The late Jurassic to early Cretaceous rifting between India/Australia and India/Antarctica resulted in the formation of a number of NE–SW-trending basins in the Indian Precambrian crystalline basement. The Cauvery Basin is the southernmost basin along the eastern margin of the Indian Sub-Continent, covering much of this part of India and extending a considerable distance offshore. The basin comprises several 'depressions', or sub-basins, with the Ariyalur–Pondicherry Depression in the north. The exposed successions are in the southern part of this sub-basin. The result of fieldwork (1994–8) has been a reassessment of the lithostratigraphy and the tectonostratigraphic history of the Ariyalur outcrop. Three major sedimentary groups were identified: the syn-rift Gondwana Group (of early Cretaceous age), the syn-rift Uttatur Group (of Albian to Coniacian age) and the post-rift Ariyalur Group (of Santonian to Maastrichtian age). Both microfaunal and macrofaunal information were used to develop a biostratigraphic framework for the basin and a new tectonostratigraphic model. This new model for the development of the basin is significantly different to that used by the Oil and Natural Gas Commission of India. Structures exposed onshore, which have been interpreted as Albian reefs, are interpreted here as irregularly shaped limestone olistoliths/olistostromes produced by intra-Cretaceous rifting and slumping within the basin. The paper discusses this model for the basin history which is calibrated by updated foraminiferal (and macrofossil) biostratigraphy.


– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the sets of relationships, both physical and virtual, on which school technology coordinators (STCs) rely in exchanging problem‐solving knowledge. Using prestige as an indicator of knowledge exchange across school boundaries, a model of relational variables was constructed from social networks to explain the characteristics of personal knowledge exchange in STC communities., – The analytical model designed for this research was based on social network theory. Egocentric interviews were conducted to collect relational data on knowledge exchange among STCs. Path analysis was applied to examine associations among relational variables., – Prestigious STCs engage more in contributing knowledge to online communities of related competency than to STCs at other schools. They do not expend as much effort helping other STCs and only reciprocate within a smaller group from whom they have received advice. Online knowledge contributions have mediation effects for STCs with limited personal networks in becoming prestigious., – Few studies have evaluated the sets of relationships on which teachers rely, to solve problems, and few empirical studies have focused on the features of personal knowledge exchange in a loosely coupled community of practice. This study uses prestige rather than job evaluations as an indicator for knowledge‐intensive workers to examine the knowledge‐exchange characteristics and demonstrate applicability to studies of communities of practice. The results also reveal deficiencies of knowledge dissemination in STC communities. These findings are relevant for studies of the information and communication technology practices of other professionals.


Background: Although a growing number of studies are focusing their attention on cognitive domains, fewer studies have been conducted in developing countries. Previous studies have suggested that cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors may be related to cognitive health or impairment. In the present study, we assessed the associations of CVD risk factors with short-term memory and working memory function among 352 adults from the city of Dhulikhel in Nepal. Methods: This cross-sectional study used data from the first wave of the Dhulikhel Heart Study (DHS), which was a population-based cohort study to investigate CVD and its risk factors in Nepal. Information on demographics and self-reported CVD risk factors were collected via home interviews. Blood pressure and Body Mass Index (BMI) were clinically measured by trained technicians. Unadjusted and demographic adjusted linear regression models quantified the correlations between CVD risk factors and the Digit Span Forward (DSF) and the Digit Span Backwardt (DSB) tests, measures of short-term and working memory, respectively. Binomial and multinomial logistic regression models were used to evaluate the relationship of lowered short-term memory and working memory with CVD risk factors. Sensitivity analyses were performed among participants who had never taken any hypertension treatment. Results: A total of 32.8% of participants in the DHS (N=352) completed either the DSF or the DSB. In linear regression models adjusted for age, sex, education, ethnicity, and household, diabetes was associated lower DSF scores (Coeff=-0.74, p=0.05); however, hypertension and higher BMI were associated with higher DSF scores (Coeff. of hypertension=0.52, p=0.04; Coeff. of BMI=0.05, p=0.05). Other CVD factors did not result in significant relationships with DSF scores. In binomial logistic regression models, BMI was similarly associated with a reduced risk of lowered short-term memory comparing the lowest quartile of the DSF with the other three quartiles (RR=0.96, 95% CI 0.93-1.00). Former smoking was also associated with the reduced risk of lowered short-term memory (RR=0.57, 95% CI 0.39-0.83). Sensitivity analyses provided similar results although associations were attenuated due to reduced sample size (n=276). In the multinomial logistic regression model comparing the highest quartile with the lowest (worst memory) of the DSF, the relative risk for a one-unit increase in BMI and ≥600 MET min/week physical activity was 0.90 (95% CI 0.83-0.98) and 0.52 (95% CI 0.27-0.98), respectively. Working memory based on the DSB test was not significantly associated with any CVD risk factors in the present study. Conclusion: Our results suggest that hypertension, diabetes, BMI, smoking history, and physical activity may be associated with short-term memory among Nepalese adults. Results should be considered cautiously due to the cross –sectional design of the study, small sample size and multiple testing.


The aims of the study were to elucidate the stratigraphy, sedimentology and geochemistry of latest Jurassic - late Cretaceous Campania - Lucania platform carbonates in southern Italy. Eight formations and fifteen biozones have been proposed and described, representing platform carbonates and basin margin sediments. Most formations are isochronous, but the Lower Cretaceous Monte Faito Formation is diachronous, becoming younger and thinner from northwest to southeast across Campania, as a result of tectonically induced differential subsidence. The biostratigraphy indicates a late Cretaceous fauna/floral divergence between the Campania - Lucania and other Periadriatic platforms from a common late Jurassic biota.
The sedimentary sequence reflects the development of a Bahamian type epioceanic platform. Restricted environments were characteristic of the late Jurassic and early Cretaceous while open marine, cyclic peritidal sediments were widespread during the late Cretaceous. Basin margin sediments include Jurassic pelagic radiolarian limestones, Cretaceous debris flows and Tertiary planktonic foraminiferal limestones. The western margin of the platform was probably a fault -bounded escarpment. Two large scale transgressive - regressive sequences (late Jurassic - mid Cretaceous) partly correspond to eustatic sea level fluctuations.
The relatively simple diagenetic history has been locally complicated by dolomitisation and / or silicification. Early cements are uncommon, locally restricted and are non-luminescent. Late burial cements luminesce dull orange. Fabrics indicate several phases of dolomitisation; early syndepositional types occur but dolomitisation was largely the result of burial diagenesis. Magnesium was probably derived from pore fluids released by the compaction of shales in the Tyrrhenian Basin to the west. Geochemical trends reflect clay minerals and diagenetic history particularly dolomitisation.
Palaeogeographically the Campania - Lucania and Latium - Abruzzi platforms were probably part of the same structure during the late Jurassic and early Cretaceous, becoming increasingly separated from each other through the late Cretaceous, during the closure of Tethys.


International labour migration from Malawi to South Africa is more than a century old. Malawian migrants started going to, largely, South African mines around the 1870s and 1880s following the establishment of diamond and gold mines. This migration took two forms: formal migration to the mines and informal migration to different sectors of the economy. Formal migration, initially masterminded by the Witwatersrand Native Labour Association (WNLA) and later by The Employment Bureau of Africa (TEBA), declined in the 1970s and finally collapsed in the 1980s. This article critiques this decline in mine labour migrancy by analysing the developments in the 1970s and 1980s. Contrary to previous scholarship, the article centrally argues that the decline could be traced from as early as the 1960s and that the 1974 plane crash incident and the 1987 HIV wrangle between Malawi and South Africa merely brought mine migrancy to a grinding halt. The article largely uses archival and oral sources. On the use of the latter, interviews were conducted among migrants and ex-migrants from Mzimba and Nkhata-Bay, the two districts historically associated with labour migration to South Africa from northern Malawi.


This paper explores the desirable relationship between business strategy and environmental strategy on both a product line and process line basis. The work uses the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) to do a pair-wise comparison between business and environmental benefits and importance. Subsequently, the Product Profile Matrix is used to conceptualise the findings generated from the AHP and hence evaluating the product's/process standing in terms of the two important factors. This paper also demonstrates how such results help to facilitate the development of appropriate business and environmental strategies and hence to create a successful shift into a more desirable market position.


In Chile, the operation and market of renewable solar-wind generation and conventional gas-coal-diesel-hydraulic generation is made up of two electric generation systems that are managed in a complementary manner and currently interconnected under the name of Sistema Electrico Nacional, counting on the greatest potential and solar development in South America. However, the real-time operation is carried out by the Dispatch and Control Center, which treats them as two independent electrical generation systems in terms of supervision and control. The system faces the challenge associated with the massive potential and development of solar-wind generation concentrated in the northern area of Chile. This creates difficulties in its technical operation, especially in frequency control and the complexity of modeling in real-time the changing market for complementary services. Therefore, the primary frequency control is the complementary service that acts as the first action and line of defense to allow the system to integrate large blocks of renewable energy. It is necessary to deliver a minimum of dynamic reserves in times of ten seconds and five minutes to avoid the operation of stages of load disconnection / generation due to low / over frequency in front of large power disconnections of gas-fired plants (520 MW), hydraulic of reservoir (700 MW) and coal (380 MW) or loss of demand from large mining processes (300, 500 and 600 MW) for systemic frequency variations that should not exceed 0.7 Hz.


As a professor at a new Catholic law school, which has as its mission the "integration of faith and reason in the search for truth through a focus on morality and social justice," I have been giving a lot of thought to the concept of vocation, to Catholic Social Teaching ("CST"), and to the culture of law school. The more I thought about these topics, the more I realized that they were not separate, independent topics for me, but in fact, were deeply intertwined. I came to understand that one of the things that should be distinctive about a Catholic law school is that the culture of the law school should be permeated by a broad concept of vocation lived out with an appreciation for the themes of CST. As I looked through the literature on Catholic legal education, however, I found little about the spirit of Catholic legal education. This article is my effort to begin to explore what I think should be distinctive about the spirit of Catholic legal education – to explore how the culture of a Catholic law school imbued with a broad concept of vocation lived out through an appreciation for CST should look different than the culture of a secular law school. This article begins with the premise that Catholic law schools should conceive of law school as a formation experience in which the law school purposefully and intentionally seeks to promote in its students an understanding of the law as a calling or a vocation and of law school as one aspect of a law student's vocation. This article further suggests that an understanding of CST is important for students at Catholic law schools who are trying to live out their vocations as law students while trying to discern their calling or vocation within the law. The article then discusses how the "spirit" of a Catholic law school imbued with a broad concept of vocation lived out with an understanding of CST – how the culture and community created within such a Catholic law school – should look and feel demonstratively different than the culture and community presently reflected in secular law schools (and in many Catholic law schools), largely because law students who embrace a broad concept of vocation lived out with an understanding of CST should define success differently than students at secular law schools.


The connection between runoff predicting models efficiency and basin aridity is investigated by using data from five representative basins in the mountainous central and northern Greece. Two substantially different models were selected, a monthly water balance model and an empirically fitted rainfall runoff model of the Kalman filter type. Both models were calibrated and validated in each basin and their overall efficiency was evaluated for each basin. The five basins were classified by using a humidity index and were found to range from humid to semi-arid. The efficiency of each model was then tested in terms of decreasing aridity and the two models exhibited a clearly contrasting behaviour; a decreasing efficiency of the Kalman filter model was observed, whereas the water balance model efficiency showed to increase with decreasing aridity. This behaviour is explained by considering the autoregressive characteristics of the corresponding five runoff time series, which are imparted in them by the filtering action of the basin. This factor becomes more important the more arid the basin is. Conclusively, the model of the Kalman filter type, designed to take account of the runoff autoregression, is shown to perform better with increasing aridity while in contrast, the water balance type of model where runoff memory is not accounted for, performs better the more humid the basin is, hence the runoff autoregressive characteristics become less significant.


Insider misuse has become a real threat to many enterprises in the last decade. A major source of such threats originates from those individuals who have inside knowledge about the organization's resources. Therefore, preventing or responding to such incidents has become a challenging task. Digital forensics has grown into a de-facto standard in the examination of electronic evidence, which provides a basis for investigating incidents. A key barrier however is often being able to associate an individual to the stolen data—especially when stolen credentials and the Trojan defense are two commonly cited arguments. This paper proposes an approach that can more inextricably link the use of information (e.g. images, documents and emails) to the individual users who use and access them through the use of transparent biometric imprinting. The use of transparent biometrics enables the covert capture of a user's biometric information—avoiding the potential for forgery. A series of experiments are presented to evaluate the capability of retrieving the biometric information through a variety of file modification attacks. The preliminary feasibility study has shown that it is possible to correlate an individual's biometric information with a digital object (images) and still be able to recover the biometric signal even with significant file modification. Intl. Journal on Cyber Situational Awareness, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2016


We study a lattice model comprising four massless reduced staggered fermions in four dimensions coupled through an SUð4Þ-invariant four-fermion interaction. We present both theoretical arguments and numerical evidence that no bilinear fermion condensates are present for any value of the four-fermi coupling, in contrast to earlier studies of Higgs-Yukawa models with different exact lattice symmetries. At strong coupling we observe the formation of a four-fermion condensate and a mass gap in spite of the absence of bilinear condensates. Unlike those previously studied systems we do not find a ferromagnetic phase separating this strong-coupling phase from the massless weak-coupling phase. Instead we observe long-range correlations in a narrow region of the coupling, still with vanishing bilinear condensates. While our numerical results come from relatively small lattice volumes that call for caution in drawing conclusions, if this novel phase structure is verified by future investigations employing larger volumes it may offer the possibility for new continuum limits for strongly interacting fermions in four dimensions.


The success of cloud computing leads to large, centralized collections of virtual machine (VM) images. The ability to retrospect (examine the historical state of) these images at a high semantic level can be valuable in many aspects of IT management such as debugging and troubleshooting, software quality control, legal establishment of data or code provenance, and cyber forensics such as malware tracking and licensing violations. In this paper, we explore the privacy implications of VM retrospection. We argue that retrospection will worsen current concerns about privacy in cloud computing. We develop privacy-sensitive requirements for the design of a retrospection mechanism, and then show how they can be met in a functional prototype.


The civil rights and anti--Vietnam War movements were the two greatest protests of twentieth-century America. The dramatic escalation of U.S. involvement in Vietnam in 1965 took precedence over civil rights legislation, which had dominated White House and congressional attention during the first half of the decade. The two issues became intertwined on January 6, 1966, when the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) became the first civil rights organization to formally oppose the war, protesting the injustice of drafting African Americans to fight for the freedom of the South Vietnamese people when they were still denied basic freedoms at home. "Selma to Saigon" explores the impact of the Vietnam War on the national civil rights movement. Before the war gained widespread attention, the New Left, the SNCC, and the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) worked together to create a biracial alliance with the potential to make significant political and social gains in Washington. Contention over the war, however, exacerbated preexisting generational and ideological tensions that undermined the coalition, and Lucks analyzes the causes and consequences of this disintegration. This powerful narrative illuminates the effects of the Vietnam War on the lives of leaders such as Whitney Young Jr., Stokely Carmichael, Roy Wilkins, Bayard Rustin, and Martin Luther King Jr., as well as other activists who faced the threat of the military draft along with race-related discrimination and violence. Providing new insights into the evolution of the civil rights movement, this book fills a significant gap in the literature about one of the most tumultuous periods in American history.


Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and its progeny provide the federal standard for the admissibility of all expert evidence, including forensic evidence, that is proffered in criminal trials. The standard measures the validity of expert evidence through a flexible four-factor inquiry. Unfortunately, in the criminal context, Daubert fails to promote the goals of trial outcome accuracy and consistency, resulting in tragically unfair outcomes for criminal defendants. This Note proposes a doctrinal tweak that shifts the costs of admitting forensic evidence to the prosecution and promotes criminal justice goals. First, there should be a high presumption against the admission of forensic evidence that must be rebutted with a clear and convincing showing of its validity. Second, the Daubert validity inquiry needs to be reformulated so that the forensic methodology's "error rate" factor is the primary (and if possible, only) factor the court considers. Third, the error rate should be defined as the lab-specific error rate. The Note ends by considering further possible ways to specify the definition of "error rate" to better promote criminal justice goals.


Today, most countries have relinquished their exclusive jurisdiction over antitrust claims and instead permit arbitrators to also decide such claims. While the expansion of arbitral competence can be seen as a global trend, it has not been an entirely uniform trend. The United States was the first country to start down the road of expanding the scope of arbitrator competence to encompass important statutory claims, including antritrust claims. In allowing these claims to go to arbitration, the U.S. Supreme Court originally suggested that the public policy interests implicated in antitrust arbitration can be safeguarded during award review, but that dicta has proven largely illusory in practice. Meanwhile, other countries, particularly those with a civil law tradition in Europe, have been more circumspect and more circumscribed in allowing arbitration of antitrust claims in the first place, and more active in reviewing awards to ensure adherence with statutory objectives. While there is extensive commentary regarding the risks of allowing arbitration of mandatory claims, our focus in this Essay is instead on the narrower issue of the effect that different national approaches to arbitrability and award review have on competing national antitrust policies. In practictal terms, for many disputes more than one antitrust regime can be applied because the extraterritorial reach of national antitrust laws overlaps in international transactions. Our thesis is that, when faced with such a conflict of laws question about the application of European versus American antitrust law, arbitrators will be inclined to systematically prefer European law since they know that failure to do so is more likely to result in an unenforceable award, and arbitrators are charged with an obligation to render an enforceable award. The effects of this preference may not be enormous given demonstrted convergence between U.S. and EU antitrust law. Moveover, in practice, it is likely that skilled arbitrators craft awards that are valid under both legal regimes. But some important areas remain in which U.S. and European antitrust laws that would necessarily produce different outcomes in particular cases. Keeping in mind that upwards of an estimated 90% of international contracts include arbitration clauses, this Essay hypotehsizes that private arbitrators are de facto but systematically resolving claims involving issues of impass in US-EU in antitrust law negotations in favor the EU position.


Abstract. Based on about 20 years of NOAA/CMDL's atmospheric CO 2 concentration data and a global atmospheric tracer transport model, we estimate interannual variations and spatial patterns of surface CO 2 fluxes in the period 01/1982-12/2000, by using a time-dependent Bayesian inversion technique. To increase the reliability of the estimated temporal features, particular care is exerted towards the selection of data records that are homogeneous in time. Fluxes are estimated on a grid-scale resolution (~8o latitude x 10o longitude), constrained by a-priori spatial correlations, and then integrated over different sets of regions. The transport model is driven by interannually varying re-analyzed meteorological fields. We make consistent use of unsmoothed measurements. In agreement with previous studies, land fluxes are estimated to be the main driver of interannual variations in the global CO 2 fluxes, with the pace predominantly being set by the El Nino/La Nina contrast. An exception is a 2-3 year period of increased sink of atmospheric carbon after Mt.  Pinatubo's volcanic eruption in 1991. The largest differences in fluxes between El Nino and La Nina are found in the tropical land regions, the main share being due to the Amazon basin. The flux variations for the Post-Pinatubo period, the 1997/1998 El Nino, and the 1999 La Nina events are exploited to investigate relations between CO 2 fluxes and climate forcing. A rough comparison points to anomalies in precipitation as a prominent climate factor for short-term variability of tropical land fluxes, both through their role on NPP and through promoting fire in case of droughts. Some large flux anomalies seem to be directly related to large biomass burning events recorded by satellite observation. Global ocean carbon uptake shows a trend similar to the one expected if ocean uptake scales proportional to the anthropogenic atmospheric CO 2 perturbation. In contrast to temporal variations, the longterm spatial flux distribution can be inferred with lesser robustness only. The tentative pattern estimated by the present inversion exhibits a northern hemisphere land sink on the order of 0.4 PgC/yr (for 01/1996-12/1999, non-fossil fuel carbon only) that is mainly confined to North America. Southern hemisphere land regions are carbon neutral, while the tropical land regions are taking up carbon (e.g., at a rate of 0.8 PgC/yr during 01/1996-12/1999). Ocean fluxes show larger uptake in the Northern mid to high latitudes than in the Southern mid latitude regions, in contrast to the estimates by Takahashi et al. (1999) based on in-situ measurements. On a regional basis, results that differ the most from previous estimates are large carbon uptake of 1 to 1.5 PgC/yr by the Southern temperate Pacific ocean region, weak outgassing from the Southern ocean, and a carbon source from eastern Europe.


The paper focuses on the analysis of certain phrases of literary origin currently used in Estonian culture. The theoretical-methodological starting point is the paradigm of cultural semiotics. According to the theory the production, exchange, processing and retention of signs ( resp information) is by its nature communication. In such communication socio-cultural (having an impact on social relations) and rhetorical (having an impact on the social and cultural discourse) aspects are distinguished. The phrases of literary or other origin (e.g. political texts) used in the language generally differ from the phraseologisms originating from the folklore and idioms in that they are not used for beautifying the language so to say (as a figure of speech) but to refer to the fundamental (meta-communicative) associations and act as passwords of collective identity. Therefore, they can be identified as rhetorical gestures. The article takes a closer look at phrases, which have become rhetorical gestures taken from the masterpieces of Estonian literary culture such as Henrik's Livonian Chronicles, Fr. R. Kreutzwald's epic Kalevipoeg ( Kalev's Son ), poetry by Juhan Liiv, Kevade ( Spring ) by Oskar Luts, and Tode ja oigus ( Truth and Justice ) by A. H. Tammsaare.


Abstract. We review the procedures and challenges that must be considered when using geoid data derived from the Gravity and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) mission in order to constrain the circulation and water mass representation in an ocean general circulation model. It covers the combination of the geoid information with time-mean sea level information derived from satellite altimeter data, to construct a mean dynamic topography (MDT), and considers how this complements the time-varying sea level anomaly, also available from the satellite altimeter. We particularly consider the compatibility of these different fields in their spatial scale content, their temporal representation, and in their error covariances. These considerations are very important when the resulting data are to be used to estimate ocean circulation and its corresponding errors. We describe the further steps needed for assimilating the resulting dynamic topography information into an ocean circulation model using three different operational forecasting and data assimilation systems. We look at methods used for assimilating altimeter anomaly data in the absence of a suitable geoid, and then discuss different approaches which have been tried for assimilating the additional geoid information. We review the problems that have been encountered and the lessons learned in order the help future users. Finally we present some results from the use of GRACE geoid information in the operational oceanography community and discuss the future potential gains that may be obtained from a new GOCE geoid.


Background: Subacromial impingement is a common cause of shoulder pain and many patients with this condition recover with conservative management. The most commonly used modalities of non-operative treatment include activity modification, anti-inflammatory medication and subacromial injection of steroid and ultrasound and physical therapy programs. This study assessed the value of physiotherapy versus subacromial corticosteroid injection in patients with shoulder impingement syndrome (SIS). Methods: Seventy three patients with SIS enrolled in the study and treated through physiotherapy (n=37) and subacromial corticosteroid injection (n=36). Two follow-up sessions accomplished at the end of 4 th week and 3 rd month of treatment respectively. Results: Corticosteroid injection caused dramatic improvement in the painful state (p<0.0001) and sleep dysfunction score (p=0.039) in the first follow-up. However, physiotherapy showed significantly better re- sults regarding patients' pain score (p=0.016) and their shoulder join range of motions (p=0.017 and p=0.029 for the abduction and extension, respectively) in their second follow-up. Conclusion: Our study results showed that subacromial corticosteroid injection primarily resulted in more improvement in the impingement symptoms. However, with the long-term follow-up the results were better for the physiotherapy. These results suggest that patients should not undergo surgery before having conservative treatment.


Materials for scintillator radiation detectors need to fulfill a diverse set of requirements such as radiation hardness and highly specific response to incoming radiation, rendering them a target of current materials design efforts. Even though they are amenable to cutting-edge theoretical spectroscopy techniques, surprisingly many fundamental properties of scintillator materials are still unknown or not well explored. In this work, we use first-principles approaches to thoroughly study the optical properties of four scintillator materials: NaI, LaBr_3, BaI_2, and SrI_2. By solving the Bethe–Salpeter equation for the optical polarization function we study the influence of excitonic effects on dielectric and electron-energy loss functions. This work sheds light into fundamental optical properties of these four scintillator materials and lays the ground-work for future work that is geared toward accurate modeling and computational materials design of advanced radiation detectors with unprecedented energy resolution.


The Karoon River Basin, with an area of about 67,000 km2, is located in the southern part of Iran and has a complex mountainous terrain. No comprehensive study has been done on the spatial and temporal variations of snow cover in this region to date. In this paper, daily snow data of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer MODIS Terra (MOD10A1) and MODIS Aqua (MYD10A1) were examined from 1 January 2003 to 31 December 2015, to analyze snow cover variations. Due to difficulties created by cloud cover effects, it was crucial to reduce cloud contamination in the daily time series. Therefore, two common cloud removal methods were applied on the daily data. The results suggested that in winter nearly 43% of the Basin's area experienced a negative trend, while only 1.4% of the Basin had a positive trend for snow-covered days (SCD); trends in fall and spring were less evident in the data. Using a digital elevation model of the Basin, the trends of SCD in 100 m elevation intervals were calculated, indicating a significant positive trend in SCD during the fall season above 3500 m.


Collaborative Virtual Environments (CVEs) are Virtual Reality (VR) systems and can simulate medical procedures such as surgeries performed by a group of remote users which can interact with one another through the simulation in real-time, with the aid of a network such as the Internet. Therefore, it is important to note that research on CVE-specific networking issues allows us to better understand the requirements for real-time applications. This paper discloses design and implementation issues of a peer-to-peer multicast architecture on the collaborative module of theCyberMed VR framework, aiming at providing better network scalability, as well as it shows as results, some developed applications as validation. Finally, we compared the performance of the newly implemented peer-to-peer multicast architecture with the peer-to-peer unicast previously existent with simulated models designed with OPNET Network Modeler and R statistical software. As result of our experiments, the null hypothesis was rejected (p = 2.2e-16, level of significance = 5%) confirming what we expected about the behavior of CyberMed's multicast protocol.


This report presents a review of the conservation status of 165 species of dragonflies found in the Mediterranean basin, according to the criteria of the regional IUCN Red List. It identifies the species that are threatened with extinction at the regional level so that they can take appropriate conservation measures to improve their status.


In this book, David Penchansky examines the inconsistencies between Job's beliefs and his actions. Adapting the theories of neo-Marxist/postmodernist literary critics Fredric Jameson and Pierre Macherey, Penchansky traces ideological and theological conflicts in Israelite society. The Literary Currents in Biblical Interpretation series explores current trends within the discipline of biblical interpretation by dealing with the literary qualities of the Bible: the play of its language, the coherence of its final form, and the relationships between text and readers. Biblical interpreters are being challenged to take responsibility for the theological, social, and ethical implications of their readings. This series encourages original readings that breach the confines of traditional biblical criticism.


This paper seeks to argue that President Bill Clinton's intervention in the Bosnian genocide was successful. In order to define success, the author compiles a list of Clinton's explicitly stated goals for the region. The author explores Clinton's campaign promises on Bosnia, which he expressed in public statements and the first presidential debate against the current President, George H.W. Bush, and demonstrates how the Bosnian initiatives were slightly altered after Clinton took office. The author uses a variety of sources including newspaper articles, speech and debate transcripts, and secondary sources to construct Clinton's concrete objections. Through a chronological assessment of United States involvement in Bosnia, the author contends how each one of Clinton's goals was achieved. The paper also includes how other important players, like Senator Bob Dole and the United Nations, contributed to a more peaceful Bosnia.


Introduction: Considering the evidence which show the effect of herbal medicine on nephrolithiasis treatment, the aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of ethanolic extract of Smyrnium cordifolium Boiss root on prevention of calcium oxalate nephrolithiasis in rats. Materials & methods: Thirty-two female Wistar albino rats were randomly divided into 4 groups. Normal control received water and other three groups received ethylene glycol (EG) (1% v/v) in distilled water for 28 days. Extract was given 200 mg/kg and 400 mg/kg orally in distilled water for 28 days in groups III and IV. The urea, uric acid and creatinine were measured on 28th day. 24 hr urinary volume and oxalate were measured on day 0 and 28. Findings: EG significantly had increased serum creatinine, urea and uric acid in comparison to the normal control. Whereas serum creatinine, urea and uric acid were reduced non-significantly in groups III and IV in comparison to EG group. Smyrnium cordifolium extract significantly increased urinary volume but decreased urine oxalate level compared to EG group (P<0.05). Discussion & Conclusions: This study showed that Smyrnium cordifolium extract was able to reduce urine oxalate in the rat. Therefore, the beneficial action of extract on human kidney stones may be suggested. However, further studies must clarify the mechanism.


ABSTRACT: COVID-19 pandemic has infected millions of people around the world Due to its large accumulation in the nasopharyngeal region and transmission through respiratory fluids, its spread among people is extremely high Considering the needed time for treatments and vaccine development, the research of preventive methods, such as the use of mouthwash and nasal spray, that could decrease the viral load in the nasopharyngeal region, and thus the spread of SARS-CoV-2, becomes fundamental The evidence has shown that there are compounds with antiviral capacity that could be used for this purpose, among which are povidone-iodine, hydrogen peroxide, cyclodextrins, and the synthetic drug PUL-042 Currently, there is no clinical evidence that proves the effectiveness of these substances against SARS-CoV-2 Nevertheless, there are ongoing clinical trials to prove it and generate methods that could help to prevent or, at least, decrease its spread among the population and stop this pandemic


ABSTRACT Alphaviruses are enveloped viruses with highly organized structures. The nucleocapsid (NC) core contains a capsid protein lattice enclosing the plus-sense RNA genome, and it is surrounded by a lipid bilayer containing a lattice of the E1 and E2 envelope glycoproteins. Capsid protein is synthesized in the cytoplasm and particle budding occurs at the plasma membrane (PM), but the traffic and assembly of viral components and the exit of virions from host cells are not well understood. To visualize the dynamics of capsid protein during infection, we developed a Sindbis virus infectious clone tagged with a tetracysteine motif. Tagged capsid protein could be fluorescently labeled with biarsenical dyes in living cells without effects on virus growth, morphology, or protein distribution. Live cell imaging and colocalization experiments defined distinct groups of capsid foci in infected cells. We observed highly motile internal puncta that colocalized with E2 protein, which may represent the transport machinery that capsid protein uses to reach the PM. Capsid was also found in larger nonmotile internal structures that colocalized with cellular G3BP and viral nsP3. Thus, capsid may play an unforeseen role in these previously observed G3BP-positive foci, such as regulation of cellular stress granules. Capsid puncta were also observed at the PM. These puncta colocalized with E2 and recruited newly synthesized capsid protein; thus, they may be sites of virus assembly and egress. Together, our studies provide the first dynamic views of the alphavirus capsid protein in living cells and a system to define detailed mechanisms during alphavirus infection.


If caspase activation is blocked, cells cannot undergo apoptosis but may still die through a process of necrotic cell death. Temkin et al. investigated the mechanism by which cell death occurred in response to activation of the death receptors in the presence of the nonspecific caspase inhibitor zVADfmk. Cell death caused by exposure of the cells to tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and zVADfmk was inhibited if receptor-interacting protein (RIP) abundance was diminished by geldanamycin or RNA interference (RNAi). In TNF-treated cells, RIP colocalized with mitochondria both in isolated mitochondria and by microscopic techniques. In cells exposed to both TNF-α and zVADfmk, the activity of mitochondrial adenine nucleotide translocase (ANT) was inhibited and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) concentrations dropped. Although reactive oxygen species were also produced, addition of antioxidants did not prevent death induced by TNF-α together with zVADfmk. ANT appeared to be a direct target of zVADfmk, because biotinylated zVADfmk was associated with ANT in the TNF-α-treated cells but not in cells in which RIP was decreased. Addition of zVADfmk to mitochondria isolated from TNF-α-treated cells inhibited the activity of ANT in two different assays. Cyclophilin D coimmunoprecipitated with ANT in control cells; however, TNF-α alone disrupted this interaction. Overexpression of cyclophilin D protected the cells from death induced by TNF-α+zVADfmk, and reduction of cyclophilin D by RNAi sensitized the cells to death induced by zVADfmk in the absence of TNF-α. Cyclophilin D and zVADfmk appeared to compete for the same interaction site on ANT. Thus, the authors propose a model whereby activation of a surface death receptor stimulates the translocation of the kinase RIP to the mitochondria, which results in displacement of cyclophilin D from ANT through an as-yet-undefined mechanism. In the presence of zVADfmk, the translocase activity of ANT is inhibited and ATP concentration falls, leading to necrotic cell death. These results have important implications for interpreting experiments using the inhibitor zVADfmk, because it not only inhibits apoptotic cell death through inhibition of caspases but also can promote necrotic cell death in the presence of death receptor signaling through inhibition of ANT. V. Temkin, Q. Huang, H. Liu, H. Osada, R. M. Pope, Inhibition of ADP/ATP exchange in receptor-interacting protein-mediated necrosis. Mol. Cell. Biol. 26, 2215-2225 (2006). [Abstract] [Full Text]


Image processing technique in general, involves the application of signal processing on the input image for isolating the individual color plane of an image. Cancer has generally an abnormal cell that grows and invade healthy cells in the body. Breast cancer occurs when malignant tumors develop in the breast. Early detection of the breast cancer can effective in increasing the rate of survival. There are several Medical image techniques which has been used for detecting breast cancer. The survey explored the needs for the thermography over other screening tools. Thermography detects and records temperature changes on the surface of the skin which is known as Digital Infrared Thermal Imaging (DITI). Thermography is known for its features like non-invasive, painless, cost effective and high chances of recovery, which has got ability to detect the breast cancer at near beginning. There is no such tool which provides accurate predictability unless biopsy. But the combination of tools with thermography may boost the sensitivity and specificity when compared with other mechanisms.


In this work, we explore the potential of exploiting activity-related global features in order to improve the performance of an existing human Time-Varying Mesh (TVM) compression scheme. The TVM compression scheme used, employs two kinds of frames, namely Intra(I)-Fames and Enhanced Predicted(EP) Frames. In this scheme, I-Frames are used as a reference to encode EP-Frames. The paper introduces a strategy for selecting the most appropriate I-Frame that will serve as a reference frame for the encoding of EP-Frames, exploiting activity-related characteristics. Two different strategies are presented, using a skeleton-matching criterion and a periodicity measurement metric based on human skeleton. Evaluation is conducted on two sequences of the MPEG-3DGC database [1]. Results show that the concept is sound, but they also reveal the sensitivity of the proposed methods to the skeleton quality, thus the need for more robust skeleton tracking techniques.


The stability of ecosystems as well as the relation between topology and dynamics on multilayer networks are important questions that are usually discussed in separate communities. Here, we combine these two topics by investigating the influence of the topology of the migration network on the stability of a four-species foodweb module on six patches. The parameters are chosen such that the dynamics on an isolated patch have a periodic attractor with all four species present as well as an attractor where the prey that is preferred by the top predator dies out. The stability measure used here is robustness, which is the average proportion of surviving species in the system, and which shows a complex dependence on the migration rate. We use principal component analysis to quantify the migration network structure in terms of the most relevant network measures, and we evaluate correlations between these measures and characteristics of the robustness curves. Our most important findings are that higher connectivity of the migration network leads to a larger maximum robustness, that a broad distribution of connectivities favors extinction of the preferred prey at intermediate migration rates, and that migration topologies with a larger betweenness centrality are more prone to extinction of the preferred prey at the onset of synchronization. Our study thus demonstrates a strong correlation between dynamical robustness and spatial topology and can serve as an example for similar studies in other types of multilayer networks.


The composition of the Gram-positive cell wall is typically described as containing peptidoglycan, proteins and essential secondary cell wall structures called teichoic acids, which comprise approximately half of the cell wall mass. The cell walls of many species within the genera Streptococcus, Enterococcus and Lactococcus contain large amounts of the sugar rhamnose, which is incorporated in cell wall-anchored polysaccharides (CWP) that possibly function as homologues of well-studied wall teichoic acids (WTA). The presence and chemical structure of many rhamnose-containing cell wall polysaccharides (RhaCWP) has sometimes been known for decades. In contrast to WTA, insight into the biosynthesis and functional role of RhaCWP has been lacking. Recent studies in human streptococcal and enterococcal pathogens have highlighted critical roles for these complex polysaccharides in bacterial cell wall architecture and pathogenesis. In this review, we provide an overview of the RhaCWP with regards to their biosynthesis, genetics and biological function in species most relevant to human health. We also briefly discuss how increased knowledge in this field can provide interesting leads for new therapeutic compounds and improve biotechnological applications.


The erodibility of cohesive sediments has been recognized to be significantly different from that of non-cohesive beds. The existence of clay particles in the soil often leads to a much greater resistance to erosion. In this study, we analyzed the erosion resistance of sludge collected from the Agongdian Reservoir in southern Taiwan, by laboratory experiments using a 10 m circulating rectangular flume. The soil specimens collected in situ were completely mixed with tap water and reconsolidated by natural settlements for 24, 48, and 72 hours, to create specimens with different bulk densities and moisture contents. Then the flume experiments were carried out for each type of the specimen under different bed shear stress conditions. In order to analyze the bed shear stress caused by the flow in the flume, two methods were applied to calculate the bed shear stress, the Reach-averaged method and the "Law of the wall" method. As the results, a relationship between the erosion rates and bed shear stresses can be obtained for each type of the specimen with respect to the two methods. Consequently, the applicability and reliability of the two bed shear stress calculating methods are compared, and the erosion resistance of cohesive beds and the affecting factors are also discussed. The outcome of this study can be applied to projects of hydraulic engineering that require the estimation of erosion resistance of cohesive sediments in river banks, beds of lakes/reservoirs, and coastal areas.


With the advent in recent years of large financial data sets, machine learning and high-performance computing, analysts can backtest millions (if not billions) of alternative investment strategies. Backtest optimizers search for combinations of parameters that maximize the simulated historical performance of a strategy, leading to backtest overfitting. The problem of performance inflation extends beyond backtesting. More generally, researchers and investors tend to report only positive outcomes, a phenomenon known as selection bias. Not controlling for the number of trials involved in a particular discovery leads to over-optimistic performance expectations. The Deflated Sharpe Ratio (DSR) corrects for two leading sources of performance inflation: Selection bias under multiple testing and non-Normally distributed returns. In doing so, DSR helps separate legitimate empirical findings from statistical flukes.


This dissertation is a result of researches between 1996-2002. 1.351 Germans were interviewed in Germany and Norway. The researches focused on the motives of German tourists, their behaviour and perception. Very important is also the description of the Norwegian image. The image is old-fashioned and shows a country as it existed in den 1950s. The dissertation gives a survey about the history of tourism in Norway, reflects facts of the current tourism (number of visitors, accommodation,…) and gives information about the different attractions. Since 1994 the number of German tourists is decreasing, which are the largest tourist group in Norway. Especially a huge number of camping tourists do not visit this Scandinavian country anymore and a large number of German camping tourists with recreational vehicles stay apart the campgrounds (wild camping). This type of traveller ('autarktyp') were detailed interviewed concerning his behaviour and his perception. The analysed problems are wild camping, less recreation, consumption, long routes, tourism along main routes and locally high density of tourism. Finally the dissertation offers Solutions to solve these problems for example new forms of travelling, new types of camping sites and demands authors of travel guides to use their influence.


This research was focused on increasing the efficiency of upland cotton production in the northern cotton belt through the use of new fertilizer formulations, placement, and timings. The objectives of the experiments reported in this thesis were to: 1) evaluate the effects of side-dress potassium (K), sulfur (S), and boron (B) formulation and application timing on tissue nutrient levels during the bloom period; 2) evaluate lint yield response of cotton to different formulations of nitrogen (N), K, S and B applied at side-dress; and 3) compare 5x5 banding (5 cm beside and 5cm below the seed) and deep placement of complete N-P-K-S blends to current nutrient management strategies on early season plant growth, nodes above white flower, total nodes, petiole nutrient concentrations during bloom, and lint yield. Tissue S and B concentrations were increased more often than K concentrations when the nutrients were applied with side-dress N. When evaluating P and K placement, petiole P levels were found to be significantly higher in unfertilized plots when no side-dress N was applied. Phosphorus and K placement and/or rate had no effect on lint yield when N was applied at side-dress during the study. Environmental conditions potentially influenced the response to P and K placement as 5x5 placement produced yields significantly higher during 2013 growing season at location 1, while deep placement produced significantly higher yields in 2014 at location 3. As a result, Virginia nutrient management recommendations for cotton have been updated to incorporate management strategies to maximize lint yields.


Recent changes at a global level in terms of migration patterns and telecommunications have destabilised many pre-established concepts. The notion of diaspora has given way to trans-localism and communities can no longer be conceived of as discreet homogenous units. Other language related concepts such as multilingualism, code-mixing, speech communities and language itself have been scrutinised and undermined by research in translanguaging, superdiversity, English as a Lingua Franca, World Englishes and language ideologies. In Britain new migrants from a myriad of different locations co-exist with older migrants and the local white British population in what has been termed as superdiversity. This study focuses on older migrants who interact with newer migrants within the classroom, in a teacher-student relationship, and also to a degree outside the classroom. It reports on the attitudes of multilingual English language teachers to varieties of English and how this influences their teaching practices. I interviewed and conducted focus group discussions with first and second generation migrants between January 2012 and February 2013. The participants are representative of two conflicting ideologies. On the one hand the participants have varying degrees of experience with indigenised non-native varieties of English through travel, from learning English in a context outside Britain, and through family and friendship networks. On the other hand they also have the responsibility to teach British Standard English to students who may already be speaking a fluent stable variety of English. The aim of the study was to understand how the participants reconciled conflicting attitudes about language and the extent to which this impacted on their teaching practices. The main findings of the study are that while many of the teachers are aware of and open to different variation in spoken English, this predominantly related to pronunciation. However there were clear differences between first and second generation migrants which appear to be related to the participant's experience of different societal ideologies. This translated into different attitudes about correct language and their beliefs about their teaching practices. While first generation migrants' attitudes showed evidence of being influenced by dual ideologies, second generation migrants' attitudes more closely reflected societal ideologies in the UK.


Abstract Objective: To determine whether blood levels of the brain-specific biomarker glial fibrillary acidic protein rise during cardiopulmonary bypass for repair of congenital heart disease. Methods: This is a prospective observational pilot study to characterise the blood levels of glial fibrillary acidic protein during bypass. Children <21 years of age undergoing bypass for congenital heart disease at Johns Hopkins Hospital and Texas Children's Hospital were enrolled. Blood samples were collected during four phases: pre-bypass, cooling, re-warming, and post-bypass. Results: A total of 85 patients were enrolled between October, 2010 and May, 2011. The median age was 0.73 years (range 0.01–17). The median weight was 7.14 kilograms (range 2.2–86.5). Single ventricle anatomy was present in 18 patients (22%). Median glial fibrillary acidic protein values by phase were: pre-bypass: 0 ng/ml (range 0–0.35); cooling: 0.039 (0–0.68); re-warming: 0.165 (0–2.29); and post-bypass: 0.112 (0–0.97). There were significant elevations from pre-bypass to all subsequent stages, with the greatest increase during re-warming (p = 0.0001). Maximal levels were significantly related to younger age (p = 0.03), bypass time (p = 0.03), cross-clamp time (p = 0.047), and temperature nadir (0.04). Peak levels did not vary significantly in those with single ventricle anatomy versus two ventricle repairs. Conclusion: There are significant increases in glial fibrillary acidic protein levels in children undergoing cardiopulmonary bypass for repair of congenital heart disease. The highest values were seen during the re-warming phase. Elevations are significantly associated with younger age, bypass and cross-clamp times, and temperature nadir. Owing to the fact that glial fibrillary acidic protein is the most brain-specific biomarker identified to date, it may act as a rapid diagnostic marker of brain injury during cardiac surgery.


Dose-optimized nilotinib (Tasigna) increased the rates of major molecular response in patients with newly diagnosed chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in the chronic phase (CP) in the Evaluating Nilotinib Efficacy and Safety in Clinical Trials-Extending Molecular Responses (ENESTxtnd) study. According to the final results of this study presented at ASH 2015, the cumulative major molecular response rates were 70.8% by 12 months and 81.0% by 24 months in patients managed with the dose optimization strategy.

"The results from this study demonstrated the feasibility of nilotinib dose optimization with high response rates among patients with dose adjustments and a high rate of successful dose re-escalation among patients with dose reductions," said Timothy P. Hughes, MD, MBBS, Cancer Theme Leader, South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, Adelaide, Australia. "Overall, results from ENESTxtnd were consistent with those of prior studies and support frontline nilotinib for patients with newly diagnosed CML-CP."

Timothy P. Hughes, MD, MBBS

The use of frontline nilotinib in the Evaluating Nilotinib Efficacy and Safety in Clinical Trials-Newly Diagnosed Patients (ENESTnd) study achieved earlier and higher rates of molecular response in patients with CML-CP versus frontline imatinib (Gleevec).

ENESTxtnd was conducted to further investigate the efficacy and safety of frontline nilotinib and to evaluate new nilotinib dose-optimization strategies.

The ENESTxtnd study enrolled 421 newly diagnosed patients aged >18 years who had not received previous CML therapy and ECOG performance status of 0 to 2.

At a Glance
▸ Dose-optimized nilotinib increased the major molecular response rates in patients with newly diagnosed CML-CP
▸ Of 106 patients who had dose reduction and tried dose re-escalation, 92 were successful

Patients received nilotinib 300 mg and dose optimization (escalation, reduction, and re-escalation) as recommended per the study protocol. Dose escalation to 400 mg was permitted for all patients with suboptimal response or treatment failure.

Of the 421 patients, 78% completed the 24-month protocol to remain on nilotinib, with only 22% of patients discontinuing treatment. Of those who completed 24 months of treatment, 76% remained at 300 mg, 20% escalated to 400 mg, and 4% of patients escalated to 450 mg.

Of the 144 patients whose dose was reduced, 106 attempted dose re-escalation, which was successful in 92 patients.

"We are cautious in interpreting the data," said Dr Hughes, "but cumulative rates of major molecular response look extremely good compared to ENESTnd."

By 12 months, approximately 71% of patients had achieved a major molecular response in ENESTxtnd compared with 55% of patients in ENESTnd; by 24 months, 81% of patients in the ENESTxtnd study had achieved major molecular response compared with 71% of patients in the ENESTnd trial.

The safety profile of nilotinib in the ENESTxtnd study was similar to other reports of frontline nilotinib.


Researchers often use data from multiple datasets to conduct credible econometric and statistical analysis. The most reliable way to link entries across such datasets is to exploit unique identifiers if those are available. Such linkage however may result in privacy violations revealing sensitive information about some individuals in a sample. Thus, a data curator with concerns for individual privacy may choose to remove certain individual information from the private dataset they plan on releasing to researchers. The extent of individual information the data curator keeps in the private dataset can still allow a researcher to link the datasets, most likely with some errors, and usually results in a researcher having several feasible combined datasets. One conceptual framework a data curator may rely on is k -anonymity, 2 k ³ , which gained wide popularity in computer science and statistical community. To ensure k -anonymity, the data curator releases only the amount of identifying information in the private dataset that guarantees that every entry in it can be linked to at least k different entries in the publicly available datasets the researcher will use. In this paper, we look at the data combination task and the estimation task from both perspectives – from the perspective of the researcher estimating the model and from the perspective of a data cu-rator who restricts identifying information in the private dataset to make sure that k -anonymity holds. We illustrate how to construct identifiers in practice and use them to combine some entries across two datasets. We also provide an empirical illustration on how a data curator can ensure k -anonymity and consequences it has on the estimation procedure. Naturally, the utility of the combined data gets smaller as k increases, which is also evident from our empirical illustration.


Caruana's project for the 2014 BMW Residency at the Nicephore Niepce Museum in Chalon-sur-Saone, France, searches for the truth behind love at first sight or 'coup de foudre' (bolt of lightning in English). Her work explores personal experience alongside investigating the subject through the work of neuroscientists, anthropologists and evolutionary biologists.

Using photography as her tool, Caruana unpicks the personal experience of falling in love at first sight during her residency in Chalon. In her search for the truth she turns to science, Mother Nature and other people's accounts of this romantic phenomenon.

Science challenges the romantic, fairytale, happily-ever-after notion of love. Turning to Charles Darwin's seminal text On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (published in 1859), and research by academic Alfred Kinsey who wrote Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (1948), and second book about female humans and sexual behaviour five years later, Caruana found the counter argument to her experience; she could not investigate the romance of humans without employing science to explore love at first sight in a critical, objective way.


Ontology, as a knowledge representation approach, continues to evolve over time as the domain develops. It is of particular importance when introducing ontologies into the information integration field, to eliminate semantic conflicts brought about by changes along the time axis. This paper first introduces a temporal ontology model which can be used to express and deal with time related information, then defines a set of rich query operators and a basic reasoning operator. Further, a prototype Temporal Ontology Management System (TOMS) enhanced with the above operators is applied to an information integration background with temporal semantic conflicts. Testing shows that TOMS is both capable of managing temporal ontologies and supporting temporal queries and basic reasoning.


Abstract Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (WCED, 1987). For the business community, sustainability is more than mere window-dressing. By adopting sustainable practices, companies can gain a competitive edge, increase their market share, and boost shareholder value (IISD, 2013). The wine industry has incorporated sustainability into its business strategy for a long time. In the USA, several industry organizations promoted its adoption by both grape growers and winemakers. In mountain wine regions, sustainability becomes more important as these regions generally struggle with reduced competitiveness due to inherent difficulties such as accessibility, remoteness, sparseness of business and population, topography and pedoclimatology (EUROMONTANA 2005). Therefore, any improvement in sustainability is a key factor for the viability of mountain wine producers. Sogrape Vinhos farms 480 ha of mountain vineyards in DWR securing the quality base of grapes for its SANDEMAN Port and CASA FERREIRINHA Douro wines. The company continuously adopted sustainable practices across the whole value chain, from grape to glass. This paper illustrates how a simple, but comprehensive, sustainability assessment, as proposed by a US-based award, can be used to monitor and improve sustainable development practices for a wine business set in an adverse environment, while raising awareness in a key market for wines produced in a mountain vineyard area such as the DWR.


The last thirty years have seen a remarkable growth in the ethnomusicology of the South American lowlands. The region has emerged from relative obscurity - a state in which it languished for decades, despite possessing some of the world's oldest descriptions of 'primitive' music - through the publication of a wide variety of texts on the musical production of its indigenous peoples, along with various attempts at regional and sub-regional comparison. This ethnomusicological output - much of it originating in Brazil from the early 1990s onwards - has been complimented by monographs and regional comparative studies from anthropologists specialized in other areas, whose work has frequently highlighted the importance of music (typically in connection with other art forms, cosmology, shamanism and philosophy) for a clearer understanding of the region. The resulting panorama is promising. However it also requires analysis, a fundamental element in determining paths for future research. Divided into two parts, the article approaches this endeavour by focusing on written production, making secondary use of phonographic, videographic and other documental forms. The first part of the text surveys the literature produced on the region's music over the period. In the second part, I reflect on the main features of indigenous music to emerge from the literature and propose a number of working hypotheses for future investigations.


Background: India is a country with very high mortality rates due to road traffic accidents (RTAs). Two-wheelers are the most common vehicle involved in the RTAs. This study aimed to describe the overall characteristics of RTAs. Objective: The objective was to study the clinical profile of trauma patients presenting to the emergency department of a tertiary care center. Methodology: A total of 200 patients were enrolled in the study. A preorganized datasheet was prepared for each patient attending the Emergency Department of Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences. It contains data about sociodemographics, trauma data, clinical evaluation result, as well as treatment strategies. Results: Most (31%) of the patients were aged between 20 and 30 years. The mean age of the patients was 35.8 years. There were 156 males (78%) and 44 females (22%). More than half of the patients were from urban areas. Most patients (82%) were injured by two-wheelers. Sixteen patients did not wear helmet, in which eight patients (50%) had a head injury. Conclusion: Trauma is a major health problem, especially in the young population in our country. Two-wheelers are the most common vehicle involved in the RTAs. Trauma is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality among all age groups, and injuries from RTA is the most common cause of disability in the developing world.


Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of a study of intellectual capital (IC) reporting by private commercial banks in the developing economy of Bangladesh, together with the perceptions of a range of stakeholders' with respect to such disclosures. Design/Methodology/Approach – The paper was informed by the results of a study carried out in relation to Bangladeshi banks. Initially, the annual reports of 20 selected banking institutions listed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange were subjected to a content analysis exercise. A questionnaire survey was subsequently conducted to explore stakeholders' perceptions about the practice of IC disclosure within this sector. Findings – The findings in the paper indicate that the managements of Bangladeshi commercial banks are not currently enthusiastic about the necessity for such voluntary disclosure activity. The key focus for IC reporting is on human capital elements. Stakeholders' are in favour of such reporting across a wider range of IC items than is currently disclosed. Research Limitations/Implications – The results of these exploratory studies can be used by researchers to explore further the different types of IC reporting initiatives pursued across a wider spectrum of industries and any differences in users perceptions by industry, as well as over time. Originality/Value – The paper contributes to the IC literature by presenting empirical evidence on IC disclosures and users' perceptions about such practices in the context of the Bangladeshi banking sector.


Abstract In modern tokamak machines, exploration and successful development of improved plasma regimes is impossible without adequate control systems. In ASDEX Upgrade, the control tasks are performed by two systems, the continuously operating machine control and the plasma control active as long as a plasma discharge lasts. Machine control based on programmable logic controllers operates on a relatively slow timescale of τ = 100 ms to configure and monitor the machine's technical systems. Real-time plasma controllers run on faster cycle times of a few milliseconds to feedback (FB) control plasma shape and performance quantities. During the burn of a discharge, a real-time supervisor monitors the full technical and physical system state τ = 10 ms) and applies alternate discharge program segments to optimize discharge performance or react to failures. The supervisor is fully integrated with a layered machine protection system. Plasma position and shape control in ASDEX Upgrade is particularly difficult: Since the poloidal magnetic field (PF) coils are located reactor relevant outside the toroidal magnetic field coil system and distant from the plasma, each PF coil has a global effect on all shape quantities. This makes simultaneous control of shape parameters a multivariable problem. The feedback control algorithm is based on a matrix proportional-integral-derivative method, adapted to handle saturation of coil currents, excess of coil forces, or to balance loads among coils. Control cycle time is ~3 ms. In parallel, the plasma performance control (sometimes called kinetic control) acts on particle fueling and auxiliary heating systems. It consists mainly of FB loops each controlling a single variable. These circuits can be freely combined to simultaneously control a number of different plasma quantities. A clear hierarchy in the control processes allows special real-time processes to override the programmed plasma discharge feedback action: The set of controlled quantities may be changed dynamically, depending on the plasma regime detected; stabilizing actions may be triggered when plasma instabilities grow; and discharge termination by means of impurity addition is initiated when a neural network indicates an imminent disruption. The computation of the needed plasma parameters and instability indicators requires signal inputs from many diagnostic systems during each controller cycle. Currently, a new plasma control system is being implemented as a distributed system of real-time controllers and diagnostic systems, which are connected via a deterministic communication network.


The fundamental temperature dependence of magnetic domain structure has been recognized for several decades, but its relationship to thermoremanent magnetization (TRM) has been unexplored. As one step toward investigating this possible link, we have studied Bitter patterns on synthetic Ti-rich titanomagnetite (Al0.1Mg0.1Ti0.6Fe2.2O4; Curie point of approximately 75°C) as a function of temperature in a weak field (0.42 Oe), in states of weak field TRM, and after alternating field demagnetization. Two different types of patterns were studied with the following goals: (1) simple Kittel-like patterns of straight walls were studied in order to gain insight into the nature of TRM domain structures and the various possible mechanisms by which particles acquire weak field TRM; (2) mazelike patterns, which occupy regions of high surface stress, were studied in order to estimate the temperature dependence of magnetostriction constant in this material. Results of experiments to study Kittel-like patterns suggest that two different mechanisms, and two resulting species of domain structure, could account for fundamental differences between multidomain and pseudosingle-domain thermoremanence in titanomagnetite. In accordance with traditional models, typical multidomain TRM results from wall pinning in a particle that contains several domains whose volumes are approximately equal to each other. In contrast, pseudosingle-domain TRM is acquired when denucleation of domains and domain walls yields a domain structure with a large associated "intrinsic" moment. The following observations support these conclusions. In a particle with a Kittel-like pattern, the number of domains varies from one TRM experiment to the next. This variation indicates that a grain can acquire TRM in a range of local energy minimum states, rather than in one particular domain configuration of absolute minimum energy. Many such TRM patterns represent the near-ideal local energy minimum domain states, consisting of several domains of approximately equal widths, usually envisioned in models of multidomain thermoremanence. Observations suggest that a particle can maintain such states during cooling if weakly pinned walls adjust readily to demagnetizing fields generated during the denucleation process. In this case, TRM results from small displacements of pinned walls with respect to a state of minimum magnetostatic energy; several observations suggest that blocking of walls at pinning centers in the classical manner occurs mainly after the final nucleation event as the particle cools toward room temperature from the Curie point. In contrast, we have observed examples in which denucleation leaves behind an anomalously large domain where several approximately uniform domains existed prior to denucleation; several smaller domains survive elsewhere in the particle, virtually unaffected by the transition. Evidently, strong wall-pinning forces sometimes prevent surviving walls from responding to the change of internal field which must accompany the denucleation process. It is observed that denucleation can yield single-domain-like states during TRM acquisition. Thus denucleation, rather than complete failure to nucleate during TRM acquisition, is one mechanism for producing single-domain-like states in particles which ordinarily favor walls. Possibly, such states exist by virtue of strong pinning forces at surface defects, into which denucleating domains and domain walls collapse. Particles with an odd number of approximately uniform domains also are observed in TRM states, and such particles also may carry large intrinsic moments owing to domain imbalance; possibly, such domain configurations result from the final denucleation episode during cooling. Thus these observations indicate a strong link between TRM acquisition mechanisms, magnetic domain transitions, and the accessibility of domain states. We hypothesize that denucleation could account for the most desirable properties of TRM associated with pseudosingle-domain titanomagnetite particles, namely, high intensity and high thermal stability. The second class of patterns, mazelike patterns, was studied to estimate the temperature dependence of domain wall energy and magnetostriction constant from the observed temperature dependence of domain width. The temperature dependence of magnetostriction constant obtained in this manner for AMTM60 is similar to that obtained for magnetite in earlier studies.


Introduction: the last voice from the abyss Part I. 1933-41: 1. 'Not a Jewish problem': the publisher's perspective on the Nazis' rise and the refugee crisis 2. 'This here is Germany': reporting from the Berlin bureau 3. 'Worthy of France': the Vichy government's anti-semitic laws and concentration camps 4. 'A new life in Nazi-built ghettos': German domination of Poland, Rumania and the Baltic States Part II 1941-5: 5. 'To awaken the conscience of Christendom': pressure to publicize the first news of the extermination campaign 6. 'Amidst the advertisements on page 19': placement decisions and the role of the news editors 7. 'All Jews are not brothers': the publisher's battle with Zionists 8. 'The semitic question should be avoided': German atrocities and US Government propaganda 9. 'Final phase of supreme tragedy has begun': the War Refugee Board and the destruction of Hungary's Jews 10. 'Political prisoners, slave laborers and civilians of many nationalities': the liberation of the concentration camps 11. 'Lessons from the Hitler tragedy': the publisher and the aftermath of war Conclusion: 'the horrible story was not told'.


Narrative Policy Analysis presents a powerful and original application of contemporary literary theory and policy analysis to many of today's most urgent public policy issues. Emery Roe demonstrates across a wide array of case studies that structuralist and poststructuralist theories of narrative are exceptionally useful in evaluating difficult policy problems, understanding their implications, and in making effective policy recommendations.

Assuming no prior knowledge of literary theory, Roe introduces the theoretical concepts and terminology from literary analysis through an examination of the budget crises of national governments. With a focus on several particularly intractable issues in the areas of the environment, science, and technology, he then develops the methodology of narrative policy analysis by showing how conflicting policy "stories" often tell a more policy-relevant meta-narrative. He shows the advantage of this approach to reading and analyzing stories by examining the ways in which the views of participants unfold and are told in representative case studies involving the California Medfly crisis, toxic irrigation in the San Joaquin Valley, global warming, animal rights, the controversy over the burial remains of Native Americans, and Third World development strategies.

Presenting a bold innovation in the interdisciplinary methodology of the policy sciences, Narrative Policy Analysis brings the social sciences and humanities together to better address real-world problems of public policy—particularly those issues characterized by extreme uncertainty, complexity, and polarization—which, if not more effectively managed now, will plague us well into the next century.


The aim of this article is to explore the link between language management and the sociopolitical environment in which institutions of higher learning, particularly the North-West University, operate. Along the lines set by Candlin (1991: vi–vii), it is argued that language management should take due cognisance of the various historical, structural and social environments in which the management activity takes place. In the light of the foregoing, particular emphasis is placed on the current sociopolitical transformation agenda within South African higher education and the role of language management as part of this process. The article also investigates ways in which the drafting of an inclusive language policy and plan could be utilised as a change management instrument in contributing towards institutional transformation. To this end, an analysis is presented in respect of the general tendencies and patterns of responses to an institutional language audit conducted during the last semester of 2005 at the North-West University as a means of paving the way towards the formulation of an inclusive multilingual language policy.


Poorly controlled, obese, Type II diabetics were studied before, during, and 3 months after a weight reduction program that used supplemented fasting (200 kcal or 0.9 MJ/day). During fasting, the very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) triglycerides (TG) decreased, as did the adipose tissue lipoprotein lipase (AT-LPLA) and skeletal muscle lipoprotein lipase (SM-LPLA) activities. Three months later VLDL TG remained low (−59%), while high density lipoprotein cholesterol was higher (+11%) and blood glucose control improved compared with values on admission. The fractional removal rate (K2) at the i.v. fat tolerance test (IVFTT) and the SM-LPLA were unchanged, while AT-LPLA (expressed per gram of wet weight, but not as whole-body AT-LPLA) increased by 25%. There were no significant correlations between AT-LPLA and the lipoprotein TG concentrations or K2-IVFTT, although there were significant positive correlations between SM-LPLA and K2-IVFTT, both on admission and after body weight stabilization. This may indicate that SM-LPLA is more directly related to the capacity to remove lipoprotein TG, at least in obese diabetic patients. K2-IVFTT was inversely correlated to the VLDL TG and cholesterol concentrations both before and 3 months after fasting. Because both SM-LPLA and K2-IVFTT were unchanged after body weight reduction, the change in VLDL TG may be mainly due to a reduced rate of lipoprotein synthesis.


Confocal Scanning Laser Microscopy (CSLM) offers high resolution morphological details and generates en-face images with excellent depth discrimination for visualizing different structures of the living human body non-invasively. There have been significant advances in technology since the CSLM was first defined. It has been used commonly, especially in ophthalmological area, in order to diagnose and give direction for the treatment of corneal pathologies. Ocular surface, corneal subbasal nerve plexus, filtering blebs of glaucoma surgery were also investigated widely by CSLM. With the improvements in CSLM technology over time, it is widely used in other fields than ophthalmology. The combined use of CSLM with the slit lamp biomicroscopy and optical coherence tomography will also lead to significant advances in the diagnosis and treatment of more diseases in the future.


The striking growth of online communities in recent years has sparked significant interest in understanding and quantifying benefits of participation. While research has begun to document the economic outcomes associated with online communities, quantifying the social value created in these collectives has been largely overlooked. This study proposes that online health communities create social value by addressing rural–urban health disparities via improved health capabilities. Using a unique data set from a rare disease community, we provide one of the first empirical studies of social value creation. Our quantitative analysis using exponential random graph models reveals patterns of social support exchanged between users and the variations in these patterns based on users' location. We find that, overall, urban users are net suppliers of social support while rural participants are net recipients, suggesting that technology-mediated online health communities are able to alleviate rural–urban health disparities. This study advances extant understanding of value production in online collectives, and yields implications for policy.


Study objective To compare the safety of salmeterol xinafoate or placebo added to usual asthma care. Design A 28-week, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, observational study. Setting Study subjects were seen once in the study physician's office for screening and were provided all blinded study medication for the entire study period. Follow-up by telephone was scheduled every 4 weeks. Participants Subjects (> 12 years old) with asthma as judged by the study physician were eligible. Individuals with a history of long-acting β 2 -agonist use were excluded. Interventions Salmeterol, 42 μg bid via metered-dose inhaler (MDI), and placebo bid via MDI. Measurements and results Following an interim analysis in 26,355 subjects, the study was terminated due to findings in African Americans and difficulties in enrollment. The occurrence of the primary outcome, respiratory-related deaths, or life-threatening experiences was low and not significantly different for salmeterol vs placebo (50 vs 36; relative risk [RR] = 1.40; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.91 to 2.14). There was a small, significant increase in respiratory-related deaths (24 vs 11; RR, 2.16; 95% CI, 1.06 to 4.41) and asthma-related deaths (13 vs 3; RR, 4.37; 95% CI, 1.25 to 15.34), and in combined asthma-related deaths or life-threatening experiences (37 vs 22; RR, 1.71; 95% CI, 1.01 to 2.89) in subjects receiving salmeterol vs placebo. The imbalance occurred largely in the African-American subpopulation: respiratory-related deaths or life-threatening experiences (20 vs 5; RR, 4.10; 95% CI, 1.54 to 10.90) and combined asthma-related deaths or life-threatening experiences (19 vs 4; RR, 4.92; 95% CI, 1.68 to 14.45) in subjects receiving salmeterol vs placebo. Conclusions For the primary end point in the total population, there were no significant differences between treatments. There were small, but statistically significant increases in respiratory-related and asthma-related deaths and combined asthma-related deaths or life-threatening experiences in the total population receiving salmeterol. Subgroup analyses suggest the risk may be greater in African Americans compared with Caucasian subjects. Whether this risk is due to factors including but not limited to a physiologic treatment effect, genetic factors, or patient behaviors leading to poor outcomes remains unknown.


Tourniquets used repeatedly on patients for blood sampling are a potential source of Nosocomial infections. Reusable venesection Tourniquets are often used consecutively on multiple patients without disinfection between uses. The present study was conducted to isolate the potentially pathogenic bacteria from reusable Tourniquets and to study their antibiotic resistance pattern. The study was conducted in King George Hospital (KGH), tertiary care teaching hospital in Vizag, Andhra Pradesh. Swabs from 50 Tourniquets of various areas in the hospital were taken for the study in December 2015. The samples were transported immediately to the lab in BHI broth and inoculated onto sheep blood agar and McConkey's agar, incubated at 37°C for 24 to 48 hours. Isolation and identification of the organisms were done by a standard procedure in the laboratory. Antibiotic sensitivity testing was done by Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method on Muller Hinton Agar. Cefoxitin (30mcg ) was used to detect MRSA and Ceftazidime and Ceftazidim+Clavulonate (30/10mcg ) discs were used for ESBL producers and the zones of inhibition were interpreted as per CLSI guidelines. Out of the 50 Tourniquets, 8 were from sample collection sites, 9 from ICU's, 2 from casualty and 31 from various wards. Potentially pathogenic bacteria were isolated from 36 (72%) Tourniquets out of 50 and non-pathogenic environmental commensals were isolated from 14 (28%). Gram positive cocci were the predominant isolates 19 (52.8%) followed by gram-negative bacilli 17 (47.2%). Among total isolates 44.4% and among GPC 84.2%were staph aureus and 13.6% (3) were enterococci. Among GNB, klebsiella species were predominant (10) followed by E.coli (5), Pseudomonas species (2) and acinetobacter species (2). MRSA was detected in 2 (12.5%) strains of Staph aureus and ESBLs were detected in 3 (17.6%). All the 3 Enterococci were sensitive to vancomycin. 1. Tourniquets are a potential reservoir and vehicle for the spread of nosocomial infections, including MROs. 2. Regular surveillance and sterilisation or disinfection policy for Tourniquets are recommended in Infection Control programme to decrease hospital acquired infections and multi-drug resistant organisms. K e y w o r d s


We have been proposing a new IP mobility technology, called "Network Traversal with Mobility" (NTMobile), that solves the NAT traversal problem and provides flexible mobility in IPv4 and IPv6 networks at the same time. In this paper, we have implemented the NTMobile functions in an Android smartphone and performance evaluated in the IPv4 and IPv6 networks. It was confirmed that the NTMobile-compatible nodes can establish a connection with the correspondent node and move between IPv4 and IPv6 networks with low latency.


ASTRACT Solitary brainstem abscess is uncommon condition with high mortality and morbidity. The diagnosis require high index of suspicion and appropriate imaging. It can be managed by medical treatment alone, stereotactic aspiration of the purulent material, or by surgical drainage along with medical therapy. Here, I present a case of a child with large solitary brainstem abscess involving the pons and the medulla oblongata without systemic infection or systemic predisposing factors. The patient managed by mean of microsurgical drainage and antibiotic therapy. The literatures on brainstem abscess was reviewed and an over view of the literature is presented. This case-based review of brainstem abscess reinforce the conclusion that early diagnosis and proper management with microsurgical drainage and maximal medical therapy may result in a good prognosis.


In the past serum creatinine concentration was used as one of the important
markers for early detection of kidney disorders, however recent studies suggest serum cystatin C to be
a better marker. Therefore in this study we compared the diagnostic value of cystatin C with serum
creatinine to evaluate kidney function in patients with high blood pressure.
Materials & Methods: This clinical trial study was conducted on high blood pressure patients
referring to Mehrad hospital during 1387-1389 for checking their kidney function. Cobasmira
automated analyzer was used to determine serum creatinine. The serum cystatin C was measured using
ELISA method. The glomerular filtration rate was determined by measuring 24hr creatinine clearance.
Positive and negative predictive value, sensitivity and specificity of cystatin C and creatinine were
determined.
Results: We studied 35 patients with high blood pressure (20 men and 15 women mean age, 49±11).
This research work showed that positive predictive value and negative predictive value of creatinine
were 94.3% and 31% respectively. And for cystatin C, were 92.3% and 44% respectively.
The false positive and negative result for serum creatinine method were 2.8% and 31.4% and for
cystatin C were 5.7% and 14.2% respectively.
Total accuracy of cystatin C was 90% and creatinine was 65.8%. Finally based on results obtained
from this study cystatin C had a sensitivity of 82 % and specificity of 57% and serum creatinine
had sensitivity of 62 % and specificity of 41% for detecting crcl<78 ml/min/1.73m2.
Conclusion: It seems that measurement of serum cystatin C can be applied to detect the reduction of
kidney function in the primary stages of kidney disorder.


Unpaid care work is directly linked to the economic empowerment of women and girls. There is a large and robust body of evidence about the extent of unpaid care work that women and girls do, and its contributions to both the economy and human development outcomes. But is this evidence being used to inform public policy?

Doing so would include recognising the role of women and girls in the provision of unpaid care; the need to reduce the drudgery of unpaid care; and the need to redistribute unpaid care work (from women to men, and from the family to communities and the state), thus laying the basis for true gender equality.

This review of secondary material aims to identify the political economy conditions of where, why, when and how unpaid care concerns become more visible on domestic policy agendas.


To analyse the broad‐scale behaviour of 15 global models of the terrestrial biosphere, we evaluated the sensitivity of simulated net primary productivity (NPP) to spatial and seasonal variations in precipitation, temperature and solar radiation, and to the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). For annual NPP estimates, the models' sensitivities to climate were the most similar in regions where NPP was not limited by precipitation. The largest differences in sensitivities occurred in regions where NPP was limited by both temperature and precipitation. Water use efficiencies within the models were relatively constant across latitudes so that higher correlations occurred between the latitudinal distribution of NPP and precipitation than with the other climate variables. The sensitivities of NPP estimates to solar radiation varied considerably with latitude. The largest differences in temperature sensitivity among NPP estimates occurred in the northern latitudes (50°N–70°N), i.e. the zone with the shortest active growing seasons. The sensitivity of NPP estimates to climate also varied seasonally. At the beginning and end of the active growing season in the boreal zone, monthly NPP estimates of all models were the most sensitive to temperature. In the tropics, sensitivities to climate varied widely among and within models. Seasonal changes in water balance and the structure of the vegetation canopy, as reflected by seasonal changes in NDVI, modified the sensitivity of NPP to climate in both boreal and tropical zones. Because these are both highly productive regions sensitive to climate change, continued investigations and better validation of models are necessary before we can fully understand and predict changes in ecosystem structure and function under various climatic conditions.


The proliferation of smart devices and wireless interfaces has enabled the field of Mobile Ad-hoc Networks (MANETs) to flourish as the technology becomes realistically deployable. MANETs are created by a group of autonomous nodes that communicate with each other by establishing a multihop radio network and maintain connectivity in an infrastructureless and decentralised manner. Thus it becomes more important to examine how applications such as those used on the Internet can be deployed on top of such MANETs.
Peer-to-peer (P2P) networks can be defined as decentralised application-layer overlay networks where traffic flows on top of the physical network such as the Internet. Such networks are formed dynamically on-the-fly and rely on no fixed infrastructure such as servers. On the Internet a great number of applications have exploited the properties of P2P networks, thus they have been used to provide services such as distributed data storage systems, distributed instant messaging systems, publish/subscribe systems, distributed name services Voice over IP (VolP) services and many more.
This thesis proposes three novel P2P protocols. Reliable Overlay Based Utilisation of Services and Topology (ROBUST), which minimises end-to-end lookup delay while increasing lookup success rate compared with current state-of-the-art and is usable on any MANET routing protocol. It achieves this by using a hierarchal clustered topology where peers are clustered together with other peers in close proximity in order to reduce P2P routing hops and create a more efficient network.
Proactive MANET DHT (PMDHT), which combines proactive MANET routing and DHT functionality in order to minimise end-to-end lookup delay while increasing lookup success rate compared with current state-of-the-art. This is achieved by heavily integrating the P2P functionality - by piggy-backing P2P messages on to routing messages - at the network layer using the proactive MANET routing protocol Optimized Link State Routing version 2 (OLSRv2). Using this method the P2P overlay topology exactly matches that of the underlying network, while all peers are fully aware of the state of that topology. This means the P2P lookups can be completed in one logical step.
Reactive MANET P2P Overlay (RMP2P), which combines reactive MANET routing and DHT functionality in order to minimise end-to-end lookup delay while increasing lookup success rate compared with current state-of-the-art. in RMP2P we combine P2P lookup functionality with the MANET routing protocol Ad-hoc On-demand Distance Vec¬tor version 2 (AODVv2). In this case we piggy-back P2P lookups on to the routing request messages if possible, decreasing overhead and latency in the network.
We evaluate the performance of the proposed novel architectures by developing a custom made packet level simulator using ns-2 (network simulator-2), the results show that these architectures out perform the current state-of-the-art P2P overlays in specific scenarios. The ROBUST protocol is suited to scenarios where the underlying routing protocol cannot be modified. The PMDHT protocol performs best overall in networks which require more scalability. The RMP2P protocol performs best in networks with high mobility. We end this thesis with our conclusions and avenues for future work in the field of P2P networks for MANETs.