The graduation studio of Architectural Engineering focuses on the integration of (new) technology in architecture. For this purpose, the name aE/ INTECTURE® was devised, which will be developed further as a brand in the coming years. Students start with a technical fascination and translate this into an architectural concept, finally being able to implement this within the environment in a responsible way. 'If technology is the answer, what is the question?' Under the guidance of a team of enthusiastic (guest) lecturers, students search for the dot on the horizon that is necessary for coming up with solutions that improve the quality of the built environment and make it more sustainable. In addition, either the 'making' (make) or 'the energy and material flow' (flow) is used and applied as a basis in different contexts.
Digital fabrication
The 'make' theme has already earned aE/ INTECTURE an excellent reputation through the integration of the ideology of 'digital fabrication' by Pieter Stoutjesdijk. Pieter was the faculty's best student in 2013 and now exhibits his work at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. Last year, Nadia Remmerswaal also graduated from aE/INTECTURE as student of the year. She also works on innovations using digital production techniques. Stoutjesdijk recently developed the 'Comfort Cabin', an innovative solution for temporarily empty buildings to make them habitable for refugees. The project has been widely cited in the press and the Chief Government Architect regularly shows it as a good example of innovation. Meanwhile, Pieter has developed the 'Comfort City' in collaboration with former aE/INTECTURE student Anneloes de Koff, which received the first prize in the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers' (COA) design contest 'A Home away from Home'. In addition, thanks to the digital method of production, high profile chair production projects have been rolled out to the Minor in Architectural Engineering and Junior TU Delft Architectural Engineering programme.
Collaborations
Talent development and seeking out relationships with the business community and government are the points of departure for strengthening our position in society and examining how we can integrate this into the academic domain. For example, connections have been forged with the Directorate-General for Public Works and Water Management (Rijkswaterstaat), together with whom we've built and managed 12 beach houses as part of the Stuiflab project during the Oerol Festival on the island of Terschelling in 2015. aE/INTECTURE has also been involved from the start as an advisor and source of inspiration in the creation of IBA Parkstad in 2020. In addition, new ideas for addressing off-the-grid housing and infrastructure solutions in kampungs (informal villages) in Indonesia have been mapped out in the recent past. Students have visited Bandung and collaborated with the local business community and university. Last year, students were assigned to work on 'Learning from Lowlands', the famous annual Lowlands festival in Biddinghuizen. They examined what could be learnt from temporary building structures. Meanwhile, an inspiring design relationship has been established with the management of the Marineterrein in Amsterdam. Students and researchers are given the opportunity to collaborate on the 'Flexible City' that will be developed at this unique location in the Netherlands over the coming years. Our Seismic project deals with earthquake problems in Groningen and, in particular, the design solutions being devised for that.
Inspiration and innovation
aE/INTECTURE wants to use such examples to demonstrate that architects can integrate innovative design solutions, thus contributing to the improvement of living conditions. We follow our graduates in their practice in order to see if our approach is influencing the changing world of the contemporary architect.


SUMMARY Extractive reserves account for a significant proportion of the remaining intact forest within Brazilian Amazonia. Managers of extractive reserves need to understand the livelihood strategies adopted by rural Amazonians in order to implement projects that benefit the livelihoods of local residents whilst maintaining forest integrity. Whilst resident populations are often descended from immigrant rubber-tappers, dynamic economic and social conditions have led to a recent diversification of land-use practices. This two-year study in two large contiguous extractive reserves encompassing both unflooded (terra firme) and seasonally flooded (várzea) forest, shows the degree to which local livelihood strategies of different settlements are heterogeneous. Extractive offtake of forest products and fish catches and agricultural activities, together with income from sales, for 82 households in 10 communities were quantified in detail by means of weekly surveys. The survey data were combined with interviews to examine the demographic and wealth profile, and engagement in alternative activities, in 181 households across 27 communities. All households and communities were engaged in all three subsistence activity types, but there was large variation in engagement with income-generating activities. Households within a community showed considerable congruence in their income-generating activity profiles, but there was significant variation between communities. Yields from agriculture and fishing were more temporally stable than extraction of highly-seasonal forest products. Generalized linear mixed models showed that forest type was consistently important in explaining yields of both agrarian and extractive products. Communities with greater access to terra firme forest were inherently more agricultural, and strongly committed to manioc production. Communities with greater access to flooded forest, however, showed a greater dependence on fishing. Conservation should be more attuned to the diversity and dynamism of livelihood strategies in protected areas; in particular, reserve managers and policy makers should account for the effect of local variation in physical geography when designing sustainable development projects.


Introduction: Using modern methods of teaching can increase critical thinking skills and confidence of students. This study aims to assess 'team effectiveness design' on critical thinking, confidence and learning of nursing students. Methods: In this study 52 students of the first two semesters of Nursing and Midwifery School of Khoramabad were studied over two semesters. Before and after implementation of teaching method a questionnaire was used to measure student's confidence, performance and critical thinking. Results: In both groups, the mean score of critical thinking after the intervention increased. The score of critical thinking before and after lecture was significantly correlated (P=0.001). The confidence score after conduction of team performance was enhanced. There was no significant relationship between the scores before and after intervention in terms of performance (P=0.5). Test score increase after the intervention (P=0.001). Conclusion: Modern methods of teaching, learning and deepening it, is possible through ''team effectiveness design". The method led to the development of critical thinking, increase confidence and satisfaction.


This paper examines the relationship between the satisfaction of informal carers with the care delivered to dying people in the last year of life and patient and carer characteristics. A secondary analysis was conducted on a subsample from the Regional Study of Care for the Dying (RSCD) in which bereaved relatives or friends of a random sample of deaths in 1990 in 20 health districts across England were interviewed some 10 months after the death. There were 1,858 informal carers who were close relatives or friends/neighbours of people who died from cancer in this analysis. Results show that highly satisfied carers were those who perceived caring as rewarding (OR=2.31, 95% Cl: 1.04–5.11), those who reported having had no unmet needs while caring for the deceased at home (OR=2.50, 95% Cl: 1.87–3.34), and those who rated their post-bereavement health as excellent (0R=2.61, 95% Cl: 1.70–3.90). Reporting for the deceased who were owner-occupiers was also associated with a high odds ratio for satisfaction (0R=2.52, 95% Cl: 1.37–4.61). Factors such as the patient's duration of functional limitation, the duration of confusion and psychological symptoms, and the carer's strength of religious faith were also found to predict satisfaction but to a lesser extent. Health planners and managers should be aware that informal carers' overall satisfaction with health and social services is predicted by carer and patient attributes.


Single–crystalline TiO2 nanowires were successfully grown by oxidation of as–sputtered Ti films with ethanol. X–ray diffractometer (XRD) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) studies revealed that the nanowires had a single–crystalline structure and grew along the [110] axis. The formation of the TiO2 thin film was found to play an important role in the nanowire growth due to the ability to reduce the diffusion rates of Ti atoms from Ti films for the limited nucleation by thermally activated. The growth of TiO2 nanowires was determined by the reaction of ethanol with Ti diffusion which was supplied from the Ti films. The TiO2 nanowires showed an efficient visible–light photocatalytic activity. Moreover, after thermal annealing, both UV and visible–light photocatalytic activities of TiO2 nanowires were enhanced significantly due to the increase in the surface defects on the nanowires.


Abstract. Molecular hydrogen (H2), its isotopic signature (deuterium/hydrogen, δD), carbon monoxide (CO), and other compounds were studied in the exhaust of a passenger car engine fuelled with gasoline or methane and run under variable air-fuel ratios and operating modes. H2 and CO concentrations were largely reduced downstream of the three-way catalytic converter (TWC) compared to levels upstream, and showed a strong dependence on the air-fuel ratio (expressed as lambda, λ). The isotopic composition of H2 ranged from δD = −140‰ to δD = −195‰ upstream of the TWC but these values decreased to −270‰ to −370‰ after passing through the TWC. Post-TWC δD values for the fuel-rich range showed a strong dependence on TWC temperature with more negative δD for lower temperatures. These effects are attributed to a rapid temperature-dependent H-D isotope equilibration between H2 and water (H2O). In addition, post TWC δD in H2 showed a strong dependence on the fraction of removed H2, suggesting isotopic enrichment during catalytic removal of H2 with enrichment factors (e) ranging from −39.8‰ to −15.5‰ depending on the operating mode. Our results imply that there may be considerable variability in real-world δD emissions from vehicle exhaust, which may mainly depend on TWC technology and exhaust temperature regime. This variability is suggestive of a δD from traffic that varies over time, by season, and by geographical location. An earlier-derived integrated pure (end-member) δD from anthropogenic activities of −270‰ (Rahn et al., 2002) can be explained as a mixture of mainly vehicle emissions from cold starts and fully functional TWCs, but enhanced δD values by >50‰ are likely for regions where TWC technology is not fully implemented. Our results also suggest that a full hydrogen isotope analysis on fuel and exhaust gas may greatly aid at understanding process-level reactions in the exhaust gas, in particular in the TWC.


A new design of 3-part ankle replacement was developed to achieve compatibility with the natural ligaments by allowing certain fibres to remain isometric during passive motion. From July 2003 to April 2008 we have implanted 70 ankle prostheses. The mean age at surgery was 61.5 years (range 29.7-82.5). Mean follow-u is 6,4 years (5-9 years). Radiographs showed good alignment, no loosening and little signs of progressive radiolucency. The preoperative AOFAS score was 38.4 and at last follow-up increased to77,9. Function and Range-of-motion scored better than previous total ankles. Two revisions necessitated component removal, neither for implant failure. These results demonstrate that non-anatomically shaped talar and tibial components, with a fully conforming interposed meniscal bearing, can provide satisfactory clinical results in the short term.


PURPOSE
Cisplatin is widely used but highly ototoxic. Effects of cumulative cisplatin dose on hearing loss have not been comprehensively evaluated in survivors of adult-onset cancer.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Comprehensive audiological measures were conducted on 488 North American male germ cell tumor (GCT) survivors in relation to cumulative cisplatin dose, including audiograms (0.25 to 12 kHz), tests of middle ear function, and tinnitus. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association criteria defined hearing loss severity. The geometric mean of hearing thresholds (0.25 to 12 kHz) summarized overall hearing status consistent with audiometric guidelines. Patients were sorted into quartiles of hearing thresholds of age- and sex-matched controls.

RESULTS
Increasing cumulative cisplatin dose (median, 400 mg/m(2); range, 200 to 800 mg/m(2)) was significantly related to hearing loss at 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 kHz (P trends, .021 to < .001): every 100 mg/m(2) increase resulted in a 3.2-dB impairment in age-adjusted overall hearing threshold (4 to 12 kHz; P < .001). Cumulative cisplatin doses > 300 mg/m(2) were associated with greater American Speech-Language-Hearing Association-defined hearing loss severity (odds ratio, 1.59; P = .0066) and worse normative-matched quartiles (odds ratio, 1.33; P = .093) compared with smaller doses. Almost one in five (18%) patients had severe to profound hearing loss. Tinnitus (40% patients) was significantly correlated with reduced hearing at each frequency (P < .001). Noise-induced damage (10% patients) was unaffected by cisplatin dose (P = .59). Hypertension was significantly related (P = .0066) to overall hearing threshold (4 to 12 kHz) in age- and cisplatin dose-adjusted analyses. Middle ear deficits occurred in 22.3% of patients but, as expected, were not related to cytotoxic drug dosage.

CONCLUSION
Follow-up of adult-onset cancer survivors given cisplatin should include routine inquiry for hearing status and tinnitus, referral to audiologists as clinically indicated, and hypertension control. Patients should be urged to avoid noise exposure, ototoxic drugs, and other factors that further damage hearing.


As a new fueling method, supersonic molecular beam injection (SMBI) has been successfully developed and used in the HL-1M tokamak and HT-7 superconducting tokamak. SMBI can enhance penetration depth and fueling efficiency. It can be considered a significant improvement over conventional gas puffing. In recent experiments, hydrogen clusters have been found in the beam produced by high working gas pressure. The hydrogen particles of the beam have penetrated into the plasma center region, in which the average velocity of the injected beam is >1200 m/s. The rate of increase of electron density for SMBI, d[bar]ne/dt, approaches that of small ice pellet injection (PI). The plasma density increases step by step after multipulse SMBI, just as with the effects of multipellet fueling. Comparison of fueling effects was made between SMBI and small ice PI in the same shot of ohmic discharge in HL-1M.


This research program focuses on investigating the applicability of using crumb rubber (CR) as a replacement for fine aggregate in developing a novel eco-friendly concrete type suitable for structural applications, especially when self-consolidating concrete (SCC) is used. Four extensive experimental studies have been carried out on both small- and large-scale concrete specimens to accomplish the research objective. The first and second studies aimed to optimize a number of successful self-consolidating rubberized concrete (SCRC) and steel fibre SCRC (SFSCRC) mixtures with maximized percentages of CR and minimized reduction in the stability and strength. The first parametric study included 27 SCRC mixtures developed with different binder contents (500-550 kg/m³), supplementary cementing materials (SCMs) (metakaolin (MK), fly ash (FA), and ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBS)), coarse aggregate sizes (10-20 mm), and entrained air admixture. The second parametric study included 19 SFSCRC mixtures developed with different binder content (550–600 kg/m³), steel fibre (SF) volume fractions (0.35% and 0.5%), and lengths of SFs (35 and 60 mm). In this study (study 2), another three vibrated rubberized concrete (VRC) and four steel fibre VRC (SFVRC) mixtures were developed for comparison. In both study 1 and 2, the fresh and mechanical properties of the developed mixtures were evaluated using small-scale specimens. The fresh properties included flowability, passing ability, high-range water-reducer admixture (HRWRA) demand, coarse aggregate segregation, and CR distribution. On the other hand, the evaluation of mechanical properties in both study 1 and 2 included compressive strength, splitting tensile strength (STS), flexural strength (FS), modulus of elasticity, impact resistance, ultrasonic pulse velocity, and acoustic emission measurements. The third and fourth studies evaluated the structural performance (flexural and shear) of large-scale reinforced concrete beams made with SCRC, VRC, SFSCRC, and SFVRC. In these studies, a total of 36 optimized mixtures from study 1 and 2 were selected to cast 36 large-scale reinforced concrete beams to be tested in flexure and shear (24 beams in flexure and 12 beams in shear). The performance of some design codes and empirical equations in predicting the first cracking moment, flexural, and shear capacity of the tested beams was also evaluated in study 3 and 4.
The results showed that using CR in SCRC helped to develop mixtures with improved impact resistance, acoustic absorption capacity, and lower self-weight, but their stability, fresh, and mechanical properties were decreased. However, using higher binder content, different SCMs, and entrained air in SCRC improved their fresh properties and allowed high percentages of CR to be used, successfully. Moreover, MK was found to be the most effective SCMs that could obviously improve the stability and strength of SCRC. Although using SFs in SCRC mixtures negatively affected the fresh properties of the mixtures, they proved to have a significant enhancement on the mixtures' strengths, especially STS, FS, and impact resistance. Since the challenge to optimize mixtures with high flowability and passing ability was not a factor in developing vibrated mixtures, it was possible to develop SFVRC mixtures with higher percentage of CR and SFs. This high combination of CR and SFs provides a new concrete composite with further improvement in ductility, toughness, impact resistance, and with further reduction in self-weight. The results of the flexural testing conducted in study 3 indicated that increasing the CR appeared to narrow crack widths and improve deformability of SCRC and VRC beams at given load. The safe use of CR in structural applications was found to be 15%. Further increase in the CR content showed a significant reduction in the first cracking moment and ultimate flexural capacity of the tested beams, while the ductility and toughness did not show a confirmed effect for the higher percentages of CR. On the other hand, in SFVRC, the addition of 1% SFs (35 and 60 mm) helped to extend the possible safe content of CR to 35%, achieving successfully semi-lightweight concrete beams with a sufficient capacity, ductility, and toughness for multiple structural applications.
In shear testing conducted in study 4, using CR in SCRC and VRC beams showed a reduction in their shear capacity, post-diagonal cracking resistance, and energy absorption. These reductions could be alleviated by inclusion of SFs. The composite effect of CR and SFs also helped to narrow the developed cracks and change the failure mode from a brittle shear failure to a ductile flexural failure, particularly for SFs volume of 1%. The comparisons between the predictions and the experimental results (obtained from study 3 and 4) indicated that most of the proposed equations can satisfactorily estimate the flexural and shear capacity, but the first cracking moment was overestimated.


In this Web 2.0 era, small business owners are at a severe disadvantage because they have minimal, if any, knowledge, about Internet marketing. They also lack the budget to hire a top-notch web marketer. As a result, the thrust of their Internet marketing program is usually a poorly performing website that attracts few visitors. e Boot Camp is the solution to the entrepreneur's Internet marketing problem. This do-it-yourself book provides the know-how that's needed to win business in cyberspace while eliminating the need for a large marketing budget. In just an hour or two a week, the small business owner will gain control of his or her Internet marketing campaign, using the step-by-step method Perlman presents. Specifically, readers will learn the keys to improving their search-engine ranking (the critical driver of traffic to a Website), how to create and manage blogs and e-newsletters and, finally, the secrets to a successful, sales-driven website.


Background and Aim: Today journals are one of the main platforms to exchange information between researchers. This study aimed to assess the status of Approved Latin indexing journals in the field of medical science citation indexes Web of Science and Scopus databases. Materials and Methods: This study was a cross-sectional descriptive survey. Statistical population of the study was 83 titles Latin journals approved by the Ministry of Health that examined indexing situation of them in Web of science and Scopus databases between the years 2005 2010- . Data collection tool was a controlled checklist that was established by consult with experts and specialists in related areas and its reliability was estimated 90 percent. Data were analyzed using the software spss16. Results: Survey the status of journals showed that slightly less than 26 percent of titles indexed in Web of Science. Also in Scopus Citation Index 69 percent of journals was indexed. Compare criteria for indexing journals in Web of Science and Scopus database show that bibliography information of not indexed journals considered and in some journals (2930 / percent) number of international standards were not mentioned. Also, some journals contact information (postcode publication 9 percent) was not included. Conclusion: In general, it was observed that despite the enormous growth of scientific journals between examined years, terms of adaption with the criteria of indexing are in unfavorable condition and managers of Latin scientific journals should try to improve their quality and quantity.


Studies of gender in medieval culture have tended to focus on femininity; however, the study of medieval masculinities has developed into an important area of enquiry in the last few years. This collection is the first to concentrate on the ways in which varieties of medieval masculinity intersected with concepts of holiness. Individual essays in this volume explore differing notions of holiness which had currency in the Middle Ages, understood variously as religious, saintly, sacred, pure and morally perfect. They also consider the ways in which the performance of both holiness and masculinity was affected by other categories such as monasticism, kingship, mysticism, social status, body and age.

For some men the practice of holiness embodied the masculine capacities of self-control and intellectual decision, but for others it involved identities that challenged conventional ideas of masculine autonomy. Therefore masculinity could either be a source of validation, or a matter for anxiety – an issue explored in several of the essays. Others consider holy masculinity alongside holy femininity and the ways in which both could sometimes be achieved by men and women.

Topics include sanctity and martyrdom, eunuch saints, meanings attached to the tonsure, mystical marriage, models of ideal conduct and virginity. The volume as a whole deals with a wide variety of texts and sources drawn from Byzantium, Syria, Germany, France, Anglo-Saxon and later medieval England


The genetic determinants of variation in iron status are actively sought, but remain incompletely understood. Meta-analysis of two genome-wide association (GWA) studies and replication in three independent cohorts was performed to identify genetic loci associated in the general population with serum levels of iron and markers of iron status, including transferrin, ferritin, soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR) and sTfR-ferritin index. We identified and replicated a novel association of a common variant in the type-2 transferrin receptor (TFR2) gene with iron levels, with effect sizes highly consistent across samples. In addition, we identified and replicated an association between the HFE locus and ferritin and confirmed previously reported associations with the TF, TMPRSS6 and HFE genes. The five replicated variants were tested for association with expression levels of the corresponding genes in a publicly available data set of human liver samples, and nominally statistically significant expression differences by genotype were observed for all genes, although only rs3811647 in the TF gene survived the Bonferroni correction for multiple testing. In addition, we measured for the first time the effects of the common variant in TMPRSS6, rs4820268, on hepcidin mRNA in peripheral blood (n = 83 individuals) and on hepcidin levels in urine (n = 529) and observed an association in the same direction, though only borderline significant. These functional findings require confirmation in further studies with larger sample sizes, but they suggest that common variants in TMPRSS6 could modify the hepcidin-iron feedback loop in clinically unaffected individuals, thus making them more susceptible to imbalances of iron homeostasis.


Background:
Detection of HIV among elderly is increasing globally and this is going to be a
major public health issue in recent future. In India, data regarding
demographical and clinical picture of HIV among elderly are sparse more so for
elderly women. Elderly individuals especially women are still largely outside
the light of HIV awareness programs and represent a major portion of undiagnosed
HIV infected population with a poor quality of life. Methods and Materials:
This cross-sectional study was conducted at HIV clinic of a tertiary care
hospital in eastern India. 567 cases (men 457, women 110) that were detected to
be HIV-positive at or after age of 50 years from 2008 to 2012 were analyzed on
socio-demographical and clinical basis. Results: Detection of HIV was found to
be increasing (5.7% in 2008 to 12.8% in 2012) among the elderly over last five
years. Illiteracy (p < 0.01), unemployment (p < 0.001), seroconcordance
of spouse (p = 0.02) and widowhood (p = 0.017) were seen more among elderly
women. Frailty was the most common clinical presentation among elderly men (31%) whereas most of the elderly women were
asymptomatic (27%) at the time of diagnosis. Mean CD4 count among HIV
infected elderly men and women were 112 cells/dl and 137 cells/dl respectively
at the time of diagnosis. Conclusions: HIV in elderly is an emerging entity in
India and posing elderly women a worse socioeconomic burden despite a better
clinical profile at the time of presentation. Clinicians, social workers and
policymakers should come forward with wider awareness program targeted for
elderly HIV patients especially women.


In the estimation of the causal effect under linear Structural Causal Models (SCMs), it is common practice to first identify the causal structure, estimate the probability distributions, and then calculate the causal effect. However, if the goal is to estimate the causal effect, it is not necessary to fix a single causal structure or probability distributions. In this paper, we first show from a Bayesian perspective that it is Bayes optimal to weight (average) the causal effects estimated under each model rather than estimating the causal effect under a fixed single model. This idea is also known as Bayesian model averaging. Although the Bayesian model averaging is optimal, as the number of candidate models increases, the weighting calculations become computationally hard. We develop an approximation to the Bayes optimal estimator by using Gaussian scale mixture distributions.


Surveillance data for communicable nosocomial pathogens usually consist of short time series of low-numbered counts of infected patients. These often show overdispersion and autocorrelation. To date, almost all analyses of such data have ignored the communicable nature of the organisms and have used methods appropriate only for independent outcomes. Inferences that depend on such analyses cannot be considered reliable when patient-to-patient transmission is important. We propose a new method for analysing these data based on a mechanistic model of the epidemic process. Since important nosocomial pathogens are often carried asymptomatically with overt infection developing in only a proportion of patients, the epidemic process is usually only partially observed by routine surveillance data. We therefore develop a 'structured' hidden Markov model where the underlying Markov chain is generated by a simple transmission model. We apply both structured and standard (unstructured) hidden Markov models to time series for three important pathogens. We find that both methods can offer marked improvements over currently used approaches when nosocomial spread is important. Compared to the standard hidden Markov model, the new approach is more parsimonious, is more biologically plausible, and allows key epidemiological parameters to be estimated.


The intensi fi cation of global mobility has introduced international migration to rural areas and small towns with little or no signi fi cant recent history of immigration. Drawing on an emergent literature in rural studies, this paper seeks to consolidate the concept of ' rural cosmopolitanism ' both as a political or ethical project, and in relation to the ' actual-existing cosmopolitanism ' of inter-cultural mobility, conviviality and openness to di ff erence in rural communities. The framework is then tested through case studies of two rural small towns in Ireland – Gort, which was home to over 1000 Brazilian migrants in a population of less than 3000 in the late 2000s; and Ballyhaunis, Ireland's most diverse town with 42 di ff erent nationalities in a population of around 2300 – to examine the dynamics and relationships that have brought migrants to these towns and shaped their engagement with long-term residents. The paper contends that the emergent cosmopolitanism in the towns is de fi ned by precarity, experienced at di ff erent scales from the individual to the community, and informed by broader economic and political trends. The paper argues that the rural context of the towns can serve both to facilitate cosmopolitan relations and to extenuate the precarity of this emerging cosmopolitanism.


A charophyte biozonation for the transitional and continental Upper Eocene-Lower Oligocene record in the eastern mar- gin of the Ebro Basin is performed and calibrated using magnetostratigraphic data. This study has been based on intensive sampling col- lected along five composite sections. The Harrisichara vasiformis-tuberculata European biozone has been renamed to H. lineata biozone, since the former index-species was a poorly characterised morphotype with a non-valid species name. This biozone is repre- sented in the transitional Sant Boi Formation and the lowermost part of the Artes Formation in the northeastern sector of the basin, within the normal part of chron C16. The Harrisichara tuberculata European superzone encompasses most of the continental Artes For- mation in the northeastern sector and the Margalef Formation in the southeastern sector of the basin ranging from chron C16n.2n (~35.5 Ma) to chron C12r (~31.5 Ma). Included within the Harrisichara tuberculata superzone, the Lychnothamnus vectensis European bio- zone was redefined as the interval between the first occurrence of Lychnothamnus vectensis and the first occurrence of Lychnothamnus pinguis. Redefinition of the Lychnothamnus vectensis biozone implies that its basal limit does not coincide with the basal limit of the Harrisichara tuberculata superzone, as previously believed. The absence of L. pinguis in the Ebro Basin, and probably in all Southern Europe, results in a local Lychnothamnus vectensis biozone for that area including the total distribution range of this index species. Magnetostratigraphic correlation suggests that this biozone ranges in the Ebro Basin from chron C13r (~34.5 Ma) to chron C13n (~33.5 Ma) including the Eocene-Oligocene boundary. A new local Harrisichara tuberculata-Nodosochara jorbae assemblage zone was defined at the base of Harrisichara tuberculata superzone coinciding with the base of the Artes Formation in the northeastern sector, ranging between chron C16n.2n and chron C13r. The Lychnothamnus major European biozone encompasses the lower part of the conti- nental Albi Formation in the southeastern sector of the basin within chron C12r. The lower limit of the Chara microcera European biozone is recorded in the Tarrega Formation. Litho- and magnetostratigraphic correlation suggests that the lower limit of this biozone belongs to the uppermost part of chron C12r (~31 Ma). Comparisons with homologous data from the classical Upper Eocene-Lower Oligocene Solent Group in the Hampshire Basin (Isle of Wight, UK) suggest that the lower limit of the Harrisichara tuberculata superzone is isochronous in Europe but was recorded earlier in the Ebro Basin than in the Hampshire Basin due to more appropriate palaeoecological conditions.


Pharmacists are familiar with Pharmacy Council's annual data request for personal details. Included on the form for statistical purposes is a section where one can mark whether one is Coloured, Black, Indian or White or Not Disclosed. I have always marked the last option as, being a third generation South African, I am really not sure what to mark down and I would hate to sign the form declaring that all the above is true when there is a possibility that I may have inadvertently lied.


In any sporting activity it is important to know how many injuries players might receive and also what type of injuries will be received, so that efforts can be made to reduce the risk of injury. This thesis examines the injury incidence associated with playing professional rugby league, and examines some of the risks associated with injury whilst playing the game. The first paper describes the pattern of injury incidence in professional rugby league and noted that it is higher than in other popular team sports. The second paper examines the different exposures of forward and back players and observes that forwards experience higher rates of injury. The third and fourth papers examine the effect of moving the playing calendar to summer rugby. The risk of injury has increased 67%, and it is also shown that 13% of players experience a 2-3% body mass loss in 14 of 16 games played in excess of 19°C ambient temperature. The next two papers look specifically at the number of collisions experienced by players during the course of a game. Forwards are involved in more collisions (55) than backs (29) during the course of each game. Also, backs have a significantly higher injury rate per 10,000 physical collisions compared to forwards. The next paper proposes a cyclical operational model to examine the interrelationship of a number of factors that are involved in sports injury epidemiology. The application of this proposed cyclical model may lead to greater success in understanding the multi-faceted nature of sports injuries. The final study in the series summarise the injury rates in professional rugby league football from previously published studies. The overall injury rate is 40.3 injuries per 1,000 hours (95% CI 36.9 to 43.8). The majority of injuries are to the lower half of the body (20.7 per 1,000 hours, 17.7 to 24), with the trunk receiving the least (6.7 per 1,000 hours, 5 to 8.6).


We explore the use of tidal streams from Galactic satellites for recovering the potential of the Milky Way. Our study is motivated both by the discovery of the first lengthy stellar stream in the halo (Irwin & Totten) and by the prospect of measuring proper motions of stars brighter than 20th magnitude in such a stream with an accuracy of ~4 μas yr-1, as will be possible with the Space Interferometry Mission (SIM). We assume that the heliocentric radial velocities of these stars can be determined from supporting ground-based spectroscopic surveys and that the mass and phase-space coordinates of the Galactic satellite with which they are associated will also be known to SIM accuracy. Using the results from numerical simulations as trial data sets, we find that, if we assume the correct form for the Galactic potential, we can predict the distances to the stars as a consequence of the narrow distribution of energy expected along the streams. We develop an algorithm to evaluate the accuracy of any adopted potential by requiring that the satellite and stars recombine within a Galactic lifetime when their current phase-space coordinates are integrated backward. When applied to a four-dimensional grid of triaxial logarithmic potentials, with varying circular velocities, axis ratios, and orientation of the major axis in the disk plane, the algorithm can recover the parameters used for the Milky Way in a simulated data set to within a few percent using only 100 stars in a tidal stream.


Numerous studies have been undertaken on a wide range of issues affecting racialised minorities and small businesses. This thesis has chosen to focus on a number of issues pertinent to the nature of ethnic minority owned small firms. Whilst the topic of finance has been researched in tandem with other factors, it has rarely received the attention devoted to it in this thesis. The thesis critically evaluates finance availability for black small enterprises owned by persons of South Asian and African-Caribbean origins. Semi-structured interviews have been conducted with business owners in fifteen locations in England. These interviews have been enriched by a smaller number of in-depth unstructured conversations. Apart from finance, other relatively under-researched aspects of black enterprise are also discussed in this investigation. The interplay of gender, ethnicity and small enterprise is explored in chapter four whilst chapter seven examines the nature of both African-Caribbean and South Asian businesses situated in contrasting market areas. Parallels are drawn between the experiences of allegedly entrepreneurial-minded groups such as the Koreans and African-Americans in the USA who are distinctly under-represented among the small business owning classes. The outcome of this investigation of African-Caribbean and South Asian small enterprises is an image of a group of owners who have a strong determination to succeed in their ventures, exemplified through such factors as their motivation and attendant vocational qualifications, whilst simultaneously attempting to overcome numerous obstacles. Some of these barriers are generic to small businesses per se, whilst others are more exclusively 'ethnic'. The whole thesis is encapsulated within socio-political debates around the plight of severely disadvantaged visible minorities and proposed self-help strategies mediated by the persistence of covert and blatant racism.


MPLS (Multi-Protocol Label Switching) has recently emerged to facilitate the engineering of network traffic. This can be achieved by directing packet flows over paths that satisfy multiple requirements. MPLS has been regarded as an enhancement to traditional IP routing, which has the following problems: (1) all packets with the same IP destination address have to follow the same path through the network; and (2) paths have often been computed based on static and single link metrics. These problems may cause traffic concentration, and thus degradation in quality of service. In this paper, we investigate by simulations a range of routing solutions and examine the tradeoff between scalability and performance. At one extreme, IP packet routing using dynamic link metrics provides a stateless solution but may lead to routing oscillations. At the other extreme, we consider a recently proposed Profile-based Routing (PBR), which uses knowledge of potential ingress-egress pairs as well as the traffic profile among them. Minimum Interference Routing (MIRA) is another recently proposed MPLS-based scheme, which only exploits knowledge of potential ingress-egress pairs but not their traffic profile. MIRA and the more conventional widest-shortest path (WSP) routing represent alternative MPLS-based approaches on the spectrum of routing solutions. We compare these solutions in terms of utility, bandwidth acceptance ratio as well as their scalability (routing state and computational overhead) and load balancing capability. While the simplest of the per-flow algorithms we consider, the performance of WSP is close to dynamic per-packet routing, without the potential instabilities of dynamic routing.


Although the use of natural resistance is the most effective management approach against the potato cyst nematode (PCN) Globodera pallida, the existence of pathotypes with different virulence characteristics constitutes a constraint towards this goal. Two resistance sources, GpaV (from Solanum vernei) and H3 from S. tuberosum ssp. andigena CPC2802 (from the Commonwealth Potato Collection) are widely used in potato breeding programmes in European potato industry. However, the use of resistant cultivars may drive strong selection towards virulence, which allows the increase in frequency of virulent alleles in the population and therefore, the emergence of highly virulent nematode lineages. This study aimed to identify Avirulence (Avr) genes in G. pallida populations selected for virulence on the above resistance sources, and the genomic impact of selection processes on the nematode. The selection drive in the populations was found to be specific to their genetic background. At the genomic level, 11 genes were found that represent candidate Avr genes. Most of the variant calls determining selection were associated with H3-selected populations, while many of them seem to be organised in genomic islands facilitating selection evolution. These phenotypic and genomic findings combined with histological studies performed revealed potential mechanisms underlying selection in G. pallida.


Introduction In Toni Morrison's 2008 novel, A Mercy, the mistress Rebekka Vaark gives the journeying Florens an authenticating letter that twice describes their domicile as "Milton" (110). Appearing two-thirds of the way through the novel, this detail strongly suggests what has been only hinted at until this point: that the writings of John Milton (1608-74) are an important presence herein. My aim in this article is to explore A Mercy's subtle and complex engagement with the work of the seventeenth-century poet, statesman and political activist. I argue that Milton's Paradise Lost (1667) significantly informs Morrison's representation of life in Virginia, Maryland and New England in the 1680s and '90s. The novelist's engagement both with that poem and with its status in that specific time and locale is key to A Mercy's central concerns: the nature of freedom and oppression, of power and powerlessness, and of good and evil. In his keynote address at the Toni Morrison Society Conference of July 2008, Marc Conner declared that "the context of the seventeenth century, of Descartes and Milton ... opens all sorts of doors into Morrison's worlds, particularly her relation to Modernity" (5). In the same speech he suggested that Adam and Eve's banishment "at the end of Paradise Lost ... has been a meditation for Morrison," pointing out that "her novel Paradise ... is hardly her first investigation into the concept of Paradise and its loss" (4). Several scholars have analyzed the ways that Tar Baby and Jazz as well as Paradise--in their portrayals of flawed and/or lost utopias--engage with the Genesis stories of the Creation, and of Adam and Eve's temptation and fall. (1) Yet (with the exception of Conner's remarks) there has been a regrettable critical silence on the subject of Morrison's dialogue with Milton's version of these events. To some extent, this is not surprising: from one perspective, no two authors writing in the same language could have less in common, and the stern-faced, Puritan-leaning, white Englishman does not immediately come to mind when we think of Jadine and Son, Joe Trace and Dorcas, or even Consolata and Deek. The interactions with Milton in A Mercy, however, are sufficiently charged that it would be an act of wilful scholarly oversight to ignore this intertextual relationship any longer. (2) It is in A Mercy that Morrison most obviously shares Milton's preoccupation with (if not his perspectives on) the conflicts between order and chaos, reason and sexual desire, and the divine and the human. His fascination with the nature of power and government, with the status of women, with the relationship between Puritanism and Roman Catholicism, with the limits of language and literature, and even with the viability (or otherwise) of binary oppositions, resonates significantly in the contemporary work. Morrison's allusions to Paradise Lost at once unpack Miltonic certainties and exploit Miltonic uncertainties and ambivalences, and in so doing, contribute to the scrutiny of the nascent Enlightenment world-view and of the transition into constructions of "America" that A Mercy enacts. Concepts of "Dominion" In contrast to the scant critical attention paid to the subject of Milton and Morrison, scholars have written extensively on the subject of Milton and America. This scholarship contextualizes what might be at stake, politically, in Morrison's own engagement with Milton in the interventionist version of American history and identity that is A Mercy. In 1845, in his introduction to the first American edition of Milton's prose works, the editor and critic Rufus Wilmot Griswold claimed that "Milton is more emphatically American than any author who has lived in the United States" (Stevens 789). In recent decades scholars have both reiterated and challenged the conventional wisdom that the poet's republicanism, reforming brand of Protestantism, and stake in individual liberty have an exceptional resonance within dominant American ideologies, and they have explored the various and often conflicting uses to which his work has been put in American religious, political and literary discourses. …


Although the role of urbanization in fertility decline remains debated, few studies have assessed long-term fertility trends by urban/rural place of residence. Relying on successive surveys for 55 countries, we analyze the diffusion of cohort fertility decline in urban and rural areas across Africa, Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean. We show that, once the fertility transition is initiated, the decline in urban areas is similarly fast in all three continents. The pattern of the urban-to-rural diffusion of birth limitation, however, has differed significantly. In Latin American and Caribbean countries, the evolution in the rural-urban fertility differentials followed an inverted U-shaped pattern over the fertility transition. In Asia, the differences remained more limited, because of a parallel decline in fertility by type of place of residence, whereas in Africa they increased monotonically because rural areas have not yet experienced significant fertility declines. The implications of these results for urban population projections and for our understanding of the international variations in the pace of fertility transition are discussed.


concept of 3D Watermarking algorithm which is non blind and must be robust against different attack is the novel area of research. There are huge requirement of developing a robust and effective watermarking strategies to protect the illegal distribution of proprietary 3D objects. In the proposed algorithm which alter the size of vertex normal according to the digest of watermark bit to be embedded in repeated pattern. In a non-blind watermark detection scheme, this can identify the watermark in referring to the cover mesh model. The proposed technique is evaluated for robustness, experimentally by simulating attacks such as introducing noise, smoothing, cropping. Keywordsdimensional polygon model; Watermarking; Robustness, on blindness watermarking;


The masculinization of births is a recent phenomenon resulting from prenatal sex selection. This paper reviews recent research on imbalances in the sex ratio at birth and the corresponding mechanisms, determinants and future implications. The mechanisms affecting the sex ratio at birth are reviewed, with an emphasis on factors relating to sex discrimination. The figures available provide an overall picture of skewed sex ratios since the 1980s in Asian and Eastern European countries. Large differences in the male surplus are also observed across birth orders, region and social group, owing above all to the conjunction of three phenomena: a preference for male children inherited from socio-familial systems, the emergence of assisted reproductive technology enabling prenatal sex selection, and a decrease in fertility that heightens the risk of not having a son. Recent research has analysed the demographic consequences of the masculinization of births on the future composition of the population and explored how social systems may adjust to these imbalances, with political responses to prenatal discrimination still proving relatively ineffective. The paper also reviews some of the main future research avenues.


Wind power is one of the cleanest and safest of all the renewable commercial methods of generating electricity. However, wind energy is difficult to use due to its stochastic variability. Energy storage can overcome the main drawback, allowing energy production to match energy demand. In this paper, new hydrogen storage systems are investigated as a way to solve this problem. A new methodology, based on the differences between wind power generation and load variability, was developed in this study to optimize the technology, energy capacity and power transfer of the hydrogen energy storage method for specified applications. The dynamics of the complete hydrogen cycle energy storage and recovery mechanism was investigated, specifically for potential applications such as power smoothing and peak lopping. A time dependant model of the efficiency of various hydrogen storage technologies, including high pressure compression, low temperature liquefaction, metal hydrides and complex hydrides, has been developed. Based on this study, a practical hydrogen energy storage system for a 5MW micro-grid application was designed. The micro-grid's electrical load requirements and the available wind energy in the local area are used as an example to demonstrate the new methodology. Using these results, the paper demonstrates that a practical system to provide hydrogen energy storage within this micro-grid using high temperature water electrolysis and high pressure compression tank storage is the best way forward.


BACKGROUND
Knowledge of the estimated proportion of hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected persons with advanced fibrosis or cirrhosis is critical to estimating healthcare needs.

METHODS
We analyzed HCV-related testing conducted by Quest Diagnostics from January 2010 through December 2013. Tests included hepatitis C antibody, HCV RNA, HCV genotype (nucleic acid tests [NAT]), liver function tests, and platelet counts; patient age was also determined. Aspartate aminotransferase (AST)-to-platelet ratio (APRI) was calculated as = 100*(aspartate aminotransferase [AST]/upper limit of AST)/platelet. Fibrosis-4 (FIB-4) was calculated as (age × AST)/(platelet ×√ alanine aminotransferase [ALT]). Persons were "currently infected" if they had ≥1 positive HCV NAT; "in care" if a positive RNA test was followed <6 months by ≥1 additional NAT(s), or ALT, AST, and platelets <90 days, or any test ordered by an infectious diseases or gastroenterology specialist; and "evaluated for treatment" if they had a genotype test.

RESULTS
Approximately 10 million HCV test results were analyzed, representing 5.6 million unique patients. Of the 2.6 million patients with data to estimate liver disease, 5% were currently infected. Among those currently infected, APRI and FIB-4 scores indicated that 23% overall-and 27% among the cohort born during 1945-1965-had advanced fibrosis or cirrhosis at first diagnosis. A total of 54% of infected were in care and 51% of infected with advanced fibrosis or cirrhosis were evaluated for treatment.

CONCLUSIONS
Testing from a large US commercial laboratory indicates that about 1 in 4 HCV-infected persons have levels of liver disease put them at highest risk for complications and could benefit from immediate antiviral therapy.


Introduction: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is the most common psychiatric disorder among the school age children, leaving a negative impact on the individuals general functions. The purpose of our present study was to investigate the epidemiologic and clinical qualities of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) amng the primary school students in Sarpol-e Zahab town, western Iran. Materials & Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. The statistical population covered all the primary school students of 7-12 years old in Sarpol-e Zahab town. Based on Krejcie and Morgan table and multi-stage cluster sampling, 740 people were selected; accordingly, demographic variables, Child Symptom Inventories-4 (CSI-4) were completed. The data was Analyzed using Descriptive Statistics, Cho-Square Test, Logistic Regression analysis by SPSS-21 software. The level of significance was considered (P≤0.05). Findings: The results showed that prevalence of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder was 11/22% generally. Such a prevalence was higher in boys than that of the female students. The highest prevalence of ADHD included ADHA-Combined, ADHD-Hyperactivity and ADHD-Inattention, respectively. All the demographic factors, except for the parents jobs demonsterated a significant relationship with the prevalence of ADHD, (P≤0.05). Discussion & Conclusion: Our results indicated that Prevalence of ADHD among the students of Sarpol-e Zahab was of a significant difference compared to other researches conducted inside and outside Iran (11/22%). However, more attention should be paid to mental health policy-making in students to decrease the present behavioral problems and those of future.


Background: The most common cause of mortality and serious morbidity due to anaesthesia is from airway problems. The present study compared conventional and the simple pre-determined length insertion technique (SPLIT) of tracheal intubation. Materials & Methods: The present study was conducted on 84 patients with age between 18 and 60 years with American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status 1 and 2 scheduled for an elective surgical procedure requiring general anaesthesia. Patients were divided into 2 groups of 42 each. In group I patients, conventional flexible fiberoptic laryngoscopy was done followed by SPLIT and vice versa in group II. The time taken from the introduction of fiberscope from the incisors to the visualization of glottis (T1), time taken from the visualization of glottis to the passage of fiber‐ optic tip just beyond glottis (T2), time from the incisors to pass it beyond the glottis (T3), pre‐ determined length, vital parameters were recorded. Results: Out of 84 patients, males were 30 and females were 54. T1 in group I was 14.5 and in group II was 11, T2 in group I was 12.7 and in group II was 8.4, T3 in group I was 22.6 and in group II was 19.3 seconds. The difference was significant (P< 0.05). Conclusion: SPLIT technique found better as compared to conventional technique of tracheal intubation.


Medical historians have traditionally claimed that modern hospitals emerged during the latter half of the nineteenth century. Premodern hospitals, according to many scholars, existed mainly as refuges for the desperately poor and sick, providing patients with little or no medical care. Challenging this view in a compelling survey of hospitals in the East Roman Empire, Timothy Miller traces the birth and development of Byzantine xenones, or hospitals, from their emergence in the fourth century to their decline in the fifteenth century, just prior to the Turkish conquest of Constantinople. These sophisticated medical facilities, he concludes, are the true ancestors of modern hospitals. In a new introduction to this paperback edition, Miller describes the growing scholarship on this subject in recent years.


Background: Abuse among older adults is a sensitive issue that needs an elaborative research study in the Indian context, specifically in rural areas. A drastic change in the sociocultural aspects of looking at this vulnerable group of people is not only limited to urban areas but also touches the simple rural life. Thus, the present study aimed to know about the prevalence of abuse and its associations with depression and social support among the rural older adults. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional rural community-based study was conducted. The universe of the study comprised older adults residing under Mazgaon Panchayat, Tezpur, Sonitpur district of Assam. Two polling stations were randomly selected, using simple random sampling (lottery method) for the present study. Based on the two electorate lists, 141 older adults aged 60 years and above were listed out. From that list, 102 participants fulfilled the inclusion criteria and completed the interview. A semi-structured sociodemographic data sheet, Mini–Mental Status Examination, Vulnerability to Abuse Screening Scale, Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support were administered to the respondents. Results: The prevalence of vulnerability was 28.4%, dependence was 13.7%, dejection was 45%, and coercion was 2% among the rural older adults. In the GDS, 29.4% of the respondents reported mild depression and 7.8% of respondents reported severe depression. In perceived social support, result shows that the mean score is high in the domain of family (24.62 ± 4.6) followed by significant others (24.52 ± 4.2) and friends (20.94 ± 6.05). Significant positive correlation was found between abuse and depression (r = 0.619, P = 0.01) among the older adults. Vulnerability to abuse has a significant negative correlation with perceived social support (r = −0.443, P = 0.01). Perceived social support and depression contributed significantly to the prediction of vulnerability to abuse among older adults (F(5,96) =18.684, P = 0.000) accounting for 4.93% variance. Conclusions: The older adults in the rural community are prone to vulnerability with a high risk of dejection. Depression strongly contributed to the variance on the overall vulnerability to abuse among older adults. The results of this study may guide in planning and implementing programs regarding prevention and management of abuse among older adults.


As a child matures, some brain circuits stabilize while others remain plastic. However, the literature on maturational changes in the brain's capacity for experience-dependent plasticity is primarily based on experiments in animals that mature over dramatically different time-scales than humans. Moreover, while principles of plasticity for sensory and motor systems might be conserved across species, the myriad of late-developing and uniquely human cognitive functions such as literacy cannot be studied with animal models. Here we use an intensive reading intervention program, in combination with longitudinal diffusion MRI measurements in school-aged children with dyslexia, to model the sensitive period for white matter plasticity and literacy learning.


MOTIVATION
Non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States. Targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) directed against the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) have been widely and successfully used in treating NSCLC patients with activating EGFR mutations. Unfortunately, the duration of response is short-lived, and all patients eventually relapse by acquiring resistance mechanisms.

RESULT
We performed an integrative systems biology approach to determine essential kinases that drive EGFR-TKI resistance in cancer cell lines. We used a series of bioinformatics methods to analyze and integrate the functional genetics screen and RNA-seq data to identify a set of kinases that are critical in survival and proliferation in these TKI-resistant lines. By connecting the essential kinases to compounds using a novel kinase connectivity map (K-Map), we identified and validated bosutinib as an effective compound that could inhibit proliferation and induce apoptosis in TKI-resistant lines. A rational combination of bosutinib and gefitinib showed additive and synergistic effects in cancer cell lines resistant to EGFR TKI alone.

CONCLUSIONS
We have demonstrated a bioinformatics-driven discovery roadmap for drug repurposing and development in overcoming resistance in EGFR-mutant NSCLC, which could be generalized to other cancer types in the era of personalized medicine.

AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION
K-Map can be accessible at: http://tanlab.ucdenver.edu/kMap.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION
Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.


Current clinical recommendations for patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD) and those post-acute coronary syndromes (ACS) suggest initiation of patients on dual antiplatelet therapy, an angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor, a beta-blocker and an HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor prior to hospital discharge. Commonly, this drug regimen is continued indefinitely. More recently, however, emerging evidence suggests that long-term therapy with beta-blockers may in fact be of no benefit to patients with stable CAD. This evidence-based review will summarize the current practice recommendations, as well as provide a critical analysis of available literature regarding beta-blockers in stable CAD. Both efficacy and safety will be considered and implications for current clinical practice will be discussed.


The long-run underperformance of initial public offerings (IPOs) is a well documented anomaly. Recent research has shown that venture-backed IPOs marginally outperform non venture-backed IPOs and posits that venture capitalists (VCs) may add value through a variety of methods. We investigate the relation between the degree of involvement by VCs and the long-run performance of IPOs. We find a positive relationship between the proportion of monitoring directors (VC and independent directors) and long-run performance, evidence consistent with VCs shaping the board to increase monitoring. Further, it appears that VC-backed firms are able to reduce asymmetric information through attracting analysts and large shareholders thus improving long-run performance. Our results suggest that the underperformance of IPOs may be driven in part by those firms with none or low degrees of VC involvement.


Abstract Counterinsurgency (COIN) has long been recognised as a political phenomenon, but current theoretical understandings of politics in COIN reflect ideal types, overlooking the depth and complexity of the politics of insurgency and COIN. Drawing from India's experience in its northeastern region, this article argues that COIN theory overlooks the political agency and multiplicity of actors, as well as overlooking the fundamentally political scope of interactions that take place between them. It calls upon COIN theorists to begin to map out this complex picture by urging greater integration between academics and practitioners studying COIN and theoretical inputs from wider academic disciplines.


The effects of raised brain lactate levels on neuronal survival following hypoxia or ischemia is still a source of controversy among basic and clinical scientists. We have sought to address this controversy by studying the effects of glucose and lactate on neuronal survival in acute and cultured hippocampal slices. Following a 1‐h hypoxic episode, neuronal survival in cultured hippocampal slices was significantly higher if glucose was present in the medium compared with lactate. However, when the energy substrate during the hypoxic period was glucose and then switched to lactate during the normoxic recovery period, the level of cell damage in the CA1 region of organotypic cultures was significantly improved from 64.3 ± 2.1 to 74.6 ± 2.1% compared with cultures receiving glucose during and after hypoxia. Extracellular field potentials recorded from the CA1 region of acute slices were abolished during oxygen deprivation for 20 min, but recovered almost fully to baseline levels with either glucose (82.6 ± 10.0%) or lactate present in the reperfusion medium (108.1 ± 8.3%). These results suggest that lactate alone cannot support neuronal survival during oxygen deprivation, but a combination of glucose followed by lactate provides for better neuroprotection than either substrate alone.


Analysis of advective particle tracking was performed to assess the potential for waterborne contaminants to migrate from the U.S. Department of Energy's Savannah River Site (SRS), beneath the Savannah River, and into Georgia (transriver flow). A variety of hazardous materials including radionuclides, volatile organic compounds, and trace metals are either disposed of or stored at several locations at the SRS (Fig. 1A). A previously developed U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) model simulating 1987–92 conditions (Clarke and West, 1998) was updated to reflect the observed hydrologic conditions during September 2002. Pumpage and boundary conditions were adjusted for the steady-state simulation of dry conditions during 2002. These adjustments reduced inflows from the source-sink layer and along lateral boundaries and resulted in lower simulated heads and decreased groundwater discharge to streams (Cherry, 2004). The groundwater flow system was simulated using the USGS three-dimensional finite-difference model, MODFLOW-2000 (Harbaugh and others, 2000) and a quasi-three-dimensional approach with seven layers—six active layers and an overlying source/sink layer—that are separated by six confining units. The aquifers (represented by the layers) are, in order of decreasing depth, the Upper Three Runs aquifer (source-sink layer), Gordon, Millers Pond, upper and lower Dublin, and upper and lower Midville aquifers. Along a segment of the Savannah River between Augusta and the SRS, the seven aquifers are incised by the river, resulting in strong groundwater and surface-water interaction dominated by groundwater discharge to streams. The previous model (Clarke and West, 1998) was used to simulate groundwater flow under 2002 conditions and a variety of future hypothetical pumping scenarios. Hydrologic conditions and groundwater pumping were extrapolated to the year 2020 based on groundwater use trends from 1980–2000 (Fanning, 2003). The following four steady-state scenarios were developed to evaluate a range of conditions affecting hypothetical solute migration from the SRS: (1) 2002 observed pumping and boundary conditions for an average year; (2) 2002 observed pumping and boundary conditions for an average year with SRS pumping discontinued; (3) projected 2020 pumping and boundary conditions for an average year; and (4) projected 2020 pumping and boundary conditions for a dry year. The particle-tracking code MODPATH (Pollock, 1994) was used to generate advective water-particle path lines and time-of-travel based on MODFLOW simulations of the four scenarios. Simulated groundwater flowpaths for each of the four pumping scenarios indicate that timeof-travel from recharge areas originating near central SRS (D and K Areas) westward into Georgia range from about 80 years to 1,100 years (Fig. 1B). The shortest time-oftravel was for particles moving vertically from the base of the Upper Three Runs aquifer (layer A1) and then laterally through the Gordon aquifer (layer A2) beneath the Savannah River to discharge points in Georgia. Time-of-travel for the shortest flowpaths ranged from 80 to 415 years from recharge areas between D and K Areas (Fig. 1A). Based on simulated travel times, transriver flow for particles penetrating into the deeper Dublin aquifer system (layers A3–A5) was longer, ranging from 340 to 1,600 years. These particles enter the groundwater system near K Area and move downward into the Dublin aquifer system (layers A3–A5) before migrating laterally toward Georgia, where they discharge into the Gordon aquifer (layers A2). Particles entering the groundwater system north of L Area and moving laterally through the Dublin aquifer system ranged from 1,600 to 2,400 years. Travel times and particle pathways for the various pumping scenarios are similar; however, the shutdown of SRS production wells slows the downward migration of particles through the Dublin aquifer system (layers A3–A5) and median travel times for transriver flow are increased by about 50 years. These MODPATH results only represent advection and do not represent other physical, chemical or biological mechanisms of solute transport such as hydrodynamic dispersion or retardation.


Roadside cross-drainage culverts have been found to impact vehicle accident injury levels. Designers have commonly used three safety treatments to protect errant drivers from culvert accidents. These treatments have included: culvert extension, guardrail installation and grating. In order to define which safety treatment is the most appropriate, benefit-cost analysis has used accident cost reduction to estimate societal gains earned by using any safety treatment. The purpose of this study was to estimate accident costs for a wide range of roadway and roadside characteristics so that designers can calculate benefit/cost ratios for culvert safety treatment options under any particular scenario. This study began with conducting a parametric study in order to find variables which have significant impact on accident cost changes. The study proceeded with highway scenario modeling which included scenarios with different values for combinations of roadway and roadside variables. These variables were chosen based upon findings from the parametric study and their values were assigned based upon highway classification. This study shows that the use of different culvert safety treatments should be flexible to roadway and roadside characteristics. It also shows that culvert extension and grating were the safety treatments found to produce the lowest accident costs for all highway scenarios modeled. Therefore, it is believed that the expanded adoption of culvert extension and culvert grates can improve overall highway safety.


Color demosaicking is critical to the image quality of digital still and video cameras that use a single-sensor array. Limited by the mosaic sampling pattern of the color filter array (CFA), color artifacts may occur in a demosaicked image in areas of high-frequency and/or sharp color transition structures. However, a color digital video camera captures a sequence of mosaic images and the temporal dimension of the color signals provides a rich source of information about the scene via camera and object motions. This paper proposes an inter-frame demosaicking approach to take advantage of all three forms of pixel correlations: spatial, spectral, and temporal. By motion estimation and statistical data fusion between adjacent mosaic frames, the new approach can remove much of the color artifacts that survive intra-frame demosaicking and also improve tone reproduction accuracy. Empirical results show that the proposed inter-frame demosaicking approach consistently outperforms its intra-frame counterparts both in peak signal-to-noise measure and subjective visual quality


This article is part of the series discussing the necessary formulation of a Strategic Spatial (or Territorial) Development Framework for Regional Victoria (RV) - RV is defined as the territory in the State beyond the existing and zoned built-area of Melbourne.


Artistic knowledge resides within the works that a visual artist makes. . .Verbalising or discussing that
knowledge is a separate exercise, often left to others, who make their own interpretations and
investigations. In this introspective study of artworks spanning four decades, I look into and share insight
about a practice in which knowledge about colour, light and spatial experience was developed and
utilised. The process of action, reflection and new application of gained knowledge is understood as a
praxis—a practice aimed at creating change in the world. The lessons learned are about human
embodied experience of light, colour and darkness in spatial environments. The intent of the study (as
of the artwork) is enhancement of our capacities for creating sensitive and enlivening space for human
life experience and human flourishing, through understanding and use of colour and light as complex
environmental phenomena affecting our mind/body/psyche. Four themes arose from reflecting upon the
work. These are, in order of discussion: (1) Image and Emanation, (2) Resonance and Chord, (3)
Threshold and Veil, and (4) Projection, Reflection, Light and Time. My findings include affirmation that
a Goethian science (phenomenological, observational) approach to investigating and unconcealing tacit
knowledge—embedded in an artistic praxis and its outcomes—has value for developing a deeper
understanding of environmental colour and light. Such knowledge is important because environmental
design has impact upon our bodies, our minds and our life experience. This study points to areas of
import for further investigation: 1) a crucial aspect of environmental colour is its atmospheric, enveloping
nature—we not only look at, but we are immersed in light, colour and darkness. . .that is, in coloured
and modulated air and ambient light. . .and we resonate with its resonances; 2) the interwoven relations
of light-colour-darkness create emotive, embodied connection between our body/psyche and
architectural space; 3) sensitive colouring of the daylight entering our architectural spaces makes light's
cycles and phenomenal expression in our buildings mor


In spite of a long literature on online communities and electronic networks, little theoretical work has been done on understanding a recent online phenomenon: "user-generated content" (UGC) platforms. This paper proposes an analytical lens for the study of social dynamics on UGC platforms. Drawing on Bourdieu's concepts of field and capital, we introduce the notion of online cultural field and investigate which characteristics of agents and their contribution behavior produce status distinctions in these fields. These characteristics are then placed in a framework which attempts to address how capital is produced, reproduced and transformed in online cultural fields and how these processes help us understand the evolution of these fields. We briefly review how we will follow this theoretical model with an empirical investigation.


K. mikimotoi has been classified under many names and has been mis-assigned to different species and genera in the North Atlantic and Pacific because of its morphological similarities to other Gymnodinoid species. It is now known to be widely distributed, but there remain unresolved questions about whether K. mikimotoi was introduced into the North Sea from Japanese waters, or whether it has always inhabited this region and been erroneously classified as Gymnodinium spp. or has been a part of the hidden flora prior to be recognised in a bloom off the Norwegian coast in 1966. To address questions about geographical genetic variation within K. mikimotoi and broader issues about its biogeography it was deemed important to develop a suitable diagnostic molecular marker that could then be used to monitor the presence/absence of different K. mikimotoi ecotypes over long time scales in European waters. This study showed that the partial rDNA LSU (D1-D2) was too conserved to separate the different strains of K. mikimotoi, while, the ITS region was better able to discriminate between the different strains. However, the rbcL gene was the most informative gene and contained sufficient substitutions to separate the different strains of K. mikimotoi. Specific PCR-primers were designed to amplify a variable region of the rbcL gene able to distinguish differences between K. mikimotoi isolates from the different regions. The innovative high resolution melting temperature (HRM) technique based on specific primer set allowed rapid discrimination of K. mikimotoi from distinct geographic localities (= sequence variants) that differed by only a single nucleotide. Moreover, this study used archival environmental samples collected from the Celtic Sea shelf-break region. The high resolution melting temperature assay successfully detected the European K. mikimotoi isolate within the south-western English Channel in a 1963 sample, which is prior to thefirst report of a K. mikimotoi bloom in Norwegian waters in 1966 and in the southwestern English Channel in 1975 and in western Japan in 1965. HRM observations were further validated using clone libraries and sequencing. In summary, this data provided more information about the genotypes present over the analysed timescales, revealing that K. mikimotoi sub-species 2 (European and New Zealand strains) was present in south-western English Channel and south-west Ireland for over 47 years, with subspecies 1 (the Japanese isolate) being absent from all examined samples. This finding supports the hypothesis that K. mikimotoi isolates within Europe are not of Japanese origin and suggests that they are native species to the region.


While scanning De Baetselier and colleagues' article evaluating an enzymatic Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) point-of-care assay (POC), I was struck by a feeling of deja vu.1 They found the BioChekSwab Rapid Test performed poorly, missing all nine infections detected by PCR. This reminded me of a paper by Moi in 2007 reporting the very poor performance of a POC for CT, HandiLab-C.2 Reading further, I realised this was not coincidence. The two assays seemed to use the same technology.

BioChekSwab Rapid Test seems to be an updated HandiLab-C test that was widely available about 10 years ago. Sold in at least 17 countries, it had a CE mark with approval for POC professional use and over-the-counter sale (meaning self-test).Web1 In 2006, workers at the National Chlamydia Screening Programme, concerned about use of the test in England (it was for sale in pharmacies and supermarkets), asked me to speak about chlamydia diagnostics at their annual meeting. My talk emphasised nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) for CT diagnosis and warned about using HandiLab-C because the technology was not new and there were no reproducible clinical data supporting its use despite the company's claims.

Within a year, the Moi paper appeared stating that the HandiLab-C assay was not what it claimed. Subsequent trials confirmed that, finding sensitivity of only 12.5% and 19.4% in two clinics in the Philippines, and 12% in an STD clinic in the Netherlands.3 ,4

I was familiar with the HandiLab-C technology because in the 1980s Diversified Diagnostics Inc. (DDI) had a similar assay 'MicroZyme the Easy Test', claiming sensitivity of 96% and specificity of 97.9% for CT detection.Web2 It was described as the only totally biochemical test system; easy to perform; only 10 min to get a result. The procedure was collect …


New techniques to extract natural gas from unconventional resources have become economically competitive over the past several years, leading to a rapid and largely unanticipated expansion in natural gas production. The US Energy Information Administration projects that unconventional gas will supply nearly half of US gas production by 2035. In addition, by significantly expanding and diversifying the gas supply internationally, the exploitation of new unconventional gas resources has the potential to reshape energy policy at national and international levels—altering geopolitics and energy security, recasting the economics of energy technology investment decisions, and shifting trends in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In anticipation of this expansion, one of the perceived core advantages of unconventional gas—its relatively moderate GHG impact compared to coal—has recently come under scrutiny. In this paper, we compare the GHG footprints of conventional natural gas, unconventional natural gas (i.e. shale gas that has been produced using the process of hydraulic fracturing, or 'fracking'), and coal in a transparent and consistent way, focusing primarily on the electricity generation sector. We show that for electricity generation the GHG impacts of shale gas are 11% higher than those of conventional gas, and only 56% that of coal for standard assumptions.


Congress has delegated power to the Attorney General to execute the nation's immigration laws, adjudicate individual noncitizens' cases, and fill interpretive gaps in the statute. The Attorney General has in turn delegated this authority, by regulation, to the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). Most BIA decisions are administratively final, and noncitizens appeal unfavorable decisions directly to federal courts of appeals. In a small but growing number of cases, however, the Attorney General will step in to decide a case himself de novo after the BIA has ruled. This power of intervention and decision, sometimes known as the "referral and review" power or "certification" power, has drawn some praise for being an efficient use of the broad power afforded to the executive branch in the immigration context, but more often has sustained criticism for potential abuse. In this Note, I analyze this certification power through the lens of Chevron. In particular, I argue that Chevron deference to the BIA is appropriate because it serves the values of the Chevron doctrine—expertise, procedural regularity, and public accountability— but that Chevron deference to the Attorney General's certified opinions is inappropriate. Courts have a responsibility under Step Zero not to defer to an interpretation of law unless its issuance adheres sufficiently to fundamental tenets of administrative law. Certified opinions are insufficient on all counts: Deference to the Attorney General's interpretations of law issued in this manner serves none of the values of the Chevron doctrine.


The objective of this trial was to evaluate the partial replacement of ground corn with soybean hulls or corn germ meal on ruminal microbial protein synthesis and efficiency and ruminal dilution and passage rates. Three crossbreed steers fitted with ruminal and duodenal cannulas were assigned to two 3 x 3 Latin squares. The experimental diets contained: corn silage (60%), sunflower meal and ground corn (GC diet) that was partially replaced with soybean hulls (SBH diet) or corn germ meal (CGM diet). Ruminal fluid was collected at 3, 6, 9, and 12 hours after feeding for isolation of ruminal microbes. RNA was used as the microbial marker while sodium dicromate and Co-EDTA were used as passage and dilution rate markers, respectively. Ruminal microbial composition was not affected by diets and time after feeding in the present trial. Moreover, duodenal flows of organic matter, total carbohydrates, nitrogen (N), and microbial N as well as microbial efficiency were all not significantly changed across diets. Fluid dilution rate also did not differ and averaged 13.4%/h among diets. Ruminal passage rate of mordant corn silage was lower and a trend for lower passage rate of sunflower meal on GC diet also was observed. Soybean hulls and corn germ meal can partially replace ground corn on diets for confined steers because they provided adequate ruminal environment for microbial growth and microbial protein synthesis.


This paper aims to rethink the features of 'mediatized' political communication within a 'hybrid media system' in which the social networks accounts of political leaders are becoming increasingly important. Firstly, the paper summarizes the main aspects of 'mediatisation', as it has been analysed in relation to the mass media system. Then, we discuss the concepts of 'disintermediation' and the new forms of 'mediation' specific to social platforms. The analysis shows that 'disintermediation' does not lead to the end of 'mediatization'. On the contrary, we emphasise the need to support the 'mass media logic' based on the interweaving of 'professional norms', 'entertainment', and a 'social logic' built on the 'definition of identity' by selectively sharing online content and exploiting the creative potential of digital media. Politicians now prioritise social media over traditional media to play the role of 'social opinion leaders'. From these hypotheses, we analyse the posts published between January 2019 and March 2019 on the 'matteosalviniofficial' Instagram account. The analysis shows a tendency towards a 'remediation' of traditional contents and a creative use of digital images (which are adapted and modified) to convey a sense of immediacy. Additionally, the use of codes typical of mass media 'mediatization' emerged, but in a context in which they change their strategic role and take on a new communicative function. All these aspects have strengthened the idea that social media, in a relationship of complementarity and interdependence with mass media, steer political communication towards the selection and repetition of a coherent set of identity traits.


Germany has created one of the world's largest women's policy infrastructures. But the scope as well as the effect of institutionalising women's policy agencies is contested. Even committed proponents of gender equality note the agencies' limited influence in important policy arenas. Critics of institutionalisation have used the fiscal crisis of the past decade to push efforts to downsize or diversify the mission of women's policy agencies. Building on theories of new institutionalism, this article attributes recent challenges to the institutionalisation of gender politics in Germany to three sets of factors: First, to tensions between strong formal gender equality rules and weak informal equality norms; second, to powerful internal and external veto players who use their leverage to prevent gender equality legislation; and, third, to a shifting policy discourse that has reframed gender equality language in gender mainstreaming terms and might lead to significant changes in the institutional gender equality architecture.


Type 1 paracaspases originated in the Ediacaran geological period before the last common ancestor of bilaterians and cnidarians (Planulozoa). Cnidarians have several paralog type 1 paracaspases, type 2 paracaspases, and a homolog of Bcl10. Notably in bilaterians, lineages like nematodes and insects lack Bcl10 whereas other lineages such as vertebrates, hemichordates, annelids and mollusks have a Bcl10 homolog. A survey of invertebrate CARD-coiled-coil (CC) domain homologs of CARMA/CARD9 revealed such homologs only in species with Bcl10, indicating an ancient co-evolution of the entire CARD-CC/Bcl10/MALT1-like paracaspase (CBM) complex. Furthermore, vertebrate-like Syk/Zap70 tyrosine kinase homologs with the ITAM-binding SH2 domain were found in invertebrate organisms with CARD-CC/Bcl10, indicating that this pathway might be the original user of the CBM complex. We also established that the downstream signaling proteins TRAF2 and TRAF6 are functionally conserved in Cnidaria. There also seems to be a correlation where invertebrates with CARD-CC and Bcl10 have type 1 paracaspases which are more similar to the paracaspases found in vertebrates. A proposed evolutionary scenario includes at least two ancestral type 1 paracaspase paralogs in the planulozoan last common ancestor, where at least one paralog usually is dependent on CARD-CC/Bcl10 for its function. Functional analyses of invertebrate type 1 paracaspases and Bcl10 homologs support this scenario and indicate an ancient origin of the CARD-CC/Bcl10/paracaspase signaling complex. Results from cnidarians, nematodes and mice also suggest an ancient neuronal role for the type 1 paracaspases.


The paper demonstrates the current trend of advertising research that has moved towards integrating two or more media using both the traditional media and the new media. Recent advertising researches have shown that the repetition of a particular advertising feature across two different media has been found to reinforce the effectiveness of marketing communication. It has also been proven influential in improving memory and the attitude of consumers. Based on the positive and encouraging recent findings, more studies should focus on examining advertising effects using the integration of the traditional medium (television) and the new medium (the Internet). Bearing in mind that the position of the Internet have progressed rapidly in the past, it is possible that the Internet can play a major role in advertising, going hand in hand with the traditional medium especially television.


People lose control. We may get excessively angry or behave impulsively or destructively. We may scream at a child, eat too much, or drink. The reasons for such behavior are many. Sometimes there is a sense that something is missin g in our lives, a hole we don't know how to fill, or a difficult issue we don't know how to add ress. That darkness lurks behind some of our behavior, and then suddenly, when we least expect i t, erupts into unwanted behavior. In this week's Torah portion, Moses loses control. Moses' people are complaining yet again, this time for lack of water in the desert. God tells Mo ses specifically to speak to a rock in order to draw water from it. Instead Moses hits the rock in anger. He loses patience with his people who are constantly complaining. But there is also a bac kdrop of loss to Moses' behavior. His beloved sister Miriam has just died. Moses' grief causes hi m to be short on the patience he normally exhibits with the people he is leading through the desert to the Promised Land. It is important not to lose control especially with our children. We don't want to explode at them for minor infractions. We also don't want to set u p models of destructive behavior for our children, whether it concerns behavior such as over eating, smoking, or drinking excessively. Therefore, parents must address the origins of such behavior. We might be dealing with ongoing frustrations at work, a loss of someone close to us , financial worries, or sources of tension in our marriage. Whatever the issue is, better to address the deeper issue than for us to lose control, especially when children are concerned. TALK TO YOUR KIDS about how Moses lost his temper in the desert and hit the rock with his stick out of frustration.


Martin Grtschel is one of the most influential mathematicians of our time. He has received numerous honors and holds a number of key positions in the international mathematical community. He celebrated his 65th birthday on September 10, 2013. Martin Grtschels doctoral descendant tree 19832012, i.e., the first 30 years, features 39 children, 74 grandchildren, 24 great-grandchildren and 2 great-great-grandchildren, a total of 139 doctoral descendants. This book starts with a personal tribute to Martin Grtschel by the editors (Part I), a contribution by his very special predecessor Manfred Padberg on Facets and Rank of Integer Polyhedra (Part II), and the doctoral descendant tree 19832012 (Part III). The core of this book (Part IV) contains 16 contributions, each of which is coauthored by at least one doctoral descendant. The sequence of the articles starts with contributions to the theory of mathematical optimization, including polyhedral combinatorics, extended formulations, mixed-integer convex optimization, super classes of perfect graphs, efficient algorithms for subtree-telecenters, junctions in acyclic graphs and preemptive restricted strip covering, as well as efficient approximation of non-preemptive restricted strip covering. Combinations of new theoretical insights with algorithms and experiments deal with network design problems, combinatorial optimization problems with submodular objective functions and more general mixed-integer nonlinear optimization problems. Applications include VLSI layout design, systems biology, wireless network design, mean-risk optimization and gas network optimization. Computational studies include a semidefinite branch and cut approach for the max k-cut problem, mixed-integer nonlinear optimal control, and mixed-integer linear optimization for scheduling and routing of fly-in safari planes. The two closing articles are devoted to computational advances in general mixed integer linear optimization, the first by scientists working in industry, the second by scientists working in academia. These articles reflect the scientific facets of Martin Grtschel who has set standards in theory, computation and applications.


By large-scale services (LSS) we understand IT services that are being deployed over unbounded large-scale infrastructures. Typical examples may be found in e-commerce scenarios, in computational Grids, or in ubiquitous computing environments. The more such services will be composed on the fly from other services the more dependability becomes a challenge. Service dependability is about error processing and fault tolerance. There are operational similarities between error processing and context provisioning in ubiquitous computing. In this paper we are exploring the beneficials of applying context-awareness to the dependable composition of services. Based on an e-commerce scenario we analyze the similarities between error processing and context provisioning, but we also show how the single phases of these processes translate into each other. We address how service dependability may benefit from context-awareness and we finally report on a prototypical implementation of a Web Services based context provisioning framework.


Ammonia and water are major components of many planetary bodies, from comets and icy moons such as Saturn's Titan to the interiors of the planets Neptune and Uranus. Under a range of high pressures and/or low temperatures known to occur in these planetary bodies, ammonia and water form a series of compounds known as ammonia hydrates. Ammonia and water form three stoichiometric compounds, ammonia hemihydrate, ammonia monohydrate and ammonia dihydrate, which have ammonia-to-water ratios of 2:1, 1:1 and 1:2 respectively. Therefore a good understanding of the three stable ammonia hydrates is required for modelling the interiors of these bodies. Additionally, the ammonia hydrates are the simplest systems to incorporate mixed (N-H· · ·O and O-H· · ·N) hydrogen bonds. Such bonds are important biochemically, and along with O-H· · ·O H-bonds, mixed H-bonds are responsible for the second-order structure of DNA, and they are also responsible for the proton transfer reactions in enzymic processes. The understanding of these bonds and processes rests on the knowledge of the relationship between bond strength and geometry, and the ammonia hydrates provide a rich range of geometries against which models of such mixed H-bonds can be tested. X-ray and neutron diffraction techniques have been used to investigate the behaviour of the ammonia-water complex and further the understanding of this system. This includes solving the structure of a phase which was previously thought to be an ammonia monohydrate phase, but has been shown here to be a mixture of an ammonia hemihydrate phase and Ice VII. In addition to this, x-ray and neutron diffraction experiments have been performed to explore how this phase behaves under changing pressure and temperature conditions, and what other implications that this has on the ammonia-water system. It has been found that ammonia hemihydrate can also form a structural phase observed to form in both ammonia monohydrate and ammonia dihydrate within the same pressure


Abstract The ITER project aims at demonstrating the technical feasibility of nuclear fusion in a DT plasma. One of the important steps towards a functional fusion power plant is the development of a stable and reliable fuel cycle. Major developments on this field are made at the Tritium Laboratory Karlsruhe (TLK). In this paper the design and installation of an analysis apparatus for tritium concentrations via InfraRed (IR) absorption for engagement in the ITER ISS is described. The IR analysis is performed in the liquid hydrogen phase at the bottom of a cryogenic distillation column similar to those foreseen for ITER ISS. Technical constraints and physical boundary conditions are presented as well as experimental methods and preliminary results. The technical feasibility is shown and suggestions for further development of IR spectroscopy for ITER appliances are given.