[1] The rotary shear of gouge demonstrates dramatic weakening at coseismic slip rates, but the inherent variation in shear-rate with radius of the rotary shear configuration prohibits determining friction constitutive properties from measures of whole-sample response. Here, representative results of rotary-shear high-speed experiments including both constant-velocity tests (0.1–1.3 m/s) and constant-acceleration tests (0–1.3 m/s, 0.05, and 0.1 m/s2) are analyzed using a thermal, mechanical and hydrologic finite element method (FEM) model to constrain friction constitutive properties and test hypotheses of dynamic weakening by thermal pressurization and flash heating. The observed frictional behavior of room-dry gouge can be explained by using a state-variable friction constitutive relation in which the friction coefficient is inversely proportional to temperature, and by employing a two-mechanism constitutive formulation in which the friction coefficient increases with temperature (temperature-strengthening) at low temperatures and decreases with temperature (temperature-weakening) at higher temperatures. Water-dampened gouge displays a transient weakening during the early stages of constant-acceleration tests. FEM analysis indicates the weakening could reflect thermal pressurization of pore water provided both the permeability of the gouge layer and the sealing capacity of the Teflon sleeve, used to contain the gouge during shear, contribute to restricting fluid flow. Microstructural observations indicate that the dynamic weakening coincides with slip localization and temperature increase by frictional heating, which are conditions that favor weakening by flash heating. At steady state, the relationship between slip-rate and coefficient of friction by the FEM model analysis is consistent with predictions of micromechanical models for weakening by flash heating.


Web Engineering: Modelling and Implementing Web Applications presents the state of the art approaches for obtaining a correct and complete Web software product from conceptual schemas, represented via well-known design notations.

Describing mature and consolidated approaches to developing complex applications, this edited volume is divided into three parts and covers the challenges web application developers face; design issues for web applications; and how to measure and evaluate web applications in a consistent way.

With contributions from leading researchers in the field this book will appeal to researchers and students as well as to software engineers, software architects and business analysts.


If not even earlier, then at the latest when Oxford Dictionaries selected 'post-truth' as Word of the Year 2016, did the global public become aware that 'truth' is not an uncontested and finite concept but a social construct. Are we, then, standing on the threshold of a new 'post-truth age' as – for instance – The Independent has claimed? (Norman 2016) Certainly, the Word of the Year 2016 has cast a bright light onto the case that there is not 'one truth only' but that there are facts that can be interpreted – or rejected – in different ways. This means that truth is 'produced', but is it produced as scientific or religious truth or as political truth? Just think of `fake news´ and its strategic use in influencing elections, as in the case of the latest presidential elections in the US or Brazil, or the leave campaign in the case of the Brexit referendum. Thus, the production of truth is undertaken by society, at least on the level of concrete actions. This situation becomes more complicated if we consider modern complex society. The increasing globalization of economies and societies has made the world more complex than it has ever before been.


Abstract The intensively propagated moral construct of ma'naviyat penetrates all fields of public life in present-day Uzbekistan. The originally religious term is used as the moral foundation of the state's official 'ideology of national independence'. Portrayed as a return of the Uzbek people to their pre-Soviet past and their innate values and traditions, the ideological concept is preached as the only effective remedy for overcoming the negative Soviet legacies. Yet the analysis of the phenomenon shows that both the conceptualization of ma'naviyat at large and the concept's underlying rhetoric, ideas and structures reveal many analogies to Soviet times. By offering a detailed linguistic analysis of a range of official writings, I argue that the discourse about ma'naviyat works – similarly to Soviet ideological patterns – as a strong legitimizing factor of today's authoritarian regime.


To determine the direct effects of estrogen and dopamine on primate PRL secretion, cultures of dispersed monkey pituitary cells were maintained in serum-free medium on an extracellular matrix secreted by bovine corneal endothelial cells, and female monkeys with pituitary stalk-transections were prepared. Dispersed pituitary cells from male and female monkeys were cultured in a 1:1 mixture of Dulbecco's Modified Eagle's Medium H-16 and Ham's F-12 medium containing insulin, transferrin, selenium, and cadmium with or without 10.0 nM estradiol. When possible, a sister culture was established in 10% charcoal-treated fetal calf serum with or without estrogen. On days 4, 8, and 12 after plating, the incubation medium was replaced with identical medium containing increasing concentrations of dopamine with ascorbate for 6 h. Medium PRL concentrations were determined by RIA. Half-maximal inhibition (IC50) of PRL secretion occurred at about 10.0 nM dopamine with all treatments. Dopamine suppressed PRL secretion to a greater extent on day 4 when estrogen was present in the serum-free medium. There was no difference in the percent inhibition of PRL on days 8 and 12, as the serum-free cultures without estrogen appeared to increase in sensitivity. In cultures maintained in 10% charcoal-treated serum, estrogen had little effect on the dose-response inhibition of PRL on days 4 and 8, but by day 12, there was significantly less inhibition at the higher doses of dopamine. Dopamine infusion in pituitary stalk-transected (SS) monkeys caused a dose-related inhibition of PRL secretion. Serum PRL levels decreased 80% with 100 nM dopamine, and the IC50 occurred with 10 nM dopamine. In SS monkeys receiving 2 months of estrogen treatment, dopamine infusion inhibited PRL secretion to a greater extent at the lowest dose of dopamine, although the IC50 did not change. These experiments suggest that estrogen does not decrease the effectiveness of dopamine as an inhibitor of PRL secretion in SS monkeys or from primate pituitary cells cultured for 12 days in serum-free medium. Extended maintenance of cells in medium containing serum may alter this response to dopamine.


The development of self-healing materials has received much research attention in the last two decades. This review paper gathers recent publications on the self-healing polymeric materials with thermally reversible Diels–Alder (DA) chemistry. The DA reaction is a [4 + 2] cycloaddition involving a diene and a dienophile. The self-healing polymers employing the furan group as a diene and the maleimide group as a dienophile have been widely studied. Multifunctional furan and maleimide compounds construct thermally reversible crosslinked networks showing removability and remendability. Self-healing materials have also been utilized as healing agents for conventional thermosets like epoxy resins. Other diene–dienophile pairs, such as anthracene–maleimide and cyclopentadiene–dicyclopentadiene, have also been utilized for the development of thermally induced self-healing materials. Photo-induced self-healing polymers and some novel applications based on DA reactions have been discussed in this review. Moreover, self-healing polymer systems based on other thermally triggered and assisted reactions are also discussed. The discussed publication has provided promising molecular designs and synthetic strategies for the development of high performance self-healing polymers.


The aim of this thesis was to characterise the molecular mechanisms involved in cold transduction in peripheral neurons. Members of the transient receptor potential (TRP) family of cation channels are currently recognised as the principal transducers of thermal stimuli in sensory neurons, and two channels, TRPM8 and TRPA1, have been implicated in cold sensation. Ratiometric calcium imaging and quantitative rt-PCR studies revealed that cold sensitivity in sympathetic neurons and in a significant proportion of sensory neurons is independent of TRPM8 and TRPA1 expression, suggesting the presence of a further cold-sensitive ion channel in these cells. Previous studies had suggested that voltage-gated potassium channels may also be important in the regulation of cold transduction.
In calcium imaging experiments, pharmacological blockade of potassium channels unmasked a novel cold sensitivity in previously unresponsive populations of sensory and sympathetic neurons. Moreover, the individual potassium channels underlying these effects differ between neuronal populations, as demonstrated by the differing effects of specific potassium channel blockers on sensory and sympathetic neurons. The chemotherapeutic drug oxaliplatin induces an acute cold hypersensitivity in patients, and has been suggested to act on voltage-gated sodium channels. The activation of sodium channels alone did not alter cold sensitivity in sensory neurons, however the application of oxaliplatin to dissociated cells induced a qualitative change in the cold response, with neurons displaying a unique bursting response pattern. Cold-sensitive neurons are dependent on NGF during development, and a further aim of the thesis was to investigate the influence of this growth factor on cold sensitivity in neonatal sensory neurons. NGF induced an up-regulation of cold sensitivity and functional TRP channel expression. In the case of TRPM8, this effect was mediated via the Runx1 transcription factor, which is known to be expressed in NGF-dependent neurons during development.


ERKs 1 and 2 are required in granulosa cells for oocyte maturation. Luteinizing hormone (LH) sets into motion a chain of cellular differentiation events that lead to ovulation. It induces both oocyte maturation and the differentiation of granulosa cells (GCs, somatic cells that surround the oocyte) into luteal cells. GCs are critical for oocyte maturation and, hence, ovulation. One of the effects of LH on GCs is to induce signaling through extracellular signal–regulated kinases (ERKs) 1 and 2 (also known as MAPKs 3 and 1). Fan et al. explored the effect of mutations in Erk1 and Erk2 on granulosa cell development and oocyte maturation in mice. GC-specific knockout of both Erk1 and Erk2 resulted in infertility due to failure of oocyte maturation, although oocytes isolated from mutants underwent meiotic maturation when stimulated in vitro. In contrast to its effects in wild-type mice, LH treatment failed to halt GC proliferation [induced by follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), upstream in the follicle maturation pathway that leads to ovulation] or induce LH-responsive gene expression in these mutants, and mutant granulosa cells failed to differentiate. These phenotypes are similar to those observed in mutants that lack the transcription factor CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein–β (C/EBPβ), and subsequent genetics experiments suggested that C/EBPβ is activated by ERK-mediated phosphorylation. Thus, signaling through ERKs 1 and 2 induced by LH is required for the GCs to support and promote oocyte maturation. A Perspective by Duggavathi and Murphy discusses these results in the broad context of ovulation. H.-Y. Fan, Z. Liu, M. Shimada, E. Sterneck, P. F. Johnson, S. M. Hedrick, J. S. Richards, MAPK3/1 (ERK1/2) in ovarian granulosa cells are essential for female fertility. Science 324, 938–941 (2009). [Abstract] [Full Text] R. Duggavathi, B. D. Murphy, Ovulation signals. Science 324, 890–891 (2009). [Summary] [Full Text]


A microeconomic model is developed, which accurately predicts the shape of personal income distribution (PID) in the United States and the evolution of the shape over time. The underlying concept is borrowed from geo-mechanics and thus can be considered as mechanics of income distribution. The model allows the resolution of empirical and definitional problems associated with personal income measurements. It also serves as a firm fundament for definitions of income inequality as secondary derivatives from personal income distribution. It is found that in relative terms the PID in the US has not been changing since 1947. Effectively, the Gini coefficient has been almost constant during the last 60 years, as reported by the Census Bureau.


Title of Document: TEACHING THE CONFEDERACY TEXTBOOKS IN THE CIVIL WAR SOUTH Laura Elizabeth Kopp, M.A., 2009 Directed By: Associate Professor Leslie Rowland, Department of History During the Civil War, at least 136 textbooks appeared in the states that made up the Confederacy, more than half of them in 1863 and 1864. The production of so many textbooks under difficult wartime circumstances suggests their significance in the promotion of Confederate values and ideologies. This thesis examines the Confederate textbook campaign, including the motives of authors and publishers, and analyzes the content of the textbooks themselves, including such themes as patriotism, gender roles, war, and death. While similar to antebellum textbooks in many respects, Confederate textbooks portrayed slavery as central to Southern society and offered explicit defenses of the institution. They also sought to promote Confederate nationalism among the new nation's youngest citizens and instructed children to honor and memorialize the Confederacy. The pages of Confederate textbooks constituted vital terrain for the shaping of the hearts and minds of Southern


This paper takes a fresh look at a classical theme in philosophical scholarship, the meaning of transcendental idealism, by contrasting Kant's and Husserl's versions thereof. I present Kant's transcendental idealism as a theory distinguishing between the world as in-itself and as given to the experiencing human being. This reconstruction provides the backdrop for Husserl's transcendental phenomenology as a brand of transcendental idealism expanding on Kant: Through the phenomenological reduction Husserl universalizes Kant's transcendental philosophy to an eidetic science of subjectivity. He thereby furnishes a new sense of transcendental philosophy, rephrases the 'quid iuris?,' and provides a new conception of the thing-in-itself. What needs to be clarified is not exclusively the possibility of a priori cognition, but instead, starting much lower, the validity of objects that give themselves in experience. The thing-in-itself is not an unknowable object, but the idea of the object in all possible appearances experienced at once. In all these innovations Husserl remains committed to the basic sense of Kant's Copernican Turn. I end with some comments on how both Kant and Husserl view the relation between theoretical and moral philosophy


Just as grammars for natural languages use rules to form grammatical sentences from a dictionary of words, grammars for engineering design use rules to make structures from a dictionary of shapes, properties, labels, and other elements. Engineering grammars may be used to help the designer generate and evaluate ideas and concepts during the conceptual phase of the design process.
A formal definition of a grammar is given and some properties of grammars are discussed. Natural language grammars, shape grammars, and engineering grammars are defined. Some group-theoretic properties of shapes and operations are derived. It is shown that some sets of shapes form Boolean algebras under the standard regularized set operations. Polygonal tracings, which are extensions of the outlines of two-dimensional polygons, form a ring under the shape union and convolution (or generalized Minkowski sum) operations. A subset of polygonal tracings which includes all convex tracings, along with the convolution and shape scaling operations, form a vector space over the real numbers. The implications for grammar rules which use these types of shapes and operations are discussed.
Grammars and expert systems are compared and contrasted. While the formalisms have similar definitions, some explicit differences exist. Furthermore, when the customary uses of the two systems are compared, large differences are evident. It is concluded that grammars are more well-suited to generating many alternative designs and searching large, unexplored design spaces, while expert systems function best in well-known domains when only one design is required.
The formation and modification of grammatical rules is discussed, focusing on the relationships between form and function in design. Several strategies which could be used for the search for optimal designs in a grammar's language are considered. The significance of transformations used to apply rules is discussed.
An extended example of grammars used to generate configurations of modular reconfigurable robot arms is presented. The grammars generate all non-isomorphic assembly configurations, while simultaneously calculating kinematic properties of the arms. Several methods of quickly searching for arms to satisfy various requirements are discussed.


Environmental biotechnology (EB) can play positive and an important role in detoxifying and eliminating pollutants, and cleaning up the contaminated sites of ecosystems, but the development of any EB is based largely on the scientific knowledge and results of (micro)biology and chemistry, and then application mainly on engineering and management. Biodegradation and bioremediation by definition are different in meaning and, as a result, they must be treated differently. On the fundamental basis, the biochemical reactions and the biochemical degradation pathway of any targeted toxicant concerned are basic information before the degradability of the selective pollutant by a microorganism can be claimed. Bioremediation becomes feasible for implementation with the knowledge of the biochemical reactions by the biological agent coupling with the engineering and management to achieve a successful attempt at a site. Though the degradability by a microorganism can be achieved in laboratory condition, the cleaning up of the pollutant at any site needs additional information and knowledge of the physical, chemical and ecological characteristics of the site to allow any success to be achieved. The broad EB can include utilization of pure and selective microorganisms, the biochemical reactions by either pure or mixed culture, enzymes, and metabolic products of microorganisms. In addition, microorganisms may also work in the form of biofilm to carry out the function to detoxify the toxic environmental chemicals. In addition to microorganisms, plants can play an important role in phytoremediation. Overall, environmental biotechnology needs at least three steps to prove its effectiveness from concept testing in laboratory, establishment of the mechanisms involved, workability in complex system and ecosystems, and lastly the implementation and practice on site. A laboratory success on degradation cannot be quickly and simply treated as a claim of EB for bioremediation for application.


Activation of the nuclear factor κB/c-Rel can increase neuronal resilience to pathological noxae by regulating the expression of pro-survival manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD, now known as SOD2) and Bcl-xL genes. We show here that c-Rel-deficient (c-rel−/−) mice developed a Parkinson's disease-like neuropathology with ageing. At 18 months of age, c-rel−/− mice exhibited a significant loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta, as assessed by tyrosine hydroxylase-immunoreactivity and Nissl staining. Nigral degeneration was accompanied by a significant loss of dopaminergic terminals and a significant reduction of dopamine and homovanillic acid levels in the striatum. Mice deficient of the c-Rel factor exhibited a marked immunoreactivity for fibrillary α-synuclein in the substantia nigra pars compacta as well as increased expression of divalent metal transporter 1 (DMT1) and iron staining in both the substantia nigra pars compacta and striatum. Aged c-rel−/− mouse brain were characterized by increased microglial reactivity in the basal ganglia, but no astrocytic reaction. In addition, c-rel−/− mice showed age-dependent deficits in locomotor and total activity and various gait-related deficits during a catwalk analysis that were reminiscent of bradykinesia and muscle rigidity. Both locomotor and gait-related deficits recovered in c-rel−/− mice treated with l-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine. These data suggest that c-Rel may act as a regulator of the substantia nigra pars compacta resilience to ageing and that aged c-rel−/− mice may be a suitable model of Parkinson's disease.


We present a novel system for parameter design and optimization of modulated lidar. The system is realized by combining software simulation with hardware circuit. This method is more reliable and flexible for lidar parameter optimization compared with theoretical computation or fiber-simulated system. Experiments confirm that the system is capable of optimizing parameters for modulated lidar. Key parameters are analyzed as well. The optimal filter bandwidth is 200 MHz and the optimal modulation depth is 0.5 under typical application environment.


Time series photometry in VRI of the young brown dwarf Two-Micron All-Sky Survey (2MASS) J1207334−393254 is presented. Variability in I is insignificant, but amplitudes up to ∼0.2 mag in R, and ∼0.55 mag in V, are seen within a single night. There is also microvariability on time-scales of an hour or so, which appears to be present in data from all the three filters. There may be a non-sinusoidal periodicity of about half a day in the V and R data. A likely explanation for the variability is the presence of accretion hot spots.


The workshop was a 2-day event organised immediately before the Society for Marine Mammalogy biennial conference in Tampa. NAMMCO funding enabled participation of 4 invited experts and also supported the organization and logistics associated with the workshop. The breadth and depth of the workshop presentations made it clear that most issues concerning monodontid age estimation are not unique. Many researchers investigating many taxa have considered a diversity of methods and tissues to reveal biological records of age. Aside from the biological materials, accuracy and precision of the counts or metric have been considered, as well as their interpretation.


As part of business-as-usual, all industries and social communities create waste. Traditionally, wastes are considered as a problem and financial burden for the industry and community, since wastes have to be managed or treated for safe discharge or ultimate disposal. Currently, organic and agro-industrial wastes and biomass are increasingly regarded as additional income streams and
potential raw materials for the generation of value-added products. In Malaysia, agro-industrial biomass has been widely used for heat and power generation for internal consumption, mainly in the palm oil and wood-based industries. This is attributed to the high demand of energy from these industries and the simplicity of the conversion technologies involved compared to that required for biological conversion. Moreover, this approach is another method of waste disposal for the industry. Power generation using boiler systems in all the palm oil mills in Malaysia is the best example, whereby electricity is generated through the simple combustion of palm kernel shell and mesocarp fiber. However, this thermal conversion of agro-industrial biomass represents low-end utilization of
biomass. Moreover, oil palm empty fruit bunches which are produced in huge quantities are still very much underutilized. Our research group has embarked
on comprehensive international and industrial research collaborations to enhance the technology and potential of agro-industrial biomass utilization in
Malaysia, focusing mainly on palm oil -based residues, which are automatically collected as part of business-as-usual at the palm oil mills, for the production
of new biotechnological products. Among the waste-to-wealth biotechnology products are biogas (methane) for renewable energy, organic acid feedstocks, biodegradable plastics, biocompost, biohydrogen and cellulosic bioethanol.
The main obstacles in the development of industries based on biotechnology are complexity of the technology and economic feasibility. As industrial and environmental biotechnologists in a developing country, we strive to develop appropriate technologies to raise the value chain of biomass from fuel to feed,fiber, food and fine chemicals. We incorporate the use of the Clean Development
Mechanism (CDM) under the Kyoto Protocol in realizing the sustainable biomass industry in Malaysia, encompassing economic, social and environmental benefits (the 3Ps - profit, people and planet). Apart from being a good strategy
for the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the CDM also provides a more attractive business plan to utilize biomass as renewable resources to generate new bioproducts and additional income streams for the palm oil
industry.


The modern soldier is faced with a complex moral and psychological landscape. As Nancy Sherman puts it in The Untold War: Inside the Hearts and Minds of our Soldiers, 'soldiers go to war to fight external enemies… but most fight inner wars as well.' The modern soldier is no longer simply a warrior: he (or she) is at once a peacekeeper, diplomat, leader, sibling and friend. In the face of such challenges, some responsible for the teaching of soldiers have endeavoured to incorporate a character-based training programme, designed to develop virtues that will assist soldiers in fulfilling the multiple roles required of them. However, these training programmes are stymied by the dearth of virtue-based discussion within the most influential guide to the moral conduct of soldiers: just war theory (JWT). JWT remains a primarily deontic system in which rights, duties and law are generally perceived as the most important considerations. Aretaic ethics has a great deal to offer both JWT and military education programmes.


We examine the interplay of the three major university actors in technology transfer from universities to industry: the faculty, the technology transfer office (TTO), and the central administration. We model the faculty as an agent of the administration, and the TTO as an agent of both the faculty and the administration. Empirical tests of the theory are based on evidence from our survey of 62 US research universities. We find that the TTOs reported licensing objectives are influenced by their views of faculty and administration, which supports the assumption that the TTO is a dual agent. The theory yields predictions for whether or not faculty disclose inventions and if so, at what stage, which in turn affects license contract terms. We also examine how the portion of inventions disclosed at different stages varies with faculty quality. Quality is found to be inversely related to the share of license income allotted to faculty.


Conventional wisdom suggests Chile's party system is highly institutionalized. However, recent declines in participation and partisanship have begun to raise questions about this veneer of stability. This article assesses the current state of the Chilean party system, analyzing its ability to provide linkage. We specify a theoretical framework for identifying challenges to linkage and constraints on necessary adaptation. We then use this framework to evaluate linkage in the contemporary Chilean system, emphasizing how its representational profile has changed since the democratic transition. The analysis suggests the two partisan coalitions no longer present clear policy alternatives and programmatic representation increasingly depends on policy responsiveness and relics of old ideological divides. Significant institutional constraints impede parties' ability to incorporate demands from emerging social groups, and clientelism remains a complementary but not core linkage mechanism. This evidence indicates that while representation in Chile has not yet failed, the system contains serious vulnerabilities.


Fabrication of sensors and micro-fluidic structures from low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) sheets is a growing interest in the micro-packaging community. Such devices usually have inner cavities, whose production is quite complicated. The most elegant method to build such structures so far achieved is by a fugitive phase that is introduced into the multilayer and removed during firing. This paper, therefore, is aimed to introduce the graphite-based sacrificial paste developed for this purpose, and it is constructed in two sections: (i) selection of paste and determination of LTCC open-porosity elimination temperature, and (ii) fabrication and characterization of pressure sensitive LTCC membranes. In the former section, it is shown that increased heating rates (and decreasing tape thickness) shift the open porosity elimination temperature of LTCC by 20 °C, which is small compared to the shift of graphite oxidation temperature (about 100 °C). In the latter section, three parameters affecting the balance between the graphite oxidation and LTCC sintering are studied: heating rate, graphite phase thickness and width of the membrane inlet/outlet channels. As expected, larger heating rates and narrow inlet/outlet channels are found to hinder the oxidation of graphite and evacuation of the resulting products, which results in swollen membranes. Large graphite thickness, through the increased channel height, results in lower swelling in spite of the larger amount of graphite to be oxidized. Membranes with low swelling are found to exhibit excellent pressure sensing characteristics, whereas those with high swelling display hysteretic behavior.


How will the great powers behave? That is what determines the future world order – or the absence of order. Could it be that China and the EU have found an alternative for the old-fashioned grand strategies that Russia and the US are again pursuing?


Purpose Muscle strength is associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). However, it is controversial whether muscle strength and normalized muscle strength is a risk factor for T2DM. Moreover, the relationship of back muscle strength (BMS) and incident T2DM has not been reported. In this study, we investigated the relationship between HGS, BMS, normalized HGS and BMS, and incident T2DM. Methods A total of 2699 non-diabetes subjects aged 40–69 years (1313 women and 1386 men) in the Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study (KoGES) Ansan cohort were followed for 16 years. At the baseline and biennial follow‐up visits, fasting glucose, postprandial 2-h glucose, clinical examinations, HGS, and BMS were measured by trained interviewers and examiners. HGS and BMS were measured at baseline. The relationships between incident T2DM, HGS, BMS, and normalized HGS and BMS were estimated using Cox proportional hazard regression models after adjusting for the confounding factors. Results HGS and BMS were not associated with incident T2DM in multivariate analysis. However, the hazard ratio (HR) per one standard deviation (SD) increase in the body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), waist-hip ratio (WHR)-normalized HGS, and BMS was associated with a lower risk for incident T2DM in both women and men after adjusting for the confounding factors (HR = 0.842–0.880-fold for women, p ≤ 0.015; HR = 0.887–0.903-fold for men, p ≤ 0.024). In the sub-analysis of menopause status, the HR per one SD increase in BMI, weight2/3, WC, and WHR-normalized HGS was associated with a lower risk for incident T2DM in both pre- and post-menopausal women after adjusting for the confounding factors (HR = 0.860–0.820-fold for premenopausal, P ≤ 0.006; HR = 0.900–0.867-fold for postmenopausal, p ≤ 0.024). Additionally, we confirmed that the quartile group with higher muscle strength was associated with a lower risk for incident T2DM. Conclusion The present study suggested that normalized HGS and BMS were associated with a lower risk for the future development of T2DM. Moreover, weak muscle strength in premenopausal women may be the cause of T2DM. Further research is needed to determine whether efforts to improve muscle strength, such as exercise can reduce the risk of T2DM.


The digital camera has brought a revolutionary shift in the nature of photography, sweeping aside more than 150 years of technology based on the weird and wonderful photochemistry of silver halide crystals. Curiously, though, the camera itself has come through this transformation with remarkably little change. A digital camera has a silicon sensor where the film used to go, and there's a new display screen on the back, but the lens and shutter and the rest of the optical system all work just as they always have, and so do most of the controls. The images that come out of the camera also look much the same—at least until you examine them microscopically. But further changes in the art and science of photography may be coming soon. Imaging laboratories are experimenting with cameras that don't merely digitize an image but also perform extensive computations on the image data. Some of the experiments seek to improve or augment current photographic practices, for example by boosting the dynamic range of an image (preserving detail in both the brightest and dimmest areas) or by increasing the depth of field (so that both near and far objects remain in focus). Other innovations would give the photographer control over factors such as motion blur. And the wildest ideas challenge the very notion of the photograph as a realistic representation. Future cameras might allow a photographer to record a scene and then alter the lighting or shift the point of view, or even insert fictitious objects. Or a camera might have a setting that would cause it to render images in the style of watercolors or pen-and-ink drawings.


ABSTRACT Background: Tn916 and Tn1545 are paradigms of a large family of related, broad host range, conjugative transposons that are widely distributed in bacteria and contribute to the spread of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). Variation in the copy number (CN) of Tn916-Tn1545 elements and the circularization ratio (CR) may play an important role in propagation of ARGs carried by these elements. Objectives and Design: In this study, the CN and CR of Tn916-Tn1545 elements in oral streptococci were determined using droplet digital PCR (ddPCR). In addition, we investigated the influence of tetracycline on the CR of Tn916-Tn1545 elements. Results: The ddPCR assay designed in this study is a reliable way to rapidly determine CN and CR of Tn916-Tn1545 elements. Conclusions: Our data also suggest that Tn916-Tn1545 elements are generally stable without selective pressure in the clinical oral Streptococcus strains investigated in this study.


We perform general-relativistic hydrodynamical simulations of dynamical capture binary neutron star mergers, emphasizing the role played by the neutron star spin. Dynamical capture mergers may take place in globular clusters, as well as other dense stellar systems, where most neutron stars have large spins. We find significant variability in the merger outcome as a function of initial neutron star spin. For cases where the spin is aligned with the orbital angular momentum, the additional centrifugal support in the remnant hypermassive neutron star can prevent the prompt collapse to a black hole, while for antialigned cases the decreased total angular momentum can facilitate the collapse to a black hole. We show that even moderate spins can significantly increase the amount of ejected material, including the amount unbound with velocities greater than half the speed of light, leading to brighter electromagnetic signatures associated with kilonovae and interaction of the ejecta with the interstellar medium. Furthermore, we find that the initial neutron star spin can strongly affect the already rich phenomenology in the postmerger gravitational wave signatures that arise from the oscillation modes of the hypermassive neutron star. In several of our simulations, the resulting hypermassive neutron star develops the one-arm ($m=1$) spiral instability, the most pronounced cases being those with small but non-negligible neutron star spins. For long-lived hypermassive neutron stars, the presence of this instability leads to improved prospects for detecting these events through gravitational waves, and thus may give information about the neutron star equation of state.


ABSTRACT Racial disparities in officer-involved shootings have dominated the national discourse recently. Unfortunately, we have yet to identify an appropriate benchmark, or at-risk population, to put these observed racial disparities into context. In this article, we use seven benchmarks—based on population data from the US Census, police-citizen interaction data from the Police-Public Contact Survey, and arrest data from the Uniform Crime Report—to compare OIS fatality rates for black and white citizens from 2015 to 2017. Using population, police-citizen interactions, or total arrests as a benchmark, we observe that black citizens appear more likely than white citizens to be fatally shot by police officers in both years. Using violent crime arrests or weapons offense arrests, we observe that black citizens appear less likely to be fatally shot by police officers. We discuss why population data is a fundamentally flawed benchmark, and elaborate the strengths and weaknesses of using police-citizen interaction or arrest benchmarks.


This is a descriptive and exploratory study aimed at gaining knowledge about the role and importance of soft skills or certain competencies for nursing management in hospitals. The research question was: what are the perceptions of nurse managers about the role and importance of certain management competencies (soft skills) on performance in Gauteng hospitals?

Hospitals in Gauteng in South Africa were chosen as a study area. The health sector in South Africa is evolving and faced with challenges that impede efficient health care service delivery. Also, there is a need for professionals to upskill to cope with the changing socio-political, economic and technological landscape as well as the expectations of patients, health professionals, politicians and the citizens of South Africa. Nursing managers are viewed as central in influencing all aspects of the nursing environment and overcoming the challenges or bringing about improvement in health care delivery. It is against the above-stated background that perceptions of nurse managers were sought for the study.

Based on a review of themes and issues within the parent theories of management competencies and leadership, and the two disciplines of team nursing approach and competency-based model, a theoretical framework and five research issues were developed.

In 2014, 203 nurse managers from public and private hospitals participated in the survey. Seven in-depth interviews were also conducted with stakeholders to validate the information gathered from the survey, to acquire better understanding of the factors and to source rich up-to-date data, which cannot be derived from any literature or survey. Key findings from the study included: (a) the development of a list of core requisite management skills and competencies, (b) a list of behaviours of effective nurse managers in hospitals, (c) that human resources practices be improved and effective performance management systems be explored, (d) that nurse managers have not been formally prepared for their leadership and
management role, (e) current leadership and management programs and courses are to be continuously reviewed, improved and implemented in future, using varied modes of delivery, (f) future competency initiatives should include theory and practical components. Further to these findings, major conclusions of the study are as follows: (a) the need for greater clarity about requisite competencies and effective behaviours of nurse managers is extremely important, (b) mere existence of competencies is insufficient. The competencies must be continuously developed, (c) the competencies of those in leadership must be recognized and acknowledged by other team members and hospital hierarchies, (d) a Team Nursing Approach is highly relevant and significant in addressing the challenges in Gauteng public and private hospitals. The findings of the study make a new contribution to the body of knowledge on a Team Nursing Approach and competency development. Also, a Nurse Managers' Competency Survey emerging from the study is a significant contribution to both the scholarly literature and nurse practitioners. The final conceptual model depicts the themes within all five research issues and links them to address the research problem.

The conclusions have important implications for the nursing profession as well as policy and practical improvements. Further research opportunities are presented by these conclusions and the revised conceptual model, which may be explored using other methodologies or alternative research contexts. Finally the researcher made recommendations based on the above findings.


The objective of this research was to utilize the local probiotic lactic acid bacteria, isolated from beef in some traditional markets in Bogor (L. plantarum 2C12 and L. fermentum 2B4), in synbiotic yogurt making and analyzing its antidiarrheal and antioxidative capability in rat models. The rats were treated with synbiotic yogurt and enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) intervention. The antidiarrheal parameters were the appearance and the gravimetrically water content of the rats' feces. The normal feces was round or oval, black, and hard or soft with lower fecal water content. The diarrheal feces was not round nor oval, liquid or unformed, brownish, and soft or slimy with higher fecal water content. The antioxidative parameter was immunohistochemically superoxide dismutase (SOD) content in liver and kidney tissues, shown by brown color in nucleus. This synbiotic yogurt showed antibacterial and antidiarrheal activities in the rat's model. This research shown that the feces of the rats, which were infected by EPEC and treated by synbiotic yogurt contained L. fermentum 2B4 was normal, specifically oval, black, and soft feces. Whereas, the rats which were infected by EPEC, but were not treated by the synbiotic yogurt shown the diarrheal feces. The synbiotic yogurt also had antioxidative effect. For 21 days treatment with synbiotic yogurt to the EPEC intervention rats, the Cu, ZnSOD content in the liver and kidney increased, 17.72 and 24.96% respectively higher than the rats that were not treated with it.


In recent years, the utilization of renewable resources, particularly lignocellulosic biomass based raw materials, to replace synthetic materials/polymers for the manufacture of green materials has gained increased worldwide interest due to growing global environmental awareness, concepts of sustainability and the absence of conflict between food and chemical/materials production. However, structural heterogeneity and the presence of networks of inter- and intra-molecular interactions in biopolymer matrices remain unsolved challenges to clean pretreatment for biocomposite processing. A number of techniques including physical, physico-chemical and chemical methods have been investigated for the pretreatment of renewable resources. Most of these methods require high temperatures and pressures, as well as highly concentrated chemicals for the pretreatment process. Fortunately, ionic liquids (ILs) – potentially attractive "green" recyclable alternatives to environmentally harmful organic solvents – have been increasingly exploited as solvents and/or (co)solvents and/or reagents for biopolymer processing. Compared to conventional approaches, ILs in processing biodegradable composites exhibit many advantages such as being noncorrosive and nonvolatile, having excellent dissolution power under relatively mild conditions and high thermal stability. Presently, a wide range of different approaches have been explored to further improve the performance of ILs processing of biobased polymers for composites manufacturing. The main goal of this review is to present recent technological developments in which the advantages of ILs as processing solvents for biopolymers for the production of a plethora of green composites have been gradually realized. It is hoped that the present article will inspire new ideas and new approaches in ILs-assisted processing of renewable resources for green composite production.


The most important risk factor for schizophrenia is a positive family history, but only a minority of people with schizophrenia have an affected relative and no single gene of large effect has been consistently associated with psychosis risk. Epidemiological research has elucidated putative biological and psychosocial candidate risk factors for schizophrenia. Biological factors include advanced paternal age, exposure to obstetric events and abuse of drugs such as stimulants and cannabis. Recent evidence indicates that social factors such as migration, urban living and victimization also increase the risk. However, neither individual susceptibility genes nor individual environmental risk factors appear sufficient or necessary to cause schizophrenia. Both genetic and environmental risk factors are mostly of small effect, but the latter offer more tangible targets for prevention.


OF DISSERTATION Lung cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related mortality irrespective of gender. The Sulfiredoxin (Srx) and Peroxiredoxin (Prx) are a group of thiol-based antioxidant proteins that plays an essential role in non-small cell lung cancer. Understanding the molecular characteristics of the Srx-Prx interaction may help design the strategies for future development of therapeutic tools. Based on existing literature and preliminary data from our lab, we hypothesized that the Srx plays a critical role in lung carcinogenesis and targeting the Srx-Prx axis or Srx alone may facilitate future development of targeted therapeutics for prevention and treatment of lung cancer. First, we demonstrated the oncogenic role of Srx in urethane-induced lung carcinogenesis in genetically modified FVB mice. The Srx-null mice showed resistance to urethane-induced lung cancer. Second, we demonstrated the Srx and Prx sites important for Srx-Prx interaction. The orientation of this arm is demonstrated to cause some steric hindrance for the Srx-Prx interaction as it substantially reduces the rate of association between Srx and Prx. Finally, we carried out virtual screening to identify molecules that can successfully target Srx-Prx interaction. Multiple in-silico filters were used to minimize the number of chemicals to be tested. We identified ISO1 as an inhibitor of the Srx-Prx interaction. KD value for Srx-ISO1 interaction is calculated to be 42 nM. Together, these data helps to identify an inhibitor (ISO1) of the SrxPrx interaction that can be further pursued to be developed as a chemotherapeutic tool.


ABSTRACT Interferon (IFN) is one important effector of the innate immune response, induced by different viral or bacterial components through Toll-like receptor (TLR)-dependent and -independent mechanisms. As part of its pathogenic strategy, hepatitis C virus (HCV) interferes with the innate immune response and induction of IFN-β via the HCV NS3/4A protease activity which inhibits phosphorylation of IRF-3, a key transcriptional regulator of the IFN response. In the present study, we demonstrate that inhibition by the protease occurs upstream of the noncanonical IKK-related kinases IKKε and TBK-1, which phosphorylate IRF-3, through partial inhibition of the TLR adapter protein TRIF/TICAM1-dependent pathway. Use of TRIF−/− mouse embryo fibroblasts however revealed the presence of a TRIF-independent pathway involved in IFN induction that was also inhibited by NS3/4A. Importantly, we show that NS3/4A can strongly inhibit the ability of the recently described RIG-I protein to activate IFN, suggesting that RIG-I is a key factor in the TRIF-independent, NS3/4A-sensitive pathway. Expression of IFN signaling components including IKKε, TBK-1, TRIF, and wild type or constitutively active forms of RIG-I in the HCV replicon cells resulted in IFN-β promoter transactivation, with IKKε displaying the highest efficiency. Subsequently, overexpression of IKKε resulted in 80% inhibition of both the positive and negative replicative strands of the HCV replicon. The partial restoration of the capacity of the host cell to transcribe IFN-β indicates that IKKε expression is able to bypass the HCV-mediated inhibition and restore the innate antiviral response.


We synthesized 3–4 nm crystalline, cubic phase, monodisperse 3-mercaptopropionato capped CdS nanoparticles (3-MPA-NPs) with different heating reaction times. Their aqueous fluorescence emission quantum yields were in the range 2.0–3.4%, with biexponential lifetimes in the range 34–50 ns (surface states) and 303–477 ns (core states), which increased linearly with increasing heating reaction time. The NPs were then decorated with near-infrared emitting NdIII and YbIII ions through chelation to the surface carboxylato groups of 3-mercaptopropionato (3-MPA-Ln-NPs). Excitation of these NPs at their maximum absorption wavelength resulted in emission of the surface-bound LnIII ions with efficiencies in the range 0.01–0.02%. The overlap of the excitation spectra of the LnIII-containing systems, 3-MPA-Ln-NPs, with the absorption spectra of the NPs indicates that energy was transferred from the NPs to the metal ions coordinated to the surface 3-MPA.


The Disney Princess franchise is arguably the largest and most popular franchise in the world, earning billions of dollars globally each year. Due to the prevalence and ease of access, the Disney princesses have a tremendous impact on today's youth, namely young girls. This qualitative study investigated just how much of an impact the Disney Princess franchise has on American girls ages 6-12 through the production of a documentary film, entitled The Shattered Slipper Project. The research team selected girls from private schools in Lakeland, Florida and Sharpsburg, Georgia. The researcher conducted two interviews—one a roundtable-style group interview focusing on body image and a personal interview focusing on gender roles and race. With regards to body image, the girls communicated that Disney princesses have body types different than those of real women, and that, by animating the characters in such a way, the Walt Disney Company sends certain messages about what body types are ideal. The girls expressed progressive values with regards to gender roles and race, looking beyond traditional masculine and feminine roles and the prejudices that continue to characterize America's cultural landscape.


This document describes new key exchange algorithms based on Elliptic
Curve Cryptography (ECC) for the Transport Layer Security (TLS)
protocol. In particular, it specifies the use of Elliptic Curve
Diffie-Hellman (ECDH) key agreement in a TLS handshake and the use of
Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) as a new
authentication mechanism. This memo provides information for the
Internet community.


While mobile robots reliably perform each service task by accurately localizing and safely navigating avoiding obstacles, they do not respond in any other way to their surroundings. We can make the robots more responsive to their environment by equipping them with models of multiple tasks and a way to interrupt a specific task and switch to another task based on observations. However the challenges of a multiple task model approach include selecting a task model to execute based on observations and having a potentially large set of observations associated with the set of all individual task models. We present a novel two-step solution. First, our approach leverages the tasks' policies and an abstract representation of their states, and learns which task should be executed at each given world state. Secondly, the algorithm uses the learned tasks and identifies the observation stimuli that trigger the interruption of one task and the switch to another task. We show that our solution using the switching stimuli compares favorably to the naive approach of learning a combined model for all the tasks. Moreover, leveraging the stimuli significantly decreases the amount of sensory input processing during the execution of tasks.


Photovoltaic systems represent a leading part of the market in the renewable energies sector. Contemporary technology offers possibilities to improve systems converting sun energy, especially for the efficiency of modules. The paper focuses on current concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) technologies, presenting data for solar cells and modules working under lab conditions as well as in a real environment. In this paper, we consider up-to-date solutions for two types of concentrating photovoltaic systems: high-concentration photovoltaics (HCPV) and low-concentration photovoltaics (LCPV). The current status of CPV solar modules was complemented by the preliminary results of new hybrid photovoltaic technology achieving records in efficiency. Compared to traditional Si-PV panels, CPV modules achieve greater conversion efficiency as a result of the concentrator optics applied. Specific CPV technologies were described in terms of efficiency, new approaches of a multijunction solar cell, a tracking system, and durability. The results of the analysis prove intensive development in the field of CPV modules and the potential of achieving record system efficiency. The paper also presents methods for the determination of the environmental impact of CPV during the entire life cycle by life cycle assessment (LCA) analysis and possible waste management scenarios. Environmental performance is generally assessed based on standard indicators, such as energy payback time, CO2 footprint, or GHG emission.


OBJECTIVE: To induce immunosuppression in rats by pyrogallol and to develop a novel model to screen the immunomodulatory activity of a known agent.
MATERIAL AND METHODS: In order to induce immunosuppression, pyrogallol was daily administered to rats for 7 days in different doses (10, 25, 50 and 100 mg/kg, i.p.). On Day 7 and 13, the rats were sensitized with sheep red blood cells (SRBC) to assess the humoral immune response. On Day 20, SRBC were injected in the subplantar region of the hind paw, and an increase in the paw volume was recorded on Day 22 to assess the cell-mediated immune responses. The phagocytosis in the peritoneal macrophages was assessed on the last day. The parameters of oxidative stress such as lipid peroxidation (LPO), reduced glutathione (GSH) content, superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activities were assessed on the last day. In another set of experiment, the immunomodulatory activity of Rubia cordifolia (RC) (50, 100, and 200 mg/kg, p.o., daily from Day 1 to Day 22) was screened in rats in whom immunosuppression was induced by a minimum effective dose of pyrogallol (50 mg/kg).
RESULTS: The dose of 25 mg/kg of pyrogallol suppressed only the humoral immunity ( P P P Rubia cordifolia significantly prevented the influence of the minimum effective dose of pyrogallol (50 mg/kg) on all immunological parameters and concurrently prevented the changes in the marker parameters of oxidative stress. The dose of 100 mg/kg was found to be optimum for this purpose.
CONCLUSION: Fifty mg/kg (i.p., daily for 7 days) appears to be the minimum dose of pyrogallol, which can induce significant immunosuppression in rats. The correlation analysis indicated that pyrogallol-induced immunosuppression is related to oxidative stress. In addition, it was found that the immunomodulatory activity of a known agent could be successfully screened by this method. Thus, pyrogallol can be used as an experimental tool to induce immunosuppression while screening the immunomodulatory activity of any agent.


The directional display contains and shows several images -- which particular image is visible depends on the viewing direction. This is achieved by packing information at high density on a surface, by a certain back illumination technique, and by explicit mathematical formulas which eliminate projection deformations and make it possible to automatize the production of directional displays. The display is illuminated but involves no electronic components. Patent is pending for the directional display. Directional dependency of an image can be used in several ways. One is to achieve three-dimensional effects. In contrast to that of holograms, large size and full color involve no problems. Another application of the technique is to show moving sequences. Yet another is to make a display more directionally independent than conventional displays. It is also possible and useful in several contexts to show different text in different directions with the same display. The features can be combined.


Tilting trains are designed to reach high speed on pre-existing railroads without the need of adjusting the tracks geometry or building dedicated lines; the tilting of the carbody keeps an acceptable level of comfort by limiting the lateral acceleration felt by passengers when the train runs along curved tracks with speed higher than the balance speed built into the curve geometry. As such, they are often used to reduce travel times on routes with several curves. Tilting is performed through a position-controlled actuation system which operates according to the commands received from the train control system: in the studied configuration, the torque needed to tilt the car body with respect to the bogie is provided by a series of hydraulic actuators, while the position information used to close the control loop comes from two capacitive sensors located in the front and rear part of each vehicle. Tilt angle measurement is vital for the system operation and for ensuring a safe ride; the traditional solution in case of discrepancy between the signals of the two tilt angle sensors of any vehicle is to disable the tilting function while limiting the train speed to avoid issues during changes of direction. In a similar fashion, the failure in one (or more) of the tilting actuators would result in the loss of the tilting capability and the return to a fixed configuration operating at reduced speed. It should be noticed that the negative impact of the loss of the tilting system is not limited to the faulty train, since it might affect the entire traffic schedule on the interested lines. The paper presents an integrated Health Monitoring framework that makes intelligent use of all available information thus enhancing the system availability, allowing its operation even in presence of faulty sensors and detecting the onset of failures in the actuation system. At the same time its use can facilitate maintenance organization, simplify the spare parts logistics and provide help to the traffic management. The proposed framework has been developed taking advantage of a high-fidelity model of the physical system validated through comparison with experimental mission profiles on the Lichtenfels - Saalfeld and Battipaglia - Reggio Calabria routes, which have been used by the train manufacturer to assess the performance of their tilting trains.


Summary
Vegetation vertical structure is important for biodiversity and ecosystem service provision. In cities, however, while variation in the spatial extent and distribution of vegetation has been widely investigated, vertical vegetation structure and its potential drivers have not. Understanding how vegetation vertical structure varies across cities and identifying the potential drivers of this variation will improve the management of urban vegetation for biodiversity and ecosystem services.
We used light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data to quantify the vertical structure of vegetation across Brisbane, Australia, at 1-km2 and 1-ha spatial scales and investigated how this structure varied in response to biophysical, socioeconomic, urban form and landscape structure variables.
Using model selection techniques, we found that landscape structure variables related to tree cover (tree cover extent and spatial configuration) best explained the vegetation vertical structure at both spatial scales. Biophysical and urban form variables were also important, but only in combination with landscape structure.
Mean vegetation vertical complexity, foliage projective cover and canopy height at a site all decreased as the treed proportion of the surrounding urban landscape decreased. In general, these vertical structure variables also increased where patches of vegetation were clustered together spatially.
Synthesis and applications. Using light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data and model selection techniques, we show that the extent and vertical structure of urban vegetation are not independent and that reduced extent and increased fragmentation of urban vegetation are associated with simplification of its vertical structure. If common, this relationship means that managing urban vegetation for biodiversity and ecosystem services should not focus solely on the amount of tree cover or green space present across cities, but also on identifying where interventions to improve vegetation vertical complexity are required. Our study provides important insights into where these locations may be in cities.


Software model checking and static analysis have matured over the last decade, enabling their use in automated software verification. However, lack of scalability makes these tools hard to apply. Furthermore, approximations in the models of program and environment lead to a profusion of false alarms. This paper proposes DC2, a verification framework using scope-bounding to bridge these gaps. DC2 splits the analysis problem into manageable parts, relying on a combination of three automated techniques: (a) techniques to infer useful specifications for functions in the form of pre- and post-conditions; (b) stub inference techniques that infer abstractions to replace function calls beyond the verification scope; and (c) automatic refinement of pre- and post-conditions from false alarms identified by a user. DC2 enables iterative reasoning over the calling environment, to help in finding non-trivial bugs and fewer false alarms. We present an experimental evaluation that demonstrates the effectiveness of DC2 on several open-source and industrial software projects.


Ns-pulsed lasers operating in the electromagnetic regions from infrared to visible and to ultraviolet, with single pulse or repetition rate mode, were employed to produce non-equilibrium plasmas by ablating titanium hydrate targets. The ion emission from the plasma was monitored through time-of-flight (TOF) measurements of emitted species, performed by using an ion collector (IC) placed along the normal to the target surface and a mass quadrupole spectrometer (MQS). Measurements demonstrated that for laser intensity ranging from 108 to 1011 W/cm2 the ion kinetic energy and the ion yield are proportional to the pulse intensity and to the laser wavelength square. Obtained results at three different wavelengths are compared and discussed.


AIM
Obstruction of superior sagittal sinus (SSS) and collateral bridging veins is a well-known reason of postoperative brain edema and brain infarct, however, morphometric anatomic studies done in the light of surgical landmarks aren't sufficient in number. Object of this study is to describe venous structures related to SSS with silicon injected cadaveric models.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
This study was on 6 silicon injected cadaveric heads at Anatomy Department. Duramater was removed and veins on parasagittal area were examined. SSS morphology, veins draining into SSS, their size, number and distance were evaluated.

RESULTS
Mean vein number draining into SSS is 2.9±1.5 at anterior to coronal suture (CS), between CS and vertex is 3.2±0.8, between vertex and lambdoid suture (LS) is 2.3±0.9, between LS and confluens sinuum 0.3±0.5. There was no statically difference between right and left sides (p=0.140, p > 0.05). Diameter of veins was 2.4±1.0 mm at anterior to CS, 3.0±1.2 mm at between CS and vertex, 2.4±0.7 mm at between vertex and LS, and 2.2±0.5 mm at between LS and confluens sinuum.

CONCLUSION
Knowing details of anatomic structures of SSS and venous structures draining into it may protect the patients from many surgical complications. SSS and related structures with surgical landmarks are valuable for neurosurgeons.


This article draws together the main strands of argument being developed by the Africa Power and Politics Programme (APPP), as reflected in this IDS Bulletin. The central question is what kinds of governance arrangements work better to support the provision of the public goods that are essential to sustained and inclusive development in Africa. Evidence at local, sectoral and national levels is pointing to the overall conclusion that what works is often a 'practical hybrid', combining authoritative coordination with local problem‐solving and constructive borrowing from local cultural repertoires. Consistent with the general idea of 'going with the grain', we find that the most likely source of the necessary vertical discipline is a developmental form of neo‐patrimonialism, not 'good governance', as currently conceived. Similarly, local collective action to address bottlenecks in public goods provision is seldom enhanced by standard donor and NGO approaches to citizen or client empowerment.


About the book: Cyberspace opens up infinitely new possibilities to the deviant imagination. With access to the Internet and sufficient know-how you can, if you are so inclined, buy a bride, cruise gay bars, go on a global shopping spree with someone else's credit card, break into a bank's security system, plan a demonstration in another country and hack into the Pentagon -- all on the same day. In more than any other medium, time and place are transcended, undermining the traditional relationship between physical context and social situation.

This book crosses the boundaries of sociological, criminological and cultural discourse in order to explore the implications of these massive transformations in information and communication technologies for the growth of criminal and deviant identities and behaviour on the Internet. This is a book not about computers, nor about legal controversies over the regulation of cyberspace, but about people and the new patterns of human identity, behaviour and association that are emerging as a result of the communications revolution.


Canonical correlation analysis (CCA) has proven an effective tool for two-view dimension reduction due to its profound theoretical foundation and success in practical applications. In respect of multi-view learning, however, it is limited by its capability of only handling data represented by two-view features, while in many real-world applications, the number of views is frequently many more. Although the ad hoc way of simultaneously exploring all possible pairs of features can numerically deal with multi-view data, it ignores the high order statistics (correlation information) which can only be discovered by simultaneously exploring all features. Therefore, in this work, we develop tensor CCA (TCCA) which straightforwardly yet naturally generalizes CCA to handle the data of an arbitrary number of views by analyzing the covariance tensor of the different views. TCCA aims to directly maximize the canonical correlation of multiple (more than two) views. Crucially, we prove that the main problem of multiview canonical correlation maximization is equivalent to finding the best rank-1 approximation of the data covariance tensor, which can be solved efficiently using the well-known alternating least squares (ALS) algorithm. As a consequence, the high order correlation information contained in the different views is explored and thus a more reliable common subspace shared by all features can be obtained.


HELLP syndrome; haemolysis, elevated liver enzymes and low platelets may be regarded as a variant or complication of severe pre-eclampsia occurring in 0.5–0.9% of all pregnancies and in 10–20% of cases of severe pre-eclampsia1. It is associated with increased maternal morbidity and mortality.2 Onset earlier than 28 weeks is rare and there is little published data on maternal and perinatal outcome.1 3 We present a case of severe pre-eclampsia complicated by HELLP syndrome at only 21 weeks gestation. A 38 year old primiparous patient presented at 21 weeks gestation with headache, visual disturbance and generalised oedema. She was severely hypertensive with significant proteinuria. Following admission she developed haematological and biochemical features of HELLP syndrome with a normal glucose level. Due to her worsening clinical and haematological condition she was commenced on magnesium sulphate infusion, methyldopa and her pregnancy was terminated with misoprostol therapy. Following 2 cycles of treatment she progressed to a normal vaginal delivery of an 18 week size stillborn male. After delivery there was marked improvement in blood pressure and haematological markers. Postnatally labetolol controlled blood pressure well. Investigations for underlying pathology included; anti-phospholipid screen, homocysteine, anticardiolipin antibodies, lupus anticoagulant and renal artery and Doppler ultrasound. These were normal. The patient was discharged to primary care on postnatal day 6 and has expressed a keen desire for subsequent pregnancy. As this patients recurrence risk is high4 she required counselling for future pregnancy. References Sibai BM. HELLP Syndrome, UpToDate (Sept 2012), http://www.uptodate.com/contents/hellp-syndrome (accessed October 2012). Paruk F and Moodley J. Maternal and neonatal outcome in early- and late-onset pre-eclampsia. Seminars in Neonatology 2000;5:197-207. Sibai BM. Evaluation and management of severe preeclampsia before 34 weeks' gestation. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology 2011;205:191-198. August P, Sibai BM. Preeclampsia: Clinical features and diagnosis, UpToDate (Sept 2012), http://www.uptodate.com/contents/preeclampsia-clinical-features-and-diagnosis (accessed October 2012).


Thin-walled structures made of polymers and reinforced polymer composites are prominent candidates for constructing large lightweight structures. A major challenge in designing polymer-based thin-walled structures is their time and temperature dependent behavior originating from material viscoelasticity and its interaction with the highly geometrically nonlinear response due to thinness of the walls. Although polymer viscoelasticity and geometric nonlinearity have been extensively studied, the mechanics of structures exhibiting both phenomena are not well understood. This thesis presents a combination of experimental, numerical, and analytical investigations of the behavior of viscoelastic thin-walled structures. The first goal of this research is to establish general methods of analysis for two types of structural components, namely composite shells and polymer membranes, that will serve as the basis for full-scale structural analysis. The second goal is to demonstrate the capability of the developed methods by analyzing time and temperature dependent behavior of deployable structures and balloon structures. In the study of deployable structures, the deployment and shape recovery processes after stowage are investigated. Fundamental features of viscoelastic deployable structures are studied first with homogeneous polymer beams and shells. A simple closed-form solution describing the shape evolution of a beam after stowage is proposed. The effects of rate and temperature on the bending instability of shells are revealed. Building on the understanding gained from the analysis of homogeneous structures, modeling techniques are developed for polymer composite structures. A micromechanical viscoelastic model for carbon fiber reinforced polymer thin shells is established through finite element homogenization and applied to evaluate the effects of long-term stowage in a representative composite deployable structure. In the study of balloon structures, a membrane model is developed to study polymer balloon films with stress concentrations due to thickness variation. A nonlinear viscoelastic constitutive model is first formulated for the film material. The wrinkling instability behavior is incorporated into the model through correction of stress and strain states in the presence of wrinkling. Stress concentration factors in balloon films are predicted and measured with the membrane model and full-field displacement measurement techniques, respectively.


Immediately after the Liberation the Netherlands were faced with a severe
shortage of all essential goods, particularly in the Western part of the country, where
the period of famine had led to a complete exhaustion of all stocks, and where the
Germans had deliberately destroyed the railway system. At that time there was no
alternative to a policy of rigorous planning, approaching that of a war economy. After
the worst damage had been repaired and the shortages partially alleviated, it became
apparent that the pent-up demand (backed by abundant liquid reserves), was so much
larger than production and imports together, that an allocation and rationing system
would be necessary to prevent inflation. It was not a matter of principle, but the
compelling nature of the circumstances which led to the continuation of a policy of
detailed planning. Even now the situation in the Netherlands, as compared with that
of the other North-Western European countries, makes rigorous planning more
necessary than elsewhere. The combined effect of (a) war damage, (b) the loss of
income from overseas investments, (c) the chaos in the German hinterland, and (d)
the large increase in population, is affecting the Netherlands more seriously than any
other North-Western European country.
The primary object of this planning is to restore equilibrium between :
(a) Imports and exports ;
(b) Supply of consumers' goods and a tolerable standard of living for the mass
of the population ;
(c) New investment ; and
(d) The increase in population.
In the more remote future it is probable that the economic policy of the Netherlands
will gradually tend towards an employment policy which will use more indirect
methods of influencing production, consumption and prices.
It is the intention of this paper to give a short account of the chief features of
the present system of drawing-up the nation's economic budget.


According to the standard Big Bang model, the universe was born during a period of inflation that began about 13.8 billion years ago. Like a rapidly expanding balloon, it swelled from a size smaller than an electron to nearly its current size within a tiny fraction of a second. Initially, the universe was permeated only by energy. Some of this energy congealed into particles, which assembled into light atoms like hydrogen and helium. These atoms clumped first into galaxies, then stars, inside whose fiery furnaces all the other elements were forged. This is the generally agreed-upon picture of our universe's origins as depicted by scientists. This model explains many of the things, such as the remarkable smoothness of space-time on large scales and the even distribution of galaxies on opposite sides of the universe. But sometimes their are things which make the theory little uncomfortable to accept. The theory which states that the Universe underwent a rapid inflation early in its history cannot be accepted so easily, and it relies on the existence of a mysterious form of energy in the universe's beginning that has long since disappeared."For some scientists, inflation is a clunky addition to the Big Bang model, a necessary complexity appended to make it fit with observations. This wouldn't be the last addition. "We've also learned there has to be dark matter in the universe, and now dark energy," said Paul Steinhardt, a theoretical physicist at Princeton University. "So the way the model works today is you say, 'OK, you take some Big Bang, you take some inflation, you tune that to have the following properties, then you add a certain amount of dark matter and dark energy.' These things aren't connected in a coherent theory." If you talk about a line segment than we know about the start and end of that line segment. In the same way we are taking the Universe a line segment so that we know where is the begining and the end of universe. But to be clear it is not that much simple as we thought of it,instead it is way more complex than tha


This project did not begin as a focused research study; so we beg your indulgence for a humble laxity in academic rigor. However, we believe our explorations of online, real-time, job openings data for thirty specialized information technology and decision science job categories over the last five years will keep your interest. When we started this project, we merely wished to see if the market for our majors was improving, identify the high potential job areas, and look at growth areas for future curriculum development. By 2006 the number of majors in our department had shrunk to 120 from a high of nearly 500 majors in 2001 [Becker, et. al., 2006]. We began to collect job openings data the old fashioned way—by hand--from the popular CareerBuilder.com website in mid-January 2006. Using the following key word searches: Analyst, Six Sigma, Lean, and SAS—we recorded our first four job openings within the State of Texas; using job openings that had been posted in the last 30 days. Since then, our database has grown to nearly 1,800 observations. Using relatively simplistic data mining techniques we are now able to produce a number of monthly IT job opening forecasts that keep our students, faculty, Career Center, and advisory board looking for that next update.


Within the framework of quantum electrodynamics (QED), vacuum is a nonlinear medium that can be linearized for a rapidly time-varying electromagnetic field with a small amplitude subjected to a magnetostatic field. The linearized QED vacuum is a uniaxial dielectric-magnetic medium for which the degree of anisotropy is exceedingly small. By implementing an affine transformation of the spatial coordinates, the degree of anisotropy may become sufficiently large as to be readily perceivable. The inverse Bruggeman formalism can be implemented to specify a homogenized composite material (HCM) that is electromagnetically equivalent to the affinely transformed QED vacuum. This HCM can arise from remarkably simple component materials, for example, two isotropic dielectric materials and two isotropic magnetic materials, randomly distributed as oriented spheroidal particles.


—The inherently large and varying volumes of data generated to facilitate autonomous functionality in large scale cyber-physical systems demand near real-time processing of data streams, often as close to the sensing devices as possible. In this context, data streaming is imperative for data-intensive processing infrastructures. Stream joins, the streaming counterpart of database joins, compare tuples coming from different streams and constitute one of the most important and expensive data streaming operators. Dictated by the needs of big data streaming analytics, algorithmic implementations of stream joins have to be capable of efficiently processing bursty and rate-varying data streams in a deterministic and skew-resilient fashion. To leverage the design of modern multicore architectures, scalability and parallelism need to be addressed also in the algorithmic design. In this paper we present ScaleJoin, an algorithmic construction for deterministic and parallel stream joins that guarantees all the above properties, thus filling in a gap in the existing state-of-the art. Key to the novelty of ScaleJoin is a new data structure, Scalegate, and its lock-free implementation. ScaleGate facilitates concurrent data exchange and balances independent actions among processing threads; it also enables fine-grain parallelism while providing the necessary synchronization for deterministic processing. As a result, it allows ScaleJoin to run on an arbitrary number of processing threads that can evenly share the overall comparisons run in parallel and achieve high processing throughput and low processing latency. As we show, ScaleJoin not only guarantees determin-istic, disjoint and skew-resilient parallelism, but also achieves higher throughput than state-of-the-art parallel stream joins.


In Yersinia pestis KIM, there are 11 Yops (yersinial outer membrane proteins) encoded by the low-Ca2+ response virulence plasmid pCD1. Only Yops M and N are found in easily detectable amounts in the culture medium. In this study, we located and characterized the yopM gene to obtain clues about its role in the virulence of Y. pestis. Rabbit antibody was raised against Yops M and H, copurified from the supernatant of Y. pseudotuberculosis 43(pGW600, pCD1 yopE::Mu dI1[Apr lac]). This antiserum was adsorbed with an Escherichia coli clone that strongly expressed YopH. The resulting YopM-specific antibody was used to screen a HindIII library of pCD1. HindIII-F and several subclones from it expressed YopM in E. coli minicells. A DNA fragment of 1.39 kilobases from HindIII-F was sequenced and found to contain a 367-amino-acid open reading frame capable of encoding a protein with molecular mass (41,566 daltons) and isoelectric point (4.06) similar to those of YopM. The +1 site of the yopM gene was determined by primer extension. The DNA sequence contained repeating structures: 11 pairs of exact direct repeats, two exact inverted repeats, and three palindromes, ranging from 10 to 42 bases in size. One consensus 14-amino-acid sequence was repeated six times in the predicted protein sequence. The YopM sequence shares some significant homology with the von Willebrand factor- and thrombin-binding domain of the alpha chain of human platelet membrane glycoprotein Ib. These findings suggested a testable hypothesis for the function of YopM.


This article attempts to ascertain some of the general features regarding the unity between civil procedural law and liberal legalism. There is a fundamental idea that makes this attempt necessary. It is the critique of liberalism and its law which underlines much of the current thinking about civil procedure.
To avoid any misunderstanding of the content of this paper, it should be apposite to delimit its purview. As will soon be evident, the present study will deliberately omit a discussion of the actual rules of civil procedures, viz., the rules regarding what procedure to be followed; which pleadings to be filed and served; and what burdens of proof and of adducing evidence should apply in a given situation. Such an omission should, however, not be read as denying the importance of rules in the analysis of law and its successes or failures. It must be admitted though, that a theoretical analysis of civil procedure and the extent to which the former is moulded by ideology, merits the specific focus of this article.


Abstract The non-invasively measured initial systolic time interval (ISTI) reflects a time difference between the electrical and pumping activity of the heart and depends on cardiac preload, afterload, autonomic nervous control and training level. However, the duration of the ISTI has not yet been compared to other time markers of the heart cycle. The present study gauges the duration of the ISTI by comparing the end point of this interval, the C-point, with heart cycle markers obtained by echocardiography. The heart rate of 16 healthy subjects was varied by means of an exercise stimulus. It was found that the C-point, and therefore the end point of ISTI, occurred around the moment of the maximum diameter of the aortic arch in all subjects and at all heart rates. However, while the time difference between the opening of the aortic valves and the maximum diameter of the aortic arch decreased significantly with decreasing RR-interval, the time difference with respect to the moment of the C-point remained constant within the subjects. This means that the shortening of the ISTI with increasing heart rate in response to an exercise stimulus was caused by a shortening of the pre-ejection period (PEP). It is concluded that the ISTI can be used as a non-invasive parameter indicating the time difference between the electrical and mechanical pumping activity of the heart, both inside and outside the clinic.


We present an analysis of the 2013 Suzaku campaign on the nearby luminous quasar PDS 456, covering a total duration of ~1 Ms and a net exposure of 455 ks. During these observations, the X-ray flux was suppressed by a factor of >10 in the soft X-ray band when compared to other epochs. We investigated the broadband continuum by constructing a spectral energy distribution, making use of the optical/UV photometry and hard X-ray spectra from the later XMM-Newton/NuSTAR campaign in 2014. The high energy part of this low flux state cannot be accounted for by self-consistent accretion disc and corona models without attenuation by absorbing gas, which partially covers a substantial fraction of the line of sight towards the X-ray source. Two absorption layers are required, of column density $\log (N_{\rm{H,low}}/{\rm cm^{-2}})=22.3\pm0.1$ and $\log (N_{\rm{H,high}}/{\rm cm^{-2}})=23.2\pm0.1$, with average covering factors of ~80% (with typical 5% variations) and 60% ($\pm$10-15%), respectively. In these observations PDS 456 displays significant short term X-ray spectral variability, on timescales of ~100 ks, which can be accounted for by variable covering of the absorbing gas. The partial covering absorber prefers an outflow velocity of $v_{\rm pc} = 0.25^{+0.01}_{-0.05}c$ at the >99.9% confidence level over the case where $v_{\rm pc}=0$. This is consistent with the velocity of the highly ionised outflow responsible for the blueshifted iron K absorption profile. We therefore suggest that the partial covering clouds could be the denser, or clumpy part of an inhomogeneous accretion disc wind. Finally we estimate the size-scale of the X-ray source from its variability. The radial extent of the X-ray emitter is found to be of the order ~15-20 $R_{\rm g}$, although the hard X-ray (>2 keV) emission may originate from a more compact or patchy corona of hot electrons, which is ~6-8 $R_{\rm g}$ in size.


2007 was declared by Vladimir Putin, former President of the Russian Federation, «Year of the Russian Language» (Decree n. 1488 of 29.12.2006. In Italy, the first important initiative undertaken at the national level was the Russian Language Week in Italy (October 27 – November 2006), organized by the «Foro di Dialogo Italo-russo delle societa civili» held in Verona, Bologna, Florence, Perugia, Siena and Rome. Following the Italian Presidential Decree, the Centro Linguistico dei Scientifico-Didattici della Romagna (CLIRO) – University of Bologna, which in the past had organized events and created didactic resources for Russian language learning for many years (TORFL's certification from 2005: www.torfl.it, creation of multimedia self-learning courses like Kraski A1, Kraski A2: www.kraski.it), organized the international convention: L'Europa delle lingue e il russo: certificazione, istituzioni e strumenti per una nuova mediazione (CIEURUS) held in Forli on February 26 – 27, 2008.
Topics for discussion within the CIEURUS considered position of the Russian language within a multilingual Europe in order to promote intercultural mutual understanding and to encourage relations between Italy and Russia by means of a constant dialogue on common interests. International experts interested in the current state of Russian language didactics, certifications (TORFL) and language learning came from the Russian Federation, Poland, Czech Republic, Kazakhstan and Armenia to participate at the convention. The active participation of some of the most important Russian language institutions representatives gave space to a lively and concrete debate. Some of these representatives were: Yury Cheban , General Director of the Russian Language Head Testing Center for Non-Native Speakers, Claudia Lasorsa Siedina, President of AIR and Member of MAPRYAL, Stefano Garzonio, President of AIS and Igor Lysenko, representing RUSINTERCENTER at the Russian Federation Embassy.


Brassinosteroid signaling can be enhanced by BKI1, which is classically known as an inhibitor. Brassinosteroids are plant steroid hormones that promote growth and differentiation by activating the membrane-localized receptor kinase BRASSINOSTEROID INSENSITIVE 1 (BRI1), which phosphorylates various substrates, including one of its inhibitors, BRI1 KINASE INHIBITOR 1 (BKI1). Wang et al. found that Arabidopsis plants overexpressing a fluorescently tagged version of the C terminus of BKI1 (BKI1-C-YFP) were larger than control plants, a phenotype suggestive of enhanced brassinosteroid signaling. Changes in gene expression in response to the brassinosteroid epi-brassinolide were accentuated in BKI1-C-YFP lines. Treatment of seedlings with epi-brassinolide elicited phosphorylation of BKI1, and mass spectrometric analysis of BKI1 phosphorylated in vitro by BRI1 identified four potential phosphorylation sites. Transgenic plants expressing a BKI1 mutant with alanine substitutions at Ser270 and Ser274 (BKI1S270/274A) were smaller than control plants, and biochemical analysis suggested that these two serine residues were the main sites of BRI1-mediated phosphorylation. BKI1 interacted with the phosphoserine and phosphothreonine-interacting proteins 14-3-3κ and 14-3-3λ in various assays. The interaction between BKI1 and the 14-3-3 proteins required intact serine residues at positions 270 and 274 (which are located in the C terminus of BKI1) and was increased by epi-brassinolide. Overexpression of 14-3-3κ resulted in slightly smaller plants and rescued the dwarf phenotype of BKI1, but not BKI1S270/274A, plants. 14-3-3κ interacts with BES1 (BRI1-EMS suppressor 1), a transcription factor that becomes dephosphorylated during brassinosteroid signaling and translocates to the nucleus. The association between 14-3-3κ and BES1 was reduced by epi-brassinolide, and BKI1-C expression increased the nuclear localization of dephosphorylated BES1. Phosphorylated BKI1, but not unphosphorylated BKI1 or BKI1S270/274A, reduced the interaction of 14-3-3κ with BES1. Thus, BKI1 can both inhibit and promote brassinosteroid signaling, and the C terminus of BKI1 promotes brassinosteroid signaling by titrating 14-3-3 proteins from BES1. H. Wang, C. Yang, C. Zhang, N. Wang, D. Lu, J. Wang, S. Zhang, Z.-X. Wang, H. Ma, X. Wang, Dual role of BKI1 and 14-3-3 s in brassinosteroid signaling to link receptor with transcription factors. Dev. Cell 21, 825–834 (2011). [PubMed]


Employing Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data on loan originations from 2004 – 2010 and 2010 New York State preforeclosure filing notices, this study seeks to identify the correlation between some characteristics of census tracts and the distribution of pre-foreclosure filing notices and high cost loans within the New York City metropolitan area from 2006 through 2012. The findings are examined within the context of the census tracts within which borrowers resided. American Community Survey data on employment-population ratios, poverty rates, and median household income were then matched to our HMDA-PFF dataset to obtain a measure of the relationship of particular census tract variables to default rates. Our analysis of the data finds that differences in census tract characteristics have a statistically significant effect on default and foreclosure patterns.


Introduction There is some evidence for the efficacy of acupuncture, but it remains unclear whether trigger point acupuncture is effective. Our objective was to evaluate the effects of trigger point acupuncture on pain and quality of life in chronic low back pain patients compared with sham acupuncture. Methods Twenty-six consecutive out-patients (17 women, 9 men; age range: 65–91 years) from the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Meiji University of Oriental Medicine, with non-radiating low back pain for at least six months and normal neurological examination, were randomised to two groups. Each group received one phase of trigger point acupuncture and one of sham acupuncture with a three week washout period between them, over 12 weeks. Group A (n=13) received trigger point acupuncture in the first phase and sham acupuncture in the second. Group B (n=13) received the same interventions in the reverse order. Outcome measures were pain intensity (visual analogue scale, VAS) and Roland Morris Questionnaire. Results Nineteen patients were included in the analysis. At the end of the first treatment phase, group A receiving trigger point acupuncture scored significantly lower VAS (P<0.001) and Roland Morris Questionnaire scores (P<0.01) than the sham control group. There were significant within-group reductions in pain in both groups during the trigger point acupuncture phase but not in the sham treatment phase. However, the beneficial effects were not sustained. Conclusion These results suggest that trigger point acupuncture may have greater short term effects on low back pain in elderly patients than sham acupuncture.


In humans visual flow field information is available to many motor output programs enabling them to guide the whole organism. This basic organization still constitutes a major challenge for any theory of orientation. Studies of the fly Drosophila melanogaster during the past 10 years have shown that in the lower animals sensory-motor control has a similar degree of flexibility. In the flight simulator the tethered fly adjusts the strength of its motor commands to their efficacy. It can stabilize the panorama against rotations not only by yaw torque but also by thrust. It learns to invert its flight manoeuvres in response to positive feedback in order to stabilize a stripe in the frontal visual field. In the present report we demonstrate that Drosophila is able to use the force of its legs to stabilize the panorama irrespective of the polarity of the feedback provided experimentally. All these behavioural performances have a common functional organization with the following properties: (i) the system has a desired state from which the actual state may deviate; (ii) to reach the desired state the system randomly activates a range of motor programs; (iii) the system compares efference copies of the motor programs with those sensory inputs which represent the deviation from the desired state; and (iv) if a significant correlation is detected for a certain motor program, this is used to shift the sensory input into the direction of the desired state. It is proposed that for organisms with more than one motor output this is the basic scheme of sensory-motor coordination.


ABSTRACT Drought threatens food and water security around the world, and this threat is likely to become more severe under climate change. High-resolution predictive information can help farmers, water managers, and others to manage the effects of drought. We have created an open-source tool to produce short-term forecasts of vegetation health at high spatial resolution, using data that are global in coverage. The tool automates downloading and processing Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data sets and training gradient-boosted machine models on hundreds of millions of observations to predict future values of the enhanced vegetation index. We compared the predictive power of different sets of variables (MODIS surface reflectance data and Level-3 MODIS products) in two regions with distinct agro-ecological systems, climates, and cloud coverage: Sri Lanka and California. Performance in California is higher because of more cloud-free days and less missing data. In both regions, the correlation between the actual and model predicted vegetation health values in agricultural areas is above 0.75. Predictive power more than doubles in agricultural areas compared to a baseline model.


Recently, there is a growing trend to offer guarantee products where the investor is allowed to shift her account/investment value between multiple funds. The switching right is granted a finite number per year, i.e. it is American style with multiple exercise possibilities. In consequence, the pricing and the risk management is based on the switching strategy which maximizes the value of the guarantee put option. We analyze the optimal stopping problem in the case of one switching right within different model classes and compare the exact price with the lower price bound implied by the optimal deterministic switching time. We show that, within the class of logprice processes with independent increments, the stopping problem is solved by a deterministic stopping time if (and only if) the price process is in addition continuous. Thus, in a sense, the Black & Scholes model is the only (meaningful) pricing model where the lower price bound gives the exact price. It turns out that even moderate deviations from the Black & Scholes model assumptions give a lower price bound which is really below the exact price. This is illustrated by means of a stylized stochastic volatility model setup.