We present theoretical results in terms of lower and upper bounds on the query complexity of noisy search with comparative feedback. In this search model, the noise in the feedback depends on the distance between query points and the search target. Consequently, the error probability in the feedback is not fixed but varies for the queries posed by the search algorithm. Our results show that a target out of n items can be found in O(log n) queries. We also show the surprising result that for k possible answers per query, the speedup is not log k (as for k-ary search) but only log log k in some cases.


For 350 years, the Taj Mahal in Agra has reigned luminous and splendid as perhaps the most admired monument in the world. Visitors who gazed across the Yamuna River from the Taj pavilions have viewed what appears to be little more than farmers' fields and barren ground. But historical references as well as paintings from the time of Shahjahan (r. 1628-58) reveal that it was once densely covered by rectangular walled enclosures and lush vegetation. The Mughal emperor Babur built gardens here as a way of evoking the characteristic delights of the homeland he had abandoned when he moved from Central Asia into India in 1526. Eventually, as the Mughal Empire grew more powerful, the riverbank became lined with gardens belonging not only to the imperial family but also to important nobles. This definitive volume describes the discoveries of an international project documenting the surface remains of a long-abandoned Mughal garden, spectacularly located directly across the river from the Taj Mahal. The book is illustrated with new photographs of the Taj Mahal and the garden - now identified as the Mahtab Bagh, or Moonlight Garden - as well as with paintings from Shahjahan's era. Modelled after the Persian concept of earthly paradise, the pleasure gardens of 17th-century Mughal emperors exhibited elaborate renditions of cut-stone architecture, water chutes, standing pools, flowing fountains, and plantings intended to stimulate the senses. Well-ordered oases in an otherwise hot, dusty, and chaotic environment, these gardens were places of respite and enjoyment. The authors show that in plan, proportion, and directional alignment, the Moonlight Garden is indeed an integral part of the design of the gardens at the Taj Mahal, presenting an expansive new interpretation of one of the most famous buildings in the world. Elizabeth B. Moynihan is the author of "Paradise as a Garden in Persia and Mughal India". Other contributors include David L. Lentz, John M. Fritz, George Michell, and James L. Wescoat Jr.


"Could there be a business intelligence-a set of abilities that distinguish those truly outstanding in the world of commerce? Could business intelligence be the mark of outstanding individual performers, as well as the building block of the best-performing companies?" From the Introduction by Daniel Goleman. A landmark in reference publishing, Business will be to global commerce what Britannica is to general knowledge. The most detailed business resource ever published, Business will be a one-stop reference covering virtually every aspect of the world of business, and aimed at everyone who works. }The gold standard of business information for the twenty-first century, Business will also be a source of inspiration and insight, with original essays from more than 150 world-renowned business thinkers, leaders, academics, and practitioners such as Charles Handy, Warren Bennis, Jim Collins, Thomas Petzinger, Jr. , Peter L. Bernstein, and John Seely Brown. Unprecedented in scope (2.5 million words, 2,200 pages), Business covers all significant intellectual, practical, and factual areas in the field of management. A major feature of Business is an authoritative world almanac featuring 26 industry sector surveys and profiles of 150 countries and all U.S. states. Lively biographies of the management thinkers who have shaped the world as we know it-from Adam Smith to Peter Drucker, from Henry Ford to Este Lauder-will inform and entertain, while digests of the 70 most influential business books ever published are certain to spark debate. In addition, Business includes a comprehensive dictionary, an anthology of quotations, and an extensive source section covering nearly 200 topics from accounting to team building.Guided by an eminent team of editors and advisors, Business equips everyone who works with the tools necessary to learn from yesterday and prepare for tomorrow. Business is the first-ever comprehensive resource on business and management. A remarkable compendium of lively essays, inspiring biographies, and impressive source materials, Business features the following:Original Best-Practice Essays from 150 of Today's Thought LeadersFascinating Profiles of Top Management Thinkers and PioneersA Management Library-The 70 Most Important Business Books of All TimeIndispensable Management Checklists and Action ListsFirst-Class World Business AlmanacComprehensive Dictionary of 5,000 Business TermsBusiness Information Sources -Where to Go from HereVisit www ultimatebusinessresource.com }


With the spread of English in many parts of the world, numerous local varieties have emerged, shaped by the sociocultural contexts in which they are embedded. Hence, although English is a unifying element, these varieties express different conceptualizations that are deeply rooted in culture. For the most part, these conceptualizations come in the form of conceptual metaphors, which not only influence our perception of the world ( Lakoff & Johnson 1980 ), but also reveal cultural specifics of a particular society. One of the latest approaches in the field of conceptual metaphor research suggests that conceptual metaphors are actually multimodal, i.e., that they are expressed not only in language, but also, e.g., in gestures, facial expressions, sounds or images ( Forceville 2009 ). Films are an ideal source of data for such multimodal metaphors. In the form of a pilot study, this paper applies this novel approach to metaphor to the field of World Englishes. While adding to the range of research that has already used the methodological toolbox of Cognitive Linguistics or its cognate discipline Cultural Linguistics in the investigation of the cultural dimension of varieties of English (e.g., Kovecses 1995 ; Liu 2002 ; Malcolm & Rochecouste 2000 ; Sharifian 2006 ; Wolf 2001 ; Wolf & Polzenhagen 2009 ), we provide a new exploratory angle to that investigation by using cinematic material for the analysis. Specifically, this study focuses on conceptualizations pertaining to the target domains woman and homosexuality . The data we have selected are from Great Britain, India and Nigeria, because these countries have important film industries, and British English, Indian English and Nigerian English constitute culturally distinct varieties.


The growth of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is very sensitive to salinity, with the most susceptible genotypes dying in just 25 mM NaCl and resistant genotypes unlikely to survive 100 mM NaCl in hydroponics; germination is more tolerant with some genotypes tolerating 320 mM NaCl. When growing in a saline medium, Cl-, which is secreted from glandular hairs on leaves, stems and pods, is present in higher concentrations in shoots than Na+. Salinity reduces the amount of water extractable from soil by a chickpea crop and induces osmotic adjustment, which is greater in nodules than in leaves or roots. Chickpea rhizobia show a higher 'free-living' salt resistance than chickpea plants, and salinity can cause large reductions in nodulation, nodule size and N2-fixation capacity. Recent screenings of diverse germplasm suggest significant variation of seed yield under saline conditions. Both dominance and additive gene effects have been identified in the effects of salinity on chickpea and there appears to be sufficient genetic variation to enable improvement in yield under saline conditions via breeding. Selections are required across the entire life cycle with a range of rhizobial strains under salt-affected, preferably field, conditions. Key-words: chloride; Cicer arietinum; flowering; germination; N2-fixation; plant breeding; plant water relations; sodium; soil salinity.


Would you like to learn to create sharp, powerful graphics for your own small business? Have you been tasked with designing brochures, business cards, sales or feature sheets, slides, or other graphic materials for your employer? If you have an eye for design and a basic knowledge of computers, with the help of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite and BRING IT HOME WITH CORELDRAW: A GUIDE TO IN-HOUSE GRAPHIC DESIGN, you can start producing impressive, professional-looking ads and marketing materials today. The book's step-by-step guidance and wealth of tips, tricks, and techniques will quickly teach you the fundamentals of clear, effective visual communication and how to structure compelling promotional pieces and ads for your company. Along the way, you'll learn: How to set up and customize CorelDRAW to make things easier. The basic elements of design, including typography, color, and resolution. How to create layouts with ease, including the use of templates and styles. How to produce company ID packages and a variety of collateral pieces. The best way to get your finished pieces from CorelDRAW to the printer. Learn to create eye-catching marketing materials that are easy on the budget. BRING IT HOME WITH CORELDRAW: A GUIDE TO IN-HOUSE GRAPHIC DESIGN is your fast, friendly guide to producing great-looking graphics in-house.


In the National Forests of northern Colorado, there is a backlog of over 140,000 slash piles slated to be burned, most of them coming from post-mountain pine beetle salvage logging and hazard reduction treatments. Burning slash piles can create openings in the forest that remain treeless for over 50 years, and can also have the short-term impacts of increasing nutrient availability and creating opportunities for weed establishment. Working with managers, RMRS researchers have evaluated the available treatments for short-term rehabilitation of both smaller, hand-built and larger, machine-built burn piles. For the smaller piles, they found that both soil nitrogen and plant cover recovered to a level similar to that of the surrounding forest within two years, indicating that these scars may not need rehabilitation unless in a sensitive area. Seeding with native mountain brome (Bromus marginatus) was an effective option for the larger piles, whereas mechanical treatment either alone or with seeding did not increase plant cover. The root causes behind the long-term lack of trees are not yet clear, and the next step is to conduct field and lab studies to evaluate whether soil factors, competition with grasses, and/or herbivory are possible explanations.


Nursing documentation is a sign implement nursing care. Proper principles in registration can be effective patient safety and security. These researches determine affecting factors not correctly registered nursing staff is done. The descriptive - analytic study of 80 nurses working in hospital in Fasa, selected by availability sampling and their perspective with the factors affecting lack of correct recording nursing.The data were analyzed by SPSS-19 software. 68 (85%) of the participants in the study were female and 12 (15%) were male. Median age of the study population 63/5 ± 91/28 years. Within the scope of the factors related to the nursing: lack of nursing, not having enough time, fatigue has importance were reported. Related area factors: high number of patients, work in high density were the most important. Relevant area of nursing management: the absence of continuous monitoring and evaluation system and the lack of discipline and encouragement were of the greatest importance. Relationship between other variables such as age, gender and experience factors are given in the text. Correct registered nursing is one of the most important functions and responsibilities of the professional nurse and continuous improvement to enhance the quality of registered nurses, is very important.


Using surface splats as a rendering primitive has gained increasing attention recently due to its potential for high‐performance and high‐quality rendering of complex geometric models. However, as with any other rendering primitive, the processing costs are still proportional to the number of primitives that we use to represent a given object. This is why complexity reduction for point‐sampled geometry is as important as it is, e.g., for triangle meshes. In this paper we present a new sub‐sampling technique for dense point clouds which is specifically adjusted to the particular geometric properties of circular or elliptical surface splats. A global optimization scheme computes an approximately minimal set of splats that covers the entire surface while staying below a globally prescribed maximum error toleranceε. Since our algorithm converts pure point sample data into surface splats with normal vectors and spatial extent, it can also be considered as a surface reconstruction technique which generates a hole‐free piecewise linearC−1continuous approximation of the input data. Here we can exploit the higher flexibility of surface splats compared to triangle meshes. Compared to previous work in this area we are able to obtain significantly lower splat numbers for a given error tolerance.


In this paper, the effects of roll center height of McPherson suspension mechanism on dynamic behaviour of a vehicle are first studied, and then the optimum location of roll center of this suspension system is determined for a conceptual Class A vehicle. ADAMS/Car software was used for the analysis of vehicle dynamic behaviour in different positions of suspension roll center. Next, optimization process has been done using ADAMS/Insight. Results show significant effects of roll center location on body roll angle, body roll rate and steering response. Also, the contradiction between body roll and steering response can be observed.


We report on the performance of an optical switch based on the use of narrow deep-etched InP waveguides. A DOS-like structure has been designed and fabricated. First characterization results are reported. They show an optical crosstalk value close to -20dB.


We report an effective solvent engineering process to enable controlled perovskite crystal growth and a wider window for processing uniform and dense methyl ammonium lead iodide (MAPbI3) perovskite films. Planar heterojunction solar cells fabricated with this method demonstrate hysteresis-free performance with a power conversion efficiency around 10%. The crystal structure of an organic-based Pb iodide intermediate phase is identified for the first time, which is critical in controlling the crystal growth and optimizing thin film morphology.


Januari 2015 Abstract: This paper provides an overview of the current situation of the automotive industry in ASEAN and certain member states. The current state of the ASEAN automobile industry will be explained by putting into global context, including the ASEAN strategy of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) from Europe, Japan, and other countries. Thereafter, the impact of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) on OEMs and parts suppliers will be discussed using case studies. In general, AEC 2015 is likely to influence the automotive industry in distinct patterns: on one side, there is production in developed markets with an integrated supply chain while on the other side, there is production in developing markets that is mainly based on assembly of imported completely-knocked-down (CKD) kits. While Toyota's Intelligent International Multi-Purpose Vehicle (IMV) project represents the former, those of Tan Chong and Truong Hai Auto Corp. (THACO) represent the latter. Thus, cases will be investigated to show the distinct effects of AEC 2015 on automobile production within the ASEAN region.


In this research, degradation efficiency, mechanism and intermediates' toxicities of oxcarbazepine (OXC) upon chlorination, chlorine dioxide oxidation and ozonation were investigated. Results showed that three degradation approaches followed the second-order kinetics, and ozonation had the highest removal efficiency both of OXC and DOC. Reaction intermediates were evaluated by UPLC-Q-TOF-MS. Totals of 11, 6 and 10 intermediates were detected during the oxidation processes of chlorination, chlorine dioxide oxidation and ozonation, respectively. Although three oxidation approaches had similar pathways in N -heterocyclic ring cleavage and reorganization, ozonation was much more focused on hydroxyl radical (OH•) attacking, while chlorination had significant Cl-substitution by-products. Chlorine dioxide oxidation brought about less degradation by-products than the other two approaches. The toxicities of above-mentioned oxidation intermediates by EPA TEST indicated that some of them were intended to be more toxic than OXC, especially for those from chlorination. Further test results from the eco-toxicities of oxidized mixtures to the bioluminescent marine bacterium Vibrio fischeri demonstrated the chlorinated samples could lead to the accumulation of toxic transformation products, while chlorine dioxide oxidation and ozonation had detoxication impact during these processes.


The thought of suicide is a great consolation: by means of it one gets successfully through many a bad night.(1) The debate on the right to die has recently reached the proportions the abortion debate has held over the last few decades. This is due, in part, to improvements in medical technology and a gradual shift in medicine from paternalism to patient self-determination. As in the abortion debate, proponents of assisted suicide have begun to focus their efforts on legal reform. In November of 1991, Initiative 119, a ballot measure in Washington state that would have legalized active euthanasia for competent terminally ill patients, narrowly failed, 46% to 54%.(2) In the three months between December 1991 and March 1992, legislators in four states--Michigan,(3) New Hampshire,(4) Maine,(5) and Iowa(6)--introduced legislation to legalize either assisted suicide or physician aid-in-dying for the terminally ill. In addition, the group Californians Against Human Suffering gathered 570,000 signatures placing a physician aid-in-dying measure on the ballot in California.(7) In the absence of legal reform, assisted suicide for the terminally ill is now occurring outside of the law throughout the United States.(8) Rather than asking physicians to risk their professions and futures and requiring that patients continue to suffer against their will, carefully drafted laws legalizing assisted suicide in narrow cases should be passed. Current Law Suicide is defined as the intentional taking of one's own life.(9) It is not currently illegal under any state statute, although it may arguably be a crime in a few states under common law.(10) In order to be classified as assisted suicide the death must be considered a suicide, i.e., not withholding or withdrawal of life support;(11) and there must be "affirmative, assertive, proximate, direct conduct such as furnishing a gun, poison, knife, or other instrumentality of usable means by which another could physically and immediately inflict some death producing injury upon himself."(12) For the purpose of this article, assisted suicide is distinguished from active euthanasia. In the former, a physician simply prescribes drugs for a patient, who then ends his or her own life. In the latter, the physician or some other person performs the act that brings about death, e.g., a lethal injection. Assisted Suicide Statutes Despite the fact that suicide is not a crime, assisted suicide generally is. Twenty-seven states have specific statutes making assisting a suicide a crime.(13) Although it is not clear the types of cases for which most of these statutes were intended, at least one was passed for the specific purpose of preventing assistance in the suicide of a terminally ill individual.(14) In those states that do not specifically criminalize assisted suicide, it may fall under murder or manslaughter statutes.(15) Because most cases are handled on the trial court level and therefore not reported, one can only speculate on the outcome in an individual case of assisted suicide where no specific statute exists.(16) An exception to this is the state of Michigan. Michigan has no statute criminalizing assisted suicide. In addition, the case of People v. Campbell(17) reinforces the legality of assisted suicide, as do recent judicial actions related to Dr. Kevorkian's assistance in several suicides.(18) In the Campbell case, not involving a terminally ill person, Steven Campbell gave a gun to a suicidal friend and encouraged him to use it. Mr. Campbell was ultimately charged with murder and initially convicted. On appeal, the conviction was overturned. The court reasoned that under the law suicide is not homicide, "hope alone" does not constitute the necessary intent, and the trend is moving away from classifying assisted suicide as a crime, since two-thirds of states do not do so. …


Changes in the ion flux and the time-averaged ion distribution functions are reported for pulsed, inductively coupled RF plasmas (ICPs) operated over a range of duty cycles. For helium and argon plasmas, the ion flux increases rapidly after the start of the RF pulse and after about 50 μs reaches the same steady state value as that in continuous ICPs. Therefore, when the plasma is pulsed at 1 kHz, the ion flux during the pulse has a value that is almost independent of the duty cycle. By contrast, in molecular electronegative chlorine/chlorosilane plasmas, the ion flux during the pulse reaches a steady state value that depends strongly on the duty cycle. This is because both the plasma chemistry and the electronegativity depend on the duty cycle. As a result, the ion flux is 15 times smaller in a pulsed 10% duty cycle plasma than in the continuous wave (CW) plasma. The consequence is that for a given synchronous RF biasing of a wafer-chuck, the ion energy is much higher in the pulsed plasma than it is in the CW plasma of chlorine/chlorosilane. Under these conditions, the wafer is bombarded by a low flux of very energetic ions, very much as it would in a low density, capacitively coupled plasma. Therefore, one can extend the operating range of ICPs through synchronous pulsing of the inductive excitation and capacitive chuck-bias, offering new means by which to control plasma etching.


Smart antenna systems not only enable users to have high quality links but also increase network throughput by allowing spatial reuse of wireless channels by the use of directional transmission. However performance of smart antenna systems is limited because of the increased hidden terminal problem and deafness of nodes. In this work, we have proposed the Angular MAC (ANMAC) protocol that avoids both problems through medium access tables in the nodes that keep track of the locations of the destination nodes as well as all communicating neighbors. We present detailed performance analysis of ANMAC considering different topologies and traffic scenarios, and we show that SDMA cannot be fully exploited without a smart scheduler. We have also proposed ANMAC with Location based Scheduling (ANMAC-LS) and compared its performance with other smart antenna approaches and omni 802.11 MAC. We prove the efficacy of location based scheduling in wireless networks with smart antennas, and we also show the effects of antenna orientation on throughput, using realistic antenna patterns and the ANMAC protocol. We have also analyzed the effect of contention window size on the performance of the network. By adjusting the contention window according to channel conditions, we can always get the maximum network throughput. We propose an updating algorithm for contention window, and we have analyzed the results both analytically and through simulations.


Feature models represent all the products that can be built under a variability-intensive system such as a software product line, but they are not fully congurable. There exist no explicit eort in den- ing conguration models that enable making decisions on attributes and cardinalities in feature models that use these artefacts. In this paper we present congurable feature models as an evolution from feature models that integrate conguration models within, improving the congurability of variability-intensive systems.


The modern university teaching, of the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery typical of the Italian university organization, at least for clinical matters must pursue the aim to develop in the students a clinical and responsible sense of the seriousness of the profession they intend to embrace, both for medical that for surgical pathologies. Therefore it is very important the teaching method, above all in a diagnostic key, hopefully making above all the study of the patient the true "book" to read and meditate. Beyond the necessary attendance of the Students to the wards to learn the diagnostic and therapeutic procedure methods to pursue, it is of the utmost importance to verify on the field the development in them of the clinical sense of the correct professional method. Therefore a method of direct teaching by clinical examples and a model for written verification of the student's preparations has been personally introduced and experimented along more than twelve years of general surgery's teaching by the Author. It consist of a Form, very different from the quiz methods of other cultures, that introduces the student, to the correct way to study of each patient since the phase of learning and then in that of the examination. The typical adopted Form is proposed in advance to the students at the beginning of the course of lessons, so they can conform critically their preparation of the entire subject to study preparing to individuate the correct diagnosis on a proposed card simulating a clinical situation, and then to discuss it with the examinator. This method informs the student to the correct procedure in studying a patient, and give the examiner a way of a possible uniformity in his evaluation of the preparations of the student himself.


Urbanization is a global phenomenon, but its negative effects are most pronounced in developing countries. While much urbanization in the global South is unplanned, there have been occasional attempts at strategic, large-scale urban planning. One example is Abuja, Nigeria, a new city with origins in a 1970s Master Plan. Here, we use multi-temporal remote sensing to investigate four decades of urbanization in Abuja, showing the extent to which urban development has matched original intentions. Seven Landsat images from 1975 to 2014 were selected to correspond with Master Plan milestones and turning points in Nigeria's socio-political development. Land cover classification and change detection results show built-up land increasing rapidly, from 1,167 ha in 1975 to 18,623 ha in 2014, mostly converted from grassland, often via a pioneer bare soil class. Comparing image analysis against the Master Plan shows that, in the early years, Abuja's development matched broad planning intentions fairly closely. Later, though, unplanned development proliferated, and the city's resemblance to the Master Plan diminished progressively. Level of adherence to the Master Plan varied widely according to the system of government. Notably, after long-term military rule was replaced by a democratic government around the turn of the millennium, unplanned development increased sharply.


This case article tells the story of the rebirth of CRM at KLM Royal Dutch Airlines since 2002 and its successful liftoff during 2003, for which KLM received Gartner's 2004 CRM Excellence Award. The Award presents itself as a natural moment of reflection on past CRM achievements and future plans. The case works well, with technical as well as general management audiences, for generating a multifaceted class discussion on the challenge of making CRM into a business success. More specifically, it allows us to 1. dissect a CRM success story, that contrasts nicely with many of the CRM horror stories of the 1990s, and identify key success factors; 2. focus attention onto the viability of the planned approach KLM uses for implementing CRM; 3. introduce and show the importance of program management as a construct for structurally growing and governing enterprise wide investment in CRM; and 4. help reinforce lessons around CRM and business-ICT alignment.


Objective: To compare characteristics and outcome of patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in clinics with (WSB) or without (NOSB) on-site cardiac surgery backup. Design: Analysis according to hospital, type of prospectively collected data of all patients who underwent PCI during 2000–3. Setting: The Swedish Coronary Angiography and Angioplasty Registry covers all PCI procedures performed in Sweden. Patients: 34 363 patients underwent PCI between January 2000 and December 2003. 8838 procedures were performed in NOSB (mean age of patients was 64.5 years) hospitals and 25 525 in WSB (mean age of patients was 64.1 years) hospitals (p = 0.002). Results: More patients in NOSB hospitals had diabetes (17.8% vs 16.8%; p = 0.03). Other clinical characteristics (previous infarct, previous coronary artery bypass graft (CABG)) also showed a tendency towards worse patients being treated in NOSB hospitals. However, there was a higher percentage of patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (18% vs 9.7%; p<0.01) in WSB hospitals. After adjusting for differences in baseline risk no significant differences regarding outcome (30-day mortality, 1-year mortality, stroke and emergency CABG) were observable between WSB and NOSB hospitals. This applied to elective and non-elective procedures. Conclusions: On the basis of these data it does not seem warranted to recommend against percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty in NOSB hospitals.


This is an important analysis of a key but little-known region, in the wider context of world politics. Central Asia has huge oil and gas resources, divided between five independent states - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan - each with their own problems and interests. The region is energy-rich and, being situated between Russia and China and close to Afghanistan and other potential trouble-spots, it has acquired immense geo-strategic importance. History is seen and felt everywhere. Old legacies, whether they go back to Genghis Khan or stem from the recent Soviet past, have a profound effect on contemporary issues and political choices. Concentrating on today's problems against a complex historical background, the book draws on the author's extensive involvement with the region. Considerable attention is paid to Central Asian Islam, human rights issues in the region, and Central Asia's place in the 'war against terrorism'.


In this paper we introduce a new approach to the consolidation strategy of a data center that allows an important reduction in the amount of active nodes required to process a heterogeneous workload without degrading the offered service level. This article reflects and demonstrates that consolidation of dynamic workloads does not end with virtualization. If energy-efficiency is pursued, the workloads can be consolidated even more using two techniques, memory compression and request discrimination, which were separately studied and validated in previous work and are now to be combined in a joint effort. We evaluate the approach using a representative workload scenario composed of numerical applications and a real workload obtained from a top national travel website. Our results indicate that an important improvement can be achieved using 20% less servers to do the same work. We believe that this serves as an illustrative example of a new way of management: tailoring the resources to meet high level energy efficiency goals.


Extinction cross-section spectra of split-ring-resonator dimers have been measured at near-infrared frequencies with a sensitive spatial modulation technique. The resonance frequency of the dimer's coupled mode as well as its extinction cross-section and its quality factor depend on the relative orientation and separation of the two split-ring resonators. The findings can be interpreted in terms of electric and magnetic dipole-dipole interaction. Numerical calculations based on a Discontinuous Galerkin Time-Domain approach are in good agreement with the experiments and support our physical interpretation.


Introduction: Prescription drug abuse is the use of a medication without a prescription, in a way other than prescribed, or for the experience or feelings elicited. The consequences of this abuse have been steadily worsening, reflected in increased treatment admissions, emergency room visits, and overdose deaths. We here by present a case of an adolescent who was self injecting Fortwin (Pentazocine) and Phenergan (Promethzine) combination intravenously from a long time which led him to a critical condition of Pseudoaneurysm in the right groin. Case report: An 18 years boy was brought in the orthopedic OPD on stretcher with pain and swelling in the whole right lower limb from ten days. He had lost his parents in childhood. No obvious reason of swelling was given by the patient or his guardian. On local examination; there were multiple scar marks on the body. They were quite prominent in the groin on both sides. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) of right thigh revealed findings highly suggestive of Pseudoaneurysm. After a repeat history taking guardian then admitted, that he is a drug addict and for more than two years he injects intravenously Fortwin-Phanergan injections. Discussion: Femoral Pseudoaneurysm is a serious complication in drug addicts who habitually inject via the groin. Most of the patients belong to younger age group. Medical representatives and medical stores are supplying the consignment to the addicted youths at a higher price without prescription and such incidents are on the rise. Conclusion: As per WHO-UMC criteria, Fortwin (Pentazocine)-Phenargan (Promathazine) combination is probable cause of Pseudoaneurysm.


Background: 'M9' is a widely used apple dwarfing rootstock due to the outstanding effects on both precocity and vigorous control. Two quantitative trait loci (QTLs), Dw1 and Dw2, for the dwarfing effect were previously mapped on 'M9', but the genetic variations that underpin the dwarfing ability have not been elucidated to date. Result: By using 'Red Fuji'(Malus × domestica Borkh.) trees grafted on 1123 hybrids from 'Malus baccata Borkh.' × 'M9', the intervals of Dw1 and Dw2 were narrowed down. MdLBD3 (Md Lateral organ boundaries domain 3)and MdARF6 (Md Auxin response factor 6) were predicted as potential candidate genes from Dw1, while MdG3OX3 (Md Gibberellin 3-beta-dioxygenase 3) was a possible candidate gene from Dw2. An 11 bp deletion at -339 bp upstream of the transcription start site (TSS) of MdLBD3 generated a new cis-element binding site with MdWRKY2 (Md WRKY transcription factor 2)and caused increased expression of MdLBD3. Coincidently, a ten bp deletion at -278 bp upstream of the TSS of MdG3OX3 created an additional binding site of MdABI5 (Md Abscisic acid insensitive 5), leading to higher expression of MdG3OX3. At -954 bp of the MdARF6 promoter, a 14 bp insertion destroyed the binding ability by MdGAMYB (Md transcription factor GAMYB)and reduced MdARF6 expression. The genotype effects of these insertion and deletions as diagnostic markers on dwarfing traits (tree height, trunk diameter, and canopy width) were estimated in 108 F1 hybrids. The genomic predicted genetic values (GEGV) were calculated by adding up the genotype effects of the three markers and the population mean phenotype. The GEGV of the dwarfing traits exhibited high correlation coefficients of 0.93, 0.94, and 0.93 in terms of tree height, trunk diameter, and canopy width for the observed phenotype values, respectively. The predictability of GEGV was validated in 64 Malus accessions. Conclusion: The development of the three functional markers, Ld/Li, Ad/Ai, and Gd/Gi, ensures the genomic assisted prediction of dwarfing ability in apple rootstock breeding. The data also suggested that hormone (ABA, Auxin, GA, and zeatin signals) is one of the regulation pathways in controlling apple rootstock dwarfing mechanisms.


We incorporate an explicit neural interlingua into a multilingual encoder-decoder neural machine translation (NMT) architecture. We demonstrate that our model learns a language-independent representation by performing direct zero-shot translation (without using pivot translation), and by using the source sentence embeddings to create an English Yelp review classifier that, through the mediation of the neural interlingua, can also classify French and German reviews. Furthermore, we show that, despite using a smaller number of parameters than a pairwise collection of bilingual NMT models, our approach produces comparable BLEU scores for each language pair in WMT15.


Systematic risk in an investment in a security is measured by the security's beta. The beta of a stock is considered as a very important parameter in asset pricing. It is used to estimate the expected return of a stock with respect to its market return. Beta is estimated by the regression method. In this paper, we consider some problems associated with the concept of beta and its estimation. We also advocate for the use of elasticity as an alternative to beta.


INTRODUCTION Overview of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) was enacted in response to management fraud in Corporate America. Fraud at such premier companies as Enron, WorldCom and Tyco, resulted in misleading financial statements which caused huge losses to investors when the fraud was unraveled. Currently, SOX only applies to public companies; private companies, not-for-profit organizations and governmental entities are specifically exempt. Some of the key provisions of SOX specifically Sections 301 (audit committee's oversight of issuers accounting, internal controls and auditing procedures), 302 (annual certification of the financials by the CEO and CFO) and 404 (management's assessment of the effectiveness of internal controls over financial reporting) have increased the role of the board of directors and management in the oversight and reporting process within organizations (Lander, 2004). This has resulted in an increase in accountability and transparency within public corporations so that the ultimate owners (i.e., shareholders) have a better understanding of the business practices and financial transactions within such organizations. For example, Deloitte & Touche chief executive noted that as a result of SOX, audit committees are more involved and have deepened their understanding of the financial reporting process and accounting policies within their organizations. The executive also noted that SOX has enhanced transparency and reduced the risk of corporate fraud in many organizations (Martin, 2003). In addition, an audit committee chair noted that audit committees have doubled the time spent on audit related matters and that boards are more deeply involved in controls and are better informed of the organization's performance as a result of SOX (Stainburn, 2006). In terms of financial reporting, one study found that 1,118 US companies and 90 foreign companies--one in every 12 companies with US listed securities--filed a total of 1,342 material weaknesses disclosures in 2006 (Zhang & Pang, 2008). Arlinghaus (2007) reported that twenty seven of the 201 respondents in its study of SOX compliance reported material weaknesses in internal control in the tax area in their annual report on management's assessment of internal control. A material weakness in internal control is a combination or combination of deficiencies that results in a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement in the financial statements would not be prevented or detected on a timely basis (Louwers, Ramsey, Sinason & Strawser, 2008). Gullapalli (2005) noted that the Heron Consulting Group identified 414 companies with error driven financial restatements in 2004. This was a sharp increase from the 323 in 2003 (Gullapalli, 2005) 330 in 2002 and 270 in 2001 (Farrell, 2005). The 28% increase from 2003 to 2004 was primarily attributed to the significant amounts of time and money spent by public companies to comply with the requirements of SOX, and the accounting mistakes caught in the process (Bryan, Lilien, Ruland & Sinnett, 2005). The number of companies reporting earnings restatements ballooned to approximately 1,200 in 2005 primarily due to the implementation of SOX Section 404 (Farrell, 2005). Section 404 requires the outside auditor and the company's top brass to annually certify the soundness of internal financial-reporting controls (Gullapalli, 2005). However, 56% of the accounting mistakes identified was simply the result of human errors (Plourd, 2008). Montana (2007) noted that most corporate commentators concede benefits of various kinds from SOX especially in the financial controls and reporting areas. This led private companies and not-for-profit organizations to recognize the effectiveness of various SOX provisions and have applied certain requirements (such as an audit committee and independent internal control assessments) as best practices (Elson, O'Callaghan & Walker, 2007) The Sarbanes-Oxley Act and Local Governments Most local governments are not as proactive and instead rely on existing structures and controls to ensure accountability and transparency in the management of taxpayers' resources. …


We study variation in skill demands for professionals across firms and labor markets. We categorize a wide range of keywords found in job ads into 10 general skills. There is substantial variation in these skill requirements, even within narrowly defined occupations. Focusing particularly on cognitive and social skills, we find positive correlations between each skill and external measures of pay and firm performance. We also find evidence of a cognitive social skill complementarity for both outcomes. As a whole, job skills have explanatory power in pay and firm performance regressions beyond what is available in widely used labor market data.


Background: Patients presenting with lateral hip pain may pose a difficult diagnostic challenge, as pain can be due to various causes. Purpose/Hypothesis: The purpose was to identify risk factors and predictors for symptomatic hip abductor tears in a cohort of patients undergoing primary hip arthroscopy for femoroacetabular impingement syndrome. We hypothesized that body mass index (BMI), female sex, age, and presence of chondral damage would be significant predictors of hip abductor pathologies. Study Design: Cohort study (diagnosis); Level of evidence, 3. Methods: Data were prospectively collected and retrospectively reviewed. Patients were included if they underwent primary hip arthroscopy between March 2009 and December 2019. Patients with Tönnis grade >1, previous hip conditions, incomplete radiographic data, or open procedures were excluded. All demographic variables, intraoperative measurements, and radiographic measurements were assessed using a bivariate analysis. A stepwise logistic regression was used to determine predictive variables. Results: In total, 255 hips with a hip abductor tear that underwent hip arthroscopy and 2106 hips without a tear that underwent hip arthroscopy were included. The stepwise logistic regression successfully created a predictive model using age, sex, BMI, lateral joint space, and alpha angle as variables. The efficiency of the predictive model was 90.7%, with an area under the curve of 0.894. The odds of having a hip abductor tear were 7.41 times higher in females (odds ratio [OR], 7.41; 95% CI, 4.61-11.9). Each additional year of age was associated with a 13.7% (OR, 1.137; 95% CI, 1.12-1.16) increase in the odds of having a tear. Similarly, with each 1-unit increase in BMI, the odds of having a tear increased by 3.4% (OR, 1.034; 95% CI, 1.01-1.06). Conclusion: This study successfully created a predictive model that identified female sex (OR, 7.41), increasing age (OR, 1.137 for each year), and increased BMI (OR, 1.034 for each unit of BMI) as significant independent predictors of the presence of hip abductor tears in patients undergoing hip arthroscopy for femoroacetabular impingement syndrome. This model can be used in support of physical examination and imaging suggestive of hip abductor pathology to preoperatively identify the probability of a symptomatic hip abductor tear in these patients.


Abstract The purpose of this mixed methods study was to examine university activities to improve students' employability skills. The study conducted in two phases and Data were collected through interview and via a questionnaire. SPSS and Expert Choice statistical software were used for data analysis. According to the findings, the three main categories were education and research, supportive services, and communication and informing. In addition, analytic hierarchy process results revealed that education and research had the most importance to improve employability skills.


The c-abl proto-oncogene encodes a cytoplasmic tyrosine kinase which is homologous to the src gene product in its kinase domain and in the upstream kinase regulatory domains SH2 (src homology region 2) and SH3 (src homology region 3). The murine v-abl oncogene product has lost the SH3 domain as a consequence of N-terminal fusion of gag sequences. Deletion of the SH3 domain is sufficient to render the murine c-abl proto-oncogene product transforming when myristylated N-terminal membrane localization sequences are also present. In contrast, the human BCR/ABL oncogene of the Philadelphia chromosome translocation has an intact SH3 domain and its product is not myristylated at the N terminus. To analyze the contribution of BCR-encoded sequences to BCR/ABL-mediated transformation, the effects of a series of deletions and substitutions were assessed in fibroblast and hematopoietic-cell transformation assays. BCR first-exon sequences specifically potentiate transformation and tyrosine kinase activation when they are fused to the second exon of otherwise intact c-ABL. This suggests that BCR-encoded sequences specifically interfere with negative regulation of the ABL-encoded tyrosine kinase, which would represent a novel mechanism for the activation of nonreceptor tyrosine kinase-encoding proto-oncogenes.


The factors responsible for the explosive spread of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) in sub-Saharan Africa continue to be identified and debated. One of the most controversial factors has been male circumcision. This cross-sectional study was conducted to measure the association between circumcision status and infection with HIV-1 among men with genital ulcer disease. Eight hundred and ten men participated in the study, of whom 190 (23%) were HIV-1-positive. A logistic regression model adjusted for behavioral and historical showed that HIV-1 positivity was independently associated with being uncircumcised (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 4.8; 95% confidence interval [CI], 3.3-7.2) and with a history of urethral discharge (adjusted OR, 2.0; 95% CI, 1.4-2.8). This association could not be explained by measures of sexual exposure to HIV-1 among this population. Male circumcision should be considered as an intervention strategy for AIDS control.


Globalization is defined as an individual's connectivity in global networks. Social identity is conceptualized as attachment and identification with a group. We use questionnaire items to measure individual involvement with global networks along with local, national, and global social identity. Propensity to cooperate is measured in experiments involving local and global others. Firstly, we analyze possible determinants of global social identity, showing a significant and positive correlation with an index of individual global connectivity. Secondly, we find a significant mediating effect of global social identity between individual global connectivity and propensity to cooperate at the global level. This is consistent with a cosmopolitan hypothesis of how participation in global networks reshapes social identity: Increased participation in global networks increases global social identity and this in turn increases propensity to cooperate with others.


Human temperaments have been recognized as a predominant factor in determining the activity patterns of human behavior. In our earlier study, a temperament-based filtering method has been proposed to combine concept learning and content-based filtering techniques to incorporate human temperament into the recommendation process of an information system. In this paper, we explain the design of a prototype multiagent system, which is developed, implemented, and experimentally tested by using a group of simulated users generated from the sample users. The notion of human factors, particularly human temperaments, is explored and learned for the representation and segmentation of an information space. Furthermore, the learned temperament concept is employed for the interpretation and measurement of the relevance for classification and recommendation of the information units. The results of our experiments indicate that the accuracy of recommendation using temperament-based filtering exceeds that in content-based filtering. The quality of specific search as well as serendipitous search is enhanced by providing the optimal predictions that are pertinent to not only user interests but also user temperament.


Within coastal marine habitats, intense nutrient cycling, and near seabed primary production rates are strongly influenced by the transport and transformation of materials within the sediment and across the sediment-water interface. Through processes such as bioturbation and bio-irrigation, benthic infauna play a significant role in mediating this transport and modify many chemical and physical reactions. However, coastal ecosystems are experiencing growing impacts from a number of environmental stresses, one of which is reduced dissolved oxygen (DO), known as hypoxia. Hypoxic events in coastal areas are predicted to increase as global warming and human-induced eutrophication intensify, with predicted consequences for infaunal community diversity and ecosystem function. Using a mesocosm experiment, we investigated the effects of short-term, sub-lethal hypoxia (14 d, 3.59 mg O2 L-1) and organism density (500, 900, 1300, 1700, and 2100 indiv. m-2) on the bioturbation activity of the brittlestar Amphiura filiformis. Nutrient fluxes were measured as an important contribution to ecosystem function. Hypoxia resulted in reduced brittlestar activity (in terms of sediment surface bioturbation), increased efflux of ammonium and silicate, and an increase in the ratio of NH4+:NOx when brittlestar densities were high. No significant effects of hypoxia were detected on brittlestar burrow depth. Our results illustrated that population density plays a crucial role in exacerbating the effects of hypoxia, possibly due to greater biological oxygen demands and increased waste products as organism density increases. Consequently, during moderate reductions in DO, densely populated communities may actually be more vulnerable to hypoxic stress and exhibit greater shifts in ecosystem function than sparsely populated communities.


We demonstrate the automatic transfer of an assembly task from human to robot. This work extends efforts showing the utility of linguistic models in verifiable robot control policies by now performing real visual analysis of human demonstrations to automatically extract a policy for the task. This method tokenizes each human demonstration into a sequence of object connection symbols, then transforms the set of sequences from all demonstrations into an automaton, which represents the task-language for assembling a desired object. Finally, we combine this assembly automaton with a kinematic model of a robot arm to reproduce the demonstrated task.


Airborne observations reveal the role of less volatile organic compounds in forming atmospheric aerosols. In Earth's atmosphere, particles smaller than 1 µm, known as aerosols, scatter incoming solar radiation and act as sites for condensation of water during cloud formation. Human activities can alter this population of particles, thereby affecting climate and air quality (1, 2). Our inability to accurately predict the composition and mass of atmospheric aerosols, however, is inhibiting progress in both areas. Understanding the formation of organic aerosols, a large class of submicrometer particles (3), has proven to be a challenge; laboratory experiments have previously not been reconciled with field measurements (4, 5). Recent theoretical frameworks point to the importance of semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs) and organic compounds of intermediate volatility (IVOCs) as precursors (6, 7), but investigators have lacked observational evidence. On page 1295 of this issue, de Gouw et al. (8) help to clarify the role of SVOCs and IVOCs in forming organic aerosols. Using airborne measurements taken downwind of the oil slick resulting from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon (DWH) accident in the Gulf of Mexico, they reveal that the oxidation of IVOCs and SVOCs in the atmosphere plays a dominant role in forming organic particles.


Agroecology has been proposed as a promising concept to foster the resilience and sustainability of agroecosystems and rural territories. Agroecological practices are based on optimizing ecosystem services (ES) at the landscape, farm, and parcel scales. Recent progress in research on designing agroecological transitions highlights the necessity for coconstructed processes that draw on various sources of knowledge based on shared concepts. But despite the sense of urgency linked to agroecological transitions, feedbacks from real-world implementation remain patchy. The ability of integrated and participatory ES assessments to support this transition remains largely underexplored, although their potential to enhance learning processes and to build a shared territorial perspective is widely recognized. The overarching question that will be asked in this paper is thus: what is the potential of the ES framework to support the understanding and steering of agroecological transitions ? We argue that conducting collaborative and integrated assessments of ES bundles can increase our understanding of the ecological and social drivers that support a transition toward agroecological systems, and help design agroecological systems based on ES delivery and effectively accompany transition management based on shared knowledge, codesigned future objectives, and actual on-the-ground implementation. In this paper, we discuss this question and propose a four-step integrated ES assessment framework specifically targeted at understanding and steering agricultural transitions that is generic enough to be applied in different contexts.


Leaving my country was not a simple task. I now realize that I never really left nor really arrived. - Young Kim The politics and ideology of identity investigation have emerged as part of an expansive discourse central to recent art. This arena of exploration is particularly relevant and powerful for artists who are immigrants to the United States, as the inherent dualities of living cross-cultural lives naturally informs their creative vision. The 11 artists included in "Tracing Cultures," curated by Friends of Photography director Andy Grundberg, offer a poignant view of the immigration experience. Their highly individual contextualizations of the photographic image address a full range of personal and political issues surrounding the contemporary experience of expatriation. In order to fully comprehend the vanguard aesthetic stance taken by the artists represented in the exhibition, it is meaningful to consider their subjective approach to self-representation and its interwoven relationship with materials. Unlike "straight" documentary photographers who focus their lenses on the breadth of human dignity and suffering inherent in passage to and settlement in a new land, these individuals are involved with a language of conceptual and pictorial metaphor that informs and contextualizes their images. Central to these practices is the juxtaposition or incorporation of photographs with three-dimensional elements. Such tangible appositions create new associative relationships, infusing the photographic image with potential connotations that might otherwise remain hidden. The photograph becomes a site for consideration, in which meaning is informed by its strategically chosen setting. The quintessential expression of such polysemous conceptual art practice is embodied in the work of Albert Chong. In a series of constructed images intended as an ongoing dialogue with the spirits of his ancestors, the artist fuses the practices inherent in his cosmological belief system with the processes of art making. Family portraits and objects - cowrie shells, fruit, flowers, bird talons and hair - become offerings that venerate his Chinese, African and Jamaican ancestry. The ethereal qualities created by a layered spatial image/object dynamic in works like What Will be Your Next Incarnation? (1990-94) and Aunt Winnie's Story (1994), imbue them with transcendent physical presence and a sense of spirituality and magic. They function as offerings to as well as dialogues with his forebears. The writing of personal narratives onto the copper frames of many pieces enables Chong's cultural and familial past to remain alive within the gestalt of his American present. The intimate, biographical nature of Chong's work is a form shared by other artists, including Gavin Lee, Young Kim and Kim Yasuda. Lee's recent work, Concerning George: The Reading Room (1994), is an installation stimulated by the artist's recent discovery that his great-grandfather, George Lim Fong, attempted to assassinate a visiting Chinese government official in 1910, and was subsequently incarcerated in San Quentin Prison. To represent the event, Lee has embedded newspaper clippings, mug shots, court documents and penitentiary records into a nine-foot long library table. The prison-like austerity of the table is heightened by its stark lighting and three chairs that suggest but do not invite intended use. Lee's powerful synthesis of materials, form and content that pertain to investigative research also reveal the personal process he underwent to uncover this powerful piece of political information buried in the annals of his family's past. In diametric contrast to Lee's detailed and well-documented unveiling of his personal heritage, Kim and Yasuda's explorations of family history and cultural origin purposefully allude to an absence of the past. In Kim's series "Distances" (1992), this sensibility is created by aged black and white family photographs seen through openings cut in wood panels that evoke windows to viewing distant recollections, enhanced by inscribed text. …


Visual media are of great importance to designers. Understanding a new design, for example, often means understanding a drawing. From the perspective of artificial intelligence, this implies that automated knowledge acquisition in computer-aided design can productively occur using drawings as a knowledge source. However, this requires machines that are able to interpret design drawings.
I view the task of interpreting drawings as one of constructing a teleological model of the design depicted in the drawings, where the model enables causal and functional inferences about the depicted design. I have developed a novel analogical method for constructing a teleological model of a mechanical device from an unlabelled 2D line drawing. The source case is organized in a Drawing Shape Structure Behavior Function (DSSBF) abstraction hierarchy. This knowledge organization enables the analogical mapping and transfer to occur at multiple levels of abstraction.
Given a target drawing and a relevant source case, my method of compositional analogy first constructs a graphical representation of the lines and the intersections in the target drawing, then uses the mappings at the level of line intersections to transfer the shape representations from the source case to the target. It next uses the mappings at the level of shapes to transfer the structural model of the device from the source to the target. Finally, the mappings from the source to the target structural model enable the transfer of behaviors and the functional specification from source to target, completing the analogy and yielding a complete DSSBF model of the input drawing. The Archytas system implements this method of compositional analogy and evaluates it in the domain of kinematic devices such as piston and crankshaft devices, door latches, and pulley systems.


The place of the posterolateral superior temporal (PLST) gyrus within the hierarchical organization of the human auditory cortex is unknown. Understanding how PLST processes spectral information is imperative for its functional characterization. Pure-tone stimuli were presented to subjects undergoing invasive monitoring for refractory epilepsy. Recordings were made using high-density subdural grid electrodes. Pure tones elicited robust high gamma event-related band power responses along a portion of PLST adjacent to the transverse temporal sulcus (TTS). Responses were frequency selective, though typically broadly tuned. In several subjects, mirror-image response patterns around a low-frequency center were observed, but typically, more complex and distributed patterns were seen. Frequency selectivity was greatest early in the response. Classification analysis using a sparse logistic regression algorithm yielded above-chance accuracy in all subjects. Classifier performance typically peaked at 100-150 ms after stimulus onset, was comparable for the left and right hemisphere cases, and was stable across stimulus intensities. Results demonstrate that representations of spectral information within PLST are temporally dynamic and contain sufficient information for accurate discrimination of tone frequencies. PLST adjacent to the TTS appears to be an early stage in the hierarchy of cortical auditory processing. Pure-tone response patterns may aid auditory field identification.


Ad Hoc Grid deals with the challenges in resource discovery and job scheduling due to its mobility and power consumption. In this paper a new grid computing technique is implemented to manage the congestion control with job scheduling. The proposed addition of the mobile ad hoc network with in AHGL can offer maximum network utility. The model is implemented in the NS-2 network simulator.


Privatization is justified on a cost-benefit analysis, that is, as providing better services at lower cost. The value of that assessment depends on including all costs and benefits. However, most assessments appear to be primarily limited to a comparison of wages and benefits. As a result, it appears that many important costs may not be included in assessing privatization. This article attempts to improve our assessment of privatization by using a small privatization event to identify types of costs not normally considered. The event was the privatization of Internal Revenue Service mailrooms in the period April 2003 to the present. Among the items included in the assessment were costs of the process of privatization, the taxpayer costs from dislocating the job incumbents, and taxpayer subsidies provided to the private non-profit contractor that gave it a market advantage compared with for-profit employers.


The cosmic large scale structure is of special relevance for testing current cosmological theories about the origin and evolution of the Universe. Throughout cosmic history, it evolved from tiny quantum fluctuations, generated during the early epoch of inflation, to the filamentary cosmic web presently observed by our telescopes. Observations and analyses of this large scale structure will hence test this picture, and will provide valuable information on the processes of cosmic structure formation as well as they will reveal the cosmological parameters governing the dynamics of the Universe.

Beside measurements of the cosmic microwave backround, galaxy observations are of particular interest to modern precision cosmology. They are complementary to many other sources of information, such as cosmic microwave background experiments, since they probe a different epoch. Galaxies report the cosmic evolution over an enormous period ranging from the end of the epoch of reionization, when luminous objects first appeared, till today. For this reason, galaxy surveys are excellent probes of the dynamics and evolution of the Universe.
Especially the Sloan Digital Sky Survey is one of the most ambitious
surveys in the history of astronomy. It provides measurements of 930,000 galaxy spectra as well as the according angular and redshift positions of galaxies over an area which covers more than a quarter of the sky. This enormous amount of precise data allows for an unprecedented access to the three dimensional cosmic matter distribution and its evolution. However, observables, such as positions and properties of galaxies, provide only an inaccurate picture of the cosmic large scale structure due to a variety of statistical and systematic observational uncertainties. In particular, the continuous cosmic density field is only traced by a set of discrete galaxies introducing statistical uncertainties in the form of Poisson distributed noise. Further, galaxy surveys are subject to a variety of complications such as instrumental limitations or the nature of the observation itself.
The solution to the underlying problem of characterizing the large scale structure in the Universe therefore requires a statistical approach.

The main theme of this PhD-thesis is the development of new Bayesian data analysis methods which provide a complete statistical characterization and a detailed cosmographic description of the large scale structure in our Universe. The required epistemological concepts, the mathematical framework of Bayesian statistics as well as numerical considerations are thoroughly discussed. On this basis two Bayesian data analysis computer algorithms are developed. The first of which is called ARES (Algorithm for REconstruction and Sampling). It aims at the joint inference of the three dimensional density field and its power-spectrum from galaxy observations. The ARES algorithm accurately treats many observational systematics and statistical uncertainties, such as the survey geometry, galaxy selection effects, blurring effects and noise. Further, ARES provides a full statistical characterization of the three dimensional density field, the power-spectrum and their joint uncertainties by exploring the high dimensional space of their joint posterior via a very efficient Gibbs sampling scheme. The posterior is the probability of the model given the observations and all other available informations. As a result, ARES provides a sampled representation of the joint posterior, which conclusively characterizes many of the statistical properties of the large scale structure. This probability distribution allows for a variety of scientific applications, such as reporting any desired statistical summary or testing of cosmological models via Bayesian model comparison or Bayesian odds factors.
The second computer algorithm, HADES (Hamiltonian Density Estimation and Sampling), is specifically designed to infer the fully evolved cosmic density field deep into the non-linear regime. In particular, HADES accurately treats the non-linear relationship between the observed galaxy distribution and the underlying continuous density field by correctly accounting for the Poissonian nature of the observables. This allows for very precise recovery of the density field even in sparsely sampled regions. HADES also provides a complete statistical description of the non-linear cosmic density field in the form of a sampled representation of a cosmic density posterior. Beside the possibility of reporting any desired statistical summary of the density field or power-spectrum, such representations of the according posterior distributions also allow for simple non-linear and non-Gaussian error propagation to any quantity finally inferred from the analysis results.
The application of HADES to the latest Sloan Digital Sky Survey data denotes the first fully Bayesian non-linear density inference conducted so far. The results obtained from this procedure represent the filamentary structure of our cosmic neighborhood in unprecedented accuracy.


The 2001 recession differed from other recent recessions in its cause, severity, and scope. Professional forecasters found this recession difficult to forecast. A few leading indicators (stock prices, term spreads, unemployment claims) predicted that growth would slow, but none predicted the sharp economic slowdown. Several previously reliable leading indicators (housing starts, orders for new capital equipment, consumer sentiment) provided no early warning signals. When combined, the leading indicator forecasts performed somewhat better than a benchmark autoregressive forecasting model.


OBJECTIVES
Project DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) is the most widely used school-based drug use prevention program in the United States, but the findings of rigorous evaluations of its effectiveness have not been considered collectively.

METHODS
We used meta-analytic techniques to review eight methodologically rigorous DARE evaluations. Weighted effect size means for several short-term outcomes also were compared with means reported for other drug use prevention programs.

RESULTS
The DARE effect size for drug use behavior ranged from .00 to .11 across the eight studies; the weighted mean for drug use across studies was .06. For all outcomes considered, the DARE effect size means were substantially smaller than those of programs emphasizing social and general competencies and using interactive teaching strategies.

CONCLUSIONS
DARE's short-term effectiveness for reducing or preventing drug use behavior is small and is less than for interactive prevention programs.


Magma unmixing (i.e., separation of a homogeneous silicate melt into two or more liquids) is responsible for sudden changes in the evolution of common melts, element fractionation, and potential formation of orthomagmatic ore deposits. Although immiscible phases are a common phenomenon in the mesostasis of many tholeiitic basalts, evidence of unmixing in intrusive rocks is more difficult to record because of the transient nature of immiscibility during decompression, cooling, and crystallization. In this paper, we document a clear case of liquid immiscibility in an intrusive body of tholeiitic gabbro in the Siberian large igneous province, using textures and compositions of millimeter-sized silicate melt pools in native iron. The native iron crystallized from a metallic iron liquid, which originated as disseminated globules during reduction of the basaltic magma upon interaction with coal-bearing sedimentary rocks in the Siberian craton. The silicate melts entrapped and armored by the native iron are composed of two types of globules that represent the aluminosilicate (60–77 wt% SiO2) and silica-poor, Fe-Ti-Ca-P–rich (in wt%: SiO2, 15–46; FeO, 15–22; TiO2, 2–7; CaO, 11–27; P2O5, 5–30) conjugate liquids. Different proportions and the correlated compositions of these globules in individual melt pools suggest a continuously evolving environment of magmatic immiscibility during magma cooling. These natural immiscible melts correspond extremely well to the conjugate liquids experimentally produced in common basaltic compositions at <1025 °C. Our results show that immiscibility can occur at large scale in magma chambers and can be instrumental in generating felsic magmas and Fe-Ti-Ca-P–rich melts in the continental igneous provinces.


Piston represent important component in motor burn of where motor burnheating power become mechanic energy by way of combustion of fuel. Whenheating power for combustion to become activator tanaga yielded outside from machine referred motor burn outside is Combustion Engine, while motor which combustion of fuel [done/conducted] direct the than machine referred is ( Internal [of] Combution Engine).
With many type him of room burn not influence performance of piston, making energy caused mix effect of fuel and air. Of motor burn happened friction this matter cylinder wall and torak caused by ring of torak have to snuggle to cylinder wall to prevent infiltration of gas of room burn crank keruang. As effect of oil coat interpolating among that cylinder wall and torak oppressed to become to attenuate once. Hence piston, piston ring, pen of piston have to be made ofheatresistant materials high temperature. so that reached motor performance matching with room capacities and energy burn which provided. tiredly of maximum capacities hence will be obtained values of mechanical pressure, actual horsepower, indication pressure, mechanical energy, indication energy and of efesiensi mechanical.


It has become almost universal practice for countries to adopt formal constitutions. Little is known empirically, however, about the evolution of this practice on a global scale. Are constitutions unique and defining statements of national aspiration and identity? Or are they standardized documents that vary only at the margins, in predictable and patterned ways? Are constitutions becoming increasingly similar or dissimilar to one another over time, or is there no discernible overall pattern to their development? Until very recently, scholars have lacked even basic empirical data on the content of the world's constitutions, much less an understanding of whether there are global patterns to that content.This Article offers the first empirical account of the global evolution of rights constitutionalism. Our analysis of an original data set that spans the rights-related content of all national constitutions over the last six decades confirms the existence of several global constitutional trends. These include the phenomenon of rights creep, wherein constitutions tend to contain an increasing number of rights over time, and the growth of generic rights constitutionalism, wherein an increasing proportion of the world's constitutions shares an increasing number of rights in common. Perhaps our most striking discovery is that 90% of all variation in the rights-related content of the world's constitutions can be explained as a function of just two variables. Both of these variables are underlying traits of a constitution that can be measured quantitatively. The first variable is the comprehensiveness of a constitution, which refers simply to the tendency of a constitution to contain a greater or lesser number of rights provisions. The second variable is the ideological character of the constitution. We find empirically that the world's constitutions can be arrayed along a single ideological dimension. At one end of the spectrum, some constitutions can be characterized as relatively libertarian, in the sense that they epitomize a common law constitutional tradition of negative liberty and, more specifically, judicial protection from detention or bodily harm at the hands of the state. At the other end of the spectrum, by contrast, some constitutions are more statist in character: they both presuppose and enshrine a far-reaching role for the state in a variety of domains by imbuing the state with a broad range of both powers and responsibilities. For every constitution in the world, we calculate a numerical score that measures its position on this ideological spectrum. These scores yield an ideological ranking of the world's constitutions – the first of its kind.Using these scores, we are able to map the ideological evolution of global constitutionalism. We show that the world's constitutions are increasingly dividing themselves into two distinct families – one libertarian in character, the other statist. Within each family, constitutions are becoming increasingly similar to one another, but the families themselves are becoming increasingly distinct from one another. The dynamics of constitutional evolution, in other words, involve a combination of ideological convergence and ideological polarization.


Calorimetric measurements on composites of a long chain n-alkane, tetracosane, doped with nanosilica aerosil particles decorated with a corona of hydrophobic/hydrophilic nature are described. The weakly perturbing random field created by the addition of the aerosil particles has the general effect of weakening all the transitions to, and between, the three different rotator phases that the pure alkane exhibits. One of highlights of the studies is that the strong first order transitions of the pure alkane, viz., from the isotropic liquid to hexagonal rotator phase (Iso–R2), and tilted monoclinic rotator phase to the crystalline phase (R5–Cr), are accompanied by a much weaker supplementary peak at lower temperatures. In analogy with observations made in aerosil composites of liquid crystalline systems, and additionally with information from preliminary Xray diffraction measurements on the currently studied materials, it is reasoned that the subsidiary peaks are nothing but the transformations between the same phases as the corresponding main peaks due to the bulk of the material, but occurring in the vicinity of the surface of the aerosil particles. The nature of the corona of the aerosil particles also seems to play an important role. For the bulk transitions, the reduction in the transition enthalpy is higher for the composites with the hydrophilic particles, than those with hydrophobic particles; the opposite is true for the surface transitions. The data also suggest that the lowering of the transition temperature of the surface transition with respect to its bulk counterpart is more for the hydrophobic composites than the hydrophilic ones. We provide an explanation for these features based on the surface interactions between the particles and tetracosane molecules, and also the strength of the gel network.


Scientific realists claim that the unobservable entities postulated by scientific theories can be known to exist. Andre Kukla here examines the arguments on both sides of the issue and concludes that neither side possesses the conceptual resources for securing a victory. He asserts that the dispute is irreconcilable - a conclusion that has broad epistemological consequences.


This paper combines laboratory experiments with a unique feature of the city of Bogota to uncover the relationship between generosity and wealth. Bogota is divided by law into six socio-economic strata which are close proxies of household wealth and income. We recruit subjects from different strata and run a series of double-blind dictator games where the recipient is the NGO Techo-Colombia, which builds transitional housing for homeless families. We identify the stratum of each subject anonymously and blindly, and match their donations with their stratum. In a first experiment we provide a fixed endowment to all participants and nd that donations are significantly increasing with wealth. However, in a second experiment, we show that this is not because the rich are intrinsically more generous, but because the experimental endowment has lower real value for them. With endowments that are equivalent to their daily expenditures, the rich, the middle-class and the poor give a similar proportion of their stratum-equivalent endowment. Moreover, we find that the motivation to donate is similar across strata, where the generosity act is explained mainly by warm-glow rather than pure altruism.


New Public Governance is one of the most significant intellectual movements in the theory of government to have emerged in the past few decades. It suggests that regulators should develop a more modulated, cooperative approach to the task of achieving compliance with regulatory programs, rather than relying on the adversarial stance that characterizes command and control regulation. This speaks directly to the concerns about regulation that have raised by both scholars and elected officials, and that may provide a model for the Obama Administration's strategy in this important area. The question is when the recommendations of New Public Governance are likely to be most effective, and when they should be treated with caution. This paper advances an answer based on the social theory of Norbert Elias ("The Civilizing Process," 1939). One feature of Elias' theory is its suggestion that regulation is not a static process for which one temporally independent approach will be optimal, but a dynamic one that changes and evolves, which means that different approaches will be optimal at different stages of the process. The paper illustrates the applicability of Elias' theory - and the advantages of a dynamic theory of regulation in general - by using the example of commercial airline regulation. It concludes that the effectiveness of a New Public Governance approach is likely to increase as regulated parties become more accustomed to, and accepting toward, the regulatory framework.


Little empirical research has examined the role of televised lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) characters in the identity development of LGB youth. The present study examined the relationship between mainstream and gay- and lesbian-oriented television exposure and positive and negative self-complexities using a survey of LGB adolescents ( N = 546). Results revealed that exposure to mainstream television was negatively correlated with positive self-complexity, and exposure to gay- and lesbian-oriented television was negatively correlated with negative self-complexity. Self-complexity was correlated with well-being. The findings revealed that viewing LGB characters in television programs specifically designed, produced, and marketed for LGB audiences may have a positive impact on the well-being of LGB youth exposed to these televised messages.


There is no reliable method for determining age for most species of long-lived birds. Recent success using the skin chemical pentosidine as a biomarker has shown promise as an aging tool for birds. Pentosidine levels have been determined only from the breast tissue of carcasses, and we sought to refine the procedure with respect to biopsy size and location for safe and effective use on living birds. We compared pentosidine concentrations in 4 skin-size samples (4, 6, 8, and 20-mm diameter biopsies) from the breast of black vulture (Coragyps atratus) carcasses. We also compared pentosidine levels from breast and patagial tissue to document potential differences among collection sites of deceased vultures (with unknown ages) and monk parakeets (Myiopsitta monachus; with actual, minimal, and unknown ages). Pentosidine concentrations (pmol pentosidine/mg collagen) were similar among the 4 sizes of vulture breast skin (P = 0.82). Pentosidine concentrations for the breast (0 = 8.9, SE = 0.55, n = 28) and patagium (0 = 8.9, SE = 0.51, n = 28) of vultures were similar, but in parakeets, pentosidine was higher in the breast (0 = 15.9, SE = 1.30, n = 105) than the patagium (0 = 11.5, SE = 1.10, n = 105). We made pentosidine-based age estimates for vultures and parakeets using a general age curve for wild birds. We also made vulture age estimates using plumage characteristics and a cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) age curve. Vulture pentosidine-based age estimates appear to correspond to plumage-based age estimates. Pentosidine-based age estimates for 88% of the known-aged parakeets (n = 17) were within 6 months of actual ages. Even though known ages were not available for all birds, we found a positive trend in pentosidine versus age for both species. We suggest that 6-mm diameter skin samples from the patagium of living vultures and other similar-sized birds will provide sufficient tissue for reliable age estimation and will not impair flight ability.


Task switching paradigms are frequently used to identify costs of switching between modalities, spatiality, attributes, rules, etc., but switching between different attentional demands has been somehow neglected. The present study introduces an innovative paradigm, that allows to test single attentional demands (such as selective and divided attention), and more importantly the process of switching between these demands. We examined the feasibility of the paradigm by focusing on the demands of selective and divided attention with a sample of 94 people (age: M = 21.44 years, SD = 2.68; 76 women). In addition, we tested correlations between the implemented single attentional demands and commonly used measures of selective and divided attention. Results show no general difference between individual assessments under single demand conditions. Reaction times under divided attention are significantly higher compared to selective attention. In the switching condition, reaction times in both demands increase with increased switching. Furthermore, switching costs significantly increase in selective but not in divided attention. Means of selective and divided attention in single and switching conditions significantly correlate with a commonly used measure of selective attention. Means of divided attention under single demand significantly correlate with performance in a commonly used dual-task paradigm. Summarizing the present findings, it can be stated that the introduced paradigm comprises a feasible way for quantifying the process of switching attention between different demands.


While there is overlap in the ways that Peele and Shakespeare make use of female multilingualism in their plays, Peele's repertoire is wider than Shakespeare's, and he also seems to trust his audience will understand more complex code-switches from foreign languages. Shakespeare includes women who are resolutely monolingual in a multilingual context, highlighting the importance of English for personal and political identity. Both authors include characters who are shown understanding but not using foreign languages, perhaps reflecting cultural anxiety about educated women. In Peele, a wider range of women are shown code-switching, and Peele uses extended foreign language code-switches to highlight moments of high emotion, with Italian suggesting dangerous female sexuality and Latin evoking purity. Keywords: William Shakespeare; George Peele; female code-switching; women's language


This book offers the first medical, cultural, and social history of cancer in nineteenth-century Britain. The Cancer Problem begins by looking at a community of doctors and patients who lived and worked in the streets surrounding The Middlesex Hospital in London. It follows in their footsteps as they walked the labyrinthine lanes and passages that branched off Tottenham Court Road; then, through seven chapters, its focus expands to successively include the rivers, lakes, and forests of England, the mountains, poverty, and hunger of the four nations of the British Isles, the reluctant and resistant inhabitants of the British Empire, and the networks of scientists and doctors spread across Europe and North America. It argues that it was in the nineteenth century that cancer acquired the unique emotional, symbolic, and politicized status it maintains today. Through an interrogation of the construction, deployment, and emotional consequences of the disease's incurability, this book reframes our conceptualization of the relationship between medicine and modern life and reshapes our understanding of chronic and incurable maladies, both past and present.


Modern rule of law and post-war constitutionalism are both anchored in rights-based limitations on state authority. Rule-of-law norms and principles, at both domestic and international levels, are designed to protect the freedom and dignity of the person. Given this "thick" conception of the rule of law, authoritarian practices that remove constraints on domestic political leaders and weaken mechanisms for holding them accountable necessarily erode both domestic and international rule of law. Drawing on political science research on authoritarian politics, this study identifies three core elements of authoritarian political strategies: subordination of the judiciary, suppression of independent news media and freedom of expression, and restrictions on the ability of civil society groups to organize and participate in public life. According to available data, each of these three practices has become increasingly common in recent years. This study offers a composite measure of the core authoritarian practices and uses it to identify the countries that have shown the most marked increases in authoritarianism. The spread and deepening of these authoritarian practices in diverse regimes around the world diminishes international rule of law. The conclusion argues that resurgent authoritarianism degrades international rule of law even if this is defined as the specifically post-Cold War international legal order.


In adaptive data analysis, a mechanism gets $n$ i.i.d. samples from an unknown distribution $D$, and is required to provide accurate estimations to a sequence of adaptively chosen statistical queries with respect to $D$. Hardt and Ullman (FOCS 2014) and Steinke and Ullman (COLT 2015) showed that in general, it is computationally hard to answer more than $\Theta(n^2)$ adaptive queries, assuming the existence of one-way functions. However, these negative results strongly rely on an adversarial model that significantly advantages the adversarial analyst over the mechanism, as the analyst, who chooses the adaptive queries, also chooses the underlying distribution $D$. This imbalance raises questions with respect to the applicability of the obtained hardness results -- an analyst who has complete knowledge of the underlying distribution $D$ would have little need, if at all, to issue statistical queries to a mechanism which only holds a finite number of samples from $D$. We consider more restricted adversaries, called \emph{balanced}, where each such adversary consists of two separated algorithms: The \emph{sampler} who is the entity that chooses the distribution and provides the samples to the mechanism, and the \emph{analyst} who chooses the adaptive queries, but does not have a prior knowledge of the underlying distribution. We improve the quality of previous lower bounds by revisiting them using an efficient \emph{balanced} adversary, under standard public-key cryptography assumptions. We show that these stronger hardness assumptions are unavoidable in the sense that any computationally bounded \emph{balanced} adversary that has the structure of all known attacks, implies the existence of public-key cryptography.


Drought is one of the major constraints limiting agricultural production worldwide and is expected to increase in the future. Limited water availability causes significant effects to plant growth and physiology. Plants have evolved different traits to mitigate the stress imposed by drought. The presence of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) could play an important role in improving plant performances and productivity under drought. These beneficial microorganisms colonize the rhizosphere of plants and increase drought tolerance by lowering ethylene formation. In the present study, we demonstrate the potential to improve the growth of velvet bean under water deficit conditions of two different strains of PGPR with ACCd (1-Aminocyclopropane-1-Carboxylate deaminase) activity isolated from rainfed farming system. We compared uninoculated and inoculated plants with PGPR to assess: a) photosynthetic performance and biomass; b) ACC content and ethylene emission from leaves and roots; c) leaf isoprene emission. Our results provided evidence that under drought conditions inoculation with PGPR containing the ACCd enzyme could improve plant growth compared to untreated plants. Ethylene emission from roots and leaves of inoculated velvet bean plants was significantly lower than uninoculated plants. Moreover, isoprene emission increased with drought stress progression and was higher in inoculated plants compared to uninoculated counterparts. These findings clearly illustrate that selected PGPR strains isolated from rainfed areas could be highly effective in promoting plant growth under drought conditions by decreasing ACC and ethylene levels in plants.


Introduction Road safety is a world-wide health challenge that is of great importance in Qatar. According to WHO [1], global traffic fatalities and injuries are in the millions per year. Qatar has one of the world's highest rate of traffic fatalities, which causes more deaths than common diseases [2]. Traffic congestion and vehicle fuel utilization are two other major problems. Integrating vehicle communication into intelligent transport systems (ITS) is important as it will help improve road safety, efficiency and comfort by enabling a wide variety of transport applications. Radio frequency communication (RFC) technologies do not meet the stringent transport requirements due to spectrum scarcity, high interference and lack of security [3]. In this work, we propose an efficient and low-cost visible light communication (VLC) system based on CMOS transceivers for vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and infrastructure-to-vehicle (I2V) communication in ITS, as a complementary platform to RFC. Objective The proposed VLC system is designed to be low cost and efficient, supporting various V2V and I2V communication scenarios as shown in Fig. 1. The VLC LED transmitters (Tx) are responsible for both illuminating and information broadcasting. They are designed to support various existing transport infrastructures (such as street lamps, guideboards and traffic lights) as well as vehicle lights, with low cost and complexity. The receivers (Rx) will be available on both the front and back sides of vehicles with both vision and communication capabilities. Robustness of communication is enhanced by the added vision capability. System implementation The VLC system implementation in Fig. 2 is an optimized joint design of the transmitter, receiver and communication protocol. The LED transmitter will focus on the design of LED driver with efficient combination of illumination and communication modulation schemes. Light sensor is integrated to provide adaptive feedback for better power efficiency. Polarization techniques are utilized to cancel background light so as to not only enhance image quality but also improve robustness of VLC, as shown in Fig. 3.(a) [4]. A polarization image sensor using liquid crystal micro-polarimeter array has been designed as illustrated in Fig. 3. (b). The CMOS visible light receiver will be designed based on traditional CMOS image sensor but with innovative architecture specifically for V2V and I2V VLC. It features dual readout channels, namely, a compressive channel for image capture and a high-speed channel for VLC. Novel algorithms for detection and tracking are used to improve communication speed, reliability and security. Compressive sensing is applied for image capture. The compression is facilitated by a novel analog-to-information (AIC) conversion scheme which leads to significant power savings in image capture and processing. A prototype AIC based image sensor has been successfully implemented as shown in Fig. 4 [5]. A VLC protocol is specifically tailed for V2V and I2V based on the custom transceivers. The PHY layer is designed based on MIMO OFDM and the MAC layer design is based on dynamic link adaption. The protocol is to be an extension and optimization of IEEE 802.15.7 standard for V2V and I2V VLC. A preliminary prototype VLC system has been designed to verify the feasibility. A Kbps-level VLC channel has been achieved under illumination levels from tens to hundreds of lux. It's anticipated better improvement will be obtained with further research using the novel techniques described above. Conclusion An efficient and low-cost visible light communication system is proposed for V2V and I2V VLC, featuring low cost and power-efficient transmitter design, dual-readout (imaging and VLC) receiver architecture, fast detection and tracking algorithms with compressive sensing, polarization techniques and specific communication protocol. References [1] Global status report on road safety 2013, World Health Organization (WHO). [2] Sivak, Michael, "Mortality from road crashes in 193 countries", 2014. [3] Lu, N.; Cheng, N.; Zhang, N.; Shen, X.S.; Mark, J.W., "Connected Vehicles: Solutions and Challenges," IEEE Internet of Things Journal, vol. 1, no. 4, pp. 289–299, Aug. 2014. [4] X. Zhao, A. Bermak, F. Boussaid and V. G. Chigrinov, "Liquid-crystal micropolarimeter array for full Stokes polarization imaging in visible spectrum", Optics Express, vol. 18, no. 17, pp. 17776–17787, 2010. [5] Chen, D.G.; Fang Tang; Law, M.-K.; Bermak, A., "A 12 pJ/Pixel Analog-to-Information Converter Based 816 × 640 Pixel CMOS Image Sensor," IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, vol. 49, no. 5, pp. 1210–1222, 2014.