This study examined the broad nature of patterns and trends in the hullB.ll resource
management practices and organizational change in SMEs in Malaysia, by
focusing on how organizational characteristics, such as, size, union status and
corporate ideology, influence the use of those practices.The data were obtained from a survey involving 219 small and medium-sized
enterprises (SMEs). It is often argued that larger and older organizations have the
strengths to perform better and that they have resources to implement most
strategies. The discussions will clarify some geneml assumptions made on SMEs
management practices.
The analysis of the data revealed that most of the SMEs were in the manufacturing
sector/industry. A majority of them were non-unionized.
The findings of this study were divided into three sections. The first section
discussed the analysis of human resource management (HRM) practices adopted
by the SMEs. The second section touched on the analysis of organizational change
implemented by SMEs and finally, the last section present the statistical analysis
on the hypotheses testing to analyzed two models.
The first model, consisted of a group of three hypotheses, is to examine the
relationship between the HRM practices and the firm's characteristics. The
second model, also consisted of a group of three hypotheses, is to examine the
relationship between the implementation of organizational change practices and
the firm's characteristics.Overall results suggest a high level of adoption of HRM practices. However, quite
a number of SMEs did not hire personnellHRM specialists. Those who have hired
the specialists were the larger firms.
Eighty three percent of the respondents had altered their practices to achieve their
goals. More changes had taken place in the past three years than in the last five
years. This would indicate that there is significant degree of change being
undertaken. The congruity of implementation levels of change in work practices
across each firm size category has indicated that there is a need for flexible work
patterns in the Malaysian SMEs. The analysis showed that SMEs of all
categories implemented changes which include, for example, 'Improved in labor
productivity', 'Increased competitiveness' and 'Employing new plant, equipment
of technology' .
It was also found that the SMEs were market-driven and competitive. The results
revealed that workforce reduction was not commonly practiced.
There was sufficient statistical evidence to support the first model. It was found
that there is existence of some relationships between HRM and the firm's
characteristics. Progressive Decision-Making Ideology (pDM), as one of the
firm's characteristics, was found to be the most important determinant in the
adoption of HRM practices. Firm size, as the second firm characteristic, was
found to be positively related to the adoption of HRM practices but as a less
important determinant.Union status, the third and last firm characteristic, was found to be negatively
related, and was the least important in influencing the adoption of HRM practices
in the SMEs.
The second model, that is, to examine the relationship between implementation of
organizational change practices and the firm's characteristics, which include,
PDM, firm size and union status, was not supported statistically.


There have been a number of proposals in policy circles that involve raising the Social Security retirement age. This is viewed as both a way to reduce or eliminate the projected shortfall in the program and also a response to projected increases in longevity. This paper examines the impact of an increase in the retirement age on various demographic groups. Treating future Social Security benefits as a form of wealth, it projects the impact of a gradual increase in the normal retirement age from 67 to 70 (2 months a year for 18 years) on each quintile of the wealth distribution using data from the Federal Reserve Board's 2007 Survey of Consumer Finances. It constructs separate projections for homeowners and non-homeowners, single individuals and couples in the age cohorts 35-44, 45-54, and 55-64. The projections show that Social Security wealth is a far larger share of the wealth of the bottom four quintiles in each of these categories, therefore a reduction in Social Security benefits will have the effect of increasing inequality.


Next generation of smart tires will improve the safety and stability of the vehicle by monitoring road parameters, such as pavement and rolling conditions, with sensors placed on tire surface. Between the tread and the metal belt of the tire there are only few millimeters of rubber, therefore high miniaturization is necessary to withstand at the extremely high accelerations and to fit in this very limited room. Such kind of miniaturization poses huge limitations on antenna efficiency and available power likely provided by energy scavengers. Therefore, the optimization of the wireless power budget is crucial and it passes through the study of the communication channel. This paper presents a characterization setup that measures the path-loss from the tire surface to the inside of the car where the standard RF receivers, such as RKE at 434 MHz and Bluetooth at 2.4 GHz, are usually located. A calibration procedure has been employed in order to de-embed car-body-effects from the overall path-loss. Moreover, a 4.1 GHz UWB radio has also been considered in this study motivated by the extremely low-power consumption reached by UWB transmitters. The measurement results reflect a complex propagation environment where the car body attenuation plays a marginal role. Instead, the antenna pattern and the reflections from the environment cause the largest attenuation. Moreover, the observed link budget margin is larger and more suitable for implementation within the ISM bands than for the UWB band.


This paper addresses reading culture, benefits and the role of libraries in the 21 century. The paper x-rays the World Book Day as a day for celebration of reading around the world. Reading exposes one to solutions to problems. The role of library cannot be over emphasized when it comes to promotion of reading culture as it offers diverse services to users of information. Some of the role of libraries in promoting reading culture include to promote literacy, offering depth and breadth of resources, secondary school students' participation in library week among others. It was concluded that people read for different reasons aside education, this among others include self-improvement, pleasure, and relaxation. People should Read a Book a Day and Share A Story for at least 10 minutes. However, reading culture should be included in library collections, readership campaigns, reading clubs and World Book Day Activities.


The overall aim of this master thesis was to get an overview on how milk and dairy consumption affect development of the metabolic syndrome, and from this review to formulate a milk product with potentially beneficial effects. A cluster of metabolic abnormalities such as insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes, hypertension, obesity and dyslipidaemia are known as the metabolic syndrome. Epidemiological studies performed to investigate the relation between milk and dairy intake and the metabolic syndrome, suggests that low-fat milk and dairy intake have a positive effect in the prevention of the disease. Many dairy components might contribute to this effect. There are promising effects seen by whey amino acids on the glucose and insulin control, but the long-term effects are warranted. Low-fat milk and dairy as part of a diet rich in fruits and vegetables have the most blood pressure reducing effect. This beneficial effect is in part believed to be due to the calcium content of milk and dairy products. In addition, it is also hypothesised that calcium plays an important roll in weight management. However, the evidence up to date is contradictorily. Weight control, on the other hand, can be improved by affecting satiety. Acute intervention studies show that whey, in particular, alfa-lactalbumin, is more satiating than other proteins, resulting in a lower energy intake in a subsequent meal. It is of interest to the dairy industry to provide milk and dairy consumers with milk products that have beneficial effects on wellness and health. Therefore, based on the literatured reviewed on milk and dairy intake and the metabolic syndrome, a milk product with beneficial effects on weight was formulated and developed.


During the height of the memorialization movement in the United States, varying groups of women, northern, southern, white and black, used the memory of the Civil War to achieve their social, economic and political goals. Southern sympathizing white women and African American women in Missouri took part in this process. Historians have paid close attention to the memorialization movement in the United States, but few have focused on the events and experiences that led to the participation of these women in this contest over memory. This dissertation explores the memorial work of Missouri women from its roots in the Civil War through the height of the memorial movement in the late nineteenth century. The damage and loss brought on by the Civil War and the consequent process of rebuilding their lives culminated in the memorialization efforts of black and white women although through differing methods for their work. Southern sympathizing white women worked through organizations such as the United Daughters of the Confederacy and African American women filed claims to the Federal Government for their men's Civil War pension. Divided by slavery in the antebellum period and by the post war persistence of racial hierarchies, this close examination of the memorial work of forty Missouri women, twenty southern sympathizing women and twenty African American women, explores the ways in which their gendered experiences as mothers, wives and daughters arguably united them.


Upconversion laser emission has been achieved in BaY2F8:Er 5% by pumping of either the ground state or an excited state of the Er3+ ion. The initial excitation step has been identified with precise measurement data of the Stark level structure of the Er3+ ion in this system. Small increments in the pump wavelength can cause the laser to switch from laser operation in the blue to laser operation in the green because of changes in the specific pumping pathway.


Microbial biopesticides include several microorganisms like bacteria, fungi, baculoviruses, and nematode-associated bacteria acting against invertebrate pests in agro-ecosystems. The biopesticide sector is experiencing a significant growth and many discoveries are being developed into new biopesticidal products that are fueling a growing global market offer. Following a few decades of successful use of the entomopathogenic bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis and a few other microbial species, recent academic and industrial efforts have led to the discovery of new microbial species and strains, and of their specific toxins and virulence factors. Many of these have, therefore, been developed into commercial products. Bacterial entomopathogens include several Bacillaceae, Serratia, Pseudomonas, Yersinia, Burkholderia, Chromobacterium, Streptomyces, and Saccharopolyspora species, while fungi comprise different strains of Beauveria bassiana, B. brongniartii, Metarhizium anisopliae, Verticillium, Lecanicillium, Hirsutella, Paecilomyces, and Isaria species. Baculoviruses are species-specific and refer to niche products active against chewing insects, especially Lepidopteran caterpillars. Entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) mainly include species in the genera Heterorhabditis and Steinernema associated with mutualistic symbiotic bacteria belonging to the genera Photorhabdus and Xenorhabdus. An updated representation of the current knowledge on microbial biopesticides and of the availability of active substances that can be used in integrated pest management programs in agro-ecosystems is reported her.


The metaphysical doctrine of the Stoics is a remarkable instance of a theory that appears to be materialism, but is in truth a form of unconscious ideal-realism. It is worth while to give an exposition of it in order to show that this is really the case, and, incidentally, to explain why a materialistic philosophy seems so attractive to many minds. I will refer chiefly to the teaching of the ancient Stoics, i.e. of Zeno, Cleanthes, and Chrysippus, and also to the later doctrine of Posidonius.


Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) and
Deep Learning (DL) revolutionized numerous research fields including robotics,
natural language processing, self-driving cars, healthcare, and others. However, DL is still relatively
under-researched in fields such as physics and engineering. Recent works on
DL-assisted analysis showed emerging interest and enormous potential of CNN
applications. This paper explores the possibility of developing an end-to-end
DL pipeline for the analysis of electrical machines. The CNNs are trained on
conventional finite element method (FEA) data to predict the output torque curves
of electric machines. FEA is only used for dataset collections and CNN
training, whereas the analysis is done solely using CNNs. The required depth in
CNN architecture is studied by comparing a simplistic CNN with three ResNet
architectures. The effects of dataset balancing and data normalization are
studied and torque clipping inspired by offset normalization is proposed to
ease CNN training and improve the prediction accuracy. The relation between
architecture depth and accuracy is identified showing that deeper CNNs improve
the curve shape prediction accuracy even after torque magnitude prediction
accuracy saturates. Over 90% accuracy for analysis conducted under a minute is
reported for CNNs, whereas FEA of comparable accuracy required 200 hours. Predicting
multidimensional outputs can improve CNN performance, which is essential for
multiparameter optimization of electrical machines.


A component is a reusable and replaceable software module accessed through its interface. Component‐based development is expected to shorten the development period, reduce maintenance costs, and improve program reusability and the interoperability of components. This paper proposes a new robot software component platform in order to support the entire process of robot software development. It consists of specifications of a component model, component authoring tool, component composer, and component execution engine. To show its feasibility, this paper presents the analysis results of the component's communication overhead, a comparison with other robotic software platforms, and applications in commercial robots.


Technological advancements in endoscopy design are in current development due to the increased demand for minimally invasive medical procedures. One such advancement is reducing the overall size of the endoscope system while maintaining the resolution and field-of-view (FOV). Reduction of size results in less tissue damage and trauma during operation as well as faster recovery times for patients. Additionally, areas that are inaccessible by today's endoscope designs will be possible to examine. Current endoscopes use either a bundle of optical fibers (optical waveguides) and/or one or more cameras having an array of detectors to capture an image. Thus, the diameter of these devices employed for remote imaging cannot be reduced to smaller than the image size. Even if one ignores additional optical fibers used for illumination of a region of interest, the scope diameter is therefore limited by the individual pixel size of a camera or by the diameter of optical fibers used to acquire the image. Therefore, it is apparent to achieve scopes with less than 3 mm overall diameter using current technologies, resolution and/or FOV must be sacrificed by having fewer pixel elements. All commercially available scopes suffer from this fundamental tradeoff between high image quality and small size. More recently, our research has been working on developing a 2-D electro-optic scanner potentially be implemented for clinical endoscopic imaging application. The proposed optical device has several unique advantages. Electro-optical scanning offers a sensitive, facile, accurate, and superb quality method to capture images of physical and biological tissues. In addition, the minute physical size of the imaging system has a much needed advantage over conventional imaging systems. The proposed design is based on the fact that the propagation direction of a light beam can be changed when the index of refraction of an electro-optic medium is altered by the application of an external electric field. The basic design of the system consists of a thin film electro-optic polymer waveguide with built-in cascaded prisms structure for horizontal beam deflection and an electro-optic grating structure for vertical beam deflection. The cascaded prisms are combined with the electro-optic polymer to create a voltage-controlled horizontal beam deflection. A grating coupler, a structure that is commonly used as light coupling device for dielectric waveguide, is combined with the EO polymer to create the vertical controlled beam deflection. A collimated light beam coupled into the waveguide by a mechanical coupler via an optical fiber cascaded down these two deflection stages. When the beam exits, the emitted light beam is displaced along two orthogonal directions in a raster pattern. A photodetector array integrated in the same substrate captured the reflected intensity. The scanned imaged is then analyzed and reconstruct based on the received signal.


The interplay between resident water ("old water") and infiltrating water ("new water") in porous media was examined through experiments in an idealized, two‐dimensional, glass micromodel. Image analysis was used to quantify the miscible interplay between old and new water during a cycle of imbibition by new water and drainage by air in a domain that was partially saturated with old water. The dynamics of the old–new water exchange were characterized in terms of several parameters: remaining old water, number of old‐water pockets, volumetric fraction, and degree of mixing. In particular, it was found that some old water remained in the system at long times within stable water pockets; these pockets may remain stable even after a second cycle of infiltration.


This paper investigates the task scheduling problem for real-time systems that provide rate of progress guarantees on task execution. A parameterized task system model, called (r, g) task system, is introduced that allows rate of progress requirements to be specified in terms of two simple parameters: an execution rate r and a granularity g. The granularity parameter is a metric that allows the specification of "fine-grain" timing constraints on the task's execution and is a generalization of the stretch metric used in research on task scheduling. It is shown that the product r lg (l/g) is an important determiner of the existence of good online scheduling algorithms. Specifically, there is an upper bound on this product above which there are no good online algorithms but below which an online algorithm with logarithmic competitive ratio exists. This paper also demonstrates a fundamental difference between two contrasting strategies for admission control: greedy vs. nongreedy. It is shown that "greed does not pay": there is a scheduling algorithm with a nongreedy admission policy that provably outperforms the well-known greedy EDF scheduling algorithm.


The increased active participation of individuals in the creation of sexual violence narratives online, as opposed to the previously passive consumption of news stories offline, could prove problematic in ensuring justice is served. Social media allows for circumvention of the criminal justice system in response to its perceived inadequacies. With the 24-hour news cycle, the ease with which media consumers can interact with the story as it breaks online, and the manner in which social media has been used by laypersons and secondary bystanders to target victims or perpetrators before a case ever makes it to court, raises questions about how narrative construction online possibly influences people's beliefs and understandings about sexual violence and the effect this may have for the justice system.


Abstract We propose a three-step procedure to estimate a regime-dependent vector error correction model (VECM). In this model, not only the short-run adjustment process towards equilibrium is non-linear, as in threshold VECM and Markov switching VECM frameworks, but the long-run equilibrium relationship itself can also display threshold-type non-linearity. The proposed approach is unique in explicitly testing the null hypothesis of linear cointegration against the alternative of threshold cointegration based on the Gonzalo and Pitarakis (2006) test. The model is applied to apple price data on wholesale markets in Hamburg and Munich, using the share of domestic apples in total wholesale trade as the threshold variable. We identify four price transmission regimes characterized by different equilibrium relationships and short-run adjustment processes. This proposed approach is particularly suitable for capturing irregular seasonal threshold effects in price transmission typical for fresh fruit and vegetables.


Whilst modern avian distributions in Scandinavia are well studied, how past events and processes have shaped modern bird communities in the region remains poorly known. This is mainly due to the fact that work on post-glacial avian assemblages has been done mostly from an archaeological perspective, and on a site-specific basis. Therefore, in order to understand the history of bird species in Scandinavia, there is a clear need to collate data on the past occurrences and abundance of birds within the region. Here we present data on the presence of bird species within 21 Norwegian Medieval (1030–1537 CE) assemblages. Despite climatic fluctuations and the rise of urban centres, our re-examination and compilation of bird bone assemblages from Medieval Norway found no evidence to suggest that the Medieval bird fauna differed from the modern one. The most common birds in Medieval assemblages are Galliformes. In urban sites these are mostly domestic fowl, whereas on rural sites wild species are dominant. Our data indicates an introduction of domestic fowl in the early Medieval period and a slightly delayed introduction of domestic geese, with both species becoming more abundant during the mid to late Medieval period. This appears to be later than other Scandinavian countries. Interestingly, species that are now ubiquitous in urban areas, such as pigeons, corvids and gulls are mostly absent from Medieval urban centres. In addition, we found a bias towards the use of female Accipiter gentilis in falconry, while Falco species may have been exported. This is the first time that data on past avian occurrences for any period are reviewed and collated for Norway. In addition, our work highlights the importance of birds and bird exploitation in Medieval Norway.


The researchers explored the possibility that patients would go beyond simple ranking and could give weight to previously validated and reliable patient satisfaction factors, while also describing their online habits related to the patient experience and health seeking information in order to inform medical providers on what patients say matters most when evaluating satisfaction with their provider. One thousand one hundred and sixty-four adults completed a 13item webbased quantitative survey, developed by public health researchers, to weight patient satisfaction factors and describe online health seeking habits of patients across the United States. Proportional weights for each of the patient satisfaction factors were calculated for surgical and non-surgical providers based on participants' allocation of 100 points. Weighted factors revealed that not all factors are weighted evenly and some matter more than others. For both non-surgical and surgical providers, thoroughness of the exam and a provider's ability to answer questions ranked among the top factors. Bivariate analyses found statistically significant differences in proportional weights by gender, age, and writing/seeking provider information online. Patients weight some patient satisfaction factors as more important than others and some are more likely to post online than others. Physicians will be required to act and react quickly to address online patient sentiment and to pay special attention to what patients weigh as the most important. This study is a first step to utilize previously validated and reliable factors to help weight the factors in light of online health seeking and rating behavior.


China's three-decade infrastructure investment boom shows few signs of abating. Is China's economic growth a consequence of its purposeful investment? Is China a prodigy in delivering infrastructure from which rich democracies could learn? The prevalent view in economics literature and policies derived from it is that a high level of infrastructure investment is a precursor to economic growth. China is especially held up as a model to emulate. Politicians in rich democracies display awe and envy of the scale of infrastructure Chinese leaders are able to build. Based on the largest dataset of its kind, this paper punctures the twin myths that (i) infrastructure creates economic value, and that (ii) China has a distinct advantage in its delivery. Far from being an engine of economic growth, the typical infrastructure investment fails to deliver a positive risk-adjusted return. Moreover, China's track record in delivering infrastructure is no better than that of rich democracies. Investing in unproductive projects results initially in a boom, as long as construction is ongoing, followed by a bust, when forecasted benefits fail to materialize and projects therefore become a drag on the economy. Where investments are debt-financed, overinvesting in unproductive projects results in the build-up of debt, monetary expansion, instability in financial markets, and economic fragility, exactly as we see in China today. We conclude that poorly managed infrastructure investments are a main explanation of surfacing economic and financial problems in China. We predict that, unless China shifts to a lower level of higher-quality infrastructure investments, the country is headed for an infrastructure-led national financial and economic crisis, which is likely also to be a crisis for the international economy. China's infrastructure investment model is not one to follow for other countries but one to avoid.


`Every Woman a Mother': Radical Intellectuals, Sex Reform and the `Woman Question' in Australia, 1890-1918 ...every man is a boy and every woman is a mother. Dowell O'Reilly, 25 April 1915(1) Something that smacks of revolt, of promised freedom, of the coming age of a different law, slips easily into this discourse on sexual oppression. Some of the ancient functions of prophecy are reactivated therein. Tomorrow sex will be good again. Michel Foucault 1976(2) The role of sexuality in Australian public discourse has been a prominent theme in the large body of historical writing that has emerged in recent years on the period around the turn of the century, the era of the `debutante nation'.(3) The foundational texts on this period, such as Vance Palmer's The Legend of the Nineties and Russel Ward's The Australian Legend, both published in the 1950s, focussed on the nation-building activities of men, whose status as sexual subjects was generally implied rather than explored.(4) Sexual relations between white men and Aboriginal women, for example, were not a prominent theme of Ward's influential study, despite his focus on the `frontier'. These interpretations have been challenged in recent years by feminist historians preoccupied with debates in the women's movement over sexuality, and the challenges that feminists posed to a `masculinist' national culture that privileged male sexual prerogatives.(5) The purpose of this article is to explore the responses of a small number of male and female radicals to some of the ideas associated with the mainstream Australian women's movement in the period 1890-1918. It is not a comprehensive survey but, rather, a set of case studies that seeks to contribute to our understanding of the relationship between the women's movement and other versions of political radicalism, especially the intersections of feminism, socialism and the broader impulse towards sex reform. Most of the activists and intellectuals I discuss in this paper-both male and female-would have identified themselves as socialists and freethinkers, and all had contact with the labour movement. They mainly knew one another and were familiar with each other's ideas. We are consequently dealing with a kind of `circle' here, whose members regarded themselves as belonging to an unconventional, progressive and modernising cultural elite. Sexual radicalism will emerge in this survey as a minority tradition in the history of Australian socialism,(6) which is nevertheless integral to an understanding of the history of the movement. Recent work by Joy Damousi on women socialists in Australia and by Carole Ferrier on the communist author Jean Devanny suggests that the dynamics of Australian socialism will only become comprehensible to the extent that historians are prepared to search for the voices of suppressed and marginalised individuals and groups.(7) Historians, moreover, need to give closer attention to the discourses that socialists shared with other political groups, and of the ways in which they adapted popular discourses-such as the idea of racial decline-to their own purposes. There have been many attempts to conceptualise the differences between masculinist and feminist understandings of citizenship. Marilyn Lake has argued that it was a commitment to the independence of mothers, their desire to end the despotic power of husbands, that brought feminists into direct conflict with liberal and labour men who wanted to secure, not just the male citizen's industrial rights, but also his conjugal rights to women's domestic and sexual services.(8) Yet three of the radical men on whom I focus in this paper, Bernard O'Dowd, Dowell O'Reilly and Tom Taylor, would all have been regarded as progressive on the `woman question' during the heyday of the suffrage movement in Australia. O'Reilly, for example, was a friend of Rose Scott and a prominent advocate of women's suffrage, who introduced a successful motion supporting the principle into the New South Wales parliament in 1894. …


My South Seas Sleeping Beauty is a captivating coming-of-age tale set in the magical jungles of Borneo. Told through the vivid recollections of a Chinese-Malay youth, the novel recounts the life of Su Qi, a troubled, sensitive son of a wealthy family, and exemplifies the imaginative range of one of Taiwan's most innovative writers. "There were all sorts of stories about how my younger sister died," Su Qi begins, hinting at the power of memory to bend and refract truth. Yet whichever the real story may be, the fact is that the death of Su Qi's sister created an irrevocable rift in Su Qi's family, driving his father into the arms of aboriginal women and his mother into a world of her own invention. In an effort to escape the oppression of home, Su Qi loses himself in the surrounding jungle, full of Communist guerillas and strange tropical fauna. The jungle further blurs the line between fantasy and reality for Su Qi, until he meets Chunxi, the beautiful, frail daughter of his father's best friend. Chunxi is an oasis of kindness and honesty in an otherwise cruel and evasive world, but after a bizarre accident, Chunxi falls into a deep coma, and Su Qui flees to Taiwan. In college Su Qi meets Keyi, a vivacious siren who helps Su Qi forget not only his violent past but also the colorful tales of his youth. When a family member dies, however, Su Qi is pulled back to the jungles of Borneo where he begins to unravel the secrets of his family's past-a story stranger than any fairy tale-and learns that his cherished dream of awakening his beloved Chunxi may be more than just a fantasy. Influenced by the lyricism of William Faulkner and the magical realism of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, My South Seas Sleeping Beauty is a deeply evocative exploration of sexuality and identity and a masterful reworking of Chinese and Western myth. Valerie Jaffee's careful translation retains all the tone and detail of the original work and provides rare access to a new and exciting generation of Chinese writers born in Southeast Asia.


Cation exchange is one of the most venerable concepts in soil science, yet it needs rethinking. This paper presents an extremely simple conceptual framework for interpreting many observed trends in cation exchange. Takingthe example of Cs-K exchange, the methods of computational molecular mechanics found that Cs-montmorillonite is considerably higher in energy than K-montmorillonite at constant water content, in agreement with inferences from a new thermodynamic cycle representation of cation exchange. Since montmorillonite selects Cs + over K + in real experiments, these results mean that alkali cation-exchange selectivity is controlled by selectivity of the solution phase for the more strongly hydrated cation. Thus the clay does not "select" for Cs + over K + in any positive sense and it may be more useful to consider cation exchange as a partitioning reaction: Given two cations of equal valence, the more weakly hydrated will tend to partition into the "subaqueous" smectite interlayer phase. This concept seems not only parsimonious, but also more accurate than other hypotheses for cation exchange selectivity that impute more favorable interactions between smectite surfaces and the selected cations; such theories err by ignoring energy changes in the solution phase. This simple partitioning concept rationally explains the alkali and alkaline earth selectivity sequences as well as the selectivities of smectites for organic cations over inorganic, for larger organic cations over smaller, and for organometallic complexes over the uncomplexed metal.


Background
Our previous studies have identified a serum-based 4-microRNA (4-miRNA) signature that may help distinguish patients with lung cancer (LC) from non-cancer controls (NCs). Here, we used an extended independent cohort of 398 subjects to further validate the diagnostic ability of this 4-miRNA signature.

Methods
Using quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), expression of the 4-miRNAs was assessed in a total of 398 sera that included 213 LC patients and 185 NCs. A logistic regression model using training-test sets, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis and t-test were used to test the impact of varying expression of these miRNAs on its diagnostic accuracy for LC. The cell proliferation and colony formation affected by these miRNAs, as well as gene ontology (GO) analysis of miRNA target genes were performed.

Results
The levels of the 4-miRNAs were significantly higher in the serum of patients with LCs as compared to NCs. Using a logistic regression prediction model based on training and test sets analysis, we obtained the area under the curve (AUC) of 0.921 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.876-0.966] on the test set with specificity 90.6%, sensitivity 77.9%, accuracy 84.1%, positive predictive value (PPV) 89.8% and negative predictive value (NPV) 79.5%.

Conclusions
We have verified that this serum 4-miRNA signature could provide a promising noninvasive biomarker for the prediction of LC, particularly in patients with indeterminate lung nodules on screening CT scans.


Randomized controlled trials of hepatitis C virus (HCV) therapy with pegylated interferon and ribavirin have demonstrated sustained viral response rates (SVRs) of 54%‐63% (efficacy). Treatment results in clinical practice (effectiveness) may not be equivalent. The goal of this study was to assess the effectiveness of HCV treatment with pegylated interferon and ribavirin in a treatment‐naïve, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)‐negative, United States urban population with many ethnic minority patients. We evaluated 2,370 outpatients for HCV therapy from 2001 to 2006 in the Faculty Practice of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine or the attending‐supervised Montefiore Medical Center Liver Clinic. Care was supervised by one experienced physician under conditions of everyday clinical practice, and appropriate ancillary resources were made available to all patients. Two hundred fifty‐five patients were treated with a mean age of 50 years (60% male, 40% female; 58% Hispanic, 20% African American, 9% Caucasian, 13% other; 68% genotype 1, the remainder genotypes 2 or 3). Patients had at least one liver biopsy. Intention‐to‐treat analysis (ITT) showed SVR in 14% of genotype 1 patients and 37% in genotype 2/3 patients (P < 0.001). SVR was significantly higher in faculty practice (27%) than in clinic patients (15%) by intention‐to‐treat (P = 0.01) but not per‐protocol analysis (46% faculty practice, 34% clinic). 3.3% of 1,656 treatment‐naïve, HIV antibody–negative individuals ultimately achieved SVR. Current hepatitis C therapies may sometimes be unavailable to, inappropriate for, and ineffective in United States urban patients. Treatment with pegylated interferon and ribavirin was less effective in this population than is implied by multinational phase III controlled trials. New strategies are needed to care for such patients. (HEPATOLOGY 2010.)


Prediction of aqueous solubilities or hydration free energies is an extensively studied area in machine learning applications on chemistry since water is the sole solvent in the living system. However, for non-aqueous solutions, few machine learning studies have been undertaken so far despite the fact that the solvation mechanism plays an important role in various chemical reactions. Here, we introduce a novel, machine-learning based quantitative structure-property prediction method which predicts solvation free energies for various organic solute and solvent systems. A novelty of our method involves two separate solvent and solute encoder networks that can quantify structural features of given compounds via word embedding and recurrent layers, with the attention mechanism which extracts important substructures from outputs of recurrent neural networks. As a result, the predictor network calculates solvation free energy of a given mixture using features from encoders. With results obtained from extensive calculations on 2495 solute-solvent mixtures, we demonstrate that our methodology outperforms both ab initio and MD solvation model in terms of estimation error for solvation energy.


alpha-Latrotoxin stimulates three types of [(3)H]gamma-aminobutyric acid and [(14)C]glutamate release from synaptosomes. The Ca(2+)-independent component (i) is insensitive to SNAP-25 cleavage or depletion of vesicle contents by bafilomycin A1 and represents transmitter efflux mediated by alpha-latrotoxin pores. Two other components of release are Ca(2+)-dependent and vesicular but rely on distinct mechanisms. The fast receptor-mediated pathway (ii) involves intracellular Ca(2+) stores and acts upon sucrose-sensitive readily releasable vesicles; this mechanism is insensitive to inhibition of phosphatidylinositol 4-kinase (PI 4-kinase). The delayed pore-dependent exocytotic component (iii) is stimulated by Ca(2+) entering through alpha-latrotoxin pores; it requires PI 4-kinase and occurs mainly from depot vesicles. Lanthanum perturbs alpha-latrotoxin pores and blocks the two pore-mediated components (i, iii) but not the receptor-mediated release (ii). alpha-Latrotoxin mutant (LTX(N4C)) cannot form pores and stimulates only the Ca(2+)-dependent receptor-mediated amino acid exocytosis (ii) (detectable biochemically and electrophysiologically). These findings explain experimental data obtained by different laboratories and implicate the toxin receptors in the regulation of the readily releasable pool of synaptic vesicles. Our results also suggest that, similar to noradrenergic vesicles, amino acid-containing vesicles at some point in their cycle require PI 4-kinase.


In recent years, the global public health community has increasingly recognized the importance of antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) in the fight to improve outcomes, decrease costs, and curb increases in antimicrobial resistance around the world. However, the subject of antifungal stewardship (AFS) has received less attention. While the principles of AMS guidelines likely apply to stewarding of antifungal agents, there are additional considerations unique to AFS and the complex field of fungal infections that require specific recommendations. In this article, we review the literature on AMS best practices and discuss AFS through the lens of the global core elements of AMS. We offer recommendations for best practices in AFS based on a synthesis of this evidence by an interdisciplinary expert panel of members of the Mycoses Study Group Education and Research Consortium. We also discuss research directions in this rapidly evolving field. AFS is an emerging and important component of AMS, yet requires special considerations in certain areas such as expertise, education, interventions to optimize utilization, therapeutic drug monitoring, and data analysis and reporting.


Membrane curvature provides a means to control spatial organization and activity of cells. It is regulated by plenty of peripherally binding membrane proteins, including BAR domain proteins. Two important subfamilies of BAR domain containing proteins are NBAR and FBAR domain proteins. However, the current understanding of BAR domain protein membrane curvature (MC) sensing and generation is insufficient. My thesis intends to contribute to alleviating this situation. We first performed curvature sorting and generation experiments of an NBAR domain protein: endophilin. We found that the endophilin NBAR domain (ENBAR) behaved as a curvature sensor or generator at different concentrations. We studied lateral diffusion of ENBAR and found its diffusion coefficients depending on its membrane density. We developed an analytical model to explain our experimental results. Our theory predicts that the membrane curvature serves as a switch that is modulated by a thermodynamic phase transition. Then we studied the influence of membrane insertion helices on NBAR domain protein MC sensing and membrane dissociation kinetics by comparing ENBAR WT protein with helices deletion mutants. We found that the two helices had essential contributions for the NBAR domain curvature sorting. The WT and mutant membrane dissociation time were positively correlated with their densities on the membrane. Irreversible binding fractions for both variants were observed. These phenomena suggest higher order structure formation of these variants on the membrane. Furthermore, we investigated the autoinhibition mechanism of full length endophilin via its H0 variants and the SH3 domain, by fluorescence experiments. We obtained evidence of the interaction between H0 helix and SH3 domain in solution and determined their binding affinities. These results experimentally support an H0/ SH3 domain mediated autoinhibition mechanism. Finally we explored the regulation of a possible autoinhibition of the tubulation ability of syndapin, an FBAR domain protein. We compared the curvature sensing, generation and initiation abilities of syndapin FBAR, full length and full length with proline rich ligand. We found that the syndapin FBAR curvature initiation ability was larger compared to the full length protein, which was likely due to the differences in their curvature sensing abilities. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Chemistry This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1527 First Advisor Tobias Baumgart


This case study of the Sunrise and Troubadour fields (offshore northwest Australia) concentrates on the impact of primary depositional architecture on reservoir connectivity via a sequence stratigraphic-based, 3D reservoir modelling approach. The marginal marine reservoir is composed of fluvial-dominated and wave-dominated depositional environments. The succession is divided into six sequences and 12 systems tracts. Each systems tract is subdivided into parasequences which form the basic building blocks of the 3D model. The connectivity of sandbodies within each parasequence, systems tract and sequence were calculated when the models were palinspastically restored to a depositional datum. The findings indicate that depositional connectivity trends within a sequence stratigraphic framework are predictable. Connectivity trends can be related directly to depositional and stratigraphic trends and to position in the sequence stratigraphic hierarchy. Therefore, with a good understanding of depositional settings and high resolution sequence stratigraphic subdivision of strata, predictions of depositional connectivity trends at all stratigraphic hierarchical levels can be made. All connectivity trends at sequence and systems tract stratigraphic hierarchical levels remained the same when the area of the model was reduced by a factor of four and the volume of the model was reduced by truncation below the gas–water contact. Hence, the relationships between the stratigraphic trends and the connectivity trends for the thicker stratigraphic units can be said to be scale invariant. Three-dimensional reservoir models currently provide the best means of quantitatively assessing and predicting reservoir connectivity. However, in low fault density settings, initial screening of reservoir connectivity can be made using connectivity indicators calculated from simple parameters derived from well data such as 'Thickness divided by Sand/Shale ratio'.


Surface pressure and fluorescence intensity of pheophytin containing lipid-monolayers are measured simultaneously at the air-water interface. A phase separation into two distinct phases is reported. Phase 1 exists of pheophytin domains whereas phase 2 is a lipid domain containing pheophytin in molar content between 2 % and 15 %, depending on the state of the lipid. The transition of the pheophytin domains is described within a model explaining correctly the observed concentration dependence of the transition pressure n,. The analysis shows that the pheophytin domains are two-dimensional and of limited size (smaller than 1 000 molecules). The domains are stabilized by their environment by steric forces. The change of the interactions during the phase transition is calculated. It amounts to 0.6 X 10-l3 erg per molecule in the bulk of the domain and to 1.2 X 10-13 erg per molecule at the domain wall.


Background: Measurement error in self-reported sugars intake may be obscuring the association between sugars and cancer risk in nutritional epidemiologic studies. Methods: We used 24-hour urinary sucrose and fructose as a predictive biomarker for total sugars, to assess measurement error in self-reported sugars intake. The Nutrition and Physical Activity Assessment Study (NPAAS) is a biomarker study within the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) Observational Study that includes 450 postmenopausal women ages 60 to 91 years. Food Frequency Questionnaires (FFQ), four-day food records (4DFR), and three 24-hour dietary recalls (24HRs) were collected along with sugars and energy dietary biomarkers. Results: Using the biomarker, we found self-reported sugars to be substantially and roughly equally misreported across the FFQ, 4DFR, and 24HR. All instruments were associated with considerable intake- and person-specific bias. Three 24HRs would provide the least attenuated risk estimate for sugars (attenuation factor, AF = 0.57), followed by FFQ (AF = 0.48) and 4DFR (AF = 0.32), in studies of energy-adjusted sugars and disease risk. In calibration models, self-reports explained little variation in true intake (5%–6% for absolute sugars and 7%–18% for sugars density). Adding participants' characteristics somewhat improved the percentage variation explained (16%–18% for absolute sugars and 29%–40% for sugars density). Conclusions: None of the self-report instruments provided a good estimate of sugars intake, although overall 24HRs seemed to perform the best. Impact: Assuming the calibrated sugars biomarker is unbiased, this analysis suggests that measuring the biomarker in a subsample of the study population for calibration purposes may be necessary for obtaining unbiased risk estimates in cancer association studies. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 23(12); 2874–83. ©2014 AACR.


Background Evidence suggests inflammation may be a key mechanism by which psychosocial stress, including loneliness, predisposes to depression. Observational and clinical studies have suggested simvastatin, with its anti-inflammatory properties, may have a potential use in the treatment of depression. Previous experimental medicine trials investigating 7-day use of statins showed conflicting results, with simvastatin displaying a more positive effect on emotional processing compared with atorvastatin. It is possible that statins require longer administration in predisposed individuals before showing the expected positive effects on emotional processing. Aims Here, we aim to test the neuropsychological effects of 28-day simvastatin administration versus placebo, in healthy volunteers at risk for depression owing to loneliness. Method This is a remote experimental medicine study. One hundred participants across the UK will be recruited and randomised to either 28-day 20 mg simvastatin or placebo in a double-blind fashion. Before and after administration, participants will complete an online testing session involving tasks of emotional processing and reward learning, processes related to vulnerability to depression. Working memory will also be assessed and waking salivary cortisol samples will be collected. The primary outcome will be accuracy in identifying emotions in a facial expression recognition task, comparing the two groups across time.


Freedom of the press and access to information regarding the conduct of government are the hallmarks of democracy. In this article the threat to such freedom is discussed in the light of the proposed Protection of Information Bill and against the background of three historical incidents that highlight the danger inherent in impinging upon these freedoms. Two of these date from the 1970s and are known as "Watergate" and "Infogate" in the United States of America and in South Africa, respectively. The third, which highlights the encounter of citizens with an arrogant Lord Charles Somerset, dates from the early days at the Cape. In the present constitutional dispensation in the Republic of South Africa, which is based on the values underlying an open and democratic society, executive conduct which threatens the rights of citizens in this way is to be deprecated. Legislation which encroached upon such rights would not pass muster.


Sea surface temperature (SST) significantly modulates the precipitation and temperature over land, with important consequences on land surface processes such as snowpack. Compared to the impact of remote SST, the effect of nearshore/local SST is less well understood. In this study, the impact of local SST on the mountain snowpack of the U.S. West Coast is investigated using two 6-km regional climate simulations driven by the same lateral boundary conditions but with time-varying versus time-invariant and warmer local SSTs during 2003–15. Results show that local SST warming leads to warmer winter with more precipitation over the mountains. Meanwhile, the removal of SST temporal variability results in reduced temperature variability but increased precipitation variability. As a result, winter snow accumulation decreases by ~200 mm per season in the Cascade Mountains in the north but increases by ~100 mm per season in the Sierra Nevada in the south. Such a dipole response results from the competing effects of precipitation and temperature change at different elevations and are amplified by the enhanced atmospheric river moisture transport. To further delineate the relative contributions of different meteorological factors to the snowpack response, two neural network models were developed to predict the snow behaviors at seasonal and monthly scales. These models reveal the dominant influence of the total amount and the average temperature of precipitation on the snowpack response. These findings highlight the sensitivity of mountain snowpack to local SST in the western United States and underscore the importance of local SST and atmospheric rives to accurate snowpack estimations for water management.


Although the procedure of total knee replacement (TKR) has been improved for the last decades, patients may still face postoperative complications. Specially, causes of complications related to patellar resurfacing, such as osteonecrosis, patellar bone fracture, anterior knee pain and implant failure, are still unclear. Predicting strain state of the patellar bone after TKR by means of numerical modeling may help in understanding and possibly preventing such complications. First TKR model has been already developed within LBO (built in Abaqus/Standard). The model replicates loaded squat movement (Oxford rig). As the model is planned to be applied to the real TKA patients and compared with their real kinematics, squat movement could be problematic to accomplish for these patients. Thus we want also ask them to perform chair rising movement. In the project we propose to extend existing model of squat to "chair rising" movement. First, the student should study existing in vivo studies of chair rising to estimate kinematics during the movement. And then to implement this movement in Abaqus. The aim is to estimate patellar bone strain during this movement.


Abstract In The Music of Time, Anthony Powell examines the tension between the internal reality of memory and the external social world in which the self is defined. The twelve volumes are presented as the fictional memoirs of Nicholas Jenkins; Powell's interest is in depicting voluntary memory and the stories we tell to explain who we are. Since Nick is both character and narrator, two philosophies of time are developed. On the one hand, internalized time is depicted; the memories Nick the narrator records are present simultaneously in his mind, and thus Nick remembers the past in terms of the future. But Nick the character functions in external, sequential time. Representing both internal and external concepts of time demands stylistic innovations; the effort is that the work's style is distinguished by its maintenance of chronology and accommodation of interruptions. Furthermore, since he functions as both narrator and protagonist, Nick must be defined socially. The voices of other characters are heard, and a bridge is thus formed between Nick's internal world, his memories, and an external, objective world; and the pleasure of shared experience, the basic impulse for narration, is reaffirmed. Finally, what makes narrative possible is order, seeing patterns in experience, and it is through the agency of memory that we detect patterns in external reality. Patterns are found to be at once imposed by the mind to order information and revealed in experience. These patterns are found on three levels: in language, plot, and characterization. But that patterns are discernible in experience does not mean that Powell is depicting a deterministic world; his characters seem to act as free agents, and the final cause of any episode in a pattern is indeterminable. Those causes that are discerned are those which fit the future effect. There is thus throughout The Music of Time a dynamic quality to Nick's narration: a stress between the power of the past to determine the future and the power of the future to determine the past; and it is through the depiction of individual memory and the patterns of social life that this tension is realized.


Free-viewpoint television is expected to create a more natural and interactive viewing experience by providing the ability to interactively change the viewpoint to enjoy a 3D scene. To render new virtual viewpoints, free-viewpoint systems rely on view synthesis. However, it is known that most objective metrics fail at predicting perceived quality of synthesized views. Therefore, it is legitimate to question the reliability of commonly used objective metrics to assess the quality of free-viewpoint video (FVV) sequences. In this paper, we analyze the performance of several commonly used objective quality metrics on FVV sequences, which were synthesized from decompressed depth data, using subjective scores as ground truth. Statistical analyses showed that commonly used metrics were not reliable predictors of perceived image quality when different contents and distortions were considered. However, the correlation improved when considering individual conditions, which indicates that the artifacts produced by some view synthesis algorithms might not be correctly handled by current metrics.


Injuries occur as the result of a confluence of factors: environmental, social, biological, economic, and behavioral. To effectively address the burden of injuries, especially in low- and middle-income countries, a focus is needed on developing the human resource capacity for injury prevention. MENTOR-VIP is a global mentoring program that the authors developed with this need in mind. MENTOR-VIP approaches developing human resources in injury prevention by providing mentoring opportunities for junior professionals involved in its practice, research, and/or programs. MENTOR-VIP entails a 12-month working relationship between junior injury prevention practitioners (mentees) and more experienced individuals in the field (mentors). Its general objective is to improve global human resource capacity to effectively prevent and control injury and violence through the enhanced development of relevant skills. The program is currently in its pilot phase and is nearing the end of its second formal mentoring cycle, which began on September 1, 2008. This article discusses mentoring professionals as a key strategy to developing the human resource component of capacity, and one which complements existing approaches to capacity development. The authors also provide an overview of the rationale, modalities, objectives, and evaluation of MENTOR-VIP. This article highlights the importance of capacity building in the injury prevention field and situates MENTOR-VIP within the larger context of capacity building for global public health.


Context. The nearby, giant radio galaxy M 87 hosts a supermassive black hole (BH) and is well-known for a bright jet dominating the spectrum over ten orders of magnitude in frequency. Due to its proximity, jet prominence, and the large BH mass, M 87 is the best laboratory for investigating the formation, acceleration, and collimation of relativistic jets. Many kinematic studies have been performed to determine the proper motions in the jet. Despite M 87 providing all proofs of being an active BH, the apparent jet speed remained puzzling, because proper motion measurements between 15 and 43 GHz for the same region of 1–10 mas core distance provided largely discrepant results. This source is a prime object to be studied in exquisite detail with the upcoming Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) observations because it promises to allow a direct view on the jet launching process itself. Aims. We aim to decipher some of the kinematic puzzles in the pc-scale jet with the analysis we present here.Methods. We re-modeled and re-analyzed 31 VLBA observations at 15 GHz obtained within the MOJAVE program. The data span a time range between Jul. 1995 and May 2011. We performed a detailed investigation of the pc-scale jet kinematics on different timescales, the shortest periods between the observations beeing 10 and 80 days, and in different jet modes, making use of VLBA observations. In addition, we studied the jet ridge line behavior as a function of time. Special care was taken to analyze the region close to the 15 GHz core, and the dynamics and distribution of newly emerging jet features in the jet.Results. We find an indication for apparent superluminal motion in the jet. Moreover, we present evidence for acceleration between 0.5 and 10 mas of core separation. The data suggest that the central part of M 87 at 15 GHz seems to be rotating. Jet components and counter-jet components are ejected in different directions under varying angles, explaining the impression of a broad opening angle. In this paper we present evidence for two different operating modes of the jet of M 87. The jet switches between two phases: i) the jet ridge line is at least double or the jet axis is displaced vertically, and ii) an unperturbed phase where the jet ridge line remains almost straight but is smoothly curved and the jet components are aligned along a classical jet axis. The mode change occurs every couple of years. Between the two operating modes, a transition phase is visible.Conclusions. The M 87 jet visible at 15 GHz probes a different physical zone compared to the standard blazar-zone we tend to see in AGN jets. The most likely scenario explaining the observed phenomena is a turbulent mass loading into the jet, most probably due to local, fast reconnection processes driven by turbulence of a tangled magnetic field, which is either generated in the accretion disk or the disk corona. In addition, on large scales, a global magnetic structure is required to channel the turbulent flow into what evolves into a large-scale jet. Large-scale jet instabilities may explain the curved pattern of the observed jet flow.


Black-and-white photography poses unique challenges; without color to guide the eye, contrast, lighting, and composition take on even more importance. Renowned photographer Harold Davis explains these elements and demonstrates the basic rules of black and white photography as well as when and how to break them. He breaks through the complexity of this photographic medium, explores opportunities for black-and-white imagery, and shows how to capitalize on every one. Richly illustrated with the author's own images, this beautiful guide presents the skills needed for great black-and-white photos while encouraging your confidence and creativity. Goes beyond basics to teach photographers how to conquer the challenges posed by black-and-white photography Appeals to professionals and serious amateurs who are interested in exploring creative black-and-white imagery Presents photography fundamentals and shows how black and white requires some of the rules to be bent Encourages creative thinking and confidence Lavishly illustrated with Harold Davis's outstanding monochromatic photos Whether you're a professional just venturing into black and white or a serious amateur, Creative Black & White will both educate and inspire you. Black-and-White Photography Tips from Author Harold Davis Black-and-White Photography Tips Photos by Harold Davis Tips for Seeing in Black and White [PDF]


This report presents data from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey carried
out in 2018 in the Republic of Ireland. This is the sixth time that data of this kind have been collected
from young people across the Republic of Ireland; previous surveys were conducted in 2014, 2010,
2006, 2002 and 1998 (www.nuigalway.ie/hbsc).
HBSC is a cross-sectional research study conducted in collaboration with the World Health
Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe. The HBSC international survey runs on an
academic four year cycle and in 2017/2018 there were 47 participating countries and regions
(see www.hbsc.org). The overall study aims to gain new insight into and increase our understanding of
young people's health and wellbeing, health behaviours and their social context. As well as serving a
monitoring and a knowledge-generating function, one of the key objectives of HBSC has been to
inform policy and practice.
Cross-nationally, HBSC collects information on the key indicators of health behaviour and health
outcomes as well as the context of health for young people. HBSC is a school-based survey with data
collected through self-completion questionnaires administered by teachers in the classroom. The
international HBSC survey instrument is a standard questionnaire developed by the international
research network.
The areas of interest are chosen in collaboration with the WHO and are designed to help assist
developments at a national and international level in relation to youth health. National items relevant
to current issues for children in Ireland are also included in the Irish HBSC survey. The topics
identified for inclusion in this first report from the 2018 Irish survey are similar to those included in
the 2014 national HBSC report. They were identified by the HBSC Advisory Board and are drawn
from key national strategy documents including Healthy Ireland1. These include general health,
smoking, use of alcohol and other substances, food and dietary behaviour, exercise and physical
activity, self-care, injuries, bullying including traditional and cyberbullying, and sexual health
behaviours. New questions in 2018 include those on alcohol availability. Children who had ever
consumed alcohol were asked how they sourced that alcohol and where they consumed it. This report
also includes summary findings from two measures of mental health included for the first time in the
2018 survey. All results are presented by gender, age and social class groups and statistically significant
differences across these groups are highlighted in this report.


This work is part of a new initiative to use machine learning to identify online harassment in social media and comment streams. Online harassment goes under-reported due to the reliance on humans to identify and report harassment, reporting that is further slowed by requirements to fill out forms providing context. In addition, the time for moderators to respond and apply human judgment can take days, but response times in terms of minutes are needed in the online context. Though some of the major social media companies have been doing proprietary work in automating the detection of harassment, there are few tools available for use by the public. In addition, the amount of labeled online harassment data and availability of cross-platform online harassment datasets is limited. We present the methodology used to create a harassment dataset and classifier and the dataset used to help the system learn what harassment looks like.


Films and Dreams-Thorsten Botz-Bornstein 2007 Films and Dreams considers the essential link between films and the world of dreams. To discuss dream theory in the context of film studies means moving from the original, clinical context within which dream theory was originally developed to an environment established by primarily aesthetic concerns. Botz-Bornstein deals with dreams as "selfsufficient" phenomena that are interesting not because of their contents but because of the "dreamtense" through which they deploy their being. A diverse selection of films are examined in this light: Tarkovsky's anti-realism exploring the domain of the improbable between symbolization, representation and alienation; Sokurov's subversive attacks on the modern image ideology; Arthur Schnitzler's shifting of the familiar to the uncanny and Kubrick's avoidance of this structural model in Eyes Wide Shut; and Wong Kar-Wai's dreamlike panorama of parodied capitalism.


Background: Cytochrome P450 2E1 (CYP2E1) is a main enzyme which plays a major role in activating and detoxifying many xenobiotics, carcinogens and drugs. Available studies suggest that CYP2E1 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are involved in the risk of developing certain cancers after exposure to carcinogens. The purpose of the present study was to assess genotype and allele frequencies of polymorphic CYP2E1*5B in the Iranian population. Material and Methods: This study was performed on 200 healthy individuals (female: 100, male: 100) in medical laboratories of Ahvaz during 2011. The CYP2E1 *5B (rs3813867; G-1293C) assessment was carried out using PCR-RFLP method. The data were analyzed with ĸ 2 and hardy-Weinberg Equation statistically methods. Results: The frequency of *1A/*1A (c1/c1), *1A/*5B (c1/c2) and *5B/*5B (c2/c2) genotypes was computed 97, 3 and 0 percent, respectively. The frequency of *1A (c1) and *5B (c2) alleles was computed 98.5 and 1.5 percent, respectively. No statistically significant difference was between two genders (p>0.05). Conclusion: The genotype distribution and allele frequencies of CYP2E1*5B polymorphism were similar to Turkish and some of the European populations. However, there are significant interethnic differences when the Iranian population is compared with the Eastern Asian, American and some of the European populations. The allelic distribution of this polymorphism did not vary with gender.


Two patients with spontaneous aortocaval fistulas are described and compared with 67 cases reported in the English literature. Symptoms may vary widely; however, the presence of an expansile abdominal mass with a continuous bruit is usually diagnostic. The only successful management is prompt repair of the vena caval defect and the aortic aneurysm. A third patient with spontaneous rupture of an abdominal aortic aneurysm into the left renal vein is also described. Only five similar cases could be found in the world literature. Left flank pain, pulsatile abdominal mass, continuous bruit, and hematuria is the usual clinical picture. All of these cases involved an anomalous left retroaortic renal vein and all patients survived the necessary surgical correction. The operation of choice is closure of the defect in the retroaortic left renal vein and repair of the aneurysm.


The unique boundary layer at Mauna Loa Observatory (3396 meters) is examined with a combination of radiosondes launched from the observatory and a novel aerosol profiling technique called CLidar or camera lidar. This boundary layer is influenced by a combination of radiation winds, due to the heating and cooling of the surrounding lava, and off-island winds. Typically an upslope surface wind forms after sunrise as the ground heats up. The reverse occurs after sunset as the ground cools and a temperature inversion, tens of meters thick forms. Aerosol increases for the first 90 to 160 meters and then decreases to free tropospheric levels. The 90 to 160 m aerosol peak indicates the vicinity of the upslope/downslope interface in the air flow. An upper transition is seen in the aerosol gradient at about 600 meters above the observatory (4000 m Above Sea Level). This transition is also seen in radiosonde potential temperature data. The sondes indicate that the air above the nighttime downslope surface region usually has an upslope component. Some of this counter-flowing air can be entrained in the downslope air, possibly influencing the sampling of aerosols and trace gases at the observatory.


Pseudocapacitive materials offer an opportunity to bridge the energy storage gap between supercapacitor and battery technologies. Herein is chronicled the first report of pseudocapacitance in a system devoid of liquid electrolytes, using the cathode material LiTiS2. It is demonstrated that due to extreme crystallite reduction to less than 3 nm, additional charge storage is derived by reducing surface Ti3+ to Ti2+ at higher voltages and more reversibly than traditionally shown. Due to facile diffusion pathways in 3-fold coordinated lithium along the TiS2 surfaces, disordered LiTiS2 can be used as a singular cathode without conductive additives. The result is a system exhibiting nearly 300 mA h g−1 at a rate of C/2 for 1000 cycles. Whereas active materials in liquid cells typically have size limitations before irreversibilities appear, the high pseudocapacitance demonstrated in this report indicates that active materials used in the solid-state could benefit from size reduction. Hopefully, a new avenue of research stems from this work to investigate mixed conductor nano-domains for solid-state battery/capacitor hybrids. The prospect of a solid-state pseudocapacitor unlocks a series of new applications that offer long shelf life, high temperature capabilities, and enhanced safety.


Adolescent athletes can use psychological skills immediately after being taught, but a dearth of empirical evidence exists regarding whether these skills are maintained over time. A 12-week curriculum (i.e., UNIFORM; Gilbert, 2011) was taught to a high school varsity soccer team with three data collection points: pretest, posttest, 4-week follow-up. Use of several skills was significantly greater posttest compared with pretest as measured by the Test of Performance Strategies (Thomas, Murphy, & Hardy, 1999). Follow-up results were also salient. Relaxation, imagery, and self-talk use in practice was significantly greater than pretest at follow-up; relaxation, imagery, goal setting, and self-talk in competition showed similar results. Descriptive statistics and qualitative data triangulate these results. The UNIFORM curriculum enabled the athletes to use the skills more consistently. This study makes a contribution by measuring the skills at follow-up and providing evidence of their continued use four weeks...


The combinatorial synthesis of 2-aminophenoxazin-3-one (APO) in a microfluidic device is reported. Individual microfluidic chips containing metallic zinc, silica-immobilized hydroxylaminobenzene mutase and silica-immobilized soybean peroxidase are connected in series to create a chemo-enzymatic system for synthesis. Zinc catalyzes the initial reduction of nitrobenzene to hydroxylaminobenzene which undergoes a biocatalytic conversion to 2-aminophenol, followed by enzymatic polymerization to APO. Silica-immobilization of enzymes allows the rapid stabilization and integration of the biocatalyst within a microfluidic device with minimal preparation. The system proved suitable for synthesis of a complex natural product (APO) from a simple substrate (nitrobenzene) under continuous flow conditions.


Organizational knowledge is one of the most valuable assets that companies own today. For several decades organizations have been developing strategies to manage knowledge with particular emphasis on tacit knowledge discovery. The particular dynamic that presents the evolution and transfer of ta- cit knowledge is closely tied to the relations between people. For this reason, Social Network Analysis (SNA) can be a powerful tool to support a Knowledge Management (KM) initiative. Despite usefulness recognition of SNA tech- niques within KM processes, there is still remains the initial problem of data collection and representation (problem shared by both initiatives). The aim of this paper is to analyze an ontology network usefulness to obtain the necessary knowledge structure to feed the SNA-KM integration architecture proposed.


Sotalia guianensis is listed as "Data Deficient" by the IUCN and as "Vulnerable" in Colombia. This study aimed to advance understanding of the ecology of this species and its habitats, and to provide information to conservation management in the southern Gulf of Morrosquillo, Colombia. Systematic boat-based surveys were conducted during 395 days in 2002-2006 and 2009-2010, following established routes. Total survey effort was 15,199 km in an area covering ~ 310km². Fine scale habitat use and behavioural modelling, photo-identification and mark-recapture techniques were used to analyze the ecological patterns for this species. The most recent abundance estimate of dolphins using the study area during dry and rainy seasons, varied from 225 (CV = 0.34; 95% CI: 118-426) to 232 (CV = 0.32; 95% CI: 127-246). Annual survival rate is estimated at 0.948 (95% CI = 0.876-0.980). Overall density was 0.74/km². Dolphins were present year-round in the whole study area. Results indicate that they do not use the study area uniformly and that the use of particular zones is related to eco-geographic variables. Dolphins showed a preference for waters greater than 3m in depth with a slightly increased preference for waters about 5m and 15-25m deep. The average group size was nine individuals. Some individuals show long-term high site fidelity to some zones within the study site boundaries. Even though the site fidelity to feeding areas varied individually, all the individuals focused primarily on one specific area. Foraging was among one of the most predominant behaviours observed. The individual movements show that some dolphins use both bay and gulf waters. Dolphins show a range of surface cooperative foraging and feeding strategies. These cooperative behaviours were influenced by zone, group size and prey type. Based on these results an area of special management for the species will be created in Colombia.


Over the past six decades, as private automobiles have become more affordable and more universal among American families, previously uncounted costs for cars have come to the forefront of the modern transportation debate, with some activists calling for an end to cars. This paper identifies five transit criteria that a transportation system must satisfy if it hopes to dethrone the individually owned and operated car as king of the road: (a) a solution to the congestion problem, (b) safety improvements over conventional manually operated cars, (c) lesser impact on the environment, (d) economic feasibility, and (e) comfort and convenience to rival the automobile. Given recent advancements in the field of vehicle autonomy, a potential solution to the car's growing problems has presented itself: an autonomous taxi network (ATN). Drawing from the classic personal rapid transit model as well as Mark Gorton's idea of smart paratransit, two potential designs for an ATN are presented and compared with one another, and the viability of the ATN concept is explored in view of statewide transportation demand in New Jersey. With travel demand as generated by Talal Mufti in 2012, the smart paratransit model emerges as the more economically viable implementation, requiring a fleet size between 1.6 and 2.8 million six-passenger vehicles to meet the state's travel demand in its entirety, at a cost to consumers of $16.30 to $23.50 per person per day.


This Thesis aims to investigate the relationship between the temporal characteristics of the muscular activity of the Eustachian tube and its opening in adults and children so as to achieve a greater understanding of the mechanisms involved in tubal function during the act of swallowing. This should lead ultimately to a greater understanding of the causes of the high occurrence of middle ear effusion in children. This was accomplished by developing a new methodology for evaluating Eustachian tube function and carrying out experiments on adults and preschool children. A comprehensive review of the literature related to the physiology of swallowing, the anatomy, physiology, and dysfunction of the Eustachian tube is presented which reveals that the above areas of research require further investigation. A new technique which measures tympanic membrane displacement was used as an indicator of Eustachian tube muscular activity, together with the more conventional method of sonotubometry which detects Eustachian tube opening, during experiments upon both adults and children. Evidence from the experimental work revealed differences in the muscular activity of the Eustachian tube between adults and children. The adult group had a larger muscular activity compared to a smaller muscular activity for the preschool children. It was also evident that an aquiescent period of 72 milliseconds exists between the muscular activity of the Eustachian tube and its opening. This was found to be the same for the two subject groups. In addition, using sonotubometry, 50 percent of the preschool children's ears tested showed no positive sound pressure change compared to 2.3 percent of adults. This implied the existence of an immature Eustachian tube opening in preschool children compared to adults. An hypothesis was proposed that a combination of muscular activity and nasal over-pressure is responsible for the Eustachian tube opening in adults compared only to muscular activity alone in preschool children. In the adult group 33 percent of the Eustachian tube opening occurred before the muscular activity of the Eustachian tube compared to 8 percent in the preschool children. In conclusion, it appears that these experimental techniques could form the basis of a clinical diagnostic tool for Eustachian tube function.


PURPOSE
To characterize the computed tomographic (CT) findings of acute interstitial pneumonia and to correlate the pattern and the extent of abnormalities with the time between symptom onset and CT.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The study included 36 patients (20 men, 16 women; age range, 22-83 years; mean age, 61 years) with histopathologically proved acute interstitial pneumonia who were identified retrospectively. The time between symptom onset and CT was 2-90 days (mean, 22 days; median, 17 days). The presence, extent, and distribution of various CT findings were evaluated. Disease duration and extent of each finding were compared by using the Spearman rank correlation coefficient.

RESULTS
Areas with ground-glass attenuation, traction bronchiectasis, and architectural distortion were present in all 36 patients. Airspace consolidation was present in 33 patients (92%). The extent of areas of ground-glass attenuation (r = 0.45, P < .01) and the extent of traction bronchiectasis (r = 0.35, P < .05) correlated with disease duration. No other significant correlation was found between the CT findings and disease duration.

CONCLUSION
A combination of ground-glass attenuation, airspace consolidation, traction bronchiectasis, and architectural distortion is seen in the majority of patients with acute interstitial pneumonia. The extent of ground-glass attenuation and traction bronchiectasis increases with disease duration.


Current concepts of invertebrate phylogeny are reviewed. Annelida and Arthropoda, previously regarded as closely related, are now placed in separate clades. Myelin, a sheath of multiple layers of membranes around nerve axons, is found in members of the Annelida, Arthropoda and Chordata. The structure, composition and function of the sheaths in Annelida and Arthropoda are examined and evidence for the separate evolutionary origins of myelin in the three clades is presented. That myelin has arisen independently at least three times, namely in Annelids, Arthropodas and Chordates, provides a remarkable example of convergent evolution.


PURPOSE
Obturator nerve block (ONB) has been performed in surgeries of transurethral resection of bladder tumors (TUR-BT) for the prevention of the development of obturator muscle contraction. Currently, classic and inguinal approaches are frequently being used. In the present study, we aimed to compare the success rate, performance speed, and complication risks of both approaches.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Sixty-six patients who underwent TUR-BT under spinal anesthesia were randomly selected, and ONB was performed on the tumor location side using classic (n = 33) or inguinal (n = 33) approaches. Ten milliliters of 0.25% bupivacaine were administered using a peripheral nerve stimulator in both approaches.Two endpoints were defined in the study: Primary endpoint; the duration of the determination of the obturator nerve and number of interventions when each participant is assessed in at the end of the ONB procedure. Secondary endpoint; development of contractions, and complications each participant is assessed during the TUR-BT and 24 hours after ONB. (Clinical Trial Registration Number: ACTRN12617001050347)Result: General anesthesia was applied to the five patients in the classic ONB group who detected diffuse or bilateral tumors. These patients were excluded from the study. Contractions developed in 4 patients in each group, no statistically significant difference was detected between the groups (14.3%, n = 4 versus 12.1%, n = 4) (P = 1.00). No complications were detected in both groups during the TUR-BT and 24 hours after ONB. We found that the inguinal approach provided a statistically significant advantage regarding the number of punctures (1.9 ± 0.9 versus1.5 ± 0.7) (P = .036), and duration of the procedure (99.1 ± 48.4 seconds versus 76.0 ± 31.9 seconds) (P=.029) compared with the classic approach.

CONCLUSION
Although complications and success rates were similar in both groups, the inguinal method may be abetter approach because it is faster and requires fewer punctures.


Grain yield and stay-green drought adaptation trait are important targets of selection in grain sorghum breeding for broad adaptation to a range of environments. Genomic prediction for these traits may be enhanced by joint multi-trait analysis. The objectives of this study were to assess the capacity of multi-trait models to improve genomic prediction of parental breeding values for grain yield and stay-green in sorghum by using information from correlated auxiliary traits, and to determine the combinations of traits that optimize predictive results in specific scenarios. The dataset included phenotypic performance of 2645 testcross hybrids across 26 environments as well as genomic and pedigree information on their female parental lines. The traits considered were grain yield (GY), stay-green (SG), plant height (PH), and flowering time (FT). We evaluated the improvement in predictive performance of multi-trait G-BLUP models relative to single-trait G-BLUP. The use of a blended kinship matrix exploiting pedigree and genomic information was also explored to optimize multi-trait predictions. Predictive ability for GY increased up to 16% when PH information on the training population was exploited through multi-trait genomic analysis. For SG prediction, full advantage from multi-trait G-BLUP was obtained only when GY information was also available on the predicted lines per se, with predictive ability improvements of up to 19%. Predictive ability, unbiasedness and accuracy of predictions from conventional multi-trait G-BLUP were further optimized by using a combined pedigree-genomic relationship matrix. Results of this study suggest that multi-trait genomic evaluation combining routinely measured traits may be used to improve prediction of crop productivity and drought adaptability in grain sorghum.


Mountain glaciers are a reliable and unequivocal indicator of climate change due to their sensitive response to changes in temperature and precipitation. The importance of mountain glaciers is best reflected in regions with limited precipitation, such as arid and semi-arid central Asia. High concentration of glaciers and meltwater from the Tian Shan contribute considerably to the freshwater resource in Xinjiang (China), Kyrgyzstan and nearby countries. Documenting glacier distribution and research on glacier changes can provide insights and scientific support for water management in central Asia. As the most recent glacial event, the Little Ice Age (LIA, approximately AD 1300–1850) signifies the cold periods prior to the warming trend in the twentieth century. Here we present an overview of topics recently studied on the modern and LIA glaciers in the Tian Shan of the central Asia. With data sets of the Glacier Inventory of China and the presumed LIA glacial extents, we applied statistical models in a case study of the eastern Tian Shan to examine the impact of local topographic and geometric factors on glacier area changes. The findings of glacier size and elevation as key local factors are representative and con sistent with other studies.


Background In a single‐center phase 1–2a study, the anti‐CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T‐cell therapy tisagenlecleucel produced high rates of complete remission and was associated with serious but mainly reversible toxic effects in children and young adults with relapsed or refractory B‐cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Methods We conducted a phase 2, single‐cohort, 25‐center, global study of tisagenlecleucel in pediatric and young adult patients with CD19+ relapsed or refractory B‐cell ALL. The primary end point was the overall remission rate (the rate of complete remission or complete remission with incomplete hematologic recovery) within 3 months. Results For this planned analysis, 75 patients received an infusion of tisagenlecleucel and could be evaluated for efficacy. The overall remission rate within 3 months was 81%, with all patients who had a response to treatment found to be negative for minimal residual disease, as assessed by means of flow cytometry. The rates of event‐free survival and overall survival were 73% (95% confidence interval [CI], 60 to 82) and 90% (95% CI, 81 to 95), respectively, at 6 months and 50% (95% CI, 35 to 64) and 76% (95% CI, 63 to 86) at 12 months. The median duration of remission was not reached. Persistence of tisagenlecleucel in the blood was observed for as long as 20 months. Grade 3 or 4 adverse events that were suspected to be related to tisagenlecleucel occurred in 73% of patients. The cytokine release syndrome occurred in 77% of patients, 48% of whom received tocilizumab. Neurologic events occurred in 40% of patients and were managed with supportive care, and no cerebral edema was reported. Conclusions In this global study of CAR T‐cell therapy, a single infusion of tisagenlecleucel provided durable remission with long‐term persistence in pediatric and young adult patients with relapsed or refractory B‐cell ALL, with transient high‐grade toxic effects. (Funded by Novartis Pharmaceuticals; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT02435849.)


We present a scheme to estimate the direction of arrival of acoustic signals reflected by underwater targets using wideband hydrophone arrays of opportunity. Such arrays may be obtained by arranging together multiple smaller sub-arrays that were originally designed to work independently. The array of opportunity that results may be subject to practical mounting limitations, hence the typical constraint that closest array elements should not be spaced more than one half-wavelength may not be upheld. In these conditions, the array is affected by spatial ambiguity.Our proposed scheme solves this issue by fusing direction-of-arrival information with side information on the estimated target location (obtained via multilateration). This makes it possible to eliminate most of the ambiguity, and yields accurate direction-of-arrival estimates. Our simulation results show that our scheme achieves satisfactory direction of arrival estimation and localization results. Moreover, even by relying on arrays of opportunity, we can outperform classical direction-of-arrival algorithms applied to larger arrays with half-wavelength spacing design.


A wearable electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring device with a customized SoC is reported. The SoC amplifies the ECG signal from passive electrodes and then digitizes and transforms it into wavelet coefficients. A low-power microcontroller (MCU) and a radio frequency (RF) module in the device resolve and send the wavelet coefficients to a mobile platform. The mobile platform uses machine learning algorithms to improve the performance of signal denoising and data compression by exploiting the characteristics of the sensed data, and consequently reduces power consumption in the wearable device. Measurement results show that the device can resolve ECG data from MIT-BIH arrhythmia database and actual ECG signals from human testers. After processing the ECG data with various noise models, the proposed device can improve the signal to noise ratio (SNR) and mean square error (MSE) by 23.8dB and 88.9%, respectively. When resolving actual ECG signals from testers, the typical compression ratio (CR) is 4.8:1 with 1.56% percentage root mean square difference (PRD). The SoC is fabricated in TSMC 0.18μm technology, and consumes 45μw for different applications.


Lam Tin Methodist Primary School Library joined the research project of the University of Hong Kong, "Strengthening students' reading comprehension ability (both Chinese and English) through developing children's literature e-quiz bank on cloud" since the school year 2013-2014. Taking advantage of the availability of cloud services, Information and Communication Technology as well as comprehensive computer facilities of schools, the interactive e-quiz platform successfully run in different primary schools. Over 5,000 students from over 50 schools/libraries from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Mainland China and United States have used this award-bearing gamification equiz platform.
To join Reading Battle, we have to perfect the students' digital learning environment both in school and at home. After introducing Reading Battle at school in 2013, Chrome browsers were installed across all school devices as suggested by the Chief Investigator, Dr. Sam Chu, and his Research Team. Parent Guidelines in both printed and online formats of installing Google Chrome were provided by the teacher-librarian to enable students' accessibility of Reading Battle via the Chrome browser at home. Starting at this point, both teachers and students got used to the Web 2.0 tools in students' school learning and daily lives. Teachers could engage students in different learning activities with a repertoire of digital tools such as Google Classroom, Chromebook apps, and Google Earth. Students were able to use different Google and online tools to collaborate with their peers.
The active users of Reading Battle showed drastic improvements not only in reading ability but also in writing ability. It led to the steady progression in other subject learning. The most impressive findings among all were the positive impact of Reading Battle on the literacy achievement of students with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Not only their reading interest, but also their social skills, and self-images were improved with the child-friendly system.


We study the problem of learning a series of tasks in a fully online Meta-Learning setting. The goal is to exploit similarities among the tasks to incrementally adapt an inner online algorithm in order to incur a low averaged cumulative error over the tasks. We focus on a family of inner algorithms based on a parametrized variant of online Mirror Descent. The inner algorithm is incrementally adapted by an online Mirror Descent meta-algorithm using the corresponding within-task minimum regularized empirical risk as the meta-loss. In order to keep the process fully online, we approximate the meta-subgradients by the online inner algorithm. An upper bound on the approximation error allows us to derive a cumulative error bound for the proposed method. Our analysis can also be converted to the statistical setting by online-to-batch arguments. We instantiate two examples of the framework in which the meta-parameter is either a common bias vector or feature map. Finally, preliminary numerical experiments confirm our theoretical findings.


There is a substantial literature which suggests that appraisals are smoothed and lag the true level of prices. This study combines a qualitative interview survey of the leading fund manager/owners in the UK and their appraisers with a empirical study of the number of appraisals which change each month within the IPD Monthly Index. The paper concentrates on how the appraisal process operates for commercial property performance measurement purposes. The survey interviews suggest that periodic appraisal services are consolidating in fewer firms and, within these major firms, appraisers adopt different approaches to changing appraisals on a period by period basis, with some wanting hard transaction evidence while others act on "softer' signals. The survey also indicates a seasonal effect with greater effort and information being applied to annual and quarterly appraisals than monthly. The analysis of the appraisals within the Investment Property Databank Monthly Index confirms this effect with around 5% more appraisals being moved at each quarter day than the other months. January and August have significantly less appraisal changes than other months.


As federal and state governments seek to address nonpoint source (NPS) water pollution, billions of dollars will be spent to implement conservation practices known to reduce sediment and nutrient runoff. Nonpoint source pollution has proven to be a "wicked" challenge for policymakers, characterized by uncertainty and complex interactions among socioeconomic, hydrologic, and other geodynamic systems along multiple dimensions (Shortle and Horan 2017). A recent summary of research indicates, in fact, that the adoption of conventional NPS conservation practices is not directly linked to measurable pollution reduction in most streams in the Chesapeake Bay watershed (Keisman et al. 2018). A primary reason cited for this disconnect is the temporal dynamic by which water quality improvements are delayed or offset by the ongoing effects of legacy pollutants in soils and groundwater (Keisman et al. 2018). (Legacy pollutants are those that remain in the geosphere decades to centuries after the pollution occurred.)Innovative approaches to NPS pollution reduction may be needed to address these legacy pollutants, and thereby meet goals for improved water quality, such as the Chesapeake Bay total maximum daily load (TMDL). One such approach that has received increasing attention is legacy sediment (LS) mitigation. As shown in the research of Walter…


The purpose of this paper, as part of a MSc graduation project, has been to explore to which extent the kinematic potential of folded geometries can benefit from the structural and architectural properties of glass plates. Using as a case study the covering in an adjustable way an outdoor swimming pool area, the course of this paper consists of form evolution based on structural performance and development of a dual purpose connection and deployment principle developed through experimental testing. Both aspects are examined independently, in parallel processes, and the findings are combined and further evaluated. This study has shown that it is possible to create a self-supporting structure made out of plate elements which is also directionally deployable, without compromising the system's stability and thus provides an important beginning to implementing complex structures that make use of the benefits of glass.