Geography and social relationships are inextricably intertwined; the people we interact with on a daily basis almost always live near us. As people spend more time online, data regarding these two dimensions -- geography and social relationships -- are becoming increasingly precise, allowing us to build reliable models to describe their interaction. These models have important implications in the design of location-based services, security intrusion detection, and social media supporting local communities.
 Using user-supplied address data and the network of associations between members of the Facebook social network, we can directly observe and measure the relationship between geography and friendship. Using these measurements, we introduce an algorithm that predicts the location of an individual from a sparse set of located users with performance that exceeds IP-based geolocation. This algorithm is efficient and scalable, and could be run on a network containing hundreds of millions of users.


Background: We have previously reported multiple health benefits in individuals following the Christian-based fasting protocol known as the Daniel Fast (DF). However, our prior work has involved only short-term (21-day) assessments. For dietary modification to have a profound impact on health, compliance to the dietary plan must be established for the long-term. Materials and Methods We determined the 6-month compliance to a traditional (vegan) DF (n=12), as well as a modified DF (n=9; allowing for the inclusion of small amounts of meat and milk) in healthy individuals. Participants completed diet records during the study period and also rated their overall compliance to the assigned dietary plan. Results Compliance to both dietary plans proved to be satisfactory (approximately 80 in the 6th month; 85 in the 3rd month and 95 during the 3rd week). It is noteworthy that it did not show any major differences between groups. Body weight, from baseline toward month 6, saw a decline in participants assigned to both the traditional DF (79.6±5.3 to 75.5±5.5 kg) and the modified DF (80.4±8.0 to 74.3±6.5 kg). Conclusion These data indicated that both the traditional and modified DF, which involve ad libitum (Latin for "at liberty") feeding, are realistic for individuals to comply with over a period of several months. Such compliance is associated with a weight loss of approximately 5-8 of the body mass and considering the multi-faceted health benefits of this particular dietary approach, it may result in worthy improvements in overall health. Additional studies of the long-term health implications of this fasting method are also required.


Here, we report the systematic exploration and modeling of interactions between light and sugar signaling. The data set analyzed explores the interactions of sugar (sucrose) with distinct light qualities (white, blue, red, and far-red) used at different fluence rates (low or high) in etiolated seedlings and mature green plants. Boolean logic was used to model the effect of these carbon/light interactions on three target genes involved in nitrogen assimilation: asparagine synthetase (ASN1 and ASN2) and glutamine synthetase (GLN2). This analysis enabled us to assess the effects of carbon on light-induced genes (GLN2/ASN2) versus light-repressed genes (ASN1) in this pathway. New interactions between carbon and blue-light signaling were discovered, and further connections between red/far-red light and carbon were modeled. Overall, light was able to override carbon as a major regulator of ASN1 and GLN2 in etiolated seedlings. By contrast, carbon overrides light as the major regulator of GLN2 and ASN2 in light-grown plants. Specific examples include the following: Carbon attenuated the blue-light induction of GLN2 in etiolated seedlings and also attenuated the white-, blue-, and red-light induction of GLN2 and ASN2 in light-grown plants. By contrast, carbon potentiated far-red-light induction of GLN2 and ASN2 in light-grown plants. Depending on the fluence rate of far-red light, carbon either attenuated or potentiated light repression of ASN1 in light-grown plants. These studies indicate the interaction of carbon with blue, red, and far-red-light signaling and set the stage for further investigation into modeling this complex web of interacting pathways using systems biology approaches.


A certificate is a way to distribute public keys of users in a distributed system. For example, in the current Internet, certificates are heavily used in SSL/TLS for securing e-commerce. In this thesis, we describe the three phases of a certificate, how a certificate is issued, used, and revoked/expired. In particular, we propose a new way of distributing certificates, called certificate dispersal. Certificate dispersal assigns certificates to users such that when a user u wants to securely communicate with another user v in a system, users u and v may find out the public key of user v based on the certificates stored in u or v. In other words, users u and v have no need to contact any other user in the system. We define dispersal in two environments, a certificate graph and a certificate chain set and the costs of dispersal. In the environment of certificate chain set, computing an optimal dispersal is NP-complete. However, we identify several classes of chain sets and certificate graphs for which optimal dispersal can be computed in polynomial-time. For each class we present an algorithm that computes an optimal dispersal. We also analyze the vulnerability of certificate systems. Any certificate system suffer from impersonation attacks when a private key of a user is revealed to an adversary. We define the metric called vulnerability that measures the scope of damage when some private keys are revealed, and show how different certificate systems have different vulnerabilities. These results can be used to design a good certificate system that satisfies system requirements of dispersal cost and vulnerability.


Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) is a begomovirus (Geminiviridae) that causes a serious disease of tomato throughout the world. In 1997, the strain from Israel of TYLCV (TYLCV-IS) was found infecting tomatoes in Florida for the first time in the United States (1). During late spring of 2000, approximately 90% of the tomato plants (Lycopersicon esculentum) in a farm near New Orleans exhibited severe stunting, leaf cupping, and chlorosis. Symptoms were similar to those caused by TYLCV. Whiteflies (Bemisia tabaci biotype B) were present in the field but in relatively low numbers. The effect on yield reduction varied from negligible (late infections) to 100% (early infections). Six selected plants showing symptoms were assayed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using begomovirus-specific primers. Capsicum frutescens infected with an isolate of Texas pepper virus from Costa Rica was used as positive control. DNA was extracted using Plant DNAzol Reagent (GIBCO BRL). PCR was conducted using degenerate primers AV494/AC1048 that amplify the core coat protein region of most begomoviruses (2). PCR yielded a DNA fragment of approximately 550 bp, suggesting that a begomovirus was associated with the disease. The amplified DNA of one field isolate was cloned and the nucleotide (nt) sequence determined. Sequence comparisons with other begomoviruses in the GenBank Database indicated that the Louisiana isolate shared 100% nt identity with TYLCV-IS (GenBank Accession X76319). Successful transmission (100%) to Bonny Best tomato were obtained with four groups of 10 whiteflies each (B. tabaci biotype B) that fed on TYLCV-IS infected tomato plants. Acquisition and transmission feedings were for 2 days. In all cases, the virus was diagnosed by the ability to reproduce typical TYLCV-like symptoms in tomato and PCR. The virus was also successfully graft-transmitted to tomato cv. Bonny Best, Nicotiana benthamiana, and tomatillo (Physalis ixocarpa) using scions from tomato plants infected with a whitefly transmitted virus isolate. This is the first report of TYLCV-IS in Louisiana. References: (1) J. E. Polston et al. Plant Dis. 83:984-988, 1999. (2) S. D. Wyatt and J. K. Brown. Phytopathology 86:1288-1293, 1996.


Dryland degradation and desertification now affect almost a billion people around the world. Tragically, the biological resources and productivity of millions of acres of land are lost to desertification each year because people remain unaware of strategies and techniques that could improve yields, reduce risk, and begin healing the world's deserts. A Guide for Desert and Dryland Restoration is the first book to offer practical, field-tested solutions to this critical problem. Author David Bainbridge has spent more than 25 years actively involved in restoring lands across the American Southwest. A Guide for Desert and Dryland Restoration presents the results of his years of fieldwork, as well as research and experience from scientists and practitioners around the globe. The book discusses the ecology of desert plants, explores the causes of desertification and land abuse, and outlines the processes and procedures needed to evaluate, plan, implement, and monitor desert restoration projects. It sets forth economical and practical field-tested solutions for understanding site characteristics, selecting and growing plants, and ensuring that they survive with a minimal amount of water and care. Each chapter represents a guide to a critical topic for environmental restoration; extensive photographs, diagrams and drawings give detailed information for immediate application, and additional resources are included in appendixes. A Guide for Desert and Dryland Restoration is the first comprehensive book focused on restoring arid regions, and clearly demonstrates that arid lands can be successfully rehabilitated. In addition to restorationists, the book will be an invaluable resource for anyone working in arid lands, including farmers, ranchers, gardeners, landscapers, outdoor recreation professionals, and activists.


Most recent randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have found that hemodialysis graft surveillance combined with preemptive correction of stenosis does not prolong graft survival. Nevertheless, such programs may be justified if they reduce other adverse outcomes or decrease the cost of care. This study tested this hypothesis by applying a secondary analysis to our original RCT. This study of 101 patients evaluated correction of stenosis based upon blood flow (Q) and stenosis surveillance. Patients were randomly assigned to control, flow, or stenosis groups, and were followed for up to 28 months. Q was measured monthly by ultrasound dilution; stenosis was measured quarterly by duplex ultrasound. Stenosis of 50% was corrected by percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) after referral for angiography. Referral criteria were: control group, clinical criteria; flow group, Q < 600 ml/min or clinical criteria; stenosis group, stenosis > 50% or clinical criteria. We compared access‐related hospitalizations and cost of care, and use of central venous dialysis catheters (CVCs), among the three groups. Hospitalization rates were higher in the control and flow groups than in the stenosis group (0.50, 0.57, 0.18/patient‐year, respectively [p < 0.01]), and hospitalization costs were lowest in the stenosis group (p = 0.026). The stenosis group had a trend toward lowest CVC rates (0.44, 0.32, 0.20/patient‐year, respectively [p = 0.20]). The costs of care were higher in the control and flow groups than in the stenosis group ($3727, $4839, $3306/patient‐year, respectively [p = 0.015]). The costs of stenosis ($142/patient‐year) and Q ($279/patient‐year) measurements were minimal compared to the total cost of access‐related care. In conclusion, stenosis surveillance by duplex ultrasound combined with preemptive correction yielded reduced hospitalization rates and costs, reduced total cost of access‐related care, and a trend of reduced CVC rates. In contrast, flow surveillance did not yield a significant benefit. Stenosis surveillance provides important benefits that may justify application of such programs.


Purpose: In this study, we sought to describe information literacy success outcomes for students who participated in a university course where university librarians and teaching faculty collaborated in all aspects of the course including; curricular development, assignment development, in-class teaching, office hours for individual student development, and assessment activities. The authors wanted to examine student success in attaining information literacy skills following this one semester course. Further, the authors wanted to determine what difficulties in achieving expected information literacy levels persist even after intensive collaborative instruction. Finally, the authors wished to describe the challenges of these collaborations.

Methodology: The focus of this study was to determine changes in first-year university students' information literacy knowledge and skill following a thirteen week university preparation course that was developed through strong collaboration between university librarians and teaching faculty. Students entering their first semester of university were tested on their information literacy skills without feedback. They then took part in the required course and were post tested in the last week of the semester.

Findings: Student showed strong increases in information literacy from this collaborative approach. In addition, teaching faculty and librarians felt positive about the collaborative experience. However, some students showed misunderstandings about information literacy that requires further research.

Originality and Practical Implications: Our unique contribution here is our description, experiences and detailed outcomes with a collaborative process to teach information literacy. Based on our experiences here, we believe that collaboration will work best if it is planned at a curricular level, if the librarians are truly integrated into the classroom, if the librarians provide input on assignments and help with student feedback, and if targeted information literacy knowledge is tested. This planning takes time, but the librarians offer unique contributions and insight into issues surrounding information literacy that may not be obvious to faculty instructors. In our study, we also found that students confuse assignment requirements with general information literacy standards and those teaching information literacy need to be aware of these confusions. Finally, integration of librarians into college/university courses has benefits in terms of increases in student information literacy and increases in librarian knowledge of faculty expectations.


Energy system models based on experience curves are superior to conventional models in their treatment of the dynamics of technological development. However, assuming perfect foresight means that future learning rates are known with certainty, which is not realistic. An optimising model for the global electricity system, GENIE, has been extended to include imperfect foresight of learning rates. Technology cost trajectories are still determined by experience curves, but progress along the curves may follow alternative branches. Information about exactly which branch is currently being followed is not initially available, but may be subsequently revealed and acted upon. Unlike most applications of stochastic programming with recourse, the learning rate uncertainties are not resolved at a predetermined point in time. Instead, this information is only revealed once a certain threshold level of experience has been obtained for the particular technology. To minimise computational difficulty, only two technologies feature experience curve uncertainty - photovoltaic solar cells and fuel cells. The learning rates for these technologies can independently assume high or low values. Model results emphasise the importance of early learning investments in emerging energy technologies. The optimal hedging strategy calculated by GENIE involves significant early investments in both solar PV and fuel cells. An early commitment to emerging technologies is not only a good investment plan when high learning rates are expected, but also an efficient hedging strategy when future learning rates are uncertain. A sensitivity analysis also shows that this investment strategy is surprisingly robust even if high future learning rates are regarded as improbable.


Inspired by virtual machine placement problems, we study heuristics for the Vector Bin Packing problem, where we are required to pack n items represented by d-dimensional vectors, into as few bins of size 1 each as possible. We systematically study variants of the First Fit Decreasing (FFD) algorithm that have been proposed for this problem. Inspired by bad instances for FFD-type algorithms, we propose new geometric heuristics that run nearly as fast as FFD for reasonable values of n and d. We report on empirical evaluations of the FFD-based, as well as the new heuristics on large families of distributions. We identify which FFD variants work best in most cases and show that our new heuristics usually outperform FFD-based heuristics and can sometimes reduce the number of bins used by up to ten percent. Further, in all cases where we were able to compute the optimal solution we found our new heuristics within few percent of optimal. We conclude that these new heuristics are an excellent alternative to FFD-based heuristics and are prime candidates to be used in practice.


Simple Summary Abdominal pain, colic, is a common clinical sign in horses, sometimes reflecting life-threatening disease. One cause of colic is parasitic infection of the gut. Various drugs, anthelmintics, can be used to reduce or eliminate such parasites. However, frequent use has led to problems of drug resistance, whereby many countries now allow anthelmintics to be used on a prescription-only basis. In Sweden, this has led to a concern that parasitic-related colic in horses is increasing. This study aimed to investigate whether horses with colic differed in parasitological status compared to horses without colic. A secondary aim was to collect information regarding current parasite control measures used by horse owners. Exposure to S. vulgaris, a parasite with the potential to cause life-threatening disease, appeared high as determined by the presence of antibodies in the blood. Horses with inflammation in the abdominal cavity had higher antibody levels than other causes of colic. Despite new legislation, 29% of owners did not use fecal analyses for parasites and the use of extended methods to diagnose specific parasites was low. Also, owners rarely used alternative methods to reduce the pasture parasite burden. The study suggests a need for education in the use of both fecal analyses and pasture management. Abstract All grazing horses are exposed to intestinal parasites, which have the potential to cause gastrointestinal disease. In Sweden, there is a concern about an increase in parasite-related equine gastrointestinal disease, in particular Strongylus vulgaris, since the implementation of prescription-only anthelmintics approximately 10 years ago. In a prospective case–control study, parasitological status, using fecal analyses for strongyle egg counts, the presence of Anoplocephala perfoliata eggs and S. vulgaris Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) as well as serology for S. vulgaris, were compared between horses presenting with or without gastrointestinal disease at a University hospital during a one-year period. Information regarding anthelmintic routines and pasture management was gathered with an owner-filled questionnaire. Although the prevalence of S. vulgaris PCR was 5.5%, 62% of horses were positive in the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test and horses with peritonitis showed higher antibody levels for S. vulgaris, as compared to other diagnoses or controls. Overall, 36% of the horse owners used only fecal egg counts (FEC), 32% used FEC combined with specific diagnostics for S. vulgaris or A. perfoliata, and 29% dewormed routinely without prior parasite diagnostics. Effective management methods to reduce the parasitic burden on pastures were rare and considering exposure to S. vulgaris appears high; the study indicates a need for education in specific fecal diagnostics and pasture management.


As though dismayed by his own account, the narrator of "Nevsky Prospect" concludes with an attempt to distance himself from the reality that he has depicted so convincingly: "Oh, do not trust this Nevsky Prospect! I always wrap myself more tightly in my cloak when I walk along it and absolutely try not to look at the objects which meet me" (43).(1) Such a strategy for self-protection against a curiously dehumanized urban scene anticipates that of the main character in the most famous of Gogol's Petersburg tales, "The Overcoat" and suggests equal peril. At this early point in his encounter with the capital, the author expressed his fear of its pervasive effect upon body and soul. Yet there is an air of ambivalence about his perception of the city, a fascination with the environment that would prompt continued exploration of it. Gogol's decision to place "Nevsky Prospect" first in the cycle of the urban tales as they appeared in the 1842 edition of his works suggests that he regarded the story as central to his apprehension of the capital. Critics have commented extensively on its thematic ties to the remaining stories without giving great attention to its stylistic complexity. How it is constructed has considerable importance for the remainder of the stories, its mixture of the sentimental and the satiric establishing a tone that would persist, culminating in "The Overcoat." As Vinogradov has observed, theme and style are linked through the distinctive image of the authorial "I": "an image of a constantly changing, fragile emotional structure, an image ceaselessly shifting from one thematic and expressive sphere to another" (97). Stepanov has defined this narrative oscillation more narrowly, the whole of the account being founded upon a "vibration of pathos and irony" (207). The resonance is generated both by the contrast in dominant tone between the story's several segments and by the narrator's changing attitude toward persons and events within a single segment. In its entirety, the work can be read as a commentary on the author's confrontation with reality and his various strategies for dealing with it. The apparent confidence with which the urban scene is initially depicted is, by degrees, surrendered. Rather than affording him the milieu for positive creation, the city impresses itself upon him with its implacable nature, forcing him into his final defensive posture. The narrative frame for the individual accounts of Piskarev and Pirogov's adventures depends equally upon the lofty rhetoric of the panegyric and the prosaic manner of the feuilleton. In the first instance, the orator seeks, by the force of his delivery, to further enhance a subject inherently grand. Yet comparison of Gogol's work with the opening stanzas of Puskin's "Petersburg tale," The Bronze Horseman, reveals a very different effect, hyperbole being immediately shot through with dubious qualifications: "There is nothing better than the Nevsky Prospect, at least in Petersburg; for the city it is everything" (7). Instead of providing his reader with a sense of some coherent whole, the narrator anticipates his later vision of the city as a demonically shattered reflection, the fragments of people and objects on the avenue lacking any unity. As Hughes suggests, the full value of this introduction derives from the story's conclusion: "If we keep the tone of the epilogue in mind, the opening exalted description of Nevsky Avenue acquires a different meaning. The narrator only pretends to be naive for he knows the value of the beauty and the wealth exhibited on Nevsky Avenue . . ." (78). The particulars that he describes, more the focus of the flaneur than of the orator, detract from an elevated image and serve to remind the reader of the narrator's idiosyncratic vision. In his culminating pronouncement on the official city, he specifically invokes the edifying purpose of the solemn ode to completely opposite effect: "My God! What wonderful offices and services, how they elevate and satisfy the soul! …


One focus of interventions being developed for depression in nursing homes is increasing pleasant events. The conceptual foundation of such interventions requires establishing links among activity levels, depressive symptoms and positive affect. We observed activity and affect among 28 nursing home residents, five-days-a-week for four weeks, and concurrently collected self-reported affect and depression data. Inclusion of intra-individual analyses using random effects models demonstrated considerable individual variability in the relationship between positive affect and activity, although the results broadly supported the association. Participants differed with regard to what types of events were pleasurable and with regard to the relationships among pleasure, interest and activity. Depression levels were related to some of these individual differences. Activity was related primarily to interest rather than pleasure and higher interest was related to fewer depressive symptoms. Our findings emphasize the importance of individually tailoring pleasant events interventions and suggest that prescriptive group activities are unlikely to prove effective as means for improving positive affect.


Mechanochemical chemoenzymatic peptide and amide bond formation catalysed by papain was studied by ball milling. Despite the high-energy mixing experienced inside the ball mill, the biocatalyst proved stable and highly efficient to catalyse the formation of α,α- and α,β-dipeptides. This strategy was further extended to the enzymatic acylation of amines by milling, and to the mechanosynthesis of a derivative of the valuable dipeptide L-alanyl-L-glutamine.


It is a widely accepted truth that the Indian state suffers from a serious crisis of implementation capability. Despite widespread recognition of this crisis, there is remarkably little analytical work on how the Indian state works, particularly at the level of implementation. We know very little about the everyday practices of local bureaucrats, the decision-making systems within which they function and the organizational culture and norms that this fosters. Such an understanding is critical both to unpacking the roots of this implementation failure as well as to understanding how reform efforts are institutionalized, interpreted and implemented on the ground. Crucially, it can offer insights into understanding why the implementation crisis persists and under what conditions this can be reversed. Our research is an attempt to fill this gap in the literature by analyzing an attempt by the Government of Bihar (GoB) to adopt an alternative pedagogy tool in government schools to improve the quality of learning as part of a larger reform effort called the 'Mission Gunvatta,' initiated in the 2013-14 academic year. The pedagogical strategy was based on homegrown experiments that challenged mainstream assumptions about classroom organization and teaching based on set curricula. Critically, it was designed to strengthen local administrative capacity to support schools from the bottom up.Through detailed qualitative interviews and time-use studies of Bihar's education administrators, this study points to the critical role played by organizational culture and resultant perceptions and practices of frontline administrators in interpreting, articulating and implementing reform choices on the ground. In our analysis, the successes and failures of service delivery reforms are as much about appropriate policy design choices, fostering innovation and leadership as it is about the interplay between reform objectives and the every-day practices of those tasked with implementing reforms. This, we argue, is the key missing link in contemporary understanding of public institutions and service delivery reforms in particular.


This paper addresses Ihe new-orthodox view that the choice of exchange rate regime lias been hollowed out to a choice between the two comer solutions of firmly fixed and more or less freely floating exchange rates. While conceding that both these regimes have an advantage over intermediate regimes in terms of being less vulnerable to crisis, as well as simplifying the policy assignment, it argues that neither a currency board nor a freely floating exchange rate regime is necessarily crisis-free. More important, neither of them offer the potential advantage of a wellmanaged intermediate regime, notably a BBC (basket, band, and crawl) system, of allowing policy to be addressed to limiting exchange rate misalignments. A number of countries with ostensibly floating currencies are revealing by their actions that they prefer an intermediate regime. While such managed floating may be a reasonable compromise given the pressure from the IMF to float, it suffers three potential disadvantages as compared to an articulated BBC regime: it is not transparent, it precludes some types of policy cooperation (such as the use of a common basket peg by a number of countries with strong trade interdependence), and it foregoes the possibility of inducing stabilizing speculation a la Krugman's analysis of target zones. The paper concludes by describing three softer versions of the BBC regime that would be less vulnerable to crises than traditional intermediate regimes: the reference rate proposal, bands with soft margins, and monitoring bands.


We find analytic models that can perfectly transfer, without state initialization or remote collaboration, arbitrary functions in two- and three-dimensional interacting bosonic and fermionic networks. This provides for the possible experimental implementation of state transfer through bosonic or fermionic atoms trapped in optical lattices. A significant finding is that the state of a spin qubit can be perfectly transferred through a fermionic system. Families of Hamiltonians are described that are related to the linear models and that enable the perfect transfer of arbitrary functions. Furthermore, we propose methods for eliminating certain types of errors.


Cross-cultural musical analysis requires standardized symbolic representation of sounds such as score notation. However, transcription into notation is usually conducted manually by ear, which is time-consuming and subjective. Our aim is to evaluate the reliability of existing methods for transcribing songs from diverse societies. We had 3 experts independently transcribe a sample of 32 excerpts of traditional monophonic songs from around the world (half a cappella, half with instrumental accompaniment). 16 songs also had pre-existing transcriptions created by 3 different experts. We compared these human transcriptions against one another and against 10 automatic music transcription algorithms. We found that human transcriptions can be sufficiently reliable (~90% agreement, κ ~.7), but current automated methods are not (<60% agreement, κ <.4). No automated method clearly outperformed others, in contrast to our predictions. These results suggest that improving automated methods for cross-cultural music transcription is critical for diversifying MIR.


E-health applications are one of the most promising applications in the context of internet of things (IoT). Nevertheless, resource constraints and security issues in IoT are the main barriers for their deployment. Among security issues, authentication and data confidentiality are required to secure e-health applications. In this paper, we propose a new authentication and key agreement scheme for e-health applications in the context of IoT. This scheme allows a sensor node, a gateway node, and a remote user to authenticate each other and secure the collection of health-related data. The proposed scheme is based on lightweight symmetric cryptography since it uses nonces, exclusive-or operations, and simple hash functions. Besides, it takes into consideration the sensors location to provide an efficient authentication. To assess the proposed scheme, we conduct a theoretical and an automated security analysis using AVISPA tool. The results show that our scheme preserves the security properties, and ensures resilience against different types of attacks. In addition, we evaluate and compare both communication and computational costs with some existing authentication schemes. The obtained results prove that it provides authentication with low energy cost.


The opportunistic spectrum access technology is one of the most promising methods for alleviating the spectrum scarcity problem, which enables a secondary user (SU) to utilise a primary user spectrum band that is detected idle. However, the throughput achieved by cognitive radios is limited by the interference constraint imposing on the SU. Multiple input single output antenna techniques and antenna selection (AS) techniques are exploited to combat the interference constraint and improve the achievable average throughput of the SU. The optimal power allocation strategy is proposed to maximise the achievable average throughput. Performance analyses for the achievable average throughputs are performed under the maximum channel gain AS strategy, the minimum interference channel gain AS strategy and the ratio AS strategy. It is proved that the optimal transmitted AS strategy is the ratio AS strategy when the optimal power allocation strategy is used. The optimal sensing parameters are designed to further improve the maximum average throughput. Extensive simulation results are conducted to verify this analysis.


To move forward as researchers interested in contributing to the (European) political debate on entrepreneurial competence, on the one hand, and conducting sound scientific research, on the other, we argue that it is time for researchers to move to the next level of entrepreneurial competence research. Therefore, this chapter discusses two important aspects associated with the concept of entrepreneurial competence, namely the 'what' and the 'how' question. Both questions seem to be common sense, but interestingly the fundaments behind these two questions receive limited attention in the entrepreneurship education (EE) literature. Concerning the 'what' question, to prevent the generation of endless lists of competencies we propose to cluster entrepreneurial competencies in four competence domains, including a cognition-orientated, function-oriented, social-oriented and meta-oriented domain. To illustrate the power of using this framework we discuss specific research that has been done on opportunity identification competence, social competence and moral competence. Concerning the 'how' question we invite EE research to embrace modern educational design principles that will help to develop targeted theoretical frameworks that direct empirical intervention studies in EE. Examples of pedagogical approaches discussed in this chapter that incorporate modern education principles come from problem-based learning, project-based learning, student-centred learning environments and boundary crossing theory.


This paper notes the poor track record of CGE models like the ones used by the Peterson Institute and the International Trade Commission in projecting the changes in patterns of trade following recent trade deals. These models failed to project the large rise in the U.S. trade deficit with Mexico following the implementation of NAFTA or with South Korea following the implementation of KORUS. Past research has shown that these models also failed to correctly identify the winning and losing industries in trade with Mexico following NAFTA. This analysis shows that the ITC model similarly failed to identify winning and losing industries following the implementation of the KORUS.


Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a fatal disease which highly threatens the health of human being. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is the pathogeny for this disease. Investigating HIV-1 protease cleavage sites can help researchers find or develop protease inhibitors which can restrain the replication of HIV-1, thus resisting AIDS. Feature selection is a new approach for solving the HIV-1 protease cleavage site prediction task and it's a key point in our research. Comparing with the previous work, there are several advantages in our work. First, a filter method is used to eliminate the redundant features. Second, besides traditional orthogonal encoding (OE), two kinds of newly proposed features extracted by conducting principal component analysis (PCA) and non-linear Fisher transformation (NLF) on AAindex database are used. The two new features are proven to perform better than OE. Third, the data set used here is largely expanded to 1922 samples. Also to improve prediction performance, we conduct parameter optimization for SVM, thus the classifier can obtain better prediction capability. We also fuse the three kinds of features to make sure comprehensive feature representation and improve prediction performance. To effectively evaluate the prediction performance of our method, five parameters, which are much more than previous work, are used to conduct complete comparison. The experimental results of our method show that our method gain better performance than the state of art method. This means that the feature selection combined with feature fusion and classifier parameter optimization can effectively improve HIV-1 cleavage site prediction. Moreover, our work can provide useful help for HIV-1 protease inhibitor developing in the future.


Drawing on interview data from reading policy actors in California, Michigan, and Texas, this study applied Kingdon's (1984, 1995) multiple streams model to explain how the issue of reading became prominent on the agenda of state governments during the latter half of the 1990s. A combination of factors influenced the status of a state's reading policy agenda, including feedback from parents, teachers, and business groups; student achievement data; political pressure from the state administration; regional and national interest; a pervasive belief that reading is a building block for student success; and a widespread perception that the decline in reading achievement was symbolic of the failure of public schools. In addition, governors promoted reading to high agenda prominence by influencing which issues were placed on the decision agenda (agenda setting) and which alternatives were given serious attention (alternative specification). Finally, the findings suggest that the applicability of Kingdon's national-level model to the state level may depend on both the issue being examined and the participation of the state executive branch.


In studying the drawing there is even today a tendency to concentrate upon what is marked on a piece of paper, and to forget that much of drawing that was marked in the past on the actual stone or wood. As the education and books on drawing were increasingly developed and used by academia, the drawing techniques became theoretically supported by developed geometrical principles extracted from basic empirical constructions. Geometrical concepts that provide developments of such empirical constructional methods, applications of which were utilised in the pre-Descriptive Geometry era, are denoted as constructional geometry. As the construction of 3D parametric solid models becomes recognised as the skill modern engineers need to posses, the ability to spatially construct and manipulate virtual geometrical elements will unavoidably become an elementary part in the engineering educational system. With the application of a vector space in computer graphics, the introduction of graphical techniques that conduct 3D problem solving by spatial construction instead of the planar projection becomes essential for engineering spatial graphics. Discussion of this need for introducing graphical concepts that deal with spatial relationships in a computer graphics vector space and subsequent application of such a constructional method in modern engineering computer graphics are presented in this paper.


In Italy, businesses are widely recognized as a main source of economic growth and for the creation of jobs. This growth is very much dependent on access to external financial resources, but the access to external capital is also a critical issue. Some prior research has suggested that different structural elements of a company and governance characteristics are correlated with their financial leverage. However, to the best of our knowledge, few studies focus on gender governance in Italy. For this reason, our study contributes to advancing gender research in Italy. Our paper seeks to extend the findings of Coleman and Cohn (2000) regarding the association between corporate characteristics (both in terms of structure and governance) and financial leverage. Our sample consists of data collected from 2016 balance sheets and income statements of 578 Italian firms. Our study demonstrates the association between corporate characteristics and financial leverage. In summary, we are left with the following results: the age, size, organizational form, and profitability are correlated with the financial leverage; therefore, the corporate debt level is not correlated with the gender ownership. Additional analysis of differences in riskiness between male- and women-led companies would be desirable but remains an interesting matter for future research.


We present a catalog of 1750 massive stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), with accurate spectral types compiled from the literature, and a photometric catalog for a subset of 1268 of these stars, with the goal of exploring their infrared properties. The photometric catalog consists of stars with infrared counterparts in the Spitzer SAGE survey database, for which we present uniform photometry from 0.3 to 24 μm in the UBVIJHKs+IRAC+MIPS24 bands. The resulting infrared color–magnitude diagrams illustrate that the supergiant B[e], red supergiant, and luminous blue variable (LBV) stars are among the brightest infrared point sources in the LMC, due to their intrinsic brightness, and at longer wavelengths, due to dust. We detect infrared excesses due to free–free emission among ∼900 OB stars, which correlate with luminosity class. We confirm the presence of dust around 10 supergiant B[e] stars, finding the shape of their spectral energy distributions (SEDs) to be very similar, in contrast to the variety of SED shapes among the spectrally variable LBVs. The similar luminosities of B[e] supergiants (log L/L☉ ⩾ 4) and the rare, dusty progenitors of the new class of optical transients (e.g., SN 2008S and NGC 300 OT), plus the fact that dust is present in both types of objects, suggests a common origin for them. We find the infrared colors for Wolf–Rayet stars to be independent of spectral type and their SEDs to be flatter than what models predict. The results of this study provide the first comprehensive roadmap for interpreting luminous, massive, resolved stellar populations in nearby galaxies at infrared wavelengths.


This article describes research based on data collected from secondary design and technology teachers and explores : the effectiveness of the systems used in their schools for planning and monitoring non-contact days and the implications for management strategy of staff development how non-contact days or ' pupil-free ' days are used and how the use of non-contact days has been decided design and technology teachers ' perceptions on the adequacy of subject in-service training ( INSET ) and balance of t i me allocated between whole school and departmental issues on non-contact days teachers ' / middle managers ' confidence in planning and leading subject specific design and technology INSET for themselves and for their teams , and resources which might be produced to support them.


ASCE is involved in two high-tech initiatives that will bring information to engineers in new ways. An interactive textbook for fluid mechanics courses incorporates many advanced visual features into a CD-ROM format, with the intention of putting more information at the fingertips of students and making it easier and more enjoyable to learn the difficult, abstract subject matter. Hypertext links to the glossary, active graphs, digital movies and build-in computational software make the text more powerful than a conventional book. The Digital Library Initiative is addressing the problem of accessing scientific and technical information via the World Wide Web. Current Web technology makes it difficult for practicing engineers, academicians and researchers to search for and post technical material in a logical and accessible way. Using SGML coding, the initiative will tie an increasing amount of this information together via an on-line library capable of searching for mathematical symbols, functions, tables, and other parameters that are beyond the capabilities of standard search engines. ASCE and other professional societies are supporting the effort by supplying journals and other technical material for use in the test databases.


The goal of the research presented in this thesis was to investigate temporal properties of disparity processing and depth perception in human subjects, in response to dynamic stimuli. The results presented in various chapters, reporting findings about different temporal aspects of disparity processing, are based on psychophysical experiments and computational model analysis.
In chapter 1 we investigated which processes of binocular depth perception in dynamic random-dot stereograms (DRS), i.e., tolerance for interocular delays and temporal integration of correlation, are responsible for the temporal flexibility of the stereoscopic system. Our results demonstrate that (i) disparities from simultaneous monocular inputs dominate those from interocular delayed inputs; (ii) stereopsis is limited by temporal properties of monocular luminance mechanisms; (iii) depth perception in DRS results from cross-correlation-like operation on two simultaneous monocular inputs that represent the retinal images after having been subjected to a process of monocular temporal integration of luminance.
In chapter 2 we examined what temporal information is exploited by the mechanisms underlying stereoscopic motion in depth. We investigated systematically the influence of temporal frequency on binocular depth perception in temporally correlated and temporally uncorrelated DRS. Our results show that disparity-defined depth is judged differently in temporally correlated and uncorrelated DRS above a temporal frequency of about 3 Hz. The results and simulations indicate that: (i) above about 20 Hz, the complete absence of stereomotion is caused by temporal integration of luminance; (ii) the difference in perceived depth in temporally correlated and temporally uncorrelated DRS for temporal frequencies between 20 and 3 Hz, is caused by temporal integration of disparity.
In chapter 3 we investigated temporal properties of stereopsis at different spatial scales in response to sustained and transient presentation of DRS. For both sustained and transient presentations of the stimuli, the results show that: (i) stereopsis has similar temporal properties at coarse and fine spatial scales; (ii) interaction between spatial scales depends on their relative sizes. The results indicate a strong inhibitory influence of rivalry at a coarse scale on stereopsis at a fine scale, and just a weak inhibitory influence of rivalry at a fine scale on stereopsis at a coarse scale. This study provides experimental evidence for a hierarchical organisation of spatial scales in stereoscopic vision based on neural interaction instead of vergence eye movements.
In chapter 4 we examined how binocular visual system interprets the depth of monocular random-dots superimposed on stereoscopic surfaces, when disparity and monocular depth result from elements of different size. We also examine the perceptual effects of dot density. We found that depth of monocular surfaces was affected by the disparity-defined surfaces and it changed gradually with dot density. Strength of the effect depended on dot density and relative angular size of the dots.
In chapter 5 we examined how visual perception changes over time in the presence or absence of perceived stereoscopic depth in rivalrous images. We found that the presence of disparity-defined depth did not influence significantly the perceptual dominance durations of binocular rivalry. This indicates that stereopsis and binocular rivalry at the level of textured surfaces follow from separate processes.


Background: Maternal education-infant health gradients are flatter among foreign-born mothers than U.S.-born mothers; However, because common metrics of infant health are less predictive of infant mortality for some racial/ethnic and nativity groups, further study of maternal education-infant mortality gradients is necessary. Objective: We investigate whether maternal education–infant mortality gradients vary by race/ethnicity and nativity among infants born to mothers in the United States. Methods: We use data from the 1998‒2002 National Vital Statistics Birth Cohort Linked Birth/Infant Death Data published by the National Center for Health Statistics (N = 17,520,140) to estimate logistic regression models predicting infant, neonatal, and postneonatal mortality by race/ethnicity and nativity. Results: The negative associations between maternal education and infant mortality are stronger for US-born mothers than foreign-born mothers. Among both groups, Non-Hispanic whites have the highest returns to education and Non-Hispanic blacks have the lowest returns. While foreign-born mothers are less likely to have an infant die than their native-born counterparts, this advantage is largest at the lowest levels of education and converges at the highest levels of education . For most racial/ethnic groups, the maternal education–infant mortality gradient is steeper during the postneonatal period than during the neonatal period. Conclusions: The maternal education–infant mortality gradient varies substantially by the timing of infant death, race/ethnicity, and nativity. Contribution: This study extends the literature on nativity disparities in infant health by documenting how the maternal education-infant mortality gradient varies by nativity within racial/ethnic groups. To our knowledge, this is the first study to produce these estimates.


An efficient review depends not only on timely approval but also on ensuring the qualityof the processfrom construction of the dossier to the ultimate regulatory decision. Two scorecards were developed through a process of conceptualization, item generation, and reduction, as well as psychometric testing, for regulatory authorities to provide feedback to companies on the quality of their submissions while companies report to authorities on the quality of their review. The scorecards included more than 50 items grouped into 7 domains, including application format, content of the dossier, labeling, scientific advice, conduct of the review, communication, and overall assessment. The scorecards were then tested by 3 major regulatory authorities (Health Canada, Swissmedic, and Therapeutic Goods Administration, Australia) and 4 international pharmaceutical companies (AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Novo Nordisk, andPfizer). The study participants responded openly to requests for ratings on the quality of performance bythe other parties based on retrospective reviews. The data gave insights into different perceptions of quality in relation to submitted data and their respective review procedures. The findings showed the value and applicability of the proposed scorecards.


The Schapenburg Schist Belt is one of several large greenstone remnants exposed in the granitoid-dominated terrane to the south of the Barberton greenstone belt and is unique in that it contains a well-developed metasedimetary sequence in addition to the typical mafic-ultramafic volcanic rocks. Detrital zircons within the metasediments have ages as young as ~3.24 Ga and consequently, these rocks correlate with Fig Tree Group sediments exposed in the central portions of the Barberton greenstone belt some 60km to the north, where they are metamorphosed to greenschist facies conditions. The Schapenburg metasediments are relatively K2O-poor, and are commonly characterised by the peak metamorphic assemblage garnet + cordierite + gedrite + biotite + quartz ± plagioclase. Other assemblages recorded are garnet + cummingtonite + biotite + quartz, cordierite + biotite + sillimanite + quartz and cordierite + biotite + anthophyllite. In all cases the peak assemblages are texturally very well equilibrated and the predominantly almandine garnets from all rock types show almost flat zonation patterns for Fe, Mg, Mn and Ca. Analysis using FMASH reaction relations, as well as a variety of geothermometers and barometers, has constrained the peak metamorphic pressure-temperature conditions to 640 ± 40°C and 4.8 ± 1.0 kbar. The maximum age of metamorphism is defined by the ~3.23 Ga age of a syntectonic tonalite intrusion into the central portion of the schist belt. Thus, sedimentation, burial to mid-crustal depths, and amphibolite facies equilibration were achieved in a time span similar to ~15 Ma. The strong bedding-parallel foliation in the metasediments dips to the east at an angle of 75 to 85° In this foliation plane elongated cordierite rods produced during prograde metamorphism define a close to vertical mineral lineation. The metasedimentary succession youngs to the east and in this direction is overlain by older Onverwacht Group rocks. Thus, the cordierite lineation might represent a transposed lineation developed during thrust stacking. Post-kinematic static recrystallization has largely obscured the prograde history of the rocks. However, the pressure-temperature conditions of peak metamorphism, the age of metamorphism, the rapidity of metamorphism following sedimentation, the presence of cordierite on the prograde path, as well as the timing of metamorphism relative to deformation strongly suggest that metamorphism occurred in an arc-style collisional setting. Thus, the rocks of this study most likely represent an exhumed mid-crustal terrane equilibrated during the proposed ~3230 Ma terrane accretion event in the Barberton Greenstone Belt, and record an apparent geothermal gradient typical for portions of modern orogenic belts of this type.


Abstract Background To assess the worldwide variation of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) incidence, we performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of population-based data published to date. Methods We reviewed Medline and Embase up to June 2015 and included all population-based studies of newly diagnosed ALS cases, using multiple sources for case ascertainment. ALS crude and standardized incidence (on age and sex using the US 2010 population) were calculated. Random effect meta-analysis and meta-regression were performed using the subcontinent as the main study level covariate. Sources of heterogeneity related to the characteristics of the study population and the study methodology were investigated. Results Among 3216 records, 44 studies were selected, covering 45 geographical areas in 11 sub-continents. A total of 13 146 ALS cases and 825 million person-years of follow-up (PYFU) were co-nsidered. The overall pooled worldwide crude ALS incidence was at 1.75 (1.55–1.96)/100 000 PYFU; 1.68 (1.50–1.85)/100 000 PYFU after standardization. Heterogeneity was identified in ALS standardized incidence between North Europe [1.89 (1.46–2.32)/100 000 PYFU] and East Asia [0.83 (0.42–1.24)/100 000 PYFU, China and Japan P = 0.001] or South Asia [0.73 (0.58–0.89)/100 000/PYFU Iran, P = 0.02]. Conversely, homogeneous rates have been reported in populations from Europe, North America and New Zealand [pooled ALS standardized incidence of 1.81 (1.66-1.97)/100 000 PYFU for those areas]. Conclusion This review confirms a heterogeneous distribution worldwide of ALS, and sets the scene to sustain a collaborative study involving a wide international consortium to investigate the link between ancestry, environment and ALS incidence.


Polarization characteristics of microarrays of silver nanowires embedded in an anodic alumina membrane are theoretically investigated. The microarrays mainly transmit the p-polarized wave, whereas they strongly attenuate the s-polarized wave in the near- and mid-infrared spectral range. We show that the sizes (e.g., diameter, spacing, and ratio of diameter to spacing) of the nanowires strongly affect the optical losses for the polarized waves. It is predicted that large extinction ratios and small insertion losses can be simultaneously achieved by an appropriate choice of the ratio and the diameter. An optimized design of a nanowire grid polarizer at near- and mid-infrared wavelengths is presented.


XML Schema documents are defined using an XML syntax, which means that the idea of generating schema documentation through standard XML technologies is intriguing. We present X2Doc, a framework for generating schema-documentation solely through XSLT. The framework uses SCX, an XML syntax for XML Schema components, as intermediate format and produces XML-based output formats. Using a modular set of XSLT stylesheets, X2Doc is highly configurable and carefully crafted towards extensibility. This proves especially useful for composite schemas, where additional schema information like Schematron rules are embedded into XML Schemas.


OF A PROJECT Developing a Draft Book Proposal for the Book: Imagination Improvisation: The Creativity-Improvisation Link. This project contains a description of the process used to develop a draft proposal for a book idea that would be high enough quality for submission to a book publisher. The book is entitled Imagination Improvisation, and it is a culmination of my thinking about the link between creativity studies and musical improvisation. The text of the project includes the background research and incubation that I did to produce the draft proposal. It also includes pertinent literature for improvisation and creativity, the process plan that I followed in constructing the draft proposal, the outcomes of the entire project, and key learnings from the entire project. There is also a project bibliography that includes background reading for the project. There are three appendices: the first contains the draft book proposal, the second contains the evolution of the creativityimprovisation link model, and the third contains the original Power Point presentation in which the model was proposed. The final part of the project is the original concept paper for the project. __________________________________ Scott L. O'Dell __________________________________ Date


Many terms exist to describe radiating leg pain or symptoms associated with back pain (e.g., sciatica or radiculopathy) and it appears that these terms are used inconsistently. We examined the terms used to describe, and the eligibility criteria used to define, radiating leg pain in randomized controlled trials of conservative treatments, and evaluated how the eligibility criteria compared to an international pain taxonomy. Eligible studies were identified from two systematic reviews and an updated search of their search strategy. Studies were included if they recruited adults with radiating leg pain associated with back pain. Two independent reviewers screened the studies and extracted data. Studies were grouped according to the terms used to describe radiating leg pain. Thirty‐one of the seventy‐seven included studies used multiple terms to describe radiating leg pain; the most commonly used terms were sciatica (60 studies) and disc herniation (19 studies). Most studies that used the term sciatica included pain distribution in the eligibility criteria, but studies were inconsistent in including signs (e.g., neurological deficits) and imaging findings. Similarly, studies that used other terms to describe radiating leg pain used inconsistent eligibility criteria between studies and to the pain taxonomy, except that positive imaging findings were required for almost all studies that used disc herniation to describe radiating leg pain. In view of the varying terms to describe, and eligibility criteria to define, radiating leg pain, consensus needs to be reached for each of communication and comparison between studies.


Soils and forests are deteriorating; grazing lands are degraded; water points, sources, and lakes are drying, and underground water levels diminished. This could largely be attributed to traditional inappropriate resource management methods; severe soil erosion and degradations reducing infiltration and resulting in sedimentation of water sources and lake basins. Bad cultivation practices, burning and cutting of perennial vegetation, overgrazing and grass fires increase runoff. This causes soil erosion and consequently sediment transport to the lake, which results in the decrease of its storage capacity and quality of stored water. Shallow and groundwater dependent Lakes has experiencing shrinkage and some of them are vanished due to different reasons, such as human activities, climate change and related which can contribute to the declining of Lake Ecosystem.


ABSTRACT Aim: The 21-gene Recurrence Score® assay is validated in patients (pts) with ER+ early stage invasive breast cancer (EBC) and predicts 10-yr distant recurrence risk and chemotherapy (CT) benefit. The Prosigna® assay (ROR) which uses 46 of the PAM50 genes, was validated in post-menopausal pts with ER+ EBC and is a prognostic assay only. Despite differences in platforms and methods used for development and validation, it is frequently believed that the assay results are interchangeable. We performed a study comparing results from the two assays obtained from the same tumor blocks. The first 40 samples showed a substantial disagreement in how the assays stratify risk. Methods: 70 sequential BC tumors from Marin Medical Laboratories with sufficient tumor material were selected to be tested with the standard 21-gene assay. Samples were sent to an independent lab where Prosigna ROR and intrinsic subtype was performed with the operators blinded to Recurrence Score results. The first 40 cases were stratified by Recurrence Score (20 low, 10 intermediate and 10 high) Descriptive statistics were used to compare results from the two assays. Results: Of the 40 initial pts evaluated, 7 were excluded: 3 for low RNA signal in the Prosigna assay and 4 were ER(-) by RT-PCR. Of the 33 remaining cases; 24 ductal, 7 lobular; 27 N(-); 6 N +. The Spearman rank correlation between Recurrence Score and ROR was 0.40 (95% CI 0.06–0.65). Risk group assignment (low/intermediate/high) between Recurrence Score and ROR was in agreement in 56% (15/27) of N(-). Prosigna classified 19 luminal A, 12 luminal B, 2 HER2 enriched and 0 basal. In both the luminal A and B groups there was a wide range of Recurrence Score results. Conclusions: Consistent with prior comparisons between the Oncotype DX and other genomic assays, there are substantial differences in the way pts are risk stratified and it cannot be assumed that the assay results are interchangeable. These results suggest that there is only a modest agreement between Recurrence Score results and ROR, with almost half of N(-), ER+ pts classified differently, including ∼30% of high ROR pts being classified as low risk by the Recurrence Score with expected minimal if any benefit from chemotherapy. Final data from 70 pts will be presented. Disclosure: M. Rothney, D. Cherbavaz: and C. Svedman: is an employee of Genomich Health International; C. Markopoulos: has an interest in relation with Genomic Health Inc: Speaker's Honoraria. All other authors have declared no conflicts of interest.


Eddy-current (EC) sensors are widely used in the industry for nondestructive evaluation (NDE) and structural health monitoring (SHM). It has this wide acceptance mainly because it has high tolerance to harsh environments, low cost, and high bandwidth. Its variant pulsed eddy current (PEC) provides even more depth information of test materials, which can be applied in liftoff measurement (displacement and coating thickness measurement), defect measurement, and material characterization. However, PEC sensors are prone to measurement errors due to a phenomenon called electrical runout (ERO), which is attributed to the inhomogeneity of the test material. The main thrust of this paper is to investigate, therefore, the contributions of the electromagnetic properties (permeability and conductivity) of the sample to ERO with a view to separate the influence of these two properties. Both time-domain and frequency-domain analyses are carried out in this investigation viz-a-viz: transient response, differential normalized response, magnitude spectrum, and normalized magnitude spectrum. This paper reveals that conductivity effects are prominent in the rising edge of the transient response, hence, changing the spectral pattern in the frequency domain while permeability effects dominate in the stable phase of the transient response, thus this effect can be suppressed or reduced by normalization showing that it is only an amplitude change.


Application of membrane technology for water reclamation has grown significantly in recent years due to reduced footprint size and more consistent product water quality. For a membrane bioreactor (MBR) system, it is critical for it to be robust to allow membrane systems to operate at higher flux without significant increase of trans-membrane pressure (TMP). A full-scale ceramic MBR system was installed at Changi Water Reclamation Plant (CWRP) as part of an MBR retrofit project to increase treatment capacity without expanding the plant's footprint. The nominal capacity of the ceramic MBR system is 15,000 m3/d. The system has been successfully operating since January 2017 with a net flux of 30–60 L/m2-hr (LMH). Stable operation was observed at nominal production capacity for more than 3 months. During that period, the TMP was stable in the range of 9–14 kPa for Tank A and 10–17 kPa for Tank B. Permeate turbidity was recorded in the range of 0.04–0.06 NTU for both Tank A and Tank B.


This paper analyses theoretically and empirically the relationship between military conflicts and trade. We show that the conventional wisdom that trade promotes peace is only partially true even in a model where trade is economically beneficial, military conflicts reduce trade, and leaders are rational. When war can occur because of the presence of asymmetric information, the probability of escalation is lower for countries that trade more bilaterally because of the opportunity cost associated with the loss of trade gains. However, countries more open to global trade have a higher probability of war because multilateral trade openness decreases bilateral dependence to any given country and the cost of a bilateral conflict. We test our predictions on a large data set of military conflicts on the 1950-2000 period. Using different strategies to solve the endogeneity issues, including instrumental variables, we find robust evidence for the contrasting effects of bilateral and multilateral trade openness. For proximate countries, we find that trade has had a surprisingly large effect on their probability of military conflict.


Background and Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory dermatosis that affects 0.6% to 4.8% of the general population. Our aim was to compare the effect of narrow band UVB (NB-UVB) on normal flora of cutaneous plaques and normal skin in psoriatic patients. Methods: Twenty psoriatic patients without any contraindication of phototherapy were enrolled in this study. Samples from psoriatic lesions and adjacent normal skin, before and after phototherapy with NB-UVB were taken. Patients were treated with NB-UVB three times weekly until complete remission. Finally, quantity of normal cutaneous flora on normal and involved skin, before and after treatment was compared. Results: The mean ± SD of the NB-UVB sessions and the mean cumulative dose were 26.35 ± 4.95 and 2.05 ± 0.57 J/cm 2 , respectively. The number of Staphylococcus epidermidis , S. aureus and diphtheroids on psoriatic plaques reduced after phototherapy. Conclusuion: The quantity of normal cutaneous flora on normal skin is less than psoriatic plaques, and it reduced on normal and involved skin after phototherapy.


Abstract Background: Few have investigated long-term effect of treatment of posttraumatic olfactory dysfunction (OD). Aims/objectives: To explore if sequential treatment with corticosteroids and olfactory training (OT) improved smell in patients with OD after moderate and severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). Material and methods: Twenty-two patients with persistent OD, mean 62 months after trauma, completed an open uncontrolled intervention study of treatment for 10 d with oral corticosteroids and thereafter for 3 months with OT twice daily. Olfaction was assessed by Sniffin' Sticks. They were tested at four-time points, with the last assessment 12 months after baseline measurements. Results: Mean age at trauma was 45 (SD 14) years. Mean threshold, discrimination and identification (TDI) score at baseline was 14.4 (SD 7.3) and increased to mean 20.8 (SD 7.4) after 1 year (minimum −3.0; maximum 19.5, p value <.001). Analysed separately, each TDI component increased significantly after 1 year. Half of the patients (11/22) experienced a clinically significant improvement of ≥6.0 TDI points. Improvement was not associated with any sociodemographic or trauma-related characteristics or with olfactory function at baseline. Conclusions and significance: Treatment with corticosteroids and OT was promising in persistent OD after TBI and should be further studied.


Chatdarong, K. 2003. Reproductive physiology of the female cat, with special reference to cervical patency, sperm distribution and hysterography. Doctoral dissertation. ISSN: 1401-6257, ISBN: 91-576-6395-5. Ovarian cyclicity induces considerable changes in morphology, physiology and function of the reproductive organs in animals. This thesis aimed to study reproductive physiology of the female domestic cat, focusing on the cervix, uterus and uterine tube during different stages of the oestrous cycle, after mating and under pathological conditions. Transcervical catheterisation was performed using a specially designed catheter. Patency of the cervix and uterine motility were studied with the aids of fluoroscopy and scintigraphy by depositing contrast fluids and radiopharmaceutical medium in the cranial vagina. The relationship between cervical patency and oestrous behaviour, cornification of the vaginal cells and serum concentrations of oestradiol-17β were evaluated. Hysterography, a positive contrast study, was performed to illustrate the uterine appearance during the oestrous cycle in relation to histological characteristics of the endometrium. Immunohistochemistry using proliferating nuclear antigen (PCNA) was introduced to identify mitotic activity of the endometrial cells. Patency of the cervix to spermatozoa as well as sperm distribution after natural mating was evaluated by flushing the vagina, the uterus and the uterine tube. For the study of sperm distribution in the female reproductive tract, two methods, flushing and tissue sectioning were evaluated and compared. Using a specially designed catheter it was possible to catheterise the cervix during interoestrus, oestrus, metoestrus and postpartum and to introduce contrast fluids into the uterus to study uterine appearance using hysterography also when the cervix was closed. The period when the cervix was patent was found to vary among individuals: the cervix was open either only during late-oestrus; during midoestrus and late-oestrus; or throughout the entire behavioural oestrus. Patency of the cervix was found to usually coincide with the maximum degree of vaginal cornification and thus, presumably is regulated at least in part by the serum concentration of oestradiol-17β. Hysterograms revealed differences in uterine luminal shape that corresponded to the histological characteristics of the endometrium in cats at various stages of the oestrous cycle, cats given medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) and cats with uterine pathology. Straightand wavy-shaped uterine lumens were characteristic of the uterine horns in the inactive and follicular stages of the oestrous cycle. Coil-shaped uterine lumen appeared to be a progestagenic effect seen in the luteal, the MPA-treated and the pathological groups. A coiled uterine cavity was suggestive of endometrial hyperplasia, whereas irregular filling defects were indicative of generalised cystic changes in the endometrium. The expression of PCNA in luminal and glandular epithelial cells was observed although the mitotic activity was not related to neither stages of oestrous cycle nor uterine pathological conditions. The results from the sperm distribution study demonstrated that the cervix and the uterotubal junction (UTJ) were sperm barriers in the cat. The endometrial crypts and the UTJ functioned as sperm reservoirs before ovulation, whereas the isthmus was a sperm reservoir around the time of ovulation. The observations determined the dynamics of the cervix, the uterus and the uterine tube in the cat in relation to ovarian activity. This thesis is the first to provide nomenclatures for describing uterine appearance in hysterograms according to the shape of the uterine horns, luminal cavity and the characteristics of the intraluminal lining, to demonstrate the PCNA expression as well as to determine the distribution of spermatozoa in the female reproductive tract of the cat after natural mating.


English teaching and learning in Chinese higher education are unique in that it is guided by Chinese Ministry of Education. The paper first elaborates the main features and differences of official College English teaching syllabuses (1980, 1985/1986, 1999) and requirements (2004/2007) for non-English undergraduates issued by the Chinese Ministry of Education after the economic reform and opening up. The syllabuses and requirements are outlined in accordance with the English education developments and the requirements of the socioeconomic development of China in different times. They are guidelines of the College English education to be observed nationwide and direct the English teaching and studying in Chinese colleges and universities. Second, some present problems are cogitated following the discussion: the negative influence of CET, imbalanced education level nationwide, rising English level of middle school graduates, and the choice between English for General Purpose or English for Specific Purpose (ESP). All these will influence the College English syllabus drafts in the future.


Each paper needs a structured abstract of 200 words in English. It should be structured as follows: – Objective – Patients and Methods – Results – Conclusion Footnotes: Avoid footnotes. Tables and illustrations: Tables and illustrations (both numbered in Arabic numerals) should be sent in separate files. Tables require a heading and figures a legend, also in a separate file. Due to technical reasons, figures with a screen background should not be submitted. When possible, group several illustrations in one block for reproduction (max. size 180  223 mm). Black and white halftone and color illustrations must have a final resolution of 300 dpi after scaling, line drawings one of 800–1,200 dpi. Color illustrations Online edition: Color illustrations are reproduced free of charge. In the print version, the illustrations are reproduced in black and white. Please avoid referring to the colors in the text and figure legends. Print edition: Up to 6 color illustrations per page can be integrated within the text at CHF 960.00 per page. References: In the text identify references by Arabic numerals [in square brackets]. Material submitted for publication but not yet accepted should be noted as [unpublished data] and not be included in the reference list. The list of references should include only those publications which are cited in the text. Do not alphabetize; number references in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text. The surnames of the authors followed by initials should be given. There should be no punctuation other than a comma to separate the authors. Preferably, please cite all authors. Abbreviate journal names according to the Index Medicus system. Also see International Committee of Medical Journal Editors: Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals (www.icmje.org). Examples (a) Papers published in periodicals: Chatel J-M, Bernard H, Orson FM: Isolation and characterization of two complete Ara h 2 isoforms cDNA. Int Arch Allergy Immunol 2003;131:14–18. (b) Papers published only with DOI numbers: Theoharides TC, Boucher W, Spear K: Serum interleukin-6 reflects disease severity and osteoporosis in mastocytosis patients. Int Arch Allergy Immunol DOI: 10.1159/000063858. (c) Monographs: Matthews DE, Farewell VT: Using and Understanding Medical Statistics, ed 3, revised. Basel, Karger, 1996. (d) Edited books: Hone SW, Smith RJH: Understanding inner ear physiology at the molecular level; in Cremers Cor WRJ, Smith RJH (eds): Genetic Hearing Impairment. Adv Otorhinolaryngol. Basel, Karger, 2002, vol 61, pp 1–10. Reference Management Software: Use of EndNote is recommended for easy management and formatting of citations and reference lists. Supplementary Material Multimedia files and other supplementary files, directly relevant but not essential to the conclusions of a paper, enhance the online version of a publication and increase its visibility on the web. These files will undergo editorial review. The Editors reserve the right to limit the scope and length of the supplementary material. Multimedia and supplementary material should meet production quality standards for publication without the need for any modification or editing. Files should not exceed 10 MB in size. Figures and tables need to have titles and legends, and all files should be supplied separately and labeled clearly. All supplementary material should be referred to in the main text. A DOI number will be assigned to supplementary material and it will be hosted online at https://karger.figshare.com under a CC BY license. Authors will be charged a processing fee of CHF 250.00 for supplementary material. Digital Object Identifier (DOI) S. Karger Publishers supports DOIs as unique identifiers for articles. A DOI number will be printed on the title page of each article. DOIs can be useful in the future for identifying and citing articles published online without volume or issue information. More information can be found at www.doi.org Self-Archiving/Green Open Access Karger permits authors to archive their pre-prints (i.e. pre-peer review) or post-prints (i.e. accepted manuscript after peer review but before production) on their personal or their institution's internal website. In addition, authors may post their accepted manuscripts in public Open Access repositories and scientific networks (e.g. ResearchGate or Mendeley) no earlier than 12 months following publication of the final version of their article. For all self-archiving, the posted manuscripts must: • Be used for noncommercial purposes only • Be linked to the final version on www.karger.com • Include the following statement: 'This is the peer-reviewed but unedited manuscript version of the following article: [insert full citation, e.g. Cytogenet Genome Res 2014;142:227–238 (DOI: 10.1159/000361001)]. The final, published version is available at http://www.karger.com/?doi=[insert DOI number].' It is the author's responsibility to fulfill these requirements. For papers published online first with a DOI number only, full citation details must be added as soon as the paper is published in its final version. This is important to ensure that citations can be credited to the article. Manuscripts to be archived in PubMed Central due to funding requirements will be submitted by Karger on the author's behalf [see Funding Organizations (NIH etc.)]. For self-archiving Author's ChoiceTM (Gold Open Access) articles, see Author's ChoiceTM. Author's ChoiceTM Karger's Author's ChoiceTM service broadens the reach of your article and gives all users worldwide free and full access for reading, downloading and printing at www. karger.com. The option is available for a one-time fee of CHF 3,000.00, which is a permissible cost in grant allocation. More information can be found at www.karger. com/authors_choice. The final, published version of the article may be posted at any time and in any repository or on other websites, in accordance with the relevant Creative Commons license. Reposted Open Access articles must: • Follow the terms of the relevant Creative Commons license • Be linked to the final version on www.karger.com • Include the following statement: 'The final, published version of this article is available at http://www.karger.com/?doi=[insert DOI number].' It is the author's responsibility to fulfill these requirements. For papers published online first with a DOI number only, full citation details must be added as soon as the paper is published in its final version. This is important to ensure that citations can be credited to the article. Guidelines for Authors KI11274 G. Schatz (Basel) A Matter of Wonder What Biology Reveals about Us, Our World, and Our Dreams Translated by A. Shields XII + 190 p., 2 color fig., hard cover, 2011 CHF 29.00 / EUR 27.00 / USD 29.00 ISBN 978–3–8055–9744–9 More information and sample essays at www.karger.com/schatz S. Karger AG, P.O. Box CH–4009 Basel (Switzerland) Fax +41 61 306 12 34 E-Mail email@example.com www.karger.com A M AT T E R O F W O N D E R WHAT BIOLOGY REVEALS ABOUT US, OUR WORLD, AND OUR DREAMS G O T T F R I E D S C H AT Z 'A col lec t ion of extraordinary essays' G O T T F R I E D S C H AT Z


Introduction: Self-medication is defined as the individuals who used to treat self-recognized symptoms or illnesses using and selecting traditional, herbal medicine products. Self-medication permits the consumer or patient to take an active role. However, it is not a completely safe health character, particularly in the irresponsible or unreliable practice cases. Incorrect self-diagnosis, adverse reactions, masking of severe disease, incorrect dosage, and incorrect choice of therapy, drug interactions, dependence, and abuse are the potential risks of self-medication. Objective: The objective of the study was to determine the prevalence of self-medication in urban population and to identify any factors contributing to self-medication in relation to assess the attitude, perception, and knowledge of consumers toward self-medication. Materials and Methods: Our study was a cross-sectional survey which was conducted over 12 weeks from the month February to May in Jeddah city, K.S.A. Self-administered, validated questionnaire was used to collect the data and questionnaire was designed by reviewing the available research literature. It was designed in the English and Arabic language. Results: A total of 1036 peoples participated in the survey. Most responders were female (59.26%) and the males were 40.73%, the participants were predominantly in the age group of 25–40 years which were 38.41%. About 94.11% of participants are answered in Arabic and 5.88% were answered in English language. The most common medications consumed without prescriptions were painkillers (93.05%). The reasons for self-medications were health problems which were not serious (67.18%). Conclusion: In the study of rational drug use, assessment of self-medication is most important element. The observation of this research should form the basis for future interventional plans to increase benefits and decrease risks. In Saudi Arabia, community pharmacies have the potential to make a great impact in ensuring medicines which are properly utilized.


We propose a flat-slab subduction model for Mesozoic South China based on both new sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe (SHRIMP) U-Pb zircon data and a synthesis of existing structural, geochronological, and sedimentary facies results. This model not only explains the development of a broad (∼1300-km-wide) intracontinental orogen that migrated from the coastal region into the continental interior between ca. 250 Ma and 190 Ma, but can also account for the puzzling chain of events that followed: the formation of a shallow-marine basin in the wake of the migrating foreland fold-and-thrust belt, and the development of one of the world's largest Basin and Range–style magmatic provinces after the orogeny. The South China record may serve as an example of the multiple effects of flat-slab subduction, including migrating orogenesis and foreland flexure, synorogenic sagging behind the active orogen, postdelamination lithospheric rebound, and the development of a Basin and Range–style broad magmatic province.


Purpose
Artificial intelligence (AI) and automation are currently changing human life with a great implication in the communication field. This research focusses on understanding the current and growing impact of AI and automation in the role of communication professionals to identify what skills and training are needed to face its impacts leading to a recommendation.

Design/methodology/approach
The research involves methodological triangulation, analysing and comparing data gathered from consulting with experts using the Delphi method, focus group with communication students, and literature review.

Findings
Findings show that the likely impacts are on the one hand the enhancing of efficiency and productivity, as well as freeing communication professionals to focus on the creative side, strategy and analytical thinking, on the other hand, repetitive and low-level jobs could be lost, being higher position jobs or those involving creativity and decision making harder to automate. Two types of training are needed: to gather experience with the current AI and automated tools, and to focus on developing human qualities that AI cannot replicate.

Originality/value
The outcomes of this research are valuable to help current and future communication practitioners, as well as organisations, to be one step ahead and survive the age AI and automation, being aware of its current and near-future impacts. The paper offers a list of recommended soft and technical skills, as well as training needed, categorizing them in low, medium and high priority.


Max Weber was one of the prominant social figures in this history of the social sciences for he made significant contributions to the development of anthropology, sociology and social theory as a whole. Weber's aim was explicit: he wanted to develop a 'scientific study of man and society:' he sought not only to delineate the scope of the discipline but also wanted to construct a clear-cut methodology whereby data could be rigorously studied in accordance with the testable procedures of science. This paper discusses the influence of the German idealist tradition upon Max Weber. Specifically, this study critically examines Weberion thought in terms of illustrating how he combined the Germanic emphasis on the search for subjective meanings with the positivist notion of scientific rigor, and in so doing was able to bridge the. dichotomy between the idealist and positivist traditions.


The Internet has changed our way of life, the way we communicate with each other and the way we do business. It is a world-wide broadcasting capability, a mechanism for information and interaction between individuals without regard to geographical distances. However it is no denying a fact that the majority of languages used on the Internet are non-English. Keeping in view these facts it was obvious that non-English speakers would access their local sites and would communicate via email using their own local scripts. Efforts in this regard have already been made in Chinese, Japanese and Korean (CJK), in Arabic and in other languages. Languages on the Internet should be treated equally, and non-English speakers deserve to utilize their own languages to take full advantage of the Internet in their own way with the freedom of the language identity, written traditions and written scripts. The Arabic language and other languages that use Arabic script, like Pakistani national language Urdu and regional language Sindhi, are among them. This paper explores the current issues in Arabic Top Level Domains (TLDs) and proposes a solution, which not only resolves these issues for the Arabic language but also introduces Urdu and Sindhi TLDs.


The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued licenses on September 27, 1989 for construction of 16 hydroelectric projects in the Upper Ohio River Basin after up to 8 years of preparatory effort by applicants and the commission. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USF&WS) and several other environmental agencies and groups attempted to prevent issue of the licenses and have subsequently appealed the licenses in court. The projects have a total capacity of 358 megawatts (MW) with a value of annual power output of $100 to $125 million and a development cost in the range of $1 billion. The ongoing conflict places the projects at risk for development. The current status of this confused regulatory atmosphere is examined. Changes in regulations and procedures are needed and are proposed. Possible means of achieving such changes are discussed.


Abstract The purpose of the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS) is to investigate, in a range of countries, the ways in which young people are prepared and consequently ready and able to undertake their roles as citizens. In pursuit of this purpose, the study will report on student achievement, student activities, value beliefs, behavioural intentions and attitudes related to civic and citizenship education. The collection of contextual data will help to explain variation in these outcome variables. This paper describes how the learning context for civic education is explored in the ICCS survey. It outlines the conceptual framework, the design of the study and the assessment instruments for students, teachers and school principals, as well as a national context survey collecting data on the national contexts for civic and citizenship education. Some preliminary results from the first data collections undertaken in this study are included at the end of this paper.


Although the Bible remains an acknowledged source of influence on Western literature, the Anglo-Catholic poet Christina Rossetti incorporates the divine Word with particular prominence. Throughout this prolific Victorian poet's writing, scriptural imagery is often overt rather than covert, and Rossetti seems content to be shaped by a ready-made and authoritative language rather than respond actively to it--an impression that has made many of her modern critics react ambivalently to her religious works. Indeed, critical reactions to Scripture's intertextuality in Rossetti's ceuvre have waxed and waned in favor according to the cultural tides of the time. Although her fervent religiosity was perceived as a mark of literary distinction by her nineteenth-century contemporaries, feminist criticism over the past several decades has rewritten the scriptural influence on Rossetti as signifying something else--anything else, that is, besides the powerful hold it had on her imagination. (1) Beginning with Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar's vision of Rossetti as a poet who practiced an "aesthetic of renunciation" (558), Rossetti scholarship has either rejected the devotional aspects of her writing or examined them as a way to "recover" Rossetti's religion by framing it within a more palatable paradigm of power and subversion. (2) Rossetti critics frequently lament her reputation as a religious poet and urge us to look beyond her convictions for richer readings. As one writer puts it, "While it is possible to impose orthodox religious readings on most of [Rossetti's] poems, such a practice smothers undercurrents of doubt and hopelessness which broaden her work and place it in the intellectual company of the major Victorian poets" (Sullivan 237). The use of the word "smother" is perhaps just as revealing as the inverse relation implied between orthodox religion and intellect; indeed, the verb pinpoints the prevalent perception of Rossetti's faith (she was repressed by her religious convictions) and also indicates the kind of suppression to which some critics have subjected Rossetti's more pointedly religious texts. Ironically, the initiative to "open up" Rossetti's works has locked her into the position of someone who must be recuperated from her faith. Recent Rossetti scholarship has begun to emphasize rather than elide the devotional aspect, granting critical space in which Rossetti, as Diane D'Amico puts it, can be "a woman poet of faith" and not a writer whose faith is a sublimation for something else (9). Beginning in 1994 with Linda Peterson's "Restoring the Book: The Typological Hermeneutics of the PRB," there has been renewed interest in Rossetti's engagement with Christian thought, especially in how she can be a part of the community of women who are "active readers of, and writers about, the sacred scriptures" (212). Moreover, the often-neglected part of Rossetti's literary corpus, her devotional prose, is receiving fresh attention. Critical studies such as Lynda Palazzo's "The Poet and the Bible: Christina Rossetti's Feminist Hermeneutics" and Christina Rossetti's Feminist Theology explore her role as a female interpreter of Scripture; in addition, David A. Kent and P. G. Stanwood's introduction to Selected Prose of Christina Rossetti gives prominent place to her devotional prose. Palazzo establishes Rossetti as a reader of the Bible and writes, "It is not [...] her courage we need to admire [...] but the razor[-]sharp intellect and vision that identified in contemporary theological developments the potential for feminine and feminist theology" ("The Poet" 6). Although Palazzo's book is valuable for acknowledging Rossetti's active engagement with Scripture, her insistence on constructing the writer solely as a feminist reader seems to set unnecessary boundaries between Rossetti's prose and poetry. (3) Likewise, Kent and Stanwood's otherwise instructive introduction limits the connection between the two genres to only her religious poetry. …


This paper discusses the concept of uncanny in connection to a renowned French art film Cache (Hidden, Michael Haneke 2005). The aim of the study is to analyse how the film narrates an uncanny feeling of uncertainty about reality. The uncanny sensation in the film 10 emanates from a storyline that tells about an upper-middle-class family living in Paris who receives amateur surveillance footage of their everyday life doings in the mailbox. The experience of being filmed without noticing soon becomes frightening, and the husband in the family starts questioning what is real and not in his own life history. The quest for an answer to whom is filming and why focuses the story on an unresolved childhood trauma. The trauma also forms the basis for a discussion of postcolonial otherness in the midst of the former French colonial power. And it is in the unequal relationships steeped in the colonial/postcolonial history that we will find the key to the characters' uncanny experiences.


Abstract. SO2 variability over a large concentration range and interferences from other gases have been major limitations in industrial SO2 emission monitoring. This study demonstrates accurate industrial SO2 emission monitoring through a portable multichannel gas analyzer with an optimized retrieval algorithm. The proposed analyzer features a large dynamic measurement range and correction of interferences from other coexisting infrared absorbers such as NO, CO, CO2, NO2, CH4, HC, N2O, and H2O. The multichannel gas analyzer measures 11 different wavelength channels simultaneously to correct several major problems of an infrared gas analyzer including system drift, conflict of sensitivity, interferences among different infrared absorbers, and limitation of measurement range. The optimized algorithm uses a third polynomial instead of a constant factor to quantify gas-to-gas interference. Measurement results show good performance in the linear and nonlinear ranges, thereby solving the problem that the conventional interference correction is restricted by the linearity of the intended and interfering channels. The results imply that the measurement range of the developed multichannel analyzer can be extended to the nonlinear absorption region. The measurement range and accuracy are evaluated through experimental laboratory calibration. Excellent agreement was achieved, with a Pearson correlation coefficient (r2) of 0.99977 with a measurement range from approximately 5 to 10 000 ppmv and a measurement error of less than 2 %. The instrument was also deployed for field measurement. Emissions from three different factories were measured. The emissions of these factories have been characterized by different coexisting infrared absorbers, covering a wide range of concentration levels. We compared our measurements with commercial SO2 analyzers. Overall, good agreement was achieved.


We demonstrate the generation of a nondiffracting double helical beam using axicons and ±1 vortex phase plates in a common-path interferometric system. Using linear diffraction theory, a simple analytical expression describing beam propagation is shown to agree with both experiments and Fresnel-diffraction-based simulations. Experiments are performed using continuous laser light in addition to ultrafast pulses, demonstrating that the common-path arrangement and the diffraction theory work equally well for both cases.