An engineering assessment of seabed ice gouging has been conducted for the American Beaufort, Canadian Beaufort, and Chukchi Seas. This assessment was limited to compilation of historical public domain ice gouge data and statistics. Data bias, correlation, and regional ice gouge measurement and analysis procedures used in probabilistic assessment of ice gouge geometry and recurrence rate estimates have been evaluated through investigation of previous studies and available data sets. -- The United States Geological Survey has collected a significant amount of ice gouge data through numerous seabed survey programs conducted in the American Beaufort and Chukchi Seas. The interpreted data is available in the public domain as numerous open-tile t -port publications. Historical Canadian Beaufort Sea ice gouge data was collected through Geological Survey of Canada and the Program for Energy Research and Development research initiatives. Interpreted data was archived in the SCOURBASE and ECHOBASE databases and is updated in the NEWBASE database through ongoing studies; however, data interpretation was contracted to Canadian Seabed Research and is not publicly available. Therefore, numerous summary reports and subsets of the Canadian Beaufort Sea ice gouge databases, available through Environmental Studies Research Fund (ESRF), have been utilized in this work. -- Research has indicated that seabed soil conditions limit ice gouging processes, with deeper gouge depths generally occurring in weak marine silts and clays. Dynamic ice gouge infilling processes are influenced by seabed sediment properties, general sediment deposition rates, water depth, gouge geometry, and bathymetry, although waves and currents are the dominant infilling mechanisms. Ice gouge infilling processes, minimum gouge depth cut-offs, and class range sizes contribute to interpretation subjectivity, bias, and perceived differences between regional ice gouge data collections. These processes were reviewed in this work, but were not integrated in statistical and probabilistic analyses. -- Investigated ice gouge depth statistical distributions included the gamma, Weibull, and exponential forms. In contrast with many early investigators (i.e., Lewis, 1977a; 1977b; Weeks et al., 1983; Lanan et al., 1986) who recommended the single-parameter exponential distribution as an effective and conservative probabilistic ice gouge model, His study has found the three-parameter gamma and/or Weibull distributions to more appropriately model ice gouge depth data from each region. However, both of these distributions may be reduced to the exponential form under specific conditions. Available ice gouge depth data sets were analyzed as mixed distributions during this thesis, with fixed probabilities of exceedence assigned to shallow gouge depth data and continuous distributions fit to the distribution tails. The mixed distributions were not associated with gouge depth resolution cut-offs, but due to large amounts of shallow gouge depth data in discrete bins. These discrete data bins were characteristics of the available data used for analysis and may be associated with data bias and uncertainty in the ice gouge process. Previous researchers (i.e., Nessim & Hong, 1992) have analyzed entire ice gouge depth data distributions as continuous. By analyzing available gouge depth data sets as mixed distributions, this study has removed bias and uncertainty introduced by the large amounts of shallow gouge depth data. Goodness-of-fit assessments were based on comparison of the fitted distributions and empirical cumulative distribution functions with data histograms and cumulative distributions, respectively. Assessment using probability plots and formal goodness-of-fit tests was not conducted since the available data sets were too large to produce meaningful results. -- Analysis was conducted for investigation of ice gouge parameter correlation, including ice gouge depth, width, and water depth relationships. In general, ice gouge depths exhibited positive relationships with associated water depths. Other parameters were also examined, including gouge widths and lengths, but did not show any relationship. Analysis of dominant ice gouge orientation data indicated a general northeast - southwest ice gouging direction in each analyzed region, thus suggesting that gouges are not necessarily formed orthogonal to the shoreline. -- Additional work is recommended to address ice gouge modeling issues such as considerations for ice gouge infilling processes, gouge correlation with geotechnical and environmental data, and analysis of gouge depth and width correlations.


This volume contains background papers that contributed to discussions between Polish and Dutch agricultural policy makers, held in Warsaw (16-17 July, 2002) and in The Hague (26-27 September, 2002). These meetings took place in the context of the Utrecht Conference in which bilateral meetings on various policy issues are organised. The papers give insights in the agricultural and rural development in both countries and point at the main problems at stake. Further, the contributions discuss the past and present agricultural and rural policies and show to what extent these policies help(ed) to tackle the major problems of the agricultural sector and rural areas. Discussions took place on various issues such as farm retirement and direct payment schemes, competitiveness of the sector and the future developments of the Common Agricultural Policy in an enlarged European Union.


From an outsider's perspective, today's Popular China might appear as a self-confident and triumphant country. However, a large-scale examination of the country's recent moral controversies reveals a very different picture, one that has much to do with the widespread local public perception of an ongoing "moral crisis" (Kleinman et al., 2011), whose examination requires careful attention placed on the ethical and affective aspects of the everyday lives of today's Chinese people. In this article, I propose to examine the anguish that Chinese bachelor youths and their concerned parents undergo and express, as they are confronted with the difficult process of finding a suitable mate for marriage. I examine the fears their celibacy generates, the mutual distrust that participants taking part in bachelors' parents gatherings demonstrate, and the disputes these encounters engage. I analyze the moral world of today's urban China from the perspective of the very feelings and affects that pervade it. Highlighting the ways in which my interlocutors shared their emotions with me along the course of my fieldwork, carried out in the cities of Beijing and Chengdu, I will insist on the importance of these affects within an anthropological approach. The moral sensitivities contained in the maintenance of the economic and social situations of one's family reveal themselves as an exceptional resource for knowledge. By examining the political economy of sentiments within which parents and their children find themselves entrapped, I argue that we can gain a deeper understanding of the concrete consequences of today's societal transformations.


We describe a method for efficiently and coherently converting photons from one wavelength to another through the process of nonlinear upconversion. By using an intense 1064 nm escort laser pulse and a periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) crystal, we demonstrate upconversion efficiency of 99% and coherence of 95% for 1550 to 631 nm light at the single-photon level, thereby qualifying it for use in manipulation of photonic qubits. We then show how to create photons in arbitrary superpositions of different energy states, thereby enlarging the accessible Hilbert space for quantum information applications.


Resistive switching devices have not only been considered as an emerging candidate for the next generation information storage technology, but also demonstrated great potential for in-memory computing systems with greatly enhanced computation capability. This review focuses on the recent advances in resistive materials and devices. We first describe the electric field-induced filamentary conduction model that accounts for the resistive switching behavior observed in inorganic materials, as well as the novel electric field-engineering strategy that is used to optimize the device structure and the memory performance. The alternative ways of using organic and hybrid materials to construct resistive switching devices are then illustrated. By tuning the charge transfer interaction and solid state electrochemical redox properties in small molecules, polymer, metal-organic framework and organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite materials, bistable and multibit memories, as well as the biomimicking memristors have been fabricated. Finally, we discuss the future development of the resistive switching materials and devices, aiming to clarifying the key issues that hinders its practical applications.


Ferroelectric ceramics are widely used in a diverse set of devices including sensors, actuators, and transducers. The technological importance of ferroelectrics originates from their large electromechanical coupling. Ferroelectric materials exhibit a complicated behavior in response to both electrical and mechanical loads which produce large internal stresses that eventually lead to failure. Efforts to model and predict the behavior of ferroelectrics have been hindered by the lack of suitable constitutive relations that accurately describe the electromechanical response of these materials. While many measurements have been conducted on the macroscopic response of single-crystals or polycrystals, multiaxial (and multiscale) data about the in situ internal strain and texture response of these materials is lacking; this information is critical to the development of accurate models, and diffraction techniques which directly measure internal crystal strains and material texture are aptly suited to supply it. A neutron diffraction technique was employed which allowed for the simultaneous measurement of material texture and lattice strains in directions parallel and transverse to an applied mechanical load. By comparing the behaviors of single-phase tetragonal, single-phase rhombohedral, and dual-phase morphotropic compositions, information concerning mechanics of average macroscopic behavior was inferred. In an effort to probe more of the multiaxial constitutive behavior, a high-energy X-ray diffraction technique was employed. Using transmission geometry and a 2-D image plate detector, 36 different directions of sample behavior were measured simultaneously. Polychromatic scanning X-ray microdiffraction was used to investigate the microscale three-dimensional strain tensor in single-crystals. One investigation yielded the first ever direct measurement of the tri-axial strain fields associated with single domain walls in ferroelectrics. The second investigation recorded the domain switching mechanisms activated to accommodate indentation-induced fracture stresses. Finally, 3-D XRD was used to probe the mesoscale constitutive behavior of single, embedded grains of BaTiO3 within a polycrystalline matrix. The experimental methods described in this thesis provide access to two-dimensional and three-dimensional multiaxial constitutive strain behavior in ferroelectrics for each of the microscopic, mesoscopic, and macroscopic length scales. Results from each of these length scales will provide critical data for models attempting to accurately describe the behavior of ferroelectric materials.


Mortgage foreclosures are at an all-time high and property values in many parts of the country have declined precipitously. Yet bankruptcy, which is often a last resort for individuals in financial distress, provides little relief to a homeowner who finds that her mortgage debt exceeds the value of her home. The reason for bankruptcy's inadequacy in this regard is the Bankruptcy Code's prohibition on the modification of home mortgages, a prohibition that became part of bankruptcy law in 1978, when most home mortgage loans were 30-year fixed rate loans made by savings and loan associations. While most secured loans can be stripped down in bankruptcy, reflecting the payment that the lender would receive if it were forced to foreclose on the collateral, a home mortgage loan must be paid in full, giving the lender more than it would receive under state law. In recent years, abusive mortgage practices have proliferated. These abusive practices, which have prevented homeowners from building equity in their homes, harm not only the debtor, but also the debtor's other creditors. Despite their behavior, however, home mortgage lenders who engage in these practices continue to receive favorable treatment in bankruptcy. In this paper, I argue that creditors should be denied special treatment in bankruptcy unless they behave in an "honest but unfortunate" manner. Judges can deny this special treatment by using a time-honored bankruptcy principle, the principle of equitable subordination, to subordinate the unsecured portion of a home mortgage loan to all secured and priority claims. While equitable subordination, by itself, will not solve the foreclosure crisis, it may, by reducing the claims of abusive mortgagees, deter abusive lending practices in the future.


The thesis is devoted to theoretical investigations of electron-vibration coupling and its effects on optical and electronic properties of single molecules, especially for molecules confined between metallic electrodes.A density-matrix approach has been developed to describe the photon emission of single molecules confined in the scanning tunneling microscope (STM). With this new method electronic excitations induced by both the tunneling electron and the localized surface plasmon (LSP) can be treated on an equal footing. Model calculations for porphyrin derivatives have successfully reproduced and explained the experimentally observed unusual variation of the photon emission spectra. The method has also been extended to study the STM induced fluorescence and phosphorescence of C60 molecules in combination with the first principles calculations. In particularly, the non-Condon vibronic couplings have been exclusively included in the calculations. The experimental spectra have been nicely reproduced by our calculations, which also enable us to identify the unique spectral fingerprint and origin of the measured spectra. The observed rich spectral features have been finally correctly assigned.The electron transport properties of molecular junctions with bipyridine isomers have been studied in the sequential tunneling (SET) regime by assuming that the molecules are weakly coupled to metallic electrodes. It is shown that the strong electron-vibration coupling in the 2, 2'-bipyridine molecule and the 4,4'-bipyridine molecule can lead to observable Franck-Condon blockade. Taking advantage of such novel effect, a gate-controlled conductance switch with ideal on-off ratio has been proposed for a molecular junction with the 4, 4'-bipyridine molecule.The effect of the electron-vibration coupling on one-photon and two-photon absorption spectra of green fluorescent protein (GFP) has been systematically examined. The hydroxybenzylidene-2, 3-dimethylimidazolinone molecule in the deprotonated anion state (HBDI−) is used to model the fluorescence chromophore of the GFP. Both Condon and non-Condon vibronic couplings have been considered in the calculations. The calculated spectra are in good agreement with the available experimental spectra. It confirms the notion that the observed blue-shift of the two-photon absorption spectrum with respect to its one-photon absorption counterpart is caused by the non-Condon vibronic coupling.All the calculations are carried out with our own software package, DynaVib. It is capable of modeling a variety of vibrational-resolved spectroscopies, such as absorption, emission, and resonant Raman scattering (RRS) spectra. In our package, the Duschinsky rotation and non-Condon effect have been fully taken into account. Both time-independent and time-dependent approaches have been implemented, allowing to simulate the spectra of very large molecules.


In this competitive business world satisfied employee is the prime asset of any business organization as employee's satisfaction can ensure continuous growth. The purpose of this study was to exploring the significant relationships between demographic characteristics and job satisfaction indicators of private bank employees in Bangladesh. By using Yamane (1967) formula the study consisted of 56 (male 89.3% and female 10.7%) respondents and it used semi-structured questionnaire containing pre-coded and open-ended questions. All questions were rated with the Likert 5-point scale. As all the variables used in this study (both dependent and independent) were categorical, Chi-square test was used to assess the relationship. In this study, significant relations were found between some demographic characteristics, such as, sex, age, salary and family income with job satisfaction indicators which were the participation in decision making, training facilities and increase knowledge and capacity. Education and geographic location did not show any significant relationship with job satisfaction indicators. Around 92.5% male employees reported that the current organization helped to increase their knowledge and working capacity (p<0.028). More than half of the employees (55.3 %) of 30-35 age group could not take part in decision making (p<0.013). In addition, family income and salary also exerted significant associations with participation in decision-making and proper training facilities respectively. Several stakeholders and concern authorities should give top priority in these demographic areas while developing strategies to improve job satisfaction level of employees.


Traditional media outlets are known to report political news in a biased way, potentially affecting the political beliefs of the audience and even altering their voting behaviors. Therefore, tracking bias in everyday news and building a platform where people can receive balanced news information is important. We propose a model that maps the news media sources along a dimensional dichotomous political spectrum using the co-subscriptions relationships inferred by Twitter links. By analyzing 7 million follow links, we show that the political dichotomy naturally arises on Twitter when we only consider direct media subscription. Furthermore, we demonstrate a real-time Twitter-based application that visualizes an ideological map of various media sources.


This paper discusses the importance of key principles for creating good visual models. Sections I to II discuss software and system development, different types of techniques and modeling approaches are used. Visual modeling is suited to developing systems because these notations are understandable by different stakeholders. Visual modeling can make use of graphs. The paper is presented as follows. 1. Introduction: Information and software systems require the use of methods and notations for proper representation. Unfortunately many users do not appreciate the need for creating suitable and aesthetically good diagrammatic notations 2. Background: Different modeling notations can be used to model systems. The key principles behind these notations are based on principles of tidiness, neatness, constructability and the level of detail. Different works and findings are presented. 3. Problem Formulation/ Problem Statement: This section presents various problems with visual modeling. In reality the use of good principles for creating the models are not necessarily identified, considered and adhered to when diagrammatic notations are used. 4. Proposed Solutions: several key principles are used as solutions. These are : i) abstraction, ii) universality, iii) aesthetics, iv) correct sequence and v) patterns. Their importance is explained and it is indicated how these can improve and solve the overall diagrammatic modeling approach. 5. Some Toy Examples: This part shows the ideas presented in the proposed solutions being applied in practice. Models can have several characteristics and still be useful and offer good representation. 6. Discussion and Existing Problems: Explains the validity of the toy examples and how this can be extended to other models. However several problems still remain and these are not straightforward to solve. These issues are explained in this part. 7. Conclusion: Summarizes the paper and explains other issues that can be tackled in the future.


A constant challenge to researchers is the lack of large and timely datasets of domain examples (research corpora) used for training and testing their latest algorithms. Corpora examples are often annotated with special labels that represent class categories, numeric predictions, etc., depending on the research problem. While acquiring large numbers of examples is often not difficult, ensuring that each is correctly and consistently labeled certainly can be. Human experts may be required to visually inspect, annotate, and cross-check each example to guarantee its accuracy. Unfortunately, the costs incurred performing this adjudication have lead to a shortage of labeled corpora, particularly bigger and more recent ones. The primary goal of our research has been to determine how larger volumes of examples could be autonomously annotated to create more substantial datasets using a minimum of human intervention while maintaining acceptable levels of labeling accuracy.
We chose a form of Machine Learning, Active Learning, as the basis for building a suite of automated corpus labeling tools. Our labelers start with a few pre-labeled examples and a larger number of unlabeled examples. They then iteratively select small batches of these examples for labeling by an "oracle", which may be a live human expert or some other authoritative source. This "selective sampling" step picks those queries which the tools themselves think would enhance their future labeling predictions. Once the labelers have been trained, the learning iterations cease and the rest of the unlabeled examples in a corpus can be confidently labeled without additional human intervention.
To sample the most informative queries we began with the well-known Uncertainty Sampling (US) technique. However, US can be computationally expensive, and so we have proposed a new variant, Approximate Uncertainty Sampling (AUS), that is nearly as effective, but which has lower complexity costs and much less processing overhead. These reductions allow AUS to select queries more frequently and support other types of computation during labeling. In this way AUS encourages the building of larger and more topical corpora for the research communities that require them.


The online cryptomarket Silk Road has been oft-characterised as an 'eBay for drugs' with customers drug consumers making personal use-sized purchases. Our research demonstrates that this was not the case. Using a bespoke web crawler, we downloaded all drugs listings on Silk Road in September 2013. We found that a substantial proportion of transactions on Silk Road are best characterised as 'business-to-business', with sales in quantities and at prices typical of purchases made by drug dealers sourcing stock. High price-quantity sales generated between 31-45% of revenue, making sales to drug dealers the key Silk Road drugs business. As such, Silk Road was what we refer to as a transformative, as opposed to incremental, criminal innovation. With the key Silk Road customers actually drug dealers sourcing stock for local street operations, we were witnessing a new breed of retail drug dealer, equipped with a technological subcultural capital skill set for sourcing stock. Sales on Silk Road increased from an estimate of $14.4 million in mid 2012 to $89.7 million by our calculations. This is a more than 600% increase in just over a year, demonstrating the demand for this kind of illicit online marketplace. With Silk Road functioning to considerable degree at the wholesale/broker market level, its virtual location should reduce violence, intimidation and territorialism. Results are discussed in terms of the opportunities cryptomarkets provide for criminologists, who have thus far been reluctant to step outside of social surveys and administrative data to access the world of 'webometric' and 'big data'.


This paper analyses the size of the border effect or home bias within the European Union (EU) with the aim to quantify its impact in the trade integration process which started in 1992. The gravity model serves as a general framework where the use of sectoral data allows obtaining a more accurate measure of the border effects. The econometric analysis applied to a gravity model that contains a high disaggregation in the data introduces heteroskedasticity problems together with the presence of zero values, therefore, in order to obtain consistent estimates, the use of the Poisson Pseudo-Maximum Likelihood estimation method is recommended. Our results show that the bilateral trade flows depend upon the size and proximity of the trade partners, together with other variables as adjacency or language. Evidence in favour of a positive and diminishing border effect has been found for the period 1995-2006 and it accounts for 20% to 22% within the EU-19.


The geology of the Samoan archipelago is described, especially Tutuila where detailed work was done, and the geologic literature is reviewed. Tutuila was built by five volcanoes over two and possibly three parallel rifts trending N. 70° E. A caldera 6 miles across, formed by collapse of the top of the Pago volcano, is described, and its bounding fault is mapped. Pago Pago Bay is a drowned river valley cut by a stream along the curved base of the caldera wall. A thick series of tuffs and differentiated lavas partly filled the caldera. Several bulbous trachyte domes in a highly viscous condition pushed through these tuffs to the surface. One of them dragged upward with it for hundreds of feet a thick section of basalts. About 600 dikes and 40 faults are recorded. Several of the dikes are unusual; two contain oriented dunite xenoliths, and one contains bedded ash. Drilling shows that the fringing reefs of Tutuila are chiefly bedded calcareous sand and silt and not coral colonies. Upolu is a deeply eroded mass of Pliocene lavas surrounded by a drowned barrier reef and partly buried by late Pleistocene and Recent lavas. Upolu was submerged so rapidly in late Pleistocene time that only narrow and interrupted fringing reefs grew on the steep shores of Pliocene rocks while a wide barrier reef developed on the gentle slopes of the flat-lying Pleistocene lavas. The absence of a continuous reef on Tutuila also is due to rapid submergence. Brief observations are recorded for the rest of the islands. The geologic histories of the various islands of the entire group are similar.


We report on the observation of multiple polariton modes, originating from an electronic coupling between quantum wells inside a planar microcavity. A series of excitonic transitions are measured for a bare quantum well stack and are precisely identified to electron-hole transitions originating from the coupling of the wells. When the quantum well stacks are placed at the antinode of a high Q-factor microcavity, a series of anticrossings is observed, which is characteristic of a multiplicity of polariton modes. This behavior is simulated using a coupled oscillator model accounting for the cavity mode and all allowed excitonic transitions.


The recent advances in the technologies pose a threat to the Automatic Speaker Verification (ASV) systems using different spoofing attacks, such as voice conversion (VC), speech synthesis (SS), and replay. To enhance the security of the ASV system, the need raised for the development of efficient anti-spoofing algorithms to detect spoof speech signals from natural signal. In this paper, we exploit Teager energy-based features for spoof speech detection (SSD) task. The Teager energy profiles computed for natural, VC, SS, and replay signals show the changes around the Glottal Closure Instants (GCIs). In particular, for SS signal, the bumps are very smooth compared to the natural signal. These variations around GCI of Teager energy profiles helps to discriminate the spoof signal from natural counterparts. The experiments are performed on ASVspoof 2015 and BTAS 2016 challenge databases. The Teager energy-based feature set, i.e., Teager Energy Cepstral Coefficients (TECC) performs well for S1-S9 spoofing algorithms obtaining average EER of 0.161 % (however, not for S10, where EER is 58.14 %) whereas state-of-the-art features, namely, Cochlear Filter Cepstral Coefficients-Instantaneous Frequency (CFCC-IF), and Constant-Q Cepstral Coefficients (CQCC) gave an EER of 0.39 % and 0.163 %, respectively. It is interesting to note that significant negative result by proposed feature set to S10 vs. natural speech confirms capability of TECC to represent characteristics of airflow pattern during natural speech production. Furthermore, the experiments performed on BTAS 2016 challenge dataset, gave 2.25 % EER on development set. On evaluation set, TECC feature set gave Half Total Error Rate (HTER) of 3.7 % which is the metric provided by the challenge organizers and thus, overcoming the baseline by a noticeable difference of 3.16 %. keywords: Spoof, Replay, Teager Energy Operator, Teager Energy Profiles.


Lisbon is a city of labyrinthine paths, due mostly to its irregular territory. The experiment of Flânerie in is explored in this paper through the identification of particular paths linked to the contemporary alternative cultural life, a debate being undertaken on how space and culture (alternative or dominant) mutually inspire one another. Urban and architectural elements will be analysed in connection with these paths, as well as the sensorial aspects of particular ambiences. Some attention is also given to accessibility, visibility and contrasts. The analysis of these aspects will lead us to explore the labyrinths and the entertainment that you can find in Lisbon's streets, but also in inner spaces (alternative cultural places). These spaces tend to exist in the interstices of the city (wastelands), where urban exploration may happen thanks to its veiled character. One particularity of alternative cultural spaces is that they can both be visible and invisible, more or less accessible. Since they are spaces that suffered many transformations through time, by trying to adapt to different functions, their inner paths are often irregular and labyrinthine. This characteristic invites us to explore them and wander. Lisbon's almost dramatic and quite poetic promenades have in fact a close relationship to its diverse cultural heritages and realities (fado, multiculturalism and contemporary alternative culture). Lisbon's walls seem to speak poetry, but also to warn us about the general political and economic situation and complain about it. As if the city would talk to us while we take a promenade. Lisbon's attractive scenography has become the perfect territory for managers and sponsors. Wouldn't our urban experience become much less boring if adventure and "strong emotions" were constantly part of our routine? Fun and excitement in an urban form has already been tested and confined in Luna parks. But today the city streets are planned to be a place where leisure is permanently possible, urban landscape being invested in a ludic way (through interactive objects, irregular pavements, water jets in squares, colourful lights and materials). Graffiti is no longer illegal, but part of well-organized tourist tours, and alternative cultural places start to look more like a franchised entertainment centres than actually places for hosting underground culture. Labyrinths are now planned as part of the creative process of an architectural project in order to amuse users of coworking places. There's no space left for hazard. Everything is created or manipulated in order to capture our attention and play with our senses. Urban exploration and derive have now also become part of the dominant ideology, absorbed by this "new spirit of capitalism". Nevertheless, the act of flâner cannot really be tamed. Its inherent praise of laziness and pleasure of being inutile goes against any attempt of control by productive work principles and market laws. May therefore flâner still manage to be a moment of introspection, and therefore of reflection and resistance?


Being highly insulated, low-energy buildings are very sensitive to variable solar and internal gains. In this context, some modelling assumptions frequently used in simplified building energy simulation tools might be called into question. While higher insulation levels reduce the influence of heat transmission through opaque walls, absorption of solar and internal gains at inner wall surfaces, and indoor superficial heat transfers, become concerning. The convective and long-wave radiative heat transfer models are investigated in COMFIE, a dynamic energy simulation platform. More detailed internal heat transfer models are developed by decoupling convective and long-wave radiative heat transfers and using time-dependent coefficients. Furthermore, an empirical validation process on both simplified and detailed models is carried out using measurements from a full-scale experimental concrete passive house, addressing the model uncertainty vs. complexity issue.


Virtually from its inception as a professional activity, social work has had an interest in the interactions between people and their environment. Indeed this interest has seen the emergence of a number of influential theoretical orientations and practice theories, including the 'person-in-environment' and ecological approaches (see, for example, Germain, 1979; Germain & Gitterman, 1980; Karls, 2002). However, within social work, environment and ecology have often been conceptualized as almost exclusively social domains, neglecting to take into account broader relationships between humans and the non-human world. For over a decade, a small number of writers have advanced the argument that a more fully developed, expanded ecological orientation was needed in social work, (for example, Berger & Kelly, 1993; Besthorn, 2000; Coates, 2003a; Hoff & Polack, 1993; Park, 1996). While the evidence suggests that an expanded ecological orientation remains a marginalized perspective in social work, there are hopeful signs that the profession might be ready to begin shifting from its traditionally narrow view.


Although the realization of useful quantum computers poses significant challenges, swift progress in emerging quantum technologies is making this goal realistically approachable. In this context, one of the essential resources is quantum entanglement, which allows for quantum computations outperforming their classical counterparts. However, the task of entanglement detection is not always straightforward for several reasons. One of the main challenges is that standardly-used methods rapidly become unfeasible when dealing with quantum states containing more than a few qubits. Typically, this is due to the fact that a vast amount of measurements is needed on many copies of the state. Generally, it is not unusual to deal with a very limited number of state copies in experimental settings in fact, this may be the case for many large quantum systems. In this article, an overview is provided of a probabilistic approach that enables high-confidence genuine multipartite entanglement detection using an exceptionally low number of state copies. Additionally, a study is presented that shows that this protocol remains efficient also in the presence of noise, thus confirming the practicality of the method for near-term quantum devices and its suitability for complex experimental settings.


The aim of this paper was to examine the satisfaction of voluntourists derived from various aspects of their trip. Framed within the Existence, Relatedness and Growth Theory, the paper examines volunteers' motivations, expectations and satisfaction based on their financial and time investment volunteering with Volunteer Eco Students Abroad (VESA), the intereactions they had on the trip, and the extent to which travellers felt as though they contributed to community goals. In 2012, the researchers carried out in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 16 Canadian voluntourists following their time in St. Lucia, South Africa. A thematic analysis was used to interpret the data, resulting in three themes: 'Evaluating Investment', 'Contribution to Community' and 'Opportunities and Reaffirmations'; sub-themes were matched with aspects of Existence, Relatedness and Growth Theory. Findings elicited several levels of expectations of voluntourists revealed through their feelings of satisfaction or dissatisfaction. On the lowest level, voluntourists expect adequate food and water whilst volunteering. Informants highlighted the various ways they raised fund for the trip, and this impacted their level of accountability for contributing to the community. Volunteers also expect volunteer organizations to be transparent regarding the use of funds and expressed dissatisfaction when this did not occur. Volunteers anticipated a feeling of connection between the hosts and themselves and were frustrated if they felt more time could have been allotted to working with community residents. Lastly, informants expected the experience to provide an opportunity for self-learning and professional development and overall were satisfied with this element of the trip.


The Chicago School was the first major school of sociology in the USA, dominating the field for the first thirty-five years of the twentieth century. Drawing upon the nineteenth century British social survey methods of Charles Booth and others, and influenced by continental European social theorists, the Chicago School moved in an ethnographic direction as they studied immigrant communities , neighbourhood zones and leisure life. In addition the School was central as a training centre for students, going on to train generations of sociologists, and its impact has been enormous throughout this century, influencing debates about race relations and crime. Starting with the earliest debates within Northern American sociology, Pragmatic philosophy, and the Chicago School itself, this set provides key readings from contemporary journals and scholarly publications, which situate the School, give access to major documents through the edited selections of key studies and texts, and help the reader to understand the critical development of the tradition.


The role of productivity in accelerating the pace of economic growth is well recognized in the literature. With continual population growth, a diminishing supply of arable land, limits to further expansion of cultivated land and slowing returns to further input intensification, there is a growing need for productivity growth to expand food supply. The present study investigated the impact of different macro variables on Total Factor Productivity (TFP) of agriculture in Pakistan by employing cointegration analysis for the period from 1971 to 2006. The results indicated that human capital, infrastructure development and credit resources are positively associated with TFP of agriculture. Openness of the agricultural economy had a significant positive impact on productivity. Macroeconomic instability influenced TFP growth negatively and significantly. Real per capita income had a positive but insignificant relationship with productivity growth. Strong two way Granger-causality was observed between productivity and human capital development; and infrastructural development. Overall the results implied that policies which promote human capital, increase credit resources in agriculture, improve infrastructure development, facilitate openness of the agricultural economy, will improve the productivity and competitiveness of Pakistan agriculture


Standard belief change assumes an underlying logic containing full classical propositional logic. However, there are good reasons for considering belief change in less expressive logics as well. In this paper we build on recent investigations by Delgrande on contraction for Horn logic. We show that the standard basic form of contraction, partial meet, is too strong in the Horn case. This result stands in contrast to Delgrande's conjecture that orderly maxichoice is the appropriate form of contraction for Horn logic. We then define a more appropriate notion of basic contraction for the Horn case, influenced by the convexity property holding for full propositional logic and which we refer to as infra contraction. The main contribution of this work is a result which shows that the construction method for Horn contraction for belief sets based on our infra remainder sets corresponds exactly to Hansson's classical kernel contraction for belief sets, when restricted to Horn logic. This result is obtained via a detour through contraction for belief bases. We prove that kernel contraction for belief bases produces precisely the same results as the belief base version of infra contraction. The use of belief bases to obtain this result provides evidence for the conjecture that Horn belief change is best viewed as a `hybrid' version of belief set change and belief base change. One of the consequences of the link with base contraction is the provision of a representation result for Horn contraction for belief sets in which a version of the Core-retainment postulate features.


A theoretical and experimental study has been made of the intensity of forward scattered light in conditions of radio-frequency double resonance and level-crossing. The main conclusions are (i) that the magnetic resonance and level-crossing effects which are familiar in the laterally scattered light are to be found also in the forward scattered light, but (ii) that the resonance curves are Doppler-broadened, and the strength of the oscillatory field necessary to generate them is correspondingly increased, and (iii) that coherence narrowing is much more pronounced in forward than in lateral scattering. The differences derive from the coherence between the radiation from different atoms which is present in forward, but not in lateral scattering, and which is implicitly recognized in the classical theory of the propagation of light in polarizable media. The equations of electromagnetism form the basis of the present analysis. In the presence of the oscillatory magnetic field the polarization tensor is complex and time-dependent. The time dependence leads to the result that the number of eigenwaves necessary to describe propagated waves in the medium is four, as against the usual two. An arbitrary wave is resolved into a superposition of the four eigenwaves, all of which have different propagation constants. The analysis is very general, and is applicable to experiments with lasers. The components of the polarization tensor are derived by finding first the polarizability of individual atoms from a semi-classical theory of their interaction with light and magnetic fields. The macroscopic polarization, obtained by summing over individual atoms, is then given by folding the individual polarizabilities with the Doppler distribution of resonance frequencies. In the particular case studied in detail (the inter-combination resonance line, 2537 A, in mercury), the Doppler width is much greater than the radiation width, and the imaginary (absorptive) part of the polarizability is Gaussian. Expressions are derived in a 'weak scattering' approximation for the intensity of the forward scattered light. They are magnetic resonance functions which are found to be the Doppler-broadened equivalents of the familiar functions, based on Lorentzians, characteristic of scattering by a single atom. In the case of double resonance the forward scattered light is strongly modulated, as is the laterally scattered light. To investigate coherence narrowing, the zero-field level-crossing has been studied with the restriction of 'weak scattering' removed. The result is obtained that the width of levelcrossing curves is inversely proportional to the vapour density for magnetic fields such that the Zeeman splitting is small in relation to the Doppler width. This analytical result has been verified experimentally.


Flexible-electronics is rapidly finding many main-stream applications where low-cost, ruggedness, light weight, unconventional form factors and ease of manufacturability are just some of the important advantages over their conventional rigid-substrate counterparts. Flexible Electronics: Materials and Applications surveys the materials systems and processes that are used to fabricate devices that can be employed in a wide variety of applications, including flexible flat-panel displays, medical image sensors, photovoltaics, and electronic paper. Materials discussed range from polymeric semiconductors to nanotube transparent conductors, highlighting the important characteristics of each system and their target applications. An overview of the performance benchmarks for the different materials is given in order to allow a direct comparison of these different technologies. Furthermore, the devices and processes most suitable for given applications in flexible electronics are identified. Topics covered include: An overview and history of flexible electronics Novel materials for solution-processable thin-film electronic devices and their properties Low-temperature processing of conventional materials and devices on plastic foils Novel techniques, such as printing and roll-to-roll processing, for large-area flexible electronics manufacturing Materials and device physics relevant to flexible electronics Device integration on flexible substrates Mechanical and electronic characteristics for thin-film transistors and nano-scale transparent conductors on flexible platforms Applications towards flexible displays, sensors, actuators, solar energy, radio-frequency identification, and micro-electro-mechanical systems Written by leading researchers in the field, Flexible Electronics: Materials and Applications serves as a reference for researchers, engineers, and students interested in the characteristics, capabilities, and limitations of these exciting materials and emerging applications.


Environmental, political, and other considerations are leading to the installation of growing numbers of wind turbines for electricity generation. The present paper concentrates on onshore installations, in which the turbine is placed at the end of a tower founded on the ground. A serious problem with the foundation or its connection with the tower entails a global failure.
A worrying percentage of the towers built before 2010 is ill designed, often with obvious manifestations of the design problem. On the other hand the new designs attempt to optimise material quantities and costs while providing an adequate behaviour under the demands imposed.
Principia has gathered considerable experience in both the identification and remediation of the problems experienced by older foundations and the optimisation of new designs. The problem is particularly suitable for numerical simulations with Abaqus and the paper provides the necessary concepts and methodological approach for a reliable and satisfactory solution. More specifically, the concrete geometry is meshed with solid elements. Surface elements including rebar layers are embedded. Other parts of the structure as the steel cylinder, welded studs, anchorage bars, etc. are also included. The concrete behaviour is described with the Abaqus concrete damaged plasticity model. Abaqus/Explicit is used because of the strong non-linearities, mainly caused by concrete cracking and crushing. The methodology allows assessing the suitability of the design for ultimate, serviceability and fatigue limit states.


Various state-based and national reports into Australian local government have conclusively demonstrated that the problem of financial sustainability is widespread amongst local councils, especially in non-metropolitan areas. The main impact of this financial distress has fallen on local infrastructure and the magnitude of the problem is now so large that only massive injections of funds from higher levels of government can resolve the problem. However, some scope also exists for local councils to improve the efficiency of their operations. While structural reform in the guise of amalgamation has largely failed to generate efficiency gains, all state-based and national inquiries into local government saw significant potential in shared service models. This paper seeks to augment the existing embryonic literature on alternative models of local government suited to Australian circumstances by proposing a new two-tier model of local governance that can enhance regional cooperation between local councils. The model seeks to preserve local democracy and local representation while simultaneously encouraging shared services in those areas of service provision that exhibit economies of scale and scope economies.


Classical violin concertos by English composers are relatively obscure nowadays, as the genre is largely monopolized by Mozart's last three concertos. This study explores the compositional and violinistic traits of ten English concertos from the late eighteenth century, as well as the social and cultural circumstances under which they were written. These concertos are challenging violinistically, suggesting that they were primarily intended as virtuosic showpieces. In addition, a number of the concertos display musical eccentricities that hint at the quirky personalities of their composers. In some respects, these concertos are unadventurous, particularly in terms of harmony and thematic contrasts. However, they contain a number of unique compositional features that are worthy of our attention. The most notable of these is the incorporation of Baroque features in a large number of the concertos, despite their general adherence to the new galant style. All evidence suggests that the two styles were combined deliberately as a compositional technique, and this is perhaps the most distinctly "English" characteristic of these concertos.


A previous study (Ricketts, T. and Macaskill, A. Gambling as emotion management: developing a grounded theory of problem gambling. Addiction Research and Theory 11(6).) delineated a theory of problem gambling based on the experiences of treatment seeking male gamblers and allowed predictions to be made regarding the processes that differentiate between normal and problem gamblers. These predictions are the focus of the present study, which also utilised a grounded theory approach, but with a sample of male high frequency normal gamblers. The findings suggest that there are common aspects of gambling associated with arousal and a sense of achievement. The use of gambling to manage negative emotional states differentiated normal and problem gambling. Perceived self-efficacy, emotion management skills and perceived likelihood of winning money back were intervening variables differentiating problem and normal gamblers.


This paper analyzes the measurement of ultra wideband (UWB) noise channels in different indoor environments. All measurements are done using a vector network analyzer (VNA) which allows us to measure the noise channel transfer functions. We find that the noise power of the system is decreased by increasing the intermediate frequency (IF) bandwidth which leads to an increase in time taken to perform measurements of the channels. The environmental noise power been measured and find that it decreased when enclosed in a Faraday cage (steel shed), within an intense multipath measurement environment. Also, the Environmental noise decreases slightly by using the LPDA antenna compared to using the Teardrop and Horn antennas. Our results show that the Horn antenna is less suitable for UWB channel measurements compared to the LPDA directional antennas because of lower S11 (Return Loss) values. While for omnidirectional antennas, the Teardrop antenna is much more suitable than the monocone antennas for UWB measurements (due to lower S11 values) and decreases the Environmental noise power. As secondary application, we show how a frequency detection device can be used to re-adjust a maladjusted frequency selection on a remote controller for a garage door, in presence of environmental noise power.


Previous computational attempts to handle nonliteral word usage have been restricted to "toy" systems that combine hand-coded lexicons with restricted sets of metaphor types that can be used to sanction specific classes of semantic subcategorization violations. These hand-coded efforts are unlikely to ever scale up to the rigors of real, free text. We describe an example-based approach to metaphor interpretation which exploits a large lexical knowledge base derived from a machine-readable dictionary. We first present an extended example which is meant to demonstrate the scope of evidence about common English metaphors which is encoded in ordinary dictionaries. We then go on to demonstrate how novel instances of metaphor can be interpreted by accessing this information. A given violation of some default semantic expectation can be checked against the LKB to determine whether this violation is an instance of some more systematic mapping of English word meanings from one semantic domain to another. We argue that this approach to metaphor interpretation obviates the need for the traditional "metaphor-handling component" in natural language understanding systems, and will allow these systems to overcome the britdeness of hand-coded approaches.


People are investing their life savings in financial products, for instance, to provide for their retirement, and in doing so they are making their future financial situation almost entirely dependent on the success of these investments. The financial sector promotes numerous investment opportunities with widely varying levels of risk - from the classic private pension insurance to high-risk equity funds. To assist investors in selecting a product suitable for them and to safeguard against financial losses, policy-makers have prescribed standardized and comprehensible product leaflets and consulting protocols. But is that enough? In order to prevent investors from making poor investment decisions, they also need sufficient knowledge of the financial issues, which, for example, allow them to accurately assess the effects of compound interest on an investment and the risk of loss. This seems to be the problem area, as indicated by the results of a behavioral experiment conducted by DIW Berlin in cooperation with Humboldt-University Berlin: most of the participants chosen misunderstood the effect of compound interest - and therefore seriously underestimated the investment risk.


The paper builds on recent empirical evidence on the importance of strategic donor behaviour in aid allocation in order to develop a theoretical model where donor pressure on a recipient for influencing the aid disbursement of a multilateral institution is endogenously determined. Our game-theoretic, multi-agent model with one aid recipient, two bilateral donors and one multilateral institution illustrates the advantage of putting pressure on the recipient as an instrument for foreign policy, as seen from the mighty donor's point of view. The model shows how this strategic donor behaviour is damaging to the aid-recipient; we also show that other donors not sharing foreign policy goals similar to the strategic, influential donors will, in fact, reduce their aid contributions to the multilateral organizations. This may obviously have profound implications for the volume of total aid flows and may crucially undermine current efforts to substantially increase ODA to meet the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. Our paper also contributes to the common debate on foreign aid by presenting a rigorous model that explains the coexistence of both multilateral aid organizations and bilateral aid programmes.


In the winter of 1989-90 the unintended consequences of Mikhail S. Gorbachev's program of political and economic refonn had become obvious to all but his most optimistic spokesmen. The General Secretary's attempt to create a new ideology of perestroika by grafting "bourgeois" and "social democratic" concepts onto the conventional ideology of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) had divided the party, created immense ideological confusion, and led to the formation of non-Communist and anti-Communist political organizations. The attempt to shift authority from party officials to elected soviets on the union and republican levels had led to the emergence of separatist and nationalist movements in many of the USSR's republics, including the RSFSR. The decentralization of the state's administration of the economy and the encouragement of both private and cooperative economic activity had failed to reverse the deterioration of economic conditions. As anxiety swept through the CPSU, orthodox party leaders called for the establishment of an autonomous Communist Party for the RSFSR to counter Gorbachev's policies and to "save Soviet Russia" from destruction.


At the 2010 Review Conference in Kampala, the states parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) decided to adopt seven amendments to the Rome Statute that contemplate the possibility of the Court exercising jurisdiction over the crime of aggression subject to certain conditions. One condition was that the exercise of jurisdiction would be "subject to a decision to be taken after 1 January 2017 by the same majority of States Parties as is required for the adoption of an amendment to the Statute," and another was that such jurisdiction could be exercised "only with respect to crimes of aggression committed one year after the ratification or acceptance of the amendments by thirty States Parties." As these dates approach, we—two lawyers who represented the United States at the Kampala conference and who worked many hours on the United States' reengagement with the ICC during the Obama administration—thought it an appropriate moment to take stock of where we are, how we got here, and where we might or should be headed with respect to the crime of aggression.


The concept of responsible research and innovation has its origin in publicly funded research. Much of the research activities and even more innovation activities which bring products and services happen in private companies. This editorial therefore aims to outline what RRI can mean in industrial complexes and describes the role that ORBIT can play in them. It draws on the work undertaken in the European project 'Responsible-Industry' and highlights the question of how the RRI discourse can be translated into a vocabulary familiar to companies.


In this project, a predictive time model was developed for an Anglia Autoflow mechanical chicken catching system. At the completion of poultry growout, hand labor is currently used to collect the birds from the house, although some integrators are beginning to incorporate mechanical catching equipment. Several regression models were investigated with the objective of predicting the time taken to catch the chicken. A regression model relating distance to total time (sum of packing time, catching time, movement to catching and movement to packing) provided the best performance. The model was based on data collected from poultry farms on the Delmarva Peninsula during a six-month period. Statistical Analysis System (SAS) and NeuroShell Easy Predictor were used to build the regression and neural network models respectively. Model adequacy was established by both visual inspection and statistical techniques. The models were validated with experimental results not incorporated into the initial model.


FlowPools, proposed by are a powerful way to express dataflow logic in highly parallelized applications. The original paper proposes two ways of implementing a FlowPool: Single-Lane FlowPools (SLFP) and Multi-Lane FlowPools (MLFP). While SLFPs showed decent performance overall, insertion operations do not scale. MLFPs solve this limitation as benchmarks discussed in have shown. This report goes into the details of the implementation of MLFPs and lies out the benchmarking results to show that MLFPs may reduce insertion time by 49 - 54% on a 4-core i7 machine with respect to comparable concurrent queue data structures in the Java standard library.


Although the analogies between the electron energy loss spectra and X-ray absorption spectra were recognized long ago, the possibility to observe the magnetic circular dichroism in the electron microscope was demonstrated only recently. This technique combines the atom specificity with the high spatial resolution of the transmission electron microscope. Being a very young technique, there are still many open questions concerning the optimization of the signal to noise ratio. In this paper we study the dichroic signal dependence on the sample thickness, acceleration voltage and incoming beam tilt angle of bcc-Fe and fcc-Ni.


While the formulation of nanoparticle (NP) suspensions has been widely applied in materials and life science, the recovery of NPs from such a suspension into a solid state is practically important to confer long-term storage stability. However, solidification, while preserving the original nanoscale properties, remains a formidable challenge in the pharmaceutical and biomedical applications of NPs. Herein we combined flash nanoprecipitation (FNP) and spray-drying as a nanofabrication platform for NP formulation and recovery without compromising the dissolution kinetics of the active ingredient. Clofazimine was chosen to be the representative drug, which has been recently repurposed as a potential treatment for cryptosporidiosis. Clofazimine was encapsulated in NPs with low-cost surface coatings, hypromellose acetate succinate (HPMCAS) and lecithin, which were required by the ultimate application to global health. Spray-drying and lyophilization were utilized to produce dried powders with good long-term storage stability for application in hot and humid climatic zones. The particle morphology, yield efficiency, drug loading, and clofazimine crystallinity in the spray-dried powders were characterized. The in vitro release kinetics of spray-dried NP powders were compared to analogous dissolution profiles from standard lyophilized NP samples, crystalline clofazimine powder, and the commercially available formulation Lamprene. The spray-dried powders showed a supersaturation level of up to 60 times the equilibrium solubility and remarkably improved dissolution rates. In addition, the spray-dried powders with both surface coatings showed excellent stability during aging studies with elevated temperature and humidity, in view of the dissolution and release in vitro. Considering oral delivery for pediatric administration, the spray-dried powders show less staining effects with simulated skin than crystalline clofazimine and may be made into minitablets without additional excipients. These results highlight the potential of combining FNP and spray-drying as a feasible and versatile platform to design and rapidly recover amorphous NPs in a solid dosage form, with the advantages of satisfactory long-term storage stability, low cost, and easy scalability.


In this paper, we focus on characterizing spamming botnets by leveraging both spam payload and spam server traffic properties. Towards this goal, we developed a spam signature generation framework called AutoRE to detect botnet-based spam emails and botnet membership. AutoRE does not require pre-classified training data or white lists. Moreover, it outputs high quality regular expression signatures that can detect botnet spam with a low false positive rate. Using a three-month sample of emails from Hotmail, AutoRE successfully identified 7,721 botnet-based spam campaigns together with 340,050 unique botnet host IP addresses.
 Our in-depth analysis of the identified botnets revealed several interesting findings regarding the degree of email obfuscation, properties of botnet IP addresses, sending patterns, and their correlation with network scanning traffic. We believe these observations are useful information in the design of botnet detection schemes.


In 2009, the 'Playing Out' project was set up in Bristol in the United Kingdom by a parent-led community group who were seeking to address concerns about the lack of freedom for young people to play outside. Playing Out has, as its primary purpose, supporting children to 'play out' where they live through providing the space within which children might engage in informal play and physical activity, while also improving relations between neighbours and developing a sense of community. This paper examines the potential of Playing Out for fostering community cohesion by undertaking interviews with participants, officials and policy-makers, alongside some observation of Playing Out events, between 2013-2016. In particular, we evaluate the significance of social capital for the development, and success, of a community-led initiative to influence policy outcomes and increase physical activity levels in the local population, giving consideration to the ways in which social movement concepts build on, and strengthen, social capital. In many societies, such activities take place within a context of neoliberalism, where social order is viewed as being dependent on individual responsibility: governments are deregulated, social programs are cut and/or privatized, and social problems have to be solved by individual, private solutions. Our findings draw on the work of Putnam (1993, 1996, 2000) to demonstrate that social capital is both cause and effect in the success of initiatives such as Playing Out, and that when social capital is combined with elements of a social movement, there can be more fundamental and sustained outcomes.


Review of literature indicates that information regarding the psychological factors associated with injury occurrence in young elite sport participants is limited and incomplete. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between specific psychological factors and the prevalence of injuries among elite youth male soccer players. One hundred and forty-nine elite, male African national soccer players from 11 African countries participated in this study. The participants completed a self-administered questionnaire adapted from Twizere (2004) to report the injuries sustained over a two-season period. Psychological factors were measured with the use of the Competitive Anxiety Inventory-2 (Martens et al., 1990); Athletic Coping Skills Inventory-28 (ACSI-28) (Smith et al., 1995), and Bull's Mental Skills Questionnaire (Bull et al., 1996). Results revealed a positive relationship between the soccer players' cognitive anxiety scores and the number injuries they have recorded (CSAI-2). No relationship between any of the coping skills and injuries was revealed (ACSI-28). It was, however, indicated on the Bull's Mental Skills Questionnaire that better relaxation ability is associated with reduced risk of injury occurrence. Even though the psychological data were collected during an international soccer tournament which could have affected the participants' general responses, the study still provides useful insight on particular psychological factors that contribute to the occurrence of injuries amongst elite youth soccer players. The study recommends that relaxation skills in attempt to regulate cognitive anxiety should be considered in youth soccer injury prevention programmes. For a comprehensive understanding on the role psychological factors play in injuries among elite youth athletes, one should evaluate their individual perspective and interpretation of their stress-coping mechanisms along with other contributing stressful life events.


Rendering massive 3D models in real-time has long been recognized as a very challenging problem because of the limited computational power and memory space available in a workstation. Most existing rendering techniques, especially level of detail (LOD) processing, have suffered from their sequential execution natures, and does not scale well with the size of the models. We present a GPU-based progressive mesh simplification approach which enables the interactive rendering of large 3D models with hundreds of millions of triangles. Our work contributes to the massive rendering research in two ways. First, we develop a novel data structure to represent the progressive LOD mesh, and design a parallel mesh simplification algorithm towards GPU architecture. Second, we propose a GPU-based streaming approach which adopt a frame-to-frame coherence scheme in order to minimize the high communication cost between CPU and GPU. Our results show that the parallel mesh simplification algorithm and GPU-based streaming approach significantly improve the overall rendering performance.


We theoretically address the thermo-optical response of multicore photonic crystal fiber (PCF) couplers infiltrated with nematic liquid crystals (LCs). The proposed PCF coupler consists of two identical cores separated by a third one which acts as a liquid crystal resonator. With an appropriate choice of the design parameters associated with the liquid crystal core, phase matching at a single wavelength can be achieved, thus enabling thermo-tunable narrow-band resonant directional coupling between the input and the output cores. The verification of the proposed coupler design is ensured through an accurate PCF analysis based on finite element and beam propagation methods. The enhanced thermo-optical properties of LC-based PCF couplers are highly attractive for photo-thermal sensing applications.


In 1917 the Bolsheviks anticipated, on the basis of the Marxist classics, that the proletarian revolution would put an end to bureaucracy. However, soon after the revolution many within the Bolshevik Party, including Trotsky, were denouncing Soviet bureaucracy as a persistent problem. In fact, for Trotsky the problem of Soviet bureaucracy became the central political and theoretical issue that preoccupied him for the remainder of his life. This study examines the development of Leon Trotsky's views on that subject from the first years after the Russian Revolution through the completion of his work The Revolution Betrayed in 1936. In his various writings over these years Trotsky expressed three main understandings of the nature of the problem: During the civil war and the first years of NEP he denounced inefficiency in the distribution of supplies to the Red Army and resources throughout the economy as a whole. By 1923 he had become concerned about the growing independence of the state and party apparatuses from popular control and their increasing responsiveness to alien class pressures. Then in later years Trotsky depicted the bureaucracy as a distinct social formation, motivated by its own narrow interests, which had attained a high degree of autonomy from all social classes. Throughout the course of this evolution, Trotsky's thinking was influenced by factors that included his own major concerns at the time, preexisting images and analyses of bureaucracy, and Trotsky's interpretation of unfolding events. In turn, at each point Trotsky's understanding of the general nature of the problem of Soviet bureaucracy directed and shaped his political activities and his analyses of new developments. The picture of Trotsky that emerges is of an individual for whom ideas and theories were extremely important as means of understanding the world, and as a guide to changing it.


This thesis considers the connection between an individual's health and place - that is, variation in where one lives and the process of moving itself. It comprises three selfcontained empirical chapters that are unified under this broad theme. It begins by considering the impact of moving house more generally, before moving on to look at more specific topics: living on the UK coast and living at University. The first empirical chapter asks the question: What is the effect of moving residence on health? It considers the empirical challenges in identifying causal effects for such phenomena. The main methodology for doing so, involves using spatial and inter-temporal variation in local school quality and house prices, as Instrumental Variables for changing address. These data (available publicly) are mapped to households that were interviewed as part of the British Household Panel Survey and Understanding Society providing a rich dataset containing information at the individual, household and local area level. This paper goes on to address the question of how a move affects shortterm health using a regression discontinuity-type design, considering the differences in health between those who were interviewed just before and just after they changed address. It finds, in general, that local school quality is a strong instrument for moving residence, and doing so leads to worse self-assessed health. The second empirical chapter considers a more specific question about the health of those who live on the UK coast. UK data shows that health amongst the working-age population (16-64 years) is worse on the coast than elsewhere. For example, there is a much greater prevalence of limiting long-term health conditions on the coast as opposed to the average for England and Wales. Despite this, there is a lack of literature that considers the potential reasons for these differences and how they can be identified; this paper addresses this gap. Using data on health and other characteristics from all five waves of Understanding Society, this chapter quantifies the differences in health and health-related outcomes on the coast compared to inland. Detailed geographic data are used to construct a distance to the coast measure, which is used as the main distinction between a coastal and non-coastal area. The analysis finds that most health-related outcomes are worse on the coast, including long-standing health conditions, disability benefit claimants and smoking and drinking prevalence being more likely. The final empirical chapter considers the mobility of students attending university, and their life satisfaction in early adulthood. The move to university is often the first major independent change of residence that an individual faces. At the same time, a large proportion of students live at home while they study. Data on a cohort of university attendees from the Longitudinal Survey of Young People in England (LSYPE) and the follow-up study, Next Steps, is used to assess the impact of moving away from home on early-adult life satisfaction. A random sample of children, born in 1989/1990, were surveyed annually between the ages of 13 and 19 years old, and then again when aged 25 (Next Steps wave). Life satisfaction is modelled for graduates aged 25 years, using an ordered probit approach, controlling for individual characteristics at various points in the student's life, such as external locus of control and psychosocial health. I also partial out parental and household factors such as household income, parental education, parental occupation, and the number of siblings in the home. The analysis finds that life satisfaction of males who move away is much higher than those who do not; there is no effect for females. Instrumental variable ordered probit models address the endogeneity of moving away to university, and mediation analysis assess some potential mechanisms behind these differences. Where an individual lives, and the process of moving, is a determinant of health. More research is needed to disentangle this complex and heterogeneous relationship, with a view to identify policies with which to facilitate internal migration, and improve health outcomes.


The Research Methodology in Software Engineering and Computer Science (RM) is a compulsory course that must be studied by graduate students at Blekinge Institute of Technology (BTH) prior to undertaking their theses work. The course is focused on teaching research methods and techniques for data collection and analysis in the fields of Computer Science and Software Engineering. It is intended that the course should help students in practically applying appropriate research methods in different courses (in addition to the RM course) including their Master's theses. However, it is believed that there exist deficiencies in the course due to which the course implementation (learning and assessment activities) as well as the performance of different participants (students, teachers, and evaluators) are affected negatively. In this article our aim is to investigate potential deficiencies in the RM course at BTH in order to provide a concrete evidence on the deficiencies faced by students, evaluators, and teachers in the course. Additionally, we suggest recommendations for resolving the identified deficiencies. Our findings gathered through semi-structured interviews with students, teachers, and evaluators in the course are presented in this article. By identifying a total of twenty one deficiencies from different perspectives, we found that there exist critical deficiencies at different levels within the course. Furthermore, in order to overcome the identified deficiencies, we suggest seven recommendations that may be implemented at different levels within the course and the study program. Our suggested recommendations, if implemented, will help in resolving deficiencies in the course, which may lead to achieving an improved teaching and learning in the RM course at BTH.


The overall goal of our paper is to explore this question of how China's policy will likely respond as the nation enters the WTO. Specifically, we will have three objectives. First, we briefly review China's existing agriculture policy and past performance of China's agriculture and how it has changed during the past 20 years of reform. Next, we examine the main features of the agreement that China must adhere to as they enter WTO. Finally, we consider a number of possible ways that policy makers may respond, primarily focusing on the national government's viewpoint.


Copepods are major consumers of sinking marine particles and hence reduce the efficiency of the biological carbon pump. Their high abundance on marine snow suggests that they can detect sinking particles remotely. By means of laboratory observations, we show that the copepod Temora longicornis can detect chemical trails originating from sinking marine snow particles (appendicularian houses). The chemical cue was detected by copepods from a distance of >25 particle radii, with the probability of detection decreasing with distance. The behavior of T. longicornis following the trail resembled the behavior of males tracking pheromone trails, although with a lower tracking velocity. Upon finding a house, the copepod would attach for a short period (10–30 s) and feed intensively. Due to short residence times, daily feeding rates were moderate. Our results demonstrate that even T. longicornis, a species usually considered a microparticle feeder, is able to detect and feed on marine snow aggregates. If similar behaviors are displayed by the more dedicated aggregate‐feeding copepods, a topic that remains unexplored, the effect of copepods on vertical flux attenuation may be significant.


The postmodern college students of today are highly tolerant of others, technologically advanced, overly protected, and exceedingly busy. Excitedly though, many of these young men and women, desire to live in community and are returning to more traditional Christian values. These spiritually sensitive students are looking for ways to grow in their personal relationship with Christ and serve others in the world. They are coming to traditional Christian colleges in record numbers in search of opportunities to deepen their walk with Christ, but many of these students do not possess the necessary tools to do so. To help these young people grow in their faith during their college careers, institutions must develop programs which utilize classical spiritual disciplines to effectively nurture these students toward growth in Christ. If Christian colleges are going to assist postmoderns in building a strong foundation with Christ and possess the necessary tools for a lifelong journey with God, it is imperative to develop an intentional spiritual formation curriculum which integrates classical spiritual disciplines, which fosters growth, and which meets the needs of the postmodern generation.


Managers of new brands seek to leverage positive WOM and establish a critical mass of consumers who interact with their brands on social network sites (SNSs). Effective selection of 'seeds', or influencers, on SNSs, who will recommend the product and leverage the power of their social networks to influence other consumers is key to organic growth. This research examines the role of an influencer's activity on a social network website (network size, membership duration, share-of-posts), brand message source (marketergenerated versus member-generated), and recipient type (SNS member versus nonmember) on an influencer's decision to recommend a new brand and the recipient's decision to make a referral visit. Empirical analyses of clickstream data from SNSs at a commercial website show that marketer- and consumer-generated brand ads differ in their impact on recommending propensity for high share-of-posts and long-term influencers, and for member and non-member recipients, which has implications for referral management.


Background: Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease, associated with a chronic inflammatory status, and an increased level of cytokines which are implicated in the destruction of joints. Periodontal disease is an infection of the tissue that surrounds and supports the tooth structure, resulting also in a chronic inflammatory status. An association between the two diseases has been reported in numerous studies. Objectives: The goal of this study was to examine the prevalence of periodontal disease among rheumatoid arthritis patients in Qatar, along with investigating the association between the two diseases. Methods: A total of 92 participants (43 cases with rheumatoid arthritis and 49 controls without rheumatoid arthritis) were recruited from the outpatient rheumatology clinic at Hamad Medical Corporation in Doha, Qatar. The ACR/EULAR 2010 for the diagnosis criteria for rheumatoid arthritis were used to diagnose participants. Results: The overall prevalence of periodontal disease was 73.9% (95% CI: 64.2 to 82.1). The percentage of periodontal disease was observed to be higher among the rheumatoid arthritis group compared to the non-rheumatoid arthritis group (76.7% vs 71.4%; p=0.562). Patients older than 50 years of age were significantly associated with an increased risk for periodontal disease [unadjusted OR=4.11; 95% CI (1.42, 11.43); p=0.009]. Having rheumatoid arthritis [unadjusted OR=1.32; 95% CI (0.52, 3.38); p=0.563], females [unadjusted OR=1.55; 95% CI (0.51, 4.74); p=0.437], rheumatoid disease duration more than 10 years [unadjusted OR= 1.33; 95% CI (0.32, 5.59); p=0.684], and body mass index of less than 30 [unadjusted OR=1.17; 95% CI (0.46, 3.01); p=0.740] were positively associated with an increased risk for periodontal disease. Conclusions: This is the first study to assess periodontal disease among rheumatoid arthritis patients in Qatar. Future work might need to involve a larger, more representative sample.


In drug discovery, thousands of compounds are assayed to detect activity against a biological target. The goal of drug discovery is to identify compounds that are active against the target (e.g. inhibit a virus). Statistical learning in drug discovery seeks to build a model that uses descriptors characterizing molecular structure to predict biological activity. However, the characteristics of drug discovery data can make it difficult to model the relationship between molecular descriptors and biological activity. Among these characteristics are the rarity of active compounds, the large volume of compounds tested by high-throughput screening, and the complexity of molecular structure and its relationship to activity. This thesis focuses on the design of statistical learning algorithms/models and their applications to drug discovery. The two main parts of the thesis are: an algorithm-based statistical method and a more formal model-based approach. Both approaches can facilitate and accelerate the process of developing new drugs. A unifying theme is the use of unsupervised methods as components of supervised learning algorithms/models. In the first part of the thesis, we explore a sequential screening approach, Cluster Structure-Activity Relationship Analysis (CSARA). Sequential screening integrates High Throughput Screening with mathematical modeling to sequentially select the best compounds. CSARA is a cluster-based and algorithm driven method. To gain further insight into this method, we use three carefully designed experiments to compare predictive accuracy with Recursive Partitioning, a popular structureactivity relationship analysis method. The experiments show that CSARA outperforms Recursive Partitioning. Comparisons include problems with many descriptor sets and situations in which many descriptors are not important for activity. iii In the second part of the thesis, we propose and develop constrained mixture discriminant analysis (CMDA), a model-based method. The main idea of CMDA is to model the distribution of the observations given the class label (e.g. active or inactive class) as a constrained mixture distribution, and then use Bayes' rule to predict the probability of being active for each observation in the testing set. Constraints are used to deal with the otherwise explosive growth of the number of parameters with increasing dimensionality. CMDA is designed to solve several challenges in modeling drug data sets, such as multiple mechanisms, the rare target problem (i.e. imbalanced classes), and the identification of relevant subspaces of descriptors (i.e. variable selection). We focus on the CMDA1 model, in which univariate densities form the building blocks of the mixture components. Due to the unboundedness of the CMDA1 log likelihood function, it is easy for the EM algorithm to converge to degenerate solutions. A special Multi-Step EM algorithm is therefore developed and explored via several experimental comparisons. Using the multi-step EM algorithm, the CMDA1 model is compared to model-based clustering discriminant analysis (MclustDA). The CMDA1 model is either superior to or competitive with the MclustDA model, depending on which model generates the data. The CMDA1 model has better performance than the MclustDA model when the data are high-dimensional and unbalanced, an essential feature of the drug discovery problem! An alternate approach to the problem of degeneracy is penalized estimation. By introducing a group of simple penalty functions, we consider penalized maximum likelihood estimation of the CMDA1 and CMDA2 models. This strategy improves the convergence of the conventional EM algorithm, and helps avoid degenerate solutions. Extending techniques from Chen et al. (2007), we prove that the PMLE's of the two-dimensional CMDA1 model can be asymptotically consistent. iv


The molecular design of directly meso-meso-linked porphyrin arrays as a new model of light-harvesting antenna as well as a molecular photonic wire was envisaged to bring the porphyrin units closer for rapid energy transfer. For this purpose, zinc(II) 5,15-bis(3,5-bis(octyloxy)phenyl)porphyrin (Z1) and its directly meso-meso-linked porphyrin arrays up to Z128 (Zn, n represents the number of porphyrins) were synthesized. The absorption spectra of these porphyrin arrays change in a systematic manner with an increase in the number of porphyrins; the high-energy Soret bands remain at nearly the same wavelength (413-414 nm), while the low-energy exciton split Soret bands are gradually red-shifted, resulting in a progressive increase in the exciton splitting energy. The exciton splitting is nicely correlated with the values of cos[pi/(N + 1)] according to Kasha's exciton coupling theory, providing a value of 4250 cm(-1) for the exciton coupling energy in the S(2) state. The increasing red-shifts for the Q-bands are rather modest. The fluorescence excitation anisotropy spectra of the porphyrin arrays show that the photoexcitation of the high-energy Soret bands exhibits a large angle difference between absorption and emission dipoles in contrast with the photoexcitation of the low-energy exciton split Soret and Q-bands. This result indicates that the high-energy Soret bands are characteristic of the summation of the individual monomeric transitions with its overall dipole moment deviated from the array chain direction, while the low-energy Soret bands result from the exciton splitting between the monomeric transition dipoles in line with the array chain direction. From the fluorescence quantum yields and fluorescence lifetime measurements, the radiative coherent length was estimated to be 6-8 porphyrin units in the porphyrin arrays. Ultrafast fluorescence decay measurements show that the S(2) --> S(1) internal conversion process occurs in less than 1 ps in the porphyrin arrays due to the existence of exciton split band as a ladder-type deactivation channel, while this process is relatively slow in Z1 (approximately 1.6 ps). The rate of this process seems to follow the energy gap law, which is mainly determined by the energy gap between the two Soret bands of the porphyrin arrays.


Parallel changes are a basic fact of modern software development. Where previously we looked at prima facie interference, here we investigate a less direct form that we call semantic interference. We reduce the forms of semantic interference that we are interested in to overlapping defuse pairs. Using program slicing and data flow analysis, we present algorithms for detecting semantic interference for both concurrent changes (allowed in optimistic version management systems) and sequential parallel changes (supported in pessimistic version management systems), and for changes that are both immediate and distant in time. We provide these algorithms for changes that are additions, showing that interference caused by deletions can be detected by considering the two sets of changes in reverse-time order.


Evaluation of recommender systems is a central activity when developing recommender systems, both in industry and academia. The second edition of the PERSPECTIVES workshop held at RecSys 2022 brought together academia and industry to critically reflect on the evaluation of recommender systems. In the 2022 edition of PERSPECTIVES, we discussed problems and lessons learned, encouraged the exchange of the various perspectives on evaluation, and aimed to move the discourse forward within the community. We deliberately solicited papers reporting a reflection on problems regarding recommender systems evaluation and lessons learned. The workshop featured interactive parts with discussions in small groups as well as in the plenum, both on-site and online, and an industry keynote.


In 2012 a massive online hate campaign directed at the media critic Anita Sarkeesian brought the sexism of game culture to the forefront. Her kickstarter project about gender tropes in video games was met with extreme harassment, threats and general vitriol. While her case is extreme, her experience is not unique. Despite a dramatic increase in the number of female gamers and games catering to a female audience, women are still struggling for legitimate participation in gaming culture. Websites like www.fatuglyorslutty.com works as a submission archive for sexual harassment female players have encountered online, yet there are few research projects mapping and analysing the extent and form of harassment found in video games. This paper addresses some of these concerns. The title of the paper plays on the notion the disagreements concerning sexual harassment in games with some communities stating that sexual harassment is simply "part of the [gaming] culture". In this paper we present results of a recent study on how sexual harassment impacts play experience and choices in online games. Based on an online survey* conducted in the spring of 2014 (N > 1000), the paper presents how and to what extent Norwegian online gamers experience sexual harassment in games. The survey measures the the use of what in other contexts is widely understood as homophobic, misogynist and racist language, such as "whore", rape threats, "faggot", "gay", "nigger", and to what extent players finds such language offensive. It addresses the extent of sexual harassment as a reason for quitting gameplay, and for anonomous gameplay. The survey is supplemented with group interviews (N=18) for in depth discussions on how they experience harassment and derogatory language.


A novel interpolation algorithm, fuzzy interpolation, is presented and compared with other popular interpolation methods widely implemented in industrial robots calibrations and manufacturing applications. Different interpolation algorithms have been developed, reported, and implemented in many industrial robot calibrations and manufacturing processes in recent years. Most of them are based on looking for the optimal interpolation trajectories based on some known values on given points around a workspace. However, it is rare to build an optimal interpolation results based on some random noises, and this is one of the most popular topics in industrial testing and measurement applications. The fuzzy interpolation algorithm (FIA) reported in this paper provides a convenient and simple way to solve this problem and offers more accurate interpolation results based on given position or orientation errors that are randomly distributed in real time. This method can be implemented in many industrial applications, such as manipulators measurements and calibrations, industrial automations, and semiconductor manufacturing processes.


Since European settlement in Australia the long-nosed potoroo (Potorous tridactylus) has suffered greatly from fox predation and habitat loss, fragmentation and degradation. To better understand the threats it faces we examined the population dynamics of the potoroo at two study sites in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales over five years, using live-trapping. As neither site had experienced inappropriate habitat change for over 25 years, fox predation was considered the major threat to this population. An assessment of fox activity and diet was undertaken at both sites for comparison with potoroo abundance. Potoroos increased at both sites over time, although at one site this increase was only in density and not range. The density increase would not have been detected using camera surveys, a monitoring technique recommended for this species. The relative abundance of foxes fluctuated over the study despite fox control in one of the two sites. Analysis of fox scats at the same sites indicated high levels of predation on potoroos. Future management should aim to provide effective fox control (particularly following any fire due to the associated loss of ground cover) and improved fox monitoring to ensure an accurate understanding of what is happening to the fox population.


Significance Although much current research highlights differences between political partisans, our research provides evidence that strong partisan biases in meta-perceptions are largely symmetrical for Democrats and Republicans. This suggests that biased meta-perceptions are a consequence of shared psychology rather than merely a consequence of divergent ideological convictions. Meta-perceptions represent evaluations that are distinct from perceptions at a core psychological level: While negative perceptions, such as dehumanization, can be thought of as offensive or reprehensible, meta-perceptions are inferences about what others think and can, therefore, be false. The theoretical distinctions between perceptions and meta-perceptions suggest that practical approaches to reducing negative meta-perceptions may be distinct from those that aim to reduce negative perceptions. People's actions toward a competitive outgroup can be motivated not only by their perceptions of the outgroup, but also by how they think the outgroup perceives the ingroup (i.e., meta-perceptions). Here, we examine the prevalence, accuracy, and consequences of meta-perceptions among American political partisans. Using a representative sample (n = 1,056) and a longitudinal convenience sample (n = 2,707), we find that Democrats and Republicans equally dislike and dehumanize each other but think that the levels of prejudice and dehumanization held by the outgroup party are approximately twice as strong as actually reported by a representative sample of Democrats and Republicans. Overestimations of negative meta-perceptions were consistent across samples over time and between demographic subgroups but were modulated by political ideology: More strongly liberal Democrats and more strongly conservative Republicans were particularly prone to exaggerate meta-perceptions. Finally, we show that meta-prejudice and meta-dehumanization are independently associated with the desire for social distance from members of the outgroup party and support for policies that harm the country and flout democratic norms to favor the ingroup political party. This research demonstrates that partisan meta-perceptions are subject to a strong negativity bias with Democrats and Republicans agreeing that the shadow of partisanship is much larger than it actually is, which fosters mutual intergroup hostility.