Abstract The application of rigorous criteria for identifying fluvial style from sedimentary deposits is crucial if environmental reconstructions from stratigraphy are to be reliable. From modern observations, it appears that anabranching (anastomosing) rivers can be divided into separate humid and dryland classes. Each class has dissimilar characteristics to the other, necessitating different criteria for their recognition in the rock record. The criteria being used by sedimentologists to recognize deposits of anabranching rivers are derived solely from modern examples in humid regions, heavily biased to a few specific cases in Canada. These criteria are dominated by the concept of ribbon sandstone bodies encased in fine-grained floodplain sediment, with an overall low sand-to-mud ratio in the succession. There has been a general failure to appreciate that dryland anabranching rivers have characteristics significantly different from these and almost certainly leave a sedimentary record quite dissimilar to that previously expected. Avulsion or obtrusion (the gradual formation of an alternative channel) are the characteristic dynamic of anabranching rivers, forming and maintaining coexisting multiple anabranch channels. Avulsion or obtrusion require stream banks to have a high resistance to erosion, usually achieved by cohesive bank sediments or the reinforcement of banks by vegetative root mats. In some drylands, riparian vegetation can be sparse and bank resistance may depend in large part on a high clay content. Here, channel fills are mud dominated and floodplains have a uniform fine-grained character which is usually structureless because of intense pedoturbation and some bioturbation. The evidence from such present-day dryland anabranching rivers suggests that their sedimentary record is likely to be one of laterally extensive mud-rich beds with weak or enigmatic fluvial indicators. Elsewhere, dryland anabranching systems are sand-dominated, their banks reinforced with riparian gallery forests sustained by infrequent flow and a shallow water table. Though the stratigraphy of these has barely been investigated, they are clearly different from humid-region anabranching systems, for their channels and islands are predominantly sandy. Anabranching rivers with prominent channel sandbodies separated by muddy islands have never been described from contemporary drylands. The interpretation of a dryland origin for ancient stratigraphic successions with this form is made, therefore, without evidence that they can actually exist. In the light of this, such interpretations should be reevaluated.


Microwave heating reduces the preparation time and improves the adsorption quality of activated carbon. In this study, activated carbon was prepared by impregnation of palm kernel fiber with phosphoric acid followed by microwave activation. Three different types of activated carbon were prepared, having high surface areas of 872 m2 g-1, 1256 m2 g-1, and 952 m2 g-1 and pore volumes of 0.598 cc g-1, 1.010 cc g-1, and 0.778 cc g-1, respectively. The combined effects of the different process parameters, such as the initial adsorbate concentration, pH, and temperature, on adsorption efficiency were explored with the help of Box-Behnken design for response surface methodology (RSM). The adsorption rate could be expressed by a polynomial equation as the function of the independent variables. The hexavalent chromium adsorption rate was found to be 19.1 mg g-1 at the optimized conditions of the process parameters, i.e., initial concentration of 60 mg L-1, pH of 3, and operating temperature of 50 oC. Adsorption of Cr(VI) by the prepared activated carbon was spontaneous and followed second-order kinetics. The adsorption mechanism can be described by the Freundlich Isotherm model. The prepared activated carbon has demonstrated comparable performance to other available activated carbons for the adsorption of Cr(VI).


This study examines the time complexities of the unbalanced optimal transport problems from an algorithmic perspective for the first time. We reveal which problems in unbalanced optimal transport can/cannot be solved efficiently. Specifically, we prove that the Kantrovich Rubinstein distance and optimal partial transport in Euclidean metric cannot be computed in strongly subquadratic time under the strong exponential time hypothesis. Then, we propose an algorithm that solves a more general unbalanced optimal transport problem exactly in quasi-linear time on a tree metric. The proposed algorithm processes a tree with one million nodes in less than one second. Our analysis forms a foundation for the theoretical study of unbalanced optimal transport algorithms and opens the door to the applications of unbalanced optimal transport to million-scale datasets.


A self-pulsating laser diode under external drive shows the nonlinear dynamical effects of two competing frequencies. One can establish a route to chaos by increasing the modulation current. However, when the modulation frequency is varied, the chaotic state is suddenly destroyed at the harmonic frequencies of the self-pulsating frequency. This approach therefore offers a simple chaotic light source for possible optical chaotic communication.


We present a novel hybrid modelling framework that takes into account two aspects which have been largely neglected in previous models of spatial evolutionary games: random motion and chemotaxis. A stochastic individual-based model is used to describe the player dynamics, whereas the evolution of the chemoattractant is governed by a reaction-diffusion equation. The two models are coupled by deriving individual movement rules via the discretisation of a taxis-diffusion equation which describes the evolution of the local number of players. In this framework, individuals occupying the same position can engage in a two-player game, and are awarded a payoff, in terms of reproductive fitness, according to their strategy. As an example, we let individuals play the Hawk-Dove game. Numerical simulations illustrate how random motion and chemotactic response can bring about self-generated dynamical patterns that create favourable conditions for the coexistence of hawks and doves in situations in which the two strategies cannot coexist otherwise. In this sense, our work offers a new perspective of research on spatial evolutionary games, and provides a general formalism to study the dynamics of spatially-structured populations in biological and social contexts where individual motion is likely to affect natural selection of behavioural traits.


Lonely Planet: The world's leading travel guide publisher Shopping in Vietnam could give you conical hats, lacquerware bowls and flag T-shirts. All are fine - you can compare them with everyone else's. Or really get talking and bring home souvenirs that no one can match. Open the Vietnamese phrasebook and make this trip your own. * Comprehensive food section * Tips on cultural etiquette * Useful phrases for finding accommodations, dealing with health emergencies and hitting the town * Easy-to-use pronunciation guide * Two way dictionary and sentence builder Coverage includes: Basics, Practical, Social, Food and Safe travel. Authors: Written and researched by Lonely Planet and Ben Handicott. About Lonely Planet: Started in 1973, Lonely Planet has become the world's leading travel guide publisher with guidebooks to every destination on the planet, as well as an award-winning website, a suite of mobile and digital travel products, and a dedicated traveller community. Lonely Planet's mission is to enable curious travellers to experience the world and to truly get to the heart of the places they find themselves in. TripAdvisor Travelers' Choice Awards 2012 and 2013 winner in Favorite Travel Guide category 'Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other.' - New York Times 'Lonely Planet. It's on everyone's bookshelves; it's in every traveller's hands. It's on mobile phones. It's on the Internet. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.' - Fairfax Media (Australia)


Reactive halogens are responsible for boundary- layer ozone depletion and mercury deposition in Polar Re- gions during springtime. To investigate the source of reac- tive halogens in the air arriving at Barrow, Alaska, we mea- sured BrO, an indicator of reactive halogen chemistry, and correlated its abundance with airmass histories derived from meteorological back trajectories and remotely sensed sea ice properties. The BrO abundance is found to be positively correlated to first-year sea-ice contact ( R 2 =0.55), and es- sentially uncorrelated with potential frost flower (PFF) con- tact (R 2 =0.04). Assuming that PFF accurately predicts frost flowers, these data indicate that snow and ice contaminated with sea salts on first-year sea ice is a more probable bromine source than are frost flowers, for airmasses impacting Bar- row, Alaska. Climate-driven changes in Arctic sea ice are likely to alter frost flower and first year sea ice prevalence. An accurate understanding of how these sea ice changes would affect the halogen chemistry of the overlying atmo- sphere depends upon understanding the relative roles of frost flowers and saline snow and ice surfaces as reactive bromine sources.


BACKGROUND
Clomifene citrate (CC) is accepted as the first-line method for ovulation induction (OI) in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) associated with infertility owing to anovulation. Low-dose FSH has been reserved for women failing to conceive with CC. In this RCT, we tested the hypothesis that pregnancy rate (PR) and live birth rates (LBR) are higher after OI with low-dose FSH than with CC as first-line treatment.

METHODS
Infertile women (<40 years old) with PCOS-related anovulation, without prior OI treatment, attending 10 centres in Europe/South America were randomized to OI with either CC (50-150 mg/day for 5 days) or FSH (starting dose 50 IU) for up to three treatment cycles. The primary outcome was clinical PR.

RESULTS
Patients (n = 302) were randomized to OI with FSH (n = 132 women; 288 cycles) or CC (n = 123; 310 cycles). Per protocol analysis revealed that reproductive outcome was superior after OI with FSH than with CC with respect to PR per first cycle [30 versus 14.6%, respectively, 95% confidence interval (CI) 5.3-25.8, P = 0.003], PR per woman, (58 versus 44% of women, 95% CI 1.5-25.8, P = 0.03), LBR per woman (52 versus 39%, 95% CI 0.4-24.6, P = 0.04), cumulative PR (52.1 versus 41.2%, P = 0.021) and cumulative LBR (47.4 versus 36.9%, P = 0.031), within three cycles of OI.

CONCLUSIONS
Pregnancies and live births are achieved more effectively and faster after OI with low-dose FSH than with CC. This result has to be balanced by convenience and cost in favour of CC. FSH may be an appropriate first-line treatment for some women with PCOS and anovulatory infertility, particularly older patients.


The authors present an example of leaching by meteoric water in the Jurassic Magnus Sandstone Member of the northern North Sea. The interpretation is based on information from several independent techniques, including downhole natural gamma-ray spectrometry, detailed petrographic analysis, and cross-sectional time-slice reconstructions from seismic data. The initial lines of evidence that prompted further investigation into freshwater involvement in the Magnus Sandstone Member were brackish formation-water compositions and a potassium depletion shown by the gamma-ray spectrometry log, in sandstone beneath the unconformity at the base of the Cretaceous section. Subsequent detailed petrographic study confirmed that the potassium depletion had been brought about by potassium feldspar dissolution, resulting in precipitation of kaolinite and creation of secondary porosity, the latter also revealed by conventional core-analysis porosity and permeability measurements. Finally, cross-sectional time-slice reconstructions from a regional seismic line across the Magnus oilfield strongly suggested subaerial exposure of the Magnus Sandstone Member in Early Cretaceous time and consequent freshwater leaching of the Magnus Sandstone Member and generation of the unconformity at the base of the Cretaceous. The combination of several lines of evidence from the Magnus field supports the process of subaerial exposure and freshwater leaching to create secondary porosity in sandstones.


Introduction Women's intercollegiate athletics was built on the foundation of physical education programs for female students. Athletics for women was governed and administered by female physical education teachers and coaches. In the beginning, women's athletics programs were operated with an educational philosophy emphasizing participation over competition. Demand began to rise for more competitive women's athletics and a governing agency to ensure appropriate administration. This demand resulted in the creation of the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW). The AIAW began forming in the late 1960s, became fully functional in 1971, and was in control of women's athletics by the summer of 1972 (Hult, 1994; Hult in Hult & Trekell, 1991). The educational focus of the AIAW is well documented. The Association's leadership was intent on maintaining a "student-centered, education-oriented model" (Hult in Hult & Trekell, 1991). The first significant attack on this unique model of intercollegiate athletics came with the Kellmeyer case in 1973. This class action lawsuit was filed by a group of tennis players and their coaches challenging the AIAW's ban on offering athletic scholarships. The leadership within the AIAW reluctantly admitted defeat and permitted member institutions to provide athletic scholarships to female student-athletes. The Kellmeyer case is recognized as one of the Association's first steps in moving away from its original focus on education and moving toward the more commercialized model of intercollegiate athletics used by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) (Hult in Hult & Trekell, 1991; Wu, 1999, 2000). Title IX of the Education Amendments, which passed in 1972 and banned discrimination at educational institutions that received federal funds, led to reforms that made athletic opportunities for male and female students more equitable. This new legislation brought explosive growth in participation by female athletes (Hult, 1994). Title IX introduced a new standard in that opportunities for female athletes were now being compared to opportunities for male athletes in terms of the quantity and quality of the opportunities. Women sought equitable participation opportunities as well as equitable support in scholarships, benefits, and services. As opportunities within women's sports continued to increase, the governing body for men's athletics, the NCAA, saw both an opportunity and a threat. An opportunity in that the NCAA anticipated that, with the implementation of Title IX, women's athletics was going to be significantly funded, and thus, discussion began within the NCAA to include women within the organization (Hult in Hult & Trekell, 2001). A threat in that the NCAA was concerned that the resources needed to support women's programs would be redirected from the men's programs. In an attempt to manage both situations, the NCAA made plans to offer championships for women and to eventually take over the AIAW. In 1981, women's basketball championships were offered for women by the AIAW, the NAIA, and the NCAA (Trekell & Hult, 1991). The NCAA takeover of the AIAW in 1982 eventually resulted in the consolidation of men's and women's intercollegiate athletic programs, which left many female administrators and coaches of women's programs without jobs or in secondary positions (Hult, 1994). The most devastating aspect of the demise of the AIAW was that within the AIAW, women controlled 90 percent of the programs. Within the NCAA membership, women were part of an organization where 95 percent of the voting representatives were male and knew little if anything about the philosophies of the AIAW (Grant, 1989). According to Uhlir (1987) "by 1979-1980, over 80 percent of all collegiate athletic administrations were merged, and 90 percent of the merged administrations had men at the helm. Frequently, the woman displaced was more qualified--with more experience, a higher degree, academic rank, and tenure. …


We introduce a method for learning to generate the surface of 3D shapes. Our approach represents a 3D shape as a collection of parametric surface elements and, in contrast to methods generating voxel grids or point clouds, naturally infers a surface representation of the shape. Beyond its novelty, our new shape generation framework, AtlasNet, comes with significant advantages, such as improved precision and generalization capabilities, and the possibility to generate a shape of arbitrary resolution without memory issues. We demonstrate these benefits and compare to strong baselines on the ShapeNet benchmark for two applications: (i) autoencoding shapes, and (ii) single-view reconstruction from a still image. We also provide results showing its potential for other applications, such as morphing, parametrization, super-resolution, matching, and co-segmentation.


From 2010 to 2013 the Charité Human Remains Project researched the provenance of the remains of y-seven men and women from the then colony of German South West Africa. They were collected during German colonial rule, especially but not only during the colonial war 1904–8. The remains were identi ed in anthropological collections of academic institutions in Berlin. The article describes the history of these collections, the aims, methods and interdisciplinary format of provenance research as well as its results and nally the restitutions of the remains to Namibia in 2011 and 2014.


Individuals have to make many decisions throughout the lifespan. This is very likely to yield some decision
outcomes that will leave a decision-maker with the feeling of regret, which can ultimately affect an individual's
well-being. The present study demonstrated the psychometric properties of a newly developed scale, the Life
Regrets Scale. One hundred and nineteen mature adults between the ages of 39 and 76 completed the Life Regrets
Scale. To check the validity of the life regrets scale, participants completed scales assessing the following
constructs: life satisfaction, decision outcomes, and positive and negative affect. In addition, participants
completed scales assessing dispositional factors including the big 5 personality factors and emotion regulation
strategies. It was positively correlated with regret tendency and negative affect and negatively correlated with life
satisfaction, positive affect, and decision outcomes. Dispositional variables, including personality factors,
emotion regulation strategies, and affect, accounted for a significant amount of variance in predicting life
satisfaction. However, life regrets uniquely accounted for variance in life satisfaction more so than dispositional
factors. Results suggest that life regrets uniquely contributes to an individual's well-being. The life regrets scale
can be a useful tool for quickly assessing the intensity of life regrets that may contribute to an individual's life
satisfaction.


Using the Malaysian Household Expenditure Survey 2004/2005 data, this study investigated Malaysian consumers' preference for beef quantity, quality, and lean beef. Demand and price models that incorporated consumer socio-economic variables were estimated via two-stage least squares (2SLS). This study showed that Malaysian consumers tend to demand for more quantity rather than quality of beef products. Malaysian consumers are also more responsive to price changes rather than fat reduction in beef products. It is more profitable for beef market players to increase their production as Malaysian consumers are expected to consume increasing amounts of beef products.


Strategies of Small Business Owners to Acquire Federal Government Contracts by Delores A. Tyms MA, Webster University, 2000 BA, St Leo University, 1998 Doctoral Study Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Business Administration Walden University April 2017 Abstract Small business owners are not acquiring U.S. federal government contracts at the government established target rate. The government's small business procurement goals remain unmet, which represents an underutilized source of revenues for many small business owners. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies of 3 small business owners operating in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area to acquire federal government contracts to increase profitability. The thematic findings were in the context of the resource-based view as the conceptual framework. The participants answered questions in semistructured interviews and provided organizational documents for review. Triangulation of multiple data sources and the constant comparative data analysis method led to 3 major themes: planning to target both government and commercial civilian customers through a top-down approach; developing core competencies including backgrounds and experiences and staffing choices to improve chances of success in obtaining government contracts; and knowing the company's audience, assets, and niche, which encompassed essential knowledge stemming from education and training oriented toward successful government contract work. Findings included the importance of planning before embarking on a process to bid forSmall business owners are not acquiring U.S. federal government contracts at the government established target rate. The government's small business procurement goals remain unmet, which represents an underutilized source of revenues for many small business owners. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies of 3 small business owners operating in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area to acquire federal government contracts to increase profitability. The thematic findings were in the context of the resource-based view as the conceptual framework. The participants answered questions in semistructured interviews and provided organizational documents for review. Triangulation of multiple data sources and the constant comparative data analysis method led to 3 major themes: planning to target both government and commercial civilian customers through a top-down approach; developing core competencies including backgrounds and experiences and staffing choices to improve chances of success in obtaining government contracts; and knowing the company's audience, assets, and niche, which encompassed essential knowledge stemming from education and training oriented toward successful government contract work. Findings included the importance of planning before embarking on a process to bid for government contracts. Application of the findings may lead to a social change of higher small business revenues and lower unemployment, support for innovation, stimulation of the economy, and increased tax revenues to sustain government programs that can benefit


Abstract Ridesharing is revolutionizing the transportation industry in many countries. Yet, the state of the art is based on heavily centralized services and platforms, where the service providers have full possession of the users' location data. Recently, researchers have started addressing the challenge of enabling privacy-preserving ridesharing. The initial proposals, however, have shortcomings, as some rely on a central party, some incur high performance penalties, and most do not consider time preferences for ridesharing. TOPPool encompasses ridesharing based on the proximity of end-points of a ride as well as partial itinerary overlaps. To achieve the latter, we propose a simple yet powerful reduction to a private set intersection on trips represented as sets of consecutive road segments. We show that TOPPool includes time preferences while preserving privacy and without relying on a third party. We evaluate our approach on real-world data from the New York's Taxi & Limousine Commission. Our experiments demonstrate that TOPPool is superior in performance over the prior work: our intersection-based itinerary matching runs in less than 0.3 seconds for reasonable trip length, in contrast, on the same set of trips prior work takes up to 10 hours.


Genesis of the Problem: Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a histological diagnosis associated with unregulated proliferation of connective tissue, smooth muscle and glandular epithelium.  BPH may compress the urethra and result in bladder outlet obstruction (BOO). BPH and BOO have a significant impact on the health of older men and health-care costs.  Voiding symptoms have often been attributed to the physical presence of BOO [1, 2].The homoeopathic literature states that a number of constitutional and organopathic medicines are effective in treating patients suffering from BPH. However, the systematic studies on it are too scanty as evidences and the claims are not well-documented [1, 2]. So many arguments are done on this issue of homeopathic medicines [3]. Hence, the objective of the present study was undertaken to evaluate the effects of either Constitutional medicines (CM) or Organopathic medicines (OM) prescribed alone or Constitutional medicines followed by Organopathic medicines (BCOM) to the patients suffering from BPH.

Materials and Methods: The study was conducted at the Dr. A.C. Homoeopathic Medical College & Hospital, Bhubaneswar, India from April 2005 toApril 2008 with financial support of Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy, Govt. of India. Patients were diagnosed as suffering from BPH on the basis of obstructive symptoms, digital rectal characteristics, ultrasonography (for prostate size and residual urine volume, RUV) and uroflowmetry (UFM). All total 180 patients (60 per group) completed treatment and were included in final analysis. Patients were prescribed with constitutional medicines such as Thuja, Conium, Sulph, Lycopodium, Iodium, Pulsatilla, Merc. sol., Bar. carb., Nat.mur., Lyssin, Tuberculinum, Calc. carb. Lachesis, Gelsemium, Lyssin, Tuberculinum, Carcinosin and Staphysagria or organopathic medicines such as Sabal ser., Hydrangea., Chimaphilla., Solidago, Senecio., Triticum., Ferr. pic. and Pic. acid as per their symptoms. Outcome assessment was done on the basis of IPSS, USG and UFM findings, however, clinical images of only ultrasound for RUV and UFM for urine flow rate are presented in the current article.
Results and Discussion: In the representative figures of thee patients remarkable improvement were observed in three groups with homeopathic medicines. Figure A, C and E, represent UFM of the patients in OM, CM and BCOM group, respectively before treatment. Figure B, D and F, represent UFM of the above corresponding patients in OM, CM and BCOM group, respectively after treatment. Similarly, Figure A', C' and E', represent UFM of the patients in OM, CM and BCOM group, respectively before treatment. Figure B', D' and F', represent UFM of the above corresponding patients in OM, CM and BCOM group, respectively, after treatment. In all cases, although substantial increase in flow rate and decrease in RUV were observed, the results were more significant in BCOM group in comparison to the other two groups. Therefore, both OM and CM are advised to treat the patients with BPH cases rather than with only OM or CM.


When we think of "blight," we tend to think of Baltimore, Detroit, or any number of Rustbelt cities and urban centers with comparable issues. But blight affects rural areas as well, and surprisingly little attention has been devoted to the problem of rural blight. This Article argues that a framework for addressing rural blight should be built from the ground up, and that designing such a framework tailored specifically to rural needs will be more effective than hoping that urban tools turn out to be adequate in rural areas. This analysis draws upon the fields of rural development and sociology, as well as the West Virginia Legal Education to Address Abandoned and Neglected Properties program (WV LEAP) at West Virginia University College of Law's Land Use and Sustainable Development Law Clinic, a year-long initiative designed to equip communities in the largely rural state of West Virginia to better handle neglected properties. In Part I, the Article discusses common characteristics of rural communities that may hamper their capacity to address blight, and analyzes why some legal tools typically used in an urban context may be inappropriate or unrealistic in rural contexts. Part II provides background on the WV LEAP program and discusses what lessons the program revealed as to how rural communities in West Virginia are frequently impeded in efforts to tackle blight, and how some of those communities manage to overcome those impediments effectively. Part III recommends eight elements as components of a comprehensive rural blight-redemption strategy.


Non-tuberculosis Mycobacterium spp (NTM) pulmonary disease is increasing in incidence and is a common cause of undiagnosed lung disease in older patients. NTM pulmonary disease occurring in patients without preexisting lung disease was only recently described by Prince in 1988. In 1992, Reich and Johnson presented a case series of six women describing a predilection of Mycobacterium spp pulmonary disease for the middle lobe, and its homolog, the lingula, in elderly women without preexisting pulmonary disease. Later high resolution computed tomography studies (HRCT) showed that the characteristic image findings in these cases were nodules and bronchiectasis most commonly occurring in the middle lobe and lingula. This subtype of disease is now usually referred to as nodular bronchiectasis, and some researchers have doubted whether there really is a predilection for the middle lobe. Although Reich and Johnson hypothesized that cough suppression in "polite" women was the mechanism of disease, there are no large studies which support this idea. Mutations in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane receptor, unique skeletal phenotypes, and impaired function of the modulators of granuloma formation are the most common characteristics found in patients with nodular bronchiectasis. These patients usually respond well to clarithromycin-based multidrug regimens, but surgery is sometimes required to resect the infected regions of the lung.


Although available evidence suggests that the emotional valence and recollective properties of autobiographical memories (AMs) may be influenced by personality- and sex-related differences, overall these relationships remain poorly understood. The present study investigated these issues by comparing the effect of general personality traits (extraversion and neuroticism) and specific traits linked to emotion regulation (ER) strategies (reappraisal and suppression) on the retrieval of emotional AMs and on the associated postretrieval emotional states, in men and women. First, extraversion predicted recollection of positive AMs in both men and women, whereas neuroticism predicted the proportion of negative AMs in men and the frequency of rehearsing negative AMs in women. Second, reappraisal predicted positive AMs in men, and suppression predicted negative AMs in women. Third, while reliving of positive memories had an overall indirect effect on postretrieval positive mood through extraversion, reliving of negative AMs had a direct effect on postretrieval negative mood, which was linked to inefficient engagement of suppression in women. Our findings suggest that personality traits associated with positive affect predict recollection of positive AMs and maintenance of a positive mood, whereas personality traits associated with negative affect, along with differential engagement of habitual ER strategies in men and women, predict sex-related differences in the recollection and experiencing of negative AMs. These findings provide insight into the factors that influence affective biases in reliving AMs, and into their possible link to sex-related differences in the susceptibility to affective disorders.


Films are not only visual, they are visceral; they allow an audience to feel the unfolding drama, and psychologically connect with the characters. Even for the screenwriter, the experience of writing a film can be deeply moving, where a range of character emotions are assimilated and then poured back into the narrative. The most important thing to remember, for both the audience and the screenwriter, is this: something can only be felt outside of the text if enough work has been done within the text. As such, this PhD explores the idea that the narrative journey undertaken by a protagonist is also one that the audience is invited to take. More specifically, a protagonist undertakes a journey that is comprised of two individual yet interwoven
threads, the physical journey and the emotional journey, and it is the complete narrative experience generated by the two that invites an audience to feel.
The screenplay for this PhD explores the idea of the physical and emotional journey by offering a narrative that follows one man's struggle to form a gay football
team. Although he appears to be following a physical path to achieve this physical want, what becomes clear is that he is also following an emotional path to embrace his
emotional need. The critical commentary for this PhD explores the fabric, form and
function of a protagonist's physical and emotional journey, and the relationship that
they share. Using the specific model of the Hero's Journey, the critical commentary also offers a framework that aims to define and map-out the physical and emotional journey, which can then be used as a basis for writing or deconstructing a screenplay.
Like a protagonist, this PhD takes a journey; a journey to improve both a skill in and an understanding of screenwriting. It enhances creative and critical awareness of screenwriting: a creative artefact with a critical commentary; a creative artefact informed by critical reading; a critical commentary informed by creative writing.


Three hybrid sugarbeet varieties adapted to early plantings have been released for use by sugarbeet growers. One variety, designated US H6, is multigerm; and two varieties, designated US H7 and US H8, are monogerm. All three varieties were developed at the USDAAIisaI Branch, Agricultural Research Service, Salinas, in cooperation with the Beet Sugar Development Foundation and the University of California. The new varieties have been thoroughly field tested by the U. S. Department of Agriculture and the California sugar companies in the major sugarbeet producing areas of the State. In these tests the hybrid varieties produced from 10 to 20% more sugar per acre than open-pollinated varieties such as US 75, a variety used extensively in California five to ten years ago. The root yield and sucrose percentage of the three hybrid varieties are similar. The growers' choice of a variety would be determined by his requirements for curly-top and bolting resistance, and by his need for a monogerm variety suited to mechanical thinning.


The aim of the present study was to describe the plasma pharmacokinetic profile and skin concentrations of lincomycin after intravenous administration of a 15% solution and oral administration of 300 mg tablets at a dosing rate of 15 mg/kg to cats. Susceptibility of staphylococci (n = 31) and streptococci (n = 23) strains isolated from clinical cases was also determined. Lincomycin plasma and skin concentrations were determined by microbiological assay using Kocuria rhizophila ATCC 9341 as test microorganism. Susceptibility was established by the antimicrobial disc diffusion test. Individual lincomycin plasma concentration-time curves were analysed by a non-compartmental approach. After intravenous administration, volume of distribution, body clearance and elimination half-life were 0.97 L/kg ± 0.15 L/kg, 0.17 L/kg ± 0.06 L/h.kg and 4.20 h ± 1.12 h, respectively. After oral administration, peak plasma concentration, time of maximum plasma concentration and bioavailability were 22.52 µg/mL ± 10.97 µg/mL, 0.80 h ± 0.11 h and 81.78% ± 24.05%, respectively. Two hours after lincomycin administration, skin concentrations were 17.26 µg/mL ± 1.32 µg/mL (intravenous) and 16.58 µg/mL ± 0.90 µg/mL (oral). The corresponding skin: plasma ratios were 2.08 ± 0.47 (intravenous) and 1.84 ± 0.97 (oral). The majority of staphylococci and streptococci tested in this study were susceptible to lincosamides (87.09% and 69.56%, respectively). In conclusion, lincomycin administered orally at the assayed dose showed a good pharmacokinetic profile, with a long elimination half-life and effective skin concentration. Therefore, it could be a good first option for treating skin infections in cats.


Moment-rotation and strength characteristics of beam-to-column bolted connections of fiber reinforced plastic (FRP) pultruded wide-flange structural shapes are discussed. Results of experimental tests on full-size connections are presented. Moment-rotation data are given and elastic connection stiffness coefficients are tabulated. Nonlinear moment-rotation characteristics and failure of a double web, top and seat angle connection are discussed in detail. Test results for a redesigned stiffened connection of the double web, top and seat angle type are presented and compared with the unstiffened connection.


Background: The use of mobile technologies for data capture and transmission has the potential to streamline clinical trials, but researchers lack methods for collecting, processing, and interpreting data from these tools. Objectives: To assess the performance of a technical platform for collecting and transmitting data from six mobile technologies in the clinic and at home, to apply methods for comparing them to clinical standard devices, and to measure their usability, including how willing subjects were to use them on a regular basis. Methods: In part 1 of the study, conducted over 3 weeks in the clinic, we tested two device pairs (mobile vs. clinical standard blood pressure monitor and mobile vs. clinical standard spirometer) on 25 healthy volunteers. In part 2 of the study, conducted over 3 days both in the clinic and at home, we tested the same two device pairs as in part 1, plus four additional pairs (mobile vs. clinical standard pulse oximeter, glucose meter, weight scale, and activity monitor), on 22 healthy volunteers. Results: Data collection reliability was 98.1% in part 1 of the study and 95.8% in part 2 (the percentages exclude the wearable activity monitor, which collects data continuously). In part 1, 20 of 1,049 overall expected measurements were missing (1.9%), and in part 2, 45 of 1,083 were missing (4.2%). The most common reason for missing data was a single malfunctioning spirometer (13 of 20 total missed readings) in part 1, and that the subject did not take the measurement (22 of 45 total missed readings) in part 2. Also in part 2, a higher proportion of at-home measurements than in-clinic readings were missing (12.6 vs. 2.7%). The data from this experimental study were unable to establish repeatability or agreement for every mobile technology; only the pulse oximeter demonstrated repeatability, and only the weight scale demonstrated agreement with the clinical standard device. Most mobile technologies received high "willingness to use" ratings from the patients on the questionnaires. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that the wireless data transmission and processing platform was dependable. It also identified three critical areas of study for advancing the use of mobile technologies in clinical research: (1) if a mobile technology captures more than one type of endpoint (such as blood pressure and pulse), repeatability and agreement may need to be established for each endpoint to be included in a clinical trial; (2) researchers need to develop criteria for excluding invalid device readings (to be identified by algorithms in real time) for the population studied using ranges based on accumulated subject data and established norms; and (3) careful examination of a mobile technology's performance (reliability, repeatability, and agreement with accepted reference devices) during pilot testing is essential, even for medical devices approved by regulators.


This paper describes a fast technique for registering image pairs from visible and infrared spectra that differ by translation, small rotations, and small changes of scale. The main result of this paper is a nonlinear prefiltering and thresholding technique that substantially enhances the cross-spectral correlation, provided that the image pairs have many features in common. We show the use of the technique in conjunction with a Fourier-based normalized correlation algorithm to perform fast cross-spectral registrations. In the absence of such prefiltering, local reversals of contrast from image to image tend, to impair the quality of correlation-based registrations. The algorithm computes the translation that maximizes the overall normalized correlation of the filtered images without examining individual image features. Small rotations and scale changes can be recovered by computing the translation displacement in several different regions of the image pairs. In an experiment on a moderate-sized database, the algorithm produced a correct registration rate of over 90% at a false positive rate of less than 10%. For a particularly difficult subset of images in the database, the correct registration rate fell to approximately 85% at a false positive rate of less than 10%. This retrieval quality is comparable to that of a mutual-information-based algorithm.


Various techniques have been designed to maximize the use of ground penetrating radar (GPR) as an exploration tool. Improvements in signal processing are expected to further facilitate the accuracy of parameters derived from using GPR in certain geologic environments. Common-offset GPR data were collected at the Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) in Beaufort, South Carolina, and dielectric constants were calculated following the application of the empirical mode decomposition (EMD) for dewowing GPR traces. Conventional signal processing is applied to the GPR traces to provide hydrogeophysical parameter estimates such as volumetric water content, porosity, and hydraulic conductivity. The results are validated using a coincident vertical radar profile, existing hydraulic data from direct measurements, and comparing EMD derived parameters with those non-EMD derived. The results of the comparison between the EMD and non-EMD methods show improved hydrogeophysical estimations from the EMD processed data. Dielectric constant (k) values from the non-EMD method are outside the range of the values for all geologic materials (k#40). The subsequent parameter estimates using dielectric constants derived from non-EMD processed data yield erroneous results therefore justifying the use of EMD as a method in dewowing GPR data for quantitative analyses.


For accurate failure assessment, a second parameter like T-stress describing the constraint is needed in addition to the single parameter J-integral. In this work, selecting the structures of surface-cracked plate and pipe, we perform line-spring finite element modeling, and accompanying elastic-plastic finite element analyses. We then present a framework, which includes the constraint effects in the R6 FAD approach for failure assessment of cracked-structures.


The analysis of socioeconomic metabolism has largely been dominated by quantification of material flows on a mass basis. This neglects the energetic dimensions of the urban metabolism and makes analysis that integrates material and energy flows difficult. The present research applies Odum's emergy concept to integrate energy and material flows for the study of the socioeconomic metabolism of the Taipei area. We also take into consideration the urban sprawl in the Taipei area to study its relationship to the change of socioeconomic metabolism. We interpret SPOT satellite images from 1992 and 2002 to provide a deeper understanding of the whole urban system; results show that Taipei's urban areas increased in size during the past decades. Emergy‐based indicators show decreasing empower densities (total emergy use per area) of undeveloped and agricultural areas, whereas the empower density of urban areas has increased, which signals a convergence of resource flows toward urban areas. Such an increase of empower density is mainly due to fossil fuel use and translates into increased environmental loading and decreased sustainability. An analysis of the relationship between urbanization and socioeconomic metabolism indicates that changes in land use affect the characteristics of socioeconomic metabolism in Taipei. The effects of urban sprawl on Taipei's urban sustainability are also discussed.


ABSTRACT Concrete is the most widely used construction material in contemporary construction technology. In particular, it holds an important place in the building industry in the world. Since concrete is a nonhomogeneous material, determining the strength of concrete accurately is quite difficult. In this respect, to check the mechanical properties of concrete in-situ, nondestructive test (NDT) methods can be used. They are useful as they do not damage concrete; however, these test results are sometimes deceptive. To reduce these deceptive results, destructive test methods were proposed to increase the accuracy of nondestructive methods. The objective of this study is to determine the strength of concrete with different characteristic strengths using destructive and NDT methods, and to establish new relationships between the compressive strength of concrete and Schmidt rebound values, and ultrasonic wave velocities. For this purpose, 101 concrete cube samples were prepared. After 7 and 28 days of curing, Schmidt rebound and ultrasonic wave velocity tests were applied as NDT methods. New formulations and graphs were established by carrying out a multiple regression analysis between the ultrasonic wave velocities, Schmidt rebound values, and compressive strengths. Thus, a new combined NDT method was developed with a nomogram. Furthermore, the applicability and accuracy of the formula and graph obtained were investigated by comparing the results of core samples from existing structures. The most important findings obtained from the study are summarized below. The concrete strength can be determined with nondestructive formulas obtained with an accuracy of 85%. High strength concrete cube samples are obtained in-house with 1.6% deviation, and core samples in-situ can be obtained with 7.3% deviation with the newly developed NDT nomogram. These test results show that the newly developed NDT formulas in this study are a very good alternative for determining concrete strength in-situ.


A sequence $x_1,\dots,x_n,\dots$ of discrete-valued observations is generated according to some unknown probabilistic law (measure) $\mu$. After observing each outcome, it is required to give the conditional probabilities of the next observation. The realizable case is when the measure $\mu$ belongs to an arbitrary but known class $C$ of process measures. The non-realizable case is when $\mu$ is completely arbitrary, but the prediction performance is measured with respect to a given set $C$ of process measures. We are interested in the relations between these problems and between their solutions, as well as in characterizing the cases when a solution exists, and finding these solutions. We show that if the quality of prediction is measured by total variation distance, then these problems coincide, while if it is measured by expected average KL divergence, then they are different. For some of the formalizations we also show that when a solution exists, it can be obtained as a Bayes mixture over a countable subset of $C$. As an illustration to the general results obtained, we show that a solution to the non-realizable case of the sequence prediction problem exists for the set of all finite-memory processes, but does not exist for the set of all stationary processes.


Spherical agglomerates of benzoic acid crystals have been successfully prepared by drowning-out crystallization in three solvent partial miscible mixtures. Benzoic acid is dissolved in ethanol, bridging liquid is added and this mixture is fed to the agitated crystallizer containing water as the anti-solvent. Small crystals are produced by crystallization of the substance, and the crystals are agglomerated through the action of the bridging liquid. Different solvents: chloroform, toluene, heptane, pentane, cyclohexane, ethyl acetate and diethyl ether are chosen as bridging liquids, all being low soluble in water and showing good wettability for benzoic acid crystals. The influence of process conditions such as concentration of solute, agitation rate, feeding rate, amount of bridging liquid and temperature on the properties of benzoic acid spherical agglomerates, are investigated. Different sets of experiments were accomplished to track how the properties of the particles gradually change during the normal spherical crystallization experiment. Other sets of experiments were performed to examine the influence of agitation and process time for agglomeration. The product properties such as particle size distribution, morphology and mechanical strength have been evaluated. The mechanical strength of single agglomerates has been determined by compression in a materials testing machine, using a 10 N load cell. Compression characteristics for single agglomerates are compared with the data on bed compression. The present study shows that the bridging liquid has significant influence on the product properties, using diethyl ether and ethyl acetate no agglomerates are formed. Using any of the other five solvents (chloroform, toluene, heptane, pentane, and cyclohexane) spherical agglomerates are formed, as long as a sufficient amount of the bridging liquid is used. Using cyclohexane as bridging liquid at 5°C and toluene at 20°C the particles are larger compared to particles formed at other conditions. The highest particle fracture stress is obtained by using toluene as the bridging liquid at 5 and 20°C. Particle morphology depends on the bridging liquid used and the particles are completely spherical when toluene and pentane are used as bridging liquids. Different process parameters are found to have a significant influence on the physico-mechanical properties of the product. The range of operation for spherical agglomeration is relatively narrow and only at certain conditions spherical agglomerates are produced. With increasing amount of bridging liquid the particle size and strength increase and the morphology improves. Particle size decreases and the fracture force increases with increasing feeding rate, but the morphology remains unchanged. For all the solvents, the particle size and the fracture stress increase with decreasing temperature. For four of the solvents the morphology improves with decreasing temperature. For cyclohexane the result is the opposite, in that the particles are spherical at 20°C and irregular at 5°C. Spherical agglomerates of benzoic acid, both as single particles as well as in the form of a bed, have a high compressibility and low elastic recovery, properties that are favorable for direct tabletting. As the feed solution is supplied to the crystallizer the amount of benzoic acid that can crystallize actually does crystallize fairly rapidly. Hydrodynamics are responsible for bringing particles together for the agglomeration. Experiments reveal that during the gradual addition of the feed to the agitated aqueous solution, both particle size and particle number increases. It is clear from the experiments that not only further addition of feed solution leads to larger product particles but also continued agitation. Along the course of the process the properties of the particles change gradually but substantially. By continued agitation, the particle porosity decreases, density, strength gradually increases and also the spherical shape develops gradually.


This study discusses symbol of prostration concept in the traditional Malay mosque design in Malacca. The literature review covers definition of the keywords, which are sustainable elements, traditional mosque design in Malacca and prostration. The purpose is to identify factors that have significant roles in defining symbol of obedience concept based on Islamic perspectives in the traditional Malay mosque design. In this study, concept of obedience is defined as the acts of prostration to the surrounding environment. The level of prostration is measured based on five Islamic laws as follows; obligation (wajib), desirability (sunat), permissibility (harus), undesirability (makruh) and prohibition (haram). These laws are used as measurable scale in the research analysis to measure the level of prostration in the mosque design. Tranquerah Mosque located in Tranquerah district, Malacca is selected as the case study. This mosque is the oldest mosque in Malacca and second oldest mosque in Malaysia. The analysis shows that the mosque's symbol of prostration concept is influenced by the local climatic context with reference to comfort and health as the primary indicators. The design elements comprise pyramid roof form, tiered roof system, roof overhangs, roof ridge form, building orientation, open veranda and wall openings.


In addition to being used as food, honey has been used as an alternative medicine for thousands of years. Honey has a great potential to be used as a medicine because it is not suitable for micro-organisms, it is very acidic and has a very high sugar content, which causes an osmotic effect that prevents the growth of some micro-organisms, moreover, in some honey, hydrogen peroxide is found, which has a strong antibacterial effect. However, properties and appearances of honey vary greatly according to the floral source in which the bee collects the nectar, so some honey also have a strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity. Recently, there are several studies, mainly in vitro , that prove the effectiveness of honey for various medical purposes due to its components and its antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antiviral, antifungal, and anticancer properties.


We perform numerical simulations of a turbulent channel flow over an hyper-elastic wall. In the fluid region the flow is governed by the incompressible Navier–Stokes (NS) equations, while the solid is a neo-Hookean material satisfying the incompressible Mooney–Rivlin law. The multiphase flow is solved with a one-continuum formulation, using a monolithic velocity field for both the fluid and solid phase, which allows the use of a fully Eulerian formulation. The simulations are carried out at Reynolds bulk $Re=2800$ and examine the effect of different elasticity and viscosity of the deformable wall. We show that the skin friction increases monotonically with the material elastic modulus. The turbulent flow in the channel is affected by the moving wall even at low values of elasticity since non-zero fluctuations of vertical velocity at the interface influence the flow dynamics. The near-wall streaks and the associated quasi-streamwise vortices are strongly reduced near a highly elastic wall while the flow becomes more correlated in the spanwise direction, similarly to what happens for flows over rough and porous walls. As a consequence, the mean velocity profile in wall units is shifted downwards when shown in logarithmic scale, and the slope of the inertial range increases in comparison to that for the flow over a rigid wall. We propose a correlation between the downward shift of the inertial range, its slope and the wall-normal velocity fluctuations at the wall, extending results for the flow over rough walls. We finally show that the interface deformation is determined by the fluid fluctuations when the viscosity of the elastic layer is low, while when this is high the deformation is limited by the solid properties.


Two noteworthy events have recently added momentum to the debate on the law of sexual assault in South Africa. The first is the commencement, on 1 December 007, of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act ('the new Act'). The Act is based on the South African Law Reform Commission's proposals and, once operative, will bring about vast changes to the legal framework regulating substantive as well as procedural aspects of sexual assault in South Africa.


Off-exchange trading today has become defined by its opacity. Indeed, the framing of this symposium on What Happens in the Dark: An Exploration of Dark Pools and High Frequency Trading and its goal of "exam[ing] a portion of the modern market that remains largely outside of the public eye" is much in line with contemporary thinking in policymaking, academic, and industry circles alike. Yet, off-exchange trading through "dark" pools and the like is far more transparent than thought, and exchange trading the opposite. In fact, much trading through off-exchange platforms is even more transparent than that facilitated by exchanges. Despite these realities, the supposed contrast between exchange and off-exchange trading along this dimension continues to be highlighted — often along with a claim that it poses core securities-law problems. All the while, a clear-cut distinction between these two general types of trading platforms has gone relatively unnoticed: exchanges must welcome all traders, yet off-exchange platforms can engage in targeting and excluding. This trader-access distinction, I argue, should matter for those who care about the chief ends of modern securities law — and a good amount of the current transparency-distinction focus should therefore be reallocated toward the access one.


The intonational realization of utterances is generally characterized by regional as well as inter- and intra-speaker variability in f0. Category boundaries thus remain "fuzzy" and it is non-trivial how the (continuous) acoustic space maps onto (discrete) pitch accent categories. We focus on three types of rising-falling contours, which differ in the alignment of L(ow) and H(igh) tones with respect to the stressed syllable. Most of the intonational systems on German have described two rising accent categories, e.g., L+H* and L*+H in the German ToBI system. L+H* has a high-pitched stressed syllable and a low leading tone aligned in the pre-tonic syllable; L*+H a low-pitched stressed syllable and a high trailing tone in the post-tonic syllable. There are indications for the existence of a third category which lies between these two categories, with both L and H aligned within the stressed syllable, henceforth termed (LH)*. In the present paper, we empirically investigate the distinctiveness of three rising-falling contours [L+H*, (LH)*, and L*+H, all with a subsequent low boundary tone] in German wh-questions. We employ an approach that addresses both the form and the function of the contours, also taking regional variation into account. In Experiment 1 (form), we used a delayed imitation paradigm to test whether Northern and Southern German speakers can imitate the three rising-falling contours in wh-questions as distinct contours. In Experiment 2 (function), we used a free association task to investigate whether listeners interpret the pragmatic meaning of the three contours differently. Imitation results showed that German speakers—both from the North and the South—reproduced the three contours. There was a small but significant effect of regional variety such that contours produced by speakers from the North were slightly more distinct than those by speakers from the South. In the association task, listeners from both varieties attributed distinct meanings to the (LH)* accent as opposed to the two ToBI accents L+H* and L*+H. Combined evidence from form and function suggests that three distinct contours can be found in the acoustic and perceptual space of German rising-falling contours.


This paper presents the design, implementation, and validation of a novel system that supports streaming and playout of personalized, multi-path, nonlinear video. In contrast to regular video, in which the file content is played sequentially, our design allows multiple nonlinear video sequences of the underlying (linear) video to be stitched together and played in any personalized order, and clients can be provided multiple path choices. The design combines the ideas of HTTP-based adaptive streaming (HAS) and multi-path nonlinear video. Personalization of the content is achieved with the use of a customized metafile, which is downloaded separately from the underlying media and the manifest file that defines the HAS structure. An extension to the user interface allows path choices to be presented to and made by the user. Novel buffer management and prefetching policies are used to ensure seamless uninterrupted playback regardless of client path choices, even under scenarios in which clients defer their choices until the last possible moment. Our solution allows creative home users to easily create their own multi-path nonlinear video, opening the door to an endless possibility of new opportunities and media forms.


The article addresses the issue of whether disabled readers can be instructed to use within-word (multiletter) units. Several analogy methods were employed. In Experiments 1 and 2 short lists of words that differ in only one letter were repeatedly practiced. In Experiment 3 the subjects blended written and spoken words in which the place of segmentation was systematically manipulated. Subjects were tested in all experiments on the reading of practiced words, on nonpracticed words that orthographically as well as phonologically resemble the practiced words, and on nonpracticed nonsimilar words. The findings indicate that: (1) All types of practice were beneficial for the recognition of the practiced words. (2) Transfer to the reading of novel words appeared only when graphemic and orthographic aspects of words were strongly emphasized. (3) Transfer effects were based upon the improved handling of multiletter within-word units when word lists with auditory prompts were practiced, but on improved (single) letter-sound conversions when the analysis and synthesis of isolated words and word parts was trained. (4) At least in Dutch, segmentations according to the onset-rime principle were not more useful than segmenting written and spoken words at other boundaries.


Recent case law on the scope of professional secrecy for the supervisory authorities in the financial sector and on the measure of openness of their files highlights the lack of coordination among the silos of supervision and the absence of clear and uniform professional secrecy rules across the financial sector. The introduction of the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) makes this situation more acute: notwithstanding a centralised system of banking supervision, different approaches may exist in respect of access to files, even when based on EU legislation. This contribution addresses the accountability of supervisory authorities and, notably the European Central Bank (ECB), from the perspective of access to supervisory files, as a prelude to possible follow-up proceedings for failing supervision. Recent judgments in the Altmann, Baumeister, Buccioni, and UBS Europe cases slowly move the case law on supervisory secrecy towards more openness, long after Hillegom/Hillenius (1984). The judgments lead us to wonder whether the absence of legislative coordination and questionable drafting is being remedied by the judiciary. The variety of legislative provisions and relevant recent case law form the backdrop of our proposal to adopt a Regulation on professional secrecy for supervisory authorities in the financial sector, which would institute a single standard that is directly applicable across Member States and supervisory authorities.


This paper assesses the cost and risk faced by public sector, defined benefit plan providers arising from uncertain mortality, including longevity selection, mortality improvements, and unexpected systematic shocks. Using longitudinal micro data on Australian pensioners, we quantify the extent of longevity selection at both aggregate and scheme level. We also show that as the age-membership structure in a pension scheme matures, scheme-specific longevity selection risk and systematic shocks become quantitatively more important and have larger consequences for plan liabilities than aggregate selection risk or the impact of mortality improvements.


In the field of tissue engineering, a major area of study is developing bone scaffolds that will provide support for osteoblasts. Despite many advances in recent years there is still a significant need for new bio-based 3-D porous scaffolds that possess sufficient initial mechanical properties to prevent immediate failure upon implantation. Ovalbumin (OVA), a glycoprotein from chicken egg whites, has been use to fabricate biodegradable, porous hydrogel bone scaffolds that promote osteoblast attachment and proliferation. Although ovalbumin scaffolds encourage bioactivity and are naturally resorbed into the body after bone regeneration, they are also very fragile. Extremely stiff cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs), derived from wood pulp, can be utilized to reinforce these scaffolds while improving biocompatibility. When chemically modified to incorporate surface amine groups, cellulose nanocrystals become capable of covalently crosslinking with the OVA matrix for improved mechanical resilience. Three concentrations (2, 5, 10 wt. %) of CNCs were incorporated and crosslinked to form nanocomposite scaffolds then were compared to pure OVA scaffolds. After fabrication, pore size morphology was compared between each CNC loading using SEM. The images revealed that the 10 wt. % CNC concentration doubled the pore compared to pure OVA scaffolds. Under high magnification, the CNCs were incorporated into the pore walls, providing a contoured surface. AFM was applied to analyze the topography of OVA with CNCs present. The surfaces laden with CNCs had a higher mean surface roughness, but were insufficient to impact cell behavior. Compression testing was carried out on both Instron and DMA machines to demonstrate any reinforcing effect provided by the CNCs. While the compressive modulus remained constant, the elastic limit and strain increased with CNC loading, indicating a change in the resilience of the reinforced scaffolds. With a MTT Assay, it was shown that MC3T3-E1 preosteoblasts significantly increase in metabolic activity on 2 wt. % films and scaffolds, an indication of proliferation. All scaffolds had a net increase in metabolic activity suggesting overall biocompatibility for OVA scaffolds and those incorporating CNCs. Overall, the 5 wt. % scaffolds had the highest mechanical strength and had a positive cell response.


Fluid–fluid interfacial areas are important in controlling the rate of mass and energy transfer between fluid phases in porous media. We developed a modified thermodynamically based model (TBM) to predict fluid–fluid interfacial areas in porous media for arbitrary drainage–imbibition sequences. The TBM explicitly distinguishes between interfacial areas associated with continuous (free) and isolated (entrapped) nonwetting fluids. The model is restricted to two‐fluid systems in which (i) no significant conversion of mechanical work into heat occurs, (ii) the wetting fluid completely wets the porous medium's solid surfaces, and (iii) no changes in interfacial area due to mass transfer between phases occur. We show example calculations for two different drainage–imbibition sequences in two porous media: a highly uniform silica sand and a well‐graded silt. The TBM's predictions for interfacial area associated with free nonwetting fluid are identical to those of a previously published geometry‐based model (GBM); however, predictions for interfacial area associated with entrapped nonwetting fluid are consistently larger in the TBM than in the GBM. Although a comparison of model predictions with experimental data is currently only possible to a limited extent, good general agreement was found for the TBM. As required model parameters are commonly used as inputs for or tracked during multifluid‐flow simulations, the modified TBM may be easily incorporated in numerical codes.


Row-Diagonal Parity (RDP) is a new algorithm for protecting against double disk failures. It stores all data unencoded, and uses only exclusive-or operations to compute parity. RDP is provably optimal in computational complexity, both during construction and reconstruction. Like other algorithms, it is optimal in the amount of redundant information stored and accessed. RDP works within a single stripe of blocks of sizes normally used by file systems, databases and disk arrays. It can be utilized in a fixed (RAID-4) or rotated (RAID-5) parity placement style. It is possible to extend the algorithm to encompass multiple RAID-4 or RAID-5 disk arrays in a single RDP disk array. It is possible to add disks to an existing RDP array without recalculating parity or moving data. Implementation results show that RDP performance can be made nearly equal to single parity RAID-4 and RAID-5 performance.


The role of neuraminidase in haemagglutination and adherence to colon WiDr cells by eight strains of Bacteroides fragilis and four strains of oral black-pigmented gram-negative anaerobes was studied. Neuraminidase treatment resulted in a very small increase of haemagglutination by some of the strains but had no effect on adherence to WiDr cells by all bacterial strains tested except one strain of Prevotella intermedia (HG 110). Inhibition of neuraminidase had no effect on haemagglutination or adherence, nor was any correlation found between haemagglutinating ability and neuraminidase activity in the B. fragilis strain. The results indicated that haemagglutination and adherence of B. fragilis to WiDr cells were not mediated by neuraminidase.


Regulations requiring water utilities in England and Wales to carry out continuous monitoring for Cryptosporidium in treated water were introduced in June 1999. The rationale of the Regulations and the technical basis for the sampling and analysis are reviewed. The results of the first nine months of monitoring are summarised and compared with other equivalent data sets. The impact of the Regulations on water utilities operational practices and the implications for public health protection are discussed.


Social preference research has received considerable attention in recent years. Researchers have demonstrated that the presence of people with social preferences has important implications in many economic domains. However, it is important to be aware of the fact that the empirical basis of this literature relies to a large extent on experiments that do not provide anonymity between experimenter and subject. It has been argued that this lack of experimenter-subject anonymity may create selfish incentives to engage in seemingly other-regarding behavior. If this were the case these experiments would overestimate the importance of social preferences. Previous studies provide mixed results and methodological differences within and across studies make it difficult to isolate the impact of experimenter-subject anonymity on prosocial behavior. In this paper we use a novel procedure that allows us to examine the impact of the exact same ceteris-paribus variation in anonymity on behavior in three of the most commonly used games in the social preference literature. Our data does not support the hypothesis that introducing experimenter-subject anonymity affects observed prosocial behavior. We do not observe significant effects of experimenter-subject anonymity on prosocial behavior in any of our games.


Abstract The article asks what the evolution of NATO–Swedish relations signifies for the understanding of the evolution of security communities. Given the astonishing evolution of NATO and Sweden as a community of practise, it is logical to imagine the two as forming part of the same security community. It could then be argued that common practise can bring about new security communities rather hastily. Analysing NATO's and Sweden's recent discourses on security, the author identifies a significant gap between a principally realist and a predominantly idealist discourse that indicates that the two parties do not share key characteristics of a security community – identities, values and meanings. However, if Libya is the case of the future, the discursive differences may fade and Sweden could more easily pursue its journey towards inclusion in NATO, not as a member of an Alliance, but as a member of NATO as a security community.


OBJECTIVES
The research determined to what extent best practices are being followed by freely available online modules aimed at teaching critical thinking and evidence-based practices (EBPs) in health sciences fields.

METHODS
In phase I, an evaluation rubric was created after reviewing the literature. Individual rubric questions were assigned point values and grouped into sections, and the sections weighted. Phase II involved searching Internet platforms to locate online EBP modules, which were screened to determine if they met predetermined criteria for inclusion. Phase III comprised a first evaluation, in which two authors assessed each module, followed by a second evaluation of the top-scoring modules by five representatives from different health sciences units.

RESULTS
The rubric's 28 questions were categorized into 4 sections: content, design, interactivity, and usability. After retrieving 170 online modules and closely screening 91, 42 were in the first evaluation and 8 modules were in the second evaluation. Modules in the first evaluation earned, on average, 59% of available points; modules in the second earned an average of 68%. Both evaluations had a moderate level of inter-rater reliability.

CONCLUSIONS
The rubric was effective and reliable in evaluating the modules. Most modules followed best practices for content and usability but not for design and interactivity.

IMPLICATIONS
By systematically collecting and evaluating instructional modules, the authors found many potentially useful elements for module creation. Also, by reviewing the limitations of the evaluated modules, the authors were able to anticipate and plan ways to overcome potential issues in module design.


Breast cancer is one of the most dangerous types of cancer among women all over the world. If breast cancer is detected in early stage, chances of survival are very high. Mammography is broadly recognized as the most effective imaging modality for early detection of breast abnormalities. Several research works have tried to develop Computer Aided detection/Diagnosis systems (CAD) in order to help radiologists to reduce the variability in the analysis and improve the precision in mammograms interpretation. This paper presents an efficient classification of mammograms using feature extraction. In this approach we propose to use comprehensive statistical Block-Based features, derived from all sub-bands of Discrete Wavelet decomposition. The classification of these features is performed using the Support Vector Machine (SVM). The evaluation of the proposed method is applied on Digital Database For Screening Mammography (DDSM). The system classifies normal from abnormal cases with high accuracy rate (96%). Comparative experiments have been conducted to evaluate our proposed method.


Research exploring sex differences in the human brain must overcome "neurosexist" interpretations There is a long history of scientific inquiry about what role biological sex plays in differences between brain function in human males and females. Greater knowledge of the influence of biological sex on the human brain promises much-needed insights into brain function and especially dysfunctions that differentially affect the sexes (1). Certainly, advancing technologies and an increasing wealth of data (with more sophisticated analyses) should prompt robust future research—carefully conducted and well replicated—that can elucidate sex effects in the brain. However, this field of research has spurred an equally long history of debate as to whether inherent differences in brains of males and females predispose the sexes to stereotypical behaviors, or whether such claims reinforce and legitimate traditional gender stereotypes and roles in ways that are not scientifically justified—so-called neurosexism. Although this topic remains controversial, a commonly held belief is that the psyches of females and males are highly distinct. These differences are perceived as natural, fixed, and invariant across time and place (2), presumably due to unique female versus male brain circuitry that is largely fixed by a sexually differentiated genetic blueprint. A major challenge in the field is to crtically view previous experimental findings, as well as design future studies, outside the framework of this dichotomous model. Here, gender scholarship can hasten scientific progress by revealing the implicit assumptions that can give rise to inadvertent neurosexism.


The article analyzes the impact of measures and instruments of fiscal, monetary, and structural economic policies on the growth rates of the economies of many countries around the world from 2000 to 2016, considering the provisions of the structural theory of development. The dynamics of the following indicators of national economies is analyzed: GDP growth rate; total tax rate, central government debt; domestic credit to the private sector; consumer price inflation; high-tech exports as a share of country industrial exports and in value terms. It was revealed that for balanced long-term growth of the economy, it is necessary that the structure of the national economy should include industries whose exported goods are characterized by high elasticity of demand, and goods imported by low elasticity of demand. Selective tools of state stimulating economic policy should be aimed at industries that can generate innovations and promote the dissemination of the results of technological progress.


The cuttlefish ( Sepia officinalis Linnaeus 1758) represents one of the most important coastal fishery resources of the Mediterranean Sea. For Italy, 45% of cuttlefish landings (2,328 t) originates from coastal regions of the northern Adriatic Sea: Veneto, Marche, Emilia Romagna and Friuli Venezia Giulia. In terms of economic value this species represents about 8% (~€ 16.5 million) of the production from this basin. From May 2004 to October 2005, cuttlefish were purchased from commercial landings of the Grado fishery fleet. At least 30 specimens were randomly taken each month from each fishing method employed for this species: bottom trawl (cod end mesh size 40 mm), rapido trawl, trammel net (mesh size of inner panel 30 mm) and cuttlefish specific trap. The main biological aspects, such as size, sex ratio, reproductive stage and diet in relation to both the season and type of fishing gear were analyzed. 1,495 specimens, ranging from 3.5 to 18.0 cm mantle length, were analyzed. In relation to the observed size and reproductive stage of individuals caught, trammel nets and cuttlefish traps both appeared to target sexually mature individuals, whilst trawling gear were not selective for either recruits or spawners. In total 34 prey taxa were found in the stomachs of S. officinalis : crabs and bony fish species were the most important prey, although the latter appeared mostly in the largest specimens. Finally the fullness index revealed that cuttlefish caught by trawling were more suitable for diet analysis than those caught by static gear. In this way the contribution of the present paper was to give new insights on the biological parameters of this species in relation to the main fishing gears employed in the northern Adriatic Sea.


While there is evidence for multiple spatial and attentional maps in the brain it is not clear to what extent visuoperceptual and oculomotor tasks rely on common neural representations and attentional mechanisms. Using a dual-task interference paradigm we tested the hypothesis that eye movements and perceptual judgments made to simultaneously presented visuospatial information compete for shared limited resources. Observers undertook judgments of stimulus collinearity (perceptual extrapolation) using a pointer and Gabor patch and/or performed saccades to a peripheral dot target while their eye movements were recorded. In addition, observers performed a non-spatial control task (contrast discrimination), matched for task difficulty and stimulus structure, which on the basis of previous studies was expected to represent a lesser load on putative shared resources. Greater mutual interference was indeed found between the saccade and extrapolation task pair than between the saccade and contrast discrimination task pair. These data are consistent with visuoperceptual and oculomotor responses competing for common limited resources as well as spatial tasks incurring a relatively high attentional cost.


Abstract The clinical journey of chronic diseases, including cancer, renal failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, is frequently characterised by the progressive deterioration of nutritional status, leading to increased morbidity and mortality, and impinges upon quality of life. Disease-associated malnutrition is characterised by anorexia and reduced food intake, but nutritional depletion cannot be accounted for by insufficient energy intake only. Indeed, wasting of muscles and adipose tissue also occurs, which is not suppressed by the provision of nutrients. Disease-associated malnutrition is defined as the anorexia-cachexia syndrome, to differentiate this clinical condition from malnutrition resulting from simple starvation, which responds to nutritional support. The pathogenesis of the anorexia-cachexia syndrome is multifactorial, but moderate yet persistent inflammation plays a prominent role in mediating the observed changes of eating behavior and of the metabolism of peripheral tissues. Peripheral tissue wasting and disease-associated anorexia have been classically considered as involving different molecular pathways, the former being mediated by increased muscle proteolysis and adipose tissue lipolysis, the latter being induced by neurochemical alterations. However, recent data seem to support the concept that disease-associated anorexia and wasting represent the clinical phenotypes of common pathogenic mechanisms, involving brain areas controlling energy homeostasis. In this regard, the different clinical pictures of disease-associated malnutrition, characterised by a variety of combinations of anorexia and wasting, reflect the different interactions occurring between the genotypes of the host and the underlying disease. Therefore, it has been proposed that the anorexia-cachexia syndrome is better defined as cachexia, which now encompasses the countless clinical expressions of the host's response to a chronic insult. Surprisingly, such a unifying concept was already left by Michelangelo as a hidden message on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel 500 years ago.


Abstract Anomalously high velocity and high density bodies have been detected in the lower crust on the mid-Norwegian margin. The lower crustal bodies (LCB) are pronounced on the More and Voring margins segments and have mainly been interpreted as either magmatic or high-grade metamorphic in origin. Evolutionary models of the whole margin are heavily affected by the interpretation of the LCB and so are estimates of vertical movements and thermal structure in the area. A 3D gravity and magnetic model of the mid-Norwegian margin was constructed to map the main geological features of the margin and acquire the distribution of the LCB. The model utilizes the most recent potential field compilations on the margin and is constrained by extensive reflection seismic data and published refraction profiles. Further constraints on the model were attained from studying the isostatic state of the lithosphere. We present a map showing the distribution of the different LCB and discuss the implications for the structural and thermal evolution of the margin. The properties of the LCB vary across the margin and at least three different processes may be responsible for their existence. The LCB is commonly interpreted as igneous rock either intruded into the lower crust or underplated beneath it. The distribution of the LCB along the Voring margin has an apparent correlation with the offshore prolongations of major onshore detachments stemming from Late Caledonian orogenic collapse. This may point towards some relation between the LCB and these old zones of weakness and that the LCB represents high-grade metamorphic rocks. Detailed modelling on the More margin shows a spatial link between parts of the LCB and extremely thin crustal thickness, suggesting a serpentinized exhumed mantle origin.


The Left Party: Instigator of Change or Pragmatic Support Party This article investigates the Left Party in the Swedish elections of 2014. In the electoral arena the party faced competition from several other Left-Wing parties, and in particular lost votes to the Feminist Initiative. The party did not suffer from any large conflicts in the internal arena, despite the party achieving neither the increase in electoral results nor the government participation it had hoped for. In the parliamentary arena, the party was able to gain some influence over the budget, since the new coalition government needed to negotiate with the Left Party in order to gain the necessary votes. The article argues that the party's position in the party system is largely dependent on the attitude that other parties, particularly the Social Democrats, take towards it.


Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to characterize the agricultural activities and past experiences in professional training in the context of mobile learning in different countries (Portugal, Spain, Slovakia, Hungary, UK, Italy and Turkey).

Design/methodology/approach

For the survey, a questionnaire was prepared in English and Portuguese and then translated into the languages of the participating countries. It was delivered electronically for answering online by adults only. The participation was voluntary and in the end 133 consented valid questionnaires were obtained. For the treatment of the data, SPSS was used and basic descriptive statistics tools were applied, together with tests, namely, crosstabs and χ2 tests, considering a level of significance of 5 percent.

Findings

The results showed that the majority of the participants presently have some agricultural activity and one-third is thinking about starting one in the future. Most of the participants want to produce food organically, with significant differences among the countries studied in this paper. Most of the participants were enrolled in training activities in agriculture, especially those with higher education. This participation showed significant differences between countries as well as according to the dimension of the farms owned by the participants. A significant association was found between being a teacher in forming activities related to agriculture and being a farmer. When compared to distance learning, the training activities in classroom were the most frequent, with significant differences among the countries.

Practical implications

This study allowed characterizing the learning activities in the field of organic agriculture and established vision for planning of future training programs, in different countries, with maybe different social, educational and cultural realities.

Originality/value

Because the study included the participation of people from several countries all around Europe, the results obtained enrich the scientific area of training in organic farming, in view of distance learning vs classroom learning on a more global basis.


The development of cultural identity in early childhood settings Meg Jones The aim of this research is to examine the support and development of cultural identity in early childhood settings in Leicester and Leicestershire. The main players are the practitioners, the parents and the children, all of whom participated in a variety of ways. No two settings are alike; each has a philosophy, resources, a mix of practitioners, children and parents, local community, and infrastructure unique to that setting. Each responds accordingly. All are committed to the concept of supporting and developing cultural identity, though they do it in different ways. The research employs both quantitative and qualitative methodology. Initially, setting-questionnaires were employed to establish an overview of resources, opinions, and ethnicity of children and practitioners in twenty-five settings. Seventy-five parents associated with the settings contributed their opinions. Seven varied settings, five in the inner-city and two in the county, were examined in-depth using a comprehensive research strategy employing a range of research instruments. There are those who say we have no cultural identity until we are older, and those who say it begins at birth. Nonetheless, a cultural identity needs nurturing, recognition, and strengthening through the good practices of the practitioners and parents. The research identifies that one end of the continuum of good practice is excellence; well trained and informed practitioners, the ability to put that knowledge into practice, and well resourced settings. Good practice continued to be demonstrated despite having to share facilities; demonstrating how enthusiasm and commitment can overcome obstacles. The setting further along the continuum was by no means demonstrating restricted practice; it was just fixed in a time-scale that was not progressing along cultural awareness lines. Cultural identity is a nebulous and elusive concept, difficult to grasp but with an all pervading influence. We all have a culture, but we don"t always recognise it. Children are our future; it is our responsibility to ensure they grow up confident and purposeful, secure in the knowledge of themselves within their culture. The research leads to the identification of good practice in a sample of settings, through the diversity of approaches appropriate to the users and local community. The intended application of this research, having examined examples of good practice, is to influence the process of initial practitioners" training and continuing professional development. CONTENTS Abstract


A ruthenium-enabled meta-selective C–H difluoromethylation of arenes has been developed. Various arenes bearing pyridyl, pyrazolyl, imidazolyl, or pyrimidyl directing groups, or removable oxazoline directing groups, were tolerated in this meta-selective C–H difluoromethylation, affording the difluoromethylated products in moderate to good yields. The difluoromethyl group could be selectively installed into several drug molecules and bioactive compounds in one step, highlighting the synthetic utility and importance of this new method.


Article subjected to peer review SUMMARY: 1. General framework of the applicability of Italian legislation within the Vatican City State - 2. The right to privacy under European and canon law - 3. Applicability and enforceability of the Italian Data Protection Code within the Vatican City State. Abstract : In the Vatican City State no specific laws have been adopted either by the Supreme Pontiff, the Pontifical Commission, or other legitimate Vatican City State authorities in relation to the fundamental right to privacy of natural and legal persons. Canon 220 of the Code of Canon Law refers to the protection of a good reputation and of intimitas, but does not provide for specific or self-contained rules related to personal data protection; it contains only general principles that can (and should) be articulated in more specific regulations. Therefore, it seems feasible that the provisions of the Italian Data Protection Code concerning the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in the telecommunications sector - as well as any other provision concerning the sector of telecommunications and relevant services, both of landline and mobile networks, in their entirety - should be automatically applicable within the Vatican City State, pursuant to Article 12.1.a.5 of Law no. LXXI on the sources of law of the Vatican City State. Keywords : personal data protection, intimitas, Vatican City State, sources of law


In the 21st century, business engagements are becoming increasingly global, and global teams are now an established form of organising work in multinational organisations. As a result, managing cultural diver-sity within a global team has become an essential part of ensuring motivation, creativity, innovation and efficiency in today's business world.Global teams are typically composed of a diversity of experiences, frames of references, competencies, information and, not least, cultural backgrounds. As such, they hold a unique potential for delivering high performance in terms of innovative and creative approaches to global management tasks; however, in-stead of focusing on the potentials of cultural diversity, practitioners and studies of global teams tend to approach cultural diversity as a barrier to team success. This study explores some of the barriers that cultural diversity poses but also discusses its potential to leverage high performance in a global context.Our study highlights the importance of how team leaders and team members perceive 'culture' as both a concept and a social practice. We take issue with a notion of culture as a relatively fixed and homogeneous set of values, norms and attitudes shared by people of national communities; it is such a notion of culture that tends to underlie understandings that highlight the irreconcilability of cultural differences.Applying a more dynamic and context-dependent approach to culture as a meaning system that people negotiate and use to interpret the world, this study explores how global leadership teams can best reap the benefits of cultural diversity in relation to specific challenging areas of intercultural team work, such as leadership style, decision making, relationship building, strategy process, and communication styles. Based on a close textual interpretation of 31 semi-structured interviews with members of global leader-ship teams in eight Danish-owned global companies, our study identified different discourses and per-ceptions of culture and cultural diversity. For leaders of the global leadership teams (Danish/European) and other European team members, three understandings of cultural diversity in their global teams were prominent:1)Cultural diversity was not an issue2)Cultural diversity was acknowledged as mainly a liability. Diversities were expressed through adifference in national cultures and could typically be subsumed under a relatively fixed numberof invariable and distinct characteristics.3)Cultural diversity was an asset and expressions of culture had to be observed in the situationand could not simply be derived from prior understandings of cultural differences.A clear result of our study was that those leaders of global teams who drew on discourses of the Asian 'Other' adherred to the first two understandings of cultural diversity and preferred leadership styles that were either patriarchal or self-defined as 'Scandinavian'. Whereas those leaders who drew on discourses of culture as dynamic and negotiated social practices adhered to the third understanding of cultural di-versity and preferred a differentiated and analytical approach to leading their teams.We also focused on the perceptions of team members with a background in the country in which the global teams were co-located. These 'local' team members expressed a nuanced and multifaceted perspective on their own cultural background, the national culture of the company, and their own position within the team, which enabled them to easily navigate between essentialist perceptions of culture while maintain-ing a critical stance on the existing cultural hegemonies. They recognised the value of their local knowledge and language proficiency, but, for those local members in teams with a negative or essentialist view of cultural diversity, it was difficult to obtain recognition of their cultural styles and specific, non-local competences. 3Our study suggeststhat the way global team members perceive culture, based on dominant societal dis-courses of culture, significantly affects the understandings of roles and positions in global leadership teams. We found that discourses on culture were used to explain differences and similarities between team members, which profoundly affected the social practicesand dynamics of the global team. We con-clude that only global teams with team leaders who are highly aware of the multiple perspectives at play in different contexts within the team hold the capacity to be alert to cultural diversity and to demonstrate agility in leveraging differences and similarities into inclusive and dynamic team practices.