Organizations' operational data constructs the major data source for their data warehouse. The exponential development of WWW has made Internet an immense database containing all kinds of information with various types of data structures. Organizations are increasingly interested in capturing web data into their data warehousing systems to enlarge their data source for decision supporting, therefore improving accuracy and effectiveness of their decision making. This research thoroughly analyzes the data value of web data to data warehousing as well as business decision making, discusses the feasibility and potential problem of loading web data into data warehouse system, and provides a framework for evaluating web data for data warehousing purpose. Web data analysis and evaluation is regarded as a prerequisite for Web Integration a breakthrough approach in furnishing data warehouse input: extracting, scrubbing, transforming web data and loading it into data warehouse systems to support organization decision making.


The feasibility of depth profiling of thick layers (>100 μm) consisting of partially stabilized zirconia coating and graded metal—ceramic coating on Inconel steel (ZrO2–Y2O3/NiCrAlY/steel and ZrO2–CeO2/NiCrAlY/steel) was studied on the basis of the use of laser ablation inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (LA-ICP-AES). An ICP spectrometer equipped with a multichannel detection was used for the simultaneous measurements of the line intensities. The ablation was performed with a Nd:YAG laser operated in a Q-switched mode at 266 nm. To study the erosion rate, we used either a static or a translation mode for the ablation, and the corresponding temporal behavior of the signals was studied. A higher erosion rate was found for the translation mode when depths higher than several hundred micrometers were probed.


Problems with the exchange of information between physicians during a change-of-shift may contribute to as many as 80% of cross-cover errors. According to a survey of Internal Medicine chief residents, few residency programs have systems or training in place for the comprehensive transfer of patient care. Recent efforts to develop sign-out systems focused on centralization of data, elimination of duplicate data entry, and standardization of data format. We present a before-and-after study to measure the effectiveness of a computerized system for resident sign-out in an Internal Medicine residency program.


Molecular dynamics (MD) has been used to identify the relative distribution of dysprosium in the phosphate glass DyAl0.30P3.05O9.62. The MD model has been compared directly with experimental data obtained from neutron diffraction to enable a detailed comparison beyond the total structure factor level. The MD simulation gives correlations at 3.80(5) and 6.40(5) Å with relative coordination numbers of 0.8(1) and 7.3(5), thus providing evidence of minority rare-earth clustering within these glasses. The nearest neighbour Dy–O peak occurs at 2.30 Å with each Dy atom having on average 5.8 nearest neighbour oxygen atoms. The MD simulation is consistent with the phosphate network model based on interlinked PO4 tetrahedra where the addition of network modifiers Dy3+ depolymerizes the phosphate network through the breakage of P–(O)–P bonds whilst leaving the tetrahedral units intact. The role of aluminium within the network has been taken into explicit account, and Al is found to be predominantly (78%) tetrahedrally coordinated. In fact all four Al bonds are found to be to P (via an oxygen atom) with negligible amounts of Al–O–Dy bonds present. This provides an important insight into the role of Al additives in improving the mechanical properties of these glasses.


Ballast consisting of large sized aggregate particles with uniform size distribution is an essential component of the track substructure, to facilitate load distribution and drainage. As freight tonnage accumulates with traffic, ballast will accumulate an increasing percentage of fines due to either aggregate breakdown or outside contamination such as subgrade soil intrusion and coal dust collection. According to the classical text by Selig and Waters [1], ballast degradation from traffic involves up to 76% of all fouling cases; voids will be occupied by fines from the bottom of ballast layer gradually causing ballast clogging and losing its drainage ability. When moisture is trapped within ballast, especially fouled ballast, ballast layer stability is compromised. In the recent studies at the University of Illinois, the focus has been to evaluate behavior of fouled ballast due to aggregate degradation using large scale triaxial testing. To investigate the effects of moisture on degraded ballast, fouled ballast was generated in the laboratory through controlled Los Angeles (LA) abrasion tests intended to mimic aggregate abrasion and breakdown and generate fouled ballast at compositions similar to those observed in the field due to repeated train loadings. Triaxial shear strength tests were performed on the fouled ballast at different moisture contents. Important findings of this preliminary study on characterizing wet fouled ballast are presented in this paper. Moisture was found to have a significant effect on the fouled ballast strength behavior. Adding a small amount of 3% moisture (by weight of particles smaller than 3/8 in. size or smaller than 9.5 mm) caused test specimens to indicate approximately 50% decrease in shear strength of the dry fouled ballast. Wet fouled ballast samples peaked at significantly lower maximum deviator stress values at relatively smaller axial strains and remained at these low levels as the axial strain was increased.Copyright © 2016 by ASME


The prevalence and severity of people suffering from obesity has increased markedly worldwide. The WHO declared obesity a 'crisis of epidemic proportion'. This article outlines a conceptual framework for an intervention programme over three year period that can be easily adapted to prevent childhood obesity. The presented approach is based on behaviour modification model without giving foods. Family, school and children are essential counterparts to achieve meaningful improvement. Advocated by policies makers and embraced with favourite environmental factors, CHOP programme could be the conceptual framework for nutrition intervention that can be effectively integrated within the national health framework to attain public health goals.


The Euro Area recommendations endorsed by the European Council in 2016 called for a differentiation of the fiscal effort by individual Member States, taking into account spillovers across Euro Area countries. This article shows model-based simulations of an increase in public investment in Germany and the Netherlands and their spillovers to the rest of the Euro Area. While spillovers in a monetary union may be small when monetary policy reacts by raising interest rates, when rates are kept constant and the stimulus is accommodated, spillovers can be sizeable. An increase in (productive) spending in Germany and the Netherlands can boost GDP in these countries and also have significant positive spillovers on the rest of EA GDP, while the effects on current accounts are likely to be small. Effects can be even larger when investment is directed to the most productive projects. With low borrowing costs at present, the increase in government debt for surplus countries will be modest, while there could be an improvement in debt ratios in the rest of the Euro Area.


Land-surface processes are one of the important drivers for weather and climate systems over the tropics. Realistic representation of land surface processes in mesoscale models over the region will help accurate simulation of numerical forecasts. The present study examines the influence of Land Use/ Land Cover Change (LULC) on the forecasting of cyclone intensity and track prediction using Mesoscale Model (MM5). Gridded land use/land cover data set over the Indian region compatible with the MM5 model were generated from Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (IRS-P6) Advanced Wide Field Sensor (AWiFS) for the year 2007-2008. A case study of simulation of 'Aila' cyclone has been considered to see the impact of these two sets of LULC data with the use of MM5 model. Results of the study indicated that incorporation of current land use/land cover data sets in mesoscale model provides better forecasting of cyclonic track.


Having emerged, exhausted but triumphant, from the bloody and divisive Russian Civil War, V. I. Lenin and his colleagues turned to eliminating perceived ideological foes from within. In On the Ideological Front, Stuart Finkel tells the story of the1922 expulsion from Soviet Russia of almost one hundred prominent intellectuals, including professors and journalists, philosophers and engineers, writers and agronomists. Finkel's meticulously researched and persuasively argued study sets this compelling human drama within the context of the Bolsheviks' determined efforts to impose ideological conformity, redefine the role of the intelligentsia, and establish a distinctly Soviet public sphere. The book demonstrates that the NEP period was not a time of intellectual pluralism and ideological retreat on the part of the Bolsheviks. On the contrary, from its formative years, the Soviet regime zealously policed the ideological front and laid the institutional and discursive foundations for the Stalinist state.


In certain neurodegenerative diseases such Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB), it is hypothesised that misfolded α-synuclein (α-syn) and β-amyloid both contribute to pathology. α-Syn and β-amyloid have been suggested to synergistically promote one another's accumulation and aggregation, but the mechanisms are unknown. β-Amyloid is generated from β-/γ-secretase-mediated processing of the amyloid precursor protein (APP). This study investigated how α-syn overexpression in cells affects β-amyloid production from APP, using multiplex assays, luciferase reporter assays, and western blotting. Wildtype α-syn expression induces β-amyloid generation from APP in SH-SY5Y human neuroblastoma cells, and similar changes to APP processing occur in another neuronal cell model. Dominant-negative overexpression of α-syn mutants revealed that disrupting the N-terminal domain can increase APP amyloidogenic processing. Secretase enzymes that perform APP processing were next investigated. γ-Secretase activity, measured by a luciferase reporter, was not increased by α-syn overexpression. A higher ratio of β- to α-secretase processing was hypothesised, which led to expression and activity studies of the major β- and α-secretases, BACE1 and ADAM10 respectively. It was shown that the BACE1 protein expression is post-transcriptionally upregulated in α-syn cells, with increased APP cleavage in cells. ADAM10 protein expression is transcriptionally suppressed in wild-type α-syn cells, reducing total levels of catalytically active enzyme. However the change in ADAM10-mediated APP processing may be negligible since, critically, plasma membrane expression of ADAM10 appears to be maintained. To aid understanding of the mechanism that connects α-syn to APP processing, BACE1 expression was used in pharmacological studies of cell stress signalling. This approach revealed that in α-syn cells BACE1 lysosomal and/or proteasomal degradation may be disturbed. Additionally, BACE1 expression is induced by translational de-repression mediated by eIF2α ser-51 phosphorylation, which was increased in α-syn cells. Although preliminary, the data suggests a role for oxidative stress mediating the increased BACE1 expression in wild-type α-syn cells.


A modified DIA type multi-anvil apparatus was installed in the Department of Earth Sciences, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan. This modified DIA multi-anvil system is used with a hydraulic press that generates loads of up to 1000 tons and is the first multi-anvil press installed for geoscience research in Taiwan. In this paper, the geometry of the high-pressure apparatus is briefly described and the pressure calibration performed in the press is reported. The thermal behaviors of various pressure mediums, boron-epoxy, zirconia, and mullite, are also compared. Pressure calibrations at room temperature were performed with different cell designs, paying special attention to the so called "D" factor, which is defined as the ratio of diagonal length of the cell assembly cube to the diameter of the cavity hole. For a given cell design, the sample-pressure efficiency for the three materials examined was similar. Calibrations with different cell designs showed that increasing the "D" value results in greater pressure generation efficiency. By comparing the deformation behavior at high temperatures (up to 1200°C), the semi-sintered mullite and zirconia appeared to be better pressure mediums compared to boron-epoxy.


SHPs in Britain in the 21st century perform a dual role. As businesses, they are expected to be commercially aware as well as run efficiently, and in their role as landlords, they are expected to provide housing for a social purpose. They are organisations that operate within a competitive environment and have to balance the conflict between market forces and addressing a social need. This study seeks to explore how they manage to do this by developing an understanding of the strategic responses that they put in place to help them survive in a competitive environment. The research focused on small SHPs operating in rural areas. Using a Mixed Methods Research (MMR) design, the analysis was carried out employing the qualitative method of semi-structured interviews and case study predominantly. Interviews were carried out with practitioners mainly from Social Housing but also health, social care, local government, and the third sector. The philosophical approach of Critical Realism (CR) and a typology of strategic responses (partnership, innovation, hybridity, and service strategy) were drawn upon to analyse the research data. CR helped to assess the contextual conditions applicable to individual SHPs through a stratified ontology. The research highlighted the importance of place and locality as a connection between the SHP and the local community. The specific conditions within a locality that impact upon a SHP will influence the nature of the strategic response that they adopt. The strategic responses that had been adopted by the SHPs varied included combinations from the typology. Partnership was highlighted in one case as an approach by one SHP to gain a competitive advantage over its rivals. The strategic responses of SHPs may need to be reviewed over time as contextual conditions change.


Metallization of DNA and DNA Origami Using a Pd Seeding Method Yanli Geng Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Doctor of Philosophy In this dissertation, I developed a Pd seeding method in association with electroless plating, to successfully metallize both lambda DNA and DNA origami templates on different surfaces. On mica surfaces, this method offered a fast, simple process, and the ability to obtain a relatively high yield of metallized DNA nanostructures. When using lambda DNA as the templates, I studied the effect of Pd(II) activation time on the seed height and density, and an optimal activation time between 10 and 30 min was obtained. Based on the Pd seeds formed on DNA, as well as a Pd electroless plating solution, continuous Pd nanowires that had an average diameter of ~28 nm were formed with good selectivity on lambda DNA. The selected Pd activation time was also applied to metallize "T"-shape DNA origami, and Au coated branched nanostructures with a length between 200-250 nm, and wire diameters of ~40 nm were also fabricated. In addition, I found that the addition of Mg ion into the reducing agent and electroless plating solution could benefit the surface retention of Pd seeded DNA and Au plated DNA structures. This work indicated that DNA molecules were promising templates to fabricate metal nanostructures; moreover, the formation of Au metallized branched nanostructures showed progress towards nanodevice fabrication using DNA origami. Silicon surfaces were also used as the substrates for DNA metallization. More complex circular circuit DNA origami templates were used. To obtain high enough seed density, multiple Pd seeding steps were applied which showed good selectivity and the seeded DNA origami remained on the surface after seeding steps. I used distribution analysis of seed height to study the effect of seeding steps on both average height and the uniformity of the Pd seeds. Fourrepeated palladium seedings were confirmed to be optimal by the AFM images, seed height distribution analysis, and Au electroless plating results. Both Au and Cu metallized circular circuit design DNA origami were successfully obtained with high yield and good selectivity. The structures were maintained well after metallization, and the average diameters of Au and Cu samples were ~32 nm and 40 nm, respectively. Electrical conductivity measurements were done on these Au and Cu samples, both of which showed ohmic behavior. This is the first work to demonstrate the conductivity of Cu metallized DNA templates. In addition, the resistivities were calculated based on the measured resistance and the size of the metallized structures. My work shows promising progress with metallized DNA and DNA origami templates. The resulting metal nanostructures may find use as conducting interconnects for nanoscale objects as well as in surface enhanced Raman scattering analysis.


An increasingly large number of Web pages are machine-generated by filling in templates with data stored in backend databases. These templates can be viewed as the implicit schemas of those Web pages. The ability to infer the implicit schema from a collection of Web pages is important for scalable data extraction, since the inferred schema can be used to automatically identify schema attributes that are "encoded" in Web pages.However, the task of inferring a "good" schema is complicated due to the existence of nullable (missing) data attributes. Usually if an attribute contains a null value, then it will be omitted in the generated Web page, giving rise to different variations and permutations of layout structures in Web pages that are generated from the same template.In this paper we investigate the complexity of schema inference from Web pages in the presence of nullable data attributes. We introduce the notion of unambiguity as a quality measure for inferred schemas and prove that the problem of inferring "good" (unambiguous) schemas is NP-complete. Our complexity results imply that ambiguity resolution is one of the root causes of the computational difficulty underlying schema inference from Web pages.


Najaf has played a pivotal role in the political, religious and intellectual life in Iraq, as well as the wider Arab and Islamic world. However, since the formation of the Iraqi state in 1921, Najaf's position as political arbiter declined in comparison with Baghdad. The Political activism of young Shi'is had reflected a deep sense of discontent against the Iraqi central state, on the one hand, and the declining role of the Shi'a religious community in the holy cities on the other. The 1958 Iraqi Revolution presented both a challenge and an opportunity to Najafi 'ulama. Thus, Najaf's Shi'a marja'iyya had engaged in ideological and political hostilities between Abdu Karim Qasim and the strong ICP, on one hand, and Arab nationalists, backed by Naser's Egypt on the other. Najaf's role in the dispute was affected by its regional connections, and hence directed its standing towards Qasim's regime. This religiopolitical campaign eventually led to the ousting of Qasim in February 1963. Over the next six years (1963-68), Sayyed Muhsin al-Hakim adopted two contrasting approaches towards Baghdad's government; he advocated no specific Shi'a demands during the first months (the Ba'th period). Al-Hakim showed a radical turn towards the first 'Arif' government, calling for a fair representation within the Iraqi government. Al-Hakim returned to his old peaceful attitude with the arrival of the second 'Arif government. The rise of the Ba'th party to power in July 1968 brought an end to Shi'a activism. While the Ba'th maintained cordial relations with al-Hakim between July 1968 and April 1969, relations deteriorated rapidly in June 1969 ending in irrevocable divorce. Following al-Hakim's death in 1970, Muhammad Baqir alЅadr emerged as the most prominent mujtahid in Najaf. Al-Ѕadr gradually moved from his non-intervention approach to a more radical and revolutionary position after the failure of the Najaf uprising in 1977. Al-Sadr's action was spontaneous and unplanned, lacking all the requirements needed for making it a successful revolution. It ended with al-Sadr's execution in April 1980, bringing Iraq to new extended phase under the Ba'th regime.


This thesis investigates both experimentally and numerically the oxidation, sintering, melting and solidification processes of different nanoparticles under various thermodynamic scenarios, with a background for energy applications. Two sets of main techniques are adopted in this work, which are isoconvensional kinetic analysis and molecular dynamics simulation. Based on the techniques of simultaneous Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), for first time the isoconvensional kinetic analysis is applied to study the oxidation of nickel and tin nanoparticles. This method is demonstrated capable of modelling one-step nanoscale oxidation and revealing underling kinetic mechanisms. Moreover, some distinct features of nanoparticle oxidation compared with their bulk counterparts are found such as melting depression, oxidation kinetic change in the vicinity of Curie point of nickel and pressure-related two-step oxidation of tin nanoparticles. The detailed study from Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulation establishes a three-stage sintering process of two nickel nanoparticles, which is unable to be described by bulk continuum-level models. MD is applied to study the interaction between nickel and aluminium and its consequent thermo-mechanical and structural property evolution in a nickel-coating aluminium particle in a heating and cooling cycle. The simulation successfully predicts the atomic diffusion during melting and the formation of glass and crystal phases, and allows for the estimation of interior core-shell pressure. Reactive MD is then applied to simulate the oxidation of silicon nanoparticles. It predicts well the exothermal reaction process and experimentally reveals the oxygen exchange process.


Studies on strength delivery and related fields have so far concentrated on finding the locations in the mill where fibres are damaged and what the damages consist of. However, fibres will invariably encounter mechanical stresses along the fibreline and in this thesis a new concept is introduced; the vulnerability of fibres to mechanical treatment. It is hypothesised that fibres with different properties have different abilities to withstand the mechanical forces they endure as they are discharged from the digester and transported through valves, pumps and various washing and bleaching equipment. In the thesis, results are presented from trials where pulps with significantly different hemicellulose compositions were high-intensity mixed at pH 13, 70°C and 10% pulp consistency and pulp strength evaluated. By varying alkalinity and temperature, pulps with different carbohydrate composition could be obtained. High alkali concentration and low temperature resulted in high glucomannan content and low xylan content, whereas cooking at low alkali concentration and high temperature rendered a pulp with low glucomannan and high xylan content. The high alkalinity pulp was stronger, determined as tear index at given tensile index. The pulp viscosity was also higher for this pulp. However, when the pulps were subjected to high-intensity mixing, the high alkalinity pulp lost in tear strength and the rewetted zero-span tensile strength was substantially reduced. The pulp cooked at high alkalinity was thus interpreted as being more vulnerable to mechanical treatment than the pulp obtained by cooking at low alkalinity. Another pair of pulps was manufactured at high and low sodium ion concentrations, but otherwise with similar chemical charges. The pulp obtained by cooking at low sodium ion concentration became stronger, evaluated as tear index at a given tensile index and the curl index was substantially lower, 8% compared to 12% for the pulp cooked at a high sodium ion concentration. The viscosity was 170 ml/g higher for the pulp manufactured at low sodium ion concentration. When the pulps were subjected to high-intensity mixing, the tear strength of the pulp manufactured at high sodium ion concentration was reduced. The re-wetted zerospan tensile index decreased also after mixing. The pulp obtained by cooking at higher sodium ion concentration was thus interpreted as being more vulnerable to mechanical treatment than the pulp manufactured at lower sodium ion concentration. In the thesis, two reasons for the low strength delivery of industrially produced pulps compared to laboratory-cooked pulps are put forward. Since the ionic strength of mill cooking liquor systems is much higher than is normally used in laboratory cooking, this can partly explain the difference in strength between milland laboratory-cooked pulp. A higher sodium ion concentration was shown in this thesis work to give a pulp of lower strength. Secondly, it is suggested that the difference in retention time of the black liquor in laboratory cooking and continuous mill cooking systems can explain the difference in tensile strength between laboratory-cooked and mill-produced pulp. The black liquor in a continuous digester has a longer retention time in the digester than the chips. This gives a longer time for the dissolved xylan to degrade and, as a consequence, the xylan deposited on the mill pulp fibres will be more degraded than the xylan deposited on the laboratory-cooked pulp fibres. In the thesis, results are also presented from studies using different strength-enhancing chemicals. The fibre surfaces of bleached never-dried and once-dried pulp were modified by the polyelectrolyte multilayer technique using cationic and anionic starch. Although the pulps absorbed the same amount of starch, the never-dried pulp reached a higher tensile index than the once-dried pulp. When the starch-treated never-dried pulp was dried and reslushed it still had higher tensile index than the never-dried untreated pulp. The starch layers were thus able to counteract part of the hornification effect. The never-dried starch treated pulps were subsequently dried, reslushed and beaten. Pulp with starch layers had a better beatability evaluated as the tensile index obtained after given number of PFI revolutions than dried untreated pulp. Hence, there is a potential to increase the tensile index of market pulp by utilising the polyelectrolyte multilayer technique before drying. Addition of CMC to bleached mill pulp and laboratory-cooked pulp increased the tensile strength to the same degree for both pulps. CMC addition had a straightening effect on the fibres, the shape factor increased and this increased the zero-span tensile strength also.


Courts and scholars point to the sharing economy as the most recent proof that our labor & employment infrastructure is obsolete because it rests on a narrow and outmoded idea—namely, that only workers subjected to direct, personalized control by their employers need work-related protections and benefits. Since they diagnose the problem as being our system's emphasis on control, these critics have long called for reducing or eliminating the primacy of the "control test" in classifying workers as either protected employees or unprotected independent contractors. Despite these persistent criticisms, however, the concept of control has been remarkably sticky in scholarly and judicial circles.

This Article argues that critics have misdiagnosed the reason why the control test is an unsatisfying method of classifying workers and dispensing work-related safeguards. Control-based analysis is faulty because it only captures one of the two conflicting ways in which workers, scholars, and decision-makers think about freedom at work. One of these ways, freedom as non-interference, is adequately captured by the control test. The other, freedom as non-domination, is not. The tension between these two conceptions of freedom, both deeply entrenched in American culture, explains why the concept of control has been both "faulty" and "sticky" when it comes to worker classification.

Drawing on a first-of-its-kind body of ethnographic fieldwork among workers and policymakers across several sharing economy industries, this Article begins by showing how workers themselves conceptualize freedom as both non-interference and non-domination. It then goes on to show that both these conceptualizations of freedom also exist in case law and statutory law pertaining to work. In doing so, the Article demonstrates that there is no great divide between work law and work practices and that, if anything, the problem is that classification doctrine reflects and reinforces an irresolvable tension in the way lay and legal actors think about freedom at work.


The COVID-19 pandemic has led to extensive morbidity and mortality throughout the world. Clinical features that drive SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis in humans include inflammation and thrombosis, but the mechanistic details underlying these processes remain to be determined. In this study, we demonstrate endothelial disruption and vascular thrombosis in histopathologic sections of lungs from both humans and rhesus macaques infected with SARS-CoV-2. To define key molecular pathways associated with SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis in macaques, we performed transcriptomic analyses of bronchoalveolar lavage and peripheral blood and proteomic analyses of serum. We observed macrophage infiltrates in lung and upregulation of macrophage, complement, platelet activation, thrombosis, and proinflammatory markers, including C-reactive protein, MX1, IL-6, IL-1, IL-8, TNFalpha, and NF-kappaB. These results suggest a model in which critical interactions between inflammatory and thrombosis pathways lead to SARS-CoV-2-induced vascular disease. Our findings suggest potential therapeutic targets for COVID-19.


A two-staged technique for construction of experimental aneurysms in swine is described. The jugular vein is initially anastomosed to the carotid artery. Spontaneous hypertrophy of the vein is modeled by placing restraining sutures to create a fusiform aneurysm. Subsequent endovascular closure of this aneurysm leaves a sidewall aneurysm pouch. Staging allows maturation of the anastomosis, and the technique provides additional targets for endovascular training. Trial has been successful in three animals.


A novel distributed algorithm for blind macro-calibration of large sensor networks is introduced. The algorithm is in the form of a system of gradient-type recursions for estimating parameters of local sensor calibration functions. The method does not require any fusion center. The convergence analysis is based on diagonal dominance of the dynamical systems with block matrices. It is proved that the asymptotic consensus is achieved for all the equivalent sensor gains and offsets (in the mean square sense and with probability one) in lossy sensor networks with possible communication outages and additive communication noise. An illustrative simulation example is provided.


We examine shareholder wealth implications of supplying financing to customers. Robust results show that excess returns and trade receivables are directly and significantly related. Further evidence indicates the value of receivables is higher for suppliers with stronger motives relating to operating and contracting costs. Results also suggest a discounted value of receivables for financially unconstrained firms. Overall, we conclude that investors recognize trade credit as an effective instrument in mitigating frictions hindering sales growth. Thus, certain suppliers are positioned to derive increased strategic benefits from credit policy.


The critical sociology of punishment has a long-established tradition of exploring issues such as: the differential application of penal sanctions across class, race and gender divisions; the harms associated with confinement in penal and semi-penal institutions; and the expansion of the carceral continuum into community settings. More recently, North American scholarship has explored the extent to which criminalisation may generate a number of 'collateral consequences' for those previously subjected to punishment. However, this term arguably fails to convey what is at stake when those who have served their sentences are denied access to the full range of rights and entitlements associated with meaningful citizenship. Indeed, for many people with convictions, the discrimination which they face in their post-sentence lives may be experienced as equally or even more painful than the original sanctions for lawbreaking. Moreover, given the often precarious status of those targeted for punishment in many advanced capitalist economies, this discrimination against convicted population is likely to intensify and exacerbate pre-existing marginality. This requires that post-sentence disadvantage should be considered as central to the social process of punishment and not merely 'collateral' to it. In this short chapter, I provide a brief exploration of some the issues arising from criminal records within England and Wales. In doing so, I hope to demonstrate the potential for a broader sociological agenda concerned with discrimination against people with convictions during their post-sentence lives. That is, a field of enquiry which does not merely 'chart' different forms of discrimination against people with convictions, but which also: (1) explores the rationalities which underpin it; (2) examines the lived experience of those subjected to it; and therefore (3) opens up various forms of discrimination to critical scrutiny and contestation.


The interior decorative painting at Mission San Jose de Tumacácori is a rare survival of late 18th century-early 19th century artistic traditions of northern Sonora and the Kino mission churches. Despite earlier attempts to stabilize these finishes, the original painted lime plaster has continued to detach from the adobe substrate. Previous techniques to stabilize the paintings began with research by J. Rutherford Gettens in 1949-1952 and subsequent attempts in 1984 to reattach detached plaster have proven ineffective. The current research evaluates soil-based injection grouting in order to adhere the loose plaster on the nave and sanctuary walls. Earthen grouts were tested over the more commonly used hydraulic lime grouts in order to consider a more compatible system with the original construction materials. A well-designed earthen grout must be fluid enough to insure full penetration, exhibit low shrinkage and strong bond strength equal to its own cohesive strength for successful repair. Samples of the original adobe, mortar, and plaster were analyzed and local soils were sampled and tested in order to design a grout displaying optimal properties. The test grout was subjected to several geo-technical tests including viscosity, density, shrinkage, and expansion/ bleeding; as well as its hardened properties such as splitting tensile strength, capillary water absorption, water retention and permeability. The selected grout's performance was finally analyzed with a mock-up assembly composed of friable plaster facsimiles and adobe, simulating 1/2" and 1/4" gaps. Half of the plaster facsimiles were consolidated with nanolime due to their friable nature based on recent parallel research. The research expands current knowledge on the use of earthen grouts for reattachment of earthen and lime plasters on earthen substrates.


WORLD MUSICS Jazz Cosmopolitanism in Accra: Five Musical Years in Ghana. By Steven Feld. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2012. [325 p. ISBN 9780822351481 (hardcover), $84.95; ISBN 9780822351627 (paperback), $23.95.] Music examples, illustrations, bibliographical references, index.In the last few decades, the unprecedented expansion of global networks of culture, trade, and people have fundamentally transformed the discipline of ethnomusicology. Dualistic concepts such as field/ metropole, periphery/center, tradition/ modernity, and local/global are no longer sufficient to explain the increasingly deterritorialized and interconnected nature of contemporary social formations. Of the numerous social theories to emerge in this period, cosmopolitanism has offered one of the most dynamic frameworks for thinking about the nature of musical encounters in a world characterized by the rapid movement of people, things, and ideas. In the last decade, ethnomusicologists have employed the term cosmopolitanism to emphasize the creative ways in which musicians have interacted with global flows of culture in specific places, and used music to establish new allegiances and take advantage of new possibilities. However, cosmopolitanism contains an inherent contradiction between the particular and the universal, which has remained problematic throughout its various applications. Steven Feld's new monograph Jazz Cosmopolitanism in Accra: Five Musical Years in Ghana argues for jazz in Accra as the enactment of "musical intimacy," a dialogue between African urban modernity and the Black Atlantic diaspora. Feld contributes to the growing body of literature on musical cosmopolitanism by utilizing its intrinsic irony with a deftness unmatched in previous work.This year marks the thirtieth anniversary of Steven Feld's groundbreaking ethnography of sound as a cultural system in the Bosavi rainforest of Papua New Guinea, Sound and Sentiment: Birds, Weeping, Poetics, and Song in Kaluli Expression (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1982). The concurrent publications of Jazz Cosmopolitanism in Accra and the third edition of Sound and Sentiment (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2012) provide some indication of Feld's enormous impact on the fields of ethnomusicology, anthropology, and sound studies. Though jazz musicians in an African metropolis may seem worlds apart from the rainforest community of Sound and Sentiment, research on African music has been Feld's ambition since the 1960s, when he was a student of Colin Turnbull. As such, Jazz Cosmopoli - tanism in Accra marks the fulfillment of a lifelong ambition as well as a major advancement for acoustemology, Feld's innovative sonic epistemological framework of "knowing the world through sound" (p. 49). Feld's work does not privilege the medium of text; in fact, the book form of Jazz Cosmopolitanism in Accra represents only one component of a larger series of multimedia sound, film, and textual collaborations with Ghanaian musicians and artists. Listeners and viewers may already be familiar with the artists and works discussed in the text from Feld's trilogy of documentary films, CD recordings, live musical performances, and sound art installations.Jazz Cosmopolitanism in Accra defies the conventions of academic ethnography in its book format as well. Readers may be surprised to find Feld's narrative voice unburdened by the dense theoretical prose of his earlier work, and focused instead on storytelling. In fact, he seeks to demonstrate the viability of stories, recordings, and film to perform important theoretical work, arguing that "stories clear substantial space for representing contemporary musical biographies at the cosmopolitan crossroads of modern jazz and modern Africa" (p. 10). Each of the stories presented appears as a verbal or musical dialog between Feld and his Ghanaian interlocutors: multiinstrumentalist, artist, and intellectual Nii Noi Nortey; Nii Otoo Annan, Nii Noi's master percussionist collaborator; Ghanaba, the experimental jazz musician formerly known as Guy Warren; and the La Drivers Union Por Por Group, a group of unionized professional drivers who utilize the squeeze bulb horns of old lorry trucks to perform at the funerals of union members. …


INTRODUCTION
Population screening for colorectal cancer (CRC) using faecal occult blood test (FOBT) will be introduced in Denmark in 2014. Prior to the implementation of the screening programme, a feasibility study was performed in 2005-2006. In this paper, occurrences of colorectal cancer in the feasibility study cohort were reviewed with respect to the effect of screening participation on stages and survival.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
All cases of CRC in a feasibility study cohort diagnosed from the beginning of the study until two years after the study ended were identified. Differences in the distribution of colon cancer stages and rectal cancer groups between the various screening categories were analysed through χ(2)-tests. Survival analysis with respect to screening groups was done by Kaplan-Meier and Cox-Mantel hazard ratios, and survival was corrected for lead time.

RESULTS
Colon cancers detected through screening were diagnosed at significantly lower stages than among screening non-responders. There were relatively fewer locally advanced rectal cancers among patients diagnosed through positive FOBT than among non-responders. Survival among screening cancer patients was superior to that of all other screening groups. No effect of lead time was detected. Neither stage nor survival among patients who had a negative FOBT was inferior to the unscreened Danish population.

CONCLUSION
The positive effect on survival among screening cancer patients is neither outbalanced by more advanced cancers among FOBT-negative patients than among non-responders nor by risks reported for colonoscopy.

FUNDING
not relevant.

TRIAL REGISTRATION
not relevant.


The surface of the Moon is a critical boundary that shapes our understanding of the Moon as a whole. All geologic mapping and remote sensing techniques utilize only the outermost portion of the Moon. Before leaving the Moon for study in our laboratories, all lunar samples that have been studied existed at or very near the surface. With the exception of the deeply probing geophysical techniques, our understanding of the interior of the Moon is derived from surficial, but not superficial, information, coupled with boundary of the lunar crust, it is the lower boundary layer of the tenuous lunar atmosphere and constitutes both a source and a sink for atmospheric gases. The surface is also where the Moon interacts with the space environment, causing changes in the physical nature of lunar materials, and provides a laboratory for the study of processes that occur on all airless bodies.

The data obtained remotely by the Galileo, Clementine, and Lunar Prospector missions, as well as data derived from lunar meteorites, have resulted in major changes to our understanding of global distributions of chemistry and rocks. This chapter summarizes the current understanding of this critical interface, the surface of the Moon, in its role as the lower boundary of the lunar atmosphere, the upper boundary of the crust, and the window through which we view, through remote sensing, the composition of the crust and the history of the Moon. In this post-Lunar Prospector time, the view of the Moon has changed, lending new perspectives to lunar samples and lunar processes. But the New View will likely remain in flux as we continue to digest the results from these recent space missions and move forward to a new era of lunar exploration.

Despite the freshness of our perspective, this is an important moment to capture, …


The present study evaluated what are considered common and contentious differences in paddling technique within the surfing population, across the three distinct categories of: 1) Paddle Stroke length (Reach); 2) Torso Inclination (Chest Position); and 3) Arm Recovery. To assess the differences among paddling techniques, this study employed a within-subjects comparison of sprint paddling kinematic performance differences. Twenty competitive male surfers (19.1±6.8 years, 168.2±11.3 cm, 61.7±13.6 kg) performed 2 maximal trials each of Long vs. Short Reach, Chest Up vs. Down Position, and High vs. Low Arm Recovery during 15 m sprint paddle trials. The sprint paddle efforts were initiated from a stationary, prone lying position, using a horizontal position transducer attached to the rear waistline of each subjects' board-shorts such that kinematic data was obtained for 5 m, 10 m, and 15 m distances, and peak paddling velocity determined. There was no difference observed between Short and Long paddle strokes for any of the distance intervals, nor for peak paddling velocity (p>0.05). For chest position, the Down condition was found to be faster than the Chest Up position for all criterion variables (p=0.01–0.05), with moderate magnitude (d=0.25–0.43). The Low Arm Recovery resulted in superior performance compared to the High Arm Recovery (p=0.02–0.04), with low and moderate magnitudes (d=0.19–0.47). Sprint paddling is likely best conducted with the surfer's chest low to the board, without considerable extension through the back, and with a low arm recovery.


As Asia considers greater harmonization and integration of its financial systems, it would be well-advised to consider the experience of Europe, particularly the eurozone. There are many lessons to be drawn from Europe about how to implement such integration, mostly negative. It is particularly evident that moving to a currency union had major unanticipated consequences for the ability to manage integration of financial systems within the eurozone. Monetary union sharply reduced the ability of the member states of the eurozone to manage their macroeconomic and macroprudential policies to preserve financial stability. Even setting aside these additional problems created by monetary union, Europe suffered substantial harm from integrating its financial systems so closely in many ways, while simultaneously establishing only very weak coordinating mechanisms among their national financial supervisors. It was also a mistake to forbid the European Central Bank from operating formally as a lender of last resort in a financial crisis. Europe's experiences should not dissuade Asia from seeking appropriate further harmonization and integration. However, they do argue strongly for Asia to take the kind of careful, step-by-step, long-term approach for which many of the countries within Asia are well known. In particular, Asia should only move forward to the extent that it is willing to take the necessary steps toward common supervisory approaches, information sharing, and cooperation in crises. Trying to have the benefits of integration without the responsibilities would be a recipe for future disaster.


An architectural marvel when it opened 11 years ago, the new Denver International Airport's high-tech jewel was to be its automated baggage handler. It would autonomously route luggage around 26 miles of conveyors for rapid, seamless delivery to planes and passengers. But software problems dogged the system, delaying the airport's opening by 16 months and adding hundreds of millions of dollars in cost overruns. Despite years of tweaking, it never ran reliably. Last summer airport managers finally pulled the plug--reverting to traditional manually loaded baggage carts and tugs with human drivers. The mechanized handler's designer, BAE Automated Systems, was liquidated, and United Airlines, its principal user, slipped into bankruptcy, in part because of the mess.


The death of Justice Byron White represents another step toward the end of an era that most of us in midlife as attorneys associate with the Presidency of John Kennedy and the Supreme Court of Chief Justice Earl Warren. (1) President Kennedy's appointment of Justice White to the Court hardly ensured a liberal bent in its rulings; indeed, Justice White clearly proved to be a conservative (2) and moderating influence in a number of areas. (3) Nevertheless, he demonstrated a strain of judicial independence and dedication to principle that encourages us, as lawyers, to believe that all presidential appointments to the High Court have the potential for faithful service to a vision of the Constitution that is not imbedded in extreme political ideology or blindness to the virtues of reasoned argument. (4) Justice White's most interesting contribution to the work of the Court may well have been reflected in his concern that the Justices exercise their jurisdiction to ensure a uniform application of the law. As attorneys, our ability to serve the interests of our clients requires that we be able to accurately assess the current state of the law and identify trends that may have implications for those clients' peculiar concerns. This is best done when the law is stable, or at the least, progressing on a stable course in an identifiable direction. Uncertainty in doctrine, while undoubtedly of interest to academics and theoreticians, is an anathema to the practitioner whose sound counsel is dependent upon the stability that doctrinal certainty affords. In case after case presented to the Court for review, Justice White's passion for resolution of conflict is apparent not only in his opinion writing, (5) but in his dissents from the denial of the writ of certiorari. There, recognizing the existence of significant conflict in the approach taken to important constitutional questions by differing lower courts, (6) he argued that the Court should exercise its jurisdiction to resolve or harmonize these divergent approaches. In dissenting from the denial of certiorari in Bailey v. Weinberger, (7) he argued: It is a prime function of this Court's certiorari jurisdiction to resolve precisely the kind of conflict here presented. Perhaps the state of our docket will not permit us to resolve all disagreements between courts of appeals, or between federal and state courts, and perhaps we must tolerate the fact that in some instances enforcement of federal law in one area of the country differs from enforcement in another. Hopefully, these situations will be few and far between. (8) The value of these published dissents lies both in Justice White's unwavering commitment to resolution of conflict in constitutional doctrine, (9) but perhaps more significantly for the practitioner, in his identification of doctrinal variation warranting further development and litigation in the Court. (10) For example, in Spierings v. Alaska, (11) the petitioner brought a still-unresolved issue of double jeopardy to the Court, questioning whether the Alaska courts had properly held that a jury deliberating on the greater offense could be precluded from considering the lesser-included offense unless it had unanimously agreed to acquit on the greater charge. (12) The defense had requested an instruction permitting the jury to reach the issue of the lesser-included offense in the event jurors were deadlocked on the greater charge. The trial court rejected the proposed instruction and was upheld by the Alaska Court of Appeals (13) and a majority of the Alaska Supreme Court. (14) But a dissent in the state supreme court (15) argued for the alternative instruction proposed by the defense, (16) raising the specter of conflicting approaches taken by other jurisdictions, including the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. (17) Justice White perceived the significance of the conflicting approaches taken in the lower courts and dissented from the Court's denial of certiorari. …


This study discusses the IPO stock trading in Indonesia Stock Exchange in asymmetry information conditions between heterogen investors. Underpricing is a central issue in the IPO trading, where the price conditions were considered too low to below the market price. This condition is very detrimental to the company's prime, but also a signal that the company has a good reputation. IPO with strong conditions indicated has well performance in the aftermarket period. This condition is referred to as the contradictions and an anomali in Financial Management. This study aimed to assess the effect of underpricing on the stock performance in the aftermarket period. Indonesia Stock Exchange in its history ever implement the fixed price and bookbuilding IPO trading systems. This study intends to compare the IPO aftermarket performance between the bookbuilding and fixed price period. This study intends to provide answers the question that the bookbuilding can reduce the uncertainty of new stock trading and to reduce the impact of asymmetry information in the aftermarket period.


Multilevel voltage source inverters have several advantages compare to traditional voltage source inverter. These inverters reduce cost, get better voltage waveform and decrease Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) by increasing the levels of output voltage. In this paper Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) methods are used to find the switching angles for achieving to the minimum THD for output voltage waveform of the Cascaded H-bridge Multi-Level Inverters (MLI). These methods are used for a 27-level inverter for different modulation indices. Result of two methods is identical and in comparison to other methods have the smallest THD. To verify results of two mentioned methods, a simulation using MATLAB/Simulink software is presented.


This paper presents the preliminary results of the research-in-progress on the 1990-95 subsidised investment boom in greenhouse agriculture in the Tras-os-Montes e Alto Douro region, in Northeast part of Portugal. The primary aims of the initial phase of this research are: (1) to build a profile of the type of farmers involved, (2) to evaluate the impact and the sustainability of the investments made, (3) to identify important economic and institutional actors in the preparation, submission and implementation phases of subsidised farm modernisation. The conclusions, so far drawn, underline the hypothesis that the success or failure of those investments cannot be explained merely in terms of factors associated with the farm enterprise's "internal environment". Both improved analysis and policy making depend on a careful assessment of the respective roles played by all key actors in the investment process - including other firms in the "filiere", government agencies and the technical consultants involved in designing investment plans.


This study sought to examine the cognitive and neuropsychological performance of monozygotic twin pairs who vary in concordance for ASD. The study used secondary data collected from a larger pilot study, resulting in a final sample of 28 children, all of whom were monozygotic twins (IQ range: 36 – 109). First, the study sought to determine whether pairwise concordance for ASD among monozygotic twins has changed with the use of new diagnostic criteria. McNemar tests found that pairwise concordance rates were not significantly different across DSM-IV-TR and DSM-5 diagnostic criteria, but were significantly greater with the use of either parent report or direct observation as compared to both measures for DSM-5 criteria. Secondly, the study examined the relationship between IQ and ASD symptomatology using ordinal logistic regression, finding that a decrease in IQ did not predict greater severity of ASD symptoms as measured by the Calibrated Severity Score (Gotham, Pickles, & Lord, 2009), but did predict greater symptom severity as measured by the total algorithm score of the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (Lord, Rutter, & Le Couteur, 1994). Third, the study examined IQ performance in relation to concordance, finding that the relationship between concordance and IQ was not significant for any area score. Finally, the study examined relative strengths and weaknesses of neuropsychological performance for children with ASD, with no significant differences in performance found for any of the NEPSY subtests examined (Korkman, Kirk, and Kemp, 1998). Results from this study support the idea that the phenotypic characteristics of autism spectrum disorder are heterogeneous even among children with the same genotype.


Several plant growth regulators increase the number of spike-bearing tillers and have potential as lodging control agents for spring barley (Hordeum vulgare L.). The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of chlormequat (2-chloroethyl trimethylammonium chloride, CCC) and ethephon (2-chloroethyl phosphonic acid) timing on yield components, grain yield, and agronomic traits. A 4-yr field study using the cultivars, 'Leger' and 'Cadette', was conducted on Bearbrook clay soil (fine, mixed nonacid, mesic Humaquept) at McGill University, in Quebec, Canada, from 1987 to 1990. Treatments consisted of application of CCC (1.2 kg ai. ha⁻¹) and ethephon (0.48 kg ai. ha⁻¹) at Zadoks growth stages (ZGS) 13,30, and 39. Yield components were measured on a plot and a spike basis with separation of spikes into main culms and tiller culms. Early application of CCC at ZGS 13 enhanced grain number per spike, hut not grain yield due to compensations among yield components. At ZGS 30, ethephon application increased tiller-derived spikes per square meter up to 265% compared to the unsprayed control, while treatment with CCC increased Leger grain yield by more than 10% in two of the 4 yr of this study. This yield increase was attributable to a slight increase in the number of grains per spike⁻¹. Ethephon applied at ZGS 39 reduced plant height and lodging, but decreased yield by up to 27% because of reductions in the number of grains per spike, the main culm spike number, and/or weight per grain. These results indicate that in regions with a short crop-growing season, where lodging is uncommon, early application of CCC or ethephon is not justified for grain production, and that caution must be taken when applying ethephon to spring barley at the currently recommended rate and stage for lodging control.


We use LiDAR imagery to identify two fault scarps on latest Pleistocene glacial outwash deposits along the North Fork Nooksack River in Whatcom County, Washington (United States). Mapping and paleoseismic investigation of these previously unknown scarps provide constraints on the earthquake history and seismic hazard in the northern Puget Lowland. The Kendall scarp lies along the mapped trace of the Boulder Creek fault, a south-dipping Tertiary normal fault, and the Canyon Creek scarp lies in close proximity to the south-dipping Canyon Creek fault and the south-dipping Glacier Extensional fault. Both scarps are south-side-up, opposite the sense of displacement observed on the nearby bedrock faults. Trenches excavated across these scarps exposed folded and faulted late Quaternary glacial outwash, locally dated between ca. 12 and 13 ka, and Holocene buried soils and scarp colluvium. Reverse and oblique faulting of the soils and colluvial deposits indicates at least two late Holocene earthquakes, while folding of the glacial outwash prior to formation of the post-glacial soil suggests an earlier Holocene earthquake. Abrupt changes in bed thickness across faults in the Canyon Creek excavation suggest a lateral component of slip. Sediments in a wetland adjacent to the Kendall scarp record three pond-forming episodes during the Holocene—we infer that surface ruptures on the Boulder Creek fault during past earthquakes temporarily blocked the stream channel and created an ephemeral lake. The Boulder Creek and Canyon Creek faults formed in the early to mid-Tertiary as normal faults and likely lay dormant until reactivated as reverse faults in a new stress regime. The most recent earthquakes—each likely M w > 6.3 and dating to ca. 8050–7250 calendar years B.P. (cal yr B.P.), 3190–2980 cal. yr B.P., and 910–740 cal. yr B.P.—demonstrate that reverse faulting in the northern Puget Lowland poses a hazard to urban areas between Seattle (Washington) and Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada).


Background/Context Research has demonstrated that moving from traditional teacher-directed, monologic practices to dialogic discussions remains a daunting challenge. The reasons for this staying power are multiple: Teachers often stick with familiar canonical texts; districts often mandate the literature teachers must use; standardized tests emphasize discrete skills, strategies, and bits of knowledge rather than open-ended interpretations and responses; and many new teachers either continue to be trained with a monologic framework or have had few experiences with classroom discussions in their own education. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study Although literature curricula and instructional goals get increasingly framed reductively in the form of mandated curricula and basal readers, and student achievement is measured through batteries of tests, findings from this study show how dialogic literature discussions and the forging of epistemological pathways can help us see children and teachers as intimately involved in the exploration and coconstruction of knowledge and ways of knowing fundamental to developing an informed, critical citizenry. The research question is, How do a group of fifth-grade students and their teacher cocreate and navigate an epistemological pathway during a whole-class literature discussion? Subquestions are, (1) What ideas are introduced, explored, and examined during the discussion? (2) What practices do students engage in during the discussion? (3) What practices does the teacher engage in during the discussion? Setting The study took place in a multiracial fifth-grade classroom in an urban elementary school. Research Design This is a qualitative case study of how the examination of a key idea— freedom—unfolds during one literature-based discussion. Data Collection and Analysis The primary data sources for this study were a videotape and transcript of one class discussion. The ideas that were explored in the discussion and the questions asked by the students and teacher were identified. Then the specific practices of the teacher and the students as the discussion ensued were noted, which led to analytic categories associated with the content of the discussion (the nature of knowledge) and the practices (nature of knowing) that the participants engaged in. Conclusions/Recommendations This study demonstrates how an epistemological pathway metaphor offers a way to understand the complex and fluid web of meaning that students and their teacher coconstruct and the navigation practices that the participants enacted as they engaged in a dialogic discussion that explored students' questions and probed the meaning of the concept of freedom. Conclusions point to the importance of creating classroom spaces for dialogue, and investigating what ideas get explored and the practices that teachers and students engage in. This leads to implications for preparing teachers to facilitate dialogic discussions.


Magnetorheological (MR) fluids possess rheological properties, which can be changed in a controlled way. These rheological changes are reversible and dependent on the strength of an excitation magnetic field. MR fluids have potentially beneficial applications when placed in various applied loading (shear, valve and squeeze) modes. The squeeze mode is a geometric arrangement where an MR fluid is sandwiched between two flat parallel solid surfaces facing each other. The distance between these two parallel surfaces is called the gap size. These surfaces are either pushed towards or pulled apart from each other by orthogonal magnetic-induced forces. In this study, a test rig was designed and built to perform the experiments with three different types of MR fluids. One type of water-based and two types of hydrocarbon-based MR fluids were activated by a magnetic field generated by a coil using different magnitudes of DC electrical current. To finalize the design, a Finite Element Method Magnetics (FEMM) was used to predict the magnetic field strength throughout the MR fluids. For each trial, combination of three process parameters were experimented in both compression and tension modes on each type of MR fluid. The three process parameters were the electric current applied to the coil, the initial gap size and the compressive or tensile speed. In every test, the speed and the current in the coil were kept constant, while the instantaneous compressive and tensile forces were recorded. Experimental results showed that MR fluids have distinct unique behaviour during the compression and tension processes. The behaviour of MR fluids was dependent on the relative movement between the solid magnetic particles and the carrier fluid in both squeeze modes. A high ratio of solid particles to carrier liquid in the MR fluid is an indication of high magnetic properties. The water-based MR fluid had a relatively large solids-to-liquid ratio. At a given applied current, significant increases in compressive and tensile stresses were obtained in this fluid type. On the other hand, the hydrocarbon-based MR fluids had relatively lower solids-to-liquid ratios, whereby, less significant increases in compressive and tensile stresses were obtained. The magnetic field strength was proportional to the applied current. Consequently, the MR effect, in terms of resulting stresses, was directly proportional to the current. When plotting stress against strain for each experiment, the slopes of the curves were found to be larger in general when the initial gap sizes were smaller. This was due to higher magnetic fields generated in smaller initial gap sizes. However, the stress-strain relationships were slightly affected by changing the compressive or tensile speeds. In general, the compressive stresses were much higher than the tensile stresses for the same experimental parameters throughout this study.


Background Behaviour is guided by perceptions and traditions. As such, understanding culture and religion is important in order to understand healthcare behaviour. Religious perceptions shape a person's understanding of the world and are maintained through texts and tradition. One such important religious text in relation to sexual and reproductive health is the Nativity story. This account of the conception and birth of Jesus is well known in the Christian cultural sphere and beyond, and it has for generations shaped perceptions of childbirth. Methods This paper attempts a re-reading of the Nativity story using a hermeneutic approach. Results and Conclusion This reveals a dual understanding of the Nativity, not just as an account of immaculate transcendence and a rosy Christmas tale, but as a source of identification for pregnant women and mothers and a call to action for improved maternal and child healthcare.


Lake Bonney is a hypersaline permanently ice-covered lake in the Taylor Valley, Antarctica that hosts simplified microbial food-webs. Studied since the 1960s, there are many aspects which are poorly understood. Logistical constraints have prevented sampling during the austral winter, a 4-month period of 24-hour darkness. Our knowledge of how the resident photosynthetic microorganisms respond during this period is limited. With inputs from ephemeral glacial-melt streams the lake level (stage) of Bonney has risen more than 3 m since 2004. With no outflow streams, the only known water loss is via ablation of the permanent ice-cover. A study of the spatial and temporal changes in the phytoplankton community structure during this period of rapid lake level rise is lacking. During the summers (November-January) from 2004-05 to 2014-15 an in situ submersible spectrofluorometer was deployed in Lake Bonney to quantify the chlorophyll-a concentrations (μg L) of four functional groups of microalgae (green algae, brown/mixed algae, cryptophytes, cyanobacteria) using known excitation/emission spectra. During the 2013-14 field season this same instrument was mounted on autonomous cable-crawling profilers deployed in both east and west lobes of Lake Bonney, obtaining the first ever daily profiles of chlorophyll-a concentration at an annual scale. Following a summer of rapid lake level rise (2010-11), an increasing trend in depth integrated chlorophyll-a concentration was observed in Lake Bonney. During the same period, the nutrient poor surface water has become increasingly dominated by green algae. Dramatic shifts were also observed in the phytoplankton communities during the polar night. The highest concentrations of mean chlorophyll-a were measured during the 24-hour darkness. Algal spectral groups containing species capable of a mixotrophic metabolism (brown/mixed and cryptophytes) increased in concentration and relative abundance when photosynthetically active radiation was unavailable. This work provides valuable contributions to our knowledge of long-term and year-round phytoplankton community dynamics in Lake Bonney, and improves our understanding of the metabolic strategies employed by organisms in this high latitude permanently ice-covered lake.


The employment of emerging technologies within the agro-food sector implies considerations of legal, ethical, economic and social nature, which require specialists from different fields of study to confront and cooperate. This paper focuses on the main issues that have been arising in the regulation of nanotechnologies applied to the food sector: the relationship between science and law in defining new scientific entities; the problems related to the procedures of risk assessment and risk management; the role played by ethics in the framework of EU policy; the EU regulatory approach to nanofood.


How can we reach more learners, more effectively, and with greater impact? Education changes lives and societies, but can we sustain the current model? New models and new technologies allow us to rethink many of the premises of education—location and time, credits and credentials, knowledge creation and sharing. Game Changers: Education and Information Technologies is a collection of chapters and case studies contributed by college and university presidents, provosts, faculty, and other stakeholders. Institutions are finding new ways of achieving higher education's mission without being crippled by constraints or overpowered by greater expectations.


The competition among wireless data service providers brings in an option for the unsatisfied customers to switch their providers, which is called churning. The implementation of Wireless Local Number Portability (WLNP) is expected to further increase the churn rate (the probability of users switching the provider). However, the existing resource management algorithms for wireless networks fail to fully capture the far-reaching impact of this unforeseen competitiveness. From this perspective, we first formulate noncooperative games between the service providers and the users. A user's decision to leave or join a provider is based on a finite set of strategies. A service provider can also construct its game strategy set so as to maximize their utility (revenue) considering the churn rate. Based on the game theoretic framework, we propose an integrated admission and rate control (ARC) framework for CDMA-based wireless data networks. The admission control is at the session (macro) level while the rate control is at the link layer packet (micro) level. Two admission control modes are considered - one-by-one mode and batch processing mode, in which multiple users are admitted at a time. We show that: 1) for the one-by-one mode, the Nash equilibrium using pure strategy can be established for both under-loaded and fully-loaded systems and 2) for batch processing mode, there is either an equilibrium in pure strategy or a dominant strategy exists for the service provider. Therefore, the providers have clearly defined admission criteria as outcome of the game. Users are categorized into multiple classes and offered differentiated services based on the price they pay and the service degradation they can tolerate. We show that the proposed ARC framework significantly increases the provider's revenue and also successfully offers differentiated QoS to the users.


A bi-isotropic magneto-electric metamaterials is modeled by two independent reservoirs. The reservoirs contain a continuum of three dimensional harmonic oscillators, which describe polarizability and magnetizability of the medium. The paper aimed to investigate the effect of electromagnetic field on bi-isotropic. Starting with a total Lagrangian and using EulerLagrange equation, researcher could obtain a quantum Langevin type dissipative equation for electromagnetic field. Generating functional of the system is obtained by the path integral method and based on the perturbative approach. By generating functional, a series expansion in terms of susceptibility function of the bi-isotropic metamaterials is obtained for correlation function or two-point Green's function. In special case, the close relationship between statistical mechanics and quantum field theory,which was reflected in the path integral methods, could obtain free energy of electromagnetic field for isotropic metamaterial using two-point Green's function. As an example, the Casimir force of two polarizable metamaterial spheres by Lorentz susceptibilities was studied. Furthermore, Casimir force of two polarizable-magnetizable metamaterials was calculated.


Abstract Children with special needs and disabilities (SEND) in mainstream schools have a wide range of complex conditions rendering it impossible for teachers to fully understand all the complexities of their needs. Difficulties with understanding and self-control lead to much of the behaviour that is considered unacceptable within schools and that can ultimately lead to the large numbers of children with SEND who are excluded. Schools often wish to provide a behaviour policy where everyone is treated equally despite people's needs and abilities being different. Government guidance in relation to behaviour policies is that they should comprise a mixture of sanctions and rewards, but this behaviourist view leads to a lack of equity of response to behaviour, again feeding into disproportionate numbers of children with SEND being excluded. The move from sanctions and rewards to the operation of a relationships policy where students' actions yield consequences, within a humanist ethos of understanding, would far more effectively support all children to learn to moderate and control their behaviour and would allow staff to apply the 'least dangerous assumption' when dealing with challenging students.


A relatively simple theory for reconstructing self-luminous objects from their diffraction images is presented for thin object disks that have axial symmetry and for thin, long objects whose radiance varies only along the width. Availability of a priori information about the variation of the radiance is assumed. With these simple objects the complete spatial-frequency spectrum of the object function can be deduced in a direct manner from considerations of the Fourier transform of the measured irradiance in an image having negligible noise. Objects having constant radiance are treated in detail and are found to be advantageous for use in experiments designed to test the validity and practicality of the principles of object reconstruction.


The key to time series clustering is how to characterize the similarity between any two time series. In this paper, we explore a new similarity measure called "crosspredictability": the degree to which a future value in each time series is predicted by past values of the others. However, it is challenging to estimate such cross-predictability among time series in the high-dimensional regime, where the number of time series is much larger than the length of each time series. We address this challenge with a sparsity assumption: only time series in the same cluster have significant cross-predictability with each other. We demonstrate that this approach is computationally attractive, and provide a theoretical proof that the proposed algorithm will identify the correct clustering structure with high probability under certain conditions. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first practical high-dimensional time series clustering algorithm with a provable guarantee. We evaluate with experiments on both synthetic data and real-world data, and results indicate that our method can achieve more than 80% clustering accuracy on real-world data, which is 20% higher than the state-of-art baselines.


Experiments in small aspect-ratio Taylor–Couette flows have reported the presence of a band in parameter space where rotating waves become steady nonaxisymmetric solutions (a pinning effect) via infinite-period bifurcations. Previous numerical simulations were unable to reproduce these observations. Recent additional experiments suggest that the pinning effect is not intrinsic to the dynamics of the problem, but rather is an extrinsic response induced by the presence of imperfections. Here we present numerical simulations that include a small tilt of one of the endwalls, simulating the effects of imperfections that break the SO(2) axisymmetry of the problem, and indeed are able to reproduce the experimentally observed pinning of the rotating waves. Dynamical systems considerations suggest that any imperfection breaking the SO(2) axisymmetry of the problem must result in the formation of a pinning region of finite width. We have also found that the particulars of the pinning process, in particular the width of the pinning region, are extremely sensitive to the type of imperfection in the system. Almost identical flows respond in completely different ways to the same imperfection, depending on subtle differences in the weak secondary characteristics of the flow. The numerical simulations of the Navier–Stokes equations for the problem with an imposed tilt of an endwall together with normalform analysis of a Hopf bifurcation subjected to imposed symmetry-breaking help shed some light on previous experiments that reported a variety of different dynamical behaviour for which a clear explanation was lacking.


Laws requiring banks to hold a volume of reserves equal to a prescribed fraction of their deposits originated in this country more than a century ago. Since then both the financial system and the rationales supporting reserve requirements have changed considerably. Nevertheless, the practice of requiring reserves has continued without interruption. This article examines the history and function of reserve requirements at the national level and assesses the validity of various prominent reserve requirement rationales.


Prior research on groupware tends to focus on understanding the task processes and how technology can be deployed to facilitate the task completion. However, the socio-emotional processes among Global Virtual Team (GVT) members who use the groupware have not been given due consideration. In this paper, we propose a conceptual framework explaining how the various social capital dimensions of social interaction tie, trust, reciprocity, identification and shared language can enhance the socio-emotional processes leading to improved GVT performance and satisfaction. The antecedent factors leading to the creation of the social capital are groupware features that facilitate social awareness, social presence, social identity and mutual knowledge. We then make a case for the viability of using Social Networking Sites (SNSs) such as Facebook as groupware and identify specific Facebook features that fit into our conceptual framework. A methodology is also proposed for future research to validate the conceptual framework.


There is a growing interest in the dynamics of freight rates in the offshore market, yet, the research within the field of microeconomic freight rate determinants is limited. This paper is an attempt to fill this gap by investigating microeconomic determinants of time-charter freight rates for Offshore Support Vessels (OSVs) in the global offshore market. We utilize a comprehensive panel data set of 40,537 individual fixtures for Platform Supply Vessels (PSV) and Anchor Handling Tug Supply (AHTS) vessels between 1984 and 2015. Through a division into spot and term charter rates, we pursue to verify to what extent there exists a relationship between realized freight rates for individual fixtures and macro-, contractand ship-specific variables. Our findings suggest that the market proxy for a standardised vessel dominates in terms of explanatory power, typically explaining around 80% of the rate for individual fixtures. Additionally, we find operating region, build country, vessel size, vessel age and other ship-specific properties, e.g. dynamic positioning system 2 (DP2) and ice class, as significant determinants of OSV freight rates. Moreover, we examine the presence of a freight rate premium for energy-efficient OSVs using four different definitions of efficiency. The time-charter market represents a classical principal-agent problem, where shipowners should, in a competitive market, obtain a premium reflecting the fuel savings that accrue to charterers. We suggest a two-tier market where energy efficiency pays off in the AHTS term market, whereas the PSV market is subject to an apparent market failure.


Through intentional and accidental introduction, more than 100 species of alien Ichneumonidae and Braconidae (Hymenoptera) have become established in the Hawaiian Islands. The extent to which these parasitoid wasps have penetrated native wet forests was investigated over a 1,765 m elevation gradient on windward Hawai'i Island. For [ 1 year, malaise traps were used to continuously monitor parasitoid abundance and species richness in nine sites over three elevations. A total of 18,996 individuals from 16 subfamilies were collected. Overall, the fauna was dominated by aliens, with 44 of 58 species foreign to the Hawaiian Islands. Ichneumonidae was dominant over Braconidae in terms of both diversity and abundance, comprising 67.5% of individuals and 69.0% of species collected. Parasitoid abundance and species richness varied significantly with elevation: abundance was greater at mid and high elevations compared to low elevation while species richness increased with increasing elevation, with all three elevations differing significantly from each other. Nine species purposely introduced to control pest insects were found, but one braconid, Meteorus laphygmae , comprised 98.0% of this assemblage, or 28.3% of the entire fauna. Endemic species, primarily within the genera Spolas and Enicospilus , were collected almost exclusively at mid- and high-eleva-tion sites, where they made up 22.1% and 36.0% of the total catch, respectively. Overall, 75.9% of species and 96.0% of individuals are inferred to parasitize Lepidoptera larvae and pupae. Our results support previous data indicating that alien parasitoids have deeply penetrated native forest habitats and may have substantial impacts on Hawaiian ecosystems.


The global population is increasing and because of this, the world may experience great fresh water scarcity. Our water resources are limited and, hence, water treatment and recycling methods are the only alternatives for getting fresh water in the coming decades. Therefore, there is a great need for the development of a suitable, inexpensive and rapid wastewater treatment techniques and reuse or conservation methods in the present century. The different types of water treatment and recycling techniques have been discussed in terms of their basic principles, applications, costs, maintenance and suitability. Additionally, a systematic approach to water treatment and recycling involving their understanding, evaluation and selection parameters has been presented. A brief guideline for the selection of the appropriate technologies for specific applications has been evaluated. This review adds to the global discussions on water scarcity solutions.


Visual servoing is a robust technique for aligning both static and moving parts using imprecisely calibrated camera-lens-manipulator systems. An important limitation of these systems is the workspace within which the alignment task can be successfully performed due to the position and orientation of the camera. An active camera can extend this region, however this changes the visual representation of the task itself. Therefore, the reference input that drives the visually servoed manipulator must change appropriately. In this paper a framework that allows for camera-lens motion during visually servoed manipulation is described. The main components of the framework include object schemas and port-based agents. Object schemas represent the task internally in terms of geometric models with attached sensor mappings. Object schemas are dynamically updated by sensor feedback, and thus provide an ability to perform three dimensional spatial reasoning during task execution, a capability traditional image-based visual servoing lacks. Object schemas are also able to dynamically create desired visual representations of the task from which reference inputs for vision-based control strategies are derived. The sensor mappings of object schemas are also used to guide camera motion based on task characteristics. Port-based agents are the executors of the visual reference inputs and the camera motion commands. They interact with the real world through visual servoing control laws. Experimental results that demonstrate system capabilities and performance are presented.


Education means enabling a student gain knowledge and wisdom in order to lead a better life. Boys and girls in Indian schools leave school education incomplete giving rise to the sensitive issue of school dropouts. The present study (review study) identifies reasons forcing Indian children to drop out of school, incorporates sufficient data to support the view and lays bare the comparison of boys and girls dropout rate. The data has been extracted from a site- Education for All in India in which a survey was submitted by TNS India Private Limited and also a similar study taken from an Indian newspaper- Times of India. While school dropout rate remains consistently high for boys, it is noteworthy and rather comforting to know that girls depict a low dropout rate. The present study identifies the reasons of dropouts such as- lack of interest in studies, domestic contribution of children for household chores, economic reasons and migration of families. The study paints a picture of helpless school going child and the effort to minimize school dropout rates which is in the hands of all the responsible citizens in India.


In the Yellow Sea region of East Asia, tidal wetlands are the frontline ecosystem protecting a coastal population of more than 60 million people from storms and sea-level rise. However, unprecedented coastal development has led to growing concern about the status of these ecosystems. We developed a remote-sensing method to assess change over ~4000 km of the Yellow Sea coastline and discovered extensive losses of the region's principal coastal ecosystem – tidal flats – associated with urban, industrial, and agricultural land reclamations. Our analysis revealed that 28% of tidal flats existing in the 1980s had disappeared by the late 2000s (1.2% annually). Moreover, reference to historical maps suggests that up to 65% of tidal flats were lost over the past five decades. With the region forecast to be a global hotspot of urban expansion, development of the Yellow Sea coastline should pursue a course that minimizes the loss of remaining coastal ecosystems.


In this paper, we study the non-definite Sturm-Liouville problem comprising of a regular Sturm-Liouville equation and Dirichlet boundary conditions on a closed interval. We consider the case in which the weight function changes sign twice in the given interval of definition. We give detailed numerical results on the spectrum of the problem, from which we verify various results on general non definite Sturm-Liouville problems. We also present some theoretical results which support the numerical results. Some numerical results seem to be in contrast with the results that are so far obtained in the case where the weight function changes sign once. This leads to more open questions for future studies in this particular area.


Dr. M. J. Le Bas said he had two questions. 1. Is this occurrence of a layered kimberlite sill with intercumulus calciteunique ? 2. The calcite which forms 10 to 20% of this sill is stated by the authors to be genetically linked with carbonatite. Whilst many of the petrological and geochemical features support this, no account has been made in the surrounding rocks of any marginal fenitization, which is the 'hall mark' of carbonatites and is normally shown by the metasomatic growth of K-feldspar, aegirine or Na-amphibole. Is there any such fenitization ? The Authors replied that to the best of their knowledge the Benfontein kimberlite sill is unique. Magmatic sedimentation features are known in the kimberlite sills (e.g. those in S. W. Greenland) but the fine-scale layering, concentration of intercumlus calcite in the upper parts of layers, and the small-scale diapirism, have not been recorded in kimberlite previously. 2. Whilst not being 'fenitisation' in the generally accepted sense, potassium metasomatism is known in many kimberlite intrusions. This is mainly manifested in the form of phlogopitisation of the basic and ultrabasic xenoliths, though classical potassium fenitisation is known at the contacts of a kimberlite dyke in the Seguela River area of the Côte d'Ivoire. In the specific case of the Benfontein sills, metasomatic mica is developed in the peripheral parts of some dolerite xenoliths.


In this communication, we demonstrate the robust, non-fouling continuous synthesis of catalytically active palladium nanoparticles using a triphasic segmented flow in a hybrid milli–meso flow reactor, which not only allows us to completely eliminate fouling over extended operational duration, but also allows the achievement of ∼10 L per day volumetric productivity in a single-channel reactor. From the synthesis perspective, we select the harshest challenge for this demonstration – the aqueous flow synthesis of metal nanoparticles using the strong, gas-evolving reducing agent sodium borohydride. We also present comparative evaluations of the catalytic activities of flow-synthesized nanoparticles compared to their batch counterparts in a model hydrogenation reaction to highlight the consistency and quality of the nanoparticles produced by the scaled-up flow synthesis.


Due to various physical impairments, individuals with chronic diseases often live a sedentary lifestyle, which leads to physical de-conditioning. The associated muscle weakness, functional decline and bone loss also render these individuals highly susceptible to falls and fragility fractures. There is an urgent need to search for safe and effective intervention strategies to prevent fragility fractures by modifying the fall-related risk factors and enhancing bone health. Whole body vibration (WBV) therapy has gained popularity in rehabilitation in recent years. In this type of treatment, mechanical vibration is delivered to the body while the individual is standing on an oscillating platform. As mechanical loading is one of the most powerful stimuli to induce osteogenesis, it is proposed that the mechanical stress applied to the human skeleton in WBV therapy might be beneficial for enhancing bone mass. Additionally, the vibratory signals also constitute a form of sensory stimulation and can induce reflex muscle activation, which could potentially induce therapeutic effects on muscle strength and important sensorimotor functions such as postural control. Increasing research evidence suggests that WBV is effective in enhancing hip bone mineral density, muscle strength and balance ability in elderly patients, and could have potential for individuals with chronic diseases, who often cannot tolerate vigorous impact or resistance exercise training. This article aims to discuss the potential role of WBV therapy in the prevention of fragility fractures among people with chronic diseases.


In recent articles, I have advanced a number of criticisms of the market definition/redefinition paradigm, chief among them that market definition is impossible and counterproductive. First, there is no valid way to infer market power from market shares in redefined (non-homogeneous-goods) markets. Second, one cannot choose which market definition is superior without already having in hand one's best estimate of market power, rendering the exercise pointless. Worse, market power inferences in the chosen market are inferior to the best estimate with which one began. After elaborating these points, this Essay applies them to the three main settings in which the hypothetical monopolist test is employed in various jurisdictions' merger guidelines, showing this test to be counterproductive in every instance. Finally, it addresses reasons that some are nevertheless reluctant to abandon market definition altogether.


Abstract Rural households in developing countries depend on crops, forest extraction and other income sources for their livelihoods, but these livelihood contributions are sensitive to climate change. Combining socioeconomic data from about 8,000 smallholder households across the tropics with gridded precipitation and temperature data, we find that households have the highest crop income at 21°C temperature and 2,000 mm precipitation. Forest incomes increase on both sides of this agricultural maximum. We further find indications that crop income declines in response to weather shocks while forest income increases, suggesting that households may cope by reallocating inputs from agriculture to forests. Forest production may thus be less sensitive than crop production to climatic fluctuations, gaining comparative advantage in extreme climates and under weather anomalies. This suggests that well-managed forests might help poor rural households to cope with and adapt to future climate change.


8209 Background: Of the available 5-HT3-receptor antagonists (RAs), dolasetron, tropisetron and palonosetron include cardiovascular (CV) warnings/precautions in their labelling that should be considered when using these products in patients with existing or possible cardiac impairment. A recent report reviewed CV safety among 5-HT3-RAs and suggested that ECG alteration is a class effect.1 In contrast, other recently published reports demonstrate important differences regarding CV safety.

METHODS
This review will readdress issues regarding CV safety among 5-HT3-RAs.

RESULTS
Clinical trials demonstrate that dolasetron is associated with increases in PR, QRS and QTc intervals and increased heart rate, whereas granisetron and ondansetron lack proarrhythmic activity.2 Recently, a 'signal' for ventricular arrhythmia and cardiac arrest was found for dolasetron but not granisetron in the FDA combined SRS/AERS database (adverse events 1966-present).3 Granisetron is not associated with significant CV changes, even at doses as high as 160 μg/kg.4 Ondansetron does not have a CV precaution, but a significant increase in QTc interval has been reported with higher doses.5 Contrary to the idea that all 5-HT3-RAs carry a similar CV risk, evidence in patients and healthy volunteers suggests otherwise.3 However, whether trials have reported asymptomatic or clinically relevant 5-HT3-RA-evoked CV changes may be of little relevance, as the issue of CV safety should be considered in context: elderly patients represent the majority of cancer patients and CV comorbidity is common in this population.

CONCLUSIONS
QT interval changes have been linked with sudden cardiac death. Thus the CV safety of cancer and supportive therapies, and their additive complications, should be a consideration when choosing therapy. Therefore, it seems prudent to use a 5-HT3-RA that has no warning/precaution concerning CV safety. 1 Navari, Koeller. Ann Pharmacother 2003;37:1276-86 2 Keefe. Oncologist 2002;7:65-72 3 Schnell, Coop. SIOG 2003;37 4 Carmichael, Harris. Anti-Cancer Drugs 2003;14:739-44 5 Boike et al. Am J Health-Syst Pharm 1997;54:1172-6 # [Table: see text].


Abstract Tritium and major ion concentrations in rain were analyzed in Kumamoto, Japan between 2001 and 2006 to examine present tritium concentration and seasonal variation. The average tritium concentration was 0.36 ± 0.19 Bq/L (n=104) and higher tritium concentrations were observed in spring than the other seasons. Among the ions, non-sea-salt (nss) SO42- showed higher concentration in winter while other ions did not show marked increase in winter. Based on the back-trajectory analyses of air masses, the increase in tritium concentrations in spring arises from downward movement of naturally produced tritium from stratosphere to troposphere, while the increase of the nss-SO42- concentrations in winter is due to long range transport of pollutants from China to Japan.


ABSTRACT Strange as it may seem, celebrity (as well as fame etc.) – despite its increasing role in modern life – is hardly included in the list of the resources, whose distribution defines the major forms of inequality. In the article, it is shown that the personal celebrity has become one of the most important and more and more desired resources in the modern world, which along with the power and wealth creates the major lines of inequality in a society. The subject of the present article is the analysis of characteristics of celebrities as a special elite stratum, which the author names 'people of celebrity'. This elite includes the top workers of mass media; art, theatre, litera-ture, cinema workers; representatives of show business and fash-ion; sportsmen, etc. The common feature of this heterogeneous public is that they exploit their popularity, converting it into huge monetary incomes, posts, connections and different benefits. THE NOTION OF PERSONAL CELEBRITY As is well known, inequality is typical of every or at least most societies (


The probe absorption spectra in single and multiple tripod systems formed when a weak sigma polarized pump and a tunable pi polarized probe interact with a Zeeman split F(g)-->F(e)=F(g)-1 atomic transition are characterized by two interfering stimulated Raman features separated by an electromagnetically induced absorption (EIA) peak at the line center. These Raman features can appear as either sharp stimulated emission peaks or electromagnetically induced transparency windows. In the multitripod systems, the EIA and stimulated emission peaks derive from the combined effects of interference between the stimulated Raman features and transfer of coherence from the excited to ground states.