The urban water infrastructure assets embodies a large portion of the total value of all public infrastructures, and is fundamental for good living conditions. The replacement value of the infrastructure in Norway alone is more than 500 billion Norwegian kroner. An aging infrastructure combined with shifting external conditions has resulted in a change from mainly investing in new infrastructure to manage and rehabilitate existing assets. With strong indications that the water utilities are facing challenges when it comes to their water infrastructure, the focus on asset management (AM) is growing. AM in the water sector can be described as managing infrastructure capital assets to minimize the total cost of owning and operating them, while also delivering a satisfactory service level for the customers. Experienced experts and researchers argue that a good, integrated and strategic AM approach is essential for the maintenance of sustainable water supply and wastewater services. There exist several research initiatives to improve the AM for water utilities. However, the use of integrated or strategic AM approaches and use of tools and models does not seem to have spread in the expected degree, particularly not to small or medium sized water utilities or companies. In order to contribute to the knowledge of key conditions for successful dissemination of infrastructure asset management (IAM) approaches to smaller and medium sized water providers, this thesis will look at embedding IAM in a medium water utility by testing one of the latest and well acknowledged IAM research initiatives, the AWARE-P project, in a demo case study. This implies operationalizing the AWARE-P concept with the use of a carefully defined set of hallmarks, explore and understand the actual situation in the demo case water utility by reviewing planning documents and meeting with key personnel, describe and recognize why there is a gap between actual practise and the recommended AM approach advocated by AWARE-P, to understand why the utility decides to do what they do today, and then finally use this knowledge to test the implementation of key elements in the recommended AM approach. This is done to find: a) what type of problems are we facing with implementation, b) what type of benefits can this implementation give a water utility and c) understand the kind of characteristics or qualities that need to be present in AM methodology and tools in order for successful implementation and use. This is done at two stages, an applied analysis to test key elements at the tactical level and a simulated process for testing at the strategic level. The closing chapter focuses on the lessons learned from the demo case study approach and discuss ways forward to enable better implementation and more wide spread use of high quality integrated IAM approaches in small to medium sized Norwegian water utilities. This includes approaches to lowering the threshold for use, e.g. compensating for missing data, and a demonstration of a decision theatre approach that can support a water utility in their planning process and thus motivate for improved use of analytical tools, decision support systems and at large achieve a more structured and comprehensive IAM practise.


There have been many investors who invest funds in certain companies. The purpose of the investment is to obtain the expected stock return. Investors, in investing certainly needs to look at whether the company will be turned into investment activity to perform well or not, because only companies that have good performance that can provide the expected stock return. This research aims to determine the effect of performance appraisal with the ROI and EVA on stock returns. Sampling using purposive sampling techniques, the sample used is a company incorporated in the LQ 45 index with period of August  2008 - January 2009 and not included in the banking sector. This research uses secondary data, secondary data is financial statements in 2006-2007 of companies that were visited in this research. Analytical model used to test the hypothesis is Moderated Regression Analysis. Analysis conducted with the help of SPSS program. The results showed in partial ROI and EVA no effect on stock returns. Simultaneously, ROI and EVA variables also have no effect on stock returns. This is because stock prices are influenced by other factors beyond the company's performance measurement, among other factors of global economic conditions. Key words: Stock return, ROI, EVA, and Performance Measurement


Along with the many health benefits of regular physical activity, there is also the risk of injury. Around 30-50% of all sporting injuries involve damage to tendons and in long-distance runners the lifetime risk of developing Achilles tendinopathy exceeds 50%. Patellar tendinopathy (PT) is likewise common among sporting populations, with prevalence rates higher than 30% in both volleyball and basketball players. The main aims of this thesis were to investigate whether novel genetic variants (copy number variation (CNV) and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs)) in candidate genes were associated with Achilles tendon pathology (ATP) and to investigate whether DNA methylation status was altered in patellar tendinopathy, within the promoter regions of candidate genes. Copy number variation was investigated in the ADAM8, CASP8, COL4A1, COL5A1, MMP23B, MMP3 and TNC genes across all ATP cohorts. The British and South African ATP cohorts were genotyped for the CASP3 rsl049253 and TNFRSF1A rs4149577 single nucleotide polymorphisms. These studies were carried out using fluorescence based TaqMan qPCR. DNA methylation was measured in the ADAMT54, MMP11 and TIMP1 genes by Pyrosequencing, using DNA isolated from healthy and tendinopathic patellar tendon tissue. On the whole, the genetic association studies on copy number variation within this thesis showed that CNV within the loci we investigated does not appear to be a risk factor for ATP. Nevertheless, significant differences in discrete copy number were reported within the COL5A1 gene between the AUS CON and ATP groups (p = 0.012 using the Hs00180523_cn assay) and within the COL4A1 gene between the combined CON and ATP groups (p = 0.014 using the Hs00739915_cn assay). There was also a significant difference in copy number within the MMP3 gene between the AUS CON and ATP groups (p = 0.035 using the Hs02908568_cn). However, these significant findings were not replicated when data were analysed as continuous copy number, therefore further investigation would be needed to replicate these findings in other cohorts. Similarly, the genetic association studies on the single nucleotide polymorphisms TNFRSF1A rs4149577 and CASP3 rsl049253 found no associations with ATP within combined and individual South African and UK cohorts. The DNA methylation studies within this thesis showed that the methylation status of the promoter regions of the ADAMTS4, MMP11 and TIMP1 genes was altered at certain CpG sites in patellar tendinopathy compared to controls. There were significant differences in methylation status reported between the CON and PT groups for CpG site 3 of the ADAMT54 gene (p = 0.016), CpG site 4 of the MMP11 gene (p = 0.045) and CpG site 2 of the TIMP1 gene (p = 0.012). The results from this thesis provide evidence that copy number variation within the genes studied may not be as important in the risk of developing ATP. This thesis has also excluded two SNP variants as risk factors for ATP in the cohorts investigated. The preliminary studies on DNA methylation status within the ADAMT54, MMP11 and TIMP1 genes suggest that DNA methylation within these genes may be an important risk factor for patellar tendinopathy.


Objective. To report efficacy and safety in patients with chronic nonbacterial osteomyelitis (CNO) unresponsive to nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAID) and bisphosphonates and/or glucocorticoids treated with anakinra. Methods. Nine patients (6 females) with refractory CNO were treated with anakinra for at least 6 months. We recorded, at baseline and after 6 months of treatment, clinical and laboratory features, and number and distribution of bone lesions detected by 99mTc-MDP bone scintigraphy. Disease activity was evaluated using a physician's global assessment (PGA). Results. At baseline, 9/9 patients had mild to severe PGA. After 6 months of treatment, in 5 patients the PGA score was graded from none to minimal. At baseline, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and C-reactive protein (CRP) were elevated in 8 out of 9 patients. After 6 months, 5/9 patients had normalized CRP and ESR and in all except 1, CRP and ESR decreased. Before starting anakinra, a total of 77 bone lesions were detected by bone scintigraphy. After 6 months of treatment of the 77 lesions, 42 had resolved and 35 were stable. In 7/9 patients, 20 new lesions appeared during treatment; 2 of these 7 patients were symptomatic. At the last followup visit (median 1.7 yrs, range 0.8–2.8), 6/9 patients maintained a PGA graded as none to minimal. Conclusion. Anakinra is a possible therapeutic alternative in patients with refractory CNO. The practical significance of clinically silent bone lesions detected by bone scintigraphy remains to be established.


The WTO negotiations on agriculture remain deadlocked after four years of discussion, and efforts to find a solution at Cancun failed. Analysis shows that the recent draft Cancun text offers more flexibility than earlier proposals, and such flexibility most likely implies a lower level of ambition overall. However, developing countries are less able to take advantage of this flexibility and their bound tariffs will be reduced to levels at or below applied rates. The reduction in levels of intervention and the expiry of the Peace Clause make it more likely that there will be greater resort in the future to safeguards and countervailing measures. Analysis of the various proposals using the UNCTAD/FAO Agricultural Trade Policy Simulation Model (ATPSM) shows that most of the benefits from liberalization accrue to developed countries, which currently have the highest levels of intervention. The group of developing countries, which include both exporters and importers of agricultural products, gain from liberalization, but those gains are small and unevenly distributed. In fact, net-food importing developing countries tend to lose because of higher world prices. Within developing countries, producers tend to gain from higher world prices at the expense of consumers. Since negotiating positions suggest that governments attach a higher weight to producer than consumer benefits, a possible solution to the impasse lies in switching support in developed countries from border measures to less-trade-distorting measures such as direct income support. Providing compensation to current beneficiaries of European Union support in ACP countries for the erosion of preferences may also assist in the search for a compromise.


Background: Depression is common in Alzheimer's and vascular dementia and is associated with poorer outcomes; however, less is known about the impact of depression on frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Here, we conducted a meta-analysis of diagnostic methods and the prevalence of depressive symptoms in FTD. Methods: PubMed, EMBASE and PsychINFO were queried for 'depression' and/or 'depressive mood' in behavioral- and language-variant FTD. The prevalence and diagnosis of depressive symptoms were extracted from relevant studies and the results pooled using a random-effects model. Results: We included 29 studies in this meta-analysis, with sample sizes ranging from 3 to 73 (n = 870). The omnibus estimated event rate of depressed mood was 0.334 (33%; 95% CI: 0.268-0.407). Symptoms were most commonly assessed via standardized neuropsychiatric rating scales, with other methods including subjective caregiver reports and chart reviews. The study results were heterogeneous due to the variability in diagnostic methods. Conclusions: Depressive symptoms similar to those in other dementias are commonly detected in FTD. However, the diagnostic methods are heterogeneous, and symptoms of depression often overlap with manifestations of FTD. Having a standardized diagnostic approach to depression in FTD will greatly facilitate future research in this area.


A non-Western comparative model, totalitarianism, has conventionally been employed to describe qualitative differences between the United States on one hand, and the nations of the Communist world on the other. This paper explores welfare-related aspects of Communist (USSR) Western (US) differences: First, the quantity of welfare and second, the mode of welfare distribution. In measuring the volume of welfare as the proportion of the state welfare expenses to the GNP or NMP respectively, the Russian proportion from 1958 (USSR l8.S8,, U.S. 10.6%) until the latest available comparative figures (USSR 2324%, US 15.2%) remains substantially greater. In terms of welfare distribution, the Russian emphasis on distributing welfare services to a broad catagory of citizens without regard to need, that is, the subtle distribution of welfare, has markedly different social consequences than the American emphasis, usually demanding the eligibility of the client. American-style distribution produces a never-ending process of stigma and fraud, and contributes to the break-up of the family. Finally, it produces the silent suffering of the poor since, with all of the programs available in America, there are more 'below-poverty line' families in the U.S. that receive neither food stamps, public housing, or social assistance as there are poor that do receive these services.


SUMMARY

This article develops purchasing competence as a valid construct and explores its relationship with different manufacturing priorities. An empirical study is conducted among purchasing professionals in manufacturing firms. The results of the research indicate that purchasing competence can be operationalized, developed, and estimated in a firm. Further, purchasing competence is found to have a positive impact on manufacturing cost, quality, and delivery, as well as new product introduction and customization performance. Purchasing integration, a component of purchasing competence, is found to relate to all dimensions of manufacturing performance.


The aim of this study was to assess the duration and frequency of behavioral observations of pregnant ewes as they approached lambing. An understanding of behavioral changes before birth may provide opportunities for enhanced visual monitoring at this critical stage in the animal's life. Behavioral observations for 17 ewes in late pregnancy were recorded during two separate time periods, which were 4 to 6 weeks before lambing and before giving birth. It was normal farm procedure for the sheep to come indoors for 6 weeks of close monitoring before lambing. The behaviors of standing, lying, walking, shuffling and contraction behaviors were recorded for each animal during both time periods. Over both time periods, the ewes spent a large proportion of their time either lying (0.40) or standing (0.42), with a higher frequency of standing (0.40) and shuffling (0.28) bouts than other behaviors. In the time period before giving birth, the frequency of lying and contraction bouts increased and the standing and walking bouts decreased, with a higher frequency of walking bouts in ewes that had an assisted lambing. The monitoring of behavioral patterns, such as lying and contractions, could be used as an alert to the progress of parturition.


Portugal's resistance to decolonization lasted from the mid-1950s until the fall of the regime in April 1974, and it helps to explain why Portugal fought thirteen years of war in Angola, Mozambique, and Guinea. Contrary to other colonial powers, the Portuguese rulers were not willing to accept the winds of change nor to meet the demands for the self-determination of its overseas territories that had swept Africa and Asia from the early 1950s. Several factors can explain the inflexibility of Lisbon to accept them, ranging from the ideological nature of the New State; from the strategic context of the Cold War due to the importance of the Azores islands for the United States and NATO; or from Portugal's alliance with Great Britain. When the war broke out in Angola, and the Indian Union seized the "Portuguese India" territories in 1961, prime-minister Salazar did not receive the political support he expected from Washington and London as traditional allies.
 In early 1962, Salazar decided to strengthen relations with South Africa and Rhodesia in an attempt to maintain white rule in its overseas territories amidst a drive for independence by African nationalists, so-called "white redoubt," that was the terminology used by the Kennedy administration to refer to the set of African countries and territories dominated by white minority governments: Angola, Mozambique, Southern Rhodesia and South Africa. Strengthened ties would aid his strategy to keep the war effort in Africa by taking advantage of the importance of Angola and Mozambique to the security of South Africa. In 1964, Salazar encouraged Ian Smith to unilaterally declare independence from Great Britain to link Angola and Mozambique to the Southern Africa Security Complex led by South Africa, despite widespread criticism of the apartheid in the United Nations (UN). Concurrently, Lisbon tried to seduce Hastings Banda and Kenneth Kaunda in expelling the liberation movements from Malawi and Zambia in exchange for granting transit facilities to ease the international pressure with regards to its colonial policy.
 Following several years of military collaboration, in October 1970, Portugal, South Africa, and Rhodesia established a military alliance codenamed "Exercise ALCORA," which aimed to coordinate the global efforts against the insurgency in Southern Africa. Portugal used the ALCORA to obtain substantial aid in the form of military equipment and financial support, which Portugal needed to keep the war effort in the three African territories. In early 1974, Caetano channeled the South African loan to prevent a significant setback in Guinea, because if it were lost, Mozambique and Angola would follow, and consequently the regime.


This chapter examines how the narrative of ASSI identity has developed, as an Australian ethnic group, as Pacific Islanders who have reconnected with their islands of origin aver the last fifty years, and as part of a larger diaspora of indigenous peoples dislodged from their homes as part of labour migration related to nineteenth capitalism and forced labour migration. ASSI by-and-large interpret their history through a narrative of kidnapping and slavery which is at odds with Pacific historians who for the last fifty years have stressed Islander agency and voluntary participation in labour migration, albeit with an early phase of illegal and often violent recruitment. The specific points addressed in this chapter relate to origins, the difference of opinion with academic historians, semantic differences in the use of words, identity as both Australian and Pacific peoples, and contemporary political agendas.


The origin and development of the parts-of-speech system was the subject of retrospective accounts written by ancient Greek and Latin authors interested in this evolutionary process of grammaticography. These accounts, containing a survey of doctrines and viewpoints concerning the number and nature of the parts of speech, can be labeled 'doxographies': They offer (short) stories of opinions held by grammarians and philosophers concerning the partes orationis. In this paper, the corpus of ancient doxographical texts concerning the parts of speech system is presented; this is followed by an analysis of their status, their historiographical approach, and their contents. Specific attention is paid to the following points: (a) the time-perspective adopted by the authors of these doxographies; (b) their interest in grammatical and philosophical argumentation; (c) differences in the perception of the evolution of doctrines. Finally the issue is addressed of what purpose these texts were intended to serve, and of their 'Sitz-im-Leben'. These ancient doxographical texts, which until now have been largely ignored or neglected by historians of ancient linguistics, offer highly relevant information on the terminology and criteria used in Greco-Latin, and they testify to a fundamental historiographical-methodological consciousness among ancient scholars.


In this article, I briefly review the background for the latest iteration of federal special education policy, the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education (Improvement) Act or IDEA. With a slight apology to ardent advocates for parents and children with disabilities, I then suggest ways that they and their clients can set aside their concerns about a diluted statute and learn to live with a changed legal landscape — and perhaps even flourish in an educational system that aims to raise the standards for all students. With each cycle of program review, policy revisitation and legislative revision, those who speak for students and their families must adapt to new language and concepts. Some of the adaptations are cosmetic or pragmatic, and other revisions are genuinely intended to affect positive change for students. In navigating the legal process, I urge that advocates: (1) embrace some of IDEA's new provisions and make the best of others; (2) aggressively monitor the Administration's other major educational reform — The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001; and (3) effectively use interest group organizational strategies. After waging a vigorous battle in Congress to keep the IDEA intact, it is the task of advocates to shape the remaining legal text in ways that ultimately enhance the learning and lives of student clients. Advocates must engage in new tactics to mitigate what we see as damaging changes, and yet be open to honest and critical reflection on changes that may actually be harmless or even beneficial.


The focus of this thesis is the synthesis of novel palladium(0) complexes bearing the ligand 1,3,4,5-tetramethylimidazol-2-ylidene (ITMe), a small percentage buried volume N-heterocyclic carbene. These complexes have been assessed as mediators for the 1,2-additions of hetero element-element bonds to unsaturated organic moieties. In particular, Si-Si, Si-B and B-B bond additions to alkynes and azobenzenes were chosen as reactions of interest due to their challenging nature.

Chapter 1 introduces the concept of transition metal mediated element-element additions to alkynes and includes a thorough review on the current literature state.

Chapter 2 describes the first solution based synthesis of [Pd(ITMe)2] and its in situ reactivity with Me3SiSiMe3 under mild conditions to form the novel complex cis-[Pd(ITMe)2(SiMe3)2], the first NHC-bearing complex resulting from the oxidative addition of hexamethyldisilane to a palladium centre. The use of this complex as a pre-catalyst for the bis(silyl)ation of electronically and sterically challenging internal acetylenes using non-activated disilanes is reported. A series of novel 1,2-disilylstilbenes were synthesized in high yield and with 100% Z-stereoselectivity.

Chapter 3 details the use of [Pd(ITMe)2(PhC≡CPh)], the first bis(N-heterocyclic carbene)Pd(0)-alkyne complex, as a highly reactive pre-catalyst in the silaboration of terminal and internal alkynes to yield a number of known and novel 1-silyl-2-boryl alkenes. Unprecedented mild reaction temperatures for terminal alkynes, short reaction times and low catalytic loadings are reported. During mechanistic studies, cis-[Pd(ITMe)2(SiMe2Ph)(Bpin)] was directly synthesized by oxidative addition of PhMe2SiBpin to [Pd(ITMe)2(PhC≡CPh)]. This represents a very rare example of a (silyl)(boryl)palladium complex. A plausible catalyst decomposition route was also examined.

In Chapter 4, [Pd(ITMe)2(PhC≡CPh)] acts as a highly reactive pre-catalyst in the unprecedented homogeneous catalyzed diboration of terminal and internal alkynes, yielding a number of novel and known syn-1,2-diborylalkenes in a 100% stereoselective manner. DFT calculations conducted by our collaborators suggest that a similar reaction pathway to that proposed for platinum phosphine analogues is followed, and that destabilization of key intermediates by ITMe is vital to the overall success for the palladium-catalyzed B-B addition to alkynes.

Chapter 5 reports the use of [Pd(ITMe)2(PhC≡CPh)] as a highly active pre-catalyst in the diboration and silaboration of azobenzenes to synthesize a series of novel functionalized hydrazines. The reactions proceed using commercially available diboranes and silaboranes under mild reaction conditions.

Preliminary investigations into further reactivity of [Pd(ITMe)2(PhC≡CPh)], [Pd(ITMe)2] and cis-[Pd(ITMe)2(SiR3)2] (SiR3 = SiMe2Ph or SiMe3) are reported in Chapter 6. This includes the oxidative cleavage of Me3GeGeMe3 by [Pd(ITMe)2(PhC≡CPh)] to form the novel cis-[Pd(ITMe)2(GeMe3)2] and an initial study into the catalytic alkyne digermylations. The hydrogenation of diphenylacetylene to form Z-stilbene using an amine-borane and catalytic quantities of [Pd(ITMe)2(PhC≡CPh)] was also investigated. Finally, the stoichiometric reactions of allyl bromides with cis-[Pd(ITMe)2(SiR3)2] to form the novel complexes trans-[Pd(ITMe)2(SiR3)(Br)] are detailed.


Abstract. A relevant research topic in the photogrammetry field is related with experimenting, at different levels, data fusion and sensors integration, aiming at the development of rapid mapping systems, capable of quickly delivering accurate data, for a wide range of applications. The presented contribute aims at exploiting the potentialities of spherical images and videos acquired using a 360° camera mounted on board of a medium-sized Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). More specifically, the focus has been the development and testing of a rapid-mapping hybrid system, capable of fast acquisition of data from both the on-board sensors. The reduction of the data acquisition time has been, and still is, a hot topic faced by the researchers in the Geomatics community, especially linked to some hazardous operative scenarios, where the reduction of the time on the field is crucial for operators' safety reasons (like in post-earthquake early damage assessment surveys).After a deep analysis of the available scientific literature, it turned out that researchers have been more focused on terrestrial applications of these emerging sensors (360° cameras), and no significant studies for aerial application have been conducted yet. First of all, some laboratory tests have been carried out, in order to evaluate the metric accuracy of the 3D models generated using the employed 360° sensor; thereafter, a solution for acquiring spherical images from 360° camera mounted on a light UAV has been designed. Problems and issues have been addressed and discussed, and results and improvements are, at the end of the paper, evaluated and proposed.


An irreversible change in resistivity occurs in Gd5(SixGe1- x)4 at the first-order phase transformation each time the material is cycled through its transition. This results in a progressive increase in resistivity each time the material is cycled through the transition and returned to its initial conditions of temperature and magnetic field. The effect of a first-order magnetic/structural phase transition on the resistivity of a material, and its recovery by annealing have not been reported before, and consequently, there has been no theoretical analysis of the effect until now. We postulate that if the material is held at an elevated temperature, the resistivity recovers and recovery time decreases with temperature. A model has been developed to explain the recovery in resistivity when the sample is held at elevated temperatures over a period of time and this has been verified experimentally.


Responsibility to Protect (R2P) aims to convert international conscience into timely and decisive collective action to rescue vulnerable communities. The choice is not whether international interventions will take place but where, when, how and under whose authority. Given the nature and victims of modern armed conflict, protection of civilians and populations at risk of mass atrocities is a core United Nations imperative. But while the UN has international authority, it lacks military power. Although its military might well have unmatched global reach, the United States acting unilaterally lacks international authority. This publication argues that progress towards good international society requires that force be harnessed to authority as the R2P moves from a universally validated principle to a routinely actionable norm.


Probabilistic planning algorithms seek effective plans for large, stochastic domains. MAXPLAN is a recently developed algorithm that converts a planning problem into an E-MAJSAT problem, an NpPP-complete problem that is essentially a probabilistic version of SAT, and draws on techniques from Boolean satisfiability and dynamic programming to solve the E-MAJSAT problem. This solution method is able to solve planning problems at state-of-the-art speeds, but it depends on the ability to store a value for each CNF subformula encountered in the solution process and is therefore quite memory intensive; searching for moderate-size plans even on simple problems can exhaust memory. This paper presents two techniques, based on caching, that overcome this problem without significant performance degradation. The first technique uses an LRU cache to store a fixed number of subformula values. The second technique uses a heuristic based on a measure of subformula difficulty to selectively save the values of only those subformulas whose values are sufficiently difficult to compute and are likely to be reused later in the solution process. We report results for both techniques on a stochastic test problem.


Gadd45b causes epigenetic modification of promoters for Bdnf and Fgf genes in postmitotic neurons in response to neuronal activity. Neurogenesis in the adult mammalian brain involves activity-dependent expression of genes critical for the proliferation of progenitors and for neuronal maturation. A recent study suggests that the stress response gene Gadd45b (growth arrest and DNA-damage–inducible protein 45 beta) can be transiently induced by neuronal activity and may promote adult neurogenesis through dynamic DNA demethylation of specific gene promoters in adult hippocampus. These results provide evidence supporting the provocative ideas that active DNA demethylation may occur in postmitotic neurons and that DNA methylation-mediated dynamic epigenetic regulation is involved in regulating long-lasting changes in neural plasticity in mammalian brains.


In this project presented a study of the degradation through accelerated tests of LEDs and varistors. This degradation is measured based on Sr, the irreversible entropy that is generated during testing. For the modelization of the degradation, the first and second laws of thermodynamics were needed. On the one hand, it explained the first law of thermodynamics that deals with the property energy and conservation of it. Whereas on the other hand, the second law defines a new property called entropy. Using this property as a basis, the increase of entropy principle was introduced. According to the explained definition of entropy, the main objective of this project was defined. The entropy generation property has been used to characterize the shape of degradation of electrical components. This project focused on the characterization of the varistors and LEDs. To perform these objectives a data adquisition circuit based on the Arduino Uno board has been designed and a LabVIEW program has been designed as well. For the experiments with LEDs, also included a detailed analysis of the most relevant properties such as light intensity, wavelength and FWHM (the full width half maximum). Once the proper experimental results of the laboratory was obtained, it has been processed with a MATLAB program designed by the designer himself. After the data processing, the discussions of these experimental results was developed. Finally it drew the conclusions based on the results and discussions that appointed favorably the entropy as a good indicator for degradation of LEDs and varistors. And also, possible future works as the continuation of this project have been cited at the end of the project. In addition, an aproximated budget that is required for the project has been attached at the annex D.


Pay-for-performance programs offering additional payments to GPs can be used not only to improve the quality of care but also for cost containment purposes. In this paper, we analyze the impact of removing financial incentives in primary care that were aimed at containing hospital expenditure in the Italian region of Emilia Romagna during the period 2002-04. Our analysis draws on regional databanks linking GPs' characteristics to those of their patients (including all sources of public payments made to GPs), together with information on the utilization of hospital services. We employ a difference-in-difference specification to assess changes in expenditures for avoidable and total hospital admissions. We identify the treatment group with GPs operating in districts where the program is withdrawn during the observation period ('Leavers'). Their performance is compared to that of two separate control groups, namely: GPs working in districts that grant incentives for the entire period ('Stayers'), and those working in districts that never introduced measures for the containment of hospitalizations ('Non Participants'). The comparison between treatment and control groups shows that removing incentives does not result in a worse performance by Leavers compared to both control groups. This supports the policy of removing incentives, as such entail extra payments to GPs which, however, do not seem capable of significantly influencing their behavior in the desired ways. Our findings complement previous evidence from the same institutional context showing that only those programs that aim to improve disease management for specific conditions - rather than to simply contain expenditure - have proven successful in reducing avoidable admissions for the target population.


In this paper, we estimate the effect of defense spending on the U.S. macroeconomy since World War II. First, we construct a new panel dataset of state-level federal defense contracts. Second, we sum observations across states and, using the resulting time series, estimate the aggregate effect of defense spending on national income and employment via instrumental variables. Third, we estimate local multipliers using the state-level data, which measures the relative effect on economic activity due to relative differences in defense spending across states. Comparing the aggregate and local multiplier estimates, we find that the two deliver similar results, providing a case in which local multiplier estimates may be reliable indicators of the aggregate effects of fiscal policy. We also estimate spillovers using interstate commodity flow data and find some evidence of small positive spillovers, which explain part of the (small) difference between the estimated local and aggregate multipliers. Across a wide range of specifications, we estimate income and employment multipliers between zero and 0.5. We reconcile this result with the greater-than-one multipliers found in Nakamura and Steinsson (2014) by analyzing the impact of the Korean War episode in the estimation.


The use of electron and ion beam deposition to make devices containing discrete nanostructures as interconnectors is a well-known nanofabrication process. Classically, one-dimensional materials such as carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been electrically characterized by resorting to these beam deposition methods. While much attention has been given to the interconnectors, less is known about the contacting electrodes (or leads). In particular, the structure and chemistry of the electrode–interconnector interface is a topic that deserves more attention, as it is critical to understand the device behavior. Here, the structure and chemistry of Pt electrodes, deposited either with electron or ion beams and contacted to a CNT, are analyzed before and after thermally annealing the device in a vacuum. Free-standing Pt nanorods, acting as beam-deposited electrode models, are also characterized pre- and post-annealing. Overall, the as-deposited leads contain a non-negligible amount of amorphous carbon that is consolidated, upon heating, as a partially graphitized outer shell enveloping a Pt core. This observation raises pertinent questions regarding the definition of electrode–nanostructure interfaces in electrical devices, in particular long-standing assumptions of metal-CNT contacts fabricated by direct beam deposition methods.


Plato's entire fictive world is permeated with philosophical concern for Eros, well beyond the so-called erotic dialogues. Several metaphysical, epistemological and cosmological conversations - Timaeus, Cratylus, Parmenides, Theaetetus and Phaedo - demonstrate that Eros lies at the root of the human condition and that properly guided Eros is the essence of a life well lived. This book presents a holistic vision of Eros, beginning with the presence of Eros at the origin of the cosmos and the human soul, surveying four types of human self-cultivation aimed at good guidance of Eros and concluding with human death as a return to our origins. The book challenges conventional wisdom regarding the 'erotic dialogues' and demonstrates that Plato's world is erotic from beginning to end: the human soul is primordially erotic and the well-cultivated erotic soul can best remember and return to its origins, its lifelong erotic desire.


Foot type, and particularly arch height is an
intrinsic injury risk factor which has received
much attention within the literature (Cowan et
al. 1993). However, the relationship between
foot type and injury is somewhat unclear. In
addition to arch height, arch stiffness may be
important in trying to relate foot type to injury.
It is commonly thought that high arches tend
to be more rigid, and lower arches more
flexible. Furthermore, it is suggested that
more flexible feet with lower arches may
serve as more effective natural shock
absorbers than more rigid foot types. A higher
incidence of shock related bony injuries has
been reported in high arched runners
(Williams et al. 2001). Zifchock et al. (2006)
measured the foot structure of 145 individuals
in both 10% and 50% of weight bearing, with
relative arch deformation between conditions
used as a means of assessing arch stiffness.
Although a relationship between variables
was observed, only 9% of the variance in arch
stiffness could be explained by arch height
(Zifchock et al. 2006). During shod running,
vertical ground reaction forces can reach 2-3
times body weight. Assessing arch
characteristics in loaded conditions closer to
those seen during running may provide
insight into dynamic arch stiffness and its
potential relationship to injury. The aim of the
present study was to assess the relationship
between arch height and arch stiffness in 10%
and 90% of weight bearing. It is suggested
that calculating arch stiffness between these
conditions may give a better indication of foot
function in loaded conditions, such as gait.


The flat, dry reaches of the northern Yucatan Peninsula have been largely ignored by archaeologists drawn to the more illustrious sites of the south. This book is the first volume to focus entirely on the northern Maya lowlands, presenting a broad cross-section of current research projects in the region by both established and up-and-coming scholars. To address the heretofore unrecognized importance of the northern lowlands in Maya prehistory, the contributors cover key topics relevant to Maya studies: the environmental and historical significance of the region, the archaeology of both large and small sites, the development of agriculture, resource management, ancient politics, and long-distance interaction among sites. As a volume in the series Native Peoples of the Americas, it adds a human dimension to archaeological findings by incorporating modern ethnographic data. By exploring various social and political levels of Maya society through a broad expanse of time, Lifeways in the Northern Maya Lowlands not only reconstructs a little-known past, it also suggests the broad implications of archaeology for related studies of tourism, household economies, and ethno-archaeology. It is a benchmark work that pointedly demonstrates the need for researchers in both north and south to ignore modern geographic boundaries in their search for new ideas to further their understanding of the ancient Maya.


Conducting polymer composite based on Polypyrrole-Chitosan (PPy-CHI) and Polypyrrole-Chitosan-Iron oxide nanoparticles (PPy−CHI−Fe3O4) nanocomposite were prepared by using in-situ chemical polymerization method. (PPy−CHI) composites and (PPy−CHI−Fe3O4) nanocomposite were prepared with various percentages of CHI and Fe3O4 ranging from 0.0% (w/v) to 0.9% (w/v) and 0 wt% to 15wt% respectively. Results from conductivity experiments revealed that the highest conductivity was obtained from PPy−CHI−Fe3O4 nancomposite prepared from 0.1 % (w/v) CHI, 3 Molar PPy and 3wt% Fe3O4 in 30 minutes at room temperature
The X-ray diffractogram of PPy and CHI illustrated a broad scattering peak for PPy and two scattering peaks of almost equal intensity for CHI which is due to their highly amorphous and semi-crystallity structure respectively. The XRD spectra for PPy-CHI composite was almost similar to those of PPy with a broad scattering at around 25°-26° indicating an amorphous structure. The XRD spectrum of PPy−CHI−Fe3O4 nanocomposite demonstrated similar to those observed from PPy and PPy−CHI composite matrix especially in the lower weight percentage of Fe3O4. However, as the nanoparticle loading increased, the characteristic peaks of Fe3O4 begun to dominate the nanocomposite spectra indicating to some uncoated Iron oxide nanoparticle which was confirmed by Energy-Dispersive X-ray (EDX) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) spectra of PPy−CHI and PPy−CHI−Fe3O4 illustrated almost the same characteristic positions of IR absorption bands similar to those of PPy. The small shift of PPy in the PPy−CHI composites is due to the identical peaks of PPy and CHI while in the PPy−CHI−Fe3O4 nanocomposites, the matrix layer of polypyrrole which covered the surface of iron oxide has absorbed most of the IR radiation. The results of Scanning Electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) confirmed that the Fe3O4 nanoparticles have been coated with the layers of polymeric matrix. A distribution of discrete globular nanoparticles with almost uniform size and dimensions was exhibited in all PPy−CHI−Fe3O4 nanocomposite samples. The reduced size of PPy−CHI and PPy−CHI−Fe3O4 particles was explained by the effect of Chitosan and iron oxide, the steric stabilization effect of CHI and a core-shell structure for PPy−CHI−Fe3O4 nancomposite which was confirmed by SEM and TEM.
The results of Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM) revealed the magnetic properties for various PPy−CHI− Fe3O4 nanocomposites strongly depended on the concentration loading of Fe3O4. The hysteresis loops of VSM illustrated superparamagnetic behavior for all the nanocomposite of PPy−CHI−Fe3O4 with different loading Fe3O4 percentage. The Ms (saturation magnetization) and Hc (coectivity) were monitored for samples with percentage loaded of Fe3O4 from 0.1 wt% to 15 wt%. Ms increased from 0.874 emu/g to 5.97 emu/g while Hc decreased from 241.4 Oe to 194.48 Oe.
The results of electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy revealed a reduction in the Peak-to-peak line-width (ΔHpp) value between PPy and PPy−CHI. The adding of Fe3O4 have resulted in (ΔHpp) values increased in the order PPy−CHI PPy−CHI−Fe3O4 (5wt %) < PPy−CHI−Fe3O4 (7wt %) < PPy−CHI−Fe3O4 (10wt %) < PPy−CHI−Fe3O4 (15wt %) at room temperature. The spin concentration (Ns) measurement of PPy−CHI−Fe3O4 with the various Fe3O4 content revealed to be larger than PPy−CHI (8×106, 1.59×107, 3×107, 2.29 ×107, 2.43×107 and 2.49×107 spin g-1 for PPy-CHI and 1wt%, 3wt%, 5wt%, 7wt% and 10wt%, of Fe3O4 respectively). The increase in percentage loading of iron oxide also resulted in better thermal stability of the nanocomposites.


In 1997, the National Park Service (NPS), Yellowstone National Park (YNP), and Diversa Corporation, a California-based biotechnology company, signed the first benefit-sharing agreement for commercial bioprospecting on federally owned lands in the United States. Globally, bioprospecting has been touted as a way to fulfill the three goals of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD): conservation of biological diversity, sustainable use of biological resources, and equitable sharing of the benefits of using those resources. The idea that the CBD's three goals can be fruitfully combined underlies the Yellowstone agreement. The experience of Yellowstone, the world's first national park, with bioprospecting provides an important case study because Yellowstone, by sharp contrast with the earliest targets of bioprospecting, is in the developed world and already enjoys strong legal protection of its natural resources. The Yellowstone-Diversa agreement is couched as a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA), a type of agreement specifically authorized by the U.S. Federal Technology Transfer Act (FTTA). In March 1998 three small nonprofit groups filed a lawsuit challenging the CRADA. The three were Alliance for the Wild Rockies, which describes itself as working to secure the ecological integrity of the northern Rockies bioregion; the Edmonds Institute, primarily interested in the regulation and implications of biotechnology; and the International Center for Technology Assessment, which concentrates on the social, environmental, and other impacts of new technologies, including biotechnology.


Tire is an integral part of any vehicle which provides contact between the vehicle and the surface on which it moves. Forces and moments generated at the tire-road interaction imparts stability and control of motion to the vehicle. These forces and moments are functions of many variables such as slip, slip angle, contact pressure, inflation pressure, coefficient of friction, temperature, etc. This paper deals with the effect of temperature on the lateral force, the longitudinal force and the self-aligning moment. The analysis is done at different tire surface temperatures such as 20 degrees C, 40 degrees C, and 60 degrees C. Since the experimental set up with the mounted tire is complex and expensive, we use a hybrid approach in which we take the results from the experiments done by the researchers on a sample piece of tire rubber at various temperatures. Then, we do the steady state analysis in ABAQUS considering the variation of coefficient of friction, slip speed and the elastic modulus of rubber with temperature. The steady state numerical results from ABAQUS at different surface temperatures are compared with the modified PAC2002 tire model to capture the temperature effect. After validating the variations of steady state forces and moments from ABAQUS with the modified PAC2002, we use these steady state tire models to do the transient analysis in order to capture the effect of temperature on the transient response of tire forces and moments for different driving conditions of acceleration, braking and double lane change using MSC ADAMS/CAR.


Tatun Volcanic Group (TVG) in the northernmost tip of Taiwan is an active volcano area with the possible magnitude of volcanic explosivity index (VEI) 4 which can devastate the Taipei metropolitan area if eruption occurs. To integrate Thermal Infrared (TIR) remote sensing for exploring geothermal energy and monitoring volcanic activity in TVG, Landsat 7 ETM+ imagery is used to retrieve the Land Surface Temperature (LST) and Radiative Heat Flux (RHF); MODIS 8-day average LST products are adopted for monitoring Jinshan fault zone of TVG. Validated results show that occurrences of hot springs and fumaroles conform to LST anomaly distribution and the overall temperature in E-W ridge is higher than the SW-NE ridge in TVG. Thermal anomaly patterns indicate that distributions of higher LST areas appear correlating with the development of Jinshan fault; for further verification, Hilbert-Huang Transform (HHT) was applied for decomposing MODIS 8-day average LST time series (2002 2016) in Jinshan fault zone. Possible related physical processes underneath Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition (EEMD) components based on HHT were also elaborated. The inference that LST component with average period around a month (EEMD component 1, i.e., C1) has irregular spikes which is likely associated with earthquakes in TVG has been investigated in detail. Finally, HHT comparison analysis with three active volcanoes in Philippines and Indonesia is performed for assessing the eruption potential of TVG. Preliminary results show that the regular C4 annual cycle from TVG's LST time series implies the TVG's current status is calm and resting with no sign of eruption for future decades. Article history: Received 15 November 2017 Revised 20 January 2018 Accepted 22 January 2018


Gross market imperfection in resource mobilization, allocation and utilization exists in south-south Nigerian economy. This situation has given rise to dualistic tendencies in the operations of the rural and urban economies. The so called urban and semi-urban areas are seemingly developed better than the rural areas. Moreso, there is rural-urban migration that leaves the rural areas poorer and the urban areas filled with criminals because of lack of useful means of livelihood and over stretched facilities. Successive governments have evolved poverty alleviation programmes to alleviate the level of poverty. One of such among many others is the use of microcredit in poverty alleviation. However, the operations of microcredit have only been streamlined and not properly evaluated to assess its desired impact. Impact assessment of microcredit is highly recommended to know how to appropriately streamline operations.


Abstract Background: Long-acting inhaled medications are an important component of the treatment of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), yet few studies have examined the determinants of medication adherence among this patient population. Objective: We sought to identify factors associated with adherence to long-acting beta-agonists (LABA) and inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) among patients with COPD. Methods: We performed secondary analysis of baseline data collected in a randomized trial of 376 Veterans with spirometrically confirmed COPD. We used electronic pharmacy records to assess adherence, defined as a medication possession ratio of ≥0.80. We investigated the following exposures: patient characteristics, disease severity, medication regimen complexity, health behaviors, confidence in self-management, and perceptions of provider skill. We performed multivariable logistic regression, clustered by provider, to estimate associations. Results: Of the 167 patients prescribed LABA, 54% (n = 90) were adherent to therapy while only 40% (n = 74) of 184 the patients prescribed ICS were adherent. Higher adherence to LABA and ICS was associated with patient perception of their provider as being an "expert" in diagnosing and managing lung disease [For LABA: OR = 21.70 (95% CI 6.79, 69.37); For ICS OR = 7.93 (95% CI 1.71, 36.67)]. Factors associated with adherence to LABA, but not ICS, included: age, education, race, COPD severity, smoking status, and confidence in self-management. Conclusions: Adherence to long-acting inhaled medications among patients with COPD is poor, and determinants of adherence likely differ by medication class. Patient perception of clinician expertise in lung disease was the factor most highly associated with adherence to long-acting therapies.


A requisite precondition for the application of next-generation sequencing to clinical medicine is the ability to confidently call genotype at each coding/splicing position of every gene of interest. Current gold standard technologies, such as Sanger sequencing and microarrays, allow confident identification of the genomic origin of the DNA of interest. A commonly used minimum standard for the adoption of new technology in medicine is non-inferiority. We developed a metric to quantify the extent to which current sequencing technologies reach this clinical grade reporting standard. This metric, the rationale for which we present here, is defined as the absolute number of base pairs per gene not callable with confidence, as specified by the presence of 20 high quality (Q20) bases from uniquely mapped (mapq>0) reads per locus. To illustrate the utility of this metric, we apply it across data from several commercially available clinical sequencing products. We present specific examples of coverage for genes known to be important for clinical medicine. We derive data from a variety of platforms including whole genome sequencing (Illumina Hiseq and X chemistry) and exome capture (including medically optimized capture from Agilent, Baylor Clinical Lab, and Personalis). We observe that compared to whole genomes (with ˜30x average coverage), augmented exomes perform far better for known disease causing genes, but less well for other genes and in untranslated regions. Increasing whole genome coverage improves this discrepancy with an average coverage of ˜45x representing the cross over point where performance equals that of exome capture for disease causing genes. A combination of some genome-wide coverage and augmented exon coverage may offer the most cost effective solution for clinical grade genome sequencing today. In summary, this coverage metric provides transparency regarding the current state of next-generation sequencing for clinical medicine and will inform genotype interpretation, technology improvement, and sequencing platform choices for physicians and laboratories. We provide an application on precision.fda.gov (Coverage of Key Genes app) to calculate this metric.


Buddhism does not recognize a concept of the existence of God (theos) such as found in Christianity, but here theos is not used to refer only to an absolute deity like the Christian god. By "theology," the author means the systematic delineation of the confrontation with the condition of the times while carrying on the engagement between the divine and oneself. Buddhism has spread widely down to the present and it manifests great diversity, in such forms as the neo-Buddhism of India, the Newar Buddhism of the Kathmandu basin, the Theravada Buddhism of Southeast Asia, Japanese Buddhism, and so on. But although Buddhism has taken various forms in different historical and cultural contexts, this does not necessarily mean that the construction of a "Buddhist theology" is insurmountably difficult. "Buddhist theological research" is a matter of researchers confronting contemporary conditions while based in Buddhist traditions belonging to diverse social and cultural conditions. In this way a theology addressing the historical and cultural context will be born.


Based on the exhibition Scotland's Early Silver, opening at the National Museum of Scotland, 13 October - 25 February 18.

In Scotland, silver, not gold, was the most important and powerful precious metal for a thousand years, from the arrival of the Roman army until the dawn of the Viking Age.

The breadth of National Museum Scotland's collections, with the support of The Glenmorangie Company, puts National Museums Scotland in a unique position to reveal the role of silver in the development of the first kingdoms of Scotland.

The book showcases beautiful objects and tells the story of silver during the emergence of early medieval kingdoms.

It builds on the Glenmorangie Research Project and gives fresh insights into this formative period of Scottish history.

Alice Blackwell is the Glenmorangie Research Fellow; Dr Martin Goldberg is Senior Curator, Early Historic and Viking Collections; and Dr Fraser Hunter is Principal Curator, Iron Age, Roman, Early History - all at National Museums Scotland.


Local features or image patches have become a standard tool in computer vision, with numerous application domains. Roughly speaking, two different types of patch-based image representations can be distinguished: interest points, such as corners or blobs, whose position, scale and shape are computed by a feature detector algorithm, and dense sampling, where patches of fixed size and shape are placed on a regular grid (possibly repeated over multiple scales). Interest points focus on 'interesting' locations in the image and include various degrees of viewpoint and illumination invariance, resulting in better repeatability scores. Dense sampling, on the other hand, gives a better coverage of the image, a constant amount of features per image area, and simple spatial relations between features. In this paper, we propose a hybrid scheme, which we call dense interest points, where we start from densely sampled patches yet optimize their position and scale parameters locally. We investigate whether doing so it is possible to get the best of both worlds.


This research investigates post-automobility futures by exploring the mechanisms through which the bicycle could reconfigure urban mobilities and catalyse change towards slow living. Drawing upon readings in mobility and utopian studies, the thesis considers three complementary aspects that could be decisive in the transition towards a 'slow bicycle system'. I investigate first the potential of embodied and sociable practices of cycling to prefigure mobility futures that successfully challenge the 'car system'. Using (auto)ethnographic and mobile methods to document my own cycling, as well as that of various groups in London and Amsterdam, I unveil a cycling subjectivity informed by richly engaged immersions and interactions with the natural and social worlds. Their slowness challenges the dominant mechanical rhythms of automobility and the utilitarian space of the road. I consequently and secondly propose a critique of the current configuration and anticipated trajectory of the car system. I argue that the utopian promises of personal autonomy, freedom and economic progress epitomized by the motorcar have lost their strength. Furthermore, traffic congestion, air pollution, climate change and the shortcomings of neoliberal society could trigger the end of automobility. Instead, and thirdly, I show that a slow bicycle system could be articulated in the 'cracks' of the car system. Building on existing niches of innovations, I outline the steps required for societies to follow so that a slow bicycle system becomes a reality by 2050. I argue against the dominance of the car within the realm of urban movement and against the presupposition that speed constitutes the only way to assess the quality of human mobilities. Thus, this research takes forward contemporary academic debates framing cycling as an alternative or subaltern mobility by claiming its central role in imagining post-automobility futures. Such sustainable futures can only be achieved once the doctrines of fast mobilities and economic growth are called into question.


Objective Interleukin (IL)-6 is a pleiotropic cytokine involved in the pathophysiology of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Sirukumab is a human monoclonal antibody that binds to IL-6 with high affinity and specificity. Methods This long-term extension (LTE) study of the SIRROUND-D and SIRROUND-T studies assessed long-term safety and efficacy of sirukumab in adults with moderate-to-severe RA refractory to conventional disease-modifying antirheumatic drug therapy or antitumor necrosis factor agents. Patients received sirukumab 100 mg subcutaneously (SC) every 2 weeks (q2w) or sirukumab 50 mg SC every 4 weeks (q4w). Results 1820 patients enrolled in the LTE; median exposure was 2.34 and 2.07 years in sirukumab 50 mg q4w and 100 mg q2w groups, respectively. Adverse events (AEs) occurred in similar proportions between groups, with the exception of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), which were more common in the 50 mg q4w versus 100 mg q2w group (2.2% vs 1.0%), and injection-site reactions, more common in the 100 mg q2w group versus 50 mg q4w group (7.5% vs 3.7%). The most common serious AEs were infections (10% of the patients); 32 (1.8%) patients died during the study (primarily from serious infection and MACE). Malignancies were reported in 24 (1.3%) patients. Gastrointestinal perforations, hepatobiliary abnormalities and changes in laboratory parameters were rare. Reductions in RA signs and symptoms and improvements in physical function were maintained throughout the LTE. Conclusions The safety profile of sirukumab in the LTE remained consistent with that reported in SIRROUND-D and SIRROUND-T and efficacy was maintained. Trial registration number NCT01856309.


Nonthermal radiation observed from astrophysical systems containing relativistic jets and shocks, e.g., gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), active galactic nuclei (AGNs), and Galactic microquasar systems usually have power-law emission spectra. Recent PIC simulations of relativistic electron-ion (electro-positron) jets injected into a stationary medium show that particle acceleration occurs within the downstream jet. In the collisionless relativistic shock particle acceleration is due to plasma waves and their associated instabilities (e.g., the Buneman instability, other two-streaming instability, and the Weibel (filamentation) instability) created in the shocks are responsible for particle (electron, positron, and ion) acceleration. The simulation results show that the Weibel instability is responsible for generating and amplifying highly nonuniform, small-scale magnetic fields. These magnetic fields contribute to the electron's transverse deflection behind the jet head. The 'jitter' radiation from deflected electrons has different properties than synchrotron radiation which is calculated in a uniform magnetic field. This jitter radiation may be important to understanding the complex time evolution and/or spectral structure in gamma-ray bursts, relativistic jets, and supernova remnants.


AYAS, S., 2013. The effects of different regimes on potato (Solanum tuberosum L. Hermes) yield and quality characteristics under unheated greenhouse conditions. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 19: 87-95 The aim of this study was to determine the effect of deficit irrigation on yield for potato grown under unheated greenhouse condition. The research was carried out at the Agricultural Research Station of Yenisehir High School of Uludag University in Bursa, Turkey, in 2007. In the study, water was applied to tomato as 1.00, 0.75, 0.50, 0.25 and 0.00 % (as control) of evaporation from a Class A Pan corresponding to 2 day irrigation frequency. Irrigation water applied to crops ranged from 94 to 746 mm and water consumption ranged from 190 to 754 mm. The effect of irrigation water level on the yield, tuber heigth, diameter, weight, dry matter, starch matter, the tuber number per plant and plant height were found to be significant. The highest yield was 36 t ha -1 . Crop yield response factor (k y ) was found as 1.13. The highest values for water use efficiency (WUE) and irriga tion water use efficiency (IWUE) were found to be 4.84 and 4.29 kg m -3 for the K2 cp treatment. Under the conditions that water resources are scarce, it can be recommended that K2 cp treatment is most suitable as a water application level for potato irrigation by drip irrigation under unheated greenhouse condition.


This study is undertaken to assess the heavy metals status of Togona River in Goba town of Bale zone, Oromia region, Ethiopia. For this, a total of 24 river water samples were collected from three locations across the river from upstream, midstream and low stream. All the samples were analyzed for seven heavy metals such as Pb, Zn, Cd, Cu, Cr, Fe, and Mn, using standard procedures and Flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer (FAAS). The heavy metals concentrations in the surface water samples of Togona river decreased in the sequence: Fe > Zn > Cu > Mn > Pb > Cd > Cr. From the results, Iron recorded the highest mean value of 0.30 mg/L while cadmium concentration with mean value of 0.0018 mg/L was the lowest. The results were compared with international standards. All samples contain heavy metals within the maximum permissible limit of WHO and US-EPA.


Networks evolve continuously over time with the addition, deletion, and changing of links and nodes. Although many networks contain this type of temporal information, the majority of research in network representation learning has focused on static snapshots of the graph and has largely ignored the temporal dynamics of the network. In this work, we describe a general framework for incorporating temporal information into network embedding methods. The framework gives rise to methods for learning time-respecting embeddings from continuous-time dynamic networks. Overall, the experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed framework and dynamic network embedding approach as it achieves an average gain of 11.9% across all methods and graphs. The results indicate that modeling temporal dependencies in graphs is important for learning appropriate and meaningful network representations.


Multichannel seismic reflection and gravity data define the structure of Mesozoic ocean crust of the Canary Basin, formed at slow spreading rates. Single and multichannel seismics show a transition from smooth to rough basement topography from Jurassic to Cretaceous crust and a coeval change in crustal structure. Internal reflectivity of the rough basement area comprises upper, upper middle or whole crust cutting discrete dipping reflections. Lower-crustal reflectivity is almost absent and reflections from the crust-mantle transition are short and discontinuous or absent for several kilometers. In contrast, crust in the smooth basement area is characterized by sparse lower crustal events and common reflections from the crust-mantle boundary. The crustal structure of fracture zones in the rough basement area is associated with depressions in the basement top and in most cases with thin crust. In the smooth basement area, fracture zones exhibit neither a clear topographic expression nor crustal thinning. We interpret these characteristics as indicative of an increase in extensional tectonic activity and decrease in magmatic activity at the spreading ridge associated with a general decrease of spreading rate from Jurassic to Cretaceous times. In addition, the crust imaged across the path of the Cape Verde Hot Spot in the Canary Basin exhibits a widespread lower crustal reflectivity, very smooth topography and apparently thick crust. Our data document significant changes in the structure of crust formed at slow spreading rates which we attribute to thermal changes in the lithosphere due either to variations in spreading rate or to the presence of a hot spot beneath the Mesozoic Mid-Atlantic Ridge.


Under the Kyoto Protocol, developing countries can voluntarily participate in climate change mitigation through the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), in which industrialized countries, in order to meet their mitigation commitments, can buy emission reduction credits from projects in developing countries. Before its implementation, developing-country experts opposed the CDM, arguing that it would sell-off their countries' cheapest emission reduction options and force them to invest in more expensive measures to meet their future reduction targets. This 'low-hanging fruit' argument is analysed empirically by comparing marginal abatement cost curves. Emissions abatement costs and potentials for CDM projects are estimated for different technologies in eight countries, using capital budgeting tools and information from project documentation. It is found that the CDM is not yet capturing a large portion of the identified abatement potential in most countries. Although the costs of most emissions reduction opportunities grasped are below the average credit price, there are still plenty of available low-cost opportunities. Mexico and Argentina appear to use the CDM predominantly for harvesting the low-hanging fruit, whereas in the other countries more expensive projects are accessing the CDM. This evidence at first sight challenges the low-hanging fruit claim, but needs to be understood in the light of the barriers for the adoption of low-cost abatement options.


Abstract. On 8 November 2013, category 5 Supertyphoon Haiyan made landfall on the Philippines. During a post-typhoon survey in February 2014, Haiyan-related sand deposition and morphological changes were documented at four severely affected sites with different exposure to the typhoon track and different geological and geomorphological settings. Onshore sand sheets reaching 100–250 m inland are restricted to coastal areas with significant inundation due to amplification of surge levels in embayments or due to accompanying long-wave phenomena at the most exposed coastlines of Leyte and Samar. However, localized washover fans with a storm-typical laminated stratigraphy occurred even along coasts with limited inundation due to waves overtopping or breaching coastal barriers. On a recent reef platform off Negros in the Visayan Sea, storm waves entrained coral rubble from the reef slope and formed an intertidal coral ridge several hundreds of metres long when breaking at the reef edge. As these sediments and landforms were generated by one of the strongest storms ever recorded, they not only provide a recent reference for typhoon signatures that can be used for palaeotempestological and palaeotsunami studies in the region but might also increase the general spectrum of possible cyclone deposits. Although a rather atypical example for storm deposition due to the influence of infra-gravity waves, it nevertheless provides a valuable reference for an extreme case that should be considered when discriminating between storm and tsunami deposits in general. Even for sites with low topography and high inundation levels during Supertyphoon Haiyan, the landward extent of the documented sand sheets seems significantly smaller than typical sand sheets of large tsunamis. This criterion may potentially be used to distinguish both types of events.


A reinterpretation of a group experience composed of women affected with breast cancer which took place at the UOC of Surgical Oncology at S. Filippo Neri in Rome, in an attempt to find a specifically female element in the work of reparation in the camp following the traumatic events. It raises the hypothesis that the group, offering itself as a container-maternal body, has favoured, in this women-only experience having developed a disease of an organ of femininity such as the breast, the revival of experiences related to the primary maternal relationship, as in an experience of pregnancy. The ability to recall the "mother of beginnings" made it possible to recast this relationship with her, and to revisit the main turns of the female life path therefore allowing a process of reparation.


In this paper, STAP applied on signal from uniformly spaced real elements using D3LS. The mutual coupling between real elements will affect on the estimation of complex amplitude of Signal of Interest (SOI). It is necessary to use a transformation matrix to compensate for the strong mutual coupling that exists between the antenna elements. The transformation matrix converts the voltages that are induced at the loads corresponding to the feed point of the array to an equivalent set of voltages that will be induced by the same incident wave in Uniform Linear Virtual Array (ULVA). Then, we will apply D3LS STAP on the compensated voltages. Numerical simulations are done using the three main methods of D3LS namely forward, backward, and forward-backward methods.


This dissertation examines the public interventions, rhetoric, and actions of liberal intellectuals in Turkey between the early 1990sand 2012 regarding the rights of Kurdish and Islamic actors and restrictions on discussing the Armenian Genocide of 1915. Theanalysis of diverse texts published by the interconnected intellectuals – newspaper columns, academic articles, policy papers,reports, and manifestos – and the institutions they used shows how an effective counter-public could take shape in relation to thestate and to dominant publics. The interviews conducted with individual liberal intellectuals demonstrate the broader narratives ofTurkey's past and future that structured their historical orientation and their choice of action and platforms. The liberalintellectuals' narrative and how they construed the central sociopolitical dynamics illuminate why they endorsed the Islamicgovernmental party AKP. Concerning the Kurdish conflict, the liberal intellectuals tried to create spaces beyond both Turkish andKurdish nationalism while promoting the claim that the Kurdish issue should be solved within the framework of Turkishcitizenship. Regarding the Armenian Genocide, the liberal intellectuals took significant steps to establish the genocide as a Turkishcultural trauma in order to rewrite the foundational narrative of Turkey. For the liberal intellectuals these themes were part ofcommon broader objectives: to open up the space for free deliberation, to advance meanings not conforming to state ideology, andto enable new public formations. Although most of these actions did not occur with an explicit reference to human rights, theactivities of the discursive community of liberal intellectuals are analyzed as a form of human rights claiming, based on the politicaltheory of Claude Lefort who construes human rights as the generative principle of democracy and places political action andcontestation of power at the center of the definition of human rights. Using concepts and perspectives from the disciplines ofhistory, cultural sociology, and political theory, a way to study human rights claiming in concrete empirical contexts is developedthat is not limited to the explicit language of human rights. The term 'infrastructure of human rights claiming' is proposed todenote the variety of institutions that enable rights and identity claims to be made. The critique of the Turkish political structureand its historical roots, the rendering visible of suppressed cultural identities and historic events, and the active participation ofcitizens in the discussion of all three themes were for the discursive community of liberal intellectuals ways to challenge the rightsof the state and upend official state ideology and are thus human rights claims.Six central tensions are discussed that run throughthe liberal intellectuals' engagement and how these can be generalized as intrinsic ambiguities in the politics of human rightsclaiming. Normalization was a central term in the liberals' rhetoric and was also a process they contributed to. While theovercoming of nationalism was a primary objective they also sought to reformulate the nation. They tried to advance the rights ofothers but were simultaneously critical of identity politics. They wavered between basing their actions on the principle of rightsand a pragmatic approach to advance their agenda. The fostering of pluralism was a principal concern but they were also wary ofengaging with actors they perceived as non-democratic. The liberals saw themselves as mediators between different communitiesbut also sought to advance their own political vision. I conclude that the public sphere can be construed as a central site as well asobject of the politics of human rights. The dissertation is intended as a contribution to both Human Rights Studies and tointerdisciplinary Turkish Studies. (Less)


About the book:
Psychological and medical perspectives on sadomasochism (SM) have historically been concerned with understanding it as a form of psychopathology. In the past (but still often today) studies of SM have been concerned with extreme and most often non-consensual acts. More recently, however, there has been growing interest in exploring the meaning of sadomasochism in non-pathological ways.
Safe, Sane and Consensual includes work from across the social sciences exploring a variety of aspects of SM from a non-pathological perspective. There are discussions of the history and culture of SM, medical and legal understandings, along with theory and original research on the topic. There are also sections on SM and psychotherapy and writing on bridging the academic/activist divide.

The book includes contributions from an international group of academics, practitioners and activists and represents some of the most recent cutting edge work in the field by leading scholars.


This article retrieves the seminal work of Janet Pais in her book, Suffer the Children: A Theology of Liberation by a Victim of Child Abuse , to develop the contours of child liberation for our time. Key elements of child liberation include: freedom from material deprivation; freedom from neglect; freedom from corporal punishment and physical abuse; and freedom from sexual abuse. Biblical and theological resources are articulated, and concrete advocacy steps are proposed. These measures include the development and implementation of certified child protection policies by every congregation to guard against the sexual abuse of children.


In situ measurements of thermal poling of germanosilicate fibres under positive and negative poling voltages show the dynamics of frozen-in electrical fields in the fibre. The existence of the frozen-in fields are revealed by HF etching and AFM measurement of the poled fibres. These results support the electrical-field-induced X (2) model for the induced electro-optic effect.


A programmable autonomous business is a novel kind of business built entirely in software that is functionally indistinguishable from a conventional business—acquiring customers, providing a product to those customers, and making an actual profit for doing so. The difference is that the autonomous business has no employees or managers guiding it; all operations are automated in software. While we know that autonomous businesses are possible, we do not understand why. To address this issue I analyze a basic autonomous business as a distributed cognitive system. I show that an autonomous business is composed of a rather mundane set of social practices whose performance is mediated by online technology. These social practices when performed "offline" have nothing to do with business. However, the synthesis of these technological-mediated social practices results in the emergence of an autonomous business. I discuss why mediating the performance of these social practices with online technologies allows them to instantiate business processes, and conclude by describing the practical applications of the findings and outlining areas for future research.


Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) remains the leading cause of death by an infectious disease (1). Although the aetiological agent varies by geographical location and population studied, in adults the most commonly isolated pathogens from adult CAP patients are bacteria.


An adaptive resonance (ART) device has been conceived that is fully optical in the input-output processing path. It is based on holographic information processing in a phase-conjugating crystal. This sets up an associative pattern retrieval in a resonating loop utilizing angle-multiplexed reference beams for pattern classification. A reset mechanism is used to reject any given beam, allowing an ART search strategy. The design is similar to an existing nonlearning optical associative memory, but it does allow learning and makes use of information the other device discards. This device is expected to offer higher information storage density than alternative ART implementations.<<ETX>>


Strongly influenced by Classical drama, Jean Racine (1639-99) broke away from the grandiose theatricality of baroque drama to create works of intense psychological realism, with characters manipulated by cruel and vengeful gods. "Iphigenia" depicts a princess' absolute submission to her father's will, despite his determination to sacrifice her to gain divine favour before going to war. Described by Voltaire as 'the masterpiece of the human mind', "Phaedra" shows a woman's struggle to overcome her overwhelming passion for her stepson - an obsession that brings destruction to a noble family. And "Athaliah" portrays a ruthless pagan queen, who defies Jehovah in her desperate attempt to keep the throne of Jerusalem from its legitimate heir.


Women U.S. military veterans face particularly high rates of homelessness, which may be associated with psychosocial experiences including unhealthy alcohol use and experience of intimate partner violence (IPV). In this study, we examined clinical social health screening data to assess the association between housing instability and (a) experience of past-year IPV victimization, and (b) unhealthy alcohol use among 554 women receiving primary care from the Veterans Health Administration. Approximately 12% of patients screened reported housing instability. Experience of past-year IPV was associated with increased risk of housing instability (OR = 2.10, 95% CI [1.16, 3.81]), with 1 in 5 women screening positive for IPV also reporting housing concern. There was no statistically significant association between current unhealthy alcohol use and housing instability. Findings hold implications for addressing potential housing concerns among women VA patients.


Ten species of Phomopsis have previously been identified from grapevines. Of these, P. viticola, the causal agent of Phomopsis cane and leaf spot, and P. vitimegaspora, the causal agent of swelling arm of grapevines, have been confirmed as severe pathogens of this host. Earlier taxonomic treatments of Phomopsis species chiefly distinguished taxa based on host specificity, cultural characteristics and morphology. More recent studies have indicated, however, that these characteristics can no longer be used to distinguish species of Phomopsis due to the wide host ranges of some species, and the morphological plasticity of others. Using morphology, DNA sequences (ITS-1, 5.8S, ITS-2) and pathogenicity data, 15 Phomopsis spp. were distinguished from grapevines in the present study. Diaporthe helianthi, a known pathogen of sunflowers, is for the first time reported from grapevines. A further six, presently unknown species of Phomopsis, are also distinguished from grapevines. A phylogenetic analysis of ITS data generated in this study distinguished three clades containing isolates previously identified as D. perjuncta. Based on type studies, the name D. viticola can be applied to collections from Portugal and Germany. A new species, D. australafricana, is proposed for South African and Australian isolates formerly treated as D. perjuncta or D. viticola. A description for D. perjuncta is provided based on newly designated lectotype and epitype specimens. D. perjuncta is distinguished from D. viticola and D. australafricana based on morphology and DNA phylogeny. Artificial inoculations of green grapevine shoots indicated that, of the species tested, P. amygdali, a known pathogen of peaches in the USA, and P. viticola were the most virulent.


Fragmentation emerges as a formal theme in art most particularly during times of conflict--a reflection, one assumes, of the ways in which body, mind, and individual/collective consciousness rupture in response to the violence of war. (1) Kathryn Bigelow's 2009 film, The Hurt Locker (written by journalist-turned-screenwriter Mark Boal), stands as a remarkable example of this notion; its successful integration of form with a larger theme of physical, mental, and social fragmentation results, at least in part, from the very structure of the film itself, which refuses at every turn to adopt a traditional narrative arc. The story of a U.S. Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team in Iraq and its dangerously reckless new leader--an adrenaline-addicted staff sergeant named Will James (Jeremy Renner)--The Hurt Locker builds its narrative around seven key episodes--a prologue, the activities of five disparate days during Bravo Company's tour, and what might be considered a two-part epilogue that follows James after his end-of-tour trip back to the U.S and his eventual (and voluntary) return to the war zone. Throughout the film, we see superimposed titles that announce 38 days remaining in Bravo Company's tour, then 37, 23, 16, and 2. Ostensibly, the film employs the loose structure of its central countdown as a way of marching its three protagonists toward their collective return stateside; this chronicling of time itself, however, seems far less important to the film than the fact that the each of the five days depicted deliberately offers little in the way of active narrative causality. Bombs are discovered and deactivated. Soldiers survive a desert standoff with snipers. A desperate and renegade search for a lost Iraqi boy turns out to have been unnecessary. A nighttime pursuit of Iraqi bombers ends in their capture and an associated friendly fire injury. James returns to the States but then goes back to the war zone of his own volition. These are the primary episodes of the film. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In the June 2009 review of the film for the New York Times, A.O. Scott praised The Hurt Locker's episodic structure: "Ms. Bigelow, practicing a kind of hyperbolic realism, distills the psychological essence and moral complications of modern warfare into a series of brilliant, agonizing set pieces." (2) While each of these set pieces contributes to a kind of minimalist causality that fuels the emotional disintegrations of the film's primary characters, the five central episodes of The Hurt Locker nevertheless eschew the demanding forward thrust of a classic action narrative oriented around events and resultant effects. In truth, the film seems to derive its structure and style in part from the modernist tradition so apparent in the international art-house films of the '50s and '60s. At the same time, however, The Hurt Locker also seems to resemble something of a cinematic collection of serialized war-correspondent dispatches, each of which resolves the most pressing problem at hand while also offering up small details of character development that contribute to a larger--if subtler--vision of psycho-emotional collapse. These two very different influences (which are nevertheless linked by their common ties to modernist aesthetics) come together most effectively in The Hurt Locker's primary generic antecedent (both in terms of form and theme), Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now (1979); like that film, The Hurt Locker moves forward in carefully calculated fits and starts, the deliberately uneven push of its narrative's individual episodes not even superficially marking progress toward a tangible climax, while the true development in the film takes the powerful form of a commentary on the necessarily shattered nature of individual wartime experience. (3) From its first moments, The Hurt Locker violently shakes its spectator's worldview. After a solemn epigraph by Chris Hedges declaring that "war is a drug," Bigelow cuts harshly to a battered video-cam's "first-person" view as the small, treaded vehicle to which it is attached rumbles over rocks, rubble, and trash on its way to a suspicious, tarp-covered bundle that may, we imagine, conceal an improvised explosive device, or IED. …


The need to improve the standard of living necessitates the reasons to provide facilities and increases the land uses. However, there is the need to prepare for the side effect of high technological uses and the sustainability of the environment. Increase in land uses alters the natural cycles which is indirectly leads to global warming.
The paper takes a critical look on how climate change influences sustainable water supply in Osogbo, Osun State. Arise from the aim; the data source was from the secondary sources i.e. from Nigeria Meteorological Agency and the Erinle water dam. The sources are the official climate data provider in Nigeria and water supply provider in Osogbo, Osun State. Regression analysis was used to determine the relationships between the climatic elements and water supply at the end, it was discovered that there is a very weak relationship between the climatic element and water supply in Osogbo, Osun State. However, the study suggests that there is the need for urgent measures because of the ever increasing urban population and the pressure on the land uses as a result of socio-economic activities in the area. It is therefore become very imperative for the policy maker to include the menace of climate change into the policy formulation to create a synergy for sustainable water supply in the city.


Objective To systematically review and assess the efficacy, different treatment protocols (formulation, dosage, and duration), and safety of nystatin for treating oral candidiasis. Methods Four electronic databases were searched for trials published in English till July 1, 2015. Randomized controlled trials comparing nystatin with other antifungal therapies or a placebo were included. Clinical and/or mycological cure was the outcome evaluation. A meta-analysis or descriptive study on the efficacy, treatment protocols, and safety of nystatin was conducted. Results The meta-analysis showed that nystatin pastille was significantly superior to placebo in treating denture stomatitis. Nystatin suspension was not superior to fluconazole in treating oral candidiasis in infants, children, or HIV/AIDS patients. The descriptive investigations showed that administration of nystatin suspension and pastilles in combination for 2 weeks might achieve a higher clinical and mycological cure rate, and using the nystatin pastilles alone might have a higher mycological cure rate, when compared with using nystatin suspensions alone. Nystatin pastilles at a dose of 400,000 IU resulted in a significantly higher mycological cure rate than that administrated at a dose of 200,000 IU. Furthermore, treatment with nystatin pastilles for 4 weeks seemed to have better clinical efficacy than treatment for 2 weeks. Descriptive safety assessment showed that poor taste and gastrointestinal adverse reaction are the most common adverse effects of nystatin. Conclusion Nystatin pastille was significantly superior to placebo in treating denture stomatitis, while nystatin suspension was not superior to fluconazole in treating oral candidiasis in infants, children, or HIV/AIDS patients. Indirect evidence from a descriptive study demonstrated that administration of nystatin pastille alone or pastille and suspension in combination is more effective than that of suspension alone; prolonged treatment duration for up to 4 weeks can increase the efficacy of nystatin. More well designed and high quality randomized control studies are needed to confirm these findings.


A Mobile Ad-hoc Network (MANET) is a collection of autonomous nodes or terminals which communicate with each other by forming a multi-hop radio network and maintaining connectivity in a decentralized manner. Nodes in ad-hoc networks play both the roles of routers and terminals. Moreover, the routing path in ad-hoc networks is dynamic; it is not fixed as in wired networks. Therefore, some security mechanisms used in wired networks cannot simply be applied to protocols in ad-hoc networks. After analyzing various types of attacks against ad-hoc networks, a secure scheme for the famous routing protocol, MAODV (Multicast Ad-hoc On-Demand distance Vector routing protocol) is proposed. To guarantee the integrity in ad-hoc networks, Secure Hash Algorithm-1 (SHA-1) is used. Furthermore, NS2 (Network Simulator) software is used to simulate this scheme and performance analysis are made.


Age determination based on cosmogenic nuclides is an important tool to investigate landscape development and age relations of geologically very young materials. The aim of this study is to contribute data to establish age determination of the basis of cosmogenic 36Cl production as a generally reliable method. 36Cl is a radionuclide that is in situ produced by cosmic radiation at the earth surface. It is formed by spallation from Ca, K, Ti, and Fe, by thermal neutron capture in 35Cl, and by muogenic production from Ca and K. The concentration of the cosmogenic nuclide provides a measure of the exposure age of the surface, but also of the exposure history which may include periods of burial or erosion. Several factors such as the geographic position of the site, the topographic shielding of the surrounding hillside and the sample thickness or sampling depth influence the effective amount of radiation hitting the surface and are taken into account by applying appropriat e scaling factors. Basalt samples from the mid-latitude, low altitude calibration site of Fuerteventura, Canary Islands were collected and the production rates of 36Cl were determined. Geologically young samples covering an age range of approximately 50 to 400 ka could be collected from a number of flows, which suit the time span that can be covered with 36Cl age determination. The age was independently determined with the 40Ar/39Ar method. From nine lava flows 7 or 8 samples were collected whose surface structures indicated as little erosion as possible. ICP and XRF measurements proved that the basalts were very similar in chemical composition. The preparation of the AMS samples followed generally the procedure established by Stone et al. (1996b). The measurements were performed at the AMS facility at the University of Utrecht. From the results of the measurements total chlorine concentrations the amount of 36Cl, and the production rates were deduced. The high variability of the produ ction rates for the individual production mechanisms given in the literature make the estimation of expected total production rates rather difficult. Production rates for individual production mechanisms of 36Cl could not be obtained due to the lack of suitable phenocrysts. The production rates for the total rock are somewhat higher, except for erosion affected flows, but still compare fairly well with data presented elsewhere in the literature. For the samples of 36Cl concentrations higher than expected a number of possible reasons is evaluated which in combination may cause increased 36Cl build-up, such as thin water layers trapped in the uppermost vesicles in the rock, or a weaker earth magnetic field or problems with the Ar ages. The calculation of the production rate of 36Cl from Ca and of the thermal neutron flux had to be based on literature data for the other production paths involved in the total production. These data indicate loss of 36Cl in some of the samples while other s amples even show increased 36Cl contents compared to the expected amounts.


Abstract Background. Pneumonia is the leading cause of childhood death in the developing world. Higher-quality etiological data are required to reduce this mortality burden. Methods. We conducted a case-control study of pneumonia etiology among children aged 1–59 months in rural Kenya. Case patients were hospitalized with World Health Organization–defined severe pneumonia (SP) or very severe pneumonia (VSP); controls were outpatient children without pneumonia. We collected blood for culture, induced sputum for culture and multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and obtained oropharyngeal swab specimens for multiplex PCR from case patients, and serum for serology and nasopharyngeal swab specimens for multiplex PCR from case patients and controls. Results. Of 984 eligible case patients, 810 (84%) were enrolled in the study; 232 (29%) had VSP. Blood cultures were positive in 52 of 749 case patients (7%). A predominant potential pathogen was identified in sputum culture in 70 of 417 case patients (17%). A respiratory virus was detected by PCR from nasopharyngeal swab specimens in 486 of 805 case patients (60%) and 172 of 369 controls (47%). Only respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) showed a statistically significant association between virus detection in the nasopharynx and pneumonia hospitalization (odds ratio, 12.5; 95% confidence interval, 3.1–51.5). Among 257 case patients in whom all specimens (excluding serum specimens) were collected, bacteria were identified in 24 (9%), viruses in 137 (53%), mixed viral and bacterial infection in 39 (15%), and no pathogen in 57 (22%); bacterial causes outnumbered viral causes when the results of the case-control analysis were considered. Conclusions. A potential etiology was detected in >75% of children admitted with SP or VSP. Except for RSV, the case-control analysis did not detect an association between viral detection in the nasopharynx and hospitalization for pneumonia.


We introduce a model for fractures in quenched disordered media. This model has a deterministic extremal dynamics, driven by the energy function of a network of springs ~Born Hamiltonian!. The breakdown is the result of the cooperation between the external field and the quenched disorder. This model can be considered as describing the low-temperature limit for crack propagation in solids. To describe the memory effects in this dynamics and then to study the resistance properties of the system we realized some numerical simulations of the model. The model exhibits interesting geometric and dynamical properties, with a strong reduction of the fractal dimension of the clusters and of their backbone, with respect to the case in which thermal fluctuations dominate. This result can be explained by a recently introduced theoretical tool as a screening enhancement due to memory effects induced by the quenched disorder. @S1063-651X~98!03604-6#


This article is a product of an independent study effort accomplished over the span of two semesters at the US Air Force Academy. The authors set out with the intent of investigating the state of current thought regarding resiliency as it applies to domestic public infrastructure systems. In order to bridge the gap between theory and practice, an American Society of Civil Engineers local infrastructure report card is used as a case study vehicle, with a specific focus on stormwater infrastructure resiliency. The objective of the study on which this article is based was to provide a tangible community service while at the same time to gain a better understanding of how infrastructure resiliency principals are applied at a practical, local level.