IT service management is becoming more and more important in the current business environment. Especially the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is a widely adopted and accepted IT service management framework (Wagner 2006). Organizations that adopt one of the IT service management frameworks expect to achieve a large range of benefits through the use of the frameworks. The major benefits that are expected to be realised include reduced costs, IT services that are tailored to the business needs, a higher quality of IT services, and improved customer satisfaction (OGC 2007a). Despite the growing importance and acceptance of IT service management and ITIL, there is not much literature that is concerned with the benefits that can be realised when one of the relevant IT service management frameworks is in place. Only a few studies were published in conference proceedings (e.g. Hochstein et al. 2005, Potgieter et al. 2005, Cater-Steel et al. 2006). Even though these studies were able to confirm some of the claims made by the Office of Government Commerce (OGC), the publisher of the ITIL series, there are still a lot of claims that are not evaluated to date. This thesis is taking a Monte-Carlo method based simulation approach to identify some of the benefits of the ITIL for customer service. To achieve this, an initial research model was developed that represents the four most likely benefits for customer service of the use of ITIL and their relationship with customer service and the generation of business value. Subsequently the different path ways for the relationships were explored and models for each of the possible paths were designed. These models include a mediated model, an unmediated model and a partially mediated model. After defining the estimates and constraints for the simulation, the simulation was executed using a MS Excel spreadsheet. The simulation results presented a large amount of data for each of the models and their relationships. The models produced normal distributions and showed stability for changed input and throughput parameters. The analysis of the findings showed that the changes in estimates for each of the models and the associated results of the simulation followed a linear pattern. The linearity of the models combined with


PURPOSE
Interphotoreceptor retinoid-binding protein (IRBP) has been considered essential for normal rod and cone function, as it mediates the transport of retinoids between the photoreceptors and the retinal pigment epithelium. This study was performed to determine whether mutations in the IRBP gene (RBP3) are associated with photoreceptor degeneration.

METHODS
A consanguineous family was ascertained in which four children had autosomal recessive retinitis pigmentosa (RP). Homozygosity mapping performed with SNP microarrays revealed only one homozygous region shared by all four affected siblings. Sequencing of RBP3, contained in this region, was performed in this family and others with recessive RP. Screening was also performed on patients with various other forms of retinal degeneration or malfunction.

RESULTS
Sequence analysis of RBP3 revealed a homozygous missense mutation (p.Asp1080Asn) in the four affected siblings. The mutation affects a residue that is completely conserved in all four homologous modules of the IRBP protein of vertebrate species and in C-terminal-processing proteases, photosynthesis enzymes found in bacteria, algae, and plants. Based on the previously reported crystal structure of Xenopus IRBP, the authors predict that the Asp1080-mediated conserved salt bridge that appears to participate in scaffolding of the retinol-binding domain is abolished by the mutation. No RBP3 mutations were detected in 395 unrelated patients with recessive or isolate RP or in 680 patients with other forms of hereditary retinal degeneration.

CONCLUSIONS
Mutations in RBP3 are an infrequent cause of autosomal recessive RP. The mutation Asp1080Asn may alter the conformation of the IRBP protein by disrupting a conserved salt bridge.


Abstract. The "Little Ice Age" (LIA; 1500–1850 Common Era (CE)), has long been recognized as the last period when mountain glaciers in many regions of the Northern Hemisphere (NH) recorded extensive growth intervals in terms of their ice mass and frontal position. The knowledge about this relevant paleoclimatic interval is vast in mountainous regions such as the Alps and Rocky Mountains in North America. However, in extra-tropical Andean sub-regions such as the Mediterranean Andes of Chile and Argentina (MA; 30º–37º S), the LIA has been poorly documented. Paradoxically, the few climate reconstructions performed in the MA based on lake sediments and tree rings do not show clear evidence of a LIA climate anomaly as observed in the NH. In addition, recent studies have demonstrated temporal differences between mean air temperature variations across the last millennium between both hemispheres. This motivates our hypothesis that the LIA period was not associated with a significant climate perturbation in the MA region. Considering this background, we performed an experiment using daily climatic variables from three Global Climate Models (GCMs) to force a novel glaciological model. In this way, we simulated temporal variations of the glacier equilibrium-line altitude (ELA) to evaluate the glacier response during the period 1500–1848 CE. Overall, each GCM shows temporal changes in annual ELA, with anomalously low elevations during 1640–1670 and 1800–1848 CE. An interval with high ELA values was identified during 1550–1575 CE. The spectral properties of the mean annual ELA in each GCM present significant periodicities between 2–7 years, and also significant decadal to multi-decadal signals. In addition, significant and coherent cycles at interannual to multi-decadal scales were detected between modeled mean annual ELAs and the first EOF1 extracted from Sea Surface Temperature (SST) within the El Niño 3.4 of each GCM. Finally, significant Pearson correlation coefficients were obtained between the mean annual ELA and Pacific SST on interannual to multi-decadal timescales. According to our findings, we propose that Pacific SST variability was the main modulator of temporal changes of the ELA in the MA region of South America during 1500–1848 CE.


io fed b ck ⎪ Fall 2006 95 Identifying subtypes of specific disorders is an attractive exercise, as it expands our understanding of the individual's response to therapy, but it remains attached to the approach based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), which is rooted in behavior and frequently does not predict therapeutic response by any individual within the DSM grouping. Phenotypes are an intermediate step between genetics and behavior. These proposed electroencephalography (EEG) phenotypes are semistable states of neurophysiological function. The author proposes a framework allowing one to describe much of the observed EEG variance with a small number of phenotypical categories. These groupings cut across the DSM categories, and unlike the DSM, the phenotypes predict the individual's response to therapy, for neurofeedback as well as for medication.


Ubiquitous Law explores the possibility of understanding the law in dissociation from the State while, at the same time, establishing the conditions of meaningful communication between various legalities. This book argues that the enquiry into the legal has been biased by the implicit or explicit presupposition of the State's exclusivity to a claim to legality as well as the tendency to make the enquiry into the law the task of experts, who purport to be able to represent the legal community's commitments in an authoritative manner. Very worryingly, the experts' point of view then becomes constitutive of the law and parasitic to and distortive of people's commitments. Ubiquitous Law counter-suggests a new methodology for legal theory, which will not be based on rigid epistemological and normative assumptions but rather on self-reflection and mutual understanding and critique, so as to establish acceptable differences on the basis of a commonality.


9-cis-Retinoic acid (9-cis-RA), a hormone that binds and activates all known retinoid receptor subtypes, is structurally similar to all-trans-retinoic acid and may share common metabolic fates. Both oral and intravenous doses of 9-cis-RA to rats led to hydroxylation and ketone formation at carbon-4. 9-Cis-RA also isomerized in vivo to 13-cis-retinoic acid, 9-cis, 13-cis-retinoic acid, and all-trans-retinoic acid. After administration of [11-3H]9-cis-RA, the proportion of plasma radioactivity that was volatile increased over time, which suggested that beta-oxidative chain-shortening of 9-cis-RA might occur. An equimolar mixture of [1-13C2H3]9-cis-RA and 9-cis-RA was administered to rats for stable-isotope-labeled metabolite production. A chromatographic peak that had a lambdamax = 290 nm vs. 348 nm for the parent compound, had a retention time similar to the parent, and yielded a 1:1 positive-ion isotope cluster at m/z 303/307 in its mass spectrum. NMR analysis revealed 9-cis and 13,14-dihydro configurations, indicating that 9-cis-RA can be metabolized in rat by reduction to 13,14-dihydro-9-cis-RA. An earlier-eluting HPLC peak that exhibited a lambdamax at 290 nm, and a negative-ion-MS isotope cluster at m/z 408/412 was observed during separations of rat liver extracts. LC/MS/MS analysis revealed product ions for this peak diagnostic for carboxylic acid taurine conjugates. In rats, reduction of 9-cis-RA to 13,14-dihydro-9-cis-RA may represent an initial step leading to beta-oxidation, although available data demonstrate it is conjugated with taurine to form a novel metabolite.


This Article begins with a curious puzzle: Why has the traditional voluntary manslaughter doctrine in criminal law-the so-called "heat of passion" defense to a charge of murder-proven so resistant to change, even in the face of more than a half-century of seemingly compelling empirical and normative arguments in favor of doctrinal reform? What could possibly account for the traditional doctrine's surprising resilience? In this Article, we propose a solution to this puzzle. The Article introduces a new conceptual theory about metaphor-the "sticky metaphor" theory-that highlights an important aspect of metaphorical language and metaphorical thought that has been almost completely overlooked in the existing literature of law, psychology, and linguistics. We believe the "sticky metaphor" theory may turn out to be highly significant to both the voluntary manslaughter doctrine in particular and the law in general.


The inclusive J/ψ elliptic (v2) and triangular (v3) flow coefficients measured at forward rapidity (2.5 < y < 4) and the v2 measured at midrapidity (|y| < 0.9) in Pb-Pb collisions at √ sNN = 5.02 TeV using the ALICE detector at the LHC are reported. The entire Pb-Pb data sample collected during Run 2 is employed, amounting to an integrated luminosity of 750μb−1 at forward rapidity and 93μb−1 at midrapidity. The results are obtained using the scalar product method and are reported as a function of transverse momentum pT and collision centrality. At midrapidity, the J/ψ v2 is in agreement with the forward rapidity measurement. The centrality averaged results indicate a positive J/ψ v3 with a significance of more than 5σ at forward rapidity in the pT range 2 < pT < 5 GeV/c. The forward rapidity v2, v3, and v3/v2 results at low and intermediate pT (pT . 8 GeV/c) exhibit a mass hierarchy when compared to pions and D mesons, while converging into a species-independent curve at higher pT. At low and intermediate pT, the results could be interpreted in terms of a later thermalization of charm quarks compared to light quarks, while at high pT, path-length dependent effects seem to dominate. The J/ψ v2 measurements are further compared to a microscopic transport model calculation. Using a simplified extension of the quark scaling approach involving both light and charm quark flow components, it is shown that the D-meson vn measurements can be described based on those for charged pions and J/ψ flow.


The central kpc of the Milky Way might be expected to differ significantly from the rest of the Galaxy with regard to gasdynamics and the formation of young stellar objects (YSOs). We probe this possibility with mid-infrared observations obtained with Infrared Array Camera and Multiband Imaging Photometer on Spitzer and with Midcourse Space Experiment. We use color–color diagrams and spectral energy distribution (SED) fits to explore the nature of YSO candidates (including objects with 4.5 μm excesses possibly due to molecular emission). There is an asymmetry in the distribution of the candidate YSOs, which tend to be found at negative Galactic longitudes; this behavior contrasts with that of the molecular gas, approximately 2/3 of which is at positive longitudes. The small-scale height of these objects suggests that they are within the Galactic center region and are dynamically young. They lie between two layers of infrared dark clouds and may have originated from these clouds. We identify new sites for this recent star formation by comparing the mid-IR, radio, submillimeter, and methanol maser data. The methanol masers appear to be associated with young, embedded YSOs characterized by 4.5 μm excesses. We use the SEDs of these sources to estimate their physical characteristics; their masses appear to range from ∼10 to ∼20 M☉. Within the central 400 × 50 pc (|l| < 1.°3 and |b| < 10′) the star formation rate (SFR) based on the identification of Stage I evolutionary phase of YSO candidates is about 0.14 M☉ yr−1. Given that the majority of the sources in the population of YSOs are classified as Stage I objects, we suggest that a recent burst of star formation took place within the last 105 yr. This suggestion is also consistent with estimates of SFRs within the last ∼107 yr showing a peak around 105 yr ago. Lastly, we find that the Schmidt–Kennicutt Law applies well in the central 400 pc of the Galaxy. This implies that star formation does not appear to be dramatically affected by the extreme physical conditions in the Galactic center region.


Since the early 1960's speech sounds have been described at three levels of abstraction: intrinsic-allophonic, extrinsic-allophonic and phonemic. The acoustic features of Polish vowels have been investigated at the first and the last of these levels by acoustic-phonetic personally techniques, but extrinsic allophony has so far been largely ignored. Phonemic distinctions have been investigated in terms of format frequencies and it has been found that F1 and F2 are sufficient to distinguish between all the 7 Polish vowel phonems. They are also distinctive, though less strongly both in isolation and in running speech. In the latter case the formant frequencies vary with time even within a single vocalic segment, but advanced statistical methods permit their identification on the basis of trajectories in an F1-F2 plane. There are interactions between segmental and suprasegmental factors. Thus, speech tempo affects the formant trajectories. Otherwise, such interactions have not been extensively studied and one of the open problems is the effect of F0 on the vowel formants. Studies of the relations between vowel-formant frequencies and speaker gender and age have, in the case of Polish speech, only just been started.


Given the rise of bacterial resistance against antibiotics, we urgently need alternative strategies to fight infections. Some propose we should disarm rather than kill bacteria, through targeted disruption of their virulence factors. It is assumed that this approach (i) induces weak selection for resistance because it should only minimally impact bacterial fitness, and (ii) is specific, only interfering with the virulence factor in question. Given that pathogenicity emerges from complex interactions between pathogens, hosts, and their environment, such assumptions may be unrealistic. To address this issue in a test case, we conducted experiments with the opportunistic human pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa, where we manipulated the availability of a virulence factor, the iron-scavenging pyoverdine, within the insect host Galleria mellonella. We observed that pyoverdine availability was not stringently predictive of virulence, and affected bacterial fitness in non-linear ways. We show that this complexity could partly arise because pyoverdine availability affects host responses and alters the expression of regulatorily linked virulence factors. Our results reveal that virulence-factor manipulation feeds back on pathogen and host behavior, which in turn affects virulence. Our findings highlight that realizing effective and evolutionarily robust anti-virulence therapies will ultimately require deeper engagement with the intrinsic complexity of host-pathogen systems.


Background Two main theoretical models have been used to assess the impact of psychosocial work factors on blood pressure (BP): the demand–control (DC) model and the effort–reward imbalance (ERI) model. Previous studies have mostly used a single time point exposure to examine this association. Objective To examine the effect of repeated job strain and ERI exposure on (1) ambulatory BP (ABP) evolution over 5 years and (2) hypertension incidence over 5 years. Method The design is a prospective cohort study. The study population was composed of 1394 white-collar workers (568 men and 826 women). They were assessed three times during a 5-year period (years 1, 3 and 5). At each time, psychosocial work factors were measured using validated scales and ABP was measured every 15 min during a working day. Results Men who were chronically exposed over 5 years to an active job had a higher cumulative incidence of hypertension (RR=2.05, 95% CI 1.36 to 3.09), compared with never-exposed men. In women, ERI exposure onset was associated with higher increases in systolic ABP (+2.5 mm Hg). No association was found between chronic high-strain exposure and ABP. Conclusions Chronic exposure to active jobs in men led to a higher risk of hypertension and ERI exposure onset in women led to increases in systolic ABP. Results from the present study highlight the need to consider chronic exposure in order to fully capture the deleterious effect of adverse psychosocial work stressors on cardiovascular health.


In the present paper, the authors are interested in studying a famous nonlinear PDE referred to as the $(2+1)$-dimensional chiral Schrödinger (2D-CS) equation with applications in mathematical physics. In this respect, the real and imaginary portions of the 2D-CS equation are firstly derived through a traveling wave transformation. Different wave structures of the 2D-CS equation, classified as bright and dark solitons, are then retrieved using the modified Kudryashov (MK) method and the symbolic computation package. In the end, the dynamics of soliton solutions is investigated formally by representing a series of 3D-plots.


The process in making soya bean to be soya milk is an interesting thing to know. This research was held to design, to construct, to test, and to analyze economic value of soya bean milk maker . The parameter observed were effective capacity, yield percentage, organoleptic's test and economic analysis.Based on this research, it was summerized that the effective capacity of this equipment was 6,18 kg/hour. Yield percentage was 64,4%. Basic cost from first year to fifth year were Rp 2.082/kg, Rp 1.920/kg, Rp 1.866,4/kg, Rp 1.839,26 dan Rp 1.823,12/kg. Break even point was 350,85 kg/year. Net present value with 8% rate was Rp 127.554.735,4 and internal rate of return was 34,4%. Keywords : Soya bean, milk, effective capacity, yield percentage, economic analysis


The Haloacid Dehalogenase Superfamily (HADSF) is a ubiquitous family of enzyme with more than 32,000 members. A variety of reactions are catalyzed by HAD members, but a majority of HAD members are phosphatases. Dephosphorlyation of organophosphate metabolites are carried out in the conserved Rossmann-like core domain. The Rossman-like core domain houses the conserved active site residues necessary for catalysis and also supports domain inserts associated with substrate binding. This dissertation will focus primarily on investigating fold fitness and domain dynamics of HAD proteins more specifically three C2 capped proteins. The first part will focus on whether or not the prevailing tenet that "Catalytic Function Comes at the Expense of Protein Fold Stability" is applicable to the HADSF phosphatase. To test function at the cost of stability site directed mutagenesis was used to replace catalytic residues and used an array of techniques (CD/Fluorescence/SAXS) to monitored denaturation to evaluate stability in the resulting mutants. From denature results we vi conclude that although most catalytic residues play no role in stability, good or bad, one in particular Asp of DXD squiggle shows to be necessary for not only activity but stability as well. To identify what about the residue is essential to stability the side chain and interacting residues were examined. The Rossmann-like catalytic core domain is a robust domain, and to test the co-evolution of the cap and catalytic domains as a "coupled folding and catalytic units" will be examined. The structural co-dependency was tested by creating truncations of the catalytic and cap domains and identifying stability and activity of each domain and chimeric C2 capped proteins. Thermal denature of truncations and chimeric proteins reveal stability of each domain separately while the chimeric stability establish a robust core Rossmann-like catalytic domain. As previously discussed the cap domain increases function by increasing recognition of substrates. To examine the cap domains role in substrate-induced-fit we examined changes in protein solution conformation using small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). Because HAD proteins have evolved separate domains for catalysis and recognition SAXS will also be used to investigate changes in conformation change due to changes in domain-domain interfacing residues. Solution scattering of Bt4131 help demonstrate an induced-fit mechanism for HAD proteins. In the presence of VO3 (phosphate analog) we see closure of cap domain whereas sugar moiety does not initiate closure of domain.


OBJECTIVE
In order to evaluate the utility of the heart rate performance index (HRPI), which is obtained by dividing HR mean by the difference of HR max and HR min in the context of Holter monitoring, we sought to determine whether there was any correlation or relationship between the HRPI and LVEF values as determined by echocardiography and to compare the HRPI between the study and control groups.

METHODS
This study is a cross-sectional, controlled observational study. Thirty-two patients with symptomatic or asymptomatic left ventricular systolic dysfunction (LVEF <45%) were included as study group and 32 subjects without chronic heart failure (CHF) were included as a control group. In the study group, 10 patients were in NYHA class I (31.2%), 12 - were in NYHA class II (37.6%) and 10 - were in NYHA class III (31.2%). Heart rate analysis was measured using 24-hour Holter ambulatory electrocardiography. To determine the HRPI, the difference between maximum (HR max) and minimum heart rate (HR min) was divided by mean heart rate (HR mean) (beats/minute): HRPI=(HR max-HR min) / HR mean. Statistical analysis was performed using t-test for independent samples, Mann-Whitney U test, Chi-square test, Kruskal-Wallis test, Pearson's correlation and linear regression analyses.

RESULTS
The HRPI index value was markedly decreased [0.83 (0.58-1.1) and 1.10 (0.74-1.3), p<0.001] in the study group as compared to the control group. The data collected for the study group and the control group (n=64) demonstrated a positive correlation between the HRPI and LVEF (r=0.62, p<0.001) as well as a negative correlation between the HR mean and LVEF (r=-0.39, p<0.003). The HR mean was higher (80.2±11.3 and 75.2±6.7, p<0.007) and HR max-HR min (67.9±11.6 and 83.3±14.3, p<0.001) were lower in the study group as compared to the control group. Linear regression analysis demonstrated no significant relationship between LVEF and HRPI and other heart rate derivatives (unstandardized β=42.43 95% CI: 21.98-50.51, p=0.231).

CONCLUSION
According to our findings, patients with CHF exhibited higher HR mean values, reduced HR max-min values and significantly decreased HRPI values. There is a positive correlation between HRPI and LVEF, a decreased HRPI is associated with a decreased LVEF, but there is no relationship between these two variables. Therefore, HRPI values may represent a viable option for assessing daily exercise activity and potentially sympathetic activation in patients with CHF. The assessment of HRPI may be helpful the evaluation of CHF patients, as well as resting HR.


Abstract The essential oil from the leaves of Cleidion javanicum Bl. was isolated by hydrodistillation with the percentage yield of 0.003 % as a pale yellow liquid. The composition of the essential oil was analysed by means of GC-(FID) and GC-MS. Ten constituents accounting for 92.60% total oil were identified. The major components were ethyl linoleolate (32.12 %), hexadecanoic acid (26.77 %), trans-phytol (24.64 %) and iso-phytol (4.80 %). The antimicrobial, anticancer, antioxidant activities and cytotoxicity test of this essential oil were investigated. The oil showed non-cytotoxic effects against Vero cells (African green monky kidney) because it inhibited more than 50 % cell growth. The anticancer activity of the essential oil was performed using the Resazurin Microplate Assay (REMA). The oil showed anticancer activity against three cancerous human cell lines; KB-Oral Cavity Cancer, MCF7-Breast Cancer and NCI-H187-Small Cell Lung Cancer with the IC50 of 47.16 μgmL-1, 40.23 μgmL-1 and 49.95 μgmL-1 respectively. The oil also showed antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa with the Minimum Inhibition Concentration (MIC) values of 25.00 mg/mL and 12.50 mg/mL respectively, using agar diffusion method. In addition, the essential oil also showed significant antioxidant activity with the IC50 of 27.05 mg mL-1 by means of DPPH radical scavenging assay.


This paper addresses the problem of transparent object matting. Existing image matting approaches for transparent objects often require tedious capturing procedures and long processing time, which limit their practical use. In this paper, we first formulate transparent object matting as a refractive flow estimation problem. We then propose a deep learning framework, called TOM-Net, for learning the refractive flow. Our framework comprises two parts, namely a multi-scale encoder-decoder network for producing a coarse prediction, and a residual network for refinement. At test time, TOM-Net takes a single image as input, and outputs a matte (consisting of an object mask, an attenuation mask and a refractive flow field) in a fast feed-forward pass. As no off-the-shelf dataset is available for transparent object matting, we create a large-scale synthetic dataset consisting of 178K images of transparent objects rendered in front of images sampled from the Microsoft COCO dataset. We also collect a real dataset consisting of 876 samples using 14 transparent objects and 60 background images. Promising experimental results have been achieved on both synthetic and real data, which clearly demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach.


In this thesis we study stochastic modeling and simulation methods for biochemical systems. The thesis is focused on systems with multi-state and multi-scale features and divided into two parts. In the first part, we propose new algorithms that improve existing multi-state simulation methods. We first compare the well known Gillespie's stochastic simulation algorithm (SSA) with the StochSim, an agent-based simulation method. Based on the analysis, we propose a hybrid method that possesses the advantages of both methods. Then we propose two new methods that extend the Network-Free Algorithm (NFA) for rule-based models. Numerical results are provided to show the performance improvement by our new methods. In the second part, we investigate two simulation schemes for the multi-scale feature: Haseltine and Rawlings' hybrid method and the quasi-steady-state stochastic simulation method. We first propose an efficient partitioning strategy for the hybrid method and an efficient way of building stochastic cell cycle models with this new partitioning strategy. Then, to understand conditions where the two simulation methods can be applied, we develop a way to estimate the relaxation time of the fast sub-network, and compare it with the firing interval of the slow sub-network. Our analysis are verified by numerical experiments on different realistic biochemical models.


Overview: Malcolm Fraser, Australia's 22nd Prime Minister, died on 20 March 2015 aged 84. This Strategic Insights, drawn from posts on ASPI's blog The Strategist, examines Fraser's foreign policy record as well as his approach to defence policy making and his evolving attitude to the US alliance. Fraser reorganised Australia's defence establishment and the 1976 defence white paper foreshadowed the move towards the defence of Australia strategy adopted by the Labor government in the 1980's. Fraser's strong commitment to human rights and his support for the Commonwealth as a useful multilateral forum were enduring features of his prime ministership.


1. Introduction - Context
The Republic of Ireland Department of Public Expenditures and Reform (DPER) launched its first Open Data Portal data.gov.ie on July 22nd. It also conducted three public consultations, one with public sector bodies on September 22nd, and later on September 8th with civil society organizations and the public, while also accepting responses and recommendations by email.

Open Data in the Republic is being led and coordinated by the DPER Government Reform Unit and the Chief Information Officer. The new CKAN portal was created by Insight Galway and it marks an important milestone toward meeting the following government objectives to:
• enhance openness and transparency,
• strengthen public governance and
• yield economic benefits.
The following are the information products delivered by Insight at National University of Ireland at Galway (NUIG):
1. Best Practice Handbook
2. Data Audit Report
3. Roadmap
4. Evaluation Framework
5. Open Data Publication Handbook
Information products were delivered as per the DPER Request for Tender (RfT) and according to the following high level requirements:
• Provide advice and support to facilitate the implementation of key objectives and actions related to the Open Data initiative.
• Identify and align with national requirements best practice and international standards for Open Data;
• Help specify short- , medium- and long-term objectives for Open Data in Ireland;
• Identify potential opportunities for Ireland to design its Open Data drawing on the experience of what has worked and has not worked in other jurisdictions and also drawing on the scope for positively differentiating Open Data in Ireland;
• Establish an inventory of datasets currently available in the public domain as well as assist in identifying priority areas for the publication of datasets in the future; and
• Develop a roadmap for how Ireland could achieve its objectives in the area of Open Data.
In the spirit of collaboration and openness, after the July 22nd launch the DPER solicited input on the following questions from public sector bodies that have expertise and a stake in the initiative:
• What do you see as the priorities for Open Data and next steps?
• Any issues/concerns that need to be addressed in standardisation and publication of data?
• How we would maintain this type of group going forward given the level of expertise and experience in the room today – maybe meet as a Forum 3 times a year?
• Indicate whether you are willing to participate in a smaller group and work in an engaged way to support DPER on particular aspects and on the development of an Open Data strategy in the coming months?
• How we should engage with civil society, business interests and other users to ensure we focus our attention on high value datasets that will be used so that potential economic, social and political benefits can be realised?

Finally, the DPER solicited input from the public but unfortunately submissions were to be made to an email address in lieu of an open forum whereby others could see who and what was submitted.

This launch marks a turning point in Ireland's open data story which was sketched out in the 1st of this 3 part series on Open Data and Open Government. This milestone affirms Ireland's international commitment to the Open Government Partnership (OGP) and it is also a precondition for Ireland's ability to sign onto the G8 Open Data Charter whereby signatories commit to:
• Open Data by Default
• Quality and Quantity
• Useable by All
• Releasing Data for Improved Governance
• Releasing Data for Innovation
OGP membership, signing onto the G8 Charter and the launch of the Open Data portal, are positive steps toward the advancement of public sector reform and Minister Howlin, DPER and Insight are to be lauded for moving this plan forward.

The rest of this paper examines the DPER Open Data plan, the DPER/Insight portal, research documents, their recommendations and provides answers to a series of questions DPER officials posed after the July 22, 2014 public sector consultations. It is also The Programmable City Project submission to the DPER Open Data Consultation.


Authorization is a key function in presence systems. Authorization
policies, also known as authorization rules, specify what presence
information can be given to which watchers, and when. This
specification defines an Extensible Markup Language (XML) document
format for expressing presence authorization rules. Such a document
can be manipulated by clients using the XML Configuration Access
Protocol (XCAP), although other techniques are permitted.


One of the goals of translational science is to shorten the time from discovery to clinical use. Clinical trial registries were established to increase transparency in completed and ongoing clinical trials, and they support linking trials with resulting publications. We set out to investigate precision and negative predictive value (NPV) of links between ClinicalTrials.gov (CT.gov) and PubMed. CT.gov has been established to increase transparency in clinical trials and the link to PubMed is crucial for supporting a number of important functions, including ascertaining publication bias. We drew a random sample of trials downloaded from CT.gov and performed manual review of retrieved publications. We characterize two types of links between trials and publications (NCT-link originating from MEDLINE and PMID-link originating from CT.gov).The link precision is different based on type (NCT-link: 100%; PMID-link: 63% to 96%). In trials with no linked publication, we were able to find publications 44% of the time (NPV=56%) by searching PubMed. This low NPV shows that there are potentially numerous publications that should have been formally linked with the trials. Our results indicate that existing trial registry and publisher policies may not be fully enforced. We suggest some automated methods for improving link quality.


Mindshare and best selling author Ed Solari, join forces to present a book on the newest bus architecture, PCI Express. PCI EXPRESS is considered to be the most general purpose bus so it should appeal to a wide audience in this arena. Today's buses are becoming more specialized to meet the needs of the particular system applications, building the need for this book. Mindshare and their only competitor in this space (Solari) team up in this new book.


Abstract. Land-use and land-cover (LUC) changes are a key uncertainty when attributing changes in measured atmospheric CO2 concentration to its sinks and sources and must also be much better understood to determine the possibilities for land-based climate change mitigation, especially in the light of human demand on other land-based resources. On the spatial scale typically used in terrestrial ecosystem models (0.5 or 1°) changes in LUC over time periods of a few years or more can include bidirectional changes on the sub-grid level, such as the parallel expansion and abandonment of agricultural land (e.g. in shifting cultivation) or cropland–grassland conversion (and vice versa). These complex changes between classes within a grid cell have often been neglected in previous studies, and only net changes of land between natural vegetation cover, cropland and pastures accounted for, mainly because of a lack of reliable high-resolution historical information on gross land transitions, in combination with technical limitations within the models themselves. In the present study we applied a state-of-the-art dynamic global vegetation model with a detailed representation of croplands and carbon–nitrogen dynamics to quantify the uncertainty in terrestrial ecosystem carbon stocks and fluxes arising from the choice between net and gross representations of LUC. We used three frequently applied global, one recent global and one recent European LUC datasets, two of which resolve gross land transitions, either in Europe or in certain tropical regions. When considering only net changes, land-use-transition uncertainties (expressed as 1 standard deviation around decadal means of four models) in global carbon emissions from LUC (ELUC) are ±0.19, ±0.66 and ±0.47 Pg C a−1 in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, respectively, or between 14 and 39 % of mean ELUC. Carbon stocks at the end of the 20th century vary by ±11 Pg C for vegetation and ±37 Pg C for soil C due to the choice of LUC reconstruction, i.e. around 3 % of the respective C pools. Accounting for sub-grid (gross) land conversions significantly increased the effect of LUC on global and European carbon stocks and fluxes, most noticeably enhancing global cumulative ELUC by 33 Pg C (1750–2014) and entailing a significant reduction in carbon stored in vegetation, although the effect on soil C stocks was limited. Simulations demonstrated that assessments of historical carbon stocks and fluxes are highly uncertain due to the choice of LUC reconstruction and that the consideration of different contrasting LUC reconstructions is needed to account for this uncertainty. The analysis of gross, in addition to net, land-use changes showed that the full complexity of gross land-use changes is required in order to accurately predict the magnitude of LUC change emissions. This introduces technical challenges to process-based models and relies on extensive information regarding historical land-use transitions.


Aflatoxins are extremely potent carcinogens produced by Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus. Cloning of genes in the aflatoxin pathway provides a specific approach to understanding the regulation of aflatoxin biosynthesis and, subsequently, to the control of aflatoxin contamination of food and feed. This paper reports the isolation of a gene involved in aflatoxin biosynthesis by complementation of an aflatoxin-nonproducing mutant with a wild-type genomic cosmid library of A. flavus. Strain 650-33, blocked in aflatoxin biosynthesis at the afl-2 allele, was complemented by a 32-kb cosmid clone (B9), resulting in the production of aflatoxin. The onset and profile of aflatoxin accumulation was similar for the transformed strain and the wild-type strain (NRRL 3357) of the fungus, indicating that the integrated gene is under the same control as in wild-type strains. Complementation analyses with DNA fragments from B9 indicated that the gene resides within a 2.2-kb fragment. Because this gene complements the mutated afl-2 allele, it was designated afl-2. Genetic evidence obtained from a double mutant showed that afl-2 is involved in aflatoxin biosynthesis before the formation of norsolorinic acid, the first stable intermediate identified in the pathway. Further, metabolite feeding studies with the mutant, transformed, and wild-type cultures and enzymatic activity measurements in cell extracts of these cultures suggest that afl-2 regulates gene expression or the activity of other aflatoxin pathway enzymes. This is the first reported isolation of a gene for aflatoxin biosynthesis in A. flavus.


It is widely known that the possibility of default makes the expected return distribution for financial products that are subject to credit risk highly skewed and fat-tailed. Recent development of an unbiased tail index estimator enables modeling of the additional risk presented by changes in swap spreads. Tests on data from the U.S., the U.K., Germany, and Japan indicate that we tend to grossly underestimate the risk of large spread widenings and tightenings. Estimation of swap spread risk is dramatically improved when the severity of the additional downside risk is measured and incorporated into current estimation techniques. These results are crucial in improving credit risk management and pricing out-of-the-money credit derivatives.


Ted Tetsuo Aoki (1919-2012) was a Japanese-Canadian educator who spoke compellingly against the technological-instrumental implementation of curriculum found within the business-consumer model of education. In his greater mission of understanding curriculum and instruction, Aoki has tried new modes of interpretation, seeing curriculum as currere, praxis, ideology, as plan, as lived. One possibility implied in Aoki's work is inhabiting the space in-between materiality and spirituality, more specifically between technology and theology. As Aoki might ask: how we can linger on the bridge between technology and theology? The purpose of using the bridge metaphor, is to discern lines of movement in Aoki's writings which bridges technology and theology. We are asked to pause, delay ourselves in true conversations and discern Aoki as a possible curricular techno-theologian. Within this reconceptualization, we may understand the way Aoki's curricular possibilities allow us to dwell in a technological world which does not default into instrumentalization.


Australia's road network is a very significant capital asset created by progressive investment over several decades, and is integral to the social and economic performance of the nation. Physical elements of the road infrastructure are numerous and include surfacing, bridges, lighting, signs and line-markings.
Road condition assessment is critical to optimisation of both road performance and public investment strategies. Road condition data are of fundamental importance if a road owner is to demonstrate that best practice road management is being followed in line with investment and budgetary constraints. Road surveys that are able to quickly and efficiently identify features and assess their condition are therefore keystones of an effective road asset management system. Manual visual surveys are subjective and expensive, while digital imagery and off-the-shelf computer hardware and software packages have the potential to carry out image analysis in real time. This in turn has triggered a surge of interest in the possibility of automating road survey systems.
Efforts to date have stopped short of producing such survey systems. This research was motivated by a desire to understand why this is so, and to explore the way forward. The thesis therefore starts with a general review of the current condition of road assets in Australia, and the manual and semi-automated road condition survey systems widely used by asset managers. The key problems appear to be the difficulties in producing survey systems for quite different applications and survey conditions. Biomimicry suggests that a way forward might be to identify a generic system design, rather than seek to develop a single do-all survey system.
The thesis then examines the suite of image processing and artificial intelligence tools, including expert systems and neural networks, that have become available to help automate such surveys. A generic design approach is proposed to develop automated road feature and condition survey systems, together with design application principles that are also largely inspired by biomimicry. The three principal system components are:
1. Image acquisition, which mimics the work of the eyes.
2. Image processing that parallels the work of the visual cortex.
3. Feature recognition and condition assessment that mimic the cognitive aspects of a human brain, notably its biological neural networks.
Analysis of the survey results, if necessary, constitutes a fourth system component. This often involves consideration of context and/or aggregation of information into one or more overall road condition indicators. Expert rule systems are ideally suited to such tasks.
A two-stage survey development process is proposed. First, a basic survey system is developed which performs well under ideal survey conditions, with the goal of understanding and establishing the fundamental aspects of the survey system. Next, an extended survey system is developed that can handle the more complex, non-ideal survey environments that must be addressed in an actual survey of a long stretch of rural highway. The extended survey system development process starts by examining the performance problems of a basic survey system applied to the more challenging survey conditions.
The system design is illustrated by case studies of guidepost counting and centrelinemarking condition assessment. The satisfactory performance of the basic automated systems for these applications is demonstrated using typical sections of road. An extended system for guidepost counting is then produced and its performance examined on a survey of the Midland Highway in Tasmania. The thesis concludes by discussing how best to develop these automated systems into an operational tool through trials carried out in association with local government and road authorities.
Case studies are presented to demonstrate the basic survey system development process applied to guidepost counting and to evaluate centreline-marking condition. The approach to developing an extended survey system is demonstrated to produce an improved guidepost survey system able to deal with changing ambient light conditions. The satisfactory performance of this extended system under non-ideal conditions is confirmed via a 50 km field trial on a section of the national highway in Tasmania.


For as long as geologists have looked at deformed rocks, they have grappled to understand the mechanical origins of deformation. Natural systems are inherently complex so that, for many, purely geometric and kinematic approaches have sufficed. However, we know that stress within the brittle upper crust controls the nucleation, growth and reactivation of faults and fractures, induces seismic activity, affects the transport of magma and modulates structural permeability, thereby influencing the redistribution of hydrothermal and hydrocarbon fluids. An endeavour of structural geology and seismotectonics is therefore to reconstruct states of stress and their evolution over geological time from observations of the final products of rock deformation. Experimentalists endeavour to recreate structures observed in nature under controlled stress conditions. Earth scientists studying earthquakes attempt to monitor or deduce stress changes in the Earth as it actively deforms. All are building upon the pioneering researches and concepts of Ernest Masson Anderson dating back to the start of the 20th century. His insights, encapsulated in a small number of research papers and in the book The Dynamics of Faulting and Dyke Formation with Applications to Britain, continue to influence investigations in structural geology, seismology, rock mechanics, processes of hydrothermal mineralization and physical volcanology. This volume celebrates this legacy.


This paper analyses the possible contribution of the over-represented "decree" generation of the 1960's and 1970's to the development of the Romanian financial system. Contrary to most other studies on the subject, the focus of this paper is on the financial impact this generation can have before reaching retirement age. Consequently, the analysis is centered on the interaction between the members of this generation and the local financial institutions in the next two decades. It is suggested that the time frame used for this study is better suited for the strategic analysis requirements of financial institutions. It is argued that this generation is maturing professionally and moving towards reaching its financial peak in terms of individual earnings. Therefore, one of the main conclusions of the paper is that financial institutions should adjust their strategies in order to benefit from a significant opportunity


It has been shown that in PC12 and its subclone PC12h treatment of the cells with nerve growth factor (NGF) induces a selective decrease in the incorporation of radioactive phosphate into a 100,000-dalton protein, designated in an earlier study as Nsp100, in the subsequent phosphorylation of soluble extracts from cells with (gamma-32P)ATP. In the present study, we show that plant lectins, wheat germ agglutinin (WGA), concanavalin A (Con A), and lens culinaris agglutinin (LCA), inhibit the action of NGF on Nsp100 phosphorylation in PC12h cells. Treatment of the cells with WGA, which binds to N-acetylglucosamine and sialic acid residues on glycoproteins, strongly blocked the inhibitory action of NGF on the protein phosphorylation. Con A and LCA, both of which recognize the same specific sugars (mannose, glucose), displayed only a moderate blocking effect. Unlike the native lectin, succinylated WGA, which has the ability to bind to N-acetylglucosamine but not to sialic acid residues, and other lectins examined in this study did not inhibit the action of NGF on Nsp100. WGA-mediated inhibition of NGF action was reversed by the addition of N-acetylglucosamine and by the addition of a much lower concentration of a sialoglycoprotein, mucin, into the culture. Since the binding of succinylated WGA to N-acetylglucosamine residues of cell-surface glycoconjugates is not sufficient to prevent the action of NGF, WGA might act on sialic acid residues of the NGF receptor molecule to effect the inhibition of biological actions of NGF.


Risk-based regulations are integrated in public governance as part of public  management reform where financial management principles have been introduced within public administration. Of late, risk-based regulations are applied in the regulation of higher educational institutions (HEIs) in developed states. Proponents of the framework challenge the one-size-fits-all traditional regulation which applies the same levels of scrutiny to all educational providers, that is, educational providers are subjected to the same processes of monitoring and evaluation. It is within this context that this paper is being written. It presents a case study on the application of risk-based regulation of higher education in the Philippines through CHED CMO No. 40 Series of 2008 (2008 Manual of Regulation for Private Higher Education) and the CHED CMO No. 46 Series of 2012 which introduced the concepts of outcomes-based and typology-based quality assurance of higher educational institutions (HEIs) resultant in their horizontal and vertical classifications. In so doing, this paper examines how CHED (1) defines the risk (2) measures the exposure; (3) sets the strategy to address the exposure and determines how to allocate resources to each individual target by setting the frequency and depth of inspection, and (4) executes and learns the given strategy.


A quantum annealing solver for the renowned job-shop scheduling problem (JSP) is presented in detail. After formulating the problem as a time-indexed quadratic unconstrained binary optimization problem, several pre-processing and graph embedding strategies are employed to compile optimally parametrized families of the JSP for scheduling instances of up to six jobs and six machines on the D-Wave Systems Vesuvius processor. Problem simplifications and partitioning algorithms, including variable pruning and running strategies that consider tailored binary searches, are discussed and the results from the processor are compared against state-of-the-art global-optimum solvers.


Pterocarpus indicus (Leguminosae: Papilionoideae) is one of the commercial tree legume species that dominate South-East Asia and some Pacific regions (Soerianegara & Lemmens 1993). This species has many common names, such as angsana or sena in Malaysia and Singapore, sonokembang in Indonesia and narra in the Philippines (Corner 1988). Pterocarpus indicus grows on a variety of soil types from fertile agricultural soil to rocky soil, along inundated river banks, swamps and lagoons (Allen & Allen 1981, Corner 1988). It has the status of national tree in the Philippines and has been identified by the Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) as one of the potential 'millennium tree' species for forest plantation establishment in Peninsular Malaysia because of its fast growth and other desirable characteristics (Appanah & Wienland 1993, Lok 1996). However, growth data are restricted to early reports from reforestation projects in the Philippines (Sardina 1951, Assidao & Cerna 1960) and individual amenity trees in Singapore (Wong 1982). Pterocarpus indicus is now mostly grown as an ornamental tree and is relatively rare in forests in South-East Asia due to extensive selective logging (Soerianegara & Lemmens 1993). The timber of P. indicus is classified as light hardwood and is used for light to heavy construction, joists, beams and interior finishes. The wood, which is commonly traded as rosewood, has beautiful distinct growth rings and is ranked among the finest for furniture making, high grade cabinet work, carvings, decorative flooring and musical instruments (Appanah & Weinland 1993, Soerianegara & Lemmens 1993).

 Legumes, especially tropical woody species, are important for maintaining ecosystem fertility and are used in soil stabilization and revegetation programmes (Langkamp et al. 1979, Dreyfus & Dommergues 1981). Pterocarpus species are reported to nodulate with Rhizobium and Bradyrhizobium in the field but little is known about the specificity, symbiotic relationships and capacity to fix nitrogen in P. indicus (Allen & Allen 1981, Sprent 2001). Inoculation with N2-fixing bacteria is an advantage where soil populations of compatible microsymbionts are low or absent such as may occur for the rehabilitation of disturbed lands (De Faria et al. 1987, Ndiaye & Ganry 1997) and introduction of industrial plantations (Berger 1993, Hogberg & Alexander 1995).

Inoculation of tree legumes with effective strains of rhizobia may be necessar y in commercial forest nurseries to increase N2- fixation capability following out-planting to the field (Chee et al. 1989, Turk & Keyser 1992, Cheng et al. 2002, Perez-Fernandez & Lamont 2003). Since N deficiency is a major fertility constraint in agriculture and forestry in the tropics, there is an urgent need to exploit N2- fixing tree legumes for sustained productivity. The aim of this study therefore was to investigate the ability of Malaysian P. indicus to form nodules with a diverse range of rhizobia and to identify effective strains with potential for application as inocula in the nursery or field.


Mine and Yours Are Hers: Retrieving Women's History from Rabbinic Literature, by Tal IlanTal Ilan's important and ambitious methodological study suggests ways feminist scholars can extract historical evidence about women and their activities from rabbinic writings, an essentially literary collection of documents. While many scholars have rejected rabbinic literature as an historical source, citing the difficulty of dating and locating its component parts and lamenting the unreliability of rabbinic attributions of sayings and acts to specific individuals, Ilan believes reading these texts in new ways can retrieve historical information that expands knowledge about women. She chooses as her methodological case study the story of Rabbi Aqiva and his wife, versions of which appear in six different places in rabbinic writings. All of these accounts retain two common themes: R. Aqiva's wife helped her husband during his years of study, and R. Aqiva bought his wife an expensive gold headdress. While previous analyses have assumed the story is legendary, Ilan interrogates each narrative element to determine whether it belongs to the original tradition and whether it has significance historically.Ilan establishes three sets of criteria, beginning with the need to establish a reliable text. Arguing that women are always anomalous in ancient literatures, Ilan believes editors, redactors, and scribes of rabbinic literature, at any of a number of later stages, excised female references as superfluous unless they were absolutely essential to the tradition; where women remain, their presence should be taken seriously. However, care must be taken. Ilan cautions that later commentators sometimes filled in textual lacunae with their own interpretations, many of which then became incorporated into later versions of the respective rabbinic passages. Here, Ilan cites Rashi's medieval adumbrations of obscure rabbinic references to events in the life of Beruriah, wife of Rabbi Meir. Although there is no evidence that Rashi's contention that Beruriah was seduced by one of her husband's students and later committed suicide has a rabbinic origin, his addition to Beruriah's story has long been assumed to derive from earlier aggadah.Ilan also uses chronological and geographical criteria to measure the historical reliability of specific rabbinic traditions. Rabbinic literature has a tendency to link wellknown individuals by establishing fictitious relationships of kinship or propinquity which are often impossible chronologically. Thus, Rabbi Aqiva's wife is said to be the daughter of a famous plutocrat, Kalba Savua, even though the texts themselves indicate they lived in different centuries. In contrast, Ilan cites a reference in the Mishnah to an ornate headdress known as a "City of Gold"; discussing this passage, both the Palestinian and Babylonian Talmuds refer to an ornament Rabbi Aqiva made for his wife. In each case the transmitters of this tradition are early amoraim who flourished directly after the Mishnah was compiled, within a few generations of Rabbi Aqiva's time. Assuming the accuracy of these attributions and the Palestinian provenance of the tradition of the "City of Gold," Ilan argues on chronological and geographical grounds that it forms the earliest and probably most historically accurate stratum of the story about Rabbi Aqiva and his wife.In the second part of her book, Ilan discusses the important role played by external sources in supporting the historicity of some rabbinic references to women. Mention of women weaving in the Temple, for example, is validated in pseudepigraphical writings, while discoveries in the Judean Desert of second-century deeds of gifts to women support rabbinic discussions of such bequests made prior to death. Similarly, Ilan suggests that traditions that Rabbi Aqiva's wife arranged her own marriage accurately reflect a known social reality in rabbinic times where women of poor families chose their own husbands, even if this wasn't actually so in her case. …


There are still some differences in the results of research on the impact of holiday on stock returns. Other than that there are still few researches who only specifically examine the effects of islamics holidays against abnormal return. This research aims to analyse the influence of Islamic holiday to abnormal return of shares before and after Islamic holiday. The holidays used are Maulid Nabi, Isra' Mi'raj, Idul Fitri, Idul Adha, and New Year Hijriyah. The study period used from 2012 to 2016. This research uses event study. Research population used all company which listed in Jakarta Islamic Index. Technique of choosing sample is used purposive sampling and obtained 15 company. The data used in this research obtained from website KSEI, website BEI, and online trading system of Mirae Asset Securities. Determination of estimated return using market adjusted model. Parametric analysis tets tools used to test the hypothesis in this study are descriptive statistic, normality tets, and paired sample t-test. The result of this study indicate that the Maulid Nabi holiday and Idul Fitri holidays affect the significant abnormal return difference between before and after the holiday. While the holidays of Isra' Mi'raj, Idul Adha, and New Year Hijriyah hove no effect on the difference of abnormal return of stock before and after the holiday.


Sleeping well is a fundamental right to any individual to maintain good physical and mental health. If that is so, should we mind when a patient dozes off in the medical units or dental reception? In layman's terms inadequate sleep is the likely reason but as responsible oral health care professionals interpreting in terms of Excessive Daytime Sleepiness (EDS), is a sensible approach. EDS is not a disease rather it's a serious symptom linked with various disorders. It's alarming that around 42 million people are victims of sleeping disorder in United States. 1 Potential causes include Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA), insomnia, narcolepsy, sedatives, psychiatric disorders and restless leg syndrome. OSA is claimed as the most common reason of EDS. OSA candidate present difficulty in breathing owing to defective pharyngeal dilator muscles that eventually obstruct the upper airways (UA). Blockage of airflow enforces them to wake up in night and wherein the patients are not aware of the constant arousals. Irregularity in breathing and deprived sleep leads them to be categorized as 'sleepy patients'. Press reports have revealed that people in Malaysia are able to afford only 6.4 hours of sleep per 24 h, which considerably affects their routine activity. 2 It is sad to know that 10-20% of male adults and 7-9% of children of Malaysian population is victims of sleeping disorder. 3 Though commonly seen in the middle-aged adults and obese candidates, mutually the male and female genders are affected.  Read more. . .


As of 1989 more than one-fifth of the nation's federally insured saving and loans institutions have negative net worth. Very little is known, however, about their pricing behavior of financial assets. Host of the existing literature has focused on whether insolvent institutions bid up their cost of funds. The asset pricing issue of insolvent institutions has not been examined in the mortgage literature. This dissertation extends the literature by examining whether failed or failing saving and loan institutions offer their conventional fixedand adjustable-rate mortgages at a discount relative to solvent institutions. A theoretical argument for the underpricing proposition is presented based on the premises that insolvent lending institution use the conditional repayment probability and do not consider capital losses due to an adverse shift in interest rates in setting credit rates. Therefore, insolvent lending institutions will tend to offer lower contractual interest rates on mortgages than wellcapitalized institutions. Using a national data set three empirical tests are performed: a Chow test, a Goldfeld and Quandt test, and the Tishler and Zang maximum likelihood optimization technique. The results show that failed or failing saving and loans institutions do, indeed, offer their conventional fixedand adjustable-rate mortgages at a discount relative to healthy lending institutions.


Abbott (Tom) Gleason's areas of interest include the history of the Cold War and national identity in Russia/the Soviet Union and the United States from 1830-1930. A Brown professor for over 40 years, he is the former chair of the University's History Department. He has been a long-time member of the Watson Institute's administration and faculty, having served as the Institute's director from 1999 to 2000, among other positions including associate director, director for university relations and special projects, and senior fellow. He is currently an adjunct professor. He is also a former director of the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC. His is editor of A Companion to Russian History (Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, 2009) and author of a memoir, A Liberal Education (TidePool Press, 2009). He co-edited with Martha Nussbaum Nineteen Eighty-Four: George Orwell and Our Future (Princeton University Press, 2005) and Nikita Khrushchev (Yale University Press, 2000), with Sergei Khrushchev and William Taubman.


Rainfall is a major driver of food production in rainfed smallholder farming systems. This study was conducted to assess linear trends in (i) different daily rainfall amounts (<5, 5–10, 11–20, 21–40 and >40 mm∙day-1), and (ii) monthly and seasonal rainfall amounts. Drought was determined using the rainfall variability index. Daily rainfall data were derived from 18 meteorological stations in southern Africa. Daily rainfall was dominated by <5 mm∙day-1 followed by 5–10 mm∙day-1. Three locations experienced increasing linear trends of <5 mm∙day-1 amounts and two others in sub-humid region had increases in the >40 mm day-1 category. Semi-arid location experienced increasing trends in <5 and 5–10 mm∙day-1 events. A significant linear trend in seasonal rainfall occurred at two locations with decreasing rainfall (1.24 and 3 mm∙season-1). A 3 mm∙season-1 decrease in seasonal rainfall was experienced under semi-arid conditions. There were no apparent linear trends in monthly and seasonal rainfall at 15 of the 18 locations studied. Drought frequencies varied with location and were 50% or higher during the November–March growing season. Rainfall trends were location and agro-ecology specific, but most of the locations studied did not experience significant changes between the 1900s and 2000s.


We present an optimization algorithm based on a model of bacterial chemotaxis. The original biological model is used to formulate a simple optimization algorithm, which is evaluated on a set of standard test problems. Based on this evaluation, several features are added to the basic algorithm using evolutionary concepts in order to obtain an improved optimization strategy, called the bacteria chemotaxis (BC) algorithm. This strategy is evaluated on a number of test functions for local and global optimization, compared with other optimization techniques, and applied to the problem of inverse airfoil design. The comparisons show that on average, BC performs similar to standard evolution strategies and worse than evolution strategies with enhanced convergence properties.


Abstract Supporting early career teacher (ECT) research literacy is essential in promoting research-integrated professional practice, however it remains an area in much need of development. This article discusses the importance and process of developing ECTs' research literacy, through establishing strong collaborative links between universities and practising teachers in schools. It is located within an English policy and educational context in which the role of higher education and schools in teacher education has been substantially altered in recent times. Two programmes, the NQT and Beyond and Developing Resilience in Learning and Teaching, are used to illustrate how ECTs can actively engage in and with research as they enter the teaching profession, and thus develop their research literacy. The design principles of these projects are used to demonstrate the potential of how a research-informed pedagogical framework based on the Personal Learning Styles Pedagogy, aspects of self-regulation and resilience, can facilitate research-informed learning and teaching. In supporting ECTs' research literacy, universities, in collaboration with schools, play an important role in supporting the sustainability of research and in enabling teachers to connect their own practice with the broader body of research knowledge. Teacher and pupil ownership of research is crucial in developing research-integrated learning.


Much of the human genome derives from self-serving DNA strands known as transposons. These genetic gypsies often jump to new chromosome locations, sometimes disabling genes and even triggering cancer. For that reason, a specialized group of RNA molecules known as piRNAs are the superheroes of animal genomes. piRNAs team up with certain proteins to shackle transposons in animal germline cells, creating a molecular defense that scientists liken to an immune system for the genome.


This polyphonic paper draws together methods, content and impressions from a workshop on utopian spatial practice. It provides a critical reflection on the utopian possibilities inherent in small scale performances of spatial re-organization which re-structure existing patterns of behaviour.  Over the course of this workshop, held as part of the 'Utopian Acts' conference, the mundane space of a university seminar room was briefly transformed. Participants were asked to read extracts from three works of feminist utopian science fiction (sf): Ursula Le Guin's 'The Dispossessed', Marge Piercy's 'Woman on the Edge of Time' and Sally Miller Gearhart's 'The Wanderground: Stories of the Hill Women'. They then worked in groups to rearrange the furniture into an echo of the utopian space of the text. By inhabiting these temporary stagings of utopian space the participants disrupted existing patterns of behaviour and opened up a site for alternatives. This process of imaginative construction is extended into this paper which crosses the fields of architecture, utopian studies, drawing and performance. A series of narrative architectural drawings by the author are presented alongside commentary from the workshop participants to reflect on multiple voices and modes of interpretation which shaped these overlapping utopian acts of construction. This act of remaking space is considered in terms of space as social practice to ask how the re-staging of a single room can open up alternative possibilities for wider socio-spatial action. It draws on Dolan's conception of utopian performatives to ask whether the non-hierarchical engagement of participants in an act of construction offers a utopian mode of practice. From this, it asks whether the re-staging of spaces drawn from utopian sf can be considered an 'act of imagination' as called for in Levitas' 'Utopia as Method'. Through drawings, descriptions, critical theory and transcribed conversation this paper reflects on an attempt to establish a fragment of utopian space, establishing an alternative way of being, however small and fleeting.


Reviews and product recommendations at online stores enable customers to readily evaluate alternative products prior to purchase. In this context, firms generate recommendations referring customers to a wider variety of products. They also display customer-generated online reviews in order to facilitate evaluation of those recommended products. This study integrates these two IT artifacts to investigate consumer choice vis-a-vis competing products. We use a dataset we collected from Amazon.com consisting of books, sales ranks, recommendations, reviews, and reviewers. We derive the granular impact of reviews, product referrals, and reviewer opinions on product sale dynamics within a competitive market using comprehensive econometric analyses.


This review provides insights into the distribution and impact of oestrogens and xeno-oestrogens in the aquatic environment and highlights some significant knowledge gaps in our understanding of endocrine disrupting chemicals. Key areas of uncertainty in the assessment of risk include the role of estuarine sediments in mediating the fate and bioavailability of environmental (xeno)oestrogens (notably their transfer to benthic organisms and estuarine food chains), together with evidence for endocrine disruption in invertebrate populations. Emphasis is placed on using published information to interpret the behaviour and effects of a small number of 'model compounds' thought to contribute to oestrogenic effects in nature; namely, the natural steroid 17β-oestradiol (E2) and the synthetic hormone 17α-ethinyloestradiol (EE2), together with the alkylphenols octyl- and nonyl-phenol (OP, NP) as oestrogen mimics. Individual sections of the review are devoted to sources and concentrations of (xeno)oestrogens in waterways, sediment partitioning and persistence, bioaccumulation rates and routes, assays and biomarkers of oestrogenicity, and, finally, a synopsis of reproductive and ecological effects in aquatic species.


We present a test for spin–orbit alignment for the host stars of 25 candidate planetary systems detected by the Kepler spacecraft. The inclination angle of each star's rotation axis was estimated from its rotation period, rotational line broadening, and radius. The rotation periods were determined using the Kepler photometric time series. The rotational line broadening was determined from high-resolution optical spectra with the Subaru High Dispersion Spectrograph. Those same spectra were used to determine the star's photospheric parameters (effective temperature, surface gravity, metallicity), which were then interpreted with stellar-evolutionary models to determine stellar radii. We combine the new sample with the seven stars from our previous work on this subject, finding that the stars show a statistical tendency to have inclinations near 90°, in alignment with the planetary orbits. Possible spin–orbit misalignments are seen in several systems, including three multiple-planet systems (KOI-304, 988, 2261). Ideally, these systems should be scrutinized with complementary techniques, such as the Rossiter–McLaughlin effect, starspot-crossing anomalies, or asteroseismology, but the measurements will be difficult owing to the relatively faint apparent magnitudes and small transit signals in these systems.


Tourist services are one of the most popular products offered online. This has given rise to all service suppliers to offer their products over the Internet. Currently elementary services as hotels, flights or rental cars and travel packages can be booked online. Despite the high interdependence of tourist products there is no possibility for easy and user friendly online bundling of tourist products. In this paper a solution for online bundling of products will be presented based on multi-vendor Electronic Product Catalogs developed with the Q-Technology.


The mannose 6-phosphate/IGF 2 receptor (IGF2R) is comprised of 15 extra-cellular domains that bind IGF2 and mannose 6-phosphate ligands. IGF2R transports ligands from the Golgi to the pre-lysosomal compartment and thereafter to and from the cell surface. IGF2R regulates growth, placental development, tumour suppression and signalling. The ligand IGF2 is implicated in the growth phenotype, where IGF2R normally limits bioavailability, such that loss and gain of IGF2R results in increased and reduced growth respectively. The IGF2R exon 34 (5002A>G) polymorphism (rs629849) of the IGF2 specific binding domain has been correlated with impaired childhood growth (A/A homozygotes). We evaluated the function of the Gly1619Arg non-synonymous amino acid modification of domain 11. NMR and X-ray crystallography structures located 1619 remote from the ligand binding region of domain 11. Arg1619 was located close to the fibronectin type II (FnII) domain of domain 13, previously implicated as a modifier of IGF2 ligand binding through indirect interaction with the AB loop of the binding cleft. However, comparison of binding kinetics of IGF2R, Gly1619 and Arg1619 to either IGF2 or mannose 6-phosphate revealed no differences in 'on' and 'off' rates. Quantitative PCR, 35S pulse chase and flow cytometry failed to demonstrate altered gene expression, protein half-life and cell membrane distribution, suggesting the polymorphism had no direct effect on receptor function. Intronic polymorphisms were identified which may be in linkage disequilibrium with rs629849 in certain populations. Other potential IGF2R polymorphisms may account for the correlation with childhood growth, warranting further functional evaluation.


Background Gay and bisexual men are at elevated risk for Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Chlamydia trachomatis (GC/CT). Rectal GC/CT symptoms may be less obvious than urethral, increasing opportunities for undiagnosed rectal GC/CT. Methods A US national sample of 1071 gay and bisexual men completed urethral and rectal GC/CT testing and an online survey. Results In total, 6.2% were GC/CT positive (5.3% rectal, 1.7% urethral). We calculated adjusted (for education, race, age, relationship status, having health insurance, and income) odds ratios for factors associated with rectal and urethral GC/CT diagnoses. Age was inversely associated with urethral and rectal GC/CT. Compared with white men, Latinos had significantly greater odds of rectal GC/CT. Among men who reported anal sex, those reporting only insertive sex had lower odds of rectal GC/CT than did men who reported both insertive and receptive. There was a positive association between rectal GC/CT and number of male partners (<12 months), the number of anal receptive acts, receptive condomless anal sex (CAS) acts, and insertive CAS acts. Compared with those who had engaged in both insertive and receptive anal sex, those who engaged in only receptive anal sex had lower odds of urethral GC/CT. The number of male partners (<12 months) was associated with increased odds of urethral GC/CT. Conclusions Rectal GC/CT was more common than urethral and associated with some demographic and behavioral characteristics. Our finding that insertive CAS acts was associated with rectal GC/CT highlights that providers should screen patients for GC/CT via a full range of transmission routes, lest GC/CT go undiagnosed.


While 3D experiences through binocular disparity sensitivity have acquired special status in the understanding of human stereo vision, much remains to be learned about how binocularity is put to use in animals. The owl provides an exceptional model to study stereo vision as it displays one of the highest degrees of binocular specialization throughout the animal kingdom. In a series of six behavioral experiments, equivalent to hallmark human psychophysical studies, I compiled an extensive body of stereo performance data from two trained owls. Computer-generated, binocular random-dot patterns were used to ensure pure stereo performance measurements. In all cases, I found that owls perform much like humans do, viz.: (1) disparity alone can evoke figure-ground segmentation; (2) selective use of "relative" rather than "absolute" disparity; (3) hyperacute sensitivity; (4) disparity processing allows for the avoidance of monocular feature detection prior to object recognition; (5) large binocular disparities are not tolerated; (6) disparity guides the perceptual organization of 2D shape. The robustness and very nature of these binocular disparity-based perceptual phenomena bear out that owls, like humans, exploit the third dimension to facilitate early figure-ground segmentation of tangible objects.


The target recognition of laser radar becomes hot research in recent years, because laser radar can produce high space resolution and collect rich target information, such as range image, intensity image and Doppler image. In the vertical detection of laser radar, the problem of in-plane target rotation invariance is firstly solved. In the paper, a new support vector machine (SVM) correlation filter is presented, which simultaneously has the attractive attributes of SVM and common correlation filter. Exploiting the idea of margin of separation maximization, the design criterion is produced. The filter is synthetic by the multiple training images which are generated by rotating one image. The real range images of laser radar are used to finish the correlation experiments. The results show that the filter is not sensitive to the noise, the correlation peak is changed slightly for the different testing images, and the precision of location is high. This design way can be used in other recognition fields.


For 50 years, Thomas Joshua Cooper has been making photographs outdoors. Often realized through intense physical travel to remote and isolated sites, these stunning, large-scale, black-and-white photographs encapsulate the psychological impact of the place through geographic and atmospheric details. The exhibition, comprising 65 large-scale and 75 8 x 10 black-and-white photographs, showcases Cooper's The Atlas of Emptiness and Extremity, The World's Edge, the Atlantic Basin Project, which he first embarked upon in 1987, to chart the Atlantic Basin from the extreme points of each north, south, east, and west coordinate. Using a 19th-century Agfa Ansco view camera, his singular exposure of each site includes neither a horizon line nor the terrain below his feet, but rather the surrounding "sea spaces" that are unique, dissimilar, and not readily identifiable. For him each place is a point of departure allowing contemplation of the ocean's emptiness beyond the extreme points of the land.


The recent decades have witnessed enormous development in communication world; especially in internet technology that has played an important role in moving forward the human communications, with such development user demands better communication services such as video conferencing. Video conferencing becomes more popular nowadays since it can break the constraints on the communication ways of people who are probably exist in diverse geographical locations in real time. SIP is preferred to be used as signaling protocol for video conferencing, but still using SIP for video conferencing is affected by the delay which reduces the satisfaction of user as it decreases the QoS. This thesis work is aimed to study the performance of SIP signaling for video conferencing, and also describing the causes of the delay in SIP session establishment and termination. The literature review and the two simulations have been carried out in this thesis to examine the effect of specific parameters on the session setup delay. The first study is carried out by using ns-2 to simulate different transport protocols and study their effect on session setup delay. The second study is carried out by using SIPp to achieve two objects. The first object is to study the relationship between number of simultaneous calls on both the session setup delay and call release delay, while the second object is to verify the result of changing transport modes of transport protocol for both session setup delay and call release delay. The results obtained from first simulation showed that utilizing UDP as transport protocol will return less session setup delay than TCP and SCTP. The first objective of the second simulation results clarify the relationship between number of simultaneous calls on both the session setup delay and call release delay which was directly proportional; on the other hand the second object showed that by using UDP in mono socket mode has less session setup delay and call release delay.


In this case study, designers proactively proposed new product ideas to a client by using an ergonomic approach. This approach differs from a more traditional approach where one works within a specific, clientdefined project. The methodology used included basic ergonomic techniques such as task analysis and information gathering sessions conducted with users. It was adapted so that these enriched user sessions could be conducted within a short time period. After meeting with five users in seven days, designers identified 20 problems that could be tackled and eight design ideas that could be implemented over the short, medium and long term. The ideas encompassed a wide range of potential projects, including physical product improvements, new product lines, Web-site and software improvements and longer term research. Problems identified and ideas generated involved many disciplines including occupational therapy, mechanical engineering, graphical design, software engineering, sales and manufacturing know-how. This wide range was possible because designers were not constrained to specific project scopes and timelines. The client was involved in the idea evaluation process. As a result of this study two new projects were initiated so far.


The comparison of geometrical properties of black holes with classical thermodynamic variables reveals surprising parallels between the laws of black hole mechanics and the laws of thermodynamics. Since Hawking's discovery that black holes when coupled to quantum matter fields emit radiation at a temperature proportional to their surface gravity, the idea that black holes are genuine thermodynamic objects with a well-defined thermodynamic entropy has become more and more popular. Surprisingly, arguments that justify this assumption are both sparse and rarely convincing. Most of them rely on an information-theoretic interpretation of entropy, which in itself is a highly debated topic in the philosophy of physics. We discuss some of the pertinent arguments that aim at establishing the identity of black hole surface area (times a constant) and thermodynamic entropy and show why these arguments are not satisfactory. We then present a simple model of a Black Hole Carnot cycle to establish that black hole entropy is genuine thermodynamic entropy which does not require an information-theoretic interpretation.


The issue of whether employees who work more hours than they want to suffer adverse health consequences is important not only at the individual level but also for governmental formation of work time policy. Our study investigates this question by analyzing the impact of the discrepancy between actual and desired work hours on self-perceived health outcomes in Germany and the United Kingdom. Based on nationally representative longitudinal data, our results show that work-hour mismatches (i.e., differences between actual and desired hours) have negative effects on workers' health. In particular, we show that "overemployment" – working more hours than desired – has negative effects on different measures of self-perceived health.


Green hospitals with improved hospital waste recycling practices can be a key solution to the potential problems associated with hospital waste disposal and management. Recycling of household hospital waste could significantly impact on the overall waste disposal management systems and how hospital waste is segregated and eventually disposed. The involvement of hospital staff is of key importance in improving recycling performance, however, the perceptions of hospital workers towards recycling of hospital waste is still not clear and there is a lack of research in this area. The factors that determine the recycling behaviour are not adequately described in the medical literature, and differences between hospital workers perceptions of recycling in developing versus developed countries have not previously been extensively studied. This thesis was designed to examine the factors influencing the knowledge and attitudes of hospital workers towards toward recycling of hospital waste, using a novel questionnaire. A pilot study was first performed to test the efficiency of the questionnaire, conducted via sending the self-administered questionnaires to 12 experts. Their views were considered in the development of the final version of the questionnaires. These were distributed randomly in 2 pre-selected hospitals in the UK and 3 similar hospitals in Libya. A total of 453 questionnaires were returned. The response rates were generally low in both counties (less than 20%). Females and nurses responded significantly more frequently than men and physicians. In general there were relatively low levels of knowledge about waste management and recycling practice. In this study, none of the Libyan hospitals practiced any recycling and the hospital workers in Libya were significantly less enthusiastic towards recycling than their UK counterparts. Training in hospital waste management and education were found to be weak predictors of positive attitudes. Results showed that it is difficult to predict the recycling behaviours among hospital workers, however, waste management staff were more positive towards recycling than those without training in waste management. The study has shown similar results to previous studies, in that hospitals in developed countries generated much less waste compared to hospitals in developed countries. Unexpectedly, knowledge was weakly linked to attitudes in both UK and Libyan hospitals. This may be due to the fact that the attitudes of clinicians and hospital workers are not necessarily related to their knowledge but rather affected mostly by the hard working hours and busy atmosphere which makes recycling more challenging. The study opens doors for further studies to investigate factors influencing recycling attitudes, and encouraging hospitals in developing countries to commence recycling practice and provide whatever infrastructure is needed to make this possible. More education and training on hospital waste management should be encouraged in developing countries. Introducing new technologies in hospital waste management, particularly recycling of hospital house hold waste may change the future prospective of hospital waste disposal in developed and developing countries. More studies intervening with educating the hospital workers in waste management, particularly in recycling of hospital waste and it's relatively safety should be encouraged. Key words: Healthcare waste, hospital household recycling, knowledge, attitudes, hospitals, healthcare workers, waste management.


In this paper, a nonlinear symbolic regression technique using an evolutionary algorithm known as multi-gene genetic programming (MGGP) is applied for a data-driven modelling between the dependent and the independent variables. The technique is applied for modelling the measured global solar irradiation and validated through numerical simulations. The proposed modelling technique shows improved results over the fuzzy logic and artificial neural network (ANN) based approaches as attempted by contemporary researchers. The method proposed here results in nonlinear analytical expressions, unlike those with neural networks which is essentially a black box modelling approach. This additional flexibility is an advantage from the modelling perspective and helps to discern the important variables which affect the prediction. Due to the evolutionary nature of the algorithm, it is able to get out of local minima and converge to a global optimum unlike the back-propagation (BP) algorithm used for training neural networks. This results in a better percentage fit than the ones obtained using neural networks by contemporary researchers. Also a hold-out cross validation is done on the obtained genetic programming (GP) results which show that the results generalize well to new data and do not over-fit the training samples. The multi-gene GP results are compared with those obtained using its single-gene version and also the same with four classical regression models in order to show the effectiveness of the adopted approach.


Risk-reduction strategies have gained attention in recent times. Among these, low-volatility strategies have enjoyed significant inflows, making them one of the most sought-after smart beta strategies. The so-called low-vol anomaly (empirical outperformance of low-volatility equities versus their higher-volatility peers) has been well documented over the past 10 years in academia as well as among market participants. This article demonstrates how to implement a minimum variance portfolio using country/sector exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The analysis shows that a minimum-variance methodology based on allocations to country and sector ETFs may allow for the capture of a significant portion of the low-vol risk premia on developed markets as well as emerging markets.


Capturing program and data traces during program execution unobtrusively on-the-fly is crucial in debugging and testing of cyber-physical systems. However, tracing a complete program unobtrusively is often cost-prohibitive, requiring large on-chip trace buffers and wide trace ports. This article describes a new hardware-based load data value filtering technique called Cache First-access Tracking. Coupled with an effective variable encoding scheme, this technique achieves a significant reduction of load data value traces, from 5.86 to 56.39 times depending on the data cache size, thus enabling cost-effective, unobtrusive on-the-fly tracing and debugging.


Which security holes and security methods do IEEE 802.11b and Bluetooth offer? Which standard provides best security methods for companies? These are two interesting questions that this thesis will be about. The purpose is to give companies more information of the security aspects that come with using WLANs. An introduction to the subject of WLAN is presented in order to give an overview before the description of the two WLAN standards; IEEE 802.11b and Bluetooth. The thesis will give an overview of how IEEE 802.11b and Bluetooth works, a in depth description about the security issues of the two standards will be presented, security methods available for companies, the security flaws and what can be done in order to create a secure WLAN are all important aspects to this thesis. In order to give a guidance of which WLAN standard to choose, a comparison of the two standards with the security issues in mind, from a company's point of view is described. We will present our conclusion which entails a recommendation to companies to use Bluetooth over IEEE 802.11b, since it offers better security methods.


Fluorescence Detection of DNA Amplification in Porous Media for Point-of-Care Diagnostics C. Mallory Monahan Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Dr. Paul Yager, Professor Department of Bioengineering The translation of sophisticated, laboratory-developed methods for disease diagnosis into devices appropriate for locations with limited infrastructure—whether that is a military setting, resource-poor country, or a home—requires the development of rapid, inexpensive, robust, and semi-autonomous assays. One common diagnostic testing format that addresses these requirements is the lateral flow test (LFT). These tests use modified porous substrates to automate the delivery of samples via wicking, which enables low-cost and equipment-free analysis. These tests also utilize the rehydration of reagents from dry storage in the substrate, which enables multi-step and intervention-free assays. Typically, dry reagents in LFTs are stored with sugars that preserve reagent functionality. However, the formation of concentrated sugar solutions in porous media during drying can lead to non-uniform rehydration of reagents stored by this method. Additionally, in many diagnostic assays, the uniform mixing of targets with multiple reagents at precise concentrations is critical to performance. This is especially true for LFT-based isothermal nucleic acid amplification tests (iNAATs), for which the non-uniform rehydration of reagents causes a drastic reduction in assay performance. Since iNAATs produce results more rapidly and with increased sensitivity than traditional culture-based methods, their use in the LFT format represents an ideal diagnostic test for use in low-resource settings (LRS). Therefore, further study and development of iNAAT reagent rehydration in porous media is needed to enable improved LFT-based iNAATs for disease diagnosis in LRS. To this end, we have developed a novel, quantitative, fluorescence-based method for the observation and analysis of isothermal DNA amplification from dry reagents in porous media. Here, we describe this method and accompanying analytical tools to assess variations in reagent composition, imbibition time and target input levels with direct utility for performance quantification of a real LFT-based iNAAT.


The designations employed and the presentation of material in this paper do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Rome-based agencies (FAO, IFAD, WFP) or their governing bodies, or the CFS and its governing bodies concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.


A method for optical encryption of three-dimensional (3D) information by use of digital holography is presented. A phase-shifting interferometer records the phase and amplitude information generated by a 3D object at a plane located in the Fresnel diffraction region with an intensity-recording device. Encryption is performed optically by use of the Fresnel diffraction pattern of a random phase code. Images of the 3D object with different perspectives and focused at different planes can be generated digital or optically after decryption with the proper key. Experimental results are presented.


This study examines the effects of several individual-level variables on voter behavior, in order to make inferences regarding voter turnout. These variables include education level, socioeconomic status, household income, religious attendance, rural or urban residence, political activism, contact from a party or candidate, whether the respondent feels a party adequately represents his or her view, whether voting is compulsory, how the respondent feels regarding the democratic process in his or her country, and the country's voting system (plurality, majority, or proportional). Focusing mainly on voting system, compulsory voting, and satisfaction with the democratic process, I argue that the greatest indicator of an individual's voting behavior is the voting system, followed closely by compulsory voting and democratic satisfaction. For this reason, governments should focus their efforts in these areas in order to increase voter turnout.