In this paper, we theoretically analyze the loss and branching ratio of multimode optical branching waveguides by using a ray tracing method to obtain less mode-dependent branching characteristics. First, a 2 × 2 optical mixing and branching waveguide with a step-index profile are considered. It is found that an optimum length to achieve a low loss and stable branching ratio exists. Second, a waveguide with mode scrambler is investigated. By sacrificing some amount of insertion loss, the mode dependence can be minimized.


Policymakers and the general public have expressed increasing concern over rising health care costs. The Certificate-of-Need (CON) programs began at the federal level in 1974 to stem the increase in costs by limiting hospital expansion and acquisition of equipment. The federal requirement for CON programs ended in 1987; however, 37 states and DC still maintain various forms of CON programs. We examine the effect of the expiration of Pennsylvania's CON law on indicators of quality and cost of health care for patients undergoing hip and knee replacement surgery. We use the standard difference-in-differences method and the Synthetic Control method. Our preferred method indicates that the expiration had no statistically significant effect on our various measures of quality and cost.


It has been widely shown that biomaterial surface topography can modulate host immune response, but a fundamental understanding of how different topographies contribute to pro-inflammatory or anti-inflammatory responses is still lacking. To investigate the impact of surface topography on immune response, we undertook a systematic approach by analyzing immune response to eight grades of medical grade polyurethane of increasing surface roughness in three in vitro models of the human immune system. Polyurethane specimens were produced with defined roughness values by injection molding according to the VDI 3400 industrial standard. Specimens ranged from 0.1 μm to 18 μm in average roughness (Ra), which was confirmed by confocal scanning microscopy. Immunological responses were assessed with THP-1-derived macrophages, human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), and whole blood following culture on polyurethane specimens. As shown by the release of pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines in all three models, a mild immune response to polyurethane was observed, however, this was not associated with the degree of surface roughness. Likewise, the cell morphology (cell spreading, circularity, and elongation) in THP-1-derived macrophages and the expression of CD molecules in the PBMC model on T cells (HLA-DR and CD16), NK cells (HLA-DR), and monocytes (HLA-DR, CD16, CD86, and CD163) showed no influence of surface roughness. In summary, this study shows that modifying surface roughness in the micrometer range on polyurethane has no impact on the pro-inflammatory immune response. Therefore, we propose that such modifications do not affect the immunocompatibility of polyurethane, thereby supporting the notion of polyurethane as a biocompatible material.


Biodiversity science and conservation increasingly depend on the sharing and integration of large amounts of data, but many researchers resist sharing their primary biodiversity data. We recently conducted an international survey to ascertain the attitudes, experiences, and expectations regarding biodiversity data sharing and archiving of researchers. The results show that whereas most respondents are willing to share article‐related biodiversity data, more than 60% of respondents are unwilling to share primary data before publishing. Results indicate an underdeveloped culture of data sharing and several major technological and operational barriers. A major concern for researchers is appropriate benefits from data sharing. Most respondents would accept data archiving policies of journals. Researchers also express concerns about how to easily and efficiently deal with data and data quality in public databases. Expectations for biodiversity databases include standardization of data format, user‐friendly data submission tools, formats for different types of data, and coordination among databases. The survey results provide suggestions for improving data sharing and archiving by individual scientists, organizations, journals, and databases.


Using Science as Evidence in Public Policy encourages scientists to think differently about the use of scientific evidence in policy making. This report investigates why scientific evidence is important to policy making and argues that an extensive body of research on knowledge utilization has not led to any widely accepted explanation of what it means to use science in public policy. Using Science as Evidence in Public Policy identifies the gaps in our understanding and develops a framework for a new field of research to fill those gaps. For social scientists in a number of specialized fields, whether established scholars or Ph.D. students, Using Science as Evidence in Public Policy shows how to bring their expertise to bear on the study of using science to inform public policy. More generally, this report will be of special interest to scientists who want to see their research used in policy making, offering guidance on what is required beyond producing quality research, beyond translating results into more understandable terms, and beyond brokering the results through intermediaries, such as think tanks, lobbyists, and advocacy groups. For administrators and faculty in public policy programs and schools, Using Science as Evidence in Public Policy identifies critical elements of instruction that will better equip graduates to promote the use of science in policy making.


In the quiet village of Carriveau, Vianne Mauriac says goodbye to her husband, Antoine, as he heads for the Front. She doesn't believe that the Nazis will invade France...but invade they do, in droves of marching soldiers, in caravans of trucks and tanks, in planes that fill the skies and drop bombs upon the innocent. When a German captain requisitions Vianne's home, she and her daughter must live with the enemy or lose everything. Without food or money or hope, as danger escalates all around them, she is forced to make one impossible choice after another to keep her family alive.


Pregnancy registries are essential sources to gain medical and therapeutic knowledge in women with epilepsy who are pregnant or have the desire to give birth. The benefit of treatment for the mother has to be balanced with the prenatal and postnatal risk for the child. To gain reasonable medical evidence, pregnancy registries have to include an adequate and representative number of pregnant women with epilepsy. They will have to observe women during pregnancy and delivery, as well as the foetus respectively the child during its development. In addition, different health care providers have to coordinate their efforts, sharing data while preserving the mother privacy interests. Given these requirements, the multitude of antiepileptic drugs, and the poor knowledge concerning the important implications of the adopted therapy by potential mothers with epilepsy, the rate of patient inclusion in pregnancy registries is still insufficient to provide reliable recommendations for an appropriate medical management. An ethical approach as outlined here aims to overcome some of these obstacles.


Federal courts have limited the legal remedies for constitutional violations in policing to the point that they do not discourage police misconduct to the satisfaction of many communities. States and police departments impose additional penalties on police officers who violate the law, but only inconsistently, leading communities to distrust these solutions as well. Yet, because there are so many mechanisms for scrutinizing police conduct, officers often feel over-regulated. Policymakers and legislators cannot change all of the obstacles to using litigation to improve policing. But by making it easier and less expensive for departments to adopt helpful reforms, by encouraging community input into police policy-making, and by supporting research, data collection, and transparency in policing, they can promote policing practices that protect rights and build community trust. In these ways, policymakers and legislators can improve police accountability, even as courts make it harder for private citizens and public officials to use legal remedies to do so.


The paper is designed to present the descriptive as well as, the empirical analysis for investigating links between the growing investments and flow of migration towards major cities of Pakistan. Specifically, study explores the link of foreign investment in banking, telecommunication and migration. The descriptive analysis is confined to a single year (2013) while empirical analysis is spread over a time span from 2005 to 2013. The descriptive results show that more migration inflow is experienced by cities with greater Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) index values. The empirical results are in line with strands of theory and expectations of the study with all variables bearing correct signs. The core variables Foreign Banks' Branches (FB) and Foreign Telecommunication Franchises (FTF), proxies for FDI inflow are highly significant, strengthening the hypothesis that FDI and migration are complement to each other.


This research was initiated as part of the fight against public health problems of rising counterfeit, substandard and poor quality medicines and herbal products. An effective screening strategy using a two-step combination approach of an incremental near infrared spectral database (step 1) followed by principal component analysis (step 2) was developed to overcome the limitations of current procedures for the identification of medicines by near infrared spectroscopy which rely on the direct comparison of the unknown spectra to spectra of reference samples or products. The near infrared spectral database consisted of almost 4000 spectra from different types of medicines acquired and stored in the database throughout the study. The spectra of the test samples (pharmaceutical and herbal formulations) were initially compared to the reference spectra of common medicines from the database using a correlation algorithm. Complementary similarity assessment of the spectra was conducted based on the observation of the principal component analysis score plot. The validation of the approach was achieved by the analysis of known counterfeit Viagra samples, as the spectra did not fully match with the spectra of samples from reliable sources and did not cluster together in the principal component analysis score plot. Pre-screening analysis of an herbal formulation (Pronoton) showed similarity with a product containing sildenafil citrate in the database. This finding supported by principal component analysis has indicated that the product was adulterated. The identification of a sildenafil analogue, hydroxythiohomosildenafil, was achieved by mass spectrometry and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) analyses. This approach proved to be a suitable technique for quick, simple and cost-effective pre-screening of products for guiding the analysis of pharmaceutical and herbal formulations in the quest for the identification of potential adulterants.


The article documents a preliminary description of Polish teacher attitudes based on data collected from a representative sample of teachers describing their work habits and occupational experience in and out of school. Cluster analysis allowed identification of five distinct groups. Of particular note but difficult to describe in detail is the group who dedicate exceptionally long hours to work. The most numerous cluster includes those who could be described as "needing support", who have little work experience and spend relatively little time engaged with their work.


There has been much recent interest in quantum optical interferometry for applications to metrology, subwavelength imaging, and remote sensing such as in quantum laser radar (LADAR). For quantum LADAR, atmospheric absorption rapidly degrades any quantum state of light, so that for high-photon loss the optimal strategy is to transmit coherent states of light, which suffer no worse loss than the Beer law for classical optical attenuation, and which provides sensitivity at the shot-noise limit. We show that coherent light coupled with photon-number-resolving detectors can provide a super-resolution much below the Rayleigh diffraction limit, with sensitivity no worse than shot noise in terms of the detected photon power.


Induction of apoptosis in target cells is a key mechanism by which chemotherapy promotes cell killing. The purpose of this study was to determine whether Indole-3-Carbinol (I3C) and Genistein in combination with tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) induce apoptosis in endometrial cancer cell (Ishikawa) and to assess apoptotic mechanism. The MTT assay and flow cytometry were performed to determine cell viability and cell cycle. The induction of apoptosis was measured by caspase-3 activity test, DNA fragmentation assay, annexin V binding assay and western blot analysis. There was no effect in cell growth inhibition and cell cycle progression alone or in two-combination. However, the treatment of I3C and Genistein followed by TRAIL showed significant cell death and marked increase in sub-G1 arrest. Three-combination treatment revealed elevated expression of DR4, DR5 and cleaved forms of caspase-3, caspase-8, PARP. The Flip was found down regulated. Moreover, increase in caspase-3 activity and DNA fragmentation indicated the induction of apoptosis. The results indicate that I3C and Genistein with TRAIL synergistically induced apoptosis via death receptor dependent pathway. Our findings might provide a new insight into the development of novel combination therapies against endometrial cancer.


Title of dissertation: ESSAYS IN EXPERIMENTAL ECONOMICS WITH IMPLICATIONS FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT Kahwa C. Douoguih, Doctor of Philosophy, 2011 Dissertation directed by: Professor Maureen Cropper and Professor Erkut Ozbay Department of Economics In an exploration of the joint concerns of economic development, namely e ciency and equality, I employ experimental methods to consider several issues regarding entrepreneurship and regulation with particular applications in developing countries. Entrepreneurship programs in developing countries may not take hold in rural populations if people there tend to shy away from competitive and uncertain economic opportunities, thus contributing to the systematic underdevelopment of rural areas. In a eld experiment conducted among potential entrepreneurs in rural and urban Ghana, we found that rural subjects were 20 percent less likely than their urban counterparts to select an all-or-nothing tournament compensation scheme over a piece rate wage to perform a simple matching task. The di erence between the rural and urban tournament choice was driven by subjects who believed their own performance was the best within their group; urban subjects were twice as likely as their rural counterparts to believe that they had scored in rst place and were thus more likely to select the tournament compensation. To examine behavior in a tax setting, we develop a simple tax evasion model as a signaling game between a taxpayer and an auditor that includes a non-strategic, always compliant taxpayer. In addition to the taxpayer's income report to the auditor, he has the option to send a costly message, a donation to charity that may serve as an indirect signal to the auditor of the taxpayer's ethical type. In the case where the taxpayer has misreported his income and is audited, he must pay unpaid taxes and a penalty. We establish a Perfect Bayesian equilibrium where taxpayers will use the charitable donation to signal honesty, thereby reducing the probability of audit. Auditors will optimally audit reports without charity donations more frequently than those with donations. To test our theoretical predictions, we use a two-sided signaling experiment where the taxpayer voluntarily reports his income to determine his tax liability and can make an observable and veri able charity donation. Our aggregate experimental results indicate players employ mixed strategies in line with theoretical predictions. ESSAYS IN EXPERIMENTAL ECONOMICS WITH IMPLICATIONS FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT


Acute hyperglycemia is a common finding in patients presenting to emergency departments (EDs) with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD). Several studies have argued against the association between hyperglycemia at admission and adverse outcomes in patients with diabetes and an acute illness. Recent studies have shown that glucose-related variables (eg, glycemic gaps and stress hyperglycemia ratios) that are adjusted for glycated hemoglobin levels can indicate the severity of a variety of diseases. The objective of this study was to assess whether these hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c)-based adjusted average glycemic variables were associated with unfavorable outcomes in patients admitted to a hospital with AECOPD. We found that 1) pulmonary infection is a major risk factor for AECOPD; 2) a higher glycemic gap and modified stress hyperglycemia ratio were associated with the development of acute respiratory failure (ARF) in patients with diabetes admitted to an ED because of AECOPD; and 3) the glycemic gap and modified stress hyperglycemia ratio had superior discriminative power over acute hyperglycemia and HbA1c for predicting the development of ARF, although the HbA1c-adjusted glycemic variables alone were not independent risk factors for ARF.


Abstract. Photochemical reactions represent the main pathway for the removal of non-methane volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the atmosphere. VOCs may react with hydroxyl radical (OH), the most important atmospheric oxidant, or they can be photolyzed by actinic radiation. In the presence of clouds and fog, VOCs may partition into the aqueous phase where they can undergo aqueous photolysis and/or reaction with dissolved OH. The significance of direct aqueous photolysis is largely uncertain due to the lack of published absorption cross sections and photolysis quantum yields. In light of this, we strive to identify atmospherically relevant VOCs where removal by aqueous photolysis may be a significant sink. The relative importance of different photochemical sinks is assessed by calculating the ratios of the removal rates inside air parcels containing cloud and fog droplets. This relative approach provides useful information in spite of the limited aqueous photolysis data. Results of this work should help guide researchers in identifying molecules that are the most likely to undergo aqueous OH oxidation and photolysis. For example, we find that out of the 27 atmospherically relevant species investigated, the removal of glyceraldehyde and pyruvic acid by aqueous photolysis is potentially an important sink. We also determine the relative magnitudes of these four chemical sinks for the set of relevant organic compounds.


Nudging has become a major form of intervention in the domains of sustainable behaviour, health behaviour, financial behaviour, and many others. But how does nudging work? Research so far has paid more attention to the effects of nudging than to the underlying mechanisms. The most prominent mechanisms associated in the literature with nudging are human biases and automatic decision-making. However, we argue that the heart of nudging mechanism is a shift in salience. Attention to this mechanism leads to an important distinction between two kinds of nudging: first, there is goal nudging, in which the salience of overarching goals is affected, leading to changes in activated preferences and attention to specific classes of alternatives. Second, there is behavioural nudging, in which the salience of a concrete alternative is being affected. In most cases, the two kinds of nudging work hand in glove, but without paying attention to their separate and joint effects, nudging interventions can be ineffective or even counterproductive.


Abstract: Background: The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is the chief organelle involved in protein homeostasis. Perturbations to the ER protein folding machinery caused by hyperlipidemia, hyperglycemia or hypoglycemia has been shown to trigger ER stress and activate the unfolded protein response (UPR) as a defense mechanism. Accumulating evidences implicate the role of ER stress in the development of chronic kidney disease. Thus there is an urgent need for novel compounds, which have the ability to ameliorate ER stress to treat or prevent any organ damage. Among the natural compounds, piperine and its analogs have been reported to exhibit multiple pharmacological activities, however, the efficacy of piperine and its analogs against ER stress in kidney cells is still unknown. Thus, the goal of the current study is to synthesize a range of piperine analogs and screen them for pharmacological activity to relieve ER stress using an in vitro model of tunicamycin-induced ER stress in rat renal proximal tubular (NRK-52E) cells. Methods: To perform a structure-activity relationship study, several piperine analogs were prepared using piperic acid as a starting material. The structures of the obtained compounds were confirmed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC/MS), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). The in vitro ER stress model was developed using tunicamycin. Results: Several piperine analogs were synthesized and their structures were elucidated. The preliminary findings indicate that exposure to tunicamycin induces the expression of ER chaperone GRP 78 in NRK-52E cells. The MTT assay confirms the reduction in cell viability even with a low concentration of 1 ug/mL of tunicamycin for 15 minutes. The developed in vitro model will be used to evaluate the effect of piperine analogs on ER stress markers. Conclusion: The synthesis, structural elucidation and the results of the preliminary screening of selected piperine analogs will be presented. Key Words: Piperine, Amide Piperine Analogs, ER stress, NRK-52E, Tunicamycin.


We establish several upper bounds on the energy-constrained quantum and private capacities of all single-mode phase-insensitive bosonic Gaussian channels. The first upper bound, which we call the 'data-processing bound,' is the simplest and is obtained by decomposing a phase-insensitive channel as a pure-loss channel followed by a quantum-limited amplifier channel. We prove that the data-processing bound can be at most 1.45 bits larger than a known lower bound on these capacities of the phase-insensitive Gaussian channel. We discuss another data-processing upper bound as well. Two other upper bounds, which we call the 'ε-degradable bound' and the 'ε-close-degradable bound,' are established using the notion of approximate degradability along with energy constraints. We find a strong limitation on any potential superadditivity of the coherent information of any phase-insensitive Gaussian channel in the low-noise regime, as the data-processing bound is very near to a known lower bound in such cases. We also find improved achievable rates of private communication through bosonic thermal channels, by employing coding schemes that make use of displaced thermal states. We end by proving that an optimal Gaussian input state for the energy-constrained, generalized channel divergence of two particular Gaussian channels is the two-mode squeezed vacuum state that saturates the energy constraint. What remains open for several interesting channel divergences, such as the diamond norm or the Rényi channel divergence, is to determine whether, among all input states, a Gaussian state is optimal.


This paper reports on two methods used for identifying alternative indicators of chronic and acute food insecurity. A need for alternative indicators exists since many of the "benchmark" or "gold standard" indicators (such as household income or dietary intake) are too cumbersome to be of practical use in food aid targeting. The ideal alternative indicator should be statistically reliable, yet straightforward to collect and analyze. The study uses data collected in four villages in the Indian Semi-Arid Tropics to illustrate two methods for identifying the alternative indicators. A qualitative methodology included ethnographic case studies of at-risk households, participatory mapping of vulnerable households within a community, food charts, and seasonality charts. The quantitative methods included both economic and nutrition surveys. The data were collected over three rounds in 1992-93 from 324 households in south-central India.For the qualitative work, both the villagers' perceptions of food insecurity as well as the ethnographers' observations were used to generate a list of indicators for these areas.


Excerpt] This paper analyzes the response of female college attendance and completion rates to changes over time (and variations across labor markets) in the payoff to college and the cost of attendance and the preparation of students for college. The robustness of the main findings will be checked by analyzing two very different data sets: cross section data on individuals and time series data on awegate college enrollment and completion rates from 1949 to 1989. In Section 1, a simple model of the college attendance decision is developed which incorporates most of the factors discussed above. Section 2 presents the results of fitting the specification implied by the theory developed in Section I to cross-section data on the college attendance choices of 29,141 women who were high school juniors in 1960. Major findings of this analysis are that female college attendance is very responsive to public decisions effecting instate tuition levels and the proximity of public colleges and somewhat responsive to the magnitude of the local economic payoff to college.


Heavy metal pollution has likely played an important role in global biodiversity decline, but there remains a paucity of information concerning the effects of metals on amphibian diversity. This study assessed anuran species richness and distribution in relation to sediment metal content and water chemistry in wetlands located along the Merri Creek corridor in Victoria, south-eastern Australia. Anurans were present in 60% (21/ 35) of study sites, with a total of six species detected: the eastern common froglet (Crinia signifera), the eastern sign-bearing froglet (Crinia parinsignifera), the southern brown tree frog (Litoria ewingii), the growling grass frog (Litoria raniformis), the eastern banjo frog (Limnodynastes dumerilii) and the spotted marsh frog (Limnodynastes tasmaniensis). Mean species richness was 1.77 ± 0.32 per site, and species richness ranged from zero to six species per site. Across sites, species richness correlated negatively with sediment concentrations of six heavy metals: copper, nickel, lead, zinc, cadmium and mercury. Species richness also correlated negatively with wetland water electrical conductivity (a proxy for salinity) and concentrations of orthophosphate. Distributions of the three most commonly observed frog species (C. signifera, L. tasmaniensis and L. ewingii) were significantly negatively associated with the total level of metal contamination at individual sites. The study is the first to provide evidence for an association between metal contamination and anuran species richness and distribution in the southern hemisphere, adding to a small but growing body of evidence that heavy metal pollution has contributed to global amphibian decline.


In this paper we propose a deterministic parallel graph coloring algorithm that enables Multi-Coloring in parallel for sparse undirected graphs by coarse-grained segmentation and symmetry breaking. The proposed algorithm is implemented and tested on standard problem instances from engineering applications and benchmarked against various deterministic graph coloring algorithms. Quantified results show that the proposed algorithm is competitive or better than the sequential Multi-Coloring algorithm with respect to execution time on multi-core architectures. The upper bound on the number of colors is guaranteed to be the same as for the Multi-Coloring algorithm.


Background Unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death for children under age 18 years globally. Our study aims to describe the epidemiological patterns of unintentional injuries and assess the adoption of safety measures and pre-hospital care among paediatric injury patients to inform future interventions in Kenya. Methods The Trauma Registry System collected data of injury patients from four major hospitals in Kenya between January 2014 and July 2015. Out of the 4257 paediatric patients, 4005 (94.1%) with unintentional injuries were included in analysis. Results We found that boys were more likely to suffer from unintentional injuries than girls at all ages, accounting for 60.4% of those under 5 years (n = 1359), 68.0% of those aged 5–9 years (n = 1130), and 73.0% of those aged 10–17 years (n = 1516). Majority of the injuries happened at home (79.9%) or on the road (14.5%) for those under age 5; while more injuries occurred at school for those aged 5–9 (15.0%) and aged 10–17 (31.3%). The top three injuries were fall (46.5%), burn (29.1%), and road traffic injuries (14.2%) for children under age 5 years, and fall (64.8%), traffic injuries (19.1%), and struck or hit by a person or object (7.3%) for children aged 5–17 years. Death rate was higher for the under age 5 group (4.9%) than that for the age 5–17 group (1.3%). Burns and traffic injuries had higher death rates (6.6%, 5.6%) and severity scores compared to the other injuries. The adoption rates for helmets and seatbelts were about 10% in at risk patients. Only 18.4% children received pre-hospital care, which was mostly provided by relatives and friends and associated with lower odds of death (p < 0.05). Conclusions Our preliminary findings show that the epidemiological patterns of injuries differ by child age, which implicates that interventions should be tailored for specific age phases. This study pinpoints the needs to prioritise promoting pro-safety behaviours to alleviate the consequences of injuries in Kenya.


In 2012, the South African Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) initiated a study: Continuation of the Northern Planning Region9s All Towns Reconciliation Strategies: Phase 1. This study reviewed, prioritised and updated the rudimentary All Towns strategies initially developed by DWS in 2011. The purpose of the strategies was to reconcile water requirements with available resources for the 2011–2035 planning horizon by estimating the projected water requirements, determining available water resources (surface and groundwater) and developing a water balance. Recommendations were made to conserve, manage and administer local water sources as well as to augment water supplies from other sources if required. The recommendations provided actions and options for implementation by the relevant Water Services Authorities and the DWS at a local and regional level, providing the opportunity for integrated and coordinated planning. Bulk and reticulation metering, the implementation of water conservation and demand management programmes and recommendations on the updating of water use allocations were prioritised. Detailed studies required to determine the most feasible water resource augmentation options to ensure a positive water balance were identified. The study coordinated efforts by officials and stakeholders representing both the water resources and water services sectors. The prioritised strategies defined the deficit or surplus of the water resources per water source on a technical level, but also highlighted the need for planning and coordination between the water resources and water services sectors. The strategies are not legally mandated documents, but represent some of the best efforts spanning across various sectors to realise coordinated water infrastructure planning in DWS' Northern Planning Region. The use of the documents in the local, district and national planning environments should be promoted for integrated planning, and it may be fitting to incorporate the All Towns Reconciliation Strategy documents as a valuable resource to inform the water legislation currently being reviewed.


The majority of empirical studies make use of the assumption of stable preferences in searching for a relationship between risk attitude and the decision to become and stay an entrepreneur. Yet empirical evidence on this relationship is limited. In this paper, we show that entry into entrepreneurship itself plays a decisive role in shaping risk preferences. We find that becoming self-employed is indeed associated with a relative increase in risk attitudes, an increase that is quantitatively large and significant even after controlling for individual characteristics, different employment status, and duration of entrepreneurship. The findings suggest that studies assuming that risk attitudes are stable over time suffer from reverse causality; risk attitudes do not remain stable over time, and individual preferences change endogenously.


Militant modern atheism, whose most eloquent champion is Richard Dawkins, provides an effective and necessary critique of fundamentalist forms of religion and their role in political life, both within states and across national boundaries. Because it is also presented as a more general attack on religion (tout court), it has provoked a severe reaction from scholars who regard its conception of religion as shallow and narrow. My aim is to examine this debate, identifying insights and oversights on both sides. Two distinct conceptions of religion are in play. For Dawkins and his allies (most notably Dan Dennett) religions are grounded in doctrines, propositions about supernatural entities, events and processes which the devout believe. Their beliefs prompt them to actions, which they support or rationalize by reference to the doctrines. Dawkins and Dennett view the acceptance of the doctrines as resting on cognitive misfiring -- these are delusions to be outgrown or spells to be broken. By contrast, the religious scholars who criticize the militant atheists often view religion as centered in social practices that inform and enrich human lives. To the extent that there are doctrines that atheists might subject to epistemic evaluation, these are to be viewed as pieces of scaffolding, that are, in principle, dispensable. I argue that militant modern atheism is incomplete (and likely counter-productive) so long as it fails to attend systematically to the roles religion fulfills in human lives. Yet it is important to achieve public clarity about the literal falsehood of the doctrines on which fundamentalists rely. The challenge is to develop a well-articulated and convincing version of secular humanism. Meeting that challenge is, I claim, one of the central problems of philosophy today. Language: en


Abstract. Valley-floor-channel and alluvial-fan deposits and terraces in the southwestern US record multiple episodes of late-Quaternary fluvial-system aggradation and incision. Perhaps the most well-constrained of these episodes took place from the latest Pleistocene to the present in the Mojave Desert. One hypothesis for this episode – i.e., the paleovegetation-change hypothesis (PVCH) – posits that a reduction in hillslope vegetation cover associated with the transition from Pleistocene woodlands to Holocene desert scrub generated a pulse of sediment that triggered a primary phase of aggradation downstream, followed by channel incision, terrace abandonment, and initiation of a secondary phase of aggradation further downstream. A second hypothesis – i.e., the extreme-storm hypothesis – attributes episodes of aggradation and incision to changes in the frequency and/or intensity of extreme storms. In the past decade a growing number of studies has advocated the extreme-storm hypothesis and challenged the PVCH on the basis of inconsistencies in both timing and process. Here I show that in eight out of nine sites where the timing of fluvial-system aggradation in the Mojave Desert is reasonably well constrained, measured ages of primary aggradation are consistent with the predictions of the PVCH if the time-transgressive nature of paleovegetation changes with elevation is fully taken into account. I also present an alternative process model for PVCH that is more consistent with available data and produces sediment pulses primarily via an increase in drainage density (i.e., a transformation of hillslopes into low-order channels) rather than solely via an increase in sediment yield from hillslopes. This paper further documents the likely important role of changes in upland vegetation cover and drainage density in driving fluvial-system response during semiarid-to-arid climatic changes.


We evaluate the ability of SPIDER, a balloon-borne polarimeter, to detect a divergence-free polarization pattern ("B-modes") in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). In the inflationary scenario, the amplitude of this signal is proportional to that of the primordial scalar perturbations through the tensor-to-scalar ratio r. We show that the expected level of systematic error in the SPIDER instrument is significantly below the amplitude of an interesting cosmological signal with r=0.03. We present a scanning strategy that enables us to minimize uncertainty in the reconstruction of the Stokes parameters used to characterize the CMB, while accessing a relatively wide range of angular scales. Evaluating the amplitude of the polarized Galactic emission in the SPIDER field, we conclude that the polarized emission from interstellar dust is as bright or brighter than the cosmological signal at all SPIDER frequencies (90 GHz, 150 GHz, and 280 GHz), a situation similar to that found in the "Southern Hole." We show that two ~20-day flights of the SPIDER instrument can constrain the amplitude of the B-mode signal to r<0.03 (99% CL) even when foreground contamination is taken into account. In the absence of foregrounds, the same limit can be reached after one 20-day flight.


The objectives of this study was to observe antibacterial activities of water lily seed, against diarrhea-causing pathogenic bacteria as well as lactic acid bacteria; phytochemistry components in water lily seed and to evaluate each component's activities against pathogen bacteria. Extraction of antibacterial components in the seed was done by fractional extraction methods using solvent based on its polar level, i.e. hexane, ethyl acetate and ethanol. The activities of each extract was tested by using diarrhea-causing bacteria, Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli K.1.1 (EPEC K1.1) and S. typhimurium with agar well diffusion method. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) values were calculated with plate counting. Qualitative phytochemical tests were performed on all extracts. Fractionation was performed on extract with the largest antimicrobial activity by using thin-layer chromatography. The activities of each fraction were tested qualitatively by bio-autography method on thin layer chromatographic plates. The water lily seed had an antibacterial activity against EPEC K.1.1 and Salmonella typhimurium, especially in ethyl acetate extract. Ethanol extract had the same, yet lower activity. Ethyl acetate and ethanol extract of the seed did not show inhibition against the growth of lactic acid bacteria (Lactobacillus sp) and Bifidobacterium bifidum. The MIC and MBC values of the ethyl acetate extract on EPEC K1.1 were 0.89 (mg/mL) and 1.33 (mg/mL), respectively, while similar values of that on S. Typhimurium were 1.11 (mg/mL) and 1.33 (mg/mL¬), respectively. Phytochemistry components within ethyl acetate extract were alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, glycosides, saponins, and triterpenoids. All fractions in the ethyl acetate extract had antimicrobial activities against EPEC K.1.1 and S. Typhimurium. These fractions were thought to inhibit the growth of the test-microbes by synergic action of each component. Key words: water lily seed, antibacterial, ethyl acetate extract


The role of biography in education has been challenged in recent years on two interrelated fronts. The first relates to the epistemological question of how knowledge is constructed through biographical inquiry. The second concerns the ontological problem of redefining biography to include for example, all life-writing and the democratizing impulse to value the ordinary as much as the extraordinary. In this article, I address the epistemological and ontological concerns that challenge concretized notions of the role of biography in education, by shedding light upon recent theoretical perspectives that illuminate the biographer's critical stance, deconstruct the socially and historically situated biographer, subject, and reader, and evaluate the various methods employed in the process of reconstructing life histories for the consummation of others.


This paper will present the findings of multiple forensic investigations on a fourteen-story office building located in Houston, Texas. During our initial survey, widespread cracking was observed within the concrete cladding panels that warranted a more extensive investigation. Construction of the building was completed in 1985; 17 years prior to our initial investigation. Exterior cladding components are comprised of pre-cast concrete panels over each of the floor lines, with a continuous, structurally glazed, horizontal window system at each floor level. The cladding panels are nonload bearing, pre-cast concrete panels, installed at the time of the building's construction. The concrete panels are attached to the structure via steel plates that are welded and bolted to the building's frame. It is intended that this paper will present the results of observations made at the site over a period of several years, as well as the results of testing conducted to assist in the evaluation. A system was developed to locate and catalog the visible anomalies on the panels; including cracks, exposed steel, spalls, pop-outs, and efflorescence on the panels. Full-depth cores were removed from select panels to perform a petrographic analysis and scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive x-ray microanalysis (SEM/EDXA). The results revealed the presence of delayed ettringite formation (DEF) and alkali-silica reactivity (ASR), with varying degrees of severity. Specific conclusions will be derived related to the conditions at this project and how these anomalies have affected the cladding system performance. Current repair and maintenance provisions will be discussed, in addition to the necessary recladding that will be required in the future. Recommendations will be developed regarding construction practices so that the cladding panel failure observed may be avoided in the future.


We present newly acquired trace element compositions for more than 300 zircon grains in 36 gabbros formed at the slow-spreading Mid-Atlantic and Southwest Indian Ridges. Rare earth element patterns for zircon from modern oceanic crust completely overlap with those for zircon crystallized in continental granitoids. However, plots of U versus Yb and U/Yb versus Hf or Y discriminate zircons crystallized in oceanic crust from continental zircon, and provide a relatively robust method for distinguishing zircons from these environments. Approximately 80% of the modern ocean crust zircons are distinct from the fi eld defi ned by more than 1700 continental zircons from Archean and Phanerozoic samples. These discrimination diagrams provide a new tool for fi ngerprinting ocean crust zircons derived from reservoirs like that of modern mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORB) in both modern and ancient detrital zircon populations. Hadean detrital zircons previously reported from the Acasta Gneiss, Canada, and the Narryer Gneiss terrane, Western Australia, plot in the continental granitoid fi eld, supporting hypotheses that at least some Hadean detrital zircons crystallized in continental crust forming magmas and not from a reservoir like modern MORB.


While mobile phones have found broad application in reporting health, financial, and environmental data, there has been little study of the possible errors incurred during mobile data collection. This paper provides the first (to our knowledge) quantitative evaluation of data entry accuracy on mobile phones in a resource-poor setting. Via a study of 13 users in Gujarat, India, we evaluated three user interfaces: 1) electronic forms, containing numeric fields and multiple-choice menus, 2) SMS, where users enter delimited text messages according to printed cue cards, and 3) voice, where users call an operator and dictate the data in real-time. Our results indicate error rates (per datum entered) of 4.2% for electronic forms, 4.8% for SMS, and 0.45% for voice. These results caused us to migrate our own initiative (a tuberculosis treatment program in rural India) from electronic forms to voice, in order to avoid errors on critical health data. While our study has some limitations, including varied backgrounds and training of participants, it suggests that some care is needed in deploying electronic interfaces in resource-poor settings. Further, it raises the possibility of using voice as a low-tech, high-accuracy, and cost-effective interface for mobile data collection.


People-centric urban sensing is a new paradigm gaining popularity. A main obstacle to its widespread deployment and adoption are the privacy concerns of participating individuals. To tackle this open challenge, this paper presents the design and evaluation of PriSense, a novel solution to privacy-preserving data aggregation in people- centric urban sensing systems. PriSense is based on the concept of data slicing and mixing and can support a wide range of statistical additive and non-additive aggregation functions such as Sum, Average, Variance, Count, Max/Min, Median, Histogram, and Percentile with accurate aggregation results. PriSense can support strong user privacy against a tunable threshold number of colluding users and aggregation servers. The efficacy and efficiency of PriSense are confirmed by thorough analytical and simulation results.


Based on the common Hermite-Gaussian modes, a general class of orthonormal Hermite-Gaussian-type modes is introduced. Such modes can most easily be defined by means of their generating function. A propagation law for the generating function is formulated, when these modes propagate through first-order optical systems.


Public trusts for natural resources incorporate both limits and duties on governments in their stewardship of those natural resources. They exist in every state in the United States—in constitutional provisions, statutes, and in common law. Yet the law recognizing public trusts for natural resources may contain only the most basic provisions—often just a sentence or two. The purpose and terms of these public trusts certainly answer some questions about the limits and duties of trustees, but they do not answer all questions. When questions arise that the body of law creating or recognizing a public trust for natural resources does not fully answer, trustees, lawyers, and courts often look to trust law for help. In fact, they have been doing so for more than a century, including in the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark 1892 public trust decision, Illinois Central Railroad Co. v Illinois. In this sense, trust law provides a set of background or underlying principles for interpreting and applying public trusts.

Using cases from around the country, this Article sets out a four-step methodology for determining when and how to use trust law principles to help interpret public trusts. This methodology can be applied in any case involving the use of specific trust principles to help interpret any particular public trust. This Article also explains that the relevant trust law should not be limited to private trust law, but rather it should include general trust principles, charitable trust law principles, and private (or noncharitable) trust law principles.

This Article uses a 2019 Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania decision, Pennsylvania Environmental Defense Foundation v. Commonwealth, as a case study. The case applies article I, section 27 of the Pennsylvania Constitution, which requires that public natural resources be conserved and maintained for the benefit of present and future generations. In that case, the court used an interpretation of private trust law to decide that the state could spend some bonus and rental payment money from oil and gas leasing on state forest and park land, which is constitutional public trust property, for non-trust purposes. This Article applies the four-part methodology to the case, explains general trust law and charitable trust law principles that the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania did not address, and argues that the use of these principles better fits the constitutional public trust. It concludes that the money from bonus and rental payments should be spent entirely for the purposes of the trust.

This Article draws attention to both the potential value of trust law principles and also to their potential danger in the interpretation and application of public trust laws for natural resources. Trust law has the potential to enhance the protectiveness of public trusts by imposing various fiduciary duties on trustees. It also has the potential to undermine public trusts, particularly through rules requiring or encouraging that trust assets be financially productive. To vindicate public trusts for natural resources, environmental and natural resources lawyers need to become better trust lawyers.


ABSTRACT Measuring gender inequality in land ownership is essential for assessing progress in women's economic empowerment, tracing the impact of progressive laws on actual practice, and monitoring SDG 5 on gender equality. To effectively assess inter-gender (male-female) gaps in land ownership, however, requires multiple measures. We also need to know which women are more likely to own land by tracing intra-gender differences. To date, no study on India has provided a full range of measures on inter-gender inequality in land ownership or focused on intra-gender variations. This paper uses unique longitudinal data to measure inter-gender gaps in agricultural land ownership through multiple indicators, and changes over 2009–2014 across nine states. It also analyses intra-gender gaps, and identifies the factors–individual, household and regional–affecting a woman's likelihood of owning land. Despite significant advancement towards equality in inheritance laws, women are found to constitute barely 14% of landowners owning 11% of agricultural land in rural landowning households, averaged across states. Moreover, women are significantly more likely to inherit land as widows than as daughters, highlighting the divergence between the legal strengthening of daughters' rights and the social legitimacy that widows' claims continue to enjoy over daughters' claims.


Abstract The removal of lead and zinc from a binary solution by fixed bed depths (40, 80 and 120 mm) of a natural zeolite was examined at a flow rate of 1 mL/min. The results obtained were fitted to the Bed Depth Service Time (BDST) model and the parameters of the model (q and k) were used to design a column system for flow rates of 2 and 3 mL/min at a bed depth of 80 mm. The experimental results were in excellent agreement with those predicted and experimental breakthrough curves for the binary systems were obtained. This approach facilitates the design of effective binary column processes without additional experimentation. Two major design parameters, the Empty Bed Contact Time (EBCT) and the zeolite usage rate, were calculated. The highest EBCT value of 13.56 min represents the optimal conditions for the binary (Pb+Zn) solution.


'On the Exactitude of Big Data: La Bêtise and Artificial Intelligence' This article revisits the question of 'la bêtise' or stupidity in the era of Artificial Intelligence driven by Big Data, it extends on the questions posed by Gille Deleuze and more recently by Bernard Stiegler. However, the framework for revisiting the question of la bêtise will be through the lens of contemporary computer science, in particular the development of data science as a mode of analysis, sometimes, misinterpreted as a mode of intelligence. In particular, this article will argue that with the advent of forms of hype (sometimes referred to as the hype cycle) in relation to big data and modalities of data analytics there is a form of computational stupidity or functional stupidity at work. The exaggerated promises of big data to solve everything are overblown expectations which will lead ultimately to a form of disillusionment with data science. This can be seen in a number of domains, for example smart city technologies, the internet of things, and machine translation. In addition to the negative effects of exaggerated claims of Big Data is the possibility that societal norms will facilitate Big Data technological change by incorporating the bêtise of Big Data, thus leading to a change in our relationship to technology, examples of this would be privacy standards and ownership of data. This paper will conclude by setting out the analysis some of the limitations of Artificial intelligence and Big Data in order to allow a re-examination of the claims made.


The geological materials produced during catastrophic and destructive events are an essential source of paleobiological knowledge. The paleobiological information recorded by such events can be rich in information on the size, diversity, and structure of paleocommunities. In this regard, the geobiological study of late Devonian organic matter sampled in Tharsis (Iberian Pyrite Belt) provided some new insights into a Paleozoic woodland community, which was recorded as massive sulfides and black shale deposits affected by a catastrophic event. Sample analysis using TOF‐SIMS (Time of Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometer), and complemented by GC/MS (Gas Chromatrograph/Mass Spectrometer) identified organic compounds showing a very distinct distribution in the rock. While phytochemical compounds occur homogeneously in the sample matrix that is composed of black shale, the microbial‐derived organics are more abundant in the sulfide nodules. The cooccurrence of sulfur bacteria compounds and the overwhelming presence of phytochemicals provide support for the hypothesis that the formation of the massive sulfides resulted from a high rate of vegetal debris production and its oxidation through sulfate reduction under suboxic to anoxic conditions. A continuous supply of iron from hydrothermal activity coupled with microbial activity was strictly necessary to produce this massive orebody. A rough estimate of the woodland biomass was made possible by accounting for the microbial sulfur production activity recorded in the metallic sulfide. As a result, the biomass size of the late Devonian woodland community was comparable to modern woodlands like the Amazon or Congo rainforests.


This thesis studies the problem of optimal design of wireless networks whose operating points such as powers, routes and channel capacities are solutions for an optimization problem. Different from existing work that rely on global channel state information (CSI), we focus on distributed algorithms for the optimal wireless networks where terminals only have access to locally available CSI. To begin with, we study random access channels where terminals acquire instantaneous local CSI but do not know the probability distribution of the channel. We develop adaptive scheduling and power control algorithms and show that the proposed algorithm almost surely maximizes a proportional fair utility while adhering to instantaneous and average power constraints. Then, these results are extended to random access multihop wireless networks. In this case, the associated optimization problem is neither convex nor amenable to distributed implementation, so a problem approximation is introduced which allows us to decompose it into local subproblems in the dual domain. The solution method based on stochastic subgradient descent leads to an architecture composed of layers and layer interfaces. With limited amount of message passing among terminals and small computational cost, the proposed algorithm converges almost surely in an ergodic sense. Next, we study the optimal transmission over wireless channels with imperfect CSI available at the transmitter side. To reduce the likelihood of packet losses due to the mismatch between channel estimates and actual channel values, a backoff function is introduced to enforce the selection of more conservative coding modes. Joint determination of optimal power allocations and backoff functions is a nonconvex stochastic optimization problem with infinitely many variables. Exploiting the resulting equivalence between primal and dual problems, we show that optimal power allocations and channel backoff functions are uniquely determined by optimal dual variables and develop algorithms to find the optimal solution. Finally, we study the optimal design of wireless network from a game theoretical perspective. In particular, we formulate the problem as a Bayesian game in which each terminal maximizes the expected utility based on its belief about the network state. We show that optimal solutions for two special cases, namely FDMA and RA, are equilibrium points of the game. Therefore, the proposed game theoretic formulation can be regarded as general framework for optimal design of wireless networks. Furthermore, cognitive access algorithms are developed to find solutions to the game approximately. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Electrical & Systems Engineering First Advisor Roch Guerin


Teaching sociology to nurses has become a significant issue within health sociology, reflected in the workshop, Teaching sociology to healthcare professionals in training, at the British Sociological Association's Medical Sociology Conference in York, 2001. The new nursing curriculum acknowledges the need for the twenty-first century nurse to utilise knowledge from a range of disciplines when assessing patients/clients and deciding on an approach to care. Nursing is no longer (if it ever was) the sum of its tasks - or what nurses 'do' - but has become a complex set of relationships. Society has changed since the inception of the NHS, deference towards health professionals has lessened and individuals are more willing to challenge 'experts'. Professional boundaries are also becoming less rigid, and many client groups are demanding a more active part in decision-making. The NHS itself has seen many reorganisations and nurses, along with other health care workers, have had to adapt to changing structures and ideologies of health care.

The impact of these changes has been immense and many nurses have found themselves at a loss in knowing how to prepare themselves for the new demands made of them. There are probably few nurses who would turn to sociology to provide any of the answers, as it is frequently perceived to be not of direct relevance. This book has, therefore, deliberately set out to demonstrate the usefulness of sociology by relating the concepts and theories of sociology and health policy to nursing practice, with examples from all four branches of nursing.


We analyze stochastic algorithms for optimizing nonconvex, nonsmooth finite-sum problems, where the nonsmooth part is convex. Surprisingly, unlike the smooth case, our knowledge of this fundamental problem is very limited. For example, it is not known whether the proximal stochastic gradient method with constant minibatch converges to a stationary point. To tackle this issue, we develop fast stochastic algorithms that provably converge to a stationary point for constant minibatches. Furthermore, using a variant of these algorithms, we obtain provably faster convergence than batch proximal gradient descent. Our results are based on the recent variance reduction techniques for convex optimization but with a novel analysis for handling nonconvex and nonsmooth functions. We also prove global linear convergence rate for an interesting subclass of nonsmooth nonconvex functions, which subsumes several recent works.


Public benefits derived from continued growth in the transport of passengers and cargo are dependent on the improvement of the intrinsic safety attributes of the Nation's and the world's current and future air transportation system. Recent developments to address increasing demand for access to the airspace include: increased use of automation and autonomy to enhance system capabilities; airspace systems with tightly coupled air and ground functionality; cloud computing-based technologies used to perform functions or services; other widely distributed functions across ground, air, and space environments; increasingly integrated aircraft systems; and novel vehicle capabilities for both traditional and advanced air mobility (AAM) operations such as Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) and Urban Air Mobility (UAM). These revolutionary changes are leading to greater system complexity, and current methods of ensuring that airspace and vehicle designs meet desired safety levels will likely not scale to these levels of complexity (Aeronautics R&D Plan, p. 30). The Airspace Operations and Safety Program (AOSP) is addressing this challenge with a major area of focus on In-Time System-Wide Safety Assurance (ISSA). Understanding and predicting systemwide safety concerns of the airspace system and the vehicles flying in it, as envisioned in future aviation systems, is paramount. Thus, a proactive approach to managing system safety requires that once a new system, technology, procedure, or training is introduced, that operators have: (1) the ability to monitor the system continuously and to extract and fuse information from diverse data sources to identify emergent anomalous behaviors through health monitoring of systemwide functions and (2) the ability to reliably predict probabilities of the occurrence of hazardous events and of their safety risks. Specifically, AOSP's SystemWide Safety (SWS) Project is developing an In-Time Aviation Safety Management System (IASMS), a scalable and distributed system approach to address aviation safety needs. Based on ISSA building blocks, IASMS services, functions, and capabilities (SFCs) are architecturally structured to "Monitor—Assess—Mitigate" operational safety risks. For definition, services are systems that produce safety-relevant information, functions produce safetyrelevant outputs or data needed to compute safety-relevant metrics, and capabilities provide safety-relevant benefits that may leverage services and functions. IASMS SFCs are envisioned to include increasingly automated and autonomous functionality to adapt and scale to the increasing complexity of aviation operations, necessitating new approaches to assure autonomous functionality. Therefore, proposals focused on assurance of autonomy for operational systems will also be considered for award. Additionally, due to the increasingly digital transformation of the airspace system and nature of the IASMS, one research area of high interest is methods for monitoring, assessing, and mitigating cybersecurity vulnerabilities and attacks. Innovative approaches and methods are sought that monitor/assess/mitigate vulnerabilities before they can be exploited by malicious actors. Proposed innovations are sought that can be easily incorporated into the IASMS. Proposals that lack a technology/function that can be integrated into the concept of an IASMS will be declined.


Sleep disorders is one of the most frequent child medical consultation, indeed the rate of children that suffer it in a transitory way is considerably high. Among the most common sleep disorders is named "children behavioral insomnia", many different drugs has been used as treatment with poor results with relevant secondary effects. We focus on children with ADHD that present sleep disorders among most frequent comorbidities. The most relevant contribution of this work is the use of an artificial neural network (ANN) for unsupervised learning called the Growing Neural Forest (GNF), which is a variation of the Growing Neural Gas (GNG) model where a set of trees is learnt instead of a general graph so that input data can be better represented, to study actigraphic data to evaluate the use of MTF and melatonin in a group of children with sleep disorders. Thus, the GNF model is trained with actigraphic data from children ADHD affected as input data. The GNG and SOM (Self-Organizing Map) models are also trained with these data for comparative purposes. Experimental results demonstrate that sleep was not affected by administrating drugs (MFT and melatonin).


Background Randomized clinical trials supporting the use of intra-arterial administration of thrombolytics (IAT) for the treatment of stroke due to middle cerebral artery (MCA) occlusion have been positive on some, but not all, endpoints. A meta-analysis was performed to estimate with more precision the effect of IAT on several key clinical endpoints. Methods All randomized trials of IAT in the treatment of MCA stroke were identified by PUBMED search and by hand search of potentially relevant references. Trial methodologies were assessed for compatibility in study protocols and statistical analysis. A meta-analysis was performed evaluating the effect of IAT on functional outcome at 90 days and symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage (SICH) within 24 h. Results Three trials met the criteria for the meta-analysis. IAT treated patients were significantly more likely to have a modified Rankin scale (mRS) ≤1 (31% vs 20%, OR 2.0, 95% CI 1.2 to 3.4, p=0.01); mRS ≤2 (43% vs 31%, OR 1.9, 95% CI 1.2 to 3.0, p=0.01); and NIH Stroke Scale score 0 or 1 (23% vs 12%, OR 2.4, 95% CI 1.3 to 4.4, p=0.007) at the 90 day follow-up. There was no effect on mortality at 90 days (20% vs 19%, OR 0.84, 95% CI 0.5 to 1.5). The risk of SICH was significantly increased in the active treatment arms (11% vs 2%, OR 4.6, 95% CI 1.3 to 16, p=0.02). Conclusions Our meta-analysis demonstrates that all standard functional endpoints for stroke trials were substantially improved in the active treatment arms. Despite an increased risk of SICH, there was no effect on mortality. These results support endovascular treatment of acute ischemic stroke due to MCA occlusion with intra-arterial thrombolytics.


Staff specialists are increasingly concerned about their credibility with executive groups. Events and trends of the past few years have meant more pressures on the staff man. This is partly a consequence of better technical training for line managers. While there has always been plenty of evidence of executive scepticism of staff advice, now more and more managers are able to back up their intuitive doubts with more reasoned consideration of the technical underpinnings of information they receive from experts. Not only can many executives question the conclusions of the staff man but they may also be able to delve into the technical process through which those conclusions evolved.


Hydro power can provide a source of dispatchable low-carbon electricity and a storage solution in a climate-dependent energy mix with high shares of wind and solar production. Therefore, understanding the effect climate has on hydro power generation is critical to ensure a stable energy supply, particularly at a continental scale. Here, we introduce a framework using climate data to model hydro power generation at the country level based on a machine learning method, the random forest model, to produce a publicly accessible hydro power dataset from 1979 to present for twelve European countries. In addition to producing a consistent European hydro power generation dataset covering the past 40 years, the specific novelty of this approach is to focus on the lagged effect of climate variability on hydro power. Specifically, multiple lagged values of temperature and precipitation are used. Overall, the model shows promising results, with the correlation values ranging between 0.85 and 0.98 for run-of-river and between 0.73 and 0.90 for reservoir-based generation. Compared to the more standard optimal lag approach the normalised mean absolute error reduces by an average of 10.23% and 5.99%, respectively. The model was also implemented over six Italian bidding zones to also test its skill at the sub-country scale. The model performance is only slightly degraded at the bidding zone level, but this also depends on the actual installed capacity, with higher capacities displaying higher performance. The framework and results presented could provide a useful reference for applications such as pan-European (continental) hydro power planning and for system adequacy and extreme events assessments.


The fabrication of a superhydrophobic carbon nanofiber (CNF) on various substrates (activated carbon fiber and glass) via a two-step process (plasma sputtering followed by chemical vapor deposition at a lower operating temperature of 300 °C) is reported, eliminating the need for multiple pre- and post-treatments with toxic chemicals (fluorine/Si-based chemicals, metal salts, and organic solvents). Entangled CNFs grown on the coated activated carbon fiber (ACF) and glass substrates showed superhydrophobicity with water contact angles of 146° and 156°, respectively. The superhydrophobicity of the coated substrate is attributed to its lower surface energy, more graphitic structure (lower ID/IG ratio) as observed by Raman spectroscopy, lower carbonization state ratio (sp3/sp2 ratio) and restricted carbonyl (CO) as analyzed by X-ray photo-electron spectroscopy, and hydroxyl functional groups (–OH) as shown by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Coated substrates were found to be stable in both acidic and basic chemicals. The load carrying capacity of the deposited CNF was measured to be up to 153 times that of its own deposited weight. The coated ACF was used for oil/water separation and showed a separation efficiency of >99%. Thus, the as processed durable CNF coated substrates can potentially be used for many applications such as anti-wetting, corrosion resistance, support for floating aquatic micro-devices and oil–water separation applications.


OBJECTIVES
Most studies of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) incidence and prevalence among workers have been limited by small sample sizes or restricted to a small subset of jobs. We established a common CTS case definition and then pooled CTS prevalence and incidence data across six prospective studies of musculoskeletal outcomes to measure CTS frequency and allow better studies of etiology.

METHODS
Six research groups collected prospective data at > 50 workplaces including symptoms characteristic of CTS and electrodiagnostic studies (EDS) of the median and ulnar nerves across the dominant wrist. While study designs and the timing of data collection varied across groups, we were able to create a common CTS case definition incorporating both symptoms and EDS results from data that were collected in all studies.

RESULTS
At the time of enrollment, 7.8% of 4321 subjects met our case definition and were considered prevalent cases of CTS. During 8833 person-years of follow-up, an additional 204 subjects met the CTS case definition for an overall incidence rate of 2.3 CTS cases per 100 person-years.

CONCLUSIONS
Both prevalent and incident CTS were common in data pooled across multiple studies and sites. The large number of incident cases in this prospective study provides adequate power for future exposure-response analyses to identify work- and non-work-related risk factors for CTS. The prospective nature allows determination of the temporal relations necessary for causal inference.


Contemporary aerospace programmes often suffer from large cost overruns, delivery delays and inferior product quality. This is caused in part by poor predictive quality of the early design phase processes with regards to the operational environment of a product. This paper develops the idea of a generic operational simulation that can help designers to rigorously analyse and test their early product concepts. The simulation focusses on civil Unmanned Air Vehicle products and missions to keep the scope of work tractable. The research agenda is introduced along with ideas, initial results and future work. Designers specify details about their product, its environment and anticipated operational procedures. The simulation returns information that can help to estimate the value of the product using the value-driven design approach. Information will include recurring and non-recurring mission cost items. The research aim is to show that an operational simulation can improve early design concepts, thereby reducing delays and cost overruns. Moreover, a trade-off between mission fidelity and model generality is sought along with a generic ontology of civil Unmanned Air Vehicle missions and guidelines about capturing operational information


Converting unused offshore oil and gas installations into artificial reefs as one of the alternative methods of decommissioning, is used in many coastal states across the globe for the purposes of coastal management, enhancement and attraction of living marine resources, protection and preservation goals. Despite the positive impacts of artificial reefs, there are also potential negative impacts which require adequate maintenance of assets as well as, continuing monitoring and supervising. Although a lot of countries have comprehensive regulation on artificial reefs, many nations have blanket regulation requiring obsolete structures to be removed, yet it can bring about enormous environmental, socio-economic benefits. The sensitivity of deployment of structures as artificial reefs induced international and regional conventions to intervene and regulate the matter. The aim of this paper is to compare the most important international and regional conventions and critically compare and analysis them with the current Iran's national laws and regulations. Iran is one of the biggest oil and gas producers and have a huge number of offshore installations which will require decommissioning in the coming years. Therefore, comprehensive national regulation should be enacted on decommissioning and also the possibility of creation artificial reefs. The authors seek out to evaluate the existing legislation in order to assess the potential capacity of Iran's seas for converting the installations into artificial reefs.


For 250 years the State Hermitage has been one of Europe's most palatial museums. The Hermitage collections were developed beginning in 1764 by Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia, and now encompass more than three million works of art and artifacts displayed within a spectacular architectural ensemble, the heart of which is the famed Winter Palace. Now, on this important anniversary, this stunning volume captures the masterpieces that make this world-famous institution a cultural destination and a global treasure. 250 Masterpieces explores this sumptuous collection in the manner of a private tour showcasing works by Italian Renaissance artists including Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Titian; Spanish artists such as Velazquez, Ribera, and Murillo; Flemish Baroque artists from van Dyck, Rubens, Rembrandt, and Jan Brueghel the Elder; Impressionist and post-Impressionist works from Renoir, Monet, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cezanne, and Degas; and modern painting by Matisse, Picasso, Malevich, and Kandinsky. Priceless antiquities, feats of mechanical engineering, such as the famous Peacock Clock, and works of sculpture and decorative arts will also be shown both in situ and as works in focus. With lavish reproductions accompanied by texts from the museum's leading curators, this amazing volume is sure to become an instant classic, cherished by art lovers around the world.


Stochastic first-order methods such as Stochastic Extragradient (SEG) or Stochastic Gradient Descent-Ascent (SGDA) for solving smooth minimax problems and, more generally, variational inequality problems (VIP) have been gaining a lot of attention in recent years due to the growing popularity of adversarial formulations in machine learning. However, while high-probability convergence bounds are known to reflect the actual behavior of stochastic methods more accurately, most convergence results are provided in expectation. Moreover, the only known high-probability complexity results have been derived under restrictive sub-Gaussian (light-tailed) noise and bounded domain assumption [Juditsky et al., 2011]. In this work, we prove the first high-probability complexity results with logarithmic dependence on the confidence level for stochastic methods for solving monotone and structured non-monotone VIPs with non-sub-Gaussian (heavy-tailed) noise and unbounded domains. In the monotone case, our results match the best-known ones in the light-tails case [Juditsky et al., 2011], and are novel for structured non-monotone problems such as negative comonotone, quasi-strongly monotone, and/or star-cocoercive ones. We achieve these results by studying SEG and SGDA with clipping. In addition, we numerically validate that the gradient noise of many practical GAN formulations is heavy-tailed and show that clipping improves the performance of SEG/SGDA.


Instructional designers can support ill-structured problem solving through case libraries that detail domain-specific principles. In this design project, case libraries were employed in an undergraduate sales management course to contextualize knowledge and describe the ill-structured nature of how solutions are derived to solve authentic problems. Whereas many learning environments employ examples of model behavior (Jonassen, 2011), this instructional design was innovative in that the case libraries consisted of sales management failure experiences as the means to facilitate learning. The failure cases embedded within the learning environment engendered design tensions on multiple levels throughout the instructional design. Specifically, this article discusses the issues of engaging the subject matter expert (SME) to talk about failure cases and subsequent challenges to translate the experiences into meaningful learning resources for ill-structured problem solving. Other challenges included how to strategically design the learning environment so that the case library was available at the optimal time for the learners. The design case concludes with a reflection upon the process.


This paper develops a general theoretical model for the measurement of strategic performance. The concepts are universal and, by applying the methodology through specific quantitative analytic methods, measurable for all forms of strategic activity. The model distinguishes three aspects of strategic performance: (i) strategy itself relative to its goals; (ii) specific executions relative to the strategy itself; and (iii) competing or alternative strategies per se. The methodology for quantifying these aspects of strategic performance is: (i) estimate a strategy's best potential from its actual best performances; (ii) evaluate individual executions by comparing their results to their strategies' potentials; and (iii) compare different strategies per se based on their best potentials. These general steps can be implemented by different quantitative analytic methods; one is outlined and others are indicated.The conceptual framework and derived methods address two problems. First, they provide practicable means of evaluating the three aspects of strategic performance in practice to diagnose the causes of strategic success and failure, to identify efficacious from futile strategies and effectual from unavailing execution, and to compare competing strategies. Second, they supply a fundamental theoretical deficiency common to both academic and practitioner studies which evaluate either strategy performance or execution performance while failing to control or account for the simultaneous effect of the other. These methods can also be applied to investigate broader economic issues, like risk theory or market completeness.


In July 2005, the Thai cabinet passed the resolution that allows migrant children access to free public education. This paper uncovers education experiences of children of migrant workers who study in Thai public schools, concentrating on the Thai government's education policy towards these children. Data are drawn from an ethnographic study conducted between 2010 and 2011 in two provinces of Thailand—Ranong Province and Pattani Province. Qualitative research methods such as interview, observation and document examination are used to obtain data. School practices such as the admission process, the placement of children into classes, classroom instruction, and supporting systems are examined. Interactions between teachers and migrant children as well as between migrant children and local children are observed. The results show that while allowing migrant children to access public education, the Thai government does not have a policy to promote or to persuade migrant parents to bring their children to schools. A policy to follow up on children of migrants who drop out also does not exist. Additionally, school practices and curricula do not match the circumstances of the children. This article argues that Thailand's current education policy allows children of migrants to access public education, but does not help them to proceed to higher levels of education.


The purpose of this study was to contribute to the advancement of statistically-based iterative reconstruction algorithms and protocols for both SPECT and micro CT data. Major contributions of this work to SPECT reconstruction include formulation and implementation of fully three-dimensional voxel-based system matrix in parallel-beam, fan-beam, and cone-beam collimator geometries while modeling the process of attenuation, system resolution and sensitivity. This is achieved by casting rays through a volume of voxels and using ray-voxel intersection lengths to determine approximate volume contributions. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of reconstructed Monte Carlo data sets show that this is a very effective and efficient method. Using this method, three SPECT studies were conducted. First, the reconstruction performance was studied for a triple-head cone-beam SPECT system using a helical orbit acquisition. We looked at various subset groupings for the orderedsubsets expectation maximization (OSEM) algorithm. We also examined how rotational and translational sampling affects reconstructed image quality when constrained by total injected dose and scan time. We conclude the following: When reconstructing noiseless datasets, varying the rotational sampling from 90 views to 360 views over 360 degrees does not affect the reconstructed activity regardless of the object size in terms of both convergence and accuracy. When using ordered subsets, the subset group arrangement is important in terms of both image quality and accuracy. The smaller the object is that is being reconstructed, the rate of convergence decreases, the spatial resolution decreases, and accuracy decreases. Second, we examined a system composed of three, possibly different, converging collimators using a circular orbit. We conclude the following: When reconstructing noiseless datasets, using a triple-cone beam system resulted in distortion artifacts along the axial direction and diminished resolution along the transaxial direction. Using a triple-fan beam system resulted in the best reconstructed image quality in terms of bias, noise, and contrast. When noisy datasets were reconstructed, a cone-cone-fan beam system resulted in best reconstructed image quality in terms of mean-to-actual ratio for small lesions and a triple-fan beam system for large lesions. Finally, a two-dimensional mesh-based system matrix for parallel-beam collimation with attenuation and resolution modeling was designed, implemented, and studied. We conclude that no more than two divisions per detector bin width are needed for satisfactory reconstruction. Also, using more than two divisions per detector bin does not significantly improve reconstructed images. A chapter on iterative micro-CT reconstruction is also included. Our contribution to micro-CT reconstruction is the formulation and implementation of a cone-beam system matrix that reduces ring artifacts associated with sampling of the reconstruction space. This new approach reduces the common 3-D ray-tracing technique into 2-D, making it very efficient. The images obtained using our approach are compared to images reconstructed by means of analytical techniques. We observe significant improvement in image quality for the images reconstructed using our iterative method. DEVELOPMENT OF SPECT AND CT TOMOGRAPHIC IMAGE RECONSTRUCTION


Preferences for certain nectar plants by moth pollinators have not been extensively studied, particularly seasonal switches in nectar diet. The genus Hemaris, found throughout North America and parts of other continents, is a useful new system to address questions of flower-insect interactions as the moths are relatively common and day-flying . In this study we address the following questions with a group of three Hemaris species. (1) Does Hemaris display a preference for foraging on the native swamp thistle, Cirsium discolor, over the non-native invasive knapweeds, Centaurea spp.? (2) What factors might be driving Hemaris' preferences? The bloom periods of C. discolor and Centaurea overlap in the northeastern United States, with Centaurea blooming from approximately June through September and C. discolor blooming for approximately the first three weeks of August. Hemaris typically ecloses in the first week of July and fed on Centaurea until C. discolor bloomed. We tracked and recorded Hemaris visits to both plant species. During the co-blooming period of C. discolor and Centaurea , Hemaris visits significantly more C. discolor inflorescences, demonstrating a possible preference for the native species. Hemaris reverts to nectaring at the non-native Centaurea after native C. discolor' s bloom period ends. The nectar of C. discolor has a significantly higher sugar concentration than does the nectar of Centaurea ; this difference may account for part of the moths' preference for C. discolor.


For several years, researchers from the Spokane Research Laboratory of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) have been using geotechnical instruments in underground mines to study ground control problems and develop means of reducing accidents and fatalities caused by ground falls. This paper describes many of the different types of instruments, sensors, and data acquisition equipment that have been used for these studies; briefly explains the advantages and disadvantages of various sensor technologies; provides practical recommendations regarding the use of specific instruments and data acquisition systems; and outlines a general approach to the design and implementation of a successful instrumentation plan. A wide variety of instruments are commercially available for measuring deformation, strain, stress, and/or load. If used correctly, these instruments can provide important quantitative information regarding the mininginduced behavior of the host rock, the performance of ground support systems, and the safety and stability of underground workings. Data collected from these instruments can warn mine staff of impending ground control failures or hazardous working conditions, as well as provide valuable information for the design of ground support systems and the configuration and sequencing of mining excavations. We hope that the practical information presented in this paper will encourage a more widespread use of geotechnical instruments in underground mines and lead to reliable measurements that aid the engineering decisions affecting the safety of miners. Mining engineer. Mechanical engineer. Geologist. Spokane Research Laboratory, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Spokane, WA.


This paper explores the collaborative relationship between Jess Aslan and Emma Lloyd in the context of two projects: a set of three pieces for violin and computer and an electro-instrumental duo album under the band name KUBOV. Beginning with discrete roles as composer and performer, our working relationship progressed naturally into one of equal authorship, and equal performative contribution. In exploring this creative relationship, we will examine the effects of working primarily with sound, over notation. We look at how building and extending our instruments affected the hybridity of our sound and contributed to the development of our musical language. We will analyse the importance of improvisation to our development as a duo, in the generation of ideas and the discovery of new sounds and potential in our instruments. This allowed us to retain a certain freedom when we returned to a loosely composed format to record our album. Over the course of this paper, we will examine the terms of our collaboration, with reference to other relevant work. We contextualise this collaboration with theoretical analysis and we reflect on the practicalities of our joint musical development and the growth of our musical partnership. The initial classically informed hierarchy of the composer/performer duo dissolved as we each took on a balanced creative and performative role.


The study of defects and disorder in condensed matter remains a central subject of materials science. Newly emerging experimental and theoretical techniques promote our understanding in this field, and reveal many interesting phenomena in which the atomic picture plays a crucial role. In this thesis we present a study on the fundamental and applied aspects of defects and disorder in industrial materials.We consider the basic aspects of defective and disordered crystals, and discuss the structural, electronic, thermodynamic and mechanical properties of such materials. In particular, we have systematically investigated the defects in copper metal based on ab initio calculations. The point defects, point defects interactions, stacking faults, and the grain boundaries have been studied. Efforts are made to relate the atomistic information to the macroscopic mechanical behavior of copper metal possessing defects. The stackingfault energy of copper is found to be sensitive to the change of temperature and the presence of point defects. The atomic size effect of phosphorous is more evident for the change of the stacking-fault energy of copper among the 3sp impurities. While the change of the work of separation of grain boundary is found to follow the pattern of the chemical effect. When the chemical effect dominates, the impurity enhances the cohesion strength of grain boundary, and vice versa. The study well explains the various influence of the defects on the macroscopic mechanical properties of copper, including the anomalous behaviour of phosphorous in copper.The structure and properties of monovalent copper compounds with oxygen and/or hydrogen were also explored. The ground-state cuprice–CuOH(s) was identified using a combined theoretical-experimental effort. The structure determined with DFT was validated by comparison with the X-ray diffraction data obtained from the synthesized material. The ground-state structure of CuOH(s) has a layered structure that is stabilized by antiferroelectric cation ordering which, in turn, is caused by collective electrostatic interactions. The electronic and thermodynamic properties of the cationordered CuOH(s) are intimately linked to the bonding topology in this material, which is composed of one-dimensional (folded and interlocked chains) and two-dimensional (layers) structural units. The solid CuOH is an indirect band gap semiconductor, while the band gap varies between 2.73 eV and 3.03 eV due to cation disorder. The hydrogen in CuOH has little effect on the ionic nature of the Cu–O bonding relative to that in Cu2O, but lowers the energy levels of the occupied states by giving a covalent character to the O–H bond. The competing structures of copper hydride were also investigated. Structure–property relationships were analyzed on this series of materials to gain fundamental understanding of their behaviour.Defects and disorder are also important for understanding the structure γ-alumina. Our calculations have confirmed that the most stable structure of γ-alumina is the defective spinel phase with disordered cation vacancies. The hydrogenated spinel phase is also dynamically stable, but thermodynamically unstable with respect to the defective spinel phase and H2O, as well as relative to the defective spinel phase and Boehmite (γ- AlO(OH)). This is in spite of the high entropy content of hydrogenated γ-alumina. Our calculations and analysis allow us to conclude that the hydrogenated spinel structure is only a metastable phase that forms during the decomposition of Boehmite above 753 K. However, dehydration of the metastable phase into the ground state is expected to be a slow process due to the low diffusion rate of H, which leaves hydrogen as a locked-in impurity in γ-alumina under conditions of normal temperature and pressure.


Abstract The ITER central solenoid (CS) is wound from cable-in-conduit-conductor (CICC) and cooled by supercritical Helium (He) delivered to ~120 inner diameter (ID) turns through integrally welded "inlets." The flow to each inlet splits and passes through two pancakes, exiting at outlets. While both the He supply and return points (outlets) require penetrating the conduit wall, the inlets reside in the highest stress field, and thus become the more critical structural element. The CS Conceptual Design Review (CRD) reference He inlet design has a long, narrow slot in the inside diameter (ID) turn wall with pencil-tip shaped ends. This shape is optimized in order to minimize the hoop stress concentration. The slot length is chosen to expose each of the six superconducting (SC) sub-cables to the He cooling supply. Implementing this design at 120 inlet sites requires substantial machining and welding operations where even virgin conduit has minimal structural margin. A design space exploration produces numerous inlet options. One configuration emerges as the new reference configuration: the oblong, heavy-wall boss. It addresses all of the critical issues: bi-axial stress field, pressure drop and sub-cable flow uniformity, manufacturing costs (complexities and risks) and in-service robustness (least invasive, greatest margin). Finite element (FE) simulations are presented which highlight the results of the optimization and evaluation process.


The effects of heat release were studied in a planar, gaseous reacting mixing layer formed between free streams containing hydrogen and fluorine in inert diluents. Sufficiently high concentrations of reactants were employed to produce adiabatic flame temperature rises of up to 940 K (1240 K absolute). The Reynolds number at the measuring station, based on velocity difference, 1% temperature thickness and cold kinematic viscosity was approximately 6x104. The temperature field was measured with cold wire resistance thermometers and thermocouples. Flow visualization was accomplished by schlieren spark and motion picture photography. Mean velocity information was extracted from mean pitot probe dynamic pressure measurements. Though the displacement thickness of the layer, for zero streamwise pressure gradient, increased with increasing heat release, the actual growth rate of the layer did not increase, but instead decreased slightly. The overall entrainment into the layer was seen to be substantially reduced as a consequence of heat release. Calculations showed that the decrease in layer growth rate can be accounted for by a corresponding reduction in turbulent shear stress. The mean temperature rise profiles, normalized by the adiabatic flame temperature rise, were not greatly changed in shape by heat release. A small decrease in normalized mean temperature rise with heat release was observed. Large scale coherent structures were observed to persist at all levels of heat release in this investigation. The mean structure spacing decreased with increasing temperature. This decrease exceeded the rate of layer growth rate reduction, and suggests that the mechanisms of vortex amalgamation were, to some extent, inhibited by heat release. Imposition of a favorable pressure gradient resulted in additional thinning of the layer, and caused a slight increase in the mixing and amount of chemical product formation. The change in layer growth rate can be shown to be related to a change in free stream velocity ratio induced by pressure gradient.