This study was designed to develop a simple method for serodiagnosis of scrub typhus. The basis of the method is detection of anti-Rickettsia tsutsugamushi antibody in patient serum by reaction with antigens dot blotted on a nitrocellulose sheet (NCS). The final evaluation of the reaction is performed by observing the color intensity which develops as a result of sequential treatments of the NCS with peroxidase-conjugated anti-human immunoglobulin G or immunoglobulin M antibody and with the substrate of the enzyme. After various trials, we found that the best results were obtained by using a purified antigen which adhered to an NCS at 0.2 to 2 micrograms of protein per dot and a test serum diluted 1,000- to 4,000-fold. Under these conditions, almost all antibody-positive sera showed a distinct color at the dot on the NCS, so that a positive reaction could be distinguished by the naked eye from a negative reaction with antibody-negative sera, which developed only a faint color. A comparison of the results of screening of antibody-positive and -negative sera by this method and the immunofluorescence test showed that both methods produced similar results. From these results, it is concluded that this dot immunoassay can be useful for the serodiagnosis of scrub typhus.


A Descriptive Catalogue of the Musical Manuscript Collection of the National Library of Greece: Byzantine Chant and Other Music Repertory Recovered. By Diane H. Touliatos-Miles. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2010. [x, 632 p. ISBN 9780754651680. $134.95.] Appendices, bibliography, glossary, indexes, plates. Scholars, researchers, students, and anyone interested doing research on the musical sources of Byzantine music at the National Library of Greece have to face a frustrating reality: the lack of an current, accurate, and scholarly descriptive catalog that brings to light the holdings of one of the richest repositories of Byzantine music manuscripts in the world. The music manuscript collection of the National Library of Greece in Athens consists of 242 centuries-old manuscripts, mainly of Byzantine music but including some Western music as well, 149 of which were never published or properly inventoried before. All previous attempts to organize the materials yielded partial results since none of the people involved in the projects of putting the sources in order was a trained musicologist. Consequently, the release of this updated descriptive catalogue came as a gratifying surprise to all users interested in the wealth of music housed in this library. Diane H. Touliatos- Miles undertook this painstaking task with exceptional results. The author is a researcher, scholar and professor of Western and Byzantine musicology who has published extensively on such topics as ancient Greek music, Eastern medieval chant, and women composers. Her goal in publishing this book was twofold. The first of these was to create an invaluable resource tool in order to make available music sources of noteworthy significance for music research. She accomplishes this by enriching this catalog with notes, bibliography, plates, appendices, and indexes in order to present the repertory of these manuscripts as comprehensively as possible. Second, in order to make these sources available to a broader audience, she makes use of two languages, Greek to describe the contents of the sources and English to comment on and provide information about the particular source with relevant bibliographic references for further research. The catalogue is well structured and easy to use. It starts with a checklist organized by manuscript accession number according to the National Library of Greece (EBE), and its corresponding pages in the book. Following this is an informative preface that provides an overview of the collection and its contents, an annotated list of the collection's highlights, and an account of the author's objectives and aspirations. The actual descriptive catalogue begins by providing in succession the following information: the name/number of the manuscript, the type of liturgical book, descriptive notes regarding the type of paper, measurements, number of folios, type of notation used, date of creation and provenance. Then Touliatos-Miles describes the contents of each folio in Greek (following the recto and verso fashion), frequently accompanied by English transliterations as well as interpolated translations. …


Under scrutiny for the past several years, the adoption of Building Information Modelling (BIM), Big Data Analytics (BDA) and Internet of Things (IoT) (together also known as BBI) is yet to grow significantly in the construction industry. The industry itself is realising the complexity and challenges which admittedly inhibit BBI implementation. The identification of these challenges is an imperative precondition for successful implementation of BBI. Even though there is a paucity of empirical data in this area, a notable body of research has reported such challenges which are the target consideration of this paper. However, no study has comprehensively reviewed, and synthesized existing research on the basis of treating BBI implementation as an integrated process and viewing these challenges as the cause for laggard manifestations, which underpins the originality and value of this study. To bridge this gap in literature, this paper primarily undertakes a critical systematic review of research around challenges related to BBI implementation. It emphasises a variety of important challenges inter-alia, skills and training needs, level of interoperability, infrastructure associated costs, data security, privacy, data ownership and supply chain concerns. This synthesis shows that BBI implementation is complex and challenging, and suggests that the industry as a whole need to take immediate actions. The need for more concerted research efforts to bridge the gaps are also identified. Finally, the paper proffers recommendations for managers and workers, which have social, technological, and economic capability and capacity dimensions.


A new index to estimate aircraft icing in clouds from operational meteorological models has been developed by Swedish meteorologists. Although rather simple it takes into account, directly or indirectly, all the principal meteorological variables for icing. The index has been evaluated during three winter seasons and is now operational in the Swedish HIRLAM model. A graphical representation of the index is presented. Copyright © 2003 Royal Meteorological Society


Motivated by recent observations of the migration of slow slip, such as postseismic slip and slow earthquakes, the propagation of tremor and very low-frequency earthquakes, and the expansion of aftershock areas, we develop a new analytical relationship between the migration speed of aseismic slip transients and frictional properties of the fault, modeled by a rateand state-dependent friction law. The relationship explains the migration speed of slow slip in 3-D numerical model simulations to first order, except near the earth's surface. Based on this relationship, we suggest that lower values of the frictional parameter a-b (which quantifies the velocity-dependence of steady-state friction) and of the effective normal stress σcause faster propagation for small amount of shear stress loading due to the passage of postseismic slip, while reducing the frictional parameter a (which quantifies the instantaneous velocity-dependence of friction) is more effective at accelerating slow-slip propagation for large amount of shear stress loading. The characteristic slip distance dc is inversely proportional to the migration speed. This relationship should be useful to constrain the frictional properties of faults based on observed migration speeds, independent of rock laboratory experiments, which can then be used in predictive numerical simulations of slow slip phenomena.


BACKGROUND
A doubling of serum creatinine value, corresponding to a 57% decline in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), is used frequently as a component of a composite kidney end point in clinical trials in type 2 diabetes. The aim of this study was to determine whether alternative end points defined by smaller declines in eGFR would improve the statistical power of these clinical trials.

STUDY DESIGN
Post hoc analyses of 2 multinational randomized controlled trials (Reduction of End Points in Non-Insulin-Dependent Diabetes With the Angiotensin II Antagonist Losartan [RENAAL] and Irbesartan Diabetic Nephropathy Trial [IDNT]) that assessed the treatment effect of the angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) losartan and irbesartan.

SETTING & PARTICIPANTS
1,513 (RENAAL) and 1,715 (IDNT) adult patients with type 2 diabetes and nephropathy.

PREDICTOR
Established versus alternative end points defined as a confirmed doubling of serum creatinine level versus confirmed eGFR decline of 57%, 40%, 30%, or 20% as a component of a composite end point of end-stage renal disease or eGFR < 15mL/min/1.73m(2).

OUTCOMES
Numbers of patients reaching end points, precision (standard error), and significance (z score) of ARB treatment effect (HR) during follow-up.

RESULTS
Lesser eGFR declines resulted in a greater number of patients reaching end points in both treatment groups and lower standard error of the HR, but the effect on z score was counterbalanced by attenuation of the HR. When calculating the eGFR decline from month 3, attenuation of the HR was less pronounced.

LIMITATIONS
Post hoc analysis.

CONCLUSIONS
Despite increases in precision of the treatment effect, eGFR declines less than a doubling of serum creatinine value did not consistently improve statistical power of the clinical trials due to attenuation of the treatment effect. Attenuation of the treatment effect appears to be due in part to acute effects of ARBs on eGFR. These findings should be taken into account when using lesser eGFR declines as alternative end points for clinical trials.


Multiannual delayed gametophyte cultures can stay vegetative for years, while also having the ability to grow. This study aims to investigate whether male and female multiannual delayed gametophyte strains of the species Saccharina latissima and Alaria esculenta grow at different rates in culture. We furthermore assessed how changing sex ratios can affect the reproductive yields of these cultures. The results indicate that the reproductive yield of cultures declines with decreasing male:female ratios, a correlation that becomes especially apparent at higher culture densities for both species. Female gametophyte densities in particular affected the observed reproductive yield of the cultures, with S. latissima cultures showing a clear reproductive optimum (sporophytes·mL−1) at 0.013 mg·mL−1 DW female gametophyte biomass, while the reproductive success of A. esculenta peaked at a density of 0.025 mg·mL−1 DW of female gametophyte biomass, after which the reproductive yield started to decline in both species. The results show that the sex ratio of a gametophyte culture is an important biotic life cycle control, with higher amounts of female gametophyte biomass halting gametophyte reproduction. Understanding how these changing sex ratios in gametophyte cultures affect reproduction is especially important in the aquaculture of kelp, where reliable preforming cultures are key to long-term success.


Italian drinking water treatment plants (DWTP) generally use chlorine-based chemicals to achieve the oxidation/disinfection phases of their treatment trains. The main problem related to the application of such disinfectants consists in the formation of disinfection by-products (DBPs) as a result of the reaction with organic substances in the water. Italian regulations set very strict limits for the maximum concentration of chlorine DBPs and, for many DWTPs, the compliance with such a regulation is difficult. Non-oxidative pre-treatments, able to remove organic substances from the water prior to chlorination, could be a suitable solution to overcome this problem. These treatments could increase the water quality, decrease the oxidant demand and, hence, reduce the formation of DBPs. This paper presents an experimental investigation of ion exchange processes for the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) removal by using MIEX® resin. The process was studied as a pre-treatment on raw river water. The DOC removal efficiency and the effects on downstream processes of the treatment train were evaluated.


Sitophilus oryzae (L.), Sitophilus zeamais (Mots.) and Sitophilus granarius (L.) are major pests of stored grain, especially on cereals. Sitophilus linearis (Herbst) a congeneric of the afore-listed species was obtained from seeds of a wild plant, Tamarindus indica L. The development of S. linearis on some selected crop seeds as well as tamarind seeds was investigated in the laboratory at 25.3-30.3 °C and 75.0% ± 5.0 RH. One hundred grammes each of heat sterilized maize, rice, sorghum, millet, cowpea and tamarind seeds were infested with 100 unsexed adults of S. linearis and observed to determine the suitability of the different substrates for the development of the weevil. Sitophilus linearis bred and multiplied on the tamarind seeds but not on the selected crop seeds in the laboratory. Mean developmental period on the tamarind seeds was 32 days. The highest number (51) of adults that emerged on the first day of emergence was from cultures set up with one-week old adult insects. The highest mean weight (3.9mg) was also recorded on the cultures set up with one-week old insects. However, both mean number of emerged adults and mean adult weight were not significantly different (P>0.05). A significant difference was recorded in the mean percentage survival period of S. linearis on the different substrates (P<0.05) with the longest survival recorded on tamarind seeds. It can therefore be concluded that Sitophilus linearis, though a member of the family of grain weevils, could not reproduce on the cereal substrates or the cowpea seeds presented to it in the laboratory. If further studies confirm these findings, then Sitophilus linearis may pose no threat to cereal production due to its inability to survive and reproduce on them.


Modular multilevel converters are used to fulfill the medium/high voltage high power demand. This paper investigates the performance of a modular multilevel converter having modified flying capacitor multicell converter as sub-module. The performance of the MMC has been evaluated on the basis of spectral quality of the output a.c. voltage and the utilization of the input d.c. voltage. The utilization of the input d.c. voltage is judged by the fundamental value of output a.c. voltage. The comprehensive simulations of 7-level, 9-level and 13-level MMC with phase-shifted and level-shifted sinusoidal pulse width modulation (SPWM) has been carried out in MATLAB/Simulink software. The various methods of level shifted SPWM such as in-phase disposition (IPD), phase opposition disposition (POD) and alternative phase opposition disposition (APOD) has been applied.


Current methods of creating inlet total pressure distortion for testing in gas turbine engines are only able to simulate steady-state distortion patterns. With modern military aircraft it is becoming necessary to examine the effects of transient inlet distortion on engines. One alternative being evaluated is a splitting airfoil that is essentially a wedge that can be set at different opening angles. An array of such devices would be placed in front of the engine for testing that would be capable of creating steady-state distortion patterns as well as transient distortion patterns by changing the opening angle of the airfoils. The work here analyzes the steady-state wake characteristics of some of the splitting airfoil concepts. Single-wedge tests were conducted with various opening angles in an attempt to classify the various aspects found in the wake pattern. It was found that the wake has completely different characteristics with larger opening angles. In addition, several different combinations of wedges were also examined to see if single wedge analysis could be applied to arrays of wedges. Analysis was done on combinations of wedges aligned vertically as well as combinations that were done horizontally. It was found that single wedge characteristics change considerably when different wake patterns interact with each other


An exhaustive biography of French neuropsychiatrist Georges Gilles de la Tourette (1857–1904) has never been undertaken. Gilles de la Tourette worked closely with the nineteenth-century founder of neurology in Paris, Jean-Martin Charcot. His name is universally known because of the eponymous, disabling syndrome that affects 0.9% of children/adolescents. Unpublished family archives, as well as Gilles de la Tourette's correspondence with the Parisian journalist Georges Montorgueil, conserved at the national Archives in Paris, were examined together with press and police archives to portray Georges Gilles de la Tourette's family and professional life in an original light. These archives have never before been studied or made available to the public. How the eponymous syndrome was isolated, the errors initially made in its description, the hidden role of Jean-Martin Charcot, and the disputes with other authors are covered in detail based on multiple sources, original or already published. An in-depth analysis of the genesis of Gilles de la Tourette's prolific neurological and psychiatric works within their historical context rounds out this biography. Major figures of neurology of the time are also featured—including Freud, Charcot and his son, Brissaud, and Babiński. Interwoven with Gilles de la Tourette's life and times are discussions of politics, theater, literature, the 1900 Paris World's Fair, and numerous letters exchanged with Jules Claretie of the Académie Française to highlight his significant involvement in each of these domains. The book concludes with a complete bibliography of all works written by Gilles de la Tourette, compiled for the first time.


I show that Eric Winsberg's principles of model-building given in Science in the Age of Computer Simulation are insufficient to argue for the external validation of simulation data in cases in which simulation results conflict, and that laboratory experiments have an advantage over simulations because conflicting experimental results can be decided between on the basis of reproducibility. I also argue that robustness of predictions serves the same function for simulations as repeatability does for laboratory experiments in either adjudicating between conflicting results or allowing us to say that we do not have sufficient justification to validate the results. Finally, I argue for an interpretation of the argument from robustness that appeals to the convergence of many well-built and diverse models rather than the more common interpretation which appeals to the probability that one of a set of models is likely to be true. INDEX WORDS: Simulation, Validation, Robustness, Experiment, Model, Data, Philosophy WHEN SIMULATIONS CONFLICT: PROBLEMS WITH THE EXTERNAL VALIDATION OF COMPUTER SIMULATIONS


The Productivity Commission's inquiry report into the Australian Pigmeat Industry, was released on 16 August 2005. The Commission was asked to examine the competitive situation and outlook for the pigmeat industry in Australia. It found that while the pig producing and processing sectors continue to experience structural change, the industry is being increasingly integrated into world markets and profitability is on the rise after a slum between 2002 and 2003. Some key findings from the report included: continuing improvements to internal practices are important for maintaining competitiveness with foreign competitors; assessments into the benefits and costs of R&D programs are critical to monitor the effectiveness with which the R&D programs are managed; an ongoing role for the Australian Government to press for reduced overseas barriers to pigmeat exports; the Government to ensure any regulatory requirements - such as those related to quarantine, planning and development, animal welfare and environmental impacts - are the minimum necessary to achieve their objectives. The Commission concluded that additional government assistance for the industry was not warranted.


Wireless sensors and actuators are increasingly used to automate residential properties. Such home automation (HA) systems are generally built around simple devices and network protocols in order to keep system complexity and prices low. Nearly all used protocols do not provide any security mechanisms and it is possible to inject messages accidentally or on purpose. As it is not feasible to upgrade already deployed devices or to simply re-design the used protocols it is desirable to find a protection mechanism that can be used to augment existing systems. We propose to use jamming in order to prevent unsolicited messages from reaching devices in home automation systems. We demonstrate a jamming device that can be used to augment HA systems to add an additional layer of protection. The device can be integrated into existing home automation systems.


The paper is about the development of an automated unit with optimum energy and mass-dimensional parameters for high-quality magnetization of magnets of electromagnetic drives, while preserving the integrity of their windings.
The authors develop an approach for calculating amplitude and width of magnetization pulse. The authors than estimate the rise time of leading edge of the pulse, with respect to conditions of complete magnetization of the electromagnetic drive's magnetic conductor and preservation of its excitation winding integrity.
For the formation of the magnetization pulse with given parameters, the authors propose an electronic device, which feedbacks bitween the drive winding and the pulse current source, which provides power to the inductor winding.
The authors propose a method of the inductor magnetic system synthesis by criteria of: given magnetic field strength in inductor's operating volume; power supply unit minimal dimensions and it power consumption while magnetizing. The final result is obtaining cross-section profile of the inductor electrical coil with certain dimensions and number of winding's turns of a wire of certain diameter.
In order to optimize the mass, size, magnetic and energy parameters of the inductor, the authors solve a problem of synthesizing its magnetic system in way of calculating the parameters of the magnetic field for operating volume of the inductor. It is determined by the characteristic overall dimensions of the NZTB type electromagnetic drives (brakes, 0.2 m in diameter), which were subject to magnetization in a field with strength of at least 400 A/m. The result is the determination of geometrical parameters and the cross-section profile of the inductor electrical coil. This profile ensures the uniformity of the magnetic field when magnetizing the electromagnetic drive of given overall dimensions.
On the basis of all these results, the authors develop the functional scheme of the automated unit and propose a structure of a panel for monitoring and management of devices and units involved.


This paper deals with IPTV traffic source modelling. Traffic sources are used for simulation, emulation and real network testing. This model is made as a derivation of known recorded traffic sources that are analysed and statistically processed. As the results show the proposed model causes in comparison to the known traffic source very similar network traffic parameters when used in a simulated network.


In volcanic regions, reliable estimates of mechanical properties for specific volcanic events such as cyclic inflation-deflation cycles by magmatic intrusions, thermal stressing, and high temperatures are crucial for building accurate models of volcanic phenomena. This study focuses on the challenge of characterizing volcanic materials for the numerical analyses of such events. To do this, we evaluated the physical (porosity, permeability) and mechanical (strength) properties of basaltic rocks at Pacaya Volcano (Guatemala) through a variety of laboratory experiments, including: room temperature, high temperature (935 °C), and cyclically-loaded uniaxial compressive strength tests on as-collected and thermally-treated rock samples. Knowledge of the material response to such varied stressing conditions is necessary to analyze potential hazards at Pacaya, whose persistent activity has led to 13 evacuations of towns near the volcano since 1987. The rocks show a non-linear relationship between permeability and porosity, which relates to the importance of the crack network connecting the vesicles in these rocks. Here we show that strength not only decreases with porosity and permeability, but also with prolonged stressing (i.e., at lower strain rates) and upon cooling. Complimentary tests in which cyclic episodes of thermal or load stressing showed no systematic weakening of the material on the scale of our experiments. Most importantly, we show the extremely heterogeneous nature of volcanic edifices that arise from differences in porosity and permeability of the local lithologies, the limited lateral extent of lava flows, and the scars of previous collapse events. Input of these process-specific rock behaviors into slope stability and deformation models can change the resultant hazard analysis. We anticipate that an increased parameterization of rock properties will improve mitigation power.


This paper investigates and explores the impact of physical ageing in signature biometrics. Experimental performance evaluation, using three different signature databases, is carried out to provide some new insights into the relationship between different practical factors, in particular clarifying the impact on recognition performance of the data collection protocols used and the use of the feature pools underpinning the signature processing. This analysis provides an alternative perspective from which to explore and manage physical ageing effects in signature biometrics. The paper demonstrates that the proposed strategy maximises system accuracy while minimising the performance differential across a population which is heterogeneous with respect to age, and across different databases. The results presented suggest that adoption of the strategy proposed can render a template update procedure less critical than hitherto expected.


The Australide orogen, the southern hemisphere Neoproterozoic to Mesozoic terrane accretionary orogen that forms the palaeo-Pacific margin of Gondwana, is one of the largest and longest-lived orogens on Earth. This book brings together a series of reviews and multidisciplinary research papers that comprehensively cover the Australides from the Tasman orogen of eastern Australia to the Neoproterozoic and Palaeozoic orogens of South America, taking in New Zealand and Antarctica along the way. It deals with the evolution of the southern Gondwana margin, as it grew during a series of terrane accretion episodes from the late Proterozoic through to final fragmentation in mid-Cretaceous times. global perspectives are given by comparison with the Palaeozoic northern Gondwana margin and documentation of world-wide terrane accretion episodes in the Late Triassic-Early Jurassic and mid-Cretaceous. The Tasmanides of eastern Australia, and the terrane histories of New Zealand and souther South America are given comprehensive up-to-date reviews.


Habitat loss and the resultant fragmentation of remaining habitat is the primary cause of loss of biological diversity. How do these processes affect the dynamics of parasites and pathogens? Hess has provided some important insights into this problem using metapopulation models for pathogens that exhibit 'S–I' dynamics; for example, pathogens such as rabies in which the host population may be divided into susceptible and infected individuals. A major assumption of Hess's models is that infected patches become extinct, rather than recovering and becoming resistant to future infections. In this paper, we build upon this framework in two different ways: first, we examine the consequences of including patches that are resistant to infection; second, we examine the consequences of including a second species of host that can act as a reservoir for the pathogen. Both of these effects are likely to be important from a conservation perspective. The results of both sets of analysis indicate that the benefits of corridors and other connections that allow species to disperse through the landscape far outweigh the possible risks of increased pathogen transmission. Even in the commonest case, where harmful pathogens are maintained by a common reservoir host, increased landscape connectance still allows greater coexistence and persistence of a threatened or endangered host.


There has been vigorous debate in recent months over whether a law degree is a worthwhile investment. Much of this discussion has focused on whether the economic costs of obtaining a degree pay off over a lawyer's career. This conversation has largely overlooked the many non-economic benefits of a law degree. In this essay, we seek to re-introduce several non-economic factors back into this important dialogue. We suggest that prospective law school applicants would be wise to consider these non-economic factors in addition to economic ones.


Traditional archival information infrastructure is problematic because it limits the arrangement and description of any artifact to a single interpretation by a single archivist. This approach of one authority defining artifacts lacks mechanisms to effectively convey the rich and complex discourse in which artifacts were originally composed. While researchers have begun to develop feminist methodologies for working with archives after they have been formed, there has not been much attention paid to developing practical methodologies for creating and sustaining a more fluid and multi-voiced archival infrastructure that is also able to overcome traditionally isolating elements such as physical distance. In this dissertation, I introduce a networked methodology called relational architecture to fill critical gaps in current archival practice. I argue that information infrastructures should be anchored by a point of origin, but continually augmented by building connections among resources with relationships identified by contributing-users. Developed from archival practice in rhetoric and composition, inspired by open architecture of application programming interfaces (API) like Twitter, and validated by network theory, relational architecture enables a more flexible information infrastructure that is able to position the archivist as the first of many users rather than singular defining authority of traditional archival theory. I contend that relational architecture is more than simply a functional response to big data in archives, or even a best practice for archivists, but instead is an ethical response to the inherent silencing of the "other" at work in traditional archival process and principles. It addresses many of the gaps in the field's methodology that are described in Gesa Kirsch and Patricia A. Sullivan's Methods and Methodology in Composition Research and tackles some of the challenges of methods and digital tools raised in Ridolfo and Hart-Davidson's Rhetoric and the Digital Humanities by enabling users to speak back to the code of the information infrastructure itself I designed and carried out a survey as proof of concept to demonstrate what, exactly, is added to the archive when more users were asked to collaborate in the authoring of the infrastructure itself. Participants contributed folksonomy hashtags (user-generated tags) to digitalized artifacts, and the results of the survey indicate that relational architecture does significantly expand the points of connectivity within the archive. Moreover, this methodology enables the folksonomy hashtags to record knowledge in themselves, thus illustrating and adding diverse ways of doing and knowing in the archives. These results support my argument that relational architecture builds multiple layers of connection into the information infrastructure itself; allows easy access beyond archival or institutional silos; calls for multiple voices to be documented and valued on the official record; enhances transparency and reproducibly; and documents pathways to track and quantify the ways that different communities build and share knowledge. Applicable most directly to archival practice, these findings also have direct ramifications for Writing Program Administration and other related work in the field.


The goal of the research presented is to create a computational framework and system architecture for clinical decision support in palliative care. The application focused is the classification of depression. The method under investigation is case-based reasoning, motivated by the complexity of the domain and a lack of generalized principles of sufficient coverage and strength for diagnosis and treatment. A system architecture is described and exemplified through an implemented prototype. The outcome of the research so far is a system that captures the properties intended, and for which a clinical test set-up has been defined.


The terrorist attacks in New York, Madrid and London have made central, local authorities and the public acutely aware that urban agglomerations, with their high-rise office blocks, concentrated mixed-use and residential areas and major technological infrastructures, are particularly vulnerable to this type of threat. Although this is not the first time towns and cities have had to face such dangers, the number of terrorist attacks has increased significantly since the 1990s. Real and suspected threats are not confined to catastrophic incidents affecting world metropolises and megalopolises; they also include every-day crime. Security systems using information and communication technology (e.g. video surveillance, biometrics and radio frequency identification) have the potential to avert these dangers, minimize their impact or, at the very least, reinforce crime fighting efforts. However, many are concerned about the Orwellian nature of such technologies and the social exclusion they may cause. Despite a current lack of integrated urban security policies with dedicated security resources, new urban security regimes are developing to meet specific threats. Urban policymakers and councils must assess the potential benefits and risks of ICT-supported security technology impartially and on the basis of hard facts. This Difu paper1 will contribute to the debate by defining urban security as a public responsibility, describing promising ICT-supported security technologies and technologicalorganizational convergence in an urban setting, and by sketching the future of city life under new security regimes.


Abstract Although the quality of a process affects the quality of the end product, there is currently an insignificant amount of knowledge about the quality of project management (PM) processes that directly affect the quality of the delivered product (constructed building). This study presents a proposal for modeling the impact of the quality of the PM process on the quality of the constructed building. The quality of the PM process is represented by the main quality factors and product quality indicators. It presents the results of the interviews that were conducted and study cases that were analyzed in Bosnia and Herzegovina with a variety of project participants (with different managerial perspectives) in terms of the indicators of quality of the delivered product. All participants, regardless of managerial perspective, believe that the most important indicator of the quality of products for each phase of the project is "customer satisfaction in the end phase", the measurement of which is different for each project phase that is presented. The results of the factor analysis of the definition and the planning phases show that 11 variables, namely, the quality factors of the PM process, can be grouped into three new factors, which is described as 66.61% (77.046%) of the basic set of variables.


The ability of accountants to appropriately perform in practice is linked to over-arching professional competence. Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is the current 'solution' within the accounting profession with reference to post-qualification maintenance and development of professional competence. However, there is a lack of evidence in the literature to demonstrate how CPD supports accounting practitioners as they seek to maintain and further develop their professional competence. The objective of this thesis is to examine this 'gap'. The thesis explores how practitioners perceive competence in the context of their professional status and how, through engagement with CPD, they maintain and develop their professional competence.This study is situated within the largest professional accounting body operating in Ireland, Chartered Accountants Ireland (CAI). Interviews were conducted with members of CAI and a phenomenographic approach was used to examine participants' perceptions and practices with regard to professional competence and continuing engagement with professional development.Variations were evident with regard to participants' perceptions of professional status and professional competence. Variations also emerged in relation to participants' experiences of maintaining and developing professional competence. These variations pertain to distinct practitioner lifeworlds; comprising practice versus non-practice, gender and experiential stages.The 'essence' of the professional competence phenomenon highlighted that practitioners experience a series of developmental 'blocks', at varying experiential stages. These experiential stages are novice, competent, proficient and expert. There are varying foci at each experiential stage. There are also varying perceptions of professional competence at each stage: professional competence comprises personal (innate), knowledge ('know that') and social ('know how') competences but there is strong differentiation within each of these categories at each distinct experiential stage, with a focus on knowledge competence at novice stage and an emphasis on social competence at expert stage. Lifelong learning elements accompany each developmental 'block'. The maintenance and development of professional competence is thus akin to a progressive, unceasing, process which encapsulates lifelong learning. Furthermore, it is apparent that no one particular mode of learning is sufficient i.e. as practitioners gain more experience and develop more expertise, their modes of learning change. At early experiential stages, the focus is on formal learning, 'amassing' large volumes of prescriptive technical knowledge and techniques, with little acknowledgement of actual role experiences. As practitioners progress, the value of experience is acknowledged and there is a growing autonomy with regard to what and how competences are learned and developed. There is also increasing reliance on learning through engagement with others. At more advanced experiential stages, learning largely results from experiences and is more holistic and intuitive.The study extends the application of phenomenographic research to the accounting practitioner domain. It also adds to existing literature by providing a detailed account of the work of accounting practitioners and of their perceptions and practices with regard to professional competence and professional development. The study thus provides a backdrop of developmental experiences and a means of facilitating CAI to affect a more 'rounded' and practical developmental approach for its member practitioners.


ABSTRACT Cell culture studies have implicated the oxygen-sensitive hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) prolyl hydroxylase PHD3 in the regulation of neuronal apoptosis. To better understand this function in vivo, we have created PHD3−/− mice and analyzed the neuronal phenotype. Reduced apoptosis in superior cervical ganglion (SCG) neurons cultured from PHD3−/− mice is associated with an increase in the number of cells in the SCG, as well as in the adrenal medulla and carotid body. Genetic analysis by intercrossing PHD3−/− mice with HIF-1a+/− and HIF-2a+/− mice demonstrated an interaction with HIF-2α but not HIF-1α, supporting the nonredundant involvement of a PHD3-HIF-2α pathway in the regulation of sympathoadrenal development. Despite the increased number of cells, the sympathoadrenal system appeared hypofunctional in PHD3−/− mice, with reduced target tissue innervation, adrenal medullary secretory capacity, sympathoadrenal responses, and systemic blood pressure. These observations suggest that the role of PHD3 in sympathoadrenal development extends beyond simple control of cell survival and organ mass, with functional PHD3 being required for proper anatomical and physiological integrity of the system. Perturbation of this interface between developmental and adaptive signaling by hypoxic, metabolic, or other stresses could have important effects on key sympathoadrenal functions, such as blood pressure regulation.


Effectiveness evaluation of information retrieval systems by means of a test collection is a widely used methodology. However, it is rather expensive in terms of resources, time, and money; therefore, many researchers have proposed methods for a cheaper evaluation. One particular approach, on which we focus in this article, is to use fewer topics: in TREC-like initiatives, usually system effectiveness is evaluated as the average effectiveness on a set of n topics (usually, n=50, but more than 1,000 have been also adopted); instead of using the full set, it has been proposed to find the best subsets of a few good topics that evaluate the systems in the most similar way to the full set. The computational complexity of the task has so far limited the analysis that has been performed. We develop a novel and efficient approach based on a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm. The higher efficiency of our new implementation allows us to reproduce some notable results on topic set reduction, as well as perform new experiments to generalize and improve such results. We show that our approach is able to both reproduce the main state-of-the-art results and to allow us to analyze the effect of the collection, metric, and pool depth used for the evaluation. Finally, differently from previous studies, which have been mainly theoretical, we are also able to discuss some practical topic selection strategies, integrating results of automatic evaluation approaches.


Iron oxidizers are widespread in marine environments and play an important role in marine iron cycling. However, little is known about the overall distribution of iron oxidizers within hydrothermal systems, including settings with little hydrothermal activity. Moreover, the extent to which different phylogenetic groups of iron oxidizers exhibit niche specialization toward different environmental settings, remains largely unknown. Obtaining such knowledge is critical to unraveling the impact of the activity of iron oxidizers and how they are adapted. Here, we used 16S rRNA sequencing to characterize the distribution of iron oxidizers in different environmental settings within the Jan Mayen hydrothermal vent fields (JMVFs). Putative iron oxidizers affiliated to Zetaproteobacteria and Betaproteobacteria were detected within iron mounds, bottom seawater, basalt surfaces, and surface layers of sediments. The detected iron oxidizers were compared to sequence types previously observed in patchily distributed iron mats associated with diffuse venting at the JMVFs. Most OTUs of iron oxidizers reoccurred under different environmental settings, suggesting a limited degree of niche specialization. Consequently, most of the detected iron oxidizers seem to be generalists with a large habitat range. Our study highlights the importance of gathering information about the overall distribution of iron oxidizers in hydrothermal systems to fully understand the role of this metabolic group regarding cycling of iron. Furthermore, our results provide further evidence of the presence of iron-oxidizing members of Betaproteobacteria in marine environments.


Throughout the world one finds that small businesses are playing critical roles in absorbing labour, penetrating new markets, and promoting entrepreneurial and innovative activities. These businesses have the same information needs as their bigger counterparts. Web portals can offer small businesses platforms to reach information resources effectively and hence create a stimulating business community for entrepreneurship. The purpose of this research was to investigate the extent to which online community information portals can promote the use of information resources for small retail business in South Africa. For the empirical part of this research 150 questionnaires were completed by small retail businesses. The questionnaire consisted of four sections: business biographical information; business information and agencies; information and communication technologies usage; and community and portal activities. It was found that small business owners and managers are unwilling to disclose business information, especially their financial information but that they are very interested in networking with other businesses, in particular with potential customers and suppliers.


Fertility trends in India exhibit much spatial variation, with some regions reaching total fertility rates below 2.0 even as others lag far behind with levels above 4.0. The relevant literature is replete with references to the conditions that have promoted or retarded declines in fertility. There is, however, a tendency to regard development and diffusion as exclusive hypotheses in explaining the differential trends. This may be due to the fact that studies generally focus on economic and social development and treat diffusion as an inherent process. This paper is an attempt to enlarge the focus to look at the pace of fertility change in terms of combinations of both development and diffusion factors as explanations for regional variations. It is an exploratory exercise.


Internet topology analysis has attracted a lot of attention in recent years, since its relationship to a variety of networking technologies and phenomena is not only fundamental but generally poorly understood. Performance of applications and protocols, especially routing protocols, robustness of the network under attack, traffic engineering, etc., depend crucially on the topology of the network. In this work we focus on two cornerstones of Internet topology research: 1) knowledge of realistic network topologies; and 2) availability of tools to generate them.


Companies constantly present technological developments-new materials, new mechanisms, and new ways to enhance existing products and services. Yet these seldom lead to truly new ideas. Why? Humans are all born with creative instincts, but in the interest of efficient and predictable productivity, institutions such as schools and businesses routinely hinder those impulses. The most innovative products and services, author Alexander Manu argues, arise out of the behaviors of play--the ability to imagine, without limits, the question "What if...?" Manu's engaging and inspiring book offers companies a wealth of practical advice and tactics to unleash their full creative potential and break ahead of the crowd. Manu's provocative, insightful applied methodologies for creating new business opportunities and transformative innovations gain resonance from real-world scenarios and conversations with leading innovators such as MIT's Mitchel Resnick. Readers will learn strategies to: i¾ Open their companies' eyes to unseen opportunities i¾ Spark the imagination and trigger the potential of product innovation teams i¾ Turn inspired ideas into successful products and services.


Choices rely on a transformation of sensory inputs into motor responses. Using invasive single neuron recordings, the evolution of a choice process has been tracked by projecting population neural responses into state spaces. Here we develop an approach that allows us to recover state space trajectories on a millisecond timescale in non-invasive human recordings. We selectively suppress activity related to relevant and irrelevant sensory inputs and response direction in magnetoencephalography data acquired during context-dependent choices. Recordings from premotor cortex show a smooth progression from sensory input encoding to response encoding. In contrast to previous macaque recordings, information related to choice-irrelevant features is represented more weakly than choice-relevant sensory information. To test whether this mechanistic difference between species is caused by extensive overtraining common in non-human primate studies, we trained humans on >20,000 trials of the task. Choice-irrelevant features were still weaker than relevant features in premotor cortex after overtraining.


Soil biological properties are important for the stabilization and preservation of a good soil structure. Management practices can affect the diversity and population of microorganisms, which could beneficially change soil properties and promote a more sustainable dryland crop production. This study was established near Pontotoc, MS, USA (34°07′ N, 88°59′ W) on an Atwood silt loam (fine-silty, mixed, semiactive, thermic Typic Paleudalf) to evaluate the impacts of cover crops, planting dates and fertilizer sources (poultry litter, inorganic fertilizer and no fertilizer) on selected biologically related soil properties in a no-tillage, dryland soybean production. Soil analyses included total carbon and nitrogen, permanganate oxidizable carbon (POXC), easily extractable glomalin-related soil protein (EE-GRSP), water stable aggregate (WSA) and soil pH. Cover crop production and soybean yield were also determined. The results indicated that the fertilizer source had an impact on total nitrogen, EE-GRSP and soybean yield. Total N was 6% higher with poultry litter at the early planting date compared to no fertilizer (control) (p < 0.0018) and at the late planting date, when total N and EE-GRSP were increased by 11% and 13%, respectively, with poultry litter compared to no fertilizer. Additionally, soil pH was reduced by 0.25 units in the poultry litter-amended treatment. Soybean yield was increased by 68% and 51% in early-planted soybean and 42% and 40% in late-planted soybean with poultry litter and inorganic fertilizer, respectively, compared to no fertilizer. This study revealed that biological soil properties and soybean yield were influenced by poultry litter application. The results showed no significant effects of cover crops over the short time period of the study.


Purpose

With the growth in outsourcing it is imperative to understand the vendor's satisfaction with IT outsourcing relationships since contractual and relationship factors affect the ability of vendors and clients to work together over time. A recent study demonstrated that relational factors such as trust and information exchange dominated in their ability to explain client satisfaction when compared to contractual factors. The purpose of this paper is to further examine how the relational factors work together to lead to vendor satisfaction in an outsourcing relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey was developed and pre-tested with vendors in India and client firms in the USA that used international IT vendors. Using data collected from 214 vendor firms in the Indian subcontinent the paper examines the main effect of two client focused variables, namely, competence-based trust and client dependence on vendor satisfaction; it also explores whether social control moderate the main effect relationships.

Findings

The findings indicate that client dependence and competence-based trust were significant direct predictors of vendor satisfaction. Social control or the ability to resolve conflicts positively moderated the effect client dependence on vendor satisfaction. But it did not impact the effect of competence-based trust on vendor satisfaction.

Research limitations/implications

The authors identify three limitations: a dyadic analysis using both the client and the vendor perspective would have provided a richer understanding of the relationship; since the data were collected on a cross-sectional basis, it is hard to make predictive assessments; and a limited response rate.

Practical implications

These findings help us understand the factors that impact vendor satisfaction in an outsourcing relationship and this is one of the keys to maintaining a long-term relationship between transacting parties.

Originality/value

Previous studies have explored the relational aspects of a vendor-client interaction from the client's point of view and, here, the authors take the vendor's perspective, which is increasingly important due to the increasing complexity of work outsourced. Besides exploring the direct effect competence-based trust and client dependence on vendor satisfaction, the authors also analyze the role of social control as a moderator.


The discovery of community structure in networks is a problem of considerable interest in recent years. In online social networks, often times, users are simultaneously involved in multiple social media sites, some of which share common social relationships. It is of great interest to uncover a shared community structure across these networks. However, in reality, users typically identify themselves with different usernames across social media sites. This creates a great difficulty in detecting the community structure. In this paper, we explore several approaches for community detection across online social networks with limited knowledge of username alignment across the networks. We refer to the known alignment of usernames as seeds. We investigate strategies for seed selection and its impact on networks with a different fraction of overlapping vertices. The goal is to study the interplay between network topologies and seed selection strategies, and to understand how it affects the detected community structure. We also propose several measures to assess the performance of community detection and use them to measure the quality of the detected communities in both Twitter-Twitter networks and Twitter-Instagram networks.


In our everyday lives, we are required to make decisions based upon our statistical intuitions. Often, these involve the comparison of two groups, such as luxury versus family cars and their suitability. Research has shown that the mean difference affects judgements where two sets of data are compared, but the variability of the data has only a minor influence, if any at all. However, prior research has tended to present raw data as simple lists of values. Here, we investigated whether displaying data visually, in the form of parallel dot plots, would lead viewers to incorporate variability information. In Experiment 1, we asked a large sample of people to compare two fictional groups (children who drank 'Brain Juice' versus water) in a one-shot design, where only a single comparison was made. Our results confirmed that only the mean difference between the groups predicted subsequent judgements of how much they differed, in line with previous work using lists of numbers. In Experiment 2, we asked each participant to make multiple comparisons, with both the mean difference and the pooled standard deviation varying across data sets they were shown. Here, we found that both sources of information were correctly incorporated when making responses. Taken together, we suggest that increasing the salience of variability information, through manipulating this factor across items seen, encourages viewers to consider this in their judgements. Such findings may have useful applications for best practices when teaching difficult concepts like sampling variation.


Democritus University of Thrace (DUTh) has formed, under the European Project Renaissance (Renewable Integration & Sustainability in Energy Communities, HORIZON 2020, GA 824342), a virtual Renewable Energy Community (REC) in Greece located nearby Kimmeria at the northeast of the city of Xanthi, at the North-eastern Greece. The REC formed is the first energy community designed in a public housing settlement in Greece and its members are: (a) the Democritus University of Thrace, (b) the Municipality of Xanthi and (c) a local industry. DUTh's main objective is to explore, leverage and mobilize stakeholders to apply schemes for a social group of end users (i.e., students from low-income families) in order to participate in the operation and management of a local renewable energy community, gaining also non-financial benefits. This paper presents the business case scenario and the market players evolving at an Energy Community which includes a public establishment of student residences in Greece.


Mobile ad hoc network is a collection of mobile nodes forming dynamic and temporary network. The mobile nodes work in collaborative nature to carry out a given task. It can receive and transmit data packets without the use of any existing network infrastructure or centralized administration. Multicasting is among the pertinent issues of communication in such networks. The reliable delivery of multicast data packets needs feedback from all multicast receivers to indicate whether a retransmission is necessary. The Feedback Implosion Problem (FIP) states that reliable multicast in ad hoc networks suffers from redundant feedback packets, loss, duplication, and out-of-order delivery of data packets. To carry out this task, several reliable multicast protocols have been proposed to reduce the number of feedback packets from the receiver nodes. This is achieved by placing the responsibility to detect packet loss and initiating loss recovery timer on the receiver nodes which is complemented by feedback suppression. The initiating loss recovery timer depends on the number of hops between the nodes. As the dynamic nature of the number of hops between the nodes in ad hoc networks is unstable the loss recovery timer become inaccurate. Thus, the inaccuracy of the loss recovery timer, in return, causes extra overhead and more delays. The main objectives of this research are to enhance the FIP and decrease the recovery delays in reliable multicast protocol for mobile ad hoc networks using suggested approaches. First, the Source Tree Reliable Multicast (STRM) protocol adopting a novel technique to select a subset of one-hop neighbors from the sender node as its Forward Servers (FS). The key idea behind selecting this subset one-hop neighbors is to forward the retransmitted lost data packets and to receive the feedback packets from the receiver nodes. Second, proposed two algorithms to improve the performance of the STRM protocol. The first algorithm is developed to avoid the buffer overflow in the FS nodes. This is achieved by managing the buffer of the FS nodes; by selecting the FS nodes depending on the empty buffer size it has and reducing the amount of feedback sent from the receiver nodes to their FS node. The second algorithm is developed to decrease the number of duplicated packets in the multicast members in the local group. This is achieved by sending the repair packets only to the member that has requested it. The FS in the local group should create a dynamic and temporary sub group whose members are only the members that requested the retransmission of the repair packet. The approaches were tested using detailed discrete-event simulation model which was developed encompassing messaging system that includes error, delay and mobility models to characterize the performance benefits of the proposed algorithms in comparison to ReMHoc protocol. Our approaches achieve up to 2.19% improvement on average packet delivery ratio, 3.3% on requested packets, and 46% on recovery latency time without incurring any additional communication or intense computation.


The weight of a vector in the finite vector space $\mathrm{GF}(q)^n$ is the number of nonzero components it contains. We show that for a certain range of parameters $(n,j,k,w)$ the number of $k$-dimensional subspaces having $j(q-1)$ vectors of minimum weight $w$ has asymptotically a Poisson distribution with parameter $\lambda={n\choose w}(q-1)^{w-1}q^{k-n}$. As the Poisson parameter grows, the distribution becomes normal.


The authors hypothesize that excavation-induced extension fractures are caused by elastic shearing displacement that in turn causes tension oblique to a propagating shear zone. Such extension is manifested as tension on scales larger than that of microcracks. En echelon fracture patterns are a common result. FLAC modeling confirmed that localized tension is created near the corners of mine openings. In the model, tension was concentrated at the leading edge of a simulated fracture in a pattern that could promote the formation of an en echelon fracture. Particle Flow Code models confirm progressive formation of en echelon tensile failures with distance from an opening. The elastic displacements and the resulting fractures facilitate reduction in applied load at the expense of shear deformation and lateral dilation. Understanding the mechanics of fracture and deformation is vital for designing more effective ground support practices, a major objective of ground control research being conducted at the Spokane Research Laboratory of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.


Contextual factors are typically neglected in both theorizing and empirical tests on executive pay. The fast majority of empirical investigations use data from U.S. based firms. Theoretical implications are typically developed, understood and tested on the basis of the U.S. context. However, the U.S. case is not the world wide standard. Pay in other countries is on average considerably lower and have a different pay mix. The puzzle that from the typical use of agency theory can't be explained is the variance of pay practices that exist not only within countries but also across countries. This paper extends scholars renewed attention to managerial power theory on executive pay. It sets out how and why institutional theory must be included in explanations of executive pay. On the basis of a sample of executive pay packages from 17 different countries we test the theoretical extensions. Results indicate that institutions interact with firm level determinants of executive pay. Explanations for executive pay should therefore account for the variance of pay practices within and across countries. Highlighting that the institutional embeddedness of pay practices play an important role in finding conclusive explanations of current pay practices.


Romeo and Juliet and The Romance of the Western Chamber are both great monuments that eulogize love and break through the feudalistic constraints in human history. The previous research usually focuses on the artistic aesthetics and thought and culture of the drama, and little has discussed about the differences and similarities of Cui Yingying and Juliet and its causes. Both Cui Yingying and Juliet are pioneers, who have outstanding appearance and revolt against feudalism of an era, but after careful reading, we can see that the former one is passionate and keyed-up while the later one is periphrastic and cautious. Appreciating two characters together to figure out the reasons behind the differences helps us to comprehend the similarities and differences between Chinese and foreign literature better, at the same time to perceive the marks of western and Chinese culture that engrave on the soul of the two characters.


Abstract

Background: Providing an effective exercise prescription process for a patient with non-specific chronic low back pain (NSCLBP) within the limits of time that a busy clinician faces is a challenging task. Emerging research has indicated that partnership in care and shared decision making are important for people with NSCLBP, and calls for further investigation into the approaches used to prescribe exercise.

Objective: To explore the characteristics and processes of physiotherapy exercise prescription for patients with NSCLBP, and investigate how shared decision making and patient partnership are addressed by physiotherapists in this process.

Design: A qualitative study using a philosophical hermeneutic approach. In phase one of the study eight physiotherapists were each observed on three occasions undertaking their usual clinical activities. They participated in brief interviews after each observation and a later in depth semi-structured interview. In phase two semi-structured interviews with eight patients including use of some brief patient vignettes was undertaken to provide a rich descriptive text of their personal experiences of receiving exercise as part of the management of their NSCLBP, and their involvement in decisions regarding their treatment plans. In depth iterative hermeneutic strategies were used to interpret the texts and identify the characteristics and processes of exercise prescription for patients with NSCLBP.
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Analysis: Thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke, 1996) was employed to search for themes and patterns from the observations and interviews with physiotherapists and patients.

Findings: The findings provide a complex understanding of how physiotherapists regard and utilise exercise based management strategies for patients with NSCLBP. Patient partnership and shared decision making were rarely evident and were linked to the physiotherapists' clinical orientations, cognitive and decision making processes, and assumptions about patients.The overall feeling of the patients was that the role they played in the therapeutic interaction was a marginal one, such that the therapist was dominant in structuring the interactions, leaving the patients feeling disempowered to question and contribute.

Conclusions: This research, by focusing on a patient-centred approach, makes an important contribution to the body of evidence relating to the management of NSCLBP. It challenges physiotherapists to critically appraise their approaches to the prescription of exercise therapy in order to improve outcomes in these patients.


Summary Aim Oxidative stress, which is widely recognised as an important feature of many diseases, can be defined as an increased formation of reactive oxygen species or decreased antioxidant defense. In this study we measured plasma vitamin E levels and total antioxidant activity (AOA) in patients with slow coronary flow (SCF). Methods The plasma vitamin E levels and AOA were measured in 40 patients with angiographically diagnosed SCF. Forty subjects with normal coronary flow (NCF) served as the control group. SCF and NCF were analysed, and blood samples were taken for plasma vitamin E levels and AOA. Plasma vitamin E levels and AOA in patients with SCF were evaluated and compared to those of patients with NCF. Results There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of plasma AOA, lipid profile and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels but there was a significant difference in vitamin E levels between the two groups (p = 0.001). Conclusion Vitamin E levels were found to be lowered in patients with SCF compared to the NCF group. The association between smoking and vitamin E levels is worth further investigating in larger samples.


Alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma comprises a rare highly malignant tumor presumed to be associated with skeletal muscle lineage in children. The hallmark of the majority of alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma is a chromosomal translocation that generates the PAX3-FOXO1 fusion protein, which is an oncogenic transcription factor responsible for the development of the malignant phenotype of this tumor. Alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma cells are dependent on the oncogenic activity of PAX3-FOXO1, and its expression status in alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma tumors correlates with worst patient outcome, suggesting that blocking this activity of PAX3-FOXO1 may be an attractive therapeutic strategy against this fusion-positive disease. In this study, we screened small molecule chemical libraries for inhibitors of PAX3-FOXO1 transcriptional activity using a cell-based readout system. We identified the Sarco/endoplasmic reticulum Ca2þ-ATPases (SERCA) inhibitor thapsigargin as an effective inhibitor of PAX3-FOXO1. Subsequent experiments in alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma cells showed that activation of AKT by thapsigargin inhibited PAX3-FOXO1 activity via phosphorylation. Moreover, this AKT activation appears to be associated with the effects of thapsigargin on intracellular calcium levels. Furthermore, thapsigargin inhibited the binding of PAX3-FOXO1 to target genes and subsequently promoted its proteasomal degradation. In addition, thapsigargin treatment decreases the growth and invasive capacity of alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma cells while inducing apoptosis in vitro. Finally, thapsigargin can suppress the growth of an alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma xenograft tumor in vivo. These data reveal that thapsigargin-induced activation of AKT is an effective mechanism to inhibit PAX3-FOXO1 and a potential agent for targeted therapy against alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma. Mol Cancer Ther; 12(12); 2663–74. 2013 AACR.


This qualitative study explored the ways in which mothers of children with Down syndrome interpreted their experiences of motherhood. The narratives of 19 mothers were analyzed. The findings indicate that their identities as mothers were negotiated in the context of the sociocultural meaning of disability and dominant narratives on motherhood. In institutional and interpersonal discourses, they became positioned as other. Their narratives shed light on their resistance to otherness, their contextualized understanding of mothering a child with Down syndrome, and the ways in which they negotiated access to the constructed category of normative motherhood. The study suggests that a conceptual shift is needed in understanding the familial experience of raising a child with Down syndrome. Moving away from assumptions of negative outcomes for these families, professionals need to acknowledge the embeddedness of their experiences in sociocultural beliefs and practices that devalue children with disabilities.


Spatial separation within predator communities can arise via territoriality but also from competitive interactions among and within species. However, linking competitive interactions to predator distribution patterns is difficult and theoretical models predict different habitat selection patterns dependent on habitat quality and how competition manifests itself. While models generally consider competitors to be either equal in ability, or for one phenotype to have a fixed advantage over the other, few studies consider that an animal may only have a competitive advantage in specific habitats. We used  10 years of telemetry data, habitat surveys and behavioral experiments, to show spatial partitioning between and within two species of reef shark (grey reef Carcharhinus amblyrhinchos and blacktip reef sharks C. melanopterus) at an unfished Pacific atoll. Within a species, sharks remained within small 'sub-habitats' with very few movements of individuals between sub-habitats, which previous models have suggested could be caused by intra-specific competition. Blacktip reef sharks were more broadly distributed across habitat types but a greater proportion used lagoon and backreef habitats, while grey reef sharks preferred forereef habitats. Grey reef sharks at a nearby atoll where blacktip reef sharks are absent, were distributed more broadly between habitat types than when both species were present. A series of individual-based models predict that habitat separation would only arise if there are competitive interactions between species that are habitat-specific, with grey reefs having a competitive advantage on the forereefs and blacktips in the lagoons and backreef. We provide compelling evidence that competition helps drive distribution patterns and spatial separation of a marine predator community, and highlight that competitive advantages may not be constant but rather dependent on habitats.


Periodontitis is a chronic inflammatory disease affecting the supporting structures of the teeth and results in loss of supporting bone around the teeth leading to eventual tooth loss. It is a multifactorial disease that involves bacteria and host responses. Advanced options to treat periodontitis are aimed at regeneration procedures to restore lost periodontal structures. These include bone replacement grafts and the use of biological materials to enhance regeneration. Platelet-rich fibrin (PRF) is an autologous platelet-rich concentrate derived from a fibrin clot and is a natural source of growth factors derived from platelets, which are released over time and have been shown to have potential in periodontal procedures to enhance wound healing and regeneration. This chapter will focus on the past, current and future scope of PRF for treating periodontitis.


In the course of analysis to identify potential allergens in GMO crops, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has belatedly discovered that the most common genetic regulatory sequence in commercial GMOs also encodes a significant fragment of a viral gene (Podevin and du Jardin 2012) [1]. This finding has serious ramifications for crop biotechnology and its regulation, but possibly even greater ones for consumers and farmers. This is because there are clear indications that this viral gene (called Gene VI) might not be safe for human consumption. It also may disturb the normal functioning of crops, including their natural pest resistance.


The second half of the twelfth century witnessed a curious boom at the Heian Court in Japan—the production of illustrated handscrolls whose narratives centered on a specific type of historical figure. Within a span of fifty years or less, three such handscroll sets were produced: the Kibi Daijin nittō emaki, the Ban Dainagon emaki, and the Kitano Tenjin engi emaki. In each story, the protagonist is an aristocrat who had lived three-to-four-hundred years previous to the production of the handscroll set. Each of the men in question had died in exile, and each was—at one point or another—believed to have become a vengeful spirit. Moreover, in each case, the narrative presented in the handscroll differs from, or elides, the historical record. The Kibi Daijin nittō emaki presents an entirely fictional tale based only loosely on the lives of its protagonists; the Ban Dainagon emaki records a highly embellished version of a well-documented political scandal; and the Kitano Tenjin engi emaki constructs a mythology from the details of the life and death of one of the period's most accomplished bureaucrats.

This dissertation explores the production of these three handscrolls—which I refer to as "vengeful spirit scrolls"—and focuses on the role of the re-imagining and redeployment of historical figures in these scrolls to processes of power consolidation in the late-twelfth and early-thirteenth centuries. Taking a thematic approach, I examine these handscrolls from the perspective of their role in early literary movements to reinvent historical figures, in contemporaneous perceptions of supernatural creatures, and in ritual practices such as spirit pacification rites. I also consider the scrolls from within the social context of the collapse of the traditional courtly power base at the end of the Heian period (794-1185) and beginning of the Kamakura period (1185-1333). In so doing, my project explores two main research questions: how handscrolls from this period reflect the sociopolitical changes that were ongoing during their production and how they might have been used by members of the courtier class to negotiate the intersection of temporal and non-temporal power.


Ground-motion prediction equations (GMPEs) are one of the key input parameters for seismic hazard assessment ( e.g. , Petersen et al. 2008) and for the site-specific ground-motion response spectrum (GMRS) for nuclear power plants (U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 2007). Examples of GMPEs developed for the central and eastern United States include Somerville et al. (2001), Silva et al. (2002), Campbell (2003), and Atkinson and Boore (2006). Led by Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research, a significant effort is under way to systematically develop GMPEs for the central and eastern United States, next-generation attenuation for the eastern North America, or so-called NGA-East.

The development of GMPEs in the central and eastern United States is hindered by the lack of ground-motion observations, particularly from large earthquakes (M 7 or larger). It is desirable to compare any GMPE developed for the central and eastern United States with the ground-motion observations from similar earthquakes in other stable continental regions (SCR) of the world. For example, Cramer and Kumar (2003) compared ground motions recorded by structural response recorders ( i.e. , engineering seismoscopes) within 300 km fault-distance from the 2001 Bhuj, India, earthquake (M 7.6) to several published GMPEs for the central and eastern United States.

On 12 May 2008, a large intra-plate earthquake (M 7.9) occurred in Wenchuan, China, along …


Clustering coefficients is a building block in network sciences that offers insights on how tightly bound vertices are in a network. Effective and scalable parallelization of clustering coefficients requires load balancing amongst the cores. This property is not easy to achieve since many real world networks are scale free, which leads to some vertices requiring more attention than others. In this work we show two scalable approaches that load balance clustering coefficients. The first method achieves optimal load balancing with an Ο(|E|) storage requirement. The second method has a lower storage requirement of Ο(|V|) at the cost of some imbalance. While both methods have a similar time complexity, they represent a tradeoff between maintaining a balanced workload and memory complexity. Using a 40-core system we show that our load balancing techniques outperform the widely used and simple parallel approach by a factor of 3X-7.5X for real graphs and 1.5X-4X for random graphs. Further, we achieve 25X-35X speedup over the sequential algorithm for most of the graphs.


Enhancements to a small thermobaric warhead were incorporated to improve the Insensitive Munition (IM) response to Bullet Impact (BI) and Slow Cook-Off (SCO). The munition currently does not receive a passing reaction for BI, SCO, or Fragment Impact (FI). The original plan was to address BI and SCO, the two worst ratings, however cost savings were realized and FI was also tested. IM technology integration included replacement of the baseline thermobaric material with a shock mitigating reactive lining system and the integration of a modified aft closure and aft closure vent cover. The warhead with the IM technology integration resulted in passing reactions in all three tests, BI, SCO, and FI. In addition to improving the IM response, it was important to maintain or potentially improve the thermobaric component of this system. The thermobaric performance was testing through the static detonation of the warheads in an instrumented two-room structure. While the predicted Blast Overpressure (BOP) lethality of the baseline verses the IM enhanced warhead were similar, the IM enhanced warhead exhibited a reduction in thermobaric performance.


The thesis considers one of the central problems of corporate planning for a construction company, the project selection and bidding decision, and a model is developed for the entire decision environment.

The nature of decision systems is examined and considered to consist of the identification, evaluation and selection from a range of options. Corporate decisions are discussed leading to the conclusion that a suitable model is needed.

A basic model is proposed in which three outcome criteria consisting of people, money and property are required to be assessed, the values of the outcome criteria being determined by four project characteristics. Some approaches to the solution of multiple criteria problems are examined.

The implications of time are next considered and the use of Gottinger's sequential machines examined as a means of modelling the complexities involved. Non-deterministic aspects of the problem are introduced which, together with dynamical considerations, suggest a model of intermediate complexity to be appropriate.

The final chapters of the thesis concentrate on some ways in which the computational burden associated with the model can be reduced. The role of decision strategies is examined as a means of identifying the most suitable options. The suitability of probabilistic approaches to modelling non-deterministic aspects is investigated and an empirical analysis of three sets of bidding data is made to examine some possible simplifying assumptions.


With rising energy costs and the carbon tax implementation in Australia, businesses concern with respect to energy efficiency have increased. As their operating costs rise, many have opted to explore sustainable energy solutions which serve to combat/decrease the effect of these rises. So much so, that Balance Utility Solutions (B.U.S) was formed in 2011 to service the growing market for integrated and sustainable energy solutions. To exemplify their renewable edge, the company had opted to replace 20kW (base load) of grid supplied electricity, with renewable energy by 2015. With this project serving to cover 4kW of the opted renewable replacement.

The 4kW system was an auction purchase (2nd hand system, with 2 years previous use), of a lump sum of many different components/parts. The parts specified for this project were, 4kW's of photovoltaic panels, 2 grid tied inverters, and 24 x 2V batteries (48V DC battery bank), with one bidirectional battery Inverter as a backup.

The original aim of this project was to analyse, plan and install the system, with the capability of supplying power to the office load during daylight hours, thus decreasing the amount of electricity purchased from Synergy.

Due to changes being made on the roof, and a significant relationship formed by B.U.S and a leading solar technology supplier, the aim was modified to;

Have all necessary documents, and plans ready and approved before the internship completion.

Have a system design that was able to supply power to the grid during daylight hours, and also have the capability to be disconnected from the grid, and used as part of an island test facility.

Therefore this report is a breakdown of the processes, analysis, and modifications that were made to achieve these aims. Furthermore, the report serves to satisfy the stakeholder's key interests of;

Gaining an understanding of the systems components, with a greater emphasis on PV technology.

And having a financial analysis of their investment.

Key findings throughout the project were;

A system analysis output, with a generation of 7.171MWh/annually

A good payback period of 4.4 years, with an internal rate of return of 18.8%.

Having the PV panels face north, instead of 35°, E of N (original orientation of building/roof), has no significant effect on the systems output.

Having the panels sloped at 26° increased the incident annual solar radiation by 300kWh/m2/day, with respect to having them laid flat on the roof.

This system could not apply for Renewable Energy Credits (REC's), due to it being 2nd hand.

Grid-tied inverters had transformers, however, the lack of galvanic isolation issues were negligible.

Professional engineers constantly deal with dynamic/changes in their projects, and have to be quick and efficient in adapting to these changes.


Theoretical claims about the benefits of conversational interaction have been made by Gass (1997), Long (1996), Pica (1994), and others. The Interaction Hypothesis suggests that negotiated interaction can facilitate SLA and that one reason for this could be that, during interaction, learners may receive feedback on their utterances. An interesting issue, which has challenged interactional research, concerns how learners perceive feedback and whether their perceptions affect their subsequent L2 development. The present research addresses the first of these issues–learners' perceptions about interactional feedback. The study, involving 10 learners of English as a second language and 7 learners of Italian as a foreign language, explores learners' perceptions about feedback provided to them through task-based dyadic interaction. Learners received feedback focused on a range of morphosyntactic, lexical, and phonological forms. After completing the tasks, learners watched videotapes of their previous interactions and were asked to introspect about their thoughts at the time the original interactions were in progress. The results showed that learners were relatively accurate in their perceptions about lexical, semantic, and phonological feedback. However, morphosyntactic feedback was generally not perceived as such. Furthermore, the nature as well as the content of the feedback may have affected learners' perceptions.


This paper describes a study of the nudibranchs from the family Chromodorididae Bergh, 1891 that were sampled in several expeditions along the coast of Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Fernando de Noronha (Brazil). A total of eight species of this family were studied and a new species, Chromodoris paulomarcioi n. sp., is described. The taxon Hypselodoris picta lajensis Troncoso, Garcia and Urgorri, 1998, is proposed for consideration within the taxonomic category of species, and new records for some species are provided.


We report the amplification of bacterial genes from uninoculated surface and subsurface sediments by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). PCR amplification of indigenous bacterial 16S ribosomal DNA genes was unsuccessful when subsurface sediment containing approximately 10(7) cells.g-1 was added directly to a PCR mixture. However, when 10 mg of sediment was inoculated with approximately 10(5) cells of Pseudomonas putida G7, the nahAc naphthalene dioxygenase gene characteristic of the P. putida G7 NAH7 plasmid was detected by PCR amplification. Southern blotting of the PCR amplification product improved sensitivity to 10(3) to 10(4) cells from samples inoculated with P. putida G7, but controls with no sediment added showed that the PCR was partially inhibited by the sediments. Lysozyme-sodium dodecyl sulfate-freeze-thaw DNA extraction was combined with gel electrophoretic partial purification in the presence of polyvinylpyrrolidone to render DNA from indigenous bacteria in surface or subsurface sediment samples amplifiable by PCR using eubacterial 16S ribosomal DNA primers. The nahAc gene could also be amplified from indigenous bacteria by using nahAc-specific primers when PCR conditions were modified by increasing Taq and primer concentrations. Restriction digests of the nahAc amplification products from surface and subsurface sediments revealed polymorphism relative to P. putida G7. The procedures for DNA extraction, purification, and PCR amplification described here demonstrate that the PCR is a potentially useful tool in studies of function- and taxon-specific DNA from indigenous microbial communities in sediment and groundwater environments.


Modern cities and metropolitan areas all over the world face new management challenges in the 21st century primarily due to increasing demands on living standards by the urban population. These challenges range from climate change, pollution, transportation, and citizen engagement, to urban planning, and security threats. The primary goal of a Smart City is to counteract these problems and mitigate their effects by means of modern ICT to improve urban administration and infrastructure. Key ideas are to utilise network communication to inter-connect public authorities; but also to deploy and integrate numerous sensors and actuators throughout the city infrastructure - which is also widely known as the Internet of Things (IoT), Thus, IoT technologies will be an integral part and key enabler to achieve many objectives of the Smart City vision. The contributions of this paper are as follows. We first examine a number of IoT platforms, technologies and network standards that can help to foster a Smart City environment. Second, we introduce the EU project MONICA which aims for demonstration of large-scale IoT deployments at public, inner-city events and give an overview on its IoT platform architecture. And third, we provide a case-study report on SmartCity activities by the City of Hamburg and provide insights on recent (on-going) field tests of a vertically integrated, end-to-end IoT sensor application.


Composed over a ten-year period from 1990 to 2000 and lasting just over two hours, the jazz-tinged Preludes and Fugues of Henry Martin (b. 1950) constitute a significant contribution to the contemporary piano repertoire. Composer, theorist, and pianist Martin, currently on the faculty of Rutgers University, is beginning to attain recognition for his compositions, especially the piano works, through prestigious awards from the National Composers Competition sponsored by the League of Composers-International Society for Contemporary Music competition and the Barlow International Composition Competition, as well as from a growing number of performances of his works by leading pianists. His lifelong history of straddling the worlds of both classical music and jazz has contributed to his creation of twenty-four preludes and fugues--unique types of Third Stream compositions whose structure is indebted to both historical influences and Martin's remarkable innovations. After the status of related research is presented in Chapter I, Chapter II summarizes Martin's education and career, especially relevant to his Preludes and Fugues, which seem to be a capstone of both. Chapter III examines the tradition of the prelude and fugue from Bach and his contemporaries to present-day composers, considering examples of others who have followed in Bach's footsteps by writing complete sets of preludes and fugues in all diatonic keys and thus creating a setting against which to showcase Martin's approach to the genre. Chapter IV covers the compositional context of Martin's Preludes and Fugues, with discussions of Third Stream music, the Lydian mode, the American idiom, and nineteenth- and twentieth-century composers who have been sources for Martin's musical language. These influences and others are demonstrated with examples in Chapter V. In Chapter VI, Martin's twenty-four Preludes and Fugues are described individually, with note of special contrapuntal, harmonic, or stylistic features. Chapter VII includes critical assessments in reviews and articles. The four Appendices are a summary of the Preludes and Fugues in table format, a list of Martin's compositions, a list of his books and articles, and a list of other composers who have written complete sets of at least twelve preludes and fugues.


Concern for scalability — both in computational terms and in terms of human effort needed to develop semantic models and background knowledge — has hampered the adoption of semantic techniques and the Semantic Web. This concern is misplaced given the extensive progress the past decade has seen on standards, methods, and technologies for developing semantic models or ontologies, semantic annotations, and techniques for semantic integration, analysis, and reasoning. Such progress is complemented by myriad recent success stories that use semantics in broad-based applications such as Web search, as well as in a growing number of vertical domains. As the future of computing expands beyond cyberspace to cyber-physical-social computing, with extensive growth in social and sensor data, semantics will play an even larger and more pervasive role in exploiting larger amounts of increasingly heterogeneous and multimodal data.


Chapter 1 Nursing's Fundamental Patterns of Knowing Knowledge for a Practice Discipline Knowing and Knowledge Overview of Nursing's Patterns of Knowing Processes for Developing Nursing Knowledge Why Develop Nursing's Patterns of Knowing? Reflection and Discussion Chapter 2 The History of Knowledge Development in Nursing From Antiquity to Nightingale From Nightingale to Science Knowing Patterns in the Early Literature The Emergence of Nursing as a Science Trends in Knowledge Development The Contexts of Knowledge Development Reflection and Discussion Chapter 3 Emancipatory Knowledge Development The Concept of Emancipatory Knowing The Rebirth of Emancipatory Knowing in Nursing The Dimensions of Emancipatory Knowing Reflection and Discussion Chapter 4 Ethical Knowledge Development Ethics, Morality, and Nursing Overview of Ethical Perspectives Nursing's Focus on Ethics and Morality Dimensions of Ethical Knowledge Development Reflection and Discussion Chapter 5 Personal Knowledge Development Personal Knowing in Nursing Conceptual Meanings of Personal Knowing Dimensions of Personal Knowing Reflection and Discussion Chapter 6 Aesthetic Knowledge Development Art and Aesthetics Aesthetic Knowing The Dimensions of Aesthetic Knowing Reflection and Discussion Chapter 7 Empiric Knowledge Development: Conceptualizing and Structuring What Is Empiric Theory? Creating Conceptual Meaning What Is a Concept? Methods for Creating Conceptual Meaning Structuring and Contextualizing Theory Reflection and Discussion Chapter 8 Description and Critical Reflection of Empiric Theory What is this? The Description of Theory How Does It Work? The Critical Reflection of Theory Reflection and Discussion Chapter 9 Confirmation and Validation of Empiric Knowledge Using Research Theory-Linked Research and Isolated Research Challenges Related to Theory-Linked Research Refining Concepts and Theoretic Relationships Designing Theoretically Sound Empiric Research Developing Sound Theoretic Research Reflection and Discussion Chapter 10 Confirmation and Validation of Empiric Knowledge in Practice Theory- and Evidence-Based Practice Refining Conceptual Meaning Validating Theoretic Relationships and Outcomes in Practice Methodologic Approaches to Validation of Relationships and Outcomes Expected Outcomes That Flow From Theoretic Reasoning Implementing a Formal Method of Study Reflection and Discussion


This dissertation studies the effects on system design when including fault tolerance design principles within security services. We start by looking at the changes made to the trust model within protocol design, and how moving away from trusted server design principles affects the structure of the protocol. Taking the primary results from this work, we move on to study how control in protocol execution can be used to increase assurances in the actions of legitimate participants. We study some examples, defining two new classes of attack, and note that by increasing client control in areas of protocol execution, it is possible to overcome certain vulnerabilities. We then look at different models in fault tolerance, and how their adoption into a secure environment can change the design principles and assumptions made when applying the models. We next look at the application of timing checks in protocols. There are some classes of timing attack that are difficult to thwart using existing techniques , because of the inherent unreliability of networked communication. We develop a method of converting the Quality of Service mechanisms built into ATM networks in order to achieve another layer of protection against timing attacks. We then study the use of primary-backup mechanisms within server design , as previous work on server replication in security centres on the use of the state machine approach for replication, which provides a higher degree of assurance in system design, but adds complexity. We then provide a design for a server to reliably and securely store objects across a loosely coupled, distributed environment. The main goal behind this design was to realise the ability for a client to exert control over the fault tolerance inherent in the service. The main conclusions we draw from our research are that fault tolerance has a wider application within security than current practices, which are primarily based on replicating servers, and clients can exert control over the protocols and mechanisms to achieve resilience against differing classes of attack. We promote some new ideas on how, by challenging the prevailing model for client-server architectures in a secure environment, legitimate clients can have greater control over the services they use. We believe this to be a useful goal, given that the client stands to lose if the security of the server is undermined. ii Acknowledgements


We propose a standardization procedure that provides a convenient, quantitative and reproducible laboratory-based method for measuring the state of polarization (SOP) fluctuations produced by polarization varying devices. This method is based on the SOP distributions generated by commercial polarization scramblers. We show that these devices generate distributions of the maximum change of the SOP (in a given sample time) that follow Rayleigh statistics, which scale linearly with scrambling frequency and the sample time. We use this procedure to measure the SOP fluctuations in a short length of coiled fiber subject to mechanical perturbations.