Research on community gardens is an increasingly important area of study. As the percentage of the global population living in cities continues to climb, community gardens have the ability to reach increasing numbers of people. Previous research has shown that these spaces allocated for the growing of vegetables, flowers, fruit and/or herbs, produce many outcomes reaching beyond their members and into the surrounding environment. Studies indicate that this localized method of food production is able to reduce food costs for those involved, serve as an educational tool and provide a platform for community building, socialization, neighborhood renewal, and environmental remediation. Forming in early twentieth century Britain, community gardens emerged on a global scale following WWII and first appeared in Melbourne, Australia in 1977. Today, there are fifty community gardens in Melbourne. In an effort to accomplish my study goal, conducting case studies of community gardens in Melbourne, this research paper focuses on four such gardens. The aims of this study: to learn about different community gardens, including how and why they became what they are today, to understand the people who garden and gain insight into their motivations, and to discover the many outcomes of their participation, have been undertaken in an effort to provide an increased awareness of community gardens. A combination of data collection methods proved to be the best way to reach these aims. I conducted informal and formal interviews, was a detached observer and at times participated and worked in the gardens. Results reveal that there are a wide range of community gardens and people who spend time in them. The community gardens under study have a range of objectives, management styles, physical layouts and plot structures, and have varying levels of member satisfaction and involvement. Gardeners have several reasons for their participation and the outcomes of their contributions are numerous. An analysis shows that each community garden creates feelings and impressions which are very unique to that specific space. A garden's management also greatly contributes to its perceived effectiveness. Community gardens provide educational, personal, communal, and environmental benefits and can be sites of minimal negativity or conflict. Overall, if a community garden is to thrive it must be an unlocked area open to the public with a variety of communal areas and easily manageable plots, which, managed by a volunteer committee, betters the environment, is always improving, and constantly works to satisfy its members. A successful community garden has the potential to reach out to many people and make a valuable contribution to the urban landscape.


Welfare states are important determinants of health. Comparative social epidemiology has almost invariably concluded that population health is enhanced by the relatively generous and universal welfare provision of the Scandinavian countries. However, most international studies of socioeconomic inequalities in health have thrown up something of a public health 'puzzle' as the Scandinavian welfare states do not, as would generally be expected, have the smallest health inequalities. This essay outlines and interrogates this puzzle by drawing upon existing theories of health inequalities d artefact, selection, cultural e behavioural, materialist, psychosocial and life course d to generate some theoretical insights. It discusses the limits of these theories in respect to cross-national research; it questions the focus and normative paradigm underpinning contemporary comparative health inequalities research; and it considers the future of comparative social epidemiology.


Summary The once 'Critically Endangered' Seychelles Magpie-robin was down to just 12 individuals in 1960 on one island of the granitic Seychelles. In 2015, due to intensive long-term management the population stands at around 280 birds on five islands, marking a significant success for this species. Translocations to the islands of Cousin and Cousine have led to population saturation and stability, a translocation to Denis Island has resulted in a continuing population increase and the founder population on Frégate Island is likewise increasing. The latest translocation to Aride Island in 2002 resulted in population increase then stability but is now showing a steep decline throughout 2014 into 2015. Reasons for this decline are yet unknown though disease, lack of recruitment, the impacts of social conflict and the possibility of genetic issues are discussed. This report summarises the history of management for this species, compiling all available published and unpublished information, to provide a comprehensive account of the Seychelles Magpie-robin recovery.


This article examines the shatra – ritual votive fi gurines made by Altaian hunters, and their relevance to the history of chess. Based on the fi eld studies in an Altaian village, where the author has been conducting research since 2005, and on the museum and archival data collected in Saint Petersburg, Moscow, and Gorno-Altaysk, social relations mirrored by the shatra are examined through the lens of Altaian ethno-cultural history. Proceeding from Edmund Leech's interpretation of ritual, the study reveals the communicative function of shatra and its relationship to the land and identity claims of people participating in the ritual. The concept of "return address" is introduced and applied to Altaian ritual. The local community is not only an "addressee"; it has agency in communications between human and nonhuman beings. It is concluded that the shatra may be metaphorically interpreted as a knot in the relationship network connecting humans, spirits, landscape, things, and materials.


ABSTRACT The human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) Tax transactivator is known to induce or repress various cellular genes, several of them encoding transcription factors. As Tax is known to deregulate various basic bHLH factors, we looked more specifically at its effect on TAL1 (T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia 1), also known as SCL (stem cell leukemia). Indeed, TAL1 is deregulated in a high percentage of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia cells, and its oncogenic properties are well-established. Here we show that Tax induces transcription of this proto-oncogene by stimulating the activity of the TAL1 gene promoter 1b, through both the CREB and NF-κB pathways. It was also observed that TAL1 upregulates HTLV-1 promoter activity, in either the presence or the absence of Tax. The viral promoter is inhibited in trans by expression of the E2A protein E47, and TAL1 is able to abrogate this inhibition. These data show the existence of a positive feedback loop between Tax and TAL1 expression and support the notion that this proto-oncogene participates in generation of adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma by increasing the amount of the Tax oncoprotein but also possibly by its own transforming activities.


The NO-NO2 system was analyzed in different chemical regimes/air masses based on observations of reac- tive nitrogen species and peroxy radicals made during the in- tensive field campaign MIRAGE-Mex (4 to 29 March 2006). The air masses were categorized into 5 groups based on com- binations of macroscopic observations, geographical loca- tion, meteorological parameters, models, and observations of trace gases: boundary layer (labeled as "BL"), biomass burning ("BB"), free troposphere (continental, "FTCO" and marine, "FTMA"), and Tula industrial complex ("TIC"). In general, NO2/NO ratios in different air masses are near pho- tostationary state. Analysis of this ratio can be useful for testing current understanding of tropospheric chemistry. The ozone production efficiency (OPE) for the 5 air mass cate- gories ranged from 4.5 (TIC) to 8.5 (FTMA), consistent with photochemical aging of air masses exiting the Mexico City Metropolitan Area.


Purpose This study aims to map force interaction between instrument and sclera of in vivo rabbits during retinal procedures, and verify if a robotic active force control could prevent unwanted increase of forces on the sclera. Methods Experiments consisted in the performance of intraocular movements of a force sensing instrument, adjacent to the retinal surface, in radial directions, from the center to the periphery and back, and compared manual manipulations with robotic assistance and also robotic assistance with an active force control. This protocol was approved by the Animal Use and Ethical Committee and experiments were according to ARVO Statement of Animal Use. Results Mean forces using manual manipulations were 115 ± 51 mN. Using robotic assistance, mean forces were 118 ± 49 mN. Using an active force control method, overall mean forces reduced to 69 ± 15, with a statistical difference compared with other methods (P < 0.001). Comparing intraocular directions, superior sector required higher forces and the force control method reduced differences in forces between users and retained the same force pattern between them. Conclusions Results validate that the introduction of robotic assistance might increase the dynamic interactions between instrument and sclera, and the addition of an active force control method reduces the forces at levels lower than manual manipulations. Translational Relevance All marketing benefits from extreme accuracy and stability from robots, however, redundancy of safety mechanisms during intraocular manipulations, especially on force control and surgical awareness, would allow all utility of robotic assistance in ophthalmology.


In this paper we investigate the block-type pilot channel estimation for orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) systems. The estimation is based on the minimum mean square error (MMSE) estimator and the least square (LS) estimator. We derive the MMSE and LS estimators' architecture and investigate their performances. We prove that the MMSE estimator performance is better but computational complexity is high, contrary the LS estimator has low complexity but poor performance. For reducing complexity we proposed two different solutions which are the Simplified Least Square (SLS) estimator and the modified MMSE estimator. We evaluate estimator's performance on basis of mean square error and symbol error rate for 16 QAM systems. We also evaluate estimator's computational complexity.


The variety and amount of time we use the technological equipment are increasing every day with the developing technology. In the meantime, technology addiction is confronting us as an important issue. Especially with the development and common use of mobile technologies, the levels of addiction to social media are expanding. The aim of this study is to measure the Facebook addiction levels of the Physical Education and Sports Teaching students that are studying in the Sports Sciences Faculty and examine their Facebook addiction levels concerning a number of variables. Descriptive method was used within the framework of the study and the "Facebook Addiction Survey" developed by Cam and Isbulan (2012) was used as the data collection tool. 274 volunteer students participated in the study. As a result of the study, the Facebook addiction levels of the Physical Education and Sports Teaching students are noted to be at low levels. On the other hand, when the Facebook addiction levels' mean scores are compared, it is seen that the mean scores for male students are higher when compared to the scores of the female students and the scores of the students in the 3rd grade are at higher levels when compared to the scores of the students in the 1st and 2nd grades.


For an integral body or a body-on-frame (BOF) vehicle, the vehicle's frontal part is the major structural subsystem to absorb the impact energy in a frontal vehicle impact. Ideally, for each serious crash situation, the whole available deformation length must be used and all the impact energy must be absorbed without deforming the passenger compartment. It is also important to manage the energy intensity during the crash time because the resulting crash pulse has a large influence on the injury level. Crash simulation softwares are widely used by automotive industry to evaluate occupant risks and injuries. Therefore, the accuracy of the finite element frame model has significant influence on the quality of vehicle impact predictability. This current work aims at building an understanding of structural and design features that can optimize structural integrity in terms of strength, stiffness and crashworthiness of front-part structures. For this purpose, a local car model is selected for analysis so as to study and analyse the crushing behaviour and suggest ways for possible modifications to be made on the structures. Required modifications on the structures are done at the weak zones to enhance crashworthiness of the vehicle. The enhancement processes involve structure's geometry modifications or implementations of new design features. Concept structure that can improve energy absorption capability while maintaining a permissible deceleration level is presented.


Alpha and beta diversity of harpacticoid copepods was studied in a Kenyan seagrass bed (Gazi Bay, Kenya) with a clear zonation of different seagrass species. The application of an appropriate sampling strategy made the interpretation of different spatial diversity levels possible. Alpha diversity was defined as the diversity of harpacticoid copepods associated with 1 seagrass spe- cies or 1 subhabitat (roots or leaves). Beta diversity was interpreted as changes in diversity between both subhabitats of 1 seagrass species and between different seagrass species along the tidal gradi- ent. A total of 115 harpacticoid copepod species were recorded in the seagrass samples. Of these, 36 species (31.3%) were restricted to the root subhabitat and 12 (10.4%) were only recovered from leaf samples. Higher diversity was recorded for the deeper seagrass species (Syringodium isoetifolium, Halophila stipulacea). Copepod communities associated with Halophila ovalis and H. stipulacea (both pioneer seagrass species) were clearly different from one another in terms of diversity. A trend towards more specialized habitat preference (i.e. a lower ecological range size) was found with increasing diversity. The left-skewed species' range size distribution for the more diverse samples was clearly different from the typical right-skewed curves reported in most terrestrial studies. This may provide evidence for fundamental differences between marine species and terrestrial ones in their range size distribution.


Background Immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS) is reported widely in patients initiating antiretroviral therapy (ART). However, few studies are prospective, and no study has evaluated the impact of the timing of ART when allocated randomly during an acute opportunistic infection (OI). Methodology/Principal Findings A5164 randomized 282 subjects with AIDS-related OIs (tuberculosis excluded), to early or deferred ART. IRIS was identified prospectively using pre-defined criteria. We evaluated associations between IRIS and baseline variables in subjects with follow-up on ART using Wilcoxon and Fisher's exact tests, logistic regression, and Cox models with time-varying covariates. Twenty of 262 (7.6%) subjects developed IRIS after a median of 33 days on ART. Subjects with fungal infections (other than pneumocystis) developed IRIS somewhat more frequently (OR = 2.7; 95% CI: 1.02, 7.2; p-value = 0.06 (using Fisher's exact test)). In Cox models, lower baseline and higher on-treatment CD4+ T-cell counts and percentage were associated with IRIS. Additionally, higher baseline and lower on-treatment HIV RNA levels were associated with IRIS. Corticosteroids during OI management and the timing of ART were not associated with the development of IRIS. Implications In patients with advanced immunosuppression and non-tuberculous OIs, the presence of a fungal infection, lower CD4+ T-cell counts and higher HIV RNA levels at baseline, and higher CD4+ T-cell counts and lower HIV RNA levels on treatment are associated with IRIS. Early initiation of ART does not increase the incidence of IRIS, and concern about IRIS should not prompt deferral of ART. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00055120


The nature of wind flow over a small, 0.6 m high foredune scarp is investigated on the Sir Richard Peninsula, South Australia during a variety of incident wind directions and speeds. The study provides additional supporting evidence that the presence of the scarp and the dune exerts a strong influence on a landwards trending reduction in wind velocity and an increase in turbulence, with the greatest area of turbulence occurring near and at the foredune scarp base. For an incident oblique wind, an alongshore helicoidal flow is formed within a separation region along the scarp basal region. In this region, the coefficient of variation (CV) of wind speed is high and displays significant fluctuations. The flow at the scarp crest is compressed, streamlined and accelerated, turbulence is suppressed, and local jets may occur depending on the incident wind approach angle. Jets are more likely where the incident flow is perpendicular or nearly so. A flow separation region does not develop downwind of the scarp crest where the morphology of the foredune stoss slope downwind of the scarp is more convex (as in this case) rather than relatively flat, and possibly due to the presence of vegetation at the scarp crest. A tentative model of the flow regions developed across a backshore–scarp–foredune region during oblique incident flow is provided. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Needle-based devices, which are in wide clinical use for needle biopsy procedures, may be augmented by suitable optical techniques for the localization and diagnosis of diseased tissue. Tissue refractive index is one optical contrast mechanism with diagnostic potential. In the case of mammary tissue, for example, recent research indicates that refractive index variations between tissue types may be useful for the identification of cancerous tissue. While many coherence-based forward-sensing devices have been developed to detect scattering changes, none have demonstrated refractive index measurement capabilities. We present a novel needle-based device that is capable of simultaneously measuring refractive index and scattering. Coupled to the sample arm of an optical coherence tomography system, the needle device detects the scattering response and optical pathlength through tissue residing in a fixed-width channel. Near-infrared measurements of tissues and materials with known optical properties using a prototype device will be presented. This work demonstrates the feasibility of integrated in vivo measurement of refractive index and scattering in conjunction with existing clinical needle-based devices.


The use of a few large-diameter reinforcing bars for the construction of precast concrete bridge bents allows simplified construction by reducing the number of alignments to be made in the field. These bars are grouted into ducts in a precast concrete cap beam. In the proposed precast concrete substructure system, the grouted bars carry tensile forces across the joint between the column and cap beam. This joint is the yielding element in the structural system, and it is crucial to the performance of the structure that the bars yield before other failure mechanisms, including bond failure, occur. However, the cap beam is typically insufficient to anchor the bar, as the depth of the beam is substantially less than the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) bridge code allows. For this project, 17 pullout tests were conducted to determine the bond characteristics and development length of large-diameter bars grouted into ducts. The bars tested ranged in size from #8 to #18. Pullout tests conducted with embedment lengths of at least six bar diameters yielded the reinforcing bar, while the test conducted with an embedment length of 14 bar diameters resulted in bar fracture. The tests and subsequent analysis showed that the bond of these grouted connections is significantly better than the bond of bars cast directly into concrete. The development lengths needed to fully anchor the bar are therefore within the depth available in the cap beam.


Protocol for adult (8-10 week) mouse kidney dissociation performed on ice to reduce artifact gene expression. The first layer, consisting of collagenase digestion, breaks down the tissue and releases some cells and glomeruli and tubules. The second layer consists of bacillus licheniformis digestion for 15 min. augmented with a thermomixer at 1400 RPM and passaging with a 27 gauge needle. The second layer is meant to thoroughly break up remaining tubules and glomeruli, releasing cells such as podocytes. The final yield is 250K cells from 18 mg tissue with 98% viability, approximately 14,000 cells/mg tissue. Approximately 1% of released cells are podocytes (visualized using kidneys from MAFB-GFP+ mice using a hemocytometer)


Statistical characteristics of signal reception conditions vary greatly in different types of environments. Hence, Global National Satellite System (GNSS) receivers must recognize surroundings for choosing the most suitable positioning methods in real time. Targeting vehicular positioning applications in a city, a novel environment recognition algorithm based only on the GNSS signal characteristics is proposed to distinguish between six distinct settings. To characterize different environmental interferences, a signal feature vector is built to represent the signal attenuation, blockage, and multipath. By training the classification model with labeled feature vectors, the support vector machine (SVM) algorithm is used to predict the scene type. A temporal filtering method is proposed to improve the accuracy. With advanced training of the model, this recognition method can work for the receiver in real time. To prove the extensive applicability of the proposed algorithm, the prediction data set and the training data set are collected in different cities. The testing results show overall recognition accuracy of 89.3% across different environments.


Caveolae are small, flask-shaped invaginations found in abundance on the plasma membrane of epithelial cells. They have been thought to play an important role in cellular signal transduction and transcytosis, and may also be important in tumor progression. Drab et al. (see the Perspective by Parton) describe a caveolin-1 knockout mouse. Surprisingly, the mice are viable, but totally lack morphologically identifiable caveolae. They do have pulmonary and vascular defects that are caused by problems with cellular nitric oxide and calcium signaling. The generation of an organelle knockout in an intact organism should shed light on the physiological pathways in which caveolae play a critical role. M. Drab, P. Verkade, M. Elger, M. Kasper, M. Lohn, B. Lauterbach, J. Menne, C. Lindschau, F. Mende, F. C. Luft, A. Schedl, H. Haller, T. V. Kurzchalia, Loss of caveolae, vascular dysfunction, and pulmonary defects in caveolin-1 gene-disrupted mice. Science 293, 2449-2452 (2001). [Abstract] [Full Text] R. G. Parton, Life without caveolae. Science 293, 2404-2405 (2001). [Full Text]


The two-volume set LNCS 7609 and 7610 constitutes the thoroughly refereed proceedings of the 5th International Symposium on Leveraging Applications of Formal Methods, Verification and Validation, held in Heraklion, Crete, Greece, in October 2012. The two volumes contain papers presented in the topical sections on adaptable and evolving software for eternal systems, approaches for mastering change, runtime verification: the application perspective, model-based testing and model inference, learning techniques for software verification and validation, LearnLib tutorial: from finite automata to register interface programs, RERS grey-box challenge 2012, Linux driver verification, bioscientific data processing and modeling, process and data integration in the networked healthcare, timing constraints: theory meets practice, formal methods for the developent and certification of X-by-wire control systems, quantitative modelling and analysis, software aspects of robotic systems, process-oriented geoinformation systems and applications, handling heterogeneity in formal development of HW and SW Systems


Structural, optical, and electrical properties of various HgTe nanoparticle-based structures including a hybrid HgTe system with organic capping material and a HgTe/CdTe core-shell structure are characterised in this paper by X-ray diffraction, high-resolution transmission electron microscope. photoluminescence (PL), absorption, and current-voltage and photocurrent measurements. Absorption and PL spectra taken for HgTe nanoparticles reveal strong exciton peaks in the near infrared (IR) wavelength range, indicating that the HgTe nanoparticles are a very prospective nanomaterial for the application of optoelectronics operating in IR range. Photocurrents of various HgTe nanoparticle-based structures are compared in visible and IR wavelength range, and the comparison shows that the kind of capping or composites materials and existence of capping materials significantly affect the optoelectronic properties of the HgTe nanoparticles. Finally, transportation of charge carriers and photocurrent mechanism in the HgTe nanoparticle-based structures are discussed in detail in this paper.


Measurements of horizontal and vertical water particle velocities induced by regular waves, wind waves generated by a wind wave tank and ocean waves in shallow water were made using a Doppler-type sonic current meter. For regular waves, the validity of wave theories such as Stokes and cnoidal waves is investigated by comparison between theoretical curves and the experimental results. For wind waves and ocean waves, power spectra of water particle velocities and cross-correlations between surface displacement and water particle velocity are considered, especially in the latter case, directional spectra calculated from both the records are compared each other.


We report a systematic study of the role of Marangoni convection in the evaporation kinetics of pure water drops, considering the influence of the heating regime and surface wettability. Marangoni flows were induced via heating under constant wall temperature (uniform heating) and constant heat flux (local heating) regimes below the drops. To visualize the thermal patterns emerging during the evaporation, we employed infrared thermography and we captured the evolution of the drop profile with a CCD camera to follow the evaporation kinetics of each drop. We observed a strong correlation between the temperature difference within the drop and the evolution of the drop shape during different modes of evaporation (i.e., constant radius, angle, or stick-slip) resulting in different Marangoni flow patterns. Under uniform heating, stable recirculatory vortices due to Marangoni convection emerged at high temperature, but they faded at later stages of the evaporation process. On the other hand, in the localized heating case, the constant heat flux resulted in a rapid increase in the temperature difference within the drop capable of sustaining Marangoni flows throughout the evaporation. Surface wettability was found also to play a role in both the emergence of the Marangoni flows and the evaporation kinetics. In particular, recirculatory flows in drops on hydrophobic surfaces were stronger when compared to flows on hydrophilic surfaces for both uniform and local heating. To quantify the effect of the heating mode and the importance of Marangoni flows, we calculated the evaporative flux for each case and found it to be much higher in the localized heating case. Evaporative flux depends on both diffusion and natural convection of the vapor phase to the ambient. Hence, we estimated the Grashof number for each case and found a strong relation between natural convection in the vapor phase and heating regime or Marangoni convection in the liquid phase. Subsequently, we demonstrate the limitation of the previously reported diffusion-only model in describing the evaporation of heated drops.


In the United States prior to 1863 each bank issued its own distinct notes. E-money shares many of the characteristics of these bank notes. This paper describes some lessons relevant to e-money from the U.S. experience with state bank notes. It examines historical evidence on how well the bank notes - a privately-issued currency system with multiple issuers - functioned with respect to ease of transacting, counterfeiting, safety, overissuance and par exchange. It finds that bank notes made transacting easier and were not subject to overissuance. However, counterfeiting of bank notes was widespread, bank notes were not perfectly safe, and notes of different banks did not exchange at par and rates of exchange were volatile. The paper also examines how bank notes were regulated and supervised and how that regulation and supervision affected the functioning of the system. The U.S. experience with state bank notes suggests that a privately-issued e-money system can operate efficiently but only with appropriate government intervention, regulation, and supervision to minimize counterfeiting and to promote safety and par exchange.


The use of robots to assist in performing surgical tasks has been developed over the last decade. Robotic digital platforms provide potential benefits such as three-dimensional visualization, wristed instruments which lead to enhanced dexterity, and blocking the transmission of torque on ports. These advantages become remarkable when the robot system is employed in bariatric surgery. This review explores the literature and examines the surgical outcomes and complications in robot bariatric surgeries. Robotic adjustable gastric banding (AGB), Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB), sleeve gastrectomy (SG), biliopancreatic diversion (BPD) with duodenal switch (BPDDS), and revisional bariatric surgery (RBS) are assessed. The review showed that robot bariatric surgeries generally led to comparable or better outcomes and shorter learning curve than conventional laparoscopic surgeries. However, most upper gastrointestinal (UGI) and bariatric surgeons in East Asia are commonly exposed to laparoscopic gastrectomy because of high incidence of gastric cancer in this area and they are already well-trained laparoscopic surgeons. Therefore, most of them still prefer laparoscopic techniques because it has proven clinical benefits, does not require complex setups, and super obese patients are not as common as Western countries. More research is needed to elucidate accurate conclusion in East Asia.


We propose 3D object recognition methods whose characteristic point is the use of a large number of subspaces (1.5 million) generated from a billion of local features for the recognition of 1002 objects. In order to match query local features to a lot of subspaces, a simple approximate nearest neighbor search is utilized. Based on this approximation the proposed three methods are as follows: a method with an ordinary subspace method (match each query local feature to subspaces), a method of two-step matching which employs two versions of subspaces for efficient matching, and a method with a mutual subspace method (both queries and models are represented as subspaces). These methods are compared with two baselines with and without subspaces. From experimental results, we have confirmed the advantage of proposed methods in both accuracy and efficiency. In particular, the mutual subspace method achieves 95% accuracy with processing time of 3.5 sec./query, which improves the accuracy of a baseline without subspaces about 60%. As compared to the subspace method without approximate matching, the mutual subspace method is more than 240 times faster.


High-precision strain was observed with a borehole dilational strainmeter in the Devil's Punchbowl during the 11:58 UT 28 June 1992 MW 7.3 Landers earthquake and the large Big Bear aftershock (MW 6.3). The strainmeter is installed at a depth of 176 m in the fault zone approximately midway between the surface traces of the San Andreas and Punchbowl faults and is about 100 km from the 85-km-long Landers rupture. We have questioned whether unusual amplified strains indicating precursive slip or high fault compliance occurred on the faults ruptured by the Landers earthquake, or in the San Andreas fault zone before and during the earthquake, whether static offsets for both the Landers and Big Bear earthquakes agree with expectation from geodetic and seismologic models of the ruptures and with observations from a nearby two-color geodimeter network, and whether postseismic behavior indicated continued slip on the Landers rupture or local triggered slip on the San Andreas. We show that the strain observed during the earthquake at this instrument shows no apparent amplification effects. There are no indications of precursive strain in these strain data due to either local slip on the San Andreas or precursive slip on the eventual Landers rupture. The observations are generally consistent with models of the earthquake in which fault geometry and slip have the same form as that determined by either inversion of the seismic data or inversion of geodetically determined ground displacements produced by the earthquake. Finally, there are some indications of minor postseismic behavior, particularly during the month following the earthquake.


The analysis of return series from financial markets is often based on the Peaks-over-threshold (POT) model. This model assumes independent and identically distributed observations and therefore a Poisson process is used to characterize the occurrence of extreme events. However, stylized facts such as clustered extremes and serial dependence typically violate the assumption of independence. In this paper we concentrate on an alternative approach to overcome these difficulties. We consider the stochastic intensity of the point process of exceedances over a threshold in the framework of irregularly spaced data. The main idea is to model the time between exceedances through an Autoregressive Conditional Duration (ACD) model, while the marks are still being modelled by generalized Pareto distributions. The main advantage of this approach is its capability to capture the short-term behaviour of extremes without involving an arbitrary stochastic volatility model or a prefiltration of the data, which certainly impacts the estimation. We make use of the proposed model to obtain an improved estimate for the Value at Risk. The model is then applied and illustrated to transactions data from Bayer AG, a blue chip stock from the German stock market index DAX.


Affective Computing is a growing multidisciplinary field encompassing computer science, engineering, psychology, education, neuroscience, and many other disciplines. It explores how affective factors influence interactions between humans and technology, how affect sensing and affect generation techniques can inform our understanding of human affect, and on the design, implementation, and evaluation of systems that intricately involve affect at their core. The Oxford Handbook of Affective Computing will help both new and experienced researchers identify trends, concepts, methodologies, and applications in this burgeouning field. The volume features 41 chapters divided into five main sections: history and theory, detection, generation, methodologies, and applications. Section One begins with a look at the makings of AC and a historical review of the science of emotion. Chapters discuss the theoretical underpinnings of AC from an interdisciplinary perspective involving the affective, cognitive, social, media, and brain sciences. Section Two focuses on affect detection or affect recognition, which is one of the most commonly investigated areas in AC. Section Three examines aspects of affect generation including the synthesis of emotion and its expression via facial features, speech, postures and gestures. Cultural issues in affect generation are also discussed. Section Four features chapters on methodological issues in AC research, including data collection techniques, multimodal affect databases, emotion representation formats, crowdsourcing techniques, machine learning approaches, affect elicitation techniques, useful AC tools, and ethical issues in AC. Finally, Section Five highlights existing and future applications of AC in domains such as formal and informal learning, games, robotics, virtual reality, autism research, healthcare, cyberpsychology, music, deception, reflective writing, and cyberpsychology.With chapters authored by world leaders in each area, The Oxford Handbook of Affective Computing is suitable for use as a textbook in undergraduate or graduate courses in AC, and will serve as a valuable resource for students, researchers, and practitioners across the globe.


To study the agricultural production of biosimilar antibodies, trastuzumab (Herceptin) was expressed in Nicotiana benthamiana using the magnICON viral-based transient expression system. Immunoblot analyses of crude plant extracts revealed that trastuzumab accumulates within plants mostly in the fully assembled tetrameric form. Purification of trastuzumab from N. benthamiana was achieved using a scheme that combined ammonium sulfate precipitation with affinity chromatography. Following purification, the specificity of the plant-produced trastuzumab for the HER2 receptor was compared with Herceptin and confirmed by western immunoblot. Functional assays revealed that plant-produced trastuzumab and Herceptin have similar in vitro antiproliferative effects on breast cancer cells that overexpress HER2. Results confirm that plants may be developed as an alternative to traditional antibody expression systems for the production of therapeutic mAbs.


This paper describes automatic document categorization based on large text hierarchy. We handle the large number of features and training examples by taking into account hierarchical structure of examples and using feature selection for large text data. We experimentally evaluate feature subset selection on real-world text data collected from the existing Web hierarchy named Yahoo. In our learning experiments naive Bayesian classifier was used on text data using feature vector document representation that includes word sequences (n-grams) instead of just single words (unigrams). Experimental evaluation on real-world data collected form the Web shows that our approach gives promising results and can potentially be used for document categorization on the Web. Additionally the best result on our data is achieved for relatively small feature subset, while for larger subset the performance substantially drops. The best performance among six tested feature scoring measure was achieved by the feature scoring measure called Odds ratio that is known from information retrieval.


Objective Randomized controlled trials have shown that growth hormone (GH) therapy has effects on growth, metabolism, and body composition. GH therapy is prescribed for children with growth failure and adults with GH deficiency. Carefully conducted observational study of GH treatment affords the opportunity to assess long-term treatment outcomes and the clinical factors and variables affecting those outcomes, in patients receiving GH therapy in routine clinical practice. Design The NordiNet® International Outcome Study (IOS) and the American Norditropin® Studies: Web Enabled Research (ANSWER Program®) are two complementary, non-interventional, observational studies that adhere to current guidelines for pharmacoepidemiological data. Patients The studies include pediatric and adult patients receiving Norditropin®, as prescribed by their physicians. Measurements The studies gather long-term data on the safety and effectiveness of reallife treatment with the recombinant human GH, Norditropin®. We describe the origins, aims, objectives, and design methodology of the studies, as well as their governance and validity, strengths, and limitations. Conclusion The NordiNet® IOS and ANSWER Program® studies will provide valid insights into the effectiveness and safety of GH treatment across a diverse and large patient population treated in accordance with real-world clinical practice and following the Good Pharmacoepidemiological Practice and STrengthening the Reporting of OBservational studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) guidelines.


A key problem in ice core palaeclimate studies is the interpretation of the various measurable parameters in ice in terms of climate and environmental conditions. This study is aimed at developing a closer understanding of the
connection between high resolution snow/firn measurements and meteorological conditions. Ultra high resolution
snow pit and shallow firn core records of oxygen isotope ratios (del18O) and a suite of trace chemical species including marine biogenic sulphur compounds (methane sulphonate (MSA), non-sea salt sulphate), nitrate and major sea salt
ions (sodium, chloride, magnesium), were generated at a high accumulation site on Law Dome, East Antarctica.
Concordance between accumulation events identified in the records up to 7.7 km apart confirms that the observed
chemical and isotopic variations are the result of regional rather than local surface effects. This allows calibration of
the snow pit and firn core records with measured meteorological parameters.
Event scale dating of the records was established using hourly snow accumulation measurements from a co-located
automatic weather station (AWS). The ultra high resolution nature of this study and independent dating scale provide
an opportunity to examine exact timings in the seasonality of each chemical species. The traditional summermaximum
species of del18O and MSA show consistent relative phasing during mid-summer over four annual cycles.
Nitrate shows an erratic seasonal cycle with a general trend characterised by narrow peaks during spring and early
summer, preceding the mid-summer peaks in del18O and MSA. Non-sea salt sulphate cycles indicate similar
characteristics to MSA signals during summer, but are more comparable to nitrate signals during spring, autumn and
winter. This suggests the summer non-sea salt sulphate signal is driven by biological activity, yet appears to be linked
with nitrate signals outside the summer season. Finally, the sea salt species indicate a seasonal cycle characterised by
maximum concentrations during autumn, winter and spring.
Event scale dating of the snow pit and firn core records allows direct comparisons between the chemical and isotopic
signals and observed meteorological conditions. Local meteorological conditions recorded by the AWS are combined
with synoptic scale meteorology derived from Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer satellite imagery and
back trajectory analysis to identify potential source regions and transport mechanisms influencing the chemical and
isotopic signals. Potential source regions and transport mechanisms are examined for the marine biogenic indicators
(MSA, non-sea salt sulphate). Results indicate that the seasonal variation in marine biogenic activity is reflected in the
Law Dome records, and the sea ice zone provides an important source region. However, results also indicate that
lower latitudes, and the Heard Island region (50 degrees S, 70 degrees E) in particular, may provide an important additional source
region for MSA and non-sea salt sulphate outside the summer season. High sea salt signals are generally associated
with intense cyclonic systems, yet variations in atmospheric circulation and transport mechanisms also impact on the
sea salt record. Comparisons between del18O signals and local air temperatures reveal the del18O record is an excellent
proxy for temperature at Law Dome, although high (warm) del18O events are found to be influenced by atmospheric
circulation and associated with rapid advection of air from low latitudes. Finally, results suggest that spring nitrate
signals at Law Dome may be linked to the intrusion of stratospheric air through the breakdown in the polar vortex
during spring.


Since its first edition in 1982, the Paxinos and Watson rat brain atlas has become the most trusted source of accurate coordinates and anatomical information in laboratories throughout the world. It has been cited over 60,000 times, making it the most cited publication in neuroscience. The seventh edition incorporates new findings on developmental gene expression and presents the boundaries of neuromeres in sagittal sections. * 161 thoroughly revised coronal diagrams and accompanying photographic plates spaced at 120 m intervals * 19 thoroughly revised sagittal diagrams and accompanying photographic plates * 27 thoroughly revised horizontal diagrams and accompanying photographic plates * Photographic plates printed from high resolution digital images in color * Diagrams of all spinal cord segments * The most accurate and virtually universally used stereotaxic coordinate system * Neuromeric segments delineated in sagittal sections * A 'mini-atlas' of 14 diagrams to assist beginning students of neuroanatomy * Over 1000 structures identified * Electronic diagrams available to purchasers of this book via a companion web site (http://booksite.elsevier.com/9780123919496/)


This study explores the impact of the counter culture on students at two Anglophone universities in the 1960s and 70s. It focuses on the social and historical differences that predisposed English speaking youth to metropolitan based cultures. It explores this in the context of a lack of identity with the dominant culture of apartheid. The study examines the method of transmission, absorption, translation and incorporation of the counterculture and the New Left. The factors that highlighted the differences between South African students and their counterparts abroad are seen not only in their access to technology but also in the nature of their relationship to power both political and educational. The importance of understanding what bred different responses to similar stimuli assists in understanding the process in which the global became local. It is argued here that the attraction of the counterculture lay in the broader cultural scope it gave to expressions of difference and resistance as a response to the rigid and continuous expansion of punitive measures by the apartheid government. The persistence through the 1960s of a liberal framework is examined in the context of a response to these measures as well as a failure to move beyond the racial foregrounding of the political system. The influences of events in the USA, UK and France in 1968 are seen in the context of their importance in South Africa as a catalyst to practical and theoretical change. The significance of individuals as translators of the discourses of the New Left is paralleled in examinations of South African musicians whose lyrics and compositions carried both the ideas of the counter culture as well as expressed responses and issues shared by their audiences. The importance of the coalescing of both the New Left and the counterculture are evident in the early 1970s. Students adopted a Marxist framework within which to analyse South Africa, and the methods of the New Left in France in seeking alliances with workers. This practical approach was an example of the global becoming local and introduced those with access to privileged white education into a reexamination of the role of education in changing society. The counterculture expressed itself in the adoption of both cultural and educational methods of focusing on change as a response both to students relationship to power as well as to the emphasis of the 1960s on a broader more individually expressed ability to embrace change and new values. The study concludes that the framework of the New Left when employed in redefining South African history was central to a process of both economic and cultural change within the country. The absence of a strongly expressed identity suggests the widespread appeal of the central values of the counterculture which emphasized distance and disaffiliation from the dominant culture. The opportunity offered by this position is seen as a response to the political expressions of a racially defined student body against a less obvious but significant change in the definition and role of tertiary education and cultural institutions.


Rational design of materials for energy storage systems relies on our ability to probe these materials at various length scales. Solid-state NMR spectroscopy is a powerful approach for gaining chemical and structural insights at the atomic/molecular level, but its low detection sensitivity often limits applicability. This limitation can be overcome by transferring the high polarization of electron spins to the sample of interest in a process called dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP). Here, we employ for the first time metal ion-based DNP to probe pristine and cycled composite battery electrodes. A new and efficient DNP agent, Fe(III), is introduced, yielding lithium signal enhancement up to 180 when substituted in the anode material Li4Ti5O12. In addition for being DNP active, Fe(III) improves the anode performance. Reduction of Fe(III) to Fe(II) upon cycling can be monitored in the loss of DNP activity. We show that the dopant can be reactivated (return to Fe(III)) for DNP by increasing the cycling potential window. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the deleterious effect of carbon additives on the DNP process can be eliminated by using carbon free electrodes, doped with Fe(III) and Mn(II), which provide good electrochemical performance as well as sensitivity in DNP-NMR. We expect that the approach presented here will expand the applicability of DNP for studying materials for frontier challenges in materials chemistry associated with energy and sustainability.


Pycnogonida is a subphylum of marine arthropods showing unique characteristics. Their position within the Arthropoda is not yet clear, but strong evidence has, suggested they may be the extant sister taxon to all other arthropods. The phylogenetic affinities among the extant families of pycnogonids: Ammotheidae, Colossendeidae, Callipallenidae, Nymphonidae, Phoxichilidiidae, Pycnogonidae, Austrodecidae, Rhynchothoracidae, and the position of problematic genera such as Endeis, Pallenopsis and Tanystylum, are uncertain. Traditionally, it has been assumed that an evolutionary trend of gradual reduction of numbers of segments of the appendages, mainly involving chelifores, palps and ovigers (head appendages) has taken place within the group. Modern cladistic techniques have not been applied to resolve phylogenetic conflicts of the sea spiders. I approached the problem of the uncertain higher-level phylogenetic affinities of pycnogonids to propose hypotheses of relationships based on cladistic analysis of morphological characters, thereby testing the hypothesis of a reduction trend. Additionally, I used a preliminary molecular approach to confront the morphological results. This is one of the first attempts to use molecular data in the study of systematics of pycnogonids. Phylogenetic relationships among the main lineages of extant sea spiders were studied using cladistic analysis of 36 morphological characters and 38 species from all the recognized families. A preliminary exemplar method was employed, and different assumptions of multistate character transformations were used to trace the evolution of the head appendages. Fragments of nuclear ribosomal DNA (18S and 28S) were sequenced to reconstruct the phylogenetic relationships among six higher taxa of sea spiders. Hypotheses of relationships were obtained from separate and combined analyses of these data sets under both maximum parsimony and maximum likelihood criteria. Trees derived from the molecular data set were compared with those from the set of 36 morphological characters previously analysed. Estimates of phylogeny were found to be significantly different between the molecular and the morphological data set and possible causes for incongruence, such as the coding of inapplicable characters in morphology and a very reduced set of taxa in the molecular analysis, are discussed. The position of Colossendeidae was a major cause of conflict, being supported as a relative of Ammotheidae by morphological characters but appearing closely related to Callipallenidae and Nymphonidae with DNA data. With the molecular characters, Austrodecus is identified as a basal taxon for the rest of the pycnogonids included, differing from its close relationship to ammotheids shown by morphology. Using morphological data, the family Ammotheidae appeared as paraphyletic as did Callipallenidae. Pallenopsis was related to Anoplodactylus according to DNA but not morphology. Although no clear pattern of overall relationships among sea spiders is yet defined, several patterns useful for future systematic work have been noted. New sets of characters and compilation of data from all available sources will probably provide a better picture. Ontogenetic transformation could give some insights into character evolution, and knowledge of ecological traits is needed to complement morphological observations. A collection of fresh material of numerous species of sea spiders from the Great Barrier Reef and other localities of Queensland was useful for the phylogenetic analyses and also contributed to the knowledge of the marine fauna of Australia. Thirty-three species of tropical shallow-water sea spiders collected from the Queensland coast, the Great Barrier Reef and the Coral Sea are reported here. Among these were six undescribed species in the genera Austrodecus, Anoplodactylus and Pycnogonum, and other nine species, mostly of Indo-West pacific distribution not previously recorded for Australia.


Good management accounting involves a responsibility to manage mind-provoking information and issues that influence decision making in the organization. The competitive world of business requires proactive management accountants whose roles conform to the current shifts in the field. Where this function is wholeheartedly executed to secure and utilise resources, the organization's interest is duly protected such that the business life is prolonged. The study is descriptive using secondary data to reveal the important role of the management accountant as germane to effective utilization of firm's resources in order to enhance the businesslife of the organization. Findings of the study revealed the lumping of the job description of the management accountant with that of the financial accountant, a contrast to current shift in management accounting functions. The study recommends that management accountants should be current with new approaches to executing the salient function that is now premised on resourceful management which enhances decision making, value creation and overall attainment of organization goal. Consideration should be given to specifying the job-schedule and requirements for the management accounting profession different from current practice wherein financial accountant and management accountants' duties are lumped. In the light of this, developing countries require a proactive and result-oriented management of the meagre resources by the firms' management accountants.


Resource is an important constraint when deploying Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) on mobile and edge devices. Existing works commonly adopt the cell-based search approach, which limits the flexibility of network patterns in learned cell structures. Moreover, due to the topology-agnostic nature of existing works, including both cell-based and node-based approaches, the search process is time consuming and the performance of found architecture may be sub-optimal. To address these problems, we propose AutoShrink, a topology-aware Neural Architecture Search (NAS) for searching efficient building blocks of neural architectures. Our method is node-based and thus can learn flexible network patterns in cell structures within a topological search space. Directed Acyclic Graphs (DAGs) are used to abstract DNN architectures and progressively optimize the cell structure through edge shrinking. As the search space intrinsically reduces as the edges are progressively shrunk, AutoShrink explores more flexible search space with even less search time. We evaluate AutoShrink on image classification and language tasks by crafting ShrinkCNN and ShrinkRNN models. ShrinkCNN is able to achieve up to 48% parameter reduction and save 34% Multiply-Accumulates (MACs) on ImageNet-1K with comparable accuracy of state-of-the-art (SOTA) models. Specifically, both ShrinkCNN and ShrinkRNN are crafted within 1.5 GPU hours, which is 7.2× and 6.7× faster than the crafting time of SOTA CNN and RNN models, respectively.


We investigate the thermodynamics of first order non-ferromagnetic to ferromagnetic phase transformation in low thermal hysteresis alloys with compositions near Ni44Co6Mn40Sn10 as a basis for the study of multiferroic energy conversion. We develop a Gibbs free energy function based on magnetic and calorimetric measurements that accounts for the magnetic behavior and martensitic phase transformation. The model predicts temperature and field induced phase transformations in agreement with experiments. The model is used to analyze a newly discovered method for the direct conversion of heat to electricity [Srivastava et al., Adv. Energy Mater., 2011, 1, 97], which is suited for the small temperature difference regime, about 10–100 K. Using the model, we explore the efficiency of energy conversion thermodynamic cycles based on this method. We also explore the implications of these predictions for future alloy development. Finally, we relate our simple free energy to more sophisticated theories that account for magnetic domains, demagnetization effects, the crystallography of martensitic phase transformations and twinning.


One of the most pressing, modern cosmological mysteries is the cause of the accelerated expansion of the universe. The energy density required to cause this large scale opposition to gravity is known to be both far in excess of the known matter content, and remarkably smooth and unclustered across the universe. While the most commonly accepted answer is that a cosmological constant is responsible, alternatives abound. This thesis is primarily concerned with such alternatives; both their theoretical nature and observational consequences. In this thesis, we will dedicate Chapter 1 to a brief review on the fundamentals of general relativity, leading into the basics of theoretical cosmology. Following this we will recall some of the key observations that has lead to the standard ΛCDM cosmology. The standard model has well known problems, many of which can be answered by the theoretical ideas of inflation. In Chapter 2 we explore these ideas, including a summary of classical field theory in the context of cosmology, upon which inflation is based. This also serves as the groundwork for Chapter 3, where the varied models of dark energy (and their motivations) are discussed many of which are also reliant on field theory (such as quintessence). These notions are combined in a model described in Chapter 4, where we describe our own addition to a scenario that unifies dark energy and inflation. This addition involving a coupling of the inflation field to an additional one alter the way reheating takes place after inflation, removing some of the shortcomings of the original proposal. The analysis is extended in Chapter 5, to include the effect of quantum corrections. There we show that although a cursory analysis indicates a coupling between quintessence and some other field does not necessarily give rise to dangerously large quantum corrections, provided the effects of decoupling are taken into account. We move on in Chapter 6 to examine the basics of cosmological perturbation theory, and derive the general equations of motion for density and velocity perturbations for a system of fluids, allowing for the exchange of energy-momentum. We make use of this in Chapters 7 and 8, were we examine the growth of structure in a universe where energy is exchanged between dark matter and dark energy. In particular, in Chapter 7 we see that a particular form of the interaction can lead to an instability in the early universe, and we derive the condition for this to be the case. In Chapter 8, we discuss how a similar interaction can lead to a mimicry of modified gravity, and relate this directly to cosmological observations. Finally we summarise our conclusions and discuss avenues of future research in Chapter 9.


Socialists believe that equality, community and economic democracy can only be achieved by a system of joint ownership of the means of production. These property rights do not, as such, pass judgement as to what rights individuals have to their own person. Libertarians believe that individual liberty and autonomy are only coextensive with a set of stringent rights to the person and its powers. These property rights do not, as such, pass judgement as to what rights individuals have to the external world. Bringing libertarianism and socialism together is therefore, in principle, possible. Indeed, one of the major innovations of the left-libertarianism of Hillel Steiner, Michael Otsuka and Peter Vallentyne has been to show how that theory can itself be rendered consistent with substantive equality of condition, without taking the further step towards socialism. This paper is an attempt to take this further step, in a way that reconciles individual autonomy and radical equality of opportunity consistently with values prized by socialists. To those libertarians drawn to socialist values (such as the pioneers of 19th century anarchism), the paper offers a reconciliation that is arguably more true to these values than left-libertarianism. To those socialists drawn to libertarian values, it offers an alternative to left-libertarianism that avoids the pitfalls of statism.


Engineering enterprises utilize a variety of technologies to manage the lifecycle of their critical assets. These technologies consist of operational as well as information technologies that aim to provide control of individual asset management processes as well as to create overall information enabled integrated view of the asset lifecycle management regime. However, implementation and adoption of these technologies is not a linear progression and raises many issues at both the macro and micro levels in the organization. It is for the same reason that utilization of same technologies produces variance in efficiency, results, and outputs among different organizations. In many instances, the consideration of organizational and cultural issues is more important than technological issues in determining a successful outcome for information technologies deployment. In fact, it has been stated that the primary cause for information technology's failure to yield positive results has been organizational behavior problems. This paper reports the findings from a study conducted in Australian asset managing organizations, which highlights how these organizations have used information technologies for asset management. This paper highlights that value maximization from information technologies utilization has strong contextual and social underpinnings. Their optimal utilization, therefore, calls for understanding the context within which they are deployed, as well as the processes that influence and are influenced by their use.


Changing people social status, particularly upwardly, is often considered an indication of a government success in reaching a fair society, particularly in traditionally rigid structures. This is mainly possible through implementing development plan(s) which is theoretically assumed to result in wiping out traditional rigid structures. In the post-revolutionary Iran, the government took upon itself the responsibility of conscious planning of rural transformation to create just structures. For this purpose, since onset the government took a major step to put into practice various rural programs to develop rural areas - mostly with an ideologically populist approach. This paper aims to probe the fact that to some extent could the government rural programs abate the traditional rural structure and generate a state of openness for villagers to change their social status? To do this task, it focuses on the occupational status of villagers, as an indication their positional change, through using survey method in the selected villages. The findings showed that the mobility tended to be higher in the villages that received the most rural programs than those which received fewer or no programs. Nevertheless, a higher tendency was observed towards self-recruitment in intra-generational mobility compared with intra-generational mobility. The examination of the nature of status change indicated that, firstly most of the observed mobility, both upward and downward, was short range and oriented towards the adjacent category, meaning not deep-seated change; secondly, status change in the villages was uneven, meaning that the government rural policies have not identically benefited both villages and villagers.


Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is well suited to the investigation of breast cancer by virtue of its noninvasive nature and its multiplanar imaging abilities. MRI investigations showed high sensitivity but modest specificity for breast cancer detection and diagnosis. Most early studies tested the ability of MRI to evaluate and diagnose findings in the breast discovered by other imaging tests or by breast physical examination (1–4). When it was discovered that MRI identified small breast cancers undetected by mammography or breast ultrasound, MRI was used to estimate breast cancer extent in known cancer cases for surgical planning (5,6). These investigations led to the use of MRI in a multitude of breast imaging applications, raising further questions about the use of MRI in everyday practice: What are the indications for breast MRI in general practice? What is its role in light of other imaging tests? What are its benefits and limitations in each setting? How do I report these studies? The purpose of this article is to review the clinical background regarding indications for the use of MRI and relevant cases in which MRI can impact patient management in breast disease, and to describe new developments in reporting breast MRI studies. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2000;12:975–983. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Objective: To determine whether a social cognitive theory guided nutrition educational intervention in an after-school program is associated with improved nutrition and physical activity knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and behaviors for fourth and fifth grade participants. Design: A prospective comparative study with a quasi-experimental design over a six month period. Questionnaires were collected at baseline and at the end of the program for students at the intervention and comparison schools. Follow-up questionnaires were collected at the intervention school three months post program. Subjects/Setting: Fourth and fifth grade students enrolled in an after-school program targeted to reach students performing below grade level and/or living below the poverty level at an elementary school in southwest Virginia. Fourth and fifth grade students at another county elementary school with similar demographics served as comparison participants. Main Outcome Measures: Daily food intake, dairy intake, physical activity, sedentary behaviors, environment, self-efficacy for consuming dairy products, and food and activity beliefs. Statistical Analysis: Measures of central tendency (mean, median, and variance) were performed to describe participants. Independent t-tests (p<0.05) were used to compare changes from pre to post-questionnaire by treatment group. Paired t-tests (p<0.05) were used to test for differences from pre to post-questionnaire within group. Chi square analysis (p<0.05) was conducted to further investigate changes between groups. Results: Intervention participants significantly increased previous day's milk consumption (p=.006) and plans to drink low-fat milk instead of regular milk (p =.047) from pre to postprogram. Significant change was also observed in previous day's milk consumption change from pre to post between groups (p=.004). Conclusion: Participation in an after-school program with nutrition education could change daily milk consumption and plans to drink low-fat over regular milk. Applications: After-school nutrition interventions can be effective in changing milk intake and plans to consume low-fat milk.


In the last two decades, international donors have promoted Irrigation Management Transfer (IMT) as an international remedy to management problems in government irrigation systems in many developing countries. This article analyses the political processes that shape IMT policy formulation and implementation in Indonesia. It links IMT with the issue of bureaucratic reform and argues that its potential to address current problems in government irrigation systems cannot be achieved if the irrigation agency is not convinced about the need for management transfer. IMT's significance cannot be measured only through IMT outcomes and impacts, without linking these with how the irrigation agency perceives the idea of management transfer in the first place, how this perception (re)defines the agency's position in IMT, and how it shapes the agency's action and strategy in the policy formulation and implementation. I illustrate how the irrigation agency contested the idea of management transfer by referring to IMT policy adoption in 1987 and its renewal in 1999. The article concludes that for management transfer to be meaningful it is pertinent that the issue of bureaucratic reform is incorporated into current policy discussions.


It has been nearly forty years since Clark Kerr was asked to create and lead the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education under the auspices of the Carnegie Corporation. The Commission was to be a national effort, unprecedented both in scope and in the freedom of its director, Kerr, to guide its research and productivity. Carnegie President Alan Pifer promised substantial funding for five years or more. Working with Pifer, and with Alden Dunham, David Robinson, and others, Kerr initiated a great array of studies and provide recommendations on the most vital issues facing American higher education in the latter part of the twentieth century. This essay reviews the origins of the Commission, its successor organization, the Carnegie Council, and the influence of a number of major reports. The essay also notes the need to revisit the work of the commission and council as a source of ideas relevant today, and suggests that there is a need for a greater national approach to supporting US higher education.


The Gaia-ESO Survey (GES) is a large spectroscopic survey that provides a unique opportunity to study the distribution of spectroscopic multiple systems among different populations of the Galaxy. We aim at detecting binarity/multiplicity for stars targeted by the GES from the analysis of the cross-correlation functions (CCFs) of the GES spectra with spectral templates. We develop a method based on the computation of the CCF successive derivatives to detect multiple peaks and determine their radial velocities, even when the peaks are strongly blended. The parameters of the detection of extrema (DOE) code have been optimized for each GES GIRAFFE and UVES setup to maximize detection. This code therefore allows to automatically detect multiple line spectroscopic binaries (SBn, n>1). We apply this method on the fourth GES internal data release and detect 354 SBn candidates (342 SB2, 11 SB3 and even one SB4), including only 9 SB2 known in the literature. This implies that about 98% of these SBn candidates are new (because of their faint visual magnitude that can reach V=19). Visual inspection of the SBn candidate spectra reveals that the most probable candidates have indeed a composite spectrum. Among SB2 candidates, an orbital solution could be computed for two previously unknown binaries: 06404608+0949173 (known as V642 Mon) in NGC 2264 and 19013257-0027338 in Berkeley 81. A detailed analysis of the unique SB4 (four peaks in the CCF) reveals that HD 74438 in the open cluster IC 2391 is a physically bound stellar quadruple system. The SB candidates belonging to stellar clusters are reviewed in detail to discard false detections. We warn against the use of atmospheric parameters for these system components rather than by SB-specific pipelines. Our implementation of an automatic detection of spectroscopic binaries within the GES has allowed an efficient discovery of many new multiple systems.


Objective: In spite of the wide prevalence and growing incidence of herpes simplex virus type 1 infection (HSV-1), relatively few data have been published regarding the seroepidemiology of the infection in the Turkish population. The study was designed to determine the age and sex-specific seroepidemiology of HSV-1 infection in the Black Sea region of Turkey. Material and Methods: Between March 1 and April 30, 2007, 1072 blood samples were randomly collected and examined by virus neutralization test (VNT) from patients aged 5-84 years who were referred to the University hospital outpatient clinics for various reasons in Black Sea Region of Turkey. Results: Overall HSV-1 seroprevalence was 59.7% (640/1072), and 58% of males (283/490) and 62% of females (357/582) were HSV-1 positive (pg0.05). In the group aged 15-19, seropositivity was significantly higher than in the group aged 19-24 (p=0.0333). Conclusion: Subgroup analysis indicates a higher HSV-1 infection seropositivity than had been estimated in children and adolescents in the Black Sea region of Turkey. The high prevalence of HSV-1 infection in children underlines the need for education among potential risk groups.


Abstract Objective To evaluate the impact – on diagnosis and treatment of malaria – of introducing rapid diagnostic tests to drug shops in eastern Uganda. Methods Overall, 2193 households in 79 study villages with at least one licensed drug shop were enrolled and monitored for 12 months. After 3 months of monitoring, drug shop vendors in 67 villages randomly selected for the intervention were offered training in the use of malaria rapid diagnostic tests and – if trained – offered access to such tests at a subsidized price. The remaining 12 study villages served as controls. A difference-in-differences regression model was used to estimate the impact of the intervention. Findings Vendors from 92 drug shops successfully completed training and 50 actively stocked and performed the rapid tests. Over 9 months, trained vendors did an average of 146 tests per shop. Households reported 22 697 episodes of febrile illness. The availability of rapid tests at local drug shops significantly increased the probability of any febrile illness being tested for malaria by 23.15% (P = 0.015) and being treated with an antimalarial drug by 8.84% (P = 0.056). The probability that artemisinin combination therapy was bought increased by a statistically insignificant 5.48% (P = 0.574). Conclusion In our study area, testing for malaria was increased by training drug shop vendors in the use of rapid tests and providing them access to such tests at a subsidized price. Additional interventions may be needed to achieve a higher coverage of testing and a higher rate of appropriate responses to test results.


Electrochemical capacitors, so-called supercapacitors, play an important role in energy storage and conversion systems. In the last decade, with the increasing volume of scientific activity and publications in this field, researchers have developed better tools to improve electrode materials. Although carbonaceous materials seem the most suitable for supercapacitor applications, a large diversity of materials has been proposed and studied. Yet, in order to accomplish performance beyond the limitations of each material, mainly in terms of energy density and durability, composite materials have been implemented, most of them being the combinations of carbon-based materials and other components. In this review, we present the recent advances in the field of composite materials that include at least one carbon-based component for supercapacitor electrodes. We focus on cases in which a single material by itself suffers from a drawback that can be overcome by combining it with other components, enabling the fabrication of a composite material with enhanced performance. We present several important compositions as well as the major routes of synthesis, characterization and performance of composite materials in this field.


The Lowell Observatory 0.8-m (31-in) Telescope was augmented by the addition of a robotic mode of operation in early 2001. This system executes any predetermined sequence of observing instructions without supervision. Described herein is a general description of the system, lessons learned from the conversion, and a few general algorithms for focusing, collecting twilight flat field images, and scheduling standard star observations.


We present a method and case study to predict and map the likelihood of wildfires spreading to the urban interface through statistical analysis of past fire patterns using 15 000 lines from 677 fires with known ignition points and date and random potential end points on the urban interface of Sydney, Australia. A binomial regression approach was used to model whether the fire burnt to the end point of the lines as a function of measures of distance, fuel, weather and barriers to spread. Fire weather had the strongest influence on burning likelihood followed by the percentage of the line that was forested, distance and time since last fire. Fuel treatments would substantially reduce risk from fires starting 1–4 km away from the interface. The model captured 90% of variation in burning with 98% predictive accuracy on test data and was not affected by spatial autocorrelation. We apply the method to map fire risk in Sydney and discuss how the method could be expanded to estimate total risk (from ignition to impact on assets). The method has considerable promise for predicting risk, especially as a complement to simulation methods.


Microinverters, successfully introduced to the market in 2008, have the potential to transform the PV landscape. They offer many advantages over central inverter topologies, including potentially increased power output compared to a central inverter. Many manufacturers claim up to 25% energy enhancement. The largest claimed enhancements are under conditions of partial shading. These claims have yet to be verified in peer-reviewed literature.

This research effort used a total of eight Sharp NE-170U1 PV panels in conjunction with a single SMA Sunny Boy 700U central inverter and two Enphase D380 microinverters. All panels were on a pole mounted rack with a clear view of the southern sky in Boone, North Carolina. AC power output and POA irradiance (direct and diffuse) were logged for over two months. The experiment was conducted under both unobstructed and partial shade conditions.

Conclusions from the experiment are similar to a 2011 Enphase study. Preliminary results suggest that when irradiance is greater than 650 W/m2, microinverters outperform central inverters by 20% and 26% in unshaded and shaded conditions, respectively.


A 10-year (1998-2008) retrospective study was carried out to investigate the prevalence and long-term trend of hydatid disease in slaughtered herbivores in the large complex abattoir of Ahwaz (the capital of Khuzestan province, south-western Iran). A total of 3,583,417 animals including 2,815,982 sheep, 427,790 goats and 339,645 cattle were inspected macroscopically for hydatid cysts in the 10-year period, and overall 155,555 (4.24%) livers and 228,172 (6.37%) lungs were condemned. Cystic echinococcosis (CE) was responsible for 36.08% and 48.04% of total liver and lung condemnations, respectively. The prevalence of pulmonary hydatid disease in sheep, goats and cattle was 2.22, 5.43 and 6.99%, respectively; on the other hand, the prevalence of hepatic hydatid disease for those animals was 1.26, 2.57 and 2.80%, respectively. Data showed an overall downward long-term trend for CE in all livestock slaughtered during the study period (P < 0.01). Lung condemnation due to CE was significantly more common than liver condemnation for each animal separately (P < 0.001). The prevalence of liver and lung hydatidosis in sheep was significantly lower than that in other livestock (P < 0.001). The prevalence of hydatid disease recovered from the sheep, cattle and goats varied in different seasons, but there was no statistical difference between various seasons. The odds ratio of lung and liver condemnations due to hydatidosis showed a slightly different pattern in some years; however, the overall declining trend was still observed. The total annual economic loss incurred due to hydatidosis in all ruminants slaughtered at Ahwaz municipal abattoir was estimated to be US$459,659.6, based on the market prices in the year 2008. This number corresponds to a loss of US$300,620.4 for cattle, US$123,490.0 for sheep and US$35,549.2 for goats. The current results provide baseline data for the future monitoring of this potentially important disease in the region, and also suggest that a thorough investigation leading to a disease control strategy is required to reduce the economic and public health consequences of CE.


One of the most popular management tools for Caribbean reef fisheries is a minimum mesh size for traps. It is believed that increasing the mesh size of traps in overexploited fisheries will result in higher catch rates in the long term, but lower catch rates in the short term. This study represents the first attempt to document the short-term and long-term effects of partly replacing small mesh with a larger mesh size in an artisanal coral reef fishery. A community level mesh exchange program was initiated in the Discovery Bay trap fishery in March 1991, whereby active fishers were given large mesh (1.5 inch: 3.8 cm) wire to construct traps in exchange for handing in their small mesh (1 inch: 2.5 cm and 1.25 inch: 3.2 cm) traps. Although the total number of active traps and the total number of hauls per month did not significantly change in the fishery, the proportion of small mesh traps decreased substantially as a result of the mesh exchange program, leading to a concurrent reduction of fishing mortality in smaller sized fish. Changes in the fish populations were examined by comparing catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE as number of fish per trap per haul, and kg per trap per haul); mean size of individual fish; catch composition; and length frequency distributions for the 2 most common species, for both 1.25 inch and 1.5 inch traps in 3 separate 6 mo periods (July to December) in 1990 (10 mo before the implementation of the mesh exchange program), 1991 (immediately after the implementation of the mesh exchange program) and 1994 (3 yr after the implementation of the mesh exchange program). The results indicate that reef fish populations at Discovery Bay, and hence yields to the fishery, have increased in the 3 yr since the mesh exchange program was implemented. The number of fish caught per trap haul has increased; the total weight of the catch per trap haul, at least of the smaller mesh sizes, has increased; the catch composition has shlfted towards larger and more valuable species; the mean size of fish taken by the fishery is larger; and the population of 1 narrow-bodied species investigated has shifted towards larger size classes since the increase in mean mesh size in the fishery. However, despite an increase in the gross catch per week by the trap fishery, catch rates still differ markedly between small and large mesh traps, with small mesh traps catching less per haul but more per week than large mesh traps. As a consequence, fishers still using small mesh traps are benefitting the most from recovery of the reef fish populations, which demonstrates the need for further efforts to eliminate the smaller mesh traps from the fishery.


Abstract A new Heterorhabditis species of entomopathogenic nematode was isolated from soil of the Atacama Desert in Chile. The new species is characterized by morphometrics of the infective juvenile (IJ) with length (L) = 611 (578–666) μm, head to excretory pore length (EP) = 115 (101–126) μm, tail = 69 (62–79) μm long, (EP/tail) × 100 (E%) = 165 (149–182) and L/maximum body diameter (ratio a) = 28 (25–31). The male has spicules 45 (40–49) μm long, gubernaculum 20 (17–22) μm long and (spicule length/anal body diameter) × 100 (SW%) = 205 (179–249). The hermaphroditic adult has shallow cuticular folds immediately anterior and posterior to the vulva, a slight post-anal swelling and a finely rounded tail terminus. Morphologically, H. atacamensis n. sp. resembles H. safricana, H. marelatus, H. downesi and H. amazonensis, but can be distinguished by characters of adult and IJ stages. In particular, for adult males, H. atacamensis n. sp. differs from H. amazonensis by the number and orientation of the genital papillae and from H. downesi by the position of the excretory pore; by the shape of the female tail terminus from H. downesi and by the position of the IJ hemizonid from H. marelatus. Heterorhabditis atacamensis n. sp. is further characterized by internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and D2D3 rDNA sequences, the closest species, H. safricana, being separated by 13 bp across 730 bp of the ITS (incorporating ITS1 (partial sequence), 5.8S (complete sequence), ITS2 (complete sequence)) and 5 bp across 592 bp of the partial 28S (incorporating D2D3) sequence. The morphological and molecular data confirm that H. atacamensis n. sp. is a valid species.


There is currently much interest in tracking ERP implementations as over 60% of Fortune 500 companies have gone down this path, seeking to replace legacy systems with an integrated comprehensive Enterprise Wide Information System. During the process of ERP adoption, it appears that much of the learning gained in large system development projects seems to have been forgotten. In particular, the means of engaging the users in the development process, the need for and processes involved in change management practices, and the involvement of project sponsors and champions are areas in which we believe that there has been significant departure from the lessons of the past. The authors report on the design of a qualitative research project that seeks to determine if ERP Implementations are qualitatively different from other large system implementations.


We look at the empirical validity of Schelling's models for racial residential segregation applied to the case of Chicago. Most of the empirical literature has focused exclusively the single neighborhood model, also known as the tipping point model and neglected a multineighborhood approach or a unified approach. The multi-neighborhood approach introduced spatial interaction across the neighborhoods, in particular we look at spatial interaction across neighborhoods sharing a border. An initial exploration of the data indicates that spatial contiguity might be relevant to properly analyze the so call tipping phenomena of predominately non-Hispanic white neighborhoods to predominantly minority neighborhoods within a decade. We introduce an econometric model that combines an approach to estimate tipping point using threshold effects and a spatial autoregressive model. The estimation results from the model disputes the existence of a tipping point, that is a discontinuous change in the rate of growth of the non-Hispanic white population due to a small increase in the minority share of the neighborhood. In addition, we find that racial distance between the neighborhood of interest and the surrounding neighborhoods has an important effect on the dynamics of racial segregation in Chicago.


Dengue is the most common mosquito-borne viral infection in the world. The most feared complication is a poorly understood vasculopathy that occurs in only a small minority of symptomatic individuals, especially children and young adults, but can result in potentially fatal dengue shock syndrome (DSS). Based mainly on expert opinion, WHO management guidelines for DSS recommend prompt infusion of a crystalloid fluid bolus followed by a tapering crystalloid fluid regimen, supplemented if necessary by boluses of synthetic colloid solutions. However, following publication of a number of major trials undertaken in other, primarily adult, critical care scenarios, use of both synthetic colloid solutions and of fluid boluses for volume expansion have become controversial. Synthetic colloids tend to be used for severe DSS cases in order to boost intravascular oncotic pressure, based on the classic Starling hypothesis in which opposing hydrostatic and oncotic forces determine fluid flow across the microvascular barrier. However, the revised Starling model emphasizes the critical contribution of the endothelial glycocalyx layer (EGL), indicating that it is the effective oncotic pressure gradient across the EGL not endothelial cells per se that opposes filtration. Based on several novel concepts that are integral to the revised Starling model, we review the clinical features of DSS and discuss a number of implications that are relevant for fluid management. We also highlight the need for context-specific clinical trials that address crucially important questions around the management of DSS.


We tested the hypothesis that irregular menstruation predicts lower risk for ovarian cancer, possibly due to less frequent ovulation. We conducted a 50‐year prospective study of 15,528 mothers in the Child Health and Development Studies cohort recruited from the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan from 1959 to 1966. Irregular menstruation was classified via medical record and self‐report at age 26. We identified 116 cases and 84 deaths due to ovarian cancer through 2011 via linkage to the California Cancer Registry and Vital Statistics. Contrary to expectation, women with irregular menstrual cycles had a higher risk of ovarian cancer incidence and mortality over the 50‐year follow‐up. Associations increased with age (p <0.05). We observed a 2‐fold increased incidence and mortality by age 70 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.1, 3.4) rising to a 3‐fold increase by age 77 (95% CI = 1.5, 6.7 for incidence; 95% CI = 1.4, 5.9 for mortality). We also found a 3‐fold higher risk of mortality for high‐grade serous tumors (95% CI = 1.3, 7.6) that did not vary by age. This is the first prospective study to show an association between irregular menstruation and ovarian cancer—we unexpectedly found higher risk for women with irregular cycles. These women are easy to identify and many may have polycystic ovarian syndrome. Classifying high‐risk phenotypes such as irregular menstruation creates opportunities to find novel early biomarkers, refine clinical screening protocols and potentially develop new risk reduction strategies. These efforts can lead to earlier detection and better survival for ovarian cancer.


This paper discusses several approaches to examining the relationship between child care and mothers' labor supply. The focus is on child care for children aged 0-3, because this is a critical period for working mothers and their children and because most European and American households with children aged 3-5 already use child care centers. The paper provides data concerning availability of, government spending on, and quantity and quality standards for child care in different countries, then compares different approaches to the determinants of child care demand and labor supply. The paper subsequently reviews and compares empirical results regarding the impact of child care costs, availability and quality. Finally, the paper discusses different impacts across different groups and provides concluding remarks.


Declining labor force participation rates among less-educated individuals in the U.S. have been attributed to various causes, including skill-biased technical change, demand shocks induced by international competition, looser eligibility requirements for disability insurance, the opioid epidemic and the nature of child care and family leave policies. In this paper, we examine how the labor supply of parents of dependent children respond to minimum wage changes. We implement an event study framework and document a sharp rise in employment and earnings of parents after state minimum wage increases. We further show that these effects are concentrated among jobs that pay the minimum wage or slightly higher – high wage employment remains unaffected. Panel models find corresponding drops in welfare receipts, moreover, for single mothers, effects are larger for mothers of preschool age children. The results are consistent with a simple labor supply model in which means-tested transfers and fixed costs of work in the form of paid childcare create barriers to labor market entry for parents of dependent children. Minimum wage increases then enable higher rates of parental labor force participation, resulting in significant reductions in child poverty. We find no evidence of employment crowd-out among non-parents, suggesting potential overall welfare gains from higher minimum wages.


When young cells of a strain of a staphylococcus were exposed to substances noxious to the organism, variations transmissible to progeny were obtained. The variations consisted mainly in a decrease in antibiotic resistance and mouse virulence. Characters of pathogenic strains such as coagulase production, mannitol fermentation and gelatin liquefaction were also abolished. The experiments were carried out in a way that excluded the selection of spontaneous mutants. Adaptation should also be excluded as all variations consisted in a loss or decrease of activities. The variants when first isolated seemed unhealthy, the largest part of their progeny being non-viable and consisting of cells which grew up to a point and lysed without dividing. The results obtained were therefore attributed to a damage of the parent cell caused by the injurious agents used.


Abstract. High aerosol loadings are discharged into the atmosphere every year by biomass burning in the Amazon and central Brazil during the dry season (July–December). These particles, suspended in the atmosphere, can be carried via a low-level jet toward the La Plata Basin, one of the largest hydrographic basins in the world. Once they reach this region, the aerosols can affect mesoscale convective systems (MCSs), whose frequency is higher during the spring and summer over the basin. The present study is one of the first that seeks to understand the microphysical effects of biomass burning aerosols from the Amazon Basin on mesoscale convective systems over the La Plata Basin. We performed numerical simulations initialized with idealized cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) profiles for an MCS case observed over the La Plata Basin on 21 September 2010. The experiments reveal an important link between CCN number concentration and MCS dynamics, where stronger downdrafts were observed under higher amounts of aerosols, generating more updraft cells in response. Moreover, the simulations show higher amounts of precipitation as the CCN concentration increases. Despite the model's uncertainties and limitations, these results represent an important step toward the understanding of possible impacts on the Amazon biomass burning aerosols over neighboring regions such as the La Plata Basin.


Recent trends of structural mechanics applications in finite element analysis demonstrate an increasing demand for efficient analysis tools. This paper presents a probabilistic analysis approach applied in finite element analysis for modeling prestressed inverted T-beams with web openings structure used in building service system (mechanical, electrical, communications, and plumbing). The experimental program reported in this paper tested four prestressed inverted T-beams with circular web openings to failure to evaluate the openings' effect on various beam behaviors. Using ANSYS, finite element models were developed to simulate beam deflection behavior. Comparison of analytical results with the available experimental results for load- deflection relationships showed good agreement between both results. Probabilistic analysis methodology could predict the response (i.e., deflection, stress, strain etc) due to various combination of input variables (i.e., Poissons ratio, modulus of elasticity, etc). In reality, uncertainties exist in a system and environment that may make the application of deterministic design unreliable which causes the values of the variables that are acting on the system cannot be predicted with certainty. As such, probabilistic approach was applied to the model after deterministic analysis. In this study, the probabilistic analysis approach was applied to account for the variability in fabrication. Probabilistic methodology applied in finite element modeling provides another alternative ways of structural analysis of preststressed inverted T-beams with web openings to achieve a robust and reliable design in a more efficient way. In this study, Monte Carlo simulation was used to analyze the effect of parameter uncertainty for the prestressed inverted T-beams with web openings. From the analysis results, it was observed that the changes in prestressing force, elastic modulus of prestressing steel, ultimate tensile strength of prestressing steel and beam width tend to be the most influencing parameters, which need to be tightly controlled. As a result, from deterministic analysis and probabilistic analysis, it was found that probabilistic analysis tends to be closer to reality than deterministic methods and gives a way of designing for quality.