. Results were consistent with the original model.


In this paper, noncovalent functionalized graphene nanosheets are prepared through solvent-exfoliation expanded graphite with the aid of supercritical (SC) CO2 and 1-pyrenamine (PA). Then, it is used as supporting materials for platinum to investigate the potential application of the obtained nanocomposite in direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs). Transmission electron microscope (TEM) images reveal that Pt nanoparticles are evenly dispersed on the PA-modified graphite nanosheets (PA-GNS) with an average size of 3.0 nm. The high quality of PA-GNS is also confirmed through Raman spectra analysis. PA-GNS/Pt nanocomposites exhibit better electrocatalytic activity (1.4 times) and stability (3.5 times) toward methanol oxidation than commercial catalyst JM-C/Pt. The results suggest that noncovalent functionalization of GNS by PA can be a method used to create highly efficient and stable catalyst supports for methanol electrooxidation in DMFCs.


In this manuscript, we discuss new solutions for mechanical design and motion planning for a class of 3D modular self- reconfigurable robotic system, namely I-Cubes. This system is a bipartite collection of active links that provide motions for self-reconfiguration, and cubes acting as connection points. The links are three degree of freedom manipulators that can attach to and detach from the cube faces. The cubes can be positioned and oriented using the links. These capabilities enable the system to change its shape and perform locomotion tasks over difficult terrain. This paper describes the scaled down version of the system previously described in and details the new design and manufacturing approaches. Initially designed algorithms for motion planning of I-Cubes are improved to provide better results. Results of our tests are given and issues related to motion planning are discussed. The user interfaces designed for the control of the system and algorithm evaluation is also described.


This report contains an account of natural history observation from the Swedish expedition "Arctic Ocean 2002" that investigated Fram Strait and East Greenland Sea in early spring 2002. As the waters of the area are covered with thick ice well into summer, this is one of the few expeditions that has visited these waters in spring. The report mainly gives accounts of bird observations that have never been done previously, but also of a remarkable halo display and a rare observation of a Bowhead Whale. It also describes life onboard in general.


Evidences of the effects of unobserved heterogeneity in micro-econometric models are now pervasive in many applied economics fields. This article investigates this issue for agricultural production choice models. Farms' and farmers' unobserved heterogeneity can be accounted for in micro-econometric agricultural production choice models by relying on available modeling and inference tools. The random parameter (RP) framework allows achieving this goal in a fairly flexible way. This modeling framework has already been successfully used in numerous empirical studies covering many topics. It simply considers RP versions of standard models. Extensions of the Expectation-Maximization algorithms have been specifically developed in the computational statistics literature for estimating RP models. They appear to be well suited for large statistical models such as micro-econometric agricultural production choice models. The estimation of a RP multi-crop econometric model shows that unobserved heterogeneity matters in a sample of French farmers specialized in cash grain production covering a relatively small geographical area. The key parameters of this RP model significantly vary across farms. Simulation results obtained from the estimated RP model confirm that the sampled farmers' choices respond heterogeneously to homogenous economic incentives. Ignoring this heterogeneity impacts both the distribution and the magnitude of the simulated effects.


The initial impetus of this paper goes back to 1983 when a group of M.A. in Literature and Communication students came to Murdoch University for their annual on-campus weekend. The students were mainly school teachers enrolled in the external mode of the degree and primarily from Western Australia. We chose to discuss Bruce Dawe for obvious reasons.

 In re-reading my notes with a view to their publication, I was struck both by their provocativeness and by the nature of the models constructed to interpret Bruce Dawe's poetry. Moreover, the basic outline of Dawe's poetics began to emerge with a strong enough clarity to warrant a somewhat extended examination of his verse. To foreshadow the rest of this paper what I find in Bruce Dawe is that he writes to a formula and in the discourse of the indicative mood. He has a strong monological presence, no doubt a function of his sense of the 'Australian speaking voice' which does not, as we are told often enough, have to 'resort to any kind of inauthentic vernacular.'' Finally, he seems to me to be ideologically unsure of his ground. Let me now move on to the argument itself.


The global extirpation of the world's apex predator fauna is consistently highlighting their important functional role in preserving biodiversity and maintaining ecosystem resilience. Apex predator declines and extinctions are promoting more invasive and homogenised ecosystem states, linked with secondary species extinctions, changes to community composition, and redefined carnivore guilds. In taxonomically and geographically diverse ecosystems devoid of apex predators similar general patterns expressed in community dynamics are emerging, such as mesopredator release, yet the magnitude and significance of the effects are driven by their context.

The Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) is the largest extant marsupial carnivore and is facing the real threat of disease induced extinction in the wild from a consistently fatal transmissible cancer, devil facial tumour disease (DFTD). The devil is now effectively the apex mammalian predator in Tasmanian ecosystems following the extinction of the thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus) but DFTD is threatening its ecological role in the environment. Since the disease arose in the early to mid 1990s devil populations have suffered declines in excess of 95% in long-term disease areas, and it has infected more that 75% of their current geographic range. Tasmania retains the most intact guild of marsupial carnivores in Australia and maintains healthy populations of many native mammal and bird species that are extinct or threatened on mainland Australia. The loss of Tasmanian devils over large tracts of Tasmania is of tremendous conservation concern for native biodiversity and community resilience. This study provides the first assessment of the ecosystem effects of Tasmanian devil decline and aims to determine overarching effects of the loss of an ecologically functional devil population on terrestrial mammalian fauna. Within the scope of this thesis, broad concepts encompassing abundance, behaviour and disease ecology of native and introduced species are assessed within four discrete projects. I utilised complimentary approaches with the benefit of this unique large scale natural experiment to assess common theories as well as considering less widely examined concepts which may be pertinent to global apex predator demise. First, using a state-wide spotlighting database which pre-dates DFTD by more than a decade, I evaluated the mesopredator release hypothesis (MRH) and the extent to which mesopredators are regulated by top-down or bottom-up environmental processes. Second, I conducted a rapid snapshot survey across a large spatial extent encompassing different devil densities to assess changes to community composition, invasive system states and the cascading effects of mesopredator release on populations of their prey. Third, I measured risk-sensitive behaviour of the common brushtail possum, a species regularly preyed upon by Tasmanian devils, employing a 'giving up densities' approach across a DFTD arrival gradient, which represents a proxy for devil population decline over time. Finally, following the evidence for mesopredator release of feral cats, I assessed whether there was potential for increased disease transmission of Toxoplasma gondii, a parasite whose only known definitive hosts are members of the Felid family but that can infect all warm-blooded mammals.

This study provided several lines of evidence for a shifting ecosystem state and increasing threats to the persistence of native biodiversity in response to declining devil populations. Less diverse communities and a strong tendency towards more invasive system states were characteristic of areas with long-term devil decline. Native and introduced mammals responded differently to devil decline, and the direction of the response for species of each origin was consistent across different trophic levels. I found strong evidence for mesopredator release of the invasive feral cat (Felis catus) in response to devil decline and a concomitant decline and changing activity times in the much smaller native eastern quoll (Dasyurus viverrinus), suggesting that they may be indirectly protected by devils. Despite the comparable size and prey range of native spotted-tailed quolls (Dasyurus maculatus) to feral cats, there was no evidence of a similar response, notwithstanding some evidence for different activity times across different devil densities. The magnitude of the responses of mesopredators to declining devil populations was significantly affected by environmental variables. In anthropogenically dominated landscapes bottom-up control appears to be the principal regulating force, and in less disturbed areas top-down control is stronger. There was evidence for an increasingly invasive state, represented by a significantly higher proportion of activity of feral cats and introduced small mammals, which appeared to be affecting native prey species. Small- and medium-sized native species within the prey size range of large mesopredators showed population declines analogous to the declines observed in devil populations and also evidence for increased predation pressure, indicating that apex predator loss in Tasmania is threatening native biodiversity.

There was evidence of behavioural responses in prey species to the decline in devil numbers. Using the giving up densities approach, I found evidence that the predominantly arboreal brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula), a common prey item of devils, has changed its anti-predator behaviours and has increased its ground foraging activity in response to declining devil populations, whilst maintaining vigilant behaviours appropriate for the avoidance of other predator species. Behavioural responses have the potential to initiate a trophic cascade if changes in behaviour translate into increased fitness and reproductive output.

Some native species are at risk from higher feral cat densities not only from increasing predation pressure but also from potentially amplified transmission of the Toxoplasma parasite. Australian native marsupials may be particularly susceptible to acute Toxoplasma, a consequence likely attributable to a lack of co-evolution. I found tentative support for higher prevalence rates in areas with higher cat densities and also a strong link to increased susceptibility in native species at higher trophic levels. There was also some suggestion for reduced behavioural reactions in infected individuals, with the potential to increase predation rates. This was among the first research that has investigated changing disease dynamics in response to mesopredator release, and represents an important and novel step towards more wide-ranging research of the effects of apex predator loss on biodiversity.

The combined results, derived from empirical approaches, provide compelling evidence that diverse and complex changes are occurring in Tasmania's fauna communities following apex predator decline. The evidence is indicative of extensive and far-reaching consequences in the Tasmanian ecosystem, threatening native biodiversity and promoting alternative ecosystem states. The lessons learned from applying existing community ecology theories and approaches to this unique large scale natural experiment are applicable to other ecosystems confronted with apex predator loss and highlight the importance of a multifaceted and comprehensive approach to apex predator studies.


Raman spectrometers are devices which enable fast and non-contact identification of examined chemicals. These devices utilize the Raman phenomenon to identify unknown and often illicit chemicals ( e.g. drugs, explosives) without the necessity of their preparation. Now, Raman devices can be portable and therefore can be more widely used to improve security at public places. Unfortunately, Raman spectra measurements is a challenge due to noise and interferences present outside the laboratories. The design of a portable Raman spectromete r developed at the Faculty of Electronics, Telecommunications and Informatics, Gdansk University of Technology is presented. The paper outlines sources of interferences present in Raman spectra measurements and signal processing techniques required to reduce their influence ( e.g. background removal, spectra smoothing). Finally, the selected algorithms for automated chemicals classification are presented. The algorithms compare the measured Raman spectra with a reference spectra library to identify the sampl e. Detection efficiency of these algorithms is discussed and directions of further research are outlined.


In the first part of the twentieth century, Hungary produced an unusually large number of world-class mathematicians. They included, most notably, L. Fejér, A. Haar, F. and M. Riesz, J. von Neumann, G. Pólya, G. SzegÕ , P. Turán and perhaps, above all, the subject of this memoir, Pál (Paul) ErdÕs. As Ernst Straus put it, ErdÕs was 'the crown prince of problem solvers and the undisputed monarch of problem posers'. ErdÕs was born in Hungary but left his native land when he was 21; from then on he lived in England, the USA, Canada, Israel and many other countries but frequently visited Hungary and had many Hungarian friends. Although he never had a 'proper' academic job, through his prodigious output, his host of co-authors, his constant travels and his amazing body of unsolved problems, he has greatly influenced mathematics today. He proved fundamental results in number theory, combinatorics, probability and approximation theory, as well as in set theory, elementary geometry and topology, and real and complex analysis. He was instrumental in the birth of probabilistic number theory and was the main advocate of the use of probabilistic methods in mathematics in general. He was also one of the originators of modern graph theory. He had an exceptional ability for joint work and many of his best results were obtained in collaboration; he wrote altogether about 1500 papers, perhaps five times as many as other prolific mathematicians, and he had about 500 collaborators.