Located that oil port of siders following waha Oil Company which is located west of sirt on covering the moving sand dunes pot dominated system desertification. The solar energy will be used to evaporated brine and generate cool air pure water in order to grow food inside the greenhouses where the sea water will be used facilities. Concentrated idea of the project to exploit an area of about 20km through which pipeline to flow of sea water to the ground which may allow the lows of Nature which produce fresh water from sea water and change climate conditions to humid climate contributes to the rainfall and characterized the technology that will be used in the project to its ability to transform large tracts of desert into green produce commercial quantities of food and energy crops and freshwater used the project is based on the establishment of greenhouse where sea water used provide growth conditions cold and wet of vegetables in addition to the production of fresh water and will be connected to the solar with thermal units for the desalination of sea water supported by technology and will allow pilot also cultivation of algae in the system of bioreactors optical and farming systems in basins exposed produces plant food ,water, energy between greenhouse protected salt water and solar power intensive and cultivation of algae and technological and scientific . the basic idea of this project is to bring sea water into the desert then vaporized process centered on what is known as sea water where the evaporating sea water by solar energy and then intensify freshwater not only that but maintains a moist interior cool and are ideal for the cultivation of crops ,it was the first model to sea water greenhouse a unit area of 2000 square meters in port Augusta in Australia and has won its first crop tomatoes in the last months ago ,Sahara forest project combines the technology and solar power uses mirrors to focus the light on the complex to heat which in turn produces steam for the management of turbine generator at a supplying greenhouse powered and operated and the greenhouse extended solar power plant with water marking them more efficient that the project is promising and important in the field of renewable energy and to take advantage of the potential and of solar energy in our integrated project and ambitious aims to cultivate bio-fuels to generate an energy clean aimed at protecting the environmental may work on climate change. The project is based on the new Technologies in carpeted into solar energy and seawater Greenhouse and cultivation of green algae and for the cultivation of arid areas and the provision of food and fresh water as well as bio-fuels to generate clean energy. The idea of the project is simple and Natural based on the use of solar energy in the evaporation of salty seawater to generate cold air and water and clean energy in deserts and Technology use Mirrors sunlight to form steam to Run turbines which in turn generate electricity is expected to shift the equipment desert to the territory to the a prosperous agricultural out about the need to drill water wells which increase water shortage and possible planting any kind of vegetables in greenhouse sea water are essential in the project which cost to be cooling desert air warm and ? Wet with sea water before being admitted to the greenhouse and this air humidifier will feed crops inside greenhouse then dryer where flowing sea water heated warmly sun? and soon meet air humidifies of channels containing water condenses fresh water and dripped drops on the external aspects of channels that can be assembled the process mimic what happens in Nature evaporates sea water as a result of the sun's heat and work is underway to cooling leads to the formation of clouds and condense these vapors of water to fall water like rain only 10-15 % of moist air condenses into fresh water and the rest out of the surrounding tress thus the greenhouse creating green surroundings around the will be through energy intensive and through the use of Mirrors to focus sunlight on pipes and boilers for water district cause radiation intensive production high heat inside the pipe provides enough power to turn Turbines team which in turn would for electrical power and six cell additional power to the people are a population of benefiting says a specialist and is Neil Crompton one energy experts there is huge potential for these new Technologies unit focused and one covering only 9% of the area of deserts ground and can provide five global need for energy as well as can invest this technique streaming tons of sea water per day using only 20 thousand greenhouse. Article DOI:  http://dx.doi.org/10.20319/mijst.2015.12.4956 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-commercial 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA.


An analysis of the effect on the wall stabilization of external kink modes due to toroidally continuous gaps in the resistive wall is performed. The effects both with and without toroidal rotation are studied. For a high-beta equilibrium, the mode structure is localized on the outboard side. Therefore, outboard gaps greatly increase the growth rate when there is no rotation. For resistive wall stabilization by toroidal rotation, the presence of gaps has the same effect as moving the wall farther away, i.e., destabilizing for the ideal plasma mode, and stabilizing for the resistive wall mode. The region of stability, in terms of wall position, is reduced in size and moved closer to the plasma. However, complete stabilization becomes possible at considerably reduced rotation frequencies. For a high-beta, reverse-shear equilibrium both the resistive wall mode and the ideal plasma mode can be stabilized by close fitting discrete passive plates on the outboard side. The necessary toroidal rotation frequency to stabilize the resistive wall mode using these plates is reduced by a factor of three compared to that for a poloidally continuous and complete wall at the same plasma-wall separation. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.


Web usage mining is usually defined as the discipline that concentrates on developing techniques that model and study users' Web navigation behavior by means of analyzing data obtained from user interactions with Web resources; see (Mobasher, 2006; Liu, 2007) for recent reviews on web usage mining. When users access Web resources they leave a trace behind that is stored in log files, such traces are called clickstream records. Clickstream records can be preprocessed into time-ordered sessions of sequential clicks (Spiliopoulou et al., 2003), where a user session represents a trail the user followed through the Web space. The process of session reconstruction is called sessionizing. Understanding user Web navigation behavior is a fundamental step in providing guidelines on how to improve users' Web experience. In this context, a model able to represent usage data can be used to induce frequent navigation patterns, to predict future user navigation intentions, and to provide a platform for adapting Web pages according to user specific information needs (Anand et al., 2005; Eirinaki et al., 2007). Techniques using association rules (Herlocker et al., 2004) or clustering methods (Mobasher et al., 2002) have been used in this context. Given a set of transactions clustering techniques can be used, for example, to find user segments, and association rule techniques can be used, for example, to find important relationships among pages based on the users navigational patterns. These methods have the limitation that the ordering of page views is not taken into consideration in the modeling of user sessions (Liu, 2007). Two methods that take into account the page view ordering are: tree based methods (Chen et al., 2003) used for prefetching Web resources, and Markov models (Borges et al., 2000; Deshpande et al., 2004) used for link prediction. Moreover, recent studies have been conducted on the use of visualization techniques for discovering navigational trends from usage data (Chen et al., 2007a; Chen et al., 2007b).


The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential and challenges of knowledge management, in particular the use of information and communication technologies, in supporting stakeholders' collaboration processes in the tourism destination by focusing on e-democracy. The term e-democracy was coined to define the electronic representation of a democratic process which aims at obtaining stakeholders active participation in the decision-making process about territorial policies and tourism planning. Despite the growing interest that this concept is gaining both in the academia and in the tourism sector, the related research is still at its early stage. This study was carried out to contribute to fill this gap analysing the case study of an Italian region where an e-democracy project on destination governance is currently going on. The main contribution to the body of knowledge, managerial implications and limitations of the study are discussed and future avenues of research are suggested.


OBJECTIVE
To determine outcome of medical and surgical treatment in cats with ureteral calculi.

DESIGN
Retrospective study.

ANIMALS
153 cats.

PROCEDURE
Medical records were reviewed. Owners and referring veterinarians were contacted for follow-up information.

RESULTS
All cats were initially treated medically before a decision was made to perform surgery. Medical treatment included parenteral administration of fluids and diuretics to promote urine production and passage of the ureteral calculus and supportive treatment for renal failure. Ureteral calculi in the proximal portion of the ureter were typically removed by ureterotomy, whereas ureteral calculi in the distal portion of the ureter were more likely to be removed by partial ureterectomy and ureteroneocystostomy. Ureterotomy could be performed without placement of a nephrostomy tube for postoperative urine diversion. Postoperative complication rate and perioperative mortality rate were 31% and 18%, respectively. The most common postoperative complications were urine leakage and persistent ureteral obstruction after surgery. Chronic renal failure was common at the time of diagnosis and continued after treatment, with serum creatinine concentration remaining greater than the upper reference limit in approximately half the cats. Twelve-month survival rates after medical and surgical treatment were 66% and 91%, respectively, with a number of cats dying of causes related to urinary tract disorders, including ureteral calculus recurrence and worsening of chronic renal failure.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE
Results suggest that medical and surgical management of ureteral calculi in cats are associated with high morbidity and mortality rates. Treatment can stabilize renal function, although many surviving cats will continue to have impaired renal function.


Adhesive tape is one of the most common material used to explain polarization of light yet its properties are often outlooked. Here, we measure the principal axis angle α and phase retardance β of an adhesive tape through the Mueller-Stokes formulation. A simple experimental setup was used consisting of two polarizers sandwiching the sample. Using a linearly polarized incident beam, the output intensity over the range of -90 to 90 degree analyzer orientation was detected to obtain the α and β values of quarter wave plate, adhesive tape, and acetate samples. We found that the tape is almost nonpolarizing at lengthwise orientation (α = 0.42°, β = 0.71°) but noticeable change is seen when it is rotated by 45° (α = 45.5°, β = 144.7°). The results of this study allow us to quantitatively describe the influence of various materials, especially the adhesive tape, in changing the polarization state of light.


In some cases in which rational and moral agents experience moral uncertainty, they are unable to assign exact degrees of moral value—in a non-arbitrary way—to some of the different acts available to them, and so are unable to choose with certainty the best act. This article presents a new justification for the use of lotteries in this kind of situation. It is argued that sometimes the only rational thing for a morally motivated agent to do here is to use a lottery.


Given the need for modern researchers to produce open, reproducible scientific output, the lack of standards and best practices for sharing data and workflows used to produce and analyze molecular dynamics (MD) simulations have become an important issue in the field. There are now multiple well-established packages to perform molecular dynamics simulations, often highly tuned for exploiting specific classes of hardware, and each with strong communities surrounding them, but with very limited interoperability/transferability options. Thus, the choice of the software package often dictates the workflow for both simulation production and analysis. The level of detail in documenting the workflows and analysis code varies greatly in published work, hindering reproducibility of the reported results and the ability for other researchers to build on these studies. An increasing number of researchers are motivated to make their data available, but many challenges remain in order to effectively share and reuse simulation data. To discuss these and other issues related to best practices in the field in general, we organized a workshop in November 2018 ( https://bioexcel.eu/events/workshop-on-sharing-data-from-molecular-simulations/ ). Here, we present a brief overview of this workshop and topics discussed. We hope this effort will spark further conversation in the MD community to pave the way towards more open, interoperable and reproducible outputs coming from research studies using MD simulations.


Cisco IOS (the software that runs the vast majority of Cisco routers and all Cisco network switches) is the dominant routing platform on the Internet and corporate networks. This widespread distribution, as well as its architectural deficiencies, makes it a valuable target for hackers looking to attack a corporate or private network infrastructure. Compromised devices can disrupt stability, introduce malicious modification, and endanger all communication on the network. For security of the network and investigation of attacks, in-depth analysis and diagnostics are critical, but no book currently covers forensic analysis of Cisco network devices in any detail.

Cisco Router and Switch Forensics is the first book devoted to criminal attacks, incident response, data collection, and legal testimony on the market leader in network devices, including routers, switches, and wireless access points.

Why is this focus on network devices necessary? Because criminals are targeting networks, and network devices require a fundamentally different approach than the process taken with traditional forensics. By hacking a router, an attacker can bypass a network's firewalls, issue a denial of service (DoS) attack to disable the network, monitor and record all outgoing and incoming traffic, or redirect that communication anywhere they like. But capturing this criminal activity cannot be accomplished with the tools and techniques of traditional forensics. While forensic analysis of computers or other traditional media typically involves immediate shut-down of the target machine, creation of a duplicate, and analysis of static data, this process rarely recovers live system data. So, when an investigation focuses on live network activity, this traditional approach obviously fails. Investigators must recover data as it is transferred via the router or switch, because it is destroyed when the network device is powered down. In this case, following the traditional approach outlined in books on general computer forensics techniques is not only insufficient, but also essentially harmful to an investigation.

Jargon buster: A network switch is a small hardware device that joins multiple computers together within one local area network (LAN). A router is a more sophisticated network device that joins multiple wired or wireless networks together.

* The only book devoted to forensic analysis of routers and switches, focusing on the operating system that runs the vast majority of network devices in the enterprise and on the Internet
* Outlines the fundamental differences between router forensics and traditional forensics, a critical distinction for responders in an investigation targeting network activity
* Details where network forensics fits within the entire process of an investigation, end to end, from incident response and data collection to preparing a report and legal testimony


Multiple internal reflection spectroscopy has been applied to the study and identification of microgram quantities of pure steroids. The methodology described is simple and requires a minimum of sample preparation. The steroid spectra which have been obtained on 20 to 100 μg of sample are comparable to those obtained with KBr pellets. The steroids chosen to illustrate the method are of particular interest in assisting with the identification of the products of intermediary metabolism as it pertains to steroid hormones. The anomalous behavior of one of these steroids is discussed.


This research analyzes the history and cultural significance of organic agriculture as a social movement. It illuminates how organic production and consumption are polyvalent and socially embedded. Organic farming has been classified as a hobby and as a constituent of agribusiness; organic food has been dubbed as a hollow preference and as an exploited industry. At its core, though, organics is a social movement. From agricultural pioneers in the 1940s to contemporary consumer activists, the organic movement has preserved connections to environmentalism, agrarianism, health food dogma, and other ideological alignments. Organic farming has been a method of agriculture, social philosophy, way of life, and subversive effort. Organic consumption has been a practical decision, lifestyle choice, communicative performance, status marker, and political act. The dissertation embraces this multiplicity and expounds on the nuances of what the organic zeitgeist has meant in American culture. The study entails collection and analysis of historical and contemporary data, including archival, legislative, and regulatory documents. It applies discourse analysis, semiotics, iconographic study, and cultural analysis to texts and additional sorts of media. Observations of organic sites of consumption also enhance the historical and theoretical evaluations. This project includes scrutiny of rhetorical strategies used by organic farmers, business leaders, chefs, consumers, writers, and organizations that engage with the "organic lifestyle." Despite the fluid intertextuality of these expressions, there are common themes. Unraveling the multivocality and interconnectedness of prevailing discourses provides insight into the movement's epicenter. Department American Studies Subject American studies Consumer studies Food studies Environmental history URI http://hdl.handle.net/2152/41419 Collections UT Electronic Theses and Dissertations Compost and consumption: organic farming, food, and fashion in American culture


A commercial feedlot study was conducted to determine manure nutrient flow in six feedlots representing 6,366
cattle. On average, cattle involved in this summary were yearlings (BW = 353 kg) and gained 183 kg over 123 d. It was
calculated that 11.5% of the feed nitrogen and 16.9% of the feed phosphorus was retained by the animal with the remaining
nutrients excreted. On average, 25.6 kg of N and 4.1 kg of P (DM basis) were excreted per fed beef animal. On average,
887 kg total manure (solids and water) were removed per finished animal (7.2 kg/animal/d) averaging 73% total solids.
Approximately 28% of the total solids are volatile solids with a wide range of observed volatile solids levels (9 to 63%).
Based upon these data, 30.7% of the excreted nitrogen or (7.8 kg/animal fed) and 90.2% of the excreted phosphorus (or
3.7 kg/animal fed) were removed in manure at cleaning.
These data suggest there is variation in the amount of P harvested from beef feedlots, reflecting the variation between
feedlots as a result of individual pen conditions, and requirements for use and handling of the manure in the pen prior to
harvesting.
These data suggest that estimates based on the references (ASAE, 2000; USDA, 1992) of P removed in manure are too
high, and indicate that acres required for distribution of manure P in NMPs should be 50% of the acres predicted by those
references.


We live in a moment of interconnected pandemics. The COVID-19 crisis provides a window into the underlying pandemics of inequality, economic insecurity, and injustice. The viruses of sexism, racism, and economic instability are the pre-existing conditions of an unjust legal system — baked into our nation at the Founding in the shadow of chattel slavery, female disenfranchisement, property requirements for voting rights, and dispossession of Native Americans. COVID-19 has not recreated these conditions, but instead has amplified the persisting inequalities upon which the nation was built. At the same time, the current viral moment reveals that we all share common vulnerabilities, making a vulnerability analysis particularly timely in gaining support for solutions. As commentators have observed, "COVID-19 doesn't discriminate[, but] America does." Even while unmasking deeply embedded structural inequalities, this moment of interlinked pandemics of disease, economic insecurity, and violence affects us all and has torn at the very fabric of the social contract we owe to each other and, in fact, depend on. I propose a new concept, "viral convergence," to both analyze this moment of interlinked crises and to utilize this moment, in which our share vulnerabilities are so clear, to theorize a way forward. The road ahead calls for legal paradigms that recognize both the need for universal and more targeted solutions. As Arundhati Roy suggests, we must both acknowledge the tragedy while also utilizing this crisis for transformational change by viewing the COVID-19 pandemic as a "portal" to a more just and equal world.


This paper discusses the development of a very simple and inexpensive underwater turbine which will extract power ranging from a fraction of a HP up to 20 HP from the velocity of the running water in a river or stream. The power obtained from the turbine can be used to generate electricity or to run a pump to lift water for drinking purposes and for irrigation along the river banks during the dry seasons. Various designs of models have been tested in the laboratory to find the optimum pitch angle, shape and size and number of blades to accomplish the cheapest, simplest, and most efficient turbine. Simplicity of design has been stressed so that the prototype can be fabricated in a local workshop, by personnel who have very limited technical knowledge, using indigenous materials as much as possible. The selection of a pump and coupling with the turbine is discussed. Various installation alternatives are suggested for different situations. The main objective is to develop a turbine for the remotest villages to extract renewable energy to facilitate the production of crops and to uplift the socioeconomic standard of villagers.


The importance of modeling geological units and mineralization factor, as a key step in evaluating mineral deposits, is undeniable. Multivariate geostatistical methods are very useful tools in the case of geochemical modeling. In this study, the minimum/maximum autocorrelation factor (MAF), a multivariate geostatistical method, and the sequential indicator simulation (SIS) were used in order to model the Sury Gunay epithermal gold deposit, NW of Iran. The analyses were done using core samples obtained from drill holes. The MAF is a geospatially modified version of principal component analysis, which decorrelates factors for all lag distances. By applying the MAF on alr-transformed data, four MAF were obtained and the fourth factor represents the mineralization factor. Joint simulation of the mineralization elements was carried out by applying the sequential Gaussian simulation to the fourth factor scores. The main rock types and alterations of the deposit were also modeled using SIS and the probabilistic models of the rock types, and alterations were obtained using E-type maps resulting from 20 realizations. The results indicate that there are better relations with higher values of the mineralization factor and the existence of the volcanogenic breccia and dacite porphyry rock types. Furthermore, the simulated alterations demonstrate that the higher probability of silicification existence may have better correlation with higher concentrations of the mineralization elements.


Many public audiences lack access to traditional science education. We examined baseline perceptions and the impacts of science lectures on incarcerated adults in two correctional institutions. Although incarcerated populations are often characterized as having poor educational backgrounds, being disinterested in learning, and having few tools to seek science education, our incarcerated audiences were interested in, capable of, and desirous of science education. We found positive baseline attitudes about science and a significant positive effect of science lectures on content knowledge, attitudes, and behavioral intentions related to science, suggesting that informal science lectures may be an appropriate portal to science education for this population.


Since the fall of the Soviet Union it has been necessary for Russia to form a coalition with at least one of the transit countries Belarus and Ukraine in order to be able to ship gas to western Europe. This paper models the gas transit game using a cooperative module to determine the bargaining power of the three countries. The bargaining power is dependent on the coalition that is achieved. In the non-cooperative module, the three countries involved decide whether or not to cooperate, with Russia using side payments to induce cooperation. On the basis of published demand and cost estimates, the predicted Nash equilibrium is the cooperative one resulting in the grand coalition. Predicted gas quantities correspond quite closely to actual 2004 and forecast 2010 and 2030 figures. The completion of the North Transgas pipeline will benefit Russia, to the detriment of the others, particularly Ukraine.


The rural population of Cambodia currently has limited access to improved water sources, with monthly access significantly varying between the wet and dry seasons. This poses difficulties for many households across the country, especially in the dry season when stored rainwater – a common source for many – becomes difficult to obtain, necessitating a switch to sources unsafe for consumption. This study evaluates the effect of seasonal climate on bottled water as an alternative solution to accessing safe drinking water. A study of 240 households in the Battambang province, Cambodia correlated seasonal uptake of bottled water with household wealth, quality of road access and access to alternatives. This was supported by historical data on bottled water uptake from three communities. The results suggest that substantial seasonal change in uptake occurs in rural Cambodia; most noticeably in households of low wealth. As one of the first studies on bottled water in Cambodia, these are important findings; particularly given the recent increase in rural bottled water distribution. The study finds bottled water is not an appropriate means for Non-Governmental Organisations targeting the poorest strata of the community; however there is potential for the private sector to supply more affluent households.


In Dostoevsky's "The Double," one of the great, but lesser known Russian novels, protagonist Golyadkin suddenly meets his identical twin, who ostensibly wreaks havoc on his life.While "The Double" appears to have nothing to do with the law of wills and trusts and has not been redacted into any law school case book, I now suggest what might irritate some staunch traditionalists -- namely that Dostoyevsky should claim an entire chapter on the mental capacity doctrine. It is this article's narrow thesis that "The Double" debunks, or, at least sheds doubt, on some basic mental capacity and insane delusion concepts. On a broader level, this article, diveded into four parts, explores Dostoevsky's proposition that in many cases, we (as lawyers or mere mortals) are incapable of determining unsound mind and insane delusions.Part II focuses on wills and trusts because it boasts of having a sacrosanct policy in favor of testamentary freedom. Despite that policy's stronghold, courts have in some cases limited or eradicated a decedent's ability to direct the disposition of property upon death. One instance is where contestants argue lack of mental capacity or use a doctrine called "insane delusion" or "monomania" to invalidate estate plans that either omit them entirely or slight them as beneficiaries. Although in wills' law, sound mind and insane delusion are legal constructs, this article, borrowing from the psychiatric definitions of "bizarre" and "non-bizarre" delusions, cordons them to Dostoevsky's message in "The Double." Part III, shifting from law to literature, summarizes the story in "The Double" and the raging debate over not just the novel's meaning, but also Golyadkin's mental condition. This part suggests that the controversy surrounding this novel belies the fact that in "The Double" we cannot ascertain what is real and what is hallucination. This part, linking Dostoevsky's thesis to the current mental capacity doctrines, suggests that Golyadkin, like many testators, would baffle our courts if his psyche were under the will-contest microscope. In fact, the uncertainty in "The Double" resembles the disquieting dubiousness of such contests, particularly in litigation in which individuals are alleged to have "non-bizarre" delusions. This part goes further than just complaining, however, but, taking a stab at a solution, proposes the sort of doctrinal revamping, which would heed Dostoevsky's wise admonition. Part IV concludes by revisiting the one (or two Golyadkins) who disclose(s) the most deleterious effect of our current capacity law and demonstrates why it is so crucial to make change.


Large tensile forces, known as snap loads, can occur when a slack rope becomes taut. Such forces may damage the rope or masses connected to it. Experiments are described in which one end of a rope is attached to the top of a drop tower and the bottom end is attached to a weight. The weight is raised to a certain height and then released. The force at the top of the rope and the acceleration of the weight are recorded during the first snap load that occurs. Repeated drop tests are performed on each rope. The effects of the type of rope, drop height, drop weight, whether the rope has been subjected to static precycling, and the number of previous dynamic tests are examined. A mathematical model is proposed for the rope force as a function of the displacement and velocity of the weight.


The sovereign debt crisis and the economic predicament of the West elicit mixed feelings and attitudes in China. On the one hand, the spiralling debt and worsening market conditions of the US and the eurozone are affecting China's export-driven economy signifi cantly; on the other, the crisis in the West provides Beijing with the opportunity to raise its profi le internationally and challenge the existing international economic and monetary order. China's financial resources are sought after, both to contribute to solving the eurozone's debt problem and to continue sustaining the America's structural defi cit. Beijing has protected its position as the largest investor in US treasuries by disinvesting away from dollar-denominated assets and increasing its holdings of the euro. Risk in the eurozone has been offset by reallocating Chinese purchases of bonds away from peripheral countries and into the core members, in particular Germany. Moreover, China has increased its investments in European industrial and infrastructure projects that guarantee safer returns. The debt crisis is changing global power relations: Chinese leaders are today, for the first time in modern history, in the position to take advantage of the West's economic woes while also lecturing American and European policy makers on their economic and fi scal policies.


The success of software verification depends on the ability to find a suitable abstraction of a program automatically. We propose a method for automated abstraction refinement which overcomes some limitations of current predicate discovery schemes. In current schemes, the cause of a false alarm is identified as an infeasible error path, and the abstraction is refined in order to remove that path. By contrast, we view the cause of a false alarm -the spurious counterexample- as a full-fledged program, namely, a fragment of the original program whose control-flow graph may contain loops and represent unbounded computations. There are two advantages to using such path programs as counterexamples for abstraction refinement. First, we can bring the whole machinery of program analysis to bear on path programs, which are typically small compared to the original program. Specifically, we use constraint-based invariant generation to automatically infer invariants of path programs-so-called path invariants. Second, we use path invariants for abstraction refinement in order to remove not one infeasibility at a time, but at once all (possibly infinitely many) infeasible error computations that are represented by a path program. Unlike previous predicate discovery schemes, our method handles loops without unrolling them; it infers abstractions that involve universal quantification and naturally incorporates disjunctive reasoning.


Measurement and sampling of diesel particulate matter in mine air presents a challenge due to the complexity of the diesel aerosol. The results of a series of tests carried out by the National Institute for Occupation Safety and Health, Pittsburgh Research Laboratory, in an underground mine were used to evaluate several measurement methods that are currently used to characterize particulate matter emitted by diesel-powered equipment. This paper presents an overview of these techniques and examples of the results along with a discussion of the advantages and information gained by each technique. The measurement methods discussed include particle size measurements using a scanning mobility particle sizer, total particulate matter measurements using a tapered elemental oscillating microbalance, a size selective sampling method for workplace and personal exposure assessment and a size-selective high volume sampling method for carbon analysis.


The effect of gamma radiation (1, 3 and 5 kGy) on microbial quality of farmed rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) fillets which were stored under frozen conditions (-20° C) was studied by measuring microbiological changes in 5 months. Gamma irradiation and increasing of frozen storage time had significant effects (P<0.05) on the reduction of microorganism's population. The total count showed that all samples maintained acceptable microbiological quality until the end of the fifth month of frozen storage. The lowest microbial load at the end of the fifth month of frozen storage was related to irradiated samples at 3 kGy (2 Log CFU/g). Yeasts and molds were below the detection levels in both irradiated samples at 1 and 5 kGy until the end of the third month and in irradiated samples at 3 kGy throughout the frozen storage. The population of yeasts and molds increased in irradiated samples at 1 and 5 kGy in the fourth and fifth month of frozen storage. Growth of coliform bacteria and Salmonella wasn't observed in control and irradiated samples due to good hygienic quality of fish breeding, fishing, handling, filleting and packaging and also effect of freezing on elimination and inactivation of mesophilic microorganisms.


Context. The TOPoS project has the goal to find and analyse Turn-Off (TO) stars of extremely low metallicity. To select the targets for spectroscopic follow-up at high spectral resolution, we have relied on low-resolution spectra from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Aims. In this paper we use the metallicity estimates we have obtained from our analysis of the SDSS spectra to construct the metallicity distribution function (MDF) of the Milky Way, with special emphasis on its metal-weak tail. The goal is to provide the underlying distribution out of which the TOPoS sample was extracted. Methods. We make use of SDSS photometry, Gaia photometry and distance estimates derived from the Gaia parallaxes to derive a metallicity estimate for a large sample of over 24 million TO stars. This sample is used to derive the metallicity bias of the sample for which SDSS spectra are available. Results. We determined that the spectroscopic sample is strongly biased in favour of metal-poor stars, as intended. A comparison with the unbiased photometric sample allows to correct for the selection bias. We select a sub-sample of stars with reliable parallaxes for which we combine the SDSS radial velocities with Gaia proper motions and parallaxes to compute actions and orbital parameters in the Galactic potential. This allows us to characterize the stars dynamically, and in particular to select a sub-sample that belongs to the Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus (GSE) accretion event. We are thus able to provide also the MDF of GSE. Conclusions. The metal-weak tail derived in our study is very similar to that derived in the H3 survey and in the Hamburg/ESO Survey. This allows us to average the three MDFs and provide an error bar for each metallicity bin. Inasmuch the GSE structure is representative of the progenitor galaxy that collided with the Milky Way, that galaxy appears to be strongly deficient in metal-poor stars compared to the Milky Way, suggesting that the metal-weak tail of the latter has been largely formed by accretion of low mass galaxies rather than massive galaxies, such as the GSE progenitor.


This paper is concerned with the design of a control strategy for variable stiffness actuators in series configuration, exploiting the lever concept to adjust the stiffness at the transmission. A control strategy based on gain scheduling is proposed, which is able to regulate both stiffness and position at output link. The gain scheduling is designed based on a set of linear quadratic regulators (LQRs), because LQR's inherent robustness properties can accommodate significant variation in the actuation plant parameters. The link positioning relies on continuous adjustment of the control effort based on the current transmission stiffness; the stiffness perceived at the output link is regulated through combined action of the transmission stiffness and the positioning gains of the scheduling strategy. The effectiveness of the controller is verified in simulation and experiments on the actuator with adjustable stiffness. The overall strategy has been proven to be locally stable.


One key structural feature of American government that may facilitate ordered liberty is federalism. In this Essay, I discuss one way that religious liberty relates to American federalism, and how conceptions of religious liberty might be revised in light of federalism. That relationship currently unfolds in many ways, including the difference between the level of state constitutional protection of the free exercise of religion and the level of federal protection. My focus in this piece, however, is the way the religion clauses of the First Amendment apply to the states. The application of these clauses to the states, of course, determines the precise content of federal constitutional control over the explicit religion-based and religion-influencing policies of state and local governments. What consequences for the states, and for the climate of religious liberty, would follow from relaxing that control? There are two possible forms that relaxing federal control could take. First, the Supreme Court could just shrink the ambit of the religion clauses as applied to all levels of government. The consequence of such a move would be to lessen the force of the clauses with respect to the federal government as well as to state and local governments. This relaxation would be a substantive path to change, and the Supreme Court has, as of late, traveled it to some extent. (1) Second, and more radically, the Supreme Court might disincorporate--that is, hold that the states are no longer bound by--one or both of the religion clauses. Disincorporation is not likely to happen, but it is far from a crazy idea. Indeed, disincorporating the Establishment Clause is quite plausible as a matter of text and history. The First Amendment begins "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion," (2) and that language is at least consistent with a dual policy of prohibiting the creation of any national church and protecting against federal interference with the state establishments that existed as of 1791. (3) From the bench, Justice Thomas has recently and explicitly advanced the notion that the Framers intended the Establishment Clause to leave the states with discretion about how best to promote religion, and that the Clause should not, therefore, limit the states: From the academic side, Justice Thomas finds support in the work of Professor Akhil Reed Amar, who has advanced this two-directional-simultaneously state-protecting and nation-limiting--view of the original meaning of the Establishment Clause: There are, of course, quite serious arguments from history, (6) text, (7) and precedent as to why disincorporation would be a deeply wrong-headed move. Nevertheless, an honest account would have to acknowledge that the Supreme Court has never really addressed the question in the full detail it deserves. Without serious discussion, the Court simply asserted in Everson that the Establishment Clause applied to the states because the rest of the First Amendment so applied. (8) The focus of this Essay, however, is not the issues of textual interpretation or history on which Justice Thomas bases his dissent from the long-prevailing view on this question. Instead, I will explore the consequences that might follow from taking Justice Thomas's views on disincorporating the Establishment Clause seriously. Would such a move advance or impede the cause of religious liberty? Before we can even start to answer that question, we should note that virtually every state has its own constitutional provision that replicates at least some Establishment Clause functions. (9) Some are anti-funding provisions, placed in many state constitutions in the nineteenth century and aimed primarily at state funding of religious schools. (10) Others, like the Virginia Constitution, forbid compelling anyone to support or attend any religious ministry. (11) Those limitations, as construed by state courts and attorneys general will continue to exist regardless of whether the federal Establishment Clause applies to the states. …


Background Drowning risk is reported to be increased in people from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities, due to a limited awareness of hazards and risks, as well as a lack of aquatic participation and skills. However, there is limited information detailing these potential contributing factors in diverse communities. Aims This study aimed to determine: the level of aquatic participation, self-reported aquatic skills, and behaviours in people from different cultural backgrounds. Methods A survey was developed to assess participation, skill levels and behaviours among diverse community groups in Victoria, Australia. Demographic data were also collected. The study consisted of: A general community survey conducted among 601 residents of Victoria. Respondents were selected by a random sample process with interviews conducted by telephone. Telephone surveys with an additional 506 members of the Italian, Sudanese, Vietnamese, Chinese and Indian communities collectively were conducted. Focus group sessions with these communities further explored issues or trends emerging from the telephone surveys. All respondents were aged 18 years and over. Results 63% of CALD groups had not been swimming in the past year compared to 33% of the general community. Only 23% CALD had formal swimming lessons compared to 71% general community; 37% CALD said they could not swim compared to 5% general community. CALD groups were less likely to consume alcohol and participate in aquatic activities. Significance CALD groups had reduced participation and swimming ability but reported certain safer behaviours around water. This evidence will assist development of culturally appropriate programs and water safety messages for drowning prevention.


Self-incompatibility (SI) is a genetically based recognition system that functions to prevent self-fertilization and mating among related plants. An enduring puzzle in SI is how the high diversity observed in nature arises and is maintained. Based on the underlying recognition mechanism, SI can be classified into two main groups: self-recognition (SR) and nonself-recognition (NSR). Most work has focused on diversification within SR systems despite expected differences between the two groups in the evolutionary pathways and outcomes of diversification. Here, we use a deterministic population genetic model and stochastic simulations to investigate how novel S-haplotypes evolve in a gametophytic NSR [SRNase/S Locus F-box (SLF)] SI system. For this model, the pathways for diversification involve either the maintenance or breakdown of SI and can vary in the order of mutations of the female (SRNase) and male (SLF) components. We show analytically that diversification can occur with high inbreeding depression and self-pollination, but this varies with evolutionary pathway and level of completeness (which determines the number of potential mating partners in the population), and, in general, is more likely for lower haplotype number. The conditions for diversification are broader in stochastic simulations of finite population size. However, the number of haplotypes observed under high inbreeding and moderate-to-high self-pollination is less than that commonly observed in nature. Diversification was observed through pathways that maintain SI as well as through self-compatible intermediates. Yet the lifespan of diversified haplotypes was sensitive to their level of completeness. By examining diversification in a NSR SI system, this model extends our understanding of the evolution and maintenance of haplotype diversity observed in a recognition system common in flowering plants.


The change in the empirical distribution of future global precipitation is one of the major implications regarding the intensification of global water cycle. Heavier events are expected to occur more often, compensated by decline of light precipitation and/or number of wet days. Here, we scrutinize a new global, high‐resolution precipitation data set, namely, the Multi‐Source Weighted‐Ensemble Precipitation v2.0, to determine changes in the precipitation distribution over land during 1979–2016. To this end, the fluctuations of wet days precipitation quantiles on an annual basis and their interplay with annual totals and number of wet days were investigated. The results show increase in total precipitation, number of wet days, and heavy events over land, as suggested by the intensification hypothesis. However, the decline in light/medium precipitation or wet days was weaker than expected, debating the "compensation" mechanism.


The recent rise in American economic nationalism has accompanied the view that past restrictions on foreign competition were successful in achieving stated policy objectives: decreased imports, increased jobs, industrial revival, open foreign markets, and economic prosperity more broadly. Politicians and pundits use such assertions to justify new nationalist economic proposals, but they ignore a vast repository of academic analyses and contemporaneous reporting that show that American trade protectionism—even in the periods most often cited as "successes"—not only has imposed immense economic costs on American consumers and the broader economy, but also has failed to achieve its primary policy aims and fostered political dysfunction along the way. This paper surveys academic literature from three periods of American history: from the founding to the United States' entry into the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1947; from the GATT's early years to the creation of its successor, the World Trade Organization (WTO), in 1995; and the current WTO era. These surveys show that, contrary to the fashionable rhetoric, American protectionism has repeatedly failed as an economic strategy. A renewed focus on international trade's disruptions to the U.S. economy, while worthwhile, has spawned troubling suggestions that the U.S. government should be more willing to experiment again with protectionism to help American workers and the economy. This paper should help to counter such ideas. History is replete with examples of the failure of American protectionism; unless our policymakers quickly relearn this history, we may be doomed to repeat it.


There are several protocols and mechanisms have been proposed to address the problem of initial secure key deployment in wireless networks. Most existing approaches work either with a small number of wireless devices (i.e., two) or otherwise rely on the presence of an auxiliary device. On the other hand, such components should support security applications such as message integrity, authentication, and time stamping. The latter are efficiently implemented by Dynamic Message Authentication Codes (DMAC). As clearly stated in the literature, current approved implementations of DMAC require resources that cannot be supported in constrained components. An approach to implement a compact DMAC by the use of stream ciphering is presented in this paper.


The mortality of 1,332 male workers employed at least 30 days in 1959-1980 in a resins-manufacturing plant was examined. Ambient measurements taken in the plant between 1974 and 1979 documented a potential for exposure to levels of formaldehyde as high as greater than 3.0 mg/m3. Vital status was ascertained for 98.6% of the cohort members, and their mortality was compared with expected deaths drawn from the national and local population rates. A statistically significant increase in lung cancer was observed, based on 18 deaths, which was not fully accounted for by possible confounding factors linked to personal habits or sociocultural characteristics. This elevated risk, however, could not be attributed specifically to exposure to formaldehyde. Mortality from digestive cancer (14 deaths observed) and hematologic neoplasms (5 deaths observed) was not substantially higher than expected. The study was limited by information bias due to incomplete work histories, by the small number of deaths from some relevant causes, and by the possibly insufficient length of the observation period. Therefore these results do not provide sufficient grounds either to link formaldehyde exposure in the plant to the increased cancer risk noted or to exclude that formaldehyde might pose such a risk to humans under certain exposure circumstances.


John Cassavetes is the godfather of American independent cinema, saluted by virtually every US maverick who's followed in his stead, from Martin Scorsese to Sean Penn. Since his death in 1989, Cassavetes has become increasingly renowned as a cinematic hero - a loner who fought against the iniquities of the Hollywood system, steering his own creative course in a career spanning thirty years. Having first established himself as an actor, he bravely struck out on his own as a director in 1959 with "Shadows", and proceeded to build up a formidable body of work. His major films include "Faces", "Woman Under the Influence", "The Killing of a Chinese Bookie", "Opening Night" and "Gloria". These unforgettable works are driven and distinguished by Cassavetes' collaboration with actors of the calibre of Gena Rowlands, Ben Gazzara and Peter Falk. Professor Ray Carney, a friend and admirer of Cassavetes, presents a book that offers us "Cassavetes" in his own words - frank, uncompromising, humane, and passionate about both life and art.


This study determined the feasibility, test–retest reliability and responsiveness of the Quality of Life in Care (QOLIC), a measure of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) developed specifically for children in public care. Based on the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory™ (PedsQL™) model, this questionnaire has previously demonstrated good validity and internal reliability. Two forms of the questionnaire are available, a self-completed report for children and a parallel proxy report for completion by carers. Thirty-five children aged between 8 and 17 years, and their carers, completed the PedsQL generic module and QOLIC on two separate occasions. At the second completion, carers and children were asked to rate whether the child's physical and emotional health had changed (improved, got worse or stayed the same) since the first questionnaire was completed to enable test–retest reliability and responsiveness to a change in health to be calculated. Both measures demonstrated good feasibility with missing responses of less than 1%. No floor effects and minimal to moderate ceiling effects were found. Test–retest reliability could not be established due to the small numbers reporting no change in their health status. However, it can be argued that responsiveness is more important, when looking at a changeable population such as this one. Good responsiveness was established for self-reported PedsQL and QOLIC measures, and for the proxy version of QOLIC. Therefore, this study provides further evidence that QOLIC provides a valid and reliable measure of HRQoL. QOLIC is easy to use and therefore has the potential to have a major impact on clinical practice with children in public care. It is recommended that future studies focus on assessing the ability of the measure to differentiate between groups of "looked-after" children.


Abstract. Sulfur dioxide (SO2) is an important atmospheric constituent, particularly in the aftermath of volcanic eruptions. These events can inject large amounts of SO2 into the lower stratosphere, where it is oxidised to form sulfate aerosols; these in turn have a significant effect on the climate. The MLS instrument on the Aura satellite has observed the SO2 mixing ratio in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere from August 2004 to the present, during which time a number of volcanic eruptions have significantly affected those regions of the atmosphere. We describe the MLS SO2 data and how various volcanic events appear in the data. As the MLS SO2 data are currently not validated we take some initial steps towards their validation. First we establish the level of internal consistency between the three spectral regions in which MLS is sensitive to SO2. We compare SO2 column values calculated from MLS data to total column values reported by the OMI instrument. The agreement is good (within about 1 DU) in cases where the SO2 is clearly at altitudes above 147 hPa.


We present a minimal model of land use and carbon cycle dynamics and use it to explore the relationship between non-linear dynamics and planetary boundaries. Only the most basic interactions between land cover and terrestrial, atmospheric, and marine carbon stocks are considered in the model. Our goal is not to predict global carbon dynamics as it occurs in the actual Earth System. Rather, we construct a conceptually reasonable heuristic model of a feedback system between different carbon stocks that captures the qualitative features of the actual Earth System and use it to explore the topology of the boundaries of what can be called a 'safe operating space' for humans. The model analysis illustrates the existence of dynamic, non-linear tipping points in carbon cycle dynamics and the potential complexity of planetary boundaries. Finally, we use the model to illustrate some challenges associated with navigating planetary boundaries.


Objective Tinnitus, phantom sound perception, arises from aberrant brain activity within auditory cortex. In tinnitus animal models, auditory cortex neurons show increased spontaneous firing and neural synchrony. In humans, similar hyperactivation in auditory cortex has been displayed with functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) or increased connectivity between brain regions has also been shown in tinnitus using fNIRS. However, current fNIRS technology utilizes infrared (IR)-sources and IR-detectors placed on the scalp that restricts (~3 cm depth IR penetration) signal capture to outer cerebral cortex due to skin and skull bone. To overcome this limitation, in this proof of concept study, we adapted fNIRS probes to fit in the external auditory canal (EAC) to physically place IR-probes deeper within the skull thereby extracting neural signals from deeper auditory cortex. Methods Twenty adults with tinnitus and 20 nontinnitus controls listened to periods of silence and broadband noise before and after 5 min of silence to calculate RSFC. Concurrent scalp probes over auditory cortex and an adapted probe placed in the right EAC were utilized. Results For standard probes, left and right auditory cortex in tinnitus showed increased RSFC to each other and to other nonauditory cortices. Interestingly, adapted fNIRS probes showed trends toward increased RSFC. Conclusion While many areas for the adapted probes did not reach significance, these data using a highly innovative and newly created probe adapting fNIRS technology to the EAC substantiates our previously published data in human tinnitus and concurrently validates this technology as a useful and expanded brain imaging modality.


There is a long-standing market saying that "big crops get bigger and small crops get smaller." This statement refers to the yield forecasting cycle of the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). That cycle for corn and soybeans consists of monthly yield forecasts that begin in August and extend through November and culminate with the final yield estimate for the season that is released in January following harvest. Specifically, the statement implies that early NASS yield forecasts are "conservative" in years when yields are high and get larger as the forecast cycle progresses and are "optimistic" in years when yields are low and get smaller as the forecast cycle progresses. These notions are tied to the more general idea that NASS yield forecasts are "smoothed," meaning that the final yield estimate results from cumulative monthly changes in forecasts in the same direction. Some tend to believe that smoothing of NASS yield forecasts, particularly in years of yield extremes, is intentional in order to minimize or spread the price impact of very large or small yields. Alternatively, yield forecasts may appear to be intentionally smoothed simply due to the fact that forecasts become more accurate during the forecast cycle as more actual yield information is incorporated into the forecasts.


Abstract. Nowadays Earth observation satellites provide information about many relevant variables of the ocean-climate system, such as temperature, moisture, aerosols, etc. However, to retrieve the velocity field, which is the most relevant dynamical variable, is still a technological challenge, specially in the case of oceans. New processing techniques, emerged from the theory of turbulent flows, have come to assist us in this task. In this paper, we show that multifractal techniques applied to new Sea Surface Temperature satellite products opens the way to build maps of ocean currents with unprecedented accuracy. With the application of singularity analysis, we show that global ocean circulation patterns can be retrieved in a daily basis. We compare these results with high-quality altimetry-derived geostrophic velocities, finding a quite good correspondence of the observed patterns both qualitatively and quantitatively; and this is done for the first time on a global basis, even for less active areas. The implications of this findings from the perspective both of theory and of operational applications are discussed.


Protocells are objects that mimic one or several functions of biological cells and may be embodied as solid particles, lipid vesicles, or droplets. Our work is based on using decanol droplets in an aqueous solution of sodium decanoate in the presence of salt. A decanol droplet under such conditions bears many qualitative similarities with living cells, such as the ability to move chemotactically, divide and fuse, or change its shape. This article focuses on the description of a shape-changing process induced by the evaporation of water from the decanoate solution. Under these conditions, the droplets perform complex shape changes, whereby the originally round decanol droplets grow into branching patterns and mimic the growth of appendages in bacteria or axon growth of neuronal cells. We report two outcomes: (i) the morphological changes are reversible, and (ii) multiple protocells avoid contact between each other during the morphological transformation. The importance of these morphological changes in the context of artificial life are discussed.


It is widely accepted that meaning plays a large part in the syntactic realization of arguments of verbs. Locating component of meaning that drives the various realizations of arguments has been the focus of a field of linguistics commonly referred to as argument realization. This paper examines two theories of argument realization. The earliest attempts to explain the divergent behavior of arguments of verbs utilized semantic roles. They are labels that identify the relation an argument has to its verb and the roles offer a way to make generalizations about the behavior of arguments. Semantic roles proved to be unsuccessful in explaining argument realization. The discussion on semantic roles offers a context for the second theory this paper deals with. Tenny (1992) developed the Aspectual Interface Hypothesis to provide a system of linking semantic roles to the surface structure of sentences. She maintained that syntax and semantics should be kept separate and that aspectual factors functioned as the interface that connects the two together. The Aspectual Interface Hypothesis states that when the direct internal argument of a verb undergoes change it should measure out the event. Even though The Aspectual Interface Hypothesis presents an insightful way to link semantic roles to argument realization it doesn't offer explanation for much beyond the selection of objects. The fact that the external argument can measure out events proves that the Aspectual Interface Hypothesis is inaccurate in stating that this is a property only awarded to the direct internal arguments of verbs. This paper maintains that the explanatory scope of the Aspectual Interface Hypothesis could be expanded to include subject selection by awarding the quality of measuring out to the external arguments of verbs as well as the direct internal arguments.


Near the end of Euripides9 "Helen", Helen reportedly exhorts the Greek troops to rescue her Egyptian foes: "Where is the glory of Troy (to Troikon kleos)? Show it to these barbarians" (1603-1604). Helen9s rallying cry serves as a point of departure for investigating the nature and status of kleos in a play which invites reframing her question: Where, indeed, is the glory of Troy if the report of Helen9s abduction by Paris is untrue? The drama deconstructs the notion of a unitary, transcendent meaning of "kleos" by demonstrating the slippage between its two root-meanings in Homer as "immortal fame," legitimated by the gods, and as mere "report" or "rumor." A diminution of the status of the proper name runs in parallel with this slippage between the two senses of "kleos": the heroic name loses its privileged status as a stable, transparent sign of character and becomes instead a signifier vulnerable to dissemination (cf. Jacques Derrida, La dissemination [Paris, 1972]). As a vehicle of deception, Helen9s phantom-twin becomes a figure for the polysemy of the signifier, both visual and linguistic. The phantom9s substitution for Helen also highlights her symbolic role as a marker of men9s (and gods9) status in a competitive system of exchange. If the play presents Helen as a continual object of men9s attempts to capture her in song as well as in war, it presents heroic kleos as an equally insecure possession, insofar as it is always contingent on the "report" of others. Indeed, Helen becomes a metaphor for the duplicity inherent in the mimetic process by which fame is transmitted. That "kleos" turns out to have been a dangerously deceptive signifier is a lesson of more than literary interest for the Athenians watching Euripides9 "Helen" (412)-the forces of the Sicilian expedition had been annihilated only a year earlier.


The crack compliance method (eeM) has attracted a lot of interest as an inexpensive method for the determination of residual stresses in materials compared to the use of Xray and neutron diffraction methods. The vast majority of the work found for the application of the eeM in the literature concentrated on the determination of residual stresses in annealed beam specimens. There is very little evidence of the verification of the method in cases where the material might have experienced prior strain loading effect such as Bauschinger effect before the residual stress is induced. This thesis has applied the eeM for the determination of residual stresses in bemus that were under Bauschinger effect before the residual stress was induced. The thesis also briefly considers the application of the eeM for the study of cyclic loading effect on the relaxation of residual stresses in beams. In order to achieve the aims highlighted above, the thesis develops a new efficient solution for the simultaneous determination of tensile and compressive stress-strain behaviour in materials under Bauschinger effect. The determination of these properties • helps with the verification of the results of the eeM by using another relatively simple and inexpensive method based on the superposition of loading and unloading stresses. A new simple support method for beams subjected to electro-discharge machining (EDM) is also introduced. The new cutting arrangement allows free deformation of beams during cutting and allows the plane of cutting to be maintained without deviation. The experimental testing and verification procedure considers several factors such as different materials, heat treatment conditions, various levels of pre-straining and different fatigue load amplitudes. Several aspects of the crack compliance method are verified. The results obtained in all cases are generally very encouraging. CONTENT Abstract Co~e~ I List of figures VI List of tables XV Symbols XVI Acknowledgements XIX


We use this the crisis set off by the arrival of asylum-seekers in Germany to test a theory of the use of propaganda as a strategy by a non-democratic state against a democratic state. We argue that a non-democracy on a collision course with a democracy will use propaganda discourse to punish recalcitrant elite, and will do so especially near elections while promoting frames that weaken the opponent's institutions. We test these propositions on a corpus of half a million publications, covering Kremlin-backed media channels broadcasting in German, and German media. We find that Kremlin-backed channels are more likely to publish refugee stories near elections in Germany and that they push conspiracy theories at the expense of discussing economic or crime-related aspects of immigration. Our work has implications for the rise of propaganda discourse in Europe and beyond, and for democratic politics under foreign autocratic pressure.


Distributed data systems systems are used in a variety of settings like online serving, offline analytics, data transport, and search, among other use cases. They let organizations scale out their workloads using cost-effective commodity hardware, while retaining key properties like fault tolerance and scalability. At LinkedIn we have built a number of such systems. A key pattern we observe is that even though they may serve different purposes, they tend to have a lot of common functionality, and tend to use common building blocks in their architectures. One such building block that is just beginning to receive attention is cluster management, which addresses the complexity of handling a dynamic, large-scale system with many servers. Such systems must handle software and hardware failures, setup tasks such as bootstrapping data, and operational issues such as data placement, load balancing, planned upgrades, and cluster expansion.
 All of this shared complexity, which we see in all of our systems, motivates us to build a cluster management framework, Helix, to solve these problems once in a general way.
 Helix provides an abstraction for a system developer to separate coordination and management tasks from component functional tasks of a distributed system. The developer defines the system behavior via a state model that enumerates the possible states of each component, the transitions between those states, and constraints that govern the system's valid settings. Helix does the heavy lifting of ensuring the system satisfies that state model in the distributed setting, while also meeting the system's goals on load balancing and throttling state changes. We detail several Helix-managed production distributed systems at LinkedIn and how Helix has helped them avoid building custom management components. We describe the Helix design and implementation and present an experimental study that demonstrates its performance and functionality.


Generalized Lifting (GL) has been studied for lossy image compression in [2,3]. It has been demonstrated that the method leads to a significant reduction of the wavelet coefficients energy and entropy. The definition of the GL relies on an estimation of the pdf of the pixel to encode conditioned to a surrounding context. The objective of this paper is to present an improved method for the estimation of the pdf at the local level. Rather than assuming that the local pdf is monomodal, symmetric, and centered at the central value of the best context match within a neighborhood, as in [3], we follow the idea of self similarity proposed in [1] for denoising, and propose to estimate the pdf using all the causal contexts within a window. Therefore, all the available knowledge about the neighborhood is incorporated. No assumptions about the characteristics of the pdf are made. A generalized lifting operator that minimizes the energy is applied to each context during the encoding process. Experimental results show an important increment in the energy and entropy gains when compared to previous strategies [2,3].


Background: Little is known of hospital practice in brain death determination, specialty involvement, and followed procedures, including the apnea test. Methods: We reviewed 228 patients pronounced brain dead at Mayo Clinic from 1996 to 2007. We performed a detailed review of clinical determination of brain death, intensive care support, apnea test procedure, and complications. Results: There were 228 patients who were pronounced brain dead, mostly after traumatic brain injury, cerebral hematoma, or aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage. Brain death was declared within 24 hours of ictus in 30% of the patients and within 3 days in 62%. All patients were using one or more vasopressors, and 61% of the patients received vasopressin for diabetes insipidus. An apnea test could not be performed in 7% of the patients because of hemodynamic instability or poor oxygenation at baseline. In 3% of the patients, the apnea test procedure was aborted because of hypoxemia or hypotension. No major complications (cardiac arrest or pneumothorax) occurred during the apnea test. Polytrauma resulting in brain death was significantly more common in patients with aborted or not attempted apnea tests than in patients with completed apnea tests (p = 0.0004). During the study epoch, we found a shift toward determination of the tests by neurointensivists, pediatric neurologists, and neurosurgeons. Conclusions: Brain death declaration is frequent within the first 3 days of admission. It is usually performed in hemodynamically unstable patients requiring vasopressors and vasopressin. If preconditions are met, apnea testing using an oxygen-diffusion technique is safe. However, in 1 of 10 patients, an apnea test could not be completed and confirmatory tests were needed.


This is the first issue of the Psychology of Sexualities Review. As mentioned in my previous Editorial, this change in name reflects the change made to the Section's name, following a ballot of the Section's membership. I trust that the papers in this issue are a testament to the Editorial Team's promise to continue the legacy of the Lesbian & Gay Psychology Review's of publishing high quality papers. In this Editorial I focus on the idea of using sexual identity labels, which have served us well and continue to do so, to move beyond them. I must clarify that by suggesting movement beyond these labels, I am in no way implying that we discard them, but permit a flexibility to incorporate other labelled identities and label-less identities to the fold. This plurality and inclusivity, I believe, forms the spirit of the Psychology of Sexualities Review. When thinking about plurality and inclusivity related to sexuality, two landmark judicial judgments in the recent past come to mind, perhaps because of their personal relevance to me, both from my own subject-ship and from those of some of my clients I see in therapy. The first, the Delhi High Court's reading down of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, a section which criminalises private consensual sex between adults of the same sex (reported in the papers as 'India decriminalises gay sex', Mitta & Singh, 2009); and the second, the UK Supreme Court ruling related to 'gay asylum seekers' ('Gay asylum seekers', 2010). There is no question about the importance, the worthiness, the triumph, and the desperate need for both these judgments. A close reading, however, examining the language used in the official judgments and the English language newspaper reporting of these, exposes a certain conservative economy of terms that both reports employ. This is particularly pertinent as both judgments are related to minorities from India, and 'gay asylum seekers' from Cameroon and Iran, countries where some sexual minorities2 do not identity as 'gay' or even 'homosexual'. The collapsing of sexual identities (and associated labels) into seemingly 'neutral' terminology employing behavioural categories of 'men who have sex with men' (MSM) and 'women who have sex with women' (WSW) is also problematic. While such usage has almost become the mainstay of epidemiological and public health studies (since the 1990s), social constructionists have highlighted the limits of such terms, but have also critiqued the use of identity labels such as 'gay', instead arguing for a 'more textured understandings of sexuality that do not assume alignments among identity, behaviour, and desire' (Young & Meyer, 2005, p.1144). My argument is that just as terms such as MSM and WSW tend to obliterate self-determination regarding sexual identities, terms such as 'gay' and 'lesbian', when applied indiscriminately or as global categories, can be as alienating; obfuscating text and subtext of sexual identities, desires, and practices. These terms then have the potential to become essentialist concepts.


This paper is concerned with kernel-based techniques for automatedcategorization of laryngeal colour image sequences obtained by videolaryngostroboscopy. Features used to characterize a laryngeal imageare given by the kernel principal components computed using the$N$-vector of the 3-D colour histogram. The least squares supportvector machine (LS-SVM) is designed for categorizing an imagesequence (video) into the healthy, cancerous and noncancerous classes. The kernel function employed by theLS-SVM is defined over a pair of matrices, rather than over a pairof vectors. The classification accuracy of over 85% was obtainedwhen testing the developed tools on data recorded during routinelaryngeal videostroboscopy.


Chevron v NRDC may well be the most important case in all of administrative law. It establishes a general principle, which is that agencies may interpret ambiguous statutory provisions, so long as their interpretations are reasonable. That principle is now under serious pressure. If the Court abandoned it, how would Chevron itself be decided? There are five possible approaches: (1) textualism; (2) purposivism; (3) resort to canons of construction; (4) use of Skidmore deference; and (5) validation of the agency's decision, on the ground that no statutory provision prohibited it. In the context of Chevron, (1) and (2) run into serious problems, but (3), (4), and (5) are promising. The discussion suggests some general lessons for statutory interpretation and administrative law, and offers some cautionary notes for those who want to abandon the Chevron framework. Abandoning that framework would introduce high levels of confusion in the lower courts and the Supreme Court itself, and in all probability, the framework that would ultimately replace it would turn out to look a fair bit like that in Chevron itself.


The object of this presentation is to introduce a prototype of the Digital Museum Project in our
attempt at the documentation of Ikema, one of the endangered dialects of Southern Ryukyuan,
spoken on Miyakojima Island, Okinawa, Japan. The language is no longer acquired by younger
people, and is spoken fluently only by people in their 60's or older. We have been studying one of
the dialects of the language spoken in Nishihara since January 2006, and have made recordings of
natural discourse and elicitation sessions totaling over 400 hours. The local people, especially the senior generations, are deeply concerned about the imminent
disappearance of their language and culture, and have been making every effort to pass them on to
younger generations. Their enthusiasm culminated in the creation of a vernacular musical titled
Nishihara Muradate (The making of the Nishihara village), which depicts their migration to
Nishihara from the Ikema Island, their ancestral island, some 130 years ago. It was performed in
July 2007, at the 40th anniversary of the Meeting of the Ikema people, with more than a hundred
people participating in the performance, was filmed and made into a DVD. Attempts at
documenting the language are also being made by a nursery school principal, who has written fairy
stories for children, scored traditional songs, and collected proverbs for raising children, all prepared
bilingually in Ikema and the standard Japanese. In order to store the recordings we have made and to make the works created by local people
accessible to the public, we are constructing a digital museum, a web-based four layered digital
storage space. The first two layers are the exhibit space, open to the public and store the general
introduction to the language and culture of Ikema, Nisihara Muradate, fairy tales for children, old
songs, all subtitled in three languages: Ikema, the standard Japanese, and English. The exhibit
space will serve as a forum for the local people in Nishihara, as well as for the people who have
migrated to other parts of the world. The second two layers, the access to which is password
protected, is for researchers specializing in Ryukyuans. The third layer stores transcribed
recordings with translations, papers on Ikema and the related dialects. The fourth layer contains all
the raw data, which are accessible only to our research group. We will make a demonstration of the prototype of the museum in this presentation.


This paper presents findings of a recent research study that identifies examples of good practice, challenges and suggestions for change regarding ways in which universities, and partner colleges providing International Foundation Years (IFYs), can jointly help prepare international students for the first year of their degree courses in English-speaking higher education. The article highlights ways in which the IFY influences: students' experiences of developing academic identity, confidence, resilience andengagement in the context of: learning, teaching, assessment,working relationships and support during their first year. The article also highlights differences between: students' experiences of the IFY and degree at the partner university; and experiences of those who have and have not completed an IFY.The IFY was found to enhance students' resilience and confidence to cope with firstyear transition challenges, including the need to become independent both academically and socially.


Both the study of emergent religious communities historically and in recent times reveals a rich diversity of communal forms and patterns of change and development. Emergent religious or spiritual communities that survive the initial hazards of public opprobrium engendered by their oft times heretical beliefs and unconventional group arrangements must subsequently make adaptive changes as the pioneering generation ages, founding leaders die or fail to maintain their authoritative status, and second- and third-generation children increasingly require inculcation of their parents9 values in order to sustain some degree of continuity and long-term commitment to community institutions. Because of their supernatural valence, religious beliefs can be powerful ingredients in the process of binding people9s loyalty to the community and facilitating a privileged sense of mission to carry on a charismatic founder9s work. While typically authoritarian in their ultimate devotion to religious guidance and direction, there is some evidence that contemporary American spiritual communities are beginning to adopt more egalitarian practices and democratic flexibility for managing their communities in a rapidly changing global context.


Over half the states and several localities have enacted statutes and ordinances to regulate abuses in the residential mortgage market. The effect of these statutes is a matter of debate. This paper seeks to improve the understanding of this increasingly important issue and pays particular attention to the role that legal enforcement mechanisms play in this context. We created a legal index of laws governing mortgage lending terms and practices, giving each state an overall score for the strength of its laws. In addition, we disaggregated the index to create sub-indices along three dimensions: (1) the scope of loans covered by the laws; (2) the prohibited loan terms and practices; and (3) the strength of the legal enforcement mechanisms. We use these indices to determine the effect of anti-predatory lending laws-- using both total index scores and the scores using the sub-indices-- on loan applications, originations and rejections. To control for variations within state borders, we employ a geographic sampling approach that focuses on lending activity along state borders, including only loans that were originated in a county that is geographically along a state border and if at least one of the two abutting states has an anti-predatory lending law. We find that the extent of coverage, restrictions, and enforcement embodied in a state's legal framework is associated with significant changes in the probability that a subprime application is rejected and a subprime loan is originated. Coverage is associated with lower subprime rejection probabilities. Restrictions tend to increase the likelihood of rejection and hence retard originations in the subprime market. Finally, the key result in the analysis of enforcement is that stronger enforcement mechanisms reduce subprime rejection probabilities. We conclude the paper by discussing the possible implications of these findings, including how anti-predatory lending laws may have shaped borrower and lender behavior and how our results can help inform shape future lending regulations. This paper makes a timely contribution given the current crisis in subprime lending and the call for increased scrutiny of lenders and the loans they originate.


IoT systems monitoring or controlling the behavior of smart environments frequently require to count on real-time message delivery, in order to support decision making and eventually coordinate the individual behavior of their system components. Several initiatives propose the use of opportunistic networks to address this requirement, but none of them support message delivery considering time constraints. Therefore, the support that they provide is partially suitable for conducting real-time monitoring and control of smart environments. In order to address that challenge, this paper proposes a message propagation model for opportunistic networks that considers the participation of heterogeneous devices, and guarantees the real-time behavior of the network by bounding the maximum delay for messages transmission. The message propagation is modeled using an analytical approach that reduces the effort of prototyping and analyzing the properties of these networks. Two running examples, based on disaster relief efforts, are used to illustrate the feasibility of implementing the proposed message dissemination model on opportunistic networks and, thus, to allow real-time communication in the field. These results showed that is feasible not only the implementation of these networks but also their representation using an analytical approach. The networks for both example scenarios were then simulated to confirm the results obtained using the analytical approach. Given the positive results, the proposed model and its representation open several opportunities to model smart environments and design IoT systems that require real-time communication in opportunistic networks.


We investigated the phenology of oceanic phytoplankton at large scales over two 5‐year time periods: 1979–1983 and 1998–2002. Two ocean‐color satellite data archives (Coastal Zone Color Scanner (CZCS) and Sea‐viewing Wide Field‐of‐view Sensor (SeaWiFS)) were used to investigate changes in seasonal patterns of concentration‐normalized chlorophyll. The geographic coverage was constrained by the CZCS data distribution. It was best for the Northern Hemisphere and also encompassed large areas of the Indian, South Pacific, and Equatorial Atlantic regions. For each 2° pixel, monthly climatologies were developed for satellite‐derived chlorophyll, and the resulting seasonal cycles were statistically grouped using cluster analysis. Five distinct groups of mean seasonal cycles were identified for each half‐decade period. Four types were common to both time periods and correspond to previously identified phytoplankton regimes: Bloom, Tropical, Subtropical North, and Subtropical South. Two other mean seasonal cycles, one in each of the two compared 5‐year periods, were related to transitional or intermediate states (Transitional Tropical and Transitional Bloom). Five mean seasonal cycles (Bloom, Tropical, Subtropical North, and Subtropical South, Transitional Bloom) were further confirmed when the whole SeaWiFS data set (1998–2010) was analyzed. For ∼35% of the pixels analyzed, characteristic seasonal cycles of the 1979–1983 years differed little from those of the 1998–2002 period. For ∼65% of the pixels, however, phytoplankton seasonality patterns changed markedly, especially in the Northern Hemisphere. Subtropical regions of the North Pacific and Atlantic experienced a widespread expansion of the Transitional Bloom regime, which appeared further enhanced in the climatology based on the full SeaWiFS record (1998–2010), and, as showed by a more detailed analysis, is associated to La Niña years. This spatial pattern of Transitional Bloom regime reflects a general smoothing of seasonality at macroscale, coming into an apparent greater temporal synchrony of the Northern Hemisphere. The Transitional Bloom regime is also the result of a higher variability, both in space and time. The observed change in phytoplankton dynamics may be related not only to biological interactions but also to large‐scale changes in the coupled atmosphere–ocean system. Some connections are indeed found with climate indices. Changes were observed among years belonging to opposite phases of ENSO, though discernible from the change among the two periods and within the SeaWiFS era (1998–2010). These linkages are considered preliminary at present and are worthy of further investigation.


Electralloy Nitronic 33 was created with a high-yield strength, excellent toughness, and ductility. This datasheet provides information on composition, physical properties, and tensile properties. It also includes information on high temperature performance and corrosion resistance as well as joining. Filing Code: SS-1295. Producer or source: Electralloy, a Division of G.O. Carlson Inc..


In the study of quantum computation, data is represented in terms of linear operators which form a generalized model of probability, and computations are most commonly described as products of unitary transformations, which are the transformations which preserve the quality of the data in a precise sense. This naturally leads to "unitary circuit models", which are models of computation in which unitary operators are expressed as a product of "elementary" unitary transformations. However, unitary transformations can also be effected as a composition of operations which are not all unitary themselves: the "one-way measurement model" is one such model of quantum computation.
In this thesis, we examine the relationship between representations of unitary operators and decompositions of those operators in the one-way measurement model. In particular, we consider different circumstances under which a procedure in the one-way measurement model can be described as simulating a unitary circuit, by considering the combinatorial structures which are common to unitary circuits and two simple constructions of one-way based procedures. These structures lead to a characterization of the one-way measurement patterns which arise from these constructions, which can then be related to efficiently testable properties of graphs. We also consider how these characterizations provide automatic techniques for obtaining complete measurement-based decompositions, from unitary transformations which are specified by operator expressions bearing a formal resemblance to path integrals. These techniques are presented as a possible means to devise new algorithms in the one-way measurement model, independently of algorithms in the unitary circuit model.


It is well known that sodium sulfate causes salt crystallization damage in building materials and rocks. However since the early 1900s the existence of the metastable heptahydrate has been largely forgotten and almost entirely overlooked in scientific publications on salt damage mechanics and on terrestrial and planetary geochemistry. We use hard synchrotron x-rays to detect the formation of this metastable heptahydrate on cooling a porous calcium silicate material saturated with sodium sulfate solution. The heptahydrate persists indefinitely and transforms to mirabilite only below 0 °C. At the transformation, which is rapid, the solution is highly supersaturated with respect to mirabilite. We estimate that crystallization of the heptahydrate and of mirabilite have associated Correns pressures of about 9 and 19 MPa, respectively, exceeding the tensile strength of building stones. We detect lattice strains in the salts from x-ray measurements consistent with these values.


In vivo rates of glucose utilization were estimated in red muscle and heart of rainbow trout using the radiolabeled glucose analogue, [14C]-2-deoxyglucose ([14C]-2-DG). The 2-DG 'lumped constant' (LC), representing the uptake ratio between 2-DG and glucose for each tissue, was determined in vitro using tissue slices. For both red muscle and heart, the LC was approximately 0.40. In addition, changes in circulatory glucose utilization induced in an isolated trout heart preparation had no effect on the LC. The LC was applied to calculations of in vivo rates of circulatory glucose disposal in muscle tissue of resting and swimming trout. Utilization was estimated at 0.87+/−0.15 and 5.31+/−1.04 nmol g-1 min-1 in red muscle and heart of resting fish, respectively. In trout swimming at 80 % Ucrit, glucose utilization in heart was unchanged compared to resting controls, while red muscle utilization increased by 28-fold. Estimates of the oxidative demand of heart and locomotory muscle of swimming trout indicate that glucose utilization accounted for less than 10 % of the energy production in both tissues. In trout heart, in vitro measures of glucose flux suggest an apparent excess capacity to use circulatory glucose. Preference for other intra- and extramuscular fuels may partially explain limited glucose utilization, but it remains unclear to what degree, and under what conditions, glucose utilization may be increased in vivo.


WTO, OECD with many others, suggest the trade in value-added would be a "better" measure to understand the impact of trade on employment, growth, production etc. when import content in exports is important. We use in this work an Input-Output table for 2008, to calculate the value-added exported by Brazilian states. We distinguish the value-added exported directly by the state itself or indirectly via other states. First, by using value-added we define the extent of vertical specialization among Brazilian states. Exported value-added are then used in a gravity model to determine the structure of trade in value-added terms. We also define a trilateral gravity structure which permits to control for the vertical specialization between states and to estimate the trade determinants at three steps: origin state, re-exporter state and importer country.


In this paper, a general purpose microprocessor is implemented and a self sleep circuit is used to reduce the power. MTCMOS is proven to be the best technique to reduce leakage power in deep submicron regime. Placing sleep transistor in fine grain has its own advantages and disadvantages and global sleep transistor is not practical. So, distributed MTCMOS is considered as better alternative for placing sleep device in the design at block level. As the routing resources are involved even in the distributed, selfsleep is suggested to reduce number of nets and transistors. This is verified in a simple microprocessor that executes eight number of instructions using 90nm technology savings in power and area observed. General Terms Leakage power, microprocessor, sleep transistor, fine grain.


The Platform Sutra occupies a central place in Zen (Ch'an) Buddhist instruction for students and spiritual seekers worldwide. It is often linked with The Heart Sutra and The Diamond Sutra to form a trio of texts that have been revered and studied for centuries. However, unlike the other sutras, which transcribe the teachings of the Buddha himself, The Platform Sutra presents the autobiography of Hui-neng, the controversial 6th Patriarch of Zen, and his understanding of the fundamentals of a spiritual and practical life. Hui-neng's instruction still matters  the 7th-century school of Sudden Awakening that he founded survives today, continuing to influence the Rinzai and Soto schools of contemporary Zen.Red Pine, whose translations of The Heart Sutra and The Diamond Sutra have been celebrated and widely received, now provides a sensitive and assured treatment of the third and final sutra of the classic triumvirate. He adds remarkable commentary to a translation that, combined with the full Chinese text, a glossary, and notes, results in a Mahayana masterpiece sure to become the standard edition for students and seekers alike.


Optically powered radio-over-fiber remote units have been designed and constructed for distributed antenna system applications using separate fibers for power and signal transmission. The feasibility of this approach has been investigated through a series of transmission measurements, based on the IEEE 802.11g wireless local area networking standard at a frequency of 2.5 GHz using 64-QAM OFDM modulation at 54 Mb/s. These measurements show that high-quality multilevel signal transmission is possible with modest levels of optical power at the central unit. For example, an EVM of around 3% has been achieved for an RF output power of 0 dBm using a central unit optical power of 250 mW over a link length of 300 m.


This study is a revised empirical research examining the relationship between financial development and economic growth for Ireland for the period 1965-2011. The objective of this study is to examine the long-run relationship between financial development and economic growth taking into account the positive effect of industrial production index. For this purpose usual classical econometric methods are adopted. A vector error correction model is estimated based on Johansen cointegration analysis and stationarity tests. Finally, Granger causality method is applied in order to define the direction of causality between the examined variables. The empirical results indicated that there is a bilateral causal relationship between economic growth and industrial production, while there is a unidirectional causality between economic growth and credit market development. Also, stock market development causes economic growth and industrial production. Therefore, it can be inferred that stock market development has a direct causal effect on economic growth taking into account the positive effect of industrial production growth on economic growth for Ireland.