Abstract. Gaseous mercury in the marine boundary layer has been measured with a 15 min temporal resolution at the Global Atmosphere Watch station Cape Point since March 2007. The most prominent features of the data until July 2008 are the frequent occurrences of pollution (PEs) and depletion events (DEs). Both types of events originate mostly within a short transport distance (up to about 100 km), which are embedded in air masses ranging from marine background to continental. The Hg/CO emission ratios observed during the PEs are within the range reported for biomass burning and industrial/urban emissions. The depletion of gaseous mercury during the DEs is in many cases almost complete and suggests an atmospheric residence time of elemental mercury as short as a few dozens of hours, which is in contrast to the commonly used estimate of approximately 1 year. The DEs observed at Cape Point are not accompanied by simultaneous depletion of ozone which distinguishes them from the halogen driven atmospheric mercury depletion events (AMDEs) observed in Polar Regions. Nonetheless, DEs similar to those observed at Cape Point have also been observed at other places in the marine boundary layer. Additional measurements of mercury speciation and of possible mercury oxidants are hence called for to reveal the chemical mechanism of the newly observed DEs and to assess its importance on larger scales.


Abstract. Flood forecasting in the downstream part of any hydrological basin is extremely difficult due to the lack of basin-wide hydrological information in near real-time and the absence of a data-sharing treaty among the transboundary nations. The accuracy of forecasts emerging from a hydrological model could be compromised without prior knowledge of the day-to-day flow regulation at different locations upstream of the Niger and Benue rivers. Only satellite altimeter monitoring allows us to identify the actual river levels upstream that reflect the human intervention at that location. This is critical for making accurate downstream forecasts. This present study aims to demonstrate the capability of altimeter-based flood forecasting along the Niger-Benue River in Nigeria. The study includes the comparison of decadal (at every 10 days from Jason-2) or monthly (at every 35 days from Envisat/AltiKa) observations from 2002 to 2014, with historical in situ measurements from 1990 to 2012. The water level obtained from these sources shows a good correlation (0.7–0.9). After validation of hydrological parameters obtained from two sources, a quantitative relation (rating curve) of upstream water level and downstream discharge is derived. This relation is then adopted for calculation of discharge at observation points, which is used to propagate the flow downstream at a desired location using a hydraulic river model. Results from this study from Jason-2 shows a promising correlation ( R 2 ≥ 90% with a Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient of more than 0.70) with 5~days ahead of downstream flow prediction over the Benue stream.


Researchers of medicinal plants often find unfamiliar references to herbs when reading through ethnobotanical literature. Very often, they are familiar with the plant but not with the name used in a given context. This book eliminates the time-consuming task of further research by providing 28,000 common names of medicinal plants in a single source. International in scope, this unique reference allows matching of scientific and common names through a comprehensive cross index. The first volume is organized alphabetically by scientific name while the other two volumes are a cross index by common name. Phylum, order, and family are also provided as well as the language of the common name which helps to identify its geographic location.


This work is devoted to the presentation and realization of a digital control card (maxi- mum power point tracking) which serves to improve the performance of a photovoltaic generator (GPV). This makes it possible to increase the profitability of the latter, on the one hand, and the stability of electrical networks, on the other hand. The command card has been developed using simple circuits, and tested on a system that includes a photovoltaic panel powering a resistive load under changing weather conditions. The aim of this paper is to implement three well-known MPPT algorithms (Hill-Climbing, Pertube & Observe and Incremental Conductance), using a PIC microcontroller type 16F877A.


In this article, we examine the intimate significance of trees and woods through research on how people engage with and perform their bodies in different kinds of wooded environments in contemporary Britain. We argue that there are significant, contested and ambivalent affordances provided by woods and forests in contemporary Britain - as providing `live' contact with nature, as a source of tranquillity, and as providing a distinct `social' space in sharp contrast to the pressures of modern living. Second, there is considerable variation in the bodily experiences that people gain from woods and forests, influenced by personal and family life-stage, socio-economic circumstance and geographical location. The values people appear to attach to woods and forests arise from the specific `affordances' that the latter could offer for bodily desires. There are, we might say, different `contested' natures of the forest.


Congressional efforts to control Federal budget deficits are leading to new requirements for fixed annual repayment of investment in power and irrigation facilities. Traditionally, investments earning the highest rate of interest are repaid first to minimize interest expenses. In a deviation from traditional repayment practice, however, proposals advanced to construct the Animas-LaPlata Unit of the Colorado River Storage Project, 1986 legislation reformulating the Garrison Unit of the Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin Program and front-end financing by the State of Wyoming for Buffalo Bill Dam and Shoshone Powerplant provide that these new investments must be repaid with fixed annual payments. Repayment periods are 30 and 40 years respectively, significantly shorter than the 50-year maximum traditionally used. Advocates of front-end financing often plan to obtain needed funds from sales of bonds, with debt service to be provided from power revenues through annual payments over a 30- or 35-year period. Proposals from the Public Power Development Corporation are an example of this approach.


Hard Luck Blues: Roots Music Photographs from the Great Depression Rich Remsberg. Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 2010. The imagery of the Great Depression-era United States has become almost untouchably iconic, perhaps because of their inherent power but not unimportantly also as a result of elaborated and ongoing constructions of social and historical import. Yet there seems something undeniably renewable and surprising in these images, a freshness in their viewing that increases rather than fades as the era becomes both more distant and more strange to postmodern eyes. Such is the case with these photographs produced by the Historical Section of the Information Division of the Farm Security Administration under the direction of Roy Stryker, a group which formed part of an unprecedented federal government collection that numbers close to 170,000 images. Driven by an interest in visually capturing the rural experience during the Great Depression in support of New Deal programmatic and political agendas, Stryker assembled what would later be recognized as a singular and astonishing group of photographers like Ben Shahn, John Collier, Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, Russell Lee, Arthur Rothstein, Marion Post Wolcott, John Vachon, Carl Maydans, and Jack Delano. These photographers were charged with promoting agricultural life and the experiences of common people. Though given no guidance to capture the experience of musicians, these photographers nevertheless happened to create what Rich Remsberg calls "the best visual documentation of vernacular musical performance during this time" (xviii), an achievement especially notable since among this group, only "Vachon was the most enthusiastic about music" (133). These images reveal how music making saturated the experience of people across American regions during this era. Indeed, one of the most striking aspects of the images a reading of this book reinforces is both the diversity and totality of musical experience across space. The photographs reveal, with a keen eye and rich contextualization, the musical being in the world of whites and African Americans, secular and religious, rural, small town, and urban Southerners, northeasterners, westerners, and Midwesterners. Remsberg argues that the images display "a powerful sense of the Old World vanishing" (xxii) as the musical world of the United States during the Great Depression was superceded by development and change. For example, he considers a rare shot of a street bluesman by Marion Post Wolcott to be "the best documentation in existence of this important phenomenon" (25). Remsberg links the renewed photographic attention to the vitality of American vernacular music as a development related to the maturation of styles like hillbilly, swing, and jazz, and the rise of regionalism in American visual art. He praises the naturalism and intimacy of the photographs as well as their sensitivity. Both the original FSA photographers and Remsberg believe that "showing people in a social context has a tremendous humanizing effect" (xxvi). This intent is clear in the set of photographs gathered in this book. Jack Delano's image of the family of Russell Tombs being moved by the army (likely forcibly, though the caption does not say) from its house in Caroline County, Virginia, is striking not for the guitar leaning next to the door, but because of the stark reality of peeling newspaper covering the walls. The caustic image of school children in South Carolina applying blackface for a performance is contrasted with a stately image from Georgia of AfricanAmerican children preparing for the same event. …


The ratio monotonicity of a polynomial is a stronger property than log-concavity. Let $P(x)$ be a polynomial with nonnegative and nondecreasing coefficients. We prove the ratio monotone property of $P(x+1)$, which leads to the log-concavity of $P(x+c)$ for any $c\geq 1$ due to Llamas and Martinez-Bernal. As a consequence, we obtain the ratio monotonicity of the Boros-Moll polynomials obtained by Chen and Xia without resorting to the recurrence relations of the coefficients.


The chromosomal inversions of D. persimilis and D. pseudoobscura have deeply influenced our understanding of the evolutionary forces that shape natural variation, speciation, and selfish chromosome dynamics. Here, we perform a comprehensive reconstruction of the evolutionary histories of the chromosomal inversions in these species. We provide a solution to the puzzling origins of the selfish Sex-Ratio chromosome in D. persimilis and show that this Sex-Ratio chromosome directly descends from an ancestrally-arranged chromosome. Our results further show that all fixed inversions between D. persimilis and D. pseudoobscura were segregating in the ancestral population long before speciation, and that the genes contributing to reproductive barriers between these species must have evolved within them afterwards. We propose a new model for the role of chromosomal inversions in speciation and suggest that higher levels of divergence and an association with hybrid incompatibilities are emergent properties of ancestrally segregating inversions. These findings force a reconsideration of the role of chromosomal inversions in speciation, not as protectors of existing hybrid incompatibility alleles, but as fertile grounds for their formation.


L-mode to H-mode (LH) transitions are observed in a large variety of plasma conditions in TCV Ohmic plasmas. The power flowing through the separatrix at the LH transition differs by up to a factor of two from the predicted H-mode threshold power. Variations in this deviation are due to the large operational domain covered by the transitions as well as from the different scenarios identified to access the H-mode regime. LH transitions obtained during the plasma current ramp at low plasma current, elongation and triangularity have a threshold power below the standard expression while transitions at high current and triangularity or during the stationary phase of the discharge have a threshold power above the standard expression.


Objective Stellate ganglion block has mostly been used to relieve symptoms of neuropathic pain; several potential complications have been reported. Noninvasive stellate ganglion block application using light irradiation (SG-LI) can be used as an alternative to conventional injection blockades. Based on the variety of application protocols among previous studies, it was needed to further identify the clinical efficacy of SG-LI in managing neuropathic pain or other disorders associated with sympathetic hyperactivity. Design A comprehensive search of online databases was performed to identify experimental or observational studies reporting the efficacy of SG-LI in treating patients with disorders requiring sympatholytic management. The included studies were subjected to a meta-analysis and risk-of-bias assessment. Results Twenty-one experimental studies with a Physiotherapy Evidence Database score of 6/10 and 5 observational studies with a Newcastle-Ottawa scale score of 7/9 were included in the analysis. A significant effect on pain relief favoring SG-LI was identified at a standard mean difference (SMD) of −2.05 [95% confidence interval (CI), −2.49 to −1.61; P < 0.00001]. Similar effects favoring SG-LI were found in peripheral blood flow (SMD, 1.26; 95% CI, 0.26–2.25; P = 0.01) and skin temperature (SMD, 1.31; 95% CI, 0.55, 2.08; P = 0.0007). Conclusions Stellate ganglion block application using light irradiation effectively relieves pain of various etiologies and successfully induces a sympatholytic response. Stellate ganglion block application using light irradiation may be a valuable addition to the contemporary pain management armamentarium.


Representations of people with a developmental disability are virtually not covered in the media. Although there is little coverage of people with developmental disabilities in the media, there are a few entertainment television characters who have Down syndrome and are represented in the media. This study will take a look at the history of how people with disabilities were represented in the media and examine how two television characters with Down syndrome were portrayed on the shows by examining their self-esteem. This study seeks to focus on portrayal of people with Down Syndrome because the physical features that people with Down Syndrome possess are easy to identify. Specifically, the study examines the portrayal of self-esteem in two television characters, Corky Thatcher (Life Goes On) and Becky Faye Jackson (Glee). The researcher will also examine how the portrayal of self-esteem in the two characters is similar or different in people who have Down Syndrome. In the study the researcher found that the representation of the character Corky was different from the character Becky. But both characters tackled issues that affected the Down Syndrome community and it affected their self-esteem. Corky and Becky were different from the interviewees in the way they realized their competencies. Although the interviewees who have Down Syndrome and the television characters used self-evaluation differently to evaluate one's own self-esteem, they all seem to exhibit a positive level of self-esteem.


In this issue of the Radical Housing Journal, we have opened a translocal conversation to interrogate the notion of 'rent' in various contexts. The different contributions collectively serve to unpack both traditional and contemporary structures enabling multiple forms of rentiership, as well as strategies of resistance towards securing dignified housing. We have strived to encourage an intersectional approach to experiences, subjectivities and processes of politicization, exploring the ways in which different groups and geographies are facing housing vulnerability through rent relations, particularly experienced by growing urban communities, transitional dwellers and groups left behind by contemporary housing markets.


Objective To describe the relationship of household secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure and cardiac structure and function. Methods Participants (n=1069; 68 % female; age 45–74 years) without history of tobacco use, coronary artery disease or severe valvular disease were included. Past childhood (starting at age <13 years), adolescent/adult and current exposure to household SHS was assessed. Survey linear regression analyses were used to model the relationship of SHS exposure and echocardiographic measures of cardiac structure and function, adjusting for covariates (age, sex, study site, alcohol use, physical activity and education). Results SHS exposure in childhood only was associated with reduced E/A velocity ratio (β=−0.06 (SE 0.02), p=0.008). SHS exposure in adolescence/adult only was associated with increased left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) (1.2 (0.6), p=0.04), left atrial volume index (1.7 (0.8), p=0.04) and decreased isovolumic relaxation time (−0.003 (0.002), p=0.03). SHS exposure in childhood and adolescence/adult was associated with worse left ventricular global longitudinal strain (LVGLS) (two-chamber) (0.8 (0.4), p= 0.049). Compared with individuals who do not live with a tobacco smoker, individuals who currently live with at least one tobacco smoker had reduced LVEF (−1.4 (0.6), p=0.02), LVGLS (average) (0.9 (0.40), p=0.03), medial E′ velocity (−0.5 (0.2), p=0.01), E/A ratio (−0.09 (0.03), p=0.003) and right ventricular fractional area change (−0.02 (0.01), p=0.01) with increased isovolumic relaxation time (0.006 (0.003), p=0.04). Conclusions Past and current household exposure to SHS was associated with abnormalities in cardiac systolic and diastolic function. Reducing household SHS exposure may be an opportunity for cardiac dysfunction prevention to reduce the risk of future clinical heart failure.


Tannery sludge has been highlighted for substrate use in the propagation of seedlings, combining the solution of an environmental problem with its potential for agronomic use. However, when a new fertilizer component enters into the composition of a substrate, it remains to be seen whether other characteristics are affected. Thus, the objective of this work was to verify whether supplementary foliar fertilization is necessary when using a substrate with tannery sludge in the propagation of conilon coffee seedlings of the variety "Vitotria Incaper - 8142". A 2 x 13 factorial arrangement was used, the first factor being the presence or absence of conventional leaf fertilization, and the second factor being the 13 coffee conilon Vitoria-Incaper 8142 genotypes arranged in a randomized complete block design with four replications. The genotypes V7 and V9 presented leaves of reduced size, leading to a smaller leaf area, which coincided with a lower accumulation of aerial and total dry matter mass. Higher flavonoid indexes were found in the genotypes V1, V2, V6, and V13, indicating a higher sensitivity of these materials to the components present in the tannery sludge. In general, fertilization provided better initial development as well as a better seedling quality index.


To increase the united Nation's chance of achieving its Sustainable Development goal of providing clean water and sanitation especially in the developing world, a new approach that combines sustainable water resources management with mass reorientation of rural populations must become a priority. This is important considering the increasing global water stress faced by humans and the occasional knowledge gap in demand management and conservation between developed and developing regions where the majority live in rural areas. contemporary endeavours often focus on providing technology and introducing practices that improve or preserve water quality and quantity. but some of these efforts suffer either from a failure to correctly interface with existing local practices or an inability to adequately address the local knowledge gap. This study addressed this problem by combining locationspecific public enlightenment with access to source protection, storage, and treatment technologies. The study area consists of rural settlements in the central region of Nigeria. Datasets used include population statistics, source types (surface water, groundwater, tap water, etc.), demand and availability, water stress levels, quality and quantity enhancement technology, and access to water education (radio, local health official, etc.). results showed that communities that received properly instituted water quality/quantity enhancement technologies with little to no orientation (or vice versa) experienced inconsistent improvements in water sufficiency across the tested populations and some stagnation afterwards. but in communities that benefitted from continuous sustainability orientation as well as a careful interfacing of water quality/quantity enhancement and protection technologies, dramatic improvements in water sufficiency resulted. In addition to socioeconomic and environmental benefits, insights gained from this study have potential applications in planning/policy-making by stakeholders in similar developing regions in central america and Southeast asia.


This paper focuses on the changing status of women in a village community in the colonial and post-colonial New Territories of Hong Kong SAR, China. It argues that village women are active agents in reclaiming their personal autonomy and play a proactive role in influencing the sociopolitical order of rural society. In particular, this study demonstrates how village women individually and collectively engaged the patriarchal rule in dealing with the Chinese lineage organizations in the New Territories. It asserts that women's domestic existence is never a wholly domesticated one but instead it contains significant elements of self-articulation and selfempowerment. The continuity of patriarchal rule in the New Territories fails to constitute any moral and philosophical leadership (i.e., hegemony) with active consent from the people. Chinese village women often succeeded in claiming their own rights and defending their interests within the patriarchal system. The Politics of Patriarchal Bargaining in a Chinese Village 1 The Politics of Patriarchal Bargaining in a Chinese Village


Abstract In order to study the effects of nanoparticles (NPs) with different physicochemical properties on cellular viability and structure, Saccharomyces cerevisiae were exposed to different concentrations of TiO2-NPs (1–3 nm), ZnO-NPs (<100 nm), CuO-NPs (<50 nm), their bulk forms, Ag-NPs (10 nm) and single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). The GreenScreen assay was used to measure cyto- and genotoxicity, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) used to assess ultrastructure. CuO-NPs were highly cytotoxic, reducing the cell density by 80% at 9 cm2/ml, and inducing lipid droplet formation. Cells exposed to Ag-NPs (19 cm2/ml) and TiO2-NPs (147 cm2/ml) contained dark deposits in intracellular vacuoles, the cell wall and vesicles, and reduced cell density (40 and 30%, respectively). ZnO-NPs (8 cm2/ml) caused an increase in the size of intracellular vacuoles, despite not being cytotoxic. SWCNTs did not cause cytotoxicity or significant alterations in ultrastructure, despite high oxidative potential. Two genotoxicity assays, GreenScreen and the comet assay, produced different results and the authors discuss the reasons for this discrepancy. Classical assays of toxicity may not be the most suitable for studying the effects of NPs in cellular systems, and the simultaneous assessment of other measures of the state of cells, such as TEM are highly recommended.


This book argues that the fantasy fiction rooted in J. R. R. Tolkien's concept of Fa?rie, as represented by the fantasy works of the Inklings and of U. K. Le Guin, has certain psychotherapeutic properties. Fa?rie's generic 'ethos' seems to draw on 'moral imagination' and on logos (meaning and word), which informs its secondary worlds and encourages a search for an unconditional sense of life, against the postmodern neo-nihilistic aporia. The book postulates an applicability of logotherapy ('therapy through meaning', developed after WW2 by Victor Frankl,) to the workings of Fa?rie, whose bibliotherapeutic potential rests on its generic marks, identified by Tolkien as Fantasy, Recovery, Escape (breaking free from incarcerating meaninglessness), Consolation, and (cathartic) Eucatastrophe.


Direct visualization of the secretion process of individual bovine adrenal chromaffin cells was achieved with laser-induced native fluorescence imaging microscopy. By monitoring the native fluorescence of catecholamines excited by the 275 nm laser line with an intensified charge-coupled-device (CCD) camera, we obtained good temporal and spatial resolution simultaneously without using additional fluorescent probes. Large variations were found among individual cells in terms of the amounts of catecholamines secreted and the rates of secretion. Different regions of a cell also behave differently during the secretion process. However, the degree of this local heterogeneity is smaller than in neurons and neuralgia. The influence of deep-ultraviolet (UV) laser excitation on cells is also discussed. This quantitative imaging technique provides a useful noninvasive approach for the study of dynamic cellular changes and the understanding of the molecular mechanisms of secretory processes.


The aim of this study is to quantify the burden of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) – incidence, prevalence, and mortality – and identify trends in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America. A structured literature search was performed (January 2000 to September 2010) of PubMed and EMBASE, identifying English-language articles reporting COPD prevalence, incidence, or mortality. Of 2838 articles identified, 299 full-text articles were reviewed, and data were extracted from 133 publications. Prevalence data were extracted from 80 articles, incidence data from 15 articles, and mortality data from 58 articles. Prevalence ranged from 0.2%–37%, but varied widely across countries and populations, and by COPD diagnosis and classification methods. Prevalence and incidence were greatest in men and those aged 75 years and older. Mortality ranged from 3–111 deaths per 100,000 population. Mortality increased in the last 30–40 years; more recently, mortality decreased in men in several countries, while increasing or stabilizing in women. Although COPD mortality increased over time, rates declined more recently, likely indicating improvements in COPD management. In many countries, COPD mortality has increased in women but decreased in men. This may be explained by differences in smoking patterns and a greater vulnerability in women to the adverse effects of smoking.


This paper examines recent developments in the garment production sector in Kyrgyzstan that contributes significantly to GDP and employment. The paper analyses the factors that led to the impressive growth of garment manufacturing. The export volume of Kyrgyz clothing to the Russian Federation and Kazakhstan increased ten-fold from 2002 to 2012. The main reasons for this growth include open trade regime and simplified weight-based customs clearance, which allowed for relatively cheap acquisition of fabrics; favourable patent-based tax treatment; and the solid entrepreneurial skills of Kyrgyz entrepreneurs. In-depth interviews were conducted with garment manufacturers and wholesale order customers and informed a profile of the structure and workings of the garment industry. This study also examines the impact of recent policy changes, including import tariff increases on fabrics and clothing accessories, as well as the possible implications of Customs Union accession by Kyrgyzstan on its garment production sector.
Other key findings can be summarised as follows:
(i) 2013 saw a decline in demand for Kyrgyz clothing in key markets of the Russian Federation and Kazakhstan, likely due to: import tariff increases, resultant decreases in imported Chinese fabrics and increased production costs; and a shift in preferences from Kyrgyz to Belarusian apparel, which is perceived as the closest competitor to Kyrgyz clothing;
(ii) the production cost of clothing would increase by 10 to 20 percent after the country enters the Customs Union.
Kyrgyz products would be still cheaper than Belarusian counterparts but the price differential would decrease. This, combined with enormous support of the Belarusian government to its clothing sector, may result in Kyrgyz products losing some of its middleclass customers in the Russian Federation and Kazakhstan.


The issue of rape has remained one of the most contentious issues in the modern debate on Islamic criminal law. It is generally held that because of the strict criterion for proving this offence, injustice is done with the victim of rape. This essay examines this issue in detail and shows that the doctrine of siyasah [the authority of the government for administration of justice] in the Hanafi criminal law can make the law against sexual violence more effective without altering the law of hudud. The basic contention of this essay is that a proper understanding of the Hanafi criminal law, particularly the doctrine of siyasah, can give viable and effective solutions to this complicated issue of the Pakistani criminal justice system. It recommends that an offence of sexual violence is created which does not involve sexual intercourse as an essential element. That is the only way to delink this offence from zina and qadhf and bring it under the doctrine of siyasah. This offence will, thus, become sub-category of violence, not zina. The government may bring sex crimes involving the threat or use of violence under one heading and, then, further categorize it in view of the intensity and gravity of the crime. It may also prescribe proper punishments for various categories of the crime. Being a siyasah crime, it will not require the standard proof prescribed by Islamic law for the hadd offences. In extreme cases, the court may award death punishment which can be commuted or pardoned only by the government, not by the victim or her legal heirs.


Since World War II, the majority of American wartime engagements have been characterized by a series of low-intensity, asymmetric conflicts. These conflicts have increased the importance of understanding the dynamics of individual actors within complex battlespaces which in turn has led U.S. military commanders, intelligence professionals, and wartime decision makers to seek a variety of means for identifying, tracking, and differentiating persons of interest. From the jungles of Vietnam to the mountains of Afghanistan, the process of understanding the movements and activities of hostile actors has become paramount to successful military targeting and combat operations. Over the last 50 years, the military and intelligence communities have developed a plethora of technologies capable of accomplishing this task to include overhead satellites, infrared imaging, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), advanced biometrics, and host of other personnel identifying and tracking technologies. While these technologies have closed the gap in enabling U.S. military and intelligence professionals to understand the human aspect of the battlespace, there are still significant challenges in uniquely identifying the movements and activities of specific persons or groups of persons.            Given the above outlined challenge of understanding the battlespace, this article will explore an alternative means of identifying and uniquely tracking individuals. Specifically, this article will explore the combined use of remote sensing technologies and genetically engineered biomarkers in order to uniquely identify, track, and differentiate persons of interest. Such a combination of two disparate technical fields would be technologically challenging both within the biological and remote imaging scientific fields, thus emphasizing the paramount importance of combining biological markers with distinct signatures that are detectable by specific and technologically matching visualization means. In addition to discussing the technical challenges associated with such a combination of technologies, this article will also discuss both the potential military benefits and negative implications this process could have in ethical, legal, and diplomatic terms. At the conclusion of this article, the reader should have a fundamental understanding of how remote sensing technologies and biomarkers can be combined to better understand the battlespace as well as the possible implications of this technological paring.Â


The availability of climate model experiments under three alternative scenarios stabilizing at warming targets inspired by the COP21 agreements (a 1.5 °C not exceed, a 1.5 °C with overshoot and a 2.0 °C) makes it possible to assess future expected changes in global yields for two staple crops, wheat and maize. In this study an empirical model of the relation between crop yield anomalies and temperature and precipitation changes, with or without the inclusion of CO2 fertilization effects, is used to produce ensembles of time series of yield outcomes on a yearly basis over the course of the 21st century, for each scenario. The 21st century is divided into 10 year windows starting from 2020, within which the statistical significance and the magnitude of the differences in yield changes between pairs of scenarios are assessed, thus evaluating if and when benefits of mitigations appear, and how substantial they are. Additionally, a metric of extreme heat tailored to the individual crops (number of days during the growing season above a crop-specific threshold) is used to measure exposure to harmful temperatures under the different scenarios. If CO2 effects are not included, statistically significant differences in yields of both crops appear as early as the 2030s but the magnitude of the differences remains below 3% of the historical baseline in all cases until the second part of the century. In the later decades of the 21st century, differences remain small and eventually stop being statistically significant between the two scenarios stabilizing at 1.5 °C, while differences between these two lower scenarios and the 2.0 °C scenario grow to about 4%. The inclusion of CO2 effects erases all significant benefits of mitigation for wheat, while the significance of differences is maintained for maize yields between the higher and the two lower scenarios, albeit with smaller benefits in magnitude. Changes in extremes are significant within each of the scenarios but the differences between any pair of them, even by the end of the century are only on the order of a few days per growing season, and these small changes appear limited to a few localized areas of the growing regions. These results seem to suggest that for globally averaged yields of these two grains the lower targets put forward by the Paris agreement does not change substantially the expected impacts on yields that are caused by warming temperatures under the pre-existing 2.0 °C target.


Summary
There are recorded here the distribution, the annual cycle of abundance, the vertical stratification in the forest, and the possible relationship of the forest mosquitoes attacking man to the transmission of sylvan yellow fever following an outbreak of this disease in Panama. Particular attention is directed toward species of mosquitoes which are proven vectors of sylvan yellow fever in South America, Haemagogus spegazzinii falco and Aedes leucocelaenus.
Haemagogus equinus and H. lucifer proved to be considerably more abundant than H. spegazzinii falco or Aedes leucocelaenus, but, because of the small number of cases of yellow fever despite the considerate number of nonimmune persons exposed in the recent outbreak, it is suggested that these two last mentioned species may be the ones involved in the transmission of the disease to man in this area. As all of these species virtually disappear as adults during the dry season the question remains open as to how the virus is maintained during this unfavorable time of year. Two other species of Haemagogus taken in the study area, H. chalcospilans and H. argyromeris, were present in some abundance in the open or light second growth situations, but did not invade the forest to bite, and seem to be disqualified as vectors by the nature of their habits. The only other species which the evidence seems to render suspect is Sabethes chloropterus. This species demonstrates in its habits many of the characteristics of Haemagogus, is present in significant numbers, and seems better able to carry through the unfavorable dry season. There is, however, no direct evidence as to the ability of this species to transmit the yellow fever virus.


National laws—according to the extent of the given crisis—differentiate between restructuring and insolvency proceedings. The various decisions made by the economic players are influenced not only by specific insolvency laws, but also by the framework itself, i.e. the interconnection of restructuring and liquidation procedures themselves. By examining a number of insolvency systems within the EU, this paper is intended to prove that certain regularities can be detected among the different modes of matching that lend themselves to categorisation. Some of the countries under review have two-tier procedural frameworks, where restructuring and involuntary liquidation procedures are completely independent of one another. Others have single-tier insolvency procedural frameworks, the main characteristic of which is that the decision to restructure is an indispensable element of the proceedings in every case. Furthermore, the paper points out the existence of a procedural framework that has not been identified in other relevant publications as yet and which the author has termed a 'standardising' insolvency procedure.


Everyone knows by now that colleges and universities are "anchor institutions": important place-based engines that play key roles in local economies. But the raw facts of size and place are just the beginning of the story; what matters is not just the fact that anchors have an impact on communities, but what kind of impact they have, and on what terms. It is one thing to be an anchor institution. It is another to consciously and intentionally adopt an anchor mission, leveraging all available institutional and operational resources for community benefit.


This article discusses the relevance of public administration to Muslim minorities in the Philippines and examines how the Philippine government responded to the age-old Muslim problem in terms of policies, structures and processes, as well as some behavioral patterns in dealing with the Muslim minority issue. It delves into the regional governance in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), as part of the overall public administration system for Muslim Filipinos. The structures of the Regional Government and the state of regional development within ARMM shall be described and analyzed. The article also takes into account the conflict management and the peace process in Mindanao, particularly the Government of the Republic of the Philippines–Moro National Liberation Front (GRP-MNLF) Agreement of 1996 and the ongoing peace process between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Finally, this article reviews the study of public administration in the Philippines in relation to the Muslim minority question, with emphasis on the contributions of the University of the Philippines National College of Public Administration and Governance (UP-NCPAG) and the Mindanao State University (MSU) College of Public Affairs (CPA).


No two markets for voluntary health insurance (VHI) are identical. All differ in some way because they are heavily shaped by the nature and performance of publicly financed health systems and by the contexts in which they have evolved.

This volume contains short, structured profiles of markets for VHI in 34 countries in the WHO European Region. These are drawn from European Union Member States plus Armenia, Iceland, Georgia, Norway, the Russian Federation, Switzerland and Ukraine. The book is aimed at policy-makers and researchers interested in knowing more about how VHI works in practice in a wide range of contexts.

Each profile, written by one or more local experts, identifies gaps in publicly financed health coverage, describes the role VHI plays, outlines how the market for VHI operates, summarizes public policy towards VHI, including major developments over time, and highlights national debates and challenges.

The book is part of a study on VHI in Europe prepared jointly by the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies and the WHO Regional Office for Europe. A companion volume, "An introduction to voluntary health insurance in Europe", provides an analytical overview of VHI markets across the 34 countries.


Events at the close of the Permian Period, led to the most severe mass extinction of the Phanerozoic. Sepkoski's 'Palaeozoic Fauna' suffered most; the surviving groups, more 'modern' in aspect, were those that would seed the post-Permian radiation. This radiation has long been identified as a 'delayed' radiation, being apparently of longer duration than other post-extinction radiations, although recent advances in radiometric dating have shortened the Early Triassic. Comparing rates of recovery between different groups or regions is not straightforward because the quality of the fossil record is rather poor during the Early Triassic. The analysis of trace fossils provides one approach to assessing ecological recovery in the absence of well-preserved shells. Groups that radiated into vacant or largely vacated ecospace include the bivalves, which colonised deeper infaunal habitats; the Scleractinia which replaced the Palaeozoic reef-building metazoans; and the reptiles that became top marine predators.

Key Concepts:

The Late Permian mass extinction event is the most severe extinction event known from the fossil record.

Late Permian global warming led to a reduction in ocean circulation, increased ocean stratification and expansion of low-oxygen 'dead zones'.

The Palaeozoic fauna is dominated by sessile, epifaunal filter-feeders such as corals, crinoids and brachiopods, whereas the Modern fauna is dominated by motile, epifaunal and infaunal organisms such as bivalves, echinoids and gastropods.

The best-preserved fossil remains usually require an absence of scavenging animals, rapid burial and rapid mineralisation.

The quality of the fossil record is not constant through time and is affected by a number of different sampling and preservational factors.

Trace fossils provide evidence of the activities of benthic organisms that may not be preserved as body fossils, and are the only records of the responses of these animals to past extinction events.

Keywords:

Permian;
Triassic;
extinction;
radiation;
ecospace;
Lazarus effect


Background: Black men currently comprise a substantial percentage of prisoners in the United States. Drug dependence is common among prison populations, and US prisons are high-risk environments for drug use. Prison drug use exacerbates health problems disproportionately prevalent among Black men and prisoners. Objectives: The goal of this research was to examine predictors of prison drug use among incarcerated Black men. Methods: This study examined drug use within the prison environment in a random sample of 134 Black men incarcerated in maximum-security correctional institution. The Addiction Severity Index (ASI) was used to measure illicit drug use history and the extent to which drug use occurred within the prison environment. Results: Seventy-five percent of the participants reported a history of illicit drug use. Overall, 20% (n 25) of the participants, or 25% of those with a history of drug use, reported using drugs during a time frame consistent with incarceration. Participants with lengthier histories of drug use (OR: 1.1, 95% CI 1.0–1.2) and those who were incarcerated longer (OR: 1.1, 95% CI 1.0–1.2) were more likely to use drugs in prison. Drug use in prison was associated with history of injection drug use and with probation/parole status when arrested. Conclusions: Prisoners are engaging in illicit drug use while incarcerated, suggesting that they could benefit from harm reduction and drug treatment services offered during incarceration. Scientific significance: Drug treatment programs that address long-standing addictions and coping mechanisms for lengthy prison stays, specifically, would be especially useful for this population.


During the past 30 years, many species of farmland birds have declined dramatically in numbers in Northern Europe, a trend coinciding with a tremendous intensification of agriculture, although the exact causes of these declines remain unclear. One of the worst affected species is the Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus). We studied two Swedish Tree Sparrow populations during the years 1996–2004 and found that in both populations, almost half of all laid eggs remained unhatched. This led us to investigate whether the eggs failed to hatch because of: (1) eggs not being fertilised or (2) embryo mortality. Our analyses showed that all of the eggs investigated contained sufficient number of sperm for fertilisation and that they also had other visible signs indicating that fertilisation had occurred. Hatching failure was instead shown to result from embryo mortality. Using molecular techniques, we were able to determine that embryo mortality is more likely to affect male embryos than females and that the fledgling sex ratio was consequently highly female biased. The cause of this sex-biased embryo mortality remains unknown, but various potential explanations are discussed.


Earthquakes impacting on the built environment can generate significant volumes of waste, often overwhelming existing waste management capacities. Earthquake waste can pose a public and environmental health hazard and can become a road block on the road to recovery. Specific research has been developed at the University of Canterbury to go beyond the current perception of disaster waste as a logistical hurdle, to a realisation that disaster waste management is part of the overall recovery process and can be planned for effectively. Disaster waste decision-makers, often constrained by inappropriate institutional frameworks, are faced with conflicting social, economic and environmental drivers which all impact on the overall recovery. Framed around L'Aquila earthquake, Italy, 2009, this paper discusses the social, economic and environmental effects of earthquake waste management and the impact of existing institutional frameworks (legal, financial and organisational). The paper concludes by discussing how to plan for earthquake waste management.


A growing number of artists are attracted to synthetic biology as a technique and also because of the interesting ethical questions it raises. Many of these artists work directly with research scientists. Their creations add a cultural counterbalance to the field9s tendency to view life like circuitry, a utilitarian perspective that increasingly drives synthetic biology and, they say, informs the public9s understanding of it. They find themselves uniquely placed to ask hard questions about the ethical and social issues raised by synthetic biology. While special interests that want to either promote or condemn the nascent science have been eager to fund artistic interpretations of it, they are finding they may not get the results they hoped for.


This book is an original study of the challenge of implementing sustainable development in Western democracies. It highlights the obstacles which sustainable development presents for strategic governance and critically examines how these problems can best be overcome in a variety of different political contexts. The renowned international contributors, including leading policy experts, try to identify the forms of governance necessary to realize the functions of sustainable development. With the help of detailed case studies, they document and analyze specific governance mechanisms for pursuing and achieving this aim. They move on to offer clearly formulated conclusions on the relationship between the demands of sustainable development and the current norms and practices of Western democracy. The book also raises the fundamental question of whether change can ever be achieved if the overriding goal of development is not firmly stated as 'sustainability' rather than 'business as usual'.


Abstract Using a cross-sectional survey of two sampled counties in Kenya, this article analyses whether social networking sites reflect social network heterogeneity. It then examines how social network heterogeneity influences polarisation in Kenya. Three types of polarisation are examined: party, ethnic and ideological (around county resources). The study focuses specifically on the public WhatsApp platform (the most popular SNS in Kenya). To assess this empirical data, theoretical perspectives are drawn from the literatures on incidental and selective exposure and their impact on political polarisation. The findings indicate that the randomised composition of a WhatsApp group through public links indeed reflects social network heterogeneity. The findings further show that posting political news, obtaining political news and commenting on political news influence social network heterogeneity to some degree. This social network heterogeneity was also found to influence all three (party, ideological and ethnic) types of polarisation in varying but significant degrees.


Asymptotic approximations are obtained for the reflected and refracted fields that result when an arbitrary monochromatic electromagnetic wave is incident on a plane interface separating two linear, homogeneous, isotropic dielectrics. The results are the first one or two terms in the asymptotic expansion of the fields valid as the point of observation moves away from the interface a distance large compared to the wavelength in any fixed direction apart from certain specified critical angles. The approximations are obtained from the exact solutions by applying the method of stationary phase extended to allow for the nonstandard form of the integrands in the integral representations of the fields. Although the method is applicable only when the medium containing the point of observation is nonabsorbing, the results probably have more general applicability.


Shoe manufacturers reacted to the barefoot subculture of distance running that would proliferate in the mid-1990s by producing and aggressively marketing the 'minimalist' shoe. To overcome the paradox of selling a shoe that mimics running without footwear, we argue that shoe companies co-opt many of the symbols and identities that characterize the oppositional character of the barefoot running subculture. Our analysis seeks to identify the methods through which this process takes place in video advertisements for minimalist running shoes, focusing specifically on New Balance's campaign for the Minimus featuring ultramarathon champion Anton Krupicka. This lucrative market has in effect mainstreamed the concept of barefoot running – a movement with roots tracing back to the 1970s – into mass consumer culture, a process that has commoditized its original principles of mysticism and anti-materialism to promote minimalist shoes.


The Sticky Information Phillips Curve (SIPC) provides a theoretically appealing alternative to the sticky-price New-Keynesian Phillips curve (NKPC). This paper assesses the empirical performance of the SIPC for Australia. There is only weak evidence in favour of the SIPC over the low-inflation period. Parameter estimates are sensitive to inflation measures and sample periods, and are theoretically inconsistent for several specifications. The apparent poor performance of the SIPC in part reflects the fact that inflation has become difficult to model since the introduction of inflation targeting. Over sample periods including the early 1990s disinflation, the SIPC appears to fit the data better.


Abstract. On interannual- to multidecadal timescales variability in sea surface temperature appears to be organized in large-scale spatiotemporal patterns. In this paper, we investigate these patterns by studying the community structure of interaction networks constructed from sea surface temperature observations. Much of the community structure can be interpreted using known dominant patterns of variability, such as the El Nino/Southern Oscillation and the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation. The community detection method allows us to bypass some shortcomings of Empirical Orthogonal Function analysis or composite analysis and can provide additional information with respect to these classical analysis tools. In addition, the study of the relationship between the communities and indices of global surface temperature shows that, while El Nino–Southern Oscillation is most dominant on interannual timescales, the Indian West Pacific and North Atlantic may also play a key role on decadal timescales. Finally, we show that the comparison of the community structure from simulations and observations can help detect model biases.


In this article we treat the cultural and intellectual life of liberalism in the Czech Republic, as opposed to the policy record, and report especially on recent history. We especially treat economists and economic thought. Liberalism in the Czech Republic traces its roots in the pre-World War II period. We describe its suffering during oppressive regimes of national and international socialism, and we analyze reasons for its unique influence after the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989. A special focus is devoted to the activities of Czech economic reformers in the early 1990s and, down to today, think-tanks and several universities in advancing liberal values and ideas, again with an emphasis on economics.


In an incubation experiment, P was added to the Rengam Series soil through empty fruit bunches (EFB) alone (38 mg P kg-1 soil), P fertilizer alone (900 mg P kg-1 soil), and P fertilizer added together with EFB (938 mg P kg-1 soil). The P fertilizers used were triple superphosphate (TSP), Gafsa (Tunisia) phosphate rock (GPR) and Christmas Island phosphate rock (CIPR). For each month during the six-month incubation, soil P fractions, namely iron oxide-coated strip P (Pi), Bray 2 P, NaOH P, occluded P, Ca P, organic P, microbial biomass P, total P, amount of P dissolved (DP) from phosphate rock (PR), and exchangeable Ca were determined. The percentage dissolution of TSP, GPR and CIPR was 94.8%, 31.3% and 26.6% of added P, respectively, following the chemical reactivity of the materials. Addition of organic residues (EFB) only had a significant effect on the dissolution of CIPR. However, the results show a positive influence of organic residues added with P fertilizer which stimulated the formation of microbial biomass P (four times more than with P fertilizer added alone), organic P (about two times more than with P fertilizer added alone), and less movement into the inorganic P fractions. Addition of organic residues led to the continued increase in dissolution of PR with time, over the six months of incubation, compared to when PR alone was added to the soil; this might be due to the additional sinks for P (biological transformation of P) and Ca (increase in Ca-exchange sites). * Malaysian Palm Oil Board,


Industrial robot manipulators are general-purpose machines used for industrial automation in order to increase productivity, flexibility, and product quality. Other reasons for using industrial robots are cost saving, and elimination of hazardous and unpleasant work. Robot motion control is a key competence for robot manufacturers, and the current development is focused on increasing the robot performance, reducing the robot cost, improving safety, and introducing new functionalities. Therefore, there is a need to continuously improve the mathematical models and control methods in order to fulfil conflicting requirements, such as increased performance of a weight-reduced robot, with lower mechanical stiffness and more complicated vibration modes. One reason for this development of the robot mechanical structure is of course cost-reduction, but other benefits are also obtained, such as lower environmental impact, lower power consumption, improved dexterity, and higher safety. This thesis deals with different aspects of modeling and control of flexible, i.e., elastic, manipulators. For an accurate description of a modern industrial manipulator, this thesis shows that the traditional flexible joint model, described in literature, is not sufficient. An improved model where the elasticity is described by a number of localized multidimensional spring-damper pairs is therefore proposed. This model is called the extended flexible joint model. The main contributions of this work are the design and analysis of identification methods, and of inverse dynamics control methods, for the extended flexible joint model. The proposed identification method is a frequency-domain non-linear gray-box method, which is evaluated by the identification of a modern six-axes robot manipulator. The identified model gives a good description of the global behavior of this robot. The inverse dynamics problem is discussed, and a solution methodology is proposed. This methodology is based on the solution of a differential algebraic equation (DAE). The inverse dynamics solution is then used for feedforward control of both a simulated manipulator and of a real robot manipulator. The last part of this work concerns feedback control. First, a model-based nonlinear feedback control (feedback linearization) is evaluated and compared to a model-based feedforward control algorithm. Finally, two benchmark problems for robust feedback control of a flexible manipulator are presented and some proposed solutions are analyzed.


[1] The Columbia River plume (CRP) is a buoyant plume that influences the Oregon and Washington shelf with the delivery of freshwater, silicic acid, trace metals, and particulate and dissolved organic matter. The highly dynamic plume contains submesoscale features that have an impact on the chemistry, biology, and transport of water and material offshore. Bio-optical classification of the larger plume water mass has confirmed seasonal and annual flow patterns but has not described the internal structure of the plume in a biogeochemically relevant way, as there were no in situ data to validate classification. The objectives of this study were to define water types statistically within the CRP using in situ measurements of biogeochemically and bio-optically relevant variables, to build a training data set from these water types, and to apply this training data set to 250 m resolution Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Aqua imagery from an oceanographically downwelling and upwelling period to predictively discriminate water masses within the plume. This study's classification technique was effective at predicting water types in the CRP. The three-variable input matrix (temperature, salinity, and chlorophyllafluorescence) performed better than the two-variable input matrix (temperature and salinity) at distinguishing fine-scale structure within the plume at the river mouth. Retentive features such as the plume bulge and eddies were observed at the river mouth and on the Washington shelf. This classification approach was limited to the available continuous variables measured by shipboard, mooring, and satellite sensors. Two new classification methods are proposed that build on the framework of the classifier described here.


Dextromethorphan, an over the counter cough suppressant is gaining popularity among teenagers and young adults because of its easy availability, relatively low price and most importantly the feeling good effects that it brought when used in megadoses. We are reporting three cases of dextromethorphan abuse and its clinical presentations. We discussed about the factors that contribute to the current situation of uncontrolled usage of dextromethorphan in our population especially in Sarawak. We also looked into some of the steps that we can take in order to prevent the situation from becoming worse.  Please click PDF below to download the full paper...


Waking up from a dreamless sleep, I open my eyes, recognize my wife's face and am filled with joy. In this thesis, I used functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to gain insights into the mechanisms involved in this seemingly simple daily occurrence, which poses at least three great challenges to neuroscience: how does conscious experience arise from the activity of the brain? How does the brain process visual input to the point of recognizing individual faces? How does the brain store semantic knowledge about people that we know? To start tackling the first question, I studied the neural correlates of unconscious processing of invisible faces. I was unable to image significant activations related to the processing of completely invisible faces, despite existing reports in the literature. I thus moved on to the next question and studied how recognition of a familiar person was achieved in the brain; I focused on finding invariant representations of person identity – representations that would be activated any time we think of a familiar person, read their name, see their picture, hear them talk, etc. There again, I could not find significant evidence for such representations with fMRI, even in regions where they had previously been found with single unit recordings in human patients (the Jennifer Aniston neurons). Faced with these null outcomes, the scope of my investigations eventually turned back towards the technique that I had been using, fMRI, and the recently praised analytical tools that I had been trusting, Multivariate Pattern Analysis. After a mostly disappointing attempt at replicating a strong single unit finding of a categorical response to animals in the right human amygdala with fMRI, I put fMRI decoding to an ultimate test with a unique dataset acquired in the macaque monkey. There I showed a dissociation between the ability of fMRI to pick up face viewpoint information and its inability to pick up face identity information, which I mostly traced back to the poor clustering of identity selective units. Though fMRI decoding is a powerful new analytical tool, it does not rid fMRI of its inherent limitations as a hemodynamics-based measure.


ABSTRACT Trace fossils of basal, apterygote (wingless) insects from the Pennsylvanian-aged Rhode Island Formation of southeastern New England include the body imprint Tonganoxichnus buildexensis and the trackways Mitchellichnus cf. ferrydenensis, Siskemia elegans, Stiallia pilosa, and Stiaria intermedia. Trackways with double and triple medial impressions (S. elegans and M. ferrydenensis) are rare among trace fossils attributed to such insects. To determine how these unusual trackway morphologies were produced, and why they are so rare, experiments were conducted over a range of media ( = sedimentary substrates) with modern archaeognathans (jumping bristletails) and thysanurans (silverfish). Our experimental results suggest that archaeognathans produced the fossil body imprints, as well as trackways exhibiting opposite symmetry, but cannot rule out thysanurans for trackways exhibiting alternate symmetry. The results also show that a variety of appendages leave medial impressions. The rarity of fossil trackways with more than one medial impression results from the low mass of the animal and the delicate nature of the appendages making such structures, coupled with behavior (jumping and landing) and media properties (saturation and cohesiveness). The production of different numbers of medial impressions by a single archaeognathan species suggests that fossils should show similar variety, albeit in rare cases, and that the named ichnotaxa are likely derived from a single biological taxon. Finally, the experimental work provides new insights into the production and preservation in Stiallia and Tonganoxichnus.


During hemorrhagic shock and after resuscitation, the left ventricular pressure (LVP) and volume (LVV) vary over time. This study investigates and characterizes the LVP and LVV signals in the frequency and time domains in a hemorrhagic shock-resuscitation model. 40% of blood volume was withdrawn from anesthetized hamsters to induce moderate hemorrhagic shock conditions. A single volume infusion of the plasma expander (Hextend: hydroxyethyl starch) was administered after 30 min of the beginning of hemorrhagic shock. LVP and LVV were measured using a miniaturized pressure-volume conductance catheter. The fast Fourier transform and trajectory plot of both signals were performed for frequency and time domains analysis, respectively. Preliminary results show that, during shock stage, the amplitudes of the LVP spectrum at the 2 and 4 harmonics were significantly higher compared with baseline and 30 min after resuscitation (p<0.01). We also found that the trajectory plot of LVP showed a markedly difference between normal conditions at baseline and the shock condition. However, there was no significant information in the LVV signal either in frequency or time domain during hemorrhagic shock-resuscitation. These findings demonstrated the applicability of frequency and time domains analysis of LVP signal for use as an alternative diagnostic tool.


Abstract : This study examined the effect of automated decision support on Certified Professional Controller (CPC) behavior. Sixteen CPCs from Air Route Traffic Control Centers participated in human-in-the-loop simulations. CPCs controlled two levels of traffic, supported by either paper flight strips, electronic flight strips with conflict indication, or conflict probe and trial planning automation. Each CPC worked as either a radar or a data controller. The controller station included a display system replacement console and a prototype decision support tool (DST). The station consisted of operational hardware and software connected to an operational Host Computer System (HCS). The HCS received simulated radar from the William J. Hughes Technical Center Target Generation Facility. We assessed CPC behavior by using instruments that assessed situation awareness (SA), workload, visual scanning, trust, and performance. An increase in traffic or automation or working as a data controller lowered SA. An increase in traffic or automation or working as a radar controller increased workload. An increase in automation shifted the focus of the data controller from the radar display to the DST, whereas, an increase in traffic shifted the focus more to the radar display. With an increase in traffic or a decrease in automation, the trust in automation decreased. If subject matter experts indicated a difference between conditions, it involved better CPC performance under lower traffic and more automated conditions. The results have implications for controller training, distribution of responsibilities within controller teams, and air traffic control human-computer interface design.


This study aims to improve asset pricing by using empirical, zero-beta, macro and state variables. Firstly, we improve asset pricing with empirical factors as we find the gap that the five-factor model augmented with momentum factor, is yet to be examined in international equity markets. We use the time-series and cross-sectional tests to assess the performance of this six-factor model and compare the performance with other traditional asset pricing models. Findings suggest that the five-factor model improves with the addition of momentum factor. Secondly, we attempt to improve asset pricing by using the gold return as a proxy of the zero-beta rate in global regions. We find that the gold beta is insignificantly different from zero in the U.S. and U.K. equity markets. We confirm the efficiency of gold markets with a battery of efficiency tests and find the position of gold at the minimum variance frontier. When we perform empirical tests by using gold as a zero-beta asset in empirical factor models, we find a convincing evidence in those equity markets as we obtain higher R-squared values, lower Sharpe ratios of alphas and fewer significant pricing errors. Thirdly, we examine the role of gold as a hedging factor in the Intertemporal Capital Asset Pricing Model (ICAPM) in the U.S. and global asset pricing. We perform multivariate and Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) to assess the joint significance of the market and gold price factors. We find that the gold is not a useless factor both in the U.S. and the global asset pricing. Fourthly, we employ empirical, macroeconomic, and state variables to improve asset pricing. We assess the performance of the 23 asset pricing models with the Merton (1973) criteria of multifactor models. We also explore the innovative role of inflation and industrial production with ICAPM and empirical multifactor models. We employ single and multiple predictive regressions to assess forecasting criteria and utilise first-stage GMM to assess the cross-sectional criteria of multifactor models. Results on the multifactor models confirm earlier findings that the applicability of gold return as a proxy of the zero-beta rate improves the model performance of not only empirical factor model but also ICAPM models. This research has many useful applications for investors, policy makers and regulatory bodies. The alternative zero-beta models are useful to obtain better estimates of expected returns during the market crisis and improve pricing of small and risky stocks.


Moving bottlenecks in road traffic represent an interesting mathematical problem, which can be modeled via
coupled PDE-ODE systems. We consider the case of a scalar conservation law modeling the evolution of vehicular traffic and an ODE with discontinuous right-hand side for the bottleneck. The bottleneck usually corresponds to a slow moving vehicle influencing the bulk traffic flow via a moving flux pointwise constraint.
The definition of solutions requires a special entropy condition selecting nonclassical shocks and we prove existence
of such solutions for initial data with bounded variation.
Approximate solutions are constructed via the wave-front tracking method and their limit are solutions of the Cauchy problem PDE-ODE.


Recently there has been increased recognition that authentic community participation and creating strong inter-institutional partnerships are both important in the process of capacity building, generating innovation, and sustaining development achievements in rural Africa. Here we summarize a process of community participation and formation of institutional partnerships in support of pastoral risk-management interventions over the past seven years on the Borana Plateau. Community involvement has been stimulated using Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) methods. This has resulted in the proliferation of pastoral collective-action groups that have diversified livelihoods, engaged markets, and improved incomes. Implementing and sustaining positive change, however, has also been related to building a dynamic network of 46 likeminded partners across Ethiopia and northern Kenya. These partners include community based organizations, women's groups, policy makers, educators, researchers, private sector firms, various GO and NGO development agents, and others. It is argued that widespread impact across such a large area could not have been achieved without the assistance of many partners that contribute complimentary resources and expertise to plug gaps that can otherwise impede progress. Challenges and opportunities in creating and maintaining partner networks in support of such rural development are discussed.


The Catholic Church is coping with mass tort liability for sexual abuse of children by priests. Since 2004, eighteen Catholic organizations have filed for relief in bankruptcy. Fifteen debtors emerged from bankruptcy after settling with sexual abuse claimants and insurers. During settlement negotiations, sexual abuse claimants and debtors clashed over the extent of the debtors' property and ability to pay claims. Although such disputes are common in chapter 11 plan negotiations, the Catholic cases required the parties and bankruptcy courts to account for unique religious attributes of Catholic debtors. This article reviews the arguments and outcomes on property issues based on reported decisions, pleadings, plans, and disclosure statements. It explains the key characteristics of Catholic dioceses under canon and secular organization law and the bankruptcy contexts in which these characteristics became hot button issues. It offers an analysis of the legacy of the Catholic cases for bankruptcy law, religious liberty, and for the relationships among entities within a Catholic diocese.


Human mobility has opened up to many themes in recent years. Human behavior and how a driver might react to certain situations, whether dangerous (e.g. an accident) or simply part of the evolution of new technologies (e.g. autonomous driving), leaves many avenues to be explored. Although experiments have been deployed in real situations, it remains difficult to encounter the conditions that certain studies may require. For this reason, we have set up a driving simulator (comprising several modules) that is able to reproduce a realistic driving environment. Although, as the literature has already demonstrated, the conditions are often far from reality, simulation platforms are nonetheless capable of reproducing an incredibly large number of scenarios on the fly (e.g. [1], [2]). In this poster, we explain how we conceived the simulator, its architecture, as well as the system we developed for collecting metrics on both the driver and the simulation environment. In addition, we take advantage of this conference to publicly share a dataset consisting of 25 drivers performing the same road circuit on the "Project Cars" 1 game.


Abstract. Polyolefinic monoterpenes represent a potentially important but understudied source of organic nitrates (ONs) and secondary organic aerosol (SOA) following oxidation due to their high reactivity and propensity for multi-stage chemistry. Recent modeling work suggests that the oxidation of polyolefinic γ-terpinene can be the dominant source of nighttime ON in a mixed forest environment. However, the ON yields, aerosol partitioning behavior, and SOA yields from γ-terpinene oxidation by the nitrate radical (NO3), an important nighttime oxidant, have not been determined experimentally. In this work, we present a comprehensive experimental investigation of the total (gas + particle) ON, hydroxy nitrate, and SOA yields following γ-terpinene oxidation by NO3. Under dry conditions, the hydroxy nitrate yield  =  4(+1/−3) %, total ON yield  =  14(+3/−2) %, and SOA yield  ≤  10 % under atmospherically relevant particle mass loadings, similar to those for α-pinene + NO3. Using a chemical box model, we show that the measured concentrations of NO2 and γ-terpinene hydroxy nitrates can be reliably simulated from α-pinene + NO3 chemistry. This suggests that NO3 addition to either of the two internal double bonds of γ-terpinene primarily decomposes forming a relatively volatile keto-aldehyde, reconciling the small SOA yield observed here and for other internal olefinic terpenes. Based on aerosol partitioning analysis and identification of speciated particle-phase ON applying high-resolution liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry, we estimate that a significant fraction of the particle-phase ON has the hydroxy nitrate moiety. This work greatly contributes to our understanding of ON and SOA formation from polyolefin monoterpene oxidation, which could be important in the northern continental US and the Midwest, where polyolefinic monoterpene emissions are greatest.


REDD+ refers to the implementation of activities under the UNFCCC in developing tropical countries to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and to promote the sustainable management of forests and the enhancement and conservation of forest carbon stocks. REDD+ will provide financing based on performance to countries reducing their greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. A great deal of concern has been raised by civil society about REDD+ regarding questions of equity and whether the benefits of this policy will be 'pro-poor'. The objective of this study is to evaluate the potential for pro-poor REDD+ benefit sharing in the region known as Yucatan Peninsula (comprising the states of Campeche, Quintana Roo and Yucatan), considering the prevalent drivers of deforestation and forest degradation and the possible alternatives to address them, and assessing the impacts of each of these strategies on different local social groups. The analyses presented here consider the identification of local poorer groups and their prototypical involvement in the main drivers of emissions and potential engagement in REDD+ activities. The information can be used as "cross-reference" tools for the analysis and the design of pro-poor interventions that can be replicated and adapted to specific condition.


Donnely, Jack. International Human Rights. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2013. 274 pp. International Human Rights studies the role played by states and other international actors in promoting human rights and values education in an increasingly complex, interconnected world. Jack Donnelly, through a detailed examination, has made a compelling work by providing traditional and contemporary challenges to the notion of human rights. To begin with, the author has traced the origin of earliest form of human rights to the Peace of Westphalia (1648) that brought the Thirty Year's War to an end and one in which limited religious rights to the Christian minorities were duly recognized. The 1815 Treaty of Vienna that brought an end to Napoleonic and Revolutionary wars, included rights of the minorities even though it was limited in nature. If the nineteenth-century was marked by sustained campaigns against slave trade and slavery in various parts of the world, the end of World War I addressed the concerns of International Labor Organization and League of Nations. One of the key challenges pertaining to human rights has been the states' stubborn assertion of sovereign rights. States as leading actors in international politics have claimed absolute control in their internal and external affairs and implicit in it is the concept of nonintervention. States stress supreme importance as to their domestic jurisdiction in all spheres including what rights are basic or fundamental and who possesses their rights and in what forms or context. Any effort, initiated either internally or externally to dilute state's sovereignty is viewed suspiciously and are often dealt with sternly by the use of force and through other related mechanisms. Movement, for human rights received a huge boost with the adoption of Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) on December 10, 1948. With forty-eight countries in favor, none against and eight abstentions, UDHR provided a definitive blueprint for the first time. Article 1 of the Universal Declaration stated, "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. "(p.6) Article 2-27 outlined a comprehensive set of rights such as equality of rights without discrimination, liberty and security of person, protection against torture and cruel and inhuman punishment, recognition of a person before the law, equal protection of the law, access to legal remedies for rights violations, protection against arbitrary arrest or detention, protection of privacy, family and home, freedom of movement and residence, seek asylum from persecution, freedom of thought, conscience and religion, freedom of opinion, expression, and the press, freedom of assembly, association and political participation, etc. In addition to these institutional measures that are considered authoritatively by community of nations, some new features such as right of self-determination of peoples were added to UDHR through International Human Rights Covenants in 1966. The Universal Declarations are the covenants collectively referred to as the International Bill of Human Rights and are recognized by the international community for insuring a life of dignity and worth to each individual. …


When it was first drafted and put into effect, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) allowed litigants to seek monetary damages from state governments for disability-based discrimination under Title I and Title II of the statute. On Eleventh Amendment grounds, however, recent decisions have virtually eliminated the prospect of monetary damage awards against the states for such violations. In the wake of these decisions, the precise scope of remedies against the states for violations of Titles I and II of the ADA is unclear. This note examines possible alternative remedies for private plaintiffs alleging disability discrimination by the states. Ultimately, the note argues that two viable remedies exist: injunctive relief under Ex parte Young, and the so-called plan waiver exception to the Eleventh Amendment. The note asserts that the plan waiver remedy is particularly suitable when a Title I violation is alleged, while Ex parte Young injunctive relief should be favored as a remedy for Title II violations.


We appreciate the authors' comments in their reply: "On the identification of chromosomes with Raman spectroscopy: a critical comment" [Opt. Express 15, 5997 (2007)]. Their main concern with our paper is asking if the collected spectra have shown the identification or differentiation between three human chromosomes. We think this comment is flawed because the authors misunderstood the main points of the original paper and interpreted the presented spectra data (Fig. 3 and Table 1) incorrectly.


In this paper we empirically analyze the socio-economic determinants of the existence of military dictatorships in Africa. A recent literature in political economy analyses the relationship between the civil undemocratic government and the military as an agency problem: the civilian government needs the army to avoid internal violence, but a larger army reduces the opportunity-cost for the military to run a coup d'etat and seize power. These papers derive three main causes of military rule: income inequality, ethnic fractionalization, and external threat. We empirically analyze these issues by estimating the probability that a country experiences a military rule. We consider 48 African countries over the period 1970-2007.


A portion of the Doppler shifted light backscattered from a moving diffuse target is allowed to reenter the CO2 source laser. The laser power, monitored by a photodiode through a partially transmitting mirror on the rear of the laser, is modulated at the Doppler frequency. Two regimes of operation are observed. For the laser operating well above threshold, the Doppler signal level is relatively insensitive to the laser operating point. A narrow region of enhanced sensitivity is observed, however, for laser operation at a point near threshold.


A positive correlation between productivity and export market participation has been well documented in producer micro data. Recent empirical studies and theoretical analyses have emphasized that this may reflect the producer's other investment activities, particularly investments in R&D or new technology, that both raise productivity and increase the payoff to exporting. In this paper we develop a dynamic structural model of a producer's decision to invest in R&D and participate in the export market. The investment decisions depend on the expected future profitability and the fixed and sunk costs incurred with each activity. We estimate the model using plant-level data from the Taiwanese electronics industry and find a complex set of interactions between R&D, exporting, and productivity. The selfselection of high productivity plants is the dominant channel driving participation in the export market and R&D investment. Both R&D and exporting have a positive direct effect on the plant's future productivity which reinforces the selection effect. When modeled as discrete decisions, the productivity effect of R&D is larger, but, because of its higher cost, is undertaken by fewer plants than exporting. The impact of each activity on the net returns to the other are quantitatively unimportant. In model simulations, the endogenous choice of R&D and exporting generates average productivity that is 22.0 percent higher after 10 years than an environment where productivity evolution is not affected by plant investments. JEL Classification: F14, O31, O33


The aesthetics of contemporary short fiction have been shaped by its ability to engage with time as a boundless process of becoming. Historically and philosophically,
the emergence of the short story as a specific genre
may be related to modernist concepts of time and
subjectivity. 'Real' time, as it is experienced by
the subject, is a flux, in which past and present
co-mingle. In Bergsonian terms, an unquantifiable
'duration' 1S contrasted with Newtonian concepts of
absolute time as a succession of discrete units. As
Hanson has argued, narrative in the short story 1S
structured by a seemingly random association of 1mages
rather than linear causality.
I contextualize the short story genre, historically
and culturally, examining texts by George Egerton and
Katherine Mansfield before moving on to the main focus
of my thesis, which is texts by Alice Munro and Grace
Paley. These also present a dynamic reality, within
time as a continuum. However, while utilizing modernist
techniques, they also subvert them, problematizing concepts
of transcendence. The blurring of the boundaries between
autobiographical discourse, orality and fiction is used
to destabilize notions of a unified subjectivity and
of fixed truth.
My analysis applies Bakhtinian theories on language
and subject formation to investigate this presentation
of time as endless self-renewal. I also draw on Genette's
narrative theory and introduce Kristevan theory to
investigate the speaking subject from a psychoanalytical
viewpoint, with particular reference to the gendered
subject. The Bakhtinian concept of the chronotope enables
the theorization of the space-time nexus as the foundation
of generic specificity; I offer a generic chronotope
for the short story, which is grounded in the present
moment. An examination of the fiction-making process,
through a discussion of my own short stories, concludes
this discussion of the short story as a form of contact
with undefinable reality.


The main goal of the present study was threefold: (a) to establish a test that utilizes face images collected and normed in the Taiwanese society in order to provide a culturally calibrated tool for assessing face memory ability, (b) to examine the relationship between face memory performance and a range of face tasks to reveal underlying processing that may play an important role in face memory, and (c) to investigate the relationship between age differences in face memory performance and those in holistic processing as revealed by the face composite test. To create the Taiwanese face memory test (TFMT), we followed the procedure of Cambridge Face Memory Test (CFMT) (Duchaine & Nakayama, 2006), and used images from the Taiwanese face database (Shyi, Huang, & Yeh, 2013). Like CFMT, TFMT was administered in three stages with increasing difficulty. The results of TFMT from 52 young-adult participants revealed an almost identical pattern reported by Duchaine & Nakayama (2006). We then correlated participants' performance on TFMT with their performances on three face tasks tapping component, configural, and holistic processing of faces, respectively. Only performance on the face composite task with a complete design was significantly correlated with that on TFMT, and in particular the latter two stages of TFMT, which tapped memory for face identities rather than mere face images. Finally, while showing an overall inferior performance on TFMT than the young adults, older adults nonetheless exhibited a similar interaction between alignment and congruency effect. More intriguingly, as they progressively aged, older adults were increasingly likely to display a pattern of diminishing holistic processing. Taken together, these findings not only highlights the importance of creating culturally calibrated tool for assessing face memory ability, but also implicates that holistic processing of faces may underlie participants' performance and in particular age differences on TFMT. Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2015.


Children with severe communication deficits often need alternative methods to supplement existing speech or replace speech that is not functional. Research indicates that augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) methods can improve communicative function in low or nonverbal children. A prevalent form of AAC is the Speech-Generating Device (SGD), which produces synthesized or recorded speech. Numerous SGDs, downloadable applications, and accessories are on the market alongside a vast array of published literature. As a result, it is difficult for parents to educate themselves when considering an SGD for their child. This paper will serve as a guide to help parents understand SGDs and the ways in which they may benefit their child.


In this book Jeffrey Moore profiles the history and select operations of America's first effective, all source, joint military intelligence agency. Known as JICPOA for Joint Intelligence Center, Pacific Ocean Areas, the agency's nearly two thousand specialists are credited with giving Admiral Nimitz the intelligence he needed to win the Pacific War. Moore explains how JICPOA evolved and reveals some new facts about the war as he assesses the impact of intelligence on eight amphibious campaigns in the islands of the Central Pacific. He also demonstrates timeless intelligence lessons, faulty versus effective intelligence techniques, and intelligence-operational planning integration-subjects that continue to be pertinent to today's military operations, including the war on terror. For this unprecedented look at the little-known but groundbreaking organization, Moore draws on interviews with key personnel and internal documents. He supports his analysis of JICPOA's strengths and weaknesses, its successes and failures, with more than forty maps, charts, and illustrations. With a foreword by the head of Marine Corps intelligence, the book makes an excellent addition to World War II history and professional collections. Intelligence experts and operations planners will find its lessons useful and insightful. Readers with an interest in real-life thrillers will find it a fascinating study of basic intelligence work. Jeffrey M. Moore, a defense analyst currently under contract with the federal government, works in the Pentagon supporting the Army staff. He lives in Alexandria, Virginia.


It took us a long time to realize that the power of a technology is proportional to its inherent out-of-controlness, its inherent ability to surprise and be generative. In fact, unless we can worry about a technology, it is not revolutionary enough. -Kevin Kelly, co-founder Wired Magazine (2006) This is the paradox of ambient awareness. Each little update-each individual bit of social information-is insignificant on its own, even supremely mundane. But taken together, over time, the little snippets coalesce into a surprisingly sophisticated portrait of your friends' and family members' lives, like thousands of dots making a pointillist painting. -Clive Thompson, The New York Times (2008) Ethnographic Contributions to a Public Debate on the Politics of Social Media As revolution and repression rumble through the Middle East for a second year, and occupations and anti-austerity protests sweep the US and Europe, the appraisal of social media's political edges has become a topic of popular debate. Not surprisingly, there have been few clear conclusions about how social buzz corresponds with political booms, with most commentators unable to agree on anything other than an affinity between increases in turbulent political currents and surges in social media usage.1 There is an almost obsessive quality to the recursion of inconclusive commentary about the role of new technologies in politics. It is as if the mass media, anxious about their own place in the media ecology, is worrying out loud about what Kevin Kelly (2006) called social media's "out-of-controlness." As a corrective to glib pronouncements about the agency of social media following the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, some thoughtful commentators and academics have sought to contextualize recent political developments (e.g., special sections and forums in Cultural Anthropologist and American Ethnologist; see Elyacher and Winegar 2012, Haugerud 2012). These interventions show that the relationship between social media and political upheaval is one of association at best, and that political change is overdetermined. More compelling (if not necessarily sufficient) frameworks for understanding political change take into account how multiple forces, such as histories of political contestation, geo-politics, demographics, and ethno-religious fissures, combine to effect political change. The essays in this special section contribute to this corrective effort. The texts published here contribute to an emerging ethnographic literature about how political actors use social media technologies, and how social media companies become political actors. How do anti-authoritarian activists and security states seek to harness the power they sense lurks behind social media? How do they take up the tools of social media to spin and pivot towards their political goals? The essays in this "Social Thought & Commentary" section demonstrate that social networking applications have no inherent political allegiances and, like technologies before them, derive their politics from the people who make them, and the people who distribute and receive content through them (though in social media the categories of creator, distributor, and receiver are increasingly blurry). Rebecca Stein, Charles Hirschkind, and I encountered media politics situated in dynamic interludes between media events. Stein researched Israeli officials as they sought to integrate social media into government bureaucracies in ways that would play to their political advantage. She details how the Israeli state latched onto YouTube and Facebook despite their uncertainties about how to use them as propaganda tools. The Israeli Defense Forces, for example, had to recalibrate its obsessions with control and command by strategically sharing classified images of military operations with the public, figuring out the right settings for enabling public comment, and along what lines to censor that commentary. …


Abstract We present a shape optimization algorithm to estimate the ice thickness distribution within a two-dimensional, non-sliding mountain glacier, given a transient surface geometry and a mass-balance distribution. The approach is based on the minimization of the surface topography misfit at the end of the glacier's evolution in the shallow ice approximation of ice flow. Neither filtering of the surface topography where its gradient vanishes nor interpolation of the basal shear stress is involved. Novelty of the presented shape optimization algorithm is the use of surface topography and mass-balance only within a time-dependent Lagrangian approach for moving-boundary glaciers. On real-world inspired geometries, it is shown to produce estimations of even better quality in smaller time than the recently proposed steady and transient inverse methods. A sensitivity analysis completes the study and evinces the method's higher susceptibility to perturbations in the surface topography than in surface mass-balance or rate factor.


In this letter, we consider a mixture-of-experts structure where m experts are mixed, with each expert being related to a polynomial regression model of order k. We study the convergence rate of the maximum likelihood estimator in terms of how fast the Hellinger distance of the estimated density converges to the true density, when the sample size n increases. The convergence rate is found to be dependent on both m and k, while certain choices of m and k are found to produce near-optimal convergence rates.


Book description:
The environment has become exposed to a range of damaging contaminants from a wide variety of sources. Regulation of and legislation against offending parties has frequently been hampered because of the difficulty of co-operation between disparate disciplines in the natural, social and political sciences. This volume forms the conclusion of five years' collaboration between toxicologists, economists and lawyers in the understanding and solution of the problem of accumulative chemicals. As well as a case study of the accumulation of pesticides in groundwater in one particular region (the European Union), the book forms a general study of the value of interdisciplinary approaches in environmental policy making. The volume will be a valuable resource for a broad group of academics and researchers in the area of environmental science and environmental policy. It will also form a useful supplementary reference text for courses in environmental policy, science, economics and toxicology.