We analyze a criterion which guarantees that the ground states of certain many-body systems are stable under perturbations. Specifically, we consider PEPS, which are believed to provide an efficient description, based on local tensors, for the low energy physics arising from local interactions. In order to assess stability in the framework of PEPS, one thus needs to understand how physically allowed perturbations of the local tensor affect the properties of the global state. In this paper, we show that a restricted version of the local topological quantum order (LTQO) condition [Michalakis and Pytel, Commun. Math. Phys. 322, 277 (2013)] provides a checkable criterion which allows us to assess the stability of local properties of PEPS under physical perturbations. We moreover show that LTQO itself is stable under perturbations which preserve the spectral gap, leading to nontrivial examples of PEPS which possess LTQO and are thus stable under arbitrary perturbations.


The small dispersion limit of the focusing nonlinear Schrödinger equation (NLS) exhibits a rich structure of sharply separated regions exhibiting disparate rapid oscillations at microscopic scales. The non‐self‐adjoint scattering problem and ill‐posed limiting Whitham equations associated to focusing NLS make rigorous asymptotic results difficult. Previous studies have focused on special classes of analytic initial data for which the limiting elliptic Whitham equations are wellposed. In this paper we consider another exactly solvable family of initial data,the family of square barriers,ψ 0(x) = qχ[−L,L] for real amplitudes q. Using Riemann‐Hilbert techniques, we obtain rigorous pointwise asymptotics for the semiclassical limit of focusing NLS globally in space and up to an O(1) maximal time. In particular, we show that the discontinuities in our initial data regularize by the immediate generation of genus‐one oscillations emitted into the support of the initial data. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case in which the genus structure of the semiclassical asymptotics for focusing NLS have been calculated for nonanalytic initial data. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


Toothpastes are the most universally accepted form of fluoride delivery for caries prevention. To provide anti-caries benefits, they must be able to release fluoride during the time of tooth brushing or post brushing into the oral cavity. However, there is no standard accepted procedure to measure how much fluoride in a toothpaste may be (bio) available for release. The European Organization for Caries Research proposed and supported a workshop with experts in fluoride analysis in toothpastes and representatives from industry. The objective of the workshop was to discuss issues surrounding fluoride analysis in toothpaste and reach consensus on terminology and best practices, wherever the available evidence allowed it. Participants received a background paper and heard presentations followed by structured discussion to define the problem. The group also reviewed evidence on the validity, reliability and feasibility of each technique (namely chromatography and fluoride electroanalysis) and discussed their strengths and limitations. Participants were able to reach a consensus on terminology and were also able to identify and summarize the advantages and disadvantages of each technique. However, they agreed that most currently available methods were developed for regulatory agencies several decades ago, utilizing the best available data from clinical trials then, but require to be updated. They also agreed that although significant advances to our understanding of the mechanism of action of fluoride in toothpaste have been achieved over the past 4 decades, this clearly is an extraordinarily complex subject and more work remains to be done.


This study is aimed at assessing the vaccination coverage of visually impaired adults and their socio-demographic characteristics. Quantitative, exploratory and descriptive research, involving 41 visually impaired adults in an association of the blind in Fortaleza, CE, between February and May/2011. For data collection semi-structured questionnaire was used with these variables: name, gender, schooling and vaccination status. The socio-demographic characteristics revealed that the visually impaired were mainly male (63.41%); between 20 and 49 years of age (95.92%) and secondary education level (79.92%). Intervals of confidence according to most of the people with such impairment were vaccinated with the double adult and triple viral. It was concluded that they did not receive a Vaccination Card suitable for their reading, so they are partially immunized and they are susceptible to immune preventable diseases. Health and mainly nursing professionals need to take intervention measures, establishing plans of actions focused on the main prevention measures.


Over the past decades several approaches for schedulability analysis have been proposed for both uni-processor and multi-processor real-time systems. Although different techniques are employed, very little has been put forward in using formal specifications, with the consequent possibility for misinterpretations or ambiguities in the problem statement. Using a logic based approach to schedulability analysis in the design of hard real-time systems eases the synthesis of correct-by-construction procedures for both static and dynamic verification processes. In this paper we propose a novel approach to schedulability analysis based on a timed temporal logic with time durations. Our approach subsumes classical methods for uni-processor scheduling analysis over compositional resource models by providing the developer with counter-examples, and by ruling out schedules that cause unsafe violations on the system. We also provide an example showing the effectiveness of our proposal.


Abstract The introduction and expansion of rapid rail transportation in Great Britain helped transform sea fishing and make fresh fish a new commodity of mass consumption. In agriculture the rail network greatly facilitated the shift from mixed cereal farming to dairy farming. To demonstrate the timing and extent of these changes in food production this article blends history and geography to create a spatial history of the subject. Using the computational tools of GIS and text mining, spatial history charts the expanding geography and size of the fresh fish industry and documents the growing concern among fishermen of over-fishing. In agricultural, huge flows of cheap wheat from the United states caused a crisis in British wheat farming, forcing many farmers to convert arable land to pasture for use in dairy farming. Given the growing demand for fresh milk in cities and increased availability of rapid rail transport in rural areas, dairy farming replaced wheat farming in outlying counties such as Wiltshire, the example examined here.


The need for a consistent and reliable calculation of thermodynamic property of refrigerants has been a topic of research since the past decade. This paper reports a study of various cubic equations of state (EOS) for a refrigerant to be used in automotive applications. Thermodynamic properties of refrigerant 2,3,3,3-tetrafluoropropene (HFO1234yf) using three different cubic equations of state, i.e. Peng-Robinson (PR), Yu-Lu (YL) and Guo-Du (GD), are modeled, compared and analyzed. A generic technique applicable to any fluid based on the concept of departure functions is employed. The thermodynamic properties generated using each cubic equation is validated against data from most acceptable NIST-REFPROP database. The PR and YL equations are found to be far more accurate and than Gu-Du equation of state in the operating region of a vehicle. The maximum error in vapor pressure and saturated liquid density is found to be 0.62 % and 0.19 % respectively using co-relations developed by Leck. The maximum error of less than 0.4 % in vapor enthalpy and entropy, using PR and YL equations make them an attractive alternative to NIST tables. The GD method without parameter tuning is not suggested for use through this study. Our studies show that error increases as we move away from the saturated region and maximum around the critical point. We propose an optimal set of simple thermodynamic models for use in vehicular applications. These models are computationally less expensive and hence an advantage. Future work involves using these thermodynamic models at a vehicular level for refrigeration cycle simulation.


Seed predation is an important process governing the dynamics of many plant popula- tions. We assessed seed mortality due to predation in the seagrass Posidonia australis by identifying predators and quantifying predation events using underwater video cameras, laboratory and field observations, and field tethering experiments in shallow-water habitats off Rottnest Island, Western Australia in 2003 (2 sites) and 2004 (5 sites). We assessed 4 dominant habitats: within seagrass mead- ows of (1) P. australis, (2) Amphibolis antarctica and (3) Halophila ovalis, and on (4) unvegetated sand. Video analysis and field and laboratory observations showed that at least 6 different crustacean taxa were seed predators — the portunid crabs Nectocarcinus integrifrons and an unidentified portu- nid similar to Thalamita crenata, the majid Naxia aurita, the isopod Cymodoce sp., and the hermit crabs Paguristes purpureantennatus and Calcinus dapsiles — with N. integrifrons and Cymodoce sp. being the principal seed predators. Various species of fishes were observed approaching (but never eating) seeds in the video analysis, and none appeared to be seed predators. In 2003, daily seed pre- dation rates were dramatically higher in A. antarctica beds than in other habitats at Parker Point (mean 63% d -1 compared to means of <20% d -1 for the other habitats), but not at Nancy Cove, the only other site studied in 2003. In 2004, daily seed predation rates were higher in Posidonia australis (40 to 73% d -1 ) and A. antarctica (36 to 85% d -1 ) beds than in H. ovalis (9% d -1 ) beds and unvege- tated sand (3 to 13% d -1 ) at all 5 sites studied. Logistic regression showed an approximately 20-fold increased chance of a predation event occurring within a 24 h period in P. australis and A. antarctica beds compared to unvegetated sand, but no increase in predation in the H. ovalis beds compared to sand. Although predation rates varied among sites and years, patterns among habitats were gener- ally consistent. P. australis and A. antarctica, the 2 seagrass species with structurally complex canopies, had much higher rates of seed predation than the habitats with less structure, i.e. H. ovalis and bare sand, which may provide insufficient refuge for seed predators. These results may have important consequences for plant demographics and genetic structuring of local populations. View- ing seagrass seed dispersal strategies in the context of faunal-dependent predation processes, rather than simply in terms of plant-plant competitive interactions, may provide a better understanding of seagrass spatial distributions and successional dynamics.


Objectives Proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) induced by angiotensin II (Ang II) plays a vital role in the pathogenesis of hypertension. In the present study, the effect of reinioside C, a main active ingredient of Polygalafallax Hemsl, on proliferation of VSMCs induced by Ang II was investigated. Methods Cell proliferation was measured by two methods; the DNA synthesis and cell cycle were analysed by BrdU marking and flow cytometry. Intracellular ROS level were determined by measuring the oxidative conversion of cell permeable H2DCF to DCF in fluorospectrophotometer. NADPH oxidase subunits (p22phox, gp91phox), AP-1 subunits (c-fos, c-jun) and c-myc were evaluated by real time PCR. ERK1/2 and IkB-a were measured by western-blot. The electrophoretic mobility shift assay for determining the NF-kB DNA-binding activity. Results The results showed that reinioside C attenuated Ang II-induced NADPH oxidase mRNA expression, generation of ROS, ERK1/2 phosphorylation and activation of NF-kB as well as mRNA expression of AP-1 and c-myc in VSMCs in a concentration-dependent manner. These effects of Ang II were also inhibited by diphenyleneiodonium (the NADPHoxidase inhibitor), PD98059 (the ERK1/2 inhibitor) and pyrollidinedithiocarbamate (the NF-kB inhibitor). Conclusions These result suggest reinoside C attenuates AngII-induced proliferation of VSMC via inhibiting NADPH oxidase- ROS- ERK1/2-NF-kB -AP-1 pathway.


Accelerating maturation of greenhouse tomatoes at the end of the growing season permits to save energy and to reduce the quantity of unripe tomatoes. Indeed, at the end of the cropping season, several kg m-2 of tomatoes do not reach a degree of maturity permitting them to be sold. In Switzerland, it was possible to accelerate the ripening of tomatoes by applying ethephon, a product which releases ethylene. Since August 2014, this product is no longer authorized, in Switzerland. An alternative is the application of ethylene, a naturally occurring hormone, directly in the greenhouse. In collaboration with the company Carbagas, Agroscope tested the effect of ethylene application on tomato ripening. The trials were conducted in 2012 and 2013 in two identical compartments of a Venlo greenhouse. In one compartment, ethylene was injected at a concentration of 10 ppm during nine or ten nights. The other compartment served as control. In 2012, tomatoes 'Levanzo', 'Komeett' and 'Endeavour' were planted and in 2013 'Endeavour'. In average over the two years, the application of ethylene enabled to harvest 1.5 truss m-2 or 0.75 kg m-2 (1.5% of the total yield) more compared to the control compartment. The quality of tomatoes at harvest (acidity, firmness and total soluble substances) was only slightly influenced by the addition of ethylene. Economically, such an application seems profitable. Registration for the application of ethylene in greenhouse is in progress in Switzerland.


The law relating to jury trials is diverse in its sources and by no means consistent in its content. This article examines aspects of the law relating to jury trials and the extent to which the verdict of a jury in a criminal trial may be challenged on appeal because of defects in the way the trial was conducted or the manner of taking its verdict. The relevant law may conveniently be examined in a sequence corresponding to the course of the trial: the selection of the jury; the hearing of the case; the jury's consideration of the issue of guilt or innocence, and the rendering of its verdict.


A new troodontid dinosaur, Xixiasaurus henanensis gen. et sp. nov., from the Upper Cretaceous Majiacun Formation of the Xixia Basin, Henan Province, is erected, based on a partial skull. It is characterized by bearing 22 maxillary teeth, a distinct opening on the lateral surface of the base of nasal process of the premaxilla, the rostral end of the upper jaw forming a tapered U-shape, and the mandibular symphyseal region slightly inflected medially. Xixiasaurus is most closely related to the Mongolian Byronosaurus among troodontids. Byronosaurus, Urbacodon, and Xixiasaurus may form a new clade, suggesting an endemic radiation of troodontids across Asia, including multiple taxa without dental serrations. The discovery of Xixiasaurus in the Xixia Basin may imply that the Xixiasaurus-bearing Majiacun Formation is Campanian in age.


OBJECTIVE Glucagon-like peptide I(7–36) (GLP-I) amide, an endogenous incretin, has been identified as a potential adjunct to the treatment of NIDDM and has been studied following intravenous and subcutaneous injection. A mucoadhesive buccal GLP-I tablet containing 119 nmol has been developed to provide transmucosal absorption as a possible alternative to injection treatment. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Eight healthy volunteers received a single tablet under fasting conditions in this randomized double-blind placebo-controlled study. A total GLP-I immunoreactivity was measured using COOH-terminal radioimmunoassay (RIA) (total peptide activity) and NH2-terminal RIA (active, nondegraded peptide). RESULTS The mean (± SE) peak GLP-I concentration was 117 ± 19 pmol/l and occurred 30 ± 4 min after application. The mean placebo-adjusted area under curve was 8,145 ± 873 pmol · min−1 · l−1, consistent with a relative bioavailability of 7% versus intravenous injection and 47% versus subcutaneous injection. The levels of active peptide increased in parallel with total GLP-I. Half-life of peptide activity after buccal administration was 27 and 24 min measured with COOH-terminal and NH2-terminal RIA, respectively. Placebo adjusted insulin concentrations increased to a peak of 252 ± 57 pmol/l, glucose decreased 1.4 ± 0.2 mmo/l, and glucagon decreased 17 ± 3 ng/l, consistent with the increase in plasma GLP-I concentrations. CONCLUSIONS Therapeutic plasma levels of GLP-I in humans were achieved after a single buccal tablet. No increased degradation of GLP-I was found in the buccal mucosa compared to subcutaneous tissue. This alternative treatment form may be feasible in in the future for NIDDM.


Laser scanning microscopy allows for three-dimensional imaging of cells with molecular specific labeling. However the spatial resolution of optical microscopy is fundamentally limited by the diffraction of light. In the last two decades many techniques have been introduced to enhance the resolution of laser scanning microscopes. However most of these techniques impose strong constraints on the specimen or rely on complex optical systems. These constraints limit the applicability of resolution improvement to various imaging modalities and sample types. To overcome these limitations, we introduce here a novel approach, which we called Switching LAser Mode (SLAM) microscopy, to enhance resolution and contrast in laser scanning microscopy. SLAM microscopy relies on subtracting images obtained with dark and bright modes, and exploits the smaller dimensions of the dark spot of the azimuthally polarized TE 01 mode. With this approach, resolution is improved by a factor of two in confocal microscopy. The technique is not based on complex nonlinear processes and thus requires laser power similar to that used in conventional imaging, minimizing photo-damage. The flexibility of the approach enables retrofitting in commercial confocal and two-photon microscopes and opens avenues for resolution enhancement in fluorescence-independent microscopy.


Children's early learning environments (i.e., home and child care) influence their school readiness, and parent's investments in these environments help shape children's experiences. Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study - Birth cohort (ECLS-B), a nationally representative sample of children born in 2001, this study investigates the relationships between parents' academic-related beliefs and expectations and their parenting investments in early learning environments (i.e., use center-based care, quality of child care learning environment, preference for care that prepares children for kindergarten, parent involvement, and quality of the home learning environment). Social exchange and social equity theories are used to frame the study. A series of hierarchical linear regression models indicates that parents' educational expectations are predictive of most indicators of investment except for parent involvement, whereas parents' beliefs about their child's readiness for school were predictive of parents' choice of quality of child care learning environment. The implications of these results for programs aimed towards parents as well as for further research are discussed.


Background:The objectives of this study were to describe the prevalence and risk factors for HPV infection among HIV-infected young women receiving their first quadrivalent HPV (HPV-6, -11, -16, and -18) vaccine dose. Methods:We recruited 16- to 23-year-old women from 14 sites for an HPV vaccine trial. At the first visit, they completed a questionnaire and were tested for cervicovaginal HPV DNA (41 types) and HPV serology (4 vaccine types). Factors associated with any HPV, type-specific HPV, and high-risk (cancer-associated) HPV infections were identified using univariate and multivariable logistic regression. Results:The mean age of participants (N = 99) was 21.4 years, 30.3% were on antiretroviral therapy, 74.7% were positive for ≥1 HPV DNA type, 53.5% for ≥1 high-risk type, 12.1% for HPV-16, and 5.1% for HPV-18. Most were HPV DNA negative and seronegative for HPV-16 (55.6%) and HPV-18 (73.7%); 45.5% were HPV DNA negative and seronegative for both HPV-16 and -18. Three variables were associated with high-risk HPV DNA in multivariable analysis: non-Hispanic black versus Hispanic ethnicity (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]: 7.06, 95% CI: 1.63 to 30.5), HIV viral load ≥ 400 versus <400 copies/mL (AOR: 3.47, 95% CI: 1.28 to 9.43), and frequency of vaginal sex in the past 90 days (AOR: 5.82, 95% CI: 1.30 to 26.11 for ≥6 vs 0 times). Conclusions:The prevalence of ≥1 HPV type was high in these young women, demonstrating the importance of vaccinating before sexual initiation. However, most women were HPV DNA negative and seronegative for high-risk vaccine-type HPV infection, supporting vaccination of sexually experienced HIV-positive young women.


Between the years 1775-1815, there existed in the chief harbour of Newfoundland a religious society called the Dissenting Church of Christ at St. John's. Although dissent in Newfoundland history has usually meant those of the Wesleyan or Methodist persuasion, the congregation at St. John's founded by John Jones, a sergeant of the Royal Artillery, in the summer of 1775, belonged to an older dissent, known as Independent or Congregational. What was somewhat unique about this congregation was the fact that, in an age when dissenters (to use the terminology of eighteenth century England) were divided, bitterly in many cases, between Presbyterian, Congregational, Baptist, and Methodist, all the dissenters of St. John's worshipped together in the same meeting house during the years under study. After an initial period of persecution, the dissenters of St. John's won the right to worship and perform the sacraments from a reluctant governor, well in advance of Governor Campbell's proclamation of religious liberty in 1785. The subject is examined against the background of dissent, in England and New England, with a comparison of events in Nova Scotia, as well as the many social changes taking place in St. John's during these years of war. The question of the number of dissenters in Newfoundland before the founding of the congregation in 1775 is also explored. Besides the principal events in the life of the congregation, its struggle for legal recognition, the building of the meeting houses in 1777 and 1789, and the six short ministries that followed the death of John Jones in 1800; the relations between the other two churches in St. John's, the Church of England mission founded 1699 and the Roman Catholic chapel founded in 1785, are considered. More particularly, the cause of Methodism, which was to outdistance and overshadow older dissent in Newfoundland as it did in every part of the English speaking world, is examined in depth. The history of dissent of St. John's cannot be understood without reference to the meeting house at Poole, Dorsetshire, and the person of Samuel Greatheed. The link which was first thought to be of the Fishery turned out to be of the Faith.


Sedimentary rhythmites of siltstone and fine sandstone from late Precambrian (c. 650–800 Ma) glaciogenic formations in South Australia are interpreted as distal ebb-tidal deposits that record variability in the velocity and range of palaeo-ebb tides. Variations in lamina thickness encode a full spectrum of palaeotidal cycles, including semidiurnal, diurnal, fortnightly and monthly tidal cycles as well as the lunar apsides (perigee) and nodal cycles. A half-yearly oscillation is attributable largely to a beat between the fortnightly tidal cycles of luni-solar conjunction and lunar declination; the lunar nodal cycle is discernible as an amplitude modulation of this beat oscillation. The data allow determination of the Earth's palaeorotation and the past dynamics of the Earth-Moon system with an accuracy previously unattainable for the Precambrian. The late Precambrian (c. 650 Ma) year contained 13.1 (±0.5) lunar months and c. 400 (±20) days, and the late Precambrian lunar month c. 30.5 (±1.5) days. These values suggest an average equivalent phase lag near 3° since late Precambrian time rather than the present value of 6°. The period of 19.5 (±0.5) years determined for the lunar nodal cycle c. 650 Ma ago indicates a lunar distance 96.9 (±1.7)% of the present distance. The low rate of lunar recession since late Precambrian time revealed by the rhythmite data militates against a close approach of the Moon during the Proterozoic. Precambrian sedimentary rhythmites may hold a key to the early history of the Earth's rotation.


Isoprene is a volatile and climate-altering hydrocarbon with an atmospheric concentration similar to that of methane. It is well established that marine algae produce isoprene; however, until now there was no specific information about marine isoprene sinks. Here we demonstrate isoprene consumption in samples from temperate and tropical marine and coastal environments, and furthermore show that the most rapid degradation of isoprene coincides with the highest rates of isoprene production in estuarine sediments. Isoprene-degrading enrichment cultures, analysed by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and 454 pyrosequencing of the 16S rRNA gene and by culturing, were generally dominated by Actinobacteria, but included other groups such as Alphaproteobacteria and Bacteroidetes, previously not known to degrade isoprene. In contrast to specialist methane-oxidizing bacteria, cultivated isoprene degraders were nutritionally versatile, and nearly all of them were able to use n-alkanes as a source of carbon and energy. We therefore tested and showed that the ubiquitous marine hydrocarbon-degrader, Alcanivorax borkumensis, could also degrade isoprene. A mixture of the isolates consumed isoprene emitted from algal cultures, confirming that isoprene can be metabolized at low, environmentally relevant concentrations, and suggesting that, in the absence of spilled petroleum hydrocarbons, algal production of isoprene could maintain viable populations of hydrocarbon-degrading microbes. This discovery of a missing marine sink for isoprene is the first step in obtaining more robust predictions of its flux, and suggests that algal-derived isoprene provides an additional source of carbon for diverse microbes in the oceans.


Immunotherapy can be an effective treatment for metastatic cancer, but a significant subpopulation will not respond, likely due to the lack of antigenic mutations or the immune-evasive properties of cancer. Likewise, radiation therapy (RT) is an established cancer treatment, but local failures still occur. Clinical observations suggest that RT may expand the therapeutic reach of immunotherapy. We examine the immunobiologic and clinical rationale for combining RT and immunotherapy, two modalities yet to be used in combination in routine practice. Preclinical data indicate that RT can potentiate the systemic efficacy of immunotherapy, while activation of the innate and adaptive immune system can enhance the local efficacy of RT.


Whale shark tourism is an icon industry in Western Australia and a prominent example of successful ecotourism. In 2006, whale shark tour participants spent $6.0 million in the Ningaloo Coast region of Western Australia and added between $2.4 million and $4.6 million to the regional economy in direct expenditure. However, to date no research has been conducted on the predictors of whale shark tour participants' expenditure. In this article, we assess the importance of visitor expenditure for ecotourism, assess the predictors of the expenditure of whale shark tour participants and discuss how this information can contribute towards ecotourism goals. The data analysed here were collected through a survey distributed to participants between April and June 2006. We assess a range of variables for their relationship to individual expenditure per trip and determine that the duration of stay, household income, age, staying in a hotel, trip motivation and being from North America or Southeast Asia positively correlate with individual expenditure per trip. Group size and originating from Germany or the United Kingdom and Ireland negatively correlate with expenditure. In addition to identifying future steps, we also discuss the relevance of our finding that more motivated participants have a higher expenditure for ecotourism.


Standardized respiratory disease questionnaires (ATS-DLD-78) were administered to 5,686 adult women. Risk factors were evaluated by logistic analysis that adjusted for multiple potential confounding factors. Among current smokers, the number of cigarettes smoked per day was consistently the strongest risk factor for chronic cough, chronic phlegm, wheeze, and dyspnea. The odds ratios for these symptoms in a smoker of 25 or more cigarettes per day relative to a smoker of 1--14 cigarettes per day were 4.74, 4.21, 2.05, and 3.71, respectively. Ex-smokers showed risks between those of current and never smokers. Cigarette tar content was a significant independent risk factor for chronic cough (p = 0.005) and of borderline significance for chronic phlegm (p = 0.077). High tar cigarette smokers in this population (average, 22 mg) had an odds ratio of 2.01 for chronic cough and 1.59 for chronic phlegm relative to low tar cigarette smokers (average, 7 mg). The effect of cigarette tar was linear and independent of cigarettes smoked per day. Smoke inhalation was a significant risk factor for chronic cough (p = 0.029) and for chronic phlegm (p = 0.038). Tar content and smoke inhalation were not significant risk factors for wheeze or dyspnea. Cigarette particulate content (tar) appears to be causally linked to cough and phlegm production., but the association of cigarette smoking and symptoms of wheeze and dyspnea may be more strongly related to the vapor phase of cigarette smoke.


The statistics are staggering. The average age of first alcohol use is 12, and the average age of first drug use is 13. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, 93 percent of all teenagers have some experience with alcohol by the end of their senior year of high school, and 6 percent drink daily. Almost two-thirds of all American young people try illicit drugs before they finish high school. One out of sixteen seniors smokes marijuana daily, and 20 percent have done so for at least a month sometime in their lives. But Americans have changed their minds about drugs. A Gallup poll released on the 20th anniversary of Woodstock showed that drugs, once an integral part of the counterculture, are considered to be the number-one problem in America. Two decades before, young people tied drugs to their "search for peace, love and good times." But by 1989, Americans associated drugs with "danger, crime and despair." A similar conclusion could be found among the nation's teenagers. A Gallup poll of 500 teens found that 60 percent said concern over drug abuse was their greatest fear–outranking fear of AIDS, alcohol, unemployment, and war.


Whole Foods and Wild Oats were both natural- and organic-food stores that competed for similar customers on values such as high-quality and healthy products, excellent customer service, knowledge of products, and an enjoyable shopping experience. In February 2007, Whole Foods announced that it would purchase a smaller, yet formidable competitor, Wild Oats. There was tremendous geographic complementarity involved: The merger would give Whole Foods the largest footprint within the natural- and organic-grocery industry in North America.


Water management systems have been typically designed and operated under the assumption of stationarity. This assumption may no longer be valid under climate change scenarios. Water availability may change dramatically at some locations due mainly to possible impacts of changes in temperature and precipitation over streamflow volume and seasonality, adding pressure to water supply systems. It has been shown that snowmelt-dominated basins are particularly sensitive to such changes. Hence, human settlements and economic activities developed in such areas are particularly vulnerable. The Maipo river basin in Central Chile – where more than 6 million people live – is one of these areas. We used a calibrated water resources model of the Maipo river basin, in order to propose a general framework to evaluate adaptation options at the urban level. When comparing a mid-21st century period to a historic control period, results for three selected performance metrics showed a decrease in water system performance. Adaptation measures were evaluated in their capacity to maintain current water security standards. Two alternatives stand as highly effective options to this end: water rights purchases and improvements in water use efficiency. The political and economic costs of implementing these options, which could deem them unviable, are not considered here but are worthy of further research.


Team structures---roles, norms, and interaction patterns---define how teams work. HCI researchers have theorized ideal team structures and built systems nudging teams towards them, such as those increasing turn-taking, deliberation, and knowledge distribution. However, organizational behavior research argues against the existence of universally ideal structures. Teams are diverse and excel under different structures: while one team might flourish under hierarchical leadership and a critical culture, another will flounder. In this paper, we present DreamTeam: a system that explores a large space of possible team structures to identify effective structures for each team based on observable feedback. To avoid overwhelming teams with too many changes, DreamTeam introduces multi-armed bandits with temporal constraints: an algorithm that manages the timing of exploration--exploitation trade-offs across multiple bandits simultaneously. A field experiment demonstrated that DreamTeam teams outperformed self-managing teams by 38%, manager-led teams by 46%, and teams with unconstrained bandits by 41%. This research advances computation as a powerful partner in establishing effective teamwork.


This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and Innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 675392.


Accordingly to Wagner, "Dwellings stand as the concrete expressions of a complex interaction among cultural skills and norms, climatic conditions and the potentialities of natural materials". This study, beginning with an enquiry into the way trans-national houses are the physical expression of interacting cultural factors, provides a theoretical framework grounded on cross-cultural studies for understanding the way cultural needs have influenced the form of the archetypal post WWII 'house on a quarter-acre block' built in Brisbane by Italian migrants.
The findings reveal that while the architectural form of the Italian Trans-national houses built in Brisbane is influenced by the need to continue architectural cultural traditions in the host country, the spatial distribution of the artifact was influenced by socio-cultural factors and urban fabric, from both the native and hosting built environment, in the attempt of re-establishing and enhancing the native way of life.


Since the World Trade Center attacks in New York on September 11, 2001, Europe has been plagued by Islamist attacks that have taken many lives and disrupted many services. Considerable attention has been paid to radical Islamist attacks on the United Kingdom, France, and Germany, but far less focus has been on the Islamist extremist impact on the rest of Europe. This book warns all Europeans, but Middle Easterners as well, that they are not immune to terror. That terror is confined to Jews and Israel is a myth. Moslem extremist attacks have taken place against other Moslem nations - as well as European nations in which Jewish influence or Israeli support is negligible. The waves of Muslim recrimination against the West have given rise to internal struggles within the Arab world played out in terrorist acts.Moslem brotherhoods have defined a global war against other religions, nations, and cultures that strays from the principles of fundamentalism - a cultural and military jihad. Just where religious identity supervenes national identity has become a critical turning point. Israeli's book shows that the line between moderates and extremists within the Islamic fold is vague, ambiguous, and in certain situations non-existent. It draws attention to polls and public sentiments of the Islamic faithful, and emphasizes the Islamic attack on modernization and its cultural sources.This timely volume is addressed to those in the West who are not accustomed to thinking in apocalyptic terms. Israeli provides painstaking details of European responses to Islamist challenges, particularly those who prefer pragmatic compliance rather than response. He demonstrates that Islamic extremism continues to grow in the heartland of the European world. This is neither an optimistic nor pessimistic book; its disturbing message may be a wake up call to some. It is necessary read for those who want to go beyond news, opting for a more intellectual and comprehensive diet.


Brainstem gliomas constitute 10-20% of all pediatric CNS tumors. Brain stem astrocytomas are usually fibrillary. Based on their appearance they can be focal, exophytic, cervico-medullary and focal tectal gliomas. Malignant gliomas are characterized by the infiltrative growth of malignant cells and they grow along the white matter tracts. Rarely, an extension of a tumor may be seen along the cranial nerve, simulating a nerve sheath tumor. We report a case of a brainstem glioma in a 5 year old female patient, extending along left seventh-eighth cranial nerves into the left internal auditory canal.


Claude Ferguson, who in his own words "met the test of his lifetime," deviated from the norms of the U.S. Forest Service articulated by Herbert Kaufman in The Forest Ranger to became a government guerrilla against the organization he loved. This profile highlights several enduring themes: the inherent tensions between democracy and bureaucracy, the many masters of career bureaucrats, how organizational culture can both empower and constrain employees, and what it means to act responsibly, ethically, and with integrity as a public servant. In addition, this case demonstrates how the Forest Service has evolved since Kaufman's classic study. First, Kaufman depicted forest rangers as "valuing the organization more than they value[d] getting their own way," yet this profile underscores that public servants do not check their worldviews, mores, or ethics at the door. Second, Kaufman described the Forest Service's efforts to routinize the decisions of its employees in an effort to prevent allegiances to, or co-optation by, local populations. Yet in this Administrative Profile, Ferguson's hidden strategic tactics co-opted local stakeholders to enlist their support for a cause he deeply felt was right and just.


Many important risky projects are characterized by stochastic processes embedded in non-linear, feedback structures with delays. System dynamics models may be used to estimate the cash flow resulting from these projects. If these projects include managerial flexibility (real options), a correct financial evaluation of these cash flow requires the use of real options methodology. We adapt prior work on real options valuation in the decision analysis literature to develop a methodology that avoids the need to estimate a risk-adjusted discount rate for the project with options. We illustrate this approach with a model drawn from the wind power industry, which is characterized by numerous uncertainties and high managerial flexibility. We conclude with a discussion comparing this methodology to the previous methods and describe under what conditions each one might be a more appropriate choice.


Phenotypic variance results from variation in biological information possessed by individuals. Quantitative geneticists often strive to partition out all environmental variance to measure heritability. Behavioral biologists and ecologists however, require methods to integrate genetic and environmental components of inherited phenotypic variance in order to estimate the evolutionary potential of traits, which encompasses any form of information that is inherited. To help develop this integration, we build on the tools of quantitative genetics and offer the concept of 'inclusive heritability' which identifies and unifies the various mechanisms of information transmission across generations. A controversial component of non-genetic information is animal culture, which is the part of phenotypic variance inherited through social learning. Culture has the unique property of being transmitted horizontally and obliquely, as well as vertically. Accounting for cultural variation would allow us to examine a broader range of evolutionary mechanisms. Culture may, for instance, produce behavioral isolating mechanisms leading to speciation. To advance the study of animal culture, we offer a definition of culture that is rooted in quantitative genetics. We also offer four testable criteria to determine whether a trait is culturally inherited. These criteria may constitute a conceptual tool to study animal culture. We briefly discuss methods to partition out cultural variance. Several authors have recently called for 'modernizing the modern synthesis' by including non-genetic factors such as epigenetics and phenotypic plasticity in order to more fully explain phenotypic evolution. Here, we further propose to broaden the concept of inheritance by incorporating the cultural component of behavior. Applying the concept of inclusive heritability may advance the integration of multiple forms of inheritance into the study of evolution.


The processing of rhythmic events in music is influenced by the induced metrical structure. Two mechanisms underlying this may be temporal attending and temporal prediction. Temporal fluctuations in attentional resources may influence the processing of rhythmic events by heightening sensitivity at metrically strong positions. Temporal predictions may attenuate responses to events that are highly expected within a metrical structure. In the current study we aimed to disentangle these two mechanisms by examining responses to unexpected sounds, using intensity increments and decrements as deviants. Temporal attending was hypothesized to lead to better detection of deviants in metrically strong (on the beat) than weak (offbeat) positions due to heightened sensitivity on the beat. Temporal prediction was hypothesized to lead to best detection of increments in offbeat positions and decrements on the beat, as they would be most unexpected in these positions. We used a speeded detection task to measure detectability of the deviants under attended conditions (Experiment 1). Under unattended conditions (Experiment 2), we used EEG to measure the mismatch negativity (MMN), an ERP component known to index the detectability of unexpected auditory events. Furthermore, we examined the amplitude of the auditory evoked P1 and N1 responses, which are known to be sensitive to both attention and prediction. We found better detection of small increments in offbeat positions than on the beat, consistent with the influence of temporal prediction (Experiment 1). In addition, we found faster detection of large increments on the beat as opposed to offbeat (Experiment 1), and larger amplitude P1 responses on the beat as compared to offbeat, both in support of temporal attending (Experiment 2). As such, we showed that both temporal attending and temporal prediction shape our processing of metrical rhythm.


One overlooked and highly polysemous English noun phrase form is the bare singular, i.e. a null determiner with a singular count noun complement. Occurring in all grammatical positions, this constituent shape is used in English for multiple functions. Examination of naturally occurring English data shows the conditions under which bare singulars are used as generics (with a meaning like bare plurals), as components of a predicate conveying a stereotypical activity (with an indefi nite meaning), and as markers of an identifiable referent (like nouns with definite articles, demonstratives, and possessive determiners). While generic and indefinite meanings are well documented for bare forms, the reading that picks out an identifi able referent is unexpected for a bare nominal. This range of meaning-based distinctions suggests additional theoretical consequences for cross-linguistic noun interpretation and DP-internal syntactic structure.


Abstract Within the Circum-Rhodope Belt in northern Greece, Middle Triassic neritic carbonate metasediments are locally intercalated with quartz-feldspar-phyric metarhyolites. In the same belt, Upper Triassic pelagic lime-marl-layered metasediments are similarly intercalated with low-grade metamorphosed basalt, dolerite and minor andesite and trachydacite. We interpret these sequences as due to magmatism active during the rifting event that eventually led to the opening of the Vardar Ocean. Despite the overprint of Late Jurassic deformation and low greenschist metamorphism, peperitic textures produced by magma-wet sediment interaction are well preserved at the contacts between the silicic volcanic rocks and the originally wet unconsolidated neritic carbonate sediments, suggesting contemporaneous magmatism and sedimentation. The mafic and intermediate volcanic rocks lack peperitic textures at their contacts with the pelagic sedimentary rocks. Thin margin parallel banding in the sedimentary members of the sequence indicates thermally affected original contacts with the mafic volcanic rocks only locally and at a microscopic scale. The absence of peperite in this case is attributed to the consolidated state of the sediments at the time of the mafic magma emplacement.


Anita Brookner's narrative strategies as a fiction-writer grow directly out of her practices in her other profession as an art historian. Like her greater predecessor, Jane Austen—a moralist wrongly categorized as a miniaturist—Brookner both creates her own world and connects to a larger world in multiple ways. One of the chief linkages occurs through repeated evocations of the heritage of Western visual art. Her novels take place in a psychological landscape that opens limitlessly into an allegorical world through references, in particular, to European painting. Brookner thus ennobles and dignifies the tragic-comic sufferings of her characters as they re-enact the recognizable visual tropes found in images by Bellini, Dürer, Goya, and other masters. Unfortunately though, Brookner remains best known to the public through the continued circulation of the film version of Hotel du Lac, a 1986 BBC television adaptation that removes her work from the broader contexts of art history and moral allegory and confines it instead to the narrow realms of travelogue and social comedy.


The 2006 Green Chemistry Gordon Research Conference will mark the 10th anniversary of Green Chemistry GRCs. The GRC format, with its strong emphasis on discussion and interaction, has been especially suited to green chemistry which, more than most areas of chemistry research, depends on true interdisciplinarity for success. The ingenuity and innovation displayed by the green chemistry community in developing solutions to real manufacturing problems has been breathtaking. This success has been mirrored in the ten years of the Green Chemistry GRCs, and the 2006 conference will provide a glimpse at how green chemistry will develop over the next ten years.


We test the hypotheses that subsidies on hybrid seed change maize production, total household income, the severity of poverty, and relative deprivation among smallholder maize growers in Zambia. The analysis contributes to the literature by measuring the quantitative effects of seed (as compared to fertilizer) subsidies on indicators of household well-being rather than input demand. We apply a combination of econometric approaches to a nationally representative, balanced panel of smallholder maize-growing households, and invoke the chain rule to generate quantitative estimates of impacts per kg of subsidized seed. Our findings demonstrate that in the initial years of the program, subsidized seed enhanced the well-being of smallholder maize growers according to each indicator, but by small magnitudes. Simple calculations suggest high private and social benefit-cost ratios when benefits are measured in terms of household income, although magnitudes are sensitive to seed price and administrative costs. (This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)


Background Insect herbivory induces plant odors that attract herbivores' natural enemies. Assuming this attraction emerges from individual compounds, genetic control over odor emission of crops may provide a rationale for manipulating the distribution of predators used for pest control. However, studies on odor perception in vertebrates and invertebrates suggest that olfactory information processing of mixtures results in odor percepts that are a synthetic whole and not a set of components that could function as recognizable individual attractants. Here, we ask if predators respond to herbivore-induced attractants in odor mixtures or to odor mixture as a whole. Methodology/Principal Findings We studied a system consisting of Lima bean, the herbivorous mite Tetranychus urticae and the predatory mite Phytoseiulus persimilis. We found that four herbivore-induced bean volatiles are not attractive in pure form while a fifth, methyl salicylate (MeSA), is. Several reduced mixtures deficient in one component compared to the full spider-mite induced blend were not attractive despite the presence of MeSA indicating that the predators cannot detect this component in these odor mixtures. A mixture of all five HIPV is most attractive, when offered together with the non-induced odor of Lima bean. Odors that elicit no response in their pure form were essential components of the attractive mixture. Conclusions/Significance We conclude that the predatory mites perceive odors as a synthetic whole and that the hypothesis that predatory mites recognize attractive HIPV in odor mixtures is unsupported.


To combat the rise of "Prison-Based Gerrymandering", the New York State Assembly enacted a law requiring prisoners to be counted in their "home" districts. These laws changed the Census Bureau's "usual residence rule", which required the Bureau to count prisoners in their places of incarceration. While the law has been a firm step forward to combat prison gerrymandering, the law excludes from reapportionment prisoners who cannot provide a known address. This Note argues that New York has provided no legal justification for excluding prisoners from reapportionment, especially given the fact that there are many in similar situations who are counted. The Note also proposes some solutions to make sure that other states passing these reforms are not excluding prisoners from the census count for unwarranted reasons.


In the 1980s, anthropology set aside a focus on societies defined as radically 'other' to the anthropologists' own. There was little consensus at the time, however, about who might replace the other as the primary object of anthropological attention. In important respects, I argue, its replacement has been the suffering subject. Tracing this change, I consider how it addressed key problems of the anthropology of the other, but I also suggest that some strengths of earlier work – particularly some of its unique critical capacities – were lost in the transition. The conclusion considers how recent trends in anthropology might coalesce in a further shift, this one toward an anthropology of the good capable of recovering some of the critical force of an earlier anthropology without taking on its weaknesses.


InDesign CS5 opens the door to a new world: with the addition of exciting animation tools and deeper multimedia support. It's now a viable interactive authoring tool. Designers want to create engaging interactive content, but may resist making the transition from page layout to timeline-based thinking. But now it's much easier: InDesign CS5's new interactive features are intuitive and easy to learn. And once they've mastered those tools in the familiar world of InDesign, they'll find that Flash isn't scary after all. Designers already know how to add text, graphics, and geometric shapes to a page in InDesign, it's a short walk to adding interactive features. Before they know it, they're creating Flash content.


T he goal of the Nebraska National Institute of Food and Agriculture–Conservation Effects Assessment Project (NIFA–CEAP), Phase III, Central Platte Natural Resources District Project, Effectiveness of Irrigated Crop Management Practices in Reducing Groundwater Nitrate Concentrations, was to evaluate the effectiveness of documented farm management practices in lowering groundwater nitrate concentrations in a predominantly irrigated-corn watershed. The specific objectives included the following: 1. Analyze the trends in groundwater nitrate concentrations for the period of 1988 to 2006 2. Evaluate the effect of irrigation and nitrogen (N) inputs on groundwater nitrate concentrations using statistical approaches, including ArcGIS and cokriging and Bayesian Maximum Entropy 3. Evaluate the effects of crop rotation and conversion to sprinkler irrigation on groundwater nitrate concentrations using statistical covariate analysis 4. Assess the sensitivity of reductions in nitrate concentrations to management alternatives using statistical models 5. Assess the impact of uncontrollable (natural) variables on groundwater nitrate concentrations and overall effectiveness of management policies 6. Determine practices that can optimize reduction in leaching and improve groundwater quality 7. Compare groundwater nitrate concentrations and trends with those from less intensive spatial and temporal monitoring 8. Analyze the economic efficiency of the present policy in terms of cost per unit gain 9. Determine the impact of outlier producer behaviors on groundwater nitrate concentrations 10. Meet individually with producers who were slow to adopt identified practices (objective 6) to encourage acceptance and demonstrate appropriate practices on selected producers' fields 11. Evaluate producer adoption of identified practices after three years of targeted education 12. Disseminate results to stakeholders and decision makers through a variety of outreach mechanisms


Argument drop is commonly subject to the Empty Left Edge Condition, ELEC, requiring that the left edge of the clause not be spelled out. ELEC can be explained in terms of minimality, as an intervention effect (blocking context-linking of the null-argument). We argue that sensitivity to this effect is the most important 'pro drop parametric' factor and that there are no inherent or lexical differences between 'different types' of null-arguments. However, we also present striking evidence from Icelandic that emptiness conditions of this sort are operative in PF, a conclusion that suggests that much of 'syntax' in the traditional sense is actually morphosyntax or 'PF syntax', invisible to the semantic interface. If so, derivational crashes may occur (in the PF derivation), even though narrow syntax itself is crash-proof.


For 25 years the Robotics Toolbox for MATLAB® has been used for teaching and research worldwide. This paper describes its successor – the Robotics Toolbox for Python. More than just a port, it takes advantage of popular open-source packages and resources to provide platform portability, fast browser-based 3D graphics, quality documentation, fast numerical and symbolic operations, powerful IDEs, shareable and web-browseable notebooks all powered by GitHub and the open-source community. The new Toolbox provides well-known functionality for spatial mathematics (homogeneous transformations, quaternions, triple angles and twists), trajectories, kinematics (zeroth to second order), dynamics and a rich assortment of robot models. In addition, we've taken the opportunity to add new capabilities such as branched mechanisms, collision checking, URDF import, and interfaces to ROS. With familiar, simple yet powerful functions; the clarity of Python syntax; but without the complexity of ROS; users from beginner to advanced will find this a powerful open-source toolset for ongoing robotics education and research.


High dimensional mass and flow cytometry (HDCyto) experiments have become a method of choice for high throughput interrogation and characterization of cell populations.Here, we present an R-based pipeline for differential analyses of HDCyto data, largely based on Bioconductor packages. We computationally define cell populations using FlowSOM clustering, and facilitate an optional but reproducible strategy for manual merging of algorithm-generated clusters. Our workflow offers different analysis paths, including association of cell type abundance with a phenotype or changes in signaling markers within specific subpopulations, or differential analyses of aggregated signals. Importantly, the differential analyses we show are based on regression frameworks where the HDCyto data is the response; thus, we are able to model arbitrary experimental designs, such as those with batch effects, paired designs and so on. In particular, we apply generalized linear mixed models to analyses of cell population abundance or cell-population-specific analyses of signaling markers, allowing overdispersion in cell count or aggregated signals across samples to be appropriately modeled. To support the formal statistical analyses, we encourage exploratory data analysis at every step, including quality control (e.g. multi-dimensional scaling plots), reporting of clustering results (dimensionality reduction, heatmaps with dendrograms) and differential analyses (e.g. plots of aggregated signals).


Humans can usually detect emotional signs in other humans' facial expression and infer their underlying emotion. However, up to date, no satisfactory automatic method could quantitatively map facial expression attributes to real life emotional stimuli.

We have developed a method which enables to statistically relate a facial expression and the stimulus that aroused it. The results show that the probability of guessing the stimulus from features extracted from facial animation points (FAPs) is higher than the prior probability alone. That is, for the first time we are able to point out on a systematic approach for automatically relating facial expressions to emotional stimulus.


High-power supercontinuum spanning over more than an octave was generated using a high power femtosecond fiber laser amplifier and a multicore nonlinear photonic crystal fiber (PCF). Long multicore PCFs (as long as 20 m in our experiments) are shown to enable supercontinuum generation in an isolated fundamental supermode, with the manifold of other PCF modes suppressed due to the strong evanescent fields coupling between the cores, providing a robust 5.4 W coherent supercontinuum output with a high spatial and spectral quality within the range of wavelengths from 500 to 1700 nm.


TFTP is a very simple protocol used to transfer files. It is from this
that its name comes, Trivial File Transfer Protocol or TFTP. Each
nonterminal packet is acknowledged separately. This document describes
the protocol and its types of packets. The document also explains the
reasons behind some of the design decisions. [STANDARDS-TRACK]


Hedonic prices of locational attributes in urban land markets are determined by a process of spatial arbitrage that is similar to that which underpins the law of one price. If hedonic prices deviate from their spatial equilibrium values then individuals can benefit from changing locations. I examine whether the law holds for the hedonic price of rail access using a unique historical dataset for Berlin over the period 1890–1914, characterised by massive investment in the transport infrastructure. I estimate the hedonic price of rail access across multiple urban neighbourhoods and time periods to generate a panel dataset of hedonic price differences that I test for stationarity using a panel unit root test. Across multiple specifications I consistently fail to reject the null hypothesis of no unit root and accept the alternative hypothesis that the law holds. My estimates indicate a half-life for convergence to the law of one price that lies between 0.28 and 1.14 years. This result is consistent with spatial equilibrium.


Continual learning aims to enable machine learning models to learn a general solution space for past and future tasks in a sequential manner. Conventional models tend to forget the knowledge of previous tasks while learning a new task, a phenomenon known as catastrophic forgetting. When using Bayesian models in continual learning, knowledge from previous tasks can be retained in two ways: 1). posterior distributions over the parameters, containing the knowledge gained from inference in previous tasks, which then serve as the priors for the following task; 2). coresets, containing knowledge of data distributions of previous tasks. Here, we show that Bayesian continual learning can be facilitated in terms of these two means through the use of natural gradients and Stein gradients respectively.


Linear Methods are often used to compute approximate solutions to dynamic models, as these models often cannot be solved analytically. Linear methods are very popular, as they can easily be implemented. Also, they provide a useful starting point for understanding more elaborate numerical methods. It shall be described here first for the example of a simple real business cycle model, including how to easily generate the log-linearized equations needed before solving the linear system. For a general framework, formulas are provided for calculating the recursive law of motion. The algorithm described here is implemented with the "toolkit" programs available per


Investigation of the interaction between glyphosate (GLP) and soil minerals is essential for understanding GLP's fate in the environment. Whereas GLP–goethite binding has been discussed extensively, the impact of water as well as of different goethite surface planes has not been studied yet. In this contribution, periodic density functional theory-based molecular dynamics simulations are applied to explore possible binding mechanisms for GLP with three goethite surface planes (010, 001, and 100) in the presence of water. The investigation included several binding motifs of monodentate (M) and bidentate (B) type. It was found that the binding stability increasing in the order M@001 < M@010 < 2O+2Fe B@100 < M@100 < 1O+2Fe B@001 < 2O+1Fe B@010. This behavior has been traced to the presence of intramolecular H-bonds (HBs) in GLP, intermolecular HBs between GLP and water, GLP and goethite, and water and goethite. These interactions are accompanied by proton transfer from GLP to water and to goethite, and from water to goethite as well as water dissociation at the goethite surface. Further, it was observed that OH species can replace the adsorbed GLP at the goethite surface, which could explain the well-known drastic drop in the GLP adsorption at high pH. The present results highlight the role of water in the GLPgoethite interaction and provide a molecular level prospect on available experimental data.


Cyclophosphamide (CY) is the most extensively studied inhibitor of suppressor T lymphocyte (Ts) function. However, repeated administration of CY can abrogate sensitization. Therefore, we were interested in identifying noncytotoxic inhibitors of Ts function as adjuncts in the immunotherapy of Ts-inducing murine tumors. The effect of cimetidine (a histamine type 2 receptor antagonist) and diphenhydramine (a histamine type 1 receptor antagonist) on the Ts mediating tolerance to 2,4-dinitrofluorobenzene was studied. We report our data regarding the specific inhibition of Ts by cimetidine.


Abstract The straight field line mirror (SFLM) field with magnetic expanders beyond the confinement region is proposed as a compact device for transmutation of nuclear waste and power production. A design with reactor safety and a large fission-to-fusion energy multiplication is analyzed. Power production is predicted with a fusion Q = 0.15 and an electron temperature of ~500 eV. A fusion power of 10 MW may be amplified to 1.5 GW of fission power in a compact hybrid mirror machine. In the SFLM proposal, quadrupolar coils provide stabilization of the interchange mode, radio-frequency heating is aimed to produce a hot sloshing ion plasma, and magnetic coils are computed with an emphasis on minimizing holes in the fission blanket through which fusion neutrons could escape. Neutron calculations for the fission mantle show that nearly all fusion neutrons penetrate into the fission mantle. A scenario to increase the electron temperature with a strong ambipolar potential suggests that an electron temperature exceeding 1 keV could be reached with a modest density depletion by two orders in the expander. Such a density depletion is consistent with stabilization of the drift cyclotron loss cone mode.


Engaging students' lifeworlds and the concerns of their communities in globalised, semiotic and information societies is imperative with the complexity of multimodal communication (Lemke 2006) in the 'new media age' (Kress 2003). As youth continue to demonstrate their multiliteracies proficiency with new literacies emerging from Internet Communication Technologies (ICTs), education - particularly curriculum and instruction - remains largely focused around monomodal, print-only literacy practices, often ignoring their multiple voices. In New Times (Hall 1996), there has been much rhetoric about the role of education in equipping students for the future. Multiliteracies pedagogy allows individual teachers to reconceptualise pedagogy and curriculum thereby addressing adolescents' complex and demanding literacy needs (New London Group 1996). This paper presents new and emerging virtual contexts and environments for adolescent literacy instruction highlighting one teacher's curricular interruptions where Multiliteracies pedagogies replaced the progressive monomodal reading and writing workshop. In conclusion, new perspectives on research related to the education of teachers in the education in post-typographic societies of the 21st century.


Learn Pro Tools the way the pros do. Pro Tools 101: An Introduction to Pro Tools 10 is the official training package used in first-level certification courses for Pro Tools operators. Newly updated to cover the latest Pro Tools release, version 10, this new edition of the book is the fastest, most systematic introduction to learning the fundamentals of the world's most popular recording software. It will quickly and effectively brings new users up to speed on the basics, from understanding the Pro Tools file structure and interface to creating a session, recording audio and MIDI, importing media, editing, mixing, and more. The book includes hands-on projects, with accompanying source files on DVD, that drive home the lessons, laying the perfect foundation for becoming a Pro Tools expert. Whether you're learning on your own or pursuing formal Pro Tools certification through an Avid Authorized Training Partner, this book is the first step on the road to mastery of Pro Tools 10.


Measurement of chlorophyll concentration is gaining more-and-more importance in evaluating the status of the marine ecosystem. For wide areas monitoring a reliable architecture of wireless sensors network is required. In this paper, we present a network of smart sensors, based on ISO/IEC/IEEE 21451 suite of standards, for in situ and in continuous space-time monitoring of surface water bodies, in particular for seawater. The system is meant to be an important tool for evaluating water quality and a valid support to strategic decisions concerning critical environment issues. The aim of the proposed system is to capture possible extreme events and collect long-term periods of data.


In the present work, proton conducting solid polymer electrolyte have been prepared using PMMA and adipic acid (C6H10O4) by Solution Casting Technique. From the Magnitude Bode Plot, it has been observed that the Ohmic resistance dominates the impedance at the highest frequencies and it can be read from the high frequency horizontal plateau region. Argand plots of both pure PMMA and adipic acid added electrolyte are incomplete half semicircle suggesting the Non - Debye nature of the polymer electrolytes. At higher frequencies due to the periodic reversal of the electric field there is no excess ion diffusion in the field direction. The presence of long tail in the modulus plot may be due to the large capacitance associated with the electrodes.


The multicultural city of Melbourne, situated in the ecologically vulnerable state of Victoria, Australia, provides the research context for this qualitative study of the 'interfaith ecology movement.' This emerging New Social Movement under globalisation brings together the themes of religion, diversity, environmentalism and peace. It is situated at the intersection of the contemporary interfaith dialogue and the environment movements. This research is an ethnographic exploration of the fledgling cultural forms, structures, practices, motivations and challenges of this global grassroots community movement as it develops. The ecophilosophical position of panpsychism provides the ethical, epistemological and ontological framework for this research. It informs the principles of the research methodology through which the eco-spiritual themes as well as the social, cultural and interpersonal relationships that characterise the interfaith ecology movement are explored. Research was carried out between 2007 – 2010 primarily through engaging community groups and organisations working on interfaith ecology themes into Participatory Action Research projects and activities. This study discloses aspects of Australia's subtle and elusive spirituality, as well as local postcolonial and ecological identity politics at play with cosmopolitan spiritual and ecological experiences and identities. This study is therefore broadly relevant to the contemporary context of civic participation, environmental action and spiritual exploration under globalisation. Through its organisations and projects, the interfaith ecology movement generates both inspiration and friction as participants navigate each other's differences in the complex process of project planning and practical action. Often hampered by cross-purposes in the development stages, these projects frequently reach a creative synergy, bridging the divides between participants. Perpetual learning and compromise characterises the practice of the movement as participants bear witness to the surfacing of an authentic dialogue of difference in the often muddy waters of social, spiritual and ecological change.


3D modeling of cultural heritage objects is an expanding application area. The selection of the right technology is very important and strictly related to the project requirements, budget and user's experience. The triangulation based active sensors, e.g. structured light systems are used for many kinds of 3D object reconstruction tasks and in particular for 3D recording of cultural heritage objects. This study presents the experiences in the results of two such projects in which a close-range structured light system is used for the 3D digitization. The paper includes the essential steps of the 3D object modeling pipeline, i.e. digitization, registration, surface triangulation, editing, texture mapping and visualization. The capabilities of the used hardware and software are addressed. Particular emphasis is given to a coded structured light system as an option for data acquisition. 3D MODELING OF CULTURAL HERITAGE OBJECTS WITH A STRUCTURED LIGHT SYSTEM


Imprecision is uncertainty that arises because of vague or incomplete information. Preliminary design information is characteristically imprecise: specifications and requirements are subject to change, and the design description is vague and incomplete. Yet many powerful evaluation tools, including finite element models, expect precisely specified data. Thus it is common for engineers to evaluate promising designs one by one. Alternatively, optimization may be used to search for the single "best" design. These approaches focus on individual, precisely specified points in the design space and provide limited information about the full range of acceptable designs.

An alternative approach would be to evaluate sets of designs. The method of imprecision uses the mathematics of fuzzy sets in order to represent imprecision as preferences among designs:

• Functional requirements model the customer's direct preference on performance variables based on performance considerations: the quantified aspects of design performance represented by performance variables.

• Design preferences model the customer's anticipated preference on design variables based on design considerations: the unquantified aspects of design performance not represented by performance variables.

Design preferences provide a formal structure for representing "soft" issues such as aesthetics and manufacturability and quantifying their consequences.

This thesis describes continuing work in bringing the method of imprecision closer to implementation as a decision-making methodology for engineering design. The two principal contributions of this work are a clearer interpretation of the elements that comprise the method and a more efficient computational implementation.

The proposed method for modeling design decisions in the presence of imprecision is defined in detail. The decision-maker is modeled as a hierarchy of preference aggregation operations. Axioms for rational design decision-making are used to define aggregation operations that are suitable for design. An electric vehicle design example illustrates the method. In particular, the process of determining preferences and a preference aggregation hierarchy is shown to be both feasible and informative. Efficient computational methods for performing preference calculations are introduced. These methods use experiment design to explore the design space and optimization assisted by linear approximation to map preferences. A user-specified fractional precision allows the number of function evaluations to be traded-off against the quality of the answer obtained. The computational methods developed are verified on design problems from aircraft engine development and automobile body design. Procedures for specifying preferences and group decisionmaking are described. These procedures provide not only a pragmatic interpretation of the method, but also an informal solution to the problem of bargaining: prerequisites for bringing the method to design problems in the real world.


© Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest. Seabirds are considered ecosystem engineers, because they facilitate ecosystem functioning (e.g., nutrient cycling), crucial for other marine and terrestrial species, including reptiles. However, studies of seabird-reptile interactions are limited. Here, we assessed the influence of the 'Critically Endangered' Whenua Hou Diving Petrel (Pelecanoides whenuahouensis) on the occurrence of two threatened skinks, Stewart Island green skink (Oligosoma aff. chloronoton) and Southern grass skink (O. aff. polychroma). We surveyed skinks for 26 consecutive days at 51 sites with and 48 sites without Diving Petrel burrows in the dunes on Codfish Island (Whenua Hou), New Zealand. We used occupancy modelling to assess the influence of burrows on the occurrence of skinks, while accounting for other factors affecting occupancy (Y) and detection probabilities (p). Diving Petrel burrows had a contrasting effect on the occurrence of skinks. On average, Y of Stewart Island green skinks was 114% higher at sites with burrows compared to sites without, while Y of Southern grass skinks was only 2% higher. Occurrence of both skinks was negatively influenced by the presence of the other skink species. On average p were low: 0.013 and 0.038 for Stewart Island green and Southern grass skinks, respectively. Stewart Island green skinks appear attracted to burrows, which might facilitate thermoregulation (i.e., shelter from temperature extremes). The larger Stewart Island green skinks May subsequently exclude the smaller Southern grass skinks at burrows, causing the contrasting relationships. We suggest that these interspecific interactions should be considered when implementing conservation management, e.g., through the order of species reintroductions.


»Of all my teachers Schmitt was the most important« Reinhart Koselleck's intellectual and personal relations with Carl Schmitt The prominent historian of ideas and theoretician of history, Reinhart Koselleck, now eighty, for many years exerted a pronounced influence on German historical research. His name is inextricably linked with the monumental reference work Geschichtliche Grundbegriffe, where he has formulated a number of hypotheses on how the transition to the modern world can be discerned in changes in the use and significance of basic social and political concepts during the "Sattelzeit" (1750-1840). Internationally Koselleck's history of ideas has had a great impact. The same can be said of his numerous essays on historical theory and method, most of which were written from the beginning of the seventies till the beginning of the nineties. His influence is largely due to his constant ability to spawn innovative approaches to universal as well as specific themes dealing primarily with the rise of modernity and the conditions for man's historical consciousness. These topics are the grand leitmotiv of his scholarship.Koselleck's scholarly works can only be understood in the light of the powerful theoretical, methodological, thematic, stylistic, and even political inspiration exerted on him by the German legal scholar and political theoretician Carl Schmitt (1888-1985), who as a consequence of his intellectual support of National Socialism was academically and politically shunned after 1945. Koselleck's writings pay recognition to Schmitt in various ways, including references to and direct use of his ideas and concepts. Moreover, Koselleck in interviews has described his momentous meeting with Schmitt as well as a number of incidents relating to their intellectual and personal relationships, which developed through a long period of inspiration and counsel. There is much to indicate that the encounter with Schmitt and his works at the beginning of the fifties confirmed fundamental views that Koselleck had already derived from his war experiences. Koselleck's scientific and epistemological interests were deeply influenced by what he went through on the Eastern Front, in a Russian prisoner camp, and on clearing-up duties at Auschwitz, subsequent to his volunteering for duty in the German army in 1941. His writings must be read as a reaction to these experiences. His works evidence repeated attempts to grasp the historical background of the modern world, in particular the Second World War: how it was lived through, how it could be understood and coped with. It is also against the background of his war experience that one must understand Koselleck's pessimism regarding modern society, its politics, and science: he is suspicious of all pronouncements about societal progress, deeply sceptical of political democracy, and strongly in doubt whether mankind can learn from or understand history. Inspiration to make sense of the war was exactly what Koselleck found in Schmitt. Today he uses Schmitt differently than he did in the fifties, because his epistemological focus in relation to the war has changed. At the beginning of his career Koselleck, when he was trying to explain the causes of the war, was profoundly inspired by Schmitt's scientific methods and theories - and by his antidemocratic views as well. But from the beginning of the seventies, as he turned to the conditions of understanding the war experience, he began to tone down and modify his use of Schmitt. In the course of that process Schmitt's political inspiration gradually lost its hold. This is particularly true of his critique of liberalism, which was one of the elements Koselleck had found most alluring in his first encounter with Schmitt towards the end of the forties. Koselleck's scholarly production and his attitude towards Schmitt in the context described here can be roughly divided into four phases: from ca. 1953 to 1959, from ca. 1960 to 1970, from ca. 1970 to 1990, and finally, from ca. 1990 to 2000. Available sources do not permit an exact delimitation of these phases, nor do they afford an exhaustive explanation of what motivated his development or where to set the decisive turning-point. On the other hand, by analysing reactions to Koselleck's relation to Schmitt it is possible to throw new light on central ideological and intellectual positions in recent German social science and history. From the fifties to the seventies Koselleck's close intellectual and political affinities with Schmitt cast him academically and politically in an unfavourable light. More recently, as Koselleck has dampened his evaluation of Schmitt and, indeed, increasingly confronted his political views, the negative assessment of Koselleck has apparently receded. What direction Koselleck's historical thinking has taken within the last few years will soon be seen, when before long he publishes two new essay collections. These volumes will presumably show how extensively he has further downplayed his enthusiasm for Schmitt's professional views and broken with the political identification. But there is one thing we may hardly expect, and that is personal dissociation. Koselleck has often expressed his enormous respect for Schmitt, and in assessing Schmitt's significance for his own scholarly production, he has recently stated: "Of all my teachers - Gadamer, Conze, Lovith, Kuhn, Heidegger - Schmitt was the most important." Translated by Michael Wolfe


Rabies is a fatal viral disease of world-wide significance affecting warm blooded species, including humans, and is of major concern in Botswana. The objectives of the research reported in this thesis were to: determine the distribution of rabies in domestic ruminants in Botswana; identify risk factors associated with the disease in cattle; and assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) of farmers in a high-risk area.

Data on cases diagnosed by the Botswana National Veterinary Laboratory between 2000 and 2010 were analysed. An average of 35 cases per year was detected in ruminants during this study period. There was a strong positive correlation between the number of cases in ruminants and jackals (r = 0.78, p < 0.005), as well as in cattle and goats (r = 0.96, p < 0.0001).

Cases of rabies (340) in ruminants were concentrated in the northern part of Botswana (88.7% of all cases). The North East District had the highest proportion of affected ruminants (0.029%) and 77.6% of these cases were in the peri-urban villages clustered around Francistown.

Livestock from farms in peri-urban villages (OR 10.6; 95% CI 4.2, 26.9), free-roaming livestock (OR 3.1), dogs attacking livestock (OR 3.1) and the presence of herding dogs (OR 4.5) were all significantly associated with a history of rabies in ruminants in a multivariable logistic regression model.

Farmers who could name at least one clinical sign of rabies in cattle were 5.7 times (95% CI 3.1, 10.5) more likely to have reported a case of rabies than those not knowing any clinical signs; however most farmers knew the clinical signs of rabies in dogs. This highlights the need for further education on the disease, including methods to recognise and control it in the farming community, as well as in the general public.

It is concluded that management and husbandry factors, along with environmental factors associated with the presence of canids, results in the disease being a problem in Botswana. Implementation of appropriate education, along with regular vaccination programmes of all dogs, should help minimise the impact of the disease on the community in Botswana.


Patients with bronchiectasis have an active local and systemic inflammatory response during infective exacerbations. Systemic markers of inflammation were investigated during a stable phase of their illness, because continued inflammation could affect their general health and be involved in disease progression. The relationship between levels of various systemic markers of inflammation and extent of disease on computed tomographic scan, lung function, sputum bacteriology and health related quality of life (HRQoL) was investigated in 87 noncystic fibrosis bronchiectasis patients. Several markers were elevated and correlated with the extent of disease and poor lung function. The total white cell count, neutrophil count and erythrocyte sedimentation rate correlated with both disease measures. Sputum bacteriology did not correlate with inflammation markers and patients with positive and negative cultures were similar. C-reactive protein and total white cell count correlated with some components of a disease-specific HRQoL questionnaire. In conclusion, patients with bronchiectasis in a stable phase have raised systemic markers of inflammation. Some markers, particularly the neutrophil count, correlate with disease severity. This result is in keeping with the hypothesis that the level of inflammation determines disease progression and health status.


Skywave interference commonly affects Loran receivers' performance. Traditional skywave rejectionmethods that use fixed, worst-case, sample timing are far from optimal. This chapter reports on novel signal processing techniques for measuring in real-time the delay and strength of the varying skywave components of a Loran signal relative to the groundwave pulse. The merits and limitations of these techniques will be discussed. Their effectiveness will be assessed by theoretical analysis, computer simulations under a range of realistic conditions, and by testing using off-air signals. A prototype Loran system employing the proposed techniques is also presented. This work establishes a basis on which to design a Loran receiver capable of adjusting its sampling point adaptively to the optimal value in a constantly-changing skywave environment. Such receivers promise to improve significantly the accuracy and reliability of positioning under adverse operational conditions.


The practices of effective primary school teachers including students with Down syndrome in their mathematics classes are largely unexplored and many teachers feel unprepared to teach students with an intellectual disability. The authors sought to find out what these specific professional learning (PL) needs were and if they changed over time. A mixed methods study was undertaken to investigate the practices of primary mathematics teachers including students with Down syndrome in regular class lessons in two Australia educational jurisdictions. A variety of approaches was used to gain an understanding of their practices. Findings are based on responses to a questionnaire administered to teaching teams at the beginning and end of the school year. There was a strong endorsement of inclusion as an appropriate practice in primary mathematics. The PL needs of teaching teams changed across the teaching year. Early requirements concerned understanding Down syndrome and its impact on learning and behavior. As the school year progressed, PL needs changed toward a greater focus on the need for specific resources and strategies for teaching mathematics. The PL requirements of teachers included the need for "in-time" support. The authors conclude that even if it may be infrequent when a teacher has a student with Down syndrome in a mathematics class, teachers still need access to PL that evolves across the school year, from less focus on syndrome-specific information to greater emphasis on teaching mathematics through adjusting learning outcomes and teaching approaches.


The second half of the twentieth century witnessed the explosive emergence of environmentalism accompanied by increasingly influential scientific, regulative and managerial roles for the environmental sciences. Since then, there has been a comprehensive increase of awareness and understanding of a whole spectrum of global to local environmental and socio-cultural dilemmas. Environmentalism has experienced a complicated set of tendentious relations with the various forms of capitalism. We argue here that any transformation to truly sustainable futures requires either a transformative integration of green growth within a modified capitalism, or a progressive shift to radically new ways of experiencing and living around sustainable localism. The pandemic has brought the world extraordinarily almost to a halt. It has offered a unique opportunity to consider, debate, and possibly implement sustainable livelihoods in myriads of different cultural and political settings via progressive social, political and economic reforms. By reconceptualising historical ideas of environmentalism into a new set of global to local arrangements post-pandemic, we can begin to shape and to live into sustainability, ideally across the whole planet. It is vital to progress with hope and through the yearnings of young people, and not with despair and through degeneration by clinging onto the old ways.


The physical and thermal properties of concrete under high temperature are obtained in order to provide reference data for material models necessary to evaluate the structural integrity of steel plate concrete containment vessels (SCCV) under accident conditions. Various parameters, such as temperature, heating duration, temperature history (heating, cooling, and the post-cooling process), water binder ratio, cement type, and aggregate type, are considered. Data on the temperature dependence of physical properties (compressive strength, elastic modulus, strain at compressive strength, splitting tensile strength) and thermal properties (thermal expansion strain, specific heat, thermal conductivity) are obtained from concrete of the same mix proportion. The effects of the variables on the properties of concrete are clarified, and the differences between test results and existing codes, such as the Eurocode, are highlighted.


This article summarizes and critically assesses current data about the "Isisblumen," a term coined by Gunther Roeder to describe the way in which the encounter between Egypt and Nubia produced a new religious landscape in the last centuries of paganism. After providing an exhaustive catalogue of the materials, the present author will explore how this motif illustrates the interaction between the two worlds and how it relates to the nomadic populations who had been living along the southern frontier of Egypt, i.e., the Blemmyes and the Noubades. A discussion will also be given on their role in the maintenance of religious activity of Philae. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.5913/jarce.53.2017.a004


The aim of this experiment  was to compare the production of methane gas from lactating dairy cow feces by feeding with elephant grass (EG) and rice straw (RS). BALINGTAN methode in measuring methane gas was used in this research. Feces were collected as much as 1 kg in 24 hours and incubated for 8 weeks to measure methan gas. CRD (Complete Random Design) repeated measurements was used with 3 treatments : RS (100% rice straw), EG (100% elephant grass) and RSEG (50% rice straw + 50% elephant grass). Measured variables were methane gas, proximate feed analysis, feces proximate analysis, total of feces organic matter, ADF and NDF feces, C organics feces. Based on the research results generated methane gas production from lactating dairy cow feces had no significant in each treatment (P>0.05). The incubation process for 8 weeks showed a decreased of feces's substrate and organic matters, significantly.  The decline of feces's organic matter during fermentation was followed by methane gas production on 8th week in all treatments. It can be concluded that methane gas production from lactating dairy cow feces from RS, EG and RSEG produces methane equals but potentially, RS and RSEG higher than EGKeywords : methane gas, feces, lactating dairy cows, elephant grass, rice straw


The universe we live in is continually expanding, and we have known for almost 15 years that it the expansion rate is actually increasing. The source of this acceleration was termed "Dark Energy" by astronomers, and it is thought to comprise over 70% of the matterenergy in the universe. An important project to learn more about Dark Energy will be the Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX). HETDEX will survey over 1 million very distant galaxies, looking for their speed away from us and for their exact distance from us. A crucial part of this survey is the detection algorithms that will actually acknowledge a lightsource on the telescope chip. An important factor to consider in detections is signal-to-noise (s/n) cutoff. Signal-to-noise ratio is a measure of how likely a detection is a real lightsource rather than just background noise. Finding the right cutoff is an important task in computing the expansion rate of the universe, because the number of true and false detections affect the accuracy of that measurement. This project has been to evaluate how the accuracy on this measure changes with s/n cutoff for simulated data of several set brightnesses. The standard cutoff is s/n=5, and this project indicates some potential in lowering that requirement, although more analysis will be required between s/n 4 and 5, and at additional brightness levels.


In the liability-driven investing (LDI) framework, an underfunded pension plan may use the glidepath approach—dividing assets for liability-matching and asset-growth purposes. This practice introduces a dilemma, as the projected funding ratio and funding ratio volatility may not be improved at the same time. Low-volatility assets may be suited in the LDI framework to resolve this dilemma. This article examines the behavior of several low-volatility assets, including three low/minimum volatility equity indexes and two alternative low-volatility series (the HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index and a volatility risk premium–based construct), in a generic underfunded pension plan with typical assumptions. The study concludes that low-volatility investments may be a good choice for growth assets in the LDI framework, as the low-volatility profile can help pension plans reduce projected funding ratio volatility and may improve funding ratio projections. On the other hand, the benefits of low-volatility investments in the LDI framework depend on such assets continuing their past return–risk patterns into the future, an assumption that may not materialize. Pension managers are encouraged to consider low-volatility assets as potential components for underfunded pension plans, although the decision whether to include such assets in pensions depends heavily on future return assumptions.


Data storage is one of today's fundamental services with companies, universities and research centers having the need of storing large amounts of data every day. Cloud storage services are emerging as strong alternative to local storage, allowing customers to save costs of buying and maintaining expensive hardware. Several solutions are available on the market, the most famous being Amazon S3. However it is rather difficult to access information about each service architecture, performance, and pricing. To shed light on storage services from the customer perspective, we propose a benchmarking methodology, apply it to four popular offers (Amazon S3, Amazon Glacier, Windows Azure Blob and Rackspace Cloud Files), and compare their performance. Each service is analysed as a black box and benchmarked through crafted workloads.We take the perspective of a customer located in Europe, looking for possible service providers and the optimal data center where to deploy its applications. At last, we complement the analysis by comparing the actual and forecast costs faced when using each service. According to collected results, all services show eventual weaknesses related to some workload, with no all-round eligible winner, e.g., some offers providing excellent or poor performance when exchanging large or small files. For all services, it is of paramount importance to accurately select the data center to where deploy the applications, with throughput that varies by factors from 2x to 10x. The methodology (and tools implementing it) here presented is instrumental for potential customers to identify the most suitable offer for their needs.