Recently published scenarios for fully non-inductive startup and operation on the National Spherical Torus eXperiment Upgrade (NSTX-U) (Menard et al 2012 Nucl. Fusion 52 083015) show Electron Cyclotron Resonance Heating (ECRH) as an important component in preparing a target plasma for efficient High Harmonic Fast Wave and Neutral Beam heating. The modeling of the propagation and absorption of EC waves in the evolving plasma is required to define the most effective window of operation, and to optimize the launcher geometry for maximal heating and current drive during this window. Here, we extend a previous optimization of O1-mode ECRH on NSTX-U to account for the full time-dependent performance of the ECRH using simulations performed with TRANSP. We find that the evolution of the density profile has a prominent role in the optimization by defining the time window of operation, which in certain cases may be a more important metric to compare launcher performance than the average power absorption. This feature cannot be captured by analysis on static profiles, and should be accounted for when optimizing ECRH on any device that operates near the cutoff density. Additionally, the utility of the electron Bernstein wave (EBW) in driving current and generating closed flux surfaces in the early startup phase has been demonstrated on a number of devices. Using standalone GENRAY simulations, we find that efficient EBW current drive is possible on NSTX-U if the injection angle is shifted below the midplane and aimed towards the top half of the vacuum vessel. However, collisional damping of the EBW is projected to be significant, in some cases accounting for up to 97% of the absorbed EBW power.


Turbulent flow over a rough surface produces sound that radiates outside the near wall region. This noise source is often at a lower level than the noise created by edges and bluff body flows, but for applications with large surface area to perimeter ratios at low Mach number, this noise source can have considerable levels. In the first part of this dissertation, a detailed study is made of the ability of the Glegg & Devenport (2009) scattering theory to predict roughness noise. To this end, comparisons are made with measurements from cuboidal and hemispherical roughness with roughness Reynolds numbers, huτ /ν, ranging from 24 to 197 and roughness height to boundary layer thickness ratios of 5 to 18. Their theory is shown to work very accurately to predict the noise from surfaces with large roughness Reynolds numbers, but for cases with highly inhomogeneous wall pressure fields, differences grow between estimation and measurement. For these surfaces, the absolute levels were underpredicted but the spectral shape of the measurement was correctly determined indicating that the relationship of the radiated noise with the wavenumber wall pressure spectrum and roughness geometry appears to remain relatively unchanged. In the second part of this dissertation, delay and sum beamforming and least-squares analyses were used to examine roughness noise recorded by a 36-sensor linear microphone array. These methods were employed to estimate the variation of source strengths through short fetches of large hemispherical and cuboidal element roughness. The analyses show that the lead rows of the fetches produced the greatest streamwise and spanwise noise radiation. The least-squares analysis confirmed the presence of streamwise and spanwise aligned dipoles emanating from each roughness element as suggested by the LES of Yang & Wang (2011). The least-squares calculated source strengths show that the streamwise aligned dipole is always stronger than that of the spanwise dipole, but the relative magnitude of the difference varies with frequency.


In this paper we present a two-country dynamic general equilibrium model of ex ante unequally developed countries. The model explains a key feature recently observed in transition economies – the long-run trend real exchange rate appreciation – through investments into quality. Our exchange-rate projections bear important policy implications, which we illustrate on the collision between the price and nominal exchange rate criterion for the European Monetary Union in a set of selected transition economies in Central and Eastern Europe. JEL Classification: E58, F15, F43


Reliability and Validity of the PAQ-A Questionnaire to Assess Physical Activity in Spanish Adolescents Background: Questionnaires are feasible instruments to assess physical activity (PA) in large samples. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the reliability and validity of the PAQ-A questionnaire in Spanish adolescents using the measurement of PA by accelerometer as criterion. Methods: In a sample of 82 adolescents, aged 12 to 17 years, 1week PAQ-A test-retest was administered. Reliability was analyzed by the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) and the internal consistency by the Cronbach's α Coefficient. Two hundred thirty-two adolescents, aged 13-17 years, completed the PAQ-A and wore the ActiGraph GT1M accelerometer during 7-days. The PAQ-A was compared against total PA and moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA) obtained by the accelerometer. Results: Test-retest reliability showed ICC = 0.71 for the final score of PAQ-A. Internal consistency was α = 0.65 in the first selfreport, α = 0.67 in the retest in 82 adolescents sample, and α = 0.74 in the 232 adolescents sample. The PAQ-A was moderately correlated with total PA (rho = 0.39) and MVPA (rho= 0.34) assessed by the accelerometer. The PAQ-A obtained significantly moderate correlations in boys but not in girls against the accelerometer. Conclusions: The PAQ-A questionnaire shows an adequate reliability and a reasonable validity for assessing PA in Spanish adolescents.


ABSTRACT A new sound trap for capturing male and female crickets attracted to the calling song of the male is described. Major advantages of the trap are its portability and effectiveness. It was designed to operate in conjunction with a previously described cricket-song generator. The trap is compared with other designs and the acoustic and migratory behaviour of crickets revealed by sound trapping are discussed.


The Upper Parana Atlantic Forest (UPAF) is one of the planet's most endangered environments on account of its being highly fragmented, a process that is threatening the largest natural predators of this area, the jaguar (Panthera onca) and the puma (Puma concolor). The main objective of this dissertation was to investigate the impact of the UPAF fragmentation and land use change on the survival of both predators. Analyses of satellite images were used to describe changes in land use. Agricultural expansion and the transformation of more than 75.000 km of native forest characterized the UPAF between 1973 and 2004, though the process of change was different in each of the three countries sharing this environment (Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay). A monitoring participative network was created and volunteers were trained to collect samples from big felids, such as feces and tracks, throughout the UPAF. From these samples I derived presence data for these species from which I mapped their current distribution in the UPAF. Puma, jaguar and big canid tracks collected at zoos were used to evaluate traditional track identification methods which proved to show high error rates. Morphometric variables measured on zoo tracks were used in discriminant function analysis (DFA) in order to improve differentiation between tracks of these species obtained by the participative network. Feces were identified by means of molecular techniques. Jaguar presence was confirmed in a large area of the Green Corridor in Misiones, and in the largest forest remnants of Brazil and Paraguay. Pumas showed a wider distribution, being recorded throughout Misiones province and including areas of Brazil and Paraguay where jaguars were not detected. An ecological niche factorial analysis showed that pumas and jaguars are mainly restricted to areas with native forest and avoid highly modified areas that are readily accessible to humans. The jaguar, however, proved to be a more sensitive species to landscape changes and anthropic pressures. Generalized lineal models indicate that jaguar persistence is determined not only by present conditions of this fragmented forest, but also by the fragmentation history of the landscape. Characteristics of surrounding land use and human pressure were also important to determinate jaguar presence in the forest remnants of the UPAF. A bidimensional model of habitat suitability allowed to determine the probable spatial structure of jaguar population and to detect priority areas to implement different management actions to preserve both this species and the UPAF.


In proposing a biography of the most famous Irish revolutionary, Theobald Wolfe Tone, Marianne Elliott displays her formidable research skills, and succeeds in proposing an account of the man far from the nationalist legend that grew up in the 19th century. However, she does not really replace the man in his late 18th-century context. In this regard, her biography of Tone is less satisfying than her seminal Partners in Revolution. Why is it so? First, the genre itself. This is a biography, an...


This paper describes a couple of new truss structures based on fractal geometry. One is the famous Sierpinski Gasket and another is a fractal triangle derived by means of applying a process forming leaves of a cedar tree using M. F. Barnsley's contraction mapping theory. Therefore a pair of x-y coordinates of an arbitrary nodal point on the structures are generated easily if IFS(Iterated Function System) codes and a scale of them are specified. Structural members are defined similarly. Thus data for frame analysis can be generated automatically, which is significant if the objective structure has complex configuration. Next analytical results under vertical and wind loadings in Japanese Building Code are shown. Here members are assumed to be timber and to have cross section of 15cm×15cm. Finally authors conclude that geometrically new truss structures were developed and automatic data generation for frame analysis was attained using IFS. Analytical results show they contribute to saving material when compared it with King-post truss.


In many regions in the US, load management and peak demand issues are of greater importance to utility planners than are reductions in energy consumption. Proper daylight utilization in commercial buildings can substantially reduce peak demand and increase energy savings. However, to determine optimum design strategies for controlling electrical demand, it is first necessary to understand the often conflicting impacts of fenestration on lighting and cooling loads. We use an hour-by-hour energy simulation model (DOE-2.1B) to evaluate peak demand components and net effects in daylighted and nondaylighted buildings. More than 5000 parametric simulations were generated for prototypical office building modules containing both horizontal and vertical glazing, and located in 16 US cities. From these simulations we draw conclusions about the effects of daylighting on peak demand for a range of climate types, orientations, fenestration areas, glazing shading coefficients and visible transmittances, U-values, lighting power densities, and lighting control strategies. Results for Los Angeles are briefly compared to results for the climatic extremes of Lake Charles, Louisiana (cooling-dominated), and Madison, Wisconsin (heating-dominated), and then discussed in detail. We also briefly describe studies in progress to measure peak load impacts of fenestration using an outdoor test facility and occupied buildings.


Abstract The Bosphorus (Istanbul Strait) is the most critical passage in the World for vessels passing through; mainly due to its narrowness, its shape with several sharp turns and headlands which limit to have an extended sight for a proper look-out and close the view behind, complex as well as day-to-day changing nature of its currents. The localities with high risk for grounding or stranding in the Bosphorus are: Umur Banki, Yenikoy,Bebek, Kandilli; for collisions the evidence suggests that critical areas are Besiktas, Bebek, Kandilli, Kanlica, Yenikoy,Beykoz and Sariyer. The Montreux Convention relating to freedom of passage and navigation establishes and regulates the regime with certain formalities for a merchant and naval vessel since 1936. The Strait is kept open for shipping traffic day and night, and serves as an international waterway of commercial importance. Turkish Government has taken constructive steps forward to enhance navigation and environmental safety in the Region, the Strait of Istanbul inclusive, by implementing maritime traffic regulations and setting VTMIS which is fully operational since mid-2003. So far, the outcome is promising, and the annual rate of casualty has decreased significantly. However, it is too early to judge how far the VTMIS has been effective in achieving the ultimate goal.


We propose a new speciation mechanism for hybridizing populations based on frequencydependent sexual selection theory. In contrast to previous reinforcement and symmetric speciation models, this model does not require viability selection for male sexual traits, selection against unfit hybrids or disruptive selection for ecological traits. The model assumes that females exhibit mating preferences based on male secondary sexual characters. Both female mating preferences and male secondary sexual traits are independent quantitative genetic traits. Females choose using one of five tactics. All individuals, including the hybrids, have the same ability to survive and reproduce. Two populations that differ only in their average values of female preference and male sexual traits are assumed to come into contact and hybridize. Most cases of the model frequently result in complete prezygotic isolation. The likelihood of speciation decreases with the degree of phenotypic overlap between the two merging populations. However, the probability of speciation is not zero even when the two merging populations are identical.


Cavum vergae, cavum septum pellucidum and cavum veli interpositi are brain midline embryological developmental cysts. They are rarely seen after trauma. Generally, they do not constitute clinical findings. These cysts sometimes become enlarged and become symptomatic. Enlarged cysts cause severe neurological dysfunction. During normal fetal development, the development of the adjacent structures of the limbic system and the septum pellucidum are synchronized. It is thought that dysgenesis in these adjacent structures may affect the lamina fusion of septum pellucidum and cause cavum septum pellucidum. Anterior one of the cavities that arise when septum pellucidum laminae do not join after birth is called "cavum septum pellucidum" (CSP). The one in the posterior is called "cavum vergae" (CV). Velum interpositum (VI) is a potential cavity below the corpus callosum splenium and sometimes presents as a cyst. Cavum veli interpositi (CVI) is located in the pineal area, below the columna fornicis and above the tela choroidea of the 3rd ventricle. Because of its rarity, the incidence of CVI cyst is uncertain. The CV obliterates from the front to the front and is seen with the cavum septum pellucidum. CSP and CV are cavities that are present in fetal life but are considered as variant intracranial defects that do not close 6 months after birth. CVI is rarely seen embryo logically in fetal life in children over 2 years and adults. These cysts are rare in adults. In this study, anatomical features and clinical reflections of CSP, CV and CVI were reviewed.


article i nfo Introduction: Pharmacokinetic properties of biotherapeutics are an important aspect of preclinical drug development. The lead identification and optimization space is characterized by aggressive timelines, large sample numbers, a variety of species and matrices, and limited reagent and sample volumes all of which represent challenges for traditional microtiter plate assays. Since the Gyrolab immunoassay platform can accommodate small sample volumes and automated assay processing, we evaluated the workstation as an alternative to the plate-based assays. Methods: Three representative example assays — a generic anti-human IgG, a target specific and an anti-drug capture assay — were investigated in detail for accuracy and precision performance and their application to bioanalytical support for preclinical pharmacokinetic studies. Different animal matrices were tested in the assays and during study support. Results: Gyrolab procedures could be closely modeled after regular microtiter plate assays. The small reagent volumes necessary for Gyrolab allowed studying serial bleeds of transgenic mice with only 10 μL of blood sample. During development and during study support, the Gyrolab performance was similar to what can be expected from plate-based systems with accuracy and precision within 100±20% or less. Discussion: Overall, the technology was well suited to support quantitation of biotherapeutics using small volume samples from different preclinical species. Limited operator involvement for assay processing allowed for reduced staffing and training. However, high instrument costs and a single source of reagent supplies represent risks when moving assays further into long-term applications such as clinical studies. Despite interest in the bioanalytical field, this is the first detailed investigation of bioanalytical applications of Gyrolab in pharmacokinetic studies.


Lung ultrasound was an effective technique in diagnosing childhood pneumonia when conducted by experienced sonographers

Reviewing paper: Tsou PY, Chen KP, Wang YH, Fishe J, Gillon J, Lee CC et al . Diagnostic accuracy of lung ultrasound performed by novice vs advanced sonographers for pneumonia in children: A systematic review and meta‐analysis. Acad Emerg Med 2019;26:1074–1088.

How accurate is ultrasound in the diagnosis of pneumonia? How accurate is the result when comparing sonographers with varying levels of experience?

Study design: systematic review and meta-analysis; 25 studies analysed encompassing 3353 patients; 18 prospective cohort studies, 5 retrospective cohort studies, 1 randomised controlled trial (RCT) and 1 case–control study.

Patients: paediatric patients presenting with symptoms of pneumonia; this included those with 'rales', tachypnoea, dyspnoea, cough, decreased breath sounds or fever.

Intervention: lung ultrasound versus standard means of diagnosing pneumonia. Standard means varied between studies, ranging from clinical diagnosis only in 2 studies to a combination of clinical diagnosis and imaging in 6 studies; 20 used chest x-ray (CXR) alone and 1 used CT chest alone. The level of ultrasound training ranged from 1 hour to 7 days in the novice group; expert ultrasonographers had over 7 days–25 …


We report on the transport properties of ABC and ABA stacked trilayer graphene using dual, locally gated field effect devices. The high efficiency and large breakdown voltage of the HfO(2) top and bottom gates enable independent tuning of the perpendicular electric field and the Fermi level over an unprecedentedly large range. We observe a resistance change of 6 orders of magnitude in the ABC trilayer, which demonstrates the opening of a band gap. Our data suggest that the gap saturates at a large displacement field of D ~ 3 V/nm, in agreement with self-consistent Hartree calculations. In contrast, the ABA trilayer remains metallic even under a large perpendicular electric field. Despite the absence of a band gap, the band structure of the ABA trilayer continues to evolve with increasing D. We observe signatures of two-band conduction at large D fields. Our self-consistent Hartree calculation reproduces many aspects of the experimental data but also points to the need for more sophisticated theory.


Striedter's account of human brain evolution fails on two key counts. First, he confuses developmental constraints with selection explanations in the initial jump in hominid brain size around two MYA. Second, he misunderstands the Machiavellian Intelligence explanation.


Electrodeposition (ED) and chemical bath deposition (CBD) are both solution processing methods that assemble solid materials from molecules, ions, or complexes in solution. The reactions occur on solid surfaces to produce polycrystalline and epitaxial films, porous networks, nanorods, superlattices, and composites. Both methods can be used to produce metals, semiconductors, magnetic materials, and ceramics in a wide array of architectures. Because of the low processing temperatures (often near room temperature), the techniques are ideal for producing nanostructured materials and interfaces. The methods are not only inexpensive and relatively simple, but they can often produce materials and nanostructures that cannot be accessed in ultrahigh vacuum. For example, the shape and orientation can be tuned by controlling the pH or through solution additives. Also, in ED, the departure from equilibrium can be precisely controlled through the applied potential. This issue attempts to provide understanding of the growth mechanisms—from the molecular to final structure—of interfacial electrochemical and CBD reactions. For example, the influence of solution additives and pH and the effect of external parameters such as the applied potential will be discussed. Practical applications of these films and nanostructures include photovoltaic/photoelectrochemical cells and chemical/magnetic sensors.


Background & Objective: Eccentric muscle action is mechanically more efficient but employs a unique activation strategy which predisposes the muscle to damage. Type II muscle fibers are more susceptible than type I fibers to muscle damage; hence, velocity probably interferes with mechanical stress and thus may modulate muscle damage. The purpose of this review study was to investigate the effect of contraction velocity on selected muscle damage indices following acute eccentric exercise-induced muscle damage. Material & Method: Looking up related articles published in valid scientific databases such as PubMed, Springer, Elsevier, Science Direct, and SID with standard keywords and according to the research criteria, 16 studies (1980 to 2015) were selected. Results: Ten studies showed that high velocity eccentric exercise induced greater muscle damage. Five studies showed no differences between velocities, and a single study indicated a greater magnitude of muscle damage following slow eccentric exercise. Conclusion: Thus, greater magnitude of damage is induced by contractions performed at a higher velocity. However, considering differences during tension in the majority of studies, focusing on elbow flexor muscles and muscle damage profile variety in various muscle groups, and more animal and human studies in other muscular groups are necessary to confirm how the velocity of acute eccentric exercise would affect the muscle damage.


Available evidence suggests that changes in the funding of higher education have led to some students entering the sex industry in order to make ends meet. The current study comprises a sample of undergraduates (N = 130) in the south of England, who completed a cross‐sectional survey of their financial circumstances, health, psychological well‐being, substance use and lifestyle. A response rate of 74% was obtained. Data indicated that over 10% of all respondents knew of students engaged in sex work (defined as prostitution, escorting, lap dancing or stripping) in order to support themselves financially. Poor psychological well‐being, drinking problems and financial circumstances were associated with sex work, and although no direct evidence was found linking this to an earlier history of sexual abuse, there was an indirect relationship through the impact of abuse on mental health. A logistic regression model incorporating General Health Questionnaire scores, alcohol problems and hours worked outside of study strongly predicted whether respondents knew of students engaged in sex work. For lap dancing in particular the model was very strong. This study provides further evidence of students' participation in sex work and its association with economic circumstances. Further longitudinal work is required to clarify the nature of these relationships.


A model of security design based on the principle of information aggregation and alignment is used to show that (i) firms needing to finance their operations should issue different securities to different groups of investors in order to aggregate their disparate information and (ii) each security should be highly correlated (closely aligned) with the private information signal of the investor to whom it is marketed. This alignment reduces the adverse selection penalty paid by a firm with superior information. Adverse selection costs are often contingent on ex post publicly observable and contractible state variables such as exchange rates. In such cases, debt contracts are dominated by currency swaps and optimal securities, in general, are derivative contracts that are contingent on state variables that influence adverse selection costs. This is because the netting of cash flows in these derivative contracts, in effect, alters the state-by-state seniority of different claims in a desirable way.


Providing privacy protection has been one of the primary motivations of Federated Learning (FL). Recently, there has been a line of work on incorporating the formal privacy notion of differential privacy with FL. To guarantee the client-level differential privacy in FL algorithms, the clients' transmitted model updates have to be clipped before adding privacy noise. Such clipping operation is substantially different from its counterpart of gradient clipping in the centralized differentially private SGD and has not been well-understood. In this paper, we first empirically demonstrate that the clipped FedAvg can perform surprisingly well even with substantial data heterogeneity when training neural networks, which is partly because the clients' updates become similar for several popular deep architectures. Based on this key observation, we provide the convergence analysis of a differential private (DP) FedAvg algorithm and highlight the relationship between clipping bias and the distribution of the clients' updates. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work that rigorously investigates theoretical and empirical issues regarding the clipping operation in FL algorithms.


In offshore waters of the North Sea multiple stakeholder activities are increasing in both type and intensity. Newcomers such as offshore wind farming make for additional claims and exclude or confine, to current legal restraint pertaining to the offshore waters, former uses such as traditional fisheries. In this context, an integration of marine aquaculture within designated wind farm areas creates scope to combine two industries within the framework of a multiple-use concept. This paper addresses the perceptions of members of the wind farming and mussel fishery society towards this multiple-use scheme and assesses the usefulness of a co-management approach to govern potential interacting wind farm -- mariculture activities. Preliminary findings suggest co-management to be a suitable approach for overcoming some of the domains of uncertainty perceived as such by members of the wind farming and mussel fishery sector. The approach may act as basis for negotiating agreements and defining binding regulations for the shared use of the ocean.


Summary

1. The understanding of large-scale patterns in expanding populations of alien invasive plants can be used to infer the environmental limiting factors, habitat heterogeneity and, ultimately, the range expansion potential of invasive plants.

2. We used multivariate analysis and a novel quantile regression technique accounting for spatial autocorrelation to compare and contrast factors influencing the abundance and distribution of the African grass Andropogon gayanus (gamba grass) at two large-scale invasion sites in the tropical savanna region of Australia. We collected data using aerial and ground surveys and tested for limiting factors using three landscape-scale indices related to soil quality, soil moisture and invasion history.

3. In one site, gamba grass was principally colonising drainage lines and riparian areas. Occupation of these areas was limited in proportion to the distance from the original gamba grass source. In the second site, gamba grass abundance was independent of distance from the original source and was well established in all vegetation communities, although abundance was also limited in higher elevation sites away from drainage lines.

4. Comparisons between these sites with different patterns of invasion enabled the estimation of both the invasion pathways and range expansion potential of gamba grass. Our results indicated that gamba grass spreads from riparian communities to invade upland sites and has the potential to invade 70% of north Australia's upland savanna communities.

5. Aerial surveys comprehensively assessed patterns over a larger area than ground surveys and were much more economical.

6. Synthesis and applications. Large-scale surveys across multiple sites are critical to understanding the dynamics of recent alien species invasions where little is known about the pattern and potential range of spread. The application of quantile regression and aerial surveys shows promise as aerial surveys are efficient at capturing a large amount of data. The novel quantile regression technique we demonstrate here can account for both spatial autocorrelation and noisy ecological data from aerial surveys while returning robust results. We were thus able to demonstrate widespread colonisation of creek lines by gamba grass and recommend that management focuses on detection and eradication along drainage lines in addition to the present focus on transport corridors.


This report proposes an operational definition of artificial intelligence to be adopted in the context of AI Watch, the Commission knowledge service to monitor the development, uptake and impact of artificial intelligence for Europe. The definition, which will be used as a basis for the AI Watch monitoring activity, is established by means of a flexible scientific methodology that allows regular revision. The operational definition is constituted by a concise taxonomy and a list of keywords that characterise the core domains of the AI research field, and transversal topics such as applications of the former or ethical and philosophical considerations, in line with the wider monitoring objective of AI Watch. The AI taxonomy is designed to inform the AI landscape analysis and will expectedly detect AI applications in neighbour technological domains such as robotics (in a broader sense), neuroscience or internet of things. The starting point to develop the operational definition is the definition of AI adopted by the High Level Expert Group on artificial intelligence. To derive this operational definition we have followed a mixed methodology. On one hand, we apply natural language processing methods to a large set of AI literature. On the other hand, we carry out a qualitative analysis on 55 key documents including artificial intelligence definitions from three complementary perspectives: policy, research and industry. A valuable contribution of this work is the collection of definitions developed between 1955 and 2019, and the summarisation of the main features of the concept of artificial intelligence as reflected in the relevant literature.


Data-sparse zones in scatter plots of hydrological variables can be of interest in various contexts. For example, a well-defined data-sparse zone may indicate inhibition of one variable by another. It is of interest therefore to determine whether data-sparse regions in scatter plots are of sufficient extent to be beyond random chance. We consider the specific situation of data-sparse regions defined by a linear internal boundary within a scatter plot defined over a rectangular region. An Excel VBA macro is provided for carrying out a randomisation-based significance test of the data-sparse region, taking into account both the within-region number of data points and the extent of the region. Example applications are given with respect to a rainfall time series from Israel and also to validation scatter plots from a seasonal forecasting model for lake inflows in New Zealand.


Brief Candle, Mahesh Dattani's latest play concerns itself with the plight of cancer patients but in the process takes important strides in performativity. This paper is an attempt to evaluate performance and performativity within the theatrical space through an analysis of the centrally dominant stage prop, the mask or 'Face of Cancer' and performing bodies. Touching upon the genealogy of Performance Studies as a discipline and its intricate and fraught relationship with the theatre I seek to explore performative elements in the play. I also seek to look at the 'derogated', cancerous body as a charged site of performativity and argue that bio-medical and technological intervention crucially transforms the human body. The play could also be read as a space that explores the post-human body and its performative possibilities. [


The revelation of the top-secret US intelligence-led PRISM Programme has triggered wide-ranging debates across Europe. Press reports have shed new light on the electronic surveillance 'fishing expeditions' of the US National Security Agency and the FBI into the world's largest electronic communications companies. This Policy Brief by a team of legal specialists and political scientists addresses the main controversies raised by the PRISM affair and the policy challenges that it poses for the EU. Two main arguments are presented: First, the leaks over the PRISM programme have undermined the trust that EU citizens have in their governments and the European institutions to safeguard and protect their privacy; and second, the PRISM affair raises questions regarding the capacity of EU institutions to draw lessons from the past and to protect the data of its citizens and residents in the context of transatlantic relations. The Policy Brief puts forward a set of policy recommendations for the EU to follow and implement a robust data protection strategy in response to the affair.


Flagellar based motility confers a selective advantage on bacteria by allowing migration to favorable environments or in pathogenic species to reach the optimal niche for colonization. The flagellar structure has been well established in Salmonella. However, other accessory components have been identified in other species. Many of these have been implied in adapting the flagellar function to enable faster rotation, or higher torque. FlgP has been proposed to be the main component of the basal disk located underlying the outer membrane in Campylobacter jejuni and Vibrio fischeri. Its role is still unclear, and its absence impacts motility differently in different species. The study of these new components will bring a better understanding of the evolution of this complex organelle. ABSTRACT The flagellar lipoprotein FlgP has been identified in several species of bacteria, and its absence provokes different phenotypes. In this study, we show that in the alphaproteobacterium Rhodobacter sphaeroides, a ΔflgP mutant is unable to assemble the hook and the filament. In contrast, the membrane/supramembrane (MS) ring and the flagellar rod appear to be assembled. In the absence of FlgP a severe defect in the transition from rod to hook polymerization occurs. In agreement with this idea, we noticed a reduction in the amount of intracellular flagellin and the chemotactic protein CheY4, both encoded by genes dependent on σ28. This suggests that in the absence of flgP the switch to export the anti-sigma factor, FlgM, does not occur. The presence of FlgP was detected by Western blot in samples of isolated wild-type filament basal bodies, indicating that FlgP is an integral part of the flagellar structure. In this regard, we show that FlgP interacts with FlgH and FlgT, indicating that FlgP should be localized closely to the L and H rings. We propose that FlgP could affect the architecture of the L ring, which has been recently identified to be responsible for the rod-hook transition. IMPORTANCE Flagellar based motility confers a selective advantage on bacteria by allowing migration to favorable environments or in pathogenic species to reach the optimal niche for colonization. The flagellar structure has been well established in Salmonella. However, other accessory components have been identified in other species. Many of these have been implied in adapting the flagellar function to enable faster rotation, or higher torque. FlgP has been proposed to be the main component of the basal disk located underlying the outer membrane in Campylobacter jejuni and Vibrio fischeri. Its role is still unclear, and its absence impacts motility differently in different species. The study of these new components will bring a better understanding of the evolution of this complex organelle.


This groundbreaking study of a little-explored branch of American literature both chronicles and reinterprets the variety of patterns found within Hawaii's pastoral and heroic literary traditions, and is unprecedented in its scope and theme. As a literary history, it covers two centuries of Hawaii's culture since the arrival of Captain James Cookin 1778. Its approach is multicultural, representing the spectrum of native Hawaiian, colonial, tourist, and polyethnic local literatures. Explicit historical, social, political, and linguistic context of Hawaii, as well as literary theory, inform Stephen Sumida's analyses and explications of texts, which in turn reinterpret the nonfictional contexts themselves. These "texts" include poems, song lyrics, novels and short fiction, drama and oral traditions that epitomize cultural milieus and sensibilities.Hawaii's rich literary tradition begins with ancient Polynesian chant and encompasses the compelling novels of O.A. Bushnell, Shelley Ota, Kazuo Miyamoto, Milton Marayama, and John Dominis Holt; the stories of Patsy Saiki and Darrell Lum; the dramas of Aldyth Morris; the poetry of Cathy Song, Erick Chock, Jody Manabe, Wing Tek Lum, and others of the contemporary "Bamboo Ridge" group; Hawaiian songs and poetry, or mele; and works written by visitors from outside the islands, such as the journals of Captain Cook and the prose fiction of Herman Melville, James Fenimore Cooper, Mark Twain, and James Michener. Sumida discusses the renewed enthusiasm for native Hawaiian culture and the controversies over Hawaii's vernacular pidgins and creoles. His achievement in developing a functional and accessible critical and intellectual framework for analyzing this diverse material is remarkable, and his engaging and perceptive analysis of these works invites the reader to explore further in the literature itself and to reconsider the present and future direction of Hawaii's writers.


The paper by Bowen et al (2012 Phys. Scr. 85 065005) demonstrates in a dramatic fashion the serious difficulties that can arise when one rushes to perform numerical studies before understanding the physics and mathematics of the problem at hand and without understanding the limitations of the numerical methods used. Based on their flawed numerical work, the authors conclude that the work of Bender and Boettcher is wrong even though it has been verified at a completely rigorous level. Unfortunately, the numerical procedures performed and described in the paper by Bowen et al are incorrectly applied and wrongly interpreted.


Secretion systems are key virulence factors, modulating interactions between pathogens and the host's immune response. Six potential secretion systems (types 1-6; T1SS-T6SS) have been discussed in classical bordetellae, respiratory commensals/pathogens of mammals. The prototypical Bordetella bronchiseptica strain RB50 genome seems to contain all six systems, whilst two human-restricted subspecies, Bordetella parapertussis and Bordetella pertussis, have lost different subsets of these. This implicates secretion systems in the divergent evolutionary histories that have led to their success in different niches. Based on our previous work demonstrating that changes in secretion systems are associated with virulence characteristics, we hypothesized there would be substantial divergence of the loci encoding each amongst sequenced strains. Here, we describe extensive differences in secretion system loci; 10 of the 11 sequenced strains had lost subsets of genes or one entire secretion system locus. These loci contained genes homologous to those present in the respective loci in distantly related organisms, as well as genes unique to bordetellae, suggesting novel and/or auxiliary functions. The high degree of conservation of the T3SS locus, a complex machine with interdependent parts that must be conserved, stands in dramatic contrast to repeated loss of T5aSS 'autotransporters', which function as an autonomous unit. This comparative analysis provided insights into critical aspects of each pathogen's adaptation to its different niche, and the relative contributions of recombination, mutation and horizontal gene transfer. In addition, the relative conservation of various secretion systems is an important consideration in the ongoing search for more highly conserved protective antigens for the next generation of pertussis vaccines.


Children's literature is often contested ground in regard to values, and that was definitely the case in the USA in the nineteenth century. Since American children's literature was commonly seen as a way to inculcate moral values and useful knowledge into the budding citizens of the new nation, fairy tales were regarded with suspicion by some authors and publishers. Others, however, added their own fairy tales to those of the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen, which were available in the US in translation.In this paper, I will examine two of those American books of fairy tales, written by the man of letters and editor Horace E. Scudder: Seven Little People and Their Friends (1862), and Dream Children (1864). Scudder, who was the editor of the prestigious Atlantic Monthly 1890-1898, probably did more to promote a more imaginative literature for American children than anybody else in the nineteenth century. For instance, he persuaded Hans Christian Andersen to contribute to the Riverside Magazine for Young People, a high-quality children's periodical, which ran from 1867 to 1870 with Scudder as editor. Scudder also compiled The Children's Book (1881), an anthology of literature – fables, stories, and poems – suitable for the first four grades in school. In 1894, he published a collection of his own essays on Childhood in Literature and Art. The question is: what values do Scudder's fairy tales endorse?


A new species named Linognathus damarensis is descriptionbed from the Damara dikdik. The new species belongs to the pithodes species-group, and a key to the latter is provided. Because of the discontinuous distribution of the host, a detailed examination of the lice on the isolated populations might provide useful information on the rate of speciation of the parasites.


Formulations of macrocyclic lactone anthelmintics such as moxidectin are regularly administered to sheep to combat parasites. A disadvantage of these pharmaceuticals are their side effects on non-target organisms when entering the environment. Little is known about anthelmintic effects on plant reproduction and whether the effects depend on environmental factors. For ecological and methodological reasons, we aimed at testing whether temperature affects the efficacy of a common moxidectin-based formulation on seed germination. We carried out a germination experiment including three typical species of temperate European grasslands (Centaurea jacea, Galium mollugo, Plantago lanceolata). We applied three temperature regimes (15/5, 20/10, 30/20°C), and a four-level dilution series (1:100–1:800) of formulated moxidectin (i.e., Cydectin oral drench). These solutions represent seed-anthelmintic contacts in the digestive tract of sheep shortly after deworming. In addition, a control was carried out with purified water only. We regularly counted emerging seedlings and calculated final germination percentage, mean germination time and synchrony of germination. Formulated moxidectin significantly reduced percentage, speed and synchrony of germination. A 1:100 dilution of the formulation reduced germination percentage by a quarter and increased mean germination time by six days compared to the control. Temperature moderated effects of the anthelmintic drug on germination in all response variables and all species, but in different patterns and magnitudes (significant anthelmintic x temperature x species interactions). In all response variables, the two more extreme temperature regimes (15/5, 30/20°C) led to the strongest effects of formulated moxidectin. With respect to germination percentage, G. mollugo was more sensitive to formulated moxidectin at the warmest temperature regime, whereas P. lanceolata showed the highest sensitivity at the coldest regime. This study shows that it is important to consider temperature dependencies of the effects of pharmaceuticals on seed germination when conducting standardised germination experiments.


Printing with custom inks is of interest both for artistic purposes and for printing security documents such as banknotes. However, in order to create designs with only a few custom inks, a general purpose high-quality gamut reduction technique is needed. Most existing gamut mapping techniques map an input gamut such as the gamut of a CRT display into the gamut of an output device such as a CMYK printer. In the present contribution, we are interested in printing with up to three custom inks, which in the general case define a rather narrow color gamut compared with the gamut of standard CMYK printers. The proposed color gamut reduction techniques should work for any combination of custom inks and have a smooth and predictable behavior. When the black ink is available, the lightness levels present in the original image remain nearly identical. Original colors with hues outside the target gamut are projected onto the gray axis. Original colors with hues inside the target gamut hues are rendered as faithful as possible. When the black ink is not available, we map the gray axis G into a colored curve G' connecting in the 3D color space the paper white and the darkest available color formed by the superposition of the 3 inks. The mapped gray axis curve G'(a) is given by the Neugebauer equations when enforcing an equal amount a of custom inks c1, c2 and c3. Original lightness values are mapped onto lightness values along that curve. After lightness mapping, hue and saturation mappings are carried out. When the target gamut does not incorporate the gray axis, we divide it into two volumes, one on the desaturated side of the mapped gray axis curve G' and the other on the saturated side of the G' curve. Colors whose hues are not part of the target color gamut are mapped to colors located on the desaturated side of the G' curve. Colors within the set of printable hues remain within the target color gamut and retain as much as possible their original hue and saturation.


Surface observations from AIRNow and Southeastern Aerosol Research and Characterization Study networks, aircraft observations from the Measurement of Ozone and Water Vapor by Airbus In-Service Aircraft program, ozonesondes, and remote sensing measurements from Global Ozone Mapping Experiment, Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS), and Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE) II for February-May 2000 over North America are used to characterize the springtime transitions of O3 and its precursors. These measurements provide a comprehensive data set to evaluate the performance of the 3-D Regional Chemical Transport Model (REAM). The model is then applied to analyze the key factors affecting the springtime transitions of trace gas concentrations and export. The global GEOS-CHEM model is used to provide chemical initial and boundary conditions. Generally, the model results are in good agreement with the observations in the troposphere except for a low bias of upper tropospheric O3; the bias decreases toward the summer and lower latitudes. The rate of observed surface O3 increase in spring is simulated well by REAM. It is overestimated by GEOS-CHEM over the eastern United States. A key factor driving the model difference is daytime mixing depth. A shallow boundary layer in REAM leads to more efficient removal of radicals and hence slower activation of photochemistry in spring, when the primary radical source is relatively small. Comparison of top-down estimates of fossil fuel NOx emissions between REAM and GEOS-CHEM shows model dependence. The associated uncertainty is up to 20% on a monthly basis. Averaging over a season reduces this uncertainty. While tropospheric column NO2 decreases over the continent, it increases over the western North Atlantic due to lightning NOx production. Consequently, the REAM model simulates significant increases of tropospheric O3 over the region as indicated by column data derived from TOMS-SAGE II. Lightning impact is also evident in model-simulated NOx exports.


This article reports the findings of the first phase of a three phase empirical study of the death penalty in Delaware. In phase 1, we examined only cases in which the defendant was sentenced to death. While our findings are preliminary, there appear to be, as numerous other studies have found in other jurisdictions, race of victim effects. Seventy percent of the death sentences were imposed in white victim cases, even though the majority of the murder victims are black. Additionally, Delaware has one of the highest death sentencing rates in the country. This high rate appears to be the result of a change in the Delaware death sentencing scheme from jury to judge sentencing. When that change was implemented, the number of death sentences rose dramatically. Our preliminary findings also reveal a geographic effect. Two thirds of the death sentences were imposed in New Castle County, 29% were imposed in Kent County and only 5% of the death sentences resulted from murders which occurred in Sussex County. Finally, in analyzing the outcomes of the cases in which the defendant was sentenced to death on appeal, we found an overall error rate of 44%.


This paper intends to investigate the relationship between reading habits and audio books under the niche market of commercial downloadable audio books. In spite of the booming market of commercial audio books, the reader experience of audio books is still an under-researched area. This is the first paper aiming to investigate how commercial audio books (not audio books for the people with visual impairment) change people's reading habits in a digital era. The results showed that most participants would think listening to audio books can be equivalent to reading and audio books were more like supplements to printed works for them. Generally, participants in this project thought listening to audio books was more flexible than reading print books. In addition, it was found that downloadable audio books could help improve the experience of listening to audio books (e.g. bigger file space and smaller device size), but that they also brought new problems. According to the users' experience of listening to audio books, it is recommended that suppliers adjust their pricing model of downloadable audio books to gain more sales and adopt DAISY format to provide a better navigation system for audio books users.


Environmental educators often maintain that primary school education should endeavour to improve and protect the environment through producing an 'environmentally informed, committed and active citizenry', yet existing research shows that the implementation of environmental education in primary schools is problematic and has had limited success. The reasons for these shortcomings are far from clear, with present research merely speculating about barriers to effective implementation. To this extent, there is a dearth of empirical research about primary school teachers' knowledge of environmental education and the degree to which teachers' knowledge inhibits environmental education practice. As such, this article investigates Australian primary school teachers' knowledge about environmental education, and in so doing utilises a combined-methods approach and the theoretical concept of 'ecological literacy' (eco-literacy) to assess primary school teachers' knowledge (and beliefs) about environmental education. Based upon the findings of this study, we contend that Australian (specifically Queensland) primary school teachers are likely to be functioning at a 'knowledge' level of ecological illiteracy and/or nominal ecological literacy. Furthermore, such primary school teachers tend to dismiss the importance of knowledge, preferring to focus upon attitudes and values in the teaching of environmental education. As shown in existing research, these trends can be placed in wider theoretical debates to do with knowledge and education generally. In any case, such levels of ecological literacy are inadequate if ecologically literate students and thus an ecologically literate citizenry are to be achieved within schools.


This paper explains the main features of an innovative linked employer-employee data set with a particular focus on continuous training in Germany, called WeLL. The data set comprises establishment data that can be linked to longitudinal information on the associated employees. The employer survey and the first wave of the employee survey were conducted in 2007. Both surveys focus on the collection of training information together with a variety of employee and employer background characteristics. In addition, it is possible to link these data with other survey and administrative data for a large number of respondents.


The objective of this work was to evaluate the proximate composition of soybeans cultivars BRS 232 (commodities), BRS 257 and BRS 258 (both special cultivars for human consumption), all produced in an organic system. The grains were milled in a fine powder, and chemical analysis (protein, fat, ash, carbohydrates and moisture) were carried out according to Institute Adolfo Lutz (2005) and the values expressed in dry basis. There was no significant difference (p> 0.05) between ash and protein content for the cultivars analyzed. The BRS 232 cultivar showed lower lipid content compared to other cultivars. The carbohydrate content of all cultivars analyzed showed statistical difference between them (p <0.05) with higher levels for BRS 232, followed by BRS 257 and BRS 258. The soybean cultivars BRS 232, BRS 257 and BRS 258 produced in the organic system showed high levels of proteins, characterizing these soybean cultivars as a good source of protein for human consumption. The special cultivars for human consumption BRS 257 and BRS 258 showed yet high lipid content, providing more energy, which can be an advantage for human consumption. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14685/rebrapa.v1i2.26


Abstract Aims: Previous research has documented a clear association between drinking alcohol and engaging in criminal activity. However, it is unclear how this relationship is formed and maintained in young people. Such knowledge could be instructive in the appropriate design and effectiveness of prevention and intervention strategies. The aim of the present study was to gain a greater understanding of these two phenomena from the young person's perspective. Methods: Nine young offenders were interviewed about their experiences of drinking alcohol. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used to analyse the data. Findings: Three main themes were identified, from initial experiences of using alcohol through the transition into offending and for some participants the resulting change in patterns of use. Conclusions: The study highlights the importance of personal values and meaning-making in both the initiation and desistance from alcohol use and criminal behaviour. In particular, the importance of family and peers in these processes suggests the utility of early family-based interventions.


We propose a robust optimization approach to construct realistic constrained multi-strategy portfolios which starts with the identification of different sources of alpha and the risk-budgeting exercise to optimally combine them. We show how systematic alpha-capture strategies can be combined with judgmental strategies and how bottom-up based strategies for stock picking can be combined with top-down sector and country allocation strategies. The approach is shown to be fully transparent for both unconstrained and constrained portfolios with a discussion of how constraints impact the final optimal portfolio allocation. In particular we show that the constrained portfolios retain the exposures to systematic risk in the unconstrained target solution as much as possible, and that specific risk takes the toll of portfolio constraints. Through a realistic back-tested example combining different well-known alpha capture strategies we demonstrate the robustness and transparency of the approach. Finally we also discuss the advantages of this approach over the alternative process based on selecting and investing in a mix of different index-funds implementing off-the-shelf active strategies for alpha capture. We believe that our approach is particularly suited for institutional investors interested in risk budgeting the alpha in their portfolios while fully understanding the final allocation in their constrained portfolios.


This article will first examine the emergence of Italian Fascism and provide insight into Italian Fascists' self-perception. Second, taking the contemporary conceptualizations of fascism developed by its Marxist, liberal, and conservative opponents as a starting point, this article reviews research on fascism during the Cold War. Third, the approaches taken by more recent research on fascism will be discussed and a survey of current fields of empirical work will be presented. A concluding section summarizes the usefulness of the concept of fascism.


Last week, in a remarkable game of intercontinental "can you top this," number theorists announced breakthroughs on two of the oldest unsolved problems in their subject. Although neither problem is close to being fully solved, the most dramatic progress in decades galvanized mathematical chat boards and provided instant fodder for seminars around the world. Mathematicians think that the twin prime conjecture and Goldbach9s conjecture are almost certainly true, but in more than a century and a half of trying, no one has come close to proving either one. Then, on 13 May, Harald Helfgott posted a preprint with a proof of the ternary (three-prime) part of Goldbach9s conjecture, and Yitang (Tom) Zhang presented in a lecture a proof showing that there are infinitely many prime numbers separated by less than 70 million.


In this paper, we present a graphical model for polyphonic music transcription. Our model, formulated as a dynamical Bayesian network, embodies a transparent and computationally tractable approach to this acoustic analysis problem. An advantage of our approach is that it places emphasis on explicitly modeling the sound generation procedure. It provides a clear framework in which both high level (cognitive) prior information on music structure can be coupled with low level (acoustic physical) information in a principled manner to perform the analysis. The model is a special case of the, generally intractable, switching Kalman filter model. Where possible, we derive, exact polynomial time inference procedures, and otherwise efficient approximations. We argue that our generative model based approach is computationally feasible for many music applications and is readily extensible to more general auditory scene analysis scenarios.


Many microbes induce striking behavioral changes in their animal hosts, but how they achieve these effects is poorly understood, especially at the molecular level. This is due in large part to the lack of a robust system amenable to modern molecular manipulation. We recently discovered a strain of the behavior-manipulating fungal fly pathogen Entomophthora muscae infecting wild adult Drosophila in Northern California, and developed methods to reliably propagate the infection in lab.-reared Drosophila melanogaster. Our lab.- infected flies manifest the moribund behaviors characteristic of E. muscae infections: on their final day of life they climb to a high location, extend their proboscides and become affixed to the substrate, then finally raise their wings to strike a characteristic death pose that clears a path for spores that are forcibly ejected from their abdomen to land on and infect other flies. Using a combination of descriptive, histological, molecular and genomic techniques, we have carefully characterized the progress of infection in lab.-reared flies in both the fungus and host. Enticingly, we reveal that E. muscae invades the fly nervous system early in infection, suggesting a direct means by which the fungus could induce behavioral changes. Given the vast toolkit of molecular and neurobiological tools available for D. melanogaster, we believe this newly established E. muscae system will permit rapid progress in understanding how microbes manipulate animal behavior.


This paper outlines a framework and conceptualization of combinatorial design. Combinatorial design is a term coined to describe non-parametric design strategies that focus on the permutation, combination and patterning of discrete units. These design strategies differ substantially from parametric design strategies as they do not operate under continuous numerical evaluations, intervals or ratios but rather finite discrete sets. The conceptualization of this term and the differences with other design strategies are portrayed by the work done in the last 3 years of research at University of Southern California under the Polyomino agenda. The work, conducted together with students, has studied the use of discrete sets and combinatorial strategies within virtual reality environments to allow for an enhanced decision making process, one in which human intuition is coupled to algorithmic intelligence. The work of the research unit has been sponsored and tested by the company Stratays for ongoing research on crowd-sourced design.


There are already numerous small-scale solar energy collectors on the roofs of buildings in many cities in China, which are used to provide domestic hot water in most circumstances. However, these separated smallscale solar energy collectors usually do not work sufficiently as expected, particularly for fear of pipe freezing crack in severe cold winter. On the other hand, these distributed small-scale solar energy collectors would have very convenient access to local district heating system. Hence, the buildings can consume the thermal energy from local district heating system and simultaneously produce heat to local district heating system when the solar energy collectors on their roofs are available. Therefore, the buildings can become solar heat prosumers to local district heating system. In this study, a configuration on solar heat prosumers is proposed to integrate with a general district heating system. Then a thermo-hydraulic model is developed to simulate the energy performance of distributed smallscale solar heat prosumers in district heating system. The proposed model is validated in a real life case study in a north Chinses city. The simulation results showed that the solar energy penetration was about 13% of the total heat consumption in heating season of 120 days.


The study was conducted to examine the effects of the positive self-evaluation of others on the self-evaluations of the 120 subjects residing on the Mills Home Campus, Thomasville, one of the Baptist Children's Homes of North Carolina, Inc. Rubin's Self-Esteem Scale, which was developed by Roger Rubin, of the Pennsylvania State University in a Master's study with fifth and sixth graders in North Philadelphia, was used in the present study. Rubin's questionnaire is divided into four parts, each adapted by the author from other instruments designed to measure self-concept. Only parts II, III, and IV were used in the present study. Rubin's scales were administered to all population by their houseparents prior to the treatment. The treatment was conducted on the Mills Home campus. Subjects were randomly assigned into six experimental groups, each containing 20 subjects. Each of the experimental groups was given one of six positive self-descriptive paragraphs written by an imaginary pen pal in conjunction with Rubin's Self-Esteem Scale which was positively completed by a pen pal of different age levels: adolescent, adulthood or an older person. The subjects then wrote paragraphs describing themselves and completed Rubin's Self-Esteem Scale as the self-introductions to their pen pals. The data were analyzed in three phases: (1) the major analysis, a 3 x 2 x 2 factorial design was used to examine pre-post changes obtained from Rubin's scales produced by three factors: age of the models, sex of the models (opposite or same of subjects), and grade levels of subjects; (2) a oneway analysis of variance was used to examine effects of length of time subjects spent in the Mills Home on subjects' scores obtained from Rubin's Self-Esteem Scale; (3) a post-hoc multiple comparison procedure, the Newman-Kuels test was used to analyze differences between means of B Factor (age of models) because F value was significant at the .01 level of confidence.


According to award-winning journalist and historian Colin Woodard, North America is made up of eleven distinct nations, each with its own unique historical roots. In American Nations he takes readers on a journey through the history of our fractured continent, offering a revolutionary and revelatory take on American identity, and how the conflicts between them have shaped our past and continue to mold our future. From the Deep South to the Far West, to Yankeedom to El Norte, Woodard reveals how each region continues to uphold its distinguishing ideals and identities today, with results that can be seen in the composition of the U.S. Congress or on the county-by-county election maps of presidential elections."


We describe a statistical approach for modelingdialogue acts in conversational speech, i.e., speechact-like units such as STATEMENT, QUESTION, BACKCHANNEL,AGREEMENT, DISAGREEMENT, and APOLOGY. Our model detects and predicts dialogue acts based on lexical, collocational, and prosodic cues, as well as on the discourse coherence of the dialogue act sequence. The dialogue model is based on treating the discourse structure of a conversation as a hiddenMarkov model and the individual dialogue acts as observations emanating from the model states. Constraints on the likely sequence of dialogue acts are modeled via a dialogue act -gram. The statistical dialogue grammar is combined with word -grams, decision trees, and neural networks modeling the idiosyncratic lexical and prosodic manifestations of each dialogue act. We develop a probabilistic integration of speech recognition with dialogue modeling, to improve both speech recognition and dialogue act classification accuracy. Models are trained and evaluated using a large hand-labeled database of 1,155 conversations from the Switchboard corpus of spontaneous human-to-human telephone speech. We achieved good dialogue act labeling accuracy (65% based on errorful, automatically recognized words and prosody, and 71% based on word transcripts, compared to a chance baseline accuracy of 35% and human accuracy of 84%) and a small reduction in word recognition error.


We present a detailed model for the vibrational population of all non pre-dissociating excited electronic states of N2, as well as for the ground and ionic states, in Titan's atmosphere. Our model includes the detailed energy deposition calculations presented in the past (Lavvas et al., 2011) as well as the more recent developments in the high resolution N2 photo-absorption cross sections that allow us to calculate photo-excitation rates for different vibrational levels of singlet nitrogen states, and provide information for their pre-dissociation yields. In addition, we consider the effect of collisions and chemical reactions in the population of the different states. Our results demonstrate that above 600 km altitude, collisional processes are efficient only for a small sub-set of the excited states limited to the A and W(ν=0) triplet states, and to a smaller degree to the a singlet state. In addition, we find that a significant population of vibrationally excited ground state N2 survives in Titan's upper atmosphere. Our calculations demonstrate that this hot N2 population can improve the agreement between models and observations for the emission of the c′4 state that is significantly affected by resonant scattering. Moreover we discuss the potential implications of the vibrationally excited population on the ionospheric densities.


Early childhood caries (ECC) is closely related to high numbers of mutans streptococci, lactobacilli and Candida albicans. Oral colonization of these microorganisms was monitored in a prospective clinical study in order to investigate the effect of comprehensive treatment under general anesthesia and the sustainability of microbial changes. Saliva samples were collected from 50 healthy infants with ECC before and in regular intervals up to 12 months after treatment. Microorganisms were detected by cultivation on selective agars (CRT® bacteria and Sabouraud/CandiSelect™) and scored. Additionally, plaque on upper front teeth and the dmft were recorded. Parents were repeatedly interviewed regarding the children's diet and oral hygiene, accompanied by corresponding advice. Plaque frequency and the numbers of mutans streptococci, lactobacilli and yeasts were significantly reduced as a result of treatment (p < 0.0001, Wilcoxon test). Nevertheless, this effect was not permanent. An ordinal regression model on the follow-up period revealed that the odds for bacteria and yeasts to reach a higher score increased linearly over time (p < 0.01) with an odds ratio of 2.244 per year. One third (34%) of the children developed new dentinal lesions within 1 year postoperatively. High scores of lactobacilli before treatment predicted caries relapse (p < 0.05). Nutritional and oral hygiene habits changed only slightly despite advising. Elimination and restoration of ECC lesions under general anesthesia proved to be an effective procedure in reducing cariogenic bacteria and yeasts. A satisfactory and sustainable success, however, could be achieved neither regarding microbiologic parameters nor with respect to the relapse rate. More suitable strategies are needed.


A total of 52 (25 male, 5 female, and 22 undetermined) California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) have been reported in Alaska during the past three decades, with an increasing presence in recent years. They have been observed during all seasons of the year, although most often during the spring. The presence of California sea lions in Alaska was correlated with increasing populations within their southern breeding range. There was no correlation between the number of sightings in Alaska and El Nino years. This compilation includes the northernmost (60° 46' N, n = 1) and westernmost (170° 07' W, n = 2) sightings for this species.


This paper develops a link-based full cost model, which identifies the key cost components of travel, including both internal and external versions of cost, and gives a link-based cost estimate. The key cost components for travelers are categorized as time cost, emission cost, crash cost, user monetary cost, and infrastructure cost. Selecting the Minneapolis - St. Paul (Twin Cities) Metropolitan region as the study area, the estimates show that the average full cost of travel is $0.68/veh-km, in which the time and user monetary costs account for approximately 85% of the total. Except for the infrastructure cost, highways are more cost-effective than other surface roadways considering all the other cost components, as well as the internal and full costs.


The abundance and diversity of microbes in corals are indicative of an intricate coexistence between the metazoan host and these unicellular partners. An increasing number of studies have identified explicit functions that some microbes perform in the coral holobiont, ranging from nutrient cycling to immunity. Rapid climate change can affect coral-associated microbial symbioses through negative shifts in microbial community structure (i.e., dysbiosis) that can lead to coral disease and mortality. Alternately, microbes may contribute to holobiont resilience by rapidly adapting to new environmental regimes and may provide the coral with an uninterrupted suite of functions. To understand whether shifts in the microbiome as a result of environmental change will be positive or negative, the drivers of natural variations in community composition must be understood. This thesis is focused on investigating and identifying some of the drivers of microbial community composition in corals, specifically of the Symbiodiniaceae and bacterial communities, to improve our ability to predict the impacts of climate change on corals, and to provide critical baseline data that may be used to inform the development of the microbial-driven restoration technique of microbiome engineering. Using both survey and experimental methods, the specific aims of this thesis were to 1) review the literature on microbiome engineering and identify new research directions that will aid the development of microbiome engineering in corals, 2) investigate the long-term seasonal variation in coral-associated microbiomes, 3) examine the effects of a temperature anomaly on the stability of the coral microbiome and 4) determine the drivers of microbial community establishment in coral offspring.

Obtaining direction from established research on microbiome engineering in biological systems such as plants, human health and waste water treatment, Chapter 2 identified three main research priorities that would not only provide a foundation of knowledge for developing coral-specific microbiome engineering tools, but also further the coral microbial ecology field in general. These research priorities were to 1) determine the variable and stable partners of the microbiome, 2) identify microbial function and 3) use experimental methods to determine key microbial players and assess the feasibility of manipulation methods. The remaining data chapters of this thesis focused on addressing some of the knowledge gaps associated with the natural variability and stability of the microbiome to identify what may be driving patterns of microbial community composition using 16S rRNA gene and ITS2 spacer metabarcoding for bacteria and Symbiodiniaceae, respectively. In Chapter 3, twelve tagged colonies each of two species of Acropora corals at two mid-shelf reefs on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) were sampled over two years to examine whether temporal changes in the coral microbiome reflect cyclical seasonal cycles, and whether there is evidence for coral host-specificity or location effects on microbiome composition. Findings from this chapter confirm that the coral microbiome is complex and dynamic, but does not reflect seasonal cycles, at least not in the species and reefs studied here. Coral microbiomes also varied within coral species according to reef, suggesting that reef environment or location further drives microbial community composition. In Chapter 4, ten tagged colonies of Pocillopora acuta, a comparatively bleaching resistant coral, were visually inspected and sampled during the 2016 thermal anomaly in the northern and central GBR that resulted in widespread bleaching. Despite experiencing higher than average temperatures and two-degree heating weeks, these corals exhibited no visible signs of bleaching and little variation in their bacterial and Symbiodiniaceae communities through time. Indicator analyses identified microbes that could harbor beneficial properties for thermal tolerance, but future functional studies will be necessary for validation. Finally, Chapter 5 describes the results of a manipulative experiment to determine the influence of parents and environment on the establishment of the microbiome in coral offspring of the species Pocillopora damicornis. Findings provided evidence for mixed mode transmission for both bacteria and Symbiodiniaceae, with offspring sharing a small number of microbial taxa with their parents and some with the water column. Microbial communities in early coral life stages were characterized by high variability and dispersion in comparison to parents, suggesting that they shape their microbial communities throughout ontogeny (i.e., "winnowing").

This thesis has identified both host and environmental factors were crucial drivers of the coral microbiome. For some coral species in certain locations, shifts in microbial community composition may provide adaptive benefits, while for others, they may cause bleaching, disease or mortality. The effects of these shifts for the coral host, whether positive or negative, are likely host specific, reliant on their geographic location and contingent on the severity of the stress events they witness. While this may pose a challenge for implementing long-term microbial manipulations intended for reef restoration, short-term probiotic treatments for bioremediation or immediate prevention should be investigated further. Future empirical work on microbial function and the ability for the microbiome to facilitate climate resilience in corals is essential.


Cycling ergometers are routinely used in a laboratory setting to evaluate physiological function and monitor changes in training status. One limitation of many cycle ergometers, in relation to the performance testing, is their inability to replicate the cyclist own specific cycling position thereby bringing the validity of the ergometer used into question. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare the aerobic and anaerobic energy demands of two commercially available cycle ergometers in trained cyclists. The first ergometer allowed full adjustment of cycling position and was electromagnetically braked (EB). The second ergometer allowed for saddle height adjustment only and was resistance braked (RB). Methods: Ten trained male cyclists were tested on 2 separate occasions within a 14 day period under the same conditions. Subjects performed a 30 second Wingate maximal sprint test followed 60 minutes later by a continuous maximal incremental step test on either the EB or RB cycle ergometer, in a random order. The Wingate test was performed at 9% of body mass and for 30 seconds with a 5 second speed up period. The incremental test started at 100W and increased in resistance by 50W every 3 minutes until volitional exhaustion. Heart rate, VO2, power output and blood lactate were measured during the maximal incremental test. Results: The results showed a significant difference (p<0.01) for the Wingate test between the RB and EB both in terms of peak power output (POmax) and mean power output (POmean) with subjects generating greater power outputs on the EB. During the maximal incremental test, significant differences (p<0.01) were found between EB and RB for submaximal power output, heart rate, and VO2 at both lactate threshold 1 (1mmol.l-1 rise above baseline, LT1) and onset of blood lactate accumulation (4mmol.l-1 blood lactate reference point, OBLA), as well as peak power output at VO2max (PVO2max). Conclusions: Overall it was shown that significant differences in physiological demands were present between the two ergometers under both anaerobic and aerobic conditions. This is may in part be explained by the different positions that the cyclists adopted on either ergometer. Further research is required to compare the findings of the current study with actual cycling performance.


BSTRACT Islamic organizations in Germany find themselves in a dilemma. On the one hand, they feel the need to take a public stance on the acts of violence committed by Muslim terrorists worldwide. On the other hand, they also feel the need to speak up against the growing Islamophobia in Germany, propagated by movements such as Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the Occident (Pegida). As Islamic organizations in Germany band together, they appear to the German public as a homogeneous group unified by religious and ethnic affiliation, not recognized in their diversity. Hence, the external pressure exerted by German populists and sensationalist media that foment Islamophobia creates the risk of inadvertently reinforcing what one seeks to combat: namely, the stereotype of a monolithic and static entity that Muslims in Germany do not in fact represent. Moreover, the perceived need to speak with one voice might silence necessary debates among the different Islamic associations in Germany.


SUMMARY
This paper presents a simple spatial equilibrium model for a linear monocentric city to investigate the effects of rationing and pricing on morning commuters' travel cost and modal choice behavior in each location. Under rationing and pricing, every day in the morning peak hour, each commuter is classified as either "free" or "rationed". "Free" commuters are allowed to use the highway without paying the toll, whereas "rationed" commuters can avoid the toll only if they travel by transit. Each day, a fraction of commuters are rationed in their free use of the highway, and the rationing fractions are determined systematically so that everyone is equally rationed in a given period. It is found that Pareto-improving rationing and pricing scheme might be obtained as a combination of the rationing degree and the toll associated with rationing. Extension to the rationing and pricing scheme with cordon and park-and-ride service has been made. Cordon and park-and-ride might help in improving the efficiency of rationing and pricing strategy although remains its Pareto-improving property. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Aviation fuel of aircrafts is one of the most important and predominant expenditures in air companies. The recent jump on petroleum price has increased the price of equipments and maintenance. Therefore, many aircraft companies look for different ways to reduce their expenditures as much as they can. In this article, we study effective factors to reduce the fuel consumption. The proposed study of this paper gathers different criteria, which are important for cost reduction plans based on experts' point of view. We take advantages of quantitative and qualitative characteristics of criteria and experts' ideas using fuzzy decision making. Finally, a list of effective factors to reduce the fuel consumption is presented based on order of their importance.


Consumers today are no longer bound to advertisers in their search for product information. Social media platforms and technologies are now empowering consumers to share product information with each other. This act is disempowering marketers and their agencies of record that are struggling to be relevant in the age of Web 2.0. Despite the low switching costs of turning away from traditional advertising to obtain product information, unscrupulous marketing practices persist. We maintain that these actions are feeding a rising mistrust in commercial advertising that is encouraging even more consumers to engage in electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) on social media platforms. This paper looks at this rising mistrust and how it might describe consumers who engage in electronic word-of-mouth about products after purchase. We rely on Web survey data from the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) which looks at a population of UK consumers that purchase travel and then go on to describe their trip to others using social media. Unique to this study is the use of social values methodology to measure trust in advertising. Our findings suggest that social media users trust advertising in spite of current advertising practices, while those who do not use social media, score below the mean on this trend. Theoretically, our results imply that trust in advertising may have more to do with a consumer's fundamental outlook on life than it does with the credibility of the source where the advertising itself came from. More practically, our results provide a measure of certainty for company executives who may wish to use social media as part of more integrated marketing campaigns designed to capture user-generated content and to redirect this highly influential source of marketplace information at other consumers.


ATI 6-4 is an alpha-beta, Ti-6Al-4V alloy that is used in the annealed condition, or in the solution heat treated and aged condition. This high-strength alloy can be used at cryogenic temperatures up to about 425 °C (800 °F). Ti-6Al-4V is the most widely used titanium alloy. This datasheet provides information on composition, physical properties, hardness, and tensile properties. It also includes information on corrosion resistance as well as forming, heat treating, machining, and joining. Filing Code: Ti-171. Producer or source: ATI.


This paper presents a research on adaptive kinetic structures using shape memory alloys as actuators. The target of the research is designing and building an efficient kinetic structural system that could be potentially applied at an architectural scale. The project is based on the study of tensegrity and pantograph structures as a starting point to develop multiple digital and physical models of different structural systems that can be controllably moved. The result of this design process is a performative prototype that is controllable through a web-based interface. The main contribution of this project is not any of the presented parts by themselves but the integration of all of them in the creation of a new adaptive system that allows us to envision a novel way of designing, building and experiencing architecture in a dynamic and efficient way.


Lexicographic Boolean satisfiability (LEXSAT) is a variation of the Boolean satisfiability problem (SAT). Given a variable order, LEXSAT finds a satisfying assignment whose integer value under the given variable order is minimum (maximum) among all satisfiable assignments. If the formula has no satisfying assignments, LEXSAT proves it unsatisfiable, as does the traditional SAT. The paper proposes an efficient algorithm for LEXSAT by combining incremental SAT solving with binary search. It also proposes methods that use the lexicographic properties of the assignments to further improve the runtime when generating consecutive satisfying assignments in lexicographic order. The proposed algorithm outperforms the state-of-the-art LEXSAT algorithm—on average, it is 2.4 times faster when generating a single LEXSAT assignment, and it is 6.3 times faster when generating multiple consecutive assignments.


Ojas is an important entity responsible for the maintenance of positive health. There is no proper understanding regarding its formation, colour, logic behind its classification as Para and Apara, is it essence of all Dhatu or Upadhatu or Mala. So there is a need to focus on the above mentioned aspects regarding Ojas. When union of Shukra and Sonita takes place, Agneya property of Arthava does Paka of Shukra, results in the formation of Ojas. During Paka, some part of colour of Arthava will be gained by Ojas, hence attains yellowish red colour. When heart is formed it enters the heart along with soul and function of this Ojas is withholding of Jeeva(soul), hence the name Para Ojas. Apara Ojas is essence of all seven Dhatu, present throughout the body. In the context of Paka of Shukra by Arthava, Garbha is Sara Baga and Ojas is considered as Mala Baga, if Ojas is compared with seven Dhatu then it is considered as essence of all seven Dhatu, if Ojas is compared with the other entities in the body by considering the functional aspect then it can be considered as the Upadhatu since it has the function of only Dharana and not Poshana. So, Ojas if considered in different angles it is Sara, Upadhatu, Mala.


The impetus of this work originated from the advent of high magnetic field magnetic resonance imaging scanners with B0 fields of 4T, 7T, and 9.4T. These ultrahigh magnetic field systems generally improve the signal to noise ratios. However, B1 field non-uniformity also occurs due to the increased RF field frequencies when wavelengths in the head become shorter than its size. As interest in multiple channel transmission line coils increases, the control of the amplitude and phase of individual coil elements is required in order to develop desired B1 field. The choice of the excitation of the coil elements may be determined by convex optimization. Convex optimization is used provides results very fast, when the problem is formulated globally. In addition, convex optimization provides better signal to noise (SNR) ratio when anatomic specific regions are investigated. In this paper, simulation and experimental results are discussed at 9.4T systems based on the number of elements. The primary objective of this study is to increase the signal in a specific target region and decrease the signal and noise in the outside region termed the suppression region. The convex formulations are minimizing the maximum field point in the suppression region while keeping the center of target maximum. Based on this min-max optimization criterion, an iteration method which modifies the selection of suppression fields is also performed to produce better results. The results of the localization on FDTD human data at 9.4T are shown in Fig. 1. In these figures, the axial slices of the center of human head model provided by XFDTD are used after manipulating with MATLAB and the 16 channel head coil is excited. Figure 1 shows an improvement of the homogeneity in the suppression region when the target region is at center. In Fig. 2, received signal localizations are obtained for three different regions of interest (ROI) after using the convex optimization. Note that the selection of ROI is limited by the geometric setting of phantom in the 8-channel TEM head coil. Convex optimization with an iterative method was performed on both the human head and phantom models with operating frequency 400 MHz to design coil channel excitation parameters. By applying the iterative method to the convex optimization, more homogeneous B1 fields are obtained in the suppression region for 9.4T system.


Existing social networking services recommend friends to users based on their social graphs, which may not be the most appropriate to reflect a user's preferences on friend selection in real life. In this paper, we present Friendbook, a novel semantic-based friend recommendation system for social networks, which recommends friends to users based on their life styles instead of social graphs. By taking advantage of sensor-rich smartphones, Friendbook discovers life styles of users from user-centric sensor data, measures the similarity of life styles between users, and recommends friends to users if their life styles have high similarity. Inspired by text mining, we model a user's daily life as life documents, from which his/her life styles are extracted by using the Latent Dirichlet Allocation algorithm. We further propose a similarity metric to measure the similarity of life styles between users, and calculate users' impact in terms of life styles with a friend-matching graph. Upon receiving a request, Friendbook returns a list of people with highest recommendation scores to the query user. Finally, Friendbook integrates a feedback mechanism to further improve the recommendation accuracy. We have implemented Friendbook on the Android-based smartphones, and evaluated its performance on both small-scale experiments and large-scale simulations. The results show that the recommendations accurately reflect the preferences of users in choosing friends.


The determination of novel protein structures is essential in advancing our understanding of how they function within their molecular environments, therefore providing some of the information necessary to exploit them in ways that will benefit society. Three very different novel proteins have been studied by X-ray crystallography, and it is hoped that the information gained can be applied to real life challenges. Burkholderia pseudomallei invasion protein D (BipD) not only has the potential for misuse as a bioterrorist weapon, due to its air-borne infectivity, but also causes the disease melioidosis, which can kill within 48 hours. The structure of this novel protein was determined by MAD phasing methods to 2.1 A, and has been found to be highly homologous with IpaD from Shigella flexneri. This knowledge has enabled proposals to be made for a homopentameric ring structure of this protein and identified possible pH induced conformational changes which may have relevance in vivo. 2,4'-Dihydroxyacetophenone Dioxygenase (DAD) from Alcaligenes sp. is of interest for quite a different reason. Aromatic hydrocarbons, are especially damaging to the environment because they are not naturally degraded. The expression and purification protocols for DAD have now been refined and the native protein has been crystallised and diffraction data collected. However, because it is a novel structure, a selenomethionine derivative must also be crystallised and data collected; these optimisation trials are continuing. Structural knowledge about the enzymes involved in aromatic catabolic pathways will result in a better understanding of the whole system and therefore present opportunities for manipulation for bioremediation purposes. Knowledge of a protein's structure can also help identify how specific properties are conferred, such as thermostability at extreme temperatures. L-Threonine Dehydrogenase from the hyperthermophilic archaeon Thermococcus kodakaraensis (TkTDH) is involved in the first of a two-step biochemical pathway conversion of threonine to glycine, by catalysing the NAD+ dependent metabolism of L-threonine to 2-amino-3-ketobutyrate (KBL). The structure of this enzyme has been determined to 2.4 A bound to its co-factor NAD+. It has been proposed that a structural and catalytic zinc are present in each monomer of this homotetramer as observed in the structurally similar alcohol dehydrogenases, but both were absent in this structure. The conserved residues postulated to co-ordinate these zinc ions were however in conformation that would allow metal ion coordination. Attempts have also been made to model the TDH tetramer with 2 dimers of KBL, as it is though that these enzymes form a complex and pass the intermediate substrate between them. This modelling is continuing. The structures of BipD and TkTDH have been solved and work is continuing on DAD This has made available a large amount of structural and functional information that would otherwise be inaccessible, contributing to our overall understanding of these macromolecules, as well as providing specific information that can be applied to particular challenges.


In what could almost be a metaphor for the declining significance of production and the rising importance of consumption to constructions and conceptions of individual, social and collective identity, Blair's 'New Labour' has revived a variant of Labour's 1970s policy of promoting worker cooperatives. Desperate to present itself as both cosmopolitan and modern, yet still in touch with its roots, Blair's government is providing public money to support groups of football fans, which wish to set up mutually‐based Supporters Trusts (Supporter Cooperatives). This initiative is meant to allay fears that such changes in the organization and control of elite football in England as the formation of the FA Premier League, the massive, media generated shifts in football club finances and the transformation of football clubs into public limited companies have caused football to move away from its core constituency of fans. In general, the literature associated with such developments, in a perhaps to be expected echo of the Left's response to the creation of worker cooperatives in the 1970s, has been somewhat slavishly uncritical. The purpose of this paper will be to explore and to critically analyse the origins, philosophy and practice of this government‐funded attempt to recognize 'the positive role that supporters play in football' and to develop 'formal mechanisms that allow supporters a greater say in how their clubs are run'.


Location sharing is one of the critical components in mobile online social networks (mOSNs), which has attracted much attention recently. With the advent of mOSNs, more and more users' location information will be collected by the service providers in mOSN. However, the users' privacy, including location privacy and social network privacy, cannot be guaranteed in the previous work without the trust assumption on the service providers. In this paper, aiming at achieving enhanced privacy against the insider attack launched by the service providers in mOSNs, we introduce a new architecture with multiple location servers for the first time and propose a secure solution supporting location sharing among friends and strangers in location-based applications. In our construction, the user's friend set in each friends' query submitted to the location servers is divided into multiple subsets by the social network server randomly. Each location server can only get a subset of friends, instead of the whole friends' set of the user as the previous work. In addition, for the first time, we propose a location-sharing construction which provides checkability of the searching results returned from location servers in an efficient way. We also prove that the new construction is secure under the stronger security model with enhanced privacy. Finally, we provide extensive experimental results to demonstrate the efficiency of our proposed construction.