Parametric oscillations are well studied phenomena, with applications in amplification, quantum optics, and quantum information processing. They can occur as a parameter of a system, such as the resonant frequency, is being modulated or "pumped" by an external field. A nonlinearity of the system can then transfer power from the pumping frequency to two frequencies called signal and idler. When the signal falls within a resonance, and when the pump amplitude exceeds an instability threshold, parametric oscillations occur. When signal and idler fall within the same resonance, the pumping is called degenerate.

Due to somewhat different implementations, in combination with rich nonlinear physics, the details of the parametric oscillations can differ in different systems. In this work, we expand on the research done on parametric oscillations using a superconducting microwave resonator with a tunable boundary condition. Previously, a degenerate Josephson parametric oscillator (JPO) has been demonstrated by modulation of this boundary condition at twice the resonator's resonant frequency. We further use the JPO to implement a novel read-out method for a superconducting qubit. Moreover, we demonstrate a different, nondegenerate regime of the JPO, which we denote the NJPO, by modulating the frequency at the sum of two resonant frequencies of a multimode resonator.

Both the JPO qubit read-out and the NJPO have applications within quantum information processing. The perhaps most promising platform for quantum information processing is represented by the circuit-QED architecture with superconducting resonators and artificial atoms, where the two lowest atomic levels represent the qubit. We make these circuits using lithographic techniques, and control and measure them at low temperature using microwaves. The qubit's state is fragile and difficult to read out with high fidelity. To this end, we have developed a method based on the JPO, in which the qubit state is mapped onto a zero-amplitude or a large-amplitude state of the JPO. We achieved a large contrast (185±15 photons), therefore eliminating the need for a following quantum-limited parametric amplifier. Our readout fidelity was 81.5 %, and by carefully modeling we can distinguish fidelity loss from the qubit and the readout, respectively. This analysis displays an actual readout fidelity of 98.7 %.

An alternative model for quantum computing is based on continuous variables, and uses harmonic oscillators instead of qubits. Entangled states, which can be used as quantum resources, can then be created, for example, by two-mode squeezing of the oscillator ground state. The state of the NJPO produces correlated oscillations in its two modes, which might be useful for continuous-variable quantum computing. In this work we fully characterize the classical properties of the NJPO, and show good quantitative agreement with a theoretical model.


Ecologists and many evolutionary biologists relate the variation in physiological, behavioural, life‐history, demographic, population and community traits to the variation in weather, a key environmental driver. However, identifying which weather variables (e.g. rain, temperature, El Niño index), over which time period (e.g. recent weather, spring or year‐round weather) and in what ways (e.g. mean, threshold of temperature) they affect biological responses is by no means trivial, particularly when traits are expressed at different times among individuals. A literature review shows that a systematic approach for identifying weather signals is lacking and that the majority of studies select weather variables from a small number of competing hypotheses that are founded on unverified a priori assumptions. This is worrying because studies that investigate the nature of weather signals in detail suggest that signals can be complex. Using suboptimal or wrongly identified weather signals may lead to unreliable projections and management decisions. We propose a four‐step approach that allows for more rigorous identification and quantification of weather signals (or any other predictor variable for which data are available at high temporal resolution), easily implementable with our new R package 'climwin'. We compare our approach with conventional approaches and provide worked examples. Although our more exploratory approach also has some drawbacks, such as the risk of overfitting and bias that our simulations show can occur at low sample and effect sizes, these issues can be addressed with the right knowledge and tools. By developing both the methods to fit critical weather windows to a wide range of biological responses and the tools to validate them and determine sample size requirements, our approach facilitates the exploration and quantification of the biological effects of weather in a rigorous, replicable and comparable way, while also providing a benchmark performance to compare other approaches to.


An aspect of globalization that has attracted increased attention in recent years is trade in intermediate inputs associated with the fragmentation of production across national borders. This trade takes the form of intrafirm transactions when production stages in different countries are performed by vertically integrated units of a multinational firm. Using firm-level data on U.S. multinational companies collected by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, this paper examines intrafirm shipments of intermediate inputs from U.S. parent companies to their foreign manufacturing affiliates. We relate the propensity of affiliates to source intermediate inputs from their parents to characteristics of the parent company, of the affiliate, and of the affiliate's host country and industry that we hypothesize will influence the volume of intrafirm trade associated with fragmentation. Our results indicate that this trade is positively related to industry and affiliate characteristics that suggest fragmented production, to host-country characteristics that offer cost advantages, and to parent and affiliate characteristics that favor internalized transactions and the active coordination of different stages of the production process. The signs on the coefficients for a number of variables suggest a division of labor between higher-skilled, or more technologically advanced, activities performed by the parent and lower-skilled, or more rudimentary, activities performed by the affiliate.


STEFFENS, W., 2006. Freshwater fish – wholesome foodstuffs. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 12: 320-328 Fish production by aquaculture is growing considerably and freshwater fish species are increasingly interesting for human nutrition. Freshwater fish are an excellent source of high quality animal protein. The protein content of flesh comes to 15 - 20% of wet weight and the protein is characterized by a balanced amino acid composition. The lipid content of freshwater fish varies dependent on species, size and nutrition. The lipid contains substantial concentrations of essential fatty acids of the n-3 and n-6 series. Since the polyunsaturated n-3 fatty acids have antiatherosclerotic efficacy freshwater fish can be used for preventing cardiovascular diseases. The flesh of freshwater fish species is also a source for meeting the mineral requirement of humans. Freshwater fish contain higher portions of potassium and phosphorus as well as of the trace mineral iron. Last not least freshwater fish comprise several vitamins. Therefore, freshwater fish can be recommended as wholesome foodstuffs.


Scientists and engineers facing increasing amounts of data must create, execute and navigate complex workflows, collaborate within and outside their organisations, and need to share their work with others. In this paper we demonstrate how the Microsoft SharePoint platform provides an integrated feature set that can be leveraged in order to significantly improve the productivity of scientists and engineers. We investigate how SharePoint 2010 can be used, and extended, to manage data and workflow in a seamless way, and enable users to publish their data with full access control. We describe, in detail, how we have used SharePoint 2010 as the IT infrastructure for large, multi-user facilities including the UK National Crystallography Service, µ-Vis CT scanning facility, and the Southampton Nano-Fabrication facility. We also demonstrate how SharePoint 2010 can be integrated into the everyday lives of scientists and engineers for managing and publishing their data in our Materials Data Centre , which provides an easy-to-use data management system from lab bench to journal publication via EPrints.


Living tissues are usually exposed to varying degrees of radiation from natural and manmade radioactive substances. Depending on the type of radiation emitted and rate and dose of absorption, all radioactive substances are potentially hazardous. Previous researches on the biological effects of radiation as well as preventive measures have focused on human subjects, being the most radiosensitive species. However, exposure of animals to ionizing irradiation may negatively influence their production performance, resulting in some level of economic loss. In addition, many food animals may represent a significant pathway for transfer of radionuclides to humans, thereby adding to the exposure burden. The current review aims at evaluating the effects of ionizing radiation on animals as important components of human food chain, and some preventive measures. A proper understanding of radioactivity and the behavior of important radionuclides in livestock animals will serve as an informational tool in livestock management as well as consumers' dietary choices.


This paper presents the use of Lévy flight, a bio-inspired algorithm, to efficiently and effectively locate targets in underwater search scenarios. We demonstrate how a novel adaptation strategy, building on the Firefly optimization algorithm, substantially improves Lévy flight performance. The adaptation strategy represents a swarm intelligence approach, the distribution patterns governing robot motion are optimized in accordance with the distribution of targets in the environment, as detected by and communicated between the robots themselves. Simulation experiments contrasting the performance of the present Lévy flight and two other search strategies in both sparse and clustered distributions of targets are conducted. We identify Lévy flight as exhibiting the best performance, and this is improved with our adaptation strategy, particularly when targets are clustered. Finally, Lévy flight's superior performance over the alternative strategies examined here is empirically confirmed through deployment on real-world underwater swarm robotic platforms.


Third-order optical nonlinearities play a vital role for the generation and characterization of ultrashort optical pulses. One particular characterization method is frequency-resolved optical gating, which can be based on a large variety of third-order nonlinear effects. Any of these variants presupposes an instantaneous temporal response, as it is expected off resonance. In this paper we show that resonant excitation of the third harmonic gives rise to surprisingly large decay times, which are on the order of the duration of the shortest oscillator pulses generated to date. To this end, we measured interferometric third-harmonic frequency-resolved optical gating traces in TiO2 and SiO2, corroborating polarization decay times up to 6.5 fs in TiO2. This effect is among the fastest effects observed in ultrafast spectroscopy. Numerical solutions of the time-dependent Schrodinger equation are in excellent agreement with experimental observations. Our work (experiments and simulations) corroborates that a noninstantaneous polarization decay may appear in the presence of a 3-photon resonance. In turn, pulse generation and characterization in the ultraviolet may be severely affected by this previously unreported effect.


Merging lane is a path for drivers to accelerate their vehicle at a desired speed from the ramp terminal prior into entering the highway main stream. Conversely, diverging lanes allow the drivers to slow down their vehicle enabling them to enter the ramp
terminal conveniently. The length of the speed-change lane should be in optimum design to ensure that the drivers are allowed to make appropriate lane changes.AASHTO (2004) provides a minimum merging lane length for entrance terminals and also a minimum diverging lane length by considering the design speed of ramp terminal and design speed of highway main stream without considering flow rates of influenced area. This research proposed a novel merging and diverging model using
statistical platform called Minitab to predict merging and diverging lane lengths, respectively based on macroscopic parameters for Malaysia road traffic conditions. A video recorded traffic empirical data was collected and the post processing analysis was conducted by means of Semi-Automatic Video Analyser (SAVA). The validation of the proposed model is performed by comparing the predicted length data of the model with the empirical length data using paired t-test. The effect of merging and diverging lane lengths were further analysed by using the collected empirical speed data of merging and diverging speed on the ramp and the effective length used for the traffic operation on ramps. The research observed macroscopic and microscopic parameters have significant findings towards the traffic operation


SpatDIF, the Spatial Sound Description Interchange Format, is an ongoing collaborative effort offering a semantic and syntactic specification for storing and transmitting spatial audio scene descriptions. The SpatDIF core is a lightweight minimal solution providing the most essential set of descriptors for spatial sound scenes. Additional descriptors are introduced as extensions, expanding the namespace and scope with respect to authoring, scene description, rendering, and reproduction of spatial sound. A general overview presents the principles informing the specification, as well as the structure and the terminology of the SpatDIF syntax. Two use cases exemplify SpatDIF's potential for pre-composed pieces as well as interactive installations, and several prototype implementations that have been developed show its real-life utility.


One half of the total leaf area of 9Sultana9 vines was eliminated by either physical leaf removal (defoliation) or by covering the leaves with aluminum bags (darkening). Treatments were applied about a month after anthesis either to all leaves on every other shoot per vine or to leaves on the basal or apical half on all shoots per vine. Half of the fruit clusters on each vine were covered to protect the fruit from direct solar radiation. A further series of vines receiving the defoliation treatments above, including no defoliation, were completely defoliated at veraison. All leaf elimination treatments reduced berry weight and soluble solids concentration significantly, the reductions being already pronounced in the early stages of ripening and not increasing as the fruit matured. Elimination of apical leaves reduced both variables more than did elimination of basal leaves. Defoliation reduced berry weight more, and soluble solids concentration less, than did darkening. Covered clusters had a slightly higher soluble solids concentration in all treatments and a slightly higher berry weight in the control and defoliation treatments. They had a considerably higher berry weight in the darkening treatments, and this accounted for the difference in this respect between darkening and defoliation, the berry weight for uncovered clusters being the same for both. All leaf elimination treatments led to a higher total acidity in the fruit in the early stages of ripening, but only when apical leaves were eliminated did it remain higher until maturity. At maturity, fruit from leaf darkened vines was slightly more acidic than fruit from defoliated vines, and fruit from covered clusters was slightly more acidic than fruit from uncovered clusters. Fruit from vines completely defoliated at veraison had a drastically lower soluble solids concentration but less severely reduced berry weight by the end of the ripening period, than did corresponding vines not further defoliated at veraison. Acidity was scarcely affected. Berry weight and °Brix of fruit were significantly greater for covered clusters on vines entirely defoliated at veraison than for uncovered clusters. Removal of apical leaves increased the total number of nodes per vine and per shoot over all other treatments. The percentage of mature nodes was greater on defoliated vines than on leaf-darkened vines. Shoots with no leaves always had fewer mature nodes than shoots with leaves, and vines with basal leaves removed had considerably higher percentages of mature nodes than vines with apical leaves removed. Approximately 10 square centimeters of leaf tissue per gram of fruit was required to mature the crop fully without decreasing the total soluble solids in the berries.


Aspects of the biology and taxonomy of the Coregonus autumnalis species complex were investigated in this study. The taxonomic and zoogeographic relationship of Coregonus autumnalis and C. laurettae was examined using morphometric, meristic, and distribution data. The morphometric data, a series of head and body measurements, was analyzed using a discriminant function analysis. The percentage of fish misclassified in the analysis was found to be higher than what would be expected for two distinct species, and was more indicative of subspecies, or stocks. The only meristic variable found to be significantly different was gill raker counts for the lower branch of the first gill arch. This character was originally used to separate the two species. An examination of the distribution of gill raker counts between the sample sites along the Beaufort Sea coast revealed a consistent percentage of the fish from the Mackenzie River with gill raker counts representative of the Yukon River species. This percentage was maintained in the hypothesized area of sympatry between the two species. It was concluded, from this analysis, that the original description was incorrect in the establishment of two reproductively isolated species with a single area of sympatry, based on gill raker counts. The actual situation is more likely that of two allopatric subspecies, with no area of sympatry. The distribution data were also analyzed to determine the support for the original zoogeographic hypothesis proposed to explain the separation of the two forms. It was concluded that the Bering Land Bridge was probably not responsible for this, as the present-day distribution of the two populations does not reflect ranges that could have been fragmented by the uplifting of the land bridge. An alternative hypothesis, which better fits the current distribution patterns of each form, involves known stream captures and headwater transfers between the Mackenzie and Yukon Rivers. Insufficient information is presently available to determine the direction of the transfer, or through which river system the transfer was made. -- Life histories were investigated at a number of levels. Arctic and Bering cisco populations were investigated using one-way analysis of variance and multiple analysis of covariance. No significant differences were found within the populations for reproductive variables but the two populations differed significantly from each other. It was concluded that, based on the occurrence of alternate spawning and its relatively short life span, Arctic cisco populations appeared unable to compensate reproductively for the rigorous conditions encountered in northern latitudes. Least cisco (C. sardinella) populations were investigated at the same levels. Between latitude comparisons were made using Mackenzie and Yukon River populations. As with Arctic ciscoes, no significant differences were found within populations for reproductive variables, but significant differences were seen in between population comparisons. It was concluded that northern least ciscoes, by virtue of their longer lifespan, are better able to compensate reproductively for the poor conditions encountered in the north than Arctic ciscoes. A second analysis of a number of least cisco populations inhabiting the same latitude found that anadromous populations were larger and more fecund. However, analysis of covariance detected no significant difference in fecundity between populations. An analysis of gonad weight among sympatric coregonines along the Beaufort Sea coast was conducted using an analysis of covariance but again, no significant difference was detected. A principal components analysis was used to determine patterns of life history variation in members of the subfamily Coregoninae using populations from North America and Eurasia. The effects of both phylogeny and latitude were examined. No significant trends in life history traits associated with latitude were found, although the subgenus Coreaonus (coregonus) did show a non-significant increase in egg size and number of broods with latitude, the subgenus Coregonus (leucichthys) showed non-significant inverse relationship for these variables and the genus Prosopium showed a nonsignificant inverse relationship for age and growth related variables. A number of genera and species appeared to be constrained by phylogeny and were unable to adapt completely to the environmental constraints imposed by northern environments. It was concluded that, despite this apparent inability to adapt, the great deal of variability of life histories demonstrated a large degree of plasticity in the subfamily.


A definition of oblique projections onto closed convex sets that use seminorms induced by diagonal matrices which may have zeros on the diagonal is introduced. Existence and uniqueness of such projections are secured via directional affinity of the sets with respect to the diagonal matrices involved. A block-iterative algorithmic scheme for solving the convex feasibility problem, employing seminorm-induced oblique projections, is constructed and its convergence for the consistent case is established. The fully simultaneous algorithm converges also in the inconsistent case to the minimum of a certain proximity function.


Kayser-Fleischer rings are pigmented corneal rings at the limbus of the cornea in Descemet's membrane that have been deemed pathognomonic of Wilson's disease. However, we have observed four exceptions in patients with non-Wilsonian liver disease. Three patients had primary biliary cirrhosis and one patient had chronic aggressive hepatitis with cirrhosis. Pigmented corneal rings were seen only by slit-lamp examination. Hepatic, serum, and urinary copper and serum ceruloplasmin levels were significantly elevated in the patients with primary biliary cirrhosis. Radiocopper (64Cu or 67Cu) studies in patients with primary biliary cirrhosis showed plasma disappearance curves which allowed a clear distinction from Wilson's disease in that all three patients with primary biliary cirrhosis showed a secondary rise in radiocopper that presumably represented copper incorporation into ceruloplasmin. In one patient, in whom 64Cu in ceruloplasmin was studied specifically, incorporation was found to be normal.


In modern computer hardware architecture memory is organized in a hierarchy consisting of several types of memory with different memory sizes, block transfer sizes and access times. Traditionally, data structures are evaluated in a theoretical model that does not take the existence of a memory hierarchy into account. The cacheoblivious model has been proposed as a more accurate model. Although several data structures have been described in this model relatively little empirical performance data is available. This paper presents the results of an empirical evaluation of several data structures in a realistic scenario and aims to provide insight into the applicability of cache-oblivious data structures in practice.


Puerto Rico, as a quasi-sovereign U.S. territory, is confronting a debt crisis of unparalleled legal complexity. This article analyzes the collective action problems in sovereign debt finance in the context of Puerto Rico's quasi-sovereign debt dilemma. We examine how sovereign debtors engage with their private creditors in the absence of a formal bankruptcy regime and show how various legal incentives, imperatives, and constraints shape the degree and form of creditor engagement. Drawing on this conceptual framework, this article analyzes the role of these factors in the market-based debt restructuring by the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) and hypothesizes how these factors may influence the statutory restructuring process underway under the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA). Despite the idiosyncratic aspects of Puerto Rico's debt crisis, the potential pathways for debtor-creditor cooperation in Puerto Rico provide valuable insights on the various ways that law influences debtor-creditor cooperation in sovereign debt finance beyond the enforcement of state-based public regulation and contract-based private legal commitments.


Background and Aim: Hospital complaining is an important dimension of clinical governance. This study aimed to determine the impact of clinical governance program on patients' complaint in Shiraz public hospitals. Materials and Methods: This applied study was conducted as descriptiveanalytical in 2012 in Shiraz. The population studied was 10 public hospitals in Shiraz and the patients complaints were studied during 5 years. Data collected through Iranian Ministry of Health standard checklist of clinical governance. The data entered to SPSS version 21, and analyzed using descriptive statistics and analytical tests such as Chi-square. Results: Registered complaints had increasing trend during the execution of the program and were 1905. Moreover, 60.5% of the complaints have been made by family members. There was significant relationship between complaints registered with the hospital wards (P=0.000) and gender (P=0.000). Therefore, both genders and in all departments of the hospital complaints of poor quality and inappropriate behavior of the staffs was greater than other complaint. Conclusion: The number of complaints has increased in recent years. It is proposed to reduce the number of complaints attention to improve communication between physicians and patients, medical ethics, cut non-conventional financial relationaship between physicians and patients, and increased scientific and technical knowledge and skills.


This paper presents an assessment framework that analyses the impacts of climate change on the water diversion strategies of a water transfer project in China. A water diversion strategy consists of high and low water levels as well as related diversion flows in four operating periods: pre-flood, flood, post-flood and non-flood periods. The optimal water diversion problem is defined as a multi-objective problem with two conflicting objectives: minimising human and ecological water supply shortages, and solved by the popular non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II (NSGA-II). The derived Pareto-optimal solutions are then evaluated using the predicted runoffs based on an ensemble of three general circulation models under three climate scenarios. Results obtained from the study catchment show that intra-annual distribution of future runoff changes. The optimal solutions on the Pareto front have greatly varying performance under a climate scenario. It is critical to reveal the different impacts of climate change on the water shortages over the four operating periods, in particular when an increase of water shortage in one period is masked by a reduction in one or more periods. This study illustrates that the framework can be used to identify resilient water diversion strategies to mitigate the potential impacts of climate change on the operation of a water transfer project.


Central banks may face challenges in achieving their price stability goals when financial stability risks are present. There is, however, considerable heterogeneity among central banks with respect to how they manage these potential trade-offs. In this paper, we review the institutional and operational policy frameworks of ten central banks in major advanced economies and then assess the effect of financial stability risks on their monetary policy decisions according to these frameworks. To do so, we construct a time-varying financial stability orientation (FSO) index that quantifies a central bank's policy orientation with respect to financial stability that spans the major viewpoints of the literature: "leaning against the wind" versus "cleaning up after the crash." The index encompasses three dimensions: (i) the nature of the statutory frameworks, (ii) the extent of the regulatory tool kit, and (iii) the prominence of financial stability references in central bank monetary policy statements. We then include our FSO index in a modified Taylor rule, which is estimated using a cross-country panel of up to ten central banks for the period from 2000Q1 to 2014Q4. We find that in episodes of high financial stability risks, measured by a strongly positive credit to GDP gap, "leaning-type" central banks, i.e., those with a high FSO index value, appear to account for financial stability considerations in their monetary policy rate decisions. For "cleaning-type" central banks, we do not find this to be the case. Our baseline specification suggests that a representative leaning-type central bank's policy rate is about 0.3 percentage points higher when financial stability risks are present than the policy rate of a representative cleaning-type central bank. We also find that the strength of this response increases in the additional presence of a house price boom but not so for the simultaneous occurrence of an equity price boom.


A theoretical analysis describing the dependence of the signal-tonoise ratio (SNR) on the number of pixels and the number of particles is presented for in-line digital particle holography. The validity of the theory is verified by means of numerical simulation. Based on the theory we present a practical performance benchmark for digital holographic systems. Using this benchmark we improve the performance of an experimental holographic system by a factor three. We demonstrate that the ability to quantitatively analyze the system performance allows for a more systematic way of designing, optimizing, and comparing digital holographic systems.


This is a major biography of one of America's most influential and respected Supreme Court justices by a leading law scholar. In the late 1970s, Earl Warren's papers were opened and G. Edward White, a former law clerk of Warren, was given complete access to research this book. The result is the first study of the Chief Justice to cover his entire political career and to examine aspects of Warren's character that have seemed paradoxical. White goes back to Warren's roots in California Progressivism to illuminate his mid-century liberalism and the controversial decisions over which he presided in the Supreme Court. Based on a wealth of newly available information and White's understanding of Warren's work and personality, this is a fascinating, original portrait of Chief Justice Earl Warren.


Abstract In the context of the increasing securitisation of cultural heritage, France, Italy, and the United Kingdom have reacted differently to the recent wave of iconoclasm perpetrated by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and similar radical groups and terrorist organisations. With cultural heritage now discursively identified as a security concern, the three states enacted security practices to deal with the newly emerged security threats. All three cases show a tight association between the protection of cultural heritage, development and security policies. State-driven cultural heritage protection policies continue to be designed around the notion of multilateral cooperation, although innovative forms of public-private multilateralism and civil-military cooperation are increasingly being introduced.


Windows 10 Revealed is your essential step-by-step guide to using a desktop, laptop, Surface or Windows Phone running Microsoft Windows 10, providing a complete resource for both the beginner and the enthusiast. Techniques are illustrated step-by-step using photography and screen shots throughout, together with concise, easy to follow text from an established expert in the field, providing a comprehensive guide to Windows. Whether you have just bought your first computer, laptop or are a keen computer user who has just upgraded to Windows 10, this book will provide you with a firm grasp of the underpinning foundations and equip you with the skills needed to use a computer like a pro. What youll learn Upgrading your device to Windows 10Navigating around the Windows interface and user experience for PC, Surface tablet and Windows Phone A tour of Windows 10's features, menus and utilities Making best use of the interactive notifications and quick links on your phone Using the new capabilities of the built-in browser, Edge, on all types of devices Using and customizing Cortana, the personal digital assistant, to meet your needs Using the new built in universal apps like Word, Excel and PowerPoint Using other apps like Mail, Calendar and Photos Syncing your work across all your devices Understanding the daily common tasks you can do with this new version of Windows Who this book is for This book is for those users new to Windows 10, coming from Windows 8.1, Windows 7 or even new to Windows altogether.


The article is devoted to the integration of Russian banks into the world financial market in 1990-2010. The goal of the study is to explore the impact of globalization processes on the infrastructure and technological development of Russian banking institutions and the nature of their activity in the international economic space. The work was prepared within the concept of multipolarity of the modern world coupled with the theory of modernization development of the global civilization in the XXth-XXIst centuries. The author concludes that in the 1990s the Russian banks that had no abroad experience were significantly influenced by international financial corporations, which sought to strengthen their positions in the Russian stock market and to maximize the use of Russian investment resources. The policy of strategic regulation, legal and technological modernization of the banking sector, which Russia began to implement on the cusp of the XXth-XXIst centuries, promoted the growth of the stability and competitiveness of Russian banks. At the same time, Russian financial institutions were integrated into the system of interbank cooperation between Eurasia and BRICS countries, while bilateral investment cooperation with China and India expanded. In the context of global financial markets' instability and the economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. and the European Union on Russian financial institutions in 2014-2015, major Russian banks continue to operate in the global economic space relying on international law, mutually beneficial partnership in the BRICS and SCO system, and the newest banking technologies.


In 3D magnetic field configurations, quasi-separatrix layers (QSLs) are defined as volumes in which field lines locally display strong gradients of connectivity. Considering QSLs both as the preferential locations for current sheet development and magnetic reconnection, in general, and as a natural model for solar flares and coronal heating, in particular, has been strongly debated issues over the past decade. In this paper, we perform zero-β resistive MHD simulations of the development of electric currents in smooth magnetic configurations which are, strictly speaking, bipolar though they are formed by four flux concentrations, and whose potential fields contain QSLs. The configurations are driven by smooth and large-scale sub-Alfvenic footpoint motions. Extended electric currents form naturally in the configurations, which evolve through a sequence of quasi non-linear force-free equilibria. Narrow current layers also develop. They spontaneously form at small scales all around the QSLs, whatever the footpoint motions are. For long enough motions, the strongest currents develop where the QSLs are the thinnest, namely at the Hyperbolic Flux Tube (HFT), which generalizes the concept of separator. These currents progressively take the shape of an elongated sheet, whose formation is associated with a gradual steepening of the magnetic field gradients over tens of Alfven times, due to the different motions applied to the field lines which pass on each side of the HFT. Our model then self-consistently accounts for the long-duration energy storage prior to a flare, followed by a switch-on of reconnection when the currents reach the dissipative scale at the HFT. In configurations whose potential fields contain broader QSLs, when the magnetic field gradients reach the dissipative scale, the currents at the HFT reach higher magnitudes. This implies that major solar flares which are not related to an early large-scale ideal instability, must occur in regions whose corresponding potential fields have broader QSLs. Our results lead us to conjecture that physically, current layers must always form on the scale of the QSLs. This implies that electric currents around QSLs may be gradually amplified in time only if the QSLs are broader than the dissipative length-scale. We also discuss the potential role of QSLs in coronal heating in bipolar configurations made of a continuous distribution of flux concentrations.


There is a need to acquire autonomously cryogenic hydrocarbon liquid sample from remote planetary locations such as the lakes of Titan for instruments such as mass spectrometers. There are several problems that had to be solved relative to collecting the right amount of cryogenic liquid sample into a warmer spacecraft, such as not allowing the sample to boil off or fractionate too early; controlling the intermediate and final pressures within carefully designed volumes; designing for various particulates and viscosities; designing to thermal, mass, and power-limited spacecraft interfaces; and reducing risk. Prior art inlets for similar instruments in spaceflight were designed primarily for atmospheric gas sampling and are not useful for this front-end application. These cryogenic liquid sample acquisition system designs for remote space applications allow for remote, autonomous, controlled sample collections of a range of challenging cryogenic sample types. The design can control the size of the sample, prevent fractionation, control pressures at various stages, and allow for various liquid sample levels. It is capable of collecting repeated samples autonomously in difficult lowtemperature conditions often found in planetary missions. It is capable of collecting samples for use by instruments from difficult sample types such as cryogenic hydrocarbon (methane, ethane, and propane) mixtures with solid particulates such as found on Titan. The design with a warm actuated valve is compatible with various spacecraft thermal and structural interfaces. The design uses controlled volumes, heaters, inlet and vent tubes, a cryogenic valve seat, inlet screens, temperature and cryogenic liquid sensors, seals, and vents to accomplish its task.


This paper begins by reviewing the literature on the relation between economic growth and the functional distribution of income since the time of the classical economists, highlighting the work of Kalecki and the post-Keynesians who develop the growthregimes approach. It reconstructs and analyses statistics on the shares of wages, income from self-employment (or from mixed sources) and profits in Peru's GDP between 1942 and 2013, and then compares these shares with the averages for Latin America and other economies. The study then makes a comparative analysis of trends in the wage share and rate of growth, and it estimates a simultaneous equations model using three-stage least squares (3SLS) and generalized method of moments (GMM) to determine the growth regime. The conclusion is that growth is wage-led, so distributional policies to increase this component would likely boost the level of economic activity.


In order to investigate fatigue characteristics of nonferrous bolts at elevated temperature, fatigue tests of bolted joints which were tightened with three kinds of nonferrous bolts were been conducted at 100°C atmosphere. The test bolts were made of A5056 aluminum alloy and AZ31 and AZX912 magnesium alloy. Creep tests of the bolts at 100°C atmosphere were also conducted. The results showed that the fatigue limit of A5056 bolt was the highest of all regardless of the ambient temperature. The fatigue limits of AZ31 bolt and AZX912 bolt also were a half of the fatigue limit of A5056 bolt at both ambient temperature. Bolt clamping force losses due to creep deformation were observed for all bolts during fatigue tests at elevated temperature. Hence as additional tests, the creep tests which was controlled either the tensile force or the displacements respectively were conducted. As the results it was seen that the clamping force losses for all bolts were remarkably large although the each creep deformation was different for each bolt material. Therefore the results indicates that we have to pay attention to the clamping force reduction due to creep deformation if we use the nonferrous bolt in high temperature.


Power utilities are increasingly dependent on the use of communications networks. These networks are evolving to be packet-based, rather than using conventional Time-Division Multiplexing (TDM) technologies. Transporting current differential protection traffic over a packet network is especially challenging, due to the safety-critical nature of protection, the strict requirements for low delay and low asymmetrical delay, and the extensive use of legacy TDM-based protocols. This paper highlights the key technical characteristics of Multi-Protocol Label Switching-Transport Profile (MPLS-TP), and demonstrates its application for transporting current differential protection traffic. A real-time hardware-in-the-loop testing approach has been used to thoroughly validate the technologies in various configurations. It is demonstrated that MPLS-TP technologies can meet the requirements of current differential protection and other, less critical applications. In particular, it is shown that delay and asymmetrical delay can be controlled through the inherent use of bi-directional paths-even when "hitless" link redundancy is configured. The importance of appropriate traffic engineering, clocking schemes, circuit emulation methods is also demonstrated.


This thesis examines chemical and isotopic characteristics of groundwater from the Yuncheng Basin in north-central China, in order to understand the timing and mechanisms of recharge, controls on groundwater quality and the influence of climate and anthropogenic processes on groundwater quality and quantity. Groundwater radiocarbon activities range from 5.93 to 88.2 pmC, decreasing with depth in the Quaternary aquifer. Estimated groundwater residence times range from modern in the shallow unconfined aquifer unit (Q3 and Q4), to >20 k.a. in the semi-confined deep unit (Q1 and Q2). Residence times in deep groundwater increase from west to east, following the historic regional groundwater flow direction; this direction has been altered by pumping and groundwater now flows towards a cone of depression near Yuncheng City. The vertical recharge rate, calculated using age vs. depth relationships is ~1-10 mm/yr; this is lower than previous estimates using tritium in the soil zone nearby, indicating that vertical infiltration may have increased in modern times compared to historic times. δ18O and δ2H values in shallow modern groundwater are similar to rainfall during the summer monsoon, indicating recharge via direct infiltration. The δ18O and δ2H values in deep groundwater are significantly lower than modern rainfall, indicating recharge under a cooler climate than the present, during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene. The δ18O values increase from old to young groundwater, reflecting a broad temperature increase through the period of deep groundwater recharge. I/Cl and I/Br ratios correlate positively with δ18O values in the deep palaeowaters (r2 = 0.48 and 0.55), indicating greater delivery of I to the basin in rainfall during warm periods. This may be due to increased biological I production in warmer oceans. Shallow groundwater contains high nitrate concentrations (up to 630 mg/L); δ15N and δ18O values of nitrate are both generally between 0‰ and 5‰, indicating that synthetic fertilizers are the major source. Elevated nitrate concentrations (>20 mg/L) locally occur in deep groundwater, particularly near the Linyi fault, due to downwards vertical leakage. High TDS (up to 8450 mg/L), Br and Cl concentrations in shallow groundwater relative to rainfall indicate high levels of evapotranspiration in this water, due to flood irrigation and shallow water tables. Groundwater 87Sr/86Sr values are similar to those in local rainfall and carbonate minerals (0.7110 to 0.7120); trends in HCO3, pH and δ13C values indicate that carbonate weathering is a substantial source of groundwater DIC. However, groundwater is generally Na-rich and Ca-poor, and Na/Ca ratios increase along horizontal flow paths due to cation exchange, probably in clay lenses. Groundwater with high Na/Ca ratios also has high concentrations of F and As (up to 6.6 mg/L and 27 ug/L, respectively), that are a health risk. The F and As are likely enriched due to desorption of F- and HAsO4 2- from hydrous metal oxides in the aquifer sediments. Experiments conducted with sediments and synthetic water solutions indicate that greater mobilization of F and As occurs in Na-rich, Ca-poor water, hence, cation composition is an important control on F and As mobilization.


The Activation Model of Information Exposure highlights the potential for individual differences in arousal in response to information, as well as the consequences of these patterns for information processing and seeking. Over the past 2 decades, the theoretical approach has generated considerable research in health communication. Most applications, however, have focused on substance use among adolescents and young adults. In this article, we assess the relevance of the activation approach for cancer communication. Although a wide range of communication efforts related to cancer prevention and treatment stand to benefit from acknowledgement of individual differences in optimal levels of arousal, we also acknowledge issues and challenges that remain for work on the Activation Model and sensation seeking. In reaching this conclusion, we explore some limitations of the Activation Model in its current form and point to new directions for future research.


Water is a fundamental and essensial need in life. Batam is one of industrial cities that use a lot of refill drinking water. Industry is a potential source of water pollution especially arsenic (As) and Cyanide (CN, it produces pollutants that are extremely harmful to people and the environment. Industry is a potential source of water pollution, it produces pollutants that are extremely harmful to people and the environment. Many industrial facilities use freshwater to carry away waste from the plant and into rivers, lakes and oceans. Inorganic industrial wastes are more difficult to control and potentially more hazardous Industries discharge a variety of toxic compounds and heavy metals. The most pollutans heavy metals are Lead,Cadmium, Copper, Chromium, Selenium, Mercury, Nickel, Zinc, Arsen and Chromium. Heavy metals are dangerous because they tend to bioaccumulate. While Cyanide is very harmful to the environment and other living things. The perpuse of this research is to know the content arsenic (As) and Cyanide (CN) in the depot of refill water in Batam. Sample analysis conducted at PT.Sucopindo branch Batam Riau Island-Indonesia. The sampel number of six samples from each district Batam is Salsabila Batam Center, Pak De Qua Tiban, Fun Qua batu Ampar, Fresh Qua Bengkong, Salwa Qua Batu Aji, dan Alam Qua Piayu. The result obtained Arsenic (As) and Cyanide (CN) content of sixth refills depots is <0,0001 mg/L dan <0,008 mg/L. The result of this research showed  that all six samples meet the qualification of the Regulation of the Ministry of Health no.492 Year 2010 both arsenic (As) and cyanide (CN).


Traditional economic research on the number of hours that one chooses to work depends largely on wage rates and total family income. However, more recent research in behavioral economics suggests that one's relative position in the community's income distribution could also affect hours worked. This paper investigates the effect of an individual's relative wage will have on their actual hours worked. Relative wage is defined as how one's wage compares to others within the same geographical region. Cross-sectional data from 2004 to 2013 is used from the Current Population Survey to estimate the traditional labor supply function with the addition of the relative wage variable. This paper uses OLS regression analysis to determine how ones hours of work changes from changes in relative income. As expected, one's position in the wage distribution has a negative relationship on hours worked.


BRADLEY, ALVA (27 Nov. 1814-28 Nov. 1885), was a sailor, ship owner, and shipbuilder, who helped develop Great Lakes shipping. Born in Ellington, Conn., to Leonard and Roxanne Thrall Bradley, he moved to Brownhelm, Ohio in 1823. At 19 Bradley left home to become a sailor on the Great Lakes. After time on numerous ships, Bradley became master of the 15-ton "Olive Branch," running trade from the islands to Lake Erie's southern ports; then the 47-ton schooner "Commodore Lawrence." In 1853, Bradley, in partnership with Ahira Cobb, formed Bradley & Cobb, shipbuilders with yards in Vermilion. In 1859, Bradley moved to Cleveland, moving all his interests, including his shipyards, to Cleveland in 1868. Building at least 1 vessel each year, Bradley built 18 vessels between 1868-82, and had such extensive and efficient business operations that he carried his own insurance. He never wrecked as a sailor and lost only 5 vessels as an owner. Much of his estimated wealth of $10 million was invested in real estate. In 1880, Bradley helped found the Cleveland Vessel Owners Assoc. and became its first president. This group combined with its Buffalo counterpart to form the LAKE CARRIERS ASSN. in 1892. Bradley was an original incorporator of the Case Institute of Technology and a trustee of the EUCLID AVE. CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. He was also active in temperance. Bradley married Helen M. Burgess of Milan, Ohio, in 1851 and had 4 children: Elizabeth, Eleanor, Minetta, and Morris. Bradley was buried in LAKE VIEW CEMETERY.


International student mobility is at an all-time high in recent years, with the United States (US) as the top destination of choice (Institute of International Education 2015). In 2014-2015, the US welcomed 974,926 students at institutions of higher education (Institute of International Education 2015). In that year alone, student mobility to the US increased by 10 percent over the prior year, which is a significant rate of growth. All signs indicate the trend of international student mobility to the US will not abate in upcoming years. As a result of high student mobility, many US institutions are concerned with how to welcome and transition these students to their campuses. Much of the research and current reports (e.g., Andrade 2006; Rienties, Beausaert, and Grohnert 2012; Ward and Masgoret 2009) on international students tend to focus primarily on their integration to campuses in the US. While the idea of integration appears to be innocuous and harmless, the process of integration often includes the practice of "cultural suicide" (Tierney 1999, p. 82), leading to potential distress and conflict among international students. Thus, I argue that seeking to integrate international students through programmatic efforts causes more harm to students' well-being and educational success; rather, the emphasis on fostering international student success should be through increasing students' sense of belonging. The case against integration is especially salient for international students in the US because they enter into a unique cultural climate that is heavily influenced by societal and historical forces. Most recently, the racially charged events at institutions such as the University of Missouri-Columbia and Yale University indicate that higher education in the US is in a time of flux, particularly related to differences in culture and backgrounds. Due to the diverse culture of the US, a reconsideration of how we can better transition international students to living and learning at US institutions of higher education is required. In this essay, I argue that US educators should seek to increase students' sense of belonging rather than their integration to campus, which will provide an effective and culturally sustaining way to help international students' transition. In the following sections, I provide an overview of concept of sense of belonging, including the problems related to integration. I follow that with making a case for using sense of belonging to examine international student experiences. Finally, I offer some suggestions for practice and research on how to conceptualize international students' sense of belonging to campus.


Microalgae have high photosynthetic efficiency that can fix CO2 from the flue gas directly without any upstream CO2 separation, and concomitantly produce biomass for biofuel applications. These gases, both untreated and treated into current discharge standards, contain CO2, N2, H2O, O2, NOx, SOx, CxHy, CO, particulate matter, halogen acids and heavy metals. Microalgae population studies were conducted in a batch mode experiments at Power plant site of Chamois, Missouri. The experiments were conducted in different period (June to December 2011) of time. This study evaluated the effect of several heavy metals that are present in flue gases on the algae, focusing on the growth and accumulation of lipids in the algae that can be converted to biodiesel. The genus Scenedesmus presented the greatest richness of species and number of counted individuals in the flue gas ponds compare than non flue gas treatment ponds. Among the diatomaceae the genus Navicula sp, Nitizchia sp and Synedra sp. presented the next subdominant richness in the ponds. The last results of counted green algae Ulothrix sp and Coelastrum sp were least number of cells reported in these ponds. The heavy metal-contaminated in flue gas and also enter into the microalgae biomass population. Comparative studies were carried out by flue gas and control system of open ponds. Control system of microalgae population was represented in less amount of heavy metals compare than flue gas ponds. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ijasbt.v2i2. 10247 Int J Appl Sci Biotechnol, Vol. 2(2): 114-120


This study attempts to find out if fast technical piece of music surpass slow and musical piece of music among professional musicians. Eventhough musical appreciation and admiration preferences are seen as the consequences of mere subjectivity, there have been many instances where non-music majors have considered the fast technique dominated players as better or more talented than the slower but more musical players. It has been questionable on the other side whether such considerations by non-music majors are displayed by professional music majors as well, or not. Musicality is the art of expression that is only achievable via technical competency and dexterity where the technique is the aspects of skillful physical movements needed to interpret music. A survey conducted among eight professional music majors where several questions have been raised between three compositions including, A la Antiqua by Ernesto Lecuona, Etude No. 2 by Villa-Lobos, and Sonata in E minor by Niccolo Paganini.


The cultural heterogeneity of Israeli society creates a unique opportunity to study the effects of ethnicity and intergenerational differences on parenting styles, attitudes, and practices. Three groups of mother–daughter dyads took part in the study: Native-born Jewish (NBJ) Israelis (155 dyads), Jewish Mizrahi (JM) immigrants (immigrants from Muslim countries (133 dyads), and native-born Arab Muslim (NBA) Israelis (86 dyads). Participants were located through a "snowball" process in which participants referred their friends to the researchers or gave the researchers names of potential participants. Interethnic differences were found in the mothers' generation, with JM mothers falling in between NBJ and NBA mothers. This trend changed when we examined differences between the daughters. Although intergenerational differences were found in all groups, the differences were more prominent among Jewish mother–daughter dyads than among mother–daughter dyads in the Muslim population. Contrary to the research hypothesis, the parenting style of JM women was closer to that of NBJ mothers than to NBA mothers. The findings are discussed with reference to the complexity of Israeli society and to the encounter between the culture of the immigrant women who came from Muslim countries and the Western culture of the host society.


Arizona's Senate Bill 1070 has focused attention on whether federal law preempts the prosecution of state immigration crime in local criminal courts. Absent from the current discussion, however, is an appreciation of how Arizona's existing body of criminal immigration law - passed well before SB 1070 and currently in force in the state - functions on the ground to regulate migration. Drawing on statistical data, prosecution policies, trial-level court records, and interviews with stakeholders, this Article is the first to investigate the practice of local immigration prosecution. It does so in the hotbed of immigration enforcement - Maricopa County, Arizona - through a detailed case study of the implementation of a 2005 Arizona alien smuggling law. Specifically, this Article reveals four key aspects of the national immigration system that have shifted in the face of state criminalization: the functional definition of immigration crime, the breadth of state immigration enforcement authority, the allocation of federal resources for criminal prosecution, and the exercise of executive control over immigration policy. Through this analysis, this Article shows how Arizona, despite the formal prohibition on state and local immigration regulation, has redefined and restructured the federal system for punishing immigration crime. In so doing, this Article fosters a richer and more accurate understanding of the role of the local prosecutor in immigration federalism.


Hydrologists have long studied the rate of streamflow recession as a means of understanding watershed properties. Historically, recession events were lumped together for analysis. However, more recent work has shown that individual recession events behave differently, and additional insights can be gained by evaluating events individually. The analysis of individual recession events has been shown to be a valuable tool for examining hydrologic processes in large watersheds, however its connection to hydrologic models has not been thoroughly explored. We used the integrated hydrologic model ParFlow to systematically explore the drivers of baseflow recession curves. Using ParFlow we demonstrated that the integrated model can generate shifting between recession events consistent with observational studies. Furthermore, we found that storage has a major impact on recession curves, causing curves to shift to the right when storage is high. Subsurface configuration was also seen to have a large effect, with hydraulic conductivity influencing recession curves regardless of storage levels. Evaluating Baseflow Recession Behavior using the Integrated Hydrologic Model ParFlow


Integrated water resources management approaches have been developed worldwide to improve water resources management practices. There are however, lingering issues with reference to the applicability of its integrated principles, especially when shifting from policy to practice (action). By conducting an exploratory case study in the Sao Paulo State, Brazil, this paper explores different stakeholders' perspectives regarding the water policy (Water Act of 1991). Through analysing institutional and water governance arrangements, the research assesses if current water policy is being translated into practice. Analysis suggests that the water policy and proposed principles are aligned with international approaches for water resources management. However, results also indicate that the principles by themselves are not sufficient to guarantee successful practice of a decentralised, participatory and integrated water resources management system. In a complex water management system, such as the one in the Sao Paulo State, coordination among different government levels and sectors is considered to be a key element to improve the likelihood of water policy implementation.


The 'Homeric Greek Compounds Project' is a linguistic research project partially funded by the University of Palermo FFR-2012-ATE-0164 (2013-2015). The project aims at creating a free open-access online database containing the Homeric compounds found in the Iliad and the Odyssey. The research group is currently composed of people ranging from graduate to Ph.D. students, from post-doctoral researchers to associate professors, from the Department of Scienze Umanistiche of the University of Palermo and from the Department of Studi Letterari, Filologici e Linguistici of the University of Milano Statale. At present, the group is composed of the following people: A. Bartolotta (project coordinator), L. Aliffi, V. Amico, L. Coccia, A. Cuva; N. De Pasquale, M. Giuffre, M. Longo, R. Melazzo, C. Nigrelli; F. Dede, M. Cardella. The main purpose of this working group is to collect and analyze all the compounded Nouns and Adjectives occurring in the Homeric poems, in order to share and make linguistic data re-usable and available to the scientific community. The ultimate goal of this project is to reconstruct, as far as possible, the unifying criteria that are at the basis of the process of composition in archaic Greek. In fact, both definitions and classifications of compounds are still a debated issue in the linguistic literature. Research into the explanation of this complex linguistic phenomenon must be integrated by not only making cross-linguistic comparisons, but also considering the diachronic perspective. Thus, an interdisciplinary perspective is needed, that gives value to the historical-comparative dimension as well. By virtue of the conservative nature that characterizes compound forms, the diachronic development and prehistory of compounds in the oldest Indo-European languages reveals valuable information about the syntactic structure of the IE proto-language. In particular, although Ancient Greek composition has been dealt with since the beginning of the XXth century, there is still no reference database that gathers and describes all the compounds attested in Homeric Greek, a language that, along with Sanskrit, is the basis and the starting point for the reconstruction of the Indo-European proto-language. Hence, the idea of a database containing a description of morphological, syntactic, semantic and lexical features, and etymological interpretation of each compounded word in the Iliad and Odyssey. The database contains more than 1500 entries, which are arranged alphabetically from Α to Ω. The database encodes information about the syntactic category of the compound and its morphosyntactic structure, including its part of speech and the lexical category of both first and second members (categorization). The linguistic description also contains the compound meaning and the features that have been considered relevant, i.e. its etymology, each word occurrence and the corresponding inflectional information, including case and number, the headedness (endocentric vs exocentric), the classification of each compound (subordinate, determinative attributive, coordinate). When necessary, some specific notes are added about linking elements (i.e. those functional structures that serve to link the two members of compound, and which can find expression in specific inflectional endings of the non-head member within the complex word), case forms of the first/second member, other morphological or semantic useful information. The database will be available free on the Department website.


The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the use of topical vapocoolant, local anesthetics (LA) and fixation of the spermatic cord with a clamp during piglet castration.
Based on serum cortisol measurements, the impact of various castration-methods on pain and stress was examined. Additionally, the wound healing process was assessed.
A total of 221 male suckling piglets, three to five days old, were randomly assigned to eight different treatments and groups:
Group 1: fixation, no castration;
Group 2: fixation, cryogen spray, no castration;
Group 3: fixation, castration;
Group 4: fixation, cryogen spray, castration;
Group 5: fixation, castration, LA dropped into the wound
Group 6: fixation, cryogen spray, castration, LA dropped into the wound;
Group 7: intratesticular (i.t.) LA, fixation, castration;
Group 8: fixation, cryogen spray, castration, fixation of the spermatic cord with a clamp, LA dropped on the fixed cord.
The cryogen spray (ethyl chloride) was applied from a distance of 10 cm to the scrotum until a skin temperature up to -12 °C was achieved. The local anesthetic (40 mg procainehydrochloride with 0.05 mg epinephrine) was either dropped into the wound after removal of the testes (Group 5 and 6), injected into the testes 10 minutes prior to castration (Group 7) or dropped on the spermatic cord after removal of the testes (Group 8).
The concentration of cortisol in the serum of the piglets was measured 30 minutes before and 30 minutes, one hour, four hours and one day after castration/fixation.
Wound healing was evaluated one day, four days, seven days, 14 days and 21 days after castration.
The results of the cortisol measurements indicated that handling has a minor impact on the neuroendocrine stress response compared to castration. None of the examined castration methods (Groups 4-8) induced a significant minor stress reaction than the conventional method of castration (Group 3). Fixation of the piglet and application of cryogen spray caused significantly higher average cortisol concentrations than fixation alone half an hour after treatment(Group 2 vs. Group 1). A minimizing effect on castration induced stress using a cryogen spray prior to castration was not evident (Group 4 vs. Group 3). After dropping a local anesthetic into the wound (Group 5), the average cortisol levels of the piglets were by trend lower than those of conventionally castrated piglets (Group 3) half an hour after castration. Four hours after castration, the average cortisol concentration of piglets of Group 5 and 6 were significantly higher than that of Group 3. The preoperative intratesticular application of the local anesthetic had no significant effect on pain induced stress half an hour and one hour after castration compared to the average cortisol concentration of conventionally castrated piglets (Group 3). Four hours after castration, the cortisol levels of the animals of Group 7 were significantly higher than the cortisol levels of Group 3 piglets.
The application of cryogen spray combined with the use of a clamp to fix the spermatic cord (Group 8) led to a significant increase in serum cortisol concentration one hour after castration compared with the serum cortisol concentration of conventionally castrated piglets (Group 3).
The wound healing was not affected by using the cryogen spray or by intratesticular application of the local anesthetic. When local anesthetics were dropped into the wound and when the spermatic cord was fixed with a clamp, the wound healing was significantly impaired.


Employing discrete layer peeling incorporated with a traditional Gerchberg-Saxton algorithm, we demonstrate an advanced design for a complex fiber Bragg grating (FBG) with a multichannel asymmetrical triangular reflection spectrum. This type of FBG filter is designed for multiplexing wavelength interrogation in a fiber-optic measurement system. The proposed method creates a FBG with a smooth index-change profile, and should facilitate its fabrication. Moreover, under the condition of quadratic phase response of the FBG, the dependences of the reconstructed index-change profile on the phase responses of the triangular filter are numerically investigated.


Risk analysis is a powerful science-based tool that can be used to control and mitigate microbial food safety hazards. Codex recommends conducting preliminary risk management activities (PRMAs) to initiate risk analysis and to plan the risk assessment process. The information learned from these PRMAs should be utilized to construct a quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) model. Then, risk management activities can utilize the QMRA model to identify and select microbial risk management (MRM) options. In this project, Codex recommendations for conducting risk analysis were followed to analyze the risk of acquiring salmonellosis from whole broiler (meat chickens) consumption within the United States. At the first stage, the risk of Salmonella on whole broilers was quantitatively estimated by attributing reported annual salmonellosis to whole broilers. A quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) model was constructed to build an informative risk analysis model based on performance criteria, while minimizing associated modeling complications. The QMRA model was constructed in Excel® (Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA, USA) with the @RISK "Add-ins" software (Palisade Corp., Ithaca, NY, USA). @RISK software was used to perform Monte Carlo simulations that account for iii attendant uncertainties. After the model was tested and calibrated, it estimated the annual salmonellosis cases from whole broilers as 216,408 case/year that corresponds to the number of salmonellosis reported by Center for Disease and Control Prevention (CDC). Furthermore, sensitivity analysis was performed where 16 sensitive inputs (potential places for food safety interventions) and 10 data gaps (inputs that significantly affect the overall uncertainty) were reported. Some QMRA model results were transformed to MRM metrics. These MRM metrics, including ALOPs (Appropriate Level of Protection), FSOs (Food Safety Objectives), POs (Performance Objectives), and PC (Performance Criteria), were calculated along with a sampling plan for a food safety control system. The MRM metrics were utilized to identify and plan food control interventions such as risk communication, auditing, inspection, and monitoring. Furthermore, the QMRA model was utilized to identify and to quantitatively evaluate food safety interventions that affect Salmonella prevalence and/or concentration.


This study examines the effect of pumping, hydrogeology, and pesticide characteristics on pesticide concentrations in production wells using a reactive transport model in two conceptual hydrogeologic systems; a layered aquifer with and without a stream present. The pumping rate can significantly affect the pesticide breakthrough time and maximum concentration at the well. The effect of the pumping rate on the pesticide concentration depends on the hydrogeology of the aquifer; in a layered aquifer, a high pumping rate resulted in a considerably different breakthrough than a low pumping rate, while in an aquifer with a stream the effect of the pumping rate was insignificant. Pesticide application history and properties have also a great impact on the effect of the pumping rate on the concentration at the well. The findings of the study show that variable pumping rates can generate temporal variability in the concentration at the well, which helps understanding the results of groundwater monitoring programs. The results are used to provide guidance on the design of pumping and regulatory changes for the long‐term supply of safe groundwater. The fate of selected pesticides is examined, for example, if the application of bentazone in a region with a layered aquifer stops today, the concentration at the well can continue to increase for 20 years if a low pumping rate is applied. This study concludes that because of the rapid response of the pesticide concentration at the drinking water well due to changes in pumping, wellhead management is important for managing pesticide concentrations.


ABSTRACT The redbay ambrosia beetle, Xyleborus glabratus Eichhoff (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae), is an exotic wood-boring insect that vectors laurel wilt, a lethal vascular disease of trees in the Lauraceae, including avocado (Persea americana) and native Persea species (redbay, swampbay). As part of research to identify host-based attractants for X. glabratus, we discovered that a diverse array of non-target ambrosia beetles was attracted to the same substrates as X. glabratus. During Sep–Dec 2009, several field tests were conducted in north Florida (in woodlands with advanced stages of laurel wilt) with traps baited with commercial lures of the essential oils, manuka and phoebe, and with freshly-cut wood bolts of avocado (a known host) and lychee (Litchi chinensis, a non-host high in the sesquiterpene &agr;copaene, a putative host attractant). In addition, manuka-baited traps were deployed in avocado groves in south Florida to monitor for potential spread of X. glabratus. The combined trapping results indicated that none of these substrates was specific in attraction of X. glabratus. Numerous non-target ambrosia beetles were captured, including 17 species representative of 4 tribes within the subfamily Scolytinae. This report provides photo-documentation and data on the species diversity and relative abundance for a group of poorly-studied beetles, the scolytine community in Florida Persea habitats.


The Hope fault is the most active and southernmost splay of the Marlborough fault system in the northern South Island of New Zealand. The fault consists of five geometrically defined segments. We used trenching to acquire paleoseismic data and radiocarbon dating of faulted late Holocene sediments on the Hurunui segment of the Hope fault to derive an earthquake chronology that extends from the historic 1888 Mw 7.1 Amuri earthquake to ca. 300 C.E., thereby providing the longest chronologic record of earthquakes on the Hope fault to date. Earthquake event horizons were identified by upward fault terminations, colluvial wedges, unconformities, and/or progressive folding of shutter basin deposits. Six earthquakes identified at C.E. 1888, 1740−1840, 1479−1623, 819−1092, 439−551, and 373−419 indicate a mean recurrence interval of ∼298 ± 88 yr, with successive median interevent times ranging from 98 to 595 yr. The large variance in interevent times with respect to mean recurrence interval is explained by (1) possible coalescence of rupture overlap from the adjacent Hope River segment onto the Hurunui segment at our study site (including the 1888 Mw 7.1 Amuri earthquake, sourced primarily from the Hope River segment), which results in apparently shorter interevent times at the study site compared to mean recurrence intervals from adjacent fault segments, (2) possible earthquake temporal clustering on the Hurunui segment, which could result in interevent times that are significantly shorter or longer than interevent times and mean recurrence intervals predicted by a periodic earthquake rupture model, and/or (3) "missing" events, which could result in interevent times and mean recurrence intervals at the study site that are longer than the actual mean recurrence interval. While we cannot exclude option 3 as a possibility, we prefer options 1 and 2 to explain earthquake chronologies and rupture behavior on the Hurunui segment of the Hope fault, given the detailed nature of our geologic and chronologic investigations. By demonstrating that the 1888 Amuri earthquake propagated through a proposed segment boundary, we provide the first evidence for coseismic multisegment ruptures on the Hope fault. In contrast, the penultimate earthquake ruptured the Hurunui segment at 1740−1840 C.E. with no known rupture of the Hope River segment. Paleoearthquake records near geometrically complex segment structural boundaries on major strike-slip faults may show temporal recurrence distributions resulting from earthquake ruptures that variably arrest or propagate through proposed segment boundaries. We note that earthquake recurrence along major strike-slip plate-boundary faults may vary between more periodic and more episodic end members, even on adjacent, geometrically defined segments.


Hero Worship! 1000 Comic Books You Must Read is an unforgettable journey through 70 years of comic books. Arranged by decade, this book introduces you to 1000 of the best comic books ever published and the amazing writers and artists who created them.See Superman from his debut as a sarcastic champion of the people, thumbing his nose at authority, to his current standing as a respected citizen of the world Experience the tragic moment when Peter Parker and a generation of Spider-Man fans learned that "with great power, there must also come great responsibility" Meet classic characters such as Archie and his Riverdale High friends, Uncle Scrooge McDuck, Little Lulu, Sgt. Rock, the kid cowboys of Boys' Ranch, and more. Enjoy gorgeous full-color photos of each comic book, as well as key details including the title, writer, artist, publisher, copyright information, and entertaining commentary. 1000 Comic Books You Must Read is sure to entertain and inform with groundbreaking material about comics being published today as well as classics from the past.


Tuna fisheries in the western and central Pacific Ocean are important globally for both food and economic security. Yellowfin and bigeye tuna stocks in this region are declining, in part due to the juvenile bycatch of these species by the purse seine fishery using floating objects and fish aggregating devices (FADs). This leads to a conflict between the longline and handline fisheries, which target adult fish, and the purse seine fishery, whose bycatch is leading to growth overfishing. This paper develops a bioeconomic game-theoretic equilibrium model to determine if, at equilibrium, the elimination of juvenile fishing could bring economic benefits to the region. Specifically, we examine non-cooperative and cooperative outcomes for a three-player game: purse seine, longline and handline, incorporating skipjack, yellowfin and bigeye as target species. Our results suggest that the reduction or elimination of fishing on floating objects could result in increased net benefits to the region from US $100 million to US $350 million per year; however, this gain is not shared equitably among the three fisheries. Notably, purse seine fisheries stand to lose economically through this type of management decision. The realization of potential economic gains for this region will require the formation of a cooperative sharing system.


The emerging transparent optical networks, employing spectrally-efficient modulation formats require new methods for supervision of signal quality in the optical domain. In this paper we demonstrate the optical performance monitoring (OPM) of optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) and chromatic dispersion (CD) in return-to-zero differential phase-shift keying (RZ-DPSK) signals using asynchronous delay-tap sampling and pattern recognition algorithms. We experimentally show noise measurement of OSNR from 8.7 dB to 32 dB with low optical input power requirement. Moreover, residual CD can be evaluated in the range from -600 to +600 ps/nm. The results indicate that careful adjustment of delay is necessary in order to ensure accurate measurement.


The HAMSTRAD microwave instrument operates at 60 and 183 GHz and measures temperature and water vapor, respectively, from 0- to 10-km altitude with a time resolution of 7 min. The radiometer has been successfully deployed at Dome C (Concordia Station), Antarctica (75°06' S, 123°21' E, 3233 m amsl) during the first summertime campaign for 12 days in January-February 2009. The radiometer has been continuously running since January 2010, hosted within a dedicated shelter. We have used the very first set of HAMSTRAD data, recorded when the instrument was outdoors, to assess its potential to sound the troposphere over Dome C, from the planetary boundary layer (PBL) up to the tropopause ( ~ 6 km above surface, ~ 9 km amsl). We have compared the HAMSTRAD measurements to several sets of measurements performed at the Dome-C station or in its vicinity: meteorological radiosondes, in situ PT100 and Humicap sondes along the vertical extent of a 45-m tower, meteorological sensor attached to the HAMSTRAD instrument, and the spaceborne Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) instrument onboard the EUMETSAT MetOp-A satellite in polar orbit. The variability of integrated water vapor (IWV) observed by HAMSTRAD with extremely low values of 0.5 kg ·m-2 was also measured by the radiosondes (very high HAMSTRAD versus radiosonde correlation of 0.98), whereas IASI cloud-free measurements did not reproduce well the HAMSTRAD IWV variation (weak HAMSTRAD versus IASI correlation of 0.58). The measurements of absolute humidity (H2O) from HAMSTRAD at Dome C cover a large vertical extent from the surface to about 6 km above surface with a high sensitivity in the free troposphere. The strong diurnal variation of H2O observed by the in situ sensors in the PBL is not well detected by the radiometer. In the free troposphere, the HAMSTRAD versus radiosonde H2O correlation can reach 0.8-0.9. Around the tropopause, HAMSTRAD shows the same variability as IASI and radiosondes but with a dry bias of 0.01 g ·m-3. HAMSTRAD tends to show a wetter atmosphere by 0.1-0.3 g ·m-3 compared with radiosondes from the surface to ~ 2-km altitude and a drier atmosphere above by ~ 0.1g ·m-3. The sensitivity of the temperature profiles from HAMSTRAD is very high in the PBL and in the free troposphere but degrades around the tropopause. The strong diurnal signal measured above the surface by HAMSTRAD (3-6 K) is consistent with all the other in situ data sets. The temporal evolution over the 12-day period in the PBL is also consistent with all other data sets (radiosondes, IASI, in situ sondes, and meteorological sensors). In the free troposphere and around the tropopause, the HAMSTRAD temporal evolution is consistent with that observed by radiosondes and IASI, although a cold bias exists compared with IASI and radiosondes around the tropopause. For heights less than 4 km above surface, HAMSTRAD correlates very well with radiosondes and in situ sensors (correlation better than 0.8) but less well with IASI (0.4). Below the tropopause, the IASI and HAMSTRAD correlation reaches 0.9, whereas above the tropopause, the correlation of IASI and radiosondes with HAMSTRAD is rather low (<; 0.5). Throughout the 12-day period (except on January 23), in the lowermost troposphere for heights less than 500 m above surface, the HAMSTRAD temperature profiles agree with the profiles measured by the radiosondes. From 500 m up to 5 km above the surface, the HAMSTRAD temperature profile has a cold bias from 1 to 5 K compared with the radiosondes, but for some dates (e.g., on January 25 and 29), the HAMSTRAD temperature is very close to the radiosonde temperature. HAMSTRAD generally measures a tropopause lower and warmer than the radiosondes except on some occasions, for instance, on January 23, 30, and 31. In the lower stratosphere, HAMSTRAD measurements of H2O and temperature have little sensitivity. Based upon 5-day back trajectory analyses, the great variability of H2O and temperature above Dome C as measured by the different instruments from the surface up to the tropopause over the 12-day period can be explained by the origin of air masses. The Dome-C site is found to be under the influence of the oceanic middle latitudes and the Antarctic coastal latitudes, but on some occasions, the air masses originated from the Antarctic continent are associated with colder and drier episodes.


INTRODUCTION The present note is the result of an investigation into the correct date of publication of the third volume of A. Seba's great work "Locupletissimi rerum naturalium thesauri. ..". In my own studies on Crustacea I accepted the year 1761 as correct, following in this Engelmann (1846) and the title page of the copy of Seba's book that I consulted. Dr. M. Boeseman, ichthyologist of the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie, pointed out to me that in ichthyological literature the year of publication of this volume is practically always cited as 1758. Also Engel (1937) in his biography of Seba gave this later date. In trying to straighten this question out I obtained the most cordial help from Dr. Boeseman, Prof. Dr. H. Engel, former director of the Zoological Museum of Amsterdam, and from Mr. P. Tuyn, librarian of the Amsterdam Zoo, all of whom I like to tender my best thanks. The result of my efforts was rather unexpected, as it proves that neither 1758 nor 1761, but 1759, is the correct year of publication of volume III. The dates of publication of the other volumes have never given rise to any controversy and are always correctly cited. It was thought to be of interest to give here also all the information known to me dealing with the set-up of Seba's work, its authors and artists and the history of its publication. Most of the details are taken from Engel's (1937, 1961) publications on Seba, which form the most important sources on Seba's life, work and personality. I have added a note on the dates of publication of the little known 18271831 French re-issue of the plates of Seba's work, the so-called "Planches de Seba".


Exploration of a minor karst area in 1979-80, during investigation
of the glacial chronology of Tasmania's central West Coast Range, has
revealed evidence of probable human occupation in the form of burnt and
split macropod bones in a small limestone cave. The cave lies beside
the Nelson River 12 km east of Queenstown at an elevation of 240m. It
has been suggested that this general area of inland western Tasmania was unoccupied in both prehistoric and historic times (Jones 1968. 1974).
Although the Nelson River cave provides the first evidence for prehistoric
man in the river valleys inland from the West Coast Range, it is hitherto
unreported to an archaeological readership. This note briefly describes
the site and places it in the context of what 1s presently known of the climate in the area at the time of occupation.


Fabrication of carbon nanotubes is expensive, particularly for the purifying process required to make them widely accepted for reinforcements and structural composite applications. Instead of trying to discover lower cost processes for nanotubes, we seek to develop an alternative nanoscale carbon material with comparable properties that can be produced cost-effectively and in larger quantities. These carbon nanomaterials are referred to as nanoscale graphene platelets (NGP). In this study, we fabricated and studied graphene-based nanocomposites by (1) exfoliating carbon or graphite materials using acid treatment, thermal and microwave expansion, and (2) examined the electrical and dielectric properties of the graphite reinforced polymers. Less than 1 wt% filler content was required to reach the percolation threshold (φc ) of transition in electrical conductivity and dielectric properties. Molecular dynamics simulation was employed to characterize the increase in elastic moduli for graphene platelets embedded in polymer matrices at molecular scale.Copyright © 2004 by ASME


ABSTRACT Np95 is an important determinant in cell cycle progression. Its expression is tightly regulated and becomes detectable shortly before the entry of cells into S phase. Accordingly, Np95 is absolutely required for the G1/S transition. Its continued expression throughout the S/G2/M phases further suggests additional roles. Indeed, Np95 has been implicated in DNA damage response. Here, we show that Np95 is tightly bound to chromatin in vivo and that it binds to histones in vivo and in vitro. The binding to histones is direct and shows a remarkable preference for histone H3 and its N-terminal tail. A novel protein domain, the SRA-YDG domain, contained in Np95 is indispensable both for the interaction with histones and for chromatin binding in vivo. Np95 contains a RING finger. We show that this domain confers E3 ubiquitin ligase activity on Np95, which is specific for core histones, in vitro. Finally, Np95 shows specific E3 activity for histone H3 when the endogenous core octamer, coimmunoprecipitating with Np95, is used as a substrate. Histone ubiquitination is an important determinant in the regulation of chromatin structure and gene transcription. Thus, the demonstration that Np95 is a chromatin-associated ubiquitin ligase suggests possible molecular mechanisms for its action as a cell cycle regulator.


Purpose: Neovascular retinopathies collectively represent a major cause of blindness in developed countries and are characterised by hypoxia-driven angiogenesis in which new blood vessels escape the confines of the retina and grow on the retinal surface. However, it is not known why such new vessels proliferate outside the retina in preference to infiltration of the hypoxic tissue. The present study tests whether inhibition of the pro-angiogenic inflammatory cytokines tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF) and interleukin-1 beta (IL-1s) can reduce retinal neovascularization in the murine model of oxygen-induced retinopathy. Methods: C57 B6 mice were exposed to 80% oxygen between postnatal day 7 (P7) and P12 producing vaso-obliteration and cessation of vascular development in the capillary beds of the central retina. Return of the animals to room air at P12 renders the central retina ischaemic and hypoxic, and results in retinal neovascularization (NV) between P15 and P21 with maximal NV at P17. Half the pups in each oxygen treated litter were treated with CNI-1493 (dose of 5mg/Kg/day), a translational inhibitor of TNF and Interleukin-1s, by intra-peritoneal injection between P12 and P17. Groups of hyperoxia-exposed mice were injected with the bio-reductive drug pimonidazole (Hypoxyprobe-HP) at 60 mg/kg, 3 hours prior to sacrifice to assess the relative degree of retinal hypoxia in CNI-1493 treated v untreated animals. Results: Treatment with CNI-1493 greatly increased intra-vitreal NV with >100% increase in the number of NV cell nuclei lying outside the internal limiting membrane of the retina. However, intra-retinal angiogenesis within the ischaemic central retina was markedly inhibited, a feature reflected by significantly greater inner retinal hypoxia as indicated by immunostaining for hypoxyprobe and SDS-PAGE/Western blotting for HP-protein adducts. The florid angiogenic response in CNI-1493-treated animals was also qualitatively different from oxygen-treated controls in that neovascular complexes were seen to arise directly from the major retinal veins traversing ischaemic retina as well as from the perfused peripheral capillary beds and the optic disc. Conclusions: It may be that the physical barriers within the dense tissue matrix of the retina present a more formidable challenge to the migration of vascular endothelial cells than the fluid medium at the vitreous interface. We hypothesise that inhibition of cytokine-activation of cell-associated proteases may offer an explanation of the observed alteration in the angiogenic response.


The International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (INTELSAT), the 109-nation cooperative responsible for the vast majority of international satellite service, was recently presented with what may be its greatest challenge since its inception over twenty years ago. The consortium, hailed by many as a model among international organizations, faces possible competition from five American companies (Applicants) that have applied to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for permission to launch and operate satellites independent of the INTELSAT system. This Note begins with a brief look at the laws applicable to international satellite communications. The various interpretations given those laws will be set forth, along with policy and other reasons for approving or not approving the applications. Among the views considered are those of the Applicants, the President of the United States, the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization, the Communications Satellite Corporation (Comsat), and the FCC. An analysis of the conflicting views follows. From this analysis, it is concluded that the President's endorsement of limited competition is a reasonable stand, because it enables the United States to meet its international obligations, while furthering the national interest. BYPASSING INTELSAT: FAIR COMPETITION OR VIOLATION OF THE INTELSAT AGREEMENT?


AbstrAct With the ever-increasing utilization of imagery in scientific, industrial, civilian, and military applications, visual pattern recognition has been thriving as a research field and has become an essential enabling technology for many applications. In this chapter, we present a brain-inspired pattern recognition architecture that can easily be adapted to solve various real-world visual pattern recognition tasks. The architecture has the ability to extract visual features from images and classify them within the same network structure; in other words, it integrates the feature extraction stage with the classification stage, and both stages are optimized with respect to one another. The main processing unit for feature extraction is governed by a nonlinear biophysical mechanism known as shunting inhibition, which plays a significant role in visual information processing in the brain. Here, the proposed architecture is applied to four real-world visual pattern recognition problems; namely, handwritten digit recognition, texture segmentation, automatic face detection, and gender recognition. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed architecture is very competitive with and sometimes outperforms existing state-of-the-art techniques for each application.


This study was a response to the present crisis in Kenyan hotels that are threatened by a dwindling international market share. It sought to establish a clear relationship between Information Technology Application as the independent variable, and Competitive Advantage, the dependent variable. A number of previous studies have suggested that Information Technology (IT) can be used as a strategic instrument that enables a company to achieve Competitive Advantage. In this study the effects of applying information technology on Competitive Advantage were measured through the seven dimensions of the construct, Competitive Advantage Provided by an Information Technology Application [CAPITA]. These dimensions are: Primary Activity Efficiency, Support Activity Efficiency, Resource Management Functionality, Resource Acquisition Functionality, Threats Response, Pre-emptiveness, and Synergy. Information was surveyed in Nairobi city, the Kenyan Coast and Nature Reserves Clusters, using the cross-sectional exploratory survey research design. The study used structured interview schedules as data collection instruments. The study focused on 2,3,4, and 5-star rated hotels, which constitute a significant 79 per cent of the total number of2 to 5-star rated hotels in the country. Cluster and stratified probability sampling was complemented with simple random probability sampling. With complex sampling 30 respondents in management were interviewed from 30 hotels within the three principal tour circuits in the country. Data was gathered in the ordinal scale of measurement and Spearman's rank correlation analysis and its related test of significance were applied appropriately EAJIS Vol. 3 No.1 2013 to the data. The study established that the seven dimensions of the CAPITA construct do respond to the Application of IT in hotels. This study has also successfully proven the alternate hypothesis: there is a relationship between the Application of information technology and Competitive Advantage in Kenyan hotels. The analysis confirmed a strong correlation between the response of Competitive Advantage in the seven dimensions of the CAPITA construct of hotels, to the Application of IT in hotels, as well as with their star rating or the quality of facilities and personnel in hotels.


In telecommunications, the capture effect is a phenomenon associated with frequency modulation reception in which two strong signals at, or near, the same frequency or channel will be demodulated. In wireless networks, a frame collision does not necessarily result in all the simultaneously transmitted frames being lost. Depending on the relative signal power and the arrival time of the involved frames, one frame can survive the collision and be successfully received by the receiver. Efficient object identification with passive RFID tags. In former works, many researches focus on the RFID anti-collision protocol only, however, less did pay special attention to the capture effect mainly to keep the design simple and cost low. Nonetheless, the capture effect occurs frequently in real deployments. In this paper, we have taken the capture effect into consideration and combined this thought to an efficient RFID anti-collision protocol, then proposed an efficient method to estimate the optimal frame length to adjust the quantity of RFID tags. After setting an optimal frame length by using the proposed method, furthermore, we obtained higher identification efficiency. RFID technology can be used for real-time recording and tracking of the learning process, which comprises real-time records of learners and their partners learning process such as experience, debate, cooperation, competition, problem solving, and other learning experiences.