Million of wireless device users are ever on the move, becoming more dependent on their PDAs, smart phones, and other handheld devices. With the advancement of pervasive computing, new and unique capabilities are available to aid mobile societies. The wireless nature of these devices has fostered a new era of mobility. Thousands of pervasive devices are able to arbitrarily join and leave a network, creating a nomadic environment known as a pervasive ad hoc network. However, mobile devices have vulnerabilities, and some are proving to be challenging. Security in pervasive computing is the most critical challenge. Security is needed to ensure exact and accurate confidentiality, integrity, authentication, and access control, to name a few. Security for mobile devices, though still in its infancy, has drawn the attention of various researchers. As pervasive devices become incorporated in our day-to-day lives, security will increasingly becoming a common concern for all users - - though for most it will be an afterthought, like many other computing functions. The usability and expansion of pervasive computing applications depends greatly on the security and reliability provided by the applications. At this critical juncture, security research is growing. This paper examines the recent trends and forward thinking investigation in several fields of security, along with a brief history of previous accomplishments in the corresponding areas. Some open issues have been discussed for further investigation.


This paper seeks to understand globalization as a way to interpret the shift in the portrayal of the Other as allegorized as aliens in Hindi science fiction cinema. After a brief discussion of what constitutes science fiction, the paper examines four science fiction films: Chand Par Chadayee (Sundaram 1967), Wahan Ke Log (Ansari 1967), Koi...Mil Gaya (Roshan 2003) and PK (Hirani 2014). A comparison is drawn between the films produced in the twentieth century and those produced in the twenty-first, noting the vilification of aliens in the former and the positive characterization in the latter. This shift in the portrayal of aliens is argued as a result of the liberalization of the Indian economy, the strengthening of the Indian military, and other factors that contribute to today's globalized world.


Malaysia is currently one of the competitive recipients of foreign direct investments in
the Asian region. The stable political and economic environment of the country have
attracted foreign multinational corporations (MNCs) to choose and set up business here
in Malaysia, hence contributing to her economic growth and development.
This research presents the findings of a survey on foreign subsidiaries in Malaysia,
regarding their foreign parents' control patterns over them. Control patterns in this
study are divided into two types of control. Behavioral control is mainly the direct
control imposed by the foreign headquarters and is measured by the number of
expatriates representing the foreign parent in key positions of the local subsidiary. On
the other hand, output control reflects indirect or "hands-off" approach of headquarters
and is gauged by the frequency of reports submitted to foreign headquarters annually.
This research analyses how these control patterns are associated with the nationality of
the foreign parent organization, as well as the level of ownership of foreign parent in a Malaysian subsidiary. Control patterns are also linked to a third variable, which is the
typology of MNCs that is employed by a foreign parent organization.
After receiving feedback from 113 MNCs in Malaysia, the findings support that
Japanese MNCs do practice more behavioral control than their European or American
counterparts. However, the hypothesis that American MNCs practice more output
control than their Japanese or European counterparts is not supported.
As for the level of ownership, one out of two hypotheses is accepted. The analysis
indicates that the level of ownership of foreign parent in the Malaysian subsidiary and
the use of behavioral control are dependent. On the other hand, the analysis did not
discover enough evidence to support that there is a difference in the usage of output
control among wholly, majority or minority owned subsidiaries.Typology of MNCs in this study is divided into two broad categories: global and non-global.
Findings indicate that behavioral control and typology of MNCs are dependent.
However, the study failed to find significant evidence that points to a difference of
output control usage between the two types of MNCs.


This paper deals with intermodal transportation of goods from Europe to the United States. The main objective is the development of a mathematical model called Transatlantic multi-mode container routing problem. It provides a tool for network optimization in transportation science. The developed model enables users to determine the optimal collaborative routing in a network system that achieves the minimization of costs for a company that ships a single commodity from multiple origins to multiple destinations. The model consists of network of maritime shipping lines between the ports and then networks of road and railway transportation on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. In order to develop the model it was necessary to make assumptions, define sets, parameters, decision variables, constraints and objective function. Branch and cut algorithm used by GAMS modelling software provides the solution of the model. Short analysis of trends and statistics of road and rail transportation as complements to maritime transportation on both continents is also presented.


Abstract New mid-Cretaceous stable isotope (δ18O and δ13C) records of multiple planktonic foraminiferal species and coexisting coccoliths from Blake Nose (western North Atlantic) document a major depth-ecology reorganization of planktonic foraminifera. Across the Albian/Cenomanian boundary, deep-dwelling Praeglobotruncana stephani and Rotalipora globotruncanoides adapted to living at a shallower depth, while, at the same time, the population of surface-dwelling Paracostellagerina libyca declined. Subsequently, the opportunistic species Hedbergella delrioensis shifted to a deep environment, and the deep-dwelling forms Rotalipora montsalvensis and Rotalipora reicheli first appeared. The primary paleoenvironmental cause of the observed changes in planktonic adaptive strategies is uncertain, yet their coincidence with an earliest Cenomanian cooling trend reported elsewhere implicates the importance of reduced upper-ocean stratification. Although there has been an implicit assumption that the species-specific depth habitats of fossil planktonic foraminifera were invariant through time, planktonic paleoecology is a potential variable. Accordingly, the possibility of evolutionary changes in planktonic foraminiferal depth ecology should be a primary consideration (along with other environmental parameters) in paleoceanographic interpretations of foraminiferal stable isotope data.


Foal scores from the International Sporthorse Registry and Oldenburg Registry North America were used for statistical and genetic analysis. Scored traits include type and conformation (TC), athletic ability of movement (AM), overall development as related to age (OD), and total score (TS) calculated as a weighted average of TC, AM, and OD. Premium status (PS) was analyzed as a binary trait. Preliminary statistical analysis determined significant fixed effects of sex, year of birth, dam breed, and inspection period. Offspring of stallions with only one offspring in the dataset and nonwarmblood sires were deleted. Non-warmblood or non-Thoroughbred dams were also removed. Variance components were estimated using ASReml methodology to obtain genetic parameters. Traits were moderately to highly heritable with heritabilities of 0.45, 0.47, 0.49, and 0.55 for TC, AM, OD, and TS, respectively. PS had a heritability of 0.32 on a binary scale and 0.51 when transformed to the normal scale. Genetic correlations between TC, AM, OD, and TS were all high and favorable, ranging from 0.80 to 0.99. Genetic correlations with PS were inestimable. Foal inspection scores are heritable and should respond to selection. Selection for improvement in one trait should result in improvement in all traits. If genetic parameters can be correlated to data obtained in older horses, incorporating foal scores in selection decisions could improve warmblood breeding programs. Utilizing foal inspection scores should be beneficial to breeding objectives of the International Sporthorse Registry and Oldenburg Registry North America.


Much research have been focused on the importance of physical parameters on the profitability of New Zealand pastoral systems, however not many efforts have been addressed from a financial perspective. As farms get bigger, the identification of the main drivers on farm economical viability becomes more important. The objective of this study was to identify important factors affecting Return on Equity (ROE) as a measure of risk in pastoral systems. A 5-years database of owner operated New Zealand dairy farms with seasonal milk supply pattern was analysed. A logistic regression model was used to examine the effects of several variables on ROE. The analysis was undertaken between farms and within seasons to account for the effect of milk payout on risk. The Debt to Asset Ratio, Operating Profit Margin and Asset Turnover Ratio were negatively correlated with risk and significant for the whole period analyzed. The Debt Servicing Capacity was positively correlated to risk and significant for the 5 years period; it was also the most dominant variable in determining the risk. The Farm Working Expense Ratio was positively correlated with risk however its significance level varied during the period analyzed. Effective Area was positive but not consistently correlated to risk. Thus improving economic efficiency and leverage (both amount of money borrowed and interest rates) are key issues to managing risk under New Zealand conditions.


Offers a challenging interpretation of the ways in which young people's non-participation is becoming marginalised and criminalised. It re-examines the causes and consequences of youth unemployment in and beyond the UK from an unusually wide range of social science disciplines and perspectives.


Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are important molecules that are rapidly generated in response to abiotic and biotic stimuli and which regulate diverse physiological processes such as stomatal aperture and cell death. Plant immunity involves the detection of pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) through cognate pattern recognition receptors (PRRs). Perception of PAMPs induces an extracellular oxidative burst, which requires the function of the NADPH oxidase AtRbohD. However, little is known about the regulation of PAMP-elicited ROS and its role in plant PAMP-triggered immunity. We investigated ROS production mediated by the FLS2 receptor kinase responsible for the detection of bacterial flagellin (flg22) in Arabidopsis to elucidate components of early flg22 signaling. Rboh proteins are assumed to predominantly mediate extracellular ROS production in plants. We observed AtRbohD to be rate limiting for flg22-elicited ROS production. Moreover, bacterial multiplication monitored at early stages of infection with a disarmed but pathogenic Pseudomonas syringae strain indicated ROS accumulation important for plant immunity. A forward genetic screen led to the isolation of rio1 to rio5 mutants, all of which were severely reduced in flg22-induced ROS production. Rio1, rio2 and rio3 carry mutations in FLS2 and its co-receptor BAK1, respectively. The responsible gene mutations of rio4 and rio5 remain to be identified in a subsequent mapping approach. A candidate gene approach revealed that flg22-stimulated oxidative burst was specifically inhibited in ethylene signaling mutants. Impaired ROS production in etr1 and ein2 mutants could be partially rescued by chemical interference with ethylene accumulation. Notably, wounding partially complemented the ROS reduced phenotype. Furthermore, accumulation of FLS2 but not BAK1 was in part dependent on ethylene signaling. Bacterial multiplication at early time points was significantly enhanced in ethylene signaling mutants indicating the importance of PAMP-triggered ROS production in plant defence responses.


Objective. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) on collagen changes after mucoperiosteal denudation of rat palate. Material and methods. A total of 36 male Wistar rats were divided into control, scar, sham, and bFGF groups. In the scar, sham, and bFGF groups, lateral palatal mucoperiosteum was excised to form scar tissue on the palate. In the bFGF group, bFGF solution was injected into the operated area 1 week postoperatively. At 6 weeks postoperatively, the distribution of collagen type I and the 3-dimensional structure of collagen fibers were investigated under immunofluorescent and scanning electron microscopy. Result. In the bFGF group, weakly immunostained submucosa was clearly distinguishable from the strongly immunostained cervical periodontal ligament and gingiva. Collagen fibers running from submucosal tissue into the surface of underlying palatal bone comprised loosely arranged collagen fibrils. Lumen structures in collagen fibers resembled those in the control group. Conclusion. Administration of bFGF for suppression of collagen type I generation could suppress scar tissue formation and reduce connective strength with adjacent teeth and palatal bone.


Approximately 99% of the plastics produced today are petroleum-based, and the packaging industry alone consumes over 38% of these plastics. In this review, we argue that renewable polyesters can provide a key milestone as renewable plastics in the route toward green packaging. This review describes different classes of polyesters with particular regard to their potential use as packaging materials. Some of the families of polyesters discussed include poly(ethylene terephthalate) and its renewable analogs, poly(lactic acid), poly(hydroxyalkanoates), and poly(epoxy anhydrides). The synthesis of polyesters is discussed from a green chemistry perspective. A structure–property correlation among the various polyesters is also discussed. The challenges that currently hinder the widespread adoption of polyesters as leading packaging materials are reviewed. The environmental footprint and end of life scenario of polyesters are discussed. Finally, future research directions are summarized as a possible roadmap towards the widespread adoption of renewable polyesters as sustainable packaging materials.


Moist calcium silicate minerals are known to readily react with carbon dioxide (CO2). The Accelerated Carbonation of hazardous wastes is a controlled accelerated version of the naturally occurring process. The solid mixture is carbonated under a gaseous, CO2 rich environment at slightly positive pressures (3 bar), which promotes rapid stiffening of the non-hydrated product into a structural medium within minutes. In addition, an increased binding of toxic metals occurs as the solid carbonates. Today, Accelerated Carbonation is a developing technology, which may have potential for the treatment of wastes and contaminated soils and for the sequestration of CO2, an important greenhouse gas. The consequent significant improvement in the properties of certain treated materials can facilitate reuse in a variety of construction applications. Accelerated Carbonation represents a potential solution to sustainable waste management, the problem of decreasing landfill space in the UK, rising CO2 emission levels and the depletion of natural aggregate resources. This thesis reports on the application of Accelerated Carbonation for the treatment of Municipal Solid Waste Incinerator residues (MSWIr). The treatment imparts chemical and mineralogical changes to the residues, which reduce their environmental impact through encapsulation of hazardous components and cementation by carbonate precipitation. Given the viability of carbonation as a process to treat MSWIr, this investigation focused on optimising the fundamental parameters determining the extent and quality of carbonation of these residues. Major attention was also given to the modelling of the kinetics and mechanism of the carbonation reaction of Air Pollution Control Residues (APCr). The kinetics were studied in a batch carbonation rig designed and built at University College London. In addition, the major physical and chemical changes in APCr and Bottom Ashes (BA) after carbonation were evaluated using various analytical techniques. In addition, a commercial feasibility study has been carried out which confirmed the considerable and immediate potential for the commercialisation of Accelerated Carbonation technology for the treatment of municipal MSWIr. This conclusion was reached by analysing the market and industry for waste management, competing innovations and the capacity of Accelerated Carbonation to enable the recycling and reuse of CO2 and solid wastes. This work provides a fundamental understanding of the Accelerated Carbonation reaction of APCr essential to further ascertain the scale-up parameters required for the design of a large scale continuous process.


We prospectively studied kidney transplants that progressed to failure after a biopsy for clinical indications, aiming to assign a cause to every failure. We followed 315 allograft recipients who underwent indication biopsies at 6 days to 32 years posttransplant. Sixty kidneys progressed to failure in the follow‐up period (median 31.4 months). Failure was rare after T‐cell–mediated rejection and acute kidney injury and common after antibody‐mediated rejection or glomerulonephritis. We developed rules for using biopsy diagnoses, HLA antibody and clinical data to explain each failure. Excluding four with missing information, 56 failures were attributed to four causes: rejection 36 (64%), glomerulonephritis 10 (18%), polyoma virus nephropathy 4 (7%) and intercurrent events 6 (11%). Every rejection loss had evidence of antibody‐mediated rejection by the time of failure. Among rejection losses, 17 of 36 (47%) had been independently identified as nonadherent by attending clinicians. Nonadherence was more frequent in patients who progressed to failure (32%) versus those who survived (3%). Pure T‐cell–mediated rejection, acute kidney injury, drug toxicity and unexplained progressive fibrosis were not causes of loss. This prospective cohort indicates that many actual failures after indication biopsies manifest phenotypic features of antibody‐mediated or mixed rejection and also underscores the major role of nonadherence.


Tyr83 in endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) has been identified previously as a site of Src kinase–mediated phosphorylation of eNOS in bovine aortic endothelial cells (BAECs) that is phosphorylated in response to oxidant stress. In the present study, we have used a phospho-specific antibody to show that Tyr83 in eNOS is also phosphorylated in both BAECs and intact blood vessel segments in response to treatment with a variety of different eNOS-activating agonists, including thapsigargin, vascular endothelial growth factor, bradykinin, ATP, sphingosine-1-phosphate, estrogen, angiopoietin, and acetylcholine. Agonist stimulation of eNOS Tyr83 phosphorylation as well as agonist stimulation of endothelial NO release in BAECs is blocked by Src kinase inhibition by either 4-amino-5-(4-chlorophenyl)-7-(t-butyl) pyrazolo [3,4-d] pyrimidine (PP2) or by dominant negative Src. Mutation of Tyr83 to a nonphosphorylatable Phe blocks agonist stimulation of NO release from eNOS-reconstituted eNOS knockdown endothelial cells. Mutation of Tyr83 also attenuates agonist-induced relaxation of eNOS-reconstituted aortic rings from eNOS knockout mice. Phosphorylation of eNOS at Tyr83 thus appears to be a common covalent modification that is induced, not only by oxidant stress but also by other physiologically relevant extracellular signals known to be important in regulation of eNOS activity in vivo. Moreover, our results demonstrate an important role for Src-mediated phosphorylation of eNOS at Tyr83 in agonist stimulation of eNOS activation and vascular relaxation.


Self-piercing riveting as an alternative joining method to spot-welding has attracted considerable interest from the automotive industry and has been widely used in aluminium intensive vehicles. Pressing and stamping are important processes in automotive production and result in additional straining on the vehicle body sheet material. It is therefore important to have knowledge of the effect of sheet pre-straining on the quality of the self-piercing riveted joints and on the mechanical behaviour of the riveted aluminium alloy sheets. This paper reports the influence of sheet pre-straining on the static and fatigue behaviour of self-piercing riveted aluminium alloy sheet. Wrought aluminium alloy sheet, NG5754 with a nominal thickness value of 2mm was used to obtain pre-strained NG5754 sheets with pre-straining levels of 3%, 5% and 10%. The pre-strained NG5754 sheets were then joined in pair to create single riveted lap joints. Lap-shear and fatigue tests were performed on the self-piercing riveted joints. Microscopic inspection showed that the joint quality was satisfactory despite the increasing sheet straining levels. The results showed that by increasing the pre-straining level up to 10%, the shear and fatigue strength also increased. The rate of increase of the static and fatigue strength differed as the pre-straining levels varied.


Cryptography and Security hardware architecture designing is in essential need for efficient power utilization which is achieved earlier by giving a range of tradeoff between speed and power consumption. This paper presents the initiative of considering subthreshold SRAM memory modules to gain ultra-low-power capable systems. The paper presents improving existing crypto security architectures to reconfigurable domain-specific SRAM memory designs. It is found that reliability is still a problem not solved; however, we start this paper idea to design flexible crypto hardware to gain the performance as well as the reduced power consumption.


The Neuquen Basin constitutes one of the most conspicuous features of the Andean margin of Gondwana during Mesozoic times. The initial syn-rift infill (Late Triassic-Early Jurassic) of this ensialic extensional basin involved a profuse magmatic activity (Precuyano Cycle). Outcrops of the southern depocentres of the basin (Chachil, Catan Lil, Chacaico, Sanico y Piedra del aguila) were studied in order to analyze the characteristics of this magmatic cycle. Shallow intrusive, lava flow and pyroclastic accumulation units of the syn-rift sequence conform up to 70% of the total infill. The syn-rift sequence shows a particular spatial-temporal evolution from mainly intermediate volcanic rocks at the base to mainly acidic pyroclastic rocks to the top. Volcanic feeding-systems were characterized by shallow and multiple-injection magmatic chambers. Eight main alteration facies related to syn- and post-volcanic stages were determined. Trace element data show that the lava and pyroclastic products share a co-magmatic trend, dominated by intermediate to acid products. Rocks belong to the sub-alkaline series, mostly calc-alkaline and transitional, and in a lesser extent tholeiitic, with orogenic signature. Nevertheless, the stratigraphical and compositional features (>50% of acid volcanic products) suggest some differences with typical arc-series. Recent models to explain the magmatic systems in complex convergent margins were discussed (i.e., intra-crustal and extra-crustal models), being chosen an extra-crustal model to justify the compositional and stratigraphical features of the Precuyano Cycle. According to this model the partial melting of an underplating 'silicic cold plume' (metasediment-oceanic crust melanges derived from subducted slab) would explain the wide distribution transversal to the margin of the Precuyano volcanism, whereas the degree of partial melting of the 'plume' would explain the prevailing composition of the cycle: andesitic and daciticrhyodacitic compositions. The onset of extension made possible the rising of the initial andesitic volcanism, whereas during either the rifting climax or along the sites with major crustal extension, the high viscosity acid magmas would have been preferentially risen. Finally, an Andean segmentation at 40°S would explain the development of an extensional segment towards the north, where the Neuquen basin was developed, and the magmatic arc towards the south, represented by the Subcordilleran Batholith.


Qumran and the Essenes: A Re-Evaluation of the Evidence, by Lena Cansdale. TSAJ 60. Tubingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 1997. Pp. xii + 230. DM 168.00. This book, a revision of a dissertation written at the University of Sydney under the direction of Alan D. Crown, calls in question not only the Essene authorship of the rulebooks and other sectarian literature among the Dead Sea Scrolls, but also the connection of Qumran with the Essenes as known from classical ancient sources. The discussion falls into two parts: (1) the community of the Scrolls, and (2) Qumran and its surroundings. In the first part the author surveys the discovery of the Scrolls, the excavations at Qumran, and the Essene theory, and then examines inconsistencies in the rulebooks, finally asking whether the Scrolls were not addressed to "all the People of the Jewish Nation." In this section Cansdale takes up the status of women in the Scroll community and then its possible relation to contemporary Essenes, Pharisees, Sadducees, Zealots, Samaritans, early Christians, etc. In the second part she surveys the discovery of texts found not only at Qumran, but also at Murabb'at, Mird, Masada, and ed-Daliyeh. Then she discusses the name and identity of Qumran in antiquity and modem times, its relation to commercial shipping on the Dead Sea, and the network of trade routes for bitumen, salt, and spices from neighboring countries. Details of the archaeology of Qumran (its cisterns, tower, "scriptorium," industrial workshops, cemeteries, and eaves) are noted, and aspects of their usual interpretation are queried. The relation of Qumran to other sites (Ain Feshkha, Jericho) is probed. From all of this Cansdale concludes that the Essenes are known to us only from the -ancient authors who specifically named them in their writings" (p. 191), are never mentioned in the Scrolls themselves (p. 192), and that "Qumran was not the principal dwelling place of the Essenes," but rather a small fortress to protect the international trade mute and to serve as a customs post (p. 196). She maintains rather that the evidence amassed presents 11 a strong case" for "some other community or communities" than the Essenes as the "creators" of the Scrolls. Her final paragraph, however, qualifies this conclusion a bit when she speaks of her -tentative answers to the main questions" raised in this book. The value of Cansdale's work is found in the reporting of the many scholarly opinions (wise and ridiculous) about the diverse topics related to Qumran and the Essenes treated in it. Such a survey will be of great use to those who are just beginning a study of the Qumran Scrolls and will help them to compare this remarkable discovery with others (e.g., the Shapira "forgeries"). The book, however, is controversial, being a good example of petitio principii. Instead of taking up the topics and laying out the pro's and con's for each and then drawing a conclusion, Cansdale states her thesis early on (pp. 14, 21, 22), even before the evidence is presented. Then when one finally reads her discussion of the topics, one sees how debatable many of the issues individually are, The arguments are loaded with pejorative labels: "Pan Essene theory" (pp. 12, 79, 138, 153); "the astigmatic lens of de Vaux's interpretations" (p. …


In addition to assessment of commercial risks, when making decisions about assets or activities in other countries, multinational corporations also require to assess political risks such as the stability of government and potential changes in the treatment of non-domestic corporations. Environmental scanning is well covered in the literature. Although country risk assessment may be regarded as a specialist sub-set of environmental scanning, the sources of information in terms of independence, objectivity, accuracy, trustworthiness and absence of bias, to inform this process are not well explored in the literature. This study addresses this gap. We survey multinationals operating from Jordan and examine sources of information within a corporation-specific characteristics framework. The main findings are that multiple sources of information are used, of which internal sources are the most important, both personnel at headquarters and personnel abroad. Analysis of the survey data on the basis of corporation-specific characteristics revealed no significant correlations. There are implications for governments with regard to perceived reliability of the information they collect and make available to multinationals. There are also implications for multinationals in terms of resourcing of personnel, especially those based abroad, and a need for an awareness of the reliance often placed on such sources.


Angiopoietin-1 (Ang1) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) are endothelial cell-specific growth factors. Direct comparison of transgenic mice overexpressing these factors in the skin revealed that the VEGF-induced blood vessels were leaky, whereas those induced by Ang1 were nonleaky. Moreover, vessels in Ang1-overexpressing mice were resistant to leaks caused by inflammatory agents. Coexpression of Ang1 and VEGF had an additive effect on angiogenesis but resulted in leakage-resistant vessels typical of Ang1. Ang1 therefore may be useful for reducing microvascular leakage in diseases in which the leakage results from chronic inflammation or elevated VEGF and, in combination with VEGF, for promoting growth of nonleaky vessels.


Using a mechanical analogy of rolling a cylindrical barrel on a rough uneven surface, we developed a special method for detrending the GPS‐derived total electron content (TEC) data. This method is specifically designed to recognize the presence of depletions in the TEC time series data and handle them differently from wavelike features. We also demonstrate a potential application of this technique to map the detailed geographic profile of TEC depletions over the equatorial region, using the South American sector as an example.


Wireless location determination has attracted much attention lately due to its many applications in mobile (sensor) networking including target tracking and network intrusion detection. However, it is challenging due to the complexities of the wireless radio propagation characteristics exacerbated by the mobility of the mobile. In this dissertation, we propose realistic localization mechanisms for both indoor and outdoor environments.
For the indoor localization, a common practice is to mechanically generate a table showing the radio signal strength at different known locations in the building. A mobile user's location at an arbitrary point in the building is determined by measuring the signal strength at the location in question and determining the location by referring to the above table using a LMSE (least mean square error) criterion. Obviously, this is a very tedious and time consuming task. This dissertation proposes a novel and automated location determination method called ARIADNE. Using a two dimensional construction floor plan and only a single actual signal strength measurement, ARIADNE dynamically generates an estimated signal strength map comparable to those generated manually by actual measurements. Given the signal measurements for a mobile, a proposed clustering algorithm searches that signal strength map to determine the current mobile's location. Extensive experiments with various deployment strategies have been carried out to evaluate the ARIADNE system at two different buildings. The results indicate that the ARIADNE system outperforms all other existing indoor localization schemes.
For outdoor wireless sensor networks, this dissertation proposes two reliable and precise distributed localization algorithms: iterative multidimensional scaling (IT MDS) and simulated annealing multidimensional scaling (SA-MDS). It uses only radio communication constraints to infer node distances, and adapts the multidimensional scaling algorithm (MDS) in the localization research. The research analytically establishes the upper-bound on the estimation error. The proposed techniques can estimate all node positions even with limited and imprecise network knowledge. Analysis and test runs show that the proposed methods are independent of the topology randomness and the range measurement errors. Simulation results for the proposed methods yield an average estimation error of about 25% of radio transmission range.
Besides the detailed research on localization, recently there has been an increasing interest in exploring wireless communications, prototypes and measurements on real test-beds. In order to find a realistic tuning of simulation models, this research investigates one of the critical fundamentals---the realistic radio range irregularity (RRI) model---according to the measurements made under various settings. Using the RRI model, a set of representative localization algorithms are evaluated and compared. Through detailed analysis and extensive simulations, the dissertation points out how the localization performance is affected by the use of simplistic models. The RRI model reflects and highlights the weaknesses of those algorithms and allows the design of countermeasures. This dissertation also introduces a constrained-greedy forwarding radio propagation method to remedy the negative effects encountered under actual operating environments.


We are now at the half-way point of the UNESCO decade for education for sustainable development, promulgated in recognition of the seriousness of the global climate crisis, and positioning educators as potential leaders in generating the cultural changes needed to address this crisis (UNESCO, 2005). This article reports on one key focus of a recent study, 'Titiro Whakamuri, Hoki Whakamua. We are the future, the present and the past: Caring for self, others and the environment in early years' teaching and learning', which had the aim of investigating how centres can work with their local communities in fostering ecologically sustainable practices. This project utilised a philosophical framework grounded in kaupapa Maori notions such as manaakitanga (caring) and kaitiakitanga (stewardship), along with an ethic of care (Noddings, 2005). The work of teachers from ten early childhood centres produced evidence of teachers proactively raising awareness amongst tamariki and whanau of strategies for caring for our environment, and ways in which this extended more broadly into their communities, some of which are described below.


. The responses of microbial communities to hydrocarbon exposures are complex and variable, driven to a large extent by the nature of hydrocarbon infusion, local environmental conditions, and factors that regulate microbial physiology (e.g., substrate and nutrient availability). Although present at low abundance in the ocean, hydrocarbon-degrading seed populations are widely distributed, and they respond rapidly to hydrocarbon inputs at natural and anthropogenic sources. Microbiomes from environments impacted by hydrocarbon discharge may appear similar at a higher taxonomic rank (e.g., genus level) but diverge at increasing phylogenetic resolution (e.g., sub-OTU [operational taxonomic unit] levels). Such subtle changes are detectable by computational methods such as oligotyping or by genome reconstruction from metagenomic sequence data. The ability to reconstruct these genomes, and to characterize their transcriptional activities in different environmental contexts through metatranscriptomic mapping, is revolutionizing our ability to understand the diverse and adaptable microbial communities in marine ecosystems. Our knowledge of the environmental factors that regulate microbial hydrocarbon degradation and the efficiency with which marine hydrocarbon-degrading microbial communities bioremediate hydrocarbon contamination is incomplete. Moreover, detailed baseline descriptions of naturally occurring hydrocarbon-degrading microbial communities and a more robust understanding of the factors that regulate their activity are needed.


We present a joint retrieval as well as first results for mesospheric air density and mesospheric Magnesium species (Mg and Mg ) using limb data from the SCIAMACHY instrument on board the European ENVISAT satellite. Metallic species like neutral Mg, ionized Mg + and others (Fe, Si, Li, etc.) ablate from meteoric dust, enter the gas phase and occur at high altitudes ( ≥70 km). Emissions from these species are clearly observed in the SCIAMACHY limb measurements. These emissions are used to retrieve total and thermospheric column densities as well as preliminary profiles of metallic species in the altitude range of 70–92 km. In this paper, neutral Magnesium as well as its ionized counterpart Mg is considered. These species feature resonance fluorescence in the wavelength range 279 and 285 nm and thus have a rather simple excitation process. A radiative transfer model (RTM) for the mesosphere has been developed and validated. Based on a ray tracing kernel, radiances in a large wavelength range from 240–300 nm covering limb as well as nadir geometry can be calculated. The forward model has been validated and shows good agreement with established models in the given wavelength range and a large altitude range. The RTM has been coupled to a retrieval based on Optimal Estimation. Air density is retrieved from Rayleigh backscattered light. Mesospheric Mg and Mg + number densities are retrieved from their emission signals observed in the limb scans of SCIAMACHY. Other species like iron, silicon, OH and NO can be investigated in principle with the same algorithm. Based on the retrieval presented here, SCIAMACHY offers the opportunity to investigate mesospheric species on a global scale and with good vertical resolution for the first time. Correspondence to: M. Scharringhausen (firstname.lastname@example.com)


Stochastic quantisation normally involves the introduction of a fictitious extra time parameter, which is taken to infinity so that the system evolves to an equilibrium state.In the case of a locally supersymmetric theory, an interesting new possibility arises due to the existence of a Nicolai map. In this case it turns out that no additional time parameter is required, as the existence of the Nicolai map ensures that the same job can be done by the existing time parameter after Euclideanisation. This provides the quantum theory with a natural probabilistic interpretation, without any reference to the concept of an inner product or a Hilbert space structure.


The author analyzes the conditions that link the entry into adolescence with access to a temporal order that protects the subject from the confusion of time that is proper to psychosis. This is only possible if the I, in the midst of childhood, can build a memory reserve in which will be kept certain elements, moments, snatches of one's own libidinal history. But on this memory reserve must depend the fantasmatic capital that the I must be able to use fully if its memory is to remain endowed with the emotional power without which any new encounter will be divested of the power to enjoy and to suffer.


The mesolimbic dopamine system is involved in the rewarding process of drugs of abuse and is activated during the anticipation of drug availability. However, the neurocircuitry that regulates ethanol (EtOH)-seeking has not been adequately investigated. The objectives of the present study were to determine (1) if the posterior ventral tegmental area (p-VTA) mediates EtOH-seeking, (2) if microinjections of EtOH into the p-VTA could stimulate EtOH-seeking, and (3) the involvement of p-VTA dopamine (DA) neurons in EtOH-seeking. Method: Alcohol-Preferring (P) rats were trained to self-administer 15% ethanol (EtOH) and water. After 10 weeks, rats underwent extinction training, followed by a 2 week homecage period. During the homecage period, rats were then bilaterally implanted with guide cannulae aimed at the p-VTA or anterior VTA (a-VTA). EtOH-seeking was assessed by the Pavlovian Spontaneous Recovery (PSR) model. Separate experiments examined the effects of; 1) microinjection of quinpirole into the p-VTA, 2) EtOH microinjected into the p-VTA, 3) co-administration of EtOH and quinpirole into the p-VTA, 4) microinjection of quinpirole into the anterior VTA (a-VTA), and 5) microinjection of EtOH into the a-VTA. Quinpirole microinjected into the p-VTA reduced EtOH-seeking. Microinjections of EtOH into the p-VTA increased EtOH-seeking. Pretreatment with both quinpirole and EtOH into the p-VTA reduced EtOH-seeking. Microinjections of quinpirole or EtOH into the a-VTA did not alter EtOH-seeking. Overall, the results suggest that the p-VTA is a neuroanatomical substrate mediating alcohol-seeking behavior and that activation of local DA neurons is involved.


We have recently demonstrated that fusions of different target enzymes to the coiled-coil domain TDoT induced the formation of catalytically active inclusion bodies (CatIBs) in E. coli (doi:10.1016/j.jbiotec.2017.04.033). Here we show that the CatIB properties can be tailored to the requirements of different reaction systems using two different coiled-coil domains as fusion tags: TDoT and 3HAMP. As an example the benzaldehyde lyase from Pseudomonas fluorescens (PfBAL) was chosen, which catalyzes the formation of 2-hydroxy ketones and benzoins from aromatic donor aldehydes and aromatic or aliphatic acceptor aldehydes. Using these fusion tags two different kinds of PfBAL-CatIBs were successfully produced that differ in morphology, solubility during washing steps, initial rate activity, protein and lipid content. TDoT-PfBAL and 3HAMP-PfBAL CatIBs were studied relative to the soluble enzyme concerning their application in biocatalysis in continuous reaction mode and in batch using a mono- and biphasic solvent system. Both CatIBs outperformed the soluble enzyme with respect to stability under reaction conditions. In the buffer/DMSO system used for the continuous synthesis of (R)-2-hydroxy-1-phenylpropanone, TDoT-PfBAL was superior to the soluble enzyme. Besides, 3HAMP-PfBAL was more suitable in a biphasic reaction system for the synthesis of (R)-benzoins and revealed an up to 3-fold higher activity compared to the soluble enzyme.


Abstract Twenty-six years after the first edition and translation by Sydney Anglo in 1991 of the anonymous manuscript Le Jeu de la hache , many elements can still be significantly improved. This paper offers a completely new critical edition of the text, and a major revision of the translation. This article includes a detailed glossary as well as notes to discuss the many ambiguous passages in the original text. Finally, the studies of the language, the vocabulary, the dialect, the writing style and the physical document make it possible to refine the dating of the manuscript to the third quarter of the fifteenth century, between 1460 and 1485, and its origin, probably Flanders or Wallonia in the entourage of the dukes of Burgundy.


The purpose of this research is to examine the predictive relations between faculty's academic intellectual leadership, and communication, climate and managerial flexibility regarding scholarly practices in universities. For this purpose, the research was designed in correlational research pattern, and, to collect data, an online questionnaire composed of Organizational Communication, Organizational Climate, Managerial Flexibility Regarding Scholarly Practices and Academic Intellectual Leadership scales was sent via e-mail to faculty who work in different disciplines in Turkish public universities. The questionnaires responded to by 504 faculties were included in the data analysis, and then descriptive, correlation and regression analyses were performed. According to the findings, Managerial Flexibility Regarding Service Practices is a significant predictor for all dimensions of academic intellectual leadership; Managerial Flexibility Regarding Teaching Practices for only the Guardian dimension; Supported Structurally, a dimension of the organizational climate, for Ambassador and Acquistor dimensions. This result shows that faculty's perceptions about climate in universities and the managerial support for scholarly duties strongly affect their academic intellectual leadership. Therefore, to enhance faculty's academic intellectual leadership behaviors, university managers can initiate different mechanisms such as learning-teaching centers, media advisory units and sporting-social event bureaus besides research-based facilities. University managers should also generate a more positive work environment by encouraging academics to follow their scholarly interests and recognizing academics' various achievements with material and moral rewards within the institution.


We tested the application of qualitative behavioral assessment (QBA) as a welfare assessment tool. Sheep were exposed to road transport treatments, and behavioral expressions were compared between experimental treatments and validated by correlation with physiological measures. We compared journeys differing in ventilation (closed vs. open-sided trailer), flooring (grip vs. nongrip flooring), and driving styles (stop–start vs. continuous driving). Blood samples were collected immediately before loading and after unloading; heart rate and core body temperatures were recorded continuously. Continuous video footage was edited to show individual sheep to observers for QBA using free-choice profiling (observers used their own descriptive terms). There was significant consensus in observers' scores for the sheep in each experiment (p < .001). Observers distinguished between sheep exposed to flooring (p = .014) or driving-style (p = .005) treatments, but not between ventilation treatments. QBA scores were compared (p < .05) with plasma leptin, glucose, and insulin-like growth factor-1 concentrations; white blood cell profiles; red blood cell counts; hematocrit; body temperatures; and heart rate variability. Observer assessments reflected treatment differences, and correlations between behavioral expression and physiological responses were found.


Inflatable robotic rovers (IRRs) are a promising concept for long-range exploration and access to high-risk areas on planetary surfaces. Through inflation or expansion of their locomotion elements, inflatable rovers can achieve extraordinary terrainability not possible by other conventional mobility systems while maintaining respectable travel speeds. Early work by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has identified key mobility advantages, but design optimality and limitations relative to mission requirements are currently not known. This paper describes CMU's experimental studies that characterize single robotic wheel performance in terms of rolling resistance, drawbar pull, drive torque, drive power and tire wear. These studies were performed with a testbed apparatus that allowed variation of tire design, wheel speed / acceleration, tire pressure, soil / obstacle properties and traverse length. Email: email@example.com, Tel: 412-268-7224


Background: This case recounts my experiences during a four-year participatory design project with colleagues in Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where I attempted to develop a system for people working in rural areas to share business information via mobile phones. Research questions: For the first phase of this project: How do businesspeople in Katanga Province use their cell phones to support their business operations? How do they want to use these phones in their businesses? How do their use and attitudes compare with those of graduate students at a Midwestern US university? For the second phase of this project: Can a cell-phone delivered information system be designed for artisanal miners and small farmers in Katanga Province to share local pricing information for copper, cobalt, and maize? Situating the case: Researchers in participatory design for social and/or technological change have traditionally assumed that including users in early design phases will result in democratization of project outcomes. When these participatory design projects are situated in intercultural settings, however, they are complicated by political and economic conditions, as well as differences in values and social relations. Because participatory design relies on dialogue within robust, multimodal communication networks, weaknesses in this approach arise when trusted social relations are not in place upon which to build these multimodal communication networks. Cases of participatory design between colleagues in the US and Sub-Saharan Africa illustrate profound effects of political and economic inequities on participatory design projects. Methodology: This is an experience report of a project that developed initially from a classroom project in which my students in the US conducted a communication audit for a partner based in Katanga Province in the Democratic Republic of Congo. A US-based nongovernmental organization (NGO) arranged the partnership and I later went to the field to carry out this project. About the case: Working with an NGO while based exclusively in the US, we attempted to develop a system from which people working in rural areas could share business information, such as reporting business conditions in a rural location back to the NGO's Lubumbashi headquarters 75 km away, via mobile phones. The project did not work because people in Katanga were not familiar with the information design issues involved in the system and I was not familiar with the actual business situation at the NGO in Katanga. To address these issues, I traveled to the Democratic Republic of Congo and interviewed NGO staff and clients. But my presence in the NGO's Lubumbashi headquarters created irreparable social disruption. I continued the project with a new client in Katanga and revised goals for the information-sharing system, but that system, too, did not work for lack of a trusted social network of informants to participate in the information-sharing system. In the end, I was only able to complete an initial analysis of the needs. Conclusions: Despite the need to abandon the project, this case raised these questions about participatory design for information and communication technologies (ICT) projects when collaborators do not "speak the same language:" How can communication researchers effectively build trusted relationships with colleagues in developing nations in order to facilitate successful participatory design projects? Given the research obligations and reward structures at US universities, is it feasible for communication researchers to spend the time to build trusted relationships with colleagues in developing nations, which may not yield publishable research or quantifiable results for three years or more? Given the political and social conditions in many developing areas, can communication researchers rely on the stable conditions and personal relations that are necessary to conduct participatory design for ICT projects?


The authors report two cases of Freeman-Sheldon syndrome, characterised by recessive autosomic transmission, affecting a brother and a sister born of parents who were not blood relations. The syndrome, for which 50 cases are described in the literature, takes its name from the authors who were the first to describe it in 1938. The typical picture is based on congenital deformity involving the cranium, the face and the locomotor apparatus, with a particular aspect of the subject affected related to his or her expression, resembling that of someone whistling ("whistling face", Burian, 1963). In addition to the descriptive aspect of the syndrome and to the means of its transmission, the authors report orthopaedic aspects concerning the locomotor apparatus and problems related to the type of surgery performed.


We propose a model for a two-dimensional elastic body with a thin elastic inclusion modeled by a beam equation. Moreover, we assume that a delamination of the inclusion may take place resulting in a crack. Nonlinear boundary conditions are imposed at the crack faces to prevent mutual penetration between the faces. Both variational and differential problem formulations are considered, and existence of solutions is established. Furthermore, we study the dependence of the solution on the rigidity of the embedded beam. It is proved that in the limit cases corresponding to infinite and zero rigidity, we obtain a rigid beam inclusion and cracks with nonpenetration conditions, respectively. Anisotropic behavior of the beam is also analyzed.


The growth in volume of digital information arising from business activities presents organisations with the increasingly difficult challenge of protecting their information assets. Failure to protect such information opens up a range of new business risks. The increase in externally hosted services and social networking tools also adds a new layer of complication to achieving information protection. Prior research has recognised the need for a socio-organisational view of information protection, shifting the emphasis from a narrowly defined technical concern to an enterprise-wide, business-led responsibility encompassing strategic and governance issues. We argue that this shift is important but not enough and that greater attention should be given to understanding the nature and complexities of digital business information. In this paper we examine the extent to which existing frameworks for information protection are structured to account for changes in the information environment. Our findings indicate that whilst these frameworks address the need to adopt a broader social and organisational perspective there remain a number of significant limitations in terms of the way the information is treated. To address these limitations we propose a more co-ordinated and information-centric approach to information protection.


This paper highlights the application of state of art remote camera technology that is utilized to interpret and deliver visible flow criteria to support Water Sharing Plans. In NSW, some Water Sharing Plans have been developed with the criteria for cease to pump rules being "visible flow" or very small flow rates as low as 1 ML/d. The 'visible flow' condition allows water extraction while the water source still has surface water flowing. These very low flows are near impossible to measure accurately via a conventional gauging station without installing artificial low flow control structures such as weirs. The flow conditions outlined in water sharing plans are based on the 09:00am instantaneous flow conditions in the stream. Five sites across northern NSW have been an on-going project to demonstrate the delivery of real time information as both data and photographs to stakeholders via web based interfaces. As a new technology, remote cameras can provide an alternative monitoring approach that is both cost effective and efficient. In an age where real time information is expected and tightening budgets mean employing smarter provision of data, this technology offers a genuinely viable alternative to a conventional gauging station.


[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to determine the standard alterations in normal adult physiological states and gait parameters resulting from changes in treadmill slope during the use of the treadmill as a medical reference. [Subjects] The subjects of this study were 12 normal, healthy volunteers without any orthopedic, respiratory or cardiovascular system problems. [Methods] The gait of subjects was measured using Optogait on an inclined treadmill for 3 minutes. Gait was measured at slopes of 0%, 9% and 18%. The subjects wore a Pansystolic murmur (PSM) training device over their xiphoid process in order to measure physiological changes. The speed of the treadmill was fixed at 5.0 km/h in order to maintain a constant walking speed. [Results] The subjects' gait parameters were observed to change significantly between slopes of 0% and 18% and the physiological states which showed significant changes were average heart rate, recovery heart rate, average respiratory rate, and angular displacement of the trunk. [Conclusion] The results of this study may be used as a medical reference for gait training on a treadmill, especially for treadmills with adjustable gradients.


Abstract. Land, and in particular soil, is a finite and essentially non-renewable resource. Across the European Union, land take, i.e. the increase of settlement area over time, annually consumes more than 1000 km2 of which half is actually sealed and hence lost under impermeable surfaces. Land take, and in particular soil sealing, has already been identified as one of the major soil threats in the 2006 European Commission Communication Towards a Thematic Strategy on Soil Protection and the Soil Thematic Strategy and has been confirmed as such in the report on the implementation of this strategy. The aim of this study is to relate the potential of land for a particular use in a given region with the actual land use. This allows evaluating whether land (especially the soil dimension) is used according to its (theoretical) potential. To this aim, the impact of several land cover flows related to urban development on soils with good, average, and poor production potentials were assessed and mapped. Thus, the amount and quality (potential for agricultural production) of arable land lost between the years 2000 and 2006 was identified. In addition, areas with high productivity potential around urban areas, indicating areas of potential future land use conflicts for Europe, were identified.


The effectiveness of copper and nickel uptake by microalgae grown in the mixture of electroplating effluent and sewage was studied. The results showed that a high percentage of copper removal (68.1%-88.2%) was achieved by Chlorella pyrenoidosa (strain No. 26) reared in the mixture of 90% electroplating effluent and 10% raw sewage during the first 3 days despite the fact that cell growth was inhibited. Similar results were also obtained by using Chlorella HKBC-C3, another species collected from one of the heavy metal polluted sites in Hong Kong, isolated and cultured in the Biology Department. There was no significant difference (P greater than 0.05) in the removal of copper and nickel from the effluent between these 2 algal species. However, it was noted that removal of nickel from the mixture by the two species were comparatively lower (less than 20%) than the removal of copper (greater than 68%).


"The Woods Stretched for Miles" gathers essays about southern landscape and nature from nineteen writers with geographic or ancestral ties to the region. This remarkable group encompasses not only such well-known names as Wendell Berry and Rick Bass but also distinctive new voices, including Christopher Camuto, Susan Cerulean, and Eddy L. Harris.From the savannas of south Florida through the hardwood uplands of Mississippi to the coastal rivers of the Carolinas and the high mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee, the range in geography covered is equally broad. With insight and eloquence, these diverse talents take up similar themes: environmental restoration, the interplay between individual and community, the definition of wildness in an area transformed by human activity, and the meaning of our reactions to the natural world.Readers will treasure the passionate and intelligent honorings of land and nature offered by this rich anthology. With the publication of "The Woods Stretched for Miles," southern voices establish their abiding place in the ever-popular nature writing genre.


This dissertation explores two main topics: 1) Color Transparency and quasi-elastic knockout reactions involving pions and $\rho$ mesons; and 2) determination of the $J/\psi$-nucleon scattering amplitude and scattering length via $J/\psi$ electroproduction on the deuteron. It is shown that at the energies available at the COMPASS experiment at CERN, Color Transparency should be detectable in the reaction $\pi+A\to \pi+p+(A-1)^*$ (proton knockout). It is also shown that Color Transparency should be detectable in the electroproduction reaction $\gamma^*+A\to\rho+p+(A-1)^*$ at small $Q^2$ (where $Q^2$ is the virtuality of the photon) but large $t$ (4-momentum transfer squared to the knocked out proton), which represents an as-yet unexplored kinematic region in the search for CT effects in electroproduction of vector mesons. Calculations are also presented for the reaction $\gamma^*+D\to J/\psi+p+n$ at JLab energies in order to determine the feasibility of measuring the elastic $J/\psi$-nucleon scattering amplitude and/or scattering length. It is found that it may be possible to measure the $J/\psi$-nucleon scattering amplitude at lower energies than previous measurements, but the scattering length cannot be measured.


Aplastic anemia is a rare, life-threatening disease of unknown etiology, with unusually high prevalence in Thailand. It is sometimes associated with non-A, non-B hepatitis (NANBH). The hepatitis C virus (HCV), one of the causes of NANBH, is similar to flaviviridiae, a family of viruses many of whose members cause acute bone marrow suppression. To test the hypothesis that HCV viremia is associated with aplastic anemia among patients in Thailand, we compared 53 untransfused hospitalized aplastic anemia patients and 39 untransfused controls hospitalized for other conditions. We used the polymerase chain reaction to identify HCV viremia in three (5.7%) untransfused patients and two (5.1%) untransfused controls (P = 1.0, by Fisher's two-tailed exact test). Although our data do not exclude the possibility that a small subset of aplastic anemia cases are precipitated by HCV, we conclude that HCV viremia is not generally associated with aplastic anemia in Thailand. Our results also imply that the prevalence of HCV viremia may be unexpectedly high among untransfused persons in Thailand, a hypothesis that should be tested in other populations.


In cognitive radio (CR) networks, due to the ever increasing traffic demands and the limited spectrum resources, it is very likely for several secondary networks (SNs) to coexist and opportunistically use the same primary user (PU) resources. In such scenarios, the ability to distinguish whether a licensed channel is occupied by a PU or by other SNs can significantly improve the spectrum efficiency of the network, while the contention among the SNs already operating on licensed channels with no PU activity may further affect its throughput and energy efficiency. Therefore, the proper selection of licensed channels could result in notable performance gains. In this paper, we propose a novel contention-aware channel selection algorithm, where the SN under study 1) detects the licensed channels with no PU activity by exploiting cooperative spectrum sensing, 2) estimates the probability of collision in each one, and 3) selects the less contended to access. We provide a detailed analytical model for the throughput and the energy efficiency of the SN, and we validate it by means of simulation. We also show the significant performance gains of our proposal in comparison with other relevant state-of-the-art algorithms.


Sometimes seeing is more difficult for the student of art than believing. Taylor, in a book that has sold more than 300,000 copies since its original publication in 1957, has helped two generations of art students "learn to look." This handy guide to the visual arts is designed to provide a comprehensive view of art, moving from the analytic study of specific works to a consideration of broad principles and technical matters. Forty-four carefully selected illustrations afford an excellent sampling of the wide range of experience awaiting the explorer. The second edition of "Learning to Look" includes a new chapter on twentieth-century art. Taylor's thoughtful discussion of pure forms and our responses to them gives the reader a few useful starting points for looking at art that does not reproduce nature and for understanding the distance between contemporary figurative art and reality.


The problem that we address in this paper stems from the trend to delegation in the water management field. It refers to the municipality's negotiating disadvantage in the face of cartelized water management firms that makes delegation, once undertaken, virtually irreversible. We show why the characteristics of the delegation auction render is useless as a tool for collective welfare maximization. We also show that the remaining tool for achieving collective welfare maximization, i.e. the municipality's right to revoke delegation and return to direct management, is also ineffective due to a lack of credibility that is essentially financial in nature. Thus, if the credibility of revocation could be restored, the municipality's bargaining power could also be restored. Using standard methods of stochastic calculus, we model the municipality's right of revocation as a call option held by the municipality. We show that the key variable for the value of this option, and thus for the municipality's position, is the exercise price, which is partly determined by objective economic criteria and partly by legal and institutional conventions. We show that community welfare maximisation occurs at the point where the exercise price is determined exclusively by objective economic criteria. Since the delegated firm as a simple agent has the right to abrogate the contract if delegation becomes unprofitable, we then model this right as a put option held by the firm. Its value also depends to a large extent on the exercise price, which is partly determined by objective economic criteria and partly by legal and institutional conventions. Combining the exercise points of the two options enables us to determine the price-profit interval over which delegation will be acceptable to both parties. We conclude that the optimal interval will be the one where the exercise prices are determined entirely by objective economic criteria.


The commonly held view and some previous research show disproportionably high rates of accidents and fatalities in rural environments. The research presented here is aimed at ascertaining if the rural road accidents are significantly different in severity, frequency and causes of crashes compared to urban road crashes in Queensland. The study would determine the relative risk of driving on rural roads compared to urban roads. It will identify the limitations of the rural road network, and other characteristics of rural travel. It would also ascertain whether levels of enforcement (perceived to be lower in rural and remote areas) are responsible for higher level of risk taking by country drivers. The results of this research would support the development of detailed rural road safety programs.


The Panel on Plant Health conducted a pest risk assessment for Bemisia tabaci and the viruses it transmits, including an evaluation of risk reduction options and an assessment of the effectiveness of the special requirements linked to B. tabaci and the viruses listed in Council Directive 2000/29/EC. B. tabaci and a large number of viruses transmitted by this polyphagous insect occur in subtropical and tropical climates around the world. Five entry pathways for B. tabaci and associated viruses were identified, with the plants for planting pathway being most significant and rated for entry of insects and viruses as likely and moderately likely, respectively. The most invasive B. tabaci species and several of its associated viruses responsible for severe diseases in major European food crops are established outdoors in coastal Mediterranean regions. Because of similar climate requirements and host plant preferences, B. tabaci and associated viruses currently not present in Europe are likely to establish within the temperature limits set for B. tabaci. Trade between European Member States allows B. tabaci to reach greenhouses in northern Europe, including those in areas with protected zone status. Because of the cool climate, establishment and spread outdoors of B. tabaci is rated unlikely for northern Europe. This situation is likely to continue even under a climatic scenario with an increase in temperature of +2 °C. B. tabaci -transmitted viruses cause severe diseases with major negative impact on crop production when risk reduction measures are not used. Risk reduction options will also apply to B. tabaci and viruses new to Europe. Risk reductions options are evaluated in terms of reducing B. tabaci populations, crop infestations, virus incidence and the impact of diseases. © European Food Safety Authority, 2013


Extracted from text ... Illicit:
How smugglers, traffi ckers
and copycats are hijacking
the global economy*
Mos?s Na?m
* William Heinemann, London, January 2006, ISBN 0434013501, 320 pages, paperback.
Illicit has three goals: to describe the current status of organised global crime, to
investigate the effectiveness of various legal and political counter-responses to this,
and to issue a call for a broader awareness and more informed interaction with the
phenomenon of illicit trade on the part of academics, policy professionals, and the public
in general. A succession of engagingly written case studies, illustrating not only the
processes of street crime and the drug ..


The need for mechanical disintegration of biomass is very current topic with regard to the requirements of an agrarian sector, beside the importance of a material's moisture content reduction to be used in further applications. The drawbacks of commonly applied devices are the limited use of moist biomass and high energy consumption for disintegration. In collaboration with LAVARIS company, there were tested two high-speed mills LAV 400/1R with single rotor (used for a first milling) and LAV 300/2R with double rotors (used for a second milling), which were primarily designed for crushing of concrete, rubber and construction waste. The goal of the new technical solution was a disintegration of biomass on example of pine sawdust and miscanthus together with examination of simultaneous drying in order to achieve a desired fraction (particle size) and moisture content of biomass material. Experimental tests on highspeed mills have shown the following results: in case of pine sawdust about 98% of output particle size after passing through the first and second milling was smaller than 1.5 mm, and smaller than 1 mm for miscanthus (sieve analysis method was used for determination), i.e. significant reduction was achieved comparing to initial particle size. Moisture content of the materials after disintegration (first and second) decreased from 37.08% to 8.55% for pine sawdust and from 24.43% to 7.19% for miscanthus. Based on the results, it can be concluded that the mechanical disintegration of biomass by high-speed mills has a great potential to become an effective part of raw materials' pre-treatment technology, not only in agriculture, but also in production of different types of biofuels.


Toward a Postcolonial Reading of the Epistle of James offers an interpretation of Jas 2:1-13 putting the text in the midst of its Roman imperial context.


We introduce a new algorithm for the induction of classifiers from data, based on Bayesian networks. Basically this problem has already been examined from two perspectives: first, the induction of classifiers by learning algorithms for Bayesian networks, second, the induction of classifiers based on the naive Bayesian classifier. Our approach is located between these two perspectives; it eliminates the disadvantages of both while exploiting their advantages. In contrast to recently appeared refinements of the naive Bayes classifier, which captures single correlations in the data, we have developed an approach which captures multiple correlations and furthermore does a trade-off between complexity and accuracy. In this paper we evaluate the implementation of our approach with data sets from the machine learning repository and data sets artificially generated by Bayesian networks.


Despite ongoing improvements in behaviour change strategies, licensing models and road law enforcement measures young drivers remain significantly over-represented in fatal and non-fatal road related crashes. This paper focuses on the safety of those approaching driving age and identifies both high priority road safety messages and relevant peer-led strategies to guide the development school programs. It summarises the review in a program logic model built around the messages and identified curriculum elements, as they may be best operationalised within the licensing and school contexts in Victoria. This paper summarises a review of common deliberate risk-taking and non-deliberate unsafe driving behaviours among novice drivers, highlighting risks associated with speeding, driving while fatigued, driving while impaired and carrying passengers. Common beliefs of young people that predict risky driving were reviewed, particularly with consideration of those beliefs that can be operationalised in a behaviour change school program. Key components of adolescent risk behaviour change programs were also reviewed, which identified a number of strategies for incorporation in a school based behaviour change program, including: a well-structured theoretical design and delivery, thoughtfully considered peer-selected processes, adequate training and supervision of peer facilitators, a process for monitoring and sustainability, and interactive delivery and participant discussions. The research base is then summarised in a program logic model with further discussion about the quality of the current state of knowledge of evaluation of behaviour change programs and the need for considerable development in program evaluation.


Background The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of varicocelectomy on serum testoster- one levels and semen quality in infertile men who suffer from varicocele. Materials and Methods This prospective study enrolled 115 subjects with clinical varicocele grades II and III and 240 fertile men as the control group. Total volume of testosterone serum level (ng/dl) and semen quality were com- pared before and after microscopic varicocelectomy. We normalized testosterone serum levels for age, grade, and testis size basis. SPSS 20 software was used to analyze the data. All results of continuous variables were reported as mean ± SD. Statistical significance was set at a P<0.05. Results The mean ages of individuals who participated in the treatment (32.2 ± 5.23) and control (32.8 ± 5.27) groups were similar. There were similar mean values for adjusted testosterone levels between the varicocele (567 ± 222 ng/ml) and control (583 ± 263 ng/ml) groups. In the varicocele group, the adjusted testosterone levels insig- nificantly increased to 594 ± 243 ng/ml. Among semen parameters, only mean sperm concentration significantly increased after varicocelectomy. Conclusion Despite increases in sperm concentration, adjusted testosterone levels did not significantly improve after varicocelectomy.


In‐stream nutrient retention results from the interaction between hydrological and biogeochemical processes involved in downstream transport. While hydrological processes set the opportunity for nutrient retention to occur, metabolic activity and abiotic processes determine the potential biogeochemical reactivity of streams. Yet, a comprehensive assessment of the relevance of hydrological opportunity versus biogeochemical reactivity on the variability of nutrient retention across streams is still missing. We compiled an extensive data set of existing studies on nutrient retention for ammonium, nitrate, and soluble reactive phosphorus to explore how variability in hydrological opportunity and biogeochemical reactivity explain nutrient retention. We quantified the relative contribution of hydrological opportunity and biogeochemical reactivity to the observed variability in stream nutrient retention using a linearization of the retention equation, which allows for an exact partitioning of the variance associated with residence time and nutrient uptake rate. Finally, we explored potential patterns of nutrient retention along the river network resulting from the interaction between hydrological opportunity and biogeochemical reactivity. Our results show that biogeochemical reactivity has a more relevant role on nutrient retention variability than previously thought, explaining over 66% of the variability in nutrient retention. Among the studied nutrients, retention variability of ammonium was the most subjected to biogeochemical reactivity controls. Furthermore, our results provide insights on controls of longitudinal patterns of nutrient retention along river networks, indicating that retention per unit length for the three nutrients will most likely decrease from headwaters to river mouth because of a decrease in water residence time.


In 1949, Priscilla White published "Pregnancy Complicating Diabetes," which described the results and implications of a fifteenyear study about pregnant diabetic women. Published in the American Journal of Medicine, the article details possible causes of and ways to prevent the high fetal mortality rate associated with pregnant diabetic women. Diabetes is a disease in which the body's ability to produce or respond to the hormone [2] insulin is impaired, and it can be particularly dangerous during pregnancies. In her article, White reported that prematurely delivering infants for diabetic pregnant women reduces infant and maternal mortality rates. "Pregnancy Complicating Diabetes" helped make premature delivery of infants the standard of care for diabetic pregnant women, and it has contributed to the increased survival rate of infants born from diabetic mothers from less than fifty percent in the 1940s to over ninety percent in 2017.


BACKGROUND
The cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) enzyme, which is induced by inflammatory and mitogenic stimuli, plays a protumorigenic role in several human cancers. COX-2 is overexpressed in invasive and in situ breast cancers. Atypical hyperplasia in breast tissue, although benign, is associated with a high risk of breast cancer. We investigated whether COX-2 overexpression in atypical hyperplasia is associated with the risk of subsequent breast cancer.

METHODS
COX-2 expression was assessed immunohistochemically in archival sections from 235 women with atypia whose biopsy specimens were obtained at the Mayo Clinic from January 1, 1967, through December 31, 1991. COX-2 expression was scored as 0 (negative), 1+ (weak), 2+ (moderate), or 3+ (strong). Risk factor information and follow-up for breast cancer events were obtained via a study questionnaire and the medical records. All statistical tests were two-sided.

RESULTS
Forty-one (17%) of the 235 women developed breast cancer during a median follow-up of 15 years. Moderate (category 2+) or strong (category 3+) COX-2 expression was identified in 71 (30%) and 34 (14%) of the 235 samples, respectively. The risk for developing breast cancer, relative to a control population (the Iowa Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results registry), increased with increasing COX-2 expression (relative risk [RR] = 2.63, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.56 to 4.15, for those with negative or weak COX-2 expression; RR = 3.56, 95% CI = 1.94 to 5.97, for those with moderate expression; and RR = 5.66, 95% CI = 2.59 to 10.75, for those with strong expression; P = .07). Overexpression of COX-2 was statistically significantly associated with the type of atypia (lobular vs ductal, P < .001), number of foci of atypia in the biopsy (P = .02), and older age at time of biopsy (>45 years, P = .01).

CONCLUSIONS
COX-2 appears to be a biomarker that further stratifies breast cancer risk among women with atypia and may be a relevant target for chemoprevention strategies.


Species differences in the ability of alpha 2-adrenergic receptors to down-regulate platelet adenylate cyclase activity were compared in platelet membranes derived from man, rabbit and rat. In all three, prostaglandin E1 and forskolin caused massive stimulation of enzyme activity, without species selectivity. However, alpha 2-receptor actions revealed marked species dissimilarities: clonidine caused 20-30% inhibition of human and rabbit basal adenylate cyclase, prostaglandin E1-stimulated activity and forskolin-stimulated activity, but failed to inhibit activity in the rat preparation. [3H]Rauwolscine binding indicated that rat platelets are deficient in alpha 2-receptor sites. Because rat brain is not deficient in alpha 2-receptors, these results indicate that care should be exercised in the use of platelet systems in animal models of psychotropic drug administration. Furthermore, although clonidine was effective in both man and rabbit, differences in sensitivity to alpha 2-receptor stimulation were also apparent; clonidine was more effective in inhibiting the response to prostaglandin E1 in man, but inhibition of the forskolin response was more prominent in the rabbit. Accordingly, multiple modes of stimulation need to be examined in delineating the inhibitory control of adenylate cyclase by alpha 2-receptors.


The expression of the melatonin receptor is positively regulated by cAMP and negatively regulated by melatonin in the ovine pars tuberalis (PT). Furthermore, when PT cells are dispersed in primary culture, both messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein levels spontaneously increase through a process that can be blocked by melatonin, but does not involve cAMP. This suggests that other second messengers may be regulated by melatonin, which, in turn, regulates melatonin receptor mRNA and protein levels. In this study using ribonuclease protection assays, ligand binding, protein kinase C (PKC), and cAMP analysis, we demonstrate that the levels of Mel 1a mRNA and protein expression in ovine PT are reduced by phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate in a cAMP-independent process. This is indicative of an inhibitory role for PKC in receptor regulation. Melatonin, however, does not act through PKC activation to reduce Mel 1a mRNA or protein levels. Basal PKC activity in PT cells can be inhibited by the PKC inhibitor Ro 31-8220, and this suggests that basal PKC activity may suppress Mel 1a receptor expression. Paradoxically, however, Ro 31-8220 also inhibits melatonin receptor mRNA and protein levels in PT cells by a cAMP-independent mechanism. This suggests that other undefined pathways must play an important role in the physiological self-regulation of Mel 1a receptor expression by melatonin.


Drama and video are effective tools for stimulating reflection and research on violence. This article describes a research process which tried to understand expressions of identity, constructions of citizenship and prospects for reducing future violence in northern Nigeria, where there have been many outbreaks of violence centred on religion and ethnicity. Researchers and local partners carried out a survey in several communities. They then used the survey findings to develop a drama which was performed in each community and which was followed by a facilitated debate. Participatory video was integrated at all stages. The research findings show that most people do not believe that the contemporary violence is a result of religion. Rather, they see religion as the organising platform. This analysis offers a more nuanced understanding of the conflict than merely labelling it ethno-religious.


The ethnography of social media is still a developing field, and the anthropology of online legal topics is even more incipient. This article charts a digital ethnography of the regulation of hate speech online by examining the infrastructure of social media platforms, the content of speech acts (including coded speech) and their offline effects. These three levels can be analysed using an adapted version of Erving Goffman's heuristic model of backstage, onstage and offstage presentations of the self in everyday life. A digital ethnography of law implies both a qualitative and quantitative study of offline effects of online speech, including harmful consequences that are direct as well as indirect. On this basis, the article presents findings that, while it is difficult to identify direct effects of online hate speech on violence, show the indirect effects include the silencing of dissent and an undermining of trust and cooperation in wider society.


The most common form of malignant mesothelioma is that affecting the pleura. Mesothelioma, despite being considered a relatively rare tumor, appears to be more common now reversing previous worldwide predictions of a disease plateau and eventual decreased burden. In fact, the future prevalence of this pleural cancer is predicted to be increasing, raising concerns for a serious burgeoning international public health problem (1). Several industrialized nations are still without country-wide, legislative total bans on the production and use of asbestos such as China, India and the United States.


International and transnational commitments to gender equality require strategies that tackle root causes and prevailing attitudes that perpetuate disparities. In this article, we examine the role and impact of international development volunteers (IDV) as development actors who are well-placed for feminist transformational change, as they work in transnational spaces to influence, support, or reinforce changes in attitudes and behaviors towards gender equality and women's empowerment (GEWE). This qualitative study analyses data collected from 45 interviews in three countries (Malawi, Kenya and Uganda) to document partner organization perspectives on relational dynamics emerging from interactions with IDVs. Partner organization staff highlighted several notable positive and negative contributions to GEWE outcomes arising from day-to-day interactions with IDVs. These interactions shaped their understandings of GEWE, enhanced confidence for GEWE programming, and provided exposure to role models who can shape alternative attitudes and behaviors to gender equality. While the study revealed varying degrees of challenges and benefits for partner organizations working with volunteers specifically on gender equality, partner organization staff highlighted contributions made by IDVs to transnational spatial relations, as well as the transformational interactions that shaped these relations. Insights provided by partner country staff members offer subaltern perspectives and rich insights into the contributions of IDVs in gender equality programming and shed new light on the challenges and opportunities for fostering transnational feminist spaces of knowledge sharing, relationship building, and alternative practices.


It has become critical to assess the potential range of consequences of a pandemic influenza outbreak given the uncertainty about its disease characteristics while investigating risks and mitigation strategies of vaccines, antivirals, and social distancing measures. Here, we use a simulation model and rigorous experimental design with sensitivity analysis that incorporates uncertainty in the pathogen behaviour and epidemic response to show the extreme variation in the consequences of a potential pandemic outbreak in the USA. Using sensitivity analysis we found the most important disease characteristics are the fraction of the transmission that occur prior to symptoms, the reproductive number, and the length of each disease stage. Using data from the historical pandemics and for potential viral evolution, we show that response planning may underestimate the pandemic consequences by a factor of two or more.


This book analyzes the relationship between political power and the media in a range of nation states in East and Southeast Asia, focusing in particular on the place of the media in authoritarian and post-authoritarian regimes. It discusses the centrality of media in sustaining repressive regimes, and the key role of the media in the transformation and collapse of such regimes. It questions in particular the widely held beliefs, that the state can have complete control over the media consumption of its citizens, that commercialization of the media necessarily leads to democratization, and that the transnational, liberal dimensions of western media are crucial for democratic movements in Asia. Countries covered include Burma, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam.


A fundamental unit of work in programming is the code contribution ("commit") that a developer makes to the code base of the project in work. An author's commit frequency describes how often that author commits. Knowing the distribution of all commit frequencies is a fundamental part of understanding software development processes. This paper presents a detailed quantitative analysis of commit frequencies in open-source software development. The analysis is based on a large sample of open source projects, and presents the overall distribution of commit frequencies. We analyze the data to show the differences between authors and projects by project size; we also includes a comparison of successful and non successful projects and we derive an activity indicator from these analyses. By measuring a fundamental dimension of programming we help improve software development tools and our understanding of software development. We also validate some fundamental assumptions about software development.


This investigation's origin is one born of pragmatism. It seeks to improve the teaching and learning of illustration, a visual communication design discipline. The specific focus is text adaptation and the process involved in interpreting the written word into a visual image. Common characteristics of poor interpretation, identified after many years of teaching illustration, are the creation of images which are either based on relatively insignificant details from a text, or so removed from a text's theme, that decoding an image's intended meaning becomes extremely difficult. This study therefore seeks to provide insight into the process of interpreting written text into an illustration and offer some suggestions as to how novice illustration students can improve their skills in this process. The chosen methodology of this study is action research, and within a constructivistinterpretivist framework, work carried out with three groups of novice students, during three linked cycles of investigation has been analysed. Two separate, but linked learning strategies were developed incrementally. These can be thought of as thinking tools. The first one relates to comprehension of text while the second strategy focuses on analogical reasoning as an idea generation method. The data suggests that these learning strategies were successful, allowing students to develop more awareness of their design process and also create concepts which captured the essence of a text. This suggests that, while designing does involve tacit, intuitive thought, explicit methods of thinking can also assist design creativity. Much of the literature on design suggests that a paradigm shift is taking place within the field, in education as well as design practice. One of the characteristics of this change is a call for design educators to develop an epistemology of what constitutes design knowledge. This thesis is an addition to that ongoing search for understanding.


June 1613. Japan is threatened with war and Jack is facing his greatest battle yet. Samurai are taking sides and, as the blood begins to flow, Jack's warrior training is put to the ultimate test. His survival - and that of his friends - depends upon him mastering the Two Heavens, the secret sword technique of the legendary samurai Masamoto Takeshi. But first Jack must recover his father's prize possession from the deadly ninja Dragon Eye. Can Jack defeat his ruthless enemy? Or will the ninja complete his mission to kill the young samurai ...


Our limited understanding of the short and long-term effects of fire on fish contributes to considerable uncertainty in assessments of the risks and benefits of fire management alternatives. A primary concern among the many potential effects of fire is the effects of fire and fire management on persistence of native fish populations. Limited evidence suggests vulnerability of fish to fire is contingent upon the quality of affected habitats, the amount and distribution of habitat (habitat fragmentation), and habitat specificity of the species in question. Species with narrow habitat requirements in highly degraded and fragmented systems are likely to be most vulnerable to fire and fire-related disturbance. In addition to effects of fire on native fish, there are growing concerns about the effects of fire on nonnative fish invasions. The role of fire in facilitating invasions by nonnative fishes is unknown, but experience with other species suggests some forms of disturbance associated with fire may facilitate invasion. Management efforts to promote persistence of fishes in fire-prone landscapes can take the form of four basic alternatives: (1) prefire management; (2) post-fire management; (3) managing fire itself (e.g. fire fighting); and (4) monitoring and adaptive management. Among these alternatives, pre-fire management is likely to be most effective. Effective pre-fire management activities will address factors that may render fish populations more vulnerable to the effects of fire (e.g. habitat degradation, fragmentation, and nonnative species). Post-fire management is also potentially important, but suffers from being a reactive approach that may not address threats in time to avert them. Managing fire itself can be important in some contexts, but negative consequences for fish populations are possible (e.g. toxicity of fire fighting chemicals to fish). Monitoring and adaptive management can provide important new information for evaluating alternatives, but proper implementation is often hampered by inadequate study designs and inconsistent financial and institutional support. The challenge for providing better management guidelines will be to add solid empirical data and models to assess the relevance of emerging concepts and theories, and provide a sense of where and when fires pose significant risks and/or benefits to fishes. Published by Elsevier Science B.V.


This paper extrapolates from data from the 2004 Survey of Consumer Finance to project household wealth, by wealth quintile, for the cohort that will be between the ages of 45-54 in 2009 under three alternative scenarios. The first scenario assumes that real house prices fall no further than their level as of March 2008. The second scenario assumes that real house prices fall an additional 10 percent as a 2009 average. The third scenario assumes that real house prices fall an additional 20 percent for a 2009 average. The projections show that the vast majority of families in these age cohorts will have little or no wealth by 2009 in any of these scenarios and that the cohorts just approaching retirement will have very little to support themselves in retirement other than their Social Security. The projections also show that a large number of families in these age cohorts will have little or no equity in their homes in 2009. Finally, the projections show that the renters within the same wealth quintiles in 2004 will have more wealth in 2009 than homeowners in all three scenarios.


This article sheds light on how industry fluctuations affect firms' propensity to innovate. We test two seemingly conflicting arguments that suggest how firms are more or less inclined to engage in innovation activities during industry fluctuations. By studying a panel of 622 Italian manufacturing firms during the period 1995–2003, we show how differentiating between product and process innovation may help reconcile the theory of opportunity cost of innovation with the cash-flow effect argument. We find that industry downturns are related to product and process innovation in different ways: firms tend to invest in product innovation rather than process innovation in downturns. The findings have implications for both theory (showing when the opportunity cost of innovation dominates) and research design (showing the importance of both the input and output measures in innovation studies and how they might influence the results).


Abstract Feces of harbor seals (Phoca vitulina richardsi) and hybrid Glaucous-winged/Western gulls (Larus glaucescens/ occidentalis) from Washington State's inland marine waters were examined for Giardia spp. and Cryptosporidium spp. to determine whether genotypes carried by these wildlife species were the same as those that commonly infect humans and domestic animals. Using immunomagnetic separation followed by direct fluorescent antibody detection, Giardia spp. cysts were detected in 42% (41/97) of seal fecal samples. Giardia spp.–positive samples came from 90% (9/10) of the sites, and the prevalence of positive seal fecal samples differed significantly among study sites. Fecal samples collected from seal haulout sites with >400 animals were 4.7 times more likely to have Giardia spp. cysts than were samples collected at smaller haulout sites. In gulls, a single Giardia sp. cyst was detected in 4% (3/78) of fecal samples. Cryptosporidium spp. oocysts were not detected in any of the seals or gulls tested. Sequence analysis of a 398 base pair (bp) segment of Giardia duodenalis DNA at the glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) locus suggested that 11 isolates originating from seals throughout the region were a novel genotype and 3 isolates obtained from a single site in south Puget Sound were the G. duodenalis canine genotype D. Real-time TaqMan polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification and subsequent sequencing of a 52 bp small subunit ribosomal DNA region from novel harbor seal genotype isolates showed sequence homology to canine genotypes C and D. Sequence analysis of the 52 bp small subunit ribosomal DNA products from the 3 canine genotype isolates from seals produced mixed sequences that could not be evaluated.