From personal computers using an increasing number of cores, to supercomputers having millions of computing units, parallel architectures are the current standard. The high performance architectures are usually referenced to as hierarchical, as they are composed from clusters of multi-processors of multi-cores. Programming such architectures is known to be notoriously difficult. Writing parallel programs is, most of the time, difficult for both the algorithmic and the implementation phase. To answer those concerns, many structured models and languages were proposed in order to increase both expressiveness and efficiency. Among other models, Multi-BSP is a bridging model dedicated to hierarchical architecture that ensures efficiency, execution safety, scalability and cost prediction. It is an extension of the well known BSP model that handles flat architectures.In this thesis we introduce the Multi-ML language, which allows programming Multi-BSP algorithms "a la ML" and thus, guarantees the properties of the Multi-BSP model and the execution safety, thanks to a ML type system. To deal with the multi-level execution model of Multi-ML, we defined formal semantics which describe the valid evaluation of an expression. To ensure the execution safety of Multi-ML programs, we also propose a typing system that preserves replicated coherence. An abstract machine is defined to formally describe the evaluation of a Multi-ML program on a Multi-BSP architecture. An implementation of the language is available as a compilation toolchain. It is thus possible to generate an efficient parallel code from a program written in Multi-ML and execute it on any hierarchical machine


The last few years have seen a great increase in works on what has been labeled a "sociological turn" in translation studies. This turn has particularly taught us to sharpen our "sociological eye" on the various agencies and agents involved in any translation procedure, and more specifically in the textual factors operating in the translation process. In this paper I will discuss the conditions underlying the "sociological turn" and examine both its limitations and its potential, with particular attention to the translator's habitus as elaborated in sociology and in translation studies. My focus will be on the political factors which in recent years have contributed to molding the habitus, not least in the domain of "translation and activism," where new codes of reference have been created for translatorial activity that also pose searching questions for Western concepts of translation and their social implications, ultimately triggering what might be called an "activist turn."


This working paper contains a review and analysis of environmental policy tools in Latin America. It contains a review of the instruments themselves and their properties are discussed in both static and dynamic contexts. The report brings together the institutional and more narrowly economic material and attempts to offer general guidance on types of instruments that seem most promising in various combinations of circumstances. These recommendations are also contrasted with those from some other authors, to the extent that is possible. The penultimate section of the report contains summary material on efforts at environmental management in a few Latin American countries, especially on efforts to institute economic incentive systems. The concluding section contains both a summary of the major arguments and conclusions from earlier sections and some speculation about the possibilities for using environmental policy design as a way of influencing institutional evolution within developing countries.


ABSTRACT

Background: The paper considers gender-related differences in the character accentuations of the adolescents living in the North-East of Russia who are addicted to alcohol. Also, separately between girls and boys, the differences in character types were studied for those prone to drinking alcohol and who are not inclined to. Aim: The study was to determine the gender-related profiles of character accentuations in adolescents prone to alcohol consumption. The object of the study involves two tasks: 1. To study the character types among those addicted and not addicted to alcohol; 2. To specify gender-related features of the character accentuations among adolescents tending to use alcohol and those not inclined to. Material and methods: The study involved 204 adolescents aged 14-17 from three schools in the city of Magadan. Among them, 105 girls (group I) and 99 boys (group II). The questionnaire by G. Schmishek - K. Leonhard was used to determine the types of the character accentuations. Statistical processing of the data was carried out using the licensed software packages of Excel-97 and Statistica-10. The examinees were divided into two groups of those addicted and not addicted to alcohol based on the Michigan Screening Test for Adolescents, "Are There Problems with Drugs and Alcohol?" Results: The examined girls prone to drinking alcohol differed from their age mates who were not prone to using psychologically active substances, by reliably (p<0.05) more pronounced features of the excitable type, and less emotive and demonstrative types. The examined boys who tended to have alcohol, unlike their peers who were not inclined to drink alcohol, had significant differences (p<0.05) in five types of accentuations: more pronounced traits of hyperthymic, emotive, cyclothymic, excitable and exalted types of character.We observed a higher profile of accentuations in the girls compared with the peer boys and referred it to the gender-related features of accentuations in adolescence, regardless of the tendency to use PAS. The emotive, alarming, cyclothymic, excitable and exalted types of accentuations proved to equally prevail in all the girls (p<0.05). Of note that, the girls not prone to drinking alcohol demonstrated hyperthymic and demonstrative types of characters which predominated in comparison with the boys who do not drink alcohol (p<0.05). Conclusion: The prevailing personality traits in adolescents both boys and girls who tend to drink alcohol can serve as unfavorable prognostic signs of addiction to psychoactive substances as compared to their age mates not addicted to PAS.


In this paper, a novel electronic brake booster and an accurate pressure control method for engineering are put forward and consider the shortcomings of the existing braking system in active braking for intelligent driving. Together with the hydraulic control unit, they are comprised of two working modes: active braking for automatic drive and passive braking for driver intervention. For wheel cylinder pressure control, we translate the control problem of pressure to position tracking. The strong nonlinearity and the load-dependent friction make the position tracking control of the electro-mechanical brake booster more challenging. Consequently, a modified PI control architecture is presented with techniques of cascaded three closed loop PI controller, friction compensation based on friction model, and gain scheduling. Finally, based on dSPACE, we carried out the rapid prototyping tests of active braking and hardware in the loop tests covering full speed ACC conditions. The results show that pressure control, acceleration control, and speed control achieve optimal performance.


In recent years, there has been an explosion in the amount of distributed data due to the ever decreasing cost of both storage and bandwidth. There is a growing need for automatic distributed data management techniques. The three main areas in dealing with distributed data that we address in this dissertation are (1) cooperative caching, (2) compression caching, and (3) aggregation.
First, we address cooperative caching, in which caches cooperate to locate and cache data objects. The benefits of cooperative caching have been demonstrated by various studies. We address a hierarchical generalization of cooperative caching in which caches are arranged as leaf nodes in a hierarchical tree network, and we call this variant Hierarchical Cooperative Caching. We present a deterministic hierarchical generalization of LRU that is constant-competitive when the capacity blowup is linear in d, the depth of the cache hierarchy. Furthermore, we show that any randomized hierarchical cooperative caching algorithm with capacity blowup b has competitive ratio Ω(log db ) against an oblivious adversary. Thus we establish that there is no resource competitive algorithm for the hierarchical cooperative caching problem.
Second, we address a class of compression caching problems in which a file can be cached in multiple formats with varying sizes and encode/decode costs. In this work, we address three problems in this class of compression caching. The first problem assumes that the encode cost and decode cost associated with any format of a file are equal. For this problem we present a resource competitive online algorithm. To explore the existence of resource competitive online algorithms for compression caching with arbitrary encode costs and decode costs, we address two other natural problems in the aforementioned class, and for each of these problems, we show that there exists a non-constant lower bound on the competitive ratio of any online algorithm, even if the algorithm is given an arbitrary factor capacity blowup. Thus, we establish that there is no resource competitive algorithm for compression caching in its full generality.
Third, we address the problem of aggregation over trees with the goal of adapting aggregation aggressiveness. Consider a distributed network with nodes arranged in a tree, and each node having a local value. We consider the problem of aggregating values (e.g., summing values) from all nodes to the requesting nodes in the presence of writes. The goal is to minimize the total number of messages exchanged. The key challenges are to define a notion of "acceptable'' aggregate values, and to design algorithms with good performance that are guaranteed to produce such values. We formalize the acceptability of aggregate values in terms of certain consistency guarantees. We propose a lease-based aggregation mechanism, and evaluate algorithms based on this mechanism in terms of consistency and performance. With regard to consistency, we adapt the definitions of strict and causal consistency to apply to the aggregation problem. We show that any lease-based aggregation algorithm provides strict consistency in sequential executions, and causal consistency in concurrent executions. With regard to performance, we propose an online lease-based aggregation algorithm, and show that, for sequential executions, the algorithm is constant competitive against any offline algorithm that provides strict consistency. Our online lease-based aggregation algorithm is presented in the form of a fully distributed protocol, and the aforementioned consistency and performance results are formally established with respect to this protocol. We also present experimental results to show that the algorithm performs well under various workloads.


The current discussion of potential Do Not Track regulation for online advertising is worrisome for the advertising industry, as it may signif cantly limit the capability for targeted advertising, a key revenue source for online content. The present discourse conates the behavior tracking and ad targeting processes, leading to the presumption that providing privacy must come at the cost of eliminating advertisers' targeting capability. This paper focuses on a family of methods that facilitate behavioral targeting while providing consumer privacy protections. This is achieved by di erentiating between client-side and server-side tracking. Client-side solutions provide for mechanisms and policies that address the privacy concerns over lack of user control over data while providing advertising platforms with the ability to target users. We compare and contrast several client-side methods along several dimensions of user privacy, adoption e ort, and trust. A novel client-side pro ling method is proposed that di ers from prior work in not requiring installation of additional software by the user and providing compatibility with existing ad serving infrastructure. Empirical evaluation of the method on large-scale real-world datasets demonstrates the potential for high targeting performance of client-side techniques. We hope that by considering such middle-ground approaches, the present debate will converge towards solutions that satisfy both advertisers' desire for targeting and users' desire for privacy.


The major subdisciplines of ecology – population ecology, community ecology, ecosystem ecology, and evolutionary ecology – have diverged increasingly in recent decades. What is critically needed today is an integrated, real-world approach to ecology that reflects the interdependency of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. From populations to ecosystems proposes an innovative theoretical synthesis that will enable us to advance our fundamental understanding of ecological systems and help us to respond to today's emerging global ecological crisis. Michel Loreau begins by explaining how the principles of population dynamics and ecosystem functioning can be merged. He then addresses key issues in the study of biodiversity and ecosystems, such as functional complementarity, food webs, stability and complexity, material cycling, and metacommunities. Loreau describes the most recent theoretical advances that link the properties of individual populations to the aggregate properties of communities, and the properties of functional groups or trophic levels to the functioning of whole ecosystems, placing special emphasis on the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Finally, he turns his attention to the controversial issue of the evolution of entire ecosystems and their properties, laying the theoretical foundations for a genuine evolutionary ecosystem ecology. From populations to ecosystems points the way to a much-needed synthesis in ecology, one that offers a fuller understanding of ecosystem processes in the natural world. Michel Loreau is professor and Canada Research Chair in theoretical ecology at McGill University.


Objective: The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of aging through different thermocycling protocols on the flexural strength of a feldspathic ceramic. Material and Methods: Fifty ceramic bars, Vitablock Mark II (VITA), with dimensions of 18X4X2mm were prepared. The bars were randomly distributed to the groups (n = 10), which were defined according to the number of thermal cycles (TCy): G0 - no TCy; G500 - 500 cycles of TCy; G6000 - 6000 TCy; G10000 - 10000 TCy; G15000 - 15000 TCy. After aging, the specimens were subjected to the three point bending test in a universal testing machine (EMIC DL 1000), under 0.5mm/min speed and loading of 50kgf, until catastrophic failure. A sample of each group was evaluated for topographic morphology under Scanning Electron Microscopy. Results: For mechanical testing, the following mean values and standard deviation (MPa) were obtained: G0 (99.78 ± 5.07); G500 (101.64 ± 5.59); G6000 (98.13 ± 4.95); G10000 (91.77 ± 9.68); G15000 (101.51 ± 4.22). An analysis of variance by regression equation (p = 0.387) was performed, demonstrating a weak and non-significant correlation between flexural strength and number of thermal cycles. Conclusion: It can be concluded that aging in water solely by different numbers of temperature cycles did not influence on the flexural strength of a feldspathic ceramic. Keywords Material resistance; Aging; Ceramics.


This article asks how success is defined and measured for humanitarian action and military interventions aimed at protecting civilians from violence and harm in situations of armed conflict. It starts by illustrating how humanitarian and military protection actors differ in their ability or willingness to mobilize coercive force to achieve their common goal of protecting civilians. As a second step, it classifies different types of protection activities implemented by these actors. A distinction is made between actions designed to mitigate protection threats and actions that aim at eliminating the underlying causes of violence against civilians. This classification is important for two reasons. First, it serves to narrow down the problem of complementarity and contradiction between military and humanitarian approaches to protection. Second, it helps to highlight methodological, ethical and epistemological barriers to demonstrating success for specific types of protection interventions. The article concludes by exploring how normative considerations may guide protection policy and practice in the absence of conclusive empirical evidence on what works in protecting civilians.


BACKGROUND
Little is known about variation in use of rehabilitation services provided in acute care hospitals for people who have had a stroke.

OBJECTIVE
The objective was to examine patient and hospital sources of variation in acute care rehabilitation services provided for stroke.

DESIGN
This was a retrospective, cohort design.

METHODS
The sample consisted of Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries with ischemic stroke admitted to acute care hospitals in 2010. Medicare claims data were linked to the Provider of Services file to gather information on hospital characteristics and the American Community Survey for sociodemographic data. Chi-square tests compared patient and hospital characteristics stratified by any rehabilitation use. We used multilevel, multivariable random effect models to identify patient and hospital characteristics associated with the likelihood of receiving any rehabilitation and with the amount of therapy received in minutes.

RESULTS
Among 104,295 patients, 85.2% received rehabilitation (61.5% both physical therapy and occupational therapy; 22.0% physical therapy only; and 1.7% occupational therapy only). Patients received 123 therapy minutes on average (median [SD] = 90.0 [99.2] minutes) during an average length of stay of 4.8 [3.5] days. In multivariable analyses, male sex, dual enrollment in Medicare and Medicaid, prior hospitalization, ICU stay, and feeding tube were associated with lower odds of receiving any rehabilitation services. These same variables were generally associated with fewer minutes of therapy. Patients treated by tissue plasminogen activator, in limited-teaching and nonteaching hospitals, and in hospitals with inpatient rehabilitation units, were more likely to receive more therapy minutes.

LIMITATION
The findings are limited to patients with ischemic stroke.

CONCLUSION
Only 61% of patients with ischemic stroke received both physical therapy and occupational therapy services in the acute setting. We identified considerable variation in the use of rehabilitation services in the acute care setting following a stroke.


1. The literature addressing the potential for nature and natural environments to reduce stress and improve health outcomes has a relative paucity of work regarding interactions with animals, particularly those that are not domestic pets.
2. The present observational study sought to understand whether a brief encounter with non-domestic animals might reduce stress and improve wellbeing of participants, and whether participants' nature relatedness, and their appraisals of the interaction might influence these changes.
3. Participants (N=86, mean age=20.8 years, 81.8% female) took part in a brief wildlife encounter at a UK safari park, walking for approximately 11 minutes around an enclosure with free-roaming lemurs. Heart rate, cortisol, and measures of mood were taken before and after the encounter to understand whether this activity could reduce biological levels of stress and improve psychological wellbeing.
4. There was no decrease in participants' heart rate after their encounter but there was a statistically significant decrease in salivary cortisol. Measures of mood significantly improved immediately after the encounter. Reductions in cortisol were associated with dimensions of an individual's nature relatedness, as well as aspects of the animal encounter (number of lemurs and lemur proximity).
5. The findings contribute to parallel literature on nature-health relationships, with the addition of factors seemingly driving the interaction (individuals' nature relatedness, and the number and proximity of the animals) providing important contributory information. The present study provides new information on how encounters with nature, particularly those involving animals, may be beneficial for health and wellbeing. Critically, this study was carried out in a setting where potential impact of visitors on animals is negligible, thereby demonstrating the potential for creating environments where both human and animal wellbeing is maximised.


ABSTRACT PfPK7 is an orphan protein kinase of Plasmodium falciparum with maximal homology to MEK3/6 and to fungal protein kinase A proteins in its C-terminal and N-terminal regions, respectively. We showed previously that recombinant PfPK7 is active on various substrates but is unable to phosphorylate the Plasmodium falciparum mitogen-activated protein kinase homologues, suggesting that it is not a MEK functional homologue. Using a reverse genetics approach to investigate the function of this enzyme in live parasites, we now show that PfPK7− parasite clones display phenotypes at two stages of their life cycle: first, a decrease in the rate of asexual growth in erythrocytes associated with a lower number of daughter merozoites generated per schizont, and second, a dramatic reduction in the ability to produce oocysts in the mosquito vector. A normal asexual growth rate and the ability to produce oocysts are restored if a functional copy of the PfPK7 gene is reintroduced into the PfPK7− parasites. Hence, PfPK7 is involved in a pathway that regulates parasite proliferation and development.


Fusarium head blight (FHB) or scab caused by Fusarium Link: Fr. spp. is a widespread disease of cereals, causing significant yield losses and contaminating cereal products with mycotoxins. The complex inheritance of resistance has hampered progress in breeding resistant, agronomically adapted cultivars. To streamline breeding for FHB resistance, we estimated genetic and environmental variance components and broad-sense heritability in two winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) populations, determined the association of FHB resistance with other traits (flowering date, plant height, and awnedness), and determined the level of maternal effects on FHB resistance. The moderately susceptible Austrian cultivar Capo was crossed with two resistant lines, one from Hungary (UNG-226) and one from the Netherlands (SVP-72017). A hierarchical design was applied to develop recombinant F 4 -derived lines. Head blight resistance was measured by visual assessment of disease symptoms in artificially inoculated, mist-irrigated field experiments during 2 yr. Artifidal inoculation and mist irrigation led to reproducible FHB infections. High broad-sense heritabilities (H > 0.75) were measured for FHB resistance, allowing for considerable progress by selection. The magnitude of additive genetic variance was greater than additive x additive epistatic variance. Despite a significant negative correlation between visual FHB symptoms and plant height (r = -0.37), the successful selection of short and FHB resistant genotypes should be feasible. In only one population, awned progeny showed slightly reduced FHB. Reciprocal effects were significant in one cross only. The development of FHB resistant cultivars should be possible by phenotypic selection under epidemic conditions, and should be largely independent of plant height, flowering date, awnedness, and genotype of the maternal parent within a cross.


Contents: Introduction: Part 1 Contextualising the Study: Sounding the drum: power and meaning in the context of performance: Dev Bhumi: land of the gods Caste groups and instrumentalists Performance genres and dance practice Musical instruments in Garhwal Dhol Sagar: the ocean of drumming. Part 2 Analysis and Description of Musical Events: Musical Power in the Context of Performance: Drumming associated with PaA+-davalila Music in the context of wedding celebrations The Pawara of Kirthipal and Kunjepal Conclusion Appendices Glossary of selected Garhwali and Hindi terms Bibliography Discography of selected commercially released tapes Index.


In the summer of 2009, rescue excavations of a tumulus were conducted in relation to the construction of the 'Thrace' motorway. The tumulus was located to the northeast of the village of Kabyle, Yambol district and it is known as the Big Tumulus (Golyamata mogila) among the locals. Only one grave was uncovered in the north-eastern part of the mound. It is of a pyre-grave type, not particularly common for pre-Roman Thrace. The deceased has been placed on a wooden bed construction in the pyre together with his personal belongings and armor. The observations made in the course of excavations point to the conclusion that most of the inventory has been put in the pyre during the quenching of the fire by soil, after which, the piling of the primary mound began. Probably wine was used in this ritual, as revealed by an extant Thasos amphora. The armor consists of a sword and more than ten spearheads with butt-spikes. A bronze horse-bit, parts of a gold laurel wreath and more than one wreath with gilded leaves and fruits, two iron strigilae and not the least, a golden stater of Phillip II type have also been documented. Most probably, the coin was put in the mouth of the dead as a Charon obolus. The pyre-grave should be dated to the 30s or 20s of the 4th c. BC., and could be interpreted as a funeral of an officer from the Macedonian garrison of the town of Kabyle.


Dr. Carlos M. Ferrario from the Wake Forest University School of Medicine moderated the topic "Synthesizing the Current Use of Generics in Cardiovascular Disease" with Drs. John M. Flack from Wayne State University and the Detroit Medical Center, Henry Punzi from Punzi Medical Center and Trinity Hypertension Research Institute, Domenic Sica from Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA; and Daniel Wise from Cardiology Specialists of the Carolinas, Charlotte, NC. The discussion focused primarily on: Compliance and control rates for hypertension, dyslipidemia, and diabetes; adherence to therapy and outcomes in specific patient populations; effectiveness of lipid management in African Americans and Caucasians; and the use of generic versus branded drugs in the management of hypertension, dyslipidemia, and the cardiometabolic syndrome. (Med Roundtable Cardiovasc Ed. 2014;3(4):226–233) ©2014 FoxP2 Media, LLC


Recent research studies on green cellular networking indicate that most of the traffic is serviced by a few cell sites while the rest of the cells remain under-utilized, contributing to significant energy consumption levels. Previous proposals suggest turning off Base Stations (BSs) during low utilization periods to save energy by allowing neighboring cells to increase their coverage to provide the necessary connectivity. In this paper, an alternative (and also complimentary) method is proposed, based on the store-carry and forward (SCF) relaying paradigm that allows BSs with low utilization levels to be switched-off. The proposed SCF relaying scheme exploits the mobility of relay nodes to migrate traffic from BSs of very low utilization to neighbour BSs, allowing in that respect these sites to be switched off. To this end, a joint routing and scheduling problem is formulated to maximize the number of cell sites that can be switched off by also taking into account the communication cost of operating the network. Numerical investigations reveal that significant energy gains can be attained using the proposed SCF relaying scheme for switching off BSs.


Background/Context Recent developments in state-level policy have begun to require, incentivize, and/or encourage students at community colleges to enroll full time in an effort to increase the likelihood that students will persist and transfer to four-year institution where they will be able to complete their bachelor's degree. Often, these policies are predicated on the idea that full-time status is associated with greater engagement on behalf of the student, a concept that has been widely studied in higher education as it relates to student persistence and degree attainment. Purpose Building upon theory and observational studies, I seek to empirically test whether enrolling full time at a community college has a discernible effect on transferring to a four-year university. Research Design I follow four cohorts of first-time traditionally aged college students who graduated from a public high school in Texas in the years 2000–2003 and employ a propensity score matching procedure designed to reduce sample selection bias. Findings I find that enrolling full time increases overall transfer rates by at least 12%. These results are robust to the inclusion of many pre-college factors as well as to a sensitivity analysis, across four separate cohorts. Conclusions/Recommendations This study provides evidence in support of a key policy lever for increase transfer rates already in place in a handful of states: encouraging incentivizing, or requiring full-time enrollment. The key, however, will be to develop policy that results in more students enrolling full time while also maintaining the open access mission of community colleges. While requiring students to enroll full time may not be appropriate in all contexts, states should seriously consider other ways to incentivize or, at a minimum, support and encourage full-time enrollment, particularly for first-time traditionally aged students.


Abstract Models have been extensively analysed in economic methodology, notably their degree of ability to provide explanations. This paper takes a complementary, comparative approach, examining theory development in the natural sciences. Examples show how diverse types of evidence combine with causal hypotheses to generate empirically based causal theories—a cumulative process occurring over a long timescale. Models are typically nested within this broader theory. This could be a good model for research in economics, providing a methodology that ensures good correspondence with the target system—especially as economics research is largely empirical, and has effective methods for causal inference. This paper analyses the key features of three successful theories in the natural sciences, and draws out some lessons that may be useful to economists. Some examples of good practice in economics are noted, e.g. involving money and banking, and the growth of the state. On the other hand, the widespread pre-crisis use of dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) models that ignored the financial sector raises the question, how to realise what has been omitted? Nesting models in an empirically based causal theory could solve this. Furthermore, some phenomena have clear explanations, but mainstream theory obscures them, as with the Lucas puzzle about the direction of international capital flows. And, the prevailing theories about capitalist growth do not explain the basic evidence on its temporal and spatial distribution. Economics could beneficially learn from the natural sciences.


This book brings together essays on the burgeoning array of local antiquarian practices developed across Europe in the early modern era (c. 1400-1700). Adopting an interdisciplinary and comparative method it investigates how individuals, communities and regions invented their own ancient pasts according to concerns they faced in the present. A wide range of 'antiquities' -- real or fictive, Roman, or pre-Roman, unintentionally confused or deliberately forged -- emerged through archaeological investigations, new works of art and architecture, collections, history-writing and literature. This book is the first to explore the concept of local concepts of antiquity across Europe in a period that has been defined as a uniform 'Renaissance'. Contributions take a new novel approach to the revival of the antique in different parts of Italy and also extend to other, less widely studied antiquarian traditions in France, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Britain and Poland. They examine how ruins, inscriptions, and literary works were used to provide evidence of a particular idea of local origins, rewrite history or vaunt civic pride. They consider municipal antiquities collections in Southern Italy and Southern France, the antiquarian response to the pagan, Christian and Islamic past on the Iberian Peninsula, or Netherlandish interest in megalithic ruins thought to be traces of a prehistoric race of Giants. This interdisciplinary book is of interest for students and scholars of Early modern art history, architectural history, literary studies and history, as well as classics and the reception of antiquity.


The M2 internal tide field contains waves of various baroclinic modes and various horizontal propagation directions. This paper presents a technique for decomposing the sea surface height (SSH) field of the multimodal multidirectional internal tide. The technique consists of two steps: first, different baroclinic modes are decomposed by two-dimensional (2D) spatial filtering, utilizing their different horizontal wavelengths; second, multidirectional waves in each mode are decomposed by 2D plane wave analysis. The decomposition technique is demonstrated using the M2 internal tide field simulated by the MITgcm. This paper focuses on a region lying off the U.S. West Coast ranging 20°–50°N, 220°–245°E. The lowest three baroclinic modes are separately resolved from the internal tide field; each mode is further decomposed into five waves of arbitrary propagation directions in the horizontal. The decomposed fields yield unprecedented details on the internal tide's generation and propagation, which cannot be observed in the harmonically fitted field. The results reveal that the mode-1 M2 internal tide in the study region is dominantly from the Hawaiian Ridge to the west but also generated locally at the Mendocino Ridge and continental slope. The mode-2 and mode-3 M2 internal tides are generated at isolated seamounts, as well as at the Mendocino Ridge and continental slope. The Mendocino Ridge radiates both southbound and northbound M2 internal tides for all three modes. Their propagation distances decrease with increasing mode number: mode-1 waves can travel over 2000 km, while mode-3 waves can only be tracked for 300 km. The decomposition technique may be extended to other tidal constituents and to the global ocean.


ABSTRACT The focus of this paper is on the beginnings of dementia – on the grey area where normal and abnormal ageing seem to overlap, but where a diagnosis can be established. We look at a group of elderly people diagnosed as suffering from mild dementia and at the relatives most closely involved with them and whom we had assumed to be their carers. Our principal interest is in the relatives' perception of the deterioration in intellectual function, and in their awareness of and response to problems associated with it. Contrary to expectation, these relatives did not see themselves as carers, or the elderly person as demented. Spouses often saw their partner as no more disabled than themselves; and, more generally, the relationship between them often showed a high degree of reciprocity. Sons and daughters were usually aware of changes in their parents' behaviour but tended to explain them in terms of normal ageing. Improvement in the process of early identification and the creation of more appropriate services are generally seen as desirable. Questions are raised about the usefulness and justification for intervention in a situation which is not yet recognised by those involved as requiring it.


Some states and municipalities are in difficult financial straits. Many more have severely underfunded defined benefit pension plans for their past and current employees. At the intersection of these two sets, it is likely that the pension plans are not sustainable and cuts are inevitable, affecting even the benefits of current retirees. But in many of these states and municipalities, the courts have not allowed changes to the pension plan. Therefore, we propose that all government pension plan participants be given accurate information about the funded status of their pensions. Furthermore, we propose that, at the discretion of the plan sponsor, retirees and older workers be given the voluntary option to take their pensions as a lump sum, discounted according to the funded status of the plan.


This article considers how different models of sexuality and disease converge and interact to co-produce understanding of HIV and AIDS and the implications of inter-cultural communication for effective HIV prevention in diverse settings. In the Tobriands Islands of Papua New Guinea the phenomenon of sovasova or chronic illness that manifests when members of the same matrilineal clan have sexual relations is a persuasive and problematic form of cultural knowledge that directly influences comprehensions of HIV and AIDS. As a social proscription sovasova underscores cultural ideations about the importance of social exchange and the corporeal mixing of difference in sexual relationships. Trobrianders recognize clear signs and symptoms that herald the onset of sovasova which are similar to descriptions of AIDS-related illness - weight loss nausea and malaise. Affected people use various herbal and magical treatments to effectively manage sovasova and people can avoid the sickness altogether bysimply not having sex with a fellow clan member. The cultural resources available for treatment allow people to regard transgression as a safe possibility albeit socially undesirable. The broad comparisons that Trobrianders draw between sovasova and AIDS create tensions as people contemplate HIV prevention based on the cultural model of sexual disorder and the valued capacity and efficacy of sexuality in maintaining relations of difference. (authors)


Background to the 1547 Book of Homilies Read in every church and heard of all congregations, designed for the maintenance of the Establishment, as well as the "maintenance of true religion and venue"-for the suppression of [Roman] Catholicism and the discouragement of Puritanism, as well as for the teaching of "what duty they owe both God and man"-these Homilies were probably, next to the Book of Common Prayer, as well known and as influential as any writings produced between 1547 and 1640. No student of political, ecclesiastical or literary history-no student of the history of ideas or institutions of England in the sixteenth or seventeenth centuries-can afford to neglect or ignore these two books.1 The Books of Homilies of 1547 and 1571 were compiled with a doctrinal, ecclesiastical and sociopolitical agenda in mind. Although we will not focus on socioeconomic concerns, the reformers were not insensitive to these; the Rogationtide sermon alludes to the enclosure issue, the collapse of the cloth trade, and rising inflation, which would culminate in 1549 in Ket's Rebellion in East Anglia. Indeed, some commentators have seen the Homilies primarily as tools to manage the political agenda of a respublica Christiana, the vision of a Christian Commonwealth in England, the humanist (Erasmian) ideal society, with all the nationalist agenda that implied. Such commentators argue that the Homilies are espousing particular doctrine not as an end in itself but rather as a means to promote a hierarchical vision of society and the notions of duty and obedience to those in authority consistent with maintaining that societal structure.2 I would suggest that this is twentieth-century eisegesis. Certainly, this was not Cranmer's primary goal in the 1547 Book of Homilies. It is true that obedience to God and sociopolitical concord are connected in Tudor society, with the newly consolidated sense of national church and national identity, but the very idea of obedience to those in earthly authority is, firstly, thoroughly medieval and not a Tudor convention; and secondly, it is retained in some Protestant thought (such as Cranmer's) because it was a belief rooted in Scripture, and was consistent with patristic scholarship and therefore incorporated within much reformed doctrine.3 It may seem to us misguided, but it is sincere, with any error being on the side of naivete, rather than self-serving and self-justifying statesmanship. Rather than the Homilies serving as a tool of a sociopolitical agenda, the social vision emerges from the scriptural and doctrinal root. In some aspects, the Homilies are, of course, very much "of their time." There are many passages which are pure polemic against Rome and Romish practices,4 several passages of anti-Semitism,5 and some places where what is being justified is not so much salvation by faith but rather the dissolution of the monasteries or some such recent policy.6 We see great faith in the power of the printed word, and especially the Word printed in the vernacular, to change hearts and minds; this reflects the contemporary optimism following the progress of the printing press.7 We see the influence of Erasmus and Christian Humanism in the structure of the Homilies,8 and Cranmer's early educational agenda in these Homilies was influenced extensively by Erasmus. However, theologically, Cranmer would outgrow Erasmus, especially in his views on predestination. It is clear as early as the Thirteen Articles of 1538 (and the unprinted extra three) that Cranmer's private thoughts were already along Lutheran lines.9 It may be that as early as his 1532 visit to Nuremburg he had accepted the Lutheran position. After all, he asked the prominent Lutheran pastor Osiander for his niece's hand in marriage and it is unlikely Osiander would have consented if Cranmer had had no sympathy for his beliefs. We know from his Commonplace Books, and "Notes on Justification" (annotations on the King's Book), that certainly by 1546, Cranmer believed the doctrine of justification by faith alone, and disbelieved transubstantiation. …


Nations in Europe have been developing rapidly since the formation of the European Union (EU), not only socially and demographically, but economically as well. One question a number of countries will face during this period of structural transition will be how (and how well) they are able to support their citizens in old age. A related question involves whether individuals worry about their financial future in retirement, and the extent to which they take active steps to save in order to ensure an adequate standard of living. In this study, we analyze data from the third wave of the European Social Survey, which represents 22,609 working adults from 23 countries in Europe. We used multilevel modelling to focus on the explanatory factors that underlie individual and country-level effects in future pension worry and saving behavior. Findings suggest that once individual-level dimensions are taken into account, country-level predictors explain appreciable variance in worry, but not saving practices. Pension worries are more severe in countries with a low retirement age and a strong projected increase in future population aging. This suggests that the drive toward raising the retirement age in a number of EU countries may alleviate some of the worries of its citizens.


The aim of the paper is to use Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE) formulation for fluid–structure interaction for modeling blood flow in artery. Predicting blood flow and its effects on arteries requires simulation of fluid–structure coupling with deformable mesh. For fluid simulation velocity–pressure formulation is used, we present the algorithm which allows to compute fluid velocity and pressure using explicit time integration. This method has been applied successfully for several applications including sloshing tank analysis. For the structure shell type elements with five points integration through the thickness to accurately represent bending effects, are modeled. Since the structure is deformable, to prevent high mesh distortion an elasticity material model for the mesh is used for mesh deformation. For fluid–structure coupling, explicit contact algorithm based on penalty method. Such a model can be used to study the profile of the flow and pressure waves as they propagate along the arteries. In the paper, the onset of a pressure pulse was simulated at the entrance of a three dimension straight artery blood vessel and the resulting dynamic response in the form of a propagating pulse wave through the wall was analyzed and compared. Good agreement was found between the numerical results and the theoretical description of an idealized artery. Work has also been done on implementing the material constitutive models specific for vascular applications.


An improved digital filtering method for line frequency zero-crossing detectors is proposed. The multistage filter efficiently attenuates harmonics, wide-band noise, commutation notches, and other impulsive disturbances without causing any phase shift on the primary sinusoidal waveform. Our novel signal-processing system is a cascade of a median filter and an adaptive sinusoid predictor, followed by up-sampling and interpolation. The three-point median filter effectively removes impulses, and the predictor provides wide-band noise attenuation while compensating for delays in the other processing steps. The predictor adapts to possible line frequency variations within the specified range by changing the set of coefficients, based on an estimate of the instantaneous line frequency. The adaptive approach allows the use of highly selective IIR bandpass predictors.


Two common manure storage practices are stockpiles and lagoons. The manure from stockpiles is applied to soils in solid form, while lagoon manure is applied as a liquid. Soil amendment with manure in any form introduces a significant amount of phosphorus (P) that exists in both organic and inorganic forms. However, little is known about P speciation in manure stored under different conditions, or the subsequent forms when applied to soils. We used solution (31)P nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and conventional P fractionation and speciation methods to investigate P forms in dairy manure and liquid lagoon manure, and to study how long-term amendment with these manures influenced surface and subsurface soil P speciation. Our results show that the P forms in solid and lagoon manure are similar. About 30% of the total P was organic, mostly as orthophosphate monoesters. On a dry weight basis, total P was much higher in the solid manure. In the manure-amended soils the total P concentrations of the surface soils were similar, regardless of manure type. Total P in the subsurface soil was greater in the lagoon-manure-amended soil than the solid-manure-amended subsurface soil. However, the fraction of organic P was greater in the subsurface of the solid-manure-amended soil. The NMR results indicate that the majority of organic P in the soils is phytic acid, which is enriched in the surface soils compared with the subsurface soils. These results provide insight into P speciation and dynamics in manure-amended soils that will further increase our understanding on how best to manage manure disposal on soils.


In the early and mid 1990s, telecommunications networks and the Internet drove business growth in the United States. The growing dependence on such networks, however, also increased US vulnerability to cyber exploitation. Indeed, by the end of the twentieth century, the US had become more vulnerable than any other nation to cyber attacks aiming to interrupt, degrade, or destroy vital services such as electrical power, banking, or stock trading. A determined terrorist group with cyber tools and knowledge gleaned from publicly available information could threaten the very money supply on which a free market depends.


North Eastern Nigeria, formally one political state, is now made up of six autonomous states. Government efforts to coordinate library service in Nigeria as exemplified by the commissioning of two expert studies variously led by F. A. Sharr (1963) and R. L. Pearce (1968), were thwarted by the incessant political fragmentation of the Country into autonomous states, resulting in the emergence of inefficient and ineffective public libraries. With the achievement of political stability of some sort, in the last ten years as a result of the institutionalization of democracy, the question is has the situation changed? Are public libraries in Nigeria efficient and effective? Are public libraries in Nigeria adequately funded? Do they conform to the minimum standards recommended by IFLA/UNESCO?, this and other questions guided the study. A survey of the Public Libraries in the capital of the Six States making the North East Region was conducted, Questionnaire and Facilities Enumeration Form (FEF) was used to collect data. Descriptive analysis of the data revealed that while improvements are noticeable in terms of physical structures and management legislation, the Libraries are far from provision of efficient and effective services. The Government must be committed towards public library development in the country in order to succeed in its various economic and political programs, with a view to becoming a developed nation by 2020.


In the first part of this paper, the concept of the angular correlation function of a stationary optical field is introduced. This function characterizes the correlation that exists between the complex amplitudes of any two plane waves in the angular spectrum description of the statistical ensemble that represents the field. Relations between this function and the more commonly known correlation functions are derived. In particular, it is shown that the angular correlation function is essentially the four-dimensional spatial Fourier transform of the cross-spectral density function of the source. The angular correlation function is shown to characterize completely the second-order coherence properties of the far field. An expression for the intensity distribution in the far zone of a field generated by a source of any state of coherence is deduced. Some generalizations of the far-zone form of the Van Cittert–Zernike theorem are also obtained.


Abstract Environmental protection has become a common issue in every area, but extremely important for the domains which deal with intensive energy consumption as it is the case of the transportation. Achieving the sustainable cities on the other hand, is also focused on the protection of the environment in order to provide a higher quality of life for the population. Therefore it is considered that by improving the urban transportation planning additional benefits could be provided for both the environment and the sustainable development of the cities. One possibility is to supplement the traditionally land-use plans with the transportrelated zones analysis, where the city is divided in public transport, pedestrian and caroriented zones. Analyzing the transport-related zones of a city is important as it provides additional information in the assessment of the development trend. The process of zoning was conducted for the city of Cluj-Napoca, Romania. In this paper, the outcome of the zoning was analyzed for a more comprehensive review of the urban transport in order to attain a sustainable-oriented approach of the urban area development.


Recent cases of corporate failures, including the fixing of LIBOR rates and money laundering issues in the banking industry highlight how behavioural issues on the part of company directors are significant contributory factors in corporate governance and the success or failure of companies. This book examines how personality and behavioural issues have contributed to major corporate failures, and how this risk may be managed.
The book examines behavioural risks in corporate governance, and evaluates the extent to which risk management mechanisms have acknowledged various aspects of behaviour. Drawing from cases in the UK, the US and Australia and research in psychology and the behavioural sciences, Ngozi Vivian Okoye argues that current corporate governance mechanisms lack provision for identifying and managing personality risks, and suggests how constituent elements of behaviour should be engaged with when developing preventive mechanisms for corporate failures. Okoye presents a conceptual framework for identifying and managing personality risks, and explores how personality risk may be built into corporate governance regulation.
The book will be of great use and interest to researchers and practitioners in business and company law, corporate governance, and critical management studies.


This thesis looks at the application of the Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds to the Metropolitan Police Football Club at Imber Court, Surrey and compares and contrasts its results with those produced using the computer simulation evacuation model buildingEXODUS.

The main objectives of the work are to address how the Guide applies itself to the situation and question whether the mechanisms used to obtain a safe ground capacity are valid, and to look at how the simulation model applies itself to this particular scenario to see whether its use, in this case, is relevant.

In doing this, a safe ground assessment is carried out using the Guide and, once this figure has been obtained, a series of scenarios are run, using buildingEXODUS, to see if, both qualitatively and quantitatively, comparable results can be obtained.

From the results achieved, it is seen that the element of human behaviour has considerable impact on the evacuation process and that the Guide itself does not appear to give sufficient weight to this. It is also noted that the model itself, whilst able to achieve realistic results, will only do so following careful construction, repeated reviewing of the results and adjustments to the model.


Member of Parliament, tutor to Oliver Cromwell's ward, satirist and friend of John Milton, Andrew Marvell was one of the most interesting and important poets of the seventeenth century. The Complete Poems demonstrates his unique skill and immense diversity to the full, and includes lyrical love-poetry, religious works and biting satire. From the passionately erotic To his Coy Mistress, to the astutely political Cromwellian poems and the profoundly spiritual On a Drop of Dew, in which he considers the nature of the soul, these works are masterpieces of clarity and metaphysical imagery. Eloquent and compelling, they remain among the most vital and profound works of the era - works by a figure who, in the words of T. S. Eliot, speaks clearly and unequivocally with the voice of his literary age'.


Over diagnosis of acute rheumatic fever (ARF) based on a raised antistreptolysin O titer (ASOT) is not uncommon in endemic areas. In this study, 660 children (aged 9.2 ±1.7 years) were recruited consecutively and classified as: G1 (control group, n=200 healthy children), G2 (n=20 with ARF 1st attack), G3 (n=40 with recurrent ARF), G4 (n=100 with rheumatic heart disease (RHD) on long acting penicillin (LAP)), G5 (n=100 with acute follicular tonsillitis), and G6 (n=200 healthy children with history of repeated follicular tonsillitis more than three times a year). Serum ASOT was measured by latex agglutination. Upper limit of normal (ULN) ASOT (80th percentile) was 400 IU in G1, 200 IU in G4, and 1600 IU in G6. Significantly high levels were seen in ARF 1st attack when compared to groups 1 and 5 (P<0.001 and P<0.05, respectively). ASOT was significantly high in children over ten years of age, during winter and in those with acute rheumatic carditis. ASOT showed significant direct correlation with the number of attacks of tonsillitis (P<0.05). Egyptian children have high ULN ASOT reaching 400 IU. This has to be taken into consideration when interpreting its values in suspected ARF. A rise in ASOT is less prominent in recurrent ARF compared to 1st attack, and acute and recurrent tonsillitis. Basal levels of ASOT increase with age but the pattern of increase during infection is not age dependent.


Objectives This study aims to summarise existing evidence on risk factors for drug-related problems (DRPs) in hospitals as well as ambulatory care or nursing homes and adds additional empirical evidence on risk factors for DRPs in non-elective hospitalised patients. Methods A comprehensive literature review was performed to compose an overview of demographic, clinical and pharmacological risk factors associated with DRPs in different settings (ambulatory care, nursing homes and hospitals). A cross-sectional study on rehabilitation, cardiology and pulmonology wards of three hospitals in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, was performed to assess possible risk factors for DRPs in a clinical setting. Results The comprehensive review identified 21 papers discussing risk factors for drug-related hospital admissions, use of potential inappropriate drugs, adverse drug reactions and other types of DRPs. The majority of these studies had been carried out in ambulatory care (11 papers; 52%). Polypharmacy, comorbidity and the use of specific drugs (antithrombotics, antidiabetics) were most often positively associated with the occurrence of DRPs. Our cross-sectional study demonstrated that admission to the rehabilitation ward, admission at the intensive care unit and comorbidity were associated with the occurrence of potential DRPs in a clinical setting. Conclusions Although risk factors associated with DRPs differ greatly among published papers, comorbidity, polypharmacy and the use of specific drugs (antithrombotics, antidiabetics) were frequently associated with DRPs. Although several guidelines advise to use prespecified risk factors (like age, polypharmacy and renal impairment), one should be aware that most of these risk factors are insufficiently grounded on empirical evidence.


In this paper, we introduce SoccerNet, a benchmark for action spotting in soccer videos. The dataset is composed of 500 complete soccer games from six main European leagues, covering three seasons from 2014 to 2017 and a total duration of 764 hours. A total of 6,637 temporal annotations are automatically parsed from online match reports at a one minute resolution for three main classes of events (Goal, Yellow/Red Card, and Substitution). As such, the dataset is easily scalable. These annotations are manually refined to a one second resolution by anchoring them at a single timestamp following well-defined soccer rules. With an average of one event every 6.9 minutes, this dataset focuses on the problem of localizing very sparse events within long videos. We define the task of spotting as finding the anchors of soccer events in a video. Making use of recent developments in the realm of generic action recognition and detection in video, we provide strong baselines for detecting soccer events. We show that our best model for classifying temporal segments of length one minute reaches a mean Average Precision (mAP) of 67.8%. For the spotting task, our baseline reaches an Average-mAP of 49.7% for tolerances d ranging from 5 to 60 seconds. Our dataset and models are available at https://silviogiancola.github.io/SoccerNet.


The current bifurcated conflict classification paradigm for the applicability of the Law of Armed Conflict, or LOAC, has lost its usefulness. Initial regulation of State militaries was originally based on the principle that the armed forces of a State were acting as the sovereign agents of the State and were granted privileges and given duties based on that grant of agency. These privileges and duties became the bases for the formulation of the modern LOAC. During the 20th Century, the LOAC became bifurcated, with the complete LOAC applying only to armed conflicts between sovereigns and only minimal provisions of the law applying to armed conflicts that were not between sovereigns. This bifurcation has led to a lack of clarity for the sovereign's agents in LOAC application and given States the ability to manipulate which law applies to their application of force through their agents. The applicability of the LOAC should no longer be based on the manipulable and unclear conflict classification paradigm, but should instead return to its foundations in the sovereign's grant of agency. Thus, anytime a sovereign applies violent force through its armed forces, those armed forces should apply the full LOAC to their actions, regardless of the type or classification of the conflict.


Motion planning, which is the problem of computing feasible paths in an environment for a movable object, has applications in many domains ranging from robotics, to intelligent CAD, to protein folding. The best methods for solving this PSPACE-hard problem are so-called sampling-based planners. Recent work introduced uniform spatial subdivision techniques for parallelizing sampling-based motion planning algorithms that scaled well. However, such methods are prone to load imbalance, as planning time depends on region characteristics and, for most problems, the heterogeneity of the sub problems increases as the number of processors increases. In this work, we introduce two techniques to address load imbalance in the parallelization of sampling-based motion planning algorithms: an adaptive work stealing approach and bulk-synchronous redistribution. We show that applying these techniques to representatives of the two major classes of parallel sampling-based motion planning algorithms, probabilistic roadmaps and rapidly-exploring random trees, results in a more scalable and load-balanced computation on more than 3,000 cores.


The principal subject of the contribution is analyzed within the context of the general doctrine of the Latin and Greek verb. This general doctrine underwent basic changes in the work of the most prominent Roman grammarians. The interplay of different philosophical and rhetorical doctrines had a large impact on the evolution of grammatical theory. At the beginning of the period we see a Latin word qualitas, which was related with the Stoic Greek notion poiotēs, being used as a term for modal forms of the verb. This particular definition of modal forms seems to be due to Pliny the Elder. Having reconsidered the Stoic doctrine of speech acts and, more generally, the verbal expression of movement and state, the grammarians of the first century AD began to use the adjective horistikos and its Latin counterpart finitivus as a term for the indicative mode. Terentius Scaurus (fl. between 117 and 138 AD) introduced the term modus instead of qualitas in the field of modal forms. Aware of the meaningless use of the term finitivus in some special case, Scaurus replaced it with the term pronuntiativus, which had been taken over from rhetoric and which had a larger meaning than its Greek counterpart apophantikos. Moreover, he replaced the term ordo with the more particular term coniugatio in the description of conjugations. The doctrine of Flavius Caper (2nd half of the 2nd c. AD) marked a return to a number of Stoic ideas. The unfortunate finitivus was replaced by indicativus in order to say a word with a similar but larger meaning. Caper, however, thought it inappropriate to use the term indicativus with regard to the future that did not yet exist. So he introduced a special mode promissivus. In the meantime he replaced the term infinitivus and its twin infinitum with modus perpetuus. The term indicativus, however, seems to be the only invention of Caper to have survived in the posterior tradition.


The genetic diversity across natural populations of the model organism, Populus, is extensive, containing a single nucleotide polymorphism roughly every 200 base pairs. When deviations from the reference genome occur in coding regions, they can impact protein sequences. Rather than relying on a static reference database to profile protein expression, we employed a peptide sequence tagging (PST) approach capable of decoding the plasticity of the Populus proteome. Using shotgun proteomics data from two genotypes of P. trichocarpa, a tag-based approach enabled the detection of 6653 unexpected sequence variants. Through manual validation, our study investigated how the most abundant chemical modification (methionine oxidation) could masquerade as a sequence variant (Ala→Ser) when few site-determining ions existed. In fact, precise localization of an oxidation site for peptides with more than one potential placement was indeterminate for 70% of the MS/MS spectra. We demonstrate that additional fragment ions made available by high energy collisional dissociation enhances the robustness of the peptide sequence tagging approach (81% of oxidation events could be exclusively localized to a methionine). We are confident that augmenting fragmentation processes for a PST approach will further improve the identification of single amino acid polymorphism in Populus and potentially other species as well.


In order to support as critical input to air quality forecasting task during Commonwealth Games (CWG) – 2010 in mega city Delhi, we have developed a high resolution emission inventory of major atmospheric pollutants. For the same, inventories of ozone precursors like NOx and CO are developed over a domain of 70 km × 65 km with a grid of 1.67 km × 1.67 km resolution covering Delhi and surrounding region using Geographical Information System (GIS) technique for base year 2010. All possible source of emission like transport, thermal power plants, industries, residential, slum cooking and commercial cooking are taken into account for the first time. It has been found that total emissions of NOx and CO over the study area are found to be 255 and 703 Gg/yr for 2010 respectively. The spatial distributions of major hot spots are discussed with possible dominant sources at particular regions. The present inventory will help to improve the modeling study over mega city, Delhi and its surrounding regions.


A smart helmet has been developed that is able to detect of hazardous events in the mines industry. In the development of helmet, we have considered the three main types of hazard such as air quality, helmet removal, and collision (miners are struck by an object). The first is the concentration level of the hazardous gases such as CO, SO2, NO2, and particulate matter. The second hazardous event was classified as a miner removing the mining helmet off their head. An IR sensor was developed unsuccessfully but an off-the shelf IR sensor was then used to successfully determine when the helmet is on the miner's head. The third hazardous event is defined as an event where miners are struck by an object against the head with a force exceeding a value of 1000 on the HIC (Head Injury Criteria). An accelerometer was used to measure the acceleration of the head and the HIC was calculated in software. The layout of the visualization software was completed, however the implementation was unsuccessful. Tests were successfully done to calibrate the accelerometer. PCB's that were designed and made included a breakout board and a prototype board. A whole software implementation was done based on Contiki operating system in order to do the control of the measuring of sensors and of calculations done with the measured values. This paper presents the undertaken design detailing solutions to issues raised in previous research..


Abstract Introduction: Airway management is a critical skill for air medical providers, including the use of rapid sequence intubation (RSI) medications. Mediocre success rates and a high incidence of complications has challenged air medical providers to improve training and performance improvement efforts to improve clinical performance. Objectives: The aim of this research was to describe the experience with a novel, integrated advanced airway management program across a large air medical company and explore the impact of the program on improvement in RSI success. Methods: The Helicopter Advanced Resuscitation Training (HeART) program was implemented across 160 bases in 2015. The HeART program includes a novel conceptual framework based on thorough understanding of physiology, critical thinking using a novel algorithm, difficult airway predictive tools, training in the optimal use of specific airway techniques and devices, and integrated performance improvement efforts to address opportunities for improvement. The C-MAC video/direct laryngoscope and high-fidelity human patient simulation laboratories were implemented during the study period. Chi-square test for trend was used to evaluate for improvements in airway management and RSI success (overall intubation success, first-attempt success, first-attempt success without desaturation) over the 25-month study period following HeART implementation. Results: A total of 5,132 patients underwent RSI during the study period. Improvements in first-attempt intubation success (85% to 95%, p < 0.01) and first-attempt success without desaturation (84% to 94%, p < 0.01) were observed. Overall intubation success increased from 95% to 99% over the study period, but the trend was not statistically significant (p = 0.311). Conclusions: An integrated advanced airway management program was successful in improving RSI intubation performance in a large air medical company.


Children's Centres are widespread in England and comprise multi-professional staff teams seeking to work with families with children aged 0–5 years. Although parent–child group music sessions appear frequently in Children's Centre activity programmes, the rationale for their inclusion remains unclear. This article presents the results from phase two of an exploratory mixed-methods study which investigated the role of and rationale for parent–child (0–3 years) group music making activities in Children's Centres. The perceptions of parents and practitioners were considered, and differences were found between them. The themes generated by the initial qualitative interview study (phase one) were investigated further in this quantitative questionnaire study (phase two), which involved 49 practitioners and 91 parents. Seven thematic categories of the perceived benefits of music—Social, Emotional, Learning, Teaching, Links to Home, Parenting, and Organisational—which had been identified in the interview study, were used as the basis of the design of the questionnaire. Statistical analyses revealed some significant differences between the expressed views of parent and practitioner groups, as well as between parents in different broad age groups. Practitioners expressed more positive views about the perceived benefits of music for parents than were expressed by the parents themselves. Parents in the majority age group (27–35 years) appeared to express significantly more positive opinions on a variety of questionnaire items than did parents in both younger and older age groups. Working practices of Children's Centre practitioners appear to include music group activities for which they have had little training. A new practitioner role is proposed: that of social music pedagogue. The questionnaire results have augmented and enhanced the findings of the interview study and suggest that the rationale for parent–child music group activities in Children's Centres is centred on the benefits for children's social, cultural, emotional and cognitive development.


Ronald Bon de Sousa Pernes (born 1940 in Switzerland) is an Emeritus Professor at the Department of Philosophy of the University of Toronto which he joined in 1966. He is best known for his work in philosophy of emotions, and has also made contributions to philosophy of mind and philosophy of biology. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2005. De Sousa possesses both UK and Canadian citizenship. Educated in Switzerland and England, he took his B.A. at New College, Oxford University in 1962, and his Ph.D. at Princeton University in 1966. He has contributed to and is frequently cited in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.


Problem statement: Variations of ozone (O3) concentrations in the Eastern Coastal Region of the Malaysia peninsula were investigated using data obtained from the Malaysian Department of the Environment. The aim of this study was to determine the monthly and seasonal variations of ozone concentrations at all monitoring sites. This study deals with the air quality data recorded at four air quality monitoring stations in the East Coast of the Malaysian peninsula over a ten year period (1997- 2006). Approach: We focused on the usage of S-Plus and SPSS to analyze this data. The S-Plus programming was used to impute missing data and SPSS was used to obtain the variations of ozone and also to clarify the relationship between stations. Results: Over the entire 10 year period (1997- 2006), the trend in annual baseline ozone generally increased each year for all the four monitoring sites. There was also a seasonal variability in the measured ozone levels with high concentrations during the southwest monsoon and the northeast monsoon season, producing a significant increase in the amplitude of the seasonal cycle. The results also shown that the highest ozone concentrations were recorded at the Bukit Kuang air monitoring station (S1), with a daily mean value of 19 ppb followed by the Indera Mahkota air monitoring station (S2). The concentration of ozone recorded at Kota Bharu (S3) and Kuala Terengganu (S4), two stations located in the city centre, was found to be lower than the values recorded at Bukit Kuang and Indera Mahkota. The correlation between O3 and NO is high at Kuala Terengganu (S4) (ρ = -0.579), whilst the relationship between O3 and NO2 are high (ρ = -0.397) at Indera Mahkota (S2). Conclusion: The concentration of ozone in the East Coast of Malaysian peninsula depends on the concentration of NOx and seasonal meteorological factors.


There is consensus among policymakers and the research community that demand for young people's labour is the main constraint to achieving sustainable job creation in Africa (e.g. Fox & Kaul, 2017; AfDb et al., 2012). Thus, this synthesis paper focuses on evidence around the creation of wage labour opportunities in the private sector, linking youth employment with a desired structural economic transformation able to absorb the predicted surge in supply of labour in the decades to come. African economies have failed to transform structurally from low productivity agriculture to higher productivity non-agricultural sectors, with recent economic growth based on commodity exports not delivering enough jobs and lacking inclusive and sustainable linkages with local businesses to increase productivity at enterprise and sector level. Without sufficient policies in place to improve productivity at firm and sector level, the "extremely unproductive" informal sector, with its typically poor-quality employment conditions, will remain a major employer for youth, particularly the less skilled and educated. This synthesis paper looks at what is needed for the private sector in Africa to create more sustainable and quality jobs for youth working in the formal and informal sectors, by linking labour market outcomes with enterprise development interventions. 1 For more information see: https://www.matasafn.org/


Sixteen box core samples of Recent sediment collected in three transects across the East Greenland shelf and slope were analysed for Ostracoda. The samples which range in depth from 274 m to 3355 m, yielded a total of 52 species belonging to 25 genera. No less than 26 of the species also occur in the adjacent Scoresby Sund fjord complex. The fauna represents an interesting mixture of high latitude shallow water Arctic species and others known from bathyal and abyssal depths in the North Atlantic, including some pandemic deep sea species. Many species occur in shallower water here than in the North Atlantic due to the colder water. The fauna comprised of three associations (Shelf/Upper Slope; Slope: Lower Slope/Abyss). A marked faunal turnover occurs at the Upper Slope. The study raises questions concerning the constancy and universality of the relationship between certain ostracod species and water masses.


Rhyming is a critical competence for reading success. For children with a cochlear implant, the development of rhyming is not an automatic process. It has to be educated by practicing and repeating it frequently. This paper elaborates on the design of a game to support the development of rhyming skills for children with a cochlear implant. For the designing process, the waterfall model is used. The requirements of the game were derived from a literature study and discussions with teachers (n=6) and therapists (n=4) (speech, movement and play) based on two questions. First: how do children with a cochlear implant learn rhyming to develop their phonological awareness? And second: what kind of educational method should be designed to support the learning process of rhyming in children with a cochlear implant? The final product of the study is a blended game. It concerns domino-like stones with pictorial signs and an audio-visual support package. The game is tested at the professor Huizingschool in Enschede, the Netherlands, with four children with a cochlear implant. The children enjoyed playing the game and were motivated to try to find rhymes and win the game, especially when played one by one. Also the teacher and a speech therapist were enthusiastic about the game. A firm conclusion about the effect of the game cannot be drawn however, because of the limited amount of test subjects. A quantitative study will be useful to compare the game with other methods or to include a control group.


Objective: It has been revealed that substance P and vasoactive intestinal peptides (VIP) have important roles in the neural control of bronchial tone. In this study, we aimed to investigate the levels of substance P and VIP as well as of some cytokines, complements and immunoglobulins in children with moderate to persistent allergic asthma in comparison with values in healthy children. Materials and Methods: The study consisted of 80 children with allergic asthma and 15 healthy age-matched controls. A peripheral blood sample was obtained from each group. Serum levels of substance P and VIP as well as interleukin (IL)-2, IL- 12, IgA, M, G and E, NBT-test, and C3-C4 were determined by solid phase ELISA. Results: Substance P level increased and VIP levels decreased with increasing severity of asthma. A dysregulation in cytokines, immunoglobulins and complement levels was also detected. Conclusion: Differences in the levels of neuropeptides, cytokines and immune system parameters increased as the severity of asthma increased. Demonstration of dysregulation in the immune system might also predict allergic asthma in children with asthma.


New York: Anchor Books, 2001. 288 pp. $22.95 (c); $13.00 (P). New York: Random House, 2002. 368 pp. $24.95 Jewish mysticism defines a quest for truth and transcendence. Using intense discipline, study, and the repetition of magic letters and syllables, the seeker aims to pierce life's contradictions and distractions and to reach God's realm of unity. The writers of the Kabbalah, the Zohar, and commentaries on these central texts warn of the rigors and dangers of this quest. The spiritual pilgrim risks error and madness as he works to achieve oneness with the "en sof," the infinite. But the risk may be worth the danger, for the few who breach the barrier between the human and divine can do wonders. They can, in fact, heal the world, so tragically fragmented by its distance from God. These arcane ideas and practices are usually associated with learned men of faraway times and places: the second-century teacher Simon ben Yohai; the scholars of Sefat in Israel; the saintly Rabbi Akiba; and the 13th-century Spanish visionary Abraham Abulafia. All its practitioners have been men, all rigorously trained scholars. Recently, however, two contemporary female novelists have made an odd choice: they have claimed mysticism's central ideas and dramatic action for their own secular quest stories. Myla Goldberg's Bee Season (2000) and Zadie Smith's The Autograph Man (2002) move the search for divinity to, respectively, suburban Philadelphia and North London, in our own bewildered times. In each novel, the seeker is young, untrained in Judaism, and wandering clueless in search of meaning. In each novel, the author revitalizes the ancient mystic's vocabulary, discipline, dangers, and hope. Despite its strangeness, Jewish mysticism works to organize and evaluate the chaos at the heart of each novel. Eliza Naumann, the nine-year-old protagonist of Bee Season, discovers that she has a talent for competitive spelling. It propels her from the ignominy of being an ordinary pupil to the triumph of shining in local, state, and national spelling competitions. Because she can spell -- intuitively, hypnotized by the combining and recombining letters -- she replaces her older brother Aaron in the attentions of their cantor father. Meanwhile, her family is fracturing. Eliza's mother Miriam, always emotionally absent, falls deeper into her secret life of petty theft. Aaron, exiled from his father's inner sanctum of Jewish music and Hebrew learning, seeks out other forms of spirituality than the Naumanns' Judaism. He finds a community of Hare Krishnas, whose chanting, rituals, and self-abnegation appeal to his need for a warm community, near to God. In their house of closed doors, Eliza pursues her father's tutorials, as he directs her study for the spelling bees. First dictionaries, then incantatory repetitions of letters and combinations of letters, then initiation into the meditation of the medieval mystic Abraham Abulafia: "Letters," Saul says. "Abulafia believed that, by concentrating on letters, the mind could loose itself from its shackles to commune with a presence greater than itself,...shefa, the influx...the Divine Intellect."... "Do you mean," Eliza whispers, "that I'll be able to talk to God?" (pp. 172-73) She masters the techniques of mystic concentration: "She could feel the different vowels in her marrow, her bones chimes through which the letters blew" (p. 190). Then she surpasses her father's knowledge. Alone with Abulafia's Life of the Future World, she experiences a religious ecstasy that rips through her body and mind, with visions, pain, "crawling insects and crashing waves" (p. 268), her own disembodied voice, "infinite human and animal possibilities" (p. 269). Possibly, she sees God: "the shape's face is every face ever formed" (p. 269); she feels herself disintegrate and rerum anew. As the story ends, this newly transformed child asserts her independence, choosing her own road, which leads away from winning spelling bees, toward the person she will become. …


For quite some time relational databases, such as MySQL, Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server, have been used to store data for most applications. While they are indeed ACID compliant (meaning interrupted database transactions won't result in lost data or similar nasty surprises) and good at avoiding redundancy, they are difficult to scale horizontally (across multiple servers) and can be slow for certain tasks. With the Web growing rapidly, spawning enourmous, user-generated content websites such as Facebook and Twitter, fast databases that can handle huge amounts of data are a must. For this purpose new databases management systems collectively called NoSQL are being developed. This thesis explains NoSQL further and compares the write and retrieval speeds, as well as the space efficiency, of two database management systems from the document oriented branch of NoSQL called MongoDB and CouchDB, which both use the JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) to store their data within. The benchmarkings performed show that MongoDB is quite a lot faster than CouchDB, both when inserting and querying, when used with their respective Python libraries and dynamic queries. MongoDB also is more space efficient than CouchDB.


The photophysical changes that take place in Poly(9,9-di-n-alkylfluorenes) upon formation of the beta phase in methylcyclohexane solution are observed by optical spectroscopy. The equilibrium absorption spectra as a function of temperature show that conformational changes occur for all five polymers studied, from the hexyl (PF6) to decyl (PF10) side chains. The spectroscopic indicators of beta phase formation are not observed in PF6, and the trend of beta phase formation efficacy shows an optimal side chain length of 8 carbons. The beta phase formation in PF8, PF9 and PF10 is modelled using a previously reported aggregation model, with limited success.
A mechanism for the beta phase formation is proposed, where the interactions between the alkyl side chains provide the chemical energy to overcome the activation energy barrier to planarise the polymer backbone, leading to the extended conjugation length that characterises the beta phase. Excitation spectra show that the beta phase can occur reversibly in dilute solution, most likely by chain folding leading to side chain interactions. The presence of side chain interactions is confirmed by evidence of a PF7-PF9 alternating structure formed in a mixed solution.
The same trend of beta phase formation is observed in thin films of these polymers after thermal cycling and warm toluene vapour exposure, showing that side chain interactions are also required for beta phase formation in the solid state. Spectra of PF8 films with controlled keto content show that the energy transfer to the keto sites is mediated by migration, indicating that the beta phase is formed in domains rather than isolated chains, a result which is consistent with the side chain interaction model and other published results. The fraction of beta phase formed is shown to decrease linearly with a greater content of dibenzothiophene (DBT) co-monomer units, up to a cut-off limit of 20%. A statistical model of the distribution of DBT units in the chain is used to find a conjugation length of 9 monomer units, in contrast to a previous estimate but in agreement with the persistence length of PF8 in toluene.
These results characterise the beta phase formation mechanism and its effects on the photophysical properties of Poly(9,9-di-n-alkylfluorenes), which is under widespread investigation for more use in efficient blue and white organic LED applications.


ABSTRACT If moral responsibilities prescribe how agents ought to behave, are there also intellectual responsibilities prescribing what agents ought to believe? Many theorists have argued that there cannot be intellectual responsibilities because they would require the ability to control whether one believes, whereas it is impossible to control whether one believes. This argument appeals to an "ought implies can" principle for intellectual responsibilities. The present paper tests for the presence of intellectual responsibilities in social cognition. Four experiments show that intellectual responsibilities are attributed to believe things and that these responsibilities can exceed what agents are able to believe. Furthermore, the results show that agents are sometimes considered responsible for failing to form true beliefs on the basis of good evidence, and that this effect does not depend on the seriousness of the consequences for failing to form a belief. These findings clarify when and how responsibilities for belief are attributed, falsify a conceptual entailment between ability and responsibility in the intellectual domain, and emphasize the importance of objective truth in intellectual evaluations.


Quantifying the forest water budget is fundamental to making science-based forest management decisions. This study aimed at developing an improved water budget for the El Yunque National Forest (ENF) in Puerto Rico, one of the wettest forests in the United States. We modified an existing monthly scale water balance model, Water Supply Stress Index (WaSSI), to reflect location watershed conditions, by incorporating a new empirical evapotranspiration (ET) equation derived from global eddy covariance data for rainforests. Modeling results indicated that the mean water yield was about 1795 mm yr-1 for the ENF region, representing approximately 63% of the annual precipitation. We found a wide range of the estimates for all key hydrological fluxes, particularly ET, among those reported in the literature. The large differences in both the magnitude and seasonality of fluxes are a result of differences in estimation methods and physical watershed boundaries used among these studies. The present modeling study that used the updated data products and modeling techniques provided an improved annual water budget with a smaller uncertainty compared to previous studies. Future studies should focus on quantifying water budgets, especially ET and precipitation, across a topographic gradient at a fine spatiotemporal scale.


The present study addressed the need to understand how short-term variations in metal
concentrations in the environment determine its concentrations in a biomonitor, and how this
information affects the use of the biomonitor in environmental monitoring programs. As a
case study, the barnacle biomonitor Balanus amphitrite present in Ross Creek (Townsville,
Queensland, AU) and the heavy metal Cd were used. The research methodology for this study
comprised three integrated approaches: field measurements; the performance of laboratory experiments, and the development of an ecotoxicological simulation model, in order to
understand the processes controlling Cd accumulation in Balanus amphitrite in the field. Two
sampling programs were carried out along Ross Creek, in the dry season of 2002 and the wet
season of 2004, in which barnacles, their food sources (two class sizes of suspended
particulate material, SPM, and microzooplankton) and water (dissolved phase) were sampled
weekly for Cd concentrations and mass abundances. Sampling periods were selected to test
whether the concentration of Cd in the biomonitor responded to any variation in the dissolved
and particulate phase Cd concentrations in Ross Creek, as caused by rainfall variation.

In both sampling periods, the Cd concentration in the dissolved phase increased upstream,
ranging from 1.6 to 283 ngl,", The Cd concentration in the barnacle's food sources exhibited
the same pattern - ranging from <0.01 to 2.10 mg kg" for the small size class of SPM (0.4550
um), from 0.07 to 1.62mg kg" for large SPM (50-200 um), and from 0.03 to 0.80 mg kg-I
for microzooplankton (50-200 um). The Cd concentration in two populations of Balanus
amphitrite increased upstream between two sites 2.20 km apart and ranged from 2.15 to 6.40
mg kg" and from 5.22 to 12.8mg kg-I. Even though no significant temporal variation was
detected for the Cd sources to the barnacles, the biomonitor Cd concentrations varied over the
three sampling months, within each sampling period, exhibiting specific patterns for this
variation. These observations suggest that changes in the Cd concentrations in the food
sources and the relative mass abundance of these sources may result in a specific Cd
concentration in Balanus amphitrite.

Similar Cd concentrations, within sites, were observed for the particles between the dry and
wet seasons. Only the most contaminated site exhibited significant differences in the
dissolved Cd concentration between seasons. Because more than 95% of the total Cd in the
Ross Creek water <200 um) was in the dissolved phase <0.45 um), the differences in the
dissolved Cd concentration resulted in the barnacles from the most Cd-contaminated site
being exposed to a total Cd concentration in the wet season (45.8 ng L-I) that was a half of
that in the dry season (91.6 ng L-I) . Such Cd differences were not indicated by the biomonitor
whose Cd concentration did not vary significantly between dry (8.4 mg kg") and wet (7.4 mg
kg") seasons. A budget analysis based on Thomann's bioenergetic kinetic model, indicated
that Cd flux from food contributes >80% of the Cd concentration in Balanus amphitrite.
Thus, because no significant variation was identified for the Cd concentration in the food, no
variation in the Cd concentration in the biomonitor was observed at the most contaminated
site between seasons. A sensitivity analysis on the model showed that physiological
characteristics of the biomonitor are the key parameters controlling Cd accumulation in
Balanus amphitrite, rather than the metal concentration in the dissolved or particulate phases.
This, coupled with the fact that the Cd flux from food is the major source of Cd to Balanus
amphitrite suggests no tight coupling between Cd in the biomonitor and its availability in the
environment.

A simulation model was developed based on Thomann's bioenergetic kinetic model. The
daily-simulated Cd concentration in Balanus amphitrite produced by the model reproduced
the general trend observed in the field. However, even though high and low patterns of Cd
concentration in this organism could be reproduced by the model, it could not reproduce the
short-term temporal variations accurately. A model investigation suggested that variations in
the mean weight of the sampled barnacles might mask the real pattern of temporal variation of
the barnacles Cd concentration; even though no size effect has been identified in the field
data.

Two simulation exercises indicated that Balanus amphitrite may present some weakness in
indicating temporal variations in Cd concentrations in the environment. The model results
suggested that this organism could not indicate a 6-month Cd-pulse in the environment that
increased the Cd concentration in its main source (small SPM, 0.45-50 um) by a factor of 2.8
using a realistic sampling effort. In addition, this organism took more than a year to reach
equilibrium for its Cd concentration in a simulated relocation experiment. These problems
may be critical for the use of Balanus amphitrite as a biomonitor, and suggest that this
organism can only provides a poor measure of current bioavailability of the metal in the
environment. However, if a long-term mean Cd availability in the particulate fraction (sized
<200 um) is required, Balanus amphitrite can provide such an information.


This thesis includes four essays and deals with two distinct research topics in the context of increasing renewable energy generation shares in the European electricity system.
The first topic concerns cross-border cooperation in renewable energy deployment in the European Union. Due to large regional variances in the generation costs of renewable energies across Europe, cross-border cooperation in achieving national renewable energy targets could potentially yield high cost savings. However, few member states intend to use cooperation mechanisms in achieving the 2020 targets. The essays in Chapters 2, 3 and 4 are motivated by this conflict between the potential economic efficiency gains and the observed reality of predominantly national approaches in renewable energy support. In Chapter 2, efficiency gains arising from European-wide cooperation in renewable energy support post-2020 are quantified using an electricity market optimization model. In addition, based on a qualitative analysis of the National Renewable Energy Action Plans, it is found that undesired redistribution effects resulting from cooperation are a major reason why member states of the European Union are reluctant to cooperate. Therefore, in Chapters 3 and 4, redistribution effects associated with cross-border cooperation are investigated in-depth, both theoretically and numerically. These analyses take into account that the different regional deployment of renewable energies resulting from cooperation may affect both renewable energy support payments and regional electricity markets (as long as the different countries are not perfectly physically interconnected). The theoretical analysis shows that effects of cooperation on consumers and total producers per country can only be clearly determined if no grid congestion between the countries exists. Furthermore, when interconnectors are congested, cooperation can, under certain conditions, even lead to a decreasing sectoral welfare in the electricity system of a country. However, in this case, increasing congestion rents ensure that the overall system-wide welfare always increases compared to a situation without cooperation. The numerical analysis shows that, in the European electricity system, the effect of cooperation on regional wholesale electricity markets is not dominant (in most countries). Therefore, in countries with comparatively high (low) generation costs for renewable energies, consumer rents increase (decrease) due to cooperation and producers yield lower (higher) profits.
The second topic of this thesis concerns uncertainties in the context of increasing renewable energy shares. In Chapter 5, a multi-stage stochastic optimization model is developed, which is then applied to investigate the impact of uncertain renewable energy deployment paths on optimal investment decisions of conventional power plants. Main findings of this analysis include that plants with a medium capital/operating cost ratio have higher value under uncertainty surrounding renewable energy penetration levels.


This study investigates the willingness to pay (WTP) for recreational resources at Kapar Bird Sanctuary (KBS), Kelang, Malaysia. The relevant values were estimated by utilizing dichotomous choice form of contingent valuation method (CVM). The logit models were used to analyze the data collected. Open-ended elicitation questions were used to induce respondents to state their maximum WTP, and the OLS model was employed to determine the WTP values. For the purpose of this study, a total 220 respondents were interviewed and asked their WTP for the conservation of KPS as an excitement place for recreational site. The findings of the study showed that the mean willingness to pay ranges from RM12.06 to RM60.94. This study implies that non-use value should be considered in policy making associated with recreational resources. The findings of this study are important in assists policy maker in management and development of recreational sites in Malaysia.