The United Kingdom challenges the jurisdiction of the arbitral tribunal to be established under Annex VII of the Convention by invoking article 282 of the Convention. The United Kingdom argues that parts of the case could have been brought or, in fact, had already been brought before different procedures for the settlement of disputes. Since such procedures as the one provided for in the OSPAR Convention or the Court of Justice of the European Communities would entail binding decisions, they would take precedence over the dispute settlement system as provided for in Part XV, section 2, of the Convention. This does not sufficiently take into consideration either the wording of article 282 of the Convention, the context in which it has to be read, or the objective pursued by Part XV of the Convention. The dispute settlement system under the OSPAR Convention is designed to settle disputes concerning the interpretation and application of that Convention and not concerning the Convention on the Law of the Sea. Article 220 of the EC Treaty empowers the Court of Justice of the European Communities to "... ensure that in the interpretation and application of this Treaty the law is observed ...". This provision has to be read together with article 292 of the EC Treaty, according to which "Member States undertake not to submit a dispute concerning the interpretation or application of this Treaty to any method of settlement other than those provided for therein." This does not suggest that the Court of Justice of the European Communities will decide on disputes concerning the interpretation and application of the Convention.


The research examines by means of a questionnaire survey early socialization influences upon thirty
women who have reached the level of Principal in Tasmanian schools and who have become leaders in
education. Their experiences and the factors influencing their career decisions were compared with
twenty women teachers, working in either the same or similar schools, who have reached the top of the
classroom teaching scale or AST1 level and so have the potential for further career advancement. The
qualitative and quantative data were analysed using the software programme NUD-IST (Numerical,
Unstructured Date, Indexing, Searching and Theorizing). Influences in the three domains of family,
school and community were examined in relation to career development. The two groups were found
to be different in the degree to which they impose self expectation at an early age upon themselves and
were engaged in leadership activities in their local communities. While both the Principals and Teachers
shared common perceptions of the expectations of others, the Principal's early expectations of themselves
plus their responses to the high expectation of others, were particularly significant in their career
development. The prevalent first born birth order characteristic of the women leaders noted in previous
studies was not found to be significant. Both groups were influenced by inspirational teachers and
generally enjoyed their schooling which helped shape their decisions to enter the teaching profession.
Those who went on to become Principals were more likely to have taken advantage of the Education
Department Studentship scheme and to have experienced leadership roles which had provided ''rehearsal"
opportunities for career leadership. On a personal level the women leaders proved to be more
proactive in their own motivation and desire for career development. Both were supported by family
members whilst the Principals enjoyed a more stable, home environment. Since women comprise only
a small proportion of School Principals in Tasmania, their characteristics are of particular interest in the
study of women leaders in education.


The island of Puerto Rico is officially designated as an unincorporated United States territory. Acquired by the United States in the aftermath of the Spanish-American war, the status of the island offers innumerable lessons and puzzles for students of the law of democracy and constitutional law. Begin with the fact that citizens of Puerto Rico - U.S. citizens at birth - cannot vote in federal elections but are subject to the plenary powers of Congress. How do we justify this condition under American constitutional values and basic tenets of democratic theory? Looking to the moment of acquisition, how may we reconcile the acquisition of the island in the aftermath of the war? This question morphs into the larger question of political obligation and asks, why should citizens of Puerto Rico obey the commands of U.S. law? Finally, how can we understand the grant of American citizenship to island residents a generation later? This Article offers tentative answers to these questions, and in so doing, wishes to open new lines of inquiry about the present status of Puerto Rico. This Article concludes that the status of Puerto Rico is illegitimate and in direct tension with core democratic values. Whether statehood, enhanced commonwealth, or independence emerges as the status of choice for the island, it is undisputable that the present condition of American citizens on Puerto Rican soil must come to an end.


The past several years have witnessed significant performance improvements in High-Performance Computing (HPC), due to the incorporation of GPUs as co-processors. On one hand, GPU devices are growing significantly in terms of the available number of cores and the memory hierarchy; as a result, effective utilization of the available GPU resources while limiting the system power consumption has become an issue of rising importance. On the other hand, GPU vendors are providing additional supporting features to make this easier, such as enabling concurrent execution of multiple kernels, and providing on-board power sensors that can accessed through software. Amidst these new developments, we are faced with new opportunities for efficiently scheduling GPU computational kernels under performance and power constraints. In this paper, we propose a power-aware scheduling technique that carries out both performance and power optimizations for concurrent GPU kernels. We have observed that for GPU kernels that are deployed for concurrent execution, the order in which the programmer specifies their invocation can significantly alter the execution time and the power draw. We attribute this behavior to the relative synergy (or lack thereof) among kernels that are launched within close proximity of each other. Accordingly, we define performance metrics for computing the extent to which kernels are symbiotic, as well as power metrics for reducing the overall power consumption. Both metrics are estimated by modeling the kernels' complementary resource requirements and execution characteristics. We then propose a power-aware symbiotic scheduling algorithm to obtain a concurrent kernel launch schedule with improved performance and reduced power consumption. Experimental studies are conducted on the Cray XK7 supercomputer with an NVIDIA K20 GPU in each node. The results demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed algorithm-based approach, which can be readily adopted by programmers with minimal programming effort and risk.


Cutting edge radius is a crucial factor affecting surface integrity during metal machining, which determines product performance. However, the exact mechanism of how the cutting edge radius affects machined surface has not yet been understood, especially lacking in-situ evidence during the material removal process. In this article, effects of cutting edge radius on surface roughness, subsurface deformation and work hardening of nickel-based cast superalloy are studied through an in-situ imaging approach. Based on continuous high-speed filming and digital imaging correlation (DIC) techniques, detailed chip formation and quantitative subsurface plastic deformation under various cutting edge radii are analyzed, and the formation of built-up edge (BUE) is observed when using a large edge radius. Furthermore, when the cutting edge radius is greater than the uncut chip thickness (h), the thickness of plastic deformation increases dramatically. On the other hand, the machined surface roughness can be improved when the cutting edge radius is between 30% and 60% of h. The sharp cutting tools or the cutting edge radius is higher than 60% of h result in a poor surface quality on the machined surface during nickel-based cast superalloy machining. The effects of cutting edge radius on machined surface generation are systematically categorized as cutting with chipping, cutting with significant ploughing, and cutting with ploughing accompanied by BUE formation.


The recently proposed phase imbalanced series capacitive compensation concept has been shown to be effective in enhancing power system dynamics as it has the potential of damping power swing as well as subsynchronous resonance oscillations. In this paper, coordinated control of a phase imbalanced "hybrid" series capacitive compensation scheme for damping power system oscillations is presented. A hybrid scheme is a series capacitive compensation scheme, where two phases are compensated by fixed series capacitors (C) and the third phase is compensated by an SSSC in series with a fixed capacitor (Cc). The effectiveness of the scheme in damping power system oscillations during system faults at different loading conditions is evaluated using the EMTP-RV time simulation program.


We survey recent theories of public debt that incorporate political decision making in rich dynamic environments. These theories provide a new framework with which to interpret empirical evidence and to assess institutional reforms that may help control political inefficiencies. We discuss the inefficiencies that lead to overaccumulation of debt and their implications for the long-run distribution of debt.


The work presented is based on experimental and theoretical analysis of SRC composite columns subjected to biaxial bending and axial compression, where the specification of American and European code criteria are used to calculate de load bending strength. The computer program to calculate the interaction diagram of biaxial bending and axial compression with inclined neutral axis is made in the software Matlab by using the fiber method, besides, the strength of the specimen is calculated. Users can design new frame sections and check the exist sections. To obtain the displacements and load curve, to calculate load contours and determination of the interaction family curves of the modeled sections. The destructive performance of the round and rectangle composite columns are made in the structures laboratory of EPN to obtain the results such as the buckling displacement at strong, weak and longitudinal direction measured with LVDT´S. Subsequently, the theoretical and experimental analysis results are made to demonstrate the reliability of the numeric model.Keywords: Composite Columns, Concrete, Steel


Soil aggregates are an important structural component of the soil matrix that could harbor Escherichia coli and provide an environment for its survival and water flow reentering. Knowledge of the exact pore locations within soil aggregates obtained using X‐ray computed microtomography opens new opportunities for understanding microorganism movement within the soil matrix. The first objective of this study was to assess E. coli spatial distribution within soil macroaggregates and its potential for leaving the aggregates with the saturated water flow. The second objective was to study the relationships between the distribution and movement of E. coli within soil aggregates and the aggregates' internal pore structures. We studied aggregates from the top (A) horizon of conventionally tilled (CT) and no‐till (NT) corn–soybean–wheat rotations and native succession vegetation (NS) treatments at NSF Long‐Term Ecological Research site, southwest Michigan. The results confirmed that E. coli movement in soil aggregates was mainly driven by water flow via capillary forces. E. coli redistribution was most pronounced in CT aggregates, followed by NT, and was almost negligible in NS aggregates. Pore characteristics that positively contributed to E. coli redistribution through the aggregates were the maximum flow in the aggregate centers and the ratio of the maximum flow and pore tortuosity. The E. coli retention in the aggregate's centers was positively related to porosity, percent of medium and large pores, and pore tortuosity.


We investigate magnetic reconnection and particle acceleration in relativistic pair plasmas with three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations of a kinetic-scale current sheet in a periodic geometry. We include a guide field that introduces an inclination between the reconnecting field lines and explore outside-of-the-current sheet magnetizations that are significantly below those considered by other authors carrying out similar calculations. Thus, our simulations probe the transitional regime in which the magnetic and plasma pressures are of the same order of magnitude. The tearing instability is the dominant mode in the current sheet for all guide field strengths, while the linear kink mode is less important even without the guide field, except in the lower magnetization case. Oblique modes seem to be suppressed entirely. In its nonlinear evolution, the reconnection layer develops a network of interconnected and interacting magnetic flux ropes. As smaller flux ropes merge into larger ones, the reconnection layer evolves toward a three-dimensional, disordered state in which the resulting flux rope segments contain magnetic substructure on plasma skin depth scales. Embedded in the flux ropes, we detect spatially and temporally intermittent sites of dissipation reflected in peaks in the parallel electric field. Magnetic dissipation and particle acceleration persist until the end of the simulations, with simulations with higher magnetization and lower guide field strength exhibiting greater and faster energy conversion and particle energization. At the end of our largest simulation, the particle energy spectrum attains a tail extending to high Lorentz factors that is best modeled with a combination of two additional thermal components. We confirm that the primary energization mechanism is acceleration by the electric field in the X-line region. The highest-energy positrons (electrons) are moderately beamed with median angles ∼30°–40° relative to (the opposite of) the direction of the initial current density, but we speculate that reconnection in more highly magnetized plasmas would give rise to stronger beaming. Finally, we discuss the implications of our results for macroscopic reconnection sites, and which of our results may be expected to hold in systems with higher magnetizations.


This study was designed to explore individual and dyadic coping strategies in the aftermath of a traumatic event. Eighteen persons having experienced a physical assault or a road accident within six to twelve months before the study, and eighteen matched control persons were recruited together with their partners. Each participant and his/her partner filled in several questionnaires on individual and dyadic coping strategies, level of stress and PTSD-symptomatology. Results indicate that participants having experienced a trauma, compared to controls, report a general lack of dyadic coping and, when facing daily hassles, specific decreases in individual coping strategies. These differences are discussed in the context of marital coping processes.


In Central America, the migrant crisis has grown more complicated over past years. It is estimated that about 500,000 migrants cross Mexican border every year. Most of the population is escaping from the extreme violence in the countries known as the Northern Triangle of Central America - Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. The highest homicide rate indicates the traumatic experience the migrants have been through such as torture, kidnap, gang-related crimes and extortion. Yet, it is ironic that the migrants go through even more violence on the route seeking for safety. On the journey, the people on the move are easily targeted for organised crime, theft, torture and sexual violence. This leads to a serious health condition that challenges both mentally and physically. Meanwhile, a vulnerable status of the undocumented migrants prevents them to actively seeking a protection let alone the access to the healthcare. Since 2012, Medicines Sans Frontiers (MSF), the international medical humanitarian organisation, has been providing medical and mental health care to the migrants in Mexico. Their aim is to address the needs of the displaced people in Central America, who escaped from violence, conflicts or life-threatening policies or practices. These migrants are traveling in order to seek for refugee status in the destination country, mostly the United States of America.MSF has already implemented emergency health posts where the patients can reach out during their migrant journey. However, it provides only a limited access to the medical support which cannot be more than one-time intervention. Consequently, it seems timely and necessary to understand the current situation and the MSF approach and come up with a new and innovative way to provide support and extended intervention.This project has started exploring this challenge with MSF Displacement Unit. The literature research has provided a good understanding of the societal and medical background of MSF operation. In order to understand the context better, the field research has been conducted in Mexico. This led to explore four opportunity areas and start ideation with the field team. In the field, the solutions were briefly tested to determine the final direction. After coming back to the Netherlands, the idea was developed further into the concept. Communicating with the field team, the design was evaluated and iterated. The final design is a card-set "Taking care of your emotions." It is consist of information about MSF and self-facilitated psychological exercises to serve mental health needs of the migrants during the journey in Mexico. The concept serves these two different objectives; (i) to support the current consultation and (ii) empower the resilient ability of the migrants. The final design was received positively by MSF field team and some of the migrants who participated in the evaluation study.


There is no detailed information about benign asbestos pleural effusion (BAPE). The aim of the study was to clarify the clinical features of BAPE. The criteria of enrolled patients were as follows: (1) history of asbestos exposure; (2) presence of pleural effusion determined by chest X-ray, CT, and thoracentesis; and (3) the absence of other causes of effusion. Clinical information was retrospectively analysed and the radiological images were reviewed. There were 110 BAPE patients between 1991 and 2012. All were males and the median age at diagnosis was 74 years. The median duration of asbestos exposure and period of latency for disease onset of BAPE were 31 and 48 years, respectively. Mean values of hyaluronic acid, adenosine deaminase, and carcinoembryonic antigen in the pleural fluid were 39,840 ng/mL, 23.9 IU/L, and 1.8 ng/mL, respectively. Pleural plaques were detected in 98 cases (89.1%). Asbestosis was present in 6 (5.5%) cases, rounded atelectasis was detected in 41 (37.3%) cases, and diffuse pleural thickening (DPT) was detected in 30 (27.3%) cases. One case developed lung cancer (LC) before and after BAPE. None of the cases developed malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) during the follow-up.


CRISPR-Cas systems protect bacteria and archaea from phages and other mobile genetic elements, which use small anti-CRISPR (Acr) proteins to overcome CRISPR-Cas immunity. Because they are difficult to identify, the natural diversity and impact of Acrs on microbial ecosystems is underappreciated. To overcome this discovery bottleneck, we developed a high-throughput functional selection that isolates acr genes based on their ability to inhibit CRISPR-Cas function. Using this selection, we discovered ten DNA fragments from human oral and fecal metagenomes that antagonize Streptococcus pyogenes Cas9 (SpyCas9). The most potent acr discovered, acrIIA11, was recovered from a Lachnospiraceae phage and is among the strongest known SpyCas9 inhibitors. AcrIIA11 homologs are distributed across multiple bacterial phyla and many divergent homologs inhibit SpyCas9. We show that AcrIIA11 antagonizes SpyCas9 using a different mechanism than that of previously characterized inhibitors. Our study highlights the power of functional selections to uncover widespread Cas9 inhibitors within diverse microbiomes.


Breast cancer affects approximately 1 in 8 US women, making it the most common type of female cancer. Despite numerous advances in screening programs and treatment, breast cancer remains the second leading cause of cancer deaths in women. Until recently, most research focused on targeting transformed breast epithelial cells, yet mounting evidence now attributes a large role for the surrounding breast tumor stroma in cancer progression. The breast stroma comprises myoepithelial cells that surround the epithelial cell-lined ducts of the breast, as well as fibroblasts and the extracellular matrix (ECM). Our studies have focused on the ECM glycoprotein tenascin-C (TN-C), which is generally not expressed in the normal adult breast stroma Initially, we investigated the expression pattern of TN-C via immunohistochemistry (IHC) in breast cancer tissue microarrays encompassing ˜200 patient samples, which revealed stromal TN-C expression in the majority of infiltrating ductal carcinoma cases, as well as other breast cancer types. Having established that TN-C is induced in human breast cancer stroma, we then used 3-D organotypic cultures of human MCF-10A mammary epithelial cells to model how TN-C might affect epithelial cell behavior. Accordingly, MCF-10A cells were cultured for 3-6 days in a reconstituted basement membrane cocktail (Matrigel), with or without purified human TN-C protein. Changes in 3-D epithelial cell cultures were monitored using phase contrast, immunofluorescence and confocal microscopy to examine the effects of TN-C on proliferation (via Ki-67), polarity (via laminin-5 and integrin α6), cell shape (via phospho-ezrin/radixin/moesin (P-ERM) and phalloidin), apoptosis (via caspase-3), and cell migration (via pan-keratin). Also, we developed an algorithm to provide a 3-D reconstruction of epithelial structures that were used to quantify the effects of TN-C on epithelial cell architecture. Whereas control cultures underwent normal 3-D mammary morphogenesis forming polarized spheroid structures with a centrally located lumen, TN-C treated cultures formed significantly larger, dysmorphic structures that displayed increased cell proliferation and migration, decreased apoptosis and defects in basement membrane deposition. Thus, TN-C is expressed in the stroma in a variety of breast cancers, and exerts a profound effect on normal human mammary tissue architecture.


The Ryle telescope has been used at a frequency of 15 GHz, to detect a flux decrement in the direction of the quasar pair PC 1643+4631A, B. This signal was interpreted as the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect (SZE) produced by a distant cluster of galaxies. In the course of an effort to measure cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies with a deep pointing of the VLA at 8.4 GHz, a second group detected a similar, but smaller, decrement. They also proposed that this signal might be explained as the SZE signal produced by a distant galaxy cluster. We report observations with the Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland Association (BIMA) interferometer operating at 28.5 GHz, in which we find no evidence for a SZE signal in the direction of either of the proposed clusters. In the case of the Ryle detection, the BIMA data are inconsistent with the SZE model proposed to explain the observed decrement at greater than 99.99% confidence. Together with published X-ray and optical searches, these results make a compelling case against the interpretation of the Ryle decrement as being due to the SZE in a massive cluster of galaxies. For the smaller VLA source, the BIMA observations are not as constraining. The BIMA data are inconsistent with the proposed SZE model at greater than 90% confidence.


When the rivers lead into the sea, it merges two water bodies with different salinity level, releasing a large amount of energy when the solutions equilibrate its concentrations; this phenomenon is known as osmosis. With the purpose to use this energy to transform it into electricity, it has been developed a device with a semi-permeable membrane, when is placed between the solutions with different saline concentration, allows to equalize the concentration at a constant pressure or volume. The membrane behavior on the device is similar to the behavior of the living being cells membrane, that's the reason to call the device as a membrane module. Using a membrane module array is possible to get brackish water, with a pressure corresponding to the osmotic pressure that represents hydraulic energy that could be transformed into electricity by well-known means. This work presents a conceptual methodology for preliminary design of an osmotic power plant, which could be a theoretical reference for different alternatives to generate electricity in the places where it's possible to implement it, as the way to dimension and design the system, including concepts and parameters related to conventional, energy-production processes, allowing to know different methods for energy production that someday could be competitive with the traditional energy generation.


We assess the impact of the quality of public institutions on economic growth during the period 1995-2013 in the Arab and Middle Eastern (AME) countries. We use a sample of 99 countries, of which 17 AME countries, and employ a dynamic panel approach that controls for unobserved heterogeneity, common shocks affecting the sample countries, and accounts for the endogeneity of the regressors. From a global standpoint, the impact of institutions on growth seems to be depending on the development level. From a regional perspective, the effect of institutions on economic outcome in the AME countries is found positive but insignificant. The prevalence of extractive industries could explain the insignificant effect of institutions on economic performance in some AME countries. In others, the insignificant result is likely to reflect shortages in technological readiness and inefficient resource-allocation policies


Mount Edziza Volcanic Complex (MEVC) lies within the Northern Cordilleran Volcanic Province (NCVP), in northwest British Columbia, Canada. The eruption products have been emplaced in a variety of subaerial, sub-ice and subaqueous environments from about 8Ma to less than 2000 y.b.p. (Souther, 1992). Ice Peak Formation (IPF) trachyte lava flows of approximately 1Ma age (Souther, 1992) are exposed at Ornostay Bluff (OB) and Koosick Bluff (KB). These flows comprise basal flow breccias overlain by massive conchoidally-fractured lava with large, poorly-developed columns, and local flow banding. Edziza Formation (EF) approximately 1Ma (Souther, 1992) phonolite is exposed at Triangle Dome (TD). TD can broadly be divided into an upper and lower zone. The upper zone comprises poorly-developed columns in addition to prominent jointing. In the lower zone the columns are planar and 75cm-3m-wide in the interior of the complex grading into fan-like and curved subhorizontal columns <75cm-wide in the outer margins of the lower zone. The upper zone is interpreted as an "entablature" where slow cooling was overprinted by joints formed during abrupt cooling due to water ingress. Local areas with well-developed columnar jointing in the upper zone may reflect endogenous growth by late-stage intrusive emplacement, or areas where water ingress was less efficient. The lower zone is interpreted as a "lower colonnade" with slower cooling and less water ingress during cooling. The fan-like columns in the outer margins of the lower zone reflect cooling by direct contact with curved margins of the ice cavity. The estimated minimum thickness of the ice-contact zone is ~60m reflected by the thickness of the lower zone. Identifying ice-contact structures in trachytic-phonolitic lavas is difficult, especially in glacially eroded examples such as OB and KB, where marginal cooling-columns and structures caused by direct contact with ice have been eroded. Trachyte lavas display a wide range of viscosities, flow thicknesses, and aspect ratios therefore caution is required in interpreting "overthick" flows as having formed by confinement by former ice. Studies that focus on comparisons of estimated flow velocities and rates of ice melting are useful, though there are numerous unaccounted for variables in these models.


Strains of Francisella spp. were isolated from cooling water from an air conditioning system in Guangzhou, China. These strains are Gram negative, coccobacilli, non-motile, oxidase negative, catalase negative, esterase and lipid esterase positive. In addition, these bacteria grow on cysteine-supplemented media at 20 °C to 40 °C with an optimal growth temperature of 30 °C. Analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that these strains belong to the genus Francisella. Biochemical tests and phylogenetic and BLAST analyses of 16S rRNA, rpoB and sdhA genes indicated that one strain was very similar to Francisella philomiragia and that the other strains were identical or highly similar to the Francisella guangzhouensis sp. nov. strain 08HL01032 we previously described. Biochemical and molecular characteristics of these strains demonstrated that multiple Francisella species exist in air conditioning systems.


J. P. Arellano's article on housing policies analizes the chilean experience in the housing sector between 1975 and 1981. In this period took place a dramatic change in the housing policy for the poor. It was characterized by a disenvolvement of the State as an actor in the provision of housing solutions in its several stages, towards a scheme in which it provides the basic financement for the extremely poor and leaves the design, location, building and complement of credit to the private sector through the market. The article is divided in two sections. The first is devoted to the analysis of the subsidies themselves, with special refference to the systems used in the last few years; the second section is dedicated to three basic topics in any housing policy: the financing system, the land value system and the participation of dwellers in the solutions and options chosen.


We describe our runs and results for the fixed label Wild
Wild Web Tagging Task at MediaEval 2010. Our experiments indicate that including all words in the ASR transcripts of the document set results in better labeling accuracy than restricting the index to only words with recognition confidence above a fixed level. Additionally our results
show that tagging accuracy can be improved by incorporating additional metadata describing the documents where it is available.


The retention and drainage of water on heat exchangers is extremely important in air-conditioning, refrigeration, and heat-pumping systems. In this work, droplets of varying sizes sliding on an inclined heat exchanger materials with and without a wettability gradient are observed using a high-speed camera. The dynamic contact angles, the shape evolution and the velocity of the droplet are obtained by image processing. Aluminum and copper surfaces are examined and the gradient is created by partially treating the base surface. The hypothesis is that the momentum of a sliding droplet on a treated surface will push the droplet onto the part without any treatment, so that water retention and drainage can be improved with limited surface treatment. It is found that the dynamic contact angle, the shape evolution and the velocity can be very different for droplets sliding in a wettability-increasing direction when compared to those sliding in a wettability-decreasing direction. The results are very important for the design of specialized heat transfer surfaces operating under dehumidification or defrosting conditions.


A novel supersonic wind tunnel setup is proposed to enable the investigation of control on a normal shock wave. Previous experimental arrangements were found to suffer from shock instability. Wind tunnel tests with and without control have confirmed the capability of the new setup to stabilise a shock structure at a target position without changing the nature of the shock wave / boundary layer interaction flow at M ∞ = 1.3 and M ∞ = 1.5. Flow visualisation and pressure measurements with the new setup have revealed detailed characteristics of shock wave / boundary layer interactions and a λ-shock structure as well as benefits of control in total drag reduction in the presence of 3D bump control.


The dog meat trade (DMT) in Bali is a black-market trade that threatens international tourism on both animal welfare and human health grounds. Outlets selling dog meat often advertise this by displaying 'RW' signs as this abbreviation stands for ' rintek wuuk' (soft fur) in Manadonese. The DMT is notoriously cruel and uses inhumane methods to catch, transport, and slaughter dogs, many of which are believed to be stolen. Dog meat is not a food under Indonesian law and as such is not subject to food safety or zoonotic disease regulation. In particular, the DMT is believed to contribute to the transmission of rabies, which is endemic in Bali. Despite this, there was little factual information about the DMT in Bali, and this was hindering Government efforts to close the trade. We believe our study is the first to characterize the DMT in Bali and provides insights as to how and why the trade exists, and what actions are needed to end it.


The colonial narrative in Africa is replete with instances and processes of naming that were used not only to (re)construct social realities and (re)produce power and privilege, but also to inscribe, reify or denigrate African cultures. This work examines how the discourse of naming, specifically terms selected, stipulatively defined and applied by Western colonialists and early Western anthropologists, continue to sustain ambivalent attitudes towards the African heritage. It analyses the way in which the popular term and prefix 'traditional' is used in Africa, and argues that it can be pejorative, as it is associated with the well-established colonial custom of thinking of Africa as a continent stuck in the past. Thus the term predisposes scholars to making certain assumptions that perpetuate cultural stereotypes about African reality and experiences. The need for an analysis of the mentality that popularised its usage therefore remains pertinent. The work also attempts to address the challenge of how postcolonial Africa can engage with its past, and talk about it in terms that do not perpetuate colonial derogation, stereotypes, assumptions, attitudes and misrepresentations of indigenous African thought and culture. Key words . Tradition, modernity, post-colonial African philosophy, naming, colonial epithets Thought and Practice: A Journal of the Philosophical Association of Kenya (PAK) New Series, Vol.3 No.1, June 2011, pp.1-19


This paper reports on an empirical study into the communications of academic values, codes and conventions within a large-scale foundation studies unit for first-year undergraduates at a regional Australian university in first semester 2005. In this unit, one of the foci was teaching students about issues of plagiarism and assessing how students reflected upon and took up those ethics. The unit's content and its assessment were conducted online. Students engaged in experiential learning within multiple online tasks associated with plagiarism and of direct relevance to unit assessment. Unit design, delivery and assessment involved a cyclic process of action research, which facilitated insights into students' value communications and academic skill development over the semester. A qualitative analysis of students' communications within sequential online assessment tasks and anonymous surveys, as well as the value discourses articulated by students and staff, reveals most students were highly receptive to information on plagiarism and intent upon avoiding it through developing academic skills.


Child abuse victims are required to participate in stressful forensic investigations but often fail to fully report details about their victimization. Especially in intrafamilial abuse cases, children's emotional states presumably involve reluctance to report abuse. The current study examined the effects of interviewers' support on children's reluctance and production of information when interviewed. The sample comprised 200 interviews of 6- to 14-year-old suspected victims of physical abuse perpetrated by a family member. Interviews followed the NICHD (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development) Revised Protocol (RP), which emphasizes supportive practices. All the cases were corroborated by external evidence, suggesting that the reports of abuse made by the children were valid. Coders identified instances of interviewer support and questioning, as well as indications of reluctance and the production of forensic details by the children. Expressions of reluctance predicted that information was less likely to be provided in that utterance, whereas expressions of support predicted less reluctance and increased informativeness in the following child utterance. Mediation analyses revealed that decreased reluctance partially mediated the effects of support on increased informativeness. The data indicate that support can effectively address children's reluctance, resulting in increased informativeness and thus confirming expert recommendations that supportive interviews should be considered best practice. The findings also shed light on the underlying mechanism of support, suggesting both direct and indirect effects on children's informativeness.


Packet and flow scheduling algorithms for WiMAX has been a topic of interest for a long time since the very inception of WiMAX networks. WiMAX offers advantages particularly in terms of Quality of service it offers over a longer range at the MAC level. In our paper, we propose two credit based scheduling schemes one in which completed flows distributes the left over credits equally to all higher priority flows(FDCBSS) and another in which completed flows give away all the excess credits to the highest priority uncompleted flow(SDCBSS). Both the schemes are compatible with 802.16 MAC protocol and can efficiently serve real time bursty traffic with reduced latency and hence improved QOS for real time flows. We compare the two proposed schemes for their latency, bandwidth utilization and throughput for real time burst flows with the basic Deficit Round Robin scheduling scheme.


Soil mineralogy and texture have substantial effects on aggregate stability and, therefore, may influence infiltration rate (IR) and soil loss under rainfall. The objective was to study the effects of soil mineralogy and texture on crust micromorphology, infiltration, and erosion. Five soils with differing properties were subjected to 80 mm of simulated rainfall. The aggregate stability of these soils was determined by the fast wetting method. The mean-weight diameters of the particles after the fast wetting were 2.8 mm in the clayey kaolinitic soil, 0.25 and 0.31 mm in the clayey and sandy loam montmorillonitic soils, respectively, and 0.84 and 0.87 mm in the clayey nonphyllosilicate soils. The final IR was 20.5 mm h -1 in the clayey kaolinitic soil and ≤9.3 mm h -1 in the remaining soils. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) observations indicated that the kaolinitic soil had a thin crust (∼0.1 mm) containing large particles (∼0.1 mm), whereas the montmorillonitic soils had thicker crusts (>0.2 mm) comprising either small (∼0.02 mm) particles with a very developed washed-in zone underneath or large (∼0.2 mm) ones with fine material between them. The crust layer in the nonphyllosilicate soils was ∼0.2 mm thick and composed of fine particles ∼0.01 mm. The high aggregate stability and the low dispersivity of the kaolinitic soil, which minimized soil detachment, and its low runoff, which minimized its transport capacity, limited the soil loss to 0.33 kg m -2 , whereas the low aggregate stability and high runoff of the montmorillonitic soils contributed to their soil losses of 1.24 and 1.14 kg m -2 . The intermediate aggregate stability and the high runoff of the nonphyllosilicate soils accounted for their intermediate soil losses of 0.75 and 0.8 kg m -2 .


Introduction
Only approximately 25% of stage iv non-small-cell lung cancer (nsclc) patients receive systemic therapy. For such patients, we examined factors affecting referral to a cancer centre (cc) and to medical oncology (mo), and use of systemic therapy.

Methods
Using the Glans-Look Lung Cancer database, we completed a chart review of stage iv nsclc patients diagnosed in Southern Alberta during 2003-2006 and 2010-2011, comparing median overall survival (mos), referral, and treatment in the two cohorts.

Results
Of the 922 patients diagnosed in 2003-2006 and the 560 diagnosed in 2010-2011, 94% and 82% respectively were referred to a cc, with 22% and 23% receiving traditional chemotherapy (tctx). Referral to a cc or mo and use of tctx correlated with survival (p < 0.0001): The mos duration was 11.2 months in those receiving tctx and 1.0 months in those not referred to a cc. The overall mos duration was similar in the two cohorts (4.1 months vs. 3.9 months, p = 0.47). Major reasons for lack of referral to mo included poor functional status, rapid decline, and patient wish, which were similar to the reasons for forgoing tctx. In the two cohorts, 87 (9.4%) and 42 (7.5%) patients received epidermal growth factor inhibitors, with a mos duration of 16.2 months. Multivariable analysis showed that male sex [hazard ratio (hr): 1.16; p = 0.008] and pulmonary embolus (hr: 1.2; p = 0.002) correlated with worse survival. In contrast, receipt of chemotherapy (hr: 0.5; p < 0.001) and enrolment in a clinical trial (hr: 0.76; p = 0.049) correlated with better survival.

Conclusions
Our experience confirms that, over time, uptake of systemic therapy, including tctx and targeted therapy, changed little despite their established efficacy. Most of the factors limiting systemic therapy uptake appear to be non-modifiable at the time of referral. Rapid diagnosis and the availability of well-tolerated drugs for all nsclc patients will likely be the most important factors in increasing systemic therapy uptake in this population.


This paper establishes empirically that specialization in private-market corporate lending exists, adding a new dimension to the public vs. private debt distinctions now common in the literature on debt contracting and financial intermediation. Using a large database of individual loans, we compare lending by finance companies to that by banks. The evidence implies that it is intermediaries in general that are special in solving information problems, not banks in particular. But lending by the two types of institutions is not identical. Finance companies tend to serve observably riskier borrowers, especially highly leveraged borrowers, although banks and finance companies do compete across the spectrum of borrower risk. The evidence supports both regulatory and reputational explanations for this specialization and perhaps an explanation based on institutional differences in borrower monitoring and control. In passing, we shed light on various theories of debt contracting and intermediation and also present facts about finance companies, which have received little attention.


Bertram Neville Brockhouse was born on 15 July 1918 in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. His grandfather was a miner who emigrated to North America from England. He became active in a strike to unionize the mines and to protest against the poor working conditions; as a result he had to leave mining. He then, with his son, Israel Bertram Brockhouse, went homesteading in Southern Alberta with a small farm and domestic animals, where his son married Mabel Emily Brockhouse (née Neville), who had grown up in Illinois and belonged to a family of English Americans. They had a family of four, the eldest of whom was Bertram Neville, known to his friends and family as Bert. He had a sister, Alice, and two younger brothers, Robert, who died in infancy, and Gordon, who became a civil engineer for the railroad. The homestead was on the Milk River close to the Canada–USA border and the local school was a one–room elementary school a couple of miles from the farm. Bert was a nominal attendee at this school but did not remember learning to read or to do simple arithmetic there.


Quantum logic inspired embedding (aka Quantum Embedding (QE)) of a Knowledge-Base (KB) was proposed recently by Garg et al. [1]. It is claimed that the QE preserves the logical structure of the input KB given in the form of unary and binary predicates hierarchy. Such structure preservation allows one to perform Boolean logic style deductive reasoning directly over these embedding vectors. The original QE idea, however, is limited to the transductive (not inductive) setting. Moreover, the original QE scheme runs quite slow on real applications involving millions of entities. This paper alleviates both of these key limitations. We start by reformulating the original QE problem to allow for the induction. On the way, we also underscore some interesting analytic and geometric properties of the solution and leverage them to design a faster training scheme. As an application, we show that one can achieve state-of-the-art performance on the well-known NLP task of fine-grained entity type classification by using the inductive QE approach. Our training runs 9-times faster than the original QE scheme on this task.


While the heroin epidemic largely has been concentrated in the Northeast, Appalachian, and Midwest regions of the country, substance abuse is an issue that crosses multiple areas of public policy, including behavioral and public health, criminal justice, and social services. As the South continues to lead the way in criminal justice reform, lessons from the plight of other regions allow SLC lawmakers to build on their efforts to combat prescription drug abuse and take a proactive stance in the heroin epidemic. In recent years, this awareness has led many SLC states to pass laws which expand availability and access to drugs that can help treat an opioid overdose and provide limited immunity from prosecution for individuals who seek medical assistance for themselves or another person experiencing an opioid overdose. This SLC Regional Resource examines what the SLC member states are doing to combat the heroin epidemic and what policies and/or practices can be implemented to mitigate its side effects and ensure a long-term solution.


Background Implementing bundles of best practices has been shown to provide patients with recommended care and reduce medical errors. Rhode Island's (RI) hospital leaders, quality organisations and insurers discussed the results of a quality improvement initiative in Michigan, the Keystone project, and explored the possibility of replicating these results statewide in RI. Design Hospital executives and intensive care unit (ICU) staff, RI's quality organisations, RI Quality Institute, Quality Partners of RI, and Hospital Association of RI and consultants from Johns Hopkins University, worked together to implement evidence-based interventions and change safety culture in RI's ICUs. Objectives The authors describe the RI ICU Collaborative, funded by insurers and hospitals, and report on statewide central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) and ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) rates between 1 January 2006 and 30 June 2008. Subjects All adult ICU patients in RI. Measures CLABSI and VAP rates. Results 100% of 23 ICUs in 11 hospitals participated in the RI ICU Collaborative. The statewide mean CLABSI rate decreased 74% from 3.73 (median 1.95) infections per 1000 catheter days to 0.97 (median 0) in quarter (Q) 2 (March–June) 2008 (p=0.0032). The VAP rate fell 15% from 3.44 (median 0.58) to 2.92 VAPs (median 0) per 1000 ventilator days in Q2, 2008. Conclusion The RI ICU Collaborative, a statewide quality improvement initiative, served as the platform by which multifaceted interventions were associated with reductions in CLABSI and VAP rates, and an increase in the use of evidence-based interventions. Completing Phase II, the RI ICU Collaborative continues to sustain these statewide reductions.


Being able to spot defective parts is a critical component in large-scale industrial manufacturing. A particular challenge that we address in this work is the cold-start problem: fit a model using nominal (non-defective) example images only. While handcrafted solutions per class are possible, the goal is to build systems that work well simultaneously on many different tasks automatically. The best peforming approaches combine embeddings from ImageNet models with an outlier detection model. In this paper, we extend on this line of work and propose PatchCore, which uses a maximally representative memory bank of nominal patch-features. PatchCore offers competitive inference times while achieving state-of-the-art performance for both detection and localization. On the challenging, widely used MVTec AD benchmark PatchCore achieves an image-level anomaly detection AUROC score of up to 99.6%, more than halving the error compared to the next best competitor. We further report competitive results on two additional datasets and also find competitive results in the few samples regime. Code: github.com/amazon-research/patchcore-inspection.


Objectives Social anxiety disorder (SAD) can be effectively treated with internet-delivered cognitive behavioural therapy (ICBT), but studies on long-term cost minimisation from a healthcare provider perspective in comparison to an evidence-based control treatment of therapeutic equivalence are lacking. The objective of the study was to determine whether ICBT reduces healthcare costs and use of healthcare resources compared with cognitive behavioural group therapy (CBGT). Design A cost-minimisation study alongside a randomised controlled trial where participants (n=126) with SAD were randomised to ICBT or to CBGT. Costs measured from a healthcare provider perspective were estimated using time-driven activity-based costing alongside health status over 4 years from baseline measured with EQ-5D. Setting A psychiatric outpatient clinic in Stockholm, Sweden. Participants Participants were 126 individuals with SAD. Primary outcome measures Changes in EQ-5D and costs. Interventions Participants received either CBGT or ICBT for a duration of 15 weeks. Results ICBT minimised healthcare costs and demonstrated health improvements within the non-inferiority margin. Assuming a practical work capacity for personnel varying between 100%, 80% and 50% of theoretical full capacity, the cost for ICBT varied in the range between 400€, 463€ and 654 €, while the cost for CBGT varied between 699€, 806€ and 1134€. Within-group effect size was −0.36 (95% CI −0.70 to −0.01) for ICBT and −0.25 (95% CI −0.60 to 0.10) for CBGT. Mean use of effective psychologist time in ICBT was 189.60 (SD=53.77) minutes compared with 499.78 (SD=30.91) in the CBGT group. Conclusions In treatment of SAD, ICBT is equally effective but is associated with more efficient staff utilisation and less costs compared with CBGT. From a healthcare provider perspective, ICBT is an advantageous treatment option. Trial registration number


Zener diodes are widely used in electrical barriers to protect equipment operating in a potentially explosive atmosphere. Although normally not conducting, the zeners must have a high power rating so that their junction temperature meets safety factors when shunting the maximum fuse current. This often requires two or three lower voltage commercial zeners connected in series. Silicon carbide diodes have much higher thermal conductivity and maximum allowed junction temperature, so it should be possible to use one SiC zener in the place of two or three commercial diodes and/or allow use of higher fuse ratings. Low voltage SiC Zener diodes were fabricated and tested to evaluate potential benefits of their application as a component of intrinsically safe barriers. The diodes demonstrated mixed avalanche-tunnel breakdown at reverse bias voltages of 23 V with positive temperature coefficients of breakdown voltages of about 0.4 mV/°C. The diodes with mesa area of 4×10-4cm2 had maximum DC Zener current of 1.2 A and were capable of operating at ambient temperatures up to 500°C.


Collagen, the major extracellular matrix protein, is also a membrane protein. Two types of collagen are detected on the normal human fibroblast membrane in culture, type I collagen and a new immunologically and chemically distinct collagen, type M (membrane) collagen. Antibodies to type M collagen elicited complement-mediated cytotoxicity, which could be blocked by pretreatment of the cells with bacterial collagenase or the antibody with type M collagen. Pretreatment of the cells with other proteolytic enzymes or the antibody with type I collagen or type III collagen had no effect on this complement-mediated cytotoxicity. Although type I collagen is the major collagen synthesized by normal human fibroblasts type M collagen may be the major cell membrane collagen and may be a major cell membrane component.


Breakthrough innovations in electrical machines may be limited by parametric overlays and templates provided in commercial electromagnetic simulation software. Disruptive design spaces must therefore be explored using more flexible open-source software solutions. However, a significant scripting effort is necessary to define some new parametric geometries suitable for design optimization based on open source multiphysics solvers. This article illustrates the use of Pyleecan open-source simulation software under Python to more efficiently model, evaluate and optimize disruptive topologies of 2D or 3D electrical machines. The current status of Pyleecan initiative is first presented. Then, the principle and the advantages of the object-oriented approach of electrical machines are detailed. Some examples of complex innovative topologies that can be generated with Pyleecan are then introduced (e.g. complex winding, uneven slot types, multiple rotor and stators), as well as the optimization possibilities. Finally, the development roadmap of Pyleecan project is given.


Triadic dialogue, the Initiation, Response, Evaluation sequence typical of teacher /student interactions in classrooms, has long been identified as a barrier to students' access to learning, including science learning. A large body of research on the subject has over the years led to projects and policies aimed at increasing opportunities for students to learn through interactive dialogue in classrooms. However, the triadic dialogue pattern continues to dominate, even when teachers intend changing this. Prior quantitative research on the subject has focused on identifying independent variables such as style of teacher questioning that have an impact, while qualitative researchers have worked to interpret the use of dialogue within the whole context of work in the classroom. A recent paper offers an alternative way to view the triadic dialogue pattern and its origin; the triadic dialogue pattern is an irreducible social phenomenon that arises in a particular situation regardless of the identity of the players who inhabit the roles in the turn-taking sequence (Roth & Gardner, 2012). According to this perspective, alternative patterns of dialogue would exist which are alternative irreducible social phenomena that arise in association with different situations. The aim of this paper is to examine as precisely as possible, the characteristics of dialogue patterns in a seventh-eighth grade classroom during science inquiry, and the precise situations from which these dialogue patterns emerge, regardless of the staffing (teacher or students) in the turn-taking sequence. Three different patterns were identified each predominating in a particular situation. This fine-grained analysis could offer valuable insights into ways to support teachers working to alter the kinds of dialogue patterns that arise in their classrooms.


The presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the environment has attracted much concern owing to their mutagenic and carcinogenic properties. Regulatory authorities have favored the use of biological indicators as an essential means of assessing potential toxicity of environmental pollutants. This study aimed to assess the toxicity of acenaphthene, phenanthrene, anthracene, fluoranthene, pyrene, and benzo[a]pyrene to Caenorhabditis elegans by measuring LC50 and EC50 values for growth and reproduction. The exposure to all chemicals was carried out in aqueous medium. All PAHs showed a low acute toxicity to C. elegans. There was no significant mortality in C. elegans after 24 h of exposure at PAH concentrations within (and indeed above) their respective solubility limits. Prolonged exposure (72 h) at high concentrations for acenaphthene (70,573 μg/L), phenanthrene (3758 μg/L), anthracene (1600 μg/L), fluoranthene (1955 μg/L), pyrene (1653 μg/L), and benzo[a]pyrene (80 μg/L) produced mortality. Results also showed that reproduction and growth were much more sensitive parameters of adverse response than lethality, and consequently may be more useful in assessing PAH toxicity using C. elegans. In comparison with previous studies, C. elegans was found to be approximately 2-fold less sensitive to acenaphthene, 5-fold less sensitive to phenanthrene, and 20-fold less sensitive to fluoranthene than Daphnia magna. However, the 48-h LC50 for benzo[a]pyrene (174 μg/L) reported in the present study with C. elegans was similar to that reported elsewhere for Daphnia magna (200 μg/L). Although C. elegans indicated greater sensitivity to benzo[a]pyrene than Artemia salina (174 μg/L vs. 10000 μg/L), the organism showed less sensitivity to pyrene (8 μg/L vs. 2418 μg/L), fluoranthene (40 μg/L vs. 2719 μg/L), and phenanthrene (677 μg/L vs. 4772 μg/L) than Artemia salina. Caenorhabditis elegans, while not the most sensitive of species for PAH toxicity assessment, may still hold applicability in screening of contaminated soils and sediments.


We present a database that can serve as a tool for tuning and evaluation of miscellaneous program analysis tools. The database contains bug-reports produced by various tools applied to various source codes. The bug-reports are classified as either real errors or false positives. The database currently contains more than 800 bug-reports detected in the Linux kernel 2.6.28. Support of other software projects written in various programming languages is planned. The database can be downloaded and manipulated by SQL queries, or accessed via a web frontend.


CuIn1–xGaxSe2 (CIGSe) solar cells have achieved record efficiency values as high as 22.6% for small areas, with module efficiency values of 16.5%. However, for economic viability these values must be achieved with reduced material consumption (especially indium), which requires reducing the CIGSe absorber thickness from 2000–3000 nm to below 500 nm. Soft‐imprinted SiOx nanoparticles (NPs) beneath a conformal CIGSe layer enable this thickness reduction. Optically, they enhance the absorption of light through Fabry–Pérot and waveguided resonances within the CIGSe layer, preventing current loss. For CIGSe solar cells on ITO with an absorber thickness of only 390 nm and a nanophotonic contact the current density (Jsc) increases from 25.7 to 32.1 mA cm−2. At the same time, the nanopatterned contact reduces the back barrier, leading to an increased open‐circuit voltage (518 to 558 mV) and fill factor (50.7% to 55.2%). Combined, these effects increase the efficiency value from 6.8% to 10.0% for this initial demonstration. With the addition of an antireflection coating, the champion NP‐enhanced cell achieves a Jsc of 34.0 mA cm−2, corresponding to 93% of the Jsc achieved by the thick world‐record cell. This result shows that optoelectronic nanopatterning provides a path to high efficiency cells with reduced materials consumption.


Experiments are designed to explore the sliding friction that the particulate material bears in the movement when the detecting rod goes vertically through the material contained in a round tube. The research result shows that the sliding friction makes nonlinear oscillations about an average value when the depth of the particulate pile with 2 mm particulate diameter is greater than 0.5 to 2 times the diameter of the container. When the detecting rod goes up with the uniform velocity of less than 2×10 -3 m/s, the average value of the sliding friction is 0.2 to 0.5 times greater than the maximum static friction F 0 and the value fluctuates within the range from F 0 to 2 F 0 . When the frequency is lower than 1.35 Hz, the intensity of various frequencies goes down exponentially with increasing frequency. The average period T of the main frequency is inversely proportional to the velocity v of the detecting rode.


The human sciences established and developed in the 19th century have slowly disintegrated. It is an ironic end. It was in the name of the greater legitimacy of more universal psychological criteria that its architects disavowed the traditional theological standard for valuing and evaluating human words and deeds. With hindsight, we can see that universality was indeed gained, but only at the cost of alienating any sense of common legitimacy. Harold Bloom, defending the canon largely in the humanising, "moral sense" convention of critics operating since Matthew Arnold, has resolutely maintained the common legitimacy of aesthetic value against the claims of particular interest groups. But the very universality attached to aesthetic value is at odds with the world of common sense, and thus lies at the root of the problem. To complicate matters, this universality has been understood as a traditional criterion. A more radical treatment of the subject is needed. This study begins by surveying the field of modern hermeneutics. Noting its repeated crises of self-legitimization, it traces these to circular beliefs, bequeathed by Romanticism, that human nature is self-begetting and can thus be known intimately and autonomously. After providing a historical overview of how human nature had been understood, the focus shifts to the attack in Coleridge's "Biographia Literaria" on Wordsworth's 1802 "Preface to Lyrical Ballads", and to a reading of some key Romantic texts. It reads Coleridge's famous definition of the imagination as an attack on Romantic hermeneutics, rooted in the traditional view that man has been created in Imago Dei.


We revisit the scaling properties of the resistivity and the current-voltage characteristics at and below the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition, both in zero and nonzero magnetic field. The scaling properties are derived by integrating the renormalization group flow equations up to a scale where they can be reliably matched to simple analytic expressions. The vortex fugacity turns out to be dangerously irrelevant for these quantities below $T_c$, thereby altering the scaling behavior. We derive the possible crossover effects as the current, magnetic field or system size is varied, and find a strong multiplicative logarithmic correction near $T_c$, all which is necessary to account for when interpreting experiments and simulation data. Our analysis clarifies a longstanding discrepancy between the finite size dependence found in many simulations and the current-voltage characteristics of experiments. We further show that the logarithmic correction can be avoided by approaching the transition in a magnetic field, thereby simplifying the scaling analysis. We confirm our results by large scale numerical simulations, and calculate the dynamic critical exponent $z$, for relaxational Langevin dynamics and for resistively and capacitively shunted Josephson junction dynamics.


We conducted four field campaigns to evaluate benthic O2 consumption and the effect of advective pore‐water flow in nearshore permeable sediments in the North Sea and Baltic Sea. Advective pore‐water transport had a marked effect on the benthic exchange of O2 and TCO2 in benthic chamber incubations, with the rates of exchange increasing by a factor of up to 2.5 when imposing flushing rates of 100‐300 L m−2 d−1, compared to settings with diffusive exchange only. Estimates of in situ exchange rates using oxygen penetration and volumetric O2 consumption and TCO2 production rates were within the range measured in the chambers. The contribution of advection to solute exchange was highly variable and dependent on sediment topography. Advective processes also had a pronounced influence on the in situ distribution of O2 within the sediment, with characteristic two‐dimensional patterns of O2 distribution across ripples, and also deep subsurface O2 pools, being observed. Mineralization pathways were predominantly aerobic when benthic mineralization rates were low and advective pore‐water flow high as a result of well‐developed sediment topography. By contrast, mineralization proceeded predominantly through sulfate reduction when benthic mineralization rates were high and advective pore‐water flow low as a result of poorly developed topography. Previous studies of benthic mineralization in shallow sandy sediments have generally ignored these dynamics and, hence, have overlooked crucial aspects of permeable sediment function in coastal ecosystems.


People's reading behaviors have been different nowadays, and there must be some changes in the public library to satisfy users' needs, including administration physical, services, or spaces. The Taiwan government invested a great deal of budget to help public libraries around the nation to remodel their spaces for making the environment more user-friendly and appealing, and it turned out that people come to library because of overall better services (Ministry of Education, 2013). This study focused on investigating what kinds of design principles were more important from the user's perspectives. We gathered different space design principles and organized them into 13 categories, which were "functional", "adaptable", "accessible", "varied", "diverse", "interactive", "conducive", "environmentally suitable", "safe", "efficient", "technological", "atmosphere", and "subject of collection". We then asked 66 users, who were from different groups of genders, ages, occupations, and educational backgrounds, to rank these principles after they visited and used newly remodeled public libraries in different areas. The results show that the most important principle is "functional", which meant users expected that each public library space with its own function and it always would fulfill their needs; besides, they wished the space could improve interactions between users and collections.


This article argues that the training and employment policies of Chile's transition governments since 1990 have failed significantly to promote the development of human resources and occupational citizenship, and identifies key structural and political causes. In particular, the weak development of the property rights of labour and of markets in skill are seen as enduring economic and institutional legacies of the period of dictatorship which continue to constrain key areas of economic development as well as social citizenship rights. The article advocates an analysis of citizenship and skill development that identifies the problem of institutional coordination between a range of different services in labour markets. It suggests that the social organisation of skill markets in Chile systematically discriminates against long-term investments in workers. Hence, even in Chile where economic reformers have sought to maximise markets, decisions on skill investments are, to an important degree, conditioned by power relations and organisational inertia inside individual firms and, at the aggregate level, by the selective channelling of information and the (unplanned) institutional structuring of training supply.


: TGfU was introduced to the Australian sporting community in 1996, through workshops presented by Rod Thorpe who was visiting from Loughborough University, England. Now, 10 years on, with the concept having been the focus of many coaching workshops and professional development sessions for physical education teachers and sports coaches, one would expect that TGfU would be well known and utilised among these groups. This paper reports on the knowledge, understanding and experience that first year physical and health education students at an Australian university have on TGfU. Seventy students were surveyed by questionnaire and then actively engaged in a variety of games that demonstrated the concept and the type of questioning that is prominent in the approach. The students surveyed had studied physical education during their primary and secondary schooling, and many had been involved as players and coaches in a wide range of sports. Consequently, one would expect that these students would have had prior exposure to Teaching Games for Understanding. However, findings confirmed that this group of students had poor knowledge, understanding and experience of TGfU, thus questioning the extent that the approach has been adopted by Australian coaches and teachers of games over the last decade.


Background: Leucas cephalotes has been used by many tribes to treat variety of diseases and known to have many essential secondary metabolites. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first comparative analysis of total fatty acid (FA) composition and α-amylase inhibition activity of L. cephalotes. Objective: The present study is carried out to explore the antihyperglycemic activity and FA contents of all parts of L. cephalotes. Material and Method: Fruits, leaves, stems, and roots part of L. cephalotes have been extracted in ethanol. Simultaneously, all plant parts have been extracted in hexane with Soxhlet extraction. Ethanolic extracts have been evaluated for antihyperglycemic activity and hexane extract have been analyzed for FA identification. Result: The present study indicated that ethanolic extract of fruit and leaves have shown significant α-amylase inhibitory activity with IC50 value of 92.86 ± 0.89 and 98.09 ± 0.69 μg/mL, respectively. FA composition of all the parts of L. cephalotes was analyzed by GC/MS. Nineteen FAs have been identified in all parts of L. cephalotes in which palmitic acid, oleic acid, linolenic acid, and linoleic acid were major FAs. Conclusion: The study indicates that L. cephalotes has significant potential to inhibit α-amylase enzyme and it is a rich source of essential FAs. Abbreviations used: DM: Diabetes Mellitus, FA: Fatty Acid, FFAs: Free Fatty Acids, FAME: Fatty Acid Methyl Ester, IC50: Inhibitor Concentration, GC-MS: Gas ChromatographyMass Spectrophotometer


For robotic systems to automatically plan and execute manipulation tasks involving intermittent contact, one must be able to accurately predict the motions of the manipulated objects. Not surprisingly, many of the important manipulation problems that could yield to closed-form analysis have been solved and studied thoroughly. Problems characterized by intermittent contact are one particularly important type of robotics problem for which research must rely on simulation techniques.
Due to the intermittency of contact and the presence of stick-slip frictional behavior, dynamic models of such multibody systems are inherently (mathematically) nonsmooth, and are thus difficult to integrate accurately or quickly. Commercially available software tools have a difficult time simulating systems with unilateral constraints, that is constraints where touching bodies are allowed to touch or separate, but not interpenetrate. Users expect to spend considerable effort in a trial-and-error search for good simulation parameters to obtain believable, not necessarily accurate, results. Even the seemingly simple problem of a sphere rolling on a horizontal plane under only the influence of gravity is challenging for commercial simulators. The correct handling of unilateral contact constraints is one of the most difficult challenges left for many commercial simulation software packages.
This thesis relates to the use of simulation for planning and design of robotics systems with intermittent contact. As previously noted, such systems arise in many applications, including automated manufacturing, health care, and personal robotics. The relationship between these seemingly unrelated application areas is forged by the desire of interactive robotic devices situated in an unstructured world. A better understanding of the dynamics, especially the contact dynamics, will allow us to improve the autonomy of these systems. In the first part of this work, we introduce four new time-stepping methods, which were constructed for a variety of reasons, including accuracy, performance, and design. Next, we developed a simulation software package (dubbed daVinci Code) that implements these new methods. This software tool facilitates the simulation, analysis, and virtual design of multibody systems with intermittent frictional unilateral contact. Next, a study on the applicability of our time-stepping method is presented. We performed a numerical study on the accuracy of our methods, and experimentally validated our time-stepper on a system composed of a vibrating rigid plate and interacting part. With the accuracy of our time-stepper verified for this system, we were able to study the inverse problem of designing new plate motions to generate a desired part motion. Lastly, we present our initial results of a new non-recursive nonlinear filter using our model of these systems. This filter allows us to estimate the system's parameters, which is a necessary requirement for using simulation for planning and design. The filtering problem is particularly challenging, since the underlying mathematical model is nonsmooth.


(402) 472-5554 ABSTRACT. Improving corn water productivity is the key to meet the challenge of ever tightening water resources for irrigation and greater demands for food, feed and fuel. Corn grain yield per unit of water supply must therefore be increased dramatically in Nebraska and globally. In Nebraska, ≈80% of the irrigated land is for corn production. At present, there is a substantial exploitable gap between actual farm yields and attainable yields. This reflects, in part, inefficient use of water supply, and/or other non-water related yield constraints. Boundary functions define the relationship of yield with water supply and are used to benchmark crop water productivity. When coupled with on-farm measurements, boundary functions offer a framework to quantify the gap between on-farm yield and attainable yield, and to identify management options for improvement. In this proposal, we will define corn boundary functions using both existing data and computer simulations. We will select 20 farms across eastern and central Nebraska and measure their corn yields and water supply. We will also identify yield constraints, including nutrient deficiencies, sub-optimal hybrid maturity, planting date, soil compaction, weeds, pest and diseases. We will develop a decision tree to help farmers quantify their corn water productivity, identify yield constrains and measures for their corrections. We expect a yield increase of 10%, along with a 10% saving in irrigation water. This would translate into an annual impact of ≈$70 million or more extra farm profit, assuming a 20% adoption rate of results from this project.


Adjustable rate mortgages, long-term loans that provide for interest rate changes at regular intervals over their lifetimes, have recently become a major source of residential mortgage financing in this country. Today adjustable rate mortgages probably account for close to 25 percent of total home mortgage debt. ; While adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) have grown to be an important factor in mortgage lending, their variety and complexity have led to confusion. This article discusses their advantages and disadvantages to both borrowers and lenders, and highlights the nature of the risks involved. The author concludes that while lenders have enthusiastically embraced the concept of ARMs, borrowers have been reluctant in their response, forcing lenders to provide low initial interest rates and restrictions on interest-rate movements in order to sell their product.


Different amounts of Pomegranate (Punica granatum) peel water extract were added as antioxidant and stabilizer for iron oxide (magnetite) nanoparticles during their synthesis by co-precipitation method. The resultant particles were characterized by Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FTIR) spectroscopy to determine their structure. The magnetic properties of these particles were determined by vibrating sample magnetometers (VSM). Their particles size and crystallinity were measured by Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) and X-ray Diffraction (XRD), respectively. FTIR results confirm that the formed iron oxide particles are reacted through the oxygen bond of CO group of the pomegranate peel water extract. The results of other measurements show that the produced particles had super paramagnetic properties and their sizes were in the range 3-19 nm. A sample of the prepared particles was tested for removal of methylene blue and red violet dyes from water at two different pH values.


Modern cloud-software providers, such as Salesforce.com, increasingly adopt large-scale continuous integration environments. In such environments, assuring high developer productivity is strongly dependent on conducting testing efficiently and effectively. Specifically, to shorten feedback cycles, test prioritization is popularly used as an optimization mechanism for ranking tests to run by their likelihood of revealing failures. To apply test prioritization in industrial environments, we present a novel approach (tailored for practical applicability) that integrates multiple existing techniques via a systematic framework of machine learning to rank. Our initial empirical evaluation on a large real-world dataset from Salesforce.com shows that our approach significantly outperforms existing individual techniques.


This report sets out the results of the postal household survey component of the Solent Disturbance and Mitigation project. The work was commissioned by the Solent Forum in response to concerns over the impact of recreational pressure on features of the Solent SPA, SAC and Ramsar Sites. Of particular concern are the cumulative impacts of recreational use arising from potential new housing developments in Chichester District and South Hampshire.
The household survey was distributed to 5000 households within 25km of the coastline between Hurst Castle, including the north shoreline of the Isle of Wight. The questionnaires and reminders were sent between October and December 2010. The household survey contained three sections which elicited information relating to general and specific visits to the coast and household demographics.
A total of 1382 completed questionnaires were returned and 42% of these households had visited the coast the week prior to completing the survey. Only 4% of households (56) stated they never visited the coast. Households which did not visit the coast contained a lower number of people, lower number of dogs and a higher percentage did not have regular access to a private vehicle when compared to households that made regular coastal visits.

Of the households which visited the coast, 50% visited at least once a week. A total of 55% of households visited the coast equally all year and an additional 39% of households made more visits in the summer. There was a significant difference in coastal visit frequency between households which owned a least one dog and non dog owning households, with dog owning households making more visits. There was no significant difference in visit frequency between households who had garden access or whether the household dwelling type was a flat or 'non- flat'.

The 1155 households providing full responses to the survey made an estimated annual total of 153,433 visits to the Solent coastline. The project and this survey divided the coastline into 103 numbered sections. Households made on average 133 annual coastal visits to 3.7 different sections of the coastline. On average each section received a total of 1490 annual visits but the number of coastal visits made to different sections was significantly different.
The most frequently given activities undertaken during a coastal visit were walking (20% of all activity responses) and enjoying the scenery (20%), followed by being on the beach (11%) and meeting up with friends (11% of all activity responses).

Households indicated where they undertook their activity during the coastal visit and for 47% of the visit responses the activity (walking, cycling, enjoying the scenery etc) was undertaken on the sea wall or the river bank. A further 39% of responses by households indicated they venture onto the beach/mudflat and 15% of responses actually took to the water.

The majority (52%) of coastal visits by households were made by car with 39% made by foot, 4% by bicycle and 5% by public transport. Of the households which made visits by car, 50% travelled 9.5km or less by road to the section they visited and 90% travelled 29.0km or less to their visited section by road. Of the households who visited specific sections by foot half lived within 1.0km of the section (straight line distance from postcode to nearest point on section) and 90% lived within 4.0km of the visited section.

Features that act as a deterrent for some households when selecting a coastal location to visit may also attract other households. For example, a requirement for dogs to be on leads and the presence of dog restrictions is rated as attractive to non dog owning households but as a deterrent by dog owning households. By far the most popular attractive feature when households choose which coastal location to visit was 'sea views and attractive scenery' followed by 'feel safe', 'ability to do a range of different walks/routes 'and the 'presence of wildlife'.
Predictions were derived by fitting formal statistical models to the observed (household survey) data.

Specifically these models used observed visitor numbers per section per distance band and analysed these in relation to factors representing distance to section and section characteristics. Different models are presented within the report and separate models were generated for car and foot visitors, with each model showing a declining visitor rate with distance from the section – i.e. the further away people live the fewer visits they make. These models suggest some 52 million visits are made each year, by households within a 30km radius of the coastline between Hurst Castle to Chichester Harbour, including the north shore of the Isle of Wight. The models identify Portsmouth's seafront (South Parade Pier to Fort Cumberland) as the most heavily visited coastal section, with over 3 million household visits per annum.

These predictive visit models will be used alongside the bird models, commissioned separately and subject to a further report, to assess the impacts of disturbance to wintering birds under different housing scenarios. The use of the visitor models and how they will link to the bird models within the next stages of the Solent Disturbance and Mitigation Project are discussed.


Using the Ibbotson/Sinquefield data documenting the returns of long-term corporate and government bonds, Asvanunt and Richardson [2017] find a sizable investment-grade credit premium that is also statistically significant after accounting for exposure to equity, size, value and momentum factors. In this piece, we focus on the Ibbotson/Sinquefield data starting in 1969 when the series began directly referencing the Salomon Brothers High-Grade Long-Term Corporate Bond Index spliced with Bloomberg/Barclay's data starting in August 1988 and separately the Bloomberg/Barclay's data going back to 1975. For both series, we find a weaker credit premium that is not statistically significant after adjusting for equity market factors. Consequently, we find that corporate bonds are duplicative in portfolios that already include stocks and government bonds and therefore have not improved portfolio efficiency.


The ability to perform fast, high-fidelity readout of quantum bits (qubits) is essential to the goal of building a quantum computer. However, coupling a fast measurement channel to a superconducting qubit typically also speeds up its relaxation via spontaneous emission. Here, we use impedance engineering to design a filter by which photons may easily leave the resonator at the cavity frequency but not at the qubit frequency. We implement this broadband filter in both an on-chip and off-chip configuration.


ABSTRACT This article considers the ways in which children's leisure time was conceptualised and directed in the Cape Colony between 1850 and the end of the century. Using diaries, letters, and evidence presented to Parliamentary commissions of enquiry, the article argues that the notion of 'productivity' was central to ideas around leisure time during this period. Beginning with an overview of the leisure activities of white, middle class, and of poor, coloured, white, and African, children in Cape Town and the Boland during this period, the paper then moves on to a discussion of the child-related work of the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC). Although other churches organised Sunday Schools and other children's societies, the DRC began this work considerably earlier and achieved a much wider reach. This analysis of children's leisure time demonstrates the extent to which children preoccupied colonial commentators and organisations during the second half of the nineteenth century. The history of childhood remains unexplored within South African historiography. This article addresses this lacuna. It sheds light not only on the changing nature of childhood in the nineteenth-century Cape Colony, but also provides new ways of understanding the colony's industrialisation and economic expansion as a result of the mineral revolution.


Dissected caldera structures expose thick intracaldera tuff and, uncommonly, cogenetic shallow plutons, while remnants of correlative outflow tuffs deposited on the pre-eruption ground surface record elements of ancient landscapes. The Middle Fork caldera encompasses a 10 km × 20 km area of rhyolite welded tuff and granite porphyry in east-central Alaska, ∼100 km west of the Yukon border. Intracaldera tuff is at least 850 m thick. The K-feldspar megacrystic granite porphyry is exposed over much of a 7 km × 12 km area having 650 m of relief within the western part of the caldera fill. Sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe with reverse geometry (SHRIMP-RG) analyses of zircon from intracaldera tuff, granite porphyry, and outflow tuff yield U-Pb ages of 70.0 ± 1.2, 69.7 ± 1.2, and 71.1 ± 0.5 Ma (95% confidence), respectively. An aeromagnetic survey indicates that the tuff is reversely magnetized, and, therefore, that the caldera-forming eruption occurred in the C31r geomagnetic polarity chron. The tuff and porphyry have arc geochemical signatures and a limited range in SiO 2 of 69 to 72 wt%. Although their phenocrysts differ in size and abundance, similar quartz + K-feldspar + plagioclase + biotite mineralogy, whole-rock geochemistry, and analytically indistinguishable ages indicate that the tuff and porphyry were comagmatic. Resorption of phenocrysts in tuff and porphyry suggests that these magmas formed by thermal rejuvenation of near-solidus or solidified crystal mush. A rare magmatic enclave (54% SiO 2 , arc geochemical signature) in the porphyry may be similar to parental magma and provides evidence of mafic magma and thermal input. The Middle Fork is a relatively well preserved caldera within a broad region of Paleozoic metamorphic rocks and Mesozoic plutons bounded by northeast-trending faults. In the relatively downdropped and less deeply exhumed crustal blocks, Cretaceous–Early Tertiary silicic volcanic rocks attest to long-term stability of the landscape. Within the Middle Fork caldera, the granite porphyry is interpreted to have been exposed by erosion of thick intracaldera tuff from an asymmetric resurgent dome. The Middle Fork of the North Fork of the Fortymile River incised an arcuate valley into and around the caldera fill on the west and north and may have cut down from within an original caldera moat. The 70 Ma land surface is preserved beneath proximal outflow tuff at the west margin of the caldera structure and beneath welded outflow tuff 16–23 km east-southeast of the caldera in a paleovalley. Within ∼50 km of the Middle Fork caldera are 14 examples of Late Cretaceous (?)–Tertiary felsic volcanic and hypabyssal intrusive rocks that range in area from 2 to ∼100 km 2 . Rhyolite dome clusters north and northwest of the caldera occupy tectonic basins associated with northeast-trending faults and are relatively little eroded. Lava of a latite complex, 12–19 km northeast of the caldera, apparently flowed into the paleovalley of the Middle Fork of the North Fork of the Fortymile River. To the northwest of the Middle Fork caldera, in the Mount Harper crustal block, mid-Cretaceous plutonic rocks are widely exposed, indicating greater total exhumation. To the southeast of the Middle Fork block, the Mount Veta block has been uplifted sufficiently to expose a ca. 68–66 Ma equigranular granitic pluton. Farther to the southeast, in the Kechumstuk block, the flat-lying outflow tuff remnant in Gold Creek and a regionally extensive high terrace indicate that the landscape there has been little modified since 70 Ma other than entrenchment of tributaries in response to post–2.7 Ma lowering of base level of the Yukon River associated with advance of the Cordilleran ice sheet.


Two trends in international migration flows have attracted much attention recently: (i) the growing feminisation of migration flows; and (ii) the increasing selectivity of migration towards the highly skilled, which in turn has given rise to renewed concerns about the "brain drain" consequences for the sending countries. The two issues have not been considered jointly, however, mainly due to the lack of relevant data. This paper addresses this shortcoming by looking at the gender dimension of the brain drain, based on a new comparable data set that has been collected by the OECD and which allows us to identify people by country of residence, place of birth, gender and level of education. The evidence summarized in this paper shows that female migration to OECD countries has been increasing significantly in recent decades, so that migrant stocks are now more or less gender-balanced. A more surprising result is that this is also true for the highly skilled. Taking into account the fact that women still face an unequal access to tertiary education in many less developed countries, it appears that women are over-represented in the brain drain. This result is reinforced by econometric estimates showing that emigration of highly skilled women is higher, the poorer is their country of origin. This effect is also observed for men but to a lesser extent. It is not observed, however, at lower educational levels, where the traditional migration hump is identifiable. Econometric estimates also report a negative impact of emigration of highly skilled women on three key education and health indicators: infant mortality, under-5 mortality and secondary school enrolment rate by gender. These results raise concerns about a potentially significant negative impact of the female brain drain on the poorest countries.


Background Flow diverters (FDs) are increasingly used for bifurcation aneurysms. Failure of aneurysm occlusion may be caused by residual flow maintaining patency of the jailed branch along with the aneurysm. Our aim was to test whether endovascular occlusion of the jailed branch could improve efficacy of flow diversion of bifurcation aneurysms. Materials and methods Sixteen wide-necked lingual–carotid artery bifurcation aneurysms were created in eight canines. Patent aneurysms were randomly allocated 4 weeks later to flow diversion combined with jailed branch occlusion using coils and/or Onyx (n=6) or flow diversion alone (n=8). Angiographic results of aneurysm occlusion at 3 months were scored using an ordinal scale. Pathology specimens were photographed and neointimal coverage estimated using a semiquantitative scoring system. Results Fourteen aneurysms were patent at 1 month. FD deployment was successful in all cases but, at 3-month follow-up, three devices had prolapsed into the aneurysm. None of the bifurcation aneurysms treated with FD alone were occluded at 3 months. Endovascular branch occlusion combined with flow diversion significantly improved aneurysm occlusion rates compared with flow diversion alone (median angiographic scores 2 vs 0: p=0.0137). Flow-limiting parent vessel stenosis was not observed in any arteries. Devices were covered with thick neointima in most cases, but patent aneurysms were associated with leaks or holes in the neointima covering the aneurysm neck. Conclusions Treatment failures following flow diversion of bifurcation aneurysms can be caused by persistent flow to the jailed branch. Branch occlusion combined with flow diversion may improve angiographic occlusion scores of a canine bifurcation aneurysm model.


Abstract. We investigate the convergence of a two-step modi cation of the Gauss-Newton method applying the generalized Lipschitz condition for the rstand second-order derivatives. The convergence order as well as the convergence radius of the method are studied and the uniqueness ball of the solution of the nonlinear least squares problem is examined. Finally, we carry out numerical experiments on a set of well-known test problems.


Construction of a second runway at Manchester Airport (1997-2000) included a £17 million environmental package concerned with habitat restoration, relocation of species and translocation of valuable habitat components. One focus was on legally protected vertebrates such as great crested newts and badgers. To this end, a monitoring programme was established to assess earthworm communities (significant prey items for the given protected animals) within areas of translocated grassland. Major upheaval of turf can have negative consequences on soil biota, so its integration with receptor subsoil was essential. The work reported here relates to annual (autumn) monitoring (1998-2014) of 4 translocated grassland areas. Digging and hand sorting of soil, followed by vermifuge application to replicated plots was used to extract earthworm specimens. Twelve species of earthworm were recorded, representing litter dwelling, shallow, and deep burrowing ecological groups. Presence of Lumbricus terrestris in vertical burrows showed these grasslands have been integrated into their new locations. Total earthworm numbers fluctuated during the monitoring period, with lowest density at 4 per square metre and highest more than a hundred times larger. Similarly, biomasses have ranged between 1g to 110g per square metre. Significant differences can be attributed to a number of factors including type of translocation undertaken (turf transfer vs. soil alone) and also between grassland sites (wetter lower lying, vs. constructed hillocks). Meteorological data suggests that the most significant environmental aspect during monitoring was rainfall, with dramatic earthworm reductions in 2003, a year with a particularly dry summer. Great crested newts have been located from soil pits when sampling for earthworms at one of the areas. Earthworm community composition has been dynamic over the monitoring period suggesting that this and population size need to be appraised over realistic timescales.


Urban and industrial air quality management faces new and continuing challenges, driven by new legislation and public awareness on the one hand, industrialization and the growth of urban conglomerates and increases in power consumption and traffic on the other. While dispersion modeling for air quality studies is a well established field, the challenge is to integrate scientific tools of analysis with the environmental planning and management process, to involve a large and diverse audience and participants in the policy and decision making processes, and to support new functions such as the information of the public. This requires to integrate air quality models in a conceptual framework that includes and explicitly addresses policy relevant elements such as the control of emission sources including economic criteria, monitoring of ambient air quality and the compliance with standards, and impacts on human health and the environment.
AirWare is an integrated environmental information system for air quality assessment and management (http://www.ess.co.at/AIRWARE). In a sequence of international research projects and numerous application in cities all around the world, AirWare has been developed from a dedicated engineering system implemented on special hardware in the technical division of a users institution, for a few trained specialists, to an Internet based distributed client-server system for a much broader user group with support for public information systems.


AlxGa1-xN multiple quantum wells (MQW) were grown on AlN epilayer grown on 4H-SiC substrate. The growth was performed without interruption in a horizontal hot-wall MOCVD reactor using a mixture of hydrogen and nitrogen as carrier gases. The precursors were ammonia, trimethylaluminum and trimethylgallium. Results obtained from X-ray diffraction and infra-red reflectance were used to obtain the composition of the films when growing simple AlxGa1 xN layer. Visible reflectance was used to evaluate the thickness of the films. Finally the MQW parameters as thicknesses and composition variation were obtained by scanning transmission electron microscopy and demonstrated an agreement with the growth parameters used