In recent years, and particularly perhaps since the 'battle of Seattle' in 1999, the issue of civil society participation in trade policy has attracted increasing policy and academic attention. Much of this attention has been drawn to the question of institutional access and channels of participation and representation within the WTO. The challenge is one that has faced other global institutions such as the World Bank and IMF for a number of years (O'Brien et al 2000).

Improving the transparency of and access to decision-making in the context of up-scaling civil society participation is not exclusively a global challenge, however. There has been a great deal of activity at the regional level around trade negotiations and increasingly in Latin America with the FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas) following in the wake of NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) and Mercosur (Mercado Comun del Sur). Few institutional reforms have been brought about without significant pressure from civil society, however. Some challenges are common to all movements attempting to participate and make their voice heard in the sensitive and traditionally closed arena of trade negotiations. But others are unique, and reflect distinct regional political histories, previous experiences of mobilisation and prevailing social and material realities. Given this, it becomes important to understand what can be learned from the experience of a globally significant region like Latin America about the possibilities and limitations of civil society participation in trade policy.

By comparing the documented experiences of NAFTA with analysis of Mercosur and the evolving FTAA negotiations, in terms of the participation of the environmental movements, important insights may be gained about: who is participating in trade policy, how and with what effect and, equally importantly, who is not participating and what are the implications of this?

The analysis will therefore attempt to identify key factors which shape these dynamics. These include;

 * key strategic issues within the movements and among groups themselves (diversity of strategies, politics of coalition-building, patterns of influence and engagement/non-engagement)
 * the organisation of institutional access (rights, representation, process, decision-making)
 * key economic and political regional dynamics which affect each of the above (differences between and within individual countries regarding key issues and attitudes towards participation)

By comparing across different sets of trade negotiations and institutional arrangements it will be possible to identify what the key drivers and shapers of change appear to be. In other words, the extent to which these appear to derive from the nature of the institution or process itself, the strategies of the movement engaging with it, or more likely still, some combination of both these elements. The challenge is to account for diverse forms of engagement and non-engagement and, more importantly, to derive lessons from them about the possibility of constructing more effective, sustainable and transparent mechanisms of participation and representation in trade policy based on experiences to date in Latin America.


Owen Bishop introduces, through hands-on project work, the mechanics, electronics and programming involved in practical robot design-and-build. The use of the PIC microcontroller throughout provides a painless introduction to programming whilst harnessing the power of a highly popular microcontroller used by students and design engineers worldwide.This is a book for first-time robot builders, advanced builders wanting to know more about programming robots and students in Further and Higher Education tackling microcontroller-based practical work. They will all find this book a unique and exciting source of projects, ideas and techniques, to be combined into a wide range of fascinating robots. Full step-by-step instructions for 5 complete self-build robots Introduces key techniques in electronics, programming and construction - for robust robots that work first time Illustrations, close-up photographs and a lively, readable text make this a fun and informative guide for novice and experienced robot builders


Since its first experimental demonstration in 1999, Coherent X-Ray Diffractive Imaging has become one of the most promising high resolution X-Ray imaging techniques using coherent radiation produced by brilliant synchrotron storage rings. The ability to directly invert diffraction data with the help of advanced algorithms has paved the way for microscopic investigations and wave-field analyses on the spatial scale of nanometres without the need for inefficient imaging lenses. X-Ray phase contrast which is a measure of the electron density is an important contrast mode of soft biological specimens. For the case of many dominant elements of soft biological matter, the electron density can be converted into an effective mass density offering a unique quantitative information channel which may shed light on important questions such as DNA compaction in the bacterial nucleoid through 'weighing with light'.
In this work X-Ray phase contrast maps have been obtained from different biological samples by exploring different methods. In particular, the techniques Ptychography and Waveguide-Holographic-Imaging have been used to obtain two-dimensional and three-dimensional mass density maps on the single-cell-level of freeze-dried cells of the bacteria Deinococcus radiodurans, Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus thuringiensis allowing, for instance, to estimate the dry weight of the bacterial genome in a near native state. On top of this, reciprocal space information from coherent small angle X-Ray scattering (cellular Nano-Diffraction) of the fine structure of the bacterial cells has been recorded in a synergistic manner and has been analysed down to a resolution of about 2.3/nm exceeding current limits of direct imaging approaches. Furthermore, the dynamic range of present detector technology being one of the major limiting factors of ptychographic phasing of farfield diffraction data has been significantly increased. Overcoming this problem for the case of the very intense X-Ray beam produced by Kirkpatrick-Baez mirrors has been explored by using semi-transparent central stops.


Diabetes mellitus is a complex metabolic disorder associated with an increased risk of microvascular and macrovascular disease; its main clinical characteristic is hyperglycaemia. The last century has been characterised by remarkable advances in our understanding of the mechanisms leading to hyperglycaemia. The central role of insulin in glucose metabolism regulation was clearly demonstrated during the early 1920s, when Banting, Best, Collip and Macleod successfully reduced blood glucose levels and glycosuria in a patient treated with a substance purified from bovine pancreata. Later, during the mid-1930s, clinical observations suggested a possible distinction between 'insulin-sensitive' and 'insulin-insensitive' diabetes. Only during the 1950s, when a reliable measure of circulating insulin was available, was it possible to translate these clinical observations into pathophysiological and biochemical differences, and the terms 'insulin-dependent' (indicating undetectable insulin levels) and 'non-insulin-dependent' (normal or high insulin levels) started to emerge. The next 30 years were characterised by pivotal progress in the field of immunology that were instrumental in demonstrating an immune-mediated loss of insulin-secreting β-cells in subjects with 'insulin-dependent' diabetes. At the same time, new experimental techniques allowing measurement of insulin 'impedance' showed a reduced peripheral effect of insulin in subjects with 'non-insulin-dependent' diabetes (insulin resistance). The difference between the two types of diabetes emerging from decades of observations and experiments was further formally recognised in 1979, when the definitions 'type I' and 'type II' diabetes were introduced to replace the former 'insulin-dependent' and 'non-insulin-dependent' terms. In the following years, many studies elucidated the natural history and temporal contribution of insulin resistance and β-cell insulin secretion in 'type II' diabetes. Furthermore, a central role for insulin resistance in the development of a cluster of cardiometabolic alterations (dyslipidaemia, inflammation, high blood pressure) was suggested. Possibly as a consequence of the secular changes in diabetes risk factors, in the last 10 years the limitation of a simple distinction between 'type I' and 'type II' diabetes has been increasingly recognised, with subjects showing the coexistence of insulin resistance and immune activation against β-cells. With the advancement of our cellular and molecular understanding of diabetes, a more pathophysiological classification that overcomes the historical and simple 'glucocentric' view could result in a better patient phenotyping and therapeutic approach.


The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the nanoscale hardness of gallium arsenide thin films and the elastic-plastic behavior of gallium arsenide under an indenter. These investigations were carried out using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The simulations are based on interatomic potentials that accurately reproduce many properties of bulk GaAs. The MD simulations performed required scalable and efficient algorithms for implementation on large parallel computers.

Nanoindentation simulations were performed using an ideal indenter that was held rigid during the simulation. To reduce the transient effects due to loading, the traversal of the indenter was interrupted periodically to allow the substrate to relax. Load-displacement curves were calculated and Vickers hardness and Young's modulus were computed from the curves. The damage caused by the indenter was characterized in three ways. The material deposited on the surface was compared to bulk amorphous GaAs and found to be structually similar, indicating that the material underwent solid-state amorphization under the indenter. Analysis of energetic atoms beneath the surface suggested the presence of dislocation loops. A centrosymmetry method was applied to characterize these defects. It was found that the method used did not perform adequately in the presence of amorphized material. Pressure distributions were calculated and atomic configurations were plotted to determine if subsurface microcracking due to the indentation was present. No indication of microcracking or pore formation was found.

Adhesion between the tip and substrate was also studied. The effect of the tip-surface attraction was studied for a modified Vickers indenter with a small flat surface instead of an atomically sharp tip. For indentations less than the yield point in GaAs, the bond formation between the tip and the surface led to nonelastic deformation of the surface layer, while the layers undeneath the surface behaved in a purely elastic fashion. Through a series of small indenter traversals, the yield point of GaAs was determined to be 0.6 µN.


OBJECTIVES
There are only limited data on the survival outcomes after transplanting HCV RNA-positive liver into HCV RNA-negative recipients. The objective of our study was to determine whether there were graft and patient survival differences when HCV-negative patients received HCV RNA (nucleic acid amplification testing [NAT] positive)-positive liver grafts.

METHODS
We queried the United Network for Organ Sharing data sets from January 2014 to December 2018, and recipients (N = 24,724) were stratified into 6 groups based on the status of HCV antibody and RNA of recipients and donors. The Cox proportional hazard regression was used to estimate the relationship between groups and 1-year post-LT graft or patient survival.

RESULTS
During the study period, 1,358 recipients received NAT-positive liver grafts. Two hundred ten of the recipients were HCV negative. During the same period, 707 HCV antibody-positive but NAT-negative grafts were transplanted into 516 HCV-positive and 191 HCV-negative recipients. There were no differences in survival in HCV-positive recipients whether they received NAT-positive grafts (n = 1,148) or HCV antibody-negative/NAT-negative grafts (n = 6,321). Recipients of grafts from HCV antibody-positive/NAT-negative donors had similar survival whether recipients were HCV-negative patients (n = 191) or HCV-positive patients (n = 516), and their survival probabilities were similar to those of HCV-negative recipients (n = 6,321) receiving grafts from HCV antibody-negative/NAT-negative donors. Patient survival was lower (P = 0.049) when HCV-negative recipients (n = 210) received NAT-positive grafts compared with HCV-positive patients (n = 1,148) receiving NAT-positive grafts; however, when adjusted for recipient and donor characteristics, the difference was not significant.

DISCUSSION
HCV-negative recipients receiving HCV-positive liver grafts (NAT positive) have excellent 1-year survival outcomes.


We study compartmentalization in a Mediterranean pollination network using three different analytical approaches: unipartite modularity (UM), bipartite modularity (BM) and the group model (GM). Our objectives are to compare compartments obtained with these three approaches and to explore the role of several species attributes related to pollination syndromes, species phenology, abundance and connectivity in structuring compartmentalization. BM could not identify compartments in our network. By contrast, UM revealed four modules composed of plants and pollinators, and GM four groups of plants and five of pollinators. Phenology had a major influence on compartmentalization, and compartments (both UM and GM) had distinct phenophases. Compartments were also strongly characterized by species degree (number of connections) and betweenness centrality. These two attributes were highly related to each other and to phenophase duration. Differences among compartments in abundance were only apparent with GM. We attribute this to the fact that abundance is strongly correlated with Degree, and the GM algorithm is particularly powerful at discriminating species based on degree. On the other hand, the role of pollination syndrome-related features in compartmentalization mostly emerged with UM. Only UM compartments differed in corolla length and pollen production. Both UM and GM compartments differed in their pollinator spectra. We found inconsistent reciprocity between plant attributes and pollinator spectra, thus it is difficult to conclude compartments follow clear-cut syndromes. Also, both UM and GM identified a compartment composed of pollinators with long activity periods that acted as connectors, linking all compartments providing cohesiveness to the network.


In popular and professional discourse, debate about the right to keep and bear arms most often revolves around the Second Amendment. But that narrow reference ignores a vast and expansive nonconstitutional legal regime privileging guns and their owners. This collection of nonconstitutional gun rights confers broad powers and immunities on gun owners that go far beyond those required by the Constitution, like rights to bring guns on private property against an owner's wishes and to carry a concealed firearm in public with no training or background check. This Article catalogues this set of expansive laws and critically assesses them. Unlike the formal constitutional guarantee, this broad collection is not solely libertarian, concerned only with guaranteeing noninterference with a negative right. Instead, it is also aggressively interventionist, countermanding contrary policy judgments by employers, universities, property owners, and local government officials, conferring robust rights and privileges, and shifting the distribution of violence in society.

This Article underscores the rhetorical and legal connection between this gun-rights expansionism and the formal Second Amendment guarantee. These laws do not derive from a judicial interpretation of the scope of the Constitution, but they are expressed and advocated for in constitutional terms. The Article also highlights how broad gun rights can create unique harm to the body politic and to marginalized groups by fostering fear and mistrust and empowering sometimes-problematic private actors to proactively police their own communities. Finally, the Article shows how gun-rights expansionism influences constitutional doctrine in the context of the Second Amendment, as well as of the First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendments.


The fundamental assumptions of corporate law have changed little in decades. Accepted as truth are the notions that corporations are voluntary, private, contractual entities, that they have broad powers to make money in whatever ways and in whatever locations they see fit. The primary obligation of management is to shareholders, and shareholders alone. Corporations have broad powers but only a limited role: they exist to make money. Those who maintain these principles - a group that includes most of the legal scholars who teach and write in the area - have derived the narrow role of corporations in one of two ways. A few traditionalists take it as an article of faith, developed from a rights-based view of the private nature of corporations. Such view holds that shareholders are owners, and the corporation is their individual property. An argument that corporate governance operates in the realm of natural rights is a difficult, unpersuasive, and increasingly undefended contention: few of even the most vehement proponents of shareholder primacy make it anymore. Instead, the best and most thoughtful argument for shareholder primacy is not a rights-based claim, but an instrumental one. The claim is that maintaining the narrow role of corporations and of corporate governance is the best way to benefit society as a whole. The problem with the instrumental claim is that it is largely unsupported by empirical data and untested by rigorous counterargument. Absent both, the instrumental claim for shareholder primacy reveals itself to be as founded on faith as the traditionalists' rights-based arguments. The instrumentalist justification is often merely a post-hoc explanation for the status quo rather than a serious examination of what society's "best interest" would require in corporate governance. This article takes a novel approach to developing a set of principles and policies for corporate law, starting with a focus on society's well being. With society's interest as the explicit foundational principle, other principles for the regulation of corporations emerge that are strikingly different from the status quo. The principles derived here, five in all, begin at a high level of generality and become more particular and presumably more controversial. Nevertheless, all of them are rational, practical, and rooted in the protection of the public good. If adopted, these new principles and proposals would provide the basis for significant change in the way we govern corporations in this country. Of course, the foundational assumption that society's interest should be pursued will not satisfy those who see corporate law as governed by the realm of rights. Indeed, this article will not convince anyone who starts with the assumption that businesses can be run by their shareholder-owners as they see fit. For most people honestly wrestling with issues of corporate governance, however, shareholder primacy is not the foundational assumption but rather one of the potential conclusions. What this article makes clear is that other potential conclusions exist as well.


Synopsis In this study, coke oven tar additions over a range of 0–8 wt.% were evaluated as a possible substitute for imported coal fractions. The coke oven tar used was collected from tar decanters in the byproducts section of the coking plant. The moisture content in the tar varied depending on the residence time and water carryover from the coke oven tar separators to the storage tanks. Moisture contents of 1 wt.%, 3 wt.%, and 6 wt.% were investigated in order to evaluate the effect on coal blend, carbonization, and coke properties. At 6 wt.% moisture content with 6 wt.% coke oven tar, although the coke quality improved the yield showed a 4% decrease. On the other hand, 1 wt.% moisture content with coke oven tar of 6 wt.%, increased the yield by 1% and the coke quality improved. However, the latter process was characterized by an excessive increase in wall pressure and pushing energy, both of which are detrimental to the oven walls. The optimum moisture content in coke oven tar was found to be 3 wt.% with a coke oven tar addition of 6 wt.% in the coal blend. With these conditions, the coke properties improved and wall pressure and pushing energy were acceptable. However, a decrease in coke yield of up to 2% was observed. Despite this, coke oven tar addition is considered to be a viable option based upon economic factors of a reduction in the quantity and cost of imported coking coals that is required to achieve the same optimum final coke product.


Motor adaptation displays a structure-learning effect: adaptation to a new perturbation occurs more quickly when the subject has prior exposure to perturbations with related structure. Although this `learning-to-learn' effect is well documented, its underlying computational mechanisms are poorly understood. We present a new model of motor structure learning, approaching it from the point of view of deep reinforcement learning. Previous work outside of motor control has shown how recurrent neural networks can account for learning-to-learn effects. We leverage this insight to address motor learning, by importing it into the setting of model-based reinforcement learning. We apply the resulting processing architecture to empirical findings from a landmark study of structure learning in target-directed reaching (Braun et al., 2009), and discuss its implications for a wider range of learning-to-learn phenomena.


Drawing on Social network theory, this article argues for enhancing effects of social capital of entrepreneurs on investment selection decisions of venture capitalists (to invest versus not to invest), and main effects of social capital on investment process decisions such as venture valuation, investment delivery speed and contractual warrants/provisions. The core idea of enhancing effects is that the presence of particularistic ties between venture capitalists and entrepreneurs will affect positively investment selection decisions of venture capitalists if only other main factors for investment making such as management team, industry, market attractiveness, proprietary technologies and products are perceived as strong by investors. The context of the study is People's Republic of China. The empirical data is composed of 158 venture capital investment decisions in Beijing and Shanghai. The main finding is that social capital is supplementary and additive to other investment determining factors such as project and team qualities at selection stage, and social capital is a main factor for investment process decisions once a venture has been selected for funding. The main theoretical implication is that social capital may affect outcome variables in interaction with other factors. The main practical implication for entrepreneurs is that social capital is probably necessary but insufficient for raising venture capital successfully.


Henry David Thoreau was a twenty-year-old scholarship student at Harvard when he met Ralph Waldo Emerson in 1837. Emerson, fourteen years Thoreau's senior and independently wealthy, had recently shaken the intellectual world of New England with the publication of Nature. Despite the disparity in their circumstances, Thoreau and Emerson quickly formed a close relationship that lasted until Thoreau's death at the age of forty-four. This book tells the story of their friendship. Harmon Smith emphasizes their personal bond, but also shows how their relationship affected their thought and writing, and was in turn influenced by their careers.Without Emerson's interest and support, it is unlikely that Thoreau could have expended the energy on writing that enabled him to achieve greatness. By inviting Thoreau into his home to live during two different periods in the 1840s, Emerson effectively made Thoreau "one of the family." He provided him with work, lent him money, and allowed him to build a cabin on the shore of Walden Pond. Emerson also broadened Thoreau's horizon immeasurably by introducing him to an ever-widening circle of friends and colleagues.Although the bond between Thoreau and Emerson was strong, their needs were often greatly at variance. While this led to a prolonged period of estrangement between them, they were ultimately able to reconcile their differences. Many years after Thoreau died, Emerson could look back over his long life and say that Henry had been his best friend. Since the thoughts and feelings of the two men are so well documented in their journals and letters, Smith is able to trace the pattern of their emotional involvement in great detail. What emerges is both a remarkable portrait of their relationship and an intimate look at the nature of friendship itself.


Last week the New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) began investigating a political donation of A$18,000 made by Nathan Tinkler's Buildev corporation. The 2010 donation helped fast-track approval for 1,400 medium-density homes in Sydney's western suburb of North Richmond. Local residents have long been opposed to the development; they claim it will choke already congested roads in and out of the area. But recent news reports have missed a crucial aspect of the development proposal: it will obliterate a site of national heritage significance.


As computers proliferate and as the field of computer graphics matures, it has become increasingly important for computer scientists to understand how users perceive and interpret computer graphics. Experimental Design: From User Studies to Psychophysics is an accessible introduction to psychological experiments and experimental design, covering the major components in the design, execution, and analysis of perceptual studies. The book begins with an introduction to the concepts central to designing and understanding experiments, including developing a research question, setting conditions and controls, and balancing specificity with generality. The book then explores in detail a number of types of experimental tasks: free description, rating scales, forced-choice, specialized multiple choice, and real-world tasks as well as physiological studies. It discusses the advantages and disadvantages of each type and provides examples of that type of experiment from the authors own work. The book also covers stimulus-related issues, including popular stimulus resources. It concludes with a thorough examination of statistical techniques for analyzing results, including methods specific to individual tasks.


New petrological and mineral chemical data indicate a clockwise P-T path for medium- to high-grade metamorphic mafic rocks in different thrust sheets of the Tugela Terrane within the Mesoproterozoic Natal Belt in KwaZulu-Natal (eastern South Africa). Three metamorphic stages are distinguished: (i) an early upper amphibolite- to lower granulite-facies metamorphic event (M1) is indicated by rare relics of clinopyroxene; (ii) mineral chemical and textural equilibration during M2 at calculated pressure-temperature conditions of 4.5 to 6 kbar and 693 to 750°C; and (iii) partial diffusional resetting of mineral compositions during subsequent uplift and exhumation (M3) under lower amphibolite- to greenschist-facies conditions. No major differences were noted in the tectonothermal regimes at which each of the respective thrust sheets were deformed suggesting that the Tugela Terrane was a homogenous package and experienced uniform P-T conditions. The new data acquired in this study contribute to an improvement in the ongoing development of a tectono-thermal and geodynamic model for the Natal Belt.


This paper introduces a new key space for CSIDH and a new algorithm for constant-time evaluation of the CSIDH group action. The key space is not useful with previous algorithms, and the algorithm is not useful with previous key spaces, but combining the new key space with the new algorithm produces speed records for constant-time CSIDH. For example, for CSIDH-512 with a 256-bit key space, the best previous constant-time results used 789000 multiplications and more than 200 million Skylake cycles; this paper uses 438006 multiplications and 125.53 million cycles.


An addendum shows that climate modeling programs are exponentially deviating from the relatively constant, observed global temperatures for the past 35-years. A figure shows that all of the recent temperatures fall within 1-sigma of the global mean temperature for the past millennium. ---------------Observations about global temperatures and modeling are included. The current "global warm period" is compared to those of the previous three with each beginning at 1.5C below the current level and ending 1.5C below this level. Initial warming is rapid (roughly 2C/500-years) while cooling during the last half of the cycle is slow (roughly -2C/6000-years). Planet earth did not see the excessive warming of past cycles during the current heating. It should now be very near the end of a typical 12,000-year "global heat wave", however, since it has been in it for 11,400 years. The analyses in this paper are based on the reported Vostok Ice Core Data.


In our increasingly technological society, computational thinking is considered vital despite future career choices. Computational thinking can develop and enhance unique thinking skills, and educators all over the world are focused on how they can increase youths' engagement in the field. More insight is required to see what teens enjoy and are engaged by when learning and applying computational thinking, as an increased engagement can make youth more invested and involved in computing. This study aimed to investigate teens' academic engagement in computational thinking activities by answering the research question: "Which factors can influence teens' engagement in computational thinking activities?" Academic engagement concerns how students are psychologically invested towards learning, understanding, or mastering knowledge and skills that the academic work is promoting. This study looked more into the features of academic engagement and how collaboration can affect teens' academic engagement. By conducting two workshops called Kodeløypa and Tappetina, data was collected using observations, interviews, artifacts, and questionnaires, and thus used to detect factors that teens find motivating. The result of this study is a mapping of factors that affect teens' academic engagement. Some examples are teamwork and assistance, competence, motivation, perceptions, and learning. These findings can be used to assist educators, lecturers, and teachers in developing engaging and motivating computational thinking activities.


This paper presents the calibration of BVRIH-0.5 Tully-Fisher relations based on Cepheid distances to 21 galaxies within 25 Mpc and 23 clusters within 10,000 km s-1. These relations have been applied to several distant cluster surveys in order to derive a value for the Hubble constant, H0, mainly concentrating on an I-band all-sky survey by Giovanelli and collaborators, consisting of total I magnitudes and 50% line width data for ~550 galaxies in 16 clusters. For comparison, we also derive the values of H0 using surveys in the B and V bands by Bothun and collaborators, and in H band by Aaronson and collaborators. Careful comparisons with various other databases from the literature suggest that the H-band data, which have isophotal magnitudes extrapolated from aperture magnitudes rather than total magnitudes, are subject to systematic uncertainties. Taking a weighted average of the estimates of Hubble constants from four surveys, we obtain H0 = 71 ± 4 (random) ± 7 (systematic). We have also investigated how the value of H0 is affected by various systematic uncertainties, such as the internal extinction correction method used, Tully-Fisher slopes and shapes, a possible metallicity dependence of the Cepheid period-luminosity relation, and cluster population incompleteness bias.


Prostaglandins E2 and F2α were administered by mouth to induce labour in 24 patients at or past term. The drugs were administered at two-hourly intervals in doses ranging from 0·5 to 1·5 mg for prostaglandin E2 and from 5 to 15 mg for prostaglandin F2α. Of the 10 cases in which prostaglandin E2 was used, labour was successfully induced in eight and there were no side effects. With prostaglandin F2α labour was induced in 12 of 14 patients nine of whom had gastrointestinal disturbance, mostly of mild degree. With both drugs the infant was apparently unaffected and Apgar scores were satisfactory. Uterine hypertonus was not observed and the postpartum blood loss was within normal limits.


This thesis is concerned with problems in two related areas of statistical shape analysis in two dimensional
landmarks data and directional statistics in various sample spaces.

Directional observations can be regarded as points on the circumference of a circle of unit radius in two
dimensions or on the surface of a sphere in three dimensions. Special directional methods and models are
required which take into account the structure of these sample spaces. Shape analysis involves methods
for the study of the shape of objects where location, scale and orientation are removed. Specifically, we
consider the situation where the objects are summarized by points on the object called landmarks. The
non-Euclidean nature of the shape space causes several problems when defining a distribution on it. Any
distribution which could be considered needs to be tractable and a realistic model for landmark data.
One aim of this thesis is to investigate the saddlepoint approximations for the normalizing constants of
some directional and shape distributions. In particular, we consider the normalizing constant of the CBQ
distribution which can be expressed as a one dimensional integral of normalizing constants for Bingham
distributions. Two new methods are explored to evaluate this normalizing constant based on saddlepoint
approximations namely the Integrated Saddlepoint (ISP) approximation and the Saddlepoint-Integration
(SPI) approximation.

Another objective of this thesis is to develop new simulation methods for some directional and shape
models. We propose an efficient acceptance-rejection simulation algorithm for the Bingham distribution on
unit sphere using an angular central Gaussian (ACG) density as an envelope. This envelope is justified using
inequalities based on concave functions. An immediate consequence is a method to simulate 3 x 3 matrix
Fisher rotation matrices. In addition, a new accept-reject algorithm is developed to generate samples from
the complex Bingham quartic (CBQ) distribution.

The last objective of this thesis is to develop a new moment method to estimate the parameters of the
wrapped normal torus distribution based on the sample sine and cosine moments.


This paper investigates regularization for continuously observed covariates that resemble step functions. The motivating examples come from operational test data from a recent US Department of Defense test of the Shadow Tactical Unmanned Aircraft system. The response variable, quality of video provided by the Shadow to friendly ground units, was measured on an ordinal scale continuously over time. Functional covariates, altitude and distance, can be well approximated by step functions. Two approaches for regularizing these covariates are considered, including a thinning approach commonly used within the Department of Defense to address autocorrelated time series data, and a novel 'smoothing' approach, which first approximates the covariates as step functions and then treats each 'step' as a uniquely observed data point. Datasets resulting from both approaches are fit using a mixed model cumulative logistic regression, and we compare their results. While the thinning approach identifies altitude as having a significant impact on video quality, the smoothing approach finds no evidence of an effect. This difference is attributable to the larger effective sample size produced by thinning. System characteristics make it unlikely that video quality would degrade at higher altitudes, suggesting that the thinning approach has produced a Type 1 error. By accounting for the functional characteristics of the covariates, the novel smoothing approach has produced a more accurate characterization of the Shadow's ability to provide full motion video to supported units. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Adenosine cyclic 39,59-monophosphate (cAMP)-dependent protein kinase activity has been found in both the 27,000 x g particulate and supernatant fractions of homogenates from the liver fluke, Fasciola hepatica. The enzyme activity was 2-5 times greater in the anterior end ("head") of the fluke than in the posterior end. Half-maximal activation of the protein kinase in both fractions was obtained at 0.1-0.4 µM cAMP. When the enzyme was assayed in the presence of cyclic nucleotide, the apparent Km for protamine was 0.1 mg/ml and the apparent Km for MgATP was 20-50 µM in the two homogenate fractions. Incubation of fluke heads for 5 min with 1 mM 5-hydroxytryptamine resulted in an increase in protein kinase activity of both homogenate fractions when assayed in the absence of added cAMP. The protein kinase activity assayed in the presence of 5 µM cAMP was increased in the particulate fraction and decreased in the supernatant fraction. The degree of activation of the enzyme by the cyclic nucleotide was markedly reduced in both homogenate fractions from heads that had been incubated with 5-hydroxytryptamine. The time course of accumulation of endogenous cAMP correlated with activation of protein kinase, except during the first minute of incubation with 5-hydroxytryptamine. The degree of activation of protein kinase by added cAMP was inversely correlated with endogenous cyclic nucleotide during incubation with 5-hydroxytryptamine. Incubation of fluke heads with both 5-hydroxytryptamine and D-lysergic acid diethylamide together reduced the activation of protein kinase by 5-hydroxytryptamine. Incubation of fluke heads with only D-lysergic acid diethylamide had no effect on protein kinase activity, cAMP increased phosphorylation of fluke protein in both fractions of the homogenate. This phosphorylation was less sensitive to activation by the cyclic nucleotide when the fluke heads had been incubated with 5-hydroxytryptamine. Thus 5-hydroxytryptamine can stimulate protein kinase activity toward endogenous proteins. The results indicate that the physiological effects of 5-hydroxytryptamine are mediated by cAMP activation of protein kinase.


In this paper, we examine the deteminants of the international trade in waste between developed countries. Data from the 1980s suggest that while the trade in waste between developed and less developed countries has garnered the most attention, the preponderance of waste flows have been among the developed countries. We examine both economic and institutional factors governing incentives to export and import waste. In particular, we find that countries with high cost of disposal tend to export but that low urban-rural population ratios, industry share in GDP, and population densities are also relevant for explaining the amount of waste that crosses national borders.


Writing in The Australian on the 23rd of March this year, the Attorney-General introduced A discussion paper to explore the scope for reforming Australian contract law to the wider Australian public. She admitted that 'I expect there to be both passionate reformers and trenchant defenders of the status quo. And, I look forward to the debate ahead'. The first stage of the debate will certainly be brief. A deadline for submissions on the discussion paper was fixed at just four months. There are signs that the Government is more enthusiastic about the project of contract codification than in the recent past. The new Attorney-General has signaled a change of tone: 'It would be foolish for Australia to stand still without at least carefully considering opportunities that may deliver productivity gains for Australian businesses and new job opportunities for working Australians'. Having observed that contract law reform is 'not an all or nothing affair', the discussion paper considers three options. These are labelled restatement, simplification and reform. The possibility of retaining the status quo barely gets a mention. Whether reform of Australian contract law is necessary, desirable and possible is a question best left to those who have devoted many years to its careful study. It would be presumptuous for an outsider to comment. The aim here is different. It is simply to raise some concerns about the difficulties inherent in codification in general and contract codification in particular. These are issues not touched upon in a discussion paper which is relentlessly upbeat. It is easy to portray those who do not wholeheartedly support codification as stuck in the past, but only by being realistic about what codification can and cannot do and the costs involved, is reform of any sort going to be achievable.


In this letter, we propose the reactive relay selection scheme based on cumulative distribution function (CDF) of SNRs for two-way relay networks over Nakagami-m fading channels. We analyze average relay fairness by deriving the exact integral and asymptotic expressions for relay selection probability. Also, we obtain diversity order by deriving outage probability. Numerical results show that the analytical results of the proposed scheme match the simulation results well. It is shown that the proposed scheme guarantees strict fairness among relays and achieves full diversity.


Virtual humans are computer-generated characters designed to look and behave like real people. Studies have shown that virtual humans can mimic many of the social effects that one finds in human-human interactions such as creating rapport, and people respond to virtual humans in ways that are similar to how they respond to real people. We believe that virtual humans represent a new metaphor for interacting with computers, one in which working with a computer becomes much like interacting with a person and this can bring social elements to the interaction that are not easily supported with conventional interfaces. We present two systems that embody these ideas. The first, the Twins are virtual docents in the Museum of Science, Boston, designed to engage visitors and raise their awareness and knowledge of science. The second SimCoach, uses an empathetic virtual human to provide veterans and their families with information about PTSD and depression.


Assimilate sludge to a fuel is not new. Sludge incineration and Combined Heat and Power (CHP) engines powered with sludge-derived anaerobic digestion gas (ADG) are operations widely used. However, they have a room of improvement to reach simultaneously a positive net power generation and a significant level of waste reduction and stabilization. Gasification has been used in other realms for the conversion of any negative-value carbon-based materials, that would otherwise be disposed as waste, to a gaseous product with a usable heating value for power generation . In fact, the produced gas, the so-called synthetic gas (or syngas ), could be suitable for combined heat and power motors. Within this framework gasification could be seen as an optimum alternative for the sludge management that would allow the highest waste reduction yield (similar to incineration) with a high power generation. Although gasification remains a promising route for sewage sludge valorisation, campaigns of measurements show that is not a simple operation and there are still several technical issues to resolve before that gasification was considered to be fully applied in the sludge management. Fluidised bed was chosen by certain technology developers because it is an easy and well known process for solid combustion, and very suitable for non-conventional fuels. However, our tests showed a poor reliable process for gasification of sludge giving a low quality gas production with a significant amount of tars to be treated. The cleaning system that was proposed shows a very limited removal performance and difficulties to be operated. Within the sizes of more common WWTP, an alternative solution to the fluidised bed reactor would be the downdraft bed gasifier that was also audited. Most relevant data of this audit suggest that the technology is more adapted to the idea of sludge gasification presented in the beginning of this paper where a maximum waste reduction is achieved with a great electricity generation thanks to the use of a "good" quality syngas in a CHP engine. Audit show also that there is still some work to do in order to push sludge gasification to a more industrial stage. Regardless what solution would be preferred, the resulting gasification system would involve a more complex scenario compared to Anaerobic Digestion and Incineration, characterised by a thermal dryer and gasifier with a complete gas cleaning system. At the end, economics, reliability and mass and energy yields should be carefully analysed in order to set the place that gasification would play in the forthcoming processing of sewage sludge.


This article explores the 28 recommendations posed by the Turner Review to ensure that the current economic crisis does not occur again. It sets them within the context of the debate on economic procyclicality, noting that, in economic history, financial crises are the main method of promulgating financial regulation and, furthermore, that economic history is shaped by the economic 'boom and bust' of the procyclicality of industry. The Review is largely criticized by the author because of manner in which it aims to curb the economic cycle and, in turn, capitalism. This paper then explores the FSA Discussion Paper 09/2 which was published on the same day as the Turner Review and is to be read in conjunction with the Review. It deals with the 'Regulatory Response to the Global Banking Crisis'. Finally the author evaluates reaction to the Review.


Diet composition may play a crucial role in shaping host immune responses and commensal gut microbiota populations. Bioactive dietary components, such as inulin, have been extensively studied for their bioactive properties, particularly in modulating gut immune function and reducing inflammation. It has been shown that colonization with gastrointestinal parasitic worms (helminths) may alleviate chronic inflammation through promotion of T-helper cell type (Th) 2 and T-regulatory immune responses and alterations in the gut microbiome. In this study, we investigated if dietary inulin could modulate mucosal immune function in pigs during colonization with the porcine whipworm Trichuris suis. T. suis infection induced a typical Th2-biased immune response characterized by transcriptional changes in Th2- and barrier function-related genes, accompanied by intestinal remodeling through increased epithelial goblet and tuft cell proliferation. We observed that inulin also up-regulated Th2-related immune genes (IL13, IL5), and suppressed Th1-related pro-inflammatory genes (IFNG, IL1A, IL8) in the colon. Notably, inulin augmented the T. suis-induced responses with increased transcription of key Th2 and mucosal barrier genes (e.g., IL13, TFF3), and synergistically suppressed pro-inflammatory genes, such as IFNG and CXCL9. 16S rRNA sequencing of proximal colon digesta samples revealed that inulin supplementation reduced the abundance of bacterial phyla linked to inflammation, such as Proteobacteria and Firmicutes, and simultaneously increased Actinobacteria and Bacteroidetes. Interestingly, pigs treated with both inulin and T. suis displayed the highest Bacteroidetes: Firmicutes ratio and the lowest gut pH, suggesting an interaction of diet and helminth infection that stimulates the growth of beneficial bacterial species. Overall, our data demonstrate that T. suis infection and inulin co-operatively enhance anti-inflammatory immune responses, which is potentially mediated by changes in microbiota composition. Our results highlight the intricate interactions between diet, immune function and microbiota composition in a porcine helminth infection model. This porcine model should facilitate further investigations into the use of bioactive diets as immunomodulatory mediators against inflammatory conditions, and how diet and parasites may influence gut health.


ABSTRACT This article locates Norton's foundational work on identity and investment within the social turn of applied linguistics. It discusses its historical impetus and theoretical anchors, and it illustrates how these ideas have been taken up in recent scholarship. In response to the demands of the new world order, spurred by technology and characterized by mobility, it proposes a comprehensive model of investment, which occurs at the intersection of identity, ideology, and capital. The model recognizes that the spaces in which language acquisition and socialization take place have become increasingly deterritorialized and unbounded, and the systemic patterns of control more invisible. This calls for new questions, analyses, and theories of identity. The model addresses the needs of learners who navigate their way through online and offline contexts and perform identities that have become more fluid and complex. As such, it proposes a more comprehensive and critical examination of the relationship between identity, investment, and language learning. Drawing on two case studies of a female language learner in rural Uganda and a male language learner in urban Canada, the model illustrates how structure and agency, operating across time and space, can accord or refuse learners the power to speak.


A shift towards ecosystem-based management in recent decades has led to new analytical tools such as end-to-end marine ecosystem models. Endto-end models are complex and typically simulate full ecosystems from oceanography to foodwebs and fisheries, operate on a spatial framework, and link to physical oceanographic models. Most end-to-end approaches allow multiple ways to implement human behaviours involving fishery catch, fleet movement, or other impacts such as nutrient loading or climate change effects. Though end-to-end ecosystem models were designed specifically for marine management, their novelty makes them unfamiliar to most decision makers. Before such models can be applied within the context of marine management decisions, additional levels of vetting will be required, and a dialogue with decision makers must be initiated. Here we summarize a review of an Atlantis end-to-end model, which involved a multi-day, expert review panel with local and international experts, convened to challenge models and data used in the management context. We propose nine credibility and quality control standards for endto-end models intended to inform management, and suggest two best practice guidelines for any end-to-end modelling application. We offer our perspectives (as recent test subjects or "guinea pigs") on how a review could be motivated and structured and on the evaluation criteria that should be used, in the most specific terms possible.


A new type of waveguide lattice that relies on the effect of bandgap guidance, rather than total internal reflection, in the regions between the waveguide defects is proposed. Two different setting, for low index and high index defects are suggested. We analyze the linear bandgap and diffraction properties of such lattices. In the nonlinear regime the Kerr effect can counteract diffraction leading to the formation of gap lattice solitons. Interestingly enough, in the case of low index defects, stable soliton solutions are localized in the low index areas. This finding challenges the widely accepted idea that stable solitons can be sustained in high refractive index regions. In addition, in the case of high index defects, the coupling coefficient can become negative. Physical settings where the linear and nonlinear properties for bandgap lattices can be experimentally realized are presented.


Abstract Purpose: Cells of the lung are at risk from exposure to low and moderate doses of ionizing radiation from a range of environmental and medical sources. To help assess human health risks from such exposures, a better understanding of the frequency and types of chromosome aberration initially-induced in human lung cell types is required to link initial DNA damage and rearrangements with transmission potential and, to assess how this varies with radiation quality. Materials and methods: We exposed normal human bronchial lung epithelial (NHBE) cells in vitro to 0.5 and 1 Gy low-linear energy transfer (LET) γ-rays and a low fluence of high-LET α-particles and assayed for chromosome aberrations in premature chromosome condensation (PCC) spreads by 24-color multiplex-fluorescence in situ hybridization (M-FISH). Results: Both simple and complex aberrations were induced in a LET and dose-dependent manner; however, the frequency and complexity observed were reduced in comparison to that previously reported in spherical cell types after exposure to comparable doses or fluence of radiation. Approximately 1–2% of all exposed cells were categorized as being capable of transmitting radiation-induced chromosomal damage to future NHBE cell generations, irrespective of dose. Conclusion: One possible mechanistic explanation for this reduced complexity is the differing geometric organization of chromosome territories within ellipsoid nuclei compared to spherical nuclei. This study highlights the need to better understand the role of nuclear organization in the formation of exchange aberrations and, the influence three-dimensional (3D) tissue architecture may have on this in vivo.


In various industries, managers face the problem of setting prices dynamically over time and determining the replenishment quantities by a fixed deadline so as to maximize the expected profit over a finite and short selling horizon. This problem is especially significant for the retail industries which sell products with short life cycles and price dependent demand. In this thesis, it is assumed that a firm sells a single product over a selling season that is divided into a finite number of discrete time periods. At the beginning of each period, the firm has the option of replenishing the inventory and determining a new price for the product. The replenishment lead time is zero and unmet demand is lost where demand is sensitive to price. There is no fixed charge for ordering, and the total variable ordering cost is proportional to the ordering quantity. Similarly, the inventory holding cost incurred in each period is proportional to the end-of-period inventory. Unsold items at the end of the last period have a salvage value per unit. In this study, this joint inventory-pricing problem is analyzed, and solution methods are presented. In particular, we propose an e±cient solution method that is very fast and yields solutions very close to optimality.


ABSTRACT Real-time PCR was used to quantify populations of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria representing the β subdivision of the classProteobacteria in samples of arable soil, both nitrogen fertilized and unfertilized, from Mellby, Sweden. Primers and probes targeting a 16S ribosomal DNA region of the ammonia-oxidizing bacteria were designed and used. In the fertilized soil there were ∼6.2 × 107 ammonia-oxidizing bacteria per g of soil, three times more than the number of bacteria in the unfertilized soil. The lytic efficiency of bead beating in these soils was investigated by using populations of free or loosely attached bacteria, bacteria tightly bound to particles, and bacteria in nonfractionated samples. The shapes of the curves generated in these tests showed that the concentration of template DNA released at various times remained constant after 10 to 100 s of bead beating.


We present the design and performance of the multi-object fiber spectrographs for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and their upgrade for the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS). Originally commissioned in Fall 1999 on the 2.5 m aperture Sloan Telescope at Apache Point Observatory, the spectrographs produced more than 1.5 million spectra for the SDSS and SDSS-II surveys, enabling a wide variety of Galactic and extra-galactic science including the first observation of baryon acoustic oscillations in 2005. The spectrographs were upgraded in 2009 and are currently in use for BOSS, the flagship survey of the third-generation SDSS-III project. BOSS will measure redshifts of 1.35 million massive galaxies to redshift 0.7 and Lyα absorption of 160,000 high redshift quasars over 10,000 deg2 of sky, making percent level measurements of the absolute cosmic distance scale of the universe and placing tight constraints on the equation of state of dark energy. The twin multi-object fiber spectrographs utilize a simple optical layout with reflective collimators, gratings, all-refractive cameras, and state-of-the-art CCD detectors to produce hundreds of spectra simultaneously in two channels over a bandpass covering the near-ultraviolet to the near-infrared, with a resolving power R = λ/FWHM ∼ 2000. Building on proven heritage, the spectrographs were upgraded for BOSS with volume-phase holographic gratings and modern CCD detectors, improving the peak throughput by nearly a factor of two, extending the bandpass to cover 360 nm < λ < 1000 nm, and increasing the number of fibers from 640 to 1000 per exposure. In this paper we describe the original SDSS spectrograph design and the upgrades implemented for BOSS, and document the predicted and measured performances.


Over the last three decades Argentina's real output underwent violent and with frequent fluctuations. Moreover, the trend growth rates also varied with large amplitudes. The economic oscillations interacted with sometimes drastic changes in economic policies. Agents adapted to that environment with heterogeneous and variable results. This document tries to identify the interrelations between that macro performance and private behaviors, and their effects on the industrial structure. Fundamental dimensions of those behaviors include investment criteria, the time horizon over which corporate decisions are made, attitudes towards innovation and technological learning. The Argentine case highlights the consistency requirements between micro and macro policies and the connections between macroeconomic sustainability and medium-term economic performance.


This study explores the influence of selected macroeconomic variables on the
event centres' return as an investment property in Akure between the period
of 2005 and 2014. As at the time of this research, there are twenty-four (24)
event centres situated at various locations in Akure. Twenty-four (24) wellstructured questionnaires were administered on the managers of event
centres in Akure, out of which eighteen (18) were appropriately filled and
returned, and analyzed using econometric analysis (Multiple Regression
models). The result of the coefficient of determination (R2) establishes that the
considered macroeconomic variables account for 97.5% of the variation in
event centres" return. However, the regression coefficient reveals that
inflation rate and exchange rate have significant effects on event centres
returns with p-values of 0.019 and 0.043 respectively. A unit change in these
variables will result in 69.5% and 21% changes in the event centre"s return
respectively. While there is an inverse relationship between event centre
returns and rate, it shows a direct relationship with the exchange rate. This
study concludes that the Nigerian macro-economy influences the return of her
specialized real estate investment with trading potentials as shown through
the findings of this research. It is therefore recommended that Government
should ensure that the macroeconomic variables are monitored so as to ensure
stability in property construction, sales and rental price, as these can
influence the performance of property market as well as the nation's economy.


The present paper is an attempt to integrate financial reforms and corporate finance in a dynamic setup. Determinants of capital structure choice are analyzed dynamically using panel data of 374 non-financial firms listed on Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) of Pakistan for the period 1988-2008. To capture the dynamic nature of capital structure choice the Arellano-Bond Dynamic Panel-Data Estimation technique is used to avoid the problems of endogeneity, heteroscedasticity and autocorrelation which arise due to dynamic panel data estimation. Reforms, it is found, has a negative impact on leverage of the firm suggesting that with liberalization and strengthening of institutions, there is a massive decrease in leverage; indicating that firms shifted from debt to equity market once the financial constraints are eased out. Lagged leverage, it is found, affects leverage positively, substantiating the fact that capital structure requires costs for adjustment; hence the adjustment process is delayed. The results furthers confirms the use of tangible assets as collateral; tangibility is positively correlated with Leverage which is contrary to Pecking Order Hypothesis but well explained by the trade-off theory of capital structure choice. However, the results substantiate Pecking order Hypothesis for profitability, size and growth. Profitability, size and growth, as espoused by pecking order hypothesis, are negatively correlated with leverage. That is highly profitable firms use equity financing instead of debt financing. Similar is the case with big firms and firms with high growth opportunities. As firms size increase its leverage decreases. Earning volatility confirms the trade off theory of capital structure choice. Moreover, the results reveal that firms owned by government are financed heavily through debt using banks loans as their primary instrument for financing their projects. In addition to these findings, the results suggest that the choice of capital structure varies across different industries.


Blood vessel leakiness can be induced through the co-receptor NRP1 independently of VEGFR. Multiple paths to leaky blood vessels The endothelial cells that line blood vessels act as a barrier between the blood and many tissues in the body. Blood vessels that are excessively leaky can lead to fluid buildup in tissues and promote the inappropriate movement of cells, such as the metastasis of cancer cells into the blood. The binding of VEGF (vascular endothelial cell growth factor) to its receptor VEGFR-2 enhances vascular permeability. Roth et al. discovered that different ligands that bound and triggered the clustering of VEGF coreceptor NRP1 increased vascular permeability without involving VEGFR-2 activation. In mice that expressed a form of NRP1 lacking the cytoplasmic domain, the NRP1-clustering stimuli did not enhance leakage from blood vessels. Thus, understanding how the cytoplasmic domain of NRP1 mediates increased vascular permeability may lead to new targets for preventing this condition. Neuropilin-1 (NRP1) regulates developmental and pathological angiogenesis, arteriogenesis, and vascular permeability, acting as a coreceptor for semaphorin 3A (Sema3A) and the 165–amino acid isoform of vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A165). NRP1 is also the receptor for the CendR peptides, a class of cell- and tissue-penetrating peptides with a specific R-x-x-R carboxyl-terminal motif. Because the cytoplasmic domain of NRP1 lacks catalytic activity, NRP1 is mainly thought to act through the recruitment and binding to other receptors. We report here that the NRP1 intracellular domain mediates vascular permeability. Stimulation with VEGF-A165, a ligand-blocking antibody, and a CendR peptide led to NRP1 accumulation at cell-cell contacts in endothelial cell monolayers, increased cellular permeability in vitro and vascular leakage in vivo. Biochemical analyses, VEGF receptor-2 (VEGFR-2) silencing, and the use of a specific VEGFR blocker established that the effects induced by the CendR peptide and the antibody were independent of VEGFR-2. Moreover, leakage assays in mice expressing a mutant NRP1 lacking the cytoplasmic domain revealed that this domain was required for NRP1-induced vascular permeability in vivo. Hence, these data define a vascular permeability pathway mediated by NRP1 but independent of VEGFR-2 activation.


Abstract We develop an automatic shear‐wave picking algorithm suitable for real‐time applications as well as with existing databases. The method can scan through packets of continuous waveforms and make picks without prior knowledge of whether earthquakes have occurred. This makes the algorithm suitable for detecting earthquakes at the same time. Expanding upon and improving the method of Ross and Ben‐Zion (2014a), the algorithm first uses polarization filters to remove P ‐wave energy from the seismogram. Then, short‐term average/long‐term average and kurtosis detectors are applied to the data in tandem to lock in on the phase arrival. The method is tested by applying it to a full month of continuous waveform data recorded by a regional network at 123 stations and comparing the resulting automatic picks with 11,353 handmade picks. The automatic picks are found to be within 0.16 s of the analyst picks 75% of the time, and S picks are successful 92% of the time that a P ‐wave pick is made. The algorithm is then applied to an entire year of continuous data and detects 11,197 earthquakes. The hypocenters of these earthquakes are, on average, improved by more than 1 km when compared with the regional network's automated catalog.


Trade between two regions often necessitates that the respective parties are political entities. This was indeed the case for trade from the Levant to Egypt during the Middle Bronze Age (ca. 2000-1550 BC, MBA) and Late Bronze Age (ca. 1550-1200 BC, LBA). Scientific analyses of Canaanite jars, transport vessels, from the site of Memphis, Egypt provided an ideal proxy for examining the relationship between trade and politics. During the MBA, Levantine peoples were present at the site of Tell el-Dab c a in the eastern Nile Delta. However, archaeologically there is little evidence for contact between these peoples and the Egyptians at Memphis. The results of comparison of MBA Canaanite jars from both sites suggest that the political situation fostered long-distance trade with the Levant and limited local interaction with the Egyptians. During the LBA, Egyptian kings controlled territory in the Levant. A comparison of MBA and LBA Canaanite jars from Memphis revealed that the political changes in some cases affected the trade partners but not in others. Further, the production of the jars appeared to have altered in some regions. These results suggest that the affect of political situations on trade can vary, from only minor changes, to the complete exclusion of trade partners and the introduction of new trade contacts. However, the influence of lucrative trade networks on political developments was also illustrated. The utility of provenance studies of ceramics for providing insight into the complex relationship between trade and politics was confirmed.


The study of the interaction of lightning electromagnetic fields with electrical systems and the design of appropriate protection strategies are generally based on statistical distributions of the lightning current measured at the channel base using either instrumented towers or artificial initiation of lightning using rockets. Recent studies based both on numerical modeling and experimental observations have shown that the presence of the structure struck by (or used to initiate) lightning does affect the current measurement in a way depending upon the geometry of the structure itself, compromising therefore the reliability of the statistics adopted so far for lightning data. The aim of this thesis is to provide new elements (from both theoretical and experimental investigations) to improve the understanding of the electromagnetic consequences of the impact of lightning return strokes to tall structures. Chapter 2 introduces to the phenomenology of cloud-to-ground lightning and the importance of lightning return-stroke modeling. Among the different classes of return-stroke models existing in the literature, the attention is focused in this thesis on the so-called engineering models, which allow describing the current distribution along the channel as a function of the current at the channel base and the return-stroke speed, two quantities for which data can be obtained experimentally. After presenting a review of five engineering return-stroke models describing lightning strikes to ground, the extension of the engineering models to take into account the presence of an elevated strike object is presented and discussed. The original contributions of this thesis, consisting of both theoretical and experimental works, are presented in Chapters 3 through 6. Chapter 3 is devoted to the computation of the electromagnetic field produced by lightning return strokes to elevated strike objects, using the extension of the engineering models to include an elevated strike object presented in the previous chapter. It is shown, for the first time, that the current distribution associated with these extended models exhibits a discontinuity at the return-stroke wavefront which (although not physically conceivable) needs to be taken into account by an additional term in the equations for the electromagnetic field, the so-called "turn-on" term. A general analytical formula describing the "turn-on" term associated with this discontinuity for various engineering models is derived and simulation results illustrating the effect of the "turn-on" term on the radiated electric and magnetic fields are also presented. In the second part of the chapter, dedicated to the investigation of the propagation effects on lightning electromagnetic field traveling along a finitely-conducting ground, the commonly-used assumption of an idealized perfectly-conducting ground is relaxed in order to analyze, for the first time, how the electromagnetic field radiated by a tower-initiated strike is affected while propagating along a soil characterized by a finite conductivity. The results showed that the attenuation of the initial peak of the field radiated by a tower-initiated strike, resulting from the propagation over finitely conducting ground, depends strongly on the risetime of the current, the tower height and the ground conductivity and is, in general, much more important than the attenuation experienced, while propagating along the same finite ground, by the field produced by ground-initiated strikes. Chapter 4 presents a comparison among the predictions obtained using the five extended engineering return-stroke models for lightning strikes to tall structures described in Chapter 2. The spatial-temporal current profiles along the tower-channel axis predicted by the engineering models, as well as the respective predictions for the radiated electric and magnetic fields, calculated at different distances, are compared and discussed. It is shown that the computed electromagnetic fields associated with a strike to a tall tower are generally less model-dependent than those corresponding to a strike to ground, especially as far as the first-peak value is concerned, which is nearly model-insensitive in case of tall-tower strikes. A theoretical analysis is performed in the last part of the chapter with the aim to provide, for the same five engineering models extended to take into account the presence of the tower, expressions relating the return-stroke current and the associated distant radiated electric and magnetic fields. It is demonstrated, in addition, that only one model among the five presented is characterized by simple analytical formulas relating current-peak and far-field peak values, which (being the electromagnetic field peak value nearly independent of the adopted model) become general expressions applicable for any engineering return-stroke model in case of tower-initiated lightning. It was also shown that the peak amplitude of the electromagnetic field radiated by a lightning strike to a tall structure is relatively insensitive to both the values of the top reflection coefficient and the return-stroke speed. This latter result is important, in particular, because, unlike ground-initiated strikes, for which the far-field peak is strongly dependent on the return-stroke speed, far field peaks associated with strikes to tall structures are little sensitive to the return stroke speed. Since in most practical cases the value of the return-stroke speed is unknown, this interesting result suggests a possible calibration procedure for lightning detection systems by means of direct measurement of lightning currents on instrumented towers. Chapter 5 reports on the simultaneous measurements of the return-stroke current and of the electric and magnetic fields at three distances associated with lightning strikes to the Toronto CN Tower (553 m) that have been carried out during the summer of 2005. This is the first time ever that simultaneous records of lightning current and associated electric and magnetic fields at three distances have been obtained. Two propagation paths for the electromagnetic field to the first and to the second field measurement stations (located, respectively, 2.0 km and 16.8 km away from the CN Tower) were along the soil and through the Toronto city, whereas for the third location (50.9 km away) the propagation path was nearly entirely across the fresh water of Lake Ontario. It is shown that the waveforms of the electric and magnetic fields at 16.8 km and 50.9 km exhibit a first zero-crossing about 5 microseconds after the onset of the return-stroke, which is part of a narrow undershoot and which may be attributed to the transient processes along the tower. Effects of propagation (decrease of field amplitude and increase of its risetime) could also be observed in experimental records. It is shown that the fields at 50.9 km are less affected by such attenuation, compared to those at 16.8 km, presumably because the path of propagation was mostly across Lake Ontario. The measured waveforms are compared with the theoretical predictions obtained using five engineering return-stroke models, extended to include the presence of the strike object, finding a reasonable agreement for the magnetic field waveforms at the three considered distances. The overall agreement between the theoretically predicted and the experimentally observed field-peak-to-current-peak ratio is reasonable, although the theoretical expression appears to underestimate the experimentally measured ratio (by about 25 %). This may be due, at least in part, to the enhancement effect of the buildings on which the field measurement antennas were installed. Finally, the directly-measured lightning currents at the tower were correlated and compared with the current-peak estimations provided by the US National Lightning Detection Network (NLDN). It is shown that the NLDN-inferred values overestimate the actual current peaks because the presence of the tall struck object produces an enhanced radiated field at far distances (with respect to strikes to flat ground), which is not included in the algorithm used to infer lightning current peaks from remote field measurements. It is shown in this thesis that correcting the NLDN estimates using the correction factor introduced by the tower results in an excellent estimation of lightning current peaks. This is an important conclusion of this study showing that the estimation of lightning peak currents for tall towers can be greatly improved by considering the tower correction factor. Chapter 6 is devoted to the measurement of electromagnetic fields radiated by lightning. In its first part, the need for guidelines for reporting lightning data obtained experimentally is emphasized. The second part of the chapter presents the design, the construction and preliminary tests of a low-cost, multi-channel lightning field measuring system for the simultaneous measurement of three components of the electromagnetic field radiated by lightning. The proposed system uses one single optical link for the transmission of the three signals, appropriately digitized and multiplexed, lowering considerably the overall cost of the system itself.


In order to perform a proper, integrated assessment of potential climate change impacts on Egypt it was necessary to accurately identify important and impending issues and problems which are and will be facing the Egyptian agriculture sector into the next century. To this aim, two experts in the fields of Agronomy and Irrigated Agriculture in the Middle East were asked to travel to Egypt in order to assess the current state of Egyptian agriculture and pose possible questions and scenarios that will face Egypt in light of its current agricultural practices and management strategies. The paper examines two possible future scenarios for Egypt, one from a non-climate change perspective and the other from a climate change outlook. These scenarios are derived from the authors perspective of the current state of Egyptian agriculture. One viewpoint is that of the pessimist, where Egypt continues to practice poor agriculture management; the other is that of the optimist, with Egypt adopting sound management practices - adapting its cropping pattern and water use practices. Also addressed are the potential impacts of climate change on crop yields and recommendations for agronomic research to mitigate its potential impact.


We evaluated daily and monthly statistics of maximum and minimum temperatures and precipitation in an ensemble of 16 regional climate models (RCMs) forced by boundary conditions from reanalysis data for 1961-1990. A high-resolution gridded observational data set for land areas in Europe was used. Skill scores were calculated based on the match of simulated and observed empirical probability density functions. The evaluation for different variables, seasons and regions showed that some models were better/worse than others in an overall sense. It also showed that no model that was best/worst in all variables, seasons or regions. Biases in daily precipitation were most pronounced in the wettest part of the probability distribution where the RCMs tended to overestimate precipitation compared to observations. We also applied the skill scores as weights used to calculate weighted ensemble means of the variables. We found that weighted ensemble means were slightly better in comparison to observations than corresponding unweighted ensemble means for most seasons, regions and variables. A number of sensitivity tests showed that the weights were highly sensitive to the choice of skill score metric and data sets involved in the comparison.


It is well known that cooperative relaying has the potential to improve the performance of wireless communication. However, compared with point-to-point communication, cooperative relaying requires much more overhead to implement. In this paper, we quantitatively analyze the overhead in implementing cooperative relaying, in particular, the overhead to acquire essential channel state information, to select the relay(s), and to provide the required coordination. Factoring in the impact of overhead, the spectral efficiency of cooperative relaying schemes is then investigated. A comparison of three cooperative relaying schemes (Timer-Based Best-Select, Distributed Space-Time-Coded, and M-group) is presented. Numerical results are provided to illustrate the impact of overhead on the spectral efficiency. Finally, based on the analysis and simulations, we provide guidelines for determining the appropriate cooperative relaying scheme for specific scenarios.


Since 1996, Alexander Payne has made six feature films and a short segment of an omnibus movie. Although his body of work is quantitatively small, it is qualitatively impressive. His movies have garnered numerous accolades and awards, including two Academy Awards for Best Adapted Screenplay. As more than one interviewer in this volume points out, he maintains an impressive and unbroken winning streak. Payne's stories of human strivings and follies, alongside his mastery of the craft of filmmaking, mark him as a contemporary auteur of uncommon accomplishment. In this first compilation of his interviews, Payne reveals himself as a captivating conversationalist as well. The discussions collected here range from 1996, shortly after the release of his first film, Citizen Ruth, to the debut of his film Nebraska at the Cannes Film Festival in 2013. Over his career, he muses on many subjects including his own creative processes, his commitment to telling character-centered stories, and his abiding admiration for movies and directors from across decades of film history. Critics describe Payne as one of the few contemporary filmmakers who consistently manages to buck the current trend toward bombastic blockbusters. Like the 1970s director-driven cinema that he cherishes, his films are small-scale character studies that manage to maintain a delicate balance between sharp satire and genuine poignancy.


The China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) is monitoring nearly 18,000 people—a representative sample of all Chinese over 45. The survey, which was designed by an international team and bankrolled by the U.S. National Institute on Aging, among others, is charting respondents' health, wealth, and social relationships as they age. Results from the first round are in, and the prognosis is bleak: CHARLS found high rates of depression and medical underdiagnosis and revealed that a quarter of China's elderly live in poverty.


Abstract. Soil dust is a major driver of ice nucleation in clouds leading to precipitation. It consists largely of mineral particles with a small fraction of organic matter constituted mainly of remains of micro-organisms that participated in degrading plant debris before their own decay. Some micro-organisms have been shown to be much better ice nuclei than the most efficient soil mineral. Yet, current aerosol schemes in global climate models do not consider a difference between soil dust and mineral dust in terms of ice nucleation activity. Here, we show that particles from the clay and silt size fraction of four different soils naturally associated with 0.7 to 11.8 % organic carbon (w/w) can have up to four orders of magnitude more ice nucleation sites per unit mass active in the immersion freezing mode at −12 °C than montmorillonite, the nucleation properties of which are often used to represent those of mineral dusts in modelling studies. Most of this activity was lost after heat treatment. Removal of biological residues reduced ice nucleation activity to, or below that of montmorillonite. Desert soils, inherently low in organic content, are a large natural source of dust in the atmosphere. In contrast, agricultural land use is concentrated on fertile soils with much larger organic matter contents than found in deserts. It is currently estimated that the contribution of agricultural soils to the global dust burden is less than 20 %. Yet, these disturbed soils can contribute ice nuclei to the atmosphere of a very different and much more potent kind than mineral dusts.


In the last years, there has been a big development of European policies and regulations on energy saving topics. This is due to the will to reach the targets of 20-20-20. Buildings consume a lot of energy, so the legal framework related to the reduction of energy consumption in this sector has had a huge evolution. The "NZEB (nearly zero energy building)" concept was introduced in 2010, eight years after the release of the original EPBD (energy performance of buildings directive). By 2020, all new buildings and buildings that are subject to renovation should have very low energy consumption, covered for the major part by renewable sources. Designing and realizing this kind of building is a very ambitious task, which needs to be supported by appropriate tools and software. This paper presents a new tool for assessing building performance, named BENIMPACT Suite (building's environmental impact evaluator and optimizer), which is developed by EnginSoft (Italy). The suite is organized in different core modules that allow to verify how the building performance level is influenced by different design choices, such as envelope shape and materials, plant systems, renewable sources use, etc.. One of the test cases used to validate the BENIMPACT Suite energy performance is the evaluation of an interesting Italian ZEB, finished in 2010 and called CasaZeroEnergy. It is located in Felettano (Udine), a small town in northeastern Italy. This building is an experimental house designed and monitored by the Laboratory of Building Design of the University of Trento (Italy) and built by Polo Le Ville Plus Group (Cassacco-Italy). The energy performance of this building was modelled and evaluated using BENIMPACT Suite, and simulation results were compared with monitored data.


Background and Purpose— Stroke is a relatively common and challenging condition in hospitalized patients. Previous studies have shown delays in recognition and assessment of inpatient strokes leading to poor outcomes. The goal of this quality improvement initiative was to evaluate an in-hospital code stroke algorithm and educational program aimed at reducing the response times for inpatient stroke. Methods— An inpatient code stroke algorithm was developed, and an educational intervention was implemented over 5 months. Data were recorded and compared between the 36-month period before and the 15-month period after the intervention was implemented. Outcome measures included time from last seen normal to initial assessment and from last seen normal to brain imaging. Results— During the study period, there were 218 inpatient strokes (131 before the intervention and 87 after the intervention). Inpatient strokes were more common on cardiovascular wards (45% of cases) and occurred mainly during the perioperative period (60% of cases). After implementation of an inpatient code stroke intervention and educational initiative, there were consistent reductions in all timed outcome measures (median time to initial assessment fell from 600 [109–1460] to 160 [35–630] minutes and time to computed tomographic scan fell from 925 [213–1965] to 348.5 [128–1587] minutes). Conclusions— Our study reveals the efficacy of an inpatient code stroke algorithm and educational intervention directed at nurses and allied health personnel to optimize the prompt management of inpatient strokes. Prompt assessment may lead to faster stroke interventions, which are associated with better outcomes.


This letter is intended to help potential users select the most appropriate calculator for a landscape-scale greenhouse gas (GHG) assessment of activities for agriculture and forestry. Eighteen calculators were assessed. These calculators were designed for different aims and to be used in different geographical areas and they use slightly different accounting methodologies. The classification proposed is based on the main aim of the assessment: raising awareness, reporting, project evaluation or product assessment. When the aims have been clearly formulated, the most suitable calculator can be selected from the comparison tables, taking account of the geographical area and the scope of the calculation as well as the time and skills required for the calculation. The main issues for interpreting GHG assessments are discussed, highlighting the difficulty of comparing the results obtained from different calculators, mainly owing to differences in scope, calculation methods and reporting units. A major problem is the poor accounting for land use change; the calculators are usually able to account satisfactorily for other emission sources. One of the main challenges at landscape-scale level is to produce a realistic assessment of the various production systems as the uncertainty levels are very high. The results should always give some indication of the link between GHG emissions and the productivity of the area, although no single indicator is able to encompass all the services produced by agriculture and forestry (e.g. food, goods, landscape value and revenue).


It is the name given to these mathematical and computing approaches used to glean understanding of biological processes. It is the application of information technology to the field of molecular biology. Bioinformatics entails the creation and advancement of databases, algorithms, computational and statistical techniques, and theory to solve formal and practical problems arising from the management and analysis of biological data. Over the past few decades rapid developments in genomic and other molecular research technologies combined developments in information technologies have combined to produce a tremendous amount of information related to molecular biology Common activities in Bioinformatics include mapping and analyzing DNA and protein sequences, aligning different DNA and protein sequences to compare them and creating and viewing 3-D models of protein structures. The primary goal of bioinformatics is to increase our understanding of biological processes. What sets it apart from other approaches, however, is its focus on developing and applying computationally intensive techniques (e.g., data mining, and machine learning algorithms) to achieve this goal. Major research efforts in the field include sequence alignment, gene finding, genome assembly, protein structure alignment, protein structure prediction, prediction of gene expression and proteinprotein interactions, and the modeling of evolution.


SIMEONOVSKA-NIKOLOVA, D., M. BELTCHEVA, A. LARION, V. NISTREANU and R. METCHEVA, 2014. Variations in the mound size of mound-building mouse, Mus spicilegus between Bulgaria and Moldova. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., Supplement 1: 125–128 The mound-building mouse, Mus spicilegus is endemic to Europe, adapted to agroecosystems. In autumn, mound-building mice build complex mounds and supply them with seeds. In these mounds, they spend the winter. The mounds have several functions, such as food storage and thermoregulation. Previous studies demonstrated that the mounds vary in size among geographical populations. In this connection we examined whether climatic differences between Bulgaria and Moldova infl uence the size of the mounds. To describe variations in mound size, mounds were measured and excavated in several locations in Bulgaria and Moldova in autumn and spring between 2000 and 2013. In all studied fi elds, crops were harvested prior investigations and the habitats were in succession on the place of agroecosystems of sunfl ower, wheat and corn crops as well as on the boundary strips of the agroecosystems. The comparison between mounds in Bulgaria and Moldova was made on the basis of their length, width, height, depth, number of inhabitants and collected plant material. Data on mound size between sampling localities in Bulgaria and Moldova were compared by Mann-Whitney U test. Spearman rank-order correlation (rs) was used to examine the relation between mound size and number of inhabitants. In general the length, width and height of the mounds in the two countries had similar values. However, in Moldova mounds were signifi cantly deeper than those in Bulgaria and number of mice per mound was signifi cantly larger than this in Bulgarian population. Mound size was dependent on the number of inhabitants. The reasons for size differences of mounds are discussed in the context of their adaptive significance.


The objective of this article is to merge the growing phenomenon of distributed ledger technology with the airline industry. This article attempts to attain its objective by succinctly clarifying what distributed ledger technology truly is without explaining the minutest of its details. Further, this article seeks to achieve its objective by suggesting potential manners in which this technology could apply to the airline industry; this is an endeavour that, so far, does not seem to have been undertaken in a strict academic sense. Lastly, this article strives to link these potential applications to the empire of the law by shedding light on the legal implications that could arise from them. By attempting to achieve its objective in the manner laid down above, this article intends to both generate a discussion on the applicability of distributed ledger technology to the airline industry and encourage an influx of deeper studies on this innovative theme by lawyers, economists, and engineers alike.


The 2D and 3D quantitative structure activity relationship study was performed on a series of some 1,3-disubstituted urea derivatives possessing antiproliferative activity for establishing quantitative relationship between biological activity and their physicochemical properties. Several statistical regression expressions were obtained with 2D-QSAR study using stepwise multiple linear regression (MLR), partial least squares regression (PLSR), and partial component regression (PCR) analysis and two statistical significant models were generated (r2 = 0.8195, 0.8283 for model 1 and 2 respectively) indicating that biological activity is influenced by the descriptors T_N_O_3 and SsOHE-index. With 3D- QSAR anlysis one statistical significant models were generated (r2 = 0.8668 and predr2 = 0.8307) by using kNN Random data selection method.