BACKGROUND
Mycoplasma pneumoniae (M. pneumoniae) is widely recognised as an important cause of community-acquired lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) in children. Pulmonary manifestations are typically tracheobronchitis or pneumonia but M. pneumoniae is also implicated in wheezing episodes in both asthmatic and non-asthmatic individuals. Although antibiotics are used to treat LRTIs, a review of several major textbooks offers conflicting advice for using antibiotics in the management of M. pneumoniae LRTI in children.

OBJECTIVES
To determine whether antibiotics are effective in the treatment of childhood LRTI secondary to M. pneumoniae infections acquired in the community.

SEARCH METHODS
We searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (The Cochrane Library 2012, Issue 2), which contains the Cochrane Acute Respiratory Infections Group's Specialised Register, MEDLINE (1966 to February week 5, 2012) and EMBASE (1980 to March 2012).

SELECTION CRITERIA
Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) comparing antibiotics commonly used for treating M. pneumoniae (i.e. macrolide, tetracycline or quinolone classes) versus placebo, or antibiotics from any other class in the treatment of children under 18 years of age with community-acquired LRTI secondary to M. pneumoniae.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
The review authors independently selected trials for inclusion and assessed methodological quality. We extracted and analysed relevant data separately. We resolved disagreements by consensus.

MAIN RESULTS
A total of 1912 children were enrolled from seven studies. Data interpretation was limited by the inability to extract data that referred to children with M. pneumoniae. In most studies, clinical response did not differ between children randomised to a macrolide antibiotic and children randomised to a non-macrolide antibiotic. In one controlled study (of children with recurrent respiratory infections, whose acute LRTI was associated with Mycoplasma, Chlamydia or both by polymerase chain reaction, and/or paired sera) 100% of children treated with azithromycin had clinical resolution of their illness compared to 77% not treated with azithromycin at one month.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
There is insufficient evidence to draw any specific conclusions about the efficacy of antibiotics for this condition in children (although one trial suggests macrolides may be efficacious in some children with LRTI secondary to Mycoplasma). The use of antibiotics has to be balanced with possible adverse events. There is still a need for high quality, double-blinded RCTs to assess the efficacy and safety of antibiotics for LRTI secondary to M. pneumoniae in children.


Marine predators play an important role in the structure and function of the ecosystems they inhabit. Knowing where marine predators forage and how individual strategies vary, therefore, has important implications for our understanding of ecosystem processes as well as species management and conservation. However, within fur seals and sea lions, knowledge of foraging ecology is typically biased towards adult females, and data on other critical life history stages are often lacking. This study investigated the habitat use and dive behaviour of 16 male Australian fur seals Arctocephalus pusillus doriferus at Kanowna Island (39° 10' S, 146° 18' E) in northern Bass Strait, southeastern Australia during 2013 and 2014. Winter behaviour (inferred from location and dive data) indicated that male Australian fur seals, like females, were predominantly benthic foragers who had a restricted foraging range limited to the shallow continental shelf of Bass Strait (60 to 80 m). However, in late spring and summer, some males travelled away from central Bass Strait and foraged in deeper waters (>200 m) along the edge of the continental shelf. These movements occurred immediately prior to the breeding season, suggesting continental shelf slope waters are also important habitat for male Australian fur seals at a time of great nutritional importance. Strong interand intra-individual variation in diel diving patterns were also apparent, with little spatial overlap in the core foraging range of each diel strategy (diurnal, mixed and nocturnal). This variation may reflect individuals using alternate strategies to target specific prey in different areas of Bass Strait, or may be due to competitive exclusion by conspecifics.


In November 2010, Oklahoma voters overwhelmingly passed the first "anti-sharia statute" as an amendment to their state constitution. Although federal courts have held the Oklahoma amendment unconstitutional, several other states continue to move toward various bans on sharia law. Such statutes would have the greatest impact in family law. This article describes tensions faced by members of both minority Muslim and majority Christian religious communities, who view family issues as controlled both by their religious community and by the demands of the civil state. The article outlines four possible future paths for the intersection of religion and the civil state regarding marriage and divorce. Within these four alternatives, it is clear that even if states purport to disallow sharia (or any other religious beliefs) such a pronouncement will not eliminate adherence to sharia among faithful Muslims. It would mean, at most, that sharia would not be enforced by civil courts. At least for some observant Muslims, the effect will be the same as in the United Kingdom or Ontario: Islamic religious arbitrations will continue to exist outside the protection of the civil law. We must face the question whether and how our law should recognize the dual nature of marriage for many citizens, whereby they are bound not only to civil norms regarding marriage and divorce but also to religious norms. Can we take seriously those dual allegiances while also hewing to the overarching norms of equality and protection for vulnerable parties that are part of the fabric of the larger civil society itself?


We report herein an experimental study on the development of basicity on mesoporous silicas and metallosilicates (Nb- and Ce-) on SBA-15 and MCF porous structures. Our results demonstrated that the role of the catalyst structure (hexagonally ordered mesoporous SBA-15 vs. mesoporous cellular foam MCF), the effect of the amount and nature of metal in the supports (different acidic/redox properties), and the effect of the type of nitrogen-containing organic modifier (imidazole, triazole and aminotriazole) play an important role on the activity and selectivity in Knoevenagel condensation, which is a well-known probe reaction to determine the basicity of inorganic solids. We demonstrate that niobium Lewis acidity is determinant for the Knoevenagel condensation and, also, redox properties of cerium play an important role in the basicity. In fact, acid–base cooperation plays a positive role in promoting the Knoevenagel condensation via the ion-pair mechanism. These mesoporous silicas and metallosilicates are interesting catalysts for production of fine chemicals due to their thermal stability and controllable acid–base catalytic properties.


Area-depth-strain (ADS) analysis is a method for quantifying the structural style, balance, boundary displacement, detachment locations, and subseismic strain from a seismic profile, information that is particularly useful for quality control and risk analysis. The method is based on measurements of excess area, width, depth, and bed length of multiple horizons in a structure. A balanced structure is indicated by a well-defined line or lines on an area-depth graph. The structural uncertainty or risk of the interpretation is quantified using the fit of the data to the least-squares line(s), the match between the ADS detachment values and the interpreted geometry, and the magnitudes of the calculated strains. The method also clearly separates syntectonic (growth) units from nontectonic (pregrowth and no-growth) units. Different area-depth graph styles represent (1) classic detachment folds, fault-propagation folds, and ramp anticlines; (2) buckle-style detachment folds; and (3) fault-bend folds. The focus here is on the first two. Numerical models of the detachment fold styles show the similarities and differences between their geometries and ADS interpretations. Both styles are evaluated with seismic profiles across oilfield-scale structures. The Alpha/Bobo field, Nigeria, is a classic detachment fold, and an Angolan anticline is of the buckle style. Profiles across the Alpha/Bobo field before and after the first well was drilled demonstrate the improvement in the ADS interpretation of the lower detachment location and the reduction of layer-parallel strains in the revised profile. The Alpha/Bobo field and the Angola fold illustrate the distinction between growth and no-growth intervals and the interpretation of growth strata. Both fields show the use of predicted versus observed ADS results to suggest possible improvements to the interpretation.


We analyze the stylized facts of the Swiss business cycle and find only minor differences compared to US time series. This justifies running a simulation experiment using the real business cycle (RBC) model of KYDLAND/PRESCOTT (KP) (1982) which is formulated for a closed economy. The stylized facts obtained in our simulations are as close to effective series as reported in the original paper by KP (1982) for the US business cycle. The lower variability of employment in Switzerland is explained through an appropriate calibration of the model. Finally we present a sensitivity analysis for the KP model.


This study examines how international student library use relates to their information needs and the factors influencing their information needs. The collected quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (percentages) and inferential statistics (ordinal regression). The regression analysis confirms that demographics, human capital, and library use variables play significant roles in predicting international student information needs. Demographic variables such as age, human capital data such as education level, databases, interlibrary loan, ejournals, library reserve, ready reference, online subject guides, browsing the Internet, email and print materials are significant predictors of international student information needs, but this study indicates that gender, library catalog, and remote access to the library offerings make no difference. The findings will help library directors, managers and librarians to reflect on the factors' influences and to use the results to break down international students into smaller groups and evaluate, develop and enhance services and resources to satisfy their increasing information needs.


On 18 and 19 February 2009, the American Tax Policy Institute (ATPI) sponsored a conference in Washington, DC, on "Structuring a Federal VAT: Design and Coordination Issues." The conference was co-organized by Charles E. McLure, Jr. of Stanford University and the present writer, and featured many of the world's leading VAT experts from academia, government, and the private sector. The purpose of the conference was to lay the ground for a potential future adoption of a federal VAT in the United States by discussing some of the technical issues related to two broad topics: Firstly, how should such a US federal VAT be designed, and secondly, how should it be coordinated with existing state Retail Sales Taxes (RST). The assumption underlying the conference was that, as in other OECD countries, the US federal VAT would be levied in addition to, and not as a replacement for, the existing US federal income tax. This article summarizes the conference papers. The papers are being revised for publication, so what appears below does not necessarily represent the final views of the authors but summarizes the conference proceedings.


For most of human history, the essential nature of creativity was understood to be cumulative and collective. This notion has been largely forgotten by modern policies that regulate creativity and speech. As hard as it may be to believe, the most valuable components of our immortal culture were created under a fully open regime with regard to access to pre-existing expressions and reuse. From the Platonic mimesis to Shakespeare's "borrowed feathers," the largest part of our culture has been produced under a paradigm in which imitation — even plagiarism — and social authorship formed constitutive elements of the creative moment. Pre-modern creativity spread from a continuous line of re-use and juxtaposition of pre-existing expressive content, transitioning from orality to textuality and then melding the two traditions. The cumulative and collaborative character of the oral formulaic tradition dominated the development of epic literature. The literary pillars of Western culture, the Iliad and the Odyssey, were fully forged in the furnace of that tradition. Later, under the aegis of Macrobius' art of rewriting and the Latin principles of imitatio, medieval epics grew out of similar dynamics of sharing and recombination of formulas and traditional patterns. Continuations, free re-use, and the re-modeling of iconic figures and characters, such as King Arthur and Roland, made chansons de geste and romance literature powerful vehicles in propelling cross-country circulation of culture.The parallelism between past and present highlights the incapacity of the present copyright system to recreate the cumulative and collaborative creative process that proved so fruitful in the past. In particular, the constant development and recursive use of iconic characters, which served as an engine for creativity in epic literature, is but a fading memory. This is because our policies for creativity are engineered in a fashion that stymies the re-use of information and knowledge, rather than facilitating it. Under the current regime, intellectual works are supposedly created as perfect, self-sustaining artifacts from the moment of their creation. Any modifications, derivations, and cumulative additions must secure preventive approval and must be paid off, as if they were nuisances to society.Rereading the history of aesthetics is particularly inspiring at the dawn of the networked age. The dynamics of sharing of pre-modern creativity parallel the features of digital networked creativity. As in the oral-formulaic tradition, digital creativity reconnects its exponential generative capacity to the ubiquity of participatory contributions. Additionally, the formula — the single unit to be used and reused, worked and re-worked — is the building block of the remix culture as well as the oral formulaic tradition. Today, in an era of networked mass collaboration, ubiquitous online fan communities, user-based creativity, digital memes, and remix culture, the enclosure of knowledge brought about by an ever-expanding copyright paradigm is felt with renewed intensity. Therefore, I suggest that the communal, cumulative, social and collaborative nature of creativity and authorship should be rediscovered and should drive our policies. In order to plead my case, I have asked for the support of the most unexpected witnesses.


Marine reserves are often designed to increase density, biomass, size structure, and biodiversity by prohibiting extractive activities. However, the recovery of predators following the establishment of marine reserves and the consequent cessation of fishing may have indirect negative effects on prey populations by increasing prey mortality. We coupled field surveys with empirical predation assays (i.e. tethering experiments) inside and outside of 3 no-take marine reserves in kelp forests along the central California coast to quantify the strength of interactions between predatory fishes and their crustacean prey. Results indicated elevated densities and biomass of invertebrate predators inside marine reserves compared to nearby fished sites, but no significant differences in prey densities. The increased abundance of predators inside marine reserves translated to a significant increase in mortality of 2 species of decapod crustaceans, the dock shrimpPandalus danaeand the cryptic kelp crabPugettia richii, in tethering experiments. Shrimp mortality rates were 4.6 times greater, while crab mortality rates were 7 times greater inside reserves. For both prey species, the time to 50% mortality was negatively associated with the density and biomass of invertebrate predators (i.e. higher mortality rates where predators were more abundant). Video analyses indicated that macro-invertivore fishes arrived 2 times faster to tethering arrays at sites inside marine reserves and began attacking tethered prey more rapidly. The results indicate that marine reserves can have direct and indirect effects on predators and their prey, respectively, and highlight the importance of considering species interactions in making management decisions.


Precipitation of solid paraffins is one of the most common problems in the oil industry, imposing high operating costs. There have been a great many efforts for the prediction of solid paraffins precipitation up to now. Most of them were based on activity coefficient models accounting to solid phase non-ideality or the multi-solid model to calculate the number of precipitated solid phases. In this work, solid phase behavior is predicted by a solid equation of state. At first, by using the thermodynamic method (subcoled liquid) for pure solid phase fugacity from pure liquid fugacity, the solid EOS parameters are tuned. The tuned solid EOS can then be directly applied for the prediction of the amount of precipitated solid paraffins (waxes) in the oil samples. The proposed equations system in this work is solved by a proper mathematical method. The obtained results of wax precipitation in this work are in good agreement with the experimental data.


Declines in seagrass biomass and growth have been widely reported in response to anthropogenic impacts. In contrast, the distribution and biomass of seagrass in the carbonate sediment around Green Island reef, part of Australia's Great Barrier Reef (GBR) has measurably increased during the past 50 yr, possibly due to increases in the availability of nutrients from local and regional anthropogenic sources. Using historical aerial photography, increases in seagrass distribution at Green Island have been mapped. The growth, morphological and physiological responses of 2 seagrass species (Halodule uninervis and Syringodium isoetifolium) to elevated sediment nitrogen (N; 100x control) and/or phosphorus (P; 10x control) were measured to investigate whether increased nutrients could account for the observed increase in distribution. Increases in the growth rate, amino acid composition and tissue nutrient content of both species occurred in response to elevated sediment N, but not P. Concentrations of the N-rich amino acids asparagine and glutamine increased 3- to 100-fold in seagrass leaves from N treatments. The δN values of leaves decreased in response to additions of nitrogen, probably due to increased discrimination against the N isotope, because N availability was surplus to demand. The low δN value of seagrasses in the Green Island back reef suggests that their primary source of N is either from N fixation or fertilisers and that the N from sewage is not a large component of their N budget. This study is the first to demonstrate N, rather than P, as the primary limiting nutrient for growth of seagrass in carbonate sediments and supports the hypothesis that the increase in the seagrass distribution and biomass at Green island was caused by an increase in nutrient availability. We also hypothesise that seagrass distribution and biomass in many regions of the GBR may be limited by nutrients and that the lack of substantial seagrass meadows in the southern GBR could be due to these reefs receiving less nutrients from the mainland.


Since the unexpected outcome of the 2016 US elections and the Brexit referendum, the term fake news mutated to an almost daily mentioned topic in the media. Current research on this topic mostly deals with the effect of fake news on opinion formation, but rarely considers the publication type of the forged content. We investigate the differences in user assessment of faked content between an objectively written news article and an emotionally loaded conversation on a question and answer platform. Our results show, that news articles seem to be more credible and persuasive, but both faked publication types did not impel the users to change their opinion about an environmental topic.


Article history: Received February 25, 2016 Received in revised format: March 28, 2016 Accepted May 19, 2016 Available online May 24 2016 The VIKOR (Vlse Kriterijumska Optimizacija Kompromisno Resenje which means multicriteria optimization and compromise solution, in Serbian) method has already become a quite popular multi-criteria decision making tool for its computational simplicity and solution accuracy. This method focuses on selecting and ranking from a set of feasible alternatives, and determines compromise solution for a problem with conflicting criteria to help the decision maker in reaching a final course of action. It determines the compromise ranking list based on the particular measure of closeness to the ideal solution. Depending upon the type of decision problem and necessity of the decision maker, apart from VIKOR method, different variants of it, like comprehensive VIKOR, fuzzy VIKOR, regret theory-based VIKOR, modified VIKOR and interval VIKOR methods have also been subsequently developed. In this paper, the ranking performance of original VIKOR method and its five variants is analyzed based on two demonstrative examples. It is observed that interval VIKOR method performs unsatisfactorily and when the information in a decision problem is imprecise, fuzzy VIKOR method should always be preferred. But, for any decision problem, original VIKOR is the best method for solution without unnecessarily complicating the related mathematical computations. Growing Science Ltd. All rights reserved. 6 © 201


Each year, the two national teacher unions, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the National Education Association (NEA), release their surveys of public school teacher salaries across the nation. And each year, they take advantage of this opportunity to bemoan the condition of teacher pay. On the April 2002 release of the NEA's data, then--NEA president Bob Chase complained, "It's hard to convince someone to stay in the classroom when the salary is so low." Likewise, the AFT decried the fact that the average teacher salary continues to fall well below the average wages of other white-collar occupations.,, The average teacher, according to the AFT, earned $43,250 during the 2000-01 school year, compared with an average of $52,664 for mid-level accountants; $71,155 for computer system analysts; $74,920 for engineers; and $82,712 for attorneys. Of course, the AFT has chosen the comparison groups to make its best case. Where, one wonders, are the comparisons with journalists, registered nurses, assistant district attorneys, FBI agents, military officers, and other not-so-highly compensated professionals and public-sector employees? Shouldn't the average pay of a high-school English teacher be compared with that of writers and editors? One could make a case that the salaries of high-school physics or calculus teachers should bear some resemblance to those of computer system analysts, but does the AFT believe that the appropriate compensation benchmarks for 3rd-grade teachers are the salaries of engineers or attorneys? Nevertheless, data from the NEA and AFT are highly influential. Indeed, the U.S. Department of Education collects few data of its own on this matter. For the most part it simply recycles these union data in publications like the Digest of Education Statistics 2001, a standard reference in which five of the six tables on teacher pay are based on union figures. On the whole, such data present a fairly accurate picture of teacher salaries at the national level and have some value for state-to-state comparisons. Yet they suffer from severe limitations when interest groups, policymakers, and pundits use them to make a point about how the nation values public school teachers. Summers Off One facet of teaching that the NEA and AFT, in their data and in their public pronouncements, routinely fail to account for is the shorter workday and work year. In public schools, the median number of school days is 180 per year. Add half-a-dozen or so workdays for parent conferences, professional development, and planning, and the annual work year for most teachers is still shorter than 190 days. By comparison, an accountant or lawyer with two weeks of paid vacation and ten holidays or personal days will work 240 days annually--nearly 30 percent more days per year than public school teachers. The typical teacher also has a shorter on-site workday than most other professionals. On average, teachers report being in school for fewer than 38 hours per week. This number rises to 40 hours if largely voluntary after school activities such as coaching or club sponsorship are included. In fact, language limiting the number of hours that teachers are required to be in school is common in their collective-bargaining agreements, particularly in urban school districts. In the just-expired New York City teachers' contract, the contractual workday was just 6 hours and 20 minutes (including a 50-minute duty-free lunch). The new contract extends the workday by 20 minutes. In Chicago, the limit is 6 hours and 45 minutes, including a 45-minute duty-free lunch. Of course, many teachers put in nights and weekends at home grading papers and planning for the next week. However, a job that permits relatively more work at home is typically more attractive (particularly to women with children) than one that requires a similar amount of work time on site. And many other professionals bring their work home as well. …


This paper presents new evidence on the costs of purchasing private annuity contracts to spread a given stock of assets over an uncertain future lifetime. It also describes the operation of individual annuity arrangements within two large group retirement saving plans. First presents information on life annuity contracts that are now available in the individual single-premium-immediate annuity marketplace. For a 65-year-old male annuity buyer present discounted value of the payouts offered by the average policy available in June 1998 was approximately 85 percent of the purchase price. This assumes that the individual faces the mortality risks of the average individual in the population, and that the payouts are discounted at a riskless interest rate. The expected present value of payouts rises if we assume that the buyer faces the mortality rates of the typical annuitant, while it declines if we assume a higher riskier, interest rate for discounting. Second, the paper considers individual annuity policies available to participants in the government's Thrift Savings Plan. Because these annuities are purchased through a large group retirement saving program, some of the administrative costs are lower than those in the national individual annuity market. The expected present value of payouts is correspondingly higher than that in the public' market. Third individual annuity products offered by TIAA-CREF, the retirement system for college and university employees. TIAA offers annuities with non-guaranteed elements the highest payouts in the individual annuity market, mainly due to superior investment returns and low expenses. CREF annuities offer valuable payouts that reflect basis, the investment experience of the accounts.


"Mommy, why can't the doctors make you better?"..."You won't be there, will you? Who'll take care of me?"-Rachel, age 5 AIDS breaks the rules of dying. It strikes the young rather than the old, decimating families and devastating communities. It will leave as its legacy a generation of orphans-traumatized by multiple losses, isolation, stigma, and grief. By the turn of the century, more than a hundred thousand children and youth in the United States-and ten million worldwide-will lose their parents to AIDS.Written by professionals in medicine, law, social work, anthropology, psychiatry, and public policy, this volume is the first full-length look at the issues facing children whose parents and siblings are dying of AIDS: what children experience, how it affects them, how we can meet their emotional needs and help them find second families, how we counter the stigmas they face. Authors explore ways to promote resilience in these AIDS-affected children. Stories of the children and their caretakers, told in their own words, are woven throughout.Pioneering and practical, the book presents an action agenda and resource directory for our nation's policymakers as well as for parents and those who work with children in both formal and informal settings. This book is produced in conjunction with a video, Mommy, Who'll Take Care of Me? Forgotten Children of the AIDS Epidemic, which will be shown on PBS and is also available from Yale University Press.


Several benefits, e.g., weed suppression, are achieved by including a cover crop in a cropping system. A requirement for developing cover crop systems in northern regions is to find species and cultivars which are adapted for the local climate. The basic objective of this study was to investigate the effects of freezing temperatures on subclover (Trifolium subterraneum L.) cultivars; however, because field experiments recently carried out in Norway have shown that subclover only has potential for winter survival near the southern coast, other winter annual legumes were also tested. To make an adequate freezing-test program reflecting field conditions, a factorial experiment including cultivars, age of subclover plants, and daylength treaments was carried out. The study showed that frost resistance of subclover was increased by short-day treatments both before and through the hardening periods. The effect of short-day treatments was more pronounced for the early flowering cultivar Geraldton than for the later flowering cultivar Mount Barker. The freezing program developed for subclover may also be suitable for other winter annual legumes. The results of a winter annual legume experiment showed that hairy vetch (Vicia villosa Roth.) Cultivars, especially cv. Hungvillosa, exhibited the best frost resistance, followed by yellow sweetclover [Melilotus officinalis (L.) Pall.], crimson clover (Trifolium incarnatum L.), black medic (Medicago lupulina L.), white clover (Trifolium repens L.), subclover, barrel medic (Medicago trunculata Gaertn.), and snail medic [Medicago scuttelata (L.) Mill.], which exhibited the poorest frost resistance. In terms of relative biomass, the hairy vetch cultivars Welta and Hungvillosa were significantly different at -9°C. In general, hairy vetch exhibited the best frost resistance in this study.


Abstract A method has been developed that provides analytic solutions for two-dimensional cell problems for the neutron transport equation. This is made possible by assuming an infinite, repeating lattice of rectangular regions. The solution is effected by means of a finite Fourier transform, the periodicity of which is related to the size of the unit cell. In order to drive the flux, we assume that the cell is composed of two regions: an inner circular region and the remaining exterior part. Different sources are placed in each region thereby leading to a situation rather like the conventional reactor cell problem but with no spatial variation of the cross sections. The method is illustrated by two examples: the Levermore-Pomraning equations and the two-group equations. In the former case, we have obtained the stochastically averaged flux within the cell and also the Pomraning χ-function. In addition, we have calculated the ratio of the spatially averaged flux in the outer region to that in the inner circular region, i.e., the disadvantage factor. Fluxes and disadvantage factors are also obtained for the two-group equations, and the rate of convergence is shown. These results are exact transport theory solutions and are offered as benchmarks for checking transport theory codes. The calculations are also repeated using diffusion theory. The SPN method, which we show to be exact for our problem, is used to demonstrate the rate of convergence of the PN method for two-dimensional cell problems.


Verification has long been recognized as an integral part of the hardware design process. When designing a system, engineers usually use various design representations and concretize them step by step up to a physical layout. At the beginning of the process, when there is much of indeterminacy, only abstract reference models are applicable to verification; when the process is close to the end, more concrete ones can be utilized. The article concerns problems of developing reusable verification systems (testbenches), which can be used to analyze different versions of the same component at different abstraction levels. We suggest an approach to construct reusable reaction checkers basing on a concept of Transaction Level Modeling (TLM). The paper includes general description of the approach, considers several particular cases, and outlines our experience.


The work presented in this thesis takes place in a context of growing demand for image and video applications on parallel embedded systems. The limitations and lack of flexibility of current design with parallel embedded systems make increasingly complicated to implement applications, particularly on heterogeneous systems. But Open Computing Language (OpenCL) is a new framework for fully employ the capability of computation of general purpose processors or embedded processors. In the meantime, some rapid prototyping tools to design systems are proposed to generate a reliably prototype or automatically implement the image and video applications on embedded systems. The goal of this thesis was to evaluate and to improve design processes for embedded systems, especially based on the dataflow approach (high level of abstraction) and OpenCL approach (intermediate level of abstraction). This challenge is tackled by several projects including the collaborative project COMPA which studies a framework based on the Orcc, Preesm and HMPP tools. In this context, this thesis aims to validate and to evaluate the framework with motion estimation and stereo matching algorithms. For this aim, algorithms have been described using the high-level RVC-CAL language. With the help of Orcc, Preesm, and HMPP tools, we generated and verified C code or OpenCL code or CUDA code for heterogeneous platforms based on multi-core CPU and GPU. We also studied the implementations of these algorithms onto the last generation of many-core for embedded system called MPPA and developed by KALRAY. We proposed three algorithms. One is a parallelized motion estimation method for heterogeneous system based on one CPU and one GPU: we developed one basic method to balance the workload distribution on such heterogeneous system. The second algorithm is a real-time stereo matching method that adopts combined costs and costs aggregation with square size step to implement on laptop's GPU platform: our experimental results outperform other baseline methods about tradeoff between matching accuracy and time-efficiency. The third algorithm is a joint motion-based video stereo matching method that uses the motion vectors calculated by the first algorithm to build the support region for the second algorithm: our experimental results outperform the stereo video matching methods in the test sequences with abundant movement even in large amounts of noise.


Social media analytics has been attracting considerable attention in both research and industry due to the increasing popularity of social media usage. As a subset, social media monitoring describes the process of continuous monitoring of a subject matter in social media. From our point of view, the key requirements for such systems are i) high throughput and real-time processing of incoming data, ii) a user-friendly way to define complex situations of interests that make use of formalized background knowledge and iii) capabilities to perform actions based on gained insights instead of a pure monitoring system. In this paper, we propose a system for (pro) active, real-time social media monitoring. Firstly, we describe the conceptual architecture of our system and necessary pre-processing steps. Secondly, we introduce our concept of semantic requests that is capable to extend event pattern definitions with background knowledge. Finally, we show the usefulness of this system in two different domains: Real-time political opinion tracking and proactive establishment of relationships with consumers in order to perform a new form of real-time marketing. The main advantage of our approach is a simplified, expressive way to formulate event patterns in social media applications.


This thesis contains the results of studies into the causes of variability seen in the optical and X-ray emission from matter accreting onto supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in active galactic nuclei (AGN).

The first chapter provides a brief overview of the history of optical and X-ray astronomy along with a summary of the principle properties of AGN. The second chapter investigates the dust-to-gas relationship for a sample of 1,201 X-ray detected quasars. We carry out an in-depth optical and X-ray spectral analysis and produce composite spectra for gas absorbed and dust reddened quasars. We find that the objects with the largest gas column densities are not the objects with the largest amounts of dust reddening. This study also highlights problems in constraining absorption levels in objects with low-quality X-ray spectra.

We then present optical-to-X-ray spectral energy distributions (SEDs) for 170 Type 1 AGN. We use a new broadband SED model, which combines the standard disc emission with low- and high- temperature Comptonisation components through the introduction of a coronal radius. We find that objects that have an Eddington ratio greater than unity have larger disc luminosities, lower black hole mass, higher mass accretion rate and smaller coronal radii, than the rest of the sample.

We conduct a detailed optical and X-ray variability study on a subset of 41 of these objects in the fourth chapter. We combined optical light curves from the Catalina Sky Survey (CSS) with long duration X-ray observations from the XMM-Newton satellite. We found that the objects with the lowest black hole masses were the least variable. However, we did not find the expected relationship between luminosity and variability, probably due to the wavelength range observed by CSS and selection biases in our sample.

The final two chapters report results from pilot studies based on data from the Pan-STARRS telescope. In the fifth chapter we present an in-depth study of a highly variable object discovered as part of the Pan-STARRS supernovae search, and in the sixth chapter we investigate a subset of the light curves produced in the Medium Deep Survey (MDS) by analysing the light curves of 39 quasars including 12 broad absorption line quasars (BALQSOs). Finally, we also examine the potential for future studies, by cross-matching a large sample of spectroscopically identified Seyfert 2 AGN to the large area 3π catalogue.


A multiplexed plasmonic assay analyzes circulating tumor-derived extracellular vesicles for detection of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. A signature achievement Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is one of the deadliest types of tumors, in part because it is usually detected at a late stage. To facilitate the diagnosis of this tumor, Yang et al. developed a multiplexed plasmonic assay to evaluate extracellular vesicles in patient plasma for protein markers associated with the presence of pancreatic cancer. The authors identified a five-marker signature that yielded the most accurate diagnosis. To test their assay, the researchers analyzed samples from patients with pancreatic cancer and other types of pancreatic disease, as well as healthy controls, and confirmed the accuracy of their signature in prospectively collected samples. Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is usually detected late in the disease process. Clinical workup through imaging and tissue biopsies is often complex and expensive due to a paucity of reliable biomarkers. We used an advanced multiplexed plasmonic assay to analyze circulating tumor-derived extracellular vesicles (tEVs) in more than 100 clinical populations. Using EV-based protein marker profiling, we identified a signature of five markers (PDACEV signature) for PDAC detection. In our prospective cohort, the accuracy for the PDACEV signature was 84% [95% confidence interval (CI), 69 to 93%] but only 63 to 72% for single-marker screening. One of the best markers, GPC1 alone, had a sensitivity of 82% (CI, 60 to 95%) and a specificity of 52% (CI, 30 to 74%), whereas the PDACEV signature showed a sensitivity of 86% (CI, 65 to 97%) and a specificity of 81% (CI, 58 to 95%). The PDACEV signature of tEVs offered higher sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy than the existing serum marker (CA 19-9) or single–tEV marker analyses. This approach should improve the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.


Genetic and other biotechnologies are starting to impact significantly upon society and individuals within it. Rose and Novas draw on an analysis of many patient groups to sketch out the broad notion of biocitizenship as a device for describing how the empowered and informed individual, group or network can engage with bioscience. In this paper, we examine critically the notion of biocitizenship, drawing on both sociological fieldwork that grounds the debate in the views of a large and varied group of concerned actors. Using work within green politics, we identify shortcomings in the concept of biocitizenship as it has so far been explicated. The value assumptions lying behind an account of biocitizenship, and its tendency to see issues through a reductive lens, are examined. Alternative views of values and goals, which may undermine any alleged rights and duties, are explored using interviews and other ethnographic data that illustrates the complexity of the terrain. The reductive lens of biocitizenship is explored through contrast with the wider scope of concerns emanating from various sources, including many within green politics. If such complexities are not recognised, there is a danger that a concept of biocitizenship may serve to create and amplify inequalities. Problems with identity issues are key: the construction of identity is complex and many groups are explicitly rejecting the 'biological' label. We discuss the multiple relations of citizens with the biotech and pharmaceutical industries. Arguably, existing inequalities in power relationships, exploitation, commodification and ownership patterns are being perpetuated in novel ways through the new biosciences. We pose the question of whether it is possible to construct a concept of biocitizenship that overcomes these problems.


Every day a number of people from the heart stops beating for most of them that this early cessation of heartbeat. With operations of CPR in 4 to 6 minutes of cardiopulmonary arrest and before the onset of brain death can be established circulation and survival for patients with the death of 2 to 4 folds. The aim of this study was to Comparison of knowledge of medical and paramedical intern about of CPCR, 2015. This descriptive analytical and sampling method was census. Restore their data using a standard questionnaire with Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.82 .Spss20 data using statistical software analysis and descriptive statistics and Chi-square test was used. The mean score of 3/6 students that showed poor knowledge of students participating in the study. The lowest score of zero and the highest score was 12. Was found between gender and level of knowledge (p=0/05). Between education and the knowledge of the relationship was not statistically significant (p=0/764). The knowledge of medical and paramedical students groups scheduled for next semester as part of the treatment system personnel are working poor and require special attention in order to provide guidelines for planning authorities to increase the awareness of students.


Photocatalytic lithography (PCL) is an inexpensive, fast and robust method of oxidizing surface chemical moieties to produce patterned substrates. This technique has utility in basic biological research, as well as various biochip applications. We report on porphyrin-based PCL for patterning poly(propylene sulfide) block copolymer films on gold substrates at the micron and sub-micron scale. We confirm chemical patterning with imaging ToF-SIMS and low voltage SEM. Biomolecular patterning on micron and submicron scales is demonstrated with proteins, protein-linked beads and fluorescently labeled proteins.


Process and temperature independent RF frontend design is important for remotely powered RFID tags and wireless sensor systems. Run-to-run process variations can impact the remote powering performance and therefore read range of aforementioned systems. We introduce analysis and propose a design methodology for high-Q switched capacitor matching network for remote powering. The method is demonstrated with a differential drive rectifier topology with -14 dBm of input power at 900 MHz UHF band. Simulation results show the improvement on delivered power up to 42% and extension of the read range of the sensor system up to 19% with utilization of the proposed work.


This article engages with accounts of the everyday experiences of young adults living in London who have been involved with road life (street culture) and how their narratives might help us to better understand issues of youth violence in the UK. Through an exploration of their experiences, this article argues that deeply embedded structural contradictions are leaving a generation of marginalised young people dying to live as they become locked in an existential struggle against a sense of malaise permeating many of their everyday experiences. These experiences of social suffering are conceptualised through 'the munpain'. The munpain is a psychosocial concept which articulates the impact of structurally routed violence, inherent in late-modern neoliberal states, within the everyday lives of marginalised young adults living in a contemporary urban context. This article draws on interview data from two young men, Stephen and T, who have both been victims of knife crime and have spent much of their lives involved with youth groups self-identifying as gangs. In this article, I demonstrate some of the often unspoken struggles that saturate their lives. These experiences induce agentic responses as people seek to alleviate their suffering, at times affecting them in ways that lead to acts of violence. Moreover, I also elaborate on the inductive methodological approach employed to denote how 'the munpain' was developed while working alongside marginalised young adults.


To control the Mississippi River is a mighty task (Barry 1997), and the 2011 flooding of its alluvial valley was a reminder of just how difficult this task can be. Heavy snow melt and rainfall ten times greater than average across the eastern half of the 517,998 km2 (200,000 mi2) Mississippi watershed in spring and early summer of 2011 produced one of the most powerful floods in the river's known history (USACE 2011). The water from the Mississippi and Ohio rivers arrived in the Cairo, Illinois, area (figure 1) at about the same time, straining the levees and floodwall system designed to confine the rivers and protect cities and farmlands. The deliberate breaching of the levees in the New Madrid Floodway below Cairo in May 2011 was a planned strategy to reduce water pressure and prevent levee failures where harm to human life might occur. The induced breach and the flooding of 53,824 ha (133,000 ac) of Missouri farmland resulted in the loss of 2011 crops and damage to future soil productivity. The strong current and sweep of water through the Birds Point, Missouri, breach created deep gullies, displaced tons of soil, and damaged irrigation equipment, farms, and home buildings.


"All healthcare workers have a pathological need to be needed." I'm not sure where I heard that, but I find a lot of truth in it. It explains why we are all so happy to give up fairly important things - having a life, for example - in return for the opportunity to run down corridors with a serious expression and a white coat on. We actually enjoy it.

I suppose you could describe any career choice as a sickness, whether it's a need for money, travel, or whatever. But in medicine I think it is a particularly useful idea as it does much to redress the imbalance of power between the professional and the patient. Both have a need for the other. It belies the myth of …


The Impact of International Organizations on International Law by Jose Alvarez addresses how international organizations, particularly those within the UN system, have changed the forms, contents, and effects of international law


This is the fourth edition of this book. I reviewed the third edition in 2009, when its price was €59.95. It remains quite outstandingly good value. The latest version must be judged both as a 'standalone' textbook and as an update for purchasers of the earlier work. I think it passes the former test well, but I am less convinced that there is sufficient novelty to warrant the (minor, I do admit) investment in a replacement. The cover has changed and now shows the progressive fall off in high frequency hearing so familiar to the more senior readers. It makes a welcome change from the earlier edition cover, of a pure tone audiogram, using the triangle symbols as only our US cousins could! The preface I found curiously hard to follow, in marked contrast to the writing style throughout the book. We are told that this book is aimed at 'the two related professions of Speech and Language Pathology and Audiology' as an introductory text. As before, the content is well beyond what would be deemed 'essential' knowledge for surgical trainees, to whom the world of tone decay, recruitment and speech audiometry now seems a total mystery. The preface does admit that changes to the text often reflect 'subtle advances', and it highlights updated sections on cochlear implants and electrophysiological testing. Alas, my third edition is no longer available for comparison, having been loaned out to a trainee; you can guess the rest. Each chapter is supported by an impressive number of references, but few seem dated post 2009. I thought the Anatomy and Physiology chapter might be a good measure of attention to recent advances, if only in the latter subject. I accept that Darwinian evolution of the contents of the temporal bone might take longer, but understanding of the physiology of the inner ear might have progressed. In practice, in two pages of references, I could find only two dated since the last edition, one of which is the author's own work. The chapter remains one of the best in the book, nonetheless. In the era before the magnetic resonance imaging scanner, hunting the acoustic neuroma demanded familiarity with acronyms such as 'SISI', 'LDL' and 'ABLB'. Surprisingly, what I had taken to be obsolete testing is still covered in detail, in 2016. There are updates on central auditory processing disorders, on international guidelines and position statements, and on advances such as implantable hearing aids. In 2009, I described the third edition as 'an invaluable addition to any ENT departmental library', and, as my earlier copy is long gone, I welcome this. It is comprehensive, well written, easily understood, and ideal both for browsing and reading cover to cover (if selectively). If you do not have access to the third edition, you need to invest in the fourth. A book of this quality and comprehensive coverage, at this price, is a bargain That, I know, begs the question...


A major challenge facing state and local transportation officials is the shortfall in financial resources to respond to increasing needs. It is becoming increasingly difficult for traditional Federal and State taxes cannot meet the growing backlog of highway and bridge repairs as well as demands for system expansion. The government and public resistance to tax increase. A broad set of remedies, under the title of innovative financing, has been put forward as one way to increase the funds available. The paper defines and describes several of these financial mechanisms, including: 1) local option taxes, 2) special district assessments, 3) impact and utility fees, 4) public-private agreements, and 5) toll financing.


We describe an experiment to determine the effects of meditation training on the multitasking behavior of knowledge workers. Three groups each of 12-15 human resources personnel were tested: (1) those who underwent an 8-week training course on mindfulness-based meditation, (2) those who endured a wait period, were tested, and then underwent the same 8-week training, and (3) those who had 8-weeks of training in body relaxation. We found that only those trained in meditation stayed on tasks longer and made fewer task switches, as well as reporting less negative emotion after task performance, as compared with the other two groups. In addition, both the meditation and the relaxation groups showed improved memory for the tasks they performed.


The aim of this study is to increase knowledge about, and describe how, participants consider their own learning process and development during in‐service education, and to consider how they attempt to implement their new knowledge in pre‐school after completing the training programme. The sample consists of nine newly qualified pre‐school teachers who participated in interviews twice. The first interview was conducted directly after completing their studies, and the second interview was conducted one year later, when the pre‐school teachers once again were active in pre‐schools. The findings indicate that pre‐school teachers perceive that they have gained strength in their profession. The theoretical bases including developmental pedagogy and a changed view of the child have been crucial for the implementation process. This kind of in‐service education is significant in increasing pre‐school quality.


Estimation of Chlorophyll-a Concentration using Refined Neural Network (Case Study: Lake Kasumigaura)
Chlorophyll-a has been became one of clinical in-water constituents to represent water quality. Many researchers have used neural network method to estimate chlorophyll-a concentration in the water body. However, a few number of water samples limits the use of neural network, meaning that those number is insufficient to train the neural network model and makes the result is not reliable. One of famous interpolation method, that is Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW), is utilized in this study to enrich water samples dataset over non-station points. The data from those non-station points would further be used to train the neural network model. After the training, the neural network method was refined by using the water samples over stations such that the accuracy in chlorophyll-a estimation was increased. MERIS images are used in this study. Based on statistical analysis, RMSE value before and after the refinement is decreased from 6,7872 mg m-3 to 6,5606 mg m-3.


In the 1930s Hollywood enjoyed a popular following in the Japanese film market, accounting for almost 90 per cent of imported sound films. Against a backdrop of emerging political tensions and war in China, the Japanese government announced in 1937 that it would place a ban on Hollywood film imports. This was a move that ushered in a new era of protectionism for Japan's emerging film industry. Following this decision, Hollywood studios engaged with Tokyo and sought an agreement to ease the new restrictions. After a period of intense discussions, the Japanese government agreed to lift the ban albeit with certain conditions. This paper examines protectionism in the Japanese film market and considers the impact of political forces, both domestic and international, on the decisions made. It will show that economic factors were mostly behind the decision to implement the ban and therefore facilitated the reaching of an agreement between the two sides. Furthermore, the interests of the domestic film industry who would benefit from the import of Hollywood films helped lift the ban.


The bispectrum is the Fourier transform of the triple correlation, sometimes also referred to as the triple-product integral. The influence of photon noise on the bispectrum of an image-intensity distribution is discussed. As an example, the astronomical speckle-masking method is considered. Speckle masking is a method to overcome image degradation that is due to the turbulent atmosphere. It is shown theoretically that bispectral analysis in speckle masking should yield true, diffraction-limited images in all those cases in which the speckle-interferometry process has been successful in reconstructing the object autocorrelation.


Bridge condition inspection data provide critical and rich information for assessing structural condition. Currently, the majority of bridge inspection methods use printed checklists, and their interpretation is labor intensive, subject to personal judgment, and prone to error. To realize the full benefits of bridge inspections, there is a need to automate the data management process. This research project implemented Bridge Information Modeling (BrIM) technology for bridge inspections and compared it to the conventional approach of paper checklists. This environment combines a 3D representation of the infrastructure, and allows the integration of inspection data, such as the presence of damages, types of damages, severity, localization and previous maintenance decisions. In this report, BrIM acronym is used to refer to the database that integrates a 3D bridge model and bridge element condition data. In order to validate this approach, 2D drawings and previous inspection and maintenance data of two bridges located in Ames, Iowa were obtained and modeled using Revit software. Both models were then synced using cloud based solutions so that they could be accessed from tablet computers on-site. Then, the BrIM based inspection methodology was tested with Iowa Department of Transportation (Iowa DOT) engineers and bridge inspectors, who confirmed that BrIM would be beneficial to automatically query, sort, evaluate and send information to decision makers. Furthermore, a web-based survey with several DOT engineers and bridge inspectors was conducted regarding possible expected benefits of using 3D BrIM based solutions for inspections. It is concluded that this methodology has the potential to substantially improve bridge assessment and maintenance operations, which would result in time and cost savings associated with bridge inspection and assessment, as well as improved structural resiliency as a result of more effective and comprehensive bridge management means.


NATURAL PROTEIN STOPS DEADLY HUMAN BRAIN CANCER IN MICE Treatment targets stem-cell-like clusters that develop into cancer Scientists from Johns Hopkins and from the University of Milan have effectively proven that they can inhibit lethal human brain cancers in mice using a protein that selectively induces positive changes inthe activity of cells that behave like cancer stem cells. The report is published in Nature in December, 2006. The most common type of brain cancer-glioblastoma-is marked by the presence of these stem-cell-like brain cells, which, instead of triggering the replacement of damaged cells, form cancer tissue. Stem cells, unlike all other cells in the body, are capable of forming almost any kind of cell when the right "signals" trigger their development. For their treatment experiment, the researchers relied on a class of proteins, bone morphogenic proteins, that cause neural stem-cell-like clusters to lose their stem cell properties, which in turn stopstheir ability to divide. First they pretreated human glioblastoma cells with bone morphogenic protein 4 (BMP4), then injected these treated cells into mouse brains. In mice injected with cells that were not pretreated, large, invasive cancers grew. In the mice with BMP4-treated cells, no cancers grew at all. Three to four months after injection, all mice that got untreated cells died, and nearly all mice with MP4-treated cells were alive. Next, the scientists delivered slow-release BMP4-containing "beads" directly into mouse brains with implanted glioblastoma cells. Mice that got empty beads developed large malignant tumors and died. Mice with BMP4 beads survived much longer, and 80 percent survived four months after cancer cell implants. "Our idea is to treat patients with BMP4 or something like it right after surgery to remove glioblastoma in hopes of preventing the regrowth of the cancer and improving survival time," says AlessandroOlivi, M.D., director of the Division of Neurosurgical Oncology at Hopkins and a contributor to the study. Olivi says clinical studies using BMP4 could begin within a year and, if successful, drug therapies could be available to the public within three to four years. "This was proof of the idea that BMPs could stop glioblastoma by depleting the stem-cell-like population that feeds it," says Henry Brem, M.D., chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at Hopkins and a collaborator in the study. "This opens exciting doors to future research into treatments and therapies for such a devastating disease." For more information, contact: Eric Vohr; Tel.: 410.955.8665; Email: email@example.com


The hepatitis B virus X gene product transactivates a variety of cellular and viral genes. The mechanism for X induction of RNA polymerase (pol) III genes was investigated. By using Drosophila S-2 cells stably transformed with the X gene, the transient expression of a tRNA gene is enhanced. Comparing the transcriptional activities of extracts derived from these cells, all three types of RNA pol III promoters are stimulated by X. Interestingly, both S-2 and rat 1A cells stably transformed with the X gene produce increased cellular levels of the TATA-binding protein (TBP). By using various kinase inhibitors, it was found that the X-mediated increases in both transcription and TBP are dependent upon protein kinase C activation. Since TBP is a subunit of TFIIIB, the activity of this component fractionated from extracts derived from control and X-transformed cells was analyzed. These studies reveal that TFIIIB activity is substantially more limiting in control cells and that TFIIIB isolated from X-transformed cells has increased activity in reconstitution assays compared with TFIIIB isolated from control cells. Conversely, comparison of TFIIIC from control and X-transformed cell extracts revealed that there is relatively little change in its ability either to reconstitute transcription or to bind to DNA and that there is no change in the catalytic activity of RNA pol III. Studies were performed to determine whether directly increasing cellular TBP alone could enhance RNA pol III gene transcription. Transient expression of a TBP cDNA in rat 1A cells was capable of stimulating transcription activity from the resultant extracts in vitro. Together, these results demonstrate that one mechanism by which X mediates transactivation of RNA poll III genes is by increasing limiting TBP via the activation of cellular signaling pathways. The discovery that X increases cellular TBP, the universal transcription factor, provides a novel mechanism for the function of a viral transactivator protein and may explain the ability of X to produce such large and diverse effects on cellular gene expression.


This research analyzes some aspects of the relationship between gene expression, gene function, and gene annotation. Many recent studies are implicitly based on the assumption that gene products that are biologically and functionally related would maintain this similarity both in their expression profiles as well as in their gene ontology (GO) annotation. We analyze how accurate this assumption proves to be using real publicly available data. We also aim to validate a measure of semantic similarity for GO annotation. We use the Pearson correlation coefficient and its absolute value as a measure of similarity between expression profiles of gene products. We explore a number of semantic similarity measures (Resnik, Jiang, and Lin) and compute the similarity between gene products annotated using the GO. Finally, we compute correlation coefficients to compare gene expression similarity against GO semantic similarity. Our results suggest that the Resnik similarity measure outperforms the others and seems better suited for use in gene ontology. We also deduce that there seems to be correlation between semantic similarity in the GO annotation and gene expression for the three GO ontologies. We show that this correlation is negligible up to a certain semantic similarity value; then, for higher similarity values, the relationship trend becomes almost linear. These results can be used to augment the knowledge provided by clustering algorithms and in the development of bioinformatic tools for finding and characterizing gene products.


The recent bloom of Internet of Things (IoT) and its prevalence in many security-sensitive environments made the security of these networks a crucial requirement. Routing in many of IoT networks has been performed using the routing protocol for low power and lossy networks (RPL), due to its energy-efficient mechanisms, secure modes availability, and its adaptivity to work in various environments; hence, RPL security has been the focus of many researchers. This paper presents a comprehensive study of RPL, its known attacks, and the mitigation methods proposed to counter these attacks. We conducted a detailed review of the RPL standard, including a recently proposed modification. Also, we investigated all recently published attacks on RPL and their mitigation methods through the literature. Based on this investigation, and to the best of our knowledge, we introduced a first-of-its-kind classification scheme for the mitigation methods that is based on the techniques used for the mitigation. Furthermore, we thoroughly discussed RPL-based intrusion detection systems (IDSs) and their classifications, highlighting the most recently proposed IDSs.


ABSTRACT This essay examines how critic and librettist Théophile Gautier retrospectively defined the term ballet d'action. Earlier ballet theorists and critics had used the term ballet en action to signify narrative ballet more generally, but Gautier derisively employed the term ballet d'action to refer to ballets steeped in pantomime and complicated narrative and relying on plot for cohesion. Moreover, he sharply contrasted ballets à spectacle, which placed a premium on visual elements, and dance for its own sake. In short, Gautier's writings lent credence to the notion of a distinct rupture between eighteenth- and nineteenth-century choreographic practices, rather than what actually took place—a gradual transition from ballet en action to ballet-pantomime. Although Gautier's distinct usage reflects the shifting values of the two periods, it also obscures the continuity of aesthetic preferences for narrative within the choreographic output of the rich theatrical period between 1790 and 1832.


The variations in discharge and water chemistry among and within headwater catchments are not well understood. Developing a better understanding of the processes that control these variations is crucial to determining how headwater catchments will respond to changes in climate and land use. This dissertation explores how hydrologic processes in headwater catchments may be better understood by utilizing a hydropedological framework, where similar soils are grouped together and considered to be representative of and developed by similar hydrologic and biogeochemical processes. In the first chapter, soil groups, called hydropedological units (HPUs) are found to be indicative of distinct water table regimes characterized by the interquartile range and median of shallow groundwater levels, the percent time water table exists in the soil, and the level of catchment storage at which groundwater responds. The second chapter explores the hydrological processes that may lead to the formation of HPUs in the catchment. By examining water table records and unsaturated water potential from tensiometers we found that lateral unsaturated flow regimes may be partially responsible for the patterns of lateral translocation observed in HPUs. Finally, the third chapter identifies two HPUs in the catchment as sources of streamwater dissolved organic carbon (DOC). While nearstream areas have typically been found to be DOC sources in headwater catchments, the HPUs identified as sources occur at high elevations in the catchment, near channel heads. Overall, these findings will be useful to better explain runoff generation, soil formation, and DOC export from headwater catchments. Headwater streams source water to larger bodies of water that are valuable natural resources. Therefore, explaining these processes is critical to predicting and responding to changes in climate and land use that may affect important water supplies.


Yeast checkpoint control genes were found to affect processing of DNA damage as well as cell cycle arrest. An assay that measures DNA damage processing in vivo showed that the checkpoint genes RAD17, RAD24, and MEC3 activated an exonuclease that degrades DNA. The degradation is probably a direct consequence of checkpoint protein function, because RAD17 encodes a putative 3′-5′ DNA exonuclease. Another checkpoint gene, RAD9, had a different role: It inhibited the degradation by RAD17, RAD24, and MEC3. A model of how processing of DNA damage may be linked to both DNA repair and cell cycle arrest is proposed.


An important phase of sensor networks operation is deployment of sensors in the field of interest. Critical goals during sensor networks deployment include coverage, connectivity, load balancing, etc. A class of work has recently appeared, where mobility in sensors is leveraged to meet deployment objectives. In this paper, we study deployment of sensor networks using mobile sensors. The distinguishing feature of our work is that the sensors in our model have limited mobilities. More specifically, the mobility in the sensors we consider is restricted to a flip, where the distance of the flip is bounded. We call such sensors as flip-based sensors. Given an initial deployment of flip-based sensors in a field, our problem is to determine a movement plan for the sensors in order to maximize the sensor network coverage and minimize the number of flips. We propose a minimum-cost maximum-flow-based solution to this problem. We prove that our solution optimizes both the coverage and the number of flips. We also study the sensitivity of coverage and the number of flips to flip distance under different initial deployment distributions of sensors. We observe that increased flip distance achieves better coverage and reduces the number of flips required per unit increase in coverage. However, such improvements are constrained by initial deployment distributions of sensors due to the limitations on sensor mobility


Healthcare delivery in the northern periphery of Europe is challenged by dispersed populations, geographical complexities (including mountainous terrain and inhabited islands), ageing populations, and rising patient expectations. It is challenged further by variations in transport networks and information communication technology infrastructure. This article provides an overview of e-health development across the northern periphery areas of four northern European countries (Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Scotland) by summarizing the outcomes of a mixed methods e-health mapping exercise and subsequently identifying service needs and gaps. A total of 148 applications, with a range of applied e-health solutions, were identified and the findings have promoted the sharing and transfer of e-health innovation across the four countries. The supporting telecommunications infrastructure and development of innovative telemedicine appear slower in sparsely populated areas of Scotland in comparison to its northern peripheral counterparts. All four countries have, however, demonstrated a clear commitment to the development of e-health within their remote and rural regions.


We have studied the possibility to realize tunable RF front-end filters and LNAs for wide-band phased arrays using a 0.25 mum UTSireg (ultra thin silicon) CMOS low cost technology. Measured results of an X-band passive filter-bank and a C-band active tunable filter show that adequate performance can be obtained (in terms of relatively low losses or high gain and out-of-band rejection over wide tuning ranges) while using small circuit areas. The UTSireg CMOS based RF components we present in this paper could contribute to the miniaturization and integration of RF front-ends in phased arrays.


This article explores the mechanisms behind the ability of political leaders to win praise and support in times of crisis by Studying one such case of crisis exploitation: the Swedish government's communication during the 2008 financial crisis. Looking back at the first term in office for the centre-right Alliance government, the government was initially struggling with historically low results in the regular opinion polls and a new electoral victory seemed to be beyond reach. However, this trend changed completely in the midst of the financial crisis when the government and its most prominent ministers from the dominant Moderate Party regained public support and confidence, and were able to win the next national election in 2010. The article argues that in order to explain successful political communication in times of crisis both the frames advocated by the political actors themselves and the media need to be taken into account. Based on this assumption the article proposes that successful political communication in crisis depends on a three-step process with interrelated aspects: the actor's ability for frame promotion, setting and matching. Frame selection here refers to actors' ability to use active frames (herein managerial, moral and responsibility frames), their ability to set the frame contexts so that they create a coherent logic resulting in frame reinforcement and, finally, their ability to match the political frames with the media's framing.


We prove semi-empirical concentration inequalities for random variables which are given as possibly nonlinear functions of independent random variables. These inequalities describe concentration of random variable in terms of the data/distribution-dependent Efron-Stein (ES) estimate of its variance and they do not require any additional assumptions on the moments. In particular, this allows us to state semi-empirical Bernstein type inequalities for general functions of unbounded random variables, which gives user-friendly concentration bounds for cases where related methods (e.g. bounded differences) might be more challenging to apply. We extend these results to Efron-Stein PAC-Bayesian inequalities which hold for arbitrary probability kernels that define a random, data-dependent choice of the function of interest. Finally, we demonstrate a number of applications, including PAC-Bayesian generalization bounds for unbounded loss functions, empirical Bernstein type generalization bounds, new truncation-free bounds for off-policy evaluation with Weighted Importance Sampling (WIS), and off-policy PAC-Bayesian learning with WIS.


Abstract Seismic‐hazard assessment is of great importance within the field of engineering seismology. Nowadays, it is common practice to define future seismic demands using probabilistic seismic‐hazard analysis (PSHA). Often it is neither obvious nor transparent how PSHA responds to changes in its inputs. In addition, PSHA relies on many uncertain inputs. Sensitivity analysis (SA) is concerned with the assessment and quantification of how changes in the model inputs affect the model response and how input uncertainties influence the distribution of the model response. Sensitivity studies are challenging primarily for computational reasons; hence, the development of efficient methods is of major importance. Powerful local (deterministic) methods widely used in other fields can make SA feasible, even for complex models with a large number of inputs; for example, automatic/algorithmic differentiation (AD)‐based adjoint methods. Recently developed derivative‐based global sensitivity measures can combine the advantages of such local SA methods with efficient sampling strategies facilitating quantitative global sensitivity analysis (GSA) for complex models. In our study, we propose and implement exactly this combination. It allows an upper bounding of the sensitivities involved in PSHA globally and, therefore, an identification of the noninfluential and the most important uncertain inputs. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first time that derivative‐based GSA measures are combined with AD in practice. In addition, we show that first‐order uncertainty propagation using the delta method can give satisfactory approximations of global sensitivity measures and allow a rough characterization of the model output distribution in the case of PSHA. An illustrative example is shown for the suggested derivative‐based GSA of a PSHA that uses stochastic ground‐motion simulations.


Recent advances in energy geotechnics and increased utilization of ground source heat pump systems (e.g., geothermal boreholes and energy y piles) and energy geo-structures require improving the understanding of the thermo-hydro-mechanical behavior of soil. Energy geo-structures consist of above-ground facilities, buried structures, and the soil surrounding the buried structure. A buried structure transfers the energy between the ground and above-ground facilities. Energy transfer between above-ground facilities and the soil will cause temperature changes in soil and this will affect soil hydro-mechanical properties. The changes in soil temperature can also significantly alter the soil-structure interaction and its mechanical strength. Soil temperature change is not limited to the energy geo-structures. There are other sources of soil temperature changes in geotechnical engineering. Transferring samples from the field to the lab, daily and seasonal variations of the shallow subsurface soil, chemical reactions in landfills, buried high voltage cables and buried waste disposals change soil temperatures. This study aims at gaining a better understanding of changes in soil properties under variable temperatures, including soil hydraulic conductivity and intrinsic permeability (as hydraulic parameters that control seepage and fluid flow), thermal volume change (as a mechanical parameter to estimate soil deformation and settlement), and thermal pressurization (that is the reason of pore pressure generation and thermal fluid flow). The mentioned parameters are used in numerical modeling, and the outcome of this research can help to elaborate the accuracy of the numerical models by considering variations with temperature and also verifying those numerical models. In addition, the results of the volumetric changes with thermal load will affect foundation desing and required standards of the soil in the vicinity of foundations in buildings with geothermal energy. To study the mentioned parameters, a novel method was engaged to modify the present triaxial cell in the geomechanics lab at the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at the University of Louisville. Compared to the similar modification by other researchers, this cell with minimal expense was adjusted and modified to a temperature-controlled triaxial cell which can provide a uniform temperature around the soil sample using a novel approach, and has the flexibility to host different thermal tests by a simple change in the internal setup. Tests were conducted on Ottawa sand and Kaolin clay which are examples of coarse and fine-grained soils and are common soils in practice. A series of hydraulic conductivity tests were conducted to study the effect of temperature on intrinsic permeability. Results showed a reduction in both hydraulic conductivity and intrinsic permeability of Ottawa sand (35% reduction in H.C of and 50% reduction in I.P) . In Kaolin clay, hydraulic conductivity showed an average of 150% increase and intrinsic permeability showed an average of 5% reduction most cases and a slight increase in confining pressure of 690 kPa. This increase could be because of the degeneration of the immobile water into the free water. For both sand and clay, void ratio showed a reduction is the average range of 5 %. The effects of temperature on volume change of Kaolin clay was studied. For this purpose, normally consolidated (NC) kaolin clay was tested under different cycles of heating/cooling and different confinement pressure. Besides, overconcolidated (OC) samples with OCR=6.5 and OCR=1.6 were also tested. The experimental results showed about 1 % irreversible thermal volume contraction which is known as thermal consolidation for normally consolidated Kaolin clay while 1 % thermal expansion was observed for highly overconsolidated Kaolin clay (OCR=6.5) and almost no change for slightly OC sample (OCR=1.6). Based on the finding of thermal volume change, further investigation of permeability variations on NC Kaolin clay with temperature demonstrated that the changes in intrinsic permeability by temperature change are time-dependent. This confirms that thermal consolidation which results in void ratio reduction with time reduces the Kaolin clay absolute permeability. Results showed a reduction of 8% for both H.C and I.P af two different confinfing pressure of 345 kPa and 690 kPa at different temperature when time of measurement was imcreased from 1 hour to 48 hours.


The aim of this paper is to sidestep the dualism of the arguments for and against acceptance of the Islamic headscarf in France, and to analyse comments and arguments heard from all sides in the debate using tools of linguistic analysis to reveal underlying attitudes and ways of thinking. I draw on my experience as a lexicographer to examine the terms used to refer to the headscarf in various forms of discourse including standard reference dictionaries. I have assembled a unique sample of these terms, and I also examine the actual verses of the Qu'ran in which the prescription appears. I look at a wide corpus including radio programmes, press articles and blogs, in which French people, from famous intellectuals to anonymous students, express their views and reveal the premises on which they base their arguments. These premises reveal conflicting issues of identity, over the spectrum going from what might be termed a secular republican fundamentalism to Islamic fundamentalism, with groups appealing to republican and/or Muslim ideals to justify opposing stances. A particular case I examine is the way feminism is invoked to justify both positions, one seeing the headscarf as a symbol of male oppression, the other as a pragmatic means of empowerment. New representations of French and Muslim identities emerge, as well as different ways of asserting identity among the French Muslim community, especially young women in that community.


Homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) engines are a promising alternative to traditional spark- and compression-ignition engines, due to their high thermal efficiency and near-zero emissions of NOx and soot. Simulation software is an essential tool in the development and optimization of these engines. The heat transfer submodel used in simulation software has a large influence on the accuracy of the simulation results, due to its significant effect on the combustion. In this work several empirical heat transfer models are assessed on their ability to accurately predict the heat flux in a CFR engine during HCCI operation. Models are investigated that are developed for traditional spark- and compression-ignition engines such as those from Annand [1], Woschni [2] and Hohenberg [3] and also models developed for HCCI engines such as those from Chang et al. [4] and Hensel et al. [5]. The heat flux is measured in a CFR engine operated in both motored and HCCI mode and compared to the predicted heat flux by the aforementioned models. It is shown that these models are unable to accurately predict the heat flux during HCCI operation if the model coefficients are not properly calibrated. The models from Annand, Hohenberg and Woschni overestimate the heat flux, whereas the models from Chang et al. and Hensel et al. underestimate it during the entire engine cycle if the original model coefficients are used. If the model coefficients are properly calibrated, the models from Annand, Hohenberg and Hensel et al. are able to predict the heat flux during HCCI operation for one engine operating point. However, if the same model coefficients are used for another operating point, the models are unable to satisfactorily predict the heat flux.


We examine the effects of collateralized borrowing in a realistically parameterized life-cycle portfolio choice problem. We provide basic intuition in a two-period model and then solve a multi-period model computationally. Our analysis provides insights into life-cycle portfolio choice relevant for researchers in macroeconomics and finance. In particular, we show that standard models with unlimited borrowing at the riskless rate dramatically overstate the gains to holding equity when compared with collateral-constrained models. Our results do not depend on the specification of the collateralized borrowing regime: the gains to trading equity remain relatively small even with the unrealistic assumption of unlimited leverage. We argue that our results strengthen the role of borrowing constraints in explaining the portfolio participation puzzle, that is, why most investors do not own stock.


This paper presents a system which combines a zero-velocity-update-(ZUPT-)aided inertial navigation system (INS), using a foot-mounted inertial measurement unit (IMU), with opportunistic use of multi-frequency received signal strength (RSS) measurements. The system does not rely on maps or pre-collected data from surveys of the radio-frequency (RF) environment. Instead it builds its own database of collected RSS measurements during the course of the operation. New RSS measurements are continuously compared with the stored values in the database, and when the user returns to a previously visited area this can thus be detected. This enables loop-closures to be detected online and used for error drift correction. The system utilises a distributed particle simultaneous localization and mapping (DP-SLAM) algorithm which provides a flexible 2D navigation platform that can be extended with more sensors. The experimental results presented in this paper indicates that the developed RSS SLAM algorithm can, in many cases, significantly improve the positioning performance of a foot-mounted INS.


In recent years, there has been renewed interest among the mental health professions in the principles of humanism. This rekindled discourse can be supplemented by an examination of the existential-phenomenological psychotherapy approach known as daseinsanalysis, as primarily influenced by the works of Martin Heidegger and Medard Boss. Daseinsanalysis complements humanistic values while providing a sophisticated philosophical scheme to frame the human way of being. The authors provide a brief explication of humanistic philosophy and daseinsanalysis, particularly as each are consistent in informing psychotherapeutic practitioners.


This is the second in a series of reports on the current wave of youth civic engagement in Egypt. Our goal is to offer an on-the-ground account of the unfolding political changes in Egypt from the perspective a small group of young activists from Cairo and Alexandria. Our first report was based on interviews with these youth who described their involvement in the demonstrations of early 2011 that led to the resignation of Hosni Mubarak. We viewed their comments in terms of a social-movement approach to civic engagement. These young people spelled out their grievances against Mubarak's government, the ideological outlook they shared on political reform, the opportunities that enabled their actions, and the organizational apparatus that made this momentous event possible (Barber & Youniss, 2012). This paper is a reflective analysis of questions that have emerged in our research. We continued to interview these same youth activists over the past year and correlated their evolving views first with our further exploration of Egypt's complex political situation and second with our knowledge of recent social scientific thought regarding civic engagement among youth. This triangulation leads us to consider three kinds of questions: 1) how to assess civic engagement adequately in a population of youth that lived under politically restrictive conditions; 2) how new definitions of active Egyptian citizenship are emerging; and 3) what these new definitions imply for engagement in the future.


Background Impaired fasting glucose (IFG), prediabetes, has a conversion to diabetes of 10% yearly, contributing to the prevalence of diabetes of 16.7% in Qatar. This high prevalence of diabetes will translate into serious vascular complications with considerable individual early mortality.Methods The Qatar Biobank is an ambitious national project that is collecting the demographic and biological data on an unselected Qatari population that currently has data from 1100 women aged 18-84 years. Data extraction of all women between the aged 18 to 40 years (inclusive) was undertaken by the Qatar Bio bank that identified 750 women in total. The number of women with and without impaired fasting glucose (IFG: plasma glucose 5.5-6.9 mmol/l; ADA diagnostic criteria) was determined and their demographic details compared. Bio statistical analysis was undertaken using SPSS. Results The prevalence of IFG was found to be 8.3% (62/750 women). Patients with IFG had a higher cardiovascular risk profile with a higher waist hip ratio (P < 0.01), lower HDL cholesterol (p < 0.01), higher insulin levels (( < 0.01), higher pulse wave velocity (a marker of arterial stiffness, p < 0.01), higher systolic and diastolic blood pressure (p < 0.01 and p < 0.03, respectively). C reactive protein, a marker of inflammation was also elevated (p < 0.04).Conclusion Whilst this is a small cohort, 8.3% of women had a ADA diagnosis of IFG with an adverse cardiovascular risk parameter profile. This study highlights that there is a need for early screening for IFG and intervention for the prevention of diabetes in young Qatari women below the age of 40. Acknowledgments We are grateful to the Qatar Foundation and the Qatar Biobank for their support and assistance.


OLAV VELTHUIS [*] ABSTRACT. In his early work, Talcott Parsons severely criticized Old Institutional Economists like Thorstein Veblen and Clarence Ayres. Parsons' main objection was that institutional economics had a misconceived view on the scope of economics: institutions, being the embodiment of values, were the proper subject of sociology rather than economics. By arguing for a clear-cut division of labor between economics and sociology, Parsons legitimated the divide between the two disciplines that came into being in the years to follow. Recently however, the relationship between economic sociology and institutional economics has changed dramatically. New Economic Sociology (advocated by scholars like Mark Granovetter and Richard Swedberg) rejects the division of labor proposed by Parsons. By providing substitutes rather than just complements to economics, it tries to counter economic imperialism. This creates significant similarities between New Economic Sociology, Old Institutional Economics and the recent return of in stitutionalism in economic theory. However, the quest for a division of labor between economics and sociology remains unfinished. I Introduction DUE TO A NUMBER OF DEVELOPMENTS IN BOTH ECONOMICS and sociology, the relationship between the two disciplines has become an important issue in contemporary social science (cf. Baron and Hannan, 1994; Ingham, 1996). Under the heading of "economic imperialism," a growing number of subjects that traditionally belonged to the discipline of sociology, has been studied by economists in the last few decades (Hirschleifer, 1985). From the side of sociology, the rational choice perspective has likewise questioned the clear separation between economics and sociology in subject matter, theoretical assumptions, and methodology. [2] From a "heterodox" position, the relationship between economics and sociology has been put on the agenda by New Economic Sociology and institutional economics. Both schools are highly critical of mainstream economics, and want to counter economic imperialism. They try to provide a substitute for economic theory by focusing on the institutional context and social embeddedness of economic action, But whereas the institutional economists can build on the work of Old Institutional Economists like Thorstein Veblen and Clarence Ayres, New Economic Sociology sharply distinguishes itself from its intellectual ancestors, and in particular from the economic sociology of Talcott Parsons. In this article, economic sociology and its relationship with institutional economics will be investigated. The American sociologist Parsons is a useful starting point for this exploration for a number of reasons. In the first place, Parsons was trained in both institutional economics and in sociology. Secondly, he was most influential for the further development of economic sociology in the United States. Finally, Parsons became highly interested in the relationship between economics and sociology in his early work. In fact, his attempt to establish a sociological theory that was clearly distinguishable from economics, directly led him to formulate a thorough critique of institutional economics. Parsons' main argument was that sociology, or, for that matter, the analysis of the institutions of economic life, should be a complement to rather than a substitute for mainstream economics. In the debate between neoclassical economists and institutional economists that was going on in the 1930s, he therefore sided with the former: Parsons basically sympathized with orthodox, marginalist economic theory of his day, and mostly with its view on the subject matter of economics. Following the definition of economics put forward by Lionel Robbins, Parsons argued that sociology should study the ultimate ends, or the value factor of social action, whereas economics should study the means. Therefore, Parsons fiercely opposed institutional economics which studied institutions as the embodiment of values. …


The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of the brand dimension of perception of quality, brand image, and integrated marketing communications towards attitude and subsequent influence on consumer interest in university scope. The study aims to analyze the role of college brand from the perspective of high school students in Indonesia as a developing country. The survey was conducted on 397 students. Data analysis and testing of the integrated model proposed the use of Structural Equation Modeling. The results of the analysis show that there is a brand influence for the dimension of quality perception, brand image, integrated marketing communications towards the interest of the college. The three dimensions of the brand have a positive effect on interest to college. There is an insignificant influence from the perception dimension of quality to interest, while other dimensions have a significant effect on student interest to college. These results provide an overview for the college management to develop the institutional brand strategy because this study uses a sample of high school students as a true college consumer. Empirically, the results of this study indicate that consumers of higher education in Indonesia, i.e. high school students, assess the brand of college, that leads to a positive attitude based on the significance of the brand. Furthermore, there is a positive and significant influence on attitudes toward student interest for college election.


Cross-dialect differences might be restricted to prosodic properties, but language dialects can also differ at the segmental level affecting vowel and/or consonantal sound repertoires. Examining infants' ability for crossdialectal discrimination can be informative about the early availability of cues other than rhythm or intonation. Preliminary data from five-month-old Catalanlearning infants exposed to the Eastern variant of this language spoken in Barcelona revealed their ability to differentiate it from the Western dialect, which differs in the number of vowels occurring in unstressed positions. In order to disentangle the effects of rhythm from those of segmental statistics, vowel distribution and rhythmic patterns of the utterances used in the discrimination experiment were analyzed. Results show that vowel metrics, rather than global rhythm metrics, are most successful at classifying the utterances into these two dialects. Information about the distribution of vowels in the native dialect might thus be available early in development and facilitate dialectal discrimination.


Recently, the potential of metamaterials and phononic crystals to cope with conflicting requirements for obtaining lightweight structures with desirable noise and vibration properties has been demonstrated. These, often periodic, structures are commonly studied based on their representative unit cell (UC) of which the vibro-acoustic performance is examined by means of their wave propagation, visualized by dispersion curves. Typically, the UC is discretized using a finite element technique to capture the possibly complex geometry. This leads to a high computation cost for the dispersion curve calculation which can be strongly reduced by applying modal-based model order reduction techniques such as the (generalized) Bloch mode synthesis (GBMS). In this paper, the choice of the UC is shown to have an impact on the dispersion curve calculation time. Moreover, the efficiency of GBMS strongly depends on the UC choice. The highest reduction in computation time is accomplished when the number of boundary degrees-of-freedom is limited.